With the release of the news that Halo ODST will be a 60 dollar title most fans had the reaction "i don't want to pay 60 bucks for an add-on" but here to explain what you will get for your 60 dollars is a Bungies interview with The Seattle Times, lets hope it can live up to it hype and 60 dollar price line.


Seattle Times reports: All sorts of changes are under way inside the dark and mysterious Kirkland bunker where Bungie, the renown game studio, is putting final touches on the next version of "Halo."

For one thing, Bungie is going into a dramatically new direction with "Halo 3: ODST," the latest installment in the blockbuster sci-fi shooting franchise that established Microsoft's Xbox console and has sold more than 27 million copies worldwide. It's also Bungie's first release since the studio became independent of Microsoft in 2007.

"Halo" is the Harry Potter of video games, a staggering success with devoted fans who can't wait for every new edition, so there's a risk in tinkering with the formula.

Apparently fans are pleased with previews they've seen so far. "ODST" remains the most-anticipated game of the year, with 53 percent of gamers in a Nielsen survey planning to buy the $60 title after it goes on sale Sept. 22.

In previous versions of "Halo," an armored supersoldier called Master Chief blasts his way along fixed routes, battling aliens and uncovering a Wagnerian story about giant rings with awesome powers.

"ODST" picks up the story of the supporting cast — orbital drop shock troopers, the "regular" soldiers who fought alongside Master Chief.

For "the kind of story we want to tell — which is a little bit more human story — they seemed like a really great candidate for a hero in the 'Halo' universe," explained Joseph Staten, writer and creative director.

Staten, who studied theater at Northwestern University and military history and political science at the University of Chicago, said the game has more drama and mystery than before.

"As far as the dialogue goes, we were trying to get a bit of hard-boiled, thriller, femme fatale and square-jawed gumshoe — a little touch of that," he said. "That most clearly comes through in the dialogue between Buck, your squad leader, and Veronica, this shadowy naval intelligence officer."

Structural change

The structure of the game is also different, for "Halo." Instead of trudging along a fairly set path, "ODST" begins in a dark and mostly empty city that players can freely explore, an "open world" model popularized by the "Grand Theft Auto" games.

Players who prefer traditional "Halo" can head directly to sites in the city that trigger "flashbacks," putting them into classic "Halo"-style missions fighting aliens and blowing things up. Clues to the mystery come from playing through these missions.

"We're doing a lot of pretty neat things in terms of mixing it up, introducing some non-linearity, some free exploration," Staten said. "This is also a mystery story so there's a lot more clue-finding and mystery-solving than you would normally find in a game of this kind — nothing that strays too far from the fun 'Halo' experience, but we definitely decided to take a little bit of risk and have some fun with this one."

Multiplayer option

Lifelike characters are just one way that "ODST" is more realistic and approachable.

The game also adds a new multiplayer option called Firefight that's designed to be quick and easy for small groups of friends to play on the same console or online. Groups of four cooperatively work through sessions that may last about 30 minutes.

It's an alternative to the more intense, competitive multiplayer sessions that draw about 1 million players per night to the Xbox Live online-game network.

Firefight is also a nod to the real-world demands on players' time, especially now that most original "Halo" fans are well into the parenting years. The average age of video-game players overall is now 35, according to the Entertainment Software Association.

Players like Staten, a 37-year-old father of two.

"To find an hour to play, or five hours a week, that's asking a lot of me," he said. "Firefight, from my point of view, is aimed at guys like me who have families and have lives outside of playing games and work. We love to play games, but we want them to be compatible with our real lives. For Bungie, at least, Firefight is really a nice first step down that path."

360-Hq Game Database: Halo 3: ODST
News-Source: seattletimes.nwsource.com