New Halo 3 weapons revealed, no online co-op
by Richard Mitchell 
{ Jul 18th 2007 at 2:30PM }
Yeah, you read that right. As of right now, Halo 3 co-op remains an offline only experience. CVG has the scoop from the latest issue of EGM. According to Bungie's Frank O'Connor, the team is still working on a way to properly implement online co-op. As Frank puts it, it's possible for players to be nearly a mile apart at certain points in the game, which makes online co-op a challenge. He notes that measures could be put into the game to prevent such vast separations, but that it "would make it not feel like Halo anymore." He concludes by saying that "If we can make it happen in a way that works well, we will - and if it works badly, we won't." Considering that the Bungie crew is currently putting the finishing touches on Halo 3, we imagine online co-op won't make it into the retail disc. Any hope of such a feature likely rests in the possibility of downloadable content. So, if you've been waiting to try out some four player online co-op, you may be waiting for a while.
In happier news, EGM confirms several new weapons and vehicles. There is a dual-wieldable Brute shotgun called the Mauler and the gravity hammer we saw at E3 is confirmed as well. New equipment includes the Flare -- essentially a flashbang -- and the Regenerator, which refills shields (presumably for all those near the device). Three new vehicles, the Prowler, Hornet, and Elephant, which is described as a Jawa Sandcrawler. Halo fans will know that a Prowler is a recon ship with stealth abilities, though it is probably too large to be a playable vehicle. Finally, the article reveals that there will be a remake of the popular Halo 2 multiplayer map, Lockout, called Guardian.
[Via Joystiq]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Bleedngreen @ Jul 18th 2007 2:39PM
No online co-op!! i was really looking forward to that damn, o well
Bravo6 @ Jul 18th 2007 2:41PM
oh man, that's a bummer, really thought the co-op would make it..
ccc @ Jul 18th 2007 2:47PM
Halo, U just keep getting uglier and uglier. till ur gonna end up looking like the girl in ur bed from the bar the other night....Ewlll
Toph @ Jul 18th 2007 2:53PM
DUAL WIELD SHOTGUNS?!? I made a mess just now.
kpizzle @ Jul 18th 2007 2:55PM
why is it a problem specific to online play? i mean the same thing could happen on the same during split screen 360 but there's still co op.
couldn't whatever they do to keep from happening in a split screen co op be added to online as well?
disappointing...hopefully it'll be added
pandlcg @ Jul 18th 2007 2:56PM
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO. This was the piece that was going to bring me back after i felt so lonely when i finished Halo 2. Son of a..........
un1qu3 n3wy0rk @ Jul 18th 2007 2:58PM
That sucks.
DjDATZ @ Jul 18th 2007 3:07PM
"DUAL WIELD SHOTGUNS?!? I made a mess just now."
Me too.
I was hoping for the 4 player co-op...but oh well...it would have been a perfect addition to the last part of the triumvirate...
But still...that update still makes the game more appealing.
Josiahx @ Jul 18th 2007 3:08PM
W.T.F.
omg..........Bungie, please......omg, please don't do this.
*please*
NukeAssault @ Jul 18th 2007 3:10PM
Lockout remake?, Dual shotties?, AWESOME!
As for Co-oP if they dont have it done by launch and i have to wait... i think i can deal.
Bishop @ Jul 18th 2007 3:12PM
Damn, now everyone is going to have to make friends and clean out their basements, so they can play normal co-op....good luck everyone.
Pinhead @ Jul 18th 2007 3:15PM
What the hell? No online co-op? After they touted having 4 player co-op, it's just local play? Who wants to play co-op with their friends when you have to play the game on 1/4th of your total screen size! Are you kidding me? Halo 3 just suffered 500000 withdrawn preorders.
