In before the ninja: Leaked Halo 3 Beta footage of the new Zanzibar

by Jared Rea { Apr 23rd 2007 at 5:43PM }

This was bound to happen, right? Only a week after Bungie mentioned that the internal (see: Microsoft employees only) Halo 3 Beta has begun, this video (warning: terrible music ahead) began clogging the tubes that make up this great internet. The leak doesn't end here, but we're sure you're savvy enough to put the rest of the pieces together.

So what can we comb from this video, other than the person who put this together is royally screwed? The footage takes place in a map called "Last Resort" which is a newly reworked version of the Halo 2 favorite, Zanzibar. While you won't see too much evidence of that in the video above, the other clips we've seen from this batch feature the signature generator in the center of the map.

Is this footage indicative of what we'll be seeing in our Beta? We'll find out soon enough, but hot damn is that bubble shield looking mighty nice these days. As for the person behind the leak, well, lets just say that the stats won't lie when the hammer comes to drop. Thanks, buddy!

[Update: Those other clips we alluded to originally? Well, GameVideos got their hands on them and decided to upload those as well. We've swapped out the original two minute video and replaced it with a seven minute long version. That's five extra minutes to bitch, moan and otherwise cry about shakey-cam footage of a Beta product, processed for web!]

Tags: halo, halo3

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

jason @ Apr 23rd 2007 5:48PM

i love the HALO TRILOGY but these graphics aren't that good i will still be at gamestop at midnight getting though cuz it doesn't matter and i know the game is still being made and not polished also i thought there were only 3 maps in the beta and this isn't one of them

thatpspkid @ Apr 23rd 2007 5:51PM

^^^

yeah I agree. this graphics and gameplay look just like halo 2.

thatpspkid @ Apr 23rd 2007 5:53PM

I can just picture Microsoft knocking on Kojima's door with a huge stack of money.

Dan peters @ Apr 23rd 2007 5:55PM

Halo always brings out the haters. It's inevitible that in every thread there is that group of people who must take time out of their lives to hate on a game that isn't even released. I say if you have an amazing psychic ability to predict the future why aren't you wealthy?

Todd @ Apr 23rd 2007 5:55PM

Can we really be sure this was "leaked" instead of orchestrated?

Matthew Mac @ Apr 23rd 2007 5:59PM

Yeah, that video that the awesome youtube quality had horrible graphics. Good lord. By the way, does it freeze after a minute for anyone else?

C.H.O.M.P.S. @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:00PM

What can we comb from this video? We can comb the fact that the music isn't ingame.

Whistlin' baby, whistlin! Wave of the future!

GJM @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:07PM

Are people deducing bad graphics from this video trolls are retarded?

Chris @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:09PM

These guys are screwed - don't they record all of the games on their servers for payback? They can just go through as see who did this!

Nathan @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:11PM

@1&2

HELLO!?! anybody see that thing on the screen that said BETA BUILD?
right now they're just testing out the gameplay.
they have yet to go back and put the fine touch on textures.

Jared @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:14PM

#11 - No way, man. Halo 3 is going to totally suck! Look at that video!

It's almost like you're looking at a camera, pointed at a TV that is playing a freaking Beta of the the game. What a joke!

[/sarcasm]

Haters gonna hate. Not much else to do about it but listen to the monkeys hoot and chirp from the treetops, "Halo is overrated! Halo is overrated! OOH AH AH!"

Dux @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:16PM

The graphics look fine to me. I can already see the improvement in graphics, on this youtube quality video. And even if the video quality was good, there would still be a big difference in the video and of what you see on screen playing in front of you.

Poisoned Al @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:17PM

LOL at the idiots judging the whole game on one very low quality video clip of a beta build.

Joe Smith @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:17PM

These aren't real final graphics -- it's just the online beta test. Count on it loking tons better for the real release. They aren't going to play all their cards in the online beta, for pete's sake. It was the same for Halo 2.

That shiled looks pretty cool though. I also suspect that there is enough information in that video to allow Bungie to find the person that leaked it and do all sorts of interesting things to them.

Sean @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:19PM

Does anybody notice the "A New Map and Gametype will be chosen by majority vote." at the matchmaking screen? Is this telling us that we will actually have gametypes and maps to choose from when we go into matchmaking??? Sounds awesome to me. Hopefully it carries over into the full game.

