Simply Genius

I tend to get all misty-eyed and excited when talking about consumer co-creation, but this takes my enthusiasm through the stratosphere. I'm talking about a Halo talk show.

You know Halo, right? The mega-blockbuster X-Box game from Bungie that is by far the best-selling game for Microsoft's franchise. Over $165 million worth of Halo 2 games were snatched up over a two-day period when it was released, making it bigger than the time Titanic opened to the tune of about $100 million over a long weekend.

The talk show -- called This Spartan Life -- is a machinima idea. This is not a talk show about Halo. It is a talk show that uses the Halo characters. More appropriately, it is a talk show that takes place inside the multiplayer game, using the X-Box Live feature to conduct interviews with guests.

In other words, while other players are in the game playing, a number of people are using the Halo characters to conduct an interview talk show, complete with an in-game DJ and a pair of easy-going hosts. Halo has, in essence, become a TV channel-like medium. It has been "taken-over" to allow users to disseminate information and attract an audience -- inside the game itself.

If I'm not making any sense, here's a better explanation.

Thanks to Craig Silverman -- he of Regret the Error fame -- for bringing this to our attention.

Check out an interview here.