Halo 3

WEAPONS

noreply@blogspirit.com () — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 11:40:00 +0100

Battle Rifle

This is a great weapon. The bullets are fairly powerful, and with the three
shot bursts it can be devastating. A great weapon for clearing out jackals,
especially those damned snipers.

On legendary, if an enemy sniper spots you, you will probably have no more
than 2 seconds at the very most to react. If you can peek out of a corner with
your scope set in the general direction of the Jackal, one quick burst should
at the very least injure him, giving you the chance to set your sights for the
kill.

There is no single fire for the Battle Rifle. I believe it is to make the
Carbine more useful. Otherwise, I doubt many people would take much notice of
it.

36 rounds per clip. 2x Zoom.

SMG

In game, it is known as the SMG. For those [few] of you who don't know, this
stands for Sub-Machine Gun. This weapon is, in my opinion, the best for Drones.

On legendary, I very rarely used it for anything more than Drone and Grunt
cleanup. Every now and then, it served well against a single Elite. If a
tricky Elite is hiding in a corner, and you have no available grenades, this
weapon is just screaming for it. Peek around the corner with two of these and
BAM! No more Elite, lots more purple paint. It can be a bit risky though, so I
tend to stick with Plasmas for Elites.

60 rounds per clip. Dual Wield.

Shotgun

This is a weaker version of the original. It's still a great Flood stopper,
but Elites won't go down as easily with it. It used to stun them when hit by a
point blank shell. Now, it'll damage then, but it definitely won't stun them
long enough for a clean kill.

12 rounds per clip.

Halo 3 delayed until 2007

noreply@blogspirit.com () — Wed, 28 Dec 2005 13:14:00 +0100

Halo 3 delayed until 2007 -- to launch alongside movie

Fox And Universal have come to terms with Microsoft, finalizing the Halo movie contract and agreeing on a Summer 2007 release. It was also noted that MS is planning to launch Halo 3 at the same time as the movie to "optimize marketing potential". Could this be true? Has Microsoft abandoned its original plan to coincide the game's launch with that of the PS3? We need answers!

Rumors about Halo 3

noreply@blogspirit.com () — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 20:22:55 +0100

i dont know if anybody has saw this yet but:

This is taken from the Xbox forum at Gamespot. Read it for yourself and see what you think. I believe him for the most part, because i don't think anyone in their right mind would waste this much time to make up this much crap. It is a lot to read, but if you care about the Halo series, which direction they are going, and what Bungie is planning on doing with Halo 3, it will be WELL worth your time. If you are just going to say it's too much to read, then please leave. Thanks, and enjoy.

"Found below is every significant piece of info about everything bungie has decided on, regarding Halo 3. I know you guys won’t believe me when I tell you I know what’s going on with Halo 3. How about this for a start. Sometime this month, if everything goes as planned, very soon actually, a modified version of Hang Em High will be added to the list of maps for Halo 2. And plans are underway to release a modified version Sidewinder along with some new maps early next month depending partially on how successful the Hang Em High release proves to be. Hopefully, once this information come true, you will start to believe what I’m about to tell you.
I don’t care too much if you don’t believe. No one believed me when I said that Halo 2’s live features will be limited because Bungie isn’t going to let you search for the specific games with the settings you want to play. This time, if you don’t believe me, I would appreciate it if you just skip over this thread if you don’t rather than bash me incessantly for doing what I think is right. Just ask yourself, does this seem like something realistic/reasonable based on what you know about MS and Bungie. And once you admit that it is, please take the time to contact them to let them know how you feel about the changes being considered there.

Yes, this information is from a friend. And I will vouch for my friend. He is in a position to know precisely what’s going on at Bungie and has never once lied to me about this kind of stuff in the past. And yes, I know that makes it sound like I’m making this all up. Thus you can rest assured that should everything go according to plan (it almost never does) everything mentioned below will be a part of Halo 3. I really want Halo fans to here about these changes because this time around, whether the changes being considered below make into the final game will depend largely on fan input regarding whether or not Xbox 2 should include a HDD and whether the additions being considered by Bungie for Halo 3 are popular among fans of the series. So I strongly recommend that fans of the series contact Bungie and MS via either email or through petitions letting them know what they think about this.

