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Halo 3 and the Second Wave of 360 Games
conq writes "BusinessWeek has an interview with Microsoft Game Studios' Shane Kim in which he discusses the second wave of Xbox 360 games. When asked if Halo 3 is coming out this year, the answer was: 'It depends. If it's the game that everyone is expecting then, yes. For us it's about making a proper impact on the platform. It has to be something with huge significance, so we won't be rushed.'" If you know what that means, I would like to offer you a cookie, because I sure as heck don't.
It sounds like the clue train is coming in:
Last stop is you, Mister story-poster.
Alright, it sounds like he's saying that he "cares" about the "quality" of the "product".
This might be because he has a "reputation" and he doesn't want to "ruin it".
Any questions?
I never understood why Halo was so head and shoulders above the other Xbox games. What makes it so great compared to other titles in the library?
If the PS3 is released this year, so will Halo 3.
if it's delayed till next year then you won't see Halo 3 till next year, simple as that.
notice the timing of these and the way he words it? "IF gamers want it bad enough then it will be released this year." what If is there to it? Halo 2 sold $100,000,000 in it's first couple of days, is he trying to say that people aren't hyped for Halo anymore?
I honestly dont understand how people can play that game for hours on end, it is ridicoulsly boring Not trolling, but I honestly think that it is so popular only because it seems to be the "best" on the original xbox
The phrase "more better" is acceptable English. suck it grammar Nazis
You mean there going to do something different instead of "OMGZORS THE LEVELS ARE SO MUCH BIGGZOR NOW!" and keep the exact same boring repetitive playstyle?
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
Actually, it probably means that they're waiting to push it out the door when the PS3 launches...
FanFictionRecs.net
It means that they're totally and entirely market driven. No matter if it's good or not, if it's what the masses want, we'll give it to 'em. (And make a pretty penny on the stupiduty of the majority)
You can have only two of the following three qualities when developing a product: cheap, fast or good.
Babelfish doesn't offer a translation for "Microsoft", but I believe he meant that it will come out this year if it meets everyone's expectations. After all, everyone and their dog is expecting Halo 3 (while I haven't played Halo 2 all the way through, the ending was apparently a complete cliffhanger).
Basically, he's saying that Bungie (or someone) is working on it, and it could be complete this year, but they're going to give it the time it needs to be a "good" FPS.
So they're giving it the treatment that Nintendo is giving Twilight Princess, minus the sad fanboys, which is good, as the XBox 360 dearly needs some hit quality games.
I was at EB Games this weekend and saw a mock-up of a Halo 3 box on the "Coming Soon" shelf. I picked up the box to see if there were any screen shots on the back of the box. There weren't any screenshots, but I did find some valuable marketing intelligence. The back of the box said that Microsoft plans to release Halo 3 the same day as the PS3 comes out in an effort to out-launch Sony.
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
If it's the game that everyone is expecting then, yes. For us it's about making a proper impact on the platform. It has to be something with huge significance, so we won't be rushed.'" If you know what that means, I would like to offer you a cookie, because I sure as heck don't.
It means they don't have a clue if they can finish it on time, but probably not because both of the previous games had historic delays... But please, please, please buy a 360, and don't wait for the PS3.
It could also mean that they would release early if the future of the Xbox360 depended on it. Because we all know there are no real hits on the Xbox360 yet, thus noone is purchasing the console.
http://www.rayn.net . Funny. Stuff.
not a single reason why I should upgrade from my xBox, since I'm not shelling out money for HDTV until 2009 when the prices plummet.
Besides, by then, I'll be able to choose between NR, PS3, and xBox360, with actual real games that aren't just ports or FPS clones.
Wake me up when they ship Katamari on the 360.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
"When asked if Halo 3 is coming out this year, the answer was: 'It depends. If it's the game that everyone is expecting then, yes."
NO! Release a game when it's ready, not when the people want it. Too often, developers are pushing titles out because it's what the public wants right then and now; no more are the days when developers actually released games when they were ready for public consumption. If more developers stick to the "It will come out when it's ready" mantra, we'd have less crap on the market for games these days.
