343i has been hiring professional Halo players lately

Want to work for 343i without going to school, becoming the best Halo player in the world might help.

[CELLA]

its coming soon

[lets_go_gunners]

This news was all I needed to put a ridiculous smile on my face. Best Halo since combat evolve, calling it.

Maybe.....

[da_2pacalypse]

That's a high claim, specially considering Halo 4 was the worst of the series. 343 has a lot to prove.

[Shadonic]

indeed they do

[lets_go_gunners]

No...ODST was the worse in the series. Lets not forget the bungie cash grab.

[Spurg]

Halo 4 wasn't the worse...
People apparently think Halo is a Multiplayer only game so they assume its a bad game if the Mutiplayer didn't meet their high expectations.

343i gave us the best Halo game we can get:

-4 player co op Campaign
-Spartan Ops(4 co op)
-Forge mode
-Theatre mode
-Multiplayer

Storywise...343i nailed it
Content wise Halo is still uncontested. I dare anyone to post a game with as much content as Halo 4.

People don't appreciate what they get nowadays.

[Shadonic]

@ Spurg : wait Spurg you honestly believe that forge wise Halo 4 was the best ? Not to mention custom games being stifled, spartan ops I agree has some great ideas around it but was horribly executed outside of the 4-6 big missions with new areas that happened each week plus it was seen as so repetitive that even 343 started making fun of it and kept on doing it. Campaign was good but could of been presented better to players who didnt go through the trouble of watching the Halo way-point vids. still 4 player CO-OP campaign i remember in Halo 3 and Reach. Theater mod was a step back from what i heard from people that used it for machinimas and stuff. We also lost air vehicles while being teased with them in campaign and given a space forge space. Multiplayer wise its pretty clear that a lot of the gameplay elements resemble COD games ( most likely another one of their attempts to draw new players in, just saying that was a goal that was highlighted a lot in their vidoks)

[Spurg]

@Shadonic

'wait Spurg you honestly believe that forge wise Halo 4 was the best ? Not to mention custom games being stifled'

Because COD, Battlefield, Killzone give you Forge mode in their game...343i gave you the tools they used to create their game mode and told you to use it. You can't even appreciate something like that. What I'm trying to say the package you get is the best...and why not...it is the best Halo game IMO.

'Spartan ops I agree has some great ideas around it but was horribly executed outside of the 4-6 big missions with new areas that happened each week plus it was seen as so repetitive that even 343 started making fun of it and kept on doing it.'

....Still don't get peoples grip with Spartan ops...it had an engaging story. It was basically firefight with a story. Remove story and you get firefight...Firefight is basically you fighting waves after waves(How is spatan ops any more mundane than that)...Spartan ops is a more structured firefight with narrative. Removing Spartan ops is a step backwards...if I were developing the game I would want to advance the firefight mode from Reach and ODST elements and answer to that was Spartan ops.

'Campaign was good but could of been presented better to players who didnt go through the trouble of watching the Halo way-point vids.'

Present and spoon feed people who haven't bothered reading the novel and comic books. You know they are out there you can just spoon feed yourself.
Plus it was a sense of mystery thoughtout the whole game...it made you want to know more about the lore.
You can't fit all of that in a 6-8 hr long game when yo got story to tell between to characters.

'still 4 player CO-OP campaign i remember in Halo 3 and Reach.'
Yeah it the big trend nowadays because so many game give you that option.

'Theater mod was a step back from what i heard from people that used it for machinimas and stuff.'

You experience from what OTHER people say...apparently from forums. How many machinima you made???
The main point of theatre mode is to save you best moments....does it do a good job...yes it does.

'We also lost air vehicles while being teased with them in campaign and given a space forge space.'

Sorry but you don't know what you're talking about. They never teased...you just assumed that.
Are you just looking for random stuff to bash Halo...you seem really desperate.

'Multiplayer wise its pretty clear that a lot of the gameplay elements resemble COD games ( most likely another one of their attempts to draw new players in, just saying that was a goal that was highlighted a lot in their vidoks)'

The perk system Halo 4 used wasn't bad like COD...there was balance there. The multiplayer still played like regular Halo.
I don't know what world you live in but the multiplayer scene has changed drastically over the years because of COD. Taking elements from COD doesn't mean it automatically becomes an inferior game. I played the multiplayer for a long time and I can tell you it works really well.

