Report: Halo 1 - 4 Being Compiled Into HD Xbox One Remaster

[Steven Bogos]

Report: Halo 1 - 4 Being Compiled Into HD Xbox One Remaster

Engadget reports that the "Master Chief Collection" will be released ahead of the upcoming Halo 5.

Hot on the tail of yesterday's Halo 5 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escapist-news-now/9215-Halo-5-Announced] announcement, it looks like Master Chief fans are in for some more good news, with Engadget reporting that the original four main-series Halo titles will be compiled into a HD collection for the Xbox One.

"We've learned that Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo 4 are being collected in a Master Chief-focused HD remaster coming from Microsoft," claims Engadget [http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/16/halo-the-master-chief-collection/]. The HD collection should arrive sometime before the release of Halo 5, and will skip over the non-Master Chief-centric titles: ODST and Reach.

The game's developer is unknown at this point, but considering that Saber Interactive handled Combat Evolved Anniversary - the Halo 1 remastered edition for Xbox 360 - and is also working on an unannounced Xbox One project, the team is a likely suspect.

We've reached out to Microsoft for an official confirmation.

Source: Engadget [http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/16/halo-the-master-chief-collection/]

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[Saulkar]

I wonder if they upgraded the more than just the textures and resolutions for Halo 2-4 as the absolute former has not aged well at all in the faces department and the center star is not that much better.

 

[Zontar]

Unless the games are being released as a single HD pack like we've seen with Metal Gear Solid, the Jak and Daxter Trilogy and the Ratchet and Clank Trilogy, there isn't really anything new here. I mean, wasn't the port to the Xbone done some time ago? And hell, they may not have announced it yet, but the writing's on the wall for them coming to PC as well (and given the fact that due to its architecture porting it to the Xbone is 95% of the work of porting to PC, seems logical).

 

[fix-the-spade]

So a Halo HD pack with no Reach and no ODST?

That's typical Microsoft, go for the headlines, ignore the best features. Somewhere in Xbox towers is a middle aged man (or possibly woman) with a sharply tailored suit to cover the paunch and an expensive haircut, that needs an almighty slap.

but the writing's on the wall for them coming to PC as well (and given the fact that due to its architecture porting it to the Xbone is 95% of the work of porting to PC, seems logical).

Not going to happen, after the joke of a Halo 2 port Microsoft are pretty clear that they would rather sell you nothing at all than sell you a PC game.

 

[J Tyran]

All the Master Chief games on one console? With the news of a Kinectless version of the XBone it might actually encourage me... almost. I will start wait until the first hardware revision, there are some details I still want from the console like user replaceable harddrives (500GB isnt enough) before I would get one.

Disappointing they are skipping Reach though, not really bothered about ODST and Halo Wars but it would be nice to see all the main Halo games in one place (the top down mobile and PC shooter aside).

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

Well this sounds quite enticing, having most of the Halo's redone before 5 means I could grab an XB1 when that collection comes out and then grab 5, the deal is on.

Couldn't really care much about (yet not really going to happen since it's obvious) any talk of a PC port, the Halo games were started on Xbox and meant for it in the end, besides it's not like the guys behind Witcher are saints for not giving consoles the other two fully. remastered so there's that.

 

[Zontar]

but the writing's on the wall for them coming to PC as well (and given the fact that due to its architecture porting it to the Xbone is 95% of the work of porting to PC, seems logical).

Not going to happen, after the joke of a Halo 2 port Microsoft are pretty clear that they would rather sell you nothing at all than sell you a PC game.

Microsoft's already brought Spartan Assault to the PC, and they've already made official steam groups for Halo 1, 2 and 3. If they back down, they'd be the first to do so who didn't go under before release or have their product blocked by Valve after some revelation.

As I said, the writing's on the wall for this one.

 

[Colt47]

Good on them releasing an HD remaster of the original Halo trilogy (assuming they will be remastered). Not too sure about Halo 4, though: Played Coop with a friend through the game and it didn't really do anything for the series, especially the new enemies that were just plane weird.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

but the writing's on the wall for them coming to PC as well (and given the fact that due to its architecture porting it to the Xbone is 95% of the work of porting to PC, seems logical).

Not going to happen, after the joke of a Halo 2 port Microsoft are pretty clear that they would rather sell you nothing at all than sell you a PC game.

