Halo 3 Alpha/Pimps at Sea

[Bluedevil70]

Halo 2 Beta was multiplayer only. But it had some pretty big changes from the final game such as the Hud being different. The Mongoose was still in the game along with a weapon that was kind of like the Sentinel Gun. Also it seemed Bungie wanted to include the Theater option in Halo 2 similar to what was in 3 but due to the Xbox 1s hard drive being pretty small they had to take it out.

That weapon was known as the Disruptor. It was kind of like the Covenant version of the Flamethrower, which was also in the Beta. They were both uncompleted, however.

Out of interest - does the halo 2 beta contain any single player elements?

There is also a very rudimentary version of the Falcon from Halo: Reach. All options besides Multiplayer and Settings are locked on the menu, however, as they don't lead to anything anyway.

[piratebox]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kzHNHdCUos

interesting

[Bluedevil70]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kzHNHdCUos

interesting

I always thought it was weird how the Assault Rifle and Battle Rifle were held in the Alpha, I can see why they changed it.

I wonder if those were the only weapons in the Alpha. Hard to tell a lot of things with the quality, but cool nonetheless.

[CrAzY]

Supposebly (& not just because that guy said it on the Youtube video) they were just re-using animations for all the previous weapons they carried to H3. Just placeholders as.... it is an Alpha.

I wonder if those were the only weapons in the Alpha. Hard to tell a lot of things with the quality, but cool nonetheless.

Which Alpha? That's a loose term, I have seen about 4-5 seperate videos on Halo 3's Alpha back when with noticeable differences.

If you are talking about the video just posted, you can see AR, BR, Spikers, Spartan Laser, Sniper, Pistol... Pretty much all human weapons, but I cant read what the game type is.

My favorite thing is the old contrails from the Sniper. The ones from H2, so sexy looking! :nod:

[Bluedevil70]

Supposebly (& not just because that guy said it on the Youtube video) they were just re-using animations for all the previous weapons they carried to H3. Just placeholders as.... it is an Alpha.

Which Alpha? That's a loose term, I have seen about 4-5 seperate videos on Halo 3's Alpha back when with noticeable differences.

If you are talking about the video just posted, you can see AR, BR, Spikers, Spartan Laser, Sniper, Pistol... Pretty much all human weapons, but I cant read what the game type is.

My favorite thing is the old contrails from the Sniper. The ones from H2, so sexy looking! :nod:

It makes sense that they would do that. When they made Halo 2, I know that the Halo: CE code was used as a starting point, specifically involving the HUD and certain weapons. You can see it in more detail on the Halo 2 Collector's Edition DVD.

I was referring to the Pimps at Sea version which seems to be the most widely distributed version of the Alpha, used to test online code and such, but I understand what you mean about it being loosely defined.

What I had in mind when I said that were weapons like the Mauler and Flamethrower, which seemed to have been added later into the games development, although I could definitely be wrong. Sorry about that, though, I should have been more clear.

[derekb]

I never said you downloaded it off Xbox Live, I said it uses Xbox Live and not PNET. It was sent out on a pressed silver disc with a small pamphlet detailing the controls and showing a spartan with dual SMG's.

EDIT: Also, I am talking about the Halo 2 beta, so JTAG is void.

I was of the impression that the reason people had to run it on xdk's was that the servers were only available on pnet by then and not on public xbl, could be wrong

[Borman]

Theres also the issue of not going on live with modified bios :P

[Bluedevil70]

I was of the impression that the reason people had to run it on xdk's was that the servers were only available on pnet by then and not on public xbl, could be wrong

I think that's what people did do. Then I think PartnerNet quit working so people wrote some patches to bypass the Xbox Live sign-in checks in order to play custom games.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, though, I didn't have the Halo 2 Beta back then when the Xbox Live and PartnerNet for the original Xbox were still up.

[derekb]

not really sure on the bypass xbl part

[Bluedevil70]

not really sure on the bypass xbl part

Actually I can confirm this as true, as I used one of these patches to get the game working on a retail, modded, original Xbox.

[derekb]

details requesting

[Bluedevil70]

details requesting

Since Xbox Live doesn't work for original Xboxs any more and te Beta period offiicially ended, the Multiplayer option of the menu was locked. When you select it, certain Xbox Live sign-in checks occur, which could no longer be fulfilled.

Certain members of ASSEMbler have written patches which remove these checks, allowing you to enter the Multiplayer menus and play the game under the Custom Game option.

This way, you don't need a Developer Kit to play it. I don't think the game still works with PartnerNet, but I can't verify this as 100% true.

[Doom]

The original PNET came down about a week or two before the XBL counterpart from what I recall, just fyi.

-Doom

[APE]

The same checks prevent Re-Volt from the Live beta disc from working as well, difference being the checks in Halo 2's beta were easily patched out where as Re-Volt's aren't.

Though I have yet to find Halo 2's beta anywhere due to hoarders.

[derekb]

likewise, the people I know who had it would only share it to ppl who had pnet access that could get on to play wiht them

[Bluedevil70]

The original PNET came down about a week or two before the XBL counterpart from what I recall, just fyi.

-Doom

Thanks for the clarification, I thought this was the case.

[Bluedevil70]

Just thought I'd post this in case anyone was interested. User sneakyfellow at reddit.com/r/halo just posted a gallery of photos he took from when he was in the Halo 3 Alpha. They can be found here:

http://imgur.com/a/gxm3P#0

Pictures of note include some different models for the way the Assault Rifle and Battle Rifle were held and a very unfinished Rocket Launcher of some sort.

[gs37]

The Halo3 alpha build known as "Pimps at Sea" was a Bungie friends and family test program. It was multiplayer only. You didn't have to be a Bungie employee to play it, but you had to get it from one. For example, if your dad or brother worked there. It was played over public XBL and was downloaded by redeeming a one-time use code. I know some gaming media personnel had access to it as well. Sadly, I never got my hands on a copy. :'(

As for the Halo2 beta, that was for Microsoft employees only. They basically handed the discs out to any one with a valid MSFT employee ID card. It came on a really boring looking disc. It had Zanzibar and maybe one or two other maps. I only ever played Zanzibar on the H2 beta as that map had the mongoose... and the flamethrower... I don't remember the other ones. I'll fire up my box in a while and check.

It did have the theater feature as mentioned by JamesMichael. It also had the headhunter gametype. These two features were... troublesome, and eventually removed. The H2 beta had an epic "blue screen of death" style crash screen. It was bright blue background and said BUG REPORT in bright white, along with some debug info. It was played on PartnerNet.