First-person shooters

Halo Reach

Crysis 2

Medal of Honor

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Call of Duty: Vietnam (unofficial name)

Third-person shooters

Just Cause 2

Mercs Inc.

Red Dead Redemption

GTA V (unofficial name) (possible)

APB

Real time strategy games

Supreme Commander 2

Command & Conquer 4 (if a console release is probable)

Racing Games

Need for Speed: World

Role playing games

Fable III

Fallout 4 (possible)

Other games, tech, etc. to be aware of

Project Natal (peripheral accessory)

Milo & Kate

And for the finale, an in-depth explanation of how Project Natal works and how Microsoft got their hands on it. Project Natal is a 3D motion capture camera. It detects motion from a camera's perspective in a 3D realm and is set to compete with the Wii HD and Playstation Move. Basically, Nintendo was given two shots at getting their hands on Natal. Once at a Israeli conference where Natal was shown. Nintendo CEO was impressed, but couldn't think of a way to sell it at a reasonable price. Another Asian kid (on Youtube, if you search 3D Wii or something similar) was recruited for Natal after showing off his videos for the Wii. So, Nintendo is a bit late, yes, but let's see what Microsoft does.

Natal basically has three different cameras. A regular camera, a black-and-white camera, and a color camera. The regular camera is used for optimal lighting conditions. If conditions are not optimal, the other two cameras are used. The black-and-white camera sends white and black light rays, and when they bounce back, it gives data to Natal which uses it to create a 3D rendition of whatever Natal is looking at. Then the color camera sends color rays and sees which ones don't bounce back, thus creating a perfect recreation of the area Natal is staring at. An array of microphones allows each microphones to pick up multiple variations of the same sound, allowing Natal to utilize it's noise cancellation technology to drive out ambient noise (like your mom screaming at you to go clean up your room). Plus, Natal can recognize gestures (such as waving, clapping, etc.), facial recognition (so standing in front of Natal can automatically sign you in), and voice recognition (allowing Natal to distinguish between various voices), on top of skeletal mapping, which can identify 4 people at once and 48 skeletal points at 30 FPS. Facial recognition assigns a facial mapping to a certain Xbox Live account so you can stand in front of Natal as it signs you in. Not only that, but it assigns a specific voice frequency to the account as well. For skeletal mapping, if you get into a close enough distance, Natal can recognize individual finger movements as well.

Overall, Natal is a promising piece of technology. I would consider this 'Dumb AI' as it cannot think on its own (i.e. a mind), but it can perform a wide variety of tasks.

And that's all I got tonight, so see ya tomorrow. Hopefully.

Okay, some more info from the Bungie Explains blog. Here, we'll be talking about the beta maps, the rules of compliance, and tools of destruction (armor abilities and weapons). And, for those of you who seem to follow me, I'm sorry for the long delay between posts. Been like 12 days. Anyways, starting off with beta maps. There's four of them: Swordbase, Overlook, Boneyard, and Powerhouse. Swordbase is when two classic Halo maps make babies. I don't remember the names. But it's assymetric with multiple floors to please jetpack-noobs and has enough CQB to put the Energy Sword to good use. Powerhouse is an assymetric map with a dam at one end and a beach at another: a remake of High Ground, of course. Overlook is a campaign-inspired map for Network Test 1, or Generator Defense. And Boneyard is scarcely talked about, but is mentioned by IGN as being "inspired by the beaches of Bangladesh". It's primarily vehicular focused and is said to be bigger than Sandtrap. The 10 second rule for compliance is just a timer to get you back in the map. So, you have 10 seconds per game to get back in the boundaries. If you step outside for 3 seconds, you now have a total of 7 seconds before you're killed by the Guardians. A little twist on the regular countdown. However, some players suggest the timer resets every time you die. We don't know yet. And tools of destruction. Well, you get tons of new tools. I believe I've covered all armor abilities, but on a side note, if you boost yourself up really high with the jet pack, and you don't have enough juice to lower yourself down, then you'll die from fall damage. And for fall damage, it correlates to your height. So, 5 feet? No problem, just a tickle. 20 feet? You might break a couple bones. 100 feet? Good-bye.

Okay, starting off with Armor Abilities. Just like the Halo 3 Beta, they're only showing off a small portion of the equipment, or in this case, Armor Abilities. There's Jetpack, which can lift you into the air. Active Camo is available, which reduces the more you run and jams nearby radar, including your own. Armor Lock, which is presumably only for Spartans, has been explained in my previous blog post. On a side note, nothing can move you. So, this is great if you want to sacrifice a man to block off a critical doorway. Evade is for Elites only and allows them to duck and roll. And the spring move, which is apparently self-explanatory but I haven't heard about this yet.

