Halo 3 beta video gets a complete analysis [update 2]

by Dustin Burg { Apr 24th 2007 at 2:10AM }

There was a certain Halo 3 beta video that got leaked last night, revealing a bunch of new information to how our beloved Halo 3 will look and play. The biggest news that came from the multiplayer video (which we re-embedded for your analyzing pleasure) was the game's graphics and a look at an un-announced map Last Resort, which is a re-creation of Halo 2's Zanzibar. But that's not all we learned, oh no. There is much more to see.

We got our hands on a much higher res version of the leaked beta video and analyzed every frame of it, looking for new Halo 3 information. And we came away quite satisfied with a list of new Halo 3 beta tidbits that are posted after the break. Is the list complete? We doubt it, but that's why we want your help. If you noticed something that we missed in the leaked Halo 3 beta video (embedded above) simply leave us a comment. We'll keep an eye on your comments and update our post if we feel your new info was something we missed. As we always say, teamwork FTW! So, make your way to the break already ... new Halo 3 information awaits.

Update 1 & 2: Fixed embedded video code above and updated the list.

Matchmaking Menus

New veto system implemented.
Military ranks are used and the use of XP points help to determine a player's skill level.
Three types of matches: Ranked, Social and Custom.

General Multiplayer
Spiffy new spawn animation we call the "blue grid sweep".
Spawn with an Assault Rifle and two frag grenades
Map is called Last Resort and is a re-creation of Zanzibar, but on crack.
Every HUD notification (deaths, awards, weapon pickups) pops up very bubbly-like.
Air lifts are included in multiplayer.
Teammate's letter/code identifier expands when near, revealing their gamertag.
Overall, the entire HUD has a slight concave effect as if looking through the helmet.
Underneath the health bar on the HUD is some sort of navigation compass.

Weapon Information
Weapons featured: Assault Rifle, Battle Rifle, Plasma Pistol, SMG, Sniper Rifle, Shotgun, Spiker, Spartan Laser, Brute Shot, and Needler.
The Sniper Rifle's radar features a bright green picture in picture scope.
The Shotgun now holds 6 rounds instead of 8.

Equipment Information
Equipment items featured: Bubble Shield and Power Drainer
Equipment item listed under grenades on HUD.
First equipment item is picked up by walking over it, no button pressing needed.
Bubble Shield is a cone type device that doesn't move, can be entered by any person, but no weapon can penetrate it.

Vehicle Information
The Warthog, Ghost and Mongoose are shown. Both the Warthog and Mongoose are demoed.
Hold the "RB" to get into a vehicle.

Tags: beta, bungie, halo 3, halo 3 beta, Halo3, Halo3Beta, leaked

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

L @ Apr 24th 2007 2:19AM

**drools** i can,t WAITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Digital Limit @ Apr 24th 2007 2:32AM

"Power Drainer"?

I didn't see a "Power Drainer".

Care to elaborate?

tony @ Apr 24th 2007 6:23AM

wtf!does anyone realize what this is a video of?its only halo 2 with updated graphics.halo 3 beat?if so, were getting screwed big time.this isnt halo 3,its halo 2.5

JamieBoi V2 @ Apr 24th 2007 2:56AM

In the HD version, the bubble does move. A frag is thrown inside it which in turn makes it fall off the platform.
It looks like the Bubble shield explodes when it has expired.
The shotty seems less powerful(3:22 HD Vers).
The Battle Rifle seems to burst quicker.
Warthogs have imporved handling & Mongooses.
Its hilarious to see a friend wiped out by the Spartan Laser. And the mongoose has alloys. :P

HD Version FTW

JamieBoi V2 @ Apr 24th 2007 2:57AM

Oh yeah the Power Drainer was were the Sword is on Zanzibar. Its when he rides the mongoose past the beach wall, you catch a glimpse of it.

HD Version FTW

BoneKin @ Apr 24th 2007 9:57AM

The Power Drainer is not used in the video, but it is picked up from where the Active Camo spawns on Zanzibar, not the sword spawn (although that could be another drainer, I'm not sure). As for the shotgun, I doubt it's weaker for a couple reasons. One, it's only got 6 shots now, so it's gotta pack more a little bit more punch. Second, the reason it doesn't work so well in the video is because the guy playing sucks. :) He totally misses, to it's understandable that the kill is not made.

