Umm... why is the situation so different in Halo 3 as opposed to how things were in Halo 2? You can play co-op via split-screen in Halo 2, and the exact same issue is still there (players moving far distances away from each other), yet they somehow handled it just fine: when one user is getting way further ahead on the map, the game will just teleport the lagging-behind player forward to the other player. Why wouldn't this be possible when playing over the internet?
They have been promising this since before 2 came out, just one of the many places where they dropped the ball on 2.
I don't understand why they can't just do they same thing they do in LAN Co-op.. when one player reaches a certain spot it "transports" the other player automatically to that point. That "felt like Halo" enough for 1 and 2...
Sounds more like poor excuses to me. Halo is flirting with solidifying itself as a source of undelivered promises. In-game "vaporware", one might speculate. Okay, first of all Halo 1 and 2 did not teleport the second player when they got too far from each other - they teleported the other player at checkpoints, when the game saved, so that if you died and had to restart from a checkpoint, both players would be close together. This is not so obvious in Halo 2 due to how railroaded the levels are, you pretty much *have* to travel in a straight line through all the checkpoints. However, if you take a map like Silent Cartographer in Halo 1, which is a giant island, you can have both players go out several hundred meters into the water on opposite sides and not have them teleport to each other.
And I'd like to ask you, Mr. Loteck, just when and where did Bungie promise Halo 3 co-op? Or promise anything else which they haven't delivered? I certainly haven't seen backtracking on any announced features, the closest is our current discussion: online co-op; but Bungie never said they were putting it into the game. Until now, they've never even said to anyone they've wanted to. It's mostly been implicitly expected by the community. But when it comes to crunch time, and you're looking at the immense problem of implementing online co-op, and you've only got another month to figure out the problem before launch, I think the best, most honest way of going about this is announcing beforehand that no, co-op won't be available for launch, but yes, we'll still try and add it in later.
What did you want them to do? Wave a magic fairy wand and finish the development with their large supply of pixie dust? Or perhaps you'd have preferred they kept this nugget of information to themselves until game launch? So no, Halo is not 'solidifying itself as a source of undelivered promises', this is just one instance of one thing that you won't get in Halo 3 at launch, and you cry bloody mary over it.
But I find it funny how all sorts of crazy laws get passed without a fuss, and then along comes this Real ID thing, which doesn't really come close to effecting people nearly as much as the other laws prior to it have, yet all of a sudden, all the states are up in arms about it and there's all this public outcry. It sounds so much like a pressure release valve to me. Everyone's fed up with these laws, so we're given one to fight that doesn't really matter.
Microsoft stands behind its products and is taking responsibility to repair or replace any Xbox 360 console that experiences the "three flashing red lights" error message within three years from time of purchase free of charge, including shipping costs. Microsoft will take a $1.05 billion to $1.15 billion pre-tax charge to earnings for the quarter ended June 30, 2007 for anticipated costs under its current and enhanced Xbox 360 policies. This is the important part of the press release. If you're xbox fails for any reason that isn't the three red lights of death, then no, you don't have the 3 year warranty. Take for instance, my xbox: On day one, I plug it in, and there's a problem with the a/v connector which results in four red flashing lights. I'm only covered by microsoft's warranty for ONE year. Not three.
The following articles pretty much destroyed what little hope I had in Bethesda actually making a decent Fallout game. First, the good parts:
Q: What happens when your character levels?
A: You gain points in your skills (not specified if they're automatic or assigned?) and on even levels you gain perks. The maximum level in the game is 20, mainly because the game has a definitive ending which is triggered by the main plot. They mentioned anywhere between 9 and 12 possible endings to the game, possibly depending on side quests and choices made during the main quest lines.
Q: Explain more about the style of Dialogue / Storylines?
A: Again they stressed the fixed ending, with multiple possibilities, and that your actions throughout the game would determine how the main plot resolved. Also that your choices of dialogue can open up more quests, more options for places to go and things to do in the game. Emil really seemed to stress a high level of detail written into the game as far as Dialogue and Quest interaction. I'd like to point out that the dialogue and storyline stuff is essentially the same thing they promised in Oblivion. Anyways...
Q: Does all Radiation in the game dissipate over time?
A: There are a few events which cause extreme levels that will never go away, but most radiation from things like blown up cars (nuclear engines) and the mini-nuke weapon will dissipate given a little time.
