Halo 3 Anounce Trailer on Bungie.net

[Chris OFarrell]

What are "The Cortana Letters"?

[Durandal]

What are "The Cortana Letters"?

Before Halo was announced, the creator of the web site Marathon's Story received a series of mysterious e-mails from cortana@bungie.com. These letters fueled the long-rumored connection between Halo and Marathon.

[Durandal]

Cortanna, welcome to the rampent mad AI's support group, to your right is SHODAN to your left Durandal.

Everyone say hello to our latest addition.
"Hello Cortanna"

Watched the trailer, it's minimalist and fuck if those graphics arn't pretty that music kickass and the view.... daaamn.

Don't forget Tycho.

[Vehrec]

The Cortana Letters are a set of pre-halo goodness that existed back when the game was still coming out for the Mac and was called BLAM!
Yes, BLAM was the codename of Halo. Apparently Bungie wanted a code name so stupid nobody would use it for real.
What happened was that a bunch of strange E-mails started showing up in the Inbox of the Marathon Story Page, a bunch of missives from someone named Cortana who sounded a lot like Durandal, the AI from Marathon. The six letters were all delivered before the game was anounced, and were the source of almost all the pre-release Halo speculation. Have a look and see for yourself. It also contains some early Covenant rantings, and hints at a now defunct storyline.

[Durandal]

That trailer is orgasm-inducing. But I want a damn Marathon crossover!

[DPDarkPrimus]

But I want a damn Marathon crossover!

My name is Cortana, of the same steel and temper as Joyeuse and Durandal.

[Instant Sunrise]

It seems that the AR is Halo 3 is not exactly the same as Halo 1. the barrel is slightly longer. Anyone up for scaling the length of the longer barrel?

Halo 1:


Halo 3:


Looks like the MA5B may end up as a proper assault rifle, and this means that the SMG is likely still in the game.

[President Sharky]

Well, the SMG had its use as a good dual wield with the plasma pistol. Best combo IMO for taking out Elites on Legendary.

[JointStrikeFighter]

It seems that the AR is Halo 3 is not exactly the same as Halo 1. the barrel is slightly longer. Anyone up for scaling the length of the longer barrel?

Given that the AR in Halo1 was 87.6cm long.

Halo Scale Page

Going by that it means the barrel on the Old AR is about 3.9cm long.

Given that the new barrel appears to be twice as long then its around 7.8cm long.

Edit: Links Dressed For Your Convienience

[Rogue 9]

Well, Cortana is evidently rampant.

And joy. The good ol' spray 'n' pray. Ah well. Maybe they'll bring back the old shotgun, too.

[Agent Fisher]

Who knows, prehaps they have made the AR more accurate and still faster than the three round burst idiocy of the BR. I would have preferred a single shot for the BR so I could fire faster.

[McC]

Large Quicktime trailer

And it makes me sad that this, like Halo 2, will only be available for Vista systems on the PC-side. I have no interest in shelling out for a 360, and have even less interest in using Vista.

[Count Dooku]

Who knows, prehaps they have made the AR more accurate and still faster than the three round burst idiocy of the BR. I would have preferred a single shot for the BR so I could fire faster.

I want better weapons altogether. Halo took place 500 years from now, and the best damned gun the cheif had (the AR, in Halo: CE) was only accurate to about 50 feet. It makes me angry just thinking about it.

[Lazarus]

Is it just me or does the MA5b look less bulky now? I always thought it was too chunky to be practical. In the original design the torch was a grenade launcher so it made sense, but then they opted for throwable grenades only so rammed a torch in there. Considering the attatchment adds quite a bit to the weapon for a mere torch its not a very practical weapon. I was hoping they'd bring the grenade launcher back.

I'm also hoping for some allied covenant action, where the Chief engages prophet-loyal covenant with a team of elites and grunts.

[Ace Pace]

Gamespot talked with Bungie and...

UPDATE] Shortly after Microsoft's presentation, we had an opportunity to get a close-up look at Halo 3 with Bungie representatives. We spoke with Brian Gerrard, one of Bungie's community managers, as well as CJ Cowan, the studio's cinematics director. Cowan stated that the trailer was a good example of where Halo 3 is going, in terms of fiction. By that, he means that the story is epic in scale, but dark as well, and Bungie is going for a distinct mood, since Halo 3 will represent the end of the trilogy.

The Bungie representatives made it clear to us that the trailer was running in real-time on the Xbox 360. The trailer is set in the African desert, and it was taken from roughly a third of the way through the game. Cowan noted that the constant battling has taken its toll on Master Chief, and you can see that by the many scratches and gouges in his armor. The flashes of Cortana seen in the trailer fill you in on the state of her mind, and the Forerunner structure seen in the distance at the end of the trailer represents a pivotal point in the story.