-WeAz
It's rather easy to decode this example of marketing lingo: if the release of Sony's PS3 will take place in 2006, then Halo3 will follow right after, or shortly in advance. Tackling the Playstation launch is the impact he's talking about, is what the rushed XBOX360 launch was all about, so go figure.
Don't know if this will qualify as being ironic (not in Alanis' sense anyway), but in the end the XBOX and Halo fanboys may thank Sony (or blame them, depending on how playable the game will turn out) for Halo...
A World in a Grain of Sand / Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Infinity in the Palm of your Hand / And Eternity in an Hour.
I'm assuming by "everyone" he means the people developing the game, so the translation is "We aren't far enough into development to have done any real play testing, so we don't know if it's any fun to play yet.
In other words, the key to the product isn't whether or not it's a good game in its own right, but whether or not it will sell XBox 360's. This makes it sound like game development has been co-opted by the hardware division accountants. I'm not sure if this is a such a good thing or not.
Yaz.
It means no.
Gimme my cookie.
...and more games like Duke Nukem Forever! Oh wait...
Yeah, that makes perfect sense. It also has the Micosoft mentatlity of always keeping yourself secret until a key time when you know it is a good idea to release. My bets are if the PS3 comes out in November expect Halo3 by Q1 2007. Now the question will be what is the development status on Halo3? Maybe it will be released the same time as the movie, that will be interesting to see Halo3, Halo the movie, and PS3 to be released in the same week.
It has to be something with huge significance, so we won't be rushed.
New Microsoft employee? Marketing department hasn't spoken with you yet? Here are Microsoft products are released on a schedule which provides maximum profits and steady revenue. You'll release it when the quarterly financials tell us it needs to be released.
Developers: We can use your help.
Microsoft isn't lazy at anything but design (bugs and security are intentional laziness). They don't take their time in order to produce quality. They schedule everything for maximum financial impact. Be sure this product will magically be released at an "interesting" time, whether its quality is there or not.
Developers: We can use your help.
...that Bungie is not going to finish Halo 3 this year. Have you noticed that every time it's mentioned in an interview or article, an official representative is there to reply and never mention the title "Halo 3" but call it "their/our next game?" Example: ...but back to Halo 2. We're working with another team at MS to make this not only happen, but happen in a super-sweet radical fashion. To that end, we're going to be helping with a lot of aspects, but don't worry, we are not doing the actual coding work - we're too busy with ONP (Our Next Project). [1]
Microsoft and Bungie are doing their best to draw attention away from "Halo 3" until the time is right.
"False hope is why we'll never run out of natural resources!" - Lewis Black
It depends.
It won't really be a sequel to Halo 2.
If it's the game that everyone is expecting then, yes.
It doesn't even have to be a Halo franchise game - but it will be as good as everyone's vision of Halo 3.
For us it's about making a proper impact on the platform.
We need a great game on the Xbox 360 to show off how pwnzor the system really is.
It has to be something with huge significance, so we won't be rushed.
Even though we don't need it, we're probably going to use the Halo franchise, simply because people expect Halo 3 to be good - but we're designing it with the attitude of "Xbox 360 killer app" instead of "sequel to Halo 2", because that's what we need to produce.
Having trouble parsing this? 'It depends. If it's the game that everyone is expecting then, yes. For us it's about making a proper impact on the platform. It has to be something with huge significance, so we won't be rushed.' Let me me phrase it another way for you: 'It depends. If we get the game to a point where it will meet gamer's expectations, then yes, we'll release it this year. We want to make this game as big for the Xbox360 as Halo was for the original Xbox. It has to be really good though or we won't make bazillions of dollars like last time, so we won't be rushed.'
If I am reading this right, it sounds as if he is almost pushing Halo aside. Is that possible? Could Microsoft be stupid enough not to think that millions anticipate this release? I bet you that the people at microsoft think that people have lost touch with the game and dont want it anymore....but oh they are wrong.
"The fact that we could launch Halo 3 when we feel like it mustn't impact the platform significance, because you don't want to rush things that are finished too early unless each is significant, you know. In any case, we may launch it when its significant but only if gamers don't want it earlier or the platform is not significant. We won't be rushed you know, because, uh, we don't wanna feel the launch is the platform impact that gamers don't think is significant. Unless we feel we should launch of course."
WTF?
