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July 2010

July 2010 Archived News

News July 31 2010

Joystiq's Swag Saturday: Free ODST
Joystiq is giving away a copy of Halo 3: ODST - all you have to do is tell them what's got you excited about Reach. Winner will be picked at random tomorrow evening. (Louis Wu 23:02:52 UTC) (permalink)

Birth of a Spartan - Director's Cut
Wow, very cool - over at NeoGAF, Bungieware pointed out the Director's Cut version of the "Birth of a Spartan" short on the website of the team that did the sound design - it contains a few scenes that should generate some discussion from hardcore fans! Go watch. (Louis Wu 22:52:07 UTC) (permalink)

Podtacular Halo 3 Farewell 3v3 Registration Open
Podtacular's Dust Storm let us know that the tournament we mentioned a couple of days ago is now open for registration. Full rules for the 3v3 tourney are in this thread. You can win a copy of Reach, or MS Points, or a 1-month LIVE card. Registration is free (though they'd love a small donation per team, to defray costs). Go sign up! (Louis Wu 19:37:28 UTC) (permalink)

Top Ten Halo Screenshots: Star Wars
The theme this week on the Top Ten Halo Screenshots feature at halo3screenshots.com is 'Star Wars' - some really, really nice shots. Go look! (Louis Wu 16:35:40 UTC) (permalink)

R.A.T. Race
FyreWulff stopped in with final pics of his Rat Race remake for Halo 3; I'm guessing he could get closer in Forge World, but this is a pretty impressive effort. Read the post for all the thought that went into it! (There's a video and a download link, as well - didn't want to imply it's just pictures.) (Louis Wu 16:32:29 UTC) (permalink)

GTTV on Reach World
Last night, GTTV had a bit of Halo content - if you missed it, you can watch it online at GameTrailers.com. There's an interview with Brian Jarrard about Forge World - and a couple of seconds of a Forge World version of Sanctuary (it looks awesome, but i wish I could see more of it). Thanks to Zen Volta for the direct link. (Louis Wu 16:30:59 UTC) (permalink)

Nowhere to Run
Now, I realize there are millions of these moments, but pete_the_duck took the time to document this one: the end of a game of Onslaught, an Infection variant he created where zombies drive vehicles. Nice pano of the scene... and a great video showing off the moment. Brought a smile to my face... (Louis Wu 16:29:56 UTC) (permalink)

Campaign Trailer - now a TV ad
A shortened version of the Campaign Trailer Bungie released this week has been seen on TV; it contains an added scene at the end that isn't in the original. Letters linked to a YouTubed version of the ad, along with a great animated gif he made of the extra scene. (As always, skip if you're going campaign-dark.) (Louis Wu 16:29:11 UTC) (permalink)

Yes, Halo 3 will continue
I don't think this'll be a surprise to anyone - but Halo 3 matchmaking will continue after Reach comes out. Brian Jarrard talked a little bit to Digital Spy about how things might change after September - but we've already seen this pattern (Halo 2 continued long after Halo 3 came out, and in fact would still be online today if it had been an Xbox 360 title originally), so there's nothing to be afraid of. Check it out. (Louis Wu 16:26:39 UTC) (permalink)

Give the fans what they don't know they want
ElusiveEagle519 pointed out a new Waypoint video interview with Chad and Lars - it's a really fun watch. Both guys are floating on the energy of ComicCon, and full of enthusiasm. Ten minutes of Bungie employees being visibly excited by their game, the fans, and how it all ties together - go see! (Louis Wu 16:23:05 UTC) (permalink)

Mega Bloks Figure Packs
Mr.Sci-fi pointed out some Halo figure packs... from Mega Bloks. I guess everyone's getting in on the action! (They look interesting.) (Louis Wu 16:19:53 UTC) (permalink)

NOW Gamer Pours on the Reach
ElusiveEagle519 pointed out three articles at NOW Gamer - a Reach Preview, an interview with Brian Jarrard and Niles Sankey about the game, and an interesting tidbit from Brian about how the Halo franchise has taught Bungie what to do (and what not to do), and how that will feed into the next franchise Bungie is building. Go read! (Louis Wu 16:18:18 UTC) (permalink)

A legendary MMOMFG contest
MMOMFG is giving away a copy of the Legendary Edition of Reach - swing by to read how you can toss your name in the hat! (Louis Wu 16:15:45 UTC) (permalink)

French interview with Bungie
NeoGAF's tomchoucrew pointed out an interview at Xboxygen (a French site) - they talked to Brian Jarrard and Niles Sankey, and posted the result. If you don't read French, the Google Translation is surprisingly reasonable. (If you have the Google Toolbar installed in your browser, the automatic translation is actually a little better... weird.) (Louis Wu 16:14:00 UTC) (permalink)

Firefight Snippet
IGN put up a very short (just over 30 second) clip of Firefight on Courtyard yesterday (thanks, Kibbles) - Grunts have gone from funny to scary-mean. (Check out the evil laugh at around 21 seconds.) (Louis Wu 16:12:14 UTC) (permalink)

Going overboard
DarthYoda19 pointed out a very depressing auction on eBay - someone sold their 'like-new' copy of Halo PC for $150. Folks - the 'flair' that Halo PC users will be receiving in Reach is pretty small, and not worth spending triple digits to grab; it's basically a 'thank you' to the folks who actually played the game, back in the day, not a treasure to fight over. Sales like this will make everyone but the seller unhappy in the long run... (Louis Wu 16:11:32 UTC) (permalink)

TPP: Rocket Race
Brian Gilmore let us know that the latest Teabag Prevention article is up at Geekscape - it covers Rocket Race, which is (not coincidentally) this week's Double EXP Weekend playlist. Go read for tips on coming out on top! (Louis Wu 16:10:54 UTC) (permalink)

News July 30 2010

Rawkin' Hunters and moving cones
The Bungie Weekly Update is live - it's not the monster that urk released last week, but it's still pretty meaty. Lots of cool shots of maps created by Bungie employees in Forge World, lots of snapshots of their new offices, a couple of really sweet videos... and baby talk. Go read it! (You can, of course, check it out in our Weekly Update Archive, where all the html validates, and nothing overwhelms slower machines...) (Louis Wu 22:47:57 UTC) (permalink)

No, not the car
The Reach Developer Blog awakes, with a note from Joe Tung, discussing Xbox Certification (Reach was released to the process a few days ago) - the number of steps to take before Reach is in your hands is getting smaller every day! Go read. (Louis Wu 22:09:55 UTC) (permalink)

Brother
chromeratt let us know about 'Brother', a new fan comic; you can read it on their site, or download it as a PDF. 16 pages... nice quality work! (Louis Wu 19:06:12 UTC) (permalink)

Kept the familiar, added the interesting
Another hands-on - this one from thesixthaxis. They liked it. Go read. (Louis Wu 17:43:42 UTC) (permalink)

One Shot to Kill Them All
urk highlighted a video showing off what might be the luckiest snipe ever... a blind shot, fired at the start of a level 49 TS game, ricochets and kills THE ENTIRE OPPOSING TEAM. Not too shabby! (Louis Wu 17:40:36 UTC) (permalink)

The Long Haul: Day One: Part One
Adam Susskind told Bungie.net that he's kicking off a new Halo comic - it's currently unfinished, but if you like it, he might finish it. Part 1 is up now. (Louis Wu 17:38:01 UTC) (permalink)

Xbox360Achievements Reach Hands-On
Xbox 360 Achievements also got a chance to play Reach yesterday - their Hands-On Preview is up now. Thanks, AfroRyan. (Louis Wu 17:33:10 UTC) (permalink)

McFarlane Reach Collector Boxed Set
Mr.Sci-fi pointed out preview pics of the new Reach 4-pack Collector Boxed Set from McFarlane - Jorge, Emile, an Elite Minor, and a Green Spartan Mark V. (Louis Wu 17:31:24 UTC) (permalink)

Reaching for the Stars
Eurogamer also has an interview with Brian Jarrard and Niles Sankey (thanks, Hypertrooper) - Reach, what comes next, Master Chief. (Solid confirmation is included that Master Chief will NOT appear in Reach's Campaign.) It's a great read - lots of insight into the team and its philosophy. (Louis Wu 17:26:54 UTC) (permalink)

Campaign is King
Another Reach preview (and the same screens) can be found at Eurogamer - thanks, Deadly Cyclone. (Louis Wu 17:13:04 UTC) (permalink)

Winter Contingency/Outpost Screens
Computer and Video Games has ten new screenshots from the first campaign level (we saw the multiplayer iteration of it during the beta) and a new Firefight level (that's a big gun!). No spoilers, unless you consider those emu things to be spoilers. (Eep! Sorry!) Thanks, TravisSch. (Louis Wu 17:06:50 UTC) (permalink)

Prototype Abridged
cbwilliams17 created a video called 'Prototype Abridged' - it's a shorter version of the Halo Legends story. Shorter... and considerably funnier. Go watch. C'mon, it's only 6 minutes long. He kids because he loves. (Louis Wu 17:04:32 UTC) (permalink)

Fire Team Zulu: Taxpayer Dollars
Ready for another Fire Team Zulu challenge from FyreWulff and friends? This one is called Taxpayer Dollars, and it's a campaign challenge on Kizingo Blvd. (It's harder than it sounds - the most common tools are verboten.) (Louis Wu 17:04:14 UTC) (permalink)

VGL on PBS - airing soon!
Video Games Live's PBS airing kicks off soon (in some cities, as soon as tomorrow) - you can find a partial list of showtimes on this page, but if your area's not listed, check the PBS website for more info. (Louis Wu 13:57:22 UTC) (permalink)

Friday Caption Fun, Round 103
The latest episode of Friday Caption Fun is now live at Hawty McBloggy's - captions from last week, and a new pic that needs your help to find its true glory. Go play! (Louis Wu 13:44:28 UTC) (permalink)

Don't Ask
I missed it a week ago, but Virtual Shackles put up a Reach-based comic that looks at the Hologram armor ability... and Nathan Fillion. Heh. (Louis Wu 13:37:16 UTC) (permalink)

The Faces Behind the Voices
Kotaku posted up a short feature showing off some real-life people behind the voices of your favorite video games; Halo's Master Chief and his voice, Steve Downes, made the list. Thanks, Avateur. (Louis Wu 13:36:48 UTC) (permalink)

CAA Desktop
UNSC Trafalgar whipped up a background image for a Motorola Droid (though given that it's a centered image on a black background, it would work for almost ANY screen). Nice logo for the CAA! (Louis Wu 13:36:24 UTC) (permalink)

LEGO M6C/SOCOM Pistol
shieldtron put together a LEGO-based M6C pistol - nice work! (Louis Wu 13:35:42 UTC) (permalink)

Xbox.com Character Profiles
The BS Police noticed that Xbox.com has posted character profiles for each member of Noble Team (well, except for Noble Six) - they're not as detailed as Bungie's Character Profiles, and they're CERTAINLY not as detailed as the profiles that Game Informer posted this past January, but they're a nice summary. (Louis Wu 13:34:59 UTC) (permalink)

IGN Rewind Theater: Battle Begins Trailer
IGN has put together a 'Rewind Theater' feature analyzing the new Reach Campaign trailer; there are a couple of missteps, and you'd get more info from folks who knew a bit more Halo lore, but in general, it's a good recap that might show off bits you missed the first (or tenth) time through. Thanks, Kibbles. Update: TravisSch pointed out a short text piece that goes along with this. (It should go without saying that if you skipped the Battle Begins trailer to avoid spoilers, you should skip deconstructions of this trailer.) (Louis Wu 13:34:16 UTC) (permalink)

Looking for a Leader
That UK-specific 'find the best Halo players' contest we mentioned yesterday has a landing page on Xbox.com - check it out for more details. (Louis Wu 13:33:35 UTC) (permalink)

Friday's Fan Fiction
Just a couple of new pieces for you this week in the Fan Fiction section - check 'em! (Louis Wu 13:31:11 UTC) (permalink)

News July 29 2010

Jurkalicious
urk continues his work on his Forged map, Jurkout - and continues documenting the process. Incompetent Cartographer 3 focuses on spawn views - both those that the spawner sees, and those that the opponents see. New visualization aids got him thinking... and the map continues to improve. Go see! (Louis Wu 22:37:42 UTC) (permalink)

