This is why we’re here. This is what we really want to know …
Will Halo 4 lead the gaming industry, in the ways that Halo CE-Halo 3 once did?
The entire industry, not just the 360. Will Halo 4 be a must-play game for owners on other platforms? Will PS3 users wish they had an Xbox? Will PC gamers complain there isn’t a port yet, and when is it coming out?
Will Halo 4 rule them all?
Or, will Halo 4 be a solid 360 game–a hit with us–but that gamers on other platforms won’t feel they’re missing out on? (One reason I ask: the point and purpose of a 1st party title is to draw players from competing platforms.)
Halo is, and will continue to be, huge for us. But Halo’s time of “cultural zeitgeist,” of its phenomenon being covered by CNN, and with the title reigning on Live, is either over … or like MC himself, has gone dormant. Will Halo 4 bring the franchise back to word-of-mouth status? Or is it impossible for Halo 4 to reclaim this buzz, no matter what it does?
What power is left in the Halo franchise?
I’m not asking if you will enjoy the game less if it’s not as popular. I"m sure we will all enjoy the game. I’m asking if you believe the game will be a significant cultural gaming event like it once was from 2001-2007.
Halo was king, and I believe it can be again, if the right decisions are made. What do you think?
It’s possible, but 343 will really have to work hard to pull it off.
If you get the chance, watch the Major Nelson video on the Xbox dashboard about the LAN party they had for CEA.
I think it was Ryan Treit who pointed out the drop ships from Halo CE, how they dropped enemies in real time. It wasn’t a cut scene. To him, it was a new way to immerse you into the game’s world, to have enemies dropped and chase you immediately. I didn’t notice it at the time, but it did feel new and cool.
I liked fighting alongside the soldiers, and the gung-ho sayings they had. It was more like a movie than a game.
Halo did a hundred little things like this, Apple-like ideas that connected us to the story, and to the world. I think 343 can do this again for 2012. Halo 4 will win on engine and gameplay, but also on the connection that made Halo so new at one time.
343 have to put their hearts and souls into this game. Don’t just go for the bear minimum, go crazy. Strive for innovation, fun, and attention to detail, etc… Will Halo 4 be amazing to us Halo fans? Of course. But will it draw those other people who have doubted the Halo series? We shall see.
After playing Reach, in my honest opinion, it didn’t really feel like a game you had to go out and buy a 360 for. I think it was because I found it so hard to finish the game. One of the problems I have with most FPS games is that I find them so hard to continue playing after awhile (talking about Campaign). It’s always shoot aliens, move on. Shoot more aliens, move on. I know that’s the basic formula of a shooter, but after a couple of hours, I lose all incentive to play the campaign ever again.
I’ve always been a fan of real cinematic action. I find games that are built like movies a lot more enjoyable to play. Games like Uncharted 3 are always so fun to play. It’s actually one of the games that I can actually sit through and finish all the way through. Because the story-telling from the characters to the amazing settings, great puzzles, amazing traversal and platforming sequences. I know Halo is not Uncharted, but it’s definitely one of those games where it feels like the campaign was not done half–Yoink-.
I’m excited for Halo 4. New developer, new trilogy, & a fresh setting. When Halo 4 releases, I’m definitely going to try and play it like I’ve never played a Halo game before. Get that Halo: CE feeling back. Lets go 343! 
> 343 have to put their hearts and souls into this game. Don’t just go for the bear minimum, go crazy. Strive for innovation, fun, and attention to detail, etc… Will Halo 4 be amazing to us Halo fans? Of course. But will it draw those other people who have doubted the Halo series? We shall see.
>
> After playing Reach, in my honest opinion, it didn’t really feel like a game you had to go out and buy a 360 for. I think it was because I found it so hard to finish the game. One of the problems I have with most FPS games is that I find them so hard to continue playing after awhile (talking about Campaign). It’s always shoot aliens, move on. Shoot more aliens, move on. I know that’s the basic formula of a shooter, but after a couple of hours, I lose all incentive to play the campaign ever again.
>
> I’ve always been a fan of real cinematic action. I find games that are built like movies a lot more enjoyable to play. Games like Uncharted 3 are always so fun to play. It’s actually one of the games that I can actually sit through and finish all the way through. Because the story-telling from the characters to the amazing settings, great puzzles, amazing traversal and platforming sequences. I know Halo is not Uncharted, but it’s definitely one of those games where it feels like the campaign was not half–Yoink!-.
>
> I’m excited for Halo 4. New developer, new trilogy, & a fresh setting. When Halo 4 releases, I’m definitely going to try and play it like I’ve never played a Halo game before. Get that Halo: CE feeling back. Lets go 343!
Totally agree with you about the movie thing. Uncharted and Halo CE both felt like movies. I was glad that Bungie kinda ripped off James Cameron for Halo CE–it made the game totally fun. The movie details were everywhere in that game.
Just remembering the levels of CE–they were minimalist at times, and there was some repetition, but the mood was so strong, and the gameplay was so focused. Reach was a pretty fun campaign–I play a level like every week–but Reach’s campaign was sorta complicated, story-wise. It wasn’t elegantly simple like CE’s campaign.
You have to hope Frankie and crew notice this as well. I’m sure they do. The fact they released CEA this year is a good thing, IMO, because it put their noses back into the campaign, and gameplay, that started things off.
I’ve never known a hardcore gamer to care to be popular.
> I’ve never known a hardcore gamer to care to be popular.
Well, you learn something new every day.
> I’ve never known a hardcore gamer to care to be popular.
Whether you know it or not, the Halo you know right now was built on the years of Halo being the most popular game in the world. Sure, we coast on those years now, from 2007-2012, but the multiplayer community, for example, hasn’t stuck around.
Halo back in the day was like entering a huge world party, where matchmaking was huge and insane. So, like I said in my OP, it isn’t about “being popular.” It’s about having million of participants in this party called Halo, to make our experiences better.
When I start seeing the “casuals” treated better, I’ll start believing that.
> When I start seeing the “casuals” treated better, I’ll start believing that.
I am not a great player, but I had 10x more fun in Halo 3 multiplayer where millions of players meant better skill matching.
Casuals–whatever that even means anymore–are better served in a game with a huge population. So, being skeptical of Halo growing back to the size that it used to be, why would anyone not want that?
> Casuals–whatever that even means anymore–are better served in a game with a huge population. So, being skeptical of Halo growing back to the size that it used to be, why would anyone not want that?
I believe you misunderstand causality. Casuals don’t thrive in a large population, casuals make the large population.
Halo’s popularity is a matter of relevance. The industry as a whole has caught up to, and in niche areas, surpassed what Halo fist offered.
The reason I do say surpassed is that Halo: CE is a simple shooter. Especially compared to MW3, BF3 and H: Reach, CE is a very, very simple shooter.
That’s not relevant anymore.
What always keeps Mario on Nintendo’s front,(a more popular franchise than Halo, Halo is not the most popular), is that Nintendo always has Mario pushing the newest platform and doing it more completely than 3rd parties do.
For Halo to regain its former stature that you wish it to claim, we need the next Xbox to make the quantum leap beyond what the others are doing. Even then, that will be tricky as BF is already pushing the FPS genre. It will transition very well to the next console, CoD… It will have a long sprint ahead of itself to catch up to Halo and BF on the next console. It’s barely pushing the PC side of things beyond visuals. And that in itself isn’t that great on a PC.
> > Casuals–whatever that even means anymore–are better served in a game with a huge population. So, being skeptical of Halo growing back to the size that it used to be, why would anyone not want that?
>
> I believe you misunderstand causality. Casuals don’t thrive in a large population, casuals make the large population.
>
> Halo’s popularity is a matter of relevance. The industry as a whole has caught up to, and in niche areas, surpassed what Halo fist offered.