Jerome "the360loop" Francisco @ Apr 24th 2007 3:36AM

the hud has a fishbowl effect. I kinda like it. Feels more like im in the helmet.

DjDATZ @ Apr 24th 2007 4:36AM

the video isnt there anymore...:(

Oozer @ Apr 24th 2007 5:00AM

The power drainer is actually where the camo is now on Zanzibar. On the left side of the HUD, where all the notifications are, you can see a "Picked up a Power Drainer" one at around 2:30 in the video.

Other things I noticed: The shotgun's clip now appears to be only 6 shots instead of 8. The HUD now says "[Gamertag] smashed you instead of "You were beaten down by." And needler fire can be seen when the player is on the Mongoose.

DC @ Apr 24th 2007 5:41AM

At around 3:19 on the gamevideos one, the guy tries to do the quick reload (YY) with the sniper and it doesnt work. lol

DC @ Apr 24th 2007 5:43AM

Also, the vehicles slow down in water now. i wonder if the ghost does that too?

DC @ Apr 24th 2007 5:53AM

and also, heres a list of (about) everyone in that game:
nutzsquirrel
garyc
jimmyfargo
TD Shaker
EL SWEEPADOR
Master Sig
XMAC

thats everyone but the person whos playing.. i wonder why hed go so much trouble to black out the score and then forget to black out the names in other places?

BAK6E @ Apr 24th 2007 6:03PM

#10, DC

I noticed this as well. Some people are awesome idiots.

Gemini Ace @ Apr 24th 2007 7:52AM

Somebody needs to put the video back up. There's a bunch of prank videos on youtube now.

Jose42 @ Apr 24th 2007 8:20AM

@11 Tony, you are being an idiot. This is a pre-public-beta. Of course the grapics aren't going to be perfect, but they are already great. The thing we fanboys are most excited about though, is the gameplay. If it plays better than Halo 2, most of us will pee our pants the first time we get to try it out. I want a game that resembles Halo 2, because (and this is important) Halo 2 is still one of the best games on the 360.

Xanto @ Apr 24th 2007 8:20AM

@10, I did notice that, they mainly forgot to black out the spot on the screen that shows who killed who most importantly.

Xanto @ Apr 24th 2007 8:23AM

@12 You can still see it on gametrailers.com, see link

http://kotaku.com/gaming/clips/clip-new-halo-3-beta-vid-254649.php

Dave @ Apr 24th 2007 8:49AM

I hope this is a WAY EARLY build of the graphics. If not, there will be a LOT of disappointed people out there. The 360 can push much better graphics than Halo 2, and that's all this looks like. Even the HD video wasn't that great. Bungie needs to do something to make this game look good. I'm just as excited for it as the rest of the Halo fans, but the graphics are going to disappoint me if this is what they look like.

AmplifiedJ @ Apr 24th 2007 9:22AM

Alright, I don't normally comment on any posts, but JESUS H. CHRIST you people who say this looks just like Halo 2 or it is "Halo 2.5" are simply retarded. Clearly you do not play Halo 2 enough to recognize the large differences, even from a design standpoint, to this level/game. The graphics already look at least twice as better as Halo 2. You can see it in the details of the level itself. Example: Look at the floor by the switch for the gate inside the building. Notice the shine? Now fire up Halo 2 after watching this video. Case closed. Also remember this is a level that Bungie implicitly said is NOT complete yet, whereas the public Beta levels are closer to their finalized versions (including some shaders, et al.) In case you forgot, this is HALO. It's going to have a particular look and feel. Get over yourselves, already. It's going to be a fantastic game, and you're going to play it even if you think its Halo 2.358234956729 because everyone else on the 360 is going to be playing this thing for months on end, and you're going to be all alone playing your little Lost Planet or Madden or *gasp* Gears of War (lol!). Me, I personally can't wait to play an actual game where the designers know how to build a multiplayer system, unlike Ubisoft and Epic.

Dave @ Apr 24th 2007 9:29AM

AmplifiedJ, the reason I stopped playing Halo 2 was because of all the little sh1ts that couldn't just play the game; glitching off the map or to areas that they cannot be seen or shot. Yeah, Bungie did an excellent job fixing this. There have already been videos and photos online (pulled to save Bungie's credibility) that have shown people glitching off the maps AGAIN!

ANt @ Apr 24th 2007 10:13AM

HALO = not impressed

Tony @ Apr 24th 2007 10:25AM

At this point, the most important thing in my opinion is that it actually looks fun.

I'm not sure how much better it will look in its final state, but every other interview with the team seems to result in "yeah, we're just implementing ____ or ____", so it's hard for me to imagine that this is simply IT.

quakeguts @ Apr 24th 2007 10:40AM

This is exciting? Looks like Doom 3 with the lights on... blah

Matt @ Apr 24th 2007 10:46AM

Please judge the graphics when you seen them in HD on a large HDTV. Not off of some "hd" internet 3 by 3 inch video. Then you can complain.

I would take a ton of gameplay enhancements in Gears over the ultra graphics because frankly after the update the game barley works and doesn't have the lasting appeal. H2 is still fun b/c of the gameplay. Graphics don't keep you playing 3 years later does it?

WTangoFoxtrot @ Apr 24th 2007 10:47AM

i really like the graphics for some reason. halo 2 had that evening styled feel ( end of the world feel if you may ) with muddy textures and orange lighting. this however seems to be going back to the roots of Halo 1 where the colors were crisper ( the green looked like green and the skies looked like blue ) so i for one am really happy with the level of graphics currently. that scene when he steps out of the base and u see the outside all of a sudden looks amazing.

can wait to see what it looks like when it approaches release.

mamardilla69 @ Apr 24th 2007 10:58AM

ha ha ha heres where the developers starts to run out of ideas. Guys, or this is a youtube prank or therell be riot on the streets because a bunch of fats with some chocolate on the face wearing star wars shirts will be really annoyed with bungie/M$. Lets be honest this is not what your really wanted to see and dont come with the gameplay because halo hasnt been nothing but the same since the H1. The H2 is actually fun when multiplayer but the history is crap. So dont expect to much about your new game. Btw graphics are BS we know this not what our 360 can do or maybe this will be the limit the 9 GB DVD will give us. Ill go MGS4 this time, and this really annoys me

quakeguts @ Apr 24th 2007 11:05AM

H3ll man, I still play the Quake and Unreal series... because they are fun. The 360 is all about fun gameplay combined with cutting edge tech. I don't know what to tell you people if you don't even care about having great high definition graphics and sound that adds to the immersive experience, you might as well sell your fancy "next-gen" console to someone who does. Just because it says Halo on the box does not mean it is going to be good... and by the way, no matter what you say about Gears of War, it ain't because of the graphics that it is STILL on top of the heap of most played Live games =)

strictnein @ Apr 24th 2007 11:08AM

@#25:
Thanks for yet another example of incoherent rambling from a Sony fanboy.

poprocker @ Apr 24th 2007 11:10AM

Video = GREAT
Music = TERRIBLE

Matt @ Apr 24th 2007 11:25AM

Seems like the sony guys never have enough news on their site, so they come here talking up Metal Gear which is about as exciting at watching paint dry and because no one owns or wants to play that isht.

mamardilla69 @ Apr 24th 2007 11:31AM

@27&29: maybe the true is really hitting you this time.
Being honest i expected lots more of this game but nothing holds forever. And dont lie yourself youre on the 9 Gb limit weve got plenty of 50gb LMFAO

TheNuggster @ Apr 24th 2007 11:32AM

All you people that are crying, bungie aint sh*t, halo sucks, halo 3 is just halo 2, GoW looks 100x better...are all complete idiots.

First of all if you watch that HD video (the quality of which isnt even that great) you can instantly see its already twice as good looking as halo 2 MP maps and larger (remember here it's still a pre public beta and will prob look alittle better when it launches). Also this is an unannounced map so who knows how close to finished it is.

For the people that say halo sux and it's nothing special...to each his own opnion but numbers don't lie. Accodrinf to bungie.com right now at 11am EST on a tuesday there are almost 10k people playing Halo 2. It is what one of if not the fastest selling game of all time. Has it not been ranked in the top 10 most plaied live games since 360 was realeased (is it not an original xbox game). I mean c'mon people...hate on it all u want but you can't deny the facts.

You like GoW? Great me too. Uber graphics and 4 on 4 matches on retardedly small maps with terrible MP options aside...i still play it more then i play Halo 2....why? because more of my friends play that...which leads me to my final point...

I guarntee at least half if not all the people hating on Halo 3 right now will buy it when it comes out...why? because it will be the new hotness regardless of what you think...why? because all your firends will be playing it...why? because the majority of the xbox live community will move from GoW, CC3, R6, GRAW or whatever game they are playing to halo 3...why? because regardless of wether you hate the halo franchise or not we all know that halo 2 is going to go down as once of the greatest games of all time as well as the halo franchise...theres no denying it.

Call me a fanboy if u want but i play'd a game of halo 2 for the first time in about 7 months last night only because of the new maps (oh yea new maps...what other game has that kind of support that far into it's life cycle?)... before that it has been primarly GoW..but i look forward to Halo 3 because nothing on the 360 has touched the amounth of fun i had with xbox live during the first year of halo 2...simple as that.

/rant off

White_hell @ Apr 28th 2007 6:05AM

What are you on about HALO 3 looks great.

and its only a BETA so the graphics will get better (just dont expect it to be a huge and massive difference)

I am personaly disappionted, i mean yea it looks great, but i was expecting a bit more than this.

Hey Apples @ Apr 24th 2007 11:39AM

I am continuously impressed at the display of rampant fanboy-ism over such a totally average franchise.

Razor1138 @ Apr 24th 2007 11:40AM

The only prob I have is I'm getting tired of "re-worked on maps from previous games". It almost scares me that their creativity to make new and betters maps is fading. If their was one thing I wish FPS companies would do is "Always" have the old Multi-Player maps along with the new ones...but to start us our with remakes is a slap in the face. Now I am not saying the remakes are not good I'm just saying...where are the new ones? Halo 3 is gonna have new maps I know but if the ZB remake is ready for launch..it just makes me wonder how many more rehashes are we gonna have. Don't get me wrong this isn't gonna stop me from playing endless hours of H3 but just a few nit-picky things that I would like to see.

Lighttech @ Apr 24th 2007 11:46AM

I never get why people bash the graphics. Those graphics look fine and dandy. As long as it plays well, that is all that matters. I reallly think the graphics look nice (but I play on a standard def. TV so I am not "spoiled" due HDTV)

Dustin @ Apr 24th 2007 12:00PM

I noticed there was like a compass or something of the like that appears underneath your shield bar. Maybe make it easier to find objectives so you don't have to turn around in circles trying to find the flag?

Also, at 5:25 he gets killed by a needler. What's interesting is that it only took 5 needles to cause what looks like a devastating explosion. Clearly a much needed upgrade to what used to be a shitty weapon.

Grant @ Apr 24th 2007 12:06PM

this is gonna rock, anyone who's played a beta knows the TON of stuff that usually gets an overhaul, and it looks like they have really made good use of the 360s memory and power.

If you read bungie's weekly update, you would know all about the complex lighting and water effects they are JUST DOING NOW, which means, it's not in the game until release, def not in the beta. You have to keep in mind, bungie is working on the tightest schedule possible, so i could guarentee that their final build changes daily.

but seriously, all you that want to complain and say you're boycotting, be my guest, you are probably just one more whiny person that talks too much or sings, and now i won't have to bother to mute you.
Sorry for your loss, the other 95% of 360 owners will buy this game and have a blast.