Titty Pink @ Jul 18th 2007 3:15PM
Lockout was the shit! Good job on that one. They SHOULD have made Prisoner and Hang-em High as multi-maps out of the box for Halo 2. How about Ivory Tower?
ajw1371 @ Jul 18th 2007 3:17PM
Why not take out co-op? Halo 1 and 2= No skill required PULL the trigger and hope for the best......or hope the grenade of desperation you threw before you got killed connects (you get a medal for that now). Maybe Bungie will take that out too.
Benjamin09 @ Jul 18th 2007 3:19PM
No online co-op?? that just pisses me off, that was going to be a big feature with me since both of my brothers are in college and no where near home and I enjoy getting to play co-op games with them (gears, Rainbow 6)
Please fix this before its finished, if its available 6 months down the road via an update I wont use it because I will probably have the game finished by then.
Jacob P. @ Jul 18th 2007 3:21PM
I don't think that people read the articles...This game still has co-op. Just not online (at the moment). Hell, it may have 4 player co-op...just not online. It really isn't that big of a deal. IMO, it's more fun to sit next to people and play than it is to play with nameless faces. I'm not saying that I'm against it, I'm just saying that it's more fun...I played the shit out of GoW co-op.
Jermaine Pulliam @ Jul 18th 2007 3:24PM
As long as I can do co-op over LAN still I'm good. And you have to think that dual shotguns will be severely lacking firepower. Or bullets..one of the two to balance such a weapon.
Who Flang Poo @ Jul 18th 2007 3:30PM
Damn, this game just keeps getting better and better, fricken dual shotguns! Hell yea. And even more vehicals, I just cant wait til September 25!
Halo 3 = The PS3 Killer
BigCountryFarmr @ Jul 18th 2007 3:32PM
I'm confused...
From what I remember in Halo: Combat Evolved, whenever a player got too far behind, the game would freeze for a second and the player would "transport" to the location of the further player. I believe the same thing happened in Halo 2 and Gears of War.
Anyone confirm this?
Otis Whitaker @ Jul 18th 2007 3:29PM
the person mentioning the same problem existing in split screen has a point.
If anything, I think this was just a cop out they didn't think anyone would figure out, as an excuse to simply not do Online Co-Op at all. The same way they got away with not adding bots in Halo 2, and the idiots that let it slide via blind loyalism.
Brandon Tyler @ Jul 18th 2007 3:29PM
Remember when Halo 2 came out and there was the matchmaking screen and it says, switch to co-op? We all thought it was going to have on-line co-op! And now again after 2 more years still no online co-op? Oh well. I guess we can try it through the lan. Bummer. Please Bungie work hard on this. I really don't care about cut scenes. I care about gameplay. Thanks for the saved films though. That is sweet.
Who Flang Poo @ Jul 18th 2007 3:37PM
And that whole online co-op thing, idk i dont really care the only time i use online co-op is if i get stuck or if something is too hard for me which is rare. But yea i agree with you Brandon al the way, i dont really care about online co-op because local is much more fun.
SGT Monty @ Jul 18th 2007 3:40PM
@5 & 19
The problem is infinitely different from splitscreen. With splitscreen you're running off of the same box locally.
Its the amount of data that would need to be sent over the internet to the host box that would cause the issues. The mere scope of the new campaign with tons of enemies over larger distances would require hundreds if not thousands of calculations to have to travel to the host box and then back to yours.
I agree that this sucks, but don't try to bash Bungie because they were trying to deliver a better overall campaign experience.
Snarky @ Jul 18th 2007 3:41PM
@16
Wouldn't that be faceless names?
EnderOSC @ Jul 18th 2007 3:44PM
Please remake Midship too. Midship and Lockout were the 2 best maps for H2.
Dr DMoney @ Jul 18th 2007 6:46PM
Why are people like this, it doesn't official state that Halo 3 will or will not have online coop. Stop drawing conclusions that could be wrong. It is only half true.
