Halo 3 script surfaces along with multiplayer details

by James Ransom-Wiley { Oct 4th 2005 at 12:30PM }

Master Chief An alleged 118-page draft for a Halo 3 script has surfaced on the web that is credited to Bungie's Joseph Staten and dated: 12/05/2004. Either someone's got a lot of time on his hands or Bungie's got a mole. The document in question appears to have been written by someone with script-writing experience, but since we don't have anything else written by Staten on-hand, we can't compare the use of language. Not to mention, we're not exactly thrilled with the idea of (possibly) spoiling the game's plot by studying the document's legitimacy. Anyone wanna take on this responsibility?

The script is posted on the Riches Will Rust forum. You'll need to register with RWR to view the PDF, but you can read the other details of the post without registering—reading this information will not spoil the plot. In short, the post suggests that the game will come on two separate discs; one for the campaign, and the other for multiplayer.

It�s unclear where the details about the multiplayer component of Halo 3 come from�a quick browse through the �script� didn�t turn up anything. At any rate, the post alleges that the multiplayer will be divided into three different �classes.� Blood Scuffle will feature all of the Halo multiplayer modes we�ve grown to love (or hate). Alliance offers individual or team-based offensive and defensive scenarios. And finally, Iron Fisticuff focuses on scenarios that involve vehicular combat and features maps that �will be larger than the total real estate covered in Halo 2�s multiplayer experience.�

Without a definitive confirmation, we�re going to have to consider this information a hoax. But whoever is responsible for this Halo 3 script and the other details has certainly put a lot of time and energy into creating something that is believable. If this is indeed a hoax then, at the very least, it speaks to the undeniable influence that the Halo franchise has had on a significant portion of the gaming public. We�ll keep you posted.

[via game-hawg]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

JW @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Bloody hell. That's a long script. I hope it aint real, cause it would suck to have the story out when the game isn't even announced yet.

NovusVir @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

HOLY CRAP! So frickin sweet!

Spaz @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

There is a very easy way to determine authenticity... Check to see if it has an ending =o)

game-hawg @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

i'm not looking at the ending ;)

Midas @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

My money says this is real. Cool fucking find. Thanks.

Lite @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

anyone email me the pdf? not reg'ing for that site

mikehill33

@

gmail

word.

Lite @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

thanks for the pdf.

pretty good stuff!

startled @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

I know it was one of their jokes, but Bungie would NOT put an actual level called "A Pimp at Sea" into their game. Hoax.

Kevin Nayer @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

^^^^^^
yes they would. they worked on that game for some time while halo 2 was in development.

Louis Wu @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

An email to Bungie got back confirmation that this is a fake. (It was pretty clear before the email - Joe is a better writer than that - but it's always nice to have confirmation.)

mordecai @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

that multi-player information sounds pretty cool but it's very likely to be heavily altered considering how many times bungie has altered the halo 2 multiplayer gameplay since it came out

booger @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

I'm a big Halo fanboy, so I actually read all 119 pages. I dont beleive this is from Bungie, and if it was it will now be changed anyway. It's still a pretty good read though. It brings in the Forerunners, Flood, Covenant, and everything else. One of the things that seemed at odds to me are some of the chapter titles. These have been funny in the first two Halo games but I dont think "Big Ass Sandbox", "A Pimp at Sea", and "Its raining Brutes, Hallelujah" are what we would see in Halo 3.

