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September 2009

September 2009 Archived News

News September 30 2009

The Potential of Firefight
GhaleonEB, a pillar of the Halo community (though he rarely ventures out of his comfortable NeoGAF lair), has written up some of his thoughts on Firefight. I find myself agreeing with many (though by no means all) of his points, and I hope (as he does) that the criticism he offers is accepted in the spirit in which he meant it - as a tool to hone any future Firefight mode in Halo: Reach. Give it a read - see what you think! (Louis Wu 19:52:10 UTC) (permalink)

Will Save Earth 4 Food
grantix is selling a bunch of action figures to raise a little cash for rent - swing by to see the auction links! (Louis Wu 19:45:08 UTC) (permalink)

Behind the Scenes of 'We Are ODST'
GTTV did a small 'behind the scenes' feature on the live-action 'We Are ODST' short... but if it didn't give you enough info, there's a much more in-depth version now on YouTube (thanks, Zeouterlimits). It's amazing! There's even a full scene that never made the final cut. If you want a downloadable version, you can swing by TeamXbox - they've got 640x360 up now, with full 720p coming soon. (Louis Wu 19:04:02 UTC) (permalink)

Eggs - they're not just for breakfast any more
High Impact Halo has kicked off a new ODST Egg Database - and they need your help! There's a sticky post here that explains how the database works, and how to submit new eggs. Check it out - and check out what's already online! Welcome back, Ducain. (Louis Wu 19:02:51 UTC) (permalink)

Community Spotlight: Team BackFire
Bungie.net has a new Community Spotlight up - this one shines on Team BackFire, a Bungie.net group focused on screenshots. Check out an interview with the group, and a new batch of files in Bungie Favorites! (Louis Wu 18:59:21 UTC) (permalink)

Play Halo 3 with Blast, win 1600 MS points
Blast (Boston's Online Magazine) is offering 1600 MS Points to the winner of a tournament they'll be running this Friday. Read their post for more details! (Louis Wu 18:58:54 UTC) (permalink)

Tough Luck Skull (or any Skull) for sale
Mike Poage let us know that he's put a Tough Luck skull up for sale on eBay - you've got 3 days to bid on it. If you'd rather have a different skull, you can contact Mike directly - just be sure that the subject line has 'Halo Skull' in it. (Louis Wu 16:09:50 UTC) (permalink)

Paving the way for a new generation of pricing
Earlier today, we mentioned an article at Forbes that compared Microsoft's marketing strategy for Halo to that of razor companies - sell the razor cheap, make your money on the blades. We got word from deftangel that an article went live on CouchCampus that backs this up nicely - 'Halo 3: The Nickel & Dime Generation' looks at what it has cost to play Halo 3 as a hardcore fan, and laments the change in marketing strategies that has cost gamers so much extra scratch. Whether you agree or disagree, it's an interesting change! (Louis Wu 15:27:36 UTC) (permalink)

I don't know what you heard about me
Over at NeoGAF, Kibbles popped on a couple of days ago, claiming to have seen the 'Brute Pimp' animation that urk mentioned back in January (scroll down to "Pimpin' Ain't Easy"). Now, that update stated that the animation glitch that lead to the 'pimp strut' had been fixed... so Kibbles was told, pics or it didn't happen. He went one better - he filmed it. That Chieftan even has the pimp slap down! Check this out. Update: urk took umbrage at the idea that a bug he described as 'fixed' was 'found' in the game. He wanted you to understand that this was a DIFFERENT bug. Er... feature. (Louis Wu 13:27:35 UTC) (permalink)

A Vidmaster alternative for those with bad connections
Many people are discovering that Halo 3: ODST's finicky campaign networking can make it difficult to complete the Vidmaster Achievements - they require a long, uninterrupted stretch of connection to LIVE, and for many people, that's not a possibility. Well, back in July, we brought you news that the Vidmaster: Annual Achievement could be completed over system link, as long as the party was logged into LIVE. pete_the_duck confirmed that Endure, at least, can also be completed this way; he knows, because he did it. Thanks to sithhead for bringing the issue up! (To clarify: this doesn't mean you can do it without a LIVE connection. It simply means you don't need a LIVE connection to actually transfer data from one player to another - which means that the 'lag-out-because-of-a-bad-connection' problem is greatly reduced.) Update: Achronos dropped in a little caveat that's worth reading, to save you some headaches... (Louis Wu 13:25:31 UTC) (permalink)

Wednesday Comic Roundup
This morning, we've got the latest Ctrl+Alt+Del for you (thanks, gunluva - this one was pretty funny), and we've got the latest ODS Steve for you (it features the winner of the Fairfax Fundraiser). Enjoy! Update: TTL Demag0gue let us know that Reclaimer 220 ("Technology") is live, as well. (Louis Wu 13:18:31 UTC) (permalink)

An ambient masterpiece, positively dripping with mood.
Greg let us know that IGN has reviewed the Halo 3: ODST soundtrack - and they're raving about it. "Bungie's sci-fi shooter never sounded so good." No argument here! (Louis Wu 13:17:42 UTC) (permalink)

Surprisingly Smooth
Forbes suggests that Halo games are the razor blades to Microsoft's razor - the Xbox 360. (Seems like they could be right - according to this week's LIVE Activity list released by Major Nelson yesterday, Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST were the #1 and #2 titles.) (Louis Wu 13:15:16 UTC) (permalink)

Distress
Vandya stopped in with word of 'Détresse' (Distress), a french machinima. No dialogue, just action. Nice cinematography! Can our hero hold out long enough for help to arrive? (Louis Wu 13:14:15 UTC) (permalink)

HaloContest's September 09 Montage
Morpheus announced a montage of the best clips received by HaloContest during September - one of these will win the 1600 point card HC has for the highest rated clip - and reminded you that there's another prize on the line for October, as well. Check the post for more details! (Louis Wu 13:13:36 UTC) (permalink)

News September 29 2009

Average Joe: MR DROZ
Today's Average Joe interview at Bungie.net is with MR DROZ - he plays Halo 3, and he met his wife in a game of Team Slayer. Go read more! (Louis Wu 19:29:11 UTC) (permalink)

BWO Screenie Contest
Black Water Ops is holding a screenshot contest - win and you could get yourself some MS points or a LIVE subscription. Check their site for details! Thanks to Bungie's Comm Chatter for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 19:25:06 UTC) (permalink)

Finding Firefight Fellows
bs angel is doing her best to help out with the difficult task of finding folks to play Firefight with - swing by this post to add your gamertag, and some information about when you like to play. She's hoping that the list will end up being useful for folks trying to hook up with partners. (Louis Wu 17:57:05 UTC) (permalink)

Sunset over Mombasa
Crab has been busy - but he managed to whip up a single panoramic ODST shot. It's... gorgeous. (If you haven't finished the game, it could be considered to contain spoilers.) (Louis Wu 17:52:20 UTC) (permalink)

Taking the Large View
A Baked Grunt whipped up a few ODST panoramas - swing by Bungie.net for links! (Louis Wu 17:12:20 UTC) (permalink)

The end... and a new beginning.
Lots and lots of people are sending us worried notes after having read the latest post over at Ascendant Justice. Both Vociferous and Cocopjojo have been hired by 343 Industries recently, and because of this, they're both stepping away from their work on AJ. While you should be sad that AJ will not be producing any more fascinating analyses of the Halo universe, do not worry - both of these minds are now on the inside, working on the future of the Halo franchise. And should the day come when Jironimo no longer desires to host the existing AJ content, I've already put forth an offer to host a mirror - so the existing articles aren't going anywhere. (Louis Wu 16:39:23 UTC) (permalink)

It's the Grunt Skull that Clinches It
Want to see a really cool Spartan Birthday Cake? Swing by Hawty McBloggy's. That TTL Dren is one lucky guy! (Louis Wu 16:30:31 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Legends - more screens
Five new screens have popped up from the Bones-created episode of Halo Legends (1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5) - no word on release dates yet, though. (Louis Wu 16:16:51 UTC) (permalink)

Who's the real idiot?
Red vs Blue Recreation Chapter 15 (Watch the Flank) ups the tension a bit - Simmons and Lopez have trouble at Valhalla, while the rest of the crew find out how bad a storyteller Caboose can be. I kinda like the new Church. (Louis Wu 16:15:41 UTC) (permalink)

TTL Tuesday
XerxdeeJ stopped in with word of a couple of new articles available at Tied the Leader - 'Don't Burn the Love Letter' explains how Bungie made ODST just for you, and 'Join Us. Stop Them.' looks at the brilliance of the ODST marketing campaign. Great reads, both! (Louis Wu 15:47:27 UTC) (permalink)

Connecting ODST to Reach
CVG grabbed a bit out of the latest OXM UK issue where Joe Staten explained that Bungie was happy to tie together various tidbits from Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach - it's unclear how many of them will come to fruition, but the seeds have been sown, and Bungie is free to harvest as much of the goodness as they choose. (Louis Wu 15:42:14 UTC) (permalink)

Watch the Bleach
Eurogamer posted an article called 'Off the Map' - it looks at a few games that contain levels designed to confuse the player, rather than help him get from point A to point B. Page 2 looks at 343 Guilty Spark, from the first Halo. Overall, it's a great read, and makes me want to go back and play some of these games! Thanks, William Sullivan-Angulo. (Louis Wu 15:39:48 UTC) (permalink)

Microsoft Responsed to Disc Read Error Complaints
Microsoft has responded to the 'Unreadable Disc' issue that some gamers have encountered with ODST - they've told Eurogamer that they "are aware of a very small number of people who are reporting they can't play the game", and that they "are looking into it, but at this point it doesn't appear to be a widespread issue." Joystiq weighed in, saying that when they surveyed their readers, asking if the players "had technical issues" with their copy of ODST - nearly a third of the 5600 respondents said "yes". Joystiq suggests that the problem is bigger than Microsoft is letting on. (Something to keep in mind - many, many MANY people are having trouble with LIVE-based Firefight - in fact, I don't think I've talked to ANYONE who has not experienced SOME issue with it - and it's quite possible that many of the people who answered Joystiq's poll were not talking about disc read errors when they said that they'd experienced technical issues with ODST.) (Louis Wu 15:32:28 UTC) (permalink)

Road2Recon Ep.6: ODST - Endure
PyroSmile has released the sixth episode of their Road2Recon series - this one gives you tips on completing the Vidmaster: Endure Achievement. They picked a level with a high chance of success, and explained what you need to do to get through the first 4 sets. Go watch it, and Endure! (Louis Wu 15:29:15 UTC) (permalink)

Gag gift?
Schedonnardus ran across what has to be the most bizarre computer peripheral I've ever seen. (When you see it, you'll know why it's being mentioned on a Halo website.) It's totally unclear to me why you'd actually WANT one of these, though... (Louis Wu 15:26:44 UTC) (permalink)

We're third date now, let's not flirt.
MTV Multiplayer blog has a pair of videos of Nathan Fillion talking about his involvement (or desired involvement) in Halo projects - in the first one, he explains how he got involved in Halo 3 (and how he pulled in Adam Baldwin and Alan Tudyk, two of his Firefly co-stars), while the second one has him fawning over Halo: Reach. Fun stuff! (Apparently, you have to be in the US to see these videos. Sorry.) Thanks to urk for pointing these out. (Louis Wu 15:25:22 UTC) (permalink)

Bungie Lead Designer Changes Course
Domino Theory noticed a small blurb on Christian Allen's blog - Allen was a Lead Designer working on Reach, who (according to this blog post) has left Bungie to take a position at WB Games. Seems like interesting timing, given that Reach is scheduled to be released in a year... Update: this is not new news. In an interview from April 1, he was already identified as an 'Ex-Bungie Dev'. (Odd, since on February 6, Bungie spotlighted him with a Breaking In article...) (Louis Wu 15:24:45 UTC) (permalink)

News September 28 2009

Tag and Release: New Mombasa
Today's Tag and Release feature at Bungie.net uses the term 'New Mombasa' to show off some pretty cool environment shots - swing by to see the ones they found, or use the All Tags tool to find your own! (Louis Wu 17:46:46 UTC) (permalink)

Monday Afternoon at the Movies
A couple of new vids for you, courtesy of Bungie's Comm Chatter:

• Inside Gaming posted a Halo 3 ODST Special - Bungie's a week late noticing it, but we can't complain too much, we're learning about it from them. (If you've played through the game, there's not a lot here you'll need - but if you're new to ODST, it might be a worthwile video.)
• Arby 'n' the Chief: Endgame (Part Four) has MC unhealthily focused on a knife as the solution to all his problems.

Go watch! (Louis Wu 17:44:11 UTC) (permalink)

Monday Comic Roundup
Just a couple of Halo comic mentions today - Saturday's Ctrl+Alt+Del 'Silly' was ODST-related (thanks, Black Six), and the most recent Grin + Bear It (Bip Bop Oh) has gone live at Hawty McBloggy's. Laugh over lunch! (Louis Wu 17:30:38 UTC) (permalink)

Betcha can't overheat it
Hawty McBloggy found another pretty amazing Xbox 360 case mod - you'll need quite a lot of space for this puppy (it won't slide into a standard AV rack between your receiver and your TiVo), but MAN it's cool-looking. Go see! (Louis Wu 17:27:26 UTC) (permalink)

A good price on ODST
Nice - Buy.com's price on Halo 3: ODST has dropped to $43.24, with free shipping. If you don't have a copy, this is a great deal! Thanks, Chairhome. Update: looks like that deal was one day only - price is back up to $53. (Thanks, elpolloguapo.) (Louis Wu 15:33:21 UTC) (permalink)

Hidden Treasures on Bungie.net
So I was cleaning out my office this weekend, and I ran across a copy of The Official Xbox Magazine that I don't think I ever read. It's the June 2009 issue, and one of the cover teasers is 'The Halo You'll Never Play!' It's an article about Allen Murray's GDC 2009 presentation - and it included info I didn't remember seeing before. (We'd mentioned the talk a few times - IGN posted a pair of articles on March 26, and Kotaku posted one on the same day - but none of them contained pictures of 'Guardian Forest', the level that got cut from Halo 3, or of the Guardian itself, a new enemy with a laser in its chest that you could steal and use. (The OXM article included pictures, and made me hunt some more.) It turns out Bungie's posted Murray's PowerPoint slides on their Publications page, back on March 31 - and we neglected to mention it! (The images linked above were extracted from that presentation.) If you haven't perused the full publications list... you should. They are fascinating glimpses inside the development of Bungie's games... and there are some real gems buried inside as background art, as well. (Louis Wu 13:30:23 UTC) (permalink)

Fan-designed Elite Armor
Jensen stopped by with a newly-envisioned Elite armor - he calls it 'tank armor', with weapons integrated into the suit. Read his post for rationale behind the suit - along with a whole bunch of in-progress renders. Great stuff! (Louis Wu 12:38:32 UTC) (permalink)

Warthog Launch, Revisited
Heh - looks like ODST might have some of the same tricking opportunities that Halo did - there seems to be plenty of places where death/soft barriers don't apply. Check out this hog launch to the top of one of the skyscrapers on Uplift Reserve. Thanks, Ducain. (Louis Wu 12:37:26 UTC) (permalink)

Those guys ain't gonna stop...
Some discussion was raised on our forum yesterday about the possibility that the F-99 Wombat (the unmanned drone that Bry's been taking wonderful pictures of) might not be built to scale, since it's not really intended to be seen up-close. Bry confirmed that the version in the cutscene is the same size as the ones in-game (it is), and Omega used pan-cam coordinates to calculate some actual dimensions... and yep, it looks like it was built to scale. Nice! (Louis Wu 12:32:53 UTC) (permalink)

Prepare To Drop for Piano, Alto Sax
Rampancy.net user shadeslayer has posted an arrangement for ODST's Prepare to Drop for Piano and Alto Sax, in Notepad format. You must be logged in to R.net to see the download link. (Louis Wu 12:28:35 UTC) (permalink)

KOXM Interview with Marty O'Donnell
Hedgemony pointed out that the latest KOXM podcast (the podcast of OXM magazine) has an interview with Marty O'Donnell - it's a pretty interesting discussion that ranges from how Marty got into the industry, to how the music for ODST came about. The actual interview itself is about 40 minutes long, starting at about 22:30, but Marty sticks around for a trivia game once the interview is over. You'll learn something! (Louis Wu 12:24:28 UTC) (permalink)

UK gamers have dropped.
Over in the UK, ODST has topped the sales charts - not just for Xbox games, but for ALL games. You go, girl. (Louis Wu 12:23:54 UTC) (permalink)

News September 27 2009

Fun cutscene egg
Jayshum pointed out a youtube vid from Scazza showing off a pretty cool easter egg in the Epilogue cutscene of Halo 3: ODST - if you want to see it for yourself, simply hold the analogue stick you use to turn (Default is the right stick, but Southpaw is Left) as you watch the cutscene. If it's too much work to get there again, you can watch the low-quality, filmed-off-the-screen version Jayshum linked to - or you can grab an HD version from us (9-30 mb, depending on resolution). Funny stuff! (There are other eggs being turned up - Crymson Nite noticed Trogdor the Burninator, among other things, and Devin Olsen pointed out a ReadyUpLive vid showing a Halo 2 egg that reappeared in Halo 3, and now ODST.) (Louis Wu 18:14:04 UTC) (permalink)

Just how big is that drone?
Bry continued his work on the unmanned drone we see in Uplift Reserve - he's added it to his size chart, comparing it to a Pelican, a Phantom, and a Longsword. Check it out! (Louis Wu 18:12:42 UTC) (permalink)

Romeo, Romeo, where are thou sleeping?
Jillybean has been rejuvenated by the release of Halo 3: ODST - and the Halo Story Page is alive once more. Go check out some of the latest speculation! (Spoiler-rich, of course - don't read this unless you've played through the campaign.) (Louis Wu 18:11:49 UTC) (permalink)

Free Ts for the patient at TGS
If you were willing to wait in line (for a long time!) to play Halo 3: ODST at the Tokyo Game Show, you got a pretty cool t-shirt. Nice! (Look for some of these on eBay soon.) Update: Kaboris (who attended the show) clarified that everyone who played got STICKERS, but only the highest score for each round got a t-shirt. (His recounting of his interview experience is pretty funny.) (Louis Wu 18:10:45 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 FFA Tourney on Heretic, next Saturday in MI
CyReN stopped in with word of a Halo 3 FFA Heretic tournament next week in Canton, MI - check his post for details! (Louis Wu 18:07:11 UTC) (permalink)

News September 26 2009

Who wouldn't wanna be that sales guy?
Adam Grumbo told us about a video from the Angry Joe Show - what better way to pick up an ODST pre-order... than as an ODST? Armor sculpted by Rube (with molding help from Adam), paint is by Adam, SMG is by Lee. Epic. (Louis Wu 17:33:42 UTC) (permalink)

Arbiter - Pieces
AssaultGodzilla created a tribute to The Arbiter - it works surprisingly well with the Sum 41 soundtrack. 3 minutes - go watch. (Louis Wu 17:33:24 UTC) (permalink)

Up close - UCAV Drone Fighter (HD ODST Version)
Bry took some amazing screenshots of the drone fighter you see overhead on the Uplift Reserve level. Awesome! (Louis Wu 17:32:55 UTC) (permalink)

Wait... what's the 6th level again?
Black Asgard has an interesting theory about the story of Halo 3: ODST. Coincidence... or not? (Louis Wu 17:32:36 UTC) (permalink)

Trooper
TDSpiral painted his Firefight character - a labor of love. (Louis Wu 17:32:13 UTC) (permalink)

Wanna rent from Gamefly? No Mythic for you.
Just a warning, for Gamefly subscribers... if you rent ODST, you get only the Campaign/Firefight disc from them. (They'll SELL you the Mythic disc, but don't consider it a part of ODST, as far as rental goes.) Thanks to several people for reporting this - 95ss provided the official Gamefly response. (Louis Wu 17:31:46 UTC) (permalink)

Join Us!
FassinTaak whipped up a nice retro poster - go check it out! (Louis Wu 17:31:22 UTC) (permalink)

The Wind in their Hair...
Devin Olsen and goatrope got out of Uplift Reserve, and went exploring. The video and screenshots are pretty cool! (Louis Wu 17:30:58 UTC) (permalink)

Road2Recon Episodes 4-5
PyroSmile has posted the next two episodes of their Road2Recon series - Episode 4 covers the last three Mythic skulls, and Episode 5 covers the Vidmaster: Classic Achievement. Just two more! (Louis Wu 17:30:34 UTC) (permalink)

Be Like Marty jokes - they never get (as) old (as Marty)
Bungie's posted a new Weekly Update - and it's full of stuff. (It's also full of new formatting, which looks great on Bungie.net, but was a lot of work to incorporate into our Weekly Update Archive. Don't worry, though, that's not your problem, and the update is available in both places.) It looks like urk might have spent the whole week writing it - there's really quite a bit of stuff in there. Go read it! (Louis Wu 00:40:32 UTC) (permalink)

News September 25 2009

Some ODSTs are bigger than others.
Since the very first Halo, there have been characters you simply cannot kill - they're immortal because they're critical to the storyline. Usually, you hardly notice - if they're fighting alongside you, you're generally too busy keeping yourself alive to pay attention to how much damage the NPC is taking... but occasionally, you find yourself in a situation where you're forced to see it. The following clip is about 50 seconds long, and can be said to contain spoilers; it takes place near the end of the game, and if you haven't gotten there, you might see something that you don't know about. The location is relatively generic, though, and no (major) story spoilers are obvious. The action takes place on Legendary difficulty, and I must say, I felt like a little girl who'd walked in on her dad being worked over by a pair of mob goons - for all the good I was doing, I could have been slapping them on the back, yelling "get off him, you meanies!" The comedy gold, though, comes at the end - wait for it. You can grab 'Buck the Brave' in either QuickTime format (34.3 mb) or WMP9 format (31.1 mb). Enjoy. (Louis Wu 19:12:00 UTC) (permalink)

Friday Night Firefight
milesprower invites you to join the Friday Night Firefight group, or just watch - there are 1-month XBL Gold cards on the line for the highest-scoring team! (Louis Wu 17:25:54 UTC) (permalink)

Reporting For Duty
BlueNinja created a few really nice ODST-based panoramas - swing by Views from the Edge to see 'em! (Louis Wu 17:20:40 UTC) (permalink)

Aesthetic Artist Interview: The U2 RoKKeR
It's been a few weeks, but the Aesthetic Artist Interview series is back - COL0NEL SANDERS sent along an interview with (and some sweet screenshots from) The U2 RoKKeR, a relatively new screenshot artist who's got quite an eye for composition. Check it out! (Louis Wu 17:08:31 UTC) (permalink)

The Experience
There's a fun montage linked from Bungie.net - Salaya's The Experience has some very enjoyable clips. Go watch it! (Louis Wu 17:01:50 UTC) (permalink)

WorthPlaying talks to Nathan Fillion
Adam Pavlacka let us know about an interview with Nathan Fillion over at WorthPlaying - he talks about how he got into Halo in the first place, how the voice acting went, and more. He's got more problems than you do when he plays ODST:

When I'm playing the campaign with my friends — I was doing this just the other night — they commented on how weird it was. They don't know if it's me talking to them or if it's Buck talking to them.

There's plenty more, both Halo and non-Halo related (Firefly game, anyone?) - a great read. Go! (Louis Wu 16:41:25 UTC) (permalink)

Give your body joy
So yesterday I posted a little clip from 'Deference for Darkness', one of the most gorgeous tunes on the ODST soundtrack, because a riff in it had reminded me of the 90's song 'Macarena'. Most readers were amused, but a couple suggested they couldn't hear the resemblance. If you're one of those... Postman has your back. He actually overlaid the clip on the Spanish song... and now I'm scared. (Louis Wu 14:39:27 UTC) (permalink)

Another code to mess with
thebruce0 (the guy behind The Haunted Apiary) noticed some interesting graphics during his search through the streets of New Mombasa. (I'm not marking this with a spoiler tag, because I'm guessing it's more of an easter egg than a story spoiler.) It looks like Braille... but it's not. If you read through his posts, you'll see that he's looked at (and discarded) a few other potential code options... can you figure out what this is? (Louis Wu 14:34:20 UTC) (permalink)

Friday Caption Fun, Round 64... and a bonus.
Hawty McBloggy has a couple of things for you this morning - there's her standard Friday Caption Fun (the new image is lolcat-grade)... and there's a birthday greeting to an old (in software years) friend. Go read! (Louis Wu 14:32:15 UTC) (permalink)

New discs plus old drives equals sadfaces
Wesley Burket pointed out a thread on Bungie.net being used by folks finding ODST discs to be unreadable by their 360. If you're in this boat, swing by! (Louis Wu 14:29:12 UTC) (permalink)

Breaking In: Tom Saville
Yesterday was Thursday, so there's a new Breaking In article on Bungie.net - this week, it's Senior Animator Tom Saville - he passed on a promising career in werewolf training to work for Bungie, so go see how he got there! (Louis Wu 14:11:15 UTC) (permalink)

Friday's Fan Fiction
There are seven new stories for you this week in the Fan Fiction section - give 'em a read! (And don't forget to check out the Feet First Into Hell Contest winners announced a couple of days ago, if you haven't already...) (Louis Wu 14:06:57 UTC) (permalink)

Get the most out of Bungie.net's ODST Features
We neglected to mention an article posted yesterday afternoon on Bungie.net: 'Link Up with the B.net' seemed, at first glance, to be aimed at newcomers who wanted to tie their in-game experience in to Bungie.net's amazing stat tracking system. It didn't really seem like 'news' for the average HBO reader. A closer read, however, shows that this does include information that's of wider interest.

• There's a collection of tips for completing the various Vidmaster Achievements (as of yesterday, just over 4,000 people had completed them and collected their Recon armor)
• There's a mini-primer on Bungie Pro, and the mention of a new, not-quite-implemented feature coming soon: you'll be able to render a segment of a Firefight video simply by indicating the timestamps of your start and stop spots. This is amazingly cool, given that without it, you'd need an AWFUL lot of render points to grab Firefight footage (since Firefight has no 'clip' capabilities).
• The stats integration is, indeed, covered in the article - check it out for basic details and links to more in-depth explanations.

Definitely worth a read! (Louis Wu 13:31:03 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 Multiplayer Community Bigger than Shanghai
NeoGAF regular GhaleonEB pointed out that yesterday afternoon, a pretty cool milestone was hit, according to Bungie.net's stats: Players (All Time): 15,000,231. Wow! (Louis Wu 13:20:06 UTC) (permalink)

News September 24 2009

Shoot 'em in the head!
Nearly missed this - the Double XP Weekend Playlist is called 'Prepare to Drop', and it's an "ODST-inspired" list. 4v4 social list, with lots of magnums and SMGs. Potentially interesting VIP mode... check it out! (Louis Wu 22:35:38 UTC) (permalink)

Um... theres... Attack of the Contraband... um...
Jordan117 wants to know how well you know your Halo map names. There are 102 of them in the Halo Trilogy (including ODST Multiplayer, but not its Campaign). Swing by sporcle to test your skillz! (Louis Wu 21:35:20 UTC) (permalink)

The Long(Shore) View
mmm... I love me some pan-cammin'... (Louis Wu 21:28:29 UTC) (permalink)

The Whiney Wheel Gets the Code
Looks like running a website has its perks - we made noise, so Bungie made noise, and Amazon decided to Do the Right Thing. Check it out. (We've heard reports of other vendors having other issues - not being able to get enough codes for the preorders they placed, for example - hopefully, those will sort themselves out, as well.) (Louis Wu 21:17:51 UTC) (permalink)

Bungie Admits to Shoddy Workmanship
Okay, not really. But in a discussion about the ridiculous lengths you could get to in a Firefight game, JonnyOThan estimated that scoring would stop after about 4 months of continuous play - but that you'd probably run out of disk space, because Bungie didn't code in a max size to the film generated with this game. (For anyone planning on using this to actually slam Bungie for shoddy workmanship - think, seriously, about what four months of continuous Firefight play really means.) Update: Turns out I misinterpreted the comment; he phrased it the way he did because he wasn't SURE whether the code included a stop for film size - but he thinks it does. So much for my snark! (Louis Wu 19:02:08 UTC) (permalink)

What about women who read romance novels?
The New York Post posted an article about gaming widows... and their junkie husbands. I'm pretty sure I saw this in 1997. The Lame Game, indeed... (Louis Wu 18:32:58 UTC) (permalink)

Fight Like a Girl - Coming October 17
It's time for the Fight Like a Girl Tournament, that annual fundraiser that lets you frag friends and acquaintances to raise money to save... well, boobs. And who doesn't want to save boobs? 22 days until the contest kicks off - go read about it, register, and get ready to rumble! (Louis Wu 18:18:46 UTC) (permalink)

Making you wish the ride never ended
Soundtracks Examiner reviewed the Halo 3: ODST Official Soundtrack - very, very positive. Go read it. Thanks, Greg. (Louis Wu 18:12:29 UTC) (permalink)

Keeping it Clean
Hawty McBloggy pointed out a very snazzy Septagon Xbox 360 case mod - pretty! (Louis Wu 18:10:21 UTC) (permalink)

Top 10 MLG Plays Episode 8
B Mc Gann is back with another episode of Top 10 MLG Plays - 5 minutes of tricky multikills and clutch saves. Thanks, urk. (Louis Wu 18:09:11 UTC) (permalink)

Road2Recon, Episodes 1-3
PyroSmile Productions have posted the first three episodes of their 'Road2Recon' series - Episode 1 gets you through the first 3 Mythic Skulls, Episode 2 is 7on7 and Lightswitch, and Episode 3 covers the Annual Achievement. When they're done, you'll have a full guide to all 7 Vidmaster Achievements. Update: Fixed. (Louis Wu 17:14:11 UTC) (permalink)

RvB PSA Contest
RvB's latest Gamestop video is actually an announcement of a contest - you can submit your own script for a Public Service Announcement on Gamestop's website, and if you win, RvB will make the PSA. Very cool! (The vid's pretty funny, on its own.) (Louis Wu 15:44:51 UTC) (permalink)

Feet First into Hell
It's Tuesday, so it's time for... wait! It's not Tuesday! Crap. XerxdeeJ stopped in with word of an 'Official ODST Review' from Tied the Leader' - we're not generally listing reviews any more, this isn't your normal review. (Louis Wu 15:44:26 UTC) (permalink)

Jump in, the water's fine.
The tricksters/egg hunters have already gotten going - check this stuff out. (We're not, for the most part, going to be covering ODST tricking; there's going to be just too much of it, and there are already entire communities dedicated to it. But it's early days, and it's fun to see where folks are starting.)

• Bud, over at High Impact Halo, posted a link to a video that shows some jumps inside the ONI Alpha Site... and a very cool across-the-water launch out of Uplift Reserve. (Thanks, Ducain.)
• HaLo2FrEeEk found an ID card with Marty O'Donnell's face on it (maybe?).
• gunluva found trash with Marathon artwork and weapons on it on the floor, along with some text with hidden messages.

There are lots more - but those are the pics and vids we have for you today. Be sure to check out HIH on a regular basis if you love this stuff! (Louis Wu 15:43:13 UTC) (permalink)

ODST VR Panorama
HaLo2FrEeEk created a nice ODST VR Panorama from the top of NMPD HQ. Check it out in multiple formats! (No real spoilers here, other than a location you might or might not have reached yet.) (Louis Wu 15:42:39 UTC) (permalink)

2 mill in 24 hours
VGChartz is not trusted by all... but it's the only public source of sales stats on the web, so we go with what we got. They're listing a 2 million unit sales point for the first 24 hours of Halo 3: ODST. Nice round number, there! Thanks, Avateur. (Louis Wu 15:41:51 UTC) (permalink)

Launch Event Writeups - from East, South, West
Schedonnardus went to a launch event at his local Gamestop in Texas, Bliany went to the Bungie Launch Event in Seattle. Both took pics and wrote up tehir experience. (They were very different.) Bryan Simon went to HIS local Gamestop in Maryland, and didn't just take pictures, he recorded video. He also rewrote his "Thank You Bungie" song with an ODST slant. Check it out. (Louis Wu 15:40:12 UTC) (permalink)

A little more on Halo: Blood Line
If you swing by Marvel's page to read up on the upcoming Halo: Blood Line comic (we mentioned it a couple of days ago, thanks to onebitrocket for finding the Marvel entry), you might be interested to check Frankie's followup post, as well - some teasing tidbits in there... (Louis Wu 15:39:50 UTC) (permalink)

Expanding the Franchise
MTV Multiplayer has a piece that suggests five new sequels that COULD be made in the Halo universe. (No, they're not claiming that any of these are actually in production - they're just talkin'.) (Louis Wu 15:38:59 UTC) (permalink)

The Pit - in Halo CE
Over at NeoGAF, Botolf noticed that someone's remaking The Pit in Halo Custom Edition - looks great! (Louis Wu 15:38:32 UTC) (permalink)

Mythicize your Gameplay
Bungie posted 'Let's Get Mythic' yesterday - it's a nice overview of all 24 maps available on the Mythic disc of Halo 3: ODST. Check it! (Louis Wu 15:37:50 UTC) (permalink)

News September 23 2009

When Good Companies Go Bad
Whee doggies. Something to watch for, in the future... I pre-ordered two copies of ODST from Amazon back in July. This morning, an unlock code for Sgt. Johnson appeared in my inbox. When I wrote to Amazon to find out where my second code was, I was told that their policy was 1 code per household, regardless of the number of copies purchased. (The promotion is no longer active, so anything that WAS on the page about restrictions has been removed, leaving no way to confirm this. Amazon Customer Service admitted as much on the telephone - but since the original response was generated by Marketing, and since Marketing was involved in the original promotion, they're sticking to their guns.) Nobody needs to worry about ME - Frank O'Connor sacrificed his personal code so that my sons could play as Sgt. Johnson - but for all the other loyal Halo fans and Amazon shoppers who bought more than one copy... we don't think this is right! Let Amazon know that you're not alone - maybe they'll be willing to reconsider. (Louis Wu 23:29:27 UTC) (permalink)

Sumthing lets you enjoy ODST music - the right way
Whoa - swing by Sumthing.com's custom ODST page to listen to full, uncompressed versions (320kpbs mp3s) of four of the tracks on the Halo 3: ODST Official Soundtrack. NICE! (Louis Wu 22:27:14 UTC) (permalink)

Delta Halo and Regret on CryEngine2
JDcongote dropped into our forum with word that he'd imported a portion of Delta Halo and Regret (from Halo 2) into CryEngine2 (the game engine behind games like Crysis). The stuttering made my head hurt - but the graphics were cool. Go watch! (Louis Wu 21:45:45 UTC) (permalink)

ODST FAQ - It's your friend
Totally missed this when it went live yesterday... but Bungie has posted a sizeable Frequently Asked Questions list for Halo 3: ODST - and they're continuing to add to it. If you've got questions... they've got answers. You should DEFINITELY read through this - I learned a bunch of stuff from it. (Louis Wu 21:12:37 UTC) (permalink)

Forge Union Has More Favorites
It's Wednesday, so it's time to update Bungie Favorites - week two of Forge Union's prize stuff is now live. Go check it out! (Louis Wu 21:10:41 UTC) (permalink)

HBOFF Feet First Into Hell: Winners Posted
kabu let us know that the winners for the HBOFF Feet First into Hell contest have been chosen - go see what they won (and read the stories submitted the grand prize winner and the runners-up)! (Louis Wu 19:15:24 UTC) (permalink)

Cortana in Pics
Narcogen has posted the image gallery that goes along with yesterday's podcast discussion of the Cortana level of Halo 3. Narcogen is doing what he can to stay busy until his copy of ODST arrives, on yak-back, at his remote outpost in Inner Mongolia (or Kazakhstan, or wherever). Go check 'em out, and make him feel useful. (Louis Wu 19:14:05 UTC) (permalink)

Panoramalicious
Decadence Night stopped in with a whole bunch of new Halo 3 panoramas - go see the pretty stuff! (Louis Wu 19:11:20 UTC) (permalink)

Ohmygosh, it's Tony Stark!
HBO forum regular Mid7night was featured on Xbox.com's Gamer Spotlight today - go learn a little more about him! (Louis Wu 19:10:29 UTC) (permalink)

Road2Recon is Coming
Pyrosmile Productions has posted a trailer for their 'Road2Recon' series - I'm thinking the series will really be a guide to getting Recon, even though the trailer is more... how not to get it. Go see. (Louis Wu 19:05:48 UTC) (permalink)

A Side Note with Paul Shelley, Episode 7
Both shiruken and Paul Shelley let us know about Side Note with Paul Shelley, Episode 7 - it's got some Firefight tactics, and it's also got detiils on a new contest that Treeskunk Productions is running. Go watch, go enter! (Louis Wu 19:03:43 UTC) (permalink)

Out of Lost Platoon... already
Wow... these guys have aleady gotten out of Lost Platoon - check the vid. Unclear how far they can go... but MAN, the views from the edge are already amazing. Thanks, Devin. Update: link fixed. Eep! (Louis Wu 17:17:55 UTC) (permalink)

Enjoying the release in Australia
Kotaku Australia was at a midnight launch event, and took pics. Go see. (Louis Wu 17:17:34 UTC) (permalink)

Gamasutra Critical Reception
Gamasutra has a 'Critical Reception' article about ODST - they talk to a few different reviewers (folks from the high, middle, and low - or low middle, anyway - end of the scale), to see what they liked and didn't like about the game. Nice overview. (Louis Wu 17:16:59 UTC) (permalink)

Cool group artwork
RvB's MsValentine turned us on to this image at DeviantART - it's a pretty cool pic, but what's cooler is that other DeviantARTists colored it in. MsValentine's favorite is this one - I'd agree, that rocks! (Louis Wu 17:16:11 UTC) (permalink)

Wednesday Comic Roundup
Comics are light today - folks are playing ODST, as expected. ODS Steve has only a 'gone fishin' pic (of sorts)... TTL Demag0gue, bucking the trend, has posted a full episode of Reclaimer. 219 (Trading Blows) has Bold and the Reclaimer... well, trading blows. (Louis Wu 17:15:07 UTC) (permalink)

GD Posts ODST Training Grounds
GameDaily is posting a strategy guide - it seems to be aimed at selling the Prima guide. An example page is 'Know Your Enemy' - all other pages are easily found in the 'Training Grounds' sidebar at the top of the article. (Louis Wu 17:14:13 UTC) (permalink)

Bungie Comm Chatter Grab Bag
Bunch of new content on Bungie.net already today (I'm really late getting started)... let's summarize what's there for you:

• Burnie Burns did a video interview with PPMooCowPP, the Commissioner of Grifball, about the sport.
• HaloCharts has summarized the progress made by folks who took up their Campaign Challenge - wow, those guys killed a lot.
• Some Bungie forum regulars have put together a community challenge: 7 billion grunts KIA by July 7, 2010. Can you help?
• FortNightProduction has posted The Lucky 20 Episode 4 - it's more bad luck than good.
• Mastercmj2003 has written up a guide to help you get the Vidmaster: Endure achievement.

Good stuff! (And a nice boost to what will likely be a light news day; ODST has taken up quite a bit of my time in the past week, and it's time to spend a little more time on the people who put food on my table...) (Louis Wu 17:13:21 UTC) (permalink)

News September 22 2009

Halo 3: ODST miniFAQ
Joystiq wrote up a mini-FAQ for ODST - check it for stuff you might not have thought about. (Louis Wu 22:44:37 UTC) (permalink)

Teabagging Hunters for the Crowd
IGN wrote up a blurb about the Launch Party in Seattle last night - and posted about 20 pics. Go look! (Louis Wu 22:43:43 UTC) (permalink)

Please Remain Calm
Gamasutra has an interview with Curtis Creamer - it's a discussion about how ODST came to be. It's a pretty interesting read! Thanks, soldat7. (Louis Wu 22:28:34 UTC) (permalink)

Punk nephews better watch out
Today's Average Joe over at Bungie.net (what an honor, for drop day!) is ContactTango, one of the kind souls who wants to help you get your Vidmaster Annual Achievement. Go read more about him! (Louis Wu 21:51:08 UTC) (permalink)

Halo: Spartan Black becomes Halo: Blood Line
Avateur noticed an article on IGN announcing the release of 'Halo: Blood Line #1' in December - apparently, 'Halo: Spartan Black' has changed its name. Nice cover! (Louis Wu 21:47:08 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Waypoint - on the web
Halo Waypoint, the Microsoft Halo Portal, is live on the web. You can get there from HaloWaypoint.com or halo.xbox.com - both work. It contains lots of information and links about the Halo community and resources - dig through it to find cool tidbits! It's definitely pretty slick-looking! (Louis Wu 18:49:26 UTC) (permalink)

Welcome to New Mombasa
Welcome to New Mombasa is a new Top Story at Bungie.net - it gives you the lowdown on Halo 3: ODST. Who you're playing as, what you have available, what you're up against. Nice summary! Check it out. (Louis Wu 18:44:05 UTC) (permalink)

Tuesday Movie Mania
Stuff for you this afternoon, from Bungie's Comm Chatter:

• Warthog Memoirs is a four and a half minute machinima from CMNeir and friends - a couple of guys in matchmaking remember better times with their friend the warthog (I think it needs a voice).
• Physics Evolved: Episode 1 shows off some of the crazy stuff you can do with Halo's physics engine. If you can dream it... you can build it.
• Halo 3: ODST OST Rap is an ode to the wonder that is ODST's soundtrack. I'm not a huge rap fan, but this is fantastic.

Go watch! (Louis Wu 18:38:22 UTC) (permalink)

Prepare to Drop Theme - free for Gold members
If you have an Xbox LIVE Gold membership, you can snag a free 'Prepare to Drop' Premium Theme for your dashboard - it's pretty nice to look at. It's a limited-time deal (it doesn't say how limited) - so grab it soon! Thanks to NeoGAF's Jtyettis for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 14:23:45 UTC) (permalink)

Staten and O'Donnell talk to USA Today
USA Today has an interview with Joe Staten and Marty O'Donnell online now - it's aimed at a pretty general audience, so you might not find anything you don't already know... but on the other hand, it's pretty cool to see Joe tying together disparate chunks of the Halo storyline into a cohesive package you might not have considered before this point. And Marty explains the connection between Halo and Miles Davis. Go read! (Louis Wu 13:30:10 UTC) (permalink)

What am I, some kind of geographist?
Red vs Blue Recreation Chapter 14 (The Installation) went live last night, as a new chapter does every Monday... but some of us were too busy playing ODST's campaign to notice. Lots and lots of stuff happens - we're moving quickly towards a crescendo. TLQ^* is quite high in this ep. ^*Total Laugh Quotient (Louis Wu 12:39:52 UTC) (permalink)

Not all markets are depressed
A marketing research fan has found that there's plenty of room for multiple AAA titles this fall; more than half the people who plan to purchase Halo 3: ODST also plan to purchase Modern Warfare 2. (There are overlaps with other games, as well - the median number of planned game purchases in the next three months among survey participants is three.) (Louis Wu 12:29:00 UTC) (permalink)

Joystiq talks to devs
Joystiq has an interview with Microsoft's Ryan Crosby and Bungie's Alex Pfeiffer about ODST - lots of basic info, plus how it grew from an expansion into a full-fledged game, how this fits into the Halo universe, where it's all going, and more. 8 minutes of question and answers - give it a watch! (Louis Wu 12:28:37 UTC) (permalink)

Free ODST from PX360
PlanetXbox360 is giving away a copy of ODST - all you have to do to qualify is post 20 times in their forum (and add your name to the specific thread mentioned in the newspost) before Friday. Hey - who doesn't like free stuff? (Louis Wu 12:28:15 UTC) (permalink)

Anger, Sadness and Envy Episode 10: Cortana
Narcogen let us know that the next chapter of 'Anger, Sadness, and Envy' (the R.net podcast devoted to discussing Halo 3 campaign levels) is live - Blackstar, Narcogen, and special guest Miguel Chavez discuss the level Cortana. Not a single mention of ODST! (I don't think...) (Louis Wu 12:27:46 UTC) (permalink)

Everybody's tweetin'...
Yesterday, Willy noticed that 'ODST' was in the top 6 Trending Topics on Twitter. This morning... it's at #2. Me? I think that just means too many Bungie fans use Twitter... (Louis Wu 12:27:19 UTC) (permalink)

Save yer stuff!
A quick word of warning, courtesy of Wired Magazine - do NOT forget to save your Campaign progress before jumping into Firefight. (Easy to do, if you're responding to an invite...) Thanks, Dani. (Louis Wu 12:26:57 UTC) (permalink)

Pics for the rest of us
If you missed the official Launch Party in Seattle last night, swing by bungietweets - there are lots of pics. (Louis Wu 12:26:37 UTC) (permalink)

Bringin' it back
Botolf posted a bunch of screenshots over at NeoGAF of an ODST-inspired Halo Custom Edition multiplayer map. (The last one is rather poignant.) The map's not available yet, so for now it's just the screenshots - but go look! (It's not his map, he's just posting the pics.) (Louis Wu 12:26:11 UTC) (permalink)

Minutemen Monday (on Tuesday)
Not to be sidetracked by the release of Halo 3: ODST, Azrael stopped in yesterday with word of a new chapter of Minutemen: The Crucible - swing by his site to read it. (Louis Wu 12:25:54 UTC) (permalink)

ODST Panoramas
2good4u2 whipped up a batch of ODST-flavored panoramas - three of them are from Campaign modes (no spoilers), and two are from the new Mythic maps (well, outside of them). Amazing. (Heretic's skybox is awe-inspiring.) (Louis Wu 12:25:22 UTC) (permalink)

ODST stuff from IGN
IGN posted a short (one minute long) montage of Brute fighting in Firefight. (It's called a 'Brute Chieftan Montage' - but most of the action is Brute Leaders or even below.) No spoilers. Thanks, Minime637. While you're over there, you can take a look at 'Halo: The Many Looks of the Covenant', a guide to the enemies you face in Halo 3: ODST. (Louis Wu 12:24:36 UTC) (permalink)

The Length of Firefight?
There's been a little confusion about how many levels there are in Firefight - are there 99 rounds? More? Less? Bungie's JonnyOThan stopped in to our forum last night with the opinion that there actually is no limit - but that at some point (likely well beyond where YOU'LL ever get to) the game will stop tracking stats. (It will 'happily continue', however.) (Louis Wu 12:22:36 UTC) (permalink)

News September 21 2009

Pushed for Time
Didn't arrive early enough to make the comic roundup - but 1) it's from a LONG-time HBO fan and contributor, and 2) it's totally relevant to tonight's release, so... check out Dogsounds' 'Avoid Spikes' comic today - and remember to use that X button! (Louis Wu 19:05:05 UTC) (permalink)

HBO: Prepare To Drop
Been a while, but new releases tend to bring old-timers out of the woodwork... Boxer stopped by with a pretty cool poster! (Click it for a gigantic version, suitable for printing.) (Louis Wu 18:57:44 UTC) (permalink)

Wanting to be a part of it all
Last week, TeamXbox interviewed Marty O'Donnell about ODST (and more) - we're just hearing about it now (thanks, Greg). Surprising, cause it's a great read. In addition to ODST stuff, there's a tidbit on the music for Reach. Go look it over! (Louis Wu 18:51:43 UTC) (permalink)

Grab a Johnson!
GamePro is giving away a Sgt Johnson code for ODST's Firefight mode - just be the first to beat their score on Lost Platoon (and let them know about it). Hurry - it might already be gone! (Louis Wu 18:42:29 UTC) (permalink)

He did it for YOU.
w00tw00tw00t! 7heSuper's back! (Louis Wu 18:36:25 UTC) (permalink)

Tag and Release: lol
Wanna see some funny screenshots? Visit Bungie.net, and search for the tag 'lol'. Awesome! (Louis Wu 18:33:51 UTC) (permalink)

Monday Afternoon Movies
Bungie's Comm Chatter is full of new vids for you to watch, as the countdown to ODST continues:

• GameTrailers has released Chapter 3 of its "Bonus Round" episode, recorded at PAX - Bungie's Brian Jarrard continues the discussion with N'Gai Croal and Randy Pitchford about game marketing. Halo, of course, is talked about.
• Arby 'n' the Chief, continues its final 'episode' - Endgame, Part Three is now live. (I'm losing track of what's going on.)
• Remember when Halo 3 launched, and Mega64 was unhappy? They're unhappy again.
• Wanna watch a warthog montage? ObiWanStevobi has one for you.

Go watch! (Louis Wu 18:32:25 UTC) (permalink)

Views from the Edge Reawakens
BlueNinja has taken his Halo panorama site 'Views from the Edge' out of hibernation in anticipation of ODST - there are a few new pics up there now. Take a look! (Louis Wu 16:18:47 UTC) (permalink)

VGChartz Most Hyped Games Ev - erm, Recently
VGChartz has an article entitled 'Top Ten Most Overhyped Games Ever, Part 2' - it's a little silly, since Part 1 covers the top 10 games on the first few generations of video game consoles, while Part 2 covers the top 10 games on the most recent two generations - I'm not sure "Ever" should be part of the title. Be that as it may, the article is up, and Halo 3 is number 2 on the list. Thanks, Devin. (Louis Wu 16:13:12 UTC) (permalink)

Halo was the thing.
USA Today has the first part of a Q&A with Nathan Fillion up - Castle's new season is the impetus, but there are a couple of Halo-related questions at the end. (Louis Wu 16:09:08 UTC) (permalink)

Bungled Marketing?
Ashley Cheng, the Production Director behind Fallout 3, blames Microsoft's marketing efforts for some of the criticism Halo 3: ODST is drawing about its price. A lesson for next time? Thanks to VideoGamer for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 16:08:48 UTC) (permalink)

He's easily a John Williams
The Seattle Times has a column by Brier Dudley on how Marty O'Donnell has defined Halo - and how Halo has defined Marty. Interesting writeup! (Louis Wu 16:08:28 UTC) (permalink)

This Spartan Life - at PICNIC 09
It looks like This Spartan Life will be conducting a 'live' interview, on stage at the PICNIC 09 festival in Amsterdam this week. (I'm not 100% sure what that means - but it seems that Chris Burke and his guest, Dr. Gerri Sinclair, CEO of the Centre for Digital Media in Vancouver, will be on the stage, and Halo 3 - with their characters in it - will be on the giant screen behind them.) If you're near Amsterdam... check it out, and let us know how it goes! (Louis Wu 15:53:56 UTC) (permalink)

You can never be too sure...
Heh - they're starting early. Relativiox sent us a pic of the 'line' waiting for the ODST Launch Party tonight in downtown Seattle... looks like there's still a chance to get in. (Louis Wu 14:51:54 UTC) (permalink)

Firefight your way to free DVDs
Rooster Teeth is running a Firefight contest - read the post to see how to enter. Winners get autographed copies of the RvB Reconstruction DVD. (Louis Wu 13:48:31 UTC) (permalink)

Noobs get beat up, more like...
mendicantbias00 found a new Halo Hoodie from Ecko - ships next month. Can you take that shoulder patch off? (Louis Wu 13:43:39 UTC) (permalink)

More ODST OST Samples
DHalo pointed out that Amazon's page for the Halo 3: ODST Soundtrack has different clips than we've heard elsewhere. Beware, Amazon does some javascript testing to see if you can play samples, and if you fail the test, it won't even show you the links. (My copy of Firefox failed; I see no links.) A direct link to the music player, however, lets you hear all the clips. (Louis Wu 13:39:09 UTC) (permalink)

The Bad-Butts of the UNSC
NeoGAF's enzo_gt pointed out a DeviantART page with quite a bit of Chibi Halo artwork (created by GuyverC). They're so cute! (Louis Wu 13:22:52 UTC) (permalink)

Well, it's not ALL sweetness and light.
Ars Technica, and Ben Kuchera in particular, was pretty disappointed with ODST - there have certainly been negative reviews so far, but this is the one of the most negative from a large, reputable site. (He called ODST's music 'cheesy', something that 'sounds like the softcore porn they show on Cinemax after midnight'.) A well-known community watcher says that this is typical of Ars and Kuchera - but as far as I can tell, Ars never reviewed Halo (they were still focused on PC games in their gaming section in 2001), and their review of Halo 2 (also written by Kuchera) was actually quite positive. (Their Halo 3 review, written by Frank Caron, was focused on the campaign, which Caron found to be solid but disappointing.) Our forum has some discussion about this - chime in if you'd like! (On the other side of the fence, in terms of big-name sites that hadn't posted a review this weekend, Edge just put up their review (thanks to NeoGAF's ZAnimus for the heads-up), and they gave it a 9/10 - in their opinion, "ODST offers the most engaging and least flabby chapter of Halo's mythos.") (Louis Wu 13:21:44 UTC) (permalink)

Blomkamp on Halo at RT
FassinTaak pointed out an interview with Neil Blomkamp over at Rotten Tomatoes - the second page is all about the Halo movie that never was. The discussion made FassinTaak pine for what might have been... but it made Narcogen (over at Rampancy.net) happy that the movie wasn't made. The Halo fan community - always full of opposing viewpoints! (Louis Wu 13:20:54 UTC) (permalink)

CE United 20Q, September
Willy, of CE United, told us that he asked 20 Questions of Pete Cooper, the guy behind Operation Chastity (the fan movie project). Go see what he learned. (Louis Wu 13:20:26 UTC) (permalink)

ODST Mike - progress continues apace
GamerX5000 let us know that his ODST armor-building project is progressing nicely; there's a new post up detailing the finishing of the pepakura helmet. Check it out! (Louis Wu 13:19:16 UTC) (permalink)

Halopen Pencast 14: ODST Edition
Firestorm12 sent word of a new podcast from the Halopen crowd - it's ODST-focused. Check it out on Podbean. (Louis Wu 13:18:54 UTC) (permalink)

Monday Comic Roundup
A few comics for you today:

• Hawty McBloggy let us know that the latest Grin + Bear It ("Prepare To Drop") is now live - definitely NSFW.
• Today's Ctrl+Alt+Del has an idea for another Halo spinoff title - thanks, gunluva.
• TTL Demag0gue let us know about Reclaimer 218 ("Redirection") - things are heating up.

