|
Search the News Archive |
Spoilers are currently disabled. (All newsposts are visible.) |
 |
Friday, May 13, 2005 |  |
An almost-forgotten promise... realized
9 months ago, we wrapped up a contest here at HBO that really captured the spirit of what makes the Halo community strong. Going Nowhere Fast was a chance for folks to show how fast they could race through Halo - straight speedruns, anything was allowed except modded Xboxes. We received dozens of entries, but there could be only one winner per level - and given the size of the films, we simply couldn't afford to release ALL runs. We promised a highlights video, showing the best bits from all the entries (rather than just the winning entries)... but real life and the demands of this website conspired to keep that promise from being realized. Well... once again, the community has come through. Cody Miller, who participated in the contest (and won two of the levels) came to HBO HQ for a lanfest in early April, and while he was here he picked up a dozen (more?) VHS tapes and a 160GB hard drive filled with GNF content. He did what I didn't have time to do - and he did it with s7yle. (This reel is lightyears beyond what I could have done.) The final product is eleven and a half minutes long, and in hi-res format weighs in at over 130 mb. We're going to release this via BitTorrent first, because 130 mb is pipe-killing. After the initial rush has died down, we'll put up versions for direct download; they'll be in the same form factor as the original GNF releases (480x360), and will save you 50 mb or so in downloads. Given that some of the original footage was pretty lousy, you might even be better off waiting for the smaller version... but the hi-res parts of this vid are great in hi-res. We're seeding it with quite a bit of initial bandwidth, so downloads should be snappy. You can grab torrents for a QuickTime version (138.7 mb) or a WMP9 version (133.9 mb) - please, leave your client open after download! And please - drop by our forum to let us (and Cody) know what you think of the work! (Louis Wu 14:13:31 UTC) (permalink)
More Hi-Res Goodies from Stryke Force
Stryke Force is releasing the last of its content to date in Hi-res format; swing by their video page for links. The New Year Special, their first PSA, and the trailer for the series are all up in WMP9 format at the moment. QuickTime versions will be coming probably tomorrow. The big news, though, is that from here on in, ALL releases will be in hi-res format - how can you beat that? Thanks, Feenix. (Louis Wu 14:09:48 UTC) (permalink)
Malleable Hunters, Forerunner Foresight, and...
Jillybean must be almost done with her finals - she found time to update the Halo Story Page. (Then again, it might just be that the opportunity to bash Cortana wsa just too good to pass up...) (Louis Wu 13:47:27 UTC) (permalink)
Well Turned Ankles First Into Hell.
Sarge meets Queer Eye in today's One One Se7en. Scary. (Louis Wu 13:17:58 UTC) (permalink)
Stories to read this Friday
Just in time to give you some Halo-based reading for the weekend, the Fan Fiction section gets 19 new stories today. To the folks who are annoyed by the fact that I manage to update the Fan Fiction section a couple of times per week, but let the art sections languish for months... I'm really sorry, I'm working on that. The more automated a system is, the easier it is to keep it up-to-date. Fan Fic is nearly fully automated. Wallpaper/Misc Art sections are not. It's on my list... really. (Louis Wu 13:13:19 UTC) (permalink)
Preparing for Battle.
Awesome. New ep of w00tness has been posted, and with it comes a set of very nice wallpapers (last on page). Now THAT'S a nice gold elite. Thanks, Duo. (Louis Wu 12:35:03 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Rumors Swirl
More people than died on Reach have contacted us about the Game Reactor article - so even though it's totally unconfirmed at this point, we're going to mention it, if only to get folks to stop sending us mail about it. Game Reactor, a Danish magazine, has published an article which includes an interview with Peter Moore, Corporate VP of Worldwide Marketing for Microsoft's Home/Entertainment Division. In it, he states that Halo 3 will be out within a year. (It's unclear to me whether he means a year from now, or a year from the release of the Xbox360, this fall.) Either way, until someone from Bungie says 'yep, we're actually making this', we're not going to move this to the 'confirmed' column... but we DO know about it, thanks. (Louis Wu 10:56:13 UTC) (permalink)
Chumpday... which team would that be...?
The Bungie/XBL Team Halo Humpday Challenge (mentioned yesterday) has been written up by SketchFactor over on Bungie.net. General Tone: Whiney. He does his best to put a positive spin on the Bungie loss... but mostly, it's pretty clear they got beat. :) The aftermath was pretty funny, though... Looks like first heads-up came from Echoes. (Louis Wu 10:09:36 UTC) (permalink)
Master Cheap
Today's Halo Babies strip is guest-written, though the artwork is still Gruntsbane's. Poor Cortana... Thanks, Archaos46. (Louis Wu 09:30:51 UTC) (permalink)
Thursday's news in brief:
|
New meaning to 'High Speed Halo' Balance of Power Someone get his tags. A solution to bad voice acting? XBL Team takes Bungie in HHC New Dashboard Stats Widget New Action Figures Bad Dreams Tied The Leader |
Wednesday's news in brief:
|
Getting Content To Us Another Forza mod Choose Your Covernant. The Arbiter's New Clothes. |
