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Wednesday, January 19, 2005 |  |
Halo 2 High in Rentals
Gamefly, a video game rental company, has posted the top video game rentals for 2004 - Halo 2 was 4th, following Ninja Gaiden (released March 2), Grand Theft Auto (released October 25), and Fable (released September 14). They're also taking votes for your favorite games for the 2nd Annual Q Awards (you have to join GameFly to vote - free); votes will be accepted until January 31. (Louis Wu 16:54:04 UTC) (permalink)
UK gives Halo 2 another look
Weird - Halo 2 had fallen off the charts in the UK, according to ELSPA (the marketing firm who keeps track of game sales there) - but this week jumped from 27th to 13th, as described by PC Pro. Wonder what caused the surge? (Louis Wu 14:43:19 UTC) (permalink)
Online Halo 2 Tourneys
Xtournaments has opened neXtournaments, a site devoted to online Halo 2 tournaments held over XBConnect. There are two types of tourneys - one is free, the other has an entrance fee (but also cash prizes). Go read more details on either website! Thanks, Sick Vic. (Louis Wu 13:22:29 UTC) (permalink)
Dance a Halo
Namemad whipped up a Flash-based stop-motion vid showing the MC bustin' some moves to Jay-Z and Linkin Park. Get down. (Louis Wu 13:16:21 UTC) (permalink)
They'll Eat Your Bones.
The HBO Lekgolos clan is on a movie-making tear; in short order, two films have popped up. The first was done by Arashi90 and Blackstar, and features nice gameplay, awesome production values, and crystal-clear video; it's a blood-pumper to get people interested in playing this clan. It's being hosted by both KP's Boomerica.com and Verdafolio's DementedPuppy.com. 36.6 mb, just under 2 minutes. The second was done by WhoKnew, of DementedPuppy, and is a bit rougher; it contains tricking footage, solo footage, cutscene footage, and regular multiplayer gameplay, all set to AC/DC's Show Business. Quality is... lower than the first one. 28.6 mb, almost 5 minutes long, QuickTime. This one is available at DementedPuppy.com, as well (and comments can go in this forum thread). Go watch! (Louis Wu 13:12:27 UTC) (permalink)
If You Can't Beat 'Em...
We'd like to point out that today's One One Se7en in no way represents the actual actions or activities of anyone here at HBO. (Louis Wu 10:40:04 UTC) (permalink)
Nylund at the Science Fiction Museum
There are a couple of upcoming events at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame at Seattle Center of interest to Halo fans; both involve author Eric Nylund. On January 25th (that's next Tuesday), at 7 pm, he'll be reading and signing books with his wife, Syne Mitchell. Admission is free. In February and March, there is a 2-part Workshop on Video Game Story Design - and the March session will be taught by Nylund. (Cost per session is $25 for members, $30 for non-members, and seems to be open only to students in grades 9-12.) More details, including location, registration materials, and the like, can be found at the links. If you're in Seattle, these are pretty unique opportunities! (Louis Wu 10:35:08 UTC) (permalink)
Wednesday's Word Collection
22 new stories in the Fan Fiction section today. Old faces, new faces... they're all writing. Go read. (Louis Wu 10:20:04 UTC) (permalink)
IGN readers speak up
Another IGN article - their 2004 Readers' Choice results are up. The fans picked the same things that the editors picked, with one Halo-related exception; Bungie.net lost out to Fable for 'Most Innovative Design'. Thanks again, John Rivas. Update: Alerus points out that there was one other change with respect to the Editors' awards; the readers felt that Best Graphics should go to Halo 2, not DOA Ultimate. (Louis Wu 09:50:30 UTC) (permalink)
2004 Game Sales, By the Numbers
Tons of articles out there right now about the NPD 2004 numbers (the NPD Group keeps track of gaming sales, and yesterday released their top 10 game sellers in 2004 list) - first one I saw (and one with a nice Halo slant, to boot) was at MLGPro.com; thanks, Dolbex. Halo 2 sold more units than any other game in the US except Grand Theft Auto (which had almost a month's head-start on sales for the year). What's really interesting is that the FIRST Halo is still on the top 10 list - over 1.1 million units sold in the US. Wow. If you can't get enough of the number-crunching, there are articles at Gamespot, IGN, TeamXbox (thanks, John Rivas), and The Seattle Times. I'm sure there'll be dozens more as the day goes on - but we'll stick with these. (Louis Wu 09:47:27 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief in NYC
mrsmiley and Master Chief headed to New York recently for a holiday... and came back with pictures. Just thinking about what was needed for the photography should bring a smile to your face. (Louis Wu 09:38:44 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Combat Miniaturized
Seiru found a mini Master Chief game at Crimson Edge - it's only in the very beginning stages, but it looks pretty nice! Check it out. (Louis Wu 02:51:02 UTC) (permalink)
How to Snipe
There's a new 'Sniping Locations FAQ' over at IGN, discussing sniping on Coagulation. Comes with a bunch of 'rules', too. And a warning that XBL sucks. (Louis Wu 01:11:16 UTC) (permalink)
Meet the Family - now in QuickTime
Speaking of HALOChat and movies... the recent release of Stryke Force's second episode now has a QuickTime version; HALOChat has offered the bandwith to host the version we re-encoded (15.3 mb). (He warns people not to try and use download accelerators; you won't get a useable file if you do.) Gotta love this community! (Louis Wu 01:08:46 UTC) (permalink)
Tribute to Burial Mounds
Gah. This was supposed to go up earlier this afternoon, but I've been gone all day. TheTaintedOne created a video he calls 'Tribute to Burial Mounds' - a glitch film with one important difference from other glitch films - it's in widescreen mode. Really nicely done, showing most of the funky stuff you can do on Burial Mounds, performed by his clan, The Custom Gamers Clan. He's hosting the low-res WMP9 version (14 mb) - and HALOChat has hosted a higher-quality WMP9 version (24 mb). We're using the bandwidth of the Mighty KP to bring you a low-res WMP9 mirror and a low-res QuickTime version (16 mb). So you understand - the screensize of both high and low versions are the same - there's more data in the large version, if you choose to expand it on your screen. (Louis Wu 01:05:18 UTC) (permalink)
Tuesday's news in brief:
Monday's news in brief:
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Talking to the Tricksters Video game sales end 2004 on a low point Up, Up, and Away! More bandwidth for Team Sexy Bonehead. Wallpaper to cover the cracks |
