dreamcastmaster
Banned
I've never been so glad the indie gaming scene is booming.
Indie games are awesome in concept and they way they have the no rules game ideas and settings just like the old home computer games in the early 80's.
I've never been so glad the indie gaming scene is booming.
Indie games are awesome in concept and they way they have the no rules game ideas and settings just like the old home computer games in the early 80's.
This is seriously an image they used in their presentation:
This is seriously an image they used in their presentation:
To be fair, Josh Holmes later explained that it was meant to reference ease of accessibility (the icon on most PCs is, in fact, the 'wheelchair' symbol) and not 'handicapping Halo' as people assumed.
"Contextualize our universe" is such bullshit marketing lingo it actually makes me throw up in my mouth a little.
Bungie had "non-gamer soccer moms" play test Halo 2.
This is seriously an image they used in their presentation:
It's funny, I had high hopes for Halo 4 and they ended up running completely contrary to everything I hoped for.
Where I wanted a huge, haunting, ODST-style hub world you carefully cross-crossed while completing missions, they went for an even more linear experience. Where I wanted Unlockables to be something you found while playing the game, they went with good old fashioned bar filling. Where I hoped for a diverse pool of enemies both natural and mechanical, large and small they went for the same old Covenant and only three kinds of Prometheans.
Where I imagined a tight, streamlined weapon sandbox, they just threw everything and the kitchen sink in there. Where I wanted a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none default weapon (the ODST SMG with all the trimmings), they just chucked the same old bullet hose in again. Where I saw armor abilities tied exclusively to specific weapons (i.e. no more Camo + Snipe) they just threw in more broken AAs like Promethean Vision. Where I imagined every weapon would have a unique function within the sandbox, they just slapped duplicate weapons in with no real explanation.
Looking over that old post, I don't think Halo 4 could have been further from my expectations without completely stripping away all of the Sci-Fi elements... which is ironic because that sounds like what spawned this thread.
I worked on some licensed Hklo 4 product for a client. The client told me that when he met with 343 they were very confident in Halo 4's success, so much so that the wanted it to be a "Cultural touchstone" Cross media franchise like Star wars, Harry Potter or Lord of the rings.
We both looked at each other with the "what are they smoking?" look.
I chalk it up as a freudian slip.
The bottom of the "contextualizing" rabbit hole is literally turning the plasma rifle into a purple AK-47.
That time has come and gone IMO. If Halo 2 would have had a more engaging campaign and then that Halo movie would have gotten off the ground, then it would be right up there with any franchise today. I remember how popular Halo was when Halo 2 came out, it was insane. Then we had to wait to "Finish the Fight" and it was all downhill from there.
This was Josh's reply:This is seriously an image they used in their presentation:
It was referenced to this thread, not sure if it was posted here:
To 343i, Hi. My name is Geoff. I tell you my given name so that you realize I am a real person, to humanize myself. A person that has thoughts, feelings, goals, ambitions, desires and is also disabled. Got your full attention now, do I? Hopefully I do.
I posted some thoughts over in another thread about the GDC Conference. I will reiterate some of them here and add in others as I see fit so that you understand the image of a spartan in a wheelchair paired with Josh Holmes tweets and his comments at GDC, are exceptionally offensive.
I play games to escape my daily life. So I can think and focus on something, anything, other than the constant pain I am in and things I can no longer do. I do not need to have a company, that took over one of my favorite franchises in gaming, remind me none to subtly of the fact I am disabled. What I expect from you is a high quality product that provides me entertainment and value for my money. Not some off the cuff tweets and a graphic that is obnoxious.
That you found it "acceptable" to compare, or whatever label you want to slap on it, things being accessible for those with disabilities to accessibility in a game is appalling. What's more, one of your employees goes on to tweet "Lighten Up" in reference to that same image that I found so offensive. You have effectively belittled people with disabilities with this comparison and reduced the hardships and suffering we endure on a daily basis to a "joke". I can tell you I am NOT laughing and I am sure others like me are not as well. Honestly, I thought as a society we had moved past this level of insensitivity and disregard.
Whether or not you choose to apologize or acknowledge this incredible blunder will determine how myself, and others, view your integrity and character as individuals and as a company. For my part, I am deeply disappointed, disgusted and upset. I hope that you, and your employees, can understand why.
- To my fellow Community Members: It is my hope and wish that you help to make 343i aware of exactly how offensive this actually is, and perhaps, respond to it. Many thanks.
That is quite a post you have there.
While I had originally thought that your imagined Halo 4 was far too expansive to pull off, after I thought about it a bit, I realized that wouldn't have been the case in this situation.
343 had several years to make this game and a blank check from Microsoft (this was MS's most expensive game ever made), who largely didn't care what was in the final product aside from retaining the classic Halo controls and having some form of versus MP. It's a situation that most developers only see in their wildest dreams.