The Battle Begins MP3 (Extracted)
DHalo extracted the music from "The Battle Begins" for folks who want to enjoy Marty's gloriousness on their audio player of choice - sounds great! (Louis Wu 22:30:38 UTC) (permalink)

Old Halo figures for sale
mads is selling some older rare action figures - check his post for details! (Louis Wu 22:30:01 UTC) (permalink)

Some 'specials' are more special than others.
Yeah, so remember a couple of days ago, how there was a teaser for some special announcement to be made in London today? Well... that special announcement was about a Microsoft-compiled 'Super Squad' - some celebrities (well, almost-celebrities, i guess) will play against a team of halo players on Launch Day. To get in on the action, folks in the UK will have to compete in events over the next few weeks. Hrm. Thanks, TravisSch. (Louis Wu 22:29:19 UTC) (permalink)

Halo: Reach Afterhours Event
TravisSch noticed that Gamestop has a special landing page for a Halo Reach event that will take place at select Gamestop stores around the US a week from tomorrow - looks like a video event starring Tom 'TSquared' Taylor. Folks who show up will be eligible to win some cool prizes - and there will be 'exclusive Halo: Reach footage' shown. More details at Gamestop.com! (Louis Wu 22:28:47 UTC) (permalink)

20 Questions: Mac and Cheese
Willy let us know that he's posted 20 Questions with Mike and Cheese on CE United. Go learn more about this music making maniac! (Louis Wu 22:28:08 UTC) (permalink)

Reach Comparison Shot
onebitrocket put together a pair of images - one from the Reach Reveal trailer (back in December), the other from today's campaign trailer. The graphics have come quite a long way in 8 months! (Louis Wu 14:33:46 UTC) (permalink)

The Battle Begins
A one-minute campaign trailer for Halo Reach has been released by Bungie - it does an amazing job of showing off the beauty of the game. A picture is worth a thousand words... and a minute's worth of pictures can be priceless. Go grab a copy at Bungie.net. (If you're looking to avoid EVERY SCRAP of campaign footage before you play, don't watch this. There are no spoilers - but there ARE areas we've never seen before.) Update: It's on YouTube now, too. Update 2: I was wrong; upon closer examination of the video, there IS, at least, one (indirect) story spoiler included. (You have to make some inferences - but it's definitely stuff that folks who want to remain campaign-dark would want to stay away from.) (Louis Wu 13:01:09 UTC) (permalink)

21 million strong, and growing
IGN has sorted the Halo games by total sales, based on NPD data - Halo 3 is the top-selling game in the series. Thanks, Morpheus. (Louis Wu 12:53:31 UTC) (permalink)

Podtacular's Halo 3 Farewell 3v3 Tourney
Dust Storm let us know that Podtacular is hosting a Farewell 3v3 tournament for Halo 3 - go read all the rules on their website, and get in the game! (Louis Wu 12:47:34 UTC) (permalink)

Detonate the Pillar of Autumn!
In last night's episode of 'Psych', a couple of characters play a few seconds of splitscreen on Powerhouse in the Halo Reach Beta - while spouting nonsense dialogue. We've put up a clip (no episode spoilers). Thanks, GrimBrother IV. (Louis Wu 12:40:48 UTC) (permalink)

Hedge Loves Halo. Long Time.
We knew it was coming - just not quite so soon. Hedgemony stopped in last night to confirm that his collection of retouched Halo screenshots at Hedgemony Loves HALO has now topped 500 images. He hit 300 on July 6, 400 on July 19, and 500 on July 28 - he's getting FASTER! Go look - these pictures are amazing. (Louis Wu 12:27:46 UTC) (permalink)

Hmm... doesn't LOOK like worms...
Hawty McBloggy found a video of a Hunter cosplay costume at San Diego ComicCon - that guy's huge! (Louis Wu 12:25:56 UTC) (permalink)

News July 28 2010

Drowning in Fun
urk has posted Incompetent Cartographer 2, the second installment of his "look what I can do with Forge 2.0!" project. Lots of cool pics, and gorgeous building blocks... but I gotta say, if I find myself falling into deep water because the walkway I'm supposed to use is too hard to see because it's submerged, I'm gonna hurt that boy... (Louis Wu 23:21:00 UTC) (permalink)

One Ring to Rule them All
You might have noticed a small logo at the bottom of our navbar - HaloRing is a new webring of some of the largest and most active Halo websites online. The pretty flash design was put together by Firestream, the man behind sites like HaloCharts, Halo Challenges, and HaloSphere. It's a one-stop window into the best Halo goodness online! Check it out. (Louis Wu 21:11:41 UTC) (permalink)

Pinnacle Fly-Through
Want a better look at Pinnacle (the remake of Ascension on Forge World)? IGN has a short (50 second) fly-around of the map, in Forge mode. Looks like it adheres pretty closely to the original! Thanks, Gravemind. (Louis Wu 20:59:59 UTC) (permalink)

LEGO Sabre
Over on Forward Unto Dawn's forum, Stalid Autumn posted pics of his LEGO Sabre from Reach... there are even takeoff effects! Go see. Thanks, Dani. (Louis Wu 20:44:59 UTC) (permalink)

RIP Choppy
In case anyone was still unsure about whether or not the Chopper would grace Reach's sandbox... urk says "The Chopper is gone". Oh, Choppy, how we'll miss you... (Louis Wu 20:41:44 UTC) (permalink)

Rampant
urk highlighted a Goosetage today on Bungie.net - 7 minutes of splatters, flips, and brokeback shooting. Makes me wanna get on a goose! (Louis Wu 17:07:08 UTC) (permalink)

What's New in Reach, Summarized
Brian Jarrard gave an interview to the GameTrailers folks - it's mostly a summary of known info, but it's a NICE summary. Worth listening to, if only to hear the entire schpiel in 3 minutes! Thanks to NeoGAF's Hypertrooper for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 16:54:07 UTC) (permalink)

Vidmaster Classic - in 2:31
FunkyFunkyFunky set a Guinness World Record for the fastest running of the Vidmaster Classic in Halo 3: ODST - what's funny is that the run on Bungie.net's front page has been beaten by two seconds (again by FunkyFunkyFunky, a couple of days ago), but the video's not rendered yet. 2:31 to finish Uplift Reserve on Legendary... wow. Update: Rendered now. (Louis Wu 16:36:06 UTC) (permalink)

Hemorrhage gameplay
A new voltron64x-uploaded gameplay vid from SDCC is online (thanks, Voltron64 - and hotshot revan for bringing it to our forum). It shows off gameplay on Hemorrhage (the Blood Gulch remake). It's definitely shakeycam footage... but man, I can't wait. (That Revenant looks MEAN.) Some extra impressions from Voltron64 are here. (Louis Wu 12:59:17 UTC) (permalink)

PC Key Flair, Clarified
Hey You pointed out that Sawnose clarified some of the confusion surrounding the Halo PC CD Key info posted yesterday:

• If you entered the multiplayer game lobby between 2003 and May 2010, your key works.
• If you used Halo 1 for Mac, you're included.
• If you own Halo 2 for PC, this is NOT included.
• Halo 1 for Xbox is NOT included.
• If you never played multiplayer or if you've lost your key, you're out of luck.
• What you'll get is a bit of visual flair - no flames, no armor, nothing you can buy. Just something to indicate you've been part of a particular community.

Seems pretty straightforward - thanks, Sawnose! (Louis Wu 12:58:21 UTC) (permalink)

Rooster Teeth Q and A from SDCC
Halo Waypoint has posted the Q&A session done by the Rooster Teeth panel at San Diego Comic Con, in a couple of parts (part one | part two). (The rest of the RT presentation was video that is going to wait for a proper showing on RedvsBlue.com.) Some really interesting info! Thanks, darthbob. (Louis Wu 12:57:37 UTC) (permalink)

Brotherhood
TDSpiral stopped in with word of a new piece of fan art - he calls it 'Brotherhood'; it's got a great vibe! Go see. (Louis Wu 12:55:49 UTC) (permalink)

Across This New Divide
New video from AssaultGodzilla - 'Across This New Divide' contains amazing choices of appropriate footage to match the lyrics. I don't think, if you'd asked beforehand, that I'd have believed that you could tie together such disparate video sources into such a cohesive whole. Go watch. (Louis Wu 12:54:22 UTC) (permalink)

Elite Unleashed
The latest Chronicles of ODS Steve went live this morning at Hawty McBloggy's - Elite Unleashed lets me know that I have absolutely NO idea what's going on in this strip any more. (Hey, while you're over there... she's got winners up for the T-shirt giveaway she kicked off last week; go see what people do do photos of Hawty and an ODST!) (Louis Wu 12:53:36 UTC) (permalink)

News July 27 2010

Gate Race
Nosolee noticed a new vid at IGN.com - 'Gate Race' shows off a minute-long Mongoose run through a race gametype. My GOODNESS that looks great going through water... (Louis Wu 22:36:08 UTC) (permalink)

Incompetent Cartographer
Wes pointed out a new feature at Bungie.net - urk grabbed the reins of Forge 2.0, and documented how ridiculously simple it looks to build a new map. Imagine those tools in the hands of someone who knows what they're doing... (Louis Wu 22:34:55 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Universe Panel at SDCC
Halo Waypoint has put up a recording from the SDCC Halo Universe panel, in six parts (one | two | three | four | five | six). Part one is the recap of the Halo franchise up to this point - the rest is the panel itself. Interesting conversation with Frank O'Connor, Greg Bear, Eric Raab, Karen Traviss, Peter David, and Kevin Grace! (Louis Wu 19:18:04 UTC) (permalink)

Ouch! Trailer
Slushy sent word of a trailer for 'Ouch!' - a funtage coming from a group of Argentinian Halo players. Take a look! (Louis Wu 19:03:37 UTC) (permalink)

Reach Announcement in London Thursday?
Hrm... looks like there'll be some sort of invite-only event this coming Thursday in London - and some Reach information will be unveiled there. Thanks to ElzarTheBam, for noticing the mention on CVG. (Louis Wu 17:30:12 UTC) (permalink)

ComicCon Pics (including Halo stuff)
Darknesshasfallen took a bunch of pics at ComicCon - some of them have Halo content. If you've got a Facebook account, you can browse the collection there; if you don't, he's put it up on MySpace, as well. (Louis Wu 17:11:58 UTC) (permalink)

Just Another Tuesday Montage...
Hmm, that title doesn't work so well on days other than Monday. In any case, it's video time at Bungie.net again!

• Pure is a Halo Fan Art montage - boatloads of very cool artwork I've never seen before. I wish I knew where to find the originals!
• Anoj released a new 'Bungie Explains' - he summarizes the SDCC releases (Forge World, console, and last week's ridiculously long Update). If you can't read, and have a really short attention span, this is for you!
• Zoxin It Up! LIVE is now no longer live - it's pre-recorded. The July episode includes an interview with CMNeir, along with a bunch of other stuff. There's no easy way to link to all the parts (there are five segments, separated a couple of times by 'commercial breaks') - you need to click through from piece to piece as you go. Total length seems to be about 40 minutes.
• Unidentified Failing Object 4 is a funtage - or so it says. Looks like a bunch of totally random clips to me. (Also has some of the most annoying music ever included in a Halo vid.)

