The Halo 3 beta has come and gone, leaving me mildly entertained but not particularly impressed. Sure it was Halo-riffic, but I couldn't find anything truly exciting about the game. Well it looks like IGN went and found the exciting for me. They recently visited the Bungie compound and came away with a metric assload of exciting new information. In their Beyond the Beta article they deliver the goods on new maps, the new and particularly awesome Brute Chopper, content sharing, and my personal favorite, customizable armor for multiplayer!

The new maps unveiled include Epitaph, a cathedral-like structure with a man cannon (teehee!) at either end of the main chamber, Last Resort, which they refer to as Zanzibar reborn, and Shrine, which they describe as a vast open desert with a stone shrine winding through it...which is apparently ginormous.

The Brute Chopper is just what it sounds like. A giant futuristic badass motorcycle from hell, equipped with twin cannons based around Brute Spiker guns.

Film saving will be done by saving just the basic code running the footage you are recording, letting the game recreate it on the fly rather than recording actual video. This means that you can easily edit, change perspectives, or even pan around and grab screenshots to save and share via Bungie's servers. Pretty spiffy!

As I mentioned, however, the most exciting news for me is the different armor permutations that will be unlocked during the course of single player to allow for more customization to your multiplayer persona. Details were sparse on how the changes would be implemented, but the looks are very, very cool. There's even one (see above) reminiscent of the armor from the cover of the Ghosts of Onyx paperback that I am completely drooling over. I think one of the problems with Halo 1 and 2 for me was that everyone fighting looked the same, only different colors. Aesthetics matter a great deal to me. I want to look unique, so people remember that guy they killed over and over again until he left the game, crying like a little girl into his headset.

Hit up the IGN article for the full details and some more killer screenshots!

Halo 3: Beyond the Beta [IGN]

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