HALO: NOW WITH MORE HALO!
After reading Geoff Keighley’s column about Halo overexposure (“How Much Is Too Much?”, The Business of Xbox, February 2007), I found myself dumbstruck at the idea of Bungie taking advantage of the Halo series. The article listed all the different Halo merchandise and spoke of how the Halo franchise may be losing its allure. I loved Halo and couldn’t wait for Halo 2; I immediately bought the special edition. I read the Halo novels multiple times; now that I’ve got Ghosts of Onyx, I’m about to re-read them all.
    If you think all of that and a faceplate, Halo 3, the Halo movie, and Halo Wars is enough that it might cheapen the Halo experience, then you’re crazy. Series like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings — with multiple videogames, special-edition DVDs, action figures, and replica weapons — have been beat to death, then had their corpses displayed like puppets. Anyone who thinks Halo is becoming too commercial should chill out...at least until someone releases “Covenant-O’s.”           
— Cody

We say: Your Star Wars and Lord of the Rings analogy is apt, Cody – if those franchises are overexposed, can Microsoft and Bungie avoid the same fate for Halo? Master Chief isn’t there yet, but Halo is definitely growing, and Geoff’s point is that too much, too fast, could be fatal. That said, we’d buy Halo cereal in a heartbeat.

NEVER GOING BACK
For me, Microsoft really blundered the backward-compatibility issue (“Backwards Forwards,” February 2007) by not supplying an easy way to move game-saves from the original Xbox to the 360. Why not have a USB dongle for the Xbox memory card? Or an upload/download service where you could upload your saves from Xbox.com and download to 360? Heck, I’d even be willing to pay a few Microsoft Points for that. My old Xbox is dying and unreliable, and I’d love to play Links online again. But I don’t want to have to build up my character again, or re-purchase courses I paid for already. Even Sony let you use your PlayStation memory card to load up your games on PS2.
    Microsoft went only about 50 percent of the way with this. If they appreciated the consumer that had the Xbox and also made the investment in a 360, they would have made this a priority. They obviously didn’t.
— Jim Thompson

We say: All good points, Jim. We were disappointed to find that our old saves were stuck on old hardware even though our old games worked on the new hardware. But to play devil’s advocate, we’re not surprised that save-game considerations took a back seat to things like, you know, delivering the 360 to retail shelves. The first year of any launch is going to have some bumps, and this was one of them.
    However, now that machines are plentiful and the system is selling well, we’d like to see any one of your excellent ideas put into action. In the meantime, Datel does make a peripheral called the XPORT, which connects your 360 hard drive to your Windows PC — and it includes a dongle for original-Xbox memory cards, too. We haven’t tested this device (it just came out and we’re awaiting a review unit), so don’t take that as an endorsement just yet, but it’s one solution that might work for you.


“WORLD” VIEWS
About the “Mad World” song in the Gears of War commercial: Personally, I don’t get it. You’d think a game about a soldier fighting a bloody intergalactic war deserved something more hard-assed, like Disturbed’s “Down With the Sickness.” “Mad World” is just sad and depressing. (Or at least, that version is — the original Tears For Fears song is just slightly more upbeat.)
— Timothy Shanahan

CliffyB says: “And that, my friend, is exactly why ‘Mad World’ worked.” Yep, we passed your letter along to Gears guru CliffyB and asked him to explain his choice for the commercial’s soundtrack. “If the advertising agency had picked a regular hard-rock song, the commercial might have faded into the background. The ad was memorable, melancholy, and ultimately got people talking. Word of mouth is one of the best forms of advertising, after all. Remixes appeared on YouTube, people sat up and noticed, and the commercial helped launch a megahit.” We side with Cliffy on this one, Timothy: we thought the juxtaposition of Gary Jules’ vulnerable vocals with superhero Marcus running for his life amid urban squalor perfectly played up the game’s themes of isolation and desperation.


EXPERIMENT FAILED?
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for doing your part to make Xbox Live a less friendly environment. While being wildly hilarious to read, I think your printing of the “Spoil Sport” experiment (in your “How to Get Kicked Off Xbox Live” story) did nothing but harm the Xbox Live community. By printing all of your obnoxiousness and proudly proclaiming how you never even received a warning, you’ve encouraged everyone who wants to be an ass on Live to go right ahead and do so. Printing this experiment seems like the height of poor judgment. Thank you so much for helping to make the gaming community a better place.
— Josh

We say: Actually, we know you meant it sarcastically, but we think the article might just wind up making Live a better place. The “Spoil Sport” sidebar was more a warning and a wake-up call than a boast of bad behavior. Dan fully expected that he would be booted off within a few days, if not a few hours; we were all surprised (and a little concerned) when he wasn’t. Did he slip through the cracks? What if he’d been more active? Was he on the list to be banned, but slipped off after he submitted the story? The experiment was hardly a scientific study.
    But we’d wager that because of the story, more people are now aware of their options to deal with people like MyIdeaOfFun; the overwhelmingly negative Rep that the account received kind of speaks for itself. Xbox Live users don’t want that kind of behavior and they WILL fight back, even if Microsoft’s secret police don’t catch the culprit right away. And unlike any other nitwits you may find on Live, our nitwit came clean at the end of the process. (We’ve actually been contacted by folks who told us: “Thank goodness you weren’t real. I’ve never heard anybody behave like that.”) Anyone who tries to follow Dan’s negative example, as you suggest, will be following a script...and Microsoft reads OXM, too.