There should be SOMETHING in there for you... (Louis Wu 17:07:12 UTC) (permalink)

He's always close by.
Red vs Blue Revelation Chapter 14 ("Reconfiguration") went live last night - again, there are two versions, one for the public, one for sponsors. (The two unique scenes in the sponsor video are not necessary for the overall storyline, and would have been cut - they've run out of room on the DVD - but were left in as a sponsor bonus.) Tex listens more, punches less. (I GUESS this is a good thing...) (Louis Wu 14:31:32 UTC) (permalink)

Mmm... cake.
Hawty McBloggy found a pretty cool little Halo 2-inspired grenade cake at jimmy cakes... looks delicious! (Louis Wu 14:25:49 UTC) (permalink)

Update on Reach/Halo PC link
JAY132 revisited the idea of a Reach unlock based on your Halo PC CD Key (this was first floated during the Bungie Day 2009 Podcast; Roger 'Sawnose' Wolfson hinted that folks who have access to their 25-character Halo PC CD Key from back in the day would get a little bonus in Reach) - Sawnose stepped in to clarify. The upshot for users: if you HAVE a Halo PC code (and Sawnose suggests that it NOT be a keygen-created code or a newly-bought code; they're going to be validating codes against a list that had been seen by the authentication server as of earlier this year), check back a couple of weeks before Reach ships, and you'll be told what to do with your code. Hey You started a thread on our forum - there's some info in there for folks who have questions. (Louis Wu 14:23:25 UTC) (permalink)

MC Sketch
Leviathan noticed a new bit of Halo artwork from Leinil Yu. Last we heard from him was back in 2007... (Louis Wu 14:22:17 UTC) (permalink)

More Firefight vids
More goodies from Halo Waypoint - there are a pair of HD Firefight Versus films on their YouTube channel. Go check out Courtyard and Overlook! (The Overlook video has several examples of a the Hologram Armor Ability used successfully - looks pretty cool!) (Louis Wu 14:21:58 UTC) (permalink)

News July 26 2010

Panoramas, Revisited
Minime637 put up a few panoramas built from nearly-forgotten Reach Beta screens (and some Halo 3 stuff, too). Nice! (Louis Wu 23:03:38 UTC) (permalink)

Overlooked SDCC Coverage
I managed to miss an entire Halo-related thread recently at NeoGAF, and therefore missed some content that made it out this weekend: Gamepro put up a Multiplayer Review written by Dan Hsu (thanks, Lazslo) and IGN hosted a Forge Preview (thanks, Deadly Cyclone). Go read! (Louis Wu 23:01:08 UTC) (permalink)

Waypoint's Reach Panel Recording - final bits
Didn't notice this last night, but the original four parts of the Halo Reach panel just covered up to where the Forge World ViDoc was shown to the audience; I thought that's where they ended recording. However, two more segments have been posted; Part 5 is the ViDoc (with some fan clapping at the end), while Part 6 is the close of the panel, with Sketch describing the Reach packaging options and the Reach Xbox... and a bit more. (Surprisingly, the Q&A session at the end is NOT included.) Go watch! (Louis Wu 20:53:39 UTC) (permalink)

TRR Podcast with Burnie Burns
It's time for another Running Riot Podcast - it'll be broadcast live, next Tuesday, August 2, at 9:30 pm. Guest is Rooster Teeth's Burnie Burns! Be sure to tune in. Thanks, urk. (Louis Wu 18:43:19 UTC) (permalink)

Just Another Montage Monday
Not getting enough montages in your diet? Might I suggest Metamucil? Alternatively, you could try Bungie's Comm Chatter; today they've got a LOT.

• The Animatage is a actually pretty cool - thestrangestick redid the Halo 3 HUD with a crayon - decent gameplay, and great editing, nice combo!
• Contractus is a tritage, with gameplay from Kampy, Nv1ncible, and Poisonous Slinky - very nice editing, lots of great gameplay.
• Red Bull Sniper's Serious Business is billed as 'funtage' - I could do with less teamkilling, but otherwise it was fun.
• The Bottom Line is a community Trick video put together by HIH - some very nice jumps!

Go watch 'em all... and if you see urk, be sure to tell him to have a funday (oh oh whoa)! Oh... and while you're in the montage frame of mind... Halo3Forum's Halo 3 Movie Competition is in the voting phase - swing by and vote! (Louis Wu 18:40:08 UTC) (permalink)

Reach Console Bundle Exclusive in the UK
If you live in the UK, and you want a Halo: Reach Limited Edition Xbox 360, you need to go look into your nearest GAME or Gamestation; the console is exclusive to those stores on the British Isles. (Louis Wu 15:21:15 UTC) (permalink)

A little info about challenges
ZaneZavin pointed out an article at IGN that focuses on the customization options for Reach. Most of the information has been covered in a number of other places - but there's a bit on the Daily Challenges that you might find interesting:

Each day a new challenge will appear, which you can learn simply by being signed into Xbox Live and scrolling down to the Challenge portion of the menu. Complete the challenge and you'll get "a significant number of credits."

There may be some crazy conditions that need to be met, including playing on specific levels with specific skulls turned on. Just setting up a game could be a chore -- or at least it could be if Bungie wasn't doing all of the work for you. When you scroll to a specific challenge, all you have to do is hit the A Button to accept it. From there, the game will automatically set up a lobby with all of the specific conditions needed to meet the challenge already set up for you.

That sounds like Bungie's made participating in the Challenge arena a no-brainer for most people! (Louis Wu 13:58:06 UTC) (permalink)

Goodbye My Friend
Sebastiaan Scheers sent us word of 'Goodbye My Friend', a Bungie Day-inspired Halo 3 tribute. It runs through most (all?) of the Multiplayer maps. (Some transitions are better than others.) It's not quite goodbye yet - Reach doesn't come out for another month and a half - but go reminisce! (Louis Wu 13:57:41 UTC) (permalink)

MCT3K Season 4 Finale
Pyrosmile has released the Season 4 finale for their Master Chief Theater 3000 - it covers the Coastal Highway scenes from ODST (and the epilogue). Good to see these scenes again... though this is a slightly different take. (Louis Wu 12:08:42 UTC) (permalink)

Emile-a239 Fan Art
TDSpiral put together a really nice pic of Emile - go see! (Louis Wu 12:08:23 UTC) (permalink)

343i panel summary
Gamespot has summarized what took place during the 343 Industries panel at ComicCon yesterday - if you haven't been following the forums, this is a nice summary! Thanks, serpx. (Louis Wu 12:07:57 UTC) (permalink)

More Dongage from DMR
LightningNC noticed that in the Firefight videos from SDCC, the DMR no longer has 12 bullets in its magazine, it now has 15. Nice bonus! Update: RvB regular sithhead2 pointed out that this information was released in the Mayish Bungie Podcast - Chris Carney explained that this increase (and the Needle Rifle bump from 16 to 21 needles) allowed for 3 perfect kills before a reload was required. Guess it's still nice to see in action! (Louis Wu 12:07:38 UTC) (permalink)

News July 25 2010

Off-screen multiplay roundup
Minime637 dug up a passel of gameplay links - Gruntpocalypse games in Firefight, some Rocketplay Gameplay, and footage of Pinnacle and The Cage. Go watch! (Louis Wu 23:07:02 UTC) (permalink)

Noble Team Desktop
DHalo made his own Noble Team Logo Desktop - shiny! (Louis Wu 23:06:28 UTC) (permalink)

Reach Accessories can be preordered
Major Nelson tweeted Amazon pre-order links for the Wireless Reach Controller and the Wireless Reach Headset - looks like both are out on August 17. The controller comes with a code for a Banshee avatar for Xbox LIVE! Thanks to James Center, who found this on 360Junkies. (Louis Wu 23:05:55 UTC) (permalink)

ASE 19 - Recent Bungie ViDocs
Rampancy.net released Episode 19 of their Anger, Sadness and Envy podcast - it focuses on the last two ViDocs from Bungie (Deja View and Forge World) 23 minutes, with Narcogen and Blackstar. Go listen! (Louis Wu 15:23:21 UTC) (permalink)

Another pair of Reach Desktops
coreross created another pair of simple-but-elegant desktops for your use - one utilizes the UNSC logo, the other shows off the Noble Team logo. Go see! (Louis Wu 15:22:40 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Waypoint Goodies from ComicCon
The Halo Waypoint team has been pretty busy at ComicCon - they posted a new (high-quality) 4-part recording of the Reach panel (Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4), along with a new Interview with RvB's Geoff Ramsey. Go watch! (Their own panel kicks off at 11am PT - a couple of hours from now.) (Louis Wu 15:21:58 UTC) (permalink)

Disclaimer
At Hawty McBloggy, the latest Grin + Bear It looks at what Bungie might have done for gender parity... if they were working on an Adult-rated title. (Louis Wu 15:21:18 UTC) (permalink)

News July 24 2010

Forge World Q and A: Round Two
Ferrex came back for another round of Forge World questions - and again, we've made them a little easier to read. Boatloads of interesting information - give it a good read! (Louis Wu 20:53:23 UTC) (permalink)

Noble Team, Up Close
Kotaku has posted a gallery for the Square Enix Noble Team figures, if you want to get some nice close-up looks. Thanks, Avateur. (Louis Wu 20:52:55 UTC) (permalink)

ONI Desktops
coreross whipped up a pair of simple but beautiful screenshots, based on ONI's logo. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 20:52:24 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Custom Edition News
We heard from Dennis Powers about a bunch of new maps from the Community Mapping Team (CMT G3 Vestigial, CMT G3 Ruins, CMT G3 Mousetrap, and CMT G3 Augur), along with 240692 from Jepr (inspired by Narrows) and Pitfall by MoooseGuy (unique water feature). These are just a few of the 68 new files added in July. We also heard from Higuy about Lumoria - there's a new video showing off the map along with news and screenshots to fill out the details. Pretty impressive! (Louis Wu 20:51:42 UTC) (permalink)

Reach 360 Design Comments
Long day, no time for Halo (::sadface::) - lessee what we got. First up: small article at Wired.com about the Reach 360 - nice little interview on the design. Thanks, Mark V. (If you want to hear the sound this puppy makes when you boot it up, watch this vid.) (Louis Wu 20:51:10 UTC) (permalink)

urk sez 'NOBODY SCOOPS ME'
I'm pretty sure the Bungie Weekly Update this week sets all sorts of records for length, number of topics, number of embedded videos, number of screenshots, number of interviews... it's insane. I'm not even going to TRY to summarize it for you - just go read it. You'll find a far cleaner version in our Weekly Update Archive, if you need it. (Louis Wu 02:01:43 UTC) (permalink)

News July 23 2010

SDCC Reach Panel on YouTube
The Halo Reach Panel is now up on YouTube - go watch! Thanks, Letters. (Louis Wu 20:09:16 UTC) (permalink)

Waypoint Content Explosion - with Forklifts
Minime637 also pointed out the boatload of new content you can find on Halo Waypoint. For the most part, we leave Waypoint material on Waypoint... but their Fun with Forklifts video was too funny to pass up. It's just a minute long; you can download HD versions from us in QuickTime or WMP9 (about 30mb), or stream it in 480p. I wanna drive a forklift! (Louis Wu 19:20:49 UTC) (permalink)

Inside Xbox: SDCC Coverage
Minime637 pointed out an Inside Xbox feature containing an interview with Chris Carney - we've made it available on the web, for folks without access to LIVE. You can download HD versions in QuickTime format (64mb) or WMP9 format (75mb), or watch it streaming in 480p. Highlights include a nice description of Firefight Versus mode, and footage of a Revenant in action. Go watch! (Louis Wu 18:21:36 UTC) (permalink)

Reach Wireless Headset
AfroRyan noticed that Kotaku has a small article on the Reach themed wireless headset - it's attractive! Go look. $50, available in late August. (Louis Wu 18:16:03 UTC) (permalink)

Fancy Reach Selector Updated
onebitrocket updated his Halo Reach Edition Selector, with new info released by Bungie yesterday. Looks pretty nice! (Louis Wu 18:15:25 UTC) (permalink)

Reach Stage Demo
In going over John_117's video list, I found a GameSpot-hosted 15-minute stage demo from ComicCon in which Sketch and Shishka show off Forge World and some other fun bits - lots of stuff to think about! Go watch. (Louis Wu 14:03:47 UTC) (permalink)

Reach Avatar Items available
xIIEnderIIx noticed that the new Reach Avatar items are now available on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. Some of those are pretty steep! (Louis Wu 14:03:31 UTC) (permalink)

Ferrex talks Forge World
Back in March, when the Arena was revealed, Ferrex spent a couple of hours answering fan questions on the Bungie.net forum. We pulled out his answers, reformatted them for easy reading, and posted a local archive. Last night, he did the same thing, this time for Forge World - and once again, we've put up a local collection of the questions he answered. (There's also one pulled from a totally separate thread - but the question - and its answer - are very relevant.) He's hoping to do another round tonight - but for now, read this batch; it's chock-full of Bungie goodness. (Louis Wu 13:24:09 UTC) (permalink)

Friday Caption Fun, Round 102
It's Friday, right? So there's probably a new Friday Caption Fun at Hawty McBloggy's, right? Right. She's got amusing responses to last week's pic, of course, and for this week's pic, she chose the Blame Stosh replacement pic Brian included in last Friday's Bungie Weekly Update. Go caption it. (Louis Wu 13:23:20 UTC) (permalink)

