Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Deepblue on October 04, 2005, 05:22:16 pm
-
http://www.bungie.net/News/TopStory.aspx?story=biggorilla
A few weeks ago we were lucky enough to partner with two tremendous Producers from Universal, Mary Parent and Scott Stuber. In the short time they’ve been on board, Mary and Scott have joined with Peter Schlessel to accomplish unimaginably wonderful things. Example? They’ve secured an Executive Producer to help guarantee the creative integrity and technical excellence of the Halo film.
And that Executive Producer’s name is Peter Jackson.
I’ll give you a second to process. If you’re having a strong, emotional reaction, don’t panic. When I heard the news it took me the better part of a day just to stop smiling.
Yes. The Peter Jackson, Executive Producing the Halo film.
Needless to say I and the rest of Bungie are positively incontinent (Marty especially). But what really knocks us on our asses is we’re also getting the combined talent of the mighty men and women of WETA in the bargain. From fabricating Covenant weapons to building life-sized Forerunner structures to accomplishing shot after shot of complex live-action/CG integration – simply put, there’s no group of people we’d rather have realize the Halo universe on screen.
[mr. burns] Excellent [/mr. burns]
-
Hmmmmmm. WETA doing the special effects. I like the sound of that. :)
-
Wow. The Halo movie might actually do something the game failed to do: be interesting, entertaining, and dare I say it, good.
-
Or at least be even more really, really, ridiculously good-looking [/zoolander]
-
Awesome...I have skepticism about video game movies but that is fading...
-
Urge to kill... rising.... rising...
-
Not as meaningful as if he were producing it. The man has more truckloads of money than you can count since the success of LotR, so exec producing something isn't saying all that much.
However, Halo, if done correctly, has the potential to be really epic (unlike, say, Wing Commander). Maybe he'll see that and make it live up to my expectations.
-
was I the only one who read the title as "Peter Jackson to be executed for Halo movie." ?
-
the halo fanbase cant be terribly hard to please - not looking forward to a lame movie with some special eye candy
-
What exactly does the producer do? I've never been able to figure that one out. I don't know whether Jackson position as executive producer (even if I understood the producer's role, where does the exective producer fit in?) will translate into any creative input, or what.
-
"Executive Producer to help guarantee the creative integrity and technical excellence of the Halo film."
-
Originally posted by Drew
the halo fanbase cant be terribly hard to please - not looking forward to a lame movie with some special eye candy
I would like to think that I am part of that fanbase (in some respect) and I enjoyed both Halos for the plot and story. Bungie does a pretty good job of building a universe and telling a story inside of it. Its not the greatest ever told...but as FPS's go...its a might bit more complex than say...Doom.
-
thats awesome :yes:
id almost say I want an MGS movie, but i dont think they could pull it off well
-
Originally posted by IceFire
its a might bit more complex than say...Doom.
That's not much of a compliment though.
-
It is one of the best FPSs of recent times though.
-
As a rule I don't like FPSes. Halo was the exception - because of the story. :)
(Of course, it probably helped that I read The Fall of Reach first and that I could easily picture making Halo missions in Freespace. ;))
-
Originally posted by Deepblue
It is one of the best FPSs of recent times though.
On consoles.
Its pretty substandard when compared against most FPSes on PC. System Shock 2, No One Lives Forever, SHOGO, and Deus Ex were all better and more innovative in their various ways than HALO was. Halo is most notable, IMO, for its addition of a secondary weapon system (grenades).
-
Eric Nuyland is a great writer, which is why I look forward to the PLOT of Gears of War.
-
Originally posted by mikhael
On consoles.
Its pretty substandard when compared against most FPSes on PC. System Shock 2, No One Lives Forever, SHOGO, and Deus Ex were all better and more innovative in their various ways than HALO was. Halo is most notable, IMO, for its addition of a secondary weapon system (grenades).
It is not substandard when compared to such games. While it did not innovate much, it took elements of many games and combined them into something greater. It did innovate the role of vehicular combat in an FPS. To date I have not seen a better system in any other game. Then you have co-op. That's another one. Not to mention the perfectly balanced multiplayer.
-
Sounds great. I want to play Halo 1\2 and 3. But id need to switch systems, which i cannot afford ATM..sadly. Iv played H1 a few times with friends, but nothing more. Was great tho.
Weta?
-
Originally posted by mikhael
On consoles.
Its pretty substandard when compared against most FPSes on PC. System Shock 2, No One Lives Forever, SHOGO, and Deus Ex were all better and more innovative in their various ways than HALO was. Halo is most notable, IMO, for its addition of a secondary weapon system (grenades).
Thats probably a fair assesment. I haven't played most of those so it is hard for me to say how they all stack up. I still think Halo has an excellent possibility for movie making quality.
I think the key is in the universe that Bungie built around their game. They did spend quite a bit on it. If you look at the variety of foes for instance that we've seen in all of the FPS'es. Not many have a detailed backstory...few have any rhyme or reason at all about them and fewer still see this play out in the actual gameplay. My first introduction to Halo was the MacWorld preview that Bungie did years ago (the video game on a PC Gamer CD). It presented the Covenant as a fairly diverse group of aliens (not just one species) with their own religion and goals. The games built on this but it was evident from the start that there was a bit of thought going into this. The mystery of the Halo rings, the Forerunners, the Flood, and so on and so forth weave a fairly intricate storyline.
Lots of the average FPS guys skip over that. Honestly, if all I did in Halo was just the shooting...then yeah, its fairly straight forward FPS game with a few bits of innovation and lots of stuff melded together to form a fairly competent but not earth shattering FPS game. But I like stories and I like understanding and guessing the plot (I know, I'm weird!) and Halo has a neat backstory and plot.
