The latest news about the Halo series of games from Microsoft
Although it is only sixty seconds in length, there’s actually quite a bit of content to pore over in the CG animated Halo 3 TV commercial. It starts slow, moves quickly, and ends suddenly, so pay attention.
Click “read more” from the front page for the entire text.
The fan community switched into high gear this evening as the Halo 3 CG TV Commercial aired, and digitized versions began popping up immediately.
One of the first is a very small, relatively low quality WMV version kindly provided by HYB.
Next, Xbox.com had its own streamed version, but as it doesn’t play on Macs I couldn’t really check it out. The last version of WMP on the Mac won’t play it, the WMV player plugin for QuickTime won’t play it. VLC played it, but only the audio, and MPlayer didn’t even manage that.
Retsamolah put up a high quality QuickTime version at Moosiah Films, while Plasmafire put up a large MPEG.
Lord Gideon provided a higher quality WMV version as well, clocking in at a tad under 10Mb on the PraetoriaGuard site.
Funkmon linked to a version preconverted for use on portable devices at HaloPortable.com.
Mirrored here at Rampancy:
Moosiah Films also has a page with a list of mirrors including other versions as well.
TeamXbox has a Halo 3 Commercial Page that links to 640 x 360 standard definition and 1280 x 720 high definition versions, both WMV.
The fan community switched into high gear this evening as the Halo 3 CG TV Commercial aired, and digitized versions began popping up immediately.
One of the first is a very small, relatively low quality WMV version kindly provided by HYB.
Next, Xbox.com had its own streamed version, but as it doesn’t play on Macs I couldn’t really check it out. The last version of WMP on the Mac won’t play it, the WMV player plugin for QuickTime won’t play it. VLC played it, but only the audio, and MPlayer didn’t even manage that.
Retsamolah put up a high quality QuickTime version at Moosiah Films, while Plasmafire put up a large MPEG.
Mirrored here at Rampancy:
Moosiah Films also has a page with a list of mirrors including other versions as well.
59 seconds
From ESPN
This needs no introduction. The Halo 3 ad from Monday Night Football, December 4th, 2006.
PSP – 4MB
|
Zune – 5.1MB
|
iPod – 6MB
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| PSP – 4MB
|
Zune – 5.1MB
|
iPod – 6MB
|
Want different sizes? Here’s the mirror page at Rampancy.net
Okay, so right now, if you’re a US or Canadian resident with an XBL account linked to a Passport account and you use Internet Explorer 6 on Windows (or can create a configuration that mimics the above) you can access www.halo3.com and begin the signup process for the beta.
Along the way, you’ll be told that you have to be 18, you have to be a US resident, and if selected you have to have an Xbox Live Gold account and an Xbox 360 with the hard drive.
With all that in place, you may get as far as entering the year of your birth before you get a page that is blank except for a footer. Some users report having reached a final registration page with personal information (name, address) but at the moment, it seems tough to get to.
Some forums and news stories are reporting direct links to the registration page, but KP at Bungie.net warns that you should only access the site through the www.halo3.com domain if you want to be sure your registration goes through.
What I find most interesting about the requirements is the hard drive. Microsoft’s strategy with the two-SKU system on the 360 seemed to be that not everybody needed the hard drive, so developers could not count on it. Halo 1 and 2, emulated on the Xbox, require the hard drive because the original games, on the Xbox, were designed with it in mind. Besides, backwards compatibility on the 360 also requires the hard drive.
Is the hard drive requirement here something special, as part of the beta? Or is it a hint that Halo 3 will require the premium Xbox 360 SKU, and that Core owners will have to upgrade to play?
Okay, so right now, if you’re a US resident with an XBL account linked to a Passport account and you use Internet Explorer 6 on Windows (or can create a configuration that mimics the above) you can access www.halo3.com and begin the signup process for the beta.
Along the way, you’ll be told that you have to be 18, you have to be a US resident, and if selected you have to have an Xbox Live Gold account and an Xbox 360 with the hard drive.
With all that in place, you may get as far as entering the year of your birth before you get a page that is blank except for a footer. Some users report having reached a final registration page with personal information (name, address) but at the moment, it seems tough to get to.
Some forums and news stories are reporting direct links to the registration page, but KP at Bungie.net warns that you should only access the site through the www.halo3.com domain if you want to be sure your registration goes through.
What I find most interesting about the requirements is the hard drive. Microsoft’s strategy with the two-SKU system on the 360 seemed to be that not everybody needed the hard drive, so developers could not count on it. Halo 1 and 2, emulated on the Xbox, require the hard drive because the original games, on the Xbox, were designed with it in mind. Besides, backwards compatibility on the 360 also requires the hard drive.
Is the hard drive requirement here something special, as part of the beta? Or is it a hint that Halo 3 will require the premium Xbox 360 SKU, and that Core owners will have to upgrade to play?
Don’t forget that the Halo 3 ad will debut tonight during Monday Night Football on ESPN. It will air between 5:50 and 6:20 PST and will run only once. After that, it will be released on XBL Marketplace.
Don’t forget that the Halo 3 ad will debut tonight during Monday Night Football on ESPN. It will air between 5:50 and 6:20 PST and will run only once. After that, it will be released on XBL Marketplace.