I would LOVE to have your cookie :) But, just so long it isn't one of those that last til 2035, please. Those are wayyyy too tough on my teeth...
"It depends. If it's the game that everyone is expecting then, yes."
Personally, I see this as proof of my statement on how people will buy it if it is hyped up. If it gets enough hype as Halo 2 did to make people buy it, M$ will make the game, whether it has good gameplay, graphics, and story, or IMAO more likely it will be a POS - as I said, all they want is for people to buy it due to hype, and wont give a damn whether or not it sucks and people will hate M$ for it...
After seeing real 360 games for a few months now, it is clear that the system is roughly equal to a dual-970 around 2-2.5Ghz or so with a graphics card from the last three or four months.
Developers are reporting that they are using all three cores, so I don't see any huge leaps in performance down the line for the system.
Games like Gears of War are plauged with that ugly Doom3ish low poly bumpy/shiny normal mapped characters when you see actual in game footage(not the high rez marketing shots that get shown all the time). I am afraid Halo 3 will most likely end up looking similar. The first two Halos had actually pretty weak environments graphically compared to games like Metroid Prime on the GameCube, but they were not really noticed that much due to the flashy metal look of the MC.
Now that look is old. I really hope Microsoft is honest with the first H3 previews and doesn't try to pull crap like they did with PGR3 and GoW where the high rez marketing shots look nothing like the real in game graphics.
I'm thinking they don't want it to crash during the unveiling like Windows 98 did.
... but will it actually be developed by Bungie?
Halo 2 is one of the best selling console games ever, and MS would be insane not to have Halo 3 in development for the Xbox 360. That said, the big question is which team is handling it? After Halo 2, Bungie said that Halo 3 would not be their next title. Gates then came out and said something about Halo 3 releasing with the PS3 (in a more recent interview with him he said he'd made a mistake with that). As a result of that combined with the recent release of the 360, everyone has assumed that Bungie must be working on Halo 3 after all despite the fact that nothing has actually been announced.
Personally, I'm a long-standing Bungie fan, since I got Operation Desert Storm for my old Mac LC575. For me, Halo 2 was a gigantic disappointment. It is certainly a good game, but it feels almost soulless, lacking in those special, hard to describe qualities that had set their games apart previously. When you look at the dev team that worked on it, the reason is pretty clear: the original team is now far outnumbered by newer talent.
I would not be surprised at all if Bungie dropped an 'unexpected' bombshell at E3, announcing and demoing a new game that isn't Halo 3, but something completely new. Perhaps an entirely new genre? I'd love to see a talented group like them tackle an RPG, for example. There is absolutely no reason why a separate Microsoft studio couldn't be working on Halo 3 and having some of the Bungie team give them the nod every now and then. It's not unheard of in the game development world after all. For example, Bioware handed off Knights of the Old Republic and Neverwinter Nights to Obsidian so they could concentrate on developing new IP. There's no reason why Bungie couldn't still be involved in a creative capacity as well.
Allowing Bungie to work on something new while continuing to develop Halo as a brand would make sense in terms of long-term marketing too. MS at the moment have only got a few franchises that they can build on - Perfect Dark, Project Gotham, and Halo are about the shape of it. Bungie have proven that they have the ability to create franchises. If they produce something completely new, then there is a strong chance that it will end up becoming another large franchise for MS. The X360 should have at least another 3-4 years in its lifespan, and having an extra big franchise that they can push down the line when interest begins to wane would be good business sense for Microsoft.
Personally, I'd be far more interested in seeing something original from Bungie. What did that "Pheonix" project they were throwing around a few years back turn out to be, anyway?
If you know what that means, I would like to offer you a cookie, because I sure as heck don't.
Well, I think it means.. Wait. You don't want to offer me a cookie, so you're going to offer me a cookie?
