Caboose The Ace

Herro one and all and welcome to the seventh news wrapup! Article One: Hideo Kojima leaves Konami Its been talked about for quite some time but on October 9th 2015 Hideo Kojima finally left the Tokyo offices of Konami, the company where he had worked since 1986. But before he left he hosted a departure ceremony where around a hundred people attended. This information comes from a presumably Konami employee who got in touch with NewYorker who called the ceremony the “Rather cheerful but also emotional goodbye" The source who did not wish to be named also said that he did not see Konami’s president, Hideki Hayakawa, or its C.E.O, Sadaaki Kaneyoshi, at the party, but some of Kojima’s colleagues from other studios showed up to pay their respects, as did many other people who worked on Metal Gear Solid V. Konami eventually responded to this article stating that Kojima was still an employee at Konami and was actually on vacation, though its hard to deny the evidence. http://343i.org/37o< Evidence. (Personal note: It was leaked a while ago that Kojima's contract ends in December so Konami have to keep him on their payroll until then. So they probably put him on Gardeners leave. Gardeners leave is when the chosen employee is told to stay away from work during the notice period, while still remaining on the payroll. So that's why he is still registered as an employee yet he held a goodbye ceremony. Because that is the last time he is going to be in Konami offices but he has to be on their records for a few weeks longer) Article Two: Sony stops PS Vita first party development Recently Sony Senior Vice President Masayasu Ito confirmed that Sony has ceased making first party games for the PS Vita. With third parties now being responsible for the handhelds upcoming lineup. "Currently, first-party studios have no titles in development for PS Vita. Since third parties are working very hard on PS Vita, SCE's own strategy is to focus on PS4, which is a new platform." Ito said in an interview with the Japanese Gaming site, 4Gamer. He then went onto say. "At the beginning, the PS Vita did not resonate with age targets under 20, but now the situation is changing and the popularity with younger demographics is increasing. Minecraft: PS Vita Edition has provided a boost. In addition to that, a variety of third-party games are also planned for the future, and in order to further accelerate that flow, we decided to release new colors for the PS Vita this fall." Article Three: Kings Fall Hard Mode already beaten Only recently was the new hard mode from the Destiny expansion the Taken King released. Yet it has already been beaten by a team of enduring Guardians. The current record set was 1 hour, 17 minutes for clan Forever LivE. But come on, I bet you guys here (Looking at you Azaxx) Can do better! Annnnd that's a wrap! Thanks for reading! Source one: http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/why-did-hideo-kojima-leave-konami Source two: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/sony-doesnt-have-any-vita-games-of-its-own-in-deve/1100-6431679/ Source three: http://uk.ign.com/articles/2015/10/23/destinys-kings-fall-raid-falls-in-just-over-an-hour

Is it really that bad that you move around the map slightly faster? Not really. Sprint is far from radical and really only changes how fast you move between engagements. That's it? Its not the most radical change coming at all and your making this a much bigger deal than it is. " I love how you specifically chose not to answer that part of my argument because you have nothing really to say on the contrary" You know what I love? When people make bad assumptions about me. "If they don't want to follow the core Halo formula and they want to make a game that doesn't play like Halo, why not make a new game instead?" A whole new IP just to make Halo purists happy? No thanks. You claim your not one but your coming off as one occasionally. I mean, its just sprint, it makes you move, slightly faster. Sprint is not this radical change than completely screws up the Halo formula like you are making it to be. "It shouldn't BE a middle ground, it should resemble Halo" But it does. It looks like Halo, sounds like Halo and plays like Halo with a few new additions. Firstly there should be a middeground because you have to understand people like Halo 4. You get rid of stuff like sprint and your almost alienating part of the fanbase. Secondly its also about money, 343 and Ms need to get paid you know? "Halo shouldn't have to sacrifice it's unique identity" Its not, that is a Halo purist thing right there! Its just sprint, its not that radical, it makes you move faster, I know I've said that a lot but that's all it is! By Ground pound I mean all the moves, like the ground pound or the side step for example. It makes it more tactical and oh so slightly fasterpaced. "no solid reasoning to support that claim" I do, Assassins Creed and Call of Duty. What makes those games so similar? Because they have stayed the same for a very long time and are both annualised releases. Sure they may change a few things here and there but that's not evolution. Something like Ac4 was an evolution. But of course now Ubisoft has scrapped boats..... Those series are stagnant, and I don't want Halo to become stagnant. So that's why game series need to evolve so they don't stagnant. Luckily Halo 5 is evolving in many ways. "was really "broken" about Halo's formula" How about the ranking system? Halo 2/3 were plenty bad but that is another topic.... My point is: Sprint is not radical at all and you better get used because its staying. That's it. That's the blunt truth. Also if moving from engagement to engagement is as important as you say it is. Then I'm happy sprint is around, I don't want to spend half the match looking around for fights.

Yup.

"Are you telling me that when I play a series of 20 slayer matches straight, no one's going to be using sprint to close distances faster?" I am telling you that. I used the Spartan example a few posts back and its still valid. The guy not using sprint has got a higher chance of winning. So especially in games like FFA when you can get attacked from every angle you might not want to use sprint at all. "Okay? And that's why they could've just made a new, standalone IP and introduce the gameplay style there with sprinting intact, instead of having to stray from Halo's roots" A whole IP just to add sprint in? That is simply put a waste of money. How pointless would it be to reskin Halo 5 and not add sprint? Very pointless. What you are suggesting is a complete waste of time. Sprint is not even that radical compared to something like the ground pound..... You have to understand some people actually like Halo Reach/H4 so 343 has to come to a middleground, sprint in Halo 5 is that middleground, and its a brilliant one at that. "it still doesn't play like any of the first three Halo games" Neither does Halo 5. "Maybe, maybe not, but we'd really have to see that in action first before judging (perhaps if we can disable Spartan Abilities in Halo 5). If that's the case though, then we should take more steps so the game doesn't stray from its roots like that" Well the Ground pound thing makes everything more fast paced, and its not like making things slightly more fast paced is a bad thing. Series need to evolve, not just change, but evolve. Look at Assassins Creed. Has the series changed in the last few entries? Yes, has it evolved? No. That's why I the recent game in the series Assassins Creed Syndicate sucks. Because it has not evolved. Halo needs to evolve and Halo 5 is a brilliant evolution.

Lets fix that list..... ADS - Halo always had heavy emphasis on precision within its gunplay. ADS complements that. Thrusters - It's just a sidestep maneuver, that's really it. Flinch - So you just have to keep re-adjusting your aim? Uh... I don't see the deal here Ground Pound - It's prett much another melee attack, okay? Sprint-just a faster way of moving. That was a good counter post I will admit, but I still have a little fight in me. "You say sprint makes the game faster paced, but that's the point here. Halo was never really a super flashy, fast paced game" But Halo 5 is not super fast paced. Sprint makes you move faster at the cost of your shields (If they are down) and your ability to actually win a firefight. So much so that I saw a lot of players in the beta simply not using sprint. Besides even with Sprint not in the equation Halo 5 is still much faster paced than Halo 3. The reason sprint is there is to appease those who actually liked Halo Reach and Halo 4. Its sort of a middleground. There are enough downsides to appease to those who like Halo 2/3. But enough benefits to appease those who like Halo 4 and 5. That's why its in there. You even admitted yourself sprint is balanced. It may not be to your liking but its going to stay in Halo, maybe forever. Its not like its Halo 4 sprint or anything, Halo 5 is balanced so its best to get used to it. Even if its not in Halo's roots. Its not like its the biggest change to the core Halo formula in Halo 5 is it? By the way what I meant by tactical is. You have my options to be tactical because of the ground pound. Will you ground pound? Will you sidestep? It allows more options and so more tactical opportunities. "By your logic, they should rename Battlefield to Halo because Battlefield is tactical as well so it must be Halo" Not really, your taking my words out of context. "I'd rather see a brand new arena FPS with this kind of sprint mechanic while at the same time, having Halo be Halo" Its just sprint, I feel like your making this a bigger thing that it actually is. As I said before, even if Sprint went. Halo 5 will still be much faster paced than Halo 3. "WERE putting words in my mouth, so at least be honest and stop trying to deny it" Because your first post was slightly contradicting. Or at least it came off that way. It just did not feel in the first post you really had any decent counterpoints apart from it strays from the roots and you did not define what the roots were. Besides that was the first post, the post I'm replying to now actually has made some good points, so well done on that.

