No word yet from bungie if this is real, heck I can't even read the title, but no matter how you look at it, this has to be real.

As of right now, no word on if this came from Microsoft or Bungie, but it is here, and it's big. I will post updates of what I notice in the video, if I missed anything head into the comments to let me know.

Update: With the new loadouts, it looks like we can get a jet pack, some sort of a shield, a sprint, a rolling dodge (may be with sprint) and active cammo.

Also, assassinations look to be VERY context senisitve, I saw 4 different moves.

Looks like we also have two new game types, invasion, which looks to be an attack/defend base game, and headhunter, which may use skulls as points.

I'm not quite sure what they mean by active roster, let me know in the comments if you have any idea.

A quick clip showed Spartians vs. Elites, maybe a new gametype.

A clip right after that showed someone distroy what the games calls a "generator" so it looks like attack and defend gameplay will play a larger role.

Also something called "The Arena" let me know your thoughts.

May 3rd. That is the day, the day that your ODST disc will allow you access the Reach Beta. Nothing much has been said about the beta besides the date, but Bungie gave us some nice screenshots, and a little info on one of the Multiplayer maps.

And a nice shot of what may be the new box art.

And here is the info on the new map.

“Utility and economy spurred industry amidst these isolated and unforgiving badlands, but like all infrastructure facilities on Reach, this hydroelectric site is under the purview of the UNSC war machine. All threats to the continued, predictable operation of humanity's final line of defense must be met with swift and decisive force.”

Right about now, those fortunate enough to be inside the walls at X10 should be getting a flythrough of Powerhouse courtesy of Marcus and Brian. Look for reports from the field coming soon.

You can find all the assets in this article along with the previously deployed Halo: Reach goodies in our official multimedia project page. More on the way. Stay tuned.

We know that we will be able to fly the Falcon, but man this thing looks fast, ignoring the low res textues for just some simulated runs, enjoy the video.

And from Bungie themselves, their comments on the project:

Mid7night continues to do work in X-Plane, crafting a flyable Falcon from the trailer assets. Links to the video and description below.  Pretty sweet!

"I've continued to work on the UH-144 in X-Plane, and thought I'd share some pics and vids with y'all. While I DO hope to fully model the interior/exterior better in the future, I'm having WAY too much fun flying it right now. ;)

I'm REALLY wishing I could get a proper three-view with dimensions for this thing - scaling off the trailer-vid is a PAIN. :-P

Here's how it stands so far - please PLEASE forgive the rough model and textures, I've been focusing on the flight-model and control setup (not trivial)."

Seems like it is coming along great, and I for one can not wait for this.
 

After almost 6 months of being exculsive to owners of Halo 3: ODST, Bungie has finally dropped the map pack on LIVE, meaning pretty soon, it will be required DLC for most of the playlists in Halo 3.

It only costs 800 Microsoft Points (USD $10) to get, and trust me that price is not going down anytime soon, I figure that like the last map pack, Bungie is not going to drop the price, at least after a long time.

You can download it here straight from XBL Marketplace

Or you can check out Bungie's page for a bit more info on the three maps here, Along with those are a nice shiny button to take you to buy them.

Bungie sure is rolling out the info on Reach, first with the Noble Team profiles, and the new art, things are really moving along. Today they are going in detail about three of the new/old (prequels make tenses really hard to figure out) guns of Halo Reach. First up the good old assault rifle:

A certified stalwart in the UNSC’s arsenal, the Assault Rifle has scrubbed more than its fair share of Covenant scum up close and personal. First introduced with Halo: Combat Evolved, it missed a beat in Halo 2, but made its triumphant return to Halo 3 and by now you should know it’s making a return with a pretty significant visual overhaul in Halo: Reach, as seen in yesterday’s 3D art asset comparisons.

It’s not the only weapon that’s being upgraded, according to Josh, one of Halo: Reach's sandbox designers.

