Does anyone else feel fed up with this new practice at console launches of making customers buy specific games? I just hope Micro$oft doesn' t do one of those " checkout bundles" like with the original Xbox, but they probably will.

It sucked when I went in to get the original Xbox, and they were like, " you' ve got to buy two games" . I was like " cool" . Then when I took Halo and Dead or Alive 3 to the counter, they said, " No. You' ve got to buy THESE two games" , and handed me Project Gotham and NFL Fever!! I was pissed (even though I bought the Xbox and all four games anyway)! If they pull that crap with the 360, and the 2 titles are anything but PDZ and PGR, I' m gonna tell them to stick it up their arse, and just wait till the second shipment.

Funny thing is, I probably wouldn' t have even bought Project Gotham if it wasn' t for that. I ended up spending quite a bit of time with that game. NFL fever? That' s a different story!

I wouldn' t bother entertaining stores trying to shove bundles down my throat.. It' s possible to find stores (online and offline) that won' t try to saddle customers with bundles and I' d much rather keep searching for those stores, which is what I' m gonna do for any piece of gaming hardware.

I agree with Terry on this one Cheesaw. If a store tries to shove crap down my throat like that I don' t care if I have wait an extra month for the system, they can go to hell. Thats the biggest marketing rip off ever, and those stores don' t deserve your business.

If something like that happened to me, I would walk out of the store.

I agree with you guys. The thing is that when it happened with the first Xbox it was a surprise to me. I was like " What! I' ve got to buy these two games?" They were just like, " Yeah. That' s the way we HAVE to do it. M$ says so!"

The funniest part is that later down the road Microsoft was touting their attachment rate for game purchases at release! I' m thinking to myself, do any of these news sources reporting this data take into account that Microsoft basically shoved these games down peoples throats (or crap down peoples throats, as you so elequently put it mxpx182). I think any game that a player HAS to purchase with the system should not be included in the statistic!

The problem is, if you want the console on day one (like me) and didn' t preorder you' ve basically gotta stand in line really early at places that don' t take preorders. These are the places that do this " package" crap. Well, I' ve got my fingers crossed on this one.

The funniest part is that later down the road Microsoft was touting their attachment rate for game purchases at release! I' m thinking to myself, do any of these news sources reporting this data take into account that Microsoft basically shoved these games down peoples throats (or crap down peoples throats, as you so elequently put it mxpx182). I think any game that a player HAS to purchase with the system should not be included in the statistic!

*cough*HALO*cough*ahem

ORIGINAL: Terry Bogard

The funniest part is that later down the road Microsoft was touting their attachment rate for game purchases at release! I' m thinking to myself, do any of these news sources reporting this data take into account that Microsoft basically shoved these games down peoples throats (or crap down peoples throats, as you so elequently put it mxpx182). I think any game that a player HAS to purchase with the system should not be included in the statistic!

*cough*HALO*cough*ahem

I don' t think so, buddy!

All the stores that I check out in Michigan (ok, Best Buy and Circuit City!) only required you to get PGR and Fever. I think Halo' s awesomeness just propelled it to greatness!

LOL.. There' s no way that a NEW franchise like the original Halo ' sold' as many copies as it did by just positive reviews and word of mouth .. The Halo bundles were a genius move on Microsoft' s part, making a lot more people aware of just what Halo was, helping to send the standalone sales of Halo 2 to the stratosphere ;)..

If they shove down my throat a game like Halo was (btw when I bought my xbox it came with Halo and Crimson Skies, loved both games) then I' ll take it. If otherwise, then I' ll take it and sell the games on e-bay, lol.