In which case, somebody is doing their job wrong.

: (isn't that sort of what concept artists do? obviously within their medium
: tho).

Could be.

Looking at the Halo Wars concept art, particularly the sprawling battlefields, what is depicted was/could not be translated into the game. It's pretty, but maybe absolutely ambitious concept art isn't helpful to the design team.

: I say do not limit the artists who design and create the Halo vision. Just
: do some better (and that's the loaded term) sanding down :P. I think
: "garbage" may have been put back in by programmers who saw room
: to increase complexity, not necessarily the initial artists. :)

*Opens mouth*
*Closes mouth*

So programmers, the people who work behind the scenes to make a game function, broke into the art team's cubicles one night and uploaded a bunch of overdesigned models, just so they could show off their software? Their programming skilz?

: Each stage in the process should have an expected output standard.

Which is 180 degrees from "Do not limit the artists who design and create the Halo vision". A correct way to handle a project, yes, but still the complete opposite of what you stated earlier.

: If you
: start handling stuff outside your 'zone' you could really mess things up.

Still blaming the ambitious programmers?