Three is the Magic Number...Or is it?

Brace yourself it’s a Chris post-

Three is the magic number, or so they say. But why, oh why, oh why is it? I see nothing special in the number three- now I know what everyone is gonna say- and YES- I can sing the song from “Schoolhouse Rock.” No, it doesn’t explain to me more about why, WHY 3? 4 seems just as good as three- in fact I would argue four is superior- squares- the ABSOLUTELY MOST BEAUTIFUL shape in the world of geometry is 4. 4 isn’t a jerk, it isn’t a prime number, it isn’t haughty, it is meek and just there- but I digress.

I’m writing to complain about the abuse of the number 3. Not just abuse, but excessive overuse. It seems to me that the media (that nebulous cloud that we can all shake a fist at and whine about) has really latched onto the idea of three- more specifically trilogies. Now don’t get me wrong- before you read this, then post to the comments about how great trilogies are, you should know that I agree that trilogies have a place some of the best things ever came in trilogies- Star Wars (I’ll explain how there is only 1 trilogy later), LoTR books (yes I know “Hobbit” and “Silmarillion”), Shannara books (originals again people), even Indiana Jones (again I am aware of the 4^th coming out- see also the Star Wars argument). However, as I stated from the get-go I am SICK and TIRED of THREES. Why is it that we feel that if we could make 1-2 superior items we decide to instead make 3 mediocres. Case in point- this little video game that dropped a couple weeks ago called Halo 3. Now for those of you who may not know it I am a video gamer. I have been since the golden era of Atari 2600, through the trough that is the TI99, onto the greatness that IS (still is) Nintendo NES, Sega Genesis/CD, PS, PS2, and now the great two Wii and Xbox 360- not to mention the Nintendo Gameboy, GBA, GBA-SP, DS, and the PSP. Oh yeah and I have a computer and maybe 40 or so games for that too (for those of you who are bored see the flowing link to My Games). So when I say I’m a gamer I can also say I have some credentials to back it up. Now back to the issues at hand: So why am I mad at Halo and games/media in general? Because you are sucking the goodness out of the products you’re shoving down our throats. I don’t mind being told how great something is and how much I should want this (apparently 3.5+ million others don’t either- b/c that’s how many copies of Halo sold in just the first week it was out in September). What I do mind is the fact that it’s not a complete game- yeah, I mean there are a start and a finish but WHY couldn’t you have just wrapped it up with Halo 2? The campaigns aren’t long enough to say that people wouldn’t finish them both (sub 20 hours for both combined? C’mon) but instead they decided to milk the Trilogy cow to get extra cash. Another perfect case: There some company called Silicon Knights they make good games (albeit slowly) they have decided to make a game- instead they change their mind and decide to make 3 games- extending the content of one to make 3 by padding it – now the games will only be the length of about 1 ½ games, but they’ll spread it out. Making people pay ~$180 to finish one game’s worth of stuff.

I’m not saying I want long games, heck I can’t finish them usually if they top 20 hours (Dang ADHD) but I want GOOD GAMES. My budget is tight if I save up I want a Full Game not ½ of a game that will now be spread into a trilogy. Another case in point I read today of a company (EA) that came up with a new IP (intellectual property- READ: New Story with New Characters). They decided that even though the first game is a year from done that they’re gonna make it a trilogy- they’re already starting the sequel to a game that isn’t even ½ way done! Why do you think I want to buy a TRILOGY!!!

Sad part is it isn’t just games. There was a series of books I wanted to start reading a year or so ago. I was all excited when I heard that there was only one book – a solo book in a confined world- no sequel, in fact the ending didn’t lend to a sequel. Sweet, a good read that I can just leave. No sooner had I started to look for it when I read that, a la soap operas, the main character wasn’t really dead and would be coming back for- you guessed it, 2 MORE BOOKS! WHY!?!

I feel that by allowing ourselves to buy into this whole trilogy crap we accept incomplete and substandard work/entertainment. As long as we say it’s OK to get three so/so somethings because in the end that is as good as one great something it’s worth it. I say NO. I say that we should demand GOOD and GREAT not mediocre.

Now I know that I am as guilty as anyone of buying into trilogies: Heck I was raised on Star Wars and Indiana Jones (BTW- the whole second SW trilogy (the prequels)- that was a marketing scam, yeah I like the story but give me books and let me imagine (then Jar-Jar doesn’t have to be so annoying). I like the new movies but they are NOT THE SW Trilogy. And IJ? Well Harrison Ford is too old to count as Indy anymore, he looks and sounds like Dr. Jones, Sr. now!), but as excited as I get at the thought of going to see a new Indy movie at the theater I then stop and realize that, oh yeah, this is gonna ruin some of the great memories I have of childhood and those awesome movies that I LOVE. No new trilogy is ever gonna live up to the one that we grew up with. It’s called Reality.

In closing I should note the irony of this post- yes, it is the Third Post on our Blog, yes, I am a jerk and seem hypocritical in that I love trilogies and whine in the same breath, and lastly yes, I own way too many video games. But if you don’t like it LEAVE NOW. It’s my blog (when Alicia’s not looking ;) ) and I can say whatever I want and be as two-faced as I like (so long as Alicia says so ;) ) . So until next time, enjoy those one-hit wonders.