Q: What is the main quest? (this person may have been sleeping through the demo...)
A: The main quest centers around your dad mysteriously disappearing from the Vault one day, and your quest to find him and find out why he left and where he is/has gone.
Q: Will there be unkillable NPC's?
A: There will be some, but they expressed sadness at this, and said they are putting as few unkillables as they possibly can.
And the new Fallout 3 world keeps all the humor and flavor of the original series. You will find broken down nuclear cars (that will still explode if shot up), crazy robots like Mr. Handy, and a host of sometimes quirky wasteland dwellers. At one point we set one of the exploding nuclear cars on fire and then hopped into a portable nuclear shelter (which costs a quarter to use and looks like a phone booth) to avoid the blast.http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=890 http://www.gameindustry.com/review/item.asp?id=856 [Warning: This article may cause brain hemorrhaging.]
This is really fascinating. There's a rather good book I read, "The Speed of Dark" by Elizabeth Moon that talks about this very thing.
"If I had not been what I am, what would I have been?" wonders Lou Arrendale, the autistic hero of Moon's compelling exploration of the concept of "normalcy" and what might happen when medical science attains the knowledge to "cure" adult autism. Arrendale narrates most of this book in a poignant earnestness that verges on the philosophical and showcases Moon's gift for characterization. The occasional third-person interjections from supporting characters are almost intrusive, although they supply needed data regarding subplots. At 35, Arrendale is a bioinformatics specialist who has a gift for pattern analysis and an ability to function well in both "normal" and "autistic" worlds. When the pharmaceutical company he works for recommends that all the autistic employees on staff undergo an experimental procedure that will basically alter their brains, his neatly ordered world shatters. All his life he has been taught "act normal, and you will be normal enough"-something that has enabled him to survive, but as he struggles to decide what to do, the violent behavior of a "normal friend" puts him in danger and rocks his faith in the normal world. He struggles to decide whether the treatment will help or destroy his sense of self. Is autism a disease or just another way of being? He is haunted by the "speed of dark" as he proceeds with his mesmerizing quest for self-"Not knowing arrives before knowing; the future arrives before the present. From this moment, past and future are the same in different directions, but I am going that way and not this way.... When I get there, the speed of light and the speed of dark will be the same." His decision will touch even the most jaded "normal."
ilovebees was an ARG, this however, is just a marketing campaign. You really can't call it a 'game' at all. Games require interaction, ilovebees had people making phone calls and traveling places. This Halo 3 'ARG' has consisted of everyone being handed the information on a silver platter. You get a url, you go to the url, you read what's at the url, and then you wait for the next url. It's like watching a movie, not playing a game.
That doesn't mean it isn't entertaining, because it certainly is; some of the information we're getting really fleshes out the background of Halo's setting, and it's fun to ponder the various theories about what it all means.
Anyone in China want to see footage of Tiananmen square? Forget it. It's not in Google's best commercial interests. Because, as we all know, had Google not censored it, everyone in China would be able to view the footage.
Oh wait, no. That's not what would have happened. China would've blacklisted Google, so that their citizens couldn't use it, ever. So Google had a choice: Pretend to be 'good' and lock themselves out of a potential multi-billion dollar market; or be evil, and restrict and censor certain things the Chinese government deemed inappropriate [While making lots of evil $$$].
So was it the right decision? Well, it's not as if the Chinese government would let their citizens visit Google if Google wasn't censoring, in fact, they'd likely be just as much restricted in such a case as they are now. So your complaint essentially sums itself up as "Google shouldn't have gone into China, because China is the enemy!"
I hear we've always been at war with East Asia.
[In other words, take your complaints to the Chinese government, because there's Jack All that Google can do to change it.]
I'd really like to use safari's font in firefox, is there a way to do this? [I checked the font Safari is using, and apparently it's Times New Roman, same as Firefox, so I must be missing something here.]
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.
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.
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.
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.
The new Canadian law is exactly this - a lobby effort targeting at domination, against our environment. You should RTFA. Or at least the summary. Here, let me quote for you:
"A member of the Canadian Parliament has proposed legislation to outlaw the development and deployment of 'terminator genes' that would prevent seeds from germinating after a set span of time.
The federal NDP has taken a stand against "terminator technology," the nascent gene-changing process used to render seeds sterile.
