14 DAY TRIAL // Halo 3 isn't the success it was billed to be. Although it won some GOTY awards, most recently from 1up, the game developed by Bungie for Microsoft is not the smash hit that it was supposed to be. FPS rival Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare sold better in the holiday season and now the same CoD4 is becoming the most played game on the Xbox 360, with Halo 3 taking the second spot.
Bungie, set to part ways with Microsoft in the near future, are not about to take all of this laying down. "We have a lot of awesome new content coming up. We're not walking away from Halo 3," Bungie's community lead Brian Jarrard said at the GDC. A powerful statement coming from the man that's the main link between players and the game. More follows: "We have a group of people at the studio that are just focused on keeping the game going strong for the foreseeable future, so I think we'll continue to evolve and I expect there to be a back-and-forth for a while."
The main reason for Jarrard is the all new Legendary Map Pack that will hit the market sometime this spring with new maps, of which Ghost Town, set in the hot sun of 24 century Africa, has been recently revealed. The Bungie community manager is also hoping that players will step up and deliver some player-created content that's really inspired and accessible so that more players will be attracted to the game.
Even with these coming attractions, Jarrard acknowledged the fact the Call Of Duty 4 is a really good game that's giving Halo 3 a run for its money. A part of its lasting Xbox 360 Live appeal can be attributed to the perks and weapon mods players constantly get as they play and rack up more kills and experience. There's no sign of similar "little carrots" coming for Halo.
It is still great to see that the market is split by two great games rather than being monopolized by one franchise. The competition helps drive innovation and pushes developers and publishers to get out games that are better and more attractive to the players. And to us, players to the core, that's always a very good thing.