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[GhaleonEB]

Weekly Update

Soundtrack volume 2

Marty finally, definitely, absolutely and positively confirmed that the Halo 2 Soundtrack, Vol. 2, will go on sale "Um, maybe, sometime uh, first quarter? Yes. First quarter of 2006 for sure!"

New Halo novel:

After the success of the Halo novels by Eric Nylund and William Dietz, we're currently having discussions internally about what direction the next Halo novel(s) should take. There's a lot of cool story ideas out there (and in here) and we're looking carefully at our options. So, novel fans, there is momentum…but no promises yet.

"Bungie's next project"

Naturally most of the stuff is still shrouded in secrecy, but I did get to see a taste of a lovely user interface. It's amazing what you can do with higher resolutions and lots more power. My favorite UIs ever include TiVo, PSP and of course the 360 "blade" interface. The UI I saw during that demo was every bit as elegant and in some ways, more dramatic than any of those. And simply because of the nature of UI – it looked "finished." Which was kind of shocking, although in reality, it was very early, and it will probably undergo many, many complete overhauls before it ships.

But ironically, the way we're prototyping aspects of this next game mean that even some gameplay tests, demos and experiments, are surprisingly polished and playable. We're all in the giddy position of being "forced" to play moments and elements from the next project.

Gotta mean some kind of announcement is getting closer...I hope....

 

[sprsk]

sounds more like this is gonna be the centerpiece of microsofts e3

 

[littlewig]

I hate to be forced to play Bungie's games...

 

[Straightballin]

is this next-project excluding Halo 3?

 

[EternalDarko]

It's not Halo 3 is it? I remember something about them wanting to work on a different game for a while....though i can't be certain if they decided to do H3 simultaneously with it or what. Anyone have any idea on what exactly the game may be about, or any clues?

 

[3rdman]

It's Halo 3 all right.

 

[Open Source]

It's not playable by me, so this news is not very exciting.

 

[sangreal]

XBLA game I bet

 

[Kiriku]

Sim racing. In space!

 

[BuzzJive]

XBLA game I bet

Wow. You just made me imagine XBLA versions of Marathon.

 

[Mr. Lemming]

Wow. You just made me imagine XBLA versions of Marathon.

A Minotaur remake would be a little more suited towards Live Arcade.

 

[Ryudo]

I hate to be forced to play Bungie's games...

Its a tough life isnt it ?

 

[HokieJoe]

The bastages better be bringing me some Myth knock-off real soon.

 

[Hero]

Bungie probably is suffering the same fate as Retro. Forced to make the same game over and over.

Hope Microsoft and Nintendo let both these teams do stuff they want to do.

 

[Funky Papa]

The bastages better be bringing me some Myth knock-off real soon.

On Xbox 360? I certainly don't want to play that unless they take the KUF approach.

Strategy with pad=not a great idea.

 

[Letter to Elise]

For the record, I would hate it if Bungie sent me a build of the playable code as I cannot stand early demos.

So don't you dare send it. ;P

~l2e

 

[Aruarian Reflection]

Good news about the soundtrack! I've been waiting for it forever.

 

[muphins]

Bungie's next project is playable

So it's not a Halo game.







P.S. I love Halo.

 

[Stinkles]

So it's not a Halo game.

Touche.

 

[GhaleonEB]

So it's not a Halo game.







P.S. I love Halo.

Where's a emoticon when you need one. :lol

 

[Darko]

Where's a emoticon when you need one. :lol

Spoiler

hehe

 

[duderon]

Touche.

So is it a gameplay successor to Halo: CE or Halo 2?

 

[Speevy]

Choosing not to release Halo 3 until really late in the generation would seriously hurt the Xbox 360.

 

[westical]

Won't they tie it in with the movie?

 

[Andy787]

I'd really like to see the Myth and Marathon series on XBLA..

