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Saturday, September 22, 2007 |  |
I think I'd be scared if this happened.
Haloplayer let us know that Countdown Comic #5 is now up at Injured Knee Productions. I think Microsoft might have found a new superhero. (While you're there, there's also a link to a Guitar Hero Spartan he created, in that same post.) (Louis Wu 21:49:46 UTC) (permalink)
Nine Outta Ten, Baybee
Heh - Pedro the Penguin noticed that IGN visitors REALLY want some Halo today... because the 'Most Popular' sidebar on their homepage changes, we've screenshotted it as of about 5 pm, ET, on Saturday September 22. (Louis Wu 21:11:54 UTC) (permalink)
Does Normal Count?
Decent musings on difficulty levels... and how they affect reviews, over at PCWorld.com. (For the record - Bungie made me play through on Heroic.) (Louis Wu 21:00:11 UTC) (permalink)
Good thing Frankie's in Mexico.
Hawty McBloggy's activity of the day is drawing Mister Chiefs - go have a blast! (Louis Wu 19:31:25 UTC) (permalink)
Halo, Pimp!
Rapper Lil' John isn't much of a Halo player - but his son is teaching him. Thanks, singkeo2002.
(Louis Wu 19:13:42 UTC) (permalink)
Brazilian Halo 3 Launch
Marcelo Vega, of Xbox Today (a Brazilian website), let us know that there was a Halo 3 launch party in Brazil - Halo 3 is going to be the first midnight launch of a game in that country. They put up an article about the launch, as well as pictures of the Limited Edition's Artbook, fully translated into Portuguese (a first for the Brazilian videogame industry). (That USB drive you see in the first article was given out to members of the press - it's loaded with all the Halo 3 Believe ads, in 720p.) Nice to see other countries aren't being slighted!
(Louis Wu 19:08:17 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: The Future of Gaming
This is the funniest Halo video I've seen in a while. (Yes, that includes Halo Nights.) Go watch it. You'll laugh. Thanks, Jim Bob.
(Louis Wu 18:44:13 UTC) (permalink)
Interactivity and layered messaging
Also from Anton P. Nym - ReportonBusiness.com (a part of Canada's Globe and Mail) has an article in which Jerret West, Senior Global Product Manager for Xbox, talks about how the overall marketing campaign for Halo 3 was built the way it was. I must say... it seems to be working! (Louis Wu 18:35:48 UTC) (permalink)
Classical Halo, in Sweden
Wow, this is pretty cool. If you visit this website, you'll see movies and photos of the Royal Swedish Ballet practicing for an interpretive dance on September 26, at the Berwaldhallen concert hall in Stockholm, Sweden. The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra will be playing Halo music, and Halo machinima will be shown. Pretty amazing looking stuff! Thanks to Anton P. Nym, who found it at Kotaku. (Louis Wu 18:31:35 UTC) (permalink)
Hunted
ManKitten sent in a link to a YouTube version of a Believe ad I haven't seen yet - it's called 'Hunted', and it looks at a soldier reliving a frightening night during the war. It might be my favorite, so far... as far as I can tell, it hasn't appeared in Hi-res anywhere yet. (Louis Wu 17:51:53 UTC) (permalink)
Threshold Part 2
Halopen has chosen this weekend to release Threshold Part 2, a new machinima. They're very excited about it - so much so that they really want me to post a description of the movie that they wrote. We don't usually do this, but I'll make an exception this time:
A lone general known as Hypnos, endeavors to win the war against the humans. But there is one thing stopping him from achieving victory, himself. His dark side has gotten to know him more than he knew himself, and this has become a problem for Hypnos and his army. Can he fight through his insanity and continue to live or will he confront his demon and destroy it?
Finding the video is actually non-trivial - but if you click on the picture that makes up the top news post on their website, you'll be taken to a Mythica page where you can download it. WMP9 format, 16 minutes long, 87 mb. Thanks, xbryboyremix. (Louis Wu 17:50:04 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie Online
DHalo was the first to point out the new Bungie Online section of Bungie.net - on the one hand, it might make you sad, because there are currently 1,325 Halo 3 players online, and the kill counts for the UNSC Campaign are already absurdly high... but on the other hand, most of us will be playing in full by the middle of next week, and those numbers will grow by orders of magnitude. Still - poking around shows some really cool sections and pieces... definitely worth a look! Warning: I probably should have remembered to post this earlier... but remember that snapshots on Bungie Online MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS. Browse the section at your own risk. Sorry for the late warning. (Louis Wu 17:34:21 UTC) (permalink)
Remember, ladies, you're ladies!
The Orlando Sentinel has an article on the PMS Clan, as they prepare for MLG Orlando. (The headline for this news post came from the PMS team captain, before I get accused of anything.) (Louis Wu 12:08:50 UTC) (permalink)
Halo's in the house
The formatting is awful, but a new article in the Vancouver Sun has some new quotes from Bungie and Microsoft folks. (Louis Wu 12:06:13 UTC) (permalink)
Scratched Disc Issue?
Ouch. Destructoid, among other sites, are reporting that folks on the NeoGAF forum are having major troubles with the Limited Edition of Halo 3; the clip that holds the discs in place inside the box is too small, and the discs are moving around... which leads to scratching. (I'm really surprised by this, because scratching was an issue with the Halo 2 Limited Edition (though for a different reason; there, two discs were piled one on top of the other) - you think they'd have found a way to fix it by now.) More on this when we know it. Thanks, Amy Veeres.
(Louis Wu 11:21:40 UTC) (permalink)
Saying Goodbye Right
XBOX 360 Wire has an article on how to have the best Halo 2 lan party/sendoff. If you're planning on getting some friends together this weekend for a big Halo 2 bash, in preparation for Halo 3... you might wanna read this. (Louis Wu 11:10:35 UTC) (permalink)
London Gala Tix Up For Grabs
The UK's Daily Telegraph is giving away a pair of tickets to the IMAX gala on launch night in London; if you're interested in winning, check this page. (Louis Wu 11:09:46 UTC) (permalink)
Halo So Far
Yahoo Games has another 'looking back' movie; this one is called 'Halo So Far', and is a retrospective of the plots of Halo and Halo 2, using the same voiceover guy that was used for the Weapons overviews. If you've forgotten stuff, go watch. (Louis Wu 11:09:12 UTC) (permalink)
New Hoody at the Bungie Store
Grable pointed out a new hoody for sale at the Bungie Store - it's called the 'Weapon Bolt Full Zip Hoody', and contains a weapons montage on the front, and a lightning burst on the back. Interesting!
(Louis Wu 11:07:01 UTC) (permalink)
A second look
Heh - interesting. MthdDirector points us to a blog post which looks back at J. Allard's GDC 2005 keynote speech... and compares what he said then (and what developers then weren't all thrilled to hear) with what's happening now, especially with Halo 3. J. Allard - ahead of his time? (Louis Wu 11:04:39 UTC) (permalink)
Enemy Weapon
Lots and lots of people noticed the new Believe trailer, titled 'Enemy Weapon', which was released last night. You can find a high-res version of it at halo.msn.com (thanks, The Cancers) - Silverlight is required. If you want to pass on Silverlight, it's also available at Yahoo Games (thanks, mhuber33) and YouTube (thanks, S043). Haven't noticed a downloadable version yet. This one has a pair of UNSC vets discussing the weapons they used - and the weapons they fought against. Great piece. Update: DHalo grabbed the HD version off the MSN site, and uploaded it to Mythica; you now have a downloadable version if you want one.
(Louis Wu 10:59:24 UTC) (permalink)
A different take on Halo Wars
And now for something quite different - YouTube user wronginc hacked up the footage from the Halo Wars trailer and put his own music to it. Hard rock - but it fits nicely. Take a look!
(Louis Wu 10:52:14 UTC) (permalink)
Cashing in with homemade stuff
RVideo pointed out another fanmade suit for sale on eBay - starting price is $2000, with four and a half days left to go.
(Louis Wu 10:49:27 UTC) (permalink)
Interviews All Round
Over at Rampancy.net, Narcogen uncovered a few interviews we missed - that man is busy sometimes.
- Dean Takahashi talks to Harold Ryan and Brian Jarrard about what went wrong in Halo 2 - and how those things were fixed in Halo 3. It's amazingly uplifting.
- Next Generation talked to Jay Weinland and Jonty Barnes about how it's all feeling, and where they're going from here. These guys, too, make you feel that Bungie is really proud of this game, totally separate from any hype.
- The Armchair Empire sat down with Mike Zak to talk about Environment Art, and how it fits into the whole Halo 3 experience. I'm seeing a theme - Bungie folks who are proud of what they did, and anxious to show it to the world.
Go read 'em all! (Louis Wu 03:19:42 UTC) (permalink)
Looking for JD Salinger
The Daily Telegraph has a general-interest article that includes a ton of interesting tidbits about the Halo crew. A fun read. (Louis Wu 03:10:11 UTC) (permalink)
He didn't sound right.
P_40E found a... strange video at Kotaku. (Louis Wu 02:20:46 UTC) (permalink)
The New and Improved Bungie.net
The Bungie Weekly Update is online - and it's a pretty nice look at what Bungie.net is gonna be giving you, come next week. You can't imagine the wealth of information. Knowledge... so much... so fast. It's glorious! Go read. (And if you're blocked from Bungie.net, as some of you tell us you are, it's online here, too, in our Weekly Update Archive. (Louis Wu 01:31:32 UTC) (permalink)
Interactive Halo 3 Manual
Microsoft has put up an interactive Halo 3 manual - it requires Silverlight (yeah, they're really pushing that technology, aren't they?), but it's worth installing... this is a nice piece of work. (It's not the WHOLE Halo 3 manual - but it's a nice subset.) spec_ops_grunt was first with this, though he was far from alone. (Louis Wu 00:42:50 UTC) (permalink)
Just call him AntiQuixote.
Wow. Jack Thompson is back in court - this time, he's trying to have Halo 3 declared a 'public nuisance' so as to block its release in Florida. Yeah, good luck with that, Jack. Thanks to Ben Ritter for today's dose of surrealism. Update: Ouch. As much as I hate to say it... I'm guilty of a lack of research. I took my writeup for this piece directly from the GamePolitics analysis, rather than reading the full complaint for myself. Jackson doesn't want to block release of Halo 3 in Florida... except as a tactic to force Best Buy to honor the ESRB rating of Mature, and stop selling this game to minors. Since I have no problem whatsoever with that goal (I don't think M-rated games SHOULD be sold to minors - I think their parents need to decide if they should be playing them, and do the buying FOR them), I find myself in the rather uncomfortable position of agreeing with Mr. Thompson (though only in his ultimate goal; I still believe his tactics are absurd). Thanks to Alekat for gently suggesting I might have missed something. Update 2: Gameshout has some more details. (Louis Wu 00:36:30 UTC) (permalink)
Big Names Everywhere
Stargate fans (and McGuyver fans, for that matter) will wish they were in Dublin next week - Richard Dean Anderson will be on hand at the Halo 3 Launch event there.
(Louis Wu 00:33:04 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Orlando - Previewed
GotFrag DPAD has a preview of the Halo 2 Orlando MLG event, kicking off tonight. (Louis Wu 00:32:38 UTC) (permalink)
Cool stuff, for folks who could care less
Gizmodo got a pretty awesome bag of Halo 3 schwag from Microsoft PR - if you're a really big Halo fan, don't watch the video, it'll just make you angry. (Some people really don't deserve schwag, I guess.) Update: lots of people got these - including 1Up (thanks, Haloplayer) and Engadget. Not everyone was a jerk about it... Update 2: Looks like Gizmodo took down the video; I guess the comments section was getting to them. Thanks, Aktiv8. (Louis Wu 00:32:12 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Hands On - Sort Of
Gameplanet breaks the media embargo by a day or so (they're in New Zealand, so they're already ahead of the rest of the world) - but it doesn't matter, because their Halo 3 Hands On has absolutely no information in it. (Louis Wu 00:31:44 UTC) (permalink)
Solving small mysteries, one band at a time
Spartan Jag found out that Big Science were the guys who did the music for the 'Making of Diorama' video - nice find! (Louis Wu 00:31:12 UTC) (permalink)
Infiltrating NPR
Salen Stormwing and pillar of awesome both let us know that NPR did a piece on the Halo 3 marketing campaign during Marketplace this evening - direct download link is here. (Louis Wu 00:28:41 UTC) (permalink)
Legendary Edition back in stock at Virgin?
James Cockshull let us know that Virgin Megastores seems to have restocked the Halo 3 Legendary Edition - at least, that's what their web page says. No guarantees until someone actually GETS one from them - but if you're in the UK, and you want one of these, this might be a way to get your hands on it. Update: dogsounds let us know that he was contacted by his local Gamestation, telling him that they had some spare Legendaries, and would he like to upgrade his Limited preorder? I guess there are more copies of the Legendary Edition in the UK than was previously reported.
(Louis Wu 00:26:42 UTC) (permalink)
Second Take: The Games That Spawned Halo
Second Take looks back over the games that have paved the way for Halo - pretty thoughtful video. The Game Fuel comedy at the end is a bonus - and pure gold. Thanks, zugy. (Louis Wu 00:22:41 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's news in brief:
Thursday's news in brief:
