Found below is every significant piece of info about everything bungie has decided on, regarding Halo 3. I know you guys won’t believe me when I tell you I know what’s going on with Halo 3. How about this for a start. Sometime this month, if everything goes as planned, very soon actually, a modified version of Hang Em High will be added to the list of maps for Halo 2. And plans are underway to release a modified version Sidewinder along with some new maps early next month depending partially on how successful the Hang Em High release proves to be. And people at Bungie don't dislike the idea of a Halo movie as long as it's done with a large budget and a very experienced director. So you'll likely hear about this soon as well. Hopefully, once this information comes true, you will start to believe what I’m about to tell you.
I don’t care too much if you don’t believe me. No one believed me when I said that Halo 2’s live features will be limited because Bungie isn’t going to let you search for the specific games with the settings you want to play. This time, if you don’t believe me, I would appreciate it if you just skip over this thread if you don’t rather than bash me incessantly for doing what I think is right. Just ask yourself, does this seem like something realistic/reasonable based on what you know about MS and Bungie. And once you admit that it is, please take the time to contact them to let them know how you feel about the changes being considered there.
Yes, this information is from a friend. And I will vouch for my friend. He is in a position to know precisely what’s going on at Bungie and has never once lied to me about this kind of stuff in the past. And as a part of Bungie, he along with other employees, are frequently approached by MS requesting feedback on the features being planned for Xbox 2. And yes, I know that makes it sound like I’m making this all up. Thus you can rest assured that should everything go according to plan (it almost never does) everything mentioned below will be a part of Halo 3. I really want Halo fans to here about these changes because this time around, whether the changes being considered below make into the final game will depend largely on fan input regarding whether or not Xbox 2 should include a HDD and whether the additions being considered by Bungie for Halo 3 are popular among fans of the series. So I strongly recommend that fans of the series contact Bungie and MS via either email or through petitions letting them know what they think about this.
And before getting excited about any of the information below, please remember it’s too early for anything to be confirmed or finalized. Some of the changes below may well not make it into the final game. Here’s what my friend has confirmed for certain…
Work on Halo 3 is very much deeply underway though Bungie will wait a little longer before even announcing the game. They want to build the core of the game or atleast get the basic details ironed out before they announce it.
Bungie has received Xbox 2 development kits and it’s employees are continuously receiving updates on the preliminary design of Xbox 2 as well as it’s various accessories and features. The prototype system currently goes by the codename Xenon and is currently based on ATI’s r520 generation of graphics cards and development kits are based around Apple's G5. But there is a chance the processor might be changed (possibly even to the Xeon) should MS conclude that which we already know, the backward compabilty will be a key factor in whether or not Xbox 2 succeeds and then find that they will need to switch processors to accomidate backward compatibility. Bungie was also sent prototype Xbox 2 controllers to design Halo 3 around. My friend isn’t sure if this is the case for all gaming companies or just a special gift for Bungie. The controllers appear to be more rounded wireless versions of the Controller S that look and operate eerily similar to the Logitech Cordless Controller but packing an additional set of triggers designed to be used by your middle fingers without changing the shape of the original triggers designed for your index finger.
I’ve been told that the concept art for the wireless hubs that plug into the controller ports look sweet though. Unlike the gray rectangular hubs that come with Nintendo’s Wavebird controllers, these hubs will be either silver or black half circles with a green led X similar to the one on the top of the center Xbox 2 concept design below. The led X lights up whenever the controller is used. It appears that the hub for the DVD controller remote will look identical to these controller hubs. Microsoft still hasn’t decided whether Xbox 1 Controllers and the Xbox 1 DVD controller and hub will be usable on Xbox 2.
The prototype Xbox 2 designs being considered all look smaller, much sleeker, and either more rounded or more rectangular than the original Xbox like the very popular design pictured in the link below.
