/Just Spooged In Pants

Despite how incredibly nerdy it may be, I can't help but find myself ecstatic that the inevitable has been confirmed - a new Halo game.

The now titled Halo 3: Recon was originally supposed to debut at E3, but there was a minor fiasco in which Microsoft requested that the heavily-teased secret unveiling be delayed. It has only made the arrival of the details that much sweeter.

About two weeks ago, a teaser trailer simply called "Keep It Clean" showed up on Bungie.net, and fueled a ton of speculation - was it an entirely new game? If so, why did Halo 3's logo appear at the end? Gamespot had a great analysis, offering a number of interpretations to the trailer:

Though nothing is official yet, the title in question appears to be the "Halo Recon" project that has been rumored for months. A source told GameSpot in July the project will be "a cross between Ghost Recon and Gears of War." Instead of following the Halo franchise's usual protagonist--the SPARTAN super-soldier Master Chief--it will supposedly follow the exploits of a squad of colonial marines in a "less cartoony" and "more bloody, violent, and grim" tale of a battle between UNSC forces and the pan-racial religious empire known as the Covenant.

Well, they hit the nail on the head so far. Although the style of the game hasn't been revealed, it has been confirmed that the title is literally Halo 3: Recon, and it is an entirely new campaign with a new hero.

Personally, I embrace the idea of getting away from the series' iconic character. Players are really just interested in his abilities, rather than his personality, which is basically non-existent. As long as this "new hero" isn't a clone of him and has a decent backstory, we may have a winner. As far as gameplay goes, I'll take anything I can get. All three of the Halo games have brought me thousands upon thousands of hours of joy, and I don't expect any less from this installment. I just wish it was coming out sooner than Fall 2009.

Disappointing Halo 3 Tidbits

If Bungie, the company behind the Halo Trilogy, does one thing well, it's informing hardcore fans of upcoming projects. The Weekly What's Up(date) has been something I, as a fan of the games, have checked every week for months. Unfortunately, good news comes as often at bad news.

Though there was some hints to the contents of upcoming Downloadable Multiplayer Maps, I found a few things discouraging:

- "We’re absolutely aware of the massive community outcry and desire to have new armor permutations added to Halo 3. It’s been investigated thoroughly and there will not be any new armor permutations added to Halo 3."

This sucks. 'Investigated thoroughly' means 'deemed not fiscally advantageous'. Granted, this could be one of those things where I don't know what I'm talking about, but this would be something fans of the game would love, but wouldn't make more people buy the game. It's not the worst thing in the world - after all, given the countless hours I've spent on Halo 3, I've gotten plenty of bang for my buck - but it would have been a great piece of downloadable content a handful of the community would have gladly paid for.

- "There are no plans that we are aware of to make the Legendary Maps free, ever."

I kind of feel like this is the most disappointing news. I'm not crying foul yet, but it seems like there was an assumed agreement that if you waited long enough, your patience would be rewarded with a waived fee for downloadable content - all the other Map packs followed this pattern. Is it because Bungie is it's own independent company and doesn't have the financial luxury to keep giving away older content? Or are they capitalizing on the fact that two fan favorites - the remakes of Lockout and Sidewinder (Blackout and Avalanche, respectively) - are contained in the Legendary Map Pack? The third possibility is that they don't want to dissuade sales right before they make the DLC free - you wouldn't pay for it if you knew it was only three more weeks until you didn't have to, would you?

- "We have no plans of any kind to reset Ranks in Halo 3. That said, we aren’t thrilled with the way the lines have blurred between EXP and Rank – your rank is really just a number we’re using to match you with other similarly ranked players – and that line blurring something we’re spending a lot of time looking at."

I kind of liked when they would reset your rank. If you waited a few weeks to play ranked matches, you could steamroll the competition for a good forty games. I really can't fault them too much for this - it's a testament to the new leveling system they've implemented.