Win the "Dead Space: Downfall" animated DVD

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I guess I'm going for those brevity bonus points when I say modern day tie-ins just don't do it for me - Snake jammin' on an iPod in Metal Gear, Neo giving a bullet-time beating to a Powerade machine in Enter the Matrix, Master Chief chugging Halo-branded Mountain Dew.

It's as subtle as Bigfoot mowin' the lawn in a prom dress.

That and the fact that we all know the best video-game tie came in 1990 with the release of Michael Jackson's Moonwalker for the Sega Genesis.

It was so much more than a tie in, more like a window into the singer's tortured psyche! I mean, were the developers inspired by prophetic visions of the future - the goal of the game is finding children for goodness sakes! And it's got Michael Jackson's beating up gangsters with the power of dance! And with the help of his simian sidekick, Bubbles, he transformed into a laser-shooting robot! And after he destroys Mr. Big's deadly doomsday weapon and reduces his fortress to a pile of smoking rubble, he turns into a spaceship! A. SPACE. SHIP.

He's bad. He's bad. You know it.

Three words: i love bees! I'm referring to the alternate reality game that preceeded the launch of Halo 2. A commercial for Halo 2, briefly flashed that near submliminal message on the screen. Halo fanatics then followed the bees message to an unassuming beekeeping website that appeared to suffer from an unexplainable malfuntion. Later, we learned that a mysterious rampant artifical inteligence from the future was reaching out across time and space to communicate with us. Various puzzles and coded messages were posted on the bees site. When decrypted, the messages revealed a date, a time and the GPS coordinates of a pay phone. Gamers who made it to the phone, at that day and time, received further instructions. The net result of these puzzles, riddles and mysteries was the unlocking of snipets of audio that, when coallated in the right order, composed a 8 hour radio drama!

I never played the game or tried to solve any of the puzzles but I did listen to the radio drama. It was a fantastic epic, set on Earth in the Halo universe, in the days leading up to the Covenant invasion. There were 5 or 6 main characters, each with a separate plotline. I won't list them all here. Needless to say, it was cool! You can still find the audio files out on the interwebs.

As a gamer, I've experienced many a tie-in with some of my favorite titles over the years. Most were shameless and insipid, but as a huge Halo fan I have really come to appreciate the book series, as you have mentioned here. Halo was one of the first FPSs that enticed me to truly care about the characters involved. I had just gotten my first gaming PC around the time the first iteration was released, and it was an enormous to-do. Halo can be called many things: ignorant, simple, and overdone, but its story has captured the hearts of many of its fans. Master Chief/John 117 was the faceless hero of the Earth, and this allowed players to feel that sort of connection that one rarely feels in FPSs. Even though he had a voice, it was very easy to feel that you were indeed taking the role of a supersoldier whom everyone depended on.

Halo has always been rich in terms of story, at that. From the backstory of the Covenant, the Forerunners, and even the intricate relationships involving Captain Keyes, Sgt. Johnson, and even Cortana's creator (Dr. Halsey) to the swirling mythology and care and thought that went into crafting a universe that not only was fun to play video games in, but it was fun to read about. The original trilogy of Halo novels were big--not because they carried the Halo name, but they explained, laid out, and expanded upon concepts seen in the games. As far as I am aware, the Halo novels are some of the only FPS novels that go so far as to explain every bit of history involved with the canon.

For instance, the first novel in the first trilogy, The Fall of Reach explored the events leading up to what was to occur in Halo. It is here that we discover why John-117 was indeed given the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer: he possessed a special gene that made him eligible to become a SPARTAN. It is a rich and intricate yarn spun by loving hands, that actually gives gamers a feeling of purpose. When you are given this type and caliber of information about a video game, it is hard to consider what you're playing "just a game" anymore, as you are part of an active mythology that a team of creative people worked long hours to create, just for you.

The novels have done an excellent job of chronicling the Halo universe in a fun, streamlined way that feels more like you're a SPARTAN yourself, reading history books of an old war that the legendary Master Chief fought in. For gamers, I consider the Halo novels recommended reading. Rather than being a mindless killing machine, Chief has a story. The Covenant even has a story, and so do the supporting characters.

I am looking forward to the next novel in the series, The Cole Protocol. Each new entry sheds more light on the Halo universe, and I couldn't be happier. Frankly, I'd enjoy my games more if their histories and universes were as descripted and as thoughtfully planned out as demonstrated with the Halo novel series.

With that said, I would very much like to view Dead Space: Downfall, because after playing through almost half of the game, I am filled with a myriad of questions that I am hoping that the film may answer. With that said, thanks for reading. My email address is sleptintoday@aim.com.