We're mere weeks away from the Halo: Reach beta, and already Bungie are predicting it's going to be awesomesauce. "My expectation is it could be upwards of 3 million people (on launch day)," Bungie community boss Brian Jarrard told the Seattle Times today.
Bungie has revealed that Halo: Reach is extremely close to completing all of its content, which means its "polish phase" time for all the team. They'll be "hammering" Reach for the next few months to make sure it's "the best damn thing" we shove in our Xbox 360s. We're seconds closer!
Developer Lars Bakken at Bungie has affirmed that Halo: Reach really is the studio's last Halo effort, though "who knows" about the future? Maybe "ten years down the line" they'll return to the IP they created. For right now, "this is it for us." Microsoft's 343 Industries will be taking over.
Who only wants standard edition of stuff these days? Microsoft has pulled the sheet off three Halo: Reach SKUs to hit the shops this fall. The Limited copy has an ONI "black box" for the game disc, exclusive Elite multiplayer armour and an "artifact bag" with journals inside.
Microsoft is giddy over the prospect of more Halo 3: ODST sales, thanks to the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta accessible only through ODST keys. Yep they thought it out real well. Demand for ODST "will be reinvigorated" for the May 3rd launch of the beta, and "a ton" are yet to play ODST.
Here's an odd one for you: It seems despite Microsoft no longer supporting the original Xbox Live game servers, some die-hards Halo 2 fans are still playing...
The marketing machine for Halo: Reach is switching to higher gears as Smart People director Noam Murro has helmed a live-action teaser. 'Birth of a Spartan' will premiere tomorrow on both US and UK television, for 60 seconds. A 2 minute thirty seconds version will hit Xbox Live.
This coming Monday the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta starts and won't end until May 19th, downloadable via Halo 3: ODST. Silvers get a taste too. Team Bungie won't block gamers using Party Chat while online, as it "declares nothing" you should or shouldn't do. They'd prefer you use their chat.
Bungie has said how the multiplayer beta for Halo: Reach hasn't reached prime health just yet, but they're working some "technological fixups." Right now we can expect "suboptimal performance," but games are easier to get into they say. The online team are "not out of the woods" yet.
Publisher EA want something to seriously dent Bungie's mega Halo success, as they reveal Crysis to be a "multi-year franchise" ambition. EA Games' Frank Gibeau says Crysis 2 "is spectacular" and something to "squarely go after" Bungie's pride and joy. EA has "damn killer team."
Microsoft has revealed that within the first 24 hours of the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta from Bungie, over 1 million players had played a match. Not only that but hungry Halo gamers racked up 157.9 million kills the first day as well, between Monday and Tuesday. Silvers can play soon.
Including beta access codes to Halo: Reach in copies of Halo 3: ODST sure has given a major boost to ODST in the Xbox Live rankings chart. The figures maybe fudged though as getting to Halo: Reach's multiplayer beta means firing up ODST. Modern Warfare 2 is still King of Live playtime.
Halo developer Bungie has poured heart and soul into their iconic FPS series, and now they getting super psyched over their new IP universe. The goal for Bungie is to do "more than we've done before" every game, so by that logic Halo should be left in a ditch somewhere, metaphorically.
The multiplayer beta for Halo: Reach was scheduled to switch off today but developer Bungie has extended the playtime until tomorrow. That means you get today to squeeze out the last of the beta goodness, as it switches of "at 10AM PDT" Thursday. Over 14m games first week.
Microsoft has confirmed that Halo: Reach will be making its way to stores worldwide on 14th September, 2010. "Halo: Reach is the culmination of a decade of Halo, a franchise that has become a global entertainment and pop-culture touchstone," said Phil Spencer, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios at Microsoft Corp. "Just as Halo: Combat Evolved catalysed the success of the original Xbox to define a decade of entertainment, Halo: Reach will push the boundaries for what's possible in video games and help make 2010 the biggest year in Xbox history."
Team Bungie has said how Microsoft didn't much like just the name 'Halo' for the studio's premiere Xbox shooter, it wasn't "descriptive" enough. They compromised so they could "add a subtitle" but 'Halo' was to remain, and thus 'Halo: Combat Evolved' was born. All at team Bungie "hated it."
Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg is elated as he passes on data from the NPD that shows Bungie's Halo 3 has royally whopped PS3 exclusives. The Xbox 360 launch title not only beat all Sony's first-party individual sales figures, but it also topped them "combined", adds gleeful Greenberg.
Developer Bungie reveals that Halo 3: ODST's Firefight multiplayer mode will be included in the new Halo: Reach, with some big improvements. It will have new gametypes, Xbox Live matchmaking and deep customisation from the in-game editor. It also supports the new multiplayer bits.
This fall sees the release of Halo: Reach and it's studio Bungie's last in the series they created, which means they're 'pushing the envelope'. Dog-fighting in space is confirmed for 4-player co-op in campaign only. Bungie are "extremely proud" of Reach. Kinect "impossible" to integrate.
No more manual tweaking of difficulty for co-op in the next Halo instalment as studio Bungie reveal Reach will scale your foes in toughness for you. Brian Jarrard of Bungie also says you'll face the hardest challenge ever with Reach's Legendary difficulty coupled with four-player co-op.