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 | April 2006 |  |
April 2006 Archived News
News April 30 2006
Shirty.
Who'da thunk it? One One Se7en turned three years old today - nicely timed with the use of artwork on the first HBO shirt. Stuntmutt took advantage of the announcement to show off one of my favorite shirt designs (that we passed on, because it required more colors than we could afford) in a special Sunday Strip. He also wrote up a blog entry which mentions the shirt (along with a TON of other related stuff) - definitely worth a read. Go read, go laugh, go buy a shirt. (Louis Wu 17:08:57 UTC) (permalink)
Portent
Digikid sent us mail about Portent, a HaloCE map; you can grab a video promo (33 mb, WMP9 format) to see how it looks, or just download the map file (right-click and save-as). Check it out! (Louis Wu 16:35:09 UTC) (permalink)
Reid18 Montage 4
Z pointed out another fun montage at Halo2Forum - it's Reid18's Montage 4. The guy gets some amazing cross-map sticks... it's a little heavy on the effects, but it's pretty entertaining. 146 mb, WMP9 format. (Louis Wu 16:25:23 UTC) (permalink)
HH Ep 5 - Operation: Clenched Bowels
Slacker Entertainment has done a major overhaul on their website, to make content more accessible - and they've switched to a RoosterTeeth-like model for distribution of their Heretics & Heroes series; if you become a sponsor (for $10), you get access to high- and low-res versions of all of their content (plus bonuses, like mp3 versions of the music) as it comes out, while the low-res versions of all episodes will be available a few days later for free. Right now, Episode 5: Operation Clenched Bowels is up for sponsors - and it's a doozy. There's still humor - but this is a pretty serious episode, and the battle directing is quite good. I'm loving the dialogue - both human and Covenant - and I'm loving the cinematography. If you've got the $10, you should shoot it to these guys. (Louis Wu 16:19:42 UTC) (permalink)
WHAT? HBO has a SHIRT?
There were those that said this day would never come... I was one of 'em. But times change, and opportunities arise, and if you're really, really lucky, you can grab 'em as they're going by. That's true for us... and it's true for you. (Wait - what's he talking about?) I'll tell you what I'm talking about. HBO got together with some of its favorite artists, and put together some amazingly cool stuff for you. We have some totally unique posters that you can't buy - but you can win. We also have a spectacular new t-shirt, thanks to our friends at splode, that you can't win, but you can buy. In fact - if you want a shot at the posters - you HAVE to buy! Go read all the details on our E3 Goodies page. (There's also an opportunity to get invited to the infamous DeanFest (I'm not sure it has a real name yet this year, but search our news for 'Plasma Fiesta' for reports of last year's version) - you have to be in the LA area for this one, but a raffle for this, too, is available to all shirt buyers.) Before I crash into bed for the night, I'd like to send out a HUGE round of thanks to all the folks who made this possible - the artists, Dustin at splode, and Miguel Chavez, the Peruvian version of the Tasmanian Devil, without whose energy none of this would have happened. Enough blathering. Go check out the cool artwork, go buy a shirt, go register for cool stuff. We love ya. (Louis Wu 07:18:38 UTC) (permalink)
News April 29 2006
Podtacular Ep 60
Fr3d-105 points out that Podtacular Episode 60 is out - it's a grab bag. Go listen! (Louis Wu 19:33:04 UTC) (permalink)
Action Figure Mania
Sane-Intolerant, one of the winners in our Soundtrack Contest, had something of an edge over other contestants - he's been doing this for a while. Check out his DeviantART gallery - there are a LOT of Halo action figure shots; there are some pretty cool ones in there. Good stuff! (Louis Wu 19:31:36 UTC) (permalink)
Lightweight Video
Mintz pointed out that there a couple of newly-formatted movies available at Halo Portable (as well as the chance to grab the next set of wallpapers early) - go visit! (Louis Wu 13:48:15 UTC) (permalink)
Fiction Fri- um, Saturday
Even after deleting all the non-English fanfic and the non-Halo fanfic (!!), there are still 25 new pieces for you in the Fan Fiction section. Go read. (Sorry it didn't get posted yesterday, as it normally would have.) (Louis Wu 13:27:50 UTC) (permalink)
The Heretic Teaser
The team that brought you The Codex series last year has released an Announcement Teaser for The Heretic, an upcoming series. Spectacular editing work, married to pristine camera handling, all bundled up with a gorgeous new piece from Edgen, called 'Halo - The Heretic' - this one should SERIOUSLY whet your appetite. Grab it in QuickTime or WMP9 formats from The Heretic website. If you love the music as much as we do, Edgen has given us permission to host a copy of it, in MP3 format - 2.3 mb. (And if you want to check out more of Edgen's work, visit his portfolio reel - there's some amazing stuff in there.) Comments (on either The Heretic, or its music) can be added to Nerrolken's forum thread. (Louis Wu 00:21:09 UTC) (permalink)
Swollen Internets
The Weekly Update is available now at Bungie.net (thanks, Frankie) - and the best news of all is that there won't be any more Pimps at Sea fakery after this! No, actually, the best news of all is that they're making an Excel spreadsheet with all the game variants in use on XBL available - go grab it! There's also some great new schwag at the Bungie Store, a HINT of movie news, and a nice Mister Chief sketch. Go read. (As usual, you can choose to read it here at HBO, in our Weekly Update Archive.) (Louis Wu 00:05:23 UTC) (permalink)
News April 28 2006
The Results Are In!
Swing by the results page for the final results of the Halo 2 Soundtrack contest - and congrats to our 7 winners! (You folks will probably get email later tonight or tomorrow with a bit more detail.) (Louis Wu 20:25:55 UTC) (permalink)
Soundtrack Contest Voting - Now Closed
Voting is now closed for the 7 on the Seventh Soundtrack contest; I'd post results, but I need to leave for a bit. I'll put something up later this afternoon, I hope. Although a number of the finalists had more than one entry in the final 49, the top 7 vote-getters were all from unique submitters, so no fudging will be needed! More to come... (Louis Wu 16:31:28 UTC) (permalink)
Lobbying Hard.
Stuntmutt looks at the post-game carnage report in today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 16:16:01 UTC) (permalink)
Halo channel at Machinima.com
We got email from Michael Yates, over at Machinima.com - he wanted to point out a fully-devoted Halo channel with over 150 machinimas. They also have great tutorials and plenty of pros to answer questions, if you're looking for help in making your own. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 16:01:30 UTC) (permalink)
This Spartan Life - now on your iPod
This Spartan Life is now iPod-friendly - swing by their website for iPod-compatible downloadable versions of all their episodes. w00t! (Louis Wu 15:02:26 UTC) (permalink)
How it feel to get butt kicked?
Eleven new dialogue snippets got posted by Captain Spark today; you can grab the zipfile from his website, or you can browse them in our Dialogue Databank. Good stuff! (Louis Wu 14:49:07 UTC) (permalink)
H2V2 at Allmusic
Allmusic has put up a page for the Halo 2 Soundtrack Volume 2 - no review yet, but there are easily downloadable track snippets. Thanks, Funkmon. (Louis Wu 14:27:27 UTC) (permalink)
White Fur and Soap in Hand
Wow. There's so much new content on the Halo-related blog Dead Man's Hand that I can't even list all the new articles, much less summarize them. The most recent item is an interview with Stuntmutt that's definitely worth a read - but there's plenty of other stuff; I liked the Legos to Halos rant, for example. Check it all out - and thanks to Dweezle86 for dropping by our forum to let us know it was there. (Louis Wu 14:18:29 UTC) (permalink)
Changing the world - without earnings
Interesting juxtaposition of articles; at the same time that Gamasutra posted an earnings report on Microsoft, in which it reported that Microsoft officials admit that even today, at the end of their lifecycle, "...the first generation Xbox consoles continue to have negative margins", IGN put up a piece discussing 'The Xbox Effect', which talked about how the Xbox was a success, primarily because of... well, Halo. I guess you don't have to make money to be successful... (Louis Wu 13:54:42 UTC) (permalink)
News April 27 2006
Contest Voting Closing Soon
A quick note - if you haven't yet voted for your favorite images in the 7 on the 7th Halo 2 Soundtrack contest, go do it now; I'm going to close voting late tonight or early tomorrow. There are some funny pics in there - help their creators to win a free signed Halo 2 Soundtrack! (Louis Wu 22:55:57 UTC) (permalink)
2Old2Play MLG Fundraiser Tourney
Kenneth Wan points out a fundraiser tournament over at 2Old2Play; they're raising money to send a team to MLG Dallas next month. Swing by and read the details - and sign up! (Louis Wu 22:47:21 UTC) (permalink)
Wii Simply Cannot Stand It.
This isn't Halo news, but it's the longest 'groaner' thread I've seen in a while. It's like the whole forum is channeling Stuntmutt or something. Mothergoat pointed out that the Nintendo Revolution has gotten it's REAL name (Revolution was a working title)... and the forum community sort of... tore it a new one. Ouch. Maybe Nintendo should reconsider. (Louis Wu 22:44:32 UTC) (permalink)
Overloading the Air Vents
We usually leave the Halo tricking to High Impact Halo these days - but there's a cool vid over there that's worth pointing out. A bunch of guys got underneath the air vents on Foundation - insanity. The video is encoded using WMP9 Professional audio, which will give Mac users a headache... so we're providing a QuickTime version (32.6 mb). If you CAN watch the WMP9, though, you should, because the quality is higher. Thanks, Ducain. (Louis Wu 18:21:48 UTC) (permalink)
dorkARMY's D-Day
Monthly gaming parties at a hotel in downtown Toronto... fun stuff. :) (Louis Wu 14:09:01 UTC) (permalink)
Upcoming Action Figures
No pictures yet, but Stephen Loftus found mention of the upcoming Series 9 Halo action figures - details are in this forum post. Battle-damaged Ghost... mmm. (Louis Wu 13:52:44 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: The Covenant War
Ewen dropped us a note about a tabletop RPG adaptation of Halo he's working on called "Halo: The Covenant War." You can find some sample artwork for the miniatures in this blog post. Great start! (Louis Wu 13:50:02 UTC) (permalink)
Telling Stories through Games
Roger Wilco noticed a great article at Gamasutra, discussing storytelling and game design (and how they're inter-related). Halo 2 is held up as a 'mixed success' - some of the storytelling is done in-game, but some of it is done via 'agency-violating cutscenes'. Go read! (Louis Wu 13:44:30 UTC) (permalink)
News April 26 2006
ArKiVe Montage III
The Halo2Forum montage contest deadline is fast approaching, and a goodly number of montages are coming in at the wire. Today ArKiVe's 3rd Montage was released - some serious sniping action. Swing by and grab a copy! (94 mb, WMP9 format.) (Louis Wu 23:45:21 UTC) (permalink)
Halo-themed MySpace Contact Boxes
AJay created some Master Chief contact boxes to use on MySpace profiles (if you have one, you probably know what a contact box is, if you don't, don't worry about it) - check this link to grab one (and the code needed to use it). If you want to see one in use, check his MySpace profile. (Louis Wu 23:01:08 UTC) (permalink)
*OT*
Today's One One Se7en refers to a forum thread that blew up last week; it started with a simple question, and ended with some gaming philosophy. (Trust Stuntmutt to boil it down to a bad joke.) (Louis Wu 19:31:35 UTC) (permalink)
Contest Voting Low
Wow... only four hundred of you voted for the entrants to the 7 on the 7th Soundtrack contest yesterday... c'mon! We need more than that! Swing by, check out the pics, let us know your favorites! Thanks. (Louis Wu 12:59:38 UTC) (permalink)
The Webcam is Back
Alstrong discovered that the Bungie Webcam, dormant since before the move to Kirkland, is live once again. Currently it seems to be sitting in a room with a server rack in it (though I'm having trouble figuring out why there's plywood in the image...). No Halo content - yet - but hey, you never know! (Louis Wu 12:50:56 UTC) (permalink)
Playlist Change Details
The playlist changes noticed a few hours ago are now official - as evidenced by the nice article on Bungie.net. There are some fantastic-looking changes - check it out! Thanks, Spartan Jag. (Louis Wu 02:34:52 UTC) (permalink)
News April 25 2006
Halo at E3 - rumor acknowledged.
Gah. I wanted to avoid this altogether, because it seems like it's better just to see what happens... but when rumors start showing up on CNN, you gotta pay 'em SOME attention. Lots of places have been hinting that E3 could be the first place where new Halo footage is seen this year - and now Chris Morris' Game Over column joins the list of hinters.
Expect to see the first footage from the next installment of "Halo," which might shift some focus away from the competition. (The game won't hit stores until 2007, however.)
'Expect' might be too strong an imperative... but it's certainly possible. Anyway, I've now acknowledged the rumor, so any more emails concerning it (from any site) will be blissfully ignored. (Thanks, ICDedPpl.) (Louis Wu 20:10:26 UTC) (permalink)
Rumble Hardcore Now Available
Heh - looks like the new Halo 2 XBL playlist Rumble Hardcore is up and live, with no announcements - go play! Thanks, Compton. (Louis Wu 19:53:19 UTC) (permalink)
New Graphic Novel info at CBR
Comic Book Resources seems to have quite a bit of new info on the Halo Graphic Novel, coming out at the end of June - go read! (Louis Wu 19:43:56 UTC) (permalink)
Soundtrack Contest Voting Now Open
At long last, the public voting phase for the 7 on the 7th Halo 2 Soundtrack v2 contest is open! (Huge apologies for the ridiculous delay.) The bungie.org admin staff has taken the 250 entries, removed the invalid ones, and pared the remainder down to a manageable 49 images; your job, as visitors, is to look through these, and pick your favorite 7. Later this week (or possibly this weekend), we'll tally up the totals, and announce the winners; 7 lucky entrants will receive a signed copy of the Halo 2 Soundtrack Volume 2 (officially on sale TODAY!). Once the winners are announced, we'll also put up a page containing ALL the (valid) entries, so you can rant at us about how bad our taste is. For now, though... GO VOTE! (Please take the time to read the initial page; there's some important info in there. Thanks.) Update: Bah, I'd left the directory password-protected accidentally. Fixed now. Thanks, Teo. (Louis Wu 17:48:35 UTC) (permalink)
The Valley of the Forerunners: Part 9
The Valley of the Forerunners part 9 is now available for download over at the Halo CE Chronicles website. Sergeant Roberts spends a quiet shift learning more about Andrea, and the marines continue to protect the valley's exit. Go grab a copy in your favorite format. (Louis Wu 15:49:17 UTC) (permalink)
I love you. Now, let's go kill this guy.
Playing video games with your kids - check this article at FortWayne.com. Video games... bringing families together. (Louis Wu 14:24:28 UTC) (permalink)
News April 24 2006
MLG NY Recap
Over at MLGPro.com, there's a recap of this weekend's New York Season Opener - lots of familiar names in the top spots. (Remember that Team3D is now Final Boss.) Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 16:36:00 UTC) (permalink)
Pop Picker.
Stuntmutt regresses to playground humor in today's One One Se7en, in honor of tomorrow's release of the Halo 2 Soundtrack Volume 2. Understandable, really, when you realize that he turned old today - check out the strip his cousin created for him. (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STUNTMUTT!) (Louis Wu 14:35:05 UTC) (permalink)
The Halouvre Music Gallery
The Halouvre, heretofore reknowned for its amazing collection of Halo scenery, has opened a new section - the Halouvre Music Gallery. It contains a compilation of 53 (and growing) Halo-based fan-created music tracks, nicely organized... give it a look! (It also contains an archive of some musical outtakes that are buried deep within Bungie's site, and somewhat difficult to find.) (Louis Wu 13:18:27 UTC) (permalink)
Gameplay May Change Trailer
You might remember 'Gameplay May Change During Online Play', a vid released about a month ago, to great reviews; the creators have decided to send it around to the machinima sites, and wanted a trailer to break the ice. The MPRRS liked the trailer enough to pass it - so we're hosting it. 18 mb in WMP9 format, 17.5 mb in QuickTime format. Whee! (Louis Wu 07:02:39 UTC) (permalink)
Fadeout
Mothergoat wrote a new song for the next episode of Sponsors vs Freeloaders... but that series was in limbo for a while, and although things are looking up again, it almost certainly won't be out before June. So MG got the go-ahead to release the song now. It's Halo-related mostly in the sense that it was created for a Halo machinima series; it's original work, doesn't seem to be based on Halo themes. That said, though - it's pretty solid stuff - go listen! It's pretty short (under a minute and a half) and pretty small (under 2 mb) - but there's a lot of energy packed in there! (Louis Wu 06:52:32 UTC) (permalink)
Pwn(cast)ed
The final MLG PwnCast of the weekend is up - Episode 13, also covering MLG New York. Yes, it's true - these guys released 8 podcasts in their first 7 months... and 5 in the last week. They're crazy. (But they're slowing down. No more before Wednesday or so, they say.) (Louis Wu 06:49:06 UTC) (permalink)
Don't mess with the car.
Heh - there's a very cool vid available over at GameTrailers - a Tekken-style fight between two guys from the University of Rhode Island, one wearing Halo regalia. Not completely safe for work - I'd probably give it a PG-13 or so (suggestive language). Funny as all get-out, though. Really nicely done. Thanks, Chaos Recon. (Louis Wu 05:27:28 UTC) (permalink)
News April 23 2006
MLG Pwncast Ep 12
Those Pwncast guys are outta control. Episode 12 went up today; call-ins from New York, and the MLG competition held there this weekend. Go listen! (Louis Wu 19:00:24 UTC) (permalink)
Xena out, but not down
North Jersey Media Group has an article focusing on Bonnie Burton, who goes by Xena in Halo circles - the only girl to make the top 128 competitors at MLG New York. (Before anyone gets upset at 'girl', instead of 'woman'... Bonnie is 15.) It's interesting to see how much press MLG is getting these days - how fast pro gaming is catching on with mainstream news outlets - and it'll be more interesting to see if women continue to make inroads into the gaming ranks. (Louis Wu 16:18:20 UTC) (permalink)
Newgrounds Halo Content
spartanerik found a side-scrolling Halo shooter at Newgrounds; I couldn't get the sword to work, but otherwise, its seems entertaining. While you're there, Shadowmotion found a movie called 'Resident Cactuar' which made me want 10 minutes back, but which has some Halo content. (Louis Wu 16:09:56 UTC) (permalink)
A writeup of Staten's NU talk
Tempus Fugit found a post on the TeamXbox Forums from someone who went to Joe Staten's talk at Northwestern on Saturday. Some interesting tidbits about Halo 2's ending (3 levels cut, not just one), some tidbits about the Halo movie (it won't be a story adaptation, a lot will be CG, no director yet), a tiny bit about E3 (or not). Go read! Update: DOH! I should check our own forum for this stuff... a few hours later, SleeperQ posted his own writeup. (Louis Wu 04:10:44 UTC) (permalink)
News April 22 2006
Waiting for the game to end
A video game widow discusses losing her husband to his Xbox - yes, Halo gets a mention. Pretty rational piece, overall. (Louis Wu 19:38:52 UTC) (permalink)
PwnCast Trifecta
Holy Audio Overload, Batman! MLG PwnCast releases Episode 11 - their third in three days. This one focuses on MLG New York (which is in progress right now). Go listen! (Louis Wu 18:22:14 UTC) (permalink)
Grunts in Gravity
Rockslider continues his Bad Cyborg investigations with more falling grunts! Check out the forum post, then go read the new section. And a happy 2nd birthday! (Louis Wu 18:16:37 UTC) (permalink)
Halo | Redemption
Okay, this is an unusual one. A couple of days ago, a movie titled 'Halo | Redemption' passed the MPRRS. It had been filmed in Halo 1, back in 2003 - but had never been distributed outside of some friends. Jeff Stoltzfus and Shawn Heifert, the co-creators, had been assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division at the time of creation, and they did their best to keep the military chatter authentic. When Jeff decided to submit it to the MPRRS, he re-edited it to add black bars to block out the HUD and the cameraman's pistol - but was unhappy with the result. His words:
"We both love the original version since we've seen it in this form for the past 3 years and feel it shows more [full camera view] - gives a more complete feel/provides a better sense of closure [opening narration and titles and closing credits and end music] - which provides a more "movie" type experience. I believe some of the peer reviews touched on these subjects. We know the pistol is lame in the camera view but we hope viewers will overlook this as trivial given it was created 3 years ago and that the emotions created over the entire piece will outweigh this fact."
I liked the piece, quite a lot, in both formats - so I agreed that we'd host the original, even though it was the modified (considerably shorter) version that passed the MPRRS. Full credits can be found in this forum post (and if you have comments, this is a fine thread to put them in). The QuickTime version (65 mb) is higher-quality than the WMP9 version (50 mb), but both are quite watchable. Grab one and check this out! (Louis Wu 01:19:25 UTC) (permalink)
Liberace... without his jewels. Hmm...
It's a short Weekly Update this week over at Bungie.net - even Frankie's FIRST post is short. Pretty cool image of Mister Chief, though. Go read. (You can, of course, choose to read it here, in our Weekly Update Archive.) (Louis Wu 00:45:21 UTC) (permalink)
News April 21 2006
Grif Goes Postal
Very nice. McGrude found this image in a Worth1000 contest - RvB stamps for Going Postal 6. If you're a member - go vote on it! (Louis Wu 23:15:28 UTC) (permalink)
Podtacular Ep 59 - and the 1500 Campaign
Foo Mo Jive points out that Podtacular Episode 59 was released a bit ago... we're slacking. Go listen! They want to hit 1500 listeners by E3. (Louis Wu 22:19:56 UTC) (permalink)
Tournament News
A couple of tournament announcements - one I missed from earlier this week (sorry, XsAik0) in Northern Virginia - 2v2 on April 29, more details here or here, and one in West Chester Ohio - 4v4 on May 6 (thanks, Scooter). If you live in either area, check these out! (Louis Wu 22:16:34 UTC) (permalink)
Portability
Lots of new content over at Halo: Portable - you can find Mutha G's Lookie vid, a collection of Halo rap mp3s, Stephen Loftus' article on Phantoms, and some PSP wallpapers from Major.Dump. (And of course, later tonight you'll be able to find a portable version of the weekly update there, as well.) (Louis Wu 22:12:03 UTC) (permalink)
PwnCast Double Whammy
On the heels of this week's MLG news, MLG PwnCast releases Episode 10 (yes, 9 came out a couple of days ago) - go listen. (There's also a 'call to action' for anyone at MLG New York.) (Louis Wu 21:32:44 UTC) (permalink)
Didn't He Play Vir In Babylon 5?
A few folks saw this on Wednesday - but it's still relevant, and new to most. And given Frankie's postage recently, it's even MORE appropriate. Go check out today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 05:48:48 UTC) (permalink)
Helping an old-schooler realize a dream
If you've ever hunted for Halo gameplay vids to download, the name Hp-Fil4 is probably known to you; he runs a huge archive in Poland, and has often been the only source of specific games as a non-subscription download. Well... because he lives in Poland, he hasn't had much chance to compete against the best of the best... but that's going to change. He's planning to come over for the MD-Madn3ss Halo 1 event in mid-June... if his team, the Polish Dream Team, can put together the cash. If you want to see how these guys play, check out this forum thread at MLGPro.com, or this website, which has been put together to showcase the team, and to provide a Paypal link for anyone who wants to help them come here to play. Go watch - and if you can help, please do so! (Thanks to insidi0us for pointing this out!) (Louis Wu 05:42:12 UTC) (permalink)
Friday Fanfic - a bit early
Fifteen new pieces in the Fan Fiction section this week - go read! (Louis Wu 05:29:27 UTC) (permalink)
HaloCE Mapping Contest
DOMINATOR is offering $50 for the best HaloCE map submitted to him by mid-June - go read this forum post for more details. Careful, though - he's reserved the right to give himself the prize... (Louis Wu 05:04:58 UTC) (permalink)
Music, Music Everywhere
Couple of articles out of Bungie.net today, both related to Halo music. The first update is about the upcoming PLAY! concert in Chicago on May 27th. Marty and Mike Salvatori will both be on hand to hang out and sign autographs. The second article is about a music mash-up contest being run by Sumthing Else Musicworks, Inc. Contestants will remix tracks of the Halo 2 Volume 2 soundtrack and be judged by both the community and a panel of celebrity gamers, composers and musicians. Frankie gets leet forum credz for pointing out both of these stories first. (KP 01:30:26 UTC) (permalink)
News April 20 2006
MLG PwnCast Ep 9
Bluestrike2 points out that MLG PwnCast Episode 9 has been posted - they've gotten some help from the crew of MLGStats.com. Go listen! (Louis Wu 06:32:57 UTC) (permalink)
Team3D's Halo Division Leaves Home
This one's sort of strange - the Ogres, Walshy, and Saiyan - Team3D to most of the Halo-playing world - have left Team3D and will be playing under the name 'Final Boss' for the rest of the 2006 season. Apparently, it's a better sponsorship deal. (Not surprising, with all the money flying around right now in Pro Halo circles...) Read more about it at GotFrag. (There's also a short note about it at Team3D.net.) (Louis Wu 06:29:22 UTC) (permalink)
Lookie w/lyrix!
If you liked Mutha G's Lookie vid a few days ago, you can now grab the MP3 version (and lyrics!) in this forum post. Word, yo. (Don't forget to vote for his rock station commercial - details are in that forum post.) (Louis Wu 06:24:43 UTC) (permalink)
News April 19 2006
Bungie Needs a New Webmaster
Kuniklo pointed out that Bungie is hiring again; they're looking for a new Lead Web Development Engineer. Dream job for webheads who are also Bungie fans? Sure! Go check it out! (To be fair, Cybrfrk pointed this out to me a week ago, but I wasn't sure it was a new listing...) (Louis Wu 21:46:24 UTC) (permalink)
Level One Halo 2 Tourney
Looks like a nice Halo 2 tourney is shaping up in Clovis, CA in early May - check this page at GotFrag for details. FFA on Friday, 4v4 on Saturday... (Louis Wu 21:35:02 UTC) (permalink)
Where's Ctrl+C On This Thing?
Stuntmutt recently hung out with some clanmates (in a bar, where else?), and they discovered why there are only three strips a week. Check out today's One One Se7en to see for yourself. (We'd like to apologize for the accidental posting of Friday's strip, for a short time; I blame me. Well, actually, I blame BOLL - but he's gonna say he's not even part of the staff here, so... Anyway, that strip will be up on Friday, as planned.) (Louis Wu 21:27:00 UTC) (permalink)
Remember The Dead
Ron Dagan pointed out a Halo-based horror short story on his myspace account - take a look. (Louis Wu 21:23:17 UTC) (permalink)
Vendetta
Zukan created a trailer for Vendetta, a trilogy he's planning to make in the next few months; it's garnered a TON of decent press to date, both from the general public, and from the MPRRS reviewers. It's really, really well done - I'm looking forward with great anticipation to the final product. Grab a copy for yourself, and decide - the QuickTime version is higher quality (and 49.5 mb), but the WMP9 version is just fine too (and 30.3 mb). Go watch. (Louis Wu 03:01:20 UTC) (permalink)
News April 18 2006
How much do YOU know?
Coolness. GameJunkieJim put together a Bungie Crossword Puzzle - go test yourself. Thanks, Masta Chef. (Louis Wu 21:51:18 UTC) (permalink)
Valley of the Forerunners, Part 8
Dennis Powers writes to point out that Part 8 of the Valley of the Forerunners is now available for download on the Halo CE Chronicles website. 8:17 long, available in WMP9, QuickTime, and streaming Flash, this part shows Harrington and the Marines a little more about what they're up against. If you've wondered why some of the episodes of this season seem to start and end in non-standard places... Dennis wrote up a short piece explaining the difference between 'Episodes' and 'Parts', and why this season is laid out as it is. Worth a read! (Louis Wu 18:11:13 UTC) (permalink)
HUDless Halo
Spartan Jag noticed a bunch of new content at the Halouvre - there's stuff from Major.Dump and stuff from a new artist, Hikaru. Take a look! (Louis Wu 16:02:24 UTC) (permalink)
NoobSpotting
Another imSuck movie made it through the MPRRS yesterday - this one is called '10 ways to tell if you're a noob', and it combines (as usual) great editing with entertaining commentary on various noobish activities. Grab a copy in either WMP9 format (45.9 mb) or QuickTime format (47.5 mb). (Louis Wu 14:30:20 UTC) (permalink)
More MLG News
Holy Pro Gaming, Batman! I should check my mail before I post news. There was an email from 3Suns with a TON more MLG links; we've got press releases about new sponsorship deals (specifically Boost Mobile and Scion Auto), and we've got a new Player of the Week article (this one focuses on Mack). Go read more! (Louis Wu 14:08:22 UTC) (permalink)
MLG TV - Almost Here
Apologies for the news blackout; connection from this hotel is MUCH more difficult than I'd expected. Let's start with some MLG news - Pieter Kok pointed out that MLG is about to launch a television show; you can find links to more info on MLG's site. Pretty cool stuff! (Louis Wu 13:57:04 UTC) (permalink)
News April 17 2006
Judas Is Still Waiting...
Stuntmutt shows that he's happy to hit religion as hard as he hits the English language in today's One One Se7en - being posted a few hours earlier than usual because it's not clear how much online time I'll be getting before Monday night. (Louis Wu 05:10:23 UTC) (permalink)
Contest Candidate Cornucopia
Just a quick note - the submission deadline for the 7 on the 7th contest has come and gone; it's all over but the judging. We received more than 250 submissions for this contest - there are a LOT of you who want a shot at a free signed soundtrack! What's probably going to happen is that we'll pare down the submissions to a reasonable number, and then let the public vote on the final choices; the only thing I wanted to make clear is that it might take us a little longer than we'd originally estimated to get this all ready. (I'm out of town right now, so I don't have access to all of my normal tools.) We ask that everyone stays patient; we're not talking weeks of delay here, just a few days. When we know more, we'll pass it along! (Louis Wu 04:56:58 UTC) (permalink)
Lookie
Mothergoat released a followup to the MPD vid that hit the Halo scene a month and a half ago. Vanilla Ice got NUTHIN' on this white boy. You gotta watch this, even if you hate rap. Cause it's hilarious. Just over 50 mb, in WMP9 format (see Mutha G's forum post for a download link) - if you need a QuickTime version, we're hosting one for him because laughter is the best medicine. Think of this as a huge Benadryl-and-Robitussen cocktail. (Louis Wu 04:43:31 UTC) (permalink)
IAC Model Updated
Stephen Loftus has released a couple of new images of his 'In Amber Clad' scratchbuilt model - we've added them (and his descriptive text) to his progress page here at HBO. Check it out - fiber-optic lighting looks pretty slick! (Louis Wu 03:54:57 UTC) (permalink)
Hot Stuff in the HaloCE World
TheGhost has moved his pretty amazing collection of links to HaloCE tutorials to a permanent home at Halomaps.org, courtesy of Dennis Powers - swing by for links to every fan-created tutorial related to content creation for Halo: Custom Edition you can think of! There've been a number of significant updates to this project since we first mentioned it in November. (And while TheGhost had our ears, letting us know about this move, he pointed out a pretty amazing release by Tiamat; a map called Coldsnap, with jets, Longswords, and Pelicans in play, along with mechs, walking creatiures, and a number of original vehicles - plus C4 explosions, new weapons, and more. Go grab a copy!) (Louis Wu 03:28:27 UTC) (permalink)
New Renders for First Contact
The First Contact Half-Life 2 mod has released a large group of renders - go check out everything from vehicles to characters in their image gallery (the news post is here). Thanks to AngelicLionheart and xJayx for the heads-up(s)! (Louis Wu 03:11:07 UTC) (permalink)
News April 16 2006
Did someone say cake?
Stuntmutt mentions an update to his blog a couple of days ago - pictures, movies, guest strips... what more could you want? (Don't answer that.) Go read! (Louis Wu 16:14:03 UTC) (permalink)
Team3D's Weekly Update
Over at Team3D.net, F13ND sat down with Saiyan to talk about the upcoming MLG season opener, and the upcoming season. Go read! (Louis Wu 16:02:32 UTC) (permalink)
A Labor of Love
SIRBOE created a really amazing-looking Halo sword (you gotta take a close look at the handle), and sent us a bunch of pics. At first glance, there are a lot of dupes - but he wanted to get a bunch of different angles to show you all the details. (For each pic, there are a couple of filtered variations - an inverted image which looks 'blue', and a glowing version.) Check it out - that is one sweet piece of work! (Louis Wu 05:23:16 UTC) (permalink)
Happy Easter.
Mostly from Psychophan7. Egg-lovin', Halo-fan style. (Louis Wu 04:54:36 UTC) (permalink)
A Different Kind of Machinima
Funky. Bloody Grunt and Black Sky Productions are putting together 'Endurance Halo' - fourteen players will face off in smaller and smaller teams, until only one from each team remains; finally, until only one remains. The entire thing will be filmed, and cut into an 'unscripted combat gameshow'. It won't be happening until this summer, but if you're interested, sign up now (check the links on the site). Thanks, HavokBlue. (Louis Wu 04:46:52 UTC) (permalink)
Short Circuit
Slacker Entertainment has posted Heroes & Heretics Flashback 4: Short Circuit. In Episode 3, you met the Helots - unaugmented soldiers wearing modified Spartan armor. Except for getting killed a lot, they seemed like a competent bunch... but Short Circuit tells a different story. A significantly more entertaining one. And I LOVE the medic. Swing by and pick up a copy - funny stuff. (Louis Wu 04:02:50 UTC) (permalink)
News April 15 2006
Armor Drawing Guide
Very nice - Hypersoldier has put up a Mjolnir Armor basic drawing guide over at LiveJournal. Give it a read! Thanks, HavokBlue. (Louis Wu 17:57:05 UTC) (permalink)
Script writer needed for live action short
We missed this, but back in December, corpseguy posted a note on the HaloPlanet forums about a full Master Chief suit he's building (we've got a record of the helmets he's been working on, but we missed the suit post). He came back yesterday, because he's interested in using the suit in a live action comedy short - except that he doesn't have a script. If you're interested in helping out... let him know! (His email is listed in every single one of those links above.) Thanks to Billy Durrett for pointing this out. (Louis Wu 15:17:08 UTC) (permalink)
The Interactive Story
Narcogen takes a long, analytical look at the E3 2003 demo, and how it differed from the game we eventually got. No, this isn't one of those 'omg they promised us Earth!' rants - it's actually pretty thoughtful, and looks at the difference in story-telling techniques between that piece and the final game. He makes some really good points. Go read. (Louis Wu 11:58:36 UTC) (permalink)
Lethargy Crisis
Rooster Teeth has a new PSA up for sponsors; they're looking at the current price of gasoline here in the US. It's pretty funny stuff - if you're a sponsor, go grab a copy! If you're not, it should be available to everyone by Sunday or so. Thanks, Speedhuntr. (Louis Wu 11:40:51 UTC) (permalink)
The Bullfrog Speaks
Weekly Update went live a couple of hours ago over at Bungie.net; there's not a ton of new info there, but you can get a small glimpse inside Bungie Studios... and a look at Mister Chief on the can. Frankie was first, and you can read it locally in our Weekly Update Archive, if you like. (Louis Wu 01:49:29 UTC) (permalink)
News April 14 2006
XBL Playlist Update Info
Ninja on Fire posted an update about the XBL Halo 2 Playlist on Bungie.net; it's not set in stone yet, but it's close. If all goes well, they'll deploy it in the next few weeks. Lots of changes - go read! Thanks, Sith. (Louis Wu 23:17:04 UTC) (permalink)
Oh! Well, I never...
Jillybean trawled (not trolled) our forum for some choice tidbits to sprinkle on your Story salad - swing by and read what she found. (Louis Wu 23:07:49 UTC) (permalink)
Figuratively Speaking.
Last One One Se7en before the 7 on the 7th deadline this Sunday - and Stuntmutt takes advantage of it to show you that no matter how groan-inducing the pun is that you came up with for your caption... he's got you beat. 7 ways to Sunday. (If you're wondering who that little guy talking to the MC is, check out this pic; he's a creation of Stunt's lovely bride-to-be. Luckily for all involved, he didn't get the job he was auditioning for.) (Louis Wu 16:49:46 UTC) (permalink)
Fanfic Update
What the heck is going on? There are 13 new pieces for you in the Fan Fiction section today - but I had to delete 7 more because the authors ignored the (pretty short) Rules page! Geez, guys - if you pad a story with useless text to bypass the minimum word limit, we're gonna toss it. We've ALWAYS done that, we SAY we're gonna do that. If you submit a block of text with no formatting - we're gonna toss it. We SAY we're gonna do that. Why waste your own time, and mine, by ignoring these rules? For the folks who DIDN'T ignore the rules - thanks, your stuff is available now. (Louis Wu 16:44:03 UTC) (permalink)
MS signs on with WCG
The World Cyber Games just got a new sponsor - Microsoft. The pot for 2006 is rather large - half a million dollars. (Last year's pot for the Grand Final was $435,000, so this is a nice
bump.) Some of that extra money is coming from MS - along with all the hardware that the games will be played on (PCs and Xbox360s). Seems like Halo won't feel like so much of an afterthought any more... Update: Wonga. I'd forgotten that Halo isn't even being played this year. Thanks, Dante. (And KP.) OUCH! (Louis Wu 16:16:12 UTC) (permalink)
Misc Art - Overflowing
More artwork. LOTS more. I had contacted a few prolific DeviantARTists - folks with large numbers of Halo-related images in their DeviantART profiles, but who'd not submitted those images here. Kamino185, lhs, and GTGundam (who did have SOME images here, just not all) each agreed to allow us to host copies of their Halo work in our Miscellaneous Art section - it's just another place to see this stuff. (If you're interested in the work, you should definitely follow the DA links provided; you can read the artists' comments, and add your own. You GOTTA check out Kamino185's Arbiter.) In addition to this veritable wealth of already-released material, we've got a ton of regularly-submitted stuff; scan through to find some real gems. (I'm pretty partial to Edli's depiction of Linda - but there is so much good stuff in there that I can't cover it all.) (Louis Wu 13:41:19 UTC) (permalink)
News April 13 2006
What? No Pony?
IGN has put together yet another Halo 3 wishlist - and if they got everything they asked for, Halo 3 would be a pretty silly game. (It would probably also be able to make you a margarita during play - which might not be a bad thing.) IGN's gotta sell pageviews, though, and you can't do that without creating content - so no matter how silly it is to suggest that you should be able to pilot a starship in a first-person shooter... there you go. Thanks, Jackal Fister. (Louis Wu 16:16:25 UTC) (permalink)
Nasty, Nasty Brutes
Continuing with the monstrous dialogue updates, we've got almost 100 Brute snippets from Hellhawk added today to our Dialogue Databank; go listen to these creatures! (Louis Wu 15:50:41 UTC) (permalink)
News April 12 2006
View From Heaven
Belligerent put together 'View From Heaven', a music video set to the song of the same name by Yellowcard. The MPRRS crew loved the filmwork. Cinematography is quite good, film quality is quite good. Good angles, all around. Go watch! 30 mb, in either WMP9 or QuickTime formats. (Louis Wu 23:44:40 UTC) (permalink)
Edgeworks - no, The Codex - no...
We got mail from Nerrolken about some big updates over at The Codex Series website. Well... it's more than just the Codex Series site at this point, which is part of the big news - but there's more. Go read it all. (Louis Wu 23:37:25 UTC) (permalink)
The Bungie Guide to Sci Fi
Frankie bugged a bunch of the Bungie employees for lists of science-fiction influences or interests they've got going; if you're looking for some good reading/watching, the resulting article will keep you busy for a LONG time. Notably missing from anyone's list are Chris Rowley's Vang novels... you'd think things that so deeply influenced the creation of Halo would have made SOMEONE'S list. Frankie let our forum know when the article went live; I managed to hit the wrong server and got an 'Access Denied' the first time I tried, but it should be fully propagated by this point. (Louis Wu 22:26:18 UTC) (permalink)
The Ring Day 0
RemminyCricket submitted 'The Ring Day 0' to the MPRRS - reviewers liked the video effects, the background music, and the camerawork. It looks at the what happens to a guy who finds a video with a dire warning scribbled on it... 32 mb, in WMP9 or QuickTime format. (He's expecting to make 8 episodes, though not all will follow this storyline.) (Louis Wu 22:11:14 UTC) (permalink)
Line On The Left.
If today's One One Se7en makes no sense to you, you should read this article. And when you're done, find me the fan clamps. (Louis Wu 20:35:33 UTC) (permalink)
Starship Dimensions
I could have SWORN we'd mentioned this site before, but it seems I'm wrong. wheelers sent us a note about merzo.net - a site devoted to illustrating the dimensions of science fiction constructs from many different sources. On the 2000X page, you'll find a pretty familiar ring-shaped object... (Louis Wu 14:25:17 UTC) (permalink)
Rampant Rumor-Mongering
On April 1, we posted a (fake) press release from Jagex, the company behind Runescape; it announced Halo: Online, a Massively Multiplayer online role-playing game based on the Halo universe. This press release was created by Ross Mills, a longtime community member and current employee of Jagex, and while he thinks the concept is cool, he created the press release for April Fools because he knew it wasn't real. Don't tell that to The Mole, though - this writer, over at Blogcritics.org, suggests that this sort of game is EXACTLY what Bungie is working on right now. According to The Mole they're going to announce it at E3... and release it this fall. Let me go on record as saying that I believe The Mole... is smoking something that's almost certainly not legal in this country. (Louis Wu 13:44:12 UTC) (permalink)
What's wrong with Halo 2, Part 8,222,043
Annihil8or stopped by our forum to mention his Halo blog, the title of which ('Halo 2 Failures') should give you a pretty good sense for what he writes about. None of this stuff is new - but it's presented in a calm, rational manner, and for the most part, it's well thought-out. (Well, except for the 'these things happened because Bungie didn't take pro gamers' views into account' part...) If you decide to weigh in on this issue (either in his forum thread, or on the blog itself), please - be polite. No matter which side you're on. It's a much-beaten horse... but that doesn't mean we need to spread horse-guts all over the walls. (Louis Wu 13:32:14 UTC) (permalink)
H20 Stats Reader Bug Fix
LunarShadow dropped by to explain that his H2O stats reader has been upgraded again; it's a small bugfix for folks who don't have 'English' as the default language in Windows. A link to his site (for a download) is in the forum post. (Louis Wu 13:07:03 UTC) (permalink)
News April 11 2006
I Stopped to Fill My Car Up
omg a fish submitted a music video set to the Stereophonics' 'I Stopped to Fill My Car Up' - great effects, great cinematography. The reviewers at the MPRRS liked it, though a few thought its pace was a bit too slow. (Hey, whaddaya want... it matches the song!) 21.6 mb in WMP9 format, 20.8 mb in QuickTime format. Grab a copy today! (Louis Wu 21:12:57 UTC) (permalink)
The Unbearable Lightness of MC
Two new GORGEOUS pieces from Bryn Casey - he describes them as 'one loose and one tight', which isn't far off - but I love 'em both. Check out Vapori (tight) and Cave (loose). Why is it that when I put lines on a piece of paper like that, it looks like scribbling? (Louis Wu 20:50:01 UTC) (permalink)
The Valley of the Forerunners: Part 7
Dennis Powers writes to point out that the 7th episode of Valley of the Forerunners is online now at the Halo CE Chronicles website. Harrington takes over and begins to figure out what the marines need to do. Just over 7 minutes long, in (as usual) WMP9, QuickTime, and streaming Flash formats. Go watch! (Louis Wu 19:22:11 UTC) (permalink)
Wallpaper - it's what's for dinner.
Thirteen must be today's lucky number, because that's how many new desktops you'll find in the Wallpaper section. A really interesting collection - lots of different styles. Some really striking work in there... (Louis Wu 18:35:34 UTC) (permalink)
I need a little music!
As I've said before, there are a really large number of dialogue snippets in the queue right now. I've managed to process almost 50, from Hellhawk, today; you can find them listed in the Dialogue Databank. There are still almost 400 in the queue, from four different submitters; even if some turn out to be duplicates, there is a LOT coming. Enjoy this batch for now, though! (Louis Wu 17:40:50 UTC) (permalink)
News April 10 2006
No frickin' guild meetings here
Wired's Clive Thompson wrote an article glorifying the First Person Shooter, and the niche it fills in our hindbrain's desire to be stimulated. Halo gets a nice mention on page 2. Thanks, Target4Hire. (Louis Wu 21:32:36 UTC) (permalink)
How Humerus.
Stuntmutt comments on Frankie's discussion of a Mister Chief t-shirt in today's One One Se7en. I hope he's wearing armor after a joke that bad... (Louis Wu 13:18:30 UTC) (permalink)
Operation: Backwash Trailer
Treeskunk Productions, the guys behind Outpost: Coagulation, have started a new series, entitled 'Outpost: Backwash'. The series trailer made it through the MPRRS yesterday; they weren't looking for hosting, but since their downloads page offers only WMP9 format (22.9 mb), we're providing a QuickTime link (21.4 mb). Looks to be funny, well-filmed, entertaining - check it out! (Louis Wu 12:58:21 UTC) (permalink)
The End of the Banshee Run
Over at Rampancy.net, vector40 has written up part 5 (the last part) of his Banshee Handling Tutorial - this one covers a number of techniques he hadn't gotten to yet. And in case you were wishing he'd included some of the sillier tricks... he wrote a separate article on our forum, detailing the stuff you SHOULDN'T do. Really. (Louis Wu 12:53:32 UTC) (permalink)
Halogen Update
Halogen's updated again - 4 new skinned items. (You can also read it on their forum.) I like the Gas Facility... thanks, Logical2u. (Louis Wu 12:28:29 UTC) (permalink)
Smells like cinnamon
DropShock Episode 14 has been posted - discussions of the new books, as well as a couple of April Fools jokes. 40 mb, almost an hour an a half. Check it out. (Louis Wu 12:25:51 UTC) (permalink)
Too short to reach the pedals.
Dojorkan posted a bunch of pics yesterday on our forum - they show grunts and the MC getting into, and driving, the Creep (the Covenant bus that shows up on Outskirts). Apparently... driving animations for these guys were actually created, even though you're never actually allowed to get in and drive one! Fun stuff. (Louis Wu 12:20:43 UTC) (permalink)
News April 9 2006
Scale Comparison Updates
Stephen Loftus submitted a pair of updates for his Scale Comparison article; down near the bottom, you'll find new weaponry scale charts (one for the Covenant, one for the UNSC) - and each one has a corresponding hi-res PDF document you can download, if you need or want higher quality silhouettes of the items. Good stuff! (Louis Wu 14:21:17 UTC) (permalink)
Special Fred - and why it's here
Recently, we altered the information that MPRRS reviewers had access to about their own reviews; we gave them the ability to easily see when their reviews were wildly different from the norm. There aren't any solid rules about where you have to be in this regard - we're not looking to censor reviewers simply because they don't think like other reviewers. However, if someone is consistently lower than everyone else by a significant margin (our 'problem' delta is 25%), it behooves us to look closely at movies that fail solely because of reviews from these reviewers. One such film was 'Special Fred', from QuickTactical and the Epic Films crew; 7 out of 10 reviewers passed it, one gave it a score that was 2 points below passing, one failed it by about 10%... and one person was 30% below the average. Since that person has been well below the average on almost half his reviews (often without any real justification in the comments sections), this seems like an unreasonable score to base the failure of Special Fred on - so we're hosting it. It's funny, audio and video quality are quite good, it uses Stephen Lynch's music (always a plus), it does a great job of illustrating the song; I think it's worth seeing. You can grab it in WMP9 format (39.2 mb) or QuickTime format (39.1 mb). Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go listen to The Craig Machine. (Louis Wu 14:04:39 UTC) (permalink)
I like to watch.
Rocksiider continues his investigations into fun battles you can set up on Silent Cartographer - check out this forum post for more details. (Louis Wu 13:52:25 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Pro - a Template?
Michael Katcher looked at the MLG model and extrapolated to sports in general; could we see internet-based subscription content supplanting one-size-fits-all TV options in the future? (My guess - not if cable companies have anything to say about it; video-on-demand might make this whole concept moot in the next couple of years.) Comments can go into his blog, or into the forum thread he started to let us know about this. (Louis Wu 13:49:06 UTC) (permalink)
Just your average pixel pusher
During my travels through the Red vs Blue community, I ran across HyperSoldier, who's got quite a bit of Halo-related artwork up at DeviantART (as well as a few extra pieces in his RvB images collection). Give it a look! (Louis Wu 13:43:19 UTC) (permalink)
News April 8 2006
Secrets of the Phantom
Stephen Loftus shows no sign of slowing down in his quest to fully delineate the known vehicles and structures in the Halo universe; his latest subject is the Phantom Troop Carrier. Armaments, interior space, carrying capabilites - he (with the help of Dojorkan, who supplied some of the pictures) lays it all out for you; go read up! (Louis Wu 17:35:04 UTC) (permalink)
You got questions? We got answers.
There were a bunch of questions that came in, asking for clarification about the rules for the 7 on the 7th contest - can you photoshop your images, can you use extra (non-Halo) action figures, how do you specify your caption and theme... we've added answers to these questions in the Rules section of the contest page. (Louis Wu 13:54:49 UTC) (permalink)
ItWasLuck's Montage 5
MikeMan27 submitted to the MPRRS a new movie he'd edited - ItWasLuck's 5th montage. This film is up for grabs at Halo2Forums.com in WMP9 format, and weighs in at 100 mb (it's almost 9 minutes long), but since it passed the MPRRS (handily, I should add), we're making a QuickTime version available, as well, for those who need it. A lot of beautifully-strung-together kills, set nicely to music with some really big names in the sights. The biggest complaint from the MPRRS crew was that it was a bit long - but past that, this one ROCKS. Give it a look. (Louis Wu 03:32:49 UTC) (permalink)
Happy Birthday, HIH!
Swing by and light a birthday candle for High Impact Halo, which turned two a few days ago. Awesomeness! (Louis Wu 03:05:21 UTC) (permalink)
Mister Chief T-Shirts for All
The new Weekly Update has been posted - a nice little Q&A. You can read it on Bungie.net, in our Weekly Update Archive, or at Halo: Portable for your PSP. Who was first? Who do you think? (Louis Wu 02:48:08 UTC) (permalink)
News April 7 2006
Ask, and ye shall... be answered, mb
If you've got questions for Bungie, swing by Bungie.net and post 'em in this thread - Frankie will answer (some of) them in tonight's Weekly Update. Gogogo! (Louis Wu 20:04:55 UTC) (permalink)
Behind the Scenes with Joseph Staten
Joseph Staten, a graduate of Northwestern University, will be back at his alma mater on April 22 to talk about Halo, and the writing of its story. It's part of a full day of seminars from NWU alumni - the full day is $65 (with lunch), a half day is $45, and a single seminar is $20. (Unless you're a Northwestern student, in which case it's $5.) Registration deadline is April 14, a week from today - if you're in the Evanston, IL area, and you'd like to hear Joe talk about how Halo was made, sign up! Thanks to Mike Miller for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 19:58:45 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: Portable - now more portable
Mintz writes to point out the new content at Halo: Portable, which now supports the iPod and PocketPC in addition to the original PSP content - you can find Wedow and Vinny Jones' montage, in multiple portable formats, Bungie's interview with Burnie Burns, and a truly annoying welcome to Funkmon, who's joined the staff there. Go look. (Well, not at that last one. Especially if you're prone to epileptic seizures.) (Louis Wu 19:53:39 UTC) (permalink)
Under Cover of Night, Remixed
Peptuck found an interesting clip of a remix of 'Under Cover of Night' - read his forum post for more details. The full version can be purchased as part of a remix album. (Louis Wu 19:34:19 UTC) (permalink)
HaloCE Server List at HaloMaps
Halomaps.org has upgraded the functionality of their Halo CE Server list - you can see full map lists (to make sure you have them before joining), gametypes, uptime, and so on. Great stuff! If you're playing HaloCE online, this is invaluable. (Louis Wu 19:29:47 UTC) (permalink)
7 on the 7th... again!
It's April 7th... which means it's time for... that's right, another 7 on the 7th contest! (Yeah, as though we've been doing one of these every 7th.) Anyway, this one is fun; grab some Halo action figures, pose 'em up nice (keep it clean, we're going to toss entries that are obscene), write a funny caption, and send it along; if you're one of the top 7 entries, you'll win a fresh copy of the Halo 2 Original Soundtrack Volume 2, due in stores on April 24! What's more - these will be autographed by Marty O'Donnell! There's one twist; the theme of your picture needs to fit a track title from one of the three Halo soundtrack volumes. (If you need a list of titles, you'll find a link on the contest page.) Go read for a complete list of rules and regulations... and get to composing those figures! (Louis Wu 18:25:36 UTC) (permalink)
Put on your glasses, start sewing!
Captain Spark dropped off another 19 dialogue snippets - you can grab 'em in bulk from his site, or browse 'em in our Dialogue Databank. There's one that's unintelligble to me - and Spark didn't even try it, so he clearly couldn't hear it either. (If you can tell what the brute is saying, let us know.) And yes - there are still a TON of snippets from other submitters in the queue; once again, Spark's stuff jumps to the front of the queue solely because processing takes me a couple of minutes, instead of a couple of hours. I'm really sorry. Update: Marty clarified the full quote for us - it looks like the sample we've got is missing the first couple of words. Pretty funny quote, though! (Louis Wu 17:13:50 UTC) (permalink)
Happy birthday MPRRS
MPRRS has reached it's first 365 days of service. We have a living, viable solution that reduces work for Louis Wu and keeps the best of the best rolling for the community. As a side benefit we have also helped numerous movie makers increase their skills. Want to see some statistics, visit the forum posting. (Cybrfrk 16:14:19 UTC) (permalink)
Two Thousand And Se7en.
What's worse than random speculation about Halo 3? Random puns about it... go read One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 12:58:24 UTC) (permalink)
You Got Over Shield
A megaman Master Chief? It's Photoshop Phriday at Something Awful - thanks, Michael M. (Louis Wu 12:46:00 UTC) (permalink)
Friday Fiction
Sixteen new stories in today's Fan Fiction update... what are you waiting for? (Louis Wu 12:24:42 UTC) (permalink)
He needs a new crack pipe.
Narcogen adds still MORE to his 'rampant speculation' about what's next for the Halo series over at Rampancy.net - Part III looks at potential alliances and future actions. Go read! (Louis Wu 12:11:43 UTC) (permalink)
Warhammer crossover gets better press
Over at Bungie.net, you'll find a new Community Spotlight; Frankie got a bunch of information out of Iain 'Dalteth' Nelson, a Warhammer/Halo fanatic. The pictures in the article are the same as the ones you'll find in our Miscellaneous section (we actually have more of them) - but the interview material is pretty interesting stuff. (In fact, I've added a link to Dalteth's page here.) (Louis Wu 02:41:50 UTC) (permalink)
News April 6 2006
Ascension Air Flight 114
Today's Carzorthade combines Halo with what might just turn out to be the worst movie evar. Funny stuff, though. Thanks, Eric Lundequam. (Louis Wu 17:42:17 UTC) (permalink)
Where we're going, from where whence we came
Narcogen continues his rampant speculation about what might be coming in the next installment of the Halo story - whenever and however that shows up. Some very solid logic in there; reading it might spark some interesting connections for you. Give it a look-see! (Louis Wu 17:29:02 UTC) (permalink)
Podtacular Ep 57
Podtacular Episode 57, looking at Halo 3, is now up - thanks, Fr3d-105. (Louis Wu 16:28:16 UTC) (permalink)
Count the Shells
If you're in New York state, about an hour north of the city, there's a tourney at the Hudson Valley Mall in Kingston this weekend (Google maps), hosted by True Skill Gaming. Details (and an email contact) can be found in this flyer. A significant chunk of the HBO staff will be there - not me, unfortunately, but Ding, KP, and probably Count Zero will be in attendance. Check it out! (Louis Wu 16:13:06 UTC) (permalink)
MC Goes Conning
Devastator sent along a link to another bunch of pics of him at I-Con in a Halo costume recently - check 'em out! (Louis Wu 15:50:10 UTC) (permalink)
MLG PwnCast Eps 7 and 8
MLG PwnCast posted Episodes 7 and 8 yesterday - go grab 'em from their website! Interview with StK pn SHIBBY in Ep 8, lots of news updates in 7. Tons of new bandwidth, too. (Louis Wu 15:47:46 UTC) (permalink)
News April 5 2006
The Outlaw Spirit
This Spartan Life has both a new episode, and a new website, online at this point. No more massive Flash! Today's news post contains information about Malcolm McLaren, the latest interviewee on the show; you can grab the episode itself from the Episodes section. Interesting stuff! (Louis Wu 23:58:17 UTC) (permalink)
FIRST Person Shooter.
One One Se7en looks at what happens when you try to do the right thing. Take the lesson to heart. (The 2-by-x format is a byproduct of Stuntmutt's April Fools gag.) (Louis Wu 15:16:30 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Pro - It's where the (Halo) money is
3Suns provides a roundup of new stuff at the MLGPro.com website; Player of the Week is Bonfire, Blog of the Week belongs to CodeRed... and the Prize Money Announcement for MLG NY has been posted, and hot dang, there's almost $30,000 in Halo prizes alone! (There's another $10k for SSBM.) Check it all out. (Louis Wu 14:48:01 UTC) (permalink)
H2O Stats Reader v1.5.3
LunarShadow dropped by our forum to announce an update of H2O Stats Reader, to bring the program in line with the changes made at Bungie.net this week. You can find a link and more info in the forum post. (There's at least one report of problems with the new version, as well - so be careful.) (Louis Wu 14:35:31 UTC) (permalink)
More Goodies at PGL's Miami Tourney
Jay Marrero sent word that the Professional Gamers League has picked up a new member of their Sponsor Team; the winners of the upcoming 4x4 Halo 2 tourney (see this news post) will have registrations fees paid for the rest of the 2006 season, thanks to Astro Studios. More details are available at their site. (Louis Wu 14:29:12 UTC) (permalink)
Reading The Teabag Leaves
Narcogen, at Rampancy.net, takes some massive tokes off the communal crackpipe this morning, in order to put together some speculation on what's coming next from Bungie. Me? I'm just high on the fumes - and the guy lives 8000 miles away from me. Go read. (The title of this newspost was blatantly stolen from that article, because I liked it.) (Louis Wu 14:25:06 UTC) (permalink)
Dual-Thumbstick Virtual Keyboards?
Evil Otto dropped by our forum today, and in the midst of a discussion on Needler-wielding Sentinels and their presence in Halo 2, mentioned an interview he did for Macromedia on using Director to prototype the UI in the game. It's a great article with a bunch of cool info in it, including a demo movie made to present one version of the UI to the rest of the development team. See if you can spot some names in the movie. Check it out! (mnemesis 01:26:48 UTC) (permalink)
News April 4 2006
Beat It.
You might think today's selection of downloadable Halo videos, from us and other sites, was large enough to be considered 'complete' for the day. You'd be wrong. Another vid passed the MPRRS this morning; it was a montage from l PhaLanX l, called 'Beat It'. He didn't want hosting, because the WMP9 version is available from GamingVidz (66 mb)... but because it passed the MPRRS, we want to make sure everyone can see it, so for those who need a QuickTime version, you can grab one from us. I gotta say... the guy's pretty good with a sticky grenade. (You can find more of his videos over at GamingVidz.) (Louis Wu 19:17:26 UTC) (permalink)
They Drink A Lot.
Frankie sat down with Burnie Burns, of Red vs Blue, and got the lowdown on the series, the genre, the team. The whole enchilada. The entire ball o' wax. The secrets to life, the universe, and everything. Well... okay, maybe not. Just some stuff about Rooster Teeth. And Halo. Go read. (No, you weren't first. Frankie was.) (Louis Wu 18:44:01 UTC) (permalink)
Dead Man's Hand Kicks Off
Dweezle86 from the TTL Gunslingers has started up another gaming-related (Halo-oriented) blog - go read Dead Man's Hand. Them Gunslingers... they sure do write a lot! (Louis Wu 17:43:47 UTC) (permalink)
Armor for your 12 inch soldier
This morning, I noticed a post on HaloPlanet's front page; an artist named callous had posted a number of pictures showing some armor he was sculpting for standard 12" Halo action figures. Amazing stuff - so I asked him if he'd mind if we showcased the work. He said sure - so swing by this page and take a look! As he progresses, we'll add new pics. This is definitely dedication... (Louis Wu 17:21:43 UTC) (permalink)
The Valley of the Forerunners: Part 6
Over at the Halo CE Chronicles website, you can grab part 6 of the Valley of the Forerunners series. Harrington and the marines are starting to get an idea about how much trouble they're actually in. Cinematography is quite good on this one. It's a long one - almost 13 minutes, and weighing in at more than 40 mb for the downloadable versions (or 15 mb for the streaming Flash). Go watch! (Louis Wu 16:30:03 UTC) (permalink)
Halzred's 5th Montage
Z sent us word that Halzred's 5th Montage is now available for download (we mentioned the trailer for it back in January). It's 106 mb, in WMP9 format; it's definitely more about the look-and-feel than about the gameplay. (Don't get me wrong - the gameplay's pretty impressive, what you can see of it - it's just that this movie is REALLY heavy on the editing effects.) If you're prone to epileptic seizures, do NOT download this video. Whatever else you say about this guy, you've got to give him props for his mad editing skillz. (Louis Wu 16:11:55 UTC) (permalink)
Rip Digital Cable 3
Another video that went through the MPRRS recently was RipHamilton32's 'Rip Digital Cable 3', a series of funny skits set up to look like you're flipping through cable channels. This one didn't pass - but it didn't pass because one reviewer gave it a ridiculously low score (without any justification); we've tossed that score, and are hosting the file. (We dumped the reviewer, too.) You can grab it in WMP9 format (14.6 mb) or QuickTime format (14 mb). (Louis Wu 16:01:23 UTC) (permalink)
Major Tom Diaries - Primer
So there's a group called Echo Zulu Films that has created a couple of machinima series - Alone, and the Major Tom Diaries - and they've recently released a Major Tom Diaries Primer episode, to bring new watchers up to speed on where the series is. If you'd like to check out the Major Tom Diaries, but don't have time to watch the existing vids (there are 5 of them), you can grab this video at HaloMovies.org, in either WMP9 or QuickTime formats. It weighs in at about 25 mb, depending on version. Thanks, Dennis. (Louis Wu 15:50:21 UTC) (permalink)
Tied The Leader - Now With Sprinkles!
XerxdeeJ, over at Tied the Leader, has been busy; there's a summary of recent clan matches with notables from the Halo community (with boatloads of media), a Gaming Advisory System to help you find the fewest cheaters, and a summary of Le Tour de Halo, an intriguing (but closed to clanmembers only) tourney coming up this weekend. Go read! (Louis Wu 14:47:32 UTC) (permalink)
Tablesaw Anatomy Episode 1
Fwankman88 and friends at Force Lightning Studios created 'Tablesaw Anatomy Episode 1 - it's the start of a new machinima series. Two Ex-Marine bounty hunters stumble on a secret lab during a "sting". Questions are left as they try and figure out what they really saw. Production values are quite high; great effects, great sound quality. This is one to follow. The MPRRS liked it, too, which is why we're offering you downloads in either WMP9 or QuickTime formats (22.3 mb, 8:23). Go grab it! (Louis Wu 01:48:45 UTC) (permalink)
News April 3 2006
Love Hurts.
Stuntmutt continues the thread of Friday's joke in today's One One Se7en. Our society is obsessed with sex and violence - but they don't always mix very well. (Louis Wu 17:50:00 UTC) (permalink)
James Stewart would fall.
Aequitas created a screenshot which might just make you sick. (Motion-sick, not gross-sick.) Check out his forum post (and the followup) for more details, including how he made it. It's 1.1 mb, so give it time to load. (Louis Wu 17:23:30 UTC) (permalink)
Covenant Cruiser Perspective Interior
Stephen Loftus created a very nice image showing the interior rooms of the Covenant Cruiser. We've added this to his Collected Works page, as well. (Louis Wu 17:03:12 UTC) (permalink)
News April 2 2006
SC Fun
Rockslider continues to find new ways to have fun in the original Halo - up today, 5 new tidbits on Silent Cartographer. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 14:02:13 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Situation Creator
spartanerik noticed a Flash-based 'Halo Situation Creator' at newgrounds; drag and drop Halo sprites (looks like mostly Fuzzy's stuff) into existing backgrounds. Something to play with? (Louis Wu 14:00:43 UTC) (permalink)
Sacred Icon Now Transcribed
Finn finally got to formatting our second-to-last level transcript - Sacred Icon is now available for reading. There's only one left... and Finn is offering a prize for the first person to submit an error-free version of Quarantine Zone. Granted, that prize is only his thanks... but wouldn't you like it if that person were you? Update: Looks like Spartan Jag submitted the first QZ transcript. Yay! (Louis Wu 10:58:24 UTC) (permalink)
Save The Whales
Pinkuh updated her Lost The Lead comic - answering the question, "what can MC do to piss off Cortana?" Go read! (Louis Wu 10:54:57 UTC) (permalink)
And one last one.
Bah. I was out most of yesterday, and when I came back in, I didn't take the time to read through my email - which means I missed the reference to this post at Rampancy.net, which went up a couple of hours before April 1 passed into April 2. Marketing... taken to a new level. Leave it to Narc. (Louis Wu 10:24:51 UTC) (permalink)
April Fools - the Wrapup
So, yeah. It's April 2... which means the silliness that is April 1 is over again, for another year. For those who might be more optimistic than discerning, the following stories were (for better or worse) not real: Halo on the PSP, Halo - the MMO, One One Se7en: the Book (I think), The Squadron Ep 17, Halo for the DS, the Helljumpers' pink makeover, the silly Xboxic story, and Halo 2 on OSX. Everything else was legit. If you wondered why HBO didn't seem to do anything this year (even the MMO press release wasn't ours - Ross Mills wrote that), it's pretty silly - we DID do something, but it got spoiled at the last minute by someone posting it on our forum. I didn't have any time left to paper over the damage - so it was easier to just pass on it. Seems silly to totally waste the work, though - c0ld, KP and I spent a goodly chunk of time on it (some of us more than others)... so you can view it here, for posterity. It ain't perfect... but it was sort of fun. Maybe next year we'll have better luck. (Louis Wu 03:59:10 UTC) (permalink)
Konichiwa, vato!
Heroes & Heretics Episode 4, 'Operation: Incontinent Elephant', has been posted over at the Slacker Entertainment website. More troops - but no substantial increase in battle strength. Poor Feldman... Thanks, WereSloth. (Louis Wu 03:36:40 UTC) (permalink)
News April 1 2006
Halo 2 coming to MacOSX!
rapture sent along a link to the Halo2pc forum, where he'd posted a Press Release from Edelman Worldwide, announcing Halo 2 for MacOSX, coming this fall! (It will run only on Intel dual-core processors - Steve Jobs wants to prove that the OSX operating system is more powerful than Vista when both are running on the same hardware.) Go read! (Louis Wu 19:34:04 UTC) (permalink)
Podtacular Update (56)
Podtacular Episode 56 was posted last night - a general update show, with lots of... talk. Go listen. Thanks, Fr3d-105. (Louis Wu 19:22:12 UTC) (permalink)
When April Fools gets Lame
Xboxic previewed Halo 3. Lamely. (I say that because I can't justify ignoring it, but they really didn't do a very good job.) 'First' goes to Konrad, who next time shouldn't post stuff this bad. (Louis Wu 19:12:31 UTC) (permalink)
I'm so confused.
Red vs Blue Episode 77 - The Arrival - has been posted for sponsors. Currently it's only available as a QuickTime - but other formats should be coming soon. I'm not even going to BEGIN telling you what it's about - but more happens in 7 minutes than has happened in months. There's a - um... and a - er... and Tucker - eep... and then Donut - oh, dang, just go download it. Why leave one cliffhanging storyline at the end of the season when you can leave a dozen? Looks like Kraken was first. (Louis Wu 19:01:11 UTC) (permalink)
They Like Pink.
The HBO Helljumpers have left the HBO fold... and become the PMS Helljumpers. We wish them well. Thanks to MereCatfish for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 13:31:11 UTC) (permalink)
Halo for the Nintendo DS
It's everywhere these days. The folks at DS-Play got word back from Bungie that they (Bungie) would be showing a new version, playable on the DS, at E3 this year. Swing by and read the email, check out the pics. (Louis Wu 12:51:08 UTC) (permalink)
The Squadron, Ep 17
The Squadron, Episode 17 has been released - 6 minutes long, 2.8 mb. You can grab it in WMP9 format from their site, or in QuickTime from us. (Louis Wu 12:47:04 UTC) (permalink)
One One Se7en - The Book
Stuntmutt's finally gone and done it; he's compiled the first 200 strips into an actual book, tossed in some exclusive content - and is selling the finished product. Looks fantastic! For a huge dose of corn all in one convenient place, stop by his blog for ordering instructions. (Louis Wu 11:58:51 UTC) (permalink)
No Remorse Released
NeuroKoNeza stopped by our forum to point out that No Remorse, a very cool-looking HaloCE map (we mentioned it here, and more screens showed up on our forum a few days ago), is now finished and ready for download. There's a screenshot in the new forum post (more in the one from last week), and the download is 21 mb. Go get it! (Louis Wu 11:55:07 UTC) (permalink)
Halo - the MMO
We got a press release from Jagex, the Runescape guys. There's a new MMO in town, folks! Check it out; not coming anytime soon, but geez... I'm drooling. (Louis Wu 11:48:34 UTC) (permalink)
Team3D Gearing Up Again
Team3D is getting back into shape after taking some time off - F13ND interviewed Hotshy about what's coming up for them. Discussion of the MLG2006 season, and more. Go read! (Louis Wu 11:40:33 UTC) (permalink)
Halo on the PSP - finally!
Mintz sent us a link to an article on Halo: Portable that shows how a team of hackers got Halo running on a PSP. Check it out! (Louis Wu 11:20:46 UTC) (permalink)
Halo at I-Con
Devastator (who we've mentioned in the past) went to the I-Con Sci-Fi convention in New York last weekend - and won first prize for his MC armor costume. Check out the pics! (Louis Wu 11:18:12 UTC) (permalink)
New Vids at H2F
Two new movies of note over at Halo2Forum.com. The first is a dual montage from Wedow and Vinny Jones; it's pretty cool, because Wedow did a fantastic job of color-coding the clips to let you know who was playing. (Watch it - it'll make more sense once you do.) This one's 128 mb, in WMP9 format. Then there's another great gameplay vid from Xit Woundz - Killer N filmed a TS game on Ivory Tower against Str8 Rippin. 70.4 mb, WMP9 format. Go grab! (Louis Wu 11:10:41 UTC) (permalink)
Who was MC's Grandfather?
Pak noticed a Halo 3 mention in yesterday's Press Start to Play. Don't tell Shishka. (Louis Wu 10:37:57 UTC) (permalink)
Shut Up.
The Bungie Weekly Update is up - and though the date on the top of this page reads April 1, this update was posted on March 31 at Bungie.net - which means you should be pretty safe from April Fools-type jokes. Frankie debunks a rumor, sort of debunks a second one, tosses fans a REALLY nice musical bone, talks to Mat Noguchi, and finally - FINALLY - divulges a few tidbits about Bungie's next project. You can read it at Bungie.net, or you can read it in our Weekly Update Archive. And who was first? Frankie, of course. (Louis Wu 01:20:57 UTC) (permalink)
| April 2006 | |
