Theater Improvements that I'd like to see

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

When exploring the realms of the theater modes in Halo’s 3 through 4, I’ve noticed that the Theater mode, while helpful, is extremely lacking compared to what it should be. When I refer to lacking, I’m specifically referring to how absurdly limited it is when it comes to actual film clips.

Why do I have to spend 100+ dollars on a freaking video capture card just to get my film clip off my xbox?

So, with all of the frustrations that I’m seeing and the overall lack of improvement with the feature from title to title, here’s a few changes/improvments that I’d really like to see…

Direct Streaming from Halo to Waypoint.

When you go to the File Browser on Waypoint and search through Films/Clips, you’ll notice that the only way to view the film is by sending it to your Xbox. That’s kind of ridiculous. In all honesty, I should be able to view the film from my device, not by pressing the download button, turning on my Xbox, and going into Halo 4.

Not only would this make me not have to walk across my house more than I have to, but this would also make things hell of a lot easier for Machinima makers now that they don’t have to open up their Xbox and put a capture card in.

Rule-of-Thirds Grid

Strangely, one of the huge elements of photography is rule-of-thirds, where the emphasis on the image is arranged through a grid that cuts it into thirds. Ultimately, in order to allow screenshotters the ability to easily adhere to the rule-of-thirds, it would be extremely helpful to have a setting that will display a rule-of-thirds grid in the HUD.

Not only would this make Screenshotting more user-friendly, but it would also make screenshotters not have to ‘eyeball’ the location of the rule-of-thirds grid.

In-Game Film Editing

Again, the horrendous lack Machimina-friendliness in Halo’s theater mode is demonstrated by how directors have to create their Machinimas by using potentially expensive software on their PC’s or in some cases, aren’t able to use software like this at all due to them taking the liberty (like me) of using Linux. So, with that being said, I’d be more than delighted to have a feature within the Theater Mode that allows the player to edit the film in-game.

When I refer to “editing”, I’m referring to being able splice clips, merge clips, add sound to clips, and just manipulate clips in general. Ultimately, I’d be able to make a decent Machinima without ever having to move the film clips to my computer.

Split-Screen Theater Mode

To this day, I’ll still don’t know why it was necessary for Bungie to make Theater unavailable in split-screen. While I can understand how it would make sense for it to be a player-preference to go solo in theater, given how high-res objects aren’t rendered in split-screen, I don’t see any reason for it to be a mandatory setting.

I had a lot of fun viewing theater mode on split-screen, and even more fun viewing theater mode with people over Xbox Live. And did I mention that there’s absolutely ZERO reason to make it unavailable to enjoy it with other people on Xbox Live?

Activating Pan-Cam During the Theater Session

Something that’s always annoyed me about Theater is that I have to activate pan-cam in during the game that I’m playing prior to viewing it. While using the button-combo for pan-cam at any point in the game is a trivial task and not that much of a hassle, it would still be nice to toggle it during the Theater Session and it would be even better if it was in the menu instead of having to do a button-combo. And for people who don’t know what ‘pan-cam’ is, it’s a feature that allows the player to ignore death barriers and explore the loaded map.

Additionally, it would be nice to be able to lower my weapon on Xbox Live so that I don’t have to abduct a ton of actors and make them suffer split-screen with me.

Theater Support for ALL GAMEMODES

While I’m aware that 343i was unable to implement theater into Campaign and Spartan Ops due to time-constraints, and am ever more aware that this likely won’t have to be on anyone’s list with future titles, I’m still going to announce how much I miss this feature.

And that, my fellow Waypointers, will be all.

2

> In-Game Film Editing

You’d have something lackluster at best, akin to using Guitar Hero World Tour’s Music Studio. You need a PC for stuff like that, if not just for the mouse and keyboard.

> Split-Screen Theater Mode
>
> To this day, I’ll still don’t know why it was necessary for Bungie to make Theater unavailable in split-screen.

Halo 3 multiplayer films were viewable in split-screen.

> Activating Pan-Cam During the Theater Session
>
> Something that’s always annoyed me about Theater is that I have to activate pan-cam in during the game that I’m playing prior to viewing it. While using the button-combo for pan-cam at any point in the game is a trivial task and not that much of a hassle, it would still be nice to toggle it during the Theater Session and it would be even better if it was in the menu instead of having to do a button-combo.

You can toggle panning by just clicking the left stick.

3

> > Split-Screen Theater Mode
> >
> > To this day, I’ll still don’t know why it was necessary for Bungie to make Theater unavailable in split-screen.
>
> Halo 3 multiplayer films were viewable in split-screen.

I made it pretty clear in the OP that I was aware of that.

> > Activating Pan-Cam During the Theater Session
> >
> > Something that’s always annoyed me about Theater is that I have to activate pan-cam in during the game that I’m playing prior to viewing it. While using the button-combo for pan-cam at any point in the game is a trivial task and not that much of a hassle, it would still be nice to toggle it during the Theater Session and it would be even better if it was in the menu instead of having to do a button-combo.
>
> You can toggle panning by just clicking the left stick.

When I refer to pan-cam, I’m referring to the ability to remove the death-barriers in theater. Surely you’re aware of this feature?

Being able to prevent altitude changes while moving and being able to ignore death barriers are two very different features.

4

> > Halo 3 multiplayer films were viewable in split-screen.
>
> I made it pretty clear in the OP that I was aware of that.

facepalm If only I could read.

> When I refer to pan-cam, I’m referring to the ability to remove the death-barriers in theater. Surely you’re aware of this feature?

I was, but I didn’t realize it was called pan-cam.

5

> > When I refer to pan-cam, I’m referring to the ability to remove the death-barriers in theater. Surely you’re aware of this feature?
>
> I was, but I didn’t realize it was called pan-cam.

The name of it really should be changed. The name “pan-cam” doesn’t even reflect what it does.

Still, it’s a pain in the -Yoink- to have to use a button combination for it. The same goes for lowering weapons.

Button combinations, especially ones where you have to twist you hands to use them, are really unnecessary.

LB+Down would be much better for lowering weapons. LB+RS would be good for pan-cam.

6

Night vision will be nice if seeing dark corners and finding easter eggs.

7

I miss multiplayer Theater. Also rendering clips online.

8

With Game DVR on the XB1, I doubt there’ll even be a separate theatre mode in the next Halo. Although I agree with all your points, when you look at it from MS’ view, it would seem pretty pointless to put in time & resources to improve theatre mode when there’s already one with the console itself.

~ Duck.

9

> <mark>With Game DVR on the XB1, I doubt there’ll even be a separate theatre mode in the next Halo</mark>. Although I agree with all your points, when you look at it from MS’ view, it would seem pretty pointless to put in time & resources to improve theatre mode when there’s already one with the console itself.
>
> ~ Duck.

Game DVR is absolutely primitive compared to Theater mode, so I seriously doubt it will replace it. Pretty much all Game DVR does is allow you to record a five minute clip of something from your perspective… That’s it.

Replacing Theater with Game DVR would be like replacing your Xbox One with a Gameboy Advanced. That’s not gonna happen.

10

> LB+Down would be much better for lowering weapons. LB+RS would be good for pan-cam.

Yeah, especially if I wanna activate my Armor Ability and drop ordnance at the same time or active my Armor Ability and zoom in to snipe =/

If it works in an online environment like custom games like you want, then it will work across ALL modes unless it could be independently disabled via gametype script, which I highly doubt. So that means in Matchmaking it’d prevent people from actually playing based on their control style.

11

> > LB+Down would be much better for lowering weapons. LB+RS would be good for pan-cam.
>
> Yeah, especially if I wanna activate my Armor Ability and drop ordnance at the same time or active my Armor Ability and zoom in to snipe =/

I’d imagine that you’d have trouble activating your Armor Ability and attempting to zoom regardless if there’s a button combo for it that doesn’t effect gameplay in any way, shape, or form.

12

Yeah, game DVR is nowhere near the same thing as theatre.
Theatre records the whole match without you requesting it to, which is great, but it also let’s you play it back from any perspective, including a free-range monitor type mode.

The one thing I REALLY hope they bring back and fix is the ability to watch a clip in a party.

Back in the Halo 3 days, my buddies and I used to show each other our clips before calling it a night/beginning to play.
It was such a great time.

13

> If it works in an online environment like custom games like you want, then it will work across ALL modes unless it could be independently disabled via gametype script, which I highly doubt. <mark>So that means in Matchmaking it’d prevent people from actually playing based on their control style</mark>.

The thing is, though, weapon lowering has never affected gameplay aside from your weapon being lowered out of site. Furthermore, if you melee, throw a grenade, or shoot, you weapon raises back up.

I cannot possibly imagine how it would affect separate control schemes either.

14

> > <mark>With Game DVR on the XB1, I doubt there’ll even be a separate theatre mode in the next Halo</mark>. Although I agree with all your points, when you look at it from MS’ view, it would seem pretty pointless to put in time & resources to improve theatre mode when there’s already one with the console itself.
> >
> > ~ Duck.
>
> Game DVR is absolutely primitive compared to Theater mode, so I seriously doubt it will replace it. Pretty much all Game DVR does is allow you to record a five minute clip of something from your perspective… That’s it.
>
> Replacing Theater with Game DVR would be like replacing your Xbox One with a Gameboy Advanced. That’s not gonna happen.

They did away with the clan list, they can do away with this if they so wish.

~ Duck.

15

The one thing that they SHOULD take from Call of Duty is some of the stuff from CoDs Theatre, I’d love to be able to merge different clips and scenes together into one Video. Montages are so easy to create on Call of Duty purely because you can add different clips together into one piece.

16

> > > <mark>With Game DVR on the XB1, I doubt there’ll even be a separate theatre mode in the next Halo</mark>. Although I agree with all your points, when you look at it from MS’ view, it would seem pretty pointless to put in time & resources to improve theatre mode when there’s already one with the console itself.
> > >
> > > ~ Duck.
> >
> > Game DVR is absolutely primitive compared to Theater mode, so I seriously doubt it will replace it. Pretty much all Game DVR does is allow you to record a five minute clip of something from your perspective… That’s it.
> >
> > Replacing Theater with Game DVR would be like replacing your Xbox One with a Gameboy Advanced. That’s not gonna happen.
>
> They did away with the clan list, they can do away with this if they so wish.
>
> ~ Duck.

There’s a significant difference between removing a UI option than removing an entire gamemode that is cherished by a massive chunk of the population and is also widely showcased by 343i.

17

Seconded on all counts.

18

I’d say:

1: Make it more of an editor, and les of a replay theater. In other words: more options to cut, paste, import other clips, apply post-game effects instead of having Old Timey etc needing to be placed in Forge.

2: Highly unlikely but sure to give machinimists a -Yoink!-: Kinect.
Seriously: if H5 would let you rig the player model to your movements you could essentially act out your story EXACTLY the way you want it. Now, that would not only show Kinect can indeed be awesome, but it would also just be an amazing feature.

19

Simply put, I want theater for campaign and any other mode in the game.

I would also really like the ability to save films/clips as a movie file. This would like be .wmv format. I’m okay with that. By being able to save the file as a movie file, we should then be able to watch those clips from the dashboard without having to go into the game.

Doesn’t the XB1 do something like this already though?

The important part though is being able to download those clips to our computer. Either by saving it to your fileshare and downloading it through Waypoint online, or being able to pull it directly form the xbox onto a thumb drive.