Halo: Reach

[-Zer0-]

Jizzed in my pants.

Jizzed many pants. This looks amazing. It looks like there's going to be more than 16 to a lobby, or maybe the adrenaline of it all just makes it seem that way. What was the max in Halo 3 8v8? Been so long since I've played it.

[Weltall]

This game is going to end my life....

[Qalbert]

jetpaaaaaaack

[Kiarax]

http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/8546/reach1.jpg
http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/8306/reach2.jpg
http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/4773/reach3n.jpg
http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/5313/reach4.jpg

New Features:

• Active Roster - This is a throwback to Halo 2. When you boot up Reach, right at the main menu or lobby, you'll see a list of what your Xbox Live friends are doing within Reach. You'll get detailed information about any friends playing Reach including who they are partied with, what game they are in (plus score and remaining time), and more. Basically, Bungie wants to make it so that you do not have to utilize the Xbox Live Guide to find out what your buddies are doing in Reach.
  
• Queue-Joining - In Halo 3, it was difficult to join friends that were already playing in a match. You had to wait until they were finished. If you started a game while you waited, they would then have to wait for you. Instead of going back and forth, Reach will support queue-joining. Simply put, Reach will automatically join up as soon as your friends are joinable.
  
• Improved Voting System - Halo: Reach will utilize a new voting system, which Bungie described as "Veto 2.0". Each playlist will provide players with four options. The first will be a combination of map and gametype, much like you would see in Halo 3. The other three options will offer players additional choices to vote on. Thankfully, you'll know up front what your four options are so you no longer have to risk voting down a favored map, but unfavored gametype and getting an unfavored combination. Behind-the-scenes, a lot of work has been done to give more flexibility to the playlist designers. A designer could, for example, ensure that the first choice is always Team Slayer on a set of 3 popular maps, but offer different gametypes in the additional choices.
  
• Arena Playlists - Possibly the largest change coming in Halo: Reach is the Arena. This is a Slayer and Team Slayer set of playlists entirely geared toward the hardcore. If that wasn't enough, players will be rated and placed into skill divisions in month-long seasons. The rating system is smart enough to realize that kills aren't the other determining factor behind skill. This is especially true for team games where assists play a huge roll. Similarly, players that have a greater kill/death ratio (had more kills than deaths) will rank higher than players that die as much as they kill.
  
  The divisions are Onyx, Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Steel. It is possible to move up or down within a single season. To qualify for ranking, players will have to play a certain number of games a day to gain a "Daily Ranking", which will be an average of a player's best games from the day. To get a divisional ranking and compete in a season, players will need a certain number of Daily Rankings. Casual gametypes will not appear in Arena playlists. You won't be seeing Rocket Race or Fiesta here. Even though Arena is geared toward top-level players, it should help less skilled players avoid being matched up against people they have no chance of winning against.

• Ranked and Social Combined - Since the hardcore will be in the Arena, Bungie doesn't want to further splinter the community. In Halo 3, Ranked and Social playlists served two different purposes. Ranked games were generally of a higher quality, while social games were more casual.
  In Reach, the playlists will be smart enough to put you and your party in the proper match based upon how many players you have. Say you're looking for a game in a four-on-four playlist. If you bring four people, Reach will attempt to match your team against another group of four at a similar skill level. If you go in with more than four, it will properly split your party across the teams and fill in the blanks with additional players.
  
• Streamlined Party-Up - After a Halo 3 match, players were presented with the option to "Party Up" and merge lobbies with all willing players. In Reach, it will be an opt-out system. After a match, players will be kept together and it will automatically roll into looking for the next match. The system is flexible enough to allow Bungie to determine, per playlist, whether to keep a team together and find a new set of opponents or keep an entire game together and move onto the next map.
  
• Matchmaking Connection Options - The options for finding games in matchmaking will be more open to the player, if they so choose. If you only ever want to play in games with a good connection, that can be set in the options. If you only ever want to play against players of a similar skill, that can be set. The same goes for finding players that speak to same language.
  
