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The Official Halo 3 Thread

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CrazedArabMan said:
MS has dealt another death blow to Halo and game fans alike. Ensemble to be shutdown.
http://kotaku.com/5047632/shane-kim-delivers-death-blow-to-ensemble

Once Halo Wars is done, the studio will be destroyed in a great nuclear explosion

A sad day for all gamers indeed.

R.I.P Ensemble, for your age of empires series brought a great deal of fun to my computer.
In the words of Johnson, "send me out with a bang". Meaning Halo Wars better be one of the best games ever created.
WTF, fuck MS.

That's a shitty thing to do to such a fine developer.
 
Man, I feel like I've been the deliver of bad news and rumors lately. It does suck though, so what about DLC or support for Halo Wars then, MS has to have a back up team that can fix stuff, they can't just ship it, tear a part the team, and forget the game even launched.
 
CrazedArabMan said:
so what about DLC or support for Halo Wars then, MS has to have a back up team that can fix stuff, they can't just ship it, tear a part the team, and forget the game even launched.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6197465.html?tag=latestheadlines;title;1
Though Microsoft will close the studio, Ensemble brass plan to soldier on. As part of today's statement, Microsoft said that Ensemble's "leadership team" will form a new development house, and has already entered into an agreement with the publisher to continue supporting Halo Wars post-launch, "as well as work on other projects with Microsoft Game Studios."
 
but why destroy a team of talented people and then have the main leaders go and form a new team, unless something was going on inside the studio and they wanted to start fresh or something.

Edit: maybe Bungie got out at a good time, who knows what might have happened if they stayed
 
CrazedArabMan said:
but why destroy a team of talented people and then have the main leaders go and form a new team, unless something was going on inside the studio and they wanted to start fresh or something.

Edit: maybe Bungie got out at a good time, who knows what might have happened if they stayed

It's actually quite like the Bungie/Microsoft split situation. Only this time, Microsoft wanted the studio to split instead of the studio wanting to split from Microsoft. Now "Ensemble 2" can be an independent studio while having an exclusive partnership with Microsoft and have the creative freedom to make what they want and make as much as they want.
 
RyuHayate said:

Bill1.gif
 
CrazedArabMan said:
but why destroy a team of talented people and then have the main leaders go and form a new team, unless something was going on inside the studio and they wanted to start fresh or something.
Microsoft said it was a fiscal decision.

Ensemble is a big team. They have a very high burn rate, and they spent the first year of their development time working on controls. The game was originally supposed to come out this spring; it looks to have been delayed a year. The quantity/quality:cost ratio isn't good. Similar to why FASA was shutdown after the long-in-development Shadowrun. Pure business.

I suspect they are going to form a smaller studio that will scale with the project they do next.

On a related note, this is undoubtedly why Bungie is working on three projects now - to establish a more stable stream of income with projects spaced out, rather than one big one every three years. They have a huge burn rate and have to plan accordingly.
 
Jironimo said:
I was hoping you'd say you just don't like how it sounds. I can tell you don't get it since the name Valhalla works on many levels with the multiplayer map. Take a peek at the wikipedia page for some clues.

1. "Valhalla (from Old Norse Valhöll "hall of the slain"[1])", the Hall of the Slain in Norse mythology sounds very appropriate for a multiplayer map where Spartan warriors kill each other over and over again.

2. "In Norse mythology, Valhalla...where those that die in combat go upon death, led by valkyries." So it's not just a Viking heaven, but an after-life where warriors go to battle once again for the god Odin in the ultimate battle for the gods Ragnarok. Notice a theme of warriors, battling again even after death, maybe a little like respawning ;-).

3. It works because Valhalla the map is beautiful in an eerily similar way to the Valhalla described in Norse mythology and shown in classical art (see example below).
Walhalla_%281896%29_by_Max_Br%C3%BCckner.jpg


4. Norse mythology is very relevant to the Halo universe, there are references to it all throughout the games and the fiction. MJOLNIR (as in the armor MC wears) = Thor's Hammer, Thor = son of Odin, Odin = Host of an afterlife in a beautiful place named Valhalla.

So perhaps you would have just preferred Bungie's internal name River World, which is an OK name referencing an apparent characteristic about the map. I continue to really appreciate the attention to detail Bungie takes in crafting their universe. I know that the references they make to cultures, mythology and religions all over the world connects the universe more to the people who enjoy the games. It's a very distinct style which gives the series a unique flavor.

I'd encourage you to pay more attention to the details because I think you'll get a lot more out of the story. So many people skim right over these details which is a shame. This is one of the reasons we'll be looking into more of these details at Ascendant Justice.
Isn't it that the dead fight Ragnarok instead of each other?

