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Halo 3 Beta Closes Up Shop

Posted by Zonk on from the until-september-mister-c dept.

"Don't get attached to anything" is the message conveyed by Bungie, concerning the end of the public Halo 3 Beta. The event, which concluded yesterday, was the proving ground for multiplayer portion of the highly anticipated title. Halo 3 is due out this September. "The Beta has been a great success for us in terms of the sheer amount of data it allowed us to gather, for matchmaking, networking, general bug-bashing and of course some gameplay elements. As the Beta heads to the great software graveyard in the sky, it's vital to remember that things you got used to during these short few weeks, are almost certain to change. Some of those changes will be subtle, nuanced, perhaps even invisible. Others will be less subtle - with shifts in game types, weapon functionality, spawn points and map details."

56 comments

  1. Thank god... by Karganeth · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    That beta was awful... incredibly disappointing graphics wise.

    1. Re:Thank god... by ObiWanStevobi · · Score: 4, Funny

      Graphics don't matter, what is important is that the teabagging is slightly improved.

    2. Re:Thank god... by Pojut · · Score: 0, Troll

      I have news for you.

      The graphics are exactly as dissapointing to you as Halo was to every PC gamer out there when it was released.

      The halo series has NEVER had amazing graphics...it's been pretty, but far from amazing in comparison to other FPS's at the time.

      I love console gaming as much as I love PC gaming, but fucking hell Halo-claimers are annoying little roaches. ( a Halo-claimer is someone that "claims" Halo was the most revolutionary game evah!)

      --
      Living With a Nerd
    3. Re:Thank god... by EggyToast · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The Halo series is a pretty solid game for a console shooter. I dislike PC shooters for their uber-competitive nature, yet most console shooters are annoyingly awkward in multiplayer, which is where most of the fun comes from. Yet as someone who isn't head over heads for FPS games, and also doesn't hold Goldeneye in high regard, I probably had the most fun online in Halo 2 than any other multiplayer game I've played. There's enough consistency and interesting balance in the game that most games end up very entertaining. I think the game rates poorly for people who are very competitive, since it's not as open to clanning and grouping compared to a PC game. I also think the fact that it's based on a gamepad discourages people, especially those who are very focused on using a mouse and getting constant headshots. But for people who like FPS games but don't want to deal with uberweapons, there's enough variety and subtle balance in the game that I really, really enjoyed it. Most FPS games for a broad audience just shoot for cheese or wacky, like TimeSplitters. Or there's too much emphasis on giving everyone crazy weapons or weird customization that does nothing to really make the core game better (just a different avatar). Halo, I think, succeeded very well at being a broad-audience FPS, as I think its sales numbers show. I don't think it's "the best," but "best" is very subjective anyway. I appreciate that the game was serious about strategy and maps and weapon balance, without focusing on the elite gamers who only play for rank or achievements. I hope Halo 3 follows in those footsteps.

    4. Re:Thank god... by displaced80 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm not really a Halo fan. Completed the first one on the PC, never played 2 and only played 3 because I wanted Crackdown.

      Having said that, I'd expect the final release to have much better graphics than the demo -- and not because they've still got a few months to work on it. Basically, the H3 beta had to be delivered via Xbox Live. So, they had to keep the download size reasonable. Now, if you're looking to strip stuff out of a game, your choices are limited. Simplify the map layouts or alter the game engine and you're (a) making way too much work for yourself and, (b) not really giving an accurate representation of how the game behaves.

      The only real way to reduce a game's size without upsetting the aims of the demo/beta is to seriously drop the size and quantity of the world's textures. Possibly drop the complexity of some non-critical models too.

      I've seen this happen before. Compare the Xbox Live demos of Crackdown and Forza 2 -- both demos are significantly crappier-looking than their full retail counterparts.

      So, whilst I'm not expecting anything jaw-dropping from Halo 3 once it's out, I'd certainly expect it to look significantly crisper and slicker than the beta.

      --
      What's the frequency, Kenneth?
    5. Re:Thank god... by bobo+mahoney · · Score: 1

      So are you the savage that teabagged me on Friday? That is just wrong!

      --
      Bobo Mahoney
    6. Re:Thank god... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      What is amazing about the giant thud gamers had to Halo 3 and Forza 2 is how the very poor graphics have turned 360 owners into Wii owners in just a single month:

      "I don't care about superficial things like 'graphics', all that matters is the gameplay'

      Too bad Halo 3 is at best your average at best fps online game.

      Epic really screwed things up for every other 360 developer with the shameful Gears of War PR shots they still try to pass off as real even though they are really massively high resolution with giant amounts of AA and texture and normal map detail cranked up. They've done so good a job about lying about what Gears of War actually looks like that most 360 owners are now disappointed with everything else.

      Bungie could have gone with the 'gimp the game so we can make attractive PR shots' route and forced Halo 3 into the same format Gears of War used:

      * Tiny, tiny corridors or rooms limiting what is seen
      * Draw distances that are usually no more than 30 to 50 feet
      * Smeared out the background with blur to cover up the aliasing problems and tiny draw distance
      * Limit the number of things on screen to just 4-8 or so at a time

    7. Re:Thank god... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That beta was awful... incredibly disappointing graphics wise.

      You weren't supposed to be there for shiny graphics, you were supposed to be testing and searching for bugs. Yeah, the graphics weren't hot -- the beta had to be downloadable, so compression was the word of the day. When it hits retail, expect to see that disc jammed with high quality textures and models that would have choked their beta servers to death.

    8. Re:Thank god... by Wicko · · Score: 1

      Yes, I think you are required to teabag if you want your kills to count.

    9. Re:Thank god... by alxbtk · · Score: 1

      Maybe Myth I & Myth II were not jaw dropping, but the gameplay was excellent, the multiplayer a lot of fun (th), and the technology at the time impressive and innovative enough (great physics engine) and made sense in a tactical game. Granted, Bungie's FPS always sucked. But more than that, they were oversold. I remember how Oni was supposed to be a revolution. Of course, after being fed with such claims for months, when you actually get your hands on it, it sucks even more. Myth III sucked too, but this one was developped by Mumbo Jumbo after Take 2 bought the rights to the series.

    10. Re:Thank god... by Wicko · · Score: 1

      I haven't seen this occur in any of the other demos? I sincerely doubt that it will get a massive facelift (which, IMO, is what it needs), but definitely some improvement.

    11. Re:Thank god... by MeanderingMind · · Score: 1

      I've seen some interesting anonymous posts in my time, this one being the foremost amoung them.

      Why would the people complaining that the "very poor graphics" of Halo 3 aren't good enough turn around and buy Wiis? The very nature of their criticism is specifically tuned to the eyecandy and pizzaz rather than any gameplay.

      In fact, I'd think people who didn't care about graphics wouldn't be turned off by the "poor graphics" of Halo 3. They might be turned off by the price, the controls, or the Microsoft Logo, but not graphics.

      --
      Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
    12. Re:Thank god... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Congratulations on completely misunderstanding his whole post.

      Note this part:

      the very poor graphics have turned 360 owners into Wii owners in just a single month:

      "I don't care about superficial things like 'graphics', all that matters is the gameplay'

      See what he did there? He compared the quality of the Halo 3 graphics on the 360 to the graphics quality of a Wii. Then he compared Halo 3 fans to Wii owners who commonly say that graphics are secondary and gameplay is more important.

      Get it? I can use shorter words with fewer syllables if it becomes necessary.

    13. Re:Thank god... by Sibko · · Score: 1

      Jesus, you've got to be kidding me. Marathon was THE FPS to get on the mac, It had an incredibly engaging and very well written storyline, while having the gameplay you got from Doom. Honestly, in my books, Marathon trumps Doom in terms of quality and enjoyment.

      Of course, we then get to Halo, which a lot of PC players love to hate. Nevermind how beautiful the game looked, or how well it played, or what the story presented. [It wasn't on par with Marathon's but it's still good.] Many PC players who hate Halo don't even know anything about the game. [Typical comments are things like "What Storyline?" Which is really telling of their experience playing it.]

      Even Oni, you somehow find distasteful. It was engaging, and fun, for me. The fighting combo's were fantastic, and the storyline did the game justice. The only thing I found lacking was the steep learning curve to figuring out what moves you could perform. [Which I imagine is typical of most other fighting games, too.] I wish I had the chance to play it longer than I did.

    14. Re:Thank god... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The halo series has NEVER had amazing graphics...it's been pretty, but far from amazing in comparison to other FPS's at the time.

      Just curious, what PC FPS games do you think had a better graphics engine than Halo 1 when it was released(Nov 2001)? In terms of large/open environments, physics and interactabilty, I'm struggling to think of any. Deus Ex? Tribes 2? Unreal Tournament? I don't think any of those really impressed me (graphically) as much as the third mission from Halo.

    15. Re:Thank god... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's cause it WASN'T a demo, it was a beta. The intention was to find bugs and tune network play, not show off graphics so you buy it.

    16. Re:Thank god... by jamie(really) · · Score: 1

      Wow. Oni is one of my favorite games ever. I think ICO #1, Oni #2, UFO (X-COM) #3. I loved being able to knock a gun out of the guys hand, and for the AI to be able to do the same to me. Given the AI, I probably imagined it, but I swear there were moments when me and the AI looked at the gun, then looked at each other, then dived for it! Truly inspired gameplay and done incredibly well. Jamie

    17. Re:Thank god... by Endo13 · · Score: 1

      I have news for you.

      The graphics are exactly as dissapointing to you as Halo was to every PC gamer out there when it was released.

      The halo series has NEVER had amazing graphics...it's been pretty, but far from amazing in comparison to other FPS's at the time.

      I love console gaming as much as I love PC gaming, but fucking hell Halo-claimers are annoying little roaches. ( a Halo-claimer is someone that "claims" Halo was the most revolutionary game evah!) I have to agree with you 100%. I've tried Halo - its only real claim to fame is that at the time Halo 1 came out, it had no competition on consoles. The PC version was one of the worst FPS's I've ever tried.

      As for that being modded "Troll"... obviously someone with mod points has absolutely no fucking clue what "Troll" means in this case. It may have been somewhat flamebait (debatable) but definitely not a troll.
      --
      There is no -1 Disagree mod. Slashdot.org/faq defines mod options. USE IT.
  2. No worries by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Don't get attached to anything"

    Trust me, I didn't.

  3. It didn't seem like that big of a deal by Ammishdave · · Score: 2, Funny

    This was the second thing I had heard about it.
    This was the first

    1. Re:It didn't seem like that big of a deal by bobo+mahoney · · Score: 1

      I'm with you. Bungie stated from the begining that things would change from the demo to the final realease. Hello there were no swords in the demo - does anyone think that they have actually been removed from the game?

      --
      Bobo Mahoney
    2. Re:It didn't seem like that big of a deal by aplusjimages · · Score: 1

      Doubtful since the internets were a buzz about the leaked Halo 3 videos that showed a little kid playing it and comparing it to an erect penis. Also you could use it if you got into a custom game.

      --
      Can I bum a sig?
  4. One Word: Meh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The question that seems to be on everyone's mind about Bungie and Halo 3 is "What the hell have they been doing for the past three years?"

    They didn't really do anything to the networking code. Same 16 player matches and the rumored dedicated servers turned out to be not true.

    They didn't really do much in the way of graphics. Beta, multiplayer, blah,blah,blah...But the game looks very, very dated compared to what else is out there right now.

    They didn't really do much with the gameplay. Yes there are quite a lot of changes but certainly not three years worth of changes.

    I really don't myself picking up the game. There are just too many other fantastic online games out this year for both pcs and consoles. It will be interesting to see just how much Microsoft's gigantic marketing money for the game can generate sales for what would be a very mediocre effort if it was coming from any other company.

    1. Re:One Word: Meh by Sibko · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The question that seems to be on everyone's mind about Bungie and Halo 3 is "What the hell have they been doing for the past three years?" Er, no. That's only you, I'm afraid. I played the Beta, and it was significantly better than I was expecting. Nevermind the fact that the Beta was only the multiplayer component, toned down, with only 3 maps. A significant number of vehicles, maps, weapons, and equipment were not included in the Beta, and no one's seen more than a glimpse of the singleplayer. Whatever your basing your statements off of, it most certainly is not what you've seen of Halo 3.
    2. Re:One Word: Meh by dancin_mitch · · Score: 1

      The question that seems to be on everyone's mind about Bungie and Halo 3 is "What the hell have they been doing for the past three years?"

      They didn't really do anything to the networking code. Same 16 player matches and the rumored dedicated servers turned out to be not true.

      They didn't really do much in the way of graphics. Beta, multiplayer, blah,blah,blah...But the game looks very, very dated compared to what else is out there right now.


      Is this one of those quantum dupe things where people complain before the product comes out ?
    3. Re:One Word: Meh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Every Halo game was only mediocre, but they were still extremely successful.

    4. Re:One Word: Meh by aeproberts · · Score: 2, Insightful

      How do you know it is mediocre?...it is not even out yet! It is a BETA that is hampered and only multi-player. How can you judge a game until it is actually out.

      This goes both ways for all you Halo lovers as well.

  5. Bye Bye Brute Shot by Chouonsoku · · Score: 1

    Your ability to spam and destroy everything in your path will be missed. :'(

  6. Halo 3 Beta Was Great by Conception · · Score: 5, Interesting

    So, so far there are a bunch of "haters" out there... so need some positive energy or something here.

    Halo 3 is the best Halo MP I've played. Every issue that I had with 1 and 2 has pretty much been dealt with with 3. The maps are laid out really well. The new game types are actually interesting, if not revolutionary. (The new territories makes for such a better game) The weapon balance is fantastic. I never felt like anything was "broken". In any match up if I was killed, it was because they had a skill or strategic advantage, not because they were using the "newb combo" or something. The graphics may not be Teh BomB0rz but they didn't detract from the game nor are they ugly. But by far, the most impressive thing is they fixed the "people".

    With the 360's rep system, the easy to mute in game and the ability to turn off having to listen to the other team, I never once was called a racial or homosexual slur. I was amazed. When people drop out of a game, they lose RP (XP points basically?) and you can tell the 360 never to play with those people again. Now, if they can just keep the cheating out, they will have fixed the biggest problem with Halo 2. The People.

    And that could make Halo 3 a bigger success than any other online FPS I've played yet.

    Oh, and as to, "What have they been doing for 3 years?" It was 3 maps on a limited multiplayer to test their servers. Not three years worth of work. Fool.

    1. Re:Halo 3 Beta Was Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Halo 3 has really driven a split into the current Halo community. You now have a pretty clear divide in the reactions to the game into two camps:

      * The diehard Halo fanboys who are emotionally attached to the series
      * The general gamer population on the 360 that doesn't really care if Halo fails since there are so many other great options to play

      This game should have come out right at launch and been effectively Halo 2.1 with what we are seeing in the beta. And come out with a real next gen looking Halo 3 at the end of this year with 32,40,64 player online with dedicated servers. For what should be the high point of the 360's gaming releases, Halo 3 is a complete disaster right now for the premier first party title.

      It will be interesting to see if people will buy Halo 3 just because it has the Halo name on it and Microsoft is spending huge amounts of marketing money on the game.

    2. Re:Halo 3 Beta Was Great by Frogbert · · Score: 1

      Wow it sounds like its got features almost on par with Unreal Tournament!

    3. Re:Halo 3 Beta Was Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Wow it sounds like its got features almost on par with Unreal Tournament!"

      Buh,buh,buh...it's Halo...

      It's got that oh so cool cira late 90s/early 2000s shiny metal effect all over the place!

      Bungie are graphics GODS! They use teh shaders to make teh shine!

    4. Re:Halo 3 Beta Was Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well I'm a casual Halo fan, got the beta (die hard Crackdown fan), and I wouldn't describe it as Halo 2.1. It was a very nice multiplayer fps. Fast intense fights, in small areas, but they were laid out in such a way where you had a moment to collect yourself after a respawn. Very nicely balanced. Looked good, a nice variety of toys. It's got a lot of competition coming out BioShock, TimeShifter, right now I'm probably most curious about Too Human. But Halo 3 looks like it'll have more to compete with than just brand.

    5. Re:Halo 3 Beta Was Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Microsoft and Bungie shouldn't worried about the hate Halo 3 is getting from gamers. They should be very worried about the indifference.

      I have been seeing the inevitable hype articles all over the net and the universal reaction is consistently "blah" from most people. Microsoft has to be pissing their pants since Halo 3 was supposed to be their big game that was supposed to take the gaming world by storm and defeat all enemies. Halo 3 has been talked about as if it is some sort of devastating weapon that no other console could ever hope to survive.

      Instead it has turned out to be a very, very average fps multiplayer game with a disproportionately large marketing budget.

    6. Re:Halo 3 Beta Was Great by antic · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This isn't H3 related, but just wanted to vent anyway. I got my 360 on Live for the first time recently and started playing some Halo 2 games. I am 90% confident that every single opponent on the network is a robot. Of course, most of you may have already come to a similar conclusion.

      They all have the same whingey American accent. They all talk themselves up. They're all obsessed with making allegations of homosexuality, a split second before telling you to suck their dick or threatening to buggerise you (not their actual choice of words, mind you). (Seriously, it borders on obsession with gay acts - can't say I understand it. If I want to run around and gun people down, I'll play Halo; if I want to get my dick wet, I have a girlfriend.)

      People quitting games is also annoying. Either you feel overwhelmed and check the scoreboard to see you're the only one left facing another eight minutes of trying to escape four guys from the other team, or you end up running around for 10 minutes without sighting an opponent until you realise it's 6 on 2 and your team gets so bored they turn on each other for fun.

      Other than lag (being in Australia and getting put on US servers - are there even any AU servers?), you're right, the people are the problem. Guns don't kill a game, people kill a game.

      Still, it's fun.

      --
      'Thats they exact same thing a banana wrench monkey.'
    7. Re:Halo 3 Beta Was Great by bigman2003 · · Score: 1

      The fact that you mention 'servers' pretty much negates everything else you said.

      --
      No reason to lie.
    8. Re:Halo 3 Beta Was Great by antic · · Score: 1

      Why's that?

      I'm not familiar with the architecture. Are all games user-hosted?

      Any tips (from yourself or anyone else)?

      I am new to Xbox Live but previously played Halo with friends so I am not entirely useless (just on maps/game-types I've not tried before).

      --
      'Thats they exact same thing a banana wrench monkey.'
    9. Re:Halo 3 Beta Was Great by Sibko · · Score: 1, Insightful

      It will be interesting to see if people will buy Halo 3 just because it has the Halo name on it and Microsoft is spending huge amounts of marketing money on the game. And when it does come out, and makes bucketloads of money on opening day, I'm certain you'll just chock that up to it being marketing and halo drones. I mean, there's no WAY several million people might actually find the game incredibly fun and engaging!

      But let's ignore that for the moment, and focus on this:

      Halo 3 has really driven a split into the current Halo community. You now have a pretty clear divide in the reactions to the game into two camps: * The diehard Halo fanboys who are emotionally attached to the series * The general gamer population on the 360 that doesn't really care if Halo fails since there are so many other great options to play I know you're trolling just based on this statement. You don't have a fucking CLUE what the Halo community thinks and feels about the Halo 3 beta. It most certainly is NOT divided into two camps like you describe, and trying to stereotype all these people like this truly shows your ignorance.
    10. Re:Halo 3 Beta Was Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > You don't have a fucking CLUE what the Halo community thinks and feels about the Halo 3 beta

      Yes, no one who plays Halo ever posts what they think on the Internet.

      Any other bits of wisdom to share with us Einstein?

    11. Re:Halo 3 Beta Was Great by fimbulvetr · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's called trueskill and it's one of the only reasons I play halo instead of any other FPS, and one of the reasons I enjoy my experiences on XBL (Usually).

      You see, when you're truly level 25 or 30, you probably worked your ass off to get there. You've put countless hours into getting that high and are probably (greatly) excited/disappointed when you gain/lose that level. Here's the good part: Your peers are of comparable level and most likely spent a comparable amount of time and have a similar interest in having fun and not losing those levels. Especially in a team based objective game, you're unlikely to find quitters at those levels because the (rank-losing) nature of quitters generally precludes them from being that high. You also know that your peers are likely pretty competent at accomplishing team based objectives.

      Even better, you know that the opposing team is under the same circumstances, so you know you're generally in for one hell of a game, every single time you play.

      Note, this is generally the case (I'd say 90% of the time or so). The new stuff bungie is adding RPs for quitting covers another, what, 5% of that spectrum? The last 5% of the games are inexplicably infested with douchebags who couldn't grab a flag from a 1 year old, can't shut the fuck up, or are playing their friend's account. It may also include someone who's very very good at something, or knows a glitch that will inevitably surface, assuming bungie knows how to tease those sorts of things out of their numbers.

    12. Re:Halo 3 Beta Was Great by antic · · Score: 2, Interesting

      In summary then, "Stick with it, things will get better"? ;)

      A few of the wankers I've encountered to date (griefers) have been higher ranked players (15-20?) against guys like me (1-2).

      Surely there are enough new-to-Live players from Australia who could fill a server with me? I'm routinely the one in a game with the worst lag (I assume the little green meter on the right of your name is the health of your connection?) and it makes it a real challenge. There can be a notable gap between me assassinating someone and them either falling, or getting away.

      I think I'm also limited to Team Training and the unranked big battle types unless I purchase the latest map update, right?

      --
      'Thats they exact same thing a banana wrench monkey.'
    13. Re:Halo 3 Beta Was Great by bigman2003 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Xbox Live games are generally (almost always) user-hosted.

      In Halo they do a lot of very cool things to make this work well. One of the most noticable is the 'pause' screen you get when the host drops.

      The host (determined by Bungie) may drop during a game. You will see the entire game freeze and go to the score screen. Hang on a few seconds and the game will poll the remaining players to determine the best host. That person will take on hosting duties and the game will continue.

      Much nicer than the game disappearing.

      Sorry if I sounded like a smart-ass, I didn't know you were new to the service...

      --
      No reason to lie.
    14. Re:Halo 3 Beta Was Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And free dedicated servers shits all over that pathetic networking setup.

      It's like you are paying Microsoft 50 dollars a year to give you a crappy online setup and pathetically small player counts(8 for Gears of War, 16 Halo 3).

    15. Re:Halo 3 Beta Was Great by iainl · · Score: 2, Funny

      Thanks for that; it's good to know it was good fun. In a less than incredibly sensible move, I got Crackdown a week before the beta started, and I've been so absorbed by the full game since that I never actually got around to trying Halo. Oops.

      --
      "I Know You Are But What Am I?"
    16. Re:Halo 3 Beta Was Great by antic · · Score: 1

      Interesting. I had assumed that people quit the session *because* it stalled like that and hadn't realised it was shifting the game host completely because the original had fallen - very clever.

      --
      'Thats they exact same thing a banana wrench monkey.'
    17. Re:Halo 3 Beta Was Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just as a point of information this has been done lots of times before. Probably the most famous example of this feature is Starcraft (which doesn't even need to pause to switch hosts).

  7. at least.... by MrBallistic · · Score: 1

    ...crackdown will drop in price a bunch. it was floating at 40something used last week, but i bet it'll drop a ton now that everyone's keen to sell it.

  8. MP is great and all.. by Wicko · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ..but I'm more interested in the single player. It's what kept the original alive for so long for me. The giant maps, huge battles, shitloads of Flood to feed shotgun pellets to.. Halo isn't really known for its fantastic graphics.. they are good but have never been at the top. Halo 2's storyline was a huge disappointment to me, so I'm hoping that they make up for it this time around. But it seems like they are focusing more on MP, as that is what kept Halo 2 alive for so long.

    1. Re:MP is great and all.. by bigstrat2003 · · Score: 1

      I disagree. We really didn't hear much about Halo 2's single-player before it was released, they guarded it much more closely than multiplayer. Just because Bungie isn't telling us about the single-player doesn't mean they aren't committed to it, Halo 1/2 had amazing single player experiences, and I fully expect Bungie is working hard to make sure Halo 3 lives up to its pedigree.

      --
      "16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
    2. Re:MP is great and all.. by hibiki_r · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Amazing single player experiences? Are you sure you mean the same repetitive Halo that the rest of s suffered through?

      Tycho and Gabe said it best:

      http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2001/11/28

    3. Re:MP is great and all.. by bigstrat2003 · · Score: 1

      If you didn't like it, fine. I loved it, it's the best FPS I've ever touched, bar none (even the supposed greats, like HL 1/2 don't come anywhere close).

      --
      "16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
  9. You can still play by Sibko · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Assuming you never turned your xbox off or signed out before last night. You won't be able to get into matchmaking, either. But if a friend has a custom game, you can join up and play with him.

  10. Console FPS = SP by shmackie · · Score: 0

    After playing Rocket Arena 3 competitively for three years on the pc, Halo MP feels like snails duking it out with pea shooters. That's not to say it doesn't have its challenges, or is never fun, but the controls and speed is too cumbersome compared to say, nailing a mid air rocket in RA3, fly-kicking someone out a window in FEAR:Combat or taking someone's head off with an AWP. What I do love about the Halo series is the single player experience. Even though it's no Deus Ex or Max Payne story line, the map layout and scripted events are always entertaining. Not to mention the AI (marines for Master chief and fellow Elite for the Arbiter). The co-op side of things is also great. You and your mate zipping around the tunnels in the human city, both in separate warthogs is quite an experience (except for when he runs you over when you hop out to grab a weapon). All I know is that I've been putting off getting a 360 until Halo 3 comes out, so I'm at least praying that it'll be good.

  11. Either you love it or hate it ... by jchenx · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The Halo 3 beta really isn't going to change the opinions of the game that gamers have had for years now. Those that like the franchise continue to be wowed by the gameplay, and the sheer fun they have in the multiplayer. On the other hand, if you've never understood what the fuss was about, or even a "Halo hater" (something that's common and the "in" thing to do especially if you're a PC gamer), then it's not like the Beta is going to suddenly change your opinion of the franchise. There's plenty to pick on in the Beta, if you're for or against the series.

    IMHO, all the debating and argument that goes on is pretty moot, and just turns into a huge troll-fest. It's like two groups speaking two totally different languages. Personally, I'm a fan of the franchise, but since I grew up as a hardcore PC gamer (keyboard/mouse forever!), I can definitely understand the "meh" attitude from some fellow gamers. As a result, I like the franchise, but I'm not "OMG! I <3 M4ST3R CHEIF".

    The one thing that pretty much is indisputable is the massive presence this game will bring come September. Halo fans are vocal, and there are definitely a lot of them. I cringe at the amount of marketing and Halo talk that we'll get plenty of this Fall.

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    -- jchenx