Feature Article

Xbox Interview: Phil Spencer on Halo, the Future of VR, and Being Nice

GameSpot may receive revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and from purchases through links.

Renewing faith in the Xbox brand.

In a darkened room in downtown San Francisco, a dozen or so journalists are hunkered down over Xbox One consoles playing the latest build of Halo 5: Guardians. Off to the side is Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, dressed in what seems to be his go-to style: t-shirt and jeans. Spencer seems as affable in real life as he comes across in media interviews, happy to talk about all things gaming in an open manner. So while I was there to primarily speak to Spencer about the upcoming release of Halo 5, the conversation eventually, naturally, became more wide ranging, encompassing topics such as the future of VR/AR, whether an annual Halo release schedule is possible, and why he always seems to praise his competitors.

GameSpot: Okay, so we're here to talk about Halo. Actually, have you played much of it yet? Do you get to play many of your games in your role?

Phil Spencer: Yeah, in my office I have access to most of the builds of the games that we can play at different states. I do gate reviews with the big teams. That's where I was this week--I was up with Coalition looking at Gears of War 4. I don't always see the breadth of the game because usually what we're trying to do is look at a couple places, I'll give some feedback on things that I see, and the team just wants to get my reaction to things.

Being in your position, what type of feedback do you give?

You can ask the teams what they think of my feedback (laughs). The area where I find I probably add the most is horizontally, because I see what all the teams are doing, whereas the teams by necessity go pretty vertical pretty quickly on their things. Take Josh Holmes (Halo 5 studio head), who's here. I probably played quite a bit more of Forza and Tomb Raider than he has, because he's been finishing his game. Then when I'm sitting down and I'm playing Halo 5, I'll get a sense of not just, "Hey, here's what all the other teams are doing," because that's not beneficial, but at least what maybe the expectation and innovation bar is, and try to give them more context for the environment in which their game will ship, because I see so much of what happens on the first-party and the third-party side. I have to be careful, because my job isn't to spread what other teams are doing around. Teams want their secrets, but that's where I find that my feedback is usually most valuable, just because I'm playing so many different things that aren't done that I can help teams with context.

Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos.
This video has an invalid file format.
00:00:00
Sorry, but you can't access this content!
Please enter your date of birth to view this video

By clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's
Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

With Halo particularly, I don't think it can be understated what impact that franchise has had on the Xbox…

That's the reason Xbox is here. Absolutely.

Yeah, exactly. Do you think that the franchise still has that weight, that cache for the Xbox One? Do you think it will still have a huge material impact on the Xbox One's success?

I think it will. It's our biggest exclusive franchise. There's no doubt about that. The great thing about the video game business is you earn your customer with every release, and with the community and social, very quickly people will figure out if a game's worth playing or not. You have to earn it every time. There's nothing given. I feel very confident in the work that the team at 343 has done.

We're going to make a big moment out of this from the way we're going to market it. You remember Halo 2 and 3 and 4? These were big entertainment moments, so we're going to do the same thing here, because it is a franchise that I think can support that level of notoriety and exposure. I feel really confident in the game that the team's built. I think they did a really, really good job with Halo 5.

Do you think it's tougher now being a shooter than it has been before? Just looking at the competition that's going to be out there this holiday season; you're going to have Destiny, Star Wars Battlefront is coming out. Is the environment getting any better or worse to be a shooter nowadays?

In general, I think what we're finding in games that teams have to be aware of is so many of the games, their duration now is so much longer, because they have not just a healthy PVP part of the game, but they're also building other things, whether it's PVE or user-generated content and mods and other things. I've been around forever. I remember when you bought a game and you played it for a month. You finished the game, and you'd kind of put the cartridge up on the shelf, and it was your trophy that you had finished. Then you moved onto the next game. That created a lot of oxygen for many games to, obviously, come out and have success. I thought Nintendo, back in the day, was really great at pacing when their games came out. You had the opportunity to play them. Now you see games that do last for quite a long time. Then it's not only in the single-player campaign, as I said, but everything else that they bring to the table. That means your game has to mean something to rise above the din and actually retain the users.

That's one thing we learned from Halo 4. We had real good success with Halo 4, but we didn't retain as many of the customers, of the players as we wanted to. We wanted the players, the gamers, to stay with the game. The team's really taken a big focus on how we build out multiplayer engagements; it's why you see things like Warzone, Arena's obviously always going to be critical to what Halo's about, and even the co-op single-player campaigns allowing you and I to go play together and kind of play at multiple difficulty levels. Now that so many of them (shooters) are kind of service-based and not just shooters, I do think it raises the bar on what you do in terms of stickiness.