After the success of the Halo novels by Eric Nylund and William Dietz, we're currently having discussions internally about what direction the next Halo novel(s) should take. There's a lot of cool story ideas out there (and in here) and we're looking carefully at our options. So, novel fans, there is momentum…but no promises yet.

I would be interested, but if they're not going to have any implications on the games, it's kind of worthless. :/

 

[Patrick Klepek]

Won't they tie it in with the movie?

Considering the movie's basically a retelling of Halo 1 with new elements...

 

[Mr Jared]

Considering the movie's basically a retelling of Halo 1 with new elements...

Dude, that's what marketing is for.

"SEE HOW IT ALL BEGAN. . AGAIN"

[Cue monk chanting]

HALO: THE MOVIE

AND COMING THIS WINTER. .

 

[jobber]

I doubt Halo 3 has even left the storyboard.

 

[sangreal]

I doubt Halo 3 has even left the storyboard.

Duckhuntdog (who seems to be reasonably close to bungie) disagrees:

http://www.ga-forum.com/showpost.php?p=2032276&postcount=19

 

[Lo-Volt]

Whatever it may be, I hope it works out well. I wonder how well a non-Halo game would do with the Bungie name on the 360, but it should be obvious that Halo is Bungie's top priority?

 

[FiRez]

DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.DON'T SCREW DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.
DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.DON'T SCREW DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.
DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.DON'T SCREW DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.
DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.DON'T SCREW DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.
DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.DON'T SCREW DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.
DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.DON'T SCREW DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.
DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.DON'T SCREW DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.
DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.DON'T SCREW DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.
DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.DON'T SCREW DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.
DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.DON'T SCREW DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.
DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.DON'T SCREW DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.
DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.DON'T SCREW DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.
DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.DON'T SCREW DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.
DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.DON'T SCREW DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.
DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.DON'T SCREW DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.
DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.DON'T SCREW DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.
DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.DON'T SCREW DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.
DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.DON'T SCREW DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.
DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.DON'T SCREW DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.
DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.DON'T SCREW DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.
DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.DON'T SCREW DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.
DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.DON'T SCREW DON'T SCREW IT. DON'T SCREW IT.

kthxbye

 

[Tellaerin]

I'd like to see Bungie produce some non-FPS titles set in the 'Haloverse'. How about an RTS, or better yet, an online-enabled space combat sim? Online co-op, massive multiplayer dogfights... a game like that for the 360, set in the Halo universe, could revitalize the moribund space combat genre. The setting has so much potential - I hope they take advantage of it.

 

[Piper Az]

Halo 3 = Xbox360's shining savior (everywhere except Japan) that will drive the sales up like no other game, assuming that there will be enough systems available.

I hope Bungie finishes the franchise in style with Halo3 and move on to other cool projects.

 

[DenogginizerOS]

Oni 2?

 

[Xenon]

Master Chief Racing!

 

[DenogginizerOS]

Halo Volleyball? or Paper Master Chief with a light-hearted story matching Master Chief up with the Arbiter as they travel through space trying to stop their cultures from simultaneous anihilation.

 

[Brannon]

More open battlefields, less psychic plants, no boss fights and a better endgame sequence. It's what people remember the best about Halo 1 and missed the most about Halo 2. YOU KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO...

 

[Tellaerin]

More open battlefields, less psychic plants, no boss fights and a better endgame sequence. It's what people remember the best about Halo 1 and missed the most about Halo 2. YOU KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO...

No boss fights? You must be mad. Boss fights were something that the original Halo was sorely lacking, and adding some legitimate bosses to Halo 2 was definitely a step in the right direction. What I'd prefer in 3 is better boss fights - give us 3-4 truly memorable boss encounters that test the player's skills, without descending into cheapness.

 

[DopeyFish]

Duckhuntdog (who seems to be reasonably close to bungie) disagrees:

http://www.ga-forum.com/showpost.php?p=2032276&postcount=19

duckhuntdog afaik only knows someone who works at MGS.