Go ahead and read! (Louis Wu 13:18:14 UTC) (permalink)

They could have gone to Keene, NH!
rolandk73 noticed an odd thing - the zip code for the last stop of the ODST Roadshow was 11703. Hmm... (See this post for more details.) (Louis Wu 13:13:04 UTC) (permalink)

Spike TV Halo 3: ODST Preview
Not sure how long they'll stay up... but for now, you can watch (in HD) three vids on YouTube that, taken in their entirety, show off last week's GTTV episode with the Legends preview and the 'Stump the Developers' segment (Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3). Thanks, StUnNeR H2K! (Louis Wu 13:12:04 UTC) (permalink)

Ceremonial Combat
TDSpiral whipped up something he calls Ceremonial Combat - harkens back to Halo 3's beginning, and it's epic. (Louis Wu 13:11:34 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Assault 2: Lone ODST
AssaultGodzilla decided to go old-school - he grabbed the audio from a trailer for MechAssault (an original Xbox LIVE release title), and paired it up with ODST-centric footage. Go see how he did! (Louis Wu 13:11:06 UTC) (permalink)

News September 20 2009

Best Buy Chat Transcript Online
Last week, Best Buy hosted a chat with Bungie developers - some HBO regulars attended, and Jordan117 sent along a transcript of the evening. You can view it here. Lots of questions - see what's new for you! (Louis Wu 18:45:29 UTC) (permalink)

Bad Cyborg Movies
Rockslider's been a contributor to our forum for years - he tends to play the heck out of Halo's campaign (well, Halo and Halo 3, anyway - he was pretty unhappy with Halo 2), and then write up his findings. Until recently, however, he had no way of collecting screenshots or video - so his site has been text-based since its inception. No more - he's adding movies! (And we're hosting 'em.) You can find his first two entries on his website (BCM1 | BCM 2), and he'll be adding to those regularly. (We've also got a 'Bad Cyborg Movies' section - far less info, but the movies are all there, along with links to Rockslider's more wordy writeups.) (Louis Wu 18:37:16 UTC) (permalink)

The OXM Report - a Tour of Bungie's Offices
xIIEnderIIx noticed a new Inside Xbox feature on Xbox LIVE Marketplace - it's a tour of Bungie's studio, given by Brian Jarrard to OXM's Ryan McCaffrey. If you can't see it on Xbox LIVE, you can grab it in HD from us, either in WMP9 format (155 mb) or QuickTime format (135 mb). Cool views of the inside of the building they're about to leave! (Also a surprise appearance by... a surprise guest.) (Louis Wu 16:23:51 UTC) (permalink)

ODST Roadshow, NY - Pics
rolandk73 was at the North Babylon ODST truck stop yesterday - he posted some photos. Nice costumes! (And a beautiful day...) (Louis Wu 14:55:06 UTC) (permalink)

Secret Games are Fun
More information on the metagame within ODST that was developed by Fourth Wall Studios - go read at VentureBeat. (Louis Wu 14:54:45 UTC) (permalink)

StreamingSoundtracks Streams Halo
Impervium pointed out another streaming option for hearing the Halo 3: ODST soundtrack (mixed in with other soundtracks) - read his post to learn about StreamingSoundtracks. (Louis Wu 14:54:21 UTC) (permalink)

ODST Red Carpet Trailer
DHalo pointed out an interesting 'ODST Red Carpet Trailer' over at GameTrailers - it summarizes all promotional vids released for ODST so far. Nice work! (Louis Wu 14:53:58 UTC) (permalink)

A hoody I wouldn't wear.
Schedonnardus found what might be the ugliest Halo-related hoodie... evar. (Louis Wu 14:53:17 UTC) (permalink)

ODST in Canada
MS Xbox World went to a pre-launch party for Halo 3: ODST in Toronto last week, and took lots of pics. Gorgeous artwork accompanying the event... and creative food labeling. Check it out! (Xbox Canada is hosting an open-to-the-public event on Monday night - swing by Feed Your Console - or NextGen Player, thanks, Steve - for details.) (Louis Wu 14:52:17 UTC) (permalink)

A fan speaks up
It's not an official review - but it's a great read. Over at NeoGAF, Hazimov wrote up some of what he liked, and didn't like, about Halo 3: ODST. Good thinking there. (I, too, have had some trouble finding the last few audio logs - I'm dying to hear the end of the story.) (Louis Wu 14:51:33 UTC) (permalink)

ODST Achievement Guide at X3A
NeoGAF's DancingJesus noticed an already-fleshed Achievements Guide for ODST over at Xbox360Achievements - if you're looking for advice on how to snag some of these, give it a read. (Do I need to tell you it's chock-full of spoilers?) (Louis Wu 14:51:06 UTC) (permalink)

ODST Art Assets - Back Up
All ODST art assets are now live again - we've replaced the embargoed pictures that we pulled last week. There are some potential spoilers in some of the campaign shots - nothing major, but if you're staying TOTALLY pristine, skip these. (If you're staying totally pristine, you should stop reading Halo news until you've played.) (Louis Wu 14:48:20 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3: ODST - the reviews
The review embargo on Halo 3: ODST lifted last night at midnight (eastern)... and they've been pouring in. I don't think I can keep up this pace - but here's the first few dozen that showed up in my Google alerts. (NNS means 'no numeric score', and these are in alphabetical order.)

More news coming later this morning, probably; I don't know if there'll be another review overview. (You could always just bookmark Metacritic or GameRankings...) (Louis Wu 12:21:45 UTC) (permalink)

News September 19 2009

Pro at Hat-Wearing
Bryan Simon and GetSumGear are gonna be giving away MLG shirts and hats, next Saturday (the 26th). If you want to snag one, swing by this video for instructions. (Louis Wu 19:07:57 UTC) (permalink)

Double-Take
Whoa - Treeskunk is seriously ramping up production on Operation: Isil. Time gap between episodes 12 and 13: 3 months. Time gap between episodes 13 and 14? 3 days. Go watch Episode 14 ("Double-Take"). There are lots of hosts. Thanks, shiruken. (Louis Wu 18:00:37 UTC) (permalink)

Concept Art for Cancelled Halo Project
Trendt ran across some Ensemble Studios concept art for a Halo project that was cancelled - maybe the MMO discussed last year? Really nice work. (Louis Wu 16:14:52 UTC) (permalink)

ODST OST review from G4TV
G4TV has posted a review of the Halo 3: ODST soundtrack - the audio clips they've included are the same ones that Bungie posted a few days ago, but the opinions are new. Go see what they thought! (Spoiler-free.) (Louis Wu 14:37:47 UTC) (permalink)

Sumthing offers ODST OST Previews
Sumthing Digital has previews of 17 tracks off the Halo 3: ODST soundtrack available for your listening pleasure. (Some have noted that the track titles themselves can be considered minor spoilers.) Thanks, Asian Inferno. (Louis Wu 14:05:08 UTC) (permalink)

Fab Four
gunluva whipped up a pretty funny little sketch - go check it out. (Louis Wu 14:04:50 UTC) (permalink)

Listen Up: ODST
Zeouterlimits pointed out the latest Listen Up podcast (09/18/2009) from the 1UP guys - lots of discussion about ODST. They liked it a lot, apparently. Timestamp of ODST discussion: 0:36:30 - 0:49:00. (Louis Wu 14:04:33 UTC) (permalink)

Feet First into Hell: Contest Closed
kabu let us know that The HBOFF Feet First into Hell contest is closed - next up... judging! (Louis Wu 14:04:15 UTC) (permalink)

The ODST content flood continues
ODST drops in 3 days, but the web content has already begun to explode. (Full reviews are still embargoed until midnight (eastern) tonight, so any that you see today will be from folks who weren't at press events.) Stuff we've heard about in the last half-day or so:

• Kombo.com has a campaign hands-on - no spoilers, just impressions of the differences between ODST and Halo 3, in terms of gameplay. Good read. (Thanks, James Center)
• Gamespot has a preview of the weapons of Halo 3: ODST. Includes wielding tips.
• Gamespot also has a playthrough vid of the first hour of Halo 3: ODST (well, 49 minutes or so). Count on the first hour's worth of secrets to be spoiled. (Thanks, serpx)
• IGN posted a fun video that summarizes the Halo story in 5 minutes or so - obvious story spoilers, and I think if you had never heard of Halo, it would make almost no sense... but for Halo fans, it's quite funny. Thanks, FassinTaak.
• IGN also posted a tiny (30 second) ode to the Halo 3: ODST pistol - it's a Headshots minitage. Thanks, Minime637.
• Gametrailers has posted a bunch of new clips - cinematics, some firefight vids, campaign gameplay. No real spoilers.
• TeamXbox Has posted a bunch of new vids, as well - all campaign clips.

I'm positive there'll be more as the day goes on - and tomorrow will be insane, given the end of the press embargo this evening. (Louis Wu 13:49:01 UTC) (permalink)

News September 18 2009

Cinnamon spice and a disconnected phone
The Bungie Weekly Update is (not surprisingly) full of information about Halo 3: ODST - the launch date, the party on Monday, some AMAZING artwork, tales of debauchery and derring-do in the Bungie offices, and more. And, of course, a bunch of fun-making at the expense of some of the less well-spoken fans... go read. You can also check it out in our Weekly Update Archive. (Louis Wu 23:58:52 UTC) (permalink)

Gentlemen, Start Your Engines
We forgot to mention it - but this week's Double EXP Weekend playlist is Rocket Race - and it's been live since yesterday. Thanks, urk! (Louis Wu 17:52:53 UTC) (permalink)

I'd feel bad eating that.
Hawty McBloggy has a bit on a really nice-looking groom's cake that a really cool woman had made for her husband-to-be. She based it on the Special Edition Halo 3 Xbox 360. You KNOW he picked well... (Louis Wu 17:32:48 UTC) (permalink)

Agent 404, Episode 1
Uman pointed us to a thread on Bungie.net's forum in which he's announced Agent 404, Episode 1, a 22 minute Halo 3 machinima filmed in HD and available for download (it's 1.2 GB!) or stream (same file). It has both a French and an English soundtrack, though after watching the first 10 minutes of the English version, I have to say I have no clue at all what this is about. If you've got a massive connection, grab a copy and check it for yourself. (Louis Wu 15:42:29 UTC) (permalink)

Don't flame-grenade your teammates.
GameDaily talked to Lars Bakken and rustled up a few tips that might keep you alive in Firefight a little longer. Give 'em a read! (Louis Wu 14:45:37 UTC) (permalink)

Friday's Fan Fiction
Just three new pieces for you this week in the Fan Fiction section - shouldn't take you too long. (Louis Wu 14:44:29 UTC) (permalink)

Friday Caption Fun, Round 63
Hawty McBloggy is back with another round of Friday Caption Fun - the last image (from two weeks ago) is up with highly-rated responses, and a new image, maybe saying goodbye to the Master Chief, is live for your titling pleasure. (While you're there, check out a couple of tidbits on ODST service tags - a maybe-NSFW collection played on during one of the media events, and a Twitter T&A feature asking the fans what they'll use.) (Louis Wu 12:47:36 UTC) (permalink)

GTTV's Legends Clips
If you can't wait for the HD version of GTTV's latest episode to be posted on GameTrailers (it'll happen in the next couple of hours, most likely), Impervium collected a roundup of YouTube clips showing off the Halo Legends material debuted on the show last night. Quality's decent (though I'm still looking forward to the official vid, for ancillary info). Update: 2900d4u noticed a tweet from Geoff Keighley - this episode will NOT be posted online. It will, however, re-air on Spike this Saturday, 1am. (Louis Wu 12:33:10 UTC) (permalink)

Hulu Xbox Channel - ODST Love
MirageDwarf, over at NeoGAF, noticed a channel on Hulu that (at the moment) is completely devoted to Halo 3: ODST videos. It's an 'Xbox' channel, so I'd guess that in the future there'll be other game videos there - but for now, it's all Halo. Check it out! (Louis Wu 12:32:26 UTC) (permalink)

Another fan review
John_117 found a local game seller that was a bit fuzzy on the concept of 'street date' - he's played the game through, and you can read his spoiler-free review on our forum. (Louis Wu 12:31:37 UTC) (permalink)

BBC Takes a First Look at ODST
BBC has posted a hefty writeup of their first experience with Halo 3: ODST - a 4 minute interview with producer Alex Cutting, plus a sizeable description of the game itself, makes this a pretty meaty preview from a top-flight news site. Update: Mr Danger points out that there's a minor story spoiler visible in the video. (It comes about 2 minutes in, and it's been seen in other teaser vids, but if you're trying to stay pristine, you might want to skip this.) (Louis Wu 12:31:03 UTC) (permalink)

Top 10 Halo 3 All Time Kills: Episode 43
Anoj, not satisfied with a 'best of' collection every five vids or so, has created an 'all-time best of' video for his Top 10 Halo 3 series - this one is All Time Kills, collected from the first 42 episodes. Go see if you agree! (Louis Wu 12:29:58 UTC) (permalink)

ODST OST on AOL Radio
Joystiq [Xbox] pointed out that AOL Radio is showcasing the Halo 3 ODST Official Soundtrack on their Video Games Scores station - tracks are mixed in with tracks from other soundtracks, and you can only skip a limited number of songs, so if you go this route, you'll be listening to a LOT of video game music, not just ODST's - but it's one of the few ways of hearing these tracks before Tuesday. (Louis Wu 12:29:12 UTC) (permalink)

Master Chief Theater 3000: Season 3 Finale
Smiley wrote with news that after a few months of delay, the Master Chief 3000 Season 3 Finale is online. Swing by YouTube to watch it. (Louis Wu 12:28:38 UTC) (permalink)

ElusiveEagle519's ODST Wallpaper - Day 2
ElusiveEagle519 posted the second in his series of ODST Wallpapers - this one focuses on Dare. There's also an unrelated piece called 'Contemplation' you might enjoy, as well. If you're looking for 1680x1050 versions, you can find them in this post. (Louis Wu 12:27:48 UTC) (permalink)

News September 17 2009

Story Matters
Morpheus pointed out a PAX panel called 'Story Matters', moderated by G4 and populated by story guys from a bunch of studios - including Bungie's Joe Staten. G4 has posted the hour-long discussion on their website - though you could just watch the embedded version in Morpheus' post. Great discussion! (Louis Wu 22:05:35 UTC) (permalink)

Uncharted artist comes to Bungie
Split-Screen has an article about Rob Adams - he's the Senior Environment Artist on Halo Reach. If you're wondering what his bona fides are... he was Lead Environment Artist on Uncharted: Drake's Fortune before this. Some pretty nice artwork in that game... portends well for Reach! Thanks, Domino Theory. Update: urk pointed out that not only did Bungie.net highlight Rob Adams' existence at Bungie in a January Breaking In article, he managed to do it with a TON of Uncharted references. There's nothing in there about Reach, of course (it was written 4 months before Reach was announced) - but I still lose points for forgetting. (Louis Wu 20:51:52 UTC) (permalink)

Reclaimer Halo 3 ODST Contest - Voting Open
TTL Demag0gue dropped in to announce that voting is now open in the Reclaimer Halo 3 ODST Contest - swing by the site and pick your favorite ODST-themed screenshot. There are 45 entries - and many of them are doozies! Go vote. (Louis Wu 17:24:43 UTC) (permalink)

Comm Chatter Comestibles
Bungie's Comm Chatter (woohoo) has some fun stuff for you today:

• Facility B5D will be releasing a podcast a day leading up to the release of Halo 3: ODST - starting Friday. You can submit questions for the shows, and get more info about what's in them, on their website.
• Mini Waz created a 20 minute montage as a goodbye message to the Halo community - or at least a 'see you later'. (He's refocusing on schoolwork.)
• The Spartan 1 Project's Contact Tango has just completed his 200th run of the Vidmaster Annual Achievement - wonga. (His group's no slouch at the run - remember that his colleague Declan Clarke created a walkthrough of the achievement - but 200 runs? Wow.)
• There's a new goosetage for your perusal. Lots of launches. (Quality is depressingly bad in this day and age.)

