I'm Seeing Spots
More of what appear to be placeholder particle effects associated with grenade explosions. In the background, you can see a blue spartan charging the spartan laser, indicated by the bright red spot.
More of what appear to be placeholder particle effects associated with grenade explosions. In the background, you can see a blue spartan charging the spartan laser, indicated by the bright red spot.
Here we see a spartan preparing to jump off an object that is speculated to be something akin to a portable mancannon; an air lift similar to those found in Halo 2's multiplayer levels Warlock and Foundation, but in a piece of equipment that can be carried and deployed by a player.
Such equipment would appear to be one of Halo 3's major changes, compared to the previous games. At least two pieces of equipment are shown in the video and specifically referred to: the bubble shield (as seen in the "Starry Sky" CGTV ad from late 2006) and the tripmine, shown later in the VIDOC.
Frankie's post in the NeoGAF forum indicates there are an unspecified number of additional pieces of equipment; the air lift shown here may be one of them.
Interface designer David "Evil Otto" Candland, shown with what appears to be Halo 3's medals. Some are familiar (assassination, beatdown, sticky, snipe, doublekill) but some appear to be new.
Bungie's Frankie was very clear that this VIDOC contains graphics that are from the Halo 3 alpha-- they're not what the public beta will look like, and they're not what the released game will look like. Some of the simplified particle effects, such as this grenade explosion and others seen throughout the video, seem to support this.
Secondary weapons are now visible, slung on the back of the Spartan model. This one, armed with an assault rifle and carrying a brute shot as a backup, looks like he's wearing a sombrero.
Tyson "Ferrex" Green, Multiplayer Design Lead, in his trademark "fishin' bob" hat and sporting a trust-evoking t-shirt. We do, rex... we do.
Early in the documentary, two blue spartans concentrate AR fire on a red opponent similarly armed.
Of course, you didn't think Bungie would just shovel the Multiplayer Public Beta date at you on a post-it note and call it done? No, of course not. So while Bungie.net now has a story that leads with this ultra-salient fact:
The Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta will go live on May 16th at 12:00 AM PDT and run through June 6 th at 11:59 PM PDT.
The goodness does not stop there. We now know the beta will contain the maps Valhalla, High Ground, and Snowbound, spruced up since we last saw them. The beta plays matchmaking only-- apparently that means no LAN play and no split-screen without Live.
But wait, that's not all! The latest Video Documentary, or VIDOC in Bungiese, reveals not only the story behind the making of Halo 3's multiplayer, but the mysterious function of the X button, speculated about these many months. (There's an age verification page before the actual video links in the story, so don't right click to save where it suggests you should; wait until you pass the age verification and get the "view content" link.)
Thanks Frankie for the heads-up in #hbo.
Is it really necessary to use Halo 2 maps to try and pressure more gamers onto the new platform? Is Halo 3 really so far away that you can't wait for that to draw gamers to the 360? Is two years really too long to support an online game?
If you want us to believe that original console owners really don't count, show us the numbers!
GhaleonB, via Louis Wu at HBO, points out that Microsoft has put out a nice press release (even attributed and with a dateline, thanks guys) touting the six million user milestone reached by Xbox Live.
Now, don't get me wrong. I love Xbox Live. While not an ardent online gamer, the service as a whole is well put togther and thought out: the integrated friends list and messaging, content downloads, gamerscore achievements; the works. The idea of separate friends lists for each game (Sony) and cryptic friend codes (Nintendo) really make me wonder what anybody else is thinking as far as online console gaming goes.
However, just because I've been a subscriber since Halo 2 launched doesn't mean I'm ready to drink whatever kool aid Microsoft is going to serve up regarding the service; and this press release is at least as interesting for what it doesn't say as for what it does say and the way it says it.
Ahh, the luxury of being an independent developer and publisher. The luxury to redesign every level in your game at the last minute, while you tell fans you're just "printing boxes" because you wanted to make the game... well, fun, instead of just done.
Those days are over for Bungie Studios, and have been since their 2000 buyout by Microsoft. The company that doesn't give release dates has become the one that has them dictated to them.
Game Informer gave Bungie ten questions and Bungie's own Brian "SketchFactor" Jarrard gave ten answers. A quick summary: "delta", "stay tuned", and "what demo?". For the questions, see the interview.
This is a transcription of Thomas Barth's remix of Fat Man, a Marathon track. The remixed version is part of the new soundtrack for the AlephOne version of Marathon, named Fat Man2. It is almost impossible to play both hands together, but if you can just learn the right hand by itself it still sounds cool.
This is the OLD sheet music database.
Please go to the new Sheet Music page or check the Halo, Myth and Marathon subsections.
Transcription of "Ghosts of Reach" from the Halo 2 soundtrack.