If anyone knows what that means, I would like to offer my services as a cookie consumer.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
This is another reason why I think Sony is trying a different (and more intelligent, IMO) strategy by witholding the release date of the PS3 until shortly before its launch. Currently, Microsoft's waiting around for Sony to pin up a release date, so they can prepare the launch of a huge "must-have" around the same time and undermine the system launch. If Sony just keeps quiet, and then suddenly announces that the PS3 will be launched "next week" (a scenario that I think is quite possible), Microsoft will be caught with their pants down. Everyone's expecting Sony to use the same tactics that they have in the past, but if you look at the current situation, it's much different from any of their previous releases. Both the PS1 and PS2 were the first big systems of their generation (except for the Dreamcast, I know, but Sega was already floundering as a hardware company before then, and were of little concern to Sony). Sony was the guy who could step up and offer something far beyond what was currently on the table, and therefor, they boasted about it for months, even years, before their releases. This is a good strategy when you're the first out of the gate, but its not a very good strategy when you're second, because the other guy has a long time to devise a strategy to undermine your launch. Not only that, but you can't hold people's attention for long periods of time by offering them something far beyond what's currently on the market. This is where the N64 failed. Nintendo talked up the new system for over a year before it's release, while in the meantime, Sony and their cronies put forth some of the greatest gaming opportunities in the history of the industry. When the N64 finally launched, the Playstation's developers had had time to get their skills up to almost on par with the new system, so Nintendo had very little to offer in the way of power.
Multiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.
For your information
Microsoft != Bungie
Hate Microsoft, ok that's cool. But hate Bungie? No. Never. You can't possibly hate Bungie if you call yourself a nerd.
My page.
And just like in the Hollywood movie industry where dollars direct creativity to ensure "the best product", the likely outcome is shit.
Interesting time such as when the Halo movie is released? There have been such rumors, but of course not confirmed. It's also worth noting that Bungie is interested in quality whether MS is or not, at least it seems that way to me based on Halo, Halo PC, and Halo 2.
It means Yes. Where's my cookie?
www.blueapples.org
"It depends. If it's the game that everyone is expecting then, yes."
The longer they wait, the higher the expectation will be, which they most likely can't meet. They have a good chance of screwing themselves with to late of a release.
I think in part you're right, they may well be waiting for the PS3 launch. However, most people who would buy a PS3 will buy one regardless.
I think it's more likely they are waiting for Windows Vista - I think MS is more desperate to convert users to Vista than they've been with previous versions.
I think it's funny, personally, that a game developed by a primarily mac company now seems to be a major part of Microsofts business strategies. In fact, were I an investor I would be concerned by Microsofts use of this one game to try and gain market leverege - I don't pretend to know much about OS market outside of a users perspective -- but even as a user it is suspicious they're using this one game as what almost seems to be a crutch.
I suppose it seems very odd to me that a company that used to promote backwards compatability seems to be using a game this way - not to mention it seems to have scoffed off the old backwards compatability practice.
As a somewhat uninformed home PC user (IE I'm a unix geek who has windows at home because all I use my home PC for is games) -- the recent behavior of MS has actually been enough to get me to install a few Linux variants as I seek an alternate desktop - as I've already decided I will not be purchasing Vista. As a consumer, I almost feel like I'm being told by a school bully that after school I'm going to get stomped. If that makes sense. It seems to be a new marketing strategy / business model that I think is going to backfire on MS.
Or I could just be crazy....
And hereby Microsoft redefines the word great, as:
It's actually spot-on. There was no great launch title for the Xbox 360. At most it was Geometry Wars but who in their right mind would pay $400 for a new system just to play a $5 game? I have a friend who is actually so engrossed in it he's planning to do that, but I recognize he's abnormal. Still, the Playstation to date hasn't had a great game at launch and it hasn't hurt them one bit.
This guy seems to be oblivious to Nintendo and Mario, who kind of went hand-in-hand as far as launch games go for over a decade. Not only that, but GTA has never been a launch title and it didn't appear until well into the PS2's launch cycle.
That to me reads: "If due to competitive pressures we're forced to deliver Halo 3 because we have nothing else to hang our hats on, then we will rush it." That, or he's being deliberately obfuscating.
What is interesting is that A) Bill Gates has been championing Halo 3 for months now and B) there is still no official word regarding this game. Halo 2 was announced about a year before its intended release and about two years before its actual release. And yet there's no Halo 3 information.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
It means that it's coming out some time before Duke Nukem Forever ships.
[Insert pithy quote here]
If it's the game that everyone is expecting then, yes.
