I pre ordered Halo 2, got it launch night with loads of hyped enthusiasm and was playing it by 1am with friends. Halo 3 I got on day 1 by stopping by a store and picking it up on an impulse. I rented ODST and returned it back early...I'm not sure if I'm growing out of the series or they're getting worse. Maybe more kids have been born inbetween the first and 2nd game's release that will be playing this one that's getting my nerves on edge and killing any hype factor. I'm still waiting on that "WOW GOTTA HAVE IT" factor for Reach to be announced somewhere. That would probably be bot matches (not fire fight) along with fully customizable stages ala Far Cry that you can easily download other players maps simply by joining the match or from a service ala little big planet. Yeah, that would make me go pre order tomorrow.

I was a big fan of the series, even before it was a xbox exclusive (anyone remembers the nvidia halo commercial?). Never played Halo 2 but I just played through part 3 and it was...I don't know, didn't feel as epic as part one was, wasn't bad though.

But Reach looks...simply great, the weapon/enemie designs look more mature and rough, the new version of the standard rifle looks simply amazing and space combat. I can't wait for this game.

Any of those who played through all, where would you put Halo 2 in the series? I remember the E3 demo years ago, never have seen such an enthuasiastic audience again, who didn't see it look for it on google, the crowd is nearly crying when seeing all the new features(deployed turrets, kicking out those little buggers out of their hover thingies).

Got ODST here as well but didn't play it yet.

Very cool that they are doing firefight.

Very pleased by this news, we love Firefight! Great way to get a quick and dirty Halo fix, or even an epic 3 hour session in the right group.

yesssss. more firefight! i'm hoping for more maps, more vehicles, and maybe some objectives to spice it up a bit more.

HELL F***IN YESS, i'm soo happy now its been confirmed . Now my birthday is gonna be soo much better now

I think we all knew it was coming since they hinted at doing such, I'm just excited to see what new changes they bring. Plus with the daily and weekly challenges, player customization, etc. It's looking like a really complete Halo experience wrapping everything good from the last 4 games from Bungie.

Now I'm counting on Nick and Mike to do some black ops interrogation and get us some great tidbits. The game's almost complete so they shouldn't worry about whether to PR people live or not

GREAT NEWS!

EDIT:

Just read IGN's article, there will be different modes, Classic (ODST), Default (one set), Generator Defense (sounds familiar ), and Rocket Fight.

Plus, you can create 3 of your own skulls for cool advantages or severe disadvantages

--- Replying to Mrxknown_JG -----
Thanks for the info JG!!

ha! i knew "network test 1" in the beta was testing a different engine. that makes a lot of sense why they were so hush hush about what it actually was.

--- Replying to smurphster -----

What do you mean, i don't understand? Was "Network Test 1" testing out something to do with Firefight?

--- Replying to TroNada -----

That is what Generator Defense was called on the playlist... But I wish it was more like FF in the beta. Maybe have Elite players spawn with the Covenant during the waves!

network test 1 (generator defense) must have been running on the campaign/firefight engine which uses a completely different networking model. they never came out and said that but calling it "network test 1" was kind of a hint for software geeks like me

--- Replying to smurphster -----

Ohh ok i see, thats not bad

The create a skull feature includes stuff like sight and hearing ability. Will be an interesting toy.

Also, custom characters appear in SP and Co-op. So no need to feel you're missing stuff for not playing MP.