Twinreaper

Gonna go with 7 (Bungies fav number). While all the levels are not actually playable, they are the 7th actual map level that the game uses for the map selection UI. Halo 1: 7th level is The Library - annoying millions of flood....ughhh the memories. Halo 2: 7th level is Flood Lab - again, annoying flood, but mixed with covie as well. Halo 3: 7th level is The Ark - all the backtracking and annoying brutes out the butt... Halo 3 ODSt: 7th level is Kikawani Station - Flying banshees, tons of invis Brutes, and annoying loads of Engineers / Shield generators... Halo Reach: 7th level is Exodus - hated that falcon ride and tons of enemies to fight upward to the civies. Holding out was tough on legendary. But in hindsight, I could see either 3 or 4 being the magic number for annoying levels for me now...

It's not the engine that dictates a cartoony look, it's the way the shaders and textures are used. The engine just interprets thae tag data and displays it for us. The reason Chiefs armor never changed after Halo 2, was due to the fact that he was engaged in combat the whole way thru. Chances are, they can tie in the armor changes with stating that due to Chief going into stasis, the armor was finally able to initiate upgrade commands he likely recieved during his battle in Halo 3. As many of us book dwellers know, a Spartans armor is upgraded in stasis by nanites. I always found the older armor to look too bulky for him to move around the way he does. the newer armor looks like it gives Spartans more maneuverability and fits the tech of the timeline better.

Wow, no love for Construct huh? Am I the only Construct map lover in the community? It was hands down the most original and beautiful map for Halo 3. Give it a sexy white Forerunner overhaul with a few new paths and it could easily be one the best maps of all time....well, it is already imo...

Here is the difference between PC and console... The console systems are unique in that only one system process can be run by the kernel and CPU at one time. This reduces the CPU thread and affinity to all cores and dedicates all cores to the executable itself. Without the overhead of background processes also, the memory is utilized more efficiently, and the GPU is able to process more graphics and information along side the CPU in perfect harmony. The hardware as well, is strictly locked to the console and given an optimization to run in the unique OS environment. PC's on the otherhand, require a base OS to be run, and tasks or other processes threaded in. The memory space is shared, and as always, certain offsets have to be "locked" to certain processes and resources. This creates a cluster of threads being used, and the GPU and CPU have to decide and dictate which ones take priority. And of coarse, the OS basic functions take priority. Even the 690 TI model that came out, when compared to the hardware of the new console, may not even graphically be able to perform the same functions as efficiently. And for those who are wondering, yes the new console will use the newest DX code in full, not a chopped, puked up and bastardized version of a great DX (directX9c). The new console will be a sophisticated piece of tech, but again, even with all that, the PC will always be able to trump the graphics and computing power straight away. Remember, games that run on consoles, are optimized just for the console hardware, where as with PC's, the library of code encompasses all available and compatible hardware with many configurations.

Depends on the player pool, which in turn depends on your region and time you are playing most often.

ODST was a firefight and.campaign only game. Beaides....wrong.section. Head over to the ODST or Halo 3 section please.

Changing the textures is a bit of a stretch. While it is a great idea, it is.simply a bit out of the realm of.simple.console.editing.

Director, how is it you stay soooo regular? And how do you keep your abs in such stone hard shape?

It isn't so much an improvement in graphics, it's an improvement on hardware virtualization without upgraded code support. Halo 4 has no more graphical power than any other title running on the 360. The 360 uses a standard DXSlim and modified DirextX9 code base, which is already stripped and pimped to the max it can get. the only improvements anyone can make to the way games look, is how their engine efficiently communicates, and utilizes the resources that are already there. trust me, if DX10 or DX11 were capable of being supported on 360, Halo 4 would blow away Crysis 2 in the graphics department. This is also why some games like CoD don't see a huge jump in the graphic department. it takes a lot of manpower and tweaking to get games to generally improve or be compatable with an outdated source library like the GPU section of the 360. 343i has it made, since it has the entire MS company at it's disposal, plus a complete 24 hour access to real time devs and their skills. Something 2nd and 3rd party developers don't have. Also real quick Incompetent, not everyone you encounter to the franchise is a newbie. Some players don't play a whole lot, so please do not confuse low level players with automatically being noobs. Callign someone a newbie cause they spanked your butt, only shows you do not know how to take responsability for your own careless actions on the battlefield.

