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Halo 3 Almost Done
The word from Bungie is that they consider the final chapter in the Halo story 99.9% complete. They're now in the home stretch, with time to polish. Says Luke Smith, "That last .1% percent is pretty important, however. Right now, some testing is being done in a controlled retail environment via our Halo 3 Epsilon. You've probably seen reports online or even folks on your friends' list playing it, so here's the scoop: The Epsilon is a closed, final phase testing for Halo 3. We won't be making the Epsilon available for public consumption, so while that's immensely disappointing for folks hoping that Friends and Family invites would be extended for the Epsilon, just know that each day you wait in agony is another day closer to September 25." Wired has a huge blowout feature on the title, with lots of screenshots, discussion of how the game was made, and more.
Seriously, why is this news? I mean, they already set the frikkin release date some time ago, of course Halo has to be "almost done" by now!
And considering they will need a bit of time to press the discs and ship them to retailers, it is about time that they are almost done now.
Sheesh, if they would have declared Halo 3 gold master, that would at least have been some sort of news, but "It is almost done" is not the least informative; right now, it is to be expected if they want to honor their release date.
Does anyone actually believe that? This is the biggest console seller for Microsoft...of course there's going to be a Halo 4. Or maybe it'll be Halo: Cortana's Revenge or something. But there will be a Halo 4, no doubt about it.
So where's my jar of honey?
You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
But after the Halo saga is complete, where do you think Bungie will go? What do you think will be their next project? Or has this been known for some time and I was just never told about it?
Living With a Nerd
Coming to you on PC in December 2016...
They have already released the Halo 3 Mountain Dew flavor. See, there is a little Halo dude on the side. Should be due out anytime now. Think I'll just grab me a can while I wait.
"To Do Is To Be" - Socrates, "To Be Is To Do" - Sartre, "Do Be Do Be Do" - Sinatra
Wow after reading your posting history Dr Kool, im AMAZED that you would think Killzone 2 trumped Halo 3. Seriously, Im just stunned! /sarcasm
This sounds like how the typical programmer seems to think when designing progress bars. Sure, it only took 5 minutes to churn through the first 95%, but the last 5% is SO important, it's OK to wait another 10 minutes or so.
(If you've ever installed Visual Studio, you KNOW what I'm talking about!)
Killzone looked nice at e3 but that about all I saw. It made way to many quick cuts for me to get a feeling of what the graphics looked like in game. The cut scenes looked good, but I'm not really sure I like the general art direction. As with many of the super real graphics... they looked bland, dark, and brown. Though hellgast on the other hand looked rather good graphically and art wise.
Halo 3, at least grabbed my interest with the trailer and some of the things it hints at. Though I don't really have high hopes.
You mad
I don't see what the big deal is. Trent Reznor's already up to Halo 25
>> "What would the robut do? Frame someone!"
As a PS3 fan over the 360, I'm really not holding my breath for Killzone 2. I really didn't like the first one (controls sucked) and I see similarities between the first and second games that make me nervous. The only thing that has me still semi-interested is that Killzone for the PSP was fun. I'm going to wait and see what the reviews and buzz is before I declare Killzone 2 even close to Halo quality.
The thing that made Halo great was that it was a total package - fun gameplay, great multiplayer, and an entertaining story. The mechanics weren't radical, but it was the first game that really brought me back to console land from PC land. I could safely say that Halo was the prime reason that I picked up an Xbox and now own a PS3 instead of upgrading my PC.
That said, Halo 2 was a rehash that was forgettable. I'm not going to buy Halo 3, although I'll probably try and check it out in the stores just to see what it's like. But there's no way you can compare Killzone 2 to Halo at this point solely on graphics alone - Halo was never about being a gorgeous game, it was always a total package. Killzone the original was a buggy mess.
I know it did to the majority of Bungie's fanbase.
You must mean everyone BUT the ones that bought 8.some million copies of Halo2.
...Halo 2 sold alright, and it was only like 85% complete...
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
"I'm not predicting a flop, just don't automatically assume that Halo 3 will be a huge hit."
hahahaha
This only reinforces my theory that the release date for Halo 3 was moved up from November to September for marketing reasons (to avoid being too near the (original) GTA4 release date), and that decision does violence to the final product quality.
They've still got gameplay issues, for chrissakes!