Joe @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

in reply to number 7..
but they did make a level call
"I would have been your daddy"

mboland @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

I'd like the PDF as well. Thanks in advance:

mike_boland
@
hotmail.com

Brendan @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Straight from Bungie.net!

http://www.bungie.net/News/TopStory.aspx?story=biggorilla&p=4955829

~~~
The Great Hollywood Journey, Part II
No sense beating around the bush. I would only say that if you�re not already sitting down, you absolutely should.

A few weeks ago we were lucky enough to partner with two tremendous Producers from Universal, Mary Parent and Scott Stuber. In the short time they�ve been on board, Mary and Scott have joined with Peter Schlessel to accomplish unimaginably wonderful things. Example? They�ve secured an Executive Producer to help guarantee the creative integrity and technical excellence of the Halo film.

And that Executive Producer�s name is Peter Jackson.

I�ll give you a second to process. If you�re having a strong, emotional reaction, don�t panic. When I heard the news it took me the better part of a day just to stop smiling.

Yes. The Peter Jackson, Executive Producing the Halo film.

Needless to say I and the rest of Bungie are positively incontinent (Marty especially). But what really knocks us on our asses is we�re also getting the combined talent of the mighty men and women of WETA in the bargain. From fabricating Covenant weapons to building life-sized Forerunner structures to accomplishing shot after shot of complex live-action/CG integration � simply put, there�s no group of people we�d rather have realize the Halo universe on screen.

Indeed, I don�t think there�s another group that even could.

Mary and Scott know Peter Jackson and his partner Fran Walsh because of their work on King Kong (which Universal is distributing), so I asked them for their personal take on this development:

"First, let me just say how honored and excited Scott and I are to be involved in this project. As huge fans of the game ourselves we know how high the bar is. We've made it our mission to try and involve the absolute very best people one can imagine in every capacity. Having developed a great relationship with Peter and Fran through the extraordinary Kong experience, and seeing first hand just how unique a filmmaking environment they have crafted, we approached them about the possibility of coming aboard to Exec Produce. Not surprisingly, they were already avid fans of the game, and given our existing shorthand, they said yes! To be able to continue our relationship with them � on HALO of all projects � is really a dream come true for us in the biggest possible way.�

I daresay me too. And did I mention that Mary and Scott are awesome?

Not surprisingly I�ve begun apartment hunting in Wellington � though Chris Butcher says I can bunk with his grandmother in Christchurch so long I don�t mind a bit of a commute�

I�m only half joking. Parsons and I are hopping on a plane to New Zealand next week to meet Mr. Jackson and his team, and I imagine it won�t be the last time we make the trip.

If I didn�t make this clear in my previous update, Bungie�s in this for the long haul � 100% dedicated to making the Halo movie the best it can be. Now we have help. Ten thousand pound gorilla help. And that�s just about the best kind there is.

Hushed Casket @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

All Bungie fans know that they have been producing a "Pimps at Sea" game for several years now.

Osiris @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Hm... this is too real.
It has to be real.

Story sounds pretty good so far. Im not saying anything for those of you who wouldnt want to spoil it incase it was real.
I like the way they are taking it but there is also another big thing im not pleased with.
Oh well, i suppose its hard not to keep em in..

Max S @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

IRT #15
Pimps at Sea was an April Fools joke. ALL Bungie fans know that.

Osiris @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Oh and the site doesnt need activation from your email, so you can put in a fake email to sign up.

Kevin Nayer @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

if claude errera (SP?) says its not real, its almost definately not.

game-hawg @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Thanks for the official word Louis!

EdZ @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Even if this just happens to be real, then Bungie will probably make changes to the storyline, so even if this is the storyline for the game in development, it won't be the final storyline eitherway.

WebPimp @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

#6 You can download it from here if you want:

www.joystickwidow.com/media/movies/bungie/halo3/halo3_script.pdf

HavocArucard @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

It's a fake. Read the news entry at halo.bungie.org.

Joe @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

if it is a fake someone spent a good deal of time crafting it. It looked like an actual good story and worth reading if someone were to expand it into a novel.