Its obviously still just a video game with a video game plot...but I think alot of us felt like FreeSpace and FreeSpace 2 did a pretty good job of telling the "big story"...the reasons and motivations for the three factions in this game have got all of us mission and campaign builders going for years. I think the same in many ways can be said about Halo.
SO my feeling is that, with the right team behind it, they can craft a very neat and interesting and ultimately fun story that may even be enjoyable at the theater. If the trailer comes out and I see "appeasement to the lowest common denominator" and a truckload of gimicks then I think I'll skip it. If on the other hand, we see some of that universe building and a grander scheme and concept...then maybe we've got something here.
In my opinion, Lord of the Rings was a very powerful adaptation of the book. Not a perfect one but for 7-8 hours of total viewing time you get most of the books and a very compelling and dramatic story. Perhaps that can be done again...?
-
I think whoever makes this movie is gonna have to work their butt off, so I'll give them that. It's gonna be hard to take one person and a talking computer program and make a movie about it, and a good one at that, it's gonna be ever worse for the Metroid movie they are talking about making. No matter how good the plot is.
However, I really doubt they can pull it off. I think it's gonna be a one person shoot e'm up movie.
-
Originally posted by IceFire
Thats probably a fair assesment. I haven't played most of those so it is hard for me to say how they all stack up. I still think Halo has an excellent possibility for movie making quality.
I think the key is in the universe that Bungie built around their game. They did spend quite a bit on it. If you look at the variety of foes for instance that we've seen in all of the FPS'es. Not many have a detailed backstory...few have any rhyme or reason at all about them and fewer still see this play out in the actual gameplay. My first introduction to Halo was the MacWorld preview that Bungie did years ago (the video game on a PC Gamer CD). It presented the Covenant as a fairly diverse group of aliens (not just one species) with their own religion and goals. The games built on this but it was evident from the start that there was a bit of thought going into this. The mystery of the Halo rings, the Forerunners, the Flood, and so on and so forth weave a fairly intricate storyline.
Lots of the average FPS guys skip over that. Honestly, if all I did in Halo was just the shooting...then yeah, its fairly straight forward FPS game with a few bits of innovation and lots of stuff melded together to form a fairly competent but not earth shattering FPS game. But I like stories and I like understanding and guessing the plot (I know, I'm weird!) and Halo has a neat backstory and plot.
Its obviously still just a video game with a video game plot...but I think alot of us felt like FreeSpace and FreeSpace 2 did a pretty good job of telling the "big story"...the reasons and motivations for the three factions in this game have got all of us mission and campaign builders going for years. I think the same in many ways can be said about Halo.
SO my feeling is that, with the right team behind it, they can craft a very neat and interesting and ultimately fun story that may even be enjoyable at the theater. If the trailer comes out and I see "appeasement to the lowest common denominator" and a truckload of gimicks then I think I'll skip it. If on the other hand, we see some of that universe building and a grander scheme and concept...then maybe we've got something here.
In my opinion, Lord of the Rings was a very powerful adaptation of the book. Not a perfect one but for 7-8 hours of total viewing time you get most of the books and a very compelling and dramatic story. Perhaps that can be done again...?
I've never read the books, but I thought LotR was abysmal. Because I haven't read the book, I'm fairly certain that the books contained some kind of a "true" message which was somehow left out of the movies for the common retard to be able to enjoy.
Not that people who thought it was good are retards of course (infact I bet most of them are just fans of the books), but the fact that retards are able to grasp it isn't such a huge score in the movies' quality.
Halo's universe may be great, and its execution to the FPS may be great, but bottom line, it's just another FPS with a story behind it, as opposed to an FPS without a story. The fact that it's on a console also diminishes its value significantly, seeing how FPS' are native to PC's.
We've already had great FPS' on the PC's. In fact, we had so many that they have to be really special in order to be notable. SS2, SHOGO, DEx, etc. all have something new and special (heh, now old, but at the time they were made) with them. That's what made them unique.
Halo is a culmination of the basic FPS elements (basic, as in, already been done before) with a good story, and the story part is always open to interpertation. That's mediocre. At best.
I seriously doubt that a movie based on something as average as the game will be good. I could be wrong though.
-
Originally posted by Deepblue
It is not substandard when compared to such games. While it did not innovate much, it took elements of many games and combined them into something greater. It did innovate the role of vehicular combat in an FPS. To date I have not seen a better system in any other game. Then you have co-op. That's another one. Not to mention the perfectly balanced multiplayer.
It took elements of other games and made them into something fairly forgettable. The best part of Halo is all the stuff that's not really in the game proper. The background, the universe, etc. That's got to be some good reading. But that doesn't really carry over into the game much. The "story" of Halo didn't catch me though. Between the story lacking any real "hook" to make me want to play, and the gameplay being, essentially, Unreal 1, I just couldn't force myself to go through all those monotonously similar corridors any more.
You raised points about Halo that all depend on other players (with the exception of the vehicles). I don't care about that stuff. I only care about the single player game. If that can't stand on its own, the game will get uninstalled pretty quick.
I can't comment on "perfectly balanced multiplayer" or the "co-op". I don't play multiplayer games, so those things almost never come up in my judgement of a game. In the immortal words of Wizards of the Coast, "If you're going to stay up in your basement all night pretending to be an elf, at least have some friends over to do it." or something like that. I don't play video games with my friends. The sole exceptions are Starlancer (Co-op campaign mode was just unfair. Wingmen that are useful? those commie space bastards didn't have a chance) and System Shock 2 (Navy, Marine and PsiOp: the ultimate way to play).
