I’m going to have to use gears of war as an example, and a very good one at that.
in gears of war 1, the game was all about execution (and yeah, i guess, warzone). i believe it was like this in gears 2 as well. now, with the introduction of Team death match in gears 3, things changed drastically. there was a shift in the community and it was obvious that the game was intended to be played with respawns and a life pool. this split the general population. basically, the whole community went to team death-match and classic modes became an afterthought.
As with all my friends that were gears 1 hardcore enthusiasts, we went and played team death-match, simply because it was the way the game was intended to be played. halo 4 will probably be exactly like this. its obvious how they want the the game to be played (as far as moving in a WHOLE different direction), and your not part of the community playing it any other way. in fact, you become part of a cult, a very isolated one at that.
Every time a bit of news leaks, 343 and microsoft immediately jump to take to defensive actions clarifying that this will only be in certain game modes, or ect… basically putting a band aid on the situation or trying to close the flood gates. it is LUDICROUS to think that traditional halo even has a place to stand in halo 4. a good example of this is the “team classic” playlist from Halo: reach, as nobody ever played that. We have the options to change things to our liking in custom games (as far as gravity and damage is concerned), but nobody does that… because lets face it… we play the game how it was intended to be played.
and as a counter argument to 343 patching up “bad journalism”; the fact is that these writers at IGN and Gameinformer are professional writers, and they know the consequences of their actions. they know they are portraying the game in a negative light, and there has to be a reason for that. they obviously are not happy with the changes and direction that the game is headed in. it’s as simple as that. nothing else can explain why they would lose out on future exclusive rights for information, not just in halo, but many other microsoft games.
something that is off topic, but demands attention is the hiking prices of video games. this will NEVER stop, until YOU, the consumer decides to vote with YOUR wallet. what microsoft is doing, is trying to see how many ONE HUNDRED DOLLAR VIDEO GAMES they can sell to figure out a price point for retail games next generation. keep that in mind.