Boogey131

I don't understand the feelings of it being weird to switch characters for the last portion of the game. It was explained before, during and after those segments. At every turn Phelps was being shut down in his investigations and saddled with "busy-work" to keep him out of the way. His every move was being analysed and so he needed an outside source with the integrity and ability to see it through. To remain at Cole's perspective when he's doing brush fires on the hills while th real investigation continues would've been dull. The story, like Phelps, went where the investigation led.

I liked the ending, the fact that even when the dust is settled and the hero saved the damsel in distress we see that the corrupting forces of the LAPD are still free and powerful. The Assistant DA/probable future DA sits with Roy Earle/Chief of police as they, once again, neatly close the case blaming the deceased Dr. and the housing developer for everything. Leaves plenty of room for a sequel, but doesn't require one. Happy endings are over-rated.

I recently saw the Steven Spielberg's Project LMNO concept video and it seemed like it could have been something cool. I don't really recall anything that I had any interest in being cancelled though.

The poll options don't seem to match the thread topic too much, I rent all of my games, but it has nothing to do with how often a game gets a sequel, just my current pitiful income. I think rentals allow me to look at a game and critique it more accurately because I'm not letting the value proposition enter into it. A bad game at 60 bucks is still a bad game at 10. And if a game is truly great, then the 60 bucks price-tag isn't an issue, REGARDLESS of how many/little hours of gameplay it offers. 
 
The biggest way rentals alter my thought process is in the games I choose to play. I play far more niche/average games because I don't need to worry about spending a months income on a game I only think is ok.

Mystery solved, I forgot these deals of the week were for Gold members only, I've only got silver right now. Shame, was looking forward to playing the game.
 
I find it ridiculous though that we're still dealing with Microsoft's own brand of currency. If they offered to just sell games for valid currency, with no points system, then I wouldn't have just wasted the 4-5 bucks, I wouldn't mind if I could just add another 400 points and even it out to buy the game at full price, but even though it adds up to pennies, I don't want to have the 100 leftover points.  Bah, I understand it was MY mistake that led to all of this but it's a frustrating system that has no benefit to the user.

So the games 400 MS points this week, I just added 500 points and clicked on the promo on Xbox(UK) Spotlight, then the download screen tells me it's 800 points still, am I doing it wrong? :-/

I don't think it's really possible to quantify how much hype a brand carries, so I'm not sure where you're getting the idea that COD is a more coveted series than Halo. 
 
COD is so popular partially because of the feeling the game gives you when you play it and partially because of great marketing and word-of-mouth. Medal of Honor was proof that you need more than a modern war setting to elicit the type of response Call of Duty has received. With Modern Warfare, you had a shooter(which is probably the most popular genre of game amongst your average gamer) that made the basic action of firing a gun feel great. The amount of production that went into the series made it a great looking shooter with a summer action movie aesthetic and the multiplayer was balanced enough with a levelling system that gave the play an incentive to keep coming back with perks and prestige modes etc. 
 
An even shorter answer is, what has made COD so great is Infinity Ward and their experience in the industry. Treyarch have been lucky enough to be given the opportunity to play with a series that IW made popular.