More on Halo 3 multiplayer

Following Halo 3 revelations in a Swedish magazine at the end of October, now the French are at it - with more multiplayer information seeping out in the French Official Xbox Magazine.

Their preview, partially reported by IGN, reveals three new multiplayer modes - NinjaBall (about hanging onto a ball, obviously), TankFlag (where a tank carries the flag - they worked hard on these names y'know), and Elimination (where the idea is to kill off five opposing team members) - and confirms a 16-player limit.

There's also some more on the Spartan Laser mentioned in Sweden - apparently the vehicle-busting weapon's powerful application will be off-set by the need to lock on to the target by holding it in the sights for around three seconds before firing.

As for the "Man Cannon", which sounded like a sort of projectile bounce pad - apparently it will be possible to use it to fire explosive barrels and even vehicles in looping arcs over the battlefield. When a player uses it, they will be able to fire or be shot down as they zoom over the top.

Other new information includes some on the controls - with the Warthog and Ghost vehicles apparently handling similar to the way they do in Halo 2, and the control pad's X button as-yet unassigned (but destined for greatness no doubt).

The game's currently in the alpha stage of development, the preview added, with Bungie saying it'll be done "when it's ready".