Studios are opening up in other states, but the trick is delinking them from the management in California/Holleywood.
Fun fact: the original developers of Halo, a company called Bungie, absolutely hated the idea of having any sort of story context at all, so Microsoft forced them to commission a prequel novel. Years later, Bungie produced Halo: Reach, a game whose events partly contradict the ones in the novel, because of that hatred.
They also didn’t think humanity needed a reason to have a giant space military besides “it looks cool.”
There's plenty of ineptitude to go around on 343i's part. And both studios seem to be pretty dysfunctional, with similar issues of leadership. I think what Bungie had going for it was raw fucking talent on the part of the guys who were running the show, and they all started as a small team in Jason Jones's garage before they got big. Even if they partied and fought like rock stars, there was still a common vision and a camaraderie.The more I learn about Bungie's time with the franchise, the more ridiculously improbable Halo's eventually success ends up looking. Not that 343i is much better, but 343i's issues have generally been more because they wanted to break new ground, vs bungie's various bits of sabotage and staggering ineptitude.
Early Halo in it’s many forms was weird. The ancient RTS prototype, for one thing. Then there was that E3 2000 Demo with the alternate Master Chief voice. And those Bungie ARGs with emails from Cortana and the like seem forgotten by the devs themselves. In other words, what became Halo CE had several paths which it could’ve gone down to unkown degrees of success.The more I learn about Bungie's time with the franchise, the more ridiculously improbable Halo's eventually success ends up looking. Not that 343i is much better, but 343i's issues have generally been more because they wanted to break new ground, vs bungie's various bits of sabotage and staggering ineptitude.
Edit: Gears of War, the most lowbrow dudebro shooter ever made, thought through its backstory enough to have answers to questions like "why is there a military, who were thry fighting before the locusts", and while it's possible that Microsoft also browbeat them into doing that, I don't think that's likely. It's inexcusable to have story writing that's less thought out than a series where the word "chainsaw bayonet" appears.
It's even worse than I thought. Maybe when the wokeness causes the series to completely crash and burn, it'd be the turning point for this shit in media?
The writing is just sooo bad it's infuriating to imagine one of the books even the mediocre ''Flood'' story would have been infinitely more entertaining than this absolute trash fire
Was it in First Strike or The Flood that had Master Chief basically cracking a smile/make a wise-ass remark to Cortana about throwing a grenade down a reactor core, to blow up the PoA?Hey, The Flood was great! Not on par with the Nylund trilogy, granted, and Dietz didn't quite capture MC the way other writers did, but the rest of the book was very solid.
That was in the very first game.Was it in First Strike or The Flood that had Master Chief basically cracking a smile/make a wise-ass remark to Cortana about throwing a grenade down a reactor core, to blow up the PoA?
That was such an OOC moment for me that it actually made me blink and go "what the fuck?" when I first read it, like over ten years ago, lol.
Mediocre in comparison to Nylund and Greg bear, not the other refuse masquerading as post Bungie Halo media or other mediaHey, The Flood was great! Not on par with the Nylund trilogy, granted, and Dietz didn't quite capture MC the way other writers did, but the rest of the book was very solid.
That was in the very first game.
For some screwy reason, that cutscene references the same grenade model that is used for pickups, not for thrown grenades. That's why the frag grenade is the size of a pineapple.
The deal with him fell through after Eric Trautmann ragequit the Franchise Development Team.Mediocre in comparison to Nylund and Greg bear, not the other refuse masquerading as post Bungie Halo media or other media
Honestly Nylund did such a good and logical job of expanding the universe i'm mystified why neither Bungie or 343 ever brought him back for more novels or creative advice in an official capacity.
And why did that happen? The ragequitting I mean.The deal with him fell through after Eric Trautmann ragequit the Franchise Development Team.
He's indicated his interest in returning, and 343i has indicated that they'd like to hire him when they have an opening, but it's never happened.
You now how if you shoot a Hunter, its twin loses its shit and comes after you?And why did that happen? The ragequitting I mean.
That’s a shame, we probably would have gotten a better Halo 4 and onwards.