343 Industries Talks Exclusively About Halo Waypoint…

With news regarding Halo: Reach literally pouring out of the Internet, it’s safe to say that Bungie’s evolved combat series is as popular as ever. Despite critical success cooling with each subsequent release, the Halo franchise has arguably gone from strength to strength. Now, with it’s own online portal giving gamers direct access to Halo content, Waypoint is the first of its kind.

X360 caught up with 343 Industries franchise development director, Frank O’Connor and lead producer Jason Pace to find out how Waypoint’s holding up post release…

Is it fair to say that Waypoint is a reaction to social networking sites like Facebook? Why is so important for Halo fans to have a direct portal?

Frank O’Connor Not exactly. The social features of those sites you mention, Facebook especially – are elements we’d like to be complimentary to, and even work with, rather than compete against. The primary focus of Waypoint is bringing fans of a rich intricate universe to a hub of information, communication, data and fiction, that isn’t too far away from the core of that universe – the games.

What sort of reaction from fans have you seen since Waypoint launched?

Frank O’Connor Very positive. I think the most rewarding thing is seeing fans beg for things that we already planned for, some of which are in the pipeline already.

It’s fantastic for Halo to have a connection with its fans but how do you see Waypoint evolving in the next few years? What sort of services would you like to see available?

Frank O’Connor Waypoint will evolve at roughly the pace that the games, players and universe do. That is to say, we’ll try to match that content step for step with the evolution of the Halo IP and its community.

Jason Pace We view Waypoint as a living, evolving part of the Halo universe, and as such we want to stay open to the possibilities for where we can take it. We’re listening to Halo fans so we can understand the kinds of experiences they want the most.

Has the genesis of Waypoint been in the works for a while? Were there any other ideas that were considered before Waypoint was created?

Frank O’Connor The evolution from concept to implementation was very smooth actually – and the console was always going to be the central access point, so it’s fair to say we stayed on plan – but the future is where we’ll expand beyond that core hub.

How did the process work from idea to product, as other than videogame websites there is nothing like Waypoint on any console?

Jason Pace We wanted to create a persistent home on the console for Halo fans, and one key thing we realized early in development is that we couldn’t just build a web site on LIVE – we needed to create something entirely new that was designed more for a TV screen than a monitor, and more for the Xbox controller than a keyboard. As we moved through development we stayed focused on building an experience that first and foremost felt like Halo, and we’re delivering content best suited for the TV and controller. You’ll see an ongoing emphasis on interactivity, graphics and video – elements that feel at home on your TV screen and natural for the Xbox controller.

Do you think it’s important for big IP like Halo to have this level of connectivity with its audience?

Frank O’Connor It’s vital. Bands are fond of saying that without their fans, they’d be nothing. The same holds true for games. The Halo community is one of the most ardent and loyal and voracious of any IP. They love Halo and in return, Halo should love them back. Waypoint is just one aspect of that. Bungie’s Bnet, the games themselves and the ancillary fiction are other ways that this loyalty is rewarded and energized.

Halo has always had an active community with fan made content such as Red vs Blue popping up on the Internet, is Waypoint a way of giving fans a recognisible platform?

Frank O’Connor Absolutely. It’s already integrated in Waypoint and user generated content is a huge part of our future.

Do you think the Waypoint template would work for any other big IP, is this something we can expect to see more of?

Frank O’Connor I think so – although Halo as a standalone game IP has a lot more fiction and “outward facing” IP stuff than say, Gears, in part because Halo has been around longer. Although Gears has a rich universe and could easily support many of the things Waypoint does. Forza’s huge UGC and community base could do something interesting too. I don’t think you have to emulate what we’ve done precisely. In fact it would be more compelling to map your game’s strengths to the type of content you produce, rather than borrowing a template.

Do you use Waypoint? Would you like to see more games with their own portals accessible via Xbox Live? What do you think in general! Thoughts below please.