http://www.justplay.nl/media/58/20031118-Xbox%202.jpg
Of the various Xbox 2 concept pictures floating around on the internet, the one above is the only one seriously being considered. It is a concept by MS. And the only changes made to the concept since the picture above was released is that the X2 symbol below the green X has since been removed in order to center the green X and the bottom half of the Xbox 2 concept has been changed to look similar to the top half pictured above. There is also a circular concept for the Xbox 2 being seriously considered that I’ve been told looks somewhat similar to the PS3 concept (not a concept by Sony, just some random guy) pictured in the link below…
http://www.playstation-3-forums.com/playstation_3/uploads/orig00000014.jpg
None of the concepts being considered have those horrid looking ridges found on both the Xbox and the Play Station 2. If a more circular design is used, it seems reasonable that MS is atleast considering calling the Xbox 2 something other than the X(BOX) 2. Microsoft is definitely releasing a version of the Xbox 2 an year after the release of the original Xbox 2 that includes both a large HDD and a TV Tuner card allowing people to use their Xbox 2’s along with Xbox Live to add Tivo like functionality to the console. They are also considering adding other PC like functionality to this version of the console including various music and video codecs, internet browsing, instant messaging, and possibly even applications like picture editors, and word processing applications utilizing a wireless keyboard and mouse. But no decision has been made in regards to whether the standard version of the console will include a HDD.
Microsoft is really pushing Bungie to try to have atleast a playable demo of Halo 3 ready to go by early 2006. There was huge infusion of cash into Bungie after the success of Halo 2 and they are strongly considering contracting out a ton more talent developers in order to speed the production up on the last game of the trilogy. And Bungie is really pushing to have Xbox 2 feature backward compatibility and a HDD. Bungie wants fans to be able to play all three games of the trilogy on the same console. More importantly, a HDD is needed if Bungie is to make Halo 3’s levels massive, completely destructable (down to every building, tree, and ambient life form), and incorporate all the other features that they are planning. Numerous Bungie employees including my friend are also convinced that the HDD and backward compatibility are critical if Xbox 2 and thus Halo 3 are to succeed.
Most of Xbox’s early base came from people who were willing to wait a bit in order to own the most powerful console packing features that truly revolutionized console gaming. They would love to sell off their bulky Xboxs on Ebay and play the large collection of exceptional games they’ve accumulated over the years on the sleeker, smaller Xbox 2. And those that buy used copies of the first Xbox at bargain bin prices will have an opportunity to discover the Xbox’s great gaming franchises for themselves. Making the Xbox 2 backward compatible would thus effectively double the Xbox's userbase and cause a surge in the sale and popularity of great classic Xbox franchises. It would seem foolish not to take advantage of this. But without a HDD, these early adopters have no reason to not just wait for the more powerful PS3 that does include a HDD and thus many of the features they loved about the first Xbox.
As for current PS2 and GC owners, Xbox 2 has the potential to pick a lot of them up if they are also given the ability through backward compatibility to play great games like Ninja Gaiden, KOTOR, and many others that they missed out on this generation. Without backward compatibility, gamers have no real reason to not just wait for Xbox 2 to accumulate a large library of quality games or atleast a killer app like Halo 3 before even considering the console. And by then, they’ll probably be won over by the release of a more powerful PS3 featuring a HDD. Considering that Halo 3 will almost certainly not be a launch title and Xbox 2 will not be the powerhouse console in comparison to it’s competitors this time around (the PS3 will almost certainly be as powerful if not a lot more powerful and will also be backward compatible), I’m absolutely convinced that without a HDD and backwards compatibility, Xbox 2 and thus Halo 3 will fail to make as large an impact as they have on the current generation.
Considering that one can get a 160 gb HD retail for about $30 after rebates, I really don’t see how when bought in bulk an year from now, the HDD would cost MS more than $10 each. And if Xbox 2 can’t be made backward compatible hardware wise, there isn’t really any reason why it can’t be made backward compatible via an embedded emulator in the operating system. Assuming that Xbox 2 will have a PC core like the first one, programming an embedded Xbox emulator into the operating system shouldn’t be that hard a task. So Bungie employees do have a very good point in insisting that Xbox 2 feature backward compatibility and a HDD and I hope that fans of the series will join me in contacting MS and asking them to heed the wishes of Bungie’s employees. I would hate to see many of the great features that Bungie has planned for Halo 3 be scrapped due to the lack of a HDD.
As far as Halo 3 is concerned, very little about the game has been decided but there are a great many changes strongly being considered. Many of these features were ones that Bungie wanted to implement in Halo 2 but were unable to due to time constraints. What Bungie is sure of, according to my friend, is that they want to completely redefine combat yet again. No one at Bungie likes the idea of releasing the same game with new levels and slightly improved graphics. So there are a couple of suggestions going around about how to reinvent the franchise. Bungie recieved quite a few fan requests for a gravity gun after Half Life 2 came out so that could be a possibility. But then again, Bungie gets a lot of requests for a lot of things, silly things, like asking to go more in depth and explain how the universal translator in Master Chief’s armor works. So it doesn’t’ mean too much For one thing, Bungie is considering including several new types of grenades including EMP grenades with a much larger blast radius that are ideally suited for temporarily disabling all nearby vehicles including airborne vehicles like the banshee, proximity grenades that only explode if someone approaches them within ten to thirty seconds and fast moving grenades (useful in indoor levels) that bounce all over the map for 10 seconds until they hit a player or vehicle. To implement them all, Bungie is considering just having one type of grenade on the map. But these standard grenades can be made into either sticky grenades, EMP grenades, proximity grenades, or bouncing grenades based on which button the player holds down as they press the trigger to launch the grenade into the air. This is an early feature still being tested at the moment. All features being tested are being done on the Halo 2 engine as there are currently no plans to build another engine for Halo 3.
Other new weapons and vehicles that development is at work on include a flame thrower (it was scrapped near the end for both Halo 1 and Halo 2, so there’s a good chance it could be scrapped again), a human jet ski, a large boat with a cannon and the ability to carry up to three people, and a helicopter type air vehicle capable of taking off vertically and flying slowly. So obviously, battles over bodies of water will likely be included in the third game of the series and this will be accommodated by making it so that all the covenant hover vehicles including the wraith and the ghost will be able to hover on both water and land. Allowing these various boats to submerse underwater for underwater battles is also considered a possibility. Work has already begun on programming in various weather and particle effects including snow, rain, lightning, dust storms (presumably for a desert level), fog (presumably for a rainforest level) as well as many ambient life forms found on Earth, including fish, sharks, alligators, birds, rabbits, stampeding rhinos, and civilians in complete panic and disarray. In addition, the design team is already hard at work on a human land counterpart to the ghost such as either an ATV or possibly a motorcycle. Design is also working on creating more faster and scarier flood variants confirming that the flood will indeed be found on Earth in the third game.
As you probably guessed, this time around, the game will center on repelling the covenant invasion of Earth. The levels will be much bigger as will the number of enemies and the number of allies by your side. This will be a full blown massive war between the covenant, humans and flood with tons upon tons of units from each faction engaged in combat at any given time all over the massive levels. The outdoor levels also allow players to free roam and choose which battles they wish to engage in thus giving players the sense that they truly are fighting an epic war for Earth’s survival. Bungie is very set on harnessing Xbox 2’s graphical prowess to truly give players the sense that they are just one soldier in the middle of a massive war. To facilitate this, the AI will be ramped up some more, the multiplayer games will support up to 32 players at once, as well as a few more playable characters with unique strengths and weaknesses.
The playable characters being considered include Hunters (bigger targets, much slower except when charging someone without a weapon, but they have more life, and have more varied faster melee attacks) and the flying Drones found in the first level of Halo 2 (weaker but faster and possessing the ability to fly limited distances). But there is talk that all the characters in Halo will be playable characters, if not in multiplayer, in the single player mode atleast. As already mentioned, the flood will be unleashed upon Earth and as before will seek out large dark areas where they sometimes congregate in numbers too massive for even Master Chief thus occasionally forcing him to strategically destroy light sources and sneak past them in the shadows.
Master Chief will be able to sprint this time and will also be able to quickly duck and roll out of the way in order to avoid charging vehicles and hunters. Bungie is also considering heeding the requests of fans by utilizing the improved AI to implement rudimentary bots for use in unranked multiplayer games. A feature being considered tied to this includes voice control of nearby marines and bots. No one is sure exactly how this will be implemented but it’s likely that by utilizing the headphones used on live, nearby bots and marines will be able to recognize and obey simple commands such as defend this area, retreat and take cover, follow me, drive this vehicle to enemy flag, wait here, attack in line formation etc.
