Halo 2 Sells 5 Million Units

A witty GameIndustry.biz writer: "Avid gamers clock up 28 million hours shooting each other in the face on Live". They have word that Halo 2 has surpassed 5 million units sold through. The sequel beat the record achieved by the original game, which took 2 years to achieve.

Big Surprise

[MarkPNeyer]

I'm not at all surprised. I don't know anyone who has an Xbox and wasn't psyched about getting this game. I was psyched as well, but now I can't stop playing World of Warcraft.

Re:Big Surprise

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know anyone who has an Xbox

Hey, me either.

Oh, wait, you kept going.

Re:Big Surprise

[Bloomy]

Well, then, pleased to meet you.

Re:Big Surprise

[Reapy]

I'm another one with an xbox that wasn't excited. Halo 1 was fun for me only for co op, and was good for a few lan parties on the pc, but that's about it. I really like how the game uses its physics to do stuff, and I enjoy a lot of the marine weapons, but I definatly wasn't waiting around for hl2.

I got to play it at a friends house and it really didn't do anything to excite me. No way the cutting edge consol fps games can overshadow the looming cutting edge pc fps games that were coming out.

Re:Big Surprise

[user32.ExitWindowsEx]

seeing someone play it on xbox live made me think of two words: "battlefield 2".
that's going to have all the ganeplay stuff halo 2 multiplayer does...including voice.

as far as sp goes, i'll leave that the geniuses at raven, valve, and id.

Re:Big Surprise

[DeionXxX]

Hah same here, rented it from Gamefly at the same time WoW came out.. I haven't touched it yet I'm lvl 15 in WoW :-)

Damn Snowy Crack. (You know.. crack made by Blizzard.)

Psyched, Shmyced..

[Channard]

Well, there's me for a start. I was actually more psyched about Star Wars: Battlefront than Halo 2. Why? Because I'd played the original both in single and multiplayer, and been disappointed by the weak single player game that had you exploring the same room over and over again as of the Forerunner Complex levels. But I was actually pleasantly surprised by Halo 2's level design. It's a step up from the original in that the repetitive level design has gone out of the window, and while some areas look vaguel

Halo 2 beating the original Halo

[Hellraisr]

From what I've read previouslu, Halo 2 outsold the entire run of Halo 1 in the first day of sales.

Re:Halo 2 beating the original Halo

[Saltine Cracker]

That's probably because Halo 1 was an Xbox Release Title wasn't it?

You have to figure with Halo 1 that people were just starting to buy Xboxen when it was released, so of course it's first day sales would be considerably lower.

Re:Halo 2 beating the original Halo

[g051051]

Actually, what I think he's saying is that Halo 2, in the first day of sales, outsold the entire run of Halo.

That doesn't make sense in the context of this story. Halo sold 5 million units in 2 years, and Halo 2 didn't sell that many the first day. It only reached that number recently.

Re:Halo 2 beating the original Halo

[drewmca]

xboxes, not xboxen. Please stop.

Re:Halo 2 beating the original Halo

[MBraynard]

Xb0xen R0xen your s0xen.

Re:Halo 2 beating the original Halo

[drewmca]

ihateu

Re:Controler

[Planesdragon]

But how can anyone play a first person shooter on a gamepad? Absolute motion axis suck for aiming. Anyone who says otherwise is a console system apologist, and in denial.

EVERYONE sucks the same, though.

With PC FPS, you have the weenies who do nothing but play FPS games, and who can pick a pixel in the blink of an eye. They're simply not fun to play against -- nor fun to play as when your friends aren't.

Halo is great for multiplayer, because you sit there and game and no ammonut of practice with the game makes you wholly incapable of being beaten by you friend on the counch next to you.

Re:Controler

[NotoriousQ]

Halo is great for multiplayer, because you sit there and game and no ammonut of practice with the game makes you wholly incapable of being beaten by you friend on the counch next to you.

This is not true. While the perfect precision is not given to anyone, those with practice can actually get it within a decent amount. When my ex-roommate convinced me to play perfect dark with him, he could aim just fine, it took me 3 hours just to figure out how to point in the general direction.

With the mouse, most peop

Re:Controler

[evilmousse]

2 thoughts:

-a mouse becomes like a puppet, turn your wrist-head left, and your puppet turns left. HIGH potential for intuitiveness after an initial comfort-level is met. most people's problem with pc 1stp's are with using the KEYBOARD.

