One 7 minute video has caused a stir in the Halo community yesterday.
Last Resort (Halo 3 version of Zanzibar) was shown being played by one
of the beta testers that is part of Bungie's "friends and family" beta
program. Yes we know that Sony fans may not like this because it's
showing what will surely be a great game that isn't on the Playstation
3, but that is understandable because after all the 360 camp does the
same back and Sony fans have always had a disliking it seems towards
Halo.
What I don't understand is the hate that is coming from the Halo
community themselves. Halo 3 is no where close to being released and is
currently very much in beta form. There is over half a year left before
Halo 3 comes out which will give Bungie a lot of time to through on
plenty of coats of paint, before the beta next month I'm willing to bet
a large ammount that bungie will upgrade the graphics again.
Another thing occured to me though after seeing all the rants about the
graphics yesterday though as well, and this is that after all the
Alpha's, Beta's, and when they finally get to Gold status I'm still
willing to bet the graphics will not be what people think. Yes Halo 3
is hyped and for this reason there will be dissappointments but when it
comes to the graphics people seem to be expecting unpromised,
unfounded, and unrealistic realism. Will the graphics be better than
Gears of War like they were promised? Maybe. The thing is though the
world of Halo looks nothing like the world fo GoW and then realisticly
will never actually be able to be compared properly.
Bungie themselves are not pioneering any new technology that is going
to make Halo stand out, they're using the same tricks and software that
are used by the majoriy of the industry. Will they be able to push the
boundries of 360 graphics? Probably not. It's not their focus is it?
Bungie has said Halo 2 should've been more than what it was and now
Bungies backs are against the wall. Halo 3 has to be what they want
this time because they used the excuse of running out of time once
already and that excuse won't fly again. My point to all this? Wait and
see, if you make judgements based off pre-released software they only
lead to inaccurate assumptions.
Don't be surprised if Resident Evil Requiem is the best game of 2026.
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Dragon Pearl of Destruction gets an April 2026 release for all major consoles and PC in April 2026.
Free-to-play supernatural urban open-world action RPG Neverness to Everness will launch for PlayStation 5, PC, iOS, and Android on April 23 in China and April 29 worldwide with full cross-platform support, publisher Perfect World Games and developer Hotta Studio announced.
I agree with your take on things. The problem is that people who watch the video are looking for the wrong things. If you keep up to date on the weekly updates Bungie's released about this game, you know what to look for in this video. Watch it again and look at the bloom lighting, the atmosphere, how the screen temporarly blinds you when you come from a dark area to a bright one, etc. The textures and other details in the video, which are unfortunately what most people seem to be focusing on, are just PLACE HOLDERS. They haven't implemented the final texures, etc, into the game. That's yet to come. Looking at the things that they HAVE added you can clearly see that the game is coming along nicely. I have no doubt that Halo 3 is going to live up to the hype. No doubt at all.
I have to admit, I did have some doubts about whether the game will really look as good as the announcement trailer...and come to think of it, I remember thinking at first that the announcement trailer, wasn't as good as what I was expecting.
Not that that has got me worried or anything. People are fans of the gameplay, not the visuals.
Despite that, and despite being somewhat annoyed at all the spoilers from the video leaks, I am more confident in the game than I was before. Although I think it's dumb to say how good the games graphics are from the such poor quality videos, the simple fact is, the gameplay looks awesome. It's all the little things that I feel Halo 2 missed, which they seem to have brought back in Halo 3. I've reached the point where I don't care how it looks: it's the gameplay that wets my appetite. The graphics are good enough for me.
But I have to agree with the blog in that people are simply expecting too much from Halo 3's graphics. Halo and Halo 2 looked brilliant compared to everything else out at the time. The simple fact is, in this generation, you're going to see allot more developers produce awesome looking games. Halo 3 will look awesome, but so will all the other games. This is something I thought about before the Halo 3 was official announced.
Gears of War may look better, but when Halo 3 comes out, they'll be very little love left for Gears.