Halo 6 is far out. Could mean 2019 or 2020. I really want them to get it together with the campaign because halo 4 and halo 5 campaigns were ass. I have no concerns at all with mulitplayer.
Gears 5 picking up from Gears 4 is expected. I didn't like any of the new characters from Gears 4. The trailer didn't move me at all. There should have been more gameplay
Crackdown 3 - I do not understand why they showed that trailer. You're having constant delays but your trailer doesn't show anything to get people hyped. Where the fuck is the multiplayer demo?
Forza Horizion 4 - I'm not into racers. I skipped through its presentation. It should be a great title given how FH3 turned out.
--------
Playground Games: They should have been picked up by MS. Great purchase but it doesn't fix their issues because they already made exclusives for MS.
Undead Labs: State of Decay 3 should be on the table. It can be so much more now that they actually have AAA funding. An interesting purchase due to them finally having AAA funding. Hiring new engineers should be the first thing they expand on.
Ninja Theory: They've had AAA funding in the past and those games were mediocre to average at best. They have a lot to prove now that they have AAA funding again.
The Initiative: I don't really have much to say about this. I hope they're creating their own engine designed specifically for the xbone.
Compulsion Games: I have no clue what to expect from them with AAA funding.
There was nothing wrong with Halo campaign in terms of gameplay in Halo 4 or 5. What was not there was the rich storytelling that had been part and parcel of the universe. There was nothing wrong with the multiplayer either.......people that have actually owned these consoles, and actually played these games would know as much.
When it comes to Gears of War 5, I like what they are trying to do especially when it comes to ramping up the story, they are changing the formula by having a female lead. Who knows, maybe that gives us something more emotional on that end.......and it looks sick. Doubt there will be anything that holds a candle to it when it finally launches.
Will not comment on Crackdown 3, will be waiting to see what happens with it when it launches, but honestly I worry for it at this moment in time.
When it comes to the studios.
1) They needed to buy some of the studios seeing how they have had partnerships with studios only to see them bought up by a third party entity. They ought to have bought Bioware, DICE and possibly tried for Remedy this generation before they embarked on something new.
There is never going to be a situation in gaming where a publisher gets a promising developer and that is spun as a negative as to what that means for its development teams.
2) Microsoft buying Playground is something that was needed, especially with the news that they have a new development team making a new open world game. It is no different to what Sony did when they acquired a studio that had a partnership with them for so long in Naughty Dog. Horizon is one of the best racing series on console, outside GT and the mainline Forza series, there is not other top tier console racer that essentially rivals what they are doing in terms of quality or sales. If their new development team can hit the ground running and get some quality title out, then this is something that cannot be a negative....refer to point 1 in bold.
3) Undead Labs - I am with you on this. They have created a game that seems to have a large following despite having issues. They now have the backing, and support on a technical level that they may have never had when they were making their first two games. I would love to see what their next game in a few years time looks like.
4) Ninja Theory - In 2005, Sony took it upon themselves to buy Guerrilla Games. At that point, this studio had not done anything great. They had tried making a game that could rival Halo in Killzone, on the Playstation 2, and had not done anything else worth mention. Sony was already publishing some of their projects before they bought them out in 2005, and it would be post that merger that they would bring out Killzone on the PSP, and the hit gold with Killzone 2 and Killzone 3. Shadowfall was not great, but it was a solid game at the start of this generation for Sony before they knocked it out of the park with HZD.
This is similar to what happened with Microsoft when they bought out Bungie. At that time, the only game I had come across from Bungie was Oni, and while it was good, it was not great. I did not know what to expect from Bungie having decided to buy the Xbox due to another franchise. Look at how that worked out. This is a tale that can be repeated for so many developers, even second party that have struggled once they left Sony or MS to try and find their footing elsewhere.
What Ninja Theory is today is a developer that has been making games rated around where Killzone Shadowfall was; they tried getting it big with Heavenly Sword (a game I played), and slightly improved on it with Enslaved. What they did with Hellblade which is one of the best games out this generation not only from the theme (risky), narrative and the barriers they had to tackle to develop that one game is possibly one of the best stories to come out this generation. All this was done by 20 developers, on a modest budget of 10 million that included marketing. It is not like they are a worthless developer. Who knows, maybe they grow from strength to strength with MS backing, maybe they put out a game with a rating of 85% first time of asking then build on that. It is hardly a loss for a console that has been lacking story driven games.
5) The Initiative - Hard to talk about what they are going to be doing when nothing other than who is heading the studio has been revealed. What gives me confidence in this team is that Microsoft has built teams from the ground up before and that the man at the helm was key in what Crystal Dynamics did when they got Tomb Raider back to being absolute quality. They are the one team that is possibly furthest away from having a game out, but the addition of the new teams is something that buys them time to try and come up with something of quality.
6) When it comes to Compulsion, I am with you. I do not know what to expect, but reading that some of their staff worked on Bioshock is something that makes me happy because I really enjoyed Bioshock, and Bioshock 2. The idea here seems to be that Microsoft is looking to invest in story driven games, something that they have been lacking.
So why can we not give them time to see what they are going to come out with in the coming few years? Maybe we will get to see a game or two from these studios teased next E3; my money would be on Playground and Ninja Theory.
Will end on this note; there will never be a negative to a publisher adding development teams, there will never be a negative when the publisher believes that there is promise in some of these teams. You take the risk and see how it pans out.
