Cash Grab: ‘How-To-Whore a License to Death’ or ‘MW2 and ODST 360 Bundles Announced’

Let’s get a few things out of the way before I begin. I like Halo (1, 2 not so much and 3 very much) and the Infinity Ward developed Call of Duty titles, Modern Warfare in particular. At one point I owned a Halo 3 branded 360. I buy more games, accessories and DLC than the average ‘˜hardcore’ gamer. I am a collector, if you will. Let us proceed.

Microsoft has announced they will release a limited edition 360 bundle in the US (other territories to follow) for Modern Warfare 2 that includes the Standard edition of the game, two black wireless controllers, a unique Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360 and, get this, an exclusive 250GB Hard Drive. All of this for a low $399.99!!!

What this bundle does not come with is:

• A pair of cheap, MW2 branded (and by branded, we mean they have MW2 stickers all over them) Night Vision Goggles.
• The so-called, Hardened edition of MW2.
• The highly publicized Mad Catz MW2 Digital Cammo L33T HaX0rZ controllers.
• A box of tissues, lotion and a rubbish bin. You’ll need all of these items as a substitute for human companionship that you forfeit upon purchase of the bundle.

The Halo 3: ODST Bundle, which at this time has only been announced for PAL territories, comes with a Standard Xbox 360 Elite with 120GB HDD, Halo 3, Halo 3 ODST and the mention of access to the Halo: Reach Beta (which comes standard with all copies of ODST). I guess Microsoft had several warehouses of unsold copies of Halo 3 and was looking to dump them on an unsuspecting consumer base.

I don’t understand who the target market is for these bundles. The MW2 bundle supposes you are teh Hardcorez MW1 fan who already owns a 360 and is willing to double-up just to have the exclusive console with sub-par paint job. Expect Craigslist to be flooded with used Xbox 360s in the coming months.

The ODST bundle is a complete mystery to me. Halo isn’t big in Europe; not to the extent it is in the US. There is nothing exclusive to this bundle, so to me the only upside for Microsoft here is to boost their attach rates. All signs point to this bundle being announced for the US market soon.

If I had to pick a clear loser when comparing these two bundles, it would have to be the MW2 bundle. Sure you’d be getting a larger hard drive, a custom 360 an extra controller and the game, but most of us ALREADY OWN XBOX 360s! If you don’t have a 360 at this point, this bundle isn’t going to be the tipping point. They could have at least gone the extra mile and included the Hardened edition.

Modern Warfare 2 looks to be a great game, but with the news of a price increase in the UK and the overall non-stop whoring out of the license I’m finding it hard to get excited about the game. Activision has been talking about this game as though it was the second coming of Christ. I think I may just wait to pick up the eventual ‘˜Game of the Year’ Edition once it’s in the bargain bin. This may be one of the clearest cases of market saturation and over-hype in recent memory.

Image Via: Xbox.com

[UPDATE: The orgy of system bundles continues, unabaited. Microsoft has announced a 250GB Forza 3 Bundle for UK and South Africa. Rumors continue to surround the PS3 getting several 250GB bundles this holiday. Finally, rumors of a PS3 Slim with Uncharted 2 and a 250GB HDD were squashed by SCEA, yesterday. Still, none of thses sound nearly as ab-whore-nt as yesterday's Modern Warfare 2 bundle announcement.]