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 | January 2006 |  |
January 2006 Archived News
News January 31 2006
The three biggies, on a level playing field
Juxtapose wrote a piece comparing Halo 2, Doom 3, and Half-Life 2, as each appeared on the Xbox. If you're looking for a pro-and-con article, here it is! (Louis Wu 18:45:57 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie's Hiring... Again
Interesting. weephun noticed a bunch of new job listings on the Bungie Jobs page this morning... they're all for PC programmers. Why would Bungie want to hire a bunch of PC programmers...? (weephun hazards a guess.) (Louis Wu 18:14:47 UTC) (permalink)
Don't go outside without long sleeves and a hat.
Deimos noticed a couple of new items at the Bungie store (more recent than the stuff SketchFactor posted about last week). There's a fleece beanie, and a pretty cool-looking Tuxedo shirt - go spend more money! (Louis Wu 17:24:10 UTC) (permalink)
Tourneys in the East
We got word of a couple of tournaments around the US coming up... there's a Halo 1 tourney in Tuscaloosa, AL on March 25 (thanks, Mintz), and a 2v2 Halo 2 slayer tourney in the Philly area this Sunday (February 5), with more details available at the CyberZone Gaming website (thanks, JamesKrut). Get your game on! (Louis Wu 15:23:52 UTC) (permalink)
Two new Podtaculars
Podtacular Episode 46 and Episode 47 have been posted - 46 has tips for Ivory Tower, and 47 is the final show with Spelcheck. Go listen! (Thanks, Henry Brown.) (Louis Wu 15:14:02 UTC) (permalink)
News January 30 2006
Project 117 Trailer
Berzerker dude submitted a trailer for his upcoming Project 117 series to the MPRRS - it passed. They're hosting the download themselves (their choice) - but because it passed the MPRRS, we're offering a QuickTime version for those who have trouble with WMP9. Grab the WMP9 from them (9.7 mb) or the QuickTime from us (9.3 mb), and check out this trailer - pretty nice work! (Louis Wu 23:10:16 UTC) (permalink)
A c0ld Fish.
Last week, c0ld vengeance got a great screenshot of a pretty cool Halo resident. This week, Stuntmutt desecrates the find as only he can, in today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 19:03:52 UTC) (permalink)
Take your hula-hoop thing!
Captain Spark let us know that he'd collected another 9 dialogue snippets from Halo 2 - Johnson's in fine form. You can grab them at his website (check out the hudless Halo 1 megabattle shots while you're there), or browse them in our Dialogue Databank. (Louis Wu 16:07:37 UTC) (permalink)
Hotshy lays out the Double Shot
Over at Team[3D], you'll find a pretty cool piece where F13ND and Hotshy explore the glitch known as Double Shot - do it right, you get a 6-bullet burst from your BR, instead of 3. There are upsides (obviously) and downsides to using this, and it's non-trivial to time right, so go read all the details! (Louis Wu 15:25:55 UTC) (permalink)
News January 29 2006
Hall of Murals - Age(s) of Reconciliation
Se7en One continues with his 3D renditions of the Hall of Mural images - you can find Mural 3 movie links on the Hall of Murals page. (Louis Wu 18:41:52 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 tourney in Carlisle, PA
Jessica Thomas posted a note on our forum about an upcoming Tournament in Carlisle, PA - give it a read if you're in the area on February 25! (Louis Wu 18:28:58 UTC) (permalink)
It was a dark and starry night.
More fun modded shots from Dojorkan - this time, it's New Mombassa... at night. Slick! (Louis Wu 17:57:01 UTC) (permalink)
Up, Up, and Away
Ducain dropped me an email last night about a new vid that showed up on High Impact Halo's forum recently - and he was right, it was pretty amazing. This has got to be one of the highest grenade-assisted jumps... ever. (It's so high that the jumper's shield begins to recharge before he reaches the top... that's absurd.) Go read Duke's writeup, download the vid. (Video quality is not really high to begin with - but if you're having trouble with the WMP9, I've put up a QuickTime (16.3 mb), just for fun.) (Louis Wu 17:33:34 UTC) (permalink)
Heroes and Heretics Trailer
A new movie passed the MPRRS yesterday - and while it's just a trailer to whet your appetite for the upcoming season... it looks great. (One of the reasons it looks great is that it SOUNDS great -the voice acting is top-notch. For all the machinima creators who say "well, ours is good enough" or "whatever"... you really need to understand that the difference between good machinima and great machinima is often the quality of the voice acting.) Grab a copy of the Heroes & Heretics trailer in WMP9 format (21.5 mb) or QuickTime format (21.6 mb) from our servers... and bug the creators (Slacker Entertainment) for more eps! (Louis Wu 17:19:58 UTC) (permalink)
The left hand, and the right hand...
I'm posting this because I'm positive our mailbox will be flooded with references to it if I don't... but the standard disclaimers apply. Joystiq has put up a note about some videos available on Microsoft's online training site for retail employees, discussing the roadmap for promotion of the Xbox 360 over the next three years. One of the discussions between MS VP Bill Brownell and others involves "fending off Sony and "those other guys" with Halo 3 in year two" - so while Halo 3 has still not been announced by Bungie as being in development, MS brass are telling retailers that it will be out in 'year two' (which means anytime between November 2006 and November 2007). Our stance is the same as it's always been - until BUNGIE says it's coming, it's a rumor. Period. (Louis Wu 17:15:08 UTC) (permalink)
News January 28 2006
Captain67 + MikeMan's Montage
New montage up for your viewing pleasure at Halo2Forum.com - Captain67 and MikeMan have put together something with REALLY high image quality and some great gameplay. Swing by and grab a copy (WMP9 format, 89 mb). Because this film was submitted to, and passed, the MPRRS, we're making a QuickTime version available for folks who can't handle the WMP9 (66.4 mb). Good stuff! (Louis Wu 22:26:18 UTC) (permalink)
Muckle Statue - Currently Cheap
I know I said I wouldn't post more Halo stuff on eBay here for a while... but this is a deal you might not wanna pass up. There's a Muckle statue currently going for $125, with only 5 hours left - that's a significant chunk below what they've been selling for recently. If you're looking for a good deal... check this out! (But do it fast!) (Louis Wu 14:31:14 UTC) (permalink)
A shame to hide in your TV console...
Ryan Broxterman found a cool Xbox 360 mod over on the Gamespot forums - nice pics! (Louis Wu 09:01:22 UTC) (permalink)
If that's how long it took... he's GOOD.
Two new pics from Bryn Casey - New Elite (love the sign detail!) and 15 Minutes. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 08:37:09 UTC) (permalink)
That Ship Is Way Too Big.
dustin kaufman pointed out a model of the Pillar of Autumn, built with the Half-Life 2 mod Garry's Mod. Funkiness! (Louis Wu 08:36:24 UTC) (permalink)
Angel Dust. Sort Of.
Mintz points out a bunch of new content over at Halo: Portable - MLG stuff, but also that Lord of Halo movie we mentioned recently. (Okay, he's not hosting that - he's just pointing to the same Google link we did, except telling you to pick 'PSP' from the drop-down menu... but hey, where would you be without him telling you that?) Go read. And watch. (Louis Wu 08:33:41 UTC) (permalink)
Where's Best Dead Guy?
Awesome Awards article over at MLGPro.com - the 2005 MLG Pros Choice Awards. Luverly pictures, too... thanks, Dolbex. (Louis Wu 08:25:37 UTC) (permalink)
Rolling Around In It
This week's Bungie Weekly Update is a bit different than most - it's a pleasant discourse on user interface, and what Bungie is doing to make the next one you see from them more useful (and easy-to-use) than the last. (The last was no slouch - so that's a pretty tall order.) There's also a Mister Chief self-image, which is pretty cool (as long as you haven't been dropping acid). Of course, it's readable in our Bungie Weekly Update Archive, as well. Frankie, as usual, hogs the glory. (Louis Wu 08:16:21 UTC) (permalink)
News January 27 2006
Fumgoggy Orga A Warthog?
HaloBabies took a break for personal reasons, starting a couple of weeks ago - this week, One One Se7en sends them kind wishes and a tip o' the hat. (Louis Wu 17:29:03 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fiction
21 new pieces for you in the Fan Fiction section this week - go read! (Louis Wu 17:25:41 UTC) (permalink)
TXB Wants Halo 3
TeamXbox has a 'Most Wanted Unannounced Xbox 360 Games' article up... and of course, Halo 3 is mentioned. Take their 'What We Know' info with a grain of salt. (Louis Wu 17:17:09 UTC) (permalink)
The Old Dog Still Hunts
A.V. Club suggests that the Xbox360 is still too expensive, and hard to find, and puts forth a list of 8 games for the original Xbox that will keep you enjoying the older box until you can afford the new one - Halo and Halo 2 make up 25% of that list. Thanks, Mr Yun. (Louis Wu 17:12:31 UTC) (permalink)
More Oranges, Please.
Til next time, DT points out that Office Chief 102 has been posted. I guess the moral is 'know your excuse up front.' (Louis Wu 16:48:52 UTC) (permalink)
Gaming with Beer
If you live in Orlando, FL, this seems like it might be a fun place to visit... (Louis Wu 16:46:17 UTC) (permalink)
The Pungent Aroma of Bananas and Malt Liquor.
Heh - over on Bungie.net, Frankie points out a new batch of Letters to the Webmaster. (Oh, hey, look, he was first on our forum, too.) For the record, the 'Louis' who asked the final question was as made up as the info in the answer. (Louis Wu 03:00:52 UTC) (permalink)
News January 26 2006
He's Sorry. Really.
Last night, the MPRRS failed - by a tiny margin - a submission by our own Cybrfrk. (I think they penalized him for lack of vowels.) I watched the film... and it was silly. Silly enough to make me laugh. I have a soft spot in my heart for the song that makes up the majority of its soundtrack. You can grab it in WMP9 format (10.7 mb) or QuickTime format (10.8 mb). And if you find it silly, too... good. Update: Looks like Cybrfrk had planned to resubmit this, incorporating the feedback of the reviewers. (Whoa - surprise... the guy who RUNS the section actually believes in the ideas behind it!) My bad - he's going to have a fixed version up soon. We'll swap it in for this (and make a note of the swap) when he's done. Update 2: Links are back up - sorry for the delay! (Louis Wu 19:29:04 UTC) (permalink)
Spawn till you die. (Wait, that's salmon.)
XerxdeeJ has updated his Tied the Leader blog again, this time with a look at sportsmanship, and what it means. Interesting questions - ones that come up quite a lot in post-game lobbies, mixed in with words like 'cheap' and 'camper'... but are the complainers justified... or are they just scrubs? (Louis Wu 17:31:59 UTC) (permalink)
Ol Man Makowski's M4 Trailer
Z, over at Halo2Forum.com, pointed out a new trailer from Ol Man Makowski - great editing. It's only 16 mb (WMP9 format) - go grab a copy! (Louis Wu 16:32:28 UTC) (permalink)
First Contact: HL2 mod of Fall of Reach
Jay M posted a note on our forum last night - he's working on a total conversion for Half-Life 2, based on the Fall of Reach novel. Quite a bit of planning has gone into this - read the design document in his post to see where they want to go with it. They're looking for help; if you're interested, contact info is all laid out for you! (Louis Wu 16:01:25 UTC) (permalink)
When a dozen enemies just aren't enough.
Rockslider continues to refine his spiral path megabattle on Assault on the Control Room - the current writeup explains how to get 50+ enemies to fight at once, consistently! Check out the link in his post. (Louis Wu 15:52:35 UTC) (permalink)
First. In more ways than one.
Last night, there was a 'rematch' between HBO and Bungie, to make up for last week's... um, matchup. I've written up a forum post which explains what happened - we definitely got toasted last week, but it was more on the web than it was on XBL. Things were a little... different this week. KP posted links to the games as soon as they were over, and this morning I wrote the wrapup mentioned above. I can't wait to see the Frankie Spin on B.net. (Louis Wu 15:38:28 UTC) (permalink)
A Slice of Mango (just a little drippy)
Ack! Pete Parsons, Bungie's Studio Manager for the last 3 years (and a little), is retiring. It's probably just as well, once folks get a look at the picture that graces his farewell interview at Bungie.net... go read, and get a sense of who this guy is, just before he takes his spectabulous marketing skills off into the sunset (but cover your eyes at the picture). Pete - we're gonna miss ya. (Louis Wu 00:49:26 UTC) (permalink)
News January 25 2006
Spreading The Love
This one's offtopic... except for the people involved. Great read, though. Over at CGSociety, there's a tutorial by Mike Hill - if the name doesn't sound familiar, search our news archives. The tutorial isn't Halo-related, it shows how he put together a specific piece (and there's a ton of interesting info in there, even for non-artists like me)... but in the short blurb at the end, he credits Craig Mullins as his main inspiration - not for this particular piece, but for his desire to be a concept artist in the first place! Coolness. Thanks to Veegie for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 22:49:04 UTC) (permalink)
Canapes From Halfway Across The Map.
Today's One One Se7en - low point in pun-ditry? You bet. (Louis Wu 19:02:54 UTC) (permalink)
Recommended Reading
Finn has put together an awesome reading list for folks interested in the Halo universe - it includes recommendations from Joe Staten and Eric Nylund, as well as some from Finn himself. Swing by the Halo Story page and bury yourself in words! (Louis Wu 18:59:15 UTC) (permalink)
Age(s) of Conflict - in 3D
Se7en One sent along another 3D mural rendering for the Hall of Murals page - he's a bit worried about the next one, but grab a video copy of Mural 2 in the meantime! (Louis Wu 18:20:39 UTC) (permalink)
Caffeine makes your hair fall out.
Yesterday, SketchFactor posted a news item at Bungie.net about some new gear at the Bungie Store. The Odd Ball T rocks! Check it all out. (Louis Wu 18:18:14 UTC) (permalink)
Killer Grunts - The Results
The Killer Grunts Contest came to a close last night, and voting was tallied this morning. You can see all entries (and the votes they received) on the Results page. Congratulations to the 7 winners (who will be contacted by email with prize info) - and congratulations to the community, who managed to pick 7 3rd-party-art-free entries, negating the need to disqualify ANYBODY. w00t! (Louis Wu 12:18:46 UTC) (permalink)
News January 24 2006
MLG Noob Guide, Part IV
MLGPro.com has posted Part IV of their Newcomers Guide to Halo 2 - this one focuses on how to prepare for MLG tournaments. Great read, as usual. Thanks again, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 22:36:45 UTC) (permalink)
Frequency
imSuck, of HaloGrid.com, put together a new machinima piece called 'Frequency' - the Covenant tries out a new weapon. Film quality is REALLY high, cinematography is quite good. This thing breezed through the MPRRS in just a few hours. Swing by HaloGrid to download it - we're providing a couple of links there (WMP9 and QuickTime), and PraetoriaGuard is providing a WMP9 link. Fun stuff! (Louis Wu 21:59:42 UTC) (permalink)
Lord of the Halo
Thanks to Sorahn, who pointed out this video at Google (and if you visit GameTrailers.com, you can find higher quality versions in both WMP9 and QuickTime - pretty nicely done! (Louis Wu 18:17:50 UTC) (permalink)
Bonehead.
I meant to post this yesterday, forgot. c0ld vengeance snagged a really nice screenshot of one of the underwater denizens you can see through the elevator windows in Delta Halo (and Regret) - you never get this close, normally. (Louis Wu 18:14:20 UTC) (permalink)
Interlude
Dennis Powers has released Interlude - A History of the Halo Universe, over at the Halo CE Chronicles website. It tells some of the backstory of the Halo Universe, for folks who have watched his Halo CE Chronicles but have not necessarily ever played Halo. It's pretty nicely done. Although Dennis wants to host this movie (in WMP9, QuickTime, and streaming Flash formats), he did submit it to the MPRRS for evaluation - and it passed. Go watch! (Louis Wu 17:53:44 UTC) (permalink)
Last eBay update for a bit
The eBay'd Halo goodies continue to flow - Cassius let us know about this 3.5 foot statue and this partial statue, Flamechu found a 6-foot statue, Phil Shiel found another Muckle statue, and Steve Ray points out that he's selling an airbrushed Halo 2 Faceplate for an Xbox 360. I think we're gonna take a break from mentioning eBay auctions for a while - there's always SOMETHING Halo-related there, and I don't want this site to turn into HBeBayO or something. (Louis Wu 14:19:28 UTC) (permalink)
Steve Kroft: Super-Bad
3Suns points out a couple of fun bits at MLGPro.com - the Player of the Week is Foulacy, and Lil Poison showed up on 60 Minutes last night! (You can watch it online at cbsnews.com. The piece is mostly about Fatal1ty, but the Lil Poison/MLG portion kicks in around 9:35.) (Louis Wu 14:03:25 UTC) (permalink)
News January 23 2006
Input needed
We've had a number of people complain about the use of third-party artwork (artwork created by other fans, NOT the submitter) in some of the entries to the Killer Grunts contest. The most heated thread (but not, by far, the only one) on this subject is here. I'm tired of the argument, and tired of being reprimanded, so I'm going to let the public decide. If you think that it's wrong that some of the entries used artwork created by other fans without attribution (well, some of it HAD attribution, in the readmes submitted to us, but since we never made those public, there's no attribution), speak up in that thread; if enough of you are unhappy with the situation, I'll cancel the contest. I thought it was a good idea - but now I'm not so sure. (Louis Wu 22:17:24 UTC) (permalink)
Is that Kate Jackson under that helmet?
Heh - Samantha sent us this picture a little while ago - maybe this should be the default vehicle of IBO? (Louis Wu 20:32:51 UTC) (permalink)
Another option for content producers
Nexus Beat writes to point out that Wasabi Media is offering free hosting for any gaming-related files... if you're looking for hosting, check 'em out!
(Jamie Hutchinson) (Louis Wu 20:32:18 UTC) (permalink)
Helljumper in Trouble
Yet another spectacular pic from Bryn Casey - check out Lost ODST! That guy needs a story... (Louis Wu 18:12:09 UTC) (permalink)
Driving Keyes
Wow. This guy doesn't stop. Last week, we mentioned that scurty had finished the level Keyes in under 3 minutes on Easy, and under 4 on Legendary; he's pared that Legendary time down to 3:09... with no shots fired. Video quality isn't so good (looks like he's been using the same VHS tape for the last 300 runs or so - heh), but the shortcuts are incredible. Check 'em out! (We've put up mirrors - WMP9 | QT - to save on mythica's UserUploads bandwidth.) And thanks to insidi0us for keeping track. (Louis Wu 17:28:09 UTC) (permalink)
The Amoury - for sale
Heh, cool. Out of Reach Constructions (we've mentioned them a couple of times, they make pretty spiffy display cases for Halo action figures) is selling The Armoury, display setup for the extra weapons you get with your action figures, on eBay. What a gift this would make for the Halo fanatic in your life! Thanks, Flamechu. (Louis Wu 17:24:52 UTC) (permalink)
And That Is How You Hit Like A Girl.
Speaking of comics, today's One One Se7en looks at love from a different angle. Mostly up, from the ground, I guess. (Louis Wu 16:29:24 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Love
Over at HaloPlanet, there's a new action-figure-based comic called Halo Love. Gloves says he might make more... but it seems like the relationship might be off to a rocky start. (Louis Wu 16:27:26 UTC) (permalink)
Contest Reminder
For those of you who haven't voted yet - you should really swing by the Killer Grunts voting section and pick your favorites. I'll likely close the polls a bit after midnight UTC tomorrow - make your opinion count! (Louis Wu 16:24:09 UTC) (permalink)
Local Hunters
On Friday, a pair of new Craig Mullins images were discovered on goodbrush.com. Some people had trouble following the links (apparently, his server rejects some connections based on parameters I don't understand) - but never fear, Craig has given us permission to host local copies of these images. Check out the Dark Hunter... and the Light. And marvel at this guy's ability to produce such feeling with so few brushstrokes. (Louis Wu 02:39:28 UTC) (permalink)
It was a dark and stormy night...
Cool beans. Dojorkan modded Outskirts to get a feel for how New Mombassa might look at dusk, with fog rolling in... the potential for machinima is staggering. Check out the pics, read the thread. Toss in your own two cents. (Louis Wu 02:36:08 UTC) (permalink)
Hall of Murals - now in 3D
You might remember the Hall of Murals, shown only in a cutscene that never got finished (but could be seen on the Limited Edition DVD) - Se7en One extracted them and cleaned them up, and Walshicus colored them. Now Se7en One is back - this time, he's made 3D versions, and filmed them to give you a look! The first tablet is complete - he says more are coming. Go check out the video! (Louis Wu 02:28:32 UTC) (permalink)
News January 22 2006
Character Scale Chart Augmented
Stephen Loftus added 50% more characters to his Halo Character Scale Chart - you can now compare almost all the characters in Halo and Halo 2! (He left out the Keyes Blob, and the Flood Juggernaut (which never made it into the game), because their scale would totally dwarf everything else and make the rest of the page rather awkward.) Go play around! (Louis Wu 13:52:08 UTC) (permalink)
Warthog in Concerned
On Wednesday, we got a note from Pak about the inclusion of a Halo Warthog in this episode of Concerned (a Half-Life 2 webcomic). It seemed pretty trivial to me, and I was busy... so I passed on mentioning it. This morning, however, we got email from RedRaptor, who explained the significance I missed - it shows that there's a downloadable Warthog for Half-Life 2. (A working download link is near the end of the thread linked in the notes below the episode.) Thanks to both submitters! (Louis Wu 12:27:51 UTC) (permalink)
Breakdancing MC moves out
Whee - a video we released in July, 2004 has made it onto StupidVideos.com - at lower resolution and with a StupidVideos watermark on it. Gotta love that intellectual property stuff. (Really - grab our copies if you haven't seen this - they're much nicer.) Thanks, Chris Propes. (Louis Wu 12:19:19 UTC) (permalink)
IBOBO - The Psycho bungie.org Clown
We don't usually mention websites, in and of themselves, on our front page - but this one's part of the family. IBO, the companion website for irc.bungie.org, is now ready for prime time. (Don't be confused by the URL - irc.bungie.org runs the irc server, and ibo.bungie.org runs the website. They're different boxes.) There's lots of info for folks interested in joining the various Bungie-related channels hosted on the server - poke around! Thanks to KP and Sorahn (and a great design from Hawaiian Pig) for making it all happen! (Louis Wu 12:11:53 UTC) (permalink)
Podtacular Ep 45
Podtacular Episode 45 was posted yesterday - and as of Ep 48, they'll be moving back to a once-per-week format. Thanks to David for the first heads-up. (Louis Wu 12:05:56 UTC) (permalink)
Priorities
DT and MR-T write to point out the first in an upcoming comic series titled 'Office Chief', over at Battlefield Halo. (Louis Wu 12:02:52 UTC) (permalink)
Unresolved Issues With Father Figures
Unresolved Issues With Father Figures
Red vs Blue Episode 72 has been posted for sponsors - 'Getting Debriefed' has Simmons trying to get back into Red Base, Tucker and Caboose (and Andy) returning to Blue Base, and Grif doing his best to go home. Should be up for freeloaders sometime today or tomorrow, I'd guess. Looks like Sir B L U N T was first. (Louis Wu 11:36:19 UTC) (permalink)
News January 21 2006
Havoc
A few weeks ago, we posted a trailer for a new movie from CROSSFIRE - and this morning, we're finally able to bring you the final product. Havoc is chilling, moody, and spectacularly filmed, with some amazing special effects. It pulled in what might be the highest rating ever from the MPRRS - so you should DEFINITELY go watch it! Just under 100 mb, in either QuickTime or WMP9 formats. (Louis Wu 21:53:50 UTC) (permalink)
The Utfoo Mirror Project
Frogblast was one of the premiere tricksters in the Halo scene - and when Halo 2 came out, he was all over it. Within 3 days of the game being released, he'd posted almost 250 mb worth of videos of exploration - and for months, Utfoo was the place to go for Froggie Goodness. Then he disappeared. His site lived on, however... until a couple of months ago, when it finally went offline. Turns out nobody had a mirror. Well... I'd saved one early on... but I neglected to keep it updated. Ducain has now put that original mirror online - you can once again grab the early Halo 2 material Frogblast posted. (The Halo links are busted, but most of that stuff is in our Tips and Tricks section anyway.) If you have videos from Frogblast's site that are newer than what's up there, Ducain asks that you get in touch with him over at High Impact Halo - he wants to add them! (Louis Wu 21:45:49 UTC) (permalink)
Legendary Episode 1
A few days ago, blackouTT posted a note on our forum about the first episode of Legendary, a new movie he'd made. (The Freeloader fixed his HTML for easier reading.) He submitted this ep to the MPRRS - and they liked it, so we're hosting it. You can grab the WMP9 version (100mb) or a new QuickTime version (91 mb) - go watch! (Louis Wu 18:10:44 UTC) (permalink)
Another DeviantART Halo lover...
halofan141 noticed this deviation over at DeviantART - nice shot of the Chief! And if you like the work of lhs, check out this pic - and there's other Halo-related stuff in the gallery. (Louis Wu 14:51:35 UTC) (permalink)
Another Fancy Home for MC
A couple of days ago, X3n0 posted yet another one of his cool display cases - this one for the Active Camo MC. I forgot to point it out... but go look! (Louis Wu 14:46:07 UTC) (permalink)
No News is No News
I wasn't going to post this, because... well, because it was sort of anti-news, but we're getting enough mail that I guess we should. Because of the Bungie Winter Pentathlon (which was going on for most of the end of this week, it seems), there was no Weekly Halo Update. They'll have pictures for you next week, though. (Louis Wu 14:43:21 UTC) (permalink)
Fight Night
The submission period for the Killer Grunts contest has ended - and the voting period has begun! Voting will be open to the public until Tuesday (time is fuzzy at this point) - go check out the entries (there are 116 of them!), pick your five favorites, and may the best box win! (Louis Wu 06:32:55 UTC) (permalink)
News January 20 2006
Splitters.
Folks have wondered recently if Halo is moving aside for other online games... Stuntmutt's take on it all can be found in today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 19:20:21 UTC) (permalink)
Interview with an artist at 2old2play
BATMANKM, a member of 2old2play, was one of the artists that entered in the Seventh Column Art Competition earlier this month; he recived an Honorable Mention in the writeup, but his work was not shown. Fellow clanmember DanLeCrinque talked to him about the work - you can read the interview (and check out the gorgeous piece, including progress roughs) on the 2old2play website. There's even a set of wallpapers based on the pic... and a Batman Master Chief! Awesome read. Thanks, DSmooth. (Louis Wu 19:09:59 UTC) (permalink)
It's Friday, so it must be Fanfic
21 new pieces in the Fan Fiction section this week. Folks have been busy... go read! (Louis Wu 15:43:57 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Noob Guide, Part III
Preston Heckel noticed that the next installment of MLG's Newcomer's Guide to Halo 2 has been posted at MLGPro.com - this one focuses on Teamwork. There are great tips in there; some stuff is common sense, other stuff is not, ALL of it is stuff you should be thinking about when playing team games. Positioning, weapon control, powerups, map control, spawning issues... it's all good. Go read. (There's one more part coming.) (Louis Wu 15:34:57 UTC) (permalink)
Good Against The Living?
XerxdeeJ speculates about what makes a great game great in his latest Tied the Leader blog post. Nice read. (Louis Wu 14:55:47 UTC) (permalink)
But do they know...?
A new update over at the Halo Story Page - sweeping speculation, everything from Azimov to wormholes. Check it out! (And thanks, Finn.) (Louis Wu 14:48:51 UTC) (permalink)
Hunt THIS.
Wow. Thanks to mr_mcmurder, who found this bad boy, and this one, over at Craig Mullins' website (posted 3 days ago - geez, you guys are slow). I've sent off a request to add them to his Halo gallery here, but in the meantime, you should browse around his site... because, well, he rocks. (Louis Wu 04:18:13 UTC) (permalink)
Oh. My. Word.
This is just SO friggin' wrong. I... words just can't DESCRIBE how wrong this is. And then he had the temerity to be FIRST? Bah. Update: Mintz points out that there's a PSP version up at Halo Portable, too. (Louis Wu 01:16:55 UTC) (permalink)
News January 19 2006
TSL - The Marty O'Donnell Interview, Part 1
This Spartan Life has posted a new module - it's Part 1 of an interview with Marty O'Donnell, set against a backdrop of Containment's outer reaches. Great stuff - go watch! (QuickTime is up now, WMP9 coming soon.) (Louis Wu 21:28:48 UTC) (permalink)
Battlefield Halo
We got word from MR-T, and DT, about Battlefield Halo, a web-based role playing game with a Halo theme. Sign up, look around, and start role-playing
in the Halo universe! (If you're curious about what you'd be getting into, you can find some great representative screenshots on this briefing page.) (Louis Wu 21:15:15 UTC) (permalink)
Articulated Battle Rifle
Cool - BARBARIC RAGE sent along a link he found to a Halo 2 Battle Rifle... made of Lego bricks. Looks awesome, too! Check it out! (Louis Wu 20:48:08 UTC) (permalink)
Doing Live Right
Saw this a couple of days ago - but it took DstrucTSions to get me off my butt about it. Over at Geezer Gamers, JameyT has written a fun article about 'Doing Life Right' - and guess which game is held up a shining example that others should follow? Yep, Halo 2. Go read! (Louis Wu 20:42:44 UTC) (permalink)
Contest Update
As you may remember (hey, there's an icon right on this page!), we're running a contest right now - and the deadline for submissions is tomorrow. Response so far has been great - dozens and dozens of submissions. Many of these, however, stretch the description of 'fight game box art' - some are simply shots of MC, pasted on a wallpaper snagged from our Wallpaper section. No text, no 'box'... just something that wouldn't even qualify for the Misc Art section (according to our guidelines). Folks - you've got a lot of latitude... but it's got to at least LOOK like a game, no? For people who've submitted pictures like this - you've got another day to gussy up your work and resubmit... but the stuff already here will be tossed. Sorry - but if I'm going to be formatting 100 pics for public voting, I'm not going to waste my time on stuff that doesn't even TRY to meet the guidelines. Thanks! (Oh, yeah, and remember: if it ain't in our contest uploads, it ain't entered.) (Louis Wu 16:02:41 UTC) (permalink)
Podtacular Ep 44
Peronthious noticed that Podtacular Episode 44 had been released - and he even wrote a review of it. Can you ask for more? Go listen. (Louis Wu 15:19:45 UTC) (permalink)
7 Feet of MC in your living room.
We've mentioned Muckle statues quite a bit recently; they were primarily used for marketing Halo 2 in Europe, but they're starting to show up on eBay in the US as well. They're higher-quality statues than what showed up in game stores in the US... so it's not surprising that folks are buying these up. BARBARIC RAGE bought one of the 7 footers on eBay... and sent us pictures. (Front view | back view) Now THAT'S a dominating presence! (Louis Wu 15:04:37 UTC) (permalink)
Sub Three Keyes.
Whoa. Over at the HIH forum, there's a thread started by scurty, showing off some speed runs of Keyes, in Halo 1; he's below 4 minutes in EVERY difficulty, but the Easy run is below 3 minutes. That's insane! Next up - Pillar of Autumn in 30 seconds. Warms my heart to know folks are still hammering away at these things... thanks to insidi0us for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 14:52:11 UTC) (permalink)
News January 18 2006
The Squadron, Episode 15 released
Broken Console has released episode 15 of the Squadron - 'My Bum Hurts'; the human soldiers once again prove themselves insanely stupid, but decent shots. You can grab it in WMP9 format from the BC website (link above) or in QuickTime from us. Your mom's a sheep. (Louis Wu 23:34:36 UTC) (permalink)
Machinima - the local angle
There's a sizeable article (5000 words) on the Codex crew (The Codex is a pretty well-known, and well-done, Halo machinima project) - a nice read. A bit disappointing that they've all moved on from Halo, though... (Louis Wu 23:29:39 UTC) (permalink)
New Team3D Content
A couple of new articles over at Team3D.net - there's an interview with OGRE1 (this should have been posted a couple of days ago - my bad) and some great strategy tips for CTF Beaver Creek from OGRE 2. Check 'em out - learn from the pros! Thanks, F13ND. (Louis Wu 18:41:26 UTC) (permalink)
infinityloop's Pillar of Autumn Model
On Monday, MattKnight01 pointed out a thread on the Lightwave Group forum - it detailed the creation of a Pillar of Autumn model in Lightwave, and culminated (after more than a year) in the release of the model mesh. It's a pretty amazing piece of work - and it comes with lots of information about how it was made, including tutorials for some of the techniques used. Any Halo fan with Lightwave should grab this thing. But the model itself is really cool, even if you don't have the tools to manipulate it - so we asked infinityloop (the creator) if we could consolidate the pictures (spread out over 13 pages of forum posts) and offer a mirror of the model mesh... he said sure. Swing by the page and follow along the model development... or just jump to the last page of images and check out the finished product! (Louis Wu 15:11:03 UTC) (permalink)
Those Muckles Keep Showing Up
Cassius points out yet another Halo 2 Muckle statue (the resin sculpture that's been popping up recently) on eBay - 4 days to go! (Louis Wu 14:50:47 UTC) (permalink)
Parono Amaze Ya.
Today's One One Se7en is one of the most highbrow puntaculars I've ever seen. (It's so highbrow, it needed to be explained to me.) If you get it by yourself, pat yourself on the back. Then smack yourself. (Louis Wu 14:42:20 UTC) (permalink)
Videogames-to-Flix #7 - Halo
JoBlo.com has posted a review of Halo, as part of a series of 'Videogames-to-Flix' - it's interesting simply because I can't remember seeing a Halo (original) review in several years. (They gave it a 9.6/10.) There's also some speculation about the film itself. Check it out! (Louis Wu 13:56:28 UTC) (permalink)
New Toy Preview at Joyride
Boxer points out that Joyride Studios has posted a preview of their Series 8 Action figures - There's the Jackal, the Elite Commander, the Heretic Elite Leader, and a cute little pair involving the Master Chief. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 13:48:55 UTC) (permalink)
The Society of Gaming
DSmooth points out an article at 2old2play, defining 7 gamer types. The author, trupundit, classifies himself as a Devoted Gamer, with Halo 2 being his One Game. (If you're curious about the capitals, read the story.) (Louis Wu 13:45:43 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Noob Guide, Part II
The second part of Dyslexia's Newcomers Guide to Halo 2 is up over at MLG - this one looks at tactics and strategies commonly used in 4v4 and FFA games. (We mentioned part 1 last week.) It's a really nice collection of information - worth reading even if you know this stuff. Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 13:35:39 UTC) (permalink)
Halo-like Music
thatboyjay writes to point out a number of instrumental tracks he's created that have a Halo 'feel' to them - check 'em out! If you like what you hear, tbj can be contacted here. (Louis Wu 13:19:34 UTC) (permalink)
News January 17 2006
Flood Carrier
Bryn Casey sent along a new image for his gallery - It's a Flood Carrier form. (I'm using the spoiler tag for the first time in a long time - here's hoping folks remember to hit that button!) What a combo of shiny and rough! (Louis Wu 17:49:25 UTC) (permalink)
Stats Site Increases Capacity
Indutiomarus writes to let us know that halo2.junk.ws has upgraded their servers, and has room for at least a thousand more users. If you're looking for an online stats aggregator, and haven't been able to get an account in the past - check 'em out! (Louis Wu 17:48:03 UTC) (permalink)
Podtacular Ep 43
Peronthious noticed that Episode 43 of Podtacular, focusing on Lockout has been released. Go listen! (Louis Wu 17:10:16 UTC) (permalink)
Maritimes Tourney
Navillus points out an upcoming Tournament in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia - the link in his forum post has the details. Check it out! (Louis Wu 17:07:58 UTC) (permalink)
Big Chief
Jean-Luc posted a huge (2048x2048, 660kb) render he completed of the Master Chief - nice detail! (Louis Wu 17:04:14 UTC) (permalink)
Riding the Wave
Apologies for the delays in posting today - there were some major (non-Halo-related) hardware troubles here in the last day or so, and cleanup has been... not fun. First up: 3Suns points out the latest Player of the Week at MLGPro.com - it's OGRE1, and he looks back on his competitive Halo career. Fun read! (Louis Wu 16:47:34 UTC) (permalink)
News January 16 2006
Don't do WHAT?
Frankie let folks know that over at Bungie.net, you'll find a full description of the Contract Writer position he mentioned last week. Looking to work for Bungie? This might be you! (Louis Wu 22:37:37 UTC) (permalink)
Beat The Cheats.
LegendaryMark wrote up a piece that gives you tips and tactics to beat XBL cheaters - you can find it over at HaloWiki.net. Go read! (Louis Wu 22:34:35 UTC) (permalink)
Broken Console needs your voice
Broken Console folks are looking for voice actors - swing by their website for details if you're interested in participating in The Squadron or other upcoming machinima projects! (Louis Wu 21:05:43 UTC) (permalink)
Killer Grunts - NA Only (or not...)
Bad news - the DOA4 contest we kicked off on Friday has to be US-only, because that's the version of the game that Bungie has to give away. I'd really like to apologize for not noticing the logic hole until now... for all the outside-North-America submitters, I promise, there'll be upcoming contests you're eligible for. If you submitted an entry already, and you're outside North America, I'd really appreciate a note so I can remove your entry from the pool to be voted on. Thanks! Update: We just got a note from Walshicus, pointing us to this thread on the Xbox.com forums - apparently, DOA4 is not region-encoded, and (maybe due to its HD-ness) the NTSC version doesn't seem to have any problem playing on PAL systems, as long as they're set to 60Hz. So... unless we hear differently (again), I'm gonna say that the contest is once again available to everyone! (Tecmo - you guys rock.) (Louis Wu 18:18:00 UTC) (permalink)
And They Have The Coolest Clan.
Silly title notwithstanding, the latest One One Se7en is pretty funny stuff. Go read! (Louis Wu 14:26:11 UTC) (permalink)
Ball Taken.
Veegie posted news of a new render on our forum - great piece! (Louis Wu 14:20:30 UTC) (permalink)
We Hold These Spartans to Be Self-...something
sorahn (and later a number of other people) noticed a new Halo sighting in a current contest at Worth1000.com. Very nice work, I'd say! (Louis Wu 14:17:27 UTC) (permalink)
News January 15 2006
Fan-made box
X3n0 put together a pretty cool cigar/trinket box - you can see pics in this forum post. Nice work! (Louis Wu 22:16:04 UTC) (permalink)
Pistol Replicas continue to be sold
Spartan Jag found yet another one of those M6D pistol replicas on eBay... the last two (this one and this one) have been paid for, but no feedback has been left as yet by the buyers. (The wording of the current listing would suggest that the guns aren't finished yet.) (Louis Wu 22:14:52 UTC) (permalink)
XBW360 Contest - Details
You might remember a week or so ago, we mentioned an upcoming machinima contest, sponsored by Xbox World 360 (a British gaming mag). They don't have a website, per se... so we're helping out a bit; you can read the contest details on this page. Movie makers... start your cameras! (Louis Wu 17:36:16 UTC) (permalink)
When Big Companies Make Stuff Up
Doug Millett pointed out a page at AOL Games/AIM that talks about games coming out soon - and Halo 3 is right at the top of the list. "Release Date: Sometime in 2006." As though they know something the rest of us don't... Bah. I hate sending them traffic with this link - but I also don't wanna get 100 emails telling me about it. (Louis Wu 15:28:41 UTC) (permalink)
Portable FTC
Andrew, from Xbox Ottawa, writes to say that all the Fire Team Charlie episodes have been converted to portable formats for the PSP and video iPod - you can download them from their video page. Watch 'em on the road! (Louis Wu 15:17:47 UTC) (permalink)
News January 14 2006
MLG PwnCast on Demand Trailer
Bluestrike2 sends word that the MLG PwnCast has released The MLG PwnCast on Demand video trailer - requires QuickTime 7 or iTunes 6 (download links are in the news post), and it's formatted for an iPod. Check it out! (Louis Wu 20:31:45 UTC) (permalink)
20K want to play INXS
Heh - remember a week or two ago, when we mentioned that the next Game With Fame event on Xbox Live would be with members of the band INXS? According to this article in the Vancouver Sun, more than 20,000 people have signed up in hopes of snagging one of the 100 slots available. Wow! (Louis Wu 19:02:36 UTC) (permalink)
If it's Saturday, it must be Art
Another art update - this one from Dillo, who points out first Etoli's DeviantART gallery (Etoli is a regular at the Halo Babies site), and then points out a number of her own new works. Nice stuff! (Louis Wu 18:56:03 UTC) (permalink)
Sorath, and a plea.
Pinkuh, as well, posted another piece of work (which we've added to her gallery) - this one is not g-rated. It's a new species of the Covenant - one with a single purpose. Where does she come up with this stuff? (Pinkuh has a pretty major problem right now - her computer is dying. If she's going to be able to continue to create artwork, she's going to need to buy a new one - but she has no money. If you would like to help her, she's got a PayPal link up in this forum post.) (Louis Wu 14:58:09 UTC) (permalink)
Net Art
RocketMoose found a bunch of fun Halo art over at LiveJournal - check out the links! (Louis Wu 14:56:16 UTC) (permalink)
The Fall of Earth
I ran across this Flash animation at Newgrounds when reading a RedvsBlue member's journal. Earth is under attack by Covenant forces. And we don't do so good. (Louis Wu 14:51:22 UTC) (permalink)
More Elnea Art
Elnea sent along a new avatar for her gallery here - lordsmurph looks rather graceful with that flag! (Louis Wu 14:41:24 UTC) (permalink)
Info on Muckle Halo stuff
Phil Shiel hunted down the website for Muckle Mannequins - the folks who make those resin sculptures that come up for sale on eBay every once in a while. It's all framed - but if you start at the home page, and follow the 'Quick Menu' at the bottom right to 'Halo 2', you'll get the chance to see a couple of nice pics (labeled 'seite 1' and seite 2'). Looks like the life-sized version is even cooler than the small one! (Louis Wu 14:35:26 UTC) (permalink)
It's Friday the 13th? That explains a lot...
The latest Bungie Weekly Update was posted a couple of hours ago - they're hiring, there's some cool stuff about the audio team, and there's new schwag coming out. And oh, yeah... a naked mister chief. Sort of. You can find this in our local BWU archive, as well. I haven't been to the forum yet, but I'd bet Frankie was first with this. Update: It's also available for your PSP, over at Halo: Portable... thanks, Mintz! (Louis Wu 03:05:47 UTC) (permalink)
News January 13 2006
Killer Grunts - Win a copy of DOA4
We're proud to announce the first in a series of bungie.org/Bungie.net contests - Killer Grunts. (Bungie.net is involved only in the sense that they're providing the goodies you can win - so don't bug 'em if you're unhappy with the situation. Blame us.) The contest is simple: put together some box art for a (fictional) Halo-related fighting game, submit it, and wait for the Halo community to tell you how much it rocks. More details, as though you'd actually need them, can be found on the official Killer Grunts Contest Page. We're going to do our best to give you lots of chances to win cool stuff like this in the upcoming weeks and months - so stick around! (Louis Wu 17:45:57 UTC) (permalink)
Well, If Warbow's Not Going To...
Today's One One Se7en calls in a guest character for commentary on an issue that certainly riles up the fanbase... (Louis Wu 17:35:03 UTC) (permalink)
eBay Goodies going to Good Homes
Phil Shiel sent us a pic of the Master Chief Resin Statue (228K) he bought off eBay a few days ago - it's the one we mentioned here. Looks awesome next to the high-end TV equipment he plays Halo 2 on! (I guess we're doing some decent advertising for eBay sellers; the M6D replica we mentioned a few days ago was snatched up by one of our favorite artists, Elnea. (Louis Wu 17:05:02 UTC) (permalink)
Stubbs Demo on OXM Disc
Jefu Kune points out that the Stubbs the Zombie demo (for Xbox) can be found on the current cover DVD for the Official Xbox Magazine. (We mentioned the Mac and PC demos a few days ago.) You can now try this Halo-engined game on whatever platform you prefer! (Louis Wu 16:45:09 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Noob Guide
Very cool - over at MLG, you'll find A Newcomers Guide to Halo 2 at MLG - Part I. This is a great intro to MLG-standard weapons, and basic strats for them. Nice! Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 16:35:29 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fiction
Twenty new pieces for you in the Fan Fiction section today - go read! (Louis Wu 16:16:53 UTC) (permalink)
Black Bandaids and Peanut Butter Blood
The Bungie Humpday Challenge was back yesterday - even though it wasn't Humpday, they weren't playing Halo, and in fact they weren't even playing anyone outside of Bungie Studios. The writeup's pretty funny, though, so go read it! Frankie was first - as usual. Cheater. (The contest he mentioned will be made public later today, so stay tuned.) (Louis Wu 14:23:58 UTC) (permalink)
News January 12 2006
Horde Boosting, Indeed.
The guy doesn't stop. More megabattle goodness from rockslider over at Bad Cyborg - bump the total number of enemies to about 50! Wonga. (Louis Wu 21:53:53 UTC) (permalink)
Bryn Casey Delivers.
Bryn 'ofthehi77' Casey let us know about another pair of paintings he'd posted recently - we've added them to his gallery here. 'Terminal' is a great view of the Terminal garage... and 'Delta Halo' is... well, just what you'd expect. Really nice work - be sure to take a look! (Louis Wu 21:41:32 UTC) (permalink)
More gameplay and montage action from H2F
Z pointed out another couple of vids over at Halo2Forum.com - both are huge (150-200 mb apiece). There's a KotH game between Exit Woundz and Legendz, on Midship - great audio (these guys really communicate well), and a montage from Ner0sis with lots of funky effects and a bunch of known names. Go grab 'em! (Louis Wu 19:23:59 UTC) (permalink)
The Maw Slayer Tournament
jman571 wrote to let us know about the Maw Slayer Tournament, an online HaloPC-baesd 2v2 tourney. You can sign up in this Bungie.net forum thread. Dates/times don't seem to be set yet, and they're working on a website - but the forum thread contains all the info you need. Go sign up! (Louis Wu 15:09:01 UTC) (permalink)
Podtacular Ep 42 released
Podtacular Ep 42 (Beginning of the year blowout) has been posted - swing by and download it! It's an hour long, 28 mb. Thanks, Henry Brown. (Louis Wu 15:05:24 UTC) (permalink)
Is it that time yet?
QBakies pointed out a new entry in his gaming blog - The Sad March of Progress looks at his gradual movement away from Halo 2 towards other online games. Are you like Q, and ready to move on? Or does Halo still suck you in? (Louis Wu 15:03:00 UTC) (permalink)
SexyJosh - back!
Some of you might remember SexyJosh, who released a number of Halo songs a couple of years ago - he stopped by our forum yesterday to point out that all of his Halo music (and more, in fact) has been collected at a new address, with a new design - if you haven't heard this stuff before, check it out! (Louis Wu 14:32:23 UTC) (permalink)
Hasta La Vista, Baby.
Burnie's back from his vacation... and Episode 71 of Red vs Blue, 'You Keep Using That Word', has been posted for Sponsors. (Yeah, that means that the free versions should be up by Friday, if not sooner.) Shiela has turned into my second girlfriend, and Simmons has - oops. That's not right. Go watch - it's funny. And say hi to - eep. Never mind. Go watch. (Louis Wu 02:58:37 UTC) (permalink)
He's A REAL Boy!
Gah. Out all day... I managed to miss posting Wednesday's One One Se7en. Up now, though. Pretty darned funny, too - worth the wait, probably. (If you don't think it's funny, that might be you in the last panel.) (Louis Wu 00:17:27 UTC) (permalink)
News January 11 2006
UK Online FFA Tourney
Zyber Jedi pointed out a Halo 2 FFA tourney at Matchbox 360, taking place on January 19 - free to enter (though you have to be from the UK), with a free Xbox/Xbox360 game for the winner. Check it out! (Louis Wu 19:01:45 UTC) (permalink)
Large MC Sculpture for auction
James Moran points out an auction on eBay's UK site - it's one of the 6-foot Master Chief statues. Starting bid is $1250 (US), and the auction ends tomorrow. (This is listed on the US site, as well.) Check it out! (Louis Wu 13:40:11 UTC) (permalink)
A box I'd definitely buy.
Wonga. X3n0, emboldened by the response to his RvB action figure packaging, released a shot of a case he made for his Active Camo Spartan... and man, does it rock! Check it out. Joyride could learn something from this guy, packaging-wise! (Louis Wu 12:04:17 UTC) (permalink)
I like Karnak better.
IGN has put up the second half of their 'IGN Predicts 2006' article... and one of the predictions is 'Halo 3 Ships in 2007'. (Never mind that 2007 is NOT 2006.) They're pretty sure we'll see Halo 3 in progress at E3 in May (this year), and that the game itself will ship in conjunction with the Halo movie. Yeah, well... (Louis Wu 11:57:57 UTC) (permalink)
Flattery? Nah.
Wow, I've seen sleazy... but this is pretty amazing. Over at a site called 'JonsModding', they're SELLING (yes, selling) three maps for your Xbox, which they're willing to install for you. These maps come from "the programming department teamed with JonsModding", and they "have programmed the maps to use the old halo 1 weapontry and we have even added a new vehicle called 'The Wasp'." The three maps? "We have named them Immature, Anxiety, and Corrupted." Whoa... that sounds a lot like the names of the three maps released by Mothergoat back in September! (Well, except for the Immure/Immature typo - but that actually gets corrected later on down the page.) And hey - those screenshots look the same, too! Oh... no wonder... JonsModding simply linked to the images on mothergoat.net. Dang, they couldn't even be bothered to localize the images they stole. Wow. These guys have a forum - maybe some of you want to discuss this issue with them? (Louis Wu 11:52:16 UTC) (permalink)
A different take
Heh - Peter Moore talked to Computer and Video Games a couple of days ago, and discussed the next installment of Halo as though MS was actually holding it back on purpose. Reading his words, one might almost get the idea that the decision NOT to release Halo 3 as a launch title for the Xbox360 was made not so much because it wasn't done, but because they wanted the 360 to be able to stand on its own, and not be 'a Halo box'. How convenient, then, that Halo 3 isn't actually ready for release (or, in fact, even announced as in production)! Thanks, voregaffer. (Louis Wu 11:41:28 UTC) (permalink)
Rippling Blubber and Carnal Opportunities
Taso, of the HIH forums, got some screen time with Frankie recently - you can read the interview over at High Impact Halo. It's a really fun piece. Check it out! Thanks, Phan7om. (Louis Wu 11:23:54 UTC) (permalink)
Dominic Grey: Tales of a Tortured Mind
Dragondex submitted a video to the MPRRS a couple of days ago - 'Dominic Grey: Tales of a Tortured Mind' tells the story of a... somewhat disturbed individual. Nicely filmed! Give this one a look. WMP9 format (27.8 mb) or QuickTime format (27.3 mb). (He actually started a forum thread about this on Monday - comments can go there.) (Louis Wu 11:14:07 UTC) (permalink)
For the Love of the Game - Zanzibar Match
Compton has written up another blow-by-blow account of a Halo 2 multiplayer match - this one is a 1 Flag CTF game on Zanzibar. As he did once before, he's managed to put you in the game - it's a fun read. (Louis Wu 11:07:24 UTC) (permalink)
News January 10 2006
Another Halo Novel?
Interesting... Stephen Loftus ran across this page at Chapters (a Canadian bookseller) - it lists an as-yet-unnamed trade paperback based on Halo 2, written by Eric Nylund (author of two of the three existing Halo novels), and published by Tor books (previous Halo novels were published by Del Rey). According to Chapters, it's due out in October. Accurate? A mistake? The ISBN number listed comes up blank at ISBNdb.com... but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. (Doesn't mean it does, either.) Intriguing, in any case! (While I was looking for other info about this, I ran across this entry at Amazon/Borders - an audio-book version of First Strike, available for purchase for $40. Scoop it up if you've been looking for this!) (Louis Wu 22:43:43 UTC) (permalink)
VGL Halo Clips for Download
Over at Joystiq, there's an article about the Video Games Live concert series (yeah, I know, I said I wasn't going to mention them any more... sue me). It contains links to video excerpts of a dress rehearsal of
the Halo segment, filmed several months ago (the WMP9 version is 53 mb, the QuickTime version is 125 mb), and the video also contains interview clips with Marty O'Donnell and Mike Salvatori. Go grab a copy! Thanks, Rota Jota. (This is, by the way, the same video that IGN had up for Insiders last month - except that it's free for everyone.) (Louis Wu 20:49:02 UTC) (permalink)
Stubbs the Zombie demo
Coolness - a Stubbs The Zombie demo has been released for Mac and PC; if you haven't had a chance to try this out, swing by Filerush and grab a copy! (200+ mb...) Thanks, hminn. (Louis Wu 20:42:30 UTC) (permalink)
HCEC now findable at machinima.com
Dennis Powers points out that machinima.com has become an official mirror of his Halo CE Chronicles series - nice going! (Louis Wu 20:33:27 UTC) (permalink)
DropShock Ep 9
Almost lost in the flood of 'BILL GATES CONFIRMS HALO 3!' emails - DropShock Radio has released episode 9 of their podcast. 50 minutes, 24 mb. They wonder what drives modders on XBL, among other subjects... (Louis Wu 18:44:21 UTC) (permalink)
Lance Holds Forth
Wow, I missed this yesterday - careless. According to a news post on Bungie.net, Marty O'Donnell did an interview with Kilroy, a member of Bungie.net's Chapter Founders. It's a pretty rambling piece - but it's full of tasty morsels. If you're an up-and-coming Marty Stalker, you owe it to yourself to read this! (Louis Wu 16:39:36 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Faceplate for 360
Very pretty Halo 2 faceplate for your Xbox360 on eBay right now (2 days left) - I'd agree with ManKitten about the price, though. (Louis Wu 16:16:23 UTC) (permalink)
Cheap Halo 2
Newegg.com is selling Halo 2 for $17.99, today only. If you're looking for a cheap copy - this is it! Thanks, Snowy_Duck. Update: phoenixdude24 let us know that his local Blockbuster is selling copies of Halo 2 (still with the 'do not sell before 11/9/04' label on them) for $9.99... his email address suggests that he lives somewhere in southern Florida. Now THAT'S cheap! (Louis Wu 16:07:21 UTC) (permalink)
A new marketing idea
Some wishful thinking, and very nice graphics work, turned an idea into a cool pic - thanks, X3n0! (Louis Wu 16:04:42 UTC) (permalink)
A tired chestnut.
I really wanted to pass on this - but there are literally dozens of emails in our mailboxes (yes, boxes, plural - folks are mailing this to every address they can find, which is a lot of addresses), so I'm posting it to make people STOP WRITING - Engadget interviewed Bill Gates at CES this year, and he was asked about the release of Halo 3. His answer:
No, I have to make sure that any speculation I did about that is -- it's up to the team when they want to ship that, and they're going to take their time to make that a super great product. So even we don't know when that will come out. That's one of many games that are just phenomenal that are in the works, but it's up to the artists to do it when they feel good about it.
For folks who are really excited about this stuff, let me clarify a couple of things for you - the fact that he says it's one of many 'phenomenal' games does not mean he's played it, and thinks it's phenomenal - it means he knows how important the Halo franchise is to the Xbox(es). And this is not an official announcement that Bungie is working on Halo 3. There. It's posted news, you can read it, you can point it out to your friends. Can you stop telling us about it now? Thanks! (Louis Wu 15:25:07 UTC) (permalink)
News January 9 2006
MLGPro Content
3Suns points out a number of new tidbits at mlgpro.com - you can find a Player of the Week profile of Poison (Lil Poison's uncle), Ogre2's blog, the featured blog of the week (video from WinterLANd coming at some point), and the MLG Handbook, with info for players looking to be sponsored or signed. Check it out! (Louis Wu 22:15:41 UTC) (permalink)
Upcoming Machinima Contest
Feenix writes again - with news of an upcoming machinima contest. Full details will be announced soon, but for now, the basic gist is that winners will be included on upcoming cover DVDs for Xbox World 360, and an overall winner will earn a free game. The rules are simple: the machinima has to be made with an Xbox game, it must be at least 640x480 resolution, and it cannot contain any copyrighted music. Existing pieces (that is, machinima creations that have already been released on the net) are acceptable. Use this announcement to get started on making something new - or to polish up something you've already released! (Louis Wu 18:12:25 UTC) (permalink)
Elitism.
You might remember that this week, there's a campaign to get everyone to play as Elites on Xbox Live - Stuntmutt looks at some of the people that might not participate in today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 15:14:31 UTC) (permalink)
Weekend Collab
John Doe found a pretty random Master Chief inclusion in a Flash vid - you can find it here. Oddness... (Louis Wu 15:11:48 UTC) (permalink)
Seventh Column Art Contest Results
The Seventh Column Art competition which ended a couple of days ago had results posted on Bungie.net last night - the second and third-place winners were both Halo pieces (and both artists should be familiar to HBO regulars). First place went to a piece depicting a scene from Marathon. Check out the details! (Louis Wu 14:18:45 UTC) (permalink)
When Subtlety Backfires
A number of people wrote to tell me I was really confused (some in words not quite so polite) because of the news post yesterday where I said that Ron Perlman had 'apparently never heard of Halo'. Um... yeah, I know Ron Perlman voiced the part of Lord Hood in Halo 2. It was supposed to be funny. (He said it, not me - I was just amused by it.) I guess I should be more direct when I'm pointing out funny stuff. Sorry about that. (You guys can stop writing nasty notes now, though. Thanks.) (Louis Wu 13:30:59 UTC) (permalink)
Heart is a Lonely Hunter - in Hi-res
Wow, cool. Feenix writes to point out that the Cover DVD for the current issue of Xbox World 360 Magazine in the UK has the full half-hour machinima 'The Heart is a Lonely Hunter' on it - in full DVD quality. While you can download this movie from us (either in pieces, or as a single video) or from the HiaLH website - you CANNOT see it in full-screen glory unless you grab this mag. Nice! (Louis Wu 13:26:48 UTC) (permalink)
The MLG PwnCast Returns
The MLG PwnCast is back - with a new website, and a new episode. Go check 'em out! (Next week, Episode 5 will feature Lil Poison!) (Louis Wu 13:13:49 UTC) (permalink)
Double You Tee Eff, Mate.
1Up.com has put up a piece called 'Top Ten WTF Moments of 2005' - and coming in at number 7 (heh) is 'Spartan in DOA'. The reason it made the list? "Because when you think of one-on-one, boob jiggling martial arts action, you think of Halo." Fair enough! Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 12:47:35 UTC) (permalink)
MC Resin Sulpture for Auction
A Master Chief resin sculpture (these were promotional items in Europe last year) is up for sale on eBay. We've mentioned these before - but they're usually in Europe, and this one is in the US. Starting bid is $160, Buy it Now price is $210, and you've got almost 5 days to make up your mind (unless someone else buys it first). Thanks, Cassius. (Louis Wu 12:44:43 UTC) (permalink)
News January 8 2006
Hellboy is gonna be a character in Halo.
Ron Perlman, who apparently has never heard of Halo, can't imagine anyone but Guillermo del Toro directing Hellboy 2 (the script for which has been turned in, according to the interview). Swing by IESB for a video interview with the guy. (Louis Wu 23:14:15 UTC) (permalink)
Now that's snazzy.
Mr.Sci-Fi put a Masterchief-ish paint job on his Xbox360 - looks fantastic! Take a look. (Louis Wu 23:11:06 UTC) (permalink)
Jaw Dropper is right!
Shishka pointed out a really cool Halo 2 show car - originally found in a Bungie.net forum thread. Check it out - nice paint job! (Louis Wu 22:03:05 UTC) (permalink)
First Strike - the Audio Book?
Some time ago, we got a pretty interesting submission from John Space, who had created an Honors English school project in which Halo: First Strike was presented in Audio Book format. (The submission was an excerpt.) Character voices were done by John and Cheyenne Space, and friends Michael and Brendon Reed. The clip we have is 6 minutes long, and just under 3 mb - go listen! (And to John - I'd like to say publicly that I'm really sorry I never got back to this - thank Cheyenne for jogging my memory.) (Louis Wu 17:53:10 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Character Scale Chart
Many people have been asking Stephen Loftus to put together a scale chart for Halo characters (he's already done them for weapons and vehicles). He decided the best way to handle the situation was to give people the chance to compare any pair of characters - so swing by his new Character Scale Chart and you can do just that! Pretty nice work - and useful! (Louis Wu 16:12:01 UTC) (permalink)
Another pistol for sale
A whole bunch of people pointed out that there's another M6D pistol for sale on eBay by the same guy we mentioned yesterday - there are 6 days left in the auction, so check it out! (I think Robert Patterson was first with the news... but thanks to everyone who noticed it.) (Louis Wu 16:09:31 UTC) (permalink)
News January 7 2006
A small note of sadness
This should really be posted on the bungie.org front page, but nobody ever goes there (mostly because it hasn't been updated in years)... we allowed our 7th birthday to pass unnoticed yesterday, and what might be worse... nobody noticed. (Bungie.org opened its doors on January 6, 1999, and has been serving the Bungie community every day since then. Without you, the fans, we'd be nothing - so thanks.) Eat some cake for us! (Louis Wu 21:58:19 UTC) (permalink)
Alternate Ending
Jon Luke noticed another Press Start to Play comic with Halo content... heh. (Louis Wu 21:53:05 UTC) (permalink)
More Halo armor for auction
Interesting. X1Zero noticed another Halo costume on eBay - but the opening bid seems awfully high to me, given the quality... (Louis Wu 21:31:00 UTC) (permalink)
Friday Night in San Francisco
Actually, it could be *any* day next week in San Francisco... I'll be in the area attending MacWorld expo. I'm renting a car and crashing at the home of a friend. But I'm also going to have my swanky projector with me, as well as Halo 1 and 2 discs, and my trusty controller and headset. Someone in the Bay Area must be willing to host a quick Halo LAN fest, right? Or if you know of a good gaming cafe, I'm open to that as well. So if you're in the area and want to meet, let me know! (Ding 19:14:50 UTC) (permalink)
Battle of the Masses - 4v4
Dyslexia has written up Part II of his Battle of the Masses piece on MLG Chicago over at mlgpro.com. This portion focuses on the 4v4 teamplay, instead of the FFA stuff. The writeup (once again) is a great read, and really puts you there - or as close to there as you can get at this point, a few weeks later. Go read! Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 13:46:12 UTC) (permalink)
halowiki continues to integrate b.net content
PEZ points out some new features at halowiki.net - the Gamesaver can save stats from given games as wiki pages (useful to save that one-in-a-million game even when Bungie purges it from their servers), and you can now access recent games with a direct link (just add a slash and your gamertag to the end of that link). Nice! (Louis Wu 13:39:01 UTC) (permalink)
Halzred's Montage 5 Trailer
Z sends word of Halzred's 5th Montage Trailer over at halo2forum.com; if you're a fan of heavy editing ('heavy' = 'you can't really tell what's going on, the cuts are so fast and furious, and the effects are so thick'), go grab this one. 40 mb, just under 2 minutes. (Louis Wu 13:29:54 UTC) (permalink)
Porta... something.
Mintz points out that there's quite a bit of new content over at Halo: Portable - new articles, new movies, if you've got a PSP, go download! (Louis Wu 13:12:00 UTC) (permalink)
Pistol Replica Sold on eBay
twooranges found a Fullsize resin cast model of the M6D pistol on eBay last night - it sold via Buy it Now less than an hour after that initial post, but the pictures will be up for another couple of weeks. Gorgeous piece of work! Worth $180? Yep, clearly, to the buyer! (The forum thread here degenerated into a whinge about the Halo 2 pistol's strength, for the most part... but it looks pretty cool to me.) (Louis Wu 12:53:51 UTC) (permalink)
Sunlooking, evolved
Pinkuh posted a note on our forum with an update of a picture she'd started about a month ago. The final work is gorgeous (we've added it to her gallery here) - but there are also a few progress shots, showing how she got from the sketch to the final product. (Those are in the gallery, as well.) Pretty fun - as a non-artist, I find it fascinating to see how people work! (The forum post also contains a snippet of fan fiction that goes along with the work... she doesn't stop!) (Louis Wu 12:22:13 UTC) (permalink)
Handicaps, Music, and the Forbidden!
Frankie's WWU is now up for public consumption. Short and sweet as he says, but it does contain some very nice nuggets of info. The office gets their hands on DOA4, Max talks about the often forgotten handicap setting which helps even players out, and we get a near-final track list of Volume 2 of the Halo Soundtrack! Go Marty, go!
Of course, with the good you get the yucky. In this case, bring along a pail, because the picture of one of our favorite cananimators is likely to churn even the strongest of stomachs. OMG!
Kudos to... ME for noticing it first! (ok, I'm sure someone emailed Wu before I noticed it, but I'm posting it here first!)
Update: Eep - didn't notice Ding got here first. I'll add the local BWU Archive link to his post, and yank my own. Hehe - didn't even OCCUR to me that other staff might actually be working tonight! (Ding 00:18:27 UTC) (permalink)
News January 6 2006
Nightstalker
You might remember a guy named Mike Hill - he's done a couple of sketches of Halo subjects. (Yeah, and Reinhold Meissner has climbed a couple of hills.) There was his MC with a Warthog, and Sniper Waiting... well, now there's a new pic called 'nightstalker' (900x1442, 544k); it was created for the Bungie art contest (which closes tomorrow, if you were still planning to enter), and I simply love it. If you enjoy Mike's work, be sure to check out his website, Freefall Graphics. (Be aware that some of it is NSFW.) Update: mnemesis found a pretty slick abstract sketch of a pelican on Mike's site... the Halo material grows! (Louis Wu 20:16:10 UTC) (permalink)
Halo with the Rock Stars
Well, it's been a little while since I've seen a Game With Fame on Xbox Live... but it looks like there's one coming up in a couple of weeks. According to TeamXbox, you can sign up for a chance to play against INXS on Tuesday, January 17. Nice! (Louis Wu 19:31:22 UTC) (permalink)
See Guest Strip 101 For Details.
Today's One One Se7en reminds people that behind many successful ventures are older iterations of those ventures. (Louis Wu 18:16:25 UTC) (permalink)
DOA4 Halo footage at GT
Eep - forgot to post this yesterday - thanks to Capt 0bvious for reminding me. Geary noticed a new trailer at GameTrailers.com, showing off Nicole beating up on some of the other characters in DOA4. It's nice, hi-res footage; not nearly as artistic as Dan Chosich's vid, but high-quality, and fun to watch. (Love the plasma stick!) WMP9 and QuickTime. (Louis Wu 18:09:33 UTC) (permalink)
A new toy
The cutest little guy arrived in the mail yesterday (closeup | for scale)... Halo fans rock. To AngelicLionheart and crew... thanks. When I get sad or stressed, I'll put this guy on my shoulder, and let him suck out my brains. (Louis Wu 15:51:32 UTC) (permalink)
Weekly Fiction Roundup
This week's Fan Fiction pull is 18 pieces - and people are clearly reading the directions, because I didn't have to delete a single one! Go catch up on your reading. (Louis Wu 15:00:45 UTC) (permalink)
Something Rank In Here
Today's Halo Babies comic is a bitter look at the cheating scene on Xbox Live... methinks Gruntsbane's been hit once too many times. (Louis Wu 14:29:17 UTC) (permalink)
Mission: Impossible III Trailer
Last night, Sniper2477's Mission Impossible 3 Trailer passed the MPRRS - so you can grab it in WMP9 format (28.1 mb) or QuickTime format (20.6 mb) from us. It's an attempt to remake the Mission: Impossible trailer, down to camera angles and shots. (It actually helps if you watch the original trailer - it's available on the M:I website.) Ving Rhames as an Elite... perfect. (Louis Wu 14:24:24 UTC) (permalink)
SSPH Pre-Ep 0.3 now up
Silver Stars/Purple Hearts pre-Episode 0.3 is now up for download at 7Pandas.com. You can find a variety of versions on their Downloads page - and we're mirroring the hi-res WMP9 version, and offering a hi-res QuickTime as well. This particular pre-episode has no Halo content in it (it's all Sims2 this time around) - but it's pretty important to the storyline, and it's really, REALLY well-done. (For those who don't know, or don't remember, SS/PH is a Halo/Sims2 hybrid machinima, telling the story of a squad of female spartans.) There's one more of these story-building segments, and then the full episodes begin! Go watch. (Louis Wu 14:08:03 UTC) (permalink)
The WASP is out
w00t - Mothergoat has released the WASP, a very cool flying vehicle for use in HaloCE maps. (If you've never seen it, visit this forum post, and download the movie therein - you'll see it in action. For HaloCE Mapmakers, you can now include this vehicle in your own maps... for players, you just have to wait until someone DOES. (Louis Wu 13:40:01 UTC) (permalink)
Toys from the Master
Swing over to Wired.com - they've got a preview up of an article that'll come out in February's issue. It's about The Dream Factory, a Lego custom kit builder - and one of the kits on display was designed by Bungie's Rob't McLees - it's a Warthog! Now we just need the Feb issue... (Ding 00:00:33 UTC) (permalink)
News January 5 2006
Maptacular - again
Yesterday, we pointed out a new video from insidi0us, called Maptacular. It received nearly universal approval on our forum (multiple threads - this is the first), and while I can't tell you how much traffic the hosts in the MLG thread handled, I can tell you we served over 15,000 copies in the past 24 hours or so. (75% of those were the WMP9 version.) Today, Halo2Forum.com has jumped in with another WMP9 mirror - so if you HAVEN'T seen this movie yet, and you want to, you have another option for download. And you should definitely download. (Louis Wu 21:46:04 UTC) (permalink)
Havoc Trailer
This morning, a new trailer from CROSSFIRE (previously known for machinima such as 'The Harvest' and 'Hell Quarters') passed the MPRRS - Havoc is a new 'experimental film' on its way, and the trailer might show you a bit about what you can expect. Superb effects, great camera angles - I'm looking forward to the final product! The trailer is available in WMP9 format (18.5 mb) or QuickTime format (20.7 mb). Grab it! (Louis Wu 18:39:31 UTC) (permalink)
Rise of the Elites
Heh - Frankie pointed out a thread on the Bungie.net forums yesterday, in which a fan has suggested that next week (January 9-15) should be Elite Week; folks should switch over to the Elite model on Xbox Live for the week. Heck... we've certainly done SILLIER things... (Louis Wu 18:34:25 UTC) (permalink)
(net)jak the zombie
netjak has reviewed Stubbs the Zombie - and mostly, they liked it. (G Allen, who pointed this review out to us, noted that a 6 from netjak signifies a pretty good game, and a 9 would be a game of the year - Stubbs pulled in a 7.7, which suggests both that they liked it, and that they have a sense of humor.) What was interesting to me was that the reviewer downgraded predominantly those portions of Stubbs that clearly came almost directly from its Halo roots - he felt they were 'unoriginal'. Overall, though, a pretty positive review - check it out! (I was amused by the opening phrase - "Wideload's most important title in recent months"... have they had any other titles in recent months?) (Louis Wu 18:30:54 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 on NPR
Yesterday's Day to Day program on NPR looked at the future of video programming... and the first interviewee was Bryan Dann, a teenager from New Jersey (who posts on our forum as HunterXL). During the interview, Bryan brought the interviewer into his basement, and logged into XBL to play some Halo 2 to illustrate how he spends his video time. Fun! Go listen. (Louis Wu 18:22:52 UTC) (permalink)
Paying the Fee to Prove Themselves
Newcity Chicago (a city paper in - yep, you guessed it - Chicago) has a writeup of the MLG Chicago event a couple of weeks ago. It's a pretty interesting read, because it's a subject we've seen a lot of press on recently - but none from outside the Halo community. (This is pretty mainstream.) Check it out! (Louis Wu 17:51:27 UTC) (permalink)
Lil Poison and Pro Cards at MLG
A couple of tidbits over at MLGPro.com - the Player of the Week this week is Lil Poison, the 7-year-old wunderkind; "pound for pound, Lil Poison is quite possibly the best gamer in the world." Heh. Nice interview. (Thanks, 3Suns.) And they've started a fun new feature - Pro Player Cards, where you can get all the stats on your favorite Halo pros. (It doesn't look like they're actually PRINTING these yet - they're just online. I'd be curious, though, if there were a real live market for this sort of thing...) Thanks again, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 17:43:15 UTC) (permalink)
VV says Halo 2 tops in 2005
Yesterday, the Village Voice posted their picks for 'Best Video Games of the Year'... and Halo 2 is on it. (I tried to find their 2004 list, but I wasn't successful - I was curious to see if Halo 2 would have been on that one, too.) (Louis Wu 17:32:18 UTC) (permalink)
No more coke and hookers
I love days like this. (Well, not really.) Finally catching up on Halo news - sorry for the delay! Last night, Bungie put up a new Top Story - a number of the staff put forth their New Years Resolutions. There are a couple of TINY Halo mentions, which allow this post to squeak by in the 'relevant to HBO' category... but many of you will be more interested in the oblique references to Bungie's new project. There's no HARD info... but a few nice teasers! (It's playable, it's got a multiplayer mode, they'll be talking about it soonish.) Go read! There was a fight on the forum for dibs on first post... looks like Spartan Jag might have won, though the typo in his title is unfortunate. (Funny - but unfortunate.) (Louis Wu 17:24:29 UTC) (permalink)
News January 4 2006
When Criticism Becomes Whining
Tied The Leader has another rant up - this one looks at folks complaining about the 'problems' with Halo 2. It's definitely confrontational... but then, this issue always is. Read it with an open mind. (Louis Wu 21:34:03 UTC) (permalink)
2old2type Ep 16
2old2play has posted 2old2type Episode 16, a two-part podcast that looks at the Xbox 360, their new Halo Challenge team, and the future of their MLG Pro team (plus lots of tips). Just under 50 mb... go grab it! (Louis Wu 21:28:51 UTC) (permalink)
Maptacular - A Tribute to Halo 1
Yesterday, insidi0us (heretofore known primarily for s7ylish speedruns) sent me a link to a thread on the MLG forums, which highlighted a new project he'd just released. In it, he took a really artistic tour through the Halo 1 multiplayer maps - every aspect of this video was amazingly well thought out. Ostensibly, it's a 1v1 game with his girlfriend - but in actual fact, he manages to cut gracefully from one map to the next, showing every map at least once, and really taking care with the details. (The score's perfect every time, there are no left-over blastmarks, powerups are perfectly used, the opening and closing credits are really clever... and on and on.) There are some really slick gameplay moves, as well - I know the grenaded rocketlauncher on Damnation is common, but geez, he didn't even slow down or turn around to make sure the throw was good! All in all, a really, REALLY slickly-done ode to the beauty of Halo 1 multiplay; a must-see. The MLG thread has links to a hi-res WMP9 version (97 mb) and a low-res WMP9 version (49 mb) - to that we'll add a hi-res WMP9 mirror and a hi-res QuickTime version (87 mb). This one makes me feel warm all over. (Louis Wu 17:18:40 UTC) (permalink)
The Rock And A Hard Place.
The Ultimate Movie Cynic pipes up in today's One One Se7en. The man's got a way with words... (Louis Wu 13:27:54 UTC) (permalink)
Watching the Players
MLG's Sundance DiGiovanni wrote an article for GameDaily Biz about the potential for watching televised gaming - it was picked up by an Ars Technica blog with some enthusiasm. Has the time come for videogames to join pro sports as spectator events? You decide! (Louis Wu 13:19:14 UTC) (permalink)
High School Band RAWKS
Jessica (I refuse to use her forum tag name!) details her involvement in getting her HS Orchestra Band to play The T&R Suite!
The just under 4 min, 18 mb WMV file is being hosted by Mythica, go grab a copy and enjoy!
This isn't the first time we've seen video of a school attempting to play some Halo music, our own CYBRFRK shot some footage a few months back. If the trend continues, I say we all win. <g> Update: while Mythica is perfectly capable of handling the load on this one, useruploads isn't the server for it - so I've swapped the link for a local one. While I was at it, I added a QuickTime version, for those allergic to WMP9. Enjoy! (edit by lwu) (Ding 04:59:07 UTC) (permalink)
News January 3 2006
Abnormality 2
DigitalPh33r has put together a machinima called 'Abnormality 2', which tells the story of some unofficial Spartan augmentations, and what can happen when things go wrong. It's really well-filmed, has a solid storyline, and decent acting - the only downside is that the video quality isn't fantastic. Unfortunately, the raw video files have been lost, so we have what we have. This video passed the MPRRS last night, so we're hosting both the original WMP9 version (720x480, 49.6 mb), and a smaller (500x333, 56.4 mb) QuickTime version (screensize was shrunk a bit because I just couldn't get decent quality for a conversion at the larger size). Regardless of image quality, this one is DEFINITELY worth watching. Go grab it! (Louis Wu 20:10:11 UTC) (permalink)
The Virtual Couch
Compton wrote up a 6v6 CTF match in a way that puts you in the game - you can read it here. (And yes, it seems that Compton will soon be acting like a giddy school girl. Scary thought.) (Louis Wu 20:02:50 UTC) (permalink)
Waging War for a Vision
Over at his Tied the Leader blog, XerxdeeJ has written a piece looking at the job Guillermo del Toro might do as director for the Halo movie, if he does, indeed, become the director. A nice upbeat outlook - we all need to read these at times! Check it out. (Louis Wu 18:19:05 UTC) (permalink)
Press Start To Play.
Ross Mills found a couple of Halo-related strips at the Press Start to Play webcomic - you can find links in his forum thread. (Louis Wu 15:43:38 UTC) (permalink)
It's a Nicole Morning.
Dead or Alive 4's unlockable Spartan has been the subject of quite a bit of scrutiny recently... Major Nelson posted 22 new screenshots (thanks, Capt 0bvious), though they look better if you stretch them back to 4:3 aspect ratio, instead of the 16:9 he posted them at, and Jeux France has a 75 mb MPEG-encoded video of gameplay (thanks, Tempus Fugit)... but for me, the highlight was Dan Chosich's romp through Nicole-land. Once again, he shows some pretty amazing talent as he puts Nicole through her paces, in a truly stylish way. You gotta watch this one. He created a couple of H.264-encoded QuickTimes, and one Sorenson 3-encoded QuickTime - I added a mirror for the larger QT7, as well as a decent Sorenson-3 version, and a watchable WMP9. Grab the version that works best on your computer - and check out Nicole's moves against a variety of opponents. (Louis Wu 15:38:44 UTC) (permalink)
MC Armor - Going Fast
Whoa. You don't have much time - but if you're interested in Master Chief armor, Briar's Armor (search our news if you've never heard of them) has a red set up on eBay - with just under a day left in the auction. What a great after-Christmas present for that special Halo fan in your life! (Or me...) (Louis Wu 03:37:22 UTC) (permalink)
News January 2 2006
Big, Fat, and Fuzzy.
Stephen Loftus has been busy again - this time, he's taken a close look at the Bumblebee-class Lifepod. Everything from design considerations to statistics to known passenger rosters have been covered - as usual, the depth is astounding. Go read. (Louis Wu 20:37:50 UTC) (permalink)
Crystal.
CliffyB, an outspoken developer known for the Unreal series and now Gears of War, has put up a new blog entry at 1UP.com, talking about 'Clarity of Experience'. He's discussing how some games make it really hard to know what's going on - who you're fighting, who's on your team. His example of a game with great COE? Halo. Right on! Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 19:16:13 UTC) (permalink)
Things that aren't news
I'm not sure what's going on, but in the past week or two, we've gotten a whole bunch of requests to publicize threads on the Bungie.net forums - and the only thing these threads have in common is that they're complaining about certain features of Halo 2, and they're asking Bungie to 'fix' the problem(s). Our official policy on this sort of thing: we don't link to those threads. No, it's not because we're suckups and want to make sure Bungie doesn't get mad at us - it's because there's absolutely no value to be gotten by publicizing them. Bungie is very aware of most, if not all, of the complaints people are making, and quite a bit of thought has gone into deciding what problems to solve, and what problems can be left alone. (Remember - a large number of these 'problems' aren't problems at all - they're features of the game that some people don't like. Other people, however, like them a lot.) I'd be very surprised if there were another patch for Halo 2 - but if there is another patch, it won't be because we posted a link to a bungie.net forum thread on our front page. So please - stop sending these requests, because we can't honor them. Thanks. (Louis Wu 18:50:59 UTC) (permalink)
The Law Is One Too.
Stuntmutt gets a little help (is that what we're calling it these days?) from Pinkuh in today's One One Se7en. Nice Dickens reference, too. (Louis Wu 18:39:31 UTC) (permalink)
IGN says thumbs-up to MMP
Yoozel, over at Bungie.net, points out IGN's Best of 2005 article - the Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack won Best Xbox Downloadable Content and Best Xbox Live game. Nice! (Louis Wu 18:22:12 UTC) (permalink)
PSP Wallpapers
Halo: Portable has resumed posting again, after a short hiatus - and you can grab a collection of 17 wallpapers for your PSP there right now. Go gussy up your portable! (Louis Wu 18:01:11 UTC) (permalink)
Over Jumping
Wow. Over at High Impact Halo, there's a link to a new Jump Tactics vid focusing on Over Jumping - a new kind of jumping that doesn't involve any aided jumps (no rockets, no grenades, no other people), getting its participants to pretty ridiculous places. If you're a fan of jumping, you've got to go watch this. (Louis Wu 17:51:32 UTC) (permalink)
Nicole In Action.
Hellion points out a video at Youtube showing Nicole, Spartan 458, in action in Dead or Alive 4. 7 minutes long, 17 mb big, Flash format (it's Youtube, after all). Quality is a little shakey (filmed off a TV screen, looks like, but you can get a decent sense for how the level looks, and how Nicole fights. (I'd have loved to see how she fares against OTHER characters, as well...) (Louis Wu 17:45:59 UTC) (permalink)
Matt is L337.
An inauspicious beginning for 2006... down for a day with stomach flu. Seems like it's over, though, so here we go again! To start with, Eegs002 posted a note on Saturday about a comic his friend does, called 'Unfortunately Sober'. The December 28 episode was Halo 2-related. Go read! (Louis Wu 17:13:58 UTC) (permalink)
News January 1 2006
Happy New Year - Step away from the computer!
I had meant to post this a few minutes before midnight, but festivities here at home prevented me from doing so.
All of us here at HBO wish all of our friends and family the very best for a bright and fruitful new year.
In what I would like to consider a tradition started back at the end of 2003, we will shut down the forum for a few hours. Those of you forum monkies will have no choice but to interact with your loved ones and think of the coming 12 months and all the goodies that might swing our way.
Clink a glass of champagne for me, willya? :) (Ding 05:31:16 UTC) (permalink) | January 2006 | |