Strays away? ADS, flinch, thruster pack and ground pound is way more radical than sprint and strays away way more than Halo's previous mechanics. Sprint and ground pound for example do compliment the game. They make it slightly more fast pasted while still keeping that element of tactical freedom and expanding it. Using Ground Pound or Sprint is a valued risk, it may or may not be worth it. "Because these change don't cause the game to stray from its roots" Well what is Halo's roots because everyone has a different interpretation of it. Because from what I can gather from you, Halo is an arena shooter, and that's a broad term. Its also about the tactical gameplay, and Halo 5 has expanded that to make Halo even more tactical with the ground pound ability or sprint. "I never said it wasn't balanced, In fact it's quite the opposite" I stated this at the end and how its sort of hypocritical. So I'm not putting words into your mouth. "Halo to resemble, you know, Halo." Halo 5 looks like other Halo games, no? Also you keep throwing words like formula out there without context, what is Halo's formula? Personally I believe Halo's roots and formula are just nothing short of crap people use to push the Halo purist agenda. Because they usually use it as something to hide behind without fully explaining. (Don't worry this wasn't a personal attack on you indirectly if your wondering. That's just actually my opinion on it) Besides changes can be good and I don't mind them as look as they are good. Look at Metal Gear Solid V, the game changed the game's usual formula, and made it open world, and that was a good change. It was radical, but it paid off. "It's like the series is having an identity crisis that started since Reach" True, but I think Halo 5 is a return to form. "If you're going to continue putting words in my mouth, saying I want the game to be an exact re-skin of Halo 3 and saying that I claimed H5's sprint to be unbalanced, when I never actually said EITHER of those things, then I'm not really interested in talking with you about the matter. Because that's kind of rude, I'm trying to have an intellectual discussion and/or debate here, When you're debating with someone, you don't just put words in their mouth and try to change what they were saying, that's a pretty shallow move and doesn't really help prove your case in the slightest, in fact, it kind of ruins the credibility of your entire argument." Once again you need to read. I did not put words, I said that's how your argument came off as, not what you said. And it did come off as that. You said it was balanced but then went to attack it for no reason. If you were saying "Sprint is not balanced" At the start the argument would have had more weight to it. But because you didn't it came off as also contradicting. So I'm not being shallow I'm just saying what I think and not putting words into your mouth.

I vote for Runt! FOR REDMPTION!

Well looks like I'm dead then.

This just comes off as "I don't like sprint because it was not in Halo 3" I really don't see any real downside to it, it just makes you move faster while making you more vulnerable in Halo 5. I mean your shields don't recharge anyway so Halo 5 sort of encourages no sprint so you can recharge your shields. Because who's going to win? Two Spartans meet at opposite ends of the corridor. One ran into the corridor via sprint, the other was not using sprint. Obviously the guy without sprint because the person using sprint has to stop sprinting and pull out his weapon. While the guy not using sprint can just fire away. Sprinting is balanced as it makes you move faster at the cost of being far more vulnerable. And you even state this at the start so that's why your posts come off as "I don't like Sprint because it was not in Halo 3" because its balanced. As long as its balanced and it works, then its fine?

I think I had 23 awards and now I have 21. I cant remember what they both were but the second was for 2000 posts. So I think I'm entitled to Inheritor.

Well AI's are based off a human brain so by the time of the fourth stage of rampancy they can be considered Human by the end if they reach that final stage of course. Though only three AI's have ever done so in Halo lore so far. There are three stages of rampancy. Credit to Halopeida btw. "Melancholia, where the AI grows depressed about its limited state of existence, Anger, where the AI lashes out at those who oppressed it, and Jealousy, where the AI attempts to take over larger systems in order to make itself more powerful. A fourth theoretical stage, Meta-stability, is hypothesized to be when the AI calms down and becomes a "true person" So Metastabilty is when the AI balances all three stages like a Human. Such as Cortana at the end of Halo 4. She is shown to be at peace despite almost all her other appearances of late being her either angry, unable to concentrate or being jealous. For those final moments she managed to balance it all out becoming fully human and focused on what she needed to do. To defeat the Didact and ensure Chief not only survived but detonated the nuke. EDIT Alright guys its been a week so lets fine out the results...... And it seems almost by a curbstomp pretty much nobody wants Cortana to have survived the events of Halo 4, though some do not mind either way. Thanks for voting everyone!

I'm more than happy too.

As far as I know there has been no info on the options available so far sadly. So the only thing you can do is keep asking around to see if someone who does have the game early can tell you, or wait until release.

