Speculation regarding fresh Halo 4 information was rife well before media arrived at the Microsoft Spring Showcase in San Francisco. As the itinerary was distributed among attendees, none seemed entirely surprised to see such a significant title on the list. The information listed barely covered a few of the questions many had regarding the game, and yet managed to simultaneously spawn a disproportionate amount of speculation.

 Not that anyone seemed to blame developers 343 Industries or Microsoft in the slightest. The return of Halo 3's Battle Rifle, the talk of a renewed focus on multiplayer and the reveal of a perks system counted amongst the most significant information released, and while the finer details remained frustratingly elusive, the powers that be have pretty good reasons to hold back specifics. The situation surrounding Halo 4 is tense. Every semblance, every trickle of news is immediately pounced upon by media, bloggers, fans and armchair critics alike.

 It is promptly overanalyzed, taken out of context and used as an opportunity to cast wild aspersions on forums, interspersed with hyperbolic declarations that it will either be game of the century or a disaster of Duke Nukem proportions. Frank O'Connor, former Halo Community Manager at Bungie, essentially explained the lean details going forward with Halo 4. Following Microsoft's previous release of a short Halo 4 trailer featuring sound designer Satoro Tojima - sound designer for Metal Gear Solid and Castlevania, no less - the video was analysed by zealous Halo 4 forum members, allowing them to cleverly deduce that the Battle Rifle would be making a comeback. Although this was proved correct in their announcement, O'Connor also pointed out that there was further conjecture and speculation regarding the fate of other similar weapons in the game being replaced. All this is to be expected when one of the biggest gaming franchises changes hands. 343 Industries is a studio created by Microsoft to act as caretaker of the Halo franchise. With 343's ability to produce a solid title seemingly cemented, speculation grew after narrative designer Ryan Payton departed the project, stating in a parting shot: "There came a point where I wasn't creatively excited about the project [...]

 The Halo I wanted to build was fundamentally different". Ouch. 343's first project, other than a Halo map pack, was the Halo re-make Combat Evolved: Anniversary Edition - a widely lauded release that carried with it a significant amount of risk. The carry-over effect of Combat Evolved to Halo 4 is a "back to roots" approach, according to O'Connor. Halo 4 executive producer Kiki Wolfkill continues: "I would say Halo 1 was my favourite amongst the Halo titles, and we talk a lot about wanting to get back to that first experience and feeling that mystery, and awe of being in Halo for the first time". "The two code bases have almost nothing to do with each other" says O'Connor. "But what Halo Anniversary did help us with - apart from just celebrating the legacy that Halo built - is really getting a fresh understanding of where our old-school fans were and where our new fans are". Ad Feedback A lot has changed in gaming since the first Halo, and there is certainly a self-awareness on the part of 343 that it needs to evolve with the times by building something innovative on top of a contemporary foundation, just as the original Halo did. Wolfkill was quick to confirm that a renewed focus on story and character is a part of this strategy. Bringing on a creative team member from Mass Effect 2, as well as members of the Kojima team, says much about the intentions of the project. On the other hand, as O'Connor states, there are those "...that are just interested in the competitive space, there are people that just love doing tricks in Warthogs, there are people that only care about the fiction".

 One could cynically think that these words are chosen carefully to avoid alienating the various factions of their fan-base. Perhaps it's best put by O'Connor: "Halo fans are not monolithic. Halo 4 has to balance between legacy and innovation". Exasperatingly, in the same breath 343 is quick to designate Halo 4 as a reboot. It's a continuation that "sticks to the canon". As far as the story is concerned, although both developers swiftly remind the media that games are the "tent-pole" holding up the Halo fiction, the vast majority of world-building has been realised through novels. Wolfkill states there is a movement towards "humanising Chief" through his AI companion, Cortana. O'Connor makes it clear they will not be slaves to the fiction of the other books, but they will throw a bone to the dedicated fans of the extended fiction by allowing the Spartan 4 to make an appearance in the multiplayer demo. The biggest announcement was inevitable. There will be, as defined by 343, a "progressive system" that Wolfkill says allows players to ramp up in-game. References to the perks system found in many modern battlefields elicits frowns from the development team; they clearly want to distance themselves from such comparisons. The difference? Wolfkill claims "multiplayer is faster". Finally, the shadowy new enemy. According to 343, whatever it is has not been seen in combat before, and has a higher purpose than to merely differentiate Halo 4 from previous titles. "It will change the way the game is played." As to what that means; who knows? Vagueness with a hint of hype was the lingering theme. Halo 4 is clearly covering its bases as best it can, and is desperately trying to keep a broad player-base rather than only the series' regulars or the willingly nostalgic. The tantalising tidbits of information, when put together, may not give a fairly accurate portrayal of the finished game, but will certainly be enough to keep people talking in the interim. Last week at Microsoft's Spring Showcase, I and a whole bunch of other reporters got our first look at this fall's Halo 4. The fourth proper entry in the franchise (not counting ODST and Reach) will be released this fall, and will feature longtime series star Master Chief in an all-new adventure.
Halo 4 will be the first Halo game not made by Bungie, who created the series ten years ago. Instead, the game is being created by 343 Industries. At the event, 343's Frank O'Connor and Kiki Wolfkill showed us the above video, and shared some information about the coming game. Vague information, but information nonetheless. The first thing they showed us was Master Chief himself, whose armor has been slightly redesigned for the new game. (If you recall, the armor he was wearing in the game's E3 debut last year wasn't his final, official look.) We'd already seen an action figure depicting Chief's new look, and this screenshot confirms his lighter, more flexible new armor. The video above is mostly a bunch of the Halo 4 team talking about (surprise!) how totally awesome they think Halo is, but you can get a sense of the multiplayer from watching it. It sounds as though multiplayer will be tied more to the fiction this time around, with a story-based reason explaining why so many spartans are duking it out all over the galaxy. The maps won't be lifted from the campaign but rather have been created specifically to allow for balanced gameplay. When asked about balancing the multiplayer for MLG pro-gaming, O'Connor said that they are taking MLG seriously, but didn't go into detail as to what exactly that meant. In multiplayer, characters will control Spartan 4s, which are a new type of Spartan super-soldier; there will be a wealth of customization options for your Spartan. Some of those options will be cosmetic, but some will be functional. Full size As for the solo campaign, O'Connor and Wolfkill remained tight-lipped. O'connor did say that this is going to be "a more personal sory," but that he "wouldn't expect Master Chief to start chatting people up or anything." They repeated several times that they have ripped everything apart and all of the game's features had been either rebuilt from the ground up or massively overhauled. There will be new sound effects, some of which we got to hear as Wolfkill walked around an empty multiplayer level—the guns sounded punchy and clear, and her Spartan's footsteps were loud and metallic. Longtime Halo composer Marty O'Donnell isn't on the game, and they said that there will be more information about the composer soon. They also hinted at some sort of coming announcement that will be a "crossing of the rubicon" for the Halo series. While hype is hype and blind items are blind, it did sound as though they are convinced that some aspect of Halo 4 will be seen as a large change to the core of the series. This game, O'Connor said, would "define the next ten years of Halo." Sounds ambitious. We'll have more information on Halo 4 as it slowly…trickles…out… leading up to release of the game this fall. Good to see ya chief still finishing that good fight; dig the kicky duds