We next met with Marcus Lehto, Bungie's art director, who filled us in on the technology as he gave us a fly through of the locations in the trailer. The crater seen in the trailer is three miles across, and it's all rendered in real geometry. Halo 3 has a new global lighting system that now lights everything uniquely from the same source, which explains just how that setting sun looked that good as it illuminated everything in the trailer. Halo 2, on the other hand, used a lighting system that lit everything separately. Meanwhile, parallax mapping is able to give depth to structures in the distance, such as the clouds above the crater. A new particle system offers different levels of light diffusion to take the quality of the atmosphere into account, and that makes for different layers of light.

The demo shifted away from the crater to the part of the level you see the Master Chief walking in from. He was controllable, which means that the trailer indicates just how good the game will look. Lehto was able to zoom in on the Master Chief with the camera, and you could see the many different ways light reflected objects onto him. For example, you could see light reflect off the ground and onto his armor. A new materials system shows the difference between his armor and the rubber undersuit. It's so detailed that if you bring the camera close to the Master Chief's visor, you see everything in front of him reflected in it, right down to the ammo counter in his rifle.

[UPDATE 2] An update to the official Bungie site, Bungie.net, also gave some hints as to why Cortana appeared to be making semi-sinister statements. "The Master Chief's AI companion Cortana is still trapped in the clutches of the Gravemind--a horrifying Flood intelligence, and a civil war is raging in the heart of the Covenant," read the plot description on the brand-new Halo 3 site. Following the abrupt end of Halo 2, it was unclear if Cortana had been corrupted by the Gravemind or had been destroyed altogether.

Cowan also talked about Cortana's ambiguous status in a Bungie.net article. "Given the variety of character and story arcs at the end of Halo 2, we wanted to boil down our announcement to a few key threads," he said. "Cortana and the Chief being a galaxy apart is a situation we haven't seen before, and is something that is a powerful component to Halo 3. We are using her transmissions in the demo to give the viewer a few subtle clues to her situation and state of mind, without revealing any specifics we want to save for the game itself."

[Hawkwings]

Cortana *has* to reunite with the Master Chief. It's demanded by then entire story so far!

Anyways, any guesses on the giant structure in the crater? It looks to me like the structure in the snow level of Halo 2 Campaign, where you were the Arbiter, and the level involved falling down shafts.

Edit: so cortana says...

I have defied gods and demons
I am your shield, I am your sword
I know you, your past, your future
This is the way the world ends

Did anyone else notice that her tone of voice is very differnt in the third line. She sounds like her old self. The other 3 lines, she sounds very menacing, scary...

Also, notice how the banshees weren't attacking Chief? And, after that shockwave, they all disappeared? Destroyed by the shockwave, perhaps.

[Chris OFarrell]

And if that crater is only 3 miles in diameter, well the cruisers inside it might need a little rescaling

[Noble Ire]

Anyways, any guesses on the giant structure in the crater? It looks to me like the structure in the snow level of Halo 2 Campaign, where you were the Arbiter, and the level involved falling down shafts.

As someone already noted, its almost certainly "The Ark" mentioned by Guilty Spark at the end of Halo 2. Presumably, its the command core of the entire ring network (as such, its activation would seem to foretell something rather ominous).

Also, notice how the banshees weren't attacking Chief? And, after that shockwave, they all disappeared? Destroyed by the shockwave, perhaps.

I would guess that they either simply didn't notice him, or their orders on the Ark, whatever they might have been, overruled any search and destroy activites (I doubt that they were actually allied with the Chief, since the Covenant Seperatists are likely still fighting for their lives half a galaxy away at that point in the game, noted at being around a third of the way through).

And if that crater is only 3 miles in diameter, well the cruisers inside it might need a little rescaling

I was wondering about that too. Either the little blurb was wrong, or the observed ships were simply of the smaller, planetary occupation variety (Covenant vessels of different sizes tend to not actually vary much in overall shape outside of a few basic designs).

[Lancer]

That would have been a kickass teaser for a movie.

[DPDarkPrimus]

Re-read the first Cortana Letter. Then watch the trailer for Halo 3. Compare.

They've had the story worked out for a while.

[Joe]

Cortana's voice sounds distorted in her first line...could that be Gravemind's voice superimposed over hers?

[npisd]

After listening to the trailer closely, I believe it is Gravemind's voice distorting Cortana's on her first line.