New fan made Halo game "Project Contingency" coming to the PC

[Justin Kahn]

It has been quite a while since PC players saw a new Halo release given Microsoft moved the franchise exclusively to Xbox with Halo 3, Halo Wars, Halo Reach and the more recent Halo 4. Well, fret no more, as fans of the series have taken it upon themselves to create a new Halo game for the PC.

Currently named Project Contingency, the fan made Halo game is being developed by more than 20 game makers, some of which are industry veterans. The game will use Crytek's CryEngine 3 and has no connection with Microsoft, 343 or anyone else involved with the Halo IP.

That may sound as an infringement lawsuit in the making, but the Contingency team says that there will be no legal issues with Microsoft and has taken to its forum to quell concerns.

"Project Contingency is created under Microsoft's "Game Content Usage Rules" using assets from Halo," the site's legal section reads. "It is not endorsed by Microsoft and does not reflect the views or opinions of Microsoft or anyone officially involved in producing or managing Halo. As such, it does not contribute to the official narrative of the fictional universe."

The team claims it is completely in-line with Microsoft's usage rules and is doing everything in its power to avoid that dreaded cease and desist request. This essentially amounts to the devs having to avoid trademarked logos, using the name "Halo" in the title, using someone else's assets and making a profit. All of which seem, for the most part, to be quite acceptable to the Contingency team. The site goes on to point out that this is a completely free-to-play game, being made on a volunteer basis. They aren't even taking donations at this point.

Members of the development also recently spoke with 343 Industries' Frank O'Connor and Jessica Shea, who confirmed that they should be safe from a cease and desist so long as they follow the Halo Terms of Service.

You can see the CE3 tech demo for Contingency below.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/53458-new-fan-made-halo-game-project-contingency-coming-to-the-pc.html

 

[wastedkill]

Wow this looks amazing... this is why I love PC gaming! The mods and community!

 

[TomSEA]

While I admire their efforts, that was a pretty weak demo. We didn't see a single fight scene, enemy combatant, friendly force - anything like that. Just scenery and long distance shots of a burning city.

 

[oldikes]

While I admire their efforts, that was a pretty weak demo. We didn't see a single fight scene, enemy combatant, friendly force - anything like that. Just scenery and long distance shots of a burning city.

As far as I know this project has been around for a few months now and I wasent impressed a while ago either for the same reason, just shows the same assets over and over...
I want to believe this is gonna be awesome, but these come around too often for me to jump for joy.

 

[lawfer]

While I admire their efforts, that was a pretty weak demo. We didn't see a single fight scene, enemy combatant, friendly force - anything like that. Just scenery and long distance shots of a burning city.

Pretty much this.

 

[Ranger12]

Well before we all poo poo on it, it is only a tech demo. A fight scene would require lots of character models and animation for said models would be very time consuming for a tech demo. It certainly would have been cool to see more but seeing as the projects is only a few months old I wouldn't expect anything near complete.

 

[Tekkaraiden]

Looks not bad for a fan project.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Looks awesome. I need some gameplay to be convinced though. The lack of expertise worries me.

 

[St1ckM4n]

Well before we all poo poo on it, it is only a tech demo. A fight scene would require lots of character models and animation for said models would be very time consuming for a tech demo. It certainly would have been cool to see more but seeing as the projects is only a few months old I wouldn't expect anything near complete.

That's what a tech demo is.

 

[Mikymjr]

The graphics seem to be more realistic then the Halo games. Go for it! If this was only a taste of the things to come, then sure they have my like ^^

 

[lawfer]

Well before we all poo poo on it, it is only a tech demo. A fight scene would require lots of character models and animation for said models would be very time consuming for a tech demo. It certainly would have been cool to see more but seeing as the projects is only a few months old I wouldn't expect anything near complete.

You use the term tech demo, but I don't think it means what you think it means...

 

[Guest]

Excellent !

 

[colinf]

Sad to say but, this will end up in obscurity like all big fan made projects

 

[ghasmanjr]

Well before we all poo poo on it, it is only a tech demo. A fight scene would require lots of character models and animation for said models would be very time consuming for a tech demo. It certainly would have been cool to see more but seeing as the projects is only a few months old I wouldn't expect anything near complete.

If anyone remembers back in 2000, the tech demos for the PS2 were amazing the the actual graphics ended up sucking. Usually, tech demos are better than the actual graphics of a game. In this case, I expected faaaaaaaar more out of the Cry Engine 3.
On a side note, I am most likely the most diehard Halo fan on Techspot. I've read every book and I have played every game to death (except Wars and ODST...but those were terrible anyway). In the books, Eric Nylund describes the glassing of a planet as bombarding the surface with superheated plasma until no structure, nor living thing remained. Even the soil became so incredibly hot that it created a sheet of glass upon the surface (hence the phrase "glassing a planet"). In the last scene of the tech demo, the Covenent are glassing the planet and the structures are still standing but are merely on fire. This is crap. Plasma = hot as the sun

 

[Wagan8r]

Sad to say but, this will end up in obscurity like all big fan made projects

Right, just like Black Mesa.

Not.