Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Halo 3 Free Trial

By Nathan Jones

The release of Halo 3 was fervently anticipated, as the video was the third in the original three-part series of the Halo videos. As a result, the Halo 3 free download was one of the most downloaded game demos in the history of the Xbox 360. But what many people don't realize is that the Halo 3 trial download helped make another game ie Crackdown.

What does the Halo 3 trial download have to do with another video game? Well, it has a lot to do with the distribution and promotional effort for a game that was originally planned for release on the Xbox system. Microsoft had become concerned that Crackdown would not sell well.

So they used a marketing tactic, the one of bundling Crackdown with an access code for the Halo 3 trial download. And it worked because Crackdown sold 1.5 million copies within the first six months of its release. Those aren't Halo 3 numbers, which sold 8.1 million copies in just over a year, but for a lesser well-known game that's fantastic.

Microsoft had turned to the Halo 3 trial download tactic because of poor opinions about the game from the play testers. They thought the nonlinear nature of the game off-putting, often leaving them asking themselves what they were supposed to be doing next.

As a result of this, the powers that be knew that something had to be done or the game would be a loser. It may seem dodgy practice at first to attempt to push sales of a game that's expected to be unpopular, but in hindsight people love the game and it was a good thing that they were able to get the chance to play it.

In Crackdown, and that includes the version bundled with the Halo 3 trial download, individuals play the role of an agent who is detailed to defeat the kingpins or leaders of different gangs. To do this they utilize some superhuman powers such as super strength and super fitness. In order to obtain these powers, players have to accumulate experience by defeating enemies who then release experience orbs. The interesting part of the system was that the kind of orbs released was reliant on the manner in which the agent killed the enemy. For instance, a firearms orb appears if the enemy was killed with a gun.

So, although at first sight this game bundled with the Halo 3 free download seems to be nothing but a veiled marketing gimmick, in fact, it exposed gamers to a fascinating new gameplay world. - 23812

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