Halo 3 Almost Done

The word from Bungie is that they consider the final chapter in the Halo story 99.9% complete. They're now in the home stretch, with time to polish. Says Luke Smith, "That last .1% percent is pretty important, however. Right now, some testing is being done in a controlled retail environment via our Halo 3 Epsilon. You've probably seen reports online or even folks on your friends' list playing it, so here's the scoop: The Epsilon is a closed, final phase testing for Halo 3. We won't be making the Epsilon available for public consumption, so while that's immensely disappointing for folks hoping that Friends and Family invites would be extended for the Epsilon, just know that each day you wait in agony is another day closer to September 25." Wired has a huge blowout feature on the title, with lots of screenshots, discussion of how the game was made, and more.

Re:Final Chapter?

[Cornflake917]

Besides the submitter of the story, who is saying that is the final chapter? I agree, there is no way this will be the final chapter.

Did anyone else read this bit?

Another case of terrain-sprawl trouble popped up a few months later in one of the upper levels. The level is intended to introduce vehicle combat, with players following a bunch of their fellow marines as they clamber aboard Warthog ATVs and ride out over a wide-open plain. But Pagulayan's data showed that a significant number of players were trudging across the plain on foot. It turns out the designers hadn't put enough vehicles in the scene, and the artificial-intelligence marines were taking them all before players realized they were supposed to hop aboard. The solution: More Warthogs.

WTF? You need an advanced data extraction tool to tell you that there aren't enough Warthogs for the player to use? Give me a break. This is what play testing is for, not to mention a little addition and subtraction. I think they are making this Pagulayan guy out like he is going to save the game from bad level design by making a bunch of graphs and charts. A lot of the issues he discovers with his data analysis could be easily solved by common sense.

Re:Disappointed with E3 Screenshots

[fistfullast33l]

As a PS3 fan over the 360, I'm really not holding my breath for Killzone 2. I really didn't like the first one (controls sucked) and I see similarities between the first and second games that make me nervous. The only thing that has me still semi-interested is that Killzone for the PSP was fun. I'm going to wait and see what the reviews and buzz is before I declare Killzone 2 even close to Halo quality.

The thing that made Halo great was that it was a total package - fun gameplay, great multiplayer, and an entertaining story. The mechanics weren't radical, but it was the first game that really brought me back to console land from PC land. I could safely say that Halo was the prime reason that I picked up an Xbox and now own a PS3 instead of upgrading my PC.

That said, Halo 2 was a rehash that was forgettable. I'm not going to buy Halo 3, although I'll probably try and check it out in the stores just to see what it's like. But there's no way you can compare Killzone 2 to Halo at this point solely on graphics alone - Halo was never about being a gorgeous game, it was always a total package. Killzone the original was a buggy mess.

Re:Corpse 3

[Tarlus]

Didn't Halo die when they turned it into an xbox-exclusive FPS?

Before Halo, Mac gamers were Bungie's only fanbase.
Halo is playable on XBox, PC, and (omg) Mac.
Whatever small fanbase they lost, it was only a fraction of the fanbase that they gained.