doug - Do you realize that for any given genre - racing, platformer, music, RTS, and so on, it's usually not the #1 seller that is the 'best'?
I mean, Goldeneye was definitely not the best shooter when it came out. But it sold massive numbers because it was more than the sum of it's parts - it caught fire and became a great social game that everyone wanted to play their friends at. Same went for Pong, The Sims, World of Warcraft, and many more.
I am well beyond being pro-Halo in any respect. I prefer Call of Duty for FPSes. But I see why people like Halo: It's accessible, well-known, very polished, few flaws, and works great. It's not as flashy as other games, but isn't weak in any one area. Does that make it bad? No, not really. It just happens to be popular. You can't deride that or be apologetic. It is what it is. And as much as I'd prefer to see other FPSes get more sales (although Modern Warfare got the sales it did indeed deserve) it's good to see that at least one quality game had fantastic sales.
Back from the dead, I'm afraid.
