5 Mar 2012: Keith Stuart: Story will be darker than any previous Halo, and single-player environments will be larger. But the emphasis is very much on that man Master Chief
Keith Stuart: developer 343 Industries hints at multiplayer character progression, social connectivity, narrative multiplayer and the return of the battle rifle
This week in 2001 saw the US launch of the original Xbox console, Microsoft's much-hyped entry into the games machine business. Here are what we think are the 10 most important titles in the history of the console, drawn from both the Xbox and its successor, the Xbox 360
Keith Stuart: How should you go about crafting a story for a game, and how does the process differ from authoring tie-in books? We attend a private masterclass with the writer behind Gears of War 3 as well as several Star Wars and Halo novels
Two things struck me about Halo recently. One is that Reach may actually be the "best" one yet - at least the multiplayer element. The second was that next year will be the tenth anniversary of the original Halo. Ouch. A lot of the players shooting me in the head in Reach were probably still in primary school then - bless 'em. Since the original we have seen the main trilogy plus 3 spin offs, the later being the recently released Reach. So there have only been six Halo games in 10 years and that includes the headshot-unfriendly RTS game Halo Wars. Compare this to the amount of Call of Duties or Medal of Honors we have had since 2001. However, with Halo 3: ODST and now Reach out in consecutive years we could start seeing more regular Halo "product". Certainly Microsoft are hoping so.