I don't know why this got under my skin, but it did, so I'm just going to go with it.

In a Reuters article that reads more like a Microsoft press release, we find this sentence:

Hailed by some as the "Star Wars" for Generation Xbox, the "Halo" franchise has spawned a mini-empire of licensed toys, clothing and tie-ins.

What in the world? Who is hailing Halo as the next Star Wars? And, for goodness sake, Generation Xbox? Why does Microsoft suddenly get the rights to stamp their brand on an entire generation?

I'm as big of a Halo fan as the next guy, and it is a terribly successful brand, but Star Wars? Yeah. Talk to me when kids are toting around Master Chief carrying cases to safely transport all of their Halo action figures, the way kids did in the 80s with the Darth Vader carrying case.



Interestingly enough, the guy who wrote this "article" has the last name "Hillis". I find this strikingly similar to Hillys, the name of the people in the 2003 Xbox title Beyond Good & Evil. In BG&E the Hillys had their life force sucked out and/or had spores inserted into their brains that made them unknowingly work for the evil DomZ. You don't suppose Microsoft spored Hillis, hence the article/press release, do you? Sure, it's a stretch, but so is comparing the success of Halo to that of Star Wars.