-an analog stick is bound in it's maximum rotation, creating a paradox between speed and precision. a mouse (esp optical) has no reasonable bounds on the distance or speed you move it.

Re:Controler

[NotoriousQ]

Well put. Thanks.

Re:Controler

[Zangief]

Worse, it is less ergonomic, at least for me. My fingers and wrists hurt after only half an hour of (joystick based) gamepad use. I have to quit just as I am getting started.

You must be doing something wrong here. Most people can play on pads for hours. Anyone playing FPSs on Keyb/Mouse for the same amount of time is doing himself a lot of damage, due to the less natural position.

Less precision in shooting is a good thing. I hate being fragged from a mile away. I love the gunshots and rocket launcher fig

Re:Controler

[AlexMax2742]

For the record, at this particular moment in time, 12:15 EST on a Friday night, here are teh stats from both major contenders...

Number of people playing Halo 2: 91,837
(source: Bungie.net statistics)
Number of people playing Counter Strike: 77,405
(source: Steampowered.com statistucs)

I was actually quite surprised. I thought that CS players would outnumber Halo 2 players. However, if you take into account the other two versions of Counterstrike (CZ and Source), that adds about 30K extra players, putting it

Re:Controler

[Phil Wilkins]

Halo 2's what, a month old, less? How old is CS?

Re:Controler

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe the Halo 2 stats are for the last 24 hours combined while the Steam statistics are for the exact time it was recorded. I might be wrong though.

Re:Controler

[bigman2003]

I have 'trained' a fair number of people to play Halo. And anytime someone was completely lost, and couldn't control it at all, the problem was usually solved by inverting (or normalizing) the control scheme.

I play 'inverted' and whenever I am stuck playing 'normal', I get that lost feeling you mentioned, and I can't do anything. It is disorienting, and frustrating.

Switch to inverted, and it all suddenly makes sense to me.

The same happens with other people that come over- they may play two games using

Re:Controler

[NotoriousQ]

Makes sense. However, since I have played a lot of flight sims, I know what inversion feels like. It is not that. In fact I usually invert, due to my flight sim experience.

My problem is that I constantly bump the stick and do not return it to the middle completely.

Re:Controler

[chrisbro]

Gotta disagree with that one. I live in a fraternity house, and we have 4 TVs hooked up with Halo/Halo II with multiplayer. There are three or four people that consistently are on top - just like any small group of PC gamers (I used to LAN party pretty often, too). I think it's just what you're used to - these people started FPSes on console, and they can get damned good at it. They think PC control sucks. Me, on the other hand, started gaming with Doom II and still can't get the hang of dual joysticks on m

Re:Controler

[gl4ss]

*The level of skill between the masters of the two platforms is the same, though; they can achieve the same amount of precision that any PC gamer can with a mouse/keyboard, from what I see (and I play them 10 hours a week or so).*

that's not really true(that you would get on par with mouse performance with dual sticks), or do you see _ANYONE_ playing counter strike in tournaments with dualstick pads with any success vs. kb+mouse? head-to-head the dualstick loses.

maybe some analog wasd device + mouse would

Re:Controler

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm no apologist, nor in denial. I couldn't care less which system "wins" these console wars. That said, I have a Logitech wireless controller for my Xbox and, after taking the time to learn it, actually prefer it to the mouse and keyboard. The word "controller" is apt; holding the controlling device in your hands offers a tactile sense of balance and physicality. It's an instrument and, once you learn to play it, has its own distinctive feel. IMO, the mouse and keyboard isn't better; it's just differ

Re:Controler

[hollismb]

Everytime a Slashdot story goes up about a console FPS, it's always the same control scheme thing. No, a pad isn't as precise as a mouse, but it doesn't really matter, since it's still possible to get a perfect headshot in Halo 2 with a sniper rifle when someone's jumping down off a tower at you. I've done it several times, and it's not at all hard.

Same thing does for Rainbow Six 3 on the Xbox, when even if you're running (which takes the auto-aim away, it's still possible to quickly turn and get a headsh

Re:Controler

[NanoGator]

"But how can anyone play a first person shooter on a gamepad? "

There are 5 million people out there that'd be happy to answer your question. Besides, the playing field is level. Everybody uses it because a mouse isn't available.

Re:Controler

[NotoriousQ]

That means there would be 5 million people a whole lot happier if the mouse were to become available.

These people play because this is the only way they can play the game.

To me it is a killer. I do not have dexterity to hold the controller, and be very precise with a thumb.

