Gaming History You Should Know – History of Halo 2’s I Love Bees Campaign November 28, 2020

Hope you guys enjoyed your Thanksgiving Holiday and welcome back to today’s featured article of Gaming History You Should Know. As we head into the weekend, I wanted to bring your attention to one of the most well-known and fondly remembered pieces of gaming marketing in the history of the entire video game industry. It all started with a strange website.

In 2004, Halo 2 was gearing up for a November release. A sequel to the Xbox launch title Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2 was one of the most anticipated games of all time. In fact, I remembered being blown out of my seat when I watched the game’s live demo at E3 2003. I had played the original game on the PC when it rereleased in 2003, but with no indication it’s sequel would ever see a PC release, I decided to buy the Xbox console just so I could play it when it first launched.

A few months before the game launched, a commercial for the game began to be shown at movie theaters across the US. While this would be considered no big deal nowadays, it was a huge deal at the time. When the video was finally put online, viewers worldwide noticed something weird in its last second. A strange site, ilovebees dot com, was superimposed over the official Xbox website for about a second at the end of the video. People who visited the site found a odd blog about beekeeping which looked like its HTML code was badly in need of maintenance.

What was the ilovebees site? It was actually a new type of game, dubbed the ARG, for Alternate Reality Game. But what was the game’s purpose and how did it tie into Halo 2’s marketing campaign? YouTube Channel Rocket Sloth is a Halo archivist and historian. A lot of his videos have either proven, debunked or exclusively solved some of the biggest mysteries in the history of the Halo franchise. Today, we’re going to be highlighting his incredible documentary on Halo 2’s I Love Bees event. Bees, my god.

Halo 2 is out now for the Xbox and PC. It is part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection on Xbox One, PC, and Xbox Series X/S.

Gaming History You Should Know – The McDonalds DS Training Cartridge November 27, 2020

Welcome back to Gaming History You Should Know, where we highlight some of the biggest independently produced content about the history of gaming. I told you guys that our article on Wednesday would not be the only burger-themed article we would be talking about this holiday weekend, and today’s featured article should not disappoint.

Everyone should be familiar with the fast-food restaurant McDonalds. Love it or hate it, it is one of the biggest companies worldwide, with billions of dollars in sales from burgers, fries, sodas and chicken. I’m sure everyone reading this article has eaten food from them at least once, or at least fondly remembers the fact they offered free Nintendo Zone WiFi service for Nintendo 3DS units at around the same time they improved their coffee. After I got my very first Nintendo 3DS XL, I remember actually making many trips there to download the latest exclusive Nintendo content, and swap StreetPass data with the location’s previous users. It was a great time to be a Nintendo handheld gamer.

McDonalds employs thousands of people, and as such has to create new ways to keep employees refreshed on working procedures. But what is the best way to train employees in today’s day and age? Most companies use textbooks and training videos, McDonalds Japan decided to create a video game. The platform? The Nintendo DS, the biggest selling handheld console of all time. The method? An exclusive McDonalds training cart that was distributed to a very select group of employees.

Many people believe this exclusive DS game did not exist, despite the fact a major news organization did a piece about it. However, given the recent dissolution of the Nintendo DS platform, many believed if a training cart ever existed the copies would’ve likely been lost or destroyed by now. Now is the time for me to introduce our hero.

Nick Robinson created an incredible documentary that is being talked about non stop all over the internet. It details his search for the elusive McDonalds Japan training cartridge. This is no easy feat, due to the global pandemic, international travel, as well as importing/exporting international goods, have almost entirely ceased. Join him as he tries to obtain this elusive game and his quest to unlock the game’s data. I believe this video is so well made it is worth being shown as an episode of NOVA on PBS.

Next time, we will be highlighting another special marketing event. You could say, this was Microsoft’s first attempt at something on the scale of Quantum Burger. The only difference is, MANY people fondly remember this event, and there is a feature-length documentary about it. We will talk about that tomorrow.

Gaming History You Should Know – The History of Pikachu in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade November 26, 2020

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Welcome back to Gaming History You Should Know! I know I promised you guys a burger themed history video yesterday, but I happened to find this incredible video earlier today and had to share it with you all.

