PixlBit

It wouldn't make any sense to release on the next console, it would waste time and money. They've been making it for a few years, it's finished, and they need to give people some great games to play before the life cycle is over for 360 and they encourage everybody to move on to the next platform. It would put all 343's work to waste, it would sell the 360 short, cause everybody to begin forgetting about it, and not be excited to see the 360 out to the end of its cycle.

Plus the biggest thing is that Halo 4 is part of the new Reclaimer Trilogy, so they will have all the opportunity in the world to bring the next two games to the next Microsoft console. Just like God of War came out at the end of PS2's cycle and the next two games were on PS3, and that worked out just fine for the franchise.

I seem to be the big Halo fanboy here on the site, and I'm really excited for this, it's my most anticipated of the year.

The UI looks pretty clean. The new Predator-esk visor mode is awesome and most welcome (ODST added the VISR mode that was extremely useful, but Reach lacked any kind of special visor mode). The BR is back and looks fun to shoot, the Forerunner weaponry looked pretty interesting, the movement mechanics seem solid and familiar, and the non-AA sprint ability is an absolutely necessary addition I'm glad they made. All the people who were afraid 343 were going to screw it up and make it feel like it's not a Halo game can probably rest easier now. It's looks like they're giving fans what they expect while adding some fresh new material, enemies, weapons, and lore into the Haloverse.

My year of Halo has officially begun. Between now and release I'm going to read through Glasslands and Cryptum, watch Halo Legends, play through Halo 3 once more, and get all refreshed on Halo before I dive into 4. This Halo fan doesn't screw around.

oly oly oxen free...

YES! Nice to see you back on camera and dishing out the goods Mike. I have two questions Mike.

1) Is that a microphone you're holding? 2) Is that Stephen Johnson from G4 at the beginning of the video lol? He's my favorite guy over at G4, he's hilarious to me, and I know a picture of Stephen Johnson when I see it.

The Gamecube pad was perfect for the kinds of games it wanted to play. RE5 and the GC Zelda games performed flawlessly and comfortably, but there wasn't enough funtionality on that pad to accomadate a comfortable experience for other genres and design styles. Halo, Half Life, or Portal would've never worked on a GC pad. The 360 pad has excellent functionality, and its ergonomics are decent.

I personally loved the ergonomics of not only the GC controller but even the N64 controller, and the SNES, and the NES. I've never hated a Nintendo pad until the Wiimote came along. I agree with you, it would've been nice to have more of a blending between a classic Nintendo ergonomic design and the functionality of a 360 controller.

This Pro controller technically has the functionality of a 360 controller from I can see, but it doesn't actually seem very ergonomic to me. It's just shiny, and that doesn't make for a good controller. There's not a lot of space between the X button and the right thumbstick. The shell seems a tiny bit bloated, and the thumbstick grips don't seem very convincing to me. That single ridge will erode fairly quickly and you'll be left with a smooth pad that will slip around too much. The GC pad had thumbsticks with several ridges to catch your skin. The fact that the right hand alphabet inputs are below the joystick might cause you to accidently press them because many people's thumbs will come close to resting right over them, especially people with smaller hands and children.

Are those derogatory statements towards Halo I sense JD? Are you prepared to engage in Mortal Kombat for that trespass? Lol, just kidding, I'll call the strike team off, and there's certainly no need for me to bring the magnetic accelerator orbital defense array into this...is there?

It's better than the stupid Wiimote, oh I went there. If they were going to emulate anybody I'm glad it was Microsoft, the 360 controller is my favorite I've ever played on out of all the controllers I've played over the generations.

Great episode guys. I agree with both your predictions and hopes. I really need to be surprised this year. I haven't been surprised or inspired by an E3 for a few years (practically since the beginning of this gen. For the past few years it's been business as usual and you can see almost every announcement coming from a mile away either because of leaks or because you can see patterns in business decisions and predict them.

Microsoft can't coast anymore on Kinect, TV, or apps and if they fill their show with that kind of stuff I'm going to stop watching. It sounds over dramatic but I thinks pretty accurate to propose that the Xbox division of Microsoft could start to fall apart over time if they don't have a strong E3 this year and remind people this is a cool system to have and there are great games coming. If they plan to just toss some apps at me, and make me wait another year or two till Durango comes out, it's not going to fly. A lot happens in a year or two and the way consumers perceive the company can change drastically in a year or two. If the last two years of Xbox 360 are shitty and boring it's not going to get me excited for their next platform or delivery system. Loss in interest could spell disaster because this isn't the kind of business and industry where these companies can just dip their toes in this stuff and afford to loose giant mountains of money. It's a massive investment and you either hit a home run or you die. Microsoft better bring surprises, they better hit a home run.

