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Halo 3 online 'years ahead' of rivals - ex-Bungie dev News

Xbox 360 News by Tom Bramwell

23 January, 2007

Certain Affinity's Max Hoberman says that Halo 3's Xbox Live features are "years ahead of everything that's out there".

Speaking exclusively to our sister site GamesIndustry.biz about the formation of his Austin-based studio, which is currently working on multiplayer maps for Halo 2, Hoberman also hinted at the levels of secrecy surrounding the project at his former employer, Bungie.

When he originally left Seattle, Hoberman was working remotely for the Halo developer. "Online, UI, planning... All sorts of stuff. I did that for a long time," he says. But that quickly became impossible as the game reached implementation. "They won't even let a build of Halo 3 leave the building," he says.

With a bit of help from Microsoft Hoberman was then able to set up Certain Affinity, whose multiplayer maps are due out this spring. The company is also working on a new, unannounced project. "We're prototyping it on the Xbox 360," says Hoberman - but he won't say much else.

For more on Hoberman's new studio and to read about what would drive a man to quit working for the foremost developer of console FPS games, check out the full interview: Bungie Jumping.

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Comments: 1-50 of 75 in total | next 50 »

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quantumsheep
23/01/07 @ 10:36
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\o/
L42yB
23/01/07 @ 10:38
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Can't wait to see this game :) If the multiplayers anywhere near is ground-breaking as Halo 2 woz then it's gonna kick ass!
login_name
23/01/07 @ 10:41
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How was it ground-breaking?
JonFE
23/01/07 @ 10:42
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Here we go again...
L42yB
23/01/07 @ 10:45
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login_name: The entire matchmaking system used in Halo 2 was brand spanking new (i.e. ground breaking) and the fact that it was the most popular Xbox Live game all the way up until GoW is proof of its creamy goodness :D

Seriously tho, the ranking system, the online stats and the way you are connected to a game is great and was the foundation for Xbox Live on the 360 (which is still arguably the best online service on a console)

/fanboy mode off
L42yB
23/01/07 @ 10:47
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Fmeh?
SeesThroughAll
23/01/07 @ 10:50
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Years ahead? Of course. Literally.
Dizzy
23/01/07 @ 10:52
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Don't forget the cool website where you could see all that happened on the maps with different views. In Halo 3 this will be expanded to full movie stuff. You can now really replay the whole battle. Their aim is to have a youtube of Halo 3 battles ;) Dunno if they will be able to deliver that, but the idea is cool.
flapps
23/01/07 @ 10:54
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Years ahead? So more death-match and capture the flag action then?
DutchDemons
23/01/07 @ 11:00
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if it's better than the silly trueskill BS of GoW, then i am happy.

Inquisitor [mod]
23/01/07 @ 11:01
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PGR 3 has already implemented that in gotham tv though. I'll admit that its a first for console based fps though.

I'd rather see replays of the single player game though, that would be cool.
TheGrandChappo
23/01/07 @ 11:07
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I hear Master Chief has new shoes?

News article please?
Edited 1 times, most recently on 23/01/07 @ 11:10
Stormflood
23/01/07 @ 11:11
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Matchmaking is what kept me and my mates playing online in Halo 2 for a solid year. I don't care for lobby-based systems at all.
SBfistfun
23/01/07 @ 11:14
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PR bullshit

years ahead of rivals?

Peeking round urinals more like
Adam_T
23/01/07 @ 11:18
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'You can now really replay the whole battle.

you can do that in BF2, it's quite fun watching a 40 minute game and being able to zoom around the map in free mode.
AtomicBanana
23/01/07 @ 11:24
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'if it's better than the silly trueskill BS of GoW, then i am happy.'

All 360 live games use true skill in the 'ranked match' option :P
smoothn00dle
23/01/07 @ 11:27
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Really?
Steroyd
23/01/07 @ 11:36
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Oh dear god it's moved from anything happening at Bungie to anything someone even closely related to Bungie now when will it end?

