Thread: Halo 3!

Im a big fan of the Halo series, and Bungie has recently given exlusive details to different magazines. EGM managed to get us some great pics for us to enjoy. Before I give those however, we were also given MANY details on Halo 3 including:


They will release 3 versions of the game.

-Regular
(Game)
-Collectors
(Game and Commentaries)
-Legendary
-The Game
-Commentaries
-Fan made spinoffs such as Red vs Blue and This Spartan Life
-All Cinematics from Halo Combat Evolved, Halo 2, and Halo 3 collected together on one disc in full HD!
-A bonus, to scale Helmet

Some other info we got on Halo 3 is info on new weapons, vehicles and levels. There are 2 new confirmed weapons. The "Spiker" labled as the Brute's weapon of choice. A dual weildable weapon as shown by the magazine. There is also the "Spartan Laser," a large anti-vehicle weapon. We also got info on a new grenade type. This grenade, unlike the plasma, sticks to any surface. It fires out multiple spiked projectiles when it detonates. Players can actually use a "blind spot" of this grenade to avoid damage. Players will however only be able to carry 2 of each type of grenade now. Finnally, news on our beloved needler, it is no longer dual wieldable. Not much has been released on that subject, but Bungie says it will be more balanced and powerful.

We also heard of somethihng called the "Man-Cannon." Few details have been released, and hopefully the name will change. But this is commonly believed to be a powerful version of those air pads in maps such as Foundation or Collosus in Halo 2. Anything can be used in these, including grenades and vehicles.

Two new vehicles are making an appearance as well. Well, technically one's not new... Enter, the Mongoose. Thats right, the ATV is making its debut in Halo 3. It will be 2 seated, and weaponless. From what it appears though, the rider on the back may use his normal weaponry. The other is a new Ghost; The Brute Ghost. Again, not much released. But the Brute ghost is described as Bulkier looking than its normal counterpart.

We've also been given the ability to record gameplay footage! Campaign, Matchmaking, Customs... Record away! If your playing like a God, you can be sure to record it for bragging rights to your friends. You can share the video by starting up a party, getting your friends in and then playing the stored footage. It will appear on everyone's screen, and the host can control the video with Pause, Play, Stop, Fastforward, Rewind, ect. It wont be just your view either! Individually, people watching it can watch First Person, Third Person or from a Fly-It-Yourself Birds Eye View.

There are many new custom game features as well. Customization is on a new level this time around. No longer does gamerules have to affect a general area. Now you can set abilities individually for each player or team! It can even be specific to whos winning or losing. Certain things such as lower gravity, preventing certain people from picking up certain weapons, and even setting people on fire!! Exciting no?

Live has gotten some nice enhancements too. We can now vote. This probably includes booting players, but for now we told that we can use it to overrule the host! For example, the host is being an pain, or setting a game no one wants to play. Maybe the host has left and told no one? Vote against him and usurp his throne!

We can advertise our custom games to the public now! Think of this as an optimatch. Let your custom game be known, people join, its like custom matchmaking!

Ranks: Now we'll have actual "military" ranks in Halo 3. These will be seperate from matchmaking ranks and will include overall stats, ranked, unranked, and even customs.

A nice bit of information is that three levels have been confirmed:

Snowbound, a new map in Halo 3, will tote sentry guns along it's borders to fire upon any players trying to leave the arena and transparent doors that serve as recovery bays for the cat-and-mouse type players.
Valhalla is very similar to Blood Gultch, perfect for large team matches. Each base in Valhalla includes two Man Cannons, one for Spartans and the other for vehicles.
High Ground is Bungie's next Zanzibar with a central base that serves as the point of action. The only magic here seems to be destructible bay doors and an underground sewer pipe system.
Sounds interesting!

Finnally, Bungie is adding some Female voice talent to our lovely spartans. Players (preferably those who are actually female), will be able to hit an option to use a "Female Spartan." This spartan will look and act the exact same. The only difference is in multiplayer it'll have girly screams. This however is not a sure thing yet.

Bungie recently promised us some big news, and we got it! On Halo Day, the 5th aniversary of the birth of Halo(November 15th), Bungie gave us some great news. First, on December 4th, during Monday Night Football, the first Halo 3 ad will hit television worldwide. It however, against Bungie's normal beliefs, will be in CG (Computer Generated: Aka Pre-Rendered. No Gameplay). We also got told that come Spring 2007, we'll be getting a public multiplayer Beta of Halo 3! What will be included in this beta is yet to be determined, but players will be able to demo Halo 3's multiplayer before it releases.

Finnally, Bungie gave us our first official Halo 3 screenshot! Yay!. Though nothing has been said, to me that screen looks as if it is using the Halo 2 Placeholder graphics. As Bungie has stated, Halo 3's graphics arent entirely ready yet, so placeholders from Halo 2 will be being used. However, that is still a sexy screen!

Time for those screens! Be aware though that due to Halo 3 only being in the Alpha stage, some of the graphics we see here, such as Master Cheif, are only placeholders from Halo 2. These are not the final graphics

=(PS: quite big )