Halo 3 gets 'mute idiot' button

By Tom Bramwell Published 12 February, 2007

Plus, Cortana actress gets tearful.

Bungie's latest Halo 3 update introduces a rather intriguing new function bound to the back button of the Xbox 360 pad. It sounds excellent.

Or rather, it'll refine the excellence of sound - by eliminating the sort of "vocal buttmunches" who help ensure the truth of the following equation: "Teenagers, plus anonymity, plus microphone = idiot."

The "A-Hole Button" as they're calling it brings up a score list with everyone's tag on it. By using the right stick, you can quickly select whichever player is smack-talking you into a stupor, and you won't hear from them again.

"Any muted player you have selected in your Xbox Live account overrides Halo 3's new system, but that should actually enhance the choice of maroons [sic] you're editing out of your gameplay. Best of all, it means fewer wasted or frustrating gameplay sessions," Bungie's Frank O'Connor notes.

"We're doing our best to come up with lots of smart solutions for stuff like this, but honestly, we can't be parents to some of these poltroons. We're much more concerned with giving you guys the tools you need to silence them."

It's also worth checking out this week's update for more hints about weapons, along with some comments on actress Jen Taylor's visit to the studio to record Cortana's Halo 3 dialogue.

"There's a lot more drama and a lot less technical jargon this time around. I actually just finished a couple of lines that nearly had me in tears. For an actor, more drama is always good," she notes.

The update? Why, it's on Bungie's website. Along with a picture of Jen recording dialogue. You sad, sad man.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (45) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Razzajazz #1 5 years ago

    It's just too much to believe. Despite Bungie's best efforts, there's no way it'll be tard-free.

  • dbeamish #2 5 years ago

    Sounds good! Maybe they will add an option to block people talking based on country.. that would jsut be great..

  • lambtron #3 5 years ago

    A feature definitely worth having.

    Still I find in most cases if you just tell them to STFU in an angry voice they usually listen.

    There's always one though...

  • itamae #4 5 years ago

    It would be much more interesting if you could "silence" those idiots through their headphones, like in that one Bond movie.

  • X201 #5 5 years ago

    It would be nice if along with their score, it showed the number of people who'd blocked them.

  • d0bbo #6 5 years ago

    "Along with a picture of Jen recording dialogue. You sad, sad man."

    lol, it's true... it's true. *click*

  • Tonka #7 5 years ago

    *cough*
    enhance the choice of maroons you're editing
    morons isn't it?

  • thinktank #8 5 years ago

    Great idea X201, i'm sure you'd change your ways if you could visualy see people in every game you play ignoring you.

    Maybe EG could get its 'sony on' and steal this idea.

  • L42yB #9 5 years ago

    It wud be good if M$ took this on board and made muting quicker and easier to do... bringing up the guide, navigating to the players list, finding the person who is annoying you and then closing the guide is far too long a process in the middle of a game and generally results in death... it should be a requirement for devs to make it quick and easy during gameplay...

  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #10 5 years ago

    Tonka: nope, it definitely says "maroons" on the page the quote came from. It's a polite replacement for "morons" though.

  • wayn3h #11 5 years ago

    Having not used XBL for around 3 years now I can't remember if you could rate other members.. But anyway, I think you should have the option of automatically muting people who have a low rating from other players. This would imo save a lot of hassle to ordinary gamers who just wanna have a bit of fun.

  • jiveguy #12 5 years ago

    "I actually just finished a couple of lines that nearly had me in tears."

    [Obvious comment]

  • Pirotic #13 5 years ago

    it would work a lot better if the muted players got a nice big message on screen saying "Another Player Has Muted You!", maybe that way they'll learn not to smack in the first place.

  • SBfistfun #14 5 years ago

    Wow, welcome to the next gen.

    An obvious feature that was in HL based multiplayer games since voice comms were implemented.

    Edited by 1 at 12/02/07 @ 13:05

  • crazyhorse174 #15 5 years ago

    Maroons? Poltroons?

    Huh?

  • Tonka #16 5 years ago

    mouse: I stand corrected.

  • sharpfish #17 5 years ago

    good

  • Blerk #18 5 years ago

    If someone's being an idiot, why would you even want to continue playing with them? A 'kick the idiot off the game' button would be better, surely? :-)

  • samuraipimp #19 5 years ago

    I just find it easier to block communication from all users via the dashboard. The only communication I allow is between me and those on my friends list. It saves a lot of hassle. I only unblock it if I need talk some strategy with the rest of my team.
    But hey, if your team is made up of friends... score!

    I'm not sure if this will work for Halo 2 seeing as it's an XBOX1 title. Never tested it... works a treat for everything else though.

