Zephyrus of the Anemoi

The number of times that Microsoft and Nintendo have lost out on “impulse buys” from me on their respective game stores due to the fact that they use virtual currency is mind-boggling. I’ve probably spent several hundred dollars on the iTunes App Store simply by virtue of being able to hit a button marked “Buy” and having my card get charged. I don’t have to think about it. I don’t have to premeditate. I simply push “Buy”, enter my password, and press Return. There are a number of times that I’ve been interested in picking something up on Xbox Live Arcade and decided against it because I would’ve had to put points into my account first. The act of pulling my card out of my wallet, typing it into the computer, waiting for the points to be added you my account, and then going back to purchase the game acts as an actual barrier to purchase in many situations. Plus, then there are points just wasted and sitting there when I can’t use them all. I’m sure that Microsoft and Nintendo love holding on to my “money” for me, but I would have easily given over much more money if I didn’t have to think about it so much.

I probably spent around $250 on Wii virtual console and WiiWare games during the first year–maybe year and a half–that I had the system, but that was mostly due to the number of free points cards I received as gifts. I currently have around 1800 apps for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on my computer. Most of them were free when I got them, but I’m sure a couple hundred cost $1, and more than 20 or 30 cost several dollars. Now, of course, Microsoft and Nintendo are terrified to “undervalue” games at $1 (and I understand that), which is one of the reasons I’ve spent as much money on the App Store as I have, but even at $1, pulling my wallet out to add “points” to an imaginary online wallet would still prohibit me from spending as much money on the App Store as I have.

So far I’ve managed to clock just under 11 hours of play time (8 hours of Standard matchmaking and 2.75 hours in the Arena) with the Halo: Reach beta and I must say, it’s the most entertaining competitive multiplayer experience I’ve ever played.

Last night, I got the opportunity to play around with the Theater for the beta. It is a significant improvement over the Halo 3 Theater, which suffered from a number of usability problems. In the middle of a Team SWAT match last night, I managed to pull off a pretty lucky shot on Sword Base. Using the Theater, I created a film clip that might be entertaining for those of you in the beta that can watch it (I don’t have a Bungie Pro account, so I can’t render it to playable video).

But, I was able to snap a few choice screenshots that I found entertaining. I’ve also included them below in case I pull them out of my File Share later.

So anyone that follows me on Twitter or is friends with me on Facebook already knows that I’ve been excited about the Halo: Reach beta that just went live for everyone that bought ODST yesterday. I’d still rather be playing the game than actually sitting down to write about it, so I’m going to be brief.

It’s awesome.

It’s like they took all the things I loved about Halo 1, added in a few of the things I loved about Halo 2, stripped out all of the things I didn’t like about Halo 2 and 3, and wrapped it up in a gorgeous engine with a dash of class-based warfare and shoved it right into my brain with a hydraulic piston.

Others have said it much better than me. As a result, I’ve decided to post an excerpt and a link for you.

From Tied the Leader:

“This ain’t no real-world military shooter. This is Halo – true to its roots. This is heavy tech. This is dented steel and sex appeal. This is ballistic boxing in the middle of rush hour traffic with your hair on fire. This is rarely a one-shot/one-kill affair. SPARTANS just aren’t made that flimsy. You want to get some? You are going to have to earn it again. Your opponent is wearing a tank.”