Weapons are largely the same, cosmetically. Aside from the SMG and Battle Rifle, everything seems to be in the game. No dual-wielding, so that's a reason why Bungie decided to retool their specifications and change stuff about them. A couple new weapons have been added. The Plasma Repeater slows down as it overheats and requires reloading. The Plasma Launcher is the aforementioned portable Covenant Missile Pod that allows them to track down not only vehicles, but infantry as well. The Focus Rifle is a mix of the Beam Rifle and Sentinel Beam. Sort of like the concept Gravity Rifle in Halo 1. For humans, we get the grenade launcher, but when you hold down the fire button/shoot button, it doesn't explode until you let go, allowing you to scare away noobs and then lure them back only for their face to be blown off. However, as of now, no new vehicles, although the Warthog chaingun now overheats.

Loadouts are Bungie's class system, and it changes depending on the matchmaking list (what gametype you select). So, Big Team Battle will have different Loadouts than CTF. These pre-defined classes determine starting weapons, such as a Pistol and 2 frag grenades, as well as what Armor Ability you get. When killed, enemies can pick up your weapons, but not your Armor Ability. You can switch classes between spawns.

And Elites. Why do they deserve their own section? Well, because they are now more fearsome, and this is present in multiplayer. They normally run as fast as Spartans, but with the Evade armor ability, they're one of the most agile opponents on the battlefield. And they retain the Halo 2/Halo 3-style regenerating health that regenerates faster than Spartan-IIIs. Wouldn't that make them overbalanced? Sure, said Bungie. That's why sometimes you get Spartans vs. Spartans, Elites vs. Elites. But that doesn't explain Spartans vs. Elites in the Madness trailer.

And that's about it for today. Hope I see you in the beta. If I do, prepare to be massacred.

A new armor ability has been introduced: Armor Lock. What it does is allow you to lock your armor. Remember from the beginning of Halo 3 where Master Chief's armor was locked? Well, now you can do that in multiplayer. It makes you invincible as long as you hold it down, but you can't move, aim, or shoot. When you release it, an EMP will erupt and you will be thrown back, depending on how long you held it down. The longer you were locked, the bigger the throwback and EMP. I think that'll ruin the fine balance of Halo games, but whatever floats their boat. Plus, if you were stuck with needlers or plasma grenades, they get shaken off when locked. Well, what do you guys think?

Okay, if you aren't aware, Activision and the CEO and founder of Infinity Ward have gotten into a dispute that has rapidly escalated to a lawsuit.

Apparently the CEO and founder of Infinity Ward (which I'll refer to as Infinity Ward from now on) had begun looking for new publishers, namely EA. If that deal had gotten through successfully, then EA would dominate the FPS industry (with Medal of Honor, Battlefield, and now Call of Duty, Halo doesn't stand a chance). But, Activision found out, and had sued Infinity Ward for breech of contract.

Infinity Ward countered back with a counter-sue by claiming that Activision failed to pay them their royalty dues or whatever on Modern Warfare 2's release. If Infinity Ward wins, Activision must pay them their royalty dues and they earn the contractual rights to the Modern Warfare title, and therefore the entire Modern Warfare universe and anything relating to them. What that means is that you'll no longer see Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, but rather just Modern Warfare 3. The Call of Duty franchise would fall. If Activision wins, then they get to fire Infinity Ward.

This is a big deal for the hardcore Call of Duty fans, as you'll no longer see the iconic atomic Infinity Ward symbol. Instead, the Modern Warfare series will now be produced by something retarded such as Happy Face Interactive and the game will be called Future Combat: Modern Warfare 3. You can't brag about something as weird as that.

1) Halo: Reach

2) Xbox Live Gold 1 yr

3) Medal of Honor

4) APB

5) Need for Speed: World (if it comes out on 360)

6) Mercs Inc.

7) MS points

On the other end of the spectrum

Spider-Man 4 was due to be released in 2011. You would think that since Spider-Man 3 was released in 2007 that they'd have plenty of time to produce a new film. However, Sam Raimi, the director, left because of script issues with Tobey Maguire, Spider-Man/Peter Parker, and because he didn't have enough time to "creatively write the script". Kirsten Dunst left because the other two did.

So, Marvel is planning on a reboot of the series, with an all-new cast and director. It'll be more focused on Parker's high school years as Spider-Man. I don't give a crud about the reboot, but I felt Tobey and Kirsten were too iconic for the franchise for them to leave now.

Whatever, Superman's changed four times. I guess it's Spidey's turn.

Okay, I've analyzed the video in-depth, which so far, I don't think anyone has done. So, moving on.

1. The new assassination mechanic works like this. You hold down B behind an enemy target, and instead of bashing him in the head, you go through an elaborate stabbing sequence for that extra bit of glory. But, it doesn't stop there. If you hold B while facing a target head-on, then you perform another killing sequence. Variations may exist, but so far, you punch him in the gut and he falls down.

