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Halo 3 Multiplayer Demo Coming In Spring
Today is the fifth anniversary of the original Halo: Combat Evolved. To celebrate Bungie has announced new maps for Halo 2, a commercial for the upcoming game to be shown on December Fourth, and (most entertainingly) intentions to offer a multiplayer demo of Halo 3 this coming spring. From the lengthy post: "What exactly does this mean? Well, again we can't really get into the details quite yet (notice a theme here?) but we can confirm that our fans will have an opportunity to play Halo 3 multiplayer over Xbox Live BEFORE the final game is available. You'll be playing a little multiplayer and simultaneously providing us with some valuable data to help our development team. We're still working out the details on timing and scope and there will be a lot more info coming in the weeks ahead."
Any chance Halo three will be as good as Halo one was looking beofre it got "xboxed"?
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Right around the time PS3's might actually be available in quantity. Huh. Funny that...
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
Anyone wanna place any bets on whether you'll need to spend some "points" on the demo?
This guy's the limit!
You must be new here.
damn right, where is the zune release coverage???
Granted, I didn't RTFA, as I don't really care, but that line struck me. This isn't going to be a demo, it's a beta test!
The odd part is that it is a beta on a console. Something that is usually considered a black box solution. If they are running a beta in an environment where lockups and crashes are not acceptable, they have to be pretty confident in the condition of the engine.
The only thing I can figure is that they will be looking more for playability issues (run speed, reload timers, choke points, etc...) and balancing just prior to launch.
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
I don't think you'll have to pay for the Halo 3 commercial, but I'm guessing it'll be release first on Live Gold, a la the Gears of War trailer. You will probably have to pay for the Halo 2 maps, if reports are to be believed. But all the Halo maps released so far eventually became free, so I think I'll just hang around till they're non-premium. If indeed I'm still playing Halo 2 at that date.
.... Because if they don't, the terrorists win.
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
Parent modded -1 Non-Groupthink Compliant
What's next, "unboxing" stories? No digg.
Cuz I was expecting BIG news.
God spoke to me.
The general reaction to the media from Halo 3 has been pretty bad. Back when it came out there weren't that many 'shiny metal' games out - and certainly not green metal ones.
But now days every damn Unreal engine game is full of shiny metal guys and Halo is looking more and more of just another one of the crowd. By the time Halo ships next year there are easily going to be 20 to 30 other 'guys in bulky metal armor' games.
Bungie never was known for their graphics engines - although the Marathon games were state of the art back in their days - most people never looked past the green metal MC and noticed how mediocre the actual Halo engine was in the first two games compared to what else was out at the time.
I get the feeling that most Halo fans are getting themselves prepared for dealing with moving beyond Halo and on to greener pastures(heh).
Far as I know, he never came clean as to whether or not he got a free HDTV from Microsoft's panel at the Game Developers Conference a few years back.
But we know that Microsoft would *never* do something like buy out their strongest critics....
I'm glad to see the console market finally getting caught up to ten+ year old PC gaming ideas. Kudoos, 5 more generations of consoles and my current computer might have some competition.
seconded.
anyone know if the fps games in these next-gen consoles support keyboard + mouse by default? i know you can hook them to the console, but can you use them instead of the controller?
As long as multiplayer is segregated.. blacks on one server, whi... i mean console users on one server and pc users on the other..
im HORRIBLE at games (i was good as a child though hmm), i dont play any on my PC and i rarely play any on consoles but I do play halo 2 and ill be buying a 360+halo 3 when it comes out..
At least with all console multiplayer I have a chance (up until about level 13, then i always die and give up for a year then buy another 12 month xbox live subscription to play for another month and then get mad and quit again for another year) but if pc users start playing i'll get my ass kicked by level 1's.
So if they ever do have it for pc i hope they keep everyone separate or add an option for console users to play with only other console users.
k thanks
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I don't think any console FPS does this yet.
On a related note, there was an adapter for the orignal XBox that let you hook up a PS/2 ([insert witty comment on the port's name wrt consoles) KB+M with mouse movement bound to the what is usually the "look" stick and other bindings programable. In general, though, it gave the people with it a fairly good sized advantage and I doubt they would integrate the controls into the game.
No, parent modded -1 Copy+Paste Troll. Has nothing to do with groupthink(which is what Slashdot trolls concentrate on to avoid the fact that they're jackasses)
Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
Notice how you completely dodge the issue of consoles still having a horrible interface(console controllers) for FPS and RTS games. (And no, the Wii doesn't make this any better.)
Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
I think I love you.
He also dodged the fact that the original XBOX DID have compatibility issues. my 3 friends had 3 xbox's (one an early, two a bit later i think) and one of the games they bought wouldnt load on all of them.. i forget if it was the newer or older ones it sh!t itself on, but the fact remains, it wasnt just "plug it in and it will work". As for the controller. Console Games ALWAYS have increased "hit zones" (ie the area you have to be aiming at to actually hit the target) because they KNOW you cant aim for sh!t with a console controller.
What is...?
Register. Then we'll talk. ;)
Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
If you read the article you will notice that the new maps will only be available for Xbox 360 when released. Very nice marketing ploy to try and force your customers to upgrade away from a console which still has plenty of life. No this is not surprising coming from Microsoft but still annoying nonetheless. Bungie pretty much apologizes saying they want all of their fans to enjoy the new content but that their hands are tied by the publisher, Microsoft Game Studios. Here's to not seeing other great game companies like Bungie being bought by large corporations who have other motives than simply delivering the best games possible to their fans.
I had more fun playing Goldeneye on N64 than I did playing any PC FPS. But then I'm more interested in actually having enjoying a game than spending all day configuring keybindings and optimising framerates.
I had to do more searching for buttons when trying to play Halo then I did with every PC FPS I've ever played, combined.
Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
It's funny that I was modded flamebait. Maybe some mods have a personal interest rather than objective take on what I said? Nah...
So why did I say that? Because I believe it's true, of course. My first online fps I played was Unreal Tournament; you just can't beat the accuracy that a keyboard and mouse offer compared to a controller. I've been played online fps for years, yet when I sat down at an anime con (Anime Weekend Atlanta) and tried playing Halo, I failed miserably. Using the left analog stick to move around felt fine (although I still prefer a keyboard), but using the right analog stick to look around/aim was difficult.
Think about it terms of different types pointing devices: most laptops have a touchpad, but some have a 'nub' (not sure what they're called). It's a pointing stick of sorts, just like the analog stick on Xbox controllers. Now, let's say you have a choice between a nub and the touchpad. Which would you choose? I used to think I would choose the nub, but after using that Xbox controller I realized I would rather have the touchpad (or better yet, a real mouse).
This is why I say "wake me up when it works on my PC". Not because I have a bias towards PC gaming, but because the input devices are superior for certain types of games. I say certain games because a controller is better for quite a few. Platformers, RPGs, puzzle games, etc.; but for games like first person shooters and real-time strategies, I'll stick a keyboard and mouse, thanks.
-Eric
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
-Eric
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.