New Halo 3 trailer, details

By Ellie Gibson Published 10 May, 2006

See it in action right now.

It's official - Halo 3 is on the way and will be hitting the shelves some time next year. But you can see it in action right now, because the trailer shown at Microsoft's press conference is available for viewing on Eurogamer TV.

According to Bungie's website, the trailer is very much running in real time, and it's designed simply to give us a sneak peek at the graphics and audio - they're keeping the multiplayer modes and all the other exciting stuff under wraps for now.

However, it does also reveal the return of Cortana, which director of cinematics CJ Cowan says will be key to the plot. "Cortana and the Chief being a galaxy apart is a situation we haven't seen before, and is something that is a powerful component to Halo 3.

"We are using her transmissions in the demo to give the viewer a few subtle clues to her situation and state of mind, without revealing any specifics we want to save for the game itself."

But Cortana's by no means the game's biggest star, as Cowan observed: "It is the Chief, back on a devastated and Covenant controlled Earth, standing over the excavation of a structure buried in the crust of our own planet that is the meat of our demo.

"The questions raised by these images, and the feeling that our assumptions about the Halo universe are being challenged this late in the story is what I am personally most excited about leaving with our fans. That's the type of thing that builds anticipation even more for the payoff to this trilogy we are preparing."

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (37) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Tejstar #1 6 years ago

    My 360 has renewed purpose in life...

  • Baz_Dude #2 6 years ago

    This and Gears of War are looking amazing!

  • BEAR-ONE #3 6 years ago

    Yummie! Master chief is back with extra testosterone!

  • space_ace #4 6 years ago

    huh?

  • Beano #5 6 years ago

    "See it in action"

    Hardly... it only a treaser with no ingame footage.

    Nothing really exiting in the teaser.. pretty boring to be honest... but Halo 3 is coming which is VERY exiting :)

  • Hicksy #6 6 years ago

    /stands to attention

    :o

  • alimokrane #7 6 years ago

    AFter seeing the trailer for Gears of War ... I have no problem now waiting for Halo, Gears of war will keep me busy

  • Yossarian #8 6 years ago

    disc, their website refers to it as the final part of the Halo 'trilogy', so yes, this is the end

    God, their music guy should win every award going. the Halo themes are wired into my adrenal glands like the Lord of the Rings music or something. the fanfare ...

  • Beano #9 6 years ago

    "disc, their website refers to it as the final part of the Halo 'trilogy', so yes, this is the end "

    Just like when MGS3 was to be the final game in the trilogy... there's always the option of starting a new trilogy ;)

  • Yossarian #10 6 years ago

    unless they start doing prequels yadda yadda, I doubt it. I think Bungie wants to do something else.

    also, I'm pretty sure Master Chief is going to die in this one

  • reality_cheque #11 6 years ago

    If the Master Chief dies, what we will be controlling? His ghost?

  • Spiral #12 6 years ago

    If the Master Chief dies, what we will be controlling? His ghost?

    Arbiter, Cortana, Cortana interacting with the chiefs armour and controlling it directly, take your pick.
    Edited by Spiral at 10/05/06 @ 10:18

  • Skooch #13 6 years ago

    Is it just me, but the story line in Halo 3 just isn't at all what I play the game for. I find the story line a bit long-winded and odd, at the end of the day I just play it for the quality of the graphics and the superb gameplay. Halo 3 for me is about excellent game mechanics, balanced weapons systems and online multiplayer carnage - which is why I'll really start to drool when I see some in-game footage.

  • Baz_Dude #14 6 years ago

    The movie is running on the real game engine!!! This is all real time footage. *drools*

  • Lothar Hex #15 6 years ago

    Grunt: I just wet myself.

  • brombeer #16 6 years ago

    Personaly, I was much more in awe by Lost Planet than this trailer. I found it kind of bland. It doesn't say anything about the game itself. It's just a cut-scene. Nothing jaw-dropping.

  • Rambaldi #17 6 years ago

    /goes to toilet to clean up

  • Sko #18 6 years ago

    Compared to the first Halo, is the second one any cop? I haven't got an Xbox myself and none of the people I know with Xboxes bothered buying it so I've never got chance to sneak a peek at theirs either.

    edit: peak/peek.
    Edited by Sko at 10/05/06 @ 11:09

  • Xerx3s #19 6 years ago

    "disc, their website refers to it as the final part of the Halo 'trilogy', so yes, this is the end"

    But they didnt mention anything about Halo 0 or perhaps forerunner prequels.

