Watch new Halo 3 ad: "Two Soldiers Reminisce"

by Justin McElroy { Sep 22nd 2007 at 10:21AM }

You've already seen the first two ads of the Halo 3 "Believe" campaign from The Museum of Humanity (P.S. Anyone else unnerved by the fact that humanity is going to need a museum?). The first featured an old vet talking about the war, the second, creepy living dolls. Though those were cool, and just a little sad, we have to say that the newest ad is our favorite so far.

"Two Soldiers Reminisce" seems like something that could have been pulled straight from The History Channel, were the History Channel more focused on things that didn't happen. Two vets talk about the weapons they used during the war with the Covenant and the intricacies of the Brute Spiker. Then things get a little teary when the old soldier alludes to the sacrifice the Master Chief may or may not have made. We're not sure if it makes us want to rush out and buy the game (we were probably going to do that anyway), but it is nice to see video game lore treated with this kind of reverence.

Tags: ads, halo3, microsoft

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Ihya @ Sep 22nd 2007 10:26AM

Pretentious? Moi?

Grant @ Sep 22nd 2007 10:26AM

i like it.
it's subtle, yet interesting.

emehrkay @ Sep 22nd 2007 10:32AM

wow best one yet

killploki @ Sep 22nd 2007 10:31AM

Come on, just make the halo movie already. Those props looked amazing.

NukeAssault @ Sep 22nd 2007 10:35AM

Seriously.

rivaldi22 @ Sep 22nd 2007 10:35AM

I liked it. I think a talking-head format, like a chair-to-chair interview, would have been more realistic, with cuts to footage of them at the museum here and there, to focus on the things they talk about, with the interview dubbed over the cuts. But it's still good.

I personally really, really liked that video on the Marketplace, about the creation of the Diorama from the second ad. I thought it was going to be, like, just Bungie making it and that's it, but it was actually part of the lore and everything, saying it was being built in 2607 or whatever. I was so surprised, and honestly, I think it's one of the most effective of the promotional videos. The narration of it is really touching.

Hashbrown_Hunter @ Sep 22nd 2007 3:16PM

I think killploki finished that nicely.

Skeffington @ Sep 22nd 2007 10:42AM

Even though I'm not at all into Halo, I have to admit this is one really good commercial.

CLack @ Sep 22nd 2007 10:43AM

Oh boy, only a few more days until I can continue having no interest at all and never playing the Halo franchise. People who play FPSs on analog joysticks need to seek help.

ill @ Sep 22nd 2007 10:50AM

People who complain about how other people enjoy themselves need to get a life....

rdj75 @ Sep 22nd 2007 10:56AM

Even though the keyboard and mouse are the preferred option for most pc games, not everyone is comfortable with that setup. I am 32 years of age and I have been gaming for a long time and even though k/m was/is better I have always found using analog sticks to be more comfortable. I have been pwned by keyboard and mouse as well doing the pwning using analog sticks on a pc.

Kazi @ Sep 22nd 2007 11:01AM

People who avoid games because of their input need to seek more help.

killploki @ Sep 22nd 2007 11:04AM

good for you, enjoy not playing halo. while your at it why dont you try not watching halo related videos and posting comments for anything halo related.

Psaakyrn @ Sep 22nd 2007 8:19PM

to Kazi:

And why is that so? Input is a key component in games or human-computer interaction, if the input is flawed, so is the whole interaction itself. Not saying that it is flawed in this case, but a game which input fails to satisfy the user can cause the game to be unsatisfactory in it's entirety.

Grant @ Sep 22nd 2007 7:45PM

are you near a roof by any chance?
do us all a favor and jump off.

i find controller gaming much more comfortable,
i have had many cases of Mousehand/ keyboard wrist before i retired from PC gaming.
I have never managed to get controller claw.
You be the judge, but i choose comfort/not having carpal tunnel long before i choose precision.

NATO_Duke @ Sep 24th 2007 6:09PM

Congrats - being a jackass got you some replies.

mafafu @ Sep 22nd 2007 10:57AM

Was it Roger Ebert who said that video games don't qualify as art? These believe commercials are excellent all around. The visuals, writing, props, and most definitely the acting are top notch. Does anyone know which ad company is doing these for Bungie? They deserve an award.

rivaldi22 @ Sep 22nd 2007 11:23AM

To be slightly fair to Ebert, what you watched was not a video game, it was an ad, a short film, for a video game. I think he would agree that short films can be art.

That's not to say that I don't think he's wrong for saying that, but it's just this ad has nothing to do with it.

A Pissed-off English Gamer @ Sep 23rd 2007 12:56PM

Well, that's a fair point to make, but why are you defending Ebert? Christ, it's bad enough that he half flip-flopped on the "games as art" debate and came out saying "games are art, just not 'high art'". But, in this context, the ad is designed solely to allude to the experience of the game. For example, the weight of the Brute Spiker, i knew it was heavy, as this information is useful to know in a gaming-input context (ie, it's something which mirrors reality, altering experience). And that's looking at games purely as something to be played. What about the visuals and the music? Both of which, on their own, fall into art. Why shouldn't an amalgamation of the 3 be art? Sorry, i know you're not an Ebert proponent, but i the thought of someone flat-out denying the artistic value of games is just painful.

rivaldi22 @ Sep 24th 2007 7:14PM

I wasn't defending Ebert, or his ideas. I'm sorry if that didn't come across. I was just saying that there is a difference between ads and the games they promote. The above user was calling a live-action ad proof that video games are art, which is a non sequitur. An artful ad for deodorant does not confirm that deodorant is artful. The onus lies in the deodorant itself to prove its artistic qualities.

