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Halo 3 '99.9 percent complete'

Bungie confirms closed Epsilon test will be last before game goes gold; studio putting finishing touches on game's Forge content editor.

After nearly four years in the making, Halo 3 is now just over one month away from shipping. Over the weekend, developer Bungie Software reassured gamers that there won't be any 11th-hour, Grand Theft Auto IV-style delay of the Xbox 360 shooter.

"Development on Halo 3 is winding down," Bungie staffer and former journalist Luke Smith announced in the studio's most recent weekly update. "While there's still a considerable amount of dudes here on site, playing through the game, testing the game, filing bugs and fixing bugs, the game is roughly 99.9 percent complete."

Smith also confirmed the final ".1 percent" of the game is being tested via the widely rumored, invitation-only Halo 3 Epsilon trial. Currently being conducted in a "controlled retail environment," Epsilon's primary purpose is to fine-tune the game's new Forge level editor. Forge will allow Halo 3 players to customize maps' layouts, including player, character, and vehicle spawn points. The Epsilon test also features the Tsavo Highway level from the game's campaign, as well as five multiplayer maps, including Last Resort and Sandtrap.

Visit GameSpot's Halo Launch Center for more updates on the game as its September 25 release approaches.

248 Comments

  • AtomicBaconBits

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 10:17 pm PT

    To darendt69: Nothing new? Oh,so you say 8 new vehicles,a bunch of new weapons,a map editor,armor customization and so many tons of options isn't new?...

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  • RaiKageRyu

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 10:17 pm PT

    Coming in tight

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  • darkflame202113

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 10:11 pm PT

    beyond perfect

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  • xfan-atic

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 10:07 pm PT

    This game is going to be awsome, FORGE, here I come!

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  • FallenOneX

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 10:05 pm PT

    This will be the first Halo game I buy. Hope the single player is good.

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  • SouthwoodS

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 10:01 pm PT

    I dont own a Xbox 360 but if i did i would camp out all night for this game. The Halo franchise need big props for bringing a awsome game.-

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  • zeecorner

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 10:00 pm PT

    RE: Dark_Nexus3367
    The Map Editor is not the same one that you see on PC. You cant actually create a map from scratch, like changing colors, changing the ground, etc, instead you place objects, vehicles, weapons, etc, on the existing maps.

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  • boarding4ever

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 9:57 pm PT

    by map editor they mean that you can move around weapons and vehicles, not actually creating new maps but rather re-arranging them.

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  • zeecorner

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 9:55 pm PT

    sick, sick, sick, sick!! Freakin a! I am soooo excited, got that pre-ordered at EB about a month ago when I sold my old xbox and some games that I didnt want to keep.

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  • Dark_Nexus3367

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 9:51 pm PT

    Wow the map editor sounds like an awesome addition to the game.I would have been so ticked if we had to pay for all of the maps so it's nice to see them offer us the unlimited use of Map Editors,as long as the maps people make are actually good .I am psyched about every aspect of this game but I am a little let down by the graphics.I don't mean to sound negative,but after Bungie touting the Halo engine from their E3 announcement back in 2006 I thought "Wow Halo 3 is going to look like an amazing and epic work of art."While every other thing about the game has exceeded my expectations,the graphics are the one small disappointment I have.Unless the graphics are polished up to look like that trailer within the next month,that will be my only issue with the game.Anyways,I'm super excited for this game and I can't wait for the co-op and Forge mode.Halo 3 FTW!!!!

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  • Spookykow posted Aug 20, 2007 9:49 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    Spookykow

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 9:49 pm PT (hide)

    Meh. The Multiplayer is pretty sweet, but it'll be on my shelf as soon as the Orange Box comes out. If only the awesome campaigns of the Half-Life series could be combined with the crazy online-multiplayer of Halo. U.U A man can dream though......a man can dream...

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  • everythingj

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 9:41 pm PT

    this game is already a huge success, with all the pre-orders and what not. this is going to keep momentum going for the 360 for a long time..

    at least this, mass effect, bioshock, or blue dragon will.. oh boy i'm going to need to put in some extra hours at work this fall =(

    good luck catching up ps3.

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  • Sydwynder

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 9:39 pm PT

    Soon my little puppets...........................soon................

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  • BoBo_0007

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 9:33 pm PT

    Not a huge fan of the halo series, but it does have really fun multiplayer and this map editor is just going to cement this game as the best multiplayer to most likely come onto the 360 in its life time.

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  • GabuEx 

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 9:28 pm PT

    @ mpeg3s:

    "Halo is America's last hope. If it fails then so will the 360."

    Erm, perhaps you haven't heard of this game called BioShock. But you can be forgiven for that; it's not as if it's been plastered all over GameSpot for the past week.

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  • AngelOfIron

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 9:22 pm PT

    Pirate_X ,

    Yes they're empty cases, or at least they should be. In this case they're just there to promote the game.

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  • gimlifn

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 9:18 pm PT

    Wow they will really have to produce a lot of copies before release day. Can't wait for this great game to come out and finally a game that Bungie staff will not say they did a half job on.

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  • Pirate_X posted Aug 20, 2007 9:16 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    Pirate_X

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 9:16 pm PT (hide)

    hmm , how is the game 99.9 percent done when i saw a bunch of limited and legendary editions in Walmart today. It said Halo3 68.83. Empty cases perhaps?

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  • ctg867

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 9:15 pm PT

    Really, I shouldn't be surprised by this. This is the only Halo game that's had the full amount of time to be worked on. And the development was done in mini crunches at intervals, rather then one huge crunch at the end, which would take it's toll on the developers, and lower the quality of the game.

