82 replies to this topic

[Naked_Cowboy]

Preface:
Before poker, I had a long history as a gamer. In college I beta tested for several larger gaming companies, was a captain on the #2 ranked tribes2 team in the world at our gametype, logged a couple hundred days in MMORPGs, etc. Having been primarily a PC gamer, I got hooked on Halo through my fraternity which had a weekly Halo night. Imagine 12-16 guys playing (with more usually waiting / watching) gathered around 4 TVs / xboxes in an otherwise pitch black apartment punctuated by screams of "behind you!" and "KILLTACULAR BITCHES". Yeah, we were that cool (... s/w?)


Halo 3:Well, I'm basically twitching at this point. 43 days until the biggest media release of all time. I realize that sounds like a ridiculous claim to people who don't follow gaming outside of poker. As a point of reference, Halo 2 grossed $125 million in its first 24 hours (beating any movie release ever). It's already pre-sold well over 1m copies (at between $60 and $120 depending on which version folks bought).

So... who else played the beta? Who has it pre-ordered? Who gets giddy at the friday updates on bungie's site? Who are the closed minded playstation fanboys who still say that the halo series is nothing special?

Newest news is that they finally confirmed the 4th grenade type and the newest weapon. You now can carry 2 of each: frag, plasma, spike, and firebomb grenades(imagine a napalm grenade). Also, we're finally getting the flamethrower that didn't make it into Halo 2.


So... discuss?

[Moneyball16]

I cant wait for Halo 3. I havent preordered it, but probably will. Flamethrower sounds bad.

[Jadaki]

FPS games on consoles suck compared to PC counterparts. Mouse & KB > dual analog sticks.

[Naked_Cowboy]

FPS games on consoles suck compared to PC counterparts. Mouse & KB > dual analog sticks.

i expected 4 posts before someone would spew this garbage. apples to oranges. I already told you i have a PC gaming background and was on a top ranked PC gaming team.

let's stick to the actual game.

[Jadaki]

i expected 4 posts before someone would spew this garbage. apples to oranges. I already told you i have a PC gaming background and was on a top ranked PC gaming team.

let's stick to the actual game.

FPS is FPS, Halo will be ported to the PC also. I'm surprised someone with your background would play it on a console over a PC.

[Mercury69]

BUNGIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jadaki]

Also since your twitchy and looking for FPS fun, download the Bioshock demo on 360. Rumor has it that it's a high quality gaming experience.

[timwakefield]

WTF is a spike grenade????? Sounds like 2 new grenades to me.

Also, they need more plasma cannon (or whatever that huge yellow gun that shoots green is called). That thing is badass.

[Naked_Cowboy]

FPS is FPS, Halo will be ported to the PC also. I'm surprised someone with your background would play it on a console over a PC.

Halo 2 took almost 2 years to be ported to the PC. I've played both Halo games on PC and Console and much prefer the console version. Halo 3 is so deeply integrated with the 360s architecture that it will be at least that long (if ever) before it is.

There are unique variables to playing a game on PC vs console. Of course certain things are "easier" to do in a PC shooter usually. The fact that thumbsticks are more challenging to "own" with than a mouse / WASD (ESDF) isn't a detractor, just a difference.

It also comes down to ease of entry.
-It's a pretty huge ordeal to have a half dozen friends bring over PCs, hook them up, and play for a couple hours every week.
-You can easily have a few guys bring a few controllers and maybe 1 extra xbox and go to town at the drop of a hat.
-Cost of a serious gaming PC: $1,500+ even if you build it (and i do). Cost of a 360: $300
-I've yet to see a PC shooter that seamlessly integrates everything halo 3 multiplayer does in 1 package: saved films, voice comm, "smart" matchmaking based on an in-depth 2 tier raking system (overall experience and game specific skill) with player vetoing, clans/teams, an on-the-fly mini map editor, and a game that will be *impossible* to hack (the biggest problem plaguing PC FPS).

All of that's on top of a single player plot solid enough for literally books worth of backstory.
Oh yeah, and you can play through the single player game in co-op with anyone over xbox live.

So no, I don't get where halo isn't in the same league as a PC shooter because it's harder to use a controller than a mouse. Sorry. They're different animals.

[wsox8]

my brother is really into halo and is really excited for the halo 3 release. I rarely play but it's a good way to chill with people in the dorms when there's not much else to do.

[Naked_Cowboy]

WTF is a spike grenade????? Sounds like 2 new grenades to me.

Also, they need more plasma cannon (or whatever that huge yellow gun that shoots green is called). That thing is badass.

