Halo 3 Announcement


Sweet.

Yeah, I saw it a while ago.

Looks pretty cool.

The music in the trailer was just drop dead beautiful. The game looks very good.

###### YEAH!


(here's hoping it gets ported to Mac,or at least PC, sometime in my lifetime)

HELLS YES!

On the other hand, now it's just a matter of time...until I need to buy a 360.

They announced Halo 3 before they confirmed porting Halo 2 to Mac. Not a good sign.

Awesome nonetheless.

Perhaps if they call it Halo Infinity..

While I'm still waiting to play 2 for when it comes to the Mac, that is nevertheless an insanely impressive trailer. Bungies ability to make cinematics that are moving and captivating, and the genius of the music, seems a constant.

While I'm still waiting to play 2 for when it comes to the Mac, that is nevertheless an insanely impressive trailer. Bungies ability to make cinematics that are moving and captivating, and the genius of the music, seems a constant.

Halo 2 was a pretty good game, but come on! How many more Halos are they going to make?

Here's hoping this is the last one, and that it'll go out with a bang.

This is the last Halo, Nerd. Check out Bungie's website.

That said, yes, the music is awesome. Marty (their composer) rocks.

I don't have a problem with infinitely more Halos, as long as the multiplayer remains good.

Hahahaha. If there were going to be any more, it'd probably end at 7, seeing as that's Bungie's favorite number.

I'm pretty sure they plan on ending it here, but who knows. Reading the articles on both xbox.com and bungie.com made it clear that that trailer is not even the tip of the iceberg. It does though, show two seriously cool things.

One, Earth is totally dominated, spanked, raped, etc. Master Chief looks like he's been through hell and back.

Two, Cortana has lost it. Not only is she light-years away, but she's probably reached the end of her safe lifecycle. "I have overcome God-sent demons" is not exactly something a military AI should say.

All that said, this is turning out to be my favorite kind of game. Realistically bleak, has a dark settting, yet still has the potential to kick so much arse.

I can hardly wait.

Are you sure the line wasn't "I have overcome gods and demons" ?
Anyway, the music was awesome, I like the addition of brass.

That's what it sounded like to me.

My younger brother was listening to the trailer again and again when he noticed something.

In Cortana's first and second lines, if you listen closely, you can hear Gravemind's voice.

Now that I listen to it more carefully, I'm almost certain that Cortana says, "I have defied gods and demons."

Edit: I also noticed graveminds voice in there. Interesting.

I know, it gives the music a regal and triumphant sound to it. Plus the chorus in the back adds another great layer onto the orchestra music.

What Cortana is saying is: "I have defied gods, men, and demons."

He's always like that.

Since I couldn't watch it with sound (laptop not fast enough to decode x264 and play audio at the same time), I couldn't help thinking over and over again that all the covenant ships are doomed. Because the MC is still around.


Though, not to sound like a broken record, but didn't this EXACT same thing happen in marathon with Durandal and that crazy ancient AI you reactivate?

EIDT: I also noticed (and found it interesting) that the OLD AR seems to have returned....

Yeah, it's generally thought that Cortana's budding rampancy (and there were signs of it in the first game) will feature in Halo 3. I was even reading somewhere, where there's like a verse about the historical sword, Cortana, saying something along the lines of, "I am of the same make and temperance as Joyeuse and Durendal."

A pretty kickass trailer all in all. Too bad I do not remotely have any plans to get a 360. $400 just for Halo is a bit much, as much as I want to know what happens next.

Okay, so reviewing the Halo 2 transcript and cut-scenes (halo.bungie.org has both), I've figured out what's going on.

The artifact we see in the trailer is The Ark, which allows for remote activation of the the 6 remaining Halos in the event of a sudden shut-down of any one (which happened on 05 in Halo 2). It is located on Earth, and I think the name "The Ark" should be considered more evidence that humans are in fact the Forerunners. They managed to stash away some people on Earth to survive the activation of the 7 installations, just as they stashed away some Flood samples on the installations themselves. Do you honestly believe the Forerunners would just wipe themselves out voluntarily? It strikes me as common sense that they'd try to save at least some of themselves.

Now it would appear Cortana has gone a bit loony being left by herself with the Gravemind and who knows how much data and computing resources. Still, if she's been corrupted by the Gravemind, she'll have every reason to want to stop the remaining 6 from going off. If she's really crazy, then she might not be very helpful, but it seems that she's at least reaching out to MC.

