Halo 3

[Wondermonkey]

So, apparently the other Halo 3 thread was deleted, probably by Keezy, but no one is fessing up. That sounds like his M.O.

In honor of me outting his devious deed, here's some more Halo 3 updates coourtesy of our friend Frankie. BTW, interesting update overall, and some multiplayer video at the end from 1UP, although no halo 3 footage, just sound effects!

If you thought there was a lot of Halo information last week, wait ‘til next week. A bunch of stuff is going down to celebrate the 5th anniversary of a little game we like to call Halo. In November 2001, Halo launched alongside the Xbox console, and the rest is history. Next year, Halo 3 will conclude the story arc begun all those years ago and next week, we’ll take a long lingering look at the series to date. There will also be some pretty BIG surprises and maybe announcements. Who can say?

Hey, ladies. Yeah, I’m talking to you, ladies. It has come to my attention that a significant chunk of our playership is female. I myself am constantly pooned and then humped by ladies. That is not sexy like it sounds, btw. It’s humiliating. Anyway, one of the things we’re looking at for Halo 3 multiplayer (Master Chief is all man) is adding a female voice to the Spartan character should you choose it as part of your custom character.

If we do it, it won’t be comical, stereotypical or insulting – we’ll pick a great, strong female actress who can pull off bloodcurdling death cries and rattles. And we’re not promising anything, we’re just trying to gauge interest. If you girls think it would be cool, then comment in the forums, spam me with PMs or start a petition on your own sites and forums. Then we’ll have to listen. If you think it’s pointless and patronizing and you’re happy just being a dude, then say so.

If you ARE a dude, we don’t care what you think, because we’re not asking you. Anyone who says anything stupid or sexist in the discussion forum will be megabanned.

Ghost of Onyx is the new Da Vinci Code. Kinda. Our latest Halo novel is swimming with the sharks in the deep end of the book sales pool.

The book is currently number 13 on the NYTimes Bestseller list (11.19.06) (paperback fiction category) of which the top 15 are officially bestseller status – and we’re still trying to figure out if this is the first video game novel to ever break the NYT list.

It’s number two at Publisher’s Weekly on their trade paperback fiction category for the week ending November 13.

See?

And it made number 24 on USA Today’s combo list:

It’s actually demonstrating the complexity of how book sales are tracked – making number 24 on the list (which is a combination of fiction, nonfiction, hardcover and paperback) for sales through November 5 (sandwiched neatly between Mary Higgins Clark and James Patterson).

http://asp.usatoday.com/life/books/b...e/default.aspx

Eric took a moment to chat with us about the success of the latest novel, in between sessions of rolling around in piles of money and having his car soapily-washed by Salma Hayek and Jessica Simpson.

Yo Eric, How has the reader reaction been to Ghosts of Onyx?

I’ve gotten a TON of email from readers. 99% of it is overwhelmingly positive with most people buying it and reading it in a single evening! The most gratifying thing is hearing back from the younger readers who tell me that normally they don’t like to read at all, but the HALO books are an exception.

To be fair, there have been a few negative things posted on the various boards. I’m constantly amazed by the stuff people say on the boards…varying from a collective intellect of dazzling sophistication—to random, near incomprehensible rants from slightly over-stimulated kids who mighta drunk too much chocolate milk.

What seems to be the reader’s favorite moment or character?

Kurt’s last line and the fate of a certain long un-exploded bomb….

What’s the biggest complaint you’ve received?

Readers wanting more. “What happens next ?” “Why is the novel (E.N.-- 95,000 words long, btw) so !&#%^ short?! Typos.

What’s your own favorite personal scene in the novel without spoilers?

Kurt’s last line. The final fate of planet Onyx. The entire Commander Lash story.

What other area of the Halo universe would you have liked to explore?

What happened to (and who the heck is) Grey Team? I had a great idea for a short story about Dr. Halsey and the first moment when Cortana is “turned on.” There’s a bunch of new territory (literally) at the end of GHOSTS OF ONYX that warrants “exploration.” It would be great to write something about what happens after HALO 3….

What’s next for Eric Nylund?

A big (200,000 word) new fantasy novel called MORTAL COILS. The Battle Star Galactica : CYLON WARS comic series. …More blockbuster games at Microsoft. A few screenplays, novels, and other graphic novel projects also in development.

Thanks Eric!

Congrats to Cliffy B and OF COURSE the rest of the team at Epic for the launch of Gears of War. The game is full of amazing art, music, audio and gameplay. A bunch of us have been getting together at night for some curb-stomping, chainsaw-wielding action. It’s a violent, gory blast and is apparently the only thing folks on my Friends List are playing. And congrats to rare for busting out Viva Pinata. I won’t be playing it myself, because it’s for kids, so if you see someone with my Gamertag playing hours of Viva Piñata, then that’s erm, my nephew Arvin.

[Halo 2] Matchmaking continues to evolve - we’ve cut things and added things in the past and we’ll continue to do it in the future. In short, because it’s necessary to keep matchmaking balanced, fun and well-populated. It often causes lots of agro and hatred when we makes changes, so with that in mind, I’ll let NinjaonFire explain:

In the next matchmaking playlist update, we’ll see some changes to the number of playlists which are available in Halo 2 on Xbox Live. We plan to reduce the number of playlists, in an effort to condense the active population into fewer pools. This will allow us to maintain healthy matchmaking functionality, with a minimal sacrifice of variety-based gametypes.

There is a core Halo 2 experience, embodied by playlists such as Team Slayer and Team Skirmish, which we will of course persist through these changes. The playlists that we do cut while making these changes could possibly be brought back at some point in the future, so if your favorite playlist goes away make sure to let us know. Kicking and screaming isn’t going to change anything, so keep that in mind when voicing how you feel about this subject.

I'm still not ready to give a complete list of which playlists we will be removing or merging, but when all is said and done we will have a higher ratio of ranked playlists. Over the past couple years we’ve had the luxury of an exceedingly good population online playing Halo 2. While we are confident that we'll maintain a significant population even while other games are released in this upcoming holiday season, due to the fact that we can't react immediately when it comes to changing the playlists, we'll be making some changes preemptively.

One of the playlists that will be removed in the next update will be Team Carnage. This playlist is based on a project which will be put on hold over the holiday season, it will most likely return sometime early next year. Another playlist that will be condensed into our core playlists will be Team ActionSack. This playlist has a lot of really fun gametypes and we’ll be integrating a select number of them into playlists such as Team Skirmish and Team Training.

When we have more specifics to announce, we’ll let you know. Until then, I’m sure many of you have questions and concerns which you may address in the Optimatch forum of Bungie.net!

Thanks Ninjer. I hope they don’t kill you. Peace!

So Hao wanted me to demo my new HD DVD drive, so I was all, only if you show me your new water tech, -blam!-! And then he was all, I can’t show you it because it’s just programmer art. And then I was all, I don’t care, lemme see it properly. Do a demo!

So demo he did. The water tech is proprietary, Hao and his boyz created it especially for Halo 3, after looking at the varying ways water is used in other games. In some games, it’s purely eye-candy and in others, it’s fully interactive. In Halo 3, it’s somewhere betwixt the two. Here’s what ours will have, should it be implemented correctly (I always put these , IF caveats in here). It will look like water. If the waves reach a certain height, frequency and turbidity, foam (or other effects) will appear on its surface.

It will of course have waves and ripples. But the cool part for me, was the fact that objects passing through it will create their own wake. It’s hardly an invention, since I distinctly remember seeing that in like Baldur’s Gate 2: Dark Alliance, but this looks very real and it’s going to look SWEET in levels like Valhalla when four or five vehicles go tear-assing through the river. The water is both translucent and reflective, so if you look from a distance, you’ll see a realtime reflection of the sky. If you’re up close, you’ll see whatever’s under the water. Right now it looks amazing, but to Hao’s point, it’s just programmer art. When an artist gets to play with it, this will be world-class agua. Can you sense how obsessed I am with video game water yet?

Our playtest on MP yesterday sucked for me, because the rumble on the controllers had been accidentally turned off by a bug. It got turned on later, but the test we were in was for King of the Hill on Snowbound, and without rumble, it’s hard to tell where you’re being shot from, no thanks to the crazy jumbo yellow programmer art currently representing the soon-to-be elegant Hill circle. Everyone else was having a blast, but I need Rumble! Some folks turn it off on purpose in their control preferences. I will never, ever understand that.

