Network now...NEWS
343 Industries Overseeing All Halo Products
Microsoft staffer and ex-Bungie community manager Frank O'Connor has been appointed as creative director for 343 Industries, a new division that will oversee all Halo products.
"If you look at how George Lucas held on to Star Wars not just to make money from action figures but to control the direction the universe went in, you can see why we think it's pretty vital," O'Connor told the LA Times. "Luckily, Microsoft has the resources to enable us to do that."
In a subsequent press release, Microsoft said: “343 Industries is the publisher of the blockbuster Halo series of videogames and, as part of Microsoft Game Studios, oversees the Halo franchise, including novels, comics, licensed collectibles, apparel and more. 343 Industries is home to world-class developers working on future Halo projects, including Halo Legends and Halo Waypoint, as well as partnering with renowned developers such as Bungie LLC and Robot Entertainment to produce Halo games for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live."
The division will be producing seven short anime films set in the Halo universe, collectively titled Halo Legends. Physical animation for the movies is being done in Japan, but will be approved by creative staff at 343 Industries.
Announced at Comic-Con, the shorts are due to start rolling out on Xbox Live this autumn through a new section of the online service called Halo Waypoint. The platform holder described it as a "destination for Halo fans on Xbox Live around the world." Waypoint will feature Halo news, activities, podcasts, trailers, screenshots and exclusive video footage, plus a "career system" and player rankings tied to both in-game and out-of-game Halo accomplishments.
The Halo anime films will also be released on DVD and Blu-ray early next year.
Contact Us / About Us / Advertise With Us / BeltwayBlips / TechBlips / MassiveBlips / GamerBlips / FAQ
Subscribe To Edge Magazine / Corrections / Terms & Conditions / Privacy Policy
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court 30 Monmouth Street Bath, UK BA1 2BW
England and Wales company registration number 2008885
Subscribe To Edge Magazine / Corrections / Terms & Conditions / Privacy Policy
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court 30 Monmouth Street Bath, UK BA1 2BW
England and Wales company registration number 2008885
Well, I can just ignore all of the non-game halo stuff, can't I? (although I'm not really that into the halo games anyway, so it's a bit irrelevant).
Obviously Halo is going to get milked, 'though I hear the movie got cancelled? Nintendo have done almost everything you could possibly do with Mario, Sega with Sonic, and Sony have never quite found a franchise with the same appeal.
The movie deal got cancelled because the budget was too large for the two studios involved to put up in light of the conditions (MS wanted/wants complete creative control to make sure it ends up being a good movie and doesn't take too many liberties).
I think the package still exists (Peter Jackson as Producer and his effects company WETA doing the special effects), but MS is just shopping for the right deal.
I think a lot of people are missing the point of this announcement, what it comes down to is that MS created 343 Industries to make sure whatever milking is done, is of a certain standard and is true to the Halo universe. I think that this is a good thing overall, and hopefully sets the standards of how to go about licensing video game properties in general (so the results are not completely garbage). Unfortunately, this sort of treatment will probably only be given to the more successful game franchises.
Peter, you forgot to mention that originally MS and 20th Century Fox had struck a financial and creative control deal that was unheard of for anyone other than the Spielberg's of deals but because of the strength of the Halo brand Fox was ok with it. Well, apparently they weren't ok enough with the creative control aspect of it and at the last minute they tried altering the deal Darth Vader style (They told MS to pray they don't alter the deal any further) and very much un-Lando Calrissian style MS wasn't ok with that alteration and backed out.
Anyone get the 343 reference by any chance?
Also, if anyone was interested in the Peter Jackson/Blomkamp Halo Movie combination you might want to check out District9, it's "Presented" by Peter Jackson and directed by Neill Blomkamp. It of course is not Halo related, but looks like a pretty cool, totally original Sci Fi movie (at least from the trailers). Check it out, here's the trailer http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/30565189#30565189
Thanks for filling in the details :) Though I believe it was another studio along with Fox which was in on the deal, I believe it was Warner Bros.
