"Halo 3 Hype"

The trailer that would've made some gamers jump for joy:


To clarify, I am not a gamer. And from that statement you can conclude that I would NEVER line up for 24 hours in order to purchase a video-game which I would then race home to play for another 24 hours. But no, I didn't choose this article to waste my time bashing those people who do so, because I probably would do the same thing for something this big that I was passionate about. Reading the article I realized the impact that video games are having on our culture (and no, not that they make children more aggressive and violent).

With Halo 3, you can wear a headset and talk to the other people that you are gaming with over the network. What does this mean? A new form of communication and interaction that has developed through technology other than IM, telephones, etc. Individuals can now communicate with the people they are playing with and against. It's almost like a schoolyard game of capture the flag. The article states:

"There's this wonderful online playground where groups of people can jump in, drive large vehicles, shoot against each other and talk and have conversations with headsets," Abel explained. "That kind of social mass appeal has driven a lot of people to want to get this in order to start playing with their friends now."
Let's re-read that: "shoot against each other" while "[talking] and [having] conversations with headsets."

This is appealing?
Maybe if it was Mario Party with headsets.
What happened to Hide-and-Seek?

Anyways, my point is that the idea that you can communicate with people miles away that you're gaming with is actually a pretty cool technological advance. And although at this point this form of communication doesn't effect me, I can probably assume it will soon enough considering how technology develops.