Joystiq

Hit List Q&A: Frank O'Connor, 343 franchise development director

Joystiq Staff — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 12:21:00 EST

In the "Hit List" from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, the video game industry's top talents describe their current gaming addictions, their most anticipated releases and more. This week: 343's Franchise Development Director Frank O'Connor.

Frank O'Connor has worked in and around the gaming industry for about twenty years, starting in the gaming press in the UK, where he edited and wrote for several magazines before making the move to the States. After several years working on games publications here, he took an opportunity to work at Bungie studios as a community manager, working on consumer relations, marketing efforts and game fiction.

When Bungie spun out of Microsoft during Halo Reach, he decided to stay with the Halo franchise and has been there since the inception of 343 Industries. He's lived through every single console and computer game transition, and he is just as excited about the impending one as he was when Pong gave way to the Atari 2600.

At Frank's forthcoming 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit session with Microsoft Game Studios/343 Industries' Executive Producer Kiki Wolfkill, Frank will co-present on "Changing the Universe - Three for Three." This session will explore the trials, tribulations, and opportunities in building and rebuilding a cultural phenomenon, expanding a beloved universe into live action and transmedia storytelling, all while creating a AAA-game studio from scratch.

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Hit List Q&A: Frank O'Connor, 343 franchise development director originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 07 Feb 2013 12:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When we were your age, we didn't have Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary achievements

Jordan Mallory — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 14:30:00 EST

It's hard to imagine a Halo game without achievements, but in the long passed, black-and-white prohibition-era yesteryear of 2001, that's just how things were. No 'chievos to grind, no Gamerscore to bolster, and only the earliest, fledgling proto-trolls were hurling racial slurs over Xbox Live.

A lot has changed since then, and Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary knows that kids these days couldn't handle a Halo experience devoid of achievements, so jump past the break for a complete list of points you never had the opportunity to earn in the first place.

Continue reading When we were your age, we didn't have Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary achievements

When we were your age, we didn't have Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary achievements originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 15 Oct 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Halo 4 creative director Ryan Payton leaves Microsoft, opens Camouflaj [update]

Ben Gilbert — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 10:15:00 EST

Moving from Metal Gear Solid 4 to Halo 4, ex-EGM freelancer turned game producer Ryan Payton was building a resume of high profile sequels to rest his career on. But before he could help Master Chief finish the next fight, he announced that he was leaving 343 Industries and Microsoft to open his own studio, Camouflaj.

"Some people say I'm crazy, but I want to make a game that one billion people play at once, and it's something that hits them harder than a great book or film," Payton says of Camouflaj's future projects, of which there are currently two in development.

In 2008, Payton helped launched Metal Gear Solid 4 as assistant producer at Kojima Productions in Tokyo, but when his mother in the US was diagnosed with cancer he decided to move closer to home. After interviewing at "several" studios, he decided on Microsoft, where we now know he was working on Halo 4. Unfortunately, it seems that the Halo he wanted to build wasn't exactly what Microsoft had in mind. "The Halo I wanted to build was fundamentally different and I don't think I had built enough credibility to see such a crazy endeavor through," he told Kotaku in an interview.

After seeing friend and Haunted Temple Studios creative lead Jake Kazdal laboring on his own project, Skulls of the Shogun, Payton decided it was time for a change. "I think time is the most valuable thing we have, and I've decided that I'm not going to waste one more day working on something that doesn't speak to my values."

Update: Microsoft has released a statement regarding Payton's departure, stating: "343 Industries has assembled an all-star cast of talent working on 'Halo 4' under the design leadership of Studio and 'Halo 4' Creative Director, Josh Holmes. We're excited to tell the next story in the 'Halo' universe with 'Halo 4' as the first game in the Reclaimer Trilogy. Ryan Payton, who left earlier this summer, served as Narrative Designer on 'Halo 4' for 15 months. Armando Troisi was hired as the 'Halo 4' Narrative Director in March, having formerly served as the Lead Cinematic Designer on 'Mass Effect 2.' Ryan has been a great friend and colleague during his tenure at 343 Industries and we appreciate his contributions to the team. We wish Ryan the best in his new game development venture."

Halo 4 creative director Ryan Payton leaves Microsoft, opens Camouflaj [update] originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 06 Sep 2011 10:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Digital Foundry analyzes the Halo: Reach ViDoc

David Hinkle — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:15:00 EST

By now, you've likely dissected every frame of the new Halo: Reach trailer, mining its most precious infoz to your heart's content. Or maybe (like us) you work for a living, or have other responsibilities that keep you from busting out the microscope and going to town. That's where Digital Foundry comes in.

DF conducted a thorough breakdown of the X10 video, monitoring the frames-per-second (fups, as us cool kids call it) in all of the presented gameplay. All in all, the ViDoc seems to have spoken the truth: Halo: Reach's engine is a significant improvement over that of Halo 3's. It looks like Reach should run at a smooth 30fps, the same as its predecessor, at a higher resolution: 1152x720 over Halo 3's 1152x640. Yep, you pixel-counters just read that right. Head on over and give the video a gander.

[Via HBO]

Digital Foundry analyzes the Halo: Reach ViDoc originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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