Since Project Natal and Halo: Reach were announced at this past E3, speculation was right away suggesting that both the game and the peripheral would work together. Even Bungie’s studio president Harold Ryan chimed in with the Seattle Times and kept the rumors afloat by saying that ‘Reach’ could “absolutely” be “enabled” with Natal. Today, Bungie has shot-down those rumors.
On Bungie’s weekly update on their site, they teased its fans with a round of “Halo: Reach Mythbusters,” and tried to set the record straight with some of the gossip surrounding the anticipated first-person shooter.
“Truth be told, it’s just a good ole fashioned bug. Bug #15163 to be exact,” Bungie wrote. “Halo: Reach is NOT a Natal title and is being developed expressly with the traditional Xbox 360 controller in mind.”
There you go, the biggest game of the year for the Xbox 360 won’t take advantage of what Microsoft is hoping will be their biggest hardware launch, since they released the Xbox 360 console. It would have been cool to see what a talented developer like Bungie could do with Project Natal and see if they could make a ‘hardcore’ game in-mind with peripheral that has been accused of being a casual game device. With that said, I only think Project Natal games should be made from the ground up, and not be thrown at the last minute just to convince hardcore gamers that should buy it.
Microsoft has just announced that they’re resurrecting their Xbox 360-event, which was last held in 2006 in Barcelona, Spain. This year’s expo will take place in San Francisco, CA and will happen on February 11th at the Terra Event Center.
When gamers think of videogame expos, they think of huge events like E3 or GDC, which lasts for days and days. X10, which is what this Microsoft-only event is called, will only lasts for four-hours. However, even with the short time-span, Microsoft is showing off a number of notable games including: Alan Wake, Fable III, Halo: Reach, Crackdown 2, Splinter Cell Conviction, Final Fantasy XIII and more titles. Not only that, but we should be getting more information on the highly-anticipated — controllerless — motion peripheral, Project Natal.
Even though with the event lasting four hours, a lot of news should be coming out of it. The press in attendance will get a personal look at each of these games and interact at a more personal level, which means questions will be asked and answers will be answered. Some of which will be juicy tidbits.
Up top is a leaked video of the opening of the Halo: Reachbeta that some of you will be playing this spring, just as long as you bought Halo: ODST. Sadly for those expecting to see some gameplay in the clip, you should stop because there isn’t any. The video is a quick tease on how the menu will look.
With that said, what it does do is prove the leaked screens that we posted a few months ago, are indeed real and not fake — which is what most of us thought in the first place. But it’s good to know we can finally confirm the legitimacy of the photos, and not speculate anymore.
If you haven’t seen these photos, check out them by clicking here.
Yikes! EB Games (Gamestop) has leaked photos of Bungie’s upcoming game Halo: Reach for the Xbox 360. The official website to the retailer posted the pictures, which I have included after the break; however, some have already seen these exact same screens because of the latest issue of Game Informer. The only problem, most people have yet to get their hands on this month’s issue. So this was a major screwup by EB.
The screenshots really showoff the direction Bungie is headed with their final chapter of the famed first-person shooter. Reach is expected to take a much grittier/darker take when compared to the previous installments, and these pictures prove those expectations some have.
While Halo was far from being a non-serious action title, these screens make the game look like Bungie is going after a much more realistic approach and the studio is definitely upping the graphics department. And for the first time, Halo will look like it belongs on this generation.
Again, after the jump, check out all the screens. (more…)
The marketing ball has started to move forward for Halo: Reach. Last night, we all saw a real glimpse on what to expect from the first-person shooter, thanks to a trailer and I must say — it was rather impressive. I’m sure some of the hardcore Halo fans who are anticipating the beta — which if you bought ODST, you are already invited — are wondering when it will be released. If you are one of those folks, and are hoping to see it soon because Microsoft, along with Bungie have released the trailer — you might want to stop doing that. Saying it is a long time before the public gets its hands on it, is a little unfair to write. That’s because it all depends on what you think a long time is.
