The first time around, I talked a bit about Gears' level structure, its cinematics, and main characters. Now a bit more about some of its unique strengths and weaknesses, compared to Halo, including NPCs and weapons.

Released a full two years later and the first title in a wave of second-generation games for Microsoft's next-generation console, Halo 2 and Gears of War clearly have nothing in common, and nothing would be gained by trying to compare them. So why am I doing it? Because that's the nature of my illness. After having completed the game twice through now (still working on Act 5 on Insane) I feel compelled to write up some observations comparing the game I've spent the last two weeks playing to the game I've spent the last two years playing. Beware Gears spoilers!

I already made some remarks regarding Gears' all-things-to-all-soldiers cover system; how Frankie said it wasn't appropriate for Halo 3 (which it isn't) but wondering what Halo might have been like had it stayed a third-person game and used controls like Gears. Both games are still sci-fi shooters, though, which means they have a lot in common that has nothing to do with cover or controls. There are quite a few resemblances in a number of areas, but Gears also does a number of things right that Halo 2 didn't, and as much as I'm saying to myself now, "oh, Gears does this just like Halo" I can't help but wonder, by the end of this year, will I be asking "why doesn't Halo 3 do this like Gears did?"

Is it really necessary to use Halo 2 maps to try and pressure more gamers onto the new platform? Is Halo 3 really so far away that you can't wait for that to draw gamers to the 360? Is two years really too long to support an online game?

If you want us to believe that original console owners really don't count, show us the numbers!

GhaleonB, via Louis Wu at HBO, points out that Microsoft has put out a nice press release (even attributed and with a dateline, thanks guys) touting the six million user milestone reached by Xbox Live.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love Xbox Live. While not an ardent online gamer, the service as a whole is well put togther and thought out: the integrated friends list and messaging, content downloads, gamerscore achievements; the works. The idea of separate friends lists for each game (Sony) and cryptic friend codes (Nintendo) really make me wonder what anybody else is thinking as far as online console gaming goes.

However, just because I've been a subscriber since Halo 2 launched doesn't mean I'm ready to drink whatever kool aid Microsoft is going to serve up regarding the service; and this press release is at least as interesting for what it doesn't say as for what it does say and the way it says it.

Frankie O'Connor at Bungie gave an interview near the beginning of this year, and one of the questions I found particularly interesting, especially because I've only recently had a chance to play Gears of War myself:

XCN: Are you influenced by other games like Gears of War, would you consider implementing some things like the Gears of War cover system in Halo 3?

Frank O'Connor: We're always asked about the influence of other games on Halo and recently the 'other game' often seems to be Gears of War. Will the cover system influence Halo? The honest answer is no. The gameplay for Halo 3 was decided long before Gears of War even shipped. If we put the cover system in Halo it would ruin the game because it's not about cover. It's about big encounters and open spaces and vehicles and so on. Gears of War is about cover. Sticking something like that onto our game wouldn't be a good idea. Anyway, there is a cover system in Halo - it's called ducking behind objects and using the environment to shield you from harm. But we won't be putting a cover button in, and it's certainly not the X button that we're often asked about.

Whenever a new game comes out with an ostensibly "new" feature it seems there's an exchange that runs something like this; where a journalist asks Developer of Last Year's Hit Game if they are going to implement Cool Feature from the newly released This Year's Hot Game in next year's Sequel To Last Year's Hit Game.

Whether the feature is appropriate for that game or not scarcely matters; it's a hip and trendy feature. In the case of Gears, it's the Cover button.

Last week I wrote about the website Halo2Sucks.com, a site devoted to discussing why Halo 2, despite being tremendously popular, was not actually a good game in the minds of some people; more specifically, why it was not as good a game as the original Halo. The key points of this argument were laid out by the original administrator, Shaker, who has since departed to parts unknown, leaving in his wake an absentee landlord.

For most of the past few years the bulk of my attention has been on Halo's campaign play: story, characters, and settings. Partly it's my choice, since it is where my interest in Halo lies, but partly due to circumstances. For most of the past seven years, the Internet connections I had access to were unsuitable for online play.

Recent events, however, have conspired to bring my attention back to online play. The first is the upcoming Halo 3 multiplayer public beta. True to form, it appears that Bungie will have multiplayer ready to show the world before the campaign is finished; so between now and when the beta test ends, most Halo 3 discussion will probably focus on multiplayer aspects.

The second thing is that I finally have a reasonably priced Internet connection that makes it possible to participate in Halo 2 matches. While I still have more latency and less skill than a below-average Halo 2 player, for me, participation is the thing. I've already missed out on far too much.

The last thing was that during a discussion of an entirely different subject, my attention was drawn to Halo2sucks.com.

This is not normally a site I would pay much attention to. There's something incongruous about reading a site that labels Bungie "sellouts" and proudly (if largely incoherently) claims that Halo 1 is better than Halo 2 and this inevitably leads to the conclusion that Halo 2 sucks.

However, then I began to feel that simply dismissing all the points the site tries to make simply because of the presentation was prejudicial; and despite the fear of directing attention somewhere it's not warranted, I felt a need to address some of the points the site raised. Then I discovered what really bothered contributors to that site. More on that near the end.