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Reach Beta starts May 3rd, only available through ODST disc!

Official Halo: Reach Project Page

Related Bungie Videos

Halo: Reach Multiplayer ViDoc – Zugzwang Evolved (April Fools!)
Halo: Reach March Multiplayer Madness Trailer
Halo: Reach ViDoc: Once More Unto The Breach
Halo: Reach Debut Trailer

Beta Related Bungie Weekly Updates

B.net Beta Buckdown! New Bungie.net Features
Bungie Weekly Update: 04.16.10 Beta Games Modes and Theatre
Bungie Weekly Update: 04.09.10 The Beta Maps
Bungie Weekly Update: 04.02.10 Player Models, Loadout Specifics, Weapons and Vehicles
Bungie Weekly Update: 03.26.10 Player Investment, Ranking and Credits
Bungie Weekly Update: 03.19.10 Matchmaking, Playlists and the Arena
Bungie Weekly Update: 12.18.09 World Premiere Post Deployment Postmortem

Related Bungie Official Podcasts

Bungie Podcast: 04/19/10 Halo Reach’s under the hood upgrades
Bungie Podcast: 03/29/10 Multiplayer Direction and Gameplay Sandbox Discussion
Bungie Podcast: 03/09/10 Halo: Reach Audio Discussion
Official Bungie Halo Reach / End of 2009 Podcast (Right Click to Download)

Related External Site Features

GTTV – Invasion and Boneyard Reveal Video
IGN - The Beta Maps and Gallery
Game Informer – Interview On The Halo: Reach Sandbox
G4TV – Player Investment System
Shacknews – Halo: Reach Matchmaking and Social Features
Shacknews – Halo: Reach’s Arena System In-Depth
Shacknews – Halo: Reach’s Matchmaking and Active Roster In-Depth
Kotaku X10 Halo: Reach Report
Edge Online Halo: Reach – Being Definitive
Edge Online Halo: Reach - Gutting The Engine
Edge Online Halo: Reach - Tales Of The Fall

Misc Topics

Official Press Release
Multiplayer Player Count
Network Quality
Arena Q&A Transcript

Active Roster - This is a throwback to Halo 2. When you boot up Reach, right at the main menu or lobby, you'll see a list of what your Xbox Live friends are doing within Reach. You'll get detailed information about any friends playing Reach including who they are partied with, what game they are in (plus score and remaining time), and more.

Queue-Joining - In Halo 3, it was difficult to join friends that were already playing in a match. You had to wait until they were finished. If you started a game while you waited, they would then have to wait for you. Instead of going back and forth, Reach will support queue-joining. Simply put, Reach will automatically join up as soon as your friends are joinable.

Improved Voting System - Halo: Reach will utilize a new voting system, which Bungie described as "Veto 2.0". Each playlist will provide players with four options. The first will be a combination of map and gametype, much like you would see in Halo 3. The other three options will offer players additional choices to vote on. Thankfully, you'll know up front what your four options are so you no longer have to risk voting down a favored map, but unfavored gametype and getting an unfavored combination.

Arena Playlists - Possibly the largest change coming in Halo: Reach is the Arena. This is a Slayer and Team Slayer set of playlists entirely geared toward the hardcore. If that wasn't enough, players will be rated and placed into skill divisions in month-long seasons.

The rating system is smart enough to realize that kills aren't the only determining factor behind skill. This is especially true for team games where assists play a huge roll. Similarly, players that have a greater kill/death ratio (had more kills than deaths) will rank higher than players that die as much as they kill.

The divisions are Onyx, Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Steel. It is possible to move up or down within a single season. To qualify for ranking, players will have to play a certain number of games a day to gain a "Daily Ranking", which will be an average of a player's best games from the day. To get a divisional ranking and compete in a season, players will need a certain number of Daily Rankings.

Ranked and Social Combined - Since the hardcore will be in the Arena, Bungie doesn't want to further splinter the community. In Halo 3, Ranked and Social playlists served two different purposes. Ranked games were generally of a higher quality, while social games were more casual.

In Reach, the playlists will be smart enough to put you and your party in the proper match based upon how many players you have. Say you're looking for a game in a four-on-four playlist. If you bring four people, Reach will attempt to match your team against another group of four at a similar skill level. If you go in with more than four, it will properly split your party across the teams and fill in the blanks with extra additional players.

