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Evolution of Halo Video Finally Released Online
An anonymous reader writes "Halo.bungie.org has made available a video showing the evolution of Halo, from its initial conception as a PC-based RTS game to its final release on the Xbox. The video is 14 minutes long, and is a 'look at some very early builds of Halo, with voiceover and commentary by 4 Bungie employees'. The video was originally shown to a group of Bungie fans at E3 in 2002, and has never been available save 'a [rudimentary] shakycam version' until now - it's being distributed via BitTorrent."
When's the last time you got a 92mb file at 150kbps off a slashdotted server?
I respond to your sigs
Like the one guy in the video said while they were previewing their whole huge arsenal of PC weapons...
"Halo used to be cool."
I've yet to see the video, since I'm still located at work, BUT -- A few 0.02 though. I for one thought the PC version was great - and kickass at LAN parties. The absence of coop is unfortunate, but I've played that enough on the Xbox (Yeah, didn't think of all you non-Xboxers there). I'm looking forwards watching this, since I've begun to really like the game.
And no, I'm not an ubermicrosoft-Bungie-Halo -fan (not even when I'm not laughing over all the "where's the truck with $$'s from Microsoft at Bungie's HQ??"), but I can't see why people are whining so much over how it ended up -- it's a great game, it's got all the elements for an FPS that I like.
THIS IS THE INTERNET. PLEASE PICK UP YOUR SERIOUS BUSINESS SUIT AT THE FRONT COUNTER.
...I'd like to say: All right, Bungie's servers, you win this round, but we'll get you yet.
qntm.org
Also at work, so will have to wait to view it, but I'd just like to add that Halo is an excellent game. However patchy its history, and whatever regrets we may hold regarding what could have been (and whatever personal vendettas various microsoft-loathers hold), its eventual release as a console game resulted in an extrodinarily good, immersive, enjoyable fps with superb and fun multiplayer. Halo's many well-documented and lamented flaws (repetitive levels, checkpoint-of-death-with-no-ammo, etc) do not detract from the ultimate enjoyment of this game. I would also like to add that I regularly play the PC version of Halo as well, solely as multiplayer game. Its not UT2kx or Quake TA, but then I've always considered that Halo PC's strong point, not being a huge fan of the mainstream fragfest FPS. Call it a matter of taste, but I can't understand the extent of the bitterness and criticism directed towards Halo, when the end result was such a satisfying game for so many people.
Yes, it would have been a fantastic game on a Mac.
Until Bungie realised that the number of people who would have purchased the game for a Mac (Number of interested Mac owners - number of interested Mac owners who can run the game = 17) would have been abyssmally small.
So instead, they made themselves a ton of money for thier efforts, and sold millions of copies. If Halo had been a Mac game to begin with, I really don't think people would care enough to watch a video about its creation 3 years later.
I don't see a problem with that. I think they are a commercial, for-profit company. Not some sort of social program.
No reason to lie.
This movie reminded me of all the stuff they were planning to have in the game, but had to cut for one reason or other. There was initially supposed to be a shitload of more weapons, like a sword for the Chief (you see them in the movie), as well as native wildlife on the Halo.
Most of the stuff was extremely cool. Too bad they had to cut it. I remember seeing an old movie where the Warthog drove through a small flock of critters that scattered and fled.
Leveling up builds character.
I'll have a go, why not? Halo brings a new level of emergent gameplay. What this means is that things will happen in Halo that the designers didn't plan - memorable things. Not just a funny incident with a chimp in TS2 or some wacky AI incident in GE, but events that in previous games would have been the result of a carefully scripted cutscene. It might be a chain of events set off by a panicking grunt. It could be the spectacular crashlanding of a downed Banshee, skidding to a halt as a flaming wreck three feet away from you. Maybe it's the time the Covenant tagged your Warthog with a plasma grenade, so you leapt out just before the explosion set the 'hog crashing into an Elite. Things that have only happened in YOUR game of Halo
Simply put, you can play through Halo any number of times (admittedly some levels are better than others for this) and chances are you'll get an entirely new experience on each run.
This makes it a great game for co-op; TS2 really let me down on co-op, because the enemies were in the same place every time ad you faced the same problems every time. It could be difficult, it could be enjoyable in places, but it was never surprising, never novel. If you'd seen it once, you'd seen it. This isn't a rag on TS2 - the multiplayer, the bots, the challenges and the extras were marvellous.
As I never get tired of insisting, Halo MUST be played on Legendary. At any other level, it can seem dull, but Legendary will always provide a genuine challenge, whatever your level of expertise. Whenever I get beamed up to the Truth and Reconciliation in the third level, I'm always grinning in anticipation of the firefights that are coming up. I'm never thinking "here's where I'll have to do X and Y", because the game doesn't play out like that. Again, on Legendary.
The vehicles in Halo add a lot to the experience, too, in single and multiplayer. Try a mutliplayer rally game with Warthogs, five lives each and infinite grenades; great fun.
TS2, GE and PD are all great games, no question about that. They all provide different experiences. So does Halo. We can enjoy them all, surely? You don't have to pick a side or worry about which is 'best'. Just enjoy them all, relax, and be thankful such great games exist.
I'm not sure who says it, but someone spouts out sarcastically (~12mins), "Come out to Microsoft, and by the way you only have 5 months to make your game." Someone else seriously responds, "Well, it was either that or never release it and look for other jobs." It's hard to really ever tell if this was merely covering somoene's ass, but the intonation suggests that he really meant to suggest that had they not signed with Microsoft, Halo would never have been released. On one hand, I find it hard to believe given the amount of work they'd put into it. On the other hand, the fact that it had been pushed back so many times, converted from Mac to PC, and that they had still not even implemented core features of the game (ie. AI) when bought by Microsoft after all that work suggests that Commentator #2 is right. I'm sure there's a feeling within Bungie that they regret being rushed by Microsoft, but I also think that they have achieved much more acclaim and reknown than they could have with the PC version.
In other words, enough with the tearing of clothes and gnashing of teeth about how Microsoft robbed you of your precious PC treasure. The video would lead us to believe that if it wasn't for Microsoft, this may never have seen the light of day. If the mediocrity of Oni is any indication, Microsoft may (gasp) have had something to do with giving Bungie a quick kick in the rear. A nuanced listen of this video reveals that what was probably more responsible for Bungie "selling out" were the terrible PC market conditions and publishing arrangements within the PC industry. The console publishing market, while more draconian, is better organized and managed than the PC side. The notable exceptions to this in the PC market are the ones still standing (Valve, Blizzard) and that's only because they've evolved console-quality standards.
So, yeah, I know this is slashdot, and many of you believe that there's a CmdrTaco script that automatically distributes karma to a post with "MICROSOFT SUX" in it, but enough. It just makes you sound like the creepy stalker girl who drives by her ex's apt 4 times a night.