I’m having a lot of fun with Halo 2, though. We turned on all the ridiculous skulls that make explosion radius bigger and impart more velocity on objects. Shooting anything with dual-SMGs sends them flying across the room. It’s great.

Stabbim and I are near the end of Halo 2. ODST is next. Feel free to join us if you see us playing. We’ll probably do Halo 4 later as well. Halo CE and Halo 2 only had two player co-op, something we forgot when we tried to get Korny in one night.

I’m down to co-op any Halo pretty much anytime, so send a message if you want to play.

Me, too. Played through HCE on heroic for the first time in years and was blown away. You forget how great it is.

I’m down to co-op any Halo pretty much anytime, so send a message if you want to play.

And the campaigns are just, GORGEOUS at 60 fps. Holy moley!

Aren’t they 60 even on Xbox? Maybe just on One X, I’m not sure.

A few of us just did Halo 5 on Legendary, and I’m itching for more Halo. Planning on doing H3 this week, but I’m on Xbox.

I have the MCC (though never played it) and my 360 is still hooked up, so I'd be down if this became a thing we do.

Cross-posting from HBO

I watched the campaign reveal and came away feeling basically nothing. Nothing got me excited but by the same token, nothing really upset or disappointed me. I thought about why that might be and the obvious explanation came up first: it's been a long time since the franchise offered me anything compelling and I've become apathetic/disinterested.

But that's not the whole story. There is something else at play, and it explains both my personal apathy and so much that was shown in the trailer: Halo has gone from being a video game franchise with toys to being a toy franchise with video games.

This metamorphosis was well underway by the time of Halo 4 but it's taken a huge step with H:I

Point 1: The Minecraft Aesthetic

A lot of people see the flat polygons and make jokes about "is this next-gen??" as though a Triple-A developer forgot how to do graphics. No, it's intentional: the blocky aesthetic will work very nicely with toys and other plastic playsets.

Point 2: The Open World, Under Construction

This point is less obvious but I feel is still worth considering. Think back to when you were playing with GI Joe or other action figures as a kid. The whole narrative and setup of the characters and structures was an ad-hoc, random composition. You get out the Command Tower and decide to place a couple of Gun Turrets and a Wall to prevent your sister's Rainbow Brite Army from taking the nearby village, slaughtering thousands. And there's a submarine base, why not.

This concept works better, more naturally, if the source video game behaves like this from the start. You can obviously have toys of characters, vehicles, and structures from a more linear and narratively driven game, but things are more in harmony if the game is already setup in an open world format. And even better, it appears from the media we've seen that the ring itself is constantly under construction, where its layout is constantly changing.

Point 3: The Big Bad

Characters sell toys. Important characters sell more. Both the Didact and Pvt Chips Dubbo are characters in the Halo franchise, but one of them will sell a lot more toys than the other. This should be in your mind when the Big Bad Brute is front and center in the marketing. Halo 1 technically had a main villain, but it was a gradual revelation (343GS didn't appear until halfway in) aided by a plot twist. The game's story was still more about your desperate attempts to survive in an unknown world: part fact-finding, part shooting, and part surviving.

Halo 2 had the Prophets, Gravemind, and Tartarus. But again, these enemies were revealed organically as the story unfolded.

Halo Infinite puts the Big Bad front and center. This is not "helpful floating orb on mysterious ring eventually turns out to be a very big threat." This is He-Man and Skeletor, Lion-O and Mumra, red panda and pumpkin. It's cheesy and low-effort but it's going to sell action figures from Day 0.

Point 4: That Stupid 117 Decal

This is my weakest point but it bugs me enough to mention it. I'm sure you can think of three or four explanations for why "117" should be awkwardly slapped on his breast but it sure does feel like it's there mostly to allow for easy identification during the War of Rainbowland Aggression.

Anyway. This is not a "I HATE GAME" post, since again I'm mostly feeling apathetic. But I thought I'd share my thoughts here in case you felt the same way and were wondering why. Rather than being a disappointing entry in the franchise as you knew it, it's a competent entry in some other franchise which doesn't interest you.

