windows, the only reason windows is better than mac is because most programs are made for it and 3rd parties can make windows computers so they are cheaper. macs resist virus easier, and have better looking hardware, and are better organized. xbox, the only reason it is better than PS3 is because it was cheaper at the start and more people have it. and halo. terrible durability, worse graphics, worse processor. just because they have a new one that is more durable, doesnt mean that they didnt originally have a pretty crappy console for a few years. kinect- not out yet, so ??? and like many of these gimmicky type things will probably die. this is no more revolutionary than the toycamera thingy for ps2 or the wii. microsoft =/= to good stuff. it has great marketing though. oops, double post.
Sorry, but just no. A subsidiary company is just that, if MS were making every decision in making the games then they would have been made by MS, not by Bungie. What's the point in buying out a developer just to make the game yourself under their name? A name that wasn't established enough to warrant that as a crowd pleaser? H:CE was already in to development by the time Bungie was bought by MS, hence it originally being slated as a Mac title, MS didn't make it, Bungie did. Yes MS have final word over what Bungie could do as they owned them, but the whole point of owning a developer is so you don't have to make the game yourself. It's like saying that, because I have a boss who I report to, I don't do my own job, he does. Microsoft =/= 343. It's really not that hard...
Halo was scheduled for Mac release back in the day, it was 3rd person, had a different storyline, etc. Microshaft nudged bungie, and said, hey, come remake this game for this cool new thing called an xbox. The Halo as we know it, has always been property of MS.
people who work for microsoft manage a game, using microsofts funds (microsoft owns bungie, microsoft owns everything bungie earns), microsofts equipment, and on microsofts console. i know we all love bungie, but if microsoft owns a company, they own every single thing that comes out of that company. they own the name, the game, the computers, the officespace.
Actually, its a 10 year partnership, if I have my facts straight. Activision doesn't own them completely.
Which is actually good for Bungie. Means they get everyone who wants the next Bungie game, and the audience they couldn't get on the Wii and PS3. More money for them!
No one's disputing the fact that MS owns 343, but what you said is that 343/pre '07 Bungie's work = MS's work. This simply isn't true.
343 is 343. Microsoft is the owning company, whom I assume will get the major profits and then distribute them according to contracts. That's how game companies work, in the same way that Bungie is owned by Activision, it's by no means Activision's work. I also know a bunch of people at 343, and they are very competent and know exactly what they're doing. I expect the 343 game to be a legitimate Halo game, not a lame knockoff.
Agreed, well put. Except, that is, for the bolded. Bungie were not bought out by Activision, what would be the point of going independent from MS only to be bought out by another publisher? They signed a 10 year publishing deal with Activision, very different. And even that isn't exclusive, it only applies to this new IP they're currently working on. If they start working on another franchise they could go with a different publisher if they so choose, though they've said that obviously that's not very likely in the foreseeable future and they want to pour all their efforts in to making this new IP work (fun fact: apparently Bungie also renewed the trademark on the Marathon name not too long ago, doesn't necessarily denote this being their next project as they did specify a 'new IP', but interesting nonetheless even if it is just covering their bases). They specifically didn't go from being under the heel of MS to being under the heel of Actvision. That was what worried me most when I heard about them signing with Activision, but they made very clear that they are in a good position and can now work on their own IP, on their own terms. Obviously, as their publisher, Activision have some control over what's done, but it was very much a step up from the position of being owned by Bungie, that was the whole point.
first part, if microsoft owns 343, they own 343's work. thats all im saying. that a company is a company, and if microsoft has full rights to do whatever with the game, than microsoft owns the game. bungies work while under ownership of microsoft was microsofts work, if im correct about the way this ownership worked. i dont think that bungie isnt a great gaming company and does great work, and i know that the people in bungie did the work. but in the big picture, those people worked for microsoft. and i agree with the second part, way too many bungie fanboys on this site. 343 has such a great basis for the game, and plenty of funding. which means that all they have to do is take reach and expand. i expect them to be a bit more professional than bungie, and i dont think that if they have updates of some sort they will be nearly as entertaining. but gameplay wise, they should be able to make a great game. their is nothing wrong with halo as far as we know, and its such a great concept that as long as they take their time like bungie does we should have a great game. im more worried about glitches, i hope this doesnt turn into a biannual series with glitchies, hardly any afterlaunch support, and poor testing. bungie did such a great job maintaining their game, it would suck for 343 to not care about their community.
OK, when you said 'Bungie's work = Microsoft's work' it sounded like you meant in terms of who made and was responsible for it, rather than simply who owned the rights to it. Simple ownership of the work is not really too relevant for judging how games will be though, in the case of 343 being in that same situation of being owned by MS. @ Bolded: at a stretch. It depends whether you are literally just speaking in terms of who ultimately owns the rights to the game that is made, if so then I question what your point really is. Unless the point your making is about MS having a direct and all encompassing control over the production of H:CE-3, then talking about it in terms of predicting how free 343 are to develop as they please bears little to no relevance. If you look on their contracts you can bet it listed their employer as Bungie. You seem to be mistaking a publisher buying a developer as them literally merging in to one company. This is not what happens. The developers still develop games themselves, but obviously what they make is subject to final approval and guided goals by the Publisher/owner they report to. There's a big difference between MS making a game and having a developer (Bungie or 343) report to them in making a game. So no, the people making these Halo games did not work for MS straight up, even big picture, the barrier of working for a company that, in turn, reports to another company is one worth drawing in terms of notable autonomy as a developer (be that Bungie of the past or 343). I don't, however, see any reason to worry too much about what 343 will do with the Halo name either tbh. I don't see MS throwing away their biggest flagship name on the console at this point on a company who can't handle it. That's far from a guarantee that what they make will be great, such things are never really possible, but like I said I don't see any reason to be up in arms about it at this stage. Don't really agree about Bungie being unprofessional though, gotta say. And lol @ there being too many Bungie fanboys on a site based on a Bungie made game.... Now that really is one aspect that the publisher has control over: how quickly the dev must pump out games, hence the cash cow situation with the CoD franchise and Activision. But MS seemed in no hurry to push this on their flagship franchise when it was in Bungie's hands, I don't really see why they'd flip on this now and simply turn the name in to a money spinner when the potential is there to shoot the universe outward and expand it in to a massively long term and expansive franchise. Obviously this is exactly that: potential, but it'd just seem stupid to turn it in to a rushed money spinner at this stage, if anything it's just to early for that even to be worth it. But hey, you could well be right, and I too hope that doesn't turn out to be the case.