Whats in a name?

If you asked me two days ago if I would ever play a Real Time Strategy (RTS) game, I would respond with a loud "Hell no!" Now that Halo Wars has been announced it has instantly found a place on my wish-list.

"But why won't you play any RTS games Lith? And why get Halo Wars? It is an RTS after all!"  

Lets start off with the first question. I LOVED RTS when it first came about. The acquisiton of funds, setting up base, and conquering the enemy it was all addictive for a young ambitous warlord. For me it started with Dune: Battle for Arakis. The game was fun, and I was good at it, I would play it for hours on end as I watched all the spice get devoured and my domination increase. From there I kept my eyes open for more RTS games and eventually made my way to Starcraft.

  Starcraft was fun, but I sucked bad at it. No matter how hard I tried I could never mine enough, build enough, or deploy enough to be an effecive warlord. I wasn't just with with Starcraft, Red Alert: Command and Conquer I sucked at as well and a few others that I can't remember the titles to.

So, I quit RTS all together. Time passed and soon I would fall into the world of Halo. Deep into it. I love the story, gameplay, and social interaction it brought to me. I love being the Master Cheif and stomping alien ass in order save the galaxy. I'm hooked and hopeless when it comes to Halo. I was thrid in line for the Halo 2 release and since then the disk has only been out of my XBOX four times. Die hard Halo freak, thats me.

When I saw the trailer for Halo Wars marketing hit gold because the first thought to pop into my head was,"I am sooooooo getting this when it comes out!" I then proceded to watch the trailer twenty more times. By the time I got home from work yesterday, I thought to myself, "Why the hell do you want it? You don't like RTS games any more and gameplay is going to be nothing like the trailer. Is it because its Halo?"

I think its more of me being afraid that I will miss out on an aspect of the Halo Universe. So, for a title, a name, I am willing to venture in to a game type that I particularly don't like. Does this make me a blind follower? A mindless marketing target? I don't feel blind and mindless.

I am following the name though. If the name Halo didn't exist and this game came out I wouldn't even think twice about leaving it sitting on the shelf and I certainly wouldn't watch the trailer twenty times just to hear, "This is SPARTAN group Omega..." It certainly is amazing how one little video game can change my whole point of veiw when it comes to where my gaming money and time is going.

Halo 3, the Halo movie, the books, and any other Halo project gets me hooked and waiting in eager anticipation for any little news bit that comes my way. Just for the name Halo...