Our good friends at the 1UP Show have exclusive MULTIPLAYER VIDEO!!!!OMG but don’t get too excited, because it is purely footage of them playing, with no screens or images in sight. You can however hear all the new sound FX and see some excellent interviews with the game’s creators. It’s not their fault, it’s ours, we told ‘em they couldn’t film it, so don’t flame them. Go download that huge-ass jumbo file HERE.

[Rhino Chaser]

I stuck this the old thread about a month ago then someone unstuck it. I figured that you could stick it or unstick it, but I guess it didn't stick around.

Keezy, please go stand in the corner until you can tell us the truth.

[D_Litch]

Damn!! It took me 15 minutes to translate the 1up article on the 3 multiplayer maps to here. I shoulda notepadded it.

[KEEZY]

WTF!!! When things are deleted, there is usually a hard delete and a soft delete. Maybe the Main Mangs can see if they can find it. I don't understand it?

Awesome read btw (I haven't read it, but I'm sure it will be great). Yeah D Litch, I was wondering how those articles were translated over so well. Suck!

[D_Litch]

Originally Posted by KEEZY

WTF!!! When things are deleted, there is usually a hard delete and a soft delete. Maybe the Main Mangs can see if they can find it. I don't understand it?

Awesome read btw (I haven't read it, but I'm sure it will be great). Yeah D Litch, I was wondering how those articles were translated over so well. Suck!

If I'm bored I'll redo them. I'll be bored later on.

[D_Litch]

via 1up

What's old is new again. Sort of.

During our recent trip to Bungie's office, the developer showed us three multiplayer Halo 3 maps. And nestled in these three are similarities, familiarities and surprises that will fundamentally change the way you play in this ridiculously anticipated first-person shooter. Read all about the game in the December issue of EGM, on newsstands now, or continue on for an in-depth look at those maps themselves.

SNOWBOUND:
The first is a small outdoor map blanketed in snow. The map's outer edges are guarded sentry-style by large guns, and while they weren't active in the pre-Alpha build we played, the plan is to have them kill players who try to venture outside of Snowbound's borders. Plus, several rock outcroppings cover one half of the perimeter with weapons strategically placed along the edge among the cover.

Two forerunner structures act as bases on either side of the map, with a series of intertwining tunnels beneath connecting them. You'll also find two other entrance points into the underground tunnel system. A shotgun is in the underground tunnel network, placed in the middle of explosive fusion coils (the things behind the Sniper Rifle on Lockout in Halo 2). Up on the surface, a Sniper Rifle sits in a similar room just underneath a snow drift -- and it, too, is guarded by explosive fusion coils.

What's New: Punitive parts of the environment that kill players aren't new to Halo's multiplayer (lifts have squashed players in multiplayer in the past, and Terminal from Halo 2's Multiplayer Map Pack had a train that would send players to respawn as well), but there will be auto-firing gun turrets on this map when it's finished. These guns, when we finally see them online next year (pun unintended), will be an extension of the environment-that-kills mechanic; maybe there will be a way to get them to target you and then use their fire against other players?

The Shield Doors are hands-down the best truly "new" multiplayer aspect found in Snowbound. These relatively transparent doors don't open or close, but they serve as barriers between Snowbound's underground tunnels. You can see through them, but explosions and gunfire don't pass through the doors. When the now-famous beeping of "no shields" tick comes up in multiplayer, those near a tunnel taking gunfire may have a chance to duck through the Shield Door and get just enough of a reprieve for their shield to recharge.

http://media.1up.com/media?id=3081248&type=lg
Automatic gun turrets in a Halo game? You better believe it. This is one of two mock-ups you can check out by clicking through to the Halo 3 screens page.

The weapon sets have seen some new additions (read about the new "sandbox" on page two) in addition to the resurrection, retooling and repurposing of one of Halo: Combat Evolved's most memorable weapons: the Assault Rifle. In the Halo 3 announcement teaser, Master Chief is very clearly carrying a weapon that looks very similar to the Assault Rifle in Halo. It is similar aesthetically, but that's about it.

