Halo Killer. WoW killer. If you have a First Person Shooter, you want to be a Halo Killer. If you have an MMORPG, you want to be a World of Warcraft Killer. Overtaking these games becomes an end unto itself, but not for the reasons of simple sales. Of course, the games that usually must be “killed” are often not the objectively best games, but are often games that have defined themselves as the standard that all games must measure up to.

Games like Halo and World of Warcraft cannot be killed in a conventional sense. With both games around 10 million sales, the sheer logistics of trying to outsell them is laughable at best. The real power lies in their ability to extend past the realm of video games and branch out into mainstream culture. In essence, any game that kills Halo would take its place in all of the news media and high school lunchroom discussions.

Through this, it’s easy to realize that these games can only be “killed” if their place in the culture is either superseded or invalidated by another game. Age of Conan hoped to invalidate World of Warcraft’s spot with much beefier combat and graphics array. It’s goal was to highlight the fact that Warcraft’s point and click combat and cartoony graphics were not what gamers wanted. Perhaps they would have succeeded if their game was no so barren and buggy.

Killzone 2 is undoubtedly attempting to supersede Halo’s position by focusing more on class-based combat, better graphics and a less arcadey feel to combat. Rather than be confrontational like AoC, Killzone presents itself as an evolution in the genre, rather than what it should have been. Although Killzone 2 will have high sales, the chances of it being a Halo killer with Halo Wars coming around the corner is highly unlikely. When it comes to First Person Shooter’s as well, there should always be a market for both heavily realistic games as well as more arcade-oriented games.

One of the more frustrating things about games that need to be “killed” is the fact they are often the successful amalgamation of several things already established in the gaming industry. Practically none of Halo or World of Warcraft’s features are “new”, but the fact that they integrate them all so successfully helps make them rampantly popular, even to the point where people don’t even acknowledge the contributions made by the games they are borrowing from. This may lead some to wish the worst for the series as their favorite game was probably forgotten in the process, or they may feel that the game accentuates the wrong aspects of the games it is emulating.

A perfect example of this would be another Blizzard franchise: Starcraft. While I won’t name names or sling mud, it must be especially painful for fans of a certain game *COUGH* DAWN OF WAR *COUGH* to hear that their game is ripping off Starcraft when in fact the opposite is the case. This goes to show the power of a game that must be “killed”.

One must also keep in mind that the chance to “kill” a game is pretty rare seeing as killable games are so rare in and of themselves. Other than games like Halo, World of Warcraft and Starcraft, there aren’t many other games to kill. These games also tend to be within a few certain genres. After all, it’s not often one hears about a “Bejeweled” killer or a “Mechwarrior” killer. Only a few genres have the power to jump into the mainstream to such an incredible extent. This of course isn’t to say that Bejeweled or games like it aren’t popular, but the violent metaphor tends to lend itself more accurately to violent games.

Will we ever see a Halo or WoW killer? Highly likely. As times and events change, so to do tastes. That being said, it is clear that the creators of these games have been given the mandate to dictate the tastes of gamers for years to come. Ultimately, this forces both the original company and other companies to step their proverbial and literal games up in order to meet the challenge. Most games will fail, others will succeed in their own right, and maybe, just maybe, we will get a game that does finally make a killing blow. Suffice it to say, this game will probably kick ass and you should be glad the game that came before it existed in order to stimulate its arrival.