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Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Thorn on November 12, 2004, 03:26:54 pm

Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: Thorn on November 12, 2004, 03:26:54 pm
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6456214/

Quote
'Halo 2' reports $125 million in first-day sales
Record amount exceeds even internal estimates
   
The Associated Press
Updated: 8:51 p.m. ET Nov. 10, 2004

SEATTLE - "Halo 2," the much-hyped video game for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox video game console, had sales of $125 million in just 24 hours on the market, the company said Wednesday.

The figures for the United States and Canada, which represented sales of 2.38 million units, easily exceeded Microsoft's prediction that it would top $100 million in sales.

If independent sales figures show that Microsoft topped or exceeded $125 million in sales, then "Halo 2" would definitely count among the top five best-selling games in history for first-day sales, said David Riley, senior manager with The NPD Group.

But in a year which expects to see many big game debuts, he cautioned that it's too early to know who will eventually claim the most sales in a 24-hour period.

  RELATED STORY

For video gamers, a delightful dilemma

In general, Riley said it's hard to get accurate data on first-day game sales, although NPD Group does provide estimates on total sales for the life of a video game.

Through September 2004, the company ranks "Super Mario 64" as the best-selling game to date with $308 million in sales since its September 1996 debut. "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City," which went on sale in October 2002, ranks second, with total sales of $284 million.

Tuesday's sales figures would put "Halo 2" on track to easily beat out the first version of "Halo." That game debuted in November of 2001 and ranked eighth with sales of $149 million through September 2004, according to NPD.

Retailers also reported a busy day. GameStop Inc., which operates 1,726 stores throughout the United States, said it sold more than 500,000 copies of "Halo 2" in the first day, substantially more than any other game on its first day of release.
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: Deepblue on November 12, 2004, 03:53:16 pm
Can you say, "profit."
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: Taristin on November 12, 2004, 04:43:14 pm
I can say "bloody good game."
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: Liberator on November 13, 2004, 04:38:33 pm
Does this mean we get a PC version sooner than 2006?
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: Jetmech Jr. on November 13, 2004, 04:41:52 pm
I dunno. The case on Halo 2 said 'Only on Xbox' and I can only assume that it means it's only on Xbox :P. If I got the meaning wrong, feel free to correct me, but I'm skeptical...
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: Thorn on November 13, 2004, 05:08:16 pm
Thats what Halo originally said on it.
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: Jetmech Jr. on November 13, 2004, 05:11:46 pm
Hmm, guess it means its only on Xbox atm. I feel doubtful about a PC port, though...can only hope.
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: SadisticSid on November 13, 2004, 05:23:08 pm
Don't see why they wouldn't considering that Halo PC was profitable and Halo 2 will sell on par with the original. The least they'll do is license it out to Gearbox again but I'm confident of an eventual release
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: Killfrenzy on November 13, 2004, 06:32:20 pm
Same here - Halo 2 is a very good piece of work. They've improved in many areas, with the possible exception of extensive engine tweaking.

Only on XBox? Pfft....I remember when an XBox flyer claimed that both Half Life 2 and Doom 3 were 'only on XBox.' That label is now a joke as far as I'm concerned.

Meh, Halo was originally going to be an RTS on the Mac anyway.......think how different it would have been! :D
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: Knight Templar on November 13, 2004, 06:41:34 pm
Quote
Originally posted by SadisticSid
Don't see why they wouldn't considering that Halo PC was profitable and Halo 2 will sell on par with the original. The least they'll do is license it out to Gearbox again but I'm confident of an eventual release


A-****ingmen
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: Setekh on November 13, 2004, 06:44:33 pm
Yeah, it'll come eventually - just a matter of time, IMHO. I just hope this makes Bungie get on the move for Halo 3. :p
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: Killfrenzy on November 13, 2004, 06:48:06 pm
Well, we'll see about that. :)
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: Jetmech Jr. on November 13, 2004, 06:52:23 pm
With the ending, it's practically a given that there will be some kinda sequel.
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: Thorn on November 13, 2004, 08:26:10 pm
Quote
Originally posted by SadisticSid
Don't see why they wouldn't considering that Halo PC was profitable and Halo 2 will sell on par with the original. The least they'll do is license it out to Gearbox again but I'm confident of an eventual release

I hope not. Gearbox buggered up Halo.
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: MatthewPapa on November 13, 2004, 08:35:35 pm
Microsoft, they will do anything to make money. I bet they will make a PC version sooner or later. They would be dumb not to because it would simply be too lucrative to also release a PC version. The pull of the money, make...its just too much!
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: Blue Lion on November 13, 2004, 09:28:47 pm
I remember a game, where there was an ending that left you wanting more. Something about space and getting back to Earth. It sounds really familiar.
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: deep_eyes on November 13, 2004, 09:53:53 pm
lol
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: Mongoose on November 13, 2004, 10:29:20 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Blue Lion
I remember a game, where there was an ending that left you wanting more. Something about space and getting back to Earth. It sounds really familiar.