I think another factor was that Halo would've have been Blomkamp's first major film, that's definitely something which would make the movie more high risk in the eyes of the studio, even if he has Peter Jackson backing him.
And ya, District 9 looks very interesting.
No problem. You're right, there were two studios but I can't remember the other one. it was either Warner Bros or Paramount.
I agree, I hope this District9 movie is at least well received critically for Blomkamp and that could grease the wheels with the money men for a potential Halo movie down the line. As long as the Halo movie is done right I would want it to come out. With Weta studios, Peter Jackson, and hopefully this Blomkamp guy comes through it could be great if it ever happens. I think the movie should be based on the fall of Reach, that way we can see the origins of the Spartans and Master Chief busting up two ODSTs in the ring without his armor on.
As in 343 Guilty Spark? I was just thinking it sounded like 989 Studios, which produced some terrible stuff.
I would imagine 343 is referring to guilty spark. Bungie is funny when it comes to their number references. And they're obsessed with the number 7. All the achievements in the nausea-inducing XBLA remake of Marathon are multiples of 7. Another game with funny references in their achievements is Gears (especially Gears 2). If you're a fan of Arnold movies you'll get a few of those, and I think there's an Admiral Ackbar reference achievement called "It's a trap!" in CoD: WaW.
They're starting with God of War.
Here comes the Halo Kart seriously though the franchise is being milked anyone who cant see that is a blind fanboy. Weve had halo value meals, Halo toys, Halo comics now Halo shorts ridiculous not to mention the many Halo spinoffs in the works including Halo Wars. MS will sell anything with the Halo name tied to it and little kids will eat it up like candy regardless of what you might think the whole halo brand is aimed at the 18 and under crowd and those are the main consumers MS said it themselves.
The level of success and influence the Halo series has achieved is further proof that Microsoft is much more a marketing company than a technology company. They're also not shy about milking crap franchises for all they're worth—just look at Windholes and Orifice.
I'm not sure how 4 games in 8 years can be considered milking a franchise compared to just about every other gaming franchise in existence - many of which launch games annually. The fact that Halo has expanded into complementary media so successfully (books, soundtracks, board game and now anime) is a reflection of how effective Bungie was at creating a compelling universe to tell stories in.
While this type of SciFi is certainly not for everyone, it's hard to seriously argue against the fact that Halo successfully defined the control and on-line mechanics of console FPS' more than any other series in console history.
DubsTF - do you think Sony milked a franchise when they released 2 Resistance games, a novel and a comic series all in the space of just over 2 years?
I was talking only partly about what they've done already and more about what they're clearly getting ready to do with this new 343 vanity division.
Do you really think the "Halo universe" is that compelling? It seems pretty stock standard to me. I think its locust-like migration to other media is much more a reflection of the scads of money Microsoft has thrown at it. Seriously, it's nothing special.
I've only ever played the demo of the first Resistance game, but I can't say I found its universe any more compelling than Halo's.
But why draw a line between console gaming and PC gaming? They're all just games. If that's the game's only strength, that was on a console as opposed to PC, I'm not seeing why I should care about the game (or anyone else).
Because not everyone wants to play on a pc.
Also, while the mouse is certainly the most precise control method for looking/aiming, the keyboard is far inferior to a joystick for nuanced movement (and quick/intuitive access to items/menu), so one can argue that Halo innovated movement mechanics for the entire FPS genre - regardless of whether you're gaming on PC or console.
There's a very good reason Crysis (and Crysis Warhead) has the 360 controller right in their game manual which mimics the feel/function of Halo and defaults to that control method if you have the controller on when booting up those games.
I hate how some games do that, Fallout 3 being a prime example, if I want to use the joypad i'd prefer to enable that option myself, thankyouverymuch! :P
so one can argue that Halo innovated movement mechanics for the entire FPS genre - regardless of whether you're gaming on PC or console.
Where do you get this nonsense from? I take it you haven't played any FPS games with a mouse & keyboard? Otherwise you wouldn't be talking such piss!
