So the first big piece of news out of E3 today is the announcement of next installment of the Halo franchise - Halo 4. Microsoft spilled the beans earlier on their website, 2 hours before the press conference was due to start, curiously undermining any sense of anticipation. Makes you wonder if it was intentional or a 'convenient' leak. Alongside the new Halo announcement came the news that the original Halo is due for a next-gen reboot. Yes folks, the venerable shooter that started it all is getting a facelift. Although further details are yet to be divulged expect a couple of bonus levels and a couple of new weapons just to freshen things up a bit. Whilst the Halo fanboys around the world rejoice,  once the E3 dust has settled the big question remains:
 
Is the gaming industry afraid to innovate?

This year has seen an increase in sequel-itis, and the trend is likely to continue judging by Microsoft's decision to create a fourth Halo alongside a reboot of the original. Whilst it's understandable that in the current economic climate investors and shareholders like to play it safe, to go with what is tried and trusted, and keep their distance from risky projects,  but this unfortunately comes at the expense of original thinking. Consequently most of the clever titles seen today take root in the indie community. Small indie studios like Mode 7, makers of the excellent Frozen Synapse, carry the torch of innovative game-design. This is both a good thing and a bad thing.

The good side is that it encourages and fosters a culture of innovation in the indie community, allowing fledgling game developers to exercise their creativity. On the flipside it places too much pressure on small development studios. After all - the game may be innovative, but the further you push the envelope the higher the risk of it turning out to be seriously sucky, to put it mildly.

What do you guys think? With the Halo franchise, is it a case of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" or is there a genuine lack of creativity within the industry?

So the first big piece of news out of E3 today is the announcement of next installment of the Halo franchise - Halo 4. Microsoft spilled the beans earlier on their website, 2 hours before the press conference was due to start, curiously undermining any sense of anticipation. Makes you wonder if it was intentional or a 'convenient' leak. Alongside the new Halo announcement came the news that the original Halo is due for a next-gen reboot. Yes folks, the venerable shooter that started it all is getting a facelift. Although further details are yet to be divulged expect a couple of bonus levels and a couple of new weapons just to freshen things up a bit. Whilst the Halo fanboys around the world rejoice,  once the E3 dust has settled the big question remains:
 
Is the gaming industry afraid to innovate?

This year has seen an increase in sequel-itis, and the trend is likely to continue judging by Microsoft's decision to create a fourth Halo alongside a reboot of the original. Whilst it's understandable that in the current economic climate investors and shareholders like to play it safe, to go with what is tried and trusted, and keep their distance from risky projects,  but this unfortunately comes at the expense of original thinking. Consequently most of the clever titles seen today take root in the indie community. Small indie studios like Mode 7, makers of the excellent Frozen Synapse, carry the torch of innovative game-design. This is both a good thing and a bad thing.

The good side is that it encourages and fosters a culture of innovation in the indie community, allowing fledgling game developers to exercise their creativity. On the flipside it places too much pressure on small development studios. After all - the game may be innovative, but the further you push the envelope the higher the risk of it turning out to be seriously sucky, to put it mildly.

What do you guys think? With the Halo franchise, is it a case of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" or is there a genuine lack of creativity within the industry?

wat

They aren't rebooting Halo. They are releasing an HD upgrade version of Halo.

What would you do to innovate in the gaming industry, I'd like to hear some suggestions.

@TooWalrus said:

What would you do to innovate in the gaming industry, I'd like to hear some suggestions.

To add to your question, how would you innovate in current franchises? In the last Bombcast, Jeff brought that up about MW3 "moving forward". I'm always curious as to what people want and what ideas that they have to move a franchise or genre forward and innovate? And then I need to be convinced that innovation will sell. IMHO, this is not something easy to pull off at all, although many gamers think that it is. So I personally, think it's neat that MS is doing this with Halo CE and I will purchase it.

I suppose the best we can hope for is that 343 delivers a the Halo experience we know and love while changing things up sufficiently to justify the sequel. Now that Halo is in the hands of a new studio I'm quite hopeful that will happen. 
 
If I could change anything, I'd update the story-telling of Halo. The Halo universe is deep and rich - Halo characters, on the other hand, are flat and unentertaining. Give us a new villain, a new set of weapons (a new jet pack, apparently?) but make sure we also get a new, interesting story, and I'll be happy.