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The Halo 3 Beta Thread

Well, this morning I took the plunge and bought a Halo 3 Zune. I was in dire need of an mp3/ video player for I trip I am going on in two weeks, so when I saw this online, I decided it'd be perfect. My local Gamestop actually received two extra units, so I was lucky enough to get one walking in without a pre-order. After messing around with it for about a day, I have to say that I'm impressed. Here are some first impressions:

Visual Appeal

Well, first off, let's talk about the box. If you have seen pictures for this baby yet, you already know it is a sexy one. The artwork on the box itself is beautiful, and it looks great sitting on my desk. Now for the Zune itself. It's got blue-ish tint to it, with gray etchings on both the back and the front. It's got a nice transparent border around the edge of it, so that's pretty cool. The Zune itself looks pretty damn nice. The screen is nice and big, nothing wrong there. The one complaint I'd have is the bulkiness. It still fits in my pocket fine, but it's not nearly as thin as a Video Ipod.

Inside the Box

The Zune comes with a syncing cable, instruction booklets, the CD for the Zune software, and headphones. The only way to charge your Zune out of the box is through the USB syncing cable, which I did not know until after I bought the Zune. It's not that big of a problem, but still, it'd be a lot nicer to have had one included. I know there is an AC adapter that is available separately for 30 bucks, but I'm still debating whether or not to get that. Installation itself takes quite a while, and there are some interesting pictures that are in the background while it is loading up.

Syncing my Music

Once you get past the rather long installation process, hooking up the Zune and syncing your music is very simple and intuitive. All my songs were synced in a couple of minutes, but the videos had to be converted, so I didn't bother syncing them just yet.

Extra Content

The extra content you get with the Zune is pretty much what you are promised. The exclusive RvB episode is hilarious, and the artwork/marketing concepts beautiful. The OSTs and videos are awesome as well. So, no complaints there. As for the audio quality, you won't find anything wrong. Everything is clear and crisp.

Overview

So all in all, the Halo 3 Zune is pretty damn awesome. The screen is nice, along with all the assorted goodies and exclusive content. The box and the Zune itself are sexy, and the complaints I harbor are with the tedious, long installation process, the bulkiness, and the lack of an AC adapter. If you're a Halo fan in the market for an mp3 player, go ahead and buy this one. No regrets here.

If anybody has any questions, feel free to ask. I'd be happy to oblige.
 
GAZERK said:
The Spartan III's need to look more like this and less like the Haze-ish character designs that were in the Gamepro magazine.
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I think Frankie said they were not really Spartan III's.
Buttonbasher said:
I've read all of the novels. I KNOW he isn't the last of his kind, but not everyone has read the novels, and if they added them to the games, there would have to be a big explanation. I don't want them to waste time in the game by doing that.

Also, is anyone here still playing the beta?
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A couple cutscenes, and monitors that hold info (like in Metroid Prime) would be a great way to unfold the story and introduce the new Spartans to the rest of players.
 
So like, I wanted to buy the original Halo OST, but Bungie doesn't have it in their store. I heard that you could d/l Marathon from them for free, thought maybe the OST had went that route as well, but I doubt it. Anyone know?
 
Ramirez said:
So like, I wanted to buy the original Halo OST, but Bungie doesn't have it in their store. I heard that you could d/l Marathon from them for free, thought maybe the OST had went that route as well, but I doubt it. Anyone know?
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I think the only way you can get the OST now is by getting the Zune or through iTunes.
 
Don't know if this has been posted yet. Sorry if old:

Less than a year after its plans to co-produce with Universal a movie based on Halo, Microsoft's hit video-game franchise, fell apart, 20th Century Fox has signed a deal to become the primary licensor for Halo, Variety reported.

That means the studio will handle worldwide merchandise licensing for Halo on behalf of the tech giant.

Though the unsuccessful film development helped bring the two companies closer together, Fox's licensing division has a longer relationship with Microsoft. It handled similar duties for Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo: Elements of Power, two Microsoft-published games that came out in late 2005 in conjunction with the launch of the Xbox 360.

Fox is aiming to launch a broad array of products, from books to apparel to collectible merchandise, in conjunction with the release of Halo 3 in September.

Fox is already in various stages of discussion with several dozen licensees and will be talking to potential partners at this week's Toy Fair in New York. (Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.)

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=6&id=42015

Looks like a blitzkrieg of stuff coming in Sept.
 
I can't wait to see the new commercials. Halo 2's were really badass.



GhaleonEB said:
Begin?

That reminds me, I gotta call around to see if the Halo Zune is in stock at the two Gamestops near me....
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Yeah, the Gamestop employee who sold it to me was telling me about how they're nigh-impossible to find. Hopefully yours has a few extras. Worst comes to worst, you can always Ebay it for probably around twenty to thirty bucks more.