I'm most hopeful and excited about Nintendo. If anybody can awaken that old childish E3 spirit, bring something creative, and inspiring it's Nintendo. The reason I started keeping up with E3 at all was because of past Nintendo press conferences and the magic they bring on stage. Even though I ended up not being a fan of the Wii and it's games, I was still in awe at the way they revealed it. They know how to put on a show, and they know how to use their imaginations for better or worse. Gaming is suppose to be fun, it's a great hobby, and it takes artistic and creative minds to facilitate this hobby we love so much. It's not suppose to just be sales reports, saving face, and doing business as usual. For me Nintendo has always been the heart and soul of E3, and they need to come out swinging this year to make this special.

I'm sick of jaded gamers, jaded press, and I think the last few years have helped sap that energy out of gamers and the press. Once everybody noticed that the Wii wasn't such a great system to get and didn't have the games they wanted, that's when I started noticing all this jaded crap, and all the "casual vs. hardcore" bullshit. There are plenty of trends gamers don't like to see and gamers have plenty they complain about, but I personally think the Wii was a big part of that negativity people built up this generation. All the passionate gamers who grew up on Nintendos suddenly saw the company making a console nobody wanted to play and nobody wanted to develop games for. Nintendo isn't just the heart and soul of E3, but it's practically the heart and soul of gaming for me, and even though I haven't bought a Nintendo since the Gamecube, I want to see them succeed and I want them to design something I would love to buy. It's time to put the Wii behind us and move on.

I think Nintendo has what it takes to wake people up and remind them that this hobby is a beautiful thing. This industry doesn't have to simply be business as usual. Nintendo needs to bring the goods and inspire us, or dig a grave for their console manufacturing department. I'm hoping for the former.

I'm excited to find out more about it. Sounds like the kind of game I've been wanting for a long time. Hopefully it has a strong single player mode. There are plenty of Star Wars games out there (Lego SW, Old Republic MMO, games based on the animated Clone Wars, etc) but I don't want to play any of those. The last time I played a good Star Wars game with a good single player mode was Knights of the Old Republic on the first Xbox. That's way too long for me.

I've been waiting for another good single player Star Wars game for a long time, and I hope this is it. Shouldn't get my hopes up though, it'll probably use Kinect, probably have an online pass, probably be multiplayer in some way, and life will suck yet again in the Star Wars world. lol

That's horrible they harassed you like that, I can't stand people like that. On the upside it's great the girls wanted to listen to you instead lol. I know exactly how feel when you say that you'd get nervous if you knew people were listening. Back in school I would go over to my friend Elias' house and jam with him all the time (he played guitar and I'd teach him stuff) and he always wanted to start a band with some other friends from school. But he knew that I wouldn't be able to play if people just came over, sat on the couch, and listened to me, so he would be crafty and have people sneak in to listen behind me when I wasn't looking. One time he called a friend, put the phone up (Back to the Future style) and had somebody listen to me while I jammed obliviously.

My sister was really proud of how I played (which is sweet) but she always wanted to show me off to her friends and I wouldn't ever be able to play in front of them. I'd just deflect attention away from me or something.

It's so cool you play piano as well. I've always wanted to learn piano but I never got around to it. I can play some chords but I can't do anything else, and I really can't get my hands to work independently yet on piano. My hands are really strong on guitar, my picking hand is super tight and fast, and my playing hand is decent, but when it comes to playing piano I turn into a fumbling mess.

The coolest thing is that now you're more confident like you said. I'm kind of at that crossroads and I'm trying to become more confident and let people hear me without fear. I want to get a camera and put some high quality videos on youtube or something just to break the ice and start getting over all that nervousness. I'm 23 now and I need to start getting rid of those highschool jitters.

I've been telling friends for years that one of these days I'm going to pull my act together, find a decent camera, get the right software, and put some videos of my guitar playing on youtube or something but I have yet to do it lol.