ON CHOW: What if I swallow my gum?
GAMES:
GameSpot
GameFAQs
SportsGamer
MUSIC:
Last.fm
MP3.com
MOVIES:
Metacritic
Movietome
TV:
TV.com

EIF 08: Halo 3 takes Edge Award

British games magazine bestows Bungie's shooter with innovation trophy acceptance speech up on Bungie.net today.

EDINBURGH--British games magazine Edge is one of the longest-running and most revered publications in the industry. In its 14-year history, the magazine has awarded only nine titles its top score of 10, meaning that its highest praise has been bestowed on precious few individual titles.

However, the last 12 months have thrown up no less than four perfect 10s from Edge--Super Mario Galaxy, The Orange Box, Halo 3, and Grand Theft Auto IV--something that makes its 2008 award for innovation difficult to predict. But it was Bungie's Halo 3 that took the prize this year, for online features the magazine believes "have never been so thoroughly and accessibly incorporated into such a supremely coherent whole."

Halo 3 beat out competition from GTAIV, Portal, Rock Band, Super Mario Galaxy, and Wii Fit to take the prize, awarded by deputy editor Alex Wiltshire at this year's Edinburgh Interactive Festival. "Halo 3, just as Halo 2 did before, presents a road map for the way online will be integrated in video games in the next few years," said Wiltshire. "There's no multiplayer option in Halo 3--it's all integrated seamlessly into the same interface that the rest of the game uses."

"Outside of this, Bungie.net has become a remarkable resource for stats and communities around the game, including heat maps and forums that supports the Halo community and provide life for the game even when your Xbox is switched off. And, to prove the point, many games are now coming out with these features as standard."

While the Bungie team was not able to fly to the Scottish capital to collect their award in person, they will be accepting via a video posted to their Web site, Bungie.net, later today.

181 Comments

  • NoseWeed619

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 6:01 pm PT

    Yay for Halo 3! I wonder how much money Bungie is making off of Halo 3...

  • chainxd001

    Posted Aug 30, 2008 8:14 pm PT

    im proud to say lloloollololololoollolololololol i r mastur c33f loollololoolloloolollllooloool

  • courtneyoconnel

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 2:08 pm PT

    what do they have against Scotland?

  • lannyboy334

    Posted Aug 17, 2008 12:42 am PT

    I understand precisely where Edge is coming from here, and they definitely know what they are talking about when they refer to the streamlined online experience, but I simply can't think of Halo 3 as a perfect 10 in light of the phenomena that was Halo 2! While there was a significant upgrade in the quality of the whole interface, the actual gameplay was so similar and the multiplayer just did not bring enough to the table to really make me want to come back for more every single day like Halo 2 did. Does Halo 3 deserve the innovation award here? Definitely, the line between single and multiplayer is simply non-existent, and in realistic terms EVERY single game should have an interface just like it, the menu system alone wins it the innovation award, but the gameplay gives it a 9.8/9.9 in my books, it is still tons of fun and one of the standards for online multiplayer, but Call of Duty 4 kept me up until four'o'clock in the morning, Halo 3 never did.

  • ps3thabest

    Posted Aug 16, 2008 7:26 am PT

    @TheArcade-what? did you play mgs4? and the cutscenes helped people understand the story line for new comers.
    i didn't see any flaws in it,and who cares about one magazine?even the gamespot[bigggest 360 boys] gave it a ten.

    nobody can take the truth on this article. thats why i keep getting my comments deleted.

  • faseli

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 3:13 pm PT

    Endo101 your ignorance is amazing. All you need to know is that everyone who is anyone on this planet in videogame development know who Edge are and how diserning they can be.

  • Endo101

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 1:25 pm PT

    The question is, how much did microsoft pay these guys off? Secondly, who has ever heard of edge.

  • brian_13un

    Posted Aug 13, 2008 10:44 pm PT

    EH why not MGS4?? Darn it

  • TheArcade

    Posted Aug 13, 2008 12:37 pm PT

    People I think the big thing here is they are basing it off enhanced online multiplayer on a console something Halo 3 is arguably good at. MGS4 is a great single player experience but it has it's flaws (no offense to MGS fanboys) over 3 minute cutscenes, long install, weak looking backgrounds, etc. Metal Gear online is included but it's not the caliber of Halo 3's multiplayer. Mario Galaxy, though interesting is single player only game and GTA has the multiplayer aspect though the gameplay is more of the same in my view.

    If you guys don't like the scores, tough make your own review giving MGS4 a 10 to get back at Edge (nobody would care) and only mention it's strong points none of it's weaknesses "*gasp* MGS4 has weaknesses!" yes some people think it does no matter how epic a game it is. Will Halo 3 getting such a prestigious award force you guys to under value a game such as MGS4 or Portal's greatness? No. Then stop whinning and be glad your games were even in honorable mention. Halo 3 wasn't even GOTY last year COD4 was but you didn't see Halo fanboys crying and screaming like little babies. Either ignore the review or be happy Halo 3 got the award and remember it's another group of peoples opinion not just your own individual opinion so please get over it.