Fire Team Zulu: Spirit of the Wolf/Raceway
FyreWulff continues his Fire Team Zulu challenges, Forge World bombshells notwithstanding - today's choices include a Campaign challenge on Coastal Highway, and another on Tayari Plaza. (No Firefight challenges at all this week.) They both sound fun - go try 'em! (Louis Wu 13:22:59 UTC) (permalink)

G4's Liveblog, with Options
We mentioned yesterday that G4 was going to liveblog the Reach Panel at SDCC - they did. If you don't feel like reading the liveblog replay, Kaboris transcribed the whole shebang on our forum. Interesting read! (Louis Wu 13:22:23 UTC) (permalink)

New Firefight/MP screens
ElzarTheBam pointed out a thread on Bungie.net that links to a YouTube video showing off screenshots we haven't seen elsewhere yet. There's a warning that there might be Campaign spoilers mixed in here - but I'm pretty sure that's a totally baseless fear. What you WILL see are shots of an Ivory Tower remake that will cause the nostalgia to roll through in crashing waves. (There are also shots of other, as-yet-unreleased multiplayer maps.) (Louis Wu 13:21:43 UTC) (permalink)

ComicCon Video Library
John_117 collected all the video links he could find in one place - swing by and see what you might have missed! (Louis Wu 13:21:08 UTC) (permalink)

Acme Archives Direct talks Halo
Halo Waypoint interviewed a couple of employees from Acme Archives Direct, a company that prints Halo artwork (among other properties). Interesting discussion, and gorgeous pieces! Thanks, CaptainTony. (Louis Wu 13:20:18 UTC) (permalink)

Show Floor Firefight Shakeycam
GameTrailers has some Firefight video from the ComicCon show floor - same city map Bungie showed off at E3. If you can't play, at least you can watch. Thanks, AfroRyan. (Louis Wu 13:20:00 UTC) (permalink)

Forge World Demo at GameSpot
GameSpot has a great interview with Chad 'Shishka' Armstrong, discussing the ins and outs of Forge 2.0 and Forge World. Almost nine minutes of creativey goodness! Thanks again, Minime637. (There's a writeup, as well, at IGN - no video, but a couple of pages of description - soak it all in!) (Louis Wu 13:19:20 UTC) (permalink)

New vids from IGN
IGN posted a pair of vids - one shows off the Armory (at least what's in it from the start), the other previews Firefight - a bunch of new info about what we're in for in September. Thanks, Minime637. (Louis Wu 13:18:45 UTC) (permalink)

Friday's Fan Fiction
Only three new pieces in the Fan Fiction section this week - but it's a pretty interesting variety! Go read 'em. (Louis Wu 13:17:51 UTC) (permalink)

Forge World Screenshots
To really get a feel for Forge World, which will ship with Reach, Bungie's posted a few dozen new screenshots - swing by their website and browse! Warning: Gorgeosity Overload Imminent. (Louis Wu 10:06:21 UTC) (permalink)

Unboxing Reach
Another video is available today on Bungie.net, or watchable on YouTube; it's 3 Bungie bigwigs, showing off all the new retail goodies you'll be able to buy on September 14. (To my knowledge, Bungie's never done this before... but Reach is a slightly different beast than the games that preceded it.) They perform a full unboxing of the Limited and Legendary Editions of the game, with commentary... along with the unboxing of the brand-new Halo Reach Special Edition Xbox 360 Slim. (That puppy's pretty slick-looking...) The bundle comes with the 360, 2 custom Reach controllers, and the game, and will sell for $400 - but only for a limited time. Wow. (Louis Wu 10:01:31 UTC) (permalink)

Forge World
So yesterday, while your friendly neighborhood site updater was out until 2 am, Bungie turned the Halo world on its ear at San Diego ComicCon. We'll catch up at some point, but let's get started with the big stuff... and the biggest stuff was a new ViDoc explaining Forge World. It's ridiculous, and it's unexplainable in a paragraph of text, so visit Bungie.net, download the ViDoc in the flavor of your choice (or watch it on YouTube if you must), and then wipe up the drool, because nobody likes walking in drool. (Louis Wu 09:48:07 UTC) (permalink)

News July 22 2010

IMMA GAMER
The latest from Bryan Simon is a parody of Katy Perry's California Gurls... Reach, Halo 3 and ODST all get a mention. (Louis Wu 19:30:06 UTC) (permalink)

Reach Wireless Controller
IGN noticed a preorder page for a Reach Wireless Controller at Xbox.com - snazzy! Thanks, CaptainTony. (Louis Wu 19:03:13 UTC) (permalink)

Waypoint kicks off SDCC coverage
Harmanius pointed out a Halo Waypoint video kicking off the Halo coverage - includes screenshots of lots of action figure stuff, and an interview with the Square Enix team. Interesting stuff! (Louis Wu 16:31:20 UTC) (permalink)

Win RAM, Help Marissa
It's not strictly Halo-related... but it's a cause that's near and dear to our hearts, and it's a chance for you to walk away with $250 worth of Crucial RAM. Marissa's Bunny is a blog devoted to raising awareness for a condition called 'Infantile Spasms' - we've posted pictures in the past of Fairfax the Bunny participating in all sorts of Halo-related activities. (Check our news archive for details, if this isn't ringing a bell.) Well, we got word from Marissa's dad Mike - they've got a new giveaway going on, and you could win up to $250 in Crucial RAM, simply by visiting the blog and leaving a note. (Full details are in the 'Giveaway The Third' blog post.) So what are you waiting for? Go enter! (Louis Wu 14:38:52 UTC) (permalink)

Keeping up, even if you're not in SD
Last night, Dani noticed a page at G4TV - looks like they'll be liveblogging the Halo Reach Press Conference tonight at ComicCon. Be there! (Louis Wu 14:16:21 UTC) (permalink)

Reach Limited Edition Guide has goodies
Over at NeoGAF, The Crawf pointed out a link for the Halo: Reach Limited Edition Guide. It's a normal guide in a lot of senses - has maps, walkthroughs, Achievement hints... but it also has an "[e]xclusive 96 page developer's diary with concept art and personal commentary from the design team at Bungie studios." Wonga. I think that might sell a few extra of these to hardcore fans... (For folks in the US, Amazon has this for $23.99 (a dollar more than the UK version), available September 3 (almost 2 weeks earlier than the UK version).) (Louis Wu 14:13:44 UTC) (permalink)

Orbidome - 6 men enter...
ITSMYYARD stopped in with word of Orbidome, a gameshow set in the Halo space. There are already 6 episodes online; teams of contestants take on challenges to gain points, with the intention of winning prizes. (Not sure what the prizes are...) Check it out! (Louis Wu 14:09:43 UTC) (permalink)

Limited Edition Poster for SDCC Reach Players
Duncan pointed out a BungieTweets Twitpic - it's a poster being given away to folks playing Reach on the ComicCon floor. Looks like Forge is back, baby... and has some new features! (Louis Wu 14:09:14 UTC) (permalink)

Play Arts Noble Team pics
Harmanius noticed a pair of pics tweeted by HaloWaypoint (one | two) - they're showing off some high-quality figures being created by Square Enix Play Arts. (There's a whole gallery of shots at Figures.com, if you're interested.) They look pretty nice! (Louis Wu 14:08:44 UTC) (permalink)

News July 21 2010

Master Chief 1.17... mmm
bs angel sent word of a blog post at 'Gaming Bars and BBQ' - these guys whipped up three special drinks to celebrate Bungie Day earlier this month, and two of 'em are Halo-related. Go check 'em out... and if you're of age, test the recipes! (Louis Wu 20:58:32 UTC) (permalink)

Halo (among other games) on the go
juices, over at NeoGAF, pointed out this thread on the MLG forums - now THAT'S a LAN mobile. (Louis Wu 18:44:02 UTC) (permalink)

McFarlane Halo Vehicle Sell Sheets
AvatarofChaos noticed sell sheets for both the Warthog and the Ghost, coming soon from McFarlane, while browsing the Collectorate forum. Go see! (Louis Wu 18:33:58 UTC) (permalink)

Wednesday CC Vid Roundup
Couple of new vids for you today in Bungie.net's Comm Chatter:

• CruelLEGACEY put together a Bungie Day montage... lots of flaming helmets.
• Anoj is back with Top 10 Halo 3 Snipes (Ep 56) - lots and lots and lots of snipes.

Go watch! (Louis Wu 17:15:32 UTC) (permalink)

Look Before You Leap 3
Jump Theory is back with Look Before You Leap 3, a new collection of jaw-dropping jumps in Halo 3 multiplayer maps. Absolutely, absolutely worth watching. (It's available on YouTube, but the gorgeous 720p downloadable is currently only available on MegaUpload... sorry.) You really gotta wonder how long some of these took to perfect... thanks to RVideo for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 12:50:21 UTC) (permalink)

Wednesday Comic Roundup
Got a couple of new comics for you today - Chronicles of ODS Steve #75 ("Locked and Loaded") is live (I'm no longer sure what's going on), and TTL Demag0gue let us know about the latest Reclaimer ("Tapped Potential") - Barcode does a bit of explaining. Go check 'em out! (Louis Wu 12:50:03 UTC) (permalink)

Halo CE3
MattDratt stopped in with word of Halo CE3 - the upcoming Custom Edition Entertainment Expo. There's a trailer (volume is really, really low - I couldn't actually hear most of it), and a website with more info. Check it out! Update: audio's been improved in the trailer here. Thanks, MattDratt. (Louis Wu 12:49:47 UTC) (permalink)

Waypoint Tweets Up a Storm
Waypoint's getting busy on Twitter - there are a couple of recent tweets that might be of interest to you. They're bringing something new to San Diego this week (thanks, GrimBrother One), and will show it off soon; GLYPH added some details on timing (keep an eye out for 'Preview Night' tonight on Waypoint). Also, they're asking for questions about the Halo fiction (thanks, Hedgemony) - the ones they pick will be answered at the Halo Universe Panel on Sunday. (They've already chosen one from yesterday, but keep an eye on the feed; they'll solicit new questions again later today.) Finally, they announced that Karen Traviss will be writing a new series of Halo novels, starting with the sequel to Ghosts of Onyx. (Read the press release for full details.) Thanks to Urban Reflex for that last. Whew! Update: Traviss clarifies on her blog that the upcoming book is not exactly a sequel:

It isn't a sequel to Ghosts of Onyx in the sense that you mean a sequel, i.e. a continuation of the same story with the same cast- these novels are just set after it and follow the events of Halo 3. There'll be new characters and new storylines.

Thanks, hnc. (Louis Wu 12:49:12 UTC) (permalink)

Noble 7 Figure - Available Online
A few days ago, T07WRX5 let us know that the ComicCon Exclusive Noble 7 Action Figure was available for order on the web. Well, it turned out that Toys R Us was a little premature with the page... and while they didn't pull the entire page offline, they DID remove the 'Order Now' button. It was put back this morning, though, so if you're not going to ComicCon, but still want to get your hands on this figure, swing by and place an order! (Louis Wu 12:47:49 UTC) (permalink)

News July 20 2010

Signed Halo 2 Poster board for sale
kornman00 is selling a pretty cool bit of Halo memorabilia: a posterboard, signed by Bungie employees, showing off the cover of the Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack DVD. The auction has another week to run, starting bid is $75. Go look! (Louis Wu 18:34:32 UTC) (permalink)

Turn It Back
RedStar Media sent workd of 'Turn It Back', a music video for Halo Reach, utilizing clips from lots of live-action Halo stuff. Works pretty well! (Louis Wu 18:32:24 UTC) (permalink)

Comm Chatter Reopens
Woohoo - Bungie.net's back in the blog business! (Welcome back, urk!) Today's offerings include a couple of new vids:

• ChrisOfTheDead is back with Shenanigans 9 - six and a half minutes of funny situations and wtf moments.
• Urine This Together is a bizarre (but pretty funny) machinima that really shouldn't be explained.

While you're there, check out a post about a new ForgeHub map (it won a mapmaking contest) and a thumbs-up to ContactTango, of the Spartan I Project, for completing 500 successful Vidmaster Annual runs. Good stuff! (Louis Wu 18:25:24 UTC) (permalink)

Nikes in 2552 - whoda thunk?
Luke McKay whipped up a bit of fan art for RvB Revelation Chapter 13 - if you watched the public version, you might have trouble figuring out what this is about. (Louis Wu 13:46:59 UTC) (permalink)

Long Live Halo
Computer and Video Games points out that the CV of a 343 Industries employee lists current work as 'designing new levels and missions for the next Halo project' - evidence that the next Halo project is, indeed, underway. (This really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone; we knew about the Halo team as early as 2 years ago. Sooner or later, they HAD to start actually building a product, right?) Thanks, ElzarTheBam. (Louis Wu 13:33:55 UTC) (permalink)

Giving 'cat helmet' a whole new meaning
Hawty McBloggy ran across someone who makes Halo-inspired cat toys - pretty adorable! Go look. (Louis Wu 13:23:40 UTC) (permalink)

Blade's a bit harder...
Noticed a pretty cool Halo 3 Covenant Energy Sword hilt over at MOCpages - nice LEGO work! (Louis Wu 13:22:42 UTC) (permalink)

IGN Kill of the Week Catch-up
It's been a while since we mentioned the last IGN Top Kills of the Week video - since then, there was one released on July 7, and another released on July 16. Both have, as always, a bunch of attainable (but fun) kills that any of us could experience in Matchmaking. Go watch! (Louis Wu 13:16:43 UTC) (permalink)

Blue Baby?
The latest chapter of Red vs Blue: Revelation went live last night - Chapter 13, 'Battle of the Exes' opens up some pretty interesting possibilities! (There are two versions of this video - a public version, and a Sponsors-only version with an extended ending... an ending that raises some questions.) Go watch! (If you're confused by the final scene, there's a thread on our forum which might help.) (Louis Wu 12:31:00 UTC) (permalink)

News July 19 2010

This is your last chance...
If there was anything you wanted to save or watch that was created during the Halo Reach Beta, now would be the time to save or watch it. According to Bungie.net, tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon, they'll be disabling video rendering... and on Wednesday, all stats and files will be disabled. Gogogo! (Louis Wu 22:56:50 UTC) (permalink)

Master Chief's Pets (#4)
There's a new Master Chief's Pets up at Hawty McBloggy - only the names have changed. I'm starting to wonder about MC's brains... (Louis Wu 21:07:51 UTC) (permalink)

Reach beta gameplay trailer V2
2900d4u whipped up a new Reach Beta gameplay trailer to hype you up for Halo Reach - great energy! (Louis Wu 20:59:59 UTC) (permalink)

Marty wants your questions
TheClockworkRat pointed out a tweet from MartyTheElder - if you have questions about music/audio on Reach, he might even answer them! Check it out. (Louis Wu 20:49:38 UTC) (permalink)

Shirts and a hoodie at HT
Joshua Stone noticed a few cool items at Hot Topic - swing by his post for links! (Louis Wu 16:19:21 UTC) (permalink)

MC and ODST march for cancer relief
Sean Bradley sent word that he and another 405th moderator marched in an American Cancer Society Relay for Life walkathon - in full armor, in 100 degree heat. (Yes, they're officially crazy.) There's a writeup on the 405th forum, with a full gallery of the pics at Photobucket, and even a separate photoshoot of the ODST costume (pretty scenery!). Go browse! (Louis Wu 13:10:01 UTC) (permalink)

Wait... she wants us to put her clothes ON?
Hawty McBloggy has a T-shirt giveaway today - well, a t-shirt gift certificate giveaway, anyway. How do you win? You 'shop the picture she's provided - showing her and an ODST - by adding one of the Ts you can win. Swing by for full details - get to the photomanipulation! (Louis Wu 13:09:23 UTC) (permalink)

ASE 18: Reach Firefight
Last month, Rampancy.net released Episode 17 of their Anger, Sadness, and Envy podcast, focusing on the E3 Halo Reach reveals. Last night, Episode 18 came out, continuing the discussion, with a spotlight on Firefight. Go listen to Narcogen, Blackstar, and Miguel Chavez discuss Reach and what's coming. (Louis Wu 13:08:50 UTC) (permalink)

Halo: Blood Line in hardcover (in the UK)
Vincent pointed out that Halo: Blood Line is now available in hardcover at Amazon UK. (It won't be out in the US for another week and a half.) For folks who don't like hunting for a nearby comic store... here's your chance to read it! (Louis Wu 13:08:26 UTC) (permalink)

Reach Firefight Hands On Preview
Xbox360Achievements has posted a new Reach Firefight preview - they got some hands-on time this week, and wrote up their impressions. Thanks, Wes. (Louis Wu 13:07:59 UTC) (permalink)

Hedgemony Works Halo
Hedgemony updated our forum about his Hedgemony Loves Halo 'shopped screenshot site - it's now over 400 images. (The reason this blows me away is because we mentioned his hitting the 300-image milestone less than 2 weeks ago...) Go check out some of the newest material. It's amazing. (Louis Wu 13:07:25 UTC) (permalink)

News July 18 2010

Ode to Halo: Reach
Hawty McBloggy found a cool 'sounds of Halo used to make music' vid that's pretty well-done - nice synchronization! (She highlighted a slightly different asset, but then, she's Hawty...) (Louis Wu 22:09:52 UTC) (permalink)

Stephen Loftus' Scale Comparison, Updated
A couple of weeks ago, Halo Waypoint highlighted Stephen Loftus' Scale Chart of objects in the Halo universe; he redid his existing scale comparison to fit properly on a 720p TV screen. He also added a new top-level screen, showing the Halo Ring in the context of the Ark which built it. It's taken us a little while (what can I say, life's busy), but we've updated his local article to both include the new first level, and to give you the opportunity to view the entire Waypoint presentation on the web. (Well... at least the Waypoint-SIZED presentation.) Enjoy! (Louis Wu 17:41:47 UTC) (permalink)

Curse 'er.
Friday's Weekly Update showed off the Hologram Armor Ability - Stuntmutt saw humor in the situation. Go read a new One One Se7en. Then thank an old man for his contribution. (No, not ME, you idiot...) (Louis Wu 16:22:30 UTC) (permalink)

Dare 3D Render
Spartanx5 stopped in with a new piece of artwork - a render of Dare's Helmet from ODST. Nice work! (Louis Wu 16:14:25 UTC) (permalink)

Shop with the UNS-Etsy
Today's Grin + Bear It shows the dangers of letting armor customization go too far. Remember - this is a war, soldier! (Louis Wu 16:12:19 UTC) (permalink)

News July 17 2010

Top Ten Halo Screenshots: Rainbow
This week's Top Ten Halo Screenshots focuses on 'Rainbows' - from the trippy to the sublime. Go look! (Louis Wu 18:46:05 UTC) (permalink)

A Moment In Time
Tommy92L is back with 'A Moment In Time' - a man survives an apocalyptic event, and looks for help. Sometimes, things don't turn out the way you plan. A bit long, maybe... (This is part 1, apparently.) (Louis Wu 18:44:53 UTC) (permalink)

Marines Drive Better Now (24 chars)
Max Dyckhoff, clearly confused about the whole concept of Twitter, used his account to explain (part 1 | part 2 | part 3) how a bad assumption caused some awful AI driving in Halo 3 - but that this is fixed in Reach. (Max, Twitter limits you to 140 characters for a REASON, dude. Though if you're interested in expounding on the AI changes between Halo 3 and Reach, I'm more than happy to give you the space to say as much as you want to! Consider it a followup opportunity to your Halo 3 AI Behavior discussion.) Thanks, GhaleonEB. (Louis Wu 16:44:34 UTC) (permalink)

Reach's Falcon
BierWiser was thinking about the Falcon - and came up with a comic about it. Great art! (Louis Wu 16:43:44 UTC) (permalink)

Evolutions Art - and Deadline Extension
Leviathan posted up two pieces of art he created for into the Evolutions art contest - killer! (For those who hadn't heard, the deadline for submissions has been extended to July 31... so you have a few more days!) (Louis Wu 16:43:07 UTC) (permalink)

Aesthetic Artist Interview 16: WaiHo C
We meant to post this yesterday - but our posting intern forgot to put it up. (Needless to say, he's been fired. I guess I'm stuck with the job.) The Aesthetic Artist Interview series has awoken from its year-long slumber; COL0NEL SANDERS sent along an interview of WaiHo C, and some of his eye-catching Halo 3 screenshots. Good stuff - enjoy it! (Louis Wu 16:41:46 UTC) (permalink)

An Embarrassment of Riches
When Bungie employees compete to produce the most info-filled update ever... you win. The Bungie Weekly Update released last night is chock-full of status updates, strategies, difficulty descriptions, and multiplayer crowing. It also contains a quarter - a quarter - of the massive Chris Opdahl Q&A built from our forumgoers' questions. (The whole thing will get its own treatment in the near future.) There's also a reveal of most of the items available in the Armory on Day 1 (you can't USE them all on Day 1, but you can at least see them). This makes it clear that Steve Downes did, in fact, do Firefight voiceover work. (As did Jen Taylor, and Tim Dadabo, and Nathan Fillion, and Dave Scully.) And there's stuff about Xbox LIVE Avatars, including a freebie you can snag at some of the gaming conventions this summer. There's a bit more about multiplayer achievements, and why you shouldn't hate them. And there's a great screenshot that's just DYING to be used by Hawty's Friday Caption Fun. As always, if you have any trouble with Bungie.net, you can read this in our Weekly Update Archive. (Louis Wu 14:43:05 UTC) (permalink)

News July 16 2010

Game Play - fusing theater and videogames
Game Play is a festival running through July 25 at the Brick Theater in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It's a collection of shows that link theater with videogames - and one of the shows combines classical greek mythology with Halo 3. Go read about it in the New York Times! (Louis Wu 20:07:57 UTC) (permalink)

Fire Team Zulu: Night Nightmare/Boom Blvd
Ready for another Fire Team Zulu challenge? FyreWulff's got you covered. Night Nightmare is a Legendary Firefight challenge on Rally (Night), while Boom Blvd is a Normal Campaign challenge on Kizingo Blvd. Go play! (Louis Wu 18:25:23 UTC) (permalink)

Dream Maker
Curious about what might be coming later today in the Bungie Weekly Update? SketchFactor stopped by NeoGAF yesterday with some BODACIOUS info (I'm droolin')... and followed it up this morning with some timing info. Do yourself a favor - take the minute or two needed to read these two posts. You won't regret it. (Louis Wu 17:32:37 UTC) (permalink)

Friday's Fan Fiction
Totally forgot to update the Fan Fiction section this morning - it's hard to remember what day it is in summer! Go by and read, though - there are 2 new pieces. (I guess writers are taking it easy now, too...) (Louis Wu 17:22:50 UTC) (permalink)

TPP: Playing Well Without Others
Brian Gilmore let us know that the Teabag Prevention Team is back with another set of tips to keep you on your feet longer - this week, they're discussing how to play best in FFA lists. Check 'em out - then go practice in the Mythic Brawl list! (Louis Wu 17:00:46 UTC) (permalink)

Should game companies charge extra for online play?
Whee... fun. Michael Pachter, a well-known games industry analyst, is suggesting that the decline in game software sales in the US is due to 'the replay value of titles such as Halo 3 and Call of Duty' - and that gaming companies should move to charging extra for online play to counteract this problem. Sounds like a win-win! (Well, for someone. Not gamers, obviously.) (Louis Wu 16:56:28 UTC) (permalink)

Dutchy Montage 2
RVideo pointed us to Dutchy's Montage 2 (edited by ExuS) at Halo3Forum.com - he described it as "easily the highest quality montage I have ever seen on H3F." Now, I've watched a LOT of montages, and I have no idea if I could make such a statement at this point... but I will definitely agree that the overall quality is amazingly high. Everything from the gameplay to the montage timing to the editing effects is professional-quality. It's long (11 minutes or so)... but absolutely worth a watch. There's a streaming link - but if you've got the bandwidth, you really want to download the half-gig HD WMV. It's gorgeous. (Louis Wu 16:21:22 UTC) (permalink)

Hilarious Achievement Hunting
A couple of days ago, pete_the_duck decided to organize a little Achievement-gathering party, for folks who were interested in some of the Waypoint-offered Reach Armor but who hadn't finished the required Halo 3 Achievements. (This is not normally a condoned way of getting Achievements... but Halo 3 is now a 3-year-old game, and some of the Achievements become very, very difficult at higher skill levels.) Last night, the event went off, as planned (there were actually multiple groups participating)... and much fun was had. You can browse a couple of threads on our forum (this one, and this one, so far) - pictures, videos, and reminiscences abound. Thanks to everyone who played - and to Bungie, for the playground! (Louis Wu 13:10:01 UTC) (permalink)

