MS pulled Bungie announcement, confirms a Bungie Halo - But what are they?

XboxOZ360 recaps the news and then speculates as to what exactly the new Bungie Halo and Superintendent are.

"This would suggest that Microsoft felt that having seen the Sony and Nintendo conferences, they had done enough to "win" E3... It indicates Microsoft feels that Bungie's announcement was big enough to distract the media from their other announcements. Given FFXIII and the massive Live overhaul, this is extremely exciting!

But what is Superintendent?

We think it might be a reimaginging of an old Bungie franchise. Titles would include critical darlings Marathon and Myth, along with Oni... The only spanner in the works is the placement of the Superintendent figure over the area of Kenya in the Halo 3 multiplayer lobby. Given its very close links to the Halo universe, this naturally leads us to...

Microsoft's SVP of Interactive Entertainment, Don Mattrick, has confirmed Microsoft will be making announcements on Halo Wars and Bungie's Halo project sometime in the future, but that Halo Wars, Halo Chronicles and Bungie's Halo project are entirely separate titles!

Given Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter creative director Christian Allen is the lead of Bungie's next project; the strange Superintendent figure over Kenya; the much grittier direction already evident in Halo Wars new trailer... was Gamespot right about a tactical squad shooter?"

[Superfragilistic]

That's like three Halo titles for next year, plus whatever else Bunige's working on!

They sure are milking the golden goose, but if they're as good as the Mario, MGS, & Doom franchises I'll be buying it! :)

[Acj2323]

I am hoping to hell it is getting away from were halo 3 left of, I am wishing for a brand new game but with eh halo feel, maybe a game before Halo 1 we can call it Halo 0 lol, I also want it more gritty and dirt more violent and not so childish as we see in halo 3.

I don't want it completely different from halo other wise it wont be halo, but I deftly don't want to see it just like halo 3 but with more guns and vehicles

[Superfragilistic]

If it's anything like that awesome Halo Wars trailer or that film by Neil Bloomkamp, I'll be up for it!

It's almost like their doing an EA! lol

There's the kiddy games and now apparently the more hardcore visceral experiences as well.

[Megatron08]

Its almost as bad as SE and how they keep milking that FF franchise. Personally never like halo anyways but its interesting that MS might have another ace up their sleeve so to speak. I just wish that ace was alan wake

[Godem]

kinda just put a massive negative spin on MS's great press conference..

[XboxOZ360]

I personally do NOT think Halo Wars will be as successful as many think it will be. It will not have the huge teen and sub-teen following the current Halo franchise does. It will require some effort and RTS style know-how to get good results, and the basis of Halo's current success is based on mad Run-N-Gun mayhem and nothing much else.

It will appeal to the huge number of older RTS fans and to those who play a lot of RTS on PC's, but I do believe it will not go down well with the millions of screaming-meme's that plague Halo Online and always have done. Halo was originally a RTS being created by Bungie for the Apple and PC, but Apple as its prime target and as a solid RTS.

MS acquiring it changed all that and moved it right away from its roots to the FPS we now see, that really hasn't change all that much from Halo Evolved. The current fan base simply won't take it on as strongly as they have had the FPS they know as Halo, and while it might have a small window of success, it will not last long.

Personally I think Halo 4 or whatever need to be based around the earlier years prior to Halo Evolved. Get back the Forruners time. I wish Bungie would funnel their huge talents into something different, Halo has been milked to death, and while it was/is good, it has had its day in the sun, and the world needs to see what else Bungie can do - other than Halo.

Like it, or hate it, I simply do not believe Halo Wars will be the succees many believe once actual game

[ry-guy]

You do know that when Starcraft came out the exact same things were being said about it?

Then it was released and ensnared a huge younger demograph (for the time).

[Superfragilistic]

I diagree about Halo Wars.

The game has had sparkling write ups all week and how intuitive the controls are. Its also got coop campaigns and a full deck of multiplayer for online with all the community bells and whistles.

Add the fact that it appears very heavily story based in a huge fan-loved franchise, and it's developed by RTS experts Ensemble (Age of Empires), and I think it'll be a blockbuster.

Not on the scale of Halo 3 obviously, but I think it's going to sell very, very well! ;)

[green]

Halo Wars will be a success no doubt about it.All my friends who are Halo fans all plan to get Halo Wars when it releases and most are like me that are new to the RTS genre and find current offerings too intimidating to get into.