Now for vehiclular combat, I must be the only person unimpressed. I hated the control system for Halo's vehicles. I didn't like riding gunner, I didn't like driving. About the only good thing I can say about Halo's vehicles is that they inspired a nifty flash game.
-
Originally posted by mikhael
Now for vehiclular combat, I must be the only person unimpressed. I hated the control system for Halo's vehicles. I didn't like riding gunner, I didn't like driving. About the only good thing I can say about Halo's vehicles is that they inspired a nifty flash game.
Aww, comeon, playing with some other people, runing Warthogs into each other and see who blows up first, is the funnest part of the game.:lol:
-
http://nikon.bungie.org/misc/warthog_launch/
:D
-
Originally posted by WeatherOp
Aww, comeon, playing with some other people, runing Warthogs into each other and see who blows up first, is the funnest part of the game.:lol:
Not worth $76 though ($31 now, but as new that's its price here), no matter how fun that may be.
-
Originally posted by BlackDove
Not worth $76 though ($31 now, but as new that's its price here), no matter how fun that may be.
Nah, it's not even worth $19, it's just the funniest part. Other than the level with that windmill like thing, where you can get your Tank stuck.:lol:
-
Zanzibar (windmill level) is great for taking a ghost, running over the fusion cores, and watching the remains of your ghost and your body fly very, very high.
-
Originally posted by WeatherOp
Aww, comeon, playing with some other people, runing Warthogs into each other and see who blows up first, is the funnest part of the game.:lol:
Actually, for me, that's the LEAST fun part of a game. Pen and paper RPGs and boardgames are what I play with friends. Videogames are something I prefer to do alone.
-
Originally posted by Deepblue
It is one of the best FPSs of recent times though.
Why am I not surprised in the least by that remark. Halo only gained noteriety as it was one of the premier games (read: only good game) of the Xbox early on, meaning it was hyped to all hell & back. It's not one of the best FPSs of recent times, nowhere near so. It might be considered one of the best console FPSs of recent times, but that title should be saved for the true Gods of gaming, like Goldeneye007 from the '64 (argueably the best console FPS ever) and such. Halo was well designed, well concieved, and overall an exceptional game. But it was hardly revolutionary, new, or even original, something that a game really needs to be 'one of the best'.
In terms of the movie, I think recent adaptations of games to the medium of film has shown that, more often than not, you end up with a horribly sub-standard film that insults both the Gaming & Film Industries (See: 'Resident Evil', 'Super Mario Bros.', and to a lesser extent 'Alien vs. Predator'). These movies all plainly show that, just because a story or premise behind a game sounds really great; shoddy adaptations (ie. 'Wing Commander') or substandard Directors (ie. Uwe Boll, who you just know is going to ruin the BloodRayne, Farcry & Dungeon Siege movies) can easily ruin it. So the chances of the Halo movie being good are really, really bad. Not to mention the fact that the chances of the Halo movie being what Halo fans want is essentially nil.
-
Maybe he thinks it's one of the best because he likes it the best.
Just a shot in the dark....
-
Actually Halo had some really groundbreaking things that set it apart from other FPS titles. Suprisingly, it was not the grenades, but rather the ability to use any weapon as a melee weapon (and the power of a melee attack in general) that were and still are quite different from any FPS out there. The inability to carry around the equivalent of a national arsenal was also a refreshing change. But discussion of the game's merits as a game are somewhat pointless; the most common complaint is that the levels are repedative (which is true) and that it wasn't groundbreaking as a FPS, but that's really not what would get used if you're making a movie anyway. It's got a hero (Master Chief), a rather deep story arc, interesting settings, (REACH -> Halo -> Earth -> ect.), and so on. To knock the movie on anything about the game but its story is like saying the LotR movies were too long because the books killed too many trees. It's a non-sequiter.
-
I was merely replying DeepBlue's skewed opinion of Halo as 'one of the best FPSs of recent times', not saying that its quality as a game would impact the movie at all...
...and anyway, just because it has a reasonable story does not mean the movie will capitalise on it. Wing Commander was up 4 and a pretty big franchise, it also had a pretty good story, with Humans on the brink of annihilation and such, that old chestnut. The movie version did little to capitalise on said story, presenting movie that was just...bleh! So honestly, a good story doesn't mean squat towards the movie being any good. Obviously, you've not seen the first film adaptation for Lord of the Rings *shudder*...
-
I actually thought one of the best parts of Halo was the enemy AI. It actually knew when to take cover and when to attack.
-
Originally posted by Mefustae
...and anyway, just because it has a reasonable story does not mean the movie will capitalise on it. Wing Commander was up 4 and a pretty big franchise, it also had a pretty good story, with Humans on the brink of annihilation and such, that old chestnut. The movie version did little to capitalise on said story, presenting movie that was just...bleh! So honestly, a good story doesn't mean squat towards the movie being any good. Obviously, you've not seen the first film adaptation for Lord of the Rings *shudder*...
True. But having a good story is a prerequisite to making a good movie. Doom is doomed to suck. Super Mario Bros really was too, as are almost any movie-from-videogame that have made it to the big screen. Wing commander is sort of an exception in that it was done exceptionally poorly (hardly necessary), but the WC story spans a LONG time and doesn't have the central hero figure to fold a plot around that Halo does. Plus, it really was about ships more than it was people, and that's inherently difficult to translate into a watchable thing. I'm not saying that Halo will automatically be good, it just has more potential to be so than any other movie to have its origins in a videogame.
