Halo: Reach

[ShadowWolf64]

Not sure you can infer the "tone" for reach from those shots to be fair... the lighting enginer seems to me to be heavily updated giving a much more realistic look to the game. However the Halo series has been well known for it's excellent use of colour in a genre that is very much known for it's "greys & browns".

I'm not sure as well that Microsoft will want to exclude the mass millions of young players who bought and played H2&3 by slapping reach with an M rating, simply because Halo CE had an M rating (it also didn't sell as much at the subsequent games).

Considering this will likely be Bungie's last Halo, and the next BIG Halo game in the series since H3, I'm quite sure that MS would be looking to capture as much of the Halo-loving installed base as possible. An "M" rating on reach would be a mistake from a business perspective IMHO.

I highly doubt that considering Halo 3's ESRB rating is M for mature anyways and that game went on to sell milions of copies worldwide.Also, its up to Bungie if they want to have Gears of War like gore and not up to MS.Im sure whatever they do with Halo Reach MS will let it happen.Mind you, if it wasn't for the Halo series, there wouldn't even be an xbox 360 to begin with.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

In Halo 1, when you stuck an Elite with a plasma grenade, their arm's would get blown off.

Nothing ever happened even remotely similar to that...

Halo1 had ragdoll physics for the dead bodies and lots of blue and purple blood stains but no dismemberment or any other form of gore. The wildest stuff was the elites killed by the flood in the swamp level's first section and even that wasn't looking too realistic.

 

[ShadowWolf64]

Nothing ever happened even remotely similar to that...

Halo1 had ragdoll physics for the dead bodies and lots of blue and purple blood stains but no dismemberment or any other form of gore. The wildest stuff was the elites killed by the flood in the swamp level's first section and even that wasn't looking too realistic.

Well in Halo 1, I distinctly remember there being disrememberment of an Elite's arm.I know this for a fact as I've played the Halo 1 campaign ALOT... The arm wasn't completely disremembered as only half of the arm was...But whatever...Just wondering, what gameplay features would you like to see in Halo Reach?

 

[(((interference)))]

I highly doubt that considering Halo 3's ESRB rating is M for mature anyways and that game went on to sell milions of copies worldwide.Also, its up to Bungie if they want to have Gears of War like gore and not up to MS.Im sure whatever they do with Halo Reach MS will let it happen.Mind you, if it wasn't for the Halo series, there wouldn't even be an xbox 360 to begin with.

No Halo 3 is rated Teen, the Halo audience has grown up the game should too.
I think its more for technical reasons that they leave it out, with the amount of enemies onscreen rendering gore and keeping track of the severed limbs would be a problem. Especially as they don't got the horrible disappearing bodies route.

 

[ShadowWolf64]

No Halo 3 is rated Teen, the Halo audience has grown up the game should too.
I think its more for technical reasons that they leave it out, with the amount of enemies onscreen rendering gore and keeping track of the severed limbs would be a problem. Especially as they don't go with the horrible disappearing bodies route.

With all due respect, you are incorrect about Halo 3's ESRB rating.Because, I have my Halo 3 box right in front of me and in the lower left bottom of the case, it clearly says M for Mature 17+.Halo Combat Evolved, Halo 2 and 3 all have had the M for Mature ESRB rating.Perhaps showing too much gore could be taxing on the 360 hardware and it would look bad if the bodies and limbs did immediately disappear after being slaughtered.Perhaps having "enough gore" would be fine with me as to show that war is a very brutal,violent and dangerous experience.

 

[AlNom]

In Halo 1, when you stuck an Elite with a plasma grenade, their arm's would get blown off.Back then,

The only dismemberment in the series was the Flood... And that hasn't changed at all. You might have observed modeling bugs with geometry warping/stretching. Those tended to occur in the first game when pieces of the model get "stuck", but it most certainly was not dismemberment of any Covenant.

 

[ShadowWolf64]

The only dismemberment in the series was the Flood... And that hasn't changed at all. You might have observed modeling bugs with geometry warping/stretching. Those tended to occur in the first game when pieces of the model get "stuck", but it most certainly was not dismemberment of any Covenant.

All of this time, I thought it was some form of dismemberent when it was just exactly what you stated.Good observation.

By the way, what gameplay features would you like to see in Reach?

 

[(((interference)))]

With all due respect, you are incorrect about Halo 3's ESRB rating.Because, I have my Halo 3 box right in front of me and in the lower left bottom of the case, it clearly says M for Mature 17+.Halo Combat Evolved, Halo 2 and 3 all have had the M for Mature ESRB rating.Perhaps showing too much gore could be taxing on the 360 hardware and it would look bad if the bodies and limbs did immediately disappear after being slaughtered.Perhaps having "enough gore" would be fine with me as to show that war is a very brutal,violent and dangerous experience.

Sorry, it is actually Mature. I wonder why, its timid compared to the likes of L4D or Gears

 

[Acert93]

Halo 3: ESRB Rating is Mature.

