| Set On Stun |

In honor of Black History Month this week’s Flashback will take a look, or try to, at black characters in videogames. Specifically playable characters that weren’t just NPCs or cast members in cut scenes. Guess what? There aren’t that many.

Barrett Wallace — Final Fantasy VII 1997

seriously -- look at me -- would you mess with this?

Did you see his arm? It’s a Gatling gun. C’mon! Former leader of AVALANCHE Mr. Wallace although not a big fan of Cloud decides to fight the good fight anyway. He was an ornery dude.

CJ (a.k.a. Carl Johnson) GTA: San Andreas (2004 — the game was set in 1992)

I dare you to race me -- I will beat you

Not only was San Andreas on of the best of the series, but Carl Johnson was the main character in this GTA set in San Andreas in the early 90s. Fresh out of Liberty City lockup he returns to his beloved hometown only to be thrown right back into the life he left behind.  Actually in terms of games, San Andreas had a primarily black cast. Of course they were gang bangers and criminals but hey a whole game, that’s something right?

Sergeant Johnson: Halo (2001 — 2007 {posthumously 2009})

Don't ever call me Avery -- I will shoot you

Correction: Master Sergeant Avery Johnson. One of the NPCs of the Halo series for all three of the games, Johnson was the gravel-voiced mean green military leader who had some great lines and was was a consistent character throughout the franchise. Unfortunately he met his demise in Halo 3 (sorry for the two people who have never played it) but he then became a playable character last year in Halo: ODST as part of a special pre-order download from retailer Gamestop where you could use him in multiplayer games. Okay so he had to wait 4 games to become a usable character but at least he finally got in the game. No word yet on whether we’ll see him in this year’s other prequel Halo: Reach

Cole Train: Gears of  War 1 & 2 (2006 and 2008)

The gun show isn't in town -- it's here!

Showing up midway through the first Gears of War Augustus “Cole Train” Cole, former Thrashball superstar becomes a COG and starts out on the Alpha team but ultimately joins the fight with Marcus Phoenix. The epitome of a badass Train  is basically that guy you want in any fight (pillows included).

Sheva Alomar: Resident Evil 5 (2009)

Hey Tomb Raider ... Suck on this!

Who? This is the newest entry to the list. The yin to Chris Redfield’s Yang in Resident Evil, this bomb diggity bomb is member of the BSAA South African branch and can head shot zombies like nobody’s business.  Zombies beware, she will kick your ass.

Honorable Mention — Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker

I will moonwalk all over your head

Not just a character, a whole game featuring the late gloved one as the zoot-suit fedora wearing charcter of his Smooth Criminal video. Believe it or not this was an adventure beat ‘em up game. How did you beat people up you ask? Why you kick them of course. And the best part — you got to morph into a robot.

Criminals, badasses, military dudes (and dudettes) and a morphing robot.  How do you like them apples?

Have a %&$^*)@ heart people!

Last week Bungie created what a lot of folks, including us, thought was an earnest attempt to contribute to a natural disaster by appealing to what gamers love to do most. Play games.

Itwas a simple pledge — add a heart emblem to your character in Halo 3 or ODST and go online and play a game. For every 1000 players Bungie would pledge $100 with a cap at $77,000. Sounds simple right? There were even instructions when you put the disc in.

So why on earth after running this campaign for a full two days could they only garner a fraction of the money they wanted to raise?

To say that gamers are an apathetic lot that can camp out in front of a game store for the new Madden but can’t take 10 minutes to try and raise money to help people in need is pretty much saying it all. Not only is this a sad commentary on the lack of enthusiasm for something good it plays right into the stereotype that non gamers have about the couch captain thumb jockeys they envision when they think of people playing Halo.

The last posting Bungie had on their website (1/21) was still asking for people to jump in and do some gaming with a heart emblem. SOS did their part and saw that in the average 16 player deathmatch less than 1/4 of the players had the emblem. We have no numbers on what they were actually able to raise but it’s unlikely they even came close to meeting their goal. Really people, how hard was this?

Play a game -- save real lives

http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=BeAHero

This has to be a first and if not, it’s the first game company to openly take social action in the wake of a global disaster. Bungie has decided to do their part to help out in the relief efforts for Haiti by asking gamers to play Halo 3 or or ODST online from Wednesday 1/20/10 through Thursday 1/21/10 while wearing a specially designed heart emblem on their Spartan uniform (that’s how they’ll track you). For every 1000 players they’ll donate $100. The cap will be $77,000. Additionally in the Bungie store you can buy sspecially designed shirts and other merchandise which will also be contributed to the fundraising through the month of February.

How much easier can they make this? — Play a videogame and raise some money.

Oh and for all those people who always complain about videogames being a bad thing — Suck it!

Thank you Bungie!

Wait, aren’t all videogames catered to the audience already? No not exactly. There are games for everybody, there are game genres (shooter, racing, sports), there are franchise games (Halo, GTA, Call of Duty) and then there are games that target a very specific audience. Take for example Doublefine’s new release Brutal Legend.  Sure it has all the elements of a platformer/rpg but in in looking at the game it’s clear that the folks who will get the most out of this game, are metal fans who don’t just love videogames but also metal, metal music, and lots videogame iconography and references.

Granted you’re not going to hate the game if you don’t like metal (or Jack Black for that matter — he’s the lead charcter Eddie’s voice) because when you take away the metal covering, it’s still a videogame. It’s just this one is heavily steeped in rock references, and for fans of the genre, particularly classic metal, it offers a whole other level of enjoyment. EA and Doublefine obviously would be overjoyed to have everyone love the game  but they know that there is that specific audience that’s going to really LOVE the game more than the average gamer and that’s what all this effort is for.

