|
Spoilers are currently disabled. (All newsposts are visible.) |
||
View the Archives: |
||
 | October 2005 |  |
October 2005 Archived News
News October 31 2005
Hell Quarters
CROSSFIRE submitted his vid, 'Hell Quarters', to the MPRRS last night - and it passed with flying colors. Reviewers liked the camerawork, the ambience, the action-driven story. You can grab a copy in WMP9 format (49.6 mb) or QuickTime format (51.1 mb). Worth watching! (Louis Wu 20:17:30 UTC) (permalink)
NSCS Updated
Overswarm has submitted a slew of articles for his 'Not So Common Sense' Strategy Guide - you'll find a pair of interviews (Hotshy and Gh057ayame), a video walkthrough of Midship, and an article called 'Relearning Instinct', talking about habits that can trip you up. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 19:38:30 UTC) (permalink)
New vids at H2F
Z dropped us a note about a couple of vids to be had over at halo2forum.com; some great FFA gameplay filmed by ItWasLuck (quality is superb, and the gameplay is intense, especially as the game gets going), and a frenetic montage from HockyFreak22, with lots of sticks, snipes, and effects. (Z also wanted to point out a new montage contest starting December 1 - the prize is an Xbox360.) Go check it all out! (Louis Wu 19:30:30 UTC) (permalink)
More goodies for the top pumpkins
splode, a site devoted to gaming swag, has generously kicked in to the prize packs for the 343 Guilt O' Lantern contest - we've got bumper stickers and t-shirts for all three prizewinners. (This is one set of prizes you can snag for yourself, even if you don't win - the tees are about $15, and the bumper sticker ("my other car is a warthog") is under $2. Check 'em out!) w00t! (Louis Wu 17:29:49 UTC) (permalink)
Halloweenie.
Stuntmutt goes with a holiday-themed Monday strip for today's One One Se7en. I hear moaning already! (Louis Wu 16:32:05 UTC) (permalink)
Spotlight Shines on Halo 2 Hacks
Two more notices about Stephen Cawood's Halo 2 Hacks book popped up today - Game News says it's 'totally fresh', and an official press release (with links to sample text and info about the author) can be found at gameindustry.biz. Check it out! (Louis Wu 16:26:16 UTC) (permalink)
Monday Missives
Fourteen new stories in the Fan Fiction section over the weekend. Go read! (Louis Wu 15:53:31 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Armor... For Sale. Soon.
devildeggs owns a set of Nightmare Armor, and is considering selling it. No prices yet... but it looks like he's feeling out interest. Let him know if that's you! (Louis Wu 13:58:17 UTC) (permalink)
The TrueSkill System - a better way to matchmake.
Over at IGN, there's a pretty interesting article on the matchmaking system on Xbox Live that will be ushered in with the Xbox360. The current system in place for Halo 2 is used as a comparison throughout the article (from here on in, all games will use the same system, rather than leaving matchmaking up to the individual developers), and the article lays out how the new system might do better. It brings up an interesting point, though - will the new system work with the original Xbox? The article doesn't say, one way or the other... but if it doesn't, will there be TWO matchmaking systems in place for games like Halo 2? Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 13:55:32 UTC) (permalink)
News October 30 2005
8th Time's The Charm
In what is easily the most dedicated attempt to get a movie out to the Halo Community, PajKajJL submitted his 'Bulletspeed' to the MPRRS this morning... for the 8th time. It took two and a half months, and 8 iterations, to get through the rating system with a passing grade... but the work was worth it - the final product, a machinima piece about a pair of anti-terrorist agents working to protect a city, is nicely polished. QuickTime (33.8 mb) or WMP9 (32.4 mb) format. Go get it! (Louis Wu 23:58:22 UTC) (permalink)
Ringworld
MrHen pointed out today's Unshelved, a webcomic about libraries - it takes a funny shot at videogamers (and Microsoft, I suppose). Go read! (Louis Wu 21:10:27 UTC) (permalink)
Rude, Crude, and Altruistic
Over on Stuntmutt's blog, you can find a bunch of guest One One Se7en strips sent to him recently (including one he did himself, but decided was a bit too uncouth to include in the normal collection). He also pimps the Blow Me Away Charity Auction - especially his contribution. You'll make him feel really good if you bid a lot for it. (Louis Wu 21:08:12 UTC) (permalink)
Of course, Cortana gets bashed.
Jillybean sent word that there was a 'small' Halo Story Page update. Dunno... looks pretty meaty to me! Go read. (Louis Wu 21:04:30 UTC) (permalink)
Podtacular Ep 20
Podtacular has released Episode 20, with custom gametypes and call-ins from fans. Go listen! (Louis Wu 19:16:02 UTC) (permalink)
Odd Choice of Security
There's a slightly unusual piece of dialogue from Cortana on Halo's Truth & Reconciliation level; it comes at the end of the hangar bay (after the pair of Hunters). It has to be really quiet to hear it; it is in our transcript of the level, but jman571 just sent us an audio recording of the line, so for anyone ELSE who's missed it, it's now immortalized in our Dialogue Databank. Enjoy! (For those wondering about my title for this news post... it's always struck me as odd that the Covenant would put such a ridiculously large encryption key on a random door... but leave their battlenet unsecured.) (Louis Wu 19:09:31 UTC) (permalink)
ILB DVD gets Enhanced
While we're doing site updates... I'd like to thank weephun, who donated the I Love Bees Commemorative DVD for the 'Blow Me Away' Charity Auction, for contacting the 4orty 2wo team that put the campaign together - he's gotten them to agree to sign this DVD! If you win this item, you'll not only be getting one of a very small number of DVDs... you'll be getting the ONLY one signed by the crew that made it happen. Go bid! (In other auction news, with just under 7 days to go, total bids are up to $7700. A sign?) (Louis Wu 18:56:35 UTC) (permalink)
Carve, as though your life depended on it!
At the moment, we have a total of 24 entries for our 343 Guilt O' Lantern Pumpkin Carving Contest. (A few are simply spectacular - but there's room for competition.) The deadline is still a day and a half away, so there's plenty of time to get your entry in... but you don't want to pass up the awesome stuff we're giving away, do you? (A finalized prize list will be up later today - I really want to apologize for the delay.) Update: Prize list is up! (Louis Wu 18:49:49 UTC) (permalink)
News October 29 2005
Machinima synergy
In early October, Elnea released 'Blow Boys Away', a girl-gamer anthem - er, parody. A couple of weeks later, QuackJAG created a HaloCE-based video that brought that song to life, visually. Now, ANOTHER video version has been released; Amanda and Sevenar, of Silver Stars/Purple Hearts, have whipped up a pretty slick Sims2/Halo2 meld that uses the character that Elnea voices as a lead singer, coupled with great footage (both band and gameplay) - this one should be seen. I found this in Elnea's RvB journal, which has links to the hi-res WMP9 and low-res QuickTime that are being served by Amanda and Sevenar - if you're not an RvB member, you won't be able to see that anyway. To reduce strain on their server, I'm offering the hi-res WMP9 (17 mb), the low-res QT (8 mb), and a new hi-res QuickTime (16.6 mb) - grab the one that makes the most sense to you. (Louis Wu 18:00:19 UTC) (permalink)
Tied The Leader Update
The Tied the Leader blog has recently been less about general Halo musings, and more about clan-related activities (or coverage of the Doom movie, which might be interesting to the Halo fan from an instructive "here's what not to do" perspective), but there are still some entries of interest to the general Halo public. I enjoyed the analysis of similar player icons for clan members, and what this can mean for team coordination... and there are some great comments in the post asking for strategies for objective games on Coagulation. All in all, the writing in this blog continues to be top-notch - go give 'em a read! (Louis Wu 14:28:06 UTC) (permalink)
Gritting Teef and Distracting Spazzes
Last night saw the release of the Weekly Update over at Bungie.net - Frankie dropped heavy-handed (and almost certainly misleading) clues about the pimpin' nature of their next project, discussed the rediculous overload on Noguchi's desk, and provided some encouraging words about the Halo 2 Soundtrack, Volume 2. There's also info on a pair of new, upcoming playlists on Xbox Live (the Insane Team playlist seems like it would do okay pulling some of the wilder gametypes from the old HBO HaloPC servers...), and some subtle pimping of the Blow Me Away charity auction (that Frankie and his pimping...). And more. Go read. (And oh, yeah... Frankie was first.) (Louis Wu 13:39:15 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Cranks Out the Content
Bunch of new content over at MLGPro.com - you can find the second half of Dyslexia's MLG LA writeup (great read), an interview with Team3D (great podium shot), and some more video on demand from MLG LA. Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 12:42:14 UTC) (permalink)
Dropshock Halo 2 Podcast
We got word that DropShock, a new Halo podcast, just released episode 3. In their words, it has an M rating. (This means it's loaded with sexual humor and ethnic jokes.) You might need to follow the Feedburner RSS feed to actually download the shows. (Louis Wu 12:36:28 UTC) (permalink)
News October 28 2005
Team3D on Up-Close Strats
FI3ND and OGRE1 teamed up to bring you a 'noob guide' to up-close strategies - worth reading, no matter what your level! Check it out. (Louis Wu 20:16:30 UTC) (permalink)
Be The Zombie.
Hehe - there are three new commercial spots, running Sunday and Monday on the Sci-Fi Channel, for Stubbs the Zombie... but if you don't want to wait, they've been put up in the Stubbs the Zombie website Gallery. Funny stuff! (Louis Wu 18:18:17 UTC) (permalink)
Save the seeds. Dispose of the rest.
Wow. The deadline for entries to our 343 Guilt O' Lantern contest is coming up fast (just 3 and a half days left)... and we've got two brand-new prizes to toss on the pile! Both Steve Downes, voice of the Master Chief, and Tim Dadabo, voice of 343 Guilty Spark, have agreed to contribute the recording of a message on your answering machine (or your cell phone's voicemail, or whatever you choose); the first place pumpkin will get their choice of actors, the second place pumpkin will get the other one. Wouldn't you like the Master Chief telling your callers "I need a message."? (The message itself is completely up to you. They'll just bring it to life.) Tacked on top of an Xbox, and EB Games gift cards, and an I Love Bees DVD... if you're not carving a pumpkin, you're tossing away your chance at some awesome prizes. (Louis Wu 14:54:58 UTC) (permalink)
A Stubbs development post-mortem, of sorts
Over at Wideloadgames.org, the second half of the Glenda Adams interview has been posted. (We mentioned part 1 last week.) Lots of good technical info on why some of the choices that got made went the way they did; I find it amusing that PC retailers are STILL unwilling to go with a DVD-only SKU, even when the game itself requires a top-end, brand-new video card and other hefty hardware requirements. (How many of you have bought a high-end PC in the last year or so that DIDN'T have a DVD drive in it?) A good read - if you've got the hardware, this game looks to be pretty slick on a PC or Mac! And for those unhappy with what ISN'T shipping in the PC versions, take heart in this comment:
We have a lot of things (including co-op) we'd like to put into updates after we ship, so Stubbs PC/Mac will definitely not be a game that is released and forgotten.
Thanks to the Battle Cat for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 14:34:16 UTC) (permalink)
It'll Be His Helmet Next.
Stuntmutt continues to obsess about Spartan 458 in today's One One Se7en. I wanted to high-five Cortana at the end of this one. (Louis Wu 14:21:21 UTC) (permalink)
Friday Fanfic
Wow. I looked on Wednesday, and there were only 3 stories in the Fan Fiction queue. This morning... there were 17. Busy Thursday, I guess! Go read. (Louis Wu 14:11:59 UTC) (permalink)
Are you going to the Mackies?
The official film selections for the 2005 Machinima Film Festival were posted yesterday - and nominations for the awards themselves went up on Wednesday. There are a LOT of familiar names in there... on both lists. Go check 'em out! The Awards Ceremony will be held in Astoria, NY on November 12 - good luck to all! Thanks to Z for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 13:52:25 UTC) (permalink)
Bargain Bin Costume
Halo Babies has put up a Halloween-themed strip today... I'm LOVING it. Go read! (Louis Wu 13:11:09 UTC) (permalink)
Yesterday was a busy day
A couple of bits of site news... the forum thread started yesterday, discussing the merits of keeping the original voice actors for many of the Halo roles, has garnered quite a bit of attention (including some from a couple of the voice actors themselves); the thread is almost 200 posts long, and a large percentage are on-topic. Most respondents (though not all) seem to want Master Chief's helmet to stay on... and most respondents (though, again, not all) want the original voice actors to reenact their roles in the movie. Have you made YOUR opinion known? And the Blow Me Away auction, now just 19 hours old, has already collected more than 60,000 pageviews and more than $5500 in bids. You guys ROCK! (Louis Wu 12:59:50 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Nation Halloween Episode
Halo Podcast Morning, I guess - Halo Nation has posted their newest 'cast, called 'HALO-ween Special'. Go listen! (Louis Wu 12:38:53 UTC) (permalink)
Waterworks covered in newest Podtacular
Podtacular Ep 19 went live yesterday - it covers Waterworks. Apologies to Foo Mo Jive, who sent mail early, but got buried in the auction work. Go listen! (Louis Wu 12:34:14 UTC) (permalink)
News October 27 2005
Inside the Bungie Offices
Mat Noguchi gave a studio tour to Scobelizer, of Channel 9 - it's pretty heavy on the geek side of Mat's job (and Halo development in general), but for those who like that stuff, it's pretty interesting. Vid is tiny, but quite watchable. Thanks to Mat, who was FIRST!!, and to Odyon, who noticed it on Scobelizer's blog. Format is streaming WMP9 (ugh). (Louis Wu 19:25:03 UTC) (permalink)
Blow Me Away - Live!
It's been in the planning stages for a long time - but it's finally here! "Blow Me Away", the charity auction to benefit hurricane victims, supplied by Bungie (and a couple of generous fans) and administered by us, is finally on! The first item is already available at eBay. Subsequent items will be added every few minutes (this will give people time to move from one to the next at the OTHER end, as auctions are closing), so be sure to keep checking back on our auction page. There's some truly droolworthy stuff in there for hardcore Bungie fans... dig deep! (Louis Wu 16:46:30 UTC) (permalink)
Marine
Theo Prins has sent along another piece of art. He calls it 'Marine'. He says it's not DIRECTLY from Halo... I'm loving the light, though. (Louis Wu 15:40:45 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Midweek News
3Suns points out a new batch of Video on Demand footage available at MLGPro.com - 1v1 footage from MLG LA. There's also a note explaining that Tekken 5 tournaments will be discontinued... and that the money remaining in the Tekken 5 pool (nearly $20,000) will be redistributed to Halo and Super Smash Brothers tourneys. Nice! (If you haven't been by in a while, give the MLG Atlanta (Halo 50k4) info page a read... it's coming at the end of November. (Louis Wu 14:53:44 UTC) (permalink)
Games, Movies, and the Links
5 months ago, the Halo movie was confirmed to be a reality, and since then, there's been a little information, a lot of speculation, and even some silliness - but one thing that we really know nothing about yet is who will be acting. Halo stands in a unique position with respect to a crossover between game acting and movie acting... how will it be remembered? I've posted some thoughts on our forum... give 'em a read, and chime in with your own! (Louis Wu 03:34:34 UTC) (permalink)
Spartan 458 - Officially
Tempus Fugit pointed out an article at TeamXbox - Tecmo and Bungie formally announced the inclusion of Spartan 458 in Dead or Alive 4. (Yeah, we've all seen screenshots... but, well... Frankie put it best in this post.) (Louis Wu 02:36:05 UTC) (permalink)
PraetoriaGuard, Episode 4 - Redux
A couple of weeks ago, PraetoriaGuard posted their fourth comedy montage - this morning, it was submitted to the Movie Peer Review Rating System. They don't need hosting... but all that's available on their site is a high-res WMP9 that weighs in at 121 mb, and a lower-res version that weighs in at 36 mb (but is SERIOUSLY over-compressed, with an odd aspect ratio). We're offering you a hi-res QuickTime, as well (640x480, 122 mb), and both a medium-res WMP9 (480x360, 52.9 mb) and a medium-res QuickTime (480x360, 55.4 mb). If you haven't seen this yet, grab a copy now; it's chock-full of funny skits, nicely filmed. (Louis Wu 02:18:14 UTC) (permalink)
News October 26 2005
2old2type episode 11 out
2old2play has put up 2old2type episode 11, their latest podcast. Discussion of their tournament software, lan info, speculation about Halo 1 on the Xbox360, and more. Just under an hour long, 25 mb, mp3 format. Go grab a copy! Thanks, DSmooth. (Louis Wu 18:24:27 UTC) (permalink)
From Bad To Verse.
Stuntmutt continues his adulation of Spartan 458 in today's One One Se7en. Poor 458... (Louis Wu 15:05:32 UTC) (permalink)
We can control sand.
Broken Console has released episode 8 of The Squadron, in both WMP9 (21 mb) and QuickTime (19 mb) formats. Turf's in some serious trouble... go watch! As usual, high-quality cinematography, audio, the works. (Louis Wu 14:28:16 UTC) (permalink)
Halo-inspired music at Shacknews
On our forum, Skie pointed out a post on Shacknews - musician Henning Pauly is also a videogame fan, and two of the songs on his most recent album are videogame-related (including one called "Halo"). He was asked for a snippet for the Shacknews crowd - and Pauly obliged with a 7 minute piece that contains some of 'Halo', almost all of 'I Like My Video Games', and intros for Shackers. Go listen! (Louis Wu 14:06:51 UTC) (permalink)
Tears of a Clown
Over on Bungie.net, you'll find a writeup of the most recent Halo Humpday Challenge... the Bungie guys took on the Halo 2 Test Team. Ooh... what a mistake. They got pummeled. Frankie's writeup is funny... when you're not crying for how badly they got spanked. Thanks to Stuntmutt for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 03:57:25 UTC) (permalink)
Carving out your place in history
I meant to say something earlier today, but forgot... thanks to [HC]D-Man for reminding me. This is just a heads-up that you've got 6 days left to submit an entry to the 343 Guilt O' Lantern 2005 competition - there are some pretty spiffy entries so far, but there's still plenty of time to put together a killer 'kin! (Louis Wu 03:27:15 UTC) (permalink)
Stubbs in Europe... in 2006.
Ouch. Stubbs the Zombie has been released for Xbox - at least the NTSC version. And the PC and Mac versions are coming next month. However, if you live in a PAL country... you've got a little wait ahead of you. THQ just announced that they'll be bringing the PAL version to the world... and that the UK version will be released in February. (They say that the PC version will be coming in February, as well... but I'm not sure I understand why that would need to be delayed...) Thanks, eddie m. (Louis Wu 03:23:53 UTC) (permalink)
News October 25 2005
WCG 2005 USA Final in Video
The USA Final match for the World Cyber Games 2005 was between Team3D (the Ogres) vs Team3D (TheAlley); if you're on a Windows PC, you can view this match on the WCG website. (It's completely incompatible with Macs.) Thanks, Sn0G. (Louis Wu 20:15:40 UTC) (permalink)
VGL Strikes Out
Looks like the Video Games Live concert tour has been postponed - AGAIN. I'm done posting notes about this; I've been burned twice now. (I had front-row seats in Boston, and that show was cancelled when the tour was postponed the first time. Then I bought tickets for a Connecticut date when the tour was rescheduled... and today, THAT show was cancelled. Both sets of tickets were ordered through Ticketmaster; there's been some sort of problem with the first set, and I still haven't seen a refund (though the show was cancelled 3 months ago), and the second set will cost me a few bucks in non-refundable handling charges, as well. I'm not willing to try a third time. Yeah, i know VGL is not Ticketmaster. Doesn't change the fact that I've had to go through the refund process twice, and am currently out about $250.) So, while it's possible that the show might be rescheduled next year, and it's possible that they might, actually, go through with it and PERFORM... we won't be posting any more news updates about the tour here at HBO. Thanks to Konrad for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 19:03:47 UTC) (permalink)
Tunnelvision - WAN Gaming
PrAy4U writes to let us know about a national Halo 2 event on November 19 to be held at gaming centers around the US, using custom tournament system link software to link centers together - currently 9 states are involved. The technology is called Tunnelvision - looks pretty cool! Swing by and see if you can join in! (Louis Wu 18:36:27 UTC) (permalink)
Things folks wondered about in HCEC
Dennis Powers sent along a link to a bunch of frequently-asked questions about his Halo CE Chronicles series - if you've been curious about stuff relating to that, swing by and see if your questions are answered! (Louis Wu 18:30:15 UTC) (permalink)
Podtacular Episode 18
Podtacular Ep 18 has been released; this one focuses on Waterworks, but has plenty of other content. 8.6 mb, available via iTunes or direct download. Check it out! (Louis Wu 15:36:08 UTC) (permalink)
Origins of Machinima
Arcadian Flame, of Chairleg Productions, submitted a short history of Machinima to the MPRRS. It passed. It's pretty funny. We're hosting the WMP9 (33.5 mb) and QuickTime (28.7 mb) formats, and you can grab a PSP-formatted version on their website. We definitely need more vids like this - great audio, humor... nice work! (Louis Wu 15:30:27 UTC) (permalink)
Hip Hop and Videogames
According to Yahoo Financial News, VIBE Magazine, Boost Mobile, and Motorola are teaming up on "the First-Ever Hip Hop Video-Game Lifestyle Tour" - hip-hop music and videogames (including Halo 2) to 20 historically black colleges around the US. Details and a schedule can be found in the story. (Louis Wu 13:19:18 UTC) (permalink)
First Annual Xbox Community Awards
Gamertag Radio is presenting the First Annual Xbox Community Awards; they're taking votes for the next few weeks (voting ends November 15), and the audio awards show is on November 20. Apparently, we're up for an award (Best Fansite Based On A Game), which is pretty cool. You need to register to vote. Thanks, Godfree. (Louis Wu 13:14:56 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Adium Icon
L30N1DAS (or is it Thanatos?) created a new Halo 2 Adium icon - if you get messaged, it gets active. (There's also a new soundset.) Comments can go here. (Louis Wu 13:00:40 UTC) (permalink)
The Art is Back, Part 1
Wow. There's a massive art update over at Halo Babies... some really draw-dropping stuff. Go check it out! (Louis Wu 12:24:54 UTC) (permalink)
MLG LA Wrapup
Over at MLGPro.com, Dyslexia wrote up the MLG LA event, covering highs and lows, winners and losers, and all the drama that happens at a major tournament. Great read! Thanks, Dolbex. And thanks to 3Suns, who also mentioned the new Video on Demand content (including a rebroadcast of the entire event) that went live recently. (Louis Wu 11:26:36 UTC) (permalink)
Frankie thinks he's Ethan Suplee
Cogent's outage in southern Florida last night (due to Hurricane Wilma, and affecting HBO's datacenter) coincided nicely with the window of opportunity I had for updates yesterday evening - so I couldn't tell you about the new story on Bungie.net, about the followup to the Fight the Flood campaign Bungie ran last month. Thanks to you, the fans, the American Red Cross received a check for over $175,000 from Bungie and Sunrise Identity (the guys who run the Bungie Store) for hurricane relief. Wonga! (Louis Wu 11:20:15 UTC) (permalink)
17 Days Through Hell Trailer
DOH! I forgot to post this yesterday; it passed the MPRRS on Sunday night. It's a trailer for 'From the Oder to the Elbe: 17 Days Through Hell', and it was created by Roland. Screen format is a very strange 1200x600 pixels, but if that doesn't fit on your screen, you can watch it at 50% resolution, and it will
actually look better. It's a trailer for an upcoming World War II reenactment. The WMP9 version is 21.7 mb, the QuickTime version is 21.9 mb. Enjoy! (Louis Wu 11:06:10 UTC) (permalink)
News October 24 2005
The Glide Dragon
Se7en One has put together a page on the 'Glide dragon', his name for the birds (or, I guess, insects, according to Se7en One) you can see on the Delta Halo and Regret levels of Halo 2. (Look closely - that's the HBO Helljumpers website, not HBO; they just use a design based on ours.) He also posted this info in our forum. Interesting collection of information gleaned from a few sightings! (Louis Wu 17:24:23 UTC) (permalink)
Getting Up To Miss Chief.
