[b]July 23, 2004[/b]
It's been a busy, busy week. So busy in fact, and so crunchtacular, that basically nobody is really available to chat this week. Sorry. Don't yell/flame/freak out.
Sketch was out in New York being a muckety-muck all week, and I got roped into another classic Parsons travel-trap. It involves a passport, and some international shenanigans. Think sauerbraten. Anyway, lots going on in the studio, and I've been playing through a very nice-looking build of the game. I noticed the skyboxes are looking amazing. Skyboxes are basically the sky (duh) designed to look 3D with flitting clouds, translucent fog and a feeling of real space and height. One in particular made me actually gasp as I looked up. 'Gasp!" went I.
The skyboxes are often fixed later in the polishing process and a bunch of the placeholders have had big holes in the center for a long time. Probably the ozone layer or something. Anyway, placeholders are becoming rarer and rarer. There's even a placeholder sound. A startling, yet melodic tinkle accompanies any footstep on an undefined texture – that is to say, a texture that hasn't yet has a footstep sound associated with it.
I kinda miss the tinkle on multiplayer maps, since it loudly announced when somebody was walking in certain areas. Which you would then blast. With a Brute Shot. "Tinkle, tinkle, tinkle. Whump, whump, whump. Blam! Blam! Blam! Ow."
Marty also let me hear one of the new pieces of finished music from the game. It was perfect. Totally inspiring, a soaring cavalcade of angelic ecstasy, tempered with just a hint of mournful longng, and all this to a totally danceable Euro-technobeat….I'm just kidding Marty. It was great.
Last week's experimental foray to the Penny Arcade forums was a roaring success, if that is, you judge success by the number of flames, death-threats and pictures of distended sphincters you get. The Penny Arcade guys (who fear to tread there themselves and are super-nice) actually warned me, but by then it was too late. I read about 40 pages of angry flames before I realized that I had no idea what they were mad about. They were complaining about the arrival of the "noobz" yet only a couple of percent of the posts were actually by "noobz." It was a self-powered nightmare, but we all had a good laugh.
I've actually been playing more and more of the single player campaign, but last night, playing multiplayer, through my own crappy connection, I noticed nothing. No slowdown, no lag and no garbled voices. It was like playing on a LAN. Wonders never cease. I hope that's typical of how it will be in the retail game.
In single player, I'm being distracted by the lovely environments of course, but also by the amount of interaction there is in the levels. There's a lot more use of cover, by both good guys and bad guys, but there are other ways you interact with the environments that are both novel and old-school, simultaneously….
And on that graphics whore note, I noticed two new types of water. One shallow, one deep. Both lovely. Splish splash. I sure do love game water. My favorite all time non-Halo game water? The icy pool in Dead or Alive 3. Brrrr!
[b]Adrian Perez[/b]
Adrian's bug-fixing has reached something of a crescendo.
"Every week we get closer to finishing, which means that every week the bugs I’m fixing are less and less critical. This also has the unfortunate side effect of making them less and less interesting to talk about. I added a few gravy features to the HUD so that Dave can work his magic, fixed a few lightmap problems that have been plaguing us since the beginning of time, and fixed a couple dozen miscellaneous bugs. One cool thing I did was allow the designers script control over the damaging of specific sections in a model. If they want some scripted event where the left tire of a warthog explodes and goes tumbling away, they will have a lot more control."
[b]Chris Carney[/b]
Our multiplayer maven is tweaking, tuning, fixing and hammering on the multiplayer levels.
"Concerning updates, Steve “Land of “ Cotton and I have been spending our waking moments trying to finish up all of new content by next Friday (i.e. content complete). Included in this last mad dash is some familiar lands, and yes, I can not be more specific. But let’s just say that we have been spending some serious time with some old friends. In addition, we are going through all of our maps to try and finalize any outstanding game play elements, and are also deeply involved in polishing the art in the environments to a fine glossy sheen. One of our major goals in Halo 2 multiplayer is to have at least one or two of the new maps look as shiny as Butkus’s car."
Bam.
