There's an article at Wired.com today that gives a very thorough look into the way Halo 3 is being scientifically tuned by studying gamers during testing. If you haven't already read it, it's an awesome read, and you can get to it here. Unfortunately, there's a lot in the article that makes my skin crawl. Namely, that it appears Halo 3 is being tuned for the least common denominator gamer (e.g. your grandmother). What's worse is that while the article says Bungie recognizes the shortcomings of Halo 2, it goes on to provide evidence that they are doomed to repeat the same mistakes. Here's some excerpts.

This is the first of many examples that prompts me to question why the game is considered the culprit when a gamer can't figure out the correct strategy. Aren't we supposed to have to think to progress through a game? If I wanted to simply hit a button until I completed something I'd just install some software and get my fix on the "next" button.

Did he really just use the infamous "mother" or "grandmother" analogy? I remember the same thing being said about Halo 2, that it was tested so a larger variety of gamers, including post-menopausal women, would be able to play. How far do you lower your standards to attract a minimal new audience?

OK, this is looking more promising. They recognize some of their mistakes and are correcting them.

Priceless. Because some people can't figure out that shooting the ground next to them with a powerful weapon like the Wraith isn't a good idea, Bungie removes our ability to wield full control over the Wraith. Why can't I deliberately use this suicide maneuver to take out a couple "too-close" enemies when I'm guarding the flag carrier on my team, it's 2-2, and he just needs to make it another 100 feet for the win? Like so many things in a system set up to force equality, the astute are limited by rules created for the simpleton.

I guess those of us who enjoy exploring levels with total freedom are out of luck. Dumb and Dumber couldn't figure out how to proceed through the campaign, so the developers constrain everyone.

Sure, make it easier. What else should we expect by now?

You've got to be fluffy kidding me. They. are. confused. about. which. button. melees. Does anyone else see anything wrong here? Here's an idea: read the fluffy manual!!! Or how about this: press every button until you find the one that melees!!! I count about 13 available buttons on the Xbox 360 controller. You don't have to be a scientist to construct a plan for executing that test.

These are the people that Bungie is "fine tuning" their product for.

If I am a fine chef and I want to put my best dish to the test, who should I invite to sample it and make recommendations? Should I grab the first person off the street who's diet normally consists of fried lard covered in gravy? Or perhaps, should I ask a food critic who's sampled other fine cuisine and knows what a truly spectacular dish should contain? Perhaps a fellow chef who is also adept at culinary creations?

Products dumbed down to the lowest common denominator may have mass market appeal, but they will never be great. Bungie has a chance to further cement their place in electronic entertainment history with the release of Halo 3. The author of the above cited article correctly termed Halo "the Star Wars of the thumbstick generation." In 30 years will Halo 3 be remembered as "A New Hope" or "Attack of the Clones?"

Wow.
I'm with Midnight on this one. I'm a bit worried about Halo 3 now. If they keep "fine tuning" it in this manner I just may keep playing Shadowrun. Don't screw the pooch, bungie.

Seriously, this is disconcerting. I have been really pumped lately about Halo 3... but this concerns me.

The argument can easily go both ways at this point... But after reading the entire Wired article, then reading Midnights reply.. I have to say that I completely agree with midnight.

No matter what, Halo 3 is going to be a good game. And no matter what, I'm going to spend countless hours playing it... But I just wish I didn't have the feeling that Bungie is 'selling out'... I hate how all of the 'fine tuning' they're doing is so the game appeals to the Masses, rather then gamers...

Oh well, the game will be fun regardless... I just know now that the chances of it being anything close to halo 1 are slim to none.

Devin, your post sums up my thoughts well.

I disagree with Midnight who agrees with Devin who agrees with Midnight who sees things differently than me.

I can't believe there are comments about users not being able to shoot themselves with a Wraith. You can't shoot your teammates with a weapon will riding the passenger seat of a H1 or H2 hog. You can't use the H1 or H2 hog turrets to shoot your vehicle. You can't shoot yourself with a Shotgun. I must have missed the LAN party when driving a Wraith was cool.

There are a lot of ways you can't kill yourself in H1 and H2.

Not everyone plays the game the same way I do. Using "dumb" people to test the game doesn't make the game "dumbed down". It makes the game more accessible.

Why did we not like HALO 2's campaign? Because it was short and plain. Not because it was too easy or too hard or too limiting.

What made HALO 1's campaign awesome wasn't that we have freedom to rotate a turret at any angle. It was because the story was believable and the campaign took a good while to complete.

And what did we do when we were finished with H1 and H2's campaign? We all play multiplayer modes for countless hours per month.

The point of the Wired article is to demonstrate the ends to which Microsoft is going to make sure that there are as few playability holes as possible in H3. They are doing thousands of hours of research to make the game more playable by the average user (a.k.a. average teenager). Most people playing H3 won't have a college degree - let alone a technical college degree. Most people don't want to work a puzzle. They want to aim a weapon or drive a vehicle.

The fine tunings that Bungie is doing is going to make the game better for me.

Who wants to play a level that requires a Warthog only to find out that your AIs took the Warthogs? There are a lot more AI in H3. They are smarter and will be with you more often.

Who wants to run out of ammo halfway through the campaign because you can't tell if your bullets are hitting the enemies at a distance? I've had to play through some H1 levels with inferior weapons. It was hard to play that way. It's good that they detected that people were running out of ammo.

I'm guessing if I were to fight in a real war my commanders would clue me in as to where your weapons were, where your vehicles were, and what men will be there to help you. It's a first person shooter. People are supposed to shoot their weapons. It isn't about conserving ammo or having a high hit percentage or going to areas of the map that weren’t supposed to be accessible.