  • AdrianMeg

    Posted Aug 13, 2008 11:51 am PT

    Halo 3 got a perfect score while MGS4 didn't?
    What the hell?

    Also, all but one game on that list is on the Xbox 360.
    Coincidence?
    Way to go Edge, I just lost all respect for you.

  • TheArcade

    Posted Aug 13, 2008 10:13 am PT

    Prey >>>>>>>>>>>> Portal

  • thenephariouson

    Posted Aug 13, 2008 1:06 am PT

    Ultimately Halo is simply another FPS, i really dont see how they can say its innovative, if Sci-Fi FPS had never been done before then i'd agree, however they have.... millions of times, nothing in Halo is 'Innovative'. That accolade should have gone to Valve for Portal as i beleive that has NEVER been done before and IS totally unique.

  • the_sorrow_MGS_

    Posted Aug 13, 2008 12:29 am PT

    On a side note: I am so glad GTA4 didn't get it. I believe it is the most over rated game of all time. I found it so repetitive and small.

  • the_sorrow_MGS_

    Posted Aug 13, 2008 12:27 am PT

    Halo 3 is one of the most fun games of this generation! It has so many fantastic off-line and on-line features. I would play the game for the Warthog / Mongoose driving sequences alone. Good choice

  • fakeplasticlung

    Posted Aug 13, 2008 12:11 am PT

    lash540 youre so ****in ignorant, halo 3 doesnt just have one seperate multiplayer mode, thats the point of this award, the whole game is online multiplayer including the single player camapign which can be played with up to 4 mates over live. forge mode, theatre mode, file sharing all of it is online enabled and the thing that really proves your ignorance is the fact that this whole article explains this and yet you still dont understand.

  • faseli

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 12:48 pm PT

    Its quite amazing how some of you are arguing about this, many of you have not even seen a copy of Edge, though some have.
    Edge never claims that a game getting 10/10 will be perfect but it will be closer to that perfection than its stablemates. There is only one game upon reflection that never got the 10 it should have got and that is Goldeneye; Edge has admited this mistake. They use 5 as an average and though you can't always agree with them they generally hit the nail on the head. To be fair the score is the least important part of their reviews, as unlike other magazines they actually write more than two paragraphs; with fewer (though higher quality) screen shots.

  • Ahiru-San

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 12:41 pm PT

    halo 3 was all about hype.. I have it and I don't think it is 'that' great... still, 1up has a rumor that halo 3 might have a true map editor (not that forge 'editor') and might have bots o_O, that would be fun!

  • Lash540 posted Aug 12, 2008 12:07 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    Lash540

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 12:07 pm PT (hide)

    Im sorry Halo 3 sucks, Part 2 was so much better the single player was fun for one.... the only thing Halo 3 has got going is Online and you don't award a game for one part of its design you award it for the total package.

  • Grantsplace2004

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 12:06 pm PT

    I think a lot of people don't give halo 3 and bungie due credit for making a game that is fun, functional, and allows interaction between people in many different ways. The real innovation in Halo 3 is that they managed to pay attention to every detail so that no one part is obviously lacking. However, I would still say Orange Box is a better game(s) and more deserving of the award.

  • the_lost_knight

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 11:53 am PT

    now that's a good review, GTA IV sucks, period. i'm sorry, the only reason it was rated good at all, was because of their loyal and perhaps loyal fans from the past... there has been no change other than graphics in GTA, it's some **** not having stealing feature in a criminal game, plus, you can't even enter houses as you please, it's completely overrated, and simply rediculously bad. On the other hand tho , super mario galaxy is fun to some levels, plus, wii is very new and has some good features. so in general i i think halo 3 most definitely deserve this compared with GTA, what a joke

  • necronaux

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 10:17 am PT

    Have the games really gotten that much better (I guess some have)? More likely, the Edge's reviewers have changed their criteria and they way they rate games. Do they have the same reviewers today that they've had 14 years ago?

  • chimairawr

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 10:13 am PT

    I think this is more for the actual way the online is set-up, rather than the "main game" as such or the actual people online. And, in that respect, I think Halo 3 is very very good at what it does. The lobby system for inviting in your friends seems to be what Microsoft wants to incorporate with the "new live experience" thing, and in that respect it is ahead of its time. The stat tracking works well, and the matchmaking system is good for pairing up people of similar abilities. So I'd argue it was reasonably deserved.

  • kholdstareo1 posted Aug 12, 2008 10:04 am PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    kholdstareo1

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 10:04 am PT (hide)

    what innovation?