[b]David Candland[/b]
Our User Interface maestro is getting seriously down and dirty with icons, iconography and iconification.
"This was the week of icons, icons, and more icons. First off, I updated the Xbox Live icons in the friends, clan, and players menus. We needed a special icon to represent a specific team member. Max suggested adding a large sombrero or foam cowboy hat to the friend icon. Although I laughed initially nothing better popped into my head. Fine, sombrero it is…for now.
Next, another throwback to the Myth days. Our player level system is getting icons based on the Covenant caste structure. You will soon be able to see how good a player is just by looking at his rank icon.
Lastly, I’m working on refining some of the custom player emblems that don’t read well at small sizes. Sorry, but I’m afraid the shrunken head has got to go. Event horizon is borderline. Flaming Ninja has won the battle of emotional attachment over legibility. He’s in.
So, that's it until next week, when I'll recount my mysterious trip. I know it was short, and a bit limp, so I'll make it up to you next week. Until then, here's Mister Chief reacting to a skybox. It's more of a scream than a gasp…
[img]http://www.bungie.net/images/News/InlineImages/misterchiefscream.jpg[/img]
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i dont believe him until the ilb thing is over.
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Why would Frankie say he has no clue as to why people are so hyped for Aug 24? Every single post in this forum is about ilovebees, you have to be living under a rock not to know this...for christ sakes there was a 31 page thread on the topic with in big bold letters ILOVEBEES on it!!!!!!!!!!!!
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[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Frankie Halo 2 comes out on Nov. 9th or Nov. 11th for the UK. It does NOT come out on Aug 24th. You know what does come out on Aug. 24th? Some OXM special which does NOT, and I repeat does NOT have a Halo 2 demo on it. No clue how that rumor gained so much momentum. But to reiterate, Halo 2 comes out Nov. 9th or Nov.11th for the UK. Sigh. [/quote] [color=lime] no clue he says.... sigh. [/color]
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if anything frankie u just made things go even more out of control...
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quick! someone make another "what will you do on nov. 9th?" thread [Edited on 8/3/2004 4:38:01 PM]
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Frankie, if you really do have"no clue how that rumor gained so much momentum", I'm pretty sure you missed something. I don't understand how any Halo fan can find this news exciting. It almost seems like the ability to go out and legitimately flame "believers" is more important than getting to play this game as soon as possible.
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frankie... why would u go off and ruin the ilovebees mystery... i find it strange...
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Frankie, I love you even more now, in a completely hetero-blam!- way of course. Thank you for FINALLY dispelling rumors of a 24th release/demo. Thank god.
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[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] JAY132 [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Frankie Halo 2 comes out on Nov. 9th or Nov. 11th for the UK. It does NOT come out on Aug 24th. You know what does come out on Aug. 24th? Some OXM special which does NOT, and I repeat does NOT have a Halo 2 demo on it. No clue how that rumor gained so much momentum. But to reiterate, Halo 2 comes out Nov. 9th or Nov.11th for the UK. Sigh. [/quote] Confirmation!! Owned![/quote] Indeed. [Edited on 8/3/2004 4:29:41 PM]
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Thank you frankie. Thats going in my signature now :)
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[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Frankie Halo 2 comes out on Nov. 9th or Nov. 11th for the UK. It does NOT come out on Aug 24th. You know what does come out on Aug. 24th? Some OXM special which does NOT, and I repeat does NOT have a Halo 2 demo on it. No clue how that rumor gained so much momentum. But to reiterate, Halo 2 comes out Nov. 9th or Nov.11th for the UK. Sigh. [/quote] Confirmation!! Owned!
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Halo 2 comes out on Nov. 9th or Nov. 11th for the UK. It does NOT come out on Aug 24th. You know what does come out on Aug. 24th? Some OXM special which does NOT, and I repeat does NOT have a Halo 2 demo on it. No clue how that rumor gained so much momentum. But to reiterate, Halo 2 comes out Nov. 9th or Nov.11th for the UK. Sigh.