Stuntmutt stays focused on the DoA4 Spartan in today's One One Se7en. How bad would it get if she weren't wearing armor? (Louis Wu 16:57:45 UTC) (permalink)
Monday Reading
Twenty two new pieces in the Fan Fiction section since Friday. Dang, they're keeping busy... (Louis Wu 16:56:10 UTC) (permalink)
The road to good videogame-based movies
The New York Times has an article (registration required, don't forget about bugmenot.com) on the genre-melding of movies and video games, and it focuses on Peter Jackson as one of the prime players that is bringing cinematics to games, rather than the other way around. Halo, of course, is mentioned (although King Kong plays a bigger role in the piece). Interesting read. Thanks, Adam Daniel. (Louis Wu 16:30:45 UTC) (permalink)
Outpost: Coagulation Episode 10
Episode 10, the season finale of the Outpost Coagulation machinima series, has been posted over at TreeSkunk Productions. (If you're having trouble finding them, trigger119 published direct links in this forum post (for the low-res) and this post (for the high-res). A cliffhanger... (Louis Wu 10:52:29 UTC) (permalink)
Those Pelicans are NASTY.
c0ld Vengeance found a mod for Halo 2 that changes all enemy resources to UNSC resources - so that you're fighting marines, Pelicans, hogs and tanks. He put up a short vid showing a fun encounter - check it out! (The forum post contains a link to the mod as well, if you want to try it yourself - but remember that you have to have a modded Xbox to make this work. That link also contains a couple of movies - one showing this global war mod, the other showing a 'Betrayal' version where you're teamed up with Hunters against the rest of the Covenant.) (Louis Wu 10:42:38 UTC) (permalink)
Rockets on Prisoner 2005 - All Winners
The Rockets on Prisoner 2005 Awards are nearly done - all of the winners have now been announced (you can find the full list on the RoP website, and at some point, an enormous (1 hour, 22 minutes) video containing the entire ceremony will be up. Congrats to all the winners! (Louis Wu 10:25:17 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Nation Episode 4
The latest episode (episode 4) of the Halo Nation podcast has been posted - 45 minutes, 50 mb. From their description: "We get to play some Xbox 360 games, Every 10 Minutes Tips, Halo-isms, Girls of Xbox Live, and no singing (we promise)..." Thanks, animefx. (Louis Wu 10:21:30 UTC) (permalink)
News October 23 2005
Gettin' on IRC
KP has written up a rather comprehensive guide for IRC n00bs; if you would LIKE to hang out and chat with HBO regulars, but aren't sure how to go about it... go read this page. (It's aimed mostly at Windows-based chat clients... but the general ideas work fine with Mac clients, too. We'll be linking this in a more permanent location soon (but right now, I have to leave). (Louis Wu 19:02:11 UTC) (permalink)
Blow me away - the video
QuackJAG put together a great video for Elnea's 'Blow Boys Away' music parody (first mentioned here), and Elnea mentioned it in her Red vs Blue journal (RvB membership required). The thing is, it's hosted at YouTube, in small, Flash-only format, which seemed... belittling. So I offered to provide space for a larger version, and QuackJAG accepted. You can grab the vid (23.5 mb, 720x480, WMP9 format) from us, now. Great use of HaloCE! (Elnea also created a new sketch for him, in thanks - you can see it in our gallery here, or see what her son did to it in her journal there.) (Louis Wu 18:47:29 UTC) (permalink)
A RATING TEN's montage
A RATING TEN sent us word that he'd finished his montage, and that he had enough bandwidth left this month to serve it himself. The high-res version is six and a half minutes long, 640x480, in MPEG2 format, and weighs in at 246 mb. (There's a lower-res version available on the downloads page - 32 mb - for folks who can't handle the big one.) He also started a thread in our forum, if you want to comment. (Louis Wu 16:48:38 UTC) (permalink)
Those Godless Chiropractors...
Red vs Blue Episode 65, 'Looking for Group', was released last night for sponsors (which means it'll be available for the masses by tomorrow sometime). Clearly, Caboose is a closet RPG player. And Simmons is... well, pretty dumb. Props to sarge, for the best epithet of the week ("Great sodium chloride!"). If you're a sponsor, go watch. If you're not, wait a bit. (And please - don't feel you need to tell us when the public versions are live... we announce RvB episodes ONCE, and assume anyone who isn't a sponsor can count to 48, and figure out when to look for the version they can see.) (Louis Wu 16:06:44 UTC) (permalink)
Matchbox 360 Tourney Winners Announced
A couple of weeks ago, we mentioned a London-based tournament to be held over Xbox Live - it took place on Friday, and the winning team was [TmC]. Thanks to [TmC]'s Samscrim for letting us know! (Louis Wu 15:59:46 UTC) (permalink)
An epitaph - before it's even gone
The Philadelphia Inquirer's Dennis McCauley wrote a column for tech.life@play called 'Xbox Hitting the road'. (You have to sign in to read it in its original location, so you might as well grab it from a syndicated location, instead - The Wichita Eagle is running it, for example.) It's taking a look at the run the Xbox has had (assuming that it's dead now that the 360 is about to be released - a bad assumption, maybe). The end of the article lists McCauley's top 10 Xbox games - Halo is number 1, Halo 2 is number 7. Nice! (Louis Wu 14:49:16 UTC) (permalink)
News October 22 2005
This Spartan Life - blog 04
This Spartan Life has updated with a new video blog entry - blog 04 continues to chronicle the Bodyguard Competition. Some nice camera angles (I'm impressed with how careful the competitors are to not kill the camera people); I'm guessing he's getting closer to picking a winner. QuickTime (13.8 mb) or WMP9 (10.5 mb) formats. Go check it out! (Louis Wu 13:17:55 UTC) (permalink)
Destroying Rome in a Day
There's a nice interview with Matt Soell over at Gaming Nexus - he talks about Stubbs the Zombie, and though much of the info is already out there, there are a few new and interesting questions. Go read! Thanks, Rampancy.net. (Louis Wu 13:10:35 UTC) (permalink)
Cairo Station speedrun - now higher-res
The movie trifecta is completed with a high-res version of one of the high-speed runs we mentioned a couple of days ago. I wished for higher quality, Cody Miller answered me. You can grab a 640x480 QuickTime (82.5 mb) of Jeff's Cairo Station run from our server; the original source was VHS tape, so it's still not crystal-clear, but it's much better than the 320x240 version released Thursday. (We're not going to get in the habit of hosting speedruns; that's what highspeedhalo is for... I just wanted to see it better, and Cody obliged.) (Louis Wu 10:57:16 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2: Mombasa Trailer
Another recent submission to the MPRRS that the reviewers gave their thumbs-up to was the HALO 2: Mombasa trailer. This is a trailer for the second installment of Clan Dyslexia's re-enactment of the Halo 2 story (the first installment was mentioned here, here, and here), and aside from being too dark in places, is a gorgeous filming of the Earth sections of Halo 2. You can grab the WMP9 version of the trailer (20.6 mb), or a slightly less dark (but still hard-to-see in places) QuickTime version (20.9 mb) - and then settle in to wait for the final product, because this one looks to be amazing. (Louis Wu 10:34:51 UTC) (permalink)
Halzred's Montage 4
Halzred submitted his latest montage to the MPRRS; he didn't want hosting (it's already being hosted over at Halo2forum.com - WMP9, 64.9 mb), but it passed with a pretty high score, and we always try to make hosted movies available to as many people as possible... so I'm putting up a QuickTime version (65.9 mb) just for those who need it. Great editing, great gameplay, fantastic timing. Go watch! (Louis Wu 04:54:03 UTC) (permalink)
Really bad coffee and wireless heaven
Bungie's Weekly Update is up - and while there's nothing ground-breaking in there, it's a nice read. Small details about the DoA pics (they're real, in case you doubted), teasers about the Xbox360 and its capabilities with respect to Halo and Halo 2, cool numbers about the Fight the Flood campaign, and a funky Mister Chief. Go read! Frankie, of course, was first, but I found it on my own anyway. (Louis Wu 03:28:53 UTC) (permalink)
News October 21 2005
Green plastic soldiers
Hehe - fan fiction from an IT guy. Brick, over at HushedCasket.com, reposted a story from back in the day... it's a fun read. Check it out! Thanks, rapture. (Louis Wu 23:36:44 UTC) (permalink)
A book for getting under the hood
Blogcritics.com has reviewed Halo 2 Hacks, a new book by Stephen Cawood and published by O'Reilly. The book covers a wide range of 'hacks', from simple glitches to full-out modding of your copy of the game. I've been holding off saying anything about this book so far, because I think we'll be able to bring you excerpts from it... but that can be another post for another day. Meanwhile, go read the review, or check out the book at Amazon.com. (Louis Wu 19:33:08 UTC) (permalink)
mtvU Gamers' Ball
Xbox Solution is reporting about the mtvU's Gamers' Ball, a traveling game tour that is stopping at various college campuses around the US, and offering cool prizes for winners of various tournaments (including a Halo 2 tournament). Check the page for more info. (Louis Wu 19:26:38 UTC) (permalink)
DoA4's Spartan 458 screenshots at Xboxyde
We've been unwilling to point out scans of the GameInformer article we mentioned last week, because our policy is not to provide access to magazine scans until the issue is off newsstand shelves... but if you swing by Xboxyde, you'll see the original screenshots those scans incorporated. I must say, Cairo Station looks pretty darn spiffy on the Xbox360! Thanks, Tempus Fugit. (Louis Wu 18:13:41 UTC) (permalink)
Players Bowl II
tyguy101a (the guy behind KissTheChief.com) stopped by our forum to point out a Halo tourney in Philadelphia on October 29th. (They'll be playing Madden 2006, too.) Registration is $30/40 (depending on when) for Halo 2, and top prize is $1000. More details are at Game Time Philly, the sponsors of the event. (Louis Wu 16:54:09 UTC) (permalink)
Saucee Montage 3.0
Saucee's third montage passed the MPRRS this morning - so you can grab a copy of it either in WMP9 format (43.3 mb) or QuickTime format (44.1 mb). Nice audio-video synchronization, and some funky video effects. Go watch! (Louis Wu 16:22:21 UTC) (permalink)
Actually, Just Dead.