There are 2 new grenades. Your plasmas and frag's are basically unchanged (minus a few tiny damage / range tweaks for the upgrade engine / physics).

Your other 2 grenades are spike and firebomb.

Spike:


sticks in anything solid, including people, and explodes at a 90 degree angle outward in a cone from where it sticks. ie. you stick someone in the chest, their chest explodes. My favorite beta moment with this was standing under a platform where someone was, throwing it into the ceiling above them, and having it explode down onto their head. More info here: http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?ty...BAGBruteGrenade

Firebomb:

http://www.bungie.net/projects/halo3/conte...h3fourthgrenade

this was one wasn't in the beta but it acts exactly like napalm. exploding on contact and stays burning on whatever it touches for about 4 seconds. cool implications include creating walls of fire in CTF / objective games, having someone explode in fire, etc.

Also, they need more plasma cannon (or whatever that huge yellow gun that shoots green is called). That thing is badass.

Yeah, those turrets that were stationary in halo and halo 2? You can pick them up off of their mounts and carry some of them now. This includes flame thrower, chain gun, plasma turrent and rocket launcher types. They slow you down and you move differently carrying something so large, but the definitely have their uses and are ultra powerful.

[coesillian]

I was never a gamer, I got my first computer 6 years ago, and i only ever owned a 8 bit nintendo until I moved out of home a year and a half ago. My room mate has an Xbox so I got to play a lot of Halo 2 an NHL 06 last year. I had played Halo at my buddies places but now I’m actually able to play a half decent Halo versus some long time gamers and now that we have HNL 07, I got pretty sick at that game.



Point is, Halo 3 will be the nutz but I have absolutely no idea what new things there will be so please enlighten me, what other new weapons are there?



I haven’t played NHL on the 360, but I heard it’s absolutely sick, I might actually have to get a 360 because 08 should be da bomb and Halo 3 will rock ( are there gonna be any new snipping functions, I love snipping). Plus we got a sick 32 in TV recently which make gaming so much more enjoyable.

[Jadaki]

So no, I don't get where halo isn't in the same league as a PC shooter because it's harder to use a controller than a mouse. Sorry. They're different animals.

For every reason you listed, I can give you counterpoints why FPS's are vastly superior on PC. The controls are not just different, they are extremely different, Halo 2 itself was used to point these out when they had teams playing with Xbox controllers up against people using KB/Mouse combos. Wanna take a guess at who won? Replay value is higher on a PC thanks to user generated content/mods etc etc and I could keep going but that was never my point.

My initial point (though not clearly stated apparently, so my bad) is that some types of games are generally better on PC's (FPS/RTS), some are generally better on consoles (Sports/Action-Adventure) and some can be good on either depending on the interface (RPG's).

Some of your arguments are counterintuitive, like having great Xbox live system for playing online, but then bringing games to each others houses. When your talking hardcore gamers price really isn't an objective. Anyone who can drop 4-5 hundred just for a console system then tack on 60 dollar games and 50 dollar controllers and online service fees can afford a gaming PC too, you don't even want to tack on the price of getting a HDTV so you can see what your new console system is capable of.

If you look at Halo objectively, it's just another FPS on a console with some neat options. It's not really bringing anything new to the genre and there are better FPS games on PC right now. This is coming from someone who's top ten lists of console games includes an FPS title, so it's not like I hate the genre. I just don't understand why Halo is made out to be the holy grail of gaming, it's not.

[wsox8]

bunch of writing

well aren't you Mr. Thread killer?

[Naked_Cowboy]

I'm going to go back to this all day long.

-I've yet to see a PC shooter that seamlessly integrates everything halo 3 multiplayer does in 1 package: saved films, voice comm, "smart" matchmaking based on an in-depth 2 tier raking system (overall experience and game specific skill) with player vetoing, integrated support for clans/teams, an on-the-fly mini map editor, and a game that will be *impossible* to hack (the biggest problem plaguing PC FPS).

there are better FPS games on PC right now.

By all means, tell me because I seriously will go buy it right now and would love to play the shit out of it. Those things above are what contributes to replay value on the 360. (as well as additional maps and patches that have come out steadily since the game's release). You know as well as I do that user created content can never match actual studio produced content and only rarely (in the case of very mainstream games) rises above the level of gimmick. Even when it does, it is often buggy and very difficult to distribute on a wide scale. Again, this is why I say apples to oranges. Different strengths.

I'd hardly say that halo 2 didn't have replay value when there have been well over half a billion matchmade games played on xbox live, and it still has a thriving community.


