Halo 3 Foundry Map Trailer

Halo 3 Rat's Nest Map Trailer

Halo 3 Standoff Map Trailer

Halo 3 Infection Gameplay: Get online now and join the fun!

Awesome Infected Halloween Halo 3!

"Playlist of the Living Dead

Posted by Frankie at 10/30/2007 10:25 AM PDT

In the dead of night, cold lids flutter and wake from dread slumber. What do those milky eyes see when they rise from their graves? What do those decaying nostrils scent in the air as they sniff the perfumed night of the boneyard? Brains of course. Succulent, delicious brains. Brains are to zombies as bacon is to people. Or candy, if you’re kosher.

It is a scientific fact that zombies feast on human brains because they are the softest meat on a person and Zombie dental care is not really up to snuff.

To celebrate the gustatory tendencies of the walking dead and to acknowledge All Hallows Eve, we’re launching a spooktacular, eerie-otic and cryptmongous playlist for 27 horror-filled hours, starting on October 31^st at 12:01am and ending at 3:00am on November 1^st because we love Hawaii Halloween too (Chicken skin kine). It is infection and it is the playlist of the Living Dead.

To answer your eerie queries and uncanny questions, we reanimated Transylvanian Tyson Green from his dank and moldering pit.

Q: Infection, what’s that?

Infection is this really great gametype, inspired by a custom game devised by our community in Halo 2, which we added official support for in Halo 3. In Infection, most players start off on a Human team, with one or more players starting off as Zombies. The odds are stacked heavily against the Zombies at first, but when a Human is killed by a Zombie (as they inevitably are), they join the Zombie team and turn on their former teammates.

Q: How long will the Living Dead haunt matchmaking?

Just for Halloween, from 12:01am to 3:00am the next morning, PST. We decided to let it go a bit late into the morning to give people a chance to play when they got home from their Halloween carousing. Infection is a lot of fun when everyone is into it, but we don’t think it would make a good playlist long term, so it’s going to come and go.

And if everyone has a good time, who knows? It may return, as the restless dead are known to do.

Q: Can I get achievements in this playlist?

Yes, it is set up as a Ranked Playlist, and players will have some good opportunities to pick up a few of the harder MP achievements without any of that pesky guilt. Fending off the hungry dead is as righteous a way as any to score an Overkill. It’s also a good chance to fill out your Ranked Medals with some of the Infection medals, like Infection Spree and Hell’s Janitor.

Q: Can I join with my homies or is this a Lone Wolves style hopper? And how many corpses will I play with?

You can join with a max party size of 4, Infection matches can start with eight players and the games have a player limit of 13.

Q: There’s more than one version of Infection in this playlist, what is each version and how does it work?

We’re using two main versions: Save One Bullet, which is close to classical Infection but with limited ammunition which keeps the Humans from holding off the Zombies forever, and Creeping Death, where the Zombies are a bit slower but shockingly invisible and deadly. Creeping Rockets is a third variant where the Humans are more heavily armed, but the Zombies are tougher too.

Q: Do the maps in Living Dead have the same set-ups that I am used to?

The Living Dead playlist will be the first to use Forge variants in Matchmaking. Lars [Bakken] and Dan [Miller] pulled out all the stops and Forged some masterful variants featuring fortified positions and anti-Zombie booby traps to help get people into the Zombie mind (which is to say, wanting to get into a Human’s mind. Directly.)

Q: Man, I love these gametypes is there any way I can get them?

Any time you play one of these variants in Matchmaking, they’re saved in your Recent Games queue (in the Custom Games lobby, go to select the game type—the Recent Games list is at the top.) They may also show up in the Bungie Favorites this week.

Q: Will there be more special hoppers in the future?

You bet."Bungie.net

New Bungie Podcasts is Ready to Finish the Fight!

