Adam Creighton, Computer and Video Gaming: No Halo 3 Live co-op ...

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Adam Creighton, Computer and Video Gaming (Subscribe)

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

No Halo 3 Live co-op ...

So, I'm pretty miffed. Commence pissy post.

In an interview with Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM), Bungie's Frank O'Conner said online co-op (via Xbox Live) isn't likely to make it into the shipped Halo 3 in September:

"We know that people want it and we're trying to make it happen. I think the biggest problem for us for online co-op is that we have a situation where you can be in a Warthog with five troops, almost a mile away from the other player. That's a significant challenge. And there's lots of design things you could do to prevent that from happening, but they would make it not feel like Halo anymore. If we can make it happen in a way that works well, we will - and if it works badly, we won't."

So, I'm not working on the game, but brass tacks is it sounds like they didn't design this from the get-go, and they're making the decision now to short the feature.

Think of the original Halo, where you can co-op, and if you get behind, the lagging player is teleported to the same location as the lead player. Not ideal, but it is pretty smooth.

Now think of games like Doom 3 (also on the old Xbox) and Gears of War (on the Xbox 360) that do support online co-op. So, Halo 3, coming out a year (or years) after these other titles, not supporting the feature, is a bit of a setback, and arguably provides a stumbling block for the "king of the now-gen shooters" for which I'm sure Bungie is angling.

O'Conner does say the feature could show up later as a downloadable update, and that they know people want it ("We're not dumb").

I'm a manager and lead for development, projects, teams, and services, so I understand the prioritization of features, and some things need to get dropped to make dates.

Halo 3 has a high bar, though. Three years in development, and the stigma of a roughly ended Halo 2 and the missing (and badly stubbed out ) online co-op that seriously irked fans in that title. And they have new high bars to reach in the form of Epic's Gears of War, and their upcoming Unreal Tournament 3. Not to mention Ubisoft's upcoming Haze, which (according to their Website) will feature 4-player online co-op.

So, for a lot of gamers, September and Halo 3 isn't just about "finishing the fight"; as a trilogy ender, it's the expectation that Bungie "finishes the game."

Labels: announcements, DLC, Halo, shooters, Xbox 360, Xbox Live