The MA5B Assault Rifle in Halo: Combat Evolved had a 60-round clip, was fully automatic and ineffective at long-range shots (it could be, because the M6D Pistol was so great overpowered at that range). Only one of those three characteristics of the MA5B remain: it's still fully automatic.

With the MA5C Assault Rifle, the clip-size has been drastically reduced from 60 to 32, and as a trade-off, the weapon's accuracy at long-range has been increased. Why the revisions to the Assault Rifle? Well, the starting weapon in Halo 2 -- the SMG -- didn't exactly work out how Bungie wanted it to. Jamie Griesemer, lead designer on Halo 3 (you know, that "30-seconds of fun" guy), points to the two previous starting weapons and their problems. "It shouldn't do headshots... and it shouldn't be dual wieldable," according to Griesemer. The new MA5C Assault Rifle allows neither.

Instead, in the MA5C, Bungie believes it's found the third side of the multiplayer "Golden Tripod" (seriously... Bungie's words, not ours) -- Melee attacks and Grenades need to supplement a versatile, functional (but not too functional) starting weapon.

Ideal # of Players: 4-10. A five-on-five game pushes Snowbound to its claustrophobic limits (not in terms of performance, just in terms of fun). The tunnels beneath the bases get crowded with people (and corpses) pretty quickly.

Best Gametypes: Slayer, Team Slayer, Tank Flag, Ninjaball, Oddball, and King of the Hill. It's an excellent Slayer map because of its size, and we also played a bunch of "ball" games on Snowbound. The underground tunnels make a ball carrier navigating between bases and finding ways to protect him- or herself perfect for Snowbound.

How Bungie Played It: Bungie might or might not have told us that the fuel canisters guarding the Sniper Rifle and Shotgun were explosive, and since the canisters were retouched visually from the Halo 2 versions, we might not have noticed that they functioned the same -- until one of us strolled in to pick up the Sniper Rifle or a Shotgun, that is. Boom!

Additionally, guys like multiplayer designer Lars Bakken turned the Shield Doors into cat and mouse fiascos, popping their heads in and out tempting us to chase after them into, well, traps. In Ninjaball -- a mode where the ball carrier runs and jumps 150% faster and higher than the other players, we saw Bungie guys (who were at this time intermixed with us to show us the ropes) use the elaborate tunnel system to prolong the ball carrier's life and, well, set more traps.

[D_Litch]

via 1up

HIGH GROUND:
High Ground is a medium-sized map that revisits some familiar ground tread in Halo 2's Zanzibar. There's a beach and a compound, and the map is built with objective gametypes (One Flag CTF, Assault) in mind. Instead having of a giant spinning wheel and a huge distance to cover from beach to base, High Ground is a much more compact assault map.

Like Zanzibar, there are several entrance points to the compound and both teams have a vehicle and weapons of their own. Both teams have access to shotguns and the squad coming from the beach gets a Warthog and a Sniper Rifle. The base's garage houses a Ghost and a turret sits atop the gate, acting as the anti-vehicle weapon.

Also like Zanzibar, there are multiple ways to infiltrate High Ground's base. Along the left side of the map (approaching from the beach) is a small half-blown-apart bunker. Players can enter the bunker through the side and into a small tunnel system leading into the base, or they can use a Spike Grenade or a Plasma Grenade to blow apart the hatch on top of the bunker and drop into the tunnel system that way.

Along the right side of the base, players can jump up a group of rocks and onto the walkway where the turret sits. Also on the right side players can access a small pipe system that requires them to crouch (still with a click on the left analog stick) and infiltrate the base that way.

The beach team's Sniper Rifle is supposed to keep the turret in check -- it's no shield door, but it definitely provides another game of cat and mouse.

What's New: Destructible environments (OK, hatches covering bunkers) aren't entirely new, as much as they are neat, and alternate routes into a base aren't new -- that's just good map design. But High Ground is the map where Bungie let us mess with the first of Halo 3's new toys.

Griesemer calls one of the major changes to Halo 3 "the Brute Sandbox." The Brute Shot and Brute Plasma Rifle (a red plasma rifle with a higher rate of fire and as a result a faster overheat) were introduced in Halo 2, and in this installment fans will get the Spike Rifle and Spike Grenade.

