Bungie and Activision Love Fest

New game will be on other platforms: The big important reason to be excited for this deal is that we'll once again get to see Bungie games on other platforms, and as I said above, Activision don't play favorites - the new IP will be on all platforms. 360, PS3, PC, handhelds... yes, possibly even the Wii (although whether Bungie will handle all the versions or whether there's a port in progress is another matter). On the other hand, if it's an MMO, it may not be...

Activision not in control of the IP or Bungie: Back to Activision being evil again. Bungie have been very careful in the wording of their agreement with the mega-publisher. "Bungie remains an independent company and will continue to own their intellectual property." These guys know who they're dealing with, and I'm prepared to bet dollars to halos that following the Infinity Ward fiasco Bungie have been extra careful with the terms of the agreement. Activision aren't coming anywhere near these guys.

Activision is really sneaky: See Infinity Ward, Red Octane, Harmonix, Neversoft... the list goes on. Bungie really have to watch their backs with Activision around, lest they sneak some clause into their agreements that prohibits worshipping anyone other than Bobby Kotick and the Almighty Dollar as their gods. Speaking of dollars, one thing Activision are never ashamed to do is ridiculously hike up the price of their popular products for no reason, so expect to pay an extortionate amount for Bungie's next.

No more Bungie Halo games ever: Forget what I suggested above in Pros, there aren't ever going to be any more Bungie-developed Halo games. Bungie has said that Halo: Reach will be their last. In the wake of Infinity Ward basically falling apart and so Modern Warfare 3, if it happens at all, will likely not be as good as previous games, having no Halo either is terrible news. Oh well, back to Left 4 Dead again...

New game on other platforms: This one's for the 360 fanboys. A Bungie game on a platform other than the 360, let alone the PS3? The horror! Admittedly this does lead to a valid point, which is that making a game for all platforms is a lot tougher than being exclusive to one. PS3 development is radically different to 360 development, which is why multiplatform games are rarely as graphically impressive as exclusives like Halo Reach or Killzone 2. Crysis 2 and Rage may change that perception, but are the Bungie boys up to the multiplatform graphics challenge?