Bungie is making sure we have the tools to finish the fight.

If you want to hunt all over a map to find grenades, don't worry, you'll have plenty of things to hunt. Bungie will hide a zillion things in the levels for you to find. In fact, I would guess that most people that reply to this thread never found all of the skulls in HALO 2.

And who wants to play on levels and maps where there are stale spots? Why not build levels were gamers explore the level and don't just write off entire sections of the level? All this research is a good thing. It will be good for HALO 3's campaign.

The HALO campaign formula will still be there. It was there in H1 and H2. Huge open levels. Lots of enemies. Check that. Even more enemies, more battles, more technology, and more vehicles. Find your way through the level. Drive some vehicles. Fight with your AI. Escape from or kill a ton of enemies and perhaps kill some final boss. Teleport to a new level. Repeat.

People want to beat the game. For the most part, they really don't care how easy or hard it is. If you do care how hard the game is, then Bungie will give you at least 4 difficulty levels to try which will make the enemies harder to kill or make you have a more difficult time surviving. HALO 3's campaign won't be easy. It won't be short. It will be fun.

Bungie isn’t making a game for me. They aren’t making a game for skilled gamers. They are making a shooter for everyone.

I don't sense that we'll be handcuffed in any way. But even if we are, I want a rich HALO 3 campaign experience - which it definitely appears we are getting and HALO 3's campaign will be lightyears better than HALO 2's campaign.

What are you arguing about? The game isn't even out.

Besides go back 3 years, you'll find the same damn Wired article about Halo 2. And how Bungie didn't have enough time to work on Halo 1. And how they had to duplicate portions. And how they had more time to tune Halo 2. And how dual wielding was the "bee knees". And how Halo 2 was so much better because x, y, z.

This is nothing but a fluff piece. Move on.

I agree with Rapture who disagrees with Midnight who agrees with Me who agrees with Midnight who sees things differently than Rapture. ;)

Sorry, I had to do it... lol

Anyways; Jay is right... We're all acting like idiots, arguing over game play on a game that hasn't even been released yet.

I wouldn't call the article a fluff though, I really enjoyed it. :)

Halo 3 will be an art + engineering marvel, there's no doubt about it.

Will it live up to our expectations of campaign gameplay? Most likely, Yes.

Will it live up to our expectations of multiplayer gameplay? Yes and no. Yes because it will satisfy us with > H2 gameplay on Xbox Live, and no because the old H1 style of gameplay is gone forever.

I know I cringed the first time testing out the new pistol on H3Beta. The thing actually changes it's damage percentage according to whether or not it's dual wielded! It's idiotic top down decisions like this that will always be a thorn in the hardcore h1 fans' side. We don't have to go back to the whole "balanced vs imbalanced" argument, but it's one of the design philosophies that pushed Halo towards the mainstream. We've got to live with it, I'm practically over it by now.

It reminds me of when I learned to accept and almost enjoy the song "Hit me baby, one more time" for the first time. The song is well constructed, catchy, fun to listen to, and completely aimed at a mainstream audience. But to anyone who actually knows a lot about music, it's pure corporate crap. Whenever art and business meet, there's a bottom line that has to be met somewhere. I will enjoy H3 as long as it's a little better than H2.

I agree that many of the campaign improvements will be just that, improvements. However, I am concerned that some of the changes, like the limited shooting angle of the wraith, will have a negative impact on multiplayer.

As far as shooting yourself, I think it takes a skilled player to know when he is absolutely beat and make the decision to take out the enemy with him instead of die alone. I've chunked plenty of death nades, shot rockets into an enemy 1 ft in front of me, and shot plenty of exploding barrels that did this.

In the end, it's not really that I need that tactic or ability for the game to be fun, but the point that they are limiting my ability to play the game the way I want so that an idiot doesn't repeatedly commit suicide unintentionally. I think Halo 3 will be a lot of fun, but Bungie is traveling the same slippery slope they did in Halo 2, and they have a history of sliding down it on all fours.

Who's arguing? I see different points of view being brought up by Rap and Midnight. I read a discussion between them presenting their own, differing opinions. But I don't sense an argument at all.

Now, if it were Mintz and Slayer, well, that's a whole other story...

That's right. It would be way more entertaining too. There would be lots of sexual orientation attacks and "your mom" (my personal favorite...) jokes. :)

Interesting post by jay. I didn't know they did an article like this for Halo 2. I suppose we should just wait until it comes out and then pass judgement.

No, it'd be more like Mintz argues with Slayer, Slayer rebuts, then everyone attacks Slayer, then Slayer apologizes and clarifies his original, poorly-worded rebut.

I just think it's way to early to start up halo3sucks.com.

And this post represents everyone telling you how wrong you are because I said a lot more than what you just quoted, and you completely missed the point of my post.

Everything Midnight said is spot on to what I thought. The part that really infuriated me was the part where he talks about, "Well, what if your mother was playing?"

Screw you, Bungie. My Mom doesn't give a shit about playing Halo (or video games at all), so why do we care to adjust the feel of a game to people who don't give a diarrhea splatter about playing it?

This article killed a lot of my interest in Halo 3, even though I personally think it's going to suck as much colon pudding as Halo 2 did.

I hope I'm wrong.

I really do.

No. It appears it's too late: www.halo3sucks.com

SMF... hmm rap that's not you is it..

It's not me.

Besides, making a H3sucks.com website isn't worth it because H3 gameplay will be like H2 gameplay in almost everyway.