IGN is reporting that the Halo: Reach beta is schedule to launch sometime this spring; although a specific date has yet to be revealed. According to the site, gamers will be playing the beta it in the early half of the spring. So to some, it’s not that long of a wait. They could look at it this way; in Just a few more days it’s officially winter and the next season will be the spring and that’s when the beta should be out. However, it should be noted the winter is the longest season of the year.
During the Video Game Awards, Bungie revealed the first trailer of their last Halo game they’re developing. While not much has been talked about the upcoming Halo: Reach title, we did get some alleged leaked photos of the game in action. Last night, the long trailer somewhat proved those screen-captures were real because if you analyzes them, you would have seen what looked like a Spartan hand holding various guns.
When the trailer aired last night, we saw a whole bunch of Spartans, some with masks and some without. What this ultimately proved is that players who buy the game, will more than likely play as the famed Spartans of the Halo universe, and not a military guy like in the last and perhaps disappointing Halo title, ODST.
Graphically speaking, Halo: Reach looks considerably better when compared to the last two entries of the series. You could probably contribute a number of reasons why this would be. For one, Bungie might have been pushed a little to hard by Microsoft to bust out Halo 3 within the year the company’s competitors, and Nintento, systems were out for a year. So Bungie had a decision — improve the visuals and make it compete with other next-generation titles, or sacrifice that and perfect the gameplay. Obviously, they made the right choice by focusing on how well the game played.
But what Bungie has proven with this latest trailer is they still have it. The game looks like what many of us were hoping Halo 3 would have looked like back in 2007. So combine that with the gameplay of Halo — this just might be one of the best games to come out in 2010.
Let’s face it, if you are gonna watch the Video Game Awards tomorrow, chances are you’re not viewing it for the awards. Sure, when it started back in 2003, Spike TV was hoping that they could do what MTV did with the Video Music Awards, where the channel recognized the best music videos of the year — but instead of doing the professional award ceremony like the Oscars, they produced it as an edgy accolade show.
I haven’t met a gamer that stays home on a Saturday night, anticipating which game will win ‘Game of the Year.’ Instead, they are watching it for the world premieres of exciting upcoming games. Videogame journalist, Geoff Keighley, who has been promoting the heck out of the VGAs, told Destructoid that “more than 12″ games will debut during the show.
So far, Crackdown 2, the Medal of Honor reboot, UFC 2010, Halo: Reach, TRON and Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, have all been confirmed to be revealed during the ceremony. Now, if you count all the games mentioned above, that would mark only six titles — meaning we will see at the very least, six more. However, we do know that Activision plans to show off a cop game that takes place in Hong Kong, LucasArts is announcing something at the show and an unannounced shooter by 2K will be unveiled. That brings the total number to nine. So, we are left with three more world premieres, possibly more.
“We definitely have some pretty major surprises still to come,” Keighley told the website. “Essentially, the biggest thing in the show hasn’t even been announced yet.” That sounds rather exciting, doesn’t it? What could it be? Well…I have no clue. Although, if you are thinking it could be Dead Space 2 or Sony’s motion controller, it isn’t — Keighley confirmed that won’t be shown in any capacity.
Up top and after the jump, we have apparent photos taken from a cellphone of what will be Bungie’s last Halo game called, Halo: Reach for the Xbox 360. The photos were first posted on the Major League Gaming forums under the name Tom Morello; hence the Microsoft Paint watermarked quality. The pictures look legit and if they’re not — it’s a pretty damn good fake on his part.
This is the first thing on the Internet since the title was announced back at E3 and yet, not much is known about the new project. The only thing that is clear; it will be in stores in the fall of next year. The blurry pictures are hard to grasp how the game will look, but to me, the guns look even more detailed than before. If that’s the case — maybe Bungie is taking the Killzone 2 theory, which is; the player sees the gun the most while experiencing the game — why not make the weapon the most detailed thing inside the videogame.
In the picture above, the player can see all of his squamates’ health and names. The player can see all the perks each player he/she has, meaning Halo will take the Modern Warfare approach and anyone who is playing can pick and choose what strength or weakness they’ll have in multiplayer.
