The entire 2007-era H2 multiplayer will be there. They're just adding dumb little things to H2A because waypoint kids would cry if nothing was changed.

And yet these were things Max Hobbermen approved and even wanted in his original incarnations, but lacked the tech for.

The -blam!- do I care what Max Hoberman thinks? If they really wanted these features in the original versions, they would have been there. This is just a cheap "well we gotta do SOMETHING to change things up!" directors cut. Why am I even responding to you? You're a well established fanboy whose sole purpose in Halo-related discussions is to drain 343's balls and defend every single decision they make, no matter how ill-advised. A houseplant is capable of contributing more to a discussion than you are.

[quote]The -blam!- do I care what Max Hoberman thinks? If they really wanted these features in the original versions, they would have been there. This is just a cheap "well we gotta do SOMETHING to change things up!" directors cut. Why am I even responding to you? You're a well established fanboy whose sole purpose in Halo-related discussions is to drain 343's balls and defend every single decision they make, no matter how ill-advised. A houseplant is capable of contributing more to a discussion than you are.[/quote] They were not there because the rest of Bungie could not get their shit together to get the game out on time. It is kinda public knowledge now that development of Halo 2 was kind of a mess. Max Hoberman did an awesome job with what time and resources he had and he did a lot of work on Halo 3 also (if I remember correctly) which had great MP (better than 4 and Reach which was crap and full of problems). I mean the Warfare mode he talked about at the panel sounded AMAZING and makes me hope Max helps out 343i with Halo 5 MP as they need his guidance. All of the Certain Affinity maps (Halo 3, Halo 4, and Halo Reach) were GREAT.

I'm not gonna deny that Max Hoberman is a smart guy and one of a handful of people out there who truly *get* Halo, but at the same time I'm not going to adopt him as one of my deities and just automatically agree with him and regurgitate everything he says as if it's gospel, which is what 95% of the cuckolds on this and any other video game forum do with whomever they choose as their overlord. I don't know what maps Certain Affinity made in Halo 3, but their track record is mixed IMO as far as map playability. They remade Derelict and Hang em High at the tail end of Halo 2's life cycle and, honestly, both maps bombed. Derelict was simple to begin with, but they removed everything distinctive about it and turned it into the very definition of a bland, lifeless, cookie cutter arena. Tombstone was just Hang em High on easy mode, since blue was now much more accessible, and the battles to hold/regain it didn't mean as much. Highlands in Reach was a lot of fun, probably their best work. Condemned was dumb fun in premium slayer but when teams played seriously it felll apart. The anniversary maps were meh, most of the alterations they made were either lateral moves or downgrades. They did seven original maps for Halo 4 and only 3 of them were halfway decent; Skyline, Perdition, and Outcast. Landfall is Condemned all over again but worse, Monolith plays like a mediocre community forge map, Daybreak stinks, and Vertigo is like a remake of Abandon. What I WILL say about Certain Affinity though, is that they have a [i]very[/i] good team of environment artists. The backdrops they created for the map packs they worked on, as well as H4 forge (dat Impact skybox!), are incredible, and completely outclass what Bungie and 343i did in those same games. They have a real talent for bringing these fictional places to life.

1) because he was the guy who designed and built halo 2 multiplayer? 2) on his own for several months no less. He had no dedicated assets to help him build anything except for one programmer Chris carney later in. The entire studio was working on something else for multiplayer while max was shafted to doing arena multiplayer for the longest time. He was [i]the guy[/i] who designed your beloved Halo 2 and these are things that have his personal blessing and even request. I would have expected his word to be treated with more respect. 3) and this [i]js [/i]a directors cut which by definition is cut content reestablished for later editions of a work. All of this stuff, that being elements such as the gungoose and various weaponry, was original intent or ideas originally thought up but max's one man team simply lacked the capacity or the technology to put in. Their approach literally was "if you could redesign these maps with the technology you have now that you wished you had 10 years ago, what would you do?" 4) and finally, let us be civil. I am being civil, but you are the one resorting to childish insults which is in fact patently what a fanboy does. If you can't maintain civility in a simply discussion about gaming, why am I or anyone obligated to take you seriously?

