So I just got out of the shower, in other words, I just got done meditating, and a thought occurred to me. I have seen more and more games nowadays become more and more cinematic — that is, movie-like; limiting control and presenting narrative through in game cut-scenes. But that was not the interesting part. Many have noticed this transition, but I started to think about the WHY?
Thinking about the evolution of video games into interactive movies I only had my own experiences to go off of. I’m going to do some brief research on this development, but a hunch tells me that Halo was involved. To me it appears that, while it was definitely not the first video game to have in-game cut-scenes — even the original Perfect Dark for the Nintendo 64 had some — Halo: Combat Evolved brought the formula for a narrative driven shooter to the modern audience, an audience who loved the beautiful look of more polygons, richer textures and the increased availability of memory for cinematic dialogue.
Like I said it’s just a hunch. I really want to look further into this but I may not have time or I may just give up. If I do I’ll let you know what I’ll find.