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 | March 2001 |  |
March 2001 Archived News
News March 31 2001
Latest Gamestar contains Halo article
Massa, of Halo Network, has grabbed a copy of Gamestar, a German gaming mag, and has passed along some interesting news. First, the movie on the cover CD is actually a combination of the first (very short) video that appeared on Microsoft's Gamestock page for a short while, plus the Gamespot video... albeit higher quality than either of the web-released versions. Second, a couple of facts that he found intriguing:
The first thing is that they mention an actualÊrelease-date for the PC version wich is set for Q2/2002, which they claim is 6 months after the release of the Xbox version. The second thing is that they claim that there will be a "Star-Wars-like Jetbike" for the Humans. That could be the equivalent for the Covenant's ghost.
Good stuff... if you can get your hands on that mag, it might be worth picking up. Thanks, Massa! (Louis Wu 11:24:18 UTC) (permalink)
New French Halo site online
The Halo Times' Team sends word that another French Halo site, The Halo Times, has opened its doors. The community grows! Check 'em out. (Louis Wu 11:18:27 UTC) (permalink)
Pillar of Autumn has a bridge
Thanks to Matt, who popped into our forum, and Evil Bastard, who dropped us email, for letting us know that this week's Halo Update is over at Battleground: Halo. Grenades are back, the team is bigger (an artist working on multiplayer? Cool!), and some pretty interesting scripting stuff... go check it out. (Louis Wu 05:05:49 UTC) (permalink)
News March 30 2001
More Gamestock audio details
Marty O'Donnell popped into our forum (props for realizing it was even up) to elaborate a bit on the audio for the Gamestock video. Seems the out-of-sync issues folks have noticed are not present on his copy of the film... nice to know. (We're gonna leave the Backstreet Boys comment alone, though... (Louis Wu 23:32:36 UTC) (permalink)
Xbox tech demo
Zypper posted a pretty nice summary of an Xbox Tech Demo held on the USC campus today... definitely worth a read. Pax. (Crux Fidelis 07:11:47 UTC) (permalink)
Halo in the news
Massa, of Halo Network, writes to say that Halo showed up on German television yesterday. RTL2, a German television station, covered it as part of an Xbox report... and it was mentioned on their web site. The web report suggests that Halo has been downgraded for the Xbox, and that the PC version will contain all the goodies originally promised... but it looks a lot like (in Massa's words) "a rumor created by journalists who do not really know what they're talking about..." We'd agree. Still, nice to see Halo making the nightly news! (Louis Wu 06:28:34 UTC) (permalink)
New Miscellaneous Art to peruse
Thanks to Nate, who sent in a little bit of Photoshop fun for our Miscellaneous Art section. Opening a new day with a bang... (Louis Wu 05:44:14 UTC) (permalink)
News March 29 2001
Slow day at the OK Corral
News? We don't need no steenkin' news... (Louis Wu 23:55:00 UTC) (permalink)
News March 28 2001
Yet More New Wallpaper
Razorback sends in another desktop for our Wallpaper page (our third today!)... speed kills. (Louis Wu 22:29:58 UTC) (permalink)
New French Halo site opens
genohunter sends word that a new Halo clan, HELL (Halo ELite League) is open for business. It's French... but they plan on keeping up with the Halo news! Stop by and take a look. (Louis Wu 22:04:28 UTC) (permalink)
New Halo coming in PC Gamer UK magazine?
$erial-ki!!A sends word that PC Gamer UK magazine are also advertising their next edition as follows:
'We VISIT BUNGIE to get all the latest news and incredible SCREENSHOTS of this stunning tactical shooter!'
$erial-ki!!A goes on to note that PC Gamer UK got new previously unseen shots in their last feature on Halo. So we might be lucky. :) (Ding 17:13:52 UTC) (permalink)
More Wallpapers 4 U
Brian Davis sends in a second desktop image for today - same style, different colors. Check it out in our Wallpaper section. Pax. (Crux Fidelis 15:07:59 UTC) (permalink)
New Halo site at scabiesbaby.com
JB sends word that they have a new Halo fan site up and running at scabiesbaby.com. Go take a look. (Ding 12:41:10 UTC) (permalink)
Gamestock video on PCGUK disc
Griffon, of Halo Command Central, sends word that the June edition of PC Gamer UK should have the 182 MB Gamestock video on its cover DVD... if you're on a slow connection, this might be a reasonable option (it should be out by mid-may). (Louis Wu 05:11:27 UTC) (permalink)
Banner section updated
LADA KING sends in a large Halo-centric banner for our Banner section... nice to see action in that quarter! (Louis Wu 05:07:22 UTC) (permalink)
Wallpaper section updated
Brian Davis sends in another desktop image for our Wallpaper section - nice colors! (Louis Wu 04:58:24 UTC) (permalink)
News March 27 2001
Why PC Gaming Will Not Die
Why PC Gaming Will Not Die. The Adrenaline Vault has a featured article on the perceived threat of console gaming to PC gaming. Go put your fears to rest. Pax (Crux Fidelis 16:24:24 UTC) (permalink)
More desktops for j00.
More desktops for j00. darwin sends us a link to four desktops (wallpapers) he has done. They're all 1024x768. Head on over and take a look. (Ding 06:38:36 UTC) (permalink)
Random xbox links
Xbox news - thanks to Dave Bergendahl, who sent in a notice that xbox.ign.com covered the GDC 2001, during which Seamus Blackley confirmed that contrary to recent rumors, the Xbox is still on track for a Fall 2001 release, and to Kharn353, who sent word (via PlanetXbox) that the Xbox hard drive has been upgraded from 8 gigs to 10, and to schmiddtchen, who notes that Gamespot has an interview with Seamus Blackley. (Louis Wu 04:54:50 UTC) (permalink)
Wallpaper section updated
Thanks to Tom Bertram, who sent in a new desktop for our Wallpaper page - nice combination of old and new Halo art. (Louis Wu 04:43:40 UTC) (permalink)
Halo SETI Team 7 day stats posted
Dink!... Dink!... The Halo SETI Marines have dropped two more spots, despite the addition of 7 new members this week - production increased only by a slight amount. DarthFlounder accounted for more than 14% of the total team units... scary, considering that there are almost 600 members on the team. See if you're doing YOUR part on the 7 day stats page. (Stats were collected on time, yesterday morning at 7 am PST, but weren't processed until now, due to technical difficulties.) (Louis Wu 02:54:59 UTC) (permalink)
News March 26 2001
The rumors have started
The rumor mill cometh... Justin Lambert sends in notice that ps2.ign.com is reporting a rumor that the Xbox will be delayed until mid-spring of 2002... could this be real, or just sour grapes from a site that covers a rival console? (Louis Wu 05:03:13 UTC) (permalink)
News March 25 2001
Joe tells it like it is
As noted on the Marathon's Story page Joe Staten of Bungie's Cinematronics (Sin-O-MatiXXX) team dropped in on the Rampancy forums to give his two cents on the latest Unreal 2 tech demo movie. Yeah the one that looks like last year's E3 Halo movie. (Wirehead 17:36:59 UTC) (permalink)
Wallpaper page updated
Thanks to Darwin Campa, who sent in a new desktop image for our Wallpaper page. Stay tuned - there might be new images made from the hi-res stuff found on the Xbox press site. (Louis Wu 03:23:51 UTC) (permalink)
News March 24 2001
New B&W wallpaper
Evilbum sends us a black and white wallpaper with "subtle colors" and a "wussy circle". His words not ours. (Wirehead 15:25:18 UTC) (permalink)
And then there was one
Eric drops us a note to inform us that only one job remains on Bungie's front page, the other two must have been taken. (Ding 14:19:54 UTC) (permalink)
Chucky's headshots need work
Our cup runneth over. Fain though I am to receive new information, I bemoan the displacement of older erudition. Okay, enough of that. While we hate to see gems like the second round of Matt's Gamestock Q&A get bumped off the front page, we need to make room for this week's Halo Update:
There's a new member of the Sin-O-MatiXXX team: Adam Crockett. He's currently modeling the exterior of the Pillar of Autumn. The team is also currently working on bringing Cortana to life.
Definitely a hearty welcome to Adam. Don't forget that Matt suggested he do away with the weekly updates... if you want to see the Halo Update database continue to grow, let Matt know how you feel! (Don't forget, you can read all the updates on one page... including the latest one.) (Louis Wu 01:41:03 UTC) (permalink)
News March 23 2001
Second round of Gamestock Q&A posted
Took a few days, but Matt's sent along the second round of answers to some of the questions you guys asked with regard to the Gamestock material. Some good news, some bad news, some just plain silly news. An interesting tidbit:
For Gamestock we put in an artificial framerate cap at 30 FPS because we didn't want to demo with an FPS rate that varied widely from moment to moment. That artificial limit is actually well within the limits of the hardware, as you might imagine.
Go read the whole thing, and discuss! (Louis Wu 23:09:11 UTC) (permalink)
EGM covers Halo in May 01 issue
B5RobMan@aol.com sends word that the May 2001 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly contains an article on the Xbox version of Halo. The screens all use the original marine... but apparently, there's some additional coverage. When we know more, you'll know more. :) (Louis Wu 21:58:09 UTC) (permalink)
Streamed and smaller versions of movies available
The official Xbox.com Halo site has added streamed versions of both the hi-res and lo-res versions of the newest Gamestock movies... the format is Windows Media, but I couldn't get the links to work on any mac-based browser. They both work fine on a Win98 box with WMP 7, though. Links have been added to both the hi-res and lo-res mirror pages. Additionally, Massa writes that Halo Network has put up a 24 MB .asf version of the large movie - quality falls between the high and low versions (but the size is very attractive!). (Louis Wu 21:19:03 UTC) (permalink)
Press pics, analyzed
SimplyDave has taken a close look at the new press pics, and has come up with some nice discussion fodder. Read. Discuss. (Louis Wu 15:08:03 UTC) (permalink)
Halo loses Poll position
Poll updates: Halo still trails several games, including even Doom, in VoodooExtreme's 'what game would make the best movie' poll... and it continues to be beaten by WWF and Pro Skater 2x in UGO's drool factor poll. Heh... you guys have forgotten how to smash polls. :) (Louis Wu 14:32:59 UTC) (permalink)
Other fun stuff for grabs
As a few thousand of you seem to have noticed, we came back online around 4 hours ago - hopefully, the telco guys found and solved ALL the problems. In the meantime, catch-up. Poking around on the Xbox press site turns up some other very interesting information... worth a look, until they turn off access. (Louis Wu 12:32:22 UTC) (permalink)
High quality Halo screenshots (TIFF format)
Kudos to Char over on the Rampancy forum for spotting an archive of high quality Halo screenshots (TIFF format) over at xbox.com. The screenshots are the nine most recently released ones. Judging from the URL this is the Halo press material from the Games Developers Conference (GDC) 2001. The screenshots are huge so if you have a fast line grab them before they shut the shop! (Wirehead 09:50:51 UTC) (permalink)
Jeeps, jeeps, and more jeeps
Well, even though nobody can see this, we can still add it to the archived knowledgebase... Hamish Sinclair dug out and sent to us the jeep pictures we alluded to on Sunday... the ones that had been posted a bit over a year ago, but had disappeared from the net. One of these jeeps is the same as the one Jay Faircloth mentioned last week - the other is a similar design. While these may or may not have inspired Bungie, they show that a classic design will live in many forms. You can see them on this page. (Louis Wu 01:22:07 UTC) (permalink)
News March 22 2001
Halo in next month's PCGUK
fAt1, of MPZ Halo, writes to say that the latest copy of PC Gamer UK has a teaser for the next issue:
Exclusive, Halo: It's back, we visit Bungie to get all the latest news and incredible screenshots of this stunning new tactical shooter!
That issue should be on the stands on April 19th, and possibly in the hands of subscribers a few days before that... let's see who's fastest with the details! (Louis Wu 19:56:56 UTC) (permalink)
VE Poll needs legitimate smashing
lookout lad noticed that Voodoo Extreme is running a new poll, asking which game would you like to have a movie made out of. Halo is currently running well behind the leaders. While we think that the Bungie Sin-O-MatiXXX team deserves your support, remember the last VE poll, and try to vote honestly. (Louis Wu 11:33:06 UTC) (permalink)
More hi-res mirrors
Thanks to omer and Bongo, who told us about Blue's News' hi-res movie mirror... and then to Blue's, for the listing of 3D Gamers' hi-res mirror. The hi-res mirror list here has been updated. Additionally, Halo Center has added the low-res movie, and hopes to add the hi-res version today. (Louis Wu 11:24:42 UTC) (permalink)
Dumbed-down AI for Joe
Jaime Griesemer, Designer on the Halo team, popped into our forum to clarify a tidbit for a fan who was concerned about the apparent quality of the enemy AI in the latest movie:
Yes, legit. Not that it wasn't fully functional, we just set it up so it was a little bit slower and easier, so joe could kill guys when he needed to and hit his marks in time with the music. The AI is much less predictable than it was in the movie.
(He was actually a bit less restrained earlier in the thread - had me chuckling...)
Banners page updated
It's small, yeah, but we try to be complete - we've added the latest banner displayed on Bungie's Halo page to our Banners page. (Louis Wu 00:41:30 UTC) (permalink)
More PC musings
And the questioning begins... Tom Van Sinden writes
A couple of observations:
(Sat Mar 10 15:26)
That glowing red light is a Microsoft Optical mouse.
(Sat Mar 10 15:47)
THAT looks like four-way split screen... hmm...
We just report what gets sent to us, folks... (Louis Wu 00:35:18 UTC) (permalink)
A lo-res mirror in Germany
Massa wrote to let us know that the lo-res version of the new movie is now available at Halo Network... and he hopes that the hi-res version will be up by tomorrow. (Louis Wu 00:27:17 UTC) (permalink)
News March 21 2001
bungie.com back up
Thanks to Harry Al-Shakarchi, who gave us the heads-up that bungie.com is once more accessible, with the movies moved to a nameless (IP-address-only) MS server. Go on in and see the pics! (And maybe even get the movies...) (Louis Wu 22:53:00 UTC) (permalink)
Bandwidth relief on its way
Thanks to Pallor for the heads-up - Max Hoberman jumped on to the R.net forum a few minutes ago to suggest that there'd be some relief for the movie congestion problem coming very soon. Great news! (Louis Wu 21:31:41 UTC) (permalink)
Sound Hijinks
More behind-the-scenes stuff... Marty O'Donnell explains a bit about how the sound worked during the demo. To set the scene, Joe Staten said this in his reply to Mark Levin's post:
If my shooting style seemed erratic, it's because I was trying to stay in sync with the music. Notice how the last Grunt in the penetration fight dies "on cue"? To accomplish that I had to miss the Elite with most of a clip.
When I first read this, I said, 'Huh?' Marty cleared up what was happening:
I was in the back of the auditorium playing a CD of the music that was made for Joe's choreographed gameplay. There were four pieces, each with some cool internal hit points (as long as Joe hits his marks) and then I started each new piece to correspond to Joe's location. The sound engine will do this in the game, of course it won't be wall to wall music like this presentation was, but it'll be pretty cool.
