A series of tips and a report from a reputable Cheap Ass Gamer indicate that there might be three retail editions of Halo: Reach offered when the game ships later this year: a standard edition, a limited edition and ... the "Legendary Edition." We'll give you a moment to catch your breath after dropping that bombshell on you. Ready? Good.
An alleged Best Buy ad, to be circulated next week, reveals that the retail packages will range in price from $60 for the standard game to $150 for the Legendary Edition, with the "limited" iteration of Reach falling in at $80. As you might imagine, the standard version supposedly comes with just the game itself, while the limited version is said to also include a "special limited edition case, collectibles and in-game armor," according to the ad. The $150 option allegedly contains all of the contents of the limited edition, in addition to even more "unique packaging" and in-game armor, plus a "Legendary Noble 6 Sculpture." When asked for comment, Microsoft issued its standard response: "We don't comment on rumor or speculation."
We'd suggest to those of you pining for Reach's Legendary Edition to wait a bit -- we hear these things tend to eventually drop in price to something much, much more reasonable. If you just can't wait, though, Best Buy, and no doubt other major retailers, will reportedly begin accepting your pre-orders next week.
Update: Microsoft has confirmed the trio of Reach retail editions.
[Thanks Lgndryhr and everyone else who sent this in!]
More Halo: Reach news than you can shake a gravity hammer at today, as Bungie, in addition to revealing the Reach special editions, has also released a brand new multiplayer ViDoc and a new 3D screenshot. The ViDoc goes over the various weaponry and modes you'll be playing with in the beta next month. The shot showcases a still from Reach's new Invasion mode which, if you haven't heard, sounds just super great. Check out the video above, and have fun with the 3D screen after the break.
#clips
In this latest video documentary for Halo Reach, Bungie developers discuss the features of the upcoming multiplayer beta with the same sort of enthusiasm you'd see from a bunch of guys hanging out at a game store. More »
#collectorseditions
Halo Reach is Bungie's last hurrah in the Halo universe, and they aren't saying goodbye without a lovely Limited Edition and one final, ultra-expensive Legendary Edition. More »
The pair of Halo: Reach special edition packages we shared with you yesterday have been verified by Microsoft. In addition to a standard edition (which includes the best part: the game), a $79.99 Limited Edition will be sold in special ONI "black box" packaging, along with an exclusive in-game Elite armor set for multiplayer and an "artifact bag" containing "Dr. Halsey's personal journal and other classified documents and effects that unravel long held secrets from the Halo universe."
Meanwhile, the $149.99 Legendary Edition will come in UNSC packaging and contain everything found in the Limited Edition, plus a hand-painted, numbered statue of Noble Team (crafted by McFarlane Toys) and an "exclusive multiplayer Spartan armor effect." That effect, incidentally: flaming helmet. You can peruse the contents of each edition -- including screens of the Elite armor and flaming helmet -- in the gallery below.
Are you guys excited for this Halo: Reach thing? Yeah, we're not that concerned with it, but apparently it's kind of a "big deal" or something -- we guess there's a beta coming on May 3? Psh, whatevs. Anyway, according to a The Seattle Times interview with Bungie's Brian Jarrard and Chris Carney, the developer is anticipating quite the turnout.
"My expectation is it could be upwards of 3 million people. I think that's a fairly conservative estimate," Jarrard said. "Certainly there will never be a console beta of this magnitude." That's a considerable increase from the Halo 3 beta, which managed to snag 820,000 participants during its 26-day run during the summer of 2007.
Sure, the inclusion of jetpacks undoubtedly raised some eyebrows, but we would never have thought the potential for atomic teabags would be that big of a selling point. C'est la vie.
A series of tips and a report from a reputable Cheap Ass Gamer indicate that there might be three retail editions of Halo: Reach offered later this year: a standard edition, a limited edition and ... the "Legendary Edition." We'll give you a moment to catch your breath after dropping that bombshell on you. Ready? Good.
An alleged Best Buy ad, to be circulated next week, reveals that the retail packages will range in price from $60 for the standard game to $150 for the Legendary Edition, with the "limited" iteration of Reach falling in at the in-between price of $80. As you might imagine, the standard version supposedly comes with just the game itself, while the limited version is said to also include a "special limited edition case, collectibles and in-game armor," according to the ad. The $150 option allegedly contains all of the contents of the limited edition, in addition to even more "unique packaging" and in-game armor, plus a "Legendary Noble 6 Sculpture." When asked for comment, Microsoft issued its standard line: "We don't comment on rumor or speculation."
