Halo 3 graphics to improve, says Bungie

Since Microsoft launched the beta for Halo 3 two weeks ago, some have murmured that the graphics are a bit, well, uninspiring, especially in comparison to Gears of War. Next-Gen spoke to Bungie about this perception.

Bungie's Frank O'Connor assures Next-Gen.biz that there are plenty of changes coming in the months until the final game arrives in September.

"Well to be honest, we've seen them [the graphics] praised too. Multiplayer is by necessity a more sterile iteration of our graphical style and will always be tuned for performance and elegance rather than jamming the screen full of pixels. We think that the final aesthetic look of our game will be judged at launch in September and in part based on the more intense single player spaces. We're also focused on maintaining the Halo character and atmosphere in our visual design – we're competing with ourselves, and not simply trying to match the aesthetic of other games. We think that folks will be happy with Halo 3's graphical polish come September."

[FeralPhoenix]

Why would they put all the bells and whistles in the "Beta"? I'll say it again, Bungie knows what their doing....

[InMyOpinion]

I've been trying to get that through to the people who say it looks crap, but no one listens. Wait until the final version is out. I'm sure it will blow everything else out the water.

Look everyone! 6 brave soldiers from the Sony Defense Force are here to disagree with every comment on this article. I guess no one has been stating that the Halo 3 BETA is a BETA then? 6 people disagree with predator (below) for agreeing?? What are you trying to achieve, kids?

[Lyberator]

Anyone without a 360 or anyone who isnt planning on going near halo 3 thats in here needs to STAY THE F*** OUT! this has nothing to do with the ps3. Anyway I think graphics will look as good or better than the announcment trailer as when they first showed it they took control of Master Chief and moved him around and shot his gun. It was all in-engine.

[Silver360]

Final build has better graphics.

[predator]

agreed my friend

[SuperSaiyan4]

Its a Beta! Of course its not going to look out of this world visually however I was still very impressed by the visuals!
Look at the water amazing!

Also I zoomed in with the visor onto a player on my team and on some areas on the armor it was high res! You could see lots of detail.

What they need to work on is making the rockets and grenades do more damage!! And the melee needs to be sorted out then they need to increase the visuals.

Boy oh boy I cant wait for this game!!

Anyone else getting Legendary Edition?

[predator]

dont think il get legendary edition mate, just want the game so i can play it

[Shadow Flare]

I would seriously think of buying a 360 for Halo 3 if it looks as intense as the 'starry night' trailer. As long as it looks similar to the trailer then im sold. I want something more and new in halo. And so far im not sold on it; i've played alot of Halo 2 and i see no reason to buy Halo 3 at the moment

But i dunno how much more the graphics will change. On the IGN podcasts they said that beta's are usually pretty much what the graphics are like in the final version, and that was including the Halo 1 & 2 betas. But since there's been such a big outcry...bungie you've got about 4 months to reach that trailers quality

[edit]

predator- yeah i got a ps3. Thats why im not so far out on getting a 360. But i liked Halo 2 enough that i would get a 360 just for Halo 3 if it were appealing enough. So far its not. But those 360 titles you mentioned really dont interest me to be honest. I got Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy XIII (and VII remake), Gran Turismo 5, Burnout 5, Tekken 6, Lair, Heavenly Sword, LittleBigPlanet, Home, WarHawk, Ninja Gaiden Sigma and Killzone 2 all in my sights. So im not all that down with getting a 360 at the moment, but i'll see how Halo 3 pans out

Mart - Show me a link that says Sony said the Killzone 2 trailer was ingame. All im saying is sony isn't the only one who uses CGI target videos. Lost Planet, Gears of War (mad world trailer) and Halo 3. At least sonys games look similar to their CGI videos. And about the beta stuff, i dunno i haven't seen it myself but id rather listen to IGN then you mart. But i hope Halo 3 turns out great and looks great cos i like Halo

[predator]

i woundnt buy a 360 just for halo 3 mate, mass effect, bioshock and blue dragon to name a few that would make ur mind up, as much as i like halo theres more to the 360 than that one game, have you got a ps3?

[TheMART]

Shadow Flair, at least MS doesn't say the starry night trailer is ingame. Like Sony said E3 2005 Killzone 2 was, when it actually wasn't.

What they did say though, is that the Halo 3 announcement trailer was inengine and that Halo 3 would look like that.

