Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary - 11.15.11

Microsoft has responded to European chatter surrounding a Halo: Combat Evolved high-definition remake by saying, "Right now our focus is on supporting Halo: Reach. We have nothing to announce at this time." Putting that through the Joystiq PR Translation Machine pops out one thing: "42." Clearly, we need to call maintenance.

Eurogamer published the quote from Microsoft after Games Master magazine implied that a Halo remake was underway at 343 Industries (the current Halo custodian), using the Reach engine. Allegedly, the HD Halo would drop next November, to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the original Xbox shooter.

Click to expand...

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/12/01/microsoft-has-nothing-to-announce-at-this-time-regarding-halo/

Just a rumor at this moment, but I think it would be pretty ing sweet!

Sweet rumor.

I cannot believe it's already getting on 10 years. I wonder how much of that time I've actually spent playing Halo:CE or one of its siblings?

This would definitely be awesome, but I have some serious doubts on whether it'll actually happen.

Pretty cool, but I rather have another halo games then an HD Remix...

I can certainly believe this happening. It would give a chance for 343 ( correct me if I am wrong ) to bring back and give face for the Halo games and their team. Plus, I think everyone enjoyed the multiplayer in the first and if they revamped it to use an online multiplayer aspect it could be big. I will definately be keeping my ear to the ground on this one.

I hope it's both Halo 1 and 2. If they are gonna do this, they might as well go all the way!

Plus, it probably wouldn't have that nasty texture pop-in that Halo 2 had.

If they're going to do Halo 1, then Halo 2 shouldn't be that much more work over Halo 1, if they're going to use the Reach engine for it all.

Hopefully they'll make Halo 1 MP XBL-capable instead of just split screen or LAN play.

10 years? I'm old.

Master chief with armor lock = invincible

Beaver Creek...

Hard to believe it's been 10 years though. Where has the time gone?

It's only been 6 years for me. I didn't get an Xbox until late 2004.

This makes me happy

Hope it pans out and gets released

I just hope it comes out on a disc and is not $60.

[quote name='GUNNM']Master chief with armor lock = invincible[/QUOTE]
If they're remaking Halo:CE I doubt they'll include anything that wasn't in Halo:CE. Weapons maybe, but I highly doubt AA will make an appearance.

Remake sounds, to me at least, more like "Halo:CE with pretty graphics," rather than "Halo: Reach: CE" if you follow me.

10 years already???
Would be awesome if true. Day one.

[quote name='Pirate331']If they're remaking Halo:CE I doubt they'll include anything that wasn't in Halo:CE. Weapons maybe, but I highly doubt AA will make an appearance.

Remake sounds, to me at least, more like "Halo:CE with pretty graphics," rather than "Halo: Reach: CE" if you follow me.[/QUOTE]
Yup if thats the case I hope they don't add a MP then.

I'm guessing that if this is true they wouldn't even do a multiplayer component. It might come with a Reach multiplayer disc the way ODST came with the Halo 3 multiplayer disc, just so they can justify a $60 price.

As long as there are no armor abilities and they change the it so it was like Halo 2 & 3 with regenerating shields then I will be all for it. Multiplayer on XBL or not.

Playing Damnation in HD... God I loved that map in Halo 1. And the original Hang Em High. Not that BS that they did for Halo 2.

Microsoft/Bungie milking this franchise for more money? No...

I would buy it (day one if they fix the library level).

Eh I don't know, I think this might be one of those things in which nostalgia has got the better of us. Don't get me wrong CE is a great game, but I think it's not exactly going to hold up. Maybe it's just me but I always felt that a good portion of the people who slammed the Halo series after CE were doing so for the "hipster" factor. I mean when Halo first came out it was an upstart franchise, really wasn't on anyones radar in development as it had flipped platforms and even game style, but it was sick when released. Then it got popular and Halo 2's release was the biggest deal in gaming up to that point. I honestly can't think of any single game that received more hub-bub about it's release prior to Halo 2. So it want "mainstream" if you'll stay with my music analogy for a second. I mean Halo: CE had been huge in it's own right but the fact that it was the launch of the franchise and wasn't online somewhat made it unable to suffer "It was better before..." fate. From that point on Halo: CE was regarded by gaming elitists as the best thing since sliced bread and all other Halo's were drivel for Frat boys and kids. Basically it's the whole "That band was so much better before they went all mainstream and commercial" argument. Was Halo: CE really that much better then the rest of the franchise? Maybe, but I think not a lot of true thought goes into it. I think a lot of gamers simply look to stating it as being the best as a quick path to being "hardcore" (which is another thing I could rant on but I shall spare you).