Also a popular request, Xbox Live games will likely have many more options and players can choose to play with 31, 15, or 7 other players in the game type and the map of their choice. Players will also be able pick such rudimentary options as whether they want infinite grenades and whether all starting primary and secondary weapons as well as the heavy and light vehicles are randomly determined each respawn. Everything in the game from the trees to the giant skyscrapers will be fully destructible. Another popular fan request being considered includes an online co-op and counter-op mode with up to 16 players. These 16 player co-op and counter-op modes will only be available for a select few massive open ended single player missions. In co-op 15 players play along side you as fellow marines while the counter-op team will assume the roles of elites and other units all over the massive map with the job of preventing your team from completing the mission in the allotted time. When one of the co-op or counter-op players die, they simply assume the role of one of the computer controlled allied or opposing characters should one be available. The viability of programming a map/mission maker is also being strongly considered though many Bungie employees aren’t convinced that there is enough demand for this feature to warrant the amount of work such an addition would require.
The only aspect of the game that likely will not be completely revamped is the graphics engine! I was surprised to hear that too but it makes sense when you think about it. Bungie put an enormous amount of time on the graphics engine already creating almost photorealistic in game graphics. Building a newer better engine took up the majority of the development time behind Halo 2. Instead of spending an enormous amount of time redoing it all again, Bungie will spend this time working on the actual game and instead use Xbox 2’s significant processing and graphical power to create much bigger, much much more populated, fully destructable levels with a great many enemies, simultaneous battles, ambient life and objects such trees and bushes. This is all essential is Bungie is to implement the revolutionary new gameplay feature discussed below. For now, all development work will likely proceed as if the hdd is just an accesory rather than a standard feature of the console until MS decides otherwise.
The HDD if MS opts to include it with Xbox 2 will be used for a lot more than just faster level loading and game saves this time around. Bungie is considering letting players play music tracks stored on the Xbox’s HDD. In addition, all actions and events will be stored to the HDD so that players will be able to review their gameplay from multiple angles at any desired speed after the level ends and players will even be able to store their favorite clips of gameplay to the HDD. You know how during Live matches, you get to view the gameplay of a fellow teammate from a more aerial perspective. That’s supposedly what the stored footage on the hdd looks like. But that’s just scratching the surface of what this aerial viewpoint and zooming feature will be used for. More on that in a bit.
So why am I putting so much emphasis on the zoomed out camera mode and the massive level sizes? Why is Bungie dedicating so much time to programming in an AI smart enough to literally take over for a human player for short periods of time? Why are there going to be so many characters engaged in combat all over the level at any one time? Why did Bungie spend such a large part of Halo 2 introducing a new covenant ally that is also a playable character? Why is it so important that enough fans write to Microsoft to convince them to include backward compatibility and a HDD in Xbox 2? Because Bungie is seriously considering taking the Halo universe back to it’s original roots in some of massive outdoor maps in the single player campaign. And by it’s original roots, I’m referring to how Halo originally started as an RTS. Fear not Halo fans, a top priority of Bungie is that this be integrated into the gameplay seamlessly so that players can easily switch back and forth from the aerial RTS perspective whenever they desire. Halo is still fully designed to be an FPS first and foremost and you will be able to play through the entire game without once having to try the RTS aspect of the game if you so desire. Every level starts from the FPS perspective and ends with the FPS perspective. Sure in some of the massive outdoor single player levels, you will be able to zoom out to a more aerial perspective for some RTS functionality at any time, but this is by no means a critical component of the game, just a fun diversion of sorts.
So how will this feature be implemented? From what I can gather, everything about this mode, including whether or not it will even be included, is still very much up in the air. Several Bungie employees are unsure how fans will react to this addition, no matter how well it’s implemented or how unintrusive it will be to the FPS mode. So if you’re indeed interested in seeing this feature be implemented, I strongly recommend that you contact Bungie with your reaction and contact MS with your desire a HDD be included to allow for the plans that Bungie has for Halo 3. But here’s how the mode is being approached for now. Cortona will be rescued early on and will take charge of coordinating Earth’s forces against the invading hordes. She will be observing the entire battlefield from an aerial perspective. And in certain levels, you can opt to switch to her perspective by pressing a button (likely the black button) giving the AI control of Master Chief or the Arbiter or whichever character you were commanding. The AI plays far more conservatively with these characters than a normal human player so they won’t die on their own losing you the mission. But since they are not nearly as aggressive as human players, assuming their character will be essential to complete missions. As Cortana, you will assume Cortana’s various duties but can at anytime opt to switch back to your character, or possibly any allied character found on the battle field that you select.
