Bungie.net has an interview with Bungie's new programming intern, Jon Cable, who cut his teeth by replacing the Pfhor in Marathon with images of Barney. We love you, Jon. Do you love us?
Tuncer Deniz at Inside Mac Games has put up Part 1 of a series on his experiences at Bungie. Above all, he talks about how Bungie was always trying to do things differently:
Bronzite created a 4-page PDF document speculating on the positions of the various Halo installations and how the system might be laid out. Very slick, very professional, and certainly worth a download and a read. Bronzite says:
The London Free Press (of Canada, not Great Britain) is running a piece on Halo 3's announcement at E3 this year. They got to talk to several Bungie staffers about the trailer and the game.
CJ Cowan's quote specifically references the question about whether or not this is the last Halo game:
This is the final game in the Master Chief's story, this is the end of our trilogy.
That still doesn't quite answer the question, though.
Marcus Lehto waxed poetic on what the trailer shows and what this presages for the experience of playing Halo 3:
I wanted to make sure that we reintroduced the Chief, show that Earth is thoroughly conquered with Covenant everywhere, and that there is a glorious, ancient artifact buried under the Earth's crust, which will provide H3 with the epic journey -- which we all want.
Those who missed the feeling of times of dark desperation introduced in Halo 2's announcement trailer, but largely missing from Halo 2, should not despair, says Cowan:
If you look closely, this has a little bit of a darker feel to it, a little bit moodier. There's some tension going on and there's some consequences for our characters that are involved in the storyline.
According to the article, only ten percent of Bungie's 75-person Halo team worked on the trailer, although the soundtrack required a 60-piece orchestra and a 24-person choir.
From the second sequence of distorted Cortana images, as she voices "I am your shield, I am your sword."
The image of an arid African plain comes into view. Dust blows from left to right, and a public works sign with a picture of a grunt on it, very likely the "easter egg" referred to by Frankie in Bungie's FAQ, twists in the wind.
Below is a detailed description of the images, dialogue, soundtrack and events of the Halo 3 Announcement Trailer, shown first at E3 in May 2006.
00:00 Black screen.
00:01 White screen. A piano chord is struck that slowly fades.
00:05 From right to left, a scene "washes in" of an arid African plain. We hear wind and the sound of slowly beating bass drums.
This Banshee roars over the head of the Master Chief in the Halo 3 Announcement Trailer, flying towards the mysterious buried artifact in the distance. But who is flying it? The cavity the pilot would normally appear in seems to be empty.
A delibrate omission by Bungie, to avoid revealing the species of Covenant currently invading? Or just a clever strategy to minimize the amount of artistic effort needed to create the trailer, thus ensuring the least impact on real development work?
[image:10173 left hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0] This week's Bungie Weekly Update becomes the first Halo 3 Weekly Update as Frankie answers fan questions about the Halo 3 Announcement Trailer unveiled earlier this week at E3 2006.
As the updates have now returned to their original purpose as a development diary, we've opened up a Halo 3 Weekly Updates subpage on our Halo 3 Articles page, and archived the first Halo 3 Weekly Update there.
Hey guys, a Q&A about the trailer which answers a lot of the questions we can freely address.
[image:10167 left hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0] IGN's Halo 3 Announcement Trailer gallery had four images in it not published by Bungie. We've now added them to the gallery here. We've now subdivided the Halo 3 Images page into separate galleries: one for storyboards, and one for screen captures from the trailer itself. As other images are released we'll create separate galleries for them.
The weather is stormy over the mysterious buried artifact, as lightning strikes in the distance and a mysterious funnel cloud swirls directly overhead. Some have speculated this is the result of Covenant technology at work that uncovered the artifact.
The sun glints off his armor as the Master Chief strikes a pose. He thinks this is his best side.
Anyone who thought that after Halo 2, things couldn't possibly get any shinier, was obviously wrong.
The glare of the sun nearly obscures the Master Chief as he stands near the cliff edge and a Covenant ship-- presumably a cruiser although possibly an assault carrier-- passes overhead and towards the mysterious buried artifact.
