Halo Reach

not exactly connected to Halo:Reach but this is regarding Bungie anyway.
Bungie, Activision Sign 10-Year Publishing Deal
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Game publisher Activision has secured a 10-year publishing deal for the next action game series from the creator of Halo, the companies said Thursday. Bungie said that its next franchise is currently being developed by a team led by studio cofounder Jason Jones. Bungie will own the intellectual property, but Activision will have a 10-year license to publish all videogames created around that franchise, for multiple platforms. The timing of this announcement couldn?t be better for Activision: The publisher is currently going through a high-profile spat with Infinity Ward, developer of its smash hit shooter Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Following the firing of the studio?s heads, several more top-level employees have quit and many of them are suing Activision over alleged unpaid bonus royalties. Activision might be losing the golden goose that laid Modern Warfare, but it now has the creator of Halo in its back pocket. Bungie?s final game in its groundbreaking Xbox 360 first-person shooter series, Halo Reach (pictured), enters its public beta test on Monday.

A collection of reactions from around the Internet is below.
At Gamasutra, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter says the project is humming along already:
Bungie?s next project is ?well along in its development,? but Activision?s new deal with the developer isn?t intended to supplant Call of Duty, says Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter. The analyst says that Activision?s ten-year exclusive deal with Bungie around the Halo creator?s newest property resembles Activision?s past deals with id Software, where the publisher is ?funding some or all of the development and getting first dollar payback and a healthy revenue share in exchange.?
At 1up, Bungie says it could work with others besides Activision ? but that the scope of the franchise will probably take the vast majority of its efforts.
To be realistic, the types of things that we have in store and the ambition and scope of this project is going to take the full might of our entire studio to bring this thing to life and to do it well.
And, of course, Sony crows over the Halo maker?s shift to multiplatform development:
Congrats to Bungie. Marrying their creative minds and incredible talent to the power of PS3 will be like giving PS3 owners Halo on steroids.
Full Article: http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/04/bungie-activision/#ixzz0mcDexdtZ

quite frankly, if it was me i would be avoiding Activision like the plague at the moment. I had a ton of respect for Bungie but this kind of stinks like when BioWare was bought out by EA. The whole Activision / Infinity Ward thing is only going to get a lot more dirty down the road and Bungie have to be damn careful with what they do now. I honestly don't know the full story between the two companies (for all i know Inifinty Ward could be the jerks here and Activision, however unlikely, completely innocent). It is just a decision that doesn't fill me with tons of confidence.
 
The major difference with IW and Bungie is that IW is owned by Activision. Bungie is still very separate from Activation. Activision is only their exclusive publisher and no more.
 
Beta still isn't up quite yet. They said late morning Pacific and it's 10:30 now.
 
just launched my copy of Halo: ODST and downloading the Halo: Reach Beta, however it seems to have remained stuck at 1% and it won't go any further. Don't suppose anyone else is having a similar problem? or is it because as MadCat put it, it isn't up yet?

EDIT: ok so my download has gone to 3% so its obviously downloading, just at a incredibly slow rate. my guess is that everyone and their mother who have a xbox is probably trying to download it and all at the same time.
 
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Kill #8 is by me.
 
must make a mental note. don't go anywhere near Susurrate when he's got the flag.
well done, good kill regardless.
 
That sticky multikill made me lol for like an hour.

The servers are getting hosed apparently. I can't enter any playlists.
 
Yeah I'm having problems now too. Good thing I got to play a bit before 3:00 which is around when school ends and all the kiddies came home to rape Bungie's servers.
 
Yeah I think they are slowly turning on extra servers as people log on. So it will be horrible for a half hour then get better for a bit then as more log on it goes down. Fairly certain this is all an initial stress test and intentional.
 
Well I've played a couple of games but most of the time the thing sits there for 5 minutes searching for other players, then kicks me back to the matchmaking lobby and disconnects me from Live. This was happening with MW2 a couple weeks ago, too.

