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Halo 4 Announced (MS Conf, 2012, Start Of New Trilogy)

Everything from the last two books can be transformed into a gameplay element, curious?
Spartan IV : new armor models for MP and possible co-op integration if story allows.
Infinity Program : new human weapons and vehicles. New ship, new places to visit
Sanghaeili dissidents : keep fighting them after Halo 3 resolution
Forunners history explained: Greg Bear ain't cheap but certainly cheaper than getting all in cutscenes or dumbed down ala Origins.
Precursor : new evil, new powers, necessary for the Chief to evolve and reclaim.

It's not like 343i tries to hide anything, it's just trying to sell it well.

Monome, I am pretty sure that when Greg Bear agreed to write novels in the HALO universe, Microsoft/343 Studios must have included wording in the contract to the effect that they get to use any of his ideas in future HALO games. In other words, they own the rights, and I don't think they will have to pay him any additional monies for integrating any of his ideas/concepts into future HALO games.

By the way, Greg Bear is one of my favorite Sci-Fi writers. "Forge of God" and "Anvil of Stars" are two of my favorite Sci-Fi books of all time. I realize that this must have been a lucrative deal for him, but to be perfectly honest, I would prefer to see his time and talents spent on his own novels, not in writing books based on a videogame.
 
I don't see how current media would be inaccurate. It's merely relative, we don't have any sense of the distance between the Dawn and the planet so we couldn't tell if it was really that big.

FUt7x.jpg


Come on, son!
 
FUt7x.jpg


Come on, son!

Going by that, definitely not.

Still fits to be Trevelyan, considering all the fiction and plot direction up til now. Some early game art that shows a planet of indefinite size (roughly moon size, it looks) isn't gonna debunk Onyx/Trevelyan being the planet, to me.
 
Going by that, definitely not.

Still fits to be Trevelyan, considering all the fiction and plot direction up til now. Some early game art that shows a planet of indefinite size (roughly moon size, it looks) isn't gonna debunk Onyx/Trevelyan being the planet, to me.

Dude, its not Onyx.

ONI owns that place now, why would MC go there? It is probably a similar installation to Onyx, as the Forerunners spread them across the galaxy as bomb shelters for when the Halo Array fired. It is probably where a piece of Mendicant Bias is still left, fighting against the Precursor.
 
Going by that, definitely not.

Still fits to be Trevelyan, considering all the fiction and plot direction up til now. Some early game art that shows a planet of indefinite size (roughly moon size, it looks) isn't gonna debunk Onyx/Trevelyan being the planet, to me.

Stop it. It's not Onyx.
 
Sanghaeili dissidents : keep fighting them after Halo 3 resolution
Haven't read the books but
is that really a potential story arc that 4 could down? Between this, the Halo 4 warthog in forza and Payton leaving, we're not going to see the amount if change I would have liked. For better or worse, it sounds like it's going to be more Halo
 
Going by that, definitely not.

Still fits to be Trevelyan, considering all the fiction and plot direction up til now. Some early game art that shows a planet of indefinite size (roughly moon size, it looks) isn't gonna debunk Onyx/Trevelyan being the planet, to me.
Then consider what it would look like in-game. The thing is so big, it appears to be flat.
If you're not going to use the defining feature of a Dyson sphere in the game, then what's the point of even going inside? It would be like Halo without the ring in the sky. That's just silly.

The lack of comma in that still makes me giggle. I can only assume that you're gonna be playing as Cortana as she struggles to wake Chief up.
I like the way you think. Also, kittens.
 
still dont see why microsoft wouldn't have pc versions made of halo 3, reach or at least this one. Do they not see the opportunity for even more money? I would buy a copy of a new halo pc game no doubt. Heres hoping we get 4 for pcs as well :-)
 
still dont see why microsoft wouldn't have pc versions made of halo 3, reach or at least this one. Do they not see the opportunity for even more money? I would buy a copy of a new halo pc game no doubt. Heres hoping we get 4 for pcs as well :-)
They're probably waiting for the opportunity to Trojan Horse it into another undesirable OS.
 
Haven't read the books but
is that really a potential story arc that 4 could down? Between this, the Halo 4 warthog in forza and Payton leaving, we're not going to see the amount if change I would have liked. For better or worse, it sounds like it's going to be more Halo

Haha.

If you're not going to use the defining feature of a Dyson sphere in the game, then what's the point of even going inside? It would be like Halo without the ring in the sky. That's just silly.

Well, I remember there was some talk as to the art direction like structures in the sky, etc. Looks like we are in for a lot of floating columns and enormous structures in the distance from all directions in dat skybox(60fps confirmed).

So, you can be assured that Sparth and his team are going to make the interior of the Dyson sphere look amazing, even if we don't see the curvature (if we did, it sure as hell wouldn't be close to the size of a dyson sphere).
 