343 had the time, money, and directorial freedom to vastly reinvent Halo in most any way they could have wanted to. If 343's ambitions and abilities were up to it, they could've made the game you proposed and then some.
That time has come and gone IMO. If Halo 2 would have had a more engaging campaign and then that Halo movie would have gotten off the ground, then it would be right up there with any franchise today. I remember how popular Halo was when Halo 2 came out, it was insane. Then we had to wait to "Finish the Fight" and it was all downhill from there.
Remember when videogame makers designed stuff they thought was cool?
Or people run wild with rage.I always love when this stuff gets out and fans are understandably upset all of a sudden a "community manager" will come out and make some remarks and instead of apologizing and vowing to forward fan complaints to the team, they double down on the idiotic decisions to try and save the studios face.
"Every game needs to be like call of duty or I won't understand it" - no one ever
Focus groups have been around for a long, long time. They're not inherently bad, everyone's favorite dev Valve use them extensively, but the huge, huge thing is knowing how to read that data properly. When it comes to games and movies that's sometimes hard to do. That's also the reason why Bungie doesn't just do a few focus tests. They run them constantly. They ran them summer for Destiny, and that game is still a long way off. Blizzard has long ass betas for their games, closed and open, and they still tweak post release.Focus groups have a lot to answer for
You'd be surprised. A big part of the COD community is just like that, all the way to the button placement.
More reason to want CoD to crash. The sooner they have to scramble to find something else exciting and relevant the better.You'd be surprised. A big part of the COD community is just like that, all the way to the button placement.
Yeah, you could just use focus testing to see what people don't like, WHY they don't like it, and if necessary change it, not to mention iron out bullshit tough spots. In this case it seems to me that to PROPERLY use focus testing you'd figure out how to convince these players that the new guns are awesome and to use them, not to ignore them for what's safe.Focus groups have been around for a long, long time. They're not inherently bad, everyone's favorite dev Valve use them extensively, but the huge, huge thing is knowing how to read that data properly. When it comes to games and movies that's sometimes hard to do. That's also the reason why Bungie doesn't just do a few focus tests. They run them constantly. They ran them summer for Destiny, and that game is still a long way off. Blizzard has long ass betas for their games, closed and open, and they still tweak post release.
The real problem is the people paying the bills often don't understand focus testing at all. They think you take the game, sit it in front of a group, make the changes based on that group, bring in a different group to test it one more time, and adjust before release. That almost always leads to terrible decisions in movies and games.
I don't get it, why focus test the game? it's freaking HALO ! one of the strongest IPs in the industry today it doesn't need to be "more appealing".
That could kill the industry outright as Nintendo seems to just suffer for sales period. Then again if the future of the industry with the CoD crowd is heavily homogenized game design then it's probably better to burn it all down, it'll grow back from the efforts of indies and medium sized companies that didn't depend as much on the AAA model.Man fuck those people
I am salivating for the day when people get sick of call of duty and all these casuals move onto something else just like what happened with the wii
You'd be surprised. A big part of the COD community is just like that, all the way to the button placement.
Yeah, whenever I play Halo split screen with friends there's always the one guy who throws a grenade because they tried to aim down the sights.
I've never considered it too far-fetched because they basically pulled that narrative structure / world design off in ODST. Large hub world with missions that branch off from it at specific points. The only real difference is that instead of flashbacks, you're just entering a more linear structure for the duration of your specific mission. That, and in place of a city you'd be getting back to the open environments that made Halo stand out so much in the first place. I dare any Halo fan to tell me with a straight face they wouldn't love to tear through a huge, open environment on a warthog, scouting out forerunner structures and downed UNSC wreckage, completing objectives while avoiding a huge army of enemies with all of the advantages in their favor.
Eh the last two Bungie Halo titles were also significantly cod-ified.
ODST was about as classic Halo as it got since CE.Eh the last two Bungie Halo titles were also significantly cod-ified.
Eh the last two Bungie Halo titles were also significantly cod-ified.
ODST was about as classic Halo as it got since CE.
ODST was about as classic Halo as it got since CE.
It might've been the fact it focused a bit more on a group of elite soldiers, but that's more vague and I'd argue did it more interestingly than CoD generally did anyway.This.
Not really sure how ODST was COD-ified.
Eh the last two Bungie Halo titles were also significantly cod-ified.
I guess it was posted in the post-mortem thread but I think it needs more public attention because FUCK FOCUS TESTING[/URL]my purely emotional assessment
I can't stand Halo for this very reason! The game simply challenges my sensibilities way too much. Next generation I'd love to see modern weaponry and more approachable gameplay. I only have a few hours a week to game, don't make me learn some crazy new mechanics just because you want your game to be "different".
Halo 4 sucks.
343 sucks.
I can't tell if you're serious.
It was unbelievably frustrating to deal with a team coordinating with that weapon. Believe me, it was cut for good reasons that had nothing to do with "focus testing."