Bungie: Halo 3 "feels" more like Halo

Just like Gear of War, MS will not telease a demo to Halo 3.

Great that's what we need in Marathon 6, some fast action and then a nice stroll alongside a beautiful waterfall. Maybe Spartan can stop at a cafe and order a late~ too while were at it.

Just like Gears of War, MS will not release a demo of Halo 3.

Oddly enough, my biggest complaint with Halo 2 was that it just didn't feel like Halo. I could never quite put my finger on what it was, something was just off. I'm very excited to see that the developer saw this too, and is trying to correct it. Very promising.

And pigs will fly out my ass Nov 18th

I don't have the first two Halo games, but I am looking forward to the third.

How long have Bungie been working on Halo 3? Is it possible they might have it ready for a December release?

I am all for it feeling like Halo 1's "beach assault" or "midnight sniping" stage, but if you give me another GD "Library" stage I will kill all of Bungie's employee's with my bare hands.

This is *SO* not coming out until at least halfway through 2007.

May I ask what crack head over at the joystiq crew gave jc 7 stars?

#7 I agree...the Beach Assult stage was amazingly fun. I'm hoping that with many extra combatants on screen this time around it will even enhance that sort of experience .

The thing I hated with Halo 2 was playing as the aliens. I don't like games that make you switch characters. I thought they would have learned from Metal Gear. And even when you were Master Chief, 70% of the time, you were using alien weapons.

It was rumored Bungie/MS would preempt the PS3 with Halo 3, but they couldn't make it in time. They have publicly stated it's scheduled for a Q2 release.

And how about bringing back some Halo 1 multiplayer feel while they're at it??

Mr. Anthony @ 11

Please do not steal a copy of Snakes on a Plane. The film is fantastic and, frankly, they deserve every penny they can get, in my opinion. It's your decision and I don't wish to moralize but I can assure you, from my own viewpoint, it is worth the money.

The thing is, do we really want more enemies, or do we want a prettier Halo 1? I far prefered the Halo 1 campaign to 2's, mainly the second level( I believe it was simply titled "Halo") where you could dink around for half an hour exploring instead of trying to get on top of the building right next to you. It just felt bigger, not necessarily as much a challenge as Halo 2, but better none the less.

I'd be more than willing to have fewer enemies just so we could have bigger environments. AI can cut down on processing a good bit...but fighting 6 Hunters guarding a base could be a lot more fun than 60 grunts, and would allow for more detailed envios as well to my knowledge.

Demo is gonna be impossible, but how bout Bungie bring out some form of video of Halo 3, both single and multiplayer, on or around 11/17? That way, people get hyped up about Halo and the 360, and Bungie shows only what they want to show through the video.

Umm... the "feel" of halo single player was copy and paste level design

What's your problem, Anthony?

Do you think I am not a gamer because I only buy one console per generation (since the Coleco days, I might add).

Or does it bother you that I hope MS' original comment about releasing Halo3 to offset the PS3 might be possible?

heh. sounds like they want it to feel more like metroid prime...

-"superfan" tactics.

MS will, never, ever release a demo of Halo 3. No demo could live up to the hype, better to let the drooling hoards go buy it day 1 then have time to gripe over tiny demo issues.

Demos are only good from a business perspective if you feel you target audience is on the fence on if they should buy it or not, and that your game is actually good enough that if they play the demo they will be swayed to the "buying" side. With Halo there is no fence, people will buy it day 1, minute 1 no matter if they hadn't even seen a screenshot.

Has Bungie commented on the possibility of some different views beyond just FPS? Aka, a over shoulder view like Gears of War is suppose to have, or something along the lines of Resident Evil4? I love Halo 1 and 2, but playing through them on xbox360 recently it just seemed almost oldschool having that claustraphobic viewing perpective. Why not just have the option to change up the view for us vertigo challenge FPS castoffs? The funny thing I noticed is with the exception of the Master Chief's view, all the vehicle views were from behind, no full FPS. I'm surprised they didn't put 2 and 2 together on that one and make it that much more unique from the standard boring fps out there.

I think me and my friend who always play Halo co-op when we get a chance are the only two people on the planet who love the Library from Halo 1. Playing it by yourself still sucks though.

