One of the best marketing strategies of game developers is making physical, tangible things inspired by elements from their virtual worlds. Sometimes, the result comes in the form of action figures, other times as a real life Halo Warthog vehicle.
Halo already is one of the most popular video games in the world, but the move made by its developer, 343 Industries, of commissioning a real life Halo Warthog will certainly attract even more players. For the ones who don’t know yet, 343 Industries is Microsoft’s subsidiary responsible with the development of games from the Halo franchise.
Aria Group, the developer of the new Halo Warthog, is a company specialized in designing replica vehicles for Hollywood flicks. I mentioned “new Warthog” as this is not the first vehicle from the Halo universe to be commissioned by Microsoft. In fact, the Redmond software giant asked SFX company WETA to create a Warthog, a few years ago. It should be noted that the previous model was fully functional, as well.
If I had to use only one word to describe the new Halo Warthog, it would certainly be “massive”. This giant vehicle measures 8 feet in height, 8 feet in width and more than 17 feet in length. The new Warthog is built on a Hummer H1 platform. Frank O’Connor, franchise development director at 343 Industries, declared: “We really just wanted to build something that people could literally see and touch and reach out and enjoy.” In other words, this means that 343 Industries intends to exhibit this vehicle somewhere where the Halo fans could actually touch it.
A bit over a year ago, Halo fans launched Operation Chastity in order to raise funds for creating a real life Warthog. Microsoft and Aria Group might not intend mass-producing this vehicle, but this does not mean that they haven’t tried to make the dreams of their fans come true.
On a side note, Electronic Arts included links to guns manufacturers on the Medal of Honor website. The players could not only browse, but also buy real guns, so the online media took EA by storm and determined it to cut gun maker promotion on the site. What I’m trying to say is that the heavy machine gun featured on the new Halo Warthog had better be a mock-up. A real, working gun, could generate yet another scandal, and Microsoft certainly does not need or want that.
If you liked this post, please check these Halo RC vehicles and the Halo clay figures.