Side note: I'm thinking about getting a weekly MCC night going between now and H:I launch. 343 has done very well to make the PC offering playable. I'm leaning towards Thursday or Sunday nights but you can chime in with your thoughts.

NERF AR

And the campaigns are just, GORGEOUS at 60 fps. Holy moley!

Aren’t they 60 even on Xbox? Maybe just on One X, I’m not sure.

A few of us just did Halo 5 on Legendary, and I’m itching for more Halo. Planning on doing H3 this week, but I’m on Xbox.

Side note: I'm thinking about getting a weekly MCC night going between now and H:I launch. 343 has done very well to make the PC offering playable. I'm leaning towards Thursday or Sunday nights but you can chime in with your thoughts.

I'd be down, but it would have to be thurs or fri since I'm east coast time and would be later for me than most of you guys.

I just got a new laptop to game on (I don't plan to be a day-one Xbox or PS5 buyer this go-round). Also, I'm a Steam virgin and have no friends there yet. That said,

I'm having a freakin' ball!

I'll admit I was a bit concerned to try out MP (it's been ages since I gamed with mouse and keyboard) but I tried out an xbox controller and to my surprise, I didn't get stomped on.

It was.... fair!

And the campaigns are just, GORGEOUS at 60 fps. Holy moley!

Point 1: The Minecraft Aesthetic

A lot of people see the flat polygons and make jokes about "is this next-gen??" as though a Triple-A developer forgot how to do graphics. No, it's intentional: the blocky aesthetic will work very nicely with toys and other plastic playsets.

I think this is too conspiracy oriented. It's probably because of the dumb ass 4K60 target. When you have to render 8x as many pixels as 1080p30, you're going to have to cut down on complexity.

Point 2: The Open World, Under Construction

This concept works better, more naturally, if the source video game behaves like this from the start. You can obviously have toys of characters, vehicles, and structures from a more linear and narratively driven game, but things are more in harmony if the game is already setup in an open world format. And even better, it appears from the media we've seen that the ring itself is constantly under construction, where its layout is constantly changing.

Or maybe this is the reason. The geometry may be simpler because it can be moved around in real time.

Halo Infinite puts the Big Bad front and center. This is not "helpful floating orb on mysterious ring eventually turns out to be a very big threat." This is He-Man and Skeletor, Lion-O and Mumra, red panda and pumpkin. It's cheesy and low-effort but it's going to sell action figures from Day 0.

I think it's just simplistic writing, not a conspiracy to sell toys.

I was put off by the monologue at first but it has grown on me. The Chief is a legend. For someone to challenge him purely for glory? I'm intrigued.

I think the answer lies in the art style. Halo Infinite looks like the fake plastic trees version of Halo, like a video game designed with Mega Bloks in mind. It pops in all the wrong places. The Brutes and their silly faces seem almost plonked down onto the battlefield like a child would arrange toys to bash about in their bedroom.

The Giant's Causeway hexagon rocks have been highlighted by many already and I have to admit they look like they were sculpted in Roblox or something.

Halo is an OG Xbox Game, so its designs come from a time when you couldn't adequately represent the human body and faces and details - Master Chief's whole design is a response to the fact you can't make people look anything else but blocky. It's why he wears armour that makes him look like luggage. The problem is, when 343 take designs from this era and render them with the fidelity possible on modern hardware, you get an art style that's weird and theme-parkish. It's like characters from Halo dressing in Halo-themed monkey suits.

Point 1: The Minecraft Aesthetic

A lot of people see the flat polygons and make jokes about "is this next-gen??" as though a Triple-A developer forgot how to do graphics. No, it's intentional: the blocky aesthetic will work very nicely with toys and other plastic playsets.

I think this is too conspiracy oriented. It's probably because of the dumb ass 4K60 target. When you have to render 8x as many pixels as 1080p30, you're going to have to cut down on complexity.

Point 2: The Open World, Under Construction

This concept works better, more naturally, if the source video game behaves like this from the start. You can obviously have toys of characters, vehicles, and structures from a more linear and narratively driven game, but things are more in harmony if the game is already setup in an open world format. And even better, it appears from the media we've seen that the ring itself is constantly under construction, where its layout is constantly changing.

Or maybe this is the reason. The geometry may be simpler because it can be moved around in real time.

Halo Infinite puts the Big Bad front and center. This is not "helpful floating orb on mysterious ring eventually turns out to be a very big threat." This is He-Man and Skeletor, Lion-O and Mumra, red panda and pumpkin. It's cheesy and low-effort but it's going to sell action figures from Day 0.

I think it's just simplistic writing, not a conspiracy to sell toys.

Cross-posting from HBO

I watched the campaign reveal and came away feeling basically nothing. Nothing got me excited but by the same token, nothing really upset or disappointed me. I thought about why that might be and the obvious explanation came up first: it's been a long time since the franchise offered me anything compelling and I've become apathetic/disinterested.

But that's not the whole story. There is something else at play, and it explains both my personal apathy and so much that was shown in the trailer: Halo has gone from being a video game franchise with toys to being a toy franchise with video games.

This metamorphosis was well underway by the time of Halo 4 but it's taken a huge step with H:I

Point 1: The Minecraft Aesthetic

A lot of people see the flat polygons and make jokes about "is this next-gen??" as though a Triple-A developer forgot how to do graphics. No, it's intentional: the blocky aesthetic will work very nicely with toys and other plastic playsets.

Point 2: The Open World, Under Construction

This point is less obvious but I feel is still worth considering. Think back to when you were playing with GI Joe or other action figures as a kid. The whole narrative and setup of the characters and structures was an ad-hoc, random composition. You get out the Command Tower and decide to place a couple of Gun Turrets and a Wall to prevent your sister's Rainbow Brite Army from taking the nearby village, slaughtering thousands. And there's a submarine base, why not.

This concept works better, more naturally, if the source video game behaves like this from the start. You can obviously have toys of characters, vehicles, and structures from a more linear and narratively driven game, but things are more in harmony if the game is already setup in an open world format. And even better, it appears from the media we've seen that the ring itself is constantly under construction, where its layout is constantly changing.

Point 3: The Big Bad

Characters sell toys. Important characters sell more. Both the Didact and Pvt Chips Dubbo are characters in the Halo franchise, but one of them will sell a lot more toys than the other. This should be in your mind when the Big Bad Brute is front and center in the marketing. Halo 1 technically had a main villain, but it was a gradual revelation (343GS didn't appear until halfway in) aided by a plot twist. The game's story was still more about your desperate attempts to survive in an unknown world: part fact-finding, part shooting, and part surviving.

Halo 2 had the Prophets, Gravemind, and Tartarus. But again, these enemies were revealed organically as the story unfolded.

Halo Infinite puts the Big Bad front and center. This is not "helpful floating orb on mysterious ring eventually turns out to be a very big threat." This is He-Man and Skeletor, Lion-O and Mumra, red panda and pumpkin. It's cheesy and low-effort but it's going to sell action figures from Day 0.

Point 4: That Stupid 117 Decal

This is my weakest point but it bugs me enough to mention it. I'm sure you can think of three or four explanations for why "117" should be awkwardly slapped on his breast but it sure does feel like it's there mostly to allow for easy identification during the War of Rainbowland Aggression.

Anyway. This is not a "I HATE GAME" post, since again I'm mostly feeling apathetic. But I thought I'd share my thoughts here in case you felt the same way and were wondering why. Rather than being a disappointing entry in the franchise as you knew it, it's a competent entry in some other franchise which doesn't interest you.

Side note: I'm thinking about getting a weekly MCC night going between now and H:I launch. 343 has done very well to make the PC offering playable. I'm leaning towards Thursday or Sunday nights but you can chime in with your thoughts.

But that is a damn compelling analysis of some of the approaches here.

I watched the campaign reveal and came away feeling basically nothing. Nothing got me excited but by the same token, nothing really upset or disappointed me. I thought about why that might be and the obvious explanation came up first: it's been a long time since the franchise offered me anything compelling and I've become apathetic/disinterested.

But that's not the whole story. There is something else at play, and it explains both my personal apathy and so much that was shown in the trailer: Halo has gone from being a video game franchise with toys to being a toy franchise with video games.

This metamorphosis was well underway by the time of Halo 4 but it's taken a huge step with H:I

Point 1: The Minecraft Aesthetic

A lot of people see the flat polygons and make jokes about "is this next-gen??" as though a Triple-A developer forgot how to do graphics. No, it's intentional: the blocky aesthetic will work very nicely with toys and other plastic playsets.

Point 2: The Open World, Under Construction

This point is less obvious but I feel is still worth considering. Think back to when you were playing with GI Joe or other action figures as a kid. The whole narrative and setup of the characters and structures was an ad-hoc, random composition. You get out the Command Tower and decide to place a couple of Gun Turrets and a Wall to prevent your sister's Rainbow Brite Army from taking the nearby village, slaughtering thousands. And there's a submarine base, why not.

This concept works better, more naturally, if the source video game behaves like this from the start. You can obviously have toys of characters, vehicles, and structures from a more linear and narratively driven game, but things are more in harmony if the game is already setup in an open world format. And even better, it appears from the media we've seen that the ring itself is constantly under construction, where its layout is constantly changing.

Point 3: The Big Bad

Characters sell toys. Important characters sell more. Both the Didact and Pvt Chips Dubbo are characters in the Halo franchise, but one of them will sell a lot more toys than the other. This should be in your mind when the Big Bad Brute is front and center in the marketing. Halo 1 technically had a main villain, but it was a gradual revelation (343GS didn't appear until halfway in) aided by a plot twist. The game's story was still more about your desperate attempts to survive in an unknown world: part fact-finding, part shooting, and part surviving.

Halo 2 had the Prophets, Gravemind, and Tartarus. But again, these enemies were revealed organically as the story unfolded.

Halo Infinite puts the Big Bad front and center. This is not "helpful floating orb on mysterious ring eventually turns out to be a very big threat." This is He-Man and Skeletor, Lion-O and Mumra, red panda and pumpkin. It's cheesy and low-effort but it's going to sell action figures from Day 0.

Point 4: That Stupid 117 Decal

This is my weakest point but it bugs me enough to mention it. I'm sure you can think of three or four explanations for why "117" should be awkwardly slapped on his breast but it sure does feel like it's there mostly to allow for easy identification during the War of Rainbowland Aggression.

Anyway. This is not a "I HATE GAME" post, since again I'm mostly feeling apathetic. But I thought I'd share my thoughts here in case you felt the same way and were wondering why. Rather than being a disappointing entry in the franchise as you knew it, it's a competent entry in some other franchise which doesn't interest you.

Side note: I'm thinking about getting a weekly MCC night going between now and H:I launch. 343 has done very well to make the PC offering playable. I'm leaning towards Thursday or Sunday nights but you can chime in with your thoughts.

It definitely has a simplified aesthetic. I'm OK with that, but it didn't WOW me like I thought it would.

Chief's armor aesthetic is great! Everything else looks like cheap plastic (is Halo Infinite just a commercial for their Mega Blox toyline?). And the lighting in 343's Halos is just straight up gross.

I've enjoyed Halo 4 and 5 despite their flaws, so I'm sure I'll enjoy this one to some degree as well.

A few of us are having "fun" playing through Halo 5. The game series just delivers on sandbox fun, even when we're just blowing each other up.

Halo doesn't sit on some untouchable pedestal for me, I get why it does for so many people (don't @ me). But just like other forms of media, I'm OK with it evolving and changing.

Aside from being vocal about Halo 4 and 5's absolutely garbage art direction, writing, dialogue, technical issues, and characters, I do like them enough. Halo is ever-changing, and though it adapts to the gaming zeitgeist at a slow (and occasionally sad) pace, I'm all for it pushing itself forward. Sprint? Perfect! Clambering and dodging? Let's go! Grappling hook? Yipee-zippy!

I'll be there day one if anyone wants to co-op or form a fireteam for MP!

Because I don't have to pay for it (Have I mentioned Warframe Gamepass around here yet?), I'll be there Day 1 as well.