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You guys make good points, ones that I share in opinion, and in a comment on Firestream’s blog page about the future of Halo UNITY, MaNiaCaL z78 echoes my disgust with 343 for not having some of Halo’s most successful communities’ backs:

“I think a lot of it has to do with 343 poopin all over their fan communities in general. I am barely hanging on to Halo 4 as it is. I mean think about the various communities that 343 left out, and tell me what ones developed.

Map makers: you can no longer download pics to your computer and re post them on sites such as forge hub. So unless you have a capture card then your map post looks something like this

“It’s a 4v4 map on Erosion. It has two main bases, two side bases, and warthogs. It’s a good map I promise.”

I forged decent maps on Reach, posted a few here and there. Now I have no interest to purchase a capture card and go through the additional hassle of trying to get screen shots.

The average montage maker: Gone thanks to no film rendering.

Halotrax: race type left out. I personally spent countless hours racing. Especially during “lobby breaks” to pass time.

No competitive community: Oh it’s coming……………

Photography community: bs angels picks of the weak. Gone. I have several hundred screen shots from h3 on my computer. Some by me, some by the community. Now I have no way of getting them if I spent the time to make them.

Also affecting the photography community is no theatre in campaign or spartan ops.

No campaign scoring or video options pretty much killed the oppurtunity for groups like Halo challenges to share their work…”

By rendering those communities’ very tools inert, they truly have “pooped on” the fans.

And don’t get me started on “WHY FIX SOMETHIN THAT AINT BROKE?!?!!”

But what I’m exploring here isn’t how 343 failed it’s most loyal communities, but what can we do now that we have a product that isn’t going to give us what we find satisfying in our hours of gameplay and community interaction. Halo UNITY is a fantastic idea, a hub of activity, adventure, and community fun, but in the aftermath of disappointment, no one is pumped to get anything going, and when we do the work to get ourselves pumped up, there’s not much left to pump up others.

Halo 2 and 3 pumped you up.

So now that we know Halo 4 isn’t going to “bring back the magic” that Halo:REACH struck from existence, what are we going to do about? Is there anything we can do? What can each individual do and what can communities together do. These are the questions I am exploring.

With all the wandering souls milling about from all the various communities, it seems like something could start a fire under our asses and bring on a passion for gaming, even if it is in Halo 4.