No Caption Provided

For something like Halo, you guys have years between major Halo releases. Would you ever consider tightening that up and getting more Halo out there? Have you ever thought of having Halo as an annual franchise?

I don't think about it that way. Funny enough, we probably have had a Halo release every year for the last few years, but that's been more just around the cadence of things, like Spartan Assault and Spartan Strike and obviously Master Chief Collection and the anniversary editions. But in terms of the core releases for us, Halo is somewhat unique to those games that we were talking about in that it has such a heavy character and story base to it. I think it's one of the real strengths of the franchise. People know the characters' names in the franchise. They know who Master Chief is. They know who Cortana is. It's not always true of other shooting franchises that you have that same connection to the characters in the story, and that there's a consistency and a connective tissue between the games.

For me, I like seeing the ability for us to get excited about a release. It kind of builds to a hype, and then it plays. I don't want to overplay or overuse the franchise. It's a franchise and an IP I expect to be around 20 years from now, much the same way Star Wars and Spider-Man and other things are. I think it has the weight that it can support that, but I think that the franchise then needs to be managed in a way that doesn't burn it out.

So you think there is a tipping point where there's going to be ... if you have too much Halo, it could impact the franchise, is that right?

No Caption Provided

Yeah, I think that's true of any entertainment IP, I think. With television series, if you look at it, they're on a weekly cadence, and they have to do that. Other than some anomalies like The Simpsons, things usually wear out. Not because the stories or characters are bad, but eventually people have kind of ... they've seen enough of it, and they're done with Happy Days, and they want to move on to the next thing. I think that's fine in that kind of space, but for what we're doing with our franchise and service ambitions with the Xbox and Xbox Live, having something that has the diversity of Halo and the characters and both the complexity but ease of game play is a unique asset for us. I want to make sure that we're cultivating it and growing it the right way.

Just going back to that longevity issue, I think you're on the record saying you're a Destiny fan. Is there anything that you're seeing in that model that you're looking at for Halo at all? Are there any sort of learnings that you can take from them?

I learn from a lot of games and studios. Obviously the team at Bungie's very good friends of mine. They're in my same hometown where I live, and I see a lot of them. One of the things I've always loved in games, and it's something I'll push our teams on a little more now, is co-op. I just love co-op as a game play mode, maybe because I'm kind of garbage at PVP. I think it's fun. You and I sitting on a couch next to each other, or you in your home, my at home, and other people playing together.

That's why I loved Gears of War back in the original, because it had that. Co-op was core to what it was. I love seeing in Halo 5 the co-op nature of the campaign. Even something like Warzone feels less about PVP, because the teams are so big and the spaces are so big, and there are PVE things that we can go do in the environment. To me, Destiny's done a great job. I hardly ever play the PVP in Destiny. I spend most of my time, as people can notice watching me play, in the PVE environments. I love that co-op nature. I'm now playing Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, a little ID@Xbox game that came out. I love that game. It's two people sitting together, one person controlling the ship, one person controlling the actions of the ship, and I just love that mechanic. I think gaming should be about having fun, and I think cooperative play is a great way of having fun when the game's done the right way. I love seeing what they're done in Halo, and I love, obviously, what they've done with Destiny in terms of really embracing that side of it.

Speaking of co-op, there is no local co-op for this Halo.

That's right.

Can you outline the reasons why you guys went that way?

In the end, the teams make decisions based on the bar that they want to hit for complexity of what they're going to run on a single box. We see the robustness of what Xbox Live is today and where people are playing across Xbox Live--you at your house, me at our house. We know that's the vast majority of the co-op play. With Halo 5, the team really wanted to focus on making that experience great, both visually on the screen that you're looking at, and all the systems in place. While I loved the split screen of Halo 1, obviously it was kind of how multiplayer in Halo was born, I think the team made a trade-off based on what they see happening in the market today and what they wanted to do with their game.

No Caption Provided

OK, it's interesting to hear you say that you have data that shows most of the co-op actually happens through Live. Is that right?

Well, we obviously don't know for machines that don't connect, but yeah. When you look at where most of the multiplayer happens in games, Live (is the place) just because it's so easy. I don't have to have somebody at my house. I love the nostalgia of the couch co-op of what Halo did in the past, but I also know in the realities of the day with people's busy lives, it's not as easy to get everybody in the same physical place. It's one of the advantages that Xbox Live obviously offers.

Now you've been very vocal about trying to embrace PC gaming again, particularly with Windows 10 out. Is there an update you can give on Halo 5 possibly for PC down the track, or even something like Master Chief Collection? What's the latest on that?

The thing I want to make sure that I do is that I talk about what I know is happening. I try not to get into the world of when I don't know when things are happening. Halo 5 is shipping on Xbox One. That's, honestly, 100% of our focus. We want to make it a great Xbox experience. People will end up through streaming and other things maybe playing on their PC, but that's not Windows gaming. That's just an extension of what people do with Xbox. Us though, when we look at Windows and making sure that our first-party franchises show up and start to create a joint environment for Xbox Live customers across Xbox and Windows is important to us. That's why as teams, when they're starting projects and you look out and both of those play environments, both PC and console make sense, I plan that we're going to embrace that. I want to make that part of what we're doing.

In the past, we've kind of looked at keeping games off of Windows as maybe a way of getting people to buy an Xbox. People are going to buy and Xbox for the complete value proposition of playing games on my television with the controller, looking at the screen, the sound and everything that happens around that. I want to make that experience great. We're 100% focused on that with the team, and when we have experiences that can work well on Windows, I want to do that. I want to allow people to play there as well. Like I said, early on, we're doing most of the work through streaming, which I won't say is Windows gaming, but it does at least allow somebody to play their Xbox games there. You'll hear more and more of us announcing games where we look at the environment in Windows, and we look at the environment on console, and we think the game will play well in both places.

Speaking of Master Chief Collection, obviously the launch last year was kind of rough. Are you confident that all of those sort of issues are ironed out, that Halo 5 will have a hassle-free launch?

I know that of all of our teams, no team at their core feels the need to hit a great launch from a multiplayer and connection issues more than 343. That team took the issues around the launch of Master Chief Collection, it kind of hit them in the heart, because it's Halo Nation. It's the people who love these past Halo games. I just know every time I've been down to 343, it's the first thing that they want to talk about is how they're doing with multiplayer and the robustness that we mentioned. No team is focused on it more than 343. The planning and process teams have gone through has been great, and I'm confident in how it will launch based on the results that we're seeing.

Frankly, if I look at how Rare came out and Gears came out, and now Forza, I feel good that the teams all up have taken the lessons of last holiday of some teams missing the bar that they wanted to hit. You're always going to have issues here and there, and you kind of manage through it, but by-and-large, those releases have gone well. It's really nice to see that the teams have taken an increased focus on making sure that launch goes extremely well for our customers.

Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos.
This video has an invalid file format.
00:00:00
Sorry, but you can't access this content!
Please enter your date of birth to view this video

By clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's
Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

The "Halo Lens" demo at E3 was amazing. What are your plans for actually incorporating HoloLens in Halo at all in the future? Or was it purely just a demo to show potential?

All of it is a demo, but I'll say as creators, as we have a ton of people in the studio's organization, and when something like HoloLens comes around, I want to make sure it gets in the hands of our most creative people and see what they come up with. We don't have anything to announce or, frankly, any plan for any game across anything, even the Minecraft stuff that we showed, which almost looked like a fully baked game, is really just the team getting their hands on the devices and thinking through what might be possible. We're still really in that ideation phase of what might happen, what could be possible. The device isn't isn't launched. I imagine the early units will go to developers who are going to go build things. I think it's going to be a while before we see this as a mass consumer market device, but I love the ideas that the teams are coming up with. I think it's too trivial to say it was just demo ware, but in no way do I want to say, "Hey everybody. There's a Halo game coming for HoloLens", because it's not there. I think the ideas on where that will go will be really crazy cool to watch over the next few years.

I don't think I've ever read your opinions on the future of VR and AR. Is that the future, do you think? Are games heading inevitably down that path where that technology is an essential part of what we do with gaming?

Well, now it's just my opinion. I'll say, obviously we have relationships with Valve, we have a relationship with Oculus around the VR work that they're doing, but I'm going to say I kind of hope not. It doesn't mean I don't think VR has great experiences to offer. I think it does, and we'll find those, and people will love playing those. I love playing games in my family room with my kids. I love people coming together and watching what's happening on screen and laughing, and the kind of fun of what video games were always about. That doesn't mean that can't happen in a kind of socially connected VR environment, but to me it would be too bad if all gaming became people with head mounted displays on, headphones on, kind of blocked out from everything that happens. I do think there'll be great experiences there, but just kind of for the sake of what gaming is, I don't think that should be the only way people play.

I think there will be certain experiences where that's perfect. I don't know necessarily if it will be genre based, but I just love me watching you play Mario and giving you ideas about where things might be, and we laugh, and we can kind of sit around and eat chips, and do things that people do. I think that's kind of the basis of what gaming is about. I think there's a place for VR. I think it's really cool to see the innovation, like many innovations in the past. Gaming is taking a role in the forefront, because VR will touch more things than just gaming. Holograms and AR I think is a more complex space, but again, you're going to find games will be there really stretching the technology like they have in so many other areas.

Are there any updates on any of the sort of Halo trans-media stuff, like the Steven Spielberg TV show? Is there anything more you can say on that?

Not right now. I will say I'm incredibly proud of the work that both the team does and creators do around the books that come out, the videos that come out, TV work that goes on. As I said earlier, I think Halo's one of those franchises or worlds that can support highlights and showcases in many different media. I think that's great. It brings more people into the Halo universe. People who maybe don't want to play a video game can get to experience it. It's definitely something that's part of our future with the franchise, in terms of continuing to grow it, but we don't have any updates right now.

Do you want to see that Halo movie finally get off the ground?

No Caption Provided

I want to see great Halo things, so I kind of start with what's right for the franchise, and what would the customers love to see. I don't have a need to go get a movie done on a certain date. I think if we ever took Halo and kind of pushed it in that direction, I think we're on the wrong end of creativity and innovation. I'd love us to try to do something special with a partner that's working that kind of shares our values there, but if it's meant to be, it will happen. If it doesn't, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, because at the core, Halo's a game franchise and something that's incredibly important to Xbox.

Your time at the head of Xbox, I think, has been characterized by your focus on gaming. You really wanted to pull all that focus back to what the console is all about, which is games. Do you think that you've successfully put that message out now? Are you comfortable with where the console is now, in terms of just the wider perception of gamers out there?

Am I comfortable with where we are? No. The teams hear that from me all the time, because there's so much more I think we can do, and the team's so incredibly capable that it's ... There's so much energy when we sit down. There's a high degree of energy and focus on where we're going to go and where we can go. The perception and reaction of the community, the Xbox fans stood with us through a time where I think they questioned maybe what this brand and leadership team was about. They've supported me. They've given me feedback through my transition into a new role, and I'm incredibly grateful for that. Whether it's on Twitter, it's on Xbox Live, it's in my inbox, the conversations I have with people and their feedback, I think we've got a lot more work to do. The great thing about gamers is they'll give you their feedback.

I love that, and I think I do sense that people have renewed their faith in the brand, which is great to see, but they want us to do more. In the feedback site and other places where we solicit direct feedback on things that we should go do are always lit up. I think that's fantastic.

But what keeps you up at night now, though? What's the next thing that you really want to tackle?

I've said before, the one thing that I probably find a little distasteful in the discourse around games is the divisiveness that people try to build between platforms. It becomes more about what piece of plastic I own than what games I'm playing. It becomes more about somebody else failing than the things I love succeeding. I don't think that's a good place for our industry. I know that's not everybody, and it's easy to find the pockets of that vitriol and kind of think that that is gaming, but I'm not going to embrace that. I'm going to actively push against that. People sometimes will make fun of me that I mentioned Sony or I mentioned Nintendo. It's not to placate anybody or make them think I'm some kind of good guy. My job isn't really to keep you from buying something else. My job is to make you proud of what we offer, and to give you an enjoyable experience with the product we have. That's 100% of what I'm focused on.

The things that are keeping me up at night are really all about that, and it's the great thing about this industry, as I've said many times, is you do earn every customer. There's nothing that I own that makes you have to go buy Halo. You're going to buy Halo 5 because you love it, or you're not because you don't. That's just a fantastic part of the industry that we're in, and I fully embrace that. I'm trying to keep our organization and, hopefully, our fans, out of that type of stuff, because I think that's just incredibly unhealthy for our industry.

Well, since you brought it up, you are getting this reputation for being the nice guy of the industry. Don't you have anything negative or even passive-aggressive to say about your competitors?

I don't know if it's ... nice. One, I know most of these people, and I know they work incredibly hard. I know the studios, I know the people that run those organizations, and I don't want ... It's not my job to think about how other people can fail. The thing I'll say about us and Team Xbox and what we're trying to do is we work for a company in Microsoft that isn't driven in this space to go dominate anybody or to put somebody else out. The reason Satya's (Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO) interested in gaming, the reason the Windows 10 focused on the consumer and gaming is so prevalent inside the company right now, is we see opportunity. We see opportunity to delight customers, to give them more reasons to engage with the platform that we have, and it's really all about the unrealized opportunity that's in front of us. Then when people bring up, "Well, what about Nintendo? What about Sony? Isn't it too bad that Sony is selling a lot of PlayStation 4s right now?" I honestly don't feel that it's too bad.

I love that we're selling a lot of Xbox Ones. I love that we're selling more Xbox Ones than we did 360, and we're growing year ... all the PR stats I can hit you with, and I love that we have more people on Xbox Live than we've ever had. That's probably the thing I'm most focused on is the people that we have on Xbox Live and how happy they are with what they're doing. I don't know if that makes me nice. I don't see any reason to go after and be pithy towards somebody who's just trying to do a good job with the product that they're building.