To get a little more generic, take a look at Beatles Rock Band. Yes Rock Band is immensely popular and the Beatles, well … it’s the Beatles. So here you have a tailor made version of the game that gets a whole new generation of Beatles fan but hooks all of the folks (kids and adults) who really dig the fab four. In fact, for the hardcore Beatle you even get to unlock a whole new batch of minutiae that was never before available. So in catering to their audience Harmonix killed two birds with one stone — they made a new Rock Band and tapped the massively large Beatle fan base. Mission accomplished.

Take look at the slew of classic arcade releases that hove come out as downloads in the last few years with everything from Monkey Island to Pac-Man — the gamers who were reared on this stuff and could only play them in the arcades or on old PCs, now immediately gravitate to these old games and for a few bucks they get to relive those happy days and keep the game on their hard drive. It’s a gimmie for the companies who figure out those “classics” to serve up because they already have an audience waiting for the next oldie to get the console treatment.

heroes for hire

We here at SOS having already commented on the success of some comic book games this year (Arkham Asylum and Wolverine) and the preponderance of gaming at this year’s Comic-Con we know this is one of those target audiences developers would love to nab full force. With that we see another entry into the fold of trying videogame direct marketing to the comic book crowd. Enter Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, the follow up to the successful first game from Activision which delivers better gameplay and graphics but for the comic book fans — the game offers up even more. Two classic story lines, Civil War and Secret Wars, a bunch of obscure Marvel characters you rarely think about as a comic book reader, and a ridiculous collection of trivia that either increases your comic book knowledge or verifies that you spend too much time reading one type of literature.

By throwing these elements into the game, it’s clear Activision is attempting to  speak directly to that loyal and enormous comic-book audience — the only problem is that not enough of them game. Instead you get the hybrid of comic book fans who also love games and maybe they can convince some of their non-gaming comic book friends to check out the game.

In all of these instances and many more what you can see occurring is that developers and publishers are starting to realize that there are opportunities make a game that targets a core albeit often very specific group,  while still making an enjoyable game that anyone can play without ever having read every issue of Civil War or have a photographic memory of every classic heavy metal album. The trick is to acknowledge your target demographic without insulting them but don’t spend so much time on doing so that you forget that the title still needs to be a game you would want to play.

What did you think only master chief had a cool helmet?

How do you reinvigorate a a franchise that  had already pushed the bar so high it crumbled under the weight of things like Mountain Dew Game Fuel and UNSC Messenger bags? Go back to the drawing board, create another storyline and remove the key figure of the franchise. For your consideration enter Halo 3:ODST and the soon to be yet amazingly cryptic Halo Reach.  So in going down the checklist here’s what the folks at Bungie were looking at:

• A 2 year gap since the last game — granted a big success but many complained it paled to Halo 2. Additionally the accompanying marketing blitz is the stuff of legend in terms of how far Microsoft went to push Halo 3 -- overkill? Perhaps
• In between Microsoft made a Halo RTS with Ensemble studios and while it proved a good step bridging that RTS for consoles gap, it was no behemoth of success.
• The folks over at Infinity Ward and Epic took  multiplayer to new levels with a reward system, deeper maps, and in terms of  Gears of War 2, you got the superb team based Horde Mode which offered up a whole new way to bring the fight with 4 of your online buddies.

So in coming back to the FPS world of Halo and already knowing they had essentially ended the main story of Master Chief how would they create a spin off that didn’t seem like a spinoff? Here’s how…

1. Tell an “in between story.” ODST takes place between Halo 2 and 3. (GTAIV is attempting that as well except in their case it all happens within the core story)
2. Create a Memento style story that flashed back and forth showing different perspectives of the same event that would eventually all come to a focal point.
3. While using a lot of the staples of this universe and gameplay introduce some different elements while borrowing from other successful shooters (not that they would admit it) that have come out since the last Halo.

For those about to frag, I salute you.

Did it work?

Completely — Presenting exhibits A through C:

A.  A creepy, cryptic, very realistic ad campaign that made these ODST folks seem like real soldiers replete with a very Full Metal Jacket-esque imagery

B. A massive pre-sell blitz that served up tons of previews and clips along with  a special DLC for pre-orders — this seems to be the norm now with a lot of these major title releases

C.  An incentive to hang on to the game because it will not only allow you to enjoy future DLC but this is going to be your ticket when they launch the beta test for Halo:Reach.

For those of you who remember Crackdown, that was the same push except that time the beta was for Halo 3. It’s an ingenious method to sell two games at once that is very effective if the second game doesn’t even exist but is one that has a guaranteed audience. Not every publisher can employ this tactic but for those who do it works 10 times over. Add to that the release of ODST came with a second disc that featured all of the Halo 3 maps offered before. All of them. So rather than go the Game of the Year route or repackage trick like some publishers have done where they include previous DLC, in this scenario you get it as a bonus with your new game and hopefully it gets you back to playing your old game that you hopefully have hung on to.

Marketing Schmarketing — How’s the game?

Halo 3: ODST is an outstanding title from the folks at Bungie. Line up some notable and talented sci-fi voices  (Adam Baldwin, Tricia Helfer, Nathan Fillan) throw in a doozy of a multiplayer mode that’s hard to stop playing, and create a storyline that’s moody, intense and has multiple storyline along the course of one game and you have something old that’s new again. Since it’s apparent that Bungie has not decided to step off the Halo train just yet to make some new titles, it’s great to see that they instead have given us an upgrade to first class.