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Saturday, January 5, 2008 |  |
Are games getting deeper?
Over at Rampancy.net, OldNick has posted a new blog entry, this one looking at what can be learned from Bungie's bold move of splitting the Halo 2 narrative between two opposing sides, and how the community reacted to it. What, exactly, are we looking for from our video games? Interesting subject, interesting blog post. Go read! (Louis Wu 19:39:13 UTC) (permalink)
Don't look down
ZZoMBiE13 takes a look at the Halo 3 machinima scene in the latest installment of Another Halo Comic Strip. We feel for ya, guys! (Louis Wu 19:33:47 UTC) (permalink)
Gamers Doing Good Things
Last March, we reported a story about Zach Wigal, who tried to set up a Halo tournament at his high school - but got shut down at the last minute by people who misunderstood what he was trying to do. There was a followup in April, in which Zach had turned those negative feelings around and was starting a non-profit group to raise awareness and money, and another one when that group's website went live. He's back - with a huge tournament planned for late February. It's not Halo-only, but there will be a 2v2 Halo 3 tourney with a $1000 grand prize, and all the money raised will go to a local branch of the Autism Society of America. You can read about the event on their site, and register for the event at MPCon, a LAN group that's been putting on big LANs for a while. Congrats to Zach for following through with this! (If you're a company that's looking to sponsor worthy gaming causes, they're looking for corporate sponsorship, so that the money they raise from players can go straight to the charity. Contact info is on the website.) (Louis Wu 19:28:35 UTC) (permalink)
A deeper look at Game AI, in relation to scripted events
A couple of days ago, we mentioned a blog entry over at Rampancy.net that talked about game AI and what happens when low-level rules are overriden with scripting. Alex Champandard, of AIGameDev.com, has written a follow-up piece which looks at WHY this sort of thing happens, and how it might be avoided in the future. Interesting read! (Louis Wu 19:18:54 UTC) (permalink)
Gorgeous Halo Artwork
Wow. Brian Curry found a bunch of Halo 3 paper giclée prints (Wikipedia can help if you don't know what giclée is) over at Entertainment Earth - they're gorgeous. Check out Jolly Green ($89, in stock), Prisoner ($89, in stock), Dismount ($110, preorder only), and Chief and Arbiter ($89, out of stock, but orderable). Just... wow.
(Louis Wu 19:11:11 UTC) (permalink)
I bet my list is bigger.
Hawty McBloggy has posted a list of New Year's Resolutions related to Halo gaffes she's made in the past year - complete with film clips. Awesome. Go read, go download. Funny stuff! (Louis Wu 18:59:57 UTC) (permalink)
Get Seeded for MLG's 2008 Season - For Free
Wow, very cool. Gilbert Arenas, the sponsor of MLG superstars Final Boss, has announced that he's sponsoring the first online tournament that will determine seeding for the MLG 2008 Pro Circuit - he's paying registration fees for all teams who enter. That's right - you can enter for free, and have a shot at gaining a free slot in the MLG 2008 Pro Circuit. Now THAT'S a nice move! There's more info about Arenas and his Halo-related activities at MLGPro.com. Thanks to GotFrag eSports for the story. (Louis Wu 18:56:51 UTC) (permalink)
Looking Forward to Halo Wars
Yahoo Games has posted their list of the 10 Most Anticipated Games of 2008 - and Halo Wars is smack-dab in the middle of the list. Nice going! Thanks, vshields ash. (Louis Wu 17:58:09 UTC) (permalink)
Halo dominates top LIVE Titles of 2007
Major Nelson has posted a summary of the top LIVE titles of 2007 - and Halo tops two of the three lists. Halo 3 is the top Xbox 360 title of the year (not bad, given that it only had 3 months to build up the largest number of Unique Users), and Halo 2 is on the top of the Original Xbox list. Thanks, Ross Mills. (Louis Wu 17:56:10 UTC) (permalink)
Arguing for a Server Browser
Over at Planet Halo, Mr. Titan is unhappy with the choices he's got for playing Halo 3 online; he wants a server browser, so that he can pick and choose the game he wants to play, rather than be thrown into a randomly-chosen game in matchmaking, or have to work to put together a full complement of players for a custom game. I'm not sure where his claim that Bungie "promised that a public server browser would be implemented in Halo 3 to fill the gap" comes from - I've never heard this promise before - but he's certainly not alone in his desires; this has come up before from players who come from other FPS communities. Go read it - and see if you agree with him. Update: Leviathan came up with the source of the 'promise' Bungie made to include a server browser in Halo 3 - it was a quote made by Tyson Green to EGM in late 2006, and it describes a feature that was clearly cut before release. Thanks for jogging my memory; I DO remember being disappointed when that feature didn't make the final shipping product! (I'm not sure I'd characterize Green's statement as a 'promise' - but the situation points out exactly why Bungie is reluctant to say ANYTHING about the game in production. When discussed features get cut, fans get unhappy.) (Louis Wu 17:48:41 UTC) (permalink)
Fan Artist Turns Pro
mrsmiley let us know that etoli, a regular at the Halo Babies website and a fantastic artist with a lot of Halo fan work under her belt, has gotten a job as a character designer on an upcoming Wii game. He's interviewed her about the path she took from fan artist to professional artist - this is probably worth reading for anyone looking at getting a job in the industry. (Louis Wu 17:27:55 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie Weekly Update is Back
Bungie's back to weekly updates - this first one since the holiday break is loaded with reminders, plus tidbits about the upcoming Pentathlon, some info about new maps, and info about an upcoming Live patch. Go read, either at Bungie.net or in our Weekly Update Archive! (Louis Wu 03:54:26 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's news in brief:
Thursday's news in brief:
