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Sunday, November 7, 2004 |  |
Lightning Round
Bunch o' rapid-fire news, to clear the inbox before the clock ticks over (and because I likely won't be around to post more news before tomorrow):
- Eurogamer gives Halo 2 a 9/10 - 1 point above Halo (thanks, mad.max)
- Break Point offers another Zanzibar CE mirror
- Gamepro gives Halo 2 a 4.6/5 (thanks, BlazeFlare)
- Bungie.net gets the Gameviewer online for stats (thanks, Argent)
- They've also put the manual for Halo 2 online (thanks, Dustin)
- In fact, they've updated the entire Halo 2 Info section (thanks, Speny)
- MLGPro.com posts a review and tons of media for Halo 2 (thanks, Dolbex)
- A live chat with the people behind the I Love Bees is just finishing up - we should have a transcript for you tomorrow. (Some really cool info, storywise - thanks, Steve P!)
Whew! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday night. (Louis Wu 23:45:24 UTC) (permalink)
Zanzibar CE - Released
And lest you think all there was to do was read about Halo 2 and look at tons of new media, the Custom Edition Halo 2 team has finally released Zanzibar CE - you can download it off EPGServers or HaloImpulse. It's 22 mb. Thanks to a dozen people who all wrote within seconds of each other. Update: And another one - thanks, VII Toast. (Louis Wu 20:21:11 UTC) (permalink)
The Embargo Lifts - read what the press thinks
The Halo reviews have begun pouring in: IGN Has a review up for the common folk, with a HUGE list of Insider-only content. (Some of the video stuff isn't there yet, it seems - check back soon.) 9.8 overall score. Thanks, Adur()n. Gamespot, as well, has a boatload of Complete content, and a 4-page review for the rest of the world (9.4 overall). Thanks, Eric Biro. And Gamespy has THEIR review up - 5/5. And of course there are dozens of new screens - just look around. :) More coming... Update: There's also TeamXbox, who gave Halo 2 a 9.9 in their review, and also piosted a whole passel of features, including multiplayer variants with video walkthroughs, an interview with Brian Jarrard, and tons of screens and movies. (Louis Wu 20:16:53 UTC) (permalink)
Work continues on Halo CE
A couple of quick Halo CE bits - Kornman has released Tool++, a remade of the HEK's TOOL with a GUI wrapper and some extra features (thanks, MaterGrief), and haloTV will be broadcasting live footage of the long-awaited Zanzibar CE mod tonight about 9:30 eastern (thanks, BJN1990). (Louis Wu 16:44:54 UTC) (permalink)
Midnight sales nitty gritty
Dark Bastion discovered that the way the EB Games midnight release is going to work is this: As you're waiting outside the store, you'll be given a flyer with a number on it; they'll be calling folks into the store in batches of 10, by number. You might want to do your best to get a flier as early as possible... (Apparently, there's also a voucher for a free year of XBN magazine - not a bad deal!) He also mentioned that (in his local EB Games store, at least), the official Soundtrack is already available. (Louis Wu 16:17:05 UTC) (permalink)
Winning stuff is fun
Contests around the Halo community: mrsmiley points out the 2004 Bungie Baldathon - shave your head, send in pictures, win a shot at Halo schwag. And D_BRINGER told us about a Wallpaper contest at Halo S - winner gets a free gmail account. And though it's not really online, it IS Halo-related, and a contest: Cerberus told us about his local radio station (between Baltimore and Washington DC), 99.1 WHFS (website is here) - they're giving away a copy of Halo 2 LE, the new soundtrack, and an XBL Starter Kit to the 9th caller (when they tell you to call), all weekend long. Update: Eric Delgado says that a radio station in the Tampa Bay/St. Pete area (98.7 WILD) has the same sort of deal - except you can register on the web. (Louis Wu 16:12:36 UTC) (permalink)
Danish review, and general Screenshots policy
Victor wrote in with details about Gamereactor's Halo 2 review (Gamereactor is a Scandinavian gaming mag) - it got a 10/10, with the following pros and cons (thankfully translated by Victor):
Pros: Amazing graphics, formidable sound and captivating game play in both single- and multiplayer.
Cons: You must have good knowledge of the world of Halo in order to fully understand the story.
He also sent a link to the actual review (in Danish). There are a bunch of new screenshots; we're going to break with our usual tradition of giving credit to the first place that posts screens, because Microsoft distributed HUNDREDS of screens to press (and yes, for the first time in a long time, we were on the list), and they'll be ALL OVER THE NET by this afternoon. (The embargo ends at noon Pacific time today, so you'll be seeing screens, reviews, and all sorts of other things flooding the net in the next few hours. We'll do our best to keep up.) Update: Another Scandinavian voice heard from - VG Nett gave Halo 2 a 6/6. Thanks, aksel. Update 2: warning, morriss points out that the Gamereactor review is full of story spoilers. Again, since I don't read Danish, I'm taking his word for it. (Louis Wu 16:00:56 UTC) (permalink)
If you're STILL not ready...
