Halo 3 Rumours Explored

[Justin Buser]

Hexus investigates some of the rumours floating around regarding Halo 3 for the Xbox 360. A recommened read for anyone interested in what will be Microsoft's trump card in its battle against the PS3.

Halo 3 has alledgedly been in development for over a year. The Halo franchise has made a huge impact in the gaming world and gaming forums across the net have been awash with rumours and speculation for some time. Hexus investigates these rumours and searches for the truth.

Launch date same as PS3 launch

This would be a wise marketing move by Microsoft. Halo 3 is bound to be the biggest selling game of the year and there could be no better way to scupper the launch of PS3. Bill Gates was quoted some time ago in TIME magazine saying "The day Sony PS3 launches, and they walk right into Halo 3.' Many websites were taking preorders of Halo 3. EB Games had a launch date of June 2006, mysteriously Halo 3 has disappeared from games lists of many online retailers.The most popular guess at launch date is either 15th or 30th May 2006. Others are pointing towards a 2007 release to coincide with the Halo Movie.Only time will tell.

Halo 3 will come on 2 seperate disks?

It's a possibility I suppose, one for the story/campaign mode and one for the multiplayer? Games radar reported that one unnamed multiplayer title may be using up to four 9GB DVD's. Considering there is only around 13GB of space on the 360 harddrive this would mean upgrading considerably.Bungie's forums issued polls back in the summer asking gamers if they would like to see two disks for Halo 3 and what they would like to see on those disks. They could be just drumming up interest or it could be a clever plot to see exactly what Halo's obsessives really want.The latest rumour suggest a two disk set with one showing the 'Making Of Halo 3'. That certainly sounds more feasible.

Halo 3 Screenshot

The Official Xbox Magazine published this picture and speculation has been rife as to its source. Is this a real Halo 3 screenshot or pure hoax? This image looks like it could be a 360 game, but frankly it could be from any game.

Halo 3 will support up to 64 players online

This is certainly achievable, just imagine the carnage. Black Hawk Down's 50 players online was disappointing. I can't remember a game without severe lag but, with the new technology and decent servers,I'm sure Halo 3 could cope with such demands.This would also see an increase in clan sizes and communities as clans join forces to fight in numbers. This fits into the whole idea of Origen and the Xbox 360, Xbox clans and communities would grow enormously. Although imagine trying to have a converstion with so many people talking over each other.

Commander Mode In Multiplayer

Takinf a leaf out of Battlefield 2's book, one player would oversee the battle for each side, which sounds plausible for those larger maps, if we get them. It would probably have a similar sort of comms structure too, though how well this works with the trash talking you get online anyway is something we'd like to see!

Online Co-operative Mode

This would certainly be welcome and Bungie would be crazy to omit it. Launch title Perfect Dark Zero has hooked gamers, they can join a friend and battle through the campaign mode together.It's early days but you bet your bottom dollar that Halo 3 will include this feature. Obssesive fans could chat away about the storyline whilst blasting through gloriously detailed levels. Four player co-op would be even better!
Muliplayer Bots

There are rumours of a multiplayer mode that will allow you to team up with friends against enemy bots on multiplayer maps. It would be an unnecessary but fun addition to the game and certainly an exciting prospect.Imagine a convoy of human players heading for an army of grunts on the likes of Coagulation meeting in the centre of the map and causing pure unadulterated mayhem.Fantastic!

Wireless Peripheral Support

One of of the latest rumours to reach us is the option to use a wireless keyboard and mouse for control over the joypad. This move alone could bridge the gap between console and PC gaming, bringing far more players who prefer their FPSs on the PC over to the Xbox 360 scene. This is 100% possible, the tehnology is already in place and all it would take is a bit of coding to make the game recognise a different input device. If true, this latest whisper we've heard could open Halo 3 up to a much larger audience!

Unlockable Objectives

The 360 launch games have indicated how games are moving forwarded. In each 360 game there are unlockable objectives. Upon completing these objectives you recieve extra points which are added to your gamer card. Look out for objectives such as 'Beat down 5 players in a row', or 'Kill 10 people with sticky grenades'. These objectives will provide great amusement if, of course, they are included.

Link

[DirePhoenix]

That pic was posted awhile ago on another forum and its obviously a fake. The SMG is a render of the Halo 2 SMG taken from bungie.net.

[slobdell]

plus thats probably the stupidest article i have ever read. gives no actual fact or proves any rumors true or false. anybody on this site could have written that.

[Razors Edge]

Now we just have to wait for Bungie to make Halo 3 official. Nothing really new in there, but lots of good info and specutation wraped up nicely. Good find.

[Jacksmith28]

Wow! that really cleared up alot of things!!! lol