Halo 3 for Xbox is considered the best first person shooter for a console. Especially when gamers talk about the first Halo game called Halo: Combat Evolved. The game is considered a scientific first-person shooter and the gamer plays as the main character that is called Master Chief. Gamers all around the world as well as gamer magazine's have dubbed Master Chief as the Silent warrior, since he's known for not saying a whole lot during game play. The gamer however does learn a lot of background information from Master Chief's AI Companion known as Cortana. Not only does Cortana provide the gamer with a lot of background information, she also provides a lot of comical relief as well.
The Halo series has been dubbed as one of the best first-person shooters that are available for a console, especially when it comes down to Halo: Combat Evolved. Since Halo is for Xbox only, other consoles have released first-person shooters that aspire to be better then Halo. In 2004 Bungie studios released the highly anticipated Halo 2 which broke the sales records that Halo: Combat Evolved had achieved. Then again in 2007 Bungie Studios released Halo 3 for the Xbox 360. Within the first 24 hours of release, Halo 3 broke what Halo 2 had achieved and sold over $170 million worth of copies.
Due to the highly successful sales of the Halo Trilogy, many have dubbed the Halo Franchise as 'Halo Nation'. However the franchise didn't just stop with the games. There have been graphic novels and novels written as well as many other types of licensed products. Even though Halo 3 is for Xbox only, the games have been released for the PC. Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2 have already been released and gamers are patiently waiting for the release of Halo 3 for their home PC's.
Gamers think they may have seen the last of the Halo games but reports on Bungie's official website may state otherwise. It's been reported that the developer's are currently in the works with Peter Jackson for a new Halo game. Although there may not have been official updates as of late, there have been hints to gamers all around the world that something is in the works, but until then, gamers still have Halo 3 for Xbox.
The developers of the extremely popular Halo trilogy are called Bungie Studios. Originally founded by two undergraduate students in May of ’91 the original name was called ‘Bungie Software Products Corporation’ and primarily concentrated on making Macintosh games within it’s first nine years. The first game from Bungie was called Gnop! Which, if you really look at it, its Pong spelled backwards. The Halo Bungie developer’s produced the popular games Marathon and Myth series as well as Oni.
It wasn’t until 2000 that Bungie’s current project called Halo: Combat Evolved turned into the killer app first-person shooter to launch for Microsoft’s Xbox console. After the release of Halo: Combat Evolved which sold more then 6.5 million copies after it’s release, this ever growing game quickly became Xbox’s flagship franchise. In 2004 Halo 2 was released and raked in more then $125 million on its day of release allowing it to set a record in the entertainment industry. Halo 3 for xbox was released in late 2007 and it surpassed the record’s that Halo 2 achieved and raked in over $170 million on it’s first twenty-four hours of release.
Only a few day’s after the release of the final chapter in the Halo series, Halo Bungie announced that it was splitting off from Microsoft and would become known as Bungie LLC. There is however nothing to fear about Bungie being an independent company, they’ve already stated that Halo 3 may actually NOT be the last game in the series and it’s been known that the studio has begun working on Halo: Chronicles with Peter Jackson. Although there have been no news about other projects and nothing has officially been announced, Halo Bungie has dropped hints that something has begun.
If there’s one thing that Halo Bungie studio’s is known for around the gaming world, other then putting out killer app first person shooter’s, it’s the fact that the men and women who work at this studio are considered a dedicated workplace and an amazing group of people. After Hurricane Katrina, Bungie donated proceeds from the sales of special t-shirts to the Red Cross and when they found out about a gamer who sent in his Xbox 360 for repair and the gamer lost all the personalization on the Xbox. Bungie sent the gamer an autographed Master Chief helmet and some other swag. Nice group of people right? Yeah, we thought so too.
Bungie studios, it's a popular name in the gaming world, known for the highly successful Halo trilogy. It was originally founded in '91 by two undergraduate students who originally went by the name 'Bungie Software Products Corporation' and primarily released Macintosh games. One of the first ever games that the Halo Bungie developer's put out was actually called GNOP! Which if you look closely is PONG spelled backwards. They did however have some other successful games such as Marathon, the Myth series as well as Oni.
When Halo: Combat Evolved first entered the gaming market, it quickly became Xbox's flagship franchise. It sold more then 6. 5 million copies during its release. In 2004 Halo 2 was put out onto the gaming market and surpassed everything that Halo: Combat Evolved had achieved. In its first day of release, Halo 2 sold $125 million worth of copies. Another three years later and Halo by Bungie came out with its 3rd and final game of the trilogy called Halo 3. During its first 24 hours of release, Halo 3 surpassed what Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2 had achieved and sold $170 million and also became the largest pre-ordered game in gaming history.
Halo Bungie website is a large community for gamers. Gamers can go to this website, log in and find out information, stats and ranks. Since it's a large community they can also go in and chat with other halo gamers. They can find out ways to try and help them to get past a level they maybe having a hard time on, or they can try to learn new tips and tricks for their online play. Another added feature from this website is the fact that gamers can purchase Halo memorabilia that is not sold in stores, thus allowing the Halo Franchise to continue to grow every day.
After every game was released, the Halo Bungie website has evolved. It's one of the best places for gamers to acquire information about the game and what developer's have in store for their next big project. It was announced that the developer's have been in works with Peter Jackson, so it's possible that gamers may not have seen the last of Halo.