That should do you! (Louis Wu 17:02:52 UTC) (permalink)

ODST shows up at ODST Truck
Sean Bradley let us know about a collection of photos from his visit to the ODST Firefight Roadshow in Pennsylvania yesterday. There's a discussion and some photos in this 405th Forum thread - and his full gallery of shots is available at Photobucket. That dude was tricked out! (This will be the only time you'll see an ODST wielding an energy sword, unfortunately.) (Louis Wu 16:44:06 UTC) (permalink)

'Halo: Heroic Story Telling' Garners New Awards
McCann Erickson won another prestigious advertising award based on the Halo Believe ads - check out this press release. Agency Network of the Year: 2009 for a campaign started in 2007? Wow. (Louis Wu 16:43:32 UTC) (permalink)

Win a copy of Halo 3: ODST from Gadget Republic
Gadget Republic is giving away a copy of Halo 3: ODST - swing by to see how you can win it! (Louis Wu 16:43:08 UTC) (permalink)

Vancouver BC ODST Preview
Wow, looks like we missed a fun event for Canadian Halo fans; Tuesday night, the Vancouver armoury was hosting an evening of Firefight - sounds like a day with the ODST Roadshow, except no truck (but they DID have Canadian Forces members handling security). Here's hoping HBO readers in Vancouver made it there without us! Update: Laird was there - took lots of pics. Go look! (Louis Wu 12:51:00 UTC) (permalink)

Hawty has hot stuff for you
Hawty McBloggy is giving away a PAX Swag Bag - if you couldn't make it to Seattle at the beginning of the month, here's your chance to get a box containing all the stuff you'd have picked up if you DID (plus a very cool signed Cortana-themed faceplate, to boot). Minimal Halo content - but that faceplate makes up for all of it. (And the bag DOES contain some cool stuff.) Go read, and sign up! (Louis Wu 12:48:24 UTC) (permalink)

Gamestop Midnight Openings for ODST
LazerBlader sent along a PDF containing all the Gamestop stores hosting a midnight opening for Halo 3: ODST on the 22nd. I couldn't find it on their website, so we've got a copy here for you. Nearly 3000 stores on this list... Update: found a link on this page - swing down to the 'Interact' section halfway down the page. (Louis Wu 12:47:47 UTC) (permalink)

A summary of ODST I can get behind
Vast Inspiration wrote a short review of Halo 3: ODST over at NeoGAF that could have been from my head. No spoilers - just impressions about the game itself. And opinions that are mine, except that I've never even read a post from this person before. Check it out. (Louis Wu 12:20:44 UTC) (permalink)

ODST's in the wild.
More and more people are getting early copies of Halo 3: ODST - Newegg sent out a bunch of orders early by accident, some countries are less rigid about street dates than others, and even in places where street dates are taken seriously, mistakes are made by employees who might not be paying attention. This means two things: first, be careful what links you follow on the internet, if you're looking to remain spoiler-free... and second, you MIGHT be able to get your hands on the game a bit early (if you don't already have it preordered somewhere, or if you don't mind extra copies). Mostly the first, though. Be careful out there. (Louis Wu 12:20:06 UTC) (permalink)

ODST Strategy Tips from IGN
Minime noticed a new video at IGN - Firefight Starter Tips. It's a spoiler-free discussion of ways to maximize your survival, at least in the early rounds. (Decent advice, even.) I was pretty amused by the comment at about 1:30 that "teamwork is essential for success"... spoken as the player we're watching throws a grenade into a barrier, bouncing it back towards the team (rather than at the enemies). Heh. I think someone's been watching over my shoulder again... (Louis Wu 12:19:20 UTC) (permalink)

Giantbomb Podcast - now with more ODST
Giantbomb discusses Halo 3: ODST in their latest weekly podcast - swing by to listen to the two and a half hour discussion. (Halo content spans the stretch from 7:40 to 18:10.) Thanks, Minime637. (If you're reading this near the time it's posted, their server is having trouble with direct podcast links; you can get there by visiting the podcast page directly. Actually, at the moment, their server is having trouble, period - check this link periodically.) Pretty spoiler-free, overall. (Louis Wu 12:18:11 UTC) (permalink)

It's not just a game... it's a COUNTRY
Hehe - it looks like Howard Ryan has a new title. The Kirkland Reporter has a Police Blotter for last week - and the incident involving the sniper model made the list. The funny part? "The president of Halo was contacted after..." It's like he's a king or something! (Quick screenshot, in case they fix it.) Thanks to Max Dyckhoff for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 12:12:20 UTC) (permalink)

Community Spotlight: Forge Union
Bungie.net posted a new Community Spotlight late yesterday - this one focuses on Forge Union, a group of (duh) Forge enthusiasts who do a lot of playing together. Check out Bungie Favorites for some of their stuff. (Louis Wu 12:11:46 UTC) (permalink)

News September 16 2009

When your icons need a whuppin'...
ElusiveEagle519 whipped up some Johnson-flavored wallpaper for you, in an awful lot of different sizes - you should take a look. He knows what the desktops like. (Louis Wu 19:36:56 UTC) (permalink)

Clash of the Titans
shiruken let us know that Outpost: Isil Episode 13 - "Clash of the Titans" - is now available for viewing; visit the Treeskunk site for a billion different links. Classic AR vs BR matchup in this one... if the vid is anything to go by, it would seem they're BOTH useless weapons. Go watch. (Louis Wu 19:26:27 UTC) (permalink)

Puttin' Lipstick on the... Princess
Swing on by Bungie.net to see the gawjuss new makeover - for once, the old links still work! (While you're there, check out Kampy's Top Ten Montage Moments - fun fighting.) Update: One side benefit of the site overhaul is that all ODST Achievements are now listed; visit your Bungie.net stats page to see them. (Louis Wu 17:24:33 UTC) (permalink)

There - I just blinked! Didn't you see it?
Captain Spark spent some time with our friendly neighborhood lightbulb - check out the Dialogue Databank for a bunch of new Guilty Spark snippets! (Louis Wu 16:50:11 UTC) (permalink)

Take Down
Tony 'ubald' Marcotte continues to render cool scenes - his latest is called 'Take Down', and MAN it would be fun if you could use a katana like that... If you like it, check out the rest of his gallery here. (Louis Wu 16:49:18 UTC) (permalink)

Piggybacking on success
Co-Optimus noticed that a new Zune release - the ZuneHD - can be inscribed with a variety of game logos - including Halo 3: ODST and Halo Wars. It's not quite as cool as the Zune Halo 3 Edition's design (okay, not ANYWHERE NEAR as cool) - but hey, sometimes you take what you can get. (Louis Wu 16:48:45 UTC) (permalink)

Wait... what?
The Sixth Axis jumped into fan fiction today, writing a 'What If' story about possible outcomes had Microsoft not bought Bungie. Too many crazy leaps for me... but you might enjoy it. (Louis Wu 16:47:17 UTC) (permalink)

Looking for the start of last night's chat...
Thanks to Jordan117, we have a transcript of all but the first 30 minutes of the Best Buy live chat with Brian Jarrard and Joe Staten last night - but I'd like to post a full transcript, if possible. If anyone saved the first 30 minutes or so, we'll compile them into the full document and make it available on the web. Thanks! (An email to halo@bungie.org would be perfect.) (Louis Wu 13:55:05 UTC) (permalink)

Xbox360 ODST Bundle
Kotaku's got word of a PAL-based 360 bundle - A 360 Elite, a copy of Halo 3, and a copy of Halo 3: ODST, all for $400-600 US, depending on the location. (There's other stuff in the box, but it's stuff that would have come with these items anyway.) Look for it later this month. (Louis Wu 13:50:13 UTC) (permalink)

Selling Halo Goodies for an Angel
Joerhyno is selling his action figure collection to help pay his son's hospital bills - lots of Halo stuff available. Swing by the Spawn.com forums for all the details - I'm always amazed by how this community pulls together in times of need, and it sounds like Joe is in need right now. (Louis Wu 13:21:29 UTC) (permalink)

WorthPlaying Talks to SketchFactor
WorthPlaying has an interview with Brian Jarrard, discussing Halo 3: ODST. It's a long, rambling talk, ranging from the reasons behind the multiplayer segment of ODST to how Nathan Fillion got involved to a bit of information about why you might want to find those audio logs hidden around the city. Go see what they got from him! (Louis Wu 13:20:51 UTC) (permalink)

Cortana - in the flesh
UNSC_Leatherneck sent word that Grace, a member of the 405th that goes by Cortana, finished her Cortana cosplay in time for GenCon 2009. I must say... I'm impressed. Go check out the pics! (Louis Wu 13:18:29 UTC) (permalink)

Inside Xbox: The OXM Report (ODST Edition)
Morpheus was the first to notice (a couple of days ago) that the OXM Report this week on Inside Xbox (a part of Xbox LIVE Marketplace) is ODST-related, with an interview with Curtis Creamer. For those of you without the time to hunt it down on LIVE, we've posted it on the web, in HD. You can grab it in WMP9 format (116 mb) or QuickTime format (102 mb). Enjoy! (Louis Wu 13:17:18 UTC) (permalink)

5 new ODSTs
Time Glitch stopped in with word of 'The Twelve Days of ODST' - great job of finding items to fill the slots! Needs a beer in a tree. (Louis Wu 13:16:47 UTC) (permalink)

Prepare to Drop
Kibbles found a pretty nicely-built video someone made last week - it blends live-action and CG footage really, really well. It's to prep you for ODST - does a great job! (Louis Wu 13:15:52 UTC) (permalink)

Wednesday Comic Roundup
We heard from Hawty McBloggy that ODS Steve #41 (Prophet of the Unknown) was online, and we heard from TTL Demag0gue that Reclaimer 217 (Signal Boost) was online. Comics with your morning coffee!

Nice work, if you can get it
While most of us are waiting with bated breath for our copies of Halo 3: ODST next week, some folks are picking it up a bit early - Chuck's Zach Levi got hooked up with a few copies from Microsoft. Must be nice! Thanks, nash--housewares. (Louis Wu 13:13:09 UTC) (permalink)

That's a lot of copies.
EL33TONLINE noticed that (according to VGChartz) pre-orders for Halo 3: ODST now stand above 1.2 million copies. Not too shabby! (Louis Wu 13:12:37 UTC) (permalink)

News September 15 2009

A tale within a tale
ARGNet has an overview article about a story told within Halo 3: ODST, separate from the game. It doesn't have any information about the story itself - mostly just about how it will be discovered, and who created it. Interesting read! (If you're trying to stay totally spoiler-free, don't follow the link. There aren't really any spoilers - but just knowing the details about how it'll play out might be too much for some.) Thanks, DHalo. (Louis Wu 22:59:11 UTC) (permalink)

I don't mind a reasonable amount of trouble.
Bungie has posted a sneak peek of the Halo 3: ODST Official Soundtrack - it's a clip from the official press release (ho hum) and 4 loverly downloadable clips from the sountrack itself (drooldrooldrool). Go read, go listen. Then listen some more. Honestly - this is amazing stuff. (Louis Wu 22:41:12 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3: ODST Launch Party Details
Gamerscoreblog has posted details of the Halo 3: ODST Launch Party, to be held on Monday Night at the Experience Music Project building in Seattle. It does NOT sound like a party to be missed. Go read! (Thanks, Mark V.) (Louis Wu 22:38:21 UTC) (permalink)

Firefight: Combat Refined
NeoGAF's enzo_gt was first with the word about Joystiq's Firefight Hands-on - it's a fun read. (Louis Wu 22:33:33 UTC) (permalink)

ODST Assets - Image Overload
Microsoft distributed a LOT of visual assets today - we've got nearly 150 images, in rather absurd screensizes. (This concept painting, for example, is suitable for framing, and can be downloaded in a 4166x5820 version.) Most gaming sites will give you tiny versions - and will watermark those. We think you deserve better. Go check out the goodies. Update: EEP - I forgot to mention, there are potential spoilers in there. Sorry! (Nothing huge - nothing actually story-related at all, in fact - but certainly some minor gameplay spoilers.) Update 2: I was very, very careless, and broke embargo with some these assets; they've been removed again until this weekend. Apologies to everyone involved! (The non-embargoed images are still up.) (Louis Wu 18:16:19 UTC) (permalink)

Average Joe: Bobcast
Another Bungie Fan is spotlighted in the Bungie Blog - go see what drives Bobcast! (Louis Wu 18:13:44 UTC) (permalink)

Sauerkraut, Snorkels, and Chainsaws
There's only one new video on B.net today - but it's a doozy. It's an 11 minute recreation of Weird Al's 'Albuquerque' - and the video work is pretty amazing. If you've got the time, go watch. It'll make you laugh. (Louis Wu 16:54:49 UTC) (permalink)

ODST - it ain't for everybody
The BS Police noticed a review of ODST that's... less than kind over at Associated Content. No spoilers - so if you feel like getting the other side of the story, here's a place. (Fair warning: the reviewer spends the first page telling you that he doesn't plan to bash Halo at all... and then spends the next three pages bashing Halo as hard as he can.) (Louis Wu 16:15:38 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Legends Premieres on GTTV this Thursday
The Countdown to ODST continues on Spike TV - GTTV will have a bunch of Halo 3: ODST content... as well as "the world premiere of anime segments from Halo Legends' first episode, 'The Babysitter'", this Thursday, September 17, at midnight. You can watch the promo trailer on YouTube. Thanks, Geoff Keighley. (Louis Wu 16:11:25 UTC) (permalink)

Fan Art Rocks
Some awesome artwork posted this morning, from a variety of sources:

• Fragclone noticed a thread on polycount showing off some cool ODST renders by Heart_Murmur.
• Leviathan has whipped up some ODST wallpaper, both simple, and with interesting extras, inspired by Bungie's use of 'noir'.
• TDSpiral tried a different style - and ended up with a really interesting piece that hearkens back to Bungie's roots.

Check 'em all out! (Louis Wu 16:06:01 UTC) (permalink)

More Clay Amazingosity
Over at Hawty McBloggy's, Antithesis is back with more clay figures - check out his grunts, brute, and prophet! (If you swing by his website, you'll even see two more - a CQB Spatan and a Scout Spartan. Hawty manages to bring the whole thing back around to sex, of course. (Louis Wu 16:05:24 UTC) (permalink)

Melee In Manhattan
GameStop is hosting a Halo 3: ODST Tournament where you can win $5000, or one of thousands of other prizes. Round One (held in almost 2300 stores across the US) will pit 32 players per store against each other, with the top 4 per store advancing to Round Two. The top 2 finishers from each Round Two event will move on to Round Three, and the top 16 finishers overall will advance to the finals. The first event takes place on October 2, Round Two is October 9, and Round 3 is October 23. The final round (in New York) will be on December 5. More details can be found at the GameStop website. (This is different from the local events some stores are holding on the 21st, leading up to the midnight release of the game - thanks to EnergyPigeon for the heads-up on those.) (Louis Wu 16:05:04 UTC) (permalink)

I Still Call It Recon - but my eyes hurt
Morpheus announced the end of the most painful-to-judge contest... ever. Congratulations to all! (Louis Wu 16:04:35 UTC) (permalink)

LIVE Glitch Stops Heart
Patrick Cavanaugh had a bizarre experience yesterday, while downloading Battlefield: Bad Company on Xbox LIVE - his Xbox told him he was downloading ODST, instead. Sort of. He took some pics. (Does this mean that ODST is coming to Games on Demand? Probably not. Still pretty odd!) (Louis Wu 16:04:11 UTC) (permalink)

TTL: Rescued by Bungie
XerxdeeJ let us know that Tied the Leader continues to hound the crew members of the ODST Roadshow - a whole passel of TTL members have gotten their Firefight on as the truck rolls through the US. (Louis Wu 16:03:49 UTC) (permalink)

HBOFFPotW - 0911
kabu dropped by to announce the latest HBOFF Fan Fic Pick of the Week, courtesy of eb4642. Go see how it worked out! (Louis Wu 16:03:29 UTC) (permalink)

Called up
Last night, Rooster Teeth posted Chapter 13 of their Red vs Blue Recreation series - this one's pretty serious, but pushes forth a lot of story material. Go watch! (Discussion, on our forum, if you're interested.) (Louis Wu 16:03:06 UTC) (permalink)

Stranger in a Strange Land
Terra Incognita is the latest masterpiece from the behind-the-scenes crew at Bungie - it's a ViDoc in the original Bungie sense of the word. It cuts interviews with the crew who made the game in with cinematically-filmed gameplay - no huge spoilers, but I suppose if you obsessed about the tidbits in here, you could work out parts of the story you don't already know. For folks wondering how this game came together, though, and how it differs from the standard evolution of Halo fare... this is the one to watch. Bungie.net has 9 different flavors for you - everything from HD to iPhone-res, and subtitles on demand. (It's supposed to be on Marketplace by now, as well, but doesn't seem to be, yet.) Go feast your eyes - and get pumped! There's only a week left! Update: up on Marketplace now. (Louis Wu 10:36:57 UTC) (permalink)

It's coming...
Thanks to Blublur1, who pointed out a Tweet from Bungie that implies that staying up late tonight might be worthwhile... (Remember, we're still waiting on a ViDoc.) (Louis Wu 00:55:26 UTC) (permalink)

News September 14 2009

Wearable ODST helmets on eBay
Spase is selling a couple of helmets on eBay - the ODST replica is currently at $285 (with just under 2 days to go), and the Recon Helmet (which finishes an hour earlier) is at $200 right now. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 22:25:02 UTC) (permalink)

Party Poppers FTW
RevDotNed ran across a very cool feature at Digitial Photography School - 21 Great Reader Shots (and how they were taken). #14 is called 'Master Chief's Bad Day', and it's not only a great shot, the story behind it is pretty fun! (Louis Wu 22:24:45 UTC) (permalink)

Minutmen Monday
Azrael stopped in with word of the latest chapter of his Halo fanfic, Minutmen: The Crucible - go check out Chapter 12: An Evening with Rachel Lynch. (Louis Wu 22:24:27 UTC) (permalink)

Dink.
Today's Tag and Release feature at Bungie.net was based on the keyword '-blam!-' (which I think is subbed in for any curse). Resultant images range from sexually implicit to painful. Go see what they found! (Louis Wu 22:17:08 UTC) (permalink)

ODST in Cleveland
geekinabox was at the Cleveland ODST Roadshow stop... and wrote up his experiences for a less-than-obsessed audience. Check it out! Update: Another one - HC Redemption was at the Austin stop last week, and urk pointed out his writeup over at HaloCharts. (Louis Wu 16:12:53 UTC) (permalink)

Bungie to answer ODST Questions on Best Buy forum
Brian Jarrard and Joe Staten will be participating in a live chat on the Best Buy forums tomorrow night, September 15, from 6-8pm central time (7-9 eastern, 4-6 pacific, you do the math if you're outside the US) - if you've got questions, submit 'em! (Louis Wu 14:02:54 UTC) (permalink)

Where's that guy who used to make FedEx commercials?
Can Brian Jarrard justify the purchase of Halo 3: ODST in 30 seconds? You decide. (Louis Wu 13:59:45 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Reach - yep, it's new tech
NeoGAF's Popeck pointed out the GTTV Bonus Round's Pax Panel over at GameTrailers - Brian Jarrard, N'Gai Croal, and Randy Pitchford discussed marketing and development of games. Sketch once again confirmed that Halo Reach's engine is new:

Something like Reach, obviously, we don't want to use a three, four year old engine and technology, so we typically tend to reinvent the wheel and build a new foundation for each big launch, and that's where a lot of our time goes.

The distinctions between development philosophy as presented by Bungie's Jarrard and Gearbox's Pitchford are fascinating. (Louis Wu 13:47:58 UTC) (permalink)

Master Chief Bust coming from One2One
Matt MacNabb let us know that Toy Legion has a look at an upcoming bust of the Master Chief, available this winter from One2One Collectibles. It's the first in a trio of busts (the other two will be a Brute Chieftan and an ODST Marine). Check 'em out; they're pretty limited in their distribution (650 units total), and will set you back about $225. (Louis Wu 13:45:39 UTC) (permalink)

MC in your ear
Hawty McBloggy wore a cool pair of Master Chief earrings to PAX this year; you can check out a pic on her blog. (She bought 'em from PlasticParadox; they don't seem to sell them any more, but you can still get this pair of Halo 3 Logo earrings, or the HMB design in cuff links or a ring.) (Louis Wu 13:44:55 UTC) (permalink)

Monday Comic Roundup
A couple of new comics for you today; Hawty McBloggy let us know about the latest Grin + Bear It hosted at her site (sometimes genres don't mix too well), and TTL Demag0gue let us know about Reclaimer 216 (Bold Moves) - things get a bit dicey for our hero. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 13:44:32 UTC) (permalink)

Another Halo Assault Rifle
PsH Bling is another guy who repainted the Toys R Us Plasma Blaster - check out his pics at High Impact Halo. (Louis Wu 13:44:09 UTC) (permalink)

Pick up ODST for no money out of pocket
Merc noticed that Best Buy is offering a trade-in deal where you can swap two high-value games for a new copy of ODST. Check his post for links with the full details. (Louis Wu 13:43:48 UTC) (permalink)

News September 13 2009

ODST Mike - building armor, entertaining masses
GamerX5000 is building ODST armor for himself - and he thought you might want to watch the progress. Go visit www.odstmike.com to see the first post! More to come soon. (Louis Wu 17:11:46 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3: ODST Game Guide
Stephen Loftus noticed a heretofore-undiscussed Strategy Guide for Halo 3: ODST; it'll be coming out from Prima (as the last couple have), and (according to both the Prima page and Amazon.com) will be available on September 22, with the game. (Amazon's selling it for $16.49.) (Louis Wu 15:33:13 UTC) (permalink)

Arby 'n' the Chief Season 4 - The End Begins
xmoosev3 pointed out two recent Arby 'n' the Chief episodes - both are from Season 4. Endgame Part One and Endgame Part Two kick off the series finale, and tell the story of both Jon's new troublemaking roommate, and the beginning of the end for the Arbiter. The cocaine sandwich is pretty absurd... (Louis Wu 15:24:57 UTC) (permalink)

Go Wash!
TDSpiral spent some time recently creating a tribute to Agent Washington, a character in the Red vs Blue machinima series. Go see how he did! (Louis Wu 15:10:05 UTC) (permalink)

Grifball Panel from PAX at Grifballhub.com
Dragon sent word that Grifballhub.com has posted the Grifball panel from PAX - 11 vids, high-quality. Swing by to watch! (While you're there, remember to sign up for the Fall League - you've got until 11:59pm CST on September 16th.) (Louis Wu 15:09:25 UTC) (permalink)

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts - Halo Vehicle Collection
EazyB ran across a rather long video containing a whole bunch of Halo/Halo Wars vehicles, created in Banjo and Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. Might have been easier to process had it been shorter - but there's some nice stuff in there! (Louis Wu 15:08:12 UTC) (permalink)

News September 12 2009

The Road to Recognition
Stephen Loftus is entering the Canada's Biggest Halo Fan contest (we mentioned it Thursday) - check out some of his stuff! Think he's got a shot? (If he doesn't win, he can always build his own prize. To scale.) (Louis Wu 18:14:50 UTC) (permalink)

ODST: Behind the Music
1UP.com has a great article on the music of Halo 3: ODST, including interviews with Marty O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori, and a pair of clips from ODST songs. Go read, go listen! Thanks, Kibbles. (Louis Wu 14:20:06 UTC) (permalink)

Wait... am I a Halodroid... or an XBot?
Destructoid has a funny 'Fanboy Friday' article, in which they highlight some of the stupid 'my game is better!' 'no, your game sucks!' forum arguments you can find around the net in relation to Halo 3: ODST. They've got the right idea - laugh at ALL of them. (Louis Wu 14:18:54 UTC) (permalink)

Bungie Signed Xbox for Sale
DeadperfecT has a signed-by-Bungie original Xbox in great condition he's looking to sell. Check his post for pics, and let him know if you're interested! (Louis Wu 14:18:06 UTC) (permalink)

ODST Roadshow - Chicago Edition
milesprower was at the Chicago stop of the ODST roadshow - he wrote up a journal about it on RvB, with lots of pics. Check it out! (Louis Wu 14:14:08 UTC) (permalink)

ODST Sweepstakes at kongregate
elpolloguapo pointed out a sweepstakes at kongregate (you have to fill in the age gate info at the top to see it). Each week you play one of their games; qualify and you're entered in that week's drawing. Five winners each week will win a copy of ODST. Enter all four weeks, you're eligible for the grand prize (Xbox 360 Elite, 60" HDTV). You've got until the 16th to enter Week 1 - get going! (Louis Wu 14:09:13 UTC) (permalink)

Hands-On Articles Continue
More Halo 3: ODST hands-on articles are popping up - Joystiq has one - beware of minor early-game spoilers), a newspaper called 'The North Bay Nugget' has one. (This one looks syndicated; it should show up in any Sun Media paper.) 10 more days... (Louis Wu 14:08:41 UTC) (permalink)

ODST Teasers from TXB
TeamXbox has posted '9 Things We Can Tell You About Halo 3: ODST' - they played the game for two straight days, and have pulled out 9 tidbits that aren't covered by NDA but might intrigue you. Go check it out! Thanks, Planet Halo. (Louis Wu 14:04:05 UTC) (permalink)

News September 11 2009

Bungie Weekly Update: Swine Flu Edition
The latest Bungie Weekly Update is live - a recap of PAX, new campaign screenshots, an interview with a fan that kicked some serious butt at Firefight, an interview with the creator of Mega Man (and a recent visitor to Bungie's studio). And a cool piece of art we featured earlier in the week. Check it out! (As always, it's also available in our Weekly Update Archive.) (Louis Wu 23:36:08 UTC) (permalink)

What is an ODST?
jake108 and the Teabag Prevention Team are back with a new article on ODSTs - it's a summary of who they are and what they do. (Louis Wu 18:50:19 UTC) (permalink)

Top 10 Halo 3 Moments of Season 6: Episode 42
Anoj is back with another best-of episode of his Top 10 Halo 3 sereis - this one is the top 10 moments of season 6 (episodes 36-41). Thanks, urk. (Louis Wu 18:37:56 UTC) (permalink)

Foxes in Pottery Class
The third Red vs Blue ODST commercial for Gamestop is now live over at IGN - watching it can teach you some interesting things about Sgt Johnson... Thanks to jurk for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 16:08:34 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Interactive Strategy Game - now really cheap
XMixMasterX noticed that the Halo Interactive Strategy Game (originally released about a year ago - it's been in our news a few times) is now available at a deep discount ($12, down from its original $45) at Best Buy. It's up to you to decide if it's worth it at that price. (Louis Wu 13:57:34 UTC) (permalink)

ODST Campaign Previews Begin
Previews based on Campaign play are starting to appear - we saw two new ones this morning. Both of them looked at the same level (NMPD HQ) - neither contains story spoilers. IGN's article (thanks, DancingJesus) summarizes how gameplay in the campaign actually works, and then discusses the level, with a focus on how gameplay is different between Halo 3 and ODST. WorthPlaying's article (Thanks, Adam) focuses more on how the level is laid out, and discusses the voice acting (and AI) of the non-player denizens of this world. (It also has a summary of the new Mythic multiplayer maps.) Go read 'em - and get psyched! ODST drops in 11 days. (Louis Wu 13:01:06 UTC) (permalink)

ODST making new friends
CaptainTony pointed out a bit of ODST fanart he discovered at the Military Photos forum - done by someone who wasn't much of a Halo fan before ODST was announced. Pretty cool! (Louis Wu 13:00:40 UTC) (permalink)

GTTV: Behind the Scenes of We Are ODST
As we mentioned yesterday, the most recent GameTrailers TV has a feature on the making of the live-action 'We Are ODST' short. It's only a couple of minutes long, but you get a good look at the props they created for this film, and it's fun to see the 'set' (a strip mine in Hungary) without its trappings. Go watch! (ODST segment starts at about 12:45.) (Louis Wu 12:58:27 UTC) (permalink)

Friday Caption Fun, PAX Edition
Hawty McBloggy let us know that this week's Friday Caption Fun is a little different; rather than have you come up with pithy one-liners about an in-game screenshot, she's provided a passel of pictures snapped at PAX - shots of her with various community members. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to make people laugh with your interpretation of events. This newspost will self-destruct in five seconds. Good luck. (Louis Wu 12:57:46 UTC) (permalink)

Noise in the System
TTL Demag0gue stopped in with word of Reclaimer 215 - Noise in the System. Reclaimer learns more... but time is running out. (Louis Wu 12:57:16 UTC) (permalink)

Bungie going back to its roots?
FassinTaak made a connection I've never seen before - but it's intriguing. There are definite similarities between the story of the Rookie in Halo 3: ODST... and the story of the player in Bungie's first shooter, Pathways into Darkness. My mind is reeling! (Louis Wu 12:55:15 UTC) (permalink)

Where's my wheelbarrow?
GrimBrother One noticed a small tidbit at Kotaku - Stephen Totilo pointed out that Joe Staten described the size of the Halo Bible (the backstory document(s) that help Bungie and its friends keep track of the Halo universe) as 12-13 inches "if it was all printed out and stacked up". (For reference, a standard 500-sheet ream of paper is 2 inches tall.) (Louis Wu 12:54:27 UTC) (permalink)

Friday's Fan Fiction
Six new pieces for you in this week's Fan Fiction update - new authors, meaty text. Go read! (Louis Wu 12:53:00 UTC) (permalink)

G4TV goes ODST-Crazy
G4TV has created a special 'Launch Center' for Halo 3: ODST - a dedicated page with a TON of new content. Much of this (but nowhere near all) was taken from last night's TV special on the game - there are eighteen new video clips online, covering everything from multiplayer gameplay to story discussion. Fair warning, there are plenty of potential spoilers in these vids, so if you're looking to stay pure, skip 'em. With the exception of the direct-feed gameplay vids, most of these are interviews with Bungie personnel, interspersed with video footage from Firefight and the campaign - Mr Sark (who did the interviewing) and Bungie have both done a decent job of staying away from story spoilers in the conversation, so you could certainly listen to these without being spoiled. But watching them will show you tidbits you might prefer to see for yourself, as you play through... one option is to simply start a movie and then bury the browser window. (For many of you, the possibility of a glimpse of a character or situation that might provide a surprise is not a problem - and for you, this collection is a treasure lode.) (Louis Wu 11:30:24 UTC) (permalink)

Breaking in - Blake Low
The latest Breaking In article at Bungie.net focuses on environment artist Blake Low - you might think a cape and tights have no place at Bungie... but you'd be wrong. Give it a read! (Louis Wu 11:28:48 UTC) (permalink)

News September 10 2009

Halo 3: ODST's campaign length - one man's view
You might notice little tidbits around the net mentioning that there were media events in New York and San Francisco this week, and that press got the chance to play through Halo 3: ODST's campaign for the first time. (GameDaily has one, Dime Magazine has another, Kotaku has an extensive one (it's based on time spent with the game last week at Bungie's HQ, but Totilo was in New York yesterday, as well).) You can read these knowing you won't be spoiled - attendees had to sign NDAs, and cannot reveal much beyond the fact that they were there for some time still. I was at the New York event yesterday, and will have a full writeup when I'm allowed to. In the meantime, though, I thought I'd pass along a useful tidbit. Much has been speculated about the length of the ODST campaign - Bungie originally called it 3-5 hours, but then vastly expanded the content, and now hems and haws when asked for a specific number (since that number is dependent on a LOT of variables). Folks rushing through leaked games on Easy or Normal have finished the game in 4 hours, leading some to conclude that it really IS a short game. I'm not going to provide actual numbers - just a comparison. I played Halo 3: ODST for the first time exactly the same way I played Halo 3 for the first time: in a comfortable chair in front of a great TV (see the photo in the Dime Magazine article) in a New York Hotel, on Heroic difficulty - and it took me roughly 80% as long to finish ODST as it did to finish Halo 3. So if you whipped through Halo 3 in 5 hours the first time through, this one will be doable in 4. If you took 12 hours to get through Halo, count on 9-10 for ODST. And so on. It's a solid campaign - it did NOT feel like an expansion. And I'm looking forward to many, many replays. (Although I wasn't rushing, I still missed stuff, and I'm happy that the next few runs will still yield things I haven't experienced yet.) (Louis Wu 18:59:41 UTC) (permalink)

Spartan
The latest render from Tony 'Ubald' Marcotte went live in his gallery here today - 'Spartan' is a great shot with an epic feel to it. Take a look! (Louis Wu 18:00:18 UTC) (permalink)

Firefight Extended Hands-On, from PAX
Newsarama's John Stvan played some Halo 3: ODST Firefight at PAX - and wrote up his experience yesterday. Go give it a read. (Louis Wu 17:35:48 UTC) (permalink)

Movie Madness on the Bungie Blog
Another day, another huge batch of videos, courtesy of the BungLog™:

• Aberrant Designs whipped up a screenshot montage
• The Skookumchuk released his second goosetage
• Stewie2552 shared Funny Halo Fails and Laughs 6
• Clantacular.com has announced their first Top 10 Plays vid
• The August ESPN/MLG Top Ten is live (this one, as usual, deserves special mention - amazing plays)

Send urk a note - tell him he's making me watch a LOT of movies, and could he slow down? Thanks. (Louis Wu 17:30:03 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Waypoint Release Date Announced
xmoosev3 was the first on our forum to point out a tweet from the Halo Waypoint team... looks like Waypoint's going live on November 5. (Louis Wu 17:01:46 UTC) (permalink)

405th Infantry Represents at Dragoncon
The 405th was out in force at last weekend's Dragoncon 2009 in Atlanta, GA - and you can see some great pics in this thread on their forum (thanks, Sean Bradley). Sean's own photos can be found at photobucket - including a brand-new energy sword he debuted at this event. (More on that coming soon!) Check this stuff out - it's amazing. (Louis Wu 16:51:07 UTC) (permalink)

Master Chief Left Me
RVideo was the first to point out a new song from Mac and Cheese - it's called 'Master Chief Left Me', and it'll make you cry. (Not so much from the story, either.) (Louis Wu 16:44:39 UTC) (permalink)

We Are ODST - Fan Art
Adam De La Rosa let us know about a new image created by Halcylon and posted recently on Hawty McBloggy's forum it's called 'We Are ODST', and while it was inspired by the live-action flick, all the imagery comes from the game. Nice piece of work! (Louis Wu 16:42:26 UTC) (permalink)

Wanna Halo Job?
Thre are tons of new Halo-related positions available at Microsoft - go see if there's anything for you! (Thanks to LazerBlader, who found it on Halo Waypoint's Facebook page.) (Louis Wu 16:12:06 UTC) (permalink)

Making of Live-action ODST - on GTTV
GameTrailers TV Episode 222, broadcasting tonight on Spike TV at 12:30 am, will contain 'behind-the-scenes access' to the making of the live-action 'We Are ODST' short released recently. Watch it, record it, or find it on GameTrailers tomorrow! Thanks, Felix Mui. (Louis Wu 16:07:48 UTC) (permalink)

Master's Challenge Halo 3: ODST Pax 09
Minime637 pointed out a video showing Master's Challenge at PAX, playing Firefight. Funny commentary. (Louis Wu 16:03:18 UTC) (permalink)

G4TV covers ODST - on screen and in print
LoneRanger 2.5 pointed out a couple of G4TV pieces you might be interested in - they interviewed Brian Jarrard at PAX (sort of a wide-ranging discussion about game sales, and ODST, and Reach, and Bungie, and marketing, and more - it's huge), and there's info about an episode of X-Play broadcasting tonight (Thursday) at 6:30 pm focusing on ODST. Worth the reads! (Louis Wu 16:02:40 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3: ODST LE Packaging
Blaidd Dawg noticed a photo posted by Major Nelson, showing off the packaging for the Halo 3: ODST Limited Edition. Not exactly what I thought it was going to look like! (Louis Wu 16:02:08 UTC) (permalink)

ODST booths in US universities?
Zerowind117 let our forum know that his college (Arizona State University) has a single-player Firefight booth set up for folks to mess with. Are these at other schools, too? (Firefight in single player... what?) (Louis Wu 16:01:35 UTC) (permalink)

Canada's Biggest Halo Fan
Joystiq has an article about Xbox Canada and their search for Canada's biggest Halo fan - if you live in Canada, go check this out! Thanks, mendicantbias00. (Louis Wu 16:01:07 UTC) (permalink)

Parking was really rough.
IGN posted a 90-second interview with Joe Staten, recorded at PAX while he was wearing ODST armor - thanks, Minime637. (Louis Wu 16:00:36 UTC) (permalink)

Everything Bungie puts on the table is awesome.
Minime637 pointed out an article at VideoGamer.com, with some quotes from ODST Producer Alex Cutting about how wonderful a partner Bungie is for Microsoft. Nice words! (Louis Wu 16:00:13 UTC) (permalink)

Bungie's ODST PAX Panel - in Video Form
Bungie has posted the entire PAX panel on Halo 3: ODST - it's on YouTube, and you can watch all 8 10-minute segments in their news post about it. If you'd rather watch it on YouTube (why?), here's a link to the playlist itself (just follow the links on the right after you've watched the first one, though I think it autoplays). It's a fascinating panel - lots and lots of cool discussion about the how the game came together. There is no story spoiler info in this presentation. (There are minimal game spoilers here - but more 'teasers' than 'spoilers'.) (Louis Wu 15:26:58 UTC) (permalink)

Wednesday's Bungie Vids
A couple of new videos posted yesterday at Bungie.net:

• The Lucky 20, Episode 3 contains a bunch of clips of those "did you see that?" moments from Halo 3 matchmaking
• Mini Waz posted a montage, including fun stuff that's happened to him over the past year.

