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Tuesday, November 9, 2004 |  |
This is the Nostromo, signing off.
Okay, that's it for today. As you may or may not have noticed, the Vote link for the 343 Guilt O' Lantern is now offline - we'll be announcing winners in the next day or two. News that comes in today may or may not get lost in the deluge - give us a couple of days, and if we've missed something you think is important, feel free to ask us about it. (Do NOT resend submissions - just ASK if we got them. Thanks.) Have a great Launch Day (with apologies to Europeans)! (Louis Wu 15:58:43 UTC) (permalink)
A Plethora of Words
Wow, has it really been almost a week since I posted a Fan Fiction update? Well, there are 27 new pieces in there for you to read... if you're not too busy playing Halo 2, that is. Go get 'em! (Louis Wu 15:55:03 UTC) (permalink)
Was this you last night?
Now THERE'S an appropriate Calvin and Halo. Thanks, Blackstar. (Louis Wu 15:27:00 UTC) (permalink)
Will the sequel live up to the hopes?
One more article for your perusal - Darren Waters of the BBC asks what made Halo so special? (It's separated from the rest of the articles because 1) he told me about it after I'd posted the rest, and 2) mostly, he asked me.) Go read. (Louis Wu 14:29:59 UTC) (permalink)
Fanfest T's
Hopsheda was one of the lucky ones to make it to yesterday's Launch Fanfest put on by Bungie in Seattle - he sent along some pics of the T-shirt they were giving out (front, front closeup, back, back closeup). Ooh... how long till they show up on eBay? (Louis Wu 14:19:10 UTC) (permalink)
More Bungie Gear
Stormwraith pointed out that again, there is new content in the Bungie Store (and thanks to the folks who wrote in about the hats a few days ago - I never got around to posting that). New stuff to see:
Keep looking, if you've got money to spend, they want to take it from you! (Louis Wu 14:12:08 UTC) (permalink)
Desertplat
Speaking of Halo CE, MasterGrief pointed out a post on the Gearbox forums announcing the first Halo CE Single-Player map download. It's a remake of Truth and Reconciliation - at least the ground part. (I didn't have time to go farther than the bottom of the grav lift.) Lots of invisiElites, and you have a flamethrower instead of a sniper rifle. Interesting. Be sure to read the post about how to start - and stop - the game, or you'll be pretty frustrated. (Louis Wu 14:07:44 UTC) (permalink)
More Zanzibar Megabattle pics
STB pointed out two more Zanzibar Megabattle pics, created with the new Halo CE mod - one he did himself and a series done by Da Real Logan. Nice work on this map! (Louis Wu 13:53:25 UTC) (permalink)
Keyes, through the eyes of a soldier
Mhaddy writes to say that the Junkyard has released part IX of their 'As Real As a Survivor Elimination' analysis of the military correctness of the Halo gameplay - Keyes is analyzed. Check it out. (Louis Wu 13:43:52 UTC) (permalink)
Around the net
Okay, as I said, news is gonna be light today. I AM going to try and clear out the inbox before I call it a day, however. There were, of course, oodles of new reviews and articles online overnight; here's a smattering. (Yes, there are hundreds we're not getting to. Sue us.)
Reviews
- C.Net - 9.4 (Thanks, Matt Belanger)
Update: Oops- this is just the Gamespot review, rebranded - my bad. Thanks, Alex Jarvis. - GamesRadar.com - 95% (thanks, Richxbox)
- Talk Xbox - 9.9 (and it's review 117! Thanks, Joel Kownacki)
- IGN - separate review of Collectors Edition, 9.8
- UnderGroundOnline - A+
Articles
- Xbox.com - First in Line; check out the OvK guys! (thanks, Eric Biro)
- TeamXbox - Fans camping out... there they are again! (thanks, MiD33)
- CTV.ca - Waiting for the game
- AZCentral.com - waiting for the game
- Reuters - Halo 2 will make MS rich
- The Gate - Titled 'Spoiler Alert'; you know what to expect
- London (Ontario) Free Press - Halo and Soundtrack are awesome (spoilers here)
- Seattle Times - Playing Halo early in Seattle
- Reuters - Waiting in line
- Trenton Times - rakin' in the dough
- VNUnet - Waiting in line
- Amarillo.com - Biggest release of the year
WARNING: Many of the reviews contain spoilers, at least for the beginning levels of the game. Some contain bigger spoilers than that (I've tried to list them, but it's EASILY possible I missed something.) If you're worried about spoilers... COME BACK AND READ THESE LATER. Please don't complain to us if you read something that you think spoils the game for you - our advice for folks wanting a pristine experience is to GET OFF THE NET. (Louis Wu 13:34:47 UTC) (permalink)
When comments are misinterpreted...
This one is worth reading, too - though I'd hasten to encourage anyone choosing to participate in the discussion to STAY CALM and leave the fanboi-ism at home. Matt Hamilton pointed out a thread on the Free Republic website - the title of the lead-off article says it all: 'Microsoft video game "a damning condemnation of the Bush Administration"'. The entire premise is based on a reported comment by Joe Staten in Entertainment Weekly:
"You could look at it," Staten says of his Halo 2 storyline "as a damning condemnation of the Bush Administration's adventure in the Middle East."
(Realize that I gave you zero context for that comment.) The next 130+ posts are a stream of anti-Democrat rants that range from one-liners to multi-paragraph denouncements of Joe. Finally, at Comment 137, Joe himself steps in. Turns out the original reporter missed a small bit in that quote. It's the sentence immediately following the original quote, and it reads "But you'd be wrong." To this point, comments were popping up every couple of minutes... in the 46 minutes SINCE Joe posted, not a single person has piped up. In any case, Joe's comment is a nice insight on what the main plotwriter felt you should be able to take home from Halo 2's story... you should go read it. And maybe keep an eye on the thread, to see if any of the visitors who so harshly maligned Joe before they knew the score (and before they knew he'd show up) can swallow their pride and apologize... (Louis Wu 02:19:48 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Live on haloTV
News is gonna be really light tonight, with a bit of a supplement in the morning - most of tomorrow is going to be news-free. Before signing off, though, there are a few things to point out. First up: haloTV will be sending out a live multiplayer-only broadcast, direct from an Xbox, showing off Halo 2 to anyone not lucky enough to grab their own copy at that hour. Check it out! (Louis Wu 02:08:00 UTC) (permalink)
Monday's news in brief:
Sunday's news in brief:
