Great update. By the way, did Mr. Chief eat too many snacks at E3? [Edited on 5/12/2006]

nice stuff.

[quote] Why is the Assault Rifle in there? Who says it's the standard Assault Rifle? Doesn't look identical to me… [/quote] *Jumps up and down in exitement* BTW great wallpaper

Awesome update. Can't wait until next week. omg 7 days until next updat.

Best Week Evar.

cool but i expected more info in this update im going to cry now until something new pops up

Hawt. Keep it up, Bungie. *pokes Marty* Hurry up with that mp3! Me wanty the music!

Halo 3 makes life good.

What about my question?, Now that Halo 3 has been announced, what kind of time frame can we expect for Halo 4 to be announced? I never play the games really, but I LIVE for their announcements. PS HAHA!! Cheaters got BANNED!!, good riddance! Way to go BUNGIE!!! [Edited on 5/12/2006]

Dear Bungie, Bungie’s Next game (halo 3) is drawing closer to completion, and I am concerned about a few things that might not go in it, as in being left out, and things that should be changed. Note: its your game, you can do what ever you please, but I am just speaking from a fans perspective, and I think you might find a lot of people agree with me. Let me state this now that this post is not negative like last week at all. There were a lot of great achievements in Halo 2. One such thing is the UI. The UI in halo 2 was the best I have ever seen in any game. It was extremely stylish, classic, simple, and easy for even the most novas of players. The reason it was simple was because there was no “clutter.” There is an old saying, to many cooks can spoil the broth. Well I think Bungie did an excellent job on the UI by not going over board. Bungie also had tips in there Halo 2 UI as part of a way to inform the players, but keep them busy while they wait for games. If I am correct on this, Bungie is credited for doing this in a first person shooter. (for such a detailed and myriad amount of tips in pre-game lobbies.) It also numerated the steps that the system was in, keeping us informed step by step, and thus giving the player more power and knowledge of what is going on. I think personally the Tips thing, though small, was clever, as well as the 1,2,3,4 steps. What also was clever was having boxes where players where shown, which in halo, showed Xbox controllers. It also showed there “logo” which is each players own identity. This was also very clever, and better then most games. The game setup was great to. My only complaint was that I felt like I did not have enough control on the game setting, like if I wanted were pistols on the map would spawn, I choose human pistol, and where BR’s spawn, I choose carbine. (I guess this is a feature, but I wish it was integrated.) There was 2 other things I did not like about the UI, and that was one, I wish there was a button (like the black button) where I could select someone to boot or give party leader. In halo 2, you have to hit Y, and then go all the way down to do so. It is just a convenient option. The last one is the friends and clan list itself. Granted, no other game has such a user friendly and eye appealing UI for this then Bungie, but I wish I had more control over it. I wish I could choose certain spots to be filled in with my friends. So for example, let’s say I have Steve, Frankie, bob, and Sketch on my friends list. Frankie is all the way down on the bottom, but I want him on top. Sketch is in the middle. But I want him bellow Steve, and bob is currently on top. If I could change this, it would be great, and give’s the player more control. This is so nice when there offline to. (for messaging them.) Also, I hate it when I first logon, and it says I have a message, but my friend is off, so I have to scroll down the list to get the message. It would be more convenient if messages were on top like friend requests. I also saw one of your early builds, where you could send files to one another. I think this would be such a great asset in a game. It would make the next project so much more then just as a game, but more as a social gathering. (Like halo 2 game rooms have become.) Best of all, its P2P, so its no cost to Bungie. (Though The bugs could get annoying to fix.) Overall, I think the UI system is a marvelous achievement of Bungie, and is defiantly the standard bar that gaming companies have to meet, which all have failed in this area. (Darn it!) Props to The UI Team, and I hope such a focus will be made to the next project as well. What also should be focused on desperately is the network of the next project. What really brought halo 