Halo Anniversary

[i nerini del buio]

I thought so too.

and the same applies to me XD

 

[nightshade]

Me three

 

[NRP]

I told you guys Saber are a bunch of scrubs.

 

[AlNom]

Same music rerecorded with big orchestra at Skywalker sound. Synthy pieces will still be synthy but 2011-y.

There's a bit of a preview at the end of the latest Sparkast: http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect...tent/assets/en-us/Podcast/343Sparkast_004.mp3
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Dialog is identical but remixed 5.1 to match the rest of the mix and cleaned up a bit to take advantage of better hardware.

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A piece of music, when "remastered" or "re-orchestrated" sounds different from the original. Why not let people have the option of listening to the original music, if so they choose? I'm aware of what a re-orchestration is, thanks.
No. They're letting us keep the original graphics - why not the original sound as well?

Because of the memory footprint and technical restrictions of holding two sets of audio symmetrically. Besides, it really is churlish to complain about it befor hearing it. Most people will like it.

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Regarding the graphics switching speed:

Definitely a slight pause. It will get a bit shorter, but right now there's a short pause between NEW to OLD, but almost no pause between OLD to NEW.

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This is a TERRIBLE technical explanation, so think of it more as a metaphor - the graphics layer is a second engine running on top of the original code, so effectively the old graphics are being suppressed to save performance and have to be loaded from a separate area of memory to render. The "new" graphics are always "present."

A certain swampy level is SERIOUSLY overhauled.

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Don't need to read the novels of course:

When it was just the novels it was kinda cool, it was really easy to be a big Halo fan and read/play everything there was in that universe. I tried to keep up over the years but lost track somewhere.
Now there are like 5 books I haven't read, a comic series, an anime series, a Forerunner book series. It's completely crazy. I bet the majority of it is pretty cool, but there is just too much of it nowadays.

It's all optional. There are interesting connection points, easter eggs and so on, that span the games and books (going forward) but it would incredibly stupid to make people read a book to get the most out of a game, and vice versa. The idea is that if you do consume all of it, you'll feel like proper foundations and roots have been set.

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Not sure if I am understanding you correctly, but the seven MP maps are included with the $40 package - for standalone Anniversary players, both SP and MP are launched seamlessly from the same menu. Reach players will be able to add the maps to their Reach "suite."

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The narrative for the new Terminals is very straightforward. And in normal mode, they won't be that hard to find. As the IGN article noted, Guilty Spark is the main narrator.

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The new Competitive MP maps will appear in a range of matchmaking options, but we also intend to do "classic" stuff with the matchmaking to approximate the original feel of the maps.

The helmet looks good on the boxart. Why doesn't it look exactly like this in-game?

Because the game is not finished yet.

There will be a number of improvements to the stuff you saw today. The levels we captured for the trailer were still firmly in development. Certainly that's the approximate graphical fidelity to expect, but lots of significant and subtle changes will happen between now and launch.

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I think it is absolutely asinine that the game doesn't have multiplayer. "Fragmenting the base" is no excuse. I am not playing Reach multiplayer, but I would play Halo CE multiplayer on Live if it existed.

There are a number of reasons. Obviously the (Halo CE) engine work is already done, and obviously we had to create new netcode to support the co-op over Live, but the reasons include:

Fragmenting the user base
It would feel different because of latency and would not precisely replicate what you remember.
The Pistol effect (a three shot ultraweapon on Live, it's not the same as System Link).

There are a lot more dry, technical issues too - all of which would have had insurmountable gameplay ramifications. It was a difficult decision with a lot of elements to balance, but please don't think it was made lightly or cynically.

We also discovered that some of the maps are incredibly good fun with some of the reach elements and weapons. One in particular, that we haven't revealed yet, feels like it was born to be played "on" Reach.

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Was that Jen also? There's a dispute about it, oddly.

Confirmed.

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Animations are being reworked. So are Cinematics. In-game, we have to be careful though, so that animation does not impact pace, gameplay etc. So it will be subtle. Cinematics will be in-engine, but overhauled.

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[Laa-Yosh]

I wonder about all the countless glitches and exploits and shortcuts, how they'll work with the rebuilt level geometry. And if there's going to be some new ones, complete with huge community response and following. That was a very nice part of Halo CE. Remember all the Warthog jump videos, including the original?
(just watched it - so old that it has Matrix stuff in it...)