Halo 3 skulls are another new addition to the series, and they allow gamers to be able to change their game play. They can allow the gamer to make game play more challenging, interesting or even change some of the dialogue if they want too. These skulls are generally placed out of the way for gamers so that they have to look for them and they are also considered Easter eggs. Since these skulls are located out of the way, some gamers may become frustrated while trying to look for them, others may have some ideas where to go. For gamers who become frustrated, there are several different walkthroughs available for them, to be able to attain all of these skulls.
With the Halo 3 skulls there are two different categories. There are the Gold Skulls and the Silver Skulls and each of these skulls in both categories achieve something different. Golden skulls when first found, will give the gamer 10 gamer points. In total there are 9 of these skulls available to be found and when all 9 have been collected, they will unlock the body and shoulder Hayabusa armor for the gamer. The Gold skulls are known to affect game play and if the gamer chooses to do so, can make the game more challenging for them.
The Silver skulls however differ from the Gold Skulls. When the gamer acquirer's these skulls they will not unlock any achievements. There are 4 Silver skulls in total for the gamer to find. When these skulls have been found, it will allow the gamer to change such things as the dialogue, physics and appearance of the game. An example of this would be the famous IWHBYD skull. It's better known as the 'I Would Have Been Your Daddy' skull. When this skull has been found and the gamer chooses to use it, it will change up the dialogue for the AI players. Gamers may hear AI Marines yelling 'THIS IS SPARTA! ' or they may hear AI Brutes saying 'Pie is good. '
For a gamer to be able to obtain these skulls, they have to start their level from the very beginning and they have to be playing on a difficulty of Normal or higher. Once the gamer has obtained a Halo 3 Skull they can then save and quit their game, they do not have to finish the level. However this does not obtain for the famous IWHBYD skull.
A new and exciting feature for Halo gamers is the new Halo 3 Armor, it allows the gamers' to be able to customize their online character's to better express themselves, or just to make their character look really cool. There are two different characters's that gamers can choose from, they can either be the UNSC SPARTAN-II, better known as Master Chief or they can play as a Covenant Elite. These new armor permutations can either be unlocked when the gamer finishes certain accomplishments that can either be found in the campaign side of the game or during the multiplayer side of the game.
Since there are two characters's that gamers can choose to play as for their online character, means that there are different Halo 3 Armor permutations available for either character they choose. For a gamer who chooses to play as an Elite character, they can choose from 5 helmets, 5 shoulder pieces and 5 chest pieces to give themselves a combo of 1 helmet, 2 shoulder pieces and 1 chest piece for their character. Now, since not all players usually play as a Covenant Elite character there are not as many armor permutations as there are for the gamer that plays as the character of Master Chief. So for the gamer that chooses the Covenant Elite character, there are 625 different permutations available to be chosen from.
If the gamer is going to play as Master Chief or UNSC SPARTAN-II they will actually have 6,144 different armor permutations available to them that they can choose from. The only reason that this number is higher then the Covenant Elite character, is due to the fact that more gamers' will play as this character. The gamer has the same possibility as the gamer that plays as an Elite character; they will be able to choose from 11 helmets, 8 shoulder pieces and 8 chest pieces. They can choose a combination of 1 helmet, 2 shoulder pieces and a chest piece to personalize their character.
There are a few different ways that a gamer can unlock these Halo 3 Armor permutations. Some armor pieces may already be unlocked by default for both characters, however other pieces will be unlocked in different ways. You can unlock armor by beating the campaign in either the Heroic difficulty or the Legendary difficulty. Other pieces of armor can be unlocked by completely achievements throughout the game.
In Halo 3 for xbox, the gamer now has the opportunity to be able to change the armor of their multiplayer character no matter if they are playing as a Covenant Elite or the SPARTAN character. The new Halo 3 armor was first introduced in the Halo 3 beta, and it has been calculated that there are over 187,947,000 armor permutation combinations that the gamer can choose from.
If the gamer is playing as the SPARTAN character, they have 6,144 halo 3 armor combinations that can be chosen from. The gamer can choose one helmet, two shoulder pieces and one chest piece. There are several ways that these new armor permutations can be unlocked. Take the SPARTAN Hayabusa helmet for example. To be able to unlock this helmet, the gamer must find all of the Halo 3 skulls that are available in the game.
If the gamer is playing as the Covenant Elite character, they have 625 armor combinations that are available for them. Like the SPARTAN character, the gamer that plays as an Elite can choose one helmet, two shoulder pieces and one chest piece. The reason that there are less armor combinations available for the gamer that plays as an Elite is due to that fact that generally more gamers play as SPARTAN characters over the Elite character.
Also like the SPARTAN armor permutations, there are different ways that Elite armor can be acquired as well. For example take a look at the Elite body armor called ‘Commando’. For the gamer to be able to unlock this piece of armor, what they have to do is complete the trip kill achievement.
For the gamer who plays as the Covenant Elite character, they are able to choose from 5 helmets, 5 shoulder pieces and 5 chest pieces for their character and for the gamer who plays as the SPARTAN character they can choose from 11 helmets, 8 shoulder pieces and 8 chest pieces that are available for their character. These new Halo 3 armor permutations are available for gamers so that they can customize their multiplayer character to better reflect themselves.