Good luck. :)
 
JdFoX187 said:
Don't know if this has been posted yet. Sorry if old:

Less than a year after its plans to co-produce with Universal a movie based on Halo, Microsoft's hit video-game franchise, fell apart, 20th Century Fox has signed a deal to become the primary licensor for Halo, Variety reported.

That means the studio will handle worldwide merchandise licensing for Halo on behalf of the tech giant.

Though the unsuccessful film development helped bring the two companies closer together, Fox's licensing division has a longer relationship with Microsoft. It handled similar duties for Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo: Elements of Power, two Microsoft-published games that came out in late 2005 in conjunction with the launch of the Xbox 360.

Fox is aiming to launch a broad array of products, from books to apparel to collectible merchandise, in conjunction with the release of Halo 3 in September.

Fox is already in various stages of discussion with several dozen licensees and will be talking to potential partners at this week's Toy Fair in New York. (Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.)

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=6&id=42015

Looks like a blitzkrieg of stuff coming in Sept.
Click to expand...

Ooooooooooh!
 
armubaba said:
Yeah, the Gamestop employee who sold it to me was telling me about how they're nigh-impossible to find. Hopefully yours has a few extras. Worst comes to worst, you can always Ebay it for probably around twenty to thirty bucks more.

Good luck. :)
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Woot, #1 was sold out, #2 has ONE in stock, he's holding it for me. Of course, that's the one that is 20 minutes away, so now I know what I'm doing with my lunch hour. :D
 
ATTENTION ALL PERSPECTIVE HALO ZUNE BUYERS:

Apparently some Zunes were synced before at the factory, probably for testing purposes. Because of this, if you sync your Zune with your computer (and it was synced earlier at a factory or by somebody else) without using Guest Sync, all your preloaded content will be deleted. The only way to avoid this issue is to Guest Sync, then Reverse Sync your Halo content back to your PC.

How to Reverse Sync: http://zuneinsider.com/archive/2007/02/22/reverse-sync.aspx

Luckily this wasn't a problem with mine, but it is with some others.

So Ghaleon, watch out!
 
I'm back, Zune-less. The wonderful clerk decided not to tell me that their credit card machine was broken, and I wasn't familiar with the area so I didn't know where the nearest ATM was and didn't have time to wander anyways. Thanks, random Gamestop clerk! Driving through traffic over my lunch hour for no reason is what I wanted to do today.

Though, apparantly it's not all such a bad thing, from the above post.
 
Not sure this is worthy of a new thread, so I'll ask this here...

I've played Halo 1 and Halo 2 multiplayer, but have never gone through the single-player modes. Is it worth it to pick them up to play through the single-player modes for the story before Halo 3 comes out?
 
AirBrian said:
Not sure this is worthy of a new thread, so I'll ask this here...

I've played Halo 1 and Halo 2 multiplayer, but have never gone through the single-player modes. Is it worth it to pick them up to play through the single-player modes for the story before Halo 3 comes out?
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I suggest doing so, but there are story summaries out there if you are not so inclined.
 
AirBrian said:
Not sure this is worthy of a new thread, so I'll ask this here...

I've played Halo 1 and Halo 2 multiplayer, but have never gone through the single-player modes. Is it worth it to pick them up to play through the single-player modes for the story before Halo 3 comes out?
Click to expand...
Single player story mode is one of the best. Story is very engaging and properly laid out with so many mysteries. Halo universe is really really big. I just finished Halo campaign. Right now I'm in middle of Halo 2. Started Gravemind level... :) Oh and soundtrack...simply great. It can be repetitive on few occasions, but my interest in story made me finish it.

Single player is the reason I'm playing Halo.
 
MirageDwarf said:
Single player story mode is one of the best. Story is very engaging and properly laid out with so many mysteries. Halo universe is really really big. I just finished Halo campaign. Right now I'm in middle of Halo 2. Started Gravemind level... :) Oh and soundtrack...simply great. It can be repetitive on few occasions, but my interest in story made me finish it.

Single player is the reason I'm playing Halo.
Click to expand...
How long did it take you to go through Halo's single-player?
 
AirBrian said:
How long did it take you to go through Halo's single-player?
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Depends what difficulty you play on.

Large levels like Truth and Reconciliation and Two Betrayals will take hours, especially on Heroic or Legendary.
 
AirBrian said:
How long did it take you to go through Halo's single-player?
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Around 12-14 hours, I guess. Don't remember clearly as I played it in small sessions over one and half week.

It also depends on your difficulty, as Striker said. If you are interested in the story of Halo mainly, just play it on Easy difficulty. Nothing is wrong in that.

I started with Medium difficulty, but after some repetitive levels, I had set it to Easy. I was eager to progress in the story.
 
If you play it on normal you could easily beat it in a day if you're half way good. I think I went from opening level to midway through the game in like 2 hours last night...I just wanna play Assault on the Control Room :P
 
http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product_id=322285

http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product_id=322284

http://www.gamelifestyle.co.uk/search.asp/c=/q=3/search=halo+replica

HALSRCC.jpg


HALSRBR.jpg


"Master Replica".

And here I said I wasn't buying any more stuff like this. :(
 
Apparantly Shoe from EGM is going to see Halo 3 SP next week or something. Said this on EGM Live cause he was replaying Halo 1 and 2 to freshen up.
 
Tieno said:
Apparantly Shoe from EGM is going to see Halo 3 SP next week or something. Said this on EGM Live cause he was replaying Halo 1 and 2 to freshen up.
Click to expand...

Hrmm. If they have a polished/finished SP segment ready, then Maybe the rumors that we will see SP at E3 are true.
 
Tieno said:
Apparantly Shoe from EGM is going to see Halo 3 SP next week or something. Said this on EGM Live cause he was replaying Halo 1 and 2 to freshen up.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I went apeshit in the EGM Live thread. He says it at the 14:15 mark. I think they got the exclusive unveil of campaign, just as they did MP and the campaign unveil of Halo 2 back in the day.

I imagine that story will get the same kind of treatment their MP visit got; they devoted nine stories on 1up in a hub. Some saw that as milking. Me, I like Halo-flavored milk.
 
NJ x Falkor said:
Hrmm. If they have a polished/finished SP segment ready, then Maybe the rumors that we will see SP at E3 are true.
Click to expand...

Of course we're going to see SP at E3. It's the biggest event to show off Halo 3. It'll probably be in trailer form or some sort. At best a playthrough of portion of a level.
 
NJ x Falkor said:
Hrmm. If they have a polished/finished SP segment ready, then Maybe the rumors that we will see SP at E3 are true.
Click to expand...
The game release is three months away: you can bet they have many finished SP segments: judging by their updates, this time they got plenty of time to finish the game and add al the little touches they wanted. I don't know if it will be showed at E3, I only hope it will be at Leipzig, because I'll be there :-)
 
SailorDaravon said:
ehhh, I'm not sure how much I like those. Do we know how big they're supposed to be?
Click to expand...

For $20? I wouldn't expect them to be that big. Scaled down to maybe like something for the office desk.

Then again that $20 probably isn't set in stone either so who knows.
 
NJ x Falkor said:
Hrmm. If they have a polished/finished SP segment ready, then Maybe the rumors that we will see SP at E3 are true.
Click to expand...
I would have to agree. It could potential follow the route the Beta went, where press sees it early and we see it a short time after. This also might tell us that we wont see any Halo 3 SP media being released with the AR campaign (ie its only focuses on back story).
 
Tieno said:
Apparantly Shoe from EGM is going to see Halo 3 SP next week or something. Said this on EGM Live cause he was replaying Halo 1 and 2 to freshen up.
Click to expand...

Excellent news, we should hopefully be getting a similar feature that Halo 2 got from EGM. I think that was the first time Drones were shown.

Hrmm. If they have a polished/finished SP segment ready, then Maybe the rumors that we will see SP at E3 are true.
Click to expand...

I would be very surprised if they showed off any substantial video of the campaign mode before release. A few select images of locations, weapons and possibly new races (Drinol?) would be all I expect. The only video footage I really expect from here on out would be a Elites ViDoc similar to the Brute one since their role has changed hugely, but what would I know.
 
NJ x Falkor said:
Hrmm. If they have a polished/finished SP segment ready, then Maybe the rumors that we will see SP at E3 are true.
Click to expand...
Work backwards.

They need at least one month for manufacturing. So that's the end of August. Before that, certification takes several weeks. I think they have 4-6 weeks of actual development time left, which is probably devoted to music, cinematics bug fixing and overall polish. I hope they have a polished SP segment ready at this point.

But it's also for that reason that I'm not expecting to see much of Halo 3 at E3. Think about it - you've got 2-3 weeks at most to finish the game. You going to pull people off the project to go to E3, and have people work on seperate presentations for it? They're going to be doing release candidates around that time, the final epic crunch before ship. I'm hoping for a trailer, maybe a very short demo - but not a real coming out party.
 
The game ships in September. I remember with Halo 2's development, they were "done" on the game in September and it shipped in November. They have more time now to do polishing and cleaning up on the game. Everything's done on it right now. They're just probably debugging it. Of course, this is all a complete guess work for me. But I can definitely see them having one area that they've completed for public display.
 
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