About the beta's: WRONG. Seriously, if one would watch the Halo 1 and 2 beta to final product... changed a lot. Plus, single player might have more whistels and bells then the multiplayer.

Guess we'll have to see in September. But as they said: seeing final Halo 3 will make you say: 'Gears of what?'. I guess they'll make that reality, otherwise one wouldn't say that

[zonetrooper5]

I'm pretty sure that Bungie will reach the E3'06 realtime trailer that they showed. They will be working hard in the last few months of dev time to get this game polished and tweak until its amazing.

[Xbot_Killer]

and already looks highly polished compared to Halo3 with it's xbox 1 textures. That kinda makes your beta logic a little silly. It's been rumored that they had problems developing for the 360 and this is the proof. They've been working on this for 3 years and you expect a major graphical over haul in 3 months?? lol

[omansteveo]

The fact this guy got 10 agrees for his insanely stupid and ignorant comment speaks volume about the kinda people that visit this site...even if your pro Sony you have to think he's an idiot

[IrishAssa]

Yeah but not all Beta's represent the games almost completed graphic's, I think Bungie will wait to give the graphics there final polish like the last two titles.

[AngryHippo]

Halo 3 will only keep getting better and better right up until it is released. I strongly believe the visuals will be on par if now better than gears. I thought the graphics in the beta were pretty impressive for a beta, and i agree supersan4 the water effects are really impressive. I don't know why but i just love these water effects games are using nowadays, its really impressive especially the likes of Bioshock. Anyway this game should be amazing cant wait, I will definately be purchasing the legendary edition of this game

[Antan]

I believe what he`s saying, which anyone with a hole in their arse can see, is that the single player gfx will look considerably better than the multiplayer portion of the game. Its a no brainer. Theres another interview around at the moment which clarifies this. Personally i only want H3 for the single player campaign, not too fussed with multiplayer.

“I think it’s safe to say there will be lots of visual surprises in Campaign and a few nifty graphical improvements in multiplayer.”

http://www.next-gen.biz/ind...

September should be a fun time to be a gamer.

[SuperSaiyan4]

A PS3 and 360 and the only console that has all the games is the 360, the PS3 has very little in terms of games and it needs them very quick if it wants to get sales.

If your a 'gamer' then you would have bought a 360 as well since it has 'games' also all the cross platform games look and play better on the 360 - I say this because I have both.

To buy a console for one game is rather extreme and the 360 has plenty of AAA titles and exclusives this year.

Also for the record Gears of War 'Mad world' was NOT CGI it was using in game engine.

The Halo 3 commercial video with the 2 kids was totally CGI and Halo 3 isnt going to look anywhere near that graphically as it was CGI movie we have a long way to go before games look as good as CGI videos!

This year 360 has it all, PS3 has some decent titles but imo will be shadowed by 360 games, next year you have a couple of big titles like MGS4 and FF14 is it?

[THC PRITCHARD]

fall of man will still look better

and i tell u what
Haze will be better

HALO 3 is no better than halo 2

[DrunKao]

Good thing Haze is coming to the 360 or I don't know what I'd do. I might have actually gone out and purchased a PS3 for it. Thank you Ubisoft!!!

[Skynetone]

We have a long time to polish and iterate on the largely complete game at this point.

[DrunKao]

Who is "we", do you work for Bungie? I hope they're not crunching too hard over there.

[Bloodmask]

They always have to downscale the graphics in multiplayer......mainly bc of frame rate issues. Sometimes they even use lower poly counts on everything. There is a lot more going on onscreen. I think the only exceptions are when the game is multiplayer only that you will see a big graphical jump. This should come as no suprise to anybody. it goes back all the way to the N64 Goldeneye.

[GameOn]

isnt this beta really old anyway

[MaximusPrime]

I played both Halo 1 and 2 and they were fantastic games. Now i'm not interested in Halo 3. Seem it is pass the "best before" date.

[IQUITN4G]

You found Halo 1 and 2 to be fantastic yet your not getting the 3rd and concluding part of the story.Eh.

[CompGeek]

w/e, it will never look great.

[zonetrooper5]

Yeh the Beta we are playing is from an old build, watch the Red vs Blue Halo 3 Beta vid on the marketplace and you will see that its looks much better than the Beta build we are playing. Firstly Xbox Killer you are a Sony fanboy who just likes annoying people on this site, please go away and stop spamming and flaming games because they aren't loko the best, graphically. I would love to see you make a game which looks better than Halo 3, Resistance, Gears of War. Oh wait, your a fanboy who has not got a brain.

