Are you a Halo fan? Have you seen Avatar? You're going to want to pay attention to director James Cameron's response to my question about the influence Aliens had on Halo and vice versa.
One of the common responses to the first trailer for Cameron's Avatar was "whoa, that looks like Halo." Of course, moments later, most people realized Halo was deeply inspired by Cameron's own Aliens and Cameron was simply riffing on a style he invented. Bungie has admitted the influence numerous times.
"The funniest thing is when some of the so-called fanboys get up trashing Avatar for looking too much like Halo," he laughed during a recent interview with me that aired on X-Play. "It's like...pay attention. If I'm referencing anything, I'm referencing the source work for Halo, which is my own stuff. So I get to do that. Nobody else gets to do that, but I get to do that. My rule, anyway."
Based on his response, there's no doubt those comments ruffled Cameron's feathers a bit, but since he was laughing and smiling while describing the influence his movies have had on games like Halo, he seems over it. It's not featured in the X-Play segment (look for the rest of the interview soon), but Cameron also underscored his appreciation for his work entering into the "cultural zeitgeist."
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resister709er
people don't get the fact when he said he used the source work for halo, as in his own work, he was referring to ALIENS. and yes, he may not be responsible for alien 1, but he is responsible for turning the film from a gothic horror film into a combat movie creating a action terror genre as well. he emphasized on the of fact of alien with an 's', ALIENS meaning there was more of them. this was a combat film that many games for the past 20 years had copied, including halo. halo fan boys, get a grip. your newbs to this industry, you probably never had a nes or even Sega. if it wasn't for ALIENS, you fanboys wouldn't have some of the greatest games we have today, including halo.
resister709er
if ALIENS the movie did not exist, halo would not be the game it is today or may not even exist at all. alot of work in halo came from ALIENS, halo fan boys not to stop their bitching. this is the man that created the first military science fiction movie and the first to combine 2 genres of action and terror together.which means if it wasn't for that, you wouldn't have games like doom which was originally suppose to be ALIENS lol. we wouldn't have resident evil, which in theory had very similar traits in terms of concepts, " greedy corporations" umbrella/ vice versa /weyalnd yutani have done work with eggs/ viruses causing infections/impregnation creating biological weapons. umbrella mercenaries/ weyland yutani colonial marines are sent to clean after the company's dirt work. these concepts are identical. the flame thrower in re1-2 is a exact replica of the aliens m240 flame thrower. look up re wikpedia. even contra for nes was guilty in using refrences to ALIENS. dead space? rip off of ALIENS, necromorphs? you mean xenomorphs lol, a machine gun named the pulse rifle? with a built in turret? oh you mean EA combined the sentry guns and the pulse rifle from ALIENS to make dead spaces version? goes to show you, people dont understand how many games and movies for the past 20 years had copied ALIENS. i could keep going with more game lol but i wont. you new kids from this generation need to process that through you thick skulls, this man is the reason why there are military science fiction games, as in not star wars, but believable realistic military games that take place in space, military games that used believable futuristic weapons that shot projectiles rather than foolish laser guns. between military science fiction and survival horror games, without Cameron, the gaming world would not be what it is today. yes, ALIENS had alot to do with it, this particular film had a major impact on the entertainment industry ever since. end of story.
resister709er
if ALIENS the movie did not exist, halo would not be the game it is today or may not even exist at all. alot of work in halo came from ALIENS, halo fan boys not to stop their bitching. this is the man that created the first military science fiction movie and the first to combine 2 genres of action and terror together.which means if it wasn't for that, you wouldn't have games like doom which was originally suppose to be ALIENS lol. we wouldn't have resident evil, which in theory had very similar traits in terms of concepts, " greedy corporations" umbrella/ vice versa /weyalnd yutani have done work with eggs/ viruses causing infections/impregnation creating biological weapons. umbrella mercenaries/ weyland yutani colonial marines are sent to clean after the company's dirt work. these concepts are identical. the flame thrower in re1-2 is a exact replica of the aliens m240 flame thrower. look up re wikpedia. even contra for nes was guilty in using refrences to ALIENS. dead space? rip off of ALIENS, necromorphs? you mean xenomorphs lol, a machine gun named the pulse rifle? with a built in turret? oh you mean EA combined the sentry guns and the pulse rifle from ALIENS to make dead spaces version? goes to show you, people dont understand how many games and movies for the past 20 years had copied ALIENS. i could keep going with more game lol but i wont. you new kids from this generation need to process that through you thick skulls, this man is the reason why there are military science fiction games, as in not star wars, but believable realistic military games that take place in space, military games that used believable futuristic weapons that shot projectiles rather than foolish laser guns. between military science fiction and survival horror games, without Cameron, the gaming world not be what it is today. yes, ALIENS had alot to do with it, this particular film had a major impact on the entertainment industry ever since. end of story.
mastorofpuppetz
Avatar was written and Cameron had the idea long before halo was even made. He just waited until he technology was good enough to make the movie. Geez halo fanboys really are a moronic bunch.