That said, I do think videogames are art, and I think the High Art versus Low Art debate (videogames aside) is asinine, and is merely masturbatory discussion for egotistical intellectuals.

I hope I cleared things up.

If someone creates, and calls it art, then I believe it is art.

Einherjar Gabr @ Sep 22nd 2007 10:58AM

Well...if memory serves me right,the sniper in this video is the one who take out that gold-class brute in the Diorama?

Sir_Drace @ Sep 22nd 2007 11:06AM

Pretty cool commercial for sure. Subtle and well done.

Ska Oreo @ Sep 22nd 2007 11:07AM

Wow. That was a really great Halo Ad.

rdj75 @ Sep 22nd 2007 11:10AM

I really don't want to know anything about the campain until I start playing it, but does anyone else get the feeling that the master chief is going to die?

Ska Oreo @ Sep 22nd 2007 11:33AM

mhmm. If you read the ads in magazine (and I really like this one), they read, A Hero does not need to speak, for when he is gone the world will speak for him. That ad right there implies that Master Chief isn't going to make it. It would make sense, and I think people would prefer it if MC (or John), sacrificed his life to save humanity.

Lucky @ Sep 22nd 2007 11:48AM

The time line if I'm rember these dates right and looking at the vets. Probly what? 40-60 years after Halo 30? John is about 30 something. So by this time he would be 70-90?

By this time he could of easily died of old age. I could imagen that the Spartan'ing process would shorten your life span to boot. Not to mention the stress being a life time solider and enhanced senses would put on you and your body.

*Bricked for being Halo nerd*

Ally @ Sep 22nd 2007 11:55AM

It could just be that he survived whatever happend, but is dead now?

Also remeber he is around 40 during the events or Halo 1 & 2, although, he has the physical body of a much younger man due to being in Cryo sleep during long trips on spacecraft months would go by without little change.

These ads are set in the early 27th century, around 40-50 years after the events of the games, the cheif would be around 100, so therefore coukd have died of natural causes.

Who knows, i just cant wait to play the game and find out! :D :D

Kye (NDF - Earth Ring) @ Sep 22nd 2007 3:08PM

Yes I get the feeling he's going to die as well.
It's kinda ruined the ending for me now though.

We all know he ends it with a grenade and humanity survives.

I wonder what that E3 commercial was talking about when it says "This is how humanity ends"?

Platinum_Skeet @ Sep 22nd 2007 5:16PM

No doesn't end that way. Remember they said the moments in the commercials are completely unrelated to the game. This whole situation to the people in it were made by a marketing team...

Grant @ Sep 22nd 2007 7:50PM

well,
we are all dying.
everyones time will come, even if you live most of your life in some badass neuro/muscle enhancing armor.

ukickmydog (NDF - Earth) @ Sep 22nd 2007 9:02PM

cryogenics mebe?

el o el

Jim Halpert DM @ Sep 22nd 2007 11:11AM

All these ads make me think the Chief is going to die.

rdj75 @ Sep 22nd 2007 11:13AM

LOL, I beat you to that comment by 1 minute.

rdj75 @ Sep 22nd 2007 11:19AM

Its just that all these commercials seem to be on such a sad note.

Ska Oreo @ Sep 22nd 2007 11:30AM

That's why they pack such a punch. It's better than a bunch of japanese school girls screaming, "BUY TEH HALOZ BUY TEH HALOZ BUY TEH HALOZ!!!"

rivaldi22 @ Sep 22nd 2007 11:34AM

Well, I mean, the Allies won World War II, but all the memoirs about it are all still sad, and there was no Master Chief at the time to make the Noble Sacrifice(TM).

I think it could go either way, really.

Kapitan Kramer @ Sep 22nd 2007 11:13AM

I like it

Kapitan Kramer @ Sep 22nd 2007 11:13AM

I like it

Fox318 @ Sep 22nd 2007 11:27AM

I really like this ad. The Halo marketing is almost perfect. If they made a movie with this type of story telling I would go see it.

Phillip @ Sep 22nd 2007 11:28AM

The shotgun guy said like 7 words (including the repeated "I"). Nice speaking part. :)

rTwelve @ Sep 22nd 2007 1:37PM

That's all we shotgunners need to do.

Phillip @ Sep 22nd 2007 2:04PM

This is true. Lead has a tendency to speak for itself.

ill trooper @ Sep 22nd 2007 11:31AM

Silly. I'll buy the game, but I'm not buying into this overly-reverent cornball drivel. Some of you took that last 'Believe' kicker as an order. Digg me down.

DaMan09 @ Sep 22nd 2007 3:21PM

This isn't digg. OR is it?

Shidarin @ Sep 22nd 2007 11:36AM

Holy cow. This makes the first Museum interview piece look even WORSE (it was already pretty crummy). These actors are great, and it really brings the Halo series to a whole new level.

Gonna have to update the blog just to include this..

-Shid
http://www.grenadehop.com/

blooh (CDF - Ass Ring) @ Sep 22nd 2007 11:37AM

I think they could be a bit more technical, a soldier knows exactly what weapon he used the rest of his life, he wouldn't just call it a "sniper rifle"

it'd sound more authentic

SoxFan13 @ Sep 22nd 2007 11:38AM

Personally, I am really impressed with the route they are taking on the advertising. On one hand, they have major brand recognition in all of their endorsements -- Mountain Dew, 7-11, etc.

On the other hand, they've made some really poignant ads that make something real out of fiction. If any of you watched the last Ken Burns doc on WWII, the veterans behaved very similarly to these actors. They reluctantly recall what went on, and their part in the whole story of the battles and war.

Maybe I'm buying into the hype, but I'd much rather see something different like these ads, than the typical vids of headshots and flying limbs.