Remember when Bungie split off from Microsoft, and we all thought that the era of Bungie-made Halo games was finally over? Well, for those of you who crossed your fingers, waiting for a brand new, original IP from Bungie, get ready for a surprise (or perhaps a disappointing non-surprise). Microsoft Game Studios is publishing Bungie's newest project, a stand-alone Halo 3 pseudo-sequel titled Halo 3: Recon.
This disc will include "hours" of gameplay in the form of a new campaign called "Hell Jumpers," starring a brand new lead character. Bungie has also stated that the game will be a traditional Halo game, except with a bigger focus on "stealth" and "cunning." Before you worry yourself, Halo 3: Recon will also come equipped with all of the multiplayer components from Halo 3, as well as some new extras. No original Halo 3 game disc is required. Microsoft plans to release the game in the fall of 2009.
I'm not sure what has gotten into developers, but if you hadn't noticed, in the past few couple of weeks, there've been several new accommodations on the Xbox Live Marketplace and Playstation Store as, well, Map Packs. Some are free, some aren't free, and some aren't even out yet. In chronological order (according to availability), here's the latest updates on Bungie and Infinity Ward's purchasable offerings.
Not too long ago, Bungie decided to go ahead and treat the more casual players (and cheaper players) of Halo 3 to a less expensive price tag to their previous map pack...and by less expensive, I mean absolutely free. After several months, it's finally been offered as a free download on the Xbox Live Marketplace. So, I'm sure if you had Halo, you probably already downloaded it (unless you bought it when it was released). Even so, that only means that there is just another bucket of downloadable content creeping around the corner...
That was quite a while ago, however, and for now, the spotlight is on Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat, as their map pack compiling not three, but four new maps was released on April 4th for voracious players to drool all over.
These include: Broadcast, set in the television production studio and parking lot of the 'Charlie Don't Surf' level in Call of Duty 4. Chinatown is a direct remake of the classic Call of Duty 2 map, Carentan, but in the foggier, grittier, and certainly darker ambient of Chinatown. Creek, which is perhaps Call of Duty 4's most colorful map, is set outside [by a creek] in a large, wide open combat ravaged village with scarce cover spots, and might I say, it looks beautiful.
The final map is called Killhouse, a desolate training warehouse with several cover spots, not all of which are entirely safe.
What? Another map pack? I'm afraid so. See, it's clear the only reason the original Halo 3 downloadable map pack was offered free of charge was to clear out the way for their new Legendary Map Pack consisting of another three maps for the Halo junkies to have their frag fests on.
These include: Ghost Town is a medium sized, broken down ruin near the town of Voi ideal for small, to medium game types. Avalanche, one of the larger maps, has players freezing their armors in this mountainous frozen region, ideal for larger team battles and multi-team game types. Its final installment, Blackout, is an abandoned drill platform that monuments human frailty [?] -- I'm not sure what they mean by that, but what you should know is that this is a remake of Halo 2's "Lockout" it's safe to say veterans can rejoice. Loudly.
One more thing that I found laughable is the trailer for Halo 3's new map pack...well, two things...
First laughable material: Ever played World of Warcraft and cared enough to watch Blizzard's trailers? It's vividly clear that we've got Bungie borrowing the trailer style of Blizzard and using it for their own release. Why? I'm not sure, but if I had to guess, I would probably say it's to hype people up more, even though it's just maps.
Second laughable material: Its theme is very peculiar. It seems very off-the-beaten-path, yet it feels somewhat Halo while being significantly off. Death, ancient battles, scars, and darkness were some of the more notable keywords amidst all these maps and the trailer; the reasons why could be speculated, but I'm not going to do so here.
Are these maps worth the money, or should we all just wait until they are offered free of charge? Maybe, maybe not -- but I've given you what you need to decide if you want one, the other, both, or even neither!