Halo Wars will never sell as well as Halo 3 did but if it can sell over 2 million copies i am sure that Microsoft and Ensemble studios will be extremely pleased because they would have firmly placed the RTS on the console and it will bud well for other RTS ventures that they may embark on in the future.

[Snukadaman]

Not because its has halo in its name..its because its a different way to play a game we are all used to playing...first person shooter turned into a command and conquer style game...in charge of a whole army of master chiefs...co-op multiplayer....sign me up. By the way..played myth back in the days and loved the humor..I expect the same from this game.

[OOG]

It wont have halo numbers but...I bet it will do good on its own

[Omega4]

Sony better have something HUGE to counter this at the next tradeshow, since they have no excuse because they've been warned ahead of time

[KobeT24]

Another Halo game?

Pass

[Superfragilistic]

Quote:

"Microsoft's SVP of Interactive Entertainment, Don Mattrick, has confirmed Microsoft will be making announcements on Halo Wars and Bungie's Halo project sometime in the future, but that Halo Wars, Halo Chronicles and Bungie's Halo project are entirely separate titles!"

[ry-guy]

I've noticed that reading is a luxury on this website and not a necessity to articulate one's own points.

[XboxOZ360]

Hey Super... You should know by now that many in here can't or don't read, They see a headline and then pass comments as an authority on the subject, even IF the information contained in said article counters what they are saying .

Simply because THEY said so, so therefore it MUST be true. If more ppl read some of the excellent articles from many of the sites in here, some would learn a few real facts about games and gaming.

I still believe the halo fans of today (as we live in a totally different era than when Starcraft fronted in its morphed state) get a hold of Halo Wars, they will NOT get their Halo-Fix like they currently do in the Halo Franchise as such now.

The run-n-gunners will find it difficult to grasp and want instant action, not stratergy. The number of excellent pieces of CGI footage and audio overlay are not the game. That's the icing on the cake, not what it's made of.

And like many who would appreciate a decent RTS, which it is shaping up to be, I have no doubts about that, it won't be the Halo-Fix many fans want. They want tea-bagging, fragging, and screaming fun, where sain gamers leave it to those. And seek out more "mature" games that do require levels of skill above bouncing around and hopping like a frog. They seek out games like COD4 etc.

Halo Wars will be great, and it will sell based on its name alone, and to those who do appreciate a solid RTS, but to the huge fan-base that see Halo as THE shooter of all times, this will not satisfy those needs.

[Megatron08]

xboxoz do you really think that bungie or MS give a rats ass as to why it sells just as long as it does sell. If the Halo fanboys dont get their "fix" from the game they are not going to care they will be laughing at them all the way to the bank

[Immortal Kaim]

Of course MS and Bungie care about WHY and HOW the game sells, it's a business. Companies look at what works (and doesn't work) and then factor in those ideas/concepts when making their next product, that is how we get growth in the industry.

[Bolts]

It seems MS is hell bent on milking every last drop out of this franchise for some reason. Its as if the Halo brand has no future and every available opportunity must be squeezed out before life clock runs out.

I'm sure the following Halo based games are already well into development:

1. Halo squad shooter
2. Halo RTS
3. Halo squad "tactical" shooter
4. Halo RPG
5. Halo 3X space strategy game
6. Halo trading card game
7. Halo MMO
8. Sid Meir's Civilization: Halo
9. Halo fantasy MMO.
10. Halo cooperative zombie shooter.

Thats just ten genres off the top of my head. I'm sure the folks at MS are busy Halo pushing out more Halo related games for all your Halo related needs as we speak.

[InMyOpinion]

You forgot Halo:Prologue and Halo VR Missions.

[kwicksandz]

Excellent burn there!

[Veryangryxbot]

They pulled because there was nothing to show for and they thought it best to keep it for another day.

retarded idiots.

[Montrealien]

yeah that's it! once again you have it all figured out. You are truly the word of truth....

[XboxOZ360]

Like I said, 'some' people don't read things from all platforms, they just read the stuff they want to read, if they read or listen at all. And only read/listen to things that support their original notions.

