- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Alright, look. I don't normally do this, but the whole "I didn't like the Update" is grating my nerves, because people don't understand very simple facts.
Let me try to explain this to you in a way you will understand.
Pay attention, this is a life lesson.
If you have had a girlfriend (if you haven't, bear with me), you will know that many girls enjoy talking on the phone. When you start dating this girl, you enjoy talking to her as well. People enjoy it for different reasons (some jerks wiht alterior motives), but everyone enjoys it for the most part.
After about a month or two, you start running out of stories. You start to lose interest in phone conversations, and there are large gaps of silence.
It's the same with the weekly updates. You can't expect a steady stream of information and it not get stale at some points. Ever. With anything.
He has to answer a list of questions every week, and after a while he runs out of things to say. It's inevitable. One man doesn't make or break a set date, so he can't give you one even if he could. When he said "soon", it probably WAS going to be soon, but they decided to add something in or something came up, and it got bumped back.
Him saying "soon" was a mistake, but he wanted to appease the masses.
Maybe if we asked him other questions, it would be more interesting.
Plus, they've been giving us interviews and other goodies. Lay off. >:\
Here's my questions:
Are you going to fix the glitch where weapons don't respawn if they are blown off the map, like the sword on lockout?
Is there going to be anything done about sweep sniping?
Why does the camera always move on the Master Cheif's butt? Whenever I am playing a game with lives and I die, it always zooms in on his butt. I get a very large butt shot of the MC. That is disturbing.
If you are crouching, looking down at the ground, and spinning clockwise, you cannot be assassinated. This obviously has no balance issues involved, but it's really freaking weird. Why does that happen?
Many people have been asking for "night" levels, or levels where you can turn on and off lights. Will the lighting be set in a way to where people couldn't gain an unfair advantage by turning up the brightness on their television sets, if something like this ever did occur?
The keyboard adaptors have been getting more and more popular for the X-box. This gives a large advantage when it turns to sniping. While there could be nothing done about it now, will there be a way to outlaw these types of controllers over X-box live in the future, say with X-box Next (or Xenon, or NeXtbox, or whatever the next X-box is)?
Would you ever interview this uber cool guy I know named Overswarm? He wrote this awesome guide, and it'd be awesome if you interviewed him for the front page.
When searching for certain threads of mine, it is a lost cause unless I have the page bookmarked or placed in my signature. Will there be any "my recent posts" or "search" options for the forums in the near future? If so, will it involved a clearing of the forums? If the forums are cleared, I'd there to be an announcement ahead of time, since I have many things to back up.
Head to Head is a fun gametype (when there are no standbyers), but it gets quite irritating when it comes down to a race for the power weapons. Will there be any change to the H2H setup in the future, such as 3 round, 3 minute, 3 score to win a round as a standard? Head to head would be much better if it was like a "best 2 out of 3" game with much shorter battles. It would be faster, more intense, and more strategic. Plus, a lucky spawn won't win you the game!
Will there be new playlists coming with the update? There have been many requests for things such as 2v2, MLG settings, and "Goofball" (Fiesta, Juggernaut, Oddball, etc.) recently.
Why didn't you guys make a customizable controller scheme for Halo 2? It's a very easy thing to do, as far as programming goes. At least, that is what has been told to me by every programmer I've ever met. I play with Legacy controls, default button setup, and it can be a mite difficult to control the banshee. If you guys made it to where you could set each button and direction on the joystick as individual options, both in normal gameplay and while in a vehicle, it would allow for a lot of flexibility. I'm sure a lot of people would like to NOT suddenly go out of scope when they fire their sniper rifle.
Will you ever give interviews with Bungie employees, where they answer questions that the community asks? I know you've talked with Marty, but I would like to ask questions to your level designers, game designers, writers, etc. I'm sure people would love to hear answers to many questions.
I have a large problem with spam on X-box Live. Since writing the NSCS guide on the Zanzibar forums, I've started to receive MANY friend requests from strangers while on Live. I'll turn on my X-box and have twelve of them, all with messages. I don't mind that at all, except when I accept the friend requests, the friends all send me messages. When my friends list is full, and 40 someodd people are on, all sending you messages and party invites, it gets frusterating. I can't sort through the list very well at all! There is no fast scroll, there is no "decline all invites", there is no "clear all messages", and removing friends is hard because after you remove a friend, it pops you back to the top of your list! Having to scroll to the middle of your list 25 times is no fun. Will anything be done?
I'm assuming there will be a lot more variety in playlists soon, with all the requests from the public being almost the polar opposite of what Bungie has set currently. Since there is so much dissent in what people want, will you do anything to allow players to "decline" certain maps or gametypes in their matchmaking lists, or to not include them alltogether? It would greatly help ease frustration from getting Burial mounds repeatedly, or getting Fiesta games when in Rumble Pit.
Are you guys considering a stats reset at all? With all the players cheating, no one has a good record anymore. If they do, they are cheating, or are accused of it. Many individuals are raising their voices, asking for a clean slate. Banning cheaters is good and all, but it doesn't get rid of the experience already lost, nor the loss on your account. It's not like you can create a new one for free. Are you at least considering it, after the reset?
I am aware that bungie does not control the feedback system, but will there be a change to the feedback system for Halo 2? It has very general options, and can confuse some people. Some people think that grabbing a flag through a wall is cheating, and thus leave cheating feedback. If instead, when you selected cheating, it opened up another menu with "Dummying" and "Standbying" and such, it would be easier for them not to be confused.
There are a lot of things that could be better if they were "Haloized". Is Bungie/Microsoft willing to allow places like www.gameconsoleskins.com have halo-esque materials so that the masses may show off their new X-box with a Master Chief skin?
It is rumored that there will be a Halo 2.5 coming out on the new X-box. If this, or something similar to it, was true, would X-box Live accounts and X-box Live stats transfer over?
Will we be able to play Halo and Halo 2 on the new X-box coming out? (Probably can't answer this one, but worth a shot. Don't risk a Steinway falling on your head if you don't have to.)
Is Bungie planning on making any more games other than First Person Shooters? It's difficult to do RTS games and other such things on consoles, and many of the other titles aren't in high demand.
It is said that the directional pad does various things in-game, such as highlighting the icon above your head to a blue color when you are host if you press right. Is this, or other such things true?
Many people have their own ideas for maps, but they feel as if they will never be able to see them happen. Will Bungie ever create a map contest, where a member of the community could draw out a map that will hopefully be chosen by Bungie to be created? I've been a level designer for an indie company for a while, and have quite a few FPS maps in my mind. I'm sure many others do as well, and it'd make people happy to see this happen.
What's that weird symbol on Burial Mounds, when you get on top of the level?
Why did you make the skulls give you NOTHING other than changes to the game while you are playing it? It was quite disheartening to hear that you get no reward. It can be difficult to find the skulls, let alone retreive them. Why not give SOME reward for it?
Lastly,
Could you draw a picture of Mister Chief when he's getting standbyed on X-box Live?