: If you want 343 to make a game in only a year, then they are going to have to
: short change it. Cutting edge game development is time consuming, and only
: getting more so. This isn't 1994 anymore; games up to par today are
: massive efforts.

: The top spot doesn't mean much dude. What matters is the quality of the game.

If we want people to talk about a game in forums like this then it has to be relevant. It has to be current. It has to be in your face. Of course it must also be good but it doesn't need to be the best in every way. It only needs to the best in ways desired by its fans.

Right here, on this and other forums, comments have been dropped suggesting they would be happy with old graphics for remakes of campaign and maps. I would never set the bar that low but I do think the Halo 5 engine may be capable of delivering at least three games at a pre-set level of detail. If we look at previous Halo titles, huge investments went into the engines. Much of it was for platform development but I am assuming it was also for innovation in the early days of this type of game.

Does 343i need to keep innovating their Halo engine? I believe the answer is little to none.

Imagine if back in the day, we had Halo 3 followed at one year intervals by 4 and 5 and all at the same level of detail as Halo 3. I'm doubting fans would have complained. It would have been acceptable, given the elapsed time.

343i must change from continuously rebuilding software over three years to delivering more content at a standardized level of detail.

Imagine a world where a new Halo campaign came out each and the canon was better for the continuity.

The LOTR trilogy is a good example of standardization resulting in quick delivery of a quality product.