new game play info from bungie

[citizen X]

It shows that their now working on the AI. Every little bit of information is appreciated but we all want to see some game play screen shots. But that’s me stating the obvious. but still glad to get something out of bungie

The Bungie Weekly Update
Posted by Frankie at 9/15/2006 5:20 PM PDT

LOL. The Warthog is now a super-deluxe killing machine. Not because we’ve changed the Hog itself very much, although graphically it’s seen some significant upgrades, but rather because of how your AI buddies behave when you’re driving the thing. First off, beeping the horn seems to bring any nearby Marine running (although they will come based on suitability for the task at hand – more on that in a future update) and hopping straight into the gunner turret.

In previous Halo games, the gunners were smart and would pick off targets in a logical fashion, but this time around, and it could be my imagination, the gunners are more precise and easier to influence. You can target individual bad guys by steering the Hog and even “convince” your gunner to pick a more relevant target and have him stop trying to blast a lone grunt hiding behind a rock when a bigger menace approaches.

This has two effects on the gameplay – one is that it makes the Hog feel more like a weapon when you’re driving, and the second is that it makes you want to cruise around bigger battle areas playing mop-up, whereas previously the temptation might have been to get the heck out of dodge. And by heck, I mean hell.

The AI still has ages of tuning left to go, and the bad news is that if your AI gunner is too good, he’ll be dumbed-down to make the game more balanced. That said, the scale and ferocity of the current encounters (read: more bad guys than ever before) mean that you were going to need more capable AI anyway.

Now, if only I could make my real human gunner in multiplayer shoot so accurately…

I’ve been playing around with the latest builds of multiplayer and single player (again, both are deployed separately so that neither team is stepping on the other’s toes) and tooling around with a “controversial” new control scheme. Basically it addresses some of the complaints 360 owners had about the button mapping – especially the black and white buttons no longer found on the 360 – and makes for a more logical use of the left and right bumpers. There are some other changes that are game-feature dependent that I can’t talk about yet, but basically the new scheme is super solid.

The problem of course, is that after two years of training with the old scheme, the slightest change caused me to spaz out for about three minutes. Once I got used to it however, it’s far more natural and sensible, and the logical use of the new controller.

And before you start pitching angry mails about a control scheme you haven’t tried yet, don’t worry – we’ll be including the classics too and perhaps even some improved or new control variants. We might even take a look at the “backward” southpaw controls so that Claude will quit his -blam!-in’ and go back to stocking shelves at the Leftorium. I think we’ll have something cool for everyone from your mom, to a hardcore, Dolbex-esque tournament player.

link

[gps]

Mmmm, competent ally AI, nice. I loved the vehicle based parts of the Halo games and I can't wait to see what this is like.

[Jacksmith28]

Sounds good, I did spaz out a little bit with the thought of AI in multiplayer.

[NVR 20]

nice info. im a tad worried about the controller scheme but atleast they are keeping the old 1 aswell. SCREEN SHOTS ?!?!?!? still waiting.........

[citizen X]

Yeah we all can’t wait for those screen shots. AI in multiplayer?.. Maybe a good idea only when its not a ranked match. I can see where AI could be a problem when the game ends up being a close match and one of ur AI teammates gets taken out by a good human sniper cuz the AI didn’t know how to take good cover.. Example of what the AI limitation could be. Who knows maybe they’ll be smatter then we think

[Shotty]

Hope they can finally put in some computer controlled players in matches but only if the a.i is smart. This game seems like it is going through testing and final level changes so hopefully it will be out by summer 2007.
P.S I wonder what the mystery bungie game is.

[FLANKER 5]

sounds great.....now all I want is some screen shots!!!!

[jag1491]

You guys might think im crazy, but it think the new control scheme is that you zoom in with the left trigger. I remember when PDZ came out my friend was saying how weird it would be if halo had that control scheme. But it could work because of the bumper buttons. Personally i think thats the new control scheme.

My next guess is maybe you also jump with one of the bumper buttons or reload with one of the bumpers because your hands dont leave the analog sticks. Hey you never know though

[360rulz]

that stuff all sounds pretty good to me

[Grindstone]

If you could make the melee button one of the bumper buttons, that would be really nice. It would help me out a lot. Shouldn't change the triggers, zoom is fine where it is at.

[360rulz]

yea
id suck for awhile but i think i could get used to the bumper being the melee