New Rumor: Brutes playable in Halo 3?

[Nerevar]

Didn't see this on the first two pages, and nothing showed up in search, so I'll let 'er rip. Forwarded to me by someone who generally is in the know about some things, so there might be some truth to it:

source

We get tips from time to time, some of them small and some of them big. The tip we received this morning, however, is a doozy. Coming from the blog of YLA G -- creator of the kickass Google application, GooMGC -- the info goes something like this: Brutes will be playable in Halo 3. Not only that, but a video confirming this fact should hit Marketplace on December 20th (I knew Bungie wouldn't forget my birthday). The video is supposedly seven minutes long and gives us backstory on the Brutes and tells us what skills they will have at their disposal. Even better, 2 and a half minutes of the video should be actual gameplay. This is strictly a rumor at this point, as the article has no source listed, but it wouldn't surprise us if it's true. In fact, it makes perfect sense considering how many new Brute weapons have been announced for Halo 3. Playable Brutes opens up many questions of course. Will they have berserker attacks? Will they still have their dome protecting, headshot deflecting skull caps? Will Brutes be in the beta? Does this mean that Elites are no longer playable? Oh the possibilities. Assuming this is true, what do you want to see from the Brute class?

This seems to jive will all the brute technology Bungie is talking about using in Halo 3 (weapons like brute spiker, vehicles like brute ghost), so who knows. Will certainly rile the fans who hated the covenant sections of single player if true though, that's for sure

[Ghost]

xbox360fanboy.com?

The return of fansites that accept annonymous tips as news?

Yeah i'll pass.....on a couple of stories to them tomorrow.

[SHOTEH FOCK OP]

Et tu, Brute?

[DaCocoBrova]

The f*ck is a Brute?

[Uno Ill Nino]

I call bullshit on this. I mean I guess it could be true, but the playable brute would throw the balance off in multiplayer. They're way bigger and there was already a big "to-do" over the elites being easier targets in Halo 2's multiplayer, so I can't imagine something like this being true.

The other thing that makes me call b.s. is the December 20th video thing. First, where'd that date come from? Second, 7 minutes? with 2 and 1/2 being gameplay? Come on.

[Odysseus]

Et tu, Brute?

Caesar is a new enemy?

Jumped shark confirmed?

[LukeSmith]

Didn't they do the "play as the Covenant" thing already? And in MP didn't they muck up the hit detection on the Elite model?

I'm skeptical. Highly.

Though, I wouldn't be terribly surprised if you see a new video soon -- dunno about a video with gameplay though -- t'would be nice.

[jetjevons]

Jesus H Christ I really, REALLY ******* hope not in single player.

Now the Covenant, Brutes and Humans can all hold hands and fight against the flood!

/just shoot me now.

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

Why?

I don't feel there is a need for this, to be honest.

[Scotch]

Dear god, please let this be fake.

The first thing they needed to do after Halo 2 was scrap the ****ing Arbiter stuff. If they actually added more covenant missions I'm not sure I even care about this game anymore.

[Busty]

The f*ck is a Brute?

Transformers: Beast Wars... is... is that you?

[Deepblue]

Dear god, please let this be fake. The first thing they needed to do after Halo 2 was scrap the ****ing Arbiter stuff. If they actually added more covenant missions I'm not sure I even care about this game anymore.

The arbiter was awesome. BRING HIM BACK BUNGIE!

[buckfutter]

The arbiter was way more interesting than the chief. Seriously. That said, I welcome Halo 3's sole single player character being a grunt with an especially annoying set of one liners.

[GhaleonEB]

Didn't they do the "play as the Covenant" thing already? And in MP didn't they muck up the hit detection on the Elite model? I'm skeptical. Highly. Though, I wouldn't be terribly surprised if you see a new video soon -- dunno about a video with gameplay though -- t'would be nice.

They promised a new making-of video before the end of the year, so the whole Marketplace bit sounds possible. It's supposed to focus on a character from Halo 3. Since Brutes play such a huge role, that's possible. However, the entire article sounds like speculation. In the past, very little has leaked out of Bungie-land.

The only way I can see this actually leaking is if the video was sent to the Marketplace team already, and it's in the cue. If people outside of Bungie have seen it, I'm sure they'll blab. Microsoft employees are ****ing terrible at keeping secrets.

[Funky Papa]

Jesus H Christ I really, REALLY ******* hope not in single player. Now the Covenant, Brutes and Humans can all hold hands and fight against the flood! /just shoot me now.

