Halo: Reach Will Probably Be Bungie's Biggest Game Yet

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We don't know much about Halo: Reach yet. Microsoft and Bungie showed off a teaser for the possibly final collaboration between the two companies at E3, which chronicles the fall of the planet Reach, a major part of Halo lore. At the Penny Arcade Expo, I had a chance to ask Bungie community manager Brian Jarrard about Halo: Reach.

"Reach is going to be a tough project for us to wrap just because the scope is really big -- it's up there," said Jarrard. "It'll probably be our biggest game ever just in terms of the amount of people working on it and the expectations for it. I mean, it's a big deal for us."

To be honest, I thought it was a small, focused spin-off, ala Halo 3: ODST. It's not. Halo: Reach sounds much bigger than I'd ever imagined, the way Jarrard puts it.

"I know just for at least the next year our hardcore focus is going to be on getting Reach done and awesome and hopefully getting people excited about it," he said.

Halo: Reach will also represent Bungie's next major step forward in engine technology. Whereas Halo 3: ODST was mostly built on Halo 3's base technology, Halo: Reach is a complete reinvention.

"Reach will be a full three-year cycle -- it's got all-new tech, akin to the change from Halo 2 to Halo 3," he said.

Am I the only one who didn't realize how ambitious Halo: Reach actually was? Based on the few new tidbits here from Jarrard, I'm already more excited about what the studio has planned for its possibly final Halo adventure. For more on Halo 3: ODST, what might come after Halo: Reach and plenty more on Halo in general, check out my full interview with Jarrard.

I cannot wait to get more information on this game.  Should be friggen huge for MS next year.

There's too much Halo threads.
And the game comes out in over a year!

Yeah, the way things are looking Halo: Reach should definitely be GOTY for 2010.

Should be quite the game (and the year) for the 360 in 2010.

So when are we going to have our first gameplay reveal of this? TGS?

This will sell well and might put 360 back to the more dominent possition on sales,

I was banned once for using that term.  I am not reporting you, just giving you a heads up.

Yes, it's a derogatory term, not an abbreviation.  I didn't report him either, but a retraction might be a good idea.

All I can say for sure it will have the best story (if it follows the book).

3 year cycle sounds great, but I don't think the engine comparison of Halo 2 to Halo 3 is super flattering as the leap there wasn't huge.

And I can't see this being a bigger launch than Halo 3. :O

I have some distinct impressions about this game, from assorted conversations.

1) Its a MMOFPS, not a FPS with MP.
2) Supports somewhere between 64 and 128 players in a battle.
3) Campaign system will be set in the battle of Reach.
4) Will probably be out in 2011, not 2010.