/turns on apocalyptic music

SOCOM?
L42yB
23/01/07 @ 11:38
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@AtomicBanana: While that is true, the game is not required to use it for statistics purposes... the true skill rating is used by the Xbox Live matchmaking system to try and match you up to other people who are (supposedly) near your skill level. It just seems that devs are too lazy to capture their own stats so they just display that instead... lots of arcade games do it too... kinda pisses me off
Yossarian
23/01/07 @ 11:41
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I've said it before and I'll say it again: Halo 2's matchmaking system should be the absolute benchmark standard for all Live games. and PC devs should take a good long look at it too.
captainrentboy
23/01/07 @ 11:47
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Guys let's all be civilised on this one yeah,as that last Halo thread was a bit of a joke,and lots of you thoroughly embarrased yourselves :)
A guy is saying Halo 3 is ahead of its rivals when it comes to online MP gaming, that's all.
And going from Halo 2 and the fact that it was unrivalled on consoles at the time, (maybe not so much PC online gaming)and actually still is in most cases when it comes to MP goodness,I'm quite inclined to believe him.
He didn't actually state that any of your mothers were whores,so let's not all get worked up here.
Edit:I'll say one thing they need,and that's some sort of way to filter out the vast majority of the 13-17 yr old Yanks appearing on my matches ,as they're pretty much the only thing that winds me up on there.
Edited 1 times, most recently on 23/01/07 @ 11:49
Glitch
23/01/07 @ 11:50
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Halo 2 was a good game but joining a game took way too long and the fact it wasn't lobby based was a major fuck up imo. I enjoy playing with new people and being able to revenge my deaths, the fact that after a game everyone was disconnected and had to go find another game was utterly fucked up for me and in the end I just stopped playing after 2weeks.
Steroyd
23/01/07 @ 11:58
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Neither has JediMasterMalik... it's a strange day today.
Edited 1 times, most recently on 23/01/07 @ 11:58
peterfll
23/01/07 @ 11:59
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If they come up with a way to filter out the teenage yanks with endless "you are 4 the gay" and "fag" rants then...... oh, another clever person has already made that suggestion.
SBfistfun
23/01/07 @ 12:05
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why not just have a filter so you can choose only to connect to european players?

I never play on US servers on my pc games as the latency is obviously sh*te and I don't want to listen to fat fuckers shouting "dudddddddde"
Rizo
23/01/07 @ 12:06
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Lol the hype begins I'm just hoping it's more Halo than Halo 2.
JediMasterMalik
23/01/07 @ 12:08
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@Steroyd - HEY!

Never played Halo 2 online, I play CSS instead. If they make playing games online free, I may play Halo 3 online.
Eldritch
23/01/07 @ 12:09
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I REALLY wonder what Molyneux, McGee and Rein have to say about that.
trevd72
23/01/07 @ 12:21
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halo2 is easily still the daddy on the block when it comes to online. only R6:V comes close.

don't even mention SOCOM in the same breath as the mighty halo2.
DutchDemons
23/01/07 @ 12:30
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I know all Live games are supposed to implement the 'trueskill' thingy, but GoW is the only game i played where it was noticably annoying.

Although the math behind the system is impressive, it simply doesn't work. The people you play against vary from elite to f*cking retarded...or in mathematical terms the range of ranks varies from the lowest percentile to the highest percentile.

in other words..it SUX!

OT: rarely played halo 2....how did that party-system work again? (real question...not a snobby remark)
Edited 1 times, most recently on 23/01/07 @ 12:31
Mudo
23/01/07 @ 12:41
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By the way, saved replays are nothing special or new. They're a standard feature of RTS games.
I am interested in exactly how they're doing it for FPS, though.
absolutezero
23/01/07 @ 13:01
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Seeing as Halo 2's game options are still further ahead than anything else on the market, its not much of apush to see them adding in a little bit more for Halo 3.
MaxiSleep
23/01/07 @ 13:02
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"They won't even let a build of Halo 3 leave the building,"

Show how behind the times Bungie is. Valve was able to leak Half Life 2 without leaving building....



/runs
Edited 1 times, most recently on 23/01/07 @ 13:02
Dizzy
23/01/07 @ 13:16
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"By the way, saved replays are nothing special or new. They're a standard feature of RTS games. "

On PC they are normal... Halo 3 will do this on console and add "stats" and "events" to the replay (well if they can implement the specs ofc). So you will be able to see who killed who with what and maybe even have some lines/icons that show movements vectors, LOS, weapons, range, etc...
absolutezero
23/01/07 @ 13:48
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cry more
Psychotext
23/01/07 @ 13:52
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/chokes on rotj irony
Lukus
23/01/07 @ 14:34
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D'ya reckon Halo 3 related news stories push up Eurogamer's traffic?
thinktank
23/01/07 @ 14:48
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"D'ya reckon Halo 3 related news stories push up Eurogamer's traffic?"

uuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhh hhhhmmmmm, duuuuuuuuu..........
JediMasterMalik
23/01/07 @ 15:11
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It's the biggest franchise in gaming. Dwarfed only by Mario [sic] cos he's about a hundred, and Sony's big hitters

So...It's the biggest MS franchise...
captainrentboy
23/01/07 @ 15:30
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*Wipes tear from eye*
Good god rotj that was a beautiful speech,I wonder what JMM's comeback will be,I expect nothing but greatness.
thinktank
23/01/07 @ 15:41
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David Attenborough's take on the wilds of the video game forum:-

Here we can see the gamers congregate, drawn together by their common desire for video game news. The “Journalists”, who are the dominant species in this region leave scraps of news for the gamers to fight over, keeping the more succulent meat for themselves.