Initial impressions are that it's another Halo game, but with 2 things added that I don't like.

The cone of fire never belonged in this game. Why add it now? Retarded.

The per-pixel motion blur isn't very nice. It's like playing on a really old TV.
 
So after sorting out the network troubles (it was my problem, not the game), I've been playing a couple hours.

Armor abilities are idiotic. The permashield is ridiculous and useless (people just plant themselves on the flag and then permashield until they return it). The jetpack is near useless (the only useful technique is with a rocketlauncher), but sorta fun to play around with. Sprint is... sprint. Every game in the world has one of these. Cloak is kinda cool.

The new vote-for-your-favorite-from-these-3-choices is also stupid. Good idea in concept, but utterly defeated by the lowest common denominator on Xbox Live. You either play 1-flag CTF in Grab Bag or Oddball in FFA.

The weapons are even weaker than in Halo 3, and it takes far too long to kill someone. Strangely, grenades and melee are the fastest. So if you get in close, don't bother shooting. Just hit people. I had a face-to-face standoff with a guy with an assault rifle. He hit me with every shot, full auto, and I punched him twice. I walked away with quarter shields still left.

I like the motion blur even less now. It's hard to see people, period, even on an HDTV.

The narrow field of view is sill here, so you constantly lose track of people in melees. I had hoped that after ODST's 90 degree FOV they would return to 90 degree rather than the 50-something FOV they had in Halo 3/Halo 2, but it's not the case. I guess Bungie thinks that because you're wearing a helmet you can see less. I have a restrictive auto racing helmet and I still get my full periphery.

These games just get worse and worse as they go on. Pathetic. I'm eager to do the campaign and the co-op, but I doubt I'll spend much time in multiplayer.
 
You do know it's called the Halo: Reach Mulitplayer Beta right? Things could change before the full product is released. I wouldn't judge it too harshly right now.

What changed from the Halo 3 beta to the full game? Name something significant, that isn't something like the rocket launcher spawn being moved 2 feet to the left.

Console betas of this magnitude are simply systems testing and a way to sneak in an efficient time limited demo. The game, at least in concept, is done. No features will be removed, nothing fundamental changed.

You watch. I've been doing this cycle for ten years now, I know how it goes. The only thing that has a hope of being changed is the motion blur, and I think even that's unlikely.

I have new complaints, too. The new beam sniper is too useful up close, both you and your target killing each other at the exact same time is too common, and headhunter sucks.

Halo 1 remains the best game.
 
Sorry can't agree, love the beta and am very much looking forward to killing people in new and more interesting ways and places.
 
I'm with Susrrate on this. This is by far the funnest version of Halo I've ever played. Jet pack with the Rocket launcher is fun as hell. Sprint or cloak has great with the sword, hammer, and shotgun. And armor lock is good when the shit hits the fan.

The only thing I'm not sure about is the new DMR. I wish it was just a bit more powerful with headshots.

I love the magnum again.
 
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Thirding Susurrate. I've made good use of all the armor abilities so far, and had a ton of fun playing.
 
i'm kind of indifferent on this, i play Halo mostly for the storyline campaigns and the multiplayer is a addon. i do like a lot of the new features in the game such as loadouts and armor capabilities. but for me, i'm going to be playing the game for the story.
i'll admit the multiplayer is a lot of fun and i love the stealth, i just don't think its where all the fun is at.
 
Yeah, I'm BIG on the story. I'm not going to get the $150 uber edition of game, but I am getting the limited version. Has Dr. Halsey's journal. It's going to have a lot of secrets revealed.
 
I love the new Halo. Halo 3 was pretty much Halo 2 with some easter eggs. This feels fresh, but familiar. I like that. Where Halo 2/3 was run around and kill, with this, there is much more strategy involved. It requires more thinking, and I like that. At least, thats how I view it. I love the stealth. But SWAT is soooo much fun in this. Its just great :)
 
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