Some interesting info on the recent trailer that Bungie released that I found on IGN.
Expounding on the Halo 3 Expansion
September 25, 2008 - As is their custom, the developers at Bungie set the Net ablaze with rumor and speculation today when they unveiled a teaser trailer for the company's newest project: an expansion to the Halo 3 campaign.
Dubbed "Keep it Clean," the trailer appears to show an eerily quiet New Mombasa on Earth, just before the Prophet of Regret's ship hightails it through the slipspace portal near the end of Halo 2. The resulting explosion is captured by a network of security cameras, possibly controlled by "The Superintendent," an urban infrastructure artificial intelligence.
The cameras also capture what seem to be landing vehicles like those used by Orbital Shock Drop Troopers, the Halo universe's equivalent of Navy SEALs or Marine Recon troops. They're shown entering the atmosphere before the explosion. But afterward, only one is seen zooming toward the surface. And before it impacts, the screen goes black and the Halo 3 logo pops up, along with the phrase "Keep it Clean."
It would (and frequently does) take an army of Halo fans to decode everything Bungie says and does, and we'll let the fanatics at Halopedia and Bungie.org tear the trailer apart. We're most interested in what form this new project will take, how it will play and when we'll get our hands on it.
So the IGN Xbox team, along with honorary member and Insider editor David Clayman, gathered around the vodka cooler to debate the trailer's portent. Is Halo 3 getting a squad-based parallel campaign? Will Master Chief be involved? Are we truly heading back to the events of Halo 2, or is this trailer just giving us some context for the real campaign to come? How will this new content affect multiplayer, if at all? Read our thoughts below and then weigh in with your own comments and questions. Let the name-calling begin.
David Clayman, Editor-in-Chief, IGN Insider: Here's my theory, and if I'm right I should be granted the rights to Halo 5. The pods in the video resemble the Covenant drop pods that Elites use to enter battle. It also appears we're seeing footage of the initial attack on Earth. If the "drop-in" has anything to do with the gameplay perhaps this content update might allow users to drop into the campaign as the enemy. In this way there could be four-player co-op versus player controlled attack waves in the single-player story mode.
Depending on the match settings this could turn the game into a Battlefield-type experience where teams have to advance the level by capturing certain points on the map. Or, the Covenant could simply have limitless lives with less health and a respawn penalty. Again, I'd like to reiterate that if I'm correct I claim all development and publishing rights to Halo 5.
Hilary Goldstein, IGN Xbox Team Editor-in-Chief: I don't think this is just some DLC. I don't think the change in art style for the trailer was an accident. This seems like it will be a new retail product that diverges from the Master Chief storyline. Maybe it gives us the events of Halo 3 from a different perspective.
The popular rumor (that's actually been around for a few months) is that this will be a squad-based game. I'm sure if Nate were here, he'd have just thrown up in his mouth a little. But if you're not going to have Master Chief, then maybe a complete separation from art style and gameplay is the right way to go.
One of the messages to flash on the screen warns, "Danger: Flood Zone." Oh yay, the Flood is back.
Something that would be interesting is if there were a survival mode tied to the Flood. You and your squad facing endless waves of Flood. Of course, Flood as playable characters in MP might also be interesting.
I hate this viral crap. I really do. It raises expectations in unreasonable ways. By the time we get the true reveal, people will have committed themselves to some wild theories. And then disappointment sets in because it's not what they had imagined, that it's something so opposite what they had set themselves on, that they just get ****ed. And then the message boards are flooded with people going crazy. It's annoying. (Amen to that)
Ryan Gedes, IGN Xbox Team Associate Editor: I hope Dave gets the rights to Halo 5. I can't wait to play an FPS made up entirely of animated GIFs. If this expansion ends up being a squad-based shooter, as Hil suggests, that would certainly steal some of the thunder from Gearbox's Halo project (if indeed it's actually working on one). But it does make sense. The Keep it Clean trailer is clearly focused on urban environments, which would be far better suited to breach-and-clear fighting than hopping around.
Also, as plenty of Halo fanatics have been pointing out on the boards, the vehicles in the video resemble the deployment ships used by Orbital Shock Drop Troopers, a sort of UNSC special forces in the Halo universe. So the pods that are crashing toward the cities in the video could actually be the cavalry rather than the enemy. But they aren't there on vacation, so something big is going down. We know the new content will be campaign-based, if only because of the chatter accompanying the video on Xbox Live Marketplace:
"High action and deep mystery await players in this new Halo 3 campaign experience. Prepare to drop."
The strange thing about the teaser is that it's presented from the perspective of the security network, and there's the odd little avatar up in the right-hand corner of the screen. And keep it clean? Is that a reference to sweeping rooms a la Rainbow Six? Avoiding friendly fire? Or is this new campaign experience just about a janitor after all?
I personally don't mind the viral teases, as long as they're accompanied by something of substance soon. I'm assuming we'll see this expansion (or whatever it may be) by the holidays, so hopefully Bungie will keep the good stuff coming.
Important Board Topics
Trending Topics