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The Halo 3 Beta Thread

watership said:
okay, two days later and I'm really missing the beta. I'm going to get the shakes soon enough.
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I tried to check my stats the other night, just to gaze upon that triple kill medal I got with a mine on Valhalla (flung while in flight from a man cannon, no less). They were gone.

I felt so empty.
 
Yea, I've been trying to get into Shadowrun, and while it's ok, it just really makes me appreciate how well put together Halo MP is. The clean look they're always talking about, you can really see what they mean by playing SR, it's really hard to see and tell good from bad in that game half the time due to some dark lighting or weather effect.
 
Ramirez said:
Yea, I've been trying to get into Shadowrun, and while it's ok, it just really makes me appreciate how well put together Halo MP is. The clean look they're always talking about, you can really see what they mean by playing SR, it's really hard to see and tell good from bad in that game half the time due to some dark lighting or weather effect.
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Yeah, the morning of the day we played with Luke and Frankie I was trying the Shadowrun demo, and even though I liked it I was reminded of a lot of reasons I love Halo 3 so far, the lighting, the character models, the animations, the different satisfaction you get from different guns, map design, etc.

I think I'm going to rent SR tonight and see if I like it enough to plop down $60 on it.
 
OMG :lol

Well, I got Halo 2 working again, and wow, first game was like goin in a time machine about 4 years ago :P

Lighting is so dark, the weapons look like ass (BR/Sniper specifically), damnit quit hitting RB, my FOV seems alot smaller, etc.

Sept. come to me. :(
 
Ramirez said:
Yea, I've been trying to get into Shadowrun, and while it's ok, it just really makes me appreciate how well put together Halo MP is. The clean look they're always talking about, you can really see what they mean by playing SR, it's really hard to see and tell good from bad in that game half the time due to some dark lighting or weather effect.
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What's interesting is Shadowrun has a pretty clinical, sterile visual style. But there's a difference beteen clinical and "clear"; they may not have understood that.

I played the demo recently and loved the magic and tech, but the core shooting component - that feedback loop I was babbling about in Halo 3 earlier - was not very satisfying. Shooting wasn't fun, and that's what turned me off from it. The combat was tactical but it just lacked impact.
 
Also, one of the largest things that was different from Halo 2/3, frag grenades don't set each other off anymore, this made things SO much better. I hate throwing a grenade only to have it blow up in my face because someone was spamming greandes in my area or something.
 
http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=12539

Now we know what Luke was writing about.

mayaCinematix.jpg


Awesome article.

Now running in real-time in engine, the Master Chief walks through a door and awe strikes the faces of the marines in the Pelican’s cargo bay. He reaches up and pulls down a sniper rifle from overhead and readies the rifle. As he raises it, light streams in from outside. It travels up the Chief’s armor, glistens off of the rifle’s barrel and as the cargo door opens wider, you can see the reflection of the cargo bay opening up to somewhere in the Chief’s visor. Depth of field blurs the tip of the rifle, while the Chief and marines with mouths agape remain in focus.
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:eek
 
Ramirez said:
OMG :lol

Well, I got Halo 2 working again, and wow, first game was like goin in a time machine about 4 years ago :P

Lighting is so dark, the weapons look like ass (BR/Sniper specifically), damnit quit hitting RB, my FOV seems alot smaller, etc.

Sept. come to me. :(
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I tryed playing yesterday. It was awful. It looked so dreary, I kept pressing RB, it felt claustraphobic, and I played BTB and so many people quit that it ended up being 3-on-1. Guess who was the 1.

So yeah, I've gotta find something to play until September, because the beta has ruined H2 for me.
 
Scullibundo said:
Grenades only set off other grenades in Campaign, never in multi. This has been true of all HALO games.
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Then please explain how I've had a million grenades blow up in my face while throwing one? I understand some of them were probably shot, but anytime there was an explosion next to me while throwing I would get the one I just threw blow up in my face and kill me. Anyways, I never even saw one get shot during the beta, and I hope it stays that way.
 
Just read the article. Hype + 1000. I'm so glad to see that such work is being put into the cinematics, and the scene described sounds amazing.

Also Ramirez, I'm not 100% sure as it could have just been coincidental timing, but I'm pretty sure I shot a grenade once in the beta. I can't remember with what weapon (probably AR), but I remember it was just flying towards my face and while aiming at my opponent I got an incredibly lucky shot and hit the grenade so that it detonated between us.
 
I bet the dialog immediately following that snippet Luke related is something like, "Time to rape some noobs" or whatever.
 
That article doesn't make the wait any more bearable. :(

One more month to E3, right? I expect great things, Microsoft. Perhaps some HD goodness downloadable on XBLM. OK, OK, I'll take anything, alright?

15 weeks....105 days...
 
