That's completely wrong, the vg chartz numbers are reliable.

I have played it. Very good, for a console RTS. No Age of Empires, for obvious reasons.

Now, think. Imagine you are a casual gamer, who is a fan of Halo and FPS. You see a game named... Planet Wars, and it's a strategy game. Would you really buy this?

Now, think. Imagine you are a casual gamer, who is a fan of Mario and platformers. You see a game named...Super Mario Kart, and it's a racing game. Would you really buy this?

My answer: No. This seems like a recipe for disaster.

Well Kantor imagine if you will, this is going to be a bit of a stretch and will take a lot of imagination, but you're a fan of Halo

Ok seriously this is my real point but will also take some thinking out of the box for you but there's a casual gamer. Now he's also a fan of FPS games. He also likes Halo.
Ok that's the easy part, imagine now that he has the capacity to like other games than halo and FPS's?

Just because you don't like Halo and can't understand that someone would doesn't mean you can pigeon hole them like you did.


There are many different types of xbox owners than the FPS crowd you ps fans seem to lower us to. We buy many different types of games as the sales on this site attest to.
Some who doesn't like Halo could buy 'Planet Wars', Hardcore Halo fans could buy it, casual halo fans could buy it. Without halo on it there would be no reason for someone to instantly dismiss it just from looking at the cover and seeing 'Halo' there.

With the "marmite" factor gone it's open to all players to look into and the only prejudice is the fact that RTS's don't work on console remotes. Well with the control system HW has and the buzz around it I see it becoming a very viable gaming option for a lot that would never try a console RTS. Like me. If the controls didn't work I wouldn't have bought it.

So it's gone from regular RTS to very good RTS now (with the obvious put down that I expect from you) and you've played it as well.

It may shock you to know that I am a fan of Halo. I don't love it as much as some people, but I feel the hate it gets is undeserved.

Yes, he can certainly like other genres and series. I chose Halo and FPS because they are the most popular series and genre on the 360 respectively. Now, let's imagine this man is in a store. Here's what he sees:

-Planet Wars, a console RTS. He's never really liked RTS. It looks pretty good, though.

-Call of Duty: World at War. This looks very interesting. It's a shooter. Set in World War II. He's played CoD4 and enjoyed it. He doesn't know who Infinity Ward and Treyarch are, so he doesn't care about that.

Now, imagine for a second, you are this man. Please note, you don't know what a "Metacritic" is, and you think "Ensemble" is a group of instruments playing together. Being a fan of Halo and CoD4 (incidentally, the two best selling 360 games), you figure you would like this game, right?

It would be fantastic if games sold on innovation and quality. They don't. Take the classic examples: Ico. Okami. Psychonauts. Artistic genius, great games, commercial failures. Then, look at NFS: Undercover and Carnival Games. Nothing remotely original, very badly made, and they sell gangbusters. To a lesser extent, Assassin's Creed. Not a bad game, by any stretch of the imagination. But, not fantastic. Not among the best games of 2007. Would anyone disagree with me here: BioShock is better. Uncharted is better. Tools of Destruction is better. CoD4 and Halo were better, and they did outsell it (thank god). BUT, they did not outsell it because they were great games! If Halo 3 was called "Alien Destruction" or something (it's hard to think of a name), it would have sold, on word of mouth, sure. It wouldn't have crossed 10 million, though.

For a game to really sell on word of mouth, it has to be like CoD4. Basically, nothing short of incredible. Tons of replay value. Easy to learn, even for those who don't play FPS. Popular genre. How many of those does Halo Wars have going for it?

Super Mario Kart? Yes. Super Kart? No.

You're taking what I say to extremes. All I am saying is that Halo Wars would not have sold as well as it did without the Halo branding!

I can point you to some FPS on 360 better than Halo 3 that didn't sell as much: CoD4 and BioShock come to mind.

To be honest, I'm not sure I ever had a point. I just had an itch to play word transfer games with you.

I think it was a good decision to brand the game under Halo considering how niche the genre is. That's how a game like Mario Kart becomes what it is. Maybe one day RTS become a hot commodity on consoles and it's Halo Wars that was the kickoff. I don't think much of Natal in the long term, but imagine Halo Wars 2 played through the Natal. Sounds enticing.

For new 360 owners, ODST is a better deal then Halo 3 since it includes all the MP maps. That could drive it's sales long term, or until Halo Reach comes out.

Subjective and not fact. You really do hate Halo don't you?

Halo 3 deserved it's sales.

You really don't seem to like the idea that a new IP which makes a genre previously unaccessible, playable could kick start interest in that genre and rack up big sales. If Halo Wars did use the traditional clumsy controls of previous RTS then I would agree with you whole heartedly.

I wouldn't have bought the game and even the Halo tag wouldn't save it.

I doubt it would have got the sales so quickly without the halo universe but it would have eventually. Remember it's more than a name on the box. It's a continuation of the Halo universe and all the charcters,weapons etc that you can now play and use.

If that guy is in the shop and he was a CoD fan and HW was released why didn't he already have CoD? HW came out 4 months after CoD during a quiet time in the release calender. He would be looking to buy something new and I doubt he buys only FPS. You're selling him short. With the buzz around the revolutionary controls and excellent game design if he knew anything about games he would know about this exclusive. Even if he doesn't want HW there are 22 million other potential buyers. Stop pigeonholing 360 owners and using the PS fanboy nonsence that we only buy shooters and don't like variety.

Sales show that it not true.

If Halo 3 was Alien destruction it wouldn't have sold 10 mil but would have sold millions because Halo 3 is a solid game. Halo 3 is the continuation in a very successful series and Alien Destruction would be a new ip up against CoD and Halo. If Halo 3 was Alien destruction 3 and Halo 1 was Alien destruction 1 etc. then it would sell 10 million.

Assassins creed 1 was an amazing game. Easily one of the best of 2007. My first game I got 1000g, the Parkour (don't know if I've spelled that right) was so much fun.

"Basically, 1. nothing short of incredible. 2. Tons of replay value. 3. Easy to learn, even for those who don't play FPS. 4. Popular genre. How many of those does Halo Wars have going for it?"

1. Yep

2. yep

3. yep

4. yep just not on consoles but like we always hear from PS owners about 360pc exclusives they will get it on their powerful gaming rigs so I'm sure 360 owners also have good gaming rigs and previously have played RTS like C&C.

so all of it.

Also CoD4 didn't just show up and get it's sales through word of mouth. It had 3 well recieved and excellent games to establish itself on. 2 of which were on the 360 and were huge multiplayer games for live. You can still play them today online. I did recently when I was being an achievement whore.