Halo 3 Overview

Halo 3 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie for Xbox 360. The game is the third title in the Halo series and concludes the story arc that began in Halo: Combat Evolved and continued in Halo 2. The game was released on September 25, 2007 in Australia, Brazil, India, New Zealand, North America, and Singapore; September 26, 2007 in Europe; and September 27, 2007 in Japan. On the day before its official release, 4.2 million units of Halo 3 were in retail outlets.

Halo 3's story centers on the interstellar war between 26th century humanity, led by the United Nations Space Command, and a collection of alien races known as the Covenant. The player assumes the role of the Master Chief, a cybernetically enhanced supersoldier, as he wages war in defense of humanity, assisted by human Marines as well as an allied alien race called Elites, which is led by the Arbiter. The game features vehicles, weapons, and gameplay not present in previous titles of the series, as well as the addition of saved gameplay films, file sharing, and the Forge map editor; a utility which allows the player to perform modifications to multiplayer levels.

Halo 3 grossed US$300 million in its first week. More than one million people played Halo 3 on Xbox Live in the first twenty hours. As of January 3, 2008, Halo 3 has sold 8.1 million copies, and was the best-selling video game of 2007 in the U.S. Overall, the game was very well-received by critics, with the Forge and multiplayer offerings singled out as strong features. By March 2009 more than 1 billion online matches had been played. A prequel to the game, Halo 3: ODST, was released worldwide on September 22, 2009.

Halo 3 "Forge" Map Editor Overview

One of the new and exciting features of Halo 3 is the Forge. The Forge isn’t a typical map editor like you see in many other games. It does not allow you to change anything major in the level such as level geometry. Rather, it allows you to place any weapons, objects, vehicles, spawn points, or tools from Halo 3. For example you could easily place a flamethrower and bubble shield in your base for your teammates to pick up. You have a lot of flexibility in what you can place but you are limited to the amount of objects you can place; there is a cost associated with each object. You have a maximum amount of dollars you can spend to avoid overflowing the memory. Small objects cost less while larger objects such as vehicles cost more.

You can also play Forge with friends allowing you to delete enemy’s objects while placing objects for your own team. Up to seven of your friends can join you forming different teams. You can attack each other as well as go into editing mode which turns you into a monitor like Guilty Spark. You can be attacked while in this mode so you need to pay attention to your enemies, but you can drop or move any object you wish. You do have some limitations such as not being able to delete vehicles while people are still in them.

The Forge looks like a great addition to the Halo franchise which should many unique gameplay experiences to our multiplayer games.

Tony James is an expert in the gaming industry, you can get [http://www.freewaregames.net/]free games from his
website [http://www.freewaregames.net/]FreewareGames.net

How to Get Halo 3 Recon Armor

To say that Halo 3 has proven to be an enormously popular video game would be a dramatic understatement. Many games are popular but few reach the level of a pop culture phenomenon. Such is the case with Halo 3 as evidenced by the hundreds of millions of dollars in sales revenues amassed by the game. But, no matter how popular the game may be, players need to be able to succeed at the game or the number of players interested in it will dwindle. One way to increase the chances of success at the game is to make sure the characters are fully armored. This will protect them against many of the threats they face and allow them to achieve their gaming objectives.

There are many different types of armor that can be acquired in the game. These armor types include Mark V, Hayabusa, Scout, and many other variants. Among the most powerful is Recon Armor and, in addition to being highly formidable, it is also the most difficult armor to acquire during game play. Thankfully, difficult does not mean impossible and those hoping to acquire this elusive armor can certainly do so if they have the right guidance.

Originally, the acquisition of Recon Armor was limited to Bungie Employees. In time, Bungie made the armor available to those that were members of its community provided they met certain criteria. (This criteria was often based around players performing very silly stunts as opposed to anything heroic) Needless to say, this made the armor scarce. Scarcity and rarity will immediately make something more valuable. It will also lead to discontentment if players feel excluded due to favoritism. As such, the armor has been made available in a limited manner to those that can follow the pathway to achieve it.

One way to acquire this armor will be based upon forge skills. If your skill level on forge attributes reaches certain exceptional heights, the doors to acquiring this armor will be opened. If you have an aptitude for this type of skill, you can approach your Recon Armor acquisition in an expedient manner. If you lack such skill, there is no reason to fret. You can simply take the steps necessary to build up your forge talents. As your forge skills increase, the ability to acquire Halo 3 Recon Armor becomes more probable. If, however, the ability to develop forge skills is outside your area of expertise there is another option available.

This option centers on the Vidmaster Challenges. These challenges entail completing the game of Halo 3 within a specified amount of time and achieving certain specific objectives. These challenges will be set aside to be completed on a specific date. Those that have completed 3 of these challenges will be awarded with Recon Armor. Now, is it easy to complete these challenges? No, it requires a lot of skill and talent. Hence, that is the reason there is a reward and this reward is the acquisition of the elusive Halo 3 Recon Armor. That alone makes the challenges worth it.

This article brought to you by Andie Francese of ASTRO Gaming Inc. ASTRO Gaming produces a line of gamer centric "tech-life" products, supporting this rapidly growing community. ASTRO Gaming's product line includes the critically acclaimed A40 Audio System, the Official Licensed [http://astrogaming.com/products/detail/12/A40-MLG-Edition/]MLG Gaming Headset, and the new Transport Series of gaming bags