Looks amazing, still haven't played a single Halo 360 game yet. This game might get me to buy a 360 with Halo 3, ODST, Reach and Halo 4. How amazing would that be?

Looking forward to seeing this @ E3

Damn... well I'll have to read it regardless because I loved Ghost of the Onyx so much, but I will definitely check out those others. I actually already have one of them and started reading some, but never finished it.

The book is fracking great, read it for yourself and find out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed1fa8N61OU

Halo : Composing Worlds. Officially released, detailing Halo 4 music composer.

They have people from Rockstar, Bioware, Ubisoft, EA Chicago, Raven Software, Pandemic, Infinity Ward, Kojima Productions, Bungie etc, and it seems as if they have all the perfect, most appropriate people from their past experience working on the part of the game that would most benefit from their past experiences.

This really is like a dream team of game development talent. The guy from Ubisoft, in particular, is a guy that I've often heard many fantastic things said about him in various interviews. He also worked with ID :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFO_E_Gl3Ow&feature...

And let me not leave out ID Software, as that man is probably most responsible for the seemingly much improved art that we are seeing :) Also Retro studios and rare. People from Valve as well.

Fair enough, we all know Bungie was fantastic. That I won't dare deny. Still, they were far from perfect. However, even I can admit that Halo needed some fresh perspective brought to it, and there's a number of ways that the Halo franchise can be improved. They were great games, better than great, but far from perfect.

And, to be completely honest, a team with this kind of talent, basically headed up by Frankie and a few other key bungie staff, with Corrine Yu heading up the tech side of things, Kenneth Scott in charge of Art, and a multitude of very talented people from all over the industry -- even some outside of the games industry -- all with proven track records having worked on some top tier franchises, is a team I am willing to place my faith in any day of the week that they will be fantastic stewards of the Master Chief and the Halo Universe. That doesn't mean change Halo as we know it, but sometimes change is a good thing. There's a number of things that Halo could have been doing better ever since the franchise hit the 360 that, as good as they might be, Bungie themselves may have actually been obstacles to some of those things taking place.

I could go into what those are, but I'm feeling a bit lazy right now. Don't get me wrong. What Bungie did for this franchise, one of my favorite franchises of all time, I will never forget. Those games are very cherished parts of my game collection. However, I will treat 343 with the same kind of respect that I showcase to Bungie when they are building a new Halo title. I will be excited and anticipate what they have in store for us, and based on what I've read, and from listening to what many of the people who are involved in this project have to say -- not just recently, but ever since the game and team were announced -- you just can't help but be excited for the future of the franchise. These people really love Halo, and are professionals in their field. They may not be Bungie, but I'm hard pressed to say that they don't have the talent to make a Halo game on par with, or potentially even better than what Bungie has put out.

And, let's think about this, 343 are doing EVERYTHING that a lot of people have been craving for so long. A major focus for 343 in this game is finally making Master Chief really look like that super soldier we all know that he is with super athletic feats, amazing displays of strength, and a number of cutscenes that seem targeted at really showcasing just how badass the Chief truly is. Action cutscenes that I always wish we got more of from Bungie. Then, what also benefits this particular game is there is now a level of mystery unlike anything that we have witnessed since the first Halo. This new world is completely uncharted territory. There will be a whole new species of enemy that is probably worlds apart from the Covenant, with a number of different species or class types among their ranks, something that we haven't seen in quite a while. The awakening in cry sleep setup for the opening of the game seems poised to be about as memorable as the awakening moment in Halo: Combat Evolved, only potentially even more epic. We have a chance to learn and discover new aspects of the Halo universe and what the forerunners left behind in a way that we haven't seen since the first and second Halos, and to a lesser degree, the third Halo game. And while I don't buy these graphics for a second, we might, at the very least, possibly be getting a game that is both technically AND artistically deserving of the franchise that literally saved the Xbox brand. I'm not saying I haven't been impressed with Halo Reach and Halo 3, but both have just not been the kind of technical and visual showcases you would have expected of Microsoft's biggest franchise, and if we can't expect such a thing from Halo of all franchises, then what franchise should we demand such quality from?

And, by Bungie's own admission, the Halo games on the Xbox 360 have grossly underutilized the Xbox 360's CPU.

http://www.oxm.co.uk/37355/bungie-halo-games-gross...

