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[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

I was just thinking at how much traction and genuinely positive responses the Brute/Craig memes have been getting lately. It seems like it started out as a mean spirited meme but then it suddenly became a humorous and wholesome meme as of today.

To the point where 343i studios are telling fans of the Halo franchise to look forward to either Brute/Craig Easter eggs or even an entire storyline surrounding the character.

Halo Infinite Is Officially Leaning Into the 'Craig' Brute Meme

Halo Infinite creators 343 Industries is fully embracing the Craig meme; a major departure on how Xbox handles PR issues ahead of Xbox Series X.

www.dualshockers.com

So GAF, did the Brute/Craig Halo memes soften the blowback that Xbox and 343i received over the past few days?

343i Studios at the moment:

 

[BrentonB]

You've got to laugh to keep from crying, right? Good on them for having a sense of humor about it.

 

[Portugeezer]

You've got laugh to keep from crying, right?

 

[killatopak]

It’s definitely a lot better than just pointlessly trying to explain everything wrong about the demo.

I just hope whatever issue the game has is fixed by release.

 

[Psykodad]

At best, it spread word about Halo's laughable graphics on social media.

 

[Elcid]

No, because I’m not buying an Xbox or Halo Infinite BECAUSE of the poor showing. I will buy MCC on PC though next time it’s on sale.

 

[ZehDon]

I don't think soften is necessarily the right word. It gave disappointed fans a visible outlet that wasn't just... death threats to 343i employees on social media. Perhaps that was enough.

At the end of the day, the entire internet brutally mocked their years-in-the-making-game endlessly, and picked it apart to nothing but bones in minutes after showing off the gameplay for the first time. Media and fans alike have gone as far as to say that 343i's failure to deliver calls into question the validity of the entire Xbox Series X platform itself. People are calling for delays, and firings. It doesn't matter how funny a meme is, or how thick skinned you are, or how ready for feedback you think you might be - that level of backlash has got to cut deep for people who've invested years of their career into delivering what they hope fans will love.

343i have only one option to respond: make a truly amazing game that's so damn good it silences their critics. Anything else is just PR spin and smoke.

 

[killatopak]

343i have only one option to respond: make a truly amazing game that's so damn good it silences their critics. Anything else is just PR spin and smoke.

Gonna be extremely hard.

I’m not even talking about their capability of making a great game but the time it takes to right their ship.

By the time they make another game, it’ll be what 5, 6, 7 years? They do need to support Infinite still via updates they promised such as raytracing. That’s 5 years having the reputation of fucking up Halo and XSX capability. 343 is supposed to be THE premier Xbox studio. Really the only studio you can reliably trust is Turn10 and Playground.

 

[Monkeygourmet]

 

[anothertech]

Seriously doubt it softened the blow.

If anything, Craig has ripped the souls from the poor dudes in charge of Xbox marketing and is cementing their worst fears in avoiding 2013 like fiasco.

 

[TBiddy]

343i have only one option to respond: make a truly amazing game that's so damn good it silences their critics. Anything else is just PR spin and smoke.

We all know, that no matter how good the game is at launch, a certain group of fanatics will do their very best to downplay it. It happened with TLOU2 and it will happen with Halo. Quite obvious, even on this forum.

 

[jigglet]

OP you better hope you're right. The alternative is them sitting there thinking smugly "those smart asses don't know what they're talking about, we're on the right track".

They could very well think they're right and no course correction is needed, and the internet is simply being trivial. It's entirely possible.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

Craig should be Microsoft’s new mascot.

 

[ZywyPL]

Craig should be Microsoft’s new mascot.

 

[ZehDon]

Gonna be extremely hard...

That's putting it mildly. Let's be honest: had 343i shown this off last year, they'd have had nearly 18 months to take on board player feedback. But, they decided to show it off for the first time just four months before release. The only thing they can change at this point is the Brute's face. Given Microsoft was showing off trailers for games that are three years away, that says a lot about the state of the game last year, if it wasn't ready to show. With that said: never underestimate the motivating power of pure, unmitigated desperation.

We all know, that no matter how good the game is at launch, a certain group of fanatics will do their very best to downplay it. It happened with TLOU2 and it will happen with Halo. Quite obvious, even on this forum.

If the gameplay, story, writing, and multiplayer are perfect - and I don't mean the nonsense that people shovel with TLOUII, I mean the true platform defining gaming perfection that happens once a generation, like Halo 1, Resident Evil 4, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 - they'll win over the staunchest of critics, because those kinds of games do. The question is: can 343i actually deliver it? Based on how wrong they've gotten virtually every aspect of the visual presentation of Infinite, how wrong they got everything about Halo 5... I'm not gonna hold my breath. I want them to succeed, I really do, but I simply think that level of quality is just beyond them. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[hyperbertha]

Honestly looks like they are trying hard to reperspective the whole thing as something of endearment. Working harder to improve the game is NOT the message i am getting from their responses. And if you check twitter pretty much 100 percent of the comments are in support of them. So I get the feeling a lot of these morons are actually using the meme from an endearment perspective. Remember - twitter standards for games <<<< Neogaf standards. And twitter is the louder platform.