-
Originally posted by Mefustae
I was merely replying DeepBlue's skewed opinion of Halo as 'one of the best FPSs of recent times', not saying that its quality as a game would impact the movie at all...
...and anyway, just because it has a reasonable story does not mean the movie will capitalise on it. Wing Commander was up 4 and a pretty big franchise, it also had a pretty good story, with Humans on the brink of annihilation and such, that old chestnut. The movie version did little to capitalise on said story, presenting movie that was just...bleh! So honestly, a good story doesn't mean squat towards the movie being any good. Obviously, you've not seen the first film adaptation for Lord of the Rings *shudder*...
1. Game rankings
Halo: 95.6% (Xbox version, much better than PC version)
Halo 2: 95.0%
Half-Life: 94.5%
Half-Life 2: 95.5%
Like I said, one of the best FPSs THIS gen.
2. Bungie is overseeing development of the movie to make sure it stays on track.
-
1. Where'd you get these game rankings? Are they formed from opinion? Statistic? Abstract guessing? Linky please?
2. Okay, cool, I didn't know that. Let's just hope nobody at Bungie suddenly gets the urge to 'make the story "better"...'
-
peter jackson is gonna rock cause that means that hes going to have the same support and technology and more from what hes done with LOTR, especially since halo will be kinda like a trilogy.
with Halo 1 etc., then halo 2 that has since passed, i wont be suprised if he does some crazy ill trilogy "film all 3 movies" at once thing and make an awesome product!
-
Originally posted by Mefustae
1. Where'd you get these game rankings? Are they formed from opinion? Statistic? Abstract guessing? Linky please?
2. Okay, cool, I didn't know that. Let's just hope nobody at Bungie suddenly gets the urge to 'make the story "better"...'
gamerankings.com
Averages all the major reviews.
Convinced?
-
**** IM CONVINCED!
OK CAN WE NOW TURN THE THREAD INTO A CASTING THREAD?! HIJAK W00T....
Master Chief/ Spartan 116 John:
Cortana:
Captain Keyes:
Sargent JOhnson: Samuel Jackson (dunno has the attitude)
Fred/ Spartan 012:
Linda/ Spartan 0xx: Chick playing in DOMINO
343 Guilty Spark:
Dr. Hasley:
Foehammer:
Jenkins:
Orbital Shock Drop Troopers/Marines (please add below lol):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
-
Originally posted by deep_eyes
peter jackson is gonna rock cause that means that hes going to have the same support and technology and more from what hes done with LOTR, especially since halo will be kinda like a trilogy.
with Halo 1 etc., then halo 2 that has since passed, i wont be suprised if he does some crazy ill trilogy "film all 3 movies" at once thing and make an awesome product!
He's the Executive Producer! He's not directing the bloody thing...:doubt:
@DeepBlue: ...Okay... fine, I conceed... this time...
-
Originally posted by Deepblue
. It did innovate the role of vehicular combat in an FPS. To date I have not seen a better system in any other game. Then you have co-op. That's another one. Not to mention the perfectly balanced multiplayer.
Wrong. Vehicular combat was probably borne from Return Fire (http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?gameid=898), Return Fire 2 (http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?gameid=2674), and C&C Renegade. These games, especialyl the last 2, prominently had vehicular combat in the first person. Renegade was the first to actually use vehicular + normal controls as well as a smooth transitioning between both. It had also had a greater tanks/vehicles variety than Halo (loved blowing up Mammoths :D) ever fielded, so that statement is technically incorrect.
-
Originally posted by deep_eyes
**** IM CONVINCED!
OK CAN WE NOW TURN THE THREAD INTO A CASTING THREAD?! HIJAK W00T....
Master Chief/ Spartan 117 John: Doesn't matter as long as they have Steve Downs do the voice.
Cortana: CG + Jen Taylor voice.
Captain Keyes: Sarge. Stacker.
Sargent JOhnson: Samuel Jackson (dunno has the attitude)
Fred/ Spartan 012: Matt Damon (good with knives)
Linda/ Spartan 0xx:
343 Guilty Spark: Tim Dabado
Dr. Hasley: Jen Taylor (Cortana is based off of Dr. Hasley)
Foehammer:
Jenkins:
Orbital Shock Drop Troopers/Marines (please add below lol):
1. Random New Zealander.
2. Random New Zealander.
3. Random New Zealander.
4. Random New Zealander.
5. Random New Zealander.
6. Random New Zealander.
7. Random New Zealander.
8. Random New Zealander.
9. Random New Zealander.
10. Random New Zealander.
It's 117 heretic!!!
Fine, I'll play.
-
Originally posted by Singh
Wrong. Vehicular combat was probably borne from Return Fire (http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?gameid=898), Return Fire 2 (http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?gameid=2674), and C&C Renegade. These games, especialyl the last 2, prominently had vehicular combat in the first person. Renegade was the first to actually use vehicular + normal controls as well as a smooth transitioning between both. It had also had a greater tanks/vehicles variety than Halo (loved blowing up Mammoths :D) ever fielded, so that statement is technically incorrect.
Um... Renegade came out after Halo...
-
It makes me feel dirty to admit (:p), but 'Blue's right; Halo came out on the 14th of November, 2001. While Command & Conquer Renegade came out on the 25th of February, 2002...
-
It did? Darn! Feels like the opposite though....I played Renegade long before I ever touched Halo :/
Ah - just checked, the release dates are three months apart; so it can't be close enough to be copies either. Either way; it's implementation of vehicles were far better than anything Halo 1 or 2 came up with.
-
Originally posted by Deepblue
It is not substandard when compared to such games. While it did not innovate much, it took elements of many games and combined them into something greater. It did innovate the role of vehicular combat in an FPS. To date I have not seen a better system in any other game. Then you have co-op. That's another one. Not to mention the perfectly balanced multiplayer.
From a PC (my) perspective, Halo is utter ****e. I installed it a couple of days ago, and uninstalled it after less than half an hour. The weapons are weedy and unconvincing, it's repetitive, the controls for the car thing are **** (too bouncy IIRC, and the inertia was annoying as hell), the story is quite dull & cliched, etc. So I'd disagree; I would rate Goldeneye64 as better in console terms, and a lot of others in PC terms.
And co-op isn't exactly new, either. Online w/ Serious Sam, and offline with Perfect Dark on the 64. I think Halo is the most overhyped game in history, regardless of rankings. If it's the best thing on the X-box? I don't know. I know my brother never plays it nowadays, if that's an answer, and he played G64 to death when we had it.
The flipside; the grenade-to-right mouse button binding was neat, although I'd rather have ironsights (god, I love those). The recharging health I'm not sure of.... I guess the noise was neat.
However, Peter Jackson is a good catch. This may be able to buck the general rule of ****e game movies, provided they don't over-commercialize it and get good people actually making the thing. I mean, having PJ as the Exec Producer wouldn't mean much if Uwe Boll was directing, would it?
EDIT; http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/05/peter_jackson_halo/
[q]ord of the Rings director Peter Jackson has been named as one of the upcoming Halo movie's Executive Producers. So has his missus, LoTR co-scriptwriter Fran Walsh.
Halo fanboys and LoTR buffs are now viewing the proposition much more enthusiastically, which was surely Microsoft's intention.
he software giant also announced that Jackson's Weta Studios, and its subsidiaries Weta Workshop and Weta Digital, would work on the movie. Indeed, it's that deal that almost certainly led to Jackson's Executive Producership.
The assumption is - and Microsoft is understandably doing nothing to suggest otherwise - that Jackson will have some creative input and/or oversight of the project, but in reality Executive Producerships are usually credits assigned as a way of getting individuals better financial deals.
Jackson's name on the credits, we reckon, is more about allowing Microsoft and partner 20th Century Fox to splash "from the director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy" all over the movie poster than anything else. Given what Jackson did to the Two Towers, Halo purists might prefer it if he left well alone.
In any case, Jackson is busy finishing King Kong right now, in order to get it in cinemas in December.
The Halo movie is due out in 2007, though as yet no cast or crew - beyond Jackson and Walsh, and scriptwriter Alex The Beach Garland - have been announced.
Unlike most if not all other computer and video games, Halo at least has a decent plot, which should translate nicely to the big screen, unlike, say, the upcoming Doom flick or the two Tomb Raiders.
Halo harks backs to Bungie's Marathon series, which managed to bring explorations of history, religion, metaphysics, identity, death and reincarnation, and artificial and non-artificial intelligence into the realm of first-person shooters. Few games have even attempted to tackle such concepts, let alone do so successfully.
Halo's storyline, while above par, doesn't have quite the same depth. But there could be enough there to lift it above all the other game-to-screen translations. Given Hollywood's record, however, it's hard to believe the movie will be anything more than "dust and echoes". ®[/q]
-
Originally posted by Mefustae
He's the Executive Producer! He's not directing the bloody thing...:doubt:
@DeepBlue: ...Okay... fine, I conceed... this time...
no where did i say that he was directing. but when u have a powerful producer who can pull strings, if u know anything about the buisness is that the producers pull more wieght and have more control on the product theyre producing, director or not.
-
Originally posted by aldo_14
From a PC (my) perspective, Halo is utter ****e. I installed it a couple of days ago, and uninstalled it after less than half an hour. The weapons are weedy and unconvincing, it's repetitive, the controls for the car thing are **** (too bouncy IIRC, and the inertia was annoying as hell), the story is quite dull & cliched, etc. So I'd disagree; I would rate Goldeneye64 as better in console terms, and a lot of others in PC terms.
And co-op isn't exactly new, either. Online w/ Serious Sam, and offline with Perfect Dark on the 64. I think Halo is the most overhyped game in history, regardless of rankings. If it's the best thing on the X-box? I don't know. I know my brother never plays it nowadays, if that's an answer, and he played G64 to death when we had it.
The flipside; the grenade-to-right mouse button binding was neat, although I'd rather have ironsights (god, I love those). The recharging health I'm not sure of.... I guess the noise was neat.
However, Peter Jackson is a good catch. This may be able to buck the general rule of ****e game movies, provided they don't over-commercialize it and get good people actually making the thing. I mean, having PJ as the Exec Producer wouldn't mean much if Uwe Boll was directing, would it?
EDIT; http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/05/peter_jackson_halo/
[q]ord of the Rings director Peter Jackson has been named as one of the upcoming Halo movie's Executive Producers. So has his missus, LoTR co-scriptwriter Fran Walsh.
Halo fanboys and LoTR buffs are now viewing the proposition much more enthusiastically, which was surely Microsoft's intention.
he software giant also announced that Jackson's Weta Studios, and its subsidiaries Weta Workshop and Weta Digital, would work on the movie. Indeed, it's that deal that almost certainly led to Jackson's Executive Producership.
The assumption is - and Microsoft is understandably doing nothing to suggest otherwise - that Jackson will have some creative input and/or oversight of the project, but in reality Executive Producerships are usually credits assigned as a way of getting individuals better financial deals.
Jackson's name on the credits, we reckon, is more about allowing Microsoft and partner 20th Century Fox to splash "from the director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy" all over the movie poster than anything else. Given what Jackson did to the Two Towers, Halo purists might prefer it if he left well alone.
In any case, Jackson is busy finishing King Kong right now, in order to get it in cinemas in December.
The Halo movie is due out in 2007, though as yet no cast or crew - beyond Jackson and Walsh, and scriptwriter Alex The Beach Garland - have been announced.
Unlike most if not all other computer and video games, Halo at least has a decent plot, which should translate nicely to the big screen, unlike, say, the upcoming Doom flick or the two Tomb Raiders.
Halo harks backs to Bungie's Marathon series, which managed to bring explorations of history, religion, metaphysics, identity, death and reincarnation, and artificial and non-artificial intelligence into the realm of first-person shooters. Few games have even attempted to tackle such concepts, let alone do so successfully.
Halo's storyline, while above par, doesn't have quite the same depth. But there could be enough there to lift it above all the other game-to-screen translations. Given Hollywood's record, however, it's hard to believe the movie will be anything more than "dust and echoes". ®[/q]
You are entitled to your own opinion, but the majority of people would disagree with you.
And yes the PC version is not nearly as good as the Xbox version, considering that the game was designed with the Xbox in mind (not the concept mind you, that was originally for macs).
-
One more thing about how perspectives change...
I just reinstalled Half-Life on my comp to play through it again. It quickly found its way into the recycle bin after A. Steam and B. The sucky game. Only a few games remain great after the test of time. I recently went back and played Goldeneye. Not only did it look nothing like my mind glorified it to be but I didn't find it as fun as Halo. Speaking for myself of course, Halo is one game that has never dimmed with age. It still looks and plays fantastic.
-
I still love Half-Life. It's actually one of the few really outdated games I really like.
-
Kids today with their accurate AI and photorealistic textures... pfft, Half Life is still as good as ever even if it does use the Q2 engine.
-
Originally posted by Bobboau
was I the only one who read the title as "Peter Jackson to be executed for Halo movie." ?
No. :) That was the reason I came here, and imagine my disappointment. :doubt:
So...er...does Halo have a story? :|
-
It only has 3 books... :rolleyes:
From wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_universe
History
Early Conflicts
In the years 2160-2200, various governments and factions fought for control of Earth and its first Colonies. As overpopulation and unrest on Earth mounted, new political movements formed including the Jovian Frieden and Koslovics led by Vladimir Koslov, resurgences of Fascism and Communism which waged the Interplanetary, Rain Forest Wars Campaign and Mars clashes and were defeated by the United Nations Space Command.
The human colonization of the Orion Arm
In the years 2170-2291, the United Nations Space Command (UNSC) successfully develop humanity's first faster than light drive, the Shaw-Fujikawa Trans-light Engine. For the first time in history, the rapid colonization of other worlds is made possible. By 2390, 210 worlds had been occupied by humans, and were being actively terraformed to suit man's needs. These worlds are to become known as the Inner Colonies. By 2490, the UNSC's fledging Interstellar Empire had expanded to over 800 planets throughout the Orion Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. During this period, the planet Reach becomes one of the two headquarters of the UNSC military and government (the other was Earth itself), and is destined to become the most heavily fortified world under human control and the Inner Colonies became the heart of the United Nations Imperial Government.
In addition, there were Brushfire Wars in the Outer Colonies in which Rebel Insurrections including the one at the Eridanus System led by Colonel Robert Watts were suppressed.
The Human-Covenant Wars begin
On February 3, 2525, first contact was made with an alliance of alien races that referred to itself as The Covenant. On that day, a single Covenant Warship exterminated the surface population of the Outer Colony of Harvest. Three UNSC battleships and a Colonial Military Administration scout ship, the Argo, were sent to investigate this incident and in doing so, engaged the Covenant ship in battle. Only one, the Heracles, managed to return to Reach badly damaged. The Heracles returned with a message that was sent to them pre-translated by the Covenant saying, "Your destruction is the will of the gods, we are their instrument". By December of the same year, the UNSC mobilized a massive fleet under the command of Vice Admiral Preston Cole, with orders to reclaim the Harvest Colony and impede the Covenant advance. Cole won the battle and reclaimed the glassed planet, but it required the sacrifice of over one third of his numerically superior fleet.
Covenant ships possess several technological features which make them far superior to their human counterparts. First, they have superior maneuvering and tracking abilities when employing faster than light travel (ships in Halo, like many other science fiction titles, achieve faster than light speeds by moving through an alternate realm. In Halo it is called "slipspace"). Although the Covenant and humanity use essentially the same techniques to enter slipspace, the Covenant are unaware that their engines can be used much more accurately than human technology.
Second, Covenant ships possess resilient, recharging shields, which must be destroyed in order to physically damage the ship. This is quite difficult, as they can withstand a near-direct nuclear explosion.
Third, Covenant ships employ more powerful weapons, including a form of guided plasma, which can often destroy human vessels in a single hit. It should be noted that the Covenant also uses plasma to exterminate the surface population of a planet (a process known as 'glassing').
The Cole Protocol
Quoted from Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 135:
United Nations Space Command Emergency Priority Order 098831A-1
Encryption Code: Red
Public Key: file/first light/
From: UNSC/NAVCOM Fleet H. T. Ward
To: ALL UNSC PERSONNEL
Subject: General Order 098831A-1 ("The Cole Protocol")
Classification: RESTRICTED (BGX Directive)
The Cole Protocol
To safeguard the Inner Colonies and Earth, all UNSC vessels or stations must not be captured
with intact navigation databases that may lead Covenant forces to human civilian population
centers.
