First of all, since your article was suggesting reasons why America embraced Master Chief, my post responded to those reasons. So I never made mention of his popularity in other countries because it was irrelevant. However, if I may do so now, I’d like to point out that Halo 2 had half the attach rate outside of America than it did in America. So while it was still popular (20% of XBOX owners had it outside the US) it was not as popular. And I doubt its popularity in other countries had anything to do with the fact that Master Chief was a soldier and the game came out after 9/11, or that it was made in America and backed by MS…they likely played Halo 2 just because it was a good game.

And as far as your Academy Awards vs. BAFTA point, note that the US has 5 times the population of Great Britain and probably many more TVs per capita. That might account for viewership size differences right there.

Just trying to stomp out some of the “RAH, RAH AMERICA!” flames you were setting… But I’m bored now so I suppose I’m finished.

I’ve been a hardcore fan of FPS since DOOM in the 90’s, got addicted to team based games with TeamFotressClassic, and bought an xbox after playing Halo CE the day after thanksgiving in Electronics Boutique while Christmas shopping.
Halo is a great game, and it could only have been developed in America, where the ‘little guy’ (he IS only an enlisted rank) and ‘underdog’ ( there is only one SPARTAN left) are embraced with open arms because of American values.
The U.S. has long been known as the ‘land of opportunity’, where the common man can rise from nothing to mind-numbing heights of accomplishment through hard work and perseverance. (see Bill Gates, the richest colledge drop-out in America, 59 Billion at last count)

and about the MC being ‘pasty white” it says in “the Flood” it’s from constantly wearing his helmet, and never seeing the light of day without it on.

Nowhere in the article does it say Halo is popular ONLY in America. I’m just pointing out why it’s such a big smash in the US of A, and like it or not, the USA is the most powerful cultural leader in the world (thanks to Hollywood.)That’s not to say its original (many of the best US sitcoms, for instance, are adaptation of Brit sitcoms), but the distribution power and influence is unmatched. One need only to see how many people watch the Academy Awards and how many watch the BAFTA Awards as a comparison.

But hey, you go on mixing politics with a video game. LOL

The books in terms of American perception are completely unrelated. Do you think the Star Wars books are in the public consciousness, too? Heck, even KOTOR has no bearing on the Star Wars icon in public consciousness.

This is image, not backstory.