Controller -- good for certain things. Sucks for most. The day it is not the primary input on the console is the day I will consider buying one.

Re:Controler

[NotoriousQ]

Sure. But will bet that even a lower skilled person such as I can outtype anyone trying to type on their cellphone. That stands even if my thumb is only good enough to be stuck up my ass, or to press a single key (spacebar) on the keyboard. The crappy keyboard on cell phones is required for portability. No such requirement on the xbox, but they did it anyway.

So if you feel that what you use is always superior to what I use, please, by all means, replace your keyboard with something the size of a dollar bil

Re:Controler

[NanoGator]

"Controller -- good for certain things. Sucks for most. The day it is not the primary input on the console is the day I will consider buying one."

I never meant to say it was better. Simply that it wasn't as bad as he was making it sound.

You might consider a Nintendo DS. This may sound funny to hear, but its stylus actually is pretty good for FPS shooters. I was extremely skeptical about that until I played Metroid on it.

Maybe not your cup of tea, but Nintendo (and the company that made Metroid) reall

Re:Controler

[NotoriousQ]

Hmmm. Makes me wonder if I should try to use a Wacom tablet for UT2004.

*thinking*
Eraser for secondary fire, tap for shoot.
*shudder*

Maybe not.

Re:Controler

[NanoGator]

"Hmmm. Makes me wonder if I should try to use a Wacom tablet for UT2004."

Heh. You're talking to somebody who uses a Wacom tablet for a living. I promise, the DS isn't anything like that or a touchpad for a laptop. I'm not kidding, I had *serious* doubts about doing that with the DS. But they did it and it actually works. It's not quite up to mouse, but it's really pretty darned close.

Btw, I didn't use a stylus. Thumb was sufficient, and my aim was quite accurate.

Re:Controler

[hollismb]

I, for one, would refuse the option of KB/M if it was presented to me on a console. First of all, because I don't like playing that way, and second of all, because I'd have to create some ridiculous setup in order to be able to play while sitting on the couch, which is one of the major differences between consoles and pcs anyway. I had enough of that keyboard crap with the Sega Dreamcast's online system, thank you very much.

Re:Controler

[tutori]

I'm confused, how can you not have enough dexterity to use a controller, but be fine with a mouse/keyboard? In my experience, my fingers are more dextrous than my arms, though that may just be me...

Re:Controler

[NotoriousQ]

First of all, when you use the controllers joysticks (which is all I am referring to) you only use your thumbs (at least in the controllers that I have used). My thumbs do not have much coordination.

It is much easier to hit a certain key with 4 fingers (all keys are within reach), then it is for me to move the joystick left a third of its complete motion. As for the mouse -- the motions are fairly large so precision is not as much of a requirement.

But as the other people have moved on to, this is really a

Re:Controler

[Geoffreyerffoeg]

stupid 1-button touchpad on apple laptops.....

It does get annoying sometimes, but for normal use, I right click about once every hundred to thousand left clicks. You can Ctrl-click to get the same effect as a right-click. And if you're playing games, you're better off getting a mouse; USB mice with a right button work well with the Mac.

But how can anyone play a first person shooter on a gamepad? Absolute motion axis suck for aiming. Anyone who says otherwise is a console system apologist, and in denial.

Re:Controler

[NotoriousQ]

Besides, how do you use keys for walking? It makes it hard to vary the rate at which you walk. Especially on Halo, there's a value to walking slowly such that you don't show up on the motion sensor, and changing walking speed can be useful for confusing people to snipe ahead.

This is the best point I have seen yet. No rebuttal.

Re:days of our lives

[Catnapster]

We could capture a whole shitload of flags.

Re:Halo 1 sucked

[SilentChris]

"It took the first one two years because it sucked."

Uh, I don't know about you, but I don't think Halo sucked at all. It added ton of features that influenced FPSes for years to come:

* First game to incorporate lifelike, accurate AI in open battle scenes. Half-Life accomplished this in tight spaces, but most routines involved paths with very tight corners. They've evolved it even further in Halo 2: watch as AI takes cover under the boxes you just blasted.
* First game to include a bevy of pixel shaders

Re:Halo 1 sucked

[ChaosDiscord]

It added ton of features that influenced FPSes for years to come...

While lots of people buy games for features, features don't necessarily mean fun. Halo might be a noteworthy step forward in FPSers, but it doesn't mean it doesn't suck.

As to the specific features; the AI was interesting, but didn't do anything for me. I certainly felt more challenged by the grossly unbalanced power lavels ("let's empty multiple assault rifle clips into a single mid-grade bad-guy"), than super-clever AI. It may be an

Re:Halo 1 sucked

[DeadScreenSky]

As to the specific features; the AI was interesting, but didn't do anything for me. I certainly felt more challenged by the grossly unbalanced power lavels ("let's empty multiple assault rifle clips into a single mid-grade bad-guy"), than super-clever AI. It may be an important milestone, but it didn't make the game fun for me.

Like a lot of your complaints, it seems like you don't know how to play Halo very well. No harm in that, but it does nullify some of your points.

The Assault Rifle is a piece of junk

Re:Halo 1 sucked

[lion2]

"(And I would argue some of its elements were new - not a lot of games had a dedicated grenade or melee button before Halo!)" Very true! I've played many FPS's(mostly PC) and I havent played one game besides Halo that grenades and Melee was actually useful.

Re:Halo 1 sucked

[hollismb]

The thing that you don't really notice is cool and original about Halo 2 until it's pointed out to you: The fact that your teamate AI's actually have conversations with eachother, while you're playing, and even coordinate attacks with eachother.

Re:Halo 1 sucked

[Johnno74]

Yeah, just last night I was playing one of the arbitier levels, and I was pinned down by a bunch of brutes with grenade launchers and jackals with sniper weapons.
There was another elite with me, and a grunt.

The grunt was pretty much hiding behind a box and doing nothing (as usual)... The other elite turned around to the grunt and said "Get out there and fight or I'll shoot you myself"

And he did!

Its the little touches like this that make Halo 2 the best FPS I've ever played.

I used to play a lot of FPS on

Re:Halo 1 sucked

[Phudman]

First game to get console FPS controls perfectly. Goldeneye came in a close second, and would've worked if you weren't using button for moving the sight up and down.

That was the default control setup. You can set it so the analog stick aims and the C buttons move forward/back/strafe. There were even double controller setups (one in each hand) to use. Works just fine for console FPS.

Of course the worst way to play a FPS is by using a Playstation controller. The analog sticks on those are too damn ins

Re:Halo 1 sucked

[DownloadTHIS]

I agree about the analog sticks being insensitive. They made an antisemetic joke and offended me greatly!

Re:Halo 1 sucked

[jayhawk88]

I'm no literary genius, but I'm pretty sure that pounding nails/dick thing might have been hyperbole. Just a bit. Tycho has said many times that he and his crew played the shit out of Halo multiplayer.

It's true that Halo sold a lot of copies simply because there wasn't much better, but that does not mean it wasn't a good game. No, it is not the greatest game of all time as some would have you believe, but it is a very solid shooter with a nice coop-mode single player and excellent multiplayer.

Re:Halo 1 sucked

[StingRay02]

he and his crew played the shit out of Halo multiplayer

You just invalidated your point. The PA crew did play the shit out of multiplayer, but as the parent post stated, they didn't like the single player campaign. Hyperbole or not, they didn't even enjoy the co-op campaign (which is the point of the comic).

My biggest beef with all the fanboyism and rave reviews about Halo, and now Halo 2 is that they're almost always entirely based upon multiplayer. There are a few people now and again that claim to

Re:Halo 1 sucked

[cassidyc]

It took the first one two years because it sucked.

Your personal opinion is not the same as fact. Given that quite a few people don`t think that Halo sucked.

If you want repetition in gameplay maybe you want to take a look at Doom3. Ooh look another room.... ooh the lights have gone out... oooh zombies... rinse and repeat

CJC

Re:Halo 1 sucked

[ChaosDiscord]

Your personal opinion is not the same as fact.

I would suggest that whenever someone starts slinging the word "suck" around, they are probably talking about their opinion, not scientifically proven facts.

If you want repetition in gameplay maybe you want to take a look at Doom3.

Indeed. And that why, despite being deeply tempted by the gorgeous graphics I don't own a copy of Doom 3; by all accounts it's repetitive, boring, and (ultimately) sucks.

Final Fantasy 7 sucked too

[MMaestro]

It took so long for the game to sell 5 million units it sucked too. Remember all the "buzz" about the PS1 launch and the new Final Fantasy game? The most shining characteristic was that every other game was pathetic and would never see the light of day again except as a coaster. The key phrase in FF7 was jaggy polygons. You saw the same graphical problems over and over again. You realized that all the tactics revolved around the old fire>ice>lighting>fire system. The levels were hardly creative wit

Darn

[cheeseSource]

I've had it since it came out and still haven't played it on Live yet. Then again, I haven't finished the campaign...