The Spike Grenade has a spot in the HUD, just like plasma and frag grenades, and it combines the technology of both grenades. Visually, the grenade looks a bit like the Nail Bat weapon from Final Fantasy VII, with a ton of spikes sticking out of it. Those spikes are for grabbing onto a surface before the destructive, conical blast follows.

http://media.1up.com/media?id=3081250&type=lg
Here's a mock-up of what High Ground looks like, with various callouts that you can read much more clearly in the full size version linked on the screens page. Click the image above to check out all Halo 3 screens.

Halo players know the familiar "tink, tink" of a frag grenade bouncing at their feet, and they know the static hiss that comes just moments before the plasma grenade stuck to their helmet blows up. In Halo 3, they are going to get used to a new sound. When players throw the Spike Grenades, there's a noticeable "whoosh" -- the sound of the spikes cutting through the air before grabbing a wall like an explosive sea urchin.

Instead of a splash-y blast of damage, Spike Grenades blow a thin cone of energy, perfect for throwing one at your feet when you are being chased. If timed right, the blast will blow straight up into the air and your chaser will be counting backwards from 10 waiting to respawn.

Ideal # of Players: 6-16. While eight-on-eight on High Ground could definitely get a bit crampy, there's enough cover to hide behind to turn the map into a series of strategic strongholds if zergging the base for the flag fails.

Best Gametypes: One Flag CTF, Assault, Slayer, Team Slayer, and Eliminatio. With the break-in-steal-the-flag-and-flee-to-the-beach nature of High Ground, One Flag CTF is a natural choice. Inside the base at the very back is a huge SAMSITE missile station, something Bungie indicated could be a potential target for an Assault game.

Eliminatio is a brand-new gametype Bungie ran us through. In this multiplayer mode, the round ends when a team logs five kills. Players still respawn after they die (although the respawn timer is 15 seconds) and once a team has five kills the round ends. In order to win the gametype, you must win three of the five rounds. Eliminatio presents a completely different pace for a Halo game; the quick five-kill round is offset by the careful, meticulous set-ups, strategic trapping, and kill-swapping.

How Bungie Played It: "Do your job, Joe."

That's Luke Timmins (he's Abe Froman, -- the guy who had the Froman tower in Zanzibar named after him for his relentless abuse of Bungie employees with the Sniper Rifle from that post) chiding Bungie producer Joe Tung. The result of the "Do your job" is Tung racing to grab a Sniper Rifle and Timmins camping at the turret at the beginning of a round on High Ground.

Each round, for the most part, started like chess, with Bungie moving the same pawns into place -- the Sniper Rifle is the judicial system to the Turret's executive order. Occasionally, Bungie guys would rush down from the base and forcefully remove the sniper rifle from our hands, flooding toward the beach through the caves on the map's right side (if you're looking at the base from the beach). When they weren't rabidly defending the console that opens the gate on defense, they were whoring the Ghost. When they'd assault the base, typically two of their players would head in through the hatch on the left side, while a sniper (damn, Joe Tung, damn him) shut down the right side of the map entirely.

[D_Litch]

via 1up

VALHALLA:
In Norse mythology, Valhalla is Odin's Hall. In Halo 3, Valhalla is sacred in its own way. As the spiritual successor to Blood Gulch, Valhalla shares several similarities (and even more differences) with its symmetry-filled cousin. Bases are tucked on both sides of the map, and a river runs angularly through the terrain. Two elevated plateaus in the map's center hold weapons of their own -- on one sits a new shoulder mounted weapon, the Spartan laser, and on the other, a turret.

What's New: By the point in the day we saw this map, Bungie had rolled out a new starting weapon, a new grenade, a new one-handed weapon, and declared the Brutes would finally have a series of guns all their own. What's left -- a new vehicle? That's exactly it. Remember that whole "old is the new newness" business from the intro? Aside from the return of a new iteration of the Assault Rifle, Bungie has dusted off one of its long-shelved ideas from the Halo-verse for Halo 3's multiplayer: the Mongoose ATV.