2. Armor abilities seem to include the sprint ability, cloaking, a jet pack, and a rolling dodge feature, and possibly more. That's all the known armor abilities. Plus, by loadouts, I assume that you select your ability beforehand. Or you attach it to your armor, in the case of the jet pack.

3. At 00:26 seconds into the video, you can clearly see a Spartan-III running with two different color schemes. The body and helmet is yellow, while the rest is green, suggesting you can personalize each part of your armor, as indicated by the ViDoc which said,"Spartans are more customizable than ever before," indicating you can attach much more to your Spartan/Elite.

4. At 00:32 seconds, you can see an ally (which is confirmed because the red X appears over him when he dies) highlighted in blue, suggesting the return of VISR mode. This might be another armor ability.

5. At 00:39 seconds, a Phantom dropship appears. Either this is part of another Firefight mode, or dynamic spawning is in place and you can spawn via dropships and other means (Pelicans, HEV pods, etc.).

6. New weapons include the grenade launcher, needler rifle, DMR, Halo 1-type pistol, a new portable Covenant Missile Pod (it's not a Missile Pod, but features lock-on with not so good homing). This is visible at 00:48 seconds.

7. Apparently, a mode called Headhunter exists. The objective is to probably get as many headshots as possible.

8. At precisely 01:00, you can see someone get no-scoped by your Sniper Rifle. However, that's not the important thing here. If you look at your radar, you can see 12 red dots. Since Bungie did away with the Radar Jammer, and the fact they're all on one side, this means 12 vs. 12! Hurray Bungie!

9. Another mode Spartans vs. Elites probably pits one team of Spartan costumes against another team of Elite costumes. Pretty cool. Invasion, however is puzzling me. Maybe it's the new Firefight? They sound the same.

10. The Arena is a puzzler. I don't know what it is. But Active Roster, confirmed by Gamespot, is a list of who's in Halo: Reach so you can join them in a game soon as a spot opens up.

11. Other things of non-importance include the fact dirt is now present on the bottom of your character. Medals appear at the bottom now.

And for the finale...

New Halo: Reach Screens (by Gamespot) Analysis

They just released them as I was writing this, and I want to perform an in-depth review of them.

1. First screen shows Credits Earned. Either that's the new EXP, or they're opening up a new shop where you can buy accessories for your dude, such as new armor pieces. Maybe you can buy weapons for your starting loadout, and possibly what resembles the Modern Warfare perk system. I guess that's what they mean by Loadout in the trailer.

2. Ahaha. This totally answers the first screen questions. Yes, you can buy armor pieces for your character. Elite or otherwise. The more cR (credits) you earn, the more armor you get. Maybe using cR (if it's the new EXP) might demote you. But buying these armor pieces seem to have no effect on you yet.

3. Okay, the options screen is now shown. An option called The Armory exists, presumably where you buy your armor pieces. But armories are used for storing weapons. Hmm, maybe we can buy weapons or upgrades. The option Player refers to player customization. File Share is now called File Browser. And a new system called Daily Challenges let you earn cR by completing certain challenges, which changes per day.

4. Umm, I need some clarification. It seems you start out with a basic helmet in the fourth screen, but with each progressing helmet, something new is added. Maybe a perk system is built in with the armor and abilities. We shall find out.

5. Aha, this clears up a lot of more unknown information. You get sets of armor. So, you have Spartan-III armor, military police armor, etc. You are not limited to Spartan and Elite anymore. So far, for the UNSC, you get Spartan-III Mark V , which is the type of Spartan you control in campaign, CQC, and Military Police. Interesting.

6. Sixth screen seems to reinforce the idea that you can upgrade your armor.

7. Seventh screen pretty much throws it in your face that you upgrade armor.

8. This reinforces the idea of picking colors for each part of the armor.

9. Skipping to image 12, it shows a lot of variations of the Spartan armor. This might be all the sets of armor you can choose from. This is probably all the upgraded pieces, so chest, shoulder, and helmet. Legs seem customizable too.

10. I'm going to list every armor piece that's shown. For shoulders, you get sets EOD (1,000 cR), FJ/PARA (3,500 cR), and Mark V (5,000 cR). For the Military Police helmet set, you get the base helmet (2,000 cR), CNM (5,000 cR), and HESA-E (20,000 cR). For the CQC helmet set, you get the base helmet (1,000 cR), UA (2,000 cR), and HUL (5,000 cR). For chest plates, you get sets MP/BASE SECURITY (200 cR), ASSAULT/SCOUT (400 cR), and ASSAULT/CQC (2,000 cR). And it seems you get eight different Spartan sets.

