UPDATE: 12/19/08

With Christmas and New Year's fast approaching, the studio has been buzzing like a hive of bees. As we noted in last week's update, Halo 3: ODST is now what we consider "representational." In layman's terms, that means the game is theoretically playable end-to-end, although tons of game content is in non-finalized states. The playable spaces are all in, but while the plot plays out from start to finish, there's still quite a bit of Microsoft Mike and studio talent in the mix, standing in until the professional actors lend their voices to us.

Right now, in ODST, it seems like Staten is everywhere at once. Marine voice actor, check. ODST voice actor, check. Female marine voice actress, he's got that down too. The man has range.

We're not going to dive too deeply into specifics now (obviously), but the entire studio was pulled "offline" on Wednesday - diverted from their other work - to play through Halo 3: ODST. For those of you who think it's all work and no play at Bungie, this might not help to quash your unfounded assumptions, but quash them you should because while we certainly enjoy playing games, and while it's our stated mission to craft kick ass games that we want to play, the first playthrough is all business. We don't take it lightly. We're not only trying to find out what's fun to play, we're trying to ascertain what isn't fun to play. Where are players having to backtrack? Why are they toting a plasma pistol when they should have located the sniper rifle? The questions are nearly endless and the after-the-fact evaluation is thorough and honest.

UPDATE: 1/9/09

For those looking for hard and fast information, here's the quick hit of stuff we can talk about:

* The Recording light was turned on outside of the Ivory Tower today as the final dialog recording for ODST gets underway.
* The once-discussed Tchou-shader is being beaten into submission by Bertone, Justin and the same-named creator.
* Jay and the audio team cut up and mixed a mountain of audio over the break.
* Spaces with fake names finding resting places.
* Lars is scheming, designing, and implementing things to achieve.

UPDATE: 1/19/09 GAMEPRO

Halo 3 ODST: Bungie's Joseph Staten talks Halo 3 expansion

Formerly called "Halo 3: Recon," Halo 3: ODST will introduce a new character (The Rookie), a new story-driven campaign, and oodles of new high-tech gear. GamePro's Sid Shuman reached out to the writer and creative director of Halo 3: ODST, Joseph Staten, for an inside look into one of 2009's most anticipated games.

Halo 3: ODST is the first Halo game to not feature a playable Master Chief. Will The Rookie ever bump into the Chief? Or see evidence of his handiwork?

No, you won't ever meet the Chief. Basically, Halo 3: ODST happens while the Chief is away from Earth -- after he leaves for the "Delta Halo" in Halo 2 and before he crashes into the jungle at the start of Halo 3. ODST doesn't cover all the Chief's absence. But it does fill a very interesting part of that gap.

Is there a villain in this new storyline?

Yes, but like the Chief, the Rookie never meets him. Put that in your speculation pipe and smoke it, Halo fans!

How does the Rookie's silenced SMG work from a gameplay perspective? Is there a stealth mechanic in Halo 3: ODST?

The silenced SMG is just one of the tweaks to the Halo 3 sandbox that make ODST a stealthier experience -- one that, at least in the open environment of nighttime New Mombasa, rewards a more measured approach to combat. As a non-Spartan, you'll need to be careful about the fights you pick, especially when you're on your own. Luckily the silenced SMG excels at dropping unwary, unshielded enemies.

Are you planning to include any other new weapons, or modifications to existing weapons?

Because ODST leverages the Halo 3 sandbox, there will be a lot of returning weapon favorites. But given the game's position on the Halo timeline, we're also bringing back...Well, on second thought, I'd ruin a lot of the game's fun if I got too specific. So let me just say that we're absolutely expanding the sandbox in critical areas.

Compared to their appearances in Halo 3, the Brutes in Halo 3: ODST look more vicious and evil. Have they received any new behaviors or combat tactics?

Paul Bertone, ODST's design director, has conceived a new "cover first" tactic for the Brutes that makes them even more interesting to fight. And when I say "interesting" I mean downright nasty. Brutes in ODST are much more interested in self-preservation than they were in Halo 3 which makes for terrific, multi-layered encounters. They'll lure you into traps, gang up on you - generally make you wish you'd hit them in the flanks instead of hard-charging, Spartan-style.

How does the Rookie's high-tech visor work? And what are those pretty colors and highlights we saw in the teaser trailer?

We're still tweaking the visuals, but it's basically a low-light vision enhancement and target acquisition mode. It's most basic function is to highlight enemies in red and allies in green, but it's also extremely helpful for navigation. Objects of interest -- the "clues" that advance the story -- also get special vision-mode treatment.

The open-world element in Halo 3: ODST is an interesting addition. Will players be able to choose which of the four beacons they explore first? Can you explore them in any order you like?

Again, I don't want to ruin any surprises, but I can clarify a misstatement in [a recent Game Informer] article. There are actually more than four beacons, and once you find the first one you're pretty much free to roam the dark, Covenant-patrolled streets of New Mombasa however you like - free to find the remaining clue beacons in any order you choose.

When playing Halo 3: ODST, how does the feel of the game differ from playing as a supersoldier such as Master Chief?

A lot more tactical, which is to say you need to think before you engage -- decide how you want to take apart an encounter before diving in or you'll get into trouble pretty quick, especially on higher difficulty levels. Unlike a Spartan, an ODST doesn't have shields. You're a little slower too, so if you get hit you can't just run sprint to safety. The golden rule of ODST combat is "look before you leap."

Will Halo 3: ODST include any new multiplayer maps or online features? And will the multiplayer game feature the traditional Spartans, or playable ODST characters?

Halo 3: ODST will include a variety of new multiplayer maps that apply to Halo 3. Some of these maps are actually part of the Mythic Map Pack that will initially be released on Xbox LIVE Marketplace early next year. This multiplayer content is "Halo 3" in nature, meaning you will not be playing Slayer, CTF or other traditional favorites as anything other than a Spartan or Elite.

In addition, the core ODST campaign can still be experienced cooperatively with up to four players, including saved films, screenshots, campaign scoring and all the great functionality Halo fans have come to enjoy. Beyond that, we're keeping mum on any other multiplayer components of Halo 3: ODST.

There are still plenty of active Halo 3 players on Xbox Live. Will Halo 3: ODST offer any special treats for those players?

The special treat we've announced thus far is the opportunity to complete the "Vidmaster" achievements -- a series of tasks that span Halo 3, the Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack, Mythic Map Pack and the Halo 3: ODST retail package. Upon completing the entire chain, players will finally have the ability to unlock the "Recon" armor for use in Halo 3 multiplayer.

http://www.gamepro.com/article/previews/208610/halo-3-odst-interview-with-bungies-joseph-staten/

UPDATE: 1/19/09 (straight from bungie.net)

Halo 3: ODST

Wash, Rinse, Repeat

It’s not breaking news that Bungie are big believers in testing and iteration.  Build, tweak, test, and evaluate.  As Halo 3: ODST inexorably marches toward the Fall 2009 retail battlefield, our decorated studio generals are preparing to lead an army of testers into the fray, shock and awe style.

But we haven’t been resting while we wait on the barracks to be readied for the newest crop of battle-hardened reinforcements.   Long before Halo 3: ODST was in its current “representative” state, the then disparate parts and pieces of it were being put through the proverbial paces.  The test process plays out in full effect at each and every step along the way.

Represent

Let's chat a bit about what it means for a build to be "representative."  There seems to be a small bit of confusion about just what the moniker entails.  Some e-folk latched onto the phrase "content is locked in," and others just ended up plain confused by our insular industry terminology. 

Really, in the most basic sense, "representative" simply means that all the major pieces of Halo 3: ODST are in place.  You can load the build, start up a fresh campaign, and work your way through from beginning to end.  And though we have ascribed the phrase "locked in" to the build on a couple of occasions, that doesn't mean it's finished.  To simplify, the ingredients have been mixed into a delicious batter and the cake is being baked, but the frosting is still in the can.

Unprepared to Drop

Chances are if you’re checking out today’s Weekly Update, and more so if you’ve read this deep into it, you won’t have too many problems with the control scheme of Halo 3: ODST.  You're hardcore.  Are there a few notable and interesting differences?  Yup.  Are we going to make interesting note of them here?  Nope.  But let's just say that we’re not reinventing the way your thumbs have been trained to stroke the dual analog thumbsticks.  Halo 3: ODST is, after all, still Halo at heart.

But this writer's first foray into the Halo 3: ODST fray alongside a few studio squad mates definitely required some alterations to my traditional tactical approach (how do I run and gun?).  At one point I found myself inquiring aloud if the Brute Shot had been powered up.  It seemed to be doing a whole more damage than I was accustomed to.

Shishka, the studio's resident nurturer, lovingly provided me with a succinct explanation of the logical missteps I had relied upon to come to my hasty and ill-conceived conclusion.

“That’s because you’re not a Spartan, dumbass.”

I could almost feel his gentle hand reaching out to slap me on the back of the head.  But it was just my imagination.  Good thing Shishka was content taking out any of the physical manifestations of his disdain for all human life on the Covenant instead of my noggin.