Maximus @ Jul 18th 2007 3:49PM
I can't believe this! I was seriously looking forward to online co-op. We've been looking forward to this game for years, Bungie's been working on it for years, and this is a big let-down. My little brothers and I live in different states and we were totally excited to playing the campaign together online. Lots of other games have done online co-op successfully (like Gears!). I don't care what excuses Frankie gives. My respect for Bungie as an innovator and leader has now declined significantly.
h0mi @ Jul 18th 2007 4:12PM
"He notes that measures could be put into the game to prevent such vast separations, but that it "would make it not feel like Halo anymore.""
I'd say this would be preferred to no coop at all.
DXL540 @ Jul 18th 2007 4:36PM
I have to believe this is a red-herring…. the same “mile away” problem exists in split-screen co-op… it’s not something specific to on-line. In fact, being a mile away would make it EASIER for co-op because each 360 would only have to worry about transmitting distant sounds and death events and voice chat to the other 360. Once the two players get within interactive range then the two boxes have to start exchanging event information for every AI decision, every bullet, every disturbed object, grenade explosion, etc. etc. Far more data required for 8 vs. 8 multiplayer, I would think. THAT I could believe.
ajenteks @ Jul 18th 2007 5:15PM
@ 13
"After they touted having 4 player co-op, it's just local play?"
Bungie never, ever touted anything of the sort. What happened was, some idiot was digging through the beta code and found an old string that referenced the possibility of 4 player co-op and posted it on his blog. Don't believe anything that doesn't come directly from Bungie's mouth about game features.
MYPS3KilledMy360 @ Jul 18th 2007 5:14PM
@20 i would like to think the war is over and there are no winners but a 3 way tie because every sytem has there own percs 360 is harcore, wii is for kids, PS3 tries to cater to everyone. LOL you make me laugh though how can a game thats on one console gonna kill the other? Thats like killzone killing halo. most of the people buying a 360 for halo 3 owned an xbox and played halo 1 and 2 so i dont see any truth in your comment.very few people who have not actually owned halo 2 will not go out of there way to purchase it. thats why MS mayde bungie release halo 2 on the PC to reach more people to get them interested in buying halo 3 but fanboys will be fanboys! by the way i like the PS3 more but im willing to cough up money to buy 360 games! MASS EFFECT CAN YOU TAKE ANY LONGER!!!
manifest @ Jul 18th 2007 5:18PM
- The real reason Peter Moore left.
He knows how badly halo 3 is gonna bomb without the live co-op.
GANNONSMASH @ Jul 18th 2007 5:32PM
"Quick, get in the Elephant!"
GANNONSMASH @ Jul 18th 2007 5:34PM
"I'm confused...
From what I remember in Halo: Combat Evolved, whenever a player got too far behind, the game would freeze for a second and the player would "transport" to the location of the further player. I believe the same thing happened in Halo 2 and Gears of War.
Anyone confirm this?"
It's true, me and my friends were just playing Halo: CE Co-Op, and the same thing happened.
Intentless @ Jul 18th 2007 5:41PM
But the game was more linear and built on check points. Halo 3 by design is more open and teleporting players around would probably ruin the experience that they want us to have.
Grindstone @ Jul 18th 2007 6:08PM
The problem is global networking. Halo 3 has too much data being transfered across miles of internet cables, and would literally choke up system. I think we aren't conceptualizing the sheer numbers of foes Bungie is angling to pit up against us. As such, two epic battles, respectively a mile away, would be too much for the upload and download speeds to accurately display.
I think that Bungie should just keep the old habit of 'if you get *this* far apart, local respawn is enforced'. It really wasn't an issue with the first two games, IMO. And no co-op, although not the main reason I am getting Halo 3, is still disappointing, despite the fact that isn't stated by Frankie.
datboyscott @ Jul 18th 2007 6:13PM
Wow i thought bungie was smart enough to see how co-op on Gears of War worked so well, guess we will have to wait for gear of war 2
Joe @ Jul 18th 2007 6:39PM
I think thats what Frankie meant int he interview when he said it will become clear wat we are gonna do after launch.
nath225 @ Jul 18th 2007 6:43PM
Hey, anyone notice how Bungie calls most of their vehicles after animals, like the scorpion, the Warthog. And all the covenant vehicles are named after ghosty things, i.e. the ghost, spectre, wraith etc.
I am so smart.
But anyway, yeah, I was really looking forward to hunting skulls online with my friends. I hope Bungie figure it out or bring it out in an update.
Dr DMoney @ Jul 18th 2007 6:47PM
We know that people want it and we’re trying to make it happen. I think the biggest problem for us for online co-op is that we have a situation where you can be in a Warthog with five troops, almost a mile away from the other player. That’s a significant challenge.
They only thing that is happening is that they said it is a hard challenge and they are trying to have it in the game. Why is the internet posting a quote from bungie that doesn’t say word exactly of. Halo 3 won’t have online coop. Seriously I am not going to believe this until Bungie says it exactly or when I get Halo 3 and there is no online coop. Please don’t go with all the website that have speculations that look like the truth.
russny @ Jul 18th 2007 6:55PM
Damn it! No co-op!? Fuck! I'll have to wait for Army of Two and Area 51. Major disappointment! This will reduce the replay value of the game immensely. The ONLY reason I went through entire Gears Of War campaign 7 times (including 4 on insane) was because of co-op. Now THAT is replay value.
Daryl @ Jul 18th 2007 7:01PM
They really really should have made an effort to put online co-op in the game. It was huge with GoW. They had time to do it.
Daryl @ Jul 18th 2007 7:02PM
I agree with 41. I probably played through GOW about 5 to 6 times.
Kojo62 @ Jul 18th 2007 7:22PM
I can't say I quite understand why a 1 mile in-game distance between co-op players should prove such a formidable obstacle to the developers. Even Crackdown has online co-op implemented, and given the immense size of it's city, players can easily be MANY scale miles apart with no issues whatsoever.
Is Bungie admitting that Realtime Worlds can do something that they can't? I doubt that. Just sounds like a lame excuse to me for not prioritizing what should've been on the H3 features list from the beginning.
Boff @ Jul 18th 2007 8:27PM
It better had have fucking online co-op. That was a big selling point for me.
To be honest, I just assumed it would have as it's such a big title.
And I agree with the Gears comments a few posts up, it adds a LOT of replay value.
Xanto @ Jul 18th 2007 9:16PM
Oh god yes Lockout remake
Psycho300x @ Jul 18th 2007 9:18PM
yeah, Halo 3 has officially become a rental, 4 player online coop was what I was buying the game for, but now all I have to do is rent it and beat story, thanks M$ u just saved me some money.
SGT Monty @ Jul 18th 2007 9:48PM
You can't compare GoW to H3. Gears is extremely linear and H3 is designed to be a more open level design.
Likewise GoW had at the most, what, 8 enemies onscreen at once? Bungie has said that one part of a level has more enemies than the entire first level of H2.
They are vastly different games.
Anticrawl @ Jul 18th 2007 10:24PM
Well for me online co-op is a make or break feature for this game. Considering how terrible the online experience was with Halo 2 multiplayer (the type of people who play, quitters, immature children, etc) and how generic the gameplay is without the campaign this game would be pretty pathetic.
I'm a college student and all my close friends go to other schools and we all have jobs. I can't just drop by their house every afternoon to log in a bit of time in co-op for Halo 3 like I could in highschool, so this will result in me refunding my preorder. I'll just rent the damn thing. I love Halo, but it's time to lay down the law damnit.
Fanboys allow their idols to push them around to much, well not today, not this time and not this fanboy.
LarryH @ Jul 18th 2007 11:00PM
wow... that's retarded. I mean, that's what a lot of people were looking forward to! I like online co-op! If this is not included, this game will go down a whole peg in my book! ONE WHOLE PEG! Come on...just do it.
I don't want to have to kill you... in the face. That's right, I will kill your faces.