According to “Morello,” a few perks he saw were sprinting, cloaking and a hologram. To sprint, the player simply presses the LB button to run faster. The cloaking will obviously make you invisible; however, your radar is jammed and no one can hear you speak over on Xbox Live. The Hologram will create a fake you, and enemies won’t know which one is real and which one is the fake — giving you a huge advantage.
In the picture above, the player can see all of his squamates’ health and names. The player can see all the perks each player he/she has, meaning Halo will take the Modern Warfare approach and anyone who is playing can pick and choose what strength or weakness they’ll have in multiplayer.
According to “Morello,” a few perks he saw were sprinting, cloaking and a hologram. To sprint, the player simply presses the LB button to run faster. The cloaking will obviously make you invisible; however, your radar is jammed and no one can hear you speak over on Xbox Live. The Hologram will create a fake you, and enemies won’t know which one is real and which one is the hologram — giving you a huge advantage.
In other pictures, you can kind of see the arm of the main character we’ll play as. It doesn’t look like a Master Chief Officer, but rather a Marine, which is the class we played as in Halo: ODST. Hopefully with the leaked, details will start to emerge soon.
Again, after the jump check out the rest of the pictures. (more…)
During E3, it was announced that Bungie was working on another Halo title called ‘Halo: Reach,’ which would be released after ‘Halo: ODST.’ However, don’t expect to see anything revealed on this newest action game in 2009. The company has confirmed with Eurogamer, they are going to solely focus on Halo: ODST and will not promote or show Halo: Reach this year.
“I would bet that we’re not going to see it this year, only because we want ODST to shine this year,” said Bungie’sLars Bakken. Although, he did promise that Reach will be teased throughout Halo: ODST. “There are a lot of things like that,” Bakken added. “Like ‘Remember Reach’ spray-painted on the side of a wall. There’s things like that littered all throughout the game that are cool little nods to fans. And that actually makes a lot more sense now that we had announced the Reach game.”
Basically, if you’re a Halo fan and hope to see any new information on Reach, just stop it. Be thankful you’ll getting two separate games based-off the Halo Universe, within a year span. Halo: Reach is due out fall of 2010.
One of the biggest reasons why the Xbox 360 has sold as many systems as it has done over the last few years, is because of the Halo franchise. The series solidified the console as a legit player in the gaming industry, and it all started with the original Halo which was released back in 2001 for the first Xbox. It proved Microsoft didn’t just have to rely on third-party titles and much like Sony and Nintendo, they could come out with exclusives of their own.
Now Microsoft has another idea and they think this could be just as big as their Halo series — if not bigger. During E3, the company showed-off for the first time, Project Natal. Unlike Halo, this concept is not a game, but a controller-free motion censor. While the unit certainly looks cool, many hardcore gamers have their doubts and it probably stems from the lack of presentable games taking advantage of the accessory. However, it now seems like there is a chance Microsoft might be combining their biggest title with Project Natal.
While speaking with the Seattle Times, Bungie Studio President Harold Ryan teased the idea thatHalo: Reach, the company’s next Halo game after ‘ODST,’ could support Natal.
“I absolutely think ‘Reach’ could be enabled with it,” Ryan said, while asked if if the game could be used with Project Natal.
This could be the perfect storm for Microsoft. As of now, Halo: Reach is expected to be released at the end of 2010. Some are also suggesting that Project Natal will be shipped to stores around the same time. If these dates end up being legit, what better way to promote Natal than saying it will launch with Microsoft’s biggest franchise?
During Microsoft’sE3 Press conference Halo Reach was announced. The game was announced afterHalo 3: ODST. THe game is set to launch in 2010 but when you buy Halo 3: ODST you will get an invite to the Xbox Live multiplayer Beta. Major Nelson on his live blog said: “Joe says when you buy Halo 3: ODST, you’ll get an invitation to the Halo: ReachXbox LIVE multiplayer beta!” The game is developed by a team at Bungie, who initially made it seam as though they would not be making another game in the Halo franchise.
Check back later for updated information on this game as well as all other E3 announcements.
