[core238]

I have this friend, for the sake of anonymity, let's call him "Antoine". "Antoine Merriweather". He works for a company that does consulting work for larger tech oriented companies. I'm not exactly sure what "Antoine" does there, as I have never really asked, but according to "Antoine", a lot of the stuff that goes on at his job is big time hush, hush, under some pretty heavy NDAs with pretty stiff punishments for offenders. But since what he told me was strictly "rumor", he was allowed to talk about it - even so, he still did not wish to broadcast what he'd heard online for fear that it may be true, and it would get back to him as the source if he posted any of it directly.

I digress.

Back in January, I burned through some saved vacation time and took a trip to the CES in Las Vegas. "Antoine" was there in business capacity with this company, and got me passes to some of the more behind-closed-doors exhibits and keynotes and such. I've been to CES several times before, but this was the first time I got a more insider view of the event, and I had a blast. I think it was the second or third night of the show, we were having a few drinks after hours, and got into a full-on geek pow wow, which ultimately got around to gaming. And like most conversations on the topic, things eventually worked there way around to console exclusives. I was observing how 2009 turned out to be a real turd in terms of quality exclusives (what was there was great, especially the PS3 exclusives, but exclusives in 2009 were not exactly plentiful), and how I was hoping 2010 would turn out better. I further commented on how Q1 and Q2 for 2010 looked great, but beyond that, the rest of the year looked dead; no one had any killer apps lined up for the year end blow out. It was at that point that Antoine gave me the briefest of knowing glances - I would have missed it had I not been looking directly at him when he made it. So I asked him to spill if he knew anything more to add the subject. At first he would not, but a few more drinks, and about an hour of goading later, he finally spilled the beans.

Recently the firm he works for has been doing some work with the Big M Software Company of Redmond, WA. Even though he was not on the team working with the Big M, the team he did work with shared office space with the team working with the Big M, and there was some pretty interesting flotsam floating around the workplace. It was at this point that he pointed out, that even in the office, everything he was about to tell me was considered rumor, so none of it may be true, and we both could just be getting excited over nothing if we put to much faith in the rumor. However, it was all pretty juicy stuff if any of it turned out to be fact, and he proceeded to spill the deets.

According to the office rumor mill, the Big M has a ton of announced and unannounced videogame exclusives waiting in the wings. On the list of exclusives are of course the likes of Fable 3, Halo: Reach and Project Natal. But where things get interesting is the list of unannounced titles. He threw out a list of names, fully half of them IPs I had never heard of, but the ones that did stick in my mind were the IPs I knew - IPs we all know. Those included Half Life 2: Episode 3, Portal 2, Halo Remix, Halo 2 Remix, and Gears of War 3. All the games he mentioned are tentatively set to release in H2 of this year, and all will be officially announcement by E3 at the latest - some of them could see announcements as early as the Big M's X10 event in February (later this week, in fact), held in the US for the first time since 2006.

When you add the unannounced titles to a list of exclusives which includes the likes of Alan Wake and Splinter Cell: Conviction and Mass Effect 2, it certainly does add up to a pretty solid year of exclusives that are spread out across the entire year. On the one hand, some of it makes sense, but then on the other with the Big M's focus on Project Natal this holiday, this other list of unannounced exclusives seems like overkill. Even though we were both excited at the prospect, we both pretty much agreed that it was all likely wishful thinking on the fanboy in all of us, and the "rumor" just as likely bait created by someone in his office, trying to see how many coworkers could be lured into making idiots of themselves spreading this stuff on the internets as fact.

After that, while I obvious kept all this in mind, I put it on the back burner - after all, a rumor is still just a rumor, right?

Exactly.

