Here 'tis:
- The team is finally getting enough Xboxes to go around. No more sharing.- All the human combat dialog is recorded. Marty is going to Chicago next week to record some other parts with some of the voice actors we've used before.
- The Artist Formerly Known As The Mighty Chris Butcher And Now Known Simply As Chris Butcher delegated his title to Chucky. He also did a bunch of stuff for the Sin-O-MatiXXX team, making sure the communication system for AIs is in proper working order and working on the scripting tools.
- The Swarthy Chucky got hovering vehicles back in the game after a protracted absence. AIs can drive them now as well. Chucky also fixed some broken math functions and wrote a bunch of new ones.
- Eric Arroyo is working on a mission I'm not allowed to discuss. One of the visual highlights of this level is known around the office as The Money Shot. Heavy machinery, great heights, and you. I can say no more, but as Eric put it, the wet-your-pants factor will be high.
- Like Eric, many of our other artists are working on strange and beautiful things for Halo this week, but they all appear late enough in the game that I can't describe them without giving away some big secrets. You'll just have to wait and see for yourselves.
- Rob is working on the shotgun, which started as a 12-gauge and is now roughly a 7- or 6-gauge; it fits better in your enormous hands that way. The shells are one inch across their face. The gun is still untextured and Stephen is still working on animations for it, but it's in the latest builds and looks fantastic.
- Mat Noguchi did some more work on the HUD and put in a bunch of cheats for testing purposes. He claims the Bottomless Clip cheat is the most fun when using the rocket launcher, and if we have enough time we might be able to use it in the Bob Soccer multiplayer mode we've been thinking about.
Matthew Soell