    Everything sounds... on schedule. Like they're sorta sitting back and playing Epsilon, testing for bugs, and playing online co-op at this point. And they have a month before launch. All of this sounds so non rushed it's crazy.

    I feel like this is being made by Insomniac or something, where all the employees are happy and there's ice cream days and stuff because they get all this work done, and but have the time to do it. Weird. Anyway, good news.

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  • v3pointoh posted Aug 20, 2007 9:12 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    v3pointoh

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 9:12 pm PT (hide)

    The last 0.1% is "Should we do ANOTHER cliffhanger ending? Hmmm..."

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  • Diablo2343 posted Aug 20, 2007 9:10 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    Diablo2343

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 9:10 pm PT (hide)

    ... was the sound of meh poohing meself in anticipation

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  • Ra-Devil

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 9:06 pm PT

    Also, in case anyone was wondering, I did the research, and producing 1 million DVDs can take as little as 2 days, so producing this game in time won't be a problem, as I'm sure they've been kicking out boxes and tin cases for all of it for a while now, as that does take longer than 2 days. After a week of producing the game, and casing it properly, they could have millions of these things ready.... as they should.

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  • aRE-you-AFraid

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 9:06 pm PT

    Can't wait for this game.

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  • hitmersa

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 9:00 pm PT

    Have you been smoking alot of pot mpeg3s? xbox doesn't need halo to survive. It just means alot of sales for them

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  • Dr_Corndog

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 9:00 pm PT

    Level editor? Oh my goodness. They might as well sell XBox 360s with Halo 3 on the hard drive and hard-wired to only play that game, because once this game comes out it won't be leaving anybody's disc drive for a long, long time.

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  • hegetshiskeys posted Aug 20, 2007 9:00 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    hegetshiskeys

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 9:00 pm PT (hide)

    Enough with Halo 3 news for cryin out loud!!!!!!!!

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  • xcollector

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 8:58 pm PT

    "After nearly four years in the making..."

    That better mean its perfect!

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  • abczby

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 8:57 pm PT

    So I'm guessing the general public is not going to get to play the Epsilon?

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  • edflam311

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 8:57 pm PT

    This game is gonna sell boatloads.

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  • omfg_its_dally

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 8:54 pm PT

    Hardly, Mpeg3s. The 360 has a lot more going for it than just Halo.

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  • Atomic_Mutant

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 8:49 pm PT

    That last 0.1 % = ending.

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  • peeweeshift posted Aug 20, 2007 8:47 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    peeweeshift

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 8:47 pm PT (hide)

    VenDaler
    Ah ha! That's one new feature that I didn't know about... I'm wondering what other cool things they haven't announced. Sounds like this game is going to pack a lot of content.

    The game has much less content than you probably think. even 2 and 1 didnt have much. but it was all the eggs glitches and exploits that added replay imo. thats what i love about halo. lol

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  • DonutTrooper

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 8:47 pm PT

    Hate or love Halo personally, you can't deny it will make MASSIVE sales. Just a fact

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  • mpeg3s posted Aug 20, 2007 8:46 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    mpeg3s

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 8:46 pm PT (hide)

    Halo is America's last hope. If it fails then so will the 360.

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  • whitey3221

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 8:44 pm PT

    gforce007_basic

    "How the **** was the GTA delay an 11th hour delay? When you delay a game that is still 3-4 months from shipping, that doesn't really count as a last minute delay. Anyhoo, nice to see that Halo 3 will be on time and super polished although I really hope they didn't slack off and leave too much stuff on the cutting room floor like they did with Halo 1 and Halo 2. "


    3-4 months away in the gaming industry is eleventh hour dude...especially if you already have a release date set.

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  • laitheybaby

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 8:41 pm PT

    Binarynova: "So, as someone who never played Halo or Halo2 I was on the fence about Halo 3 until this article. Most of you probably already knew about this Forge mode but it's new to me. After reading about it that's really very cool sounding and I may actually have to pick this one up now."

    You do not even know the half of what you can do with forge!

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  • gforce007_basic

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 8:38 pm PT

    How the **** was the GTA delay an 11th hour delay? When you delay a game that is still 3-4 months from shipping, that doesn't really count as a last minute delay. Anyhoo, nice to see that Halo 3 will be on time and super polished although I really hope they didn't slack off and leave too much stuff on the cutting room floor like they did with Halo 1 and Halo 2.

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  • tiger6881

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 8:36 pm PT

    almost there, man I can't wait

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  • VenDaler

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 8:35 pm PT

    Ah ha! That's one new feature that I didn't know about... I'm wondering what other cool things they haven't announced. Sounds like this game is going to pack a lot of content.

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  • Pete5506

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 8:32 pm PT

    so good to hear

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  • xTODx_INSANE

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 8:29 pm PT

    i cant wait!!!!!!

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  • NyGin07

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 8:28 pm PT

    "I'll pass on Halo 3. Crysis is coming after all"

    hell no ive been waiting to damn long for this game. this will put a extra 3 years in my 360 if it doesnt freakin burn on fire from all the playtime though lol crysis does look sick though

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  • NyGin07

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 8:26 pm PT

    ummmm i think we know its almost done if its coming out next month lol

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  • BoobyUnger posted Aug 20, 2007 8:25 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    BoobyUnger

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 8:25 pm PT (hide)

    oh i thought that .1 percent is where they put some challenge into the game. Guess i thought wrong. It better not be easy. Like other xbox games...

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  • --Sinister--

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 8:25 pm PT

    The Cheif (if he dies) better go down like a marine and like a man. Like if he is surrounded by brutes, hunters, ect, he better like set off and explosion and take all the mother ****ers to hell!!!!! hahahahaha!!!!

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