And before getting excited about any of the information below, please remember it’s too early for anything to be confirmed or finalized. Some of the changes below may well not make it into the final game. Here’s what my friend has confirmed for certain…

Work on Halo 3 is very much deeply underway though Bungie will wait a little longer before even announcing the game. They want to build the core of the game or atleast get the basic details ironed out before they announce it.

Bungie has received Xbox 2 development kits and it’s employees are continuously receiving updates on the preliminary design of Xbox 2 as well as it’s various accessories and features. The prototype system currently goes by the codename Xenon and is currently based on Apple’s G5 processor and ATI’s r520 generation of graphics cards. But there is a chance the processor might be changed (possibly even to the Intel Centrino) should MS conclude that which we already know, the backward compabilty will be a key factor in whether or not Xbox 2 succeeds and then find that they will need to switch processors to accomidate backward compatibility. Bungie was also sent prototype Xbox 2 controllers to design Halo 3 around. My friend isn’t sure if this is the case for all gaming companies or just a special gift for Bungie. The controllers appear to be more rounded wireless versions of the Controller S that look and operate eerily similar to the Logitech Cordless Controller.

I’ve been told that the concept art for the wireless hubs that plug into the controller ports look sweet though. Unlike the gray rectangular hubs that come with Nintendo’s Wavebird controllers, these hubs will be either silver or black half circles with a green led X similar to the one on the top of the center Xbox 2 concept design below. The led X lights up whenever the controller is used. It appears that the hub for the DVD controller remote will look identical to these controller hubs. Microsoft still hasn’t decided whether Xbox 1 Controllers and the Xbox 1 DVD controller and hub will be usable on Xbox 2.

The prototype Xbox 2 designs being considered all look smaller, much sleeker, and a good bit more rounded with the exception of the very popular design pictured in the link below.

http://www.justplay.nl/media/58/20031118-Xbox%202.jpg

Of the various Xbox 2 concept pictures floating around on the internet, the one above is the only one seriously being considered. And only change made to the concept since the picture above was released is that the X2 symbol below the green X has since been removed in order to center the green X and the bottom half of the Xbox 2 concept has been changed to look similar to the top half pictured above. There is also a circular concept for the Xbox 2 being seriously considered that I’ve been told looks somewhat similar to the PS3 concept pictured in the link below…

http://www.playstation-3-forums.com...rig00000014.jpg
None of the concepts being considered have those horrid looking ridges found on both the Xbox and the Play Station 2. Microsoft is definitely releasing a version of the Xbox 2 an year after the release of the original Xbox 2 that includes both a large HDD and a TV Tuner card allowing people to use their Xbox 2’s along with Xbox Live to add Tivo like functionality to the console. They are also considering adding other PC like functionality to this version of the console including various music and video codecs, internet browsing, instant messaging, and possibly even applications like picture editors, and word processing applications utilizing a wireless keyboard and mouse. But no decision has been made in regards to whether the standard version of the console will include a HDD.

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.

Release Dates

noreply@blogspirit.com () — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 11:30:41 +0100

Right now there is one big question in the Xbox community that has yet to be answered definitively by Microsoft, or any of the Game Publishers for that matter. What is the Xbox 360 release date? Well it should come as no surprise that there are various rumors going around as well. Lucky for us, we have an 'in' with a couple of retailers, unfortunately, the information they are giving us, off the record, in regards to the Xbox 360 release date and Xbox 360 games releases and pricing is inconsistent.

The information listed below comes from an EB Games Corporate SKU list of Xbox 360 titles. We've removed the SKU numbers, but the supposed release dates and pricing is listed. Now, how much weight do we put on this list? Not much, since it can be easily broken into pieces and torn apart by looking at individual game information that we do know to be accurate. However, there are some interesting details, especially if compared to another retailer's list we have access to. I'll spare you all of the details, but after you glance at the following Xbox 360 games, release dates, and prices, be sure to see my additional comments on the matter.