THE ACCUSED
I just read the “How to Get Kicked Off Xbox Live” article in your February 2007 issue, and my gamer rep is something I pay quite a bit of attention to. Currently, my rep is 75% prefer and 25% avoid, and the 25% is all Unsporting. WHAT? I’ve never mistreated anyone on Live in any way, whether they’re experienced players or new ones. Even when I’m insulted in a gaming session because I didn’t do well, or I whoop everyone, I just laugh it off and go on. I don’t know how this ranks on a scale of nice player–to–evil incarnate, but to me, 25% avoid is more than I wish to have. I know other players can’t see it, but it’s the principle of the thing.
    I just want to have fun playing videogames, and I hope everyone’s experience on Live is just as enjoyable. It’s a shame that you can get a bad mark for reasons that are totally mystifying. And I hope that Chris’s undercover team takes into account that some players obviously give bad marks to those who truly don’t deserve it. Thanks for keeping us true players informed.
— Adam

We say: Chris and his team know that some renegades enjoy ruining the fun of others, and when it comes to the serious stuff like complaints, those nutjobs with ulterior motives are filtered out. Meanwhile, player rep is not a perfect system, but it’s still a good one overall. A Rep gives you a snapshot of what to expect, but as with any game review, your experience might be totally different. If you play with someone who looks like they don’t deserve their negative Rep, you can show them some love and turn the tide. If you keep playing the way you say you’ve been playing, your Rep will reflect that...eventually.

THE WINTER OF DISC CONTENT
I’ve been a full subscriber for almost three years, and each month I anticipate your demo disc. However, I’m noticing the tilt toward Xbox 360 demos. I know you want to cater to the more popular system, but not everyone has a 360. Before I bought mine, I’d get upset at the fact that I couldn’t use my OXM disc at all. Some discs didn’t even have videos on them. I was seriously considering canceling my subscription, since it really didn’t benefit me all that much. Is there a reason for the lack of original-Xbox demos, or is it purely coincidence?
— Brian Curry

We say: There’s a reason, but you may not want to hear it. The 360 has been out for a year, developers have migrated all their big titles to the new platform, and you can’t even find original-Xbox hardware or accessories in stores anymore. So the disc has moved on to be 360-only. There simply aren’t enough original-Xbox games coming out, let alone demos for them, to keep the disc a hybrid. Plus, we have big plans that can be accomplished only if we make the jump to pure-360ness sooner rather than later. We mentioned some of those plans in the last issue, but you’ll see them yourself starting with this month’s disc.

GOING ON INSTINCT
I’ve had my 360 since day one — hell, I even waited outside for 24 hours for that next-gen console goodness. But there really haven’t been many awesome games for it. Everybody wants to talk about Gears of War...meh, whatever. There’s only so much chainsawing and curb-stomping you can do before it gets absolutely redundant. Run and duck for cover, shoot. Run and duck for cover, chainsaw. Rinse and repeat. The game has no business being a 10 in your mag. It doesn’t even warrant a 9. The only reason it would is for the graphics.
    I recently purchased a PS3 and a Wii and am loving every minute of both those systems. The only way I would even consider the 360 a powerhouse next-gen console is if it had more great games on Live Arcade. I’ve been waiting ever so patiently for Killer Instinct to appear on Arcade. Where is it? People don’t want dumb-ass games anymore. I guarantee if Killer Instinct or KI2 reached Arcade, you’d see a significant drop in playtime for other games. So again, where the hell is it?
    And speaking of KI, where’s the third installment? I don’t care for a Banjo-whatever-it-is-these-days. If Gears is the best that Microsoft has to offer, I guess my Xbox 360 will just have to become a big, heavy paperweight.
—Bizkit71

We say: Bizkit71 — may we call you Bizkit71? — we feel compelled to remind you that there’s more to the Xbox 360 than just Gears of War. (That’s why the disc comes out of the drive as easily as it goes in.) If that one shooter isn’t your personal preference, why let it distract you from the 150-plus other options?
     As for Killer Instinct, Rare’s keeping mum. A very loyal cult of fighting fans wants to get it on with T.J. Combo and Fulgore once more, but outside of a rumor that made the rounds last June, there’s no official sign of KI3. That doesn’t mean it’s not in development, of course. E3 is coming up this summer; if the game is finally ready to leave the rumor realm, it’ll no doubt be announced before then (though we’ve heard nothing to suggest that it will be). And with the size limit for Live Arcade titles reportedly being increased to 250MB sometime soon, your chances of seeing the original KI coin-ops on 360 just went up.


