BW: The Halo 3 Effect

Take a look at this overview of the non-game aspects of Halo 3 in Business Week. Beyond the games itself (which has been somewhat panned as same-old-same-old but with better graphics. (Innovator's Dilemma, anyone?), there are many non-game social networking features (also known as "community to the Web 1.0 crowd, myself included) features such as integrated machinema movie-making tools (create your own storylines using the game's 3D characters) and the ability to extract game stats and information to your mySpace and Facebook pages.

Many company's advertising agencies are running around trying to figure out how to bolt on social networking to their communications vehicles and finding the effects to be fleeting. Again, it's the product that matters and if community lends more value to the usage of the product itself, it should be enabled there, not in the marketing communications. Within the product itself, these features become a magnet for pre-sales interest and provide ongoing value once the purchase has been made. Otherwise they are bottled up in a marketing microsite that's long forgotten in just a matter of weeks.