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 | August 2009 |  |
August 2009 Archived News
News August 31 2009
ManKitten's 5th Annual Halo Treasure Hunt Day 2/7
ManKitten's back with clues for his Halo Treasure Hunt - go read 'em, see if you're there yet! (Louis Wu 23:12:40 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Art Project
ScOuRgE3 stopped in with word of an art project; he's creating an image for each level of the original Halo. There are two images to go - but what's there now is pretty impressive! Check it out at DeviantART. (Louis Wu 22:49:11 UTC) (permalink)
HBOFFPotW 0828
kabu let us know that the latest HBO Fan Fiction Pick of the Week has been posted on the HBOFF forum. Swing by to see the best of last week! (Louis Wu 21:07:30 UTC) (permalink)
Minuteman Monday
Azrael continues his Minutemen: The Crucible fanfic series; Chapter 10 is now live on his website. Go read! (Louis Wu 19:01:12 UTC) (permalink)
Tag and Release: Amazing
The Tag of the Week this week on Bungie.net is 'Amazing'... and the pictures do the term justice. Check 'em out. (Louis Wu 17:07:27 UTC) (permalink)
Hangin' on Booth Babes
XMixMasterX went to MLG Dallas as a spectator - watched some great play, played some ODST, ate some free hot dogs. Check out his writeup (with pics). (Louis Wu 16:46:01 UTC) (permalink)
HaloCharts Still Needs Winners
BuzzJuice stopped in with an entreaty for Co-op mythic runs for HaloCharts' CLASO contest (we mentioned it last week) - apparently, the first submitters already HAVE Recon, from a DIFFERENT Mythic contest. Submit your run, ASAP! (Louis Wu 14:21:22 UTC) (permalink)
SPARTAN-BETA - Part 1
Chengaiz Khan let us know about Euphoria Films' SPARTAN-BETA, a new machinima series drawing its references from all sorts of Halo universe products. A Human-Covenant alliance is strained by the actions of a mysterious entity doing serious damage. Nice effects - and an open door for more episodes. Go watch! (Louis Wu 13:07:58 UTC) (permalink)
Halo R6 at MotoGP
Jamal Malik went to the Indy MotoGP yesterday - and grabbed some pictures of an interesting motorcycle at the Yamaha Custom Sport Bike tent. (Side | Front Left | Front Right) Now THAT'S a bike! Thanks to KP for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 13:06:59 UTC) (permalink)
Monday Comic Roundup
What we've found for you:
- Hawty McBloggy highlighted another grin + bear it this weekend - it's a little risque.
- TTL Demag0gue posted today's Reclaimer early - Reclaimer 212 (Red Haze) brings some serious trouble for Tag...
Go read! (Louis Wu 13:05:56 UTC) (permalink)
ManKitten's 5th Annual Halo Treasure Hunt Day 1/7
For the last few years, ManKitten has run a treasure hunt on our forum, giving you several days of clues to come up with specific tidbits from Halo games. He kicked off the 5th annual series yesterday - go read the opening hints! (Louis Wu 13:04:48 UTC) (permalink)
Triggers Down takes MLG Dallas
Congrats to Triggers Down, who beat Carbon 6-4 in the Finals to win MLG Dallas yesterday. You can find a game-by-game recap, a full listing of the standings, and lots of video highlights at MLGPro.com. (Louis Wu 13:03:49 UTC) (permalink)
News August 30 2009
Halo 3 Achievements: Orig vs Mythic
FyreWulff whipped up another chart - this one compares Halo 3 Achievements you can get with and without buying Halo 3: ODST. He points out (rightly) that unless the last three Mythic maps are released at some point as DLC, you will NOT be able to finish all 1750 Halo 3 Achievement points without buying ODST. Go see what else he's pointed out. (Louis Wu 14:29:37 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Pros on Mythic 2 Maps
There's been a lot of footage released recently showing off gameplay on the three new Mythic maps that are coming with Halo 3: ODST - but one of the big complaints has been that press representatives aren't exactly the best Halo players out there. Complain no more - 8 top MLG Pros got their game on on Citadel and Heretic - thanks, 2900d4u. I wasn't really impressed with the commentary - but the gameplay is top-notch. (Heretic, in particular, was great - these guys knew the map like the back of their hands.) (Louis Wu 14:23:10 UTC) (permalink)
I could think of worse outcomes.
Miguel Chavez pointed out a video from Mega64 discussing PS3 Exclusives - even Halo plays a part. (Not everyone approved of the quality.) (Louis Wu 14:22:44 UTC) (permalink)
Hey! I remember Shrinky-Dinks!
Hawty McBloggy found a pair of earrings that might make a nice present for that hardcore Master Chief fan... (Louis Wu 14:22:21 UTC) (permalink)
ODST in SoCal
Mid7night went to the San Diego ODST Truck visit with his wife - and took some pics. And Destructoid was at the LA stop, and THEY took pics (thanks, Minime637). Go look!
(Louis Wu 14:21:49 UTC) (permalink)
News August 29 2009
How do you guys kill the freakin' hunters?
If you missed the live stream of ODST Firefight played by pros and a few fans at MLG Dallas last night, you can find the match on YouTube today (Part 1 | Part 2) - looks like pros are better against live opponents than they are against AIs. (Walshy gets totally owned by a suicide grunt around 4:15 into the first film.) Thanks, Dax01. (Louis Wu 16:31:40 UTC) (permalink)
ODST Mobile Tour: LA Photos (and video)
neoxdonut was present at the Los Angeles stop of the ODST truck, and took a bunch of photos. Nice shots of the truck, the crowd, and the mess they all left at the end. Check it out! Update: Arika Sato, from GirlGamer, was there as well, interviewing the crowd (thanks, Kibbles). (Louis Wu 16:06:40 UTC) (permalink)
Aesthetic Artist Interview: A Deaf Boy
COL0NEL SANDERS sent along an interview with A Deaf Boy for the Aesthetic Artist Interview series - go read about how this guy got into the Halo screenshot world, and look at some of his work! (As is the case with some of his predecessors, his Bungie.net name (A Deaf Boy) doesn't match up with his gamertag, which is currently 'Velocithon', but has been in the past 'The Diktator' and 'I Vigilante V I', among others.) (Louis Wu 15:04:37 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3: ODST Preview from 1050 ESPN Radio
ESPN's Ray Carsillo interviewed Brian Jarrard about Halo 3: ODST - it's an 8 and a half minute video, with discussion interspersed with stock ODST footage. Go watch! (Louis Wu 15:02:31 UTC) (permalink)
GamePro
GamePro posted a preview of Halo 3: ODST - not much that hasn't been said, but hey, it's a preview. (Louis Wu 15:02:05 UTC) (permalink)
Join us. Stop them!
Wanna see what the card that lets you play as Johnson in Firefight looks like? Stephen Loftus picked his up yesterday. (Louis Wu 15:01:02 UTC) (permalink)
The Chronicles of Lyle: Chapter 2 - Obamanation
urk was kind enough to let us know about a new chapter in the Chronicles of Lyle - the guy is way, way out there, but the vids are funny. Go watch. (Louis Wu 14:59:54 UTC) (permalink)
That Shishka... he's so dreamy.
The Bungie Weekly Update is live - MLG Dallas, Firefight, PAX, playlists, and more. You can read it at Bungie.net, or you can read it in our Weekly Update Archive - your call, as always. (Louis Wu 00:22:26 UTC) (permalink)
News August 28 2009
Mandlbaum in: 'Core Tempature' [Part 2]
Halo0001 X is back with another segment of Mandlbaum: Core Tempature - it looks like we might eventually see the entire film! (Part 1 was released in May.) You can watch the standard version on YouTube (11 minutes), or the Extended Director's Cut on Vimeo (13 minutes). Will Mandlbaum save the world? There's only one way to find out! (Well, two ways, I guess. Three, if you count the streaming and download options on Vimeo separately. Never mind - just go watch!) (Louis Wu 20:01:26 UTC) (permalink)
Halo3 ODST Rookie Figure
Bigsauce got his hands on some early Halo 3 ODST action figures from McFarlane (Front (2048x1536, 689k) | Back (2048x1536, 688k) | out of packaging (2048x1536, 689k)) - if you'd like to buy one yourself, he's offering three on eBay. Another interesting tidbit for collectors - the back of the card shows off a Spartan Mark IV (from the Halo Wars collection) - this hasn't been announced by McFarlane yet. (Louis Wu 18:59:13 UTC) (permalink)
Reclaimer 211: Prey
A bit later than usual, but TTL Demag0gue stopped in with word of Reclaimer 211 (Prey) - Tag's looking for Jamie Lee Curtis, but finding... something else. (Louis Wu 18:31:24 UTC) (permalink)
Top 10 Halo 3 Splatters - Episode 3
If you're into metal impacting flesh, Top 10 Halo Splatters Episode 3 contains nearly 5 minutes of vehicular carnage - thanks, urk. (Louis Wu 18:10:11 UTC) (permalink)
An official call for a return to roots
There are a bunch of new vids available on the Bungie Blog this morning... but I gotta say, the only one I found worth watching was the 3rd Mixtage, edited by Hemdall. Great gameplay and editing that doesn't make you want to cry... have we forgotten how to make montages like this? (Louis Wu 16:32:25 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
Eight new pieces are up this week in the Fan Fiction section, including some highly-respected names. Go read! (Louis Wu 15:25:40 UTC) (permalink)
Retrospective Review: Halo 2 Soundtrack
Dennis Wyman rediscovered the Halo 2 Official Soundtrack recently - and decided to write up a pair of reviews, just in time for the release of the Halo 3: ODST Soundtrack. You'll find his thoughts on both Volume 1 and Volume 2 on the Zangaroa Blog. The short version - he liked Volume 2 MUCH more. Go read why!
(Louis Wu 11:49:58 UTC) (permalink)
An old friend surfaces
Some old-timers might remember Pico - he was an early maker of machinima, notably the Lethal Rage series in 2003/2004. He stopped in this morning to point out an interview by the folks at machinima.fr - the english version is here, the french version here. It's a fun read! (Some good advice from it, to folks making machinima now: "Make a movie you want to see." Sounds like Pico and Bungie have similar philosophies!)
(Louis Wu 11:41:09 UTC) (permalink)
HMB: Twitter Thursdays and Caption Fridays
It's Friday - which means it's time for funny screenshots at Hawty McBloggy's. Friday Caption Fun, Round 61 has a summary of the best lines from last week... and a new image you can really sink your teeth into. (While you're there, check out Twitter T&A Thursday - Angel invited people to consider a what-if scenario that I'm sure has occurred to more than one Halo fan...) (Louis Wu 11:36:54 UTC) (permalink)
CE United: 20 Questions for DeepCee
Willy let us know that CE United's 20 Questions for August are directed at DeepCee, the artist behind ODS Steve. Give it a read! (Louis Wu 11:36:17 UTC) (permalink)
Would be weirder with Apone - erm, Johnson.
Mega Bloks is releasing Halo Wars Metalons, construction sets that let you magnetically construct your own Spartan. CaptainTony took one look at the gun that Spartan is carrying, and wondered if universes were colliding... (Louis Wu 11:34:27 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3: ODST at MLG Dallas
A reminder - Shishka and SketchFactor will both be at MLG Dallas this weekend, helping to show off Halo 3: ODST. There are pro exhibitions on Friday night, and then Firefight will be available to tourney-goers from 10-3 (or so) on Saturday. Thanks to Sketch for the update, and to urk for a B.net reinforcement. (Louis Wu 11:25:50 UTC) (permalink)
Wild French ODST - a followup
Kotaku got a bit more information out of Microsoft about the French ODST leak we mentioned Wednesday. Looks like there might have been a 'small breach' in the distribution process. They confirmed that they "will take action against those [they] believe have procured copies of the game illegitimately." (It's unclear how you can consider the purchase of a game at a retail outlet 'illegitimate'... but maybe they're not talking about those guys.) Requests for clarification of the MS France announcement CaLL Me ZeNy posted (stating that those caught playing before the release date would be banned from LIVE) were met with 'no comment'. Update: a further clarification today says Microsoft will NOT be banning 'legitimate customers'. That's much more reasonable. (Louis Wu 11:24:44 UTC) (permalink)
Meet the New Hotness (not the same as...)
Bungie has posted a close-up look at the changes that are coming to Bungie.net, once ODST is released. Go read - if you like stats, it'll make you drool.
News August 27 2009
Guys Like Us
Minime637 noticed a new Red vs Blue vid made for Gamestop, to help market Halo 3: ODST - good stuff! Swing by IGN to watch. Update: this is the first in a weekly series of ads. (Louis Wu 23:28:13 UTC) (permalink)
Maybe if the callouts had been quieter...
Heh - some guy showed up at at New York public library, with his Xbox and a monitor... and put some effort into setting up the gear so that he could leech off the public wifi to play a little Halo 3. According to the person who snapped the photo, it took him 20 minutes to set up, and 2 minutes to get booted. Dude... try Starbucks. (Louis Wu 22:55:34 UTC) (permalink)
My freakin' buttcheek!
Captain Spark sent along another few dozen dialogue snippets for our Dialogue Databank, mostly from Marines. Some really funny stuff in there! Go listen. (Louis Wu 20:05:19 UTC) (permalink)
Double XP Weekend: Mythic Brawl
It's Thursday - so it's time for another Double XP weekend playlist. Still missing any early Halo achievements? Mythic Brawl is ranked FFA - go earn 'em! (Louis Wu 18:47:21 UTC) (permalink)
Hit you with my loaded gun...
95 SS pointed out a fun audio link - if you swing by the podcast page of JV Mornings (the morning show at WILD 94.9, a radio station in San Francisco), and search down the page for 'LIL JEFFREY', you'll find a remix of Beyonce's Halo... though with maybe more Bungie content than the original.
(Louis Wu 18:40:04 UTC) (permalink)
And... more vids.
Not enough video footage to sate your multimedia obsession yet? Never fear, the Bungie Blog has even more:
- Anoj has released the next Top 10 Halo 3 Series vid - Episode 40 covers Killionaires.
- Bipolar Nick released a montage that weighs in at 11 minutes, though 4 minutes of that is credits.)
- Herbal T has posted 'I Should Be Good At This', a sub-2-minute minitage. Benny Hill owns at Halo.
- Jon CJG is back with a new episode of One Life Remaining - S1 Episode 3 has Anthony trying to convince his parents not to call the parents of the guy who broke his nose. Oh, high school is so much fun!
If you start now, you might finish before tomorrow's postings. (Louis Wu 17:53:55 UTC) (permalink)
ODST Firefight - now more video than you can handle
The ODST content deluge continues - urk has kindly provided links from 1UP.com (6 movies, including one that reveals a character not discussed much before now), IGN.com (two movies (one a video preview of the Firefight mode) and an article, focusing on that same undiscussed character), and GameTrailers.com (four new movies). Go watch, and drool! Update: Kibbles noticed that Gamespot has a whole bunch, too. (Louis Wu 17:30:13 UTC) (permalink)
We're responsible for global warming, too.
In the wake of the announcement that Future Publishing will be bringing you a World of Warcraft magazine, deftangel wonders about the possibility of a Halo magazine at some point. (His conclusion: it won't happen, and we're to blame.) Read the article, and comment either directly there or on his HBO forum post with your own opinions! (Louis Wu 17:08:36 UTC) (permalink)
Lead Vocal PITA - I don't think that's in the credits
An article at Gamesindustry.biz has Jordan Weisman (founder of FASA) talking about Microsoft's handling of the Bungie acquisition back in 2000, and what he (Weisman) did to try and keep MS Corporate from destroying Bungie's soul. Thanks, reprobate. (Louis Wu 17:05:30 UTC) (permalink)
HaloContest.com - enter contests, win stuff
Morpheus stopped in with word of a new site - HaloContest.com. You submit film clips and screenshots from Halo 3, and you win stuff. Seems pretty straightforward... (Submissions are accepted for the first contest now, voting begins in early September.) (Louis Wu 17:05:01 UTC) (permalink)
ManKitten: Halo 3 Super Star
ManKitten whipped up a rockin' montage - I'm pretty sure he stole footage from my fileshare for this, but I forgive him. Go watch. It'll brighten your day. (Louis Wu 16:27:19 UTC) (permalink)
Inside District 9
Tommy92L released Inside District 9, a Halo machinima that looks at what might happen after the end of the District 9 movie. (If you haven't seen the film yet, this video will contain spoilers, obviously.) He did a great job pulling off the documentary look - check it out! (Louis Wu 16:12:38 UTC) (permalink)
360Junkies - HBO Community Playdate coming soon
The 360Junkies are still planning their halo.bungie.org community playdate this Saturday - ikillbambis wanted to remind you to contact him if you're interested in participating! (Louis Wu 16:12:11 UTC) (permalink)
Hey... I know that guy...
Buttskunk ran across an article at Bam! Kapow! - 11 gamer personalities, and what they look like in real life. #4 is pretty Halo-centric.
(Louis Wu 16:11:52 UTC) (permalink)
Win a custom controller
Bryan Simon is facilitating a giveaway of a custom-painted controller from The Controller Shop - you just need to make a video explaining why you need this. (His example vid uses Halo 3 footage, sneaking this news in as 'Halo-related'.)
(Louis Wu 16:11:29 UTC) (permalink)
ODST not playable at Fan Expo after all
Ah, bummer - yesterday, we mentioned that ODST would be available to be played at Fan Expo this weekend in Toronto - turns out it's been pulled. If you were going just to play ODST - save your cash. (Louis Wu 16:11:02 UTC) (permalink)
Crisis
RVideo pointed out an 8-player, 3-director montage being promoted over at Halo3Forum.com - only the third segment is available in HD right now (the whole thing can be streamed from WeGame) - but after watching it, the third segment is by far the most impressive, so if you want to see some cool editing effects, grab ViDoL's segment of Crisis. (Louis Wu 16:10:27 UTC) (permalink)
News August 26 2009
Sacrifice, and more
It's Wednesday - Bungie's Favorites are updated. This week is the second batch of files from Tactical Gaming - go read about the map Sacrifice, and then look at everything else that's up! (Louis Wu 19:07:13 UTC) (permalink)
Preorder ODST - help Bungie
If you haven't preordered Halo 3: ODST yet, Bungie has actually put an Amazon link in their blog - looks like if you use it to order, they get a cut! (Sort of makes you wonder if MS is actually paying them for this game...) Go support Bungie - order with their link! (Louis Wu 19:03:02 UTC) (permalink)
They make games they wanna play.
Inside Gaming has an interview with CJ Cowan, recorded during Gamescom last week - go listen! Thanks, urk. (Louis Wu 17:29:25 UTC) (permalink)
2nd Degree
The Bungie Blog has word of 2nd Degree, a Halo 3 montage featuring gameplay from Nightmare and Assault. Nearly 10 minutes long, all MLG gameplay. Pretty impressive multikills!
(Louis Wu 17:27:17 UTC) (permalink)
I think I know that driver...
Co-Optimus has a fun little writeup of an evening spent co-oping on Halo 3 - it'll make you smile. (Louis Wu 17:25:21 UTC) (permalink)
Facility B5D Podcast 3
Facility B5D has released their third podcast - swing by Bungie.net for information and a download link. 82 minutes, 70 mb. Interview with CMNeir inside. (Louis Wu 17:24:38 UTC) (permalink)
Mythtacular - a chance to fall, many times
pete_the_duck's back with another challenge - and it's a doozy. He calls it 'Mythtacular', and it's an obstacle course on Sandbox. Beat it... and you win pete's undying admiration. (Well, it might die after a little while.) Don't play it to win stuff - play it because it looks like a WHOLE lotta fun. (Why am I hearing Led Zeppelin in my head?) Go download the map, read Pete's exhaustive writeup... and start jumpin'! (Louis Wu 16:54:23 UTC) (permalink)
Wednesday Comic Roundup
Two funnies for you today: Hawty McBloggy let us know about ODS Steve #39 (Return of the 'Mhack) - Sarge meets someone new... and TTL Demag0gue told us about Reclaimer 210 (Scoreless) - Score discovers something maybe better left undiscovered. (At least by him.) Go read! (Louis Wu 13:14:12 UTC) (permalink)
ODST available really early... in France
And... it looks like another Bungie game is about to be leaked... by the French. CaLL Me ZeNy pointed out a YouTube vid showing the unpacking of a copy of Halo 3: ODST, purchased over the counter from a French store almost 4 weeks before its official release. There are no spoilers in this video (it's just the unwrapping of the box, and showing off of what's inside)... but if it's real, it won't be long before Campaign vids start showing up on YouTube, as well. If you're looking to be unspoiled when you play through the first time, now might be a good time to stop reading Halo websites.Update: Microsoft France has issued a statement (thanks again, CMZ) that anyone caught playing the game before its release date will be banned from LIVE. (Relatively harsh punishment, given that they're buying the game in a regular retail outlet... but it might help protect the rest of us.) (Louis Wu 10:55:32 UTC) (permalink)
GT Solo Play Walkthrough from Gamescom
GameTrailers has posted another filmed-off-the-screen presentation (Part 1 | Part 2) from Gamescom - this one's an awful lot like the Gamersyde recording we mentioned on Sunday - but if you're doing your best to see everything out there, you should watch this too.
(Louis Wu 10:54:31 UTC) (permalink)
I'm on a Ghost!
Dojorkan rewrote the lyrics of The Lonely Island's "I'm on a boat" to be more Halo-related. It's still not safe for work... but it's pretty funny. (Not to be outdone, Pete Cooper submitted his own rewrite, "I'm in a Hog".)
(Louis Wu 10:51:29 UTC) (permalink)
OpenSauce 2.0 SDK Release Candidate
Connor Sauve let us know that the OpenSauce SDK 2.0, a package of tools from Kornman to help folks build Halo Custom Edition content, has been released - swing by Modacity to read about what it does, and to grab a copy. If you do ANY dabbling in the creation of content for Halo Custom Edition... you should grab this. (Louis Wu 10:45:07 UTC) (permalink)
It's not how you look - it's how many pixels you have.
Brian Jarrard attempted to convince a videogamer.com reporter that pixel counting doesn't actually do a game justice - but the 'we've lost 80 pixels' argument that surfaced when it was learned that the Halo 3 engine actually renders in 640p rather than 720p is back. Whee!
(Louis Wu 10:44:12 UTC) (permalink)
Limited Edition Halo 3: ODST Console/Game from Mountain Dew
Want a chance to win a Limited Edition Halo 3: ODST Console and game? Swing by Mountain Dew's twitter page - apparently, they're giving this away today. Thanks, big ander.
(Louis Wu 10:38:01 UTC) (permalink)
Inside Xbox: ODST Transport Vehicle
Kibbles noticed a video on YouTube showing an Inside Xbox feature from LIVE - Major Nelson presents the ODST transport truck during its inaugural stop. Nice footage of inside and out. I decided the YouTube vid didn't do the truck justice, so you can grab HD versions from us (1280x720, 80 or 90 mb, depending on flavor) in both WMP9 and QuickTime formats. (Louis Wu 10:36:42 UTC) (permalink)
Lawltage 4
Bloogyo let us know about Lawltage 4, another compilation of funny/odd clips from Matchmaking. Definitely some entertaining clips in there!
(Louis Wu 10:35:51 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars Dev Blog: Lessons Learned
Halo Wars Lead Designer Dave Pottinger has written up a post-mortem of the Halo Wars development process - it's an interesting read! Nice pics, too. Thanks, 2900d4u.
(Louis Wu 10:34:12 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3: ODST to be playable at Fan Expo
According to NextGen Player, if you're going to Toronto's Fan Expo on August 28-30, you'll get the chance to play ODST - a nice bonus for east coasters. (Louis Wu 10:31:07 UTC) (permalink)
News August 25 2009
Bungie-Inspired Music from Nicholas Singer
Nicholas Singer has been writing music inspired by Bungie tunes for quite a while - and recently he sent along a whole passel of new pieces. We've gathered up everything he's done in one place; you can swing by the page for full details. He'd love it if you used his music in your Halo-related podcast or machinima; go listen to the pieces, and download anything you'd like to use! (Louis Wu 19:55:01 UTC) (permalink)
The Halo CE Chronicles: The Ring of Life, part 5
Dennis Powers let us know that The Halo CE Chronicles series 'The Ring of Life' part 5 of 6 is now up - you can download it or stream it from the Halomaps website. The marines need to find a way to stop those Sentinels... and the Commander comes to grips with a hard fact. (Louis Wu 18:12:33 UTC) (permalink)
Average Joe - Ponkapoag
Another Average Joe has been profiled over on the Bungie Blog - Ponkapoag tells you who he is, what he plays, and how you can find him. Go read! (Louis Wu 18:03:48 UTC) (permalink)
Tuesday Montage Goodness
urk keeps me busy watching montages - and I'm gonna pass them on to you. HalCharts has put together a staff-based montage - go watch Prophecy. And last week we mentioned a trailer for Shattered 2, a montage featuring Sargoth - the full vid is out now. (Louis Wu 18:00:05 UTC) (permalink)
MLG against the World
Think you're better than the guys who cover the Halo pros? Looks like the staff from MLGPro.com, plus a few pros, will be entering matchmaking for a 4-hour world challenge. If you're at least a 40 in MLG, you've got a chance of meeting up with them on September 10. Swing by B.net or MLGPro.com for full details on the teams, and what sort of ego stroking you can expect if you win. (Louis Wu 17:56:34 UTC) (permalink)
It's a party!
Ready Up Live is coming up on their second anniversary - and to celebrate, they're giving away a ton of stuff. Swing by the site tomorrow to get in on the festivities! (More details at Bungie.net.) (Louis Wu 17:43:15 UTC) (permalink)
An Absolutely Key Title
MCV has an article about the marketing plans for Halo 3: ODST (at least in the UK). They're planning on promoting this title heavily past the Christmas season (which probably means no DLC versions of the last three Mythic maps for a long time - a serious downer, if it turns out to be true). They're also planning 'mulitiple ads [and] sponsorship of key shows' - that sounds relatively unique, in the world of video games. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out! (Halo Waypoint is clearly a large part of the equation.) (Louis Wu 17:13:12 UTC) (permalink)
Blue plasma keeps you warm.
Hawty McBloggy is back with another cool tattoo - illocon shows his love for the stickydoom by using his entire left arm. Nice ink! (Side bonus: this tattoo is instantly recognizable by anyone who's played more than a few minutes of Halo 3 - but it's abstract enough that non-Halo players won't be baffled.) (Louis Wu 13:28:08 UTC) (permalink)
Keep on Truckin'
XerxdeeJ stopped in with word of Tied the Leader member TTL Dren's experience with the ODST traveling roadshow as he dropped in Hillsboro, OR. Go read his impressions! (Louis Wu 13:22:24 UTC) (permalink)
Biting off and chewing
Ars Technica has an interview with Joe Staten - he discusses ODST voice acting (Nolan North, the voice of Halo Wars' Sgt Forge, is acknowledged for the first time that I've seen, though it's been speculated for weeks), the scope of the project, and canon. Nice read! (Louis Wu 13:04:48 UTC) (permalink)
Welcome to Firefight.
While you slept, Bungie posted 'Bip. Bap. Bam!', a brand-new ViDoc. Sargeant Avery Johnson walks you through Firefight, with his own inimitable style - an makes a case for the preorder. The camera work is gorgeous - watch this ViDoc in one of its HD formats, because it's droolworthy. Then watch it again. Bungie's got six flavors, including one with subtitles. Update: You can watch this puppy on your TV, if you like. (Louis Wu 12:28:05 UTC) (permalink)
News August 24 2009
Einsteino... I know that guy!
Red vs Blue Recreation Chapter 10: Lay of the Land is now live for sponsors on the Rooster Teeth site. (It'll be live for everyone else in a couple of hours.) Simmons tries to be useful... but Lopez is the shining light of this one. The search team, on the other hand, is about to get into trouble. Maybe. Go watch! (Louis Wu 23:52:41 UTC) (permalink)
I'm on a 'ship!
A tad later than expected - but Bungie has posted an in-depth look at the third and final new Mythic map coming out with Halo 3: ODST next month. Designer Dan Miller, environment artist Jason Keith, and art director Justin Hayward chewed the fat with urk about Heretic, née Midship, and how it came to be part of this package. Have you been wondering about the rocking platform under the sword, and why it's no longer rocking? Wonder no more - they've explained the reasoning. Want to know if anything else is different? Go read. (Don't worry. They worked really hard to make sure your beloved map plays the way it did in Halo 2.) Some new high-res screenies, too. Go look! (Louis Wu 23:09:49 UTC) (permalink)
Michigan 'Dallas VOD Party' this Saturday
CyReN has word of ANOTHER LAN event happening in Canton Michigan - swing by Unleashed Gaming on August 29 for 12 hours of Halo. More details in his post! (Louis Wu 23:02:08 UTC) (permalink)
More free goodies from MLG and Dr Pepper
DPSG Community Manager Scott Santos let us know that Jon Robinson was the winner of the second Dr Pepper MLG/HBO giveaway - he picked up a $20 Best Buy giftcard and two 12-packs of Dr Pepper. Thanks, MLG and Dr Pepper!
(Louis Wu 23:00:04 UTC) (permalink)
Hornet Love
Mid7night has upgraded his X-Plane Hornet model - check out the vid! (Louis Wu 18:00:51 UTC) (permalink)
Sneaky TAR
The tagged term in today's Tag and Release feature at Bungie.net is 'sneaky' - there are some great pictures there! Go check 'em out. (Louis Wu 17:15:34 UTC) (permalink)
Minuteman Monday
Azrael has released another chapter of his Minuteman: The Crucible series - Chapter 9 is now up on his website. Go catch up! (Louis Wu 17:13:16 UTC) (permalink)
Monday Movie Madness
Lots of Halo vids up for your watching pleasure today, courtesy of the BungLog™:
- Halo 3 in the Work Place held another Fustoms Friday last week - and they've released the recap vid. Seems like they went heavy on the teabagging... but maybe they just spilled the jar or something. (I did that with the vanilla the last time I made a smoothie.)
- Frozen Sprite and Splatter Mac (with almost 22,000 splatters between them) put together 'Splatter Gods' - it's aptly named. Go watch a lot of people get mashed.
- Crazy Fish Productions put together another ninjatage - smack dat back!
- Stewie2552 whipped up his second Slatter Montage, set to some uplifting Beethoven. My favorite moment came at 2:22.
Hours (well, a couple of tens of minutes) of watching enjoyment! (Louis Wu 17:12:31 UTC) (permalink)
Monday Comic Roundup
Couple of comics to mention today:
- Bloogyo told us about a new ODZT poster to hold you over until the new Rat's Nest site is up
- TTL Demag0gue stopped in with word of Reclaimer 209 (Discordance) - seems like command might not be paying full attention...
Go read the funnies! (Louis Wu 15:16:12 UTC) (permalink)
Metroid Online Public Beta Release - Maridia
Seraphim let us know that the Metroid Online Map Team is back with a new map - this one's called Maridia, based on the area from Super Metroid. Check out how they did converting a 2d area to 3d! (Louis Wu 13:47:04 UTC) (permalink)
Hogtastic
Pete Cooper stopped by with a bunch of new pics of the Operation Chastity Warthog - that thing's coming along beautifully! (Louis Wu 12:05:35 UTC) (permalink)
HBOFFPotW - 08/21
kabu pointed out a new Fan Fic Pick of the Week, put together by J.D. - check it out! (Louis Wu 11:39:24 UTC) (permalink)
SOLILOQUY - a new mini-series
Jason Broussard sent word that Mindless Distortion, the creators of the Gray Team machinima series, is back with SOLILOQUY. This new mini-series features the voice talent of Kyle Hebert (following that link will show you quite a selection of anime and videogame voice work in the past couple of decades), among others, along with original music from Perimeter of the Void. You can view both the teaser for the mini-series (released a couple of weeks ago) as well as the pilot episode (released yesterday). Intriguing stuff! (Louis Wu 11:31:53 UTC) (permalink)
Great deal on Halo bundle in CA
Joystiq posted a tidbit about a discounted package available only in Canada - an Xbox 360 Elite, bundled with a network adaptor (normally about $100 CAD) and Halo 3 ($40 CAD) - all for $330 CAD. Swing by The Source (a Circuit CIty affiliate) to grab this. (Louis Wu 11:20:57 UTC) (permalink)
Watch the mustard!
Hawty McBloggy has highlighted another Halo cross-stitch creation - this one started life as a bad callout, and ended up as a pretty cool wall-hanging. Go check it out! (Louis Wu 11:07:50 UTC) (permalink)
ODST OST Cover Art
advent29 noticed that the Amazon.com listing for the ODST Official Soundtrack now has the cover art posted. You like?
(Louis Wu 09:34:10 UTC) (permalink)
ODST Roadshow Map
Dr. Nick stopped in to say that he'd taken the trouble to plot out the stops that the ODST truck is going to be making over the next month. It's one thing to see a list of names on a page - it's another thing entirely to see the route plotted out on a map. Might make it easier to see how close that truck is really coming to you... (Louis Wu 09:33:44 UTC) (permalink)
Tidbits emerge from ODST Roadshow
2900d4u pointed out a thread from Bungie.net that includes a photo snapped inside the ODST truck, showing off a yellow-helmeted Dare playing Firefight. (Pic was snapped by Bungie's Max Dyckhoff, so take it up with them if this is considered a leak.) If you like that pic, Max took a whole bunch more.
(Louis Wu 09:33:02 UTC) (permalink)
ODST Roadshow Writeup
Devin Olsen showed up for the first day's festivities with the ODST truck - and was given some special treatment. Read his writeup - there's some pretty cool info mixed in there with all the gloating! (Louis Wu 09:32:22 UTC) (permalink)
With cardboard, we can rule the world.
The guy who made a ton of cardboard weapons for Halo 3 is back - this time with a diorama for giving his McFarlane figures a place to play. Fun stuff! Thanks, Kibbles. (Louis Wu 09:31:53 UTC) (permalink)
News August 23 2009
ODST Campaign Opening from Gamersyde
Gamersyde released a 15-minute ODST presentation that they recorded at Gamerscom last week - it's filmed off the screen, but the HD downloads are quite watchable. It shows off the first cutscene from the game (if you've been watching ODST release info obsessively, you've already seen this, but it's nice that it's all in one place, and viewed at a nice resolution), and looks at a some of the early campaign gameplay. Again, all of the areas covered by this film have been seen in other show presentations, starting with E3 - but the comments from CJ Cowan and Brian Jarrard contain lots of interesting tidbits you might not know (cutscenes are rendered in real time, as you play, so that lip-synching by the characters matches up regardless of language - nice!). Use BitTorrent, if you can, for the downloads - it's the nicest option for the Gamersyde guys. Thanks to NeoGAF's Major Williams for the heads-up on this. (Louis Wu 14:32:45 UTC) (permalink)
Get serious respect.
Looks like Gamestop made a fun little Halo 3: ODST commercial, highlighting Johnson's inclusion. Check it out on YouTube! Thanks again, Kibbles. (Louis Wu 14:30:14 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Timelapse Creations
2good4u2 visited our forum with word of a bunch of new timelapse pics, created from both multiplayer and campaign. Really fun work - check 'em out! (Louis Wu 14:19:45 UTC) (permalink)
ODST On The Road - First-Day Impressions
Lots of people were at Redmond's Gamestop yesterday to play them some sweet, sweet ODST Firefight. One guy filmed the experience (almost all outside the truck) and grabbed a clip of Joe Staten doing the Grunt voice - thanks to Kibbles for the heads-up on these. Also, kanbo stopped in to our forum with his own writeup of the day - sounds like it was a lot of fun! If you're thinking about catching the truck on one of its other stops in the next month or so, these impressions should give you an idea about what you're in for. (Louis Wu 14:15:12 UTC) (permalink)
News August 22 2009
Friday (erm, Saturday?) Caption Fun, Round 60
Yesterday was Friday - and Hawty McBloggy posted another edition of Friday Caption Fun, even though she was on vacaction. We, however, forgot to look for it - so you're hearing about it on Saturday. (Blame us, not Hawty.) Swing by to see the pick of last week's captions - and an image that's just DESPERATE for some funny quips.
(Louis Wu 14:52:37 UTC) (permalink)
GWF: 3OH!3
The next Halo 3 Game with Fame has been announced - Electronic music group 3OH!3 will be playing with fans this coming Tuesday, August 25, between 8 and 10pm ET. Swing by Xbox.com for full details. (Louis Wu 14:52:03 UTC) (permalink)
Cheap Prints, from Staples
Cody Gordon noticed that for the next few weeks, Staples is offering a promotion (jump over to Offer 4) that might be of interest to Halo fans; for $10, they'll print your digital picture at 18"x24", laminated and mounted - it's an inexpensive (albeit somewhat limited) alternative to the Halo3Screenshots.com printing service, for a short time. Cody sent along a couple of examples to see what you'd get: one | two. Check it out! (Louis Wu 14:51:02 UTC) (permalink)
H3O - now at 1.0.7
LunarShadow let us know that H3O, his Halo 3 Stats Compiler, has been updated; among the improvements is the ability to skip over games in your history that Bungie's lost the data for. (I had one of these games in early August - and v1.0.6 would simply stop when it got to this game, refusing to collect information about more recent games. v1.0.7 will try - but skip over and move forward.) Grab a copy - and look at your stats in-depth! (Louis Wu 14:50:13 UTC) (permalink)
News August 21 2009
They're ants, I tell you. Ants. (Or maybe beavers.)
The Bungie Weekly Update is live over at Bungie.net (and in our Weekly Update Archive) - it was a busy week, so urk had his hands full summarizing it. The ODST Across America tour, previews of upcoming maps, Gamescom in Cologne, Press in Seattle, all of these are covered. Plus new stuff about the upcoming maps, some really funky pants on David Allen, and a very fun pic found by Stosh - it's an update worth reading! So go read, already. (Louis Wu 23:57:33 UTC) (permalink)
Zoxin It Up! LIVE a couple of hours away
Thanks muchly to urk, who reminded us that Zoxin It Up! LIVE is happening tonight - swing by to hear the interview with Adam Grumbo, of the 405th. (He's got something cool to give away, and if you're listening, you're eligible!) The festivities start at 9pm ET - but be a little early if you want a shot at a backstage pass. (Louis Wu 22:19:59 UTC) (permalink)
Don't worry, we're clean.
If you visit the Halo Story Page right now, you might see a message that the site is distributing malware. Please be aware that the malicious iframe was removed as soon as we were notified of its existence - and the compromised login that allowed access has been changed. The site is safe at this point, and we hope that Google removes the warning page soon. (Louis Wu 18:35:50 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie ODST Interview at VG247
VG247 caught up with Brian Jarrard and CJ Cowan at Gamescom - they asked a bunch of good questions about Halo 3: ODST and its development. Go read the answers. (Louis Wu 17:51:05 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Co-Op Night Recap
Co-Optimus wrote up their Halo 3 Co-Op Night (we mentioned it yesterday, remember?) - swing by for impressions and screen caps from the staff. (Louis Wu 17:40:56 UTC) (permalink)
HaloCharts: Mythic CLASO
BuzzJuice brought us the news of a new Co-Op Mythic Campaign Challenge from HaloCharts. You and a friend run through all nine levels of Halo 3, in order, in CLASO (Co-op, Legendary, All Skulls On), and if you're first to sumbit a full set of 9 runs, you both win Recon! Nice. (Oh... did we mention that there's a Zero Deaths requirement? ZING!) (Louis Wu 17:34:01 UTC) (permalink)
Shadows
TTL Demag0gue stopped in with word of Reclaimer 208 - something funky in those ruins... (Louis Wu 17:25:11 UTC) (permalink)
HBOFFPotW(s)
kabu stopped in with word of a couple of different HBO Fan Fic Pick of the Week entries - swing by for the educated choices of HBOFF community members! (Louis Wu 15:45:44 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
Four new pieces are up for your reading pleasure in the Fan Fiction section - go read! (Louis Wu 14:09:11 UTC) (permalink)
Wait... 8:15 is 'mad early'?
Eep - not sure how I missed it... but last night, a new 'Breaking In' article went up at Bungie.net - Associate Producer Jessie Coombs (it's her responsibility to make sure the art for Halo: Reach comes in on time) holds forth on drumming, tv-watching dogs, and getting jobs that taste like cupcakes. Go read! (Louis Wu 13:49:58 UTC) (permalink)
Rally Point Map Preview at IGN
IGN has a preview writeup of the Rally Point map they played at Gamescom (we mentioned the videos yesterday). Not a lot there - but if you're looking for every tidbit of info about new Firefight maps, go read this. (Louis Wu 13:34:49 UTC) (permalink)
Fanmade Dare Helmet on eBay
There's only one day left - but if you're interested in buying a (fan-created) rough cast of a wearable Recon helmet with 'DARE' inscribed above the visor, swing by eBay and bid. Buy It Now price is $175, starting bid is $150. The seller has said that more than one can be made. Thanks, Fragclone. (Louis Wu 12:07:04 UTC) (permalink)
Gamescom ODST-Playin'
STARstruCk was at Gamescom this week, playing Halo 3: ODST's Firefight mode... and filmed the entire process, including some behind-the-scenes setup stuff with Bungie's Brian Jarrard. (This might not be of huge interest to folks who just want to play the game - but if you're curious how grueling a trade show can be for the guys who have to show the game off... it's a great watch.) Thanks, Kibbles. (Louis Wu 11:49:25 UTC) (permalink)
More ODST Mythic Gameplay
G4TV has put up their footage of the three new Mythic maps included with Halo 3: ODST (Heretic, Citadel, and Longshore) - these were the same games that other press outlets participated in, though the footage is from a different viewpoint. Swing by and watch!
(Louis Wu 11:49:03 UTC) (permalink)
Chat with MLG Pro Heinz on ESPN
In preparation for MLG Dallas (next Friday, August 28), Triggers Down's Heinz will be joining ESPN SportsNation to chat this afternoon at 4pm ET - you can submit a question ahead of time, or simply swing by at 4 for the chat! (Louis Wu 11:48:42 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief CNC Project - update
Dennis Powers wrote to let us know that ChocolateNugget and Yodajammies (the guys who were putting together CNC-milled Spartan armor (we mentioned them in June) are back with progress pics; they've got pics of their gloves and forearm armor. Swing by the thread at HaloMaps (latest pictures can be found here) for details! (Louis Wu 11:47:59 UTC) (permalink)
News August 20 2009
In the beginning was Cotton
Bungie continues its 'Interviews with the Creators' series started yesterday with Citadel - today, designer Lars Bakken and artists Matt Bennier and Ken Taya discuss Longshore. Lots of cool info on the creation of the map, plus some sweet screenshots - go check it out! (Louis Wu 21:13:16 UTC) (permalink)
Community Cartographers - Bulwark
It's Thursday, so there's a new Community Cartographer spotlight up at Bungie.net - this week, MADMAN Redux talks about his map Bulwark. Go read about it, check out the pics and video, and then download a copy for custom games! (Louis Wu 19:33:02 UTC) (permalink)
Vertical Limit
BacKtoBasiKs has posted a Halo 3 Trick Jumping Montage - more than 9 minutes long (well, actually, around 6 minutes total if you cut off the intro and credits), some of these jumps have been seen in other vids, but some are new, and quite cool. Check 'em out! Thanks, urk. (Louis Wu 18:27:59 UTC) (permalink)
Top THAT!
Two Top 10 acronym vids for you, courtesy of the BungLog™:
- Anoj is back with Episode 39 of his Top 10 Halo 3 Series - this one focuses on WTF moments. Laaaaag...
- Kampy's Multi-Kills are the subject of the latest Ten FTW vid - I think the announcer might need some throat tea after this one.
Twenty clips, 12 mintues. Go watch. (Louis Wu 17:07:12 UTC) (permalink)
Lars in Charge
Gamespot interviewed Lars Bakken about the three Mythic maps coming with Halo 3: ODST - he discusses where the maps came from, and what needs each one fills. This was released a week ago, but we didn't hear about it until today, when Minime637 pointed it out. (Louis Wu 16:28:12 UTC) (permalink)
But I wrote my name on that one!
Captain Spark sent along another 30 Halo 3 dialogue snippets for our Dialogue Databank - some really funny ones in this batch! He also recorded some civilians; I didn't even know they HAD lines! Go listen. (Louis Wu 15:48:55 UTC) (permalink)
Rally Map Footage from IGN
IGN has a bunch of shakey-cammed footage filmed at Gamescom, showing off the Rally Point map - swing by to check it out. Thanks to 2900d4u for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 14:45:32 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3: ODST - Traveling Across America
Remember that truck that Halo Waypoint teased you about recently? The one with cool ODST stuff on the inside? Well, it's headed out across the US, and if it's coming to a location near you, you'll be able to try out Firefight for yourself! Check out the full press release at Gamerscoreblog. Thanks to Mrs MadMax, who noticed the writeup at Major Nelson's blog. (Interestingly enough, she knew about this before her husband - you know, the guy who works at Bungie.) (Louis Wu 14:41:11 UTC) (permalink)
'I need a weapon': less than 140 characters.
Hawty McBloggy has gathered up another 10 random tweets about Master Chief - I still don't get Twitter. (Louis Wu 11:30:30 UTC) (permalink)
Killakatari, dude.
Morpheus announced a little contest on our forum - he's looking for names for the next three multikills in the Halo universe (after Killpocalypse (9) and Killionaire (10)). Can you come up with cool names for 11, 12, and 13 kills? Winner gets a 1600 point card. Read his post for full rules.
(Louis Wu 10:59:22 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Co-op Night
Seems tonight (August 20) is Halo 3 Co-op Night, according to Co-Optimus.com and Xbox.com. Get together with friends... and coop! Thanks to Morpheus for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 10:58:51 UTC) (permalink)
ODST in OXM
LoneRanger 2.5 stopped in to mention that OXM's newest issue has a cover story on Halo 3: ODST - but warns that it's full of information that might ruin some surprises for you. Marty O'Donnell backed him up. Update: 2900d4u supplied a scan of the cover. Cool art! (Louis Wu 10:58:06 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars Dev Blog: Playtesting
Halo Wars designer David Leary has written another Developers Blog entry over at HaloWars.com - this one focuses on playtesting. Give it a read! Thanks, 2900d4u.
(Louis Wu 10:57:24 UTC) (permalink)
Crater(Day), from Gamescom
Minime637 noticed a new Gamescom-originated video, this one showing off Crater(Day). (We've seen the Crater map before - but only the night version.) Swing by YouTube to watch. (Louis Wu 10:56:36 UTC) (permalink)
Feature This!
FyreWulff thought it might be easier to understand how Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST intersect if he created a spreadsheet. Nice work! (Louis Wu 10:54:27 UTC) (permalink)
Sticks and Stones
A new campaign aimed at increasing sensitivity towards hurtful language has been launched - Think B4 You Speak is supposed to teach people that word choice is important. Mike LaBossiere, a professor of philosophy at Florida A&M, has written a piece for Talking Philosophy tying this campaign in to online gaming, and Halo in particular. Solid read - it's a subject that's worth looking at, but maybe this new campaign isn't the right approach. (Penny Arcade's Tycho agrees.) (Louis Wu 10:49:07 UTC) (permalink)
A nice deal for Canadian gamers
Looks like EBGames Canada is offering their "Gaming Guarantee" to Halo 3: ODST; if you buy it and don't like it, you've got a week to return it for full (pre-tax) credit (spendable only in-store, but still). Not a bad offer! (Louis Wu 10:48:07 UTC) (permalink)
Early Intel: Rally Point
Bungie's posted an article they call 'Early Intel: Rally Point' - it's basically a pair of new screenshots from the Campaign, along with a little bit of setup for them. (There's also word of a new ViDoc, seeing the light of day at Gamescom in Germany this week, but hopefully coming to the web soon.)
(Louis Wu 10:45:21 UTC) (permalink)
Grifball Goodies from Pup and Friends
Pup and Friends were back at it in August - there's another Grifball Double XP highlights reel online for your viewing pleasure. Go watch! (Thanks to urk for the heads-up - and if you read the bnet blog post, you'll learn some PAX-related Grifball info... check it out!)
(Louis Wu 10:43:57 UTC) (permalink)
News August 19 2009
Just pick a direction, and go.
Bungie.net has posted 'Citadel In-Depth' - it's a look (an in-depth look, not surprisingly) at the upcoming Halo 3: ODST multiplayer map Citadel. Designer Lars Bakken, art director Justin Hayward (no, not the one from the Moody Blues) and artist Blake Low discuss the layout of the level, and how it came to be. Tossed in for good measure are a few new action screenshots. Go look it over! (Louis Wu 21:18:05 UTC) (permalink)
Community Spotlight: Tactical Gaming
This week's Community Spotlight is focused on Tactical Gaming, a 5-year-old group bringing gamers together. Swing by to read an interview with members of the group, and check out their files in Bungie Favorites! (Louis Wu 18:18:34 UTC) (permalink)
Firefight Footage from gamescom
GameTrailers has a pair of short videos (one | two) of Halo 3: ODST Firefight mode, recorded at gamescom in Cologne, Germany. Nothing really new here... Thanks to Kibbles, over at NeoGAF, for finding them. (Louis Wu 18:07:03 UTC) (permalink)
All-Bit Halo
A pair of videos can be found over on Bungie.net today: Inferno Media released a trailer for Shattered 2, a new montage featuring Sargoth (nice editing!), and 8-Bit Halo Episode 5 is out, with the Master Chief going up against Bowser. (No, not the one from Sha-Na-Na.) Out of the frying pan, into the fire... (Louis Wu 17:24:22 UTC) (permalink)
Bloktacular
Joystiq is giving away five complete sets of Halo Wars Mega Bloks - that is, five winners will go home with every Halo Wars package that Mega sells. All you have to do is leave a comment. Read the full rules (and make sure you comment before August 20) at Joystiq. Thanks, Dustin. (Louis Wu 16:03:05 UTC) (permalink)
Perfection!
pete_the_duck created some very cool Halo-themed fridge magnets; check out his pics! (Louis Wu 14:03:21 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3: Believe up for APG Creative Strategy Award
The Halo 3 Believe campaign is up for another award - this time, it's the APG 2009 Creative Strategy Award. 153 entries were submitted, and the committee shortlisted the top 25. Believe made that list. You can read its paper over at Campaign - it's a nice summary of the ad campaign, and what it tried to accomplish. Winners will be announced on October 8. (Louis Wu 14:02:49 UTC) (permalink)
Cooler than the one sitting on my monitor.
While you're at Hawty McBloggy's, you should check out a very cool fan-made Halo diorama - fantastic detail work! (Louis Wu 14:02:20 UTC) (permalink)
Wednesday Comic Roundup
Whoa - we actually have some comics to announce today.
- TTL Demag0gue is back from a few weeks of rejuvenation and recuperation - and Reclaimer 207 (Perdition) looks at what's up with what's left of Viper. Reclaimer's back, baby!
- Hawty McBloggy let us know about ODS Steve #38 (More than Meets the Eye) - I think Sarge might be confused.
Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 14:01:53 UTC) (permalink)
Gaming Lessons: The Spawn System
Bluestrike2 let us know about a new article at Gaming Lessons - it's all about the Halo 3 spawn system. Unfortunately, it's not available to the general public; you need to be a member of their Player's Club. (Membership costs $20/month.) You can read the first couple of paragraphs without paying - this might be enough to decide if a membership is worth it to you. (They're currently releasing a series of almost 50 articles called 'Evolving as a Team' - these are also accessible to you as a member of the Player's Club.) (Louis Wu 14:01:05 UTC) (permalink)
Toshiba.ca: Gamers' Choice Tournament
If you live in Canada, you might want to check out the Toshiba.ca Gamers' Choice Tournaments; they're free to enter, and you can win cool schwag. The Halo 3 Tourney is 4v4, starts September 8, and has prizes ranging from DVD players to games for the top three finishing teams. Check it out! (Louis Wu 14:00:46 UTC) (permalink)
News August 18 2009
Lost Levels Episode 8: A Choir of Rage
Slim30 stopped in to let us know that Lost Levels Episode 8 has been released. I'm not sure I understand the audio, but if you've been following the story, this will probably make sense. (Louis Wu 22:48:31 UTC) (permalink)
WallTroopers
CaptainTony noticed a video posted by Halo Waypoint (via Twitter) that shows off a new truck they're outfitting - check out the interior decorations... (Louis Wu 21:35:06 UTC) (permalink)
MichiLAN - a reminder
CyReN stopped in to remind folks about MichiLAN (we last mentioned it about 3 weeks ago) - swing by the forum post for full details. Prep for MLG Dallas in eastern Michigan! (Louis Wu 21:05:52 UTC) (permalink)
You can resurrect chainsaws?
The latest Average Joe at Bungie.net is BSG Surgeon - he's a network administrator, he's getting married, and he loves Halo. Go read more about him! (Louis Wu 20:41:23 UTC) (permalink)
V-V-V-Videos!
A couple of new vids for you today, courtesy of the BungLog™... Phil, Day 11 (Second Round) is live - Phil and crew compete in the semifinals... and then meet someone else. And Part 4 of the Halo CE Chronicles series 'The Ring of Life' is up - the marines find themselves fighting against the Ring's sentinels as they're reunited with the Commander and Andrea. Go watch! (Louis Wu 17:51:58 UTC) (permalink)
Are you a fan?
Ready Up Live is hosting a video contest - create a video that shows what a fan of Halo you are, and you could win some goodies. Swing by B.net for all the details. (Louis Wu 17:50:49 UTC) (permalink)
TRR LIVE - tonight at 9
urk reminded us that tonight is the live broadcast of the Running Riot Podcast - special guests are Jironimo and Cocopjojo from Ascendant Justice. Be sure to stop by at 9pm EST!
(Louis Wu 17:49:34 UTC) (permalink)
Come play!
Lots of people would love to play more Halo 3 Matchmaking - but don't enjoy throwing themselves into the lion's den that is Matchmaking without friends. And sometimes you want to hook up for Campaign games, or customs, but your friends list is sparse. Never fear - HaloCharts has got your back! They've got a new feature called 'I want to play!' - you can connect with other HaloCharts members (who, presumably, are a cut above the average random population of Xbox LIVE) and play with people with the same goals you have. Nice! Read all the details at Bungie.net.
(Louis Wu 17:45:11 UTC) (permalink)
Cat Helmets Still for Sale
Still looking for that reasonably-priced Legendary Edition of Halo 3? obsidiankitten found one for you - Dell's selling it for $90 right now. (You can also buy a Pro bundle for $240...) (Louis Wu 15:28:27 UTC) (permalink)
RvB Recreation Chapter 9: My House, From Here
The latest episode of Rooster Teeth's current series is now online - Sarge, Grif, and Caboose meet someone new, Simmons pushes his foot farther down his throat, and Washington comes face to face with... someone from his past. (A thread on our forum is full of spoilers, if you want to join in.) The excitement builds! (Louis Wu 13:50:07 UTC) (permalink)
Torn feet and full hearts
Summer must be the time for Halo fans to congregate - Jillybean wrote up her experiences at the IBO Beach Party, a get-together of irc.bungie.org regulars in the wilds of Long Island this past weekend - they ate, they canoed, they played water football, they played Halo. (I will regret my absence always.) Check out pictures and text and even a shell-rendition of a Halo on our forum. <3. (Louis Wu 13:31:45 UTC) (permalink)
Tied the Leader: LANs and Montages FTW
They've been dark for four months - but they're back! XerxdeeJ pointed out a pair of new articles at Tied the Leader - AtLANtica 3.0 chronicles the shenanigans and goings-on at the third annual TTL LAN party in Florida - pics, stories, laughs. And Welcome to Hoov's File Share is a friendly invitation to watch a montage from Hoovaloov... some very nice timing. Check 'em out... and maybe this means we'll be seeing more from TTL as ODST comes online! (Louis Wu 13:30:33 UTC) (permalink)
Helljumper 5 Reveal
CaptainTony let us know that Marvel has posted a teaser pic from Halo: Helljumper #5 - epic artwork! This last episode of the series is slated for a November release. (Louis Wu 13:29:41 UTC) (permalink)
CO-OP 209: The Jason Show
Swing by Revision3 for the 209th episode of CO-OP - The Jason Show. The first 10 minutes or so are devoted to Halo 3: ODST (well, specifically to the three new multiplayer maps). Discussion by the hosts, interspersed with footage from the gameplay session they participated in - go watch. Thanks, EazyB. (Dun worry - its gun b k.)
(Louis Wu 13:28:51 UTC) (permalink)
News August 17 2009
MLG/Dr Pepper - free goodies, and a chat with Str8
Congrats to Linken91, who won the first Dr Pepper MLG/HBO giveaway - according to Scott Santos, DPSG Community Manager, he's going home with a $20 Best Buy giftcard and two 12-packs of Dr Pepper. Nice! There's another one coming soon - but in the meantime, swing by the Dr Pepper Facebook page this Wednesday, August 19 at 4 pm Eastern; they're hosting a live chat with all four members of MLG Pros Str8 Rippin. Tsquared, Legit, ElamiteWarrior and Snip3down will be on hand to answer your best gaming questions. And remember, if you want a shot at the package Linken91 won today, all you need to do is send an email to scott.dpsg@gmail.com with your first and last name, your mailing address, and your age. The second winner will be notified the week of Monday, August 24th. (Louis Wu 21:26:56 UTC) (permalink)
Summer Mythic Recon Challenge - Your Last Shot
For nine weeks, Tyrant ran the Summer Mythic Recon Challenge; you were exhorted to complete each level of Halo 3 on Mythic difficulty (solo,legendary, all skulls on). Each week, one contestant won Recon armor to wear with pride in multiplayer. This week, each contestant who completed all nine levels is eligible for one more shot at Recon - instructions on how to enter (if you're eligible) are in the Bungie.net newspost. Swing by and read it - and then get your list together! (Louis Wu 20:32:52 UTC) (permalink)
BRs up, pinkies out!
HC Redemption wrote up a new review of the HaloScreenshots.com service - swing by HaloCharts to read it. It does a great job of pointing out the reasons you might want to avail yourself of this service - and then gives you a pretty straightforward set of instructions for doing just that. Thanks to urk for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 20:25:49 UTC) (permalink)
Love the Marathon art.
Kotaku took a cool pic of Paul Bertone's desk - if you want to play Halo 3: ODST's campaign with ZERO spoilers, don't look at this, but if you're curious about the mapping of encounters, check out the layout behind his desk! Thanks, Eddy 071. (Louis Wu 19:53:11 UTC) (permalink)
Minutemen: The Crucible, Chapter 8
Azrael's back with another chapter of Minutemen: The Crucible - Chapter 8 is up on his blog. Give it a read! (Louis Wu 18:12:13 UTC) (permalink)
Ninjas ate my homework
The Tag and Release feature on Bungie.net today is labeled 'Ninja' - go see what people are tagging with this word! (Louis Wu 17:40:27 UTC) (permalink)
I need a ring.
Britain's Echo has a story about a Halo-themed wedding in Southend-on-Sea, outside of London. Red and blue flags, a map-based cake, and the game's logo embroidered on the bride's dress were some of the touches. Nice! Thanks, urk. (Louis Wu 17:32:17 UTC) (permalink)
Monday Movie Madness
New movies, from the BungLog™:
- The Lucky Twenty Episode 1 is a montage of clips put together by FortNight Productions - highs and lows of lucky plays from Matchmaking, all narrated. There'll be a new one every two weeks.
- Funny Halo 3 Productions put together a splatter montage, set to the 1812 Overture.
- Whifffproductions are back with more from Lyle - this time, Lyle answers his fanmail. I think Strongbad still holds the fanmail title... but this was fun.
Go watch! (Louis Wu 17:31:16 UTC) (permalink)
Rat's Nest - ODZT
Bloogyo is back with new episodes of Rat's Nest - swing by his forum post for links.
(Louis Wu 17:29:53 UTC) (permalink)
News August 16 2009
Halo 3: ODST content from IGN, AusGamers
A bunch of new ODST stuff since the last update... IGN has released three videos you might want to watch. The Aussie Sneak Peek Event is a few minutes long, and includes footage recorded at the Sydney press event held a week or so ago. There's a 5-minute interview with Curtis Creamer, recorded at the same event. And there's a video preview of the 'Adversarial Maps' - the non-Firefight/non-Campaign maps we'll be seeing on September 22 (Heretic, Citadel, and Longshore). Rather than just plain gameplay, this vid attempts to point out the key points of the new maps. Finally, AusGamers has an 8-minute video with Curtis Creamer (available as a transcript, if you'd rather process it as text), and there's an in-depth preview of the release itself. Swing by both sites, and check out all the new goodies! (Louis Wu 19:25:47 UTC) (permalink)
ODST O(D)ST from ODST
Marty O'Donnell has a Twitter account. Amazing, huh? Reading it can teach you cool stuff... like the fact that the Halo 3: ODST Official Sountrack, coming from O'Donnell and Salvatori, will be available for purchase the same day as the game itself (September 22). Thanks, LoneRanger 2.5 (and SoundEffect and ElusiveEagle519 for the headline expansion). (Louis Wu 19:23:42 UTC) (permalink)
Swords and sketches and bombs, oh my!
Mid7night added a bunch of Halo schwag to his wall, then took pics. Go look! (Louis Wu 19:22:40 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Tattoo... as a Sticker
bsig found a Halo 3 Tattoo Style Sticker for sale at GKWorld - if you like the idea of Halo ink, but don't want to go the permanent route... check it out. (Louis Wu 19:22:00 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie Love, injected under the skin
Lots of people have a Halo tattoo on their body somewhere... not that many have more than one. Check out Mike's guns, over at Hawty McBloggy's. (Louis Wu 19:21:13 UTC) (permalink)
Wait... can you use those on a T-shirt?
Over at Etsy, you can find a pretty cool gift for that formal gamer on your list - Halo Box Art cufflinks. (Well, you can have ANY games - but the demo pics are from Halo 3.) $25 for what is definitely a unique gift - check it out! (Louis Wu 19:19:39 UTC) (permalink)
He's Winning.
Vash10 pointed out a tiny clip of the tv show Dexter, showing off Dexter playing Halo 3... on a computer. With bizarro sounds. Probably something to do with Microsoft Usage Rules...
(Louis Wu 19:18:45 UTC) (permalink)
Shock the Chiefy
Hawty McBloggy ran across a pair of shoes that combine a love for Bioshock and Halo in a very flamboyant way. I don't think I'd ever wear these - but I'm sure some people would!
(Louis Wu 19:18:11 UTC) (permalink)
The game is crap - and it uses stupid colors.
Hindsight can be amazing. Gamasutra sat down with Ed Fries, who was the Microsoft VP of Game Publishing when the Xbox hit the market back in 2001, and he had some interesting things to say about Halo. (Well, about a lot of things, but we're a Halo fansite, after all.) Microsoft had no intention of making Halo the flagship for the console; in fact, they'd gotten feedback that Halo was going to be terrible. Someone had done a color analysis, and come to the conclusion that Halo had used all the wrong colors for a console game. As it turned out, the experts were totally off-target... but Fries gets props for sticking with his marketing plans in the face of analyst scorn. The interview is a fun read; take a stroll down memory lane! (Louis Wu 19:17:30 UTC) (permalink)
If it's Slaughterday, it must be 360Junkies
ikillbambis wants to invite the HBO community to a night of Halo craziness, coming up on August 29. If you're interested in meeting up with the 360Junkies for some inter-community carnage, swing by and add your name to his list! (Louis Wu 19:15:24 UTC) (permalink)
Still toolin' on noobz...
mnemesis ran across an adorable little creature (bottom of the page, labeled 'Fury of Ragnaros') you can buy at the BlizzCon store - yeah, it's a World of Warcraft doodad, but it was created by John 'Anim8rJB' Butkus, half of the Cananimator team that built some cool stuff in Halo 2 and Halo 3. Great to see you surface again, John! (I'm just happy he's not betraying me any more...) (Louis Wu 19:14:38 UTC) (permalink)
News August 15 2009
My Teeth Hurt
This week's update touches on the many goings-on of a busy Bungie Studios as they prepare for the release of their latest epic space opera. Hahaha, yeah I didn't even read it. Urk sucks! Check it out. Update, 16 Aug: This update is now in our Weekly Update Archive - thanks to KP for holding down the fort (and for taking a fully-warranted shot at urk). (KP 19:21:44 UTC) (permalink)
News August 14 2009
Two vids and a podcast
Goodies from the Bungie Blog this afternoon:
- Podtacular's 200th Episode (we mentioned it being recorded live last weekend) is now available for download. If you missed the livestream, go listen.
- Jump Theory released The Circatage volume 2, a bunch of leftover jumps from the last big collection.
- Sir Brane Damuj collected a bunch of bizarre clips - it's called the FTWTF Funtage - it's 5 minutes of oddness.
Go partake. (Louis Wu 17:27:44 UTC) (permalink)
I'm not a Wendy.
Bryan Simon couldn't stay away from the community - he's back, with a new song. And I guess he decided he had to sing about me. (I have that effect on people.) Go watch him sing "The Song for BK's" on YouTube. Or just download the mp3 from us (3.5 mb). (Louis Wu 16:56:11 UTC) (permalink)
Counting the holes filling the Albert Hall
eckosama stopped by to prove that there are people with more time than... well, pretty much anything. He's gone back to AotCR, in the original Halo, to put together a gigantic vehicle collection. Have these been done before? Absolutely. Have any of the old ones used every single vehicle in the level? I'm not sure. Has anyone taken the time to line everything up, ghosts and wraiths and hogs balanced on end, turrets lined up neatly? Probably not. Did eckosama spend 10 minutes flying through the collection so that you could see everything there was to see about it? You bet! (Louis Wu 16:48:46 UTC) (permalink)
Halozination: Halo vehicles on your desktop
GeneCoon let us know that Halozination (a german Halo clansite) put up a wallpaper series of vehicle renders. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 14:10:11 UTC) (permalink)
Friday Caption Fun, Round 59
It's Friday... so it's time for Friday Caption Fun over at Hawty McBloggy's. Check out some funny responses for last week's pic... and a sweet new image to caption for this week. Awwww.... (While you're there, you should check out her Twitter T&A from yesterday - she was soliciting pickup lines involving Halo weapons. I gotta say... I'm not sure I'd be comfortable meeting a woman that ACCEPTED any of these...) (Louis Wu 12:26:22 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
Five new stories (from three authors) are available in the Fan Fiction section this week - go read 'em! (How's your Feet First into Hell entry coming? You've still got a month, so don't worry... just checking.) (Louis Wu 12:26:04 UTC) (permalink)
Gold bricks, with a slice of lemon
Bungie posted a new Breaking In article last night - Chad Foxglove, special effects artist, talks about wanting to be a dinosaur and the importance of wearing clothes to interviews. Good advice! Go read the rest. (Louis Wu 12:25:44 UTC) (permalink)
News August 13 2009
Marine
Tony 'ubald' Marcotte is back - he's got a new render for you, and he's calling it 'Marine'. Nice motion test! We've added it to his gallery here; if you're not familiar with his work, take a look around! (Louis Wu 19:01:23 UTC) (permalink)
Community Cartographers: Neosho
The latest Community Cartographer feature has gone live at Bungie.net - Butane123 talks about his creation Neosho, a map that's gotten play in both the Bungie against the World playlist last month, and the 7 on the 7th playlist this month. Go give it a read! (Louis Wu 18:53:30 UTC) (permalink)
Operation Chastity gets Wired
Pete Cooper is tickled that Operation Chastity, his Halo fan film project, made it into Wired Magazine - there's an interview, along with pics. Some have been seen here before... but there's a new progress shot of the warthog, and some storyboards. Great stuff! Congrats, Pete. (Louis Wu 18:31:11 UTC) (permalink)
Double XP Weekend: Team Flag
Interested in capturing a flag or three? This weekend's Double XP playlist is Team Flag - and it went live 20 minutes ago. Full description can be found on Bungie's Playlists page... but know that it's 5v5, and you need all maps. (Louis Wu 18:20:49 UTC) (permalink)
Creamer on playing with your friends
Kotaku "why publish an interview all at once, when you can release a couple of questions a day and increase ad revenues exponentially?" Australia has posted yet another article containing info from a Curtis Creamer interview they conducted last week. This one focuses on the fact that the vast majority of Halo 3 players, worldwide, do NOT play multiplayer online... and how some of the decisions that were made with respect to how the mode works were driven by this fact. Drop-in, drop-out Firefight matchmaking might be pretty cool... but it's not what Bungie was aiming at. (Louis Wu 17:59:47 UTC) (permalink)
ODST Multiplayer, through Destructoid's eyes
Destructoid has a writeup of the Mythic Map Pack 2 - no videos, but text-based impressions, and plenty of screens. (Louis Wu 17:53:31 UTC) (permalink)
When time is short, steal vids from urk
Three new vids for you, courtesy of urk and the Bungie Blog:
- Anoj has posted Episode 38 of his Top 10 Halo 3 Series (this one focuses on Objective Kills)
- Tranquility has put up a sniperific montage called 'A Place of My Own' (more snipes than you can shake a spiker at)
- Jump Theory's Gary UK released Rush, a Halo 2 jumping vid. Great to see some of those maps (and those gameplay glitches) again!
Enjoy! (Louis Wu 17:47:24 UTC) (permalink)
Lots more Mythic action
More videos of multiplayer gameplay on the new Mythic maps coming with ODST: TeamXbox has a bunch, 1UP's Dave 'lybertyboy' Ellis put up a full 16-player One-Flag CTF match on Longshore (in two pieces), and GameTrailers has a sizeable collection (thanks, Kibbles). You could spend all morning watching... most of this stuff is in HD. (Louis Wu 13:20:55 UTC) (permalink)
News August 12 2009
Prepare to Drop - at PAX
Looks like Bungie's gonna be at PAX - at least for a panel discussion. Joe Staten, Paul Bertone, Curtis Creamer, and Brian Jarrard will be looking at ODST, and how it developed. Friday, 3:30 to 4:30, in the Serpent Theatre - be there! Thanks, Blueblur. (Louis Wu 21:33:32 UTC) (permalink)
Just a little more... to the left.
Did you like the Halo 3: ODST iPhone wallpapers in last week's Update... but wish you had versions that let you position the actual image a bit more precisely? Wish no more - Bungie's added these pics to the ODST Field Guide (wallpaper section); below each image is an alt link. Go wild! (Louis Wu 21:22:37 UTC) (permalink)
More ODST content - this time from GameSpot
NeoGAF's DancingJesus noticed that GameSpot has posted their Halo 3: ODST preview (and videos). If more come today, we'll update this newspost. (Louis Wu 19:59:34 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Evolutions: Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
Whoa. This press release announces a book that (as far as I know) has had ZERO press up to this point - 'Halo: Evolutions' looks to be a short story collection with contributors that include veteran Halo novelists Eric Nylund and Tobias Buckell, Bungie employee Robt McLees, and Halo newcomer Karen Traviss (she's got plenty of videogame/sci-fi writing experience under her belt; Gears of War fiction, Star Wars fiction, and original stuff by the score). There are 'a number of other writers', as well - but no word at this point who they are. This book is scheduled for a November 2009 release. (Louis Wu 19:18:16 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie Favorites: Outcast Reborn, Week Two
It's Wednesday, so it's time to update Bungie Favorites; this is week two for Outcast Reborn. Swing by to read about Urban Simulator, and check out the rest of their files! (Louis Wu 19:11:18 UTC) (permalink)
Can I keep him, George? Can I?
You wanna see the cutest My Little Pony evar? Go visit Hawty McBloggy's. Congrats, AnimeAmy - you made me say 'Awwwwwww' out loud. (Louis Wu 18:33:34 UTC) (permalink)
Xbox 360 is the most-used console
According to the Nielson Company (via the Examiner), the Xbox 360 is the gaming platform with the most 'active users' - the percentage of owners of a particular console that regularly use their console for gaming. (Halo 3 can almost certainly be credited with a significant portion of this success - and Halo 2 is holding up the original Xbox numbers, as well.) The least-used system? The Wii. I guess once you buy it... it just sits there.
(Louis Wu 18:01:23 UTC) (permalink)
Wednesday Movie Mania
Three new vids for you, courtesy of urk and the BungLog™:
- Dutchy presents 'Believe' Minitage - no audio (YouTube blocked it for copyright violations), but decent (if a little twitchy) gameplay.
- Crazy Fish Productions put together Episode 2: Fails. It's always entertaining to see people beating themselves.
- The Funtage Crew released Community Funtage 7 - six and a half minutes of submitted clips, just for fun.
Go watch! (Louis Wu 17:50:33 UTC) (permalink)
ODST Content Dump
Looks like the press embargo on ODST content has ended; 1UP, IGN, and TeamXbox all have new previews up. The focus seems to be the last three Mythic maps (Citadel, Heretic, and Longshore). GameVideos has HD clips showing all three maps, while IGN's clips (at least for non-Insiders) are SD. All three previews contain boatloads of new screens. Look for more previews from other gaming sites as the day goes on! (Louis Wu 17:21:08 UTC) (permalink)
Creamer Explains why Firefight is Friends-Only
There is a vocal group of gamers who, when they discovered that Halo 3: ODST's Firefight mode wouldn't have a Matchmaking component (that is - you can't go in alone and be matched up with random teammates via LIVE), complained loudly - why couldn't Bungie let them play the way they wanted? Kotaku Australia asked the same question last week - but at least they asked someone who could answer. Curtis Creamer explained the rationale behind a friends-only Firefight mode.
(Louis Wu 11:54:12 UTC) (permalink)
Sharing is Caring
FyreWulff is beginning to put together a website called 'Burn My Minutes' - it's a way to share Bungie Pro rendering minutes with those who might need them. He's currently looking for beta-testers - swing by and read the post, and if you've got one extra minute per month, join him!
(Louis Wu 11:53:53 UTC) (permalink)
Stabtime!
This video showed up on NeoGAF... and made me laugh a LOT. If you wondered what Frankie does when he's not facilitating Halo anime... wonder no more.
(Louis Wu 11:53:35 UTC) (permalink)
Wednesday Comic Roundup
We haven't had a lot of comic news recently - and today's not a whole lot different. Hawty McBloggy let us know about ODS Steve #37 (POW) (Sarge might be in trouble)... and gunluva noticed a minor Halo reference in the latest VG Cats. That's all we go for ya!
(Louis Wu 11:53:12 UTC) (permalink)
Halo in your daily life
Hawty McBloggy posted a pair of Halo-related articles yesterday - a fan noticed the similarities between Halo 2's ship-to-ship bomb and a particular type of fruit... and Hawty has come up with a series of Halo multiplayer-related drinking games. (Halo and alcohol don't mix, unless you don't really care about hitting your targets...) This is not an encouragement to drink while underage, or drink irresponsibly.
(Louis Wu 11:52:39 UTC) (permalink)
Late night videos - still good in the morning
urk continued posting late into the night last night - check out a nearly 2-minute-long 'bicycle' in a Warthog from A Man Canon, and a link to Sandman's Sandstorm, a lightly-edited montage with some pretty sweet gameplay. Go watch! (Louis Wu 11:52:18 UTC) (permalink)
News August 11 2009
The Halo CE Chronicles: The Ring of Life, Part 3
Dennis Powers let us know that his Halo CE Chronicles series 'The Ring of Life' has been updated with episode 3. The Commander and Andrea join the marines in the field to investigate the latest discovery. You can stream this or download it in WMP9 format - your call. (Louis Wu 18:06:10 UTC) (permalink)
Spartans vs Beanies Episode 3... through 37.
urk's posted a link to another episode of Spartans vs Beanies - Episode 3 is 'Freedom or Something More?' Don't worry, this one is no less silly than the first two, and again has a nuke. If you don't want your episodes meted out to you in dribs and drabs... you can watch all 37 episodes here. (Louis Wu 16:28:22 UTC) (permalink)
Summer Mythic Recon Challenge IX: The Ark
He's running later and later (give him a break, real work is real work!), but Tyrant has put up a note on Bungie.net about the last leg of the Summer Mythic Recon Challenge - the Ark. It's definitely the hardest level on Mythic difficulty - but don't worry, he's provided you with a set of resources that should help a bit. Go read the post, then get to shooting - you've got until Friday! (Louis Wu 16:21:59 UTC) (permalink)
That movie? Still on hold.
Kotaku got word from a Microsoft spokesperson that despite the rumors of a Spielberg-produced, Beattie-written Halo project, the Halo Movie project "remains on hold as [they] focus on projects like Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach." (Louis Wu 13:32:33 UTC) (permalink)
Getting more from a stable platform
More from Cockatoo Island, in Sydney Harbor; Kotaku Australia has a short interview with Curtis Creamer describing how ODST went from an expansion pack to a full game. (Louis Wu 13:32:12 UTC) (permalink)
Question Reality Trailer
Lando Griff1n let us know about a new trailer from Hazmat v2 - it's for an upcoming montage called 'Question Reality'. It's quite short (under 90 seconds), but it's LOADED with special effects. (Way more effects than gameplay, in fact.) Swing by Halo3montage.com to stream or download.
(Louis Wu 13:31:47 UTC) (permalink)
RvB Recreation Chap 8 - Directions
Red vs Blue Recreation Chapter 8: Directions went live last night. Grif, Sarge, and Caboose are in a minefield... Simmons manages to offend Lopez. Looks like everyone's in trouble. (Grif's gonna have some explainin' to do if they get out of this...) (Louis Wu 13:12:17 UTC) (permalink)
Zoxin it Up! LIVE (x2)
urk let us know that the next episode of Zoxin it Up! LIVE is scheduled for August 21 at 9pm EST - guest will be Adam Grumbo, the man behind the 405th. And if that's not enough, the next night, they'll be doing a live interview with CMNeir, of NeirProductions. More details, though oddly no link to Zoxin it Up! LIVE, are available in the b.net article. (Louis Wu 13:03:08 UTC) (permalink)
Go to MLG Dallas - play Halo 3: ODST
According to this article at Joystiq (and many others around the gaming press), Halo 3: ODST will be playable at MLG Dallas - for spectators. Nice bonus for the ticket! (You're not guaranteed a spot to play; it's first-come, first-serve.) (Louis Wu 12:59:07 UTC) (permalink)
Minutemen: The Crucible Chapter 7
Azrael stopped by to mention that another chapter of his massive 'Minutemen' saga is live on his blog - you can read a quick excerpt in his forum post. (Louis Wu 12:57:48 UTC) (permalink)
Win goodies from Dr. Pepper and MLGPro
Major League Gaming Pro-Circuit is giving away a ton of schwag in preparation for MLG Dallas, coming up on August 28. You've got two opportunities at the moment: the first involves visiting the Dr Pepper Facebook Discussion Board and telling them why you love Halo 3 (or what you've done that's cool) - they're offering Dr. Pepper 12-packs, $50 video game giftcards, and pairs of passes to MLG Dallas. The second is HBO-specific; send your first and last name, your mailing address, and your age to scott.dpsg@gmail.com, and you've got a shot at one of two bundles containing a $20 giftcard and a pair of 12-packs of Dr. Pepper. Go win something! (Louis Wu 12:55:19 UTC) (permalink)
News August 10 2009
Cockatoo Island - It's a popular place
OXCGN has another writeup of the Sydney Halo 3: ODST event, complete with pictures and a Q&A with Curtis Creamer. (They've also got more coming soon, apparently.) Go read. (Louis Wu 20:52:53 UTC) (permalink)
Okay, you can stop playing now.
Whoa, bizarre. According to G4TV, a 'high-level Microsoft source' confirmed that the reason you still have a 100-friend limit on Xbox LIVE is... Halo 2 compatibility. (That is: Microsoft would be fine upping the limit - if Halo 2 weren't still a popular game, whose Friends functionality would break if the limit were raised.) Insert graphic of Stephen Colbert here, fist shaking in the air, yelling "BUNGIE!!!!" (Louis Wu 20:49:33 UTC) (permalink)
Grab a free copy of Halo Helljumper
Dave Kramer let us know about another giveaway from Busy Gamer News - you can snag a free copy of Halo Helljumper #1 (and a copy of Gears of War Sourcebook, if you're interested) by adding a comment to the page before Thursday, at 5:01pm PST. (You need to live in the US to enter.) If your comment is picked, you win. (Don't double-post, or you'll be disqualified.) (Louis Wu 20:38:59 UTC) (permalink)
It Ends Tonight
AssaultGodzilla stopped in with word of 'It Ends Tonight', a Halo music video in which footage from sources as disparate as Blomkamp's Landfall and 343 Industries' Legends trailer, all set to the American Rejects' song of the same name. Nicely put together! (Louis Wu 19:40:04 UTC) (permalink)
CornuBungiea
Out all morning, half the afternoon - just enough time for Bungie.net to churn out a Prowler-load of new Halo content:
- The Running Riot Podcast is broadcasting live again on August 18, 9:30 pm EST. Guests are Jironimo and Cocopjojo from Ascendant Justice - should be fascinating!
- A Deaf Boy whipped up a new screenshot montage - this one focusing on the Halo 3 campaign. Gorgeous!
- phatcorns whipped up another one of his 3rd-person montages - I gotta say, these are my absolute favorite class of montage, and phatcorns does an amazing job; go look at Rocket Blues Sunset Hues.
- Phurion and Hyena (and friends) put together a 'Ninjatage' (lots of backsmacks) - it's called Ninjitsu. Timing's nice, though the material gets a bit repetitive after a while.
- The latest Tag and Release feature uses the tag 'The Cutting Edge'. Looking at the results, I'm not sure I understand the connection... but I can't deny they're cool shots!
Well, that ought to do it - go catch up! (Louis Wu 19:06:01 UTC) (permalink)
They're listening.
The latest Katonian Press article at Hawty McBloggy looks at the new Dashboard update for the Xbox 360 - and what it means for Halo 3 players who feel their feedback options are limited. I'm glad the details of this are finally getting out! (Louis Wu 11:12:18 UTC) (permalink)
Creamer Talks ODST
Australia's Gameplanet interviewed Curtis Creamer about Halo 3: ODST - he discusses Weta's Warthog, what Bungie wanted to do with ODST, and more. Good read! (Louis Wu 10:48:04 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Legends Preview on Tech Watch
MSNBC's Tech Watch has an interview with Frank O'Connor - he discusses how the Halo Legends project came to pass, and what you can expect from it. Nice discussion! Thanks, DarkSky Forever.
(Louis Wu 10:47:24 UTC) (permalink)
Take a Bow
TDSpiral let us know about a Halo music video he'd created - it's set to Muse's 'Take a Bow', and it's not your typical HMV. Even though almost all the footage is static... it's got a lot of energy. Try it out! (Louis Wu 10:46:57 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3: ODST preview from Atomic MPC
Atomic MPC put together a preview article about Halo 3: ODST, based on their experiences at the Sydney press event last week. If you're making sure you read everything... read this. (Louis Wu 10:46:12 UTC) (permalink)
Halo on Demand?
Xbox Evolved has posted a rumor that Microsoft will re-release Halo 2 on their 'Games on Demand' service next month, as part of the Halo 3: ODST hype machine - and then follow it up with a value-priced version of ODST itself on the service. (Given that Bungie has said that the Halo 3 Multiplayer portion of ODST was not really designed to be run from the hard drive, this seems a LITTLE hard to swallow... but we'll wait and see.)
(Louis Wu 10:45:01 UTC) (permalink)
News August 9 2009
Ghosts of Onyx Preview - Complete
You might remember the Ghosts of Onyx Preview comic that Leviathan and UNSC_Trooper were working on - the first page went up on July 20, and the second page went live a couple of days ago. Last night, Leviathan sent along the finished comic (9 pages, plus a cover and credits) - you can grab the PDF from us here (4 mb). If you like the cover art, but wish you could see it without logos or text - swing by his forum post; he's put up a nice big version. Amazing work! (Louis Wu 18:46:32 UTC) (permalink)
Risk: Halo Wars Trailer
wraps52 noticed a trailer showing off the Risk: Halo Wars edition game over at TeamXbox. I think this could have been done just fine with screenshots... but hey, I'm not in marketing. Go read the promo text, and watch the vid. (It's only 2 minutes.) (Louis Wu 18:34:33 UTC) (permalink)
Top 10 Halo 3 Epic Fails: Episode 37
Anoj is back with Episode 37 of his Top 10 Halo 3 Series - this one looks at epic fails. Here's hoping you aren't in this one. (The number one clip looked staged - but the number two was truly epic.) (Louis Wu 18:26:27 UTC) (permalink)
ONI BIAS: File 1.5
A month ago, razzimous came by with ONI BIAS: File 1.0 - the first of a series of declassified files regarding an incident code-named ONI BIAS was live. Last night, announced a new episode: ONI BIAS: File 1.5. More details about the incident emerge. Check this out! (Louis Wu 18:19:03 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3: ODST Soundtrack Details
If you're waiting for information about the size of the Halo 3: ODST Official Soundtrack... word from Marty is that it'll be 2 disks, 17 suites. Nice! Thanks, CaLL Me ZeNy. (Louis Wu 11:04:14 UTC) (permalink)
Pax 2009 Omegathon to include Halo 3: ODST
Joystiq posted some info about the Omegathon event that takes place at PAX every year - this year, Halo 3: ODST is one of the games. Very nice grab! Thanks, sorahn. (Louis Wu 11:03:55 UTC) (permalink)
Podtacular 200 Live
Dust Storm let us know that Podtacular is doing their 200th episode live tonight, August 9th, at 9 Eastern, 6 Pacific. Tune in! (Louis Wu 11:03:35 UTC) (permalink)
BlueDingo5's Sydney Event Video
BlueDingo5 recorded a video at the Sydney ODST show - you can watch it on YouTube. That Warthog looks like a prehistoric beast in the dark!
