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The Official Halo 3 Thread

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Deleted member 21120

Unconfirmed Member
Domino Theory said:
Isn't that the Mythbusters episode you and I were supposed to be a part of?

That's what he was trying to do to us. :lol
Yeah, it was, haha. That was why I agreed to help, because he does a really good job with these videos.
 
EazyB said:
Like I said, earlier, that seems like they've got a hell of a lot of time to do it in. I'm also surprised at how quickly they reached this milestone because they only started working on it sometime during the summer. It makes me a little questionable about how much content is in the package but hopefully it's priced accordingly.
I'm pretty confident the content will be reasonably-sized and probably extended a bit thanks to the open hub world at the core of the expansion's mission system. Looks like Isla is sharpening the patrol cycles according to the most recent update, which, within the "hub environment," is pretty damn cool and unconventional for the franchise. Most of Halo is a linear, corridor-to-corridor/canyon-to-canyon mission flow. This new hub environment, even more so than the handful of open levels from the first game, seem to bear considerably more replayability because they allow multiple solutions, directions, angles and approaches to not only the encounters, but the environments preceding and following each encounter. Players trying to avoid Brute patrols and pick and choose their fights carefully. Choice and replayability are permanent bedfellows. Wherever you find choice executed well in a game, you'll find replayability giving it a back rub.

I should also say that I'm a bit cagey about Bungie's claimed timeline with regard to this project. Obviously their job isn't full disclosure or to accurately depict the game's development schedule to their fans, but rather to set grounded expectations and I think Brian and Luke are doing a great job in that respect. Remember, according to "the lost podcast" and the Walmart sales sheet (circa May/June '08), this expansion was originally slated for the end of this year. I believe it was only after after the scenario played out at E3 did this game get trolley'd to Fall of '09.

Although I could be wrong, I seriously doubt the accomplished folks at Bungie said, "Hey, we have a five hour campaign expansion due at the end of the year with new environments, weapons, characters, stories, music and assets -- let's wait till a few months before TGS before we really start to work on it!" I'd guess that after Staten and Bertone wrestled this idea down in Jan/Feb, stuff started spinning off the production line rapidly, at least until Microsoft changed their publishing direction. If I'm not mistaken, even the Firefly cast had recorded their dialogue well before July's E3, right? Dialogue is typically one of the last elements to get finalized during development.
 

EazyB

Banned
Mr Vociferous said:
Remember, according to "the lost podcast" and the Walmart sales sheet (circa May/June '08), this expansion was originally slated for the end of this year. I believe it was only after after the scenario played out at E3 did this game get trolley'd to Fall of '09.
It says here that they began development in March. They site it being said in the 10/31/08 podcast. Seems like, regardless of what they're development schedule looked like, starting in March and shipping the end of this year is damn quick. I'm not too worried about the value I will get from the game, I already know I'll sink a ton of time into it, it's just seems really quick, especially for Bungie.

Can not wait to see how the open-ended nature of the games plays out, Far Cry 2 has a very FPS-GTA feeling and while that game has a ton of flaws I'd die to see Bungie take a stab at it with their future projects. This seems like a step in the right direction.

Edit: Holy shit, I just remembered something. At PAX when we were walking about the show floor with Miller we stopped at the Far Cry booth. Then a bunch of other Bungie guys gathered around to talk to the guy giving the demo (who was deeply involved with the game).
 

Falagard

Member
Mr Vociferous said:
Remember, according to "the lost podcast" and the Walmart sales sheet (circa May/June '08), this expansion was originally slated for the end of this year. I believe it was only after after the scenario played out at E3 did this game get trolley'd to Fall of '09.

Although I could be wrong, I seriously doubt the accomplished folks at Bungie said, "Hey, we have a five hour campaign expansion due at the end of the year with new environments, weapons, characters, stories, music and assets -- let's wait till a few months before TGS before we really start to work on it!" I'd guess that after Staten and Bertone wrestled this idea down in Jan/Feb, stuff started spinning off the production line rapidly, at least until Microsoft changed their publishing direction. If I'm not mistaken, even the Firefly cast had recorded their dialogue well before July's E3, right? Dialogue is typically one of the last elements to get finalized during development.

That's what I've been thinking for a while now. A build that's playable from start to finish happens fairly late in the development cycle. I think that they're going to be done this game way before fall 2009 and that it's going to sit there until it fits into Microsoft's schedule, in the same way that the Mythic maps have been completed for a long time and are just languishing until Microsoft feels they should be released.

EazyB said:
It says here that they began development in March. They site it being said in the 10/31/08 podcast. Seems like, regardless of what they're development schedule looked like, starting in March and shipping the end of this year is damn quick. I'm not too worried about the value I will get from the game, I already know I'll sink a ton of time into it, it's just seems really quick, especially for Bungie.

Yes, if they were targeting end of year or even February 09 it would have been quick. However, it's a game running on the existing Halo 3 engine (with tweaks) using the existing Halo 3 tools for development (with tweaks). Bungie somehow manages to make full games in a 3 year development cycle while writing a completely new engine and tools between each game. Normally this probably means spending a year on technology (game engine base, tools for artists and designers) and then 2 years creating content and working on the game engine and tools in tandem to finally finish a game. Since they don't have to do that this time and can work from existing code, their deliverables will be accelerated a lot, and this isn't a full game.

I'm guessing this game is completed by March and then sits there while the ODST team moves onto other projects.
 
I'm comfortable with ODST getting as much (or more) time than it needs. I'm going to be playing L4D at least until the new year (14k kills, holla), then there will be other titles...

I mean, who knows, we may even get some new content for Halo 3 at some point!
 
Domino Theory said:
Brain teaser: A Spartan is in a Team Slayer match. He has a Sniper Rifle with 3 bullets left. Two enemies approach him. He manages to kill both players with 3 sniper bullets. Neither of the kills were headshots. How did he get the kills?
Little known fact (I think):
It's possible to be killed by a single sniper shot when you're full shields, regardless of where it hits you. In addition to the shield bar everyone has, there is also an invisible health bar that comes back at about half the speed of your shields. If you have someone snipe you once, wait for your shields to recharge, and repeat the process, eventually he will kill you in one shot.

So, the two Spartans haven't been killed for a while, until they both got killed by one shot each :D
 
EazyB said:
Edit: Holy shit, I just remembered something. At PAX when we were walking about the show floor with Miller we stopped at the Far Cry booth. Then a bunch of other Bungie guys gathered around to talk to the guy giving the demo (who was deeply involved with the game).
Oh man, that's exactly the framework I want to see Bungie iterate on. For all it's flaws I'm loving Far Cry 2 and I think it's the freshest thing to happen to the fps genre in forever. Do you remember anything else from that moment, any of the questions they were asking him?

So excited. Any idea when we're gonna see more media from ODST?
 

Kibbles

Member
I saw a new OXM at Pick'n'Save with Halo Wars on the cover, but it says they have new stuff on Halo 3: Recon and the Mythic Map Pack, anyone know what's all contained inside? I would've looked, but it was wrapped, and there is no way I'm paying $10 for that magazine.

Falagard said:
That's what I've been thinking for a while now. A build that's playable from start to finish happens fairly late in the development cycle. I think that they're going to be done this game way before fall 2009 and that it's going to sit there until it fits into Microsoft's schedule, in the same way that the Mythic maps have been completed for a long time and are just languishing until Microsoft feels they should be released.



Yes, if they were targeting end of year or even February 09 it would have been quick. However, it's a game running on the existing Halo 3 engine (with tweaks) using the existing Halo 3 tools for development (with tweaks). Bungie somehow manages to make full games in a 3 year development cycle while writing a completely new engine and tools between each game. Normally this probably means spending a year on technology (game engine base, tools for artists and designers) and then 2 years creating content and working on the game engine and tools in tandem to finally finish a game. Since they don't have to do that this time and can work from existing code, their deliverables will be accelerated a lot, and this isn't a full game.

I'm guessing this game is completed by March and then sits there while the ODST team moves onto other projects.