  • ftjx

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 9:58 am PT

    where is the innovation in GTA4?

  • ultralesus

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 9:43 am PT

    I respect Edge... I buy it every month. But Halo 3... innovation? Isn't it just Halo 2 with a few extra features?

    Surely Potal or Rock Band should of won?

  • xdeiri

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 9:14 am PT

    This is Hippocratic although I love halo especially the first one and conceder it the best fp shooter ever next to the half life 2 series but the only true 10/10 now is super Mario galaxy It is simply out of this world if the alien would have developed a game it is definitely gonna be super Mario galaxy , I salute you miyamoto

  • darkride66 posted Aug 12, 2008 8:46 am PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    darkride66

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 8:46 am PT (hide)

    -Intellectual- said "Do GTA4, MGS4, CoD4 have forge, theater, file share and heat maps ?? the answer is NO."
    I'm sorry, and does anyone care? Personally, I haven't touched forge, theater, file share and heat maps (heat maps? I don't even know what those are.) I just finished the game, played a few Halo online matches. Had 12 year olds scream racist, homophobic slurs at everyone and everything and decided that COD4 was better. I don't even have XBL Gold anymore. Halo was it for me. I vowed that if Halo 3's multiplayer didn't impress me I'd cancel my XBL gold account, and so I did.

  • acsam12304

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 8:23 am PT

    i never heard of " Edge".

    i like GameInformer better then the other mags out there.

  • -Intellectual-

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 8:14 am PT

    In terms of online then Halo 3 deserves it and is BETTER than the rest in that respect. However the single player campaign should have been longer and more epic and that is why I think there were people who were dissappointed.
    Do GTA4, MGS4, CoD4 have forge, theater, file share and heat maps ?? the answer is NO.

  • kos1085

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 8:04 am PT

    I loved Halo 3. I am glad to see it winning awards.

  • submissions72

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 7:31 am PT

    ok

  • Fxdm

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 7:06 am PT

    Wherever there is word about Halo 3 and its greatness, Call of Duty 4 and it's apparent "better-than-Halo-3" greatness is soon to follow...

  • appokalipto

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 6:52 am PT

    they deserve the award, what i dont understand is that, if this really is the best awarding magazine, how come call of duty 4 is not in that list? surely cod4 is with no doubt one of the best shooters ever made, but strangely enough super mario is right on the top..

  • DiabloRaul

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 5:53 am PT

    I agree that Halo 3 deserves this award. Maybe I'm just a noob but I think the Stat tracking is pretty awesome, saving film clips of your favorite battles or accomplishments, High resolution screen shots (I use them for my desktop background), and the overall multiplayer environment have made Halo 3 set bar for what a FPS should really be like. Call of Duty 4 deserves a mention in this also because I think it's actually a better multiplayer then Halo 3 but its not about that. Let's just keep playing and enjoying our games.

  • fishnpeas1

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 5:35 am PT

    Was it only me who is a huge fan of all things Halo but was massively dissapointed in Halo 3, with it making a jump to a new generation of console I was expecting a massive leap in graphics, storytelling and actual innovation. But what I felt it was was Halo 2.5. The storyline totally fizzled out at the end, almost as if they had created so many loose ends they didn't have the slightest idea how to end it. I think the multiplayer, while good, didn't really make much of a leap from H2. Obviously these are just my opinions and should be taken with a pinch of salt, but I would not have scored it over an 8.

  • Irve

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 5:32 am PT

    tigmal :
    your right ... a great experience .. i enjoyed it ... but it didn't change my life or the way i view videogames ... the online part may well do
    Orange box sure it's 3 new games .. but not full games Team fortress , Episode 2 and portal are not in themselves full games .... and don't get me wrong .. i LOVED half life 2 ... i thought the sense of scale it gave you was superb .. and there is nothing wrong with all the parts of the package.
    as i said it's the closest to a 10/10
    if you look at my review scores i don't give many games 10/10
    Edge doesn't underscore games .. it's other mags giving average games 8 out of 10 that make you believe that good games deserve 9 or 10 out of 10

  • tigmal

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 5:05 am PT

    Actually having read the reviews Edge put out for those 10s, I have no doubt that they at least believed them at the time. The idea that any of those 4 games are perfect beggars belief, but Edge was making a point with each of them. If Edge has ever been guilty of anything, it's more likely to be underscoring games than over scoring. Also to Irve: Orange Box was three full games, not just portal. Also if you take Halo 3 without considering the online portion, its like playing Orange Box with TF2, or playing Rock Band on your own. Personally, I played Halo3 offline mostly with friends, and that was a great experience.