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your right it would help but I don't think they're going to tell us but we should wait till Aug. 10th because In 7 days this medium will metastasize which means make a drastic change and they probobly will tell us something then but also if you read my post its up a few post it will tell you what I believe will happen on the Twenty fourth *screw this keyboard* the noumber four key doesn't work. anyways Just be PATIENT. and something will happen. and FRANKIE we want you to tell us something on one of these days. [Edited on 8/3/2004 3:29:18 PM]
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Frankie, we really need to know if halo 2 will come out on August 24th. Its driving me crazy that i dont know when its coming out. I dont see how you guys can be so busy that you cant tell us if the game comes out on the 24th or not. A simple yes or no answer would help.
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I have already made my preorder....And people no flames please....but have you seen ladybee777's reply letter...the poem?
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magnum *cough
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[i]"I know of several hundreds of people who will be glad that -blam!- pistol is gone."[/i] ~jshine77 If a great weapon like the pistol is not in Halo 2, a better, more efficient weapon will follow it, and I'm sure the Battle Rifle will surely take the pistol's place w/ the scoped single shot. I'm a frequent pistoler myself, and I know I will be looking forward to fragging with it. By the way, Frankie, I just read your story about your EuroTrip. Hope you enjoyed your stay in Germany. I just returned from a 3 week trip to Straubing in Bavaria.. real nice. Ich liebe Deutscher Bier, amerikaniscer Bier schmekt wie -blam!-e. Ph33r m4 133t G3rm4n sk|11z. ~dykie
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I believe that the timer on ilovebees.com really stands for a cortana letter or a letter kind of like that. Also it is possible that Halo 2 will come out that day because if you look at this update he hints that they are almost done and they could release it Aug. 24th because it does not take that long to copy stuff like that and they have industrial cd writers which write at a much faster speed than we have on our home pc's and also they would be running all night which means it is totally possible that it could come out on the 24th of August so if i were you I would preorder now.
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[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Diomedes w00t last post[/quote] Don't think so, buddy. I know of several hundreds of people who will be glad that -blam!- pistol is gone.
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w00t last post
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[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Drunk Monk Hey idea on the bee thing, I know it has something to do with bungie, but what about Xbox in general? check this link for proof [url]http://www.xbox.ilovebees.com[/url] and go to xbox.com and type I Love Bees in the search, you would think nothing would turn up wouldnt you?[/quote] When i went to that site this came up onscreen...HALT - MODULE CORE HEMORRHAGE Control has been yielded to the SYSTEM PERIL DISTRIBUTED REFLEX. This medium is classified, and has a STRONG INTRUSIVE INCLINATION. PHASE 1 COMPLETE: Network throttling has eroded. In 9 days this medium will metastasize. COUNTDOWN TO WIDE AWAKE AND PHYSICAL: 22:09:49:13:813 Make your decisions accordingly. Except the countdown would actually countdown... [Edited on 8/1/2004 5:19:33 PM]
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Awesome, I can't wait to start some CLAN WARS!!!! And I can't wait til Halo 2 is released and I can compare my stats to all you punks!!! HEHE!!
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i read that book too( First Strike) , but I think it will be a totally different pistol because it mentioned a chang in weight from the first one.
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awesome post
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weasel, in the 3rd book they describe a new pistol thats very magnum like, so if they have that in halo 2 i think its gonna b pretty much the same thing... since the pistol in halo is very over balanced, but thats y we love it :)
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I must know............will the UNSC pistol be in Halo 2, I NEED THE PISTOL THE PISTOL IS MY FAVORITE WEAPON!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean there is a GARGANTUAN (if thats how u spell it ) DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SMG AND THE PISTOL, one does more damage (i think) one is faster maybe one melee does more damage or is faster........who knows im sure there are other rabid bungie fans like me who love the M6D c'mon pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeAse listen!!!!!!!!!!!!! crazed lazy xbox obsessed gamers like me are who make up 82.9 percent of all your fans!!!!!!!!! please do this for me....I mean US........ i play xbox games non stop and play halo every day or i go through withdrawl