Headhunters, Finished
Halochief89 stopped in with a link to his entry to the Halo Evolutions art contest - check it out! (Louis Wu 13:09:21 UTC) (permalink)

Droid Falls... Today
ManKitten saw some Halo themes in the latest Droid commercial - others disagree. What do you see? (Louis Wu 13:08:53 UTC) (permalink)

O HAI
Hawty McBloggy has posted Friday Caption Fun Round 101 - witty responses to the 100th round last week, plus a new image just dying to be captioned. Go play! (Louis Wu 13:08:00 UTC) (permalink)

News July 15 2010

Get your hands on some Halo stuff
DocOctavius is selling off some his Halo schwag - he wanted HBO readers to know about a relatively rare Joyride action figure (you've got a day and a half). Other stuff coming... so keep an eye on his account! (Louis Wu 20:51:52 UTC) (permalink)

Does Coors need a new spokesman?
What does Master Chief need after shooting one too many ugly bugs? A little frosty brew, of course. (Louis Wu 20:49:44 UTC) (permalink)

Hey Chief, let's do it again
bs angel noticed a blog called 'Master Chief Off Duty' - it's a lot like Halo Action Figure Theater, except without the plotlines. Master Chief cleans up his house, takes a break by the pool, has a picnic with a friend, gambles a bit. Pictures are great! Looking forward to future updates. (Louis Wu 20:05:56 UTC) (permalink)

Details on Halo Marketplace changes
TCKaos pointed out that in the Xbox LIVE Marketplace Spotlight, there's a video called 'Add-ons, Avatar Gear, Arcade' that details some of the new goodies coming on July 22. The Legendary Map Pack drops in price to 160 MS Points (that's just over a buck!), while the Mythic Map Pack is reduced to 400 Points. (For comparison, those prices are currently 600 and 800 Points, respectively.) The new avatar goodies are also revealed (screenshot here) - note the 'Helmet not available until game releases' warning at the bottom. (Louis Wu 19:03:01 UTC) (permalink)

This Spartan Life - New Season Details
This Spartan Life has posted a press conference (in-game, natch) to announce their new season on Waypoint. Swing by ThisSpartanLife.com to watch it! (There's a written press release that goes along with it - this, you can find at Gamasutra.) (Louis Wu 16:37:25 UTC) (permalink)

PBS Broadcast of Video Games Live
We've mentioned the PBS broadcast on PBS a few times - PBS posted a new page with a press release, a teaser vid, and a short description. I can't find it in my local listings yet... but it's coming soon! (Louis Wu 14:59:54 UTC) (permalink)

Build your own Oonsk
Wow... Belakor built a cardboard Oonsk, and then created a papercraft template for the little guy, so you can make your own. I know some folks who might be unhappy about that... (Louis Wu 14:44:52 UTC) (permalink)

Finished!
onebitrocket pointed out a new tweet from Marty O'Donnell (5:17 am his time!) which says 'Finished!' Does Marty mean his work on Reach? His work on an Official Reach Soundtrack? That bagel he started at 5 am? Here's hoping we find out at some point. (Louis Wu 14:44:15 UTC) (permalink)

Spartan Heavy Arms Variant concept
Brian Choi was inspired to create a new Spartan Heavy Arms variant - lots of cool armor and weapons! (A larger version is visible in his DeviantART gallery.) (Louis Wu 14:43:13 UTC) (permalink)

IGN's Top 25 Most Wanted Games of 2010
BuzzJuice let us know that IGN has posted a '25 Most Wanted Games of 2010 - and Reach comes in at #3. (Both Civilization V and Fallout: New Vegas are higher.) Not bad! (Louis Wu 14:42:42 UTC) (permalink)

Man, those boxes are HUGE
Bungie's Derek Carroll posted a pair of pics of Bungie employees standing next to the Reach Legendary packaging, to give you a sense of scale. And a laugh. (Thanks, Hydranockz.) (Louis Wu 14:42:03 UTC) (permalink)

McFarlane SDCC Giveaway
Waypoint's GLYPH stopped in with word of a video interview with Todd McFarlane - he's showing off the signed Legendary Reach statue that will be given away during the Halo Universes talk at the San Diego Comic-Con. Looks spectacular! (Louis Wu 14:39:57 UTC) (permalink)

Spike Grenade for sale
We showed off a cool spike grenade from smick6 last year - Hawty McBloggy noticed yesterday that one of them just went up for sale on eBay. You've got a day and a half left to make your decision; starting bid is $150, and MAN it's pretty. (Louis Wu 14:39:10 UTC) (permalink)

News July 14 2010

Hinted-at Goodies for Reach Legendary
Eep - almost missed it, but one of the articles disussing the media event taking place at Bungie today mentioned 'Digital Content' and 'Making of Videos & Extras' as components of the Legendary Edition - it's unclear whether this info came from some official (but as yet not public) release, or just verbally from a Bungie employee, or even whether it's just a misunderstanding by the writer. When we know more, we'll let you know! Thanks, The BS Police. (Louis Wu 18:24:53 UTC) (permalink)

Elephant Cannon 3
2good4u2 stopped in with word of Elephant Cannon 3, another installment in a series of launching vids on Sandtrap. After watching this, I want a car made out of whatever the Elephant's built from - that thing doesn't even have a DENT on it! (Louis Wu 18:18:10 UTC) (permalink)

X-Plane Sparrowhawk - now flyable
Mid7night has released his X-Plane Sparrowhawk model - you can now fly it in-game, if you use X-Plane. Go grab a copy! (Louis Wu 18:12:31 UTC) (permalink)

Reach Avatars delayed a week
This was mentioned a few days ago, but I forgot to follow up on it - last Friday, Major Nelson clarified that the Halo: Reach avatars coming out on Avatar Marketplace (we mentioned them on Bungie Day) will not, actually, be out until July 22. Sorry for the wait! Thanks to darknesshasfallen for reminding me to look again. (Louis Wu 18:09:39 UTC) (permalink)

Steve Downes to appear in Reach
Last night, CaptainTony pointed out a new post at the Official Anime Central Blog that got our forum buzzing. Steve Downes was in town, and in the course of talking on aa panel, revealed a number of tidbits... including the fact that "He provided work for Halo: Reach." What is the voice of John-117 doing on a game that shouldn't include John-117? I guess we'll find out! (One forum guess: Firefight voice.) He's also doing work for Halo audio books. There are some other interesting tidbits - read 'em all! (Louis Wu 18:03:37 UTC) (permalink)

Wednesday Comic Roundup
Running way behind today because of an extra-long airport run - but back to fill in known action in the Halo universe! First up - a comic roundup, the first in quite a while.

• Chronicles of ODS Steve is back in the saddle, with 'When Things Go Boom, Part 2 (#74)' going live today. Looks like Steve's playing with something... dangerous.
• Today's Ctrl+Alt+Del ("Valuable") takes a shot at the whole 'Collector's Edition' concept for videogames - and uses Halo Reach as its whipping boy. (Thanks, BlueNinja.)
• Reclaimer has a new episode live (thanks, TTL Demag0gue) - Stored Potential continues the 'Head Flames are Alive' storyline... and suggests that the Reclaimer might be in trouble.

Solid offerings from 3 long-time creators... go read 'em! (Louis Wu 17:58:46 UTC) (permalink)

News July 13 2010

Gravity = Drag
NOKYARD pointed out a video called Gravity = Drag, an ODST launching vid from Terminal Velocity. Some very cool launches! (Louis Wu 18:27:30 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Reach Fan Trailer
ElzarTheBam pointed out a new Reach Fan Trailer from pieisgood123456, on YouTube - nice aggregation of content from a number of different sources to create a 3 and a half minute trailer for Reach! Go watch. Update: we just heard about another one from RoldanIncorporated. I guess this is all the rage these days. (Louis Wu 17:37:28 UTC) (permalink)

Gearing up for a Reach Media Event
TravisSch noticed a tweet from Bungie - they're gearing up for a large media event tomorrow. (Content won't hit for a few weeks, sorry.) There's also this pic in their stream... (Louis Wu 17:35:09 UTC) (permalink)

Fall of Beta p13-15
pete_the_duck's Fall of Beta gets 3 more pages, and finishes Part One. Nice shootin', Tex! (Er... whatever your name is.) (Louis Wu 17:21:14 UTC) (permalink)

Banished to Garry's Mod
A couple of days ago, 'Banished to Garry's Mod' was released - behave badly enough in Halo Matchmaking, and you could end up in a very unpleasant place. Nice cross-game machinima work by Ze Royal Viking! (Louis Wu 12:24:38 UTC) (permalink)

LEGO Halo Pistol
imperial181 noticed a pretty amazing LEGO Halo CE Pistol featured on The Brothers Brick - all I can say is 'wow'. Check it out! (Louis Wu 12:21:46 UTC) (permalink)

Noble Seven at SDCC
Looks like you'll be able to buy a special McFarlane figure at San Diego Comic-Con - Noble Seven. (Who is Noble Seven? Guess we have to wait to find out!) If you're not going to the show, never fear, these should be available at toysrus.com at some point. Thanks, AvatarofChaos. (Louis Wu 12:21:00 UTC) (permalink)

I Can Stand Valhalla
KingBlackDragn sent us word of 'I Can Stand Valhalla', a Halo 3 short that pays homage to a classic map. Short and sweet. (Louis Wu 12:20:35 UTC) (permalink)

Separated at Birth
Hawty McBloggy has pics that'll make you look differently at Portal 2... (Louis Wu 12:08:30 UTC) (permalink)

RvB Revelation 12: Snooze Button
Red vs Blue Revelation Chapter 12 is now live - 'Snooze Button' shows off Recovery Mode... and makes you wonder a little about Doc. Go watch! (Louis Wu 02:49:57 UTC) (permalink)

Phurion Fluxy 2 - A Halo 3 Dualtage
Phurion Fluxy 2 is the sequel to a highly-regarded montage released a couple of years ago. Music is a bit rough to listen to, but editing and effects are top-notch. Length is hefty at 10 minutes... but hey, they're only turning out one every couple of years! Thanks to RVideo for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 02:48:21 UTC) (permalink)

News July 12 2010

Select Your Reach DLC
A couple of days ago, FyreWulff put together a matrix that explained what DLC armor you could expect to get your hands on, based on when, where, and which version of Reach you were buying. Some people had trouble reading it... so onebitrocket decided to go a step further and create a very snazzy jQuery-based selector. Answer a few questions, and you'll get visual confirmation of what's available to you! (Louis Wu 23:26:12 UTC) (permalink)

Yap-HELP
Wanna see a gross grunt? Visit Hawty McBloggy. (Gross, as in "I wouldn't want to meet one", not gross as in "wow, that's a crappy piece of work.") (Louis Wu 21:03:56 UTC) (permalink)

Medals on your (OSX) Desktop
coreross liked the new Reach Achievement medals Bungie posted on Friday so much that he turned them into OSX Icons. The link is in his forum post. (Louis Wu 13:39:18 UTC) (permalink)

Anime Halo
AssaultGodzilla asked a friend, Monkeystorm9, to create some Halo artwork - you can see the result at DeviantART. (Louis Wu 13:21:46 UTC) (permalink)

More Halo at Comic-Con
Missed this yesterday, but hey - better late than never. TheClockworkRat pointed out a second Halo-related panel at Comic-Con later this month (we mentioned the Bungie panel last week) - 343 Industries and a bunch of friends will be discussing the Halo Universe on Sunday. Nice! (Louis Wu 13:20:37 UTC) (permalink)

News July 11 2010

TSL Interviews OK Go
As mentioned in the recent Podtacular episode with Chris Burke, This Spartan Life's interview with OK Go went live on Halo Waypoint yesterday. It's a fantastic discussion of the creative process, and how that's changing with social networking... but the highlight of the video, for me at least, was a spectacular merging of a cool remix of OK Go's 'This Too Shall Pass' with an incredible Rube-Goldberg map created by our very own pete_the_duck. If you've got a LIVE Gold account, go visit Waypoint - this one isn't to be missed. If you want to discuss this, Hedgemony started a thread on our forum. (His title, 'Pete the duck rulz!' is a direct quote from the video.) (Louis Wu 15:33:17 UTC) (permalink)

American Griffic
The latest Grin + Bear It recreates an iconic piece of Americana... I don't remember the Battle Rifle in the original, though. (Louis Wu 15:26:17 UTC) (permalink)

News July 10 2010

Top Ten Halo Screenshots: Brute-tastic!
This week's Top Ten Halo 3 Screenshots is called 'Brute-tastic' - fans have taken a huge variety of cool Brute shots... and Hawty's collected ten great ones here. They range from awesome to funny. (Louis Wu 19:44:58 UTC) (permalink)

Noble Doodle
pete_the_duck brought us word of a Twitpic done by Penny Arcade's Gabriel (and retweeted by Bungie) - it's Noble Team, in Gabe's inimitable style. Yeah, it's true, Emile stole Jun's sniper rifle... but dang, it's still a great pic! (Louis Wu 16:21:44 UTC) (permalink)

Reach Bonus Armor Chart
Confused about DLC armor for Reach, and what's available to you? FyreWulff whipped up a pretty slick little matrix that should help you figure out exactly what you'll get, depending on where and how you buy. (Louis Wu 16:21:09 UTC) (permalink)

McFarlane Reach Series 1 Photos
TDSpiral pointed out Spawn's full-on Reach Series 1 Action Figure photos; lots of poses of each figure, and where you can get them. Some of these are killer! (Louis Wu 16:20:48 UTC) (permalink)

Halo: Goodbye (SoM Remake)
Tycho2001 stopped by with word of a remixed version of The Siege of Madrigal, a piece of music that Marty originally wrote for Myth, but has included in every Halo game as an easter egg. I like this version! Give it a listen. (Louis Wu 16:20:15 UTC) (permalink)

Gaming's Greatest Debate
xxjuicesxx was the first (that I saw) to point out a new tidbit from IGN - it's an IM chat between fans of a couple of heavy-hitting shooters, and it might make you chuckle. (I enjoyed it.) Thanks to Avateur for pointing out the full article. (Louis Wu 16:19:50 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Action Comic
We got word from neo56695 about a 'Halo Action Comic Chapter 1' on YouTube; it's a story told in screenshots, with added fades and music. There's no dialogue, and no motion... but it's still an interesting experiment! Chapter 2 is live, as well. (Louis Wu 16:11:08 UTC) (permalink)

It's like a kidney stone. Only bigger.
Yesterday's Bungie Weekly Update went live, as expected - the Chris Opdahl Q&A is still happening, just not until next week. Luke Smith stepped back in to fill in the fans - and though it's short, it's still pretty sweet. Bungie will have its first Release Candidate of Reach by today - congrats! And there's some additional information about Reach armor, and what you can get, and what happens if you DON'T get it. There's a bit about a fan who participated in Bungie Day, even without an Xbox. There's some really interesting info about Reach Achievements - and an opportunity to jump to conclusions which many forumgoers (here and elsewhere) have already availed themselves of. And there are some cool Achievement-based wallpapers for your iPhone (or similarly-sized device). Go read! You can, as always, read it in our Weekly Update Archive. (This was live last night, even though the newspost wasn't.) (Louis Wu 16:09:56 UTC) (permalink)

News July 9 2010

Fire Team Zulu - Flying Ace/Blowhards
FyreWulff dropped by with word of the latest Fire Team Zulu challenge - Flying Ace is a Campaign run suggested by a fan (Kikowani Station, Heroic, bunch of skulls, but the critical one is Iron), while Blowhards is a Firefight challenge on Windward. Go check 'em both out! (Louis Wu 18:48:31 UTC) (permalink)

Fall of Beta, Pages 11-12
pete_the_duck posted pages 11-12 of his ongoing 'Fall of Beta' storyline - he apologizes for the artwork, but it looks fine to me! (Louis Wu 15:57:36 UTC) (permalink)

Barcode
TTL Demag0gue stopped in to let us know that the newest Reclaimer is live - gotta watch those exploding things... (Louis Wu 15:52:32 UTC) (permalink)

How to Play Well With Others
Brian Gilmore sent word that the latest Teabag Prevention article is up - 'How to Play Well With Others'. He figured it would be helpful, given that the Double EXP Weekend list is team-oriented... (Louis Wu 15:47:21 UTC) (permalink)

Podtacular 230: This Spartan Life Interview
Dust Storm let us know that Podtacular 230 is out - it features Damian Lacedamian from This Spartan Life. Discussion includes upcoming TSL offerings on Halo Waypoint (the next one launches tomorrow!) - good stuff! Go listen. (Louis Wu 14:07:29 UTC) (permalink)

You wouldn't like him when he's angry.
Well... she hit it. (Geez. It's impossible to make a statement about Hawty McBloggy without a potential double entendre, it seems.) Friday Caption Fun has made it to 100 rounds, and in honor of the extra digit, she's broken the 'no photoshop' rule. Check out the latest shot... and see what you can come up with! (Louis Wu 10:59:44 UTC) (permalink)

Paper Marine Helmet
hyokin decided to put together a paper Marine helmet - took him a few hours. Amazing what you can do with a few hours! (Louis Wu 10:58:54 UTC) (permalink)

Deja View Analysis
Jagged went through the Deja View video second by second, and pulled out many of the notable tidbits; it's the first list of its kind I've seen. Pretty impressive list! (Louis Wu 10:57:36 UTC) (permalink)

Relentless Teaser
Kral let us know that he's finished up a teaser for Chrisdx1's upcoming montage called "Relentless" - you can find it on YouTube, or grab a downloadable version from FileFront (720p, 71 mb). Just a minute of gameplay, but some nice synching. Take a look! (Louis Wu 10:56:58 UTC) (permalink)

Customs Clan Does Halo 3
What happens when a group of fans get together and decide to see how funny a cutscene can be if the dialogue is redone with odd voices? One answer can be found on YouTube - the Customs Clan redid the final Floodgate cutscene. (Miranda sounds like Daffy Duck!) Oh, the things we do when we have too much time on our hands... (Louis Wu 10:55:53 UTC) (permalink)

Putting out the Fires
Hawty McBloggy solicited submissions for a collection of screenshots showing off fans wearing the Bungie-only flames that were made available to the entire community on Wednesday - she got so many she had to put them up in two parts. (Part 1 | Part 2) And while the presentation isn't nearly as pretty, or as big (and some of the images overlap Hawty's collections), our forum started to do the same thing - you'll find the thread here. Thanks, once again, to Bungie, for opening their closet and allowing us a brief but shining moment of dress-up! (Remember that you can wear this any time in Reach, simply by purchasing the Legendary Edition of the game.) (Louis Wu 10:54:28 UTC) (permalink)

Friday's Fan Fiction
Just a couple of pieces this week, both in the same series - go check the Fan Fiction section! (Louis Wu 10:53:54 UTC) (permalink)

Double EXP Weekend: Maption Sack
Yesterday was a busy day, so we hope you'll forgive the oversight... but at 2pm PT, Maption Sack went live as the Double EXP Playlist for the weekend. 56 fan-created maps, in a mix of slayer/objective 4v4 gametypes... how can you go wrong? Take advantage; it's only around until Monday morning! (Louis Wu 10:51:15 UTC) (permalink)

News July 8 2010

Rise and Fall
TheDuoGroup put together 'Halo: Reach: Rise & Fall', an unofficial trailer for the game. As with all TDG content... it's really, really well done. Go watch. Thanks, Kibbles. (Louis Wu 21:32:27 UTC) (permalink)

Going Outside the Canyon
So you know how there was a note at the end of the Deja View video yesterday? The one that read 'Go outside the canyon - Comic-con 2010'? Well, Voltron64 noticed that the program for Thursday's talks include the following:

6:00-7:00 Halo: Reach— Bungie hosts this discussion around the biggest game of 2010, including an in-person look at the campaign mode and a debut of some exciting Halo: Reach news. Room 6BCF

If you were thinking of going to Comic-Con, but were on the fence... get off it. Update: Sketchfactor clarified - the description in the program was placeholder, there WILL be exciting Reach news, but it won't be about the Campaign. Lots of Bungie presence, and Firefight on the show floor. Do you have tickets yet? (Louis Wu 21:08:56 UTC) (permalink)

Life Size Spartan for Sale
kornman00 is selling his life-sized Halo 2 Spartan statue - you can see a thumbnail of it in this thread, or visit the eBay page directly for full details. This bad boy's a monster! Starting bid is $300, you've got 10 days to decide. (Louis Wu 20:57:56 UTC) (permalink)

A New Video Game Search Engine
Dennis Powers let us know about Video Game Webs, a new video game search engine. If you have (or know of) a clan or fan website that isn't already listed... add it in! (Louis Wu 20:57:13 UTC) (permalink)

Reach Countdown Android Widget
HaloCharts' Firestream let us know that he's created a (free) widget for phones running Google's Android - it'll give you a countdown to Reach's release. He sent along an example image - must have been taken a month ago, because the current count is 68 days. You can grab this by searching for 'Days to Halo Reach' in the Android Market (on your phone). (Louis Wu 18:42:19 UTC) (permalink)

Crankin' the Hardware
Bungie's migrating Halo 3 (and Halo 3: ODST) from their existing servers to the new Reach-generation servers that will be in full use when Reach goes live in a couple of months. No new features, no loss of features - just faster, more powerful hardware. (For the short term, though, it means the File Share will be offline, and stats won't update right away (though none will be lost; they'll just take a while to get to the website). More details from Roger 'Sawnose' Wolfson on Bungie.net. (Louis Wu 18:37:58 UTC) (permalink)

Unofficial Reach 2010 Trailer
Lightning0Struck put together a trailer for Halo: Reach - nice energy! Go watch. (Louis Wu 18:33:10 UTC) (permalink)

Hot Seat Q and A - whaddaya wanna know?
Sketchfactor stopped in with word of a 'hot seat interview' that Campaign Design Lead Chris Opdahl has agreed to be a part of; add your questions to the thread, and Chris will do his best to answer them for tomorrow's Weekly Update. (Ask some good questions, now - don't waste the opportunity!) (Louis Wu 17:01:03 UTC) (permalink)

Wanna buy a Rogue helmet?
sqorck wants to a Rogue helmet for Reach - but needs money to do so. He's GOT a Rogue helmet he built for Halo 3; he's willing to sell it to raise cash to make a new one. He wants to know where to price it - can you help? (He's put up some pictures so you can see what he's asking about.) (Louis Wu 15:49:05 UTC) (permalink)

I gotta show my mom.
Antithesis has uploaded another bunch of images, this time mostly of personalized clay Spartans. We've added them to his gallery here; the first new one is a streamlined Master Chief, but if you use the 'Next' button on that screen, you can see a series of images of very specific Spartans. One might even say they were modeled after real players. Or something. I'm pretty partial to the little grey guy with the ODST helmet. (Louis Wu 15:20:23 UTC) (permalink)

Chronicles of ODS Steve: Bungie Day
We missed yesterday's Chronicles of ODS Steve, special for Bungie Day - so go read it now! (I think I like Steve's new look...) (Louis Wu 15:16:41 UTC) (permalink)

Tank: Deploy Hologram.
Ken Taya used his Twitter account to explain how the Hologram Armor Ability works. Pretty cool - means you can send off your hologram and run in a different direction! Thanks, Kibbles. (Louis Wu 15:14:05 UTC) (permalink)

McFarlane Reach Figures
Dielectric pointed out that G4TV was only one of the sites that showed off new McFarlane figures yesterday - there are also new images at Spawn.com (Mark V Spartan, HAZOP Custom Spartan), UGO (Jorge, another HAZOP Custom), USA Today (another Mark V), and Halo Waypoint (Noble 6 and yet another HAZOP Custom). The Spawn link also contains a description of the full line of upcoming figures... go read! (Louis Wu 15:11:04 UTC) (permalink)

News July 7 2010

FLAME ON
Have you ever felt jealous of Bungie employees for being able to wear Flaming Helmets in Halo 3 Matchmaking? (You shouldn't, really, because it makes it very hard to hide when you're using Invis...) For today only, Bungie's making that option available to EVERYONE in Matchmaking. Get on, go play, and light that head on fire! (Thanks, Time_Glitch, for noticing so quickly.) (Louis Wu 19:01:44 UTC) (permalink)

Bungie Dayathon 2010: Going on now!
Just a reminder: FyreWulff's Bungie Dayathon 2010 is under way; he's about to start playing Oni, and a large block of Halo is following that directly. Go watch, go contribute - all money goes to the Brian Morden Foundation! (Louis Wu 17:34:28 UTC) (permalink)

