Bungie's "biggest regret" is no matchmaking in Firefight

Bungie has told OXM UK that its biggest regret from the whole Halo series is the lack of matchmaking in ODST's Firefight mode - which it said it simply didn't have time to fix.

[ClownBelt]

Learn from mistakes. That's how we succeed.

[PtRoLLFacE]

that's very true no matchmaking for odst was not a good idea, but hopefully they leaned their mistake and put matchmaking in halo reach

[rogimusprime]

but when mistakes cost you money, you need to be more careful. That's why they have focus groups and testers. I would have waited an extra month or two for the game to play matchmaking.

Halo ODST might have been my favorite campaign outside HALO:CE, but I work a 9 hour day and don't have time to call up all my friends and wait for them to get on the xbox to play some ff.

I'm sure they will get better with REACH. game looks good and I'm confident bungie will go out on a high note. can't wait for that beta.

[M_Prime]

Its weird that they couldn't make it a patch..

i mean Gears2 had it

[chrisWhite]

Wow, that's really interesting and pretty up front of Bungie. Hopefully they won't rush future games quite so much so that they don't have any more big regrets in the future.

At very least, if we get Firefight in Reach, hopefully this means we'll get matchmaking for it.

[Al Bundy]

ODST was finished in May of 2009 and they released it in September. That's 4 months that they sat on the game and did nothing. They're lying when they say they didn't have time.

"In an episode of GameTrailers Bonus Round recorded at the Penny Arcade Expo, Brian Jarrard of Bungie revealed that Halo 3: ODST was completed way back in May and was held back to be released during the holiday season."
http://www.gamepro.com/arti...

[TheColbertinator]

Looks like bungie needs to cut down on the bullshit.

Nice find bubbles+

[blue7xx7]

Yeah but I remember they said that it would have taken them atleast another 6 months if they were to include matchmaking and they just didn't have the time since they were trying to finish Reach. Anyways I do agree Halo ODST would have definitely been more popular if it had Matchmaking. Here is the link.

http://kokugamer.com/2009/0...

[Dread]

of course you must be right Bundy,
since u are a game developer who workes for bungie and knows the amount of work it takes to include firfight matchmaking.

perhaps they had to start pumping up the work for Reach or anyother million reasons. Srop the hate please.

why would they be lying about this. is not like it gives them any sort of advantage to come and say that they wished they had included the feature.

u haters will always hate.

[Columbo]

"When we first started toying around with what became Firefight, we all knew we wanted to have Matchmaking for it," said Halo 3: ODST design lead Lars Bakken. "We also knew that would mean some pretty heavy investment on the networking side, which meant more people, and unfortunately it was quickly shot down. The Halo 3 engine doesn't have support for Matchmaking in our synchronous networking model (which is what powers Campaign and Firefight), so we couldn't do it within the scope of this project. It still bums me out, but there are always things you can't do, and you just have to move on."
http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blo...

Yeah, things could always be fixed given the correct amount of time, but would it really be worth it if the fix would take 6-12 months? Probably not, since they knew Reach was completely changing the game engine and model, and was coming out a year later.

With all that being said, given the popularity of it, I think it's safe to say that Reach will definitely contain some sort of Firefight mode, along with matchmaking for it.

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

Networking is extremely complex and difficult to both develop and test. You can simulate situations, but bad netcode will destroy a online experience.

[Al Bundy]

"Yeah, things could always be fixed given the correct amount of time, but would it really be worth it if the fix would take 6-12 months?"

Yes, it would have. It's Halo, it would have sold regardless of when it was released. I promise you that ODST firefight would still be hugely popular today if it had matchmaking. So yeah, it would have been worth it.

[SoX FireBlade]

They said it will take 6 months so they didn't have the time

and they won't have the time for marketing too

[Convas]

Be that as it may, We know Firefight's coming back in REACH and I've also heard a rumble about all Co-Op modes having Matchmaking (This came out of X10, google it if you need convincing), so I do believe that Bungie will deliver this time around.