17 beat me to it.
Sounds like they want it to be more like Metroid Prime.
I pray for an automap.

I just wish master chief, with his ultra high tech battlesuit and cyborg enhancements, would run faster than 3 miles an hour. He can jump like eight feet into the air for god sakes!

rjg:

Actually Halo was originally for the Mac and PC and was a 3rd person game. The vehicle camera was the regular camera in the game. I'm not sure if they wanted to change it or if M$ came by and said "Here's a fat check, we own you now" then changed it. I'll have to Wiki it.

I'll believe it when I see it. Halo 2 sucked.

Gears of war shipping with a halo 3 demo would be a knockout blow

"I love Halo 1 and 2, but playing through them on xbox360 recently it just seemed almost oldschool having that claustraphobic viewing perpective."

FPS is the anti-claustraphobic! You see things directly from the characters view! But anyway, The aiming wouldnt be the same. How can you sniper from 3rd person view (with the same accuracy)? You wouldnt be able to "no scope" (if you have ever played the game). You would be able to see others around you instead of being more realistically in your "view". It would dumb down the importance of your motion tracker. On and on...

Thx Halobreaker... I actually played Pathways into Darknesss and Marathon years ago on Mac, I forgot that they were not full FPS views. Nice point! With any luck they will throw in that view just for kicks. Thx.

Man, Gears of War with halo3 demo on it... that is a great idea. Unlikely to happen, but man, that would rock.

November 17??? WOW i will be dead broke if it's out november 17 since I'm planning to get PS3 at that time too. If HALO 3 is out on 17 as well, I guess I have to get both of them. $1500 total at least. Better start saving.

Giving Halo 3 a full TP POV would seem more like a gimic then anything. I'd see it come off like Oblivion does. Sure, it has the option. But that option's a load of crap.

I think the Warthog, ghost, etc are in third person only because it's much easier to drive / shoot like that. Like, how in the hell could you pilot a Banshee in first person? You'd just look at a wad of purple while attempting to drive via sound.

I think Bungie will make Halo 3 very large map wise and enemy wise. In Halo 2 you never really "got out". You were in streets 3 metres wide, ships 3 metres wide and when you got to an open area, there was little to no point to buggering off for a few minutes.

Really, all Bungie need to do is make an update every week (And have Joystiq post about it another week later) and they've already sold a few hundred thousand copies.

>> Kritz

Halo 3...November 2007...the mom of the head of Xbox Live marketing (or something like that) works at my friend's store in Twin Falls, Idaho. And I know it sounds like the usual "Well, I heard from a friend of friend who works at 'wherever'" BS. But this sounds totally legit. I mean, c'mon holiday 2007 is actually a no-brainer anyway.

to change it from first person=lame!

though third person can work really well and be really cool(see: gears of war, ghost recon: advanced warfighter), i still prefer first person for the feeling of emmersion it gives you.

Dammit. Now i have to buy a 360 with the nintendo wii launch if this is true. At least it would be around $600 together instead of $1000 with a stupid PS3.

This is a much subtler change than many of you are making it. This is about moving away from tight corridor canyons like in Halo 2, and moving towards teh more open spaces of Halo. Think, Level 2, "Halo", level 3, "Truth and Reconciliation" Level 4, "Silent Cartogropher" Level 5, "Assault on the Control room" (the outdoor sections) and it's reverse. Very few sections of halo 2 had the big open feeling that those Halo levels did (New/Old Mombasa, and some of the flying sections). Even though they only made up, maybe 30% of the game, they were Halo's crowning moments.

This isn't exploration like MP or copy paste design like the library. This is, "Shit that Wraith is wrecking me, maybe I can get all the way around it by using this snowy mound." Hopefully is also about removing some of the barriers from Halo 2. No more doors that lock behind you, or insta kill zones please.

With this new openness, I hope they don't neglect some of the great in your face combat of Halo 2 though. Hopefully they can recreate that, "cat and mouse with elites through the ruins of Delta Halo" experience.

My prediction is Spring 2007, from luke smiths 1up blog, http://lukems.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=7366525&publicUserId=5519593

Uhm, Don't you mean November 7th?
11/7
Not 11/17.
Or I'll even be glad if they release the game or demo on Jan. 17th.