Also, a note about the last line spoken by Cortana, it's the same as the last line of the first of the Cortana letters, sent out prior to the announcement of Halo 1.

Finally, about the implied destruction of Earth, there may be some hope. New Mombasa got pretty much wiped out in Halo 2 from an early-on in-atmosphere jump. And the Covies seemed quite interested in that city, perhaps because that's where The Ark is? And it's rather interesting that the Prophet of Regret jumped right from there to the Halo 05 installation...

Assuming New Mombasa is the location of The Ark, it lends even more evidence to humans being Forerunners because that means The Ark (protecting and saving a few people) is close to the so-called cradle of civilization. If Forerunners/humans were spared, but seriously set back, it is likely that they would originate in Africa.

Well, here's something else – during Halo 2, when you're with Cortana on Delta Halo and you're going to kill the Prophet of Regret, during one of the levels, Cortana reports that the Prophet said, "No human presence was foretold." This suggests that the Covenant knew where Earth was all along, they just didn't know they knew it – and it also seems to lend a bit of credence to your theory, mrxak.

From what I've heard, Halo 2 isn't going to be ported to Mac. The only port they plan on doing is to Windows Vista. Also, in this picture, Cortana looks like she just walked in on somebody while they're naked or doing something disturbing:
"OH GOD! Umm... I don't think it's strange you do that! Sorry!"

ToLazyToMakeAnAccount needs to force me to sit down one day and play through the Marathon series and learn of the hilarious antics of the murderous rampant AI's.

They just haven't announced it for the Mac yet, is all, for Windows Vista only.

Boot Camp may lessen the chances of Halo 2 coming out for the Mac, but I'm not giving up on it yet.

Perhaps not all along, here's my take on that. Info from the Halo 04 installation could have been gathered that pointed the way of The Ark before it got blown up. After all, we know from Halo 2 that the 05 installation has a map to the other 6, and 343 Guilty Spark never hesitates to talk about The Ark. There's really no reason for the Forerunners to keep the other locations secret, so the Covenant teams sent to investigate the 04 installation could have easily discovered the location of The Ark (on Earth), without knowing of the human presence.

Join the club. I always run out of patience though, when I try to play... both due to the bugs in AlephOne, and M1A1 not really being what I remember the first game as being like. Plus it can get to be a pain in the ass quite quickly, to explore throughly and keep track of what's going on and where things are.

Agreed. Earth is not necessarily totaled yet, just the area around the Ark (arc?). As mentioned, this is almost certainly New Mombasa- in fact, the hoop-like wreckage in the beginning of the trailer is likely from the space elevator that was in the center of the city in Halo 2 before it's destruction.

Oooh, good call on the rings.

Then let The Marathon Story Page be your guide. I doubt there is a more comprehensive source of information on the Marathon universe than anywhere else on Earth. Containing not only all of the terminal screens from each of the three games, it also covers a number of topics of interest such as; who you, as the player, really are; the historical and mythological references in the game text; and the meaning of the level names. Each section also includes thoughts, additional information, theories, or other relevant data from people who read the site. Some of these cover 10 years worth of discoveries and discourse.

The rings we see in the background are from the space elevator at New Mombasa… and there was a rumor somewhere that the giant hole in the ground where the Ark is was caused by that Covenant cruiser jumping into slipspace…

That seems possible since the explosion left by the Covenant cruiser produced the force similar to a hydrogen bomb.

loads of information
Some rather interesting stuff here, like the implication that the swirly clouds were caused by the slipspace jump. But this interested me the most:

So let the overanalyzing begin.

Also of interest are the Cortana letters. These are e-mails (well, except for the last one) that give clues to the background of Halo.

Veritus – I saw that. 'Tis rather interesting…

Bungie didn't say they wouldn't, they just didn't say they would.

Also,

Q: Is this the last ever Halo game?
A: It is the conclusion to this story arc.
(From Bungie.net.)

That leaves it pretty open, I guess.

Heck, you could say that the first Halo was the conclusion of that story arc.

They must be so damn sick of making Halo, I can't imagine Halo 4 any time soon. But then, it's also hard to imagine Bungie coming up with some awesome new franchise for whatever xbox comes after the 360, if Microsoft has anything to say. Lord knows MGS4 is coming out next year...

I want Oni 2.

I want Pimps at Sea, Phoenix, and the next Myth game >.<.