We'd suggest to those of you pining for that Legendary Edition to wait a bit -- we hear these things tend to eventually drop in price to something much, much more reasonable. If you just can't wait, though, Best Buy, and no doubt other major retailers, will reportedly begin accepting your pre-orders next week.
[Thanks Lgndryhr and everyone else who sent this in!]
#bungie
The loadouts have names like Operator, Airborne, Grenadier, indicating their main weapon and a unique battlefield talent. I suggest that Bungie's bringing a touch of class-based combat to Halo, and the designer winces, then chooses his words. More »
#preview
In 10 days, Halo: Reach gets its multiplayer beta - and consider that last word. With four different game types, new abilities and weapons, this isn't some preview of the rest of a new game. It is a new game. More »
Following my extensive hands-on preview of the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta at Bungie's Seattle area offices last week, I spoke with Lars Bakken, lead multiplayer designer, to discuss how Reach fits into the studio's long term strategy, how community feedback affects design decisions and the future of the Halo franchise.
Joystiq: What did you learn from how you conducted the Halo 3 multiplayer beta? What are you doing differently for the Reach beta?
Lars Bakken: I think one of the things we learned from the Halo 3 beta is that we want to keep this thing focused and that might mean less playlists initially. But that's really to keep the people focused and keep them playing the same thing, so we'll be turning on things and turning off other things as the beta progresses. And that's something we really learned from Halo 3, because we wanted to make sure that we were getting all the relevant information that we needed to get -- all the data -- and make decisions and changes on the final game.
Compared to the clamor and congestion of downtown Seattle, Bungie's Kirkland offices are peaceful and serene. There's little outside distraction and certainly no incessant honking. It's a beautiful day. No one would ever guess that, in two unadorned conference rooms on the third floor, people are blowing each other up. Well, maybe they noticed the Battle Rifle in the lobby.
Bungie invited media to its offices for a Halo: Reach mulitplayer beta preview last week, introducing us to four new game types, Generator Defense, Headhunter, Stockplile and Invasion. I filled six hours with as many frags as my controller could possibly deliver and it simply wasn't enough. Reach's new team-driven game types are addictive and ambitious, focused on objective-based progression and strategic action.
Aha! That's why no one's talking about it! The first video and details on Halo: Reach's "Invasion" mode were shown off exclusively in last night's episode of GameTrailers TV, with Bungie additionally dishing some deets about the game we'd yet to hear. As we already know, Invasion is a game mode that's only available in Boneyard (also scantly detailed until now) and, as promised, features a ton of vehicles. The multi-tiered level unlocks in "three phases (similar to Bad Company 2's "Rush" mode), with various weapon loadouts and vehicles becoming available alongside it.
Among the smattering of new footage, Bungie reps introduce the human grenade launcher and plasma launcher, two exciting looking additions to the Halo arsenal. Unfortunately, when pressed on whether or not ODST's Firefight mode would be making a return appearance in Reach, Bungie's Chris Carney says that the mode "is not in the beta" and he's "not sure what those guys have planned." As you might expect, there's also a tease that we'll hear more about the game (campaign mode specifically) "in June."
[1UP]
As we predicted with our last post on Halo: Reach, the flow of information on Bungie's final Halo game -- well, the beta, anyway -- has now become steady and consistent. Today's exclusive preview of the beta's new multiplayer game types (read: not CTF/Slayer/etc.) at 1UP is further evidence of just such a trend, detailing the Headhunter, Invasion, Stockpile and Generator Defense (quaintly dubbed "Network Test 1 Beta" by Bungie internally) multiplayer modes. Read on after the break for all the details.
#xbox360
The greatly anticipated Halo: Reach multiplayer beta is just weeks away, so Bungie is delving deeper into just what that frenzied sci-fi shoot 'em up preview will be like, focusing on the four available maps and exciting new info. More »
click to Master Chief-size
Considering how close we're getting to actually putting our hands on the Halo: Reach beta, it's not exactly surprising to see Bungie loosening the floodgates a bit on information and images from its last Halo game. Just below you'll find a handful of new images from three of the beta's four maps (Overlook, Swordbase, and Powerhouse), though the mysterious Boneyard still remains missing.