OrganicShadow @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:21PM

Which is why they didn't show the closed-door Killzone tech demo, because regardless of the word beta on it, all these people here defending the video would be bashing it into the ground.

I can't really make any sense of this video because not only do I not know the purpose of this specific build(ie: what are they testing specifically? net code? gameplay? all of the above?) but I also don't know which parts of it are finalized. Are the graphics final? Textures? Controls? Lighting? Etc.

Either way I hope this turns out well and pushes other game makers into releasing beta versions of their console games like this. I want to get my hands on Quake Wars and Warhawk....like...NOW.

Dux @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:22PM

"Haters gonna hate. Not much else to do about it but listen to the monkeys hoot and chirp from the treetops, "Halo is overrated! Halo is overrated! OOH AH AH!""

yea^ I also remember when all the Gears of War haters were saying how much of a "dissapointment" the game was going to be, but we all know how that turned out.

Jared @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:22PM

#9 - I didn't want to get too into it, but yes, it will be ridiculously easy for Bungie to figure out who did it in 3 easy steps, assuming they have internal Halo 3 stat recording.

Step 1: Watch the video for other Gamertags to narrow down the match beyond map and gametype.
Step 2: Watch for the person recording to die.
Step 3: Go to the Gameviewer and look for person x getting killed by person y at location z.

HAMMER TIME!

jason @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:23PM

@11

i know that, i was saying that this map will probably not be in the may 16th beta and that the graphics are not that good if this video was made recently, i thought they would be some what better but i still will be getting it though. Also for those people saying these graphics in this video is no where close to where they will be when the game comes out just look at Gears of War when it was shown in may before it came out it looked fantastic and look at HALO 3 where it is now if this video is recent cuz i know the last vidoc was old cuz the graphics looked just like they did from the magazine showing HALO 3 back in last november and it may come out in september

umm....hello??? @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:24PM

I love how people say the graphics are crap, when this is STILL just a beta and graphics are added in last....friggin' morons.

Sean @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:28PM

Did you guys also see that you can "Veto" the map and gametype??? That looks interesting.

AirIntake @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:29PM

Oh my god, that music is fucking horrible! Who wants to listen to crap like that? Whoever you are, go shoot yourself while I find the mute button.

Jon @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:31PM

Zanzibar has always been my favorite map in Halo 2. I simply am that much closer to pissing myself waiting for the Halo 3 Beta.

Pete @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:31PM

I love how people are judging the game's graphics from this ultra-compressed, shit-quality video. Christ, it looks like a DS game. You can't judge anything from this.

pete @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:32PM

oh man my earlier comment was removed. the man's got his finger on the button over at stiq hq. it must be in china or something!!!

Fierce360 @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:33PM

this game is going to rock. shame ill be at boot camp when its realease =(

AirIntake @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:33PM

@Pete

You can't even judge the graphics of a DS game from a Youtube video!

Poisoned Al @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:50PM

Those army ads in them games worked on you didn't it Fierce360? ;)

Intentless @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:50PM

Giggity gigggity...

Hans @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:59PM

Its funny how the 360 fanboys are quick to say, "But omigosh its still beta!"

But if we see a PS3 game on the other hand...

"Omigosh these graphics suckxx!"

3cubedminus3squared @ Apr 23rd 2007 6:59PM

the music wasn't THAT bad...
*shoots himself*

Triforceowner @ Apr 23rd 2007 7:01PM

I hope so too Sean, because I really want to play certain game types on Halo 2 (Coagulation CTF) but I never get to with matchmaking.

3cubedminus3squared @ Apr 23rd 2007 7:05PM

I hope they keep that one map that was a floating fort somewhere where it was snowing. I don't know what it was called but I enjoyed that one alot. and the beaver's creek, I think. These were the ones I played the most when I went to over to my friends

Miles @ Apr 23rd 2007 7:20PM

BTW, that music was from Kill Bill , but it was remixed to some awful techno loop.

jason @ Apr 23rd 2007 7:25PM

That mongoose looks badass in the 7 minute version and the map looks great hope the graphics get a little better though it still looks magnifico water effects are decent and i wish you could have seen the spartan laser a little bett exploding a car but better then nothing

http://www.gametrailers.com/umwatcher.php?id=59795

Anonymous @ Apr 23rd 2007 7:46PM

I know the game is going to sell an assload of copies, but unless Bungie gets their act together quickly, the graphics on this game are pretty bland for a first party flagship game.