Stuntmutt takes a look at the decision to use Spartan 458 in the upcoming Dead or Alive 4 in today's One One Se7en. He makes a compelling alternate case. (Louis Wu 15:48:58 UTC) (permalink)
Friday Fiction
Twenty-eight new pieces in the Fan Fiction section - busy week for the writers. Go check! (Louis Wu 15:43:44 UTC) (permalink)
Glenda Talks Stubbs to WGO
Over at Wideloadgames.org, there's an exclusive interview with Glenda Adams, Director of Development at Aspyr Media (the software house responsible for the PC and Mac versions of Stubbs the Zombie). It's quite technical, centering on the requirements needed to run the game, and why - looks like the video card minimums are gonna be pretty steep. It's a great read, also talking about what went into making this game work on personal computers, and how those versions will differ from the Xbox version. (I'm sad to learn that the PC/Mac versions won't ship with Co-op play.) This is only part 1, so keep your eyes peeled for more! Thanks, BattleCat. (Louis Wu 14:36:59 UTC) (permalink)
H2O Stats Reader v 1.1.8
LunarShadow has posted a new version of H2O Stats Reader, for aggregating XBL stats. Check out this forum post for details of the new stuff and a download link. (Louis Wu 14:17:54 UTC) (permalink)
A week and a half's worth of Podtacular
Wow. Looks like since they stopped telling us about them, we've completely missed the last few Podtacular podcasts. We mentioned Episode 12 on October 10... since then, they've released Episode 13 (Grenade Power and Burial Mounds), Episode 14 (Customs and Call-Ins), Episode 15 (high-quality update), Episode 16 (Coag and Combos), and Episode 17 (Customs and Call-Ins). Go catch up! (Louis Wu 13:45:13 UTC) (permalink)
EgoBoard
There's a new strip up at Halo Babies today, looking at the loss of leaderboards at Bungie.net. That's ONE way to handle the situation! (Louis Wu 12:57:48 UTC) (permalink)
News October 20 2005
Halo: The Spartans, from Edgen
Justin Durban, otherwise known as Edgen, has created quite a bit of Halo music over the years. When he heard that Peter Jackson was going to be working with the Halo movie project, he got pretty excited, and was inspired to create a new piece. Halo: The Spartans (8.6 mb, mp3 format) is a beautiful look at what a Halo movie score might sound like. We're hosting it with Justin's permission - grab a copy and give it a listen! Thanks to GreyThor for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 22:43:26 UTC) (permalink)
Rad Halo 2 Speedruns
Jeff Cousins pointed out that two of his speed runs (Outskirts and Cairo Station) have been posted up at highspeedhalo.org. The Cairo Station run, in particular, is pretty darned cool - the man is GOOD. (In fact, I'm wishing the footage was higher-quality, it's so impressive to watch.) QuickTime format, 17.4 and 32.9 mb respectively. Go watch! (Louis Wu 21:16:07 UTC) (permalink)
Taming Team Hardcore
Bungie's posted a great article on Team Hardcore playlist tactics, with the help of MLG Pro's Dolbex. If you've tried the playlist and found that staying alive was... well, hard, you should read this. Great pics, too. Thanks, Frankbex. (Louis Wu 19:11:22 UTC) (permalink)
RoP 2005: Best Male Performance
The Rockets on Prisoners Awards announcements continue, with a vid showing nominees (and winner) for Best Male Performance. Thanks once again to Spartan 777 for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 16:45:58 UTC) (permalink)
Spitfire
Pushbak created a fun HaloPC-based montage; it didn't QUITE pass the MPRRS, but it was close, and it brought back memories, so we're hosting it. The original is MPEG-4 encoded (QuickTime only, 51.5 mb), but you can also grab a WMP9 version if you like (49.3 mb). As Pushbak says, "Halo = Fun". (Louis Wu 16:12:11 UTC) (permalink)
Zombie Talk
Narcogen put together some great questions, and got some solid answers, in an interview with Matt Soell, lead writer at Wideload Games. Everything from Halo engine choices for Stubbs to business model comparisons to details about the game itself got covered. Go read it! (Louis Wu 06:20:45 UTC) (permalink)
MLG PwnCast Episode II
The second episode of MLG PwnCast has been released, and can be downloaded via iTunes. It's 70 minutes long, 79.4 mb, and is co-hosted by Overswarm (of the Not So Common Sense strategy guide), reviews CarnageStats and a few montages, and generally gives you tips on MLG-style play. Go listen! (Louis Wu 06:09:02 UTC) (permalink)
The Sword is Down!
Captain Spark turned in another batch of dialogue snippets for the Dialogue Databank - I'm LOVIN' that female marine clip. You can use the above link to browse the submissions, or grab the whole batch from his website. (Louis Wu 05:50:15 UTC) (permalink)
News October 19 2005
'Not For The Faint Of Heart.'
The Team Hardcore playlist went live yesterday. Stuntmutt takes a look in today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 15:35:11 UTC) (permalink)
WCG Group Drawing Completed
The Group Drawing for the World Cyber Games event, taking place next month in Singapore, occurred last night (well, this afternoon, Singapore time - about 10 hours ago). The Halo 2 competition pits 17 teams against one another - they're split into four groups, with two teams from each group moving on to the final 8-team single-elimination tournament. The US team made group D, and will be duking it out with the Netherlands, Colombia, Canada, and Switzerland for a shot at the final round. (The other three groups have only four teams each.) Good luck to all 17 teams - we'll see who comes out on top in just about a month! (Louis Wu 13:48:20 UTC) (permalink)
New artwork at PolyMallet
A couple of weeks ago, we mentioned PolyMallet, Chris Hughes' personal site. Recently, the gallery page was updated with new work, including a number of Halo pieces. (The Early Work in Progress Cortana is pretty interesting.) Go check it out! Thanks, Harry Al-Shakarchi. (Louis Wu 12:56:59 UTC) (permalink)
Mud-wrestling female ninjas
There's another top story up on Bungie.net tonight - it's an interview with Bob Glessner, the newest Bungie hire. He works for Mat Noguchi, doing Tools programming (the fact that he's working primarily with Halo map-creation tools says some specific things about Bungie's next project). I think Noguchi gets a bad rap in this interview - I mean, I've spent several hours with the guy, and I've NEVER seen him bite the head off a chicken. Good read, though. Check it out. As usual, Frankie manipulates the system to get credit for telling us. (He steals kills on XBL, too.) (Louis Wu 04:53:50 UTC) (permalink)
Gladiator Evolved - for your iPod
Eep - this passed the MPRRS yesterday, but I forgot to post it. I just want to say that this is probably the last of its kind that we'll entertain here; I do NOT want to become the defacto host of iPod-formatted films. That said, the reviewers approved it, so I'm passing it along. It's Gladiator Evolved (originally released a month ago, in regular web formats, to rave reviews), and it's been formatted to play on the new Video iPod. It's 54.5 mb, H.264-encoded, with a screen resolution of 320x144 pixels. (The original had 4 times as many pixels.) If you've got a Video iPod, and want to see how a great Halo vid looks on it, this is one to grab. For everyone who suddenly gets the idea to reformat every great Halo vid for the iPod (or the PSP, or any other non-web-standard viewing option)... please, find your own host. Thanks! (Louis Wu 04:51:37 UTC) (permalink)
News October 18 2005
A swift defeat full of idiots
Broken Console Productions have posted Episode 7 of their 'Squadron' Machinima - it's available in both WMP9 (16.6 mb) and QuickTime (16.9 mb) formats. The squadron is... running into trouble. As usual, high-quality workmanship all around... go watch! (Louis Wu 20:43:04 UTC) (permalink)
Leaderboards out - Team Hardcore in
It's official - as of now, the Leaderboards on Bungie.net are gone. Also, the Team Hardcore playlist should be live very, very soon. (As in, later this afternoon.) Here's hoping that the level of cheating goes down, now that there's much less to be gained! (Louis Wu 19:19:53 UTC) (permalink)
Hey La, Hey La
The Stubbs the Zombie site was updated yesterday (in honor of the game's Xbox release) with a fantastic trailer of 'My Boyfriend's Back' by the Raveonettes. Disco Zombies... it don't GET any better'n that. Thanks, Karri. (Louis Wu 14:50:24 UTC) (permalink)
Wedow's Montage Preview
Z points out a nice montage trailer over at Halo2Forum.com - 58 mb, WMP9 format, really clear footage. Give it a look! (Louis Wu 14:44:50 UTC) (permalink)
MasterSurfer
Dave Cheung, of Chugworth Academy, is worried about what having Peter Jackson on board might mean for a Halo movie. Check the image linked at the bottom of the news post on this page for a graphical depiction of his fear. Thanks, Kaari Koehn. (Louis Wu 14:20:16 UTC) (permalink)
RoP 2005 - Best Villain
The Best Villain nominees (and winner) have been posted over at the Rockets on Prisoner Awards site - thanks to Spartan 777 for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 13:36:54 UTC) (permalink)
McDonalds, Cheetos, and Teabags.
Frankie wrote up a summary of statistics about Halo 2 on Xbox Live - and while it's chock-full of the normal things you'd expect (like what percentage of arranged games are played on each map), it's also got just plain silly stats, like how much money would have been earned if every hour spent playing matchmaking had been spent, instead, earning minimum wage, or how much you'd make if you had a nickel for every game, or how close to Reach you'd get if you stacked a penny for every second played. (Well, maybe not that last one. But that's only because he didn't think of it.) He's also inordinately proud of beating everyone to the punch with the news - cause yeah, he POSTED it. But he's like that. Go read. Update: Skavenger found a few more facts you might be interested in... (Louis Wu 01:47:13 UTC) (permalink)
News October 17 2005
Miscellaneous Section - now up to May 04!
After a very, very, VERY long dry spell, the Miscellaneous section gets the beginnings of an update - another 6 months of entries have been added, thanks to The Morningstar. (To be totally fair, I've had the Excel file with these entries sitting on my drive for almost 7 months now - this is NOT his fault, it's mine.) The good news is, though, that there's now an easy-to-use interface for adding more entries... so it's quite possible that this particular subsection of HBO might get caught up soon! (Louis Wu 21:42:04 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Tourney in London
There's a large local tourney in London, this coming Sunday - Halo 2 is one of the games on the block, it's £5 to play or £3 to watch, and prizes include Xbox360s and lots of other goodies. More info can be found in the press release on GamesIndustry.biz. (Louis Wu 19:05:27 UTC) (permalink)
Call for Halo Movie Entries
The DC Independent Film Festival is currently accepting Halo movie submissions - and if you go through MachinimaDudes.com, and your movie is deemed 'worthy', you won't have to pay the $15 submission fee. Details (including length requirements) can be found on the MachinimaDudes front page - the entry form itself contains information about formatting and the like. Entries must be in by November 4, so get cracking! Thanks, Dan Bliton. (Louis Wu 18:47:52 UTC) (permalink)
Not To Be Sneezed At.
Sometimes, the real world intrudes on our virtual world, and shows up in Stuntmutt's One One Se7en. This isn't really one of those times. (Louis Wu 14:09:33 UTC) (permalink)
Monday's Reading
Thirteen new stories for you in the Fan Fiction section. Go read! (Louis Wu 14:04:12 UTC) (permalink)
RoP 2005 - Best Editing, Sound, and FX
That Weasel dropped us a note to say that another Rockets on Prisoner pre-release is out - go grab the vid showing the nominees and the winner for Best Editing, Sound, and FX. Also, an official date has been set for the grand finale - next Sunday, October 23rd, at 8 pm Eastern. Go look! (Louis Wu 13:52:22 UTC) (permalink)
MLG LA Results
The full results for the MLG LA tourney can be found over at MLGPro.com - Team3D took the 4v4 title, and Karma beat Ogre 2 for the 1v1 competition. Thanks to 3Suns for the heads-up (who says the Video on Demand coverage of these games was spectacular). (Louis Wu 13:48:37 UTC) (permalink)
LiL Poison on GameSHOUT
LiL Poison was part of a roundtable discussion last week that was recorded for a podcast over at GameSHOUT - you can grab it from this page. (It's the October 13 'Roundtable' link.) Go listen to the youngest pro gamer in the world! 26.6 mb, mp3 format. Thanks, SexyJosh. (Louis Wu 13:44:05 UTC) (permalink)
News October 16 2005
Halo-verse Planetary Scale
Stephen Loftus put together a pretty cool image showing the various relative sizes of the planetary bodies we know about in the Halo universe. This is worth looking at if you're having trouble pinning down how big, say, the Alpha 4 Halo is in comparison to Jupiter's moons. The full-sized image is way bigger than your average monitor, so it's been broken up for navigation purposes. (Louis Wu 19:46:53 UTC) (permalink)
SvF Ep 9 Teaser Posted
Sponsors vs Freeloaders has put up a short (36 second) teaser for Episode 9, 'Faith, Hope, and Duality', of their machinima series 'Flamewar'. Their site is currently being crushed (Laird, the host, is today's Featured User on the RvB site, and has used that position to publicize the teaser), so we're hosting copies for them - you can grab the WMP9 version (4.4 mb) or the QuickTime version (4.6 mb). (Louis Wu 19:07:44 UTC) (permalink)
Rumors, Rumors, and more Rumors
Oh, not again. Gamespot's Rumor Control has mentioned yet another viral marketing campaign, with the really, really, REALLY low-probability outcome that it's pointing to an August 1 2006 release date for Halo 3. Go read the Gamespot writeup for details - I'm too tired of this kind of thing to bother summarizing. (It's not clear to me that the viral campaign is even being run by Microsoft, yet - it's certainly not clear that Halo 3 is involved in any way - but I'd like to send a note to Microsoft's marketing department: you've mined the viral campaign vein for all the gold you're gonna get out of it. Move on.) Thanks to Black Six for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 16:00:50 UTC) (permalink)
MLG LA Event Coverage at Team3D.net
This came in yesterday, but... well, it's been a tough weekend here. F13ND is covering MLG LA over at Team3D.net - you can swing by for interviews, preliminary results, and more! (Louis Wu 15:51:36 UTC) (permalink)
News October 15 2005
Previous Commitments
Dang. All this water's gone to my brain. Burnie posted last night that Red vs Blue Ep 64 would be up for sponsors about 12 hours ago (and for everyone else tomorrow night) - but I spaced. So if you're a sponsor, go grab a copy. Because Andy is simply the best machinima character ever. And because Tucker is a hero. Sort of. And because Sarge does the Burt Ward thing. (Louis Wu 19:56:01 UTC) (permalink)
GDCTV - Bungie on Networking
Very cool. Gamasutra is bringing you a streaming version of Chris Butcher and Bart House's talk about networking that they gave at the 2005 Game Developer's Conference. It's technical - well, obviously, you wouldn't give a non-technical talk at the GDC - but it's pretty fascinating stuff for folks who want to see some of the issues and decisions Bungie was dealing with when developing Halo 2. This time around, Google News Alerts beat Roger WIlco by about 5 minutes. (RW's forum post, however, is a much better place for comments.) For what it's worth - several other really interesting talks (non-Halo-related) are also available for viewing from that Gamasutra link. (Louis Wu 14:25:01 UTC) (permalink)
BSiK's montage
Z writes to point out BSiK's montage over at Halo2Forum.com. 70 mb. Snipey Snipey Sticky Sticky. (Halo and Halo 2 footage, combined.) Go watch. (Louis Wu 14:08:28 UTC) (permalink)
A rare blend of pluses
Tempus Fugit points out a really positive review for Stubbs the Zombie over at 1Up.com - they felt that the 'first non-Halo game using the Halo engine' did a great job of living up to the strengths of its predecessor. (Louis Wu 14:04:25 UTC) (permalink)
Poppin' Fresh
Well, the last 12+ hours have NOT been spent on Halo-related stuff; if you're really interested, there's a short journal entry over at RvB. That doesn't stop the news from rolling in, though. Frankie was first - no, wait, he WASN'T - in telling us about this week's Weekly Update... lots of Bungie minutiae, plus a few things that might be of interest to folks who just wanna know how this affects THEM. Things like... oh, well, the Leaderboards on Bungie.net are going away. (Yay!) Things like... a clarification of who's NOT responsible for the holdup on the Halo 2 Soundtrack, volume 2. You know. Stuff like that. Go read. More news tomorrow. (Louis Wu 05:20:25 UTC) (permalink)
News October 14 2005
Pinkuh Blues.
Pinkuh Blues.
In a coincidental piece of timing, Stuntmutt comments on Pinkuh's new comic series in today's One One Se7en (just as she announces a new piece of art). (Louis Wu 18:31:43 UTC) (permalink)
Friday Fiction
Twenty new entries in the Fan Fiction section today. Read? (Louis Wu 18:30:03 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Themes for your Pocket PC
Pvt. Jenkins submitted a series of Halo themes for the Pocket PC - you can look at previews and grab the individual themes below. (If you wnt them all, grab this zip file (1 mb).
| Backwash: download | preview Burial Mounds: download | preview Elite Boarding: download | preview Ivory Tower: download | preview Lockout: download | preview | Lockout Hall: download | preview Relic: download | preview Sniper: download | preview Turf: download | preview Waterworks: download | preview |
Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 12:52:29 UTC) (permalink)
Ossifer, I swear I never saw that Elite.
Geezer Gamers did their best to determine what effect alcohol has on your Halo reflexes. Predictably, the data got a little fuzzy near the end. Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 12:39:27 UTC) (permalink)
Re-write
This week's Halo Babies comic takes its own look at the Peter Jackson/Halo Movie news... I gotta say, I'm LOVING that final character. Thanks, Gruntsbane. (Louis Wu 12:37:11 UTC) (permalink)
Preyfar - now well-protected
Pinkuh stopped by our forum last night to show off another slick piece of work; a fan had commissioned her to put his furry alter-ego (a blue hyena) into Spartan armor, and she did a wonderful job. Check it out - and be sure to browse through the rest of her Halo-related works in her HBO gallery, if you haven't already! (Louis Wu 12:27:56 UTC) (permalink)
DoA4 Character Revealed
Well, clearly the big Halo news in the past 12 hours is the fact that the latest issue of Game Informer magazine contains an article about the Halo character included in Dead or Alive 4. Her designation is Spartan 458, and the magazine article shows that the Mjolnir armor looks pretty good with Xbox360 graphics. (The magazine isn't even on shelves yet - it's been mailed to subscribers - so we can't bring you scans, nor will we even point you to sites hosting them... but they're not that hard to find.) As more information surfaces, we'll be sure to bring you the details. Chaos Recon was first out of the box with this one, but several dozen people were hot on his heels. (The longest (and earliest) thread on our forum, with input from both Frankie and Achronos, is this one, started by Tempus Fugit.) (Louis Wu 12:14:46 UTC) (permalink)
News October 13 2005
Hump Day is back!
Bungie's Halo Humpday Challenge has been on sabbatical for a while - but it's back, and written up as a new Top Story at Bungie.net. They didn't have any particular foes - they simply went up against random teams in the Team Snipers playlist on XBL's Matchmaking. They walked away with 2 out of three wins... and have already lined up the next targets. As Frankie says, BEST GIF EVAR. (It's not actually IN the story - it's on their front page. Or you could just go there directly.) (Louis Wu 23:02:23 UTC) (permalink)
Tied the Leader Weekly Update
XerxdeeJ stopped by our forum to announce another week's batch of musings over at Tied the Leader. Many of them this week are related to site administration, or to the recent search for a new clan name (they settled on TTL Gunslingers, as a tip-o-the-hat to Stephen King), but there are some other tidbits buried in there, as well. I liked this bit on Whisper Mode... (Louis Wu 20:32:48 UTC) (permalink)
DO we really need punctuation?
Jillybean demonstrates that she's NOT just here for her coffeemaking abilities (which is a damn good thing, because her coffee will put hair on your back) - she's updated the Halo Story page again. Fun speculation about wide swaths of the Halo universe... go read! (Louis Wu 17:19:00 UTC) (permalink)
RoP - Best Female Performance
That Weasel continues to release individual awards for the 2005 Rockets on Prisoner ceremony - today's release is Best Female Performance. Swing by and pick up a copy of the vid - check out the nominees, and see who won! Thanks to both That Weasel and Funkmon for the heads-up. Update: Best Halo 2 Movie (nominees and winner) have now also been released (Thursday, 23:30 UTC). This is the last update this week, and it came as a surprise to me. (It comes with an acceptance speech from the winner.) Thanks, That Weasel. (Louis Wu 17:12:27 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie's Hiring Again
Yesterday, SketchFactor posted a note on Bungie.net, mentioning a few new job openings at Bungie - they're now looking for an AI Engineer, and XBL Programmer, a Graphics Programmer, a Test Engineer, a Mission Designer, a Lead Character Animator, and a Character Rigger. There is also a continuing need for temporary help. If you're qualified, send 'em an application! (Read the page first, of course, to see what they want - never pays to go in unprepared.) Looks like Schedonnardus was the first to notice. (Louis Wu 14:14:21 UTC) (permalink)
Statistics tracker updated to 2.31
Darkphibre dropped by our forum to announce that Halo Statistics v2.31 has been released. The newest version has the ability to delete players, set up batch downloads for multiple players, and set a start date for downloads. If you've got a PC, give it a look! (Louis Wu 14:08:25 UTC) (permalink)
This Spartan Life - Body Count
This Spartan Life was updated yesterday, but we forgot to put up a news post... the newest segment, Episode 2 Module 3, is called 'Body Count', and the topic is gun control. Chest Harlton, the president of the National Plasma Rifle Association, debates a small child about the correlation, or lack thereof, between handgun ownership and household accidents. Go watch! (Louis Wu 13:44:45 UTC) (permalink)
News October 12 2005
And Don't Forget Foehammer...