“Everything has been touched in one way or another. That being said, some of the weapons had already gone through some serious iterations at this point in Halo’s life and so in some cases changes have been kept to a minimum. Either way, the visual face lift was worth its weight in gold. All the weapons, including the classics, are looking AMAZING!”

Sage, the project's lead sandbox designer, briefly expounds on some of the subtle changes being made to the series’ staples:

“Returning weapons will, for the most part, maintain their classic roles and generally feel the same. If you’re playing at the pro level, you can expect to notice minor changes to every weapon.”

Of course, there’s some new stuff in the mix as well.

Then the guys over at B.net finally showed how the new Designated Marksman Rifle, or DMR is gonna work, and let me say, from how they discribe it, it sounds like my kind of weapon.

“The DMR, or Designated Marksman Rifle,” Sage notes, “is a medium-to-long range support weapon. In range and play style it fits between the Assault Rifle and Sniper Rifle in the Human sandbox. Powerful in skilled hands, its rewards the ‘gunfighter’ – the calm, accurate player, who like to be in the fight. Its primary role is to suppress snipers and soften opposition before the shock troops close.”

When you do find yourself in the fight, shock troops rushing your position, Josh has some slightly less merciful tips to help keep you alive when you have the DMR in your hot little hands.

“The DMR is deadly accurate if you breathe through the shots and get into the rhythm of firing it, but it quickly falls apart if you freak out and really start slamming the trigger. A player with surgeon’s hands will be able to use it anywhere, anytime. Players that struggle with their composure in a heated fight however will find it better suited to working guys from a distance, picking off the sick and weak from the herd.”

And for those looking for that elegant weapon for a more civilized age, it looks like the DMR might be the implement of war you’re looking for.

“Personally, I’ve found that I always like to have a DMR in my back pocket in the way that I would have kept around the pistol in Halo: Combat Evolved,” Josh says. “Either way, the big news with the DMR is that it’s particularly good at shooting Covenant in the face.”

And last but not anywhere from least, the Needle Rifle, this bad boy is like the unholy spawn from a needler and a carbine, though that lends the question, how do guns... how shall I put this... "get it on"?

Moving on, this tool of disctruction allows for headshots, and that right there is reason enough to pick it up from the battlefield, but read on and lear how this weapon, can turn you into a unicorn!

Speaking of Covenant forces, Reach may be a UNSC military stronghold, but the Covenant war machine is at the height of its military power. The Needle Rifle is one of the more fearsome and unique weapons in their invasion force’s arsenal and a fitting counter to the Designated Marksman Rifle. It’s also one of the weapons we’ve revealed that seems to be surrounded with the most ambiguity. Let’s clear some stuff up.

“The Needle Rifle is one of my personal favorites,” Josh notes. “While it is very similar to the Carbine in several ways, including its ability to headshot (Unicorn!), it’s still 100% Needler and comes stock with the ability to super-combine when it comes in contact with your enemies and spread them like jam across a warm piece of toast. Unlike the Needler, the rounds don’t track your target…because that would just be ridiculous.”

Sage offers up his own additional details.

“The Needle Rifle is the Covenant’s answer to the DMR. It’s a medium-to-long range weapon with powerful anti-shield damage. It’s faster and more accurate than the DMR, but doesn’t have the same stopping power. It’s a Blamite! super-combining weapon (three shots to an unshielded body) that can also score headshots.”

 

Head on over to Bunige.net to read more on how they tweak these weapons, and how you can use them to distroy everything in sight.

The guys over at Bungie are really moving along with the Reach info, they have now just updated their Reach Project page, with new Screenshots, Concept Art, and Personnel Info, if you tuned in for my earlier post here you got to see the new Art and Screenshots, but if you didn't you can check them out over on Bungie.net. I will also post the Personal info after the link since some people are having issues getting the page to work.

