Halo 3: ODST Sells 2.5 Million Since Launch

[scotth266]

Sorry I didn't actively fellate Bungie in the process. My jaw hurts.

Nobody's asking you to fellate Bungie. Hell, people don't even mind it when opinions are included in News articles, as long as they tend to be after the actual "news" part. You, on the other hand, have this is the opening paragraph:

to the extent that even entries originally planned as expansion packs and later rejiggered in an effort to gouge fans for cash can move obscene numbers of units with little effort (and an ad campaign that seems to say "you're going to buy the game anyway, so we aren't even going to try").

Which is two opinions in the main body of the story. I mean, even if you did that unintentionally, you've got to recognize that those ARE fightin' words, and people WILL take them as such.

I certainly don't think I got a rejiggered expansion pack that gouged me for my money, and I actually found the commercials to be brilliant: especially since they show how a movie set in the Haloverse could actually be possible. I respect your opinion to believe otherwise, but passing that in the main body of a news story as part of the story is, as Steve put it, not doing justice to the Escapist's journalistic standards. I've seen opinions in news stories that I don't necessarily believe in, but they're always ATTACHED to the story in question, and clearly labeled as opinions.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Dead Space had a animated movie, a comic book, a live action movie (planned at least), a prequel/spinoff, it probably had action figures, and it DEFINITELY has a sequel on the way. All of that is for a 3rd-party franchise. The amount of content being pushed for Halo is fairly normal for the industry, to be honest.

 

[Earnest Cavalli]

I certainly don't think I got a rejiggered expansion pack that gouged me for my money

Well that's great, but doesn't change the game's actual, verified development history, in which it started as an expansion pack and was rejiggered prior to release expressly so it could be launched as a completely separate game with a $60 price tag.

And what does Dead Space being exploited to a huge degree have to do with any of this? Am I wearing a Dead Space shirt? Am I employed by EA?

I think I'm almost more offended at the bizarre arguments you hyper-defensive Halo fans are throwing at me than with the allegations that I'm somehow trying to single-handedly bring down Microsoft's gaming empire. Feel free to call me a hack writer, but don't try to disassemble things I've said with debate skills that would shame a dachsund.

 

[Amnestic]

Am I wearing a Dead Space shirt?

I don't know, are you wearing a Dead Space shirt?

 

[Griphphin]

Personally, I like the books and Halo's canon so a few more games that flesh out the story from an interactive perspective wouldn't be too bad as far as I'm concerned. What I didn't like about what Bungie did with ODST is they propped it up with so many things that weren't ODST, as if they didn't have confidence in the game in its own right.
Bungie included:
Halo 3's multiplayer
3 exclusive(for the time being anyway) maps for Halo 3
Making recon attainable if you get ODST
Halo:Reach beta code

To me anyway, it just felt as though Bungie didn't think that the game couldn't stand on its own. I've been to a friends house and played it a good bit, and I can say that though it's not worth $60 for me, it's still a good game. No matchmaking for campaign or firefight is a bit of a con for me, though :[

 

[scotth266]

Feel free to call me a hack writer, but don't try to disassemble things I've said with debate skills that would shame a dachsund.

Well, thanks for being all mature about this.I was just trying to point out why people were getting upset, and you insult me for it? Thanks a ton.

The "gouged me for my money part" was more important than the "rejiggered expansion pack" part, and even for that group of words, aren't there better words you could have used, like reworked?

And the Dead Space bit was demonstrating how this behavior:

but to see them actually listed in one article nearly left me stunned at the sheer audacity Microsoft exhibits by pushing its biggest brand this hard.

On Microsoft's part is completely ordinary for the industry in general.

I wasn't trying to insult you or anything, I certainly didn't call you a hack writer: I was just trying to point out that you're coming off as more than a bit militant within the main body of the news story, which isn't the way reporting, even editorial reporting, works. It's always story first, personal opinions second: but here you've mashed the two together and your piece is the lesser for it.

 

[z121231211]

I certainly don't think I got a rejiggered expansion pack that gouged me for my money

Well that's great, but doesn't change the game's actual, verified development history, in which it started as an expansion pack and was rejiggered prior to release expressly so it could be launched as a completely separate game with a $60 price tag.

An opinion based on fact is still an opinion.