Loading.Ready.Run shares with us a brilliant glimpse of our future courtesy of Halo. While quite similar to the most excellent EPIC (which I also recommend viewing at your earliest convenience) I consider the following to be the best video game mockumentary I have ever seen. Enjoy.
This humorous parody of a popular Akon song blames Halo 3 for his lack of responsibility.
Wonder how Halo 2 multiplayer compares to the upcominng Halo 3 multiplayer? Well the following video presents both back to back and side to side comparisons of the two versions and does a great job of showing differences and similarities between the two Halo titles.
Microsoft Game Studios and Bungie Studios today confirmed the first exciting details of the three editions of this year’s most anticipated video game release, “Halo® 3.” Gamers will have their choice of Standard Edition, Limited Edition and the ultimate collector’s item, the Legendary Edition.
The Legendary Edition ($129.99 U.S. ERP*) will be released in limited quantities and arrive in a highly collectible Spartan helmet case that no hardcore “Halo” fan should be without, along with two bonus disks full of supplemental content. The first disk will provide exclusive, behind-the-scenes footage and videos, including a high-definition “Making of ‘Halo 3’” documentary showcasing the Bungie team and its effort to create the most anticipated title in the industry’s history; numerous high-definition featurettes documenting the creative design processes involved in developing the game; and even a look at some early game concepts and their evolution through the game’s development. The disk will also include an audio-visual calibration tool, never before seen on a video game and custom designed by the “Halo 3” graphics and audio team to make the most of fans’ high-definition home theaters, for the ultimate “Halo 3” and Xbox 360™ audio and video performance.
The second bonus disk, an exclusive to the Legendary Edition, will include completely remastered cinematic material from “Halo: Combat Evolved” and “Halo 2,” supplemented with developer commentaries, to provide a refresher course on the thrilling “Halo” story so far, and a featurette documenting a day in the life at Bungie. Exclusive content from the creative minds behind Machinima artists “Red vs. Blue” and “This Spartan Life” will also be included.
Finally, fans who purchase the Legendary Edition will receive an illuminating collection of original “Halo 3” storyboard art from artist Lee Wilson, depicting key moments and pivotal scenes from the epic cinematic production of “Halo.”
The Limited Edition ($69.99 U.S. ERP*) will also include a bounty of extras. Within a sleek metal collector’s case, gamers will also receive the first bonus disk found in the Legendary Edition, as well as a special “Halo” fiction and art book. A must-have for “Halo” collectors and a source of invaluable and exclusive information, the piece is an elaborate and compelling guide to the species and factions that inhabit the worlds of the “Halo” universe, with never-before-seen art and story elements that expand and illustrate the depth and breadth of the “Halo” fiction.
And for those who crave nothing more than the highly anticipated third chapter to one of the greatest gaming trilogies, the Standard Edition ($59.99 U.S. ERP*) will consist of the “Halo 3” game.
“Halo 3” represents the third chapter in the “Halo” trilogy, a Marvel Entertainment Inc. graphic novel series, apparel and more.
When it went on sale in November 2004, Halo 2 was a runaway hit. The subject of nearly unprecedented interest, the sequel to the Xbox shooter would eventually sell upward of 6.5 million copies worldwide. To this day, it remains one of the most played games on Xbox Live, and a PC version is due later this year.
However, unlike the first Halo, Halo 2 was the subject of a significant backlash. Though its introduction of online multiplayer was hailed by critics, many critiqued its short single-player campaign. One subject of particular ire was the game’s lackluster ending, which featured a not-so-climactic duel with a Brute chief before an abrupt final cinematic that all but screamed “sequel.”
As it turns out, many staffers at Halo 2 developer Bungie agree with the criticisms leveled at the game. Writer and Bungie.net weekly update author Frank O’Connor admitted that Halo 2’s finale was lackluster. “We drove off [a cliff] Thelma & Louise style,” he told the British game magazine Edge. “The trick is to avoid…writing by committee.”
Bungie engineer Chris Butcher was blunter in his assessment. “We had about four to five weeks to polish Halo at the end…[but] we had none of that for Halo 2,” he told the magazine. “We miscalculated, we screwed up, we came down to the wire and we just lost all of that. So Halo 2 is far less than it could and should be in many ways because of that. It kills me to think of it.”
Butcher was even critical of Halo 2’s multiplayer element. “Even the multiplayer experience for Halo 2 is a pale shadow of what it could and should have been if we had gotten the timing of our schedule right,” he said “I ****ing cannot play Halo 2 multiplayer. I cannot do it.”
Luckily, according to all those that Edge interviewed, Bungie is taking much more care with the final installment in the Halo trilogy. “I know Halo 3 is going to be so much better,” said Butcher, referring to the less-pressured production schedule for the game, which is due out sometime later this year.
Design lead Jaime Griesemer concurred, citing a new development structure that allows for more flexibility and faster implementation of ideas. “We now have a system for when I want to come in and do something crazy, for making it all work,” he told the magazine. “Now I feel like we’ve got this incredible framework and we can just go nuts and do anything we want to with this really solid foundation.”
[ By Tor Thorsen, GameSpot]
As part of their month-long Halo 3 marathon, 1UP sat down with a few Bungie developers to talk up the upgrades being made to the upcoming shooter’s online matchmaking system. The central focus of their system will be parties and how to get your friends to play with you in both ranked and unranked matches.
This method differs from the current XBL king Gears of War, which does not (officially) allow friends to play ranked matches together.
Gears developer Epic has stated that the reason its title lacks a clan-friendly matchmaking system for
ranked play is Microsoft’s certification process. Bungie producer Allen Murray counters that notion in the interview, however, by explaining that Microsoft does allow parties of friends in ranked matches but does “not provide that feature as part of the core set of matchmaking services.”
In other words, it’s up to the developer to program the system, and Bungie feels it has learned enough from its Halo 2 experience to optimize the system they already have in place.
The interview talks a lot about custom rules matches and their efforts to promote the play. There aren’t a lot of specifics, and much of what is said is subject to change between now and then. If you want to get a feel for the general design philosophy Bungie has, this should satiate you.
[via joystiq & 1up]
