Halo 2 players getting Reach beta invites via email

by Richard Mitchell on Mar 4th 2010 1:00PM

This is what you get for being loyal to Halo 2
If you're one of the die-hard Master Chief fans that just can't let go of Halo 2, there's a chance that you've got some good news waiting in your inbox. Microsoft is currently sending out emails to Xbox Live users, specifically those who insist on clinging to the old ways. As the Xbox Live service for original Xbox games will shut down next month, Microsoft is offering Halo 2 fans quite a severance package.

All told, OG Xbox gamers will receive three months of Xbox Live Gold, 400 Microsoft Points and an invite to the upcoming Halo: Reach multiplayer beta. Granted, it's probably not going to console those who have yet to upgrade to an Xbox 360 -- or those loyal to games other than Halo 2 -- but it's certainly better than nothing. And hey, jet packs, right?

[Thanks to everyone that sent this in!]

Source

Tags: 343-industries, bungie, halo, halo-2, halo-reach, halo-reach-beta, microsoft, microsoft-game-studios, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (75)

Not a bad deal at all.

Very nice of the big 'M'.

How will they be able to use any of this if they don't have an Xbox360?

It's for people who played it on the 360 too, you know.

That's a really small minority...

"On April 15, 2010, we will discontinue the Xbox LIVE service for original Xbox games playable on Xbox v1 and Xbox 360. In our continuing efforts to evolve the service, we need to make changes to the LIVE service that are not compatible with original Xbox v1 games."

Skeet, think it through. It's being done for those who got it to play on the 360. Those who are playing older consoles with older titles know the time will end with support and servers from their games. People who bought the games to play on the 360 via the DL service are the ones who got the shaft here and are the concern. They paid to play it specifically on the 360 and now can't-so they have the real gripe. MS is trying to make up for that screw over.

You can always find a reason to bitch, but MS is doing more than a lot of other companies would on this issue.

Although I don't enjoy feeling like having been bought out with some MS points, it's still better than nothing.

I played Halo 2 on my Xbox 360 when I first got my Xbox 360. As soon as Halo 3 came out though, I never put it back in the disk tray.

But I haven't received any email or points. >:
Originally, I had my hotmail set up with my AOL (because back when the original Xbox came out, AOL was all the rage. I swear) and I never actually had a Hotmail inbox (I just figured this out when I checked).

Could that be why I didn't get an email? Or should I have bought Halo 2 from the Xbox originals collection?

Very considerate. Bungie gets a cookie.

I think this is Microsoft doing this., not Bungie.

how would they decide who gets sent these points and subscriptions? by checking who plays more recently? or who has played it as of a certain date?

From the way I read the email it seems it was given to those who were playing Halo 2 on the original Xbox and who still have an Xbox Live account.

See that infra red port on the front. Think: Hal from Space Odyssey, then you'll have a general idea.

"Halo 2 on the original Xbox"

So Halo:Reach works on the old Xbox?

OK, I imagine they selected older players with both units and XBL accounts. What all 12 of them.

Holy Jesus...

I know.

I still can't believe it's butter.

"All told, OG Xbox gamers will receive three months of Xbox Live Gold, 400 Microsoft Points and an invite to the upcoming Halo: Reach multiplayer beta"

does this mean everyone who plays an original xbox game? or is it strictly Halo 2?

cause I still play Chaos Theory

The email specifically targets Halo 2 players.

that sucks

Yeah, I was surprised to get the email this morning.

Yeah, the email was surprised to get me this morning.

Why are there people playing Halo 2 still, unless they can't get a 360, if that were the case, wouldn't it make sense to give them a free 360 as well so they can play the beta on? :/

No. It's for the people who were playing Halo 2 ON THE 360.

You do know that you were able to buy classic Xbox games on the 360 right?

Because it provides quite a different experience than Halo 3?

Yes because in Halo 2 you still had obvious flaws from Super Jumps to, being able to melee from 8 feet away, to being able to hijack vehicles with ease with little to no resistance... Don't get me started on how trashed the "sticky aim" was. Halo 2 is a great game but, if someone went back to it with having the option to play Halo 3, they went back for all the wrong reasons...

I was wondering that Dr. Blight, was there some particular reason people were playing Halo 2 on thier 360s rather then 3, the only thing that popped into mind was those who still own original Xbox and cant get Halo 3, or there must be other reasons they decided to play Halo 2 over 3 on thier 360 and if so, what were they? I gladly transferred over and welcomes the changes.

well... some would be that the people didn't like all the *changes* they made, and all the fixes such as Super jump, and BXR, and the messing with the B/R, and Melee "fix", and others would be that they like glitchy games better maybe?
and others didn't/couldn't be good at Halo 3, so they moved back to 2 were they were self proclaimed "gods"

Halo 2 was just fresher than halo 3 was. And I love Halo 3. If my Halo 2 disc wasn't scratched to hell from wear and tear I'd probably be still playing it as well.

