Halo Infinite's Joseph Staten has discussed the year-long delay to the game, saying that while it was "very, very hard", he is "so proud of the studio and Xbox" for make the decision to prioritise player experience over putting an unfinished game out.

With Halo Infinite's multiplayer is out in the wild, and apart from early criticisms of the game's Battle Pass system, the game is largely receiving praise from fans. While final verdicts on next month's campaign are still to come, the multiplayer's positive reception is the first step in what could be a huge redemption story for Halo Infinite.

After a reveal that left many fans underwhelmed and led to Craig the Brute's rise to internet stardom, Halo Infinite was delayed from its Holiday 2020 launch window all the way to Q4 2021. In hindsight, even Phil Spencer said he regrets how the reveal went down.

Now, we're learning even more about what was going on inside Xbox and developer 343 during the delay of Halo Infinite. Speaking on IGN Unfiltered, Halo veteran Joseph Staten went in-depth on his experience working on Infinite, from joining the project part way through development, to the tough decision to delay the game out of the Xbox Series X's launch window.

On a hot summer day in 2020, the internet was ablaze with negative reactions to Halo Infinite's big reveal. Staten, who is known for his work on Bungie's original Halo trilogy, wanted to see if he could help. He called Bonnie Ross, VP at Xbox Game Studios to see if he could help at all with the seemingly troubled development of Halo Infinite. Now, Staten says that was the start of a "brand new career."

Staten, who was instrumental in the success of Bungie's Halo games, was all of a sudden thrust into the role of Project Lead for Halo Infinite's campaign.

Inside 343's Decision to Delay Halo Infinite

In August 2020, shortly after Halo Infinite's big campaign debut, the news of the delay came out. Staten says there was a lot of stress and pressure involved with the delay, even though it ended up being the right choice.

"[There was] a huge amount of pressure to stay the course. I think a really wonderful example of Xbox leadership doing the right thing for our fans, doing the right thing […] for players, even though it hurt them, Even though there were costs associated with that." Staten said. "It was 100% a player-first decision, and I'm so proud of the studio and Xbox for making that decision."

Staten says the campaign benefitted the most from the delay because it's the "largest Halo campaign we've ever made." The team was also grateful for more time to work on the multiplayer, Staten says the difference is that multiplayer, "doesn't have the same surface area as the campaign."

The team looked at 10 different main areas of the game they wanted to work on. Staten says two of the 10 areas were how to identify and find equipment easily, and how to use the grapple hook, which he calls the "fourth leg" of Halo combat, in addition to weapons, melee, and grenades.

Staten added that another main goal was to finish the game in a healthy way for the studio, to prepare them for moving onto supporting the live service aspect of Halo Infinite. Even though the game is coming out in full next month, not every feature will be there at launch. Fan-favorite modes like campaign co-op and Forge won't show up until May 2022 at the earliest.

Delaying Halo Infinite co-op was "very, very hard," according to Staten. He says the simple truth is that, "co-op wasn't ready," and 343 decided to prioritize effort in other areas, like making sure performance is stable on all platforms.

"If we don't maintain a high bar, if we don't commit ourselves to excellence and commit ourselves to every time we launch something to delighting our customers, living up to their expectations, ideally exceeding our expectations, I don't think we're doing this job right," Staten said.

For more on the development of Halo Infinite, check out the full interview with 343's Joseph Staten. And, be sure to check out our preview of Infinite's campaign.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

This is a spoiler-free review for the two-part premiere of Marvel’s Hawkeye, streaming from November 24 on Disney+.

Hawkeye stands as perhaps Disney+ and Marvel Studios’ most difficult TV challenge yet: how to get anyone to care about the MCU’s most boring Avenger. Luckily there’s a blueprint; comic creators Matt Fraction and David Aja have been here before when they evolved the character from tired to tremendous across 22 fantastic issues. Unsurprisingly it’s that run from which the Disney+ show draws its inspiration. For those unfamiliar with the comics, you can expect a surprisingly goofy street-level caper that’s big on personality while also letting darker elements gently simmer. These components are clear right from the get go, and while Hawkeye commits some of the same mistakes other MCU shows have, its fun ideas ensures the two-part premiere introduces us to a promising story that knowingly winks at the boring Hawkeye meme and begins to rebuild its titular hero.

In these opening episodes, set in the week leading up to Christmas, Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton is recognized in the street and theatre stalls by wide-eyed fans. Despite this, it’s clear he’s not the Avenger most people adore. As he walks past a group of superhero cosplayers in Times Square, the archer among them is actually Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games, a great joke that really makes the story’s intent for him clear. This lack of popularity is because Hawkeye doesn’t have a good brand, Barton’s told. How could anyone care about him when he hides anything interesting about himself?

It’s a question posed by someone who has the most likable ‘brand’ of any Marvel character since Phase One: Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop. Pulled almost entirely from the pages of Fraction and Aja’s comics, she’s a delightfully energetic force who runs before she can walk. Her archery skills are matched only by her ability to arrive in the wrong place at the wrong time. This provides almost all of Hawkeye’s initial fun and intrigue; Kate’s a pint-sized detective, and her underbaked crime fighting instincts ensure she’s always getting herself into some kind of exciting trouble.

Together, Barton and Bishop make a classic double-act. He’s the grumpy surrogate father who’s just trying to live his life, and she’s the untamable wild card who may just bring out the best in her new mentor. It’s a cliché set up that stands a chance of becoming tired but, at least in these initial hours, the dynamic is strong. That’s largely thanks to Steinfeld; based on these two episodes, the Hawkeye the title refers to is almost certainly Kate. It’s unsurprising that she steals the show — Steinfeld has always been a magnetic joy — but her junior hero also fires significantly more arrows over the premiere, both physically and metaphorically. Again, this feels like a recognition that Hawkeye needs spicing up, and that heat was never going to come from Clint himself, at least not initially. By providing the lion’s share of the show to Kate, we’re able to invest in a much more fascinating character who will hopefully over time push Clint into a more interesting position.

While the duo makes for an energetic feel, there are elements at play that keep things human and weighty. Barton is trying his best to be a dad while suffering the side effects of being a superhero; he’s carrying the traumatic burden of a lost best friend, and a hearing aid makes up for the toll a dozen explosive missions have taken on his eardrums. The sudden appearance of Kate in his life pulls him back into a life of trouble he’s trying to put on the backburner for the Holidays, which amps up the excitement and amusement but, doesn’t lose sight of that humanity. A sequence set during a live-action role play game really delivers on this balance; it’s consistently funny while also demonstrating Barton’s reluctance to being pulled into a conflict when he’d rather be wrapping presents.

Barton’s home life is kept largely as a framing device, as is the norm for the ‘getting home in time for Christmas’ trope that Hawkeye enjoyably revels in. Each episode ticks down a day, which steadily builds the pressure. This format means there’s sadly minimal depth to his relationship with his children and wife Laura (Linda Cardellini) so far, though, with their roles being used as symbolism more than characters.

Where Clint’s family life is underdeveloped, Kate’s bumpy relationship with her mom (Vera Farmiga) and new suspicious step-dad figure (Tony Dalton) takes up much more time than it needs. There are moments when it successfully contributes to Kate’s character — a scene with her mom in which she discusses the privileges of great wealth is worthwhile — but so far this storyline feels like it’s stealing time away from the double act at the heart of the show, rather than adding anything valuable. It really dents Hawkeye’s zippy tone, and even makes little stretches of the premier close to boring. By dedicating so much time to this plot thread, it means more exciting areas have been denied the chance to develop, and as such Hawkeye fails to hit its full potential in this opening act.

Much like The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Hawkeye is tackling secondary storylines that it really doesn’t need to, and that makes me fearful that it could suffer from similarly undercooked conclusions further down the line. Kate is a fascinating enough character on her own, and television really isn’t in need of any more stories about the trials of the incredibly rich. Perhaps this will be explored further down the line, but so far it feels like Hawkeye has missed its comic inspiration’s trick of exploring the lives of regular people trying to get by in a crime-plagued neighborhood.

Street-level storytelling is still present, though, fulfilled by Barton and Bishop’s feud with the Tracksuit Mafia; a collective of sweaty Eastern European gangsters dressed exclusively in red athletic wear. Their use of the word ‘bro’ as punctuation in every sentence makes them a consistently funny adversary, which bolsters Hawkeye’s crime caper tones. This does, admittedly, come with the risk of them being a less-than-fearsome foe, but the conclusion of the second episode pulls a trick that will potentially make them much more menacing.

Ahead of the long-awaited launch of Halo Infinite's campaign, 343 Head of Creative Joseph Staten has revealed that his favorite Halo game is Halo 3: ODST.

Staten, who was instrumental in the success of Bungie's Halo games and joined Halo Infinite's development shortly after its delay in 2020, spoke to IGN for our Unfiltered interview series and shared why Halo 3: ODST meant so much to him.

"Halo 3: ODST is my favorite," Staten said. "And not just because I was helping to lead that project, but for me it was… any game developers that are watching will understand this. It was the game that we made in the most stable technology base that we'd ever had. You know, it was Halo 3 ODST. It was built in the Halo 3 engine, very few feature changes, so as almost entirely a content exercise.

"And we just had the flexibility to go in and create an experience, a story that didn't have to wait for the engineers to do all their hard work, rebuild tools and pipelines, implement big features. All of those things are wonderful part of game development, but it just makes things challenging. It extends your timeline."

He also discussed a bit more about its development and talked about how Bungie's studio head Harold Ryan and project lead Paul Bertone came to him and said they need this game to be finished in just six months, which is an incredibly short amount of time for a AAA game.

"So I believe the original charter for ODST was we needed it in six months," Staten continued. "Harold Ryan, our studio head at the time famously came to me, and Paul Bertone, the other project lead and said, 'We need it in six months. Something like Halo 3, but backwards at night.' And we're like, no, we're not gonna do a Halo 3 backwards at night, but we get what you're saying. It needs to be efficient, it needs to reuse assets. We need to be smart about the new things that we put in."