Well I hope they polish the hell out of it after it's 'done'. There's already people who are bitching about how it's going to look outdated (especially with Killzone 2 coming out that year, yikes.) No, I'm not expecting Killzone 2 styled stuff, I think they should still polish and tweak the loose ends. I'm pretty excited for the lighting in this game. As we all know, it's great in Halo 3, particularly during the darker levels, which seems to be the focus of this game.

Oh and :lol

1229208276_175.jpg
 

EazyB

Banned
blazinglazers said:
Oh man, that's exactly the framework I want to see Bungie iterate on. For all it's flaws I'm loving Far Cry 2 and I think it's the freshest thing to happen to the fps genre in forever. Do you remember anything else from that moment, any of the questions they were asking him?

So excited. Any idea when we're gonna see more media from ODST?
Unfortunately I don't remember what they talked about. I'm sure they didn't let anything terribly juicy slip but with the nature of ODST's hub world I'm sure they've taken a look at Far Cry 2.

Also, in search for any info about an OXM ODST article I stumbled upon this article. It's about Bungie's split from MS. Doesn't really contain anything new I don't think but it goes into detail about how things went down. Here's some exerts that interest me:
OXM said:
Lehto agrees. “After we’d finished Halo 3, we allowed everyone to submit game ideas for a future Bungie title,” he says. “It was tough to mediate, because there were so many great ideas, but ultimately it proved that a large majority of the team are on a similar wavelength.”
Can't wait to see their new IPs
OXM said:
“We want to bolster user-created content for the future,” claims Barnes. “Anything we can do to help people create compelling experiences in our games, we’ll do.”
And this brings me back to Far Cry 2. I know I've already preached about how awesome its map editor is but I'd love to see Bungie take some notes from it. Last night I hoped onto the Far Cry 2 map community and downloaded most of the Halo related maps. Some of them are absolutely amazing and are great examples as to why Bungie should pay it some attention. I'll grab some screens of the awesome maps I downloaded (as well as some of the horrid ones for the lulz) but until then I'll just link to the Valhalla remake I created in case anyone missed it. The tools are advanced and somewhat overwhelming at first but it only took me 15 hours to create this map and learn all editing tools.


Oh yeah, 80K fucking posts!
 
EazyB said:
Unfortunately I don't remember what they talked about. I'm sure they didn't let anything terribly juicy slip but with the nature of ODST's hub world I'm sure they've taken a look at Far Cry 2.

Also, in search for any info about an OXM ODST article I stumbled upon this article. It's about Bungie's split from MS. Doesn't really contain anything new I don't think but it goes into detail about how things went down. Here's some exerts that interest me:
Can't wait to see their new IPs

And this brings me back to Far Cry 2. I know I've already preached about how awesome its map editor is but I'd love to see Bungie take some notes from it. Last night I hoped onto the Far Cry 2 map community and downloaded most of the Halo related maps. Some of them are absolutely amazing and are great examples as to why Bungie should pay it some attention. I'll grab some screens of the awesome maps I downloaded (as well as some of the horrid ones for the lulz) but until then I'll just link to the Valhalla remake I created in case anyone missed it. The tools are advanced and somewhat overwhelming at first but it only took me 15 hours to create this map and learn all editing tools.


