I find it funny how most podcast host favor Halo's multiplayer over CoD's claiming it's a less intimidating experience for a newbie. I think it's the opposite. If anything Halo's multiplayer requires more skills and a better understanding of its game mechanics than CoDs. In Reach you usually can't kill someone by just shooting at them (unless your playing SWAT.) You first have to bring down their shields wich, in my opinion, takes way too many shots. In COD if you shoot someone they usually die before you have to reload. I think Halo's "shield" mechanic makes the game way too complex for the casual gamer to jump in and enjoy. And on top of that I feel the game's net code isn't as good as CoDs. While playing Reach many times did I feal like lag was heavily influencing my performance. I hardly ever get this fealing in CoD's multiplayer. Anyway, I see Reach is not at the top of Live's multiplayer list. Both MW2 and Black Ops are played more. I think Halo's multiplayer might need a little re-tooling. If it wasn't such a pain in the ass to bring down shields I think many more people would still be playing Halo over CoD. Just my 2 cents.