2’s destruction of being a bigger success then it already is in my opinion, is the stand-bys, bridging, and modding. Let’s start with what Halo 2 runs on for a network. Halo 2 operates by sending data to Bungie servers, and Xbox live servers once in a while, especially when looking for players or when a team wins. How do we play games then? Simple, Halo 2 runs on a P2P network, which is where one Xbox 360, will have the host, and sends all the data outward, and basically acts like its own server. It cost Bungie no bandwidth, and Bungie does not have to worry about tons of servers to cover and pay for. The down side to this, is that the person with host, has a Huge advantage over his players. For example, a person with host can kill anyone with 8 needles (one explosion) with the needier. But, it can take several explosions with people with non host. Lunging, lag, and the range of grenades all are impacted from the host. It can also be manipulated, to boot people, lag them, or force host on your own team, giving you the advantage, even though you may have DSL, and the other team has t1. Please Bungie, for the love of god, don’t set your next project as a P2P, except for custom games. Instead, invest in the servers. It will boost the life of the game for a long time. A great way to rid stand-by folks is to do something very similar to Far Cry. It detects if a person is having a faulty connection, and boots them if it gets bad. If people have ISP connections that are that bad, they need a new ISP, because they are hurting everyone’s fun factor. Besides, how many people have that problem anyways? Speaking of fun factor, This may be off the topic, but one thing that can make a game playable for ever is the ability to create/customize stuff. Gamers are like noob game designers. All they want to do is make there own stuff and play it, and have fun. Look at Far Cry. Its simple editor is extremely cool to use, and even though it is limited on what you can put down, players have learned to be creative around it. If Bungie was to Create a Map editor for there new game, it would be a Big hit. Best of all, you could do it Far Cry style, make the players Share the map P2P. Again, no extra cost, and you continue the fun factor, and making it a even better game. Plus you get the kicks of seeing some really creative maps that your fans made from your creation. The lunging system in halo 2 was…. Frustrating; granted, it is one of the most sophisticated melee systems of any video game. For example, if one has the Brute Shot, and he runs at a person, aiming at the head, and moves his controller to the left a little at the exact same time as he punches, it’s an instant kill. The game itself is all about position, and timing. On LAN, you can see how good it is. Sadly, online, lag has a tole on it, and thus, sometimes it does things that should not happen. (2 people standing, 1 punching, and not hitting them.) Also, the idea of flying seems fun, but unrealistic, and sometimes annoying, especially when you fall off a cliff. >_< Wow, that’s all I can think of now. (That I hear people talk about all the time, and things that most don’t notice unless they have a trained eye.) Over all, Halo 2 is a great game. Granted, you may hear folks saying it was not as good as halo 1, but that is because (what a some people think, but not all) of the story. Halo 2 strips Halo 1’s MP in my opinion. You may wonder why I do this, but the answer is simple, I care. I care enough about this Company, and believe it or not in its people, as well as the fans. I thought by stating some of the obvious, and some not so obvious, it might help some of the most talented game designers make an even better game. -Aktins Diet PS: Please bring in sprinting. It really makes FPS fun. :) Now to the Update: WOW, that was really cool! I never expected it to look that good. Damn those guys are something. The music was a little over the top though I thought. But I have confidence that Marty will pull through, because his music is always excellent. Maybe its an example of what direction he is heading? And what of the Arbiter? What of the flood? God I hope there is a lot of flood. I love them. I also want to ride the dinos:) *sigh* that sucks that it is the last one. Damn you Bungie. Well, I guess the map editor is even more important then! Oh, and Please show the demo. Or at least some pics of the Ships! -Aktins Diet Edit: I change my mind on the music. I guess I did not "feel" it cause it was so alien. But now it feels right.... Thought I might let you know. Good job Marty. [Edited on 5/12/2006]