Agriculture critic Alex Atamanenko introduced a private member's bill Thursday to ban field-testing and commercialization of terminator seed, following the lead of the governments of India and Brazil. Canadian law is trying to ban Terminator genes, it's not lobbying to protect corporate interests. That's apparently what the agricultural minister is doing with his advocation of sitting on our asses while all our crops are taken away.
TFA says this protein triggers at 27 C which is far too cold for use in the shivering mechanism (which triggers at about 35 C). I think you may want to look up those numbers again. It was 27 degrees celcius here in Vancouver, Canada yesterday, and I was sweating like a pig.
Bungie didn't intentionally not finish Halo 2. They didn't meet their deadline, and had to cut a significant amount from the game. [3 levels were dropped from the end of Halo 2, according to Joe Staten.]
You're attributing malice to what was otherwise incompetence. [Though I would hazard to say it wasn't so much incompetence as it was Microsoft bugging the fuck out of Bungie to hurry up and release their damn game so the xbox could make money.]
Well, we're talking about a downloadable beta here. I wouldn't be surprised if a number of effects and textures were kept out to keep the download size small.
Regardless of that however, there is another important thing that many people forget when they talk about Halo 3's graphics. Which is the size of the maps themselves. Gears of War in particular is always being compared, yet Gears of War maps take place in comparatively small areas. I'd like to see the unreal engine render a map the size of Valhalla with the detail you might expect in Gears of War, without chugging. For instance, you can actually fly into space in Valhalla. Eat that, GoW!:P
To add to that list, people playing the Beta are in for a wonderful surprise yet again this week. Some fans managed to figure out how to start custom games, this has allowed many people to play gametypes and settings with new weapons that were previously unavailable. The customization is actually quite thorough. You can change gravity, player speed, weapon damage, damage resistance, weapon spawns, team traits, vehicle spawns, and that's just what's off the top of my head.
It's a real joy to run around Valhalla at 300% speed with 50% gravity while using an instant-kill plasma pistol to take down other players. Or, if you're particularly daring, you can try and smash into them with your body and get a splatter kill.
The most common misuse of the word is when some third party that could assist in the transmission chooses not to do so. This is not censorship, this is non-participation. It only rises to censorship if the third party has control over all of the communication channels that could be used. Ahh, I think I understand; It's only censorship if you never hear about it.
Looks like the ISAF is already planning to use this body armour in Afghanistan.
"NATO assumed command of ISAF which is backed by more than 37 nations and consists of over 31,000 troops. Given the hostile environment in Afghanistan, despite efforts to ameliorate the conditions, ISAF troops are still at high risk for casualties. ISAF recently requested new armor for its personnel expecting no compromises in terms of quality...
...EnGarde vests consist of panels made with an advance fiber called Dyneema®. The fiber is a super strong polyethylene material which offers maximum strength combined with minimum weight. It's at least 15 times stronger than quality steel and up to 40% stronger than Aramid fibers (Kevlar).
Additionally the vests are equipped with 3D curved hard armor inserts which can withstand multiple hits from automatic rifle fire. The combination of comfort with outstanding ballistic properties makes EnGarde vests most effective and thus in high demand." http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish/army/NATO_ s_ISAF_Chooses_EnGarde_Body_Armor_Again110011907.p hp
If you've played one Halo you know what the experience is going to be like for all the others. I think you should actually try playing Halo, before you go on about how each of the 3 games plays exactly the same.
Excellent online play, but most gamers will have a hard time finding value in the single player experience. What? There is no singleplayer. It's the Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta. Bungie never intended for us to play campaign missions. Did Gamespot seriously write this!?
Your point would make sense if Bungie was expending massive resources to create beautifully rendered CGI videos that don't add much to the game for their cost in time, and money. But that's not at all what's going on here. The cinematics in Halo have always been rendered in-engine, Bungie is just saying that with the extra time they have with Halo 3, they're going to improve the sound, dialogue, animation, and so on, over what they had in Halo 1 and 2.
This is hardly indicative of what's wrong with games nowadays.
I enjoy the bluray on my Ps3, I'd enjoy it more if sony pictures released downloadable movies. Err... if Sony Pictures released downloadable movies, what's the point in the bluray DVD player?
Slashdot Mirror
They have been promising this since before 2 came out, just one of the many places where they dropped the ball on 2.
I don't understand why they can't just do they same thing they do in LAN Co-op.. when one player reaches a certain spot it "transports" the other player automatically to that point. That "felt like Halo" enough for 1 and 2...
Sounds more like poor excuses to me. Halo is flirting with solidifying itself as a source of undelivered promises. In-game "vaporware", one might speculate. Okay, first of all Halo 1 and 2 did not teleport the second player when they got too far from each other - they teleported the other player at checkpoints, when the game saved, so that if you died and had to restart from a checkpoint, both players would be close together. This is not so obvious in Halo 2 due to how railroaded the levels are, you pretty much *have* to travel in a straight line through all the checkpoints. However, if you take a map like Silent Cartographer in Halo 1, which is a giant island, you can have both players go out several hundred meters into the water on opposite sides and not have them teleport to each other.
And I'd like to ask you, Mr. Loteck, just when and where did Bungie promise Halo 3 co-op? Or promise anything else which they haven't delivered? I certainly haven't seen backtracking on any announced features, the closest is our current discussion: online co-op; but Bungie never said they were putting it into the game. Until now, they've never even said to anyone they've wanted to. It's mostly been implicitly expected by the community. But when it comes to crunch time, and you're looking at the immense problem of implementing online co-op, and you've only got another month to figure out the problem before launch, I think the best, most honest way of going about this is announcing beforehand that no, co-op won't be available for launch, but yes, we'll still try and add it in later.
What did you want them to do? Wave a magic fairy wand and finish the development with their large supply of pixie dust? Or perhaps you'd have preferred they kept this nugget of information to themselves until game launch? So no, Halo is not 'solidifying itself as a source of undelivered promises', this is just one instance of one thing that you won't get in Halo 3 at launch, and you cry bloody mary over it.
But I find it funny how all sorts of crazy laws get passed without a fuss, and then along comes this Real ID thing, which doesn't really come close to effecting people nearly as much as the other laws prior to it have, yet all of a sudden, all the states are up in arms about it and there's all this public outcry. It sounds so much like a pressure release valve to me. Everyone's fed up with these laws, so we're given one to fight that doesn't really matter.
A: You gain points in your skills (not specified if they're automatic or assigned?) and on even levels you gain perks. The maximum level in the game is 20, mainly because the game has a definitive ending which is triggered by the main plot. They mentioned anywhere between 9 and 12 possible endings to the game, possibly depending on side quests and choices made during the main quest lines.
Q: Explain more about the style of Dialogue / Storylines?
A: Again they stressed the fixed ending, with multiple possibilities, and that your actions throughout the game would determine how the main plot resolved. Also that your choices of dialogue can open up more quests, more options for places to go and things to do in the game. Emil really seemed to stress a high level of detail written into the game as far as Dialogue and Quest interaction. I'd like to point out that the dialogue and storyline stuff is essentially the same thing they promised in Oblivion. Anyways...
Q: Does all Radiation in the game dissipate over time?
A: There are a few events which cause extreme levels that will never go away, but most radiation from things like blown up cars (nuclear engines) and the mini-nuke weapon will dissipate given a little time.
Q: What is the main quest? (this person may have been sleeping through the demo...)
A: The main quest centers around your dad mysteriously disappearing from the Vault one day, and your quest to find him and find out why he left and where he is/has gone.
Q: Will there be unkillable NPC's?
A: There will be some, but they expressed sadness at this, and said they are putting as few unkillables as they possibly can.
And the new Fallout 3 world keeps all the humor and flavor of the original series. You will find broken down nuclear cars (that will still explode if shot up), crazy robots like Mr. Handy, and a host of sometimes quirky wasteland dwellers. At one point we set one of the exploding nuclear cars on fire and then hopped into a portable nuclear shelter (which costs a quarter to use and looks like a phone booth) to avoid the blast. http://www.critical-hits.com/?p=890
http://www.gameindustry.com/review/item.asp?id=85
Well... He's got a friend now.