Xbox 360 Games Release Dates (as per EB Games Corp list) [leaked, unofficial]

AMPED 3 Release Date: 11/02/05 Price: 59.99
BURNOUT 4: REVENGE Release Date: 11/02/05 Price: 59.99
CALL OF DUTY 2 Release Date: 11/02/05 Price: 59.99
CONDEMED Release Date: 11/02/05 Price: 59.99
DEAD OR ALIVE 4 Release Date: 11/02/05 Price: 59.99
FINAL FANASY XI Release Date: 11/02/05 Price: 59.99
FULL AUTO Release Date: 11/02/05 Price: 59.99
GHOST RECON 3 Release Date: 11/02/05 Price: 59.99
GODFATHER Release Date: 11/02/05 Price: 59.99
HOOPS 2K6 Release Date: 11/02/05 Price: 59.99
KAMEO ELEMENT Release Date: 11/02/05 Price: 49.99
MADDEN 06 Release Date: 11/02/05 Price: 59.99
NHL 2K6 Release Date: 11/02/05 Price: 59.99
OUTFIT Release Date: 11/02/05 Price: 59.99
PERFECT DARK LE Release Date: 11/02/05 Price: 59.99
PROJECT GOTHAM RACING 3 Release Date: 11/02/05 Price: 59.99
QUAKE 4 Release Date: 11/02/05 Price: 59.99
RIDGE RACER 6 Release Date: 11/02/05 Price: 59.99
SAINTS ROW Release Date: 11/02/05 Price: 59.99
TONY HAWK 'S AMERICAN WASTELAND Release Date: 11/02/05 Price: 59.99
TOO HUMAN Release Date: 11/02/05 Price: 59.99
TOP SPIN 2 Release Date: 11/02/05 Price: 59.99
KING KONG Release Date: 11/16/05 Price: 59.99
NBA LIVE 06 Release Date: 11/16/05 Price: 59.99
NFS MOST WANTED Release Date: 11/16/05 Price: 59.99
TIGER WOOD'S GOLF 06 Release Date: 11/16/05 Price: 59.99
FRAME CITY Release Date: 11/19/05 Price: 59.99
FIFA 2006 Release Date: 12/02/05 Price: 59.99
GEARS OF WAR Release Date: 02/02/06 Price: 59.99
PREY Release Date: 02/02/06 Price: 59.99
HALO 3 Release Date: 07/01/06 Price: 59.99

As stated above, Xbox Solution is not putting any true weight to this list, and we currently deem this as a rumor, but there are some items of interest to be found within this list.

The projected launch date for the Xbox 360 console, according to this same list, is anywhere between November 4th - 8th, but the date has not been confirmed. There is no release date clearly associated with the Xbox 360 itself, only the games. The dates listed for the games are odd in a few different ways. By looking at the list you would assume the release date, or launch date, would be November 2nd, but closer inspection tells a different story.

Take the game The Godfather for example, the above list has it being released on 11/02/05, but publisher Electronic Arts recently stated that the game will not be released until 2006 (and that's for Xbox, the Xbox 360 is to be even later according to this press release). To take it a step farther, the pricing between our two lists is different. While both of the retailers have the majority of games listed at 59.99 a pop, EB has Kameo listed at 49.99, while the 'other' has DOA 4 listed at 39.99. Who to believe? Right now, no one.

It's our belief that the majority of titles above will be released with a starting price of 59.99 per game, but the dates are up in the air. To find out the true release dates and pricing on the console and the games, we'll just have to wait for an official statement from Microsoft, which we don't expect for a few weeks minimum. As soon as there is solid information, we'll have it posted, in the news section, not the rumor section.

Update

noreply@blogspirit.com () — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 21:17:48 +0100

Robbie Bach says that Bill Gates' widely reported comment about Halo 3 launching against PlayStation 3 next spring was a philosophical one rather than a specific pledge.

Speaking in an interview with the IDG News Service this week, the head of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division said, "Halo is something we'll ship when it's ready".

Last May, Bill Gates said in an interview with Time magazine that the second wave of 360 titles would arrive in time to cause Sony problems. "It's perfect," he said. "The day Sony launches, and they walk right into Halo 3."