So what exactly will you be able to do as Cortana and how will you be able to execute these commands with so few buttons? At this early stage, here is what seems to be the popular choices. Cortana’s primary job will be coordinate troop movements. All allied forces will be divided into various squads that Cortana can cycle through with the press of a button. You use one joy stick to move the pointer around the map and the other to change the camera angle and zoom in and out. While the various squads will use their AI to direct their general actions and will often follow Master Chief or the Arbiter’s lead, Cortana will be able to order the selected squads to go to any point selected by the pointer and will be able to command them with basic voice commands such as defend this area, assault or attack this area etc. Cortana will also be able to select individual units on the map using the pointer and give them commands such as (using the pointer as an indicator) drive this vehicle, man this turret, take this sniper rifle, leave your squad and go to this high point and snipe this area, be the gunner of this vehicle and she can then use the pointer to select the entire vehicle and order it to attack a certain point etc.
Good squad coordination to take advantage of choke points, good sniping spots, defend critical buildings, provide supporting fire to another squad in trouble, sneak into and destroy critical enemy structures, destroy critical vehicles will all make the level much easier for Master Chief and/or the Arbiter. In addition, there will be various drop ships all over the battlefield that pick up newly built vehicles or newly trained troop squads and drop them off in needed regions on the battlefield. While this process is completely automated, Cortana can use a button to cycle through and take control of active drop ships to ensure that the drop ships take the safest, fastest route possible and drop off supplies to the squads that you intend to use for future assaults etc. Remember, all these things are done automatically when you're playing as Master Chief just like they were in the first and second game. Bungie is also considering implementing an influence bar for Cortana.
While new squads of troops may be trained at the barracks on the battle field and dropped off for deployment, Cortana can also use up her influence (with the press of a white button) to request additional troops, weapons, or vehicles be dropped off to the area indicated by the pointer via drop ships from bases that are some distance away from the battle field and thus out of the level’s view. Her influence bar will increase as allied forces destroy enemy vehicles, units and buildings. And this bar is depleted slightly everytime Cortana requests additional units or vehicles. Cortana will not be able to construct new buildings or rapidly repair entire buildings as is possible in most other RTS as it’s not realistic having a building pop up in the middle of a battle. But there will likely be various buildings already on the map that Cortana will have to defend and utilize. And Cortana will be able to cycle through the various buildings on the level with the press of a button.
For example, there may be various powerstations (a new human building being considered) on the battlefield that you as Cortana will have to defend. Should one of them be damaged or destroyed, Cortana will choose which of the support buildings will be powered down (indicated by all the lights inside the building going off). These support building will likely include turrets surrounding key choke points, various factories that can produce a couple of vehicles of Cortana’s choice throughout the course of a battle, repair facilities that can fix damaged vehicles. Cortana will be coordinating both human forces and allied covenant forces led by the arbiter and will thus have access to human drop ships on some levels and covenant drop ships and units and vehicles in other levels. All of these tasks are automated and most of these actions occur without you having to order them. Squads attack nearby enemies on their own. Drop ships drop off supplies on their own etc.
When playing as Master Chief or the Arbiter, players won’t even really notice all this stuff going on in the background. Occasionally, Cortana tells you where to go. Occasionally, drop ships drop off additional marine squads, weapons, and vehicles for you to use. This aspect of the game will feel identical to how Halo 1 and 2 feel. They maybe able to request additional supplies or troops dropped off by cortana. And it's likely they will be able to request air strikes from support ships onto specific locations. But these won't significantly alter the gameplay. The only key differences will be more open ended level design, gameplay, fully destructable environments, and more enemies on screen for those particular levels where the Cortana mode is available. Other levels such as indoor levels will feature objective based gameplay with various check points as before. But as Cortana you can take charge and coordinate how these all background tasks occur. According to my friend, Bungie really wants to find a way to incorporate this new mode into online play (perhaps having one player on each team play Cortana’s role for the team defending various buildings and commanding all the drop ships while all the units on screen are played by real people). But this is a task that’s far easier said than done.
I hope you’re as excited about the direction Bungie plans to take Halo 3 as I was when I first found out. And I hope you will join me in contacting MS and encouraging them to including backward compatibility and a HDD to make this all possible and in contacting Bungie sharing with them whether you would be dissatisfied with these gameplay additions.
