Halo 4 to be Launch Title for Next Generation Xbox?

[Smigit]

Personally I'd love to see someone other than Bungie making the game. They did a great job with Halo one, but ever since then have played it incredibly safe and really haven't done much to really add a whole lot to the game besides a few multiplayer features here and there. I still loved Halo 3 mind, it was fun, but with a new developer perhaps finally the Halo FPS titles will have a chance to change and evolve a bit more than what I saw as a pretty unimaginative roadmap used by Bungie.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Maybe I phrased that badly. There *were* good games, but outside of Call of Duty and Perfect Dark Zero, there were no big name sequels or highly wanted titles. That's not to say there weren't some gems that came out of the launch, but you have to admit, a big name like Halo leading the launch has a lot more pulling power then any of the other titles. It's the equivalent to Nintendo launching Zelda: Twilight Princess on the Wii launch, really.

I bought 3 big name sequels at launch :p (PGR, Quake & COD)

But yes I agree with the rest of your reply (Y)

[magik]

That depends if MS want to beat Sony and Nintendo to the punch for the next gen. Considering MS have been working on the Xbox Next for sometime now, I wouldn't be surprised if it showed up in the next year or two and don't forget the Xbox 1 had it's life cut short for the 360, it could happen again. Personally I hope it's at least 2 years away but at the end of the day I don't make that decision, MS does (well I think more acurately, the shareholders do :p). Well that is what I think, take with a grain of salt.

It won't happen again. The original Xbox was losing money and didn't gain enough market share vs PS2. The 360 on the other hand is a completely different story. It's raking in the dough and is more than capable of lasting another few years at least.

[Kushan]

Microsoft has no need to launch a new console any time soon. Sony is still working on taking the PS3 off and are in no position to launch another console any time soon (PS3 cost them a LOT of money, they need to start making some of that back first). Nintendo is making too much money on the Wii to care less.

The 360 is still on par with the PS3 in terms of game quality. The odd game comes along that claims it'll be better on the PS3 due to blue-ray, but we've consistently seen cross-platform games being identical on both systems so the only real disadvantage Microsoft has is the aforementioned Blu-ray drive (which is a double-edged sword for Sony).

They've frequently said in the past that the longer a console is on the market, the more money you make from it and Microsoft likes money.

Plus, they just revamped the whole dashboard experience, would you do that to a device you plan on dumping any time soon? I don't think so, I think Microsoft is in this generation for the long haul.

Of course, I still think they'll be first to the next generation, it just wont be soon.

[+John Teacake MVC]

Another bloody xbox. Give the 360 a change first!

[magik]

Another bloody xbox. Give the 360 a change first!

Did you mean...

A "change" ? NXE.

A "chance" ? They've said they're aiming for a ~7 year shelf life. But, from the looks of it, it may be even more.

[BajiRav]

Considering most of the original Bungie dev team left before Halo 2 you should be writhing in pain from the new games.

Joe Staton still works for Bungie (and Frankie recently moved to MGS) :/ I am not exactly sure what you mean there...

[Kushan]

He's saying that anyone claiming it'll be a bad game purely because Bungie isn't developing it is silly, since two different teams did halo 1 and halo 2 anyway.

[The Teej]

I bought 3 big name sequels at launch :p (PGR, Quake & COD)

But yes I agree with the rest of your reply (Y)

Ah yeah, PGR, how could I forget that! I wasn't aware Quake was at launch though...

[goji]

Considering most of the original Bungie dev team left before Halo 2 you should be writhing in pain from the new games.

Believe me I do. I though twice about adding the comment of Wideload etc into the post since I didn't want to turn this into a "H1 rocks and everything else doesn't because it wasn't made by Bungie".

Joe Staton still works for Bungie (and Frankie recently moved to MGS) :/ I am not exactly sure what you mean there...

Frankie is not an original member, he was brought in during H2's dev cycle as a PR guy, and he worked out phenomenally well!

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

I have the utmost confidence in Gearbox Software. I feel that the next Halo game is in capable hands. Perhaps they'll do an even better job than Bungie Studios. Perhaps that's just wishful thinking, but don't lose hope for Halo 4 just because it's in different hands.

[magik]

Keep in mind this is all just rumor and speculation at this point guys. ;)

[goji]

^ I dunno....