In today's One One Se7en, Stuntmutt takes a look at some recent news... and puts some close-to-his-own heart spin on it. (Louis Wu 14:17:26 UTC) (permalink)
PraetoriaGuard Video 4
PraetoriaGuard has put up their fourth video - you'll find it on their Downloads page. I'd recommend the hi-res version, even though it's huge - the lower-res version is pretty highly compressed, and at a screwy aspect ratio to boot. As has been true of their previous vids, it's a collection of small skits - a couple are great. At the moment, It's just WMP9 versions, but it's possible that they'll add QuickTimes soon, too. Thanks to LordGideon and Bumbadawg for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 14:11:35 UTC) (permalink)
Still more vids at H2F
Z pointed out 4 new movies to download over at Halo2Forum.com - there's clan Exit Woundz 4v4 CTF on Warlock (92.4 mb), clan Exit Woundz 4v4 TS on Ivory Tower (94.6 mb), Chronic's Halo 2 mods (90.6 mb), and a parody of MTV Cribs based on Lockout (41.6 mb). The two gameplay vids are worth watching. (Louis Wu 14:00:21 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Pros to appear at DigitalLife
DigitalLife is a 'consumer technology and entertainment event' (a convention, in other words) that will be taking place this weekend at the Javits Convention Center in New York City. The Xbox360 will be there to play, and several Major League Gamers (LiL Poison, Zyos, and Xena) will be appearing as special guests. If you're in the area - check it out! Thanks, Victor. (Louis Wu 13:37:55 UTC) (permalink)
LA Times on machinima
There's a big article on machinima, focusing on Red vs Blue, over at the LA Times (it's possible that registration is required - you could try bugmenot.com if you're not interested in registering). An entertainment form coming into its own, and getting lots of mainstream press... coolness! Thanks, mr cappy. (Louis Wu 13:33:21 UTC) (permalink)
PGL Orlando Results Announced
Back in July, we mentioned a tourney taking place in Orlando, sponsored by the PGL - Jay Marrero sent along the the results. Congrats to John Van (1st place, $500), Daniel Garcia (2nd place, $250), Chris Peters (3rd place, $150), and Joe Miller (4th place, $100) - all prizes came from Liquid Ice Energy Drink. (Louis Wu 12:57:29 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Underground News
Halo Underground has added Beaver Creek to their list of FarCry Halo ports (I thought they'd already released that, but it turns out that this is a new version - and that there's also a version of Lockout available). They're also putting together a Halo 2 tournament - details are currently sketchy, but what there is can be found in this post. (Louis Wu 12:44:57 UTC) (permalink)
HaloCE Tags, easier downloads
Last week, we mentioned that someone had extracted - and put up for download - the entire tagset from HaloCE, making it much easier to create new content. However, the download was more than 350 mb, and included a lot of information that some downloaders would never use. Dennis Powers has broken the tagset up into 18 separate, logical archives for easier downloads - you can grab only those pieces you need. Check it out! (While you're there, you can also grab mirrored copies of the latest SvF episode, if you didn't last week - both the WMP9 and QuickTime versions are up there.) (Louis Wu 12:37:13 UTC) (permalink)
Racism in Multiplayer Games
Funky. MTV is looking for folks who have experienced racism during multiplayer games (Halo is mentioned by name). Looks like they're putting together a piece. Thanks, Mr Yun. (Louis Wu 12:30:23 UTC) (permalink)
RoP - Best Action Sequence
That Weasel wrote to point out the Best Action Sequence pre-release segment for the Rockets on Prisoner awards - swing by to grab the file, in one of 6 formats, to see who was nominated... and who took the win! (Louis Wu 12:27:03 UTC) (permalink)
News October 11 2005
The Squadron Ep 6
Broken Console Productions has posted episode 6 of The Squadron - the fighting heats up. The WMP9 is up now (30.2 mb), the QuickTime should be up soon (29.6 mb). Check it out! (Louis Wu 21:26:36 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: Pramape - Truth and Recon
Over at Newgrounds, you can find a new Flash movie called 'Halo Pramape: Truth and Reconciliation' - it's 11 minutes long and almost 7 mb big. It's... um, rather odd. Some very funny parts, some very STRANGE parts. (Hearing a voice actor with a German accent imitating an Australian accent is great.) Thanks to Nom for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 18:14:51 UTC) (permalink)
corpseguy's MC helmet - finished and lit
We heard from corpseguy again this weekend - he's finished the helmet he started a few months ago. You can see all the pics he's sent us on this page. Pretty slick piece of work! (Louis Wu 17:48:40 UTC) (permalink)
2old2type Ep 10
2old2play's podcast, 2old2type, is now up to episode 10 - and once again, it covers a lot of gaming-related subjects, but Halo 2 plays only a tiny role. (There's information about their upcoming Halo 2 tourney, and a mention of their recent 40-and-over tourney.) Podcast is just under an hour, and weighs in at 26.5 mb. Thanks, DSmooth. (Louis Wu 13:28:11 UTC) (permalink)
The Pelican, under a microscope
It's been a little while, but Stephen Loftus has returned with a new article - this one takes an in-depth look at the Pelican dropship; dimensions, capabilities, and how it's been used in-game. Go read! (Louis Wu 12:18:59 UTC) (permalink)
RoP - Best Musical Score
That Weasel stopped by to announce that there would be four more pre-release awards ceremony vids for the Rockets on Prisoner awards this week. The first one is up now - it's Best Musical Score, and the download is available, as usual, in 3 formats, two sizes each. Go check out the nominees - and the winner! (Louis Wu 12:11:14 UTC) (permalink)
Two more vids from H2F
Z pointed out another pair of vids for download at Halo2forum.com - there's a Halo 1 campaign montage from Steve the Plank (WMP9, 21.9 mb), and the 4th montage from DaY (WMP9, 81.4 mb). I found the torqued aspect ratio of the campaign vid to be hard to watch, but others liked the effects. The montage is lots and lots and lots of snipes. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 12:08:06 UTC) (permalink)
News October 10 2005
Peter Jackson at X05 - now at GT
Nice. The taped Peter Jackson speech about how excited he is to be a part of the Halo movie, shown at X05 last week, is now available at GameTrailers.com - it's the same clip as JeuxFrance was serving, except without the JF watermark. You can grab it in QuickTime or WMP9 formats. Thanks, Mr.Cynical. (Louis Wu 20:53:51 UTC) (permalink)
Clan Hops Ep 3 - now in QT, too
Yesterday, we mentioned Clan Hops Episode 3, a 12-minute-long jumping vid that originally appeared at High Impact Halo, and was released in hi-res form at halo2forum.com. Today, it passed our Movie Peer Review Rating System, so we're putting up a copy, as well. (The mid-size version passed, but there's no reason not to give you the high-res version, so I've snagged the copy that H2F was hosting as a base.) It's available in WMP9 format (61.2 mb), or QuickTime format (58.9 mb). It's long - but there are LOTS of cool jumps in there! (Louis Wu 19:39:48 UTC) (permalink)
Podtacular Update - website and podcast
Foo Mo Jive writes to point out that Podtacular Episode 12 has been posted - and some changes have been made. The website has been redesigned, and there's a new store where you can buy Podtacular t-shirts. And the shows themselves have been split up into three separate, roughly-half-hour chunks, to make downloading easier (and updates more frequent). Go check it all out! (Louis Wu 16:07:09 UTC) (permalink)
Crouching Tiger Hidden Character.
Stuntmutt speculates about the identity of Halo character in the upcoming DOA4 in today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 14:07:44 UTC) (permalink)
A Study in Reds
Theo Prins dropped off a new sketch the Master Chief - you'll find it on his gallery page. He continues to floor me. (Louis Wu 13:58:39 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 CTF Knockout Tourney
Rain 501 points out a UK-based Halo 2 4v4 CTF competition, to take place on October 21. MatchBox360 is hosting this; you must be a UK resident to enter, it will be played over XBL. There is no word about prizes. (Louis Wu 13:41:46 UTC) (permalink)
Clearing the FF Queue
Eleven new pieces added to the Fan Fiction section today - go read! (Louis Wu 13:30:45 UTC) (permalink)
This is just plain silly.
You gotta love what gets harped on when Microsoft is involved... there's a story over at Stuff.co.nz focusing on the fact that the server farm that renders Weta's special effects is running Linux. Why is this news? Oh, because it means that Linux will play a major role in an upcoming Microsoft movie. Whee... Thanks to [HC]D-Man for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 13:22:20 UTC) (permalink)
Death by Misadventure
Quikthnkr has put together a rather sizeable machinima - it's called Death by Misadventure, and it's just over 25 minutes long. It has a number of things going for it - kickass original music (John Gold's opening song 'Randy' is GREAT, and Katy Mae's 'Safe and Sound' was a snug fit for the end of the film), a solid plot, good filming and some fun humor. We're hosting BitTorrent downloads of the original WMP9 version of this film (95.2 mb) and a re-encoded QuickTime version (92.2 mb) - if you can play it, the quality on the WMP9 is better, though the QuickTime is certainly watchable. Please - remember to leave your BT windows open, to share the love! Update: If you want (or need) a direct download link for this (rather than a BitTorrent link), Roland has generously provided one (WMP9 version only). Update 2: Breakpoint has made a copy of the WMP9 available, as well. (Louis Wu 05:11:31 UTC) (permalink)
News October 9 2005
New Vids at H2F
A couple of new vids over at Halo2Forums - ReMoRs3 created a vid using Dest's Halo 2 Custom Edition mod - it shows Halo-style weapons on Halo 2's Lockout. It's just ReMoRs3 running around - there's nobody to shoot - so you can't get a great sense for damage adjustments... but you can see the battle rifle turned into an assault rifle, and grenade triggers shifted back towards how they were in Halo. 29.4 mb, WMP9 format. There's also a high-res version of Clan Hops Episode 3 (lower-res versions were posted over at HIH a couple of days ago) - some great jumps. 61.2 mb, WMP9 format. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 17:28:10 UTC) (permalink)
IGN Insider-only Triple Pack Guide
IGN has posted a Halo Triple Pack Guide, in honor of the recently released Halo Triple Pack (Halo, Halo 2, and the Multiplayer Map Pack, all bundled nicely). Lots of resources, all gathered in one place... the only real downside is that it's Insider-only. Give it a look if you have a membership, though! Thanks to misteryellow for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 17:06:02 UTC) (permalink)
Australian WCG 2005 National Finals Coverage
Rodney Campbell points out some coverage of the Australian WCG national final, including pics and vids, over at XboxZone.com.au (Registration is required to download the vids, but the writeup is open for all.) World championships coming next month in Singapore - check out the Aussie competition! (Louis Wu 16:56:54 UTC) (permalink)
Like, ARRRR, dude.
Elnea posted a small sketch yesterday - a Red vs Blue Pirate, of all things. Check it out! (Louis Wu 16:53:25 UTC) (permalink)
Night to Unite 2005 - MC Statue (and more)
You might remember the Night to Unite auction on eBay last year, to benefit a number of children's groups - they're doing it again, and one of the items this year is a 6-foot Master Chief statue. Current bid is $630, but I'm guessing it'll get quite a bit higher before the auction ends on the 13th. Check out all the stuff- it's for good causes! Thanks, Archaos. Update: hehe - Clay points out that the number of items for sale in the entire Night to Unite auction is a Halo-relevant 117. Queue Twilight Zone music... (Louis Wu 06:32:43 UTC) (permalink)
News October 8 2005
117 Words
The 117 Words competition came to a close last Friday - and tonight, the winners (and lots and lots of special mentions) have been announced. I must say - this contest was a fun one, not least because I had to do very little work for it... the quality of material this generated from fans was astounding. Go read Jillybean's post (with the shout-outs, both from her and from Stuntmutt), and then settle in and read the stories themselves. They rock. (These were just the ones judged to be the top 117 entries - there were many more entered.) And congratulations, of course, to the winners! (Maybe Frankie's first place finish will help him beat that flu after all...) (Louis Wu 00:31:19 UTC) (permalink)
Snuggling with the Crows
The Bungie Weekly Update is now up - Frankie's sick, so Sketch has posted in his stead. A nice summary of the week's activities, including stuff on the Halo movie, stuff on the DOA connection, more moving-in stuff, a quick update on the (still upcoming) charity auction, a REALLY disturbing 'Frankie's Dreams' pic from AGDTinman... and the REAL weekly update (with lots of the same info) actually written by Frankie, on his deathbed. Sniff... he was a good man... we'll miss him... (Louis Wu 00:05:44 UTC) (permalink)
News October 7 2005
Ring Tones.
