Halo 3 vid-doc next week?

By Tom Bramwell Published 15 December, 2006

No playable Brutes, mind.

Looks like we won't have to wait long for more on Halo 3, with our old pal Internet reports bringing us word of a video set to go up on Xbox Live Marketplace next week.

According to somebody who seems to work for Microsoft in Belgium (yes, it's that good), a seven-minute video - perhaps the "VIDOC" mentioned in Bungie's recent "Halo day" update - will be released on 20th December.

Developer Bungie had previously said that its recent TV advert would be followed by a "making of" documentary, offering "some new insights into elements of the campaign", going on to "peel back the curtain on a certain prominent character in Halo 3". Perhaps it's Seedos.

Whether that's next Wednesday though remains to be seen, particularly since the Microsofty heralding the date also says that the video "highlights the emergence of the Brutes as playable characters" - something that Bungie's Frank O'Connor has since denied during a fireside chat with our other old friend, Internet forums.

It's all getting a bit heated. Anyway, you can catch up on all the recent Halo gossip by visiting the gamepage. Or you could just watch a spookily well-done Team America mash-up of the TV advert instead.

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. Follow him on Twitter.

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

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Comments (13) Latest comment 6 years ago

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

  • hailstorm #1 6 years ago

    Swapping to another character removes the illusion of actually being the master chief though. That's what I liked about the original Halo. It didn't jump about and you followed a story by becoming the master chief.

    I still don't agree with the inclusion of the Arbiter story in Halo 2. I don't really care about the backstory of the Covenant. I just want to kick some ass.

  • Xerx3s #2 6 years ago

    I really liked the arbiter, hope that they put him in again. But I cannot identify with the brutes so that would most likely suck.

  • penhalion #3 6 years ago

    No more switching characters. If I follow a character through a story, then I want to be following that character and not suddenly find myself being someone else. This only serves to ruin any submergance in the story and throw me right back out of it again.

    Halo 2 could easily have achived the arbiter story through cortana reading covenant log files or showing the cheif covenant videos. Something like

    "Hey chief while pulling data from the Covenant battle net, I came across some archived info you may find interesting. It seems our enemies are not so united after all!" cue blue holographic cutscene.....

    It starts to get annoying, when you can think of better ways to tell a story than the comapny who are actually writing it!

  • lambtron #4 6 years ago

    The Arbiter is cool - he should get his own game. As for the Brutes well they are only fit to be exterminated...

  • morriss #5 6 years ago

    http://halo.bungie.org/news.html?item=17427

  • Muddtallica #6 6 years ago

    Why does everybody hate on the Arbiter strand of Halo 2? It's what I liked most about that game...it was a total shock to me when the game suddenyl put me in control of an Elite, and even more of a surprise when I found out that he and the Covenant actually had quite well developed personalities and stories of their own...and it makes the Elites seem much cooler.

    The switching about was never my problem with Halo 2 - I thought it provided me with two interesting plot strands to follow, and added a lot of depth to the narrative. My problem was that neither of those plot strands were FINISHED. >:(

  • penhalion #7 6 years ago

    @Mudtallica

    Did you play Halo 1?

    The Arbiter story in Halo 2 kind of makes the halo 1 story a bit pointless. It also makes the beginning of halo 2 seem odd. You save earth then find that your enemy is now the good guys. How the frak does that make up for them killing millions of your people for seemingly no reason (at least no reason bungie decided to share with anyone)

  • Xerx3s #8 6 years ago

    And seriously, if the brutes where playable characters, wouldn't they keep it secret even untill after the game was released just like they did with H2? My bet is that they are MP characters.

    Update 2: Frankie has confirmed (on the Gaming Age forums) that the 'playable brutes' part of this story, at least, is NOT true.
    Edited by Xerx3s at 15/12/06 @ 12:14

  • kangarootoo #9 6 years ago

    Story aside, I preferred the Arbiter character. His weapons weren't as cool (though obviously once you started picking up from the ground you had open choice). As far as game controls go they were identical, except I thought the cloacking device was a really nice mechanic that made for some interesting tactical options that MC was lacking. Now if they give MC a cloacking device, they can do what they want with the story (frankly, it was all about the environments and combat for me. I really didn't take much interest in the plot in either game).

  • SeesThroughAll #10 6 years ago

    A freaking "making of"?

    (Over)Hype and marketing are wonderful things.
    They turn what is on it's own a great game into the second coming and an object of obsession.

    Roll on those interviews of Hideo Kojima or that guy from Epic, just as well, calling themselves geniuses. Things have simply gotten out of hand.

    /end rant

  • AtomicBanana Verified Level Designer, Playground Games #11 6 years ago

    "Hey chief while pulling data from the Covenant battle net, I came across some archived info you may find interesting. It seems our enemies are not so united after all!" cue blue holographic cutscene.....

    .....

    Yeah, because that wouldn't come off as amazingly forced would it? ;) I still love the intro to halo 2, showing the contrast between the chief and the arbiter - and while some of the arbiter bits were a little tedious, I think it did a good job of fleshing out the story in a way that didn't seem completely transparent.

  • Muddtallica #12 6 years ago

    penhalion: I've played both games, but not for a while, so my exact memory's a bit hazy now, but I didn't really think the Arbiter stuff detracted from the main plot that much. It was more just the same story from a different perspective. I didn't think it exactly made the Covenant good guys as such, but it did make their point of view a bit more understandable, which makes them more interesting in my book, whilst the "divisions within the Covenant ranks angle' simultaneously added a bit of intrigue and meant that you could carry on killing the 'bad' Covenant without any conflicting feelings. Generally, I thought it was a well put together story, with that angle in particular helping it to develop the previous game's themes and kick out into its own territory. Now if only they'd written an ending too!

  • NegativeZero #13 6 years ago

    I think the main problem people have with the Arbiter, aside from the fact he gets the last level, is that no one knew he was going to be playable for half the game instead of the chief until the game was out. People went into it expecting an awesome time kicking ass as the Master Chief and defending Earth from the Covenant. Instead they found themselves on another Halo, and spending half the game playing as the bad guy. It felt like a massive bait-and-switch.