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XBox (Games)

Halo 3 Demo Date Announced 27

CVG has word that the Halo 3 Beta is coming May 16th. "The beta will run through to June 7 at 7:59am - giving you just under a month to tone your Halo 3 fragging skills. Three maps will be available for you to stomp around in your 360 Spartan armour; Snowbound, High Ground and Valhalla ... New guns and vehicles available for sampling include the nippy Mongoose all-terrain vehicles, Brute Spiker, Spike Grenade, all-new Assault Rifle and Warthog-smashing Spartan Laser." They also point out the functionality behind the much-talked about X button: "The secret function of the little blue button is for deploying equipment and you see three different kinds in action in the latest video documentary. While the developer doesn't specify exactly which pieces of equipment are exposed in the video, we're guessing that the new bubble shield, trip mine and mobile gravity lift are all assigned to the fancy new X button functionality."
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Halo 3 Demo Date Announced

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  • Hahaha, oh wow (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ClamIAm ( 926466 ) on Tuesday April 10, 2007 @01:03PM (#18679025)
    This is the first I've heard about the "much hyped" X button. I have to be honest: I'm really not sure what to think. Sure it's cool that they're adding new features to the game, but is Halo really so starved for innovation and/or hype that they need to detail exactly how they're changing the control setup?
    • Re:Hahaha, oh wow (Score:5, Interesting)

      by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Tuesday April 10, 2007 @04:33PM (#18682317) Homepage Journal

      is Halo really so starved for innovation and/or hype that they need to detail exactly how they're changing the control setup?

      It's a first person shooter. The whole fucking genre is starved for innovation.

      Even the gravity gun in HL2 is just a pissed off version of a grappling hook. The most innovative thing I've seen in FPSes since Quake 2 is Garry's Mod.

      • Since Quake 2? Wasn't Half-Life innovative at all? or Far Cry?
        • Beautiful games, wonderful storyline, but innovative? From a technical standpoint, I'm sure you could make that description. But a new storyline does not a new gameplay mechanic make. Nor some cute new gimmicky weapons. We could sit here all day and think of different ways for weapons to behave (like the goo gun in hl for example, or the hornet gun thingy) but it would just be refinements on existing ideas.

          Perhaps I should tip my hat to narbacular drop as well. That's pretty different. Portals are an old i

          • I think your criteria for innovation may be a little too narrow. Like Doom before it, Half-Life had a major influence on the genre. It took the genre into a new direction. I'm sure there's lots of stuff in HL that can be found in past games, but that's almost always the case if you look hard enough.

            Stalker was an interesting attempt at a different kind of FPS but I don't think they pulled it off as well as they could have.
    • ...is Halo really so starved for innovation and/or hype that they need to detail exactly how they're changing the control setup?

      No...it would be nice if they worked on the different level layouts.... H1 and H2 have repetitive layouts and textures...it'd be nice to play a version of Halo without the cookie cutter levels....
      • by ClamIAm ( 926466 )
        I've played very little of Halo's campaign, but I've also heard a lot of people make the same complaint you did here. I guess I was commenting more on the PR angle, where it seems (to me) that they're making a huge deal out of a tiny tweak. Of course, any change in the Halo formula probably results in Bungie receiving thousands of death threats from 14-year-old forum nerds who know everything.
  • Misleading headline (Score:3, Informative)

    by Have Blue ( 616 ) on Tuesday April 10, 2007 @01:21PM (#18679353) Homepage
    It's not a demo, it's a [b]beta[/b]. A closed beta, too- if you're not already signed up for it it's too late.

In practice, failures in system development, like unemployment in Russia, happens a lot despite official propaganda to the contrary. -- Paul Licker

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