In yet another example of Halo becoming so cool that the only way to make yourself look cooler in comparison is to dump on it, Steve Tilly at the Edmonton Sun drops this pearl of wisdom: Halo 2 is the #4 most overhyped game ever, just ahead of Daikatana:

One of my biggest regrets as a so-called professional game reviewer is giving Halo 2 a five-star review in 2004. But journalists are human too, and like so many others I got caught up in the tornado of hype surrounding Master Chief's triumphant return to the Xbox.

First-- you gotta be kidding me. More overhyped than Daikatana? Halo 2 was more overhyped than a game Romero advertised by promising to make fans "his bitch" and in the end delivered only schizophrenic level design, robotic frogs, and a helpless, stereotypical sidekick? More over-hyped than that?

Secondly, you should stand by what you write. If you'd predicted Halo 2 would be the best game ever before you played it and then got a chance to admit you were wrong later, that's one thing. Admitting that you got "caught up" in the hype and gave a game a rank it didn't deserve is something else entirely. It's just as likely that right now you're caught up in a backlash against Halo. How can anyone tell?

Call them like you see them-- and stick by what you've said. All else is pretense.

Thanks to chewpathingy for the heads-up in the HBO forum.