Streamlined Party-Up - After a Halo 3 match, players were presented with the option to "Party Up" and merge lobbies with all willing players. In Reach, it will be an opt-out system. After a match, players will be kept together and it will automatically roll into looking for the next match. The system is flexible enough to allow Bungie to determine, per playlist, whether to keep a team together and find a new set of opponents or keep an entire game together and move onto the next map.

Matchmaking Connection Options - The options for finding games in matchmaking will be more open to the player, if they so choose. If you only ever want to play in games with a good connection, that can be set in the options. If you only ever want to play against players of a similar skill, that can be set. The same goes for finding players that speak to same language.

Social Settings - In addition to these connection options, players can rate themselves along four axes to add another layer of criteria to the matchmaking. These won't trump anything else, but it will help Bungie build better teams. Players will define their playstyle in the following four categories:

* Teamwork - Team Player vs. Lone Wolf
* Motivation - Winning vs. Having Fun
* Chattiness - Chatty vs. Quiet
* Tone - Polite vs. Rowdy

Settings/Locations

• "Darker tone overall" - "Things aren't as bright. But we're not going for that desaturated modern war movie vide either"
• Huge scale combat, new push on big battles
• New perspective. removed sweeping camera shots replaced by cinematic tone, which evokes up close and personal war journalism
  Ie, airborne, shot - a ship is filming it from above, ground shots bump and jar like being held in the hands of a runner
• Grittier cinematic sensibility extends to encompass wider character and plot development
• Rugged and harsh wilderness filled with towering mountains and weather beaten forests
• Not a retelling of Fall of Reach
• "We definitely want to take a more serious approach to the franchise"
• "We wanted to delve a little deeper into our characters themselves ... That they're not perfect - they're susceptible to damage."
• "We're bringing some of those things back that encouraged a little more exploration, like wondering where that health pack is"
• Set days before invasion of Reach with an advance invasion force and continues up to full blown invasion
• Noble team investigates trouble on Reach, rebel human Insurrectionists suspected
• Reach features various natural and artificial environments, ambient life and cultures
• Reach transforms from living planet through stages of it's death throes and ultimate fall
• Secret ONI hard sites, early colonist homes, gritty industrial locations, sprawling vistas featured

Gameplay

• Health system more similar to Halo:CE than Halo 3:ODST
• Assassinations, melee executions on unaware enemies from behind
• Armour abilities, seeming replace equipment, each Spartan can only carry one at a time, governed by a recharging meter. Sprint and Active Camo confirmed.

Multiplayer

• Feature parity with Halo 3
• Armour Customisation carries over from Campaign and into multiplayer

Weapons/Vehicles

• New DMR (Designated Marksman Rifle), single shot, fits between Sniper and BR, medium to long range but still deadly at short
• New Needler Rifle, mid range headshot weapon, combining needler (following) mechanics with more accuracy and flexibility, three hits combine and explode
• Returning weapons include AR, Plasma Pistol, Sword, Needler, Shotgun, Sniper Rifle
• Spike and Flame grenades removed
• New air vehicle, the Falcon, pilot-able, described as "aerial Warthog" comes with usable mounted gun
• Warthogs return
• Civilian vehicles feature and usable
• Spirits, Covenant dropships featured in Halo:CE return

Enemies

• "We're taking a meaner approach to the Covenant overall."
• Covenant enemies now speak their own languages, in low guttural voices (Shakespearian fans am disappoint)
• New enemy, Skirmishers, cunning enemies that hunt in packs, visually related to Jackals
• New class of grunts "Keg Grunt", Jackals return
• Elites are back in command of Covenant forces