  • TwistidChimp #20 6 years ago

    Depends on who you ask. Personally I found the single player campaign pretty uninspired, especially compared to the first. Good multiplayer though.

  • Xerx3s #21 6 years ago

    "also, I'm pretty sure Master Chief is going to die in this one"

    You mean the "This is the day the world ends" thing? :)

  • CargoCult #22 6 years ago

    I think it was this is the way the world ends...

  • jlaakso #23 6 years ago

    I am embarrassingly enthusiastic about the original Halo, but the sequel didn't do anything for me. (I'm not sure why that is so.) Still, this is one to watch.

  • Rambaldi #24 6 years ago

    Heathens.

    The campaign in Halo2 was every bit as inspired as Halo1. The AI is stellar (the real crux of the Halo experience), the graphics and audio were a significant leap forward and the story (whilst it bothered some) was great IMHO. The art direction remained sublime and the level design and geometry was more complex and varied.

    The only place where Halo2 'failed' was in its lack of recognition of what made Halo1 so great: a constant stream of unpredictable dogfights. Consequently the several 'sniper alleys' that players are forced through in the game turn it into a highly frustrating trial and error exercise at times. Unforgivable.

    I hope to god they realise their mistake and exclude enemy snipers form Halo3.

    Oh, yeah, the best online FPS ever too IMHO, with the original UT in close second.

  • armyourfists #25 6 years ago

    /giddy

  • JakePrice #26 6 years ago

    Its fantastic! at long last! Great Trailer too.

    now all I have to do is get a 360!!

  • jack_klugman #27 6 years ago

    I am embarrassingly enthusiastic about the original Halo, but the sequel didn't do anything for me. (I'm not sure why that is so.) Still, this is one to watch.

    Complete opposite for me. Not touched Halo since playing the sequel. The original's story and level design leaves me cold. Halo 2 has such a grandiose, cinematic quality to it that I can't fail to be sucked in each and every time I give the story mode a whirl.

  • Pob #28 6 years ago

    I hope they improve upon the NPCs' inability to actually turn around on the spot! (Halo 2)

  • morriss #29 6 years ago

    I so fucking happy. There's so much to be drawn out of that demo, as to possible level design, story structure and also stylistic presentation. Has Cortana gone rouge? Will the whole game be earth-based?

    /goosebumps

  • Yossarian #30 6 years ago

    yeah, the common interpretation is Cortana has gone rogue/melded with Gravemind

    I got the sense from reading some of Bungie's comments that there was a major twist regarding the Ark on earth (which is presumably what is being revealed at the end of the trailer)

  • CargoCult #31 6 years ago

    Seems authentically Bungie, for a change - and the dialogue seems to refer somewhat heavily to the first Cortana letter.

    ...

    I mean, they're hardly going to do that if they're solely looking for sales figures... ;-)

  • fluff_the_tiger #32 6 years ago

    Halo 3 will probably come out in Summer 2007, to co-incide with the movie.

  • firm3d #33 6 years ago

    As far as creating a new trilogy, I can see that; there was the Marathon trilogy, and enough hints to those games in the Halo "trilogy".

    EDIT - One of the common (and one of the best) themes in the Marathon games was AI going mad, which I got the impression was returning in Halo 3.
    Edited by firm3d at 10/05/06 @ 22:18

  • Captain-nippon #34 6 years ago

    ever saw the movie Final Fantasy the spirit within? Oh that was Halo 3 footages? some nutcase dress up in a suit and shoot aliens for a living is considered good. The Doom movie was so good it WAS DOOMED....


    So far it look exactly like halo 2, there isn't much differences...another boring nutcase in suit blasting aliens. How is this differences from the last 2 games?

    MGS4 is far more superior. graphically, story, and actions....and of because Snake...





  • Carrybagma #35 6 years ago

    Ahhh... Captain-Nippon!

    I'm so very pleased you have returned!

    Can I fetch you a nice cup of tea or something?

  • starmonkey #36 6 years ago


    "Heathens.

    The campaign in Halo2 was every bit as inspired as Halo1."


    Yes, that sudden, abrupt ending was pure genius!

    This is why Halo 2 was arse:

    penny arcade comic

    And the fact that they won't release is on Windows XP! Lame. Halo3 looks like the Halo2 I was expecting.
    Edited by starmonkey at 11/05/06 @ 01:09

  • Rambaldi #37 6 years ago

    Nothing like relying on someone elses lame comic strip to articulate your own thought!

    But by the sound of it, you never played it anyway because it wasn't (shock horror) on PC.