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Friday, October 29, 2004 |  |
Eye Candy
New video, straight from Bungie - the new trailer (both long and short versions), in English, French, German, and Italian... last summer's movie teaser... and the bonus of bonuses, a multiplayer featurette yanked off the Making of Halo DVD (high and low res, 88 or 44 mb, WMP9 format). Go watch the fantastic fllmmaking of Jim McQuillan and Film Oasis as they turn Bungie opinion and chatter into a work of art. Yeehaw! (While we're mentioning the launch ad, we should mention that the German version is also available in DivX format from HaloUniverse.) What are you waiting for? (Mac users - we'll do our best to get a QT version out in the next day or so. This came as a total surprise, though, so it's not ready yet.) (Louis Wu 20:08:15 UTC) (permalink)
FHM and Halo 2 team up
According to the Digital Bulletin, Microsoft has paid FHM.com a quarter of a million dollars for a partnership, with promotion on the site the payoff. Loading times are pretty horrible right now, so I can't actually see the Halo 2 minisite... but much of FHM's content seems to be not safe for work. Interesting choice of venues... (Louis Wu 13:02:24 UTC) (permalink)
Killzone good, but not Halo competition, says BBC
The BBC looks at Killzone... and decides it's not really a Halo-killer. Surprise, surprise. (Remember, they're available on completely different consoles.) Thanks again, demonelite. (Louis Wu 12:55:02 UTC) (permalink)
Big Screen Battle
Eep - I keep forgetting this one. In Great Britain, there's a Big Screen Battle tourney coming up on the 4th of December, in 5 Vue Cinemas around GB. Check the page for details. demonelite gets the first heads-up for this one, yesterday sometime. (Louis Wu 12:52:31 UTC) (permalink)
Crystal Xbox for Canada
If you live in Canada, the Xbox Limited Edition Crystal Pack is (or soon will be) available. Crystal Xbox, matching Controller S, a couple of games, and a two-month trial subscription to Live comes with it, for $250CDN (about $200 US). Play Halo 2 clearly! Thanks, Brian. (Louis Wu 12:47:13 UTC) (permalink)
Review time
New Countdown article at IGN - 'Five Things to Expect from IGN's Review'. Get prepared... or something. (Louis Wu 11:09:40 UTC) (permalink)
Back to the Beach
New strip over at Halo Babies - philosophic, sort of. There's also a gorgeous new wallpaper by Gruntsbane. (Louis Wu 11:05:04 UTC) (permalink)
TXB Wallpaper
TeamXbox has posted a new Halo 2 wallpaper, based on Zoe's fantastic parting gift, coupled with a screenshot. Lighting comes off as being a bit funny... but it's nice. Thanks, Dirty Dozen. (Louis Wu 11:02:23 UTC) (permalink)
Ratings from around the world
International gaming press continues to rate Halo 2 quite highly - Official Australian Xbox Mag gave it a 10 (thanks Gossip and Pooston), Holland's Power Unlimited gave it a 93% (they said it 'wasn't revolutionary'), and Belgium's Gunk Magazine gave it a 95%. (Thanks, Herman Karper.) (Louis Wu 10:59:53 UTC) (permalink)
Charity by Gamers
Over the past few days, many, many people have sent us links to this forum post at Bungie.net. KilaOne suggests a Halo 2 movement - each person buying Halo 2 donates one dollar to the Make a Wish Foundation (he actually leaves the door open for a different charity). He contacted the Electronic Software Association (the group behind Night to Unite) and got a positive response - it's unclear if anything can be organized this late in the game, but if it's possible, we'll certainly tell you about it! (Louis Wu 10:55:40 UTC) (permalink)
I want that blue one.
