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 | July 2008 |  |
July 2008 Archived News
News July 31 2008
Halo - Just like you Imagined
Vegechan created a Halo tribute trailer using music from 300 and footage from many sources, including Halo game trailers, cutscenes, and more. Has a nicely epic feel to it. (Louis Wu 23:41:33 UTC) (permalink)
Star Wars: A New Halo
The Escapist's latest episode of Kung Fu Grip is entitled 'Star Wars: A New Halo', and looks at how the Republic might have fared had the Stormtroopers been replaced with Spartans. Stop-motion theater at its finest! Thanks, Speedhuntr. (Louis Wu 23:37:40 UTC) (permalink)
VGL Album debuts at #10 on Billboard Charts
Video Games Live just posted a press release - their album debuted at #10 on the Billboard Charts. Wow! Congrats to Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall, and the entire VGL team! If you buy a copy, you'll hear the Slovak Symphony Orchestra playing the Halo Suite, and a bunch of other great music. Update: Jim wrote to us with a clarification. The album debuted at #10 on the Classical Crossover chart - on the general Billboard Top 200, they're a no-show. Gotta work on that Press Release wording, I think... (Louis Wu 21:56:31 UTC) (permalink)
Team Melee Weekend Live
A few hours ago, the latest Double XP weekend went live - this week, it's Team Melee. What's Team Melee? It's a playlist loaded with Gravity Hammers and Swords! Three teams of three meet to beat the crap out of each other. AdjustantReflex gave us the heads-up. (Louis Wu 21:51:37 UTC) (permalink)
Damian Isla talks about Halo Wars, AI Programming
According to an article in Eurogamer, Bungie is "very excited" about Halo Wars - they talked to Damian Isla, AI Programming Lead for Halo 2 and Halo 3. Positive news, for fans worried that Ensemble might be taking liberties! Thanks, gunluva. While you're at Eurogamer, check out this little piece as well - Isla discusses the problems AI programmers face in making the next great video game. (Louis Wu 21:49:10 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Chopper - not what you think
Veegie pointed out a Halo Chopper - not the Brute one - being modeled over at Threedy Forums by rubenvoorhees. Looks pretty cool! (Louis Wu 10:19:07 UTC) (permalink)
Hail to the Chief
Spartanx5 noticed an article on IGN that comes up with their Top 10 reasons Halo 3 is Back on Top (of the Xbox LIVE leaderboards). Some are silly, some are solid. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 10:14:30 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Pen from ComicCon
Praxis Solomen noticed an auction on eBay for a pen, collected during the 2008 San Diego ComicCon, which is labeled "The Battle Begins Fall 2008" and lights up. The title is 'Halo Movie Pen' - there's no information about where this name came from. (Seems more likely that we're talking about something like the Peter Jackson project than the Halo movie, but again, there's no other information included.) Auction ends in just under a week. Update: Urocyon solved the mystery - the pens are promoting the Halo board game coming in September. No movie news after all! Update 2: w00t! MsValentine sent along more card scans - Arbiter | Brute | MC | Group. (The Group shot is the same as the image Urocyon sent us.) Thanks, MsV! (Louis Wu 10:12:23 UTC) (permalink)
News July 30 2008
GCA 2008 Nominees Up
The Game Critics Awards Nominees have been posted for 2008 (these are awards for best of show at E3 every year). Halo Wars is up for Best Strategy Game. Results to be announced on August 5! (Louis Wu 20:23:13 UTC) (permalink)
Halo PC hotfix refresh
According to Bungie's sawnose, Halo PC has received a new 'pre-release hotfix' that he'd like some community help testing before they get rolled into a real patch for auto-update. If you manage a Halo PC server, swing by his forum post and read about what's been changed, and then grab the patch and give him some feedback on whether things work! (Louis Wu 19:16:56 UTC) (permalink)
Harold Ryan discusses creativity and success
Very interesting read over at The Cut Scene - it's a pre-E3 interview with Bungie's Harold Ryan, discussing how Halo has fit into the functioning of the studio for the past few years. There are tons of little tidbits that should be fascinating to anyone who wonders how Bungie does what it does, or why it left Microsoft, or when it started planning that move. Thanks, mendicantbias00. (Louis Wu 19:10:38 UTC) (permalink)
Boring Comics #4
OddGodHMK continues his Boring Comics storyline from yesterday - this is getting weirder.
(Louis Wu 19:00:34 UTC) (permalink)
Codenamed
It's Wednesday, so TTL Demag0gue tells us it's time for Reclaimer 71 - and the Reclaimer learns, finally, what happened at Outpost 77. (Louis Wu 13:45:41 UTC) (permalink)
New Panos from BlueNinja
BlueNinja has updated his Views From the Edge website with four new panoramas - he's shooting for better technique over quantity this time around. Go see how he did! (Louis Wu 13:45:26 UTC) (permalink)
Great Menu Design - Halo's Got it
GatchamanUK pointed out an article in Edge Magazine on the Secrets of Great Menu Design - Halo gets some heavy praise. Give it a read! (Louis Wu 13:45:07 UTC) (permalink)
Energy Sword Replica for Sale
Twich ran across a Covenant Energy Sword replica (with stainless steel blades) for sale at True Swords ($50). Pretty! (And dangerous!) (Louis Wu 13:44:47 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Still on Top
KP let us know yesterday that according to Major Nelson's LIVE Activity list for the week of July 21, Halo 3 is still on top, suggesting that last week's showing might not have been a fluke. (The news by NOW is all over the net... including on our forum if you want to discuss it.) Are players coming back to Halo 3 from other games? (Louis Wu 13:43:39 UTC) (permalink)
Fan Art: Cortana 2.0
Hawty McBloggy has decided to start highlighting some fan art - and her first choice is a doozy. 'Cortana 2.0' was done by EvilFlesh, from DeviantART, and it's a really attractive piece. Take a look! (Louis Wu 13:43:18 UTC) (permalink)
Dumb Things
Dennis Powers let us know that Shipwrecked 38 is up - it's about dumb things we do.
(Louis Wu 13:42:50 UTC) (permalink)
News July 29 2008
Halo 3 Marathon - Players Needed
Kreyg let us know that he's hosting a gaming marathon (the Halo 3 session is a four hour block on August 22) to raise money for Childs Play - he's not looking for donations, he's looking for players. Go read the details in the forum post - there's even a prize up for (random) grabs during the session. (Louis Wu 20:22:00 UTC) (permalink)
ComicCon vids - in one piece
If you didn't get a chance to watch the Halo Universe Panel vids we mentioned yesterday, because you don't do streaming Flash, or because you didn't relish the thought of watching 8 consecutive videos, or for whatever reason - Red_Breast went to the trouble of downloading the Flash files, concatenating them into a single movie, and uploading the result (in WMP9 format) to FileFront (With CrypticGuardian's permission). Go grab it! (Louis Wu 20:12:32 UTC) (permalink)
BSG - Bigger and Better
Alekat stopped by with an update from Buddy System Gaming - there's a writeup of their challenge against the H3Wheelmen, an HMV-style music montage, and a new website! Check 'em out. And if you like what you see... join 'em! (Louis Wu 19:54:20 UTC) (permalink)
3D Grunts
Over at IGN, there's a press release for a software upgrade for the iWear VR920, a video eyewear unit that lets you play video games in 3D. v2.2 of the software now supports Halo: Combat Evolved on XP/Vista. (The unit retails for $400, but the street price is a bit lower - $350 or so.) Get in the game - literally! (Louis Wu 19:29:16 UTC) (permalink)
Spike THAT, Master Chief!
Gamepro talked to a couple of US Olympic athletes as they get ready for the 2008 Games in Beijing in a couple of weeks. You might think they'd be totally focused on preparation for the events... but nope, they're playing a lot of Halo 3. (And other stuff, of course. But this isn't otherstuff.bungie.org.) (Louis Wu 19:03:10 UTC) (permalink)
Hot Spartan Pr0n
Just in case you thought Hawty McBloggy was a nice, sweet (bs) angel, she's posted an article that should quickly disabuse you of any such notion. Technically, it's safe for work - everyone in all the screenshots is fully clothed. However, her title ("Hot Spartan Pr0n") is definitely on-target. Don't follow the link if you're underage. Or if you do, pretend these are just screenshots of dead and dying multiplayer avatars, that happened to be caught in compromising poses. Or something. (Louis Wu 18:47:19 UTC) (permalink)
E3 Hands-On: Halo Wars
The Game Reviews.com has a hands-on writeup of Halo Wars, written after some play time at E3. Give it a read! (Louis Wu 14:32:36 UTC) (permalink)
Who's the Boss?
It's been a little while, but Halo Action Figure Theater has been updated - Episode 149 brings Brad's fantasies to the fore. Maybe that's not such a good thing. (Louis Wu 14:04:32 UTC) (permalink)
Weta Halo 3 Collectibles - ComicCon Debrief
The Weta PR guys are winding down from their whirlwind week in San Diego, and they've got a preview page up of the upcoming Limited Edition Halo collectibles. Preorders start in August, and if you want to be the first to hear about this stuff, you should really sign up for their mailing list. More when we know it! (Louis Wu 13:29:46 UTC) (permalink)
Boring Comics #3
OddGodHMK sent us a note yesterday - got lost in the noise, but his Boring Comic for the day was, again, Halo-related. (I'm not insulting the comic - that's the name of the series.)
(Louis Wu 13:25:32 UTC) (permalink)
News July 28 2008
Freeze Frame, and more
Red vs Blue has posted a new public service announcement - Reconstruction PSA 2 will help you understand the new system of Achievements RvB has added to their videos. Some pretty nice effects... and - well, I'm not gonna spoil it for you. Go watch. Thanks to mendicantbias00 for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 19:29:00 UTC) (permalink)
ComicCon - for everyone who didn't make it
Wow. Over at Bungie.net, CrypticGuardian created an 8-part vidoc of the Halo Panel discussion (and other Halo-related material) at ComicCon last week, along with lots of still pics. Videos are hosted at YouTube, and have official sanction. If you couldn't make it out there yourself... this is the next best thing! Thanks, DHalo. (Louis Wu 12:37:35 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Tournament Wizard
If you're putting together a Halo 3 Tournament, there's a pretty cool little tool over at Newgrounds - it'll help you keep your bracket in order, it can help you pick a randomized map for the next round, it even gives you a place for notes. Check it out! Creator is 13UnGEE. (Louis Wu 12:32:41 UTC) (permalink)
28 Weeks Later Trailer
Jamie98s has released a trailer for 28 Weeks Later - you can watch it streaming from his website, or you can download it in WMP9 (28.2 mb) or QuickTime (29 mb) formats from our mirror. Great integration of effects - not too over-the-top, but powerful. Great camera angles. Looks to be fantastic! (You might remember Jamie's 28 Days Later recreation from about 3 years ago... he likes the genre!)
(Louis Wu 12:24:13 UTC) (permalink)
Untapped Potential
It's Monday, so as TTL Demag0gue tells us, it's time for Reclaimer 70 - and we're starting to see why the Chief is here. (Louis Wu 12:23:35 UTC) (permalink)
More SDCC figure pics
Darknesshasfallen provided some photos of his own from the San Diego Comic Con, in terms of upcoming Halo statues/figures. Nice stuff!
(Louis Wu 12:23:10 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie Multiplatform Rumor
Planet Halo has a tidbit from the September 2008 EGM - their Rumor Mill is claiming that Bungie is working on "multiplatform/PS3 games". Unlikely to be Halo-related (I can't see a Halo game showing up on a non-Microsoft console), but it certainly seems to be feasible. (Louis Wu 12:22:41 UTC) (permalink)
McFarlane Halo 3 Series 2 Review
Super Articulated wrote up a review of the Halo 3 Series 2 figures from McFarlane, complete with lots of pics. Go read! (Louis Wu 12:20:42 UTC) (permalink)
Purple Reign Speculations
Hawty McBloggy (and friends) have speculated a bit on the drawing of Purple Reign that Luke added to the most recent Bungie Weekly Update - swing by and see what they've come up with! (Louis Wu 12:14:39 UTC) (permalink)
ALLIANCE
AS JON L1-18 L1-18 sent us a link to a 22-second teaser on YouTube for something that looks to be going live in a couple of weeks. The video description contains some backstory. I guess this is the time of year for this sort of mysterious teaser... (Louis Wu 12:14:18 UTC) (permalink)
Top 10 Video Game Chicks
NartFOpc pointed out a 'Top 10 Video Game Chicks' flick over on YouTube - the whole thing seems designed to exist for the ads that bracket the content, and the voiceover is pretty overdone... but Halo's Cortana does make the countdown, so here we are letting you know.
(Louis Wu 12:13:54 UTC) (permalink)
News July 27 2008
World Collisions - it begins
We received this image recently - the project it teases about is coming to fruition. Apparently, there are four secrets hidden within it - see what you can find! (Louis Wu 21:25:25 UTC) (permalink)
Hints of an upcoming Halo-only Event
geekinabox noticed a couple of articles (an interview tidbit at Eurogamer and commentary at Joystiq) which picked up on a comment made by Frank O'Connor at the San Diego Comic Con - apparently, there's a possibility of a 'HaloCon' event in the future. Hmm...
(Louis Wu 11:54:42 UTC) (permalink)
SDCC - One (or Two) Fan's Experience
Avateur wrote up a much more complete recollection of his trip to the SDCC - there's only a little Halo content in this one (he's written up those parts in other posts, linked within this narrative), but overall it's a detailed look at this large comic convention that draws many Halo fans every year. He added another post with lots and lots of photos. His travel companion, vlad3163, added some more flavor. Check 'em all out!
(Louis Wu 11:54:14 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie vs Microsoft - the signal for a shift?
Anton P. Nym found an article in Variety which looks at the situation that arose at this year's E3 (where Bungie and Microsoft tussled over how Bungie's next project would be presented) as an indicator of a larger shift in the videogame industry. Up to now, most of the power has been in the hands of the publishers - is this shifting? Go read! (Louis Wu 11:53:49 UTC) (permalink)
HaloGrid Grifball Tourney
HaloGrid.com is apparently hosting a 4v4 Grifball tournament - swing by Blinding's post for full details if you're interested in participating! (Louis Wu 11:53:21 UTC) (permalink)
News July 26 2008
News on upcoming McFarlane series
Littlebigman pointed out a listing of the McFarlane Halo 3 Series 3 and 4 collectibles, which came out today on Toy News International. There are also some pics in this album.
(Louis Wu 11:32:09 UTC) (permalink)
Fan Fic Pick of the Week
A Halo Fan...natic let us know that the HBO Fan Fic Pick of the Week is now up at the HBOFF forum. Go see who got the nod, and why! (Louis Wu 11:31:48 UTC) (permalink)
Fred Savage: Master Chief
Nevan noticed a writeup on Sarcastic Gamer of a new Halo title due out soon... sounds like a killer. (Louis Wu 11:31:14 UTC) (permalink)
Baghdad Halo 3 Tourney
News Blaze has a writeup of the Baghdad tournament that was part of the series we mentioned back in May. Congrats to Spc Jason Stoddard, the winner and proud owner of a new Xbox 360 Elite!
(Louis Wu 11:30:49 UTC) (permalink)
More Halo Universe Panel Writeups
IGN wrote up a summary of the SDCC Halo Universe Panel - but for my money, you can get more out of a fan-written piece, like the one Avateur posted on our forum. Good stuff! (Louis Wu 11:28:22 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief Theater 3000
mrsmiley let us know that Pyrosmile Productions has opened a new website to house the Master Chief Theater 3000 series - and that Episode 8 has been released. Go watch! (Louis Wu 11:27:57 UTC) (permalink)
Caption a photo, win a Halo poster
Zach Jarrell let us know that he's running a caption contest - the contest itself isn't Halo-related, but the prize (a rare Gamestop Halo 3 poster) is. Go look! (Louis Wu 11:27:26 UTC) (permalink)
The Rumble Pit World Series Summer Season 2
TheChrisD pointed out that the Rumble Pit World Series Summer Season 2 kicks off on August 3 - signups are open now. Check out the details (including goodies on the line for winners) at the Signups and Incentives page. (Louis Wu 11:26:57 UTC) (permalink)
News July 25 2008
Weekly Update - out before noon on Friday
The Bungie Weekly Update is up earlier than probably ever before - it's compiled of community questions and Luke-supplied answers. Some interesting stuff, some funny stuff, some sad stuff. Go read. (As always, you can check it out in our Weekly Update Archive if you want to.) (Louis Wu 19:47:52 UTC) (permalink)
Flaming Ninja Challenge - the Aftermath
pete_the_duck posted a followup to his Flaming Ninja Challenge - there might be another one coming, but in the meantime, there's definitely a cool map to grab, and some info for Forgers. Go read his post! (Louis Wu 12:56:45 UTC) (permalink)
Fate
TTL Demag0gue let us know that he's posted Reclaimer 69. He says there are answers, but I wouldn't believe him. (Louis Wu 12:49:34 UTC) (permalink)
MaStalee's Halo 3 Montage 2
Z let us know about MaStalee's Halo 3 Montage 2 - it's in 720p, with beautiful editing, and some great gameplay. I think what I liked most about this montage was the situational awareness - the clutch flag saves, the precision grenade tosses (I can't remember seeing predictive throws like this since Halo 1), the constant eye on the ball (so to speak). A blast to watch! (The gorgeous image quality didn't hurt.) It's pretty big - a quarter gig for just over 6 minutes of video - but worth it, I think. Go watch! (Louis Wu 12:40:04 UTC) (permalink)
ODST Armor - and a weapon
In January, we posted some pics of a cardboard Hayabusa helmet created by SpArtan-270. He's back - with some ODST armor (Pic 1 | Pic 2 | Pic 3 | Pic 4) - he's even got a Brute Spiker!
(Louis Wu 12:28:28 UTC) (permalink)
Friday Caption Fun, Round 17
It's Friday again? Whoa. Guess that means it's time for another round of Friday Caption Fun, over at Hawty McBloggy's. Last week's pic, and some of the top captions submitted for it, can be viewed, along with the new pic (which shows off the expressiveness of the MC's hands). Go see what you can come up with! (Louis Wu 12:20:59 UTC) (permalink)
Installation 05 Giveaway
Tyler Tschida, of Installation 05, let us know that an HBO visitor (UNCLBEN) was the winner of the giveaway we mentioned a few weeks ago - congrats! The site now has the McFarlane Halo 3 Series 2 figures available, if you're having trouble finding them.
(Louis Wu 12:17:22 UTC) (permalink)
Info from the Halo Universe Panel at the SDCC
yoshiary let us know about the Kotaku live-blog of the Comic-Con Halo Universe panel that took place today. It's possible that there might be a film of the panel coming at some point, but until then, this is what those of us who couldn't be there have got. Apparently, Gamespy did one too. (Louis Wu 11:58:34 UTC) (permalink)
MLG/ESPN Top 10 #7
evildoctorwill noticed that the seventh MLG/ESPN Top 10 is now vieweable at MLGPro.com. Ten pretty cool clips, and an amazing Moment of Zen. Go watch!
(Louis Wu 11:52:14 UTC) (permalink)
Sign my petition.
Terminal Failure pointed out a very funny 'Stump Speech' over at the New Yorker - it could be Obama, until about the third sentence. The Halo reference that makes this mentionable here shows up about halfway through, but the whole thing is worth reading. Give it a look!
(Louis Wu 11:51:37 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fanfic
There are eight new pieces up for your reading pleasure this week in the Fan Fiction section - go get 'em! (Louis Wu 11:50:27 UTC) (permalink)
News July 24 2008
Double XP Weekend - Team Snipers
Team Snipers Double Experience Weekend has started - go shoot someone! (Louis Wu 19:39:57 UTC) (permalink)
Steve Downes to appear at Arlington Racetrack
Over at NeoGAF, Chamellion posted what looks like a press release for an event at the Arlington Park Racetrack near Chicago. (I hunted around, but couldn't find the original.) This Sunday, July 27, Steve Downes (voice of the Master Chief) will be on hand to sign autographs and any Halo merchandise you bring him, and folks will have a chance to win a new Xbox 360. If you live near Arlington Heights, IL, make some time Sunday afternoon! (Louis Wu 19:02:47 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 RPG Released
Scotty wrote to let us know that Halo 3 RPG is now online - sign up to play Halo in this web-based RPG. There's a guest account if you want to see what you're getting into. Just tried it out... not sure I understand how it works. (I picked a playlist, it said I won. I picked another one, it said I came in 4th. I went head-to-head with someone, the next screen said I was beaten 5-0. And so on.) Check it out for yourself! Update: looks like we killed it. Sorry.
(Louis Wu 19:02:01 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie and PAX and You
Bungie's posted a note about their involvement at PAX, the Penny Arcade Expo coming up at the end of August. They'll be on the show floor, and they'll be showing off some brand new Halo 3 multiplayer content, among other things - w00t! On a sadder note, the huge fanfest they'd been planning has been postponed - one can only assume that it depended on information/material that may or may not be revealed by the time the event rolls around. Ah, well... such is life! (Louis Wu 18:09:48 UTC) (permalink)
Weta unveils Halo Collectible Statues
Weta, the New Zealand studio that created all those cool props for the Neil Blomkamp Halo shorts (along with other little tidbits like, say, the Lord of the Rings movies), has announced a new line of Halo collectible statues. These will be on display this week in San Diego (during the Comic Convention) - you can see some shots from the show floor at Ain't it Cool News (thanks, Wolverine Monkey). They're also creating four very special versions - one each of four statues - that will be silver-plated, with solid silver elements; these will go on sale on eBay sometime after the Convention. The Weta NZ website has pictures of all of these items, as well - but they're getting slammed, and their pictures are actually pretty small. (You can see some of them at Hawty McBloggy's place - she wrote up an article about this stuff this morning.) If you really want a good view, though, swing by this page - we've gotten our hands on high-res versions of these puppies, and man, they're pretty slick. (Louis Wu 17:08:21 UTC) (permalink)
Tons of Sparks - no Guilt
Pretty interesting article over at Gamasutra - Bungie's Steve Scott gave a talk at Microsoft's GameFest 2008 on the importance of effects artists for today's videogames. Lots of cool Halo 3 details. Give it a read!
(Louis Wu 15:25:37 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Campaign Review
Google Alerts brought me news of a Halo 3 Campaign review from Captain Spark - but before I could post it, Rockslider pointed it out in our forum. Go read the musings of a longtime HBO contributor!
(Louis Wu 15:23:20 UTC) (permalink)
An ongoing work-stream
Eurogamer's posted their full post-E3 interview with Don Mattrick, and Halo comes up quite a bit. Very little new information, really, but the wording is interesting. Update: Looks like Harold Ryan has set the record straight about what actually was (well, wasn't) said behind the scenes... thanks, Cocopjojo. (Louis Wu 15:22:58 UTC) (permalink)
New Halo 3 Panos from TheGuardian
TheGuardian let us know he's been working on some new Halo 3 Panoramas - you can see them over at DeviantART. I really like 'The Gap'!
(Louis Wu 15:20:50 UTC) (permalink)
NC Dream Map Contest
HeavenlyYeti wants to build your next Forge project. Swing by NinjaCritic for the details. (Louis Wu 15:20:33 UTC) (permalink)
G-Phoria 2008 - go vote for Halo 3!
G4's Awards show, G-Phoria 2008 is open for voting - Halo is up for a few categories. Best Downloadable Content, Best Online Multiplayer, Best Shooter, Stride Longest Lasting Game, and Game of the Year. Vote now - winners announced on August 7th at 8 pm! Thanks to General Vagueness for the heads-up.
(Louis Wu 15:11:48 UTC) (permalink)
News July 23 2008
Phil - Day Three: 'Clan Macho'
BlackLightProductions let us know that Phil - Day Three has been posted. Phil learns about the Juggernaut gametype, America's Top Model, and hand lotion. And other stuff. Pretty funny - go watch! (Louis Wu 23:43:11 UTC) (permalink)
Armor Fusing
wwm0nkey1 wrote to let us know about an in-game glitch that can create some pretty bizarre Halo armor variants; start with two turrets, placed one on top of each other, and then two players, one on each turret, and you get some wild results! Lots and lots of examples, plus a map variant already built for you, in this thread on Bungie.net. Too bad you can't actually run around like that! (He's looking for someone with Recon to volunteer to help with some extra variants.) (Louis Wu 20:41:07 UTC) (permalink)
PreGame Lobby Episode 6
tg sneak stopped in to point out that PreGame Lobby Episode 6, 'dDrunmk!', is now up on YouTube. Drinking and Zombies... mmm. (Louis Wu 20:30:47 UTC) (permalink)
Bank shot into the corner pocke- um, skull
Hawty McBloggy found a video where someone picked up an astoundingly lucky snipe - three bounces, and then the head of an unsuspecting (and totally unseen) target. Should sniper bullets bounce this much? Tell Hawty what you think! (Louis Wu 19:35:23 UTC) (permalink)
Valhalla - in Boom Blox
EazyB recreated Valhalla using the Wii's Boom Blox. Amazing! (Even more so when he blows it up!) (Louis Wu 18:19:10 UTC) (permalink)
Bury yourself as the Chief?
Geez, this is a little twisted... Creative Coffins will let you be buried in a casket that reflects your life loves... including Halo 3. LackOfKnowledge found this at Gizmodo. (It's unclear whether these are real, actually; the Creative Coffins website contains no mention of the video game choices, and the coffin SHAPES shown there are different from the ones on the T3 website.) Update: The actual article on T3 suggests that the coffin designs are new, which would explain their absence on the Creative Coffins website. (Louis Wu 16:55:32 UTC) (permalink)
One Plus Two Equals Fourteen
Wow, here's an out-there rumor... allaboutiPhone.net is reporting that Bungie has given out iPhones to all its employees, and they speculate that Bungie might be developing apps for the unit. Pocket Gamer goes one step further - they're discussing a Halo-related iPhone app. The bare facts - that Bungie has supplied iPhones to their employees, and is paying for the service contracts - are true, according to a Bungie employee. The rest of it... that's just people talking. Thanks, Kibbles. (Louis Wu 16:44:16 UTC) (permalink)
Boring Comics Number One
OddGodHMK wrote to say that the first comic in his news series 'Boring Comics' is Halo-related. I can totally relate - any playlist with more than 4 on a team, and I say a LOT of stuff my teammates never hear! (Louis Wu 13:19:03 UTC) (permalink)
Option 2
TTL Demag0gue stopped in with word of Reclaimer 68 - he says there's a promise of answers, but it looks more confusing than ever to me! (Louis Wu 13:08:26 UTC) (permalink)
Microsoft's Hiring - in the Halo universe
Bryan Young noticed a job listing at Microsoft (via Gamasutra, posted last week) for a "Creative Director - building a new Halo universe". The listing links to a job description that's several months old, and doesn't specify Halo explicitly - recycled description, or just an unfilled position? (Louis Wu 13:06:25 UTC) (permalink)
E3 Comments from UK Sites
Couple of news stories about E3 wrapups of interest to the Halo community - Eurogamer will have an interview with Don Mattrick tomorrow, but today they've got a teaser in which Harold Ryan (Bungie President) is quoted as laughing off the cancelled project announcement (thanks, broony). And TechRadar UK talked to Brian Jarrard of Bungie - he had positive things to say about E3 in general, while expressing some disappointment with how Bungie's role in the proceedings was changed. (Louis Wu 12:58:29 UTC) (permalink)
Kudos for Halo Wars
PlanetXbox360 gave Halo Wars the nod as the Best Strategy Game in its Best of E3 2008 Awards. Nice! ("No New Halo Game" was also a contender in the "Biggest Surprise" category.) (Louis Wu 12:40:14 UTC) (permalink)
What are YOU playing these days?
Major Nelson posted his standard LIVE activity list last night, for the week of July 14... and Halo 3 tops the list for the first time since the week of January 21. Folks have been discussing this (on our forum, among other places), and nobody has a really good explanation as to why (well, why NOW). Time will tell if it's just a blip, or if Halo 3's staying power is greater than CoD4's (or something else entirely)! (Louis Wu 12:31:56 UTC) (permalink)
News July 22 2008
Games for Windows LIVE - now free
Ross Mills noticed a story on Joystiq explaining that Microsoft has just made the Games For Windows Live service free (it used to be $50/year, just like Xbox LIVE). This means you can play Halo 2 PC online for nada. w00t! (Louis Wu 21:50:51 UTC) (permalink)
Buy a Mullins
Okay... this isn't Halo-related, but it's still very cool, and the GUY is Halo-related, so... Craig Mullins has done a TON of Bungie-inspired and Bungie-commissioned artwork, and has built a pretty enormous following in this community. (You can see his Marathon-related work here, and his Halo-related work here.) Latekid noticed that he's selling an oil painting (not videogame-related at all) on eBay right now - no bids yet, 9 days left. I gotta tell you... I have a custom Mullins on my wall, and I love it. Here's a chance to get one yourself. (Louis Wu 21:43:07 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Corpse Alphabet - Complete
Hawty McBloggy wrote to point out that the Halo Corpse Alphabet is finished... complete with a font. Amazing! Check it out. (Please, though - go easy on the font usage; it's very cool, but I could see it getting... annoying pretty quickly.) (Louis Wu 20:52:44 UTC) (permalink)
Controlling the War(s)
Kotaku has posted an article detailing the control scheme of Halo Wars - go see if it makes sense to you! Thanks, KP. (Louis Wu 20:46:59 UTC) (permalink)
Let's hope it doesn't start moving.
Al7eredBeasT stopped in with pictures of an infection form plushie he made this weekend... cute! (Louis Wu 17:42:56 UTC) (permalink)
Grey Team Transmission mumbletymumblty Part mhrmm
Okay, I'm confused. Back in March, Mindless Distortion released Gray Team Transmission One. A week later, they released Gray Team Transmission Two Trailer, and followed that up about two months later with Gray Team: Transmission 2 - Part 1. As far as I can tell, they never released part 2 - the next video in the series was Gray Team Transmission Three Trailer Part 2 (skipping Transmission 2 Part 2 and the first part of the Transmission 3 Trailer). Today, they've got Gray Team Transmission Three: Relegation Part 2 of 2. I THINK that the trailer part 2 was just a precursor of this file, and that the 'part 2 of 2' is needless confusion, since they jumped from Transmission Two to Transmission Three (that should be enough to suggest that they're linked, and one follows the other). But I'm not sure. Anyway, this episode is out, and ready for viewing. According to Marc Swint,
"After this episode, we will be moving to a 22 minute long format and beyond episode 5, Gray Team will be exclusively airing on the website Good Game TV."
Lots of explodey things. (Louis Wu 15:24:34 UTC) (permalink)
Some great Halo fan art at DA
Wow. onebitrocket pointed out this artwork of an Elite (and some Brutes), done by Chase-SC2 over on DeviantART. Amazing! (He also did a pretty nice ODST image.) Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 13:47:46 UTC) (permalink)
GEE-MC - ready for prime time
Back in January, we mentioned a 'Build a Spartan' flash app created by Scotty GEE - it wasn't done, but it was pretty nice. We just got word from Scotty - it's done now. Very cool! Go play with it. You can even take a screenshot when you're happy with your creation! (Louis Wu 13:43:58 UTC) (permalink)
It only counts if you call it.
Red vs Blue: Reconstruction Chapter 8 has been posted over at Rooster Teeth - this series just keeps getting better. These guys are taking machinima to a whole new level - I'm not sure how long I can say that about each new episode, but I really am impressed. Go watch. (I'll echo BlueNinja's "wow".)
(Louis Wu 10:19:42 UTC) (permalink)
Keeping It Clean
Heh - over at Tied the Leader, you'll find a fun exposition on the woes of wearing Recon in Matchmaking (made me smile), and a level-headed reminder that the subject we find ourselves up in arms about occasionally is, after all, only a game. Thanks, XerxdeeJ. (Louis Wu 10:14:45 UTC) (permalink)
Grand Canyon Flying
Midni7ght posted a very high resolution (1900x1200) version of In Amber Clad flying through the Grand Canyon - no sound, but the camera angles actually gave me a moment of vertigo! (Louis Wu 10:13:56 UTC) (permalink)
Goodies mined from the Bungie Blog
The Bungie.net blog posted a couple of items yesterday that were new to HBO. DigitalPh33r released a Director's Commentary version of the first episode of Arby 'n' the Chief; he has a little trouble staying focused on what he's saying at times, but in general, it's an interesting look into how he works. And the 2old2play crew has released the maps used in the 2o2p Pwnathon (last mentioned in early July) - go grab 'em!
(Louis Wu 10:06:56 UTC) (permalink)
A Halo screenshot worthy of mention
Yesterday, Google Alerts brought me news of a new screenshot released by Predator5791 and highlighted by bs angel on her I <3 Halo 3 Screenshots website. I'm hesitant to point out specific screenshots on our front page, because... well, because there are millions of them out there, and once you start to spotlight individual shots, you're opening the door to a force that could overwhelm the news page. So I posted it on our forum, instead - and the reaction it got was strong enough (and I got enough behind-the-scenes urging) that this time, I'm front-paging it. Go look. It's amazing what you can do with Forge. (Louis Wu 10:04:08 UTC) (permalink)
News July 21 2008
Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar, I guess.
Bah. Hyokin sent along this screengrab from the 'Five Long Years' cinematic that Ensemble released to hype Halo Wars - it shows the Legendary emblem painted on the nose of some Pelicans. I don't have high hopes for the whole 'sticking to canon' thing when UNSC aircraft, meeting Covenant forces for the very first time in history, have a symbol created with a Covenant skull, and a machete written out of the Halo Universe more than eight years ago, emblazoned on them. Ah, well... (Louis Wu 22:54:13 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: it's important
Kotaku talked to Phil Spencer and Shane Kim about Halo - seems to be a bit of spin about the botched announcement last week, but nothing was really said. The interviewer asked about Bungie's new project, the Halo movie, Halo "Blue", Peter Jackson's project - and got positive but vague answers about all of them. Microsoft clearly thinks Halo is a valuable property - but isn't interested in actually TALKING about what's coming yet. Thanks, yoshiary. (Louis Wu 18:42:43 UTC) (permalink)
'im on fire' - dangerous screenshot?
Last night, we got a message from a pretty trustworthy Halo 3 player, discussing an incident that occurred in a game played a few minutes earlier. Before the veto countdown had finished, the opposite team sent messages to all players, and one of the recipients opened the image file included in the message - that player's 360 froze, removing them from the game (and leaving the other team with a 4-3 advantage). The file being blamed as the culprit is on Bungie.net - but is not viewable online. (Update: image has been removed by Bungie.) The thread associated with the file suggests that others have had the same trouble, or have used the file to CAUSE the same trouble - and this morning, the warning showed up on our forum, as well. I'm sure Bungie is looking into the issue - but in the meantime, I'd recommend that you not open screenshots sent to you by unknowns while you're on your 360. (Louis Wu 17:01:16 UTC) (permalink)
Harsh Reminders
Dennis Powers let us know that Shipwrecked 37 is up - not all reactions are induced by external forces. (Louis Wu 17:00:54 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Review - seeing the light a bit later
Longtime forum member Gryphonosiris recently published a review of Halo 3 - apparently, it was written right after the game came out, but never went up. Give it a read! (Louis Wu 16:36:59 UTC) (permalink)
Best of Forge, Round 2
ForgeHub's TrueDarkFusion let us know that the nomination round for their Best of Forge event has ended, and Round 2 of voting has begun. You've got 10 days to vote - you have to be registered, but once you are, the voting stuff is here. (Louis Wu 14:18:09 UTC) (permalink)
Flood Push
TTL Demag0gue has posted the latest Reclaimer (Episode 67) - it gives us an idea of what happened to the Chief... (Louis Wu 14:15:11 UTC) (permalink)
Forgetting Stuff
New sheet music available at Rampancy.net - Donkk has transcribed Unforgotten and Never Forget. Get to playing! (Louis Wu 14:14:54 UTC) (permalink)
More Halo Wars Coverage
mrtitan, over at Planet Halo, has summarized a roundup of Halo Wars articles in the wake of E3 that were listed on the Halo Wars website - there are a bunch I hadn't seen. Go read!
(Louis Wu 14:14:37 UTC) (permalink)
Banshee tips, via example
Slith has used GameVee to record a few clips that might be able to teach you some cool Banshee-flying techniques. Go see what he's got!
(Louis Wu 14:14:20 UTC) (permalink)
Fan Fic Pick of the Week
kr-1426 let us know last night that the HBO Fan Fic Pick of the Week was posted over at the HBOFF forum. Go get some advice in your reading material!
(Louis Wu 14:13:47 UTC) (permalink)
News July 20 2008
Boom De Yada - Redux
Dragoncoals let us know about a version of the "I love the whole world" Discovery commercial song, done (by him) in Halo 3. There've been others before (we mentioned this one, back in June), but I liked Dragoncoals' choice of footage a lot. (The head-bobbing... not so much.) Go watch! Update: at some point, this video was made private - it's now inaccessible. Sorry. (Louis Wu 16:43:58 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 involved in a domestic violence case
It's too bad Jack Thompson's been disbarred - he'd love this story of a 38 year old man in Vermont who was arrested for punching two young boys each time they killed him in a game of Halo 3. (Me? I think cases like this show the rest of us how twisted we actually FIND that behavior. And the guy himself blamed the violence on alcohol, not video games.) Update: RedRaptor points out that Thompson hasn't been disbarred yet - he's just been subject to a recommendation for disbarment. My bad.
(Louis Wu 16:43:03 UTC) (permalink)
The Superintendent's Sorrow
This is the funniest thing I've seen this weekend. Thanks, neoism. (Louis Wu 16:25:08 UTC) (permalink)
News July 19 2008
Papercraft Rocks
Vrogy.net has a short YouTube vid of a pepakura Halo 3 marine helmet, in progress. Looks pretty cool! (Louis Wu 14:03:25 UTC) (permalink)
The Man-Maker
Eep, almost forgot - Sain7 noticed that yesterday's Penny Arcade pays homage to the Cardboard Weapons Halo Kid (dunno what to call him, we first mentioned him on Bungie Day). Good stuff! (Louis Wu 10:13:10 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Canon Contest Results
UNSC Trooper announced the winner of the Halo Canon Contest (we pointed it out a few weeks ago) - go read! And congrats to all who entered. (Louis Wu 10:06:28 UTC) (permalink)
McFarlane Halo Points Explained
Ever since McFarlane began releasing action figures, folks have noticed 'Halo Points' on the packaging material - but nobody knew what they were for. The information has finally been released on the Spawn.com website - and it actually looks pretty cool! You can upgrade your action figures - with a Hayabusa katana, with Recon armor (!!), and you can get exclusive schwag like a lithograph or a Gold Master Chief by redeeming your points. Redemption starts this winter, and you'll need at least 100 points for the smallest reward (that's 10 action figures, for the most part). Thanks, DHalo. (Louis Wu 09:57:30 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars UNSC Database Augmented
DHalo noticed that the UNSC database at the Halo Wars site has been updated with information about the Vehicle Depot (and the Scorpion Tank). Go check it out! (Louis Wu 09:53:07 UTC) (permalink)
Halo MMOFPS? The Truth is Out There.
The guys at Rock, Paper, Shotgun have put together what they consider to be clues pointing to a massively multiplayer online first person shooter based in the Halo universe being developed by Microsoft. I'd have to say "tenuous at best" - but it was enough for a writeup in Kotaku. Thanks, Eddy 071. (Louis Wu 09:52:43 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie's unseen content - a teaser trailer?
Sun-Tzu noticed a post at GameRush Entertainment that suggests that was Bungie was planning to show at E3 was "a sixty second "knock'em down" teaser trailer" - with more reveals later in the week on their own site. No attribution is supplied for this information. Your guess is as good as mine! (Louis Wu 09:52:12 UTC) (permalink)
The Flaming Ninja Challenge
pete_the_duck has issued the Flaming Ninja Challenge - an obstacle course built in Forge, designed to test your ninja skills (and provide you with some fun map-running). Check out the screenshots in his post, download the variant, read the rules... and get to practicing! (Louis Wu 09:51:48 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 keyboard-and-mouse control, via modchip
RotaJota ran across an article in Engadget touting a 360 mod chip that lets you use a keyboard and mouse as input devices - you won't be able to play online, because of that chip, but you SHOULD be able to move a little more precisely than your controller-wielding compatriots in a LAN game. (Maybe.) Update: KanadaKid clarified that the XIM 2 is a chip that sits BETWEEN your keyboard/mouse and your Xbox 360 - it's not a mod of the 360 itself. And Zero pointed out the XCM XFPS, an adaptor that will let you plug nearly ANY controller (including a Keyboard/mouse combo) into your 360, with no modding needed. (The latest version even has a rapid-fire function; turn on the turbo keys and your guns will fire faster than you could pull the triggers yourself.) Again, these are both external to the 360 - both are useable on LIVE. Ah, well.
(Louis Wu 09:50:48 UTC) (permalink)
Livin' the Dream
There's a very subdued Bungie Weekly Update posted tonight over at Bungie.net (or, as usual, in our Weekly Update Archive) - mostly, its an apology for you not seeing whatever it is you didn't see this week. And a nice poster. (And oh, yeah, confirmation that Bungie is currently working on not two, but THREE projects.) Go read! (Louis Wu 00:39:57 UTC) (permalink)
News July 18 2008
Halo Cutscene Library in HD - All In
Well, demand looks controllable, so we talked it over - and decided what the heck, we'd just turn on ALL the Halo 1 cutscene HD downloads. Swing by the Halo Cutscene Library and grab the ones you love! (And with that, the entire trilogy's cutscenes are available in HD.) Thanks once again to HaLo2FrEeEk, of Infectionist Machinima, for the rendering of these scenes! (If you run across a download that's mismarked, please send mail; there's been some confusion about the ordering, and I'm not 100% sure I've gotten it completely right.) And... that's it, for the day. Gonna be spending the next 8-10 hours in a car. Whee! (Louis Wu 11:38:38 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief
TTL Demag0gue stopped by with word of Reclaimer 66 - and things get weird. (Louis Wu 11:37:29 UTC) (permalink)
GeeVeeGrab: Win.
Looks like the rebirth of GeeVeeGrab has inspired people to render clips sitting in their fileshares for months; our forum contains a number of examples. (Thread 1 | thread 2 | thread 3) I don't think there's any way, after this, to post a full roundup of submitted clips without overwhelming the front page - but I'll keep an eye open for the really cool ones. (Louis Wu 11:32:04 UTC) (permalink)
Stage Five - sooner than expected
Heh - fans have spoken up in the missed announcement situation, with respect to the game that Bungie didn't tell us about at E3 this year. Mega64 takes Bungie to task for their failed promises (hilarious, thanks, StormyTheRabbit), and Impervium uses net resources to tell a happier (for Bungie, at least) story. (There are variants further down in that thread, as well.) I'm glad people are laughing about it all! (Not everyone is laughing - Narcogen, over at Rampancy.net, has taken a pretty hard look at the LA Times article that came out a couple of days ago, and the pettiness he found made him angry. Worth a read - some things that make you go 'hmmmmm'...) (Louis Wu 11:30:51 UTC) (permalink)
Spartans
Tony 'ubald' Marcotte sent along another render - this one is a badass version of your favorite augmented soldier. Great work! (Louis Wu 11:30:26 UTC) (permalink)
The Song of the Super
A couple of days ago, we mentioned a pretty cool fan-created poem - Jordan117 found a video version of it. Replayability is low, but it's pretty fun the first time through. (Louis Wu 11:30:04 UTC) (permalink)
That looks like it hurts.
It's Friday, so it's time for another round of Friday Caption Fun (the 16th!) from Hawty McBloggy. The cream from last round's submissions, plus a new pic - go participate! (Louis Wu 11:29:42 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
Just five new pieces in the Fan Fiction section this week - go read 'em! (Louis Wu 11:28:45 UTC) (permalink)
Dust and Echoes Sheet Music
The Halo-Dragon has submitted sheet music for Dust and Echoes to the Rampancy.net sheet music archive. Go grab yourself a copy! (Louis Wu 11:27:03 UTC) (permalink)
MS EDD in the Black
As predicted, Microsoft's Xbox division (well, Xbox/PC Games/Zune) posted a $426 million profit for Fiscal Year 2008, on total revenue of $1.7 billion. The press release attributed the success to (among other things) "video game sales led by Halo 3". Does it make you feel warm inside? (Louis Wu 11:26:36 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Orlando Halo 3 Wrap Up
Took 'em a couple of days, but MLGPro.com has put up a wrap-up of MLG Orlando. Pictures, highlights, speculation - go read it! (Louis Wu 11:26:13 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars Impressions from GD
GameDaily has posted an Impressions article about Halo Wars - short version, they liked it! Go read. (Louis Wu 11:25:51 UTC) (permalink)
News July 17 2008
Cole Protocol Cover
Awesome - TTL Demag0gue noticed that Tobias Buckell, the author of the upcoming Halo novel, "The Cole Protocol", has posted cover art for the book. Interestingly enough, he got it from Amazon! Update: Bungie's Lorraine 'mehve' McLees dropped by to pass along some details about this cover - it's the work of Isaac Hannaford, and the final version (according to Lorraine, who knows this kind of stuff) is GAWJUSS. This one's just the initial sketch! (Louis Wu 21:05:27 UTC) (permalink)
Grifball Summer League - now in Matchmaking
The latest Double XP weekend playlist went up 45 minutes ago - this week, it's Grifball Summer League rules! Go get hammered. (Yes, someday, I'll come up with a different tagline for grifball playlist newsposts.) (Louis Wu 18:43:35 UTC) (permalink)
GameVeeGrab back up
GameVee has put their beta 'Grab' feature back online; sign in, give the site a Bungie.net saved film URL, and they'll record a clip for you, watchable on the web! This was up for a while, and then went down for a long time - nice to see it back! (Louis Wu 18:41:04 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars Demo in 1UP vid
Halo Wars has been demoed a few times this week - so far, all of the demos seem pretty similar to me. The 1UP Show E3 Day 2 Special has another version, if you've missed the streaming versions that have shown up so far. (Thanks, Regicide.) Gamespot showed a live stream an hour ago - it should be in the archives by tomorrow. (Louis Wu 18:38:23 UTC) (permalink)
Five is right out.
Heh - John Campbell stopped by with a short video showing a pretty amazingly lucky grenade toss... go watch. (Louis Wu 18:22:03 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Cutscenes - now in HD
It's been a long time coming, but we've finally got the Halo 1 cutscenes for you in HD format, thanks to HaLo2FrEeEk of Infectionist Machinima. These were recorded from the PC version, and are available in both WMP9 format and H.264-encoded QuickTime format. We're starting with the first Pillar of Autumn scenes - depending on demand, we might speed up the release rate. (As an added bonus, all the smaller versions have been re-encoded, as well - though the QuickTime versions there are still use the Sorenson3 codec.) Go browse! (Louis Wu 16:36:10 UTC) (permalink)
The Halo Corpse Alphabet - still needs a few (dead) bodies
The last time we checked in with the Halo Corpse Alphabet, it was just getting started - there was exactly one letter. Now it's four weeks later... and it's nearly complete. There are three letters remaining - and some additional characters and symbols have been added. Check it out! (Louis Wu 15:56:58 UTC) (permalink)
403 Ep 1
Halo0001 X stopped in last night to announce "403" Episode 1, the first installment of a machinima series about a bunch of guys playing Big Team Battle in matchmaking. Personally, I found it to be too long for its content - but it seems to have been generally well-received on our forum. Go judge for yourself! (Louis Wu 15:53:46 UTC) (permalink)
News July 16 2008
Mattrick talks to LA Times about Halo No-Show
An article in the Los Angeles Times has some further quotes from Microsoft's Don Mattrick about the decision to leave Bungie out of the E3 press conference. He argued that Microsoft wanted to prove they had a lineup that could stand on its own without some of its biggest hitters - he pointed out that they also left out Grand Theft Auto IV, which will have some exclusive-to-Xbox content coming out this fall - and that a decision was made last week to reduce the length of the presentation from 2.5 hours to 1.5 hours. He doesn't address the Microsoft decision to stop the Wednesday release of information by Bungie - but maybe that's going to stay behind closed doors for the forseeable future. Here's hoping things get rescheduled soon! (Louis Wu 22:47:28 UTC) (permalink)
Live Streaming Halo Wars Demo
IGN's Livewire is currently streaming a Halo Wars demo from E3 - if you're interested, swing by now! Thanks, Urban Reflex. (Louis Wu 19:06:01 UTC) (permalink)
E3 Announcement Shelved, For Now
Bungie's posted a summary of what happened (well, what didn't happen) last night - it includes answers to some of the most common questions thrown around on internet message boards in the past 18 hours. Go read. Thanks, BlueNinja. (Louis Wu 18:56:56 UTC) (permalink)
KEEP IT CLEAN
One Bungie fan expressed disappointment (and hope) with true eloquence. Give it a read. It's a bright spot in an otherwise dreary morning for friends of Bungie. (Louis Wu 13:57:00 UTC) (permalink)
More on the announcement delay
Joystiq spoke to Phil Spencer, general manager of Microsoft Game Studios - Spencer answered a question about the lack of a Bungie announcement at E3 with a description of what WAS focused on (first-party games aimed for a holiday release this year). That suggests that Bungie's announcement was postponed because 1) they're no longer a first-party studio, and/or 2) their material is not ready for release this year. (Thanks, JustyB.) And MTV's Stephen Totilo spoke to Don Mattrick, Senior Vice President of the Interactive Entertainment Business - Mattrick confirmed that Bungie is, indeed, working on a Halo title (one that has NOT been announced before - this is major news by itself) and implied that the lack of a Bungie announcement this week was due to the fact that there was already enough Xbox news coming out of Microsoft. (Thanks, Avateur.) As Narcogen put so wryly over at Rampancy.net - welcome back to independence, Bungie. (That blog post is absolutely worth a read-through for any Bungie fan.) Update: Looks like kapowaz beat Avateur to the punch with the Mattrick article; I missed the timestamp on his post. (Louis Wu 13:38:47 UTC) (permalink)
Sadness Continues
A bit more on the surprise cancellation: Kotaku has a short item that ties the situation to a "high level executive". There are plenty of forum posters out there willing to speculate who that might be. (On the off chance that the Kotaku piece is pulled, here's a screenshot.) (Louis Wu 04:35:04 UTC) (permalink)
Operation Infinite Sadness
It's a sad, sad day for Bungie fans - swing by Bungie.net for full details. The short version: the announcement many have been waiting for eagerly - a new game, new Halo content, whatever it was going to be - is not going to happen tomorrow. Plans have been changed - no new date is announced. Update: we're getting a lot of mail from people who are speculating that this is a stunt (to build excitement for an announcement tomorrow), or that Bungie.net got hacked - I can confirm, after speaking to more than one Bungie spokesperson, that this is no stunt, no joke. This is real, and they're as unhappy about it as we are. (Louis Wu 02:03:06 UTC) (permalink)
News July 15 2008
Feast
Hawty McBloggy found a series called 'Feast' - it's horror, Halo style. If you're into that sort of thing - swing by!
(Louis Wu 20:16:30 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Story Page Gets New Features
UNSC_Trooper stopped by the main forum with word of some additions to the Halo Story Page. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 18:15:25 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Supplemental - what is it?
Not sure where this is all going... but it's interesting. Falagard dropped by with a report of a conversation that took place on the NeoGAF forums - the gist is that Alan Tudyk, an actor who did voice work for Halo 3, reported at Gencon (a gaming convention in Australia that took place a week or so ago, July 3-6) that he and Nathan Fillion and Adam Baldwin had recently "recorded voices for a Halo 3 supplemental" - could this be the Halo "Blue" referred to recently by Joystiq? It sure sounds like Bungie's working on SOMETHING Halo-related... (Louis Wu 17:11:19 UTC) (permalink)
Cold Storage as a Canvas
Psychophan7 posted a 'Mission Log' - a series of (very cool) screenshots (well, screenshot amalgams) with some storyline tossed in. I hope he continues with this. Check it out! (And be sure to look at the full-sized versions. They're spectacular.) Update: He's added a new pic, some explanation, and textless versions of the first five images. Check it out! (Louis Wu 16:25:39 UTC) (permalink)
Cold Storage - now available for XBL Silver accounts
sylntsniper reminded our forum that a week's gone by since Cold Storage's release on Xbox Live Marketplace - which means it's now available for download by Silver account holders. Better late than never! (Louis Wu 16:08:59 UTC) (permalink)
More Halo Wars stuff
Fluffy, over at Planet Halo, found another couple of Halo Wars vids - IGN has a short gameplay clip (embedded in the news post) and G4TV's got a video interview with Dave Pottinger, discussing the game (and showing off some examples). (Louis Wu 16:04:42 UTC) (permalink)
Control F-U
Red vs Blue Reconstruction Chapter 7 is now up - both for sponsors, in an extended cut, and for everyone, on the RvB front page. What is Alpha, really? And who the heck are Burke and Dellario? Go watch! (Louis Wu 10:29:42 UTC) (permalink)
TTL Tuesday
Tied the Leader has some fantastic new 'Planetoid' panoramic shots, over in its Haloramics subsite - this post has the details. And OboeCrazy has put together a montage of Gunslinger Plays of the Month for June - fun stuff! Thanks, XerxdeeJ. (Louis Wu 10:11:48 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars Gameplay Vids
There are a couple of gameplay vids showing off what Halo Wars looks like actually during play - Stormwing found one, and Spartan Jag pointed out another. Decide for yourself what you think! (Louis Wu 09:59:41 UTC) (permalink)
News July 14 2008
Halo Wars - Asset City
As expected, there was no announcement from Bungie today (that will almost certainly come Wednesday). However, there WERE new releases from Ensemble; the Halo Wars FAQ, the Screenshots section (complete with battlemech-style mystery units that might or might not be the previously-mentioned Cyclops, and a Prophet in the midst of battle (thanks, GatchamanUK), along with other goodies), and the Renders section all got updated, along with a new trailer entitled 'Five Long Years', showing prerendered battle footage. (If you're having trouble with the WMP9 versions, we've slapped up a 720p H.264-encoded QuickTime (68.2 mb), and a 360p Sorenson3-encoded QuickTime (15.1 mb) - it's definitely worth watching.) There's a rather sizeable discussion thread on our forum, if you want to toss your two cents in. Update: apparently, it's on Xbox Live Marketplace, as well, now. (Louis Wu 21:40:02 UTC) (permalink)
Spuds
Dennis Powers, whose updates wait for no entertainment conventions, has released Shipwrecked 36 - military humor. (Louis Wu 21:31:09 UTC) (permalink)
Keep it clean!
Looks like the Bungie announcement has been pushed off a bit - if you visit Bungie.net, you'll see a Superintendent-related countdown page, with a timer that runs out at 10 am PST, Wednesday morning. That doesn't mean there won't be cool stuff announced at E3... just that Bungie's stuff probably won't be there. Update: Jordan117 points out that my math is a little fuzzy - that the actual end time of the countdown is not 10 am, as I said, but rather 7:07:07 am - a far more Bungie-fied figure! (Louis Wu 17:48:19 UTC) (permalink)
Frozen Assets.
It's been a while since you've heard from him... but Stuntmutt's still alive. There's a new One One Se7en up that takes a look at Cold Storage; takes him a couple of panels to warm up, I think. (Louis Wu 15:18:58 UTC) (permalink)
Triggers Down beats Str8 Rippin in Orlando
Congratulations to Triggers Down, winners of MLG Orlando. There are tons of news snippets and pictures at MLGPro.com - but if you want a quick summary of how the top teams did, you could visit the Xbox Users Group - easy-to-read, covers the highlights. (Louis Wu 15:16:37 UTC) (permalink)
Field of Play
TTL Demag0gue let us know that Reclaimer 65 is now up. The plot thickens! (Louis Wu 14:02:36 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 'Blue'?
The rumors continue to fly about what may, or may not, be announced today at the E3 press conference - the latest tidbit was unveiled by Joystiq, who received a listing from a Wal-Mart intranet document. All we have is a name (Halo "Blue"), a category (M-rated shooter), and a date (September 30, which Joystiq thinks is probably a placeholder). Could this be linked to the rumors of a new game being developed by Bungie? Time will tell! (Louis Wu 13:35:45 UTC) (permalink)
The Prodigious Permutation
GeneticSpartan stopped by with news of The Prodigious Permutation, a new machinima project he's released. Nice piece of work! Great cinematography, great effects, funny story. I'm loving this next generation of Halo machinima! The video, available at FileFront, is in WMP9 format, and weighs in at just under 150 mb. (Louis Wu 13:31:41 UTC) (permalink)
More Halo Wars artwork
DHalo noticed an article on Halo Wars over at the 360 Magazine - it contains a nice writeup, and a bunch of new screenshots. (Most of the new ones are concept art shots like this one - but there's also this shot, which was just added (in a larger format) to the Halo Wars site in the last couple of days. (It wasn't there on the 10th, when the last update was mentioned.) You sort of have to wonder about that pattern on the ground...) (Louis Wu 13:27:37 UTC) (permalink)
slYnki and Herbie, sittin' in a shade...
Over at High Impact Halo, slYnki has released a video showing off what might be the first live launch of a Halo 1 grunt - 7 years down the road. It was originally part of a large montage of Halo 1 tricks - I told Ducain that it was cool, but a little long. He talked to slYnki, who agreed to refilm the grunt launch (with some nice permutations) as a standalone. It's pretty amazing that you can blow this guy to kingdom come... and he'll still shoot at you when you reach him! Check it out. Thanks, FooFoo. (And apologies to slYnki for the painful title of this newspost.) (Louis Wu 13:20:44 UTC) (permalink)
News July 13 2008
Gamespot Gets In on the Rumor Game
Gamespot has its own wild rumors about what's going to be announced this week - their guess involves a squad-based tactical shooter without the Master Chief at all. Hmm... thanks, BlueNinja. (Louis Wu 21:15:32 UTC) (permalink)
Guessing about the goodies at E3
XboxOZ360, an Australian site, has 10 unconfirmed exclusives from E3 '08 - Bungie's mysterious Superintendent comes in at number 3, and Halo Chronicles, the Peter Jackson title, is at number 1. Let's see how right they are! (Louis Wu 21:11:53 UTC) (permalink)
Forge Hub: Minigame Amber Alert!
TrueDarkFusion let us know that ForgeHub has a new edition of Musings of the Truth - he discusses the phenomenon of minigames (created in Forge) and looks at possible reasons for their recent decline. Check it out! (Louis Wu 16:42:17 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Pro Player Questions
MLG asked their pro players a bunch of questions going into the Orlando competition, and posted the answers throughout Friday and Saturday. They're not all grouped at this point - but you can read all 8 questions and their answers by following these links: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 There's tons more MLG Orlando news available at MLGPro.com; swing by and check it out! There have already been some pretty big upsets - there might be more to come! (Louis Wu 16:35:20 UTC) (permalink)
News July 12 2008
ScrewAttack looks at surprising moments
Self Induced let us know that ScrewAttack has posted a Top 10 OMGWTF Moments in Video Games... and Halo 2's ending came in at number 5. Ouch! (Louis Wu 20:16:19 UTC) (permalink)
Melting LEGOs with Fire
TheShadyGnome let us know that there's a new ForgeHub Video Tutorial - this one covers Interlocking Objects and Advanced Floating. If you're building a Forge creation and professionally smooth looks are important to you (they should be), you need to know how to do this! (Louis Wu 18:55:25 UTC) (permalink)
Spartans
Tony "ubald" Marcotte is back with a new Halo render - 'Spartans' shows off some new techniques he's been working on. Nice angle! If you haven't seen the rest of his Halo work, be sure to peruse his gallery here. (Louis Wu 13:09:02 UTC) (permalink)
Fic Pick of the Week, July 11
UNSC Trooper let us know that the HBOFF Fic Pick of the Week for July 11 has been posted - this time it was written by Azathoth. Swing by to see a summary of this week's offerings - and why you should read (or not read) them!
(Louis Wu 10:01:32 UTC) (permalink)
Details continue to emerge about Halo Wars
Devil Mingy ran across a smaller 1Up Preview of Halo Wars, and this one mentions (for the first time that I can remember, anyway) the inclusion of the Flood in the campaign portion. This has led to some unhappy speculation on our forum - is Ensemble messing with Halo canon? (The Halo Wars timeline takes place 20 years before Halo, the game - and an encounter with the Flood at that stage of UNSC history would make certain parts of the game far less sensible.) We'll have to wait and see! (Louis Wu 10:00:09 UTC) (permalink)
Phil - Day One
BlackLightProductions stopped into our forum to point out Phil - Day One, the first offering from a new machinima series. I thought it was pretty funny! Give it a look. (BLP warns you in advance that this video contains strong language.) (Louis Wu 09:59:08 UTC) (permalink)
Halo photography gallery growing fast
Snave is pretty proud of the fact that the H.S.N. Photography Gallery has passed the 1000 image mark - swing by to see what's there! (Be patient - access seems to be a little slow, at least as of this writing.) (Louis Wu 09:58:19 UTC) (permalink)
What's been goin' on
Tonight's Bungie Weekly Update contains a congratulatory mention of the fact that (although it didn't happen exactly on Bungie Day) the 7 billion campaign kills goal has, indeed, been reached - it was hit earlier today. There's also a summary of the past week, a short teaser of things to come... and a sizeable sampling of the sort of nasty private messages Luke gets over the course of a week. You can read it on Bungie.net - or you can read it in our Weekly Update Archive. Look forward to the future! (Louis Wu 01:28:19 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Orlando - Live Halo 3 Streams
You might have noticed the MLG live Halo 3 broadcast banner on the right side of this page - unfortunately, I didn't get this newspost up in time to point out the Friday night pregame show that just ended... but check in tomorrow and Sunday for all the MLG Orlando action! (Louis Wu 01:11:39 UTC) (permalink)
News July 11 2008
A SCRUBS moment
ZZoMBiE13 takes a look at an alternate reality in the latest episode of Another Halo Comic Strip. I'm thinking Arby might like this one better... (Louis Wu 19:46:07 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief Theater 3000 - Episode 6
Speedhuntr noticed that Episode 6 of Pyrosmile's Master Chief Theater 3000 is now out - our friends tear through the Ark. You probably won't look at Slipspace the same again. (Louis Wu 18:35:20 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie's podcast mentioned on CNN
Bungie's most recent podcast contains some veiled hints that SOMETHING might be announced next week at E3 - this was big enough news that even CNN is covering it. The world wants to know! Thanks to skell for noticing. (Louis Wu 17:44:57 UTC) (permalink)
The less you know...
1UP.com has put up a Cliff Notes version of their Halo Wars designer interview from yesterday. If you don't have time for the full 6 pager, check this out - all the key points in a single page. Thanks, LoneRanger 2.5. (Louis Wu 17:26:42 UTC) (permalink)
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
Forecast The Series Episode 5 has been uploaded - there's a new guy on the base, and it's a good thing, because everyone's starting to go a little stir-crazy. Swing by and watch for more internet acronyms than you ever wanted in one place. No natty dreadlocks, though. (Louis Wu 13:18:48 UTC) (permalink)
Hazmat V2 presents I N V I N C I B L E
LANDO GRIFF1N sent us word of I N V I N C I B L E, a montage from Team Departing Sin. It's very heavy on video effects - some are really nicely done, others just obscure the gameplay. Overall, an enjoyable watch. I'd recommend the Flash version - the iPod version seems to be missing an audio track. Update: iPod version now has sound! (July 17) Thanks, Lando. (Louis Wu 11:34:28 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie Tribute
Spartacus280 created a Bungie tribute vid - I kinda like the vision of Luke, patrolling the battlefields of Halo 3, wielding a literal banhammer. Takes a LOT of inspiration from DigitalPh33r's work. Thanks, HeavenlyYeti. (Louis Wu 11:09:58 UTC) (permalink)
New Halo Wars Screens
newguy2445 let us know that there are three new HD screenshots for Halo Wars up on the official website. There's also word on their front page that upcoming issues of OXM France and X-360 (a UK mag) will have Halo Wars coverage. It's ramping up! (Louis Wu 11:01:09 UTC) (permalink)
Garbled Data
TTL Demag0gue let us know that Reclaimer 64 is now up - a missing monitor, and a mysterious data stream? What's going on? (Bonus points for the use of the word 'obtrustion'.)
(Louis Wu 11:00:27 UTC) (permalink)
Rorschach Inkblot Test - Avalanche
Hawty McBloggy has revisited her Rorschach Inkblot Test series - this week, the heatmap in question belongs to Avalanche. What do YOU see? (Me, I found it interesting that the kill rate outside Red Base's teleporter is MUCH higher than the kill rate outside Blue Base's teleporter - I went back and looked, and that's true for me, personally, as well! I wonder why?) Anyway, go look, and analyze your inner demons. (Louis Wu 10:59:43 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Panel set up for SDCC
Tex dropped by with word of the Halo-related parts of the San Diego Comic Con programming schedule - looks like the session to visit is happening on Thursday afternoon!
(Louis Wu 10:59:21 UTC) (permalink)
403 - upcoming machinima
Halo0001 X stopped by with word of a teaser for an upcoming machinima series. To be honest, I don't get it - the first two-thirds of this teaser is an effects-heavy shot of a Spartan walking down a hallway with a flamethrower. The first episode should be out next week, though, so you won't have long to wait if you want to give this another judging. (Louis Wu 10:58:58 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fanfic
Nine new pieces posted in this week's Fan Fiction update - go read! (Louis Wu 10:55:15 UTC) (permalink)
News July 10 2008
Puzzleball Solution Vid Posted
c0ld vengeance posted a solution video to his Bungie Day Puzzleball challenge; if you've been having trouble figuring out what you were supposed to do, go watch him run through it! (Louis Wu 22:25:39 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars Pre-E3 Interview
1UP.com has a sizeable interview with Dave Pottinger, Ensemble lead designer on the Halo Wars team. It's a pretty interesting read - you can get a decent sense for how the game is going to work from this one! Check it out. Thanks, LoneRanger 2.5. (Louis Wu 22:23:09 UTC) (permalink)
Fiesta Weekend - Now Open
Eep - looks like I forgot to post this - but before I got home this afternoon, Bungie posted news about the latest Double XP weekend - started 4 hours ago. It's Fiesta - 8 player Free-For-All, random weapons. Arriba! (You've got until 2 am PT, Monday morning, to play this.)
(Louis Wu 21:50:29 UTC) (permalink)
Cold Storage Impressions
IGN has an impressions article on Cold Storage, including a couple of vids. Since the map is free, you could just download it for yourself and play with it... but this might be easier for folks away from their Xboxes. (For what it's worth, it's STILL not available for Silver Account holders. Phooey.) (Louis Wu 19:45:28 UTC) (permalink)
E3 Stuff - Coming Soon!
If you're not press, you're not getting into this year's E3 - and it sounds like there'll be some interesting stuff there for Halo fans. Never fear, though - looks like G4TV is covering the show pretty comprehensively, according to this press release at TMRzoo.com (potentially NSFW ads). For example, Monday night at 7pm there'll be a show that includes a hands-on demo of Halo Wars. And of course we all remember Bungie's hint that SOMETHING is being announced on Monday, in the Bungie Day podcast... (Louis Wu 19:40:05 UTC) (permalink)
History
Treeskunk Productions has released Outpost: Isil Episode 7 - in their standard 854 formats. Go figure out which one works best for you, and watch it! These guys are worse than the F-Troop soldiers, I swear. Thanks, Bzerker01. (Louis Wu 19:15:44 UTC) (permalink)
ForgeHub Wants YOU (to nominate a map)
Forge Hub is kicking off their 'Best of Forge - Spring/Summer 2008' contest - they're looking for nominations and votes from the community - full rules are available in the news post. Thanks, Bungie Blog.
(Louis Wu 19:11:42 UTC) (permalink)
UNLEASHED! Teaser 2
Dragoncoals let us know that the second teaser for Unleashed has been released... nice angles, and a nice taste of action! Go watch. (Louis Wu 19:05:19 UTC) (permalink)
Pwnathon - a success!
In June, we mentioned the 2old2play charity drive they called 'Pwnathon 2008' - they were looking to raise $500 to benefit the PKD Foundation. According to this news post at Bungie.net, they not only met that goal - they more than doubled it. The final tally was $1,183.77. Nice! You can read the full writeup on the 2old2play forum. (Louis Wu 19:02:51 UTC) (permalink)
Second week of HaloTracks Favorites
Bungie Favorites have been updated with a new week's worth of favorites from HaloTracks, who have recovered from last week's pummeling - go check 'em out! (Louis Wu 19:02:23 UTC) (permalink)
The next wave of Halo merch
Littlebigman noticed a bunch of new stuff available at Big Bad Toy Store - all of it's been announced elsewhere, but it's nice to see that it's becoming widely available! And the dates on the Master Replicas helmets is a positive thing. (Louis Wu 19:01:58 UTC) (permalink)
Guitar Halo
Anton P. Nym was the first to notice (via Kotaku) a very intriguing screenshot over at a Fable II fansite - if that's real, it's a pretty cool easter egg! (If it's not, it's a pretty good photoshop.) Chime in. (Louis Wu 17:58:40 UTC) (permalink)
News July 9 2008
Four - eep, three new goodies from Hawty McBloggy
Hawty McBloggy's been busy lately - swing by her digs for speculation on E3 announcements from Bungie next week, a heads-up on a pretty spectacular mini-weapon you can buy with a custom LEGO figure, and a discussion about Halo 3's call signs. What are you waiting for? Go read! (She counts better than me.) (Louis Wu 20:09:07 UTC) (permalink)
What's the text shorthand for headshaking?
I KNOW I shouldn't be encouraging him... but hey, his list made ME smile. Cody - go run some laps. Or something. (Louis Wu 18:31:45 UTC) (permalink)
Outpost 77 (Defunct)
TTL Demag0gue stopped in to point out Reclaimer 63 - our hero and his Cavalcade friend are on a mission. (Louis Wu 13:50:01 UTC) (permalink)
TPT: How to Navigate Cold Storage
Over at Geekscape, the Teabag Prevention Team has posted a guide to navigating Cold Storage. Thanks, t4ng0. (Louis Wu 13:33:10 UTC) (permalink)
I suggest prostrating your body for safety.
vector40 returns to our forum with one last Banshee submission - back in the Halo PC days, he was an enthusiastic Banshee pilot, and created a number of articles and videos showing how best to use this vehicle in battle. He recently found an unpublished piece that lays out "a protocol for two-man Banshee wing voice communications". Go give it a read! (Louis Wu 13:14:41 UTC) (permalink)
Exclusive Active Camo EVA Spartan Preorder - Again
Back in November, we pointed out a chance to preorder an exclusive Active Camo EVA Spartan from McFarlane. It was supposed to be released in March. The page was later updated with a May 2008 release date. (That's still there, in fact.) However, the item still hasn't been delivered - and the preorder has reopened (July 7 through August 15); you've got another chance to preorder, with the figure being slated for a late August delivery. Thanks to the Bungie Blog for the (re) heads-up. (Louis Wu 13:06:36 UTC) (permalink)
News July 8 2008
...If you need me
Today's episode of Another Halo Comic Strip might make you laugh out loud. It did that to me. (Louis Wu 18:20:37 UTC) (permalink)
The Man With The Iron Skull: Part One
Narcogen has posted a new article - this one focuses on the Iron Skull, and how it affects gameplay. It's an interesting collection of observations and comments - it's made me look more closely at my playing style on Campaign levels. (Although we came close, we (the Halo community) didn't hit that magical 7 billion number by yesterday - as of this moment, there are still more than 46 million kills required, which will likely take the rest of the week. My taste for Campaign play has been rejuvenated, however, and Narc's comments about the Iron Skull have made me curious; it's just a matter of finding the time to jump back in.) This article only makes it through Crow's Nest - he's got a ways yet. Go read what he has to say in Part One - and add your own thoughts! (Louis Wu 17:12:48 UTC) (permalink)
New Halo CE goodies
Dennis Powers sent us an update on Halo Custom Edition - if you swing by Halo Maps, you'll find more than 100 new maps and assets added during the month of June. Notable items include Asterisk, Winter Snow, and several maps made by the DMT Clan. If you're into urban warfare, DMT-OD SP4 Upskirts is a total conversion, and DMT-Air lets you play as a Covenant Elite racing to High Charity to land on a Covenant Capital ship. Go check 'em out! (Louis Wu 17:01:21 UTC) (permalink)
RvB Reconstruction: Chapter 6
Red vs Blue Reconstruction Chapter 6 has been posted for sponsors - look for it on the RvB front page (for everyone) in the very near future. It's a fascinating progression of the plot - and Caboose provides multiple laugh-out-loud moments. With every chapter, Rooster Teeth shows that they are setting the bar for Halo machinima - superb technique, great storytelling, professional-level editing, voice acting the entire community should be striving towards... this stuff makes me happy. You should go watch. (Louis Wu 15:08:37 UTC) (permalink)
Ze leader, she ees tied.
XerxdeeJ dropped in to remind us that Tied the Leader is a great place to go for commentary on the Halo community. A gentle look into the life of a Recon-wearer (and what it should mean to you), an exhortation to ally yourself with others of like mind for more satisfying Halo battles, and a cautionary tale for truthseekers everywhere... these are just some of the things you'll find over at TTL. Go immerse yourself! (Louis Wu 14:49:30 UTC) (permalink)
Flying In Amber Clad
Mid7night continues his Halo-to-X-Plane work with a version of In Amber Clad flying around in X-Plane. Nice! (Louis Wu 14:40:56 UTC) (permalink)
The Riot 106 (and 105, too)
Sigafoos let us know that The Riot 106 is now online - 38 minutes, 15 mb, full of Halo, Bungie, and beer. Go listen! (You might have missed 105 last week, because we did - mostly because Sigafoos did. Yes, our secret is out - we don't actually pay attention to the community unless someone tells us what's going on.) (Louis Wu 14:36:46 UTC) (permalink)
News July 7 2008
VGL Soundtrack, including Halo music, coming soon
Ross Mills noticed that Video Games Live is releasing Greatest Hits, Volume 1 in a couple of weeks - and Halo will be among the games featured on the disc. Ross provides an Amazon.co.uk link to purchase - or you can grab it from the US Amazon. Details on the recording itself can be found at Kotaku. (Louis Wu 22:06:33 UTC) (permalink)
Puzzleball 7/7
In honor of Bungie Day, c0ld vengeance has created another Puzzleball map - go play with it! (Louis Wu 21:47:32 UTC) (permalink)
Happy 7th Birthday, Subnova
Wow, cool. 3of9 pointed out that not only is today Bungie Day - but it's the 7th anniversary of the birth of Subnova! (This was their first day of news, back on July 7, 2001.) Happy Birthday, guys! They haven't been very vocal recently... but Subnova was home to the hardest of the hardcore Bungie fans, back in the day. And though they're mostly dormant now... they're still around! (Louis Wu 19:23:04 UTC) (permalink)
Play some Halo, help some kids
Mintz let us know about some guys playing Halo 3 all day and raising money for Penny Arcade's Child's Play charity, in honor of Bungie Day. If you want to join 'em, the gamertag to send a request to is BDay2008. (Louis Wu 19:02:03 UTC) (permalink)
Ascendant Justice chimes in with Bungie Day
Appreciation
On this very special Bungie Day, vociferous posted a thank-you note to Bungie - and Ascendant Justice opened a new gallery devoted to the beauty of the Halo universe. (Louis Wu 18:42:54 UTC) (permalink)
Cold Storage/Bungie Day Wallpapers
bman3737 stopped by with a batch of Cold Storage-based Bungie Day wallpapers (and then added some text-free versions on request) - go look! Update: Havok Se7en whipped up a pair of Superintendent wallpapers, as well! (Louis Wu 18:25:36 UTC) (permalink)
Cold Storage Questions and Answers
Bungie's posted a Q&A for Cold Storage, with answers coming from the guys who worked on the map. Give it a read! Thanks again, mendicantbias00. (Louis Wu 17:20:32 UTC) (permalink)
Brian and Friends are Back!
On March 22, Bungie released a podcast, with special guest Chris Butcher - and then the Bungie Podcast went dark. Added work, and the loss of Frankie, conspired to keep Bungie from revisiting this beloved outlet for community enlightenment... but now, three and a half months later, just in time for Bungie Day, it's back. Guests are copious - Lars Bakken (Designer), Shishka (Designer), Allen Murray (Producer), Joe Tung (Producer), Jerome Simpson (Security Expert), Chris Carney (Mission Architect) and Steve Lopez (IT Manager and Podcast mastering wunderkind). (Yes, I stole that from Bungie's announcement.) 92 minutes, 104 mb, lots and lots of derision. Lots and lots of discussion of Cold Storage. Looks like mendicantbias00 was first to notice. (Louis Wu 17:06:57 UTC) (permalink)
A tale of woe, McFarlane style
Okay, let's start at the beginning. Back in October of last year, McFarlane released a schedule for Halo action figure release in 2008. Littlebigman transcribed the Spawn.com list, which is good, because it's been edited since then. At that point, the plan for vehicles was a Series 2 release in June, consisting of a Scarab, Wraith, and Mongoose, and a series 3 release in August, consisting of a Banshee, Hornet, and Scorpion Tank. At some point in the next month or two, the Series 2 group was canceled - but then in February they were added to the Series 3 release. By April, the six vehicles slated for Series 3 was cut back to 3 - the three original Series 2 vehicles. And today, Subnova's 3of9 got an email from Big Bad Toy Store:
McFarlane Toys has just informed us that these items has been cancelled and that will not be produced. We apologize for the inconvenience. We have cancelled all preorders and removed the item from our site.
From 6, to 3, to 0. Ack! Here's hoping they get reannounced in an upcoming series. (Louis Wu 16:32:16 UTC) (permalink)
July 4 Fan Fic Pick of the Week
UNSC Trooper let us know that the Fan Fic Pick of the Week for last Friday's fiction release is now up on the HBOFF forum. Thanks to J.D. Ford for the work! (Louis Wu 16:31:24 UTC) (permalink)
Missing Something
Dennis Powers let us know that you can grab Shipwrecked Episode 35 from his site. (Louis Wu 16:27:07 UTC) (permalink)
Blackstone [Log 1]
Lordstemplar1 stopped in to point out Blackstone [Log 1] - a simple recon mission goes awry. Available in downloadable and streaming formats. Go watch! (Louis Wu 15:44:00 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Recut - Winners Announced
Back in January, a European contest sponsored by Xbox.com started up - Halo 3 Recut was looking for short movies showing the off-screen antics of the Halo characters. Winners were just announced (thanks, Planet Halo, who found the announcement at TeamXbox) - congrats to Scott Robertson, whose "Master Chief's Day Off" won Scott a four-week film-making trip to Los Angeles. His film is pretty funny! (Louis Wu 15:28:16 UTC) (permalink)
To Bungie, With Love
Hawty McBloggy compiled thank-you notes from a huge number of community members in honor of Bungie Day - swing by and read the outpouring of Bungie Love. I wish I could say my thanks were included - but I forgot to send them to her. (On the bright side, I ate a LOT of barbecue this weekend.) Thanks, Hawty, for putting this together - and thanks, Bungie, for keeping this community excited all these years! (Louis Wu 15:13:12 UTC) (permalink)
Little Red Adventures: Episode 3
Obienator has released Little Red Adventures Episode 3 - there's a YouTube link available on his website, or you can download a higher-res WMP9 version (63.3 mb) or QuickTime version (63.1 mb) from our servers. Great cinematography, a new character, and a scary cliffhanger! Go watch.
(Louis Wu 15:07:40 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie Day Wallpaper
The Wallpaper queue is quite long, and contains stuff that is many, many months old - and for that, I apologize. We're putting up a single entry today, though, because it's Bungie Day - thanks to ZZoMBiE13 for whipping it up! It's 1440x900, widescreen format. Enjoy! (Louis Wu 14:54:23 UTC) (permalink)
Before Everything
TTL Demag0gue let us know that Reclaimer 62 is online - and an unknown entity is joining the action. If you can't guess who it is, you'll have to wait for an unveiling... (Louis Wu 14:44:04 UTC) (permalink)
Cold Storage already generating goodies
A bunch of our forumgoers immediately started playing with the Pan-Cam as soon as they got their hands on Cold Storage - go check out the panoramas (and the empty canvas map from pete_the_duck!) in this thread. (Louis Wu 14:42:09 UTC) (permalink)
The Adventures Of Ron III
TheAdventuresOfRon stopped by to announce The Adventures of Ron, III - you can watch this promo clip on YouTube. I did... lots of movie references. I don't think there was ever a first or second part. (Louis Wu 14:41:53 UTC) (permalink)
Unleashed Teaser Trailer
ForgeHub's Dragoncoals let us know about a Teaser Trailer for 'Unleashed', an upcoming machinima from DrawingToochFilms. Looks... funky. (Louis Wu 14:41:36 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Love - Weapons Style
A young Halo fan has recreated all the weapons in Halo 3 - out of cardboard and tape. This video shows him modeling each of them, using gestures and motions that are eerily similar to what your character does online. Amazing amount of work! Thanks, xxjuicesxx. (Louis Wu 14:41:12 UTC) (permalink)
Looking Back
Jonathan Churchill has released a Halo-inspired original piece called 'Looking Back' - it's a remembrance of the Halo trilogy. Swing by Rampancy.net to download it in MP3 format. (Louis Wu 14:40:42 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie Day at the Social
The Social has put up a bunch of Bungie Day news - they're having a screenshot contest (with a 13-month live subscription as the top prize), they've announced a Halo 3 RPG, and they've redone their site layout. Go read all the details! Thanks, Scotty. (Louis Wu 14:40:10 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Millennium Falcon
Mags89 SBG wrote to say he'd released 'Fallen Falcon' - Han Solo's Millenium Falcon, reproduced in Halo 3. Pretty cool! Go check out the screenshots in the B.net description, then download the map! (Louis Wu 14:39:40 UTC) (permalink)
Happy Bungie Day!
It's July 7, Bungie Day - and Cold Storage is available for download right now. (One potential gotcha - it's only available for Gold accounts at the moment. If you've got a Silver account, you either need to upgrade, or "check again in a few days" (according to the Marketplace blurb). I don't know what "a few days" translates to. I guess this is really only a problem for folks planning to use extra Xboxes in a LAN party today...) The map really is gorgeous, and (mostly) true to its predecessor. (The small place to hide with the ball, under the walkway in the back room, is gone... but everything else I can remember is there.) Go grab a copy - the new Bungie Day playlist is up as well, so you can get in some FFA action on this puppy right away! Go to the Xbox Live Marketplace blade, select 'New Arrivals', then 'Games', then 'Halo 3'. The Bungie Day Gamerpics, free Theme, and the ViDoc in HD are there, as well. (Louis Wu 13:50:20 UTC) (permalink)
News July 6 2008
Bungie Day Gamerpics/Theme up early
Ooh, awesome. The Bungie Day '08 Gamerpics and Theme are up - a day early! Swing by XBL Marketplace to grab yours - before they're gone! Thanks, *Butcher. (Louis Wu 19:49:12 UTC) (permalink)
Plasma Cannon Jamboree
Rockslider has posted 'Plasma Cannon Jamboree' over at his Bad Cyborg site (now in a new home) - collect more than 60 plasma cannons! (Louis Wu 19:46:25 UTC) (permalink)
Mix's Pics, Week 8
xMixMasterX let us know that Week 8 of Mix's Pics is up over at the Social. Go see what community tidbits he found for you this week! (Louis Wu 19:44:23 UTC) (permalink)
Spiderman vs Masterchief, page 3
SPU7N1K has posted the third page of Spiderman vs Masterchief - who's gonna win? (Louis Wu 19:43:05 UTC) (permalink)
H3F's Top 10 Halo clips, v1
Halo3Forum has decided to put out a Top 10 Clips feature, with commenting by Phurion. The first episode has great filming, and some nice plays! Go grab it - 3:13 long, 122 mb in WMP9 format. Thanks, Z. (Louis Wu 19:41:06 UTC) (permalink)
DigitalPh33r's Guide to Making Halo 3 Machinima: Part Two
DigitalPh33r has posted Part Two of his Guide to Making Halo 3 Machinima, a fifteen-minute installment that looks at some of the hardware and software issues you need to consider when making Halo machinima, along with voice recording and acting. Thanks, Higgins113. (Louis Wu 15:36:26 UTC) (permalink)
Reminisce Teaser, from Vivid Essence
GR33B stopped in to point out both a teaser for his new machinima, 'Reminisce' and a music vid he released a few months ago, 'Pathfinder'. You can find both over at Vivid Essence. (Louis Wu 15:34:29 UTC) (permalink)
News July 5 2008
Three Campaign Players, One Xbox
Interesting - a thread over at High Impact Halo describes a way to get three players on a single Xbox into a Coop Campaign game (normally, you're limited to two). DollarPwnCenter created a video tutorial for folks who learn visually. Looks pretty cool! Thanks to Cocopjojo for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 23:38:23 UTC) (permalink)
Oh, my darling
Jordan117 ran across a picture that answers a 7-year-old question... and ties some very cool dates together. Nice work! (Louis Wu 23:26:59 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's (Belated) Fan Fiction
Since I was out yesterday, the standard Fan Fiction update never happened - there were 9 new pieces in there. Go read 'em! (Louis Wu 15:24:31 UTC) (permalink)
Wrong place, wrong time
Today's episode of Another Halo Comic Strip has ZZoMBiE13 putting forth an alternative ending for Halo 3. I think I would have loved it. (Potential spoilers for anyone who hasn't finished the game yet.) (Louis Wu 15:12:25 UTC) (permalink)
Machinima for Engineers
A great article on the Rooster Teeth crew (focusing on their Halo work, with an awesome opening image) can be found in a somewhat unlikely place - IEEE Spectrum, a professional journal aimed primarily at electrical engineers. Check it out! (It does a nice job of covering machinima in general, as well.) Thanks to RvB's Gus for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 14:32:36 UTC) (permalink)
RPWS Bungie Day
TheChrisD let us know that Rumble Pit World series is holding a special 'Sevens' tournament on Cold Storage on Monday, in honor of Bungie Day - festivities start around 8 pm EST. 7 parties, 7 players, 7 minutes before a final with a first prize of $77! Go read the rest of the details at the site.
(Louis Wu 14:20:06 UTC) (permalink)
ET's Top 25 Video Games
darthbob pointed out a list over at Entertainment Weekly - the Top 25 Video Game Classics. Halo came in at #11.
(Louis Wu 10:21:32 UTC) (permalink)
The Sound of Halo 3
Hawty McBloggy found a video called 'The Sound of Halo 3', which attempts to create music from the battle sounds of Halo 3. It has mixed success. (Louis Wu 10:21:11 UTC) (permalink)
Finish The Fight, for Bungie Day
Bryan Ojeda recorded a tribute piano piece in honor of Bungie Day.
(Louis Wu 10:20:53 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief Theater 3000 - Episode 5
mrsmiley let us know that Episode 5 of Pyrosmile's Master Chief Theater 3000 (the continuation of Pyroman's MST3K parody) is now on YouTube. This one shows off the end of Floodgate. (Louis Wu 10:20:24 UTC) (permalink)
Determining Object Sizes in Halo 3
Omega spent some time in Pan-Cam mode, measuring stuff. Interesting results! (Looks like Bungie did a little fudging... (Louis Wu 10:18:39 UTC) (permalink)
Like a church mouse...
2phast let us know that Larry the Marine has changed to a Friday release schedule - and that Episode 28 is now up. I think there are certain weapons Larry should never be allowed to get his hands on. (Louis Wu 10:18:09 UTC) (permalink)
That Arbiter's a Sneaky One...
Back in April, AfRo SaUcE recorded a funny clip showing the Arbiter betraying him on Floodgate. He's back, showing off a new attempt. Arby didn't succeed this time... but it was close! (Louis Wu 10:17:45 UTC) (permalink)
Party Hats and Evil Canadians
Yesterday was Friday, which means that Hawty McBloggy posted a new round of Friday Caption Fun. There are great submissions for last week's pic (along with some gratuitous pain for me) - and a new image which should generate more than a few drunk jokes. Go add your own!
(Louis Wu 10:17:10 UTC) (permalink)
Halo project rumors flying
Probably the biggest news making the rounds yesterday was a rumor - it started over at Sarcastic Gamer on Thursday (with a quick followup a little later) - they claim that an anonymous source asserts that Halo 4 is in full development by Bungie. The followup claims that this project will be announced at E3. These claims were picked up by many, many sites out there (Narcogen did a nice job of summarizing some of the bigger ones in this Rampancy.net newspost) - there's a thread on our forum, started by Red_Breast, for folks who want to discuss this. It looks pretty clear that SOMETHING new and Halo-related will be announced at E3 - but whether it will be 'Halo 4' from Bungie, or details of Peter Jackson's Halo project, or something entirely different - we'll just have to wait and see. (IGN predicts it'll be the Peter Jackson project - in an article that also places Halo Wars at #7 on their Most Anticipated Games of E3 2008. Thanks, Planet Halo.) Thanks to the many, many people who sent in news about this stuff. For now - we're filing this firmly in the 'Rumor' cabinet. (Louis Wu 09:58:39 UTC) (permalink)
Now on Bungie.net - Matchmaking Playlist Breakdown
Something that's been needed for a LONG time on Bungie.net has been a summary of the details of the playlists - what games/maps are in which lists, and how often, that sort of thing. Thursday night, Shishka (with some help) finally put this up - go visit to read about the lists! A comment thread was started in our forum, if you want to contribute. (Louis Wu 09:46:04 UTC) (permalink)
Chief vs Grunt
Hellhawk followed up his 'Chief vs Scarab' with a 'Chief vs Grunt' vid - also cute!
(Louis Wu 09:45:44 UTC) (permalink)
Sheet music for Leonidas for jazz band
Rampancy.net posted an arrangement of Leonidas for jazz band, created by cheeze. Cool! (Louis Wu 09:45:17 UTC) (permalink)
Pro vs GI Joe - Halo 3 tourney for racers and soldiers
Here's hoping everyone's 4th of July was memorable! I had a lot of Halo stuff facing me when I returned... let's see if I can get through a little of it before my day REALLY starts. First up - Watkins Glen International raceway held a special event on Thursday - they teamed IndyCar Series drivers up with US soldiers in Kuwait for a tournament they called 'Pro vs GI Joe'. You can read writeups on the News 10 Now website and the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Fun! (Louis Wu 09:44:22 UTC) (permalink)
News July 4 2008
Happy 4th of July!
We'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy 4th of July! If you're outside of the US, we apologize for the lack of news today - feel free to blow something up in response. (That's certainly going to be happening INSIDE the US...) Might I suggest some Halo 3 Campaign? We're just over a hundred million kills shy of the 7 billion required to meet the Bungie Day challenge... you can help! We'll be back updating normally tomorrow. (If you missed it yesterday, the Cold Storage ViDoc should whet your appetite for the freebie Bungie will be sending your way on Monday.) (Louis Wu 08:42:21 UTC) (permalink)
News July 3 2008
And on the Seven7th Day...
Bungie has posted "a quick look" at Cold Storage - the new Vidoc is six minutes long, ranges from 65 mb to 360 mb, depending on download flavor (or can be streamed in the Bungie Media Player), and shows off the hawtness that is the soon-to-be-free Chill Out remake. The Bungie devs involved in the making of this map guide you through the ins and outs of the new map - just in time to drool for a couple of days, before you can get your mitts on it on Monday! Go watch. (Louis Wu 22:00:09 UTC) (permalink)
Recon for Recon
Heh - cool. Bungie has issued a bizarre challenge - spot an unidentified employee as he (I'm pretty sure it's a 'he') travels across the western US, wearing one of two specific shirts, introduce yourself while holding a copy of Halo 3, and you'll get Recon. There are some restrictions - read the post for full details. (Louis Wu 21:24:19 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie releases Halo PC DS Hotfix
Whoa. Remember yesterday, when we mentioned that an exploit for Halo PC Dedicated Server had been identified, and worked around by a fan, and how that was good because the game is no longer supported? Well, Bungie's Roger Wolfson, who was the head Bungie guy for Halo PC back when it WAS supported, released a hotfix today, and will be watching the Bungie.net thread for feedback in case other fixes are needed. Now THAT is support! Thanks, Roger. You rock. (Louis Wu 20:59:09 UTC) (permalink)
At Least There's No Unicorn
Today's edition of Another Halo Comic Strip had BETTER be just a figment of ZZoMBiE13's twisted mind... or I'm gonna have to hunt him down and kill him. Slowly. (Louis Wu 18:44:09 UTC) (permalink)
Snap Tactics' Halo 3 Montage 1
Z let us know about Snap Tactics' first Halo montage over at Halo3Forum - the guy has great situational awareness. Nice video quality, too! Just under 5 minutes long, 133 mb. Go watch! (Louis Wu 17:48:07 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie Day. It's Coming.
A full day and a half ahead of schedule, the July 4th edition of the Bungie Weekly Update is online - and trust me, you want to read it. It starts off with some warnings for folks abusing the Halo 3 File Share feature, and reminds us that the deadline for the 7 billion by the 7th challenge is fast approaching... and then moves into Goodies territory. New podcast is coming next week. Cold Storage is coming next week, and it's gonna be free. Gamerpics are coming next week. A new playlist is coming next week. And there's STILL more. Go read it - either at Bungie.net, or in our Weekly Update Archive. (Louis Wu 17:06:20 UTC) (permalink)
Blue Food
Dennis Powers let us know that Shipwrecked Episode 34 is up - it's a tribute to George Carlin. (Louis Wu 17:01:28 UTC) (permalink)
Chief vs Scarab
Hellhawk got tired of playing the Charlie Brown to the Scarab's Lucy on The Storm - so he made a small video to illuminate his frustration. Fun! (Great angles.) (Louis Wu 14:46:08 UTC) (permalink)
Steel Spartan for a discount
If you were interested in buying a Steel Spartan Kotobukiya statue, you might want to check out TC Games and More - they're selling it for $76 right now. Their shipping is a little higher than the next guy - but all told, with standard shipping it's $91 - at least $15 cheaper than anywhere else I could find it. (Louis Wu 14:23:35 UTC) (permalink)
Online Respawn Timer for Halo 3
There's a website called FPSBuddy that offers a respawn timer for Halo 3 - that works on your mobile device. The free version only works for FFA (Lone Wolves) gameplay - but if you're willing to pay $4/month, there's a version that works for all gametypes and maps. I guess that's one way to step up your game! (Louis Wu 14:22:30 UTC) (permalink)
News July 2 2008
StoshTacular - killiing Stosh 5 times in 4 seconds
It's been a while... but there's a new Halo 3 Humpday Challenge writeup over at Bungie.net... and it's full (and I mean full) of Cold Storage screenshots. It was internal, so who cares who won? Just go read for the pretty pictures. (Louis Wu 19:38:43 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Board Game - coming in September
Looks like someone's creating a Halo board game. B1 Games and Genius Products, Inc are going to be selling an 'interactive strategy game' with DVD content and music, along with the board play. Looks like it'll be on store shelves in September. Read the full Press Release at BusinessWire. (Louis Wu 17:52:14 UTC) (permalink)
Separation Anxiety
TTL Demag0gue pointed out that Reclaimer Episode 61 is now online - Ferial and Sempiturnal Chaos continue their discussion. (Louis Wu 13:54:54 UTC) (permalink)
Spriggs, Episode 11: Bullet Point, Part A
xp194 let us know that Spriggs Episode 11: Bullet Point, Part A is now up on YouTube. The Spriggs website says Part B is coming very soon (today, most likely). Interesting cameo from the Forecast crew. In general... this one is pretty confusing. Update: Part B is now online. (Louis Wu 13:51:53 UTC) (permalink)
Halo PC Server crash exploit - plus a fix
TheGhost let us know that there's news over at Modacity about a new crash exploit discovered for Halo PC's dedicated server (and a quick workaround developed by a community member, which is good since the game is no longer supported). (Louis Wu 13:39:16 UTC) (permalink)
New Halo Wars HD Screens
newguy2445 pointed out that the Screenshots gallery at the Halo Wars website has been updated - four new high-res (720p) screens are available for your viewing pleasure (with more coming soon). Man, this game is starting to look nice! (Louis Wu 13:35:08 UTC) (permalink)
Rampancy.net Roundup
Wow, Narcogen's been busy over at Rampancy.net. Interspersed amongst reports of reviews of Wideload's Hail to the Chimp (released yesterday) are the following Halo-related tasties:
- Mike Poe has transcribed Last of the Brave, a piece heard during Crow's Nest in Halo 3. (Remember, you must be logged in to download files.)
- Narc found a blog called The First Hour, which reviews just the first hour of video games - on a minute-by-minute basis. ("00 - The game is ready and I select campaign from the menu...") Last September, they reviewed Halo, and in December a companion blog (Beyond the First Hour, looking at finished games) reviewed Halo 3. No Halo 2 review.
- Finally, Narc has written a new blog post - Death and Punishment is a fascinating analysis of the use of death in violent video games (as a punishment, as a threat, as a measure of progress). Absolutely worth a read.
It's nice to see R.net so alive again - stop by and let Narc know you appreciate it! (Louis Wu 13:30:58 UTC) (permalink)
The Architecture of War II: Sandbox
Ascendant Justice has posted a new analysis piece - this one is called 'Sandbox' (there are two parts), and it looks at the goodies (weapons, equipment, etc) we're given to play with in the Halo series. How do the toys we're handed help feed our enjoyment, and how has the series evolved since Halo was released in 2001? Interesting questions, and intriguing answers from vociferous. This is Part II of the Architecture of War series (The Environment was Part 1), and it leaves Part III (Enemies) yet to come. Go read! Thanks, mendicantbias00. (Louis Wu 12:46:46 UTC) (permalink)
McFarlane Halo 3 Figure Checklist
If you're trying to keep up with the McFarlane Halo 3 action figures, it can be a little difficult - there are now 3 series, and plenty of exclusives available only from a single retailer here or there. Over at The ToyPit, Avi has created a Halo 3 Figure Checklist - PDF format, with pics and sources for each figure. Pretty cool! (Louis Wu 12:32:40 UTC) (permalink)
Local Tourneys, WA and MD
Google was kind enough to dump word of a couple of different (local) tourneys in my inbox this morning - for folks near Spokane, WA, you'll find the Adam Morrison Halo 3 Tournament coming up on August 13 ($20 to get in, not sure about prizes), and if you're near Rockville, MD, there's the 355 Toyota/Scion $7000 Halo 3 FFA Tournament, part of the Underground Gaming Series ($25 online, $7k in prizes), taking place on July 27th. Get signed up! (Louis Wu 12:30:34 UTC) (permalink)
Deus Ex Machina - um, the next part
DigitalPh33r has posted Deus Ex Machina Episode 9 - "Doomstay (Part 2 of 2)" Act 3 (yes, the numbering's getting a little silly) - John's fight against his robot duplicate comes to a head... and he meets up with an old nemesis. Thanks, Mags89 SBG. (Louis Wu 12:08:16 UTC) (permalink)
News July 1 2008
Big Mac Attack
ZZoMBiE13 has managed to both pimp the 7 billion by the 7th challenge and take a fun potshot at a community regular in today's edition of Another Halo Comic Strip. Go read! (Louis Wu 21:26:39 UTC) (permalink)
Creating Credible Obstacles In Games
Gamasutra has an article about in-game boundaries, and when their credibility breaks down. Many games provide examples, both good and bad - Halo 3 makes an appearance. Go read! (Louis Wu 19:09:38 UTC) (permalink)
Hawty McBloggy wants your Halo Memories
Hawty McBloggy is putting together a tribute to Bungie in honor of Bungie Day - she's looking for your most memorable Halo moment ever. Swing by, read the post, write up your moment, and you'll be included in next week's tribute! (Louis Wu 09:54:46 UTC) (permalink)
GD's Top 25 FPSs of All Time
Morpheus pointed out a new Top 25 list at GameDaily - this one is The Top 25 First-Person Shooters of All Time. Halo's not number one, but it still came in respectably. (Louis Wu 09:54:14 UTC) (permalink)
Free Halo 3 HD Video Capture
Bjorn stopped by to offer free HD video capture from Halo 3 clips - visit Gamerchiefs.com (specifically this forum post) for full details!
(Louis Wu 09:53:46 UTC) (permalink)
The Cavegirls Present... Fragolympics 2008
The Cavegirls are kicking off the 2008 Fragolympics next week, and there are a number of Halo events. Swing by to read the rules!
(Louis Wu 09:53:25 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars controls, game pacing, and herb crusted salmon salad
Bruce Shelley, a designer for Ensemble Studios, posted in his blog yesterday, and there's a bunch of info about Halo Wars. It ranges from interesting observations about gameplay and strategy to the lunch menu provided to the team during the crunch leading up to E3. Thanks to Planet Halo for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 09:52:55 UTC) (permalink)
Installation 05 Giveaway
Installation05 is holding another giveaway - this time, it's a 2-figure Actionclix promo pack, and entering is as simple as sending an email entry. In fact, you can send an entry each day (but don't exceed that, or you'll be disqualified). If you identify yourself as coming from HBO, you get a double entry! Swing by the Events page for full details. (You can also pick up McFarlane Halo 3 Series 1 vehicles pretty cheap, if you want 'em!)
(Louis Wu 09:52:06 UTC) (permalink)
Medicine Tree
Dennis Powers let us know that Shipwrecked Episode 33 is now up - looks like the ring is providing, again. (Louis Wu 09:51:41 UTC) (permalink)
Show your solidarity for Bungie Day
Over at the Bungie.net blog, there's a call from a fan that all players on LIVE should change their armor emblem to either the 7th Column symbol, or the number 7, for next Monday's Bungie Day celebrations. Nice idea! (Louis Wu 09:51:23 UTC) (permalink)
RvB: Reconstruction - Chapter 5
Red vs Blue: Reconstruction - Chapter 5 has been released for sponsors - it'll be up for everyone else later this evening. Washington does his best to get Church and Caboose into places they shouldn't be going... and to a meeting with an old friend. Lots of backstory in this one! (Louis Wu 02:41:34 UTC) (permalink)
| July 2008 | |