GHOST RECON ADVANCED BLANFORD
I’ve been a loyal reader of your magazine for nearly three-and-a-half years, and I felt like giving back to you for everything you’ve given to me. So I made this little piece of art to show my love for your magazine. I hope you enjoy it as much as I loved making it.
— Erik Blanford

We say: Nice Photoshop skills, Erik. Color us incredibly impressed — and thanks for the love.


PEEK-A-BOOM
Is “screen looking” cheating? My brother and I play Halo 2 split-screen multiplayer, and when I try to shoot him with a rocket launcher, he looks at my screen and moves out of the way purposely. This makes me angry, so I start yelling that he’s cheating. Then my dad overhears and says, “That’s not cheating; it’s playing smart.” My dad is usually right when I argue with him, but this time I know I’m right, so please help me prove him wrong.
— Brad Morley

We say: Wait, we’re supposed to overrule your dad? No way, man. It’s definitely hard to not see the occasional bit of useful information in a split-screen game, but if you two are on different screens and he’s craning his neck...well, yeah, that seems kind of unfair. We generally tend to play in-person games like we would play them online, with each player politely watching only their own screen. But who’s to say you shouldn’t use every tactic at your disposal to win?
    To settle this issue we asked OXM’s resident strategy expert, Sun Tzu, whose Gamerscore is through the roof. He said: “What enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men, is foreknowledge.” In other words, be a spy. Your competitor feels it’s a fair tactic, and even dad approves. Though your instincts for fair play are noble, sink to your brother’s level...and conquer!


YOUNG AND RESTLESS
I’ve been reading your magazine for a while, and I have a suggestion: In your previews, it’d be great if you could add a prediction of the ESRB rating that the game will receive. I’m under 17, and I hate getting my hopes up about a game only to be disappointed when I see that little M on the box or at the top of the review. If you predicted ESRB ratings in your previews, it would warn younger gamers in advance.
— Greg Switzer

We say: Unfortunately, a game’s ESRB rating doesn’t exist until the game is submitted for release; since preview code is anything but final, a lot of things can change. When we see copious amounts of blood or other adult-oriented content during a preview, we try to note that, although sometimes it’s obvious from the screenshots or the main theme of the game. (One rule of thumb: If no blood appears when an enemy soldier is shot, the game may earn a Teen rating. If you see blood, the game will probably be Mature.) To avoid in-store disappointment, you can always check www.esrb.org and search for a game by name; many times, an ESRB rating is assigned and posted to the site a few weeks before the game actually comes out (but long after we’ve run our preview).


FICKLE FINGERS
As an Xbox user, I found a problem with the Xbox 360 that I’m pretty sure others have noticed. Xbox was the first game system I owned, so naturally I grew used to the configuration of the Controller S, with the black and white buttons on the lower right, while my brothers and sister took a liking to the original, larger “Duke” controller, which had the black and white buttons on the upper right.
When we heard that the 360 controllers had four triggers instead of two triggers and the black and white buttons, we decided not to buy one. (Price was also a deciding factor.) Now that all the good games are on 360, I’m probably going to be forced to get one, regardless of said sibling complaints, if only to find any decent games. My problem is a dislike of four triggers and a tight budget. Does anyone make controllers like the S or the Duke for the 360?
— Joshua

We say: Not that we know of, Joshua, and we’re not likely to see any soon. Every official Xbox controller must abide by certain rules, and one of them is button placement. Microsoft can move stuff around as it sees fit (hence the differences between the Duke and the S), but unless other peripheral makers are doing something radically different like an arcade joystick or, say, a guitar controller, they kind of have to follow the same design, with only slight variances. Something like moving the Left and Right bumpers back to where the Black and White buttons were would be a major change: it just wouldn’t feel or work like an Xbox 360 controller anymore. But the single best reason we can offer for retraining your fingers to use the 360 controller’s default layout is that 360 games are built for it. Programmers create their games with the 360 controller in mind, so suddenly shifting back to the older layout would mess everything up.


MISTAKEN IDENTITY
Before I was an Xbox Live subscriber, I played the crap out of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, racking up over 800 Achievement points. When I signed up on Live I created an all-new profile and Gamertag, not really aware that my new profile would be the only profile that would have access to Xbox Live. So now I can’t play any Oblivion content I download with my 50-plus-hour character, and I really don’t want to have start all over. Is there any way to transfer my old profile saves and Achievement points to my new Xbox Live profile?
– Xakastus

We say: Unfortunately, no. The whole idea behind a Gamertag is to have a single identity and a single record of your accomplishments. If you could roll multiple identities together, you can imagine that a few less ethical players out there would create “Gamertag farms” where underpaid gamers were forced to slave away, building up scores for a cruel dictator, who would then take all the glory. Maybe you have a good reason for not simply upgrading your existing profile from no status to Gold status, but if you want your old Oblivion data, you’ll need to attach your old profile to a valid Gamertag.