Skyllus vBi, a player on the pro gaming Team vBi, is feeling the pain of celebrity. After creating a popular Halo 3 video, Skyllus was given in-game "Recon Armor," which is only held by Bungie employees and occasional Live members. Of course, the kind people of Xbox Live wanted some o' dat Recon Armor for themselves, and Skyllus has reported three hacks on his account in the last 3 months.
However, the newest hack Skyllus is fighting off has been compounded by Live's unhelpful customer service. Unable to return Skyllus's lost account to him, Live customer service kept him waiting for hours and then informed him that there would be an investigation into the hack. Wonderful.
It's a shame that this sort of thing happens. Someone gets rewarded for a job well done, he receives something as trivial as a suit of armor, and still there are people who will take advantage of him because his name and Gamertag are well-known. Despicable.
[via Joystiq]
It's official--Bungie Studios, which has been owned by Microsoft for years, has split from their parent company, in an agreement that turns Bungie Studios into the independent third party "Bungie, LLC." Microsoft will still hold a minority equity interest in Bungie, but they will no longer own the company. Bungie is now free to develop their own games as a third-party developer, and so can create any title on any console they want, though they will still remain in a lasting partnership with Microsoft.
This comes less than a week after Microsoft's release of Halo 3, which quickly became the highest grossing digital entertainment property in history after grossing over $300 million in its first week. It is important to note that Microsoft, not Bungie, still holds the rights to the lucrative Halo property.
“Working with Microsoft was great for us [...] But Bungie is like a shark. We have to keep moving to survive. We have to continually test ourselves, or we might as well be dolphins. Or manatees,” said Jason Jones, founder of Bungie. Well, I get the manatees thing, but I'd have to argue you guys are a bit more like whales, if you know what I mean.
This move is incredibly important and unprecedented. At no point in video game history has a studio that had been bought by a large publisher actually split off of its own decision. It is even more strange because Bungie is such a valuable asset to Microsoft, due to the Halo franchise. The most common idea of what happened is that Bungie's employees were being made to continually work on Halo games due to decisions made by Microsoft, and they were often not compensated for the huge amounts of profit they brought in. Bungie employees threatened to leave en masse if Microsoft did not allow them to become independent. However, no one has yet heard the full story from either Microsoft or Bungie.
I wish the best of luck to Bungie, and all of its employees, in their future pursuits.
[via Bungie.net]
Here it is. The big day. You've all been waiting years to go down to GameStop, wait on line for hours, and grab your giant plastic helmet full of green-and-gold goodness. Tomorrow is one of the biggest days in gaming: the release of Bungie and Microsoft Game Studio's flagship title for the Xbox 360, the final in its trilogy, Halo 3. AniGamers would like to wish all the midnight-buyers who plan on "Finishing the Fight" tonight good luck, both in getting the game, and in mercilessly pwning n00bz on XBL. And to all of those who, like myself, are stuck with only a Wii, a PS3, or no new-gen console at all...well, all we can say is:
Peter Moore, always the man to bring us steaming hot Halo news, has announced details on the previously discussed Halo film, and shown Halo fans a new model of Xbox 360.
The new live action short film, titled "Arms Race," is a collaboration between Bungie and Weta Studios. The video shown in the press conference showed preparations for battle and various technology from the Halo universe. You can catch both the Arms Race and Halo 3 trailers here. Please note that Arms Race is a standalone short film, and that the shown trailer is the entire thing, not just a preview. Director Neill Blomkamp intends to use the film not only as Halo 3 marketing, but also as a way to get producers interested in his Halo film.
On the gaming side of things, Moore also showed off another new Xbox 360. This one is colored Spartan green, while the disc slot and other parts are painted with the orangeish-gold of Master Chief's helmet. You'd think that they'd quit making new 360s and just drop the price already. I really don't care if it's green, black, or lightish-red. Just make it cheap.
[via Joystiq]
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Peter Moore, always the man to bring us steaming hot Halo news, has announced details on the previously discussed Halo film, and shown Halo fans a new model of 
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