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 | February 2008 |  |
February 2008 Archived News
News February 29 2008
What did you always want to know?
Luke has posted a note on Bungie.net asking for questions they can answer in tonight's Weekly What's Update. Swing by their forum and add your burning query to the thread! (Louis Wu 19:53:10 UTC) (permalink)
Surprise!
PEZ wrote to say that halowiki.net has kicked off ANOTHER new page - this one is called 'Surprise Your Enemy'. It will help you identify places where you can use the element of surprise against your opponents. There are a few entries up already, but they could certainly use your help. (PEZ also wanted to thank HBO readers for their input on the Stronghold page yesterday - they went from one entry to ten overnight!) (Louis Wu 19:50:21 UTC) (permalink)
Friday Caption Fun
Hawty McBloggy kicked off a new feature in her blog - Friday Caption Fun. She grabs screenshots from her OTHER blog, i <3 halo 3 screenshots, and presents them for captioning. Go check out the first one - and add your own witticism! (Louis Wu 19:44:35 UTC) (permalink)
Frag a Friend Rebroadcast
Trigger119 let us know that the first Frag a Friend night (mentioned a couple of days ago) went down as planned last night - and though it was broadcast live, it's up now for anyone who wants to watch it. (Louis Wu 19:42:15 UTC) (permalink)
Taking The Helm.
I wonder what the most common question Bungie is asked on a daily basis? Stuntmutt has an idea - check today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 17:53:51 UTC) (permalink)
ForgeHub Video Tutorial: Effective Spawn Placement
TheShadyGnome pointed out the newest ForgeHub Video Tutorial - #6 covers Effective Spawn Placement. Tons of good information to help you think about when to spawn (or respawn) your players WHERE... but I never, ever, EVER want to see an armed Elite doing the Macarena again. Ever. (Louis Wu 15:28:49 UTC) (permalink)
Fyreballin'.
Bungie played their Halo Humpday Challenge against the crew from Fyreball, a startup founded by a number of Ex-Bungie employees. They planned to whip the Fyreballers soundly... and the plan worked out. It's not all bad news, though - read the writeup for details on how you can snag a suit of the elusive Recon armor, simply by helping out the Fyreball Beta! Thanks to LackOfKnowledge for the heads-up.
(Louis Wu 14:58:47 UTC) (permalink)
FFA Slayer in Roanoke next week
OS eco419 stopped by with word of a Halo 3 FFA Slayer tournament in Roanoke, VA on March 8 - $20 to register, top player wins $200. For full details, visit the GameUpNow website and click on 'Events'. (Louis Wu 14:58:04 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fanfic
Five new pieces in the Fan Fiction section this week - go read! (Louis Wu 14:56:52 UTC) (permalink)
News February 28 2008
Retrospective: Halo 3
Eurogamer has put together a good-cop, bad-cop analysis of Halo 3; Eurogamer staffers have taken up opposing positions to point out the high points - and the lows - of Halo's impact on the industry. It's well-written, though I'm sure that folks with strong opinions will find one side or the other to be full of tripe. Read it with an open mind. Thanks, Max. (Louis Wu 20:57:08 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Film Festival, from MLG and the US Army
MLGPro.com is hosting a Halo 3 Film Festival, presented by the U.S. Army. There are $3,000 in cash prizes plus some nice schwag, awarded to the top three finishers in each of three categories (Best Skill Video, Funniest Video, Most Creative Video). You've got until March 26 to submit - winners will be announced on April 7. Go read all the rules and regs at the MLGPro site. Thanks, Trigger119. (Louis Wu 20:32:03 UTC) (permalink)
More Kubrick Chiefs, coming this fall
Toy News International has information and pictures of Gentle Giant's Kubrick Series 2 4-Pack, coming out in September. Green, Steel, Gold, White... with a rare Orchid chase version available. $20 list price. (Louis Wu 20:28:11 UTC) (permalink)
Strongholds
PEZ let us know that halowiki.net kicked off a new section today - it covers Halo 3 Strongholds. There's information about easily-guarded locations on Valhalla... but the rest of the maps need your help! Go see what you can add. (Louis Wu 20:23:58 UTC) (permalink)
Your case was a MESS - I cleaned it up for you.
Wow. This is a sad story - mostly because it didn't have to happen this way. Thanks, Hawty. (Louis Wu 20:13:57 UTC) (permalink)
Making Halo Wars Pretty
The Halo Wars website has put up an interview with Lance Hoke, Art Producer for the game. He talks about how he got to where he is, and how Halo Wars is coming along. Give it a read! (Louis Wu 15:16:47 UTC) (permalink)
Weebles
Today's installment of Another Halo Comic Strip brings back memories from my childhood. Amazingly, they still make 'em. (They've updated the old song, though.) (Louis Wu 14:37:47 UTC) (permalink)
VGRC rates Halo 3 number 1
VG Resource Center has posted their top Xbox 360 games of 2007 - Halo 3 took the top spot. (Marathon 2 was in the top 5, as well!) Thanks, Dennis Wyman. (Louis Wu 13:33:06 UTC) (permalink)
Buzzing Along
Mid7night has finished his UNSC Hornet for X-Plane... in fact, he's built two of 'em. (Read the post for details about the difference.) (Louis Wu 13:28:57 UTC) (permalink)
Where did that orb come from?
Last night, Pixellated also wondered about the origins of 343 Guilty Spark - and the thread brought out a number of potential inspirations for the character. Check them all out - see which ones you think might have given Bungie some ideas! (The video that Pixellated started with is 10 minutes long; you can see the two relevant clips in my first response to him. For the other suggestions, you'll have to navigate on your own.) (Louis Wu 13:03:55 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Audio Post-Mortem Summary
Joystiq has written up one of the Bungie-led GDC sessions - the audio post-mortem of Halo 3, presented by Jay Weinland, C. Paul Johnson, Mike Salvatore and Marty O'Donnell. You can download the slides to this session from Bungie's newly-opened Publications page, but it won't give you everything that's in Joystiq's piece. In addition to commentary on what was actually said, there are two audio outtakes that were presented at the conference. One of them has already been found in-game (thanks, Captain Spark), but the other is a collection of exclamations from MadTV's Debra Wilson that never made it into the shipping product. (Listen to the clip, and you'll see why.) Thanks to Pixellated for pointing this out.
(Louis Wu 12:54:58 UTC) (permalink)
News February 27 2008
Oh... THAT Master Chief.
J C pointed out a (definitely NSFW) link at Gizmodo... it's describing a novelty item that is Halo-related. Past that, you'll have to read for yourself. And that's all I'm saying about that. (Louis Wu 23:18:06 UTC) (permalink)
A Swiss cheese volcano with a Banshee in it
Brian Jarrard and Mike Zak talked to Eurogamer last week at GDC about the upcoming Legendary Map Pack, and specifically about Ghost Town. The interview is online now, and it's an interesting read. Go look! (Louis Wu 19:58:03 UTC) (permalink)
Always taking shots at Gus...
Over at Grifball.com, you can watch Week 5 Highlights (the last regular-season highlight film) in either streaming flash or QuickTime formats. Some nice floats... and a pretty funny sword betrayal. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 18:12:27 UTC) (permalink)
Letting players win (even when they lose)
There's an interesting interview with Bungie designer Francois Boucher-Genesse (originally published in Game Developer magazine) over at Gamasutra - how did Bungie make Legendary interesting again, after the complaints about Jackal Snipers and areas like Cairo Station's second bay from Halo 2? What makes 'hard' still 'fun'? Check it out. (Louis Wu 17:40:03 UTC) (permalink)
Do NOT listen to your users.
Coding Horror has a great article on why you shouldn't listen to your users. Okay, that's not really what it's about - it's about why what users SAY can be different from what users DO, and why it's important to measure what they DO when figuring out how to improve your product. One example they used was Bungie's heat map of Valhalla, and how that pointed out a gameplay weakness in the map that no amount of user feedback would EVER have nailed down. Great read - and something to keep in mind when you're composing that email to webmaster@bungie.net about how every single one of your friends is dying to have a Shotty Snipers playlist, and how that would really crank up Bungie's popularity in the online world. Thanks to CYBRFRK for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 16:27:11 UTC) (permalink)
To Infinity And Beyond.
Sometimes, Stuntmutt's timing is sublime - check today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 15:17:55 UTC) (permalink)
Army Halo 3 Championship - finally, details
The US Army-sponsored Halo 3 Championship has been promoted quite a bit - great downloads on Xbox LIVE, teasers on Xbox.com - but there's finally an info page up that tells you how to enter, what's going to happen, and what the rules are. Thanks, evildoctorwill. (Louis Wu 14:50:50 UTC) (permalink)
Are you a pepper?
More signs that MLG has hit the big time - Dr. Pepper is now the Official Beverage of the 2008 Major League Gaming Pro Circuit. I guess ad-slathered controllers are next! (Louis Wu 14:43:43 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie Publications - Now Live
MasterChief2829 was the first to point out that Bungie's put up another new and exciting section of their web space: Bungie Publications. Here you'll research and presentations given by Bungie employees - the current batch of files are all PowerPoint presentations given at the Game Developers Conference last week. Bungie is releasing these in .pptx format, part of Microsoft's Open XML File Format. If you're on a Mac, or you're using an older version of Microsoft Office (or you don't even HAVE Microsoft office), there are some options - I've written them out here. (Bungie is in the process of adding PDF versions of each talk to the download links on B.net - but sometimes the PowerPoint slides are more fun to read, because they can show you the flow of the talk better. And sometimes they have interesting notes from the speakers.) Go grab this stuff - it's a fantastic look at the tech behind Halo 3. (Louis Wu 14:38:03 UTC) (permalink)
AHCS wallpapers - a little late
ZZoMBiE13 sent along a bunch of wallpaper-sized images that were either requested by readers of Another Halo Comic Strip, or that he thought would make decent wallpapers. I'd meant to post these yesterday - oops. They've now been added to our Wallpaper section. (He, too, would like to apologize for taking so long to respond to some of these requests - enjoy them now.
(Louis Wu 14:12:53 UTC) (permalink)
News February 26 2008
And now it's four.
According to Major Nelson, CoD4 is still at the top of the LIVE charts; apparently, the release of the auto-update wasn't enough to pull back the crowds. Bungie's not worried, though - according to an interview SketchFactor gave Eurogamer last week at GDC, they see CoD4's success as a plus for the platform - which is a plus for all platform developers. (They've also got some tweaking up their sleeves - playlists, user-created content, and so on - which might shift the balance.) (Louis Wu 20:16:32 UTC) (permalink)
Chris Butcher from the GDC - in French and German
For our international readers - we've run across two more Chris Butcher interviews... unfortunately for some of us, these are not in English. If you can read French or German, though, swing by Gamekult.com (French) and Golem.de (German) for substantial pieces! (Louis Wu 17:46:42 UTC) (permalink)
One man's trash...
Another Halo Comic Strip adds a new race to the mix. I don't think ZZoMBiE13 likes 'em very much. (Louis Wu 16:56:48 UTC) (permalink)
Frag a Friend - live broadcast
Trigger119 pointed out that GamingTV will be broadcasting (live) an event called 'Frag a Friend', set up by PraetoriaGuard - leaders of a bunch of Halo communities will get together each month and shoot each other. The first one is this Thursday, February 28. Stop by GamingTV to watch! (Louis Wu 16:52:40 UTC) (permalink)
TTL Tuesday
XerxdeeJ let us know that Tied the Leader has a couple of new goodies for you - there are some facts from the Entertainment Software Association (and a gamer's spin from deeJ), and a new subsite showing off the gorgeous work of TTL member El Burritoh. Go check it out! (Louis Wu 16:32:45 UTC) (permalink)
Playing to Work
It's not really Halo-related... but it's of general interest to gamers, I think; 1UP.com has an article about companies that are taking a page from the WoW playbook and designing business software to be more gamelike. Like, yeah, dude, I'm a Level 60 Staple Requisitioner! (Louis Wu 16:27:02 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Pro Circuit Update
MLG Canada's PixelBotGo has a summary of the top teams (and teams to watch) in the early days of the Halo 3 Pro Circuit Ladder Playoffs - catch up on your favorite pros! (Louis Wu 16:24:58 UTC) (permalink)
Halo-themed bike
todman777 stopped by with pics of a motorcycle paint job done by a friend - nice work! (Louis Wu 16:23:36 UTC) (permalink)
He probably bites the heads off of bats, too.
He's running a little late (the article in question was released in November), but Lyndon LaRouche has condemned Wired's Clive Thompson for being degenerate enough to write about video games. (Thompson suggests that in some senses, LaRouche might have a point - he did, after all, write about "the aesthetic pleasure of dying in Halo 3" just a couple of days ago.) Bottom line: you run the risk of looking like an idiot if you shoot your mouth off about material you haven't bothered to even glance at. (Thompson's one of the most eloquent game writers I've read, and I can't recall an instance where he's advocated anything even remotely degenerate.) (Louis Wu 16:21:50 UTC) (permalink)
Montage Morning
We've gotten word from a couple of Halo communities about montages they've released recently - Lani let us know that Halownage has released a final Halo 2 montage from Fr3sh (7 and a half minutes, 116 mb), and Halo3Forum has a Halo 3 montage with gameplay from Aftershock and Sticktology and editing by TM22 (12 and a half minutes, 255 mb). (Louis Wu 16:13:03 UTC) (permalink)
New Concept Art at Halo Wars
The Halo Wars concept art gallery has been updated again - scroll down to the bottom of the gallery to see three new Ambient Life concepts (two land-based and one water-based). Thanks, Planet Halo. (Louis Wu 15:56:16 UTC) (permalink)
News February 25 2008
Holier Than Thou.
Sometimes, things don't go as planned. Or maybe they do. Witness today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 21:48:10 UTC) (permalink)
A cardboard AR - surprisingly solid
Finnish Spartan (who sent us pics of his armor a while back) is building an assault rifle - check out the progress so far. (Louis Wu 16:15:17 UTC) (permalink)
I need a website.
We got word that Steve Downes, the voice of Master Chief, has a new website - and on it are a bunch of cool voiceover demos, and an all-Halo video. Slick work! (Louis Wu 15:55:15 UTC) (permalink)
GamingTV Live
trigger119 let us know that GamingTV has opened GamingTV Live, an organized system for promoting for live events and releases. Go read the news post for full details, and get to submitting your creations! (Louis Wu 15:48:00 UTC) (permalink)
Podtacular 149
Foo Mo Jive pointed out that Podtacular 149 is up - lots of tips on Construct, plus an interview with the leaders of PMS Delta Squad, and the winner of of a Gamertag Radio Halo 3 tourney. Go check it out! (Louis Wu 15:19:24 UTC) (permalink)
Punch a Grunt
bs angel brings you news of yet another Halo-themed faceplate - this time it's chock-full of grunty goodness. Go look! (Louis Wu 15:16:57 UTC) (permalink)
The Mohican Effect
Elnea stopped by our forum with word that Halo Action Theater 131 went up yesterday - has Jason been eaten by a giant helmet? What DO zombies taste like, anwyay? (Louis Wu 14:29:05 UTC) (permalink)
The Riot 88
Sigafoos let us know that The Riot 88 is now up at Second Foundation - 31 minutes, 12.5 mb, your standard community news/challenges/Halo stuff, plus zombies and Rambo. (Hmm... a zombie Rambo sounds scary!) Go listen. (Louis Wu 14:27:07 UTC) (permalink)
CQB Armo(u)r, as a school project
Neil Ellis sent us a set of pretty incredible armor pics last week - I couldn't do much with them while I was out of the country, but they're posted now. I hope he scored top marks for this work - it deserves them. (Louis Wu 13:45:31 UTC) (permalink)
The Eye of Sauron, Halo 3 Style
Burr discovered a pretty cool little glitch on Sandtrap; looks like Bungie left in some code from an old way of keeping you on the playing field. Go read about it (and check out his pictures). There are other pics scattered throughout the thread, as other forumgoers played with this... Update: unsurprisingly, this has been covered at High Impact Halo. Thanks, Decommissioner. (Louis Wu 13:18:41 UTC) (permalink)
Res ipsa loquitur
Interesting work by Fëanor and friends, on our forum - the original post was made yesterday morning, with an amended version put up 14 hours later; he's taken all the latin names of Halo's species, as listed in the Bestiarium, and translated them as well as possible. Did you know that Drones were 'King of Ugly'? Me either. (Louis Wu 13:16:11 UTC) (permalink)
European Halo 3 Tourney Announced
Microsoft has announced The Official European Halo 3 Tournament - signups start today, the tourney runs from March 18-30. Nice goodies on the table! Check out the full rules and regs here. (Louis Wu 13:09:53 UTC) (permalink)
G.A.N.G. Awards Results
Music4Games posted the results from the 6th Annual G.A.N.G. Awards last week (we mentioned the ceremony a few weeks ago); Halo 3 didn't go home empty-handed. The crew took home 'Best Use Of Multi-Channel Surround In A Game' - congrats, guys! (Louis Wu 13:02:54 UTC) (permalink)
McFarlane Figures - now on Walmart shelves
Xavier pointed out a new gallery from Sean Bradley over at the 405th forums - looks like Walmart is selling McFarlane Halo 3 action figures about 10 days ahead of schedule. Go see what he found! (Louis Wu 12:59:45 UTC) (permalink)
Oh, the horror!
2phast let us know that the next Larry the Marine comic is now up - it's a little disturbing, I think. (Louis Wu 12:56:57 UTC) (permalink)
Caption Contest at Halo Wars Addict
Halo Wars Addict is running a caption contest - come up with a funny caption for a specific shot from the Halo Wars trailer released in 2006, win... something. (Prizes to be announced soon, apparently.) Thanks, Sam152. (Louis Wu 12:53:35 UTC) (permalink)
News February 24 2008
Internet - closing, temporarily.
And... that's it for a bit. Sunday is a travel day - we should be back on US soil by late afternoon, and home before nightfall. If all goes well. No more news, though, before HBO's clock ticks over to Monday morning. I'll leave you with this: HBO has no way of providing anyone with Recon armor, or getting you in touch with someone at Bungie who can give you Recon armor. We can't even tell you how to earn it - except to remind you that asking for it is absolutely the easiest way to remove yourself from the list of POTENTIAL recipients. Play Halo, do fun stuff, and stop asking us for it! (Louis Wu 04:11:06 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Banner for Sale
Mintz acquired a pretty cool Halo poster, but can't fit it - check out the pictures in his eBay auction, and bid if you've got the space! (Louis Wu 04:10:36 UTC) (permalink)
VGL at GDC writeup
Gryphonosiris was present at the Video Games Live show at the Games Developer Conference Friday night - check out his writeup on our forum. (Louis Wu 04:10:02 UTC) (permalink)
News February 23 2008
Coccinella septempunctata
ZZoMBiE13 shows what happens when Master Chief starts playing practical jokes in the latest installment of Another Halo Comic Strip. (Louis Wu 18:57:24 UTC) (permalink)
A Halo Recap, More or Less
Over at Rampancy.net, OldNick looks at eye (and ear and mind) candy, and decides that Less is More. See if you agree! (Louis Wu 18:56:59 UTC) (permalink)
1v1 tourney at Forge Hub
TrueDarkFusion let us know that Forge Hub is hosting a 128 player 1v1 elimination tournament. All maps have been specifically created for the tourney, and prizes range from Xbox 360 games to Microsoft points. Go see! (Louis Wu 18:56:27 UTC) (permalink)
ARG Repository Revamp
DHalo pointed out that he's revamped his repository of IRIS ARG material; take a look! (Louis Wu 18:55:59 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie Weekly Update
The Bungie Weekly Update went up as usual last night (and is available as always in our Weekly Update Archive) - there's some info about Recon armor won by folks during the Valentines Day playlist, more info about the Auto-Update, a funny playtest of new animation tech, and details about Ghost Town. Go see what you can find! Thanks to kr-1426, who was first on our forum with the news. (Louis Wu 18:55:19 UTC) (permalink)
Blockbuster adds Halo 3 posters
EliteSniper177 noticed some new Halo 3 merchandise for sale at his local Blockbuster - check his post for pictures! (Louis Wu 18:54:50 UTC) (permalink)
What to do with old military bases
I4U News has a story about a decommissioned military base that can be rented out by the month - they suggest Halo 3-themed paintball games. Sounds like fun! (Louis Wu 18:54:26 UTC) (permalink)
News February 22 2008
I Hear He Likes The Girls.
Stuntmutt took a look at Ghost Town, as well, for today's One One Se7en. Topical isn't always better. (Louis Wu 21:06:19 UTC) (permalink)
2D to 3D - or vice versa
pete_the_duck decided to see if he could map out the floor plan of Ghost Town, based solely on the three screenshots Bungie released yesterday. According to a Bungie employee, he did pretty well! Check it out. (Louis Wu 21:05:25 UTC) (permalink)
Martyrdom
discopete019 pointed out that Arby 'n' the Chief #5 is up on machinima.com - it's not terribly Halo-related (besides the characters, I suppose), but it's funny nonetheless. about 10 minutes long - go watch!
(Louis Wu 21:00:53 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: Groove
gunluva pointed out a Halo-inspired remix called 'Halo: Groove' - I'm not sure I hear the Halo influence in most of it, but it's interesting. (Louis Wu 21:00:00 UTC) (permalink)
The X-Plane Halo vehicle collection grows
Mid7night is putting a Hornet into X-Plane - go check out the details! (Louis Wu 20:32:42 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
Nine new pieces for your perusal in the Fan Fiction section this week - go read! (Louis Wu 20:20:27 UTC) (permalink)
Reclaimer Chapter Three, Part Nine
TTL Demag0gue notes that Reclaimer Chapter Three, Part Nine is available now. Check it out! (mnemesis 20:00:18 UTC) (permalink)
Humpday Challenge: Mjolnir Battle Tactics
Gah! Almost let the day go by with no news. A couple of tidbits from the forum is all I'm going to be able to get to today.
LackOfKnowledge noted on the forum that the latest Humpday Challenge is posted up on B.net for your perusal. (mnemesis 19:56:16 UTC) (permalink)
News February 21 2008
Ghost Town - coming soon
wolfman was first to post on our forum with news of Bungie's upcoming Ghost Town map - Bungie's posted screenshots and an interview with the guys who built it. I'm having trouble getting a feel for the layout from the existing shots... but MAN it's beautiful. Check it out! (Louis Wu 23:16:52 UTC) (permalink)
Master Replicas adds new stuff
PriorMarcus noticed new pics from ToyFair 08 - this time they're from Master Replicas, and they include models of stuff we've never seen before... like Hornets. w00t! (Louis Wu 23:16:28 UTC) (permalink)
She Who Travels Fastest
Things continue to develop at Halo Action Figure Theater, today with 112% more educational content! Also, snow. And Uno! Can't forget that. (mnemesis 18:46:38 UTC) (permalink)
...till it's gone
ZZoMBiE13 continues with Drone Week on Another Halo Comic Strip - and his writeup is chock-full of useful links for folks who need more ZZoMBiE goodness in their lives. Go read! And.... that's it for me for the day. Say hi to mnemesis for me! (Louis Wu 13:13:56 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 cleans up at 1UP Reader's Choice
PR Newswire has a press release from 1UP.com - their Reader's Choice Awards for 2007 were announced at a special ceremony this week in San Francisco... and Halo 3 did really well. They took home Best Shooting Game, Best Multiplayer Game, and Game of the Year. Congrats, guys! Full details can be found in the 1UP writeup. (Louis Wu 13:09:49 UTC) (permalink)
Why should players care about your stupid story?
Not Halo-focused (although Halo is mentioned in the article, briefly), but very relevant to a large chunk of our readership - Ken Levine, Creative Director of 2K Boston (the folks who made Bioshock) talked at the GDC about stories in video games, and how developers have to walk a fine line between casual and hardcore fans. Your story has to be understandable in a one-paragraph synopsis... but it also has to be deep and interesting to those who delve into it. A non-trivial conundrum! (Louis Wu 13:07:32 UTC) (permalink)
Chris Butcher talks to everybody
Tons of stuff coming out of the Game Developer Conference this week - couple of good Chris Butcher bits. Next Generation has a nice article on how Matchmaking has evolved (info from Chris), and Develop Magazine has an interview with him (on a wide range of interesting topics). Go read! (Louis Wu 13:06:18 UTC) (permalink)
What they Play - in brief
USA Today has a news story about What They Play, a website that aims to provide parents with useful and concise information about videogames in the context of how appropriate they might be for their kids. The Halo review on the site mentions the level of violence (predominately human-on-alien in singleplayer, human-on-armored human in multiplayer), the presence of blood ("reasonably restrained"), and the frequency of cursing (way more from other players on LIVE than from NPCs in-game). This could be a useful tool for parents who don't have time to play all games their kids are interested in! (Louis Wu 13:05:31 UTC) (permalink)
CoD4 - still on top
For the third week in a row, Call of Duty 4 is on top of Major Nelson's LIVE usage charts - will that remain true now that the Auto Update has been released? Tune in next week to find out! (Before anyone gets upset that I'm even listing this - we had no trouble at all mentioning that Halo 2 remained on top of the charts for months and months and months, and as has been mentioned by many many people, both CoD4 and Halo 3 are great games, and deserve the praises heaped upon them; which one the public chooses to play more is actually a relevant fact for a Halo news site, whether you, personally, find it important or not.) (Louis Wu 13:04:41 UTC) (permalink)
VGL at GDC in SF
Video Games Live is doing a special show at the GDC this week - Friday night, February 22, they'll be at the Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium, with Skywalker Symphony Orchestra and Choir playing the goodies. Lots of industry luminaries will be on hand for the Meet and Greet afterwards, including Bungie's Marty O'Donnell. Full details are on VGL's website. (Louis Wu 13:03:50 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Stats Widget
uberpuppy whipped up a Halo 3 stats widget for folks using Mac OSX - grabs your most important stats, and puts them a keystroke away in your Dashboard. Check it out! You can see screens, and download the widget, at his website. (Louis Wu 13:03:11 UTC) (permalink)
Standoff VR - 360 degree goodness
nefarius armati stopped by with a new Forge project he's working on; we don't generally cover those (there are just too many), but his presentation was unique; he created a QuickTime VR movie to show it off. Nice! (Louis Wu 13:02:37 UTC) (permalink)
Blawg Hawtness
Hawty McBloggy's been busy this week - she's put together a Halo 3-themed gamer gear roundup (pick out your spring duds now!), and she's compiled a list of the Top 10 Best Halo 3 Suicide videos. Boom! (Louis Wu 13:01:51 UTC) (permalink)
ESPN/MLG Top Ten kicks off
Synide let us know that Major League Gaming has just announced the ESPN/MLG Top Ten series - clips they're putting together every couple of weeks for ESPN.com. The first one is up now - it's a set of ten really fun-to-watch plays in Halo 3. (Read Synide's thread for an explanation on at least one of these clips, and why it made the list; good stuff.) And submit your own! (Details on how are in the MLG story.) (Louis Wu 13:00:37 UTC) (permalink)
Grunts... in... SPACE!
Rockslider found some fun stuff to do with Grunts - read about it at Bad Cyborg. (Louis Wu 13:00:04 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie Podcast - Luke Timmins
Huge props to mnemesis, who covered the place yesterday when I simply couldn't get to an internet connection. Let's see if I can whip out a few posts in the short time I've got available this morning - he might be around later today. First up - almost lost in the noise of the AutoUpdate release yesterday was a new Bungie podcast, this time with Luke Timmins. Just under an hour, 66 mb Go listen! (Thanks, MasterChief2829.) (Louis Wu 12:58:47 UTC) (permalink)
News February 20 2008
The Butt Of A Joke.
Almost forgot today's One One Se7en, although you may have been happier if I did. (mnemesis 19:25:43 UTC) (permalink)
Reclaimer Chapter Three, Part Eight
Reclaimer Chapter Three, Part Eight has been posted for your Reclaimer comic requirements. Thank TTL Demag0gue for the heads-up. (mnemesis 16:43:25 UTC) (permalink)
More Pinkuh Art
Pinkuh's posted a new sketch of the MC with no helmet. Thank Pixellated for the heads-up. (mnemesis 16:38:10 UTC) (permalink)
Inside Halo - Episode 7
Inside Halo - Episode 7 is up and available for your inside-y Halo edification. Thank Smurfa for the heads-up. Funkakke! (mnemesis 16:32:20 UTC) (permalink)
AutoUpdate Reminder
There's a new Top Story over on B.net detailing the stuff to come in the autoupdate. It's nothing new, as it's all copied straight from the WWU from two weeks ago, but I suppose it means the AU is coming soon? Thank MasterChief2829 for the heads-up. Update: Doh! It's supposed to go live, uh, now-ish, or otherwise sometime this morning, according to the B.Net front page. (mnemesis 16:31:16 UTC) (permalink)
News February 19 2008
You Can Never Un-See It
There's something weird going on over at Halo Action Figure Theater - I blame the Game Fuel. (Louis Wu 19:24:08 UTC) (permalink)
Travis
Both b, via email, and Hawty McBloggy, on her blog, recommended the latest offering from Darkspire films, entitled 'Travis'. Oh, the wonders of lag... (Louis Wu 19:14:55 UTC) (permalink)
Don't know what you've got...
ZZoMBiE13 kicks off a drone-related week at Another Halo Comic Strip.
There's more news in the pipeline - but no more time to post it. Sorry! (Louis Wu 14:57:15 UTC) (permalink)
Life after Halo 3
BBC's Darren Waters caught up to Chris Butcher at the Game Developers Conference this week - you can listen to Chris discuss where Halo 3 fits into Bungie's current plans, and talk about what's coming next (without saying anything). (Louis Wu 14:53:05 UTC) (permalink)
Calvin Awards - Halo 3 wins Best Videogame
Box Office Prophets announced their Calvin Awards 2008 - and Halo 3 took Best Videogame. (The article will explain their surprise in this result.) (Louis Wu 14:52:40 UTC) (permalink)
Upcoming MC costume from Rubie's
Someone from the Engineering department of E.CAB Elevator sent us this link to a site that sells costumes... and it looks like Rubie's is making a Master Chief Halo costume! Preorder price is $900... pricey! (Louis Wu 14:52:09 UTC) (permalink)
GoO - shorter than it was written
The J3ster sent us a link to Eric Nylund's blog - a story there this week reveals that there were two chapters cut from Ghosts of Onyx, for pacing reasons... Eric's wondering if he should release those at some point. (I say yes!)
(Louis Wu 14:51:34 UTC) (permalink)
Help in building your armor
We got word that there's a new measurement tool with a model embedded, over at the 405th forums. If you're building armor, this might help a lot in making things proportional! (Louis Wu 14:51:07 UTC) (permalink)
Lost Cause 17 - Leslie's Plan
Haloplayer dropped in to announce Lost Cause 17 - "Leslie's Plan". Focus shifts a little bit... read his post for details, and download links. (Louis Wu 14:50:31 UTC) (permalink)
Teams Worth Playing
XerxdeeJ stopped by with a friendly warning, and news of a story about clans you might be interested in playing, if a good game is what you're after. Check it out! (Louis Wu 14:50:06 UTC) (permalink)
More Halo Goodness from ToyFair 08
PriorMarcus noticed more pics from ToyFair 08 at Figures.com - more stuff from McFarlane this time. And while we're talking about ToyFair, check out this story at Kotaku.au - apparently, there's going to be a Kotobukiya Cortana coming soon. (Maybe that's what JonnyOThan was hinting at?) (Louis Wu 14:49:25 UTC) (permalink)
GoW to replace Halo?
Interesting - Escapist Magazine reports on a GamePro story that Microsoft is looking to buy Epic Games for a billion dollars this summer. I guess having a top-flight team in-house is something that's important to them... and maybe now that Bungie's gone, they need someone to make the next 360 sustainer? (Louis Wu 14:48:36 UTC) (permalink)
VG Cats Kirbys
Psychophan7 was the first to point out that yesterday's VG Cats had two Halo Kirby characters - 44 is Cortana, and 45 is MC. Cute! (Louis Wu 14:47:53 UTC) (permalink)
Frankie talks to MN
VVM pointed out that Frankie is on Major Nelson's podcast this year. You'll have to listen for details, sorry. (Louis Wu 14:47:29 UTC) (permalink)
Hunter
Onebitrocket whipped up a new Hunter painting - it can be seen over at DeviantART. Nice! (Louis Wu 14:47:05 UTC) (permalink)
Leftovers
Gonna see if I can whip through the stuff I noticed before I have to get off this box - first up is a post yesterday from TTL Demag0gue - Reclaimer Chapter Three, Part Seven was released. I wish mines worked like that for me... (Louis Wu 14:46:42 UTC) (permalink)
News February 18 2008
Drop Me Off Anywhere.
Today's One One Se7en might strike a chord in a few of the final Halo 3 level runners... maybe more than a few. (Louis Wu 21:01:34 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 On Legandary
Over at Newgrounds, there's a new vid called 'Halo 3 On Legandary' [sic] - it follows a kid for a week while the Game Fuel bottles and Halo 3-branded Doritos bags pile up in his room. I kept waiting for the funni. (Louis Wu 21:00:37 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Warthog RC model
Gamersweb.it has a pic of a radio-controlled car that bears more than a passing resemblance to a well-known Halo vehicle. (Louis Wu 21:00:03 UTC) (permalink)
Theater Mode Gorgeosity
thepwnshoppe has posted a few screens snagged from saved films... nice work! (Louis Wu 20:57:51 UTC) (permalink)
UGI Tourney in TN - a success
Meghan Hall, from the Ultimate Gamers International, let us know that a video recap of their Halo 3 Tourney in Tennessee last month, is now up at YouTube. 10 minutes long, with tournament floor footage, interviews, and more. They had 210 players show up, along with 50 fans who were there just to spectate. Go watch! (Louis Wu 20:57:06 UTC) (permalink)
New MC figure from Gentle Giant
Laird pointed us to an article at Figures.com - there's a new figure from Gentle Giant that was released at the 2008 Toy Fair show. You can see a gallery full of their work, in fact (including busts we knew about, an Arbiter prototype we didn't, and some closeups on weapons and the like). Check it out! (Louis Wu 20:56:22 UTC) (permalink)
The Bag Boy
Eddy, from Smooth Few Films, let us know that The Bag Boy, a new Halo 3 machinima from the guys who brought you 'The Over-Achiever', is now up - you can download it from their website, or stream it from YouTube. An entertaining look at teabagging, from a father-son duo. (Louis Wu 20:55:52 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 4v4 Team League Finals on SKY tonight
XLEAGUE.TV is televising the 4v4 Team League Finals - in fact, as of this writing, they've already started. (8 pm Local Time in the UK - 3 pm Eastern, noon Pacific). Channel 208 on SKY, or on www.xleague.tv, with £10,000 on the line for the top 4 teams. Go watch! (Louis Wu 20:53:48 UTC) (permalink)
The Riot 87
Okay, internet connectivity isn't what I'd hoped it would be here. Sigafoos let us know yesterday that The Riot 87 was online - clan news, GTV's machinima contest, and info about playlists fill up 26 minutes and 10.5 mb. Go listen! (Louis Wu 20:52:28 UTC) (permalink)
News February 17 2008
It's that time again...
Okay, so in a bit over 3 hours, I'm getting into a car with the rest of my family, and driving down to Newark airport, where we're getting on a plane bound for Mexico. Hopefully, this will not mean that you will not get any Halo news for a week... but I'm promising nothing. It's a busy week for many in the gaming industry (GDC kicks off Monday morning in San Francisco), so things might get tight. Be good... and stay out of the liquor cabinet! (Louis Wu 05:29:57 UTC) (permalink)
The Brains in Spains
Elnea's updated Halo Action Figure Theater with a scary episode - I feel really bad for John! (I feel bad for Elnea, too, who's struggling to fit some pithy simile into a tiny speech bubble - see if you can help her out.) (Louis Wu 05:24:53 UTC) (permalink)
News February 16 2008
Fine, I'll play K.o.t.H.
Today's installment of Another Halo Comic Strip looks at game variants you'll probably be happy that Bungie skipped. As a bonus, there's also a very touching memorial to Brian Morden - ZZoMBiE13 didn't know him, but was moved by his story. ZZoMBiE13... you rock. (Louis Wu 14:28:14 UTC) (permalink)
Marathon Mix 3 - Remixed
Last summer, Nick Singer released the third of three Marathon/Halo music mixes - but he wasn't happy with the piece as a trilogy end. He reworked the second half, both to make it sound more Halo-like, and to be more satisfying and conclusive for the three-piece series. Give a listen to the final product (mp3, 3.4 mb)!
(Louis Wu 11:57:17 UTC) (permalink)
Karma's a bitch.
Hellhawk stopped by with a small clip from a game he played recently; one of the other players decided to melee a dead guy - and was rewarded by being Killed by the Guardians. Ouch! (Louis Wu 11:34:26 UTC) (permalink)
Assault Rifle, from LEGOs
Matthew Elric created a LEGO-based MA5C - I'd hate to see what happened to it after the first melee attack! (Louis Wu 11:28:59 UTC) (permalink)
Parasite
DigitalPh33r has released Episode 6 of his 'Deus Ex Machina' series - even though Plague's dead, Brent has plenty of problems still facing him - not least is a mysterious alien capable of taking over unwilling hosts. Eighteen and a half minutes long, some great camera work. Definitely sets up Episode 7 as an exciting installment... thanks to discopete019 for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 11:04:49 UTC) (permalink)
Wait... Beyonce's upgraded?
The Bungie Weekly Update was posted on Bungie.net last night (and added to our Weekly Update Archive) - there's a ton of info about talks being given by Bungie employees at next week's Game Developers Conference, along with details about matchmaking, upcoming DLC, and enhancements to the Bungie.net website. Good stuff all around! (Louis Wu 10:25:26 UTC) (permalink)
And... another one.
While Miguel was writing his customary toast to Brian on this, the anniversary of his passing, I was writing up a little description of the auction we ran to benefit the foundation set up in his name. You can read it here. (Louis Wu 02:10:50 UTC) (permalink)
A note to a friend
As per tradition, today (it's still the 15th in my corner of the world) we remember our good friend Brian Morden, aka *Ar-Isildur. Five years ago the evil that is cancer, specifically Ewing's Sarcoma won the battle and took this 19 year old young man. But not the war. Never. Sign the guestbook if you feel moved to do so. Or you can post on a thread Skav started a few days back.
I'm now heading out to meet some old friends for a few drinks and to hear some bands. They don't know it yet, but I'm gonna tell them about my brave friend, and what he, in his youth, was able to teach this old man about perseverance and faith. And love. Peace to you Brian, peace to you, brutha.
(Ding 01:30:26 UTC) (permalink)News February 15 2008
Halo 3 Guitar - for sale on eBay
Wow. If you swing by Hawty McBloggy's latest post, you can find a link to one of those Ibanez Xiphos Halo 3 guitars (only 20 were made, and a few were given away during promotions leading up to Halo 3's release) on eBay - you can't really buy one, so if you want one, here's your chance. Take a look! (Louis Wu 21:33:35 UTC) (permalink)
What A Drag.
An object lesson in literal thinking is available in today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 15:32:20 UTC) (permalink)
The Last Straw
Halo Action Figure Theater 127 is now up - looks like someone's getting testy. (Louis Wu 13:01:45 UTC) (permalink)
Oh, I see - you're a moron!
Captain Spark has decided to get out of the dialogue-collecting business - but his last submission is a doozy - 162 clips from a number of different characters, including singing brutes, marines impersonating Christopher Walken, and haughty AI constructs. Go listen! (Louis Wu 12:53:15 UTC) (permalink)
What do you see...?
Hawty McBloggy has posted her last Rorschach Inkblot Test - this one is on Foundry. Odd patterns... (Louis Wu 12:45:27 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie plays with McFarlane
Bungie played against the crew from McFarlane Toys in this week's Halo Humpday Challenge. It was sort of a blowout... (Louis Wu 12:42:20 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief: Pwned Life: Episode 2
tb2571989 pointed out thaqt AxS CALiBER has made another episode of 'Master Chief: Pwned Life' - it's starting to feel less like an homage to DigitalPh33r's Master Chief Sucks at Halo, and more like a derivative work. You might enjoy it, though.
(Louis Wu 12:30:28 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fanfic
Tiny Fan Fiction update this week - just two pieces, and one's not even really Halo-related. (Well, I guess it could be - but there's nothing actually Halo-universe-specific in it.) (Louis Wu 12:23:53 UTC) (permalink)
A community of builders
Xavier dropped us a note to let us know what was going on over at the 405th, in the field of Halo armor and sculpture.
- Favos has built his own Master Chief figure out of Apoxie and polymer clay. He looks great!
- BishopX and Slavefive have been hard at work on an assault rifle - check out the pictures in the 'Weaponry' section of their website. (Poke around in other sections, too.)
- Sigma-LS is building a Hayabusa helmet - fantastic start!
- He also finished up a CQB helmet - you can follow production progress (and see videos of the final product) in this thread.
- We mentioned Belakor's Recon helmet back in December; progress continues (check the whole thread), and there are pictures of the helmet in its latest iteration, along with some Recon armor to go with it, on page 7.
Awesome stuff - if you're interested in armor and sculpture, the 405th's the place to hang out! (Louis Wu 12:19:20 UTC) (permalink)
Get a job and take over the world
Not really Halo-related... but there are bunch of new jobs listed on Bungie's newly-revamped Jobs page; if you're interested in getting into this company, now's a great time to look at your options! Thanks, Psychophan7. (Louis Wu 12:06:19 UTC) (permalink)
News February 14 2008
Halo Wars Monthly Update
More info from the Ensemble team - the February Halo Wars Monthly Update has been posted. Details on (some of) what will, and won't, be in the final product are available. Thanks, LoneRanger 2.5. (Louis Wu 22:52:04 UTC) (permalink)
Looking (way) ahead
VideoGamer.com has put together a list of the 'Top 10 things that will make Halo 4 great. Suggestions range from features cut from older versions of Halo to 'no duh' obviosities (shut up, it's a word) to pie-in-the-sky, never-gonna-happen dreams. I'm not sure anyone could MAKE a list like this and make everyone happy, while still being feasible... so go see if there's stuff here that you agree with. (Louis Wu 20:59:50 UTC) (permalink)
X3F's Community Content: Zombie Plan Edition
Xbox360Fanboy is kicking off a new feature called 'Community Content' - they're showcasing what they consider to be the best in Halo 3 community-generated maps and gametypes. The first offering is called 'Armory Infection' - swing by to see rules, screenshots, and download links. (Louis Wu 20:49:51 UTC) (permalink)
The idea of celebrity
Cortana confirms she and John aren't an item in the latest installment of Another Halo Comic Strip - ooh... Happy Valentines Day, from ZZoMBiE13. (Louis Wu 18:59:26 UTC) (permalink)
3D Portfolio - UNSC Fleet
Nabsuh created an animation showing off his UNSC fleet, and some space scenery - he's offered download links, or a YouTube stream. Nice work! (Louis Wu 13:31:32 UTC) (permalink)
She's very rampant, and she's still alive.
Cody Miller put together a fantastic tribute to a classic Bungie AI - don't forget Leela this Valentines Day! (Yes, there's Halo content in this.) A must-see for any longtime Bungie fan. (Louis Wu 13:23:09 UTC) (permalink)
So THIS is love?
Elnea's put up a special Halo Action Figures Theater comic to celebrate Valentines Day - love means never having to say you're sorry. Especially for comics like this. (<3, Elnea.) (Louis Wu 13:20:45 UTC) (permalink)
A great way to sell
Laird found a really cool minisite that McFarlane put up for their Series 1 Halo action figures - it's a really-well-done reproduction of the Halo 3 game interface. (I liked it enough that I grabbed a local copy - if this one goes down at some point, we'll have a backup for posterity.) (Louis Wu 13:15:54 UTC) (permalink)
Ambient Unlife - Beached
There's new concept art up at Halo Wars - check out what a beached alien whale might look like! (If you're reading this post days or weeks after it's written, I apologize - the Halo Wars site has no way to link to old news. Scroll back until you find the post dated 02-13-2008.) Thanks to mrtitan, of Planet Halo, for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 13:11:02 UTC) (permalink)
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre Playlist
Last night, Bungie posted information about the special Valentines Day playlist that goes live today at 10 am PST (1pm EST, or 5pm UTC). It'll run through Monday, so you've got a few days to get in and play this one. There will be prizes. First we heard of it was from Dan the Stick, via email. (Louis Wu 12:51:30 UTC) (permalink)
News February 13 2008
Wow, really?
Product-Reviews has an article about 'Halo 3' modded controllers - they've got duplicated buttons on the backside, where your fingers have a better chance of finding them, I guess. $70 gets you a controller with the A and B buttons underneath... $90 gets you one with all four buttons on the bottom. Me? I bet I'd end up pressing buttons I didn't want to press, on a regular basis. (Louis Wu 21:59:40 UTC) (permalink)
CoD4 extends streak to 2
Call of Duty 4 is on top again in the LIVE activity list for the week of February 4... that's two in a row! C'mon, Halo players... get online! (Louis Wu 15:26:10 UTC) (permalink)
ForgeHub Video Tutorial #5: Timed Map Events
Time Glitch stopped by to announce ForgeHub Video Tutorial #5 - this one focuses on timed map events. Learn how to unfold new features in your map as the game progresses! (Louis Wu 15:05:52 UTC) (permalink)
Virtual Puppetry
1UP.com has focused on Chris Burke, the guy behind This Spartan Life, in their latest installment of 'Take this Job!', a guide to finding jobs in the games industry. Go see how and why he does it! (Louis Wu 15:04:09 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 - a stress-management tool for soldiers
MSNBC has an article about US soldiers using Halo 3 to reduce stress - psychologists believe that for soldiers, games like Halo 3 can actually be therapeutic. Interesting read! (Louis Wu 15:01:20 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief: Pwned Life
AxS CALiBER was inspired by the 'Master Chief Sucks at Halo' series of videos to create Master Chief: Pwned Life - it takes the opening cutscene from Halo 3, and overlays a new dialogue track. Great work combining Halo 3 Soundtrack music with the cutscene to remove stuff like Cortana's voiceover! Funny stuff - thanks, Nitro288. (Louis Wu 14:58:45 UTC) (permalink)
One El'V'Er Gift.
Oh, heck, while we're telling you about Valentines and comics, we might as well update One One Se7en. Today's joke made me cry - but hey, you might have a different reaction. (Probably not, though.) (Louis Wu 13:04:53 UTC) (permalink)
Valhalla
Halo Action Figure Theater was also updated today - Episode 126 is up a little later than Elnea expected because she was creating RvB Valentines for you to use. (Warning: some of these are... well, not polite.) Funny Valentines and mystery watermelons... what MORE could you want? (Louis Wu 12:56:06 UTC) (permalink)
You don't need feelings, use these instead!
Okay, I'm officially too frickin' busy for life. AGAIN, I forgot to post yesterday's Another Halo Comic Strip. You still have time to make use of it, though - ZZoMBiE13's made you some AHCS Valentines; you can cut them out and customize them before tomorrow, no problem! (Louis Wu 12:17:35 UTC) (permalink)
News February 12 2008
Ironically Cleansing Dirt
In case you were taking the whole auction for charity thing too seriously (hard not to, when the top bid is almost $1300 now), Luke has interviewed Frankie about his motivations and inspirations for the piece. You can shovel that stuff up and grow flowers with it. (Great imagery, though.) Thanks, Spartan Jag. (Louis Wu 19:41:54 UTC) (permalink)
Fumbling the easy stuff
Ars Technica has a story about a reader who signed up for the "Buy Xbox 360, Get Halo 3 Free" promotion (we mentioned this promotion back in November)... apparently, there are some issues with actually RECEIVING the free game. There've been some rumblings in our own forum about this (here's one post, I remember others) - you'd think, with a promotion like this, supplying the free games would be a no-brainer. I mean, you're only talking about a thousand people... getting them a free copy of a game that's sold almost 10 million copies in the past 4 months should be simple, shouldn't it? If it were MY company, after the RROD billion-dollar writeoff, and the LIVE connection woes over Christmas, I'd be positively champing at the bit for easy positive-PR opportunities. I guess MS doesn't think that way. (Louis Wu 19:02:14 UTC) (permalink)
This Transformer is Not a Natural Formation!
Heh - Hawty McBloggy noticed another Halo-related custom Transformer on eBay; this one changes from the Master Chief to a Warthog (sort of). I got a lot of flak the last time I posted a Transformer auction - folks were suggesting it was a total ripoff, all the guy had done was paint a transformer and add an MC head. That's as may be - if you think it's worthless, don't buy it, don't bid on it. The simple fact is, finding some of these figures at ALL is hard - and not everyone's got the time to custom-paint one. If you're the type of person who'd rather buy than make... check this out. (Louis Wu 18:38:36 UTC) (permalink)
Big Idea beats Small Budget
McCann Erickson, the ad agency that came up with the Jake Courage aspect of the Believe campaign that launched Halo 3, has put up a movie showing how they did it. Interesting stuff! (I had no idea all the pics got stolen...) (Louis Wu 18:25:48 UTC) (permalink)
VES Awards, Revisited
We mentioned the awards Halo snagged at the Visual Effects Society yesterday - Bungie has posted a short interview with CJ Cowan, one of the winners, discussing what the awards are all about, and what they had to do to be considered. Pretty cool read! (Louis Wu 15:14:00 UTC) (permalink)
Writing dialogue with no reference
Heh - bizarreness. Narcogen also noticed an interview with Eric Trautmann over at Earth's Greatest - he talked about writing a lot of the dialogue in Halo in a really short time... and under absurd conditions.
So, we had three days to bang out some ridiculous amount of dialogue, but they wouldn't actually let us LOOK at the game (which is why some of the dialogue doesn't make total sense; I conservatively estimate we got it about 80-90% right, which I think is an accomplishment given how blind we were flying).
I'll betcha a dollar that Cortana's "this cave is not a natural formation!" line is explained by this situation. Pretty neat to see behind the scenes after the fact... sort of amazing it turned out as well as it did! (Louis Wu 15:08:00 UTC) (permalink)
More Musicality from R.net
Narcogen pointed out a free program that will let you read PrintMusic files (the format many of Rampancy.net's Sheet Music Archive offerings are in), and export as MIDI. To show you how it's useful, he's added PDF and MIDI files to a bunch of existing sheet music entries. Now Halo music is easier than ever to hear (and play)! (Louis Wu 15:00:05 UTC) (permalink)
ThisIsSpartan117 Contest Results
A couple of weeks ago, we mentioned a contest over at ThisIsSpartan117.com - they were soliciting for a new screenshot to use as their background image. The winner was announced yesterday. Thanks, alacaboose. (Louis Wu 14:57:36 UTC) (permalink)
Hail to the Tyrant
MasterChief2829 dropped off a link last night from Next-Generation - Hardy Lebel (Lead Multiplayer Design for Halo, Additional Mission Design for Halo 2, as well as Lead Design for Oni) has teamed up with some friends to form Tyrant Studios. For Bungie watchers, these guys join Wideload Games, Giant Bite Games, Certain Affinity, and others as companies to keep an eye on! (Louis Wu 14:54:26 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Photography Gallery
Thanks, Snave wanted to point out that he's got a Halo photography gallery set up, with a bunch of contributors. Swing by for some nice pics, from all three games!
(Louis Wu 14:43:06 UTC) (permalink)
Your love is the only power-up I need.
Hawty McBloggy put up some nice eValentines for you over at her site - go celebrate, Halo-style. (Louis Wu 14:41:18 UTC) (permalink)
Assasszzzzzination.
Gah! I did it again - and I'm not even sure HOW this time. I forgot to post yesterday's One One Se7en - so here it is. (Maybe I passed out when I read it?) (Louis Wu 14:15:19 UTC) (permalink)
News February 11 2008
Card Sagas Wars?
Merc found a YouTube video that shows off a bunch of characters in a 2D fighter... Master Chief holds his own. (Louis Wu 22:31:30 UTC) (permalink)
Turtle!
Dustbunny27 was looking to make a human version of the Scarab. How did he do? (Louis Wu 22:26:37 UTC) (permalink)
Frag a Friend
LordGideon let us know about Frag a Friend, a Halo Nation event being coordinated by PraetoriaGuard. If you are a leader of a Halo clan or community, swing by and sign up! Next game night is February 28, at 9 pm EST. (Louis Wu 20:57:48 UTC) (permalink)
Top-Notch Visuals - Halo wins some VES awards
Marty O'Donnell pointed out the 6th Annual Visual Effects Society awards, announced in Hollywood last night. Halo-related winners included Marcus Lehto, Jonty Barnes, Stephen Scott, and CJ Cowan, whose Halo 3 footage took home "Outstanding Real Time Visuals in a Video Game", and Matthew Gratzner, Alan Scott, Seth Curlin, and Greg Boettcher, whose work on the Halo 3 Believe campaign (and the John 117 Monument Miniature in specific) won "Outstanding Models or Miniatures in a Broadcast Program or Commercial". Nice work, guys!
(Louis Wu 20:37:02 UTC) (permalink)
Yes, You Can Has Recon
The auction of Frankie's Mister Chief Masterpiece, for charity, is going astoundingly well - high bid is now over $1000, with four days to go! If you scroll down to the bottom of the auction, there are a number of questions asked by viewers - the most common of which is "Can I has Recon?" The answer is a resounding Yes! - the winner of this auction will also receive Recon armor for his or her gamertag on Xbox LIVE. BONUS! (Louis Wu 20:15:02 UTC) (permalink)
Stuffing the sausage into a sock
Back in November, we listed a bunch of talks to be given by Bungie employees at this year's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, coming up next week. Today I heard from Mat "OMG TALK ABOUT ME" Noguchi, who's now on the schedule... and it looks like an interesting session! Mat's going to discuss how Halo 3 was optimized to play without a hard drive. (Louis Wu 20:08:24 UTC) (permalink)
That's gonna leave a mark.
Heh - The Onion Radio News has a piece (it's labeled 'podcast', but it's only a minute long) on 'blown skulls and nearly-fatal bowel movements' seen since Halo 3 was released. Funny. Thanks, dzejms. (Louis Wu 19:47:09 UTC) (permalink)
Overkill Extermination Mongoose Mowdown
thehomeland ran across someone bragging that they'd gotten an extermination with a mongoose; he didn't believe it, but the film is still in gizmo777's fileshare. (It's slot 1, labeled "WTF!!!") thehomeland decided to make it more accessible to those without access to the film, so you can watch it on YouTube, or you can download higher-quality versions from us (WMP9 or QuickTime, both a bit under 15 mb). Pretty nice! (Louis Wu 17:19:08 UTC) (permalink)
Backseat Driver
Today's Halo Action Figure Theater takes a turn for the weird. Well... a farther turn. Okay, so we've gone completely around now, and have begun spewing pea soup. Go read. (Louis Wu 17:06:18 UTC) (permalink)
Entertaining vids for your Monday morning
Obienator found a couple of funny vids from female gamers - you can watch OboeCrazy's funny ode to 'Standers' (folks who join social matchmaking and don't actually play, assuming that at least some of the time they'll finish in the top 3 and thereby gain an experience point without having to participate), and you can check out Little Miss Gamer's review of Gitaroo Man. Wait, what does Gitaroo Man have to do with Halo, you might wonder? Well, there's a really fun hand-drawn intro for this review which has Little Miss Gamer playing Rocket Race in Matchmaking. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 14:23:50 UTC) (permalink)
The Final Run, in LEGO
Very awesome - Nannan Z. has recreated a vignette from Halo 3's final run (if you haven't played the game all the way through, this probably contains spoilers) - out of LEGO bits. You can view the piece, from a number of angles, either at MOCpages.com or Flickr. This one's display-worthy, for sure. Thanks, Unique Name. (Louis Wu 14:13:18 UTC) (permalink)
ITS A TRAP
2phast wrote to say that the next Larry the Marine comic is up - I'm guessing Larry's gonna have some trouble with this particular strategy. (Louis Wu 14:05:00 UTC) (permalink)
Marty O'Donnell - Style Setter
The UK's Times newspaper has a bit in its online News in Brief this morning about Universal Music that caught my eye:
Universal Music, the record company whose artists include Amy Winehouse and Eminem, is advertising for monks to record an album of chants after the popularity of the Halo computer game. Dickon Stainer, from Universal, said: "It's going to be a challenge. You can't open Yellow Pages and call a monastery."
Heh. (Louis Wu 13:59:32 UTC) (permalink)
News February 10 2008
Seeing Double
Pointless Lists has posted a series of stereoscopic Halo 3 screenshots, using the technique put forth by Kato a few months ago. If you've got 3D glasses, take a look! Update: whoa. Guess I should have checked our forum, first - Mike Carson (the guy behind Pointless Lists) mentioned this there about an hour ago. (Louis Wu 23:32:44 UTC) (permalink)
The Riot 86
The Riot 86, with Community Awards results (though not the actual awards ceremony itself), is now available for your listening pleasure, at Second-Foundation.net. 30 minutes, 12 mb, with lots of community news on top of the awards stuff. Go listen! (Louis Wu 22:11:01 UTC) (permalink)
I gotchyer caption, right heah...
Last month, Hawty McBloggy kicked off a 'Caption This' contest, asking for submissions regarding a shot of Joe Staten holding an enormous spike grenade. Today, she's posted the results of that contest - she got nearly 500 submissions, and narrowing it down was tough. You can read the winner, along with a number of honorable mentions. Good stuff! (Louis Wu 20:55:40 UTC) (permalink)
Laughs for Cash
GamingTV is running a 'Laughs for Cash' contest; you can read their front-page newspost about it, or just jump right to the announcement post on their forum for full details. Over $200 in prizes; submit a funny machinima, win cash. Check it out! (Louis Wu 20:03:46 UTC) (permalink)
Extreme Content Enabled in Halo 3
Darkspire Films wondered what Halo 3 would be like with extreme content enabled. Looks to be inspired by Quentin Tarantino. Pretty short (1:20 long), so go take a look! (Louis Wu 16:13:13 UTC) (permalink)
Thank God Bungie aren't sellouts
This was supposed to go up yesterday - but... well, yesterday was something else. So it's up today. Another Halo Comic Strip looks at what COULD have been... and says 'thankya'. (Louis Wu 15:41:30 UTC) (permalink)
Highwire Assault
Rockslider has found an interesting way to play the end of Tsavo Highway - it's the acrobatic approach! Check it out. (Louis Wu 15:38:00 UTC) (permalink)
News February 9 2008
Amazing Shots
Hawty McBloggy has posted some of the most impressive shots that have gone up in the past two weeks at i <3 halo screenshots - check 'em out, and then browse through the rest of the amazing collection. She's adding several every day - and there are more features coming soon. (Louis Wu 23:12:07 UTC) (permalink)
AudioLastic
Narcogen let us know that HaloMusic.com - erm, sorry, I mean Rampancy.net - has a whole bunch of new music and music musings for you today. MJCrascal21 has submitted 'Follow our Brothers', 'To Kill a Demon', and 'Covenant Dance' to the Sheet Music database (some audio coming soon), and Narcogen has added part three of his Halo 3 Soundtrack Review, which finishes the project. (This last part tries to be a little less wordy than parts One and Two - but Narc explains in the comments that he's planning to revisit some of the themes in later works, so he didn't feel like he was shorting anything.) Good stuff! (Louis Wu 14:09:59 UTC) (permalink)
AIAS says 'not this time'
In 2001, Halo was a finalist for 8 awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences - it won 4 of those. In 2005, Halo 2 was up for 6 awards - and again, won 4. This year, Halo 3 picked up a paltry two nominations (Outstanding Achievement in Online Game Play and Action Game of the Year) - and it lost both of those to Call of Duty 4 (which cleaned up, actually). Full results are here. (Louis Wu 13:39:05 UTC) (permalink)
Arby 'n' Chief Episode 4
Spartan Jag was the first to notice that DigitalPh33r's Arby 'n' Chief Episode 4 was up at Machinima.com (you can also find it on YouTube - thanks, Vincent). Topical - it focuses on melee attacks, and how they work (or don't). Arby'll probably take less verbal abuse by the end of the month... (Louis Wu 13:38:07 UTC) (permalink)
OMG it's Newsalicious
The Bungie Weekly Update is up - there is in-depth info about the fixes to the Melee system in Halo 3 (coming later this month to an AutoUpdate near you!), with some fascinating behind-the-scenes numbers that should really help people looking for ways to maximize damage to others (and minimize their own death). There's also info about dealing with cheaters, a confirmation that the Commando shoulders will be unlocked for everyone when the AU hits, some awesome news about an upcoming community-generated playlist, tidbits about the next DLC maps, news of a special Valentines Day hopper (yeah, because playing Halo 3 all night is DEFINITELY the way to score points with your SO), some TTL-generated artwork. Oh, yeah, and a little something something about an auction. What? Read it there, read it here. Your call. (Louis Wu 01:50:56 UTC) (permalink)
Mister Chief For Charity!
Frank O'Connor, in a fit of charity, decided to create an honest-to-goodness real-media-on-canvas rendition of Mister Chief... and give you a chance to buy it. Not only that, but the money that you spend on this masterpiece will be going to the Brian Morden Foundation, which fights Ewing's Sarcoma and other childhood cancers. (If you'd like to read more about how Brian Morden has affected the Halo community, swing by Bungie Sightings, and pick from the links on the right.) This piece is titled
"Here Lies the Last Sip of the Bourgeoisie Malaise Consommé."
After you study it for a while, I'm sure you'll understand where that came from. Go bid; you've got a week. (Louis Wu 01:33:49 UTC) (permalink)
News February 8 2008
Mourning Has Broken.
Another 'you have to laugh, even though it's mean' Sarge-related, spoiler-laden One One Se7en today. Go read. (Louis Wu 20:12:13 UTC) (permalink)
Space Owls and Thunder Chat
More cool concept art, and an interview with Ensemble's Thunder, can be found over at the Halo Wars website. (Man, I wish they had permalinks on their news stories.) Good stuff! Thanks, Mike Hector. (Louis Wu 20:04:12 UTC) (permalink)
Pro Halo News from MLG Canada
MLG Canada is doing a great job of keeping you updated on the 2008 MLG Pro Circuit Ladder - swing by to see where your favorite team is sitting! (Louis Wu 12:37:54 UTC) (permalink)
Halo built the Xbox - now it's confining it
Wired interviewed Shane Kim at DICE recently, and Halo came up a few times. It really sounds like Microsoft is working hard to dispel the notion that your Xbox is for playing Halo, alone. (In fact, more than once, it sounds almost like he's complaining about it.) They're trying to grow their market, and the icons for the moment are from M-rated games... makes it hard to get parents of younger kids to take a second look, I guess. (Louis Wu 12:35:44 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
There are only four new pieces to read in the Fan Fiction section this week - you should be able to knock 'em off before breakfast. (Louis Wu 11:22:21 UTC) (permalink)
Rabbit Hunt
It's Friday, so TTL Demag0gue is back with a new Reclaimer comic. Chapter Three, Part Six shows that Viper might have a surprise waiting... (Louis Wu 11:20:58 UTC) (permalink)
Some kinda active
Hawty McBloggy is back with another Rorschach Inkblot Test - this time, it's from The Pit. What do you see? Does it tell me about your childhood? (Louis Wu 11:19:21 UTC) (permalink)
Strap on your six-shooters...
This week, the Halo Humpday Challenge was put forth to the Tied the Leader Gunslingers. They've never faced Bungie before - but a nicer bunch of players you just ain't gonna find. Luke did his best to find reasons to talk smack about these guys... but he just couldn't do it. Maybe it's because TTL won. When you're done reading Luke's side of the story, you should swing by the Tied the Leader blog and read XerxdeeJ's side. Nice talk, and nicer pics. Good Game, everybody. (Louis Wu 01:51:38 UTC) (permalink)
News February 7 2008
Forge Artists get EGM Lovin'
The March 2008 issue of EGM contains an article on some Forged maps - you can see the ones highlighted in their Extras section on the EGM website. Thanks to AlkalineProdigy for the heads-up (his Pac-Man map was one of those featured). (Louis Wu 21:44:38 UTC) (permalink)
Weta Goodness
Wow. x1zero pointed out some new (to us) shots at the Weta Workshop website - there are a bunch of action shots, clearly taken from the Halo 3 shorts filming done last year, but there are also a bunch of weapons pics. Go look! (Several of these weapons were seen in a recent Bungie Weekly Update.) (Louis Wu 20:24:58 UTC) (permalink)
Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition - more info
In January, we mentioned a new book from the Guinness World Records folks - looks like it's out now, in the UK, and will be out in the US next month. I still wonder whether any of the records mentioned will still be standing by the time I see the book... (Louis Wu 20:06:45 UTC) (permalink)
Grifball - it's what's for breakfast.
There are a couple of new videos available at grifball.com, for you Grifball enthusiasts - there's the first 5 minutes of a heavily anticipated match from last night (American Dream vs Cannonball - both undefeated going in), and there's a highlight reel from last week's gameplay around the league. If you're like me, watching these just makes you want to go play. (Louis Wu 17:01:37 UTC) (permalink)
Perfection on Double Team
evildoctorwill pointed out a Player Match Commentary from Tsquared over at MLGPro.com - he played a random Double Team matchmaking game to a Perfection, and walks you through his gameplay choices. I'll never be able to match the skill... but I bet my game improves if I pay attention to the strategy. Go watch! (Louis Wu 16:56:51 UTC) (permalink)
Cellulight
ZZoMBiE13 takes a look at what drives us in today's episode of Another Halo Comic Strip. Can you honestly say you're above this? (Louis Wu 15:02:32 UTC) (permalink)
Tastes Great! Less Filling!
Whee! Two weeks ago, Call of Duty 4 took over the Top Live Title spot - and then was bumped down again by Halo 3 last week. They're up again - see-saw! Thanks, MasterChief2829. (Louis Wu 14:46:39 UTC) (permalink)
Shielding Yourself
Hawty McBloggy pointed out a 'Halo 3-themed Spartan Shield' she found on eBay - interestingly enough, it's exactly the same listing as we posted back in June 2007. I guess it never expires; the guy just keeps making them as people buy them. I suppose that's a good thing; if buyers were unhappy, it would probably have come down by now. (She also points out a slightly less subtle design, from the same seller, so if Celtic-looking Forerunner designs aren't your thing, there's still an option to buy.) (Louis Wu 14:15:09 UTC) (permalink)
Sacred Icon, as played by you
Rampancy.net has posted another piece of Halo sheet music - Sacred Icon for Piano/Keyboard was transcribed by Jonathan Churchill. Package contains a PDF file and an MP3. Go grab it! (Remember, you must be logged in to see a download link.) (Louis Wu 14:09:50 UTC) (permalink)
Top Five Halo 3 Maps
OMG Halo has posted a 'Top Five Halo 3 Maps' - it's just the opinion of one guy, but it's a decent list, well-justified. Go see if you agree! (Louis Wu 13:59:01 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 up for Audio Awards
Halo 3 is up for a whole passel of awards from the Game Audio Network Guild - you can find out what it's been nominated for far more easily at the Rampancy.net website than you can at the GANG website (thanks for that, Narcogen). Seven nominations... we'll see what they go home with after February 21. (Louis Wu 13:57:28 UTC) (permalink)
Wuv Me Do
Halo Action Figure Theater continues on with episode 124 - I can't tell if I should be scared, or amused. I think I'm scared. (Louis Wu 13:50:33 UTC) (permalink)
News February 6 2008
Clash of the Titans
A couple of weeks ago, Bungie played a Halo Humpday Challenge against the SBG clan - and today, SBG released a tribute video to say thanks to Bungie. Five and a half minutes long, 102 mb, XviD format (NAMLOCO nicely provided a link to the codec if you need it) - grab a copy of the vid from FileFront. (For what it's worth: after reading about the 'Nades and Spades' gametype in Bungie's writeup, I downloaded it, and we've played it here a few times... it ROCKS.) (Louis Wu 20:21:46 UTC) (permalink)
We are warriors.
Dream053 has worked on machinima before, as a voice actor; he wanted to try his hand as a producer. Check out his first stab. (Louis Wu 18:19:08 UTC) (permalink)
HaloShock
JeSteR 343 found a small Flash video at Funnyjunk - it'll only take you a few seconds to watch. (Louis Wu 17:30:51 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Legendary - for cheap in Canada
Xbox360Fanboy found a whole bunch of Halo 3 Legendary Editions at EB Games in Toronto for $59.99 (canadian). If you're local, check it out! (Louis Wu 17:20:05 UTC) (permalink)
Socket To Him.
Stuntmutt has found an attack considerably stronger than 343 Guilty Spark's beam in today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 15:32:46 UTC) (permalink)
1UP looks at the year ahead
1UP.com has posted Decision '08, an article that looks at the best games to be coming out this year. The Xbox 360 section includes Halo Wars. (It also includes some quotes from industry analysts on the effect of Bungie's independence on the future success of the platform.) Thanks to Mr. Titan, at Planet Halo, for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 14:31:13 UTC) (permalink)
Outpost Isil Ep 3: Scotland the Very Brave
Treeskunk Productions has posted Episode 3 of their Outpost Isil series - the squad gets two new recruits. I'm not sure that's a good thing... thanks, Bzerker. (If you'd rather not download it, their front page news post has streaming links on every site on the internet, apparently.) (Louis Wu 14:22:24 UTC) (permalink)
What About His Power Level?
Halo Action Figure Theater has been updated with Episode 123 - can chains really control zombies? Hmm... (Didja notice how I didn't even deign to mention the power level reference? ...DOH!) (Louis Wu 14:18:40 UTC) (permalink)
The Hills are Alive... with the sound of gunfire
In a moment of frivolity that is likely to haunt him for months, Frankie chose to highlight a Forged map someone sent him on Bungie's front page. (Cue the sound of 100,000 frantic Forgers pm'ing Frankie with the hopes of being the NEXT highlight victim.) Go check out the map he mentioned; it's lumpy. (Louis Wu 14:05:02 UTC) (permalink)
Pursuit
It's Wednesday, so it's time for another Reclaimer comic. TTL Demag0gue posted word of Chapter Three, Part Five in our forum - looks like the Reclaimer might be in a wee bit of trouble. (Louis Wu 13:59:50 UTC) (permalink)
News February 5 2008
Looking Ahead, Take Two
Okay, this one has to be tagged with 'crack pipe musings'... but dogsounds has taken some statements from Gearbox's Randy Pitchford, and put them together with a comment from a friend inside Microsoft and some lateral thinking (or maybe just a few pints of ale) and come up with some wild speculation. You can read all about it in his blog. Update: dogsounds pointed me to a post from Surfer Girl that connects Randy Pitchford to a Halo-related title in a DIFFERENT context. Curiouser and curiouser... (Louis Wu 20:30:51 UTC) (permalink)
Funny, I thought he DID sing...
MSN UK has posted a gallery of 'Gaming's unsung heroes' - supporting cast members we couldn't live without. 343 Guilty Spark made the list. Thanks, OddGodHMK. (Louis Wu 20:25:44 UTC) (permalink)
Cockroaches under your Scalp
Game Girl has posted their Top 7 Most Annoying Enemies... and Halo's grossest baddies take spot number 2. (No, I'm not gonna mention them, because then I'd have to mark this post with a spoiler tag.) Thanks, Decommissioner. (Louis Wu 18:18:11 UTC) (permalink)
She Less-Than-Three's Halo Screenshots
Hawty McBloggy has been working on a Halo 3 Screenshots blog for a little while; she's dropped a few hints in her main blog, but hasn't wanted too much press before now, because she wanted to make sure she had something to show you before it went 'public'. Cat's out of the bag, though - Xorian stopped by our forum with words of praise... and Hawty says she's ready, so go look. She's planning on adding five a day, collected both from Bungie.net and from her email. There are some amazing shots there! (Louis Wu 18:10:30 UTC) (permalink)
The next ARTFX MC
Wow. SaGA sent us a link to a Japanese site with pics of a new Kotobukiya figure - it's called 'Field of Battle', and it's still pending licensing, but it's gorgeous. Currently aimed at a June release for 9800 ¥ (about $92 US). Awesomeness. (Louis Wu 17:59:56 UTC) (permalink)
Don't forget to recharge the batteries
Today's installment of Another Halo Comic Strip looks at some of the less... military aspects of the Mark VI Spartan Armor. (Louis Wu 14:41:04 UTC) (permalink)
Forge Hub Video Tutorial: Immovable Objects
TheShadyGnome, from Flem Productions, stopped by to announce the next Forge Hub Video Tutorial - this one covers Immovable Objects. (Louis Wu 14:18:05 UTC) (permalink)
In a world where people never die...
aklay47 and some friends put together a Master Chief costume... and filmed it in action. There are parts of this that are... really weird. Check it out! (Louis Wu 14:12:25 UTC) (permalink)
T-T-T-Tied!
Tied the Leader is back (thanks, XerxdeeJ) - go read an ode to ranked play ("you only learn how to play the game better if you are losing"), and a very nice desktop picture, complete with notes on how it was created. (Louis Wu 14:04:50 UTC) (permalink)
H3 Th3 Most
Yesterday, BuckHijo pointed out (on our forum) H3 Th3 Most, a website devoted to pointing out which players have gotten the most ______ in Halo 3; drop in your gamertag, and increase the info pool. (This uses the Halo API developed TheIronChef and Sticky Keys.) It wasn't working all that well yesterday, so I didn't front-page it then... but they seem to have gotten the biggest problems ironed out. Go see! (Louis Wu 13:53:49 UTC) (permalink)
Avoiding the mismatches
bit-tech.net has posted an article about 'The Art of Repetition' - how to make a storyline more immersive, and how Halo 3 did with this. (The basic argument - that it's hard to reconcile the idea of a supersoldier with your average beginning player, as he gets lost, shoots the wrong thing, and basically doesn't act like a supersoldier - is an interesting one.) Go read! (Louis Wu 13:50:43 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Pro Circuit Ladder Update
The MLG Canada website has posted a summary of what's going on in the Halo 3 Pro Circuit Ladder - if you're trying to catch up on your favorite pro team, check this out. (Louis Wu 13:46:57 UTC) (permalink)
Sitting in the corner, vomiting on oneself
Bungie's posted their newest podcast over at Bungie.net (and on iTunes) - 45 minutes, 51 mb. They're talking to Christian Allen, Bungie's new Lead Designer, about where he came from (Ubisoft/Red Storm/US Military) and what he brings to the table (apparently, the ability to die a lot in Halo 3). This was recorded before last week's Pentathlon, so there's some talk about what might be coming in that event, as well. Go listen! (Louis Wu 13:45:02 UTC) (permalink)
Get your Halo 3 Music Fix
Over at Rampancy.net, there are a bunch of new pieces of sheet music available for download - swing by and grab Impend for strings and keyboard, One Final Effort for piano, Black Tower for keyboard, and Never Forget (partially incomplete). (Louis Wu 13:40:01 UTC) (permalink)
Gender Differences in Game Appreciation
ScienceDaily has posted an article about some research that shows that video games, especially games that let you acquire territory, are more rewarding for men than for women, as judged by activation in the brain's mesocorticolimbic center (normally associated with reward and addiction). It was a small study at Stanford, but they're planning a larger followup. (Louis Wu 13:36:43 UTC) (permalink)
Neurons - Episode 2 Trailer
BlitzSnake let us know that Neurons 2, a sequel to a Halo 1 machinima he created last year, is still on the way - you can watch a trailer at HaloTube. (Louis Wu 13:32:17 UTC) (permalink)
Looking towards the next Halo sequel
Mr. Titan has written an editorial over at Planet Halo entitled 'Should Bungie Make a Halo 4?' He basically decides "sure, if they innovate this time around." Go read his reasoning. (While almost anything is possible, the likelihood, in my opinion, that Bungie will make a Halo 4 is up there with the likelihood that Frank O'Connor will find his Mister Chief artwork hung in the Guggenheim in the next 3 months. And to be clear, neither 'Halo Wars' nor the upcoming Jackson/Bungie collaboration ('Chronicles'?) will be a Halo 4 - they'll simply be games set in the Halo universe.) (Louis Wu 13:29:35 UTC) (permalink)
News February 4 2008
It's Society's Crime, Not Ours.
I dunno about you, but lately Stuntmutt's One One Se7en comics have been scaring me. (Louis Wu 20:13:08 UTC) (permalink)
PoA Floorplan - in Excel
This was submitted a LOONNG time ago - but for some reason, I never got around to posting it. Last June, OdieTurbo sent along an Excel file which shows off the floorplan of the Pillar of Autumn, created in conjunction with some fan fiction. I don't think I'd have ever considered Excel as a creation tool for something like this... but it's a great job! The Excel file is quite small (67K), but if you don't have Excel, and would like to see what was done here, I've taken a screenshot of the first floor sheet (shrunk a bit to fit on most screens). (Louis Wu 18:13:48 UTC) (permalink)
The cake is not a lie
Jenny Wright created this cake for her husband's 26th birthday - it was her first try, but she hopes they'll get better as time goes on. Tasty! (Louis Wu 18:02:16 UTC) (permalink)
Bionicle Elite
In early November, Jadis Faust sent along a bionicle Elite, based on Tina Leyk's artwork. The picture we got compares source and product directly. (Louis Wu 17:59:24 UTC) (permalink)
Random Stuff
We've had a bunch of stuff submitted to our uploads folder in the past few months that has languished, waiting for some free time to process it all; there's no way I can get to all of it right now, but there are a few pieces I can post easily, so I'll put those up. First up... a legendary bong from Shawn Morse. In no way are we commenting on the wisdom or ethics of this item - but you have to give credit to the creativity. This was submitted about a month after Halo 3 was released. (They'd made it the day they got the helmet.) (Louis Wu 17:57:19 UTC) (permalink)
Running
TTL Demag0gue has posted a new Reclaimer comic today - Chapter Three, Part Four shows the Reclaimer in a spot of trouble. Eep! (Louis Wu 16:48:56 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3-inspired Xbox 360 Laptop - I want one.
Black Six was the first to point out a new Xbox 360 Elite Laptop from Ben Heck - he found it at Engadget. It's Halo-newsworthy because the case design was inspired by Halo 3, and the demo movie uses Halo 3 to show off the screen. Amazing stuff! (Louis Wu 16:42:16 UTC) (permalink)
The Happy Sunshine Cannon
2phast let us know that there's a new Larry the Marine comic up - I'm pretty sure there are things that should never be given to Larry. The Happy Sunshine Cannon is one of those things. (Louis Wu 16:38:44 UTC) (permalink)
Blank
Underdawg253 let us know that Etzun Films has released 'Blank', a new machinima with a somewhat disjointed timeline (a la 'Memento'). I have a little trouble with the motivations, but the cinematography is pretty good. Go watch it! (Louis Wu 16:37:09 UTC) (permalink)
News February 3 2008
Pacifism: Evolved
ZZoMBiE13 had some special comments about the Superbowl, kicking off in about 2 hours. Go read Another Halo Comic Strip! (Louis Wu 20:50:00 UTC) (permalink)
The Riot 85
Sigafoos pointed out The Riot 85 - almost half an hour (10.5 mb) of community news, Rock Band discussion, and such. If you watch the video stream, you also get a pretty NSFW comedy clip. (Louis Wu 19:57:16 UTC) (permalink)
Spriggs: Unloaded
Digikid let us know that Spriggs Episode 6 is up for grabs. I gotta say... it seems like it's getting pretty silly. Maybe I'm just having an off day, though. Watch it for yourself. (Louis Wu 17:09:46 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 2v2 Tourney for American Cancer Society
CG Freedom 6 let us know that Charity Gamers is running a new online 2v2 charity tournament for the American Cancer Society. The tourney takes place on February 24; $20 to get in, prizes for first and second place teams. Go check 'em out! (Louis Wu 17:01:12 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 takes 6th in GCA GotY voting
The Game Critics Awards for 2007 have been announced - and Game of the Year goes to Bioshock. Halo 3 comes in 6th in total points (the scoring system is explained in detail on the site). (Louis Wu 16:42:52 UTC) (permalink)
Clash of the Titans
IGN has posted a comparison of Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3, but leaves the decision about which is a better game up to you. (God forbid you should decide you like both...) (Louis Wu 16:40:56 UTC) (permalink)
Achievement Generators
Fires7orm pointed out an Achievement generator created by GruntsRUs - but you need to sign in to use it. (If you'd rather not, he listed a few other ones on the web that require no login.) (Louis Wu 16:31:43 UTC) (permalink)
More McFarlane Previews
InnerRayg found a couple of collections of photos of the McFarlane action figures, being previewed in the UK. (He found a Toyfair gallery, and a Toysdaily gallery.) Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 16:30:13 UTC) (permalink)
Hey - where's the shoulder emblem?
Hawty McBloggy was faced with some unexpected snow this past week, so she did what any true Halo fan would do - she built a Spartan Snowman. It comes complete with plasma grenade, spike grenade, and even a katana. (Yes, that snowman got all the achievements.)
(Louis Wu 15:44:03 UTC) (permalink)
Podtacular 147
Podtacular 147 is up - they'll help you get through Floodgate. Go listen! (Louis Wu 15:41:34 UTC) (permalink)
That's not a job I'd take in a million years.
Wow. Here are some guys with ambitious goals. Grant Harrison is the vice president for the integrated consumer experience at Humana, and it's his job to bring health information media to the masses. He knows it's boring, and complicated. His goal? He wants health care providers to make health information and activities "entertaining."
"It should be as fun as playing Halo 3, or watching Flight of the Conchords."
Um... you've got a long road ahead of you, Mr. Harrison. (Louis Wu 15:39:24 UTC) (permalink)
Fathom: The Director's Cut
Mythica was hiccuping yesterday (a taste of things to come? Remember, you've only got until the end of this month to download what you want from there), so I wasn't able to announce a Director's Edition (basically, commentary by blackouTT) of Fathom, which had a trailer released last July. If you swing by the HaloGrid forum now, you can find mirrors (WMP9 and QuickTime) being hosted by GamingTV. You might find it interesting to see how these guys worked with each other and put this film together. (blackouTT also invites you to swing by the website of Eden Visuals, his recently-renamed media production vehicle.) (Louis Wu 15:34:32 UTC) (permalink)
News February 2 2008
Installation Disintegration: Part 6
ZZoMBiE13 finishes up his special series of visits to other Halos in today's installment of Another Halo Comic Strip - man, those things get all SORTS of weird visitors. Starting next week, he's back to his usual Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday schedule for releases. (Louis Wu 14:15:31 UTC) (permalink)
You're not the boss of me
Over at Rampancy.net, OldNick takes a look at boss battles in Halo 2, and Halo 3, and discusses what makes sense and what doesn't. The followup comments from Narcogen and others are also very insightful. Great discussion! (Louis Wu 14:11:11 UTC) (permalink)
He's not falling for your Jedi mind tricks.
trigger119 let us know that GamingTV has interviewed Zukan in its ongoing 'Interviews in Machinima' series. Swing by to read what this talented Swede has to say about making Halo-related content! (Louis Wu 13:59:39 UTC) (permalink)
G4's Speedrun Coverage
When Halo 3 launched, a couple of High Speed Halo regulars hooked up with G4TV and agreed to run Halo 1, live, on legendary, in LA, during the kickoff ceremonies. Cody Miller stopped by last night to post G4's coverage of the event. I wish they'd called them 'speedrunners' instead of 'speed gamers'... but that's just a nitpick, I guess. (Louis Wu 13:51:08 UTC) (permalink)
The Halo Shoe - from Adidas this time
Ross Mills pointed out a blog post at Complex.com that looks at a new, ultra-limited run of Halo-themed shoes, created by Adidas for Gil Arenas. ("Ultra-limited" means 100 pairs, total. No, you're not getting one.) Narcogen mentioned this as well, though he found it at Kotaku (who, in turn, got it from Complex). This means different things to different people - read each site's spin (and toss your own comments into the thread Ross started). (Louis Wu 13:45:43 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars - new concept art, new rumors
If you swing by the Halo Wars website, you'll find another concept art offering - this time, it's a Forerunner mining machine that's since been cut from the game. Gorgeous piece, and it looks like it was a pretty cool concept! Thanks, Mike Smith. (Mike also points out a random blog post that suggests that there'll be an exclusive sneak peek at Peter Jackson's "Halo: Chronicles" (first time I've heard that name) bundled with Halo Wars, when it ships. More on that if something comes of it.) (Louis Wu 13:39:16 UTC) (permalink)
Three Strikes
Elnea's posted Episode 122 of her Halo Action Figure Theater - sometimes, zombies don't want to stop. (Louis Wu 13:34:33 UTC) (permalink)
Random Halo Silliness
Luke McKay posted a new Halo sketch yesterday on his Red vs Blue profile... we've added it to his Gallery here. Life after the game, I guess! (Louis Wu 13:33:20 UTC) (permalink)
Working Class HALO - reproducing gameplay in comics
mrsmiley, over at Halo Babies, pointed out Working Class HALO, a site run by a bunch of guys that love Halo - and express it by creating screenshot-based comics of their matchmaking exploits. Take a look! (Louis Wu 13:28:18 UTC) (permalink)
Taking Potshots at Luke
Bungie Weekly Update is up (both at Bungie, and in our Weekly Update Archive), and it's a doozy. Melee fixes, map changes, and Luke-bashing. And Mister Chief is back. Go read. (Louis Wu 03:46:54 UTC) (permalink)
Deus Ex Machina 5: Execution
When Deus Ex Machina Episode 4 was posted, it looked like the series was over. (It was even called 'The End'.) Swing by YouTube, though, and you can watch Episode 5, a 22 and a half minute piece from DigitalPh33r. (I assume this will be available soon on Machinima.com.) John recovers from his nearly fatal headwound, and returns to save his friend, and exact revenge. Thanks, Cortana4ever. (I've already asked if we could host higher-quality versions of these films - they're some of the best machinima out there - but apparently DigitalPh33r has an exclusive deal with Machinima.com, and can only release there.) Update: according to DigitalPh33r's blog, it is at Machinima.com already. My bad. (Louis Wu 00:51:44 UTC) (permalink)
News February 1 2008
A Flood Of Colour.
It pains me to misspell 'color' in the title of today's One One Se7en post. Not as much as the comic itself pains me, though... (Louis Wu 21:29:54 UTC) (permalink)
HaloLOL Contest
Win Microsoft Points is running another contest - submit a funny picture, win Microsoft points. Check their forum for details. Update: Looks like the traffic they got crashed their server - you can read about the contest here, but be aware the server's slow from the extra traffic. (Louis Wu 21:21:59 UTC) (permalink)
Installation Disintegration: Part 5
Another Halo Comic Strip takes you back inside the building. (Louis Wu 21:03:27 UTC) (permalink)
Campaign scoring - your way
MTV's Stephen Totilo wonders if Bungie should let us define the parameters of Halo 3's metagame - what actions are worth how many points. Me? I think you should get 1000 points every time you get killed. I'd clean up. (Louis Wu 18:19:02 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Guidebook
ryu9921 put together a Halo 3 guidebook, in PDF format; it's got a bunch of info collected from around the web, and can give you a one-stop document that can help you with armor, terminals, achievements, skulls, ranking, and some multiplayer map tips. Check it out! (1.2 mb.) (Louis Wu 15:35:13 UTC) (permalink)
Heard 'Round the World
TTL Demag0gue let us know that Reclaimer Chapter Three, Part Three is now up - looks like Reclaimer is facing more than he expected. Ouch! (Louis Wu 13:09:39 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
HBO's authoring maniacs have provided you with nine new pieces this week in the Fan Fiction section - go read! (Louis Wu 13:06:30 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Legendary - 60 bucks at Amazon
Amazon is once again offering the Halo 3 Legendary Edition for $59.99 (with free
2-day shipping if you're a Prime member). It's an unbeatable deal if you want that helmet! (Be careful, if you search; there's also a SKU that's listed at $69.99 for the same product.) (Louis Wu 12:47:07 UTC) (permalink)
| February 2008 | |
