Master Chief would be proud

ROCHESTER, N.Y. Attention Halo Nation, Halo: Combat Evolved is in the World Video Game Hall of Fame.

The science fiction shooter game that enthralled a legion of fans after its 2001 launch with the Xbox system is one of four games to be inducted into the hall this week. Donkey Kong, Pokemon Red and Green and Street Fighter II round out the young hall’s third class of honorees.

All will be on permanent display at The Strong museum in Rochester, where the hall of fame was established in 2015 to recognize an industry that the Entertainment Software Association said generated $30.4 billion in revenue in the U.S. last year.

“Until Halo’s launch, the most successful shooters required a personal computer and the precision offered by a high-quality mouse,” said Strong Associate Curator Shannon Symonds. “Halo proved a console could be just as effective, if not better, than a PC.”

More than half of the Microsoft Xbox consoles initially sold included the launch game and players gave it high marks for its intricate storyline, characters like Master Chief and multi-player capability. The self-described Halo Nation of fans that emerged bought up six million copies, along with sequels, spinoffs, books and action figures.

An international committee of video game scholars and journalists chose the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s class of 2017 from among 12 finalists that also included: Final Fantasy VII, Microsoft Windows Solitaire, Mortal Kombat, Myst, Portal, Resident Evil, Tomb Raider and Wii Sports.