Bach argues that his boss was using Halo as an example. "Philosophically the point Bill was trying to make is that we’re not just going to ship and not have great stuff coming up," he told IDG.

Bach also commented further on the decision to offer the Xbox 360 hard disk as an optional extra, indicating that it may have been influenced by price sensitivity in parts of Europe.

Speaking ahead of X05, which takes place in Amsterdam today and tomorrow, Bach said of the decision not to include a hard disk as standard: "It's particularly important in Europe where parts of Europe are very price sensitive and the channels where games consoles are sold are predominantly mass merchants which again are very price sensitive... One size doesn't fit all."

Halo 3

noreply@blogspirit.com () — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 14:40:55 +0100

we reported that Universal Studios and 20th Century Fox were both in negotiations with Microsoft to fund and distribute a movie based on the Redmond software company's Halo videogame series.

Negotiations appear to have succeeded, and the two companies will indeed share costs and revenues for the eventual science-fiction actioner. According to Studio Briefing, Universal and Fox will pay Microsoft $5 million plus a percentage of box office receipts to distribute the film, the former handling production and domestic release, and the latter distributing the film internationally.

In spite of the recent increase in game-based movies, film adaptations are increasingly seen as a risk for game companies and their very lucrative game franchises. Halo 2, for example, took in over $125 million in its first day of sales last year. Rather than trusting a Hollywood studio to develop – and possibly ruin – the movie, Microsoft has kept close control of the project, hiring 28 Days scribe Alex Garland to write the Halo screenplay

Microsoft is expected to time the premiere of Halo: The Movielord to coincide with the release of the next videogame in the series, Halo 3.

Expect the Halo movie to come out sometime in 2007.

The Start

noreply@blogspirit.com () — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 14:47:50 +0100

A very sharp MegaGames reader, with a lot of free time on his hands, has pointed us in the direction of an official Microsoft page which gives away some information regarding the future of Halo. Considering the unparalleled sales success of Halo 2, you don't have to be a nuclear scientist to figure out that Microsoft will definitely mine for some more Halo gold.

Details of MS plans for Halo 3 however, have been scarce and many questions remain unanswered. When will development begin on the third game? Will the third installment appear only for XBox 2? The information provided does offer some hints about what we can expect from Halo 3.

Ironically the information regarding Halo 3 comes from MS CEO, Steve Ballmer, discussing how secure and leak proof, Microsoft's Information Rights Management for the Office system is. The comments were made on October 21, 2003 during the MS Office System 2003 launch. In order to demonstrate the security properties of the Office System, Ballmer proceeds to give an example We're working on the next version -- I hate to tell you this confidentially but I'll have to swear you to secrecy now -- we're working on the next version of Xbox right now and we're working on Halo 2 and Halo 3, the two newest versions of the game.

Now, the plan for those things are super, super secret, top secret type stuff. I mean, they really are, in fact, because if you take a look at our competition with Sony it's a big chess game -- who's going to do what. And the team said, 'Look, we want to send out the documents about this, but we really only want them to go to very few people.' They sent those documents and the e-mail around that protected with Information Rights Management. I got the document. I couldn't print it. I was not allowed. They didn't give me permission to print it. I couldn't Print Screen it. They didn't want to give me permission to do that. I couldn't forward it and when I replied to it, it stripped everything out of the original e-mail so that there was not a trace, not a place for leakage in the system.

What the above comments tell us, bearing in mind they were made over a year ago, is that Halo 3 is already over a year in its development and was, in fact, being developed almost in parallel to Halo 2. The mention of the next XBox and the timing on Halo 3's development suggest that the game will most likely be a launch partner for XBox Next, just like its granddaddy was for XBox

All these are things we could, more or less, guess I hear you say. True but it's always nice to hear it from official lips, they don't come any more official than Steve Ballmer, but it is also interesting to find out that MS was developing Halo 2 and 3 in parallel. The other re-assuring aspect is that Microsoft may have finally created a full-proof Information Rights Management system which however, is not fool-proof.