"Bungie Studios Podcast: Yes, We're Here

Posted by lukems at 10/11/2007 1:48 PM PDT

What makes a good producer? What does being a producer entail? Frank obviously has his take on it, but when we ask veteran producer and one of Bungie's leaders, Jonty Barnes he has a different take then our Scottish treat. With Paul Bertone off the grid in meetings, Jonty fills in (sort of) in a very special, and ne'er to be repeated version of the NFL Minute.

Special note: This show was recorded well before the announcement regarding Bungie Studios and our relationship with Microsoft. We'll talk about that on an upcoming show!

Direct download available here: 108007 show, 53:19, 73 MB

RSS Feed for non-iTunes subscibers here (come on subscribe, already):

Subscribe via iTunes here (see how easy we make it!)"Straight from Bungie!

Nuff said...

Halo 3 Updated Matchmaking Playlists, that was fast and it shows!

Straight from Bungie"Halo 3: Matchmaking Playlist Update 1

Posted by lukems at 10/9/2007 11:07 AM PDT

Halo 3's Matchmaking Playlists, just like Halo 2's, are dynamic and ever-changing entities. Even now in the perilous Bungie towers, we're looking at new hoppers, gametypes and modes to test for future iterations and changes of these playlists. Multiplayer Lead Tyson Green and test wunderkind David Gasca sent the following list of changes to us -- and these changes are live now:

• Big Team Battle matches are now 16-player affairs.
• In the Team Slayer playlist, the appearance of Shotty Snipers has been greatly reduced.
• Now, when players veto Shotty Snipers, the game that results from the veto will not be Shotty Snipers.
• In one-sided VIP matches, the attacking team will now see a waypoint for the VIP they are hunting.
• In Lone Wolves, Slayer gametypes will appear more frequently."

This kind of thing usually takes months and Bungie manged to do it in less than a week. So even though it isn't much of an upgrade or change; it is better than nothing. Thanks Bungie...

Halo 3 New Tricks and Glitches video!

Halo 3 Interview with Bungie, Teamxbox clears things up!

For the full Interview click here.
But the interview basically says that Bungie and Microsoft now have a developer/publisher relationship. Then they say that there will be two new games coming out from Bungie and they won't be Halo. But in the works are the Peter Jackson project and DLC for Halo 3.
So everything is happy in Halo Land. My guess would be that there won't be a Halo 4 until the next console cycle and get ready for tons of DLC for Halo 3, that will cost you. As well as seeing the Peter Jackson title and HALO WARS next year.
Beyond that? Who knows, I don't think even Bungie knows... This isn't awful but it certainly could be better...

UGO Tries to find some Halo Killers, probably not guys!

The offerings from UGO.com are right here.
I can/t say that this was a surprising article given the furor over Halo 3's recent good reviews and sales. However, to be a "Halo Killer." The game is going to need to have the kind of impact that Halo 3 does. Which is virtually impossible to do. Any games that come out from now on, won't be able to do better than Halo. Why? Because beating Halo is like beating Madden. The competition might be critically better, but you aren't going to find the kind of sales that Halo pulled.
Two games on the list certainly have the best chance of being "Halo Killers." These would be Unreal Tournament 3 which doesn't come out until next year except on PC. The other game is the Orange Box. Unreal Tournament 3 has some of the best graphics on any system since Gears of War and the addition of a map editor that allows the players to make maps and upload them to either the PC to play them or to your PS3. This is revolutionary and exciting. Problem is, that in order make the maps you have to buy a copy of the PC version of the game. To play them on your PS3 you need to have a PS3 version. Theoretically, this could give the game double normal sales. But I think only around 10% of the population of Unreal community will do this. Too bad, built in double sales could definitely kill Halo 3. The Orange Box, probably the best deal in all of gaming will include: Half Life 2, Half Life episode 1&2. Portal, and Team Fortress 2. It also comes out next week. It will be available on three platforms XBOX 360, PS3, and PC. All of which will probably help it's sales immensely. Even with all this packed on to one disc, I think that this critical darling will probably suffer from lagging sales. The commercials this last week were good but Microsoft has been touting Halo 3 for the past 2 years and Valve won't be able to compete with that. Personally, I'm more excited about both games than I was for Halo 3.
Their sales won't reflect this and considering how many 9s and 10s Halo 3 received where can these games go critically to beat Halo 3? This is why when people start saying that it is too early in the year to say that Halo 3 or Bioshock will be Game of the Year; I wonder then, why they gave the Halo 3 and Bioshock 9.5s or 10s. These are normally not scores people throw around. I have never given a game a 10/10. Mostly because there is no room for improvement there and every game has room for improvement.
The other games on the list have too low of a budget and are a little too pat to be able to compete with the most popular FPS in history next to Counter Strike.
The games that aren't on the list that might topple Halo 3; that aren't FPSs. For instance: Rock Band, Guitar Hero 3, Mass Effect, or even Super Smash Bros on the Wii. These games have broader appeal and even with small marketing budgets with the holiday season it is possible they could compete with Halo 3. It's going to be really hard to beat Halo 3 and even critically speaking it will be a real battle royale this holiday season.
But I get the feeling that in the end when all the scores are tallied and sales figured, Halo 3 will be the winner.

