|
Spoilers are currently disabled. (All newsposts are visible.) |
||
View the Archives: |
||
 | April 2007 |  |
April 2007 Archived News
News April 30 2007
halo3.com - live and full of stuff
serpx noticed that halo3.com now has quite a bit of new content (updated about a week ago) - including tidbits like the fact that the M6D is returning (though we know nothing about its specs), some story details that have not elsewhere been confirmed before (to avoid spoilers, I'll not specify them, but you can read them yourself if you'd like), and more. Go check it out! (I'm sad for Gearbox that in the Games section, the only title left out is Halo PC...) The Media section contains a nice centralized location for videos, screenshots, concept art (I see one or two as-yet unpublished ones there, too), and the like - go browse! (Louis Wu 21:24:35 UTC) (permalink)
Lens Flair.
Today's One One Se7en shows off Stuntmutt's punache (pronounce that any way you like) while looking at the new artwork released by Bungie last Friday. (Which reminds me - Friday's strip is now visible; don't blame mnemesis, blame his tools.) And that does it for a little bit; again, I promise, I'll get through email soon. Hopefully, there's enough content here to keep you entertained for a little while. (Louis Wu 18:22:02 UTC) (permalink)
It'll put hair on your chest, too.
Martin Duffy stopped by our forum to point out a public reading he'd had recently - it wasn't Halo-related, but he attributes some of his success in fiction writing in general to Halo, and to the HBO fanfic community specifically - good on ya, guys! (And congrats, Martin.)
(Louis Wu 18:17:36 UTC) (permalink)
Evolution of Gaming
macegac noticed an article at Playstation Universe, looking at series and how they've evolved, graphically, over the years. Halo, interestingly enough, had TWO series - the only game with that honor.
(Louis Wu 18:15:12 UTC) (permalink)
Wongissima.
Self Induced seemed to have some free time yesterday - he shows clearly that my vocabulary could use a bit more variation. Point taken. (Gah.) (Louis Wu 18:12:56 UTC) (permalink)
District and Uplift Tours
darthbob noticed that Microsoft Game Studios has posted 'Map Tours' of District and Uplift, the two new maps coming out with Halo 2 Vista; they're available in Flash format by navigating through the new H2V interface at MGS. (Look under the Media tab.) (Louis Wu 18:11:16 UTC) (permalink)
Press X to deploy moose
Rockslider continues his 'Spotlight with Suzie' series - this time, Suzie looks at new Halo 3 gizmos. She's a funny lady.
(Louis Wu 18:08:38 UTC) (permalink)
The Wrong Crowd
CougRon pointed out that Red vs Blue Episode 96 was released for sponsors late Friday night (it'll almost certainly be available for everyone else by today sometime). There's definitely some funky stuff going on in RvBLand... and my goodness, aren't we thrown a few curveballs. Go watch (unless you're not a sponsor, in which case, wait a bit, and THEN go watch). (Louis Wu 18:07:11 UTC) (permalink)
The Ultimate Showdown... Halo style
jarell88 took the net-famous The Ultimate Showdown music, and built a Halo vid. Nice work! (Louis Wu 18:06:43 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3: Elysium
Black Asgard's been working on a Halo fan fiction - you can find it on his blog.
(Louis Wu 18:05:35 UTC) (permalink)
Graphical Evolution of Halo
Gravemind spent some time breaking down the Graphical Evolution of Halo - upshot is 'Don't Panic!' Good advice. (Louis Wu 18:04:31 UTC) (permalink)
Catching up - forum news, starting in slipspace
Okay, on the assumptions that 1) KP and the crowd covering news this past week did a pretty good job keeping up with the halo at bungie.org address and 2) that everyone read my note last week and remembered NOT to send news to the lwu at bungie.org address and 3) that forum-based news had been covered pretty well through last Friday, I spent a little time digging through the last three days on the forum. Don't worry - I still plan to read through all that email; I just haven't gotten to it yet. (Real work is screaming at me, too.) So - here comes a series of quick pointers to forum posts that might contain information of interest to a wider audience. (I'm going to put them in their own news posts, to make things easier to find later.) First up - Nabsuh posted a new Slipspace animation a couple of days ago - looks great, and it's not too big! (Louis Wu 18:00:50 UTC) (permalink)
News April 29 2007
Gorgeous Halo Artwork accompanies Halo Music
Okay, so here's the deal. I'm home from a week in pretty remote rainforests - but there's no time to actually catch up on Halo news. (This would be a good time to pass along a HUGE thank you to the b.orgers who covered the Halo community this past week - they made it possible to relax, a wonderful thing.) Before I vanish for the day, however, there IS one bit of news I'd like to post. You might remember news of a band called The Unchosen, whose 'Mjolnir Song' was heavily inspired by Halo - in fact, they've entered the song in the 'Top of the Ox' competition, and you can vote for it if you like. Well, this week, we got mail from Paul Davies, containing three new (gorgeous) pieces of Halo artwork, all three of which were commissioned by the band for a track they're working on right now; it's not clear whether it's this same song or a new one, but you can thank them either way for the fantastic new artwork Paul created for them. Check out Chief, Chief/Cortana, and Halo Inlay. Wonga! (Louis Wu 17:37:53 UTC) (permalink)
News April 28 2007
Alternate Lifestyle Ending
Mister Froggy wrote yesterday to let us know that Halo Articulated #35 was available for your enjoyment and amusement. Poor Sarge. He just wants to spread the love. (mnemesis 19:26:07 UTC) (permalink)
Oh yeah, he totally went there.
The Weekly Update is up (and has been for a few hours now) over at Bungie.net. Lots of info on the upcoming beta, control schemes, a bunch of rumors busted, a bit of teaser info on a new map, and an absolutely stirring Mister Chief. Oh, and some art. Go read! MasterChief2829 was first on the forum with the heads-up. (mnemesis 07:44:14 UTC) (permalink)
News April 27 2007
Enjoy Your Trip.
In today's strip, One One Se7en shows off his superior mental faculties. *snort* Betcha Stuntmutt never thought he'd see that on the front page. Update: Heh, my own mental faculties are apparently even less than One One Se7en's today - I mangled something somehow in loading the strip, so it's not there yet. Let us all reflect on how much we miss Wu at times like this. ;-) (mnemesis [lame] 18:13:43 UTC) (permalink)
No Pressure Though
Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell can be found commenting on Halo 3's potential impact on next (fiscal) year's earnings for Microsoft on OXM's UK website:
In terms of the direct impact, obviously it's a first-party product so it's reasonably profitable from our point of view, and it will be several hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue next year
Sounds like a good deal. Thanks to JeBr0nie for the heads up and for having an unreasonably capitalized name. (KP 17:54:11 UTC) (permalink)
Friday Fan Fiction Festival
Nine new pieces of Fan Fiction for you guys this afternoon. Enjoy! (KP 17:48:38 UTC) (permalink)
ONI Secrets
Interesting, the kind of things one finds on one's forum... (Crux Fidelis 04:51:39 UTC) (permalink)
News April 26 2007
Halo 3 Beta Special on GameHead
SpikeTV's GameHead website is showing that their May 11th episode is going to be a "Halo 3 Beta Special." No further details were given, so we'll have to wait to see exactly what this entails. Thanks to seven days for the tip. (KP 20:44:45 UTC) (permalink)
Tensity and Dissolution V2
Dennis wrote to tell us that there are two new HCE maps available at halomaps.org. The first offering is Tensity and the second is Dissolution V2. Both feature improved visuals and slight alterations to gameplay, go give them a try! (KP 16:48:55 UTC) (permalink)
More Charlotte Wrap-ups
3Suns wrote to alert us to the most recent updates at MLG. The first is a video recap of MLG Charlotte and the second is an interview with a newly formed team, The Agency. (KP 16:35:40 UTC) (permalink)
Press to Touch Halo 3 Inappropriately
Kotaku reported last night that there will be some type of press event on May 11th at which the press may get some significant hands-on time with Halo 3. Who may be there - that is to say, from which media outlets and/or mediums we can ultimately expect the H3 previews to come - was not specified. Thanks to Neo-Genesis for the heads up. (KP 16:23:56 UTC) (permalink)
Playlist Update and Rank Resets Delayed
Last night Frankie put minds at ease by updating the situation surrounding the playlist update and rank reset. Currently, top men are working to resolve the issues remaining for the few of us who still cannot get the new maps, which is causing them to hold back other updates until then. You can expect to see the changes in the next week or two. calmkiller was first, on the forums. (KP 16:00:38 UTC) (permalink)
More Shinier Than Evar
Gamespot posted a Halo 2 graphics comparison yesterday featuring some side-by-side (well they're more like mouse-over vs un-mouse-overed, but really that's just too much to say and I don't think overed is a word) shots of Halo 2 Xbox and Halo 2 Vista. There is a significant difference in the level of detail of H2V vs. H2X, even on lower quality settings. The article does a good job of explaining exactly what has changed to make it look so much better, in case you were interested. Thanks to darthbob for letting us know about this. (KP 15:59:49 UTC) (permalink)
News April 25 2007
GamePro Loves Puppies
GamePro has posted a list of their top 52 video games of all time, ranked in order of importance - the amount of influence they've had on the industry. Halo fits in at #45, slightly more important than Super Mario Kart but slightly less important than Nintendogs. Halo 2 comes in at #20 for its relevance to online console gaming. Thanks to madcowjim for the heads up. (KP 16:24:34 UTC) (permalink)
We Hardly Knew Ye
Last night we reported a story from PlayThree.net which was making some pretty outrageous claims. Narcogen filed his dismissive rant last night, which does a fine job of defeating these rumors with logic. FoolsRun wrote this morning, however, to alert us to a post by Frankie on NeoGAF:
It's total BS, but it's so confidently written. You have to admire their brass ones.
There you have it, straight from the devilishly handsome horse's mouth. (KP 15:55:41 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie Giveth...