Basically what I'm pulling from my incoherent rambling is that it takes a very, very, very, special game to hold up over time. And to be honest it takes a pretty simple game too. Games that broke barriers blew our minds at the time, but what they revolutionized tends to be the thing other games pick up the torch and run with, so they lose their luster as they age. I played Goldeneye for N64 last year a couple of times, "timeless" I thought, I gotta say I regret playing it now. Goldeneye is a great game, at a certain time in history, it doesn't hold up too well today and as a result somewhat tainted my fond memories. Essentially what I want to get at is I hope we're careful for what we're wishing for, I mean this could be a great addition, but it might not be too.

I always thought Halo: CE sucked at the time compared to the other shooters available on PC. I think it was just the first decent FPS game for consoles and everybody got a hard on for it because of that. About two years ago picked up my first Xbox 360, played Halo 3 quite a bit...thought it was decent fun but there are much better titles imo.

This would make way too much money for Microsoft not to do. If the PS3 HD collections are anything to go by, it wont take much time or effort, and can make a great profit.

If they don't charge $40 or more for it I'll hop on.

I would pay hundreds of dollars if they don't it up and it has online capabilities. CE was one of my favorite games ever. Reach sucks and Halo 3 was average. Would be nice to play a decent Halo game again.

[quote name='scoobypat']Eh I don't know, I think this might be one of those things in which nostalgia has got the better of us. Don't get me wrong CE is a great game, but I think it's not exactly going to hold up. Maybe it's just me but I always felt that a good portion of the people who slammed the Halo series after CE were doing so for the "hipster" factor. I mean when Halo first came out it was an upstart franchise, really wasn't on anyones radar in development as it had flipped platforms and even game style, but it was sick when released. Then it got popular and Halo 2's release was the biggest deal in gaming up to that point. I honestly can't think of any single game that received more hub-bub about it's release prior to Halo 2. So it want "mainstream" if you'll stay with my music analogy for a second. I mean Halo: CE had been huge in it's own right but the fact that it was the launch of the franchise and wasn't online somewhat made it unable to suffer "It was better before..." fate. From that point on Halo: CE was regarded by gaming elitists as the best thing since sliced bread and all other Halo's were drivel for Frat boys and kids. Basically it's the whole "That band was so much better before they went all mainstream and commercial" argument. Was Halo: CE really that much better then the rest of the franchise? Maybe, but I think not a lot of true thought goes into it. I think a lot of gamers simply look to stating it as being the best as a quick path to being "hardcore" (which is another thing I could rant on but I shall spare you).

Basically what I'm pulling from my incoherent rambling is that it takes a very, very, very, special game to hold up over time. And to be honest it takes a pretty simple game too. Games that broke barriers blew our minds at the time, but what they revolutionized tends to be the thing other games pick up the torch and run with, so they lose their luster as they age. I played Goldeneye for N64 last year a couple of times, "timeless" I thought, I gotta say I regret playing it now. Goldeneye is a great game, at a certain time in history, it doesn't hold up too well today and as a result somewhat tainted my fond memories. Essentially what I want to get at is I hope we're careful for what we're wishing for, I mean this could be a great addition, but it might not be too.[/QUOTE]

I can understand where you are coming from and I believe that the majority of people that say this are doing it because it was cool to say at the time. I will even stick my guns when saying that nostalgia is probably the biggest thing for me about this rumor. I will buy it regardless of 40-60$ pricetag that will follow. The thing is, is that the multiplayer WAS good in Halo: CE because of the LAN parties you could have and the PC version allowing for custom maps etc. Does anyone remember the Halo: CE tournament on G4 back in the day? It ended up being on Blood Gulch and the spawn killing was immense. Still fun. I have loved the Halo series since it came out and I have played every game as well as reading all but 1 book about the story. This will be more of a obligation more than an "oh that's cool" game for me.

I can honestly say that I didn't like Halo 2 as much as the rest because of the switch to be more mainstream. Look at the generation pull that attemtped with the music score, multiplayer beef with dual weilding. Still, the game was fun and enough to make me buy Halo 3.

One thing just came to mind though. People have being saying that they have been wanting a remake of Final Fantasy VII ever since the Playstation 2 came out. ( maybe even before ) Would you say the same thing about that game and it's predecessor?

[quote name='KingNothing09']Microsoft/Bungie milking this franchise for more money? No...[/QUOTE]

Bungie's out. This is 343 (Microsoft) Studio's baby now.

And honestly Halo is so far from Reach that a remake doesn't really sound all that bad. I'd just like to see all of Reach's weapons plus the silenced SMG, Brutes, Skirmishers, Engineers, and flood versions of each.

the marketing aspect of MS points and old game remakes are making microsoft a ton of money, we generally don't think we're spending real cash (even though some of us have found ways to acquire ms points for less/free) and a lot of us impluse buy virtually every deal of the day/week on XBL...but the bargain bin at the B&M shop with $0.99 > $9.99 pc titles hardly gets any love but your dollar stretches more there.