Then consider what it would look like in-game. The thing is so big, it appears to be flat.
If you're not going to use the defining feature of a Dyson sphere in the game, then what's the point of even going inside? It would be like Halo without the ring in the sky. That's just silly.

Don't see what that matters to the in-game, other than the skybox not including an arched horizon. Also, it looks (from early media alone) like the game will take place inside the planetoid, not on the surface.

Stop it. It's not Onyx.

It's possible it's not Onyx. The only thing to the contrary is some new media that doesn't fit the scale. I'm not saying I'm right
I just see the direction of the new Halo trilogy bringing the Chief back to the OG S2s and emphasizing Halsey's role as a character in the universe.

ONI owns that place now, why would MC go there? It is probably a similar installation to Onyx, as the Forerunners spread them across the galaxy as bomb shelters for when the Halo Array fired. It is probably where a piece of Mendicant Bias is still left, fighting against the Precursor.

MC has no choice; he didn't choose to float in the direction of the planetoid. From a plot design or gameplay perspective, you can confront ONI and its forces, possibly including S4s.

MB has as equal a probability of being on the Shield World Trevelyan as any other shield world.
 
It's possible it's not Onyx. The only thing to the contrary is some new media that doesn't fit the scale. I'm not saying I'm right or wrong,
I just see the direction of the new Halo trilogy bringing the Chief back to the OG S2s and emphasizing Halsey's role as a character in the universe.
It's not Onyx.
 
It's possible it's not Onyx.

It's not Onyx.

MC has no choice; he didn't choose to float in the direction of the planetoid. From a plot design or gameplay perspective, you can confront ONI and its forces, possibly including S4s.

MB has as equal a probability of being on the Shield World Trevelyan as any other shield world.

ONI = Ancient Evil...

gotcha.
 
Not saying they are, merely mulling over the possibilities.

/smh

Why would MC fight against
ONI S4's?

It's depressing seeing this thread so much despite no new news.

Well,
Humans are the ancient enemy of the Forerunners, so... :P

Serious answer: It's not Onyx.

Whilst this is true, I feel it is not applicable in the current timeline ;)

Why not? Like I said, possibilites. We've fought everything under the Covenant sun for five games.

Done with this.
 
/smh

Why would MC fight against
ONI S4's?

Why not? Like I said, possibilites. We've fought everything under the Covenant sun for five games. Sentinels and Flood too.
we could and probably will get new enemies to face, perhaps of the ancient foe variety. But I could imagine facing the "new and improved" stuff.
 
Well, I remember there was some talk as to the art direction like structures in the sky, etc. Looks like we are in for a lot of floating columns and enormous structures in the distance from all directions in dat skybox(60fps confirmed).

So, you can be assured that Sparth and his team are going to make the interior of the Dyson sphere look amazing, even if we don't see the curvature (if we did, it sure as hell wouldn't be close to the size of a dyson sphere).
I knew I shouldn't have used that specific term... I just meant a generally understood Ballworld (first chapter of my epic Larry Niven porn parody trilogy, coming soon).

Something like this:
(from the Halo 4 Concept Art teaser)
yd74Pl.jpg


or this

(from Halo Wars)
VKndKl.jpg
 
cant wait to see what they are doing with MP. Halo has the best MP only because it's skill based.
 
I knew I shouldn't have used that specific term... I just meant a generally understood Ballworld (first chapter of my epic Larry Niven porn parody trilogy, coming soon).

Something like this:
(from the Halo 4 Concept Art teaser)
yd74Pl.jpg


or this

(from Halo Wars)
VKndKl.jpg

Yea I could definitely get behind that Halo Wars shot; would be awesome to see structures and stuff off in the distance.

Dyson sphere isn't even really accurate given Onyx's size; its more like Jupiter I believe from the description in Glasslands.
 
Yea I could definitely get behind that Halo Wars shot; would be awesome to see structures and stuff off in the distance.

Dyson sphere isn't even really accurate given Onyx's size; its more like Jupiter I believe from the description in Glasslands.

Onyx was the decoy planet, the shell made up of Sentinels. The thing hidden inside it is very much the size of a Dyson sphere, with a radius of 1 AU.

From wikipedia:
8NWnyl.png

"A cut-away diagram of an idealized Dyson shell, a variant on Dyson's original concept, with a radius of 1 AU."
 
Onyx was the decoy planet, the shell made up of Sentinels. The thing hidden inside it is very much the size of a Dyson sphere, with a radius of 1 AU.

From wikipedia:
8NWnyl.png

"A cut-away diagram of an idealized Dyson shell, a variant on Dyson's original concept, with a radius of 1 AU."

Didn't they
enlarge it in Glasslands, before ONI moved in though? When it was shrunk I'm pretty sure it was like the size of a basketball, only ridiculously dense. When they enlarged the sphere, it was still inside of a solar system.

