It’s a safe bet that for almost any game developer, the chance to work on a franchise as beloved and revolutionary as Halo would be too good to pass up. But for 343 Industries, the developer who has taken the reins of the series from Bungie, the amount of pressure that kind of responsibility brings is all to familiar. At PAX Prime 2011 this week, the studio released a short video to open their Halo Fest festivities, explaining how they’re dealing with the chance to take the Halo series to places they have yet to explore. The developers don’t seem intent on sticking to the established formula with Halo 4, but are using the next three games to tell a story much larger and grander than anything fans may have expected.
Halo 4 sits in a unique place in terms of video game story, a fact apparent to any fan familiar with the extended world fiction in both comics and novels. But while there is no shortage of story concerning the Forerunners, the Covenant, and the Office of Naval Intelligence, the previous games in the series have made it clear that they were focused solely on the Human-Covenant war.
But as Halo 3 left the war ended in a shaky truce, and the Master Chief floating through space, the series was suddenly without a plot. Halo 4‘s announcement trailer revealed that the game would be picking up right where we left off, with Master Chief awakening to find that his adventure was far from over.
Now that the new trilogy has gotten some concept art and a name, it’s abundantly clear that the Chief will take center stage as The Reclaimer, but what kinds of mystery and drama he’ll encounter is anyone’s guess. The newly-released video from 343 sheds some light on the situation, explaining the team’s desire and commitment to evolving the character of John-117 beyond the faceless soldier we’ve come to know.
Take a look now:
With the constant stream of sequels being released these days, it’s refreshing to see that 343 is planning to take the Halo series into completely unexplored territory. Of course, they also realize that despite how much new mythology and story they would like to dig through, Master Chief is always the star. But not necessarily the same Chief that we have known.
After all, we knew the soldier tasked with a clear and important mission. Now we must step into the shoes (and suit) of John, floating through space with no clear goal or greater mission. For the first time ever, developers have the breathing room to delve deeper into the psyche of the facelss Spartan, and show just how unique their version of him is.
Now whether that means John will be fully fleshed out alongside Cortana, or if the vast and rich fiction of the Forerunner legacy will own the spotlight remains to be seen. But with a development team that seems to be as invested both financially and emotionally in the series, Halo 4 shouldn’t disappoint.
We’ll get our first taste of what a 343 Industries game looks like when Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is released on November 15, 2011. It may be more than 2 months away, but according to the folks at Mega64, real fans know that it’s never too early to go Halo-crazy:
What do you Halo fans think? Would you prefer games that resemble the original trilogy, or do you respect 343 for taking the series to new heights, risky as that may prove to be? Leave us your thoughts in the comments.
Halo 4 will likely be released in the fall of 2012, exclusively for the Xbox 360.
Follow me on Twitter @andrew_dyce.
Electronic Arts Discontinues Online Pass Program 
‘Minecraft’ Snapshot Update Brings Horses & Hardened Clay 
‘ZombiU 2′ Prototype in Development; Will the Sequel Include Co-op? 
BioWare Developers Discuss ‘Mass Effect’ Character Spinoffs & Prequel Ideas 
Loading ...
that last vid was just stupid.
agreed
If they show his face ill never associate myself with anything halo ever again.
True, that would be a major let-down. I would lose a lot of respect in 343 if they showed Chief’s face.
precisely. bc YOU are master chief. that would ruin everything if they showed his face.
face? well im a big fan of halo n i ve alots of curiosity to see chief. bt dat doesnt mean i want it badly. come on 343 its one of the reason that kept me wonder n kept me interested. n well take it to new heights bt always keep relation to what halo is. the ring. the forerunner. the secret planets. everything we got in the trilogy. keep relation n then take it to some new heights. match n relate both. innovation n old taste. thats all i want.
note: dont make stupid things like crysis. fighting against human. i mean human betrayed. lol.
halo is beast weather they bring up old things like the forerunners or they make up a whole new enemy its always gonna be epic and a seller
i am excited to finally see a halo game worth its salt since last few installments have been passed up by me and im a big fan
, i think im gonna read the books again while i wait ^^ Anniversary Edition is gonna be sweet 
See, now this is where I tend to disagree. Halo 3 didn’t leave us without a plot, it left us with a conclusion. I’m having a really hard time being engaged in a plot bigger than saving all life from extinction. The same goes for Chiefs new found “personality”. I think it’s kind of arrogant of them to assume that Chief was lacking personality before and that they can do it better. It’s strange to me they’re putting out Halo Anniversary and going on this “if it ain’t broke” ethic, while at the same time forcibly evolving a character for the sake of standing on their own two feet. If the events of the Halo games (let alone his life of rigorous trials) were’nt enough to change who John is, I GOTTA see what’s coming in these games. The Chief is an iconic and established character and 343 has a responsibility to honor that character as is without injecting what they define as personality. Cortana does the talking, Chief does the rocking… anything more and they might aswell have Hayden Christensen do his voice from here on out.
what has that guy even done since star wars?
he’s fueled alot of rage, and made me ashamed to be Canadian…. oh and also some movies and stuff, I guess.
well what i meant was he was in star wars and then it was like he vanished (at least to me)
I think Master Chief is iconic, and definitely representative of the entire shooter genre, but it’s a stretch to even call him a ‘character.’ The guy is without a real personality, but that was Bungie’s intent all along. he’s defined by what he does, not what he says, feels, or thinks.