  • Irve

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 2:57 am PT

    Wow .. those perfect 10's seem a little ..... questionable
    and no MGS4 is not and will never be a 10/10 game ... it's gaming marmite .. you either love it or hate it .. if you don't get drawn into the story MGS4 is barely an 8/10
    Halo 3 should be an 8/10 if your not into online .. 10/10 if you are so a middle ground mark of 9/10
    Orange box .. portal is more a demo than a game but still pushes this game closest to 10/10 of all the games in my mind

    SMG goes to show that you can make high quality inovative games on the Wii ... 9/10 for sure ... I've not got far in it at all so maybe it does deserve the 10
    GTA4 ... well , i've not played it yet so can't comment .. but there are certainly people out there who question the quality after the hype is gone

  • xbx_family

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 2:51 am PT

    Microsoft is delighted to have another worthy addition to the almost limitless amount of AAA exclusives that only a true gaming console like the Xbox®360 possess.

    Unfortunately I can't say the same thing about the PLAYSTATION® 3 and Wii with their library full of flops that always ends up in last place or completely ignored in any award.

  • lightwarrior179

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 1:46 am PT

    It's kinda comical how PC and console fanboys are fighting.

    I don't know why PC gamers are getting sour over this. Don't they realise that in a year or so,MS will put out Halo 3 on PC as well. It was the same for GTA IV,Gears of War Assassin's Creed and DMC4. When PC gets the ports of nearly most of the top console games,then why should they feel ignored?
    That said,I have to say that most of the console-to-PC ports aren't of extraordinary quality either. I think Halo 3 did innovate,mostly in it's multiplayer component. Halo 3's online mode raised the bar higher than the one set by Halo 2 and has quite easily become the standard by which most of the online modes in FPS will be compared with.
    While most of the gamers consider CoD4's online mode to be superior,I think otherwise. CoD4 had a glitchy online mode with not many interesting features. Halo 3 beat CoD4 in that.

    Edge must have had a tough time deciding this. I mean Galaxy and GTA IV have also innovated a lot according to their respective genres.

  • tawagivercetti

    Posted Aug 12, 2008 12:38 am PT

    GTAIV is far superior, pc fanboys must be jealous because they don't get much news these days and think that people care about their opinions, incase you did'nt notice PCers this news is about excellent games from next-gen consoles, relax

  • ultimategamer31 posted Aug 11, 2008 11:11 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    ultimategamer31

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 11:11 pm PT (hide)

    @ martyr2k6

    anyone who for one second thinks that console gaming beats pc gaming has either

    A.) No brain in their skull or B.) Is a fanboy

    http://www.thecgs.com/index.php?s=forums&d=topic&id=63673

    yeah, it might be a forum talking about adding a game competitivly in cgs, BUT its a good argument on each side.

  • TylrKakarot1 posted Aug 11, 2008 10:32 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    TylrKakarot1

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 10:32 pm PT (hide)

    How in the world did Halo 3 innovate anything? Online is annoying, no option to choose what kind of mode you play when in Lone Wolves, and besides choosing what color your armor is, there's 0 customization online. Halo 2 would get this award, but 3 changed absolutely nothing.

  • martyr2k6

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 10:31 pm PT

    @Inverni:

    You old fart, and the rest of you who are sitting here compairing HALO to other PC titles, need to stop doing so immediately. You are only making yourselves look stupid. Halo 3 was VERY innovative in what all it offered up for CONSOLE users. And from what I have been reading, the award was given to CONSOLE games. It doesn't matter what CS, Quake, Doom, or (my personal favorite) Unreal brought to the table on PC. The conversation was in regards to a CONSOLE GAME. Now that the short rant is done with, Congrats to Bungie and Microsoft for their collaboration to bringing Halo forth to receive it's just awards. I think I am going to start a thread to set things straight for those confused on how different the worlds are between PC and Console gaming... I mean seriously, when was the last time you could go to a game shop and buy a pc game and have it run (without installation) PERFECTLY (the way it was intended to look, sound and play) in ANY configuration of PC?

  • TheArcade

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 10:30 pm PT

    Inverni

    Talk about the irrelevant thumbs up/down system and how much you think Halo 3 didn't earn the award all you want while a huge percentage of the Xbox Live fanbase keeps playing Halo 3.

  • Inverni

    Posted Aug 11, 2008 10:10 pm PT

    Halo 3 did nothing to deserve an innovation award. Everything it has done has been done before. If not by CE or 2, then by a different game in a different series.

    Multiplayer has been superior with servers on PC for a long time already. You can choose which map you want to play, how many people you want to play with, what amount of lag the game has and the exact game you want to join.

    Forge is nothing compared to Quake mods that have been going on for over 11 years now.

    The gameplay is fairly standard as far as FPS games go, absolutely nothing new. Though it does do what it does very smoothly.

    The only thing Halo should get an award for would be revolutionizing console gaming. It