(Louis Wu 11:03:15 UTC) (permalink)
News August 8 2009
A Halo movie... from Steven Spielberg?
PsychoRaven came by to tell us about an article on IESB.net (I can't find ANYTHING about who they are on their website, or anywhere else for that matter, but they sure do get the word out) that claims that Steven Spielberg is in 'active negotiations' to develop Stuart Beattie's Halo spec script for the big screen. Peter Jackson and Neill Blomkamp used the opportunity of SDCC a couple of weeks ago to say that the Halo movie looked dead dead dead... and now we've got another big name rumored to be interested in making yet another version. Will anything come of this? Your guess is as good as mine. Stay tuned! (Louis Wu 15:23:05 UTC) (permalink)
Helljumper #1 Review
CaptainTony let us know that he's written up a review of Helljumper #1 - and he's also provided a summary of that review for the TL;DR crowd. Go take a look! (Louis Wu 15:13:25 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Outtakes
Bloogyo stopped in with word of 'The Halo 3 Outtakes' - it's like a DVD's outtake reel... except that standard Halo 3 footage was used to build it. Some clips work really well... others are a little hard to understand. Check it out - it's only a minute and a half! (Louis Wu 15:11:09 UTC) (permalink)
The Weta Warthog - in all its glory
Kotaku pointed out some photos of the Weta Warthog in Sydney at InsiderX - but what's more interesting is if you continue along to their VIP Party photos, you'll find a link to Delicate Genius, the blog of Michael Kordahi, another attendee - who took enough shots of the Warthog to create a Photosynth of it. You can watch a video of the making of the photosynth, as well as the end product itself. Pretty cool stuff! Update: here's another Warthog video tour, this one shot on an iPhone. (Louis Wu 14:50:47 UTC) (permalink)
The good news: urk's wearing pants again.
The Bungie Weekly Update went up as expected last night - if you read it, you'll find lots of little tidbits. There's a deconstruction of ONI's Alpha Site, for those preparing to play Halo 3: ODST. There are some cool new wallpapers for your iPhone. There's some tantalizing news about an upcoming Halo 3: ODST Soundtrack release. There's information (very little, but information nonetheless) about the next ViDoc coming down the pike. And there's a bunch of little stuff that should amuse a Bungie fan, if only for a moment or two. Go give it a read! (You can, of course, check it out in our Weekly Update Archive, if you choose.) (Louis Wu 14:44:23 UTC) (permalink)
News August 7 2009
She's probably not lookin' for Jack the Ripper...
Hawty McBloggy let us know about a new community project she's started up over at Halo3Screenshots.com - Halo Historic Scenes. Build a famous scene within Halo... what can you think of? (The example pic shows the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima, but there are plenty of other options. What can you come up with? (Louis Wu 22:56:04 UTC) (permalink)
Ghosts of Onyx Preview, Page 2 (and more)
Leviathan and UNSC Trooper are back with Page 2 of their Ghosts of Onyx Preview - and this time, Leviathan's included a step-by-step timeline showing how the work was created. Pretty cool stuff (and a great Page 2)! Check it out. (Louis Wu 20:00:31 UTC) (permalink)
Spawn to Headshootn' in less than 3 seconds!
OboeCrazy sent us links to her newest offering - a sniper montage, cleverly disguised as an ad for Joe Jim Bob's Sniper Superstore. Fun footage, nicely packaged! You can stream it at YouTube or WeGame (WeGame also has a 300mb HD download available). (Louis Wu 18:47:52 UTC) (permalink)
RumorBusting - It's not just for breakfast any more
Kombo.com has posted a shot of the back of the Halo 3: ODST box... and is speculating that the inclusion of 'content download' blurb in the features section could point to something unrevealed... like multiplayer or campaign content. Remember, Bungie's already announced TWO different types of DLC for Halo 3: ODST - the Johnson skin for Firefight, and the Halo Reach Beta. There might be more... but there might not. As recently as last week, Lars Bakken told French journalists that Bungie has no plans for downloadable maps for ODST. (Louis Wu 18:43:14 UTC) (permalink)
Shakeycam footage from Sydney
NeoGAF's Kibbles ran across a couple of videos recorded by fans at the Sydney event this week - this one has an intro by Curtis Creamer, and then the opening custscene of the game... and this one shows off the first level's gameplay. (All of this has been seen before - but whenever you watch existing content from a new vantage point, you stand a chance of seeing something you missed before.) (Louis Wu 18:11:37 UTC) (permalink)
Tell EazyB his map sucks.
Hopefully it's not too late to remind you that it's August 7, which means Bungie's running its special 7 on the 7th playlist on Xbox LIVE - and this month, it's full of community-formed maps. What are you waiting for? Get online! (Eazy's map doesn't suck.) (Louis Wu 18:06:22 UTC) (permalink)
Aesthetic Artist Interview: TheMoleN1
It's been a little while since the last Aesthetic Artist Interview... but the series is back, with a mole. TheMoleN1, to be precise. Go read about how he got into this business... and check out a huge collection of his work! Thanks to COL0NEL SANDERS for the interview work this time out. (Louis Wu 17:58:34 UTC) (permalink)
Haloscreenshots.net - still here, but slowing down
Back in April, 2008, we took over the hosting of Haloscreenshots.net, sorahn's handy-dandy screenshot collection site. At the time, it was a 20GB package - I don't remember how many screens were there, but it wasn't that many. Fast forward 15 months... and this beast is half a million screenshots, 130GB in size. It's beginning to reach a point where we can't handle it any more. I'm not taking it down - but we HAVE turned off updates for the time being, and sorahn is looking for anyone interested in taking over the hosting. If you've got a ton of space (and a decent amount of bandwidth) - let him know! (Louis Wu 17:50:20 UTC) (permalink)
Haloquarium? Yep.
GivinTats built an entire Halo world... for his fish. You can read about the construction, and check out his Flickr stream showing off the work, on Bungie.net. Lucky fish! (Louis Wu 17:38:49 UTC) (permalink)
Fridays are for Popcorn
Friday afternoon's video roundup on the BungLog™
- Rogue Modder submitted a SLASONK run - Solo, Legendary, All Skulls On, No Kills. Before you pooh-pooh that it's just Floodgate... try to do the run yourself. (It ain't easy.)
- Pissed Iguana's back with Spartans Versus Beanies: Episode 2 - just when you thought it couldn't get any sillier.
- HIH's BigGruntyThirst got a ton of stuff to the top of the tunnel exit shelf on the second level of the original Halo. This is, quite simply, insane.
Go watch! (Louis Wu 17:33:49 UTC) (permalink)
Xbox LIVE Communication Study
We were contacted by Jeffrey Kuznekoff, a doctoral student at Ohio University who's working on a research project with Dr. Andrew Ledbetter (Ohio University). They're looking at how gamers use multiplayer gaming systems to communicate. They'd love your help! Here's the blurb:
We are conducting a study examining how people communicate through multiplayer video games on Xbox LIVE and are interested in learning about your experiences interacting with your friends in these games. If you are 18 years of age or older and would like to participate, please follow this link to our online survey. Participation in this research is completely voluntary and all of your responses will be kept strictly anonymous. The survey should take about 10-15 minutes to complete. At the end of the survey you will have the option of entering your email address into a drawing for two 3-month Xbox LIVE Membership Cards as a thank you for participating. Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions about this project.
Functionality like real-time voice chat is clearly changing the way gamers interact - but scholarly literature is a little behind on analyzing this. See if you can help fix this! (Louis Wu 14:38:33 UTC) (permalink)
ODST Event Coverage - Photos Galore
More photo coverage of Thursday night's ODST event in Sydney, Australia - BlueDingo5 sent us a few dozen shots he snapped at the event (great detail on the Weta Warthog), and PC World (an Australian tech mag) put up a batch of their own. Check 'em out - looks like it was a blast! Update: These pictures have been taken down. Sorry! (Louis Wu 12:09:12 UTC) (permalink)
Friday Caption Fun, Round 58
Hawty McBloggy's back with another round of Friday Caption Fun - check out witty submissions for last week's picture, and make up your own for this week's! (Louis Wu 12:08:37 UTC) (permalink)
Another MLS Funtage
John_117 stopped in with word of a short 'fun' montage - just entertaining moments from the last month of Matchmaking for him. Don't go in looking for snipe-laden Killamanjaros... it's just a guy and has 'nades, blowin' stuff up. Fun! (Louis Wu 12:08:10 UTC) (permalink)
Love the sword.
ZZoMBiE13 sent word that he'd whipped up a new piece of artwork - the whole Halo Legends project worries him a little, so he put all of his fears into one picture. (Well, most. He left out the tentacle porn.) Should make you laugh!
(Louis Wu 12:07:34 UTC) (permalink)
Cortana Pick-Up Lines
I missed this yesterday - but Hawty McBloggy solicited pickup lines for bagging Cortana on Twitter. (Cortana wasn't on Twitter - Hawty was. She - oh, never mind. Just go read.) Probably not safe for work, if your boss can read small print over your shoulder. (Louis Wu 12:06:54 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
Seven new stories for you in the Fan Fiction section this week... give 'em a read!
(Louis Wu 12:05:25 UTC) (permalink)
Brain Surgery, Beer, and Donuts
Bungie's Breaking In story this week went live last night - Sam Arguez, Associate Producer, discusses where he came from, how he got to Bungie, and why he's stayed. (And what he does, of course.) Wanna work for Bungie? This series is a great resource. (Louis Wu 12:04:07 UTC) (permalink)
News August 6 2009
Grifball - with some twists
This week's Double XP Weekend Playlist has gone live... and while it's a list we've seen before (Grifball), there are far, far more options this time around than you might be used to. Four different gametypes, on 6 different Grifball maps - go read about it on Bungie.net, or just get online and play! (Louis Wu 23:44:15 UTC) (permalink)
ODST for $50
hc2, on NeoGAF, and Max Dyckhoff, via email, both pointed out that Buy.com is offering Halo 3: ODST for $49.99, with free shipping and the Johnson preorder bonus. Nice! (Louis Wu 23:31:31 UTC) (permalink)
Community Cartographers - Colonnade
Did you participate in the Bungie Day 2009 'Bungie Against the World' playlist? Did you get your fill of the map Colonnade, which came up pretty often if the first map was vetoed? Swing by Bungie.net and read an interview with its creator in this week's Community Cartographers feature. You want to know it's been tweaked - because it's showing up again tomorrow, in the 7 on the 7th playlist. (Louis Wu 18:13:35 UTC) (permalink)
August Contests, from Forge Union
Forge Union is hosting a series of contests during the month of August - prizes are all of the 'fame' variety, but if you enjoy creating cool things and sharing them with others, you should check this out! Full details on Bungie.net. (Louis Wu 18:05:21 UTC) (permalink)
Fan Videos on B.net
Three new movies for you at Bungie.net (what, surprised?):
- ExterminatorV1 and GamemasterAT whipped up 'Daylight', a Halo 3 dualtage; this went live yesterday, but I missed it. Minimal editing, great gameplay - worth the 3 minutes.
- Americanista123 is back with another Bungie Employee Bloopers vid - 6 minutes of Bungie mishaps, glitches, and wtf moments.
- In case you haven't had enough racetrack videos... there's a new one, based on a map called 'Cape Canaveral'. (There's a modeled Space Shuttle in the middle of the map.) This one's built on the ground, instead of Sandbox's Sky Bubble - and has some nice action.
Go spend some time watching. (Louis Wu 17:40:07 UTC) (permalink)
Don't sugar-coat it, woman.
Hawty McBloggy has a new "Halo 3 by the numbers" feature for you - she calls it 'The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth'. I call it a painful reminder. (Louis Wu 17:29:14 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3: ODST - in Sydney
On Thursday night (seems odd to write that, because where I am, it's still Thursday morning), Microsoft held a promotional event to show off Halo 3: ODST in Sydney, Australia. One major benefit - it's just across the water from New Zealand, where Weta's got all those cool Halo props... Partygoers got to pose in Weta's Warthog - and one lucky person won a raffle to take it for a drive on the weekend. NeoGAF's Zhuk was there, and took a bunch of photos; we've mirrored his impressions article (with his permission) because we don't want to kill his photobucket account. Great writeup! Update: Zhuk posted a second batch of pics - we've included them here. If he adds more, we'll grow that page. (Louis Wu 15:59:10 UTC) (permalink)
Warthogs don't grow on trees, you know.
