I've never been a huge fan of the Splinter Cell franchise but I remember when it was a big deal. The Splinter Cell name used to carry enough weight to garner a wave of anticipation rivaling Halo or Call of Duty. Is Splinter Cell still a top-notch game series or has it's influence and popularity waned?  Is there any way Splinter Cell Conviction can be as successful as it's predecessors?

I've never been a huge fan of the Splinter Cell franchise but I remember when it was a big deal. The Splinter Cell name used to carry enough weight to garner a wave of anticipation rivaling Halo or Call of Duty. Is Splinter Cell still a top-notch game series or has it's influence and popularity waned?  Is there any way Splinter Cell Conviction can be as successful as it's predecessors?

The presence of Splinter Cell has waned slightly due to no new titles being released in recent years.  
Conviction should change that, for better or for worse.

It has waned due to Double Agent being ass. But uh... yea, ConViction could certainly be as successful as its predecessors, if it's a great game.

Ive been waiting for this game for a very long time and after playing the demo...... Worth the wait, all of it.  
I don't think it will go to the level of Call of Duty( I mean Really?) or Halo for that matter. 
However i do think it can be successful.
 
 
 
 
 

I have no doubt that Conviction will put the game back up there. It's just that it's been so long and Double Agent, from what I hear, wasn't as good as the others.

Third person stealth games aren't exactly on the same level sales wise as shooters are anyways, but as far as Splinter Cell goes it's definitely still significant in it's own genre as it's ever been. I mean what's the most recent stealth action third person game released? Last good game that was third person was uncharted 2 right? 
 
Double Agent did something that clearly made an impact on Ubisoft, they took exceedingly long developing this game and have re-done it dramatically to make sure they really nail it (without double agent, could conviction have released in it's early 'assassin's crowd' state?). This focus on action and making things just flat out more cool and fun is great, the biggest staple of this genre of games has been pathing AI and the action in this particular game seems to really help that part become a lot more fun.

" The Splinter Cell name used to carry enough weight to garner a wave of anticipation rivaling Halo or Call of Duty. Is Splinter Cell still a top-notch game series or has it's influence and popularity waned?  Is there any way Splinter Cell Conviction can be as successful as it's predecessors? "

Maybe, but I think Batman blew away everything that we knew about Stealth-Action out of the water. And by judging from the demo, I don't think Conviction will be the new Stealth-Action king. Just didn't find it as engaging as Batman.

I think so, but it is far less relevant than it was back in its hay-day. Part of the reason was its failure to evolve to fit modern stealth-action paradigms (even if that was part of the reason that it's one of my all-time favorite franchises), and part of it is due to the (comparatively) massive wait between DA (a game that many people disliked, although I really enjoyed it), and Conviction, which has been delayed so many damn times that I had thought it cancelled.

The fact that Double Agent wasn't quite as good as its predecessors (I still enjoyed it btw), and the long wait for this one has definitely hurt it a bit. There are definitely a lot of people looking forward to this game, keeping the franchise afloat.