[b163o1]

@Spurg

Content wise I gonna mention LBP lol. I understand it's a PS game in all, but they've had a level creator since the jump. So as far as content wise goes I really think LBP may be up there

Oh disagrees are now welcome

[da_2pacalypse]

halo player since 2001, and I thought the MP in halo 4 was terrible. I liked the campaign, but I thought 343 didn't do so well in the other portions of the game.

[3-4-5]

It better be, Halo 4 was not a good game. Those maps are so bland and stock.

[XboxFun]

MS aint playin around! This is going to re-define FPS's as the first one did.
MS is stress testing this and making sure it's grade AAA for the hardcore Halo fans.

I say bring it MS!

[christocolus]

Great.343i isnt the only dev getting attention from ms,so far it seems ms is really putting all theyve got into all their devs. Its like every week we get to read something new and exciting i.e a rumored project from rare,343i,lift ,turn 10,lionhead, black tusk, mgs japan etc or new hires into their studios or something else.

Phil wasnt joking when he said he admired sonys determination and focus when it comes to developing new ips and following them up,and its obvious now that Don mattrick was holding the rest of the xbox team back. Phil spencer and Phil harrison are doing really good even Chris Charla should be commended for his work with the indies

Its all good news. Getting players to work side by side with the devs is great imo.they will get direct feed back which will result in a great game/better multiplayer. I hear the single player is alot longer than all the other halos too. I cant wait. This game is going to be amazing.

[slivery]

The first one redefined something?

Every game play element in Halo has existed long before in other FPS that were just as popular previous to when Halo even came around. No idea how the first one redefined anything, maybe reused everything. It did nothing different game play wise even with the similar mechanics it had than previous games before to be able to redefine anything.

Not even saying Halo is a terrible game, not at all. Just saying it never redefined FPS.. Not by a long shot.

Not on consoles and especially not on PC.

[mhunterjr]

Huh? Bungie legitimized competitive console FPS with perfect twin stick controls, and 16 player LAN support.

Then Halo2 revolutionized online matchmaking with TrueSkill and the party system.

Give credit where it's due.

[christocolus]

Dude? Did you ever play halo? The only popular and imaginative fps on consoles before halo was golden eye on n64 .golden eye ,perfect dark and T.spliters were amazing back in the day but Halo revitalized fps on consoles,taking it much further.it was new.it had great a.i, story and a great online system and matchmaking to go with it. Go back and read up stuff on halo combat evolved, read reviews about the game dont forget to read ign and gamespots reviews too.

Before the success of cod and bf4 on consoles, halo was the game to beat.I remember sony assembling a team to develop a "halo killer", that team would eventually be guerilla and the game would eventually become killzone, also activision&infinity ward back then also set halo as their standard and they were never shy about admitting it.say all you like about halo,but dude i know that game is the reason first person shooters are now so popular on consoles,infact its the reason my friends and i now play first person shooter on consoles before then we never enjoyed playing fps on consoles.

In short halo made me a believer in console fps.

[CrossingEden]

Halo's gameplay was characterized by several features which set it apart from less acclaimed first-person shooter games of its time.

Storyline Execution: Halo's gameplay and storyline are tightly interwoven, delivering in a convincing manner being consistent with the flow of the game.
Vehicular Incorporation: Halo includes the option for players to control multiple land and air based vehicles in third-person view. This Third-Person vantage brings a welcomed sense of immersion and enhances the specific points of gameplay, again setting Halo apart from contemporary first person shooters.
Weapons System: Halo's new weapons system is unique in two major respects. The first is allowing players to carry only two Weapons at a time, thus forcing the player to make trade-offs as they progress throughout the game. The second change is a separate button for throwing Grenades.
Artificial Intelligence: Halo's AI is quite sophisticated for its era. With a brand new advanced AI system, actions performed by the AI such as panicking after the death of a superior, diving out of the way of an oncoming vehicle, or taking cover from explosives and suppressive fire, helped Halo stand out from the rest of the first-person shooters being released at the time.
So yes, it did revolutionize the fps genre. -_-

[Gazondaily]

Halo also set the standard with regenerative health and populrised the two weapon carry limit in games.

Its implementation of vehicle controls using the camera itself was rathrr unique.

Name one console game before Halo 2 that did online like it did?

Halo 3 then brought with it a 4 player co op story mode, theatre mode to watch your rexordings etc and a proper online community gelled together with things like Forge map editor etc that not a single console fps or game competed with at the time.

Halo isnt overrated as much as the claims that it ia overrated are exaggerated.

Halo 4 didnt do anything as ambitious. Its MP left a lot to be desired but it's single player had one of the best campaigns since Halo CE.

[Trekster_Gamer]

Dude you are smoking crack if you truly believe what you said.

[Shadonic]

I hope it does redefine it or at least resembles the original Halo that redefined it. I don't want another class based, Ariel drop, game with re-skinned weapons that shoot and fire in the same way as my human weapons but with colored strobe light bullets. Their scrapped ideas sounded amazing but its like once that executive chairman they mentioned started hinting as though what they were doing was wrong everything changed. We went from stasis guns to future shotguns with bouncy bullets. Halo is known for both its campaign, its Machinimas, and its Multiplayer first and foremost. They did good on the campaign so im not going to say anything about that but PLEASE for the love of all things Halo Make a GREAT Multiplayer that can keep my attention for more than 2 months and remember the people who have been along with Halo Before 343 even came into existence and remember your new fans as well create a separated playlist and playtypes or something and don't force it on them.

[FlyingFoxy]

Meh, it will just be the same old same old like the first game.

Give me a new Half Life/Left 4 Dead any day.

[frostypants]

The first one didn't redefine sh*t. Please...

[jimbobwahey]

Wonderful, lets get all the professional MLG idiots on-board to suck the last remaining bit of fun out of the franchise, because that's exactly what it needed.

[matrixman92]

They will make the game actually good again. But you probably thought reach and 4 were good

[Shadonic]

I found Halo reach good, Halo 4 was OK and that was mostly because of story. Too much stuff was left out in multiplayer and for what could of been added or implemented it never was. We lost the difficulty, the close quarters combat, the close calls of equally equipped and matched soldiers for armor abilities ( which i gotta admit would of been an improvement if they didn't give players the ability to get quick heals and go invisible at any time also jetpack), faster movement ( which lead to bigger wider maps which were the only maps that the new Halo really worked on), and really non innovative weapons. Really we got the old classic Needeler and then we got light shot gun and mini light shotgun and then the slimmer lighter faster spartan laser basically with forerunner decal. It was honestly a ok first attempt but by Halo standards it was bad. I'm not saying that 343's bad just almost everything ( besides campaign )was bad. Gameplay wise it was designed as if it was some sort of popular blockbuster movie game that obiously derived most of its gameplay ideas not from carefully considering the past games and what people liked but by implementing the everyday things you see in your every day FPS If you disagree please elaborate as to why.

[Shadonic]

wtf are you talking about Halo 4 was like pretty visuals cool look what i can do fun. I want that no crap given fair and square fight learn to earn combat. Especially since Halo 4 sort of took out what was fun about the game in the first place and that was competitive gameplay. Having to work together to win or learn things about the maps instead of spawning or being handed everything on a platter. Hell they even gave you extra points just for going through there entire assassination animation. I'm not that big into MLG and stuff but seriously competitive combat is the best thing Halo can get right now. is unique addictive competitive combat and gameplay that keeps you coming back without the need of double XP weekends or DLC or even friends bickering you to join their game. Besides what harms going to come from having a more fair and equally balanced battlefield ?

[frostypants]

That's what I was thinking. "Pro gamers" are all about exploiting loopholes and playing the game to win as quickly as possible, not have fun. This doesn't make sense to me at all.

[Activemessiah]

"professional Halo players" also known as people who happen to be good as playing the game.

[mhunterjr]

I think it's great they are getting the mp community involved in developing this game. I think halo4 took some major strides in the campaign, but the multiplayer fell flat on its face. 343i got too focused on what other games were doing and lost track of what made Halo's multiplayer so compelling. Hopefully they can get back some of the mojo!