Now, INSIDE is a totally different matter given how pro the Forerunners were with slipspace, the outside of where MC is going could be planet sized, the interior could be solar-system sized.
Glasslands spoilers
 
cant wait to see what they are doing with MP. Halo has the best MP only because it's skill based.

Should be interesting to see what direction they take with the multiplayer. Fans' expectations will be high to deliver classic Halo, while others will want a revolution in terms of gameplay design.

Now, INSIDE is a totally different matter given how pro the Forerunners were with slipspace, the outside of where MC is going could be planet sized, the interior could be solar-system sized.

Seems like a rather arbitrary thing to do.
 
Monome, I am pretty sure that when Greg Bear agreed to write novels in the HALO universe, Microsoft/343 Studios must have included wording in the contract to the effect that they get to use any of his ideas in future HALO games. In other words, they own the rights, and I don't think they will have to pay him any additional monies for integrating any of his ideas/concepts into future HALO games.

By the way, Greg Bear is one of my favorite Sci-Fi writers. "Forge of God" and "Anvil of Stars" are two of my favorite Sci-Fi books of all time. I realize that this must have been a lucrative deal for him, but to be perfectly honest, I would prefer to see his time and talents spent on his own novels, not in writing books based on a videogame.

Heu, that's a given. Just wanted to say, it's cheaper to get him to write books that explain a lot of things, rather than pay for incredibly long cutscenes to include in Halo 4.

Just a way of saying, any place, or protagonist he introduces, you're pretty sure it will connect with halo 4, nothing new here.

I just want to fly a Sphinx.

Stuff in Glasslands is not gonna have much impact on Halo 4, except for
angry sanghaelis, Spartan 4!, Infinity and the fact humans are already adapting forunner tech to military usage, ONI is more cunning than ever and Halsey lives
, the rest is pretty much fan service if included.

Stuff from Cryptum
angry as fuck Didact, angrier as fuck Precursor, Humans from before and the mysterious Librarian
, the rest is pretty much fan service if included.

Crazy ranting anyway, and stuff from those two books follow ups is probably taken into account anyway as they release the same year as the game.

Just give me a trailer 343 and help say something smart.


Oh, and don't forget the added epilogues to the republished versions of the first three Halo books! good stuff in there too
as we learn someone, a forunner for sure, is watching the events from Halo CE and communicating about it
 
Didn't they
enlarge it in Glasslands, before ONI moved in though? When it was shrunk I'm pretty sure it was like the size of a basketball, only ridiculously dense. When they enlarged the sphere, it was still inside of a solar system.

Now, INSIDE is a totally different matter given how pro the Forerunners were with slipspace, the outside of where MC is going could be planet sized, the interior could be solar-system sized.
Glasslands spoilers
Yep, you're right. This is always what I thought they were going to do to get a
dyson sphere sized location for Halo 4.
 
Didn't they
enlarge it in Glasslands, before ONI moved in though? When it was shrunk I'm pretty sure it was like the size of a basketball, only ridiculously dense. When they enlarged the sphere, it was still inside of a solar system.

Now, INSIDE is a totally different matter given how pro the Forerunners were with slipspace, the outside of where MC is going could be planet sized, the interior could be solar-system sized.
Glasslands spoilers

It was always the same size. At first, though, it was inside a Slipspace bubble only 23 centimeters (or something like that) in diameter. Basically it was like an elephant inside a small car, only more space wizard-like.

When it 'enlarged', it just transited to normal (our) space. It retained its size, but now it wasn't stuck in a bubbe anymore.
 
Emile's shotgun sniping at the Drones in Pillar of Autumn is among the most useless friendly AI behavior I've ever seen in a Halo game.

Captain Keyes would like a word with you.

@Trey: I think they're calling it Halo 4 by design. General public people are dumb. A numbered sequel still means something to them. I suspect it'll be Halo 4: San Andreas, or maybe Halo 4: Die H4rderererer, or something like that.
 
I'm hoping that Halo 4 won't actually be called Halo 4. It's a new trilogy, it deserves to be distinct. Halo: Reclaimer, or something along those lines.
 
so I havent read the books, only wiki and summaries of them up until halo 3 and then the terminals in Halo CEA

humans are decendants of forerunners
before the forerunners there were precursors
the precursors and forerunners were at war
at some point the precursors were losing, as this happened forerunners destroyed most precursor history/buildings/ect
the precursors had a cure for the flood, but didn't share it


if any of these are wrong let me know, also if anyone has a good and easy to read wiki to bring me up to date with the lore of the new books please share.

really want to know how long after the events of Halo 3 did the Spartan IV program start and the UNSC Infinity
 
if any of these are wrong let me know, also if anyone has a good and easy to read wiki to bring me up to date with the lore of the new books please share.

really want to know how long after the events of Halo 3 did the Spartan IV program start and the UNSC Infinity

Most of what you had spoiler-texted was sort of in the ballpark but not quite right. With what you know now you'll probably be caught up for Halo 4. Although reading Cryptum and Glasslands would get you up to speed 100%.