$p@rT@N @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

It's obviously fake. It doesn't fit at all into the brilliance of bungie. Besides, bungie already announced that it wasn't real.

JW @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Ah well, too bad its fake cause the multiplayer sounded absolutely kick arse.

:jaw: on the Peter Jackson thing... First good game-movie conversion?

Mojo @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Does Tron count as a game-movie conversion? It's essentially snakes, right?

abhinav @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Ok i read it and here is the run down:
I dont realy know if its real... it has its ups and down

It does look like its in proper form and it does use halo termonology like spooks, but it has some terrible dialog here and their.

Like this:
Master cheif:
"In a few minutes you'll be real impressed with my 'prophet-ass-kicking abilities" page 62
God just terrible, but thats not too say that the rest of the dialog seems bad, its just not that great.

Also if anyone remebers that april fools joke that bungie made that their next game would be pimps of the sea, well this script claims that the name of one of the levels is called "pimp the sea" funny reference but realy odd.

More info *SPOILES (?!) *
You get to drive a scarab
You become the Arbiter again
Arbiter Finds his son
Arbiter and elites work together with marines keys and johnson
You find out that Cortana is working with gravemind
New Flood form, very rare
Earth is a Halo
Halo's have been actiavted a few times
The Ark in is antarctica
Their are battles in space
Prophet of Mercy is still alive
New covenant species Drinol
Their is some new giant brute general
guilty spark is back

Cortana does turn evil but gravemind screws her over. It seems that she did survive at the end...

A new thin halo is ripped out of the earth

cephaus is the forerunner who activated the Halo's the last time. He named the oracles (like 343 guilty spark)

Prophet of truth is killed by the forerunners

Arbiters son dies at the hands of the new brute cheif tan

Gavemind gets on to "earth" and attacks the forerunners

Cortana is working with gravemind, she want acess to the Halo records because as we all know, Cortana is a smart AI and in 7 years she dies (also when she copied herself on the covenant ship she corrupted her files) but in the records of the Halo's, their is some way for her to survive. Gravemind promises her acess if she can help him. Cortana kills Both sameful anomaly and guilty spark. Cortana brought Gravemind to earth

Captin Keys was the first body in Gravemind, but the mind of Gravemind was around for thousands of years. The Arbiter found Gravemind on Halo and then took it on his ship, their it found its way back to the other halo. Their it met master cheif and the Arbiter again

Cortana goes somwwhat crazy, she activates a nuke on the few halo while the arbiter, gavemind, and master cheif are all on it and the new halo seems to be going to hell.

The new Halo falls apart because of the nuke and you are forced to fight Gravemind in space, MC vs Gravemind. The Arbiter comes and kills Gravemind by shoving a grenade into him but the Arbiter then falls into Earths atmosphere

At the end, Arbiter is at the bottom of the ocean and it seems that he gets attacked by Cortana (??not sure about this though??)

Ok i have read the whole thing so ask me questions if you have any.

abhinav @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Joshua @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Even if this script is a Hoax, it damn near feels like something Bungie would throw at you on the ending.

Leak or not though this would make a great story to add to the three books already out there.

jack @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

wtf is gravemind? i thought it was a level in halo 2, so how can master chief fight it?

Ryan J @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Yeah Bungie denied it, but they ALWAYS do. They won't even let anyone get away with believing they're working on Halo 3 yet. I'm not saying this script is definitely true, but just because Bungie says it isn't doesn't remove all doubt...

Ryan J @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

btw, to Jack, Gravemind was the name of that huge creature in the beginning of the Gravemind level -- you know, the one holding the Arbiter and MC in its long tentacles?

GForce2005 @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

This script is leaps and bounds above anything that Bungie has ever produced in my opinion. If it is real than it is a glorious day in gaming. Unfortunately my money says that Bungie doesn't have the talent to produce a script of this caliber. This script not only ties up every plot hole that past Halo games have created but also manages to surpase nearly other kind of fictional story telling in the fantas/sci-fi genre out there; lord of the rings, star wars, you name it. This story in my opinion is brilliant. Way way to good to have been written by the (in my honest opinion) moron who wrote Halo 2; but before you flame, go to the Halo 2 IGN boards, the Halo 2 script was UNIVERSALLY despised there; and I personally can go into about 1000 reason's why, but this isn't the place. All I will say is "please god, let this be real".

