: 1. Because they're awesome.
: 2. Because it's cool to see a new set of artists re-imagine the excellent
: original cutscenes that we all pretty much know by heart.
: 3. Because the in-engine versions aren't going anywhere. They're in the MCC
: and all over the internet.
: 4. Because the in-engine cutscenes in HCEA were lousy and if the same team is
: working on this, I don't trust them to do any better. Blur, on the other
: hand, has a sweet track record.

1. Yep.
2. Yep. And for consistency with everything else Halo storytelling at the moment.
3. Yep. And I think 343 dislikes in-engine cutscenes, when they have so much more flexibility in telling the story with rendered CG
4. Yep. So far I'm liking what I'm see much more than in-engine cutscenes. The only reasons I can see for the latter is 'ooh nice engine tech,' it costs too much to hire another team to render, and it just takes up less space.