Halo 3

Microsoft is really pushing Bungie to try to have atleast a playable demo of Halo 3 ready to go by early 2006. There was huge infusion of cash into Bungie after the success of Halo 2 and they are strongly considering contracting out a ton more talent developers in order to speed the production up on the last game of the trilogy. And Bungie is really pushing to have Xbox 2 feature backward compatibility and a HDD. Bungie wants fans to be able to play all three games of the trilogy on the same console. More importantly, a HDD is needed if Bungie is to make Halo 3’s levels massive, completely destructable (down to every building, tree, and ambient life form), and incorporate all the other features that they are planning. Numerous Bungie employees including my friend are also convinced that the HDD and backward compatibility are critical if Xbox 2 and thus Halo 3 are to succeed.

Most of Xbox’s early base came from people who were willing to wait a bit in order to own the most powerful console packing features that truly revolutionized console gaming. They would love to sell off their bulky Xboxs on Ebay and play the large collection of exceptional games they’ve accumulated over the years on the sleeker, smaller Xbox 2. And those that buy used copies of the first Xbox at bargain bin prices will have an opportunity to discover the Xbox’s great gaming franchises for themselves. But without a HDD, these early adopters have no reason to not just wait for the more powerful PS3 that does include a HDD and thus many of the features they loved about the first Xbox.

As for current PS2 and GC owners, Xbox 2 has the potential to pick a lot of them up if they are also given the ability through backward compatibility to play great games like Ninja Gaiden, KOTOR, and many others that they missed out on this generation. Without backward compatibility, gamers have no real reason to not just wait for Xbox 2 to accumulate a large library of quality games or atleast a killer app like Halo 3 before even considering the console. And by then, they’ll probably be won over by the release of a more powerful PS3 featuring a HDD. Considering that Halo 3 will almost certainly not be a launch title and Xbox 2 will not be the powerhouse console in comparison to it’s competitors this time around (the PS3 will almost certainly be as powerful if not a lot more powerful and will also be backward compatible), I’m absolutely convinced that without a HDD and backwards compatibility, Xbox 2 and thus Halo 3 will fail to make as large an impact as they have on the current generation.

Considering that one can get a 160 gb HD retail for about $30 after rebates, I really don’t see how when bought in bulk an year from now, the HDD would cost MS more than $10 each. And if Xbox 2 can’t be made backward compatible hardware wise, there isn’t really any reason why it can’t be made backward compatible via an embedded emulator in the operating system. Assuming that Xbox 2 will have a PC core like the first one, programming an embedded Xbox emulator into the operating system shouldn’t be that hard a task. So Bungie employees do have a very good point in insisting that Xbox 2 feature backward compatibility and a HDD and I hope that fans of the series will join me in contacting MS and asking them to heed the wishes of Bungie’s employees. I would hate to see many of the great features that Bungie has planned for Halo 3 be scrapped due to the lack of a HDD.

As far as Halo 3 is concerned, very little about the game has been decided but there are a great many changes strongly being considered. Many of these features were ones that Bungie wanted to implement in Halo 2 but were unable to due to time constraints. What Bungie is sure of, according to my friend, is that they want to completely redefine combat yet again. No one at Bungie likes the idea of releasing the same game with new levels and slightly improved graphics. So there are a couple of suggestions going around about how to reinvent the franchise. Bungie recieved quite a few fan requests for a gravity gun after Half Life 2 came out so that could be a possibility. But then again, Bungie gets a lot of requests for a lot of things, silly things, like asking to go more in depth and explain how the universal translator in Master Chief’s armor works. So it doesn’t’ mean too much For one thing, Bungie is considering including several new types of grenades including EMP grenades with a much larger blast radius that are ideally suited for temporarily disabling all nearby vehicles including airborne vehicles like the banshee, proximity grenades that only explode if someone approaches them within ten seconds and fast moving grenades that bounce all over the map for 10 seconds until they hit a player or vehicle. To implement them all, Bungie is considering just having one type of grenade on the map. But these standard grenades can be made into either sticky grenades, EMP grenades, proximity grenades, or bouncing grenades based on which button the player holds down as they press the trigger to launch the grenade into the air. This is an early feature still being tested at the moment.

Other new weapons and vehicles that development is hard at work on include a flame thrower (it was scrapped near the end for both Halo 1 and Halo 2, so there’s a good chance it could be scrapped again), a human jet ski, a large boat with a cannon and the ability to carry up to three people, and a helicopter. So obviously, battles over bodies of water will be included in the third game of the series and this will be accommodated by making it so that all the covenant hover vehicles including the wraith and the ghost will be able to hover on both water and land. Work has already begun on programming in various weather and particle effects including snow, rain, lightning, dust storms (presumably for a desert level), fog (presumably for a rainforest level) as well as many ambient life forms found on Earth, including fish, sharks, alligators, birds, rabbits, stampeding rhinos, and civilians in complete panic and disarray. In addition, the design team is already hard at work on a human land counterpart to the ghost such as either an ATV or possibly a motorcycle. Design is also working on creating more faster and scarier flood variants confirming that the flood will indeed be found on Earth in the third game.

As you probably guessed, this time around, the game will center on repelling the covenant invasion of Earth. The levels will be much bigger as will the number of enemies and the number of allies by your side. This will be a full blown massive war between the covenant, humans and flood with tons upon tons of units from each faction engaged in combat at any given time all over the massive levels. The outdoor levels also allow players to free roam and choose which battles they wish to engage in thus giving players the sense that they truly are fighting an epic war for Earth’s survival. Bungie is very set on harnessing Xbox 2’s graphical prowess to truly give players the sense that they are just one soldier in the middle of a massive war. To facilitate this, the AI will be ramped up some more, the multiplayer games will support up to 32 players at once, as well as a few more playable characters with unique strengths and weaknesses.