HaloFans @ Apr 23rd 2007 7:56PM

Well, this is an internal beta and NOT a level that will we play in the delta released to the public. (Bungie calls it a beta because the public does not know any better.)

Stop the graphic complaints since this isn't a level we will see until the game releases in the fall.

Negativecool @ Apr 23rd 2007 8:07PM

I kinda wish they improved the character animations. The graphics are great I think, but the animations make me think I'm playing too much of a highly polished Halo 2 or something.

I kinda wish that they used the Crytek 2 engine :(

http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=18589&type=wmv&pl=game

AndrewNeo @ Apr 23rd 2007 8:09PM

#18: Hammer time? This is a leak from inside Microsoft. More like fired time, am I right?

jason @ Apr 23rd 2007 8:13PM

I rather have somewhat bad graphics then have good graphics like in Gears of War with a pretty bad and annoying multiplayer online which the maps are all small compared to the difference in range in HALO 3 with size like zanzibar rather then having identical sides and weapons in GoW the teams have different things on each side. Also you can customize the games you play online with tons of game types, vehicles, and weapons. Also the single player has to be atleast 3-4 hours longer then HALO 2 with all the complaining with how short it was in HALO 2. Just saying i rather have more gametypes and custombalization then whats in Gear of War.

Nerdtacular @ Apr 23rd 2007 9:11PM

With all the effort that went into blacking out the names of the players on the stat screens...you would think that they would censor out the players names in the lower-left whenever someone gets killed or whatevs.

video newb.

bootsielon @ Apr 23rd 2007 9:13PM

Come on people, give 360 fanboys a break, will ya? I mean, it's ONLY a beta! I'm sure that when the game goes gold, it will be *leaps and bounds* better than the beta.

Yeah, a quantum leap. You know, the smallest possible change ;)

wackychan @ Apr 23rd 2007 9:33PM

halo haters wanna hate,
halo lovers wanna love,
and dont want none of the above,
im going to piss on you.

im going to pee on you.

Justin U @ Apr 23rd 2007 9:34PM

I love the people that say the music sucks. I love it!

I also love that people say it looks like Halo 2.

Go look at halo 2.

Come back.

Smack self in face.

Realize it still looks better than Halo 2, and is STILL in 'technical' Alpha stage. Grow up, lead your own life, and stop listening to those who say it Looks like Halo 2, and following them.

wackychan @ Apr 23rd 2007 9:35PM

your boooodddday,
is a porta-potty

Stephen @ Apr 23rd 2007 9:56PM

You've got to be shitting me. People are saying the graphics are bad, you people are plain stupid. This is the Beta build. AKA Low res models, graphics, and everything. You can't deduce a game in it's BETA phase. PS3 fan boys are just as stupid, "Oh my Killzone 2 is gonna kick major ass". Yeah great, most PS3 games shown at E3 where pre-rendered content. People, need to grow up and learn about games and software.

Kinjor @ Apr 23rd 2007 10:10PM

f the graphics.
f the storyline.

What I'm concerned with regarding Halo 3 is the fact that there are so few changes in the gameplay. The rest will change over time, but what the hell? I guess they love their system of gameplay because they never change anything. Its like every game is an expansion pack for the first, now you get bubble shields... and mines you can drop... MINES! wow thats next gen. ;)

Na i'm kidding about the next gen comment. I hope halo 3 is what every fan wants it to be. I honestly do. Because i've talked to people about halo 2 and 1. They liked the games, but they always had major problems with them. "redundant level design"

dsub @ Apr 23rd 2007 10:14PM

I love how you guys can judge the graphics based on a low-res low quality flash video of the game. You could play any game in a shitty flash video and it would look crappy.

When there is a full-res video (720p) then you can pass judgement.

Triforceowner @ Apr 23rd 2007 10:37PM

After viewing the footage Jason provided, I can not see anyone saying the graphics are not better than Halo 2. It's kind of like Halo 2 with a few touches a developer might put on the game at the last moment. Kind of like if Halo 2 were released a few weeks after it was actually released.