Yay for banning lazy cheaters! Boo for not answering the juicy questions. Patience is a virtue i guess. I love you bungie. Do you want a large wedding or a small one? assuming that you want to marry me.....i guess....

I have a question i have always wondered. This applies to any game. Do you, the devlopers, feel the same excitement or wow factor towards a game when you play it when it is done. So like since you already know the story and when you game is done and you play it do you get that surprise factor when playing through the game? Hope you can answer this in the next Weekly Update.

not bad..there were alot of clues (at least thats what they looke dlike) in that update just like the banshee pilots....

Sweet... Mister Chief must be dizzy from the glare. And the booth babes.

If that area in the trailer is the remants of New Mobasa why are there trees growing? Are there going to be new vehicles? Will there be a map editor? 32 multi player? [b]Also after Halo 3 will there ever be another Halo or Halo Based Game made by bungie in the next several years?[/b] [Edited on 5/12/2006]

All bungie has to do is look at most of the 38's and 40's and they will find they bridge. Its not there fualt, a lot of them a legit 36's (host=better player) but cheaters always hurt them, so they turn to bridging. -Aktins diet

Hey Frankie is this true that halo 3 will be called halo 3 clones and lies? OR is the guy who posted that thread an emo. Oh and my freind said before you started halo 2 you worked on a game called phoenix isthat true And will you guys have a contest near the halo 3 launch and give out like a free copy of Halo 3? if you do please sign me up for it oh and answer some of these question in the next update please [Edited on 5/12/2006]

Good update but Q&As are getting a little old...

Hey Frankie I PMed you to discuss this Halo 3 gametype, but you never got back to me. Here it is again. New GameType: Turn Based Multi-Flag/Assault This game type would only be for assymetric maps with the attacker:defender montra (examples being Zanzibar, Headlong, Burial Mounds, etc) and would be turn based, 1 turn for each team, and would be primarily for Big Team Battle (8v8 or larger), and the turns would be 5 minutes apiece. The best map that I had in mind for this gametype is HeadLong, so I will use that as an example, though if this were really implemented maps for Halo 3 would have to be designed more for it. On Headlong image if you were on defense, but you had several flags to defend. One in the spot it is currently on 1 Flag Capture the Flag, but there would be another on the top outside where the rocket spawns on the 4th floor, one in the basement stairwell, and one on the small bridge on the third floor connecting the biulding in the back (the sword way). When the attcking team 'caps' a flag the round doesn't end, they just get a a point for that flag, with the potential of getting four points for the round. If you score all 4 flags then the round will end. If time runs out and you only capped 3 of the flags then you get 3 points for that round. Now you will have to try and hold the attackers on your turn to getting less than 2 for the win, 3 for a tie, and if they use more team-work/skill and they get all 4, you lose. At first it will be easy to score flags because there are many flags and it will be difficult to defend the flags. As they score more, you can tighten your defense up, though they get to concentrate there attack as well. Due to the on-line nature of Halo (via X-box Live) I feel that the most important element is team play (also because of lag and host advantage it is important to take the emphasis off of 1 individual being able to dominate an entire game with the right combination power weapons. To emphasize team play I purposely made the rounds short so that attackers would have use team-work in order to cap all of the flags in time. This will hopefully help reduce the amount of quitters as well. If the attacker scores 3 of 4 flags their round you can still potentially win. And if you score 3 flags the first round you can still potentially win by playing good D down to the 4th flag. Flags would be numbered 1-4. When a flag is taken you would here the annoucer go, "Flag 2 taken!" or "Flag 4 returned". This will help the defender keep track of where their flags are. When the little 'flag taken' icon comes up, it will look like it does in Halo 2, only it will have the flag's number on it too. Attackers would have four small peripheral indicators pointing to the flags that are available for taking. Once one of the flags is capped, it is no longer available to be taking again. Only the other 3 flags remain. Assault games could work on these maps too. The thing would be that after you have scored in one of the score zones, you can no longer plant another bomb in that score zone. Also, all 4 bombs would spawn at once, but in slightly different areas just to help prevent spawn camping. Defenders will have 4 little peripheral indicators telling you which spawn points still need to be defended. To prevent spawn camping, the offensive spawn points should be built high up so that a defender would have to run for a while to get up to a spawn camp spot, but the attackers could get down relatively quickly to where the defenders are by dropping down through tubes or high ledges or what ever. These games can be played with classic touch return for bombs and flag or not. I have toyed with the idea of making some flags worth more points depending on there location/defendability. Lets say they build maps specifically for this game type. Some of the defensive points where the flag/arming spot is could be very easily defended while others could be difficult to defend. The difficult to defend flags though maight only be worth 1 point, medium difficulty to defend worth 2, and very difficult worth 3 or whatever works out best. This would again allow team strategy to play a bigger role. Should we go for the 3 "gauranteed" flags for 3 points that we can probably get even if we divide our forces? Should we concentrate our efforts on the big money flag? Should we divide into teams of 'good' players to try and get the difficult flags and a another team of average players to try and cap the easier ones? Should we allways try to gaurd just one bomber at a time, 4 bombers at once try to sneak in, each one assigned a partner? How many eggs hould we put in a basket, and where should we put that basket? If Bungie wanted to get really crazy with it they could bilud a map that allowed for multi-multi-flag or assault. These would have to be large symmetric maps with large bases at each end (Examples being WaterWorks or Beaver Creek and Coagulation but with the basesbeing on a much larger scale). Both bases could have 4 flags. Team work, communication, vehicle coordination, weapon managment and strategy would be crazy essential. And if they did do large symmetric base maps like this they could even do multi-mulit flag AND assult. Bombs going off, flags being taken, craziness man. Multiple teams. 8vv8v8v8!? Sidwinder style map with 4 arms and a base at each end? Discuss and design some maps that would work for these game types - Large assymetric attack defense style and Symmetric Large bases on each end or multiple bases for large multi-team battles.

