Frequently Asked Questions

Bungie.net's About Halo 3 page says this:

Halo 3 is the third game in the Halo Trilogy and will provide the thrilling conclusion to the events begun in Halo: Combat Evolved. Halo 3 was first revealed at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles on May 6th, 2006. Halo 3 will be available for Xbox 360 in 2007.

Halo 3 will pick up where Halo 2 left off. The Master Chief is returning to Earth to finish the fight. The Covenant occupation of Earth has uncovered a massive and ancient object beneath the African sands - an object who's secrets have yet to be revealed. Earth's forces are battered and beaten.

The Master Chief's AI companion Cortana is still trapped in the clutches of the Gravemind - a horrifying Flood intelligence, and a civil war is raging in the heart of the Covenant. This is how the world ends...

UPDATE: The below was written early in 2007. In mid-2007, Bungie announced the official release date of Halo 3 as September 25, 2007 for the Americas.

All Bungie has said so far is "2007". Speculation is already beginning that this is a conservative estimate and that Halo 3 will ship this winter. This is most likely naught but wishful thinking.

If Halo 3 were to ship in November of 2007, that would mean that Halo 2 and Halo 3 both nominally took three years. Given that this is two years or so into the life cycle of the Xbox 360, one imagines that Microsoft would not want the console's "killer app" to ship much later than this, so I think this is a very conservative guess.

If one takes Bungie's announcement at face value, one may assume that the "2007" date means that Bungie does not expect or intend to launch by the holiday 2006 season. Once the pressure to do that is off, there would seem to be little reason not to take a little extra time for polish; so it seems reasonable to assume that a launch as early as Q1 of 2007 (January through March) would make little sense.

A broad window between April and November of 2007 thus seems most likely.

If Bungie is able to avoid a change in creative direction in mid-project, perhaps the release date would be early in that window.

However, for the second consecutive sequel Bungie is not merely developing new content, but also new technology. Halo 2 was almost completely rewritten, as well as adding new middleware for physics with the Havok engine. Given that the Xbox 360 uses a different, multicore CPU and a GPU from a different vendor, and Microsoft is pushing for 720p as a minimum resolution, it seems logical to assume that Halo 3's graphics engine will probably contain relatively little legacy code from Halo 2.

How much pressure is put on Bungie to launch early in 2007 as opposed to late may very well depend on how well Sony's PlayStation 3 console performs after its launch late in 2006. If the console struggles, has availability problems similar to the Xbox 360's because of manufacturing issues or Sony's unfamiliarity with a global launch, then Bungie may be free to wait.

If Sony's global launch comes off more smoothly than Microsoft's; if there are no manufacturing issues that restrict availability; if sales are brisk and by early 2006 Sony is threatening to overtake Microsoft in next-generation console sales, then it seems likely that Bungie will be pressured to release Halo 3 sooner rather than later.

Source: Bungie Halo 3 trailer FAQ

UPDATE: The below was written early in 2007. By mid-summer 2007, most of Halo 3's feature list was known; to date there is no mention of other Spartans, and the four-player cooperative feature uses the Chief, the Arbiter, and two Elite warriors as characters.

This is a perennial favorite question ever since the Halo backstory in Fall of Reach revealed that other Spartans did, in fact, survive.

Bungie so far has not announced anything specific regards to plot or gameplay features.

However, if you ask me, there are good reasons why so far Bungie has not included other Spartans in gameplay, and they still hold true. I seriously doubt this will be in Halo 3.

The Master Chief, as a Spartan, is somewhat of a super warrior-- more than a match for the best the Covenant have to offer. This is not because of his equipment or weapons, but because of his training and the intelligence brought to his avatar by the player.

For Halo 3's artificial intelligence routines to believably simulate another Spartan in the game would most likely be exceedingly difficult to balance. Either the Spartan character would be considered too weak to be a match for the Chief in ability, or else it would be too strong, and make the campaign mode too easy.

Sure looks like it, doesn't it? Many say that the dimensions are slightly different, though, in a way that suggests some kind of hybrid between Halo 1's assault rifle and Halo 2's battle rifle.

Bungie also says the rifle in the announcement trailer is not identical to the MA-5B.

Source: Halo Weekly Update 05132006

UPDATE: Since this answer was first written, more was revealed about this weapon, specifically in the December 2006 issue of EGM. The new assault rifle, which will be considered a default spawn weapon, will not be dual-wieldable, will not do headshots, and will carry more ammo than Halo 2's battle rifle, but less than Halo 1's assault rifle. It is intended to be a good, general purpose weapon for medium range.