Recoil points out a new set of Halo 2 figures previewed over at figures.com. They'll be available at Musicland and Gamestop this December. Gorgeous! (Louis Wu 10:49:57 UTC) (permalink)
Launching Halo in Finland
Another launch party - this one in Helsinki, Finland. Details (for folks who can read Finnish) on this page. There's gonna be an armored personnel carrier there? Wow. Thanks, Scanner Darkly. (Louis Wu 10:44:33 UTC) (permalink)
Dutch outrage subsides
Looks like Microsoft wasn't thrilled with the negative press they got over the alleged price-fixing in the Netherlands yesterday; GCShop has gotten word that they'll be getting at least SOME LE copies now. Thanks again to Elite TAR for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 10:42:05 UTC) (permalink)
The Halloween Spirit
Heather Dawn sent along a couple of pictures of the Halloween costume her 9-year-old son created, painted, and worked to finish this year. (We're going to have to open a costume section one of these days, I think.) There's a front view and a side view - pretty darn impressive! (Louis Wu 10:38:50 UTC) (permalink)
The Today Show, and why they stink
Yesterday, Matt Soell, once the community voice of Bungie, now an employee of Wideload, mentioned a segment on the Today Show that steamed him. I'd missed it - but it showed up on MSN.com (thanks, Ceiroh). To find it, you'll need to be on a PC, and you'll need to be using Internet Explorer. (I was unable to decipher the page's code to the point where I could extract a movie URL.) Go to www.msn.com, and click the 'MSN Broadband Highlights' about halfway down the page. Search for 'Hot Debate over Violent Video' to find the clip. What got Matt - and what gets me - is that the entire piece is about the uber-violence of GTA: San Andreas, and how bad it is for kids... but right in the middle, with no explanation or warning, is a single clip of the Master Chief reloading his shotgun. Huh? THIS STORY DOESN'T MENTION HALO IN ANY WAY. Bah. As a parent of young children, I'm offended by the patronization. (Louis Wu 09:50:16 UTC) (permalink)
The Music Continues
There are two new musical clips from the Halo 2 soundtrack at nilerogers.com - Ancient Machine (snippet is 53 seconds, 830k) and the Second movement of Incubus' Odyssey (snippet is 1:16, 1.2 mb). The Listening Station on the site works quite well for broadband connections - easy to compare pieces. Plus, with these two new pieces, you get glimpses of two brand-new screenshots in the Flash presentation. First heads-up goes to Recoil. (Louis Wu 08:59:47 UTC) (permalink)
Spread Zombie Love, Sputum Included
Aspyr has posted a press release for Stubbs the Zombie on their own site - now we know it's a 'stirring tale of one man's hunger for love, justice...and brains.' Publication date is summer 2005, on Xbox, PC, and Mac. There are plenty of other tasty tidbits in the press release - check it out! (Thanks, Andrew Lewis.) And with that... I'm off until tomorrow. Update: Kevin Goetz of Inside Mac Games points out that they've got 4 screenshots of the game on their site. Mmm... brains! Update2: Jonah points out ANOTHER article, this one at Gamespot, with a fifth image, and a video interview for Gamespot Complete members (QuickTime format, 3:23 86 mb). Lots of good info from Alex Seropian there. (Louis Wu 00:55:14 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie Fanfest in Seattle
Wonga. SketchFactor posted a note today about a Bungie-sponsored fanfest in the Seattle area on November 8 - go read the details! Looks like it'll be fun - more details coming! (Louis Wu 00:51:32 UTC) (permalink)
He's a mean one, that Mat...
Mat Noguchi is a master coder... but he's as mean as the webmaster when he wants to be. Got a question about Halo code, and not afraid to get chewed out about it? Post it in this thread on the B.net forum, and see what you get back! (Louis Wu 00:51:04 UTC) (permalink)
Walk of Game - Again
Again - rough night, more news in the morning... but some quick stuff to hold you over: Over on Bungie.net, they're reminding you to keep voting for the MC in the Walk of Game poll. (We mentioned this several weeks ago, but apparently the MC is losing now. You can vote every day, but voting ends on the 31st... go help!) (Louis Wu 00:44:54 UTC) (permalink)
Thursday's news in brief:
Wednesday's news in brief:
