When the Russians get the beta do you guys think the rest of the world may get a taste?
We are already actually. Well, more like a taste before the starter that is the Closed Beta in an online environment. The game’s files have been spreading around the internet & allowing us to play the contents within in an offline environment (I managed to get my hands on it too, but I’ve only managed to play the maps & access their existing as many others)
Best we gathered thus far, it pretty much is Halo 3 multiplayer with Sprint, “Consumables” (Probably monetised power-ups of some sort you can carry four of), some unaltered or heavily revisualised favourites alongside a new one or two (Maybe more), and a very mixed bag of ported assets from the newer games. Oh and a Free-To-Play business model a majority of us, myself especially, are scratching our heads at how on Earth it’s going to work.
And as a plus, Halo 3 modders are very much at home with it. I swear, in at least a day after I discovered not only the game files, but a tutorial on how to play it with an English User Interface, Gamecheat13 was already putting Wraith cannons on Warthogs & playing as Monitors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMTfuOMPjf4
Infact, it’s been discovered that the original Halo 3 maps included in this build such as Guardian still have Forge intact (But Microsoft filed a DMCA against the people that made the program that enabled it). You can see for yourself (Unless it gets taken down after this post): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6FcpDfXuF0
It’s stuff like this, that does make you say “Yep, that’s definitely a small-cut Halo 3 on my PC. So the rest of it will be coming along sometime in the future, right?? Right???”
Based on my time with it, it’s looking to be a pretty satisfactory console port which could use some work on the mouse control, maybe uncap the frame-rate & increase the Camera FOV range. It’s mostly the business model that remains the prime focus of concern. And also the issue as to why this exists versus a previous Halo title port to PC. Oh, and the fact it’s Closed Beta is only available in Russia (Easy answer; because the business model that currently exists would be better accepted there, whereas around here, it probably would be thrown on a bonfire & spat on, needlessly graphically speaking).
In the end, this is a game designed for a market that can’t widely afford the standard retail price for games (Especially if shipping & local currency rates inflate that price higher) and where Free-To-Play games are much more accepted & successful, so it’s probably going to stay in Russia until the parties involved with Halo Online revise some elements in order to make it more suitable for the markets in other areas of the world such as Europe & North America (That is the hope at least) & provide local servers for those areas.
> 2533274807377235;2:
> We are already actually. Well, more like a taste before the starter that is the Closed Beta in an online environment. The game’s files have been spreading around the internet & allowing us to play the contents within in an offline environment (I managed to get my hands on it too, but I’ve only managed to play the maps & access their existing as many others)
>
> Best we gathered thus far, it pretty much is Halo 3 multiplayer with Sprint, “Consumables” (Probably monetised power-ups of some sort you can carry four of), some unaltered or heavily revisualised favourites alongside a new one or two (Maybe more), and a very mixed bag of ported assets from the newer games. Oh and a Free-To-Play business model a majority of us, myself especially, are scratching our heads at how on Earth it’s going to work.
>
> And as a plus, Halo 3 modders are very much at home with it. I swear, in at least a day after I discovered not only the game files, but a tutorial on how to play it with an English User Interface, Gamecheat13 was already putting Wraith cannons on Warthogs & playing as Monitors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMTfuOMPjf4
>
> Infact, it’s been discovered that the original Halo 3 maps included in this build such as Guardian still have Forge intact (But Microsoft filed a DMCA against the people that made the program that enabled it). You can see for yourself (Unless it gets taken down after this post): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6FcpDfXuF0
> It’s stuff like this, that does make you say “Yep, that’s definitely a small-cut Halo 3 on my PC. So the rest of it will be coming along sometime in the future, right?? Right???”
>
> Based on my time with it, it’s looking to be a pretty satisfactory console port which could use some work on the mouse control, maybe uncap the frame-rate & increase the Camera FOV range. It’s mostly the business model that remains the prime focus of concern. And also the issue as to why this exists versus a previous Halo title port to PC. Oh, and the fact it’s Closed Beta is only available in Russia (Easy answer; because the business model that currently exists would be better accepted there, whereas around here, it probably would be thrown on a bonfire & spat on, needlessly graphically speaking).
>
> In the end, this is a game designed for a market that can’t widely afford the standard retail price for games (Especially if shipping & local currency rates inflate that price higher) and where Free-To-Play games are much more accepted & successful, so it’s probably going to stay in Russia until the parties involved with Halo Online revise some elements in order to make it more suitable for the markets in other areas of the world such as Europe & North America (That is the hope at least) & provide local servers for those areas.
I found the files earlier today and gave it a go. Looks like it could be good if it gets proper development time. Definitely interested in the modding potential as well, hoping for a modern Halo Custom Edition.