|
Search the News Archive |
Spoilers are currently disabled. (All newsposts are visible.) |
 |
Tuesday, January 8, 2008 |  |
Joe Staten interview on NPR
NPR did a segment today on the intersction of video games and story, focusing on Halo and story maven (and voice of Grunts everywhere) Joe Staten. You can read the blurb and check the audio here. I heard it myself in the car, but thanks to both prometheus (via email) and pillar of awesome (via the forum). Too bad the interviewer went for the tired, obvious, "dumb gamers" angle. (mnemesis 22:50:56 UTC) (permalink)
Spartans in Disguise
Hawty McBloggy found a Master Chief Transformer on eBay - there aren't any pictures of it in vehicle form, but it's pretty awesome anyway. Go look. Update: DOH! I was too busy to actually follow the eBay link, so I missed all the shots of the transformed MC. Just for me, there's an updated pic in the story, showing the tank version. Thanks, Hawty! (Louis Wu 18:34:00 UTC) (permalink)
Arby 'n' the Chief
Ross Mills let us know about "Arby 'n' the Chief", a new video from DigitalPh33r and a sequel to the 'Master Chief Sucks at Halo' series. (Note to Ross: links r gud.) It's pretty funny, even if a large chunk of it is just a discussion of the value of the Heroic Map Pack. (At least it's an entertaining discussion.) Go watch! (Louis Wu 18:11:02 UTC) (permalink)
OMRA Overhaul
Trigger119 sent word that GamingTV has opened a special forum, devoted to the Online Machinima Rating Association (OMRA). Hopefully, this will increase the usage of this tool, and provide users with a decent filter for released machinima! (Louis Wu 17:52:20 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 players - SERIOUS couch potatoes
Integrated Media Measurement Inc. has published a study which shows that Halo 3 has NOT eaten into television or movie viewing as was feared a couple of months ago. The number of hours of television watched by Halo 3 players did not change significantly when comparing patterns before and after Halo's launch (though the fact that these folks are watching an average of almost 4 hours of television a night, EVERY night, and STILL playing video games, makes me wonder when they have time to do other stuff... like eat, sleep, use the bathroom, go to school/job, etc). Additionally, a graph of Halo 3 usage plotted over the course of the day shows significant drops after 7 pm, prime movie/TV watching hours. There's more data at IMMI's website. All of these findings conflict strongly with my personal experience - does this mean I'm out of touch... or that the survey group is? (Check the info on how they determine what you're doing, too - it's scary stuff.) (Louis Wu 17:32:15 UTC) (permalink)
Infinitely Spawning Warthogs
Rockslider has written up a guide to serious hog destruction; there's a spot on Tsavo Highway where if you're patient you can have at least 64 Warthogs to play with at one time. Of course, you're gonna have to kill a lot of marines... but you know what they say about eggs and omlettes. (Louis Wu 16:59:32 UTC) (permalink)
Jason Voorhees, Eat Your Heart Out!
ZZoMBiE13 shows you where humans might be behind the curve in the Halo universe in today's installment of Another Halo Comic Strip. (Louis Wu 16:11:55 UTC) (permalink)
Whoa.
Elnea stopped by to share Halo Action Figure Theater episodes 108 and 109. If you feel like you might have stumbled into a room with trace hallucinogens in the air after reading them... you're not alone. Love the dinosaur, though. (Louis Wu 15:33:54 UTC) (permalink)
Paying people to play
Bungie.net has a news post about a token-based rewards system set up by Clantacular.com - play custom games, win tokens, use the tokens for stuff on the site. I don't know WHAT stuff, really; there's nothing ON the site except a member login. (There are no links to information, no link for a forum, nothing I can find without actually signing up.) That said - if you're interested, swing by and investigate! (Louis Wu 15:12:20 UTC) (permalink)
My Mama says...
mrsmiley let us know that there's a new strip of Larry the Marine posted; they're shooting for Monday releases, but this one's a bit late. I think I saw a recruit like Larry on the Showtime series 'Weeds'... (Louis Wu 15:02:25 UTC) (permalink)
Playing With Yourself
Over the past few years, I've spoken to a number of reporters about the emergence of video games as a viable entertainment alternative for adults. Today, I read an interesting article at The Escapist which suggests that this is not the case for everyone. It deals with Halo only peripherally (it's one of the games the author plays surreptitiously), but it's a thought-provoking piece about what happens to gamers who move into a phase of their lives where games are no longer socially acceptable (or, in his case, where gaming was NEVER a social activity, so the TYPE of gaming he does is not socially acceptable). Check it out! (Louis Wu 14:58:28 UTC) (permalink)
Brighten up your morning
Heh - TruToast created an Ode to the Sword, and Terrab let the Bungie.net forums know about it. Cute. Thanks, InAmb3rClad. (Louis Wu 14:37:45 UTC) (permalink)
Xbox.com's Community Choice Awards
Back on December 20, we mentioned the Xbox.com Community Choice Awards - Halo 3 was up for eight of them. Voting is complete (80,000 people took part), and Halo 3 went home with Best Co-op Game, Best Weapon, and Best Xbox LIVE Event. (Call of Duty 4 beat it in many of its other nominated categories.) As an added bonus, if you have an Xbox LIVE account, you can go to the LIVE pane of your dashboard, and hit the 'Inside Halo' link on the left side; there's a video presentation of the awards from the staff at Xbox.com. KP presents the Best Weapon award. (He will be using that weapon in defense of HBO's honor in our first Winter Grifball League 2008 match this evening.) (Louis Wu 14:14:33 UTC) (permalink)
Video Versions of Forge Tutorials
TheShadyGnome let us know that Flem Productions has begun creating video versions of the Forging 101 Tutorials available at Forge Hub. Their first video, on Floating Objects, can be seen on YouTube. (Louis Wu 14:03:05 UTC) (permalink)
TTL Promotes Census Guessing
Tied the Leader is holding a special contest in honor of 117 day (January 17th): guess how many unique users will be listed on Bungie.net's homepage at exactly 1:17 PM Central Standard Time on the 17th, (without going over), and win one of 21 Halo 3 soundtracks (one of which is signed by Marty O'Donnell). You can guess as often as you like - but it costs $2/guess, with 100% of the proceeds going to organizations that aid in the rehabilitation of wounded combat veterans, via the Tied the Leader Foundation. Swing by and read all the details! Thanks, XerxdeeJ. (Louis Wu 13:59:28 UTC) (permalink)
Play and Win at Xbox.com
Over at Xbox.com, there's news of a new Play & Win contest sponsored by the US Army Sniper School - register before January 25th, and play an online multiplayer match between January 19 and 25th (exact timing is in the news post), and you're entered to win artwork, or a bunch of MS Points. Go read - and go register! (Louis Wu 13:54:16 UTC) (permalink)
Monday's news in brief:
Sunday's news in brief:
|
More discussion of server browsers Mmm... Green (or Blue) |
