We can hardly wait. A tremendous amount of work went into this two and a half minute first look. Creative Director Marcus Lehto, and his Halo: Reach team knew it was gonna be a challenge to get it into fighting shape in just two months time, but they didn’t want your first look to be CG footage. You demand more from Bungie. So you’re getting a snippet of a cinematic.
The footage allows us to fulfill several goals without completely disrupting the team’s tight schedule. You’ll get boots on the ground, see the planet of Reach firsthand, and get briefly acquainted with the game’s cast of characters. You’ll also start to get acclimated (at least visually) with some of the new “stuff” you’ll come across in the Multiplayer beta coming sometime next year.
We’ll have some more details on that front soon – I know you want hard and fast dates for the beta, but for now, you’ll need to dig in and give the footage a proper frame-by-frame scrubbin’ and utilize your considerable powers of speculation. Until the aforementioned mid-January media blitz hits, of course.
For those who aren’t planning on tuning into this year’s VGAs based on past experiences, you should definitely revise your thinking for this year’s show. I’m not going to spoil any of their surprises, but I’ve seen mock ups of this year’s set and it looks incredible. Really amazing.
After our Visual Design team got a glimpse, they kicked into a gear we didn’t know they had, and prepped some custom assets to take full advantage of the theatrical accouterments. Gotta set the mood and all that. This little make out session we have scheduled with the Seventh Column has been a long time coming and we need you nice and relaxed before we dim the lights down low and deliver the payload.
But if the timing of the show is all wrong for you (or if you’re in a territory where you just can’t tune into the initial broadcast), we’ll have web copies ready as soon as we’re given the green light. We don’t have the exact rhythm down just yet – we’re still coordinating with all interested parties – but you can expect crisp, clean footage in hours, not days, on the heels of the Spike VGA World Premiere.