Billy @ Apr 24th 2007 12:18PM

God damn, that is the most boring video I have ever watched. The Halo franchise is a complete joke. Wake me up when Bungie dies.

emax @ Apr 24th 2007 12:46PM

Here is a much higher quality streaming version:
http://stage6.divx.com/user/maxmidget/video/1199742/Halo-3-Beta-Leak---Zanzibar-Remake-HQ

It shouldn't have much trouble staying up either.

sssssteve @ Apr 24th 2007 12:49PM

@ 31: Thank you

@32: Average? You're calling the greatest multiplayer matchmaking system average? Halo 2's multiplayer system (which is why everyone plays the game) set the bar. It will only be surpassed by Halo 3. Bungie Bungie Bungie. You should learn to keep quiet when you don't know what you're talking about.

@ everyone that can't write or spell or that is retarded who insists on posting at an Xbox 360 Fanboy site: go kill yourself

PERFECTxMISTAKE @ Apr 24th 2007 2:32PM

where can i get a hd verison

friedriches @ Apr 24th 2007 2:41PM

Here is the simple fact of the matter: true, the Halo franchise does rely an awful lot on multiplayer and rehashing some of the maps. However, if you think back to Halo 2 the only rehashed map currently in a regular matchmaking rotation is Battle(Beaver) Creek. Every other map was original at the release of H2.

What we are facing now is a return to basics. With H2, Bungie (a very creative franchise, Billy you ass) is bringing back a stable of the original guns from H1 (a game that many purists insist has better gameplay) and trying to mix up this return with new items, a new control scheme, and a much more in-depth control scheme.

I, for one, await this game eagerly, as my friends and I play H2 about 3-4 nights a week on our 360s. Why? Because nothing can touch it gameplay-wise.

Oh, and don't mention GoW. Single-player was cool and all but that multiplayer absolutely blows.

justincoool @ Apr 24th 2007 3:05PM

To each his own ...I seriously don't think Sony has anything to be worried about. The game will probably sell mad copies...I will be going with MGS4 boys....

TheNuggster @ Apr 24th 2007 3:03PM

@ 32 hey apples

clearly you didn't read my post before u responded to it. average franchise? fanboi? like i said i started up halo for the first time in months because of the new maps...am i a fan of he series you bet...fanboy? if not playing the game in over half a year doesnt mean anything then yea...ok im a fanboy. I play what my friends play because thats what makes games fun. do i like GoW? hell yea do i like R6, GRAW1 and 2? indeed...hell do i play UNO every once and a while for some laughs....u bet. Does that make me a fanboy towards all those games?

I was simply pointing out the obvious in my post...that, although it is your opnion that it is an "average" francise, my opnion, along with 98% of the rest of the gaming community is that it is indeed a well above average franchise. Halo had the SP bust lacked in the MP only cuz live wasnt around...yes Halo 2's SP blew but Bungie has insisted that they will make up for that...and look at Halo 2's MP. You have to be a complete idiot to call that average. Just about every review for every game since has compared it's MP options with Halo 2's and none have touched it...that is a fact that you can not deny, its not rabid fanboyism...the numbers speak for them self

average franchise? i guess if u consider a game thats almost 3 years old and has had over 250,000 unique players and over 500,000 games plaied in the last 24 hours average...then yes id have to agree with u /end scarsm

Crimson Spider @ Apr 24th 2007 6:17PM

I like how the triangle under your teammates' gamertag shows their health status when the triangle turns yellow or red. I don't recall that in Halo 2 because I only put attention to the teammate red Xs. At 2:08 it's like the guy picks up ammo because on near the assault rifle ammo display there is a +96 that shows up.

Dustin @ Apr 24th 2007 6:42PM

Bazza @ Apr 24th 2007 7:23PM

I really cant wait. So glad I'm in the beta. This will be a fine game for Halo fans.

Keep up the good work Bungie, make it the best in the Haloverse.

techSage @ Apr 24th 2007 8:12PM

@10 & 44: Good catch, I saw these, too, but keep in mind that these people were just other beta testers on Xbox Live, not a system link game. Also, you should note that it was an 8 player game and you have 7 names listed, meaning that the eighth name - missing from your list - would be the player would we were watching play and presumably the culprit of this leak. This gamertag *is* visible in the video for one frame despite the obstructions and it is different from the other 7 and it does not show up where you were looking at names.