[quote]StupidNinja asks, [i]Should we expect to see blowing sand and other particle effects during gameplay, or only during cut scenes? For the "level" shown in the trailer, is the massive size of the surrounding area something that is tangible? Does it really seem like you are on a huge, wide open plain? [/q] The sand, dust, smoke and other effects are all from the game engine. They will be used in the game. The landscape you saw is real geometry - the mountains and city in the distance are not a skybox - they are actual geometry that you can go to. Our cut scenes and our gameplay will be very comparable. Also, CJ Cowan, our director of cinematics, says that the texture "pop" seen in Halo 2's cinematics has already gone bye-bye for Halo 3.[/quote] Cool… [quote]llDwells55Xll asks, [i]What's the polygon count on the characters and environments in comparison to Halo 2? [/i] Not as high as it looks. A lot of detail is achieved using a combination of lighting, textures, normals and bump-maps. We're saving our polygon budget for other things…[/quote] Any Specific Kind of Normal Maps / Bump maps…. :) [quote]MC Montrose asks, [i]Hi, I was wondering if you could elaborate on what you did for the select press members after the showing... I hear you flew them around the environment of the trailer... how was the framerate? how did the press react? [/i] We flew them around the environment, flew out over the Forerunner structure, did a close-up of the Chief to show the realtime reflection of the visor (you could see the ammo counter running down in his faceplate) and showed off the unified lighting model we're using - particularly how other surfaces, such as sand, [b]reflect light back up onto his armor.[/b] Frame rate was silky smooth, but to be fair, that was basically an empty environment with the Chief in it. However, we're obviously trying to make our finished game silky smooth too. I don't know how they reacted, but one journalist asked me if I had gotten any death threats.[/quote] O your Killing Me… O golly Gee Willkers Batman… I would love to see that… [quote]Eva Ribs asks, pi]Is the geometry you can draw at 13 miles just big triangles or other basic geometry? Or is it like recognizable things like buildings, mountains, or secret Forerunner monuments?[/i] The geometry is basically the real geometry you're flying, walking or running to, although LOD (Level Of Detail) saves the programmers (in this case us) RAM and processing horsepower by simplifying what's actually being drawn at distance. The trick is to simplify things enough so you get that saving, but without turning a once-recognizable object into a dumb triangle[/quote] A lil’ Skinning 101 :) [quote]Meeper asks, [i]Why is the Assault Rifle in there? [/i] Who says it's the standard Assault Rifle? Doesn't look identical to me…[/quote] I had a Feeling…