Yes.

The arbiter was awesome. BRING HIM BACK BUNGIE!

DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS MADMAN.

[PedroLumpy]

Not exactly ... you get to play as.... THE FLOOD!

New stealth mechanics introduced to go along with being one of those head crab thingamajigs. Be all cloak and dagger and sneak up on Brutes and eat their brains. THEN you get to play as zombie brutes using all those Brute weapons.

No joke I swear. Honest.

This is a joke post

[Manick Joe]

Transformers: Beast Wars... is... is that you?

That's Brute Force right?

Regardless if you play as Master Chief, a brute or a gerbil all I want out of Halo 3 is a sensible conclusion to the story arc and more open spaces/less repeating corridors.

[hitoshi]

Breaking NDA's - there will be a trailer, yes, with the first ingame sequences. The brutes are true too.

[Nerevar]

They promised a new making-of video before the end of the year, so the whole Marketplace bit sounds possible. It's supposed to focus on a character from Halo 3. Since Brutes play such a huge role, that's possible. However, the entire article sounds like speculation. In the past, very little has leaked out of Bungie-land. The only way I can see this actually leaking is if the video was sent to the Marketplace team already, and it's in the cue. If people outside of Bungie have seen it, I'm sure they'll blab. Microsoft employees are ****ing terrible at keeping secrets.

Agreed, the only reason I posted it was because -
a) It fits with a lot of stuff Bungie has said in the past AND with a lot of their new weapons / vehicles and
b) It was forwarded to me by someone I know who usually doesn't forward me BS. That being said, he did say it was a rumor, so there's no guarantee of anything.

Just something to chew on I suppose. I welcome new characters, variety is the spice of life. Besides, I think there's a lot more to the Brute / Elite civil war that can be explored by playing from all sides.

[Mrbob]

Gawd.

Kojima learned from MGS2. Hopefully Bungie learns from Halo 2.

[urk]

Here's the original source.

It's the blog of a Microsoft Employee, which lends it a little more credibility. Cribbed from HBO.

[Cerrius]

i don't want to play as another alien BUNGIE.. WHAT THE ****

let me guess, is this campaign going to center around having "sympathy" for the Brutes or some other halo2-ish BS?

I just want to kill covenant not PLAY as them

[Vrolokus]

The arbiter was awesome. BRING HIM BACK BUNGIE!

IAWTP.

The Arbiter was just dripping with coolness. People who obsess over MC baffle me, he has zero personality and the few lines he has aren't that interesting. "I need a weapon" - yay, you just gave every 14 year old a woody.

The Arbiter is complex, intense, and has the friggin' awesome voice. Bring him back!

[Ghost]

Cant believe a Microsoft employee would leak such information on a microsoft blog with his name, picture and gamertag.

[IJoel]

What the hell...

I want to play as uber badass Master Chief, not some oversized chimp! :p

But seriously, while I appreciated the perspective the Arbiter provided to Halo 2, it felt like some side story to the main one (MC saving Earth/Humanity/Universe) and thus, wasn't nearly as cool to me. I sure hope they mean it's playable in multiplayer, and not in single player (unless it's some sort of BONUS unlockable once the single player campaign is completed.)

[Cravis]

We only want to play the Master Chief!!! Duh Bungie! Come on now don't screw us over AGAIN.

[SHOTEH FOCK OP]

Halo Adventure.

[GhaleonEB]

Gawd. Kojima learned from MGS2. Hopefully Bungie learns from Halo 2.

Except there was relatively little backlash about the Arbiter. A LOT of people like him. That said, Bungie said in a few interviews after Halo 2 that the Aribter's story arc concluded in Halo 2, while the Chief's didn't. For what it's worth.

That said, I really, really don't want to play as a Brute.

[Nino]

xbox360fanboy.com? The return of fansites that accept annonymous tips as news?

This tip isn't anonymous though, it came from a Belgian MS employee.

I talked to him and these were the exact words he received (It (the trailer) highlights the emergence of the Brutes as playable characters in the game). I think someone misinterpreted, English isn't YLA G's first language and the whole thing just sounds like a brief background story on the emergence of Brutes as characters within the Halo realm. The more interesting thing about this whole deal is that we'll see some Halo 3 footage on the Marketplace next week, if this turns out to be true that is.

[Zep]

I hope the weapons are better for the "others". Everything but the blue sticky balls were blah.

[Diablohead]

For MP I think its fine, we need more player models.

