20 replies to this topic

[vociferous]

Well, before the end of this month, we may get a chance to see Halo 3 in action. It's likely, because of the heavily guarded story this time around, that we'll get multiplayer. As was reported in the most recent update, several multiplayer maps are quite finished.

I think 'Cuse said that it was unlikely that Microsoft would show off next year's darling when it has a game this year it's trying to sell to consumers. I'm hoping (and guessing) that he'll be wrong. Although I don't know the scale and scope of any Halo 3 announcements, I think Gears of War will be fine and work on its own merit. Plus, I've found some other rumors. Bungie may be announcing another project at X06. I don't know how accurate that is, but I've heard it from several different locations and it sounds interestingly possible.

As some of you guys know, Bungie was working on a project called "The Phoenix" before they shafted it to meet deadlines for Halo 2. This was Jason Jones' baby and, as far as I can tell, he's not actively with Bungie anymore (like most of the original team). There were a lot of interesting rumors about this and about Bungie remaking Halo: Combat Evolved for the Xbox 360, this time with an online component, but as of right now, they're all rumors.

Gears of War will definitely have some serious multiplayer gameplay and footage available to wow gamers and I don't think Halo 3, or its November 2007 release date (yeah, I'm guessing here), will make people stave off playing the best game of 2006 while they wait a year for the best game of 2007. I think it would be very interesting for Bungie to show off some powerful Halo 3 footage, because Halo is Microsoft's "go-to" ball player....usually every time.

After TGS (Sep. 22-24) , I believe Sony is going to showcase some impressive new titles and some new information that could put it back on the map of reasonable consideration (well, maybe not). X06 (Sep. 25-29) will begin immediately after the Sony-intensive show in Tokyo. Microsoft's show, being held in Barcelona, will need to make up some ground. Titles like BioShock, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, Too Human, Forza Motorsports 2, Crackdown, and Gears of War will have a strong presence there, no doubt, but the crowning glory of Microsoft must make a stop. Afterall, since E3 2007 is going to be a far cry from what it was, there needs to be something to permanently set a reason in gamer's minds why the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii aren't even part of the competition next year.

I think some Halo 3 live gameplay is a definite possibility. If we do get Halo 3 footage, apart from awesome HDR lighting, high-resolution graphics, and unannounced features, we're going to potentially get a chance to view new weapons, vehicles and a map (or more). This would usher the sort of excitement and coverage of Halo 3 we had after E3 2004, during the exciting Halo 2 Zanzibar multiplayer sessions. It would cement Xbox 360 owners for the next year and crush anything Sony could conceivably muster.

So...what do you guys think? Are we going to get any additional footage or is Bungie going to be a no show?

[Kinetic]

My guess is a no show. Actually, that's my hope. I want to go into Halo 3 completely unexpecting of anything except amazing visuals and an epic close to the series.

[Blaze]

Are we going to get any additional footage...

Maybe around this time next year.

[BRASH]

My gut instinct says no, but the above does make plenty of sense. This is Microsoft's most final show to widely demonstrate their lineup for Fall and Winter domination. From what I've heard, people buy the fact that Microsoft have some killer games coming out and they can't wait to get them. GoW, Double Agent, R6: Vegas will be out this year, and I have good hopes they will be ready for hands-on play. Peaking through the doors of Halo 3 would make a big splash, but frankly, I don't think Microsoft needs to. EDIT: This is something almost similarly important, but Nintendo is supposed to spill all the beans in a few week(s) in a NY show. There's also been talk of the Wii's needing a redisign, meaning a possible pushback for release. I'll be ears up for that.

[UHYVE]

A Wii redesign would be funny. I always wondered how they hell they could fit a next gen console into such a small box, the heatsink for the processor in my PC is seriously bigger than an entire Wii.

[DualX]

A Wii redesign would be funny.

A name change would also do the system good :sweat:.

I'm almost positive they'll show something about Halo 3 there just because they haven't shown anything else about the game. They have shown several solid things about the game at least one year before (which most games do) the launch of Halo 2. I honestly don't think they would want to wait until the next E3 before they start giving off any new videos about the game.

[Vanwadilion]

I don't expect them to show anything, but I'm really hoping I'm wrong. I just think that the announcement trailer will be it until maybe next E3.

[vociferous]

I think a lot of you might be underestimating Sony's potential strength at TGS and Microsoft's need to mute it at X06. For example, if Sony announces that the PlayStation Online service will be up and running at launch and will be on par with Xbox Live, except, now you can purchase/download/stream music and video from their company directly to your PS3 and PSP, including shows/films in HD, Microsoft will need to scramble. I don't think their impending partnership with DirecTV is even concrete as of yet...and the real catch will be the games. They would need something on par or equitable in terms of news. To think about how closely Sony has been holding its cards to its chest up to this point, it makes me believe they might have a very strong showing at TGS (now less than two months away from launch). Particularly, in the games department. What if they have 25-30 launch games? What if some of them look pretty damn good? Microsoft will need a healthy portfolio of games for 2007 in order to compete. If this is the case, I wouldn't be surprised to see video footage of Halo 3 (among other games - like BioShock). Keep in mind that the game has been running in both campaign and multiplayer since December of 2005. Currently, portions of the multiplayer have been finalized or are nearing a finished state. Also, to reiterate a point that Dual made: There'll be only about a year between X06 and the release of Halo 3 (give or take a few months). This gives them a very short time to build up hype...not that hype needs to be built up, but Halo 2 sold well, so I don't think that they would need to break the mold in terms of marketing and releasing footage/screenshots. Halo 2 already had a good chunk of stuff available at this time and I expect Halo 3 to follow suit. Plus: Microsoft has already stated that they're going to have a strong show with several unveilings; I think it's fair to assume we'll see something Halo 3. And Ivan, no, I don't think they'll show screenshots of Halo 3 at X06. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if Bungie, a week before or after the show, throw some screenshots of the game up on their site as they did when Halo 2 was being played at E3 2004.

[BRASH]

If you keep quiet, everyone will begin to develop their own ideas about you. They don't understand what they cannot see. And, in the case of Sony, I don't care how quiet they are or what their campaign is; Microsoft is in the lead, and their real contender is Nintendo. Right now, I don't think many of us are happy with Sony's launch strategy, regardless of how little or how much they have already shown. I want to see some H3 like anyone else would, but I still think Microsoft could dominate without it. Maybe they should talk about their LIVE Anywhere service again.

[Jironimo]

Man, after Sony's very bad news yesterday MS is clearly in a position of great strength especially in Europe. If they do show anything new they'll want to make a big splash in Japan at the TGS where they need improvement, the only problem witht that though is that the japs really don't care about fps games. MS really just needs to show up at Barcelona and not really anything too special, europe is very pissed at Sony. Keep in mind that H2 was announced in August of '02 and not shown in playable form until 9 months later at e303. If you look at the opposite side you see that h2 was officially shown for the last time 6 months before it shipped in e304. The only way they'll show it is if we're gonna see h3 in March of 07, 6 months from Sep.

[BRASH]

Good point, and I'd imagine Microsoft has shifted it's power with Sony's delay for PAL countries. If H3 is Microsoft's greatest fire against Sony, I think they might save it for an E307 showing.

[vociferous]

Brian Jarrard/Frank O'Connor on this week's podcast:

Jarrard: Between the X06 show next week...I know a lot of people have been tied up on that, myself included. I will just sort of go out on a limb and say our post X06 show, which will probably be Episode #2, is going to be very juicy.

O'Connor: Heh...really. More announcements coming?

Jarrard: I think it might be safe to assume that something cool will come out of that X06 show. So...we'll have to leave that. Time will tell.

[hint]I'll give you hint and say that they're not talking about Halo 2 Vista.[/hint]

[Kinetic]

BRASH: E3 '07 won't be happening, sadly. Voc: Juicy huh? I don't know if I like juicy. More often than not when a game with a high juice factor is released, that juice ends up tasting more like acid. Ah well, I'm excited nonetheless.

[BRASH]

E3 won't be like the old E3. There's still an E3 happenin', it's just more pink and gay like.

[Syracuse022]

It won't be Halo 2 Vista, but it MIGHT be a Marathon XBL announcement.

[mattacus]

I hereby submit that the coolest thing bungie could possibly do at X06 is show, in the Halo 3 engine, on Xbox 360, a three-shot kill with a pistol. Upon showing only that, ending the demo, they will have won the show.

[Syracuse022]

I hereby submit that the coolest thing bungie could possibly do at X06 is show, in the Halo 3 engine, on Xbox 360, a three-shot kill with a pistol. Upon showing only that, ending the demo, they will have won the show.

He wins.

[Gamble]

Bungie's X06 Announcements

Hella Halo Bombshells at X06

Brian and Frankie are here in Barcelona at X06 for what we?ve hinted several times would be a Halo 3 no-show. But we also dropped a hint or two that something would be happening, and that?s certainly true. By now you may have read elsewhere that two new Halo game projects have been announced ? the Halo Wars real time strategy game from Ensemble and the as-yet unrevealed Halo project to be made in partnership with Lord of the Rings and King Kong director, Peter Jackson. Both projects are for Xbox 360.

Deep breath now. Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, who we?re also working with on the Halo movie, have formed Wingnut Interactive, a video game studio that will capitalize on Peter and Fran?s creative vision, while using the expertise, infrastructure and experience of Microsoft Game Studios and Bungie Studios to get the show on the road.

It?s a partnership we?ve been very excited about for a long time, and one that gives us great pleasure (and no small measure of relief) to announce.

Peter Jackson himself kind of sums up our feelings about the venture, saying, ?"Working directly with the Bungie guys to help carve out and reimagine another piece of the Halo game universe is a dream come true. Combining the creative and technical talents of Bungie Studios with the fire and passion of Wingnut Interactive just seems like a great recipe for success and the perfect way to start a new kind of partnership in the video game world. I can't wait."

Wingnut Interactive will be working closely with us to create ?another chapter in the Halo universe,? which is a phrase you?ll be hearing a lot and of course, we?re sworn to secrecy.

This raises as many questions as it answers ? will it be a sequel? A prequel? A side-story? We won?t squeal, but we can tell you it will be a blend of gameplay and storytelling quite unlike anything the games industry has ever seen before. And Wingnut Interactive isn?t stopping at Halo ? the newly formed gaming behemoth will also be working closely with Microsoft to introduce a brand-new gaming IP created by Wingnut themselves.

Gasp! Does this mean Bungie is distracted from Halo 3? No. In fact the Bungie team, now bigger and better than ever, thunders on down the road to completing Halo 3 and will simply not deviate from that path. A few select team members have been chosen to liaise and interface with Wingnut Interactive and in fact, the sharing of ideas and technology with Wingnut Interactive and to some extent, WETA Digital, will likely bring creative benefits to Bungie as we complete our scheduled march to finish and release Halo 3 in 2007. Thanks to careful planning and good use of resources, these new projects have added not one single day to our schedule.

YET MORE HALO ON THE HORIZON

As if the Peter Jackson partnership wasn't cool enough for Halo fans, there's more to be excited about in the form of the just announced Halo RTS game being developed by Ensemble Studios. "Halo Wars" is a brand new saga in the Halo Universe that explores the time of first contact between the UNSC and Covenant Forces. If you've ever wondered what it would be like to control dozens of Warthogs and Scorpion tanks instead of just a single vehicle, your time has finally come.

Ensemble Studios has a rich heritage and expertise in the real-time-strategy genre through their extremely successful Age of Empires franchises on the PC. This latest endeavor has been designed from the ground up as an Xbox 360 title, with controls and interface specifically tuned for the needs of a console. The folks at Ensemble are the only team we trusted to make a Halo RTS and from what we've already seen (and played), it's going to be awesome. And yes, the controls do work great on a 360 pad.

Bungie has been working with Ensemble primarily in the area of the game's fiction to help inspire the story and ensure continuity with the existing Halo Universe. Aside from that, Ensemble is applying their skills to deliver a great Halo experience in a whole new genre, which is ironically where Halo began in the first place. If you've seen some of the very early Halo videos out there, you might recall that before it ever became an FPS, it was in fact designed as an RTS (building off of Bungie's experience with the Myth franchise). Now, many years later, Ensemble is able to take the franchise full circle and bring it back to the place where it all began.

Ensemble brought their prototype to Bungie quite a while back, to show the guys that an RTS could not only work on the 360, but kick ass too. Frankly, Ensemble is one of very few folks on Earth that we would trust with our baby, and that trust is doubled thanks to the excellence of the Age of Empires franchise.

Ensemble?s own Chris Rippy said, ?The Halo Wars team is made up of a bunch of guys that are all very passionate Halo fans. When we sat down to start thinking about our next project, we thought bringing the Halo universe into the RTS world would be a perfect a fit, and would make an amazing game. We couldn't be more excited about Halo Wars, and can't wait for everyone to try it out!?

Naturally you've got a million questions and unfortunately, as is usually the case with anything Halo-related, we don't really have many answers just yet. As we continue to see early builds and get hands on time with the game we'll pass our impressions on to you through our weekly updates but for the most part you should head over to the Ensemble site - www.halowars.com - for the latest news and updates on Halo Wars. In addition to a FAQ and forum, you'll be able to check out various game assets inclduing the CG announcement trailer that was shown to the press at X06. A web version should be up on their site soon in addition to an HD version hitting Xbox Live Marketplace.

With Halo 3 approaching steadily and a ton of cool stuff on the horizon, it's a great time to be a Halo fan and we can't wait to share in all the fun and excitement the future entails. Stay tuned for more details on both announcements and even some surprises for the next Bungie Podcast.

Is it too much Halo? No. Believe us when we tell you that these projects will be spaced out sensibly and in fact, we?re sure you?ll be -blam!-ing soo enough that there?s too large a gap between them, but more importantly, we here at Bungie, our friends at Ensemble and our new partners Wingnut Interactive are doing everything in our care to ensure that Halo 3, Halo Wars and the unnamed Halo project live up to the promise and heritage of the universe we all love so much. It?s going to be incredible. We promise.

Bungie

[Blaze]

The Halo Movie and the "Next Chapter in the Halo Universe" -- I honestly think that both the movie and the game will take place throughout the childhood of a Spartan and his training. And I think (hope) the game will be a tactical squad-based shooter like Rainbow Six. My other guess (bigger hope) is that the unannounced game is a revision of Halo: Combat Evolved, made specifically for the Xbox 360. All this Halo stuff is great, but where's my Halo 3 info/screenshots/new trailer?

[Jironimo]

All this Halo stuff is great, but where's my Halo 3 info/screenshots/new trailer?

Yeah, as excited as I am about the new stuff, I needed to see something H3 damn it.