> The reason I do say surpassed is that Halo: CE is a simple shooter. Especially compared to MW3, BF3 and H: Reach, CE is a very, very simple shooter.
> That’s not relevant anymore.
> What always keeps Mario on Nintendo’s front,(a more popular franchise than Halo, Halo is not the most popular), is that Nintendo always has Mario pushing the newest platform and doing it more completely than 3rd parties do.
>
> For Halo to regain its former stature that you wish it to claim, we need the next Xbox to make the quantum leap beyond what the others are doing. Even then, that will be tricky as BF is already pushing the FPS genre. It will transition very well to the next console, CoD… It will have a long sprint ahead of itself to catch up to Halo and BF on the next console. It’s barely pushing the PC side of things beyond visuals. And that in itself isn’t that great on a PC.
I hear what you’re saying. I think some of the drop-off has come due to “Halo has to have x” from the past, whereas, as you point out, the FPS genre has moved forward. “Halo has to have 4-player splitscreen local,” but “Halo can’t have drop-in-teammates.” These set-in-stone ideas keep Halo “familiar” to die-hard fans, but keep it from being competitive with general fans who like good ideas wherever they come from. Halo gave great ideas over the years, but could stand to take a few.
And that’s not going to water Halo down. Look at Apple. It didn’t invent the mp3 player, but it made it better. Same with phone and tablet. It’s the connection to the user/player that makes a product bust out and be a phenomenon. Halo connected with us in so many ways back in the day. I think 343 knows this, and can get back to that connection. It’s about features–which Halo needs to get with the times on–but it’s even more about connection, which I know Halo can have, with the right decisions.
I’m inclined to say no. I really don’t know why, but I am.
No one can really know for sure though until the game is actually release in a year.
If it is anything like reach then no. Pretty much 343 has it easy, just move in the opposite direction of reach=win.
> If it is anything like reach then no. Pretty much 343 has it easy, just move in the opposite direction of reach=win.
This, lets go back to our roots because that’s where the HALO population is.
> I was glad that Bungie kinda ripped off James Cameron for Halo CE–it made the game totally fun.
lol
> When I start seeing the “casuals” treated better, I’ll start believing that.
Casuals? CASUALS ARE -Yoink- -Yoink- -Yoink- -Yoink- -Yoink- -Yoink- and just -Yoink- -Yoink- with their little -Yoink- -Yoink- and -Yoink-. -Yoink- Casuals!
Halo is slowly falling behind the other FPS, i know it is a terrible thing to say but it is true.
More and more people are slowly going to COD, disgusting.
I hope halo jumps in front of COD, and somehow beats Battlefield’s graphics.
No. It won’t.
It’s had a fall from grace since it’s massive success around Halo 3. With the talk of how :ODST should have just been DLC and the follies of :Reach, it’s fallen out of the Limelight. And, to be honest, I don’t think 343 can make it as good as it used to be.
They’re not Bungie. Most companies aren’t to the same degree or caliber as Bungie. Bungie created a masterpiece, and a company attempting to shadow that success can only ever be… that. It won’t dominate the industry, because it will be superseded by, almost literally, any other (even somewhat) major or minor FPS release around the same time.
> Most companies aren’t to the same degree or caliber as Bungie. Bungie created a masterpiece, and a company attempting to shadow that success can only ever be… that. It won’t dominate the industry …
What you say here is the issue, for me. Can a new team create a single-minded masterpiece, capture inspiration from somewhere beyond what has already been done, do something new and original, and not just shadow what has come before or simply be a good steward of the brand, which means basically to manage assets we’ve sorta seen already.
Heck, Bungie wasn’t Bungie anymore near the end, with the turnover and influx of new people. Reach was a game that late-generation Bungie made, and who knows what Bungie stands for in its next game. Company culture is the biggest part of making a creative product. We just don’t know if 343 is an asset management team, or a group of rebellious creative artists. Hopefully they can be a true developer of a great game, and not just a middle-manager/overseer of the Halo brand.