Pete Cooper stopped by to say that fundraising is going swimmingly for the Operation Chastity project - they're bringing in lots o' cash! If you'd like to help, swing by the site! (Louis Wu 15:20:33 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars wins Best Strategy Game from G-Phoria
Last Night, G4TV's Gamer's Choice awards, G-Phoria, announced winners for 2009 - Halo Wars took Best Strategy Game. (They were up for Best Soundtrack, as well, but lost out to Fallout 3.) Thanks, General Vagueness. (Louis Wu 15:18:43 UTC) (permalink)
News August 5 2009
Minutemen - A Halo Fanfic
We got word from Woody Tondorf (a comedy writer for HBO - the broadcast network, not us - and a contributor to our Fan Fiction section for almost five years) that he's been working on a fiction series set in the Halo universe known as 'Minutemen' - he's been publishing chapters on his blog. (He submitted some of these to our Fanfic section - but these are expanded, more details chapters, including illustration.) Chapter 1 went up in early July - you can find it here. Chapter 6 went live a couple of days ago - he's planning on uploading a new chapter every Monday. The series contains strong language, and the tone can be pretty dark at times. Go on by and give it a read! (Louis Wu 23:19:14 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Custom Edition Update - July 2009
Dennis Powers sent us a Halo Custom Edition update from Halomaps - more than 100 files were added during July, including the CMT SPv2 beta (mentioned earlier today), the Ring of Life videos (mentioned the last couple of Mondays), and some new maps - single-player maps like Rio Firefight and Salisp, and MP maps like Abandonment, Paradis Perdu, and Destiny. Go check 'em all out! (Louis Wu 20:18:40 UTC) (permalink)
Community Spotlight: Outcast Reborn
The latest community to be spotlighted is Outcast Reborn, a group that's been around since 2005, and is still going strong. Go read about 'em on Bungie.net, then check out some of their favorite files in the Bungie Favorites section. (Louis Wu 18:39:25 UTC) (permalink)
A roller coaster ride of utter disappointment
Ouch! I managed to miss an article from the Katonian Press - sounds like 343 Industries might not be as benign as we thought! Swing by Hawty McBloggy's to read. (Louis Wu 17:47:01 UTC) (permalink)
Movies, movies, and more movies
New videos courtesy of the BungLog™
- BacKtoBasiKs created 'Bocket Jumping' - using bubble shields and rockets to make jumps you can't make with just one or the other. Fun stuff!
- Honor Guard has created Halolympics Episode 2 - testing yourself (and being laughed at) is becoming an institution!
- Ghoster released a 'minitage' called "Create" - it's three and a half minutes long, though... so maybe not so mini.
Go watch! (Louis Wu 17:42:42 UTC) (permalink)
Wednesday Comic Roundup
Well, I waited until afternoon in the hopes of getting some extra entries... but it seems today's comic roundup is going to be pretty light. Tied the O7AH has some new episodes up (thanks, Cozmo23)... and ODS Steve #36 (Upgrades) is now live (thanks, Hawty). Better late than never! (Louis Wu 17:40:43 UTC) (permalink)
124493 - I need a sit-rep!
Interesting News Items has the scoop on NPC dialogue in ODST - go see what you're in for! (Clearly, though, some of the information is suspect; for example, they list the name of the next game as "Halo 4: Tijuana R&R", when everyone knows that it's really "Halo 4: Dark Planetoid Rising". So keep on your toes.) (Louis Wu 15:54:38 UTC) (permalink)
Weta's Cortana - Unboxed
MsValentine is the first person I know about who's received one of Weta's Cortana figures - and she created a pretty nice photostream to document it. Swing by and take a look! (Louis Wu 12:58:19 UTC) (permalink)
Another Fine Art Halo option
Thanks again to Kibbles, who pointed out (also over at NeoGAF) Acme Archives Direct, a company creating gliclee reproductions of Halo artwork - there are some killer images in there! (Louis Wu 12:42:04 UTC) (permalink)
More ODST (and Reach) details from Paris
Looks like Halo Destiny (a French site) interviewed Lars Bakken in Paris last week about ODST - the text is in French, but the video is in English (and Kibbles, who pointed this out on NeoGAF, kindly linked to a Google translation for those who feel like struggling through it). Selected tidbits: it's possible that the final three multiplayer maps will be released as DLC at some point in the future, but the only way to get them right away is to buy ODST... and Reach has been in development since at least the launch of Halo 3. Go watch! (Louis Wu 12:41:14 UTC) (permalink)
CMT SPv2 A10 Public Beta
Dratt, on our forum, and TheGhost, via email, were nearly simultaneous about letting our community know about a new release of the Custom Mapping Team's SPV2 mod. You can check out the public beta by downloading the first map, The Pillar of Autumn, at Modacity. (You will, of course, need Halo: Custom Edition, a free add-on to HaloPC.) Dratt also pointed out a mirror at Halomaps, and a few screenshots he cherry-picked from XFire.
(Louis Wu 12:39:51 UTC) (permalink)
Hard Justice S2: Episode 7
Jon CJG is back with Hard Justice Season 2: Episode 7 - Bernard and Eddie flee to Canada. They got some funny rules up there... but maybe the Canadian bacon has insulating properties, or something... Thanks to urk for the heads-up on the Bungie Blog. (Louis Wu 12:39:03 UTC) (permalink)
News August 4 2009
Claytastic
Four new clay figures from Antithesis showed up over at Hawty McBloggy's - the first couple look like they could stand to eat a little less... but that Huragok is adorable. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 21:22:03 UTC) (permalink)
I'm on a Boa-oops...
chris10023 let us know about Halo 3 Fails, Episode 24 - yeah, sure, there are a couple of ho-hum fails in there... but mostly, it's full of really funny stuff. (I loved the condom-on-a-rock... and the disappearing flag was a perfect wtf moment.) Go watch! (Louis Wu 21:18:17 UTC) (permalink)
Mythamanjaro: Winnar
Domino Theory has picked a winner from the nearly 500 entries to our Mythamanjaro giveaway - it took a little longer than expected because several of the early choices he made (with a random picker) turned out to already HAVE the Mythic maps. He found someone without them, though - congrats to Macros117, you now have the Mythic maps! And thanks once again to Domino, for his astounding generosity; this is the sixth contest he's provided freebies for! (Louis Wu 19:39:44 UTC) (permalink)
The Ring of Life: Part 2 of 6
Dennis Powers has posted The Halo CE Chronicles - The Ring of Life: Part 2 of 6 - this one jumps back a few days to the point where Taylor, Hunter, and Johnson head out to explore the Ring's valleys. You can stream or download this (Louis Wu 18:46:01 UTC) (permalink)
Pfft - assault rifles don't have belt feeds...
...nor do Spartan Lasers. (Thanks, Leviathan.) LackOfKnowledge was in his local Target, when he saw a new toy with a familiar shape... (Louis Wu 18:37:02 UTC) (permalink)
More Bungie stuff on GTTV - coming soon
Looks like GameTrailers is back at Bungie for more filming... thanks to LoneRanger 2.5, who noticed a post in Geoff Keighley's Twitter feed. (Louis Wu 18:34:20 UTC) (permalink)
Tuesday Afternoon Movie Mania
A whole bunch of movies are up for your enjoyment on the BungLog™
- Hippsterr created Beat Down, a 'Halo 3 Ninjatage' - smackin' people in the back of the head for almost three minutes.
- MaStalee's Halo 3 Montage 4 is four minutes of finely produced Halo 3 carnage.
- Krewtaun recorded another batch of funny lines from Halo 3's campaign, using the IWHBYD skull - nine minutes of YouTubeosity will let you hear them all.
- Pissed Iguana Productions has released 'Spartans Versus Beanies Episode 1: Genesis'. Hot Beanie-Baby-on-Spartan action. (That sounded... wrong.)
Is that enough for you? (Louis Wu 18:28:42 UTC) (permalink)
Fan Hearts - on sleeves, and cookies, and tables...
Hawty McBloggy looks at some dedicated gamers - folks who take their passion to a level most of us are too lazy to match. Tattoos, cosplay outfits, themed cakes, and on and on - swing by for a great collection of hardcore fan love. Some you've seen before, others maybe not - they're all wonderful. (Louis Wu 18:16:55 UTC) (permalink)
Average Joe - AnTi PRO
Over at Bungie.net, the latest Average Joe is a well-known name in the Halo community - AnTi PRO is part of Arm the Flag, and has been around for a while. Go get to know him a little better! (Louis Wu 18:15:55 UTC) (permalink)
Teabag Prevention: Hands-On with ODST
Over at Geekscape, there's a new Teabag Prevention article - this one summarizes some impressions about ODST picked up at ComicCon last week. Give it a read! (Louis Wu 18:06:14 UTC) (permalink)
Wanna ask 343 Industries something?
Gah - way, way, WAY behind. Let's see... last night, CaptainTony popped in with word that he's going to be interviewing Kevin Grace, of 343 Industries in the next couple of days. If you have questions you'd like answered, follow the link in CaptainTony's forum post to add them to the Halopedia list! (Louis Wu 18:04:32 UTC) (permalink)
News August 3 2009
Who wants Grif jerky?
Red vs Blue Recreation Chapter 7 - Bon Voyage - is now online for sponsors, and will be up for everyone else in a couple of hours. Sarge, Grif, and Caboose head out together... while Simmons, Donut, and Lopez try not to get in too much trouble. I think it's a wash. Of sorts. Go watch. Cause it's funny. UnSilentSlayer started a thread in our forum. (Louis Wu 23:46:49 UTC) (permalink)
Halopen Pencast 12
Firestorm12 let us know that the 12th Halopen Pencast is now online, with discussion of machinimating (never heard that before!) from the point of view of the various roles in a production. About an hour and a half. Go listen! (Louis Wu 22:21:50 UTC) (permalink)
ONI and NMPD Logos - writ large
Stephen Loftus took a bit of time and cleaned up a couple of cool logos found in recent Bungie assets - swing by his forum post to view the UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence logo, and the New Mombasa Police Department logo! (Louis Wu 19:27:30 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars MEGA Blocks - now available
Xorian pointed out that the Halo Wars MEGA Blocks toys are now actually available (we mentioned them a couple of times earlier this year, but they were still 'coming soon'). (You can't buy them directly from MEGA - they're all listed as 'out of stock' - but the 'Where to Buy' link will show you some stores that carry the products, and some quick checks showed that both Target and ToysRUs have some of these products in stock. Target has the Scorpion, and TRU has both the Scorpion and 'Aerial Ambush'.) (Louis Wu 17:39:54 UTC) (permalink)
Summer Mythic Recon Challenge VIII: Crow's Nest
Tyrant's having a busy summer - but that doesn't mean he's taking away your chance to win Recon on schedule. While he hasn't quite finished the last couple of levels for his Halo 3 Mythic Walkthrough v2.0... he HAS completed the films showing how he does them, and you can use these, as well as the other resources mentioned in his Bungie.net news post, to complete the Crow's Nest challenge this week, for your shot at Recon armor. It's the 8th of 9 stages of the Summer Mythic Recon Challenge... get to work! (Louis Wu 16:56:00 UTC) (permalink)
In Plain Sight - but not
The latest Tag and Release feature on Bungie.net looks at Camouflage - or doesn't. (Hidden Spartans are hidden.) Go look! (Louis Wu 16:48:48 UTC) (permalink)
Lars holds forth on ODST
The French gaming site jv247.com interviewed Lars Bakken last week during the Paris press event - the intro and the questions of the video are in French, but Lars answers in English (with French subtitles), and there's plenty of info that's understandable for those who don't speak French. Thanks, Backflip. (Louis Wu 15:33:36 UTC) (permalink)
ForgeHub's 1v1 Conflict Tournament
If you enjoy 1v1 competition, swing by Forge Hub - signups are open for their 1v1 Conflict Tournament. Looks like it's free to get in, and there are nice prizes on the line for winners - and, win or lose, you get to play on some very nicely Forged maps! Head over and sign up. (You've got until August 15, or until the limited number of slots are taken, whichever comes first.) Thanks to squidhands, over at NeoGAF, for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 13:35:54 UTC) (permalink)
Mythamanjaro - Extended
Domino Theory has asked that the entry period for his latest Mythamanjaro Mythic Code Giveaway be extended one more day, until Tuesday at noon, UTC - so that's exactly what we've done. You've got one more day to register for totally free stuff - go do it! (Louis Wu 13:28:00 UTC) (permalink)
Halcylon: Sticktage II
Halcylon put together a sticktage for your entertainment - just under 4 minutes of sticky fun, streaming or downloadable (in HD) at WeGame. Go watch! (Louis Wu 13:26:54 UTC) (permalink)
Monday Comic Roundup
Comic pickin's have been light of late - I guess summer is a time to kick back, not create comics. Bloogyo told us about a bunch of new Rat's Nest episodes... and Hawty McBloggy highlighted an episode of grin + bear it. Go read! (Louis Wu 13:26:11 UTC) (permalink)
News August 2 2009
Majority's Halo 3 Minitage
Z let us know about a new Minitage from Majority, over at Halo3Forum.com - it really does have some very nice editing. Swing by to grab a copy (nearly 200 mb for a 4.5 minute vid). (Louis Wu 17:22:35 UTC) (permalink)
It all boils down to the rigid laser weapon.
Splogs have been around for a while - but I can't remember reading a Halo-related post on one that was... so tantalizingly close to coherency, while being, in actuality, so surreal. I wouldn't suggest clicking on any of the links... but if you want to get a sense for what LSD might be like in text form, read Halo 3: Bring It On!, Cooking For All Ages. (I'd guess that multiple run-throughs of Google's Language Translation tool were involved in the creation of this work.) (Louis Wu 17:21:28 UTC) (permalink)
Finish him!
Stuntmutt stopped in yesterday with a photo of his television, showing a moment from the British version of 'Who wants to be a millionaire?' - the answer (guessed correctly) netted the contestant £75,000. I think anybody reading this newspost would have managed it, as well. (Louis Wu 17:20:52 UTC) (permalink)
News August 1 2009
Inside Gaming Halo Coverage from ComicCon
Machinima's Inside Gaming has a couple of Comic Con Extended Coverage vids that might be of interest to Halo fans - Dex let us know about an interview with Neill Blomkamp (mostly about District 9, but the Halo movie gets a mention), and Dratt pointed out an interview with Bungie's Paul Bertone about Halo 3: ODST. The Bertone interview, in particular, is full of great little "here's why we did this" tidbits - give it a watch! (Louis Wu 21:06:14 UTC) (permalink)
Mythamanjaro!
Domino Theory is back - and he wants to give away more Mythic Maps. Don't have 'em yet? No problem! Visit the Mythamanjaro page, put in your name, email, and gamertag, and you've got a shot at free maps! Don't dawdle too long - the window on this offer closes on Monday morning. Read the page for full details! (Louis Wu 13:55:11 UTC) (permalink)
Forge Art: Movie Screenshots
A couple of weeks ago, we mentioned a page of screenshots collected by maximumfear, all with the theme of 'Films/Movies'. This morning, Hawty McBloggy put up her own collection - some awesome shots! (Louis Wu 13:54:01 UTC) (permalink)
| August 2009 | |
