My Verdict on Halo 3

As we were following Halo 3 in our previous weeks, a short verdict note to add here.
Halo 3 can be declared a runaway success. Favorable reviews, huge blockbuster opening (bigger than spidey 3, they say) and millions online on XBox live, currently competing with each other.
It's a great game and if you own an X360, go buy your Halo 3 copy now and if you don't own an X360, I suggest start saving money now, and buy yourself an Xbox360 and a copy of Halo3 for this Holiday season.

Apart from the being a quality product, Microsoft should also be applauded for the marketing efforts it put in, to promote the product. Never before, so much money and resources were spent on a game launch.

So what's the consequence? Where does Xbox go from here?

I believe, Xbox360 is way ahead of its competitors now (Wii and PS3 fanboys, don't start flaying me for this, personal opinion only). Gears of War, BioShock and now Halo 3, you have 3 solid reasons to buy the X360 now.
I really don't care if Wii has outsold the X360. C'mon Wii is almost 1/2 the price. Also, let's be frank here, Wii is not meant for serious gamers. It's cool, fun, can play with family etc...but you won't be playing Halo or MGS ever on it (Metroid an exception though). This clearly has been nintendo's product placement strategy, and it's good move. Nintendo has found a new GAP in the gaming segment and they have done remarkably well.

As a computer engineer, I can confidently say that good hardware needs to be backed with good software. A great example would be PS3s cell processors. If you don't have good SDKs written for such complex platforms, one can never utilise these great hardware and tap their potential.

PS3 might have great hardware but as a gamer, I really don't care unless I have some real cool games to play on it to appreciate its power and superiority.
I hope Sony learns a lesson or two here, and rallies behind developers and churns out nice titles to compete against the X360.

A healthy competition benefits us all. Looking forward to the next big game releases, till then happy fragging...