In for one at $31 after ECA (yes I pay tax).

I wonder if there is still a market for the map pack code since I already bought them.

So the three Halo 3 maps are how much otherwise? And do a lot of people play these extra maps online? Not that I have ever played online, but part of my cost/benefit analysis nonetheless.

ECA?

ECA Membership is $20 a year and nets you 10% off any video game related purchase on Amazon. You generate codes on ECA's site and use them like coupons on Amazon. The 10% comes off SRP instead of the actual sale price. So in this case I got $7 off (10% of $70).

The Mythic map pack is $10 and is required for most matchmaking these days so yes, they do get played online. They will be included with ODST in another month so they won't have much value at that point.

Thanks MC. I kind of doubt I'd earn my $20 per year back, but if it's $7 right there.......

Any experience on the timing? If I join ECA then immediately buy the Gold Box deal, will I be covered? I know sometimes memberships take awhile to be activated, and the gold box may expire/fill soon.

Wouldn't you fucking know it. I order Halo Wars today and guess what Gamefly ships me out? It's been in my queue for 5 months and today's the day they finally decide to ship it to me. Fabulous. Well that's a good 6 days wasted turning that around and shipping it back.

If it makes you feel any better it is a terrible game.

I think by terrible, you mean best console RTS ever....the game was great....destroys any other generic Halo shooter.

I think the game falls inbetween were you guys are at on it. For a console RTS it is good.

Spent about 30 minutes on the demo and decided that I'd wait for it to hit $10.

I suppose, but that is kind of like saying that for a fish my goldfish fetches balls well. RTS simply does not work on a console due to control limitations. Admittedly, Halo Wars was better than the other console RTS games but that is still not saying much at all.


Pixy, that you?

Assuming i take this ridiculous bait of comparing a RTS to a FPS.... and assuming i even understand what you mean by a "generic Halo shooter" (are you calling Halo a generic shooter? Are you saying there are generic spin-offs of Halo?) what exactly makes it so awesome if you strip away the Halo theme? It doesn't have nearly the number of units and balance that even Age of Empires II had. (note: I chose that example because both games were done by Ensemble)

It borrowed from Warcraft 3 with its hero units, stripped the balance of AoEII, dumbed down the controls to the point it was like playing with flippers, and then put on an admittedly decent Halo theme with some interesting cut scenes.

I suppose if someone wasn't a big RTS fan then it would work well enough but it isn't a good genre title at all.

I had it in my shopping cart, ready to go. Played the demo and then decided not to get it. For a console game like this, I enjoy CivRev much more.

And then compared to things I've played on the PC, no contest. But that wouldn't be a fair contest anyways. Having never played a Halo game before, that might have also put me at a disadvantage.

These are all solid points, and if you stripped away the halo backstory which is good (this coming from someone who thinks Halo is a generic shooter and doesn't care about it) then this wouldn't cut it. Honestly I would liken it too Ghostbusters if it wasn't a licensed game that game wouldn't be anything special.

Can other profiles on your Xbox use Avatar Props you purchased? i.e. If I buy the pom-poms, can both of my daughters and I use them?

Nope.

Avatar props are tied to the gamertag only.

where does it show how long you've been a member on LIVE? Isnt that a new feature on your gamertag somewhere?/

scroll down to My Xbox. Click on your gamertag. That will pull up how long you've been on xbl.

Oh and after all these damn updates still no clock on the dashboard

Just a head's up ... the Axe coupon that was in the recent Maxim magazine is also in the latest ESPN magazine (College football cover) .. if Target still has the free points, this is a hot deal

How often are you on the dashboard where you need to look at the time? Why not include a clock in the upper right-hand corner of all games?

What's the cover price on that?

Nevermind. $3.99 for $3.75 worth of points. I understand it's good if you need the deodorant or shower gel, but it's not something I'd need to stock up on.

doesn't the time show up when you press the center (xbox) button?

Interesting Halo Wars debate. For the record:

- Never played a RTS game
- Love Halo
- enjoyed the Halo Wars demo

Sounds like a win to me.

4 years now and MS still has no idea what a QWERTY keyboard is.

Yes.

There is an option to change the on-screen keyboard to QWERTY. I don't know where it's at though.

System Settings -> Console Settings -> Language and Locale -> Language

-or-

Plug in a USB QWERTY keyboard and STFU.

Yeah i know about the guide button. I just thought it was weird they have still not placed it on the dashboard. It just seems to be the perfect place to have it there as well.

I'll be damned. When did they add that option? I swear I've brought up the QWERTY thing at least a dozen times over the past four years and no one has mentioned a thing about it.

As for a keyboard, I have a chatpad but use the onscreen thing from time to time when I don't feel like getting off my ass to get it.