Okay, first I should make this statement. I’m NOT fan of CoD in any way. I have personal reason that are due mostly to my real-life combat experience while in the military. Halo is a Sci-Fi shooter that I can easily separate from reality. Beyond this, CoD has stolen away some of my closest gamer friends, so I’m a bit bias against it for that too.
I don’t know much about the game mechanics of CoD. That’s not what this article is about. Rather it’s about the dollars each franchise is pulling in and what Halo can do about it.
There is one sure-fire way for CoD to get less money and in return make Halo’s numbers look better. It would be a drastic move that Microsoft is not likely to make even though it desperately wants Halo to be king again.
Here’s my thought. I’d love to see Microsoft drop CoD from the console. One less console to compete for Halo dollars. Yeah, it would piss a lot of people off, but it would also drastically reduce that competition too. We know that won’t happen though. Much as it would help Halo, it would hurt MS’s sales and other developers would become scared that if their respective titles got too popular and started to overshadow Halo in players/dollars made, that MS would drop them too.
Still, it’s a thought.
Honestly, I think Halo only being available on XBOX is the ONLY thing keeping it from being king again. When we compare numbers/dollars between CoD and Halo, we should ONLY be counting them on the XBOX and not overall since CoD is available on other consoles and Halo isn’t.
Still, a Cod-less XBOX would be a dream for me. Then those guys I used to game with would either have to go to another console or come back to Halo. Most who don’t have another console wouldn’t want to buy another one, so Halo would likely pick up more players again.
Separate from this, I do think it’s brilliant strategy for Halo 4 to be coming out just before the next CoD game before the holidays. That’s going to make a lot of parents decide for their kids and older gamers make a decision between the two. Hopefully, Halo is picked more (and in greater numbers) due to this.
I know the topic of CoD Vs. Halo can be a hot one between fans of one or the other or both franchises. It’s something that has brought me frustration in a very real way on more than one occasion. I suppose it won’t go away either.
For me, I’m all about Sci-Fi. If I wanted real life combat, I’d rejoin the military. I commend those folks in the armed services for they are my brothers and sisters. I just don’t want to “play” as them. I’ve been in real-life battle before. Believe me, it’s NOT something one desires, well, unless you’ve got a bloodlust mentailty. In that case, you’ve got more important issues to take care of.
I know this is a touchy subject. I just ask that everyone who reads this keep in mind this is my own opinion. I’m not trying to force this idea on anyone. A blog is good for writing one’s own thoughts out. If you agree, great, if not, I respect that just the same.
-HFFL
My experience with COD is that it can be fun, but exponentially more frustrating than Halo. Granted, I’ve not played any of the COD games a whole awful lot, mainly just at friend’s houses or here and there online, but it seems to me that it is a lot more luck based than Halo or Battlefield. My main beef is that if you’re going ot market a game as a realistic shooter, I should not be able to pepper someone with rounds from an assault rifle and be killed when they shoot me twice with a .45 pistol.
Damage calculations aside, the magnum opus of insanity in COD is the spawning. If I had a dollar for every time I was shot in the back because someone spawned behind me in the 6-7 hours I played last night, I would have enough money for a new X-Box. In Halo, when that happens, I can take cover, because I have a little leeway, which brings strategy much more into the forefront, as opposed to the “action at all costs” balls to the wall style of COD. Also, if I have an assault rifle and empty a clip at someone from 25 feet away, they should die. WHY DON’T THEY EVER DIE??? WTF this game sucks.
Finally, I’m a huge believer in vehicular combat. Introducing the element of both land-based and airborne vehicles makes things just feel so much more epic than 8-14 guys running around some crappy warehouse. They make things like map control important. They force you to use more than one weapon, and to have to THINK to bring down that tank that’s tearing your team apart.
Bottom line, COD is fun for a spell, but I’ll always prefer Halo.