[Rumor] - Bungie Creating Halo Prequel?

[bean19]

According to 1up (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3167568), their "spies" have possibly uncovered Bungie's next project.

. . .we've heard rumblings that the first one will be a Halo spin-off due in late 2009. Our spies tell us to expect a third-person action/adventure shooter hybrid that takes place before the original Halo, chronicling early skirmishes between the ODST troops and the Covenant. This may or may not be the oft-mentioned "Peter Jackson Halo Project" -- though apparently Microsoft is hiring a seperate team for that -- but WETA is definitely involved in some capacity. Look for a massive reveal around the time Gears of War 2 ships this fall.
While I really enjoyed Halo 3, I think they made a good choice to move on, but I'd love another game in the same universe that changes up the gameplay significantly. Maybe this prequel will do what RE4 did for the Resident Evil series.

[Shankle Bunny]

I'm a HUGE halo fan, but i reside firmly in the wait and see camp. Same goes for Halo Wars.

[DarkDaY]

This I would love to see, and regardless of all the fanboys, haters, and naysayers more halo by bungie prequel at that is a great thing. Add a dash of jackson, sold twice over.

the hits keep coming just in time.

[Skull3r]

I think this will actually be very weird. Storywise - it may fit. However, it'll be a challenge to try and explain the differences between the weapons and why it happened. If its a prequel, I imagine that it will follow the story of the Fall of Reach or the training of the Spartans from the novels. I hope this won't mean the return of the almighty pistol!

[TrackZero]

Meh. It's too far out for me to care right now. We'll see what they do with it when the time comes.

[Shankle Bunny]

It just occurred to me, Oni meets Halo?

I'll take two!

[Yellowman]

Another missed opportunity to resurrect the Marathon franchise... Much better than the Halo universe IMO. Where AI's actually go rampant rather than Cortana's 'rampancy' in Halo 3. What the fuck was that? Also, Guilty Spark sucked, Durandal and Tycho were much better...

[Wilkz07]

i thought bungie was done making halo? whatever they put out i'll rent it this time instead of buying.

[PrivateJohn]

Sounds real to me, i remember last year the Ghost recon lead designer jump ship to Bungie isn't it?

[balamoor]

Another missed opportunity to resurrect the Marathon franchise... Much better than the Halo universe IMO. Where AI's actually go rampant rather than Cortana's 'rampancy' in Halo 3. What the fuck was that? Also, Guilty Spark sucked, Durandal and Tycho were much better...

QFT personally I blame Microsoft.

[bean19]

Another missed opportunity to resurrect the Marathon franchise... Much better than the Halo universe IMO.

I tried this on XBLA and it was absolute dreck even in comparison to Doom and Duke Nuke'em (it's PC counterparts). Narrow corridors, AI that is happy to follow you around corners where they can be picked off easily with headshots. . . Maybe there is a story there that I didn't get to, but I'm surprised this game ever had any fans. . . even if it was an extraordinarily rare Mac-only game and thus had the Mac hipster thumbs-up. What am I missing?

[Yellowman]

I tried this on XBLA and it was absolute dreck even in comparison to Doom and Duke Nuke'em (it's PC counterparts). Narrow corridors, AI that is happy to follow you around corners where they can be picked off easily with headshots. . .

This is mostly nostalgia if you ask me, you are giving Doom and Duke Nukem way too much credit and playing a game from 1995 whilst subconciously comparing it to games from 2007. Also, Marathon revolutionised multiplayer FPS's, it was the first one to include actual game modes rather than just 'deathmatch'. I admit the game had it's flaws but...

Maybe there is a story there that I didn't get to, but I'm surprised this game ever had any fans. . . even if it was an extraordinarily rare Mac-only game and thus had the Mac hipster thumbs-up. What am I missing?
The story was fantastic, at least it was for me at the time, indeed it's so deeply invloved there are still active message boards discussing it (http://marathon.bungie.org/story/). Much better than the drivel in the Halo games.

Then again why should you listen to me I'm one of those 'hipster' mac users (although at the time Marathon was released, Macs were anything but 'hip' :p) and also the biggest bullshitter on EvAv I believe.

[Mdot23]

I like the idea since there's alot of back story and I'd rather have Bungie handle a Halo game more than any studio, but just let them do their own thing for a while. I'm sure they have a shitload of ideas for original IP's they'd like to do and would eventually come back to their baby sooner or later anyway.

[Vandenh]

Sounds real to me, i remember last year the Ghost recon lead designer jump ship to Bungie isn't it?

Indeed. It looks like it will be a squad based game then.

Not bad... but I wish Bungie would do some new stuff OR a Halo RPG :)

[brokenFUN]

Indeed. It looks like it will be a squad based game then.

Not bad... but I wish Bungie would do some new stuff OR a Halo RPG :)

We really have no idea.

Man these guys need to work on something else.

