Halo 3: ODST live action ad airs

By Robert Purchese Published 7 September, 2009

Actors simulate the real thing.

Microsoft has aired a mouth-watering live action cinematic for Halo 3: ODST, imagining the true battlefield experiences of an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper.

Hosted on IGN and on general Xbox Live release tomorrow, the one-and-a-half-minute clip follows a soldier through his gritty training and onto a planet's war-torn surface, where he comes face-to-face with the Covenant.

Rupert Sanders, director of the Halo 3 short "Believe" (the diorama), directed the piece, which was shot in Budapest, Hungary.

The cinematic will become a TV advert to promote Halo 3: ODST, which launches for Xbox 360 on 22nd September.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (19) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • hiddenranbir #1 2 years ago

    Nice way to draw in the crowd, make it seem like a movie.
    Edited by 1 at 07/09/09 @ 09:07

  • DrRobotnik #2 2 years ago

    So, after District 9's success and now this, would the bigwig Hollywood studio heads like to come out and explain why they shelved the Halo movie? Or are they too busy skulking off to beg Blomkamp to reconsider?

    Fools.

    Great advert.

  • Dizzy #3 2 years ago

    Awesome ad!

  • hugejeans #4 2 years ago

    If only the games where that gritty.

  • altitude2k #5 2 years ago

    Having seen D-9, I'm not so sure Blomkamp is the right man for the job. He's a helluva director, don't get me wrong, but if the movie requires big scenes of grandeur then I'm not so sure he would be up to it - and Halo would definitely require that.

    Although, there's much less of that, and a lot more gritty action in the Fall of Reach - so maybe he *would* be a good fit for the first one - what with all the brutal training and ground-based operations. I just can't see him pulling off the big spectacle scenes in a movie of Halo.

    I like to contradict myself sometimes.

  • DrRobotnik #6 2 years ago

    altitude2k, I understand your trepidation, but with Peter Jackson producing there'd be no issue with the 'epic' scenes. PJ is probably the best in the business at epic action sequences, and Blomkamp would have the gritty, close-up stuff down to a T.

    I really can't see anything going wrong with it - If I had the money I'd fund it myself. It would definitely make bank.

  • Dizzy #7 2 years ago

    "but if the movie requires big scenes of grandeur then I'm not so sure he would be up to it - and Halo would definitely require that. "

    Maybe true but a lot of the Epic scenes in Reach are actually space battles so I guess that would all be CGI madness.

  • altitude2k #8 2 years ago

    I think really the best man for the job would be PJ himself. He has proven that he's the master at retelling stories in movie form.

  • BBIAJ #9 2 years ago

    It's been up on LIVE since the weekend...

  • mcmonkeyplc #10 2 years ago

    Well I reckon MS should just create a studio themselves and go it alone. It's not like they lack the money and if they do it right they will have another halo related cash cow.

  • altitude2k #11 2 years ago

    @BBIAJ

    True, but a lot of people don't work the weekends...

  • Alkeno #12 2 years ago

    Saw it the other day, I was quite impressed by it. The bad part is that I dislike the use of real action to sell videogames, it feels like a huge cheat the same as using bullshots at impossible resolutions and 8xAA or using images of the ultra-PC version with dual GPU to advertise a PS360 game...

    In this case it feels even more weird because the realistic and crude feel of the video don't match the Halo look (which is cartoonish, colourful). This kind of advertising would be a better match for Killzone o even a CoD sort of game.

    Anyway, ODST was going to sell millions already. Now it will sell some more (and quite a few 360s with the new downpricing).

    PS: I never liked the ODST live action short movie that was made as a possible concept for an Halo movie by PJ some time ago, this looks much better. They should better restart the Halo Movie project, it would print money.

  • DrRobotnik #13 2 years ago

    "I never liked the ODST live action short movie that was made as a possible concept for an Halo movie by PJ some time ago"

    P.P.s. It wasn't made by PJ, it was made by Neil Blomkamp. Also, it wasn't made for ODST, it was for Halo 3.

  • XdarXideX #14 2 years ago

    Awesome advert! I'd much rather this guy directed a Halo movie. Although Blomkampf is obviously talented and District 9 was an excellent film, I don't think the gritty, realistic approach would suit Halo.

  • captainrentboy #15 2 years ago

    altitude2k, I think Blomkamp would've done a great job with Halo. I believe the smaller more intimate action sequences in District 9 were more to do with the 'limited' 30 million budget rather than the director's lack of ambition or directing talents.
    Saying that, District 9's final 20 minutes with that one Mech suit (Seen in all of the trailers before someone screams ''Spoiler'') was more exciting to me than the bloated final 40 minutes, featuring hoardes of robots, of Transformers 2.
    Anyway not saying it to start an argument, just my opinion :)
    Ohh and this live action ODST trailer is awesome, but like a few have stated doesn't really represent the world and design of the Halo games.

  • metalangel #16 2 years ago

    The (old) live action short didn't make any sense - they were fighting over a case containing a laser rangefinder so they could track Mister Chafe's reentry into the earth's atmosphere? So all the technology and spacecraft and other stuff at the Earth's disposal and it all hinges on one guy in a construction site somewhere to do it?

  • davisorle #17 2 years ago

    Thats one sweet ad. Expensive, short and great on it's purpose. Didn't expect this tbh. Wish there was more tho. The idea of a Halo movie when they first said it I was so against it but.. Ive started to believe that IF a LOT of careful work on it, it will be awesome so... we can only hope I guess they wont humiliate the franchise with a bad bmovie crappy thing when there.

    ODST for now it is.

  • busboy33 #18 2 years ago

    @hiddenranbir:

    "make it seem like a movie"

    I've shown the ad to three non-gamers, and all of them wanted to know when it was in theatres so they could go see it. And none of them were sci-fi / boom-boom movie fans. They enjoyed the emotional hook of a 90 second, foreign language (so that was Hungarian?) advert so much that the lasers and aliens were irrevelant.

    Whatever MS/Halo hatred people (not you hidden) may have . . . you've got to concede they sure know how to advertise the hell out of their flagship franchise.

  • GooseUK #19 2 years ago

    A tight and gritty trailer to promote... an over-the-top colour fest, splashed with more colours than an child's colouring book. The beauty of marketing, akin to the images of the big mac you see right above the counter.