Hahaha why is Mr. Chief always so retarded looking

I like the dope lighting on Mister Chief. Also that my questions was asked. Twice in fact. And answered, once, I think.

Frankie, halo 3 needs night levels! There so bad ass. Look At Truth and Rec. (cant spell) God i loved those levels. Also, remmember when in High Charity the flood start taking over? If you could make them more scary, (like poping out of no were, or like doom 3) i think that would be tight. But i dont know what the rest of the fans feel about this. This is what I personaly like. Its just a suggestion. Your game. -Aktins Diet

Nice update. I'm loving the AR info. I really want to know more about it but At the same time I don't....ya know what I mean....huh?

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Aktins_Diet Dear Bungie, Bungie’s Next game (halo 3) is drawing closer to completion, and I am concerned about a few things that might not go in it, as in being left out, and things that should be changed. Note: its your game, you can do what ever you please, but I am just speaking from a fans perspective, and I think you might find a lot of people agree with me. Let me state this now that this post is not negative like last week at all. There were a lot of great achievements in Halo 2. One such thing is the UI. The UI in halo 2 was the best I have ever seen in any game. It was extremely stylish, classic, simple, and easy for even the most novas of players. The reason it was simple was because there was no “clutter.” There is an old saying, to many cooks can spoil the broth. Well I think Bungie did an excellent job on the UI by not going over board. Bungie also had tips in there Halo 2 UI as part of a way to inform the players, but keep them busy while they wait for games. If I am correct on this, Bungie is credited for doing this in a first person shooter. (for such a detailed and myriad amount of tips in pre-game lobbies.) It also numerated the steps that the system was in, keeping us informed step by step, and thus giving the player more power and knowledge of what is going on. I think personally the Tips thing, though small, was clever, as well as the 1,2,3,4 steps. What also was clever was having boxes where players where shown, which in halo, showed Xbox controllers. It also showed there “logo” which is each players own identity. This was also very clever, and better then most games. The game setup was great to. My only complaint was that I felt like I did not have enough control on the game setting, like if I wanted were pistols on the map would spawn, I choose human pistol, and where BR’s spawn, I choose carbine. (I guess this is a feature, but I wish it was integrated.) There was 2 other things I did not like about the UI, and that was one, I wish there was a button (like the black button) where I could select someone to boot or give party leader. In halo 2, you have to hit Y, and then go all the way down to do so. It is just a convenient option. The last one is the friends and clan list itself. Granted, no other game has such a user friendly and eye appealing UI for this then Bungie, but I wish I had more control over it. I wish I could choose certain spots to be filled in with my friends. So for example, let’s say I have Steve, Frankie, bob, and Sketch on my friends list. Frankie is all the way down on the bottom, but I want him on top. Sketch is in the middle. But I want him bellow Steve, and bob is currently on top. If I could change this, it would be great, and give’s the player more control. This is so nice when there offline to. (for messaging them.) Also, I hate it when I first logon, and it says I have a message, but my friend is off, so I have to scroll down the list to get the message. It would be more convenient if messages were on top like friend requests. I also saw one of your early builds, where you could send files to one another. I think this would be such a great asset in a game. It would make the next project so much more then just as a game, but more as a social gathering. (Like halo 2 game rooms have become.) Best of all, its P2P, so its no cost to Bungie. (Though The bugs could get annoying to fix.) Overall, I think the UI system is a marvelous achievement of Bungie, and is defiantly the standard bar that gaming companies have to meet, which all have failed in this area. (Darn it!) Props to The UI Team, and I hope such a focus will be made to the next project as well. What also should be focused on desperately is the network of the next project. What really brought halo 2’s destruction of being a bigger success then it already is in my opinion, is the stand-bys, bridging, and modding. Let’s start with what Halo 2 runs on for a network. Halo 2 operates by sending data to Bungie servers, and Xbox live servers once in a while, especially when looking for players or when a team wins. How do we play games then? Simple, Halo 2 runs on a P2P network, which