[Flatpicker]

Indeed. It looks like it will be a squad based game then.

Not bad... but I wish Bungie would do some new stuff OR a Halo RPG :)

I'd like to see the Halo universe explored in a Final Fantasy or Mass Effect type game.
Also a 3rd person game played like a faster paced Splinter cell using the Spartan 3's from the novels. (StarCraft ghost like)

[PrivateJohn]

Indeed. It looks like it will be a squad based game then.

Not bad... but I wish Bungie would do some new stuff OR a Halo RPG :)
Pure RPG maybe not, but action RPG would be nice...i used to think Bioware would make it...until EA bought Bioware.:(

[Lunar Blue]

Bah, just make another Myth already. You know, the game that was actually revolutionary?

[Spigot]

Bah. Until there's an announcement of Myth 4, colour me uninterested.

Edit: Lunar Blue, I like the way you think :)

[bean19]

the biggest bullshitter on EvAv I believe.

Okay, I'll go eat my bowl of crow again now. However, you should consider this card played. :)

[Lutheran]

I would love more Halo , no more FPS for a while though.

[Heretic Machine]

I'm a big fan of Halo, but honestly, a prequel set just before the war sounds awful. Hell, I'd take a full-on Covenant game over that. It'd be best to move into the future, however, to see what happens to Master Chief (whether that means remaking Marathon, or something entirely new; whatev).

[LunaticJedi]

Perhaps they are going to be moving this new Halo game, in the direction that they wanted the original Halo to be?

When Halo was first announced at MacWorld years ago, it was going to be a huge massive world with Third Person perspective, and they were going to try and give it some of the hand to hand combat they did in Oni.

Then of course MS got a hold of Bungie and Halo became FPS. Maybe they feel like they want to try and make the game they originally wanted.

[EternalGamer]

Perhaps they are going to be moving this new Halo game, in the direction that they wanted the original Halo to be?

When Halo was first announced at MacWorld years ago, it was going to be a huge massive world with Third Person perspective, and they were going to try and give it some of the hand to hand combat they did in Oni.

Then of course MS got a hold of Bungie and Halo became FPS. Maybe they feel like they want to try and make the game they originally wanted.

Until I see something to convince me otherwise, I pretty convinced that most of the really talented visionaries at Bungie are gone. They have been gradually siphoned off during the process of creating the Halo trilogy and I think it shows in the final products. They still have talented programmers, without doubt, but I don't think they have anyone with original creative vision anymore.

[Yellowman]

Okay, I'll go eat my bowl of crow again now. However, you should consider this card played. :)

Mmmm crow, black and feathery on the outside, soft in the middle. I hadn't realised you'd eaten it the first time, I apologise for bringing it up but you did threaten to report me...

[Gheritt]

Bah, just make another Myth already. You know, the game that was actually revolutionary?

Bah. Until there's an announcement of Myth 4, colour me uninterested.

Edit: Lunar Blue, I like the way you think :)

They sold the rights to Myth to Take 2 I think, that's why Myth 3 wasn't developed by Bungie and was kinda crap. I'm pretty sure that the rights to Oni were sold off as well as Take 2 published the PS2 version of that. I doubt you'll see another Oni/Myth Bungie game. As for Microsoft making Halo a first person shooter, if you watch the video they made showing off Halo's development with commentary from bungie you can see how everything evolved and eventually that they thought a 3rd person perspective just didn't work out at the time(I think due to them not being able to do what they wanted with a massive open world game that they'd envisioned)

[DCIII]

If there is to be a Halo movie, then you can bet your ass that there will be a Halo game to coincide with its release.

[LunaticJedi]

Agreed I would love to see a Myth 4, but alas, Take 2 has the rights to that and to Oni.

I had heard rumors that Bungie was working on another game that was Myth like, but a new IP entirely, but I think that got shuffled under the rug once Halo was taking up the majority of the time.

I don't know, I will certainly be interested in what they have to say about a new Halo prequel game, but to be honest I was kinda looking forward to Bungie being out on their own again. I was hoping they were going to go back and make some new IP's, not just re-hash the Halo universe.

[Variable Gear]

I don't know, I will certainly be interested in what they have to say about a new Halo prequel game, but to be honest I was kinda looking forward to Bungie being out on their own again. I was hoping they were going to go back and make some new IP's, not just re-hash the Halo universe.
That's where I stand as well. I was hoping that Bungie would be able to experiment a bit, but as many have already said it appears that the core creative staff has flown the coop. I'm not really curious what they are going to do with the prequel, either. I also think that they are in a bad place becuase if they add anything for the prequel people will ask, "Why wasn't this in Halo 3?" And if Bungie doesn't change much people will ask, "Isn't this just a retread?" They can't win. :(

[Whimbrel]

Dammit, Just make an updated Myth for XBOX live. There is no small scale tactical RTS like Myth currently available. Online multiplayer is a whole new world now than in 1997 and there is nothing to prevent the same players from loving a chance to play a next gen version of this game. Personally I would much rather play Myth online than some type of shooter, team shooter, squad shooter, shooting shooter etc.

