In the 9.24.14 Halo Bulletin, i noticed this statement during the Q/A segment when someone was asking about various ships and if they were still in service:
“The Vulture had largely disappeared from UNSC inventories due to irreplaceable combat losses by 2545, but Materials Group is currently evaluating the possibility of restarting production (albeit with the benefit of improved materials and incorporation of new technologies).”
“Irreplaceable combat losses” being Ensemble Studios and the irreplaceable talented people who worked for the studio when it was closed down after Halo Wars released.
The second part, about Materials Group, could mean 343i evaluating if they should bring a new studio and give them the task of bringing Halo Wars 2 to life. “Improved materials and new technologies” obviously being the enhancements and upgrades that a sequel, learning from past mistakes and on new hardware would bring.
Am i just crazy and eroding from wishful thinking or could this be a clever hint about Halo Wars 2?
What do you guys think??
P.S. One of my questions that i asked, about the Jackals being reptilian in Halo 4, was answered in that Q/A, which is awesome! Thanks!
They could be hinting at a lot of things. They could be hinting at it appearing in Halo 5, or in some other spin off game, or in further DLC for spartan assault. They could even simply be leaving the door open for its inclusion in future products (including a possible Halo Wars 2).
While this may be my bias towards HW2 speaking here, but I think the OP’s onto something. Because there is some huge metaphorical connection between the fate of the Vulture and its developers, and, Halo Wars and Esemble.
The Vulture’s developers were “irreplaceable” due to what’s probably talent in their field or just access to rare materials. Esemble Game Studios was “irreplaceable” not only in the way that the OP said it, but also because Esemble was among the gods of the developer world in their earlier days. Most philosophical beliefs dictate that you can’t replace gods.
However, just as the remains of the Vulture are being salvaged from the ashes of its developers and recreated by the Materials Group, the remains Halo Wars — as indicated by Phil Spencer in an interview of some sorts (look up “Phil Spencer on Halo Wars 2”) – are likely being salvaged from Robot Entertainment (Esemble’s remnants) by 343 Industries.
I thought the Q&A answered questions of why many assets from Halo Wars never reappeared in later installments of the Halo franchise. The answers we received coincidentally parallel the shutdown of ensemble studios. A bit unusual coincidence yes, but I wouldn’t look to far into the Q&A. I think the phantom dust E3 trailer is more conspiracy theory worthy for Halo Wars 2.
Ahem first clue… Phil Spencer and 343 Industries said they are currently not working on anything like that yet… but if a console-strategy developer wanted to take it on… they would be much obliged.
Ahem second clue… A interesting billboard in a unrelated game trailer at E3 2014… shows Halo Wars… curious indeed?
Ahem third clue… The UNSC Spirit Of Fire has returned to the timeline during 2558… as seen in Halo: Escalation #6.
A Halo Wars 2… maybe there next sidegame to fill the time between main titles.
> Ahem first clue… Phil Spencer and 343 Industries said they are currently not working on anything like that yet… but if a console-strategy developer wanted to take it on… they would be much obliged.
>
> Ahem second clue… A interesting billboard in a unrelated game trailer at E3 2014… shows Halo Wars… curious indeed?
>
> Ahem third clue… The UNSC Spirit Of Fire has returned to the timeline during 2558… as seen in Halo: Escalation #6.
>
> A Halo Wars 2… maybe there next sidegame to fill the time between main titles.
That is certainly a lot of evidence for Halo Wars 2 at least being thought about. Plus I remember a few years ago, around when Halo CEA was releasing, Frank O’Connor was asked about Halo Wars 2 said something like “Halo Wars was the highest selling RTS on consoles, and that is something we cannot ignore.”
Ive put around 600 hours into Halo Wars last i checked so obviously i’m a little biased.
> > Ahem first clue… Phil Spencer and 343 Industries said they are currently not working on anything like that yet… but if a console-strategy developer wanted to take it on… they would be much obliged.
