While the last entries in both series managed to move decent numbers, it does seem as though both critical and general interest is waning. ODST and Gears 2 seemed to have a good start out the gate, but within a week or two, they quickly faded from view as other titles took the spotlight.
Bungie has told OXM UK that its biggest regret from the whole Halo series is the lack of matchmaking in ODST’s Firefight mode – which it said it simply didn’t have time to fix.
G4TV writes: "You’ll have a chance to play Dark Void next week, but Capcom’s high-flying new franchise was originally scheduled for last fall. Capcom decided to hold the game back, claiming time time would be used to further polish the game and let Dark Void launch in a less crowded market. Capcom did have a date picked out for Dark Void, however, but there was a problem: Halo 3: ODST."
Split-Screen: "Some people may question Bungie’s development time when it comes to Halo, especially after news that the company created Halo 3: ODST in only 14 months. Well, that may get all the more uglier as we’ve uncovered info regarding just when the so-called ‘biggest game of 2010′ Halo: Reach will wrap up development."
Curtis Creamer of Bungie at the VGA’s was quoted as saying "That was a technology (Firefight) we hadn’t built up to a point where we could add DLC to the game. It would have been too much of an investment to make that happen" We’re no rocket scientists over here at Burn360, but when someone says that it kinda sounds like..wait no it definitely sounds like he just said we didn’t invest enough time into ODST and with Reach coming out in a year we’re gonna… Read on for the rest of this "story"
Split-Screen: "Aaron Butler, a former Senior Game Designer at Guerrilla Games responsible for the SixAxis systems and gameplay mechanics of Killzone 2, got his hands around Bungie’s Halo 3: ODST around the time of launch. Surprisingly, he’s found many of the intended new features as plus points in the overall scheme of the game’s design. He especially approved the use of two separate discs for single- and multi-player modes, which had become a point of criticism for Bungie’s inclusion of all previous Halo 3 MP content."
GB writes: "When the original Killzone was released way back in 2004 it was hyped up as the Halo killer. But things did not go too well and it’s safe to say the game flopped. A year later, when the PlayStation 3 was announced at E3 2005, Sony stunned crowds with that infamous trailer of Killzone 2. Nobody could have imagined that the PlayStation 3 could turn up with such stunning vistas. Four years later in 2009, Sony delivered with one of the best first person shooters this generation. Killzone 2 was just not an improvement in the graphics alone but it had the game play to match with it. 2009 also saw the release of Halo 3: ODST on the Xbox 360."
Xbox360 Press: Step into the boots of a Spartan III and prepare for the first look at "Halo: Reach," the highly anticipated prequel to the "Halo" trilogy from acclaimed developer Bungie coming fall 2010. The very first "Halo: Reach" video had its worldwide debut last night during the Spike TV Video Game Awards by actress Tricia Helfer, offering gamers a taste of the story to come.
Taken from part of the game’s opening cinematic, the video provides the first look at the story of "Halo: Reach," which introduces players to Noble Team, a squad of battle-hardened Spartan soldiers. "Halo: Reach" charts the story of Noble Team in their heroic stand to defend the planet Reach, its people and secrets against a ruthless assault by an alien collective known as the Covenant.
"Halo: Reach" is being published by Microsoft Game Studios and launches in the fall of 2010 exclusively on Xbox 360. The "Halo: Reach" multiplayer beta is coming spring 2010, which players can access exclusively through "Halo 3: ODST."
Today McFarlane Toys announced that a seventh batch of Halo action figures will be released in January 2010. They also provided details and photos of each item in this latest assortment, which features characters from Halo 2, Halo Wars, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo 3.
The latest Wii blockbuster posts the third largest day one of the year behind Modern Warfare 2 and Halo 3: ODST