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[ManCannon]

Before I descend back into the bowels of meeting-hell, my obligatory spoiler posts for the day (and you call this dream crushing, pfft).

No video today, or tomorrow actually. All the direct feed media captured last week at Bungie is held for next week... to give breathing room to something we are releasing later this week. I don't imagine we'd release the raw b-roll we provided to media but you'll see more footage next week. Lot's more I imagine.

Tomorrow you will see a few new screens and global hands-on impressions.

Urk is apparently cooking up the weekly Reach Beta story for release TODAY since the rest of the week starts to get noisy. It sounds delish. Urk also has free reign to go into details about Invasion later this week if anyone thinks he should. What do people still want to know that Dani hasn't nailed?

Last night marked the conclusion of the internal-Beta. Sad times. But it will be awesome to have an exponentially larger population to match with. Also, I think I'm in love with Invasion Slayer.

I was thinking about maybe doing a Twitter Q&A event this week to tie up loose ends and cover off outstanding questions on the beta before we are no longer relevant and everyone gets their own hands on it. Urk is whipping up all sorts of stuff for Bnet as well including a huge FAQ (drawing from a lot of great questions posed here).

I'll take any and all submissions for Bungie podcast theme songs whenever they're available. If it's before end of next week and it's sweet, you'll get a F&F beta code for your troubles. If it's after, we'll find something else to throw your way.

Luke's been on vacation and was not out there talking smack anywhere, it's all fake.

And, I think that's everything...

 

[Domino Theory]

Dream Crushin'...

No new footage until next week?

Can you hint at what the big Thursday reveal is for this week?

Also, when are we going to get that 'sheet' of information that details all the stuff The Arena tracks for the ranks and divisions and what not? I think Luke said we'd find that stuff out before the Beta released.

 

[Trasher]

No video today, or tomorrow actually. All the direct feed media captured last week at Bungie is held for next week... to give breathing room to something we are releasing later this week. I don't imagine we'd release the raw b-roll we provided to media but you'll see more footage next week. Lot's more I imagine.

ViDoc?!?!

 

[Not a Jellyfish]

Very good analysis; it really provided good context to what we saw in the trailer. There's something I'm wondering about fire teams, though: When it says "Covenant A takes the lead!" I'm assuming it means that Team A has the most kills for the Elites, or has the most kills of any fire team. Am I reading into that correctly?

I think you are, it is going to be interesting to see how that effects your EXP and how many credits you earn for unlockables.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Before I descend back into the bowels of meeting-hell, my obligatory spoiler posts for the day (and you call this dream crushing, pfft).

No video today, or tomorrow actually. All the direct feed media captured last week at Bungie is held for next week... to give breathing room to something we are releasing later this week. I don't imagine we'd release the raw b-roll we provided to media but you'll see more footage next week. Lot's more I imagine.

Oh gosh.

Tomorrow you will see a few new screens and global hands-on impressions.

Urk is apparently cooking up the weekly Reach Beta story for release TODAY since the rest of the week starts to get noisy. It sounds delish. Urk also has free reign to go into details about Invasion later this week if anyone thinks he should. What do people still want to know that Dani hasn't nailed?

Well then. This is shaping to be one hell of a fun week.

Last night marked the conclusion of the internal-Beta. Sad times. But it will be awesome to have an exponentially larger population to match with. Also, I think I'm in love with Invasion Slayer.

I was thinking about maybe doing a Twitter Q&A event this week to tie up loose ends and cover off outstanding questions on the beta before we are no longer relevant and everyone gets their own hands on it. Urk is whipping up all sorts of stuff for Bnet as well including a huge FAQ (drawing from a lot of great questions posed here).

I'll take any and all submissions for Bungie podcast theme songs whenever they're available. If it's before end of next week and it's sweet, you'll get a F&F beta code for your troubles. If it's after, we'll find something else to throw your way.

Luke's been on vacation and was not out there talking smack anywhere, it's all fake.

And, I think that's everything...

Twitter Q&A sounds fun, after the media impressions I'm sure there's going to be some questions that need cleaning up.

No new footage until next week?

We knew that from the NDA posted a few days ago, the video embargo ends on Monday. Sounds like a vidoc this week to make up for it though.

(And a podcast, and a b.net Reach article, and...)

 

[RdN]

A Twitter Q&A seems like a great idea, especially if somebody compile them into on single place later.

 

[Tashi]

Thanks for the update Brian. Any specific format you guys want the Podcast intro song in? I'm working on some guitar riffs right now

 

[squidhands]

Before I descend back into the bowels of meeting-hell, my obligatory spoiler posts for the day (and you call this dream crushing, pfft).

No video today, or tomorrow actually. All the direct feed media captured last week at Bungie is held for next week... to give breathing room to something we are releasing later this week. I don't imagine we'd release the raw b-roll we provided to media but you'll see more footage next week. Lot's more I imagine.

Tomorrow you will see a few new screens and global hands-on impressions.

Urk is apparently cooking up the weekly Reach Beta story for release TODAY since the rest of the week starts to get noisy. It sounds delish. Urk also has free reign to go into details about Invasion later this week if anyone thinks he should. What do people still want to know that Dani hasn't nailed?

Last night marked the conclusion of the internal-Beta. Sad times. But it will be awesome to have an exponentially larger population to match with. Also, I think I'm in love with Invasion Slayer.

I was thinking about maybe doing a Twitter Q&A event this week to tie up loose ends and cover off outstanding questions on the beta before we are no longer relevant and everyone gets their own hands on it. Urk is whipping up all sorts of stuff for Bnet as well including a huge FAQ (drawing from a lot of great questions posed here).

I'll take any and all submissions for Bungie podcast theme songs whenever they're available. If it's before end of next week and it's sweet, you'll get a F&F beta code for your troubles. If it's after, we'll find something else to throw your way.

Luke's been on vacation and was not out there talking smack anywhere, it's all fake.

And, I think that's everything...

He's releasing it today?! Wheeeee!!!!!!!!

 

[Magni]

The "Halo 3" beta is a great example of a particular weapon being in the game that immediately became very obvious that it was just way too powerful and didn't fit into the balanced, nuance of our sandbox, so the design team was able to react to that. By the time the game shipped ... it wasn't the "weapon of the gods" that it was during the beta.

RIP H3B Carbine and Landmine =(

 

[Trasher]

He's releasing it today?! Wheeeee!!!!!!!!

Oh is that what he meant? For some reason I thought he just meant that Urk was writing Friday's update today, but not necessarily releasing it haha.

 

[CrazedArabMan]

An article today would be great, something to wet my appetite before tomorrow.

 

[Not a Jellyfish]

RIP H3B Carbine and Landmine =(

I looooved the Carbine in the Halo 3 Beta, I was so sad when final release came and picked it up.

 

[Kibbles]

Thanks for the update ManCannon. No footage until next week makes me sadface, but hopefully the ViDoc will be meaty.

No new footage until next week?

Can you hint at what the big Thursday reveal is for this week?

Also, when are we going to get that 'sheet' of information that details all the stuff The Arena tracks for the ranks and divisions and what not? I think Luke said we'd find that stuff out before the Beta released.

If I'm reading correctly, it sounds like Urk is releasing the "Thursday reveal" today . ViDoc also coming later this week it seems.

 

[Magni]

I looooved the Carbine in the Halo 3 Beta, I was so sad when final release came and picked it up.

My biggest fear is that the DMR will be a beast in the Beta, and then completely nerfed for this fall =O

 

[Trasher]

Thanks for the update ManCannon. No footage until next week makes me sadface, but hopefully the ViDoc will be meaty.

If I'm reading correctly, it sounds like Urk is releasing the "Thursday reveal" today . ViDoc also coming later this week it seems.

If he says no footage this week does that mean no ViDoc this week?

 

[RdN]

I looooved the Carbine in the Halo 3 Beta, I was so sad when final release came and picked it up.

Yeah.. the Carbine felt so nice in the Beta.. I remember always getting it and killing lots of people since took people a while to realize it was good. Ah.. memories. :lol

 

[Kapura]

Urk is apparently cooking up the weekly Reach Beta story for release TODAY since the rest of the week starts to get noisy. It sounds delish. Urk also has free reign to go into details about Invasion later this week if anyone thinks he should. What do people still want to know that Dani hasn't nailed?

Just listened to the podcast (again) and I still have a few Invasion questions...

-What percentage (roughly) of the map is open during each "phase" of invasion?
-What are, explicitly, the phases of invasion? Derek said the first one was Elites destroying the generators, but not the other objectives when that is completed? We have speculation, but no hard statements
-Along with that, how many generators are there to destroy? Are the the same type as in Generator Defence? How are they distributed over the map? I need the deets!
-I'd like to know vehicle respawns so I know how long I need to look out for and hijack a tank
-Are there power weapons on the map, or will they only be provided by drops (and late loadouts)?
-If invasion slayer is Spartans vs Elites, are there any specific disadvantages Elites have to balance them? They seemed to be described as a lot better.
-How big is Boneyard? Rat's Nest big? Valhalla big? Sandtrap big? Avalanche big? Bigger?
-In a related note, how many "putting my bone in your yard" jokes were made when the name was settled on?
-What would you say the average game length is of a full match of Invasion or Invasion Slayer?
-Will the Beta playlists be listed somewhere like the Halo 3 playlists? Even going over them in a Weekly Update would be awesome.

That's all I got... for now.

 

[Magni]

Yeah.. the Carbine felt so nice in the Beta.. I remember always getting it and killing lots of people since took people a while to realize it was good. Ah.. memories. :lol

I remember the first few days of H3, I was the only one picking up the Mauler and they were all over all the maps :lol :lol :lol

What's the ETA on Urk's stuff Brian? I've got a chem midterm tomorrow morning and it's 10:40pm here, wondering if I should stay up or if it'll be released at something like 4am my time :lol

 

[Magni]

Just listened to the podcast (again) and I still have a few Invasion questions...
-How big is Boneyard? Rat's Nest big? Valhalla big? Sandtrap big? Avalanche big? Bigger?

Bigger than Sandtrap IIRC.

 

[Not a Jellyfish]

My biggest fear is that the DMR will be a beast in the Beta, and then completely nerfed for this fall =O

With no BR present they better not think of nerfing the DMR, that is if it is as good as it looks.

 

[Kibbles]

If he says no footage this week does that mean no ViDoc this week?

No video today, or tomorrow actually. All the direct feed media captured last week at Bungie is held for next week... to give breathing room to something we are releasing later this week.

All the footage the media captured at Bungie has been held for next week (which is what the embargo originally said anyways), to give breathing room to something they are releasing later this week, which I would assume is the ViDoc.

 

[stephen08]

Looking forward to Urk's story today.

I wish I had some kind of musical talent to enter the theme song contest.

 

[Subtervotion]

Haha, I just noticed Ghaleon and I both got answered by Hoovaloov. :lol

 

[EazyB]

Thanks for the spoilers Mancannon.

One question though, are those that played the internal beta allowed to give their impressions (of stuff in the public beta) once the media is allowed to? Need to grill Coco P and Voc as I'd trust their impressions over anyone in the media.

 

[Hey You]

Urk also has free reign to go into details about Invasion later this week if anyone thinks he should. What do people still want to know that Dani hasn't nailed?

Even if he just sums up everything, that would be nice. I don't like having to jump to different articles/interviews to get briefed fully before I jump into the beta.

 

[electricpirate]

I wonder if this is the beta strategy guide urkles mentioned so long ago?

 

[Demoncarnotaur]

Sounds like we may be getting some nice treats this week.

I cant wait to see some news and read some hands-on feedback, but I really cant wait until the video footage.

 

[dslgunstar]

Looks like it's team based scoring - going by the classic score keeper on the lower right - but beneath that fire team tracking is also kept. I'm guessing there's multiple cR rewards for Invasion Slayer: extra cR for being on the winning team, and a separate set for being the winning fire team. That way, if even if you're on the losing team, the best fire team gets a reward.

At least, that's what I'd like to see.

After watching that video, I can finally finish writing up the Invasion description tonight. I can tweak it based on any news tomorrow morning right before posting the thread. Great analysis, he spotted tons of stuff I'd never picked up on, such as the time resetting to four minutes after the initial territory was captured, the Phantom being the core extraction mechanism, and how the weapon drops worked. Awesome.

Phase 1: unlock the Core
Phase 2: steal the Core
Phase 3: extract the Core to the Phantom

That would reach UNHOLY levels of badassery if true. A perfect mix of Halo, Battlefield and Killzone 2.

I dont think there's a chance that the DMR will be nerfed. I think the weapons with the biggest chances for massive changes are the new grenade launcher and the new Plasma Launcher.

Might just be the videos, but the Plasma repeater looks like it could stand to be beefed up abit.

 

[DualX]

RIP H3B Carbine and Landmine =(

That reminds me. I wonder if the tripmine will making any kind of appearance in Reach...

 

[Not a Jellyfish]

That reminds me. I wonder if the tripmine will making any kind of appearance in Reach...

Doubt it, you have the secondary feature of the Pro Pipe and Armor Lock to combat against vehicles.

 

[metareferential]

That would reach UNHOLY levels of badassery if true. A perfect mix of Halo, Battlefield and Killzone 2.

After having seen the gttv analysis by hoovaloov, I think it's a safe bet.

Invasion is like the best objective-based multiplayer to ever grace our earth.

Yeah.

 

[dslgunstar]

Doubt it, you have the secondary feature of the Pro Pipe and Armor Lock to combat against vehicles.

Exactly what I was going to say. Hitting a guy using armor lock in a vehicle seemingly has the same effect (or more) than hitting a trip-mine.

A bubble-shield and trip mine in one...genius.

After having seen the gttv analysis by hoovaloov, I think it's a safe bet.

Invasion is like the best objective-based multiplayer to ever grace our earth.

Yeah.

Indeed.

I'm still stoked by the reveal that at least one variation of the marksmen loadout features Sprint, DMR and AR (in place of the pistol). That's basically my go-too combo already.

Too bad I wont be able to use armor lock with those weapons though (see icon). I would just be too powerful.

 

[Thermite]

Thanks for all these updates once again, ManCannon. Urk releasing the BWU early + hands on impressions from the media all this week = awesomeness. I am slightly let down there won't be any direct feed footage, but knowing that next week we'll finally for sure be getting a lot makes me happy.

No video today, or tomorrow actually. All the direct feed media captured last week at Bungie is held for next week... to give breathing room to something we are releasing later this week. I don't imagine we'd release the raw b-roll we provided to media but you'll see more footage next week. Lot's more I imagine.

Please be a ViDoc, please be a ViDoc, please be a ViDoc... *prays*

 

[Trasher]

All the footage the media captured at Bungie has been held for next week (which is what the embargo originally said anyways), to give breathing room to something they are releasing later this week, which I would assume is the ViDoc.

Cool, thanks for clarifying that.

 

[DualX]

Doubt it, you have the secondary feature of the Pro Pipe and Armor Lock to combat against vehicles.

I want my H3 beta tripmine back.


And I lol'd when I read "Pro Pipe."

Invasion is like the best objective-based multiplayer to ever grace our earth.

Debatable.

 

[metareferential]

Debatable.

I didn't want to convince anyone, really.

Just expressing my excitement for a game mode that answers nearly perfectly all my Halo fantasies xD

 

[dslgunstar]

Debatable.

Well obviously its debatable, nobody outside Bungie has even played the mode yet. It still looks like it has the potential to be one of the best team base objective modes ever.

 

[DualX]

Well obviously its debatable, nobody outside Bungie has even played the mode yet. It still looks like it has the potential to be one of the best team base objective modes ever.

Well regardless, I don't think anything will be more amazing to me than Battlefield 2142's Titan mode. Storming into the enemies Titan with your squad with those drop pods, having those close quarters battles taking out the control points along the way in order to destroy the generator, and then finishing the match by racing out of that thing as fast as you could; parachuting to the ground below while it blows to hell.

 

[bobs...onGaf]

Well regardless, I don't think anything will be more amazing to me than Battlefield 2142's Titan mode. Storming into the enemies Titan with your squad with those drop pods, having those close quarters battles taking out the control points along the way in order to destroy the generator, and then finishing the match by racing out of that thing as fast as you could; parachuting to the ground below while it blows to hell.

Now that sounds badass! The crazy thing is, Bungie really could make something like this a possibility with the tools they have. I really hope theyre toolset is used properly, it would suck if its long forgotten a few months after release.

With Reach they can give us new amazing modes months after release, which excites me.

 

[big ander]

Thanks for the information, ManCannon.

Now to brainstorm a song.

 

[metareferential]

Well regardless, I don't think anything will be more amazing to me than Battlefield 2142's Titan mode. Storming into the enemies Titan with your squad with those drop pods, having those close quarters battles taking out the control points along the way in order to destroy the generator, and then finishing the match by racing out of that thing as fast as you could; parachuting to the ground below while it blows to hell.

Sure, in fact it is a blast.

But mind you, I was strictly referring to my very personal likes.

The only thing missing from Battlefield (everyone, I love them all) is the Halo flavour.

I love the imagery, the Spartans, everything. That's all xD

 

[Shake Appeal]

It does seem like a riff upon/combination of a bunch of other existing multiplayer modes.

(Which is no bad thing, of course, and I'm glad Halo is finally doing large-scale asymmetric team objective stuff.)

But I'm not gobsmacked by it the way some of the BTB-loving guys seem to be.

 

[Wizman23]

Fuck Yeah sounds like a new vidoc this week. Its all so close now. 2 weeks is a breeze.

 

[Captain Blood]

Just finished up the podcast and all the networking stuff was really interesting. Hopefully we will see a pretty big latency improvement. The battle bro remix at the very end caught me off guard. :lol

 

[dslgunstar]

It does seem like a riff upon/combination of a bunch of other existing multiplayer modes.

(Which is no bad thing, of course, and I'm glad Halo is finally doing large-scale asymmetric team objective stuff.)

But I'm not gobsmacked by it the way some of the BTB-loving guys seem to be.

More of an Arena guy?

I love the whole matchmaking/ranking system idea, but I hate the notion of possibly playing without armor abilities and other such 'variables'.

Plus, I dont know how great the ranking system will be. I see the appeal of ranking each player on individual performance, but is performance simple a matter of the standard measure (K/D, W/L, Average Life Span and Accuracy)?

If so, fine, but I think there's a lot more to team mode, even team slayer, that players can contribute. Be it assists, creating back pressure to push enemies towards a teammate's strong position, or creating a cross-fire.

Those little things are the like the guys that block shots on a hockey team. They're never going to win a Conn Smythe at the end of a season, but you arent going to win without them.

 

[The Librarian]

Before I descend back into the bowels of meeting-hell, my obligatory spoiler posts for the day (and you call this dream crushing, pfft).

No video today, or tomorrow actually. All the direct feed media captured last week at Bungie is held for next week... to give breathing room to something we are releasing later this week. I don't imagine we'd release the raw b-roll we provided to media but you'll see more footage next week. Lot's more I imagine.

Tomorrow you will see a few new screens and global hands-on impressions.

Urk is apparently cooking up the weekly Reach Beta story for release TODAY since the rest of the week starts to get noisy. It sounds delish. Urk also has free reign to go into details about Invasion later this week if anyone thinks he should. What do people still want to know that Dani hasn't nailed?

Last night marked the conclusion of the internal-Beta. Sad times. But it will be awesome to have an exponentially larger population to match with. Also, I think I'm in love with Invasion Slayer.

I was thinking about maybe doing a Twitter Q&A event this week to tie up loose ends and cover off outstanding questions on the beta before we are no longer relevant and everyone gets their own hands on it. Urk is whipping up all sorts of stuff for Bnet as well including a huge FAQ (drawing from a lot of great questions posed here).

I'll take any and all submissions for Bungie podcast theme songs whenever they're available. If it's before end of next week and it's sweet, you'll get a F&F beta code for your troubles. If it's after, we'll find something else to throw your way.

Luke's been on vacation and was not out there talking smack anywhere, it's all fake.

And, I think that's everything...

Thanks for this update, Mancannon. If I'm reading this right, a ViDoc is coming this week: awesome.

Reachified BWU up today? Good gosh, I'm always in the mood for some early jurky.

 

[Iknos]

What looks hot:
-weapons
-maps
-lighting
-ragdoll physics
-Boneyard
-textures
-animations
-nade trails
-shielded garages for vehicles
-larger sized Halo 1 Ghost
-Invasion is a potpourri of gametypes

But for some reason I'm not that hyped. 6 vs 6 seems low to me. I'll be playing 4 vs 4 LAN with buddies this Fall and I hope Invasion can still be fun.

Maybe it's the wider FOV. It makes me a bit sick but maybe that's because I'm not playing it and I'm watching someone else play.

The FOV might change in splitscreen too so I'm probably stressin for no reason.

Just not hyped. A little less hyped actually.

Maybe I'm worried that after playing the Reach beta for the few weeks it's out I won't be inclined to play Halo 3 again during the summer because I'll be spoiled?

As weird as that sounds I think that's it. Reach looks good in every way.

 

[Not a Jellyfish]

I want my H3 beta tripmine back.


And I lol'd when I read "Pro Pipe."

Think of it as you are now the tripmine, it is like a thousand times more awesome.

"Pro Pipe" is the perfect name, can not wait to use it.

 

[GhaleonEB]

But I'm not gobsmacked by it the way some of the BTB-loving guys seem to be.

It's all in the execution - the details will be critical (load outs, objective locations, etc.). But the structure sounds delightful. Of course, I live and breathe Halo's BTB game, so it's natural that I'd be more excited about Invasion than the other game types, since that's the kind of stuff I'm looking forward to, and what I'll be playing the most of.

Not sure I'd say "gob-smacked", but I'm certainly delighted. What it says is, Bungie is willing to take some risks with Reach to create some more complex and ambitious gameplay scenarios than they've ever pushed before. So I'm as excited for Invasion as I am for the implications for the rest of the game.

Speaking of which. I was thinking about those generators in Generator Defense.

Bungie has said it's not a final game type, just something mocked up for the Beta. But those generators are fully fleshed out, functioning assets, fully detailed and which assplode quite nicely. So they're clearly used for something in the game.

Building off my speculation that what Bungie is testing is Firefight networking code - simulating AI opponents in the background - I'm thinking they may play a role in one of the Firefight game types. The generators are clearly human/UNSC in design. I can see a Firefight game type where the goal isn't just to survive, but prevent the invading Covenant from destroying a set of generators, perhaps replicating a similar situation that takes place in the campaign. [/wishful speculation]

 

[BladedExpert]

[/wishful speculation]

Don't do that to my haert dude...