"If I had not been what I am, what would I have been?" wonders Lou Arrendale, the autistic hero of Moon's compelling exploration of the concept of "normalcy" and what might happen when medical science attains the knowledge to "cure" adult autism. Arrendale narrates most of this book in a poignant earnestness that verges on the philosophical and showcases Moon's gift for characterization. The occasional third-person interjections from supporting characters are almost intrusive, although they supply needed data regarding subplots. At 35, Arrendale is a bioinformatics specialist who has a gift for pattern analysis and an ability to function well in both "normal" and "autistic" worlds. When the pharmaceutical company he works for recommends that all the autistic employees on staff undergo an experimental procedure that will basically alter their brains, his neatly ordered world shatters. All his life he has been taught "act normal, and you will be normal enough"-something that has enabled him to survive, but as he struggles to decide what to do, the violent behavior of a "normal friend" puts him in danger and rocks his faith in the normal world. He struggles to decide whether the treatment will help or destroy his sense of self. Is autism a disease or just another way of being? He is haunted by the "speed of dark" as he proceeds with his mesmerizing quest for self-"Not knowing arrives before knowing; the future arrives before the present. From this moment, past and future are the same in different directions, but I am going that way and not this way.... When I get there, the speed of light and the speed of dark will be the same." His decision will touch even the most jaded "normal."
ilovebees was an ARG, this however, is just a marketing campaign. You really can't call it a 'game' at all. Games require interaction, ilovebees had people making phone calls and traveling places. This Halo 3 'ARG' has consisted of everyone being handed the information on a silver platter. You get a url, you go to the url, you read what's at the url, and then you wait for the next url. It's like watching a movie, not playing a game.
That doesn't mean it isn't entertaining, because it certainly is; some of the information we're getting really fleshes out the background of Halo's setting, and it's fun to ponder the various theories about what it all means.
Oh wait, no. That's not what would have happened. China would've blacklisted Google, so that their citizens couldn't use it, ever. So Google had a choice: Pretend to be 'good' and lock themselves out of a potential multi-billion dollar market; or be evil, and restrict and censor certain things the Chinese government deemed inappropriate [While making lots of evil $$$].
So was it the right decision? Well, it's not as if the Chinese government would let their citizens visit Google if Google wasn't censoring, in fact, they'd likely be just as much restricted in such a case as they are now. So your complaint essentially sums itself up as "Google shouldn't have gone into China, because China is the enemy!"
I hear we've always been at war with East Asia.
[In other words, take your complaints to the Chinese government, because there's Jack All that Google can do to change it.]
I'd really like to use safari's font in firefox, is there a way to do this? [I checked the font Safari is using, and apparently it's Times New Roman, same as Firefox, so I must be missing something here.]
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.
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.
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.
Bungie didn't intentionally not finish Halo 2. They didn't meet their deadline, and had to cut a significant amount from the game. [3 levels were dropped from the end of Halo 2, according to Joe Staten.] You're attributing malice to what was otherwise incompetence. [Though I would hazard to say it wasn't so much incompetence as it was Microsoft bugging the fuck out of Bungie to hurry up and release their damn game so the xbox could make money.]
Well, we're talking about a downloadable beta here. I wouldn't be surprised if a number of effects and textures were kept out to keep the download size small.
:P
Regardless of that however, there is another important thing that many people forget when they talk about Halo 3's graphics. Which is the size of the maps themselves. Gears of War in particular is always being compared, yet Gears of War maps take place in comparatively small areas. I'd like to see the unreal engine render a map the size of Valhalla with the detail you might expect in Gears of War, without chugging. For instance, you can actually fly into space in Valhalla. Eat that, GoW!
To add to that list, people playing the Beta are in for a wonderful surprise yet again this week. Some fans managed to figure out how to start custom games, this has allowed many people to play gametypes and settings with new weapons that were previously unavailable. The customization is actually quite thorough. You can change gravity, player speed, weapon damage, damage resistance, weapon spawns, team traits, vehicle spawns, and that's just what's off the top of my head.
It's a real joy to run around Valhalla at 300% speed with 50% gravity while using an instant-kill plasma pistol to take down other players. Or, if you're particularly daring, you can try and smash into them with your body and get a splatter kill.
If all these supermassive stars were forming so easily back then, what was going on in regards to black holes?
Your point would make sense if Bungie was expending massive resources to create beautifully rendered CGI videos that don't add much to the game for their cost in time, and money. But that's not at all what's going on here. The cinematics in Halo have always been rendered in-engine, Bungie is just saying that with the extra time they have with Halo 3, they're going to improve the sound, dialogue, animation, and so on, over what they had in Halo 1 and 2.
This is hardly indicative of what's wrong with games nowadays.
And hey, if anyone's interested, you can view Halo's cutscenes here:
http://nikon.bungie.org/misc/cutscenes/halo.html
http://nikon.bungie.org/misc/cutscenes/halo2.html