[BeaArthur]

What a coincidence because that is my biggest complaint about ODST. It's annoying as s***. If nobody is playing firefight on my friends list (which at this point they are not) I can only play by myself (which obviously sucks). Such a great game mode ruined by such a bizarre design choice.

[IQUITN4G]

One of their biggest regrets should be the lack of bots or AI placement into Multi maps

Forge is superb but often these fantastic maps go to waste.All some even people want is to further live in Halo's worlds by way of fighting AI in newly created maps and encounters.AI placement or just bots into a multi forge created map would be heavenly and not all that demanding for Bungie to include quite honestly

Bungie are f*cking ace but this is definitely very lazy and downright frustrating.It's their last Halo game i'd imagine so i'll be right p!ssed off if they drop the ball once again on this

Reach however look like it's going to deliver big time

[juanvan]

Very Right! It was one of the Dumbest moves by bungie and all the intuitions they had in the HL2 lobbies.

[LEGENDARY PELON]

Halo Reach to have firefight with matchmaking???

I really hope they do!

What you guys think??

[2FootYard]

It.

[Al Bundy]

Who said delays are a bad thing? I'd rather a game get delayed then for them to release an unfinished game.

[SRT4Chris401]

What they need to do apologize for is ODST in it's entirety and charging $60 for firefight mode.

[Bnet343]

It's not up to them to price their games, so they don't need apologize for anything. You need to quit crying because the game was $50 when it came out.

[CryWolf]

My biggest regret was playing Halo 2 and 3 on 360, Bungie should have kept Halo on the PC it looks a lot better.

[EVILDEAD360]

That was definitely the only flaw because Firefight is an absolute blast. But, you really need at least 3 players to enjoy the festivities.

Solo Firefight is straight suicide. We played it for hours and hours when that game dropped. And every now and then we get the itch to grab a few friends and pop ODST in again.

But, who cares? It's obvious that Reach will ship with a BETTER version of Firefight and the Matchmaking the we all wanted.

It is clear that Reach will be the definitive Halo for any generation and I'd rather have the kitchen sink approach with one full team..then to splinter off some to fix ODST. Besides the new levels kept everyone busy in the meantime.

Evil

[Wii360BeatsPS3]

They didn't have to release ODST, they could have kept it in development until they fixed the matchmaking. You don't see GT5 being rushed out the door. Simple truth is ODST was a smash and grab , a cash in on the Halo name because there was NOTHING else to fill the gap for 360 at that time. It was a glorified expansion at full price. You say you had a small team and couldn't fix it as you were on a tight budget and time limit, then why charge full price for it you ****ing douchbags. You get no sympathy from me. Make Halo Reach the best game you've ever made or get the **** out, it's as simple as that bitc*s

[Anon7349]

I hate to say this but what you say is pretty much true.

[yoge]

This whould have been nice wish they could add it on.

[otherZinc]

Listening to the true fans of your game. I was very critical of Halo 2; great game but, I wanted co-op link or co-op online. There was an option for it but it wasn't added.

What did Bungie do with my complaints (& I love Halo 2).........

Bungie not only gave us co-op link, they gave us 4 player co-op! I didn't expect that at all. Then they gave us saved films, forge, skulls, I mean they go the extra mile for its true fans.

I'll be there day 1 for Halo:Reach!
Bungie has earned my respect in a big way!

[pustulio]

They finally realized that the reason i bought this stupid piece of sh*t called ODST was to play firefight in matchmaking but 3 hours later i finnished the stupid short campaing then i went to firefight and saw no matchmaking and i was like WTF?! SERIOUS-F*CKING-LY?!

Went back to the game store and traded it in glad i got all my money back

[Gimped Hardware]

They are the best dev's going and are perfectionists thus will always find faults with their own work.

Every other person on the planet knows that the Halo games are second to none and Bungie should be aplauded for their contributions towards gaming excellence.