[DrunKao]

I don't think that the Beta looks much better than the RvsB video to be honest. The textures are the same and the only reason it looks so good is because we get a close up, unobstructed view of the Spartans that we're not usually afforded during multiplayer matches. I think the armor and everything else has the exact same level of detail.

[sajj316]

Is Bungie referring to campaign mode graphics versus multi-player graphics. I think the game will be quite polished with respect to the campaign mode graphics. I also think that what you see now as beta is 80% of what you'll get visually in the final release.

After seeing Forza 2 in action close to final release, I don't believe this extra polish argument that people tend to use as an excuse. When I say extra polish, its that shiny coat to make the game look completely new.I'm sure Bungie will respond to the mass and improve the graphics slightly and they have 3 months to do it.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

I don't know IMO maybe it's just me but does anyone ever get the feeling that the September release date of Halo 3 was ment to draw out Sony's big guns? Because don't MS have another big exclusive comming out that month "Mass Effect"? It just seems strange to release two "BIG" exclusives that would compete with one another on the same console.

[PS360PCROCKS]

Here you go guys here is a comparison of Halo 2 Beta and Halo 3 beta compared to the final Halo 2...and this from team Xbox from when they played the Halo 2 BETA...'The beta version that we would be playing this day was by no means a final representation of the multiplayer component. Most of the polish wasn’t there, certain gameplay components weren’t working right or weren’t active, but Halo 2 on its worst day is better than 99% of the games out there on their best. The number one goal of the beta was to do networking tests and also to test the Xbox Live functionality.'

[Odion]

Who the hell is tossing 8 disagrees on every poster who stands beside Halo 3??? Its kinda low move.

Also you can have RFOM, while you play an average game, I continue to enjoy one of the best console fps's.

[AIZEN SOZUKE]

too bad killzone will surpass the target renders

[Odion]

that type of graphics just aren't possible in this generation, come the end of the life cycle you'll start to see CGI quality. Next gen you'll see the next true jump

[DrunKao]

So how are the graphics for a video game suppose to surpass a CG TARGET RENGER??? If you are really serious then I'm sorry for you and all the people that agreed with you. Your delusion is depressing.

[Rooted_Dust]

I guess we'll see when we see it, won't we? The pressure is on Bungie now to deliver.

[ApocalypseShadow]

makes it easier to not get dissappointed.

halo3 will not look like the cg video.bunjie is just making sure people are still on board to buy it after seeing it.it will not look that much different from what you see in multiplayer.

forza 2 didn't look any different from the demo.IGN says jaggies,jaggies,jaggies,but the owned by microsoft gamespot says the game looks off the hook.who should i believe?forza 2 should look better than pgr3.

how is it gears of war looks just as good in single as in multiplayer,but halo3 gets a pass?

lie to yourselves about scratches,red rings,compromised accounts,modders,higher prices and now graphics.

have fun.

[Odion]

GoW never really up the amount that was going on in the area. However Halo 3 will have a lot of people vechiles and other crap going and to make sure it isn't killed by internet connection to bring the look down.

[power of Green]

People still say well look at the other games in their beta build and Halo 3 looks like crap compared; never stopping to think no one has seen what Halo 3 looks like all we've seen are a few beta multi player maps slapped together to fine tune gameplay as if each dev team adds polish in the same fashion with the same time tables. lol

(((shadowgamer)))) you're retarded man. Turn 10 stated the demo was the final build before it was on XBL. To say every game will not shine because forza wasn't as graphicly polished as people wanted it is moronic at best and sounds like fear. Are you saying bungie is lieing? who in the hell said Halo 3 will look like the CGI Halo3 AD? released last SuperBowl lol. foolio.

[power of Green]

Are you retarded son no 360 game is exspected to shine becuase of Forza 2? lol. That's like saying no PS3 game will shine because gundam looks worse then boasted and ever multi plat game looks worse so i don't think PS3 games can shine.

The PS3 gonna get crushed this year theres not a dam thing you folks can do about it het off your Forza trip.

