The release of Halo 3 was wildly awaited, as the game was the third in the original trilogy of the Halo series. Therefore, the Halo 3 free download was one of the most downloaded video 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.

What does the Halo 3 demo download have to do with any another video game? Well, it has a great deal to do with the distribution and marketing work for a video that was originally planned for release on the Xbox system. Microsoft had become concerned that Crackdown wouldn’t sell a lot.

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

Microsoft had resorted 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 off-putting, often leaving them wondering what they were supposed to be doing next.

As a result of this, the powers that be thought that something had to be done or the game would be a dud. It may appear dodgy practice at first to attempt to force 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 bundled with the Halo 3 trial download, people play the role of an agent who is assigned to beat the kingpins or leaders of different gangs. To do this they make use of some superhuman powers such as super strength and super fitness. In order to gain these powers, players have to build up experience by defeating foes who then release experience orbs. The clever idea in the system was that the sort of orbs released depended on the manner in which the agent killed the enemy. For example, a firearms orb appears if the enemy was wiped out with a gun.

So, although at first sight this game bundled with the Halo 3 trail download seems to be no more than a veiled marketing trick, in fact, it exposed gamers to a fascinating new gameplay experience.

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