If any Covenant forces are detected:
1. Activate selective purge of databases on all ship-based and planetary data networks.
2. Initiate triple-screen check to ensure all data has been erased and all backups neutralized.
3. Execute viral data scavengers. (Download from UNSCTTP://EPWW.COLEPROTOCOL/Virtualscav/fbr.091)
4. If retreating from Covenant forces, all ships must enter Slipstream space with randomized
vectors NOT directed toward Earth, the Inner Colonies, or any other human population center.
5. In case of imminent capture by Covenant forces, all UNSC ships MUST self-destruct.
Violation of this directive will be considered an act of TREASON, and pursuant to UNSC Military
Law Articles JAG 845-P and JAG 7556-L, such violations are punishable by life imprisonment or
execution.
/end file/
Press ENTER if you understand these orders.
The SPARTAN Project
Several decades before contact with the Covenant was made, the UNSC military embarked on a secret project to create a group of elite soldiers that would deal with occasional unrest in the Colonies. Code-named SPARTANs, these genetically enhanced troops were trained from the age of six into a life of battle, and became a great asset against the Covenant. While humans suffered defeat after defeat in space, they could almost always prevail with the help of the SPARTANs in ground engagements. The main character of Halo's gameplay, the Master Chief, is a veteran SPARTAN.
All SPARTANs were given special armor designated MJOLNIR Mark V, which, in laymen’s terms, can increase their strength and speed. They were the only ones who could wear it, as those without the proper SPARTAN body training or body augmentations (like the SPARTAN upgrades) killed themselves with strength-enhanced convulsions.
The Battle of Reach
UNSC cruiser Pillar of AutumnBy 2552, many of Humanity's Outer Colonies have been destroyed by the Covenant (although they were routed at Sigma Octanus IV). In a move of desperation, UNSC orders a secret plan to capture a Covenant ship using a SPARTAN task force and find the coordinates of their home planet. A group of SPARTANs, led by the Master Chief, also known as Spartan 117, are chosen for this mission, and board a specially outfitted Halcyon-class cruiser, the Pillar of Autumn, under the command of Captain Jacob Keyes. This plan, however, is interrupted when the Covenant launch a surprise attack on the fortress world of Reach via automated probe attached to the UNSC Iroquois.
During this battle, half of Reach is overrun and glassed, and the human fleet is obliterated. Worse still, the Master Chief thinks that all of the SPARTANs but himself are killed on the surface of the planet (the SPARTANs are revealed to have survived in Halo: First Strike). The last remaining SPARTAN, the Master Chief, escapes with the Pillar of Autumn. In accordance with the Cole Protocol, the Autumn makes a blind slipspace jump, and emerges in the vicinity of an unexplored and remarkable world: Halo.
And thats just the prelude synopsis.
-
Originally posted by vyper
Kids today with their accurate AI and photorealistic textures... pfft, Half Life is still as good as ever even if it does use the Q2 engine.
Half-Life was the first game with cinematic scripting that brought the whole environment to life - a pitty though that it was a one-pass thing though...once done with the environments weren't all that dynanic.
Still it was the first game to offer such a cinematic experience since Another World.
-
Originally posted by Deepblue
1. Game rankings
Halo: 95.6% (Xbox version, much better than PC version)
Halo 2: 95.0%
Half-Life: 94.5%
Half-Life 2: 95.5%
Like I said, one of the best FPSs THIS gen.
2. Bungie is overseeing development of the movie to make sure it stays on track.
Ummm, show the whole list next time.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time N64 98.1%
Soul Calibur DC 96.7%
Resident Evil 4 GC 96.3%
Super Mario 64 N64 96.3%
Metroid Prime GC 96.2%
Tekken 3 PS 95.8%
Halo: Combat Evolved XBOX 95.6%
Half-Life 2 PC 95.5%
Now last time I checked MP and RE4 was FPS. And here is the URL to back it up.
http://www.gamerankings.com/itemrankings/bestworst.asp
-
Originally posted by WeatherOp
Ummm, show the whole list next time.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time N64 98.1%
Soul Calibur DC 96.7%
Resident Evil 4 GC 96.3%
Super Mario 64 N64 96.3%
Metroid Prime GC 96.2%
Tekken 3 PS 95.8%
Halo: Combat Evolved XBOX 95.6%
Half-Life 2 PC 95.5%
Now last time I checked MP and RE4 was FPS. And here is the URL to back it up.
http://www.gamerankings.com/itemrankings/bestworst.asp
Um, no they are not. RE4 is TP survival horror while MP is a first person adventure. No go. It still goes to show that Halo is one of the best FPSes this gen nonetheless.
-
Um, you have a gun in Metroid Prime that you shoot stuff with, and it is presented from the first-person perspective. How is that NOT a first-person shooter? (Or for that matter, beyond the fact that it doesn't involve demons or a portal to Hell, what sets it apart from Doom as a genre?). I've never played RE4, but I believe it too fits that description. The frequency with which you shoot things and the genre of the game are not directly related.
Oh, wait. X-Box fanboy. 4 of top 5 titles on Nintendo platforms. Ok, nevermind, nothing to see here ;)
-
RE4 is not first person, and Metroid is more of a puzzle game.
-
We could all argue what FPS is the best in history until we are blue in the face... it's not going to change a damn thing that some people like Halo, some people like Metroid Prime, some people like Half Life, and some people like any random assortment of other games.
Yeah, it's an opinion, and it's ours for gods sakes. We're all entilted to one, and it gets real old when we try and use our opinion as fact and throw it at other people in hopes of changing their mind.