An analogue controller is merely a "toy" compared to a mouse & keyboard configuration for FPS's.
You are mistaking personal preference for fact, as usual, Wall_E. I have probably been playing mouse/keyboard since before you were born.
It is a fact that WASD is on/off in four fixed positions while a joystick allows relative movement in any direction and speed is relative to how far out you push in a given direction. How can WASD possibly be superior to that (which can only be modified by a set "run" speed with a contortionists skill in reaching the CTRL or SHIFT keys)?
Also, I'm inclined to agree with Carmack, Newell and Sweeney who are all on record as saying that working with controllers have taught them valuable lessons in input efficiency which have benefitted both control methods.
You're clearly on drugs with such idiotic statements!
Agreed!
"the keyboard is far inferior to a joystick for nuanced movement (and quick/intuitive access to items/menu)"
This is also quite funny.
Exactly, the guy (grognard66) is a fool.
Yeah, a joystick's better than WASD, but a keyboard's got a controller beat for inventory access for sheer number of buttons on the thing.
Regardless, if games on a PC allow you to use a controller anyway, what's this giant barrier that's stopping people from playing games on both console and PC? What's the difference?
I just finished building my first gaming PC last Friday. And already, after one week, it's hard to go back to dual analog; I've spent thousands of hours on console FPSes! Do you personally play games with a mouse and keyboard?
Congrats on the new gaming PC, Jack!
I play both on PC and console. Some games I even play on both like Halo 2, Fallout 3 and ShadowRun (yeah, I know - but I got Shadowrun for free) both on PC and console. I preferred Fallout 3 on PC, but usually lean towards gamepads these days. I used to be a hardcore pc gamer, but now find myself gaming more on consoles. It really comes down to personal preference.
I think consoles due deserve some credit for teaching traditional pc developers to optimize/streamline their interfaces. Many old pc developers like BioWare, Bethesda, etc. have talked about how working with a gamepad forced them learn ways to improve things like inventory management, etc. While there are certainly far more keys on a pc keyboard, it is often not ergonomic or a quick and easy way to do something.
Many old pc developers like BioWare, Bethesda, etc. have talked about how working with a gamepad forced them learn ways to improve things like inventory management, etc. While there are certainly far more keys on a pc keyboard, it is often not ergonomic or a quick and easy way to do something.
Actually, both Bioshock and Mass Effect were dumbed down due to being on consoles. Mass Effect on PC is the far superior version due to the mouse & keyboard configuration, the whole interface was revamped for the PC, on the 360 it's just a mess.
Also, there is some games that don't port well to consoles like RTS titles, so your quote "it is often not ergonomic or a quick and easy way to do something" becomes void.
I'm sorry but I really really don't get the excitement with Halo- it's utterly over rated.
Why comment then Sony Fanboy?
Because I can- obviously.
The Halo franchise is one of the most over-rated in videogame history. No doubt though the fanboys will continue to pick up these mediocre games.
What!!! Halo is teh best game ever!
Seriously though, it is overrated. It benefitted from coming out on consoles when nearly all other console FPSs were utter crap. Now a few franchises (on consoles) have reached the quality level (or exceeded it depending on your tastes) of Halo. So what made it great (very good console FPS when everything else was junk) is now gone. But I still think the 300k+average players a day number is impressive no matter if you guys think it's garbage, plenty of people think it's great and quality is in the eye of the beholder and that's a lot of beholders.
But isn't every franchise overrated?
How many times can you shoot the covenant, squish a mushroom, catch a pokemon, play guitar, or collect Triforce pieces - seriously, lock that thing up in a volcano or something!
If you enjoy a franchise, you'll look on with baited baited breath at the next time you'll get to do exactly the same thing you do every time. Alternately, any franchise you hate is going to look tired after the first sequel.
Very true. I'm a huge halo fan, I'm aware of some of its shortcomings but for ME, it's one of my favorite franchises ever and the sequels have been great (still like the first the most so far though). But it's not for everyone, just about 40% of the 360 owners.
Errrrr there's only been one Mass Effect game and that was buggy as hell, had over long lift scenes and it's secondary locations were a tiny bit samey.
Arron,
Aside from our miscommunication (I stressed the word me by capitalizing it, which looks like the acronym for Mass Effect), I loved Mass Effect, and probably enjoyed it more than Halo 3. It had some bugs, the elevator rides were unbearable especially in the Normandy where you had different party members on different levels, and you're right about the extra planets being boring but it's one of my favorite games on the 360. Replay value was through the roof and the game had some of the best achievements.
I guess some people see the glass as half full and some see it as half empty. I'm on your side, I really enjoyed ME, and I still have my 2nd and 3rd playthroughes which are each 3/4s done that I have to get finished before ME2 drops. Like you, IMO the great things about ME far outweigh the flaws. I think the important thing is that BioWare recognizes these flaws, and has been working of "fixing" them in ME2.
I really liked the cinematic approach Bioware incorporated into their dialogue trees. As much as I love Bethesda games, I'm really tired of having the camera snap face-on to the character I'm talking to. It looks like they're taking this even a step further with ME2.
Yeah, the long load times (elevators) and repetitive side-worlds were weaknesses, but the strengths easily outweighed these short-comings and demonstrated why Western RPG developers are generations beyond their J-RPG counterparts.
Mass Effect, like Halo, created a very interesting world which I suspect will continue expanding beyond the games (the two novels are actually quite good!).
I agree the Mass Effect books were good. I just read that there will be a four part comic book series from Dark Horse that will bridge the gap between ME and ME2 more directly than the 2nd ME novel did apparently.
If those flaws are ironed out ME2 could be something special. If they add some more stuff to the exploration of the extra planets instead of just having a silo here and there or some random scattered enemies that'd be great. Something along the lines of the DLC, that was pretty bad-ass. Did you hear ME will have 1 more DLC before ME2 comes out? Unfortunately there will only be 1, but it's better than nothing.
After a good long stint working as a social media manager at Bungie, Frank O'Connor left Bungie (about 8 months ago) to work at Microsoft. It wasn't just an ordinary side-stepping job, it turns out. Put that together with Bungie's separation from Microsoft to become its own studio, and now it all makes sense.
Bungie split from Microsoft to become more independent and gain a little more control over its destiny (although arguably all we have seen is more Halo games, and Halo 3: ODST seems a little like contract filler, to be fair). With O'Connor at MS looking over what is essentially a new publishing division at MS, Bungie is very likely going to be under different restrictions (fewer), and have better management over its properties than before. It's essentially a custom publishing brand specifically made for Bungie.
Better, custom management by a Bungie insider who knows games? Sounds like a great idea to me. Congratulations, Frankie!
Cynics...Few titles garner as much attention or make as much money as Halo products do, and none of them carry the type of weight for a console as Halo does (arguably anyway) for the Xbox. This to me is a common sense move. Milking? Maybe, but there's one thing Halo fans can't get enough of...more Halo. I'm taking a wait and see approach to this Anime thing though.
Oh I see, when Nintendo milks their titles that's lame and unimaginative. But when MS aspires to shill Halo to the same extent as Star Wars, that's ok.
You should change your name to fanboy01. ;)
Haha. If MS started making crap games based around the Halo franchise then I'll think it's lame. Nintendo has made some sub-par to say the least games based on the Mario franchise and so far the only Halo game that could be considered a spin-off got nothing if not solid reviews. fanboyO1, doesn't sound too bad.
"Started?"
;)
Honestly, Microsoft should over-exemplify the stereotype.
They should release some Nintendo-style games. I would totally buy Halolympics, or Killer Inseam: Natel Aerobics. It would be awesome, unless we're all just a bunch of humorless-fanboi's who takes gaming way too seriously.
What is it, pick on Nick day or somethin? ^^
I don't think he could have put it any better -- milk it like Star Wars.
Next Halo game will feature the backstreet boys.