We're only about a month out from the release of Bungie's culminating Halo game, and I'm already thinking about what's on the horizon for, in my opinion, the best console developer out there. I think in the grand scope of things only Valve and Blizzard operate with the same level of love for their fans, but I will gladly leave that argument for another time. 

Halo: CE kickstarted my early teenage gaming obsession which has transitioned into going after a Comp. Sci Degree in the hopes of becoming a part of a team like Bungie. I realized as I followed them via their Weekly Updates over the years that making games is an extremely hard thing to do, and making good games is nigh impossible. This was most evident when all the behind the scenes stuff came out after Halo 2. I also came to realize how much more passionate and talented the folks at Bungie are than a lot of other developers out there. Bungie.net and the Weekly Updates are proof of this. Most multiplayer games haven't even caught up to the level of polish that Halo 2 had (RIP), and Halo 3 has Forge and Video editing. It looks like Black Ops has some form of video recording, but that looked like an in-game piece if equipment. Either way, Bungie is already way ahead of any console shooter as far as features go. I haven't even mentioned that their netcode is lightyears ahead of everything else. I think the engineers at Bungie are their single greatest advantage over the rest of the industry. They know how to make different latencies play nicely; and that makes multiplayer competitive, not frustrating. 

I think Forge World has the potential to be absolutely huge, but I'm hesitant to get my hopes up. The implementation of new maps and game types into playlists would make this game almost endlessly replayable. I know Bungie has said they are going to do this, but to what extent that will happen will determine wether Reach will be the Halo multiplayer to end all multiplayers. I would be genuinely surprised if every single map that has ever been in a Halo game isn't built in Forge within the first two weeks, but I wonder how long we'll have to wait to get those on a playlist.

I know Bungie won't abandon Reach, but I hope their dedicated Reach team and later 343 are able to keep up with the community. I think that Reach for them is ultimately a test. They want to prove that they can nail down all these features, so that when the time comes for the next generation (or maybe even this generation) they can continue innovating with their rich feature-set already intact. I'm truly excited for Reach, but I really can't wait to see what Bungie can do with a little wiggle room in the form of a new universe and endless gameplay possibilities. I don't think they'll abandon all the groundwork they've laid for an entirely different genre, but I hope it is a solid departure from the Haloverse. Ultimately I think Bungie has one of the brightest futures of any dev out there, and they will certainly be getting my money come next month and into the future.