He never STOLE anything from HALO, lmao. Halo owes homeage to many a sci-fi movie and games before it. including to Camerons own. Newsflash, HALO was nothing new or original, it just happened to be the first good xbox game and the first real good FPS ona console, which, at the time were dominated on the PC. Right place, right time, nothing more.
nicddavis
look we have all aways whant a halo movie aveter is good and halo
great so why hate it
GHOSTY009
There is no such thing as an original idea, at least not anymore. I saw the tidbit of this interview and at first I laughed at the silliness of some people and the lack of forethought and research. But rather than simply sling labels and bashings around, I went to the web to do a little research. The definition of true Science Fiction is that it takes technology,occurrences,etc of today and speculates to what heights they may rise. The level of speculation varies and more often then not branches into science fantasy, which would be the realm that Star Wars occupies. The truth is that everyone borrows ideas from everyone else. The vehicles you see in avatar are similar to those found in halo, but you can also see similarities with concept models made my modern aviation companies for prototype vehicles. It would be quite likely that there was an exchange of ideas, or that everyone cited similar source materials. Its not impossible that two completely different people, independent of each other can come up with similar ideas. So in my humble opinion, neither the halo fanboys nor Cameron can really stake claims to anything. What Halo and Cameron DID do however is combine various elements and consistent archetypes to create an entertaining experience for the consumer
The second thing I would like to address would be the negative nancys that were just as quick to leap and bash on the "fanboys" as they were to jump on Cameron for his supposed "ripping off" of halo concepts. If you look very carefully at the stories of Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke you'll see many of the seedlings in both creative IPs, because those two men are credited with creating Sci Fi, just as J.R.R Tolkien is credited with creating the Fantasy genre. I feel the best thing one could say in a case such as this, is simply whether or not you liked or disliked it, and why. When we try to point fingers and connect dots, we may find that they connect to far more than we expected and make us look like fools in the end. Just my opinion anyways.
Full_Metal_Gear
Unfortunately Fanboyism is something that will never cease to amaze me....
daemonbellum
this wouldn't be a problem if the average halo fanboy demographic wasn't 11-13
ridebluemx
looks like there is some James Cameron fanboys in here. lol but on a series note, there is no doubt that they both borrowed from each other. what i really saw was the vehicles in avatar looked pretty close the the vehicles in halo franchise, a lot more then any of the vehicles from aliens to halo. the idea of SciFi marines fighting against alines doesn't belong to one person. and aliens and halo are not the only things to show a bad ass black guy chomping down on a cigar. so what i'm getting at is that Halo and Avatar or just james Cameron's work in general is great stuff. So don't get upset about it there both fake in the end of the day. but also keep in mind that everything gets compared to halo now a days. And anyone here to say halo series and/or avatar is not good is just lying to them selfs trying to be the opposite of everyone else.
UltraViolence74
Avatar stole ideas from a sources - halo is OBVIOUSLY just one.
lifesentences
Fact: half of you are probably the fanboys trying to look smart on the interwebz. Just sayin...
On a somewhat lighter note, if Halo is the first thing that came to ya'lls mind when you saw Avatar, your houses should be sterilized of close-mindedness. Alien people and intense gunplay isn't a Halo trademark. Cameron probably wasn't even thinking of Halo or how smart and original he was when he made Avatar. That's why he got so pissed in the first place. People just like to trash on good movies and make it seem less original than it is. Get out of your houses for something other than food, beer, and video games folks.
Rurouni_Chuwy
As a fan of the Halo series I am absolutely surprised and embarrassed that fans of this series don't know the roots and influences of this series. Cameron you keep on rockin brother.
Hemp316
I think it's funny Cameron-The guy who made the some of the most successful and awesome Movies of all time is getting pissed off over some comments from Halo Nerds.Bottom line-He wrote this Movie WAY before there was A Halo Franchise and granted there are some simularities,but that's it.Cameron-Grow up and Halo Nerds get off of XBL and actually go outside and have some semblance of A life without saying Racial slurs to people you'd have no chance of actually defeating in real life in A real fight-GOD how I hate Halo Nerds...
CodyKsen
Somebody is a fan of a game they will stick up for it till the death no matter how wrong they know they are.
Lumpara
I played Halo for years and the first thing i noticed was that alot of its influence came from the "Aliens" trilogy.All the way from "The Pillar of Autom" to "Sgt.Johnson" to the guns to the vehicals,there is more halo has copyed form that than any fanboy should complain about Avatar doing.
bolo73
Hey Cameron maybe just maybe you should give proper credit to who created the Alien look and by the way it was not you. It was the great Ridley Scott "Blade Runner, Gladiator, Thelma & Louise and many others". The director of Alien 1979. Since after all you directed the second movie not the first.
Halo fansboys rent/buy the first two movies to see where the source for Halo's aliens came from, before opening your mouths about who copied who.
sepharih
I really do find it hysterical that so many people are bashing Halo fans ignorance that Bungie were inspired by Aliens when these same people seem to have absolutely no idea that James Cameron actually had his cast members read "Starship troopers" on set, and borrowed just as many ideas and dialogue from it as Bungie did from him. What is it they say about a glass house?
Honestly, people who shout that James Cameron ripped off Halo, or that James Cameron wrote half of Halo himself might as well play world of Warcraft and start pointing fingers at Lord of the Rings. Space Marines, like Sword and Sorcery, is a sub genre of scifi/fantasy. No body has sole claim to it.
Kennedy
Seens to me that even though there is some Aliens inspiration in Halo, Avatar borrows much more from Halo than Halo did from the Alien franchise.
brokeheart
It's funny reading these comments because i am thirteen and know all about aliens (which is one of my favorite movies) and I can tell you, you are all right about those kids who don't know about aliens, because I am forced to be around them and I know.
sousamagic
The whole scifi world comes from starwars and george lucas, who was first inspired by gene roddenberry's startrek
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