The Halo 3 & Halo 3: ODST Thread

[Matt]

(PS: Bang up job on that post subject Matt. )

Inconceivable!

[Matt]

Halo: Combat Evolved remake coming this holiday

Joystiq has learned that the previously rumored remake of Halo: Combat Evolved will indeed launch this holiday season for Xbox 360 with a full visual overhaul. Sources explain that the re-release is not Bungie's 2001 Xbox game simply running at a higher resolution -- it's being remade with new art assets. While Halo's audio will likely remain unaltered, the controls will allow for more recent Halo configurations.

The Halo: Combat Evolved remake is allegedly being developed by New Jersey-based Saber Interactive, the company behind TimeShift and Namco's upcoming Inversion, but we've been unable to confirm the nature of the engine powering it. We understand that it's something other than the Reach engine.

The Halo: Combat Evolved update, one of two Halo games currently in development under the watchful eye of 343 Industries, is expected to support 1080p resolution and 3D televisions. Details on multiplayer are supposedly still being worked out, but we understand the remake will likely feature online co-op (the original game supported two-player split-screen co-op).

The game is expected to re-evolve on November 15, 2011, ten years after Halo: Combat Evolved launched alongside the Xbox. Our sources didn't know of any plans to similarly upgrade the recently disconnected Halo 2, but it's hard to imagine Microsoft playing favorites with its biggest franchise.

[Ryan]

Anyone else around here who still plays Halo and is planning on picking up Infinite? I can't wait. I've still been playing a decent amount of MCC as my primary shooter.

The Infinite trailers, flighting, and Halo Waypoint updates have all been great so far. I think 343 has finally figured out how to make a Halo game. This is easily the most excited I've been about the launch of a new Halo game since Reach.

[Ryan]

I also got to meet Steve Downes (voice of Master Chief) at Denver Fan Expo  this last weekend and got his autograph on my original Halo CE disk jacket. He said the story for Infinite is by far their best work and he was really excited for the game to release (even though he doesn't play it.)

[Diddly]

I’ll pick it up eventually… I have all the other Halo games, plus the Master Chief collection of the remakes for the next gen consoles. Can’t say I’ve really been a fan of any of them since 2 came out though.

[Ryan]

Infinite MP Beta dropped a month early, and it is INCREDIBLE. (And also FREE.) if you are into halo/FPS at all you should download it and add me to play, game tag: XO_SaulTigH

I’d love to play with some JD peeps.

[Matt_Fury]

I'm finally loading the Master Chief collection on my X-box One.

[Diddly]

Infinite MP Beta dropped a month early, and it is INCREDIBLE. (And also FREE.) if you are into halo/FPS at all you should download it and add me to play, game tag: XO_SaulTigH

I’d love to play with some JD peeps.

I believe we are already friends... my gamertag is tbanks2011

Sadly my time for video games these days is about zero, but I should have 2 or 3 free hours around the holidays

[Ryan]

Infinite campaign dropped yesterday, and my initial impressions of it are near perfect. (I have some minor complaints but they are in regards to things 343 is aware of and supposedly fixing, so I will hold judgement on those until they do.)

This is the new Halo game I have been waiting for for the last 11 years, and so far feels like the game I will be happily playing for the next 11 years. So far it seems that 343 has corrected everything that Halo 4 & 5 got so wrong about Halo. It has gotten back to the roots of what made Halo CE so revolutionary 20 years ago. They are pulling in all the best elements of classic Halo but giving them a great modern spin. It feels like they are really incorporating some of their learnings from their recent work on Halo MCC, taking it from the completely broken game it was at launch, to the solid game it is today (7 years later)

The sandbox in game is great. There are so many fun new toys that seem to be really well balanced. I haven't gotten too far into the open world yet having just completed the first two missions but man oh man, it's going to be fun to explore. The boss fights are hard (on Legendary) but feel organically hard, and the two I have fought so far were unique from one another and felt like a huge improvement over the Halo 5 Warden fights that were kind of the same every time.

I definitely recommend trying it out if you have ever been interested in Halo.

[Matt_Fury]

Ryan,

I'm considering getting this but I don't have the Series X yet.  Will this play alright on the Xbox One?

[Ryan]

I saw you on the other night, so I am assuming you picked it up. 

Yeah, I had to throttle back some of the graphics settings while playing on my Xbox One X, but once I did it ran just fine, both campaign and MP. Now that I switched to the XBox Series X (I will never get over how bad the naming system is) it has been running even better.

Some big changes are coming to the Infinite store this week and a new free "event" battlepass is starting today too, with some neat looking cyberpunk like cosmetics. Based on user feedback, 343 is also going to be trying out some new (lower) pricing for store items and will breaking up some packages and allowing users to purchase single items, without buying the whole package. They have some other plans too for future store and unlock improvements. I think it is very promising to see them actually listening and responding to user feedback, and being transparent about it. It gives me a lot of hope for the future of the game.

On a sad Halo note, all the original XBox360 Matchmaking and Online servers went down forever last week. The games are still playable in MCC of course, but the original experiences are no longer available. I played a few final games of Halo 3 to send it out last week. It was bittersweet, I had so many good memories on the old servers but it was good to see them one last time. 

[Matt_Fury]

Yeah...I got to a boss fight after picking up the weapon, and kept getting killed so I took a break.

It's running fine on my X-Box One Elite, and looks great on the 75 inch tv!