CVG

Microsoft's internal Halo studio, 343 Industries, has seemingly doused water on suggestions that the long-rumoured Halo: Combat Evolved remake is being developed externally.

According to recent reports, the rumoured Combat Evolved HD - which is said to feature 1080p art assets and online co-op - isn't being touched up by 343, but rather by Timeshift dev Saber Interactive.

But according to creative director Frank O'Connor, 343 would only work with an external developer for "mini-collaborations", such as the upcoming Defiant map pack, which is co-developed by Certain Affinity.

O'Conner told CVG in San Francisco last week: "343 as a publishing entity and Bungie before it is always open to collaboration. We've done weird things in the past like we put a Spartan in Dead or Alive 3... We met with Itagaki and his team to make sure the Spartan was fighting correctly, using a style that was appropriate, was the right height and moving like a Spartan.

"So we've always been open to those sort of mini-collaborations, but as far as the core game experiences are concerned we have to keep that close to home. 

"We certainly see [Defiant map pack dev] Certain Affinity as being close to home because there are a lot of ex-Bungie and Halo guys on that team, so it's very natural.

"In the future - who knows. But fundamentally we're right now building a large, powerful top-tier studio to make triple-A experiences in the future and that's our general direction right now," he said.

"So we'll continue to do little collaborations with people but for core experiences we have to keep those close to home."

Whether a rebuilt Halo: Combat Evolved would be classed as a 'mini-collaboration' is up for interpretation, of course, but we'd consider such a product to be anything but tiny.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/291155/news/343-plays-down-saber-made-halo-hd-rumours/

how do you get all these Microsoft related news so fast?

Probably RSS.

I've actually been wondering the same thing for a while now. SOOOOO, Nsanity is a MS bigwig confirmed?

thats because he's using -sales pitch- the revolutionary features of the great Windows Phone 7 (tm) , so instead of wasting time, he can browse the internet* and find all the latest and greatest in just few minutes,and then go back to PAAAHHHHTAAAAY , so have more time partying and less time..... -camera shifts on someone using a blackberry-  ............ALONE.

*internet prices varries by client

Microsoft , MS , Xbox LIVE, WP7 are all registered trademarks any attempt of conterfiet will be faced by a great penalty and will be accused by the law.

Yeah but he should be doing the pitching since he works for them and all. But your pitch did sound official so now I'm suspicious of you. Yeah that's it, you are the MS bigwig that's kept out of the loop and you are jealous of Nsanity knowing all this shit that you should know. Damn that sucks.

So if there are big wigs here from MS then make another f'ing CONKER< WTF>

he has a WP7?

its funny, hes has like hundred of these threads a day, but i dont think he comments (much) in them.

its like he posts, finds something new a post again, its like a hit a run

hey that sounds like me, he is stealing my bit god damn it.

Microsoft , MS , Xbox LIVE, WP7 are all registered trademarks any attempt of conterfiet will be faced by a great penalty and will be accused by the law.