Some shots of your page on B-net come beta time:

Would a gamefly rental count?

Preowned ODSTs work as well, or at least I haven't heard of any kind of profile locking.

That Spartan looks kinda thin... Are feminine models in for Spartans? Or is it the camera angle...

The Legendary edition looks pretty cool...
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.c...endary-580.jpg

Aw, no cat helmet?

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omg

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Had a game with Scotty Ranger and his buds and decided to upload my first vid using Bungie's render service. Expect some Reach vids, but not much - the minutes are limited!

EDIT

Hmm... Does Silverlight run here? Here's the link.

Drinking game:

Every time the word awesome is used

They're white boys give 'em a break.

an't wait for Beta time :D

Another week and it's go time.

There's a couple of quick multiplayer clips on gamevideos - from the brief action I'm starting to think for all the talk of new weapons, armor abilities etc the biggest thing is going to be the lack of shields.

What? There's shields.

You were watching a SWAT gametype.

My bad I misunderstood re the medkits

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<div><a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="http://www.gametrailers.com" title="GameTrailers.com">Video Games</a> | <a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="/game//" title="Halo: Reach">Halo: Reach</a> | <a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="" title="Beta New Weapons Gameplay">Beta New Weapons Gameplay</a></div>

<div style="padding-top: 3px;"><a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="http://xbox360.gametrailers.com/" title="XBox 360">XBox 360</a> | <a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="http://ps3.gametrailers.com/" title="PS3">Playstation 3</a> | <a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="http://wii.gametrailers.com/" title="Wii">Nintendo Wii</a></div>

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The inside gaming special is up on waypoint

lol I think I've seen enough. No more previews and videos - bring on the game! One week, man. One week.

I just hope i'm not working...

Not sure how I feel after watching that video. The weapons don't seem very skill-based. More just 'point at a person and shoot'.. Like, the DRM doesn't seem to be based on anything other than hitting people.. the reticle is too big and just seems unfocused. Where are the focused shots (headshots)? They almost don't seem possible with the weapons they showed.

Actually, the rest of the weapons seem like that too. Almost as if it's whoever HITS the other person more, wins.

Ugh... not sure now, video kinda made me sad.

You're blind and insane. My personal opinion, one based on years of experience, Halo weapons take more skill than most shooters. And nothing in these videos show a dumbing down of the weapons. I have no idea what you're actually looking at.

lol at citing your 'years of experience' as if a dozen other people who post on here haven't been gamers their whole lives.

Yes, Halo weapons typically do take more skill than most shooters. That is why I feel like the weapons in that video don't showcase that at all. All the weapons they showed in that, look like a simple point and shoot weapon. Their reticles weren't small and focused like any of the ones in the former games. In fact, they added recoil to these which makes the sight larger and even more unfocused.

At no point in that video did I see anything even remotely reminiscent of the skill used with Battle Rifling, or Pistoling (halo 1). All I saw were power weapons, and shitty weapons.

The DMR - All anyone in that video does is aim in the general area of the head. The reticle, even when zoomed in later in that video, is rather large. Basing it off single-shot takes a lot away from what made the BR so skill-based. Some bullets could miss if you didn't stay with them as they moved. (single shot may seem MORE skill-based, but not when your actual aiming doesn't need to be as precise)

That Covenant Focus Rifle... come on, really? Did we really need a 'better' sentinel beam? Looks overpowered as fuck.

The needle rifle is basically a DMR that explodes when it hits someone now. (if you can see any difference between the two guns, you obviously have worse sight than me. Some rose colored sight, methinks)

That Plasma Launcher looks overpowered as fuck.

The grenade launcher... ugh.. Grenades were one of the things that were great in Halo 3, IMO. Game didn't need a grenade launcher. The brute launcher was a great, non-overpowered gun. It didn't insta-kill anyone. The fact that it richochets off walls like nuts before exploding gives way too much chance. Honestly hate the idea of a grenade launcher in virtually any game.

Plasma Repeater... again, where's the skill in that gun?

I agree that Halo typically took more skill than other shooters. There was a noticeable skill gap. Nothing about the majority of what they showed in that video appears very skill-oriented though. The other Halo's had a decent enough balance between the power weapons and normal weapons.. but christ, those power weapons look overpowered as fuck.

We agree on the power of the plasma grenade launcher, everything else is balanced - and I explain each. I won't because that sort of thing gets people touchy when I do that.

But I will say this a damn beta, and whatever exploits discovered will be addressed anyway, although I say again your analysis is off to me.

Also: Do you read Bungie's dev blogs? They address just about all of your observations.

Overpowered weapons are nothing new in Halo, remember the Pistol of god in Halo 1?

lol Yeah that was crazy. I like it's new place in the sandbox now, it's essentially an alternate to the assault rifle now. It has a scope but the kill potential is still gimped at a certain range (it will lose to the DMR/Needle Rifle). It's a five-shot kill at medium/short range and will make for a great support weapon in bind (like last time).

Still took skill to use properly. It was the BR of the game at the time.

H1 pistol was way easier to use though, making it overpowered. The reward was too high and the maps didn't compensate the way they do now [as of Halo 3].

No it didn't. Aim around the upper body and headshot. REALLY took skill :roll:

I trust that with a response like that, none of you actually played the multiplayer of Halo 1. The pistol was not easy to be good with. Easy to use, sure. You could hit someone. But how many of you could 3-shot a person every time? I know for a fact that it was harder to use than either of you are making it out to be. And I know people who COULD 3-shot a person.. every.. single.. time.. I know someone who was a sniping fiend too. 10 sensitivity, sniping FIEND. But that's another story/weapon.

This is one area where I would cite experience, as the people I played Halo 1 with, were quite literally some of 'the best'. People who regularly played with "the greats" of MLG Halo. Several of who WERE MLG. These people lived on Xbox Connect, and people drove from all over the midwest just for the Halo parties they held religiously. (I was not that big of a player, but I was decent enough to be able to keep up with them somewhat) I can guarantee any of the people I played with would have wiped the floor with whatever 'easy pistol skills' you think you had. Which is why I think you underestimate how much skill the pistol (and other weapons) took.

H1 still had an incredible skill gap. People who didn't play it competitively probably never SAW that skill gap. Because come on.. with the lack of XBL, how many of you actually played Halo 1 with more than just your friends? The good people I know, would dash to pieces any claims that weapons were 'easy to use'. Hell, those people would probably use the lesser weapons AGAINST your pistol and still beat you. I know someone who could kill you with a plasma pistol before you could kill him with a pistol.

The pistol was the Battle Rifle of the game. The only difference is that it took one less shot to kill someone. Pistol = 3 headshots. BR = 3 shots to kill the shield, and 1 headshot to kill. I would say the pistol is more powerful, sure. The weapons definitely weren't balanced. But it wasn't a bad thing. They played the exact same, and neither was 'easy' to be good with. The DMR just looks... ugh. Frustrating.

I'm sorry dude but the pistol was the go to weapon for everyone. Even noobies, once they're broken into the game, will get with the program and use the pistol. 3 shot kills aren't that impressive (me and my gang did them), especially once you find your ideal sensitivity and get accustomed to the general motion of the game.

H1 pistol was the go-2 weapon for all encounters in a game that was not built for this outcome, and not released in a time when post-release patching was normal. There was in using it in a meta-game sort of way - when you're playing against people using it and skill-gaps are discovered within players using them, but it was generally fairly easy.

And fucking LOL at the idea that we haven't actually played Halo 1 multiplayer because we believe it's not nearly as complicated as you're making it sound. I suppose this is where me or LoDown claim that we'll 'eat you alive' or whatever if we ever threw down in H1 to prove the point, but we can't - and it wouldn't prove shit anyway.

In summary; H1 pistol took some skill, but it wasn't difficult. Calling it H1's BR works only if you consider many people gravitated toward it, but there are factors between H1 and H2/3 that hurt such a comparison.

Seriously though.

All those power weapons, combined with the sorry excuses they have for regular weapons... Ugh. Just the power weapons alone are going to be frustrating.

It's not they litter the map with them. :roll: You should know Bungie regulates this sort of thing pretty well. Controlling the power weapons is something to keep in mind anyway.

Unless of course you have some issue with the general concept with power weapons, than you should move on.

I played tons of Halo 1 system link with 16 people...I know exactly how overpowered and easy it was to pick off SNIPERS on Blood Gulch with the fucking pistol

None of that was meant to sound 'bragging' in any way. I am just saying that the people I played Halo with would put to shame any notion of 'skill' you think you had at that game, and I guarantee they would embarrass your pistoling skills. I'm speaking of people who could beat The Ogres in Halo 1. People who competed with Zyos and Walshy. (sorry.. namedrops mean nothing in this crowd probably, but those people were literally among the best in the competitive community in H1 and H2) Any 'ease of use' you had with the pistol, would mean absolutely nothing when faced against these people. You would go in thinking your l33t pistol skills were great.. no way there could be people who were better since it's such an easy weapon to use.. And then they would play you, and you would quit within 10 minutes.

Also, to clarify.. didn't mean you hadn't played the game. But I meant that you never PLAYED the shit out of it, with people who knew what they were doing. Because if you had, you wouldn't think the pistol was easy, because you obviously never had anyone wipe the floor with your face in that game. You never know how good you are at a game until someone better than you comes along. And when those people are so drastically better than you that several of them together could toy with you in an objective game while still completing the objective... well, I hope you get the point by now.

And if you missed it... The point is that the pistol was easy to use. But there is a skill gap with it just the same as the BR had. People who were good with it, were godly with it.

I suppose the same will probably be said about the DMR eventually. But it just doesn't look like a fun weapon to try to be good with. It looks like a very frustrating weapon. As do all of those weapons. They're far too focused on power. Hell, they've even tried to make everything seem beefier in this game. Just the sounds and the recoil from every shot a gun makes are very un-Halolike. They've changed the way weapons in the game feel completely.

I'll leave on this note - If what they showed in that video looks fun to you, then by all means.. play it. To me though, there looks to be far too much emphasis on power weapons, and the mere addition of a couple has me reminded of the tubefest known as Modern Warfare 2, and how much I loathe power weapons in shooters. The non-power weapons they showed look weak and easy to use. The needle rifle especially. Part of the greatness of the needler was the ability to dodge it.

I still say if you think that needle rifle is any different in essence than the DMR, you must be blind.

Yeah, we played "the shit" out of it. Gotta go play SSF4 now. I'll be back to this.

Honestly, I don't think I could emphasize how much better I know these people were than you, WITHOUT sounding like a dick. I am not trying to say it to one-up you in any way. I am saying it because these people were the real deal. Some were MLG pros, and the others were there because they were good enough to play WITH those MLG guys. Some were better.

You would call me a liar if I told you some of the things I witnessed them do in the game. It's the stuff epic montages are made of.

They were better than me, and though I don't know how good you were at the game, I would guess that from what I know about you and shooters you would be around the same skill level as myself. And I consider myself a decent to good FPS player. I'm not the best, and I have off days, but I typically do good when playing shooters.

These people, however, did not lose unless they played eachother.

TV spots for this started running yesterday (at least, first I'd seen them)

Crazy that they're marketing a Beta. Don't remember if they did that for 3, don't think they did.

Re: the above I'm pretty certain at least some of the weapons will be nerfed once the beta is done. Kind of the whole point of it, no?