Master Chief: The savior of all mankind.

No, we're not talking about Jesus or some other divine being being behind the costume. We're talking about how Microsoft tried to portray Master Chief in building the hype for Halo 3 beyond just the gamers, but to the mainstream media and culture as well. Without making him look like some reckless cowboy, they plastered pictures of Master Chief everywhere they could to get him recognized - magazines, Internet sites, television commercials, probably even billboards, even though I personally have never seen Chief on one. For the full story on their Halo 3 story, check out the source.

Microsoft knew Halo 3 could be big, bigger than gaming itself. As West says, it "wasn't about video games, wasn't about video games press," but the franchise had to become part of pop culture. "You have to be very articulate about the tactics."

West talks about showcase cover stories that were beyond the games press. "We needed a Wired cover, we needed a Time cover." The team also set popular culture goals, or benchmarks to see "if we were moving into the pop culture."

Chais via gamedaily.com »