Halo 3 Cinematics To Be Great Improvements on Halo 2's

1up is reporting that Bungie has admitted to not having the time to do cinematics right for the best-selling Halo 2. Along with statements they made earlier this year about flaws in Halo 2's multiplayer, the folks at Bungie seem quite willing to own up to previous mistakes. Their call to arms this time: everything will be better. "With Halo 3, they have artists and designers who've worked on epic Hollywood projects like The Lord of the Rings and King Kong, not to mention a former Industrial Lights & Magic guy (read: Star Wars) working out the details on an 'amazing space battle ... there's a bigger team, a team that has had the final cinematic script for much longer, and now has access to vastly more tools, resources and technology than ever before. These range from new tools for rigging facial animation, to better lighting and camera controls. Most of the improvements are a solid blend of technology and manpower this time around, and we hope the fruits of that labor end up as succulent as they look now.'"

Comments

fun

[John Nowak]

Is there anyone here that would actually claim "improved cinematics" can make a game more fun? None of my favorite games (Fallout, STALKER, Civ) have anything approaching fantastic cinematics, yet they're still brilliant. This is an example of everything that's wrong with games nowadays.

Re:fun

[Sciros]

To claim that it's an "example of everything that's wrong with games nowadays" is a bit harsh and shortsighted IMO, no offense intended. It depends on what games one enjoys. One of my favorite games of the last generation, Ninja Gaiden for Xbox, had fantastic cinematics throughout the campaign and they most certainly didn't take away from the game. Rather, they were almost like a "reward" of sorts between chapters.

This year I played through Final Fantasy XII, and its biggest drawback (assuming one likes the game mechanics, etc. of course) is that it doesn't have a "Theater Mode" where you can re-watch its cutscenes (some of which are in-game graphics, others are gorgeous FMV).

The games you mention as your favorites are great, although I am more of a Baldur's Gate guy myself ~_^ Actually, Baldur's Gate had an opening cinematic featuring Sarevok, and interestingly enough that is the "image" of the character that stuck with you throughout the game.

That's actually an interesting phenomenon -- that even if you see a character's "cinematic" version for a few seconds in a game, that is the image of the character you remember best when looking back at the game.

As in-game graphics improve, pre-rendered cutscenes will be seen less and less, but for the time being, as long as they are well-done and well-integrated, they take nothing away from a game. Take, for instance, the ending of Shadow of the Collossus. In fact, if that were done with FFXII-style pre-rendered graphics, it would have been that much better IMO.

I can definitely think of some examples of poor integration/execution, though. Take Xenosaga, for instance. Hours upon hours of cutscenes to sit through, most of which are like a bad anime.

Re:fun

[nomadic]

Is there anyone here that would actually claim "improved cinematics" can make a game more fun?

Ico.

Re:Garaunteed Failure

[GrayCalx]

Garaunteed Failure. That's all I have to say.

Just to clarify, you're saying Halo 3 is going to be a guaranteed failure? Out loud, to other people, you're saying that? Alrighty then...

Re:Hmmm...

[tlhIngan]

And here I thought they gave Master Chief the helmet so they wouldn't have to bother with pesky things like facial animation...

They could also just do it Half-Life style, where all the cutscenes and stuff are rendered such that Gordon never talks nor appears (short of turning on third-person view on the original Half-Life). Heck, it leads to the great Half-Life mystery of the helmet...

Re:Not hard to do

[Turn-X Alphonse]

Incorrect, plenty of games do massive battles over huge land scapes, it's just a matter of carefully controling whats on screen at any one time.

Cinematics

[MeanderingMind]

Cinematics =/= Prerendered.

They aren't talking about extended CGI sequences we all know and hate, they're discussing the in-game cutscenes Halo and Halo 2 were riddled with. Supposedly Halo 3's will be better.

Re:Cinematics

[kestasjk]

Halo was great because it was so simple; it set up a simple world where you could run from cool looking scene to cool looking scene and kill some aliens.

Halo 2 sucked because it tried to have a rich storyline and character development that I don't think anyone cared about. One minute I'm killing some alien spider on earth, next minute I'm on some second halo or something, next minute I'm in a floating temple and there's some infighting amongst aliens for some reason.

In Halo 1 it's just "regroup, find the control center, go to the control center, save the captain, get the index, destroy Halo", none of this "prophesy" bullshit. K.I.S.S!

In Other Progressive News!

[GodInHell]

Next generation of technology said to be more advanced than last! (Who knew?)

Shouldn't this article be met with a resounding "DUH!" ?

-GiH

Bad Idea

[Cap'nPedro]

They should have talked to the guys behind the Command & Conquer cut-scenes. They were (and still are in C&C3) absolutely amazing.

Although, I don't think the whole live action thing would work too well with Halo.

Immersion

[GodInHell]

And here I thought they gave Master Chief the helmet so they wouldn't have to bother with pesky things like facial animation... You might think that, but everybody else in Halo 1 had a face (seargent, cortana, etc). I think it serves as an immersion tool - because the avatar dosen't have a face you can identify with the avatar as self - or if your subconcious works differently - the avatar as your favorite kind of hero. It eliminates the desire in the player for an avatar that reflects their own identity without forcing them to build in custom avatars (which would have been a stretch back in H1).

-GiH

Re:Garaunteed Failure

[Quiet_Desperation]

Garaunteed Failure.

Yeah! I mean, look at how cut scenes brought down that nickel and dime Final Fantasy franchise.

Maybe it's just me

Wait, are you suggesting your opinion is not a universal absolute? The deuce you say!

To those saying in-game cinematics are a waste...

[Pojut]

...have you so easily forgotten the cinematics to Diablo II? Easily the best collection of cutscenes in any game EVER.

Re:Garaunteed Failure

[Tofystedeth]

If you were paying to the article at all (why would you? this is /. after all) you'd know that they said they were sticking with doing all the cinematics with in the game engine.

Re:Garaunteed Failure

[FiloEleven]

Because every game should be mindlessly shooting anything that moves and nothing more, right? Certainly not nothing more! You're missing more than half the gameplay unless you shoot things that don't move, too.

How does it go? "If it moves, kill it. If it doesn't move, shoot it until it does, then kill it."

Re:Not hard to do

[Darundal]

They ARE sticking to in game rendering, just like they did in Halo 1. It's just that this time around, they actually have the horsepower to not have it look like crap like it did in Halo 2...

Re:Hmmm...

[Xtravar]

Like the GTA protagonist never had a name and never talked... until Vice City and San Andreas.