Once again, I expect that next to none of you will believe a word of what I just told you. I hoping a few of you come around once Hang Em High does get released as I already told you that it would.
I want to make it crystal clear that this is still very very early info. There is a reason you're not going to hear Bungie confirm any of this. Because it's not confirmed for them yet. These are just the ideas strongly being considered. True, a ton of people over at Bungie really want to do it. True, they're already busy figuring out how these things will be implemented to maximize simple and fun gameplay that feels identical to the previous two Halos, unless you personally choose to not want it to feel the same by exploring some of the bonus options and features. But no matter how bad they want to do it or how convinced they are that it can be done, there is no way anyone can say that they will certainly make it into Halo 3. It's just too early in the game's phase to confirm anything. I said that in my original post as well, repeatedly.
Even once a decision on a feature is made and work on it has begun, even after the feature is released to the public, it's still too early to be absolutely certain that it will make it into the game. If there was any way that Bungie could be certain that they will have the time to implement all these features, I'm sure they would come out and confirm this stuff too. But if they do come out with an official announcement, and they end up having to cut these features, it's going to piss off a lot of fans.
Remember what happened to the ATV, or the various colored warthogs, or a whole host of features that were going to be in Halo 2, but were cut in the last minute because they couldn't be implemented well and Bungie was running out of time (thanks to them setting a rock solid release date way too early in the game's development) to make them work the way they wanted to. This time, I hope atleast, Bungie will not make the mistake of setting a release title in stone for the game until it's actually complete. I think they will. I think they learned their lesson. Note how they're doing everything they can to try to get people to not even think about Halo 3. Last time, they were swamped with questions about when Halo 2 was going to come out, from both MS and from fans, for literally years. And that's probably why Bungie cracked and decided to set a rock solid release date to please the fans. This time, I hope they won't.
That's the only way we can be sure that they will have the time to implement into the game, every feature they want to implement into the game. I shared these ideas with you because I was really excited about them when I heard about them, and I don't want to see them cut because they want to rush out the game in time for Xbox 2's launch. Both Halo 1 and Halo 2 had many great ideas that everyone at Bungie wanted to do, but they weren't able to because they ran out of time at the end. Maybe if word of this stuff gets out, and Bungie sees that fans are indeed excited over these ideas, they'll make certain to resist any pressure to try to get the game out soon enough to be a killer app for Xbox 2 and instead make certain that the fans are kept happy.
Hence why I decided to post this stuff. To make sure that Bungie does get to see that many fans do want these features and increase the odds that they will decide to take however long it takes to implement them. None of this info is that secret btw. Just about everyone who works at development at Bungie knows this stuff. And there are quite a few people who work for development at Bungie other than my friend.
Now, if you don't believe any of this stuff. That's fine. And even if you do believe me. Don't get your hopes up. From what I heard, Bungie wants to implement this stuff. But no one knows for sure if they're going to have the time to. Once they know for absolutely certain that they are going to have the time to implement this stuff, they will come out with it, almost certainly at the E3 immediately prior to when the game is going to be sold. The people over at Bungie really really get a kick out of announcing stuff like this at E3 and stealing the show. So I would just wait and pay close attention to what they say and do at the E3s. And if you do want to help make sure Bungie doesn't cut any of these features, I hope you do take the time to contact them about these features. Just don't annoy them with questions about when the game is going to come out. Don't bother scouring the internet hoping you'll stumble into some juicy info on Bungie. That's not how Bungie reveals things. When they reveal something, they make sure the whole gaming world hears it, they make it big. Because they want to excite people. And that's why I would check up on them this E3, and most importantly the E3 immediately before the game is rumored to be coming out.
Some feedback I recieved and my responses....
"First of all, playing as hunter or drone in MP is going to fail , the cool thing in Mp is that Spartans are all equal, no one is more powerful than the other ones, I dont want this to be unbalanced."
First, I'm not sure if you will be able to play as these characters in multiplayer too or be able to take on their role in some of the large outdoors single player levels by switching to Cortona and then clicking on any allied character on the map and pressing the black button. I heard that Bungie has recieved several fan comments expressing disappointment that the multiplayer in Halo 2 isn't much more diverse than the first Halo and thus feels almost identical. So that's probably why they're considering letting your character be choosable in multiplayer custom games. In ranked games, I'm sure everyone playing will have to play as either MC or the Arbiter to keep it fair, but in custom games, it doesn't seem like a bad idea to let a human army with 16 players many using different characters, take on a diverse covenent army.