Oh yeah, 80K fucking posts!
Wanna play some H3 too celebrate?! I'm bored =/
 
Kibbles said:
I saw a new OXM at Pick'n'Save with Halo Wars on the cover, but it says they have new stuff on Halo 3: Recon and the Mythic Map Pack, anyone know what's all contained inside? I would've looked, but it was wrapped, and there is no way I'm paying $10 for that magazine.
Halo Wars
- There are 15 levels in the campaign, the editors of the article played the first 5 levels.
- They consider Halo Wars to be a "medium-grade" RTS: it lacks custom group slots, but offers more command and upgrade options than EndWar.
- There are leader units who can buff or upgrade everyone else (these are the main characters to the plot): Captain Cutter, Professor Anders, and Sergeant Forge.
- Infantry units can graduate to shotguns and later ODSTs.
- Hornets get "rocket-totting" gunners straddling their wings.
- Warthog units upgrade to a Gauss cannon.
- The fourth mission is titled "World of Arcadia," and was OXM's favorite out of the five missions they played. This level gives you control of Spartans for the first time. In this mission, your task is to protect civilians as they run toward three evacuation ships. They say this mission is also a good showcase for Halo Wars cooperative mode. Because of this, they believe that co-op in Halo Wars will be just as fun as the co-op found in the first three Halo games :)O).
- It has a skirmish mode so you can face the AI on the multiplayer maps.
- They played skirmish on Blood Gulch. It's not exactly the same map, but you can definitely tell the design of this particular "Blood Gulch" was based off of the Halo 1 map. "... an appreciated fan service."
- In multiplayer, when you play as the Covenant, the Arbiter is a high level unit which they (the guys at Ensemble) describe as "much more of a Darth Vader, kill-everything type of bad guy." He can go into a rage mode and wield two energy swords, but at the cost of draining resources for every second it's active.
- Commanding a Scarab is about "every bit as freakin' awesome" as the guys at OXM had hoped it to be.
- Halo Wars feels very much like a Halo game.
- "If you see a single Flood unit, it should be the scariest thing you've ever seen. It should be like the queen from Aliens. I really wanted it to be that scary." -- Graeme Devine, lead story writer.

Halo 3: ODST
- It's all about New Mombasa and staying in the city.
- The SI's perspective you see in the trailer is replicated through the game's cinematics and "other places."
- There will be other people in the city who aren't soldiers, from SI to "other beings."
- Players will get to experience what it feels like to to be an ODST dropping from orbit, burning through the atmosphere.
- There is a character named "Maddie" in the game, but they're changing her name, and she's not an ODST.
- Improvements to how Brutes behave from Halo 3, they've changed the "scale of the experience."
- S1 types having nothing to do with Spartans.

Mythic Map Pack

Lars Bakken

Assembly
"Set in the heart of a Covenant Scarab manufacturing facility, this map is really what Halo 3 multiplayer fans have been asking for in terms of size and gameplay. It's set up to take advantage of 4-on-4 gametypes. Straight-up Slayer is excellent, but it also works well for team games like CTF and Assualt due to the two integrated bases. The bases are symmetrical, but the level actually has two distinct sides, with a lift on one side and what we refer to as the 'dugout' on the other, making side differentiation that much better. Just don't get caught up staring at the Scarab being assembled in the sky, or you'll find yourself waiting to respawn."

Orbital
"This map is set in a human environment that fans will recognize: the Quito Space Tether. You're actually inside the docking station, and if you look out the windows, you'll see Earth down below. The is our answer to the fans' call for smaller, asymmetrical maps, so it works very well for one-sided games. It's essentially two overlapping hallways, so each team can see the other one spawn, but they are separated by some well-placed windows. Two devastating checkpoints intensify the action. One Flag, One Bomb, and Territories fill out the roster of better-fitting gametypes, and naturally, Team Slayer is a blast."

Then there are three pictures of each map.
 

EazyB

Banned
An Epic Name said:
Wanna play some H3 too celebrate?! I'm bored =/
I'm... umm, busy

2ldd3qt.jpg

Dax01 said:
Halo 3: ODST
- There will be other people in the city who aren't soldiers, from SI to "other beings."
- Players will get to experience what it feels like to to be an ODST dropping from orbit, burning through the atmosphere.
- There is a character named "Maddie" in the game, but they're changing her name, and she's not an ODST.
- Improvements to how Brutes behave from Halo 3, they've changed the "scale of the experience."
- S1 types having nothing to do with Spartans.

Mythic Map Pack
Orbital
"This map is set in a human environment that fans will recognize: the Quito Space Tether. You're actually inside the docking station, and if you look out the windows, you'll see Earth down below. The is our answer to the fans' call for smaller, asymmetrical maps, so it works very well for one-sided games. It's essentially two overlapping hallways, so each team can see the other one spawn, but they are separated by some well-placed windows. Two devastating checkpoints intensify the action. One Flag, One Bomb, and Territories fill out the roster of better-fitting gametypes, and naturally, Team Slayer is a blast."

Then there are three pictures of each map.
Thanks, do you have the magazine?

