I wouldn't say 343 did more for the franchise than Bungie ever did, because that's a pretty big slap in the face to most of what Bungie did. However, I do believe that 343 do seem to have turned out to be exactly what the Halo franchise needed, as perhaps Bungie (and their leaving suggests this I suppose) were beginning to lose interest in developing Halo, and there were very key areas that I felt Halo needed to improve on drastically compared to Bungie's next gen efforts, and 343 did those things in spades, I felt (speaking strictly about campaign). I do legitimately believe every Halo game (skipped ODST) became progressively superior than the last under Bungie, just not superior for all the same reasons.

Maybe Bungie, as stunning as it may seem, just weren't the right developer that could take Halo in the direction it needed to go in, and there's no shame in that. It doesn't mean they aren't a AAA dev, it just means they are a different style of dev, with different opinions and focuses, and I respect that, because I'm still a guy that loves when devs make oldschool, turn based jrpgs. Bungie has a very oldschool/traditional and kinda stubborn style about them, and I respect that. I only felt it hurt Halo in certain ways that I think 343 largely fixed. That said, this ain't a bungie vs 343 thread and I'm extremely excited for their new game, and unless it's something so far out of the mainstream that it turns people off (and nothing out of the mainstream turns me off), I foresee it being very good. It'll probably never happen, but it may be time for Microsoft to stop charging people for playing online over Xbox live. I would play Halo mp and a lot of other mp titles, for example, far more if I didn't have to pay for it. It's not a matter of not being able to afford it, as I could buy xbox live 10 years in advance easily if I wanted, but I also don't believe in spending money for something I don't think I should be charged for in the first place. I may not game on the pc nearly as much as I use to, but I'm not use to paying to play online, and might never get use to it. A lot of other people would be playing more xbox titles online if they made this change, but I guess they'll never give up on the money they make from those subscriptions. I think they need to find better ways to justify a gold subscription, however.