New Bungie.net teaser, Pardon our Dust

Apparently if you view the image and turn the gamma up on your monitor it should a map of the US.

Amazing.

“Seriously however, we’ve really no idea what’s going on. If you think you do, there’s a comments section down below. Use it.”

I’ll tell you what I think it is:

I think you’ll find it’s called viral marketing. Whereby the marketer makes deliberately nonsensical and obtuse actions in order to garner practically free publicity by manipulating the media to cover total non-events as headline news.

Viral marketing is only bad when it’s for a product you don’t already know and love. This is Halo so it automatically gets a free pass.

Drip, drip, drip.

Wishful thinking, I suspect. Running the picture through a few filters in Paint.NET reveals “nothing much”. Looks like a HUD and a distorted ‘television-style’ image. Nothing to suggest a map.

So bitter Shatner. It doesn’t become you.

Oh ok, Blerk. Just something I read.

Kinda reminds me of the H3 viral marketing which, in the end had no relevence what so ever with the game…
So you got all these fanboys looking in to it; the stupid latin phrases, and cryptic images, all giving their own theories on it, and then the game came out and it turned out to be utter bull… Funny really… And pathetic…

Such negativity.

Maybe if it was for another game that wasn’t so universally derided by gaming snobs with negative amounts of testosterone in their blood and featured cutesy graphics and motion control everyone would think it was great!

Maybe if the game itself was better its fans wouldn’t need to be so defensive?

/goes off to play proper FPS

/pats Shatner

There there

Hey, I’ll forever be scarred by the behaviour of the friendly AI in the almighty Halo 3. And the copy-and-paste level design. And the infinitely spawning enemies (cheap!).

Your molestations of my body are not soothing. Furthermore, they’re putting me off my game. Stoppit.

Morriss, theres a difference between mass advertising, and viral marketing…

really?!

Cheers.

Halo is the king of over-hype, and of late, under delivery. Halo 3, the crowned sovereign of that shameful stunted nation.

Shatner, I think, has a point. Halo 3 was under-developed in key areas, and was advertised and marketed to hell and back…and, it didn’t fully deliver. It was not what they wanted people to believe it would be, what people handed over their money for – in the end, I could no longer care enough to “Finish the Fight”! So, the idea has fermented now, that it’s a Microsoft cash-cow – a cynical shoe-in for dollars.

Fool me once, fool me twice…

Well I loved it, almost everyone I know loved it, and almost every reviewer loved it.

It’s just became so big it’s a target for people who have empty lives and an axe to grind because “querky-off-the-wall-arthouse-Japanese-title-x” didn’t get the love it deserved.

I can live with that.

I didn’t love it.

And I’ve already detailed the reasons I didn’t love it.

Curious how the Halol devoted dismiss very clear, highly apparent issues with their game as some character flaw of anyone how doesn’t love their botched FPS as much as they do. HINT: it’s got nothing to do with a fondness for other games and everything to do with the serious flaws in HALO itself.

Hey morriss, get inside a vehicle and let the AI drive you around. Comedy gold.

Of course reviewers loved it. Reviewers love any ‘zeitgeist’ game. GTA4? HALOL3? BIOSHOCK? All the same stuff. All hugely overrated titles but reviewers, human beings that they are, are as susceptible to getting carried away as the next person.

Also, it’s spelled “quirky”.

Halo is a very good FPS. It’s just a shame it has to have those driving bits.

I mean the original one. Never played the others

You’re not human though, You see things as they are. You’re not fooled. You like “querky” games and you’re not ashamed to admit it. Hype has nothing on you. Behold, king Shatner and his hype-proof vest!

The “driving bits” are the best part of the game in Co-Op.

Yeah, the little I played them in co-op I did enjoy them. I was thinking more of that bit at the end – that I played single player – being a jarring finale to what was otherwise a lot of fun.

morriss, I see you’re still arguing the person and not the point.

You fail at basic debate.

Coming from you that’s a complement.

There is no ‘point’ to debate. Only your opinion, which is rather boring.

Tsavo Highway Co-op is gaming Nirvana, in my ever-so humble ‘affected-by-the-hype’ opinion.

Where are the infinite respawning enemies in Halo 3?

There aren’t any… but then most people complaining are just using copy / paste arguments rather than basing their opinions off actual play time. After all, they’d rather be playing a real FPS.

I’m a bit shit at it, but Halo 3 is fantastic, well rounded package. Solid single player, and an extremely polished multiplayer experience. I still play that last level in Co-op because it’s insanely fun.

They’re dotted around the campaign levels. You have to slog through a bit of half-level backtracking and copy-and-paste corridor design (so good they did it in three games!) but it’s there.

Oh. Hang about. Morriss says that’s just an opinion, not a factual point. Even though it’s in the game!

I like how morriss responded to my (provable) point about the flawed AI driving by totally removing the AI bit and saying how wonderful co-op driving is. Don’t worry morriss, I’m sure nobody noticed your little distraction.

Ah well, morriss’s constant attempts to dismiss and deflect criticism of his beloved games can easily trump provable facts! Just like his fondness for anecdotal evidence!

Still, viral marketing eh? I do so enjoy the gaming media being manipulated by game developers and publishers. Makes me feel all warm and gooey inside

Shatner, there are no respawning enemies in Halo 3. Not even on the flood levels. You kill all the enemies, they’re gone.

Sure. OK. Whatever you say.

Yes, that’s a well formed, reasoned, excellent argument. Hypocrite.

I played the last level the other day and wiped out all the flood and the level stayed empty.

Maybe in Haze the emenies respawned. Can’t remember now.

“Shatner, there are no respawning enemies in Halo 3. Not even on the flood levels. You kill all the enemies, they’re gone.”

I don’t think he meant respawning I think he meant the fact the game throws enemies at you ships constantly poping in upping the enemy count.

In that instance he’s correct.

Oh my! Misguided cheap shots on the internet! You’re really good at this game morriss.

You guys, you’re a bit obvious these days. Still, I’m sure there’ll be some more Halol non-news to cover in about 5 minutes. Gotta keep the drip-drip-drip going, eh morriss?

Here, this’ll cheer you up (well, those of you with a sense of humour at least).

There are infinite respawning enemies. The Ghosts in many sections respawn endlessly.

For example, Just before vs the Scarab on The Storm, the Ghost will respawn until you take out the AA Wraith.

And on Tsavo Highway at “the roundabout”, I’m pretty certain they respawn constantly until the 3 Wraiths are out of action.

If they’re not endless, then they’re just too damned long and as good as endless.

I haven’t slogged through Halo 3′s campaign purposefully looking for infinite enemy-spawn points but I certainly can’t remember any. I’ve even saved a film and flown the camera forward to see all the encounters set up.

Which means either there are none, or those that are there are extremely well hidden which pretty much amounts to the same thing. Especially compared to a ‘proper FPS’ like COD4 on Veteran.

For every defensive Halo fanboy there’s an opposite who decides to hate it because it’s the edgy and cool opinion to have. Everyone else (i.e. the vast majority) just crack on and enjoy the game for what it is.

I miss Shatner when he’s not here.

morriss doesn’t even like Halo, He’s never there on a monday with the cool kids!

I play campaign in co-op, that’s where all the winners are.

Lutz: Don’t they stop coming back if you destroy the dropship? No idea if it’s infinite otherwise though.

I think more dropships turn up.

Spiral; I’m not sure you can even take out the dropships at that point.