This link to Kotaku (sorry to publicize the competition) details the new ad campaign for Halo 3. Mark Wilson over there makes an interesting comment - saying this ad campaign is "All the smoke and mirrors are almost enough to make you forget Halo 3 is just another notable FPS. Almost."

Now I'm not one to try and fire up a fanboy riot, nor do I care to discuss the merits of a particular console over another. And while I don't think that tha Haloz are necessarily the greatest. game. evarrrrrrr., I certainly think that it merits a higher status than a mere "notable FPS". I'm a big fan of the series, I won't deny that. Like many others, I spent countless hours playing halo 2 online, perusing red vs blue, and even reading the novels. Millions have been drawn into the halo universe, perhaps not to extent of WoW or EQ, but for console multiplayer, is there anything bigger? Does the the simple fact that Halo 2 set the standard for console online multiplayer raise it beyond "notable FPS?"

There's no denying that Microsoft continues to pimp the franchise for every cent it's worth. But I didn't begrudge LoTR movies anything just because Aragorn was plastered to the side of every BK value meal. I think the "believe" campaign, however, is great. Why not show the epic nature of the story? I always felt that the games would benefit from more showing more of the larger conflict between the humans and the Covenant - something the books highlighted amazingly well. Aside from the opening of halo 2, we don't get to see to much of the large scale battle going on; the Believe campaign helps out with that

So I'll sum up this wall of text simply - Halo has become the premier console FPS - I don't think that's debatable (though the COD4 beta is keeping me very busy). While we could sit and argue whether gameplay/graphics/whatever are done better in another FPS, Halo is the gold standard to which all others aspire. It has become epic, not unlike the star wars or the Lotr (though I'll admit that analogy is a bit stretched) and it deserves more than "notable" classification.

Discuss- and believe.