People who buy the game thinking it is an fps make a good case for eugenics.

yeah and it doesn't mean they won't like it... if they are not hardcore... they should be more open to other type of games related to the same universe, not like hardcore than know if they like RTS or not.... look at nintendo... beside the quality they have entire lines of characters and universe they use as a marketing tool for recognition... mario mario kart etc.. yoshi... well you know what I mean... it doesn't make the game bad or unliked because it's differente... and how many people don't like racing games but dig mario kart...
here people will buy not knowing... or just by name recognition, or retained brand customer... they might actually dig a genre they wouldn't have because they gave it a try based on brand name... of what i have tried... the atmosphere halo is kept the scenario is in phase with the rest of the halo brand... you don't need to have played the others to play... or read the books bd or what not... and seems to be a knew kind of RTS concept more suited to console and i'd say more casual friendly too... the aim here is to sell first the game and make people adopt it... nothing wrong with that if it provides... if that's too blame.... every videogame hardware company for consoles at least should be to blame for using that marketing method... nintendo in pole position.... was it bad hell no... videogame is what it is today thank to that in majority... people diging a universe or a character set...

Fat Wall of Text^

I havn't read through the entire thread, but just because we're saying the sales are somewhat boosted from people who don't really research the game, it doesn't mean it's a bad game. Some people just don't like RTS, and some people just purely want an FPS.

Personally I don't want it cause I play PC RTS a lot and feel like Halo Wars is a watered down one since it is suppose to be somewhat of an opener to people to the genre. Not saying it's a bad game as it does wonders for a Console RTS however I have something better suited for me on PC.

Personally I believe many people bought the game knowing it was an RTS and never played one before however are willing to try it. There are many who also bought the game expecting something else and weren't willing to try it. Their loss.

while  not worth full price, spider man for the psp wasn't all bad.

While Twisted metal was the first game I ever got for my psp. That was a mistake.

I actually posted the news item with regards to play statistics from Microsoft to highlight the point that if one or two individuals managed to purchase a game based on a picture/brand only that the vast majority obviously purchased it to play a very (for a console) good RTS.