Mystery grenade revealed

Today IGN broke the story about the forth grenade type and also confirmed something everyone hoped would be true...

The Flamethrower joins the party!
After being teased time and time again, first in Halo 1 and then in Halo 2, the flamethrower is now officially confirmed. It's considered a "turret" weapon and as such will force the camera into third person, slowing down whoever uses it considerably. The flames spit out from this monster will stick to anything (Including the bubble shield) and burn away whatever it touches. Flame walls can be used to keep out unwanted visitors from your base. The only weaknesses are that it can only be used in 3 second bursts and is very hard to aim with.

The Firebomb
The forth grenade type is like a mini flamethrower covering everything in flames when it explodes. This is a better option if you want to create a flame wall. Like the flare, when a firebomb goes off a bright blinding light is emitted. With so many different grenade types I wonder if the maximum number of grenades allowed to be held at one time will decrease.

Halo 3 adds tons of new customization options to multiplayer

Have it your way
The Halo games have always been about customizing the experience to your liking. Halo 3 has so much more flexibility that you may never want to go back to Halo 2. New to the mix is the option to modify gravity and player speed. This will surely lead to new hilarious game types. One example is a king of the hill game with 75% gravity and anyone inside the hill area is invincible. The only way to oust the opposing team is to hit them with the Gravity Hammer. In a free for all game, you could rack up the speed to 300%, decrease gravity to 50%, and then have hammers be the only usable weapon. That sounds like fun, don't it?

The new fall fashions
In addition to the newly expanded game type modifications, player armor can now be fully customized. From helmet shape and style to more visible clan markings, two players will never look quite the same. And if what I've heard is correct, instead of choosing different things in a menu your armor changes fluidly as you
win matches and use weapons of certain kinds. Although this is a cosmetic thing, how you look can reflect your skill. For example,
if you use a sniper rifle every chance you get your helmet may change to reflect your affection to long range weaponry. Some styles can only be attained if you are one of the top players. Clan specific armor can also be applied so clans can easily spot each other.

Garry's mod comes to Halo 3
Although not quite at the same level as Garry's Mod, (A Half-Life 2 modification) Forge mode is probably the biggest change to Halo 3 multiplayer. During a time limit players can add or remove items from their favorite map. Add weapons, creates, vehicles, create/move spawn points, ect. The only things not allowed are deleting buildings and other players and modifying terrain. Players can switch out of being a spartan/elite and a floating monitor (The orb like robots normally seen in the single player campaign). This allows players to run in a sand box and just basically do whatever they want. The goal is anything you can think of. From playing Jenga with explosive fusion coils to an RTS take on team slayer. After you're done fiddling around you can then save your changes and share it with everyone online.

Four Player Online Co-Op!
In Halo 1 and 2, co-op was off-line and for two players only. In the next installment up to three of your buds can team up in finishing the fight. Although only two players can be play together on one Xbox 360, you can fill up the rest of the team online or with system link. Halo co-op in the past created a time paradox by having two identical master chiefs. This was never explained. To fix this, bungie has added two new warriors to the Halo universe. The first player will control the Master Chief, Player 2 will play the Arbiter, Player 3 will play has a an elite named N’tho ‘Sraom, and Player 4 controls the third elite that goes by the name Usze ‘Taham. Their back story can be read here.

I can't wait for September 25th.

Bungie reveals new Halo 3 tidbits Part 2

Yesterday I talked about the new weapons and equipment announced in Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue 219. Today I'll outline the new vehicles mentioned in the same issue.

The Hornet
This is the human equivalent of the covenant banshee. A picture of the craft shows two guys hanging off the sides. Although it's only confirmed to be in the campaign mode it is very likely to be in multiplayer as well.

Brute Chopper
This single person motorcycle-like craft fires exploding rounds and boosts similar to a ghost. However, unlike the ghost it's grounded with one wheel (The back floats) and is far more sturdy then the ghost making it ideal for ramming.

The Prowler
The prowler is basically the brute version of the warthog. It has room for a driver, mounted gunner, and two on either side. It's looks like a cross between a turbine engine and a sled.

The Elephant
Where most vehicles move back and forth between bases, the elephant IS the base!
There is enough space on the Indestructible Elephant to hold at least 12 riders, (Inside or on the roof) a single mongoose(An ATV), the Flag for your team, and a mounted turret. It counts as the return point for capturing the enemy flag and even respawns players like a base too. With all this stuff it's not surprising that it moves very, very slowly.

With all the new things in Halo 3. I'm starting to wonder how bungie can fit all this stuff into one 9 Gig disc. Maybe they cut out stuff, maybe this will be the first Xbox 360 game to need to install or decompress pieces on the hard drive in order to run. One thing is for sure, online downloadable content will be a big part of Halo 3.

In my next post I will talk more about the multiplayer features and changes to co-op.

Update: The warthog has a larger transport version that five or six can ride. Instead of a mounted gun another couple of seats are their instead.

Bungie reveals new Halo 3 tidbits

The more I hear about halo 3 the better it gets.

In the September 2007 issue of Electric Gaming Monthly, Bungie revealed more about it's newest shooter in the halo series. A massive 19 page spread details new weapons, equipment, multiplayer game types, vehicles, and some exciting news about co-op.

The New Weapons

As if Halo 3 didn't already have tons of new and tweaked weapons, two new guns have been announced including:

The Mauler
A brute shotgun that can be dual wielded. It's a little less powerful then the human shotgun, thankfully.

The Gravity Hammer
Fans of Halo 2 will remember this from the final boss encounter. Intended mostly as an area effect weapon (Useful against vehicles), it can also be used in quick lunges like the plasma sword.

And finally a mysterious fourth grenade type that is, for now, being kept quiet. Bungie is uncertain if it will make it into the final build.

The New Equipment

Apparently, the four types of equipment showcased in the halo 3 beta where only the beginning. At least five more are expected to be in the gold release bringing the total to nine. These include:

The Radar Jammer
This useful item sends out false signals to enemies making it look like their are attackers all around you.

The Personal Shield
Where as the bubble shield protects you from every direction this only shields you from one side. It's unknown if it has a time limit like the bubble shield.

Regenerator
The Regenerator is the exact opposite of the power drain. This will restore the shields of anyone within a few feet.

Flare
Blinds everyone nearby, friend or foe, (Including the player who used it) with a bright light but doesnt hurt anyone. Perfect for if you know where your enemy is beforehand, but he doesn't know where you are.

Invincibility
Most likely to be abused, this temporarily makes whoever uses it invincible.

Come back later when I detail the new vehicles and multiplayer modes including Forge mode.

Update: The gravity hammer can send things flying like vehicles and grenades.

Grand Theft Auto IV pushed into Q2 2008

Rockstar games has announced that the newest entry in the Grand Theft Auto series has been delayed by at least 5 months to the very vague window of February 1 to April 30th 2008.

Obviously, the delay is due to needing more time polishing, fixing bugs and to better hide their hidden minigames. But I wouldn't be surprised if a contributing factor for the delay was that the fall lineup became a little to crowded. What with Halo 3, Mass Effect, Bioshock, Super Mario Galaxy, Smash Bros. Brawl, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Heavenly Sword, Ratchet and Clank and a whole host of other hot titles coming out, who can blame them?

If you're in the need for a free roaming game why not trying some games in the same genre like Crackdown or The Godfather (Any but the icky PS3 version)?

As for me, I'm still trying to find all the !@#$%ing orbs in Crackdown.

Hey Yall!

Hey everyone, I'm really excited to have this opportunity to have an outlet for my thoughts on games and the gaming community. I hope everyone enjoys reading my incoherent babble!


If it's too good to be true...
Today I went to circuit city to take advantage of the $20 off certain xbox live accessories sale. Naturally, it was the free 1600 point card I was after. It was way harder then it had to be. First they didn't have any, which isn't surprising considering that this is a big deal, but then they couldn't even find it on the website. They had the 4000 card but that wouldn't provide me with my free item fix. True, I could have driven miles and miles away to another store but, I didn't want to leave the country. As if that wasn't bad enough, their computers wanted me to pay full price not including the discount($40) for a rain check. Thankfully the clerks worked it out ringing it up as two $10 items. Basically, I paid $21 for the promise of having a free card. Oh well, at least they let me have a rain check. That darn Wii still evades me.