Bungie talks Halo: Reach armor, weapons and jet packs

It probably won't surprise you to learn that Halo: Reach will offer its players a wide assortment of methods of brutalizing one another. These methods were recently revealed in the latest Bungie update, which heated anticipators of the upcoming shooter should go read immediately.

Said update reveals a new "Armor Abilities" system, in which temporary bonuses which used to appear on the battleground are now ingrained into pre-fabricated loadouts. For instance, the Active Camo power-up is now tied to a load-out. An Ability called "Armor Lock" makes you temporarily invincible (and stationary), deflecting any shots, and wrecking the shop of any vehicle attempting to run you over. Also, our beloved jet pack falls into this category, rendering all other Armor Abilities completely meaningless.

Also revealed in the update is a handful of new weapons and intriguing new gameplay mechanics -- including the announcement that the Covenant Elite is physically superior to the Spartan, which will prevent them from playing against one another in some gametypes. That's ... that's speciesist, Bungie.