I play for the sake of Halo 2. I loved the game, it introduced me to Halo. I had amazing memories with it and never started playing it on live until I hear that it was ending (thank god I did!) because I couldn't let it go without experiencing BTB.

I played for nostalgia's sake, and was pleasantly suprised. Needless to say I now have an extra Reach beta and I will be having several Halo 2 parties over the next to weeks.

Well, my curiousity has been filled, its good to see that people can still enjoy old games and appreciate them for what they were rather then jumping onto the bandwagon of 'new game...must play that exclusivly....old game is old now'.

Since they're giving out codes through email for the Halo Reach beta, and since the Beta comes with ODST, I wonder if I can give the code MS is going to email to me to a friend of mine (he doesn't have ODST) and just use my ODST disc to play the beta. Anyone know if this is possible?

My guess is that the code will be tied to your Gamertag.

No, this is for people who played it before this email.

Crap. I HAVE Halo 2, but it's still shrinkwrapped, and I wanted to keep it that way. They only give out this bonus if you've got a Halo 2 game save on your system? I mean, I've got plenty of OTHER Xbox game saves on my Xbox 360...

No, not for having a game save. This is for 'avid' players, aka people who've played it fairly regularly.

I've been playing Halo 2 a bit last week but didn't get any of this. Oh well :(

I'll be disappointed if I don't receive an e-mail. I played Halo 2 for what seems like forever. Put more hours into that game than anything else in my life, lol.

Glad my hours in Phantom Dust have been all for naught. Thank you Microsoft.

Most underrated Xbox 1 game EVER.

I was never a big Halo fan. Halo Wars was my favorite of the series, if that means anything. But I am very excited to play Reach.

Hey look at my meaningless comments... Either say something useful or quit spamming like 3/4 of your comments are.

I loved Halo 2 but whenever I played it on the 360 it suffered from ghosting where the backgrounds would remain on the screen as a gray image. Most annoying and occasionally made it unplayable.

"three months of Xbox Live Gold, 400 Microsoft Points and an invite..."

that's it!? are you kidding me, M$? were talking about some of your most loyal customers, who most likely haven't even purchased a 360 yet, and that's the best you can do?!

im not saying buy them all 360's but haven't these particular customers, at the very least, earned something slightly more substantial?

"yea hi, we know you've supported our original Xbox and Halo 2 for the last 30 years but we're pulling the plug...like tomorrow. but don't worry, here's an invite to our new Halo game...that you'll have to buy our new Xbox to be able to play on...that'll run you at least an extra $300. oh, and here's five bucks in MS points for ya! alright, take care now!" - - Love, M$

my god, talk about f*ing cheap...

Lets face it: The original Xbox is nine years old. This is more of an appeasement to the people who were still playing it on the 360.

A hardcore halo fan that can't spend a couple hundred on a console and a new Halo game 9 years after the first console came out.

my god, talk about f*ing cheap...

Yeah. Definitely their most loyal customers if they still haven't bought an Xbox 360 or Halo 3 yet. They're lucky that their even getting this. If it were me, I'd just cut them off saying, "It's been almost 10 years, buy a new console already." You people and your sense of entitlement, geeze.

Wait, if I picked up a copy of Halo 2 now and played online a few times on my 360, would I still get this email?

Because $10 is worth the 400 points and 3 months of Xbox Live.

No.

Bungie needs to revamp every map for every Halo game they have ever made and package it as a stand alone purchase. I would pay a pretty penny to have all my old favorite multiplayer maps from Halo 1 and 2 in HD clarity and playable on the 360.

Who is with me?

i dunno about all of them, but there are many maps i would love to have in halo 3 (not sure about Reach yet). halo 2 had most of my favorite maps: lockout, ascension, midship, ivory tower, zanzibar, foundation, sanctuary (probably my favorite of all halo games), turf, and relic. and that isn't including halo 1 remakes. most of the other maps were pretty good too.

halo 3 only has 4, maybe 5 maps that stood out to me like that: the pit, valhalla (probably the best large map they've ever made, imo), ghost town, orbital, maybe assembly.

i wouldn't even care if they didn't change the textures. i would be happy even if i just got sanctuary...

full map lists for halo 2 and halo 3:
http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Halo_2#Maps
http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Halo_3#Maps

Did you ever pop in Halo 2 on 360? It runs in 720p with anti-aliasing...

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Halo 2 players getting Reach beta invites via email

Reader Comments (75)

Posted: Mar 4th 2010 1:05PM Ezio Auditore da Firenze said

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