Phil, thanks for your time.

Thank you.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com


randolphram

Randolph Ramsay

Randolph is GameSpot's Editorial Director, and needs more time to play games.

Halo 5: Guardians

Halo 5: Guardians

Follow
Back To Top
174 Comments  RefreshSorted By 
GameSpot has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to toxic conduct in comments. Any abusive, racist, sexist, threatening, bullying, vulgar, and otherwise objectionable behavior will result in moderation and/or account termination. Please keep your discussion civil.

Avatar image for moorekyle
moorekyle

26

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

I've been playing local co-op in Master Chief Collection with my son in anticipation for Halo 5. When we heard 343 are not supporting local co-op or multiplayer I couldn't believe it... that IS the Halo experience! Another Father and son will come over and play 4-player split screen on projector; we have an absolute blast!!

Does no one at 343 have any family or friends or ever play offline? We already have a FPS with no local co-op or multiplayer, its called Destiny!! We bought The Taken King & we'll be spending our gaming money on Star Wars Battlefront instead of Halo 5. Unbelievable and unforgivable.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for BradBurns
BradBurns

1166

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Cool interview. It was actually fun to read.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for deviltaz35
DEVILTAZ35

8490

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

Playing through the Master Chief collection and there are so many bugs. Sound issues, weapons spinning half embedded in wall in midair. Severe framerate issues whilst driving the Warthog. Would have thought they would fix these issues before releasing Halo 5.

It's Still a good collection of games but should have been better polished.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for dani_i89
dani_i89

804

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 23

User Lists: 0

@deviltaz35: I have experienced absolutely none of those issues. All I can say is that the single player has been as flawless as it has ever been.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for deviltaz35
DEVILTAZ35

8490

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

Edited By DEVILTAZ35

@dani_i89: If this was PC then i could believe what you are saying but after witnessing first hand how atrocious the framerate is at times on the warthog and the same continuous bug in some parts of one of the levels with the sound whilst on the covenant ship, you must be dreaming. It is no different from console to console and it is a widely covered issue with the framerate so there is no use trying to defend a poorly developed program. It's still a fun game just needed better quality control and 1 year on it should have been fixed.

I am not knocking that it is still good value for money , especially to get it free with the console in any case. Just Halo deserved better treatment is all.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for dani_i89
dani_i89

804

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 23

User Lists: 0

@deviltaz35: Atrocious framerate? It's a solid 60fps throughout. I've played the campaigns twice over...no bugs whatsoever, no sound issues...it was all just smooth sailing. Worth the money for the single player content alone.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for deviltaz35
DEVILTAZ35

8490

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

Edited By DEVILTAZ35

@dani_i89:You probably didn't use the warthog in the same places i did then as it was optional areas for the most part however it was dropping to what felt like sub 20's and very stuttery. once i switched it to old graphics it was fine and that's how i got through those parts. This is on Halo original redo haven't got to the others yet :). Not in the vehicle it is a solid framerate at all times but jump in the warthog and often it stutters. It's reported all over the internet i'm not making it up.

Here is people talking about it here and it's still not fixed properly all this time later.

http://www.gamespot.com/forums/xbox-association-1000003/fps-drops-in-the-master-chief-collection-31706328/

As i said i am still enjoying the game just disappointed it's not perfect as overall it was smoother on 360.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Lyon111
Lyon111

60

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 4

User Lists: 0

Edited By Lyon111

The aerial combat in the video is so boring and so exempt of details of what the vessel was shooting at, that, in combination with the other trailers, I can safely assume that this game is going to have some major negative critics; in fact, I already read quite a few, despite the fact that the game is yet to be released.

I am very disappointed, to say the least. For a game with so much hype and advertising, including in a mission impossible movie, I was expecting a good game. I do not like it at all. What a disappointment.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for juboner
juboner

1183

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 0

@Lyon111: The nature of gaming and internet now guarantees plenty of negativity. But this looks better imo than Halo 3 coming out on 360 for the first time. I didnt care for Halo 3 campaign at all really, it felt like 2 and the jump was not that great.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for TexasStuBaby
TexasStuBaby

212

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@Lyon111: Wow... how did you get your hands on the game already??? You must be super awesome for that! Now go talk about something you know about.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for saburwulf
saburwulf

94

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@Lyon111: once again you troll for no reason, this game isn't even out yet and you're complaining and not having played the game it is safe to say that you are a ps fanboy and probably doesn't own a x1,

Please this game is going to sell like hot cakes this is why its called Halo season b/c for a three mtns span of time nothing else will get played on the x1 or seen on tv but Halo.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Lyon111
Lyon111

60

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 4

User Lists: 0

Edited By Lyon111

@saburwulf: Listen to me you low-quality comedian: I will come here and tell my opinion whether you like it or not. I do not dance at your pace or flavour. If I hurt your feelings, that's a pity.

