“How about a REALLY Crowded Coop?”Was what I suggest to Mary Olson after seeing the size of this year’s amazing lineup at Toy Fair, but I think she would have hit me on the head with that prototype Halo bag I’d been ogling. It’s a good thing she didn’t, as I’d then be responsible for the entire first run having a dent the size of my forehead in and I’d like to be a bit less of a negative influence on product design in the future. Where last year, the company had a handful of licenses that yielded a sizable amount of product, this year the booth was about three times the size and there were so many products on display that I had to swing by twice to see them all…
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Tag Archives: 343 Industries
Halo: Spartan Assault Announce Trailer: Selling Points (Minus Some Common Sense)
Hey, I happen to like twin stick arcade shooters, so I was happy to see that this upcoming game is going to feed that need… provided I (*urgh!*) buy a twin stick-free Windows 8 PC, phone or other device. Which, by the way… is something I have zero intention of doing. Oh well. Still, I’ll give it up for Microsoft, developer Vanguard Entertainment and 343 Industries, who do have the right idea in trying to get fans to get into a portable Halo experience. Still, skipping the Xbox 360’s huge user base and Windows 7 PC’s (but probably not the upcoming Xbox One where it SHOULD be a free pack-in on the HDD to lure in more early adopters) and effectively enforcing an upgrade to play this one isn’t settling in with some folks who’d prefer the entire Halo series ported over at some point sooner than later… Continue reading
Halo 4 “Scanned” Trailer: Get Fincher on the Speed Dial!
Hmmm… perhaps David Fincher should have been tapped to direct that Halo movie? OK, he only produced this trailer, but still – it’s pretty impressive and actually makes me want to see something a bit longer form. Eh, whatever – the game will still sell millions of copies, great trailers or not. I’m wondering why Microsoft even bothers to spend all this scratch promoting a game that really doesn’t need all sorts of excesses spent on marketing. The hardcore fans will eat it up and spread the word, the pro reviewers who aren’t jaded and tired of Master Chief yet will go on and on about feature after feature that they approve of and overall, Microsoft will be sitting on more piles of cash. Hell, even if critics hate the game for some reason (and other than the stupid shoutcasting in multiplayer, it’s hard to see why, given that 343 has poured a ton of effort into what’s looking like the biggest Halo to date), it’ll still sell like hotcakes.
Making Halo 4: First Look Documentary: 343 Takes It To A New Beginning
With the latest entry in Microsoft’s seminal console FPS franchise headed to the Xbox 360 later this year from a “new” dev team, it’s nice NOT to see so much secrecy now that things are well under way. Then again, it’s pretty obvious that 343 has a great deal to live up to and wants to show that they KNOW what they’re doing now that Bungie’s no longer at the helm. From what I can see, I’d say even the most diehard fan has nothing pressing to worry about, but that won’t convince the non-Halo fans or others who should know better. Me, I just want a longer yet supremely written and paced campaign so that running around shooting other live players in the requisite multiplayer modes isn’t the ONLY thing the game gets noticed for (*yawn*). Let’s hope we see MORE of these “making of” videos for the game as Halo 4 gets further along in development…
