14 DAY TRIAL // With E3 criticized for not being the show that it should be, some videogaming industry companies are looking to other events as places where they can announce their most interesting projects. Microsoft has recently held its Gamefest 2008 conference and now it's talking about the future of the Halo franchise at ComicCon in San Diego.
Microsoft was there to launch a new range of action figures that show the main characters from the series in a variety of poses and to talk directly to fans of the games. Frank O'Connor is the man who directly supervises the evolution of Halo at Microsoft Games Studios, and he headed the Halo Universe panel. O'Connor has recently joined Microsoft coming from Bungie, where he was community manager, so he is one of the best persons with whom gamers can talk about Halo.
He said that "the tricky part" when dealing with such a strong franchise is to determine "what are the things people want to do? We have to pick things that people want". Spinning off Halo Wars, which is a real time strategy game, and introducing new Halo universe novels is actually Microsoft testing the waters, trying to see how gamers react to different Halo experiences. Which of the initiatives will be the most successful and interesting to the fans will determine what Microsoft will further pursue.
O'Connor also said that "We have a really detailed story bible, we do really have it all planned out. There are so many areas of the universe to explore, the real challenge is picking which is the most exciting area for people". He pointed out that the 3 first person Halo shooters that are already out only cover a small time frame in the game universe, so there's a huge space that novels, games and even movies can explore in the future.