[Gabenbrah]

Fantastic news, Halos MP has always been the most competitive FPS on consoles and ever since Bungie released Reach, its been becoming more casual, this is exactly what I wanted to hear from 343i and Halo 5.

[LAWSON72]

Halo Reach is far from casual if anything it is much more difficult from a gameplay perspective. You move slower, jump lower, guns have bloom as well as slight recoil, and things like understanding the correct armor loadouts was pretty strategic mainly showing in objective playlists that were team focused(though armor lock was badly executed and was very cheap at times). The jet pack was a great addition as well as sprint, by keeping up the pace and changing up battles while keeping a fair balance. The game was a great attempt to spin off from Halo 3, because it was a prequel and left room for creativity and new things while not tainting the formula of the original trilogy.

You want casual play Halo 4, where you can spawn with a weapon that kills people in one hit or spawn with a sticky grenade/plasma pistol combo that made BTB stupid. The game was clerly made to compete against the casual game that is COD by making it possible to play the game completely mindlessly and do very well by adding kill streaks and perks along with the creating classes. I think a big problem was throwing sprint on to everyone making it natural and required, which messed with the great pace the previous games have maintained

[Gabenbrah]

I agree to most of your points, but Armor Lock, Jet Pack and Bloom ruined Halo IMO. AL I think you understand why, Jet pack ruined map control and Bloom was a joke, a spammer could beat someone who timed their shots, completely broken mechanic. Now I do agree Halo 4 is more casual, but with BravoMLG now leading the MP team at 343i, I'm far more optimistic about the future of Halos MP than before.

[LAWSON72]

I do agree at times jetpack could ruin maps that were based around multiple levels (I hated countdown when people used jetpacks), but on more open maps the potential of the jetpack really showed. It added variety in gameplay and I really liked that but you are right it was broken, but I see potential if they (343) created set loadouts very much so like they did and fixed in Reach. I disagree about bloom though if you are precious and have good timing you will win almost every encounter. I wont lie I preferred no bloom but it was a thing skilled players could adapt to.

I hope this MLG guy they hired knows what makes Halo good because after playing Halo 4 I cant help but question if they knew what made 2 and 3 such great multiplayer games. If they manage to go back to the classic arena style I will def get a Xbone at its launch. I just highly doubt they could pull it off or if they even want to. I see Halo dying this gen if MS keeps trying to expand its audience because all they managed to was make actual fans ditch the game in only a couple months by doing so. Meanwhile it seems Halo is just turning into a gimmick that will die quickly and be rereleased almost yearly, instead of doing what Bungie did with Halo 3 which was keep it alive with small additions, fun community events, and so much content that could keep people entertained.

[frostypants]

Dude what the HELL do you smoke all day with these comments? You've got to be trolling. Halo is a casual shooter. It has always BEEN a casual shooter. It has never had anywhere near the depth of, say, a Battlefield, or even an Unreal Tournament.

[Parasyte]

They didn't listen to the ones they were working with when trying to improve H4. Why start now?

[ABeastNamedTariq]

Aye, they're getting pretty serious. Multiplayer is about to be addictive, I can tell.

[SilentNegotiator]

They can't seriously think that MLG players can help them improve the game, can they? MLG turds are all about tweaking games to give themselves the advantage and debalance the game, not make the game more enjoyable for the masses.

[JeffGUNZ]

They will probably be testing for bugs and exploits. Giving feedback on how a map could be better or minor stuff like that.

[Bonerboy]

This is a cool way to go about fine tuning "in game" ideas.

[Codewow]

As long as Forge mode stays in the game and the maps are bigger than Halo 4's maps... I think I'll enjoy at least the online portion of it. I bet the story will be awesome and if it has 4 player (or more) coop, then that will be perfect. As for what other side-aspect they have, I think it would be awesome to get them all.. But that's probably asking too much, huh? Although I did personally get bored of Spartan Ops within 2 weeks of playing.. so...

[CELLA]

i just read something that people should no that Windows 9 is coming to the xbox one and it may have something to do with halo
Threshold is the update name thats coming for xbox one

[TheSaint]

Where can I see these professionals playing?

[TheKayle1]

keep doing the right things ms..keep doint it