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Microsoft's Halo Plan "Goes Out At Least Six Years"
Frank O'Connor, creative director of 343 Industries, the Microsoft division responsible for all things Halo, has been speaking about the company’s extensive plans for the franchise.
"We do have a plan that goes out at least six years," he told USA today. "Eventually, it will become very apparent that there is a plan for the way the canon all ties together and the way the comic books and the novels all tie together."
Since debuting on Xbox in 2001, the Halo franchise has gone on to spawn novels, comics, licensed collectibles, anime films and more. And while Microsoft said recently that a Halo movie from director Peter Jackson is on hold, O'Connor said that the company was “being very careful to pick the right time and the right partner” for such a project.
The latest Halo videogame release, Halo 3: ODST, has sold about 2.5 million copies since debuting on September 22, generating $125 million in sales, according to the report.
ODST will be followed by Halo: Reach, a chronological prequel to the original Halo in development at series creator Bungie and due for release next year. 27 million Halo games have been sold to date.
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Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court 30 Monmouth Street Bath, UK BA1 2BW
England and Wales company registration number 2008885
I'm looking forward to the Natal Halo Party Game.
Halo is like Gamecube Mario where he was shilled out in any series just because he was Mario.
This 6 year plan won't include any quality.
They need to just release Halo games that are good as and when they're ready rather than trying to cram good games into a tight release schedule.
Then again MS doesn't have any other exclusive good brands so it's no surprise they're milking this to death.
"They need to just release Halo games that are good as and when they're ready..."
or use the momentum of their success with Halo to release new IP, as Naughty Dog have done.
Surely it takes more energy to keep an old franchise afloat than creating new IP while riding the peak and confidence is high?
I can see from these forums alone that the (well deserved) reverence Bungie had with the first couple of games being ever so slightly eroded already with the critisism of ODST (and not just from Sony fanboys) - and they've got another six years to go?
Naughty Dog & Guerilla have double team head-buttted Bungee right out the top of the tree when it comes to 'AAA' development. Compare bits of Uncharted 2 & Killzone 2 (i.e. the knee deep snow & lightening storms) with ODST - which often looks like Duke Nukem on a clocked 286. I'm praying to God that Reach doesnt use the Halo3 engine.
I'm always skeptical when a company has such long-term plans for a franchise.
The best business models are the ones that lasted only for about 3 iterations before selling on the franchise to someone else who wants to squeeze a few more drops out of it. At least the originals ended on a high and are not tainted by inferior tired sequels.
Look at how Core clung on to Tomb Raider and bled it dry, its later games dragging down the reputation of the first couple, before the franchise was passed belatedly on to Crystal Dynamics.
Naughty Dog and Insomniac knew when to call it a day with their Crash Bandicoot and Spyro, respectively. I feel they know that the gaming community are a fickle bunch in the extreme, and are ready to turn in a flash if they get a whiff of words like 'complacency', 'repetition' and 'cash-cow'.
After the initial excitement of a new Halo it's become pretty obvious this game is in need of some serious freshening up. And the hub as I originally thought, is a real pain in the arse especially as the 3D map is very unclear on whether you're heading for a dead end or not. And after the brilliant land vehicle control system used by console games BF:BC & BF:1943 why on earth are Bungie still using this awkward, clearly inferior way to control land vehicles?
The last SP FPS I played that I really enjoyed was Far Cry 2 which came out a year ago. Probably going to have to wait for Bioshock 2 for my next fix after OFP2 failed miserably :(
Im a bit of a Halo fanboy tbh. I love Halo 3 to death, its arguably the greatest game I've ever played. The moment I started playing ODST I did, for a moment, believe that my idol game had been beaten; toppled by yet another glorious slice of Bungie beauty. Then I came to my senses and realised that the streets of New Mommbassa are too samey and it felt a little too repetitive for my tastes.
The music is phenominal, the graphics polished and the gameplay (despite looking exactly like Halo3) is actually rather surprising; Having said that I don't think its the best FPS of the year at any rate. Im waiting for MW2 before I cast my vote.
But what a 14 minutes it'll be.
ODST was still better than any other FPS released this year, regardless of its length.
Sorry, have to disagree with you.
I found the main campaign (specifically the hub sections) to be 30 seconds of frustration and bewilderment repeated over and over again.
I am a big fan of both the Xbox 360 and Halo series, but have enjoyed Killzone 2 and (much to my surprise) Resistance 2 far more than ODST.
...ending in 2015 with a game that took 3 years to make and can be completed in 14 minutes.