Also, I understand that there are people who consider the Halo the end all when it comes to Sci Fi, I am not one of them. I personally believe that there is no such thing as a good Sci Fi. Halo is a fun game for me and the campaign has lost a lot of its fun do to design decisions that just don't interest me. Maybe I'm a purest but I've always found the original Halo to have the best campaign. Perhaps it is because Bungie wasn't holding me back as a player with invisible walls and death barriers, but all that is off topic, the story in the Halo games does not interest me. I've read the books except for Contact Harvest (Harvest Contact? w/e) and it isn't something I consider worth studying. My readings were not inspired by the urge to dive deeper into the Halo universe but to just want something Halo. At the time Bungie was doing the "oh very soon you will see" every week style and it was hype overdrive.

Then the game shipped and it is "EARTH UNDERATTACK! LEAVE EARTH! ARBITER! FLOWER WITH TENTACLES! EXPECTED BETRAYAL! COVENANT HOMEWORLD! MASTER CHEIF FLYS!" and that is pretty much how the story was told. These subtle details you mention are not part of the story presentation but more of the level design. The caps lock and exclamation marks are pretty much spot of for Halo 2's presentation. Halo 3 tries to be have that build up to a climax and perhaps the final cutscene delivers it in a way but the presentation of the story is still much the same BANG, BANG.

Yada Yada Yada, I like the Halo games. I like playing them. The story is...eh, it is a story. It isn't bad but it isn't good. That is my opinion. You can tell me go deeper and deeper and find all the symbolism, references, and whatever but I still won't care because the main story doesn't entice me. Think of this way, I'm not going to be interested in computer architecture if I'm not interested in computers. I don't like my forms of entertainment to incredibly serious, life has enough drama. I just don't like it.
 
Ensemble is the new FASA and Halo Wars is the new Shadowrun.

You know what that means:
Fox is gunna love it.


As for the description of Sandbox. You have to keep in mind that the default description for Foundry is "After the orbital elevator fell, supply warehouses sending munitions to space were soon abandoned. 4-12 players". Judging the map based on that wouldn't hint at it being a fully customizable space. So for Sandbox, just like Foundry, Bungie will ship it with a default setup. Judging by the fact that that specific setup is described as a "wasteland" makes it more likely that it is an outdoor Foundry-like map. Consider me happy.


Edit: I'm not going to bother reading your posts, Prvt.Pegleg; I'd just like you to know that the only thing wrong with Valhalla is its lack of choppers. I'd appreciate it if you shut the fuck up.
 
GhaleonEB said:
Microsoft said it was a fiscal decision.

Ensemble is a big team. They have a very high burn rate, and they spent the first year of their development time working on controls. The game was originally supposed to come out this spring; it looks to have been delayed a year. The quantity/quality:cost ratio isn't good. Similar to why FASA was shutdown after the long-in-development Shadowrun. Pure business.

I suspect they are going to form a smaller studio that will scale with the project they do next.

On a related note, this is undoubtedly why Bungie is working on three projects now - to establish a more stable stream of income with projects spaced out, rather than one big one every three years. They have a huge burn rate and have to plan accordingly.

Well the good news coming out of it is that the leaders will reform. I had forgotten about FASA and their shutdown (I do remember that the leaders are starting another company though). It is kinda sad though that some of these great developers are seeing their own companies come crashing down in front of them on the verge of big projects or just after they release them.
 
CrazedArabMan said:
Well the good news coming out of it is that the leaders will reform. I had forgotten about FASA and their shutdown (I do remember that the leaders are starting another company though). It is kinda sad though that some of these great developers are seeing their own companies come crashing down in front of them on the verge of big projects or just after they release them.
I'm still worried about Halo Wars.
 
EazyB said:
Ensemble is the new FASA and Halo Wars is the new Shadowrun.

You know what that means:
Fox is gunna love it.
You're clever. Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back. Shadowrun > Halo 3 though.
 
Prvt.Pegleg said:
Isn't it that the dead fight Ragnarok instead of each other?
A metaphor doesn't have to match up point for point to still be an effective metaphor. Regardless, what happens with the Ragnarok isn't really important.

Whatever your opinion is of Halo or Sci-Fi I really don't care. You insinuated that Valhalla didn't make sense as a name for that map, I was just pointing out that it does work for various reasons.
 
Trasher said:
Some fun times with my GAF buds: EazyB, Blood, Domino, Dirtbag, Juices, Ramirez, and Thermite. :D

http://www.gamevee.com/viewVideo/Halo_3/GeeVee/Sniping_my_friends/847566
Ugh, I don't know what to be more upset about:
The fact that we let you go on that lucky spree or the fact that I've played with Juices.
Regardless, I feel disgusting Edit: elated!

You're using alts to get the coveted 50 :lol
http://www.bungie.net/Stats/GameStatsHalo3.aspx?gameid=733658516&player=TJ%20Trasher

JdFoX187 said:
You're clever. Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back. Shadowrun > Halo 3 though.
Nothing personal, I just had to check to make sure you were still lurking. We miss you, pal.
 
Trasher said:
Those are my 2 roommates. Ever since they watched Ram's perfection video they became huge fans, and I finally got them to buy Halo 3!

They seem to display call-signs similar to very specific people you play with.

:lol
 
Merguson said:
They seem to display call-signs similar to very specific people you play with.

:lol
Ya actually one is more of a fan of Captain Blood; that's why he named his guy SadfaceRam. They really make it feel like home for me when they use the same call signs as my fellow TJ's.
 
Do you guys think we will get a full AU2 (including achievements etc.) blowout for this weekly update?

Excluding of course the back-end stuff which Bungie has made it clear will likely go unspoken for the most part.
 
Jironimo said:
This is by a Venezuelan artist named Reiq. I'm a fan of his work. You can see some good stuff of his at Deviant Art.

Joanna Dark
http://tn3-1.deviantart.com/fs13/300W/f/2006/359/4/7/Perfect_Dark___JOANNA_by_reiq.jpg[IMG]

Samus Aran
[IMG]http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs23/f/2007/342/3/2/Samun_Aran_by_reiq.jpg[IMG]

Cortana - gotta keep it relevant to the Halo thread
[IMG]http://fc04.deviantart.com/fs23/f/2007/314/1/b/Halo__s_Cortana_by_reiq.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]

Wow, way to make it NSFW asshole.
 
scola said:
Do you guys think we will get a full AU2 (including achievements etc.) blowout for this weekly update?

Excluding of course the back-end stuff which Bungie has made it clear will likely go unspoken for the most part.

If the AU is still scheduled to release next Tuesday like planned, yeah.

If it slips like Luke said it could, then next Friday. :P

Trasher said:
Ya actually one is more of a fan of Captain Blood; that's why he named his guy SadfaceRam. They really make it feel like home for me when they use the same call signs as my fellow TJ's.

Why appear offline then? Surely it would be easy to just tell people you're playing with your roommates if someone asks you what you're doing, hehe.
 
Domino Theory said:
Why appear offline then? Surely it would be easy to just tell people you're playing with your roommates if someone asks you what you're doing, hehe.
Cause I didn't want to hurt Ram and Blood's feelings. :(

Now they will never play with me ever again. :(
 
It's near the end of the game - BTB Slayer, on Sandtrap. We're whomping the Blue team something fierce.

52596029-Full.jpg


It begins with this poor soul, tossing the trip mine down. He's getting flanked by yours truly.


52596028-Full.jpg


I drop him just as the Banshee comes into view. Note the tripmine. It's important.


52596055-Full.jpg


Alas, the Banshee has me in its sights. Note the next sequence of shots takes place over the course of one second.


52596086-Full.jpg


Knowing my end is nigh, I hurl a glowing blue orb of vengeful justice.


52596108-Full.jpg


The fuel rod connects. I'm done for. Glowing blue orb of vengeful justice (GBOoVJ)? En route.


52596107-Full.jpg


It connects, and a split second later is detonated by the shock wave from the fuel rod gun explosion. Alas, not enough to destroy the Banshee in vengeance.


52596121-Full.jpg


Thankfully, the GBOoVJ sets off the tripmine. That does the trick.


52596122-Full.jpg


Avenged.


52596140-Full.jpg


And as the encore, a merry adventurer comes barreling in for one last kill. Or something.


52596162-Full.jpg


He leaps forth, right between two Reds, ready to fight. Note the laser line.


52596165-Full.jpg


His own buddy kills him, the two Reds and the Warthog. Double-kill/Betrayal. Epic finish.

The instant chain reaction of the FRG, plasma grenade, trip mine and Banshee was the single most violent explosion I've seen in all my Halo 3 playing. It was glorious. Doing that Gamevee thing for posterity.
 
Jironimo said:
You're at work at 12:51 am? Nice. Not to mention there's nothing nsfw in those pics, they're totally covered. Try not to panic so much.

Not too many employers are cool with their employees ogling giant, cartoon balloon tits from their workstations.
 
I need people to play with on a consistent basis...I was out of the game for a little over a month, but I am back now and need some consistency. I have played with a bunch of you before hit me up.
 
halo gaf, if my camping adventure falls through this weekend i will forge us an epic map on highground and avalanche. even tdg will like my avalanche map.

and then you can all ignore me as i send invites :(
 
urk said:
Not too many employers are cool with their employees ogling giant, cartoon balloon tits from their workstations.
I can see that. At the same time they'd probably be about as happy with their employees spending time on a gaming forum.
 
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