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 | August 2007 |  |
August 2007 Archived News
News August 31 2007
Bungie Weekly Update: Reviewtastic
The Bungie Weekly Update is online - earlier than usual? Maybe. It's a discussion of the reviewing that lots of European journalists have been doing of the full game this week - and the same process that US journalists will be going through soon. And the first Mister Chief in a really, really long time. Go read - either at Bungie.net, or in our Weekly Update Archive. (Louis Wu 23:44:07 UTC) (permalink)
When Shipping Departments Screw Up
Wow. nash--housewares found a thread on an Italian forum with some pictures that, if they're what they look like, do NOT bode well for keeping Halo 3 secrets until launch day. We're looking into this - but if it turns out to be what it looks like, I'm thinking we'll probably close the forum down for 3 weeks. Starting... really soon. Stay tuned. Update: MGS marketing has confirmed that those pictures are the EMPTY pre-order/promotional boxes. No game discs have shipped to any retailers yet. Thank goodness! (Louis Wu 19:29:26 UTC) (permalink)
Machinima Festival Europe 07 - it's not too late!
Are you a machinima maker with content near completion (or completed)? Hugh Hancock's discussion of the Game Content Rules mentioned, almost incidentally, Machinima Festival Europe 07, taking place in Leicester, UK in mid-October. The deadline for submissions is TOMORROW - but if you can make that deadline, and your work meets the submission guidelines, you should think seriously about entering. Update: Hugh Hancock points out that the deadline's been extended until the 8th - so you have more than a week. GET CRACKING! (Louis Wu 19:17:08 UTC) (permalink)
Content Rules, Machinima, and More
Hugh Hancock wrote up the full discussion of his conference call with Microsoft about the Game Content Usage Rules we mentioned yesterday. He mentions Halo specifically, puts forth some very common-sense arguments to some of the overreactions that hit the net soon after the Rules did, and even manages to squeeze in an xkcd reference. You can't do better than that. (He also suggests you read an article written by Fred von Lohmann, of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, on this subject - he was also in on this conference call, and, unlike Hugh, IS a lawyer. Fred's article is pretty positive as well.) Bottom line from yesterday ("Don't Worry, Be Happy") still stands. As long you're not making "Cortana does Cleveland" or something... (Louis Wu 18:37:58 UTC) (permalink)
Forging Ahead.
It's not often that a One One Se7en makes me laugh out loud without puns. Today is one of those times. (Louis Wu 16:42:37 UTC) (permalink)
Baselss Judgement
Yesterday's F@NB0Y$ was Halo-related - and pretty funny. Thanks, Pixellated.
(Louis Wu 15:39:13 UTC) (permalink)
Fans in Japan
Next Generation has a tidbit about the Halo 3 marketing flood in Japan. More of a wave, actually. They're giving out fans. (The paper kind.)
(Louis Wu 15:25:06 UTC) (permalink)
Don't Stop Believing
Jamie98s sent along another music video for your perusal - this one's set to Journey's "Don't Stop Believing", and tells the story of lost, and found, love. Available in both WMP9 format (36.5 mb) and QuickTime format (34.8 mb). (Louis Wu 14:34:54 UTC) (permalink)
Frickafrackawatermarks...
Entertainment Weekly has new Halo 3 screenshots - a baker's dozen. (Well, a few are not new - but most are. Unfortunately, all the new ones have a huge EW.com watermark right over the middle of them...) (Louis Wu 13:51:59 UTC) (permalink)
September's 360 - a Halo fest
We occasionally post magazine scans of Halo articles, though we never post stuff before the issue's off the newsstand shelves, and we never post stuff from magazines that have specifically asked to be removed from our site. One thing that hasn't happened before, though, is that until now, we have not been contacted by a magazine and asked to show off some of their Halo content before it's available for purchase at your local retailer. 360 Magazine, in the UK, changes that for us. Staff writer Gavin Mackenzie contacted us about their upcoming Halo Special Collectors Issue, due on newsstands on September 6 (that's next Saturday). They're in the UK, but Barnes and Noble in the US will carry these as well (though likely later than September 6). He sent along the cover for the article, as well as teasers for some of the Halo content (one | two). Even the parts of the magazine that have nothing to do with Halo have a Halo theme - check out the design of the Reviews section this month. If you're somewhere you can buy this - you should. Looks like it'll be a fun read!
(Louis Wu 13:33:34 UTC) (permalink)
HaloPhone
sorahn hacked his iPhone to be more Halo-flavored - there's a standard background, and a Cortana background. Nice! (Louis Wu 13:29:19 UTC) (permalink)
Make your OWN poster.
Mrguy got hold of a very large version of the MC-with-Gravity-Hammer image that will grace the third issue of Halo: Uprising - this is the same image that Ironlion's now got in poster form. If you want to download the huge one - swing by Mrguy's post. Update: seems I misunderstood; this image is just a combination of Ironlion's photos, with some photoshopping thrown in. Sorry, my bad. (Louis Wu 13:25:26 UTC) (permalink)
Hunter Armor Project - Updated
Daijitsu has updated his Hunter Armor - check out the forum post for some cool shots of the shield! (Earlier shots were mentioned here.) (Louis Wu 13:05:09 UTC) (permalink)
More on the Content Rules
Nitro288 stopped by to point out a blog post from DonkeyXote, otherwise known as Don McGowan, a Microsoft attorney who wrote up (helped write up?) the Game Content Usage Rules. (He was one of the guys who spoke to Hugh Hancock yesterday - here's his note about the call.) Again, it sounds like the gloom-and-doom predictions of the Halo machinima community, made right after the Content Rules were first posted, might have been a little premature. We'll keep an eye on this. (Louis Wu 12:53:20 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fanfic
Four stories this week in the Fan Fiction section... getting light! (Louis Wu 12:41:37 UTC) (permalink)
What's wrong with white monkeys?
weephun noticed another Maxim list that Halo made - this time, it's the '12 Worst Video Game Bosses Ever', and they've taken umbrage with a certain albino ape. (Louis Wu 11:38:34 UTC) (permalink)
A subculture of hard-core video games
Interesting mainstream writeup of Halo in Time magazine this week - it still talks about Halo as though it's an underground obsession and gamers are still geeks who live in their parents' basements... but they're STARTING to see the power of the brand. (Louis Wu 11:36:04 UTC) (permalink)
News August 30 2007
I'm thinking that was a one-time deal.
Wow. Sometimes it pays to ask. Ironlion got in contact with the artist behind the Halo: Uprising comic series - and now he's the proud owner of a very cool print. Check it out! (Louis Wu 22:27:16 UTC) (permalink)
Towing Microsoft Cars
Entertaining read about Halo 3, and the team that made it, in Sydney's The Age newspaper. It's harder to get into Bungie Studios than it is to get into the White House! Thanks, Anton P. Nym. (Louis Wu 21:15:02 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 for 3 - Phase Two
JeSteR 343 reminded us that the second phase of the Halo 3 for 3 Sweepstakes kicks off today. (US-only, sorry world.) I'd forgotten about this until Ender sent a note. (Louis Wu 19:48:52 UTC) (permalink)
Machinima - It's Not Dead, Yet
Hugh Hancock has been in the pantheon of machinima gods for as long as there's BEEN a pantheon. (Wait... IS there a pantheon?) Don't worry about it - Hugh's been around since the beginning, and he's looking out for machinima makers. He just got off a conference call with some Microsoft folks about the recently released Game Content Usage Rules, and he's summarized what he learned in a blog post at Machinima for Dummies. There's a full writeup coming soon - but the take-home message is 'Don't Worry, Be Happy'. Things are way better than they might have seemed a couple of weeks ago.
(Louis Wu 19:31:38 UTC) (permalink)
Megabattles just got mega-er
Rockslider continues to refine his megabattle techniques in Halo 1 - this time, he's figured out how to have 11 marines help you out against 34 Covenant troops - with no slowdown. Go read! (Louis Wu 19:24:58 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Korea Promotion Part 2 (of 6)
Wolverine Monkey noticed that the second (of 6) Korean Halo 3 promo pieces is now out (thanks to Kotaku for the original heads-up) - it's truly surreal, but very worth watching. Go look. (Louis Wu 19:23:18 UTC) (permalink)
Just Play
Over at GamingTV, you can download Just Play, a Halo 1 montage. Its premise is simple - don't take yourself too seriously, just play. Great footage, lots of grin moments (I loved the 'pro timing in 3... 2...' clip) - it's just fun. When I saw it was fifteen minutes long, I figured I'd watch a few minutes, enough to get the flavor, and then write this newspost - I ended up watching to the very end. Give it a look. Thanks, trigger119. (Louis Wu 19:21:15 UTC) (permalink)
Cortana With Flowers
MsValentine has been cosplaying as Cortana for a few years now - but the latest iteration of her outfit simply ROCKS. She sent along a bunch of pics - you gotta see these. (She's got a profile over at Red vs Blue, if you want to say hi... but remember, she's married.) (Louis Wu 12:13:14 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief Suite
Sean Mortensen has sent in a new score - this one's called 'Master Chief Suite', and is an homage to the Chief. Sean believes he might sacrifice himself in Halo 3, and has written this to honor this sacrifice. 2.5 mb, MP3 format. (Louis Wu 11:42:16 UTC) (permalink)
Life-sized Halo 2 MC on eBay
There's another life-sized Master Chief sculpture for sale on eBay (thanks, Red Breast) - from the writing on the box, I'm pretty sure that it's the style shown in pictures 2,3,4, and NOT the style shown in picture 1. It's sealed in a box, though, so I COULD be wrong. (I don't think so.) Current bid is a bit over $600 - don't forget to add a few hundred for shipping. (Louis Wu 11:38:39 UTC) (permalink)
GE looks at Halo 3
Another hands-on writeup, this time from GamingExcellence, based on what THEY saw in Toronto this week. The writer didn't get the saved games feature. (Louis Wu 11:02:11 UTC) (permalink)
Upping Expectations
Pro-G wrote up a first-look article about Halo 3, based on what they saw at Leipzig last week. Someone should compile a list of these. (Louis Wu 11:00:12 UTC) (permalink)
IGN's Halo 3 FAQ updated
IGN has updated their Halo 3 FAQ with new pages devoted to weapons and equipment. Thanks, FuzzyWhisper. (Louis Wu 10:58:25 UTC) (permalink)
A summary of Uprising
Altfan113 pointed out a new article about the Halo: Uprising comic series at halo3.msn.com - we haven't posted a full article list, and these aren't dated, so it's actually possible it's not that new, but I don't remember reading it before. Go see! (Louis Wu 10:54:40 UTC) (permalink)
News August 29 2007
Hero - it's not just a sandwich
Maxim has put up a 'Greatest Video Game Heroes of All Time' - seems a bit dodgy to me. (I mean, they include the kid from Bully, but leave out Link?) Regardless, Master Chief is there. Thanks, Devin Olsen. (Louis Wu 22:51:25 UTC) (permalink)
Halosity from 1Up
1Up continues their flood of Halo 3 coverage - today's entries are up. There's a preview of Forge, an official announcement of Part 2 of Revisiting Halo (which actually went live yesterday), and then Part 3 of that same blog series, which finishes the recap of the first game. Thanks to failedparachute, who pointed it out so succinctly on our forum. (Louis Wu 22:06:50 UTC) (permalink)
I need a gulp.
New at the Bungie Store - a 32oz Master Chief cup. Because what would you do if you didn't have a quart of your favorite beverage in front of you? Thanks, rkwlnvrdy13. (Louis Wu 17:47:37 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 - Gold. Officially.
It's been strongly believed by the community for a few days now - but today it becomes official. Xbox.com has a news item about Halo 3 being relelased to manufacturing. Less than 27 days! Thanks to User, who saw it at The Man Room, and RT, who pointed out the Xbox.com note. Update: Now on Bungie.net, too. (Louis Wu 16:56:40 UTC) (permalink)
Moving Day
The fifth (and final) RvB Exclusive Retail Video is now up at Gamestop/EBGames - both teams are finishing up their packing and moving, on their way to Halo 3! Poor Grif. Thanks, rkwlnvrdy13. (Louis Wu 16:33:37 UTC) (permalink)
Custom faceplate - cool, but pricey
gameSniped has a shot of a pretty cool Halo 3 faceplate for a 360 - take a look! Currently at $100, with 4 and a half days to go... hmm. Steep! (Louis Wu 16:26:42 UTC) (permalink)
What's the household equivalent of a spartan laser?
Warbow continues in his recently revived production of Calvin and Halo strips - this one's even topical! (Louis Wu 16:16:24 UTC) (permalink)
Fair Replay
Narcogen's latest blog entry looks at replayability - and what Halo 3 brings to the party. Interesting read! Go visit Rampancy.net. (Louis Wu 15:57:14 UTC) (permalink)
Irrelephant.
Yesterday's Bungie Podcast makes you wonder if today's One One Se7en shouldn't be titled... oh, never mind. I'm not good enough at puns to come up with a word that sounds like 'Behemoth' but means 'unimportant'. Just go read the flippin' joke. (Louis Wu 14:54:33 UTC) (permalink)
It's Back, Baby!
It's been a really long time since we've done a 7 on the 7th contest - but then, we're schwagwhores, and we only do these when someone gives us stuff we can give away. This time, the sugar daddies are over at Freeverse - they've got a bunch of copies of Marathon: Durandal they want to spread around, and all you gotta do to get one is draw a silly picture. (Trust me - this contest is NOT about artistic proficiency.) Go read the full rules on the 7 on the 7th page. (Louis Wu 14:35:26 UTC) (permalink)
IKP Countdown Comics #1
Haloplayer stopped by with a link to an Injured Knee Productions comic celebrating the upcoming arrival of Halo 3. Yes, it takes all kinds. (Louis Wu 14:03:18 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Korea Promotion Part 1 (of 6)
shinesevens let us know that there's a YouTube movie up showing off the first of 6 parts of the Halo 3 Korea Promotion - this one has a Master Chief posing as a statue in a mall, and then freaking out the folks who want to touch. Cute!
(Louis Wu 13:53:21 UTC) (permalink)
Tourneys around the US
Got word of a couple of different tournaments coming up soon. Zoolu let us know about Battle for Scouting a tourney to benefit the Boy Scouts - they've got a MySpace page, or you can read about it at 1Up.com, if you're allergic to MySpace. Entry fee is $50/team, 32 team max, with up to $800 going to the winning team (depending on participation, I'd assume). This takes place in Manitowoc, WI, on September 24. The second tournament is a 2v2 tourney being held in Redlands, CA on September 11 - Injunfett has the details (check the Toads Game Center website for the nitty gritty). $40/team, up to $250 for the winners. Go practice! (Louis Wu 13:49:37 UTC) (permalink)
Get a Job
Simpsons Rule posted a music video set to the Offspring's 'Why Don't You Get a Job' - it uses Halo and Halo 2 cutscenes to tell a story. General consensus (which I agree with) is that the Halo parts are better - but it's a fun movie in its entirety. Grab a copy! (It's about 17.5 mb, depending on version.) (Louis Wu 13:42:20 UTC) (permalink)
Forge-o-rama
The latest Bungie Podcast was posted yesterday evening - Frankie and Luke talk to Tyson and Lars about Forge, and all the cool stuff you can do with it. Intriguing tidbits - Frankie calls it 'Forge' while Tyson and Lars call it 'The Forge'... and 'Infection' (a Bungie-created Zombies variant) is officially in the final game. Neither of those tidbits are even relevant to the podcast as a whole; listen for some awesome ideas about how you'll be able to use this tool when Halo 3 comes out. First heads-up came from AshofPompei, on our forum. (Louis Wu 13:14:06 UTC) (permalink)
Location, Location, Location
There's a short bit at Stuff.co.nz about the filming of the second Neill Blomkamp short - seems it was filmed in a landfill. Thanks, Flustered. (Louis Wu 12:07:09 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 at X07
X07 took place in Toronto this week - you can find writeups at Canada.com, the online network Digital Journal, and the online portal for The Toronto Star, among other places. Halo 3 plays a pretty big part of everyone's impressions, apparently. Update: more impressions at Angry Robot (thanks, Rock Opera Jr) and PC World (not nearly as impressive as Angry Robot). (Louis Wu 11:46:06 UTC) (permalink)
UTC - now easier to read
Kudos to Nick, who suggested a small change in our news post layout; we're still posting news with UTC timestamps, but the link now goes to a page that should make it easy to see what that time is in your local zone. Thanks, Nick! (Louis Wu 11:34:53 UTC) (permalink)
News August 28 2007
Hypomatic
Tied the Leader this week contains content from community members - a substantial writeup of PAX (from lots of people), and a review of the IMAX event last week, from TTL L Askan. Thanks, as always, to XerxdeeJ, for keeping us from digging for this stuff. (Louis Wu 18:59:32 UTC) (permalink)
Baggy McBaggington
Did you like that messenger bag that Laird posted a pic of this morning? How about that sling bag over at Gamestop, as noticed by X1Zero? Well, okay, fine - then what about THIS messenger bag, picked up by Boxer? All of these are alternatives to the huge number of bags being marketed by Enmon, or the bags at the Bungie Store, or... ah, hell, there are more Halo-related bags out there than you've got stuff to put in 'em. (Louis Wu 18:44:55 UTC) (permalink)
Grunt Plushie Templates - Complete!
A couple of weeks ago, Horus stopped by with news that he'd posted some of the templates needed to sew his Grunt Plushie - Brandon dropped into our forum today to point out that the other half of those templates have now been posted. Go grab the Head and Armor Front pages - and you should be good to go! (Louis Wu 18:29:25 UTC) (permalink)
Hush yo' casket!
rapture was first with the news that The Hushed Casket has reached its fifth birthday - go read about it (writeup by Midnight)! Lots of pics, and news of a halo 3 LAN coming up in October. Congrats, guys! (Louis Wu 14:36:30 UTC) (permalink)
More Revisiting Halo
LoneRanger 2.5 pointed out that the Retronauts blog on 1Up has been updated - Part 2 covers Silent Cartographer to the Library. (Louis Wu 14:32:31 UTC) (permalink)
The Minibosses Rock the House
The Minibosses played some Halo music at PAX this weekend - folks loved it. You can watch it on YouTube - thanks, Laird. (Louis Wu 14:28:55 UTC) (permalink)
New stuff at BeintheGame
chewpathingy noticed that the Halo 3 Slurpee Sweeps page has been updated - there are new wallpapers you can download, if you have UPC codes from special limited-edition Halo products, along with a list of prizes, and some other stuff - go poke around! (Louis Wu 14:25:04 UTC) (permalink)
New Bungie Stuff from PAX
Laird took a few shots of the new Bungie schwag he was able to buy at PAX this weekend (this stuff should be available at the Bungie Store in the not-too-distant future). That stuff looks great! (Louis Wu 14:21:54 UTC) (permalink)
Top of the sales charts - before release
There are no references for this, but if it's true, it's pretty interesting; Portalit lists the top ten selling games (all platforms) on the US sales charts (for this week? Dunno) - and Halo 3 - the UNRELEASED Halo 3 - is in there twice; once at 2nd place (!!) and once at 7th place for the Limited Edition. That's rather insane, if you ask me. (Louis Wu 14:14:11 UTC) (permalink)
All Things Considered discusses Halo 3
NPR's "All Things Considered" had a piece on the Console Wars yesterday; the gist of the piece is that hardware has been driving Nintendo's current sales lead, but with the release of Halo 3, Microsoft is betting that software will take over (and the tide will turn). Thanks, Cornballer. (Louis Wu 14:07:24 UTC) (permalink)
HaloClix Preview
GamesFirst has a preview of the Halo 3 ActionClix game (along with new shots of the pieces) - go look! (Louis Wu 14:02:30 UTC) (permalink)
McFarlane Hunter?
Interesting - Littlebigman noticed new listings at his favorite toy store - one of them claims that a McFarlane-created Hunter will be available in March 2008. This model is not listed on the Series 1 or Series 2 releases, as posted in July. New stuff? (Louis Wu 13:58:24 UTC) (permalink)
News August 27 2007
Behind The Scenes Shots
I posted these a little while ago, but forgot to front-page them. Microsoft distributed some 'Behind the Scenes' pictures when the second Blomkamp short went live today - you can see them over at TeamXbox, as pointed out by S043 - but we've got 'em too, bigger, and without a watermark. Go look. (Louis Wu 23:24:44 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief, Playing in Traffic
From ClubMS, in Korea (via GameBrink, via FileFront) - a whole bunch of new pics of the Master Chief and other Halo stuff. Some of the same stuff posted earlier today - but lots of new pics. Nice!
(Louis Wu 23:18:03 UTC) (permalink)
Bioshock vs Halo 3?
Wow. Games Radar has put up an article comparing Halo 3 to Bioshock; according to GR's senior editor, Joe McNeilly, Bioshock pwns (their choice of words) Halo 3 in Story, Setting, Art, Multiplayer (!?!!), and Combat. Go see if you agree. Thanks, Charley117.
(Louis Wu 23:00:38 UTC) (permalink)
At this rate, nobody has to buy ANYTHING
DHalo noticed yet ANOTHER Mountain Dew Game Fuel-related contest - this one over at Gamestop. Enter and win lots of stuff. As usual, US residents, 18 or older. Sorry, European kids. (Louis Wu 22:50:09 UTC) (permalink)
New Omegathon vids at GT
MasterChief2829 pointed out 3 new films from the PAX Omegathon competition last night - all are available for streaming or download, in WMP9 or QuickTime, in SD or HD, over at GameTrailers. Lots of good stuff to see! (Louis Wu 22:39:28 UTC) (permalink)
EGM Halo 3 Blowout - Monday
masterskill let us know that 1Up has put up Monday's Halo 3 content on their minisite. You can find a preview of coop and the metagame aspect of Halo 3 - how to play with s7yle. You can a map breakdown of Sandtrap and Epitaph. And LoneRanger 2.5 reminds us that the new EGM Live podcast is also Halo 3-flavored - with Luke Smith as a guest. (Louis Wu 22:33:14 UTC) (permalink)
The Vidjagames Show looks at Halo
Wil & Will let us know that the first episode of their new podcast, The Vidjagames Show, focuses on Halo 3 and the Halo universe. Just under half an hour long, 26 mb. Go listen. (Louis Wu 22:26:49 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3: The Ride
Everybody's paying attention to Halo 3, and Halo Wars, and the PAX stuff, and the WETA shorts - but not Kotaku. They're focused on what's important: Halo 3, The Ride. Check it out. (Louis Wu 21:30:18 UTC) (permalink)
Combat, Part 1
A high-quality version of the second Neill Blomkamp/WETA short is now online at halo3.msn.com - it'll be up on Marketplace tomorrow. Not only is this not shakeycam, but it actually ends properly - absolutely worth the watch. Thanks, Red_Breast. (According to black asgard, it's available on GameVideos, as well. Might be a better choice for those who want a downloadable QT version - though the GV version is 640x360, vs 832x480 for the msn version.) Update 2: Google News tells me it's at GameTrailers, too. WMV is even 720p. (Louis Wu 20:13:48 UTC) (permalink)
The Power of Fans
Many of you probably remember Peter Marks - he was a Bungie.net admin during the Myth days, then he worked for Bungie during Halo's development (Hang 'em High is his design, among others), before moving off to other jobs in the games industry. I recently got word that Peter's been diagnosed with a pretty aggressive form of cancer. Now, we might not be able to help with the medical side of that - but we can sure help with the encouragement side. We've set up a simple website where you can leave your best wishes for Peter - stop by and let him know you're pulling for him! Thanks to his friends at Bungie and Certain Affinity for getting this started. Peter, if you're reading this - we love you. Good luck. (Louis Wu 17:55:11 UTC) (permalink)
Concert featuring Halo music in Norway
HaloNorge has a news article (in Norwegian) about a VGL-like concert happening in Oslo in the near future - in the words of Stian Øby Johansen:
Microsoft Norway is arranging some kind of VGL-ish concert in Oslo and the famous choir "The Silver Boys" and guitarist Ronni Le Tekrø will be interpreting the Halo-music. Also, the concert will feature a VJ'ing (video jockeying) group that will give the concert a visual element as well.
If you're near Norway, give this a look! (Louis Wu 17:38:22 UTC) (permalink)
This is not a news post.
There was something here before, but it's gone now. (Louis Wu 17:13:10 UTC) (permalink)
UK Halo 3 Tourney - 10K on the line
XLEAGUE.TV, a dedicated eSports channel/website in the UK, is kicking off their first Halo 3 tournament on September 26 - it's a 4v4 tourney, and they've got £10,000 to give away to the top 4 places. Check it out! (Louis Wu 16:57:08 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars Demo - now up
The Halo Wars demo is now available for downloading - you can grab it from the HaloWars.com website (WMP9, three sizes, ranging from 61 to 470 mb), or streaming from Xbox.com - GET TO DOWNLOADING! (Louis Wu 16:25:57 UTC) (permalink)
Below Par.
I think Stuntmutt's been waiting to use the joke in today's One One Se7en since this strip started. Thanks a LOT, Bungie. (Louis Wu 16:06:59 UTC) (permalink)
Korean Marketing Push
Wow, shinesevens sent us a link to a Korean gaming site - you can use Google to translate it, but really what you want are the pictures on the bottom. Now THOSE are some cool marketing tools! (Louis Wu 15:59:44 UTC) (permalink)
I hear grunts are tougher in Halo 3, too.
Warbow sent along a new Calvin and Halo this morning - I think Calvin needs some tact lessons. (Louis Wu 15:17:48 UTC) (permalink)
HaloClix at PAX
Kanbo was at PAX yesterday, as well - he played a lot of HaloClix. And took a bunch of pictures. Check out his posts! (Louis Wu 13:23:35 UTC) (permalink)
Omegathon - more like HALOTHON
The big news last night was at PAX, the gaming event put on by the Penny Arcade boys up in Seattle. Every year, there's an Omegathon, but this year the final game wasn't a classic from days of yore, it was Halo 3. There are writeups at Joystiq (thanks, Trunks), our own forum (thanks, CougRon), and TeamXbox, as well as video at GameVideos (thanks, AvalonDrew). Footage of the Firebomb and flamethrower in action - what are you waiting for? (Louis Wu 13:17:00 UTC) (permalink)
Night Falls
Jamie98s has released a new music video, set to Strata's Night Falls - it tells the story of mysterious murders on Turf, and a solution to the problem. Great effects. You can download it in WMP9 or Quicktime formats over at GamingTV. Thanks, trigger119. (Louis Wu 12:13:07 UTC) (permalink)
Win a Halo 3 360, if you're down under
Wow. If you live in Australia or New Zealand, you need to check this out. Pidgeo is giving away a Halo 3 Special Edition Xbox 360, plus a Halo 3 poster, signed by Frankie and Lars Bakken - all you need to do to win is send your best Halo or Halo 2 gameplay story (100 words or less) to him before September 15. Go read more details at his site. I found this on the Delicate Genius blog. (Louis Wu 12:06:48 UTC) (permalink)
A look at Halo Wars - today
MasterChief2829 noticed a post at Gamer's Creed that contains a video interview with Harter Ryan, Ensemble's executive producer, which mentions a 'demo' for Halo Wars which will be hitting Xbox Live Marketplace sometime today. Before you get TOO excited, though - Magni Harvald found a description of this demo over at Computer and Video Games. It's not playable - it's a video demonstration. Still... keep your eyes on the New Releases section of Marketplace. (It's not up yet.) (Louis Wu 11:59:33 UTC) (permalink)
News August 26 2007
The Riot 62
Sigafoos let us know that The Riot 62 is now up - the longest podcast they've put up in a while, at 46 minutes (and nearly 19 mb), it contains community news, clan updates, an interview with a member of Team Awesomeness, and more zombies than you can shake a torn arm at. (Louis Wu 19:48:26 UTC) (permalink)
Resort Circuit
I'm not sure I understand how this works - but Team Conquest, HaloResort, and Spartan286 are hosting Resort Circuit, an event that brings Halo 1's Race gametype to Halo 2 - for money. (I think.) Read more details in KingChuck's forum post. (Louis Wu 17:25:48 UTC) (permalink)
A Celebration of Halo
halosavior sent word of The Flood, a project to honor Halo on the eve of Halo 3. They (Abyss Studios) are looking for content folks are willing to submit to them
that they can showcase just before Halo 3 is released. You can read more details in this forum post, and get a sense for what's being submitted in the Flood forum they've set up. (Louis Wu 17:19:18 UTC) (permalink)
Freaking amazing looking, plain and simple
Achievement Junkie was on hand at the Leipzig show, and has now posted a Hands-on of the Halo 3 level they played there. (Louis Wu 12:57:10 UTC) (permalink)
If it's NZ, it must be about Peter Jackson.
Flustered pointed out a piece put together by a New Zealand TV station - Frankie talks about the Peter Jackson connection without saying very much. (He's good at that.) Nice clip, anyway.
(Louis Wu 12:55:13 UTC) (permalink)
Halosophy opens its doors
FireDragon04 has started a website devoted to Halo theories - his first movie is up. Go see what you think.
(Louis Wu 12:52:13 UTC) (permalink)
MC Drawing
oriol003 let us know that GruntsRUs has a nice pencil drawing of the Master Chief. (Louis Wu 12:50:27 UTC) (permalink)
Cash for Clips
Halownage is offering $50 for the Best Flag/Ball/Bomb Kill in their latest Clip of the Week contest. Go give 'em your best! (Louis Wu 12:49:03 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 - Gold?
In 2001, Matt Soell let us know that Halo had gone Gold. In 2004, we received official word again, this time from SketchFactor. We've received no public word this time around - but this screenshot posted by Lamonster (and the Halo 3 entry on Frankie's Mygamercard.com profile - thanks, FuzzyWhisper) would suggest that the game has, indeed, been finished. If we get official confirmation, we'll certainly post it - but it's a good bet that it's in the can. (Louis Wu 12:32:23 UTC) (permalink)
HAFT! Can you dig it?
Elnea stopped by to point out the latest few episodes of Halo Action Figure Theater - just remember, half the battle to beating an addiction is admitting you have a problem. (Louis Wu 12:24:51 UTC) (permalink)
omg sword gimme
Major Silva noticed that DigitalPh33r has released "Master Chief Sucks at Halo 2", a sequel to 'Master Chief Sucks at Halo'. This one is as profanity-laced as the original, and as on-target with its lampooning of teamkililng griefers on Xbox Live. I thought it was pretty funny. (Louis Wu 12:21:42 UTC) (permalink)
News August 25 2007
HaloClix - now with spoilers
An article at Ars Technica looks at the upcoming HaloClix release from WizKids - and warns of story spoilers that will be available before Halo 3 ships. Hmm... (Louis Wu 13:51:51 UTC) (permalink)
Xbox.com massively updates its Halo 3 portal
There's a boatload of new content at the Xbox.com Halo 3 portal - check out the Articles section, for example. Too many to list - just go through 'em. Poke around! (Louis Wu 13:48:26 UTC) (permalink)
Chief of Death
Okay... what? sleepingdragon80 created a Chief of Death. Boredom is a wonderful thing. (Louis Wu 13:46:03 UTC) (permalink)
2nd Blomkamp Short - Color Corrected
Awesome. DocOctavius was unhappy with the color in the recently mentioned Blomkamp short shakeycammed at Leipzig - so he corrected it. Looks great now! (Still waiting on official word on this one...) Save his bandwidth - use our link. (Louis Wu 12:16:18 UTC) (permalink)
Create your own Halo 3 Trailer
Wow, bizarre. You can make your own Halo 3 Mashup by combining clips from released trailers - and there's also a link to enter a Halo 3 gear sweepstakes (17 or over, US resident). Swing by Halo3.msn.com for more details. (Louis Wu 11:44:59 UTC) (permalink)
Nathan Fillion as a marine?
Phoenix Sabe pointed us to this thread at Bungie.net - he claims that he's got confirmation that Nathan Fillion, who plays Mal in Firefly and Serenity, can be heard in one of the new gameplay clips coming out of Leipzig. There's no mention of him on the IMDb page for Halo 3 - but that doesn't mean Sabe's wrong. I guess we'll know soon! Update: S043 (and a bunch of people who followed up) heard the same thing. (Louis Wu 11:27:15 UTC) (permalink)
Dream Of Super Caffeination
Sane Intolerant combined Halo 3 Game Fuel with Halo 2 action figures, and ended up with a new episode of Halo Toy Box. Check it out! (Louis Wu 11:17:53 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 gets a '15' from the BBFC
deftangel let us know that the official BBFC rating for Halo 3 (the game, not the extra discs this time around) is "15" - so the "12" rating of the supplementary discs in the Limited and Legendary editions is overriden. (The rating page also reveals that there are 41 minutes worth of cutscenes - a significant reduction from Halo 2. Bungie has already said that more of the story will be revealed through gameplay this time around, but this is the first hard evidence of that.) (Louis Wu 10:54:49 UTC) (permalink)
Greatest skip day of the year.
Nate R. did some interviews at the IMAX showing on Tuesday - you can watch the video at GameVideos.com. (Louis Wu 10:28:58 UTC) (permalink)
2old2clan
2old2play talked to Frankie about clan support (well, the planned lack of it) in Halo 3 - go read why Bungie's not worried, and thinks you shouldn't be either.
(Louis Wu 10:28:35 UTC) (permalink)
News of the Halo 3 Official Guide
MCV confirms that Prima and Piggyback (the companies that created the Halo 2 strategy guide) are once again working together to bring you the Halo 3 Official guide, which will be on store shelves before the game. Do your best to avoid spoiling yourself! (Louis Wu 10:27:59 UTC) (permalink)
Worst Newspost Ever
There's a ton of Halo news waiting to be posted - but I haven't been around much the last couple of days. Start with tonight's Bungie Weekly Update - more will come tomorrow. Sounds like Bungie's busier than I am... (You can, as always, read it in our Weekly Update Archive if you prefer.) (Louis Wu 03:14:07 UTC) (permalink)
News August 24 2007
1Up Blowout, Day 2
Day Two of 1Up's massive Halo 3 coverage is now up - a post-mortem interview with Tyson Green and Lars Bakken about what was learned from the beta, a quick look at Guardian and Last Resort, and a blog entry that looks back at Halo 1. Good stuff! (Louis Wu 21:44:19 UTC) (permalink)
More Tsavo Tsexiness!
Velez notes that Gamersyde has two new not-so-shakey cam videos of part of the Tsavo Highway level, plus footage of the replay feature. I'm tsalivating now! (mnemesis 17:53:28 UTC) (permalink)
Fan Fancies
The writers are quiet this week. There are three stories for your reading pleasure in the Fan Fiction section today. Enjoy them. Pax. (Crux Fidelis 15:23:52 UTC) (permalink)
Boo, Indeed
Today's One One Se7en reminds us that classics can be puns, and puns can be classic. Sometimes. Or not, as the case may be. (mnemesis 06:50:26 UTC) (permalink)
More IMAX Reportage
AvalonDrew checks in on the forum with a monster post detailing everything seen and heard at the recent IMAX Halo 3 gig. Go salivate some more! (mnemesis 06:46:53 UTC) (permalink)
IGN on Forge
ZD noticed a new article on Forge over at IGN. Nothing too new, but worth salivating over all the same. (mnemesis 06:44:02 UTC) (permalink)
News August 23 2007
Data Jacking?
Um... I'm not sure I understand all that's going on here... but some weird stuff showed up on our forum this morning. Before you go there, though - visit This Spartan Life; it seems to start there (check the front page, then visit their episodes page). (Louis Wu 11:58:57 UTC) (permalink)
Blomkamp's Second Short Surfaces
Avateur (and Menelven) point out that over at Gamersyde, there's a shakeycam version of Neill Blomkamp's second Halo live-action short. This one shows combat between ODSTs and Brutes, and I'm guessing it was shown (and filmed) at Leipzig this week. As with most footage being broadcast from the show, this probably doesn't qualify as a 'leak' - but I'd bet that it'll be available in true digital format in the very near future; you might want to wait to enjoy it at the highest possible quality. Your call. (It's possible that you're not seeing the whole thing, either; it ends very abruptly. This might be intentional - or it might just be that only part was shown, or recorded.) (Louis Wu 10:43:44 UTC) (permalink)
1Up Halo 3 Flood Starts
1Up.com has begun its nearly month-long Halo 3 intense coverage - the first three items are up now. A new screenshot gallery (with a great collection of new shots), a hands-on preview of Halo 3's fourth campaign mission, and a blog from editor Jeremy Parish, looking back on Halo's roots, round out the first day's content. Nice! Thanks, darthbob (and doober187). (Louis Wu 10:38:21 UTC) (permalink)
IMAX show continues to wow
More writeups of the IMAX Halo 3 showing Tuesday night - from professional journalists at The Seattle Times and fansites like GruntsRUs. Everybody loved it! (Louis Wu 10:31:50 UTC) (permalink)
Another clip roundup
More footage, mostly from Leipzig: Daily Motion and TeamXbox both have different sizes of the same IGN video - a nice multiplayer montage. In fact, Oliver from Halo Base (in Germany) sent us a link that contains all the clips they've found so far - go ahead and check it out if you think you're missing something. (Louis Wu 10:21:39 UTC) (permalink)
RvB thoughts
Computerworld has a look back on Rooster Teeth's effect on machinima, triggered by the fact that the Season Five DVD is now available (my preordered copy arrived last week) - go read, then (if you don't already have it) go buy! (Louis Wu 09:58:54 UTC) (permalink)
Uprising - now on shelves
A lot of people pointed out that we neglected to mention that Marvel's first episode of Halo: Uprising went on sale yesterday. Consider yourself informed. (Feedback on our forum - full of spoilers, so don't read this unless you're done with the issue - has been positive.) Stories like this one, from the Elmira (NY) Star-Gazette, will show up a lot this week. (Louis Wu 09:50:58 UTC) (permalink)
News August 22 2007
I think he needs the space for a banquet table.
PFG is selling off the doubles in his (rather ridiculously large) Joyride Action Figure collection - go see what there is, and make him an offer! (Louis Wu 23:54:04 UTC) (permalink)
Spartanarena
We got email from Tucker Barrie, who let us know about one of the coolest stop-motion Halo films to pass through our doors in quite some time. It's called 'Spartanarena', and probably not for the reason you're thinking. You can download it in QuickTime (26.4 mb) or WMP9 (21.1 mb) formats - or you can watch it on YouTube, if you must (the quality's better on the downloadables). Don't miss this one. (Louis Wu 22:10:02 UTC) (permalink)
Pairing Up
Gamespot has a nice writeup of Halo 3 Coop, as played in Sydney. Thanks, Sir Topham Hat. (Louis Wu 22:05:40 UTC) (permalink)
Even more gameplay clips
Astounding number of singleplayer clips appearing today - Nucflash found another one at IGTV, and Bootsman found a pair (one | two) at GameVideos.com. I'm sure there'll be more - but I've got to call it quits at this point. (Louis Wu 21:53:36 UTC) (permalink)
Those ironic Bungie guys...
Awesome. If things go as planned, standbyers in Halo 3 will find themselves playing only other standbyers. (Well... and people with really crappy connections.) Bungie.net forum post found by Nucflash. (Louis Wu 21:43:23 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 in airy height play
Halo Universe has some photos of the Halo 3 Ferris Wheel we mentioned a couple of days ago, set up at the Leipzig Games Convention - as the pics show, there are 360s set up in each car, so you can play Halo 3 as you rotate over Leipzig. Thanks, Marc. (Post title is Google's wonderful translation skillz at work.) (Louis Wu 21:37:45 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 - IMAX Audio Report
360RantRave.com was at the IMAX showing last night; they grabbed some audio from the show. (Bungie's restrictions barred "Photography, video cameras and cell phone camera use" - no mention of audio recorders, so I guess this is okay.) Thanks, SIRBOE. (Louis Wu 20:34:26 UTC) (permalink)
Peter Jackson, Back in the News
There's an article in the New Zealand Herald that purports to be about Peter Jackson's Halo game - but really, it's just about how it's not really related to the Trilogy, story-wise. Thanks to Blackstar for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 18:53:18 UTC) (permalink)
Campaign Footage
There's a small clip of actual gameplay from Halo 3's campaign, shakeycam'd off a monitor and recorded during the Leipzig Games Convention, at IGN (first movie on the page). (Sort of has that start-of-Delta-Halo feel to it... but prettier.) It's actually linked from this hands-on article, which also contains the "Top 5 Leipzig GC Halo 3 Moments". Give it a read! Thanks, Spenser. Update: there's another clip, showing part of a singleplayer level and a tiny bit of a multiplayer level, recorded at Leipzig, at IGTV - thanks, serpx. (Louis Wu 18:44:59 UTC) (permalink)
Opus Machinima
Andras Ostrom has sent along a new, and MASSIVE, piece of Halo machinima; it's 30 minutes long, and weighs in at about 200 mb, depending on format. It's called 'Opus Machinima', and it pokes fun at... well, the entire genre. It's really nicely filmed, has great voice acting, and contains quite a few funny moments - if you've got the bandwidth, it's worth the download. You can grab it in either QuickTime or WMP9 formats; we can, again, spread this out over multiple servers if the bandwidth gets tight. Update: The film has its own website - take a look. (Louis Wu 16:01:34 UTC) (permalink)
Retardant.
Bungie's new weapon choices might cause some trouble during gameplay - check today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 15:16:53 UTC) (permalink)
Forging New Paths
The Age's Screen Play blog has a great discussion about Forge - info collected during the Sydney playtest, but embargoed until today. The more I read about this tool, the more drool collects on my keyboard... (Louis Wu 15:11:19 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Audio - Finished?
Over at Rampancy.net, Narcogen noticed a note from Marty on the Marty Army group page that suggests that Halo 3 Audio might be nearly done. I guess that's good, because the game has to get to replicators soon... (Louis Wu 13:29:38 UTC) (permalink)
Where's Graham Cracker Chief when you need him?
Flipa15 posted his Mallow Chief (170k) creation (thanks, Narc) to the denizens of IRC; in his words, 'a bit stale, but still delicious.' (Louis Wu 13:16:40 UTC) (permalink)
Gamestop Halo 3 Ad
Over the last few days, we've received a number of reports of a commercial put together by Gamestop, saying goodbye to Halo 2 on the way to Halo 3 - but the very first time I saw it was at LiveVideo.com last Friday, when I received a Google News Alert mentioning it. I can't remember what distracted me from posting it then - but it's up now. Go watch. Pretty fun. (Louis Wu 13:12:44 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 at IMAX - Tons of Web Content
There are a number of writeups of the IMAX showing of Halo 3 last night in Seattle - you can find them around the web at places like Gamerscoreblog and CyberRoach - but there's also quite a bit of info in our own forum. x1zero started a thread while waiting in line last night - but the real meat is in threads like CougRon's, or THASF's, both of which contain lots of content about what was there. Sounds like it was a blast! (Louis Wu 12:10:17 UTC) (permalink)
It's all about immersion.
Gamespy has put up a nice preview of the upcoming ActionClix Halo figures - they caught up with WizKids at GenCon last week. Thanks, Black Six. (Louis Wu 12:00:33 UTC) (permalink)
Oops.
Saw this on Digg - a French TV channel is sponsoring a contest involving photoshopping Halo 3 content into your own pictures. The winner gets to play Halo 3 live against a famous personality. Sounds cool, right? The problem is... there's zero moderation. This has led to a whole bunch of totally inappropriate images being posted - if you follow the Digg link (it goes to a French language website, but Google does a pretty good job of translating it), be aware that the content they've highlighted is REALLY not safe for work (or school). That said - the whole situation is pretty amusing... unless you're a PR flak for Microsoft. (Louis Wu 11:54:28 UTC) (permalink)
Did you know games have laws?
ClassyDude put up a podcast which had Laird and RvB community member Dark54555 discussing the new Microsoft Game Content Rules, and how they affect Halo machinima. You can find it on this page - you're looking for Episode 2 (it's down near the bottom). (Louis Wu 11:48:41 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Tourney near Nashville
bluerunner wrote to let us know about a Halo 2 tournament that will be happening in Hendersonville, TN (near Nashville) on September 21 and 22. Grand prize is a Legendary Edition of Halo 3, all proceeds go to charity. They're shooting for 32 4-player teams. More details can be found on their web page. (Louis Wu 11:37:59 UTC) (permalink)
News August 21 2007
Extra Content Preview at GI
Game Invasion has a montage created from the extra content DVD included with the Limited and Legendary Editions - if you want a taste of what you'd be getting by buying something above the standard edition... check this out. Thanks, Sir Topham Hat.
(Louis Wu 22:38:11 UTC) (permalink)
kill.switch
Jamie98s has put up a lot of machinima over the years. We've got a new one for you - it's a monster. It's called "kill.switch", and it reproduces the plotline (and gets all of its audio from) the Namco Bandai game of the same name. It works very well in the Halo engine, actually. Jamie's description:
A war-crazed maniac captures Bishop, a supersoldier. He implants a neurolink in his head that gives control of his body to a third party. Archer (the war-crazed maniac) aims to create wars in every country he can, then sell the supersoldier technology to each country to make billions of dollars. But when an old friend hacks into the neurolink things dont go as planned for Archer.
This video is 26 minutes long. You can grab it in WMP9 format (168 mb) or QuickTime format (161 mb) - if you have trouble with the download, let us know and I'll spread the load over more servers. Update: trigger119 has mirrored the WMP9, and self-encoded a QuickTime version using H.264, over at GamingTV. Grab 'em there if you have trouble with our links. (Louis Wu 22:30:21 UTC) (permalink)
Posthuman Teaser
nubpwner91 wrote to point out a teaser for >H (or Posthuman, if you'd prefer). It's short (a minute long), and pretty small (just over 5 mb in WMP9 or QuickTime formats). Give it a look - it's promising! (Louis Wu 22:09:23 UTC) (permalink)
Open House
The fourth episode of Red vs Blue's Halo 3 preparedness series is now available for viewing at Gamestop.com. Church helps the Red team pick some prime real estate. Did you know that High Ground is in a great school district? Thanks, PrideofWV and ActiveCamoElite. (Louis Wu 21:31:29 UTC) (permalink)
Legoness
Fragclone found another cool set of Legos at Brickshelf - including a Spartan III (from Ghosts of Onyx). (Louis Wu 20:25:40 UTC) (permalink)
What's good about Halo 3?
A blog at MMOABC has listed what the author considers to be the five best single-player improvements shown by Halo 3. You might find... erm, one or two inconsistencies in the text. Thanks, Pedro the Penguin. (Louis Wu 15:51:05 UTC) (permalink)
New Jacket at the Bungie Store
Igni Atroque noticed another item for sale at the Bungie Store - a lined Workwear Jacket, just in time for fall. Not inexpensive - but not schlock; if you need a new jacket, this might be your baby. (Louis Wu 15:46:09 UTC) (permalink)
Justifying the Cost
This week's Tied the Leader update covers a single article - but it's a doozy. XerxdeeJ has calculated what Halo costs him - and what he's gotten for that cost. He's calculated a price-per-game, or a price-per-hour, if you'd rather. I fear that my own calculations wouldn't be quite as favorable - but I still wouldn't trade the game for any other. Go see where you fit! (And be sure to let deeJ know where that is!) (Louis Wu 15:43:32 UTC) (permalink)
IGN Halo 3 FAQ
IGN has kicked off a huge Halo 3 FAQ - General Info is up today, with more content coming each weekday for the next couple of weeks (they're skipping WEdnesday the 29th, for some reason). Nice summary of available info. (Louis Wu 13:18:32 UTC) (permalink)
That guy must need a glass of water.
There's another Q&A with Frankie, this time at CNET.au - he really discourages you from playing on Normal. (This also contains the 'not a twinkle in Bungie's eye' quote that CVG used last week to speculate about Halo 3 PC.) (Louis Wu 13:00:23 UTC) (permalink)
Wired Cornucopia
Over at Wired.com, there's an amazing collection of new content - the cover article from the most recent issue is online, along with a whole bunch of extras. A few new unwatermarked screens are there (we've seen these in magazines, but not yet in digital format), there's a video primer to get you ready for Halo 3, and there's a hyperlinked image of the cover, with all of the visible tags explained. The cover article is a fascinating look at the testing process Bungie developed to make Halo 3 the best game it could be. Go read! (Louis Wu 12:53:27 UTC) (permalink)
Iris ARG - it's over
Over at the Unfiction forum, an article that was originally posted on an internal Microsoft webpage has been put up (with permission) - it makes it clear that the Iris ARG came to an official end last week, and it also explains a few of the odder aspects of this game. Thanks, Jordan117. (Louis Wu 12:39:56 UTC) (permalink)
A first MLG tourney experience
trigger119 wrote up his impressions of his first MLG tournament - an interesting read for folks who haven't been yet. Comments can go on his forum thread. (Louis Wu 12:33:39 UTC) (permalink)
News August 20 2007
AI Hawtness
I'm not sure I'd look very good in it - but there are definitely some Halo fans that could pull it off. Check out the new Cortana Tank Top in the Bungie Store. Thanks, aklay47. (Louis Wu 22:08:33 UTC) (permalink)
They better not name it Zanzibar.
Wow. This is... odd. A Halo 3 Ferris Wheel at the Leipzig Games Convention? Each car is closed, it looks like - what goes on inside? Thanks, Zeouterlimits. (Louis Wu 21:52:57 UTC) (permalink)
Halo on the BIG screen
if you live near Seattle, you might want to look into the Halo 3 IMAX Preview event - it's tomorrow night, at the Seattle Pacific Science Center, and seats are first-come, first-served, RSVP only. Go read! (Louis Wu 21:42:20 UTC) (permalink)
The Invasion Trailer Contest
Adam Kovic let us know that Machinima.com is running another contest - this one requires that you put together a machinima version of the official "Invasion" movie trailer using supplied audio and graphics, mixed with your own game footage. As of right now, there are two submissions (one using the Sims, the other using modeled footage) - the field's wide open, and the grand prize is a cool $1000. You've got until September 3 - get cracking! Halo seems like a perfect vehicle.
(Louis Wu 21:33:56 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Maps releases Church - and a lot more
A couple of weeks ago, we pointed out a trailer for Church, a Halo CE map that looked pretty impressive. It's been released - swing by HaloMaps.org to download it. (While you're there, take some time and look around; over 100 maps and almost 70 modified levels have been added to the archives in July and August alone, with more than 170 tutorials and assets for mapmaking.) (Louis Wu 21:28:01 UTC) (permalink)
Podtacular 125
Big Goalie Dan let us know about Podtacular 125 - guest-hosted by DoodiRock, from 2old2play, this one contains lots of Halo 3 discussion. 51 mb - go download. (While you're there, check out the latest Pod TV - they're showing off the Assassin's Skull, and how to grab it.) (Louis Wu 21:06:31 UTC) (permalink)
Lego Minifigs on eBay
Fragclone noticed a couple of Lego custom minifigures on eBay right now - an ODST Helljumper and Sgt. Johnson in his dress whites. They're pretty cool, though they DO seem to be pretty expensive for minifigures. (Louis Wu 20:00:35 UTC) (permalink)
Real New Yorkers Know about Halo 3
J&R Music World got a chance to ask Frankie a few questions about Halo 3 - most of them have been asked elsewhere, but it's a nice mix and contains a few tidbits that I don't rememer seeing before. (Louis Wu 19:14:12 UTC) (permalink)
Sounds like Calvin and Stuntmutt, actually.
Warbow assures us that this pace will NOT keep up too much longer, but you can still enjoy Calvin and Halo while he remains inspired. (Louis Wu 19:08:52 UTC) (permalink)
VGL in London
If you live in the UK, and you're sad that you've never gotten a chance to see the Video Games Live show, be sad no more. They'll be at the London Games Festival on October 22, performing with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall. (The event is not listed on the Philharmonia Orchestra website or the London Games Festival site yet, but it is listed on the Southbank Centre site.) Full press release is here. (Louis Wu 19:07:57 UTC) (permalink)
Nice deal on XBL, Halo-style
Not bad - if you need an Xbox Live subscription, you can't do a lot better than Buy.com's deal right now - 13 month Gold subscription, on a Halo 3 card, for $39, shipped. Thanks to Gaming Dealz for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 18:29:18 UTC) (permalink)
Do The D'Oh.
Stuntmutt felt that there was a problem with the recently noticed Mountain Dew Game Fuel Ad. (If you haven't seen the ad, we mentioned it a couple of days ago.) But Stuntmutt isn't one to complain without suggestions - he had his own idea of how the ad might have gone. Check today's One One Se7en for details. (Louis Wu 15:31:54 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Sling Bag
failedparachute noticed a new Halo 3 Sling Bag at EBGames. $50, but you'll probably want a better look than the dinky screenshot available before you spend your dough. (Louis Wu 14:42:48 UTC) (permalink)
Stay Young
Time Glitch pointed out Stay Young, from Flem Productions - available in downloadable and streaming formats from the forum post; I'm not sure i understand what was happening in the film, but the effects were pretty cool. (Louis Wu 14:36:56 UTC) (permalink)
Energy Episode Seven: The Key
Simply Greg stopped by to point out Energy Episode 7 - the final installment of Fantasy Cubed's machinima series. Just under 13 minutes, 100 mb. Go watch! (Louis Wu 14:34:27 UTC) (permalink)
Putting power in the hands of the player
There's a pretty interesting interview with Lars Bakken, done by the IGN AU team last week but published yesterday. Mostly multiplayer stuff, with a few random questions tossed in. Thanks, PsychoRaven. (Louis Wu 14:02:40 UTC) (permalink)
Halo PC Titles for Cheap
Black Six points out that you can get Halo PC for $7.90 and Halo 2 for Vista for $19.90, through tomorrow at 6 am Eastern, at GoGamer.com. (Louis Wu 13:20:36 UTC) (permalink)
The Riot 61
Sigafoos sent in word yesterday about The Riot 61, but it got overlooked in the airport news search. Go download it now! 24 minutes, 10 mb. (They've got two new Sean Mortensen compositions, along with the standard community talk, tournament discussion, and challenges.) (Louis Wu 13:18:25 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: Past, Present, Future
Gamespot has posted a new retrospective video - clips from the three Halo games, interspersed with interviews of Gamespot personnel about the games. Nitro288 pointed to a new portal Gamespot's set up for Halo 3 as a download location, but for some reason, this doesn't work for me at all; I found it here (top video on the list). (Louis Wu 13:15:34 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Impressions from PC Authority
PC Authority (an Australian PC mag) got a chance to play Halo 3 at the Sydney event last week, as well. They seemed to enjoy it. (The claim in the last line - that a PC version is coming, at an undisclosed date - is speculation, as far as I can tell; Bungie has made no indication whatsoever that they plan to release a PC version down the road. If you're the gambling type, it's not a totally unreasonable bet... but it certainly isn't fact, yet.) (Louis Wu 12:54:50 UTC) (permalink)
News August 19 2007
FB takes Chicago, Str8 Rippin follows
Huge shakeups in Chicago - Final Boss beat Str8 Rippin in the Championship Match, leaving FBI the Agency in third place, and Carbon all the way down in fourth. Thanks to DrazenX, who was first on our forum with the news. (Louis Wu 23:17:31 UTC) (permalink)
Advertising reaches your blades
A long layover in the Detroit airport means time for Halo updates. Some tidbits from our forum... looks like Microsoft has released a free 360 theme based on Mountain Dew Gamer Fuel (along with Gamerpics) - thanks, Darknesshasfallen and KP. Yes, I think it's silly, too - but it's free. (Louis Wu 23:08:22 UTC) (permalink)
News Blackout
The next 36 hours will be spent either traveling or sleeping (or, if I'm lucky, both simultaneously). No Halo news from me! See you all on Monday. (Louis Wu 04:51:39 UTC) (permalink)
The Wonder of Foam Core
Daijitsu is working on a Hunter cosplay costume. Awesome start! (Louis Wu 04:48:49 UTC) (permalink)
Get a job.
darthbob noticed a digg article showing off a guy panhandling for Halo 3. (He made enough money for about half the game.) (Louis Wu 04:47:09 UTC) (permalink)
Halomen Preview
White Rabbit pointed out a preview for a Flash video called Halomen; content is a bit crude, but the series has potential. (Louis Wu 04:45:38 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Chicago 07: H2 open 4v4 melee
GotFrag DPAD has info about MLG Chicago's Halo 2 4v4 Melee - go see who's playing who. (Louis Wu 04:43:39 UTC) (permalink)
News August 18 2007
Believe.
Spu7n1k went to a 'Believe' event in Singapore - and took pics. Check out his forum post. (Louis Wu 14:33:37 UTC) (permalink)
ARG Happenings
I can't say I know what it all means - but Avateur has posted a writeup of the events leading up to the opening of Server 5 in the Iris ARG, and Switchblade sent along a compilation of the starmap images from the servers. Things are coming to a head! (Louis Wu 14:24:21 UTC) (permalink)
Missile Case Preview at IGN
IGN has some better pictures of the upcoming Halo 3 Missile Case - looks like it's changed color (from brown to green). There was also some discussion about this on our forum - it's unclear if the larger pictures are doing the potential sales any good. (Louis Wu 06:41:53 UTC) (permalink)
Kubrick figures - now shipping?
xIIEnderIIx received his Halo Kubrick figures in the mail today from EBGames (well ahead of schedule) - swing by for some pictures. (There's another one here, too.) (Louis Wu 06:41:18 UTC) (permalink)
Not Feeling Fueled.
RotaJota pointed out that Ars Technica has 'reviewed' Mountain Dew's Game Fuel... they weren't impressed. You can't please everyone. (Louis Wu 06:39:19 UTC) (permalink)
The Hog to Die For
Zeouterlimits noticed the new Warthog shot highlighted in the Bungie Weekly Update - but he noticed it 12 hours before that update went live. Gotta give credit where credit is due; it didn't get posted only because I was busy. (Louis Wu 06:36:35 UTC) (permalink)
Yes.
chewpathingy noticed that the Mountain Dew Game Fuel TV Ad is up over at the Mountain Dew website. Not a bad ad, actually! (Louis Wu 06:34:34 UTC) (permalink)
Efficacious.
reprobate found a shot of some high-level Bungie folks playing Halo in a textbook he's getting rid of soon. Pretty unusual Bungie sighting! (Louis Wu 06:31:32 UTC) (permalink)
Coming a long way
DarkSim noticed another Halo 3 Preview based on the Sydney showing - this one is at MyGEN. They liked it. (Louis Wu 06:27:30 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Chicago 07: Halo 2 Preview from GotFrag
GotFrag DPAD has a preview of MLG Chicago - give it a read if you need a summary! (Louis Wu 06:23:02 UTC) (permalink)
Congrats, SBG Omega
Namloco pointed out that Podtacular's Summer Tourney is over - and that Team SBG Omega won the Finals. (This doesn't seem to be online yet - but information about the tourney can be found on Podtacular's website.) (Louis Wu 06:20:53 UTC) (permalink)
Microsoft and Machinima - Another Viewpoint
Dennis Powers wrote up his own thoughts about Microsoft's Game Content Rules, and posted them at HaloMaps.org. Worth a read - check it out. (Louis Wu 06:17:23 UTC) (permalink)
Lima Oscar Lima
Okay, I've had a chance to go through our forum, and there were, indeed, a significant number of posts worth pointing out. I'll try to go through them in order. First up: BitMaP posted a pretty funny comic yesterday - go read. (Louis Wu 06:15:47 UTC) (permalink)
99.9 percent complete
A few hours ago, Luke Smith posted the Bungie Weekly Update - info about the Halo 3 Epsilon playtest (if you're not in it, you're not gonna be, sorry), some cool IMAX Halo 3 action, info about the upcoming filesharing aspects of Halo 3, a teaser about WETA's activities, and some discussion of the recent Narrows screenshots. And oh, yeah... the next podcast has Mat "I'll kill you and your whole family" Noguchi - should make for some interesting discussions. You can, as always, read it in our Weekly Update Archive if you prefer black-on-white text. (Louis Wu 06:11:31 UTC) (permalink)
News August 17 2007
Mile Wide Club.
Today's One One Se7en takes a look at a Halo 3 change to the Brutes, as shown in the E3 trailer. Here's hoping some of those brutes can FIND that Stuntmutt character and give him what he deserves for the pun. (As for the rest of the news for today - I'm POSITIVE there's material in the forum that should be front-paged... but I'm indisposed for the next 8-10 hours. It's gonna have to wait. Sorry.) (Louis Wu 19:22:43 UTC) (permalink)
IRIS Server Archive Data
David Leggett points out that he's compiled an archive of all the content available on the 5 unlocked servers in the IRIS ARG - no age gate, no flash. Just content. If you missed any of it - go grab it now! (Louis Wu 18:51:04 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Roundup
3Suns wanted to make sure that HBO readers realize how much content is being posted over at MLGPro.com - there's a preview of the Halo portion of the upcoming Chicago tournament, an archive news link for tons of stuff we've let fall through the cracks, and a new Halo 3 Game Channel providing links to articles giving a pro perspective to Halo 3 stuff. Go read! (Louis Wu 18:44:45 UTC) (permalink)
No Stereotypical Boss Battles
Kotaku sat down and talked to Frankie and Lars Bakken in Sydney this week - go read what they found out. (Louis Wu 18:33:33 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
Six new stories in the Fan Fiction section this week - go read! (Louis Wu 18:31:05 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Reviewed by PALGN
PALGN has a review of Halo 3, based on the level they got to play in Sydney this week. They're not sure it'll be game of the year, given the competition it's facing... but they did have a good time playing. (Louis Wu 18:23:17 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Story in Wired
Major Nelson points out that the cover story in September's Wired is Halo, focusing on play testing. I'm hoping my copy is waiting for me when I get home in a few days. Sounds like a good piece! (Louis Wu 18:19:14 UTC) (permalink)
Hot Shooting
The Uber-Review has an article on Halo 3 - sort of a summary of all Halo 3 news to date, in a few paragraphs. (Louis Wu 18:11:17 UTC) (permalink)
The Age talks to Frankie
The Screenplay blog in Sydney's The Age newspaper contains an interview, of sorts, with Frankie about Halo 3. Good stuff - and for folks paranoid that the new rules laid down by Microsoft about the use of game content are going to ruin the moviemaking community, Frankie's comments would suggest you might be overstating the problem. (Louis Wu 18:08:57 UTC) (permalink)
News August 16 2007
Bungie Podcast - the AI Edition
The Bungie Podcast rolls on - this week's special guest is Damian Isla, the AI lead on Halo 3. No Frankie - but Sketch is back. Lots of good stuff about AI and Halo 3 - and some bizarre stuff too. Thanks to MasterChief2829, who found the podcast a few minutes early, and _Wheels03, who found the B.net link. (Louis Wu 21:31:27 UTC) (permalink)
IRIS ARG - finishing soon?
The Leggett wonders if the grand finale of the IRIS ARG is happening tonight; evidence suggests that the last server will open at midnight (eastern). Would Microsoft really end the game more than a month before Halo 3 comes out - or will there be another phase? (Louis Wu 20:52:29 UTC) (permalink)
SPOnG writes up Amsterdam Experience
Anton P. Nym noticed a Q&A/hands-on Halo 3 feature at SPOnG.com - the hands-on is from play time in Amsterdam a week or two ago, and the Q&A is with Phil Spenser, MS General Manager, First Party Publishing. Good read, all around. (Louis Wu 18:47:35 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Ad Contest
Amee Singh Bartenwerfer let us know that Black Turtle Media, a new organization that solicits user-generated advertising content, is running a Halo 3 contest; create 'an ad that rivals the Halo trilogy hype', win a chance at one of two $5,000 prizes. Video submissions must be in by December 1, 2007; voting will wrap up a couple of weeks later. Go read about it! (Louis Wu 18:39:57 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Live Spaces Theme
Xbox.com has a new Halo 3 Theme for Windows Live Spaces sites; swing by to Halo 3-ize your Spaces page. Thanks, DHalo. (Louis Wu 16:18:47 UTC) (permalink)
New Scores from Sean Mortensen
Sean Mortensen sent along two new scores; Arrival was inspired by the idea of a Halo movie from Hollywood (mp3, 1.6 mb | PDF, 951 kb), and We Go Feet First! was written for the ODST Helljumpers (mp3, 3.1 mb | PDF, 438 kb). Go listen! (Louis Wu 16:02:03 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Xbox 360 Down Under
Gamespot points out that the Halo 3 Xbox 360 console has now been priced and dated in Australia; it'll be out on September 20 (a day after the US), and cost $AU$680 (US$534, a significant chunk more than it costs in the US). (Louis Wu 15:50:45 UTC) (permalink)
Sydney-based Halo 3 Hands On from Kotaku
Kotaku's got a writeup of the third level of Halo's single player campaign, as played in Sydney - along with a discussion of the Saved Films option (which they see more as a cool screenshot composer). They're happy with what they saw. (Louis Wu 15:43:16 UTC) (permalink)
The sun hasn't exploded yet, either.
I'm not sure how CVG thinks this is news... but they've put up an article that states that Bungie hasn't started work on Halo 3 for PC. In fact, there's no word from Bungie about whether there WILL be a port, eventually - and Frank is quoted in their post saying that "it's not even a twinkle in [Bungie's] eye" at this stage. So... there you go. (I'm posting this to ward off the emails saying "hey, there's a story at CVG about a PC version of Halo 3!") (Louis Wu 15:30:41 UTC) (permalink)
Legendary Edition now at Amazon UK
Amazon UK is finally selling the Legendary Edition of Halo 3 - if you're in Great Britain, and haven't ordered a copy yet, here's your chance. Update: Wow, that was fast. As noted by c0ld vengeance, the signup period is already over; Amazon has a note up saying "sign up to be notified when item becomes avialable".
(Louis Wu 15:26:04 UTC) (permalink)
If you make it backwards, is it original?
kornman00 ran across a Wikipedia page about a new superhero from DC Comics - her name is Forerunner, and she's been tasked with serving The Monitors. Hmm... sounds like a DC writer has been getting some naming inspiration from video games! (Louis Wu 15:24:00 UTC) (permalink)
Let's just go back to Frogger, okay?
GameDaily has posted an article entitled 'Five Reasons Game Trilogies Suck'. Halo is one of their prime sources of examples. (Louis Wu 15:21:22 UTC) (permalink)
An analysis of the new Content Usage Rules
trigger119 let us know that he's put up an article discussing the new Game Content Usage Rules Microsoft posted recently. It's pretty pessimistic; it looks at how these rules will affect current Halo moviemakers, and what you can no longer do without risking the wrath of Microsoft's lawyers. (To be fair, none of the things in the newly posted rules should be a surprise; most of the "can't"s were no-brainers. What's changed is that Microsoft has explicitly LISTED them as "can't"s, and stated that they'll pursue violators.) Here's hoping it's not as bad as it all seems. Update: we just heard from Steve Gemmiti, of the Cops and Robbers team; they've put up a video response to the rules, as well - you can find downloadable versions of 'Biting the Hand that Smacked You' on their website, or at YouTube. Update 2: trigger119 has mirrored the CAR short, and pointed out that one of the more respected names in the Halo machinima community has announced a cessation of activity.
(Louis Wu 15:19:15 UTC) (permalink)
Yesterday was a great day for Canadian Halo Fans
Ah, bummer. Xbox 360 Fanboy discovered a fantastic deal for Canadians; the Canadian Dell Store was offering (yesterday only) a bundle that included an Xbox 360 Elite (MSRP is CA$499) and a copy of Halo 3 (MSRP CA$70) for a bundled price of CA$459 - this is cheaper than you can buy the two items for in the US! Sadly, as I write this, the price is back up to CA $558. Sorry! (Louis Wu 15:12:02 UTC) (permalink)
New Halo 3 Achievements?
Xbox360Achievements has discovered the existence of a second Halo 3 Achievement list on Xbox.com; these are all listed as 'Secret', and there is no real information about the individual achievements... but one thing that jumped out at me was that if you compare the new list to the original one, they match, line for line, in the number of points. Could these be the same list? Or is there a mirror list of extra achievements? It's all speculation at this point. (Louis Wu 15:04:59 UTC) (permalink)
UNSC Armory Opened
George was the first to let us know about a new article at Bungie.net which takes a close look at four updated human weapons in Halo 3 - the pistol, the frag grenade, the SMG, and the shotgun. Good stuff! (Louis Wu 15:00:14 UTC) (permalink)
Massive Info Dump at IGN AU
Bungie revealed a new multiplayer map yesterday, to IGN Australia; it's called 'Narrows', and you can see seven new screenshots of it at their site. There's also a new campaign shot, of a level played by press in Amsterdam a couple of weeks ago, and an interview with Frank O'Connor - IGN AU was busy! I read about this at Geekpulp, a New Zealand gaming blog. (Louis Wu 14:56:29 UTC) (permalink)
Frankie and Lars talk Halo 3
Yesterday was insanely busy; I missed a lot of Halo news because of it. Thank goodness for Google News. (I'm sure much of what will follow today was also posted on our forum - but I haven't had time to read that yet.) First up, Bungie in Australia. There's a seven and a half video minute interview with Frankie and Lars Bakken at The Technet Australia Blog - seven questions which get a decent amount of feedback from the Bungie guys. (Louis Wu 14:55:11 UTC) (permalink)
News August 15 2007
Halo Nerdism
Heh - if the image on this page at the Xbox Domain makes its writers think that this is the epitome of 'Halo Nerdism'... well, they haven't looked too deeply into our site. That said... it's a nice pic. (Louis Wu 20:06:29 UTC) (permalink)
King of the Shill.
Stuntmutt shows how Bungie could be tying in to external merchandise even when they're not, in today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 14:38:09 UTC) (permalink)
Dan Chosich - Reel 2007
Dan Chosich dropped in to point out his latest creation - a video reel showing off a bunch of work he's done in the past two years. A significant portion of it is Halo-related (mostly MLG promo stuff) - all of it is gorgeous. He's got it available at two sizes, in QuickTime format, and we've added local mirrors for both to save his bandwidth. I think back on 2002, when he started out making Halo montages, and I'm amazed by how far he's come. The man makes beautiful movies. (Louis Wu 14:36:40 UTC) (permalink)
Perceiving the Dimensions of IRIS: Episode 3
Avateur pointed out a new episode of the 'Perceiving the Dimensions of IRIS' series of videos that summarize the happenings in the IRIS arg. Swing by Mythica to download this. (Episodes 1 and 2 can be found here and here.) (Louis Wu 13:40:38 UTC) (permalink)
Game Content Usage Rules from MS
Laird noticed that over at Xbox.com, Microsoft has posted their Game Content Usage Rules, spelling out what their game content can, and cannot, be used for. For the most part, it's great news; there's now an official policy in place stating what you need to do in order to legally use footage from, say, Halo in a fan creation - no more worrying that you're skirting the law, or that the MS legal team will come down on you like a ton of Brutes. However, some of the rules might give Halo machinima makers pause; there are, for example, rules like this:
You can't add to the game universe or expand on the story told in the game with "lost chapters" or back story or anything like that.
As I think back about some of the best machinima I've seen, an awful lot of it 'adds to the game universe' - does this new policy mean that these projects will have to be taken down? (Louis Wu 13:33:48 UTC) (permalink)
Jonathan Ross - a bad guy?
Anton P. Nym found some interesting information about a potential voice actor for Halo 3 - this page contains info about Jonathan Ross agreeing to voice one "of the most evil aliens in the new game" for free (due to an exclusive contract he has with the BBC). We have no confirmation on this story, so for now it needs to be labeled rumor - but it has the ring of truth to it. (Louis Wu 13:27:05 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Achievements - 9 Images Changed
Monster 2 of 2 let us know that the Achievement list for Halo 3 has been updated again - in his words, "the 3 campaign completion achievements (10-12), the rank achievements (22-24), and the kill achievements (27, 28, 31) now sport new graphics." You can check them out either at the Achieve360Points.com website, or at Xbox.com. (Louis Wu 13:21:45 UTC) (permalink)
News August 14 2007
Fully Equipped
The third Red vs Blue Retail Exclusive Video is now online at Gamestop - episode 3 looks at the equipment options in Halo 3. Simmons, as usual, faces a difficult situation. Thanks, macegac. (Louis Wu 20:30:04 UTC) (permalink)
New movies from GTV
trigger119 let us know about a pair of videos available at GamingTV - Slaughter comes from Dagerus, and Letter to My Sister comes from Teh Filmer. Descriptions of both films can be found at GTV. (Louis Wu 20:09:41 UTC) (permalink)
TTTLWTF
It's Tuesday, so there must be new content at Tied the Leader. Let's see... there's a 22 Questions interview with Christiaan Allebest, of Game Almighty... and a discussion about the loss of clan support - and its possible replacements - in Halo 3. Thanks, XerxdeeJ. (Louis Wu 19:54:23 UTC) (permalink)
The Hog Tage 2
Z let us know that there's a new Gauss Hog montage over at Halo3Forum.com - killtacular after killtacular after killtacular. 10 minutes long, WMP9 format, 172 mb. (Louis Wu 19:54:00 UTC) (permalink)
He's doing Frogger, the Movie, next
Dolbex pointed out a new interview with Michael Bendis over at Gamespot (via NewsPail, which you should use more often cause it rocks). Bendis talks about the upcoming Halo Uprising comic - a fun read. (Louis Wu 06:36:18 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Artwork in TSW
Ross Mills commissioned a piece of art from the folks that do the Tiny Sides Wide webcomic; a shot of it was added to their latest comic. (You should be able to guess which one is his...) (Louis Wu 06:33:26 UTC) (permalink)
Maybe it'll be snow day... nah.
Warbow's found material for a new Calvin and Halo- I'm with Calvin. Go read. (Louis Wu 06:26:13 UTC) (permalink)
2160 AD Trailer
ODST Epsilon stopped by our forum recently to point out a trailer for a new machinima series, '2160 AD'. It focuses on a section of Halo canon that's only been mentioned a little bit - they're trying to stay true to the info that's out there, while still making an entertaining movie. The trailer suggests they've got an interesting project on their hands. If you'd rather watch it on YouTube than via the download link he put in to his post, you can do that. (Louis Wu 06:24:11 UTC) (permalink)
Out of the Frying Pan...
Mister Froggy let us know that Halo, Articulated #65 is now up - this series is getting weirder and weirder. (Louis Wu 06:18:36 UTC) (permalink)
BBFC rates the Legendary Bonus Disc
deftangel sent us word that the Legendary disc for Halo 3 has been rated by the BBFC - it received a '12' rating. This is the bonus disc content - NOT the game. Unless the game comes in with a '12' rating, the overall package will contain the game's rating, not the bonus disc rating. (The huge running time is because the audio commentary track is measured separately.) (Louis Wu 06:16:36 UTC) (permalink)
News August 13 2007
T-shirt contest - voting phase
Last week, we mentioned a contest being run by _Wheels03; today, he announces that all the submitted slogans have been submitted, and asks you to vote. Go pick your favorite t-shirt slogan! (Louis Wu 22:13:25 UTC) (permalink)
Fully Charged?
Today's One One Se7en looks at the new Flamethrower - and, in fact, makes you wish you had one for our good buddy Stuntmutt. (Louis Wu 22:07:40 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2-D trailer
Sam sent us a trailer for Halo 2-D, a new project he's undertaking. He needs help getting renders for the full product; if you watch the trailer (which looks pretty intriguing), and want to help, send him some email. The trailer can be downloaded in WMP9 format (3.5 mb) or QuickTime format (3.7 mb). (Louis Wu 22:05:32 UTC) (permalink)
High Speed Shenanigans
Wow, lots of content at High Speed Halo - a new single-segment full run of Halo CE has been submitted, coop mode, normal - it beats 4 individual level records. (Total gametime - less than 98 minutes.) Also, the last unfilled slot in the every level, every difficulties table has been filled! Thanks, Ducain, who pointed out this news post. (Louis Wu 21:57:57 UTC) (permalink)
HWH FF Contest Results
black asgard let us know that the fan fiction contest at Halo Wars Heaven (we mentioned it in June) has announced results. Congrats to the winners! (Louis Wu 21:44:34 UTC) (permalink)
Halo pays him in spades every day (just not in cash)
Gamasutra has an interview with Alex Seropian today - Halo comes up a number of times. Thanks, Roger Wilco. (Louis Wu 21:42:19 UTC) (permalink)
Another look at violence and video games
Very thought-provoking story at BBC News today - are we ignoring interesting side effects of video games because we're afraid of giving ammunition to the Jack Thompsons of the world? Thanks, Walshicus. (Louis Wu 21:39:58 UTC) (permalink)
Parting Ways
Sean Mortensen sent along 'Parting Ways', a new martial piece he's composed (mp3, 3.5 mb). He's also included the score, in PDF format (271k). (Louis Wu 20:39:15 UTC) (permalink)
Prometheus Unbound
Bungie has put up an official article about the upcoming flamethrower and firebomb for Halo 3 - the information is the same as what IGN put up last week, but it's a real-live Bungie link now! Thanks, Andrew Galbraith. (Louis Wu 19:54:56 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie - Saving Microsoft's Bacon
At the New York Times, there's an article about the Xbox 360's quality woes... and a theory about why people don't give up on a product that fails so often. "There's nothing in the house that breaks down as much," says one of the consumers quoated in the article. What makes someone satisfied with a product with such a poor perceived quality record? Why, Halo 3, of course. Go read. (Louis Wu 18:23:11 UTC) (permalink)
$155 Million or Bust
Variety's got a story about the hopes Microsoft has for Halo 3 - will it become the single biggest entertainment event in history? matttheskwirl14 was the first to us with the news. (Louis Wu 18:17:31 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Albania - Webisode 2
Dave Bergland wrote to let us know that Webisode 2 of his Halo 3 Albania Project is now posted; you can watch it in QuickTime format on the website, or in streaming format at YouTube. This one tries to clarify what's going to happen in the next couple of months. (Dave needs your help, too.) Go watch. (Louis Wu 18:12:20 UTC) (permalink)
News August 12 2007
The Riot 60
Sigafoos pointed out The Riot 60, punched up by Halo Mountain Dew Game Fuel and lack of sleep. 15 mb, 37 minutes. Zombie Elephants. (Louis Wu 22:19:52 UTC) (permalink)
Rockslide megabattle pistol fun
Rockslider returns to the Rockslide Megabattle, focusing on the area where two dropships visit. Interesting reading! (Louis Wu 20:41:47 UTC) (permalink)
Grunt Plushie Templates - to Start
Last month, Horus released pictures of a Grunt Plushie he'd created, along with rough templates for making your own. Now, he's back with finished templates - or at least half of them. You can find templates for Arms and Legs, Torso, and Backpack over at DeviantART. The rest are coming 'soon-ish'. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 20:38:06 UTC) (permalink)
The iPhone is miPhone
bndud stopped by to point out a Cops and Robbers Short - it's a video starring the Robbers Unite team, and it looks at iPhones (and other social phenomena).
Available in a bunch of formats and sizes. Check out his post! (Louis Wu 20:31:48 UTC) (permalink)
Comparing Haze and Halo 3
CinemaBlend has put up a screenshot comparison between Halo 3 and Haze. (Louis Wu 15:36:05 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Tax?
XBLRadio has noticed an odd pricing factoid about Best Buy - all of the Halo 3 related items are 3 dollars more than Microsoft's MSRP. A Halo 3 dollar tax? (Louis Wu 15:34:32 UTC) (permalink)
Mute Radio now a part of Gaming Lessons
Bluestrike2 sent us a note to let us know that Mute Radio has relaunched as part of Gaming Lessons. You can read the full announcement on the site - along with Bluestrike2's thoughts on the move. (Gaming Lessons has also relaunched with a new design.) (Louis Wu 15:32:13 UTC) (permalink)
News August 11 2007
HaloPC Sightjacker
Omegga let us know that he's created a 'sightjacker' for HaloPC - use it, and you can see what another player in your game sees. He suggests using it to detect aimbotters. Visit Goemitar for more details and a download. (Louis Wu 15:32:30 UTC) (permalink)
Dialogue - now characterized
Captain Spark took it upon himself to clean up our Halo 2 Dialogue Databank; he characterized all of the generic dialogue snippets ('marines', 'marines_female', 'elites', 'grunts', etc) into their more specific categories, based on Marty's character breakdown. There are still a few snippets in the general categories, but the vast majority are now where they should be. Whew! Great job, Spark! (Louis Wu 13:03:33 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Game Fuel TV Ad
ActiveCamoElite noticed a mention of an upcoming Game Fuel TV ad, looking like it might feature footage from the Halo 3 Announcement trailer, on the Game Fuel website. Keep your eyes peeled! (Louis Wu 12:09:12 UTC) (permalink)
Rahll with the punches
SEspider let us know that he's done an interview with Rahll, an artist with several pieces already in our Miscellaneous Art section, over at 360style.net. Rahll discusses his work and motivations, and shows off his newest Halo-related creation, Aliens vs Halo (which is pretty amazing, by the way). Check it out! (Louis Wu 11:12:28 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Gnomes
Aeros pointed out a very cool sculpt of a grunt, created by hapakid88, over at the Mjolnir Armor forum. Adorable! (Check out the whole thread; there are some neat pictures of potential Halo lawn gnomes to be had...) (Louis Wu 01:51:31 UTC) (permalink)
Same Planet, Different Worlds
Mister Froggy let us know that Halo, Articulated #64 is up; I think the lesson is "Don't fall in love with MC." (Louis Wu 01:47:07 UTC) (permalink)
Internally Generated Pressure
If there wasn't enough info in tonight's Weekly Update, swing by Gamespot; there's a Q&A with Frankie that clarifies a few things, and discusses more. I liked the last question (and answer) a lot. Thanks, Sir Topham Hat. (Louis Wu 01:44:47 UTC) (permalink)
Trying and failing to be edgy and mature
The Bungie Weekly Update is online - and man, it's a tasty one. There are seven panels from the upcoming first Halo: Uprising comic (man, does it look nice), and there
are a whole bunch of questions taken off our forum last night, answered to a greater or lesser degree. Some of the things that jumped out at me: music is "99% finished" and in the game, the Arbiter will NOT be invulnerable when he's playing with you, and Grunts reproduce frantically. Go read more! (If you read it in our Weekly Update Archive, the facing pages are already nicely stitched together for you, so that when you click on the smaller version, you'll get more than half of the larger version.) (Louis Wu 00:57:43 UTC) (permalink)
News August 10 2007
Go ahead. Wash your Bubble Shield with Flame.
Wow. Very interesting article about new flame-related weapons in Halo 3 - the flamethrower is IN, and so is the Firebomb! Go read at IGN. Thanks, TheSneak. (The 3D view is great!) Update: Nice call by Flashman - I honestly hadn't noticed the significance of the name. (Louis Wu 23:20:06 UTC) (permalink)
Dan Miller Steps it Up
The next Bungie Podcast is available at Bungie.net, and iTunes (soon, I guess) - 72 mb of Bungie goodness. Go listen! (Louis Wu 23:14:10 UTC) (permalink)
Podtacular 124 part 2 of 2
Foo Mo Jive pointed out that Podtacular 124 part 2 of 2 is now up - more discussion of 'the new Halo 3 Hotness' (as discussed in EGM). Go listen! (Louis Wu 18:36:04 UTC) (permalink)
Well-Earned Promotion.
Stuntmutt wants in on the current Halo 3 Marketing craze - check today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 17:44:37 UTC) (permalink)
Gearing up for Launch, Fan-style
Devastator decided to upgrade his Nightmare Armor Spartan helmet - no more painted ridges, now they're REAL! Very snazzy. (Louis Wu 16:02:15 UTC) (permalink)
Haven Teaser
BlackouTT let us know that he's working on a new machinima project, entitled 'Haven'. He's released a teaser, which we're mirroring in both QuickTime (20.4 mb) and WMP9 (17.3 mb) formats. Great effects - looks to be an interesting project! Check it out. (Louis Wu 15:56:26 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
Thirteen new stories this week in the Fan Fiction section - busy week! (Louis Wu 14:18:28 UTC) (permalink)
I'm too slow.
So a few hours ago, Frankie stopped by to post a request for questions for tomorrow's (today's) Bungie Weekly Update; I'd planned to go to bed and post all the Halo news in the queue in the morning... but once I saw his note, I wanted to clear the queue, so his post could be on top, where it would be seen the best. Of course, it took me WAY longer to get through the queue than it took him to get enough questions to work with... so the thread was locked before I ever got around to publicizing it. No matter, though - there's some good reading in those questions... and the queue's nearly empty. Time for sleep? (Louis Wu 07:53:06 UTC) (permalink)
Site of Champions?
boesman noticed a page at IGN that suggested something big is coming from Microsoft on August 22 - and it seems to have something to do with Halo. (I have it on good authority, though, that Bungie has nothing to do with this; make of that what you will.) (Louis Wu 07:45:40 UTC) (permalink)
Eisen's Elite Helmet
Eisen Feuer created an Elite Helmet pounded from metal; you can wear it, or you can use it to kill medium-sized animals. He posted about it on our forum, pointing to a DeviantART page - but he also gave us permission to put up a series of shots. Go look - it's pretty cool. (Louis Wu 07:32:43 UTC) (permalink)
Schooled.
The latest Halo Humpday Challenge is posted at Bungie.net; Luke and Frankie took on a pair of artists (Tom Doyle and Steve Cotton) and then spent the rest of the night coming up with excuses for why they (Luke and Frankie) lost. Okay, not that many excuses. But still... anyway, thanks, MasterChief2829. (Louis Wu 07:17:21 UTC) (permalink)
Lost Cause Episode 14
Haloplayer dropped in to let us know that Lost Cause Episode 14 is now up - in a lot of flavors. They had some technical difficulties... but the story's back, and you can watch it in many formats. Check out his post! (Louis Wu 06:55:00 UTC) (permalink)
Church
Dennis Powers pointed out a new Halo CE Map (not quite ready for download yet) - Crowpath has been working on 'Church', and has released a video (available in WMP9 and QuickTime) - it really is pretty amazing to look at. Grab a copy, check it out for yourself. (Louis Wu 06:25:11 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Missile Pack
The Halo 3 Missile Pack has been commented on a bit in the last couple of days - but there's finally a picture up at Gamestop. As KP noted, the folks at Kotaku were underwhelmed. Forum consensus was that it looks cool, but it shouldn't say Halo 3 on it. (Louis Wu 06:11:46 UTC) (permalink)
Iris ARG Progress - Server 4 Opens
Avateur stopped by our main forum to point out a summary of the content available from the newly-opened Server 4 at halo3.com - the Iris ARG continues on. (Louis Wu 06:06:44 UTC) (permalink)
SBG FFA tourney results
Namloco let us know that the SBG FFA tournament was a wild success - you can read about it on the SBG website. Cash payout came to almost $200, and people had a great time! (Louis Wu 05:25:03 UTC) (permalink)
Mountain Dew Game Fuel Sweepstakes
And the Halo-branded marketing rolls on. Over at Xbox.com, you'll find a new Halo sweepstakes discussed; it doesn't kick off until September 1, but there's lots of goodies to win. Go read about it! Thanks, KP. (I found it mildly amusing that the Xbox.com page calls it the 'Mountain Dew Game Fuel Sweepstakes', whereas the actual sweepstakes website calls it the 'Halo 3 Slurpee Sweeps'. I'm gonna hold out for the Halo 3 Lard on a Stick Sweeps, myself.) (Louis Wu 05:22:45 UTC) (permalink)
News August 9 2007
H3 XBox360 Street Date
According to IGN, the Halo 3 Xbox 360 now has an official street date - September 16, just 9 days before Halo 3 is released. You can preorder it from EBGames now.
(Louis Wu 21:31:45 UTC) (permalink)
Target Teams Up with WizKids
Oh, man... preorder Halo 3 at Target, and you'll get an exclusive ActionClix 2-pack (a Master Chief and an Elite). Sounds like collecting them all is gonna be hard... thanks, Anton P. Nym. (Louis Wu 21:23:03 UTC) (permalink)
The Riot 59
Sigafoos wrote to point out The Riot 59 - a bit late, but none the worse for wear. 32 mins, 13 mb, their usual community coverage. Go listen! (Louis Wu 19:07:22 UTC) (permalink)
FFA tourney in DE next week
Marc "Zelahn" Swint let us know that No Scope Gaming will be holding a tournament in the Wilmington, DE area on August 18th, at 2 pm. FFA Slayer to 25, entry fee is $25 at the door, preregistration available on their myspace page; first prize is a Legendary Edition. (Louis Wu 19:05:29 UTC) (permalink)
New Wall Hangings at the Bungie Store
David Johnson pointed out three new items at the Bungie Store - a wall calendar, a poster using the 'Emotion' artwork, and a poster using the Halo 3 Logo/Ark artwork. Go cover your walls! (Louis Wu 19:02:25 UTC) (permalink)
Legendary Back Redux
Back in December, we heard from GothicSlayer, who was working on a full-back Halo Legendary tattoo. He stopped by this morning with an update... and all I can say is WOW. That there's some serious fan lovin'... (Louis Wu 17:40:59 UTC) (permalink)
Ringtones and Mobile WP for Japan
Kaboris found a site offering Halo ring tones and wallpaper to mobile phone users in Japan - but the ringtones, at least, are available to anyone who can download MP3s. (Louis Wu 15:56:12 UTC) (permalink)
Uno and Pudding
Elnea stopped by to point out another 3 episodes of Halo Action Figure Theater - sounds like they're taking over her life! Go check 'em out. (Louis Wu 15:12:32 UTC) (permalink)
E3 03 Mini prototype action figure for sale
Back in 2003, Joyride distributed 250 prototype mini-MC figures; they've been really, really hard to get hold of since then. Nathan Neilson stopped by last night to point out an eBay auction; he's selling his. Check it out! (Louis Wu 14:10:19 UTC) (permalink)
More from Frankie at Amsterdam
Subnova posted a couple of clips from the Norwegian news magazine Dagbladet; they're from the same interview session that Gamersyde posted with 'No Comment' last week, but some of the pieces are new. Go watch! (Louis Wu 13:52:12 UTC) (permalink)
Over a million preorders
Back in May, we noted a story that four million preorders had been taken for Halo 3 (by Gamestop and its affiliates); that number seemed rather high, but nobody contradicted it. Today, the Wall Street Journal comes out with a far more reasonable number - they say that according to Microsoft, there are "more than one million copies" pre-ordered, making it the fastest-preselling game in history. (This info is in an article that looks at the marketing blitz Microsoft is kicking off for Halo 3 - everything from Burger King packaging to Slurpee cups at 7-11 will be sporting Halo 3 imagery in the next few months. Scary...) Thanks to Xboxer for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 13:26:03 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie Interview on European Sites
A bunch of European Xbox sites had the chance to ask questions of Frankie and Sketch in Amsterdam last week; the interview went live today. Gamersyde was first out of the gate (thanks, Andy C) but it's on other sites, as well - for example, Marc from Halo Universe points out a copy on Xbox Aktuell. The interview itself is in English, though the sites hosting it might not be. Go read! (Louis Wu 13:15:42 UTC) (permalink)
Fuel Up
A bunch of people on our forum have been reporting that Mountain Dew Halo 3 Game Fuel is appearing in stores, almost a week ahead of schedule. Gaming Talk HQ has seen it too (in 2 liter bottles). Swing by your local mart and check it out for yourself! (Louis Wu 13:05:09 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Meadowlands stats at SR
Z let us know that StatsReloaded.com has added MLG Meadowlands stats - lots and lots of data about the teams (and players). Check it out! (4v4 stats are here.) (Louis Wu 12:25:56 UTC) (permalink)
News August 8 2007
Special Edition Tags and Theme
Tural noticed some cool new Halo 3 Special Edition Gamerpics, as well as the Special Edition Theme (scroll to the bottom) - they're listed as 'free', but it's unclear if they're exclusively for the Special Edition or not. (Louis Wu 23:30:04 UTC) (permalink)
Not To Name Names...
Last week, Bungie explained how 4-player co-op was going to work - right down to naming the two elites that play as the third and fourth characters. Will those names be a problem? Stuntmutt thinks so... check out today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 16:05:34 UTC) (permalink)
When you have too much money...
So, if you didn't make it to San Diego last week for ComicCon, but you really, really want one of those huge ActionClix Halo 3 Scarabs they sold last week for $250... there are currently six for sale on eBay, with current prices ranging from about $150 to $300, including shipping. Go see what you can find! (Louis Wu 15:44:43 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Goodies
3Suns was kind enough to summarize some of the most interesting new content on the MLGPro.com website for us; there's a look at the new goodies in Halo 3, a discussion of how Forge might affect pro gaming, an interview with Cpt. Anarchy, and an interview with Carbon about their Dallas win a couple of weeks ago. If you missed anything else, the featured article archive is here. (Louis Wu 14:20:47 UTC) (permalink)
Play Halo - with your Wiimote
Roger Wilco was the first to tell us about an interesting hack to the Wiimote controller; someone went to a lot of trouble to allow it to play Halo. (Actually, the Xbox 360 Input Machine can do more than that, but Halo looks like it was the proof of concept.) I'm not sure I could handle remembering all the button mapping... but man, it looks pretty cool. (Louis Wu 14:12:08 UTC) (permalink)
News August 7 2007
Canadian price cuts even things a little
Nice. Canadians have been complaining for a while that the price of an Xbox in Canada is unreasonably high, due to the strength of the Canadian dollar; Microsoft seems to have acknowledged that, with the latest price cuts. As of tomorrow, the price of an Xbox 360 Premium in Canada is CAD$399 - $100 less than it was previously. (That's still 8% more, in US dollars, than US residents have to pay - but it's better than the 19% extra they were paying last week.) The Elite 'surcharge' drops from 8% over US price to 5% over, and the Core drops from 11% over to 1.5% over. The price of the upcoming Halo 3 Xbox 360 will be CAD$449.99 - 6.6% more than US residents will pay. Life's getting fairer - but maybe it just means temptation? Thanks, Anton P. Nym. (Louis Wu 21:38:22 UTC) (permalink)
Fireteam Bravo
QuickTactical posted word of a monster film on our forum a couple of days ago - Fireteam Bravo is the story of a small squad fighting on after their entire side is wiped out. It goes on a bit long... but the cinematography is quite good. Nice battle scenes! Check it out, in a lot of different flavors and sizes, in his forum post. (Louis Wu 17:41:48 UTC) (permalink)
Blue vs Green Ep 3
Spartan Erik let us know that Blue vs Green Ep 3 is up at Newgrounds; seemed sort of weak, but the grand larceny section was well done. (Louis Wu 16:51:29 UTC) (permalink)
Podtacular 123
Big Goalie Dan points out that Podtacular 123, Part 1 is now up - 40 mb of discussion about the EGM info. (Louis Wu 16:48:33 UTC) (permalink)
Do not drink while in a non-visible state.
Heh - We got word from Andrew that Fire Team Charlie has a promo for the MLG Canadian Open on the MLG Canada website. (Even if you're not planning on entering the tourney, it's a funny vid.) (Louis Wu 14:56:36 UTC) (permalink)
Tied the Leader Tuesday
XerxdeeJ stopped by last night to point out new content at Tied the Leader; there's a readers's poll asking about whether you plan to try out the HaloClix tabletop game stuff, and an update on the TTL Foundation, a non-profit organization kicked off last year, and actually giving away money as of June of this year. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 14:38:00 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Xbox 360 Priced
Major Nelson has announced a price on the Halo 3 Xbox 360 (and some price drops on the other 360 SKUs) - that puppy will cost you $400, which means you're paying $50 for the goodies that come exclusively with the Halo 3 box. Doesn't sound too terrible... thanks, Duncan. (Louis Wu 14:32:57 UTC) (permalink)
Director vs. Halo 3
Apparently, there was (is?) an Xbox 360 Soundtrack Competition - and the Irish band Director has entered it with a song set to video of the Halo 3 Announcement Trailer. Nice work! Thanks, MasterChief2829. (Louis Wu 14:29:42 UTC) (permalink)
Three Little Words
Mister Froggy pointed out that Halo, Articulated #63 is now up. Trust me - you don't want to be taking courting lessons from the MC. (Louis Wu 14:22:53 UTC) (permalink)
News August 6 2007
Zune - Halo 3 Military Edition
Interesting. Microsoft has decided to release yet another Halo 3 Zune - this one is brown, and is labeled "Zune - Halo 3 Military Edition", and will be available exclusively at military retail stores in August. 300 of them will be given to soldiers in USO care packages. You can read the full press release at GameDaily BIZ. (Louis Wu 21:53:26 UTC) (permalink)
He needed massive damage.
He's on a roll! Warbow has submitted another new Calvin and Halo for your perusal... poor Calvin. (Louis Wu 21:05:35 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Runthrough Preview at WP
WorthPlaying put up a review of the Halo 3 Level 1 runthrough they watched at E3 a couple of weeks ago - give it a read. (Louis Wu 20:40:09 UTC) (permalink)
Outback - in Hi-res
As mentioned earlier, last week we were sent a high-res version of 'Outback', a fun live-action video created by Westerfield Studios. Because I was out of town, there was no way to reencode this until today - but now you can grab WMP9 or QuickTime versions of this film (about 40 mb each) - check it out! (Louis Wu 20:31:50 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Halo Boot Camp Sweepstakes at GS
Dojorkan seems to be unhappy about a new sweepstakes he noticed at GameStop - you've got a chance at winning a grand prize package consisting of a training session with one of the Ogre twins, a copy of Halo 2, an Xbox 360 Elite, a Halo 3 headset, a poster, and a t-shirt. All for filling in your name and address. (You've got to be a US resident and 18 to participate.) Doesn't sound like such a bad deal... (Louis Wu 20:27:32 UTC) (permalink)
Personal Spaces
thePheonix9 noticed that the second of five Retail Exclusive Red vs Blue vids is now available at GameStop. Sarge tries to teach the Red Team about trust. Red Team fails. (Louis Wu 19:24:32 UTC) (permalink)
Doodoo Chile (Slight Return).
Stuntmutt returns to a theme from last week (sort of) in today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 19:15:15 UTC) (permalink)
Alexander Winn talks to GTV
trigger119 sent word that another in GamingTV's Interviews in Machinima series has now been posted - go read about Alexander Winn, of Edgeworks Entertainment. He talks about The Codex, the Heretic, and moviemaking in general. Good read! (Louis Wu 18:36:37 UTC) (permalink)
I'm almost ready for a film of my own.
When I got home yesterday, a box was waiting for me; in it, I found a gift from someone who wishes to remain anonymous. I don't know much about it - but it looks a lot like it was made by Westerfield Studios - you can see a couple like it in use in their 'Outback' film released recently. (In fact, that reminds me - Dustin Fecera sent me a high-resolution version of that film while I was out of town; I forgot to encode it yesterday, so downloadable QT/WMP9 versions will be available for download later today.) And no, Dustin didn't send me the helmet. (Louis Wu 17:05:19 UTC) (permalink)
Perceiving the Dimensions of Iris, Episode 2
Three weeks ago, DHalo and Ibeechu released a video recap of the Iris ARG, giving you a way to watch what had been learned in the early days of the game. They've released a second episode, now - this one goes in-depth into the whole process, covering the two-week period from June 14 to June 29. Worth watching if you haven't been keeping up, but are intrigued by the whole concept! Thanks to Avateur, who posted a heads-up last week. (Louis Wu 16:55:12 UTC) (permalink)
Piano Solo - now for Finale
Rampancy.net posted a Finale version (put together by a fan) of the piano solo from the Halo 3 Announcement Trailer. Grab it and start practicing! (Louis Wu 12:29:28 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Beta review from Planet Halo
Planet Halo has posted a (slightly belated) review of the Halo 3 Beta, compiled from PH community member comments. It's not too hard to figure out which comments are useful criticism and which ones are just plain whining. (Louis Wu 12:03:26 UTC) (permalink)
Introducing: Halo 3 Brutes
Ure Paul let us know that ActionTrip has posted a new Halo comic - sometimes it's hard to be Covenant! (Louis Wu 11:37:14 UTC) (permalink)
Access Not Always Granted
Hawty McBloggy posted a Top 10 Halo Pick-up Lines article, in an attempt to raise the quality bar of lines she has to listen to when she plays Halo 2. Really - don't try these yourself... but they're funny to read1 (Louis Wu 11:30:43 UTC) (permalink)
New McFarlane Pics
Littlebigman (with some help from Radiago713) pointed out some new pics of McFarlane's Halo 3 action figures - prototype only at this point, but man, they look detailed! (Louis Wu 11:28:17 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: Genocide
Random Year Old pointed out a homebrew PSP game available for download - screenshots can be seen at his 1timeuser link. (Louis Wu 11:27:10 UTC) (permalink)
Eurogamer Plays Halo
Eurogamer has written up a First Impressions article based on the level they played in Amsterdam last week; there are, of course, campaign-based spoilers in there (you can't write about a campaign level without giving SOMETHING away), but it's all stuff Bungie's okay with you knowing. (Louis Wu 11:11:16 UTC) (permalink)
Fanmade Halo T Slogan Contest
Last week, _Wheels03 started a small contest to come up with a good slogan for a Halo 3 Launch T-Shirt. In the last 24 hours, interest seems to have picked up quite a bit - I'm mentioning this because entries are flooding in. You've got until Friday, August 10 to come up with an entry... check it out! (Louis Wu 11:08:57 UTC) (permalink)
Chock full of fun...
Boxer pointed out a new Adventures in Disaster comic, based on a snippet of text in last Friday's Bungie Weekly Update. Boom! (Louis Wu 11:04:02 UTC) (permalink)
Fixing it
The Seattle Times has a profile of Harold Ryan, Bungie's Studio Manager, up this morning. It's nice to get a look at the world as Harold sees it; this is a guy who makes decisions every day that affects what you'll get to play on September 25 (or 26, depending on where you live). Interesting factoid for the Bungie stalkers among you; total size of the crew working on Halo at this point is 250 people. Update: A continuation of the interview can be found in the author's blog on the Seattle Times website. Some tasty stuff in there! (Louis Wu 11:01:15 UTC) (permalink)
Old Rants
This morning, I went through the Google News Alerts about Halo that came in in the last few days - and ran across this article at TeamXbox (via Voodoo Extreme). I would have passed on it (it's old, now - 4 days old - and it's clearly written specifically to get hits), but when I looked through our forum (something I haven't been able to do for a week), I found this thread, and there's enough interesting commentary in there to warrant the post. Give it a read - but keep your lid on; remember that it's just TRYING to make you mad. (Louis Wu 10:21:01 UTC) (permalink)
News August 5 2007
Halo 3 Achievements Updated
Monster 2 of 2, of Achieve360Points, let us know that Xbox.com has updated the Halo 3 Achievement list. They're relatively minor changes (the score needed for certain acheivements wasn't set before, and it is now, plus one achievement received a new name), but it's getting more solidified. Do not look at this list if you don't want see campaign spoilers. (Louis Wu 21:25:39 UTC) (permalink)
When marketing goes too far
Back - exhausted, but back. It's going to take me a while to go through my inbox, but this popped out at me; you can now preorder Halo 3 at your local 7-11. That just seems... silly. (Louis Wu 21:20:52 UTC) (permalink)
Almost...
Rockslider dropped a note on the forum pointing us to a few new additions to his site, primarily the "Grunty Corridor Fun" to be had on Assault on the Control room. Good Stuff. (KP 21:13:39 UTC) (permalink)
News August 4 2007
Hell on Halo
Brathnok let us know that a friend of his wrote a Halo song; you can read about it, and listen to it, on the Second Foundation website. I wasn't able to grab all of it here, but the first few seconds reminded me of Lou Reed. And... that's it for today. Headed out for what might just be the longest travel day of my life (I should be home in a bit over 24 hours); updates from here on in (or lack of them) are due to the rest of the HBO news gnomes. (Louis Wu 14:12:13 UTC) (permalink)
Intervention
Mister Froggy let us know about Halo, Articulated #62 - not sure where this is coming from, but the diagnosis seems right. (Louis Wu 14:05:25 UTC) (permalink)
Grunt Hunt
Sam M let us know that he's working on a game called 'Grunt Hunt' - it's basically a Halo-themed version of Duck Hunt. It'll be available later this month from his website, for both WIndows and Mac, and you can see a video showing how it plays at YouTube now. (Louis Wu 14:03:10 UTC) (permalink)
Somewhere Only We Know
Jamie98s let us know that he's released a music video set to the song 'Somewhere Only We Know' by Keane; it's hosted by Mythica. I can't tell you what it's like - but his work is usually quite good, and it's less than 25 mb. Check it out! (Louis Wu 13:59:44 UTC) (permalink)
MSN Spotlight on Halo 3
There's an MSN Spotlight on Halo 3 today; if you visit the MSN front page, you'll find a block of Halo 3 links, including articles about the game's showing at E3 and summaries of in-game features. Thanks, EskimoDragon13. (Louis Wu 13:57:14 UTC) (permalink)
You're all forgers.
Today's Bungie Weekly Update focuses on multiplayer co-op, as well as cool details about other tidbits coming with the release of Halo 3. Go get hyped! (As always, it's in our Weekly Update Archive, too.) (Louis Wu 04:10:27 UTC) (permalink)
News August 3 2007
That's a big helmet there
An EB Games employee sent this link to a youtube video of them going ga-ga over the Halo 3 Legendary Edition display they just setup. I won't mention his name in case this could possibly get him in trouble!
And of course, since da boss is away for another day or so, I'm gonna break a front-page rule and plopz da utube rightzhere!
John 1:17
Today's One One Se7en goes back to Stuntmutt's roots on XBL. I'm sure the Helljumpers remember them well. (Louis Wu 15:06:36 UTC) (permalink)
One, from Kraynium
Z wrote to point out Kraynium's 'ONE' - a 1v1 montage. According to Z, it's the best 1v1 montage he's ever seen. It's 208 mb, and hosted at Filefront. Check it out! (Louis Wu 15:03:58 UTC) (permalink)
Innocent Minds
trigger119 sent word that CROSSFIRE's Innocent Minds has now been released. (We mentioned the trailer a few days ago.) (Louis Wu 15:00:42 UTC) (permalink)
Marathon Mix 3
Nick Singer has posted the third of his Marathon/Halo music mixes; I can't hear it yet, but if it's anything like the last two, I know I'll love it. Check it out for yourself! (Louis Wu 14:56:13 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Live Action Short a Bonus
According to Pro-G, the latest episode of Consolevania contains "a Halo short film" after the credits; this file is too large for me to download on my two-cans-and-a-string connection, but the crack HBO investigative team has looked at it, and the verdict is that it's pretty good - "A goofy, live-action short". The episode itself is 300 mb (or 550 mb for the BitTorrent version); it's up to you to decide whether the other material in the episode is worth such a large download. Go check 'em out! (Louis Wu 14:49:15 UTC) (permalink)
Amsterdam Press Interviews at Gamersyde
Gamersyde posted a video containing group interviews done in Amsterdam with Frankie and Sketch, on a wide variety of subjects - it's 112 mb, and covers a lot of subjects - go grab a copy! Lots of people told us - the first email I saw came from Dolbex. Update: this film is now available in streaming format at GameTrailers.com, as well - thanks, Fonz. (Louis Wu 14:36:54 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
Just six new pieces in the Fan Fiction section this week - shouldn't take long at all to read them! (Louis Wu 14:27:40 UTC) (permalink)
News August 2 2007
Game 1 shows off press games
The blog Achievement Junkie points out a video from Dutch gaming site Game 1 (There's a large version on Game 1's site) - it's a montage of the press event in Amsterdam this week, and shows off some pretty fun stuff Microsoft set up for journalists. Target practice, using Brute and Elite cutouts and pistols or crossbows, laser tag, an actor in a Master Chief costume... looks like it was a good time to be a game journalist. (AJ talked about campaign footage - it's clear that they didn't watch the E3 2007 Halo 3 vid, because all the campaign footage in Game 1's video was pulled directly from that.) (Louis Wu 20:04:08 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Zune Reviewed
Windows Now has reviewed the Zune Halo 3 Special Edition - go check out what they thought. (Louis Wu 19:33:21 UTC) (permalink)
A 60-90 day dead period - thanks, H3
According to this article at 24/7 Wall St., the combination of Halo 3 in September and GTA 4 in October is causing gamers to stop spending money right now; these two games are being blamed for a general downturn in sales of other games. Ouch! Update: Thanks to John Ogg, who pointed out a new story about a delay for GTA4; looks like the fall season belongs to Halo. (Louis Wu 19:18:07 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie can't win.
A couple of weeks ago, a quote from the then-upcoming EGM article began circulating, and online co-op in Halo 3 was suddenly in doubt. (Before this article had come out, there had been zero information about the mode - and nobody had been talking about it.) The internet seemed to catch fire with the flames Bungie began receiving from all sides - people stated that they'd boycott the game if online co-op weren't present, journalists lambasted Bungie for laziness and lack of consideration for their fans. Bungie asked people to be patient; they didn't want to announce something they couldn't GUARANTEE would be in the final shipping product, so they were keeping their mouths shut. (Online co-op was cut very, very, VERY late in the development cycle of Halo 2, and many people were strongly disappointed.) Finally, this week, they announced that yes, online co-op would be in Halo 3 - and in fact it would be four-player co-op, not just the two-player that was in the original game. And how does the community respond? Well, Cinema Blend says it's a disappointment. It's a tack-on, they say, and there's not even a four-player offline mode. Um... what? (There IS an offline 4-player mode - System Link is supported, no internet needed.) I guess I should be satisfied that they're not complaining that you can't play as Cortana... (Louis Wu 19:08:47 UTC) (permalink)
Food Nipple Not Included
There are a couple cool new items in the Bungie Store today. The first is a nifty orange Grunt mug and the second is a battle-damaged Halo 3 tee. Thanks to X1Zero for his post in the forums pointing this out. (KP 18:26:38 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 in Albania - Webisode 1
Dave Bergland sent word that the first webisode of the Halo 3 in Albania project is now online. Dave is definitely a pretty hardcore Halo fan - go see how he's planning to celebrate the release of Halo 3! (It's also up on YouTube, if you'd rather go streaming.) (Here's hoping most of the Halo news is being sent to our email address; mnemesis is now gone on vacation, I'm not back in town yet, and I, for one, do not have a connection good enough to read our forum.) (Louis Wu 15:26:12 UTC) (permalink)
A redefinition rather than a reinvention
Darren Waters has written up a Halo 3 hands-on over at the BBC website, based on a level he played in Amsterdam this week. Here's hoping the code that's traveling around is a little old; he was underwhelmed, and noticed some rough edges. (Louis Wu 15:09:57 UTC) (permalink)
News August 1 2007
Game Fuel: an invigorating blast of citrus cherry flavor?
An interesting article over at IGN, discusses the arrival and subsequent taste-testing of the newly branded Mountain Dew Game Fuel. Thanks Grey Wolf for pointing that cherry flavored article out. (Cybrfrk 22:12:37 UTC) (permalink)
Limited Halo 3 Hoodies in AU
If you're headed to the Australian TechEd 2007 conference in Queensland, Australia this weekend, you've got a shot at one of fifty extremely limited-edition Halo 3 hoodies to be given away there; pictures available at the istartedsomething blog. Mmm... I wish they were actually selling these... (and that's it for me; internet access disappears - NOW.) (Louis Wu 18:51:51 UTC) (permalink)
The Halo 3 Albania Project
This one's pretty odd - The Halo 3 Albania Project is a video documentary of an effort to bring Halo 3 to Albania... or more specifically to a Peace Corps volunteer working in Albania. There's no actual footage up yet, but there are clips from both the volunteer and the filmmaker linked off the documentary page. (PG-rated dialogue warning.) (Louis Wu 18:41:54 UTC) (permalink)
Hawty McBloggy - Month in Review
bs angel has posted a July in Review article on her Hawty McBloggy gamer blog - there are a number of stories we missed. Some are Halo related, some are more generally gamer-related. All are thoughtfully written, and entertaining. Go see what she's got! (Louis Wu 18:37:57 UTC) (permalink)
Big money in the near future
The Dallas Morning News has an article about the marketability of video games... and Halo 2 is playing a large part in that. (Louis Wu 18:35:14 UTC) (permalink)
Needs more Foghorn
Whoops! With all the excitement I completely forgot about the Bungie Podcast that was posted on B.Net yesterday afternoon. Luke, Frank, and Brian talk with each other and with Test Lead Jamie Evans about testing, bugs, four-player coop, a REAL studio, take-home tests (the good kind), glitches, and a whole load of smack-talking and general breeze-shooting. Give it a listen over at Bungie.Net, or on the iTunes Store. (mnemesis 07:41:08 UTC) (permalink)
M:D XBLA OSN
This was actually posted a couple of days ago on Gamerscoreblog, but we didn't get around to mentioning it... but there's still time for you to act. Marathon: Durandal for Xbox Live Arcade goes onsale at 9 am GMT on Wednesday (that's today, and it's actually less than two hours from now). $10 buys you a window into Bungie's past! Gogogo... (Louis Wu 07:10:19 UTC) (permalink)
Weather The Onslaught
In honor of today's release of Marathon: Durandal, Stuntmutt checks in with a very special One One Se7en. Somewhere in the heavens... ...they are groaning. (mnemesis 07:03:34 UTC) (permalink)
1up Hits the Road with John
1up has a preview of the third mission in Halo 3 over at their site, for those that are interested in that sort of thing. ;-) (Thanks, Fonz)
I won't mention what the title of the third mission is, but for those that are trying to remain spoiler-free, browsing the news or forums at a Halo fansite (like here, for instance) might not be your wisest choice. We've still got two months to go, and a lot of information is going to be flying around here. I'm just sayin'... (mnemesis 05:31:13 UTC) (permalink)
Interviews in Machinima #9 - Major.Dump
GamerTV has put up an interview with Richard Boisvert, aka Major.Dump, discussing how he got into animation, and what he's got in store for the future. Check it out, and thanks to trigger119 for the heads-up. (mnemesis 05:24:12 UTC) (permalink)
RvB Transitional Episodes
The first of the Red vs. Blue transition episodes we mentioned the other day is available over at GameStop, among other places. Oh, I hope the new Needler works like that. Thanks Nitro288. (mnemesis 05:14:31 UTC) (permalink)
| August 2007 | |