Hans
Sad but true, a game being completed before it's shipped is, these days, pretty big news.
>I know it did to the majority of Bungie's fanbase.
What, both of them?
I keed, I keed.
Seriously though: I like Bungie's stuff and Marathon is a favorite, but Halo delivers the same kind of complex and nuanced storyline in a shinier and better-playing package. Yeah, it's not the Mac-only Halo RTS or MMO that some anticipated, but it's an enjoyable game.
You're quite welcome to your stomach-souring Microsoft-hating bile. I for one am having too much fun with games for various platforms to spend my time a-hatin' their manufacturers.
----
Hans
Killzone 2 graphics have to be better than Halo 3's, or it will most likely die. After reviewers have been giving KZ2 such stellar reports as 'non-innovative gameplay' or the gem where fighting a mini-boss was 'uninspired', graphics sound like the only thing going for it.
-- toolie
There's no predicting, at a million pre-orders when last reported, the game is already a qualified hit and we're just over a month out. Assuming an average price of $80 USD (regular @ 60, special @ 70 and collectors @ 130) its generated roughly 100 million in sales just on pre-orders thus far. Halo 2 sold something like 1.5 million pre-orders, and I expect halo 3 to top that, ending between 1.5 and 2.5 million pre-orders when it's all said and done. Add in walk-in sales for the first month, and you're looking at something that may be approaching a quarter billion dollars in sales. Add to that the fact that its going to be a system-seller going into a Christmas where the the PS3 lineup is still pretty weak (the 360 library is comparatively strong in the months leading into Christmas) and the Wii which is still largely unavailable due to high demand (not to mention that it doesn't really compete for the 360/halo audience -- then again, it is Nintendo and they do have a strong holiday lineup as well so they'll be able to sell every Wii they can produce.)
Also, the E3 Halo footage was still Beta content, we know that it looks better by now and also that its a smooth 60 fps. I'm not sure whether Killzone was in-game footage or not (I know that there was a hoopla earlier over their use of pre-rendered footage) and we also don't know if it was running at the desirable 60 FPS mark. Thus far, I have yet to see anything on the PS3 which tops the 360 graphically and doubt we ever will (the 360's GPU technology is a generation ahead of the PS3s after all, and was designed for the console, rather than a PC part tacked on late in the design process when they discovered that multiple Cell processors didn't provide the graphics power they desired at a cost they could stomach.)
My one prediction for this holiday season is that the 360 and Wii will widen their respective leads over the PS3
No, that is a new demographics.
/. and the Bungie forums - you'll see just how much the old Bungie fans thought of that.
I don't say it wasn't a good business move. Well, ok, being about the only game worth playing on a console marketed with a billion dollar marketing budget certainly doesn't exactly hurt sales.
But see other comment: Everyone anticipating Halo before MS bought ought Bungie expected something very different. Check the archives, both of
Now Bungie has a new fanbase. Probably a larger one. If it'll be a loyal as the old one, or jump ship the next time someone else comes out with a cool game - we'll see.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
That's what I remember, too.
I was really, really looking forward to Halo. Keyword being "was".
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Halo is playable on XBox, PC, and (omg) Mac.
Whatever small fanbase they lost, it was only a fraction of the fanbase that they gained.
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Why are they releasing Halo 3?
I'm still waiting for the remaining half of Halo 2.
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So let's bury this one, please. Bungie wasn't a Mac-only game studio save for three games, and if you can name two of them without consulting Wikipedia then we can talk.
This now concludes our broadcast day.
Most people, myself were uninpressed by the Halo3 beta. I don't anticipate enough has changed to make that much of a difference.
What I did see, was the PS3 trailer for UT2007, and that looks amazing, blowing Halo3 out of the water....
...who can't stand this game?
0 0079WF16), anyone remember that?
First off because the story line is absolute dog excrement, the game play and controls...suck hot dogs, and secondly, it's a morphed crap version of a product that Bungi Studios (before Satan(tm) bought them out) was doing good with called Marathon (http://www.amazon.com/Marathon-Infinity-Mac/dp/B
Halo, is a DIRECT copy of the leftover bits of Marathon. Microsoft did what they always do to great ideas they inherit from companies they buy out: take existing great ideas, piss and crap on them, generate hype and then sell the trash.
Yeah, you can flame me now...