Transmedia and Immersive Storytelling

With the evolution of recent media outlets, many have moved into what’s called “transmedia” to execute full

Halo "Fan Fiction" tells the story where the games leave off

storytelling.  This means that to get the full, rich experience of a story, one must experience it on many levels, including video games, books, and film.  Some well known examples are:

Halo (video & board games, movies, comics, books)

The Matrix (Movies, video games)

World of Warcraft (video games, books, trading cards, fan videos)

All these franchises have another thing in common: their immersive nature.  They all have applauded, deep storylines, ones strong enough to contain various outlets.  It takes a special type of story to not only be able to pull off transmedia, but to succeed in it; to get the fans into it.  It begins

The various parts of the Matrix Saga

with a single piece, a game, a book, a movie, that does not only create a linear plot.  It has to be open ended, leave fans wanting more.  It has to not just create one story.  It has to create a universe.  An alternate reality that others will want to live in.  Because the main attraction of any of these media forms, from books to video games, is that they allow the consumer to live a life that is not theirs, maybe even that is not possible in the “real world”.  That’s the nature and attraction of simulation.  Some would say it’s also the danger of it, but as with anything else, self-control is the key.  Everything should be taken in moderation.

I think that what these immersive universes do for us, so long as we don’t allow them to consume us, is important.  People today are more stressed than ever before, with the Job Market down, the economy in questionable shape, and an altogether uncertain future.  These transmedia juggernauts allow an escape.  used properly, they can keep us sane.

A little fun is good for everyone.

Halo: 9 Years of Gaming

So, one of the most talked about games out now is Halo: Reach.  It’s met with critical acclaim, as well as a great

Halo: Reach

response from general gamers as well as fans of the series.  After 9 years, Bungie, the company behind all the major Halo releases thus far, it ending it here.  More than one of them are on Critic’s “Best Of” lists for their respective release years, and even for all time.  So, at the end of a decade spanned by these award winning games, how have they impacted gamers and our culture in general?

Take a minute here, and if you haven’t already, watch the Reach collective trailer, linked at the bottom of my page (it’s 7 minutes long).  You’ll get the emotional tone of the games from it.

Back in 2001, Halo: Combat Evolved was released.  It quickly became a success, garnering overwhelmingly positive reviews and selling more than 5 million copies (as of Nov. 9, 2005).  It was a release title and exclusive game for the newest game console on the market, produced by a

The "Combat Evolved" Cover

company that was making its first foray into console gaming: Microsoft’s Xbox.  This game also helped bring the new system into the limelight, becoming the most well known title for the original Xbox.  It wasn’t the first First Person Shooter (FPS), but it’s the best known by most of my generation.

Following HCE‘s success, Halo 2 was released in 2004 , for the same system.   HCE was big, but this one was bigger.  Featuring online multiplayer modes, and continuing an already strong story, the game became a juggernaut never before seen by the still-young console gaming community.  It’s multiplayer was of note in particular, because of its havily variant nature based on an already strong engine.  It made everything that was good in HCE better, and defied the “sophomore slump”

Then, in 2007, it got huge.  Record-breaking, in fact.  Halo 3 was released, to (again) critical acclaim, as well as a $300 million dollar grossing opening day.  During the first 20 release hours, it was played online by over a million people.  It completed the story arc of all the games.  As of January 3, 2008, it has sold over 8 million copies (probably far more by now).  People camped out, pre-ordered, and went to incredible lengths to acquire this game as soon as possible.  The Halo franchise’s following has been compared to that of Star Wars.  H3 finished one of the greatest narratives told in games, breaking the stereotype for weak stories in action games.  So what effect has this series, which has grossed (including merchandising) over $1.7 billion, had on games?

It redefined action/shooter games.  Told one of the greatest stories told by a game (one that many find compelling even in any format), a quality seldom found outside of Role Playing Games.  It broke sales records. Every one had the best graphics seen in a game yet.  It set a new gold standard for, well, everything in video gaming.

What about the effect on the real world?  It spawned a new kind of internet cinema: “machinima”, or movies using voice overs on actions performed by game characters.  Most notably, the successful Rooster Teeth series Red vs. Blue.  It put

Promo for Season 5 of Red vs. Blue. New seasons are still being made, and the brand has produced DVD sets and other types of merch, as well as tributes in competing games (like a Gears of War 2 achievement)

Microsoft on the map for console gaming, and eventually put them on top with the Xbox 360.  It spawned a series of books, providing background and side stories (I’ve read most of them, and I think they’re very interesting and well written, and one can read them with no knowledge of the games, as their stories operate independently).  It gave rise to a line of action figures as well as comic books and countless other types of merchandise, from real world replicas of in-game objects to clothing.  It also demonstrated that games, even action based ones, can be works of art, through exceptional design, graphics, and storytelling.  It kept teens and many adults enthralled for almost a decade.

And now it’s coming to an end, with a prequel.  The telling of the birth of the fight that the originals finished, the story of humanity’s most desperate moment.  On a deeper level, the characters demonstrate for us many qualities.  Courage, honor, and prevailing hope.

Reach "Remember" Promo

I only touched on the primary games, but there are two others, that provide more peripheral and back story, ODST and Halo Wars.  This series is something we will know for years, or decades, to come.  It’s an independent, totally immersive universe.

It is a true legacy of modern media, and the gaming phenomenon of a generation.

The spirit of the games, and their general story, also personifies one of my favorite quotes:

“Even against the greatest of  odds, there is something in the human spirit-a magic blend of skill, faith, and valor-that can lift men from certain defeat to incredible victory”.

And that’s something to believe in.