Halo Killer
Ever since Halo 2 achieved dominance on the Xbox Live landscape, gamers and critics have been looking for the eventual Halo Killer, the game that would dethrone Bungie Studios and the Halo franchise from the Xbox Live pinnacle.
Some thought Gears of War would be the game. After all, it was a gritty first person shooter with tons of action and a great storyline. Gears of War might have pulled it off had they put a little more thought into their multiplayer game design. The fact of the matter is that Bungie got it right the first time around with Halo 2. The whole party system coupled with their matchmaking system made multiplayer Halo 2 enjoyable for hours upon hours of gaming.
Some critics actually thought that a non-FPS game could be the eventual title to push the Chief off the precipice. Games like Guitar Hero 2 & 3 and Rock Band made a good push, but the details come down to the fact that the demographic of gamers for those games and the Halo franchise were totally different. Sure, those games had great followings, but it was going to take a truly great game to take over as top dog.
When Infinity Ward moved past it's fetish with the World War II genre they positioned themselves for a title shot with the champ. Call of Duty 4 was released a mere 2 months after the blockbuster Bungie title Halo 3. While gamers were finding the matchmaking playlists of Halo 3 lacking, there was a brand new shiny title waiting for them in Call of Duty 4. The game had the gritty graphics famous in the Call of Duty franchise, but also brought a modern aspect to the table that previous Call of Duty games lacked. In the final months of 2007, Call of Duty actually managed to surpass all other games as the best selling game of 2007. Considering what it was up against, that was a tremendous accomplishment.
This week marks now the fourth week in a row that Call of Duty 4 has maintained the top spot on Xbox Live usage. While I'm still sure that the numbers are pretty close, the fact that Halo 3 hasn't made a comeback, even with their map pack release, tells me that Call of Duty 4 can now be crowned with the title of Halo Killer without reservations. Congratulations Infinity Ward.
Xbox Live Activity for week of 2/18/08
Xbox Live Activity for week of 2/11/08
Xbox Live Activity for week of 2/4/08
Xbox Live Activity for week of 1/28/08
Some thought Gears of War would be the game. After all, it was a gritty first person shooter with tons of action and a great storyline. Gears of War might have pulled it off had they put a little more thought into their multiplayer game design. The fact of the matter is that Bungie got it right the first time around with Halo 2. The whole party system coupled with their matchmaking system made multiplayer Halo 2 enjoyable for hours upon hours of gaming.
Some critics actually thought that a non-FPS game could be the eventual title to push the Chief off the precipice. Games like Guitar Hero 2 & 3 and Rock Band made a good push, but the details come down to the fact that the demographic of gamers for those games and the Halo franchise were totally different. Sure, those games had great followings, but it was going to take a truly great game to take over as top dog.
When Infinity Ward moved past it's fetish with the World War II genre they positioned themselves for a title shot with the champ. Call of Duty 4 was released a mere 2 months after the blockbuster Bungie title Halo 3. While gamers were finding the matchmaking playlists of Halo 3 lacking, there was a brand new shiny title waiting for them in Call of Duty 4. The game had the gritty graphics famous in the Call of Duty franchise, but also brought a modern aspect to the table that previous Call of Duty games lacked. In the final months of 2007, Call of Duty actually managed to surpass all other games as the best selling game of 2007. Considering what it was up against, that was a tremendous accomplishment.
This week marks now the fourth week in a row that Call of Duty 4 has maintained the top spot on Xbox Live usage. While I'm still sure that the numbers are pretty close, the fact that Halo 3 hasn't made a comeback, even with their map pack release, tells me that Call of Duty 4 can now be crowned with the title of Halo Killer without reservations. Congratulations Infinity Ward.
Xbox Live Activity for week of 2/18/08
Xbox Live Activity for week of 2/11/08
Xbox Live Activity for week of 2/4/08
Xbox Live Activity for week of 1/28/08
Labels: Call of Duty 4, Gears of War, Halo 3, Xbox 360
~CodeMonkey at
2/26/2008 10:14:00 AM
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