Stuntmutt takes note of the recent autoupdate, and how certain... er, substances might work against it in today's One One Se7en. (mnemesis 15:36:40 UTC) (permalink)
Str8 Rippin and 5k Interviews
MLG has updated its site with a couple new interviews with two of its teams. There's one with Str8 Rippin which focuses on their revamped roster and how they look to improve this year and then an interview with 5k, a team that qualified via online play and took fourth place at Charlotte. Decent reads, thanks to 3Suns. (KP 15:28:10 UTC) (permalink)
Eyes On Your Own Screen
Awesome O and pillar of awesome have concocted a Halo quiz which it seems they've put a fair amount of work into. The questions aren't half-baked and there are definitely a few head-scratchers. Go check it out and share your score with the forum. (KP 15:20:16 UTC) (permalink)
No Achievements for The Armory, c0ld
JeBr0nie pointed out last night that Major Nelson made a quick blog post yesterday afternoon running through his initial experience with Halo 2 Vista. He describes the ease and fimiliarity of the experience and tells us about the three achievements he got. Take a look at Major's achievements page (you will need to have an xbox.com account) to see what he's earned thus far. Those are some very cool icons. (KP 15:09:33 UTC) (permalink)
Cavernous Conundrums!
Whoops. RvB Episode 95 came out for sponsors a few days ago, but we missed Twilight Draco's post. Quality episode, lots of laughs and yet another cliff-hanger ending. (KP 15:00:59 UTC) (permalink)
News April 24 2007
Get Your Salt Out
There's an article over at PlayThree.net which is reporting a rumor that Halo 3 will support true 1080p, as opposed to upscaled which is what most were expecting. According to the article, Xbox exec Shane Kim believes that 1080p is becoming increasingly important which has resulted in pressure on Bungie to make true 1080p happen. The article goes on to state that Bungie currently has a build of Halo 3 running internally at 1080p and 60FPS. They then go even further into their stash as they predict the existence and a rough launch period for Halo 4. Remember not to take anything too seriously unless you hear it from the horse's mouth. (KP 20:49:30 UTC) (permalink)
Hired Gun Talks About UI
Shogo Ishii has updated Hired Gun's IGN blog with an interview with their Software Design Engineer, Kevin Weston. The interview touches on several UI issues and the obstacles overcome in creating it. After that Ishii goes on talk about a bunch of minor yet interesting issues that you may have been wondering about. Thanks to PsychoRaven for letting us know about it. (KP 20:30:23 UTC) (permalink)
Geekdad Visits Bungie
Wired's Geekdad blog has some really interesting stuff for Halo fans this morning. Geekdad was lucky enough to spend a day at Bungie Studios recording dialogue for Halo 3 and goes into a fair amount of detail describing the process. There's a lot of cool content there, including a live performance of the Halo 3 Fanfare by The O'Donnell. Geekdad even posted pages of his mission dialogue... from which our forumers are beginning to derive quite a bit of plot. Thanks to SpecsOps_Assault for the linkage. (Crux Fidelis 12:09:00 UTC) (permalink)
TTL Cries Like Little Girl Over Playlist Changes
Xerxdeej made his weekly forum post apprising us of all the goings on of the folks over at TiedTheLeader. This week they lament the loss of the Big Team Battle Skirmish playlist, give TheGameDame her day in the TTL sun via 22 Questions and celebrate their second anniversary. Go read and comment! (KP 11:58:59 UTC) (permalink)
Featuring Tom Arnold as Admiral Hood
In Halo, Articulated #34, the darkest of our Halo 3 casting and plot nightmares are realized. Thanks to Mister Froggy, for the heads up. (KP 11:53:38 UTC) (permalink)
New HCE Maps from Halomaps.org
Dennis over at Halomaps.org has written to tell us of two new maps they released last night. Aside from being beautiful new maps, Fragment V2 and Snow Grove both feature rebalanced weapons and retooled graphics as well as some minor tweaks to gameplay. If you're still out there rockin' HCE, give these maps a try. (KP 11:46:43 UTC) (permalink)
News April 23 2007
He'll Have To Be Silenced
Stuntmutt gives us his take on an issue noticed last week with one of the new maps. As usual, he's willing to point the finger at everyone but himself. See for yourself in today's One One Se7en. (mnemesis 14:55:02 UTC) (permalink)
Got lemons? Make lemonade jackal shields.
Back at the end of March, we posted about Zach Wigal's dealings with local school, civic, and law enforcement officials in trying to organize a Halo 2 tournament. An event that, beyond the regular LAN hawtness would've also let the local youth feel connected with their township - heck, even the local Baptist church planned to setup a booth to reach out to today's hip console-playing crowd. Long story short - folks that feel Halo 2 embodies all that is *bad* in our society put a kibosh on it - it didn't come to pass - and due to it being shutdown at the last minute Zach and his cohorts lost a bunch of money. Now we can sit and wallow in frustration (or pursue litigation), or we can follow Zach's lead in turning this around and shoving our goodwill right back into the faces of those that think they know better. To that end he has created a non-profit group called Halo For Hunger (not to be confused with the one-off LAN event from a few months back). It's slowly getting off the ground but you can visit his myspace page and keep up with his blog, and even hit the paypal donate button there and throw him a buck or two. (His group is aiming for $15K, but I really think that's lowballing it) And if you can spare a few minutes, check out the podcast from FreeFM 97.1, Michigan's PWNED Radio (things can't be THAT bad in the USA if there's a *weekly* 2 hour FM radio show dedicated to video games and the industry!) Look for the podcast titled Halo Haters. Listen as Zach explains how it all went down and the awesomeness when Marty O'Donnell sends you an email in support. We'll do our best to keep you appraised as Zach's non-profit venture develops. (Ding 14:42:30 UTC) (permalink)
42-Entertainment Working on Halo 3 ARG?
Over at GamingNexus, there's a report that I Love Bees creators, 42-Entertainment, may have revealed in a recent interview that their next project is Halo 3-related. The interview was conducted on GameHead, Spike TV's own gaming show, which aired on April 21st at 1am. Judge for yourself, the episodes are available online at GameTrailers, click this link to open up the viewer for this episode - from which you can save in your preferred format. (KP 13:34:36 UTC) (permalink)
MTV Receives Copy of H2V for Review, Doesn't Review
A weekly segment at MTV.com, the Multiplayer Stock Report, includes Halo 2 for Windows Vista this week. Unfortunately, they don't really say much about the game other than to regurgitate the contents of the package received. If you're interested in what accompanies the press kit for H2V, however, go and check it out. (KP 13:20:48 UTC) (permalink)
News April 22 2007
The Riot #45
Sigafoos wrote to tell us that episode 45 of The Riot is up at Second-Foundation.net. This episode features some intrigueing voicemails, discussion of new maps and a plethora of Double Team double-entendres. (KP 19:02:32 UTC) (permalink)
OMG BANT
Dojorkan has pointed out a very cool video by ExileLord of HaloMods and the response was largely positive. The video, Why We Mod, appears to be an effort to dispell the generalization that all modders are cheaters by showcasing all of the awesome, fun, goofy things that real modders create. (KP 16:24:23 UTC) (permalink)
Of Halos, Wars and Guinness
Ensemble has posted April's Halo Wars update to their forums, which DHalo alerted us to just last night. The update is a bit sparse but does mention that they've recently passed an internal milestone and contains an interview with lead designer Graeme Divine with some pretty interesting info about his beginnings, his current responsiblities and his tolerance for alcohol. (KP 16:15:15 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Charlotte Post-mortem
Our unofficial MLG liaison, 3Suns, has written to tell us about the new write-up on Final Boss's victory last week at Charlotte along with the rebroadcasting of tournament, available via their Video onDemand service. (KP 02:08:15 UTC) (permalink)
News April 21 2007
Administrivia
For the first time in a long time, I'm headed out of internet range for a significant chunk of time; there are plenty of gnomes running around to help out while I'm gone, but please, please, PLEASE - if you have Halo news to send in, do not send it to me personally (lwu) - send it to halo at bungie.org, so that those monitoring the site can actually read it. Thanks - and enjoy yourselves! Back next weekend... (Louis Wu 05:02:09 UTC) (permalink)
KOXM Episode 61
Over at the OXM Podcast website, KOXM Episode 61 contains an interview with Frank O'Connor - Frankie jumps in about 17 minutes in. Tons and tons and TONS of interesting tidbits about the upcoming beta - definitely worth a listen. (Sounds like Frankie's gonna be writing a column for OXM, as well...) Thanks, ImmortalThree. (Louis Wu 04:23:06 UTC) (permalink)
What ARE those red things?
RVideo brings up an intriguing question about some of the screens that can be seen in Tombstone... (Louis Wu 04:20:49 UTC) (permalink)
Clever Marketing
Mister Froggy let us know that Halo, Articulated 33 is now up - takes a friendly shot at Certain Affinity, and the glitches that appeared in Tombstone...
(Louis Wu 04:17:25 UTC) (permalink)
Podtacular Ep 110
PRB Kiaffex let us know that Podtacular Episode 110 is now out - guest hosts Dweezle (Tied the Leader), ChuckieJ (Godtacular), and Podtacular's own Rist Peblo. Go listen! (Louis Wu 04:10:47 UTC) (permalink)
Sarge says BUY IT
Playfeed has a list of the Top 10 Improvements of Halo 2 Vista - check 'em out! (Louis Wu 03:57:14 UTC) (permalink)
Wow, really? 400?
The Bungie Weekly Update is up, as you may have already noticed (JawReich and calmkiller sure did) - it's short, but it's pretty informative. For the folks having trouble downloading the new maps - you should be able to get 'em by Monday, it looks like. And there's some decent info about the upcoming beta. Go read! (Of course, it's here, too, in our Weekly Update Archive.) (Louis Wu 02:00:30 UTC) (permalink)
News April 20 2007
I Blame Shishka.
_Wheels03 noticed that the most recent Halo Humpday Challenge (between 1UP and Bungie) has been chronicled both by 1UP (in a flikr photoset and the 1UP Show video podcast) and by Bungie (though as of now, all three games are linked to the third game stats - first game is here, second here). Looks like a good old-fashioned rivalry... check it out!
(Louis Wu 21:13:10 UTC) (permalink)
Haloid - in Hi-res
So, a few days ago, we mentioned a pretty cool video by Monty Oum - it's a rendered fight between a Spartan and Samus Aran, and it's really, really, REALLY well-done. Since then, the version we mentioned (at Gametrailers) has gotten noticed by a LOT of websites, including big boys like Penny Arcade and Joystiq. It's nearing a million views there now - in just 3 days. (This has led, incidentally, to dozens of emails from people telling us we should front-page this puppy, because it rocks! - there IS a news search, you know. ;-> ) Well, Monty was kind enough to send us a high-res version to work with - so we're making two downloadable versions available. Both are 640x480, and much nicer to look at than the GT copy. The WMP9 version is 136 mb, the QuickTime version is 147 mb. Be gentle... Update: trigger119 points out that he's mirrored these at GamingTV, with additional options. (Louis Wu 17:34:49 UTC) (permalink)
Commodious.
Last week's Vidoc had a scene where Bungie's Justin Hayward (not to be confused with the guitarist for the Moody Blues) was discussing the "Portapotty" as a key location; Stuntmutt knows exactly what to do with comments like that, as he shows in today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 16:45:27 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Vista Goes Gold - Officially
Seems to be pretty quiet - but Halo 2 Vista has officially gone gold - I found the press release on 1P Start. (I couldn't find it anywhere else.) Just one more month! (Louis Wu 16:33:29 UTC) (permalink)
Tombstone/Desolation impressions from GD
GameDaily has written up their impressions of the new maps; short, but mostly they liked 'em. (Louis Wu 16:11:55 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Charlotte Content Flood
There's tons of new content up over at MLGPro.com; you might just want to browse the video index to see what you missed. Highlights we haven't mentioned yet: there are two video interviews with Shockwave, one right after their amazing comeback win over FBI The Agency in Charlotte's Losers Bracket, and one after their loss to Final Boss in the Winners Bracket. And there's an interview with Walshy after it was all over, too. Finally, there's a blog post from Victory X, of FBI The Agency, talking about their eventful weekend. Check it all out! Thanks as always to 3Suns. (Louis Wu 13:43:04 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
Fourteen new pieces for you in this week's Fan Fiction update (back to multiples of 7...), including a piece that has its own soundtrack. There was some confusion about the originally-submitted theme for Vanguard - turns out it was very, very close to another piece of music - so Sean Mortensen submitted a new version (midi format, 38k). Go listen to it while reading the story! (Louis Wu 13:26:01 UTC) (permalink)
News April 19 2007
New H2V footage
Over at H2Vista, rapture noticed that Gametrailers has put up new Halo 2 Vista footage; multiplayer (including the new maps) and some single player (Gravemind and Cairo Station). Both regular and HD versions are linked. (Louis Wu 17:00:37 UTC) (permalink)
FS2H Weekly Update Five
Devrous stopped by this morning with Weekly Update 5 for FS2H, his Freespace 2 Halo mod. Music, user interface examples, tweaks - check it out! (Louis Wu 13:58:06 UTC) (permalink)
Hope that whammy bar doesn't hit back
Shotgunchief took a sharpie to her Guitar Hero 2 controller - the result is pretty cool! Take a look. (Louis Wu 13:55:55 UTC) (permalink)
H2Vista at Kotaku
Kotaku posted a (sort-of) review of Halo 2 Vista - except for the nausea, I think he enjoyed it. Go read. Update: And another review at AppScout - I guess today is the day for reviews. (Louis Wu 13:52:35 UTC) (permalink)
Play and Tray Hands-On
IGN has another Play and Tray review - and since Halo 2 is the first Vista game to USE this feature, they're looking at Halo 2 Vista while they test. I have to say, I've never really understood the lure of this feature; after all, it's only one time you have to worry about the install, right? But IGN makes a point here that I'm not sure I ever considered:
A serious challenge in elevating the PC to platform status, however, is the fact that no matter how nice a gaming computer one has, the process of installing new games is an incredible hassle compared to the convenience of just throwing a new disc in the Xbox 360. Though veterans have become so accustomed to the chore that it takes on ritualistic overtones, console gamers and the broad consumer base are not excited by the prospect of clicking "Next" buttons for half an hour while a new game installs, and in some cases so intimidated as to give up.
'Give up'? Really? Wow. Okay, then - I'm glad it's there, and I'm glad they thought it worked pretty well! (Louis Wu 13:48:55 UTC) (permalink)
New Content at MLGPro.com
Over at MLGPro.com, they've posted their own review of the two new maps - and while you're there, there's an interview with Final Boss after their win in Charlotte last weekend. Good stuff! Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 12:39:40 UTC) (permalink)
Two new midi creations
Sean Mortensen sent us two new midi themes - both are rather martial. One, Ashes, is based on the Halo main theme (and Sean gives props to Marty once again). The second, Vanguard, was written entirely by Sean, and was designed to be the theme for his upcoming fan fiction, 'Halo: Operation Vanguard' (this will be posted on Friday, in the standard Fanfic update). Since they're midi files, they're tiny - Ashes is 10k, Vanguard is 31k. Go listen! (Louis Wu 12:35:57 UTC) (permalink)
News April 18 2007
Plenty Room for Me!
IceWeasel found a nice shirt at Stylin Online - grunty goodness! (Louis Wu 22:07:00 UTC) (permalink)
Kerching.
Stuntmutt has his own commentary about the two newly available maps, in today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 21:24:59 UTC) (permalink)
CROSSFIRE talks to GTV
Over at GamingTV, you'll find an interview with CROSSFIRE, of Blood Signature Films. Interesting read! (Louis Wu 21:16:02 UTC) (permalink)
Those poor, poor maps...
The new maps have been out for a day... and already, they're being ripped apart. Certain Affinity decided to get around the Superbouncing problem by building insta-killzones into the roof of both maps - but as Ducain points out, folks have already found exceptions. (Dry Ice also found a bizarre little glitch that might come in handy occasionally.) The first egg appeared on Tombstone yesterday morning - descriptions of the item were followed quickly by pictures of it in use; we should be clear that modding is required to hold this item, and it's not actually usable (in the form it appears). More limitations are described nicely by RVideo. And while we're at it, Jordan117 noticed another small egg, as well. You guys are BRUTAL! Update: Narcogen, over at Rampancy.net, clearly did more homework than i did; he found a video demonstrating the glitch Dry Ice mentions, as well as ANOTHER invisible wall near red base. These actually look like bigger problems than I'd originally thought. Hmm... (There are even more weirdnesses to be found in this thread at High Impact Halo.) (Louis Wu 14:28:32 UTC) (permalink)
Cinematic Moments, Part 2
Morpheus pointed out that the next installment of Gamespy's Top 25 Video Game Cinematic Moments is up (we mentioned page 1 yesterday) - and again, Halo takes two of the five spots. At 19, Return To Sender is called 'easiliy [sic] the most memorable scene from Halo 2', and at 17, the Starry Night Halo 3 commercial pumped up the reviewers. Still three days left in the article; can Halo continue its daily showing? (Louis Wu 13:55:46 UTC) (permalink)
New Map Reviews
There are a couple of reviews of the two new Certain Affinity maps online - Fyrewulff wrote one for The Platformers, and there's another one up at TeamXbox. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 13:50:13 UTC) (permalink)
Play Halo 2, Win Stuff
Xbox.com is running an All-Nighter this Saturday, April 21; play Halo 2 during the night ("it starts when the sun goes down and ends when it comes back up"), look for select members of Clan PMS and some Xbox Ambassadors (gamertags for all involved are listed on that page), and tell xbox.com what you thought! Randomly selected respondents will win "some sweet old-school Halo swag." (No, we don't know what that means, either.) Thanks to Jman for the heads-up! (Louis Wu 10:30:58 UTC) (permalink)
News April 17 2007
Halo 2 Vista is Gold
Voodoo Extreme says Halo 2 Vista has gone gold - they know, because they have a final review copy sitting on their desk. Plenty of time to duplicate these puppies! (Louis Wu 22:13:21 UTC) (permalink)
Haloid.
Monty Oum released a pretty cool vid last year - had a bit of Halo content, so we mentioned it. (He's done quite a bit of other stuff, too.) He's just released his latest work - Haloid. It's not what you think. And even if it IS, it's got stuff in it you simply must see. Go watch. (Louis Wu 19:34:20 UTC) (permalink)
Get your own Bronze MC
Wow. Someone has created a life-size wax mould of the Master Chief, and is planning to create 'a museum quality bronze statue'; Buy It Now price on eBay is just under $8,000, but you can make an offer. Statue will ship by June 7. Thanks, BARBARIC RAGE. (Louis Wu 19:20:25 UTC) (permalink)
The New Maps are Here!
Dry Ice noticed a new top story at Bungie.net - mostly just a summary of info presented in a bunch of different places. Read it if you're having trouble getting the maps, or need help with which playlists require them, what to do if you're in Europe, and more. (Louis Wu 18:20:49 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Comic News
Cocopjojo found news about the upcoming Halo comic over at Marvel's website; it shows up on the July Previews page, as well as its own page. Story picks up where Halo 2 left off. Want to know more? This puppy will be on store shelves on July 18. (Louis Wu 18:17:53 UTC) (permalink)
More AR pics from James Falcon
James Falcon sent in a few pics of his (newly completed) MA5C Assault Rifle - take a look! (Shin guards are coming along, as well, pics should be up by the end of the month.) (Louis Wu 14:31:38 UTC) (permalink)
Cinematic moments
DuBbLe pointed out an article at Gamespy (though he was actually linking to the Australian site) about the Top 25 Video Game Cinematic Moments. So far, only 21-25 are up - but Halo Wars took 25, and the E3 2000 Halo trailer (pre-Xbox) took 22. I wonder if there'll be more in the top 20?
(Louis Wu 14:21:46 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Mountain Dew
Spec_Ops_Assault noticed a couple of stories (at Advertising Age and MarketingVOX) about the upcoming Halo 3-branded Mountain Dew. Looks like it'll be out in August (for a three-month run), and will contain more caffeine per ounce than regular Mountain Dew. (Regular MD has about 4.6 mg/ounce, or 92 mg per 20 oz bottle - a bit less than a cup of coffee.
Game Fuel MD will contain 6 mg/oz, or 120 mg/20 oz bottle - a 33% boost. Because, you know... the adrenaline rush from Halo 3 just won't be enough...) (Louis Wu 14:04:06 UTC) (permalink)
TTL Tuesday
There was no Tied the Leader update last week, because the TTL crew was overloaded... which means there's extra stuff now. In order: a 22 Questions interview with 8Bit Hero's Kerri Sharp, a look at Halo as an overarching connector, a 22 Questions interview with blogger Colette Bennett, a tribute to Kurt Vonnegut (not Halo-related, but absolutely worth reading), a Community Profile of VideoGameNews.com, and a challenge to the Halo community at large to meet the Gunslingers on the new maps, for death and destruction. Go read! (Thanks, XerxdeeJ.)
(Louis Wu 13:57:24 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Stereograms
EliteSniper177 created a bunch of stereograms from Halo images. Try 'em out! (Louis Wu 13:32:57 UTC) (permalink)
The Ghosts of Onyx Blog Update
Youngblood let us know that he's updated his Ghosts of Onyx blog with a new chapter of his fan fiction, Black Operations: Special Delivery. Go read!
(Louis Wu 13:30:43 UTC) (permalink)
Tombstone and Desolation: Out Now
Gamasutra points out that although Halo 2 was not on the top 5 rented Xbox games last week, it's back again this week, at number 2 - could it have anything to do with the two new maps released today? (As a side note, a number of people on Xbox 360s are having trouble downloading the new maps; a technique that seems to work for many people in this situation is to attempt to download them with a Silver account (one that has no credit card attached), and then go back and try again with their standard Gold account. I have no idea WHY this would work, simply that it seems to.)
(Louis Wu 13:22:54 UTC) (permalink)
Man's Worst Friend
Mister Froggy pointed out Halo, Articulated #32 - I guess you always gotta watch your pets!
(Louis Wu 13:19:35 UTC) (permalink)
News April 16 2007
Just like the stain on my tie
I KNEW it! I knew this thread would draw him out. (Louis Wu 20:34:21 UTC) (permalink)
New Halo CE Maps
Dennis Powers points out that the last couple of weeks have been spectacular for Halo CE map submissions - lots of cool stuff, but two stand out; Train Station by !DC!Greyhnd and Crossfire by Dontu. In Dennis' words, "both maps depict a more earthlike environment and are designed to efficiently utilize the limited space to enhance combat." Go grab 'em! (Louis Wu 15:49:24 UTC) (permalink)
The Riot 44
Sigafoos sent word about The Riot 44 - a bit later than usual, but up now. 27 minutes, 11 mb full of community news, halo 3 beta discussion, and, um... other stuff. Go listen! (Louis Wu 15:48:29 UTC) (permalink)
X+117=Y
Stuntmutt reminds us in today's One One Se7en that not all Halo 3 players will use the same button layouts... (Louis Wu 15:06:22 UTC) (permalink)
Thermopylae Now Chapter 2
Tyler Kirk let us know that Chapter 2 of Thermopylae Now is now available - this is a Fan Fiction started last week. (Louis Wu 14:20:30 UTC) (permalink)
Final Boss Wins in Charlotte
MLG's opening tournament was action-packed - you can read about the final match between Carbon and Final Boss here. The Halo 2 VoD stream is currently offline (Monday morning), but should be back at some point. There's plenty more tourney coverage - check their main page. And thanks to Drazenx, who started a discussion thread on our forum. (Louis Wu 12:43:01 UTC) (permalink)
A... flamethrower?
Bizarre. Some folks from the Bungie.net forums have been digging around on the B.net servers, looking for images... and they found some unexpected ones. Read the details in elmicker's b.net post. Thanks to EL for the heads-up on our own forum. (Louis Wu 12:41:25 UTC) (permalink)
News April 15 2007
Halo Theme Variation
Sean Mortensen sent us a midi variation of the main Halo theme - it's just over 3 minutes long, and weighs in at 51k. Give it a listen! (Louis Wu 15:49:49 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief Fist Sculpture
Eternal sent us a picture of a really cool sculpture he made (1024x1002, 204k, or a much larger version, 3200x3130, 1.1 mb) - he had this to say about it:
This is an original sculpture that i created and then made a mold so that i can cast several of them. I call it The Fist Of The Master Chief. I have the entire build prosess posted on www.mjolnirarmor.com.
Go check out the details! (Louis Wu 15:41:21 UTC) (permalink)
Ladies and Gentlemen, Start your Engines
imSuck has kicked off the HaloGrid.com Affinity map tricking race - find (and record) glitches in the new maps after they are released, post your results in their movie forum. No prizes beyond a spotlight on your work, if you're first. Thanks to Black Aye for pointing it out. (Louis Wu 15:22:46 UTC) (permalink)
Counting Down
Urban Reflex has posted a new blog entry at Ordained Insight, looking at the upcoming Halo 3 beta. Let him know what you think, either in his blog, or in the forum thread he started. (Louis Wu 15:19:21 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Charlotte Update
Both GotFrag DPAD and MLGPro.com are keeping track of how things are going in Charlotte - go see! (Louis Wu 15:15:42 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 vs Halo 3
Adam Kovic, over at machinima.com, put together a short video that compares some of the early Halo 2 alpha and beta footage to the final product, in the context of the Halo 3 alpha footage we're seeing. His point is that we really don't have anything to worry about. Check it out! (Louis Wu 15:12:14 UTC) (permalink)
News April 14 2007
FS2H Teaser Video
Devrous put up a teaser for FS2H, his Freespace 2 Halo mod project. 25.5 mb, DivX format; we're hosting a mirror in case his server gets swamped. (Louis Wu 12:37:17 UTC) (permalink)
Twin bridges megabattle update
Rockslider has found a new way to have fun on AotCR - amazing. When will it end? (Louis Wu 12:05:11 UTC) (permalink)
Nickel and Dimed to Death
Mister Froggy has posted Halo, Articulated #31 - I guess he's unhappy about the $4 charge for Tombstone and Desolation. (Louis Wu 11:43:13 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Charlotte
The MLG Pro Circuit kicks off today - and you can watch the action happening, live, at the MLGPro.com website. (You have to be a member of the site, but registration is free.) As 3Suns pointed out, coverage actually began last night - and if you check out this forum post, you'll find a whole passel of links to additional content. We also got mail from Andz, who suggested that you join the #mlg channel of the ibo.bungie.org IRC server to discuss gameplay in real time. And finally, GotFrag's DPAD column has a list of the top 16 seeds in todays' FFA finals. I'm sure there'll be plenty more coverage as the day goes on - keep your eyes open! (Louis Wu 11:33:50 UTC) (permalink)
Updatedness
The Bungie Weekly Update discusses the two big Halo newsbits this week - the Vidoc, and the Matchmaking changes that will occur as soon as Tombstone and Desolation are available next week. Good stuff, all the way through. Go read! (As usual, you can read it at Bungie.net, or in our Weekly Update Archive.) (Louis Wu 00:59:02 UTC) (permalink)
News April 13 2007
Half a grand for a 2 man team
tS_veXed stopped by to announce an online 2v2 Halo 2 tourney, being hosted by NXGamers - free entry, $500 top prize. Check it out! (Louis Wu 19:54:38 UTC) (permalink)
Ethereal Haggis
The crew's been dormant for a while, but Jillybean awoke recently to process a bunch of the accumulated missives to the Halo Story Page. Ooh... tasty. (Louis Wu 19:18:04 UTC) (permalink)
Bg 021.
I think Stuntmutt might be confused about a current Microsoft naming scheme; check today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 15:45:35 UTC) (permalink)
RvB Season 1 - now for sale on Marketplace
Hmm... I'm not sure I like where this is going, but according to Major Nelson's blog, the first five episodes of Red vs Blue (yes, Season 1) are now available for download on Xbox Live Marketplace - for a buck a pop. (Before you get totally bent out of shape about this: in theory, these are DVD quality (they're definitely higher bitrate than the online versions), and the full season DVDs
cost $20 for about 20 episodes - roughly a buck a pop. Also, though this is just temporary, the movies are NOT available on the RvB website, even to sponsors; I'm assuming that's due to the recent maintenance/server upgrades, and not some nefarious plan to make people buy the content on XBL.) The current crop of comments on Major Nelson's blog suggest that people think the price is too high for something that's available for free (usually) on the web, and in fact is several years old. Microsoft might be pushing too hard for paid downloadable content? Maybe. Thanks, darthbob. (Louis Wu 15:39:28 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: Fall Of The Flood
A couple of days ago, we got mail from Benjamin Bailey-Webb, touting a short animated vid he and a friend made - I didn't find time to watch it until this morning. It's short, it's sweet. 4 mb, in either WMP9 or QuickTime formats; check it out! (Louis Wu 13:00:25 UTC) (permalink)
Podtacular Episode 109
Big Goalie Dan noticed that Podtacular Episode 109 is now up - discussion of the Vidoc and the Halo 3 Beta. 1:27, 80 mb. (Louis Wu 12:58:07 UTC) (permalink)
Covenant Fleet, Rendered
Nabsuh is rendering an entire Covenant fleet for an upcoming story; check out the work in this post. (The followup contains the same video, with some overlaid
story text.) (Louis Wu 12:55:44 UTC) (permalink)
X-Plane Sparrowhawk
DuBbLe continues his X-Plane work - he's got some shots of a scratchbuilt Sparrowhawk. Not textured yet, but still fun! (Louis Wu 12:53:46 UTC) (permalink)
Sonic Halo
Cheesemaster64 found this Halo/Sonic combo by TheWax at DeviantART - wild. (Louis Wu 12:49:44 UTC) (permalink)
Thermopylae Now
CaptainKirk let us know that he's writing a Halo Fan Fiction, being released serially on his blog. The preface and Chapter 1 are up now. (Louis Wu 12:47:37 UTC) (permalink)
New Montages at the360forum.com
Z let us know about a couple of montages they've announced over at the360forum.com; both are hosted by Mythica. The first is inX 2Bit's Best of Both Worlds Volume II Trailer - a melange of Halo 2 and Gears of War. WMP9, 3:39, 76.3 mb. The second is J Mayne's 1v1 Trailer (edited by Zola) - WMP9, 1:11 long, 20.2 mb. Go watch! (Louis Wu 12:43:03 UTC) (permalink)
Fantastic AR now for sale
communityhq.org noticed that link4044 is selling his AR model on eBay; nine and a half days left on the auction, current bid is $227.50, and the reserve has not been met. Remember, you can see lots of pictures of this gun on the gallery page we put up for him. Sounds like it's gonna be out of my price range... but this one is tempting! (Louis Wu 12:33:00 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
The Seven Streak is broken; for three weeks running, we had seven new pieces each Friday in the Fan Fiction section... but today there are 11. It's a natural! (Louis Wu 12:29:33 UTC) (permalink)
A Halo 3 Beta Tourney?
Bizarre - Escape Station is trying to set up a Halo 3 Tournament, using the beta test. (Since there are no custom games in the upcoming beta, scheduling play is going to be...tough.) Thanks to RevDotNed for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 12:23:13 UTC) (permalink)
Multiply your fun
Now that Bungie has made public the fact that there are 'deployables' in Halo 3 (we know of the bubble shield, the trip mine, and the portable grav lift, and Bungie's made it clear that there's more stuff we're not being shown yet), folks are having a blast speculating on what happens when you mix these up. Blow up a trip mine inside a bubble shield? Launch one from the portable grav lift (or the Mancannon)? Place a grav lift at the place where Mancannon launchers LAND? The possibilities are endless, and the discussion is fun; try this thread, and this one. (Louis Wu 12:20:16 UTC) (permalink)
News April 12 2007
Lots of new art from Bryn Casey
Bryn Casey stopped by to let us know he'd updated the Halo Art page at Yayap.com - we've added the 8 new shots to his gallery here, as well. (Scroll down to the bottom; I've really got to set up a better navigation system on that page, there
are WAY too many pictures now). (Louis Wu 21:04:04 UTC) (permalink)
More Tombstone/Desolation goodness
We finally got our hands on the actual press pack Certain Affinity sent out yesterday; turns out, we'd already put a good deal of it online with the stuff we stole off the CA website. We've added a couple of dozen first-person shots to the collection. (Louis Wu 17:06:13 UTC) (permalink)
ESRB Notice
Archie Gates is at it again - if you visit his MySpace page, you'll find his newest audio creation, 'ESRB Notice'; it's streamable for free, or downloadable for a buck. Anyone who has spent ANY time on Xbox Live playing Halo 2 will relate - instantly. Hilarious stuff! (Louis Wu 14:36:13 UTC) (permalink)
Sound Arguments Posts 2 More
Over at MLGPro.com, there are two new episodes of the Sound Arguments podcast - Episode 10 looks at gametype changes for the 2007 season, and Episode 11 makes predictions about this weekend's opener in Charlotte. Go listen! Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 13:34:20 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Auto-Update Now Live
The Halo 2 Auto-update, mentioned (and described) in last Friday's Bungie Weekly Update, is now live, according to sawnose at Bungie. (He quotes the weekly update in the rest of his post; the only new content is the fact that it's live.) Thanks to The Vector Kid for noticing. (Louis Wu 13:17:44 UTC) (permalink)
Squeezing the Customers
Over at The Age Blogs (commentary from an Australian newspaper) there's a rant about the two new maps coming next week, and how they're an example of Microsoft's money-grubbing policies. The argument is that since the maps will show up in most matchmaking playlists, and if you don't have them, you won't be allowed INTO those playlists, they constitute an unfair twisting of the purse strings; you MUST pay an additional $4 to continue to play Halo 2 matchmaking. Heh - when the maps were announced, and it was suggested that they might be for the 360 only, I remember complaining that it was unfair that I would be required to pay an additional $400 to buy a 360, just to continue playing Halo 2 Matchmaking. I'm not sure I could line up against an identical argument, even though the money required has dropped by two orders of magnitude (to $4), without sounding like a hypocrite... but the truth is, $4 just doesn't seem like a huge price to pay, to me. Make up your own mind - read the article. (Louis Wu 12:57:44 UTC) (permalink)
Art Analysis and Alliteration
Last night, Bungie put up a pretty nice interview with Chris Wood, Certain Affinity's Art Lead - they discuss the making of the two new maps being released next week. Worth a read - these look to be a blast! Thanks, masterchief2829. (Louis Wu 12:45:45 UTC) (permalink)
X-Plane Shortsword, textured
DuBbLe continues his work on his X-Plane Shortsword - it's now textured, and there's a short vid. Give it a look! (Louis Wu 12:38:55 UTC) (permalink)
Still more Vidoc Breakdowns
The Vidoc analyses continue - Advanced Media Network gave it a shot (thanks, sgtsmiles), They drew a counterpoint from Daniel Pervan (thanks, Samir Patel). 1Up created a (30 minute) video analysis (thanks, White Rabbit). Remember - those guys actually PLAYED the version that footage comes from; they might know a thing or two. Computer and Video Games took a short look - 3Suns noticed this on MLGPro.com. And Mr Vociferous raked over the entire thing, frame by frame, at the Halo 3 Data Archive. Coupled with the suite of articles we mentioned yesterday, this should really pretty much cover these 7 minutes of footage.
(Louis Wu 12:11:33 UTC) (permalink)
News April 11 2007
Podtacular Episode 108
ImmortalThree let us know that Podtacular Episode 108: Round Table Show is now available - guests are Robert Summa (of destructoid.com) and Anjo Banjo (wife of Uncle Gamer's Liquilife). 1:19 long, 72 mb. Go listen! (Louis Wu 19:52:14 UTC) (permalink)
New Map Shots from CA
Wonga. Certain Affinity has posted a large batch of screenshots and concept artwork for Tombstone and Desolation (and there's more if you poke around... at least until they decide to close off directory browsing - thanks, MasterChief2829 and pillar of awesome). Gorgeous stuff - and you can get a really good sense for how they've laid these two levels out! Only a few more days until we can play them ourselves... Update: Heh - directory browsing turned off now. Sorry. (That took less than 15 minutes...) Update 2: I was going to leave this on the forum, but it seems a lot of people are interested. With Shishka's blessing, I mirrored the content on the CA server; you can see the pictures on the pages they've got up, but also a few that AREN'T there. This is everything that was available before directory browsing was disabled. (Louis Wu 17:45:49 UTC) (permalink)
X-Plane Shortsword
DuBbLe has gotten inspired by the posts he's seen of Mid7night's X-Plane work; he posted some shots of a Shortsword he made a while back. Looks good! (Louis Wu 17:41:45 UTC) (permalink)
Lost: Halostyle Ep 13
Haloplayer stopped by to point out the second half of the Lost: Halostyle Season Finale - it's available in streaming format, plus 3 downloadable options, from their site, and (because we like this series so much, and because this episode is pretty darned funny) in several flavors from us, as well: we've mirrored the to larger WMP9 versions (720x480, 73 mb | 720x480, 169 mb) and added a pair of QuickTime versions (720x480, 72 mb | 720x480, 155 mb). There's a lot more death in this one than in previous versions... and you're certainly set up nicely for the return of the series, later this summer. Go watch! (If you've missed episodes, visit their website.)
(Louis Wu 12:25:50 UTC) (permalink)
Makeup Your Own Joke.
Speaking of Tombstone, Stuntmutt takes a new shot at it in today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 12:11:23 UTC) (permalink)
Affinity Machinima Challenge
We heard from imSuck (and others) about a new contest being held by HaloGrid - the Affinity Machinima Challenge. You've got between April 17, when Tombstone and Desolation are released for Halo 2, and May 1, when the contest ends, to create a cool new piece of machinima involving those two maps. There are cash prizes on the line for each of 4 categories (Action, Comedy, Montage, Music); check out imSuck's post for details on rules, dollars and more. Start planning today! (Louis Wu 12:09:11 UTC) (permalink)
Energy Episode Five: The Race
Simply Greg announced that Energy Episode Five: The Race is now available for download, in multiple flavors. The conflict between the humans and the Aeros has come to a head... (Louis Wu 12:04:11 UTC) (permalink)
Freespace 2 Halo conversion - progressing
Devrous stopped in for his fourth weekly update of FS2H, his Freespace 2 Halo mod. Lots and lots and LOTS of pictures - go see how it's going! (Louis Wu 11:57:01 UTC) (permalink)
PLAY! headed to San Jose
PLAY! is a video game symphony, a lot like Video Games Live; they're back on tour, and will be in San Jose, CA on May 26. If you're in the area, check 'em out! Thanks, Mrguy. (Louis Wu 11:54:23 UTC) (permalink)
Top 20 Weapons? Hmm...
TeamXbox put up a list of their Top 20 Weapons of All-Time - amazingly enough, the Grenade Shield (or Bubbleshield, as Bungie calls it) made the list. (Seems rather absurd to me, actually; not only don't we know how well it works, it's not really even a weapon.) Halo 2's plasma grenade and energy sword also made the list. Looks like RevDotNed was first. (Louis Wu 11:47:20 UTC) (permalink)
Man Cannon
Trunks stopped by to point out a new Halo-themed Trunks and Soto comic - I'm not sure their term for the Mancannon is any less... snicker-worthy than Bungie's, but you gotta love the t-shirt! (Louis Wu 11:40:27 UTC) (permalink)
Great Irresponsibility
Sane Intolerant sent word that a new Halo Toy Box is up - this series is becoming more and more incomprehensible to me, but maybe it's clearer to you. (Louis Wu 11:35:57 UTC) (permalink)
Full-sized Master Chief statue for auction
Adam Chapman ran across an auction of one of the full-sized Master Chief statues (6 feet tall) on eBay; it's pickup-only, in New York City, and there's about 2 days left on the auction. Starting bid is $500 - the statue has quite a lot of chipped paint, so if you buy it, realize that you're in for a restoring job. (These have gone for upwards of $1000 in good shape, so you'd be getting a bargain.) (Louis Wu 11:34:15 UTC) (permalink)
Guitar Hero Gameplay, Revisited
Heh - you might remember a post last weekend where KP and e tried hard to play Halo 2 with Guitar Hero II controllers; fugitivesoldier ran across a video of someone doing a whole lot better playing the ORIGINAL Halo with that controller. Check it out! (Louis Wu 11:23:44 UTC) (permalink)
Vidoc, Analyzed (within an inch of its life)
As could probably be expected, Bungie fans went a little crazy yesterday after the release of the Multiplayer Vidoc. Lots and lots and LOTS of tiny details were teased out of those seven minutes of footage. While many of these details were discovered one at a time, a few people have gone through the Vidoc and done a 'frame-by-frame' style analysis. Darkninja90
and Sk8erdmg both wrote up their views on our forum. Geary noticed a video version at GameTrailers. QuickTactical posted his at HaloGrid. IGN did one, too, but it falls a little short after looking at the depth the fans went to in the links above. Most of the screens/signs in the background have been deciphered, and lots of cool details like the new HUD have been discussed. (Beorn, for example, has taken looks at the HUD and " A message from Bungie" - and there are plenty of other morsels to be found.) Bungie employees tossed in a bit of info themselves; Evil Otto, for example, explained why much of the footage shows a green HUD, instead of blue. If you're late to the party, check out what others have noticed! Update: Narcogen has added an annotated gallery of screenshots to Rampancy.net, pointing out major features. (Louis Wu 11:02:54 UTC) (permalink)
News April 10 2007
720p version of the Vidoc at TXB
darthbob noticed that a 720p version of the new multiplayer vidoc (clearly capped off a 360) is now available at TeamXbox.com. If you're hankering for the giant version, but don't have access to Xbox Live Marketplace, this is the next best thing! (Louis Wu 19:50:32 UTC) (permalink)
Held Hostage By Simplicity Yet Depth.
Stuntmutt received some very nice mail (and a guest One One Se7en strip) recently; while we no longer host guest strips here, he occasionally puts them up in his own blog. Swing by and read the note (from a rocket scientist, no less!) - and check out the strip. (Louis Wu 15:21:00 UTC) (permalink)
Vanity
Mister Froggy let us know that Halo, Articulated 30 is now online. I gotta say... if the Master Chief really went into fights like that, I'd be rooting for the grunts. (Louis Wu 15:11:51 UTC) (permalink)
Wet and Wild
Over at MLGPro.com, there's an interview with Make it Rain, the 8th seed team going into Charlotte. Sounds like they're looking to have a good time this season! Check it out. Thanks, Klank. (Louis Wu 15:10:00 UTC) (permalink)
Shooting Your Kids
litereddonut pointed out an article at Wired.com that looks at parents who game, and how that affects the rules they make (or need to make) for their children. An interesting read, and Halo gets mentioned. Take a look! (Louis Wu 15:03:41 UTC) (permalink)
May 16 - B-Day.
Over at Bungie.net, a new top story has gone up - and it's a doozy. The Halo 3 Beta finally has fixed dates: May 16 through June 6. (If you don't have a calendar handy, that's three weeks, Wednesday through Wednesday.) To give you a tiny taste of what's in store (tiny as a percentage of what's coming, not tiny at all in real terms), there's a new Video documentary - this Vidoc focuses on multiplay, and is CHOCK-FULL of tasty tidbits (including that elusive X Button functionality). You can grab it from Bungie's site in smallish form (320x180 or 640x360), or you can download it for free from Marketplace in glorious 720p hi-res goodness. Go read, go download, and get ready for May 16! Update: GhaleonEB noticed that Frankie put up a post in the NeoGAF forums - it's worth reading, if you're worried that the graphics in the Vidoc look weaker than you'd expected, or that there aren't any water effects, or that the frame rate seems shaky... Keep your shirts on, folks. While what you can see in the Vidoc is pretty darned cool in its potential, it does NOT show the state of Halo 3 as it exists today (and by May 16, it will be even MORE polished). (Louis Wu 11:21:34 UTC) (permalink)
News April 9 2007
Long-lost music
A couple of years ago, we were following a machinima series called 'Silver Stars/Purple Hearts' - it was being filmed in the HaloPC engine, and it told the story of a squad of female spartans. Elnea had written some music for it - but the series had died in production before her music saw the light of day. Last week, as a birthday present, Sevenar (one of the leads on the SSPH project) told Elnea she could release the music to the world - so she's done so. There's an instrumental version, and a vocal version. Both are hosted on her .Mac space, but we'll mirror them if the need arises. The oboe playing is fantastic... (Louis Wu 22:44:47 UTC) (permalink)
Chris Satchell talks about Halo 3 Beta
Computer and Video Games sat down with Chris Satchell, head of the Microsoft Development Group, and some of the questions discussed the Halo 3 beta, and the ramifications it might have for future beta tests for other games. Thanks, LordGideon. (Louis Wu 22:32:19 UTC) (permalink)
Your shot at a free Xbox 360 Elite
GamingBits noticed that TriXie's blog mentions a 'Halo 2 challenge' - you've got a chance to win one of 5 Xbox 360 Elites, playing in a Halo 2 tournament. Stay tuned! (Louis Wu 17:24:11 UTC) (permalink)
The Most Dangerous Part Of A Warthog...
...well, anyone who's ever played with Stuntmutt knows the punchline to today's One One Se7en. For the rest of you, go read. (Louis Wu 16:02:15 UTC) (permalink)
Fan-made Covenant Frigate
Alexei TND modeled a new Covenant Frigate for the heck of it in Cinema 4D - the end result is pretty cool! Take a look. (Louis Wu 15:25:49 UTC) (permalink)
Fan-made Halo Movie Trailer
Gryponosiris noticed a fan-made trailer for the Halo movie over at GameTrailers.com - it uses only officially released clips from Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo Wars, but it's pretty nicely done! Very consistent. (Louis Wu 15:20:20 UTC) (permalink)
Slipspace Animation
jtdoepke created an animation in Lightwave showing off his concept of a UNSC ship entering slipspace. Local versions are about 3 mb each, in QT and WMP9. Nice! (Louis Wu 15:17:54 UTC) (permalink)
Fan Longsword Project Upgraded
Mid7night went back to his X-Plane Longsword - retextured, now. Check out the pics! If you want to see how it's changed, here's the original post. (Louis Wu 13:47:58 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Vista - in Lots of News
All sorts of Halo 2 Vista info - Achieve360Points added to the achievement info released yesterday with pictures of the achievements (thanks, Mutated Waffle), evidence surfaces of a beta for Halo 2 Vista on Games for Windows - Live, and the system requirements for the game have been posted. (Thanks to rapture, at H2Vista, for the heads-up on the latter two.) (Louis Wu 13:37:47 UTC) (permalink)
News April 8 2007
The Riot 43
Sigafoos told us that The Riot 43 is now available - 29 minutes (12 mb) of Halo wackiness. When you can fit Halo and the Princess Bride into the same program, you gotta be doing SOMETHING right.
(Louis Wu 19:20:04 UTC) (permalink)
Robbers Unite Ep 1
bndud let us know that Robbers Unite, Episode 1, is now available on their website. It seems to have potential, though this episode dragged for me a bit. (Could be that I really, really, REALLY need sleep, so judge for yourself.)
(Louis Wu 19:14:51 UTC) (permalink)
Full list of Halo 2 Vista Achievements
TheGhost pointed out a thread on H2Vista.net's forum that references a full list of Halo 2 Vista Achievements at MCGNews.net. (No guarantee these are real... but it's quite possible.) (Louis Wu 19:11:01 UTC) (permalink)
Games impact more than their buyers
WRAL.com has an article about a new media research report called Gamemeasure, that looks at the entire gaming market (apparently something that others don't do) - some interesting numbers, though I'm not 100% sure I believe them all. Fun fact that's cool if true: 21% of all males between the ages of 18 to 34 have played Halo 2. (I'm assuming that's inside the US, though it's not specified.) Check out the full article for more. (Louis Wu 19:06:00 UTC) (permalink)
News April 7 2007
Tucker Knows Best
Red vs Blue episode 94 is out now for sponsors, in two flavors - 250k and 400k bitrates. As they come down the home stretch, they're back to their roots - and the result is glorious. I just watched this in a room full of people, with headphones plugged into the laptop; the laugh-out-loud moments freaked several folks out. (In retrospect, I suppose letting them HEAR the jokes would have been nice...) If you're not a sponsor, this should be available by Monday or so. Thanks, darthbob. (Louis Wu 13:04:14 UTC) (permalink)
Eric Clapton in Spartan Armor
KP might have discovered the next big thing in Halo play - or maybe not. Either way, his narrative is hilarious. Go read. UPDATE: Bothari has uploaded pictures and a short, low-quality movie of the epic event. These have been amended to the bottom of the post. (Louis Wu 12:47:19 UTC) (permalink)
District Details Delineated
darthbob noticed that Gamespot has an article about District, the second of two new exclusive maps coming out with Halo 2 Vista next month (the first is Uplift, profiled by GameSpy recently). 6 new screenshots - this level looks to be an amalgam of Turf, Terminal, and Outskirts. Check it out! (Louis Wu 05:21:57 UTC) (permalink)
Good, and you?
Mister Froggy posted Halo, Articulated #29 - Sarge's true nature comes out. (Louis Wu 05:01:23 UTC) (permalink)
Consorting with the Enemy
I posted this last night (Funkmon noticed it) - but somehow, the news post vanished. Thanks to J23 for getting me to look again. Once again - Edgeworks has posted Episode 5 of the Heretic; the Praetor draws suspicion upon himself during the search for the Heretic. Voice acting continues to be superlative, cinematography is fantastic. Grab a copy in either WMP9 or QuickTime formats; this story continues to impress. (Louis Wu 03:53:33 UTC) (permalink)
A plutonium/nitro-filled Faberge Egg
The Bungie Weekly Update is now available at Bungie.net - a nice look at the Halo 3 fusion core, some critical information about Halo 2 Matchmaking (be sure you read this before next week!), and some tidbits we've come to expect about the Halo 3 dev process. Go read! (As usual, it's also available in our Weekly Update Archive.) (Louis Wu 03:38:03 UTC) (permalink)
News April 6 2007
Click The 'First' Link Under This Strip.
The title of today's One One Se7en tells me that not only is Stuntmutt willing to recycle old jokes, but that he's unsure enough about your quickness, as readers, that he feels the need to EXPLAIN the joke to you. If I were you, I'd feel offended. Maybe even boycott the strip. That'll teach 'im. (Clearly, he wasn't talking to ME.) (Louis Wu 13:49:59 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fanfic
In what seems to be becoming a pattern, there are 7 new entries in the Fan Fiction section this week. Go read 'em! (Louis Wu 13:30:51 UTC) (permalink)
Body Count
This Spartan Life has posted Module 5 of Episode 4 - Body Count. This time around, it's a debate between Ann Coulter, queen of neocons, and Tom Anderson, founder of MySpace, over the validity (and usefulness) of the Patriot Act. (The actual topic description is 'Homeland Security Vs. Civil Liberties'.) We try to stay out of politics here at HBO (there's a strict ban on political discussion on our forum), but when rocket launchers are involved... well, it can be pretty entertaining. Available (as always) in QuickTime and WMP9 formats. (Louis Wu 06:08:45 UTC) (permalink)
Achievement Unlocked
Archie Gates, the guy behind the Needler songs, has kicked off a new project; he's writing songs about games, and the first one out of the box is called 'Achievement Unlocked'. It's not really Halo-related, but most Halo players will be able to relate - it's pretty darned funny! It's available for free, streaming off his MySpace webpage - but if you, like me, have trouble with the stuttering that comes from MySpace streams, it's downloadable, in high-quality MP3 format, for just a buck. Check it out! Chaos Tangent mentioned it on our forum before I had a chance to post it here... (Louis Wu 05:36:24 UTC) (permalink)
And the lesson is... Shishka sucks.
Bungie's latest Halo Humpday didn't go so well for them on the virtual battlefield... but they made up for it in the writeup. (This picture is priceless. Priceless, I tell you.) They played Certain Affinity, and they played on new Certain Affinity-built maps, and they got OWNED. Such is life. (And death. Quite a lot of death, apparently.) Baratos was first on our forum to notice. (Louis Wu 05:19:35 UTC) (permalink)
iMega Unveiled
Omegga stopped by to point out iMega, a new tool he's developed for HaloPC dedicated servers. Gives you a lot of the control you get with the HaloCE dedicated server. (Louis Wu 05:09:47 UTC) (permalink)
See the Halo 2 Vista Trailer 1 day early
Gamerscore Blog has a story about an exclusive sneak peek at a Halo 2 Vista trailer; sign up for Microsoft's Games for Windows newsletter, get on the 24 hour sneak preview list for the trailer. (You'll get an email when the trailer is available - no word on when that will be. I didn't even know there WAS a Halo 2 Vista trailer.) Thanks, rapture. (Louis Wu 05:05:37 UTC) (permalink)
News April 5 2007
Eric Nylund, On the Spot
Eric Nylund will be a guest on tonight's 'On the Spot', a 'live interactive weekly show featuring the latest in gaming' put on by Gamespot. Episode airs less than an hour from when this is being posted - go listen to him discuss Ghosts of Onyx! Thanks, LaSelva Factor. (Louis Wu 22:05:46 UTC) (permalink)
Best of VoD, Part 1
Andz pointed out an article he's written for Amped eSports - it can help you pick some of the best pro content to watch, now that MLG has made their VoD service free. (Louis Wu 22:00:47 UTC) (permalink)
Tray and Play
PsychoRaven noticed a new Hired Gun blog - it's a look at the 'Tray and Play' feature of Halo 2 Vista; the ability to play during install. HBO's take? It's an interesting feature - and really cool for getting you RIGHT INTO THE GAME as soon as you take the disc out of the box - but after that first day, it's sort of irrelevant, right? Since there's no real downside, though, it's definitely a nice little feature. (Moreso for the developers, as shown by the initial story; for most of us, once the game is installed, we're done installing it.) Go read! (Louis Wu 20:50:41 UTC) (permalink)
GoO - now smaller on your shelf
If you've held off buying Ghosts of Onyx because of the form factor (and the $12.95 cover price), TOR has just released the (standard-sized) mass-market paperback. Price differential, at least at Amazon, is miniscule at this point (the original trade paperback is $9.71, while the new mass-market version is $7.99) - but it'll fit better on your paperback shelf. Thanks, Regicid3 (who found this at TeamXbox).
(Louis Wu 18:47:32 UTC) (permalink)
Marty looks back at the H3 trailer recording
Music4Games has a really interesting interview with Marty O'Donnell - it's a postmortem of the Halo 3 announcement trailer music recording session. Lots of pictures, lots of great tidbits. Go read! (Louis Wu 15:25:27 UTC) (permalink)
An X-Plane Pelican
Mid7night continues his Halo-to-X-Plane portage (we've already commented on his Longsword (1|2), the Pillar of Autumn, a Covenant Assault Carrier (1|2), and a Phantom) - his newest craft is a Pelican. Check it out! (Videos, too.) (Louis Wu 10:30:17 UTC) (permalink)
What Halo has Brought Together...
Oh, my goodness. ODSTAdrianFii stopped by our forum last night to announce that 1) she and LazarusCayde have gotten engaged, 2) the engagement is due in large part to their mutual love of Halo (she said we helped! I'm tearing up!), and 3) they're going to try and make it a Halo wedding. I demand pictures! (Congratulations to the both of you!) (Louis Wu 10:07:52 UTC) (permalink)
James Falcon Continues Armor Work
James Falcon sent us a few pictures of the armor he's building - we've added it to his rifle page. First up - boots and gloves! Next in line - shin guards. Stay tuned! (Louis Wu 09:58:38 UTC) (permalink)
H3DA - Online and Functional
Lyca let us know that the Halo 3 Data Archive has finished a pretty monumental task; they've categorized and documented all released info about Halo 3 to date. Every tidbit is attributed to its source - if you ever need to figure out whether what your buddy is telling you is actually released info, or just rumor... this is a great place to look. (Needs a search function! Heh.) Check it out - but be warned, you can lose a lot of time here... (Louis Wu 09:45:53 UTC) (permalink)
Legolas releases enormous montage
MLGPro.com has a story about a ridiculously long (and large) montage from one of its pro gamers - Legolas has released 'My Side of the Story', a 24 minutes, 373 mb vid. It's not ALL gameplay - there are movie clips, commentary screens, and other tidbits interspersed - but it does seem a bit... excessive. If you've got the time, there are a few download links in the forum post MLG directs you to (you have to be a member there to read it). Tyger and 3Suns both let us know about this. Update: Apparently, the use of the word 'pro' with respect to Legolas (who is a very active MLG forum member, and a participant on the Pro Circuit, but not a 'pro', since he doesn't have a contract with MLG) has bothered some people. My sincere apologies - and if you have any other concerns, please see KP. (Louis Wu 09:28:50 UTC) (permalink)
News April 4 2007
Shadows of the Ancients Ep 1
Laird sent this along yesterday, but I forgot to post it; he found an interesting piece of Halo machinima on YouTube. It's called 'Shadows of the Ancients: Episode 1- Two Arrivals', and it was created by SpartanJedi360. Nice effects, decent storyline - give it a watch! (Louis Wu 19:21:59 UTC) (permalink)
GiA Dialogue Contest
Nathan Gibson, of Games in Action, let us know about a new contest they're running - come up with a fun NPC one-liner for Halo 3, win stuff. (This contest is just for fun; the lines will NOT actually be used in Halo 3. But you can still win stuff.) More details in the contest post. (Louis Wu 16:55:14 UTC) (permalink)
A Hunter Costume, In Progress
Monstermaker13 has been hard at work on a Hunter costume, built from wood and cardboard; so far, he's got the legs, a shield, and a Fuel Rod Cannon. The torso comes next - but in the meantime, check out the work he's done so far! (Louis Wu 15:39:19 UTC) (permalink)
TLA.
Stuntmutt is a man of few words. Sometimes not even words... just letters. LOL at today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 15:12:49 UTC) (permalink)
Help me get down!
Jamie98s let us know about his latest music video - this one's set to the Killers' "Why do I keep counting?" Great filming, as usual; awesome shots, cool effects, and (something a lot of Halo music vids seem to forget to do) action that's actually synched to both the music and the lyrics. Check it out! Available in WMP9 format (35.3 mb) or QuickTime format (33.3 mb). (Louis Wu 15:09:10 UTC) (permalink)
Chase Scene
Nabsuh is learning Lightwave; what better way to check his skillz than by rendering a Halo space scene? Check out this animation short - A Covenant Assault Carrier chases a Halcyon-class Cruiser. Vids are about 2.2 mb each. (Louis Wu 15:01:31 UTC) (permalink)
Podtacular 107
Kiaffex let us know that Podtacular 107 was released yesterday - Customs and Callins, with Paul Maestri, of Halo Heads, guest-hosting. 1:14 long, 68.4 mb. Go listen! (Louis Wu 12:58:07 UTC) (permalink)
FS2H - Details
Devrous has posted another weekly update of FS2H, his Freespace 2 Halo mod. There's a big Q&A about the project, plus a whole passel of screenshots. Take a look! (Louis Wu 12:46:26 UTC) (permalink)
Uplift Revealed
GameSpy has an interview with Jeremy Statz, of Hired Gun (the guys putting together Halo 2 Vista), looking at Uplift, one of the two new maps coming to H2V. (The other is called District.) There are 6 screenshots, as well; you can get a good sense for the strategies that will be needed on this map next month by checking this out! Thanks, Bootsman. Update: late, but better than never - Jeremy let us know that he's actually with Pi Studios, who did the editing tools and additional level content, not Hired Gun. Sorry about that! (Louis Wu 12:39:13 UTC) (permalink)
It's gonna be like that thing. With the stuff.
Gamepro's got a short interview with Frank O'Connor - there's almost no real info there; Frankie's a master at talking without giving away ANYTHING - but I'm sure a few of his answers will be picked apart and gnawed on while we wait for more substantial fare... (Louis Wu 12:18:00 UTC) (permalink)
Sandblasted Halo Love
ManKitten posted a link (sort of) to a bunch of pictures of a really cool coffee table he modified; to make it easier for YOU to see, we put up local copies. Check it out! (Louis Wu 05:52:40 UTC) (permalink)
Why would you put guns in your boots?
Over at Bungie.net, you'll find an interesting interview with Max Hoberman, head of Certain Affinity (the company that built the two new Halo 2 maps being released later this month) - there's a lot of discussion about the maps themselves (and the changes that needed to be made to make them fun again), and there's quite a bit of info about Certain Affinity, and where it might be going. Check it out! Looks like Hellion was first on the forum. (Louis Wu 05:27:00 UTC) (permalink)
News April 3 2007
Rollin' in the Dough
MLG's posted prize money for the 2007 Pro Circuit; there's more than a million bucks on the line for participants! They're also boosting the number of teams eligible for travel stipend cash; pretty cool! Thanks, Tyger. (Louis Wu 21:49:08 UTC) (permalink)
Gamebox 1.0 Machinimaker Award
Machinima.com is running a contest called 'GameBox 1.0 Machinimaker Award' - three entries (out of 10) will get a nice NVIDIA card. Machine Enema's Pie Chapter 2 (which, for the record, we loved) is in the running - go vote! Thanks, Adam Kovic. (Louis Wu 20:27:01 UTC) (permalink)
Pod TV Ep 9
Kiaffex dropped in to point out Podtacular's 'Pod TV Episode 9: Superjumps and Glitching'; I'm not sure it makes a lot of sense to actually DEMONSTRATE how to do something that Bungie's identified as cheating... but as long as you're not doing it in MatchMaking, I guess we're fine. Available in iPod-compatible .mp4 and YouTube versions. (Louis Wu 15:52:42 UTC) (permalink)
Layin' it down
XerxdeeJ stopped by a bit after midnight - the standard Tuesday Tied the Leader update was a bit earlier than usual. Along with the now-regular 22 Questions interview (Robert Summa, the Executive Editor of Destructoid - terse, but telling), you'll also find a TTL Salute to the Ghostbuster (I can just hear this being read by Pete Stacker and Dave Bickler), and an article entitled 'Guardians of THE BETA' - what you should (and shouldn't) expect from the upcoming Halo 3 event. As always, worth reading. (Louis Wu 14:49:45 UTC) (permalink)
That name... that name...
BitMaP stopped by our forum last night with a new Strouperman comic - not so much Halo-related, as RedvsBlue related, but hey... (Louis Wu 14:39:53 UTC) (permalink)
Poor Education
Mister Froggy pointed out Halo, Articulated #28 - I must say, it doesn't paint the Master Chief in a very flattering light... (Louis Wu 14:37:54 UTC) (permalink)
News April 2 2007
Replace your trashed Halo 2 disc
Wow, very cool. Microsoft has announced a Disc Replacement Program - if you have a damaged Xbox 360 disc that they publish, and you own a 360, they'll send you a new one, at a reduced rate. Halo 2 falls into this category - so if you've got a 360, and a non-functional Halo 2 disc... have 'em replace it! (Restrictions, of course, apply. Still a cool deal.) Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 22:20:13 UTC) (permalink)
A Real Nobody.
Today's One One Se7en was submitted last week - but it's funnier than a similar joke posted yesterday at TeamXbox. (Louis Wu 18:01:51 UTC) (permalink)
How to set up a LANfest
Zerowind117 put together a short documentary about setting up a LANfest - specifically a Halo 2 LANfest. Video is hosted at Google. Take a look. (Louis Wu 18:00:08 UTC) (permalink)
Foolish Fansites
It seems that every year, people have trouble figuring out which April Fools stories are true, and which are not. (We don't help very much; we intersperse regular Halo news bits with April Fools stories as they come in, and rarely draw attention to the fact that they may or may not be real.) For anyone still scratching their head, here's the word on yesterday's news stories, from first to last (start at the bottom and work your way up): true, true, true, true, false, false, true, true, false, false, false, false, true, true. And that's all I have to say about that. (Louis Wu 10:50:11 UTC) (permalink)
News April 1 2007
VGL - in Connecticut
Last night, I was lucky enough to find myself at the Video Games Live concert that was performed at Yale University's Woolsey Hall. Great music, for a couple of hours... and then the piece de resistance - the standard Halo theme, followed immediately by the Halo 3 'Finish The Fight' piece. Miguel Chavez was able to get these two pieces on film - well, on his digital camera. Quality is limited, of course (what can you expect from a digital camera?) but it still is worth watching. Almost 8 minutes, 22 mb in QuickTime or WMP9 formats. (He also put up a copy at YouTube.) (DHalo, from our forum, was there too - he wrote up his account, as well.) Check it out! Update: And now Miguel's writeup. (Louis Wu 22:21:38 UTC) (permalink)
The Riot 42
Sigafoos points out The Riot 42, with coverage of the community, the new maps, and some silly soap opera stuff. And more, of course. 31 minutes, 12.5 mb. (Louis Wu 20:59:36 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Movie Details Emerge
Filmspot has info about the resurrection of the Halo movie - new details include Lions Gate as the new studio, Steve Downes confirmed as the Master Chief. More in the article. Thanks, BlueNinja. (Louis Wu 19:21:07 UTC) (permalink)
Number One with a Hook
Bungie.net has posted an apology for an industry leak of the upcoming Pimps at Sea movie - apparently, a distributor leaked a poster that was NOT supposed to be public. I guess this has the potential of hurting the upcoming 'Pirates of the Caribbean' finale... it's not Halo-related, but it IS Bungie-related, and if anybody sues, it COULD affect future Bungie projects. Here's hoping we stay in calm waters. Frankie was first with the news, trying to get out in front of the tidal wave of bad press. (Louis Wu 19:03:02 UTC) (permalink)
Xbox 360 Brute Edition
Hardly Halo-related, except for the names... but TeamXbox has a story about the new Xbox 360 Brute Edition (a step up from the Elite Edition). 1TB drive, Super Multi Blue drive (reads both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD), motion-sensitive controller. List price of $599. Thanks, MasterChief2829. (Louis Wu 16:49:53 UTC) (permalink)
Hey Look, A Mark Two.
After almost four years of strips, Stuntmutt has finally updated the look of One One Se7en. (Details on the changes can be found in his personal blog - swing by and let him know what you think of the new look!) (Louis Wu 14:55:10 UTC) (permalink)
Energy Episode 4: The Aeros
Simply Greg stopped by to point out Energy Episode 4: The Aeros - we're getting a glimpse at the bigger picture. This is available in quite a few formats - check his forum post for details. (Louis Wu 14:47:55 UTC) (permalink)
FS2H Weekly Update 2.5
Mini-update from Devrous about FS2H, his Freespace 2 Halo project. Dangerous day for mini-updates... (Louis Wu 14:15:13 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 P.I.M.P. Edition
Team Xbox has a story about the 'Power In My Platform' edition of Halo 3, estimated retail price of $999.99 - instead of just a helmet, you get the whole Spartan. Comes with pretty special content - read the story. Thanks, Spec_Ops_Assault (and Wayward Spleen™). (Louis Wu 14:12:06 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Zero: Even the name is taken
Game Stooge has an article about Halo Zero, an upcoming prequel to the Halo series starring the I Love Bees cast. Joystiq cries foul. Thanks, Spec_Ops_Assault. (Louis Wu 14:07:21 UTC) (permalink)
Cops and Robbers: Robbers Unite
We got word from bndud that a trailer for 'Cops and Robbers: Robbers Unite' has been released - swing by their website to grab a copy (2:19, 22 mb, WMP9 format). THe ywant to make clear they're not an RvB ripoff, even though their color scheme is Red and Blue. Cinematography looks good - release is on April 5, here's hoping for a good run! (Louis Wu 13:50:57 UTC) (permalink)
War of the Web Semi-Finals Set
MLG held a Halo 2 Online Tournament last week - the writeup is now available, with some cool stats at the end. Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 13:31:23 UTC) (permalink)
When Pranks Go Bad
Mister Froggy tries to let you know to be careful when playing April Fool's jokes on your friends, in today's Halo, Articulated. (Louis Wu 13:28:15 UTC) (permalink)
Let's Split Up, Gang
Sane Intolerant sent word of a new Halo Toy Box - looks like things are getting violent. (Louis Wu 13:27:00 UTC) (permalink)
| April 2007 | |