> >
> > Ahem second clue… A interesting billboard in a unrelated game trailer at E3 2014… shows Halo Wars… curious indeed?
> >
> > Ahem third clue… The UNSC Spirit Of Fire has returned to the timeline during 2558… as seen in Halo: Escalation #6.
> >
> > A Halo Wars 2… maybe there next sidegame to fill the time between main titles.
>
> That is certainly a lot of evidence for Halo Wars 2 at least being thought about. Plus I remember a few years ago, around when Halo CEA was releasing, Frank O’Connor was asked about Halo Wars 2 said something like “Halo Wars was the highest selling RTS on consoles, and that is something we cannot ignore.”
>
> Ive put around 600 hours into Halo Wars last i checked so obviously i’m a little biased.
I love that quote from Frankie. Money makes the world go around, I take comfort knowing they have a reason to produce a sequel.
400+ hours I’ve enjoyed Halo wars (another heavily bias enthusiast)
And we also have this as evidence for Halo Wars 2:
> "[Halo Wars is] something I’m very interested in. Bonnie [Ross, 343 Industries GM] and I talk about it quite a bit. I think Halo Wars falls in the shadow of the Halo FPS. I mean, you’re doing 10 or 12 million units of the Halo FPS, anything else that comes out Halo that doesn’t hit those numbers, it’s kind of easy for certain people to look at it and say, ‘Well, that didn’t work.’ And I don’t think that’s the right measure of success; I think Halo Wars was a high-quality console-based RTS game. It was fun.
>
> “And especially now, when I think about some of the capability – you might roll your eyes at this – but when I think about some voice and other things that you could add to that, that’s the kind of gameplay that I think would be great in those scenarios. And also a game that maybe I could play on multiple devices: I could play on Windows as well, I could play on console, because it has that gameplay that lends itself so well to that. So I suspect you’ll see us do something with…they’re kind of busy right now at 343, which is good, we’re really happy with what they’re working on. But I think there is opportunity for us to do something more with that franchise and Bonnie, Kiki [Wolfkill, 343 executive producer], and Josh [Holmes, creative director] are doing a great job in thinking holistically about the Halo franchise.”
That last bit mentions the MCC as what they were currently working on at the time of article and states that Halo Wars 2 takes a backseat to it.
But now, now that MCC is out of the way, not only is there room for Halo Wars 2, but there’s also the fact that they mentioned the possibility with such detail — something that they likely wouldn’t do if they weren’t doing it.
343i and Microsoft and most businesses of that matter aren’t ones that mention mere possibilities to the public — they mention realities.
As for the Phantom Dust trailer, Frank O’Connor stated that it was just “weird coincidence” and frankly (no pun intended) I’m not surprised given that I don’t believe Phantom Dust is a product of Microsoft.
> As for the Phantom Dust trailer, Frank O’Connor stated that it was just “weird coincidence” and frankly (no pun intended) I’m not surprised given that I don’t believe Phantom Dust is a product of Microsoft.
The Phantom Dust was a Japanese exclusive game that Microsoft game studios produced to help give the Xbox a chance in the Japanese Markets. The new Phantom Dust is going to be an international reboot for the series, which is still a Microsoft exclusive title.
A gears of war bill board can be seen as well, which helps suggest that everything shown is MS exclusive. A new gears title is in the works so I do not doubt that Halo Wars 2 or some sort of successor is in the works.
> The Vulture’s developers were “irreplaceable” due to what’s probably talent in their field or just access to rare materials.
>
> However, just as the remains of the Vulture are being salvaged from the ashes of its developers and recreated by the Materials Group,
I’d like to speak to this.
Small runs of heavy machinery are incredibly expensive. The A-10 Thunderbolt and the Saturn V rocket are irreplaceable not because the blueprints were lost or because they used rare materials, but because the production machinery and factories that made them are no longer there. Take the B-52, for example.
