Robust online features help edge out GTA IV, Portal and others.

At the Edinburgh Interactive Festival today, Bungie beat competitors such as Nintendo and Rockstar to win the Edge Award For Interactive Innovation for Halo 3.

We hand out this accolade to the title released in the last 12 months that does most to further the creative culture of gaming – in other words, to mark out new directions for the form.

This year’s Edge Award For Interactive Innovation was a closely fought affair, Bungie proving victorious in a shortlist that also included Grand Theft Auto IV, Portal, Rock Band, Super Mario Galaxy and Wii Fit.

Ultimately it is the integration and coherence of Halo 3’s online content that makes the game stand apart. From its Theater mode to Forge, and the way a party playing through Live can seamlessly manoeuvre between them, here is an experience that demonstrates an unparalleled understanding of the potential for console online play. Outside of the game, Bungie.net has been engineered to become a remarkable resource for Halo 3 stats and communities, providing life for the game even when your Xbox 360 is switched off. Halo 3, just as Halo 2 did before it, presents a roadmap for the way online will be integrated in videogames in the coming years.

In the light of its incredible success and the number of fans it has attracted, it’s easy to overlook all of the ideas that are present in Halo 3 and the remarkably robust manner in which they are implemented, but we hope that this award serves to help credit Bungie for its achievements. Naturally, congratulations also go to the makers of the games that also made the shortlist.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/halo-3-scoops-edge-award-interactive-innovation

Edge award? LOLzzzz

Portal, Galaxy, Rock Band, and Wii Fit should be way ahead of it, possibly tied for first.

EDIT: Nevermind, Rock Band is a distant 4th.  I forgot it was in Japanese arcades forever and the only innovation of Rock Band was bringing it stateside.

Halo 3 is a distant 5th.

GTA4 is a distant 6th.



These people on crack.

@ Rubang It is a very good game imo and deserves the award.
It was my first halo experience and imo lived up to the hype.
Obviously people more keyed in also thought the same.

It's official, over-hyping an average game gets rewarded.

Trolling much?  Many could said the same thing about MGS4 or GTA4.

The game got the award for "interactive" innovation.  The ability to record, edit and then share your Halo 3 game session easily is what got them that award.  If you have play Halo 3 and used that function you would understand but then it is easier to troll and hate.  Bungie also have great implementation of on-line gaming with easy matchmaking, friends, lobby system etc. 

There are definitely flaws in Halo 3 but when it comes to on-line play and implementation it is by far one of the best for console gaming.   Compare Halo 3 on-line experience to MGS 4 and then tell me Halo 3 is not deserving this award.

If this was Halo 2, I would seriously question their judgment.
But because of Forge, Theater etc. I can see their reasoning (though they still don't deserve to win over Nintendo.)

Remember that this is the award for INTERACTIVE INNOVATION, not best game.

I could understand this. It does have many innovative ideas, for online anyway. MGS4 and GTAIV are more of the same, as it seemed, they just implemented more of the same rather then new things.

I understand why they could give it to Halo 3... until I saw the other nominees. I mean it definetly enhanced gameplay and online play but seriously what some of the other games definetly were more innovative in interaction. I guess it could have been worse and given to GTA IV.

Congrats though despite my disagreements.

Glad some people  can give credit where it's due.