Ah, aspect ratios and high definition televisions. Just as fans bitched and moaned last month about the fact that both Xbox 360 and PC versions of Bioshock locked displays to a single horizontal FOV setting, whether the user had a 4:3 or a 16:9 screen, now Joystiq is on about how splitscreen works in Halo 3, apparently using two 2.7:1 frames stacked on each other instead of two 1.77:1 frames.

What’s the issue, exactly? Unused pixels:

We’re too far into the HDTV transition for games to be wasting screen space or having other perspective issues. We understand that designers want total control over the gaming experience. But we players want to use every pixel for which we paid.

Check Joystiq for the complete story.

Of course, we’ve heard this before.

After Halo 2 was released in 2004, there were rumblings and vague remarks about Bungie wanting to do something else, non-Halo-related, for a change.

Which is entirely understandable.

Now, Pro-G is quoting Bungie’s Joe Tung as saying Bungie wants to work on something else for a change, and is not working on Halo 4.

When quizzed on the subject last night, Joe Tung, multiplayer producer at Bungie Studios, said that the team was “figuring out right now what we’re working on next”.

He added: “We really don’t know what that is yet but as soon as we know, everyone else will know. Halo 4 is not in development.”

I, for one, am hoping this is true. Halo is great, and between Ensemble’s Halo Wars and Wingnut Interactive’s Halo Chronicles, it seems there will be plenty of Halo content for the foreseeable future. However, Bungie’s strong suit has been original (as in, not licensed rather than non-derivative) intellectual property, and it’ll be nice to see something from them that’s not a sequel.

Also worth a note: Halo is the first trilogy out of Bungie where all three episodes were done in house; Marathon Infinity was done by spinoff Double Aught, and Myth 3 was done by Mumbo Jumbo after Myth was sold to Take Two in the Microsoft buyout.

Major Nelson points out an auction to benefit charity that includes some pretty one-of-a-kind items, including an Xbox 360 autographed by Bill Gates, a Zune autographed by J Allard, and a pretty complete collection of Halo games and bonus content.

Twas the night before Halo 3, when all through my room
Not a 360 was whirring, not even a vroom.
My money was secure in my wallet with care,
In hopes that my game soon would be here.

My Brothers were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of Master Chief danced in their heads.
My TV turned to standby mode, and my iPod asleep,
I lay in my bed for what seemed to be a week.

When out on the street there came such a bang,
I sprang from the bed guessing it was a gang.
Away to the window I saw a grenade-like flash,
It tore open the shutters and blew up the sash.

The moon was beautifully rendered with an electric glow
Gave the brightness of afternoon to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
A miniature Spartan helmet, and three discs there.

With a little old driver, so lively and spongy,
I knew in a moment it must be someone from bungie.
More rapid than eagles the workers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

“Now Marty O’Donnell! Michael Bastien and Frankie!
On, Jen Taylor! Sketch Factor, and Master Chief!
To the top of Valhalla! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!”

As noobs that before the professional gamers die,
When they meet with an obstacle, they superbounce and fly.
So up to the house-top the staff they flew,
With the box full of the games, and bungie.net too.

And then, in a twinkling, I saw on the roof
The crouching and p0wning, and the new video proof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney the Bungie staff came with a bound.

They were dressed all in armor, from from each head to each foot,
They were like Tucker through a teleporter, all covered in soot.
A box set of the game they had flung on their backs,
They looked like hobos, just opening their packs.

The Discs how they twinkled! The grunts how merry!
Like the birthday party skull! They didn¹t tarry!
The split mouths and jackals and brutes,
The hunters and the Prophets acting all Astute.

The stump of a cigar Sgt. Johnson held like a king
And the smoke it circled his head like a halo ring.
He had a weathered face and a quite large SMG,
That shook when he shot, like a gamer with glee!

Master Chief stood up like a massive boulder,
He strapped a Rifle to his back on an invisible holder
A wink from Cortana and a twist of the Chief¹s head,
Soon let me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
He joined a match made game, then owned a rapping jerk.
And laying his finger on top of the button ³B²
He beat down a player and got in the Banshee!

It took to the air, to his team gave he a whistle,
And away Bungie flew like a launched missile.
I heard them exclaim, Before they went out of sight,
“Happy Halo to all, and to all Finish the Fight!”

-Cameron Porcaro

Thank you Cameron 🙂

Cinematic designer Lee Wilson at Bungie responds to some criticism that Halo 3 isn’t as much of a graphical tour de force as games like Bioshock or Gears of War in an article at Pro-G:

He said: “It’s completely immersive. The art direction is immaculate. It’s not trying to be incredibly photo realistic or painting this grimy world. It’s vibrant and it’s fun and it’s accessible.”

Pro-G promises a longer interview a bit later.

The Sydney Morning Herald has an article about Bungie AI programmer Damian Isla:

Animal emotions such as surprise, interest or disappointment can be useful parts of an AI creature. “They can have an impact in the game,” he says. “Our characters have an incomplete knowledge model – they depend on line of sight. If you sneak up on them from behind they get surprised just like you or I do, because you are violating its expectations about where you are. It pays off in game play, because the character has a huge surprise animation and gives a yelp.”

There’s a particularly interesting bit on page two about the tug-of-war between AI programmers trying to make smarter opponents, and designers trying to make more fun opponents. A worthwhile read.

An article in Wired talks about Bungie’s attention to detail when doing multiplayer and campaign level design:

Some of the details in Halo 3 verge on the obsessive. While creating several environments based on the area of Africa surrounding Mount Kilimanjaro, Bungie designers used a satellite map of the region to make sure the geography would remain consistent from scene to scene — and that as the “day” inside the single-player story wore on, the sun would set at a realistic pace. (Even the road signs in the game are “mostly close to real life,” a designer told me: When you see a ruined highway sign saying “New Mombasa: 47 miles,” that’s roughly the distance to Mombasa, Kenya.)

I hope Bungie doesn’t get in trouble for admitting that the multiplayer level Epitaph is based on a French cathedral; games that depict shootings inside religious buildings have been taking a few knocks lately. Hopefully the sci-fi renovation will prevent that.

Major Nelson has posted up some pictures of the Master Chief and the Bungie crew in New York at the Halo 3 launch.

If your Halo 3 disc was scratched in the box, Microsoft will replace it. However, you only have until the end of this year.

HBO posted the box acronyms for the regular (SLMCWMYOW) and Legendary editions (WWYANOFAWD) of Halo 3.