But when you’ve got a team that clearly loves Halo, has worked on the series, and knows the fiction (edit: CANON) they’re the ones who can actually show who the Chief is. He’s a soldier without a mission for the first time, that’s the chance to see who he really is as a person. Like what choices he would make without mission parameters.
Is he curious? Does he take risks if not explicitly advised not to? How much does he know about the Covenant politics, Forerunner mythology? Does he care? Did he never actually stop and think about why Spark kept calling him ‘The Reclaimer’? These are the questions that any other storyteller would have dealt with, but Chief wasn’t a character so they couldn’t.
Now’s the chance, and I’m psyched.
i agree with you darth malnu, its just halo 3 was giving me weird feelings like cortana and chief have feelings for each other, some religious crap lol and so on, the game just was a big miss for me and im a huge fan of 1 and 2
i am hoping that this time around they can just bring chief to a new level of badassery, which i still think will use alot of action and less dialogue, however the story he is in could be a bit more coherent 
so that is what i am looking forward too, hopefully…
for the record i dont want to hear chief too much and i dont want to see his face, i think not knowing is what makes him sexy
HAHA
well, you’re gonna be really dissapointed when he finally takes that helmet off and it’s me under there…
…just kidding. It’s Hayden Christensen.
xDDD well hayden is hot, for hots sake, but in all actuality, chief would be pale as hell, probably bald? lmao or atleast little hair and sunken eyes? ill stick with his voice and helmet
if you have no storm/clone trooper to oogle at a spartan is the next best thing 
for girls that is…. i hope? xD
@Andrew Dyce
Couldn’t agree more.
Let me tell you why this game will be more epic then all the halos including reach. Yes you were correct, this story maybe won’t have the gravity of oh saving humanity… but i have a feeling this will be a more personal tale if you will. Obviously they are trying to flesh the character of master chief out. With having to save humans from extinction, we didn’t get to know master chief outside the suit. I’ve been doing some research and I think i’ve got down an outline of how this game might turn out. Based on this one article that is apparently credible, Halo 4 is going to be quite different than its predecessors with master chief facing a new “dark” threat. My only guess for this threat is the natural inhabitants of the mysterious world (onyx?) that hes going to. So possibly forerunners or Precursers… or something new, who knows. This article did say that it is going to bring an unprecedented level of customization to weapons armor and vehicles. In the age of call of duty type customization, this game sounds like its going to be a shooter/rpg hybrid like mass effect. But on top of that they are saying there will be huge enviroments with battles spanning land, sea, air and space… now that just sounds ridiculous. If its real.. im already sold
I fail to see where people have complained rightfully about anything that has happened in the Halo series. I am just as devoted to it as the next guy and have read most of the books, even hopelessly followed the idea of the movie they were supposed to make years back. But change is inherent with ANY series. That is what makes it knew, fun, and fresh. I would never have played Halo:CE 3 times with better graphics. That would have been boring. And if we were always John, how come we never got to choose for him? Not everyone would be so self sacrificing as he. I’m not saying a full blown ME or DE:HR but just knowing I can effect how I play the game and can actually modify how I play sounds great. But you know how we are today as a species, nothing is good enough and we have to whine and complain about everything. For any of you “fanboys” who are so ignorantly whining about “this not being Halo” wait until you actually play the game. I feel that this will finally allow the game to dive into the other areas of Halo’s MASSIVE universe that we have seen from the books. I will be the first to admit if the game sucks when it comes out, but until that point I am excited for it and ready to see what comes next in the story *I* have invested so much in.
I agree….Halo fans are willing to see different ways of playing. I mean Halo Wars was a RTS and I enjoyed it, at least the campaign anyway, and played ODST, the stealthy detective style. Let 343 do their thing just goes to show what else can be done in the Halo Universe.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of ODST, just because of the lack of plotline for the game. I felt that with the vastness of the Halo universe they should have let that one be a book and spent their time on something else. That being said, it was Bungie’s last little experiment before they gave 343 the reigns, (not that they didn’t help) for Reach. And all of the Bungie staff that cared about Halo still joined 343 so I have no idea as to why 343 being in charge is anything but great.
simply because most people think if it isnt bungie it isnt Halo.
This’ll be the game that truly shows who and what John-117 is like. The Human-Covenant War was something he was able to finish, thanks to Noble 6, but now its a completely new world, metaphorically and literally, completely untouched by the war/world he came from. What will he do in this corner of the galaxy? You’ll have to play to find out.
it seems like 1 of every 10 halo fans ive ever met want a cortana-chief relationship, i dont know how many people aren’t realizing that shes just a hologram.
also chief may not even have a sex drive :p
http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/SPARTAN-II_augmentation_procedures
see “Catalytic Thyroid Implant”
yeah i remember reading that in the fall of reach book.