 

[Ramirez]

Boss fights are teh ghey,one thing I loved about the original Halo,it didn't conform to traditional game ideas such as boss fights,made the atmosphere so much better,it's you and the covenant,no need to throw in some tool that can take a 1000 bullets and shit like that,meh.

Oh and,please be Halo 3

 

[Lo-Volt]

Halo 3 = Xbox360's shining savior (everywhere except Japan) that will drive the sales up like no other game, assuming that there will be enough systems available.

I hope Bungie finishes the franchise in style with Halo3 and move on to other cool projects.

I thought things were supposed to be different for the second take; the Xbox was considered by many to be the Halobox. This time around, things were supposed to be better.

 

[scarybore]

Boss fights are teh ghey,one thing I loved about the original Halo,it didn't conform to traditional game ideas such as boss fights,made the atmosphere so much better,it's you and the covenant,no need to throw in some tool that can take a 1000 bullets and shit like that,meh.

Oh and,please be Halo 3

Exactly, the ranks and differences of the Covenant made bosses pointless anyways. I daresay they will be back in Halo 3, but they were really jarring with the Halo experience and I can't say I would ever miss them should they not return.

Now that I think about it, were there any Gold elites in Halo 2 apart from the Arbiter at the beggining? They were bosses in their own special way in Halo (Probably just swapped with the Silver elites I guess...)

 

[DopeyFish]

Exactly, the ranks and differences of the Covenant made bosses pointless anyways. I daresay they will be back in Halo 3, but they were really jarring with the Halo experience and I can't say I would ever miss them should they not return.

Now that I think about it, were there any Gold elites in Halo 2 apart from the Arbiter at the beggining? They were bosses in their own special way in Halo (Probably just swapped with the Silver elites I guess...)

the arbiter (gold elite) is probably the covenant version of sgt johnson

 

[element]

Actually this probably has more to do with XUI then the game being ready. XUI is the new UI tool that ships with the Xbox 360 XDK. Pretty much allows content people to make in-game UI in a Flash like enviroment. Very easy to use, and you can get something running at a production level in a very short period of time.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Here's one much-overlooked factoid about Bungie's Next Project. Back in October, there was a story posted on Bungie.net about one of the new employees. The webmaster at halo.bungie.org (HBO) noticed something:

There's another top story up on Bungie.net tonight - it's an interview with Bob Glessner, the newest Bungie hire. He works for Mat Noguchi, doing Tools programming (the fact that he's working primarily with Halo map-creation tools says some specific things about Bungie's next project).

Just sayin'.

http://nikon.bungie.org/news.html?item=14284

 

[Jive Turkey]

So it's not a Halo game.

Sumbitch beat me to it.

EDIT: By a full freaking day. I suck at GAF.

 

[Tain]

Halo map creation tools could mean anything, honestly.

Oni 2?

Oni with better level design would be an amazing game.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Halo map creation tools could mean anything, honestly.



Oni with better level design would be an amazing game.

Except Bungie does not own the rights to Oni anymore. (part of buy-out deal with Take-Two - they got Oni and Myth)

And using a customer tool to make maps for Halo on the next project could mean many things. Most of them would point to another Halo, though.

 

[Tellaerin]

Boss fights are teh ghey,one thing I loved about the original Halo,it didn't conform to traditional game ideas such as boss fights,made the atmosphere so much better,it's you and the covenant,no need to throw in some tool that can take a 1000 bullets and shit like that,meh.

Yes, it's much more atmospheric to fight the same handful of enemy types over and over again. Who needs bosses? For a real challenge, they can just throw a whole bunch of regular enemies at the player instead! *coughLibrarycough*

I enjoyed Halo 2. I couldn't stand Halo, and the absence of any real bosses was one of the reasons why. That, along with the repeating environments, really helped contribute to the impression of monotony I felt when I played it. Done right, boss battles add unique, memorable, and (dare I say it) atmospheric elements to a game. Not including bosses would be, as you put it, 'teh ghey'.

 

[Tech Nine]

Marathon,maybe?