Bungie's Halo Reach Project Page

NOBLE PERFORMANCE REPORTS :: [COL. HOLLAND, URBAN]


NOBLE 1


EYES ONLY

NAME (G): XXX, CARTER (M)
RANK: CDR
SERVICE #: S-259
BIRTH DATE: 27/08/2520
BIRTHPLACE: DURBAN, BIKO
(P)MOS: 180A

PERFORMANCE:
Born leader; inspires confidence in those under his command. Cool under pressure. Has laser-like focus—even while maintaining flexibility/adaptability. Charismatic and reassuring; capable of interacting with non-Spartans effectively and efficiently (low/no stress issues)

COMMENTS:
Minor trust issues; not severe enough to warrant psychiatric reevaluation, but enough to be noted << stems from operator [S-293] under his command being KIA 22/04/2552. He attributes S-293’s death to his own “inadequate team preparation”—not to enemy action or S-293’s own lapse in situational awareness. Whether this is the source of his hesitation to commit to one of the replacements is unconfirmed at this time.


NOTE:
Perhaps replacing S-293 with the *1T271 from XXX group will get him back on track—he’s always at his best while building a team.

NOBLE 5


EYES ONLY

NAME (G): XXX, JORGE (M)
RANK: CWO
SERVICE #: S-052
BIRTH DATE: 05/03/2511
BIRTHPLACE: PÁLHÁZA, REACH
(P)MOS: SO



PERFORMANCE:
Career soldier—but then all the Spartans are, aren’t they; inspires confidence in those around him—he is a combat multiplier! Rock solid; almost thirty years in the saddle and shows no signs of breaking or slowing; easygoing for someone from the class of ’25; need to keep an eye on him around XXX as he tends to be pretty free with his opinions.



COMMENTS:
Vocal in his support of provincial self-rule; just as vocal in his condemnation of the separatist and insurrectionist movements. Only member of the team that has seen as much action, if not more, against human militants as Covenant forces. Very difficult to read.

((NOTE: never play cards with JORGE.))


NOBLE 3


EYES ONLY
NAME (G): XXX, JUN (M)
RANK: WO
SERVICE #: S-266
BIRTH DATE: 28/02/2524
BIRTHPLACE: TYUMEN, NEW HARMONY
(P)MOS: 180B

PERFORMANCE:
Rock solid under pressure. Better than he has any right to be, but at least he isn’t cocky—which is a good thing because he’s chatty. This does tend to put him at odds with noise discipline protocols—his behavior in this regard is often overlooked by the other operators in the field because of the informational bent of his chatter.

COMMENTS:
During mandatory psychiatric evaluation [15/12/2549] it was noted by XXX that S-266 had “an unhealthy emotional detachment in regards to the consequences of his actions” – I can only suggest that this was done without any metric by which to measure said detachment. By my estimation Jun is a rationalist. He is also a Spartan.

NOTE:
Although it is noted in his medical records that he has exhibited symptoms of PTSD in the past there have been no indications of a relapse post-therapy [05/01/2550].

NOBLE 4


EYES ONLY

NAME (G): XXX, EMILE (M)
RANK: WO
SERVICE #: S-239
BIRTH DATE: 11/03/2523
BIRTHPLACE: LUXOR, ERIDANUS II
(P)MOS: 18B

PERFORMANCE:
Respected by his peers; detail oriented; unbreakable. There’s not a whole lot more to mention; he is an effective member of the unit while in the field and maintains strict discipline off the field. It does seem that he tends to have more difficulty interacting with non-Spartans than others within NOBLE, however.

COMMENTS:
I wish he would reel his audacity in the field back about 24%. His behavior makes it difficult to field him against insurrectionists; it’s hard enough dealing with the stories of UNSC excess manufactured by the civilian media without S-239 providing them with hard evidence of said excess. That being said: It’s an odd feeling to be relieved that you are sending your people out against hostile aliens.

NOTE:
I may have to consider rotating S-344 into his spot if another IN/OP comes up before S-239’s next mandatory psychiatric reevaluation [REF:03/09/2552].

S-239’s collection of alien contraband is truly impressive. However, the existence of said collection is in direct violation of NAVCOM General Order 098831A-1/Sub_7. Good thing we’re ARMY.

