|
Spoilers are currently disabled. (All newsposts are visible.) |
||
View the Archives: |
||
 | August 2004 |  |
August 2004 Archived News
News August 31 2004
Fall Foliage: Crisp Death
Normally, I wouldn't put this on the front page... but it's the best way of making sure everyone who needs to see this will. The next HBO Junkies lanfest has been scheduled for October 2, 2004; details (and instructions that EVERYONE WHO WANTS TO ATTEND MUST FOLLOW) can be found on the HBO Junkie's Events page at b.net. I'm already overwhelmed with how many people want to come... so don't sign up unless this is really something you can make it to. (Even if you DO sign up, please understand that I'm gonna have to turn away at least half the folks who sign up; nothing's guaranteed. I wish I had a bigger house... but I don't.) (Louis Wu 18:09:59 UTC) (permalink)
Misc Art Grows, Too
Equally as surely, we're working our way through the Miscellaneous Art backlog - another ten pieces have been posted today. We're still in July, as far as submissions go... but that won't be for much longer. (Louis Wu 16:47:04 UTC) (permalink)
MLG VoD footage for the masses
Dolbex, synide, and Jason of MLG put together an 8-minute long retrospective of the MLG-Seattle Halo 2 experience; you've already seen the in-game footage, this will give you some flavor of the event itself. 26.9 mb, QuickTime format; we've put copies up on both files2.bungie.org and mythica.org. (Louis Wu 15:17:12 UTC) (permalink)
Can Anyone Recommend A Good Lawyer?
No matter how hard you try, sometimes info gets out before you mean for it to. Take One One Se7en, for example. (Louis Wu 12:12:12 UTC) (permalink)
More pretty pics for your computer
Another day, another 10 desktop images for the Wallpaper Section. Slowly but surely... (Louis Wu 11:27:52 UTC) (permalink)
Wideload Aspyrs to Greatness
Nice. Wideload Games, the brainchild of Bungie co-founder Alex Seropian and the first (and only?) company with plans to release a game using the Halo engine, has finalized a publishing deal with Aspyr Media, a Mac publishing house. (This doesn't mean Wideload's first offering will be Mac-only... in fact, it'll be released on Mac, PC, and Xbox.) There's very little info about the game itself in the article, other than some comments about it not being just like Halo. We'll be keeping our ears to the ground about this one - the Halo engine is a pretty solid asset, it'll be fun to see how else it can be used. Thanks, Elite Marine and Gundulf. (Louis Wu 02:32:53 UTC) (permalink)
Hawt chicks and scalped tix
Frankie showed up at the PAX event (the Penny Arcade blowout last weekend) with 12 Xboxes loaded with Halo 2 in hand... and seems to have had a good time. Of sorts. Check out the pictures and entertaining commentary over at Bungie.net. (He states, near the end, that this is probably the last chance the public will have to play this build. I think he must mean 'in the US', because unless something really stupendous is happening at the ExCeL center in London next weekend, they'll be playing it again at the Gamestars event there.) (Louis Wu 00:48:25 UTC) (permalink)
News August 30 2004
And the art keeps flowing
Didn't think I was going to get to it today... but sometimes you get lucky. The next of about 8 backlogged batches of Miscellaneous Art (ten items per batch) is now up for grabs - so go grab. Cool sketches today. (Louis Wu 21:20:09 UTC) (permalink)
Inactive and Camouflaged
Boxer points out that Episode 5 of Adventures in Disaster has been posted at akba.net. Careful where you step. (Louis Wu 20:30:31 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Wallpaper Kit
About a million years ago, or maybe it was just back in July, drelnathi sent along a collection of 18 Halo 2 figures, nicely separated from their backgrounds and saved as layered Photoshop documents. They were designed to help people make cool wallpapers - which is why he called it the Halo 2 Wallpaper Kit. Of course, the first upload was corrupt, and the second one got lost in the crush of new files... so it's taken until now to make this package available. It's rather large (32 mb, zipped), so if you don't have Photoshop (or an application that can read layered photoshop documents), don't bother downloading it. Hopefully, folks can use these to make cleaner desktops for the community! Go grab it at files2.bungie.org. (Louis Wu 18:59:52 UTC) (permalink)
Imported from Reach.
John Kamphus found an old cigar box in his attic, and added some flavor (14k). Sarge would love him... (Louis Wu 18:21:32 UTC) (permalink)
Halo FAN Opens
Subnova has launched the Halo FAN - a Fansite Advertising Network. If you run a Halo fansite with banner ads, joining this network will give your site exposure across the Halo fansite continuum, as well as providing you with a professionally-managed backend for your advertising particulars. Visit the info page for more details, and information on how you can benefit from this. (Louis Wu 18:04:19 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Preview at MuchMusic
MuchMusic.com got a chance to play the Zanzibar build at X04 in Toronto a couple of weeks ago - and they, too, have written up their impressions. Check 'em out. Thanks, Bored_dude. (Louis Wu 18:03:28 UTC) (permalink)
Hardcore Mapping
Now THAT'S some dedicated mapping. Eric Loux sat down with what looks like graphing paper and a pencil and mapped out the Pillar of Autumn. Image is only 10K, so take a look. (Louis Wu 17:21:03 UTC) (permalink)
synide - graduate, Halo skool of ownage
Ryan 'synide' Thompson, who was recently Spotlighted by the Junkyard (go read it - it's funny!), wrote up his own Halo 2 review based on his experience at last week's MLG Seattle Downpour event. Swing on by Gotfrag for the lowdown, and some cool pics. (Louis Wu 17:14:39 UTC) (permalink)
Death of the Common Grunt
Okay - the film quality is pretty low (it was filmed with a digital camera, in movie mode), and the dialogue leaves a little to be desired... but Collin Ferry's 'Death of the Common Grunt' film still brought a smile to my face. It's available in WMP9 format (3.6 mb) or QuickTime format (3.4 mb), and it'll only eat a minute of your life. Go watch it. (Louis Wu 14:56:02 UTC) (permalink)
Still more wallpapers
And again, continuing to clear the Wallpaper queue, there are 10 new desktops for you in the Wallpaper section this morning. Eep - time to get back to the Misc Art queue! (Louis Wu 13:55:11 UTC) (permalink)
German Halo 2 preview at Halo Universe
If you can read German, you should swing over to Halo Universe, where they've put up a preview of Halo 2, based on thier impressions at the Games Convention last week, along with another small (2.7 mb, WMP9 format) shakeycam vid of the action. (Louis Wu 13:00:43 UTC) (permalink)
55-0 in 6 Seconds.
Stuntmutt takes a shot at passed-over assets in today's One One Se7en. Might make you cry instead of laugh... (For some of you, that won't be anything new, when it comes to One One Se7en.) (Louis Wu 12:49:38 UTC) (permalink)
Monday Morning Musings
Ten new pieces in the Fan Fiction queue were approved today - many new series started! Go see what you can find. (Louis Wu 12:46:02 UTC) (permalink)
Comics and Flash - part of a balanced breakfast
Trigun mentions that there's a new episode of Halo: On Vacation as well as a new Flash episode of That Halo Parody over at the 7th Revolution. (Well, it's really at Newgrounds, but it's LISTED at the 7th Revolution. Or something.) (Louis Wu 12:37:49 UTC) (permalink)
You got a hunter WHERE?
foxygrandpa117 completed another one of those 'wow-this-is-gonna-take-a-while' tricks by bringing a Hunter to the bottom of the security shaft in Silent Cartographer. Read his forum post, watch the procedure (6.3 mb, WMP9 format, hosted by Mythica) and TELL me you wouldn't go insane doing that. (Louis Wu 12:27:50 UTC) (permalink)
Report Card
mrsmiley points out that Halo Babies has a new Guest Strip from Polarbear. The things you never wondered about as a kid... (Louis Wu 12:12:25 UTC) (permalink)
How to Get it to us
In response to many, many, MANY questions about submissions to our various sections, I've finally written up a set of guidelines - they SHOULD help you get your content to us. (They'll also tell you what we're not willing to put up.) Questions or suggestions, as always, can be sent to us via email. You'll find a new 'Submissions' link in the navbar, for easy access. (Louis Wu 00:59:31 UTC) (permalink)
News August 29 2004
Works better plugged in.
Several folks have pointed out the 'plasma grenade' reference in today's Foxtrot comic; it's pretty oblique, as Halo references go, but hey... Foxtrot is funny. (Louis Wu 19:36:24 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Preview at Gamestyle
Gamestyle Offline (a downloadable PDF-formatted magazine available from the Gamestyle website) has a 2-page Halo 2 preview in its latest issue, 8. Thanks to HaloPlanet for the heads-up on this. (Louis Wu 19:33:03 UTC) (permalink)
More Desktops
Apologies for the outage yesterday on our Subnova-hosted server; it killed several of the updates on yesterday's news page. It's back up, however, and we've got ANOTHER 10 wallpapers from the queue for you in our Wallpaper section; this gets us near the end of July. Soon... soon. (Louis Wu 15:44:08 UTC) (permalink)
More Transcribed Halo Music
Poop Scoop has transcribed another trio of Halo music pieces - 'The Maw', 'On a Pale Horse', and Edgen's 'Halo: Master and Chief' - and put up the sheet music (in pdf format), a midi version, and a Finale file for each piece. You can find all of this over at Rampancy.net. Nice! Update: I forgot; you won't see a 'download' link on the individual pages unless you're logged in. (Registration is free.) (Louis Wu 15:14:28 UTC) (permalink)
More details about Big Screen Halo
A couple of weeks ago, we mentioned a theater in Logan, Utah, using their screens for Halo-playing late at night. bentllama ran across another story of the same theater - with a LOT more detail. An interesting read. (Don't mind the forum thread in which everyone tells him to search first; he's bentllama, after all.) (Louis Wu 14:16:03 UTC) (permalink)
News August 28 2004
Fellowship of aliens, eh?
Halo continues to make inroads in the fashion world, as Pallor points out that the September issue of InStyle puts an Xbox with Halo in their "What's Hot Now" section, along with a list of celebrity fans including Justin Timberlake and Julia Roberts. As with last time, it's good to see new audiences start paying attention to video games in general. (Count Zero 16:07:28 UTC) (permalink)
Outage
Yep, Subnova's down again, taking with it some sections of this site. We're working on it. (Count Zero 16:04:46 UTC) (permalink)
Potential WinXP issues relating to HPC/CE
Just a quick heads-up; if you play Halo PC or Halo CE on WinXP, and you're considering updating to SP2... be careful. At the very least, read this thread on the Gearbox forums. I have a pretty untweaked machine; it gets used for very, very little besides Halo. I'd kept up on all the updates prior to SP2, and never had a problem. My Radeon 9600 uses the newest 4.8 drivers. I made sure to open all the appropriate ports in my XP firewall. I updated to DirectX 9.0c. (All of this was prior to SP2, and both Halo PC and Halo CE ran smoothly.) However, after the update, when I fired up Halo CE, I got a 'Direct3D failed to initialize' error, with a suggestion that I check dxdiag. No errors were found, all appropriate functions were enabled. Nothing I could do would get CE to start, however. I uninstalled SP2, and all is well again. Just one guy's story. (Louis Wu 09:55:46 UTC) (permalink)
Hangar-X
(GT)Juggler posted a Single player to multiplayer conversion map of the Hangar in the Maw. It's Xbox-only, so you'll need to have a modded Xbox to use it. You can find pictures and a download link on HaloMods. Looks pretty nice! (Louis Wu 09:42:32 UTC) (permalink)
Queue clearing - the Misc Art edition
The Miscellaneous Art queue, as well, is going to be cleared out, 10 pieces at a time. The first 10 (dating back to late June) are up now. Once again, apologies to all the artists whose work has been neglected. (Louis Wu 09:36:54 UTC) (permalink)
Wallpapers
A couple of months ago, I cleared out the Wallpaper and Misc Art queues, and vowed not to let them get so backed up. Then I went and made a silly promise to someone - that I'd finish the backlogged Movies database before I added any more new content to either of these sections. This, of course, guaranteed another backup. Today, I begin the cleanout. I'll be adding 10 wallpapers a day to the Wallpaper section until we're clear. The first batch is up now - follow that link. (Louis Wu 09:07:22 UTC) (permalink)
Small Saturday Fiction Update
Only 4 new stories in the Fan Fiction section today - I was just clearing it out because I'll be away from the keyboard all day, and I'm doing my best to clear the inbox first. Enjoy. (Louis Wu 08:38:56 UTC) (permalink)
Dude, you're gonna be so whipped, man
The weekly update has been posted at Bungie's own Bungie.net, and it's a doozy. Not only is it much longer than updates tend to be, but it contains a great deal of specific information about parts of the game we've never heard about before, from evolving exploding buses to scary things that make you want to go wee. Some of the more interesting tidbits, to me, are the emphasis on asymmetrical maps (I'm looking forward to this, but I know there will be a huge amount of complaining by hardcore CTFers) and the revelation that Halo 2 will not have load points- new areas will be loaded "in the background" without interrupting play. Check it out! Update: Frankie wanted to clarify that there are load points - plenty of them, of varying length, between levels. They've just kept them minimal during levels. (update by lwu) (Count Zero 00:22:36 UTC) (permalink)
News August 27 2004
Every Saga Has a Beginning...
343GS.com has started Season 2 of its EchoFourNineteen comic series... this one is in Flash. Voice acting is funky... but animation is great. No comments about the plot. Check it out! (Louis Wu 21:45:06 UTC) (permalink)
IGN goes to Germany
IGN recently put up a sizeable movie, labeled 'Halo 2 Stuff', on its Halo 2 media page. It's available as a 320x240 WMP9 stream, for everyone, or a downloadable QuickTime (up to 315 mb in 640x480) for Insiders. What it IS is a (decent) shakeycam video of the Halo 2 presentation at the recent Leipzig Games Conference; Pete Parsons and Cam Payne played out the E3 2004 demo for the crowd. As far as footage goes, all of this is already on the web, in better quality... but the start of this video contains some pretty funny stuff. There are a couple of Nightmare-Armor-clad guys (that's not the funny part)... and then the two show announcers try to get the crowd riled up for the demo, and finally (all in German, remember) start yelling 'and here's Pete Parsons!', while pointing at Cam. (Pete wasn't on stage yet.) Cam is quietly trying to let them know he's not Pete - but they're pretty much ignoring him. Eventually, they get the message, and there are a couple of minutes of fumbling while someone goes off and FINDS Pete. Dunno... I found the whole thing hilarious - and I don't even speak German. (Pete, when he started the presentation, was cool as a cucumber.) Thanks to Art Vandelay for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 18:04:32 UTC) (permalink)
Never Mind The Overshield, Where's The Fruit?
Speaking of comics, today's One One Se7en has been posted. It'll make more sense if you drink some Antifreeze. (That's not really fair - it IS understandable. It was just an easy cheap shot. And when it comes to One One Se7en, cheap shots are the norm.) (Louis Wu 16:18:58 UTC) (permalink)
Interactive Answering Machine
Elizar points out that the MC makes a cameo in today's The Whiteboard, a paintball-focused webcomic. It'll make a lot more sense if you read some backissues. (Louis Wu 16:10:09 UTC) (permalink)
Cool Threads
Finn, half of our stalwart Halo Story Page crew, writes to let us know that there are 3 super-cool Team 7hr33 sweatshirts left unclaimed by 7hr33 members... which means you can buy these puppies for yourself. I have one, and I gotta say... it's slick. (Check out pics from last spring's Knee for All lanfest to see me wearing it.) (Louis Wu 13:36:56 UTC) (permalink)
More reader questions answered at Gamespy
Gamespy has put up part two of its Reader Feedback Followup article - I think the big news for some players is (finally) an official announcement from Frankie about the pistol:
[The Pistol] will be back. It has been changed to suit dual-wielding and no longer has a scope.
(It's been mentioned, obliquely, a few times... but it's nice to have a clear, unambiguous statement from a Bungie employee.) There's also clear information about weapons quantities (with respect to dual wielding), melee attacks, and other stuff. Definitely worth a read. Thanks, LaMuerte. (Louis Wu 13:27:49 UTC) (permalink)
2 for 1 Gamestar Tics
Ross Mills points out that if you're planning on going to the Gamestars Live event in London next week, and you're booking your tickets by phone, you can get 2 for 1 tickets by quoting 'It's London' to the booking agent. Weird, but a good deal. (Louis Wu 13:06:59 UTC) (permalink)
Lethal Rage 4
Pico has put up a teaser for Lethal Rage 4, the next in his series of machinima battle vids. About 2 mb, in either WMP9 or QuickTime formats. (Mostly hype, but there's enough rapid-action video to make you want this out...) (Louis Wu 12:44:48 UTC) (permalink)
OMGWTF
Halo Babies has put up a new strip today... poor Misterchief. Also, they've announced the winners of their Avatar contest - you can download the winning entries now. (Louis Wu 12:35:17 UTC) (permalink)
Word, is right.
Dang. When he comes out of hibernation, he comes OUT OF HIBERNATION. Finn has proffered up a massive Halo Story Page update... Rowley to Stallone to Moorcock (not quite the same lyrical quality as 'Tinkers to Evers to Chance', but then this double play is actually a 7-bagger). Go read. (Louis Wu 02:28:46 UTC) (permalink)
News August 26 2004
Always Expect Castration.
OMG. The Webmaster's back. With reader art. And photos. And drool. (Okay, maybe not drool.) Go read. (Louis Wu 19:46:03 UTC) (permalink)
Toyfare art - without the words.
Very cool. GruntKilla pointed out the original artwork for the cover of Toyfare Magazine #86. A little investigation turned up the website of Greg Horn, the artist. (Click on the MC head in the 'Other Projects This Month' section at the top for his own copy of the art.) It's the only Halo-related artwork I could find, but there's some fun stuff if you poke around. Update: G-Nox found a second piece of Halo-related artwork on that site - nice work! (Louis Wu 18:27:20 UTC) (permalink)
Grunts eat pillows
Remember back when Calvin was worried about what was under his bed? Today's Calvin and Halo ramps up the fear factor. (Louis Wu 18:09:06 UTC) (permalink)
Thursday's Words
Thirteen new pieces in the Fan Fiction section today - including a couple of poems and a pledge. See what you can find! (Louis Wu 17:58:13 UTC) (permalink)
More MLG-Seattle info
Radid Gnome interviewed a friend of his, an MLG staffer who played Halo 2 at the Downpour event, about the game. He's posted the interview on his website. (The site is framed, so look for the 'New Halo 2 Article' in the news.) (Louis Wu 17:51:38 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 - In Australia
Whoa. The band Regurgitator, out of Australia, is performing a 3-week 'Band in a Bubble' experiment, where they attempt to record an entire album in social isolation (though with millions watching). For entertainment? They'll be playing Halo 2, apparently. Details can be found in this Xbox.com article. The whole shebang kicks off in 5 days. Thanks to gspawn for noticing. (Louis Wu 17:31:45 UTC) (permalink)
Gamespy answers questions
Gamespy has posted a Halo 2 Reader Feedback Followup article; questions readers have asked, answered by Gamespy staffers. There'll be another part tomorrow. Thanks to LaMuerte for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 17:22:59 UTC) (permalink)
If you're dead, respawn!
Sevenar posted a short ad for a pretty entertaining event... in movie format. Details on what you're watching (as well as filesize) are in the forum post. If there's demand, I'll rip a QT version of this, too. (Louis Wu 17:17:15 UTC) (permalink)
6 Marines and a dead man's... banshee?
[-TLG-]Madrox continues his 'live stuff in the pit' series by bringing a stack of live Marines to the bottom of the chasm in the underground area of AotCR. Amazing! Hosting provided by Mythica, via High Impact Halo. I'll try and get a QuickTime version posted later today - look for an update to this newspost. (Louis Wu 17:14:33 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 impressions in a Canada newspaper
The London (Ontario) Free Press posted a news piece on X04 Canada, held recently in Toronto. Halo 2, of course, got a chunk of the text. Go read. (Louis Wu 17:08:13 UTC) (permalink)
Contests, contests...
We got word of a couple of contests recently; Blade writes about a Halo 2 Cover Design contest, where winning entries get Gmail invites and some Halo 2 material. And Ryan Kiskis, Director of Xfire Business Development, writes to let us know about a Skins contest; design a skin for Xfire (an instant messenger for gamers, with Halo PC and Halo CE support), win a piece of $3000 in cash. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 02:32:47 UTC) (permalink)
Rampancy.net opens a Bee Forum
Narcogen pointed out that Rampancy.net, as well, has set up a special forum just for discussion of I Love Bees-related materials. Folks on our own forum cannot seem to get their heads around the fact that bee discussion will be deleted here - whether it's Halo-related or not - but hopefully, as time goes on, they'll move that discussion to more appropriate places... like Rampancy.net. Check out the news post for details of the resources available. (Louis Wu 02:27:34 UTC) (permalink)
The Wind Beneath My Wings
Yaksha posted a video today showcasing a couple of Halo PC mods... and a pretty drawn-out punchline. 2:09 long, 10.2 mb, WMP9 format. Hosted by redvsblue.net. Check it out! (Louis Wu 02:24:31 UTC) (permalink)
News August 25 2004
Can you hear me now?
Boxer points out that the next episode of Adventures in Disaster is posted at akba.info. Man... I would HOPE they have this cleared up by then... (Louis Wu 21:06:25 UTC) (permalink)
Truth and Recon, through Military Eyes
The Junkyard's analysis of Halo levels by an experienced Marine pilot continues, his time with a look at Truth and Reconciliation. I was amused at the discussion about entering the grav lift area ("Going through the maze inside the plateau is a bad idea, especially if it's guarded. Going on top of the plateau would have been a better idea") - Halo tricksters had the right idea all along! Thanks to Mhaddy for letting us know about it (even if I forgot to post it this morning). (Louis Wu 19:47:37 UTC) (permalink)
The Smallest Spartan
Miguel Chavez, the Number One Bungie Fan, sent along a picture (72k) of The Smallest Spartan, otherwise known as Rafi Chavez. I'm not really sure whose desk that is behind him, but I'm pretty sure you've seen it on the webcam at some point. (Louis Wu 18:53:26 UTC) (permalink)
He's Gonna Need A Bigger Boat
Dang, I said I was done talking about Zanzibar today... and then Stuntmutt had to go and cover it in One One Se7en. I wonder if there's a coral reef? Update: Go load it again. Make sure your speakers are on. Yes, it's true, I'm a moron. (Louis Wu 14:55:30 UTC) (permalink)
Attack of the Giant Grunt
This was released yesterday, but would have been completely buried... timboh56 created a trailer for a stop-motion picture he's putting together, 'Attack of the Giant Grunt'. It's short - but it's quite good, so we've mirrored both the original WMP9 version (721K) and a new QuickTime version (812K), so that you don't have to hammer his personal website. C'mon... it's tiny. Grab it. (Louis Wu 14:13:16 UTC) (permalink)
cG vs Strive - on haloTV
synide, from haloTV, wrote to say that [cG]rapture finished the first of the cookedGamers at Summer CPL 2004 videos, cG vs Strive/Reality. You can watch it over at haloTV.net. It's about 20 minutes long, 720x480 format, and streamed straight to your desktop. It was filmed behind the cG team; you get the players' reactions as well as the gameplay itself. Nice vid! There are more on the way - check back at haloTV.net often. (Louis Wu 12:57:03 UTC) (permalink)
I don't even LIKE Bees.
Since the ilovebees phenomenon started back on July 23, I've been ambivalent about posting updates related to it; on the one hand, it's clearly Halo2-related, so it falls within our purview... on the other hand, we're just not equipped to handle a game of this magnitude. A few weeks ago, in response to forum flooding, I banned the word 'bee' (and some common variants) from our forum, to try and convince people to think twice about posting this information. I wrote a short piece, explaining where HBO officially stood on the matter, and requested that discussion be taken elsewhere. I stopped short of outright banning of the discussion, however.
Until today. Last night, I had to delete more than 350 posts on our forum that added nothing but noise; once again, folks were simply regurgitating what they found elsewhere on the net, without even TRYING to read what others had already written. The general excuse for this is 'this forum is too hard to understand' or 'there's too much here to look through'. And that's the point. The puzzle is pretty interesting; cut through the silliness and there's a lot to like about it. And it's definitely related to Halo 2, so once all is said and done, we'll do our best to wrap it up and include any relevant information in our various sections. For now, though, conversation MUST take place somewhere else - because what was happening here was not conversation, it was unintelligible noise. (And oh, yeah - for now, please stop sending us updates about what's happening on the various ILB-related websites; we're not going to post anything on the front page about it... that would simply encourage folks to discuss it again on the forum which would lead to... well, you know.) Update: Fluffy, site director at HaloPlanet, reminded me that they've just opened a new bee-related forum over there; yet ANOTHER good place to go and discuss this stuff. (Louis Wu 12:37:48 UTC) (permalink)
Zanzibar - it won't go away.
Wow. I hate for the front page to be dominated by a single file - but I guess this one is pretty big. The MLG Zanzibar Halo 2 Mirror page now has quite a few direct download links, if you've had trouble with BitTorrent - and Two Degrees, another peer-to-peer sharing network which made its HBO debut last winter, is back as well. (As of this writing, BitTorrent has served over a terabyte worth of files in about 18 hours - not too bad.) I've also put up a 320x240 version, for folks on slower machines (some computers can't handle 640x480 video), and for those on slower connections, there are representative rounds; you can download either a full 3 minute Offense or Defense round, in either 640x480 or 320x240 sizes. Filesizes on these get as small as about 10 mb, so almost everyone should be able to handle them. (If you've already got the large file, you gain NOTHING by downloading the segments; I just cut them out of there. Please save our bandwidth by NOT downloading, in that case.) If you feel you can mirror any of these versions, go ahead and send the links, we'll add them. mrsmiley, the player in the vid, has also written up his experience over at Halo Babies - and included ANOTHER 8 minute video (WMP9 format, 32.1 mb) which gives some flavor for the day. This will be the last I mention this today - check the Mirror page for new links, if you're missing anything. (Louis Wu 11:37:33 UTC) (permalink)
Zanzibar Footage Update
As of now, a bit over 8 hours after posting the first link, the BitTorrent network has served up over 5300 copies of the MLG Halo 2 gameplay video (almost 650 Gigabytes). You guys rock. :) However, there are lots of people who can't use BitTorrent - they're on firewalled corporate networks, or family members have a problem with p2p software on the computer... for whatever reason, these people will not be able to see this film until it is made available via normal web channels. And this process has begun. The first few direct links have been posted on our forum - and we'll continue to add new ones to our Mirror Page as they come in (if you have the bandwidth to spare, throw a copy up, send us a link, we'll add it; when your bandwidth runs out, let us know, we'll yank the link). Please - if you CAN use the BitTorrent network, DO so. (Hopefully, later tonight we'll also have a Two Degrees link up for you, as well.) But the direct downloads are there on the Mirror page if you need them. (Tonight, or tomorrow, smaller versions will begin to appear, as well. I hope.) Once again, thanks to Dolbex and the entire MLG crew (and Bungie!) for making this accessible; it's clear from today's downloads that this is a cool drink of water to a LOT of parched Halo 2 fans. Update: Oops, almost forgot... mrsmiley, the player in the vid itself, started a thread on our forum to answer questions people had about the gameplay (or his performance :) ). Check it out! (Louis Wu 01:26:03 UTC) (permalink)
News August 24 2004
Halo 2 Countdown Widget
Almost lost in the insane postage about Bees and discussions of BitTorrent, a post last night from Joshua Pettigrew pointed out a Konfabulator Widget he created to count down to the release of Halo 2. Konfabulator is a Javascript engine that runs on the MacOSX desktop - if you don't have MacOSX, you don't need this widget. (Louis Wu 20:33:14 UTC) (permalink)
Zanzibar Gameplay - in Hi-Res Glory
In the past few days, many sites have put up shakeycam video of public Halo 2 play - and many sites have been shut down by the demand. The sad thing is... quality has been HORRIBLE on almost every single released movie. Demand is still huge, because people want to see how this game plays... but it's like trying to enjoy the dance by rubbing a clear spot in the glass on the outside of the barn. Dolbex managed to grab almost 20 minutes of direct-feed footage of an 4v4 at last weekend's MLG-hosted Downpour event in Seattle, and he's shunted it over to us for release to the masses. Before you get a link, there are a few things you should know:
- This is NOT the final version of Halo 2; this is the E3 build of the map Zanzibar, created 4 months ago, and VASTLY altered since that point. If you see something that you don't like, chances are Bungie saw it also, and fixed it.
- There is no public demo of this level; this event wasn't even on the list of public Halo 2 showings. It was not mentioned beforehand because Bungie wanted it to be a surprise for the MLG guests, and because they didn't want people coming to the tournament SPECIFICALLY for Halo 2. In other words; this was a one-time deal, don't expect to see another showing like this.
- The game depicted here is mostly MLG staff and volunteers; the screen you're watching is mrsmiley, of Halo Babies.
- If you like this stuff, there is about an hour and half MORE footage at MLGpro.com and is primarily pro players playing Halo 2 in the world's first Halo2 tourney. Players like Ogre 1, Strangepurple, Darkman, Ogre 2, and Zyos. You can view it by becoming a member of Video On Demand ($20 to help support HaloTV/server costs).
All that said, I've taken Dolbex's footage and encoded it to a not-server-crushing 123 mb, and we're releasing it via BitTorrent. If you don't have a BitTorrent client, you can grab one here. Once you've got that, point it to our Seattle Halo 2 Footage seed, and don't forget to leave the window open when you're finished, to share the bandwidth love! The demand for this file is going to be huge; you can make it less painful to everyone involved by chipping in. (Later today, I'll release a smaller segment for bandwidth-challenged folks... please be patient.) Update: A lot of people seem unfamiliar with BitTorrent, and are complaining about slow download speeds. An explanation of exactly why this is happening and how BitTorrent works is beyond the scope of this post. However, the reason we are inflicting BitTorrent on you is that given the size of this movie and the tremendous demand for it, this is the only way we (or anyone short of, say, FilePlanet) could afford to host this movie. Bandwidth costs money- lots of bandwidth costs LOTS of money, way more than any fansite can afford. Just remember, when you finish downloading, please don't close the BitTorrent window. Think of it as a favor to the community that has brought you this movie- you just downloaded it from all the people who didn't close their windows either, and everyone who downloads it later will be able to do so thanks to you. Every little bit counts, so please help us justify posting more movies like this in the future. (Updated by CZ) (Louis Wu 15:58:41 UTC) (permalink)
When Pigs Fly
Alpha Base is launching (ugh) a new contest - it's... omg, it's a regular warthog jump contest. Launch a warthog as high and for as long as you can, win prizes. Man, i do NOT envy the judges of this thing... Go read the details over at their site. Heads-up goes to Verdafolio. (Louis Wu 11:55:32 UTC) (permalink)
Lots and Lots and LOTS of 2v2 footage
(GT)Juggler points out that he's got tons of 2v2 footage on the HaloGT website (redesigned and overhauled, by the way); all the individual matches from the 2v2 mini-tournament that happened at the Dead Babies LANfest a few weeks ago are online on his media page. The 9 regular films have no sound (though they still average over 20 mb each), and the 3 finals have sound, and are a bit meatier. Go see what you can grab! (Louis Wu 11:45:19 UTC) (permalink)
Next Up: MC on a Pogo Stick
Nil, building on some community speculation, finished off this picture of a new Halo 2 vehicle... but then confirmed that the MC could do worse. Thanks to Anton P. Nym for starting this whole mess. (Louis Wu 11:33:02 UTC) (permalink)
Big Cortana
MrSmiley mentions that Halo Babies has a Fan Strip up today, and wanted to point out that their Avatar contest (ending soon) is now open for voting to members of the site. Check it out! (Louis Wu 11:22:49 UTC) (permalink)
News August 23 2004
It's coming...
Finn awakens from his motorcycle-induced slumber (wha?) to speculate about that which must not be named on our forum. Check the Story Page. And hold on to your hats. (Thanks to Milamber for noticing.) (Louis Wu 21:47:56 UTC) (permalink)
More Leipzig Footage
Nafe Rubeus continues his quest for Zanzibar multiplayer footage, with another german website, die-klobrille.de. There are two links; the first is a 103 mb, 19-minute file that will make you nauseous if you watch the whole thing at a shot. (It starts with some footage of the Nightmare-Armor-clad MS rep on the show floor, and then moves on to game footage... the blue flashing really got to me after a bit.) The second is a mirror of the very first clip we mentioned - but you'll have to copy and paste the link, rather than click it - there's a typo in the code. If all goes well, we might have something better for you soon... (Louis Wu 21:34:26 UTC) (permalink)
Persistence of Ignorance...
Boxer continues his Adventures in Disaster series with Episode 3, over at akba.info. (Louis Wu 21:29:42 UTC) (permalink)
Halo CE maps - on the Mac
Grenadiac points out FANTASTIC news for the Mac community - bobindashadows has found a way to port Halo CE maps to the Mac. The system isn't complete yet - it requires modifying the way bitmaps are stored, so they can be tacked on safely to the existing bitmaps.map file (so that multiple mods can coexist) - but he's got a working prototype, with some great screenshots. Head on over to MacDev and read all about it! (Louis Wu 21:27:53 UTC) (permalink)
Free - and Solid. What more do you want?
Fluffy, over at HaloPlanet, points out (once again) that they've got an awesome, though underused, resource available to all Halo CE modders. They will host your map/mod/website, with unlimited bandwidth (and they mean it - they've got the MASSIVE pipes of Fileplanet to back them up), pre-built forums (and other systems), tech support, haloplanet emails, and even pre-built website templates to use. Why would you turn this down? Read their Hosting FAQ, check out the Application, and watch your bandwidth problems disappear! (Louis Wu 21:03:37 UTC) (permalink)
Checkpoint... Done
Wronchi put up a Flash animation at Newgrounds, dedicated to all those who found certain aspects of the Library... repetitive. It's a bit over a meg, and nicely done. Thanks to Gil27 for pointing it out. (Obligatory Spoiler Warning, for those keeping track.) (Louis Wu 17:56:21 UTC) (permalink)
Location, Location, Location
nico, the guy behind Red vs Blue's music, sent along a picture (74k) of his Powerbook, running Halo on the back deck of his family's house in St. Barths, in the French West Indies, as the sun begins to set. I can't think of a nicer place to kill Covenant... (Louis Wu 17:49:32 UTC) (permalink)
Ooh - upcoming game hype
The latest Gamespotting column at Gamespot is about upcoming games... and it contains a poll - 'Which upcoming game will be the greatest?' At the moment, Halo 2 is in second place... behind Half-Life 2. Hmm... (Thanks to GruntKilla for the heads-up.) (Louis Wu 16:31:03 UTC) (permalink)
Weekly Bungie Update Archive - Improved
We've added last Friday's Weekly Bungie Update to our Update archive, and maybe made the archive a bit easier to use. I noticed that the full update list was getting a bit unwieldy (260k of text, plus pictures), so I uncovered a part of the search page that's always been there, but not documented; you can now view updates individually, by date, from the main Archive page. Should make life easier if you want to point out a specific date... (Louis Wu 16:11:40 UTC) (permalink)
Almost 50 new entries in the Movie Database
For far too long, the Movie Database has languished, victim of limited time and shifting priorities. Uriel offered to compile much of the data required to build this database, greatly reducing the amount of work needed to create updates; even WITH his help, it took much longer than it should have. However, we've passed the biggest hurdle - the horrendously messy collection of videos that were released during E3 this year. The database now runs through the end of June (yes, still a couple of months behind, but it should be MUCH simpler to catch up at this stage), and contains links to all the E3 data we could find (as well as all the movies we mentioned in the month following E3). Stop by and see what you missed! (Louis Wu 14:44:45 UTC) (permalink)
Sticks and Stones
Today's One One Se7en shows what a good headset can do to a polite individual... I suppose the real funny would be if that cord behind Cortana weren't plugged into anything. Oh, wait... (Louis Wu 11:16:47 UTC) (permalink)
It's the Way of the Shakeycam
The footage from the Leipzig Games Convention continues to appear... and disappear. The Game7 footage we mentioned on Saturday is offline already (they ran out of bandwidth, it appears), but there are new clips to fill the void. Nafe Rubeus found a thread on a clan forum with a link to a large (but EXTREMELY slow-downloading) video - I have no clue what this one looks like. And Demden, of Halo Orbit, pointed out 5 QuickTime clips recorded with a digital camera on a different clansite - video quality is the best we've seen from the convention, but there's no sound, and the filesize is 5 times what it should be. (This might change.) For folks looking for footage that was online but is no longer... we're not going to be hosting this sort of footage; there is going to be a surfeit of it in the next few weeks, I'd guess. If you get it, great, if you don't, grab the next one. Update: Luis Carrillo found a new link for the Game7 video, in a GameFAQs forum thread. (Louis Wu 10:37:41 UTC) (permalink)
Kiwis get a shot at Halo 2 in September
B Ball Master is embarrassingly insistent that we mention that Halo 2 will be playable next month at the Armageddon Pulp Culture Expo in Wellington, New Zealand. Under $15 NZ (per day) gets you into the event, taking place on September 25 and 26. Yet another venue for some Halo 2 lovin' before November 9... (Louis Wu 03:16:06 UTC) (permalink)
Early Monday Musings
Oops - haven't updated the Fan Fiction section since Thursday, so there are 20 new pieces for you to read... Gotta be careful about that. Go get 'em! (Louis Wu 03:12:29 UTC) (permalink)
Official confirmation of the new Halo 2 Headset
On August 2, we got word of a new Halo 2-branded headset, made by Plantronics, that would be coming out this fall. More details emerged a week later. Now, thanks to Team Xbox, we have official word, in the form of a Plantronics press release. Looks to be a classy piece of equipment! (Louis Wu 02:35:05 UTC) (permalink)
News August 22 2004
Escaped Convict
Wow. Talk about dedication. [-TLG-]Madrox and Monoxide got a Hunter to the bottom of the pit in the middle of the underground cavern in AotCR. How'd they do it? They gave him a ride on a Banshee. Vid is 5.5 mb in WMP9 format, hosted by Madrox. I've put a QuickTime version up on files.bungie.org. (Both versions are a bit hard to see; vid is a tad washed out. You can certainly get the gist, though.) (Louis Wu 23:31:23 UTC) (permalink)
Homefront progress
Pballwizard points out a new update over at Homefront, the Battlefield: Vietnam mod. Map updates, mostly. (Louis Wu 16:23:36 UTC) (permalink)
Better than killing covies...
Carlo Zottman points out the blog of Boris Schneider-Johne, German Product Manager for the Xbox - he was at the German Games Convention yesterday, and got a pretty nice shot of the Master Chief doing "the hardest job of all time; handing out Halo 2 survival bags to journalists. Contents: energy drinks, deodorants and water pistols." Glad to see the Nightmare Armor contract in use! (Louis Wu 14:53:12 UTC) (permalink)
Awards, again.
Uriel points out that the Leipzig Games Convention website already has a Best of Show page up... and guess what took 'Best Xbox Game'? Go on... guess. (Louis Wu 14:45:24 UTC) (permalink)
The Hornet - in action
Hehe - d3fault_dot_xbe has taken one of Roger Wilco's concept models and begun to insert it into Halo CE. Nice! Heads-up goes to MasterGrief, who found it on the Gearbox forums. Remember - Roger Wilco created those models more than 2 years ago. Wonderful! (Louis Wu 14:43:50 UTC) (permalink)
eBay of Pigs
Wow. I've seen sleazy before, but this is pretty audacious. Some slimeball on eBay was selling a digital copy of Zoe's farewell wallpaper; he removed Zoe's signature from it (though not the bungie.net watermark), and was selling it (in DIGITAL FORM, it's not even a print) as his own work. (He cancelled the auction this morning, 'because of an error in the listing' - but it's still online.) In case it gets pulled, we've put up a local, static (no working links) copy here at HBO. Remember that you can get this for free (from the legitimate artist) over at Bungie.net. Make a note of the seller's name, and be really, really careful what you buy from him. Thanks to Fluffmiester for finding this. (Louis Wu 14:32:04 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 morsels at TXB
Art Vandelay found a nice thread over at the TeamXbox forums (though it would have been better if he'd actually added a link to the original information) - AcidSnow spent some of his precious playtime in a recent Halo 2 event TESTING the game, rather than just playing. Biggest tidbit: laying a plasma grenade on top of another one actually increases the blast damage (rather than having the second one thrown off when the first one goes, as happens in Halo). Interesting stuff! Go read. Update: More hands-on comments on our own forum, from Tempus Fugit. Remember, when you read his (and others') comments about 'roughness', that everyone's playing the E3 build - a build finalized over 3 months ago. And remember that the Bungie boys and girls have been working 100+ hour weeks for a while now. (Louis Wu 00:47:13 UTC) (permalink)
Aqua Chiefs Hunger Corps
VALENCE has taken Adult Swim soundtracks and Halo CE video and put together a film called Aqua Chiefs Hunger Corps. Decide for yourself whether it works. Video is WMP9 format, 7 minutes long, 9 mb large, hosted by Halomods. (Louis Wu 00:38:48 UTC) (permalink)
Hit and Run
Trigun sends word that a new Halo on Vacation comic is up at The 7th Revolution. Maybe it's me, but it seems like Halo: Resolution did that joke. A few times. (Louis Wu 00:26:12 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Tourney in Seattle!
Dolbex writes from Downpour, the MLGPro tourney happening right now in Seattle. The big news? THey're currently hosting the World's First Public Halo 2 Tournament. That's right - Halo 2 is there, and being played, for money, on the floor. Go read about it on MLGPro.com! If you have a Video On Demand subscription from them ($20 for the 2004 season ticket), you can watch it live! (Louis Wu 00:21:49 UTC) (permalink)
Just a Movie
Devin Olsen points out a movie he and Gil made that's being hosted by Halomods - tricks and sniper kills. WMP format, just under 2 minutes, 9.3 mb. Take a look. (Louis Wu 00:13:46 UTC) (permalink)
Before anyone freaks...
GhaleonEB pointed out an article in the New York Times (registration required - free) in which the Times suggested that there will be a $5.99 monthly fee to play in Halo 2 tournaments online. Before anyone grabs their pitchfork and heads for Redmond... there is no additional fee to play Halo online; what the NYT is most likely referring to is the Xbox Live service fee ($5.99/month or $49.99/year) - a service wholly separate from Halo 2 (and one that supports many, MANY games beyond just Halo 2). Beyond that one potential misconception, the NYT article is a good read, contrasting marketing of video games vs movies. (Louis Wu 00:10:28 UTC) (permalink)
News August 21 2004
More German Shakeycam Stuff
Demden, from Halo Orbit, sends word of another shakeycam vid from the Leipzig gaming event, this time filmed (and hosted) by Game7. Again, screen glare is a major problem, but they did a decent job of showing many of the options available in this build (as well as showing off some spectacularly bad gameplay in the second half). WMP9 format, almost 5 minutes long, 27 mb large. Give it a look! (Louis Wu 22:41:57 UTC) (permalink)
Action Figures can be fun.
The recent Action Figure Megabattle pics have spawned a NEW type of submission - one I want to discourage, because the potential for total picture overload is super-high... but there were a couple of shots that made me laugh, so I thought I'd share. Nedus took some pics of his own action figures; these aren't composites, they're regular photos. (Please - again, we do NOT have the time or space to host hundreds of these - do NOT send us your own posed shots. Really.) Two of 'em - 'Hold Me' and 'Prepare to Die' - got a chuckle out of me. (Hold me might be considered by some to be spoiler-containing. Sort of.) (Louis Wu 16:16:29 UTC) (permalink)
Now all we need is a wolf.
Ducain continues his 'I'm-gonna-get-hogs-EVERYWHERE-on-SC' campaign, with a movie showing how he managed to get three (THREE!) warthogs across the Shaft in Silent Cartographer - along with himself and a marine. WOW. (He started, nicely, with a teaser, letting people guess how he took the pic - but I wasn't around until the entire shebang was finished.) For those who don't like WMP9 (linked in the forum post above), I've made a QuickTime version as well. (Louis Wu 15:53:00 UTC) (permalink)
Now that's a LOTTA guys.
Falcon Zero made another megabattle pic, this time using the New Mombassa map... and if you ask me, he might have gone a little overboard. Just a little. (Louis Wu 15:18:26 UTC) (permalink)
German Halo 2 Hands-on from IGN
IGN has posted a writeup from the Leipzig Halo 2 playfest yesterday - there's nothing really new in it, but it does make you want to play... thanks to LaMuerte for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 15:07:17 UTC) (permalink)
Peeing in Supermarkets
Frankie's back, and so is the traditional Bungie Weekly Update - interesting mix; on the one hand, stuff is getting finished at phenomenal paces, on the other, folks are working absurdly long hours and see no end in sight (well, other than the obvious one, of course). Great read, though. So go do it. It's over at the 7th Revolution this week. Apparently, it's on our forum, as well, for those not up for registering for another forum. (Louis Wu 02:24:26 UTC) (permalink)
News August 20 2004
Shishka's gonna be mad.
mnemesis wrote yesterday to point out a small (but powerful) update on the Halo Story Page - the downtime this morning kept it from being posted before now. Go read... but be warned, the theory it discusses is LONG. (Louis Wu 19:29:22 UTC) (permalink)
Wun Dum Guy.
You may have noticed that we were hard to reach this morning - the datacenter that HBO is housed in was having some connectivity problems. They seem to be cleared up now, so I can FINALLY add today's One One Se7en... though it's possible that puns this bad should be hidden forever. You decide. (Louis Wu 18:52:46 UTC) (permalink)
What REALLY Happened.
focused7 points out a comic at Blackartstudios showing the behind-the-scenes action underlying last week's Bungie Update. (That reminds me, I've forgotten to add that update to our Archive... rectified.) (Louis Wu 18:49:57 UTC) (permalink)
And all with one figure. Wow.
Plasmanator continues the Action Figure Megabattle series started yesterday by Mintz08 - there was a funny one last night, and a pretty dang impressive one today. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 18:30:44 UTC) (permalink)
The FTC CTF School
A couple of months ago, we mentioned a contest being run by Fire Team Charlie, over at Xboxottawa... beat them in a 2v2 match on XBC, win cool schwag. They've put up one of their first games, edited in a really humorous manner... worth watching, if you want to enter, or just if you want to watch a couple of clan guys get their butts kicked at CTF. It's 24 minutes long, and 150 mb large, so it's for members only... but hey, it's only $10 to become a member! Thanks to vshields ash for pointing it out. (Louis Wu 18:15:56 UTC) (permalink)
Christine
Ducain found a bizarre little glitch last night - bypassed some standard loading points, and found... a killer hog? (WMP9 format, 3.4 mb.) (Louis Wu 18:14:39 UTC) (permalink)
Shakeycam vid from the Leipzig show floor
Marc, at Halo Universe, points out a movie they're hosting - 10.6 mb, AVI format) recorded via shakeycam at the Games Convention in Leipzig (where Halo 2 is available to be played by the masses). Screen glare is a bit of a problem... but Halo 2 is Halo 2, right? Check it out! Update: full-bore points out a BitTorrent link for the same footage. (Louis Wu 14:09:28 UTC) (permalink)
Oh, if Boeing had moved...
There's a new interview with Alex Seropian, of Wideload Games, up over at GamersInfo.net; this one, more than most, focuses on Alex's experience with Bungie and Halo. Answers are a bit tongue-in-cheek - nice to see! Thanks to Thomas Bottrill for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 14:05:55 UTC) (permalink)
I get the planet!
Baldev Patel sent in a link to a picture of a Halo cake, hosted by 343GS. Looks yummy! (Louis Wu 14:01:09 UTC) (permalink)
Supermega
A while ago, pushbak created a movie called Supermega - it's gameplay set to music, but the gameplay is a lot of fun to watch (the guy's pretty good with a sniper rifle). We were hosting GNF videos when he submitted it, and he's been patiently waiting - sorry for the delay. It's QuickTime format, 480x360, 4:36 long, and 27.3 mb big. We've put up copies on both Mythica.org and files.bungie.org. Enjoy! (Louis Wu 13:37:51 UTC) (permalink)
Cartographically Challenged
Halo Babies has a new comic up - in which Baby MC is a little... lost. If you're interested in meeting these guys, they're gonna be at MLG's Downpour event in Seattle this weekend, selling Halo Babies T-Shirts - details can be found in this news post. (Louis Wu 12:58:51 UTC) (permalink)
News August 19 2004
Big-Screen Halo
Wow - a movie theater in Logan, Utah has set up a permanent weekly Halo tourney, making good use of their giant screens for some sweet gameplay. Not a bad way to bring in a little extra money! Thanks to Team Overkill (w00t! Halo 2 is coming, they're visible again!) for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 22:07:30 UTC) (permalink)
Shakeycam gameplay pics
Yesterday, Art Vandelay pointed out some shakeycam photos taken at the X04 Canada event in Toronto, during Halo 2 multiplay. (There are 54 shots in all.) Apparently, they were originally taken by "Biff Sasquatch" of GameFAQs. Extra mirrors for some (or all) of the shots can be found in this TeamXbox thread. Before everyone gets all hot and bothered - most of these are really terrible; blurry, weird angles, whatever. And they're all showing the same E3-based Zanzibar build you saw pics of several months ago. That said, gameplay is gameplay, and you get some new views here. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 22:02:08 UTC) (permalink)
Lowbrow and Grunt in the same sentence... whoda thunk?
It's that Bungie-special Episode 77 over at Calvin and Halo - and Blackstar takes a shot at the... hmm. Someone. (Louis Wu 17:48:10 UTC) (permalink)
It's Thursday, it must be FF
The Fan Fiction section grows by another 13 pieces today, including a poem AND a song. Give it a look-see. (Louis Wu 15:23:03 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Paintings are Cool.
Wow. Nice Halo painting - 20x30 acrylic on canvas. Pointed out by its creator, Stinogatron. He mentions that there are a couple of other Halo pieces in his DeviantArt gallery. (One of them is already in our Wallpaper section...) (Louis Wu 13:01:44 UTC) (permalink)
The PR onslaught begins... with a whimper
Hmm... Alex Cross got his hands on the long-awaited OXM Holiday Preview Guide... and he was disappointed. Yes, there's a large spread on Halo 2 - but to him, it seemed like a rehash of existing info, and there weren't any new screenshots. (The leaked shots currently making the rounds will likely show up in the October issue, due on newsstands on September 7.) It's got plenty of information, and if you're looking for a mag that compares the various games due out for Christmas, this would be a great buy (it is, after all the Holiday Preview Guide) - but if you're specifically looking for Halo 2 info, it looks like you won't find it here. Go read Alex's post for more details. (Louis Wu 12:13:46 UTC) (permalink)
Peter Moore talks to Gamespot
As we mentioned yesterday, Microsoft was recently in Toronto for X04 Canada, a press-only event at which Halo 2 was present, and playable. Gamespot was there, and snuck in an interview with Peter Moore, Microsoft's VP of marketing for Xbox International. Moore was enthusiastic across the board... but had some pretty amazing things to say about the Halo 2 release.
"...there is no doubt in my mind that the first 24 hours of Halo 2 will be bigger than the first 24 hours of any movie at box office or music CD. They will pale in comparison. Halo 2 will be the biggest 24 hours in entertainment retail history."
Go read the rest of the interview - get pumped up. (Louis Wu 11:37:01 UTC) (permalink)
RvB Set Pieces IV.5
Hawaiian Pig fixed a small typo in his recently-posted Red vs Blue Season 3 poster - and added two new styles, and a new set piece. Pictures, and explanations, can be found in this forum post. (Louis Wu 11:22:38 UTC) (permalink)
A whole new kind of megabattle
Mintz08 decided to try the Megabattle technique (fixed camera, multiple composited shots) with Halo action figures, rather than ingame - interesting results. Plasmanator tossed in his own offering. A new creative option? (Louis Wu 11:05:48 UTC) (permalink)
News August 18 2004
The Name of the Game
Bestmasterchief posted a link to a vid hosted by Halo Babies - bouncing warthogs off dropships. It's 5 mb, WMP9 format. The last one's nicely timed. (Louis Wu 18:30:34 UTC) (permalink)
Megabattle Tourney Matches
Dolbex has been playing with the Megabattle picture technique (search our news if this doesn't mean anything to you), and has recreated a few key moments from MLG games. There are four static shots, and one panoramic. Pretty slick! (Registration - free - required to see the pics.) (Louis Wu 15:17:25 UTC) (permalink)
When They Say 'Close' Combat...
So, in the novels, it's made clear that Elites are MUCH taller than humans. How should this REALLY affect gameplay? One One Se7en takes a stab. Well, a shot. Sort of. (Louis Wu 11:59:40 UTC) (permalink)
Yet again - Leak Policy at HBO
To the folks sending us links to the Halo 2 screenshots currently making their way around the net: these are leaked shots, not meant to be shown to the public yet. We understand that it's really, really hard to put the genie back in the bottle... but (as has always been the case here) we're going to respect the wishes of the property owners on this one; we will show no picture before its time. (Those of you who remember Orson Welles, raise your hands.) We will not be posting the pictures, or links to the pictures, until they're SUPPOSED to be out, and we will be removing links we find in our forum. We're not trying to make your life miserable, or kill your buzz - Bungie didn't want these images out in the public yet, so we're respecting that. If you really MUST see them, they're out there - just don't ask us where. Thanks! (Louis Wu 11:54:23 UTC) (permalink)
Laughing Llama
Hehe - a late afternoon post by bentllama on his recently-unveiled blog points out a thread on the CGTalk forums in which a Toronto resident explained how to get into a press-only Halo 2 showing. (The event ended yesterday, so don't bother going down now.) Goes to show... hang around in the right crowd, you might get wind of stuff that's pretty interesting... (Louis Wu 11:00:52 UTC) (permalink)
Realism in Halo, Part II
Mhaddy, of the Junkyard, points out the second installment of their realism-in-Halo interview with a US Marine pilot. In today's article, the interview focuses on the level Halo, and what a current-day Marine would have done in some of the situations that arise in the game. An interesting read! (Louis Wu 10:45:20 UTC) (permalink)
Cortana as a Role Model
Pallor found a Halo reference in Jane, a magazine aimed at 'the twenty-to-thirty-something female generation'. In the September issue, in the Play Tech section, is a small picture of Cortana and the MC, with the caption 'Tough-chick Cortana is calling all the shots.' Great to see a game like Halo 2 being marketed, sort of, at this totally new audience! More details can be found in Pallor's Subnova news post. (Louis Wu 10:37:20 UTC) (permalink)
News August 17 2004
Halo 2 ad - high quality
Dan Chosich ripped another copy of the second Halo 2 ad to hit print mags; it's not new, but it's new at this quality. If you're interested in digital versions of the Halo 2 print ads, grab this! (Louis Wu 18:20:48 UTC) (permalink)
Pancake Talk
Whoa. Bentllama adds his name to the (relatively small) group of Halo dev team members with public weblogs. Check out Bentllama.com for his first news post today. Thanks, evilSnip3r. (Louis Wu 16:39:20 UTC) (permalink)
European Halo 2 Box Art
Microsoft has released the final box art for the European edition of Halo 2 - and I gotta say, it's pretty nice. You can see pictures of it over at TeamXbox (including a hi-res, 1314x1866 version). Thanks, Carlo. (Louis Wu 16:18:53 UTC) (permalink)
The State of Halo CE
Merecatfish, of CustomEdition.org, has interviewed Zaskoda, the new Community Manager at Gearbox Software. Zaskoda believes that due to disorganization in the community, and the gearing up for Halo 2, that fewer and fewer people will play Halo Custom Edition, and that it's unlikely that Gearbox will issue new patches for the game. This is really disappointing - the potential of Halo CE is huge. However, I can't deny that the number of people actually PLAYING it isn't very high... and it's clearly true that the community is fractured. (Recently, two nearly identical websites opened up - instead of the content providers working together to make one SOLID site, there are now two competing sites, in a community that shrinks by the day.) Thanks to Narcogen, at Rampancy.net, for noticing this one. (Louis Wu 15:56:13 UTC) (permalink)
Autumn Slay - Panoramically
ON-X made a panoramic shot of Autumn Slay, a relatively new map by akmassassin. Nice views! If you want the map itself, you can see pictures of it at Halomods, or download it from Halo World. (Louis Wu 15:27:13 UTC) (permalink)
What to do when you're bored
scottisonfire pointed out a thread at halomods containing a useless but entertaining trick - a couple of guys lined up 50 hogs in a row, and fired a rocket through the window gaps of all 50. The rocket was slowed down enough that an obvserver, riding along on a ghost, could follow it. The biggest problem? It's huge. It's a 33.5 mb MPEG-encoded vid - even compressed in .rar format, it's over 20 mb. I re-encoded it as a QuickTime vid; it's only 10 mb now, and at that size, we're willing to host it. So you can grab the smaller (filesize-wise, not screensize-wise) version at mythica.org, or the original (as long as its bandwidth holds out) from the Chaos Legion server (link is in the Halomods thread). (Louis Wu 15:09:46 UTC) (permalink)
We've Come To Pump You Up
Mondo J. Gecko points out some DeviantArt he created - an extreme makeover for One One Se7en's MC. I think Cortana might take him a bit more seriously... (Louis Wu 13:54:47 UTC) (permalink)
Get high, stay high.
There's a little less than two weeks remaining in High Impact Halo's Three Towers contest - be the one with the most stuff on top of the beam towers, and win cool schwag! Go reaquaint yourself with the rules, make sure you understand the point system, and get your entry in before September 1! (Louis Wu 13:34:37 UTC) (permalink)
Japan vs the US
It's interesting, sometimes, to look at the differences in gaming markets around the world. In the west, almost every 'Most Wanted' list of upcoming games has Halo 2 at the very top - first or second position. North America, Europe, Australia... they're all waiting for this shooter with barely contained excitement. In Japan, however, it's a different story. The Magic Box has a list of the Top 30 Most Wanted Console Games in Japan - and Halo 2 is number 28. It's one of only TWO Xbox games on the entire list - a list where Devil May Cry 3 is 16 positions higher than Halo 2. (Given how poorly Devil May Cry 2 was received, this surprises me.) I watched the Olympic Men's Gymnastics Finals last night, in which Japan beat the US for the gold, and watching the competitors OFF the floor, they seemed just like people around here. Gaming likes and dislikes, though, are worlds apart. Thanks to kinggun for pointing this out. (Louis Wu 13:30:08 UTC) (permalink)
P S Who?
That Weasel writes to point out that the next installment in 'Grunts are People Too!!!' has been posted. It's called 'P S Who?', and it takes a LOT of shots - literally - at the PS2. Available in both WMP9 format (4.1 mb) and QuickTime format (7.2 mb). (Louis Wu 13:13:30 UTC) (permalink)
Zoe Says Goodbye
There's a spectacular new wallpaper creation by Zoe, Bungie's Contract Artist whose time is wrapping up, over in the Bungie.net Wallpaper section. The story of how it came to be (and how it's NOT a Halo 2 screenshot, but a concept art piece created by Zoe's masterful hand) can be found on the B.net front page. It's gorgeous, and it's available in everything from 800x600 up to a doublewide 3200x1200. Check it out! We're gonna miss you, Zoe. Thanks to all who pointed it out - looks like Shaun Goo was first. (Louis Wu 12:58:51 UTC) (permalink)
News August 16 2004
Strike the Pose
Roger Wilco shouldn't get a second front-page mention in a single day... but this is just not right. It behooves EVERYONE to make sure that nobody wearing MC's armor EVER does this. (Louis Wu 22:03:59 UTC) (permalink)
Back in my day, we didn't HAVE grav lifts...
Roger Wilco continues in the MoCap vein, showing exactly what you SHOULDN'T do with your sniper rifle. Some of these REALLY need a soundtrack. (Louis Wu 18:15:57 UTC) (permalink)
Perfect or Handel's Water Music
Today's One One Se7en points out a potential problem with a metallic armor system in Halo 2... (Louis Wu 15:38:46 UTC) (permalink)
Monday Musings
Ten pieces added to the Fan Fiction section - there's always something to read... (Louis Wu 15:34:51 UTC) (permalink)
RvB Set Pieces IV
Hawaiian Pig continues his RvB Set Pieces series with Installment IV - Requests. He's been combining the MegaBattle Picture technique (using the development camera in HaloCE to put multiple characters in the same scene) with the popular machinima series to create scenes from Red vs Blue, in high resolution, as they might look from a different camera angle than the RvB team used. The forum post contains links to the last batch of pics, in case you missed them, followed by a couple of much requested scenes... and some REALLY impressive movie posters for Season 3. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 08:27:27 UTC) (permalink)
German Gaming Poll
NBC Giga, a German media site, has got a poll running for the latest Giga awards. One of the categories is 'Please Release' - and Halo 2 is on the list. Winners will be announced next week at the G|C Games Convention in Leipzig. Go vote! (The site is in German, but it's not hard to figure out what you need to do.) Thanks, Marc, from Halo Universe. (Louis Wu 08:20:52 UTC) (permalink)
News August 15 2004
Virtual Water Cooler
Boxer points out a new .comic at Subnova - things we have to look forward to in Halo 2. Oh, yeah. (Louis Wu 19:29:57 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Orbit Redesign
Tocki, of Halo Orbit (one of the largest European Halo sites), points out a new design for their main site and their forums. He wants you to visit! (Louis Wu 16:25:39 UTC) (permalink)
Halo tourney in NJ
nexus points out a one-day 2v2 tourney in Wayne, New Jersey (about 15 miles northwest of NYC), at CyberConXion, on August 21; $15 to get in ($20 at the door), prizes are 50% of entry cash plus other stuff. Give it a look! (Louis Wu 15:29:40 UTC) (permalink)
Dead Babies on Film
(GT)Juggler put together a nice reminiscence of the Dead Babies lanfest held in Connecticut recently; it's 4:15 long, 32 mb big, in QT format. You can grab copies from either Mythica.org or files.bungie.org. For the record - though my name appears on a number of scoring screens, I wasn't present... though the video makes me wish I had been. LAN flavor, gameplay, modded levels... this one had it all. Check it out! (Louis Wu 04:29:12 UTC) (permalink)
Toyfare highlights Halo 2
The latest issue of Toyfare magazine has a couple of covers - one is a Halo 2 version (with some... odd artwork; spoiler warning, I guess). Several people (first being Littlebigman, last night) pointed out that Joyride not only has posted this cover on their site, but has put up a scan of the Halo 2 article inside. Check it out! Those action figures are gaining quickly in popularity. (Louis Wu 00:09:35 UTC) (permalink)
News August 14 2004
Narc talks to HP
Narcogen, of Rampancy.net, recently sat down with Viper, of HaloPlanet, and discussed Bungie, fansites, and of course Halo - go check out the interview. (Louis Wu 17:25:20 UTC) (permalink)
Best Co-op games, part 2
A couple of weeks ago, IGN posted a 'Best Xbox Co-op Games' article, and not surprisingly, Halo was at the top of the list. Yesterday, they posted a followup article, in which they targeted the most promising upcoming games that will support this style of play. Again, Halo (in this case, Halo 2) is ranked very high. Thanks to EliteMarine, who pointed out that the article existed. (Louis Wu 15:44:18 UTC) (permalink)
Comics AND movies.
Speaking of comics, Trigun writes to say that the second episode of Halo: On Vacation is up at the Seventh Revolution, along with some links to a number of flash movies. See what you can find! (Louis Wu 10:32:15 UTC) (permalink)
MC Buddy opens
The Unknown Spartan sends in a link to his new comic, 'MC Buddy'; I'm not sure I get it, but go read anyway. (Louis Wu 10:26:03 UTC) (permalink)
Don't try meleeing with that...
E.D.P. points out a thread he started on the HaloPlanet forums, showing off a LEGO Battle Rifle he built. Give it a look! (Louis Wu 10:22:36 UTC) (permalink)
The Press are Talking
GameDaily has posted a Hands-on Halo 2 article, based on an afternoon of gameplay in New York a couple of weeks ago. (This was the same event that StrangePurple wrote up for MLGPro.com not too long ago.) Give it a read for some more Halo enthusiasm. (Louis Wu 10:07:19 UTC) (permalink)
The periodic popularity contest
A few people have pointed out the Character Battle between Master Chief and Crash Bandicoot, over at Gamefaqs.com right now... MC has a healthy lead, but you never know. (This is also the first round of a 16-contestant bracket; if MC wins this one, he's got a couple more to go to take the bracket.) Go vote! (Louis Wu 10:02:41 UTC) (permalink)
Halogen - now for TWO games
Dispraiser wrote to let us know that Halogen, the C&C Generals TC, put up a pretty major weekly update recently, announcing some new renders, a Covenant units list, and Halogen for Battle for Middle Earth, a mod for the upcoming Lord of the Rings game. This is not a port - it's a separate mod that will use the same models as Halogen for C&C Generals, but will focus on different sorts of fighting. Read the update for more details. (Louis Wu 09:58:02 UTC) (permalink)
Clashing Armor and Man Hugs
Frankie's in the Yucatan this weekend, hiding from hurricanes and looking for nuclear weapons, so the job of Bungie Weekly Update fell to Bungie Princess Alta Hartmann. It's a bit light on the technical aspects, with maybe a little too much emphasis on personal appearance... but hey, what can you expect from someone who just kicked some serious butt in her first keg stand contest a few weeks ago? (As you read about overloaded taco trays and hair dye, just think of Alta being hung upside down over a keg, drinking college boys twice her weight under the table... and cut her some slack.) (Louis Wu 00:00:11 UTC) (permalink)
News August 13 2004
Connecticut Tourney this weekend
(GT)Juggler points out a small tourney - Xbox Halo, 2v2 Team Slayer - in the Digital Mayhem gaming store in the Westfield shopping mall in Meriden, CT. The catch? Your team has to be registered ($15/team) by tomorrow, Saturday, because the tourney is on Sunday. Check the forum post for more details. (Directions to the store are here.) (Louis Wu 22:47:17 UTC) (permalink)
Play Halo, Beat Cancer
IGN reports that there's an Xbox Halo charity tournament in Sunnyvale, CA, on August 22. Proceeds will go to Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Details are here, on Evite's site. Thanks to Tippmann88 for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 20:07:38 UTC) (permalink)
HBO IRC is moving
Homelan has hosted the official #hbo irc channel for the last 6 months or so... but they've been having some trouble recently - so DeimosFawkes has launched irc.subnova.com, and we're moving to new digs. Information can be found on our IRC Info page. The biggest advantage for casual visitors - there's a web-based java client that can connect directly to the channel, no need for an irc client! Join us. (Louis Wu 17:39:48 UTC) (permalink)
How do you make a hankie dance?
There are things you just shouldn't do with the Master Chief. Roger Wilco points out one of them. Update: And this is another. (Louis Wu 15:47:49 UTC) (permalink)
Comics, Comics, More Comics
Today's One One Se7en looks at those annoying British grunts (and a new Halo 2 feature). Halo Babies continues the storyline with Mister Chief and a wimpy MC (and while you're there, check out the Avatar contest launched today on their forum). And Sector 7 has a new episode of Marines - these guys need some help. Big time. It's like the Sunday paper, only on Friday, and on the web. (Louis Wu 12:46:00 UTC) (permalink)
Friday Fiction
12 new pieces for you today in the Fan Fiction section, including a couple of multipart series released at once. I don't know if it's the moderation, or the new format... but it seems to me the comments are getting more intelligent. w00t! (Louis Wu 12:23:04 UTC) (permalink)
News August 12 2004
Downpour Details
Dolbex sent along info about MLG Seattle, coming up on August 21; the Halo 4v4 tourney will have a $25 entry fee, and teams will be playing for an $8000 purse. Not too shabby! Also, Sketch and Frankie from Bungie are stopping by and will hopefully have a surprise to share... (Louis Wu 16:02:10 UTC) (permalink)
A Cold Welcome
Kids have a way of making their parents understand when injustice is served... nicely illustrated by Calvin and Halo today. Thanks, Blackstar! (Louis Wu 12:53:29 UTC) (permalink)
A Battlemech - in Halo
Fluffy, at HaloPlanet, points out a pretty cool forum thread containing pics and a movie of a new battle mech being created by Icetiger. Not finished yet... but it's got some real potential! (Louis Wu 12:45:37 UTC) (permalink)
Supply and Demand
The first Active Camo Elite has shown up on eBay (though I doubt it'll be the last). There were only 5000 of these made, so the seller feels confident, I guess; and since his opening bid of $25 ($10 more than he bought it for in a store this week) has already been met, I suppose he was justified. Thanks, A Friend. (Louis Wu 12:00:04 UTC) (permalink)
More Than Beginner's Luck
New Subzero Rivalries today - I've seen this happen in real games. Thanks, MarkHawk. (Louis Wu 11:50:37 UTC) (permalink)
Epic Halo 2 Trailer
NorthHammer has created a really long (9:45) tribute to Halo 2, using existing footage and some inspiring music. It's 24.9 mb (so that it fits into his 25 mb Comcast space, in WMP9 format. (Louis Wu 11:44:37 UTC) (permalink)
News August 11 2004
Plantronics headset unveiled
Art Vandelay has pointed out a picture of the upcoming Xbox Live Halo 2 headset mentioned last week by NuclearWinter - he snagged it off the Gamestop product page. Snazzy-looking headset... but $50 seems a bit steep, you ask me. (Louis Wu 16:49:52 UTC) (permalink)
Adventures in Disaster, Episode 2
Monday, Boxer launched Adventures in Disaster, a Halo comic hosted by akba. Today, Episode 2, 'It's all about range...' has been posted. Check it out! (Louis Wu 15:37:47 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 in the Netherlands
Stefander points out that Halo 2 will be playable at Power Unlimited's Gameplay event in Utrecht, the Netherlands, on September 11 and 12. The website is all in dutch, but if you're in the area, this is another opportunity for gameplay! (Louis Wu 14:18:05 UTC) (permalink)
Socket To 'Em.
Periodically, Frankie mentions the Lightmap farm used for renders during development - today's One One Se7en shows Stuntmutt's take on the whole thing. (Louis Wu 13:58:12 UTC) (permalink)
Fans can be nice
Motherstooth made an HBO tribute - we're touched. 1.9 mb, WMP9 format. Here's a QT version, if you need it (2.2 mb). (Louis Wu 11:17:56 UTC) (permalink)
Weekly Weirdness - now local
Later than usual, but the Weekly Bungie Update Archive has been incremented with last Friday's scribblings. Did you know that this was the first time pocky has been mentioned in the update? Are you surprised? That Snook, he's an odd one... (Louis Wu 00:22:12 UTC) (permalink)
News August 10 2004
Tuesday Tales
9 new stories added to the Fan Fiction section - might have been more, but a couple of folks thought that no punctuation at all was a good thing. Enjoy. (Louis Wu 22:37:58 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Print Ad - round 2
Dan Mitteer found a new Halo 2 ad in October's Gamepro mag; it follows the trend of the first Halo 2 print ad, except the picture is better and they moved away from the Halo font. You'll find small versions that Dan posted in this post, and larger ones in this post. (Louis Wu 22:29:02 UTC) (permalink)
Michigan Halo Tourney
There's a Halo tournament in Eastpoint, Michigan, on August 15; 2-man teams, entrance fee is $40/team, top prize is $120. Information can be found on this website. (Louis Wu 16:58:57 UTC) (permalink)
And THAT'S why accidents happen.
Once again, though a few days ago, Roger Wilco took some fun motion capture footage, and applied the Master Chief skin to it. As he says, this one definitely needs sound. (1.1 mb, QuickTime format.) (Louis Wu 14:20:06 UTC) (permalink)
MLG San Francisco
The next big MLG tournament (after Seattle, at the end of this month) will be in San Francisco, on September 11/12... and the San Francisco subsite just went live at MLGPro.com. Go check it out! (I couldn't find any info on registration fees or prize values... but I'm sure they're coming.) Thanks, Dolbex. (Louis Wu 12:21:32 UTC) (permalink)
The first of the Halo 2 Beta reports
Recently, a whole passel of press hung out at Bungie and played some Halo 2 multiplayer. The first magazine with this information is already on newsstands... in Germany. According to Tempus Fugit, Xbox Zone has a solid hands-on Halo 2 article in the latest issue (out to subscribers now, on newsstand shelves later this week), as well as an interview with Pete Parsons. A summary of what's in the article can be found in his forum post; looks to be definitely worth a read. If you have access to a newsstand selling this magazine, go grab a copy! (Louis Wu 11:04:59 UTC) (permalink)
More Dew Goodness
Last week, Bill Daiber, one of the Mountain Dew contest winners, wrote up some of his experience at Bungie's offices, with respect to Halo 2 gameplay. He'd left some of the writeup out, however - it was vacation time. We've posted it now. Vehicles, Sound, Glitches - go read about it! (Notice the 'already fixed' comments in the glitches section, however, and remember he got to play an older build.) (Louis Wu 10:06:19 UTC) (permalink)
Realism and Gamers
The Junkyard has posted an article on the realism of Halo, and how this affects gameplay, in which an 8-year veteran of the US Marine Corps gives his opinions about some of the choices made in the game. Interesting concept... (Louis Wu 09:55:10 UTC) (permalink)
News August 9 2004
It's not often this word is justified, but...
Pwned. (Count Zero 21:20:27 UTC) (permalink)
Adventures in Distaster launches
Boxer has started a new comic, called Aventures in Disaster. The first episode, 'Location, Location, Location' is hosted by akba. Boxer says there'll be new strips every Monday and Wednesday. (Louis Wu 17:10:50 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 at G-Phoria
G4techTV posted a 5-part article last week on The Top Ten Games of G-Phoria, and Part 4 covered halo 2 (the number 2 game in the list, following only Doom 3). Thanks, WhiteRaBbit. (Louis Wu 15:42:22 UTC) (permalink)
Flagging Behind.
Today's One One Se7en looks at one of the new Halo 2 multiplayer features... with a rather cynical eye. (Louis Wu 15:27:55 UTC) (permalink)
News August 8 2004
Sunday Funnies
Light, light news day - how about some comics? There's a new sprite-based strip up over at the newly-opened 7th Revolution, called Halo: On Vacation (be sure to look around a bit when you're there), and Sector 7 has put up its next episode of The Marines - or should I say, has been taken over by ANOTHER internet phenomenon? Enjoy this Sunday! (Louis Wu 16:04:56 UTC) (permalink)
Stories for a lazy weekend afternoon
The Fan Fiction queue had 6 stories in it - it now has none, because they've been posted. Go read. (Louis Wu 16:04:02 UTC) (permalink)
News August 7 2004
Fire up those Babelfishes
Tempus Fugit notes that Microsoft will be showing off Halo 2 at the G|C Games Convention. All the information is in German and only available in printed form, but Halo 2 can be spotted in the press release transcribed here. The convention will be held in Leipzig, Germany in about two weeks. (Count Zero 18:05:06 UTC) (permalink)
Strange Plays Halo 2
Doug Fabrizio, aka StrangePurple (a frequent winner on the Halo competitive circuit) hung out with Bungie bigwigs in New York recently, and played some Halo 2 (and other games)... he's written up his experience for the masses over on the MLGPro.com website. Thanks to Dolbex for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 17:29:41 UTC) (permalink)
Are You Ready?
Bungie.net has posted a story explaining everything you need to do to be ready for Halo 2 this fall, from helping with excuses for getting off work to buying the right hardware to get online. (They're not advocating breaking rules, just offering options.) Check it out! Thanks to Marcus for the first heads-up. (Louis Wu 17:18:19 UTC) (permalink)
News August 6 2004
Yucatan, huh? Hope the parachute drop goes better this time.
Frankie's weekly update has popped up at VideoGames.co.nz. It's a pretty long one this time, and with tons of nice tidbits and numbers- Gameplay animations are 95% complete, there's 4.1 gigabytes of audio dialog assets, and... pocky? Sure, why not. Check it out! (Count Zero 22:16:27 UTC) (permalink)
Downtime
Just a quick note - I'm going to be mostly out of touch for the next few days. I'll do my best to catch up on off hours, and Count Zero MIGHT be able to fill in a bit... but if you submit content, and it doesn't go up right away, don't freak out, it just means we haven't gotten there yet. Thanks! (Louis Wu 15:17:01 UTC) (permalink)
You Got Served
cykage posted a vid made by Rippon, showing some... odd dancing styles. Brian Towne mirrored it at Mythica, so bandwidth shouldn't be a problem. 22 mb, WMP9 format. There's a QuickTime version, as well... because, well, we like Macs. (Louis Wu 15:16:00 UTC) (permalink)
Spec Ops Madness
'Ridley Rarzamee did some custom painting of his Blue Joyride Elite figure, and ended up with a pretty slick-looking Spec Ops Elite. Check it out! (Louis Wu 14:55:18 UTC) (permalink)
Playable Halo 2 in London in September
It looks like London denizens will get a chance to play some Halo 2 next month, at the Gamestars Live event at the ExCeL facility. Tickets can be purchased from the Gamestars Live website, and the press release can be read at XboxRules.com (thanks, Walchicus). First notice of this came from Dark G, yesterday, though the information itself was nearly drowned out by the flamewar that erupted over the idea that the playable material might be single-player. Thanks also to broony, who pointed out an article at MyXbox. Details about WHAT will be playable don't exist yet - but an educated guess would be the Zanzibar level. (Louis Wu 13:53:45 UTC) (permalink)
Did The Earth Move?
Stuntmutt proves that metaphors are lost on the literal in today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 09:30:10 UTC) (permalink)
Friday Fanfic
8 new stories for you in the Fan Fiction section. Go read... (Louis Wu 09:17:38 UTC) (permalink)
Mark VI Vanities
Today's Halo Babies strip finally reveals the face of the Baby that MC's been trying to save. It may surprise you. (Louis Wu 09:00:17 UTC) (permalink)
NZ to see Halo 2 first
B ball master wrote gleefully to point out that The Gamesman (a New Zealand gameseller) is reporting that the November 9th release date for Halo 2 has been confirmed for New Zealand - which means that a kiwi will be the first consumer on the planet to officially get their hands on a copy. (Louis Wu 08:56:28 UTC) (permalink)
News August 5 2004
Flight of...
Hehe - Roger Wilco seems to be as tired of a certain buzz-inducer as we are. (Louis Wu 15:00:21 UTC) (permalink)
Fire Sale on Bungie Stuff
Want some Bungie schwag, but thought the Bungie Store was a little expensive? Looks like they're moving - and having a fire sale on existing merchandise. Everything's a few bucks off. Buy before August 31, though, because on that day the eCS/Bungie Store closes for good. Read the details on the front page. Thanks to Ross Mills for the first heads-up. (Louis Wu 13:49:50 UTC) (permalink)
The Monks, The Monks
He'th Baskin really enjoyed the monk chanting in the Halo theme, but was frustrated that it was never by itself. So he mixed his own, 3:32, 4.8 mb mp3 version.
I have listened to as much Halo related music I could get my hands on but was always disappointed to find the monk chanting to be limited and always mixed with other instruments. So I set it upon myself to try and mix and match chant music from different Bungie tracks into a track of its own.
You can listen to it, too - we're hosting it for him. Update: we've replaced the original with a new version that has less noise - he'th spent a couple of hours cleaning it up after release. (Louis Wu 13:39:33 UTC) (permalink)
Copy/Paste, Copy/Paste...
Wow, must be a day for exceptions. Back in March, we closed down the Guest Submissions section of One One Se7en - Stuntmutt himself created Guest Strip 100, and we said 'no more'. Today, however, we've received a strip from Gruntsbane, the artist behind Halo Babies, and his Guest One One Se7en, a tribute to yesterday's 200th strip, was too much fun to leave alone - so I'm reopening the Guest Section for this one last entry. Enjoy! (Louis Wu 12:54:25 UTC) (permalink)
CEAds goes live
We don't normally mention new websites on the front page any more - when we automated the Links section, the flood of new links (well over 100 of them) made that totally unfeasible - but there are always exceptions, and today we have one for you. CEAds, the Halo CE Promotion Project, is a website to show off the best and brightest of Halo CE and to help bring more Halo players to Halo CE. The 'Why Play Halo CE' page details what makes CE superior to PC, listing a good number of Halo CE's new features. It's still new, so content is sparse, but the idea is solid: Halo CE is the future of Halo on a PC, and more people should be playing it. This website will help show you why. (Louis Wu 12:43:12 UTC) (permalink)
If only she were blue...
Today's Calvin and Halo points out that some skills don't translate well from virtual to real world... (Louis Wu 01:51:01 UTC) (permalink)
News August 4 2004
Always Outnumbered. Never Outpunned.
Wow. 200 strips. And that doesn't count Sundays, or Holidays, or Guest strips, or Archived strips. There are a lot of things you can say about Stuntmutt, but fly-by-night isn't one of them. Today's One One Se7en has got to be one of the worst puns EVER. Update: That BOLL just COULDN'T leave well enough alone, could he? (Louis Wu 10:07:44 UTC) (permalink)
Light Wednesday Reading
Five new stories for you in the Fan Fiction section... not too rough! Go read. (Louis Wu 09:50:28 UTC) (permalink)
Babes in Haloland
Gruntsbane, from Halo Babies, took some time out to talk to Dolbex, from MLGPro.com, about the comic strip, and the upcoming MLG Seattle event. Give it a read! (Louis Wu 09:40:27 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 in contention for WCG 2005
Agony points out a poll on the World Cyber Games site, asking for suggestions for games to be played at WCG 2005. Halo 2 is one of the FPS choices. If you vote, you have to vote for two choices in every category - just a heads-up. (Louis Wu 09:36:02 UTC) (permalink)
Team Slayer Guide posted
Sparkypinball has posted another in his series of Halo multiplayer guides - this one is for Team Slayer. Swing on by Rampancy.net and read it. (And thanks to Sparky for pointing it out on our forum.) (Louis Wu 09:29:15 UTC) (permalink)
New vehicles and weapons in Homefront
Homefront, the Battlefield: Vietnam mod, has posted another update; Phantoms, Pelicans, FRGs. Thanks, Pballwizard. (Louis Wu 09:17:50 UTC) (permalink)
cG - now known as clutch Gamers
Not to be outdone in the tournament writeup arena, cooked Gamer rapture wrote up a description of cooked Gamers' path through the recent CPL Extreme Halo Championships (they fought back to second place after losing their very first match). Go read, and turn as green with envy as the $11,500 check they're holding up... We heard about it on our forum. (Louis Wu 02:21:24 UTC) (permalink)
Halo50k3 gets top billing at B.net
There is a MASSIVE writeup on last week's Halo50k3 tournament in Atlanta over at Bungie.net, penned by Dolbex, the man who made it all happen. Give it a read. Good stuff. (Louis Wu 01:55:46 UTC) (permalink)
From the horse's a- er, mouth
Makes me sad that this has to be pointed out... but what's got to be done has got to be done. Frankie jumped into a thread on Bungie.net's Underground Forum to flatly deny that Halo 2, or a demo for Halo 2, or anything REMOTELY RELATED TO PLAYABLE CODE will be released on August 24.
Halo 2 comes out on Nov. 9th or Nov. 11th for the UK. It does NOT come out on Aug 24th. You know what does come out on Aug. 24th? Some OXM special which does NOT, and I repeat does NOT have a Halo 2 demo on it.
It doesn't get any plainer than that, folks. Go back to figuring out the ilovebees puzzle... but leave a playable Halo 2 out of it. (This was the last news post of yesterday's news day... but apparently Count Zero was a bit too circumspect in his wording; I've received 3 separate emails from folks who didn't notice that it was there at the top of the news page. I hope this is a bit more obvious.) (Louis Wu 01:49:49 UTC) (permalink)
News August 3 2004
And Then Monkeys Flew Out Of My Butt
Frankie finally weighs in in an attempt to quash an incredibly persistent rumor. Can we all stop posting this as a fact now? Thanks to Littlebigman for pointing this out. (Count Zero 23:48:55 UTC) (permalink)
Going Nowhere Fast - Finished!
Watching (and judging!) 8 hours of video was a non-trivial exercise... but we've done it. The judges' votes for our Going Nowhere Fast contest have been tallied, and a winner has emerged. By a really narrow margin, goatrope's Silent Cartographer run was edged out by Trefitch's Maw run - and Tre will be able to practice for the NEXT contest we host on his brand new Limited Edition Halo Xbox. (Kudos, too, to Cody Miller's Library run, which also garnered high marks from all judges.) Again - you can download all 10 winning runs from the Going Nowhere Fast Status page. Congratulations to EVERYONE who entered - we had a blast watching these, and it was wonderful to see the interest this generated. Even if you didn't win, just entering puts you in a pretty small minority of Halo speedrunners! (And yes, there is one more movie still coming; a best-of, cool tricks vid. Timing is still unknown, but we haven't forgotten about it!) (Louis Wu 18:48:16 UTC) (permalink)
German Halo 2 Ad posted
Wow, very nice. Halo Universe has put up a new Halo 2 print ad (German) - it's 1024x1494, 288K. (Thanks, Marc.) Beautiful! Can't wait to see this one in US mags... (Louis Wu 15:09:02 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 at G-Phoria
AngelicLionheart noticed an article on IGN PC about G-Phoria, G4TV's Game of the Year show. In it is a mention of a playable Halo 2 demo (most likely the Zanzibar level shown at E3). AngelicLionheart wonders if we'll see some footage of gameplay from someone there... To be complete, it should be noted that Frensa Geran pointed out that Halo 2 would be playable at G-Phoria last week, on our forum. For more on G-Phoria, there's also an article at Gamespot, including a tiny film with a few seconds of Zanzibar footage (I couldn't tell if it had been recycled from older releases, though). (Louis Wu 11:39:24 UTC) (permalink)
Xtournaments changes
The Xtournaments Crew writes to say that registration has been left open a bit longer, because of a mistake last Saturday - and to point out that the Spokane, WA tourney location has moved. Details can be found on the Xtournaments website. (For those just joining us, Xtournaments is a multicity 4v4 national Halo tournament taking place in various iGames locations beginning on August 14, with $15,000 in cash and prizes on the line.) (Louis Wu 11:22:20 UTC) (permalink)
The Good, The Bad, And The Chuckly
That Weasel points out that Episode 8 of 'Grunts Are People Too!!!' - The Good, The Bad, And The Chuckly - is now available for download from the GaPT website. 6.3 mb in WMP9 format, 11.8 mb in QuickTime-friendly .mp4 format, this one is an old-style western. Nice use of mods for interesting camera angles. (Louis Wu 11:17:15 UTC) (permalink)
News August 2 2004
RvB in NYC - Again
Red vs Blue has posted a fun film to pass the time until you get your Season 2 DVD (you DID order one, didn't you?) - it was displayed a few weeks ago at Lincoln Center, during the 'Wild Wild Web' program, and now it's available for the world. (This isn't sponsors-only.) Check it out! Thanks, Anlawn. (Louis Wu 20:59:36 UTC) (permalink)
Making Fiction Authors Better, One Comment At A Time
Another 8 stories added to the Fan Fiction database - it's looking like the new Fiction Comments setup is working. Lots of productive comments... keep it up! (Louis Wu 20:34:09 UTC) (permalink)
Magazines invade Bungie
A bunch of people noticed lots of activity on the Bungie Webcam last Friday and Saturday. Many, many people were playing Halo 2. (If you missed it, Tru7h Online was nice enough to archive it.) Well, the first writeup of this activity has appeared on 1UP.com; Che Chou, of Xbox Nation, has a nice update on his blog. (It's the top post at the moment.) There's no real content yet - "I can't talk about any of it for a month so ask no questions and I tell you no lies" - but at least you know who all those people are! Thanks to op_ivy for noticing. (Louis Wu 19:35:42 UTC) (permalink)
Easy way to win?
Konrad points out a pretty strange glitch that surfaced at the recent Dead Babies LANfest; the movie is truly crappy quality, and 7.4 mb in QuickTime format, but it shows KP racking up points in a slayer game by committing suicide. Can't say that I've ever seen this before... (Louis Wu 19:13:59 UTC) (permalink)
New/Old Halo Walkthrough at Xbox.com
funkmon noticed a new Walkthrough of Halo on the Xbox.com Halo site - well, not new, exactly. The walkthrough itself (a 1.2 mb, 81-page PDF file) is dated October 18, 2001 - a month before the Xbox was released. Its inclusion on Xbox.com, however, dates back no more than a week or so. Interesting... (Don't forget, if you're stuck, there are also walkthroughs at Bungie.net and right here at HBO - though these two are targeted towards Legendary play, whereas the Xbox.com one is more general.) Update: Nick points out that the walkthrough date is very odd. October 18, 2001 was almost a week before Halo went gold; how could a walkthrough have been completed by that point? On the other hand, some of the people mentioned in the credits are inside the industry... curiouser and curiouser. (Louis Wu 18:18:42 UTC) (permalink)
A possible way to increase PC framerates
A few days ago, Nick pointed out that Microsoft had released DirectX 9.0c, the next generation of DirectX. The end-user runtime is not installed via the normal Windows Update interface; you have to download it yourself, and run the installer. You'll be warned that it cannot be uninstalled, and that if you're using Windows ME or Windows XP you should set up a System Restore point before beginning. (This was enough for me to pass on it when Nick first mentioned it.) However, a number of folks on the Gearbox forums have installed this, with no noticeable ill effects, and there's a significant framerate boost for Halo PC/CE. (Folks noticed a 10 fps increase in the HaloPC timedemo... and I noticed a similar (but less quantifiable) increase in normal gameplay under Halo CE.) I'm not going to tell you to install this, because I have NO CLUE what the side effects might be - but the short-term data, at least with respect to Halo, look pretty promising. Check out the page, and decide for yourself! (Louis Wu 14:35:19 UTC) (permalink)
Gotta Catch 'em All
Last Friday's unusual Weekly Bungie Update has now been archived in our database. I think all you can say about the usefulness of this is that our db is complete. (Louis Wu 14:22:37 UTC) (permalink)
Spec Ops - The Tru7h.
Stuntmutt shows where the new Halo 2 Elite troops come from in today's One One Se7en. Personally, I'm starting to wonder about that boy - where DOES he get his inside info? (Louis Wu 13:44:19 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Headset?
NuclearWinter discovered some pretty interesting info - Microsoft is getting ready to distribute a new style of Xbox Live headset, to be packaged with a game being released later this year. Evidence (read the post) points to Halo 2. If this turns out to be accurate, I think this is the first the Halo community has heard of it! (Louis Wu 00:30:22 UTC) (permalink)
Dead Babies
Saturday was the day for the Dead Babies LAN, visited by a passel of HBO regulars. Writeups and pics in this thread, and more pics from Juggler (the host) in this one. I couldn't tell if his Furhman fetish was bigger than his Spiderman one... (You gotta love the 'HBO' spelled out in Bawls bottles, though.) (Louis Wu 00:11:21 UTC) (permalink)
News August 1 2004
More Halo Goodness
Ducain whipped up a vid showing some fun stunts on the level Halo - jumping through walls, launching marines, generally going places you're not supposed to be. It comes in two flavors - 640x480, weighing in at 35 mb, and 320x240, weighing in at 15 mb. If you're allergic to WMP9 versions, there are a pair of QuickTimes in this post. Always fun to see this stuff! (Louis Wu 22:06:43 UTC) (permalink)
cooked Gamers come back
The CPL is in full swing, with the finals underway RIGHT NOW. cooked Gamers, a team often seen around the HBO-Coerce HaloCE server, has come back from a first-round loss to face Wat in the Final Championship round. Keep an eye on Gotfrag for details... and good luck, cooked Gamers! Thanks to rapture, a cG team member, for popping in to our forum last night with an update. (Louis Wu 16:15:56 UTC) (permalink)
Arkansas Halo Tourney
ShOrtBusKid points out a Halo tourney he's organizing in Arkansas (Ft. Smith area). If you're nearby, visit the site and check out the details! (Louis Wu 15:50:15 UTC) (permalink)
Fonni Indeed
Do you love Misterchief? A tribute, from BOLL. (Louis Wu 14:10:29 UTC) (permalink)
Crimson is a meanie.
Tina Leyk pointed out another pair of new Fur-Lo panels posted today ('Priceless' and 'He's Got A Point...'); we've added them to our Fur-Lo page. Go read 'em! (Louis Wu 02:19:12 UTC) (permalink)
| August 2004 | |