Biggest question is how they intend to handle or overcome her rampancy? Even Forerunner grade AI degrade at a certain point.

I agree that the basic armor they showed is very un-Spartan like, but the amount of deail in each model is fantastic.

Fun Fact about Twam #1,987,345...... Twam doesn't have to go to the girls, the ******* come to him. His radiance is like an @ss magnet!

Twam is an old school Halo 2 modder and old friend of mine from Halomods.

The armor changes fit the Spartan and ties into the mythos of the Spartans well. maybe you have not read the books, but Spartans have their armor upgraded via Nano's when in cryogenic stasis. Chief's armor upgrade and repair was nessessary and fit the timeframe perfectly. We already know that ONI knew where Chief was via Cortana's becon, so it is likely that his suit recieved a signal with the upgrade commands for the nanites to execute. The main reason we see a huge difference in appearance of the Covie is because this particular branch of COvenant we run into, was a deep space, and very older branch, that does not know about the events of what happened on Reach and Halo 1-3. This old faction still thinks and uses the same armor configuration and mindset that the pre-Reach covie had. But as the Director said, the only thing that worries me as well and isn't really a big deal, is the slight cosmetic changes. Personally I like to see my enemies look different in every title. It makes them feel fresh and new, compared to old and stale.

There is always going to be lag. You can't control a numerous amounts of things that can and usually do, result in a laggy match. 1. Other household members internet usage. 2. ISP throttling 3. Router incorrectly configured for port forwarding, opening NAT (not everyone is a wiz) 4. High bandwidth usage among customers on the same ISP service 5. Out of region party members/players. These are just a few. Having a dedicated server to delegate out as host, does not take away the amount of lag you will experience. Remember, a dedicated server is still a pc running an OS, and because of this, the CPU threads and affinity status can change depending on the tech maintaining it, or requirements outside the LIVE code...aka updates, comms to other servers, server data offloading, etc... The best way to handle it yes is to have a large company put money into fresh servers, but at what cost is Microsoft willing to go? I posted before the average size of a gaming server room, and some the specs I believe. Now unless M$ wants to spend around 5 million dollars on just servers + pay additional techs to service them, it ain't gonna happen and we will be stuck using partitioned off Reach data collection servers for Halo 4. Or we may see the Halo 3 servers re serviced and used instead. Not sure which is likely to happen, but it will happen one way or another.

I think everyone is missing the point here. Even if they said they were gonna redo halo 2, the game would not be the same, and you would not have your beloved multiplayer back. The remake would have to use the Halo 4 multiplayer model, and therefor destroying any multiplayer memories or expereinces you could hope to have back. Second real quick, Halo 2 does not have any issues running on Vista. That alone was started by idiotic pc users who could not grasp the concept of UAC. Halo 3 runs perfectly fine on Vista and win7....just not on junk machines rocking single core processors with 1 gig of ram. Yeah, you have to upgrade out of Bedrock at some point kids....

While I cannot fault you for your opinions...I can however call complete bullcrap on you being a big fan. Any fan would know that ODST took place between the events of both halo 2 and Halo 3. In the beginning of ODST, you drop into Mombasa as the prophet of Regret slipspace jumps...you know...the part right after Chief takes down the scarab in halo 2...... Halo 4 is going to be a re-imagining of the series, as well as taking us players deeper into the story. Changes have to be expected, as changes can and usually help to bring the story and feel to the players in ways that the previous titles could not, if they had used the same engine basis.

Great one Dog. I too feel as if there has been some better experiences within the community, and Halo 4 looks to help us even further our bond to where ti used to be. I may not be the greatest person to be around all the time, but I am always here to help and bring people together, that is why I started that thread...to help us heal a bit. I am really glad that i was able to post such an inspiration thread, and see it receive attention. It makes me happy to see people of this community taking the right steps forward.

