Halo To The End of All Things
Gamers have this weird tendency whenever a new game is announced or scheduled for release sometime in the near future. They make bold claims and outlandish predictions usually concerning their wants and needs for the next installment in the series. Take my favourite series Halo for example. Halo 4 is scheduled to be released sometime in “Holiday 2012″ and so far we don’t have a lot of information about what the game is all about. Nothing really has been released besides that Master Chief is in the game and it will be released sometime this year (hopefully).
Image via Wikipedia
So a quick browse through the forums over at reddit, Halo Waypoint, or any gaming website and you’ll see gamers crying out with the most ridiculous claims. Most of them circle around “If they change x with y then I’m never playing again!”. Halo 4 is not being made by Bungie but rather 343 industries (new studio with some former Bungie staff backed by Microsoft). Now this has some obvious people worried because they think it won’t be as good as the previous installments or it might be changed dramatically. Some gamers go as far as to claim that 343 Industries will kill Halo, no one will play it and Halo will never be successful ever again. I know right? The game isn’t even close to its release date and gamers are throwing their hands up and calling quits.
I understand that people get hyped up and excited about something new and interesting. All these different ideas run screaming through their heads and they hope it will be as good as they expect it to be. Unfortunately they’re just making it worse for themselves because it will not be exactly how they want it to be. That will never happen.
343 Industries is starting a new trilogy with Halo 4 and with that they are going to be changing the formula. If you’re expecting Halo CE, or Halo 3 as much as this hurts for you to read it, it will never be like that. It’s going to be a new focus on Halo with a fresh perspective from a young and new studio. You can like it if you want and enjoy Halo for many more years or you can hate it, cry and moan and claim Halo is dead forever.
One thing that will never happen is that Halo will suddenly stop when a new game comes out. Microsoft has invested way too much money to let this happen and gamers love new and shiny games regardless of how bad they are. If there is any example of feeding the same crap over and over to open and willing mouths of gamers then it is Call of Duty. If Activision can make billions of what is essentially the same game with minor changes, then Halo will be just fine if they change nothing or if they change everything.
So relax fellow gamers! It is not the end of all things. Halo is not going to go away, its servers will not be barren and empty and it will not ruin your childhood dreams. Take the time to catch your breath, enjoy what you’re playing now and wait until the game comes out before making another apocalyptic prediction.
