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 | August 2008 |  |
August 2008 Archived News
News August 31 2008
PAX Pics and more
More video and stills from PAX - madmax, Devin Olsen, and Crab posted some fun stuff on our forum (Lots of Bungie people, playing Assembly, some intriguing Covenant symbols found around the map - poke through the thread for lots of posts with pics), and QuickTactical posted his set of photos of the event over at Halogrid. Go read about it! (Louis Wu 15:05:14 UTC) (permalink)
Luke Smith on 1UP Yours
According to LoneRanger 2.5, Lukems joined in on a live version of the 1UP Yours podcast at PAX yesterday. I haven't been able to listen (crappy hotel connection), but you can grab a copy from 1Up to see if there's any juicy Halo stuff in there! (Louis Wu 15:04:38 UTC) (permalink)
Prophecy Episode 4: To The Stars teaser trailer
Nabsuh announced a teaser trailer for Prophecy Episode 4 - this one is completely animated. More information about the project is available here. Jump over to YouTube to watch! (Louis Wu 15:04:13 UTC) (permalink)
10 Most Expensive Video Game Budgets Ever
UNSC Trafalgar found an article that looks at the most expensive video games ever made. Halo 3 comes in at number 5. (Louis Wu 15:03:42 UTC) (permalink)
DigitalPh33r's Guide to Making Halo 3 Machinima: Part 4
DigitalPh33r has released part four of his Guide to Making Halo 3 Machinima - this one covers gameplay sequences, and saving them as films. Swing over to Machinima.com to download or stream it. Thanks, UnSilentSlayer. (Louis Wu 15:03:12 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Mythbusters: Episode 1
H3MB pointed out a new video from DTHClan called 'Halo 3 Mythbusters, Episode 1' - they go through a number of 'myths' of actions that you might or might not actually be able to do in Halo 3 matchmaking, and test them. Some of these are pretty interesting! (Louis Wu 15:02:44 UTC) (permalink)
H3Press Contest Reminder
Mike Riess, of H3Press, reminded us that the music video contest they kicked off in early August is closing in seven days - and they've only got 3 submissions so far. There are over $100 in prizes - your chances are pretty good if you submit something! (Louis Wu 15:02:19 UTC) (permalink)
News August 30 2008
RvB's animated short
Last night, at their PAX Q&A panel, Rooster Teeth unveiled an amazing animated short showing off the Red vs Blue characters in a completely different context. They're not ready to DO anything with this material yet (they're in the feeling-out stages with various parties), so they're not planning on putting it online any time soon... but (as could be expected) the session was shakeycammed, and can be watched online (thanks, 2900d4u). These vids are totally unworthy representations of this footage... but they're all you're gonna get for the near future. (Louis Wu 15:37:53 UTC) (permalink)
More Assembly vids
MasterChief2829 found another couple of gameplay vids showing off Assembly gameplay - and Kotaku has one, too. I'm sure there'll be more throughout the weekend. (Louis Wu 15:37:27 UTC) (permalink)
She lets her skills do the talking
The Seattle Times has a profile piece on Alexis "Mischief" Hebert, one of the Frag Dolls, in the context of her preparations for tomorrow's 128-team Halo 3 tournament at PAX. Nice look into the online life of a frontline female gamer! (Louis Wu 15:36:59 UTC) (permalink)
Assembly Walkthrough - sorta
The folks at CrunchGear have put up a video walkthrough (er, runthrough? wanderthrough, with dying?) of one of their guys playing the new map while at PAX. Go look! Thanks go to DMFanella for the heads-up on the forum. (mnemesis 03:34:07 UTC) (permalink)
The Bungie Seven RIDE!
The Bungie WWU is available over on B.Net. An introduction to a tale about Bungie's Ultimate Frisbee team, a copy-and-paste of the PAX booth info we reported on earlier, and a bunch of pictures of Assembly. What's Assembly, you say? Just a new map (remember the code name Purple Reign?) that folks who attend PAX get to play on this weekend. Curse them all!! Go check it out, the pictures are beautiful. Dilly noted it first on our forum. Update: Whoops, forgot to add this: Dilly also posted the images from the B.Net article, in case folks can't get there to see them. Pretty...
(mnemesis 03:25:40 UTC) (permalink)
News August 29 2008
PAX Begins, Coverage Slows
And... that's it for me today. PAX starts in a few hours, and it's time to get moving! Enjoy your Friday, there are still some HBO folks on duty if you have news, I think. (We'll certainly have a wrap-up article or two, but I'm not bringing a laptop to the show.) If you're IN Seattle, check out the schedule for the Bungie Booth. Tons of activities! (Louis Wu 17:17:09 UTC) (permalink)
Ghost
Tony 'ubald' Marcotte sent word of another new render he's done - this one is a gorgeous shot of a ghost, riding off into a sunset. Go check it out in the gallery we've set up for him here! (Louis Wu 16:23:56 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3-based Bible Study
Here's one of the more unique uses of the Halo 3 lobby I've ever seen. TruthPastor SBG holds a pair of bible study classes on Monday nights, for his clan members (and anyone else interested) - obviously, only fifteen other people can participate in a single lobby at once, but in fact he's run a pair of Xboxes, with a pair of mics, to bring together 31 people total (15 slots per box, plus his own presence). If you're interested, they have a web page with information. Halo 3-enabled bible study... who'da thunk it? (Louis Wu 16:01:01 UTC) (permalink)
Weta's Cortana up for preorder now
Weta's taking preorders on their Cortana Statue - $225 US, with the statue actually shipping 2nd quarter 2009. As an incentive for tying up your money for the next 6-9 months, they're entering all preorders before September 30 into a drawing - win the drawing, and you might be flown down to Weta Studios and given a ride in the Warthog they built. (You can enter the sweepstakes WITHOUT preordering - full details are on the Sweepstakes page - but they'll do it for you if you commit to buying something.) (Louis Wu 15:16:55 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
Eight new pieces are up for your reading pleasure in the Fan Fiction section today - go get 'em! (Louis Wu 15:14:58 UTC) (permalink)
News August 28 2008
Braaiiinnnnssssssss...
Living Dead is back this weekend for the Double EXP Playlist. Bryan Ojeda noted it first on the forum. Go get those brains! (mnemesis 22:16:17 UTC) (permalink)
28 Weeks Later
In late July, Jamie98s released a trailer for 28 Weeks Later, his reconstruction of the movie of the same name in the Halo 3 engine. Today, he's proud to announce the full version - a monster film, 43 minutes long, weighing in at a bit over 350 mb in downloadable format. Here's Jamie's description:
"Six months after the rage virus was inflicted on the population of Great Britain, the US Army helps to secure a small area of London for the survivors to repopulate and start again. The main focus is on a father reuniting with his 2 children, whose mother was infected by the virus."
43 minutes might seem absurdly long for a Halo machinima, but Jamie cut half the movie to make it fit (though he did so in a way that kept the story fully understandable). It's an amazing piece of work; he's captured the tension and emotion of the original, while living within the confines of the Halo 3 environment. You can download it from our servers in either WMP9 format (366 mb) or QuickTime format (359 mb) - we rarely serve files this large, so I can't promise downloads won't be slow. If you don't want to wait, or you can't handle the larger version, Jamie98s should have a streaming version on his site at some point soon. Two thumbs up! (Louis Wu 14:54:28 UTC) (permalink)
A Fun Suicide Snipe
A couple of weeks ago, we got mail from CrAnkMYkcid about a pretty funny sniper suicide he'd committed on Last Resort. You can't comment on the clip on B.net, because he's gotten himself blacklisted there (CrankFiber is his B.net username). However, he's uploaded it to GameVee, as well, and because I liked it, I've added a pair of HD downloads of it, with a few angles (I'm leaving for PAX in an hour, so the editing is about as minimal as it gets...) - WMP9 (12.4 mb) or QuickTime (10.5 mb). Go check it out - and remember to watch those corners when you're sniping! (Louis Wu 14:27:44 UTC) (permalink)
Rove - Halo 3 affected by Gates' Retirement
mattroe told us about a Halo 3 reference on the Australian comedy program Rove. I KNEW there were extras Bungie didn't tell us about! (Louis Wu 11:11:13 UTC) (permalink)
Willingly Insane
Kido Badtower stopped by to announce his machinima series 'Willingly Insane' - he's already created 9 episodes of Season 1, and 4 episodes of Season 2, but he's remaking the Season 1 vids. All eps are hosted at YouTube. Go see what you think! (Louis Wu 11:08:52 UTC) (permalink)
Gearbox/Halo Rumor, Laid Out
Okay, so back in February, we posted a news bit about one of our readers who speculated that an announcement by Gearbox's Randy Pitchford was Halo-related; his original post is no longer available on his website, but Archive.org has a copy. This info was updated, sort of, in May - but nothing really materialized. Well, the latest Official Xbox Magazine has a rumor in it that ties Gearbox and Halo together again; Planet Halo was the first site I saw to notice this, but by last week, it had been picked up by almost every major gaming site. Today, Kotaku has published an internal Gearbox email in which Corrinne Yu, a programmer who's worked for them for some time, announces that she's taken the Lead Engine Architect job on the Halo team at Microsoft. (Thanks, Ross.) Now, this might actually be totally unrelated; it's been clear for a while that Microsoft is building up their internal Halo team, and the fact that they recruited Yu from Gearbox might have nothing whatsoever to do with Gearbox - it might just be that she was the best prospect for the job. Lots of people are connecting the dots, though, so the rumor's out there - and now we have a reason why. (Well, kind of. If you were planning on building the next Halo game, would you let one of your best programmers go to someone ELSE'S Halo team?) IS Gearbox working on a new version of Halo for the next-generation Xbox? That remains to be seen. One of their hottest programmers is leaving to run the Microsoft Halo team, though. That much, we know. (Louis Wu 10:52:51 UTC) (permalink)
News August 27 2008
Beautifully depicted bumps
Topless Robot (relatively safe for work, despite the name) has put up a 'Top 10 Sexiest Action Figures Ever Made' - and a certain naked-and-glowing female AI from the Halo series made it to #3 on the list. Thanks, xupaosso. (Louis Wu 17:06:36 UTC) (permalink)
An Ode To Halo 3
Bryan Simon wrote an ode to Bungie and Halo 3 - you can find it on YouTube. Fan love rocks! Go watch! (Louis Wu 16:58:45 UTC) (permalink)
Power Spike
TTL Demag0gue has posted today's episode of Reclaimer - Episode 81 shows Viper trying to shut down the virus in the slipspace array. Sometimes things don't go as planned... (Louis Wu 11:26:02 UTC) (permalink)
I Am Your Soul
Hawty McBloggy has a followup to last week's love triangle amongst Cortana, a Big Daddy, and a Hunter - as well as a new piece of Fan Art devoted to your favorite blue AI. Check it out! (Louis Wu 11:21:55 UTC) (permalink)
Outpost: Isil Ep 9 - Full Frontal
The Treeskunk crew has put together Outpost: Isil Episode 9 - Full Frontal. You have to wonder how the two teams actually still have living members left 9 episodes in... lots of death and destruction here. You can download it in a lot of different formats, or watch it streaming (in a lot of different places) from the Treeskunk website. (Louis Wu 11:15:37 UTC) (permalink)
MINIMIZING WORK
Last night, Bungie released a brand-new podcast - it's a monster 80-minute piece of work full of jokes, interviews, and bears. Paul Russell is the special guest, Shishka discusses the playlist changes coming up next month, and security expert Jerome Simpson comes by for a mini-interview. Shishka puts up with ribbing from Sketch and Luke, Paul talks about the evolution of Halo in the last ten years (guys - ask Rob McLees about the origin of 'seven' in Bungie games, and say thanks to Hamish Sinclair), and Jerome discusses protecting the Bungie offices from any and all comers. Great stuff! Avateur was the first to notice on our forum. (Louis Wu 10:16:03 UTC) (permalink)
News August 26 2008
A Halo Wedding
Wow, very cool - last Saturday, Eagle 117 SBG got married (to another member of the SBG clan, Patience SBG) down in Louisiana... and the groom's cake showed off their Halo love! (pic one | pic two). Congratulations, guys! (And thanks to TruthPastor SBG for the heads-up.) (Louis Wu 11:25:04 UTC) (permalink)
Top 10 Halo 3 Exterminations video
Hawty McBloggy found a 'Top 10 Halo 3 Exerminations' video on YouTube - quality is aweful, but the gameplay's pretty nice. Number four, especially - totally clutch play. (There are way more htan 10 here - the honorable mentions start about halfway through the film.) (Louis Wu 11:17:06 UTC) (permalink)
Yes it was, I won, A+
Over at the Rooster Teeth website, Red vs Blue: Reconstruction Chapter 12 has been released - things take a pretty serious turn. (Don't worry, there's plenty of comedy.) I'm loving this more with every episode. Looks like elpolloguapo was first with the heads-up. (Louis Wu 10:41:08 UTC) (permalink)
Blood Gulch, in Crysis
Over at NeoGAF, Kibbles pointed out a YouTube video containing footage of a fan-made mod of Crysis, showing off Blood Gulch. The environment itself is gorgeous. The gameplay... I wasn't so impressed with. You can discuss this on our forum in this thread. (Louis Wu 10:40:08 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars in Germany - a dev view
The Halo Wars website points you towards a developer diary written by Bill Jackson, one of Ensemble's crew at the Leipzig Games Convention in Germany - it can give you a sense of how those guys are spending a typical day at the convention, and how Halo Wars is being received. (While you're there, you can see a short piece on the new box art unveiled yesterday.) Update: Looks like there are three new screenshots of the game over at TeamXbox, as well.
(Louis Wu 10:38:04 UTC) (permalink)
News August 25 2008
Halo: Fall of Reach Movie Concept Art, Week 4
El Mayimbe has posted the fourth of five pieces of concept art for the spec'd Fall of Reach movie - a battle scene at the climax of the film. Go check it out! (Louis Wu 21:39:33 UTC) (permalink)
2old2play Finishes its 4th LAN for Charity
Joel Albert, of 2old2play, let us know that they've just wrapped up their 4th and most successful LAN party for charity - over $1000 was raised for Children's Memorial Hospital and the Child Oncology Services, while STILL providing a $1000 purse for the winner of a FFA Halo 3 tourney. The LAN writeup is here, the $1000 FFA tourney writeup is here, and a video created by Dantez Inferno, commemorating the event, can be found here.
(Louis Wu 21:36:16 UTC) (permalink)
You know you play too much Halo when...
Hawty McBloggy asked a while back if you could play too much Halo - she's posted the answers (submitted by fans) in her blog. Read what folks have sent in - and see how many make sense to you! (Louis Wu 21:12:23 UTC) (permalink)
New Reality Show Looking for Gamers
Ben Winterman stopped by with word of a new reality show that will focus on finding the 'ultimate gamer', and is currently looking for folks who want to audition. Tryouts to be held in 4 major US cities - read the flyer for full details! (We got a copy of this ourselves, but since Ben has already announced it, it's easier to point to his forum post.) (Louis Wu 21:08:15 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars Box Art
Joystiq (and other sites) have what is purported to be the Halo Wars box art - presumably released at the Leipzig Games Convention. It looks an awful lot like some fan mockups, though, and the proportions of the actual models seem off, so I'm suspicious. If we get confirmation from an official source, we'll update this newspost. Thanks, BootStrap Boon. Update: MasterChief2829 pointed out that you can find this logo at Microsoft's ProSource press website - that's a decent confirmation of its legitimacy. (Louis Wu 17:21:08 UTC) (permalink)
Cortana Dishes the Dirt
OddGodHMK let us know about Boring Comics #15, in which Cortana discloses some tidbits you might wish you'd never learned. (Louis Wu 12:59:15 UTC) (permalink)
G.R.I.E.F. Trailer
You might remember Smooth Few Films - they've been making machinima for quite some time (with lots of accolades), and have dipped their toes in the Halo 3 world (The Over-Achiever, The Bag Boy, The GunStop Way) - looks like they're back, with a trailer for an upcoming project called 'G.R.I.E.F'. As usual, high production values, huge potential - looking forward to the actual series! Huzzah! Thanks, Rosco-128. (Louis Wu 12:56:01 UTC) (permalink)
Halo.fr visits Bungie
Halo.fr's Johnny Be Good let us know that Sirkan (a staff member of the site) went to visit Bungie Studios in early August - there's a writeup and a bunch of pictures of the lobby on the Halo.fr blog. I'm told an English translation is coming soon. (Louis Wu 12:51:51 UTC) (permalink)
News August 24 2008
In-Game Portraits, Made to Order
You might remember last week there was a mention of Project Pangea, in which The Handmade Hero was building portrait screenshots of those who asked. He was kind enough to build one for me - I hadn't realized I WANTED one, but the final result is actually very nice. (Bungie.net is really iffy right now, so if that link doesn't work, try it later.) If you like what you see, contact him! (Louis Wu 17:17:23 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Toronto Update
MLG Toronto is in full swing; the Live Feed is currently showing the Losers Bracket games as teams struggle to make it back to the championship. Antigravity just pulled out a 3-2 win over Legendz in Round 4. Final Boss vs Str8 Rippin (Winners Bracket) is up next! (Full details can be found in the Live Brackets.) (Louis Wu 16:37:12 UTC) (permalink)
Weta's Unique Statues - Nearly Gone
A couple of days ago, the Weta Workshop released their second podcast - there's an interesting interview covering the development of the Halo 3 silver collectibles. Three of those four unique pieces have now been sold on eBay - Master Chief and Grunts finished up at $3,050, Master Chief and Arbiter at $2,113.88, and Master Chief and Flood brought in $1,843.81. The silver Cortana statue is currently at $1,650, but I doubt it'll finish there; the auction ends in about nine hours - if you want a shot at this, you'd be well-advised to be online at 6:29 pm PDT, for that last-minute bid. Go listen to the podcast, and then get ready for that final bidding! Update: Cortana statue sold for a total of $2,358.35. Nice! (I'm surprised - I thought it would go for more. Still... nearly $10,000 for the four statues... not too shabby.) (Louis Wu 16:16:56 UTC) (permalink)
OmGs' Halo 2 Montage 3
Z pointed out OmGs' 3rd Halo 2 Montage - I don't miss Halo 2's gameplay at all, but I do have to say, I miss those maps! Almost 7 minutes long, a hefty 290 mb. Check it out. (Louis Wu 13:59:48 UTC) (permalink)
Arby 'n' the Chief S3E02: Wedding
Will Ludwig was the first to point out the latest Arby 'n' the Chief episode, but Xmoosev3 provided a link that gives you creator notes, and links to both Machinima.com and YouTube versions. The video itself is just over 8 minutes long, and shows what happens when Arby and the Chief go to a Halo wedding. I gotta say, it was pretty funny. I feel almost bad saying that. But it was. (Louis Wu 13:53:23 UTC) (permalink)
HBO Fan Fic Pick of the Week (August 22)
kr-1426 let us know that The Fan Fic Pick of the Week has been posted over at the HBOFF forums. Go see who got the nod! (Louis Wu 13:27:09 UTC) (permalink)
SBG BTB Tourney - The Finals are On
We got writeups from both TruthPastor SBG and NAMLOCO SBC about the SBG BTB Tourney Semifinals - Saved by Grace was victorious over the Swat Krue, and Tied the Leader beat Outcast Reborn, so these two teams (SBG and TTL) will meet in the upcoming finals. If you want to watch the SBG matches, they're in NAMLOCO's fileshare (dated August 19). The TTL games are in TTL Gilthanis' fileshare (same date). Close matches, good games... and the showdown will take place at the TTL Labor Day LAN in Chicago! Good luck to both teams. Update: Oops, my bad - the showdown hasn't been scheduled yet BECAUSE of the LAN in Chicago. (Louis Wu 13:25:01 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: The Ballet
Taco Power was asked by a friend for a song to use in a university project demonstrating modern ballet - the end result mixed 'Halo' and 'The Siege of Madrigal'. The dancers are amateurs - but it's pretty cool to see Halo used in this context! (Louis Wu 13:23:37 UTC) (permalink)
News August 23 2008
Halo 3: Arrival
There's a new Flash reproduction of the opening sequence of Halo 3 - or at least a parody of it - over at Newgrounds. You'll learn things about Johnson you probably didn't want to know. (Louis Wu 11:53:16 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars: Wolverine
newguy2445 let us know that there's new information (including pics and a video) of an anti-air vehicle being added to Halo Wars - the Wolverine. It made me go back and look at Roger Wilco's page here - he had a Wolverine (though it's a totally different kind of vehicle) and a couple of models that matched this puppy pretty well... (RW's page went live in 2002.) (Louis Wu 11:50:05 UTC) (permalink)
Anti-Piracy Vid
uralllame was inspired by an anti-piracy clip on a DVD he was watching to create his own version for modded Halo content. Go watch it - it might not change your mind, but it's cute. Thanks, Dragoncoals. (Louis Wu 11:49:27 UTC) (permalink)
Wake me up when September Ends
The Bungie Weekly Update is online over at Bungie.net (and in our Weekly Update Archive) - it's actually a pretty interesting read, this week. Lots of info about what's coming in September (and, unfortunately, what's not), plus teasers about PAX and Bungie's showing there. Swing by! Looks like Mid7night was first. (The September changes actually go into effect on the 16th, but Green Day didn't write anything about the middle of the month.) (Louis Wu 00:17:07 UTC) (permalink)
News August 22 2008
You will be food, nothing more...
mendicantbias00 decided to rewrite Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Raven' with a Halo theme - check it out and see what you think! (Louis Wu 18:35:29 UTC) (permalink)
Photosynth'd Zanzibar
If you're running a Windows machine (Mac running Boot Camp is okay, but Parallels/VMFusion/etc are not) running XP SP2 or later, you can install Photosynth, and see a compilation pic of Zanzibar, built from 273 separate pics. Thanks, dhan. Update: apparently, it DOES work with VMware Fusion, no matter WHAT the Photosynth page says. Thanks, sorahn. (Louis Wu 15:29:14 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: The Board Game (in video)
B1 Games (the makers of the Halo Interactive Strategy Game) have released a video showing how to play it - Ross Mills found it at Kotaku, but you have more (and better) watching options at GameVideos, where it originated. (Louis Wu 14:19:50 UTC) (permalink)
Symphony
TTL Demag0gue stopped by to announce Reclaimer 80 - the bigger picture is beginning to unfold. (Louis Wu 14:14:11 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Poster: Delivered
We mentioned a caption contest a few weeks ago, in which the prize was a Halo poster. Zach tells us it's been won, and the prize delivered - you can read the details on his site.
(Louis Wu 14:13:47 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction - and a reminder
Six new pieces are up for you in the Fan Fiction section. I didn't think I needed to keep saying this, so many years down the road, but... 1) this is a Halo Fan Fiction collection - if you submit non-Halo material, it will be deleted, and 2) if you submit a story with no punctuation and atrocious spelling, it will be deleted (you can read the rationale in the Submission Guidelines). Don't waste your time (and mine) - follow the (basic) rules! (Louis Wu 14:07:18 UTC) (permalink)
News August 21 2008
Why Halo 3 Underwhelmed
Xbox Focus has a long, multifaceted article looking at what was wrong with the Halo 3 Campaign. If you can get past the language (I don't know why the "use big words wrong" style bugs me so much, but it does), you'll find some well-thought-out rationale - I don't agree with all of it, but he backs up his argument with solid examples. Give it a read, see if you agree! (Louis Wu 23:08:24 UTC) (permalink)
Double XP Weekend - Team Snipers
It's Thursday, and it's after 11 am Pacific, so it's time for another Double XP Weekend. It's Team Snipers again - go practice your long rifle skills! (Louis Wu 18:19:01 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars Preview
IGN has a Hands-on with Halo Wars from the Leipzig Games Convention - no new vids or screenshots, but some discussion of gameplay. Go read! (Louis Wu 18:02:25 UTC) (permalink)
Breaking Boundaries Gets More Shots
mendicantbias00 has updated his Halo 3 screenshot/panorama blog, Breaking Boundaries - the latest update is here, but check the whole site, he's been adding stuff every few days. (Louis Wu 16:56:47 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Goodies from a fan
DocOctavius is selling his Halo 2 Evolution Boxed Set on eBay - there weren't many of these, so if you missed 'em the first time around, here's another chance! (Louis Wu 16:53:50 UTC) (permalink)
What If, Halo Style: Round 4
Okay, so a couple of weeks ago, Hawty McBloggy forgot about Friday, and posted her Friday content on Saturday. That was fine by us - we've done our own share of forgetting to post regular content here. She seems to be making up for it today, though - she's posted THIS Friday's content on Thursday, so you can check out this week's What If, Halo Style a little early. Fun answers to last week's question (What armor permutation would you design?), plus a new question - are you jonesing for any vehicles not present in the Halo universe? You've got an extra day to think about it! (Louis Wu 14:23:49 UTC) (permalink)
MCT3K Season 1 Finale
mrsmiley let us know that the season 1 finale of Master Chief Theater 3000 is now up on YouTube. If you register at pyrosmile.org, there's apparently some extra content for this episode. Season 2 will start in a couple of weeks. (Louis Wu 14:16:40 UTC) (permalink)
We've got Armadillos in our Trousers.
Over at the Escapist, there's an interesting article about the inflation of game review scores over the years, and the effect this has on both the buying public and the developer community. (I hadn't realized that some game developers base bonuses for employees on the scores their games get from reviewers.) Halo 3 is mentioned a number of times, in support of the thesis that game reviewers allow heavy marketing campaigns to influence their judgement. It's a thought-provoking read - swing by! (How could you go wrong with an article that references Spinal Tap in its title?) (Louis Wu 14:08:56 UTC) (permalink)
Boom De Yada - again
The Discovery Channel's "I Love the Whole World" commercial is a favorite for folks looking to remake icons in the Halo universe - we've already mentioned a couple of instances of this (here and here). I ran across another one yesterday, though, that I thought did a great job with picking relevant clips. It's old - but I liked it a lot! (Louis Wu 14:06:09 UTC) (permalink)
Australian Search Habits - and Gaming Prefs
Wow, that stings - in the midst of an article at News.com.au about how more Australians search for gaming links than for porn, there's a nasty little shot at Halo 3:
There are more searches for Call Of Duty 4 than Halo 3 in Australia and the UK, most likely because it is a far superior game.
Ouch! (Then again, the article goes on to say that Australia's leading the world in searches for 'purple monkey dishwasher', so maybe a little failure in objective journalism isn't the biggest thing to worry about...) (Louis Wu 13:57:19 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief among the top costumes this Halloween
Costume Supercenter, a national chain of costume stores, has released its "Top 10 Halloween Costumes for 2008" - and Halo 3's Master Chief Jumpsuit made the list. Expect to see a raft of Spartans this October! (Louis Wu 13:55:29 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Guitar for GH
Hawty McBloggy noticed a Halo 3-themed custom Guitar Hero controller on eBay - current bid is $26, with five and a half days to go. Rock out as the Master Chief!
(Louis Wu 13:54:24 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars: first of a series
I'm not sure this is really a surprise... but it might be the first time I've seen it printed. eddie m found a writeup for the Leipzig Games Convention (in German) that described Halo Wars as "the first console title of the series," implying a chain of sequels already in the planning stages. I suppose it would make sense to wait and see how the first one was received, though... (Louis Wu 13:53:49 UTC) (permalink)
News August 20 2008
Boxart Credits
The Multiplayer Blog over at MTV.com has an article discussing what video game box art would look like if they showed the same sort of credits that movies have. A bit too busy for my tastes... but it's an interesting discussion. It's here because Halo is one of their examples. Thanks, KP. (Louis Wu 18:03:16 UTC) (permalink)
Brotherhood: Teaser 03
We've mentioned an upcoming project from Dream053 a couple of times (in April and May) - he's back again, with a third audio clip, and again, it shows quite a bit of promise. If you want to follow along with development, they've started up a website. (Louis Wu 14:36:17 UTC) (permalink)
Price of Purchase
TTL Demag0gue announced that Reclaimer 79 has been posted - and the picture gets bigger. (Louis Wu 13:47:53 UTC) (permalink)
CoD4 back on top
The see-sawing has begun - according to Major Nelson's LIVE activity list, Call of Duty 4 was the most-played game last week. Our forum denizens haven't come up with a good explanation for why this came about. News? Not news? You got me - I'd say no, but a lot of people are discussing it. (Louis Wu 13:47:19 UTC) (permalink)
It's not just a hobby - it's an asset.
Sterfrye36 has been writing Fan Fiction for the HBOFF section for more than five years - and he attributes his acceptance at an Ivy League college to this pursuit. Go read the details! (Louis Wu 13:46:12 UTC) (permalink)
Viva La Vida Halo Music Video
GeneticSpartan stopped by yesterday with word of a Halo Music Video set to Coldplay's Viva La Vida - I thought it was fantastic. He included a couple of streaming links, and we've added some extra download links. Watch this!
(Louis Wu 13:28:26 UTC) (permalink)
Fan Art: Betrayal
Hawty McBloggy continues her Fan Art Spotlight on Cortana - sort of. This week, it's a series of pics, and Cortana plays only a small (though critical) role. Nice work! (Louis Wu 13:27:38 UTC) (permalink)
Dave Learns Something
OddGodHMK has updated Boring Comics with another Halo-related strip - in fact, this one's an HBO-related strip. I laughed. (Louis Wu 13:26:57 UTC) (permalink)
News August 19 2008
TTL Highlights - Killing Spree
Tied the Leader is back - there's a highlight reel of some of their finest moments in matchmaking for the month of July. It was a lot of fun to watch! Thanks, XerxdeeJ. (Louis Wu 15:13:57 UTC) (permalink)
Headstones Pushed Aside
vociferous has a new piece up over at Ascendant Justice - Headstones Pushed Aside looks at one of the more interesting enemies you face in the Halo series. It ties together information from the games, the terminals within the games, and outside sources like the Iris campaign last summer to bring you what is likely the most complete view of this facet of the Halo universe seen to date. As always, it's well thought-out and full of details you may not have noticed for yourself. A must-read for any Halo story fanatic! Thanks, rhubarb.
(Louis Wu 12:50:45 UTC) (permalink)
RvB: Reconstruction Chapter 11
Rooster Teeth has released Chapter 11 of Red vs Blue: Reconstruction - it's getting harder and harder every week to point out how this series has fantastic production values and top-notch effects - but every week, it proves it's still there at the top of the Halo machinima heap. The Reds and the Blues are faced with a devastating attack from the Meta - can they figure out how to stop the juggernaut? BlueNinja kicked off a discussion of the episode on our forum. (Louis Wu 12:49:58 UTC) (permalink)
Fun with Screenshots
Hawty McBloggy has a couple of fun collections for you. On her main blog, you'll find "You're Doing It Really, Really Wrong" - this is a set of screenshots that should make you smile, assuming you haven't burned out on this internet meme. (Oddball and Intimidation were two I hadn't seen before, and got chuckles out of me, but there are lots of great shots.) Over at I <3 Halo 3 Screenshots is a new project - Halo Movie Scenes. Recreating classic movie posters, using the Halo 3 screenshot functionality and a LOT of creativity... this rocks. The examples up right now have all been created by Predator5791 - but there's plenty of room for other players. Go see what you can add!
(Louis Wu 12:49:06 UTC) (permalink)
Steel Spartan Kotobukiya, Brute Stalker Reviews
IGN has posted a 'Preview' of the Halo 3 Steel Spartan variant of the Kotobukiya Bubble-shielded figure - mostly, it's just a lot of screenshots... but it's a great figure. And while we're doing action figure reviews, Superheroes Base has a writeup of the McFarlane Brute Stalker. (Louis Wu 12:48:39 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Domination - a Proposal
Fyrewulff posted a design doc for a 'game' played with Halo 3, but with a pretty involved backend. It's hard to explain - go read the details, and give him some feedback! (Louis Wu 12:47:57 UTC) (permalink)
Jasman Halo 3 Plasma Pistols - a Kotaku Review
Last week, Kotaku posted an 'unboxing' of a set of Jasman Halo 3 Plasma Pistols - a series of photos showing off the goods. They followed it up yesterday with an 'Impressions' article, discussing the actual gameplay, and including a movie. If you're a laser tag afficionado, this seems to be a nice way to fold in your Halo interests, as well. Vash10 started a discussion thread on our forum, if you have comments.
(Louis Wu 12:45:39 UTC) (permalink)
Comic-Styled Longsword
Mid7night posted a video of his Longsword in X-Plane; he played with some Final Cut filters for added effect. If you want to play along, he's challenged you to add a Halo-flavored soundtrack. (Louis Wu 12:44:59 UTC) (permalink)
GD's Top 25 Enemies
Morpheus noticed a Top 25 Enemies of All Time list at Game Daily. If I specified WHICH enemy from the Halo series made the list, I'd have to put a spoiler tag on this newspost.
(Louis Wu 12:44:29 UTC) (permalink)
News August 18 2008
Halo Fall of Reach Movie Concept Art - Week Three
El Mayimbe has posted the third piece of concept art by Kasra Farahani for the Fall of Reach Movie project written up by Stuart Beattie - I'm having trouble placing the scene that this image portrays... but it's an interesting pic. Check it out! (Louis Wu 22:24:30 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Interactive Strategy Game - the HBO Review
CYBRFRK wrote up a review of the Halo Interactive Strategy Game - we didn't think it would be out before September, but he found it in Wal-Mart this weekend. If you were on the fence about buying this, read his thoughts to see if they help you decide! Pictures should be coming soon. Update: The Thurmanator pointed out a bunch of pics at BoardGameGeek. (Louis Wu 20:46:06 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 1 and 2 in 60 Seconds
J23 pointed out Screw Attack's Halo 1 and 2 in 60 Seconds - language is a little blue, but it's a nice fast summary of the first two games. If you're easily offended, don't watch. (Louis Wu 18:50:22 UTC) (permalink)
Rustlers Machinima Music Video Contest - Results
Machinima.com/UK had a music video contest - put one of two Jonathan Coulton songs (Bacteria, Todd the T1000) to music, using any game you want, win goodies. The winners were filmed with World of Warcraft and GTA: San Andreas - but Halo was used for fully half of the entries - and I really liked FireDragon04's entry (he's the one who told us about the contest). Go watch! (Louis Wu 17:40:33 UTC) (permalink)
Legendary Crest - for sale, again
A week ago, we mentioned link4044's Legendary Crest - it had been put up on eBay for a short time, but pulled because of a misunderstanding. He's put another one up after clearing up the problem - you've got about four and a half days to make up your mind. Again - if I had the wall space, I'd find the cash, this is amazing. (Louis Wu 14:13:28 UTC) (permalink)
Boring Comics
OddGodHMK continues to use Halo in his Boring Comic series. I'm having trouble finding teh funni. (Louis Wu 14:12:03 UTC) (permalink)
MC and Grunts - it's over three thousand!
Wow. The Master Chief and Grunts Silver Statue auction ended last night - and the final price jumped $1300 in the last 40 seconds, leading to a final sales price of $3,050. The other three auctions are still going - Master Chief and Arbiter ends Wednesday night (it's at $1669.69), Master Chief and Flood ends on Friday night ($1328), and Cortana ends on Sunday night (it's at $1500 right now). Count on these going MUCH higher. (Just think how much better that news headline would have been if the price had tripled...) (Louis Wu 14:07:45 UTC) (permalink)
Code Pinnacle
It's Monday, so it's time for another episode of Reclaimer - TTL Demag0gue has released Reclaimer 78, which might confuse you unless you've been following very closely.
(Louis Wu 13:33:22 UTC) (permalink)
DigitalPh33r's Guide to Making Halo 3 Machinima: Part 3
DigitalPh33r has released Part 3 of his Guide to Making Halo 3 Machinima - it covers scriptwriting, building sets, and creating character models, and runs a bit over 8 minutes. Thanks to Exanubisleader for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 13:30:08 UTC) (permalink)
SDCC Exclusive Action Figures - now Available
Not sure how long this deal is going to last, but Darknesshasfallen let us know that Spawn.com is selling the ComicCon Exclusive action figures (the Hellspartan and the CQB Active Camo) as a pair, for as long as supplies last. These were only available at the San Diego ComicCon last month - so folks assumed that if they weren't there, eBay was going to be their only choice... but apparently, if you've got $30 (plus shipping) and some speed, you can snag 'em from the creators. Go order!
(Louis Wu 13:27:36 UTC) (permalink)
FFPotW - it's hard to pronounce
A Halo Fan...natic pointed out that this week's HBO Fan Fic Pick of the Week has been posted over on the HBOFF forums - give it a read! (Louis Wu 13:23:59 UTC) (permalink)
British Press all over Halo stuff
MasterChief2829 noticed that Halo Wars is on the cover of the next issue of X360 (a UK mag), and Urban Reflex mentioned that Xbox World 360 (another UK mag) has a cover story on Halo 4.
(Louis Wu 13:22:33 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 18 inch Articulated Master Chief Figure
Gryphonosiris found a preorder page for 18" articulated Master Chief Replicas (no word on the manufacturer) at Urban Collector. Pretty nice-looking, from the single preview shot - these should be available in a couple of months.
Update: Zach J noticed an entry at Big Bad Toy Store - these are made by Master Replicas. (Louis Wu 13:18:13 UTC) (permalink)
We ran out of candy
Rare released a new parody of the Believe Campaign, using Viva Piñata (the last one was mentioned a couple of weeks ago) - really nice work! Thanks to RotaJota for the heads-up - he found it at Joystiq.
(Louis Wu 13:14:54 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars - UNSC Reactor
newguy2445 sent us a note that the Halo Wars website has updated with new information about one of the buildings available to UNSC players - the Reactor. Swing by for pics!
(Louis Wu 13:12:01 UTC) (permalink)
Forge Hub 2v2 Face Off Update
Okay, I'm back from a really pleasant weekend away from the internet - thanks to mnemesis for keeping the front page from going blank while I was gone! Time to catch up on backlogged news... first up is an update on the Forge Hub Halo 3 2v2 tourney we last mentioned on August 1 - they want 256 teams total, and as of Friday, they were at 189. It's unclear to me when signups end - but the gametypes were released last Friday night, and the first map, 'Urban', was released last night. More teaser images, and a FAQ, are here. (Louis Wu 13:10:02 UTC) (permalink)
News August 17 2008
First Weta Silver Statue auction - winding up
The Master Chief and Grunts statue we mentioned a while ago is wrapping up today. $1675 so far, so if you've got that kind of money burning a hole in your pocket and you'd like to have something completely unique in the Halo collectibles world, get to it! (mnemesis 15:33:37 UTC) (permalink)
News August 16 2008
Bungie Weekly Update: From the Mouths of Babes
The Bungie Weekly Update is up (and has been since last night). A bit of info on PAX, and a bunch of tidbits from various people at the studio, giving some tasty yet cryptic hints as to what they're working on. Go read! (mnemesis 16:31:05 UTC) (permalink)
News August 15 2008
Guilty Spark's Death Scream
Hellhawk sent along 343 Guilty Spark's death scream from the Halo level of Halo 3 - it's two separate screams, but the second one's harder to hear. We've added it to our Dialogue Databank. (Louis Wu 15:49:53 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief meets Bollywood?
Crispy Gamer's James Fudge pointed us to this news bit about a Bollywood movie that apparently revolves around a fictional designer of Halo 3. As CG says, the trailer mentioned in the article has no Halo content at all... so we'll have to take their word for it. (A Google search turns up a bunch of synopses of the film - but again, no Halo mention.) (Louis Wu 14:33:20 UTC) (permalink)
Technical Lighting paper from SIGGRAPH 2008
Earlier this week, Bungie's Hao Chen was at SIGGRAPH, the technical computer graphics conference, as an instructor in the 'Advances in Real-Time Rendering in 3D Graphics and Games' class. ATI has posted the proceedings of the conference course notes for his work, 'Lighting and Material of Halo 3', on their Technical Publications page. (It's currently second from the top in the 'Siggraph 2008' section - just search the page for 'Bungie'.) The 22 page PDF is very, very heavy on math - but if you're interested in this kind of thing, it's gold. (It's much, much, MUCH more technical than the presentation with the same name on Bungie's Publications page.) Almost makes me miss graduate school... (Louis Wu 10:18:48 UTC) (permalink)
With If you could put Blood Gulch in a Canyon
Hawty McBloggy has posted What If, Halo Style: Round 3 over on her site. There are results from last week's question (a ridiculous number of people want Blood Gulch back), plus a new question, asking you about armor permutations. Go read and comment! (Louis Wu 10:15:16 UTC) (permalink)
Cortana Halo 3 Silver Statue - now on eBay
Weta has put the final silver Halo statue on eBay - the gorgeous Halo 3 Cortana jumped to $1,275 in the first six hours of its listing. (Reserve has not been met yet.) As with previous auctions, you can get a high-res look at the workmanship on our gallery page - and if you check the Weta eBay Store, you'll see all four auctions at a glance. Master Chief and Grunts will be the first to end, Sunday night just before midnight Eastern. Cortana has nine plus days to go... (Louis Wu 10:03:28 UTC) (permalink)
Processes Begun
SonofMacPhisto beat TTL Demag0gue in announcing Reclaimer 77 - Reticent Mystery and the Reclaimer have begun to become one. Things are gettin' funky! (Louis Wu 09:46:43 UTC) (permalink)
Looking back on the building of Believe
There's a fascinating inside view at the development of the Halo 3 Believe diorama, as told by the ad agency that put it all together, over at Shoot Online. They couldn't get art assets from Bungie, so they got them from McFarlane. They were able to repurpose scale models from Aliens to save some time in set building. They discovered that their Brutes had the wrong dimensions, necessitating a reconstruction of about 100 models. And on and on. With all that happened, it's amazing how well the final product turned out! (Louis Wu 09:38:42 UTC) (permalink)
Uprising - a gentler view
Comic Book Resources has posted a review of Halo: Uprising #3 - it's a bit kinder than most of the opinions we mentioned yesterday. (Louis Wu 09:30:38 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
Just four new pieces this week in the Fan Fiction section - but there are some familiar names there... (Louis Wu 09:26:03 UTC) (permalink)
News August 14 2008
And I'm Grif, Grifballin'...
It's Thursday, so it's time for Double XP Weekend to begin - this week, it's Grifball. From now until Monday morning at 2 am PT, you can get your fill of hammers and bombs! (Louis Wu 18:18:51 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief Mighty Mugg
So, I've never heard of "Mighty Muggs" before, but apparently, they're a style of action figure - and someone at Etsy is painting custom versions, including a Master Chief. Thanks to GadgetHeat for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 16:59:56 UTC) (permalink)
Play Halo on the big screen
If you live in Vancouver, BC, you've got a chance to play Halo on the big screen, whenever you want. Apparently, Cineplex Entertainment is going to be offering two-hour blocks of time in their theaters, outside of normal movie viewing showtimes, when a full surround-sound theater can be rented for $179. Get 16 friends together, that's less than $11/person, for two hours of giganto-screen Halo 3 goodness.
(Louis Wu 13:29:34 UTC) (permalink)
Keeping Track of Webcam Shenanigans
Not really Halo-related, but a boon for Bungie fans - HaLo2FrEeEk has put together a Bungie Webcam image archiver and will be offering the images at some point in the future. If you have suggestions for new functionality, let him know! (Louis Wu 13:28:24 UTC) (permalink)
Lower the Guns - looking for your support
Dragoncoals pointed out a video on YouTube promoting a Bungie.net Group that wants weapon-lowering to be enabled in Halo 3 on Xbox LIVE (currently, you can only do it offline). While I believe that the goal is not one that can be accomplished by this sort of lobbying, the demonstration in this video (the same short machinima story, shown with and without weapon-lowering) is well-done. Bungie's done their own thinking about this issue, and my guess is that if the functionality hasn't been added to AU2, coming next month, we'll probably never see it - but it's clear that Bungie thinks about machinimators. I don't think a several-hundred-person boycott of Xbox LIVE gameplay is going to make the point that a year's worth of lobbying has failed to make. However, if you disagree, you should watch the video, join the group, and add your voice to the cause! (Louis Wu 13:27:10 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: Uprising #3 Reviews
IGN wrote up a short review of Halo: Uprising #3, released nationwide yesterday. They weren't impressed. (You can get some other reviews right on our own forum - Neloms was the first, but there are comments throughout the thread.)
(Louis Wu 13:20:21 UTC) (permalink)
News August 13 2008
VideoManjaro
Bungie has released REAL versions of both the G-Phoria acceptance speech vid and the Edge acceptance speech vid - up to 720p versions. What are you waiting for? (Louis Wu 23:59:06 UTC) (permalink)
Breaking Boundaries - Halo 3, The Pretty Version
mendicantbias00 has put up a collection of screenshots and panoramas - swing by Breaking Boundaries to see the goods! (Louis Wu 19:08:22 UTC) (permalink)
GwF: Jet Black Stare
Another Game with Fame in Halo 3 coming up - this time it's the band Jet Black Stare, and they'll be online looking for competition on August 16. Read about it at Xbox.com! (Louis Wu 19:05:31 UTC) (permalink)
Third Weta Silver Statue for Sale Now
Last night, Weta posted the third of five one-of-a-kind silverplated statues - Master Chief and Flood is up to $810, with nine and a half days left. You can keep track of all the Weta statues on their eBay Store page - 4 days left on the Master Chief and Grunts, a week on Master Chief and Arbiter. This staggered release schedule is probably pretty hard on people who might want to bid on more than one... (Louis Wu 12:00:09 UTC) (permalink)
Shatterbox
TTL Demag0gue announced that Reclaimer 76 is live - the explanation of how Reticent Mystery works continues. (Louis Wu 11:57:07 UTC) (permalink)
Cortana Fan Art, Continued
Hawty McBloggy continues her study of Cortana Fan Art - this week's entry comes from a favorite around here, ZZoMBiE13 - good stuff! (Louis Wu 11:56:17 UTC) (permalink)
Larry the Marine Updates
K8lunch let us know that the most recent Larry the Marine comic has been up for a few days now - which made me realize we haven't posted news of Larry since July 4. Episodes 29 (Missing Steps), 30 (Compromised), 31 (Fall Back), and 32 (Here comes trouble...) are all up if you get your LtM news from us. Go read! (Louis Wu 11:52:43 UTC) (permalink)
News August 12 2008
In Your Head
Halo Action Figure Theater is back, with episode 150 - and Brad discovers he might not be talking to who he thinks he's talking to. Life can be rough when you're dead. (Louis Wu 23:41:43 UTC) (permalink)
Hindsight: Halo 3 - The Ark
It's been a long wait... but it was worth it. Over at Ascendant Justice, you can read Hindsight: Halo 3 - The Ark, a blow-by-blow discussion of one of the largest levels in Halo 3. As with all previous episodes of Hindsight, you'll almost certainly run across tidbits you missed when you played through the level, or be shown viewpoints you didn't consider. The writeup ties the level into the rest of the game, the other games in the series, and outside sources of canon. If you care about the Halo story, go read this. Bring a cup of coffee or two, though - it's monstrous. Thanks, fin. (Louis Wu 20:36:17 UTC) (permalink)
The Overlord Challenge - August Edition
We got word from TruthPastor SBG that the August Overlord Challenge has been won by the Overlords - this time they beat Cirque D'Geezers in a well-fought match. Go read all the details at the SBG website. September's challenge is against SBG themselves...
(Louis Wu 20:30:18 UTC) (permalink)
McBlogging the Halosphere
A pair of pretty cool articles over at Hawty McBloggy's place - there's a Stick Figure Forge Fight (stop-motion animation, inside Forge - THAT'S work), and a pretty nice looking custom Heretic Grunt action figure gleaned from the eBay ocean. Go read about 'em! (Louis Wu 16:48:01 UTC) (permalink)
HBOFFPotW
kr-1426 stopped in to announce that the latest HBO Fan Fic Pick of the Week article is up (along with last week's, which never got announced, mostly because it was posted so late). Go read! (Louis Wu 16:44:03 UTC) (permalink)
A new Bungie product - with a full map editor (and bots)?
Very cool - looks like someone uploaded the acceptance speech vid Bungie sent to Edge for the Interactive Innovation Award announced yesterday. It clearly shows a lot of very, very interesting additions to Forge - might we be seeing these innovations in a release from Bungie sometime? (This could explain why some of the voice actors were recording new dialogue not too long ago...) Looks like MasterChief2829 was first in our forum with the news (and the forum has exploded with excitement over it). (Louis Wu 13:32:49 UTC) (permalink)
Legendary Crest - now for sale
A few weeks ago, we mentioned a Legendary crest that link4044 was working on - he's finished it. You can see pretty amazing pictures of the work on the page we set up for him - and if you like what you see... he's selling it on eBay. Starting bid is $350, and I have to say... if I had the space, I'd be bidding. You've got about 2 days to decide. Update: The eBay link was yanked - the crest was sold to a member of the RvB community. Apologies for the confusion. (Louis Wu 01:35:45 UTC) (permalink)
RvB: Reconstruction Chapter 10
RvB: Reconstruction Chapter 10 has been posted over at the Rooster Teeth website - there's a public version, a high-res sponsor version, and a commentary version with Matt Hullum and Nathan Zellner. Washington meets the Reds, and everyone gets closer to the Meta. What didn't you notice? Thanks to BlueNinja, who posted a note on our forum. (Louis Wu 01:13:26 UTC) (permalink)
News August 11 2008
Fall of Reach Movie - Concept Art, Week 2
El Mayimbe let us know that the second weekly release of concept art for a proposed 'Fall of Reach' movie is available for viewing at LatinoReview.com - along with a Cease and Desist letter from Microsoft, asking them to stop posting these. I dunno about you, but letters like that tend to add credibility, in my eyes - if this stuff were faked, it would probably be ignored. (Clearly, that's not a hard and fast rule - but if you're playing the odds, it's a good bet.) If you missed last week's release, we mentioned it here. The artwork this week shows an obstacle course being tackled by a large number of children, as military personnel look on. A pelican flies overhead. (Louis Wu 22:04:38 UTC) (permalink)
Project Pangea - giving back to the community
The Handmade Hero has made a surprisingly generous offer - he's agreed to create for anyone who asks a portrait screenshot showing off their favorite parts of the game. Read the forum post (and the website) for full details. Personally, I think it's going to be pretty hard to keep up with demand if a lot of people send in requests... but the idea is great! (Louis Wu 21:44:34 UTC) (permalink)
Energy Sword replica, on the wall and dangerous
Mid7night bought one of the True Swords Covenant Energy Swords we mentioned a couple of weeks ago... and hung it with the rest of his sword collection. Looks pretty good! (Louis Wu 21:12:05 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 wins Edge Award for Interactive Innovation
At the Edinburgh Interactive Festival today, Bungie won the Edge Award for Interactive Innovation for Halo 3. Not too shabby! (Louis Wu 20:24:55 UTC) (permalink)
How to Master the Art of Vetoing
Looking for ways to improve your veto success in Halo 3 matchmaking? Hawty McBloggy has your back. Check out her tips for mastering the art of vetoing. (Louis Wu 20:23:05 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Funnies around the net
A couple of Halo-related comics for you - OddGodHMK pointed out that Boring Comics #9 has a Halo theme, and iJosh uncovered an old Dork Tower with a Halo-related punchline. (Louis Wu 19:30:42 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: Uprising 3 - less than a year late!
There are those who said this day would never come... it looks like Halo: Uprising #3, the third of the four-part Marvel comic series in the Halo universe (originally slated for release in late September, 2007) will be on store shelves this week. I'm really hesitant to post this before the comic has actually been seen in the wild (the release date has been pushed back so many times it's become a running forum joke)... but Marvel's page says August 13; that it hasn't changed by now suggests that it might actually come out. (Louis Wu 13:33:28 UTC) (permalink)
Make Cancer a Myth Tourney
Maximum Fear sent word of a new tournament set up to raise money for St. Judes Hospital, which does work on children's cancer research. The tournament will take place in Campaign mode, with scoring on - but the setup will require cooperation between participants, rather than competition. (At least in the early rounds...) It's $10 to sign up - more if you choose - and all collected money will go to St. Judes. There are prizes for the two top scorers, and they're accepting donations for more prizes, if anyone wants to contribute. Check out all the details at skibur.net. (Louis Wu 13:07:05 UTC) (permalink)
Reticent Mystery
TTL Demag0gue let us know that Reclaimer 75 is now up - with answers and a new member of the Cavalcade!
(Louis Wu 13:01:05 UTC) (permalink)
Goldy Does AotCR (The Hard Way)
vshields ash has posted a video showing how he and Doggy got that Gold Elite (mentioned here and here last week) all the way to the end of Assault on the Control Room. I can't even IMAGINE how long that took. It's an intricate dance; if you get ahead, he stops moving, and if you let him get too close, he kills you. Crazy dedication!
(Louis Wu 12:59:27 UTC) (permalink)
Silver MC and Arbiter - now up on eBay
If the MC and Grunts one-of-a-kind silver statue from Weta isn't to your liking, another option is now on eBay. Master Chief and Arbiter is a glorious pose from The Covenant, and it's all done up in silver plating. Nine and a half days left on the auction, current bid is already $898. (Reserve has not been met.) The image in the listing doesn't do the whole piece justice - check out a large version here. If you'd like to discuss it with our forumgoers, there's a thread here. (Louis Wu 12:57:26 UTC) (permalink)
Campaign Moments
mendicantbias00 pointed out a note on Ascendant Justice, apologizing for a lack of updates, and offering a gallery of gorgeous 'Campaign Moment' screenshots to fill the waiting time. There are new thought-provoking articles from them coming soon - but in the meantime, check out the pretty pictures!
(Louis Wu 12:54:16 UTC) (permalink)
Calendar Followup
Remember that calendar we mentioned yesterday? agdtinman (who worked on some of the images used) pointed out an eBay link with a lot of them for sale, and thumbnails of all pages. He also included a little inside info about the images themselves. (Louis Wu 12:53:46 UTC) (permalink)
Reality
Firestorm12 stopped by yesterday with links to 'Reality' Parts 1 and 2 - it's a new Halo 2-based machinima project from Halopen Films. His forum post contains links to the Halopen website and a site for the series itself, as well, if you'd like more information about what you watched. (Spoilers on the Reality site, so watch the segments first.)
(Louis Wu 12:53:03 UTC) (permalink)
News August 10 2008
Halo 16 month calendar
eddie m found a 2009 Halo 16 month calendar - and Stephen Loftus added a bit of info. Nice! (Louis Wu 20:52:31 UTC) (permalink)
BTB Clan Support Tourney Update
TruthPastor SBG let us know that the first two rounds of the SBG Gaming BTB Clan Support Tournament (we mentioned it last week) are finished, and it's down to the final four teams - Tied the Leader, Outcast Reborn, Swat Krue Marines, and Saved by Grace Gaming. Good luck to all four! Full details on the first two round are here (Round 1 | Round 2). (Louis Wu 15:14:03 UTC) (permalink)
Mix's Picks, Week 10
xMixMasterX has posted Week Ten of Mix's Picks over at The Social - new maps, plus the winner of a Story Board contest. Check it out! (Louis Wu 14:59:59 UTC) (permalink)
Breaking AotCR
Heh - Ash continues his Assault on the Control Room antics. Way back in July 2002, someone discovered that you could alter the ending cutscene (but not the final outcome, actually) to this classic Halo level by bringing a baddie with you as the scene ended. Lennox did it with a Hunter, Warbow did it with a Banshee... but nobody (until now) has managed to do it with a Gold Elite. Why? Because the Gold Elite you USUALLY fight near the end will die spontaneously as you enter the doorway, if he's still alive. That's not true if you bring one from somewhere else, though... and unlike Warbow's banshee case, if the Gold Elite kills you in the Control Room, it DOES break the rest of the scripted cutscene. Check out Ash's movie at FileFront. This trick is 6 years old - and it's STILL not tapped out! That's amazing. (Louis Wu 14:49:46 UTC) (permalink)
New Halo CE Maps of Note
Dennis Powers sent us an update of new stuff posted over at the Halo CE Map Archive in the past week - there are 43 new maps, but the ones he wanted to highlight were Seclusion (a small winter map) and Highlands (a small impenetrable valley). Browse - check 'em all out! (Louis Wu 14:15:23 UTC) (permalink)
Games that Moved
Gamesradar listed 10 Industry-Shattering Stolen Exclusives - and Halo makes the list, for its yanking from the Mac platform back in 2000. Thanks, elessar787. (Louis Wu 14:12:33 UTC) (permalink)
3v3 Objective Tourney in WA
kuroni13 stopped by our forum to announce a 3v3 objective tournament at GAMEBREAKERZ in Bonney Lake, WA on August 16. The full details are not up on their website yet - but they should be soon. (Louis Wu 14:10:37 UTC) (permalink)
MC Armor for sale on eBay
Urban Reflex found a pretty nice fan-made Halo suit on eBay yesterday - it's in the UK, and the auction ends in just under 2 days, with the current bid at £670 (a bit under $1300 US). If you're in the market - take a look! (While at eBay, I swung by the Weta MC and Grunts statue auction, still a week from closing - current bid is $1625, reserve HAS been met. Wowzers!) (Louis Wu 14:08:10 UTC) (permalink)
News August 9 2008
What If, Halo Style: Round 2
What if you had a website with a regular Friday update, but you forgot it was Friday? Hawty McBloggy has posted her latest 'What If' scenario (which has nothing to do with the day of the week, really) - she wants to know about map remakes. Go check out the post (which has some great answers from LAST week's question, along with the new query), and then add your two cents! (Louis Wu 09:56:56 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief Theater 3000 Ep 10
mrsmiley let us know that Part 1 of the Master Chief Theater 3000 season finale is now available on YouTube - info is up on Pyrosmile.org. (They've also added an Extras section, containing outtakes from production - you have to register to get a link.) (Louis Wu 09:38:28 UTC) (permalink)
McFarlane 12 inch figure info
The McFarlane 12" Figures have been hinted at for quite some time - we mentioned them indirectly over a year ago, then more directly in November, then more concretely still in April. Toy News International finally has details about these - including points of articulation, accessories, and release dates. Check it out! Thanks, Littlebigman. (Louis Wu 09:15:32 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie Weekly Update: Informative AND Tasty
The Bungie Weekly Update went up later than usual (about 7 pm PT) Friday night... but it's full of stuff that'll keep the geekiest among us busy for a while. The Bungie Publications section of their website has been updated with five new talks - well, with five talks it didn't have before. (At least one of those has been in our archives for over 6 years.) Fascinating reading, if you've ever wondered how Bungie makes those non-player characters act real. As always, if you have any trouble reading the Weekly Update at Bungie.net, it's available in our Weekly Update Archive. (Louis Wu 08:54:54 UTC) (permalink)
News August 8 2008
Fighting the Covenant for the Savior
Sarcastic Gamer has an informational piece on the Vatican City Olympic Halo 3 team, gearing up for domination this month in Beijing. Will they win? Only time will tell! (Louis Wu 23:04:05 UTC) (permalink)
Grind Rider - Official Trailer
JustAnotherFan pointed out a post on Bungie.net advertising the Grind Rider trailer - a Halo-based Western. Looks fun... but you'll have to wait until October for the actual machinima! (Louis Wu 22:57:04 UTC) (permalink)
In Search of Truth
Over at NeoGAF, Cocopjojo posted a Halo-inspired piece called 'In Search of Truth', written by his buddy musicman117. I think it's great - you should go listen to it. It's being hosted currently at Ascendant Justice. (Louis Wu 17:06:24 UTC) (permalink)
Wooden Sniper Rifle
S3NATOR stopped in with pictures of a wooden sniper rifle, made by Socket29 over at Bungie.net. Nice work! Update: more pictures in this B.net thread. (Louis Wu 16:57:49 UTC) (permalink)
Cortana - Glowing
MsValentine has appeared in public in her Halo 2 Cortana outfit a few times - but her recent outing, at the 2008 San Diego ComicCon, yielded some amazing photos. We've put up a gallery. Check it out. (Louis Wu 16:07:45 UTC) (permalink)
Matchmaking Ep 16 (and a teaser for Season 2)
Darkspire Films posted the final episode for Matchmaking Season One, 'Matchmaking Episode 16 - Destiny', a couple of weeks ago... but we missed it. Good stuff. There's also a teaser for Season 2 - coming soonish! Thanks, UltimaPooh. (Louis Wu 15:51:58 UTC) (permalink)
Halo undergarments?
Hmm... this is a little odd. Gemini Ace has a pic of a couple of pairs of Halo-themed boxers and lounge pants found at Kohl's (a nationwide department store chain). A little searching found the lounge pants for sale on eBay (just under 7 days remaining) - no luck on another source for the boxers, though. Thanks, t4ng0. Update: s_tygard55 is sharper than I am - he went to kohls.com and found both the lounge pants and the boxers, for much less than that eBay auction. (Louis Wu 15:17:00 UTC) (permalink)
Double XP at H3RPG
Scotty let us know that it's double xp weekend at Halo 3 RPG again - Team Rockets. (Louis Wu 15:16:42 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fanfic
Only five new pieces in the Fan Fiction section this week - but a bunch of familiar names! (Louis Wu 14:39:37 UTC) (permalink)
Boring Comics #8
OddGodHMK continues to incorporate Halo into his Boring Comics series - #8 takes a shot at Ensemble for inappropriately pimping their product.
(Louis Wu 14:38:21 UTC) (permalink)
Best Forge Maps of Spring/Summer
Dragoncoals let us know that ForgeHub has announced the winners of its Best of Forge Spring/Summer 08 competition. Congrats to all the finalists!
(Louis Wu 14:36:04 UTC) (permalink)
Designing Marketable Blockbusters
Gamepro put together a roster of the 8 Most Powerful Video Game Studios. Bungie made the list, on the strength of its Halo products. Thanks to Black Six for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 14:33:59 UTC) (permalink)
Alliance: Episode 1
Insabul pointed out Alliance: Episode 1, kicking off a new machinima series. Goals seem to be pretty ambitious - it remains to be seen if they'll achieve these goals. (Louis Wu 14:30:31 UTC) (permalink)
Music Video Contest
H3Press and Injured Knee Productions have gotten together for a contest - prizes go to the best music video using only footage from IKProductions.net. Go read the full rules, and check out the prizes, at H3Press! Thanks, Mike Reiss. (Louis Wu 13:49:38 UTC) (permalink)
There's Something About Halo 3: The Covenant
Back in November 2006, There's Something about Halo 2 was released on Newgrounds - a flash parody of the Halo 2 storyline. Apparently, the Halo 3 version was cancelled - but one part, The Covenant, was released recently by its creator. Too bad we can't see the whole thing! Thanks, Psychophan7. (Louis Wu 13:25:30 UTC) (permalink)
Reboot
TTL Demag0gue announced the availability of Reclaimer 74 - the Reclaimer decides to take a more aggressive role in dealing with the Master Chief. (Louis Wu 12:38:45 UTC) (permalink)
Old-school Halo tricks, from an old-timer
Wow, fun. vshields ash managed to get a pair of Gold Elites at the end of Assault on the Control Room, in the original Halo. That's a lot of work! Post at HBO | post at High Impact Halo | vid at FileFront (Louis Wu 12:33:33 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: Homefront
Roger Wilco ran across a website for Broken Line Studios - a group putting together a Homeworld mod based on Halo. Some really awesome models! Here's hoping they don't get a C&D. (Louis Wu 12:27:51 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3: G-Phoria Game of the Year
Injunfett pointed out that G4TV has announced their G-Phoria 2008 Game of the Year... and Halo 3 came away with the title. (It was really, really close.) (Louis Wu 12:24:17 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief and Grunts, in Silver, on eBay
The first of the Weta 1-of-a-kind silver statues (we discussed 'em here, with high-res versions of the silver images here) went on sale on eBay late last night - you've still got nine and a half days to decide what it's worth to you, but the Master Chief and Grunts statue is already up to $1000. (The reserve has not yet been met.) Lots of pics and info in the eBay listing - full details on the piece, plus a list of extra goodies the winner will get. Go read about it - and if your wallet is big enough, put down a bid! (Louis Wu 12:20:34 UTC) (permalink)
News August 7 2008
Fable 2 LE comes with MC
Heh. Microsoft released details of the Fable 2 Limited Collector's Edition - and one of the bonuses is a medieval Master Chief. Swing by FileFront for the story, and a fun pic. (Louis Wu 19:15:00 UTC) (permalink)
Double XP Weekend - Legendary Brawl (Ranked)
The latest Double Experience Weekend is now live - Ranked Legendary Brawl can help you get those last few multiplayer achievements! Get to playing. This list will be up until 2am (PT) on Monday morning. (Louis Wu 18:11:29 UTC) (permalink)
From Dogs to the Universe
Heh - sort of a stretch, but pretty cool. Old Mattacus pointed us towards this article in a recent issue of Harper's - it's not really about Halo, but a small piece is related, and intriguing. It's a discussion of a contagious form of cancer in Tasmanian devils, but about halfway through the article, the author discusses other forms of contagious cancer, and focuses on Canine Transmissible Venereal Tumor (CTVT) - an organism that is more related to tumors in other dogs with the malignancy than it is to its own host.
In other words, CTVT can be conceptualized as a single creature, a parasite (and not a species of parasite, but an individual), which has managed to spread itself out among millions of different dogs. Research by molecular geneticists suggests the tumor originated in a wolf, or maybe an East Asian dog, somewhere between 200 and 2,500 years ago, which means that CTVT is probably the oldest continuous lineage of mammal cells presently living on Earth. The dogs may be young, but the tumor is ancient.
As OM suggests, life sometimes imitates art - CTVT is an awful lot like the Flood! (Louis Wu 18:07:05 UTC) (permalink)
Halo PC 1.08 released
Bungie has released a new update for Halo PC - v1.08 officializes the patches made recently to overcome some potential attacks on HPC servers, and as an added bonus, removes the CD check for the game. (There are also patches for Halo Custom Edition and HCE Server.) w00t! Thanks, sawnose. Update: the HCE files are mirrored at Halo Maps, as well. (Louis Wu 15:32:00 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars Newsbits
Bunch of Halo Wars news around the net right now:
- Just a followup - the Game Critics Awards were posted a couple of days ago - Halo Wars was up for Best Strategy Game, but lost out to Tom Clancy's EndWar. Ah, well...
- VideoGamer.com has posted a hands-on review of Halo Wars, based on their time with the game at E3 this year. Give it a read!
- Ensemble's Bruce Shelley summarized the goals of the Halo Wars team going into E3, and looked at how they did meeting those. (He also did a great job collecting all the HW press out there right now.)
That should keep you busy for a bit! (Louis Wu 15:13:45 UTC) (permalink)
Redeemed.
MSNBC has posted a 'Top 5 best aliens in video games' piece - and The Arbiter makes the list. Thanks, Darksage. (Louis Wu 15:10:05 UTC) (permalink)
Casualty Gamers' Top 10 Armor/Bodysuits
elessar787 found another 'Top 10 Armor/Bodysuits' list, this time over at Casualty Gamer. It's a completely different list than the one we mentioned a few days ago - the only suits on both are MGS4's Octocamo, Bioshock's Big Daddy, and Metroid's Varia suit - along with variations of the Halo armor. This is the thing about Top 10s, though... you like what you like. (Louis Wu 15:09:14 UTC) (permalink)
News August 6 2008
Tidbits
This should have been up yesterday - totally my fault it wasn't. ZZoMBiE13 sent along Another Halo Comic Strip - where could this strip branch out? The possibilities are endless! (Louis Wu 16:19:37 UTC) (permalink)
A Fine Line
Dennis Powers let us know that Shipwrecked 39 is up - fishing needs... fish. (Louis Wu 16:13:39 UTC) (permalink)
VGL SD Halo Set - With Cortana and the Master Chief
bubba28871 recorded the Halo set from the Video Games Live concert in San Diego last week - it includes on-stage time with MsValentine, a cosplayer we've featured many times, who performed the Cortana bits. Go watch! (Louis Wu 15:48:23 UTC) (permalink)
A Man and His Probe
Morpheus stopped by to let us know that Real Custom Games has posted 'A Man and His Probe' - raising a Probe can be difficult! (I'm actually curious to know how many people will stumble across this news post while looking for porn...) (Louis Wu 15:02:41 UTC) (permalink)
In-Depth Look at Halo AI
If you didn't get enough of Damian Isla in the GamesIndustry interview we just told you about, swing by Gamasutra this morning - they have a writeup of a keynote Isla gave at the recent Develop conference. (We mentioned this talk back in June.) It's a pretty interesting look at how the AI in the Halo games has been built to make sure the game remains fun for players. If you're interested in how the people behind the scenes make the decisions that affect how you interact with the characters in Halo, you should read this. (Louis Wu 14:45:17 UTC) (permalink)
Damian Isla talks to GamesIndustry.biz
GamesIndustry.biz posted an interview with Bungie's Damian Isla - it's a really interesting piece. Isla holds forth on Bungie's post-independence enthusiasm, on the state of first-person shooters today, on the differences in design philosophy between games like Halo, CoD4, and Bioshock. There are subtle hints that Bungie might be working on a game that has more in common with Myth than Halo - or might have plans to do so in the future. There's a confirmation that at the moment, they're still a 360 studio. There's a look at how Halo AI has evolved over the years. And more! Go read it. Both GI and Eurogamer pulled the same 'takeaway message' from the interview - a comment Isla made that Bungie could learn from the way CoD4 kept players interested over time - but there's much, much more to the interview than that.
(Louis Wu 14:29:43 UTC) (permalink)
Top 10 Forge Art Halo 3 Screenshots
Hawty McBloggy has posted her Top 10 Forge Art Halo 3 Screenshots - go check out the creativity of Forgers everywhere! (Louis Wu 14:28:51 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 still on top of LIVE activity chart
Major Nelson confirmed that Halo 3 is on top of the Xbox LIVE leaderboard, for the third straight week - this is starting to not be news any more. MyGEN has a piece looking at WHY Halo 3 is back on top - and that's more newsworthy. (This is actually the first of a two-part series... we'll let you know when Part 2 goes live.)
(Louis Wu 14:28:23 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie Favorites - this week from Halo 3 Academy
Bungie's Blog (and Halo 3 Academy's ryu9921) both let us know that the Bungie Favorites collection is currently being populated by some of the Halo 3 Academy's goodies. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 14:26:50 UTC) (permalink)
Play Halo 3 against Hawthorne Heights
I saw this a while ago, but somehow forgot to post it. Ohio band Hawthorne Heights is participating in the Game With Fame series on Xbox LIVE - find them tomorrow, playing Halo 3, and then send your experience in to Xbox.com! (Louis Wu 14:26:28 UTC) (permalink)
SBG Gaming wants to play YOU
NAMLOCO SBG, of SBG Gaming, let us know that the next Good Gaming Network Overlord Challenge is coming up on August 10. If you're eligible, sign up! He also wanted to point out a community Big Team Battle clan cash payout tourney. Check the post for full details, but the overview is that eight established Halo 3 clans will be invited to play, with the winners gaining cash for their website hosting costs. Nice!
(Louis Wu 14:23:20 UTC) (permalink)
News August 5 2008
HSP Interview: Robt McLees/Frank O'Connor
It's been a long time coming - but a series of questions submitted to Bungie a few months ago, related to the Halo Story, has been returned with answers. Thanks to Frank O'Connor and Robt McLees for finding the time! You can find the writeup in the Halo Story Page resources.
McFarlane Halo 3 Series 4 - a little ahead of time
Paul Mattson pointed out that BigBadToystore has posted preorders for Halo 3 Series 4 McFarlane figures, before the series has been officially unveiled. (Pics are up for most of 'em.) Update: more pics at Toy News International. (Louis Wu 18:28:45 UTC) (permalink)
Fan Art: Damned Cortana
Hawty McBloggy has posted another in her series of 'Fan Art' spotlights - this one is also Cortana... but a little darker. Okay, a lot darker. Go look! (Louis Wu 18:26:20 UTC) (permalink)
Sierra 117 - Outside Scenery
Mariachi and Avateur and friends did some exploring outside Sierra 117 - they came back with some really cool pics. Go look! (Louis Wu 18:18:12 UTC) (permalink)
Fracture - Halo 3 Jumping
RVideo told us about Fracture, a new video from Jump Vision, edited by FooFoo. It shows off a bunch of both aided and unaided jumps on a bunch of maps. Great camera angles, amazing jumping. It's a 63 mb WMP9 download from FileFront - grab a copy, it's absolutely worth watching! (Louis Wu 11:36:57 UTC) (permalink)
RvB: Reconstruction Chapter 9
Rooster Teeth posted RvB: Reconstruction Chapter 9 last night - a standard cut for the public, an extended cut for sponsors, as usual. Sarge is on a mission! Thanks to UnSilentSlayer for the first heads-up.
(Louis Wu 11:27:44 UTC) (permalink)
Achievables Generator
SpeedySurfer created an Achievables generator that lets you build your own Achievables (first seen in RvB's recent Achievement-based PSA). Bizarre... but cute.
(Louis Wu 11:27:25 UTC) (permalink)
Top 10 Video Game Armors
majorrudin found a Top 10 Video Game Armors movie, created by the same folks who looked at the Top 10 Video Game Chicks a week or so ago. Halo 3's Recon Armor makes the list.
(Louis Wu 11:27:04 UTC) (permalink)
Mix's Picks, Week 9
xMixMasterx stopped in to announce that Week 9 of Mix's Picks is available now at The Social. Two masp, two gametypes, and a video of a game played on yet another. Everything's Infection-related this week. (Louis Wu 11:26:43 UTC) (permalink)
Hellspartan Details
vlad3163 got his SDCC-exclusive McFarlane figures yesterday, and was kind enough to transcribe the notes on the back of the EVA "Hellspartan" packaging. Canon? Maybe. Some nice tidbits, though! Go look. (Louis Wu 11:26:20 UTC) (permalink)
News August 4 2008
Halo: The Movie Update
Whoa. El Mayimbe, who runs Latino Review, sent word that the spec script based on Fall of Reach, written by Stuart Beattie (we mentioned it back in April) is generating interest - enough interest that concept art has been created by Kasra Farahani, and the first of five weekly releases of this artwork is up on Latino Review right now. Will it go anywhere? Stay tuned! (Louis Wu 23:14:01 UTC) (permalink)
Strike True
TTL Demag0gue let us know that Reclaimer 73 is up now - the Master Chief is sounding decidedly masochistic. Will the Reclaimer accede? (Louis Wu 18:18:04 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 ad spurs speculation
This is most likely just a mistake, but... Voodoo Extreme has an advertisement one of their readers got from the Microsoft Download Service. It lists "Free Trials at Microsoft Game Studios" in an ad for "Games and DirectX" - and the picture includes logos from Halo 3, Zoo Tycoon, and Gears of War. (It also includes a 360 controller.) VE wonders if the Halo 3/DirectX connection means that Halo 3 is coming to the PC... but some of the commenters wonder whether the 360 controller simply implies games in general, rather than games on the PC. Me? I think it's an overreaching ad writer, just because even on a 360, there's no "free trial" for Halo 3. Draw your own conclusion! (Louis Wu 13:10:09 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Live: Episode 1
D Laz has kicked off a new series he calls 'Halo: Live' - basically, he takes a regular Team Doubles game, and adds interesting camera angles and epic-sounding music. Works pretty well! Thanks, SonofMacPhisto. (Louis Wu 10:44:17 UTC) (permalink)
Arby 'n' the Chief, Season 3 Ep 1 - 'Cold'
It seems like only yesterday that we saw our first Arby 'n' the Chief video (it's actually been just under 7 months), but the series is now up to Season 3. Episode 1, "Cold", was released yesterday
- thanks, Coyote 2JZ (and majorrudin). When the Jon is out... the MC will play. On a new, free map. Until he can't. (Louis Wu 10:20:45 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3: Be careful what you shoot
Hawty McBloggy found a pretty cool clip showing off a rocket deflection with a frag grenade. Player one tosses a grenade, player two fires a rocket at player one. Rocket hits grenade, bounces to the ground... and kills the guy who fired it. Ouch! (Louis Wu 10:09:18 UTC) (permalink)
News August 3 2008
Sound of Cold Storage
tygron stopped by with a link to Silent Dragon11's 'Sound of Cold Storage' - a percussion piece made with gun clips and shots from Cold Storage. I wasn't expecting much - this sort of thing has been done before, and this one starts pretty slowly... but I stuck it out, and I liked it by the end. Go listen! (Louis Wu 19:44:06 UTC) (permalink)
Aussie Halo fans enter a comedy competition
BlueDingo5 told us a fun story. Tripod, an Australian comedy troupe, has put on a challenge for the last couple of years - they ask fans to submit videos set to a Tripod song, with a $2,500 (AUD) prize on the line for the winner. This year, BlueDingo5 and his buddy submitted a video for 'Way Too Skinny for the Army' - and they used Halo 3 and Forge to do it. It was a finalist, and they were flown down to Melbourne for the final ceremony. They didn't win - but one of the band members told them that it was his favorite, and that he loved the use of Halo 3. I thought it was fantastic. Go watch it on YouTube.
(Louis Wu 16:34:07 UTC) (permalink)
You Just Got Burnt!
If you're a follower of ZZoMBiE13's Another Halo Comic Strip, you've probably noticed a couple of weeks of quiet - things are a little rough for him right now. He'll be back, we hope - but for now, we've got a Guest Strip sent in by Jordz X that ZZoMBiE approved of. Go check it out! (Louis Wu 16:13:03 UTC) (permalink)
Rumble Pit World Series Season 2 Starts Tonight
TheChrisD stopped by to remind everyone that the Rumble Pit World Series Season 2 kicks off tonight at 8pm ET - swing by their website for full details! (Louis Wu 16:14:49 UTC) (permalink)
News August 2 2008
Space Pirates: At Halo's End
ReleasetheMonk added Halo visuals to audio from a trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End - works pretty well! (Louis Wu 17:06:10 UTC) (permalink)
TTHL: The Fake Trailer
Kusho posted an announcement for 'TTHL: The Fake Trailer' in our forum. Feedback is pretty positive; it didn't do much for me, but apparently others liked it. Give it a shot! (Louis Wu 15:43:22 UTC) (permalink)
More Community Mishaps
lostguru585 let us know that we missed two Community Mishap montages yesterday (we mentioned a bunch of work by MiniWaz) - there's a Part 3 and a Part 4. Go watch MORE people screw up!
(Louis Wu 14:23:03 UTC) (permalink)
Halo CE Map Archive Update
Dennis Powers sent along an update for the Halo Maps website - the Halo Custom Edition Archive now has nearly 3,400 maps assets and files for the game, with 128 files added in July. He highlighted two new maps deserving of special recognition: Da_Pimp_Pope's Ancient Sanctuary (beta) and adumbass' Hydro Generator. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 14:22:10 UTC) (permalink)
Fly
Cham wanted us to know about a 'laid-back montage' - he says the editing doesn't interfere with your seeing what's going on. He's mostly right. It's also nice to see some Halo 2 footage again, after quite some time without any. It's at YouTube, the MLG Game Room, and downloadable at FileFront. (Louis Wu 14:21:34 UTC) (permalink)
Bant.
The latest Bungie Weekly Update is online at Bungie.net (or in our Weekly Update Archive) - Luke explains how and why the recent spate of bannings happened, and then discusses upcoming changes in Matchmaking. Go read! (Louis Wu 00:41:45 UTC) (permalink)
News August 1 2008
Chronicles in Alpha? BOGUS EVIDENCE
Lloyd Foley was the first to point us to this page at AddictGaming - it suggests that a Bungie employee (oh, who are we kidding, that's recognizably Luke Smith) was playing "Robins Perch: Chronicles Alpha - Exploring Onyx". The writers claim that this is evidence that Peter Jackson's "Halo Chronicles" project is now in Alpha testing. Which would be all well and good... except Luke Smith says it's 100% fake. BUSTED. (Louis Wu 19:11:20 UTC) (permalink)
Forge Hub 2v2 Tournament
TrueDarkFusion wanted to remind everyone that signups for Forge Hub's 2v2 Tournament are closing soon! If you have questions, their FAQ is here. (Louis Wu 18:52:00 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Mishaps - lots of 'em
A discussion a couple of days ago over on the NeoGAF forums turned up a few interesting 'mishap' vids created by MiniWaz - they're not that new, but they're a lot of fun. Some lag, some silly mistakes - good watching. You can find a large two-parter on YouTube (Part 1 | Part 2), and a smaller (just under 5 minutes) montage on GameVee. Always fun to watch WTF moments! (Louis Wu 16:53:50 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars Monthly Update - July
Halo Planet noticed that the Ensemble team has posted a new Halo Wars Monthly Update - they discuss E3 Awards, improving AI for coop play, and new units. Give it a read! (Louis Wu 16:50:24 UTC) (permalink)
Blue Realm Studios visits Bungie
odmichael posted a note last night about some interesting shirts and people dressed in Spartan armor that were showing up on the Bungie webcams yesterday. He stopped back by this morning with clarification - the shirts and the armor both belong to Blue Realm Studios, the brainchild of Devin White, a fan/Halo armorer living in Texas. Check odmichael's second post for more links to internal BRS content, including pictures, movies, and more. (Louis Wu 15:06:51 UTC) (permalink)
Believa Pinata
c0ld vengeance noticed a pretty funny spoof of the Halo 3 Believe ad... using Viva Piñata. It was created by Buzzlegum01. Swing by Destructoid to watch it!
(Louis Wu 15:02:54 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: Crashdown
Morpheus let us know about Flying Mutant Comics, a new project bing put together by his friend, ChromeRatt. The first comic is called Halo: Crashdown, and it's a really, really nice piece of work. Check it out! I can't wait for the rest.
(Louis Wu 15:02:13 UTC) (permalink)
What If, Halo Style: Round 1
Hawty McBloggy is kicking off a new Friday tradition: this one is called What If, Halo Style. Round 1 asks the question "What if you could add absolutely any weapon you wanted to the current arsenal available in Halo 3... What would it be?" Swing by and see what others would add - and throw in your own two cents! (Louis Wu 14:57:44 UTC) (permalink)
Surfacing Patterns
TTL Demag0gue announced the posting of Reclaimer 72 - things are getting clearer. (Louis Wu 14:57:18 UTC) (permalink)
Outpost Isil Ep 8: Pains of the Plan
Bzerker01 let us know that Outpost: Isil Episode 8 has been posted over at Treeskunk Productions. It becomes a little clearer why the outpost is so understaffed... (Louis Wu 14:55:02 UTC) (permalink)
Reimagined Halo - in Higher Res
Vegechan got us a higher-res copy of his Halo tribute trailer (we pointed out the YouTube version yesterday) - you can now download 640x480 versions from us in this post. They're worth it!
(Louis Wu 14:43:16 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 RPG Double XP Weekend
The Social let us know that the Halo 3 RPG they've built is having its own 'official double xp weekend' to match Bungie's. (Halo3RPG's is Team Melee, as well.) If this doesn't appeal to you, they've got a number of other ranked and unranked hoppers - Figure 8 has 8 teams of 4, and Big Team Splazers is 20v20. Check 'em out!
(Louis Wu 14:42:46 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fic
Only 5 new pieces for you this week in the Fan Fiction section - but two are pretty monstrous. Go read!
(Louis Wu 14:41:54 UTC) (permalink)
| August 2008 | |