1. Campaign, legendary run first solo, then I might allow others to join me in a co-op to help them. (my son says I am a campaign god) 2. Spartan Ops 3. Forge 4. War games but only customs, I don't have time for trash talking kids in MM.

After reading a much ranted and winded post about pre-ordering by "pdoffhalofan", I felt it was only deserving that the community stay informed as to what pre-ordering is, why it exists and why and where you can the best bonuses for your pre-order. In short, pre-orders exist so that the manufacturer, not Microsoft, knows how many copies it needs to produce so that production time, packaging and shipping can be completed before the release date. By my estimate according to the pre-order numbers, 343i will have to have Halo 4 RTM no later than October 5th. Bonuses come in all forms and shapes. Most of the bonuses we see, we want. This is natural of coarse, but it is extremely hard to tell which bonuses are available in-game by unlocking, and which are not. To help with this, it is generally wise to assume that any pre-order bonus you get, is unique. Most of the pre-order bonuses you see, are cutting room floor scrapped additions that were removed from the game, for whatever reason. Because of this, 343i and Microsoft offers these tidbits to various retailers worldwide on a first come first claim basis. It IS NOT GREED or mistrust that they are using, they are simply giving fans more content to exclusive retailers, that they can then, pass off to you. That said content usually costs the retailers a bit of cash as each one wants only the most rare and hopefully most sought after add-on. Yet they offer it free, of coarse this is only to ensure you purchase it from them, but at the very least we should be thankfull that retailers are a part of this. Now, as a way for new members or members who have not pe-ordered yet, I think it would be in everyones best interest to post up a link and text of what pre-order bonuses are solid reported to come with editions at different retailers. Now I don't want this thread to turn into a giant Q&A, so please....read all the info posted before replying with new information so nothing is repeated, and people can plainly see what is available. All posts should be in this format.... 1. Retailer Name 2. Game version 3. Cost (mat vary depending on content extra) 4. Date reserved or date reported (preserves content accuracy) 5. Link to the store

It kinda is but kinda isn't. From what we have seen and what we have heard here and there, it is a safe bet that the actions you take in-game will also reflect a score or amount of class exp you gain. Say there is a stealth mission. If you complete it without alerting anyone, you get a perfect and set amount of exp. If you alert 2 or three, you get like 75%, and so on. Then there is the bit about being able to carry over your class perks into it, all the while your actions do effect what the next mission is, or how that mission plays out. So yes, in a way it is very RPG like, but again, isn't.

I can't help but call the fuel rod pic a total fake. The geometry on it is almost exactly spot on to the Reach version of it, and I highly doubt they would just use the existing model and add a blue "tex_bump_env_illum.shader" to it. If anything, the fuel rod should like a cross between the Halo 2 and Halo 3 variant, seeing as how this group of covenant that we encounter is a rouge lost group of deepspace dispatchers that still do not know that the Covenant fell.

Yes it does. And at times, because of DirectX10 acceleration and compatability, the graphics can at times show more detail than what you remember on the Xbox version. And with the wireless receiver they have for the pc, you don't have to use a pesky QWERTY setup. I can't stress enough how important it is for people to move forward with OS's and give certain ones a fair chance. Vista doesn't have nearly the amount of issues for people who use a pc for basic game playing and web surfing...and lets be honest, none of us here besides maybe a few, use a pc as a straight developer station. That being said, Halo 2 for the PC can fullfill everyones wish of having Halo 2 again in all it's glory. Hell we even have a stat app in the works to bring full LIVE style 1-50 ranking back. What are you waiting for people!! Upgrade from crappy XP and get H2PC!!!!

I think he is referring to the comment printed in the Xbox Magazine, that says "Rumor Confirmed" (It was a slow news day). But in all seriousness, there has been no confirmation or details in any way, publicized by Microsoft or 343i, or any of their partners in regards to a remake being planned as a solid project, or an ongoing effort. I'm sure if they did have it on the table or if it were being worked on, we would have seen snippets of it. But if the timeline for console support goes as it did with G1 Xbox, a remake will likely land on the new Xbox rather than the 360.