"I want to play this entirely as a FPS."
So does Bungie. If they do go ahead and implement the RTS components, they will make certain that everyone that wants to can play through the whole game as MC or the Arbiter without ever once having to play as Cortana. And in the indoor levels, playing as Cortana probably isn't even an option. Those players who don't want to play from the new perspective won't have to. That's a lesson that Bungie learned from the feedback they got on making people as the Arbiter. I heard that a lot of people loved it, but some hated it.
So this time, they're going to make sure those that hate it can simply opt to ignore it without it changing their gameplay at all while keeping those that like the idea satisfied. A lot of the responses I got suggest that many people really like this concept, if it's implemented well. And even those that didn't want to play the RTS elements still really liked the notion of being able to request additional troops, or call down air strikes which such a mode would make possible. You will probably be able to request air strikes and such as MC as well.
So there is no reason to ever switch to Cortona, unless you geninuely want to. And I believe that the plan is, that even when you're Cortana, things will be automated as if you were MC. Dropships will automatically drop off supplies and possibly pick up damaged vehicles for repair. You just have the ability to redirect the squads or dropships to go on a different path, in order to make the game easier. So I think if Bungie ever seeks out feedback on this concept, they will find that many fans do like it if it's kept simple and is entirely optional. Even for those that don't opt to play the RTS component, this will provide a means for them to play as any character in the map, rather than just MC.
The RTS thing was actually what Halo was originally going to be. And Bungie even considered making a spinoff Halo RTS. This is something Bungie wanted to do. But they quickly realized that to keep it fun and playable on a console, they would have to really simplify the genre, too much so to have it be a whole seperate game. Hence why they are now considering making it a small part of Halo 3.
I don't think I can emphasize this point enough. Everything I heard suggests that the RTS thing won't even be noticable. Those of you who don't care for it won't be bugged by it in the least. Bungie will not change the essential gameplay of Halo. This is just an additional gameplay option for anyone that might get bored of the same gameplay and wants something fresh. Those who don't care for it will forget that it even exists. But from how it sounds, it should be so simple thanks to automation and the simplist controls, and fun enough, that no one will have any reason not to want to try it.
The original post is found above, the people on the forum can confirm this. Below is new info edited in on Jan 15.
I tried to find out more about the maps so you guys will believe me when they come out. But there are different people working on it, pretty much whenever they have time, and none of them are at the testing stage yet, so my friend doesn't know much about any of them. Hang em High is taking longer than expected, it needs to be modified to fit in with Halo 2's gameplay. But don't worry, it's still on scedule. There are a grand total of five maps that different people are working on in various stages of development. None of them have been named for certain. The new maps will be released whenever they're done, heavily tested for balance, and absolutely perfected. Two of them, are still very early, my friend got a peek at some of the concept art, one is indoors and one has both indoors and outdoor currently. After Hang em High, the map farthest along is a modified sidewinder. Both Hang em High and Sidewinder should be out soon. There's also an large outdoor map that's sweet, really nice big trees and stuff that you can hide behind. It's a decent amount along the way so it might come out soon too.
Any ways, here are some of new ideas being thrown around for Halo 3. Once again they are all early, but they are apparently pretty popular among a lot of the people at Bungie, so there is a decent chance they'll make it into the game.
Climbing everything - this was something thrown around before but it's more popular this time around. If implemented, MC will be able to climb everything, cliffs, walls on the sides of building, maybe even large trees. With the destructable levels, it's possible that he will literally knock out chunks out of walls in order to gain grip, as he climbs up them, leaving behind a lasting mark.
Swimming - MC might be able to slowly swim in bodies of water.
Better flying - The helicopter type hovering vertical take off air vehicle will be a lot easier to control than it's alien counterpart. They want more of an arcadey feeling to it. And the air battles will be bigger and with more allied aircraft helping you out. So in segments where you will be doing stuff like flying by and protecting that giant spider type thing, think of a flight experience more like Star Fox than like some flight sim.