∀ Narayan;33476872 said:
So is Glasslands the book to read as far as chronological order goes? The last Halo book I read was Ghosts of Onyx.

Glasslands is pretty much a direct sequel to Ghosts of Onyx and it, along with Cryptum, were surprisingly good for books based on a video game property.
 
Most of what you had spoiler-texted was sort of in the ballpark but not quite right. With what you know now you'll probably be caught up for Halo 4. Although reading Cryptum and Glasslands would get you up to speed 100%.

thanks

i tried to listen to the cryptum audio book, not sure if it was the narrator or not but I found it really...boring and never made it past for the first couple parts
 
so I havent read the books, only wiki and summaries of them up until halo 3 and then the terminals in Halo CEA

humans are decendants of forerunners
before the forerunners there were precursors
the precursors and forerunners were at war
at some point the precursors were losing, as this happened forerunners destroyed most precursor history/buildings/ect
the precursors had a cure for the flood, but didn't share it


if any of these are wrong let me know, also if anyone has a good and easy to read wiki to bring me up to date with the lore of the new books please share.

really want to know how long after the events of Halo 3 did the Spartan IV program start and the UNSC Infinity
I forget exactly how the Precursors fit in other than the fact that they came before the Forerunners, but
Humans are not descended from Forerunners, and ancient Humans fought the Forerunners while both fought the Flood. Humans had a cure for the Flood which they used to beat them back, at which point Forerunners took the opportunity to defeat and devolve Humans. I think I recall that the Halos are capable of destroying Precursor relics because there is some biological component to them. I think that the Forerunners killed off the Precursors at some point, except for one prisoner. The Flood may have been the Precursors' final revenge for their defeat.
 
so I havent read the books, only wiki and summaries of them up until halo 3 and then the terminals in Halo CEA

humans are decendants of forerunners
before the forerunners there were precursors
the precursors and forerunners were at war
at some point the precursors were losing, as this happened forerunners destroyed most precursor history/buildings/ect
the precursors had a cure for the flood, but didn't share it


if any of these are wrong let me know, also if anyone has a good and easy to read wiki to bring me up to date with the lore of the new books please share.

really want to know how long after the events of Halo 3 did the Spartan IV program start and the UNSC Infinity

Oh. Boy.

Humans are not descendants of Forerunners.
- Some of the Forerunners speculate that Humans and Forerunners may share some genetic tie in some form but that is only brief speculation.

The Forerunners history with the Precursors is unknown
- The Precurosrs prepdated the Forerunners by eons and they simply don't know much about them, in the same vein that Humanity doesn't know much about the ancient Forerunners.
- The last known Precursor was taken captive and locked up by the Forerunners.
- The Forerunners were at war with Humanity. Turns out ancient Humanity was pretty badass but we kept to ourselves in a small arm of the galaxy whilst the Forerunners kept to the rest. Then we discovered the Flood. The Flood pushed Humanity into Forerunner territory so Humanity went to war with the Forerunners at the same time it was fighting the Flood.
- Humanity found out how to beat the Flood through an unidentified biological weapon or means that required a massive sacrifice of the human population
- Humanity's massive losses resulted in a Forerunner victory and Humanity was genetically altered by the Forerunners and split into a smaller number of "regressed" sub-species
-The Flood bounced back and would eventually push the Foreunners to build and use the Haloes

The Forerunners (probably) did destroy any remaining Precursor artifacts
- The Precursors' technology managed to stand long after the Precursors disappeared and would have still stood for longer but the Haloes happened
- During a test firing of one of the Halo installations, a planet's entire Precursor relics, buildings and technologies are destroyed by the Halo effect
- Precursor technology was based on "neural physics" a unique concept that linked thought and matter in some way.
- The Halo Array successfully fired and engulfed the entire Milky Way exterminating all life and starving the Flood. This event most likely destroyed any and all Precursor technology and relics across the galaxy leaving only broken fragments and ruin.

Humanity refused to share the secret of defeating the Flood with the Forerunners
- Humanity did beat the Flood but at a high cost and when the Forerunners defeated Humanity this secret was never revealed to them. Sgt Johnson had a natural and rare immunity to Flood infection and the only known case of it's kind. This immunity may be linked to the ancient Human Flood secret.

Captain Del Rio was appointed CO of the UNSC Infinity (the same role as Captain Keyes on board the Pillar of Autumn) in March 2553, the same month that a memorial service for the dead was held in Voi, Africa (seen in the Halo 3 ending). We have Spartan IV's on deck on the Infinity so the IV program had to have been initiated before this date and time.
 
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