About This Site
Daily Musings
News
News Archive
Site Resources
Concept Art
Halo Bulletins
Interviews
Movies
Music
Miscellaneous
Mailbag
HBO PAL
Game Fun
The Halo Story
Tips and Tricks
Fan Creations
Wallpaper
Misc. Art
Fan Fiction
Comics
Logos
Banners
Press Coverage
Halo Reviews
Halo 2 Previews
Press Scans
Community
HBO Forum

Clan HBO Forum
ARG Forum
Links
Admin
Submissions
Uploads
Contact

December 2007

December 2007 Archived News

News December 31 2007

Xbox Family Posts Year's Top 5
Xbox Family says Halo 3's 'rehashed [campaign] gameplay and storyline similarities' held it back from being their Game of the Year - but its multiplayer component made sure it didn't fall below the number 2 slot. (Louis Wu 21:25:25 UTC) (permalink)

Nice survey. Now where's my sandwich?
Hawty McBloggy is getting tired of muting idiots, so she wants everyone on Live to take a simple survey. Your answers will determine your automute status when playing with her. (For what it's worth, I want this too.) (Louis Wu 20:59:56 UTC) (permalink)

More awards from GameTrailers
Yesterday, we mentioned that Halo 3 had won GameTrailers' Best Shooter award for 2007 - Mattus let us know that they've also taken Multiplayer GotY, and Best 360 Game. Nice going! (Louis Wu 20:48:52 UTC) (permalink)

ATSYHIWF
harabek stopped by to announce 'All The Stuff Your Heart Is Wet For' - a music video montage that works surprisingly well. Several very funny clips; I laughed out loud at the Counting Crows punchline. (Mostly because I didn't recognize the opening; might not have been as funny if I had.) Go watch it - I know there are a lot of these, but this one's quite good. (Louis Wu 20:38:54 UTC) (permalink)

Perilous Test Drive
A bit over a week ago, Taco Power stopped by our forum to report that 'Peril', from the Halo 2 Soundtrack, could be heard in the Top Gear Christmas special. Given that Top Gear is actually pretty hard to find on this side of the pond, I decided to pass on this as front-page news. It popped up another couple of times on the forum, as other people heard it, and came to report it - but it wasn't until today, when SLR999 pointed out a YouTube link to the clip in question, that this was actually visible to folks who can't find Top Gear on their TVs. Go watch it - nice use of the music! (Pretty nice car, too.) (Louis Wu 20:28:27 UTC) (permalink)

A Woman Of Little Substance.
In its 750th (!!!) standard strip, One One Se7en sends you New Year's wishes, of a sort. Well, not really. It just makes you laugh. It's a Christmas Miracle, one week late. (Louis Wu 16:44:49 UTC) (permalink)

I resolve not to read any more lists.
Gaming Steve has put together a list of resolutions made by games and consoles for the new year. (I'm wondering when he broke into my house to ask my stuff... but I'll let that go for now.) Bungie, Halo 2 (Vista) and Halo 3 are all on the list. Thanks, gijake. (Louis Wu 16:43:56 UTC) (permalink)

Lego Bionicle Grunt
retinence is back with another Lego Bionicle Halo figure. This time, it's a Grunt. He hasn't posted instructions for making this one yet - but will, if there's a demand. Take a look! (Louis Wu 16:40:10 UTC) (permalink)

Cheap Space Art from a Halo fan
Wow, awesome. Alexei TND (you can find a bunch of his work in our Misc Art section) is offering one of his cool space pics at cost - that is, you can buy a canvas print from DeviantART, and pay only what DA charges for printing and shipping; Alexei is making zero profit on this one. It's not particularly Halo-related... but it's pretty nice space art, and it's a great deal, and he's offering it to the Halo community. Check it out. (Louis Wu 16:37:15 UTC) (permalink)

Next time, just hit B
FoxNews.com has a story about a 20-year-old from New York who drove to Spokane, WA to get arrested for stalking a 15-year-old girl he met while playing Halo. (Recon #54, who brought us the story, believes it's unfair that Halo is blamed, rather than Xbox Live... but really, the problem is with the guy who thought it was a good idea to drive 3000 miles to harass an underaged teen.) Girls on Live sure have it rough! (Louis Wu 16:31:52 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 for 20 bucks
Apparently, according to this post at UsedShoe.com, if you buy Halo 3 at a brick-and-mortar F.Y.E. store before January 16, you'll get a mail-in rebate on your receipt; complete it, and get $40 (of your $60 purchase) back. Halo 3 for $20 - not a bad price! (Louis Wu 16:20:44 UTC) (permalink)

Getting Sent Off, Halo Style
Mariachi is getting married this week - and his friends threw him a Halo-themed bachelor party for him. No hot chicks in cakes... but custom medals, and appropriate lessons. Nice! Thanks, JeSteR 343. (Louis Wu 16:15:49 UTC) (permalink)

Recon Helmet you can wear
SPU7N1K stopped by with pictures of a REAL Recon helmet, created by Belakor of the 405th forums. You might not be able to get Bungie's... but this one's actually cooler. (Louis Wu 16:14:04 UTC) (permalink)

Sarcastic Gamer's Top 100 (the Halo stuff)
Sarccastic Gamer has been counting down the top 100 Gaming Moments of 2007; the leaked ending to Halo 3 came in at #64, and "Halo 3 Heart Attack", the chaos that ensued when the Crackdown route didn't let folks in as expected to the Halo 3 Beta that first day, just made #25. We'll keep an eye on the list, in case more Halo moments make the top 20! Update: #18 is "Halo 3 Cured My Cancer!" - a blatant plug for their own 'Halo 3 Hype Hoedown'. (It was funny, but one of the Best Gaming Moments of 2007? Eh.) (Louis Wu 16:11:57 UTC) (permalink)

News December 30 2007

Halo 3 is GT's FPS of the Year
Gametrailers Game of the Year Awards continue - Halo takes Best First Person Shooter from a field that included Bioshock, Call of Duty 4, Metroid Prime 3, and The Orange Box. Thanks, Mattus. (Louis Wu 21:51:12 UTC) (permalink)

A true Couch Potato
Some people might look at a recently-posted video from FooFoo and wonder why... others will see the value in sofa launching without any prompting. Which group are you in? (Louis Wu 21:49:03 UTC) (permalink)

Believe - up for Flash Site of the Year
A representative from AKQA, the agency behind the IRIS ARG and the Halo 3 Believe ads, stopped by our forum to point out that the Believe website is up for Flash Website of the Year from the Favorite Website Awards. Go help 'em win! (He also wanted to thank the community for its involvement in the games - so pat yourselves on the back!) (Louis Wu 21:46:44 UTC) (permalink)

The Riot 80
Sigafoos sent word of The Riot 80, an hour-long discussion of their Community Aawards nominations. There's still a little community news, but the focus is on the awards. Go listen! (Louis Wu 21:42:05 UTC) (permalink)

Gamespot disses Halo 3
Avi Levin let us know that Gamespot has posted their Editor's Choices for their Game of the Year Awards, and Halo didn't win anything it was nominated for. (That includes Multiplayer, Shooter, 360 Game, and GotY, as well as the Bungie Microsoft split for Biggest News.) Ouch! (Louis Wu 21:40:05 UTC) (permalink)

Luck is Taken Halo 3 Montage
Z let us know about a Halo 3 gameplay montage from Luck is Taken - it's about seven and a half minutes long, and weighs in at 171 mb. Plenty of sticks and snipes - but lots of other weapons too. Take a look. (Louis Wu 21:30:55 UTC) (permalink)

Recon Armor - worth stealing accounts for
A pro gamer who was awarded Recon armor by Bungie for a pretty cool suicide he filmed has had his account stolen by a jerk who wanted the armor. The story on Joystiq suggests his account was 'hacked', but if you read the thread on Team vBi's forum, it becomes clear that the account was stolen by someone who called up Xbox Customer Support and somehow convinced the person on the other end of the phone that the account belonged to him, and that certain info needed changing. Having had my own personal run-ins with tech support over there, I find this totally believable - and I'm curious to see how this turns out. Hopefully, the upshot will be better phone security for Xbox Live accounts down the road. (Louis Wu 21:24:37 UTC) (permalink)

Epic Machinima Trailer
AnTi PRO, from Arm The Flag, let us knwo about a trailer for their upcoming movie, 'Epic Machinima'. I'ts a spoof of every overdone idea in machinima, all in one place. You can find download links (and comment on the project) in this HaloGrid thread. (Louis Wu 21:14:55 UTC) (permalink)

Trolling the web, so you don't have to
Hawty McBloggy has a whole bunch of goodies to show you; starting off, there's a Master Chief helmet created in Forge. (I thought I'd seen this before - but I can't find it in our news.) Then, she mentions an auction for an item she does NOT want you bidding on - because she wants it. Finally, she points out an auction for a custom Halo 3 Guitar Hero III for the 360. Nice! (Louis Wu 21:10:22 UTC) (permalink)

News December 29 2007

Another signature option
AJay put together a Halo 3 stat sig generator - swing by and make one for yourself! (Louis Wu 12:00:54 UTC) (permalink)

New art from Bryn Casey
Bryn 'ofthehi77' Casey let us know that he'd created four new Halo images - we've added them to his Gallery section here. Check out Arbiter, Sierra117, Tunnel, and Feet First into Hell. Wow - these would look wonderful on your wall! (Louis Wu 11:49:41 UTC) (permalink)

It was a very good year
Today's episode of Another Halo Comic Strip isn't NSFW... but it's close. Still... I like it. And it WAS a very good year. That's it for AHCS until 2008! (Louis Wu 11:45:40 UTC) (permalink)

Falling Sand Challenge
Ouch. So a couple of days ago, gunluva brought a challenge from the Falling Sands Game forum - some Halo lovers over there wanted to challenge HBO regulars to a few rounds of Halo. Apparently, they're better at the Falling Sand Game than Halo - the HBO team (made up of gunluva, Major Silva, and Spartan Jag) went 5-0 in the competition. Congrats, guys! (Louis Wu 11:39:44 UTC) (permalink)

Edible Chief
Wow, awesome. If you're on the right list, apparently, you get a giant chocolate Master Chief from Microsoft. Now THAT'S pretty. Thanks, Peronthious. (Louis Wu 11:31:26 UTC) (permalink)

McFarlane Series 2 - Arbiter Pics
There are some great pics of McFarlane's rendition of the Arbiter over at Kotaku - this figure won't be for sale until June, but you can see what it'll look like now. I'd agree with Luke Plunkett's assessment - those feet are HUGE. (These are, of course, also available at their home site, Spawn.com - it's just that I found them first at Kotaku.) (Louis Wu 11:18:27 UTC) (permalink)

News December 28 2007

In Space...
Luke McKay has finished the doodle he started in late September (we mentioned it here) - check it out in his Gallery section! Once again - Halo 3 spoiler warning. (Louis Wu 20:22:01 UTC) (permalink)

Prophecy Episode 2: Delta Bishop
Lordstemplar1 stopped by to announce Prophecy Episode 2: Delta Bishop. The two sides of this battle are shaping up! (Louis Wu 20:15:05 UTC) (permalink)

Looking Back
FiringSquad posted their list of the Top 10 Gaming Stories of 2007 - Bungie's split with Microsoft made Number 5, and Halo 3's launch got an honorable mention. (Louis Wu 19:59:59 UTC) (permalink)

Steel Halo 2 Logo
Samscrim posted a photo of a steel Halo 2 logo his dad made for him. Nice! (Louis Wu 19:21:09 UTC) (permalink)

Stow The Bellyaching.
I know EXACTLY where the inspiration for today's One One Se7en came from... in fact, I'm living it. (Louis Wu 13:38:08 UTC) (permalink)

Cardboard Armor
Bryan Salvador sent us some photos of his cardboard Mjolnir Armor and assault rifle - nice work! (Louis Wu 13:36:58 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 Hot Wheels
Hawty McBloggy found a customized Halo 3 Hot Wheels car on eBay - it ain't cheap, but it's pretty slick! (I'm not sure, in fact, why it's Halo-themed... but hey, I guess that's where the money is.) (Louis Wu 13:35:56 UTC) (permalink)

Majestic Standoff
RVideo created a gorgeous panorama of Standoff - its 3729x1108 pixels, and you should look at it. Update: He's just added a Snowbound panorama, as well - it's WAAAAY outside the map. (Compare it to Slava Nossar's version, to see just how far out it really is.) Update 2: Mrguy is getting in on the action, too - he picked Tsavo Highway. (Louis Wu 13:33:25 UTC) (permalink)

Dystopia, Part 1
lAbsolutel let us know about Dystopia, Part 1 - it's the story of a possessed mongoose? Or something. Not bad! (Louis Wu 13:27:21 UTC) (permalink)

I Hate When That Happens
Elnea's posted Episode 107 of her Halo Action Figure Theater - looks like Lois is channeling... something. I'm getting confused again... (Louis Wu 13:17:23 UTC) (permalink)

Friday's Fan Fiction
Nine new pieces for you this week in the Fan Fiction section - go read! (Louis Wu 13:15:12 UTC) (permalink)

How much for the Cortana level?
There aren't any references in this article - but it suggests that Halo 3 cost £15 million (about $30 million) to develop, not including marketing costs. This is the first I've seen of an actual development estimate... and that's a lot of green. Good thing it raked in $300 million the first week! (In general, development costs are going up - the comparison to movies is becoming more and more apt.) (Louis Wu 13:12:06 UTC) (permalink)

Having fun on Tsavo Highway
Rockslider has compiled a few fun replay scenarios for Tsavo Highway - check out Bad Cyborg for details. (Louis Wu 12:56:38 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Movies - Now with more Web 2.0
We got word from Dennis Powers that the Halo Movies website has been completely overhauled - almost all vids are streaming now, there are lots of features to help you find movies you like, and you can help by rating the movies you watch. Check out the news post describing the changes - then explore the site! (Louis Wu 12:49:49 UTC) (permalink)

MLC Armor - the underpinnings
Xavier sent us a few 'preview' shots of MLC's fiberglass armor under construction; they start here, and run through leg pieces and the assault rifle. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 12:47:07 UTC) (permalink)

News December 27 2007

Flood Insurance
Hawty McBloggy found a pretty cool t-shirt at Jinx - I haven't seen this before, bt I might just be getting one. Check it out! (Louis Wu 22:55:10 UTC) (permalink)

Inside Halo 5
A very pink Sodagod puts together a very funny Inside Halo Episode 5 - go watch for commentary on soccer balls, a countdown of awesome clips, and a short preview of the Human Weapons overview. You can download it from Machinima.com, or stream it from YouTube - good stuff. Thanks, Adam Kovic. (Louis Wu 22:38:10 UTC) (permalink)

Unite and Fight for Peace
Rookie Rabbit has some holiday wishes for you - check out their Christmas 2007 video! (Louis Wu 22:30:13 UTC) (permalink)

Pneumatics
Today's episode of Another Halo Comic Strip looks at some stuff you might have otherwise chosen NEVER to think about. EVER. Thanks, ZZoMBiE13. Thanks a LOT. (Louis Wu 17:25:10 UTC) (permalink)

Hey - I almost had an achievement!
Comrade_Max sent us a whole bunch of dialogue snippets - we've added them (all 200 or so) to the Halo 3 Dialogue Databank. Some of them are pretty funny - go listen! (Louis Wu 17:23:36 UTC) (permalink)

Goodies in Germany
Kornman00 just won a couple of eBay auctions for signed stuff (one of them ended two weeks ago, but he was given a second chance because the winner never paid), and realized that he'd never shown off the shwag he got when he visited Bungie Studios on Halloween - here's a pic. (There's a cookie on the right he simply couldn't eat.) He's loaded, now! (Louis Wu 17:20:40 UTC) (permalink)

GI Anticipating HW
Game Informer has posted their list of their Top Ten Most Anticipated Games for 2008 - Halo Wars made Number 5. Thanks, Planet Halo. (Louis Wu 17:13:36 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 EPIC Suicide v2
Remember that suicide we mentioned earlier this week? Same guy did this one, too. Dedication... Update: I inadvertently linked to a repost of Evlmidget's vid, rather than his own posting - fixed. Thanks, Bufhimat. (Louis Wu 17:10:43 UTC) (permalink)

Yes, he's manly.
Last week, we mentioned that 411mania had posted nominations for their Working Title awards - and that Halo 3 was up for several. Results were posted today, and the only one they went home with was the 'King Leonidas' Manliest Badass Character Award'. So it goes... (Louis Wu 17:09:20 UTC) (permalink)

News December 26 2007

Goodwill Hunting.
Stuntmutt's 25-day Advent calendar is now complete; if you missed any days, you can access all of them from yesterday's page. As for today, he's back on his regular schedule, and the latest episode of One One Se7en is a combination holiday wish/groanmaker. Go read! (Louis Wu 17:47:34 UTC) (permalink)

Outpost: Isil Episode 2
Bzerker let us know that Outpost: Isil Episode 2 is now available at the Treeskunk website (or on YouTube). You know... if the Covenant really worked this way, the war would have been over a lot sooner. (Louis Wu 17:27:27 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 among the top CG events of 2007
CG Society ran a 2007 Retrospective on the best uses of CG in the past year, with decisions being made by community voting. Halo 3 is on the Top 20 list! Not too shabby. Thanks, CHAOS1212. (Louis Wu 15:41:24 UTC) (permalink)

I Spy
lAbsolutel whipped up a cute little Halo 3 short entitled 'I Spy'. Swing by YouTube to watch it. (Louis Wu 15:37:42 UTC) (permalink)

Halo: Last Resort
Spartan 501 created a standalone comic (in the 'filter a screenshot' style) telling the story of a lone ODST Helljumper. The text is a little hard to read... but there's a lot of work here! The entire series is hosted (41 images, over 150 panels) at Photobucket. (Louis Wu 15:36:36 UTC) (permalink)

Crossed Swords
The_Eliminator stopped by with some pics of a shirt he made in art class - nice work! (Louis Wu 15:34:08 UTC) (permalink)

Aw... EW likes us.
Looks like a recent issue of Entertainment Weekly published a feature called 'EW 2007 Fansites of the Year' - and the EW website posted some supplementary entries. And we're one of 'em. Nice! Thanks, xupaosso. (Louis Wu 15:30:28 UTC) (permalink)

She Screams in Lightish Red (and more)
While we were offline, Elnea was busy - she posted both Episode 105 and Episode 106 of Halo Action Figure Theater in the last couple of days... and the tragedy of Steve has taken a turn for the bizarre. At least he's not dead... (Louis Wu 15:20:48 UTC) (permalink)

Gotta watch where you throw those grenades...
This older clip (from early November) showed up in my Google Alerts yesterday - very nice example of how cool Saved Films can be. True karmic justice! (Louis Wu 15:17:11 UTC) (permalink)

RHC Apocalypse
Leader of Blind let us know that Abyss Studios has released RHC Apocalypse - you can watch it on their site, download it from Mythica, or stream it from YouTube. It's five minutes of tiny clips (plus two minutes of credits) - many are silly, but they're all short, and some are pretty funny. (The 'Will It Blend?' parody made me laugh.) Go watch! (Louis Wu 15:15:09 UTC) (permalink)

News December 25 2007

Glad Tidings Be With You.

News December 24 2007

New Bionicle Elite
retinence (nee reticence) was last seen in July, when he showed off his first Elite Bionicle. He's back, with a new one - check out the Honorable and True poses at DeviantART. Again, use the 'Download' link there to grab high-res versions. He's even included full instructions, so you can build your own. Nice work! Update: he's posted a clearer picture here. (Louis Wu 18:15:50 UTC) (permalink)

Twenty Four.
Today's One One Se7en Advent offering provides succinct commentary on... well, a few things. (I happen to disagree with the punchline, but that doesn't make it any less funny. Or, for that matter, funnier.) (Louis Wu 18:06:17 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 Nominated for Best AI - Go Vote
AIGameDev.com has posted their finalists for Best Game AI of 2007 - Halo 3 has been nominated. You've got a week to vote - go let 'em know what you think! (Louis Wu 17:26:41 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3: AT's Action Game of the Year
ActionTrip posted their Game of the Year choices - Halo picked up 'Best Action Game'. Thanks, Ure Paul. (Louis Wu 16:21:13 UTC) (permalink)

Ho-Oh-No!
ZZoMBiE13 asked that I post his Christmas wish a day early over at Another Halo Comic Strip. I think I know what you're getting... (Louis Wu 15:54:20 UTC) (permalink)

Jeff Bell draws lessons from Halo 3 Launch
blip.tv has an interview with Jeff Bell, Microsoft's VP of Global Marketing, recorded at the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association's Summit 3 in mid-November. He discusses Halo 3's launch, and what it means for other products - and it's a little scary, if you're not a marketing person. (Louis Wu 15:30:40 UTC) (permalink)

Dean's Top Ten
Dean Takahashi posted his Top Ten Games of 2007 - Halo 3 came in #3 (he said the only reason it wasn't first was because of originality, and "that's the problem when you're building off such a solid base from the earlier games." Yeah, Bungie, next time start with crap, okay? (Louis Wu 15:18:16 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 Meta Game Guide
Grunts R Us has put together a complete guide to the Halo 3 Meta Game - the point-scoring option for Campaign play. Swing by for point values (and multipliers) of every enemy and activity in the game! There's even advice about which skulls to use for getting to those meta achievements. Check it out! Thanks, oriol. (Louis Wu 12:21:08 UTC) (permalink)

The Fine Art of Suiciding
Heh - this is pretty cool; Evlmidget25 built a Foundry map in which he and a plasma grenade start at the same point, take entirely different paths, and end at the same point. It's a pretty complicated suicide. Check it out! (Louis Wu 12:10:49 UTC) (permalink)

No compelling reason to buy, says PH
Planet Halo's mrtitan has written up a short review of the Heroic Map Pack - looks like it wasn't a particularly good buy for him. (He liked Standoff, found Rat's Nest fair, and hated Foundry.) Your mileage may vary. (Louis Wu 12:00:07 UTC) (permalink)

MLC's Armor - Chest Plate
We got some more pics from Xavier, MLC's friend, showing off the chest plate of MLC's armor. The new pics start here - or you could just visit the armor page for an overview of what's already up. More to come soon! (Louis Wu 11:57:12 UTC) (permalink)

Waste Not, Want Not
Elnea's posted Episode 104 of her Halo Action Figure Theater - I'm feeling a little bad for Lois at this point. For the zombie guy, though... not so much. Take a look! (Louis Wu 11:44:12 UTC) (permalink)

News December 23 2007

The Riot 79
Second Foundation has posted The Riot 79 - it's a pre-Christmas show, and shorter than usual (23 minutes, 9 mb) because they still need to do their shopping. Still plenty of goodness, though - go listen! They've made some (permanent) changes to their RSS feed - but they don't have any way to automatically update it for subscribers... so come back and resubscribe. (Louis Wu 22:07:55 UTC) (permalink)

Twenty Three.
Today's One One Se7en Advent offering (yes, this is the second post of the day) is somewhat wooden... (Louis Wu 17:45:10 UTC) (permalink)

Looking on the Bright Side
Natesuter22 pointed out that JibJab's holiday eCard, "In 2007", includes Halo 3 among the high points of the year. Right up there with Scorsese's Oscar. Nice! (Louis Wu 16:21:00 UTC) (permalink)

I bet I'm getting a tie.
If you had a really talented friend who was into Halo... you might get Christmas presents like these: a custom-painted controller (check out the brushwork!) and a custom-made Halo action figure, with one of the oddest Weapons of Destruction, ever. Elnea created these for her friend (and ours), OboeCrazy. Are you jealous yet? (Louis Wu 16:14:31 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 Stats on your iPhone
appSafari.com has a small web app you can use to check your Halo 3 Stats from your iPhone. Take a look! (You can use it from any browser, actually, but it's formatted nicely to fit an iPhone screen.) Update: Rob, from myedgenet, wanted us to clarify that the app was not created by appSafari, but by him. (I thought it was pretty clear that appSafari was just an aggregator, but maybe not.) (Louis Wu 15:56:04 UTC) (permalink)

IGN's Best of 2007 Awards
IGN's posted it's Best of 2007 - Halo took Best Online Multiplayer Game and Most Innovative Design, and Bungie's separation from Microsoft took Biggest Surprise. These are all Xbox360 awards - they haven't announced the Overall awards yet (and won't, until January 11). Thanks, Grey Wolf. (Louis Wu 15:38:47 UTC) (permalink)

Show me the money.
Narcogen found a story at Kotaku about a really, REALLY ugly Halo-branded shoe... and speculates that absurd licensing deals might be the rationale behind Microsoft's allowing Bungie to become independent. After all, if Bungie were still fully in control of the Halo IP, would they ever allow the Halo name to be attached to this silly-looking sneaker? Update: Mikey-san points out that the shoe featured in that Kotaku article is fan-made; it's not an official Nike - or Microsoft-endorsed - product. (It was created by a guy who goes by the nick Rebelaire; he's made a number of custom shoes.) While Narc's general point (that it's possible that Microsoft was willing to let Bungie become independent because it meant they could sell the hell out of the Halo name) is valid... this isn't a great example of it. (Louis Wu 15:25:37 UTC) (permalink)

It's the thought that counts
Haloplayer stopped by with word of a Christmas Comic from Injured Knee Productions - The Newbs #9 looks at the McFarlane controller. (I dunno - I sort of like it...) (Louis Wu 15:18:47 UTC) (permalink)

Twenty Two.
While we're discussing missed comics, I suppose I should apologize (AGAIN) for neglecting to announce a One One Se7en Advent offering. (This going-live-at-noon thing is really hard this time of year; by noon, I'm gone.) Don't think too much about this one - you might get queasy. (Louis Wu 13:46:03 UTC) (permalink)

Biting the hand
It's quite late - it was supposed to be posted yesterday - but there's a Christmas-themed funni over at Another Halo Comic Strip - ZZoMBiE13 reaches out to Stuntmutt in the spirit of the season. Unfortunately, Stunt found those spirits weeks ago, and is now well-pickled... (Louis Wu 13:44:13 UTC) (permalink)

News December 22 2007

Screenshot Contest - Winners Posted
Wow. Voting took a bit of work - but we've whittled down the 127 entries to the Seven on the Seven(teen)th contest to our 7 top choices... you can find the images on the Results page. Congrats to the winners - and to EVERYONE who submitted; almost 50 images got votes from at least one of our dozen judges. (Louis Wu 18:31:03 UTC) (permalink)

Making the game they want to make
Gametap has a Q&A with Graeme Devine, lead designer of Halo Wars, with some great info and a few brand-new screenshots. Give it a read! Thanks, Avateur. (Louis Wu 13:38:53 UTC) (permalink)

Paper Pelican
DarkSim found a link to a German page with pictures of a paper pelican - along with a download link containing a 10-page PDF you can print to make your own. Very, very cool! (My German is nonexistent, so I'm not sure how I'd ask permission to link to this, or mirror it... but if we do any damage to that website, I'll put up a local copy. (Louis Wu 13:31:32 UTC) (permalink)

TeamXbox GotY Awards Posted
TeamXbox has posted thier Game of the Year Awards for 2007 - and Halo takes the Best Multiplayer Game of the Year. (It lost to Crackdown in the Action category, CoD4 in the Shooter category, and Mass Effect in the GotY category.) Thanks, Narcogen, at Rampancy.net. (Louis Wu 13:22:27 UTC) (permalink)

Unforgotten For String Orchestra
someone_new posted an arrangement of Halo 2's 'Unforgotten' for string orchestra over at Rampancy.net - go download it! (Remember, you must be logged in to see the download link.) (Louis Wu 13:18:20 UTC) (permalink)

The Dead Serious Tage 2 Trailer
SirTopEmHat stopped by yesterday to announce The Dead Serious Tage 2 Trailer - production values are quite high, and this one looks like it's gonna be great! Check out the trailer. (It's not a typical montage.) (Louis Wu 13:16:53 UTC) (permalink)

Gamespot's Best of 2007
Gamespot's Best of 2007 section is up, and they're looking for your votes. Swing by and tell 'em what you think! Thanks, JeSteR 343. (Louis Wu 13:15:11 UTC) (permalink)

Year's biggest bummers
Wired's Game|Life put up their Ten Biggest Disappointments Of 2007, and Halo 3 pulled down two of 'em - the cheesy packaging that caused a bunch of Limited Edition buyers to unwrap scratched discs, and the huge sales of Halo 3 (because of what that says about the REST of the industry). Interesting. Go read the whole list. (Louis Wu 13:12:52 UTC) (permalink)

Frankie in a Suit
Gamescore Blog has a video interview that Chris Paladino did with Frankie during the Spike TV awards show - they talk about the awards, about the Heroic Maps (which at that point hadn't been released yet), about Recon armor. Go watch! (Louis Wu 02:08:33 UTC) (permalink)

Atlantic City - Fun Times on the Beach
The last Bungie Weekly Update of 2007 is now available at Bungie.net (and, of course, also in our Weekly Update Archive - with WAY better html, I might add). Most of it is devoted to explaining the changes to the Halo 3 playlist that went live in the last couple of days, but there are also a few other fun tidbits. Go read! (Louis Wu 02:03:13 UTC) (permalink)

News December 21 2007

Fiberglass Armor - with construction notes
A few days ago, we mentioned some fiberglass-based Halo armor, being created by MLC. We've been sent some higher-res pictures to start a collection here, and will add to it as the armor takes shape. For now, check out the helmet, along with notes on how it was created! Thanks, Xavier. (Louis Wu 19:34:45 UTC) (permalink)

More lady spartans for sale
You might remember a custom female Spartan figure for sale on eBay back around the time Halo 3 launched; the artist is back, with two new versions. One's pink and one's green; they've got different weapons this time out, and they're missing the fishnet tops... but beyond that, they look pretty similar. Bidding starts at $159, you've got a few days. Thanks, bs angel! (Louis Wu 19:13:34 UTC) (permalink)

Twenty One.
Stuntmutt's Advent Calendar is nearly full; today's entry mixes a holiday joke with a bad pun. ...wait, that's every entry. (Louis Wu 17:55:28 UTC) (permalink)

New Halo Goodies from Master Replicas
J C let us know that Master Replicas has posted their 2008 Product Line Announcement... and there are a number of new Halo items on the list. Go see what you'll be spending your money on next year! (Louis Wu 17:52:47 UTC) (permalink)

Rockin' the World
GameDaily posted a list of the '20 Biggest Stories that Rocked Our World in '07' - 10 was Bungie leaving Microsoft, and 7 was Halo 3's amazing first-week numbers. Not bad! (Louis Wu 17:51:02 UTC) (permalink)

The Noob Strikes Back
Ultimate Dragon has created another Rube Goldberg machine - you might remember 'How to trap a noob', back in November... this time the noob gets revenge. Check out "Sniper vs. Noob: The Noob Strikes Back", on YouTube. Pretty sweet kill! (Louis Wu 12:53:18 UTC) (permalink)

Foundry Variants, from the Pros
Foundry Variants, from the Pros One of the perks for Bungie employees is that they get to stick their Foundry creations into the Bungie Favorites category whenever they want; go grab the maps mentioned in this article and see if it's favoritism... or just plain good mapmaking. (Before anyone gets bent out of shape about the wording of this post: these guys build multiplayer maps for a living, and many of you just paid $10 for three of their products; here are three more, sort of, that cost you nothing.) (Louis Wu 12:42:42 UTC) (permalink)

Friday's Fan Fiction
Fourteen new pieces - prose and poetry, and even song - available for you today in the Fan Fiction section. Go read! (Louis Wu 12:38:39 UTC) (permalink)

My tank is fight!
john.cb let us know that Episode 3 of Spriggs is up, both at their website, and on YouTube. Willy thinks he's going to kill Spriggs... but Willy is wrong. Poor Willy! (Louis Wu 12:31:26 UTC) (permalink)

Fragalicious
Last week's Humpday writeup mentioned that Bungie had played The Frag Dolls - it doesn't, any more, but it did. And now we get the Frag Dolls Matchup in writing; this took place 10 days ago, but it's still a win for Bungie. Having been fragged by at least one of these Dolls, I have to wonder how Bungie pulled this one off... I'm gonna have to call shenanigans. Go read, though - Luke makes it exciting. (Louis Wu 12:25:25 UTC) (permalink)

Neurons, Ep 1 - a look back
BlitzSnake let us know that he'd posted an episode of a machinima program called 'Neurons' last summer - he's still working on Episode 2, and looking back, he feels Episode 1 is somewhat 'cheesy' (his word) compared to what 2 will look like... but it's still pretty well done; check it out on YouTube! (Louis Wu 12:18:31 UTC) (permalink)

News December 20 2007

Workies Nominations
411mania posted nominations for the Working Title awards - Halo 3 is up for a bunch. They might not be what you think they are - check 'em out! (Louis Wu 22:25:06 UTC) (permalink)

Sometimes I stare... too.
Captain Spark dropped off another 35 dialogue snippets, this time all from Marines, many, many funny ones. A whole bunch of Christopher Walken imitations, plus some other laugh-out-loud lines. Check 'em in our Dialogue Databank, or download 'em en masse from Spark's site.! (Louis Wu 22:05:17 UTC) (permalink)

Xbox.com's 2007 Community Choice Awards
Xbox.com is running their 2007 Community Choice Awards - and you can vote for Halo 3 a LOT. It's on the ballots for Best Game, Best Game Add-on, Best Co-op Game, Best Weapon, Best Vehicle, Best Xbox LIVE Event, Coolest Xbox 360 Accessory, and Best Sequel. Thanks, Raulboy. (Louis Wu 19:37:32 UTC) (permalink)

You've got some cliché on your shirt
Today's episode of Another Halo Comic Strip started life as a joke about the ongoing writers strike, but thanks to my highfalutin influence, it's degraded into sexual humor. Stick with me, ZZoMBiE13, you can't go wrong. (Louis Wu 19:05:21 UTC) (permalink)

GI's GotY Results
According to mrtitan at Planet Halo, Game Informer published their Top 50 Games of 2007 in their January 08 issue - Halo 3 was on the list, but didn't win Game of the Year. Bungie, as a studio, came in at #7. The article is online, as well - but only for subscribers. (Louis Wu 18:19:20 UTC) (permalink)

Geniuses at Play
Usul scanned an article from the November issue of Playboy, called 'Geniuses at Play' - it contains interviews with a number of game developers (including Bungie, represented by Frank O'Connor). Take a look! (Louis Wu 18:14:17 UTC) (permalink)

Lost the Lead
Hawty McBloggy has a list of the Top Ten Break-Up Lines for Master Chief - I gotta say, it's a good thing that guy wears armor, because some of these would get him slapped. (There are more user-submitted ones in the comments, too.) (Louis Wu 18:08:36 UTC) (permalink)

Gamespy's Game of the Year Results
Rampancy.net was surprised that Halo 3 took 6th place in Gamespy's Xbox 360 Games of the Year list. Do you think they're right - that Halo 2 should have placed higher in ITS year of release than Halo or Halo 3 did in THEIR years? (Louis Wu 17:48:31 UTC) (permalink)

Win Cool Stuff from DVICE
Jase Dakota points out that DVICE (the SciFi tech site) is hosting a Gadget of the Year sweepstakes... and the Halo 3 Xbox 360 is in the running. Check it out! (Louis Wu 17:45:37 UTC) (permalink)

Twenty.
Today's One One Se7en Advent offering introduces cold-weather insects, a truly frightening concept. (Louis Wu 17:43:37 UTC) (permalink)

News December 19 2007

Just a reminder...
You've got about 32 hours left to submit your wicked-cool screenshot to our Seven on the Seven(teen)th contest (though, I must tell you, if you describe it as 'wicked-cool', we will not only disqualify it, we will hunt you down and kill you) - don't you want some DLC lovin'? (Louis Wu 21:08:19 UTC) (permalink)

A Time to Kill (no, not Grisham)
PEZ let us know that halowiki is trying to flesh out their Halo 3 Weapon Time to Kill Chart- there are probably enough people who've actually collected this info at this point that the rest of the table can be filled out. If you can help, swing by! (Louis Wu 20:52:09 UTC) (permalink)

Hornets aren't fun. They sting you, and it hurts.
Rockslider found some more Hornet fun in The Covenant canyons - check Bad Cyborg for details. (Louis Wu 20:07:04 UTC) (permalink)

Hottest Products of 2007
AOL Canada put up a photo montage of the Hottest Products of 2007 - guess which video game made the list? (Well, besides Second Life...) Thanks, Draganos. (Louis Wu 19:28:12 UTC) (permalink)

Eighteen. (And Nineteen.)
I'm really not doing very well at keeping up with the One One Se7en Advent offerings; yesterday's made me laugh, and today's made me groan. I suppose that's a decent batting average. (Louis Wu 17:08:15 UTC) (permalink)

Fan Fiction Contest at UNSC Chronicles
UNSC Chronicles is running a Fan Fiction contest - swing by and check out the rules. No prizes announced yet. Thanks, UNSC Trooper. (Louis Wu 16:08:54 UTC) (permalink)

Marketing Tools
Gixar makes an argument that Halo 3 is over-hyped, based on the discrepancy between user and industry scores for it... and wonders about the objectivity of game reviews. (Louis Wu 16:05:55 UTC) (permalink)

When life gives you lemons, make cubist art
Wow. Thos looks like he might be facing a video card failure in his Xbox 360 - but he's making the best of a bad situation, by snapping some pretty cool screenshots! (Louis Wu 15:29:34 UTC) (permalink)

Johnson Bust - Pictures
Joerhyno let us know that the Johnson bust he bought a little while ago arrived - there are pictures of it over at the Spawn forum. Unfortunately, the head broke off in shipping... but it's still a pretty cool looking piece! (Louis Wu 15:27:56 UTC) (permalink)

News December 18 2007

Sponsored by Dew?
Another Halo Comic Strip contains a gag about last week's Spike Video Game Awards - maybe it answers some lingering questions? (Louis Wu 16:48:40 UTC) (permalink)

HALOMEN2
In September, we mentioned HALOMEN, a Halo Flash animation at Newgrounds. HALOMEN2 is now up - once again, it's probably not really safe for work. (Explicit audio, mild adult themes, excessive violence, according to Newgrounds' rating system.) Where else can you see characters from Halo, Starcraft, and Half-Life all in one place? Thanks, swearingmonk. (Louis Wu 16:44:58 UTC) (permalink)

I need a weapon. ...wait, wrong game...
Halo 3 appears on MTV's Great Gaming Moments of 2007 - I'm not sure I'd agree with their choice of moments (story spoilers in there), but hey. It's on the list. (Louis Wu 16:16:35 UTC) (permalink)

Back to the Beta
Obienator has put together 'Little Red Adventures Episode 1: Back to the Beta' - and it's pretty funny stuff! Nice filming, nice comedy, nice references! You can watch this on YouTube, or you can download higher-res versions from us: WMP9 version is 73.7 mb, QuickTime version is 57.2 mb. Go watch! (Louis Wu 13:49:15 UTC) (permalink)

Podtacular 139
JustyB let us know that Podtacular 139 is out now - it focuses on the new maps. 1:15 long, 36.4 mb. Pretty funny! (Louis Wu 13:18:59 UTC) (permalink)

Clank
iN00B found a Halo-related episode of SNAFU... and it's a weird thing. A very weird thing. (Louis Wu 13:16:09 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3: Absurd Attach Rate
A bunch of articles have come out recently, talking about how Halo 3's sales are dropping off - but the real story might be that there aren't that many more people to BUY the game. GameDaily pointed out yesterday that according to NPD's numbers, there have been 4.1 million copies of Halo 3 sold in the US - for an installed base of just under 8 million Xboxes. When 52% of the people who CAN buy your game, HAVE bought your game... you can pretty much accept that you're a success. (Louis Wu 13:12:34 UTC) (permalink)

News December 17 2007

Seventeen.
Today's One One Se7en Advent offering is a friendly wish. Well... maybe not so friendly. (Louis Wu 22:16:13 UTC) (permalink)

7 on the 7th - Heroic Edition
This should have been done a week ago, but hey... HBO doubles as the offices for the Procrastination Society. (We meet every Tuesday, but meetings are almost always postponed.) Bungie was nice enough to give us a bunch of codes for the Heroic Map Pack download... and we want to give them to you. If you're interested in winning one, swing by the 7 on the 7th page, and read the rules! (Louis Wu 21:50:02 UTC) (permalink)

Sketch Interviewed on Major Nelson's Podcast
Brian 'SketchFactor' Jarrard was interviewed on the latest Major Nelson podcast - he talks a lot about the new maps, the ingenuity of the community, and more. It's a great listen - thanks, owlalf. (Louis Wu 21:46:53 UTC) (permalink)

The Over-Achiever
Smooth Few Films whipped up The Over-Achiever for the Ziddio Machinima Contest - you can watch it in high-res at their website, or stream it from YouTube. Yea, verily, does it ring true! (That means it's pretty funny. And well-filmed.) (Louis Wu 20:44:49 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3's social networking is a plus
Gamasutra listed Bungie in its Top 5 Developers of 2007 list. (Louis Wu 17:37:57 UTC) (permalink)

The Ghost of Foundry
Heh - unlucky17 was forging away, when suddenly he was attacked - by a totally random grenade. Thrown by nobody. Pretty funky! Thanks, Morpheus. (Louis Wu 16:31:31 UTC) (permalink)

It's a Halo Thing 1/4
Back in July, we pointed out It's a Halo BETA, a teaser for a full-length Halo parody in Flash. The creator, AlmightyHans, has released the first of four parts over at Newgrounds. (R-rated for situations, I guess.) Thanks, swearingmonk. (Louis Wu 16:27:19 UTC) (permalink)

Chapter Two, Part Eleven
TTL Demag0gue has posted the next episode of Reclaimer - Chapter Two, Part Eleven adds color-coded balloons for easier differentiation, and a plan of action that would do ME proud. (Louis Wu 13:16:07 UTC) (permalink)

What are YOU waiting for?
Halo Wars made TeamXbox's Most Anticipated Games of 2008 feature - thanks, Planet Halo. (Louis Wu 13:09:49 UTC) (permalink)

A Halo Collector's Wet Dream
PFG stopped by to show off snapshots of his newest Halo acquisition - original sketches for the Halo Graphic Novel. Wonga. (Louis Wu 13:08:04 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 Female Setting
This video popped up on Google News... you gotta wonder what drives people to make stuff like this. The women I play with... are nothing like this. (Louis Wu 13:03:16 UTC) (permalink)

MLC works on Halo Armor
Wow. We got pointed to a bunch of pictures at PrintRoom, showing off the work of MLC - he's been doing Star Wars stuff for a long time, and is now getting into Halo armor. Fiberglass, documented to within an inch of its life... check it out! Thanks to Xavier, from the 405th.com, for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 13:01:57 UTC) (permalink)

News December 16 2007

The Riot 78
JRod4549 was first to let us know that The Riot 78 is now online - this one focuses on community awards, and community news. 37 minutes, 15 mb. Go listen! (Louis Wu 20:41:48 UTC) (permalink)

Forge Artwork, Revisited
Interesting. I saw a bunch of articles on creating artwork in Halo 3 come through my Google News Alerts in the last couple of days, but said "oh, that's just the story we mentioned a week or two ago," and moved on. (Yes, I talk to myself in hyperlinks.) Turns out I was wrong; Wired Magazine has done a couple of pieces on Brock Davis (the artist) - there's a step-by-step walkthrough on how the image was created, and an interview with the artist. Thanks to Tex for keeping me honest. (Louis Wu 19:48:26 UTC) (permalink)

Boo-ya!
ZZoMBiE13 has created (because of user demand) wallpaper versions of the last panel of yesterday's Another Halo Comic Strip. You can find them in our Wallpaper section. (Louis Wu 19:33:08 UTC) (permalink)

Only a Flesh Wound?
Elnea's posted Episode 102 of her Halo Action Figure Theater - looks like Weapon L is going to need some first aid, stat. (Louis Wu 19:28:12 UTC) (permalink)

Fox says pfft
Fox News has posted their 'Best -- and Worst -- Video Games' of the year. Halo 3 walks away with "Most Overrated Game". (Louis Wu 19:26:55 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 Marble Maze
Hawty McBloggy has highlighted a pretty cool video showing off someone using the new soccer ball and Foundry to create a marble maze. When I was a kid, Creative Playthings sold wooden pieces for this, in a product known as Multiway Rollaway. I've seen hundreds of similar products through the years, but that one was always my favorite, and I spent dozens (hundreds?) of hours building palaces... and now I get to see it again, recreated in Halo 3. Thanks, HM! (And thanks, Mus65tang, for building it!) (Louis Wu 19:23:12 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Escape FAQ
newguy2445 has written up a FAQ for Halo Escape, the 2D Halo game he's been working on (see this post for details). Give it a read! (Louis Wu 19:18:51 UTC) (permalink)

Gameplay vids on DLC maps, from G4
G4TV has put up videos of gameplay on all three Heroic DLC maps, so you can see what you're getting, if you haven't bought them yet. (Also, these might help if you're looking for weapons spawns or nice niches.) Check out Foundry, Rat's Nest, and Standoff. (Louis Wu 19:17:15 UTC) (permalink)

Forge Creations - Store 'em at R.net!
We're still getting a bunch of requests to highlight Forge creations; as we mentioned a couple of days ago, Rampancy.net has created a great tool for keeping track of these. There are WAY more maps in our forums and our email boxes than in R.net's database, so I can only assume that people missed the announcement. Therefore, we've repurposed our 'In the Spotlight' front-page block (usually reserved for HBO-specific resources) to highlight exactly that database; it's a great solution, and you should use it. (Louis Wu 19:04:33 UTC) (permalink)

Last season, on Halo...
Narcogen, over at Rampancy.net, took umbrage with a reporter who claimed that a "game should be a self-contained and comprehensible artistic work." Go read what he has to say about that. (Louis Wu 18:54:16 UTC) (permalink)

Fifteen. (And Sixteen.)
Yesterday's One One Se7en Advent offering never got front-paged, because i was out of town, so you get both Fifteen and Sixteen today. (It's a shame, because yesterday's was actually pretty clever.) As this holiday season continues, there'll be more days when I'm not near a computer for an update at noon, Eastern time, when these go live - but remember, you can always just visit the One One Se7en page to see the most recent one. They're updated automatically at noon EST (5pm UTC) every day. (Louis Wu 17:27:50 UTC) (permalink)

News December 15 2007

Hitting the last milestone of 2007
newguy2445 let us know that the Halo Wars Monthly Update is up over on the official forums. Status update, a reminder of an interview (we mentioned it last week), new concept art (very cool), and some Christmas wallpaper. Check it out! ...and that's it for the morning - I need to get to New Jersey. (Louis Wu 14:35:35 UTC) (permalink)

Forge the Foundry Contest at MLG
MLG's having a Forge the Foundry Contest - build a cool map, win schwag. Go read all the rules, and get to forging! Thanks, trigger119. (Louis Wu 14:31:59 UTC) (permalink)

You Crazy Diamond
Today's Another Halo Comic Strip gives you insight into into the needs and wants of everyone's favorite Master Chief. I love ZZoMBiE13's art. (Louis Wu 14:27:43 UTC) (permalink)

Leaning on Fans for World Domination Help
Nevan noticed an interview with Brian Jarrard, over at Gamesradar; it's part of a piece looking at whether developers listen to their fans. Brian says 'yes'. (Louis Wu 14:20:06 UTC) (permalink)

Heroic Weekly Update
Last night's Bungie Weekly Update was chock full of goodies - discussion of future DLC maps, foundry creations, grifball, forge tips, foundry tips, and a very violent Mister Chief. Read it at Bungie, or read it here, in our Weekly Update Archive. (Louis Wu 14:18:03 UTC) (permalink)

News December 14 2007

Empty Canvases (Canvasi?)
Bungie's posted blank versions of all three Heroic Maps (cleaned by a Bungie.net user) in the Bungie Favorites section of their website. (These have been created by others, but this is a nice central place to pick 'em up.) Useful if you're trying to build your own gametypes! (Louis Wu 20:49:25 UTC) (permalink)

Free Maps from X3F
Xbox 360 Fanboy is giving away a couple of codes for free downloads of the Heroic Map Pack; swing by and tell them how you'll use it, they'll grab two random entries in the comment thread, and send 'em codes. (If you don't win, don't worry - we'll be offering some of these by Monday at the latest.) Thanks, Nevan. (Louis Wu 18:24:50 UTC) (permalink)

Mean People Suck
Elnea posted Halo Action Figure Theater 101 over at Red vs Blue a couple of days ago, but has now made it available to folks without an RvB account - the story's getting a little... dark, but never fear. It'll all work out in the end. (Or it won't. Nobody tells me anything.) (Louis Wu 18:19:54 UTC) (permalink)

Speaking of Advent Calendars
So I feel like a heel... kilaMOMjaro, of The Blue Skittle, contacted us last month about contributing to a cool community-based Advent calendar at The Blue Skittle. I sort of wimped out - but Stuntmutt didn't. (He was featured on December 5. And TBC was even kind enough to link back to us at the same time. Oh, god, I'm such a heel...) Check it out, it's chock-full of very cool contributions from all around the Xbox community, and more are added every day. (Louis Wu 18:11:51 UTC) (permalink)

Fourteen.
Today's One One Se7en Advent offering is a Red vs Blue joke. An almost-funny Red vs Blue joke. Well... okay, maybe not. (Louis Wu 18:01:47 UTC) (permalink)

Lots of Halo Schwag - just in time for Christmas
Alex Songer pointed out that Bag Republic has a ton of Halo-branded leather goods from Enmon - messenger bags, wallets, belt buckles... go see what you can find! (Louis Wu 14:57:52 UTC) (permalink)

The Seventh Day Trailer
Harabek pointed out a trailer for 'The Seventh Day', a new project he's working on. Looks promising! (Louis Wu 14:18:33 UTC) (permalink)

Friday's Fan Fiction
Twelve new pieces for you this week in the Fan Fiction section - go read! (Louis Wu 14:03:50 UTC) (permalink)

Wake the Machine
TTL Demag0gue has posted the next chapter in his Reclaimer comic - Chapter Two, Part Ten looks to give Team Viper a way out. (Good thing, or this would be a much shorter comic.) (Louis Wu 12:18:47 UTC) (permalink)

Haven Teaser
Back in August, blackouTT released a teaser for his latest machinima project, 'Haven'. It was (duh) built in Halo 2, because Halo 3 hadn't been released yet. He was planning for the film itself to be made in Halo 3 - but on September 25, he discovered that there were no maps that worked for the script he'd written. Haven was on hold... until December 11, when the Heroic maps came out, and he found his locale. He's created a new teaser for the project - you can download it from links in his HaloGrid forum post. (If you'd rather watch in QuickTime format, we've put up a copy ourselves - 26 mb.) He's submitted this teaser to the Ziddio Machinima Contest (we mentioned it last month) - so if you feel inclined, swing by, create an account, and rate it there! (Public rating is the first round of judging - the top five rated entries will move on.) (Louis Wu 12:08:39 UTC) (permalink)

Looks like it was a triple to end game 2, Luke.
This week's Humpday Challenge is posted over at Bungie.net; they faced off against Clantacular on the new DLC maps. As an example of how big and powerful Bungie.net has become: near the bottom, the automatic censoring code in the website rewrote something Luke put in - it's 6:30 in the morning here, and I haven't had any coffee yet, so I was struggling to figure out what got 'blam'ed in the phrase '"-blam!-le Sayers". I dropped "le Sayers" into Google, to see if anything obvious popped up... and the Humpday writeup was hit number five. It's been online for less than 12 hours, fergoshsakes! (This post will probably make it rise, even.) I still don't know what was censored... but the writeup is entertaining anyway. Thanks, Psychophan7. Update: Narcogen pointed out that what was being censored was the 'Gay' in 'Gayle Sayers'. Now I gotta say, that's one dumb script. (Not as dumb as me, though, for not figuring it out from context.) (Louis Wu 11:39:42 UTC) (permalink)

Forge Maps db opens at R.net
Heh - yesterday, I mentioned that the community could really use a searchable database for Forge creations - and today, Rampancy.net opened a Forge maps database. You can browse/search/download maps without logging in, but you'll need to have an account to submit them. (They need to know who they belong to, after all.) Ask, and ye shall receive! (Louis Wu 10:28:01 UTC) (permalink)

News December 13 2007

Maps and Cannibals at Gamasutra
RotaJota noticed a couple of Halo articles at Gamasutra - both are interesting, though one has lots of meat and the other's just an appetizer. For snacks - an article suggesting that Halo 3 sales caused many, many fewer than expected sales for Stranglehold. (What... mediocre reviews might not have something to do with it?) The main course - a Q&A session with Bungie's Steve Cotton about the thought processes that went into the development of the DLC maps. It's a great read, and might give you some ideas about customization after the fact. (Louis Wu 23:39:55 UTC) (permalink)

Protips from the devs
Bungie's posted a 'Quick and Dirty Guide to the Heroic Maps' - layouts, weapon locations, vehicles, basic strats - absolutely worth reading if you want a leg up on the competition when you jump into the Heroic DLC playlist. Thanks, Avateur. (Louis Wu 23:29:48 UTC) (permalink)

Twelve. (And Thirteen.)
Whoops. Hikaru-119 pointed out that I forgot to mention yesterday's or today's One One Se7en Advent offerings... the dangers of auto-updates. Sorry about that! (Well... you might actually thank me after reading them.) (Louis Wu 23:22:44 UTC) (permalink)

Inside Halo episode 4
Machinima.com's Inside Halo Episode 4 is now online - you can watch or download it at machinima.com, or stream it at YouTube. SodaGod is off this time around, but the dead pixel will walk you through the basics of making machinima with Halo 3. Good info, interesting to watch, funny! Go grab it. Thanks, Adam Kovic. (Louis Wu 22:14:27 UTC) (permalink)

UNSC Messenger Bag
ThinkGeek is selling a pretty nice messenger bag - comes in Khaki or Grey, and holds an awful lot of stuff. Check it out! (Louis Wu 21:25:37 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 Voted Retail's Highlight Of 2007
There's a press release at GamesIndustry.biz that announces that MCV, the leading trade publication for the video games industry, has named the Halo 3 launch as the "best single moment in 2007". Not bad! (Louis Wu 21:19:57 UTC) (permalink)

Halo makes people spend big
Hawty McBloggy wrote up her experience at the Childs Play Charity Dinner Auction a couple of nights ago - her focus was on the Halo-related items, of which there were many for sale. A chance to use Bungie's 'Flaming Helmet' armor on Xbox Live went for $740, a bag of schwag (along with Recon armor) went for over $5000. All the proceeds went to Child's Play, the charity started by the Penny Arcade crew to bring games (and smiles) to hospitalized kids everywhere. Go read about it all! (Louis Wu 21:15:35 UTC) (permalink)

CNN says Halo launch a top sci-tech story of the year
CNN.com has posted their Top sci-tech stories of the year as part of their Year in Review coverage - use the little circles on the bottom to jump to September 25, and you'll see that Halo 3's launch made the list. Thanks, Avateur. (Louis Wu 21:03:59 UTC) (permalink)

Another shot at a cheap Legendary Edition
If you missed out on Amazon's $59.99 Halo 3 Legendary Edition on Black Friday, you've got another shot - while supplies last. Wal-Mart (well, walmart.com, at least) is selling the helmeted game for $59.82 right now. What are you waiting for? Update: looks like Clefton Twain noticed this, too. (Louis Wu 19:55:07 UTC) (permalink)

Unforgotten Sheet Music
chrischang127 has transcribed Unforgotten, from Halo - it's available at Rampancy.net as a PDF. (Remember, you must be logged in to see the download links.) (Louis Wu 17:00:26 UTC) (permalink)

FJOLIAGE
Today's Another Halo Comic Strip has a shout-out to all you folks using Legendary helmets on your trees. (Yes,like Paul.) Update: ZZoMBiE13 has added a wallpaper version of this image, in both normal and widescreen formats - check our Wallpaper section. (Louis Wu 16:22:36 UTC) (permalink)

Vista H3 Screenshot Viewer
This is intriguing - if you have Windows Vista, here's a sidebar gadget that lets you view Bungie.net screenshots on your desktop. (Louis Wu 16:14:59 UTC) (permalink)

Psst... buy your NYC VGL tix early
Hmm... not totally sure about this, but... cannon1iron let us know that tickets for a New York City performance of Video Games Live next April go on sale tomorrow, officially... but you can get in on an internet presale by using the password HEHALO on this page. I checked, and there are some great seats available! (Well, right NOW.) Beat the rush - prebuy now. Update: Mig has an opinion you might want to read. (Louis Wu 16:10:49 UTC) (permalink)

Foundry: it's not just for breakfast any more.
MLG Canada has posted a video of some MLG Pros and office staff playing Halo 3 soccer. It looks fun. Not NEARLY as much fun as the several hours of Grifball I played last night with some RvB folks.. but fun. (Louis Wu 16:02:25 UTC) (permalink)

AceHawk's Halo 3 Minitage
AceHawk made a Minitage of Halo 3 gameplay - I'm not sure why it's called a 'Minitage', since it looks like a standard montage to me, but hey, you can call your work whatever you like, right? Thanks to trigger119 for letting us know - and for hosting it at GamingTV. (Louis Wu 15:55:27 UTC) (permalink)

Happy Birtday!
Chris Marshall pointed out a Bungie.net thread with pictures of a cake bought by a loving wife for her husband - the person who did the icing doesn't know how to spell 'Birthday', but other than that, it's great! (He also got to put his Legendary helmet on top of the tree.) (Louis Wu 14:07:20 UTC) (permalink)

Tough Guy
Um... I'm not sure I understand the criteria, but IGN Stars has declared Master Chief a winner in the 2007 Sweet Badassss! Awards, right up there with Jason Bourne. Thanks, Grey Wolf. (Louis Wu 13:51:55 UTC) (permalink)

Frank's Back on Game Theory
Frank O'Connor returned to the Game Theory podcast (he'd joined them for a podcast right after Halo 3 was released) - it's a long episode (an hour and 40 minutes), and although it's focused on the Games of the Year, it kicks off with Halo/Bungie discussions. Go listen! Thanks, Zeouterlimits. (Louis Wu 13:00:41 UTC) (permalink)

Screenshot contest for UK residents
If you're a resident of the UK, and 15 or older, you're eligible for this contest, being run on MySpace by Xbox 360 UK. Take a cool screenshot, be eligible for cool prizes. You'll need a MySpace account to play. Read the page for more details. Thanks, The More Deluded. (Louis Wu 12:51:59 UTC) (permalink)

The Word on Forged Map News
Wow. Okay, there's no WAY we're going to be able to satisfy everyone's desire to be front-paged with their latest Foundry creations - we've gotten dozens of announcements about map remakes, or fun gametypes, or whatever... our front page just isn't that big. Someone really needs to set up a database somewhere for Forged creations; I realize there are sites like Forge Hub and H3Forge, but there is nothing that lets people upload pictures and descriptions of their maps, that folks can easily search for what they're looking for. More importantly (for this post), we don't have the resources to be that place. You''re welcome to announce your creation on our forum - but please don't ask us to front-page it. Sorry! (Louis Wu 12:43:53 UTC) (permalink)

News December 12 2007

Foundry Sketchpad
Ooh, cool. Bungie's posted a Foundry Sketchpad - a PDF of the level, with some blocks for scale. You can sketch out your ideas while you're at work/school, so as not to waste your non-Forging time. Heh. Thanks, Avateur. (Louis Wu 22:21:13 UTC) (permalink)

Cha-ching!
Man, that O'Donnell guy sure can talk! If you didn't get enough Marty in the Dolbycast we mentioned earlier, swing by Bungie.net for their newest podcast, in which Marty spends over an hour discussing how Bungie would have collapsed if not for his brilliance. (No, not really. He's a pretty modest guy. His biggest fault is that he's old.) Thanks, Don. (Louis Wu 21:03:05 UTC) (permalink)

The Sonic World of Halo
Dolbycast, a podcast focused on home theater topics, has interviewed Marty O'Donnell - and it's a pretty fascinating talk. Why Bungie does what they do, surround sound and its effect on your enjoyment of entertainment, who makes him coffee... there's lots of good stuff in there. Just under 10 minutes long, it's streamable, or downloadable in MP3 or AAC formats. Digg it if you love it! (If you're reading this later than we've posted it, look for the December 6 episode.) (Louis Wu 16:56:19 UTC) (permalink)

Vile trespassers!
Captain Spark sent along another few dozen dialogue snippets - this time Brutes and Grunts. Go listen in our Dialogue Databank! (These are also available from his newly-retooled website.) (Louis Wu 15:26:43 UTC) (permalink)

They wanna do donuts.
GameSpy nominated Halo 3 for Game of the Year - and in an effort to learn a bit more about it, interviewed Frank O'Connor about how Bungie thinks the release has been received. Give it a read! (Louis Wu 14:54:19 UTC) (permalink)

Meet the Machine
TTL Demag0gue has posted Wednesday's Reclaimer comic - Chapter Two, Part Nine shows that the Viper team is in real trouble. (Louis Wu 14:44:06 UTC) (permalink)

Halo and Halo 2 - top PC games
Red_Breast was the first to notice that Nielson has released their annual collection of Top 10s for the US; fourth place on the PC Titles list is a tie - between Halo and Halo 2. Red_Breast linked to a PDF for the lists, but you can read them online at PR Newswire. (Video Games are in the last section.) (Louis Wu 14:41:57 UTC) (permalink)

Unleashing your pent-up Forger
The news of the morning has got to be Foundry - it is amazing how many different things people have done with this map, and it's only been out for a day. Yesterday, we mentioned a reconstruction of Midship. Mattus made one too. And Masterchief2829 rebuilt Foundation. profhalo worked on Prisoner. LX925 got OUTSIDE Foundry, and found some interesting scenery. Trunks recreated Mario Kart 64's Block Fort. RVideo pointed out a film of a match of Halo 3 Soccer. The Mean and Lekku both released versions of Wizard/Warlock, within seconds of each other. (The Mean says Lekku's is better.) DHalo put together a racetrack... as did Hawaiian Pig. (Pig's is WAAY more violent. Well, with a name like 'DEATHCross', are you surprised?) And again - this is just one day, and one forum. This is happening all over the internet! Go explore. Update: There's no way we can keep up with ALL the new constructs... but SS_Zag1 created a pretty cool-looking Turf rebuild. Check it out! (Louis Wu 13:34:48 UTC) (permalink)

News December 11 2007

Foundry Shenanigans
Heh - #Butcher has attempted to recreate Midship, using Foundry. Color scheme's all wrong, and the edges aren't rounded... but it looks like he did a pretty good job! (For those without a sense of irony, my criticisms are in jest.) Grab a copy and check it for yourself. (Louis Wu 20:13:05 UTC) (permalink)

It's a Killing Moon.
Remember when Chris Carney showed up in Containment? Looks like he's in Standoff, too. (That's one of the (at least) two eggs Frankie mentioned in last week's Eurogamer chat... anyone find the other?) Thanks, Devin Olsen. (Louis Wu 20:09:37 UTC) (permalink)

Who ate all the cheese?
Today's entry for Another Halo Comic Strip is also DLC-related. Totally different joke, though. (I'm pretty sure I've met that guy on other maps, though. He hangs out in Matchmaking.) (Louis Wu 20:01:00 UTC) (permalink)

Important? Really?
Business week has posted their Most Important Products of 2007 - and Halo 3 is up there (#16), alongside 6 cars, 4 Apple products, some computer hardware, and a razor. Thanks, McGrude and McKeeganWRX. (Louis Wu 19:56:56 UTC) (permalink)

Eleven.
Today's One One Se7en Advent offering is DLC-related. Surprising? Nah. (Louis Wu 19:52:01 UTC) (permalink)

Totally Tied.
Tied the Leader has been rather busy this week; there's a boatload of new content (thanks, XerxdeeJ). Lessee... there's a description of how to use the new 'Friends of Friends' feature as a Clan list (complete with pictures, with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one), a writeup of a clan challenge that did NOT go as expected, a real estate listing for Snowbound, and a great photo-diary of a classy kill. (I mean, how could a rocket up your butt NOT be classy?) Go read. (Louis Wu 19:38:19 UTC) (permalink)

LSG Video Montage - now in hi-res
Yesterday, we mentioned a music video in the HMV style - we linked to it on YouTube. xXSCREWSTONEXx, its creator, contacted us last night, and we've now got high-res downloadable versions for you, if you'd like - it's 100 mb in WMP9 format, or 101 mb in QuickTime format. Enjoy! (Louis Wu 19:10:52 UTC) (permalink)

Voices
There was no Reclaimer comic from TTL Demag0gue last Friday or yesterday, but there is one today - Chapter Two, Part Eight puts the Viper crew in a bit of danger... and introduced to someone new. (Louis Wu 19:00:33 UTC) (permalink)

Stephen Lynch could have done these.
Captain Spark ran across a very funny voice snippet in Halo 3 - a Marine imitating Christopher Walken. We've added the clip to our Dialogue Databank. (Louis Wu 18:23:15 UTC) (permalink)

Merry Christmas, from PraetoriaGuard
Noice. LordGideon sent us a heads-up that might be useful to folks looking to build Halo fansites... they've bundled up all the web designs they've used in the past, and are making them available (in their original Photoshop format) for anyone who needs 'em. Go read the post for more info, and a download link. Now THAT'S community service! (Louis Wu 18:13:23 UTC) (permalink)

Once Upon A Time...
Obienator let us know that he's created a short flick about the characters from his Gameplay May Change video - it made me laugh. Great voiceover work from Nick Mascall. You can download it from us in WMP9 format (45.1 mb) or QuickTime format (38.8 mb), or watch it on YouTube. (Louis Wu 17:55:24 UTC) (permalink)

Podtacular 138
Foo Mo Jive let us know that Podtacular 138 is out - it's full of stories from the community. Almost 90 minutes long, 39.3 mb. Go listen! (Louis Wu 17:24:27 UTC) (permalink)

DLC - Now Available
As many (most?) of you already know, the new maps for Halo 3 were released this morning, and are available for download from Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 points. (If this is too much money for you, we might - MIGHT - just have a few sets to give away. Hang tight.) There's a ton of information out there about this stuff; Bungie has posted a FAQ that's worth reading, and the new maps are already up in the Global Heatmaps section of Bungie.net (thanks, pete_the_duck) - these are worth looking at for the overhead views they provide. Shacknews has posted their quickie impressions of the maps - as have a bunch of people on our forum. Bungie has said that they're going to be providing an emptied version of Foundry in Bungie Favorites in the near future - but if you can't wait that long, we've already heard from a couple of fans who've done it themselves; try the FileShare sections of Digikid 1 (Slot 10) or Psychophan7. Good stuff! (Louis Wu 17:13:30 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 passes 5 million
GameDaily interviewed MS's Jeff Bell recently - he mentions, in passing, that Halo 3 has sold over 5 million copies so far. Video Game Chartz agrees, with a worldwide total of 5.85 million as of December 1. (Louis Wu 16:55:48 UTC) (permalink)

D.I.Y. AND Spike vid now up at RvB
We were in error yesterday when we posted that the Red vs Blue film from the Spike TV awards was available on Xbox Live Marketplace; D.I.Y. (the XBLM movie) was totally separate from what was shown at the Awards. Both of these pieces are now available on the RvB website, for all viewers (members or no). They're both pretty funny - go watch! (Louis Wu 16:45:43 UTC) (permalink)

Team Hardcore Settings Posted
Bungie's Tyson 'Ferrex' Green posted a summary of the base settings for the Team Hardcore playlist - they won't make everyone happy, but they certainly seem like a decent first release. (Ferrex reiterated that this list will be evolving over time.) Thanks, Magni Harvald. (Louis Wu 16:39:11 UTC) (permalink)

A fantastic year for gamers
New Zealand's Stuff put up a 'games of the year' list from The Press - Halo 3 is on it, but apparently just barely. (Louis Wu 16:32:56 UTC) (permalink)

Submission Request (with cash) from H3Forge
H3Forge.com is putting together a "playlist of competitive user forged Halo 3 maps to support 4 v 4 team play." They're going to use 24 maps, and this playlist will be used for Games in Action's Shock & Awe 256-team Halo 3 tournament (among other things). For each map they choose, they'll be giving the creator a $25 gift card for Best Buy. Swing by this post on the H3Forge.com site for full details, and to submit your Forged map! (Louis Wu 16:25:01 UTC) (permalink)

News December 10 2007

LSG Halo 3 Music Video Montage
Raulboy found a pretty funny video montage on YouTube - it's long, but it's worth watching. (I'm not sure what it says about me, but I belly-laughed at the 'Stupid Girl' clip.) (Louis Wu 23:12:42 UTC) (permalink)

D.I.Y.
During the Spike TV Video Game Awards last night, a video created by the Red vs Blue team, showing off the new maps, was debuted. If you missed it, you can find it on Xbox Live Marketplace; go to New Arrivals, then Halo 3, then 'Red vs Blue: D.I.Y.' It's pretty funny! (Louis Wu 22:51:53 UTC) (permalink)

HAFT 100: Surreality
Halo Action Figure Theater has reached Episode 100! Check it out. I must say, I'm not sure I like where this is going... (Louis Wu 22:07:39 UTC) (permalink)

Halo: Uprising comics REALLY delayed
PsychoRaven got some not-so-good news about the release dates of the last two Halo: Uprising comics - Episode 3 has been pushed back to January 30, and Episode 4 is now scheduled for March 26. And those might not be the final dates, either... ouch. (Louis Wu 21:05:32 UTC) (permalink)

Custom-Made Spartan at Urban Art Central
Wow. Mike Carson pointed out a 1/6 scale model of a Spartan, custom-created by Eric Barclay, aka callous. Now, we set up a page for callous' work last year - but we had no idea he was this far along at this point. Check it out! (That page will be updated in the not-too-distant future.) Update: the original article seems to have been posted at figures.com - more pics there! (Louis Wu 20:47:40 UTC) (permalink)

The Best of the Bunch
Time Magazine posted a Top 10 Video Games of 2007 list - Halo 3 came out #1. Nice! Thanks, Avateur. (Louis Wu 20:23:21 UTC) (permalink)

Guerrilla Teaser
Underdawg253 stopped by with a teaser for Guerrilla, a new movie coming from Etzun Films. It's short - but it looks pretty good! Check it out. (Louis Wu 20:21:07 UTC) (permalink)

Ten.
Because yesterday's One One Se7en Advent offering was announced late, there are two today - but I suppose if you add up the humor content, you're still under one. (Louis Wu 19:03:35 UTC) (permalink)

Prophecy Episode 1
Lordstemplar1 let us know that Prophecy Episode 1: The Threshold of War has been posted on the 508th Brigade. Biggest complaint seems to be the rather long credits section (about 3 minutes, right in the middle of the movie), but other than that... it's a pretty impressive piece of work. Nice CGI work, good voice acting, an intriguing story... this one has a lot going for it! Check it out. (Louis Wu 03:07:13 UTC) (permalink)

New Schwag at the Bungie Store
ViralSyris noticed a few new items in the Bungie Store - some ActionClix stuff, and a new hoodie. Go see! (Louis Wu 03:06:09 UTC) (permalink)

The Little Game who Could
Dennis Powers of Halo Maps, had this to say about Halo Custom Edition:

Even with the Halo 3 game topping all charts the Halo Custom Edition game is still going strong. There are now over 1300 custom maps, over 100 added within the last month and over 500 map variants and modifications of existing maps bringing the total to over 2,850 maps models, mapping tools and map assets available. Halo Custom Edition seems to be the little game who could.

To emphasize his point, he highlighted Checkers, a map that lets you play Checkers in a Halo environment. Weird! (Louis Wu 03:04:44 UTC) (permalink)

The Riot 77
Sigafoos let us know that The RIot 77 (!!) is now available for download. 31 minutes, 12.5 mb. Community news, predictions, and odd commercials from across the pond. The video show will run constantly today, then will alternate between this week's and last week's show starting tomorrow. (Louis Wu 02:42:30 UTC) (permalink)

Nine.
Once again, the One One Se7en Advent offering gets late announcement - my flight out of Chicago was cancelled, so I spent a little time getting back to a hotel I could spend the night in before my nothing in the morning rescheduled flight tomorrow. Such is life. Actually, judging from this thread on our forum, it looks like not announcing this particular strip might have been a good thing. (Louis Wu 02:26:15 UTC) (permalink)

News December 9 2007

Signed Leg Helmet for Sale
Laird let us know about a Legendary Helmet, signed by Bungie devs, for sale on eBay right now. You've got almost a week to make up your mind; current bid stands at $150. Take a look! (Louis Wu 04:13:21 UTC) (permalink)

Spike Video Game Awards 2007 - Results up early at Kotaku
Kotaku has posted the full results of the Spike Video Game Awards - it seems a bit unsportsmanlike, given that the actual ceremony is due to be broadcast Sunday night, but if you can't wait that long, go read the article for all the winners. Halo didn't get everything it was nominated for - but it's not going home without a prize, either. (Louis Wu 04:12:39 UTC) (permalink)

Maybe it's just voice-masking.
Hawty McBloggy is looking out for you - check out this blog post about some fishy auctions on eBay. Yes, it's Halo-related. (Louis Wu 04:12:10 UTC) (permalink)

Halo on your phone. (Well, not yours)
Daniel Dirk won our 2007 Guilt O' Lantern contest, and one of his prizes was an answering machine recording from Tim Dadabo and Steve Downes (aka 343 Guilty Spark and Master Chief). Both Daniel and Tim have given us permission to post the end result - go listen! (MP3, 400k) Steve and Tim also put together nice reels of MC and 343GS clips - you can watch both Steve's and Tim's on Google Video. (Louis Wu 04:11:51 UTC) (permalink)

But I LIKE that level now!
Morpheus noticed another rant/list at Rubbish Pixels - we mentioned the characters they love to hate yesterday - this one covers game levels they just can't stand. Halo's Library makes the list. Sorry, Ferrex. (Louis Wu 04:08:02 UTC) (permalink)

News December 8 2007

Eight.
Today's One One Se7en Advent offering is a Brute joke - I'm sure they would approve of lyrics that including things getting riven. (Louis Wu 21:50:44 UTC) (permalink)

Getting Players Involved
Halo Wars Heaven has interviewed Ensemble's Graeme Devine, Halo Wars' Lead Designer. It's an interesting piece, though they're still a ways from finishing - give it a read! Thanks to mrtitan, of Halo Planet, for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 15:05:14 UTC) (permalink)

...Eat them up, YUM
Heh - today's Another Halo Comic Strip might resonate with a few of you... hey, I've seen you on Valhalla! (Louis Wu 13:09:24 UTC) (permalink)

GTV Unyields
Over at GamingTV, trigger119 has re-interviewed Laird (with some help from his friends) about the Halo: Unyielding series, and what's coming in the future. Give it a read! (Louis Wu 13:08:57 UTC) (permalink)

Exploring is more fun in the air
Rockslider writes up a couple of Hornet tricks in his latest Bad Cyborg update - go see what he's found! (Louis Wu 12:56:13 UTC) (permalink)

Halo-mediated interview
Bizarre - CollegeHumor's Jeff Rubin interviews MTV's Human Giant... over a night of classic Halo, freshly downloaded from Marketplace. Surreal. Thanks, Mrguy. (Louis Wu 12:54:03 UTC) (permalink)

Deus Ex Machina Ep 3 - Corrupt
DigitalPh33r's machinima project continues to improve - the latest episode is pretty powerful (and a hefty 15 minutes long). I wish it were available in a larger format - but I understand the need to save bandwidth. You can download it in WMP9 format from its Machinima.com home - or you can stream it from there or from YouTube. Thanks to Major Silva for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 12:49:23 UTC) (permalink)

A pain in your...
Heh - Rubbish Pixels has an article on the biggest annoyances (that's not the word they use) in the video game universe - 343 Guilty Spark makes the list. I won't disagree! Thanks, Usul. (Louis Wu 12:09:20 UTC) (permalink)

Game Head - GotY nominees clip
SpikeTV's 2007 Video Game Awards are being broadcast tomorrow night - but on GameTrailers, you can watch a clip from Game Head in which a lot of industry professionals discuss Halo 3's chances for Game of the Year. (There's also a live performance by Jonathan Coulton - if you haven't played The Orange Box's Portal yet, it contains spoilers... but it's still pretty cool.) (Louis Wu 12:04:15 UTC) (permalink)

Nothing Sacred
Paul Maestri pokes his head up again with a new Halo Heads comic - I must say that while his imagination is clearly vast... the direction his thoughts take him can be a bit disturbing. (Louis Wu 11:51:27 UTC) (permalink)

Eurogamer Live Chat with Bungie - Transcript Up
The Eurogamer live chat with Frankie and Jonty Barnes went off as expected yesterday; a full transcript is now up on Eurogamer. Lots of good discussion in there, check it out! (I was a little flabbergasted that when a question of whether there would ever be a Marathon game on the 360 came up, nobody mentioned that Marathon: Durandal is on the 360 already. I know they were interpreting the question with an unspoken 'from Bungie' - but geez, just a mention, you know?) Overall, this is full of reassuring info - Bungie isn't planning on leaving the 360 (I know, they said that after the split, but it's nice to hear that things haven't changed in a couple of months), Bungie listens to fans, Bungie might be bringing back older maps for upcoming DLC, and on and on. (Louis Wu 11:48:06 UTC) (permalink)

Bungie Weekly Update, Spartan Soccer
First off, apologies for the sparse updating; I'm out of town, and free time is rarer than I'd expected. Let's barrel through the biggest new stuff for you. As expected, there was a Bungie Weekly Update last night (available, as always, in our Weekly Update Archive as well) - reminders of things to come, a summary of Live playlists changes you'll see over the next month (starting next week), and more info about the DLC maps coming on Tuesday. There's also a link to another story on Bungie.net - SketchFactor wrote up a piece on the Spartan Soccer game that a number of press and fansites saw last week. Beyond the intriguing game itself, the article shows you some of the potential you can expect from Foundry... and from playing games in Forge. Go read both of these! (Louis Wu 11:31:36 UTC) (permalink)

News December 7 2007

Seven.
In an effort to keep the really IMPORTANT news up-to-date while Wu is otherwise preoccupied, here is today's One One Se7en Advent offering. May all your holidays be filled with cheap artwork and bad puns. (mnemesis 17:42:49 UTC) (permalink)

Puzzleball 03 - last day!
Today's the last day to participate in c0ld vengeance's Puzzleball 03 contest, and maybe win yourself a copy of Crackdown for your troubles. Because I archived the August through November posts on our forum yesterday, his original forum post is no longer accessible for replies - so use this new one if you want to submit an entry. Good luck! (Louis Wu 12:42:08 UTC) (permalink)

Misc Art - Another Update
A little over a week ago, we posted over 50 new images in our Miscellaneous Art section - which cleared the queue through August 1. I promised then that I'd do my best to continue on through the backlog; 10 days is longer than I'd hoped, but the next batch is up. Swing by the section for 60 new images - 100 or so, if you count variants (mostly bigger versions). This clears the queue through November 1 - we're getting closer to the present! There is some truly amazing work here; artists that haven't appeared before, but who are showing themselves to be enormously talented... one-offs from people who clearly draw better in their sleep than I, say, breathe... sketches and models and all sorts of fun stuff. Go look. (Louis Wu 05:42:29 UTC) (permalink)

WTF!?
Haloplayer announced that the first Halo 3 episode of Lost Cause is now up on the Injured Knee Productions website. Watch it before you read the thread; it's... full of surprises. I'll probably have to watch it again. (Louis Wu 05:38:40 UTC) (permalink)

Recovery One Part Four
Jase pointed out that Red vs Blue's Recovery One Part Four has appeared on Xbox Live Marketplace. If you're a sponsor, it's also available on RvB's website. This wraps up the miniseries... and I must say, I didn't see it coming. Great work! (Louis Wu 05:33:35 UTC) (permalink)

Vectorized Halo 3 Rank Art
Beorn has done a pretty spectacular job of vectorizing all of the UNSC Rank/Insignia artwork from Halo 3 - and you can grab the fruits of his labor in a variety of formats. Go see! Update: He's added a couple of wallpapers, in both regular and widescreen aspects, using these pics - go grab one! (Louis Wu 05:23:56 UTC) (permalink)

Cleaning up your Hi-res Screenshots
Wow, this is a cool trick. There's a tutorial over at 360WTF that shows you how to remove explosions (and other particle effects) from a screenshot. I just tested it, and it works exactly as advertised. I know there've been times when I find a fantastic angle... but I can't see what I want to see because of an explosion. Now there's a way to take care of that! (Louis Wu 05:20:15 UTC) (permalink)

Open Source Halo 3 Statistics Aggregator
If you're a .NET programmer, you might be interested in helping out in a new open source Halo 3 statistics aggregation project being spearheaded by Rick Casey. Check out what he's done so far at CodePlex - and if you've got the skills, add to his work, or use it on your own site! (Louis Wu 05:08:39 UTC) (permalink)

A new strategy website comes online
swampiedonkey let us know that Halo 3 Artifice is now online - and it's chock-full of strategies you can use to improve your Halo 3 skillz. Check it out! (Louis Wu 05:01:59 UTC) (permalink)

Now I see why they call Shishka 'Lord British'.
Luke posted Bungie's response to the drumming they took from PraetoriaGuard - one might think, upon reading it, that Bungie are pretty sore losers. We all know that can't possibly be the case... so I'm guessing that Bungie's servers were hacked by mean, nasty representatives of the PraetoriaGuard. Yeah, that's it. (Louis Wu 04:59:58 UTC) (permalink)

Friday's Fanfic
A bit earlier than usual... but all day Friday is going to be a crazy day, so it's better to get this posted now. There are ten new pieces in the Fan Fiction section this week - go read! (Louis Wu 04:48:21 UTC) (permalink)

Halo: pixelated... resurrected
Leviathan dropped in to remind us that he's still working on Halo: Pixelated, a 2D shooter built in an RPG-making program. The artwork is really, really cool; check out his shots for confirmation. Can't wait to see the final product! (Louis Wu 04:32:21 UTC) (permalink)

Six.
I managed to forget a newspost to announce yesterday's (Thursday's) One One Se7en Advent offering - which is a shame, because it was actually pretty cute. Sorry, Stunt! (Louis Wu 04:18:40 UTC) (permalink)

News December 6 2007

Da Podcast
The Bungie Podcast makes its return today, with Frankie, Luke and Sketch talking to Chris Barrett how he got into his current gig... and what he's seen along the way. (Lots of Halo 3 DLC goodness.) Interesting listen! Thanks to CougRon for the first heads-up. (Louis Wu 20:37:53 UTC) (permalink)

PG takes Bungie in the Humpday Challenge
It'll be interesting to see what the Bungie.net writeup says about this week's Halo Humpday Challenge... because only three games were played, and Bungie lost two of them. Will Luke be able to wring a 'Win' out of those stats? I'd say 'no'... except I know Luke. We'll wait and see. In the meantime, you can read the PraetoriaGuard writeup of the event, over at their website (they even changed their site theme to celebrate the victory). If you're reading this after Thursday, December 6, you might want to read it on their forum; it's unlikely the frontpage link will still work. For some really odd reason, they didn't include links to the games themselves... so we'll do that for you: Game One | Game Two | Game Three. (Frankie disappeared before Game Three, so LordGideon played on the Bungie side. Bungie won that one. Hmm...) Update: LG has added links to the carnage reports, as well as saved films. (Louis Wu 17:40:55 UTC) (permalink)

THAT'S the way to beat Halo 3.
We mentioned a couple of days ago that Tom Dickson planned to Blend Halo 3 in his Blendtec TotalBlender - it went live a little later than expected, but it's up now. Looks like this was revenge (against his 4- and 5-year-old grandchildren) for losing at the game... ouch. (Louis Wu 17:17:03 UTC) (permalink)

Complex talks to Bendis about Uprising
Complex Magazine posted an interview with Brian Michael Bendis, the writer behind Marvel's Halo: Uprising comic series. Some fans have expressed disappointment in the series, stemming from delays in publication, but also, in some cases, in the direction the comic has taken; this interview might be a way to get a glimpse inside the mind of the creator. (This went live sometime last month, but we're just stumbling across it now.) Give it a read! Thanks, Seth Kelly. (Louis Wu 16:13:08 UTC) (permalink)

It worked for Jim Davis
Today's episode of Another Halo Comic Strip is pretty awesome. The only thing that would have made it better would have been a few plasma grenades blowing MC to Kingdom Come. Because I've always wanted to do that to this particular version of MC. Always. Update: in what has to be one of the best early Christmas presents ever, ZZoMBiE13 sent this (1440x900, 179k) along, inspired by the original newspost. Mmmm... cat flambé. I'm drooling... (Louis Wu 14:45:40 UTC) (permalink)

Warthogs on the Jersey Turnpike
GPS unit manufacturer TomTom NV has teamed up with Microsoft to include Halo maps and textures in their TomTom navigation products. Or, at least... so says BBspot. How much fun would that be? (Louis Wu 14:10:00 UTC) (permalink)

Vengeance Chapter 1
Deekor let us know that Vengeance Chapter 1 is now online. This Halo 3-based machinima project has a lot going for it; the cinematography's interesting, the muted color scheme flavors the story perceptibly, the soundtrack is well-handled. However, the storyline is confusing at times (and hard to swallow at other times), and the voice-acting is nearly impossible to understand. There's a lot of potential here; here's hoping some of the weaknesses improve in Chapter 2! (Louis Wu 14:06:26 UTC) (permalink)

X-Play's Best of 2007 Awards - Nominees
According to Dean Takahashi, G4's X-Play has announced their 'Best of 2007 Awards' nominees - Halo 3's up for a lot. The awards ceremony will air December 17 at 8 pm, and you'll see Halo 3 vying for Game of the Year, Best Gameplay Innovation (for Forge/Replays/Screenshots), Best Multiplayer Game, Best Shooter, Best Original Soundtrack, and Best Sound Design. (Louis Wu 13:41:50 UTC) (permalink)

Do Something Amazing - Winners Announced
Planet Halo's "Do Something Amazing" contest has had its winners posted; swing by and see who won the goodies! (Louis Wu 13:34:06 UTC) (permalink)

News December 5 2007

Journey's End - now downloadable
If the DLC flood wasn't enough content for you today, Bungie has put up online versions of 'Journey's End', the story ViDoc that was released on Xbox Live Marketplace last week. It's available in 3 sizes for QuickTime and three for WMP9 - be aware that the large versions are really, really, REALLY large. (The 720p WMP9, for example, is 750 mb.) This ViDoc is a summary of the Halo story thus far, with a hint of what to expect in Halo 3; it's aimed at folks who are new to the series, who maybe bought Halo 3 because of the hype but are lost in the campaign because they've never played the first two games, or read any of the peripheral content. When it was released last week (with almost no fanfare), it got slammed by some hardcore fans for being 'useless' - but that's because it was created to provide information that they simply don't need. if you have a family member or a friend who doesn't play Halo, but who might be interested in the storyline... here's a great place to start. Go grab a version! (Louis Wu 23:40:53 UTC) (permalink)

DLC Cornucopia from around the web
...annnd, the knockout punch - content from other Heroic Map Pack Preview attendees.

• XerxdeeJ stopped by the forum to pimp Tied the Leader's content blowout, which includes an awesome 17-minute podcast/interview with Bungie employees, but also has a full writeup of the maps.
• IGN posted a three-page hands-on of the maps.
• 1UP posted their impressions and recommendations.
• TeamXbox summarized what they saw.
• GameSpot provided their own impressions.

Go wallow in the DLC goodness! (Louis Wu 20:33:41 UTC) (permalink)

Heroic DLC - ALL the pics
Bungie's put up a full suite of screenshots from the press packet that went to those who attended last week's shindig; some of them are included in KP's writeup, but many are not. (The ones we HAVE posted, though, are watermark-free.) Go look! Thanks to BlueNinja for noticing. (Louis Wu 20:23:34 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 Heroic Map Pack - an Early Look
Last week, Bungie invited a group of 'press' - big gaming sites, some local (Seattle) media, and a couple of representatives from the fan community - to their headquarters in Kirkland to get an early peek at the downloadable content coming next week. HBO ace reporter KP (who has the unbeatable advantage of being local to the Seattle area, as far as HBO employees go) showed up and schooled the crowd, apparently. (He went home with some really cool schwag for his troubles - and no, I didn't get a cut.) He wrote up his experience, and you can read his pearls of wisdom (washed of blood and rum) in our Miscellaneous section. Thanks, KP! (Louis Wu 20:13:41 UTC) (permalink)

Halo: The Movie, Halo 3 Style
Jammerfer [MunKy] created an updated version of the Final Fantasy trailer using Halo 3 footage, following in the footsteps of Brian Josselyn (Halo) and ShadowX (Halo 2). I gotta say - he did a great job. Go watch. (Louis Wu 19:59:21 UTC) (permalink)

Secrets of Multiplayer Maps
The same issue of Edge that contained an interview with Marty O'Donnell also contained a fascinating article about multiplayer map design, in which Bungie's Tyson Green and Chris Carney play significant roles. What makes a multiplayer map great? Read this article to find out. Thanks to broony, for noticing it weeks after it went live (but before anyone else let us know). (Louis Wu 19:07:00 UTC) (permalink)

Spartan Snowman
Ross Mills noticed a very, very cool Spartan snowman, over at Digg. Me? I just wish we had that much snow here. (Louis Wu 19:04:44 UTC) (permalink)

Forge Item Contest
H3Forge.com is hosting a new contest - come up with a cool idea that should have been in Forge, win an Xbox 360 Messenger Kit. Nice! You've got until December 10. (Louis Wu 19:01:45 UTC) (permalink)

Five.
Today's One One Se7en Advent offering is an old, old, OLD joke. But then... when has that ever stopped Stuntmutt? (Louis Wu 18:02:40 UTC) (permalink)

MTV's Year-end Top 10
MTV's Stephen Totilo has listed his Top 10 Games of the Year - Halo 3 comes in at number 3. (I was skeptical of his number-one game... until I tried it out. He's right - it's horribly addicting. News is actually late this morning because of it.) (Louis Wu 17:59:49 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3, LiveTexted
Eurogamer's going to be running a live chat with Bungie's Frank O'Connor and Jonty Barnes this Friday - details are on their site. Join it, and ask your most burning Halo 3 question! Thanks, Anton P. Nym. (Louis Wu 17:57:14 UTC) (permalink)

Why Daniel has not been coloring
J23 found a webcomic that blames Halo 3 for its lack of progress. Heh. (Louis Wu 17:55:05 UTC) (permalink)

Change of Pace
It's Wednesday, so TTL Demag0gue has posted another episode of Reclaimer - in Chapter Two, Part Seven, things aren't looking good for Viper's Zeta Squad. (Louis Wu 17:53:10 UTC) (permalink)

Illusion Self-Portrait in Forge
This is very, very cool. Wax Eyes, over at Bungie.net, used Forge to create a different kind of artwork. Takes a bit to see it - but once it falls into place, it's clear. (There are hints for seeing it in Raulboy's thread on our forum.) Read the stuff that Wax Eyes posted at Flickr, as well; it's great. (Louis Wu 17:51:13 UTC) (permalink)

Baffleball
pete_the_duck has gotten into the puzzle-making game; he's released Baffleball 01, a solo game you can play on Construct. Visit his post, follow the links, and see how you do! (Louis Wu 17:48:13 UTC) (permalink)

Der Berliner Mauer
Leader of Blind sent us links to a movie he and AxS Kamikaze made for school, about the fall of the Berlin Wall. It's pretty silly, but has a few fun moments. You can watch it at YouTube, or download it from Mythica. (Louis Wu 17:40:39 UTC) (permalink)

Wait... she had lunch on High Charity?
Undergroundbob pointed out a rant at Devarr - it's called 'Halo 3, Ballad of a Disaster', and it's funny (if a bit crude). Give it a read! (Louis Wu 17:40:22 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 tourney in KS
Matt Frank let us know that there's a tournament being hosted by MBGaming, in Wichita, Kansas, from December 28-30. Full details, including fees and prizes, can be found at this forum topic on their forum. (Louis Wu 17:40:04 UTC) (permalink)

Free Avatars and Themes at XBLM
I'd meant to post this yesterday, but forgot - Charley117 was the first to point out that each of the new Xbox Originals released yesterday on Xbox Live also had a Picture Pack and Theme released with them; these are free for Gold members now, and will be free for Silver members next week. Some nice stuff! The Halo picture pack includes Keyes, Cortana, the Chief, a Grunt, and an Elite. (Louis Wu 17:39:11 UTC) (permalink)

News December 4 2007

Four.
I was out earlier, when today's One One Se7en Advent offering went live - but after reading it, maybe I should have STAYED out. (Louis Wu 20:12:16 UTC) (permalink)

Original Halo: not available outside the US?
Our friend Marcelo Vega, from the Brazilian site www.xboxtoday.com.br, lets us know that the Dashboard update available today does NOT make Xbox Originals (including Halo: Combat Evolved) available to countries outside the US. I can't find any official info about this; if we get clarification, we'll certainly post it. Update: we've received confirmation that Originals ARE indeed available in the UK and Finland (thanks, FireDragon04 and Eddie 071); maybe it's just South America? Eep. (Louis Wu 16:53:31 UTC) (permalink)

TTL Tues, Ta
XerxdeeJ stopped by with a Tied the Leader Tuesday Update - lessee, we've got a rant about 'fair and balanced' Xbox Live coverage on the news (with some very good points in it - wouldn't you just LOVE a mute button for reality?), a real estate ad for a property you really shouldn't consider buying, and a reminder that as games evolve, so do their components. Good stuff! (Louis Wu 16:23:20 UTC) (permalink)

ODST armor, taking form
SPU7N1K posted the beginnings of some ODST armor about a week ago; I didn't front-page it, because... well, at the time, it seemed like he'd gotten as far as a tube for his arm. (That's not fair - it was a LITTLE more advanced than that - but that's what it seemed like at the time.) He posted an update today, with shoulder pieces, and reworked arms - it's starting to shape up! Take a look. (Louis Wu 15:42:24 UTC) (permalink)

...and, release
Another Halo Comic Strip looks at how some skulls can get between coop partners when playing Halo 3. Poor Arbiter! (Louis Wu 13:10:04 UTC) (permalink)

Will Halo 3 Blend?
Last week, Pixellated noticed that the Will It Blend? introduction to the Guitar Hero III guitar blending video contained a clip of a Halo 3 disc being blended... according to Will It Blog? (the blog of the Blendtec website), the full Halo 3 blending video will be released today. We'll update this newspost when it goes online. (Louis Wu 12:55:54 UTC) (permalink)

What will you put on your tombst- erm, tree?
Heh - I'm guessing there'll be a lot of Christmas trees this year which have a Legendary helmet on top, in place of a star or an angel. We've already had word of a pair of them - S Assassin sent us pics of his tree, and Ross Mills found one on Digg. (Louis Wu 12:55:05 UTC) (permalink)

Duct tape - it holds the Covenant together
VelocityTino sent word of this blog entry at ALBOTAS - it details a costume he made which totally ROCKS. It's an Elite made of duct tape and cardboard, and in it, he stands 8'6" (that's almost 2.6 meters to our non-US friends). It even reverses the knees! Check it out. (Louis Wu 12:52:28 UTC) (permalink)

Master Chief's Celebrity Faceplate Auction
Xbox Canada is going to be hosting the Master Chief's Celebrity Faceplate Auction, in which faceplates (and more) signed by Canadian (and international) celebrities will be auctioned off to raise money for the Children's Miracle Network. In addition to 20 faceplates, there will be an Ibanez Xiphos Halo 3 guitar, and a Guitar Hero II guitar signed by Avril Lavigne. (I'm not sure what's up with the Halo 3 theme - the only Halo-related piece of this auction seems to be that Ibanez guitar. Nevertheless - this is how it's being marketed.) Auctions start this Thursday, December 6, and will run through December 16. 100% of the net proceeds will go to the CMN. Thanks to Funkmon for pointing this out. (Louis Wu 12:44:53 UTC) (permalink)

Halo: Chronicles
Major Silva let us know that the UNSCDF is hosting "Halo: Chronicles", a comic version of the Halo 3 campaign. The first four episodes are up now; they get you through the Arrival cutscene, plus the very start of Sierra 117. Dialogue is Bungie's, screenshots (and composition) are done by BlueNinja. Check it out! (We mentioned this project when it first started up, about a month ago; this was before it had a permanent home.) (Louis Wu 12:38:27 UTC) (permalink)

Legendary Paperccraft
This is pretty amazing - at Urban Art Central, there's a collection of Halo 3-related papercraft, including downloadable templates so that you can make your own. (It's 9.1 mb; given that this was already mentioned on Xbox360Fanboy back in October, the chances are good that bandwidth will hold out... but just in case, we're mirroring the package, 9.1 mb for a pair of PDF files.) The inventiveness of people in expressing their love for Halo never ceases to amaze me. Thanks, ViralSyris. (Louis Wu 12:33:24 UTC) (permalink)

Rise of the Video Game
The Discovery Channel is running a miniseries entitled 'Rise of the Video Game' - each show premieres on Wednesday nights. Last week's show contained a short clip from Bungie's Jaime Griesemer, discussing Halo 3. If you check your local listings, you should find rebroadcast times for that episode (for me, it's showing next on Discovery Times on December 14). Thanks, Sario528, who noticed this on Bungie.net. (Louis Wu 12:27:28 UTC) (permalink)

Bungie Community Newsletter - Fan Submissions Needed
Maximum Fear dropped by to announce a monthly community newsletter... but he needs your help. They're going to need fan content - artwork, fiction, whatever - from fans to flesh this project out; if you want to participate, he's left an email address in the forum post. Check it out! (Louis Wu 12:19:17 UTC) (permalink)

News December 3 2007

Custom Johnson Bust on eBay
This bust of Avery Johnson showed up on eBay today - very, very cool. Thanks, Joerhyno (who either is bidding on it, or just bought a duplicate, I couldn't tell from his email). You've got until tomorrow (or until someone pays the 'Buy it Now' price) to snag it. Update: Joerhyno explained that he bought one of these a few days ago; apparently, there'll be a few altogether, for as long as the mold lasts. (Louis Wu 17:41:48 UTC) (permalink)

Three.
The third offering in Stuntmutt's One One Se7en Advent Calendar is now up. It made me giggle. Maybe that's just the insanity peeking through. (Louis Wu 17:00:42 UTC) (permalink)

Spriggs Episode 2: House Call
Spriggs Episode 2: House Call A week or two ago, we mentioned a new machinima project called 'Spriggs' - it was pretty funny. Episode 2 is now online - visit their website (or view it on YouTube), and this one's pretty funny too. Go watch. (If you're at work, make sure you're wearing headphones.) (Louis Wu 16:47:35 UTC) (permalink)

2007 1UP Awards - Nominations Posted
1UP.com has posted their nominations for Best Games of 2007 - Halo 3 is up for Best Shooting Game, Best Multiplayer Game, and Game of the Year. Go vote! (Louis Wu 16:36:40 UTC) (permalink)

Skies Edge Issue 2
Matt 'Traize' Hyne posted Skies Edge, a Halo story in graphic novel format, back in September. Feedback was pretty positive - so he's back with Skies Edge Issue 2; you can download a copy of it at Britxbox.co.uk.(I had some trouble with Preview, Mac OS X's default PDF reader, but Adobe Reader handled it just fine.) Check it out! (Louis Wu 14:24:49 UTC) (permalink)

Another Disappearance
TTL Demag0gue continues his Reclaimer storyline - Chapter Two, Part Six has both good news and bad news. (Louis Wu 14:15:51 UTC) (permalink)

But I LIKE Territories...
Paul Tassi, of the Michigan Daily (the paper of the University of Michigan) has written up a list of six things he's learned from Halo 3. Agree or disagree, some are pretty funny. (Louis Wu 14:14:06 UTC) (permalink)

Podtacular Episode 137
iN00B told us that Podtacular Episode 137 is now online. Tsavo Highway is discussed. Just under an hour long, 25.7 mb. Grab a copy! (Louis Wu 13:53:08 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 Armour Permutation Guide
oriol pointed out that the Armor Permutation Guide at Grunts R Us is now the most complete one online. (Apparently that's because they've added information about Bungie's chestplate, used by employees showing off the flaming helmet.) I don't know where this information comes from... but you're welcome to judge its value for yourself. (Louis Wu 13:51:12 UTC) (permalink)

Forge Hub 2.0
TrueDarkFusion let us know that The Forge Hub, a home for Halo 3 map modifiers, is now community-driven; there's a forum, and lots of ways to interact. Go see! If you have your own Forged creations... join them. (Louis Wu 13:49:16 UTC) (permalink)

News December 2 2007

The Riot 76
It's Sunday, so it must be time for The Riot - this time it's #76, 13 mb, 33 minutes of community/clan/chocolate milk discussion. The live video show is being replayed continuously all week. Thanks, Sigafoos. (Louis Wu 21:35:37 UTC) (permalink)

An even easier way to do Tsavo.
A week or so ago, we posted a tip for getting through one of the tougher areas of Tsavo Highway - it involved bringing a Warthog across the broken highway, and required a gravity lift to work properly. Today, YaYap the Great sent us a trick that gets you a Chopper in the same area - with no grav lift. You can download the film from his FileShare (it's called 'Tsavo Highway')... or you can just watch a short flick, showing you the trick. We've encoded both QuickTime (8.4 mb) and WMP9 (9.4 mb) versions - grab the one that works best for you. Update: Heh - looks like goatrope did this with a Warthog, too. (I'm not really sure how; I've never had a gap that big when I played, but... I'm not goatrope.) And so did Simpsons Rule and Psychophan7. Thanks, Cody Miller. (Louis Wu 18:36:27 UTC) (permalink)

Two.
Day Two of Stuntmutt's One One Se7en Advent calendar is now up. I'm guessing that by the time you get to Twenty Five, you're going to be begging for mercy. (Louis Wu 17:15:33 UTC) (permalink)

He gets better parking spaces, too.
Because Bungie likes BOLL better than you, they sent him a really, really cool present. Take a look: (front | left | back | right) Yes, it's okay to be jealous. (I am.) (Louis Wu 15:45:57 UTC) (permalink)

A Controversial Subject - tackled with Halo
Hmm... when I saw this in my email this morning, I figured there was no way I was front-paging it. But then I read Hawty McBloggy's intro, and watched the film in question... and I changed my mind. Joshua Garrison has used the Halo 3 engine to make a video about the Virginia Tech Massacre last April. He's done a pretty good job of keeping it tasteful, as well. Go read, and watch. (Louis Wu 15:44:00 UTC) (permalink)

News December 1 2007

Explosive personality
ZZoMBiE13 takes a look at the secret life of plasma grenades in today's episode of Another Halo Comic Strip. The things you never knew... (Louis Wu 19:08:19 UTC) (permalink)

blackouTT talks to GTV
trigger119 let us know that there's a new interview with blackouTT up at GamingTV. Get a sense for where he came from, what he's been up to, and what's coming next! (Louis Wu 19:06:16 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 OST sputters out, sez IGN
IGN reviewed the Halo 3 Official Soundtrack - they weren't very impressed. They found it repetitive:

Without a doubt the best elements of the album are delivered early on as part of Disc 1 and with each passing movement and section the music begins to lose a sense of wonder, the album itself running out of steam as it buckles under the weight of its own material.

They felt that it would have been better as a single disc. I'm sure there are a few fans who heartily disagree. Thanks to Gravemind for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 18:46:01 UTC) (permalink)

Master Chief Speed Painting
Ross Mills found a very cool speed painting of the Master Chief, created by Nico di Mattia. If you like Nico's work, check out his website! (Louis Wu 18:36:25 UTC) (permalink)

Taking Inspiration from Halo
Dustbunny27 pointed out a bunch of Halo-related artwork he's done over the past few months - they're all hosted at DeviantART, and they're pretty cool! (Louis Wu 18:34:17 UTC) (permalink)

One.
Stuntmutt has decided to do something very special this holiday season; he's created a One One Se7en Advent calendar. Every day this December (until Christmas), there'll be a new ornament on the tree, corresponding to that day's comic. These comics will go live at a fixed time - probably noon, Eastern time (5pm UTC, 9am Pacific), and I may or may not get the news post up at the same time. When you visit the One One Se7en page, you'll be met with a Christmas tree - the numbers correspond to the Advent offerings. As each day comes online, the ornaments will be numbered. Click on a number, view that offering. You can then get back to the main tree by clicking on the mini-tree that shows up next to the offering. (Try it. It's easier understood than explained.) Strip One is up now. (Louis Wu 17:02:00 UTC) (permalink)

Puzzleball 03 - Update
It seems that there was a problem with the Puzzleball 03 map c0ld vengeance released yesterday; a bug which pretty much killed the competition. He's fixed it, and asks that everyone re-download the map if they want to participate. (If you used the old map, but didn't exploit the bug - see his post - your entry will still count.) Apologies for the irregularities! Update 2: Due to a forum archiving, the original puzzle post is no longer accessible for replying; c0ld's created a new one. If you're reading this after the archiving, use that to post your results. (Louis Wu 16:50:21 UTC) (permalink)

MLG Halo 3 Film Festival Winners
trigger119 let us know that the MLG Halo 3 Film Festival winners have been announced - congrats to GuN SmOk3d, zbsh0gun, Peridious, and the underdogg! (Louis Wu 15:08:42 UTC) (permalink)

Don't shoot and drive.
Heh - a safe holiday message, from QuickTactical. Nice! (Louis Wu 15:06:53 UTC) (permalink)

They ain't accountants.
Bungie Weekly Update is up - Frankie lets you know why you shouldn't worry about the downloadable content coming next week. And what's coming after that. And when the next podcast is coming. And how to make REALLY awful motivational posters. You can, of course, read it in our Weekly Update Archive. (Louis Wu 00:05:05 UTC) (permalink)

December 2007

We are NOT Bungie, Inc.! Bungie Inc. are bungie.net!
Halo © Bungie Inc., 1999-2012, Microsoft 2012-2024
Intellectual © halo.bungie.org, 1999-2024