Halo 3 Trial Download

The release of Halo 3 was wildly anticipated, as the game was the third in the original trilogy of the Halo series. Therefore, the Halo 3 trial download was one of the most downloaded game demos in the history of the Xbox 360. What many people don’t remember is that the Halo 3 trial download helped make another game – Crackdown.

But what does the Halo 3 trial download have to do with any other video game? Well, it has a lot to do with the sale and marketing effort for a game that was originally planned for playing on the Xbox system. Microsoft had become worried that Crackdown would not sell a lot.

So they used a marketing tactic, the one of bundling Crackdown with an access code to the Halo 3 trial download. And it worked in that Crackdown sold 1.5 million copies within the first six months of its release. Those aren’t Halo 3 numbers, which sold 8.1 million units in just over a year, but for a lesser well-known game that’s terrific.

Microsoft had turned to the Halo 3 trial download tactic because of poor opinions about the game from the play testers. They thought the nonlinear nature of the game confusing, often leaving them asking themselves what they were supposed to be doing next.

As a result of this, the powers that be knew that something had to be done or the game would be a loser. It may seem shady practice at first to attempt to push sales of a game that’s expected to be unpopular, but in retrospect people love the game and it was a good thing that they were able to get the chance to play it.

In Crackdown, and that includes the one associated with the Halo 3 free download, people play as an agent who is detailed to beat the kingpins, or leaders, of various gangs. To do this they utilize some superhuman powers such as super strength and super agility. In order to gain these powers, players have to accumulate experience by defeating foes who then release experience orbs. The clever part of the system was that the kind of orbs released depended on the method in which the agent killed the enemy. For example, a firearms orb appears if the enemy was killed with a gun.

So, while at first sight this game bundled with the Halo 3 free download appears to be nothing but a veiled marketing gimmick, in reality it exposed gamers to a fascinating gameplay world.