is where one Xbox 360, will have the host, and sends all the data outward, and basically acts like its own server. It cost Bungie no bandwidth, and Bungie does not have to worry about tons of servers to cover and pay for. The down side to this, is that the person with host, has a Huge advantage over his players. For example, a person with host can kill anyone with 8 needles (one explosion) with the needier. But, it can take several explosions with people with non host. Lunging, lag, and the range of grenades all are impacted from the host. It can also be manipulated, to boot people, lag them, or force host on your own team, giving you the advantage, even though you may have DSL, and the other team has t1. Please Bungie, for the love of god, don’t set your next project as a P2P, except for custom games. Instead, invest in the servers. It will boost the life of the game for a long time. A great way to rid stand-by folks is to do something very similar to Far Cry. It detects if a person is having a faulty connection, and boots them if it gets bad. If people have ISP connections that are that bad, they need a new ISP, because they are hurting everyone’s fun factor. Besides, how many people have that problem anyways? Speaking of fun factor, This may be off the topic, but one thing that can make a game playable for ever is the ability to create/customize stuff. Gamers are like noob game designers. All they want to do is make there own stuff and play it, and have fun. Look at Far Cry. Its simple editor is extremely cool to use, and even though it is limited on what you can put down, players have learned to be creative around it. If Bungie was to Create a Map editor for there new game, it would be a Big hit. Best of all, you could do it Far Cry style, make the players Share the map P2P. Again, no extra cost, and you continue the fun factor, and making it a even better game. Plus you get the kicks of seeing some really creative maps that your fans made from your creation. The lunging system in halo 2 was…. Frustrating; granted, it is one of the most sophisticated melee systems of any video game. For example, if one has the Brute Shot, and he runs at a person, aiming at the head, and moves his controller to the left a little at the exact same time as he punches, it’s an instant kill. The game itself is all about position, and timing. On LAN, you can see how good it is. Sadly, online, lag has a tole on it, and thus, sometimes it does things that should not happen. (2 people standing, 1 punching, and not hitting them.) Also, the idea of flying seems fun, but unrealistic, and sometimes annoying, especially when you fall off a cliff. >_< Wow, that’s all I can think of now. (That I hear people talk about all the time, and things that most don’t notice unless they have a trained eye.) Over all, Halo 2 is a great game. Granted, you may hear folks saying it was not as good as halo 1, but that is because (what a some people think, but not all) of the story. Halo 2 strips Halo 1’s MP in my opinion. You may wonder why I do this, but the answer is simple, I care. I care enough about this Company, and believe it or not in its people, as well as the fans. I thought by stating some of the obvious, and some not so obvious, it might help some of the most talented game designers make an even better game. -Aktins Diet PS: Please bring in sprinting. It really makes FPS fun. :) Now to the Update: WOW, that was really cool! I never expected it to look that good. Damn those guys are something. The music was a little over the top though I thought. But I have confidence that Marty will pull through, because his music is always excellent. Maybe its an example of what direction he is heading? And what of the Arbiter? What of the flood? God I hope there is a lot of flood. I love them. I also want to ride the dinos:) *sigh* that sucks that it is the last one. Damn you Bungie. Well, I guess the map editor is even more important then! Oh, and Please show the demo. Or at least some pics of the Ships! -Aktins Diet Edit: I change my mind on the music. I guess I did not "feel" it cause it was so alien. But now it feels right.... Thought I might let you know. Good job Marty. [/quote] wow that guy just wrote an essay to Bungie about Halo 3........... omfg..... give it to your english teacher! [Edited on 5/12/2006]

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] The MAYNE Hahaha why is Mr. Chief always so retarded looking[/quote] DONT EVER, EVER -blam!- say that again on the forums! How can you insult such a classic peice of modern ART! I'm puting a Jehad on you. -Aktins Diet Edit: I hope you know I am messing with you. Dont want people to think i am nuts.... [Edited on 5/12/2006]

how can this be the last halo game when at the end of halo 2 it shows like 6 more halo rings . i just don't understand plus i really dont think it is because when most people think of xbox they think of spartan 117 .