Halo Infinite Campaign DLC Reportedly 'Never Existed', Multiplayer Live Service The Focus

Jeez, all the MS news getting thrown around this month… Man, @kaloudz is right. The end of the campaign seemed like it was obviously designed for campaign extensions for that 10 year plan they kept talking about. Halo Infinite being financed with a mp only plan for 10 years… wow… I can’t imagine how much of a flop the game must feel like for Xbox. But hey, at least we’re getting Oreo themed skins, right?

@Kaloudz I mean, this news sort of recontextualizes the good will I had toward Infinite’s campaign. I felt like it was an excellent start to the adventure before. Now, though, now I sort of feel like it was an incomplete experience with a fun gameplay loop and neat, but limited open world. It’s hard to find any good news in the Xbox space these days. The Oreo themed skins are real, by the way.

https://www.purexbox.com/news/2023/01/xbox-is-releasing-new-halo-infinite-forza-horizon-5-sea-of-thieves-skins-thanks-to-oreo

The rumored BR is almost certainly an imaginary thing in the fans’ minds as well. Just… what… were… they… thinking. I’m at a loss right now. Lol.

@NEStalgia @Kaloudz It’s not about reading between the lines. We’re all fools for doing exactly that! We should have just read the lines and taken them at face value! Lol. If any game ever felt distinctively designed to have expansions and perhaps episodic content, not since the first Life is Strange title did I feel any game matched the model more. Even if it felt unusual, I sort of liked the idea that they were potentially doing something unique with the GAAS model… but no, the fan backlash against Monster Energy skins turned into fan backlash into the multiplayer in general which turned into Oreo skins because, man, does 343 need snacks!

I hear you on MP. I used to be actually am-pro level by the time Halo 4 came out, but I just get frustrated playing mp now. After not playing a competitive online shooter (excluding Overwatch) from Halo 4’s heyday to the launch of Black Out on BLOPS 4, I found my competitive ability shriveled up into dust in those years in between and I don’t necessarily have the drive to bring it back unless I’m having a lot of fun. I’m just so darn casual with FPS titles now and the F2P format that they all take sort of keeps me far away. I can play a mean game of Splatoon though. Anyway, I was ready to go for the mantle with Infinite though. I was ready to go for the glory with all of my friends that used to play alongside me, and honestly all still almost exclusively play FPS titles. But then a week passed and we were done. Some went back to Destiny, some went back to Warzone, I went back to playing largely retro and single player titles. The week Halo returned. What a week that was.

@Kaloudz 343 is such a baffling company. They have an apologize/hype PR cycle or something that never seems to end. Lol.

For me, I feel like I never play FPS titles anymore, but miss the genre. I think either Halo Infinite or Deathloop was the last FPS I’ve played to completion… man, Atomic Heart can’t come soon enough!

Yeah, I know what you mean. I get that warrior instinct too. I feel I can’t lose to a 13 year old. It feels wrong. Lol.

@Kaloudz I stomped my siblings into dust with games. Lol. I’m the eldest and definitely most invested into games. My son and daughter thought… I can’t wait for them to catch up to me. Lol.

I really enjoyed Deathloop. It’s on Gamepass, so it’s not much risk to try it. It’s got a 70’s aesthetic in look, but that’s about it. The level design is absolutely fantastic. I did feel the characters were a bit annoying, but I do love good gameplay and Deathloop has it in spades. Plus it’s meta-commentary on the FPS genre. It’s a smart game.

@Kaloudz My son is five and my daughter is one. She wants to play so badly and meanwhile he does play badly. Lol. But… eh, he doesn’t get the benefit of the Game Genie like I did! I just know they’ll both have skill in time though. For me, I can’t wait for Goldeneye to release because that’ll bring my whole family together, as far as siblings go. It’s weird watching kids play games. It seems they magically get better at intervals.

@Kaloudz The thing that drives me insane is watching my son deliberately jump off a level over and over again. I’ve noticed that Minecraft is probably the most boring game in the world to watch a child play, but he’s actually developed a lot of skill just mucking about it creative mode. I’ve noticed he has more difficulty with 2D games than 3D games too, which is odd to me, since I’d figure 2D is simpler. For my daughter, I’ve let her “play” already, but she pretty much gets to “play” Flower and that’s it.

You’re definitely right that coaching a kid to play games can be something else! Your daughter’s got 7 years of experience now though. Give her two more years and she’s coming for you. Lol. What type of games does she play?

@Kaloudz It’s all about Minecraft, Mario, and Sonic for my son. He likes to “play” Psychonauts too, but usually that means someone else is playing stretches of the game, but at least he gets to hold the controller during the cutscenes. He’s been getting into Ratchet and Clank recently too. He tried The Pathless this past weekend and I could see that being his next game though. My daughter… it’s too soon. She seems to really want to play the Switch more than anything.

I’m thankful my kids haven’t picked up a Youtube habit. You have my sympathy. Lol.

@Kaloudz Lol. I hope I can hide from it as long as possible. Most of his friends are much older than him due to the neighborhood we live in, and thankfully they bond more over games than YouTube. I swear, it’s the most fascinating thing watching a group of like eight or nine kids aged from 1-12 just sitting together, watching each other play Minecraft. It’s frankly baffling for me.

You know, the aesthetics don’t really do it for me with Psychonauts either. The storyline is solid and the levels are really inventive visually. But it’s also one of the few games my wife has played solo and my son liked watching it. I think it’s a solid game, but perhaps a bit overrated. That could just be me not really liking the art style much though. Gameplay’s not as tight as I’d like for a platformer either. It feels more like a solid 3D indie platformer in the vein A Hat in Time or Yooka Laylee (which are good, don’t get me wrong) than it feels like Mario or Banjo. I can see a third title getting to that quality though with the MS budget instead of the indie budget they originally had.

@Kaloudz Hey, it’s no sweat to me. 2023 seems like the wrong year for backlog gaming at the moment anyway. The Developer Direct got me in a better place with where things are on Xbox. Hi-Fi Rush looks like a better priority to have, in my opinion. Jeez, we’re getting spoiled with an exclusive on each of the big three consoles this week. I’m honoring my two year old Forspoken preorder before I jump on anything else, but man I feel like I need to take a long vacation from work to prepare to have time for Hogwarts Legacy with all the greatness 2023 has to offer.

Deathloop though, I gotta say, as an FPS fan, you should think about it. They don’t use the lingo from the 70’s. It’s just the furniture, if you get what I mean. It feels very modern and now, despite the looks. I gave Deathloop an 8/10, but I’m always curious about how people interpret the game.