Re:Darn

[FCAdcock]

Febuary 2nd baby! We DO know when the story will be finished...

Re:Darn

[Tink2000]

Yeah, but you presume that is 2005. I'm betting it's 2006, which is a little more inline with the release rumours for Xbox2. It makes more sense to me that they would release H3 as an X2 launch title than to keep real quiet and vague about a game they would release 4 months after the first sequel.

Think about it a second: Halo 3 Feb 2006 makes more sense than Halo 3 Feb 2005. If it were 2005, there would be more buzz than a flyfarm about it right now.

Re:Darn

[FCAdcock]

I don't think it's halo 3. I just think it's gonna be the REST of Halo 2.

Re:Darn

[pappy97]

I've had it since it came out and have not playing anything BUT XBOX Live.

Then again, I don't buy games for the single player experience anymore. I buy games to recreate the nostalgia of friends getting together to play games such as Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, and most relevant to FPS, Goldeneye for N64.

In other news.....

[DeadBugs]

Microsoft acquires license to print money.

Re:In other news.....

[Fred Or Alive]

Not really. As far as I know they lose a couple of hundred US dollars on every Xbox system sold. They'll make back the development cost of the game, but they'll still be losing money overall, until every buyer buys a few dozen full-price games to go with the system.

Now getting a monopoly on operating systems, using that to gain a monopoly on office suites, and a good share of the server market (etc., etc.). Now that's a licence to print money, at least as soon as companies are allowed to purchase countries

I wonder if there are other factors at play here.

[St. Arbirix]

World of Warcraft just sold a record number of units in their first day. Halo 2, Half-Life 2, and Doom 3 have all just hit the store shelves. With so many awesome games out there that people are buying so often I wonder if this is a sign of people being otherwise discomforted by life.

Is there any historical evidence showing leisure activities blossom when so much else in the world seems to be in disarray?

Re:I wonder if there are other factors at play her

[Anonymous Coward]

Attendance at the roman collusium was at its peak right before the fall of the empire.

Re:I wonder if there are other factors at play her

[The-Bus]

No, I think there just haven't been any Big Hyped Games(TM) to get excited about in the past two years. Halo 2, Half-Life 2, Doom 3, and, to an extent, GTA:SA have been eagerly expected for years. Last holiday season we had some good games that came out, but these are not only Big Hyped Games(TM) but Sequels to Big Hyped Games(TM). And, believe it or not, gaming is still such an absolute microcosm, and gamers are generally so young that they're not really interested in politics (see: youth vote 2004), that

Re:CS vs Halo 2?

[Anti_zeitgeist]

you forget how easy it is to create an account on counter strike. On halo2 you need a whole new xbox live account which is paid for. AND counter strikes online play is a free service. All you have to do is buy the game, which runs about 20 bucks now anyway. But even at that, you can go to any internet cafe and set it up with such ease.

Re:CS vs Halo 2?

[bigman2003]

I don't know about the other million+ people on Live...but I just set up my Live account one time, about two years ago.

Now, anytime I buy a Live-enabled game, I can throw it in my Xbox, and my account is already set up. The system knows who I am...etc. etc. etc.

Generation gap and new gamers

[blahplusplus]

I think theres a bit of a generation gap. Most experienced gamers have played the shit out of FPS on the PC, and the last 4-5 years thats pretty much the only Genre that keeps coming out with games frequently that are for the PC.

I think console gamers and newer less experienced gamers in general have played less games then hardcore gamers period (in the library of games they have previously played). And this is really why you have yuppies thinking Halo 2 is the greatest thing "evar!!" it's not. It simply

Curious

[Taulin]

The XBox is a great system, but one reason Halo 2 has sold so many copies is because there is not any other good games out for the system. I can say this because I own an XBox along with every other system and I barely have 4 games for it. I've bought several multi platform games in the near past, but they never seem to make an XBox version. Unfortunatly, since I do own all the systems, Halo 2 doesn't have enough appeal for me to purchase it. Games like Ninja Gaiden and HL2 do, though.

Re:Curious

[CFTM]

If you enjoy RPG's I suggest Gladius made by Lucas Arts. Intellectually engaging combat-RPG with a story that is at least interesting enough. Good game ...