In modern days, with the improved support for modding in Halo 3, I’ve increasingly seen the arguement “just mod it” or “just play ‘X’ mod” being used. Yes, modding has been made more easy for everyone… on PC. Y’see, to play mods, you need the right hardware, the right software, the money to buy said hardware and software and the trust that what you are downloading isn’t packed with a virus. Many, many people (I do believe the majority of people) do not have all of these. This means that they cannot play with mods. 343 need to accomadate for everyone and provide content for everyone in their main game. They shouldn’t just rely on PC players to candle PC modding and then leave Xbox players in the dust. On that note, I will now continue on to suggest my concepts for modding, game development and the bridge in between them.
Modding is amazing, I want to clarify this. It is amazing in producing content that people will enjoy. I suggest to 343 that they start incorporating mods into the main game where they could very easily fit. If a mod is a meme or doesn;t fit into the game or was poorly recieved by the community, 343i should avoid that mod. Additional inspiration behind this document was the Hiddenxperia video titled: Halo 3 Mods Are Absolutely BLOWING MY MIND.
I will now list all of the mods that really stood out to me as possible mods that could be introduced into the main game:
- The Wasp from Halo 5 and Infinite (in Halo 3)
- A new Motorbike vehicle (in Halo 3)
- Bringing the Brute honour guards and enforcer sentinels from Halo 2 into Halo 3
- The Halo 3 Multiplayer maps “Heretic” and “Guardian” being given a flood-y makeover.
- The 1999 Macworld armour, now called Orion in Halo 2: A, in Halo 3
- The 1999 Macworld turret being in Halo 3
- The H.2 spectre could return into H.3
- Maps like Gephyrophobia, Death Island and Blood Gulch could return from H:CE and be put into Halo 3
- The Orion Armour from 1999 Macworld and the Scout Armour from H.Reach could be put into H:CE as customisation options.
- The Scenery Vehicles, the Albatross, from Halo 3 could be made flyable.
All of these ideas can be seen on that Hiddenxperia video that I mentioned.
These are all incredible bits of content that have mostly been made already, it wouldn’t take much for 343i to actually put these into the MCC. Modding is amazing for those that have the tools to use them, yet game development should be for everyone and a brilliant way to get more content for the game could be to put these mods into the main game for everyone to use. This is an opportunity that I really hope that 343i don’t miss. I get how some mods shouldn’t be added to the game, like memes and mods that don’t fit the gameplay or art direct, there are so many mods that would have seemed at home in the original games.