For single? oh god no please no nono please no.

[GhaleonEB]

Here's the original source. It's the blog of a Microsoft Employee, which lends it a little more credibility. Cribbed from HBO.

Yeah, that fits in with my theory that only a non-Bungie MS employee would blab about it. Stinkles, dispatch the ninjas! Fire that ****er.

[Deathcraze]

IAWTP. The Arbiter was just dripping with coolness. People who obsess over MC baffle me, he has zero personality and the few lines he has aren't that interesting. "I need a weapon" - yay, you just gave every 14 year old a woody. The Arbiter is complex, intense, and has the friggin' awesome voice. Bring him back!

QFT! Arbiter was a far more interesting character than Master Chief ever was, and was handled much better than Raiden.

We only want to play the Master Chief!!! Duh Bungie! Come on now don't screw us over AGAIN.

Exclude me from this "we" please.

As for the Brute thing I would highly doubt it. Their style of play would be hugely different unless they were given energy shields and I am fond of the overall balance of the multiplayer, barring the Elites very easy to shoot heads of course.

[Brandon F]

Hammertime!

[urk]

Yeah, that fits in with my theory that only a non-Bungie MS employee would blab about it. Stinkles, dispatch the ninjas! Fire that ****er.

Microsoft employees are like a collective sieve when it comes to holding information. It makes me wonder if the leaks aren't intentional to wet the palettes of the gaming community with drip drops of sweet information.

[Deepblue]

QFT! Arbiter was a far more interesting character than Master Chief ever was, and was handled much better than Raiden. Exclude me from this "we" please. As for the Brute thing I would highly doubt it. Their style of play would be hugely different unless they were given energy shields and I am fond of the overall balance of the multiplayer, barring the Elites very easy to shoot heads of course.

Respect.

[GhaleonEB]

Microsoft employees are like a collective sieve when it comes to holding information. It makes me wonder if the leaks aren't intentional to wet the palettes of the gaming community with drip drops of sweet information.

Bungie already teased the community about it.

Shortly after the commercial airs, we'll be treating our fans to the next installment in our "making of" documentary series on Xbox Live Marketplace. This next "VIDOC" is going to give some new insights into elements of the campaign and will peel back the curtain on a certain prominent character in Halo 3. We'll talk more about this in the coming weeks.

http://www.bungie.net/News/TopStory.aspx?cid=9182

I don't think Bungie is pleased. Stuff like this probably has a lot to do with why they're in their own building/studio. Microsoft employees are so ****ing unprofessional, it's pathetic.

[GhaleonEB]

Respect.

[urk]

Microsoft employees are so ****ing unprofessional, it's pathetic.

Any company that has tens of thousands of employees is going to run into a certain degree of unprofessional behavior among the ranks.

[GhaleonEB]

Any company that has tens of thousands of employees is going to run into a certain degree of unprofessional behavior among the ranks.

I realize this. But Microsoft tends to leak key information at a much faster rate than other companies of similar size (such as, say, Sony).

[robut]

If they're in multi maybe X is character specific powers. Chief: grenade shield, Cov: inviso, Brutes: berserk charge. Maybe make specific abilities to, like Cov can use jetpacks and Brutes can weild the hammers.

Also while wildly speculating, they should rehire the Stubbs team to make a Flood game.

[Grecco]

Id love to play as a Brute (In multi)

[woodchuck]

The arbiter was a decent character, but his levels were pretty boring. I wouldn't mind playing as a Brute if they actually make the levels interesting.

[robut]

I'm trying to think of how they could pull of a sp story for a Brute. Has more been revealed about them in the books? They just don't seem to be interesting enough to devote story to.

[jetjevons]

So on the box of Halo 3 we're going to see Arbiter and Chief fighting back to back? With possible a Brute thrown in there for good measure?

Of course not.

You're going to see the chief.

Because that's who's the star and that's who I want to play.

[Tieno]

[OuterWorldVoice]

Lols. You do not play as Brutes in Halo 3, but don't let that fact stop you complaining about it.

[siamesedreamer]

Breaking NDA's - there will be a trailer, yes, with the first ingame sequences. The brutes are true too.

WHAT

[Mrbob]

Lols. You do not play as Brutes in Halo 3, but don't let that fact stop you complaining about it.

Crisis averted!

[robut]

Lols. You do not play as Brutes in Halo 3, but don't let that fact stop you complaining about it.

I can't believe I won't be playing as a big stupid monkey in Halo 3. Bungie am fail.