In addition to these new screens, Bungie delves into the gruesome details regarding a few of the beta's gameplay modes, and even goes as far as to break down the weapon allocation for Powerhouse (only one rocket launcher, folks -- come on!) and Overlook. For instance, did you know that Powerhouse used to be named "Settlement?" Or that Swordbase is actually set in an Offiice of Naval Intelligence? That means we'll be spending our time getting one-hit killed from behind while trying to glean campaign information from the destructible computer monitors littered throughout the level. Damn you, Bungie!
We are, however, quite partial to Swordbase's many levels (all the better for us to jetpack around!), but you could be all about those outdoor environments. Who knows?! One thing's for sure: you can peep both options in the gallery below.
click to Master Chief-size
Considering how close we're getting to actually putting our hands on the Halo: Reach beta, it's not exactly surprising to see Bungie loosening the floodgates a bit on information and images from its last Halo game. Just below you'll find a handful of new images from three of the beta's four maps (Overlook, Swordbase, and Powerhouse), though Boneyard still remains mysteriously missing.
In addition to these new screens, Bungie delves into the gruesome details regarding a few of the beta's gameplay modes, and even goes as far as to break down the weapon allocation for Powerhouse (only one rocket launcher, folks -- come on!) and Overlook. For instance, did you know that Powerhouse used to be named "Settlement?" Or that Swordbase is actually set in an Offiice of Naval Intelligence? That means we'll be spending our time getting one-hit killed from behind while trying to glean campaign information from the destructible computer monitors littered throughout the level. Damn you, Bungie!
We are, however, quite partial to Swordbase's many levels (all the better for us to jetpack around!), but you could be all about those outdoor environments. Who knows?! One thing's for sure: you can peep both options in the gallery below.
[IGN]
If you haven't been following along with the minutiae Halo: Reach development over at Bungie's website, you probably didn't know that the upcoming beta will feature four maps from the final product's full list. Today we finally got a look at what those maps will be -- "Swordbase" and "Powerhouse" (intended for "party game types"), "Overlook" (featuring the "Generator Defense" game type), and the sparsely detailed sandbox design of "Boneyard" (intended for the "Invasion" game type) -- as well as a smattering of new deets on the jetpack-enhanced Halo game.
For instance, we probably won't be finding out too many major campaign secrets during the beta that we didn't already know. The devs at Bungie have only included human-themed maps in the beta as to ensure the secrecy of plot points, actually. "Several of the other maps have different themes that I think are really cool [outside of the beta]," says Bungie's Chris Carney. "I don't really want to talk about them because it would talk about things that are happening in the single-player story." There's a ton more really, really specific stuff (as well as several new screens) over on IGN, if you're into that kind of thing (and let's be honest, if you've made it this far in the post, you probably are).
#halo
Halo creators Bungie love guns. Love big, bulky space vehicles,too. Love 'em so much they've released a ton of renders showing how both will appear in the upcoming Halo: Reach. More »
Good news for fans of Halo minutia -- and who isn't -- as Bungie has released a whole slew of Halo: Reach character, weapon and vehicle renders. Not only that, but these renders are in high resolution. That means you can take in all the tiny details of each and every image, from trigger mechanisms to faceplates to ... whatever the stubby wing things are called on the Banshee.
Our favorite image so far is the plasma launcher (pictured above), which, according to the latest Bungie Weekly Update, sends "a volley of one to four plasma explosives" at your enemy. Fun. Check out the complete gallery of renders below.
Actress, geek goddess and self-identied Halo fan Aisha Tyler (Archer, Ghost Whisperer, CSI) apparently features in some kind of upcoming Halo: Reach promotion. Photos posted by @BungieTweets over the weekend depict Tyler, who has a voice role in the game, standing with a gravity hammer and looking glam. Bungie released no further details.
The Halo: Reach beta begins May 3, and the full game follows this fall. Once the promo featuring Tyler airs, we'll be sure to put a copy of it on a flash drive and drop it in our hope chest, storing it with the controller she touched at the Halo 3 premiere years ago and the water bottle from her stand-up special.
#bungie
A giant update from Bungie last night sheds more light on what we saw in the multiplayer beta trailer last month. Load Outs and jet packs are explained, and an "armor lock" mode is revealed. More »