Go watch! (Louis Wu 15:26:12 UTC) (permalink)

Spartan Special Ops: Favorites, Week 2
Yesterday, the second week of The Spartan Special Ops Favorites went live - there's an interview about the map 'Templar', and all the new goodies in Bungie Favorites. (Louis Wu 15:25:27 UTC) (permalink)

News September 9 2009

Colonel's Halo Armor Project
Elnea pointed out an armor project from a member of the RvB community, Colonel. Everything down to grenades in there! Check out the pics. (Louis Wu 10:29:03 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Reach footage at TGS? Not likely.
Yesterday, over at NeoGAF, Domino Theory stumbled across a newspost from Gamezine.co.uk that suggested that new Halo Reach footage would debut at the Tokyo Game Show (September 24-27). Everyone got excited until SketchFactor informed the board that Bungie neither created this footage, nor knew of its existence. Bummer! (Louis Wu 10:16:02 UTC) (permalink)

Fan Tribute to Mordia
VelocityTino sent word that he'd created a tribute image to pay his respects to Peter Marks (see yesterday's post for details). A very nice gesture! (Louis Wu 10:15:36 UTC) (permalink)

Killvulsion - not bad
Morpheus announced winners of his multikill contest - didn't end the way *I*'d expected, but then, anyone could vote multiple times, so... (Louis Wu 10:15:01 UTC) (permalink)

Do the most with what you have
Yesterday, Kotaku posted an article called "How And Why Halo 3: ODST Was Made In 14 Months" - it's a fascinating read that tells the story of how a small team of old-school Bungie employees found themselves in the company of Mr. Opportunity. Go read it. (Looks like a thread popped up discussing this article yesterday evening.) (Louis Wu 10:14:33 UTC) (permalink)

Anger, Sadness and Envy Episode 9: The Covenant
Narcogen and Blackstar are back together again in very short order - and a nearly-2.5-hour-long podcast covering the entirety of the level 'The Covenant' is the result. They're still on target to finish the Halo 3 campaign levels before ODST drops - but it's a really accelerated pace. Go grab a copy! (Louis Wu 10:14:07 UTC) (permalink)

Wednesday Comic Roundup
We've got two for you: Hawty McBloggy let us know about ODS Steve 40 (Secrets), and TTL Demag0gue let us know about Reclaimer 214 (Dumping Ground). Solid entries in long-running strips! (Louis Wu 10:13:25 UTC) (permalink)

News September 8 2009

We'll miss you, Peter.
We recieved word that Peter William Marks, known to Bungie fans as Mordia, Lud, and "the guy who built Hang 'em High" (among other things), passed away on September 7th, 2009 at 11:35 p.m. He fought to the very end, and will be missed greatly. The page we set up a couple of years ago to provide him some fan support is still live; you're welcome to leave comments. (Please - be respectful. We won't take a kind view of stupidity. Thanks.) (Louis Wu 17:47:08 UTC) (permalink)

We Are ODST: Full-Length
GameTrailers has posted the HD, full-length 'We Are ODST' short that showed for the first time on Spike TV last night - swing by and check it out! (Louis Wu 17:46:40 UTC) (permalink)

Average Joe: BerserkerBarage
The latest Average Joe at Bungie.net is BerserkerBarage - he's been around for a while, and has a long history of Bungie game fannage. (Fannage? That's not right...) Go see what drives him! (Louis Wu 17:43:16 UTC) (permalink)

Tag and Release - Dark
Today's Tag and Release term at Bungie.net is 'Dark' - and the resultant images are just that. Go look! (Louis Wu 17:40:42 UTC) (permalink)

Pup and Friends - PAX 2009 Edition
Pup and Friends whipped up a Grifball highlights reel for PAX - it's online now. Thanks, urk. (Louis Wu 17:37:53 UTC) (permalink)

Halo CE and H2V Map Updates
Dennis Powers let us know about new stuff at HaloMaps... The Halo Custom Edition archive jumped by 120 new submissions during August, bringing the total to 4,333 files. Highlights of the new stuff include Maridia (Public Beta) (Metroid total conversion), TM Immolate, and Garden CE (very cool-looking). The Halo 2 Vista Map Archive got 22 new maps, including a remake of Ratrace, another of Hang 'em High, and original stuff like Glass Horizon and Dissemination Beta. Check 'em all out! (Louis Wu 17:35:41 UTC) (permalink)

Podcastin' - Live
The record-it-live train continues to barrel through the Halo podcast scene - Episode 21 of The Running Riot podcast (guest-starring CMNeir) will be recorded September 14 at 9:30 pm ET, and Episode 5 of Zoxin It Up! LIVE (guest-starring Bryan Simon) will record on September 19 at 9 pm ET. Read the B.net posts about them, and be sure to stop by during filming! (Louis Wu 17:27:01 UTC) (permalink)

Another view of the ODST mobile roadshow in Texas
BSG Surgeon let us know that BSG's MB012 and Tied the Leader's TTL Locke were in Texas at the ODST truck stop - and took pics and wrote up impressions. Go look, go read! (Louis Wu 17:20:40 UTC) (permalink)

Minutemen: The Crucible Chapter 11
Azrael stopped in with word of the latest chapter of his Minutemen: The Crucible fan fic. Swing by his blog to read it! (Louis Wu 17:19:15 UTC) (permalink)

Monday Comic Roundup - a day late, many dollars short
We forgot to post this yesterday - but Hawty McBloggy put up the latest Grin + Bear It (now hosted by her) on Sunday. Adult humor. Bad puns. What more do you want from a Halo comic? (Louis Wu 17:18:08 UTC) (permalink)

Best Buy Selling ODST at Midnight
Looks like Best Buy will be running midnight store openings to celebrate Halo 3: ODST's release on the 22nd - swing by to see if your store is on the list. (Louis Wu 17:16:53 UTC) (permalink)

PAX 09 Cosplay Fun
Hawty McBloggy has a set of pictures of folks in costume at PAX - more than enough of them are Halo-related to warrant a newspost here. (She's in a few herself...) (Louis Wu 17:15:02 UTC) (permalink)

Forge for HaloHolics, win stuff
HaloHolics is celebrating the release of ODST with a Forging contest - follow the rules, win, and you're eligible for some prizes. (Louis Wu 17:14:25 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 Fails Episode 25
chris10023 let us know that Halo 3 Fails Episode 25 was live - three minutes of bad luck and bad decisions. My favorite was the Driving Failure Fail. I want that Mongoose. (Louis Wu 17:14:05 UTC) (permalink)

Building your own Assault Rifle
JAY132 sent word of a thread at The RFP - Howlrunner bought the Toys R Us Plasma Blaster and did some work to it. Looks great! (Louis Wu 17:13:45 UTC) (permalink)

News September 7 2009

Well Hello
Looks like Red vs Blue Recreation Episode 12 is up REALLY early for Sponsors (it'll go live around 9 CST, as usual, for the rest of the world). Things are getting crazy - both back in the canyon, and in the desert. Old friends, old enemies, new acquaintances... things are heating up. Go watch! Thanks, Rockdio. (Louis Wu 21:45:55 UTC) (permalink)

Firefight in Reach? It's up to you.
Eurogamer got word from Brian Jarrard at PAX that Firefight could be included in Reach... if folks like it enough. Thanks to NeoGAF's enzo_gt (who got this from Joystiq) for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 21:45:28 UTC) (permalink)

PAX, day 2, with love from Devin
Devin Olsen posted pics of his second day of PAX goodness (lots of Halo stuff) - as well as an offer for a bunch of PAX shirt codes for your Xbox LIVE avatar. (I'm guessing that by the time this hits the front page, they're all gone - but it's a pretty cool thing to give away, so check it out.) (Louis Wu 21:06:36 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 Live-Action Extended Version
ConK3rS let us know that Halo.fr found the extended version of the Halo 3: ODST live-action trailer - it's got extra footage compared to the original 90 second version (and some scenes are slightly different, as well). Take a look! Update: some on our forum believe this might be an early, unfinished version; there seems to be much that is missing. The 'official' release should be coming sometime today; hopefully we'll know more soon. Update 2 (8 September 09, 11:30am UTC): We've been asked by MS to pull the link to this unfinished version. The finished version debuted last night on Spike TV, and should be available some time this morning on GameTrailers.com. GrimBrother One found a taped-off-the-screen version, and ElusiveEagle519 pointed out another IGN-released version that has been cut very differently (though with the same content). When the high-quality final makes it on to GT, we'll update this post again. Update 3: 2good4u2 pointed out that this last one is probably fan-made, based on the soundtrack. Okay, no more updates until the real one is live. (Louis Wu 19:06:05 UTC) (permalink)

Major's Minute: ODST Vidmaster Achievements
Morpheus pointed out that in the latest 'Major's Minute', Major Nelson and Lars Bakken discussed the new Vidmaster achievements, and how they're going to affect your quest for Recon. You can watch it on Xbox LIVE (in the 'Inside Xbox' section), or you can download it in HD from us (WMP9 version is 44 mb, QuickTime version is 41 mb). There are no spoilers in this - you can watch it even if you don't want to know specifics about the Achievements. (Louis Wu 16:41:00 UTC) (permalink)

Pics from the Truck
Schedonnardus was at a Texas stop of the ODST Roadshow - and took a bunch of pics. Go check 'em out on our forum! (He's also added some personal impressions.) (Louis Wu 16:40:37 UTC) (permalink)

Interest in Halo movie respawns
The recent release of the Rupert-Sanders-directed live action ODST short has rejuvenated the question about a full-length Halo movie - Screen Rant wonders if it's time to start talking about it again, and Examiner.com's Justin Mack thinks that this release might be aimed at just such a goal. What do you think? (Louis Wu 16:40:17 UTC) (permalink)

RVB ODST Launch Party in NZ
If you live in Aukland, NZ, 'RVB' might not evoke a Halo-based machinima series first and foremost in your mind - it might make you think of beer. There's a bar called 'Red vs Blue', and they'll be hosting a Halo 3: ODST Launch Party on September 21. If you're in Aukland - get down there! (Louis Wu 16:39:57 UTC) (permalink)

More ODST shirts
ZaneZavin scoured the net to find ODST-related shirts you could buy. He found a few. (Louis Wu 16:39:41 UTC) (permalink)

GameSpy's Firefight Updated Impressions
GameSpy has updated their Firefight impressions, based on playtime at PAX. Go check 'em out. (Louis Wu 16:39:24 UTC) (permalink)

ODST live action language - translated
GryphonOsiris found a YouTube video with translated text for the Hungarian spoken in the live-action ODST short (along with sung lyrics - it's still not clear to me what language that song is in). Nice work! (Louis Wu 16:39:08 UTC) (permalink)

HBOFFPotW - 0904
kabu let us know that the latest HBO Fan Fic Pick of the Week is live at the HBOFF forum. He also reminds you that there's still time to enter the Feet First into Hell contest - deadline is September 18! (Louis Wu 16:38:13 UTC) (permalink)

A special gift for Bungie
Pete Cooper and friends have made a special helmet for their Operation Chastity project - one that will be presented to Bungie at the completion of the movie. Fun! (Louis Wu 16:37:48 UTC) (permalink)

Omegathon Firefight Footage
Joystiq got some footage of the Firefight round of PAX's Omegathon. The crowd has some great advice ("don't get shot!"!), but mostly it's an interesting (if hard to see) view of Firefight on Legendary. (Louis Wu 16:36:16 UTC) (permalink)

Cleanin' Up, Bungie Style
Hawty McBloggy has yet another tattoo for you - she found a guy who inked a less-than-common image from Halo 3. (Louis Wu 16:35:54 UTC) (permalink)

CVG talks to Creamer about ODST
Computer and Video Games has a preview of Halo 3: ODST that's also an interview with Bungie's Curtis Creamer about the game - no spoilers, but some information about the full length of the game presented in a way I haven't seen before. (Remember; difficulty, number of players, and personal skill all work into how long a campaign lasts - your mileage may vary.) (Louis Wu 16:32:03 UTC) (permalink)

News September 6 2009

My hatch is... jammed!
IGN posted a small 'behind-the-scenes' clip showing some fun dialogue recording with Nathan Fillion (Buck) and Tricia Helfer (Dare), overseen by the Bungie audio team. Go watch! (Louis Wu 17:14:54 UTC) (permalink)

New T-Shirts, Multiple Sources
We heard about a slew of different fan-made ODST t-shirts this weekend: PsH Bling and his girlfriend whipped up a design shown off on High Impact Halo, reaper75 created a design based on the new interactive MS site, and LastSpartan recreated the trainee shirts from the live-action short. Nice stuff! (Louis Wu 17:12:26 UTC) (permalink)

Another shot at free xboxes
Morpheus noticed a '30 Days of Halo' promotion at Best Buy - they're giving away more of the ODST-branded Xboxes that we first mentioned in the Mountain Dew promotion. Go sign up! (Louis Wu 17:11:29 UTC) (permalink)

RC Warthog Footage
Trunks recorded more RC Warthog footage - with a camera strapped to the car. Fun! (Louis Wu 17:10:47 UTC) (permalink)

Fell No Man Sea
pete_the_duck thought you'd enjoy playing Halo Mad Gabs - read his post for details, and try out the first few he's come up with. (Louis Wu 17:09:34 UTC) (permalink)

Bungie's Prepare to Drop panel at PAX - G4's view
G4TV has their own coverage of the ODST panel from the first day of PAX - go give it a read! (Louis Wu 17:08:42 UTC) (permalink)

ODST Live-Action Trailer on XBLM
Minime637 was the first to notice yesterday that the live-action ODST trailer is now up on Marketplace - go watch it in HD! (Louis Wu 17:07:19 UTC) (permalink)

News September 5 2009

PAX ODST Panel - more viewpoints
A couple more writeups of the ODST panel at PAX: Gamespot was there, and so was Co-Optimus. Until the video hits the web, these writeups are the best you're gonna get! (Louis Wu 11:10:05 UTC) (permalink)

There's More to ODST than Meets the Eye
IGN has an interesting tidbit about a secret story buried in Halo 3: ODST - swing by to read teasers, or skip it if you're looking for that pristine experience. Clues dropped as long ago as last summer are beginning to make sense... (Louis Wu 11:00:35 UTC) (permalink)

Prayers for Rain
TDSpiral whipped up a cool bit of ODST artwork - go check it out! (Louis Wu 10:51:48 UTC) (permalink)

PAX Day 1 - another fan's view
Devin Olsen had his camera with him during the first day of PAX - and took a LOT of pics. Some of them (well, a lot of them) can be found in his forum post. He even included a video clip showing an answer from Bungie during the ODST panel, explaining why the Battle Rifle isn't in ODST's campaign. (The entire panel was recorded by G4TV, and will be posted next week.) (Louis Wu 10:51:18 UTC) (permalink)

The Hype Train Keeps on Rollin'
Blaidd Drwg was the first on our forum to notice an article over at TeamXbox containing some background information about the ODST live-action short released yesterday. If you're curious about who was behind that work, go read it! It also contains a link to a fascinating page put together by AKQA and TAG (together with Microsoft and Bungie) - check out the interactive Pre-Mission Evaluation to learn more about the characters you'll be playing as in ODST. (If you're good at puzzles, the codes for the top-secret parts are hidden for you to find - if you're not, a read of this forum thread will reveal them to you.) (Louis Wu 10:50:27 UTC) (permalink)

ZOMGKP
KP posted two new articles for the Xbox LIVE Community Team blog last night - the first (he told us about it Friday afternoon, Pacific) is an overview of the first day of PAX - only the last couple of pictures are Halo-related... but one of them is priceless. The second (posted a bit later) covers a special evening at Bungie Studios, for a lucky few. See if you recognize anyone in the pics! (Louis Wu 10:49:37 UTC) (permalink)

News September 4 2009

The Po-Po, Poopyheads, and PAX
I guess urk wanted to get out of the office... the Bungie Weekly Update is up REALLY early this week. Don't worry, though - it's full of news. Go read it! (You can, as always, do so in our Weekly Update Archive.) (Louis Wu 20:11:24 UTC) (permalink)

Get free stuff from Halopedia
Halopedia is giving away a bunch of cool stuff (5 copies of Halo 3: ODST, 10 copies of the LE version of the game, 10 12-month LIVE cards) - all you have to do is sign up and leave a comment. The only real catch is that you have to be a US resident. If you qualify... go sign up! Thanks to Iron Toaster, over at NeoGAF, for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 18:24:22 UTC) (permalink)

Fan Expo - A Halo View
nam visited Fan Expo in Toronto last weekend, and did a lot of Halo-related stuff. Go read about it... and check out the visuals, too! (Louis Wu 18:23:25 UTC) (permalink)

Death - it's here
Remember yesterday's ODST teaser image from IGN? They've got the teasee up now - it's a live-action ODST trailer. Unclear who made this - there are no real credits anywhere I can find. (Well, there are Bungie/Microsoft logos at the end... but yesterday's teaser post specifically said that this didn't come from either organization.) (Louis Wu 17:55:33 UTC) (permalink)

PAX-goers get playtime on Citadel and Heretic
According to urk, those visiting PAX this weekend will get a chance to play on Citadel and Heretic - both maps will be available at the Astro Gaming booth. (You'll also get to try out their amazing A40 headsets...) (Louis Wu 17:54:43 UTC) (permalink)