This rifle features prominently in the CG television ad that aired in December 2006, as well as the only hires campaign screenshot released to date; however, we have yet to see the weapon fired.

Something is clearly happening to Cortana. Bungie has explicitly referenced that she is Gravemind's captive. It seems that some of Cortana's dialogue in the Announcement Trailer is accompanied by Gravemind's voice saying the same words.

However, Rampancy, as defined in the Marathon universe, is a kind of uncontrolled expansion an AI undergoes. Durandal's rampancy in the Marathon series led to megalomania. The closest comparable concept discussed in canon Halo universe material is the 7-year lifespan of so-called "smart" AIs, after which they begin to think themselves to death, a consequence and process much different from Rampancy.

Rampancy is never referred to by name in any canon Halo universe materials. It is mentioned once in the I Love Bees radio drama, but not in reference to Cortana.

It seems more likely to me that Cortana is being influenced by Gravemind in some way. It may be that the two will solve their respective existential problems; Cortana's lifespan will be coming to an end soon, no doubt hastened by the absorption of a huge amount of data from Forerunner and Covenant systems. On the other hand, the parasitic nature of the Flood and Gravemind clearly places them at odds with.. well, the whole rest of the universe.

If Gravemind were able to fulfill what seems to be his purpose or function-- the preservation of the memories and possibly even personalities of dead individuals-- within the confines of an artificial intelligence, rather than through organic hosts, and Cortana were to be given access to an organic host for her intelligence... who knows?

It's most likely way too early to answer this, although presumably Bungie is well aware of the concerns of fans regarding both methods.

UPDATE: With a public beta test scheduled for spring 2007, it's likely many fans of the game will have a chance to test what spawn methods Bungie has implemented and to offer their opinion.

Bungie hasn't said so but it certainly seems likely that they would stick with the Easy, Normal, Heroic and Legendary modes from Halo 1 and Halo 2.

UPDATE: Whether Halo 3 will have any difficulty-modifying skulls, such as the Mythic and Thunderstorm skulls in Halo 2, is unknown. Although most skulls have some effect on difficulty, those two in particular do so, as Thunderstorm changes all enemies to specops, and some players refer to "Mythic" as a separate difficulty level, even though it is not accessible from the menu as such.

According to Bungie's director of cinematics, CJ Cowan, texture pop "has already gone bye-bye" in Halo 3.

Source: Halo Weekly Update 05132006

Early screenshots of Halo 3 multiplayer action, such as the attached, have shown vehicle boarding. While all features are subject to change prior to release, it's probably a good bet Halo 3 will still have this popular feature.

Bungie's public comments about Halo 3's weapons so far do not provide a complete answer to this. Their weapon balance philosophy, though, can be seen in their comments about the revised assault rifle, a weapon created to be a default spawn gun with medium range, decent accuracy, not capable of headshots, and not dual-wieldable. Its ammunition capacity will be somewhere between the copious amounts the original assault rifle held, and the relatively meager capacity of the battle rifle.

Preliminary media, such as screenshots released on Bungie.net and in major magazines such as EGM, as well as the "Et Tu, Brute?" video documentary released on XBL and Bungie.net, have shown several new weapons.

Spartan Laser An anti-vehicle weapon of high power and long distance, but with long recharge time and limited ammunition.

Spiker (or Spike Rifle) Apparently the default weapon for Brutes, something along the lines of the Elites' standard plasma rifle or the marines' SMG. Very likely a replacement for the red Brute plasma rifle.

Spike Grenade A grenade that sticks to all surfaces and deals damage only with a specific cone around the grenade, rather than in all directions.

Plasma Cannon The Brute vidoc shows a high-ranking Brute wielding a plasma weapon that looks like a turret with its base removed.

Hammer Brutes in the documentary are also shown wielding a melee hammer that looks similar, although not identical, to Tartarus' special hammer, the Fist of Rukt.

As a side note, some animation sequences in the Brute documentary show Elites dual-wielding swords, something that was not possible in Halo 2 without hacks.

The word so far seems to be that the Arbiter will accompany the Chief on certain missions; as such, it may be assumed that he is invulnerable, or else he may disappear from the game before completion.

Other NPCs that accompany the player through the game will not be invincible.

No answer yet.