What?  For the past year and a half all we've heard from the Sony camp is how M$ doesn't have any big exclusives and Sony is the best because they have more 1st party titles.  Now M$ goes and locks up one of their former 3rd party exclusive series for good after rumors had been swirling about Gears going multiplatform for month, and many on the Sony side act like it's not a big deal, when you know if this went the other way for M$ and they lost this series they'd be all over it.

LOl, just stop.

Umm how does this change anything? Gears was always exclusive. Compare sony's first party output to MS, there is a big advantage for sony, that's just a fact. Until MS can consistently put out good first party games it will be that way. That doesn't mean Xbox has no games obviously it does, but it is a lot more third party. You are taking this way too serious, and sound defensive.

That's a silly theory. By that logic, GT5 sold 5 million units when it launched on the PS3 which had sold 50 million units at the time. GT6 only sold 1.8 million units launching on a console that has sold more than 80 million units. Are you gonna claim Gran Turismo is a franchise with extremely serious decline since it sold so much less than its predeccesor even though the install base of the PS3 is more than 1.5x larger now? Are you gonna compare attach rates as well? 

Also don't compare Halo 3's sales to Halo 4. Halo 3 has been on sale for 6 years, and has been sold with lots of bundles. If we compare Halo 3 and 4's sales for the same time frame, then Halo 4 sold more. 

Actually Halo 4 is on track to sell more than Halo 3

Okay long post time.

Black Tusk made what, nothing so far, nothing purchasable anyway, and we're instantly running with the idea that the next gears is going to not only beat the previous game but do so by a sizable margin?

Has anyone actually heard of objectivity?, when 343 took the reins of Halo, many were doubtful, many had their reservations, yet 343 were able to release a solid Halo game that sold and continues to sell extremely well.

That fact is however, down to the quality of the finished product and while some ardent fanboys may say "well it was bound to sell even if it sucked, its halo after all", while that may well account for a few thousand purchases at best it doesnt account for the rest of them, but the point here is that we largely base our attitudes towards the studio on the quality of the released product, as such would it not be wise to look forward with anticipation and not get ahead out ourselves and neglect any doubt what so ever?, support then by all means but keep a lid on that enthusiasm, as for all we know Black Tusks first game could be a steaming pile.

It goes beyond studios that are new too, Sony fans are proclaiming Uncharted 4 to be the second coming of christ with nothing more than a non-gameplay teaser, what happened to forming opinions based on facts, or in this case, tangible evidence that something is worth it's praise and adoration.

I am quietly anticipating Uncharted 4 but I'll save my "excitement" for a point when the game is in a state where you can actually, physically, visually guage if they have accomplished another tidy game, sure their last game TLOU was a very good game but as many studios have proved over the years, releasing a good game, or a steady flow of good games, does not instantly gurantee that future releases of the same franchise or new IPs will instantly be successful hits too.

This whole trend of banking on companies and being so bitter towards each other based purely on the console youve chosen to buy is pathetic and frankly needs to stop, if a game not being release on another platform to you is a reason to be happy, then it doesn't say much for your personality or lifestyle, if your instant response to finding out a game or franchise is skipping your platform, either temporarilly or permanently, is to shit on it and claim you're happy it wont, then you need to stop sucking on those lemons and take a few steps back from your gaming life.

If a game is coming out, wether if its for your console, someone elses console or everyones console, IF it's good, be happy that a good game has been released, after all, the only thing stopping you from getting to play it is a few hundred dollars and your pride, but for many of you, the pride is a harder obstacle to overcome than the pricetag.

Neither of those statements are necessarily true. One could argue that Halo isn't as good without Bungie but that is really a matter of personal taste and nostalgia more than anything else. However, Halo is not anywhere close to 10 times as popular as Gears is, it's far less than that.

Heh heh another strange and unexpected twist in the console wars. I have to say I am enjoying it.

If you go by vgChartz, the franchise sold a consistant 6 mill besides from judgement which was a spin off.  If you ask me, thats a pretty sizable chunk of people.  I am sure if Black Tusk makes a good Gears game, it will continue to sell around 6 mill.