Xbox.com also put up 'Halo 2: Launch Party Time' - part four of their readiness guide. Thanks again, John Rivas. (Louis Wu 15:53:46 UTC) (permalink)
The Bees Knees
MrFluffyPants wrote 'The Buzz Ends' for the Junkyard about the commemorative DVD given out at the various Training Events (and yes, we know, the BitTorrent link we posted a couple of days ago is dead, there's not much we can do about that), and Chris Remo, of Idle Thumbs, wrote up his experience at the San Francisco event (including an interview with Halo 2's Lead Product Manager Cameron Payne) in an article entitled 'I Love Halo 2. And Bees.' Update: Scott Weisgarber points out a new tracker for the DVD - currently 42 seeds, you should be able to get this puppy. (Louis Wu 15:52:41 UTC) (permalink)
What regular people are saying
Random mainstream press articles from around the net recently:
- What makes Halo so addictive? A writer in San Diego tackled this topic.
- A New Zealand Herald writer takes to the streets dressed as Master Chief, and talks about it.
- The Edmonton Sun discusses the Halo 2 hype machine.
While we got multiple notes about these, Google was first with each. Update: Hawaiian Pig points out an article that was published next to the Edmonton Sun article in his local (Toronto) Sun - another Bentllama piece. Man... they just don't stop. (Louis Wu 15:50:35 UTC) (permalink)
Microsoft's helping with midnight sales
Thousands of stores are opening for midnight sales on Monday night... but only 5 are sponsored by Microsoft. Articles are at both IGN and Gamespot. Thanks, John Rivas. (Louis Wu 15:44:07 UTC) (permalink)
Now that's a BOATLOAD of music.
Thanks to eaglesquad, who pointed out that the Homefront team has released their entire soundtrack, work by Justin Durban, aka EdgeN (if the name doesn't sound familiar, you haven't been following the Halo fan music scene). It's 26 tracks of music, 90 minutes in all, and fits into two nearly 100 mb downloads (each) off of Fileplanet. Visit the Homefront website for links! (Louis Wu 15:36:00 UTC) (permalink)
Funny accents and gorilla-rhino hybrids
Yet another Bentllama piece in the Canadian press - they love this guy! (Where are all the interviews of the OTHER 5 Canadians on the team, dammit?) Best quote: Bentllama talks about Bungie staff trying to play all the way through Halo 2 using only melee attacks: "That's quite hard on legendary." Um.. yeah. (Louis Wu 15:31:05 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Skin for WMP10
Many people noticed a new Halo 2 skin for Media Player 10 - you can see a mini-screen of it on this page, or just download it from there. Folks who've installed it and sent us notes about it are universally happy. Bentllama was first to mention it. (While you're there, you can follow a link to this Xbox.com article we never mentioned - Hollywood's Hooked on Halo, and it shows.) (Louis Wu 15:26:57 UTC) (permalink)
More Nile Rogers at Gamespy
Gamespy extended their interview with Nile Rogers (the first part was listed Friday - you can read the new material starting on this page. It's all about what differentiates Halo's music - specifically the popular-band-generated music - from other video games. Good read. Of the dozen people who sent this in, Ross Mills was first. (Louis Wu 15:22:46 UTC) (permalink)
Heart of the City
Many people noticed that Sunday's Heart in the City (a syndicated newspaper comic strip) was Halo 2-related. Adam McDougall sent us the first scan on Friday, even. Since it's now online on the official Heart in the City website, we'll just point to that. (We'll post one of the half-dozen scans we received once it's no longer available on that site, and update this news item for folks who go looking for it.) (Louis Wu 15:17:25 UTC) (permalink)
That Weasel in the Spotlight
Apologies for the lack of updates yesterday. A combination of factors (not the least of which was an 8-hour rebuild of my main work machine) kept me from posting news. On to the flood. Ryan 'Mhaddy' Matthews points out a new Spotlight over at the Junkyard - That Weasel, of That Weasel Television, holds forth on his life - it's quite long for a Spotlight. Go read! (Louis Wu 15:12:49 UTC) (permalink)
Wu Speaks
Our very own Big Kahuna, Mr. Louis Wu has been interviewed over at Halo4U. Head on over and check out how he reveals the launch date for Halo 3. OK I was kidding folks, just kidding! Thanks to Rampancy for the heads-up! Update:Oops, this is old news. My bad! Thanks Abdomen for the correction. (Ding 13:44:49 UTC) (permalink)
Saturday's news in brief:
Friday's news in brief:
