Microsoft Fail to Give Final Halo 2 Players Promised Rewards
An interesting thing happened over the weekend. Someone claiming to be a friend of one of the final 12 Xbox Live Halo 2 players stated (on Reddit) that none of the 12 had received gifts promised to them by Microsoft.
If you hadn’t heard, Halo 2 servers were shut down on April 15th, but an intrepid group of players were able to continue playing by keeping their Xboxs on. Over the following month the final 12 players dwindled down until the last player signed off on May 10th. In remembrance of their deed, Microsoft sent a press release to IGN claiming that the 12 would be given beta access to Halo: Reach. “Their tremendous exhibition of courage and commitment makes them ideal candidates for Noble team and therefore we are working to ensure they have everything necessary to participate in the Halo: Reach beta,” the message said.
On Sunday a Reddit user named CaptainExplaino said that he knew one of the 12, Apache N4Sir, and said that neither he or any of the other players received any kind of recognition from Microsoft (aside from the IGN message). But, as CaptainExplaino…explained, Microsoft recieved good press for their act, even though they didn’t follow through:
Microsoft allowed the fanfare and gaming articles surrounding their fight with fate to draw attention to Halo, and the release of Halo:Reach. In the press, they made several claims as to what they were going to do. They claimed they were going to give the 12 beta codes for Reach. They claimed free gold memberships. They claimed free copies of Reach. They did none of these things. They absorbed all the PR for these goodwill gestures. And followed through with none of them.
Microsoft didn’t actually offer memberships or copies of Reach in the press, but the beta codes were promised in the IGN post. In the comments of the Reddit rant, Apache himself showed up to explain that although he has contacted Bungie, Microsoft, and 343 Studios about any sort of recognition for his feat, he’s been “stonewalled” every step of the way.
I can tell you that no matter where I go (conventions and such) people assume that we (or at least me) have gotten free stuff or swag, that is not the case. I receive twitter messages [...], emails, messages on my website (www.apachen4sir.com) and countless XBL messages requesting play time. And everyone that speaks to me asks what kinda cool stuff I have received… again I tell them there is none.
I was surprised when I heard about the 12 the first time the servers were shut down. Why would anyone want to keep a game like Halo 2 going on well past its expiration date? Then I started thinking about these guys actively preserving something that was a big part of their lives, and I applauded them. When the “last man standing” finally dropped I was a bit sad to hear about it. This news saddens me much more. What these 12 guys did for the love of a game was quite legendary: they stood up against the destruction of an entire gaming world to squeeze out as much fun as they could.
For Microsoft to not only squander good press from something like this, and not thank the people responsible, is downright reprehensible. As Apache said, it’s not like these guys were asking for anything by keeping the game alive. All Apache wants, even now, is a simple congratulatory letter from the company.
Update: We’ve spoken with Craig (APACHE N4SIR) who’s said all he really wants is some recognition.
And now pay more money to play our other games online. Thank you. -Microsoft.
Microsoft are such douches, -.-
Dude you have to forward this over to IGN and get them to put this on their front page, wtf…..
Just sent a tweet to Major Nelson awaiting response
The game is already out WTF you are complaining about?
I suppose you are all PS3 fanboys and aside a “friend” is not a reliable source.
I got a friend that was promised a copy of Gears of war 3 tomorrow and MS didn’t gave it to him.
Go ahead now you got a new article.
@retarded
Thank you for your elegant, well thought out comment. I would actually LOVE to write a story about your friend…if he did anything important that warranted his copy of Gears AND if Microsoft told the press that they would give him his game.
God, I miss petty Internet anonymity…
Wouldn’t be surprised if Bungie hooked them up with something if this starts to fester… they don’t completely suck ass like Microsoft.
That really sucks…Halo 2 is still unquestionably one of my favorite games of all time. I was there that “final night” until like 5:30 in the morning, the fact that I had an 8:00 class the next day be damned. I eventually had to turn my Xbox off and resume my life, but I felt a surge of pride every time I heard about those faithful few who soldiered on, giving the game the lingering farewell that it deserved. To hear that they’ve been denied any sort of reward is just disgraceful in my eyes. I wouldn’t have expected anything from Microsoft, but Bungie’s always been pretty cool to their community. I’m with vintage, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Bungie responds to this if it spreads around.
FRom apaches homepage:
April 30th was the day that gamesradar gave (and coined us) “The-Nobel-Twelve” Pre-FF (Friend & Family) Codes for the REACH Beta. Some people jumped ship and logged out to play the Reach Beta…
So whats the deal? Microsoft “promised” Reach beta codes (and nothing more), and thats what they got. Sure they got the codes via gamesradar, but i wouldnt be surprised if MSFT sent out an email to them to acknowledge that.
I really like the tenacious 12 idea, and someone at bungie should whip up some nifty certificate, but getting riled up on this seems a bit much. Those tenacious 12 are rolling in pussy because of their achievement anyway, no?
Hey, this is HiredN00bs, I was one of the final 12 (8th to last), and I don’t understand why this is a story. As far as I know, neither Bungie nor Microsoft promised us anything. GamesRadar was very generous to give us early access beta codes, and I was very grateful to get any bonus beyond the experience itself.
The only complaint I have was that it seemed like anyone that wanted to got early access to the beta by exploiting a Best Buy early access program intended for Best Buy employees. It kind of took away from that experience, as I had heard that previous early access events (like the launch of the Halo 3 Mythic Map Pack) had a generally better community. This was not the case during the early-access days of the beta. But as I said, I was grateful to get in early with the beta, and I am loving the final game right now.
We had a lot of fun playing Halo 2 in those weeks. I’d like to get the group together and take an in-game picture in Reach, but I think some of us still don’t have Xbox 360s.
See you on Live, IGN, and Bungie.net!
@HiredN00bs: Buwahahaha I love you. What you did not do however is tell us where we can buy from, RRP and when it would be in stores. But other than that very obvious commecial well done.
@Generic Purple Turtle:
As a denizen of the internet, I would be remiss to not ask, “what’s a commecial?”
But seriously, what do you think I’m advertising?
@HiredN00bs: A commecial, is a typo, I was trying to write commercial, but unfortunatly I did not recieve money from IGN, Live, and bungie.net to pay for a magical typo proof keyboard. Anyway my dearest of Hiredn00bs, I believe you were hired by at least IGN, or your just a massive douche. Who pimps the biggest gaming sites on small gaming blogs? I’m fairly sure everyone who found a niche blog like this one, knows about IGN. So in conclusion go away please.
@Generic Purple Turtle: You can go defecate in your chapeau, good sir. I mention IGN, Bungie.net, and Xbox Live, because those are the venues on which I am an active member. I post on the IGN Xbox 360 General Board and the IGN Halo board, the Bungie.net Halo: Reach and Optimatch Forums, and I’m obviously on Xbox Live under the gamertag HiredN00bs.
The only reason I posted in this article is because it’s an article about me. Maybe you missed that.
@HiredN00bs: Where did the posh come from? Nevermind your Schizophrenic discorses for the time being. So I’m a member of the “I :)! Surely you would like to make my day?
@Generic Purple Turtle: Please forgive my ignorance, but I simply couldn’t understand your last reply.
“Where did the posh come from?”
I’m not being posh by identifying myself as one of the final Halo 2 players on Xbox Live because the subject of the article concerns the final Halo 2 players on Xbox Live. It is the sole reason I’m even commenting on the subject.
“Nevermind your Schizophrenic discorses for the time being. So I’m a member of the ‘I :)! Surely you would like to make my day?”
wat
Are you saying that you are schizophrenic? Because that would explain a lot.
:O @HiredN00bs: Well copy paste does fail sometimes doesn’t it :) Basically that was really witty, you’re dumb and stupid, fuck off.
@Generic Purple Turtle: I’m neither dumb, nor stupid. Your comments thus far haven’t precluded you from the labels, however.
@HiredN00bs:
You might not be but we all think your a moron! STFU