Actually during her final moments in the hardlight shield Cortana became fully human because she entered the last stage of rampancy, metastabilty. When an AI reaches metasabilty it can be considered human. So Cortana deserves to be a she. Because by the end her mind was just as real as a normal Human being.

Yoshi, you didn't even try and save yourself, nor did any of your mafian comrades. So don't even start on that....

The best part is the mafians are not even trying. You mafians could have easily prevented that!

I do like the look of some of the new awards but I think there is a bit too few of them now, not like they were used a whole lot anyway so if you plan to implement awards more and make them more meaningful etc. Consider removing show awards thing that hides them and just the awards sheet as it used to be.

Sorry but I really need to do an Aceplam with this. Heh, get it, because my name is Caboose and it has an Ace on the end and its kinda like an thing with the.... Yup, I'll get on with the post now. "Or at least the ones that have no idea what a Halo game is. Halo 4 had parts of Call of Duty in it, the FMV and the Loadouts, and speaking of loadouts, half of them had no right whatsoever to be in the game, they were a complete waste and an insult to the Master Chief, and even the Spartan IV's" Fun fact: Halo 2 was supposed to have loadouts but Bungie could not find time to balance them so they were scrapped. As for loadouts actually being in the game, well that's open to debate. Personally I prefer fair starts so it is pretty much just about skill and using what equipment you can get your hands on to the fullest advantage. Though I certainly would not mind if they reintroduced loadouts in Halo 6. Not like they are going to but although I prefer fair starts its not a strong preference. I have no idea what FMV means so lets just move on..... "A Halo game that is Halo is a game so unique, it does not require some idiot to copy CoD to make it better" What is a Halo game that is a Halo game? So you think fair starts make a Halo game? Not really. Its more or less the gunplay and the guns themselves that do make up Halo. Or if you want to get meta its the coding of the game that makes up Halo. Its not like fair starts change that much, its not like you can spawn with a sniper or anything. Also just to state this: Loadouts were not even in Cod at first and just because the series now uses them does not make the series a bad series. Its a bad series because of the annual releases. "Halo, Halo 2 and Halo 3 improved with each release and Halo 4 in some way improved also" Halo 4 was the best Halo campaign ever. Why? Because there was actually character in that game and had a good story. Plus the writing was pretty good. I never had any emotion when Miranda died in Halo 2. But when Del Rio tried to take Cortana who in this game actually had something to do. (At least 343 tried to make the relationship between Chief and Cortana believable) I felt something. I hated Del Rio's guts for that! When Cortana "died" I admit I was pretty sad too. Not sad because I was attached to her character. But sad for Chief. He was breaking down as much as a guy who never displayed any real emotion for the past twenty or so years can do. So yheah, Halo 4 was great campaign wise. "It is a super Soldier for crying out loud, yeah, you can see where I am going with this. And what did they do to the Jetpack, in Halo Reach it was good and useful. In Halo 4, they halfed its time, making it almost useless." Not everything has to be realistic. After all why can Chief not sprint in any game before Halo 4? Why do the UNSC still use bullets? See, there is plenty of stuff that does not make sense in Halo games and trust me I could go on. But that should be enough to rock the boat per say. Btw the Jet Pack was op in Halo Reach and ruined map control so it was good it was halved. "cowardly Knights" Nice were not that bad, they simply changed up your tactical approach making weapons like the Assault rifle relevant again. Since the go to weapon for any other Halo game was usually the Dmr/Br. And that's a wrap folks.

Because you didn't butter my bread for me this morning. THATS WHY!

Herro one and all and welcome to the eleventh site poll! On a side note its only eight days as of today until Halo 5 comes out! I think you all can guess what this is about...... Unless you have been living under a rock while you played the Halo games I think everyone knows that Cortana is Master Chief's AI companion through the Halo Trilogy and Halo 4. That was true until she "died" during the New Phoenix Incident when she sacrificed herself to save the Master Chief. Using her last remaining power before she succumbed to rampancy to teleport Chief away from the Didact's Ship and create a shield of hard light around him. So my question to you all is..... Will Cortana come back in Halo 5 and if so in what form? Will it be in hallucinations? Did she survive somehow? Or something else entirely? Let me know! Thanks for reading all! Voting endings on October 26th. If you have any suggestions or criticism, feel free to pm me.