[quote name='videogamejunkie']I will have to disagree with bigdirty on this one (I typically agree with what bigdirty has to say. I have sam on the xbox and I dont care for it that much. I do think that halo is one of the better fps out there today. time plitters didn't do it for me either. I like an indepth story line to my games. Hitman 2 in fp view is fun. Still hate those flood though.[/quote]
But hopefully you see what I mean when I say Halo feels slow and heavy. If you play it side-by-side (or at least directly before/after) with Sam, you can see the realative speed difference. Going through the Halo worlds it feels like you don't cover anywhere near as much ground as in Sam. Also Halo is a lot less twitchy than most FPSes, which I'm not a fan of (the reason I don't play counter strike).
I don't see why Halo is the premier game for the system though. Yes, it is pretty, but there are tons of games that are pretty as well. The vehicles are a nice touch, and the exaggerated physics are fun, it just doesn't break new ground for me, nor was it what sold me on the system. For me it was a combination of the SegaGT/JSRF pack-in, along with Sam, the Sega exclusives, in particular, Shenmue, THPS2X (yes, I wanted the extra levels along with all of 1 and 2 on the same disc), and Oddworld.
There's a lot more to the XBox than just FPSes, which should be the focus when trying to sell someone on the box. Live is the key selling point, but it's hard to convince a PS2 owner to get a box, especially with the repitition in the consoles' libraries.