Some interesting tidbits about ODST. Orbital sounds like narrows with a u-turn, ugh. Hope it plays more like Longest/Elongation than Narrows. I prefer maneuverability and angles to attack than hallway shoot-outs.
 
EazyB said:
I'm... umm, busy

2ldd3qt.jpg


Thanks, do you have the magazine?

Some interesting tidbits about ODST. Orbital sounds like narrows with a u-turn, ugh. Hope it plays more like Longest/Elongation than Narrows. I prefer maneuverability and angles to attack than hallway shoot-outs.
:D
We don't have to play against each other. :p

I'm just playing Bully atm, but if anyone does want to play H3, I'm down for anything. My list might be full, so just message me. GT is same as my name here.
 
EazyB said:
How is Orbital looking?
At first glance you would think it's a Covenant map because of all the shades of purple (the pictures they give aren't that big, so maybe some of what I'm seeing could be due to that) it has, but upon closer inspection, you can definitely tell it's human. There is a picture of an exploding mongoose, so that could be a default vehicle for the map. Dual Spikers and the rocket launcher are possible default weapons (both appear in the same picture). Two pictures are of the same hallway where it the Spikers can be found (you can see them lying side by side in one picture), and the third picture looks like it is set in an adjacent hallway, which is the picture that has the exploding mongoose in it.

In the picture that shows the rockets and the Spikers, there are stairs in the background.

Edit:
Domino Theory said:
Still no Sandbox news. :(
Nope. They mention that, and say that "Bungie's usual pattern is to have one of the three maps in a map pack be an update to a classic," but "that moniker ('Sandbox') certainly suggests a 'Forge-ier' approach..."
 
An Epic Name said:
:D
We can don't have to play against each other. :p

I'm just playing Bully atm, but if anyone does want to play H3, I'm down for anything. My list might be full, so just message me. GT is same as my name here.

Don't mind Eazy; he tends to dislike anyone who plays the game for competition. :p
 
backflip10019 said:
Don't mind Eazy; he tends to dislike anyone who plays the game for competition. :p
I can go both ways in H3. I love competing, but just messing around in friendly customs and Squad Battle is great fun also. Like I said, I'm down for anything, and I'm not sure what the common GAF view is of MLG'rs around here, but I'm not your typical MLG douchebag kid who thinks he is God's gift too the game :lol
 
An Epic Name said:
I can go both ways in H3. I love competing, but just messing around in friendly customs and Squad Battle is great fun also. Like I said, I'm down for anything, and I'm not sure what the common GAF view is of MLG'rs around here, but I'm not your typical MLG douchebag kid who thinks he is God's gift too the game :lol

Phew, then you're legit in my book.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
Domino Theory said:
Still no Sandbox news. :(
Of all the maps, I most want to hear about this. If it's a big outdoors Forge map, fappton. Heck, I'll take Sandtrap, remove all the shrine geometry and bam.

Halo 3: ODST
- There will be other people in the city who aren't soldiers, from SI to "other beings."
- Players will get to experience what it feels like to to be an ODST dropping from orbit, burning through the atmosphere. - There is a character named "Maddie" in the game, but they're changing her name, and she's not an ODST.
- Improvements to how Brutes behave from Halo 3, they've changed the "scale of the experience."
- S1 types having nothing to do with Spartans.
Thanks, Dax. This nourishes me. It was something I wanted - and kind of expected - to see in Halo 3, especially after the Valhalla escape in the Beta. They had the tech to move through the atmosphere, it sounds like it's being put to use this time around. Do want.
 

Striker

Member
GhaleonEB said:
Of all the maps, I most want to hear about this. If it's a big outdoors Forge map, fappton. Heck, I'll take Sandtrap, remove all the shrine geometry and bam.
That's what I'm hoping. Really don't want another indoor type format.
 
backflip10019 said:
Phew, then you're legit in my book.
The majority of true MLG players are actually really great guys (and sometimes girls). The kids you see online with names like MLG 4SHOTOWNZYOULOL aren't really representative of the true community. I'm a pretty well-known poster over at mlgpro, but I mainly frequent the OT section.