Rating: Mature

Content descriptors: Blood, Language, Violence

Rating summary:

This is a first-person shooter in which players engage in futuristic battles against invading aliens. Players use pistols, sniper rifles, machine guns, and rocket launchers to shoot and kill enemies during the constant and fast-paced battle. Firefights are highlighted by camera effects (e.g., blurring and screen shakes) and realistic sound effects, including screams of pain, gunfire, and explosions. Puffs of blood are emitted from injured aliens/humans, and blood is sometimes smeared on walls and on the ground. Some profanity (e.g., "bullsh*t," "a*shole," and "bastard") can be heard in the dialogue and radio chatter.

 

[(((interference)))]

Halo 3: ESRB Rating is Mature.

It should be Teen, its PG-13 movie fare

 

[obonicus]

Does anyone know how the submission process works? I've heard that companies can effectively request an 'M' rating if they'd like or lobby for something lower, but I've also heard that this is false.

 

[Prophecy2k]

It should be Teen, its PG-13 movie fare

Maybe not with all the profanity you can hear online

Lol, I didn't think it was rated Mature too... very tame for a rated "M" game.

Either way I think it'd be strange to see a Halo game where characters are being blown into giblets... I'm not too sure i'd like that.

I'd prefer a bit more realistic blood splatter, and better enemy hit detection (ala KZ2)... maybe they can even license the Euphoria engine for the humanoid characters?!!! That'd be pretty awesome

 

[ShadowWolf64]

Maybe not with all the profanity you can hear online

Lol, I didn't think it was rated Mature too... very tame for a rated "M" game.

Either way I think it'd be strange to see a Halo game where characters are being blown into giblets... I'm not too sure i'd like that.

I'd prefer a bit more realistic blood splatter, and better enemy hit detection (ala KZ2)... maybe they can even license the Euphoria engine for the humanoid characters?!!! That'd be pretty awesome

I personally would love a Halo game with that kind of gore as it would never get old.If you have read the novels, the Needler in the books is incredibly deadly and can destroy a persons stomach and have guts all over the place.Halo Reach should portray that in the game.It would be fantastic if Reach used the Euphoria engine for more realistic looking animations.Im just dying for some more concrete news on Reach.I wonder when that will happen...

 

[(((interference)))]

Maybe not with all the profanity you can hear online

Lol, I didn't think it was rated Mature too... very tame for a rated "M" game.

Either way I think it'd be strange to see a Halo game where characters are being blown into giblets... I'm not too sure i'd like that.

I'd prefer a bit more realistic blood splatter, and better enemy hit detection (ala KZ2)... maybe they can even license the Euphoria engine for the humanoid characters?!!! That'd be pretty awesome

I would prefer realistic rather than Gears style over the top too, though I suppose over the top could work as Halo itself is quite an over the top, colourful, semi-realistic shooter

 

[Inquisitive_Idiot]

Just a small update:

"This year VGA viewers will get a sneak peek at Halo: Reach with the debut of an exclusive, world premiere video from the opening of the game."

Sound good? Make sure you mark your calendars and strap yourself in. Halo: Reach premieres LIVE on Saturday, December 12 At 8:00 PM ET.

So it seems we are going to see a bit from the intro of the game, which will be interesting to say the least. I cannot wait to see what it looks like and what improvements Bungie has made with regards to their graphics engine.

 

[TurnDragoZeroV2G]

Hopefully it's pretty good.

Broken In: Natalya Tatarchuk

I was surprised to find that Bungie hired Natalya Tatarchuk. Games aren't exactly tech demos, but she should be able to bring quite a bit to the table. Perhaps, as early as Reach, we might see the fruit of all the talent Bungie has been bringing in.

 

[ShadowWolf64]

Good interview and she seems to be a very humble person and I like that.Glad Bungie has added more talent to their already talented group of people at they're studio.Can't wait to see the opening of Reach....

 

[(((interference)))]

Just a small update:



So it seems we are going to see a bit from the intro of the game, which will be interesting to say the least. I cannot wait to see what it looks like and what improvements Bungie has made with regards to their graphics engine.

Hopefully it isn't like the E3 2006 "in game" trailer they showed for Halo 3 and is actually representative of the final product

 

[NRP]

She has certainly been involved in some visually stunning tech demos while at ATI, but it doesn't sound like she'll be that involved with Reach. Sounds like she'll be focusing on future technology research.

Doesn't matter though. I'm sure Reach will look good enough. What I really want is a team of Spartans battling huge waves of Covenant, with some solo missions mixed in. That would rock pretty hard.

 

[Acert93]

Yeah, I would go for NO visual improvements if we saw battles worthy of the title REACH. I want FireFight style "sandboxes" with Halo 3 AI--but with 100+ baddies on the field at any one time. Construct some nifty objective/check point battlefield schemas and make them replayable (ala MW2 Spec Ops) and you have gold.

If this is another "saving the world" from unbeatable odds full of 20-30 bad guy battles I will throw the controller!