Just so you know, I do have an XBone but I hate everything about it, but I also hate playstation. Who really cares about xbox and playstation? Really? I love the Halo franchise, but I will come here to say what I like, no matter if it goes against your fragile feelings.

Technically speaking, the Halo franchise is dead; it died with Halo 3. Since Halo 4, Microsoft decided to use the franchise name - Halo - to create other games, so that suckers like you make them rich like "hot cakes" (to use your pathetic term).

Halo 5 is a joke, a well-advertised game that does not live up to the hype.

By the way my extremely ignorant comedian, there are already many TV sets with the same capabilities as those of Xbox One, but they are cheaper and more reliable. When you grow up, check this out in relevant stores.

Concerning VR, this technology is so far out into the future that we will have to wait for quite a few decades or most likely a century or two before it can run FPS games correctly. Did I mention prices? They are big. But then, if you are a rich momma's little boy, you will have no problem paying for one, despite the fact that you will have a hard time finding anyone else and finding any FPS game of worth.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for saburwulf
saburwulf

94

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@Lyon111: I see that you are hard headed, you can't "I love Halo fanchise" and in the same breath say halo5 sucks WITHOUT playing the game, you also say you hate ps4 then that just makes you a hater and a fanboy you have NO real experience with halo5 as a gamer i.e. you have nothing to say about it, so when you grow up you will realize what an idiot you are being for prejudging a game that has done wonders in the past.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for TexasStuBaby
TexasStuBaby

212

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@saburwulf: he still talks like he's already played the game. Silly boy.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Lyon111
Lyon111

60

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 4

User Lists: 0

Edited By Lyon111

@TexasStuBaby: It is nice of you to come here to defend your friend. However, even though you were going very well, you sounded ridiculous when you called me silly boy, considering you have a ridiculous user name (TexasStuBaby). By the way, are you a man or a woman? I can't decide. Let me guess, you are a transvestite, right? I am not judging, as I believe everyone should be what they want.

Also, I did not play the game. I have read many articles, news and a lot of lore, which all include a lot of textual and graphic content, and watched many trailers and released singleplayer and multiplayer campaign videos on Youtube channels devoted to Halo franchise. One of the multiplayer modes was played at E3, and I have even watched a video of breached singleplayer campaign with the Master Chief team. Then there are those who are invited to participate in the alpha and beta stages, which also share their experiences with those who do not. And so forth.

If you know where to get all this information, which is very easy nowadays, you have enough to decide if you want to buy a game. This is why demos have been a thing of the past; at least until Steam reintroduces them again, and not only.

As you can see, your level of ignorance and stupidity on the Halo franchise is sky high. In fact, I am right now wondering why I am educating you.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for TexasStuBaby
TexasStuBaby

212

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@Lyon111: Wow, I can't believe two words from me (silly boy) caused you to write a four-paragraph tirade. Sweet!

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Lyon111
Lyon111

60

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 4

User Lists: 0

Edited By Lyon111

@saburwulf:I said what I had to say in reply to your complete lack of respect; you know, when you called me a fanboy, and now again, and when you provoked me by making lies about me in regard to owning an xbone.

Marketing and advertising for Halo 5 have shown too much of the game, and many people already played it. How come you do not know this? How ignorant are you?

Call fanboy to your father next time, and provoke him with lies, and see how he will react. Better yet, call fanboy to someone in person, and you will see the result. You are a coward who sits behind a computer to insult and provoke people, thinking that you are safe because you are behind a computer.

Why do you care so much about my opinion of Halo 5? Are you one of those parasites who are paid to come here and other sites to promote the game? It looks like you are, so get out of here you parasite, because here we all have the right to write our opinions without being harrassed by freaks like you.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for saburwulf
saburwulf

94

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@Lyon111: I don't care but others do, I'm a Halo fan to the heart and it has one of the biggest canons of any sci-fi franchise, it is ranked third behind startrek and starwars, this is the sci-fi for the millennium. Deal wit it brah!!!!!

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Lyon111
Lyon111

60

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 4

User Lists: 0

Edited By Lyon111

@saburwulf: I see that your comment is more respectful, so I am going to return the favor. I also am a great fan of the Halo universe. I have even bought the hateful Xbox One and the MC Collection to give it a shot, knowing full well that I would hate most of the experience with those pathetic, innacurate, incorrectly positioned joysticks, ergonomically speaking; why can't they be just like in the PS gamepad? Copyright violation rings a bell. The result is not good. Then, the difference from mouse/keyboard to gamepad in terms of accuracy is colossal. I really have to use that cheating feature that helps track enemies; not sure what is its name now. The graphics are pathetic in comparison to recent PC games. I could go on and on.