[Spigot]

Yeah. I know that Take 2 owns the rights to Myth and that Myth 3 was crap (I never could get it to run on my PC, though it's been ages since I attempted to install it to try). I just want something on par with Myth 2, which is probably one of my all time favourite games, period... it's hard, but not impossible and the story is fantastic.

[Whimbrel]

Wow, I had not read the thread before I posted- sorry- and I am really encouraged to see how many people are in agreement about the need for a new Bungie/ myth game. I will state unequivocally that as much as I admired the production values of the Halo games, they never elicited the same feelings that the Myth games did.

As for the ownership of the specific Myth rights, I don't think that should be a problem. Chris Taylor did not have the rights to Total Annihilation when he made Supreme Commander. Just change it a little, update it, call it Dwarven Firebombers or something and get it shipped.

[digitalErich]

I'm still hoping for the rumored Forerunner game that takes place in their time, but this sounds pretty cool, too. It's dime store, but I still like the Halo mythos so anything that opens up more of it is OK by me.

[LunaticJedi]

I loved Myth TFL and Myth 2. Spent many of my years playing that game. Even got to be a BNAdmin, which was fun. =)

If they made another RTS like that, it would be fantastic. As long as it doesn't have that initial bug where if you uninstalled it wiped your HD =P

[mister_slim]

I love the thought of Kefkataran being a spymaster. Codename "K"?

[Zanzibar]

Cortana 'rampancy' was nothing of the kind. I mean, really. What the fuck. I was SOOOOO ridiculously disappointed.

How do you spend the first 80% of the game showing how out of her mind she is (nevermind HOW SHE'S ABLE TO PROJECT THOSE IMAGES), then have Chief get to her and she's totally fine??

I mean, hell, I've said this before, why couldn't Chief have told Hood or Johnson or Miranda Keyes about the projections, and then they TALK about her being 'rampant'? Maybe Hood gives an order that she's to be terminated because she may lose control and fire the rings, maybe that's why Chief goes in after her - to terminate her. And then he simply can't bring himself to do it.

It somehow becomes clear that she can repair herself if she can connect with the Forerunner Mainframe on Halo, so that's another reason why Chief has to deliver her there. So she could be completely nuts, in his head, during the first part of the last level, then she comes to her senses after he uploads her to the Halo computers, right before she uses the key.

Bleargh.

[Spigot]

Just change it a little, update it, call it Dwarven Firebombers or something and get it shipped.The world thirsts for Drunken Dwarven Demolitionists: Homecoming!

Zanzibar: I hear ya. I don't know what happened at Bungie to rob them of their competency at storytelling, given how awesome the story in Myth 2 was.

[Krispy]

While I really enjoyed Halo 3, I think they made a good choice to move on, but I'd love another game in the same universe that changes up the gameplay significantly. Maybe this prequel will do what RE4 did for the Resident Evil series.

Destroy its plot? Oh wait, that isn't a concern here.

[Disgustipated]

3rd person action/adventure... like the original Halo, hmm? Count me in.

Destroy its plot? Oh wait, that isn't a concern here.

There's plenty of back story for the Halo games in the books, actually. This would probably flesh it out even more.

[Spigot]

There's plenty of back story for the Halo games in the books, actually. This would probably flesh it out even more.And therein lies the problem. I read through the whole backstory and so forth on the Wiki prior to playing Halo 3 and really liked the universe envisioned in the fiction. Unfortunately, the way the story is told in the games themselves is really quite poor.

I'd probably enjoy an adventure or RPG game set in the Haloverse.

[Wolvie]

Hey change is good. And I think a nice change of pace and gameplay mechanics would get those grumpy haters something to smile about.

[Zeal]

codename 4runner

[lightguard]

And therein lies the problem. I read through the whole backstory and so forth on the Wiki prior to playing Halo 3 and really liked the universe envisioned in the fiction. Unfortunately, the way the story is told in the games themselves is really quite poor.

I'd probably enjoy an adventure or RPG game set in the Haloverse.

QFT. I love the Haloverse. Even back in the original Halo, you only see shades of what the actual plot is. I don't know why they did a novelisation of Halo 1 (The Flood), but didn't novelise 2 and 3. Three has, by far, the best storytelling of the three games, but it still, somehow, doesn't come up to scratch with what gets portrayed in the novels. I'm hoping Halo Wars fixes this somewhat, and I can't wait to see what they do with the Peter Jackson project.

Frankly, I think they're probably large enough to work on at least two projects at once. (Actually, I think they mentioned in one of the podcasts that they have at least three projects on the boil) So, they could work on a squad Halo, and maybe something new. Halo Kart! Madcap racing set in the Haloverse!