Why All This Gearbox Halo 4 Talk? Here's Why... (Maybe)

Earlier we posted that Gearbox Software (Brothers In Arms, Borderlands) was rumored to be working on Halo 4. With Bungie out of the picture, Gearbox does seem like a logical fit ? the developer did do the PC version of Halo: Combat Evolved.

What's more, Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford stated in February: "I've started a new project. It's big. It's, like, look-at-our-line-up-and-imagine-something-even-bigger kind of big. I'm Directing it myself. I can't mention it publicly yet. When you find out what this is, you'll likely agree that I can't oversell this one." But that doesn't necessarily mean Gearbox is doing Halo 4. The "big" project Pitchford is talking about could be something else entirely. And Halo 4 hasn't even been announced. (Though, Microsoft would be silly not to do it.)

So, why all this talk about Gearbox and Halo 4?

The current Director of Technology at Gearbox is Corrinne Yu. Corrinne Yu (pictured) has been called, for lack of a better comparison, "the John Carmack of female programmers". She's an industry vet, cutting her teeth as the Lead Programmer for the 3DO's Asia launch, going on to work as Lead Programmer for the Prey Engine and even working as Director of Technology at John Romero's ill-fated ION Storm and also at 3D Realms.

Her recent work at Gearbox includes programming Brothers in Arms, Aliens: Colonial Marines and Borderlands. So why all this talk about Corrinne Yu? We've come in possession of an internal Gearbox email that Yu sent out. It reads:

Hello, friends.

I am Corrinne Yu, Director of Technology of Gearbox Software.

I was offered and recruited to the position of Principle (Lead) Engine Architect of Halo Franchise Team at Microsoft. I accepted the offer to lead the team to build the engines and games for future Halo's on Xbox'es and PC's at Microsoft.

I am staying to simu-ship Brothers In Arms all versions. I will start Halo after BiA starts manufacturing. Aliens: Colonial Marines and Borderlands are more than mostly completed. I assure you I will continue to help Gearbox. I am starting on Halo Team at Microsoft after 09/15/2008. My email after that day will be [email protected].

I would be glad to introduce my friendly helpful Corrinne replacements at Gearbox to you. I am stoked to program and design and build some awesome Halo's.

Let's stay in touch!

after 09/15/2008

Corrinne Yu

Principle Engine Architect

Halo Franchise Team

Microsoft

after 09/15/2008:

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

before 09/15/2008

Corrinne Yu

[email protected]

before 09/15/2008:

[email protected]

[email protected]

Director of Technology

Gearbox Software i>

Seems a bit more concrete to me:iiam:m:

[Green_Eye]

:| ^

[The Teej]

I dunno, the fact she was completely misusing apostrophes everywhere does make it seem a bit... off.

[acies]

Cool!! Aliens is nearly finished!! :cool:

[goji]

I dunno, she is hired after all to write code, not English :p

[magik]

... still rumor and speculation. Now even more so. :p

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Well, if it's not Halo 4, what else could it be that is on such a big scale like they make it out to be? :blink:

[Kushan]

Halo isn't the be-all and end-all of games, it's not even the be-all and end-all of FPS's. At this point, speculation is pointless.

[magik]

Well, if it's not Halo 4, what else could it be that is on such a big scale like they make it out to be? :blink:

I'm not saying it's not Halo 4, but I'm also not saying it is. It could be a completely separate Halo title that is in the Halo world. Bungie could be taking care of Halo 4 (since they did say they have another Halo project in the works).

Who knows? ... not us, that's why it's just rumor and speculation at this point. :p

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Yeah I'm not saying you are wrong to call it rumour and speculation dude. I'm genuinely trying to work out what else is as big as Halo lol (that's if it's not related to the Halo universe of course).

[Smigit]

Well it doesn't have to be "as big as Halo" but...just big. Big could mean a new IP too that MS is throwing their back behind in a big way. I still think Halo's likely mind.

[Kushan]

Big as halo? Half-life? Doom? Quake? Wolfenstein?

Sure, some fanboys will argue that Halo is bigger/better than all of them, but they're still huge games.

[Green_Eye]

Kushan why does you gamerscore always seem to hang on some awesome number? :p

I remember when it was 5555 :laugh: