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Online Co-Op For Halo 3 Launch Confirmed
Happily, the internets were wrong. Via Joystiq comes the happy news from Bungie that not only will we be able to play the Halo 3 campaign in online co-op mode, but up to four players at the same time can enjoy the experience. "Acting as a team is a fantastic new twist to the Campaign gameplay - something that works as well on foot, in close confines as it does on the battlefield, with large scale vehicle mayhem. Scared of Jackal snipers? Send out a scout to see what dangers lie ahead. Terrified of an open field? Flank your enemies and swipe their rides. The combinations and scenarios are endless - and you'll be able to enjoy them time and time again in Saved Films of your co-op exploits. We mentioned that we've been having a blast. We have a lot of stories. Many of them would require that we explain some of the reasons replay will be a big factor, but not quite yet. Soon, we promise." For more on the game, 1up is running the only preview out there of an entire single-player campaign level called 'Tsavo Highway'.
I didn't really care about the prospect of playing games on Live, but if I'm able to run through the campaign with my old college buddies across the country I'm sold.
I guess that means I'll have to subscribe to Live.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
Kinda nice that they got rid of the magical double thing, and gave you two more named chars with a bit of back story.
You mad
Does Bungie even acknowledge the existence of the Halo novels? It would have been quite easy (and interesting to the story) to use all of Blue Team for example as the four available characters instead of making three of them Elites. I hope that the story at least attempts to connect to Ghosts of Onyx...
'Yes, firefox is indeed greater than women. Can women block pops up for you? No. Can Firefox show you naked women? Yes.'
Co-op has always been a highlight of Halo games for me, as it is what I felt truly set the game apart from its FPS predecessors.
.. and there's no lag ^_^).
4-player online co-op that allows you to save films of the gameplay? That right there is worth $60 for me easily. It will be my favorite gameplay mode (apart from split-screen co-op -- nothing beats having your buddy next to you as you whoop Covenant arse together, especially since it spares you having to wear that wretched headset
I like basketball!!1!
Obviously they need to hold on to Halo 3 until the next version of Windows comes out so they can force a few gamers to upgrade Windows just to play a year old game that should run fine on Windows 2000.
Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
I know it's just anecdotal, but on my most recent visit to big time retailers (Best Buy, Circuit City, Target), it looked like the PC games that require DX10 and thus Vista in full stock with seemingly little interest. There were tons of "Shadowrun" boxes and nearly as many Halo 2 PC. So pricing it at $100 may reduce what could be already poor sales.
Are they named Tucker and Private Donut? You team killing ...
An I.T. motto in the hands of an idiot is a dangerous thing...
High school and college student grades are expected to be at an all time low this fall semester. Also, the words "fuckstick", "fag", "asshat", "shitcock" and phrases such as, "your mom " and "oh yeah?! where do you live, bitch?! i'll kick your ass!" are expected to be at an all time high.
If nothing else works, a total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face will see us through.
I find it interesting that in that list, Halo 3 is listed at #8, and Halo 3 Special Edition is listed at #24. I'd really like to know how they tabulate these "sales".
Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
Well, the $100 pricepoint would only be for Halo 3 (with the $40 being the exclusivity tax for being too cheap to buy a 360). Moreover, with DX10 limiting it to Vista means MS might get some Vista adoption going amongst gamers. Question is what strategy would allow them to
Reasons to boost price:
a) Not terribly affect 360 sales boost
b) Make enough money per sale to recover costs of porting a game designed for the 360 to PC
Reasons to lower price:
a) Encourage adoption of Vista amongst gamerfolk
b) Sell enough copies to recover costs of porting a game designed for the 360 to PC
Making the option available would have to be financially feasible, but I am sure with the online component, that's not entirely implausible.
But even if is financially feasible, I bet MS is just going to sit on their asses and bully PC gamers into buying a console because they probably assume the 360 is a godsend and that every human wants to play Halo 3.
Cheers!
Atheist: Buddhist in a Prius
Maybe this has been talked about before, but I haven't seen it anywhere. Supposedly the replays are stored not as a rendered movie file, but rather as the actual movements and events in the sequence that they happened. The being the case shouldn't it be possible to not only watch your replay from whatever angles and such, but also to jump back into the game from any arbitrary point in that replay and then play out the game differently?
That could allow for players to sort of create their own "scenarios" which they could start from, and try out different strategies and such to "solve" those scenarios. Maybe one team spends some time setting up some cool defenses at a base, and the other team can repeatedly try to take it over, without having to spend all that time setting the defenses up at the beginning of each round?
I don't know, just thinking out loud here.
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
What games are there to buy from Amazon? Almost all of the good PS3 games that are out now are downloadable.
"But even if is financially feasible, I bet MS is just going to sit on their asses and bully PC gamers into buying a console because they probably assume the 360 is a godsend and that every human wants to play Halo 3."
It's like you punched me in the gut with that. I was visiting those retailers because I had finally broken down and decided to grab a 360. When you think about it, the whole Games for Windows initiative can be seen as "win-win" for Microsoft. Either you:
a) Want to stay on the PC and break down and get Vista (and other upgrades that may require of you), or
b) Decide you're tired of upgrading the PC to play the latest games and decide to go to the standardized dedicated console and buy a 360.
But ask again in a few years when everyone's running Vista and the 360 is nearing the end of its lifespan and I'm sure the argument will be different.
I'm fairly certain that at this point the PS3 isn't having much effect on the Xbox 360's sales. Look, for example, at the following charts.
North American Console Sales
Japanese Console Sales
The releases of the PS3 and the Wii have neither increased nor decreased the rate of sales for the 360 in either region by any significant amount. In terms of absolute market share rather than relative percentages, the PS3s impact on the 360 appears to be non-existant.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
Let us know when RoosterTeeth does an intro video for H3.
I think this has less to do with Microsoft than with Bungie's obsession with balancing play. If you believe Bungie's updates, each weapon is meticulously play tested for balance, fairness, and fun. It would be fairly impossible to have the same experience on a PC as a 360. No matter what side of the controller/keyboard debate/debacle you fall on, they are clearly different beasts.
have I played a co-op FPS game online with more than two people. I can't quite remember the max players allowed on a server (8?). It was a total blast, although having to type out everything you wanted to say was a PITA. Also, with so many people playing together sometimes it got a little too hectic.
4 player co-op sounds like the sweet spot. Also, I don't care if players 3 and 4 are Elites. Hell, they could be grunts and I'd still be cool with it (especially if they cried "They got leader!" when the player 2 Arbiter dies ;). So anyway, I'm totally psyched for this game now!
I'll be happy if they just get the off-line co-op working decently. Halo 1 & 2 had horrible co-op support. IIRC, in Halo 1, you had to beat a level single handedly before you could play it co-op, and there was no way to save progress in a co-op mission. Halo 2 was slightly better in that you didn't have to beat the level in single player mode first, but you still couldn't save progress in co-op, so if you didn't finish a mission, you had to start over the next time you sat down.
Computers don't make mistakes. What they do, they do on purpose.