If you’re anything like me, one of the most maddening things about Halo 3 is the use of Push-to-Talk. In any match with more than four players to a team, if you want to say something you have to press the d-pad. What does this mean for you? I’d go like 10 minutes before realizing that my team hasn’t heard anything from me the entire match. Because I forgot to use damn Push-to-Talk. Oy. Minor complaint, but something that took away from a great multiplayer experience.
Well, say goodbye to that. Teams with less than six players will not have to use Push-to-Talk much longer. Here’s what’s coming in the January update.
“Push to Talk Restriction Increased
Since Halo 3’s release, if a player were to join a Matchmaking playlist with a team size larger than four, he or she would have to push a button on the DPad to communicate directly to their team. After the January update, the PTT restriction is being increased to 6 players per team, meaning that players will not need to use the D-pad to communicate on any Matchmaking playlist but Social Big Team.
What does this mean for players? Well, for starters, it means communicating to teammates in 5v5 or 6v6 playlists will be trivial. However, this could mean an increase in bandwidth necessary for these larger format playlists, which means the potential for ‘laggy’ games is increased. The best way to avoid lag in these games is to ensure that you are not constantly broadcasting to your teammates, and that your teammates are not constantly broadcasting to you. If you often play with strangers, be prepared to mute and report players that abuse their microphone. To mute a player quickly during a game, hold the back button to bring up the scoreboard and select their name with the left stick. Then press X. Muted! To report players, select their name in the post game carnage report and view their gamercard, then use the Report Player options listed therein.” — Bungie.net
Pretty awesome news, if you ask me.
Other updates coming within the month…
They’ll be getting rid of the DLC playlist option. They’ll also be removing and polishing gametypes on the playlists in preparation for this year’s Mythic Map Pack. House keeping. Hit the source link above to read all about that stuff.
Bungie has noted that Seattle is seeing some horrific weather. A state of emergency has been declared for the city, thus reducing resources and workers. This is going to slow the update for Halo 3 down until the middle-end-ish of the month.
It’s okay Bungie, we still love you. Thank god for the absence of Push-to-Talk in most games.
