Halo 3 multiplayer beta

Sometimes, that's just the way it goes; Round 1 of our Vs. Mode exchange on the Halo 3 multiplayer beta with MTV News videogame reporter Stephen Totilo was a largely friendly affair. For our part, we reminisced about communal gaming experiences from games gone by in an attempt to understand why online multiplayer generally leaves us cold, while Totilo variously compared Halo 3's multiplayer to baseball, basketball and "Survivor." And while there's nothing wrong with collegiality, our readers want to see some blood ink pixels spilled. Today, in Round 2 of our exchange, things get more than a bit personal as we hone in on what Halo feels like for a newbie. Some excerpts:

N'Gai Croal: Separately, I've met up with you and Level Up Xbox 360 correspondent Rolf Ebeling, but our handful of shared experiences didn't produce much in the way of coordinated action or in-game cameraderie. The real bonding took place during the after-action reports in the lobbies waiting for the next match to begin. During the games themselves, I felt as though I was pretty much on my own, but crucially and cruelly robbed of the narcissistic godhood around which single-player games are generally based--it wasn't all about me anymore. In other words, I was spawned into a world where I was fundamentally alone, and the only sure thing was that I was going to die.

Stephen Totilo: Let's be completely honest, N'Gai, and admit to the readers that we're such neophytes that when we played the same maps together we couldn't even get the Team Chat function working. We weren't working together because we couldn't talk to each other. I do recall one map where a player far better than us--so talented that he even knew how to use the Team Chat function!--effectively guided our little band of half-brothers to momentary mid-match success. Then he stopped coaching us, yelling something about desperately needing cover fire, and we went back to losing our match.

Click on the link below to read Round 2 in its entirety.

1. NEW...armor types for Halo 3 multiplayer?
2. ONE...thousand words, this picture is worth
3. DEF...CON developer, in his own words
4. RND...Google, can you spare a dime?