"Press RB to ride Brokeback." The message flashed on the screen as Bungie demoed the four-wheeler. After announcing that the passenger in a Mongoose was "riding Brokeback" (and the Microsoft PR team pulling its heads out of its hands), the developers let us toy around with the new vehicle. Quick and agile, the Mongoose is pretty much designed for racing someone from point A to point B. The fastest ship in the fleet would require a new way to counter it -- the team admitted it's still thinking about how the rocket launcher might work in Halo 3 (it's lock-on system was a bit overpowered for blowing apart vehicles on the ground in Halo 2). Until the rocket launcher situation is sorted out, Bungie has another way to counter vehicles in Halo 3.

Enter the Spartan Laser.

A shoulder mounted rocket-launcher in appearance (see the EGM cover image in here), the Spartan Laser functions like no weapon currently in the Master Chief's arsenal. When using the Spartan Laser, there's a three-second delay while the weapon charges. A thin red sighting-laser shoots out of the gun, while in true Death Star fashion, the laser cannon charges. At the tip of the shoulder-mounted cannon, a sphere of energy boils before exploding into a single beam of light that completely obliterates whatever it hits during the shot. The laser does not persist; rather, it fires the burst of energy and dissipates.

How to use the Spartan Laser, then? Well, as an anti-vehicle weapon, its use is obvious: the sight laser lets you track the target while the pulse charges before completely eradicating everything in its path (including multiple Spartans if the ducks are all in a row), but the weapon ends up functioning equally well as an anti-personnel weapon.

http://www.1up.com/media?id=3081257
Note the weaponry his back and the all new weapons in his hands. Halo multiplayer will never be the same again. Click the image above to check out all Halo 3 screens.

Kills made with the Spartan Laser are attributed as "Snipe kills" on the medal-log in the Post-Game Carnage Report (it's safe to assume those will be back, as well). However, the ease of use, despite the three second charge time, has Bungie concerned -- it is being extremely careful with Halo 3 to make sure one weapon doesn't become too useful (see: the Human Pistol in Combat Evolved).

By now, you've probably heard the term "Man Cannon," and you know it's real. In addition to vaulting Spartans half-way across Valhalla's terrain, the Man Cannons will also launch projectiles and some strategically placed boxes. Players can drop grenades onto them, launch the Mongoose (with guys riding Brokeback) off the lift, or even shoot the Warthog (though it's a pretty weak limp off of the lift instead of an airborne exploration).

While only the main center-launching Man Cannons have been discussed, there are actually two lifts on each base. The second lift launches Spartans to the side, either into the treeline or near a narrow path through some rocks (depending on the base).

Ideal # of Players: 6-16. Anything less than six will feel a bit empty, and with 16-player high jinks, the map will fill up quick. How do you feel about eight-on-eight Warthog/Mongoose only? Yeah, same here.

Best Gametypes: CTF Classic, CTF, and Team Slayer. This is the optimal flag-at-home-to-score map. The flags aren't underground in the bases (but some weapons are), and two ramps lead up the back of the Forerunner structures to the flags for an easy grab and eject off the Man Cannon to a waiting Mongoose.

How Bungie Played It: In addition to a handful of Bungie staffers being able to execute the shooting gallery-style duck hunt slaying of inbound Man Cannon'd Spartans, being able to drive the Mongoose much better than we could and just generally having played the game for, uh, six months longer than we had allowed them to attack with strategy. Attacks on bases unfolded in stages, with infantry arriving to start the murder and Mongoose vehicles arriving to escape. Several times, our own Mongoose guys were ganked for the ease of their escape.

As certain members of the Bungie team (Joe Tung) redefined the term "weapon whoring" with their constant grabbing of the Spartan Laser, we reminded them we should probably get to use it, since we had to write about it. They (he) begrudgingly allowed us to use it... once in awhile.

[D_Litch]

It take as long this time, but my computer cut-off for some reason halfway in.

[Peench]

I wasn't able to find it.

[D_Litch]

Originally Posted by Peench

I wasn't able to find it.

It's okay, you did your best.

[Wondermonkey]

Peench, my disppointment in your powers has reached a new level. So, for punishment, I'll post some Halo 3 "Screenshots" from December's EGM:











Stolen, quite obviously, from halo base.