 

[JonnyMP3]

You either roll with it or get wound up by it.
343 could have spent time furiously trying to cover it up or make up lots more excuses, like Fanboys.
But they're owning it rather than resisting which helps towards earning goodwill back for fans after the Infinite trailer.

 

[Stiflers Mom]

You either roll with it or get wound up by it.
343 could have spent time furiously trying to cover it up or make up lots more excuses, like Fanboys.
But they're owning it rather than resisting which helps towards earning goodwill back for fans after the Infinite trailer.

This.

And I hope Brute Craig gets his own story line after this.

 

[TBiddy]

If the gameplay, story, writing, and multiplayer are perfect - and I don't mean the nonsense that people shovel with TLOUII, I mean the true platform defining gaming perfection that happens once a generation, like Halo 1, Resident Evil 4, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 - they'll win over the staunchest of critics, because those kinds of games do. The question is: can 343i actually deliver it? Based on how wrong they've gotten virtually every aspect of the visual presentation of Infinite, how wrong they got everything about Halo 5... I'm not gonna hold my breath. I want them to succeed, I really do, but I simply think that level of quality is just beyond them. I hope I'm wrong.

I agree. It's unlikely that 343 will be able to deliver that.

 

[The Cartographer]

Only if you use their designed name
Call the brute Halo monke/monky and watch 343 seethe with anger.

 

[T-Cake]

Craig will become the new mascot for Xbox and Halo. Forget Master Chief. It'll be Craig that is stamped on the Xbox Series S/X motherboards.

 

[GymWolf]

Craig has already more charm and charisma in one screenshot than master chief in 3924737495 games, fight me.

 

[IncognitoPanda]

The problem is that 343i is a terribly run company based on its own employees' statements. Communication within is atrocious, their tech and tools are horrendous, and leadership doesn't care about its employees or understand the product. If you want a disheartening read go to https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/343-Industries-Reviews-E564375.htm and start reading som reviews.
The company seems severely mismanaged, as it has mismanaged the Halo IP from the start.

 

[Bar81]

The problem is that 343i is a terribly run company based on its own employees' statements. Communication within is atrocious, their tech and tools are horrendous, and leadership doesn't care about its employees or understand the product. If you want a disheartening read go to https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/343-Industries-Reviews-E564375.htm and start reading som reviews.
The company seems severely mismanaged, as it has mismanaged the Halo IP from the start.

Wow. Thanks for the link. It's scary how many mentions there are of a bad engine/tech - although it's not clear that all the mentions are Infinite vs MCC. That doesn't bode well for 343 being able to fix the graphical issues we saw in the demo. Having said that, I just find all of this really strange. Halo 4 looked really good to me and Infinite looks like they decided that the best idea they have atm is just to copy the art direction of the original Halo whose style was heavily derived from the power limitations of the original Xbox. I wonder if the current visual style is solely the result of bad artistic direction or is a result of technical issues trying for what appears to be an overly ambitious resolution/framerate.

In any case, I'm not holding out much hope at this point unless the RT patch they're talking about includes lighting and not just reflections - that won't make up for the bad artistic direction but should at least make the game look more like a next gen game. If so, that might salvage this effort visually but I expect that 343 will have to back off of 4k/60fps which given how bad it looks now, is probably for the best.

 

[diffusionx]

The memes are hilarious, but hilarious memes don't change the fact that your lead game, that you are using to launch a brand new console, is now a joke.

 

[dilbag]

I love the memes, but so far at least they are not trying to strike down peoples channels down over memes like ND did with the last of us 2.

with that said I love my memes and with the last of us 2 memes dying out I am glad to see another game take its place.

 

[Vawn]

That's the plan. Try to get people to call him Craig so it sounds like people are laughing with them and not at them.

Let's change his name to Aaron.

 

[T-Cake]

Let's change his name to Aaron.

I think someone already suggested Brian the Brute and that's way funnier.

 

[Raimond]

Can anyone point me to how he got named Craig?

 

[R3claimer117]

The memes are hilarious, but hilarious memes don't change the fact that your lead game, that you are using to launch a brand new console, is now a joke.

This joke will still be one of the best selling games of the year when it launches so I’m sure Microsoft will be laughing all the way to bank.

 

[brian0057]

People will still bitch and moan about the graphics regardless.
At least it proved that 343 has a sense of humour unlike the people that take video games way too seriously to the point of throwing a fit over the textures on a assauld rifle.

 

[EverydayBeast]

343 is making Halo into a factor.

 

[mckmas8808]

At best, it spread word about Halo's laughable graphics on social media.

THIS!

 

[Fbh]

It's cool that they embraced it instead of trying to ignore it, trying to take it down or having some sort of knee jerk reaction to it.

But I'm not sure having having the entire gaming community collectively making fun of the visuals in your next gen launch title can ever be seen as a good thing