The Pokémon franchise has endured for nearly twenty-five years. It has had ups and downs over the years but is currently seeing a second Renaissance of popularity thanks to the incredible success of games like Pokémon Go and Pokémon Sword and Shield. You already know its most popular mascot, the adorable Pokémon Pikachu, has appeared in spin-off games, toys of all sorts, and even feature films but did you know Pikachu has appeared in homes every Thanksgiving for the past twenty years?

Department store Macy’s is one of the biggest retail conglomerates in the United States, and for as long as I can remember, they’ve held a yearly parade every Thanksgiving Day featuring floats, balloons, and musical performances by Broadway cast and marching bands from all over the country. Many of these balloons and floats feature the biggest franchises of the time, and as of today the biggest franchise of the past twenty years, Pokémon and its mascot Pikachu, has made an appearance at the parade every year for the past twenty years.

Today, we will be featuring YouTube Channel PatMac, which did a fantastic history video on the history of Pikachu’s appearance in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I can’t imagine a better video to watch in anticipation for Turkey dinner than this.

As someone who has been watching the Thanksgiving Parade this morning I can assure you Pikachu was in attendance, marking his twentieth year of appearance. I can’t find video of the appearance online just yet, but from the looks of it, his Thanksgiving reveal just may be the kick off of Pokémon’s 25th anniversary celebration! Stay tuned here if more details are coming!

Pokémon games are available on many platforms including the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, DS, 3DS, Switch and smart devices.

Gaming History You Should Know – Quantum Break’s Quantum Burger Event November 25, 2020

Welcome back to Gaming History You Should Know, where we highlight some of the greatest independently produced documentaries about the history of gaming. I know it isn’t Sunday, but my fellow countrymen will be enjoying a feast during a national holiday tomorrow and we decided to spend this extended weekend that otherwise wouldn’t see too much gaming news spreading the word about gaming history.

Today, we will be doing something a little different. The event we will be discussing was in fact so little known, up until this time no documentaries have been produced about it. That means I’ll be talking about it myself, which would be a lot easier if I had actually attended and participated in it myself…but I didn’t, despite the fact I wish I had. With that all out of the way, let’s get started. No pressure, right?

Quantum Break was the first video game announced for the Xbox One. It was not a launch title, in fact I don’t believe it was released until about three years after the console came out, but it was a big reason why I picked up the Xbox One console at launch. Developed by Remedy and published by Microsoft, Quantum Break was a third-person action game which had an in-depth story sprinkled with a four-episode television show.

As Quantum Break prepared to launch in early-2016, Microsoft planned their major marketing push. In the US, we got a live-action trailer that occasionally aired on television (of a scene that doesn’t take place in the game). As far as I know, that is pretty much all we got. However, North of the border, in the land of Canada, Microsoft Canada started a major marketing push.

Microsoft Canada’s plan was to bring a piece of the game into the real world. A burger venue in Toronto would be used as a facade, and people who stepped inside of it would literally step inside the world of Quantum Break. The venue was called Quantum Burger, and from afar to the unknowing eye it probably looked like a regular burger joint. However, we gamers knew better. The venue would appear to be trapped in a stutter of time, what the game referred to as a “Zero State” event, and from the way the venue was arranged it appeared the stutter took place during a robbery. Links to websites and even Xbox Live codes were strewn all over the location, rewarding people for checking it out in person.

Unfortunately, an independent documentary about the event was never produced. Maybe it’s too early for something like that to happen, very few people talk about the greatness that is Quantum Break on Xbox One and even most die hard fans of the game I’ve talked to are completely unaware this event ever happened. CG Magazine did a fantastic write up about the event and you can read it here. As far as I know, only two independently produced videos which photographed the venue actually exist, and neither one of them has drawn a lot of traffic up to this point. The first was done by CG Magazine and I recommend checking it out first.

The second appears to have been done by a fan who visited the location, Keotaro. It is without a doubt my favorite video of the event, the music used fits the clips really well, and the editing was interesting. If there’s just one video you would watch of this whole event, this is the one you would watch.

Unfortunately, since the event was held in real life in only one location, in a country I didn’t even live in, I was unable to visit the venue myself or participate in the event personally. To their credit, Xbox Canada did their own official post-event video, and you can watch it here.

Ironically enough, this is not the only burger themed history article I could write about. Stay tuned for tomorrow when we bring even more gaming history you should know! Until then, stay safe.

Quantum Break is out now for the Xbox One and PC.