And if you have never been to an MLG event, I highly recomend it. My first event was Dallas of this year. My team made it to 5th round AM, but that was only half the fun. I got to meet everyone I knew from online, IRL, for the first time. It was basically a 3 day long party :D
 

Domino Theory

Crystal Dynamics
An Epic Name said:
And if you have never been to an MLG event, I highly recomend it. My first event was Dallas of this year. My team made it to 5th round AM, but that was only half the fun. I got to meet everyone I knew from online, IRL, for the first time. It was basically a 3 day long party :D

PAX could be considered our MLG event then. :p

Which means Blood and I were the OGRE twins.
 
Domino Theory said:
PAX could be considered our MLG event then. :p

Which means Blood and I were the OGRE twins.
That was on the west coast, was it not? If you live around that way, maybe you could stop be San Diego this year, assuming they have an MLG there again. I will hopefully be making all events this year, as I have a team with a sponsor willing to pay for us to fly out to all of the events. First one is in NJ begining of April. Would lvoe to see some of HaloGAF go out to it!
 

Tashi

343i Lead Esports Producer
An Epic Name said:
I'm not sure what the common GAF view is of MLG'rs around here, but I'm not your typical MLG douchebag kid who thinks he is God's gift too the game :lol

GTFO of here random...fuckin randy! lol kidding

edit: yea congrats on ur team going 5th round, that's pretty sick. Also, everyone should enjoy the spectacle that is an MLG event. They're awesome. I went to the playoffs in 2006 in NYC and it was an amazing experience. I didn't get to play though but I did get to watch Final Boss (with Saiyan) fall apart against Carbon. shit was sick.
 
Tashi0106 said:
GTFO of here random...fuckin randy! lol kidding

edit: yea congrats on ur team going 5th round, that's pretty sick. Also, everyone should enjoy the spectacle that is an MLG event. They're awesome. I went to the playoffs in 2006 in NYC and it was an amazing experience. I didn't get to play though but I did get to watch Final Boss (with Saiyan) fall apart against Carbon. shit was sick.
Ah, '06 was a crazy year. Carbon destroyed. They didn't do too well this year though, they never broke top 4, until the Finals in Vegas, where they upset both Triggers Down (2nd Seed) and Final Boss (3rd Seed). They ended up taking Str8 Rippin (1st Seed) to game 5, and got 3rd overall.

And on the note of pro's, all of the ones I have met are seriously, really great guys. Especially Carbon. Shockwave and Ghostayame are some of the nicest guys, and Ghostayames mom posts on MLGpro :lol She's so sweet!
 

Tashi

343i Lead Esports Producer
An Epic Name said:
And on the note of pro's, all of the ones I have met are seriously, really great guys. Especially Carbon. Shockwave and Ghostayame are some of the nicest guys, and Ghostayames mom posts on MLGpro :lol She's so sweet!

Word, I walked up to Shockwave during the tournament to give him some props. Seems like a cool guy. Anywho, my box just broke today but hit me up with a FR and we'll get some MLG games goin. I know me, Juices and BladedExpert are big MLG players here on Gaf (matchmaking lol) but always down for customs. tag is: NYSTOFMIND23
 
Tashi0106 said:
Word, I walked up to Shockwave during the tournament to give him some props. Seems like a cool guy. Anywho, my box just broke today but hit me up with a FR and we'll get some MLG games goin. I know me, Juices and BladedExpert are big MLG players here on Gaf (matchmaking lol) but always down for customs. tag is: NYSTOFMIND23
Sounds good. Just finished a 30 minute CTF game on Narrows. I went 60 and 44. probably the most kills I've ever gotten in an MLG game lol.
 
Hey does anyone have any tips because I'm terrible at Halo. How terrible? Lets just say I can barely use the battle rifle. One of my friends has basically said just strafe, use bumper jumper and don't use assault rifle... Is it really that easy?
 
WizardHowl said:
Hey does anyone have any tips because I'm terrible at Halo. How terrible? Lets just say I can barely use the battle rifle. One of my friends has basically said just strafe, use bumper jumper and don't use assault rifle... Is it really that easy?
If your reticle turns green, shoot your gun.

Also, throw grenades at random.
 
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