[Bullseye]

on this one.For most of us Halo isn't about graphics,its about the fun and addictive multiplayer and the engrossing nature of the single player campaign.For me,the first Halo is one of the most immersive games i have played for many a year and i would prefer Bungie keep those attributes even at the cost of a little graphical finesse.While graphics can add to involving the player in the Halo universe ,that is offset by the risk of slowdown,glitches and other problems associated by trying to push to many pixels. Smooooothly does it Bungie

[ApocalypseShadow]

you must believe it yourself to get so upset.not one game out on 360 is gears quality.and even gears has drab colors.

mass effect and maybe bio shock are the only games i see that come close or better than gears because of color.but i thought the graphics would just pull away on 360 just like all of you were telling us over and over.but it's not happening.so you fall back on physics and gameplay excuses to make yourself feel better.

it's okay,millions will still enjoy halo3.don't be sad.rejoice in maxed out 360 graphics.because that's what gears of war proved.

[GMR_PR]

because UT3 on xbox 360 is looking better than GOW already...

http://www.n4g.com/News-423...

None of the new systems are maxed out! And saying it makes you look dumb...

peace =)

[Saint Sony]

And I bet you think Resistance Fall of BROWN is damn good looking.
Ever heard of chosen style? Bright colors does not = good game/gfx.

[SF49er408]

They just dont give up. GOW looks like single player cause they moove 2 miles an hour and the maps are soooo small. Halo 3 maps are huge and there are 16 players, many more weapons, and vehicles. by the way ur not looking at halo 3 enough. if anyone says it looks like halo 2 theyre a moron. just because we get a game this year sony fans r pissed. looking at a spartan in 3rd person mode its not far off from gears' player models. i do hate the ground textures but theres alot more going on then meets the eye. n e ways mass effect WILL look like a cg trailer everytime u talk to a npc. n sony fans can play WARHAWK yippeeee. go play that for a day then hmmm kinda boring. with halo 3 i havent even thought of any of my other games. is not boring and we only have a few modes and maps. just wait for the single player, next gen flood, and ull see how many more polygons n sh*t they can push when ur playing that. go play whatever game u have out on ur console u queers

[Mr Murda]

I'm telling you right now that Halo 3 will not be at Gears level, but that's just fine with me. I'm a graphic whore as much as the next gamer, but that's not what the Halo series is all about. It's about unmatched gameplay!!! The gameplay is second to none, and has been since Halo CE. Sure, I'm looking for a little more polish on the game, but I firmly understand that it's a Beta version. The thing is that H3 Beta is HELLA FUN, and that's what matters!!!

As long as it remains as fun as the previous intstallments then that's what I'm in it for.

[bung tickler]

well as far as i know the first two halos were graphical showcases for the original xbox so i dont think you can really say that its not at all about the graphics... yes gameplay is first but the graphics have always mattered too. i mean halo was the number one/two game that showed how much better the original xboxs hardware was over the ps2 and gamecube.

and... im out of bubbles... thank you fanboys.

[ichimaru]

seriously sony fans should not be commiting this has nothing to to do with u and yes the game will look consierably better when finished.

[IrishAssa]

..I really do

[bung tickler]

i live in wisconsin i HAVE to agree.

[bung tickler]

i dont know that halo 3 will look much better come sept 25th but i do know that bungie has always built thier game with gameplay in mind first and THEN make it look pretty. and since they are doing the beta to fine tune the GAMEPLAY and work out bugs i think its kinda safe to say that perhaps they havent gotten to the pretty stuff just yet. thats why thier beta unlike many other companies betas MAY improve quite a bit graphically when its all finished. again i said MAY... but i think its a pretty safe bet knowing bungie.

[cocoapebbles]

To be honest...i feel Halo 3 will be a big disapointment this year yes it will sell because it sold very good in the past...so there are alota halo fans out there but i believe with games like assasins creed UT3 and many other for both platforms will crush halo3... i played halo 1 and 2 and well to me it was boring...i played with my friends online and offline...Im looking forward to warhawk,killzone2,haze,unchart ed arms and ut3 to make halo look like last year..and i believe those titles will.
I am a fan of both consoles...Yes ps3 is lacking in sells but look for them to pick up the pace during summer and end of year when the games start coming out

[GMR_PR]

You wrote; "I am a fan of both consoles...Yes ps3 is lacking in sells but look for them to pick up the pace during summer and end of year when the games start coming out"

You sound to me like a PS3 fanboy, specially when almost all the games you mention are PS3 exclusive.