Also, my comments are not conflicting, they show the versatility in that it is is full of features for hardcore players and yet you can easily get a group of folks over to play casually.

I already acknowleged that it's easier to control things with mouse + keyboard. No idea why you keep bringing that up. I haven't said that I don't like console FPS either and would list probably 2 of them on my top 10 list of games. However, to say that the halo franchise hasn't done anything revolutionary is pretty laugh out loud ridiculous.

I just don't understand why Halo is made out to be the holy grail of gaming, it's not.

Have you actually spent much time playing it?


EDIT: I actually play my consoles through a 22" widescreen 720p LCD monitor with component and HDMI input when I'm playing by myself, and can swap it to the HDTV if others want to join in.

[eYank]

I spent way to many hours playing Halo 2 but dont have a 360 so I probably wont be getting Halo 3 for a while
Although I want it so bad

[Jadaki]

Have you actually spent much time playing it?

I played the original quite a bit, the second one got boring quickly for me (single player game was horrible). The numbers of matches for it online has nothing to do with it's popularity as much as being one of first titles to really make use of Xbox live. Do you really want to compare numbers of online matches, Xbox will always be behind PC in that regard and it's not close.

You want better FPS games on PC, Half Life 2, Doom 3, Unreal Tournament... you really need me to keep going? Counterstrike was a mod, and it's arguably the most successful FPS ever.

Honestly Halo isn't that ground breaking, the only thing it really did was give console gamers access to online play in an FPS. The controls, the story, everything else about it is just standard FPS.

EDIT: I actually play my consoles through a 22" widescreen 720p LCD monitor with component and HDMI input when I'm playing by myself, and can swap it to the HDTV if others want to join in.

You have a better set up than 95% of gamers, JS.

[Naked_Cowboy]

coes: http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?ty...elcometotheBeta

has a lot of info on new stuff. It's a couple months old but you can see the new brute spiker gun, new (updated halo 1) assault rifle, and 3 of the new maps.

if you played through halo 2, you know that the brutes (big monkey things) took over the position that the elites (tall slender aliens) held in the covenant. With this installement we get to see and use more of the brutes weapons including the spiker, gravity hammer (think the thing that the end boss of halo 2 had), plasma based shotgun, etc. The pistol is also back and the needler is now extremely powerful and not dual wieldable (doesn't need to be).
There isn't a new sniper rifle although sniping feels more natural now. I was a much better sniper in H3 beta than H2.

New vehicles include the mongoose (think really fast 2 person ATV), chopper (kinda like the huge wheel that obi wan drives in attack of the clones), and a huge driveable mobile base that can spawn other vehicles and equipment.

They also insist that there is stuff that still hasn't leaked out

[Jadaki]

New vehicles include the mongoose (think really fast 2 person ATV), chopper (kinda like the huge wheel that obi wan drives in attack of the clones), and a huge driveable mobile base that can spawn other vehicles and equipment.

Team based vehicle combat would make for some really fun multiplayer games.

[Naked_Cowboy]

I played the original quite a bit, the second one got boring quickly for me (single player game was horrible). The numbers of matches for it online has nothing to do with it's popularity as much as being one of first titles to really make use of Xbox live. Do you really want to compare numbers of online matches, Xbox will always be behind PC in that regard and it's not close.

You want better FPS games on PC, Half Life 2, Doom 3, Unreal Tournament... you really need me to keep going? Counterstrike was a mod, and it's arguably the most successful FPS ever.

Honestly Halo isn't that ground breaking, the only thing it really did was give console gamers access to online play in an FPS. The controls, the story, everything else about it is just standard FPS.
You have a better set up than 95% of gamers, JS.

Mind bottling. The no replay value and "it was the first" comments don't really hold up. The game was released almost 3 years ago and there are more people online playing it right now than on full tilt. There were over 590,000 matchmade games of halo 2 played in the last 24 hours.

i asked for a PC FPS that integrates without a ton of modding and external programs (ventrillo, TS, etc), the things I listed. one doesn't exist. I have played all of those and think they're all good games with unique strengths. Counterstrike makes me want to gouge my eyes out though and I haven't played it in forever due to the near impossibility of finding a game where half the folks weren't cheating (even with VAC in place).

You can say that *you* don't like halo very much, but come on, this is kind of a ridiculous argument.

also, the monitor wasn't even that expensive. It's hooked up to both my PC and 360 I can do picture in picture on it as well. I can play poker and xbox at the same time if i want to drive myself nuts.