krizage @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

(cough)35's a PLANT (cough)

Jack Gleason @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

The screenplays of the previous Halo games were rather bad in my opinion. Just your run-of-the mill space opera. This might be real because it has about the same quality level. Holds your attention while it lasts, which is more than you can say for most videogames' screenplays today.

Zeta @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

I agree with 36. PLANT!

slayermayer @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Hey, can someone send the pdf to my email?

Slayermayer@gmail.com

Pretty please?:(

Screen_name @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Can someone send me the script to my email!!! PLEASE!!!!!!

justafrikkinsn@comcast.net

cheis @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

SEND ME THE PDF!!!...I'LL BE ABLE TO SAY IF ITS REAL OR NOT!!
CHRISTOPHERMARKUSTHEPRINCEOFDARKNESS@HOTMAIL.COM

Wes @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

I'd love the pdf as well, if it wouldn;t take too much of your time.

sgtbrate@hotmail.com

If you could send it, it would make my day!

dave m. @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

It's funny how in this day and age, how short people's memories are.

Remember how many "leaks" there were of the Halo 2 script, and they were so far off the mark that even a noob could see it. Now here we are, and people think that Microsoft and Bungie would allow something like this to "leak".

Think back to how many real leaks there are of actual MGS games, and you'll be thinking for awhile. MS and Bungie will have this clamped tighter then a virgin, so don't think that the fact some little putz decided he'd sit down and write a sub-high school standard script entails we have to get all hot and bothered.

Somewhere, someone's parents' basement is filled with laughter at how ludicrous this is.

Ferris Kabrinski @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Personally, after looking over this script, I find it pretty lacking. Yes, the overall plot is monumental, and somebody had an incredible amount of creativity to envision something like this. But basic things like grammar are sometimes off (ex: insulant? the word is insolent, foo), as is dialogue. Would the arbiter really say something like "With absolute certainty (pause) but it's been a while". The Arbiter doesn't use slang and he doesn't use contractions. Also, a thing with names: Outlaw, Drake, Neophyte, Vilarius (who happens to be one of the villans), and of course Oberion, which is a straight rip of Oberon, a star formation. Additionally, the climaxing action is unbelievable, essentially. The Forerunner, a new involvement in Halo 3? Also, think of the battle writings. While the Xbox 360 is rumored to have powers previously unknown to man, I highly doubt it can construct a battle environment with more than 50 characters and vehicles on it. That takes a hell of a lot of computing power. C'mon now, kids, don't be duped by all this. I had a ton of fun reading it, and hats off to the writer for all the time and energy that must have gone into it, but it's a fake. And fortunately, too. All of you've read it by now, and if it's real, then you'll be fairly disappointed to know the entire story and gameplay before the game is even released. In this case, all, ignorance DOES happen to be bliss. Agreed?

Jon @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

id like to see it if that kewl my email is -

hizziy_0925@hotmail.com

thanks a bunch =))

Forcefull @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Ok. I`ve read the script, and, I personaly think it seems very Bungie-like. And legit. Aside from that, do you really think Bungie would say that it was real? No, they would call it a fake. Just as they have called every other leak that has been true. The multyplayer info, altho I think seems a little off. (from a post with the link to the script, and some info on the MP) Lockout will be returning. Now, that doesnt make much sence as LOckout was on Instalation 04. It wouldhave been destroid. But, I do think that it would be nice to have such lage levels. Arowhead, a entire human city. Firefight, a level inbetween fighting cruisers.

Oh by the way, if this is real...
Fricking Ivory Tower, man. how sweet is that?

fluff the tiger @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

Read it, loved it. It seems like there is too much stuff to fit into one game though.

Fake? Well whatever Bungie say, the overall plot structure is excellent. i really hope this is the script for the game. Kudos! :)

Prophet of lies @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM

hey i've been waiting for someone to say they have the script for a long time, i dont care if its fake i wanna read it but im not registering to another site so could some1 e-mail it to me, i would be very gratefull thanx oh yeah e-mail me at escarenoc@prodigy.net