11. As a possibility, maybe the different armor pieces upgrade various abilities. Since EOD stands for Explosive Ordinance Disposal, maybe you get increased explosive resistance. EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity) is present and might give you a vehicle speed or armor boost.

The rest is up to your imagination. I hope this benefited you, see ya on the battlefield. Well, Reach anyways.

Okay, I've dug up some more information FROM MY PHONE! It's 'cause I have the new Data plan from Sprint which is like only $140 for an entire 5 man crew (or family).

Enough of my babbling, I'll make this quick and short.

1) No more dual-wielding. Yay! Sort of. I enjoyed being able to dual wield weapons, mix and match my loadout to my liking. However, that just needs to go. I don't know why. Ever since Modern Warfare 2 featured Akimbo Model 1998s, I'm just utterly disgusted by the mere thought of dual-wielding.

2) Reloading has been swapped to X. This is a negative change. Why? Because I liked how reloading was mapped to RB and that allowed quick and efficient reloading. Now, I need to move my finger an oh-so-dreadful 3 more cm. But, then that means RB is freed up for something else. Maybe those armor powers?

3) Civilian vehicles are driveable. And concurring from information released, all of them are able to be droven. I know, droven is not a word. But it is now. The multi-colored transport vehicle that seems to be released from a pedophile's closet is one of those civilian vehicles. Hopefully we can get those custom civvy Warthogs that have spoilers and 24" rims.

To be honest, I got these off some Inside Gaming videos. But, I'll perform my own in-depth analysis. Of each video. So one for the ViDoc and the other for the Madness trailer.

Here you go, the original unedited copy:

Okay, I've started a thread like this on another game (Bad Company 2), so I'm here to inform you of what's new in the game. If this gets buried by piles of useless threads, I'll stop updating.

So far, only the multiplayer portion has been shown to us. And inferring from recent videos (the ViDoc and the multiplayer trailer), there's quite a wealth of new info to be released.

1) You have a multitude of new game modes. The Arena, Spartans vs. Elites, and Invasion are a few that I remember. Hope they add a more objective-oriented feel to the game this time around.

2) Character customization is beyond me. You can now add individual parts to your character (this was partially confirmed from the ViDoc). You can add grenade vests, ammo bandoliers (possibly) and improved armor (possibly). Combined with the already full-fledged custom armor system may be a visual replacement for the standard perks that dominate Modern Warfare 2. As in, if you add in E.O.D., which stands for Explosive Ordinance Disposal, you have increased resistance to explosives. Or E.V.A., which stands for Extra Vehicular Activity, gives you a slight boost in vehicle speed, damage, or armor. And the individual pieces like the grenade vest may increase your grenade count, but make you slower. So less or no attachments at all to your character may make you a swift ninja, whereas tons of attachments make you a walking tank.

3) Instead of assigning colors to your primary armor, your shoulder plates, and armor detail, it appears you can assign individual colors to each piece. So if you want to go flaming homosexual, then so be it, adding purple to one shoulder, pink to another, light blue to your chest, and to top it off, scarlet on your helmet. This isn't confirmed, but seems likely, from the multiplayer trailer.

3) Completely new weapons. The grenade launcher is a welcome addition, the DMR is pretty much a reskinned version of the original BR, which in the Halo 2 demo was single shot, just like the DMR. The AR looks a bit weird, but doesn't fit in with the timeline. If they recently introduced the 32 magazine, then why make the pre-Halo 1 AR with 32 rounds and tons of accuracy, but the Halo 1 AR with 60 rounds and little accuracy? Whatever, whatever works works.

4) Improved campaign. You're thrown into a sandbox and left to do whatever. A dynamic battle function may be installed. Like every once in a while, the game spawns a couple Hornets to fly NW while you're travelling SE. The new and improved AI comes in 3 forms. The first form is from far away, where it's the very basic of AI and does it's best to simulate a long-distance battle. As you come nearer, more and more details come into play, until you get close enough to view the AI at its best.

5) Intense and scary firefights. The improved game engine allows 40 AI in a single battle and/or 20 vehicles in the fray for an ultimate campaign experience. Plus, Grunts have been redesigned for a more scarier look. In fact, they took a pre-alpha drawing of Halo 1 Grunts and tossed them in. So, they look scarier. Especially since it was from a Japanese artist, when Japanese specifically specialize in anime and horror films. Or better yet, horror anime!

That's all we got. Hope you guys view into this thread a lot like my last one (2000+ views and 100+ comments), so please enjoy.

If you know me from the Bad Company 2 forums, you know that I've started a thread called "What's New in Bad Company 2" that talked about what's new in the game. I updated it as soon as some new info was released. Pretty much like the virtual paparazzi. So, I might start something like that. Not on the Bungie forums, since that place is a clutter. Maybe if they have a discussion board on Halo: Reach on Gamespot, or if they don't, right here on my blog.