A halo CE/HD remake would sell like hotcakes some in hopes it would somehow resatisfy their primal gamer urge and others just because they need to take up more space on their HDD. If they use the Reach engine and Reach graphics, it'll look friggin sweet. Even I'd buy it. Master Chief in his Reach rendered spartan armor? yeah, that's almost screenshot purchase worthy.

This would be amazing!

Now we know why the original XBL was shut down. :lol:

Not gonna lie, I'd probably buy it; I loved Halo 1 and it would be great if they added online multiplayer but kept it the same; they don't need to add any guns or make any changes. ing O.G. Magnum would be the tits.

Though someone mentioned earlier in this thread them just making it single player and adding an ODST-style Reach multiplayer disc; if they did this I'd not only be pissed because it's a missed opportunity to make the ultimate Halo 1, but because it would likely include the entire Reach map catalog (and probably some exclusive map nonsense) when I've already wasted money on the maps.

day one buy for me without hesitation..well maybe a little b/c I'd know one day it would be on sale

Definitely a day one purchase for me, if it happens.

I wouldn't doubt something like this is in the works. Will I buy it? Not for $60.

[quote name='lolwut?'] it would be great if they added online multiplayer but kept it the same; they don't need to add any guns or make any changes.[/QUOTE]

updated halo 1 multi would make me cream, and not the lag infested pc online kind.

as long as halo reaches hit boxes DON'T appear then it can be awesomes


if anything i mean anything from custom edition appears in the in the remake, i will rage in excitement

Surely the Reach engine belongs to Bungie though? I would've thought it belonged to them since it was made AFTER they became independent? Obviously that has very little impact on the rumour as I'm sure a remake would still be great. My only concern is that they're going to annualise Halo, which I used to admire as a franchise that valued customer support over money.

Loved Halo but i wouldn't jump unless it was 40$ or under.

I'd buy it in a minute as long as they made the multiplayer online. Other than that keep everything else the exact same.

Bungie or someone needs to just make three map packs, one each for Halo CE, Halo 2 and Halo 3. I would buy all three.

I want to be excited...but I just know they're going to it up if this rumor comes true somehow.

All I literally want is H1 and H2 with new netcode so I can play them on XBL. Seriously. That's all. No new graphics, no nothing. I want the same exact games that I dumped literally hundreds of hours into as I remember them

It would be cool if it was Halo 1's multiplayer with some of the modes and maybe a best of assortment of maps from the other games. That way it would still be Halo and not Halo 2 and so on, but it would offer something new.

[quote name='jez360']Surely the Reach engine belongs to Bungie though? I would've thought it belonged to them since it was made AFTER they became independent? Obviously that has very little impact on the rumour as I'm sure a remake would still be great. My only concern is that they're going to annualise Halo, which I used to admire as a franchise that valued customer support over money.[/QUOTE]

Hard to say, but I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft treated it as a contracted job and retain the rights to the developed game assets and engine.

[quote name='lolwut?']Not gonna lie, I'd probably buy it; I loved Halo 1 and it would be great if they added online multiplayer but kept it the same; they don't need to add any guns or make any changes. ing O.G. Magnum would be the tits.

Though someone mentioned earlier in this thread them just making it single player and adding an ODST-style Reach multiplayer disc; if they did this I'd not only be pissed because it's a missed opportunity to make the ultimate Halo 1, but because it would likely include the entire Reach map catalog (and probably some exclusive map nonsense) when I've already wasted money on the maps.[/QUOTE] It would be cool if this "ODST-style Reach multiplayer disc" just had all the maps from Halo 1 & 2 revamped for Reach. Either way, it looks like they may screw over the people who paid premium for their map packs again.

already got my pre-order in @ GameSlut for the Legendary Edition.

[quote name='Ma12kez']Either way, it looks like they may screw over the people who paid premium for their map packs again.[/QUOTE]

Unless you have never once played on any of the map packs you bought, explain how you would get screwed.

He's saying for the people who adopted the Reach DLC early it would be a bad deal, seeing as they would be getting nothing new from and ODST-style content disk.

I get that, but those that paid for the DLC are currently getting their money's worth by playing it from now until this mythological date. One is hardly getting screwed in that scenario.

[quote name='louiedog']I'm guessing that if this is true they wouldn't even do a multiplayer component. It might come with a Reach multiplayer disc the way ODST came with the Halo 3 multiplayer disc, just so they can justify a $60 price.[/QUOTE]

If this rumor is true, this makes the most sense. Especially if there are multiple Reach map packs by then.