Death by intelligence.
Prophets
The religious and political leaders of the Covenant, Prophets are an elite class of bureaucrats. The theology that they apply to the Covenant species is based on the belief that firing the Halo array will herald, and indeed instigate a "Great Journey" which they appear to believe will result in some kind of sublimation event.
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Prophet Silhouette
Prophet of Truth
The deluded, possibly insane leader of the entire Covenant civilization, this pontiff is leading his followers down a suicidal path.
The Prophet of Truth intends to activate the Halo array at any cost, and is happy to sacrifice his culture to do so. The Prophet fully believes that he can follow the Forerunners to their mysterious final destination and share their ancient and unlimited power. The Prophet also knows that the secret to this power may lie in the ancient sands of Earth.
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Humans
Currently structured under the UNSC (a military command government), Humans find themselves damaged after years of fighting against the Covenant. Primarily a peaceful, exploratory species, Humans have attempted several diplomatic outreaches in this conflict, all ignored. Human occupied worlds have been destroyed and the current population has dwindled to almost nothing. Earth is currently being occupied by a Covenant archaeological/military force.
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Sgt Johnson
The battle-hardened Sergeant is the longtime cohort of the Master Chief. No other human knows the Master Chief as well as this capable and brilliant marine. Johnson is that most singular of soldiers; a professional who's never more at home than in the thick of battle, and a loyal fearless warrior who will do anything for his men, and his homeworld.
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Cortana
Cortana is the highly advanced AI (UNSC's most sophisticated) at the heart of the Pillar of Autumn spacecraft. Her design allows her to be uploaded into an appropriately configured battle suit, or to represent herself in holographic form.
After helping destroy the first Halo by piggybacking on the Master Chief's armor, she formed a closer bond with him - but that bond was wrenched apart by events on Delta Halo. Her last known location was aboard the Flood-infested Covenant capital ship, High Charity, in the thrall of the Flood hive intelligence - the Gravemind.
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Cortana Silhouette
Master Chief
Master Chief (real name John-117) is the last of the Spartan II warriors - an elite group of genetically superior, highly trained super-soldiers.
Spartan 117 is expert in all weapon and combat systems. He can run faster, jump higher and hit harder than any normal human. He is the perfect weapon, honed by years of battlefield experience and possessing a natural talent for war, unmatched by anyone left alive. He is our last and best hope.
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Bungie Launching Pre-Beta Halo 3 Media Salvo
Kotaku says they've received word of a big Halo 3 media event on May 11, just prior to the start of the public beta on May 16.
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Brutes Can Smell Through Rock
Wired blogger Chris "GeekDad" Anderson recounts what little of his recent Bungie Studios visit that his NDA will allow. What he can say is that he recorded about thirty lines of Marine dialogue for a character that apparently becomes Flood infected. The process apparently involves "screaming like a girl".
He's put up all the lines he was asked to read in his blog, so head over and check them out.
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Halo 4 Rumors... Already?
Only a year ago, Bungie finally admitted they were, in fact, working on Halo 3, and had been for over a year.
Now, with the release of that game still, in all likelihood, more than half a year away, rumors of sequels, "true sequels", expansion packs and secret features are circulating through the labyrinthine tubes of the Internet.
PlayThree is citing unconfirmed, unidentified "sources close to Bungie" that state the following:
RUMOR: Halo 3 will run at 1080p, 60fps. MS apparently wants this to one-up ths PS3's claim to being the only "true 1080p" console. Bungie is supposedly testing this internally now.
UPDATE: Frankie, aka Stinkles, has smacked this report down hard in the NeoGAF forum. His response? BS. Confidently written BS, but still BS. Thanks KP at HBO for the notice.
REACTION: One can see why Microsoft would want this, but the record for past Halo games is that they will lock at 30fps and walk the line where textures and effects are more important than resolution or high framerates. That the rumor specifies that the Beta won't be 1080p is just a hedge, meaning this rumor gets to survive past that point, whereas otherwise people might assume that if the beta isn't 1080p, the game won't be. After all, Halo 3 has had a lot of work done to it so far: geometry, textures, effects. If it wasn't all done with 1080p in mind from the start, can this be changed so late in the process? And if so, why doesn't it apply to the beta?
RUMOR: Bungie is striving to make Halo 3 compatible with Xbox 360 Cores, but may have to drop to 30fps in some cases.
REACTION: That makes little sense. A hard drive is of use for caching content, reducing load times. How it affects framerate is difficult to see. Why Microsoft would want to make part of their installed base feel like they are getting a crippled version of a flagship title just for the "1080p 60fps" on the back of the box is beyond me. People who want Halo 3 will buy it regardless of those numbers.
RUMOR: Halo 4 will be a launch title for the next next-generation Xbox in 2011.
REACTION: Doesn't Bungie want to do something else for a change? Isn't the whole idea in letting Ensemble and Wingnut work in the Halo universe to give Bungie a break, so they can move on from Halo?
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Halo 3 Public Beta VIDOC, Annotated
Louis Wu at HBO has put up an extensive roundup of analyses, commentaries and transcripts on yesterday's Bungie VIDOC. To complement them, I've put together an annotated gallery of screenshots from the VIDOC, pointing out major features.
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Melee Lunge: Kill
Helped by the melee lunge, the kill is complete. The lunge is most significant when using the sword. No sword attacks are shown in this VIDOC.
Melee Lunge: After
... and this very next frame shows the player after the lunge, having covered a significant amount of territory between him and his (as yet) unseen prey.