Interested in Ensemble Studios' last game?  That would the Xbox 360 exclusive RTS Halo Wars.   The team over at the GamerScore Blog wants to know what questions you have for the development team regarding just about anything.  

We know what you really want to know though.  How does the co-op mode work?  How many players are available in co-op?  Is the co-op online?  Is it offline?  Right?  RIGHT?!?!

So head on over to the GSB and leave a comment that's a question, or you could comment, but I think everyone would just point and laugh at you.

Hahahaha, fooled you!

Yes, there is a game called Halo 3: ODST in the works. No, it is not a new development.

Bungie has announced via their weekly news post that what you once knew as Halo 3: Recon is now the more straightforward Halo 3: ODST.

Says Bungie:

This new title is a more straightforward account of the experience that awaits and the role you will assume as you explore the streets of New Mombasa. But don't worry, you can still has Recon. (the armor that is, it's still tied to the Vidmaster achievements and will be accessible via the final retail release next Fall).

*Whew!* For a second there, it looked like the Fall 2009 season was going to contend with Fall 2008 for the title of Most Inconsiderate Games Release Season Ever...

With all the avatars and Netflix and overall slickness, you might have forgotten one long-awaited feature of the New Xbox Experience(tm).  Installing games to the hard drive to speed up loading was certainly overdue.  I know there are a few games I have that make the disc drive on my 360 sound like a jet engine.  It seems to be a good thing that Halo 3 isn't one of them.  Installing the game to the hard drive actually increases load times!  Wonder how that works?  Bungie's Chief Caching Officer Mat Noguchi (there's a catchy title) explains.

So when Halo 3 runs, if a HDD is present, we copy maps from the DVD to the utility partition (on the HDD). Think of it as an on demand install of Halo 3 to some scratch space on the HDD. Halo 3 doesn’t actually know where it’s running from, so it always assumes it’s running from a DVD. This is an unfortunate consequence of new features (namely, install to HDD) being added to the Xbox 360 after Halo 3 shipped. And as a result, it means that even if Halo 3 is already installed to the HDD, it will still copy maps to the utility partition.

Basically, it's having to read and write to the hard drive at the same time, as opposed to reading from the DVD drive and writing to the hard drive.  It all makes sense now, doesn't it?  Next time you're up for a little Co-Op Master Chief action, pop in the DVD and call it good.  And hope your 360 doesn't take off into the atmosphere.

Blake "Broodax" Corner's Great Features in Co-Op Gaming couldn't have landed at a better time. Hot off the heels of this season's Saints Row 2 and Mercenaries 2 releases comes the news that Halo 3: Recon will feature open-world gameplay for a significant portion of the story mode.

CVG reports that New Mombassa will be partially explorable as the lead character searches for clues surrounding the events teased in the Prepare to Drop trailer. Gameplay will consist of these exploration segments tied together with linear flashbacks more reminiscient of Halo 3's levels.

Players will be able to control different members of the ODST squad, including the now-famous "Rookie" (pictured above), who is being voiced by Nathan Fillion of Firefly reknown.

Click "Read More" for some choices quotes from the article and from Bungie's Joseph Staten.

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First thing I want to do is give a big thanks to Nick for covering Beyond Co-Op for the past few weeks. Things have been so hectic for me (the list is too long and no need to bore you) that it didn’t give me a chance to sit down and work on finding news and get this posted for a few weeks. Now it’s time to settle back into the groove, although Thanksgiving weekend may be hard with my brother-in-laws wedding.

The stories for this week:

- October NPD Data Released

- inFAMOUS May be Short

- Halo 3: Recon Short Too?

- Midway Cuts Jobs/Sheri Redstone Steps Down

- Last Week of Gaming Rush (except for Prince of Persia)

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It's not co-op, but the game it's based on is.  Amazon is now listing the Halo Trilogy soundtrack as shipping December 2nd.  The box set will contain all 5 discs from Halo, Halo 2 and Halo 3.  It'll set you back just shy of $30, but it's a small price to pay for one of the best original scores in video game music.

The latest issue of Game Informer has some details on upcoming Halo 3 expansion, Recon.  We don't have the actual issue in our hands yet, but halo.bungie.org has a few details from the article, and I do mean few.  It turns out Recon may be shorter than many would like.  We're talking about "a three to five-hour expansion pack", according to Paul Betone.  Before you get all up in arms, consider this quote:

Bungie's Joe Staten says "we do not view this as a $60 title".

It's a good thing, isn't it?  I wonder if he sees it as a $40 title?  Even that seems like too much for such a short experience.  It'll sell like hotcakes either way, I'm sure.  You can check out the other bits (what little there are) at the link below.

IGN.com has provided a handy little recreation of Microsoft's official information sheet for Halo 3 Recon, and it includes confirmation of four-player co-op within the standalone campaign.

Also confirmed is the trademark plethora of Bungie features, including Campaign Scoring, detailed stats, replay saves, screenshots, and Forge options for the new multiplayer maps. (Who just mentioned multiplayer on Co-optimus? Not me...)

UPDATE: Most of the same information is available here at Xbox.com, but we'll give IGN credit, since that's where I found it.

You can view the entire fact sheet after the "Read More" link.

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The fabled Halo 3 "expansion" has now been announced as Halo 3 Recon, a complete standalone prologue campaign featuring ODST Marines. So far, no details have been provided, other than that the game will be available for retail in Fall 2009.

As Nick "bapenguin" mentioned in the latest Co-opticast, Bungie has a special place in their heart for cooperative gameplay.  They do not disappoint with confirmed 4 player co-op for the upcoming title.

Consider the Halo 3 racing game ("Halo Kart") rumor debunked, and we'll be sure to splash a new post when the official fact sheet comes down.

In the meantime, check out the official intro here or see the awesome NEW trailer after the "Read More" link.

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There's been a long rumor that Bungie has been working on a squad based shooter, much like Ghost Recon, set in the Halo universe.  Yesterday's teaser announcement and subsequent video trailer could be further proof.

Social site Kwanzoo has an article up from a user that presents evidence supporting the theory of a co-op squad based add on.  Among the most obvious evidence is the "Prepare to Drop" tagline, referring to the drop pods that are seen during the video.  These drop pods would be used by an elite squad of soldiers.  The user also points to a few posts on Bungie's site that support the co-op squad based element.

In this message, it becomes clear that the Covenant Loyalist invasion of Earth is well underway. Someone from the Office of Naval Intelligence is requesting a specific squad of men from the heavy cruiser Say My Name. (They sure do have weird names for ships in the human fleet.)

Make sure you hit up the original article for a more detailed explanation.  The only thing that doesn't fit for me personally, is the video makes it look like the pods are an invasion, not just a small squad dropping for deployment.  Whatever the "Keep it Clean" trailer showed, it's still a mystery, but obviously we are pulling for co-op!

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