MLG's Halo 3 Forge Forum Map Pack
MLG's Kyle Magee sent word that their community has put together a map pack featuring twelve maps created on Foundry and Sandbox. All were built with competitive play in mind, all have been extensively playtested. You can find more info about the maps themselves (along with screenshots and descriptions) in this forum thread... and you can download the maps from this FileShare. Nice work! (Louis Wu 17:50:07 UTC) (permalink)

HaloContest Trailer/Intro Video
Morpheus stopped in with a video (made by Unlucky) telling you how easy it is to submit clips for HaloContest.com - watch it if you wanna win stuff. (Louis Wu 14:55:57 UTC) (permalink)

OC Concept Art: The Drop
The concept art teaser that Operation Chastity's Pete Cooper left in our forum last week has been finished - you can see the complete image, entitled 'The Drop', over at DeviantART. Awesome work by Adam Burn! Thanks, Pete. (Louis Wu 14:15:41 UTC) (permalink)

ODST Tour: Dallas, through the eyes of a fan
Tied The O7AH's Cozmo23 was at the Dallas stop of the ODST Mobile Roadshow - he took pics and made up stories. Go read 'em! (Louis Wu 14:12:33 UTC) (permalink)

ASE Ep 8: The Ark (Part 2 of 2) and more
Rampancy.net has posted its eighth Anger, Sadness and Envy podcast, covering the latter half of The Ark - it's an hour long, and weighs in at 65 mb. Go listen! Update: Looks like this is the opening salvo in a rapid volley of upcoming podcasts; Narc says you'll see the last three levels covered in the less-than-three-week span left between now and the release of Halo 3: ODST... with a special guest coming for the final two levels. Check out the details! (Louis Wu 13:32:38 UTC) (permalink)

GTTV - ODST Coverage
If you missed last night's episode of GTTV on Spike TV - it's online at GameTrailers now. (Here's the ODST segment.) If you're insistent on experiencing ODST's campaign with NO prior information, skip this; they spend a few minutes discussing a mission from the middle of the game. Almost no story info, but you do get a glimpse of the level, and some information about what you'll be using in it. There are two non-Campaign segments - a tiny bit on the Mythic maps, and an interview with Marty O'Donnell (no spoilers). Update: There's an interview with Joe Staten at the beginning of the episode, as well - apologies for overlooking it at first. (Again, skip it if you're looking to avoid story spoilers.) (Louis Wu 11:33:14 UTC) (permalink)

Aliens, Aliens, Aliens
The second Red vs Blue-created ODST commercial for Gamestop is now online at IGN - it's pretty funny, go watch! (Louis Wu 11:16:52 UTC) (permalink)

Friday Caption Fun, Round 62
Hawty McBloggy has the latest Friday Caption Fun online - captions from last week, a new screenshot to riff on... what else do you need? Go make funnies! (Louis Wu 11:16:05 UTC) (permalink)

Opening with fart jokes - stay classy, Bungie!
Bungie posted a pre-PAX Podcast yesterday - it's an hour long, and it contains some interesting discussion about the development and gameplay (no spoilers) of Halo 3: ODST (among other things). Go grab a copy! (Louis Wu 11:14:08 UTC) (permalink)

Be careful what you're seen with.
This is pretty funny in retrospect - but it probably wasn't funny at the time. Yesterday, police descended on Bungie Studios, looking for a gunman reported by a neighbor. Turns out, it was just a Bungie employee carrying a replica Halo sniper rifle. Heh. Heheheh... (Thanks to gunluva (no joke) for noticing this at Kotaku.) (Louis Wu 11:12:52 UTC) (permalink)

Friday's Fan Fiction
Only two new pieces for you this week in the Fan Fiction section - go read! (Louis Wu 11:12:05 UTC) (permalink)

Spike TV Gearing up for 'Halo Month'
Reuters has posted a press release for Spike TV, and what they've got planned for the month of September, with relation to Halo 3: ODST. It's a pretty full schedule! Check it out to figure out when your TiVo needs programming... (Louis Wu 11:10:35 UTC) (permalink)

Halopen Pencast 13
Firestorm12 told us about Halopen Pencast 13 - this one's focused on ODST (no spoilers). Go listen. (Louis Wu 11:10:09 UTC) (permalink)

RC Warthog in Action
mr.sci-fi dropped in to announce he'd created a short video review of the NKOK radio-controlled Warthog - the video quality's not the greatest, but you can get a sense for how it moves, and what its limitations are. (Louis Wu 11:09:32 UTC) (permalink)

Broken In - Dan Miller
Bungie designer Dan Miller has been working in the gaming industry for 10 years - he's got some good advice for you if you're interested in getting a job in his field. Go read the latest Breaking In feature at Bungie.net! (Louis Wu 11:08:30 UTC) (permalink)

News September 3 2009

Death Comes to All of Us
IGN is releasing something ODST-related tomorrow morning at 10 am (PST) - it's hard to tell what it is, but it's definitely intriguing! (Thanks to urk, in stealth mode, for the heads-up.) (Louis Wu 18:47:05 UTC) (permalink)

Bungie's Lobby - more cool stuff than you have
Kotaku visited Bungie's offices, and filmed the lobby. (It's full of cool goodies.) Haloriffic! Thanks, Vash10. (Louis Wu 18:14:05 UTC) (permalink)

The First-Person Immersion Myth
Over at Gamasutra, there's an interesting piece on first-person perspective in games, and how it might not drive immersion as much as you thought - at least not for all of us. Halo 2 makes an appearance as the game that convinced the writer to give first-person perspective another chance. Go read! (Louis Wu 17:21:31 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 Panorama Montage
2good4u2 put together a panorama montage - he collected some of his best panoramas, and synched them to high-class Halo music. (He's embedded it in his forum post, but you're much better off watching it in HD at YouTube. (Louis Wu 17:10:53 UTC) (permalink)

GTTV Episode 221: Promo 2
NeoGAF's CrazedArabMan noticed that there's a new trailer for tonight's GTTV episode focusing on Halo 3: ODST up at GameTrailers; pretty much the only new info is that there'll be an interview with Marty, too. Go watch! (Louis Wu 16:59:22 UTC) (permalink)

Out of work Spartan Ep 2
Out of Work Spartan is back - Episode 2 has him teaching you about a new communication technique developed by the UNSC. Wouldn't you know it was the Bungie Blog that brought this to our attention? (Louis Wu 16:58:18 UTC) (permalink)

Live Podcasts - they're the new black
Black Water Ops is getting into the podcast business - they'll be recording their first episode live on Saturday, September 19 at 9 pm Eastern. Special guest is Kete, from The Running Riot podcast. (I sense logrolling in our future...) In addition, Facility B5D is ALSO doing its first podcast as a live broadcast - much sooner (September 6, 4 pm Pacific), with a variety of topics. (Louis Wu 16:57:09 UTC) (permalink)

Prove your Fandom: Winners Announced
Remember that contest we mentioned two weeks ago, where Ready Up Live wanted to know who was the biggest fan? They've picked their winners - you can watch the video to see who took home the goodies. Thanks, urk. (Louis Wu 16:56:33 UTC) (permalink)

Nice deal on ODST from TRU
CheapAssGamer's stevemoco points out that for the week of 9/20 - 9/26, Toys R Us is offering a $20 gift card plus "Halo ODST rookie action figure ($12 value)" when you buy Halo 3: ODST. This ad isn't out yet (currently the 8/30 - 9/5 ad is all you can see on their website), but if you haven't preordered ODST, this might be the deal for you. Thanks to SailorDaravon, over at NeoGAF, for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 16:55:29 UTC) (permalink)

Machinima Training Program
Interested in getting better at making machinima? Halo Union is offering a machinima training program - swing by their site for full details. (Louis Wu 15:54:27 UTC) (permalink)

I think he used up all his grey pieces.
Wanna see some cool Halo vehicles, in LEGO? Go visit Hawty McBloggy. (Louis Wu 15:24:53 UTC) (permalink)

Spike TV Special - Can You Stump Bungie?
Spike TV's Geoff Keighley stopped in last night with a request - they're going to be taping a big special on Halo 3: ODST this evening with Bungie, in Seattle, and he's looking for Halo fans that can stump Bungie with questions about the Halo universe. Do you know their material better than they do? Prove it! Read Geoff's post for full details - and get cracking! Update: in his usual helpful manner, SketchFactor has suggested some questions for you. (Louis Wu 13:51:57 UTC) (permalink)

X-Play: Mr Sark previews ODST Mythic Maps
G4TV's Mr Sark talked to Lars Bakken about the three new Mythic Maps coming with Halo 3: ODST for the show X-Play - you can watch the interview - and some gameplay - on their website. (Louis Wu 13:51:25 UTC) (permalink)

New Operation Chastity Concept Art
Pete Cooper stopped in with word of new concept art created for his Operation Chastity project - go take a look! Sounds like there might be some above-the-planet scenes... (Louis Wu 13:50:23 UTC) (permalink)

ManKitten's 5th Annual Halo Treasure Hunt: Solved
I didn't even get a chance to post a front-page note for the clues ManKitten posted last night for his Treasure Hunt - there was a message this morning declaring that pete_the_duck had successfully solved the hunt. Although no prizes were announced at the start (it was all for fun), ManKitten is sending along a McFarlane Hunter model - nice! (Louis Wu 13:49:49 UTC) (permalink)

Reach Wallpaper
serpx whipped up one more cool wallpaper last night - definitely a classy background for your desktop! (Louis Wu 13:43:58 UTC) (permalink)

Reclaimer Contest - Win ODST
TTL Demag0gue announced a Reclaimer contest - win and you get a copy of Halo 3: ODST along with a Sgt. Johnson unlock code. Swing by the website for full details! (Louis Wu 13:43:01 UTC) (permalink)

Spoilers, Spoilers, Everywhere
Wow, I'm a little disappointed - my Google Alerts folder for Halo this morning is full of articles showing off leaked gameplay footage for ODST. I hadn't realized so many sites would post this stuff. On the plus side, it means if you WANT to see it, finding it is pretty trivial; it's everywhere. We won't be helping, though. I'm looking forward to playing through the campaign knowing only the bare-bones outline of the story! (Louis Wu 13:42:21 UTC) (permalink)

News September 2 2009

Legacy Teaser by Zola Media
Z sent word that Zola is editing one final montage, and wants it to be community driven. He's looking for lots of clips - you can see a trailer for this project at Halo3Forum.com, and get an idea of where he's going. (The man has got some editing skillz, I'll tell you what...) Got something killer to show off? Let him know! (Louis Wu 22:11:18 UTC) (permalink)

Halo: The Musical? I'd go.
Greg let us know that Music 4 Games has a new interview with Marty O'Donnell, discussing the music of Halo 3: ODST. It's a pretty interesting conversation - go check it out! (Louis Wu 18:33:31 UTC) (permalink)

Moar Mongooses, Please
It's Wednesday, so it's time for another Community Spotlight - this week, Bungie.net is focused on The Spartan Special Ops. There's a group interview and a bunch of new files in Bungie Favorites - check 'em out! (Louis Wu 17:38:51 UTC) (permalink)

Vids fer ya
Two new vids for you, courtesy of The BungLog™: Dutchy whipped upa 4 minute montage called 'The Payback' (he kills a lot of people - some of them are even playing), and Stewie2552 released Fail/LOL Montage V (the best bits really are lolworthy, but it's awfully long - the best clip is right at the beginning, titled 'Battle of Sneak'). Enjoy! (Louis Wu 17:35:22 UTC) (permalink)

ODST Fan Art - Speed Painting
Zeouterlimits pointed out another nice piece of ODST fan art - this one is a speed painting by DeviantARTist Orkimede. Five hours of work - nice job! (The DA image is 762x850; the version linked in Zeouterlimits' post is quite a bit larger.) (Louis Wu 16:28:45 UTC) (permalink)

It comes in a tin. Cute.
I've seen Xbox underwear before... but this is the first example of Halo boxers in the wild I know about. Thanks, Black Six. Update: vhfive linked to a couple of the variants (one | two) as sold by Kohls - 'First In'? Really? Update 2: Looks like we mentioned other models in this series before. Oops! (Thanks, Pkmnrulz240.) (Louis Wu 14:09:08 UTC) (permalink)

Yep - donuts still exist in 2552.
Who says a genetically-engineered fighting machine has to be svelte? Not Hawty, that's for sure. (While you're there, the disturbances continue with a foetal MC.) (Louis Wu 12:42:02 UTC) (permalink)

Reclaimer 213: Slavemind
TTL Demag0gue let us know that Reclaimer 213 (Slavemind) is now live - Tag learns he does not have the control he thought he had. (Louis Wu 12:34:04 UTC) (permalink)

ManKitten's 5th Annual Halo Treasure Hunt Day 3/7
ManKitten is back with more clues for his Halo Treasure Hunt - go see if they help you! (Louis Wu 12:30:15 UTC) (permalink)

Firefight FAQ, from Sketch
SketchFactor wrote up a FAQ on Firefight, for the folks going to PAX this weekend; swing by the Penny Arcade site to read it. (Louis Wu 12:29:55 UTC) (permalink)

ODST Wallpaper
serpx decided to put together some ODST wallpaper, using released assets - really nice job! (Louis Wu 12:29:22 UTC) (permalink)

Fan-created Halo 3: Mythic Box Art
Samus 117 stopped in yesterday with a link to the Bungie forums - Teltaur created an image you can print out and use as box art for the second ODST disc, if you choose. (The two disc set comes in one box, on one spindle; many people will want to separate these to minimize scratching. Now you can, without sacrificing the beauty that is ODST.) (Louis Wu 12:28:37 UTC) (permalink)

News September 1 2009

ODST Art
Pinkuh's back, after a long time away - she's whipped up a gorgeous piece of work that will eventually be printed, and signed by Bungie employees, and sold at a Child's Play auction by Laird. For now, enjoy the artwork in her HBO Gallery! (Louis Wu 19:03:28 UTC) (permalink)

Prepare to Drop - with Bungie
Gonna be in Seattle on September 21? Join Bungie for an ODST Launch Party! Preliminary details are available at Bungie.net - more to come in the days to follow. (Louis Wu 19:03:06 UTC) (permalink)

Give a hoot - don't pi-root. (Shut up.)
Tyrant is pretty unhappy about leaked copies of Halo 3: ODST hitting the net - he's going to make it his business to find users who've grabbed a copy this way, and turn them over to Bungie for high-altitude nukeage. I seriously doubt he's alone - so think twice before downloading that torrent. (Louis Wu 19:02:40 UTC) (permalink)

Average Joe: Hawkeye
This week's Average Joe is Hawkeye, a Bungie fan who has the good taste to read this site. Go read about him! (Louis Wu 19:02:19 UTC) (permalink)

HCEC: The Ring of Life, Ep 6 (Conclusion)
Dennis Powers let us know that The Ring of Life machinima series concludes with Part 6, now online. (You can download it in WMP9 format, or stream it from the Halo Movies site.) Full details about the episode are also online. Go watch! (Louis Wu 19:01:37 UTC) (permalink)

Tuesday Afternoon at the Movies
Videos, courtesy of the BungLog™ (what am I gonna do when the name changes to Comm Chatter?):

• Stewie2552 released Halo 3 Splatter Montage 3 to Hungarian Dance #5. (Me, I like my splatters less staged.)
• Honor Guard "Halolympics" Ep: 3 has winners from previous challenges, and details of a new course.
• JoeSki72 whipped up another recap of the Halo3 In the Work Place's weekly Fustoms Friday from this past week - teabaggerific.
• Hawty McBloggy has a short but sweet vid showing off a good reason not to teabag on Narrows.

That should keep you busy for a bit... (Louis Wu 18:12:30 UTC) (permalink)

Get a copy of ODST for free, from Eve-Films
Eve-Films.com is holding a giveaway for a copy of Halo 3: ODST. You must be a member of the site, and have earned a number of site points, in order to be eligible. They're running some different contests over the next couple of weeks that will offer entries into the pool as prizes. Full details are in this thread. Thanks, Whitewater. (Louis Wu 18:08:36 UTC) (permalink)

ODST Leaked
Mirel warns that Halo 3: ODST has now shown up on warez sites - it's only a matter of time before videos and other spoilers start making the rounds. If you're looking to stay unspoiled... now's the time to start being REALLY careful. Three more weeks! (Louis Wu 14:45:31 UTC) (permalink)

All aboard the Helljumper Express
Another Tied the Leader member made it to a stop of the ODST Roadshow... and wrote up his experience. Swing by for text and pictures! Thanks, XerxdeeJ. (Louis Wu 14:44:57 UTC) (permalink)

Halo artwork from an aspiring concept artist
Halochief89 stopped in with a bunch of links to Halo artwork he's done - swing by the forum post and click through to see the goodies! (Louis Wu 14:43:59 UTC) (permalink)

Morpheus closes multiple contests
Morpheus has closed his multikill contest (we mentioned it a couple of weeks ago); you can swing by that forum post and vote for your favorite option. He's ALSO closed his 'Recon Challenge' contest (play through Halo 3's campaign as slowly as possible) - do NOT send in new entries after this point. (Resubmissions from existing submitters can be re-sent until the 10th.) If you have questions, you can email him (email is linked at the top of his forum posts). Winners will be announced on the 15th. (Louis Wu 14:42:56 UTC) (permalink)

GTTV Episode 221: New ODST Footage
2900d4u pointed out that there's a promo vid up for the next episode of GTTV (Thursday, 12:30 am). They've got brand new campaign footage - watch only if you don't mind seeing spoiler material. (Louis Wu 14:42:09 UTC) (permalink)

RvB Recreation Chapter 11: Dumb Cop, Bad Cop
Last night Rooster Teeth released Chapter 11 of their latest RvB machinima series, RvB Recreation. Caboose tries to be sneaky, Simmons tries to look cool on a motorcyle. Or two. Go watch! (Louis Wu 14:41:10 UTC) (permalink)

September 2009

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