I can't be the only person who thinks that should never have been the case for a team such as Bungie, handling a franchise as vastly important as Halo in the first place. Bungie's games have been fantastic, but their 360 titles have mostly struck me as Halo with the same basic design philosophy of the original xbox titles, just on steroids from the extra horsepower of the 360. They've made tons of feature and gameplay innovations that continue to make their games one of the best values you can spend your hard earned money on, but not as many improvements and innovations to the gameplay side of things as you would have expected. For example, the battles in Halo 3 and Halo Reach just feel like they're lacking something that would go a long way towards making each combat encounter feel far more rewarding. In exchange for more meaningful improvements to the gameplay, even if it's a minor visual thing that just makes the player feel a whole better about an enemy they just got done killing, the solution has mostly seemed to be just toss more enemies at the player and that solves everything. Not like Bungie hasn't tried new things regarding AI, they certainly have, but maybe it's just the setup of the battles, I'm not quite sure, but something has felt a tad bit off. There's absolutely no guarantee at all that even 343 will be able to solve this in my eyes, but perhaps by making enough changes and new additions, and by making the overall package around the core gameplay even stronger, like for example in the area of tech and superior art direction, then maybe I'll have a better time accepting the little things that nag me about the gameplay.

Because, really, sometimes improvements in other areas can help prop up or help mask potential weaknesses in other areas. The pressure on 343 to live up to what Bungie has done is high, but I can't say anything I've seen and heard thus far is giving me cause for concern. They also got rid of armor lock, something I liked, but a lot of other people seemed to take issue with, but I've read complaints and have seen what some people are talking about, and I can see why some would have concerns about armor lock, so I approve that change. The other changes, however, seem to not be that big a deal, especially after Frankie and others have clarified concerns with comments on places like GAF.

Cryptum and primordium we brilliant.. different, confusing and brilliant.

But nah glasslands was great :) your been harsh, and flood was alright i enjoyed the side storys of keyes and johnson, but aside from that it was rather shit.

Well, I absolutely loved Traviss' short story in Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe, so that alone makes this worth a shot. Her mind works in a weird, twisted way.

I like it, i hope to hear more as i'm all for a new musical direction.

The music seems to be hitting just the right vibe. You see it going with someone or something very heroic, you see it going well with the discovery of both a new world and a new kind of enemy. You see it being appropriate enough for someone who is a true badass in every sense of the word.

yeah i agree, i'm liking the new direction.

halo Wars was a decent sound track i enjoyed that, nice and different.

What the hell could this be? could it be the ship that the Didact had?

That star ship/boat looks fucking EPIC!

I meant to say I've read all Halo novels except Flood.

As for Glasslands as goes I hate how Traviss painted dr Halsey as the biggest villain in the history of humanity without revealing any new facts about her (we all knew this from previous Halo novels), how every character and even the narrator in the novel judges Halsey basically on every other page, it's laughable. Most novels I read leave judging characters to the reader, ie. even if someone is evil it's not stated explicitly but is portrayed through their actions, something that previous Halo novels did so well (I thought Halsey was a bitch in her portrayal in Fall of Reach, Ghosts of Onyx and the game Reach, but not a villain).

I can also bet my ass that somewhere in book 2 or 3 of Traviss' trilogy there will be a "Halsey's redemption" story arc, probably with "look how much better she is now" stated many many times.

It's also laughable how Traviss wrote in the introduction how proud of the portrayal of AI she was whereas it was very shallow and unspectacular. I know of some books and even games (System Shock 2, Bungie's own Marathon series) that did it in a much better and more interesting way.

I cant argue with those statements, but i still fully enjoyed it :D i ignore the thorns on the rose ;)

Yep!

GI Vid Interview - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed1fa8N61OU&feature...

God those artworks showing off that huge colorful scale environments, so good!
Super hyped for this game!

PS. 21 seconds in you see Soap from MW series lol

Man, this game is going to be so friggin epic!

I have a feeling that we will be seeing some epic and beautiful locations in Halo 4.

Yea, the art really seems improved over previous Halo titles. It honestly does. I do not envy the folks who have the unbelievable task of trying their best to carry over and somehow still maintain the amazing vibe that's so clearly depicted in the artwork into the actual game and make it look amazing.

That's going to be one hell of a task. Hope 343 are up to the task :)

Nice find and sweet video.

I'm impressed, i like where there going with the music..