Save for the one story mission we saw at E3 2009 and the character introduction trailer, Halo 3:ODST's single-player campaign hasn't seen heavy exposure from developer Bungie. That all changed last night, when GTTV got a hold of design director Paul Bertone, who revealed "Kizingo Boulevard," a tank-based level that follows an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper from "kind of in the middle of the story."
Later in the episode, Bungie's creative director, Joe Staten, teased a bit of info regarding next year's Halo: Reach, saying, "We're really excited about telling a story with more Spartans in it." Host Geoff Keighley pushes Staten on squad-based Halo rumors and receives an interesting answer: "Without any of the baggage of sort of squad-based combat, I think that would be a safe assumption." Maybe we'll finally find out what happened to Linda, Fred, and Kelly!
chief's buddies from the books. they were the spartans closest to him. kelly is really fast, fred is really big and strong (bigger than chief), and linda is a bitchin sniper.
i'm not a nerd, i swear! ok i lied, i'm a huge dork.
Lol I thought you were kidding for a moment. I play Halo but I'm not a huge Halo fanboy.
I've never read any of the books related to the Halo Universe although with Reach coming out I'm starting to think I may need to in order to understand wtf is going on....
Lastly can Joystiq or any of the readers of Joystiq clarify what EXACTLY are our options for getting into the Halo: Reach beta?
Cuz I want it so badly. But I do not want to have to buy ODST JUST for a beta. Like seriously I don't like that practice. It was okay with Crackdown since Halo 3 was a major title in the series but ODST to me isn't that big of a deal. So I'd rather save $60 and get into the beta thru other means (if possible).
I don't think they've said if buying ODST was the only way to get into the beta. With Halo 3, you had your option of guaranteed access to the beta (by buying crackdown) or a chance to sign up on a website and get into the beta. Whether they'll have signups for non-ODST purchasers is still unclear.
Really this seems like a way for them to keep ODST from being traded back into Gamestop. If you need the disc to get into the beta, you would be less likely to immediately trade the game in, and that means more sales for Bungie. Then again, that could just be me over thinking it.
"Really this seems like a way for them to keep ODST from being traded back into Gamestop. If you need the disc to get into the beta, you would be less likely to immediately trade the game in, and that means more sales for Bungie."
Yes.
And, IMO, this is entirely valid. From a developer-publisher perspective, outfits like Gamestop don't add any value. Rather, they're a middle-man that takes some of the profitability (assuming there IS profitability, which is far from being a given in the games industry) away fro developers.
Consumers may be served better by these middlemen, allowing people to trade games (but then, given the trade-in prices, that's not a given either) but developers certainly aren't. To them, the middle men are people who have an impact on sales, yet do not take on the huge risks that development entails. I can completely understand Bungie & Microsoft's view towards them.
Unfortunately, without some trading system, we will be left with a system where Microsoft & Sony can effectively call the shots on all game pricing. Once you are locked in to a system, you have little choice.
"But I do not want to have to buy ODST JUST for a beta. "
If you want the beta, you will have to play ODST. Same thing for the 3 new maps.
MS (AND Bungie) have been clever about all this. Well, they've tried to be, anyway.
A brief, annotated history of events:
- "Halo 3 Recon" announced. The geeks at Bungie openly admit it's not a "full game". Therefore, it should not have a "full game" price. Wise internet owls say "oh rly?". At MS, the marketing and accounting people are smashing things, calling for executions. The already tense relationship between MS and Bungie hits new lows.
- The "not a full game" idea gets internet-folk thinking (quite correctly) that the game will merely be an expansion pack for Halo 3. MS and Bungie bean-counters are very worried by this meme.
- MS and Bungie take paints to explain that it's NOT an expansion pack. It just happens to have the Halo 3 name. Right...
- In explaining, MS and Bungie overdo the "it's really a new game" thing. People have the idea that this is a different kind of Halo game. One that would have NEW ideas (Recon!), new weapons, and maybe new new enemies and actual innovations. Oh, oh! Redmond, we have a problem.
- So the name gets changed to Halo 3 ODST, baffling retailers everywhere. (Doesn't "ODST" just roll off the tongue...)
- MS & Bungie then announce that, yes indeedy, OST will in fact be a FULL GAME. It's really come a long, long way in 12 months -- no really -- and now deserves a FULL GAME PRICE.
- Also, ODST will now come with 24 maps! Including maps you can't get anywhere else. Maps that will ONLY work with Halo 3, not ODST. Genius. But there are no ODST multiplayer maps. But there's ODST-only Firefight mode!
- More genius occurs: the second non-ODST, Halo 3 multiplayer-only disc is called "Mythic". Which happens to be the name of the paid-DLC- 3 map pack, which plenty of would-be ODST adopters have ALREADY paid for. So these people, who paid for a "Mythic" map pack, will now be buying a different "Mythic" map pack, which contains those same maps.
- Bungie effuse about it all on their Weekly Update, mocking anyone who doesn't "get it". After all, it's simple: a game without matchmaking, shipped with maps that can only be played in a different product. Other Bungie staff look at their shoes, won't meet anyone's gaze.
- But wait, there's more! Still concerned that the expansion-pack-become-full-game idea will not fly, it's announced that PURCHASERS of ODST will get access to Halo Reach: a completely new game. Yes, that's right, people should buy (and not trade) their copy of ODST not because of the merits of the game itself, but because they get to TRY (for free!) a game that nobody knows the slightest thing about. Release date: unknown. Genre: unknown.
- When pestered for more info on Reach, a Bungie rep basically says "duh, of course it's an FPS". So, not like Halo Wars or the Halo MMO then.
- At this point, Microsoft and Bungie consider throwing in a free set of steak knives. Or anything, as long as they don't have to reduce the price.
- MS announce that a completely new in-house studio will take total control of all Halo related "properties". This is unsubtle code for "Our contracts with Bungie will expire after they deliver Reach. At which point, we will hunt down Bungie and kill them for sport." Following years of sly attacks at MS from the puritans over at Bungie, this is the least Microsoft can do in return.
- MS announce that there will be an XBL "portal" for ALL things Halo. It's a "destination", folks! Goodbye Bungie.net, your services are no longer required. Bungie, turn off the lights when you leave, yeah?
- Bungie, never to be outdone when it comes to a public slanging match, publicly state that Reach is the very last thing they'll be working on for Halo, good riddance, see ya later. The internets go nutsy. Bungie immediately tries to revise these hasty statements, despite knowing they're 100% correct. Bungie tries to seed the possibility that Bungie may indeed work again on Halo.
- A deadly silence emanates from MS on this issue.
Even if I haven't watched any of full campaign footages from those Frenches getting it early, simply knowing them exist make my enthusiasm for these official reveals orbital dropped. :(
Looking at these videos, I am a bit sad that MAG is coming out this year. It would have been entertaining to see EDGE and Eurogamer justify their 6/10 scores to MAG for weak graphics, generic gameplay, lack of story, etc while they went out and awarded their customary 10/10 to halo ODST that they reserve for Halos and GTAs
Hey it's there opinion and if the think Halo is the best/greatest thing every so be it, if you know differently just do like I and look the other way. I mean after all to each their own if they believe that ODST is 6.2 gigs of FPS bliss so be it. I played it, it's ok I guess I'm not a fan so to me it's just another shooter.
The lack of dual wielding isn't an ODST thing as such. It's a design decision by Bungie.
Dual wielding was introduced in Halo 2 to great fanfare. (Who doesn't like firing two guns at once?) But, during the later development of Halo 2, Bungie realized they had made a big mistake. Dual-wielding was great on paper, but it broke the core Halo gameplay mechanic of shoot-melee-grenade.
Bungie tried different things, from softening up weapons (see the useless SMG and Brute spikers) to making certain weapons non-dual-wieldable, but they didn't work. The simple fact remained that although dual wielding looks great on PAPER, it sucks in-game. The typical dual wielded weapons are truly pathetic. (Dual plasma pistols anyone? Or plasma rifles? See anyone dual-wielding in MLG games?)
Chief can dual wield because because he's strong as shit. ODSTs are just normal people in really good shape. any real soldier would never even consider dual wielding anything.
and at one point the army considered giving miniguns to soldiers to carry, in vietnam i think, to clear helicopter landing zones. but the weight of the minigun/ammo wasn't as much of an issue as the torque the motor/spinning barrels caused, making it hard to handle.
in some other videos, the brutes have jury rigged the engineers to use their gaseous physiology as extra fuel for bombs, effectively making them remote controlled floating mines
This didnt really get me more excited for the game, but just kept my expectation of it being good. Can't wait to get my hands on this thing. Firefight looks like fun.
MR. ESC i dont think he means they cant run, it's more like there isnt a "click the analog stick to sprint for 15 seconds" sorta deal going on. Also im really happy with the kinds of changes made, too many sequels are just the same thing, but they're really changing it up here without it being a radical departure
"ODST's arent as strong to hold two guns and dual yield so, I'll call that valid. "
An ODST can pick up a rocket launcher, or a turret, but can't dual wield two pistols? Really? :-)
Nah. As I said above, dual-wielding was removed because it doesn't work well, gameplay wise. And it works even more poorly when you have a game where the grenade mix has improved...
No loss to the dual wielding. I won't miss it, neither will the majority of players who don't use it. However, I AM miffed about losing equipment. Bubble Shields are great fun.
First of all, what have you played? The full campaign? Firefight? The new maps?
Secondly, if you're "not a fan", why on earth would you possibly download a 6.2GB file, burn it and play it on your 360, knowing full well that your 360 could be banned from XBL, when your opinion of Halo 3 is that it's "just another shooter"?
Who would bother doing that?
You must one of the following:
- a fan (but you say you're not, and you don't sound like a fan, except that you're discussing a Halo game in a Halo thread)
- someone with so much time/money on his hands that he'll pirate and play a game he doesn't much care for,
or
- a fibber. i.e. you haven't tried the game at all, and you are writing here just to preemptively put down ODST. This seems by far the most likely explanation.