 

[kagemaru]

I thought there was a dispute about Jen voicing Cortana in Halo 4, never knew there were similar concerns with the Halo remake.

So they are reworking the animations, interesting. Wonder if this means the game will revert back to the old animations when viewed in classic mode.

I'm also interested to know some details on this graphical layer.

 

[AlNom]

I wonder about all the countless glitches and exploits and shortcuts, how they'll work with the rebuilt level geometry.

Well, I wonder if they can get around that via invisible barriers that conform to the original geometry. For a second, I thought maybe they could use parallax mapping or some form of displacement mapping to fool us even more about the geometry.

There are a couple points in the Waypoint video feature where the geometry is actually similar to Halo CE, the needler and the warthog in particular (as I noted above) despite newer textures.

And if there's going to be some new ones, complete with huge community response and following. That was a very nice part of Halo CE. Remember all the Warthog jump videos, including the original?
(just watched it - so old that it has Matrix stuff in it...)

hehe those were the days... now if only they had Forge for an arcade mode in the campaign so we could manually place a zillion grenades instead of transporting marines and killing them off and *maybe* getting grenades.

I thought there was a dispute about Jen voicing Cortana in Halo 4, never knew there were similar concerns with the Halo remake.

Oh, I forgot to include original question, which pertained to Halo 4. Oops.

 

[dragonelite]

hehe those were the days... now if only they had Forge for an arcade mode in the campaign so we could manually place a zillion grenades instead of transporting marines and killing them off and *maybe* getting grenades.

Oh, I forgot to include original question, which pertained to Halo 4. Oops.

Faints at the thought of forge in CEA.
Massive field of power cores,one wathog and one lucky shot and a million youtube videos.

 

[AlNom]

More specific campaign modifiers (besides skulls) would be nice. e.g. infinite grenades, gravity, run speed etc. or even the ability to take control of the A.I. I do recall some early hacks that let a user take control of an elite, which also unlocked driving the wraith.

 

[dragonelite]

More specific campaign modifiers (besides skulls) would be nice. e.g. infinite grenades, gravity, run speed etc. or even the ability to take control of the A.I. I do recall some early hacks that let a user take control of an elite, which also unlocked driving the wraith.

Haha inbe4 halo battlefield. Maybe for next gen.

 

[NRP]

I hope the original map glitches are still in. I have a strat for the world's fastest flag score on CTF Sidewinder. God that used to piss the other team off. LOL!

 

[AlNom]

hm... you mean for the MP? That's sounding unlikely given they'll be done in the Reach engine. I didn't quite see a list of maps that people figured out were in the teaser trailer either.

Oh, another tidbit:

Saber is not doing online or co-op. Saber did the graphics layer engine and its supporting elements. Netcode is a combination of Bungie's Reach netcode for MP, and internally developed code here.

 

[NRP]

Boo!

I hate Frankie.

 

[NRP]

Bonnie Ross looks nice So does Corrrinne Yu Not in the video, but 343 related).

So, is 343 loaded with hot chicks or what?

 

[(((interference)))]

Waypoint feature video:

You know, I thought the visor looked familiar:

Ugh. The chief just looks all sorts of wrong in the Anniversary footage, and so does the first person view's hands/arms.

Sloppy.

The top comment on YT is also on how the Chief's armor and helmet look weird - I really hope they fix that - though you'd think 343 would have recognised that already?

And Saber really are lazy! The AR looks identical to the Reach edition with some different ammo display graphics - surely it isn't too much to ask them to remodel the original AR.

Me three

Bonnie Ross, really? I dunno - she seems a bit old and her voice is annoying

 

[NRP]

Don't be a hater.

OT:
We need to figure out a way to get Al in there.

 

[(((interference)))]

Don't be a hater.

OT:
We need to figure out a way to get Al in there.

Just sayin' she's no Jade Raymond

But yes, AI should ask Frankie some questions on GAF like is Chiron TL-34 one of the MP maps?

 

[AlNom]

Step 1: move to seattle
Step 2: ???
Step 3: female spartans!

 

[Mobius1aic]

Haha inbe4 halo battlefield. Maybe for next gen.

It's too bad none of the Halo mods for BF2 or 2142 were ever followed through. True battlefield combat within the Halo universe would be godly.

 

[dragonelite]

Step 1: move to seattle
Step 2: ???
Step 3: female spartans!

Should be

Step 1: move to seattle
Step 2: Count pixels
Step 3: ???
Step 4: female spartans!