Yeah.  I also seem to remember it being infinitely better than Halo. :D
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: Taristin on November 13, 2004, 10:34:31 pm
This from the man who's still preparing for Descent 1... :doubt:



:p
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: deep_eyes on November 14, 2004, 12:01:52 am
Halo 2 went platinum!
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: Mongoose on November 14, 2004, 01:49:31 am
Quote
Originally posted by Raa
This from the man who's still preparing for Descent 1... :doubt:



:p

Hey, I consider D1 to be infinitely better than Halo as well. :D
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: Clave on November 14, 2004, 08:15:35 am
Now that deserves a :wtf:
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: Killfrenzy on November 14, 2004, 10:12:59 am
Quote
Originally posted by Thorn

I hope not. Gearbox buggered up Halo.


Uh.........how?:wtf:
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: Thorn on November 14, 2004, 11:57:29 am
Most machines have trouble running it at max detail. Even people with lots of RAM, some of the better FX or Radeon cards and a fast processor. The system requirements are a lie.
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: wolfdog on November 14, 2004, 12:06:35 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Clave
Now that deserves a :wtf:


Maybe... but it is true:D
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: Liberator on November 14, 2004, 02:09:36 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Thorn
Most machines have trouble running it at max detail. Even people with lots of RAM, some of the better FX or Radeon cards and a fast processor. The system requirements are a lie.


You'd think that it would require the X-Box equivalent for max performance and everything else would be gravy.
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: Grey Wolf on November 14, 2004, 02:17:34 pm
The thing is, the original design of Halo was specifically coded to take advantage of the specific parts in the Xbox, so you had a bunch of specific code that wouldn't work on anything except a P3 and a modified GF3.
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: Mongoose on November 14, 2004, 02:31:05 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Clave
Now that deserves a :wtf:

Ultra-deadly robots that still scare the s*** out of you ten years later?  Check (Don't believe me?  Look up 'Fusion Hulk,' and you will find the true definition of fear. :eek2:)

The only game series with true six-degrees-of-freedom gameplay?  Check

One of the greatest sci-fi ships of all time?  Check

An awesome collection of weapons, including the one and only Fusion and Mega?  Check

The first true 3D game including polygonal enemies?  Check

The first game with easy, out-of-the-box multiplayer action?  Check

The ability to still be played today thanks to the D1X project?  Check

I rest my case. :D

(You may now return to your regularly scheduled thread. :p)
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: aldo_14 on November 14, 2004, 03:09:44 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Grey Wolf 2009
The thing is, the original design of Halo was specifically coded to take advantage of the specific parts in the Xbox, so you had a bunch of specific code that wouldn't work on anything except a P3 and a modified GF3.


Yeah, but that's a bollocks excuse.  Visually, there's nothing in Halo which hadn't already been done - better - by a PC at the time the conversion was released.  

whenever Gearbox have responded to complaints about this (i.e. on bluesnews), it's been along the lines of 'well, this is a high-spec game' or similar.  The problem is, that even if you accept that, the min. requirements are a blatant lie - I have a machine which exceeds them in every way (over double the CPU speed*, double RAM,  gfx card, etc), and which cannot easily run the game at decent frameworks on minimal settings (gfx at min, pixel shader path at 1.1, res at min, sound at min).  

And if they didn't lie about this, then they screwed up the coding somehow by having massively large performance differences between hardware configs.  

To be honest, it's put me off Halo 2 when/if it's released on PC.

*yes, I know CPU speed isn't proportional to the actual computational performance... but 2.4GHz > 733MHz
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: Grey Wolf on November 14, 2004, 03:42:05 pm
I think it's more along the lines of the coding is specific, and the guys at Gearbox are too lazy to properly make the code branches for different setups.
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: Thorn on November 14, 2004, 06:04:41 pm
So long as Bungie does it, and not Gearbox, I can't see a problem. They of all people should know how to do it. Giving it to a company known only for making a couple of expansions for existing games and saying "make it work" was a brain dead move.
Opposing Force may have been good gameplay and storywise, but they only code they added was two extra weapon groups and the barnacle grappling hook. That is not the same as what they did with Halo. Not even close.
Title: Halo 2 Sales Exceed Expectations
Post by: NGTM-1R on November 14, 2004, 06:29:09 pm
...I'm not happy with Halo 2 now that I've had a chance to play through a few times and get the feel of the game. Not happy at all.

They've nerfed the weapons. They've shrunk the area of the game. They've made the opponents smaller and you bigger, or both. In other words, they took the crap-out route to making it more difficult.

This may physically be Halo's successor, but spiritually it's more like Doom 3.