• Social Settings - In addition to these connection options, players can rate themselves along four axes to add another layer of criteria to the matchmaking. These won't trump anything else, but it will help Bungie build better teams. Players will define their playstyle in the following four categories:
  
  • Teamwork - Team Player vs. Lone Wolf
  • Motivation - Winning vs. Having Fun
  • Chattiness - Chatty vs. Quiet
  • Tone - Polite vs. Rowdy
  
  This allows Bungie, for example, to try and build a team of chatty, polite, team-playing, winners in serious playlists.

[Insanecyclone]

This looks like it may actually be worth the day 1 buy.

[BadKarma]

This looks like it may actually be worth the day 1 buy.

I want it before day 1

[Deejay]

Damn son. Bungie is not playing around with their online multiplayer. I'm getting this shit day 1 fo motherfuckin sho

[Weltall]

I've always been way better at Halo than any other game I've played competively (Street Fighter, Marvel, CS, etc) .....this game is going to be the end-all of life itself!

[Kurokikaze]

Oh my. Day 1 purchase and I'm not even a big Halo fan.

[ArchDizzle]

Halo was magnificent, Halo 2 was decent, 3 and ODST just turned to shit. I had fully accepted I would never have to worry about purchasing another Halo game again, but fuck if they didn't just make me 180 8(

[BadKarma]

Halo was magnificent, Halo 2 was decent, 3 and ODST just turned to shit. I had fully accepted I would never have to worry about purchasing another Halo game again, but fuck if they didn't just make me 180 8(

HAY GUY DONT YOU MEAN A 360?!

[Akucaen]

HAY GUY DONT YOU MEAN A 360?!

I seriously chucked. I'll have to steal a friend's xbox to play this for a bit. I still don't really want to buy my own since I still hold the better games are developed on the PC at the same time or later ported anyway.

[ArchDizzle]

HAY GUY DONT YOU MEAN A 360?!

WELL PLAYED SIR!

[Qalbert]

that doesn't make sense. wouldn't that mean you go from not liking halo to not liking halo?

[Kiarax]

http://i39.tinypic.com/2cmnind.gifht...om/2cmnind.gif

[Kyo]

lol

[Kyo]

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/108/1080097p1.html

Yesterday, we posted a news item about the first details on the player investment system in Halo: Reach. Today, Bungie decided to blow the lid off and go into great detail on just how you'll upgrade your Spartan and unlock new customization options over on Bungie.net.

A full question and answer session has been created by Bungie, and you can find it over on the developer's weekly update. We've pulled out the highlights to include here.


The Rank system as it existed in Halo 3 is gone. Trueskill has been pulled apart from it and the idea of EXP (experience) has been tossed out in favor of this new Player Investment feature. Rank in Halo: Reach is representative of everything you've done in the game, be it campaign or multiplayer. It will go up as you earn Credits, which are described as the "lifeblood" of the Player Investment system.

Here's how you can earn those all-powerful credits. Win a game in matchmaking and you'll get some. Simply finish a game and you'll also receive a few. This is how most Credits will be earned in the long run, and one of the primary ways to get them in the Beta. Yes, this system will be in place for the May 3 public beta.

Commendations will also snag some Credits. These are persistent awards that you can work towards through extended playing, and they'll have specific milestones where big Credits are won. The Beta will only have a small subset of Commendations available.

Achievements get some Credits, as do Challenges – daily and weekly tasks to complete as designated by Bungie. Challenges won't be present in the Beta, and Bungie is also teasing some as of yet unrevealed ways to earn Credits.

So what can you spend Credits on? Armor upgrades primarily. They won't, however, affect your TrueSkill rating, who you are matched up with, or the flow of the game itself. Nothing you can unlock will give one player an advantage over another.

In the Beta, most of the customization options will be limited to be pretty similar to what you saw in Halo 3. In the retail game, Bungie is promising other things for you to customize beyond the helmets, shoulers, chest, and emblems. There are also some "gating factors" on some pieces of equipment that Bungie says will require a community effort to open.

And though all of the screens shown here are of Spartans, Bungie promises that Elites will have their own set of customization options. They won't be the same, however, as Bungie wants your Spartan to be "your identity in Reach."

[Kyo]

Full info here.

http://www.bungie.net/News/content.a...ink=BWU_032610

[Kyo]

Game is looking to pack a serious punch, should be fucking awesome.

[BadKarma]

Bungie never dissapoints with multiplayer. So far ND and them have come up with the only two foolproof multiplayer systems.