So into the back of my mind this rumor went . . . that was until I saw the news today (or technically, it was Friday's news, but I did not see it until today). And just like that, the two games on Antoine's list that made the least sense (Halo Remix and Halo 2 Remix), suddenly made the most sense. I may be going out on a limb here, but with Xbox 1 support being turned off as of April so the Big M can further upgrade the LIVE network unhindered by X1 support, would definitely create a market for HD remakes of the two most popular games on the original Xbox - especially when it's revealed the remakes can still be played on LIVE . . . doubly so when punters realize they can finally play the original Halo online for the first time on console. I was just thinking back over the Holidays when God of War Collection came out to the PS3, why couldn't we see more classics from last-gen get a 1080p60 makeover complete with Achievements/Trophies and stuff (of course at the time, I was thinking more along the lines of Shenmue, Crazy Taxi, Skies of Arcadia and Headhunter). What even sells the idea more, is how Marc Whitten singles out the Halo fans in particular, with last Friday's announcement. It's almost as if he has more to say on the subject matter, but not just yet. And if the two least likely games on the list turn out to be the real deal, then what about the rest of the rumor?

Yeah, I know it is all a stretch. A stretch based on a rumor told to me second hand no less. But at the same time . . .

Anyway, just in case there is any validity to the whole thing, I thought I'd give you guys the heads-up. And as the case with any rumor, please take it with a grain of salt.

[Hawkmoon]

I for one, hope some of these are true. I would love to play through Halo CE and Halo 2 in HD, 1080p and perhaps in 60FPS. If this is the case, there is one game which I think all would agree that would be the most well received if it got a 1080p/remixed edition...Star Wars: Knights of the old Republic. Out of all the Xbox 1 games, this is the one game I would to see remade for the new generation. It is something that rarely has been done, old games re-done with next gen visuals, but if any game could really benefit from this and with an IP like Star Wars, I think it would sell like crazy especially in the light of the success of Mass Effect 2.

Here is hoping some of these rumors come true though...I think releasing Halo CE or Halo 2 for $39.99 or so would sell like crazy.

[thengodisseven]

A 'remix' of the previous Halo games should be offered for 19.99 each for download and 24.99 for a disc.

Would love to see a Crazy Taxi Collection offered up, but just 1 and 2. Great info, Core.

[REK]

The Halo Remix rumors make sense in another way, what better way for 343 Studios to get their feet wet with Halo than to remake the classic games. It would allow them to get a feel for programing a Halo game and to understand how to get it to feel like Halo for when they take on Halo 4. I do not think Bungie would work on this since they are ready to move on once Reach is done. Besides anime and books what has 343 been working on? This might be it!

[Jerome]

I won't get my hopes up, but it'd be interesting to see the previous 2 Halo games redone. I think GoW3 is a given, and I'll look forward to that.

[oregontrail]

I'd love to play Halo CE again in true HD, with online play. Never got used to the changed combat options, and the pistol was never the same in the later games. KOTOR would be another "must buy" for the wife, and at a $40 price, MS would be printing money again.

[whippingboy]

I can't imagine Halo 1&2 HD playing at 60fps- much as I'd like to see it- many people would bitch the timing is off. Or this would cause to say it plays (dare I say it) better- and then the griping continues why can't all Halo games be 60fps if COD games do?

I also don't understand the triple dip- Halo 1&2 on Xbox- backwards compatible- then as Xbox original downloads for 360- only to pull the plug on multiplayer and then add it back but in slightly higher res? Now if they say used the ODST or Halo 3 engine to remake the games with new textures- that'd be interesting- but way too labor intensive as there's a lot in Halo 1 and 2 texture wise that was never represented in the later games- and if people really are playing Halo 3 multiplayer the most- just how many people would they expect would buy the HD versions AND then go online and play multiplayer?

Are there really that many people that like the multiplayer rules of 1 &2 better than Halo 3 but played Halo 3 instead because they just couldn't stomach the graphics all these years- but if they were charged 3X the cost of the Xbox original download THEN they'd flock to the old school?

As much as I'd like to see the old games with a new coat of paint- I really question the sense of it all.

KOTOR would also be an amazing update- but it's a licensed game- wich means they'd have to pay for the license AGAIN- as this would be a new system. THAT alone coupled with the cost of optimization and testing just doesn't seem like a good use of limited Bioware resources and now that EA is managing them- I'm sure they're much more interested in DLC for ME2 due to all the newfound sales.

I'm still holding out for a Steel Battalion 1+LOC HD Remix (adding bots to the mix) for X360- but I know that won't see the light of day either.