Ok people, Bungie.net did something amazing this Weekly Update: they actually had information worth leaking for a change. I almost missed some of it, too, as I’m used to worthless updates on matchmaking and “there’s something cool we’re doing but I’m not telling! Neener neener neener!” The first of which, as can be seen in the image, is that the release has been noted as Fall 2007, a slight more accurate date than simply “2007″. My predictions are on November.

The second bit of information is this delicious quote:

In that same location, there was a Covenant grav-sniper platform, which I instinctively chucked all my grenades at to clear it of Jackal snipers (it was below my clifftop perch at the time) – so imagine my surprise when it exploded, and broke into sparking debris, which rained down on the ground below at speeds dictated by the still functioning grav lift beneath it.

That’s right, folks, destructible environments. Now not only do your vehicles explode, but your cover positions will as well. While destructible environments are nothing new, Bungie tends to have a style to features that just make them different. For example, dual-wielding.

Speaking of dual-wielding, they’ve given some updates on the controls.

Left and right sticks: Movement and look. Just like H2.

Click left and right sticks: Crouch and zoom – just like H2, although there is a “toggle crouch� option, so that you can stay crouched until you click the stick again.

A: Jump

B: Melee attack. Note: B may also be used to activate a subtle, but nifty context-sensitive feature.

Y: Switch to next weapon.

X: Activate mysterious new feature which on the cool scale falls somewhere between “crouch� and “activate Fantanas on speed dial.�

LT: Toss grenade.

RT: Shoot weapon.

LB: Cycle grenade type (you have at least three types of grenade now, so they must be cycled rather than switched).

RB: Pick up weapon/activate stuff/reload/use turrets and so on

It was also noted that the Left Bumper is held down in order to pick up a second weapon and dual-wield instead of using the Y button. I’m guessing this is where a lot of the testers were noting that the “new control scheme” is different, but you get used to it. Me? I could care less. What I DO care about is that they’ve FINALLY added a crouch toggle. EVERY shooter needs crouch toggle, because holding that damn stick down can be a pain.

Lastly, they also had some info on the Crackdown entrance to the Halo 3 Beta. You go to the Marketplace from the game to download it, and from there…

Once the beta is installed onto your Xbox, you can launch it via Crackdown itself (yes, this means that the Crackdown game disc has to be in your console before you can play the Halo 3 beta).

That’s right, no Beta for all of you that figured they could just rent it and get in or would buy the game and then return it. Touche, Microsoft. Touche.

So the source of this article is Bungie’s Weekly Update, while our neighborhood friendly MostSpartan14 has already begun a thread in the forums here for discussion.

- Chris (Grohdinger)

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 17th, 2007 at 9:13 am and is filed under Xbox 360. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.