Bungie and Microsoft

[Akihito]

I love their new market strategy; Market a widely sucessful and fun game then market the same game 2 years later for full price.

Before the fanboys reply with reasons straight out of Microsofts e3 conference and no real personal opinions they've come up with on their own, consider this. Halo 3 has always been about the multiplayer. When I asked someone whats so great about ODST he said it was the Story. I asked what multiplayer changes they made, he said 3 maps. So I humored him and said Halo 3 story mode was lame and he told me the Multiplayer more then made up for it, confirming my original thoughts on the Halo games. Now call me confused but isnt why he loves Halo and why hes buying ODST contradict eachother? Its not even a full story and if your done with it your left with the same thing Halo 3 really was.

I could understand it if you released ODST as an expansion off XBL for 20 bux or so but 59.99$ American? Thats just taking money from your fanboys. If you love Halo 3 you probably already have it; and sunken the money into the map packs so why would you want to re-buy the same Multiplayer maps? Even their new mode "Firefight" isnt in matchmaking.

ODST isnt a bad idea but 59.99$ American? really? I wonder if Gears of War will re-release next year for full price with an extra chapter.

[Volcompat321]

I always hated Halo.
When I got my Xbox, I didn't even bother to buy Halo 3...I sold my Xbox, so I wont be playing Halo ODST.

[amtalx]

I don't play Halo 3 multiplayer, and had originally planned to get it solely for the campaign. Firefight just ended up being a bonus.

Anyway, I read an article about how MS botched the marketing earlier today. Essentially it said that touting ODST as an expansion to be sold at a bargain price was a huge mistake. If MS had come out of the gate and said "this is a $60 game" and never mentioned the word 'expansion' I get the feeling people wouldn't be complaining so much. The ODST package has enough around content to carry a $60 price tag, but the sudden change in tune is what put everyone off. No one likes being told they are getting something for $40 and then later being told "its $60 now because we...uhh, put more stuff in". I've heard the campaign is short, and if that's true than a bit of crying is certainly in order. However, this is only exacerbated by the fact that MS has essentially said they are selling an expansion at the same price as a full retail release. The perception of being fleeced goes a long way. Bungie probably had very little to do with the price point. Since MS is the publisher, they make the financial decisions.

That said, I'm probably somewhere in the middle of the campaign and I'm really enjoying it. I know I'm missing tons of stuff, but I will most likely go back on a harder difficulty and grab the stuff I missed.

[Outrider]

Having not played ODST yet (though it's sitting next to me at my desk), I will say that something people have a hard time understanding is that length =/= worth.

Now, I'm not saying ODST is going to be excellent - I have some serious reservations going into it - but I would gladly pay $60 for an excellent 6-hour game than pay $60 for a passable 60-hour game.

The example I always give is Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. That game is pretty much just a single-player campaign without any replay value. It was so good (and still was, last time I played it), that when I finished the game at around 12-13 hours, I immediately started it up again without getting out of my seat. I didn't regret it at all.

A good game has legs, while a bad game doesn't. It's always an issue of quality over quantity. It's as simple as that.

[joefro]

I don't know why people are saying ODST is so short. I've been playing it since 9:00 AM and I'm only half way through. It's an open world game with lots of places to explore and then there's the audio collectibles. The audio collectible things(?) are amazing, the story is really cool. This game is definitely worth $60 and I'm basing that on only playing the campaign, I haven't even touched firefight yet. Even if Bungie didn't set the price, they have every right to charge 60 bucks for their games. ODST runs really smoothly and is extremely polished. Its rare to play a game on launch day and not make a list of bugs or glitches that need fixing.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I'll also never understand why people think that Halo games don't have a good story. I really have no idea. All three games have had amazing campaigns/storyline.

[amtalx]

Its rare to play a game on launch day and not make a list of bugs or glitches that need fixing.

I found a place where you can sink into the map while I was fleeing from a Wraith. :p That's incredibly trivial though. Everything else has the same level of polish you'd expect from a Bungie release.

[Nitro Vordex]

People still play Halo?

[Retehi]

People still play Halo?

People still make dumb comments like this?

[SStrikerR]

People still make dumb comments like this?

People still reply to jokes in a serious way?

[Nitro Vordex]

People still make dumb comments like this?
Do half the people in Rants know what a dumb comment is?

[SStrikerR]

Do half the people in Rants know what a dumb comment is?

Do people realize that 99% of rants is dumb?

[Zimbabwe]

Halo 3 ODST's campaign is too large to be a downloadable expansion.
The content you're getting packaged with ODST is well worth the $60 if not even more.
ODST's campaign is probably done better and much more fleshed out than original Halo 3's somewhat dissapointing Campaign.
Halo 3 took about 3 years I believe to make. In these 3 years they had to develop a new engine (which I hear was the longest and most tedious part of the game developing process), create a campaign, and make a very fresh, deep multiplayer that could be played for hours and hours without getting old. Especially with certain weapon tweaks and map geometry, the multiplayer aspect really had to be thought out rather than just slapped on.
Anyway, this was all done in 3 years. That's quite a lot they were able to squeeze in so little time, IMO. Halo 3 ODST took 14 months to make. Now, they already said they had the engine all they needed to do now was make the campaign, which made the development process a lot more fluid and faster.
Three downloadable map packs have been released for Halo 3 all of which cost $10 when first released. (I think the first one if free now. idk, I got all of them when they first came out)
Halo 3 ODST comes packaged with 2 discs. One being a more complete campaign than Halo 3's and one having the full multiplayer experience as Halo 3's except with $30 worth of previously released DLC maps included, PLUS another 3 maps (which is worth $10) also being packed exclusively with it. So that's already $40 worth of extra maps being packed with the REST of the older maps that came out on day one AND a new full campaign which will probably be better than the original. All packed together for only $60.
I think the price is reasonable and anyone who missed out on Halo 3 back then or still doesn't have it will definitely get more than their money's worth with this package.
Only problem is that most of the people buying ODST are the Halo fans who already spent money on that content. That's the only issue. You're buying shit you've probably already spent about $30 on. wtf.

[Nitro Vordex]

Do people realize that 99% of rants is dumb?
The 1% are people who don't post.

[Mike]

Did anyone else think this was going to turn in to a question only thread?

[Nitro Vordex]

Did you?

[Mike]

Isn't ranting completly in questions more entertaining than not?