Then, if you get the disc and plug it in, you might not wait many, many, many hours for the download of the game, even if you have a high-speed connection; though, I have watched a video in which, even then, you will wait because Xbox One downloads the game if you have a connection. Might not be true this part, but the rest is, so if you live in a medium size town in Western Europe, you must buy a digital copy of the game. Oh, I forgot, the Xbox One store only accepts credit cards, not debit cards. I mean, you have to get a credit card and pay interest on credit to buy the game. This is what happened to me and I make online purchases regularly.

Then, after all this, you realize Halo 1 sound and graphics are very outdated, Halo 2 is great but it is a game I played many times, and the graphics are also old and no match for graphics of recent games for PC. Halo 3 still has the same graphics, and I already played it. Halo 4 is one of the worst FPS games of all time, both in singleplayer and multiplayer. The online MP had many problems and still have.

So, I start to wonder why the bloody hell I spent 400 euros in 4 games, one of which is very bad and the other 3 are outdated. The online experience I wanted to live is not lived because, first I have to pay for live (it is like paying my ISP two times), so I can only blame 343 and Microsoft for all this, as they are very incompetent; actually, this adjective is beautiful in comparison with what I really want to call them for having sold something broken from the start and for having a policy of no refunds.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for deviltaz35
DEVILTAZ35

8490

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

Edited By DEVILTAZ35

@Lyon111: My favourite game for graphics on PC is still Bioshock Infinite , was playing it in 1440p 120hz with Ultra Low motion Blur (ULMB) mode on the monitor and it is just breathtakingly beautiful in motion. I doubt anyone will top this for art design.

It is that clear it literally looks like you can reach out and grab objects yourself.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Andycreep1
Andycreep1

252

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 0

xbox one has no VR ps4 does lolol

Upvote • 
Avatar image for iplo
iplo

7

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@Andycreep1: Microsoft is partnering up with Oculus Rift and HTC Vive (valve vr), if it looks like VR will be major thing for gaming, they can very easily start selling superior VR on xbox. I have no doubt they already have UI under development just in case.

But, as it seems that VR will be very expensive (Playstation VR will cost something around 300 euros and you also need PS camera and 2 Move sticks and of course PS4...how many people really want to spend 700-800 euros for VR?) and reports saying that people tend to get sick while playing with VR for more than an hour, it's really hard to imagine VR will be anything more than a gimmick.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for A8ADD0N
A8ADD0N

233

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@iplo:

Yeah, I think PlayStation VR is just going to be another one of those things that Sony ends up dropping support for after it doesn't meet their sales expectations. I mean just look at the Vita, Move, Eye, etc. etc.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for bicepsul
bicepsul

115

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@A8ADD0N: too bad in most hands-on that you see online PS VR is actually better rated than Oculus and VIVE. And it still is a lot cheaper to get it going than an Oculus and VIVE which will need massive hardware to run on. Plus there is no announcement yet but it will most probably come bundled with PS-eye, not sure about PSmove dildos since you can also play with a controller.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for saburwulf
saburwulf

94

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@bicepsul: better rated by whom other ps4 fanboys, i mean journalist. Knock it off!!

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Dissentioncc
Dissentioncc

306

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

So his reason for getting rid of couch co-op is that it is difficult to get people in one room to play....and his reason for being against VR is that he enjoys being in the same room watching people play games. It sounds like someone doesn't have a clue what he is talking about at all.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for A8ADD0N
A8ADD0N

233

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@Dissentioncc:

Sounds like you don't have a clue what you're talking about, because you just pulled all of that out of your ass.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Austacker
Austacker

38

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Phil's attitude (or reluctance to embrace) VR honestly disturbs me. Having already experienced it, I can say for sure there's a strong future there. I think Phil is letting his gaming nostalgic past cloud his judgement of VR tech and the fact Xbox one has no clear VR commitment like Sony is with Morpheus is a great concern.

VR has a future in gaming, whether Phil wants that to be the case or not. Where Xbox Live took your social interaction from your couch into the world, VR will take you completely from your couch into another world.

VR is like the Matrix. You can't have it described to you in a way that makes you appreciate what it is, you have to experience it for yourself to fully understand it.

If a mobile phone can give a decent VR experience and Xbox' direct rival in the console market can also deliver one, there's no practical reason why Xbox cannot follow suit and I worry that Microsoft and Xbox are gambling on the success of AR as the 'next big thing' when VR is already pushing ahead strongly because that's what the consumer public wants.