Jet paks - this is something that's up in the air at this point. Basically, if implemented it will act as your secondary weapon, meaning when you are carrying it, you can only use pistols and no grenades. You press the left trigger (the one used for grenades etc.) to do a slow ascent into the air, if you periodically press the trigger once every two seconds or so, you will maintain your current level, if you let go of the trigger for more than two seconds, you do a slow descent at the same speed as the ascent. In emergencies, you can press x to pitch the jet pack and fall to the ground.
Crazy level designs - they can process and do a lot more polygons and moving objects now, and they really want to try and max out the hardware if they can. So you know how you might be able to switch to cortana's view in the massive outdoor levels, to make up for this in the smaller or indoor levels, there are plans to have a ton more crazy stuff happen all around you. Obviously, they're not even close to starting work on specific level layouts yet, but imaginations and ideas are running wild. There's talk of a level on top of a small moving asteriod with residual particles crashing all around you, having to dodge the occasional rocks that fling at you or fragment off a nearby formation and start coming at you, stuff like that. There's also talk of a level inside a large skyscraper that's been severely damaged, progressively getting worse and about to collapse in a few minutes. There are fires, broken stuff, random explosions, big checks of wall gone that aircraft and guys with jet paks shoot at you from etc all over. Just a lot of crazy battles, tons of marines storming a beach head into a huge rainforest, stuff like that.
Like I said, bungie isn't sure if they can implement a full fledged map maker. But they atleast want to do a map modifier type thing. Basically, that lets you take an existing map and add vehicles, ambient life forms, turrets, guns, teleporters, antigravity jump tunnels, grenades etc whereever you want. You probably will be able to adjust the maps setting as well, settings such as decreasing the gravity, decreasing the pressure thus increasing gun accuracy and the blast radius of explosives and grenades, increasing the shield level for all players, setting up handicups as optional, stuff like that, nothing too fancy. For the settings, you might be able to adjust the water level as well, so you can turn a level like coagulation into a largely waterbased map, add boats and air vehicles all over to help you get to the land spots at all the sniping location, on top of the two bases, etc. And you might be able to change the win conditions to whatever you want them to be. Like you might be able to add a TON of ambient life forms and change the settings so that who ever gets 100 kills first wins (with kills counting for killing both enemy and neutral units like the ambient life forms you add). Actually, there's a chance that the gametype I just described may make it into the build as one of the gametypes and/or playlists in the game with some goofy title like Hoe Down. You can also send these maps to friends over xbox live. And the friend list max size limit will be boosted quite a bit (i'm talking like by 10 fold or so) to allow for more of a community feeling and less trouble finding people for custom games.
Obviously, there's talk of lots of new gametypes to utilize the new features. They want to increase the gametypes you can choose from by quite a bit. Not sure what they're going to be. But there might be a terrotories type variant where you either choose to "build" either more allied bot marienes, or a certain vehicle of weapon that spawns back at your base. The more territories you have, the faster these things you are "building" build. There's another assault type variant that everyone is really excited about. In it, both teams try to beat eachother to gain control of the giant spider thing that we saw in Halo 2. Players can actually drive it now. The object is to control the spider's driving room long enough to drive it to the enemy's base and destroy the base with spider things giant gun. There are multiple entry points to get onto the spider (flying from above, climbing from any of the legs etc), and into the driving room (through the ventilaton system, just a pure air assualt with jetpaks from the side of the room that's open to the roof etc). If the controlling team makes the mistake of clumping all together in the driver's room to protect the driver, just one guy with a bunch of grenades could take them all out, if they spread themselves too thin, a big assault would cause them to lose control. Plus, the team that's not in control will get more influence to order reinforcerments or new vehicles. So it becomes a giant tug of war to see who can actually make it all the way back to the other person's base. Who knows, some people are even trying get race back, and more fun this time around.
Eventhough this is a relatively obscure forum that no one seems to care much about, it'll still have to be my last post/update here. I'm sorry guys. Wait for e3 though, there should be some nice official bungie info confirming halo 3 and atleast a few of these features. Like I said, bungie cares a lot about e3, so you're not going to hear much of anything official till then.
This message was edited by Inside Bungie on Jan 16 2005.
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Topic: Halo 3 Discussion
Inside Bungie
Jan 03, 05 at 4:30am
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Jan 03, 05 at 4:39am
Jan 03, 05 at 4:49am
Jan 03, 05 at 5:56am
Man that would be awesome. 
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