Last night at the Tokyo Game Show Bungie announced their next title: Halo 3: Recon. The game is a standalone expansion for Halo 3, based in the fictional Halo universe. In the game, the players will take on the role of a UNSC Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (ODST) during the events leading up to Halo 3.
This new chapter in the Halo universe includes the following:
All-new campaign content: The Halo 3: Recon campaign is an intriguing side story that takes place during the terrifying events leading up to the Master Chief’s return to New Mombasa in Halo 3. Experience the fate of Earth from the brand-new perspective of a special forces ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper), adding a unique outlook and new gameplay elements to the events that unfold in the trilogy’s finale. While the feel of this new chapter greatly resembles that of previous Halo experiences, Halo 3: Recon will require you to employ more elements of stealth and cunning than ever before.
Prepare to drop: Known for their courage, valor and, at times, insanity, ODSTs are among the fiercest UNSC soldiers, priding themselves on being the first unit deployed into hostile situations. While not as large or supernaturally gifted as their Spartan comrades, these "Hell Jumpers" more than compensate with their ferocious attitudes and unwavering nerve.
Expanded multiplayer collection:No Halo experience would be complete without groundbreaking multiplayer content, and Halo 3: Recon gives fans more of what they love. With exclusive new maps and expanded Forge options, Xbox LIVE® Gold members will find more multiplayer content than ever before with Halo 3: Recon.
Ever-growing community options: Enjoy all the great Halo 3 technological innovations, including Saved Films, screenshots, Campaign Scoring, and four-player co-op. All of the new multiplayer maps fully support the Forge editor, offering endless gameplay customization possibilities.
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This game could have a slightly different gameplay style. Christian Allen, creative director of video game company Red Storm Entertainment, makers of the Ghost Recon series, was hired by Bungie as a lead designer some time back. Halo 3: Recon could be a tactical shooter in the flavor of some of the Ghost Recon games. I wonder if it is or is not coincidence that "Recon" is the subtitle to this game. I also wonder if this game is the source of Bungie/Ubisoft rumors. (Microsoft Game Studios is the publisher of this game).
The launch date is slated as Fall 2009 with more details to come.
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Update: From the THX Shoutbox, Hubcap makes a good point about ODSTs not having shields. A character having no shields is right in line with the more tactical shooter games like those from Tom Clancy.
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Mintz believes the "Superintendent" is an AI that controls New Mobassa.
"whvidldshbyjsdo" is a code for Bungie fans to figure out. Bungie will announce once it has been solved. They do this with most all of their games and other kinds of media releases. Other acronyms from Bungie Sightings.
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Update:
Bungie to Kotaku: "Halo 3: Recon is not a tactical squad based shooter" and "We're not viewing this as a full game." However 1000 achievement points are possible.
Bungie to Games Industry dot biz:
"We actually have a Mythic map pack coming out early next year. We don't have firm details or a date yet, but we do have one more map pack coming out, and then we do have some maps associated with the actual Recon retail release" and "Halo 3 Recon would be a 'final statement' from Bungie as far as the Halo trilogy was concerned"
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Update2:
"As an ODST, compared to playing as in invulnerable Spartan, you are going to have to sort of pick and choose your encounters a little bit differently."
Bungie has released a trailer for their next project while not revealing much of any details about their work. The game is obviously based on Halo and is set in New Mombasa. From my interpretation, this looks like a campaign prequel for Halo 3.
Recall that we reported about the "Halo Blue" title that leaked from Wal-mart documents. "Halo Blue" is supposed to be an M-rated shooter that is released on September 30th.
Is Bungie working on a major update for Halo 3? In the video below we see a video shot in what appears to be the Halo 3 engine. In it you see what looks like a real-time map editor and multiple non-MC/non-Elite characters.
Also, at the end of the video you see the Superintendent logo.
My guess? Bungie is working on a new multiplayer experience with many new playable characters. I would not be surprised if we see cross-platform functionality (XBOX 360 and PC gamers playing together) in environments that support 32 players in a game.
There will be no Halo 4. Halo 3 is getting a major overhaul. The update will cost $10-$20 and will be installed onto the XBOX 360 hard drive after the Fall 08 update.
"At the moment we do have three distinct projects underway within Bungie - some familiar, some not. Some on a closer horizon, some quite far off." - Sketchfactor in a news post at Bungie.net.
Some users of Halo 3's file sharing system (meant to share game screenshots and map and game variants) have figured out how to share content not related to Halo 3. In fact, the content I saw is pornographic content.
Yesterday while playing in Halo 3 matchmaking, I was placed on a team with someone who insisted that I visit his file share as our game was starting. Figuring I didn't have time to do this, I decided to wait until the game was over to look at his amazing Halo 3 screenshots. After the game was over, I navigated to my "recent players" menu and viewed the file share of the gamer.
Behold. Naked girls everywhere. All over my big 55" HDTV in the middle of my living room! In the screenshots section of his profile were pornographic images. That gamer's friend also had pornographic images on his file share.
Since last night, one of the images is still visible on Bungie.net and his file share (I reported the image to Bungie). The rest of the images have been removed from both profiles. The image has been downloaded 4,500 times from this particular gamer's file share.
I wonder if MSBUNGIE are going to have some legal battles on their hands. I wonder if the way we use game content file sharing on Xbox LIVE is about to change.
Update: Microsoft confirms that Bungie is working on a new Halo title.
Bungie's publisher (Microsoft Game Studios) is not allowing Bungie to reveal their new title during E3. It seems Bungie is pretty ticked at this as they've posted a statement directly from Bungie President Harold Ryan.
There's no indication that this letter is part of the "Superintendent" ARG as this letter is sincere and directly from Bungie's President. Pulling the rug out from under the fans tomorrow with the following letter would be confusing and insensitive.
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For the last several months, we've been building toward a reveal of something exciting that Bungie is working on. We were looking forward to sharing that with our fan community during the week of E3. However, those plans were just changed by our publisher.
We realize that many of our fans are disappointed by this turn of events; members of the Bungie team share that disappointment.
When the right time comes, we look forward to sharing this exciting announcement with you. Until then, we appreciate your continued support and patience.
Harold Ryan
President
Bungie LLC
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