Thank God Joe didn't crash... or fall into that first big shaft. It would have kind of screwed up the choreography.
The things you have to do to successfully demo a game! (Louis Wu 20:42:17 UTC) (permalink)
PC build?
Things that make you go 'hmm...' Readers of the Marathon's Story page might remember that in the series of webcam movies Hamish has been posting for a couple of weeks, there was a missing day... and David Candland (part of the Online team) wrote to tell Hamish that that particular day,
"That timeframe is more eventful than one would guess. My oldest son had a soccer game at 4:00 that afternoon. I brought my 2 boys in to the office to kill some time since we were already in town. They played games and got to play the gamestock build of Halo while they were here."
Today, that missing movie showed up... and it's interesting, to say the least. The relevant timeframe (as readable at the top of the image) is Sat Mar 10 14:45 to 15:53 (at which point, a divider is moved in front of the camera, obscuring the view)... and as Hamish points out, it certainly LOOKS as though the kids are playing on a PC, with a keyboard and mouse... Remember, we don't actually KNOW anything about this situation, this is all just speculation, from a series of highly compressed, low-resolution webcam pics, but still... Pax. (Crux Fidelis 20:30:19 UTC) (permalink)
Movie analysis begins
Mark Levin posted a long and detailed analysis of the new movie, and cross-posted it to Rampancy.net... where he got a reply from Joe Staten, who clarifies a few tidbits. Both posts are definitely worth a read! (Louis Wu 20:05:17 UTC) (permalink)
First Hi-res mirror appears
Thanks to Eric Odegard, who found a european mirror for the hi-res Gamestock demo, at FragZone (in Sweden). Let's hope this doesn't crush them... :) (Louis Wu 19:28:33 UTC) (permalink)
Backstory updates
For those who would like to see the current form of the Halo backstory, we've transcribed the voiced-over commentary of Joseph Staten, as recorded during the Bungie demonstration at Gamestock. (This has also been sent to Hamish Sinclair for inclusion on the Official Halo Backstory page.) Quick update: Oops - seems Bachus included this entire transcript in his synopsis, posted last night (and even mentioned by me, on this page). Gotta be more careful... (Louis Wu 19:11:12 UTC) (permalink)
Poll smash at UGO
Thanks to EKSalzman@dstsystems.com, for pointing out a UGO poll - 'which Xbox game has you drooling?' Halo is currently third, behind WWF Raw is War and Pro Skater 2x (does that tell you something about their audience?). You know what to do... (Louis Wu 17:34:21 UTC) (permalink)
Lo-res movie mirror list compiled
We've put up a list of all known mirrors for the low-res version of Bungie's new Gamestock movie - currently, that's 6 download sites in two countries. If/when mirrors for the hi-res version begin to appear, we'll put them up. Thanks to Tomas Matuschek and Halo Network for some of these links. (Louis Wu 17:17:19 UTC) (permalink)
Surrealistic biscuit hunting
The shield blocked out most of the noise around him, but he could still hear reverberations coming through the grating. It sounded like a jackhammer hitting a broken xylophone stuck on one note and amplified through a hundred sub-woofers.
More Fan Fiction today - this one's a little strange. When you get to the Pleenta, you may just wonder where you are... Check out Chris Bisoski's 'No Biscuit for You' in our Fan Fiction section. (Louis Wu 15:37:41 UTC) (permalink)
New Fan Fiction for your perusal
While you're waiting for some server to unclog enough to download the hi-res version of the new Gamestock footage, we've got some reading material for you.
He was about to move the camera back when he noticed something that made his blood chill. A pair of Covenant elite were slowly moving through the woods about 150 yards from the two Marines, on a path designed to intersect.
Bastard sends in the next installment of the storyline he started with 'Tides of War'. You can find 'Last Stand', the new story, in our Fan Fiction section. I'm beginning to realize that this section might have value to the Halo storywriting team... some interesting missions could be developed from some of these stories. (Louis Wu 14:56:40 UTC) (permalink)
Halo movie mirror sites
Our good friends over at Blue's News have mirrored the low-res Halo movie (34.6MBs). Their download page also lists 3D Gamer as a source for the movie as well. Check back for mirror sites as we get them. (Ding 13:22:29 UTC) (permalink)
Halo movie screen captures
Kudos to Harry for creating a page of screen captures from the latest Halo movie. If you can't grab the movie then get the next best thing. (Ding 13:15:40 UTC) (permalink)
Oceans of Halo goodness... if you can get it
Well, as everyone this side of Katmandu probably already knows, bungie.com and Bungie's Halo site were both updated this evening, and the highlight of the update is a nearly inaccessible new trailer, in two flavors. The big version is 182 MB, the smaller version is 35 MB. Bachus has kindly written up a synopsis for those frustrated by the overwhelmed Microsoft servers... and when mirrors go up, we'll do our best to tell you about them. In the meantime, we've updated our Screenshots section with the two new shots Bungie released... you might find them easier to view here. :) Enjoy! (Louis Wu 04:36:53 UTC) (permalink)
News March 20 2001
Gamestock impressions from PlanetXbox
Gawd... the every-day-checking of the PlanetXbox site for their promised hands-on report has finally paid off! There's some good discussion about the ease of transition to a console controller (they liked it), and a nice description of the mission itself... but the little tidbit that stood out for me was their description of the Halo as
...a giant world that, as Jones explained, spans over 10,000 kilometers in diameter.
A bit over a year ago, Matt Soell, in answer to a direct question about the size of the Halo, sent this:
I got an answer of sorts to the miles/kilometers question. Turns out that none of the figures discussed so far are accurate. Jason claims to not know where the 10,000 figure came from, as he's still doing the math.
If PlanetXbox's comment is literally true, it seems Jones has settled on the figure after all... Go read the whole thing for yourself! (Louis Wu 10:06:08 UTC) (permalink)
Magazine sighting for Halo
Joel Stransky found this (124K) 'in an old magazine'... that's all the info we have. Oddness. (Louis Wu 09:47:40 UTC) (permalink)
Halo's Universe open for business
It's not completely clear how we missed this... but we got notice a few weeks ago of a new French Halo site, Halo's Universe. Apologies for the long annoucement delay... Take a look! (Louis Wu 09:41:36 UTC) (permalink)
News March 19 2001
Halo SETI Team 7 day stats posted
Dink!... The Halo SETI Marines fall a notch to 48, partly due to lost units, but partly due to leveled-out crunching. Don't blame DarthFlounder - his output has INCREASED, to over 200 units a week. The rest of the team, though... there are fewer than 1/3 that actually produce a unit each week. Are you doing YOUR part? Check the 7 day stats page to see. Pax. (Crux Fidelis 15:17:45 UTC) (permalink)
Fan Fiction section updated
A cautionary tale... Anrkey's latest Fan Fiction offering, 'Joyride', explains why you should be careful what you get into... You'll find it in our Fan Fiction section. Pax. (Crux Fidelis 15:01:31 UTC) (permalink)
Breathtaking new Wallpaper available
Every once in a while, we get an art submission that takes our breath away. We got one of those today. Jay Faircloth, who has in the past submitted impressive material to both our Miscellaneous Art and Wallpaper collections, has done it again - Check out 'Hostilities', on our Wallpaper page. It's available in 5 sizes...and, well, maybe Bungie should consider the BoB armor for inclusion into the game. (Louis Wu 02:44:47 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Update database updated
Last Friday's Weekly Halo Update (originally at Rampancy.net) has been added to the Halo Update database. The database can show you fun things, like this is the fourth week in a row in which the 'Mighty Chris Butcher' has figured prominently. And is this the first time we've seen Chris Hughes' name mentioned? (Hint: no.) Go check it out! (Louis Wu 00:01:34 UTC) (permalink)
News March 18 2001
US counterpart to German jeep
Jay Faircloth (Anaphiel) points out that the US military has a lightweight tactical jeep as well, though not nearly as cool as the German one. Advantage - it can be dropped in via helicopter (a dropship of sorts...). There's a hi-res shot linked from that page - but beware, it's almost 2 megs. (Louis Wu 19:31:19 UTC) (permalink)
Another Halo-like jeep
Tilo Probst sent this to Hamish Sinclair, of the Marathon's Story page, who forwarded it to us, with permission.
I was reading the book: "Terry Gander: Moderne MGs - Eine internationale Übersicht" (German title, but a book about modern MGs). On page 97 I found an interesting picture, showing a jeep called "Light Strike Vehicle, Wessex Stalker series". In my opinion it looks like the famous halo jeep used by the humans!
A bit over a year ago, there was another submission of a possible inspirational pic for the Halo jeep - the link is now dead, but we're working on recovering the image. (Louis Wu 17:45:54 UTC) (permalink)
More Gamestock reviews
"After taking out some aliens with the mounted gun and running over a few more..."
The Action Vault Gamestock report should make some of our forum regulars happy - running over enemies has been high on the list of requested features. There was also an interesting quote from Jason Jones, that must have come from the media availability session, since it didn't appear in the Gamespot UK interview:
"To dodge the multiplayer question a bit, there's going to be a whole bunch of graphic differences because we don't have to deal with the loading, we don't have to deal with the ATI boards, for example. That was a pain in the ass back in the PC days. Even though the Xbox has built-in Ethernet, the PC has this huge installed base of freaks that play Counter-Strike and Quake and all that on the net all the time, so you might find some multiplayer differences too, but we're really thinking about the Xbox experience right now. We're so damn busy dealing with pressure, trying to get it ready that we don't think about what the differences are going to be."
That's about as up-front as we've heard in terms of how the team is thinking about PC development. Other Gamestock roundups include Happy Puppy (they didn't get to play it, so there's not much there) and Gameweek (a short generic description of the game). Thanks to R.net for doing the digging to find these. (Louis Wu 16:56:05 UTC) (permalink)
Theory section updated
Shielded Halo? Ryan Parsons thinks so. Check out his Unified Theory, over in our Theories section. (Louis Wu 00:23:39 UTC) (permalink)
New Fan Fiction
It was sitting awkwardly, crouched with one leg underneath, having somehow survived having most of its chest blown away.
Up close and personal, with the latest installment of Chris Cox's 'The Prisoner'. You can find it (along with the first two chapters) in our Fan Fiction section. (Louis Wu 00:23:16 UTC) (permalink)
News March 17 2001
Is Halo the Xbox Killer App?
Thanks to Lophan, who noted that in today's GameSpy Daily, the Thought for the day was "What is YOUR killer app?" They suggested that Halo was impressive, "maybe worth buying a system for." Guess they should talk to the Daily Radar folks... (Louis Wu 20:35:05 UTC) (permalink)
Halo around the net
Looks like a bunch of gaming sites finished the week off by putting up their Halo reviews. Gamesmania has a pretty positive take - sounds like the AI is really coming along:
The AI of both your enemies and your allies is looking pretty good. Enemies will take cover during a fight, investigate noises and bodies of fallen comrades (it looks like bodies stay, if not permanently then for a good long while). If they catch and then lose sight of you, they will investigate your last known position.
GamePro has a short synopsis... they liked it a lot, and I hadn't ever seen this piece of trivia before:
In addition, two players will be able to play through the story in cooperative mode.
Now THAT sounds like fun. :) Finally, GamePen has an upbeat paragraph:
Even on a television, the game is gorgeous.Ê
We're still waiting on the PlanetXbox review - they say it'll be up today. (Thanks to R.net for the heads-up on a couple of these.) (Louis Wu 18:54:13 UTC) (permalink)
Halo music video
DigitalGolem writes that he's uploaded a new music video from Halo clips. It requires the divx codec to watch, which I haven't had time to install yet... but at least one person on the forum liked it. :) It can be found here, and links to all the necessary software are on the page. Be sure to let DG know what you think! (Louis Wu 10:52:52 UTC) (permalink)
Weekly Halo Update Goodness
Matt's weekly Halo Update can be found at Rampancy.net this week - as though we didn't have some idea already how Halo was doing. :) We got names for "here are two people working FULL-TIME on multiplayer" mentioned in the Q&A yesterday - Hardy and Michael - presumably Lebel and Evans, two big names from the Oni team... and we got teasers like this:
Marcus got the lovely gorgeous waterfalls working again and placed a couple of them on the first mission you play after you land on Halo. Of course that will be at dusk and you might be distracted by the enormous structures firing huge bolts of plasma over to the other side of the ring.
Goodness, if that doesn't pique your interest, you should head over to the Tribes 2 sites, or something. Thanks, Matt! Go read the goodness for yourself. (Louis Wu 01:58:07 UTC) (permalink)
Wallpaper page updated
Thanks to Oliver Heilwagen, who sends in a nicely done desktop image for our Wallpaper page... go grab it! (A little bit o' green in there, maybe to honor St. Patrick...) (Louis Wu 01:57:26 UTC) (permalink)
News March 16 2001
A parable for our time
In the interest of sanity, Otokam writes a story of monkeys and quilts. Definitely worth a read. All your stuffing are belong to us. (Louis Wu 23:45:48 UTC) (permalink)
FiringSquad gets their hands on Halo
Thanks to Harry Al-Shakarchi, who pointed out a FiringSquad review of Halo. No new info at this point... but it was encouraging to hear die-hard PC gamers talking about getting the basics of fighting down inside of 5 minutes. Take a look! (Louis Wu 23:41:14 UTC) (permalink)
New video coming soon to xbox.com
fate noticed that the Xbox.com Halo site now has the following comment:
We have a better video coming soon!
There's also a fun new Halo flash animation at the top of the Games page... but don't follow the link, it's showing its PC origins:
http://www.xbox.com/Games/gameshaloPax. (Crux Fidelis 17:23:05 UTC) (permalink)
screenshot analysis reconstructed
A few days ago, we mentioned that Noctavis, of Rampancy.net, had posted a pretty nice analysis of the new screenshots. Soon after that, though, the R.net forum exploded, showering its denizens with shards of broken verbiage, injuring 14, killing 4. One of the casualties was Noc's analysis post. Luckily, he's taken the time to reproduce it, and in fact add to it. You can check it out here. (Louis Wu 14:03:55 UTC) (permalink)
Theories section updated
Todd Hansen sent in a couple of theories, which we've added to our Theories section: Ring Rotation and Weapons Usage, which plays with orbital bombardment, and Orbits/Seasons/Communications, which looks at weather patterns on the Halo. Have your own ideas about the Halo? Send 'em in! Pax. (Crux Fidelis 05:41:24 UTC) (permalink)
New Poll at MSXbox
Thanks to Char (IMG) for the heads up - MSXbox is running a poll asking what you thought the best game shown at Gamestock was. You know what to do. :) (Louis Wu 03:19:07 UTC) (permalink)
Matt speaks out
EXCLUSIVE: In response to the comments and confusion surrounding what was expected and what was delivered (to the public, not the press) from the Gamestock event, Matt Soell has answered some questions we've put together for him. Read them. If you have more questions that you think should have been asked, send them to the link provided... and we'll do a second round. Hopefully, this will quell some of the fears expressed over the past couple of days. (Louis Wu 00:42:12 UTC) (permalink)
News March 15 2001
Press page updated
Press page updated, with most of the bigger stories from the last couple of days. Also a few that fell through the cracks earlier. Go back and read the GlobalXbox article we mentioned this morning. It's hilarious. (Wirehead 18:43:34 UTC) (permalink)
What you should never say to a cyborg
Someone should hire this guy. Ian McConville, creator of the Gun Models here at HBO, has submitted an entertaining little comic for your perusal. If you like the style, visit the Mac Hall website (soon to move here). Oh, yeah... you can find the comic in our Miscellaneous Art section. (Louis Wu 17:59:27 UTC) (permalink)
admin change to news links
We've made a small administrative change to our front page - from now on, the 'news in brief' links at the bottom of the page (that refer to yesterday's news) will point to the actual news item in question - so a simple click will give you our spin on the subject. Following the navigation arrows at the top of the page to previous days (or using the day search on our news archive page) will show the same info. Side benefit - our bungie.net channel will now link directly to the news items, instead of to our front page. Hope folks find this useful! (Thanks, Forrest, for the suggestion.) (Louis Wu 14:57:50 UTC) (permalink)
PC Gamers lukewarm about Halo
Rampancy.net turned up three new Halo mentions around the net this morning: Gamespy's Gamestock roundup (generic description of the game on the third page, with word that a longer report will be coming), Daily Radar's Gamestock game rankings (disappointment that Halo didn't live up to the hype), and another Daily Radar piece in which its editors gave post-event impressions (Halo got pretty universally tepid reviews). Here's hoping the PlanetXbox hands-on review (the bit Gamespy said was coming soon) is more positive! (Louis Wu 13:15:15 UTC) (permalink)
Jason Jones Interview at GSUK
Wow. Gamespot UK scored an exclusive interview with Jason Jones this week... there's a lot of good stuff in there.
GSUK: How has Halo's focus changed since last E3?
JJ: For a long time we were very focused on a very cinematic third-person network experience on the PC though some people might say those words are mutually exclusive. What we boiled it down to sometime after last E3 was a much more first-person experience because we're primarily interested in the action and a little bit less in the cinema. We've really got down to work on the AI, not only how you'd play against it, but how it would assist you too. Like it's really fun to drive around with that guy who just hoses people with the chain gun.
Go read the whole thing - it'll make you happy. (Thanks to Laura Stobart of Gamespot UK and to Massa, of Halo Network, for the heads-up.) (Louis Wu 12:53:33 UTC) (permalink)
Hands-on impressions from MSXbox
The MSXbox team got a chance to play the Halo mission (and some of the other games) shown at Gamestock, and have put up their impressions... the report should be reassuring to those of us who weren't there:
Microsoft saw fit to release their own shots and not allow cameras in the event. Whatever their logic was it should be pointed out that you have seen nothing in my opinion. Games like Halo and Azurik are not done justice by the released media.
Their Halo report positively glows - go read it. (Louis Wu 10:18:30 UTC) (permalink)
old news roundup
A couple of items we noted on R.net, missed 'em first time around: There's a gushing Halo review (with some interesting multiplayer comments) written in mid-January over at GlobalXbox.com - old screens, but probably worth a read. Also, Mac Halo, IMG's Halo site, has awoken from its torpor and is back up and running. Easy to lose track of stuff during this media blitz... (Louis Wu 10:13:39 UTC) (permalink)
Another first-person account
Thanks to Char (IMG), who noted on the R.net forum that this thread in the ign.com forum contains another hands-on review of Halo, from a Team 17 member who was at Gamestock. His final summary:
he Conclusion: Everything I thought it would be, and more! It was so visually stunning on the Xbox. The jeep, the player, the aliens, down to the waves, all of it was so jawdropping. I was impressed to say the least.
Questions Answered: The presentation briefly discussed Halo singleplayer and the online features of the game. This should clear up anything with this strange rumor saying that there is no multiplayer. They also mentioned the split screen coop and deathmatch modes if it's just you and your friends.
Good news,that! Go read the rest - there's more in his post, and more in the thread, about controller use, among other things. (Louis Wu 02:18:41 UTC) (permalink)
SKY OF KNIVES!
The third weekly HBO Forum Update from black flag and a red star (earlier every week, it seems - we should call it the 6 Day Update) has been posted. More Jack Daniels is needed. (Louis Wu 02:11:22 UTC) (permalink)
Wallpapers page updated
Thanks to Jonathan Chapman, who sent in a new desktop image using the latest Ring Motif image. Pretty slick! Check it out on our Wallpapers page. (Louis Wu 00:19:07 UTC) (permalink)
HC joins mirror list
Hawk writes to tell us that HaloCenter has added the second Gamestock movie to its movie archives - and we've added them to the mirror list. Go get it! (Louis Wu 00:18:50 UTC) (permalink)
News March 14 2001
Gamestock movie mirror lists compiled
We've collected all the to-date-posted mirrors of the two Gamestock movies, and posted the lists on our Movies page. We'll do our best to keep them updated. (Louis Wu 20:18:34 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Empire mirrors Gamestock films
SOKAR writes to say that Halo Empire, another German site, has also mirrored the two Gamestock movies - you can find the small one here, and the larger one here. More relief for our European brethren! We'll try to update the movie mirror lists soon. Pax. (Crux Fidelis 17:23:14 UTC) (permalink)
One more new screenie
We've added one more screenshot to our Screenshots section. This was found at the beginning of the Flash animation on MS's Gamestock site. (We snagged it yesterday, but want to thank Razorback for the heads-up, anyway. :) ) (Louis Wu 16:38:16 UTC) (permalink)
More on the Ring Motif
The Marathon's Story page has added to its Ring Motif page with some images from Xbox.com's Halo site (a Flash animation). The designs were described earlier today as 'almost Egyptian' in their appearance (which ties in nicely with Foxhound's theory about the origin of the ship's name)... oh, to be a fly on the wall of the Bungie conference room! (Louis Wu 16:06:25 UTC) (permalink)
European mirror for Gamestock movies
Massa writes to say that Halo Network has mirrored both Gamestock movies - you can find them here. This should save cross-Atlantic downloads for Europeans... Pax. (Crux Fidelis 15:42:46 UTC) (permalink)
Noc looks at screens
Noctavis, of Rampancy.net, has posted a pretty nice screenshot analysis to R.net's forum. The rest of the thread covers some points he missed. Worth a read! (Louis Wu 15:12:54 UTC) (permalink)
Movies page updated
Our Movies page has been updated with the two new Gamestock movies... go grab 'em if you haven't yet! (Louis Wu 14:27:15 UTC) (permalink)
xbox.ign.com gushes
There's another hands-on preview over at xbox.ign.com, and their take on the multiplayer issue is a bit more heartening:
As for details like multiplayer, Bungie is still keeping its mouth shut on how it will be implemented in the Xbox version of the system, if at all. According to the team, Microsoft is still working out its online launch strategy, and that will determine exactly what we can expect from the online aspects of Halo.
Wait-and-see is always better than who-knows-if-it's-worth-it. For those not interested in the Xbox version:
The good thing about this, for PC gamers anyway, is that Jason Jones of Bungie mentioned that the PC version might feature different multiplayer elements than the Xbox version.
All in all, a very Bungie-positive review, with some good reading in it. (They also were a bit more neutral about the perspective issue - 'at this point' was used twice.) (Louis Wu 14:12:41 UTC) (permalink)
Troubling news about multiplayer
Thanks to both Kyle Konrat and Bongo, who wrote to tell us that the Gamespot article mentioned below contains some troubling words about multiplayer:
Howard also said that Bungie currently has two people working full time on Halo's multiplayer component, although the company still hasn't decided exactly how or if it's going to support multiplayer for the game.
That would be a great disappointment to a great many fans... In lighter news, the article describes two weapons that should be immediately obvious to any long-time Bungie fans:
For instance, while the assault rifle we were playing with is undoubtedly an offensive juggernaut, it does suffer from a few drawbacks, such as an inconsistent spread and high rate of ammo expenditure. Likewise, while the Covenant energy weapons effectively have unlimited ammo, they do overheat very easily.
Sounds an awful lot like the AR-75 assault rifle and the Zeus-class fusion pistol from Marathon, doesn't it? Okay, back to watching that second movie - the waves are amazing. (Louis Wu 13:45:02 UTC) (permalink)
Second Halo movie
Kudos to Darkman on our forum who spotted a second Halo movie over at ZDNet. It's a longer better one. Go read the hands-on Halo review as well. (Ding 13:02:19 UTC) (permalink)
Screenshots section updated
We've updated our Screenshots section with the nine new shots released today. Most are available in two resolutions: 800x600 (originally found at MSXBox.com), and 1920x1440 (originally found at Daily Radar). Enjoy! (Louis Wu 03:16:55 UTC) (permalink)
Fan Fiction section updated
In the midst of new screenshots and movies and previews, Anrkey submits a short story about our beloved cyborg. Go and read 'Technology Collides' in our Fan Fiction section! (Louis Wu 02:10:08 UTC) (permalink)
Gamestock movie now also at HaloCenter
Hawk from HaloCenter would like you to know that they have mirrored the Gamestock movie. Swing by if you're having Flash troubles with Microsoft's site! Pax. (Crux Fidelis 00:48:31 UTC) (permalink)
Dozens of solo missions...
Recently, someone on our forum asked about the number of missions that might be available in the solo player game. We don't have an exact number... but from MS's Gamestock page:
Fight the Covenant in dozens of missions as you uncover the dark secrets of Halo. Among your many objectives - attack enemy outposts, raid underground labs for secret technology, rescue fallen comrades, steal alien vehicles and weaponry, and snipe enemy forces.
We liked that 's' at the end of 'dozens'... (Louis Wu 00:32:32 UTC) (permalink)
News March 13 2001
First Person, Singular
Jon Keegan writes that he's converted the Halo .avi found on MS's Gamestock site to .mov format... you can find it here. It's 3.1 MB, with no sound. Thanks, Jon! (Louis Wu 23:29:39 UTC) (permalink)
The Shaft, in Purple Glory
The Shaft! Thanks to John B Hopper IV , who noticed that MSXbox has posted the other three screens they were missing... and a new one besides! So THAT'S what the Shaft looks like... (Louis Wu 23:25:31 UTC) (permalink)
More Halo info from DR
Thanks to Ferrex, who noted on R.net that Daily Radar's Xbox newsletter contains yet more info pertaining to Halo. It just keeps coming... (Louis Wu 21:40:28 UTC) (permalink)
Gamestock site has 2.5 MB Halo video
Halo video! Thanks to Fernando, who noted that Microsoft's Gamestock site is up and running... there's a 2.5 MB .avi video of Halo there, along with some other fun stuff. (QT on a mac won't touch it... haven't tried WMP yet. Plays just fine on a Win98 box.) Interesting that a lot of the shooting is done in first-person mode... (Louis Wu 21:33:05 UTC) (permalink)
Hi-res shots, preview at DR
Wow. Daily Radar has the shots, as well... but they're HUGE. 1920x1440 pixels. You want Hi-res, you got hi-res!!! The preview they go with is worth a read, too...
The gameplay seems to be developing as quickly as the graphic improvements. The world is now populated with an interesting and imaginative assortment of alien varmints, many bent on your destruction. The single-player game is awe-inspiring, taking you all around the gigantic artificial ring-shaped world on a quest to defeat an alien race known as The Covenant. You'll engage them in straight-out blasting duels, attack Metal Gear-style in complete stealth, or even commandeer heavily armed vehicles to launch more destructive attacks (those vehicle modes switch to a third-person view).
Go read about it! (Louis Wu 21:17:01 UTC) (permalink)
Smug Bastard checks in
Matt Soell dropped into our forum to update folks on the Gamestock presentation. The kicker?
And new screenshots are just the beginning. :-)
Go read what you missed! (Louis Wu 20:52:39 UTC) (permalink)
8 shots, not 6
Oops, my bad: there are 8 new images in total, on those two sites. The unique ones are here, here and here (on the Xbox site) and here and here (on the MSXBox site). The other three are common to both sites. (Louis Wu 20:14:07 UTC) (permalink)
NEW SHOTS!
Woohoo! NEW SHOTS! Thanks to Scott Cline who noticed 5 of 'em at MSXbox, and to Zypper, who hollered in the Xbox site (which has the same five shots, plus this one). Commentary later, maybe... right now, we're droolin'. :) (Louis Wu 20:07:30 UTC) (permalink)
Phoenix logo?
The Marathon's Story page had an interesting hypothesis this morning - that one of the business cards that showed up on the Bungie Webcam last night was Halo-related, due to its shape. Thanks again to Pallor and Mat Noguchi, who collaborated to bring us this closeup of that card - it's clear that 1) it's not really the Halo symbol after all, and 2) the card belongs to Bob Settles, who's known to be the program manager for the Phoenix project. Curiouser and curiouser... (Louis Wu 17:38:57 UTC) (permalink)
Pillar of Atum?
Now HERE is an interesting theory. Foxhound puts forth a novel suggestion for the origin of 'Pillar of Autumn', the ship that brings the humans (and, indirectly, the Covenant) to the Halo. Have your own ideas? Add them to the thread! (Louis Wu 13:23:38 UTC) (permalink)
Well, uh, "duh".
xbox.ign.com weighs in with their preview of tomorrow's events... the Halo comments are interesting:
Halo: Well, uh, "duh". Anyone who had doubts about this puppy being shown, shouldn't even be calling themselves an Xbox fan. Supposedly, the latest version running off the NV20 chipset will be there, and that is said to look much better than the previous PC shots that have been released. While you're waiting for Monday, why not read our preview.
Running on the NV20... that's one rev back from the final (NV25) that the Xbox will ship with. Should be exciting! (Thanks to Razorback for the heads-up on our forum.) (Louis Wu 00:51:07 UTC) (permalink)
Gettin' ready for Gamestock...
Thanks to Pallor, who sent in the first mail we got with the new Bungie business cards (as seen on the Bungie Webcam). There are more now... (Louis Wu 00:37:48 UTC) (permalink)
News March 12 2001
Halo SETI Team 7 day stats posted
Blam! Even with the loss of Soviet and his 767 units (to the MacAddict team), the Halo SETI Marines climb a notch to 47 in the Battle of the Teams. Nice going, guys! See who's pulling their weight on the 7 day stats page. Pax. (Crux Fidelis 15:35:00 UTC) (permalink)
And MORE Fan Fiction
Death and destruction everywhere! Another piece of Fan Fiction gets submitted this morning:
There they were, brilliant infrared blobs in his scanner, oblivious to his presence.
Check out the Fan Fiction section for the rest of Zypper's 'Trial Under Fire'. Pax. (Crux Fidelis 06:45:02 UTC) (permalink)
Fan Fiction section updated
The large Covenant tank fired its huge weapon, filling the pass with aqua radiance.
Another grim tale is submitted to our Fan Fiction section - check out Dredwing's 'Night Assault: The Mystic Savior'! (Louis Wu 05:33:05 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Update database updated
Friday's weekly Halo Update, posted over at Haloplayers, has now been added to the Halo Update database. Search term of the week is 'chain gun'... follow the progress since it was first introduced, 6 weeks ago! (Louis Wu 03:22:19 UTC) (permalink)
MSXbox puts up Gamestock preview
MSXbox has put up their own preview of the Gamestock event which happens tomorrow. The Halo mention:
Bungie Software's Halo is quite possibly one of the most anticipated titles of the past few years. Halo is a third-person sci-fi action game in which all the action will take place in the sky, on land, under the earth, indoors, or outdoors. New screenshots haven't been released for this game for several months now, and this new round should blow the others away.
Heh - they forgot underwater. :) We're looking forward to new media, as well, though... (Louis Wu 03:08:15 UTC) (permalink)
News March 11 2001
cortana.org begins to awaken
Interesting. Physalis notes on our forum that Cortana.org has more content, currently, than the simple placeholder it's had for a while. The top graphic incorporates a bit of an old Halo screenshot, and the navigation links (as yet unlinked) refer to players in the Marathon, Myth, and Halo universes. As Physalis notes, cortana.org is delineated in morse code at the top, and there are a few tidbits in the source. Currently, the only things available for download are a movie and an image involving the second Oni movie ever to hit the net (thereby rounding out the major Bungie games referenced on the page). The possibilities are intriguing... (Louis Wu 13:57:23 UTC) (permalink)
The tides... the tides...
Bastard sends in what we hope is the start of a multipart piece of Fan Fiction - The Tides of War.
Wolmak doubted they would make it far into the forest today, as he was being cautious about Svith's warning. Only a mile into the forest and they could all sense that something about the area was different... something that set their nerves on edge.
Swing by our Fan Fiction section to read it. (Louis Wu 02:21:33 UTC) (permalink)
T2 and TF2 ahead of Halo in Gamespy newsletter poll
Ricardo Rosado sends word that yesterday's Gamespy newsletter (he sent it hours and hours ago - it was still current then) has a poll asking you to choose the 'Team-Based Action FPS Game' you're looking forward to the most. Halo was third, following Team Fortress 2 and Tribes 2. Worth subscribing to to let 'em know which of those should be first? (Louis Wu 02:21:14 UTC) (permalink)
News March 10 2001
The World is Not Enough
Last June, when the news of the Microsoft buyout first went public, there was quite a bit of discussion about the possibility of Halo being the Xbox's 'killer app' - a game so good that gamers will buy an Xbox just to play it. (In fact, In October, 2000, Daily Radar wrote a piece suggesting that Halo was just that app.) In a new DR piece, though, discussing the biggest hurdles the Xbox needs to clear, they suggest that far from being the Xbox's 'killer app', Halo is just a PIECE of the success puzzle:
...[Microsoft] also needs some blockbuster exclusives to bolster anticipated titles such as Halo.
Ah, well... foolish consistency, and all that. Who said journalists can't be flexible in their thinking? (Thanks to S'phtman for the heads-up on the new article.) (Louis Wu 11:02:08 UTC) (permalink)
Fan Fiction section updated
Watching the sunrise over the edge of Threshold, I knew that there was a decent chance I could die in any number of ways before I got back to my HQ.
Todd Hansen submits chapter 2 of his story-in-progress, 'Vision of an Apocalypse'. Read it in our Fan Fiction section! Pax. (Crux Fidelis 10:41:56 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Skin for Rune
Heh... for those who want to play with the Halo marine's armor NOW (the original Halo marine, that is), check out this page. Holiday calls it HaloArmor. Looks pretty good to us! All you need is a copy of Rune... (Originally pointed out on our forum.) (Louis Wu 02:55:59 UTC) (permalink)
PlanetXbox looks ahead
PlanetXbox has a 'preview' of next week's Gamestock event... info is a bit sketchy, but here's what they say about Halo:
Jason Jones of Bungie Studios should be on hand to show off Halo in one form or another. We're hoping to see a playable version of the title at this point but it may be another video. In a recent Halo update from Bungie it was said "Halo" was being prepared for a Gamestock showing.
Even though Matt said at the Bungie Fanfest that the next time we saw Halo, it would be playable... we're betting on the video, too. (Louis Wu 02:44:30 UTC) (permalink)
Wallpaper page udpated
Oops! Apologies to Scythe, who uploaded a new desktop for us about a week ago - but we never noticed it in our upload folder. (Folks - if you want to be sure we see it, drop us an email. :) ) Anyway, it's up now, and you can see it on our Wallpaper page. (Louis Wu 02:39:00 UTC) (permalink)
Rifle-butting the aliens
Thanks to Zypper, who pointed out that this week's Halo Update is over at Haloplayers... and it sounds like they might just be ready for Gamestock. New music (this might be the bestest part), better AI, and lots of gameplay tweaks. Go read it for yourself... and brace for Monday/Tuesday's impact! (Louis Wu 02:27:50 UTC) (permalink)
News March 9 2001
MS's Gamestock 2001 placeholder up
Thanks to MoBill, who pointed out the (future) link of Microsoft's Gamestock 2001 page. There's nothing there yet... but there will be, on Tuesday. (Louis Wu 16:30:00 UTC) (permalink)
what's with the bippin' and the boppin'?
black flag and a red star posts his second weekly (well, sort of) HBO Forum Update (not to be confused with Matt Soell's weekly Halo Updates), and the big question is, can he keep it up? (Matt's been going for 17 updates now, over a 22 week span - it's a tough act to follow.) And bf... some of us DO know what the jazz is all about. (Louis Wu 03:37:59 UTC) (permalink)
Gotta love those suits...
Heh - Jack, on our forum, points us to an image that seems to sum up the feelings of a lot of Halo fans about the upcoming MMORPG, Planetside. It's all in fun... (Louis Wu 02:07:49 UTC) (permalink)
CGW wonders, when's dessert?
Kudos (hehe... he said kudos) to Paul Collette, who spotted a Halo mention in the March 2001 issue of Computer Gaming World:
Halo: "Graphics" is the focus of the Halo team. Most of the developer updates from Bungie have been discussing graphical tweaks and accomplishments, which is a bit worrisome. We still have faith, due to their past history, that they have their design chops. But when will we read more about gameplay and less about the cinematronics or the kinematics?"
Heh... the question couldn't have come at a better time. Will they see something they like on Monday? (Louis Wu 02:03:43 UTC) (permalink)
Schwag for Meg
Thanks to both Daedalus and EvilBastard, who sent us closeups of the Halo shirt (a pic which will probably remain on the Bungie Webcam all night) within 10 minutes of each other. No more, please. :) (Louis Wu 02:00:51 UTC) (permalink)
Gamestock, here we come...
Thanks to Zypper, who sent in this Bungie Webcam shot of Mat Noguchi modeling a new Halo t-shirt. This is the same Mat who said that the entire Bungie/Halo/Online team was concentrating 100% on Gamestock? Looks like they're ready... (Louis Wu 00:49:06 UTC) (permalink)
News March 8 2001
Fan Fiction section updated
I saw a fireball erupt behind the main body of troops and the communication tower leaned slowly and crumpled in a heap of rubble.
Todd Hansen sends in the first chapter of a Fan Fiction piece that 'has grown quite colossal'... if you're interested in seeing the rest, send him mail! (Read the beginning of 'Vision of an Apocalypse' in our Fan Fiction section.) (Louis Wu 10:54:35 UTC) (permalink)
News March 7 2001
Take heart, modem users!
Interesting. Hot on the heels of a query on our forum about the playability of Halo over a modem comes a news article at Daily Radar about a company (Xtech) who's producing a narrowband solution for the PS2 and Xbox. Details are sketchy at the moment, but Xtech says that they're aiming to bridge the gap between broadband-enabled-only consoles and the vast majority of online gamers. (I'm not implying that the news article is in response to the forum query - we're not anywhere near that egocentric here - I just thought the timing was interesting.) (Louis Wu 03:02:09 UTC) (permalink)
News March 6 2001
Rehashing old stories
Oops. Thanks to Dan Rudolph, who set us to looking in our own news archives... Seems the MSNBC story we mentioned yesterday is old news - we reported on the existence of the V-Chip-like control way back in September. Blame Louis - he's lazy. Pax. (Crux Fidelis 14:03:17 UTC) (permalink)
Halo-Australia back online
BluR writes to say that Halo-Australia is back online again - stop by and check 'em out! Pax. (Crux Fidelis 13:51:37 UTC) (permalink)
V-chip Wants Xbox, Yes
Thanks to Pallor, who noticed (on R.net's forum) that MSNBC has an article about a V-chip-style control to be included in the Xbox. It's not clear how this will affect Halo, since without the chip, parents concerned about violence levels would simply not buy it anyway, but it's possible that overall, more units of the Xbox will sell because of the chip. Details about the actual hardware won't be revealed before E3, in May. (Louis Wu 01:37:30 UTC) (permalink)
Mere screenshots? Pshaw!
Something other than 'mere screenshots', says Matt of the Halo offerings at Gamestock. Also, the bungie.com website (not just the Halo page) is about to undergo testing, prior to public display. Good stuff a'comin'! (Louis Wu 01:23:55 UTC) (permalink)
News March 5 2001
'Private Reg's Last Day of Combat' updated
Thanks to Maszimo, who sent in a rewrite of 'Private Reg's Last Day of Combat'. I haven't altered the submission date, but it's still available in our Fan Fiction section. (Louis Wu 20:12:22 UTC) (permalink)
Halo SETI Team 7 day stats posted
After 5 days of downtime, the SETI servers came back to life on Saturday... the output of the Halo SETI Marines suffered. Total units processed were down from ~3000/week to 600 this week. Ouch! Check the gory details on the 7 day stats page. (Louis Wu 17:42:28 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Updates database gets bigger
It's Monday again, so it's time to increment the Halo Updates database. The update posted at BGH on Friday has now been added. The word of the week is 'fun' - how often has Matt used it? (And does it tell us anything about the state of mind, over time, of the Halo team?) (Louis Wu 03:07:24 UTC) (permalink)
News March 4 2001
Ace in the hole
PunkRocker finds ANOTHER Halo news item, this time at Daily Radar. It's a preview of Gamestock, Microsoft's press-only event coming up in a bit over a week, and they refer to Halo as "the ace in Microsoft's hand". Heh... 5 card stud, anyone? (Louis Wu 14:17:34 UTC) (permalink)
Xbox Preview Guide goes up
Still using the oldest known screenshot, but with nothing but kind words, xbox.ign.com puts up an Xbox Preview Guide, and says of Halo:
Expected to make its Xbox debut at Gamestock 2001, this highly touted FPS title from Bungie is expected to change the face of action gaming with this Xbox-exclusive. This probably the best looking game we have ever seen, and the fact that it will be all about advanced AI, vehicle use, and more Online multi-player options than you can shake a stick at get us more than a little excited.
Nice to know that even without new material (nobody's seen anything new from Bungie since June of last year), they're still talking nice. (Thanks to PunkRocker for the heads-up on our forum.) (Louis Wu 14:11:13 UTC) (permalink)
Back to huntin' critters
Erbium-=SUN=- writes to remind us that the SETI servers are online again. (They came back yesterday morning, but due to the huge demand for new units, it was often difficult to tell.) Let's get crunching again! (Louis Wu 14:05:35 UTC) (permalink)
Halo AU having script troubles
BluR, from Halo AU, writes to say that they're having some trouble with their news scripts due to the change in servers - they're not dead, just looking for a new script host. (Louis Wu 14:03:00 UTC) (permalink)
News March 3 2001
HaloNews.Org closes its doors
Eep. Glock writes that HaloNews.Org (which started life less than a month ago) is closing its doors due to RealLife time constraints. Ouch. We wish him the best of luck in whatever he does. Pax. (Crux Fidelis 10:43:49 UTC) (permalink)
Like a Banshee out of... Halo
R.net got confirmation on the identity of the Banshee today - Matt clarifies that it's the high-flying Covenant vehicle (referred to as a 'Ground Support Craft' in the concept art released in 1999). The low-flying hovercraft are known as 'ghosts'. Glad that was cleared up - thanks, guys! (Louis Wu 02:03:25 UTC) (permalink)
No limos for Jason
This week's Halo update shows up at Battleground: Halo, and one of the best parts is this:
Lots of bug fixes on the programming side this week, getting the game ready for Gamestock.
For any who were unsure if Halo actually WOULD make a showing there, your fears should be laid to rest. Other highlights include the showcasing of Oni team strengths being brought to bear on Halo issues, and several AI factoids. This will be added to the Halo Updates database on Monday, but for now, read it in all its glory at BGH! (Louis Wu 01:50:40 UTC) (permalink)
News March 2 2001
tongue-in-cheek in review
black flag and a red star posted a 'week in review' summary of activity on our forum - it's pretty amusing (and on the mark). Check it out! (Louis Wu 20:03:55 UTC) (permalink)
News March 1 2001
SETI down, vandals bite
And while we're off-topic, those of you crunching SETI units might have noticed that you haven't been able to connect to the SETI servers for a couple of days. This is because (as the SETI home page redirect mentions) vandals cut the fiber line connecting UC Berkeley with LBNL. They hope to have it back up and running today.
Update: Seems the repairs won't be done before tomorrow, late in the day (PST)... call it another 27 hours or so. (Louis Wu 21:38:12 UTC) (permalink)
Dreamland going under - can you help?
Okay, this is totally unrelated to Halo, and that means we usually stay away from it. Seems to be a good cause, though... Neil Grattan, a frequent contributor to the fan-built sections around this site, writes
Mythos (the creators of the xcom series) are in extreme trouble, and are facing liquidation. I myself hold no links with them apart from being an avid follower of their games for many years. The one thing that I wish of your community is perhaps a look and some support of their latest title, which has been cut short and canceled due to publishers Virgin withdrawing funds. At this point you might be thinking...well what do you want me to do about it, its already canceled. If you were to visit http://www.mythosgames.com/dreamland.htmÊfor info on the actual game and http://pub50.ezboard.com/fmythosgamesltd32854frm1Êfor the forum you would see that opposition for the move is very much alive.
The game itself looks incredible - Grat brought it up recently on our forum, and the response was pretty positive. Check it out - maybe another Looking Glass can be avoided! (Louis Wu 21:35:18 UTC) (permalink)
Fan Fiction section updated
Thanks to Foxhound, who sent in Chapter 2 of his story, 'Group 3'.
I tried the squad comm link then flicked on the console in the jeep, just to see if there were any signals. There was nothing, nothing except the dry crackle of the damn energy storm, all communication in our vicinity were dead, for the time being anyway. I again looked out of the windscreen...
Check it out in our Fan Fiction section! (Louis Wu 17:33:16 UTC) (permalink)
Programming Intern wanted
Are you a fledgling programmer? Do you dream of working on a project like Halo? Dream no longer - Tom Van Sinden noticed yet ANOTHER new job opening at Bungie - Programming Intern. They want someone
...to come work, learn and write the best "What I did on my summer vacation" paper ever.
If this sounds too good to be true, send in your resume! Pax. (Crux Fidelis 09:50:23 UTC) (permalink)
11.2?
Um... we got mail from Psyrixx, about a new section of the Psyjnir Complex - Tabloids. It's a bit odd. Stop by and check it out. (Be aware that visiting with a browser that doesn't properly implement cascading style sheets will result in a very, very unfriendly page. Netscape/iCab users, stay away.) (Louis Wu 02:06:22 UTC) (permalink)
| March 2001 | |