Meaning: They could release a Halo 3 that meets consumer expectations soon (i.e. - simply better graphics, better gameplay). Instead, they are working on a game that will 'defy' expectations, so it will take as long as it needs to.
In the end it's all marketspeak. My hope is that they are sitting on the game while manufacturing gets up to speed. BillG said they'd release it opposite PS3, but I can't imagine why they wouldn't rather come in to the PS3 launch with a strong post-Halo 3 market presence, instead of trying to boost it once the ps3 is out.
It's more like GPG and Chris Taylor with SupCom: "We'll release when we're ready and not before, because we want to give the players a fucking great game and nothing else".
It's slightly frightening, mightly frustrating and somewhat annoying, but at least you know the guys are commited to provide you with great entertainment, and you usually get a good game out of it. Sometimes late, but always good.
"The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
Nerd: Derogatory term typically directed at anybody with a lower Slashdot ID than you.
Sounds a lot like Windows back in 1983
Announced to kill the competition
Released as a product three years later with what is obviously not 3 years of work
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_1.0
Yeah, it's more than it looks like at first glance, but still, THREE YEARS? (From the announcement in 1983, not the start of development in 1981.
How to enable garbage collection on a system without protected memory: #define malloc() ((void *) rand())
I have been a Halo fanboy for a long time. I said Halo. Halo 2 blew chow in single-person, but online it is the bomb, and live on my 360 (Thanks, Mountain Dew and EveryTenMinutes.com!), it is just a little bit better. However, in the two years running up to the release of Halo 2 the Bungie.net website had discussion, rumors, leaks, blah, blah, blah. Recently out of Bungie.net? Lots of discussion of Halo 2 and XBox Live, but barely a sniffle on Halo 3. Given the extremely long production cycle that Bungie went through for two, and the fact that the PS3 has now been delayed until 2007, we won't see any babbling about Halo 3 until October, and then only because they want to have "something" ready for release in the Spring of 2007, but more likely Holiday 2007.
Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies.
Never forget: 2 + 2 = 5 for extremely large values of 2.
...the XBox 360 has no "killer apps", and no really outstanding games. The reason people buy gaming consoles is for their games, not because of nifty features. The 360 is going to go down without a fight if it doesn't release Halo 3 by the time the PS3 is coming around (and I really would be surprised/disappointed if Sony let Microsoft have another holiday season all to itself).
If you know what that means, I would like to offer you a cookie, because I sure as heck don't.
7 3.179
= books.slashdot.org|utmcct=/article.pl|utmcmd=refer ral
Thanks for the cookies.
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Halo 3 the replacement for Duke Nukem Forever!
If we can actually get enough consoles sold to make selling the game profitable.
can't make the same amount off of 1/10 the crowd that wants an xbox 360 but can't get it, as you can if all/most of those potential buyers have already actually got the console.
that and I agree with the poster that said it depends some on when PS3 gets released.
Its so blatenly obvious they are trying or hoping to release Halo 3 when the PS3 is launched. Wasn't that the original idea anyway? Development on Halo 3 must be in full swing however, since according to the initial schedule it was gonna be out this year.
A few of the comments on here have been saying that the game will come out on the same day as the PS3. Wouldn't it be smarter, maybe, to release it the day before? Then, everyone will have just bought a game, so they won't see the point of buying a whole new console have this new game here to play. This will cause less initial sales, and after the hype has died down, many of the people who would have bought the PS3 the first day will have decided not to in favor of something else. Just an idea.
By the way, who are we supposed to hate more here, Microsoft or Sony?
12 steps is too long. My ideal plan is: 1) Quit 2) Relapse 3) ??? 4) Profit!
There won't be anything else with as "huge" a "significance" on the 360 platform as the PS3 so the only way to make the release of Halo 3 of "huge significance" is to leverage it against the PS3.
"By contrast, the N64 titles didn't put free-look on one stick and movement on the buttons, they mixed them"
On the contrary, Turok used this mode by default, and Goldeneye allowed you to choose this style in the options. I much prefer the Turok controls over Goldeneye, especially on multiplayer. You might argue that the Goldeneye defaults allowed one to move slowly, suitable to a game partly oriented to sneaking around. But the Halo controls were still difficult for me to pick up. Unfortunately for RARE, their investment in the Bond franchise was not repaid kindly. Despite a pretty good improvement over Goldeneye, Perfect Dark didn't catch nearly as much sales, and by the time PD Zero came out, Rare had lost a lot of the talented people involved with the originals.
Many FPS's on the n64 used the Iguana engine and left the Turok controls to default. In contrast, Rare only put out two games (this isn't a bad thing, really). So to say that "the n64 titles" had such and such controls is to demonstrate your ignoring much of the actual n64 games.
I Browse at +4 Flamebait
Open Source Sysadmin
In this context, you're (for you are) is the proper word, not your as in "Your license of Halo expires in 2007."
I wish Bungie would just come out and say they are working on it. They should start the buzz going now and release a screenshot so us fans can examine it and start coming up with crazy theories on every element of the picture. Drown out this PS3 noise for a while.
Can I bum a sig?
What it means is that they hope that people will forget about the Halo series long enough to create Halo 3 without rushing it to market. If people start demanding it, though, they'll push out another garbage title like Halo 2 that just rehashes the first.
"I sure hope nobody wants this!"
"Why's that, Bob?"
"I want to have time to polish it up so it doesn't suck like the last one!"
"That makes sense. What happens if people start asking about it, though?"
"Well, I guess I'll just have to give them what I've got already and hope for the best."
"Will it ever be finished?"
"A few years from now in it's PC release, yeah."
The single deciding factor in wether or not I will buy an Xbox 360 is the quality of Gears of War. Its the only game ive seen taht looks extremely interesting. If it turns out to be an amazing shooter, i might jut buy my own 360, and a few of the other decent looking games on it. If it turns out to be good/decent, but not amazing, ill probabyl just hope a friend buys it, and wait for the next big PC game and the Revolution.
My hand touched her hand. Her hand touched her boob. By the transitive property, I got some boob! Algebra is awesome!
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What if Bungie already has H3 mostly done? Everyone clambored about how short H2 was, how the ending begged for a sequel. What if they just cut it in half, knowing that the new graphics engine was already almost done. Then they re-script the very ending of the first of those two halves, package and ship as H2? H3 may be done. THAT is why Bungie is not concerned or appearing to focus on it. Or, alternatively, Bungie completed the content and has handed off coding to Microsoft's game devs. They know that they don't own the franchise, so they are working on getting something original rolling once more that THEY OWN. They could be trying to pull a Pixar, kids.
Actually the library of titles is vast. Unfortunately, in order to play the non-Halo games, you have to solder something on your motherboard, load some special binary, then you can run an emulator that supports a lot of games.
Seth
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
I think that social idea was the selling point
You are talking about having 4 xboxes (boxen?) networked in one place at the same time. This ALONE makes you not part of the gameplaying majority. Just because YOU and your "friends" enjoyed this does NOT make this "the selling point" by any stretch of the imagination!
People like that are what made halo so great... it was the social aspect, not the difficulty of the game, or how easy it is to connect to live (referring to Halo 2)
People like WHAT? From my experience, halo two is like halo one except LESS FUCKING GOOD! Yes, the people who play online may comprise some of the more casual gamers, but are mainly part of your "4 xboxes = a night of fun" crew. It is like any online game where people get competitive: most people who play a lot know the tricks/best spots/best weapons, and whore off them all game until they win. Fair enough you might say, and i can see your point for a lot of FPS's, but A GOOD GAME THIS DOES NOT MAKE! The online play didnt make it a better game...online play is just a god damn feature, and IMHO a feature which people make too much of.
I personally don't even remember ever seeing anything about halo until my friends were playing it in parties... which didnt happen until almost a year after its release. I play on XBox Live all the time now, and the story seems to be the same... So you can rule out Marketing.
While you personally might not remember, many of us "older" gamers remember when Halo was a PC game which looked very promising. Around the time it was announced it was very hyped indeed, and this marketing did play a big part in the early stages. Sorry to say the fact that you and your "buddies" on xbox live dont know this DOESNT RULE OUT MARKETING AT ALL.
Or you could be just plain wrong. Halo 3 has almost nothing to do with Windows Vista, and I'm pretty sure Microsoft wouldn't pin their entire operating system strategy on such a small segment of the PC market.
