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- hectorhector, on 10/12/2007, -11/+31Is it true that there will be no Halo 3? If you ask bungie or Microsoft the current answer will be, “Yes.” In fact, at the time of this writing, both companies have flat-out denied that Halo 3 even exists. And yet the game has not only been the constant subject of talk and rumors by both fans and the industry itself online retailers have thrown up bogus release dates from time to time to stir up the masses. How can a game that supposedly doe snot even exist be speculated about so much? We know that Bungie is working on various projects, and despite employment advertisements asking that applicatants love “combat on the high seas,” Game Informer has learned through its network of industry spy pirates that Bungie’s next release will be a Halo Xbox 360 project. However, as of now, it’s not even called Halo 3.
The relentless confusion over Halo 3 starts with the powers that be at Bungie. Shortly after the release of Halo 2, the company’s studio manager Pete Parsons told the BBC, “After Halo 2 we are planning to do something different. We will do something else and we have a few ideas.” This led the public to the logical conclusion that the next project wouldn’t be Halo-related. None other than Microsoft’s Bill Gates himself put down the gauntlet on Halo 3 and seemingly confirmed the game’s existence in the spring of 2005 when he told Time that he game would release alongisde and compete with Sony’s Playstation 3. Gates would later recant this ex act release date of the game but didn’t deny the project existed. That job has instead been left to others such as Microsoft Game Studios head Shane Kim who dubbed the game “the mythical Halo 3″ in a February update of the website Next Generation. And, of course, all the while Bungie has held the course that Halo 3 does not exist.
In its customarily clever way, Bungie is not telling a lie - it’s just not telling you the whole truth. A well-connected Game Informer source has seen this game up and running and tells us that the project is dubbed Forerunner (and no, this is not an April Fool’s joke). At this time the game is not being called Halo 3, which is perhaps how Bungie has been able to deny the existence of a title that literally bears the name “Halo 3.” Of course, when all is said in done, the game could be officially dubbed Halo 3: Forerunner or some variation thereof. It is very common for a game in development to be tagged with a temporary codename. For the time being, however, our source tells us that it’s being referred to simply as Forerunner. We contacted Microsoft about the game, but it would not comment on “rumor or speculation.”
The game is being designed around huge persistent worlds that will be created with what we’re being told as a modified Halo 2 engine. “Big” is the operative word, and many aspects of the title will be affected by the large scale of the game. For instance, Forerunner will showcase four player co-op in a move away from a strict linear single-player experience. Make no mistake about it , though, Master Chief is the game, and gamers will play as him to drive along the story. however, the world itself and the events that draw from it will be more malleable to the player and any co-op friends that join in on the action.
If you are charged to capture a weapons depot, for instance, you might not choose to do it, or may fail trying. Although our source says the game still has a definite mission structure, your failure at this particular task will mean that wh atever extra firepower may have been yours for the taking had you caputred the depot will instead strengthen your enemies from then on. This cause/effect concept applies to the game’s destructible environments as well. Of course, the philosophy is nothing new in video games, but it clearly embraces Bungie’s love of multiplayer and the lessons learned from the series’ success online. We imagine that these tidbits are surely only the tip of an iceberg that hopefully includes plans to merge the offline and online worlds together to great effect.
We’re told t he game’s storyline will delve into the origins of the Forerunners, the long-absent, technologically advanced civilization that inspired the Covenant’s Great Journy. Up to this point, the Forerunners are a mysterious element within the Halo story that has yet to be fully explained. However, the pots of Halo and Halo 2 imly taht humans, the Master Chief, and the Forerunners are linked, but with as little we know about the actual plot of this upcoming project, we don’t know how everything is going to fit together. Although our source has seen the Chief in action, even his presence could only be half the truth. After all, this is from the company that surprised everyone with the introduction of the Arbiter as a playable character in Halo 2.
Bungie’s denials that Hlo 3 exists have led fans to surmise that he compnay says so simply because the next Halo project doesn’t involve an actual halo, unlike the first two titles. That would make sense, given what our source has told us regarding the game’s focus on the Forerunners. However, that does not preclude the title from picking up where Halo 2 tantalizingly ended - with the M aster Chief returning to Earth with a mandate to kick some ***.
The project could also be aligned with the Halo movie s cheduled for release in the summer of 2007, which has Peter Jackson at the helm as executive producer. Our source tells us that he film will be based on the book Halo: THe Fall of Reach, chronicling a time leading up to the first game. If the mysterious Forerunner project is in fact related to the movie, then perhaps the video game’s title could not only refer to the civilization, but to the game being a prequel set during the early part of humanity’s war with the Covenant.
Clearly there are more questions remaining than have been answered with the information we’ve brought to light. Does this Forerunner project actually mean there won’t be a legitimate Halo 3? Could there be a game called Forerunner and an entirely other project entitled Halo 3? What if Forerunner is simply a side project meant to explorer storyline t angentswithin the Halo universe? If “Forrunner” is indeed the actual name of the game our source has seen, and not simply a temporary codename, we can’t imagine a Halo product leaving Bungie’s doors without a Microsoft marketing executive slapping the word “Halo” somewhere on the box for maximum effect.
As always in the development process, there are myriad aspects that can change at any moment. But for the time being, our source has assured as that the tantalizing snippets that have come our way are indeed true. Whether or not they point to the whole truth is something we won’t know until Microsoft pulls back the curtain on the project at E3. Bungie clearly delights in winding up the public, so we wouldn’t at all be surprised if what we know now are merely isolated pieces of a larger puzzle that Bungie has cleverly constructed. Regardless, any project from the developer is a big deal and one that’s guaranteed to get fans excited, regardless of what it’s finally called.” - sundancekid503, on 10/12/2007, -8/+26I heard it's going to be called Halo Longhorn
- tapo, on 10/12/2007, -4/+22Nah, I think a prequel would be cool. Many people enjoy watching the Star Wars movies in the order of IV, V, I, II, III, and VI. It explains the backstory before the climactic ending. Not only is this a badass way to do it, but gives Bungie a *lot* more time to work on Halo 3, and make the game legendary, on really, REALLY powerful platforms.
Plus it'll also help them milk more money out of the Halo franchise.
As an interesting sidenote, has anyone noticed that Bungie has never made a trilogy before? They made a bunch of smaller games, then their first sequel was Marathon 2. Marathon Infinity (Marathon 3) has a weird story, and the campaign wasn't by Bungie at all, but by a startup called Double Aught. Bungie did Myth I and II as well, but Myth III was done by another company after Bungie was sold to Microsoft.
I guess we'll see what happens to Halo. - emosewami, on 10/12/2007, -3/+18Frankie from Bungie (he writes weekly updates for the Bungie site and is basically Bungie's unofficial internet fan base spokesperson) has called this GI's april fools joke. Halo.bungie.org has more info, with Frankie's post.
- GaleForce, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14I'm convinced everyone hates sequels just to hate them.
- farley2k, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15Only an idiot would waste the Halo brand recognition and neither Bungie nor Microsoft are idiots.
Halo 3 will exist simply because there is too much money to be made. Bungie can play around with whatever new ideas they want but they will put out Halo 3. - isewise, on 10/12/2007, -23/+34Yea Bungie definitely needs to bring back the original pistol, fix the hit boxes on headshots and make the game actually require some skill to be good at. I am so tired of people just grabbing the sword, sniper rifle, rockets, or my favorite: The N00b combo (plasma pistol + battle rifle). It totally takes the fun out of the game.
The code name "Forerunner" sounds like "Halo 3" could be a prequel, but that would be really gay, considering the ending of Halo 2 - FirestarterCL, on 10/12/2007, -4/+15Lots of rumors from the APRIL (hint, hint) issue of Game Informer. It's fake, everyone.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13well actually, ea games might have registered that name, seeing how their games are turning out lately ;)
- MattLat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I'd love to see a link between the Marathon series (A great trio of games put out by Bungie before Halo) and Halo. Maybe this would bring those two together.
Many people speculate that the two are linked... There's actually a bunch of images in Halo that link the two together. It's very interesting. - Sam117, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Though it would be awesome, Bungie has already said that the Halo and Marathon universes are in fact separate entities, this does not how ever exclude the possibility of "universe jumping" a thing that was very prevalent in the final game of the Marathon series, Marathon Infinity. In all likely hood, most of the Marathon elements that are in Halo (Rampant AI's, similar weapons, the SPNKr) are only easter eggs or, more simply good plot elements which the company decided to carry over with it's new system/ownership.
- fume, on 10/12/2007, -6/+13you are all wrong "Halo ME". It will be by far the best....very few glitches, better anti-hacking technology, and lets not forget it will not be rushed into production
- pjh3000, on 10/12/2007, -9/+16Good to see the Sony fanboys are still jealous of the Xbox. Microsoft must be doing something right...
- bobmcsmith, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7They are probably gonna call it: Microsoft First-Person Shooter 2008 Professional Edition
- deadbaby, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7The Halo games aren't terrible but honestly they're boring to a lot of people. Shoot run shoot, jump, shoot, jump shoot run. There, you just played Halo 3.
- Philoushka, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8Marketing Rule #3 - Capitalize on your brand.
It's silly not to make it easy for your customers to recognize your product. Marked as Lame. - System84, on 10/12/2007, -10/+15Halo Vista: Starter Edition
- timmyboywonder, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7I would say its fake as well, I'm pretty sure in their April issue they always put false crap in the magazine for fun .
- Karkian, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9"Yea Bungie definitely needs to bring back the original pistol"
If what I've read is true (supposedly straight from the mouth of a Bungie dev) the original pistol never left. They had always wanted people to use the pistol a lot and the AR a little; but at first, in single player, everyone went for the AR as it looked more badass. Halo 2 comes around and they just nerf the look of the AR down to the SMG and beef up the pistol into the BR. Numbers behind it all are supposedly near identical.
o' course they've both been tweaked since release... - xLiKx, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7a pure rumor with no substance. my friend who works at bungie as a designer is probably laughing at this.
- VoraciousPanda, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Calm down fanboys...
http://nikon.bungie.org/news.html?item=15312
"Frankie" is the content manager for Bungie Studios. - DCstewieG, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7Normally April Fool's articles don't say (and no, this is not an April Fool’s joke)
- Flashman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Frank O'Connor, Bungie.net content manager, says it's an April Fools joke:
http://carnage.bungie.org/haloforum/halo.forum.pl?read=693104
But then he would, wouldn't he? ::Sigh:: Digg's going to be unbearable on April Fools Day. - GetOffMyLawnKid, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Why not just name the game what it will be. Pre-teens slinging racial slurs at you for an entire match....the game.
- SimonX314, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7Wow, Bungie looks like they have a formidable product in development.
- zydehkim, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Bungie did not originally intend Halo to be releases for the pc, but for the Mac.
I'd bet that if it was released for mac no one would remember it today.
Nothing against Apple by the way. - Cerberus047, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4"MS didnt directly make halo. They bought Bungie in the middle of their development of Halo, thus making Bungie release Halo to the xbox first. Bungie orignally planned Halo to be for the pc. Also Bungie allowed the buyout from MS due to monetary constraints."
Microsoft rushed the process waay to much. Halo 1 was good but if they had more time it could reach perfection, with live and such. And we all know about halo 2 and how that was rushed.... i liked what valve did and just say we are not going to give you a release date and like 2 days before it was out then they gave us one.... doontt go down the duke nukem forever route though... thats just gay!
Its Funny to see all the people who didnt like halo get their comments burried by the halo cultees! - EagleX, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Come on, there was a lot of hype and ***** before Halo 2, and Bungie still made money off it. It's just hype. Hype shows that it has a following, even if its just people following to make up a bunch of rumors. Halo is recognizable anywhere, for good or bad, and it will be for a long time to come. It doesn't matter how lame you might think it is, chances are you'll go out and buy it all the same to "see if it sucks", and Microsoft and Bungie end up with your money.
- robotplague, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4They would be stupid if they didn't name it Halo 3. They will, i'll put money on it.
- OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's going to be called: YOU NEED TO BUY A NEW DX10 GRAPHICS CARD FOR $500
- sacfdup, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2this isn't bungie news, probably mostly fake
- inajeep, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5I heard they will allow you to play as donut, Sarge or Simmons, just not in the light red armor. ; ) I'll sit back and wait until I hear something offical from Bungie next year or so.
- kazem, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Halo was going to be for the Mac AND PC. This can be easily assumed since they had previously released Myth I and Myth II on Mac and PC at the same time. To much acclaim, I might add.
Then, yes, MS bought Bungie. Bungie went for the buyout since they didn't see how they could survive in the marketplace as an independent developer/publisher and still make good games.
The ORIGINAL description of Halo, when it was still coming to the Mac/Windows was what this forerunner game sounds like. They wanted you to be able to move around the entire ring at will, do missions in whatever order you wanted to, and there would be a substantial element of team cooperation. Hence, the 4-way coop that they're putting in now. But originally, they wanted a LAN of computers to be able to coop. The game's original slogan, moto, or motivation was that Halo would be a futuristic warfare game. They used the word "warfare" quite a bit to describe it.
Jason Jones, the father of Marathon (the predecesor to Halo) and the Myth series, has stated in the past that he didn't like the way Halo finally turned out.
It sounds like now that he and Bungie have credibility with MS, they can make the game that they'd always intended. With an emphasis on coop, Forerunner will really make the XBox Live feature shine...and teamplay always helps sell XBoxes since if your friend has one and you want to play against him, you're more likely to buy one...but you all knew that. - ministewy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3(not to mention it's one of the games my gf loves to watch me play...hehe)
....oooooooook - Hieros, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3It is WAY too ***** early to be that much info on the game yet. I think it's BS and even if it isn't, remember how much Halo 2 changed since the rumors started to when it actually came out. I think I speak for all Halo fans when I say, that if this "Forerunner" was as much of a hyped up piece of crap as Halo 2 was, Bungie Studios will no longer exist.
My view on the Prequel thing is optimistic. I've always wondered what the ***** the Forerunner were. - ArcticCelt, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5"...The game is so different it’s not even being called Halo anymore..."
"...In fact, it doesn’t even have halo in the name - it is called Forerunner..."
Shiat that sounds fun! let me try to guess what is the rest of the article, lets see:
Well, Its no at shooter anymore, no, its more of a collaborative game play. Well to be honest its not really game play either because its not accurately a game anymore. Yeah now the goal is to organize some resources and optimize cash flow. Well to be totally honest Halo, I mean Forerunner is now a corporate software. Yeah, an accounting software to tell you the truth. And not a particularly good one.
:( - jpesicka2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1the one thing i hope is included is online co-op, only 2 people though, 4 wouldn't happen because warthogs hold 3 & there would be too many fights over weapons, 2 people
- Cerberus047, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1maybe because sequals suck... its just the same thing only more pizzaz... (save a few lord of the rings and toy story to name a few....)
- DocDEB, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1To summarize the article:
We don't have a clue as to if or when the next Halo will be out; nor if it will even be called "Halo 3." We don't know what it will be about. But we know that it will be BIG, BIG, BIG!
End summary. - SweetsGreen, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4hehe I love the noob combo.....
but seriously;
any decent halo player should be able to see the bright glowing ball of plasma from a mile away. - superalamar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Halo 2 was in some ways a step forward and in some ways a tottal ***** off compared to the first game. Mucking with the HUD and the shotgun physics are two nearly unforgivable sins.
- trogdor282, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2just because it's named forerunner doesnt make it a prequel. halo 2 ends in an obvious cliffhanger on the Forerunner Ship.
- larrabee, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Fake? Maybe. Just stay calm untill E3 comes in May, only 2 months aways.
- foxhoundadmin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2i'm more worried about on line play. bungie had a few updates for halo 2, but not a lot--less than most pc on line games.
don't even get me started on the cheaters. that's microsoft's fault as much, if not more, as it is bungie's. microsoft needs to ban a) serial numbers of xboxes or b) credit card numbers of live accounts of cheaters. "b" seems like a more sensible solution, seeing as how xboxes can be sold and later bought "used."
BUT microsoft... sorry, micro$oft will never do that. they want the $$$. you get banned for cheating, you simply buy another account (or get another 2 month as most cheaters do).
BASICALLY, take out the 2 months and eliminate 1/2 the cheaters.
hopefully, halo 3 will have better net code. 8 players and up to 1/2 a second of lag is terrible; and this is without network cheaters. a better feedback system would be nice, too. one that actually works. - danielrh9, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Funny thing about Halo 2. For as many people who seem to dislike the single-player side of the game, there are many more who prefer multiplayer in Halo 2 as opposed to the original. And let's be honest, that's most of what we care for anyways. I hope the trend of improvements upon the multiplayer side continues. Should that be the case, I don't care what the storyline is or what it is called.
- slapout, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1They're not crazy enough to drop the Halo name. Even if it is called Forerunner, it will be something like "Forerunner: Halo 3"
- danielrh9, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2And by the way. LAN > Live.
- superalamar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I thought they took place in the same universe far far far apart....timeline wize. Am I wrong?
- gwenyvarr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Even if this is a hoax or if it's true...we won't know for sure until it comes out officially...it may be at E3, or it may happen afterwards. Like many have said on here before. Microsoft and Bungie hold too much at stake for them not to put Halo on it somewhere...but it maybe better just to wait and see where this all goes...though it was a good read.
- mobber, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1shows what you know pardnuh!
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