XBox was always known as "the Halo console" and little more. With no Halo game debuting on the 360 in its first 22 months, and sales still matching XBox despite a much higher price, as well as the surprise massive success of Gears of War, and the coming release of GTA4, it seems 360 will dodge that label.

With Halo 3's release less than 4 months away, hype should be bubbling up right now, ready to explode bigger and bigger each week in September, leading to one of the biggest debuts for a game in history. Instead, we're hearing rather mixed reviews about the Halo 3 beta.

Despite their Halo-free success so far, Microsoft obviously wanted 2007 to be "the year of Halo." They wanted Halo to be the strongest exclusive on any system, period, and be the absolute defining game of 2007. In fact, Halo IS probably the most-discussed game of the year within gaming circles, but since the beta started, not all the talk is hype. Some of it is negative. I haven't played the beta and never played either of the first two games extensively, so I can't judge if the negative reactions are justified--and they are far from being in the majority anyways. And I understand that there are legitimate reasons this beta is hugely useful to developers in improving the game. But does it matter? By allowing this mass-scale public testing of the game before launch, have Microsoft allowed the luster to wear off even before the game is released, to the extent that it will affect sales?

How much does it hurt Microsoft if Halo doesn't feel like #1 game of the year period, but just feels like one of many massive releases? Hype for games like GTA, Mario, Smash Bros., and even the likes of Rock Band and MGS, can only grow as we approach the holiday season. Halo cannot exactly be brushed to the wayside, but on the other hand, it can't really put up Halo 2-type launch numbers with <60% of the install base and twice the price threshold. ANY negative reactions to the game could be damaging, especially when coming so far before launch week, when hype should be loud enough to drown out doubts. Bottom line: was releasing a mass-scale public beta for Halo 3 a big mistake?

4 Million copies already reserved at Gamestop/Ebgames alone.

 I think that says it all right there, and we still have 4 months to go.

The 4 million pre-orders is speculation, at this point. I hear mixed reviews of the Beta. From people who love Halo, they are in love with the Beta and can't wait to play the campaign, which Halo Devs have said will look better. From people who aren't really impressed with Halo and were expecting a huge "next-gen" graphical update, I hear mumblings of disappointment. There's no doubt in my mind that Halo 3 will move a good number of systems in September NPD, as well as October for GTAIV. As always, the disappointed ones are more vocal than those who are pleased.

I wonder about these pre-orders. GoW2 had over a million pre-orders, yet it has only sold around one million. Pokemon D/P had only a half million pre-orders, but has sold almost 2.4 million. 

So it seems pre-order numbers are completely worthless.

I absolutley think that it was a mistake on Microsoft's part. It is kinda like if your parents let you take a peak at one of your Chrsitmas presents early. Sure it may be something that you have wanted forever and are finally getting, but the suprise and wonder that was surrounding that wrapped box under the CHristmas tree will be lost...... I have never played a Halo game, and don't plan on it anytime soon. I think NIntendo and Sony should use this negative (niche) criticism to their advantage and release one of their big AAA titles within days of Halo3. Nintendo and the Wii did a good launching right behind the PS3 even stealing a lot of its thunder. I think Nintendo, if they are really intent on releasing their big three before the end of the year, should launch Super Smash Bros. Brawl that same week, if not day......... The Wii userbase by that time will be almost equal to that of the 360 and there will be way less competition on the Wii for games as there is going to be on 360...... Just an idea

The 4million preorders was an official announcement by Gamestop/Ebgames

I think releasing Gears of War before Halo3 was the mistake. It seems not even Microsoft expected Gears of War to look as good as it does. Now even Halo3 pales in comparison.

I think it was a great idea. The only people who are in the beta are people who like halo. Period. Maybe a few guys who wanted to try it out because they bought crackdown. No out of the crowd guy bought a xbox just to get in the beta (and if they did it did the same job as halo 3 would have) Because of all this the devs can make the game better they can listean to their fanatics and give them what they want, they can fix and solve problems that might have been plauging the game. Then when the casual gamer comes along they can have all the fun in the world. "It is kinda like if your parents let you take a peak at one of your Chrsitmas presents early. Sure it may be something that you have wanted forever and are finally getting, but the suprise and wonder that was surrounding that wrapped box under the CHristmas tree will be lost......" Well I tend to think of it like another person in your family opened it and rewrapped it and made it better and funner.

The beta itself was a fairly good idea because it sold a lot of Crackdowns.