The Rumors were TRUE Bungie Offficially Leaves Microsoft!

"Bungie Officially Leaves Microsoft

It's actually 100% true. Bungie Studios is now independent again, but the developer has also formed a long-term partnership with Microsoft, and Bungie said it plans to extend that to include new IP beyond Halo. More within...

Sometimes really big rumors actually prove true. Today Microsoft and Bungie Studios confirmed that the Halo developer has once again become a privately held independent company. Microsoft will hold a minority equity interest, however, and the two parties "have forged a deep and long-term development and publishing relationship focused on the continued success of the Halo franchise."

In addition, Microsoft and Bungie said that they intend to "expand their partnership to include new IP created and owned by Bungie."

"This exciting evolution of our relationship with Microsoft will enable us to expand both creatively and organizationally in our mission to create world-class games," said Harold Ryan, studio head for Bungie. "We will continue to develop with our primary focus on Microsoft's platforms; we greatly value our mutually prosperous relationship with our publisher, Microsoft Game Studios, and we look forward to continuing that affiliation through Halo and beyond."

"Working with Microsoft was great for us, it allowed us to grow as a team and make the ambitious, blockbuster games we all wanted to work on. And they will continue to be a great partner. But Bungie is like a shark. We have to keep moving to survive. We have to continually test ourselves, or we might as well be dolphins. Or manatees," said Jason Jones, Bungie founder and partner.

More information on Bungie's official website reveals that the deal became effective on October 1.

Bungie added, "...rather than stifle our imagination, [Microsoft] decided it was in both our best interests to unleash it. We'll continue to make Xbox 360 games, and we'll continue to make amazing games for MGS. In that regard, nothing has changed. All that has changed is that now Bungie Studios is once again, the property of the folks of Bungie Studios. Microsoft is and will continue to be, a brilliant, inventive and creatively collaborative publishing partner. Practically speaking, nothing has changed and you guys won't see much, if any difference, for a while..."

Microsoft acquired Bungie back in 2000, and since that time the studio has played an enormous role in driving the Xbox business thanks to its Halo franchise. Most recently, Halo 3 totaled over $300 million in worldwide sales during its first week."

This seems strange considering that small independent studies have been doing pretty badly in the last couple of years. Hopefully this isn't the Halo curse, first the movie and now the studio that makes it. It seems this franchise is just rife with turmoil.

Halo 3 Makes $400 Million it's First Week!

"Halo 3 scores $300 million in first-week sales

Bungie's latest not doing too badly at the end of Halo 3's first week on sale.

By Emma Boyes, GameSpot UK

Posted Oct 4, 2007 7:07 am PT

Xbox 360-exclusive Halo 3 made $170 million on its first day on sale in the US alone, and also broke Australian sales records according to figures released down under. Now Bungie has one more reason to celebrate--week one sales have clocked in at a rather reasonable $300 million worldwide.

Halo 3, which is the fastest-selling game ever, is being billed by Microsoft as "one of the most successful entertainment properties in history." The company released a statement saying that initial figures from retailers are also showing the Halo effect having an influence on console purchasing--Xbox 360 sales have more than doubled since the game's release.

Unsurprisingly, the game is also faring well on Xbox Live, with more than 2.7 million gamers having had a go online--over a third of the seven million total registered Live users. Forty-million hours of online games, which adds up to 4,500 years, have been played in the first week across the globe, and almost 30 million achievements unlocked."Gamespot...

This compares to the total amount of the box office for the Sixth Sense. That, hopefully puts this amount in perspective. Considering this is just first week sales, it will be interesting to see how much this games turns out earning by Christmas.

Gamecritics is critical of the Reviewers Reviews!

"When Bioshock was released to universal acclaim from the popular gaming press, I fully expected to be amazed by the game. My reaction to it was less enthusiastic than what I expected, and reading around the 'Net as well as the responses to my own review, there seemed to be a similar reaction among many others. I found it possibly more than coincidental that sites like IGN were loaded with hands-on previews and detailed articles about the game, then it was released to an exceptionally praise-filled review. Now the long-awaited Halo 3 reviews are in, and—just like Bioshock—there were tons of hands-on impressions, detailed previews, and fever-pitch hype. So it didn't surprise me that it received ubiquitously raving reviews, with 9s and 10s littering the field.

I haven't played Halo 3, and I probably won't play it until it comes out on the PC three years from now. But I read the reviews and I have yet to read one that I thought really justified the high (often perfect) scores the game is receiving. A 10/10 is, to me, a game that is truly a landmark in game design. It breaks boundaries, drives the medium forward, and executes brilliantly across the board. A few years back I gave The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay a 10. It was a beautiful and brilliant game that melded numerous genres into a fluid, exciting, and wholly unique experience. From what I can see, no one is claiming that Halo 3 does anything like that. The consensus seems to be that the gameplay is mainly just a minor refinement of Halo 2; that there are some level design issues later in the game; and that the experience lacks the "newness" of Halo. 1UP.com even went so far as to say, "...in Halo 3, the big 'oh wow!' gameplay moments just aren't there"—but they gave the game a 10/10 anyway. Now, having not played Halo 3, I can't say personally whether it's as great as it's being made out to be—I'm only saying that the press has, in my view, done a poor job of substantiating their ratings.

All this leads me to wonder some things about the gaming press. Most commercial sites are hands-on participants in the pre-release hype. Developers give them exclusive stories; they write detailed, often spoiler-filled previews that draw lots of readers and fuels the hype; developers often invite them in-house for multiple demonstrations and hands-on sessions with early builds of the game. I find it hard to believe that these kinds of sneak-peeks do not entice and excite the people in the gaming press and cause them to fuel the hype among eager gamers. And I find it even more difficult to believe that these kinds of teasers, along with the self-perpetuating hype, do not eventually sway the biases of the writers when the game hits.

Well, I did not get hands-on time with Bioshock at E3, or visit Bungie's studios to get a sneak peek at an early build of Halo 3. The gamers' reaction to the former was most telling—while most seemed to enjoy it, it seemed that few viewed it as the masterstroke of game design that the press portrayed it to be. I suspect that the reaction to Halo 3 will be similar; I somehow doubt that gamers—at least experienced ones—will be quite as awed as the press.

What concerns me most about the hype slant, though, is that better, more creative games are often overlooked. My favorite game this year has been S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. While certainly not a "perfect" game, it was a brilliant and gripping game that broke new ground in a number of important ways (I'm very much looking forward to the upcoming prequel, which looks to expand on some of the key innovations in the game). I remember Riddick, which was released with little pre-release hype, being largely underrated by the press but being highly praised by gamers everywhere. I'm also looking forward to Crysis, which I'm sure will get terrific reviews and be subject to a hype slant itself. But it's clear to me from the previews that the developers are really pushing technology and interactivity in some really groundbreaking ways, so when a game is released that is "merely" a refinement of well-played ideas, it seems to be a bit of a disservice to developers who are really pushing boundaries."Gamecritics...

Normally this type of story really does my heart good. But having said that, this person hasn't even played the game. Journalists should never make statements about people being unduly influenced and something smelling wrong when they haven't even had the experience of playing the game. Also, the fact that he was critical of Bioshock, one of the best games of the year(which I did play). The fact that this journalist quotes an XBOX game and a pretty irrelevant PC game that came out to wide appeal among only PC reviewers bothers me. If your going to start complaining about console reviews perhaps you should buy an XBOX 360 and at least rent some recent games. All of this raises the red flag right off. My copy of Halo 3 is in the mail so I might be able to say better once I can spend a few hours with it.

I certainly think IGN had the best review of Halo 3; but I trust the opinions of the reporters over at 1UP and when they give it a 10/10, I can't really argue. Also, the fact that Dan Hsu reviewed the game who is probably the most trustworthy person in game journalism reviewed it. Basically makes it really hard to argue until I get my hands on it.

As much as I love the idea of independent, non-commercial, and frank reviewing this isn't the way to do it. If you want to make such inflammatory comments about some of the best titles out there, you need to have played the game. To simply review the game reviews themselves pretty much just says that the journalists themselves are doing a poor job of writing game reviews. Wait until the magazine reviews come out and then decide. Because the magazines have much longer, more thoughtful reviews than websites do. So good effort Mike, but get all the facts before you start seeing conspiracy theories.

Halo 3 is Hard on XBOX LIVE!

I guess the fight is finished on the XBOX LIVE servers. Between the occasional XBOX LIVE MARKETPLACE outages today and then the denial of the www.xbox.com service for players due to high traffic.
This is all kind of understandable; except that Microsoft and Bungie had to have known that this would happen. I don't blame Microsoft or Bungie for all this, because hey, we all knew that this would happen didn't we?
Most important thing for all you folks to remember is that Microsoft knows about all this and they are working to correct the issues. So bear with them people, after all; it's really all you Halo players fault.

Halo 3 the Good News Has Arrived! Part 3

Halo 3 the Good News has Arrived! Part 2

Halo 3 Reviews, the Good News has Arrived! Part 1

Jaffe doesn't get Halo...

"In response to our Halo 3 'Museum' post yesterday, David Jaffe published a refreshingly frank discussion about Halo (an AIM conversation between him and Sony designer Adam Orth) in which he...oh, we'll let Jaffe tell the story! We're getting the popcorn.

It's a decent ad I think. I just don't get HALO. I don't think the story is all that special, don't think the world or characters matter much. I don't know if I am simply not 'getting it' and it really is all that...or Microsoft has simply purchased rabid fan reactions for what is a great game but nothing more.

Oh, but there's more!

I don't dislike Halo at all and really liked parts of Halo 2 alot...I am in minority who felt single player halo 2 was better than halo 1 single player. I mean, I hear people talk about the flood and shit and I'm like: what? Who gives a shit.

I couldn't have said it better. Well, maybe I could have. But it would have taken some work and you wouldn't have read it anyway and if you did you'd probably skin me alive.

Adam Orth questions Microsoft's usage of veterans in the campaign, adds a few choice comments like "fuck Halo" and then debates the merits of having such comments appear online. It's all pretty fantastic. Hook it up with a click."Kotaku...

I think the funniest thing about this is that no body really "got" Calling All Cars when it came out. Certainly no one "got" why one of the best developers in world would give up making God of War to make crappy PSN arcade games...