343 confirms Halo 4 is native 720p, addresses perk system concerns

Halo has been a staple title for Microsoft and the Xbox/Xbox 360 ever since the game's first release back in 2001; but, it has come a far way since then.

343 Studios recently released a behind the scenes video focused on all of the new additions and changes coming to Halo 4.  Through the video, they revealed some stunning in-game visuals from the upcoming game.

While the majority of fans were impressed, others claimed it still "looks like it's sub-HD".

Halo has always been a popular franchise, featuring fun, addictive gameplay.  But in the graphics department, the series has always received flack for outputting in below-HD resolutions.

Halo franchise development director Frank O'Connor responded to the comment, via NeoGAF, confirming Halo 4 "is native 720p."

O'Connor added, summing up basically what was said in the video: "Almost every single system, audio, rendering, lighting, you name it, has been either radically overhauled or rewritten from the ground up. At this point saying it's based on a previous version of the engine basically speaks to a few pieces of code."

One of the most debated new features in Halo 4 is the inclusion of perks – a first for the series.

O'Connor addressed concerns over the new perk system, writing, "There aren’t ‘perks’ in the game as being described here."

“And classic Halo is still there. But there are things we will be rolling out soon to put all of this discussion in a much better perspective and I suspect calm frayed nerves.”

“We didn’t mention them. That’s why I put it in quotes," he explained. "That term was coined by someone else to interpret stuff they saw in the UI. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things and to be expected during announce fervor. And yes, it’s partly our fault since we’re rolling out more information about this stuff at a later time."

Native HD is a massive step forward for the Halo series and should provide a much needed boost for Halo 4 to compete with other first-person shooters.  As for the 'perk' system, well, I'm still interested to see what they have planned.  Right now, it seems to appear very similar to the system used in Reach where each class has a separate ability.

[Eurogamer]