Last week, In-Fusio got the rights to Halo mobile games and ringtones. Today, Stuntmutt points out the logical end result of this scenario in the most recent One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 19:20:17 UTC) (permalink)
Friday Fiction
Fifteen new stories up in the Fan Fiction section - should give you some nice weekend reading! (Louis Wu 19:12:44 UTC) (permalink)
Sponsors vs Freeloaders Ep 8: Fiat Justitia
Today's the day for Sponsors vs Freeloaders, I think. Last night, the trailer for Silver Stars/Purple Hearts was released - if you haven't grabbed it yet, hang tight. They've also just released Episode 8 of Sponsors vs Freeloaders - and WOW. GREAT cinematography, great effects (the coolest one is something you might not even notice as an effect - that's one of the things that makes it cool). The storyline continues to twist and turn, the acting is great. This series is turning into one of my favorites. The WMP9 version is up now on their website; it's pretty big (90 mb), partly because the episode is ten and a half minutes long, partly because they've tacked the SSPH trailer on to the end of it. Their site is being hit pretty hard, so I'm going to make the QT version available from our server until they get it under control - it's 88 mb. If what you really wanted was the SSPH trailer alone, in QT format - I'll put THAT up, temporarily, too (though you really should grab SvF 8, because it rocks). Both of these will eventually be available from the SvF/SSPH sites, and when they are, I'll pull the temp links. (And likely update this news post.) Go watch! (Louis Wu 17:57:21 UTC) (permalink)
Guest Speaker
Halo Babies has posted its final RvB runner-up strip today - I'm thinking mind-altering substances were involved. Thanks, mrsmiley. (Louis Wu 07:18:14 UTC) (permalink)
HaloCE content - now and upcoming
Wow. Dunno if this is gonna hold up, over time... but over at the Gearbox Forums, TheGhost has created a RAR file containing the HaloCE complete tagset - giving you "access to every biped, vehicle, scenery item, sky, SP tag, and ALL SP AND MP SCENARIO FILES." It's a huge package - 362 mb compressed, over a gig uncompressed - and that's AFTER he deleted the tags that already come with the HEK. It's been up for a day or so, and nobody from Gearbox or Bungie has complained - yet - so if you're interested in creating new content for HaloCE, this is a resource you shouldn't pass up. (Thanks, DHalo, for the heads-up.) And while we're on the topic of cool CE stuff, check out this thread - Kornman and Lightning have managed to get Campaign working in HaloCE, and will be releasing stuff soon. (Thanks, merecatfish.) Could this be enough to turn around the HaloCE community decline? (Louis Wu 07:13:13 UTC) (permalink)
Silver Stars/Purple Hearts Trailer
Sevenar Productions and Panda Productions (groups that make up a large chunk of the Sponsors vs Freeloaders crew) have teamed up to create a new, fusion machinima; Silver Stars/Purple Hearts is a blend of Halo CE and EA's The Sims 2, and tells the story of Project ATHENA, a nearly all-woman team of enhanced SPARTANS. (If you've watched any of the last few episodes of Sponsors vs Freeloaders, you've met four of these women already.) Cinematic quality is very, very high, as Halo machinima goes; the trailer is 1:45 long, and does an awesome job of drawing you in. Available in WMP9 format (12.3 mb) from the SSPH server, a QuickTime format version should be up by tomorrow ... check this one out. You won't regret it. Update: A mirror of the WMP9 version, as well as a streaming QT version, can be found at machinima.com. (Louis Wu 07:03:50 UTC) (permalink)
News October 6 2005
Energy Sword... realized
DOH! This was posted last night, I put it aside to add to the news today... then spaced completely. AutoDr created an energy sword from plexiglass and steel, and man, is it pretty! He's wondering whether there would be a market for these if he made more... hmm. There's always the Microsoft IP issue to worry about. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 18:28:32 UTC) (permalink)
Art of Theo Prins Updated
We've got two new images for you today from Theo Prins - "Into the Blue" is an interpretation of a Helljumper (funky mask!), and "Master Dodge" came from the ending of the E3 2003 trailer - originally it was going to contain the ghost the MC jumped out of, but Theo changed his mind. (Interesting, to me, how close this is to the Return to Sender cutscene - totally different situation, but same dramatic pose; I never noticed before that Bungie did this.) Check 'em out - this guy is GOOD. (Louis Wu 15:32:41 UTC) (permalink)
I Gotchyer 'Ready' Right Here
Narcogen seems to be fed up with the 'when it's ready' line (with reference to when a given Halo will ship) - he wrote a long rant about the subject over at Rampancy.net. The bottom line (which I think most of us can agree with) is that Bungie's games are "ready when they need to be ready" = there will ALWAYS be people who want them to ship sooner, and there will ALWAYS be people who want more development time, but Bungie's done a decent job (in spite of what detractors say) of releasing quality work when it needs to be released. Go read. (Louis Wu 14:46:34 UTC) (permalink)
RoP - Best Montage, Documentary Announced
The Rockets on Prisoner pre-release schedule continues - yesterday, Best Montage nominees (and the winner) were announced... and today, the first Main Category pre-release was posted - best Documentary. Go grab a copy and check out both the nominees - and the winner! (Louis Wu 13:32:47 UTC) (permalink)
Jackson Fever
There's news all over the net about the Peter Jackson/Halo situation. Tempus Fugit found a small video clip (WMP9, 12 mb) where Jackson, at X05, made a statement about how excited he is, over at Jeuxfrance.com. Spitvalve scanned the front page of the Dominion Post, Wellington's biggest newspaper, where the Master Chief takes up a HUGE chunk. (There's an online version as well, at Stuff.co.nz - thanks, Paradice.) And News.com.au has an article that has some quotes Donna Langley, Universal's production president, discussing how the Halo movie might be easier to bring to the big screen than the Doom movie was. (Thanks, DunnyPanMan.) I always get nervous when ANYTHING gets this much hype - it's hard to live up to unreasonable hype - but my guess is, things will settle down eventually, and then we'll see what we see. (Louis Wu 13:21:40 UTC) (permalink)
Connection issues, and Halo Nation Podcast
Wow. So for those who didn't notice, the internet broke yesterday. Two of the big boys (Cogent and Level 3) had a falling-out... and much traffic was blocked from getting where it needed to get. If you want to know more about this situation, you can read this Slashdot article (and its comments). Some people STILL can't get here. Anyway, that's by way of explanation for why today's news is coming so late - I couldn't get here myself until a few minutes ago. So: first up, there's ANOTHER Halo-based podcast, Halo Nation... they're already up to episode 3. This episode is just under an hour, and weighs in at 43 mb. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 13:00:47 UTC) (permalink)
News October 5 2005
Of Lords, and Pawns
The Register has a slightly different spin on the 'Peter Jackson as Exec Producer' news than other sites have shown so far - they're wondering if Jackson isn't just window dressing, 'more for the poster than the creative input'. While it's possible that this might have been on Microsoft's mind, there are a few things to remember: Jackson's a fan, so it's unlikely he'll sit by if a totally crap movie is being made on his watch; with Jackson (and wife Fran Walsh) comes their special effects studios - WETA Workshop and WETA Digital - meaning that the environment, at the very least, will be spectacular; and Bungie themselves are quite excited about Jackson's involvement - if it were only a publicity stunt, I've no doubt that we'd hear grumblings about it from the dev team. The other tidbit of note about this article is that it was written by Tony Smith, a name that longtime Bungie fans might recognize - he's the man behind the Origin of Species series of maps for Bungie's earlier game, Marathon, a project that won almost universal acclaim... this is a guy who loved Bungie deeply back in the day. He doesn't want to see this go wrong, any more than the rest of us do. Thanks to Matt Warner for the heads-up. Update: Reuters has an article on the situation, as well - and it actually includes quotes from Jackson (something most other articles are missing). Jackson says that his excitement let him and his wife to become "creative godfathers" on the film - this would suggest a non-hands-off approach.
"As a gaming fan, I'm excited to bring 'Halo's' premise, action and settings to the screen with all the specificity and reality today's technology can provide," Jackson said. "Fran and I are intrigued by the unique challenges this project offers, and we're delighted to be working again with our friends at Universal, and with our new ones at Fox and Microsoft. I'm a huge fan of the game and look forward to helping it come alive on the cinema screen."
This doesn't sound like a guy who's on board for the poster... thanks, mnemesis. (Louis Wu 18:48:57 UTC) (permalink)
New Halo maps for FarCry: Instincts
Halo Underground has posted notes about a couple of FarCry: Instincts maps - Beaver Creek, and now Backwash. There aren't any screenshots, but there is info in the Backwash post about how to connect and download the map. If you're playing FarCry - give it a look! Thanks, Rapter Payne. (Louis Wu 17:51:20 UTC) (permalink)
You gotta love the bow.
Okay, this is just scary. Joystiq has a story about a t-shirt design submitted to a T-shirt-selling website that combines Hello Kitty with the Master Chief. (This has been done before, I suppose - there was a SomethingAwful Photoshop Phunnies entry like this, now sadly offline - but this is something you wear.) We'll see if this one ever gets made... thanks, wheelers. (Louis Wu 17:17:23 UTC) (permalink)
Polymallet goes live
Chris Hughes is a computer graphics artist who came to Bungie with the Oni team, and stuck around to work on a little game called Halo. He left before Halo 2 development kicked in, and did a bunch of work for Wideload, on Stubbs the Zombie. He's recently put up a personal website, showing off some of the stuff he's been a part of... if you're like me, and love to see behind the curtain, go visit! The site is still under development, but there's a fun chunk of stuff to sift through already. (Louis Wu 16:39:13 UTC) (permalink)
Out Standing In His Field.
What to do when you're not betraying teammates with a rocket launcher? Check today's One One Se7en for a suggestion. (Louis Wu 13:41:33 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Looks at Team Hardcore
Dyslexia, over at MLGPro.com, has written up an endorsement of the upcoming Team Hardcore playlist that Bungie will introduce to XBL Matchmaking later this month. He explains why it's a good thing, and who will benefit from it, and although I STILL don't like MLG's use of the word 'balanced' (I think they mean 'uniform'), it's a well-written piece with several good points. Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 13:01:27 UTC) (permalink)
Put you on game
Reinsoft posted another Halo rap (definitely needs the MPAA Explicit Lyrics rating) on our forum last night - 3.4 mb in downloadable form, or you can stream it from his website. Check it out. (Louis Wu 12:44:40 UTC) (permalink)
The Hard Stop
Red vs Blue episode 63 is up now for sponsors - it'll be up for everyone late Wednesday night. (As Burnie says, it's either a few days late, or a week and a half early, depending on how you view RvB's 'time warp' database accident of last week.) Tucker gets in a bit of trouble for playing with the wrong toys, Simmons learns to hate value-added communications services, and Tex makes a deal with Andy. Fun stuff all around! Just over 5 minutes long - go grab a copy! (Louis Wu 09:28:51 UTC) (permalink)
Theo Prins - our newest featured artist
We've added yet another Gallery Page - this time for a newcomer to the Halo art scene by the name of Theo Prins. His first piece made it into our last Misc Art update... but since then, he's been sending quite a bit, and I'm really taken with it. I decided there were enough featured artists that it was time to create an 'HBO Gallery' page, and remove the individual links from the 'Hot Pages' list on the right. Hopefully, the fact that the art links are one level down won't stop people from exploring them! Start, right now, with Theo's page. There's some mind-blowing stuff there. (Louis Wu 03:21:14 UTC) (permalink)
Their Most Golden Child
Over at Bungie.net, Frankie pointed out a post by Lorraine 'Mehve' McLees, detailing the work behind the Halo Movie Companion, the work put together to help the movie studio understand the Halo universe a bit better. Great read! (Louis Wu 02:49:59 UTC) (permalink)
News October 4 2005
RoP 2005 - Best Music Video announced
That Weasel has posted a second segment for the Rockets on Prisoner 2005 awards - 'Best Music Video' nominees... and the winner. Available in 6 flavors (two sizes of 3 separate formats). Go grab the one that works best for you! (Louis Wu 20:37:20 UTC) (permalink)
Executive Producer for Halo Movie Signed
There were rumors floating around that Peter Jackson might be directing the upcoming Halo movie - today, Bungie's posted an article that might just floor you. Jackson is on board - as Executive Producer. That means WETA, the special effects house behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Jackson's upcoming King Kong, will ALSO be on board, creating the sets and effects that will bring Halo to life. Wow. Just plain... wow. Joe says he and Pete Parsons are headed down to New Zealand next week to meet with Jackson... if you had fears that Bungie would abandon the movie to the heartless Hollywood machine, put them aside. (Louis Wu 17:37:35 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Script Leak - Nah.