It makes a lot of sense that Microsoft would hold the release of Halo 3 until the PS3 launch is imminent. The Halo franchise has become one of the lynchpins of the modern video game industry, ranking up there with the Madden franchise.
If you wait to release Halo 3 until just before PS3 comes out, you will provide a sound reason for video gamers to ignore Sony's offering for the XBox360. Yes, hard core gamers will probably buy the PS3 anyway, but there will be a lot of gamers who will buy the 360 just so they can deathmatch their friends in Halo.
I learned about this in a marketing course a few years ago. Many big companies will hold a product, product improvement, or sale on their product just to release it a week before a competitor launches a new product. It basically gives customers a reason not to look at the new offering.
My Sysadmin Blog
It's the same thing that Blizzard has always said about their games. They will release it when it's finished, rather than releasing a less-than-spectacular product based on market-driven factors. Where's my cookie?
BillG mused about that around the time of the 360 release, much to the chagrin of everyone involved in the actual project.
He later backpedaled from it.
There's simply no validity to that information. Search joystiq or something if you don't believe me.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
Is the Xbox 360 coming out this year?
'Same speed C but faster'
Ahh yes but MS has also already stated Halo 3 will be available for Windows Vista only - and will not run on older versions of Windows. (With regards to it's pc deployment of the game).
What I'm getting at is I imagine they hope to use it both as leverage for Windows and against the PS3.
Dead or alive?
" If you know what that means, I would like to offer you a cookie, because I sure as heck don't."
:
Easy
It means
1, It sounds really good saying we will only release it when it is perfect and when it is the best game on any platform ever. Customers your satisfaction is our highest goal!
2, We will ship it as soon as it can display the intro scene properly and when it doesnt crash too often and when we have removed the most obious cheat exploits. If you want toplay it from start to end without it, buggung out well that is what the post-release patches are for.
3, Oh, it already so overhyped that we can release anything we want and people will bee too ashamed of hyping it to do anything else than continue praising it.
The previous releases in this gengre were both initially unplayable and pretty mediocre and were even hyped after they were released and people could actually try the games. Why different now? Unless they are stupid with their money they will minimize expenses and release again a mediocre game but sell massive numbers. If this is NOT the case, then please contact me since I have really interesting business opportunities for you.
I agree Katamari is amazing, but the one thing that I was hoping to see a glimpse of was Starcraft Ghost.
I never could get into Halo. It was just like all the other FPS since GoldenEye [now THAT was a fun FPS console game]
SC Ghost will be the reason I buy a next-gen console. It's due 2Q-2006. I think they are going to coordinate the release with PS3, but we will have to see.
The Screenshots, clips, etc. are extremely impressive. Blizzard cares about making kickass prodcuts, and I think they are going to show everyone what a real FPS should be. RTS and MMPORPG are already catagories they OWN I don't see why they won't dominate the FPS genre as well. Plus who they hell doesn't want to blow up a firebat and drive a seige tank?
Actually it's Halo 2 for the PC that will be Vista only, but I can see where you're coming from. Although saying that, by the time Halo 3 finally does make an appearance on the PC, you'll need to upgrade your copy of Windows yet again if you want to actually play it.
Life is like an analogy
All he's really saying is - we've got no hope in hell of getting it out this year, but if I say that it could damage sales.
"If you know what that means, I would like to offer you a cookie, because I sure as heck don't."
:-)
It's obvious. They're worried about what will happen if Duke Nukem Forever comes out first, but they don't want to *say* that's what they're worried about.
They are designing a new controller to be purchased with Halo 3 to combat the Nintendo Rev's controller. Think about it... if Microsoft releases Halo 3 bundled with a "gun" of some kind (so you don't use the current controller), would you really be buying a Nintendo Rev or more "gun" controllers to play with friends?
They can charge an exhorbitant amount for it so they can turn a profit quicker, because we know how crazy the even slightly Xbox fans will go bonkers over a "gun" for Halo 3.
Causing Chaos Everywhere,
Nik J.
The strange world of a loner, in a populous city, drowning in society
Master chief better finish this fight in style, because the ending of Halo2 sucked. It was so bad that I didn't have the desire to play the game a second time, despite how good the rest of the game was.
One day the toilets of the world will rise up... And I'm going to nuke them.