  • groovychainsaw #20 5 years ago

    They don't stop them playing, they just mute them, so there'll be plenty of people here.
    Must admit though, a way of just having europeans+eastern peeps would be good. No offense to americans, but so many of the cocks I've come across online are pumped up american teenagers (I cannot play gears of war online for this reason), this would solve a lot of the drawbacks for me. europeans + japanese are just a bit more polite (in general - there are exceptions, and you know who you are - get yourself to some manners classes, you reprobates...)

  • Laserbream #21 5 years ago

    Yet another reason to employ castrati - they are free from womanish emotions.

  • TheBoyChris #22 5 years ago

    I find ganging up and team killing always works. Or denying the sniper rifle constantly.

    Eventually they just get so mad they implode :)

  • peterfll #23 5 years ago

    Why not just silence all US Live accounts registered to under 21's by default? Problem solved.

    I find European, UK and Japanese players to be mostly decent people.

  • Fab4 #24 5 years ago

    Any truth in the rumour it's implementation was triggered by EG's recent interview with them? ;)
    Edited by 1 at 12/02/07 @ 13:49

  • kangarootoo #25 5 years ago

    Man, now this is what game design is all about. THAT is a work of genius.


    "Teenagers, plus anonymity, plus microphone = idiot."

    You stole that an you know it ;)

  • kangarootoo #26 5 years ago

    @Laserbream

    "Yet another reason to employ castrati - they are free from womanish emotions."

    Erm, you do know what a castrati is right? An absence of "womanish" anything is not really core to the concept.

  • Laserbream #27 5 years ago

    @kangarootoo - at least they can be relied upon not to shed tears onto an expensive studio microphone. But you do have to leave the toilet seat down for them...perhaps there is a flaw in that idea after all.

  • sanctusmortis #28 5 years ago

    They've said previously they're big fans of Penny Arcade, which featured a strip on this. In fact, quite a few.

    Maroons and poltroons are very old terms for morons.

    As long as there's no teamkilling, this muting should solve it. I still laugh about someone who tried to teamkill me on GoW because I got the torque bow... it was distracting when trying to shoot, but hey.

  • cyber_nicco #29 5 years ago

    She does not look like Cortana.

    I am disappointed... :p

  • cyber_nicco #30 5 years ago

    @ Tonka and others

    "*cough*
    enhance the choice of maroons you're editing
    morons isn't it?"

    It's a Bugs Bunny reference. He used to say "What a maroon...", using maroon in place of moron.

    At least, I assume it is in tribute to the great, furry one...

  • Les #31 5 years ago

    so it will be a "mute all" button then?

  • L42yB #32 5 years ago

    @Les - No, you will select the player you want to mute from the list. Read the article.

    @SuperGamerMatt - The 360 parental controls already allow you to restrict an account to 'Friends Only' communication if you want. No point adding a feature that's already there...

  • kangarootoo #33 5 years ago

    @L42yB

    I think Les was being sarcastic re the suspected use of a "mock idiot" button.

  • Rambaldi #34 5 years ago

    A-hole button? You mean it makes Sony execs explode?

  • L42yB #35 5 years ago

    @kangarootoo & Les: Apologies... didn't get enough sleep this weekend and that went completely over my head...

  • MORZTAN #36 5 years ago

    "I actually just finished a couple of lines that nearly had me in tears..."

    Way to give away the ending, where Master Chief has to give his own life to save the rest of the world...

    / gets coat

  • Tim #37 5 years ago

    This where I reveal one of my favourite bits of trivia, which is that Jen Taylor, in addition to being the voice of Cortana, is also the voice of Princess Peach and Toad.

    She's also Princess Daisy, but that seems less interesting.

    Consult imdb for details.

  • Horse #38 5 years ago

    It would be SO WEIRD if your girlfriend sounded like Cortana all the time. YOu could get her to say things though...

    /indulges in a private reverie...

  • pikemon #39 5 years ago

    FINALLY!

    Too bad I'm not planning to get 360 any time soon and I just ended my Live subscription today.

  • Kiigan #40 5 years ago

    Great idea. But what I'd really like is the ability to restrict games by location and / or age.

  • Peew971 #41 5 years ago

    Woohoo! Now MS please make this compulsory for every games... Thanks

  • effinwooly #42 5 years ago

    nice bungie............ good idea

  • smelly #43 5 years ago

    "mute idiot" button?

    Not required surely, as they'll all be playing on their expensive ps3s?

  • Xerx3s #44 5 years ago

    Woohoo! Now MS please make this compulsory for every games... Thanks

    You DO know that it is already in every game on the 360, don't you?

  • zendragon #45 5 years ago

    Next is a button that makes the game fun.