JW points out a story on Joystiq which discusses a purported leak of the Halo 3 script on a website known as Riches Will Rust. The poster is brand new to that forum, with no personal info shown... and the script itself shows itself to be... well, below Bungie writing standards is a nice way to put it. Anyway - the script is fake (that's from an official source, not just me), but that fact isn't stopping it from getting all over the internet today. Spread the word, if you can. Update: Frankie has now posted an official 'it's fake' note on Bungie.net, for those who were skeptical of the unnamed sources. (Louis Wu 17:31:57 UTC) (permalink)
Girls Play Halo Too Song
I'm lovin' it. Last night, Elnea recorded 'Blow Boys Away', a parody of Breaking Benjamin's 'Blow Me Away' in which she stands tall for the fairer sex. It's hilarious. It's available in MP3, Real, or WMA formats from her RvB Journal - but if you're not a member (and don't feel like becoming one), you're probably better off grabbing the mp3 from us. Lyrics are also up. I'm still chuckling. (Louis Wu 16:58:15 UTC) (permalink)
Tied the Leader - the weekly thing
XerxdeeJ stopped by to say he'd posted another couple of entries in his Tied the Leader blog - there's a great rant about 'skill', and what it means in a game of Halo 2, and a plea for advice on how to improve the XBL connection in his new digs. Go read! (Louis Wu 16:12:29 UTC) (permalink)
Halo in Texas
The Daily Toreador, a newspaper in Lubbock, Texas, has an article about a Halo 2 tournament held in a local church. It's a nice general-interest piece, with opinions (that will reach the general, non-game-playing public) about the upcoming consoles, and Halo's place in online gaming. (Louis Wu 14:35:52 UTC) (permalink)
Halo fans like their movies
Dennis Powers wrote to point out a milestone over at the Halo CE Chronicles - over 50,000 downloads of the series (and counting). Nice! If you haven't seen it, and don't feel like downloading each episode of Season 1 individually, he's re-released the season in two chunks; episodes 1-5 in one file, and episodes 6-9 in a second. Go look! (Louis Wu 12:39:33 UTC) (permalink)
Sentient Arts opens
Dan Chosich and Loren Judah, both longtime contributors to the Halo community, have put together Sentient Arts, a website devoted to giving artists a place to display their work. It's not Halo-specific (though I'm sure they'd accept Halo-related material) - but it's pretty slick-looking, and it's definitely a resource that many in this community could make use of. Check it out! Comments can go in this forum thread. (Louis Wu 00:40:51 UTC) (permalink)
Zoinks, Indeed.
Okay, so the DOA4 rumor we mentioned recently is true - it's the new top story at Bungie.net. I'm a little disturbed by the jiggly bits in the image in that story... but then, Frankie's never been totally couth. There's still plenty under wraps, but the bottom line is, SOMETHING from the Halo universe will show up in the next DOA game. More as we know about it. (Louis Wu 00:31:44 UTC) (permalink)
News October 3 2005
It Isn't In The Nursery...
Today's One One Se7en looks once again at Stuntmutt's favorite weapon... and its effects. (Louis Wu 14:14:51 UTC) (permalink)
Monday Morning Reading
Must have been a little while since the last update - there are 17 new pieces in the Fan Fiction section today. Go read! (Louis Wu 13:43:59 UTC) (permalink)
Brutes in Bikinis
Game Informer has posted an article that claims that a character from Halo will be appearing in the upcoming Dead or Alive 4, and that it won't be the Master Chief (or a Warthog). At this point, this is in the Wild Rumors category, but if more info surfaces, we'll let you know. Looks like GhaleonEB was first out of the gate with this one. (Louis Wu 13:25:54 UTC) (permalink)
Gaming Excellence reviews MMP
The Multiplayer Map Pack is STILL being reviewed - Gaming Excellence posted a thumbs-up yesterday, giving the release a 9.1 out of 10. The extras got mentioned, but didn't seem to contribute to their scoring of the product at all. (This makes me sad, because things like the interview with the dev team are pretty darn cool.) (Louis Wu 13:21:47 UTC) (permalink)
Podtacular Ep 11 posted
PodTactacular Episode 11 has been released - this one's 30 mb, an hour and a half long, with tips on Backwash and the Battle Rifle (among other subjects). Go listen! Thanks, Spelchek. (Louis Wu 13:17:58 UTC) (permalink)
Is that an action figure?
Chris 'CPU64' Bryan dropped off a new render using new technique (final gathering, which calculates global illumination from rays cast from the object's pixels rather than from a light source) - the end result is pretty slick! (Louis Wu 13:13:29 UTC) (permalink)
Direct Download Mirrors for MGS
There are a number of direct download mirrors popping up for the Metal Gear Solid movie we released yesterday (though with reported download speeds in excess of 1 mbps, you might be better off with the BitTorrent links for now) - That Weasel has put up mirrors of both versions, and Roland dropped off a mirror for the WMP9 version. Given that these are out there, we'll add our own - here's one for the WMP9, another for the QuickTime. (For those who wonder, yes, we really do like the BitTorrent bandwidth savings; in the 18 hours since this video was released, something over 50 GB of it has been served to the public; HBO accounted for only 30 GB of that. If we reduced our output by 20GB every 18 hours, we'd save almost a terabyte every month. Not too
shabby!) (Louis Wu 13:11:39 UTC) (permalink)
Rockets On Prisoner - first winner up
That Weasel points out that although the Grand Finale Awards Ceremony for Rockets on Prisoner is still in production, a 'pre-release segment of the ceremony' has been released. Comes in four flavors, two sizes each for WMP9 and QuickTime. Download it, and see who won the Award for Best Trailer! (Louis Wu 12:58:22 UTC) (permalink)
UnReal and Halzred, together
The next step in montages - now we have trailers for upcoming montages at the beginning. I'm just waiting for the animated popcorn and candy clip... over at Halo2Forum.com, you can download UnReal's first montage (lots of sniping, lots of sticking), and it comes with a trailer for Halzred's Montage 3 tacked onto the front. The whole thing weighs in at 94 mb, WMP9 format. While you're there, you can grab a copy of MADDOG's Montage Trailer, a mix of Halo and Halo 2 footage, weighing in at just under 38 mb (WMP9 format). Thanks, Z. (Louis Wu 12:56:58 UTC) (permalink)
The Ark is recruiting
Another machinima project is recruiting - go visit The Ark if you're interested in helping out. They've got a script for episode one posted, if you want to see what you'd be getting into. (Louis Wu 12:55:35 UTC) (permalink)
News October 2 2005
Metal Gear Solid (Halo Style)
Wow. Jamie98s has put up a bunch of movies over the last four months - but this one might be my favorite. It's called Metal Gear Solid, and it's (as might be expected) a story starring Solid Snake, from the MGS series. Jamie's plot description: "Solid Snake is deployed to a secret miltary base to disarm a nuclear warhead and destroy a top secret project known as Metal Gear." Audio is from MGS, video is all Halo (with a few special effects thrown in). Fantastic job - simply fantastic. It's rather large (107 mb in WMP9 format, 100 mb in QuickTime format), because it's rather long (32 and a half minutes), so we're starting it off as a BitTorrent download. You can grab the WMP9 torrent or the QT one - your choice. We're also providing quite a bit of seed bandwidth (2000 kB/sec per torrent), so downloads should be speedy, and should STAY speedy if early downloaders leave BitTorrent open after they've gotten a copy. In a day or two, we'll provide direct download links, as well, for folks who can't handle BT. Enjoy it - I sure did. (Louis Wu 22:17:16 UTC) (permalink)
More Elnea Artwork
Elnea has been sketching up a storm since the data loss suffered by Red vs Blue a couple of days ago - there are two new sketches (one is an early version of a piece of artwork already in the collection, the other is crash-related)... and while you're there, there's couple of new avatars at the end of the Avatar section. Nice stuff! (Louis Wu 20:56:59 UTC) (permalink)
Matchmaking Playlist Weightings
Sith went through the current playlists, and broke out the weightings for maps and gametypes on each one. Interesting data! (Louis Wu 20:30:43 UTC) (permalink)
Gamespot's Best Launch Titles
Gamespot has put up a new article on the Best Launch Titles of all time - and Halo makes the list (at number 5). They had really nice things to say about the game:
With Halo, [Bungie] accomplished the rarest of feats: It broke through to a new audience in the biggest way imaginable and set an extremely high standard for subsequent Xbox games. Halo's influence is undeniable. The game might have seemed derivative at first glance, but its numerous subtle innovations have been borrowed by countless other games since.
I'd agree with that... thanks, prometheus. (Louis Wu 16:07:31 UTC) (permalink)
Kickin' it, old-school.
So last night, Ducain pointed out a post he'd made over at High Impact Halo, giving props to WLT, a trickster who managed to put not one, but TWO hogs on top of one of the Blue Beam towers in the level Halo... along with himself. It's one of those totally useless, totally amazing tricks that just makes you want to giggle. We're hosting copies of the film, to save on WLT's bandwidth - you can grab the vid in its original WMP9 format (18.9 mb) or a re-encoded QuickTime (19.3 mb). Halo is nearly 4 years old. Halo 2 is almost a year old. And there are STILL people spending inordinate amounts of time setting up, and executing, new demonstrations of Halo physics fun. (Louis Wu 15:30:39 UTC) (permalink)
News October 1 2005
Lost the Lead Promo
Pinkuh's new comic, Lost the Lead, has a promo comic up in our forum now. (The full site is still waiting for the coding to be finished.) Go read! (Louis Wu 21:00:13 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Goodies
A couple of new pieces over at MLGPro.com - there's an article on Storm Ventures, an up-and-coming team with promise, and a gallery full of pics from MLG Seattle. Good stuff! Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 12:53:15 UTC) (permalink)
Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.
Gamespot says the rumor that Halo 3 will be shown to the public at X05 in Amsterdam next week is false. (Whoa, what a surprise.) I suppose I'm glad they came to that conclusion - but I'm really only posting this so folks can stop telling us they said this. It ain't announced until it's announced by Bungie - and trust me, the day that happens is a day we'll make a LOT of noise. (Louis Wu 12:27:43 UTC) (permalink)
I'm a GOOD guy!
This Spartan Life has added another video blog entry - it's a dispatch from the Bodyguard Competition (part 1, actually). During the competition to see who'll make the best bodyguard, the cameraman has a really hard time staying alive - you gotta wonder about a bunch of applicants for a bodyguard position have trouble telling the difference between friendlies and hostiles... Pretty funny - go watch. (WMP9 coming later today, the next couple of parts of the competition coming in the next two weeks.) (Louis Wu 12:22:09 UTC) (permalink)
I Love Bees, Reordered - Parts 11, 12, and Afterword
DOH! Webshift gently reminded me (via the forum) that while I'd updated the reordered I Love Bees page yesterday to include the last three chapters, I'd forgotten to make a news post about it. Go grab the end of the story! And feel free to use that forum thread to let Webshift know what you think of the project! (Louis Wu 11:21:35 UTC) (permalink)
I didn't know Voltron drank coffee...
Bungie's Weekly Update is now posted, and the majority is spent discussing a new playlist coming in a few weeks - it'll be known as Team Hardcore, and it will be significantly more difficult than anything currently on Matchmaking. (Go read the update for full details.) There are also small tidbits about other stuff, and a decided lack of info about Halo 3 (or even the EXISTENCE of Halo 3), and a great Mister-Chief-as-a-baby pic. Check it out! (Louis Wu 00:22:18 UTC) (permalink)
| October 2005 | |