Ramirez said:
Then please explain how I've had a million grenades blow up in my face while throwing one? I understand some of them were probably shot, but anytime there was an explosion next to me while throwing I would get the one I just threw blow up in my face and kill me. Anyways, I never even saw one get shot during the beta, and I hope it stays that way.
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I'm pretty sure you're correct on both counts. Also I see that you're on Halo 2, but damn I don't know if I can go back :lol
 
It's kind of awesome that we're getting all of these little pieces and write-ups on the game. This is all stuff that I was mildly interested in h2's development, but I'm finding myself incredibly psyched about going into h3's. And again, quality writing as usual from the lukems.

I used to think a decorator was some asshole on that TLC channel. Now I know the TRUTH!
 
Now running in real-time in engine, the Master Chief walks through a door and awe strikes the faces of the marines in the Pelican’s cargo bay. He reaches up and pulls down a sniper rifle from overhead and readies the rifle. As he raises it, light streams in from outside. It travels up the Chief’s armor, glistens off of the rifle’s barrel and as the cargo door opens wider, you can see the reflection of the cargo bay opening up to somewhere in the Chief’s visor. Depth of field blurs the tip of the rifle, while the Chief and marines with mouths agape remain in focus.
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4puk09h.gif
 
Scullibundo said:
Grenades only set off other grenades in Campaign, never in multi. This has been true of all HALO games.
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You're talking about inactive grenades (ie those on the floor). Live grenades (just thrown/in mid-ar) get set off by explosions and sometimes gunfire. Plasma grenades tend to just get flung by the blast, but fragment and brute grenade'll blow up.

My second to last game in the beta, I threw a brute grenade and had it explode in mid-air, killing me in the process one foot away from me. In that case, it was set off by a stray spike from an enemy grenade thrown a few milliseconds earlier. 10 feet away no less...

That annoucer's "suicide" is burned into my memory. :(
 
raYne said:
You're talking about inactive grenades (ie those on the floor). Live grenades (just thrown/in mid-ar) get set off by explosions and sometimes gunfire.

It did it in the Beta and it'll do it in the final.

My second to last game in the beta, I threw a brute grenade and had it explode in mid-air, killing me in the process one foot away from me. In that case, it was set off by a stray spike from an enemy grenade thrown a few milliseconds earlier. 10 feet away no less...

That annoucer's "suicide" is burned into my memory. :(
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This happened to me on Rockets games. Where someone would fire a rocket at me and I would fire back in an attempt to kill them only to have both rockets explode in my face as they collided.
 
Deepblue said:
This happened to me on Rockets games. Where someone would fire a rocket at me and I would fire back in an attempt to kill them only to have both rockets explode in my face as they collided.
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I wonder if you can plasma stick a rocket mid-flight?

:lol
 
Master Chief puts the FUN in Funeral.

Master Chief is capable of photosynthesis.
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:lol

4puk09h.gif


:lol

The article on the cinematics is awesome.I think it's really that Bungie is putting that kind of effort in them.
 
CreepingDea7h said:
It would probably just explode :P
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I'd expect it to bounce off.

...but if it doesn't and actually sticks to it, I will perfect that move. It'll end up looking like some Power Ranger-ish combined attack.
 
I've seen an edit of that .gif where it's from the waist up - no bell. That was the first version I saw, so finally seeing the full size is even funnier. :lol
 
Luke Smith is a lucky SOB. He is literally the Charlie, to Stinkles' Willy Wonka.

We're going to need a photoshop of Luke's face on top of Charlie's face, and Stinkles' face on top of Willy Wonka's.
 
urk said:
There is some debate over the term. Technically, G is correct, but in common usage, it has come to denote the state of awareness typically attributed to humans. Something like sapient.
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Sentient is the term I would use for animals and humans -- anything that is, well, sentient.

Here's a good example:

Vegetarian: I don't eat meat, I don't like eating living "things."

Person: Plants are living things too; you eat them every day.

Vegetarian: Let me rephrase that: I don't eat sentient beings. Plants are not sentient beings.
 
GhaleonEB said:
http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=12539

Now we know what Luke was writing about.

mayaCinematix.jpg


Awesome article.



:eek
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People often seperate Halo from other games by qualifying it with, "they do everything thats been done before, correctly." Or they drop 'polished' left and right. Halo multiplayer is often credited with other words like 'balanced' / innovative...

But one area that Bungie doesn't get enough credit is community/ fan service. In my mind NO-ONE does it like these guys do. There is no other game (I can think of) that gets the weekly updates and teasers like Halo does. No other group is as accesible. And no other group listens as well to their fans like these guys do. This 'feature' is part of the brand success of Halo, just as much as great gameplay. Its why loyalty from Halo-heads, like myself, make this game larger than life. Its why come september 24th, I'll be sitting in line at midnight (hopefully since New Orleans lost most of its video game stores), and taking off work on the 25th.