Microsoft's already brought Spartan Assault to the PC, and they've already made official steam groups for Halo 1, 2 and 3. If they back down, they'd be the first to do so who didn't go under before release or have their product blocked by Valve after some revelation.

As I said, the writing's on the wall for this one.

yupp, it's a bit silly at this point for them to not consider it with how close in architecture the xbone is, if they are doing all that work it'd be silly of them to ignore such a huge slice of the market that has proven in the past to love fps games.

still, I can only imagine how overpriced these are going to be, I wouldn't be surprised if they sold them in bundles of 2 for 60 bucks each.

 

[AstaresPanda]

wow they were not that great, or are the just burning up time and milking halo as much as they can.

 

[tdylan]

Unfortunately, the only Halo game that I cared for was the first. I fell out of love with the "story/universe" after the events of Halo 2. Yeah, I'm one of those guys that plays Halo for the story/lore, not the multiplayer. I also invested in the novels, love "Fall of Reach." And then MS decided to shit all over the novels with the contradictions in the Fall of Reach game. Their "the novels are canon...UNLESS the contradict the events of a game, in which case the game is canon" was the last straw for me. Them trying to have it both ways.

I don't necessarily want the XBONE to fail - there are every day people just like me associated with it that will likely lose their livelihoods if that were to happen - but MS isn't doing anything to entice me to purchasing the system. HD remakes are great. There are several games that I would leap at an HD remake for. Halo just feels too bastardized for me to be interested though.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

So they leave out two of the best games in the series? At least Halo 2 is in there (my personal favorite)

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

wow they were not that great, or are the just burning up time and milking halo as much as they can.

Opinions perhaps?.

 

[Foolery]

Huh. I don't really see the point. And it's missing two of the better games in the series. Reach and ODST. On a personal note, I've kind of been Halo-ed out because of 4. I wouldn't mind Halo 2 HD on 360, though. I don't think it's worth getting an Xbone for.

 

[Kerethos]

I suppose it makes sense as a way to build up hype and encourage new people to get into Halo, but I rather had my fill after number 3... might pick the others out of the bargain bin some day though (come to think of it, this is also how I feel about Gears of War).

Either way it's not a system seller for me.

 

[Hero of Lime]

I was very excited at first when I heard about this, but I have a bit of a concern. I'm afraid instead of getting a complete overhaul of the earlier games,(Halo 2 in particular) we will just get a lame HD collection where some of the textures are made to look better. I hope those fears don't come true, Halo 2 needs a complete graphical overhaul.

 

[viranimus]

Kind of confusing choice to include 4 in lieu of ODST & Reach considering that unless I am horribly misinformed 4 is a part of the next trilogy arc of Halo. Reach and ODST would have been much more logical because it completes the first arc and wraps it up into a neat and tidy little package.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

I kept up hope of Halo 3 coming to PC for about 2 years after it was released on the 360.

Then I gave up and just read about it on the Halo wiki, which wasn't exactly the same experience. I don't think I'd even bother to buy it now if it was released for PC, especially not since I know it would be a stupidly high price.

I can see the marketing logic in getting all the previous Master Chief Halo games on the Xbox one though, it makes sense for anyone choosing to jump on the bandwagon with the Xbox One as their first console to get access to the previous games, and adds more very much needed exclusives that won't be on their competitors console.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I would hope they keep the Anniversary feature with this rehaul ie: allowing players to switch between classic and, shiny-new graphics at the touch of a button. More importantly though, I would hope Halo 2 is completely redone from the ground up considering how hilariously broken the single-player in that game was. The first early Earth levels were anyway...it was fun running around the "sides" of the Mombasa slums to skip those huge chunks of level.

It's a shame Reach isn't being included though. I realize they're trying to sell this as The Master Chief saga or whatever but Reach was my favorite of the series so far and I thought the general consensus was that Reach was the best one, better than 4 anyway. It also seems weird to remake Combat Evolved again...When are we getting a full-on Halo: Vehicular Combat?! Each game has only reinforced the notion that vehicle combat is the best part of the series...in my opinion anyway...

 

[Irridium]

Would be nice to also have those on the PC. Especially Halo 2, what with GFWL dying and all. Speaking of which, will this collection use Halo 4's multiplayer just with a bunch of maps from 1-3 included? Or will each have their own mode?

I just really want to play Halo 2's multiplayer again. Lost my CD key and can't re-install Give it a Steam release, Microsoft!