CVG

The next Halo game will feature both "dramatic innovations" and "slight tweaks" to the traditional Halo format - but new studio 343 Industries doesn't think the core game mechanic needs to be changed.

Speaking to CVG, creative director of MS's 343 Industries - and former CVG employee - Frank O'Connor said he doesn't think the Halo series needs to be taken in a radical new direction... it just needs to go "deeper".

"Bungie tried to reinvent [the Halo series] every time," he told CVG. "If you think about it, with Halo it was about putting the controls on the sticks, which hadn't been solved properly.

"With Halo 2 we recreated the System Link, LAN party experience on Xbox Live and that wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been on Xbox... So there are a lot of things that comes from partnership with the hardware and platform guys, and a lot of innovations come through necessity, which is going to continue to happen with us. 

"Ultimately the core game mechanic and strength of the universe doesn't need to be changed, it just needs to be taken deeper. We want to make Halo games - we don't want to make Call of Duty or Ridge Racer. We want to make Halo games because we understand what's special about Halo."

Despite the fact that the next Halo will be the fourth on the current Xbox hardware, O'Conner said he doesn't think it'll be a problem producing another innovative instalment.

"I would say that one thing that has happened with previous Halo games regardless of hardware or platform shift is that there were always ideas left on the table due to time constraints, there were also ideas that didn't quite work because people didn't take to them or audience player patterns weren't exactly what we expected," he said.

"So no matter when it comes out, the next Halo is going to contain improvements. Some of them are going to be dramatic innovations while others will be slight tweaks.

"You've got to say 'what can we do to make this better?' It doesn't matter if that is a giant innovation or a small tweak, you've got to do it all over the board. That's how Bungie approaches it."

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/294955/halo-4-will-feature-dramatic-innovations-and-slight-tweaks/

I'm liking what I'm hearing!

E3 in June is too far away... I needs me some Halo CE: Remake for 2011 release and Halo 4 announcement teaser for 2012 release!

We'll see if they can walk the walk.  He might want to keep a low profile for now.  This changeover could easily end badly as both Bungie and Halo are icons to a lot of people.  I'll wait for reviews.

I bet they make it call of duty-esque with more perks and weapon attachment customization.  They won't go too far though and make it just a cod clone. That would be terrible.

The pressure is on.

This guys have already taken over from Bungie..The last map pack for an example is made by them...and basically those maps are my favorite;..Not only they created two of the greatest maps they also created the best FF map , those maps also have a link to the universe (books).. And considering the ones who still love the Halo franchise stepped over to 343..    So far they are doing a great job...

Scrap the Halo:Reach engine and use CryEngine 3 and I'll be happy.

i guess the inspiration came because of the critically acclaimed-movie like-Uncharted success...

I'm not sure how they could tweak the gameplay, but the ONE thing they MUST DO is continue the story onwards from the ending of Halo 3. Halo Reach could have been much better if Reach wasn't a terribly average place, so I'm hoping that the new planet Master Chief lands on will be amazing, and give me the same feeling when I played Halo: CE for the first time.