Goodbye Recon, hello Halo 3: ODST

Not even announced for that long, and really just a trailer is all we've seen of Halo 3: Recon ... but now we can't call it that. Bungie announced today that the game will now be called Halo 3: ODST, which stands for "Orbital Drop Shock Trooper." You can read the full announcement at Bungie.net

Bungie also mentions that all current materials for Halo 3: Recon have been altered to reflect the new ODST name. Such items include wallpapers, themes, gamerpics and related downloads, even the trailer has been rebranded, the website also received a proper facelift, as it's where you'll be finding a bulk of these items.

But not all is different, if your a fan of seeing Recon in the game's title, we still have the original trailer at VFHvideo, which is now also in fancy widescreen. As for me? I preferred the Recon name, but it's not like I'll be getting the game for it to bother me. What are your thoughts on the change?

TGS 08: Halo 3 Recon

Originally supposed to be announced at E3, Bungie finally got to announce its first project since separating from Microsoft, a Halo 3 expansion, published by Microsoft... Anyways, what Halo 3: Recon actually is, is a prequel to the events of Halo 3, but starring an new character, who's yet to be named. However, despite being a prequel, and technically a separate game, it's listed as an "expansion", in my mind meaning you'll still need Halo 3 in your 360 to play it.

Meet your new Spartan
I don't own a 360, so chances are I won't be playing this. However, I'm still intrigued, as I've never seen an FPS that (at least looks to be) set in a rainy environment. Sure, Metroid Prime has its instances, but I think Bungie is going for an entire game full of rain. We'll see how it turns out.

Halo 3 Update, w00t!

So, I booted up my Halo today to get a few rounds in, and was treated to an update, and thought to myself, "Could it really be THAT update?!!?" Yeah, it was.

The update changes and adds a variety of things to the game, some of which relate to matchmaking settings and changing a few minor things in the maps, most importantly being the blue barrier doors in a few levels, which is odd.

One of the major, and best changes is the addition of around 30 brand new achievements for you to unlock, which is pretty awesome.

The other change is the fact that they now gave each matchmaking mode a unique military rating, instead of a global one like they used to have. This is a bit odd though, as that was what the levels, 1-50, were for...but whatever...all your previous data still stands though, so don’t worry about that getting erased or anything.

So yeah, if you haven’t played Halo 3 in awhile, now may be the time to get back on the Warthog.