Looking Back on a Milestone

Since everyone at the studio gave the representative build of Halo 3: ODST a shot, we figured we'd solicit a few short write-ups for you.  Check out their impressions below, but keep in mind that everything describe herein is subject to change.  Cake and frosting and all that.

Lars Bakken, Designer

"With much trepidation, we watched as the studio (strangely quiet for a Wednesday) embarked on their first playthrough of Halo 3: ODST. Personally, I was nervous, as this was the first time most of Bungie would be playing through the game, and I wasn’t sure what the reaction would be. Playing as the ODST. The new Health model. The Hub and Spoke level design. All new things for the player to experience.

Bungie is probably our own harshest critic, so we knew we would get a lot of good feedback, but it could also be hard to take in. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very good thing having 130 people playing your stuff, but it’s rough too from an emotional standpoint. It’s hard to explain, but in a lot of ways, watching people play your work is very difficult. You’re full of strange emotions. You’re happy, because you’ve got a working build of your stuff. Whoo! You’re excited, because you want to see people’s reactions, but you’re nervous, because people’s reactions aren’t always what you expect.

In all, it’s a great experience, because you actually get to see unfiltered emotional responses to things you have been putting your heart and soul into. It ended up being a great day, and we got an amazing amount of feedback to pour over, but it’s also exhausting. The playtest let us know that there’s still a LOT of work to do, but we seem to be on the right track."

Shishka, Multiplayer Community Designer

"Sitting down and playing a game you’re excited to play from beginning to end is always fun. Being told by your boss that you’re to drop everything you might’ve planned to accomplish that day because you are required to play a game you’re excited to play from beginning to end is a little surreal. You’d think I’d be used to it by now – I run multiplayer playtests on a regular basis – But something about being told “stop working on this awesome video game stuff so you can tell us what you think about our awesome video game stuff” is surprisingly difficult to wrap my mind around.

I’ve been told that if I say anything too revealing that I’ll end up strung up and cleaned alongside the next deer Harold hunts down. So, I’ll avoid any plot points, but I must say this: The opening sequence of ODST is the most spectacular cinematic event in any Halo game to date. The gameplay itself feels “similar but different” from what you’ve grown accustomed to, and nothing makes this more clear than the moment you take control of the Rookie and take your first steps into what is left of New Mombasa."

Spray and Pray

One other thing that is "similar but different" in Halo 3: ODST is the M7 Submachine Gun.  You first held this bullet hose in your hot little hand back in the glory days of Halo 2, where you quickly learned that a single SMG on its own probably wasn’t the best implement of war you could bring with you onto the online battlefield.  It was always much more effective when wielded in matching pairs or complemented with plasma in the other hand.  In the Halo 3 multiplayer space, The SMG occupies a similar position in the overall sandbox - though many of its shortcomings as a starting weapon were addressed by way of the Return of the Assault Rifle (BR aficionados, start your foruming).

But even the least astute observers among us should have noted that the SMG showcased both in the Official Halo 3: ODST trailer, and in the recent crop of delicious concept art, has been augmented with a sweet, sultry silencer.  It’s also been retooled in a few other significant ways.  It’s still a bullet hose, no doubt about it, but let’s just say the nozzle's been turned just a touch to narrow the stream.

Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy...

...and neither is sifting through and sorting out bugs to bring you a bulletproof build of Halo 3: ODST.  Don't worry, with each new iteration, we're one step closer to a zero bug release.  But one bug we experienced in playtest this week is just too damn funny to keep within the confines of the studio.

It seems that every so often, Brute Chieftains – the biggest, baddest Brutes of the bunch - will inexplicably* load out sans their trusty weapon.  No Brute Hammer.  No Fuel Rod Cannon.  Nothing.  So what does the master of the pack do when he finds himself without any gear with which to deal out deadly damage and pain?

He struts.

It’s really quite comical to see a Brute Chieftain calmly descending upon your position, arms down at his side, his stride full of pride and urban swagger.  Until he gets within arms reach, that is.  Then, like any good pimp, he makes it his business to showcase just how strong his pimphand is.

And strong it is.  Many an ODST have quickly changed their tune from one of jovial laughter and sonorous disbelief to the blood-curdling shrieks and screams of a soldier on his last legs once a weaponless Chieftain decides it’s time to illustrate the full power of his fully operational backhand ability.

Were these Brute Panders to make final ship – which they won’t – we figure they'd need a few distinct achievements to supplement their inclusion.  Maybe something like...

Takin’ Back the Streets
Kill Five Brute Pimps in a row without dying.

Housekeeping
Kill a Brute Pimp while he's still ridin' dirty in his Phantom dropship.

Better Have My Money
Take seven pimpslaps to the face in a seven minute span.