Wow, would you really want to see Katamari in hi-def? What an acid trip that would be. ...on second thought, who wouldn't want to see it in hi-def? Such an addictive little game!
But in my opinion the real cause for concern in Redmond is that there isn't a "Must have" game for the 360. Call of Duty and PGR3 are pretty good but neither one is what I would call a "must have" title. Halo 3 would probably fit the bill, but it's not coming out until God knows when.
I was also disappointed with Auto Assault, which was billed as "the next Twisted Metal" by the game magazines. I hope some decent titles start to hit the shelves soon. MS's problem right now is that there is no buzz about this system anymore. Way to go.
I run linux on COTS PC hardware. I think that qualifies me as a nerd. Now tell me why I should like a game development studio that started off making games for Mac only, but now makes games for microsoft only?
Bungie don't do shit for me. Never have, and unless they start releasing free open source code, never will. They can bite it for all I care.
Quake War > Halo 3
Dungeon Tactics : Free Open Source SRPG
Bungie sold out when they started doing XBox-only distributions. And they have a strange history of releasing games for only one platform, occasionally followed by a cross-platform port of a very few: take a look at their old Marathon games, written originally for MacOS, for an example.
/. article press announcement seems to hint.
Experience with building Marathon is why Halo is so good: they did enough plotting and took good advantage of available graphics, but kept them just simple enough that gameplay was fluid. They can do a lot more with modern systems, but the XBox is still a PC with one leg lopped off to save money on boots: you have to scale the graphics down from the full PC capabilities to make it work well on that odd platform.
Bungie may have gotten overburdened with Microsoft "business plans" and MSProject charts interfering with getting the actual work done: that's what this
It has been stated many times at both the launch of the Xbox 360 and at the CES show as well as launch party for DOA 4 that Halo3 will be launched on the same day as the PS3. To spoil it even more for those who are not playuing the games right now. The developers at Bungie and Temco are crossing the story lines of Halo and Dead or Alive. We saw the introduction of the female Spartan aka Master Chief as a Girl in DOA 4. In Halo 3 there will be a charater from DOA4 in the game. If you ask me I say it will be Bayman. Watch the trailer after you defeat his story mode and it explains why Master chief is in the armored suit he has to wear. The fine folks at Microsoft did a podcast for the Xbox360 Major Peters show at CES and said Halo 3 is ready. They are just polishing it up now and waiting on the relase date of the PS# and that is when it will come out. I will take chocolate chip please.
The ones that won't be released this year include the Halo-world RPG and RTS, the Warthog racing game, the Banshee flight simulator, and one that lets you decorate your Pillar of Autumn quarters and socialize with crewmates.
The PS3 isn't going to be available in NA until next year at the earliest. It MAY come out this year in Japan, but we all know 360 has almost no market base there.
If they are going to release halo3, it's going to happen when the PS3 hits the US markets, not when it's released in Japan. That should give bungie another year, maybe a bit longer to get it finished for the 360.
Obviously this is just my prediction. Lets see what happens
MrJynx
-Eric
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
-Eric
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I think the reason he's dismissing Halo 3 is because Revolution is tailored to FPS, which effectively undermines the entire Halo franchise. Of the current (Xbox, Ps2, GC) gen, XBox is the most tailored to FPS games. Playstation has never depended on FPS, so that won't be a problem with PS3 (Metal Gear, Devil May Cry, Tekken). Microsoft is probably trying to figure out something new, because third parties are probably all scrambling to make the best Revolution FPS given that Metroid will be Nintendo's only offering.
I bet they're stuck with the Halo franchise because they've invested too much in it but they're trying to make it so graphically inticing that it will remain desirable despite its archaic control scheme. Furthermore, I predict that the Halo movie has a cliffhanger that leads into Halo 3, so they don't wanna talk about the game until the movie comes out.
Wow, would you really want to see Katamari in hi-def? What an acid trip that would be. ...on second thought, who wouldn't want to see it in hi-def? Such an addictive little game!
Why, yes, I would like to see it on HDTV with a new console and with even better sound.
And I'm not sure if that wouldn't be found to be illegal.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Stop breeding and stop reading Slashdot.
Hey, can I bum a sig?