20 Mar 07 Matchmaking, New Halo 2 Maps, and You

This just seems remarkably unfair:

FyreWulff pointed out a thread on Bungie.net discussing the new Halo 2 maps coming out soon – Jeremiah mentioned that these maps would likely be incorporated in a significant number of playlists – and (at least at this point in the developments) those playlists would no longer be available to people playing on the original Xbox.

This is, of course, a Microsoft decision.  If Bungie had their way, everyone who had already purchased Halo 2 and had an Xbox Live account would also have access to these new maps – and they’re going to work to see if there is any way to make such a thing happen.  But I’m annoyed and a little angry that Microsoft continually tries to shaft their customers this way.  I can understand and appreciate their desire to get as many Xbox owners to upgrade to an Xbox 360 as possible – they understandably want to make as much money as possible.¹ And I can appreciate that we, as consumers, don’t actually deserve to get new maps for free; heck, I’m willing to pay for the new maps.  But I do believe it’s terribly unfair to single out Xbox owners from being able to get these maps just because they’re Xbox owners who haven’t been able to upgrade yet. 

I’m really hoping that Bungie is able to talk some sense into the powers-that-be at Microsoft to actually make these maps available for everyone.  We who love Halo 2 so much want to experience every aspect of the game.  This is especially true for those of us in specific communities who will end up being left behind on some of these matchmaking lists if it turns out that we won’t be able to acquire these maps.

It’s just another way that Microshaft is trying to take it to their customers by punishing them for not purchasing certain of their products.  It’s bad market sense, it’s bad public relations, and it’s a terrible way to keep your customers happy.  Here’s hoping they repent of this decision, but I’m not holding my breath waiting on it.

1. And it’s not like we don’t want to upgrade; it’s just that for some of us, the cost of a 360 is still prohibitively expensive.[back]

Tags: bungie, halo-2, haloverse, microsoft, video-games, xbox