[Tufo]

The ironic thing about that statement, Dark, is SOOo many people said that ALL that Halo2 and 3 were was a GRAPHICAL update. Did you read much of the article?

Some of my favorite quotes:

There is an exodus of sorts and the culmination of seven years worth of evolution in Halo multiplayer is in question - perhaps even in jeopardy.

I agree. The king of Live is no longer the king.

How had Bungie tapped into a fleshy pulse - that living catalyst - which drove gamers to unflinchingly dedicate the last seven years of their lives to a single franchise.

I am one of those gamers. Since the first days.

So then, it was no surprise that when Bungie sat down to look at Halo 3’s multiplayer, they developed solutions for many of these complaints. Halo 3 represents the bulk of those solutions made manifest and the multiplayer beta months before the game’s release proved this to everyone who was afforded an opportunity to play. It appeared as though Bungie had listened to the fleshy pulse of their fan base and were making amends.

Bungie is the most active dev team in their community that has ever made a video game.

These [Legendary mappack] maps will be the crucible, the fulcrum - they’ll be the determining factor on the game’s ability to once again retain its presence in a year which will not only see entrenched Call of Duty 4 fans but also the second coming of Epic’s Gears of War franchise.

It's a tough order....

No, this is not a denigration of the competition or a demand for Halo to dominate the leaderboards on Xbox Live as it did with Halo 2, but something has happened in the Halo community, something critical and alarming. Our brothers in arms have left their first love for another. If these maps and those which follow fail to recapture the fans who’ve become disenchanted, then Halo 3’s multiplayer may well be at an end.

I want my brothers in arms back....

If they succeed, however, this will ignite the fleshy pulse buried in the lifeblood of the community. Members both new and old - both loyal and prodigal - will grab their battle rifles from the shelves and wage war. If downloadable content can resolve the problems we’ve discussed, Halo 3 will once again regain the glory of the franchise.

Come home, prodigal fans! LOL