Mad Props!
 
Well, to be honest, most Western developers are close to their community, if there's one.

Irrational, Blizzard, Insomniac, NCSoft, etc...

I mean, the only difference with Bungie and Halo 3 is the name they're selling, and the fact that you love said game.
 
I was talking to some guys about this the other day. The stuff Bungie has been putting out - the Weekly Updates, vehicle and weapon profiles, Vidocs and now a series of behind the scenes glimpses - is simply top notch. . There's an interplay between that content, and how secrets are packed into them to fuel the community that is famous - notorious? - for analyzing every word and pixel of it. Bungie's site has around three meaty top stories and a few smaller news bits every week and it's all well written and entertaining.

Even beyond the games, it's fun to be a Bungie fan.

All that's missing is a podcast.

:p
 
Dirtbag 504 said:
But one area that Bungie doesn't get enough credit is community/ fan service. In my mind NO-ONE does it like these guys do. There is no other game (I can think of) that gets the weekly updates and teasers like Halo does. No other group is as accesible. And no other group listens as well to their fans like these guys do. This 'feature' is part of the brand success of Halo, just as much as great gameplay. Its why loyalty from Halo-heads, like myself, make this game larger than life.
Mad Props!
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This man spits Truth

GhaleonEB said:
an interplay between that content, and how secrets are packed into them to fuel the community that is famous - notorious? - for analyzing every word and pixel of it.
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The amount of screening through stuff to make sure it does not have ANY spoilers in it what-so-ever before Bungie release something to us must be intense. I wonder how many times they have to sit through the Vidoc's to make sure there is nothing super secretive on some screen or drawing board in the background.

I wouldn't be surprised if Stinkles BWU's had to get proof-read before going public.
 
GhaleonEB said:
I was talking to some guys about this the other day. The stuff Bungie has been putting out - the Weekly Updates, vehicle and weapon profiles, Vidocs and now a series of behind the scenes glimpses - is simply top notch. . There's an interplay between that content, and how secrets are packed into them to fuel the community that is famous - notorious? - for analyzing every word and pixel of it. Bungie's site has around three meaty top stories and a few smaller news bits every week and it's all well written and entertaining.

Even beyond the games, it's fun to be a Bungie fan.

All that's missing is a podcast.

:p
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Yeah, whatever happened to the podcast that was promised.
 
I've been watching old Halo vids and I came across an old favorite of mine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOyeyV0mowM

I know its old and didn't make it in(well not in the same form) Halo 2 for whatever reason,but its still cool as hell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN9vO_gRzoI&NR=1

Basically the same thing on Halo 2 CE dvd but its still cool to watch.

Edit: found another. They boith have a little footage I don't remeber seeing on the dvd.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Tqrfy4SR7I&mode=related&search=
 
snack said:
Yeah, whatever happened to the podcast that was promised.
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I'm sure he's working on it. Luke's put out a lot of content since joining Bungie. If they want the podcasts to be regular he may be lining up material in advance. It's also probably hard to get on people schedules during the psychotic crunch that's going on right now.
 
Dirtbag 504 said:
But one area that Bungie doesn't get enough credit is community/ fan service. In my mind NO-ONE does it like these guys do. There is no other game (I can think of) that gets the weekly updates and teasers like Halo does. No other group is as accesible. And no other group listens as well to their fans like these guys do. This 'feature' is part of the brand success of Halo, just as much as great gameplay. Its why loyalty from Halo-heads, like myself, make this game larger than life. Its why come september 24th, I'll be sitting in line at midnight (hopefully since New Orleans lost most of its video game stores), and taking off work on the 25th.
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First, I agree that no other developer has done the comunity/fan service on the level that Bungie has done, but ID did do a lot of the same things that Bungie is doing now with its games, not as much currently though. Commander Keen, Doom, and Doom 2 I played when I was really young, so I cannot speak to those. However, I did watch the development of Quake closely.

I remember there was a lot of fan service before the game was released. The QTest and their early tech demos of Quake are good examples of it. In addition, their community support really helped the development of a lot of cool mods, from my favorite mod threewave capture the flag to first rocket arena mod. ID also listened to the community a great deal. For example, the source code for Quake was leaked at one point and one guy used it to port Quake to Linux. The guy sent his work to Carmack. Most companies would have dealt with this guy in a harsh way; instead, Carmack used this guys work in the official Linux port of Quake. The guys at ID also interacted with the community. The best example is the first Quakecon. ID eventually got word of the event and the majority of the ID staff visited the gamers playing there.

In short, no, Bungie is not the first to interact closely with the community, but, yes, they have done it at larger scale then any other development house in the gaming sphere.
 
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