> The B-52B was followed by progressively improved bomber and reconnaissance variants, culminating in the B-52G and turbofan B-52H. To allow rapid delivery, production lines were set up both at its main Seattle factory and at Boeing’s Wichita facility. More than 5,000 companies were involved in the massive production effort, with 41% of the airframe being built by subcontractors.
In the long run, it’s cheaper to keep current aircraft flying by cannibalizing parts from the other aircraft of the same model. And when the model has to be retired for lack of flyable aircraft, the method of replacement is usually to design a completely new machine that takes advantage of advances in technology.
> > Hehe, I am skeptical on that but nice observations.
>
> You know what I was also skeptical of? The MCC when it was just a rumor.
Its fun to speculate! Lots of strange coincidences lately that might be nothing, but when that Q/A statement caught my eye, i couldnt just let it go. Had to see what others thought.
My hopes on Halo Wars would be crossing it with Halo: Spartan Assault… gameplay wise.
Allow the Spartans to be ‘zoom’ controlled or solo controlled… like the Halo Wars Arbiter or Halo: Spartan Assault Sarah Palmer/Edward Davis.
Firstly… I love the fact the RTS Campaign is co-operative play… I have never seen it done in any other game, Halo or otherwise…
Secondly Halo Wars should be using the next-generation engine and be set in the current universe… with Prometheans, Flood, UNSC, Covenant Remnant… with rogue or remnant bits of factions on certain maps and gaurding new base locations/resources depos… Covenant Remnant and Human Insurrectionists.
> In the 9.24.14 Halo Bulletin, i noticed this statement during the Q/A segment when someone was asking about various ships and if they were still in service:
>
> “The Vulture had largely disappeared from UNSC inventories due to irreplaceable combat losses by 2545, but Materials Group is currently evaluating the possibility of restarting production (albeit with the benefit of improved materials and incorporation of new technologies).”
>
> “Irreplaceable combat losses” being Ensemble Studios and the irreplaceable talented people who worked for the studio when it was closed down after Halo Wars released.
>
> The second part, about Materials Group, could mean 343i evaluating if they should bring a new studio and give them the task of bringing Halo Wars 2 to life. “Improved materials and new technologies” obviously being the enhancements and upgrades that a sequel, learning from past mistakes and on new hardware would bring.
>
> Am i just crazy and eroding from wishful thinking or could this be a clever hint about Halo Wars 2?
>
> What do you guys think??
>
> P.S. One of my questions that i asked, about the Jackals being reptilian in Halo 4, was answered in that Q/A, which is awesome! Thanks!
I honestly think you were reading into that a bit too much there.
I think you’re grasping straws now. I think they mean that we may possibly see these vehicles used in a main game title in the future, that’s what I got from it.
> > In the 9.24.14 Halo Bulletin, i noticed this statement during the Q/A segment when someone was asking about various ships and if they were still in service:
> >
> > “The Vulture had largely disappeared from UNSC inventories due to irreplaceable combat losses by 2545, but Materials Group is currently evaluating the possibility of restarting production (albeit with the benefit of improved materials and incorporation of new technologies).”
> >
> > “Irreplaceable combat losses” being Ensemble Studios and the irreplaceable talented people who worked for the studio when it was closed down after Halo Wars released.
> >
> > The second part, about Materials Group, could mean 343i evaluating if they should bring a new studio and give them the task of bringing Halo Wars 2 to life. “Improved materials and new technologies” obviously being the enhancements and upgrades that a sequel, learning from past mistakes and on new hardware would bring.
> >
> > Am i just crazy and eroding from wishful thinking or could this be a clever hint about Halo Wars 2?
> >
> > What do you guys think??
> >
> > P.S. One of my questions that i asked, about the Jackals being reptilian in Halo 4, was answered in that Q/A, which is awesome! Thanks!
>
> I honestly think you were reading into that a bit too much there.
I dont. Thats a really specific thing to describe about a game that people have a wanted a sequel to for years. At the very least they were hinting at the possibility that the vulture could be in a future game.