NOBLE 2


EYES ONLY

NAME (G): XXX, CATHERINE (F)
RANK: LCDR
SERVICE #: S-320
BIRTH DATE: 30/01/2530
BIRTHPLACE: MONASTIR, NEW HARMONY
(P)MOS: 18E

PERFORMANCE:
Exemplary combatant; brilliant cryptanalyst—there hasn’t been a system yet she hasn’t been able to crack. However, she does tend to dig a little deeper than mission parameters require on occasion—and there have been times when NOBLE’s proximity to classified matériel has made me rather nervous.

COMMENTS:
S-320 is an inspired tactician; this is certainly related to her ability to acquire and digest information. There are times when S-320’s ability to read a situation—even with what many would consider cripplingly limited INTEL—could be described as supernatural. Unfortunately even having MAGICAL INTEL can’t protect you against a fatal lapse of situational awareness. To wit: S-293 was KIA during an OP that S-320 had put together [22/04/2552]; S-320 is now convinced that S-293’s death rests solely on her own shoulders (S-259 is likewise convinced that he is solely responsible for S-293’s death). Eventually I hope to be able to get it through their thick Spartan skulls that Thom is dead because he chose to pursue a group of enemy combatants ON HIS OWN rather than wait for backup.

NOTE:
S-320’s refusal to resubmit her certification for the P_A(r)/NCSI-AMA is more than a little frustrating. She says she submitted her certification papers on 04/08/2551 and refuses to budge. My records show that she qualified expert level with the P_A(r)/NCSI-AMA [04/07/2551], but LOGistics/Matériel Command claim they never received said notification and state that unless they receive said certification in a timely manner the P_A(r)/NCSI-AMA needs to be returned immediately. In the meantime there is no way for me to stop getting spammed from LOG/MC with reminders. This has been going on entirely too long.


NOBLE 6


EYES ONLY
NAME (G): XXX, XXX (X)
RANK: LT
SERVICE #: S-312
BIRTH DATE: XXX/XXX/XXX
BIRTHPLACE: XXX, XXX
(P)MOS: 158A


PERFORMANCE:
N/A

COMMENTS:
What little information I have been able to glean from around all of the redaction [note—I was quite literally expecting the ONI to start redacting page numbers] gives the impression that S-312 is more akin to a hyper-lethal vector than a soldier. A lone-wolf assassin that has broken organizations and made entire militia groups disappear.

At first glance S-312 doesn’t sound like the best fit for a team environment like NOBLE. However, we’ve been down a soldier for over a month—and frankly there are hidden benefits to a XXX like S-312. Call it the luck of the draw. S-293’s 1156 has been filed since 22/04/2552, every active duty Spartan-II is on XXX for special training, and it seems that XXX wasn’t able to keep his own private grim reaper out of the pool—only time will tell if this luck is of the good or bad variety.

Bungie pulled back the veil on Reach the other day, but only to the sweedish part of Games Reactor, so here is the problem, Reach is only a click away, the second part of the problem? It's in sweedish. So using the most powerful tool on the internet, google, I tranlated it. I just noticed that if google is the most powerful tool on the internet, we are doomed.

***WARNING BAD TRANSLATION AHEAD***

Games Reactor

At least pictures are always the same in any language. So enjoy, also click to make bigger.

Note: According to Bungie, The HUD is now Blue not Yellow.

For those of you who didn't get ODST, (and shame on you, it was an amazing game) The map pack that shipped with it will finally be up for download on the Xbox Live Market Place come Febuary 2nd. It will cost the standard 800 Microsoft Points, ($10 USD) but trust me, it is well worth ten bucks.

Just a heads up to all those Halo fans lusting after the new map pack, if you wanna pick up ODST and get the map pack with it, it should only cost you about $35 USD last time I was in a game store. So if you have the extra 25 bucks laying around trust me you won't miss out.

I love the new engine, the pics even seems to smell better. So I won't waste your time with flowery text, just enjoy the Halo images.