Well I remember when Halo was first revealed and the graphics were generally similar to what they would look like in the final game but the game was slow and had frame rate issues. Gamers and reviewers whined and questioned whether the game would be great. Then when Halo 2 for the PC was revealed it also largely had the graphics that would be seen on the final version but was also slow and had framerate issues. If I recall the IGN reviewer said it was boring because it was like you were walking in molasses. For good reason, this is primarily about the gameplay of multiplayer, Bungie could have decided to leave the graphics downgraded (I think it was the Kotaku reviewer who said the main thing seemed to be no AA) so it played fluidly. And they get rewarded with gamers and reviews whining about the poor graphics. Bungie just can't win no matter what they do. As a side note it is great to watch Xbots now suddenly say "well the graphics aren't great but the gameplay will be awesome". Not yet quite recognizing the secret of the Wii's success but one small step at a time.

Halo 3 beta on a 1080p sony sxrd looks pretty every bit as good as resistence Gears is mostly small closed quarter maps hince 4 on4 matches tops with high end graphics Halo 3 will look better on final release but no console out is gonna push huge maps and super polished graphics! even though the 360 hdr lighting is way better then anything on PS3 and all the graphics are quite nice ya'll need a 1080p 50+ inch tv to see the truth not some 3 in screen shot on a PC

As good as Resistance?  Kind of a letdown if that's all it is, huh?  But hey, at least you give Resistance props.  Resistance 2 will probably be out next year so we'll see what that looks like.  How long have they been working on Halo 3?  Several years, right?

@sieanr: Please provide those screenshots as proof.  Now, I don't want you to just look for the worst possible screenshots of a beta and then get the best looking screen of the retail game...try to be fair about it.  

I've played in some betas and as I understand them, they are mostly to catch bugs and work out gameplay.  Bungie has said they might not add anti-aliasing in, so I don't expect the graphics to get much better.  I understand the philosophy of making sure gameplay is perfect before ramping up the graphics, but they don't have very long to rework the entire thing, and I think a lot of the time will be working out kinks.  They probably have to finish all the maps as well.  Only 3 are in the beta.

Bear in mind that Bill Gates at least THOUGHT that at one time or another this game was coming out in MAY 2006 and you realise the 4 months is a little worrying. "(PS3) will walk right into Halo 3, it's perfect" I believe was the phrase. Consider that content was removed from Halo 2 to be in Halo 3 and this game will have had a 3-3 1/2 year developemt cycle with 4 months left on the clock. They've had both unlimited resources, a year and a half extension and first dibs access to development hardware. This makes me think something went awry. If the graphics aren't amazing by now then there's not much point in holding out hope for September. Besides, you'd have thought seen as everyone apparently thinks Halo 2 is the best thing since Sushi, and they've decided not to tamper with a winning formula, they'd have spent the rest of their time on graphics alone. Personally I think it makes Halo Vs Metroid battle rather interesting, particularly for the 80% of us who don't have HDTV's. It may be that Metroid demonstrates the bigger leap in both gameplay AND graphics.

I have to factor in that we are looking at multiplayer boards too, I think when playing the story mode they'll be a little more to wow us. Also I do think alot more is being put into developing a great multiplayer experience  like smooth graphcis, fast gameplay. I have alot of respect for their design approach to the many multiplayer boards. They go in knowing that these boards will be played 100s of times so they work hard at fleshing them out giving you differnet areas to snipe from little touches like the man cannon that instead of teleporting across the board you'll now be thrown through the air, giving other players a chance to shoot you down. This game will be fun in multiplayer hours and hours after people get over the wow of many game's graphics, I believe that is their goal. It's the reason Halo 2 is still selling well, and people are still pooring 100s of hours into it. People might be let down by the graphics to some extent, but after playing for a while I'm sure they will love it.

when i pay 400+ dollars on a system the graphics better blow my mind..thats my opinion...and it isnt yours legend11...

I'm not impressed by the halo 3 graphics.

how much better could the game play in halo get?(btw i really dont think halo in general is fun) it has the exact same controller as xbox original. so whats xbox's selling point? graphics upgrade...sure its a slight upgrade..but nothing to blow my socks off,or let alone even impress me one bit

you my friend are so on one.

halo 2 and halo 3 just arent similar graphics wise, they are extremely similar overall. you pick a color of your master chief and kill other master chiefs with a few new weapons in new levels that could have just been made in halo 2. Nothing really new here, unless you buy the game for the campaign, in which case the past 2 have been recycled levels and enemies. Hopefully halo 3 isn't this way campaign wise. This will hopefully be the last Halo, unless they take in a totally different direction, people will grow tired fast with little improvement from the last game.

I've tried the beta, and I'm far to be impressed. I'have seen identical snow and water effect in games like Rogue Leader on the GC, as for the game the two comparison show clearly what is the game : always the same thing. It's the same game from 3 years ago and 6 years ago (if we count the release this autumn) but with more texture, they havn't change the gameplay, it's the same thing. The only difference I have seen is the button X, they put an accessory function, but almost all of the accessory are...boring. We have said 4 months before the release ? The game can't gone gold two weeks before the date, they are sur to sell 2 or 3 millions of copies in the firts months, so give Bungie less time to complete it. If they don't push the date, we can be sure to see an unfinished or rushed game, but that's not a problem, because finished or not the game will sell. And when we says graphics don't matter about the Wii is because we know that we buy the console for the gameplay, when we buy a 360 or a PS3, graphics matter because buy it for that.