Well, there Spaz went and did something stupid again. Writing a childishly sarcastic letter to Microsoft, expecting to get results that will appease his fragile ego. He doesn’t seem to grasp the realities of “Big Business” . When they are as big as Microsoft, they can do pretty much whatever they want with their products. And they really don’t need to listen to small fry, like us. How ever if you hope to get some positive results from a big corporation, it helps to provide a possible, real solution to the perceived problem. So I wrote a follow up letter to Microsoft:
Dear Microsoft.
Thank you for responding to my friend’s (Spaz) E-mail. I would like to apologize for his “half baked” complaint regarding Microsoft’s marketing of the HALO games. His remarks involving Microsoft’s business practices, not with standing, He does make one valid point. Namely, subsequent editions of HALO not available for ALL Gaming platforms.
A possible solution is now in order. Consider issuing an Ultimate Gamers Pack. All editions of HALO, available on all platforms. Reasons? Not everyone will buy an X-BOX, no matter what games are only available for this console. Also, and this is important, I believe. Many of us simply do not like any console based platforms.
We prefer PCs for gaming.
Sincerely,
Erratic
www.putergamers.com
If and when Microsoft replies, we’ll keep you all updated.
If you don’t remember the game Halo, I’m talking the original game release in 2003, then you cannot call yourself a gamer. Even if you aren’t a gamer, you probably know someone who is, or have seen Halo art or SOMETHING. When Microsoft released it in 2003, it made a HUGE splash and was quickly named game of the year, and deservedly so. Halo is one of those games with flavor (I will address games with flavor in an upcoming post).
Of course, all of the rest of the Halo’s have come out only for the Xbox, leaving those who have a PC or another console flapping in the wind. With the release of HALO OSDT, and the upcoming release of HALO Reach, I just couldn’t take it anymore and had to email Microsoft a letter. What follows is a copy of what I actually sent Microsoft.
Dear Microsoft
I know you are very busy continuing your hold on your world monopolies on PC software (and your other products) and counting the billions you make in net profit, but I do have a bone to pick with you. It concerns the game Halo.
As is common knowledge, your game Halo was a monumental success when it came out in 2003. It was even named game of the year and is so popular that people to this day still play it online. As a user of PC’s and Microsoft products, I too purchased this game and had tremendous fun with it as I continue to do so from time to time.
I highly anticipated the sequels to this game, and in due course Halo 2 came out. – for XBOX only. Oh, excuse me, it was also available on your highly successful, useful and stable PC operating system Windows Vista which had so much success in the PC market.
You continued the trend of releasing the incredible Halo series only for your console, XBOX and the various upgrades of XBOX, leaving those of us that only have a PC dangling in the wind, so to speak.
I understand your concerns for piracy, and how much easier it is to pirate games on a PC over a console like your XBOX, because console piracy NEVER happens, does it? I’m sure that you couldn’t have anticipated ANY piracy whatsoever of any of your software. That is to say, your software monopoly, your multi billion dollar profits and the fact that in order to put an operating system, word processing software and spread sheet software on a new PC, you’d have to actually spend more money on the software than on the brand new computer you just purchased. None of that actually encourages piracy at all, how could you have known?
So, I had a choice to make. In order to play the new Halo’s coming out, I could purchase an Xbox and perhaps not pay the mortgage for a month. Or maybe I could give up on food for a few weeks. Or maybe sell my PC which is used for work, homework, the internet and the like. Or perhaps just not purchase any of that at all, and not play Halo in any way, shape or form.
I’m not asking you to make your operating systems or other work based software a bit more reasonably priced, even though that would be an intelligent move. I’m not asking you to stop this console business or to give up a piece of your monopoly by making the various Halo games available to other consoles, because private labeling a product is NEVER a good way to make extra profits, isn’t that right? I’m asking you to back release all versions of Halo for PC. If you do that, I cannot guarantee I will be your very first customer, but I can guarantee that I will purchase it as soon as I can after the release.
Respectfully yours,
Spaz
www.putergamers.com
If you agree, please, add this post to a social bookmarking, talk about it on your blog, and/or email Microsoft yourself. Let’s get all the Halo’s for PC so we can ALL enjoy this game!