For a demo, that would be a good idea, then releasing the game in summer or holiday season.
Something about a spring release doesn't feel right.

Maybe not a single-player demo... but could there be a chance a multi-player demo will be out? (aka Castle Wolfenstein "Beta")

To those of you who cant put a finger on whats wrong with Halo 2:

Your allies in Halo 2 are arrogant and suicidal, in Halo they were humbled by combat and feared the enemy.

Halo 1:
*Jhonson held up in an outpost*
things are a mess chief, were scattered all over this valley. We called for evac but, until you showed up, i thought we were cooked.

Halo 2:

*last member of the plattoon being mauled by a hunter*
c'mon is that all you got!!!who's for more!!!take that sucker!!!
*dies*

In summary: Halo had a dark atmosphere (think Battle of Helm's Deep) while Halo 2 is almost giddy (think the Ents taking Isengard and Orthanic)

and on topic, a demo of halo 3 proly wont happen caus bungie is notoriously secritive and a Halo 3 demo would cause a massive drop in xbox 360 game sales

logic:

who needs gears of war when youve got this free halo 3 demo

yields: xbox 360 sales are down 50%!!!

The original had a great sense of wonder that Halo 2 didn't quite capture as well- wide open spaces were partly what made Halo Halo. This revelation is surely positive.

@jc

"What's your problem, Anthony?

Do you think I am not a gamer because I only buy one console per generation (since the Coleco days, I might add).

Or does it bother you that I hope MS' original comment about releasing Halo3 to offset the PS3 might be possible?"

Probably it's the fact that you ask if Halo 3 could release in December.

Although, I doubt there will be a demo at all, the news that Halo 3 feels more like Halo 2 is great. Since it was a pretty short update you guys should have also pointed out how they confirmed that there would be more people on screen then the usual.

Anyways, I'm hoping they at least release a multi-player demo with ONE map on it.

This is god news because, frankly, Halo 2 sucked compared to Halo 1. It just didn't feel right.

The first Halo can be best remembered by playing Halo, Truth & Reconciliation, Silent Cartographer, and Assault on the Control Room in one shot.

Not that my buddies and I have much choice, since once you start halo (Lvl 2), it's extremely difficult to stop playing through all four.

Abe - I like the library too.

Anyone know if there will be a collector's edition (i.e. metal case, and other extras)? Also if there is a CE then it might be nice if all three plus the maps from Halo 2 were included. I have Halo 2 and the maps but that's all. I am very much looking forward to H3. The main reason is that quite a few of my friends who still only have the original XBOX are waiting to buy the 360 and H3 together. Once H3 comes out, then everyone I play with will have 360s and getting them to buy some of the other great titles will be easy.

Yeap, halo 3 is going to be great, good thing they are going back to their roots.

Halo 1 was amazing and i was so disappointed with halo's 2 campaign , if they want h3 to be as awesome as h1 then they need to reconsider this.(thats what i think anyways):
1 bring back the assault rifle.( mean if they dont want that thing to be played on multiplayer , then just leave the thing on single player then.)
2. create more wide open levels like. "truth and reconciliation" , "halo" and "silent cartographer" that was the meat of halo.
3 make the AI smarter , not just make your weapons weak and their weapons stronger , i loved the way they battleded with you in h1 on legendary absolutely awesome.
4 make the weapons more solid , one thing i noticed for instance , the plasma rifle(and other weapons) the haircross was lower than in h1 and it just made it feel like your shooting down all the time and constantly adjusting your aim and missing space to see the ground and stuff.
5. and last thing , i didnt have a problem playing as a covenant elite,but just as metal gear 2 it messed up on the story i think, after what h1 made you beleive like what your fighting for. shoot i would have loved to play some levels as master cheif.

well thats what i think always wanted to give this points of view . hope somebody has the same point of view.

There's only one announcement that I'm waiting for (but I doubt I'll get it)...online co-op.

It will be nice to have some of that Halo 1 majic back. Majorly addicted to Halo 1, but Halo 2 NEVER felt right.

But I don't think the lack of open spaces was the problem with the feel of Halo 2. It always felt to me as though the "camera angle" in Halo 2 was a little off. Am I crazy, or does everyone feel this way?