If by the next generation of console hardware the Xbox two isn't supporting VR natively in some shape or form, I'm gone to the competition. I already feel the pain of missing out with all the stuff I'm seeing out there today with the DK2 on PC and Morpheus on PS4 coming next year. When this becomes fully mainstream, I'm not getting left behind...

Upvote • 
Avatar image for iplo
iplo

7

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@Austacker: FPS does not work well with VR, nor does platformers or fighting games, nor strategy. VR will have it's place, but not mayby as big as you might think. The other thing is the cost, VR will sell millions units, but to be reasonable platform to develop games, it would have to sell tens of millions. None of the four major VR thingies are even close to the price point that would move enough units.

With decent VR on mobile phone you probably ment Samsung Gear VR? That was a joke, right? I tried it and even the demo was ridiculous, but I really laughed at the price. 250 euros + 700 euros for the required phone. When I talked to local retailer, they have not sold a single unit so far. Lot of people have tried it though.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for deviltaz35
DEVILTAZ35

8490

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

@iplo: It will once 4k with no blur is the standard for VR. Still a way off for now though which is why i am not bothering about it until it gets to that quality level.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for juboner
juboner

1183

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 0

@iplo: I agree, there will be certain niche/genre's that take off with VR but how long before those type of experiences start getting old? Pretty quickly imo, sure the experience is awesome and engaging but you will get tired of playing or experiencing similar software.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Rafficus_III
Rafficus_III

39

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Phil is and has been good for the Xbox One. He's a major reason why I picked up the console before picking up the other two. I'm happy with all three, hopefully others here can put away this silly plastic box war and name-calling in favor of enjoying what the other competitors have to offer.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Shewgenja
Shewgenja

21456

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 0

@Rafficus_III: Thanks for reminding the world how spin and PR can turn someone into a gaming messiah in two short years.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for dani_i89
dani_i89

804

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 23

User Lists: 0

@Shewgenja: Read the interview. You could learn a lot from Phil.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Shewgenja
Shewgenja

21456

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 0

@dani_i89: thinly veiled petition to please leave the BritneyBox alone? Yeah, I'll get right on that.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Rafficus_III
Rafficus_III

39

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@Shewgenja: As easy as it could be to write you off as a Sony fanboy, that would be incorrect. People like you find any reason or excuse to insult others because you're just flat out hateful, bitter people. It wouldn't matter if I spoke highly of Iwata, Kaz, or Phil, you'd still find a reason to be vitriolic. Hope your life gets better.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for A8ADD0N
A8ADD0N

233

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@Shewgenja:

Thanks for reminding everyone how fanboys ruin everything and like to act like hormonal bitches.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for con_wars
Con_Wars

310

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 5

Sony has not one person to identify with, they don't have anyone to stand up and say "I am responsible for the success or failure of this product", a "ghost" if you will. One thing I'll give Sony that they do extremely well is duck problems and that's why consumers keep buying a product that has nothing to offer but the future, no one person releases any statements, holds interviews, announces/speaks on new products or anything like that that's why it was ok for them to be nonexistent at gamescom, have a sparse lineup in 2015/2016 and showcase indie games as their own first party lineup at E3. Sony and their supporters remind me of the girl that the more you ignore her the more she loves you and yearns for your response, hopefully she wakes up and realizes there is someone out there who will listen to her concerns but until than she'll remain a dumb b**ch. lol

Upvote • 
Avatar image for dani_i89
dani_i89

804

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 23

User Lists: 0

@con_wars: Well said. I find it pathetic that one of Sony's most anticipated games are being paid for by the consumers to develop, and that they use PSN to solve the BC issue (which is a system that will only benefit some of the consumers). I find that Sony are far greedier than MS by a long shot, and they indeed hide in the dark where we never hear a peep from them about their mistakes or what they are doing. Xbox keeps the gamers in the loop, and it's really refreshing to see that the fans are treated the way the should be treated.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Shewgenja
Shewgenja

21456

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 0

@con_wars: If only Sony could have someone proudly proclaim that their consoles resemble water coolers. I've seen the light.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Dissentioncc
Dissentioncc

306

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@con_wars said:

have a sparse lineup in 2015/2016

Total bs. Just stop posting, Xbot.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for dani_i89
dani_i89

804

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 23

User Lists: 0

Edited By dani_i89

@Dissentioncc: Compare what Con_Wars said to what you just said. Big, huge, massive difference which speaks volumes despite how very little you had to say.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for bdrtfm
BDRTFM

6635

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

@con_wars: Yoshida is a pretty nice guy but you don't see much of him. That guy and girl team at E3 who hosted the preshow and in between stage events made me want to punch someone though. They were so freaking annoying.

Upvote •