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11/17/2010 11:50:37 PM
160
Halo 2: The game it should have been (beta).
So I was bored one day, looking up stuff about Halo 2 and the e3 trailer, and suddenly I found a lot of stuff about halo 2 before it came out:
First off, here is the e3 trailer:
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb9o-Ce_hYM[/url]
All the h2x fanboys have seen this already. You know, what could have been blah blah.
Now, for something you didn't expect:
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LMZgz_fVYs&feature=fvw[/url]
Check it out: MLG dudes playing a Halo 2 Beta. Notice the Halo 1 HUD, proof the game was based off the Halo 1 engine. This isn't unusual in game development, did you know that Black Ops is really based off ID tech 3?
Another public announcement:
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHrpjRnvl10&feature=related[/url]
Later on, there is a XBL beta running on The XBL test network AKA Parternet (as it is called on the 360). Bungie has this offical interview from gamespot:
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B31J7GkvOvw&feature=related[/url]
EDIT: Turns out, it was a pressed disc given to reviewers, and most ms employees. It worked on normal unmodded xboxes, and was the beta in the other videos below. Of course, there were other betas on Partnernet, but the most common beta (and the one floating around) is the Private beta.
And another bungie interview:
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9XMqg4W9-o&feature=related[/url]
Note the halo 1 HUD again and another type of HUD, you will see that in the next video.
While looking for other videos of halo 2, I found these videos too. I thought they were fake at first, but now comparing these with the other videos, these are real.
First off, here is the full main menu:
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SAX6tuQofU&feature=related[/url]
Note the Xbox 1 dash style ZOOM effect, and placeholders for scrapped features.
The mongoose:
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV3_p6PIFNQ&feature=related[/url]
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhGsIBZ0KWk&feature=related[/url]
The second one has offical narration on why it was removed.
Now for more beta menu goodness:
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ug1ZnyY2EA&feature=related[/url]
And now for some scrapped crap in another version:
Single Shot BR with Different Rocket Launcher: [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8Vzn0WLUdA&feature=related[/url]
Another one:
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atCsy1nVbb8&feature=related[/url]
Ghost getting killed by a weird flamethrower:
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sSVh0bPq2c&NR=1[/url]
And now for one last thing: Semi Destructable Enviroments:
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx9MSyX6Tr8&NR=1[/url]
That's all I could find.
EDIT: One more thing:
This is a very prototype falcon, the model isn't even finished:
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAgh0FHnPOo&NR=1[/url]
1-29-10 edit: New video of a hacked up beta.
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C5zzPO9y-4[/url]
Wonder why he didn't enable system link. And private servers might be possible, but only 2 or 3 people really give a crap about it.
Beta Zanzi:
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yen1xkXMBfg[/url]
Beta Waterworks
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpusDCjIn6o[/url]
Beta Midship
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30Uik2nJlYQ[/url]
Info about the beta in the youtube videos:
[url]http://www.betaarchive.com/wiki/index.php?title=Halo_2:Closed_multiplayer_beta[/url]
EDIT: 2-4-11
More beta footage found on gametrailers:
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxUvM-VRZ5c[/url]
LameCheat also has the beta...and being the elitest he is, he is not releasing it. Heres a video of the main menu though:
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUlI4o-ckpM[/url]
Unlike the other person, he can't fake the connection. LOL!
EDIT: 8/18/11
Found more vids.
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_Sg246Wlg8]Some moongoose footage and alt weapon sounds.[/url]
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmpfQvIscM4[/url]Some glitches in viewmodels[/url]
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyEK7vJVzNY]An early attempt at cracking the beta for the above vids[/url]
EDIT: 10-20-11
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLRvro0BCf4]Apparently it's been cracked and dug into, something tells me it got leakedz too....[/url]
2-6-12 UPDATE:
Oh yay, more footage:
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oayV95WuAU&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL]The moongoose, useless because it lacks the passenger seat[/url]
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ0E4PltnXs&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL]A demo of Shared.Map[/url]
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73dOp8VJXl8]The full main menu. Hidden options, headhunter + invasion, plus it's limited.[/url]
4/12/12
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uhPPi7aa5g]Hey look, more footage of that beta. Now with more debug info and more weapon demos. :3[/url]
5/18/12
[url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/better-than-halo-the-making-of-halo-2-article]An interview with bungie. It also explains why the E3 demo was canned.[/url]
[Edited on 05.18.2012 11:56 AM PDT]
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[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] car15 Still, Halo 2 turned out to be the best game in the series and one of the greatest games of all time, so it's no big deal. Could it have been better? Of course, but that's true for all games. There's [i]always[/i] something that could have used some improvement. One thing I'll never understand is people who complain about how Outskirts/Metropolis are nothing like the E3 2003 demo. It's actually a good thing that this happened, because just watching the E3 demo, I can see that it would have been a totally unplayable P.O.S. It [i]looks[/i] cool and it [i]feels[/i] cool, but that's because of the [i][b]HUGE[/b][/i] amount of scripted events that only worked if you played the game [I][b]EXACTLY[/i][/b] the right way. There are 3 or 4 separate recordings of the E3 demo being played, and if you watch each recording, you'll notice that they're all played exactly the same way - down to the path the player takes through the level and the exact timing of certain events (Ghost boarding, triggering the final cutscene, etc...) This had to be done because of the way the level was programmed. If the Ghost was boarded too late (or not at all), or the Master Chief drove instead of letting the Marines drive, the game would have crashed. (Okay, I haven't actually seen the code for myself, but judging by the fact that the level was played the same way every time, down to the last meticulous detail, this is probably a true statement.) It was all smoke and mirrors. As a video, E3 2003 was mind-blowing, but as a game, it would have been absolutely unplayable. But I digress.[/quote] Hey, there IS a game like that where you MUST PLAY LIKE SCRIPTED! It's called Sonic Generations, and it blows. Also, there was a game too released as a beta called Sonic 06. It was horribly unfinished and had so many glitches that it made Halo 2 look glitch free.