Engine Tech

• Refined approach to distance and detail
• Allows dramatically expanded number of enemies, light sources and other details
• Described as "imposter tech"
• Level of Detail (LOD) system allows building of bigger and more populated spaces for exploration
• Distant objects are rendered at low poly with cheaper shaders, ie "imposters"
• Imposter look great at distance and detail increases the closer you get to them
• Less chance of pop-up and stippling as environmental geometry, plants, buildings, enemies or anything else can be placed into the visual field at the same extreme distances without profound hit to system performance
• At extreme close range items can be rendered with incredible detail, ie, a wall was shown from inches away with tiny rivet features in the metal popped on the screen with perfect clarity
• Imposter system indirectly frees up memory which can be devoted to other technical aspects
• Lighting being one of those aspects
• From Halo 3's 3 or 4 light sources, Reach's engine presents 20 to 40 dynamic lights at the same time
• Weapon effects benefit greatly from the improved lighting, ie Plasma bolts moving across the screen with their own independent light source, casting colour and shadow across the environment
• More improved lighting examples, a Warthog gun firing at a wall with hundred of real sparks flying from the stone, the particles interact not just with the wall geometry, but with it's normal map additionally, the particles scatter down onto a nearby vehicle and react with its curves and lines, the sparks bounce and flow along the tiny textured surface
• New weather system bringing rain to many missions, adding to the atmosphere
• The sky is no longer a sky-box like past Halo games, it's a true space in the overall environment, ie a ship descends from orbit and towards you, you can watch it make the full descent as a real object would fall
• Motion capture heavily implemented, a majority of the cut-scenes based on captured actions
• On-screen characters exhibit an animation technique known as variable gait blending, when a character changes speed, ie walking to running and vice versa, the animation of walking blends seamlessly into running and then sprinting, also, when turning on a pivot, players no longer stay still and magically turn in a circle, they realistically move around the pivot with their bodies and lifting their feet in reaction
• Bungie hired company Image Metrics to aid with human faces, which now appear dramatically more lifelike than Halo's traditional potato faces

Lone Wolf/Main Character

• Impressive list of combat record accomplishments
• Strikes out more often than his superiors might like
• "Background shrouded in some pretty dark secrets"

Noble Team

• Spartan III's, except Jorge-052 (II)
• Keep surviving suicide missions
• When one members goes MIA, another is brought in
• Carter-259 leader, Kat-320 second in command, both original team veterans and share a bond (ie they have never been replaced in Noble Team)
• Jorge-052 is the only Spartan II on the team. the bigger, bulkier heavy weapons specialist and has survived countless battles
• Emile-239, skull helmet wearing silent type, let's his actions speak for him
• Jun-266, thoughtful, taciturn sniping soldier

The following information is confirmed;

• Master Chief will not be the main character
• The game is confirmed to be a First Person Shooter [FPS]
• The is confirmed to be running on a separate and brand new game engine
• The game is set for release "Fall 2010"
• The game will feature both single and multiplayer modes
• A multiplayer Beta will be happening during "Spring 2010"
• You will once again be fighting Elites *WORT WORT WORT!*

Brand new details about Halo Reach has emerged since the time of the original post. The original post can be found here.

 

[goldenpp72]

im pretty sure this isn't bungies 'last' halo game

 

[ultron87]

As long as I'm fighting Elites again I'm on board.

 

[Nizz]

Nice job with the thread, OP.

 

[Zeouterlimits]

im pretty sure this isn't bungies 'last' halo game

We'll see.

As I've said, it's the narrative reveals I'm most interested, I've plenty of faith in bungie that the gameplay will be an excellent standard, whether they've improved on Halo 3's poor narrative (*cough* return to Halo 2's please *cough*) is what I want to find out.

 

[Red]

im pretty sure this isn't bungies 'last' halo game

Uhhh.

 

[Noogy]

As long as I'm fighting Elites again I'm on board.

Agreed. I personally loved all the Halo games, but Elites > Brutes.

 

[Hootie]

I've been waiting for this game for over half a decade.

Shit's about to get real.

 

[Slightly Live]

Nice job with the thread, OP.

Thanks.

 

[big ander]

im pretty sure this isn't bungies 'last' halo game

They've confirmed to be moving on to a new IP (tentatively titled "New IP") after Reach. Who knows if it'll be something long-running, or if they'll turn back to Halo after one or two games away.

Nice thread, Dani, if a bit premature.

 

[EazyB]

I was planning to fire up a Reach discussion thread the day of the VGA's, so we can talk in less hushed tones.

:lol

Whatever, even though I prefer to go by tradition and let Ghaleon be headmaster of Halo/Bungie threads, I'm also not a fan of venturing outside of the official thread to discuss Halo with the general, Halo-bashing GAF population. It seems Dani is gunhoe on creating Reach threads, previous hits like the Facebook Reach Extravaganza, so good for him.

This thread seems to have a lot of effort behind it even if most of it seems to be a pointless history lesson.

Anyways... :lol

Carry on. Can't wait for the 12th. For more of my must see Reach-related posts head tune into the Official Halo Thread.

 

[Princess Carl]

given the evolution of forge, i would be extremely surprised if they did not have a pretty complete map editor.

Also, i wanna see custom game searches, firefight searches, and better playlist management.

 

[AniHawk]

Spehaloation and Reachveal thread.

 

[Chrange]

Yes, we will have large epic battles, in corridors, in the open, in vehicles and in the air. This is still Halo and this amazing war zones are it's signature piece, the scale becoming grander and grander with each game.

I wonder what the reaction would be if they went for a more enclosed environment - tons of building to building battles, things like that - and jacked up the graphics.

 

[Tashi]

People still play Halo?

 

[Slightly Live]

:lol

Whatever, even though I prefer to go by tradition and let Ghaleon be headmaster of Halo/Bungie threads, I'm also not a fan of venturing outside of the official thread to discuss Halo with the general, Halo-bashing GAF population. It seems Dani is gunhoe on creating Reach threads, previous hits like the Facebook Reach Extravaganza, so good for him.

This thread seems to have a lot of effort behind it even if most of it seems to be a pointless history lesson.

Anyways... :lol

I received his blessing. =)

I had this thread planned before the VGA announcement though and Ghaleon was nice enough to let me go ahead with this thread.

Anyways, thanks! And you can't look into the future without looking back at the past first. =)

 

[SpacLock]

Very nice work OP. This is going be the game of the millennium. The game to end gaming.

 

[Princess Carl]

I wonder what the reaction would be if they went for a more enclosed environment - tons of building to building battles, things like that - and jacked up the graphics.

i wouldnt complain

 

[Amir0x]

Playing it cautious on this one. Gonna need to see a vast improvement to buy into the Halo series again after ODST.

 

[Kibbles]

Playing it cautious on this one. Gonna need to see a vast improvement to buy into the Halo series again after ODST.

Yeah, I'm hoping for some drastic changes in the Halo series.

 

[The Librarian]

given the evolution of forge, i would be extremely surprised if they did not have a pretty complete map editor.

Also, i wanna see custom game searches, firefight searches, and better playlist management.

There wouldn't be any need for matchmaking then.

 

[feel]

Very good job Dani.

 

[EazyB]

I received his blessing. =)

I had this thread planned before the VGA announcement though and Ghaleon was nice enough to let me go ahead with this thread.

Anyways, thanks! And you can't look into the future without looking back at the past first. =)

That's good. I suspected he wouldn't care it just felt odd after reading his aforementioned post and seeing this thread more than a week before the VGAs.

As for the history thing, I think it's important to establish which features they've had that are likely to continue into Reach but I just don't see the point of most of the other stuff. Just sorta takes the attention away from Reach and reads like a pointless Halo fanboy's "let me tell you why Halo is so awesome". Personally I'd just focus on listing a nerd-splooge of desired features for Reach, also known as a wishlist.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Blueblur1]

Sweet thread, Danman. Was this your next 'project?'

 

[Slightly Live]

Sweet thread, Danman. Was this your next 'project?'

Very good job Dani.

Very nice work OP.

Thanks. =)

As for the history thing, I think it's important to establish which features they've had that are likely to continue into Reach but I just don't see the point of most of the other stuff. Just sorta takes the attention away from Reach and reads like a pointless Halo fanboy's "let me tell you why Halo is so awesome". Personally I'd just focus on listing a nerd-splooge of desired features for Reach, also known as a wishlist.

Just my thoughts.

I couldn't decide on a specific wishlist. Far too many things, like any other HaloGAFer, I could write a good few paragraphs on specific changes to matchmaking, gameplay, weapon balance, etc, but I decided not to, although I did put speculation at the bottom of the post.

Also, nothing wrong with reminding folks how industry leading and genre defining Bungie have been with the previous main Halo games. I'm pretty tired of all the comments bashing Halo's achievements over the years so that's probally why I included the history lesson.

As more Reach info comes out, I will updating the OP, and that includes removing most if not all the history lesson once we have more Reach content to replace it. =)

 

[CrunchinJelly]

You forgot Halo Wars.

 

[Plywood]

So, how much did they pay you?

 

[Ultimo hombre]

There's a few things I'd like to see from Reach.

- Engine overhaul. Keep the wonderful scale of battle, get a more efficient lighting system in place and use the budget. Couple that with 360 centric engine, they should be able to drop some jaws. This would be my biggest disappointment with Reach, if bungie fails to deliver on the technical side of things.

- Server browser. I don't need to go into detail on the disaster that is Firefight mode. Amazing mode that is crippled by such an oversight is unacceptable from someone Bungie's size.

- Bigger, better and more badass. Sorry Cliffy but Bungie can steal this line also. Halo 3 brought us great scale in battles along with 4player co-op. I'd like to see that pushed even further with more units to battle and generally feeling overwhelmed and stressed out. That's the sense of scale I'm hoping for.

I wouldn't be shooting for such stars if I didn't think Bungie could pull it off. I believe they have the talent. The only thing I question is the motivation. Are they trying to make a masterpiece with Reach or are they simply trying to fill the terms of their contract with MS. Reach will be a pretty blunt answer to that question.

 

[GhaleonEB]

That's good. I suspected he wouldn't care it just felt odd after reading his aforementioned post and seeing this thread more than a week before the VGAs.

Yeah, my only concern was I didn't want the ODST thread to turn into the Reach discussion thread, which is what it had pretty much become. Didn't have any claim on starting the thread. He pinged me to make sure I was cool with it, I said it was cool, and then we were both cool and now here we are.

I'ma doin' the Beta thread though.


Pretty excited for the Reach unveiling. Very interested to see what the new engine looks like and how the visual style - both in art and fidelity - have evolved.

 

[lockload]

People still play Halo?

Yeh only about 500,000 ppl daily

 

[imtehman]

is Reach the game where ryan peyton and that girl from gearbox is on board for the project or is it a different one?

 

[Chinner]

bungie are gonna have to do a lot to impress me. they're good at doing what they do, but they're fallen behind in many regards so we'll see what they do.

 

[Zeouterlimits]

Yeh only about 500,000 ppl daily

He was very much joking.
Streams his MLG adventures quite often.

is Reach the game where ryan peyton and that girl from gearbox is on board for the project or is it a different one?

A different title, that's from 343 Industries, part of MGS.

 

[SecretBonusPoint]

As I've said before, Reach is going to have to resemble a jump in quality that Bungie haven't really achieved in their dev history of Halo. They've fallen so far behind the curve on graphics, gameplay and online that as their last Halo game, this has to be "it". The shit, not just some .5 iteration up from Halo 3 with better IQ and some 'perks' in gameplay.

After my personal disappointment in their last 3 Halo games (2 - ODST) I do not feel they will deliver, and look forward to them finally ditching Halo and trying something new.

 

[Dead Man Typing]

*feels like playing Halo now*

 

[DD-11]

God, no need to be a dick. Do what I did and skip the history lesson.

I am reserved for Reach, although I loved ODST and the Halos before it, there really isn't a need for more Halo as we know it.

Although, all they really need to do is give us complete control over the entire sandbox. With endless customization options and a map editor, I'd be happy. I want to be able to customize every little detail of a MP game.

 

[scarybore]

Didn't realise we would be seeing a trailer for Reach so soon, but I look forward to seeing Elites on the opposing side once again. As long as it's still very much Halo, I'll be happy (even if 90% of GAF won't be).

 

[Slightly Live]

So, how much did they pay you?

A good few hundred hours worth of quality gameplay over the past few years and the promise of a few hundred hours and 2+ years more.

I'm quite cheap, really.

 

[Talon]

This is the final chapter in Bungie's HalO saga. Their final gaMe in the Halo universe. Will Bungie Meet the high expectations? NO doubt. Will it sell millions? No doubt. DLC suppoRt? No doubt. More BungiE.net stats? No doubt. WiLL HalO fans be playing this three, four or five years down the line? Again, no doubt.

Holy SHIT.

 

[Plywood]

A good few hundred hours worth of quality gameplay over the past few years and the promise of a few hundred hours and 2+ years more.

I'm quite cheap, really.

You are a whore.

Spoiler

Nice OP.