[quote]1) because he was the guy who designed and built halo 2 multiplayer? 2) on his own for several months no less. He had no dedicated assets to help him build anything except for one programmer Chris carney later in. The entire studio was working on something else for multiplayer while max was shafted to doing arena multiplayer for the longest time. He was the guy who designed your beloved Halo 2 and these are things that have his personal blessing and even request. I would have expected his word to be treated with more respect.[/quote] I can do my own thinking, I don't need Max Hoberman to do it for me. I'm not a -blam!-ing drone who parrots other people's opinions all day, like you. [quote]3) and this js a directors cut which by definition is cut content reestablished for later editions of a work. All of this stuff, that being elements such as the gungoose and various weaponry, was original intent or ideas originally thought up but max's one man team simply lacked the capacity or the technology to put in. Their approach literally was "if you could redesign these maps with the technology you have now that you wished you had 10 years ago, what would you do?"[/quote] Most all of that stuff was probably cut for a reason. And for that reason these maps will likely be cluttered and inferior in comparison to their original counterparts. And Ascension just sucked to begin with so with this bubble shield thing it should be a spectacle. I'll be too busy playing real Halo to find out for sure, though. [quote]4) and finally, let us be civil. I am being civil, but you are the one resorting to childish insults which is in fact patently what a fanboy does.[/quote] If you say so, but in this case it's also what someone who thinks you're a terrible poster does (as has thought so for a few years now), as well as someone who wonders whether or not your asinine thought process is legitimate or some kind of weird performance art. I'm not concerned about how seriously you take me, I already know that my intelligence is vastly superior to yours.

Oh, okay, so I guess if Bungie really wanted Halo 2 to be a finished game, it would be finished.

If they really wanted a magic bubble shield in the middle of Ascension, it would have been there. Campaign got the shaft in H2 much more than multiplayer did.

Would it have? Do you have any idea how game development works?

Yes, it would have. Interactive press-button features were present on Zanzibar and I want to say at least one other launch map had them as well, and the energy shield mechanic wasn't exactly foreign to Halo 2. They definitely could have done it if they really wanted it there in the first place. The fact that they didn't shows that it wasn't a big deal to them.

Not really. It sounds like you didn't even watch the stream.

I watched the 10 minute Ascension walkthrough where they talked about their philosophy behind the map updates. But I got better things to do than devote an entire hour of my life to watching game devs drone on about whatever and listening to convention mouthbreathers ask dumb, irrelevant questions.

Then you really shouldn't be saying this BS because you have no idea what you're talking about.

No, everything I'm saying is pretty much in response to what they said in the walkthrough. Sounds like you're scrambling for an edge here, kiddo.

Not really. I can tell you exactly why you don't know what you're talking about. The shield on Ascension was never something planned for Halo 2. What was planned was for interactive elements like the stuff on Zanzibar to be on every map. Time was short and they could never flesh out what they wanted. This is what the lead developer literally talked about during the panel. So when they brought him aboard the H2A team, they used him for suggestions on how to improve maps by including philosophies that we're cut. Secondly, let's theoretically say that the shield was always meant to be there. If the decision was made to add it, they might not have the resources or the time to make it work correctly. Extensive bug-testing is done in new additions to environments. If they don't have the time to do that testing, it can get cut. Or let's say that a bug was found. If it was too late in development, they might not have time to properly squash it. That's what happened to the Space Squirrel and Space Porcupine from Reach. Lastly, what's this BS about Halo 2's multiplayer development being okay, while the campaign was a mess? If you watched the stream, you'd have found out both were an absolute mess. If it wasn't for Halo 2's MP designer, Halo 2 wouldn't even have multiplayer. Bungie was obsessed with the idea of making Halo's multiplayer this big experience called 'Warfare'. It was supposed to be this 32 player battlefield-esque experience. But Max Hoberman didn't like that, so he kicked and screamed enough that after a while, he was given the small task to build a side experience comparable to Halo CE. Turns out Warfare fell into developmental hell and was cut entirely. Next thing you know, this small sideshow is suddenly the main show. [quote]Sounds like you're scrambling for an edge here, kiddo.[/quote]Always found it interesting how people give themselves an ego boost by distancing themselves from the opposition in age. Some of the smartest people I know are younger than me, so I always found this ad hominem argument really full of holes in how sound it is.