Luckily, that timeline was extended after Staten and the team proved how special this game could be. As it turned out, Halo 3: ODST was delivered in just about 18 months for its September 22, 2009, release date for Xbox 360.

"So we set up a prototype and people saw what we were going for and believed in it enough that they said, okay, well now you've got 12 months total," Staten said. "And it turns out at 12 months for a variety of reasons, we ended up actually getting closer to 18, and we were able to spend those last months just layering on as much polish as we possibly could.

"So for me, in terms of stable technology, just a really tight, cohesive, happy team, everybody marching forward with the same clear vision, it just a really wonderful game to work on. Very different than the vast majority of other games that I've worked on."

It was even more of a dream project for Staten as he got the chance to take risks again in a franchise that was so beloved and established. Furthermore, he got the chance to tell a noir detective story, something he had always wanted to do.

"It was an experimental game too in many ways," Staten says. "When you're working on a franchise like, it's challenging to innovate. It's very risky to try new things. We certainly are in Infinite, which is very exciting. But ODST was a noir detective story, the kind of that I had always wanted to write, and the fact that I was able to do it in Halo was pretty cool. I didn't think that was gonna happen in my career."

While we still have to wait until December 8 to see how truly innovative Halo Infinite's campaign ends up being, fans can jump into its free-to-play multiplayer right now.

If that wait is too tough and you need to learn more Halo Infinite's campaign, be sure to check out our four-hour hands-on preview of the story, the first Craig meme Easter Egg that's been found already, and how hidden audio logs will help tell the larger story of Zeta Halo.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

The first teaser for Bel-Air, the Fresh Prince reboot, has landed, and it has a dramatic recreation of the original's iconic theme song.

From one prince 👑 to the next 👉🏾 #BelAirPeacock streaming in 2022. pic.twitter.com/nr8MIpWux9

— Peacock (@peacockTV) November 23, 2021

The familiar lyrics, with Will introducing the story all about how his life got flipped, turned upside down, are present and correct, but this ain't the version you remember from the 1990s. Instead of the hip-hop beat from the original, this version is a slower, more dramatic tune, with heavy tones and a deliberate, almost melancholic delivery. This sure is the drama reboot of the sitcom.

The teaser trailer does not feature the full theme tune, but just a few select lyrics from the original. It's also unclear if this will be the theme tune for the show, or just used as part of Bel-Air's marketing.

In a new press release from the show's creators, showrunners T.J. Brady and Rasheed Newson said, “At its heart, Bel-Air is a coming-of-age story that celebrates the strength and love of the Black family. We have stayed true to the original premise of the legacy series – Will’s life is turned upside down after he is forced to leave West Philly and lands in Bel-Air with its gated mansions and wealth, however, our new series brings Will and the Banks family into the world as we know it now. It's been incredible to bring these iconic characters to life when you tap them into the cultural pulse of our time. The series was the fabric of so many of our upbringings, tied to memories and the joy of seeing ourselves represented on TV so it is important to us to pay respect to its legacy.”

Last year the original cast of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reunited on HBO Max for a reunion special, celebrating the show's 30th anniversary. More recently, the cast of Bel-Air was recently announced, which will see newcomer Jabari Banks step into the shoes of Will Smith's character, Will.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.

Dave Filoni, the writer and director known for co-creating the Star Wars character Ahsoka Tano as well as his work on The Mandalorian says that he's had the idea for a standalone series based around the character for a 'long time'.

In an interview with Empire, Filoni spoke about the upcoming Star Wars: Ahsoka series that he's currently involved in writing and creating. As part of his interview, Filoni revealed that he's actually been sitting on the premise behind the show for some time, but hinted that its connection to The Mandalorian has altered it somewhat.

“I thought of this adventure for Ahsoka for a long time, and it’s interesting to see how it’s evolved,” he says. “Years ago, I never would have imagined that it was sprung from a branch of a tree that had anything to do with a guy [like Mandalorian lead character] Din Djarin, or a child that looks like Yoda. It’s a great lesson for me on how, when you have other creatives like [Mandalorian creator] Jon Favreau, they can help lend such dimension and depth to what you’re doing.”

The character of Ahsoka is perhaps best known for her role in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars as Anakin Skywalker's padawan. While also making appearances in Star Wars: Rebels, Ahsoka notably crossed over into live-action form when she was portrayed by actress Rosario Dawson in the fifth episode of the second season of The Mandalorian.

While Star Wars: Ahsoka is yet to receive its own official release date, we do know that it'll be some time after this December's release of The Book of Boba Fett. As well as including Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka herself, the series has also re-cast Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker and more recently Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Mandolorian warrior Sabine Wren.

For more on the show, make sure to check out this piece detailing how The Mandolorian has been teasing Sabine Wren's debut for a little while now.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.