 

[CrunchinJelly]

As I've said before, Reach is going to have to resemble a jump in quality that Bungie haven't really achieved in their dev history of Halo. They've fallen so far behind the curve on graphics, gameplay and online that as their last Halo game, this has to be "it". The shit, not just some .5 iteration up from Halo 3 with better IQ and some 'perks' in gameplay.

After my personal disappointment in their last 3 Halo games (2 - ODST) I do not feel they will deliver, and look forward to them finally ditching Halo and trying something new.

How have they fallen behind in the online space?

Halo 3 is still the most feature-rich shooter over 2 years later.

The only point they are really behind is technically, but even then the lighting engine used in 3 shows they still know how to shine that shit up for Xenos.

 

[imtehman]

As I've said before, Reach is going to have to resemble a jump in quality that Bungie haven't really achieved in their dev history of Halo. They've fallen so far behind the curve on graphics, gameplay and online that as their last Halo game, this has to be "it". The shit, not just some .5 iteration up from Halo 3 with better IQ and some 'perks' in gameplay.

After my personal disappointment in their last 3 Halo games (2 - ODST) I do not feel they will deliver, and look forward to them finally ditching Halo and trying something new.

do they have a choice? they have to incorporate things like 4 player online and 4 player co op.

besides, wasn't halo 3 based off the halo 1/2 engine?

 

[The Librarian]

Pretty excited for the Reach unveiling. Very interested to see what the new engine looks like and how the visual style - both in art and fidelity - have evolved.

Given how the cinematics were done with the in-game engine for Halo 3 and ODST (i.e., the cutscenes looked no better, graphics wise, then when playing the game), then what we see on December 12 is what we'll probably be seeing when we play the game.

*feels like playing Halo now*

It's almost time for my semi-annual run through of Halo: CE.

 

[SecretBonusPoint]

How have they fallen behind in the online space?

Halo 3 is still the most feature-rich shooter over 2 years later.

The only point they are really behind is technically, but even then the lighting engine used in 3 shows they still know how to shine that shit up for Xenos.

Warhawk shames it in terms of online integration. A stubborn dedication to Matchmaking and nothing else does not mean they are leading shit in online gaming. In some ways theyve actually achieved regressing it. ODST's online component was actually insultingly behind with not even Matchmaking for Firefight. I will admit theyre still at the top with drop-in Co-Op, but there it ends. Other games have far exceeded and bested it in the multiplayer space, no matter how much more popular it still proves.

 

[backflip10019]

Terrible OP, Dani. Jeez, you really took no time at all to make this one, did you? ;P

 

[enzo_gt]

You forgot Halo Wars.

Never happened.

Good job on the thread Dani!

 

[Tashi]

There wouldn't be any need for matchmaking then.

This is false. We need both! Custom game searches would be great for those who want to play gametypes that aren't in matchmaking (INSTAGIB) or any others (MLG) and have trouble finding people to play with and matchmaking would be for those who want to play Ranked games against people of similar skill. I guess the same applies to Social as well. It's also much easier to go into matchmaking with some friends and get a proper match (right amount of people, set rules) without waiting too long.

edit: You watch my stream Zeouterlimits?

 

[Plywood]

You forgot Halo Wars.

Bungle legacy not Ensemble demise.

 

[Nutter]

:lol

Whatever, even though I prefer to go by tradition and let Ghaleon be headmaster of Halo/Bungie threads, I'm also not a fan of venturing outside of the official thread to discuss Halo with the general, Halo-bashing GAF population. It seems Dani is gunhoe on creating Reach threads, previous hits like the Facebook Reach Extravaganza, so good for him.

This thread seems to have a lot of effort behind it even if most of it seems to be a pointless history lesson.

Anyways... :lol

Carry on. Can't wait for the 12th. For more of my must see Reach-related posts head tune into the Official Halo Thread.

Dude we need more GAF to troll Halo.

 

[EazyB]

Given how the cinematics were done with the in-game engine for Halo 3 and ODST (i.e., the cutscenes looked no better, graphics wise, then when playing the game), then what we see on December 12 is what we'll probably be seeing when we play the game.

I don't remember seeing anything like this during Halo 2 nor this during Halo 3. The cutscenes in the previous games have had a significant jump in the visual department so it's probably safe to say a Reach cinematic could only be somewhat representative of the gameplay visuals.

Excited to see the trailer and comb it for any gameplay hints but I'm really holding out for the gameplay footage and impressions from the journalists.