However not everyone gets the lion’s share, as there is a strict pecking order to be adhered to. Quickly we see the shy rodent like “First!!!’s” scurry to the carcass of the news article ahead of the remaining pack, their presence is most unwelcome by the other gamers but tolerated non the less. They are quickly seen off by their rodent cousins the “meh’s” and the “sarcastic one liners”, but they have little time to feast and must get as much meat as they can before the more dominant gamers arrive.

The “First!!’s, “Meh’s”, and “sarcastic one lines” all make way for the ape like “Rational posters” and the serpent like “Fanboy posters”, who move in to claim the kill. A long standing feud exist between these dominate species who are locked in an evolutionary arms race. The “Fanboy posters” attack with their ‘troll posts’ and the “Rational posters” use ‘objective opinions and politeness’ to defend themselves. In turn forcing the “Fanboy posters” to develop the deadly ‘how can I be a fanboy? I own console/PC X” venom, which is swiftly defended by the “Rational posters” brilliant ignore ability. Both species constantly strive to out do one another, forever locked in a deadly dance of put downs and trash talk.

Although vastly different the dominant species share similar mating rituals. Those lucky enough to whiteness such an event are very luck indeed. An attraction is first initiated by a strange ritual known as “+1ing”, which then transcends into full intercourse. The two gamers can then be seen “lolling” one another until one gamer is satisfied and moves on.

Meanwhile two unusual creatures take their opportunity to poach pieces meat form the news article’s carcass, right under the noses of the more dominant gamers. Swiftly moving in, posting and disappearing in the blink of an eye. Barely noticed by those around them, these are of course the “Comedy posters” of the chimpanzee family and rather strange “life story posters” of sloth family. Both species seem out of place in the forum but have little affect on the other gamers and as such are largely ignored and allowed to post as they please.

Rare encounters with the “Journalist” species serve to calm the group, if only for a short while. As inevitably the gamers resort back to scraping and fighting with one another until the news article is striped to its bare bones and left for mother EG.

The pack then moves on looking for their next news article to devour.


Edited 1 times, most recently on 23/01/07 @ 15:44
JediMasterMalik
23/01/07 @ 15:46
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Yup, I'm defensive!

I was just pointing out that you contradicted yourself. Nothing more. Don't make assumptions. None of those retorts are relevant to me, I never make any of those accusations. I fully realise the xbox, and 360 have plenty of great games.

Oh, sorry, I'm meant to be a troll.

GRRRRAAAAAARRRRR!!
JediMasterMalik
23/01/07 @ 15:55
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If only I could roll my eyes over the internet.

This will have to do. >_>
freedumb
23/01/07 @ 16:07
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rotj you are the one that mentioned franchises, adding Halo as the biggest franchise in gaming. I am simply comparing it to other franchises which counter that claim. I had clearly read what you'd said about a level playing field, but there were other games in that list like Diablo on a single format or Half Life. I deleted it quickly, before any of the replies as I'd rather not start an argument.
Edited 2 times, most recently on 23/01/07 @ 16:09
BadBoyBonner
23/01/07 @ 16:33
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ThnikTank that was very well written and the most entertaining post I have ever read on here!
sanctusmortis
23/01/07 @ 16:49
#46
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For a ratio of userbase:game sales, Halo 1 and 2 are ridiculously high. Like Gears of War for the 360 is right now (current approx ratio 52:15), basically. Zelda probably has a similar rate on N64/Wii, and thanks to the diverse market none of the Sony machines, no game (bar those on PS3 due to the low rates of both), can come close.

It's good to know H3 MP is so far ahead, but er... could they have not made the stuff from H2 standard for Live 360? I miss decent matchmaking...
DUFFKING
23/01/07 @ 17:03
#47
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Well, Halo2 was years ahead of everything else and still is, so even if it's exactly the same it's done that.

Shame I foudn the MP boring as hell.
Rambaldi
23/01/07 @ 17:10
#48
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Forget Halo 3, I'd say Halo 2 is light years ahaead of any current online competition: matchmaking, very wide variety of modes, great maps, loads of new maps, loads more to come, mostly lag free...

...that said, it is full of gung-ho yanks who are as bad at winning as they are at loosing..;)
Edited 1 times, most recently on 23/01/07 @ 17:13
captainrentboy
23/01/07 @ 17:18
#49
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Jesus Duffking you had to break the lighthearted mood with your depressing talk!
It's not boring,you're shit :)
thinktank
23/01/07 @ 17:30
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I try, Thanks!!

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