Back to the Halo Movie and not a comparison of which game is better. :doubt:
-
Rankings mean **** all, frankly.
A lot of people regard Halo(1 or 2)/Doom3/Half Life 2/etc as the most overranked in history, and we all can know that magazines like to keep in with the big companies (For those exclusives), so I'd say just go with personal opinion.
I thought Halo PC was pish, Deepblue thinks Halo Xbox was the dogs knackers, some people agree with one of us and some think we're both talking out the hole in our behinds
-
Originally posted by Deepblue
RE4 is not first person, and Metroid is more of a puzzle game.
For the record, RE4 is a lot more broad, but once you get down to it, it's really a Puzzle/FPS, regardless of the fact that you aim from over the shoulder, not first person. But i'll agree with you there, it's not really a FPS, but it is a damned good game.
Metroid Prime is a FPS, and to regard it as a puzzle game would be like regarding Halo as a driving game. Just because an FPS forces you to use your brain as opposed to a run'n'gun clickfest like Doom3 (and to a lesser extent, Halo) doesn't mean it isn't a FPS.
Originally posted by deep_eyes
no where did i say that he was directing. but when u have a powerful producer who can pull strings, if u know anything about the buisness is that the producers pull more wieght and have more control on the product theyre producing, director or not.
Somewhere in your rabid post, you stated that Peter Jackson would use "the same support and technology and more from what hes done with LOTR". You essentially implied he would be making direct descisions about the form the movie takes, which is a director's job. An Executive Produce might hold sway, but descisions like that without a doubt come under the role of 'Director'. And anyway, the Register in all likeliness hit the nail on the head in their article (posted on the previous page), that they're only using Jackson's name, not in any creative capacity whatsoever.
Remember, we're talking about an Executive Producer here, not the main Producer. If you knew anything, you'd spot the difference...:rolleyes:
-
I just played through the first level of Halo PC, again, today...Pillar of Autumn looked damn awesome. Graphics didn't seem all that bad except for an oddity here or there. Quotes from the AI were still funny. "I picked the wrong day to quit smoking!" yelled one marine, while getting pwned by Covvies.
Although another ran up to a heavily fortified Covenant position, got shot a couple times, and did a crotch-thrust while yelling, "You want some of this!?" The two elites and three grunts massacred him for his impudence. :lol:
-
Peter Jacksons' next directing role is, BTW, an adaptation of The Lovely Bones, which would appear to be filming around the same time/s as the Halo movie (both are due sometime 2007, and both have yet to cast).
-
And both will be at least partially set in Wellington.
-
Wow. By playing Renegade id think it came out like way back when C&C started.. by their graphics.
Wow.
Majior 'ouch' on Renegade then..compared to H1
-
Yeah, whatever. Renegade isn't supposed to be photorealistic, it's supposed to be big. But to say it looks like it was made in 1995 is pretty rediculous. It's actually a very close match with Halo in terms of level of detail, it just doesn't have as much gloss.
-
Halo still looks good.
-
It looks 'ok'. About the same as Q3 engine games (when I first played I thought it looked a lot like Jedi Academy, although somewhat less detailed).
Good would be massively overstating it. 'Good' is, I dunno, Half Life 2 / R:TW / Far Cry, etc. Unless you mean good on the Xbox, which is probably fair enough cos that's more or less a static technical environment.
-
When I say good, I mean that it doesn't make my eyes want to scream unlike the original Half-Life.
And I would rate the games you listed as excellent graphically.
-
Originally posted by Deepblue
When I say good, I mean that it doesn't make my eyes want to scream unlike the original Half-Life.
And I would rate the games you listed as excellent graphically.
*DingDingDing* And that is why you're percieved to be an Xbox fanboy; you seem to care about graphics above all else. Great gameplay, great story, none of them matter to you. All you care about is if it looks good. This is the attitude of basically all Xbox fans I've ever known, and this is the attitude which is destroying console gaming...
-
Originally posted by Mefustae
*DingDingDing* And that is why you're percieved to be an Xbox fanboy; you seem to care about graphics above all else. Great gameplay, great story, none of them matter to you. All you care about is if it looks good. This is the attitude of basically all Xbox fans I've ever known, and this is the attitude which is destroying console gaming...
???
I just said it looks good, while FarCry and Half-Life 2 etc. all look excellent. I only ever buy games for gameplay, especially online play... I want to have fun, not have thinks look real. (though I cant stand to play Burnout 3 on PS2 as it is freaking impossible to see oncoming traffic even on a HDTV).
:wtf:
-
It's been a while since I fired up Halo on the PC but it was a fun game which I was compelled to play from start to finish. XBox stuff aside, it is definitely one of the best FPS games I've played which wasn't a chore to complete. Doom 3 was a graphical orgasm but nothing else. Half-Life 2 was plotless and uninspired - the original Red Faction played out better for me. Deus Ex and SS2 were loads of fun too, but as pure FPSs without their RPG elements (inventory, non-strict linearity, character upgrading), they'd be easily forgettable.
The movie will suck though. It'll no doubt have some cool moments like everything else these days, but I don't foresee anything more than a bland, terse interpretation of the game, which doesn't have enough material to make something good. The books would be far better source material I feel.
-
Originally posted by Deepblue
though I cant stand to play Burnout 3 on PS2 as it is freaking impossible to see oncoming traffic even on a HDTV).
Not just me, then. That pisses me off; I'm seeing it more and more in games where they just overload the screen with stuff. It's going to be wrose in the next gen too, when they really shovel in stupid effects for the sake of overheating GPUs.