If the sales are good, they will come.

Oh and almost forgot: Halo series IS god.

Comparing it to the other RTS demos, mostly DoW, WC3, etc., it's very lacking. WC3 got a 90 from Gamestop, this game doesn't even come up to the ankles of what WC3 is and you expect a higher score?

I wasn't expecting Halo Wars to be getting higher scores than what it is.  I have said all along the game will be in the 80-85 range. And it is.

I have played the final game - reviewed it and loved it. Let me ask you this - how well do RTS games sell? Are they hits?

According to the info on this site, most RTS games on consoles sell like 500,000 on average. They aren't huge successes. To get a much larger crowd, Ensemble went a different route, watered the game down far enough that casual RTS fans would be pleased and non-RTS fans would give this game a look-see. What makes Halo Wars unique is - it caters to 3 fans - the Halo fanboys, the casual RTS fans and folks who enjoyed the demo who don't play RTS games on consoles.

For the future, making RTS games on consoles will yield good returns. Unlike PC games that go cheap way fast, a very good console game will retain its value for much, much longer (COD4 on the 360 says hello).

I do predict meh sales initially, but it will build up a head of steam and be a huge, huge seller for MS, even without bundling.

Word of mouth and a simpler RTS experience will sell this game.

Halo 3 is an FPS - Halo Wars is an RTS. Big difference. And not trying to defend Halo Wars, but Gamespot is one review site. For me, they've always been hit or miss. The person reviewing it doesn't like RTS games and doomed it from the start. While he had some valid points, he still missed key factors making this game a winner.

BTW, have you played the demo?

Starcraft and Brood Wars have sold more than Halo 3.  Please try again.

Are they on the 360 or PS3? If you want to compare PC games to console games, me thinks you are in the wrong thread.

I also forgot to address your EXTREMELY wrong view of how log games retian their values. Starcraft STILL sells and you can STILL see it in the cheap bins. The legs of PC games are far far longer than any console game. COD4 is still a child compared to how well some PC games are still selling.

Also, when you compare a game you compare it to all games in its genre, and in this case Halo Wars falls flat on its face. Kudos on at least being playable.

My only 'concern' with this review is that I really do not think it was a fair review. Looking at Gamespots reviews of other console RTS games :

http://www.gamespot.com/reviews.html?platform=1029&category=Real-Time+Strategy&type=reviews&mode=top&sort=post_date&sortdir=asc

Only Supreme Commander and Warhammer got worse scores mainly because of bad controls. Their review of Halo Wars would suggest that it is significantly worse than all the Command and Conquer games, worse than Lord of the rings, battlestation midway and endwar. In actual fact they gave Tiberium Wars a 8.7. I have played CC:TW and it is a good game, but if I compare the demo of Halo Wars to CC:TW in no way is there a 8.7 : 6.5 difference. Thats equivalent to the difference between Haze and Killzone2.

And to those that are griping about not playing the other factions, I agree that it is not 'traditional' gameplay, but what is wrong playing something a little different? Why do we 'have to' play the flood and Covenant in the campaign? I am all about getting more story, but I am all about kicking the covenant and the flood's assess all over the maps.

I didn't think the game would do so well. I'm actually surprised! If it grabs great sales, perhaps we'll see developers bring over more RTS goodness that actually works.

Even though I'm not into Halo, I really want to see for myself how the controls handle.