It's blatantly obvious to all major gaming journalist that this year, E3 has been a showcase for what MS's Xbox-Div have been working on for some time. Of course "some" sony fanbouys will be livid that their "prized title", the one they said would NEVER come to the 360, has in fact done exactly that, as well as an Exclusive title from Square and also 2 other excellent titles to also share with other platforms, like many games 'should' do.

See, some don't like sharing, they believe that any developer who takes the side of the opposition is selling out on THEM . . truth is, it's economics that dictate what Developers and Publishers do, NOT the One-Eyed_Fans who have yet to buy any PS3 game in the numbers they (Pub/Dev) need to recoup their investments.

So naturally they are going to look at a bigger, fast growing audience, they even said so in the Press Conference. But hey, we all know "certain fans" wouldn't dare soil themselves watching it in the first place, but they'll be the first to pass comment to the contrary, with no facts to back themselves up with.

So let them wade in their own stuff, I believe there's room for all platforms to do exceptionally well, and the BIG winners will be Gamers in general, and for those lucky enough and sensible enough to have a few of the platforms, they will be the ones that see that it pays to have BOTH feet planted safely on the ground.

But that aside, Bungie do need to do something different, and just perhaps, just perhaps !! This "Superendenent" might just be the thing they need.

[haphilli]

Bungie can capture video of them taking a crap throw some buttons into it to control bowel movements.....500 million games sold.

[kingme71]

How could MS have determined they won the E3 battle and not announced the title if Sony and Nintendo hadn't gone on stage yet?

[wicked]

The Bungie website had a countdown timer running, that was due to expire today and reveal the game. But it got stopped and a replaced with a note saying that it would no longer happen.

[Xi]

the announcement of delaying the news came after both the confrences from sony and nintendo.

[Superfragilistic]

The announcment was scheduled for after the Sony and Nintendo conferences. They obviously felt they did enough and so cancelled the announcement to keep it as a spare card up their sleeve for some other conference in the future... Just like they held onto the FF secret and Lips/Scene It titles from their GDC & Showcase until E3 this year really. :)

[dale1]

how did they see sonys and nintendos press conference when they went first?smells of b*llshit

[Montrealien]

news flash mr bullshit smeller. Bungie's announcement was for today.

[Immortal Kaim]

Precise, right to the point, I like it. Bubbles for you

[XboxOZ360]

Like I said, noo one reads of has a calender. ANt journolist worth their salt willknow about this stuff before most people, as they are feed by the najors who issue them with press statements and are privy to certain information.

Now if the press are, and have a story READY the moment someone says something "officially" like 1 minute AFTER an announcement a full report goes up on the net, then don't you think all the majors know roughly what each of their competitors are doing BEFORE the press . . dahh

There's these things called NDA's, and anyone worth their salt will abide by them and keep certain info "private" until they are given the okay to "release" it. Otherwise, their career as press is cut short rather quickly. One doesn't go into a major conference like E3 without some knowledge and plan of what the others are doing and how you will counter them the best way you can.

Sony and Nintendo do exactly the same, they all do. Stop being so niave in believing only MS are the bad boys in town, and see that it is a circus, and you (gamers) are the audience that they play to. Dishing out the info when appropriate and how they chose to do so, so as to garner the highest ratings and Hype about something.

Sony will have some things to divulge, but they are shooting from behind the eight ball at the moment, and working against a HUGE debt that only exists within their gaming department. As all other areas of Sony are highly profitable. Sony's debt is solely due to the PS3's in ability to sell games in the numbers required. It's NOT making developers money by selling Blu-Ray movies - now is it.

All the majors will have something unique to deliver, but the question is, which one will have the lions share of developer and publisher support come end of the year. When Square Enix and others start fronting with games for a platform they once said wouldn't or couldn't be really supported, then you know that something is in the works.

This event isn't all about MS, Nintendo or Sony, it's about ALL the publishers showing off their wares, and how the 3 majors will in turn be supporting them within their respective platforms, all of which has been happening over the last two days.

Do try reading some of the stuff actually coming out of E3, it does help to understand things better you know.

[FPS nut]

I love the Halo stories, I read all the books, played the games. They remind me of Star Wars, even when there not as good, I still love em.

[Xi]

to me Halo has moments where it surpasses starwars by miles, and other where it falls flat on it's faces.

[meepmoopmeep]

it's going to be Halo Crossing. :P

[Superfragilistic]

Spartan Kart! :P