Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Microsoft Launches Xbox Halo Bundle

Posted by simoniker on from the green-and-mean dept.

Thanks to GameSpot for its article discussing Microsoft's announcement of a limited-edition Halo bundle for the Xbox. The article explains that "the company unveiled a 'limited-edition retail special' which bundles the the award-winning, Bungie-developed shooter Halo with a translucent green Xbox and S-controller for $169." Following the recent standalone Xbox price drop to $149, the green console is "the same color as the debug kit Xboxes used by Microsoft game testers and a limited-edition console issued in Europe last year", and the article also notes: "Microsoft is only releasing 200,000 of the boxed sets."

38 comments

  1. Limited Edition by edwdig · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Microsoft is only releasing 200,000 of the boxed sets."

    Looks like they decided to release one green Xbox for every Xbox they've managed to sell in Japan.

    1. Re:Limited Edition by hambonewilkins · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Slahsdot: Make fun of the X-box, get modded up. Make fun of the Gamecube, get modded down.

      --

      God Bless America. Why? Did it sneeze?
  2. Not going to buy it ... by dougmc · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I almost bought an Xbox back when it first came out, because I really wanted to play Halo. (I don't usually do consoles -- I play PC games.)

    Now that Halo is out on the PC, and I've gotten and played it, I'm glad I waited. It was indeed a good game, but it wasn't worth paying $350 to play it right away. And I imagine it was even better on the PC, with the mouse for aiming instead of their controller.

    1. Re:Not going to buy it ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've played the PC version of Halo and I think it sucks compared to the Xbox version, to be honest

    2. Re:Not going to buy it ... by fr0dicus · · Score: 1

      Hear, hear. The PC normally has the advantage because of the keyboard/mouse combo in FPS games, but even here on it's home territory it loses out.

    3. Re:Not going to buy it ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The PC version has the advantage of more weapons, better looking if you had a pretty tricked out box.

      But really, they did a fantastic job with the control of the xbox version. In fact, it makes me think that with the right controller design, and good context awareness, controllers will eventually trump the mouse keyboard combo. Practically blasphamy to almost everyone I'm sure. But I came up with DooM, was one of the old guard on NTShadow.net. So I do not speak of such things lightly.

      Seeing as Halo has the distinction of being the ONLY game I've played 20 hrs straight, let alone two player, let alone coopratively. I can't say the money was particularly poorly spent I my case.

    4. Re:Not going to buy it ... by KozmoStevnNaut · · Score: 2

      Personally, I can't stand the Halo controls. In fact, I think the controls for Goldeneye 64 were the best console FPS controls ever.

      Analogue stick for moving forwards/backwards and turning, yellow C-buttons for looking up/down and strafing, A-button for activating stuff, B-button for switching weapons, R-button for precise aiming and Z-button for firing. It made sense, even though you were squeezing the trigger with your left hand.

      Man... I gotta play that game again... My hands are twitching just thinking about it :)

      --
      Eat the rich.
    5. Re:Not going to buy it ... by VividU · · Score: 1

      But really, they did a fantastic job with the control of the xbox version.

      What you say is blashphemy here on Slashdot. But your right.

    6. Re:Not going to buy it ... by steeef · · Score: 1

      I didn't play it for 20 hours straight, so it might be that I didn't have enough experience with it, but I just couldn't get used to the thumbsticks. The entire time I was playing, I kept thinking I could do better with a keyboard and a mouse.

    7. Re:Not going to buy it ... by Ziffy · · Score: 1

      Analogue stick for moving forwards/backwards and turning, yellow C-buttons for looking up/down and strafing...

      I've never been able to understand this... I much prefer having looking (both vertically and horizontally) on the (primary) analogue stick, and moving (forward, back, and sideways) on the C-buttons or secondary analogue. One control for looking, one control for moving - simplicity itself.

      Not that I'm saying my way is what everyone should use, but I don't know how anyone came up with the control scheme you describe, let alone why people use it.

    8. Re:Not going to buy it ... by KozmoStevnNaut · · Score: 1

      I really don't know, but perhaps it was done that way so people who weren't really that good at using two controls for movement could play the game anyway?

      They would be a bit handicapped, but I believe you could play through the whole game without even touching the C-buttons.

      Keep in mind, though, that this was the default setup. There were 4 different setups, and I think one of them was just the way you describe.

      --
      Eat the rich.
  3. One of those was mine! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I was in the the beta with one of those, and it was a great beta . . . while it lasted. It was actually kind of disappointing that while we tested Xbox Live, there was really only one or two developers that seemed to care at all. Most of the problems that plagued early Xbox Live titles - namely Unreal Championship, we bugged and were largely ignored. The Microsoft staff was fantastic. The developers, not so much. The guys behind Mech Assault were pretty cool, and I think the beta team had more fun with that one than any other. The team behind Ghost Recon was always willing to play, and they'd always kick our asses.

    Actually, the title I probably played the most was one of Acclaim's remote control car games. It was the first Xbox Live title that worked. They originally meant to include that in the Xbox Live signup package, and they replaced it with a first party title so lame I can't remember the name of it. We all agreed that Moto GP was the finest Xbox Live title we played, so I'm glad they took our advice on that one and included it in the live package.

    The other cool thing about the pre-public beta was that the only other people were other beta testers and MS internal staff, so you'd be playing with one of the coders on XP or something like that. I was impressed how friendly they were.

    It's actually interesting to think how far Xbox Live has come since then. Technologically, better. Socially, much - much - much worse. In any rate, I forgot to send back the cords with my green xbox. Sorry about that, whoever buys it.

    1. Re:One of those was mine! by MBraynard · · Score: 2, Interesting
      I don't think these are the same xboxs - I think these are new.

      And to follow up on your point, I find you are right about Microsoft people. On the few occasions I've used MS tech support, they have been nothing short of absolutly astounding in no uncertain terms. Absolutly the best support ever. One was a sort of paid deal - we tried to use an incident with our MSDN universal subscription. And they guy totally helped and then his boss called to make sure he helped - and this took days to resolve because of my limited time to try things he recommended. And because the solution wasn't supported by ms, they didn't charge us an incident.

      The second occasion was when I installed Office 2003. I couldn't get it to do a certain display thing, and fired off an email to support@microsoft.com not expected to get a response. But I got one, and it was excellent.

    2. Re:One of those was mine! by Phil+Wilkins · · Score: 2, Interesting

      AFIAK the green x-box you had was a debug unit. These are normal x-boxes with the same shell as the debug units (inside joke is that they made too many debugs, and these are the overrun).

      Both PS2 and GC are already available in a wide range of colours.

    3. Re:One of those was mine! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      developers were probably about to be outsourced to India, can't expect them to be too happy and forthcoming on assisting with bug reports.
      once they were gone, and India dev took over..well we see where the Xbox is now, no further explaination necessary.

  4. look out sony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    this s.e. will mark the first month xbox outsells sony in north america.

  5. Gween Xbox by Fred+Or+Alive · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    IMO the transparent green Xbox is the ugliest console ever made. Yes, it even beats the cheap Playstation 2 Silver edition (where they couldn't be bothered to make things like the power button silver, so they stick out like a sore thumb instead, plus the silver colour seems really tacky.) I have a green controller (Microsoft sold them separately in Europe for a while after the green limited edition) but I really wouldn't want a green box. The green just seems to be too dark a shade of green for me to take.

    Now the crystal Xbox (the current European special edition), that looks sweet, I wish I'd held out for one of them, although I can probably get a controller when it comes out, and my black box fits in better with my TV etc. (and the Megadrive (Genesis) sitting on top of it) anyway...

    But nothing will stop me from getting a Sakura Wars Dreamcast -Pink and Grey, a perfect combination. :-)

    --
    10 PRINT "LOOK AROUND YOU ";
    20 GOTO 10
    1. Re:Gween Xbox by Troed · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Agreed. Especially if you replace the green leds in the Crystal with blue ones it looks _really_ neat.

      Easy soldering job as well, hopefully all Crystal owners do it ..

      --
      it's in my head
    2. Re:Gween Xbox by 17028 · · Score: 1

      If you look closely in the right light, you can see that the regular Xbox is a very dark green color.

  6. News for Nerds? Stuff that matters? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Woo. Green Xbox. Wait, someone remind me again why we care?

  7. Re:Test Machine! by cgenman · · Score: 1

    Great, now we'll have to find some other way to tell the test boxes from the final boxes.

    Thanks, Microsoft, for finding a new and unique way to make my job more difficult.

    --
    The ______ Agenda
  8. Although it's only 200,000 by M3wThr33 · · Score: 0, Troll

    That's 200,000 more Xbox fans who now only have to make ONE purchase instead of TWO before stopping from buying everything else.

  9. Halo ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Heavens is that all they have to offer in the bundle ? one of the launch titles from urm how many years ago? I dont think thats going to send out the right signals to consumers.

    1. Re:Halo ? by PaintyThePirate · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Although the game is over two years old, Halo is still considered by many to be the best game on Xbox. It makes sense that it would be included in a limited edition bundle.

      --
      eclecti.cc
  10. That's the ugliest thing I've ever seen by NonSequor · · Score: 0

    I've always thought the green color scheme for the Xbox was in bad taste, but this takes it to a new level. I suppose now that someone will attack my masculinity for desiring that my surroundings be aesthetically pleasing.

    --
    My only political goal is to see to it that no political party achieves its goals.
  11. Finally! by MMaestro · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Its about time more and more systems are beginning to package -real- games with their systems now. Remember the old days of the SNES when you could buy the system, get TWO controller, a REAL game, and no need for a memory card? Looks like Nintendo and Microsoft are going back to those days. The PS2 offers a similar package, but lets face it, their choice of free games are no Halos or Zeldas.

  12. Explanation please: by blankmange · · Score: 1, Funny

    Since when is 200,000 a limited edition?

    --
    ...we are from the government - we are here to help...
  13. must... resist... by MORTAR_COMBAT! · · Score: 1

    The only thing which can save me from purchasing this product is for World of Warcraft to be released. Help me, Blizzard...

    --
    MORTAR COMBAT!
  14. I wonder how much this will go for on eBay.. by LordJezo · · Score: 0, Troll

    Buy it now, wait one year, sell it on eBay.. profit!

    1. Re:I wonder how much this will go for on eBay.. by gamgee5273 · · Score: 1
      with 200,000 of them? There's going to be no profit on those in that scenario., especially with Xbox 2 coming next year.

      I predict that, by the end of this year, the "limited edition" will be easy to find and the Xbox will go for $99-$119.

      If it's $99 for the regular non-puke green one, then, and only then, might I buy one.

  15. Yummy... by borg1238 · · Score: 1

    I would think making a system out of green Jello and suspending the hardware inside would be problematic.

  16. It was called "Re-volt" by Recoil_42 · · Score: 1

    see title.

    --


    Newsie, Moderator, www.tauniverse.com
  17. Red vs Blue? by ashground · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Now imagine if they also included the season 1 DVD of Red vs Blue... -that- would be a bundle. Seriously, 'special edition' releases should be a little more special than they really are. Okay, so the X-Box is green. But imagine if the bundle included: - A green X-Box - Halo - Halo soundtrack - A bonus DVD with Making of Halo / Making of Halo 2... as well as every Marathon game, compiled for the X-Box (which wouldn't be too hard, since you could just write an emulator for them)? - A Halo t-shirt Then people's ears might really perk up.

  18. MOD PARENT UP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    +5, Funny