How Do We Love Halo?
Hawty McBloggy posted her Bungie Day Community Project - it's many, many poems and images from fans showing their love for Bungie and Halo in a myriad of ways. Go explore! Without fans like Hawty (who give other fans a place to express their love for the game, and the game's creators), Bungie wouldn't be the company it is today! (Louis Wu 17:26:28 UTC) (permalink)

Gamestop Pre-order Reach Exclusive
Looks like Gamestop is offering an exclusive bonus to folks who pre-order Reach at one of their stores (or online): UA Multi-Threat Mjolnir Mark V(B) Armor. Sigh... (Thanks to eLcHuPaNiBrE 93 for finding this.) (Louis Wu 17:19:33 UTC) (permalink)

Audio Play Celebrates Bungie Day
Dream053 had created a 13-minute audio play in honor of Bungie Day '08 - we didn't mention it then, and he's reposted it, so we're mentioning it now! Go listen to John, Steve, and Joe's EXCELLENT Recon Road Trip. (Louis Wu 17:17:14 UTC) (permalink)

Reach on Avatar Marketplace July 15
Looks like Xbox LIVE Marketplace will be releasing new Halo Reach avatars next week - thanks to wwm0nkey, over at NeoGAF, for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 17:14:18 UTC) (permalink)

Bungie Day 2010 Wallpaper
padraig08 created a Bungie Day wallpaper - a little busy for me, but everyone's different! (Louis Wu 17:12:52 UTC) (permalink)

McFarlane's Bungie Day Offering at G4
G4TV has a preview of some of the new Reach toys coming from McFGarlane - an orange Spartan, and Emile. Very cool! (If you just want the gallery, it's here.) Thanks, InnerRayg. (Louis Wu 17:11:49 UTC) (permalink)

Visual Guide to the First Person Shooter
GrimBrother One noticed a Guide to First Person Shooters at Kotaku - lots of history, and Halo shines! (Louis Wu 17:09:57 UTC) (permalink)

Customs Clan Bungie Day Video
Okay, as much as I want to make sure everyone sees that truly awesome Bungie Day video from Bungie and RvB, we DO have a bunch of Halo news in the queue, and a lot of it is fan-created celebratory material, so let's get to it! First up: hyokin whipped up the Customs Clan Bungie Day Video, which actually made me chuckle. Go watch! (Louis Wu 17:08:11 UTC) (permalink)

Deja View
So Bungie made it clear that there wouldn't be any new maps coming, or Xbox LIVE Dashboard Themes, or gamerpics, or any of that stuff. Sketch even made it clear that they needed to outsource the actual product, because the studio didn't have the time to give it the love it deserved. Are your expectations low enough? Go download 'Deja View'... you won't be disappointed. Congrats to EVERYONE involved; there is so much goodness embedded in 5 minutes that you may have trouble picking up all the clever tidbits by yourself. What do YOU see? (Louis Wu 13:02:48 UTC) (permalink)

News July 6 2010

Things that make you go 'hmm...'
Been a little while since I used that headline... but Laird found a collection of images at Sterling Davis Photo labeled 'Biscuit Filmworks/Halo', showing off some greenscreened photography of what LOOKS like a Noble Team Spartan. (The armor looks like Kat, but the model's a man.) This went down in Los Angeles, but there's no date anywhere. Could this be related to tomorrow's Bungie Day reveal... or is it something else? Curiouser and curiouser... Update: found a blog entry tied to the gallery; this was posted a week ago Saturday. As Davis mentions, Biscuit Filmworks was involved in the 'Birth of a Spartan' piece - maybe this is a followup? Update: Guess these were causing Sterling Davis a headache; they're offline now. (Louis Wu 19:27:27 UTC) (permalink)

Birth of a Trailer
There's an interesting breakdown of the visual effects used to create the 'Birth of a Spartan' trailer for Halo Reach over at fxguide - discussion includes choice of environment, how the external shots were done, what was modeled and what was real, how the medical stuff was handled. Pretty fascinating stuff! Thanks to Mariachi for noticing. (Louis Wu 19:14:51 UTC) (permalink)

Fall of Beta 9-10
pete_the_duck's Fall of Beta story gets another pair of pages - he's up to Page 10 now. The game's afoot! (Louis Wu 15:57:20 UTC) (permalink)

HaloChallenges Wants YOU
Looking for ways to show off your Halo skillz? Stop by HaloChallenges, recently opened by the crew of HaloCharts. At the moment, there are 6 Firefight challenges, 1 ODST Campaign challenge, and Splatacular 2010 - a vehicular challenge that needs to be entered by July 31 - with more the way. Go explore... and get to proving yourself! (Louis Wu 14:40:01 UTC) (permalink)

Bungie Day - keep your expectations in check
For folks expecting massive reveals/gifts/whatever from Bungie tomorrow... pare back your expectations. Brian Jarrard posted a note at NeoGAF that because of internal schedules and travel, Bungie had to outsource their 'official Bungie Day surprise' - no word as to who. It should be something good, though! (And in unrelated news... congrats, urk!) (Louis Wu 14:26:25 UTC) (permalink)

Top 10 Best Halo 3 Screenshots of All Time
Hawty McBloggy has posted what she considers to be the Top 10 Best Halo 3 Screenshots of All Time - definitely some impressive ones in there! (While you're visiting, remember that tomorrow is Bungie Day, so your chance to submit something cool for her community project is fast coming to a close. Gogogo! (Louis Wu 11:49:47 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Custom Edition News - the HaloMaps version
Dennis Powers sent us some statistics, and some intriguing creations, all seen at Halomaps.org recently. Since January 1 of this year, almost 300 new files have been added, and they're averaging almost 300,000 downloads/month - not bad for a 7-year-old product! Stuff you might want to look at: Noobyourmom has created a single-player campaign with role-playing elements in it - Halo Covert Ops currently has six maps (one | two | three | four | five | six) where you play as an ODST and are given a mission where you can make choices that determine the game play and storyline. Very cool! In addition, he mentioned another few maps worth taking a look at (some we already highlighted last month - this is just the new stuff):

• Sandtrap Classic by Jesse
• CMT Cliff Run (beta) by CMT
• Tlmp Harbinger by Inferno and Snafubar
• Dtsp by DSalimander (custom single-player)
• Campagne2 by Ozhimer (custom single-player)

Go browse - tons of stuff! (Louis Wu 11:44:10 UTC) (permalink)

Preorder Reach, save $15
dogchow33 pointed out that Newegg is offering the standard copy of Reach for $15 off today - the $44.99 with free shipping deal is good until 11:59pm PT today, according to their weekly email flyer. If you were looking to preorder to save a little money, here's a chance! (Louis Wu 11:42:40 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Reach: Elite Power Rangers
ElzarTheBam pointed out another video showing off modded content from Halo Reach - Elite models colored to look like Power Rangers! The video's ridiculously long for its content, but the creator really wanted to include the entire Power Rangers theme song. (Louis Wu 11:42:00 UTC) (permalink)

HLH - a growing collection
Hedgemony continues to add new assets to his 'shopped screenshot site - HedgemonyLovesHalo now contains over 300 images. He's nowhere near done yet, apparently... go browse the archives for some really cool bits of Reach screenshot art! (Louis Wu 11:41:12 UTC) (permalink)

Noble Team Desktop
CaptainTony put together an understated desktop image, involving Noble Team - go check it out! (Louis Wu 11:40:53 UTC) (permalink)

Jumping in to someone else's universe
Tobias Buckell and a number of other authors talked to io9 about why established authors take on franchise tie-in writing gigs. Buckell's discussion focuses on The Cole Protocol and Halo, for the most part, but several of the authors involved have written Halo Universe stories. Nice read! Thanks, AngelicLionheart. (Louis Wu 11:39:44 UTC) (permalink)

Exploring what happens offscreen
Newsarama talked to Brian Reed recently about his upcoming Halo comic series based on The Fall of Reach. It appears that the series coming out this fall is just the first in a SERIES of series. There are also other details which might give you a sense for what to expect this fall when the comics begin. Thanks, Hedge! (Louis Wu 11:38:58 UTC) (permalink)

News July 5 2010

Friday Night Firefight Returns
milesprower is looking forward to the return of Friday Night Firefight - check the trailer on YouTube. Gets the blood pumping! (Louis Wu 16:58:09 UTC) (permalink)

Whipping Halo into Shape
GrimBrother One showed up with word of a Beard-Off at Kotaku - while it's not technically Halo content, Sage Merrill, Lead Sandbox Designer on Halo Reach, came away with the title 'The Fury', for his dangerous mane. Well done, Sage! (Louis Wu 15:54:38 UTC) (permalink)

Reach Credits: Available in Campaign
This morning's update at Penny Arcade has a tidbit about Halo Reach from Tycho - according to Luke Smith, Reach credits (the assets you'll use to upgrade and personalize your Spartan) are available not just in Multiplayer mode, but also Campaign mode. Everyone gets to participate! Thanks, pete_the_duck. (Louis Wu 15:53:43 UTC) (permalink)

Love comes in lots of forms
Hawty McBloggy found a pair of Halo celebrations - a July-4th-celebrating screenshot from DEATH WISH 1991, and a bunch of very cool LEGO creations from Ewok in Disguise. Take a look! (Louis Wu 15:47:04 UTC) (permalink)

Spartan and Elite
Relatively light day, Halo-wise; I guess it's sort of a holiday, still. First up: AlphaGamma pointed out a couple of great pieces of art from a DeviantARTist named noprips - check 'em! (Louis Wu 15:40:08 UTC) (permalink)

News July 4 2010

Headhunters (colored)
TDSpiral unveiled the fully-colored 'Headhunters' (a submission he's making to the Evolutions Art Contest) - and I have to say... wow. Go look. (And... that's it for the news today. Time to enjoy our freedom!) (Louis Wu 14:52:54 UTC) (permalink)

Chill and Sober Halo 3 Dualtage
Slushy told us about a new Dualtage from Chill and Sober, edited by Volcomsocom - solid gameplay, and tasteful editing. Go watch! (Louis Wu 14:52:31 UTC) (permalink)

More Reach Space Combat from GT
jl pointed out a new bit of space combat from Reach, as put up by GameTrailers (and seen on Kotaku) - it's not that different from what we've seen before, but there IS a bit of dialogue at the end of the clip that might intrigue you... (Louis Wu 14:51:28 UTC) (permalink)

Evolutions Re-Release
GrimBrother One noticed that the Evolutions short story collection is being re-released - a newly colored cover, and a 'Volume One' label. (Bodes well for future installments...) (Louis Wu 14:50:23 UTC) (permalink)

The Bungie Day 2010 7th Circle Update
Tim let us know about Mike & Tim's 4-part series, 'The Bungie Day 2010 7th Circle Update', detailing the goodies players will receive on Bungie Day. Well, in some alternate universe. Thank goodness. Links: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 (but each vid has links to all the rest in their descriptions on YouTube). (Louis Wu 14:49:45 UTC) (permalink)

One Life Remaining S2: Episode 4
It's July 4th, and we SHOULD be celebrating... but there are a couple of hours before the picnic starts, so why not throw up some Halo news? First up: trappeddark1 pointed out that Season 2 Episode 4 of One Life Remaining is now online - sometimes, you shouldn't listen to your doctor. Or your dad. (Louis Wu 14:48:10 UTC) (permalink)

News July 3 2010

Top Ten Halo Screenshots: Superheroes and Villains
The latest Top Ten Halo Screenshots collection at Halo3Screenshots.com is called 'Superheroes and Villains'... and i gotta say, it's a pretty amazing assortment of shots. (I particularly like the Joker.) Go see! (Louis Wu 18:48:32 UTC) (permalink)

ubald moves on
Due to a problem with our email spam filters, it seems we've been blocking a lot of mail in the past month or so. Things are cleared up (if you sent us something and it seemed to have entered a black hole on this end, you might want to send it again), but it's been discovered that one of the things we lost was the final body of Halo renders from Tony 'ubald' Marcotte. Over the past month, he's sent along 5 new images, and apparently, he's done with Halo renders at this stage. We've added them to his gallery here - and you really should take a look. Click the thumbnails below to see each new image. (Or start at the first one, and use the 'Next' link below it to navigate...)

CLOUD of Team Instinct
Last week, we mentioned a teaser for an upcoming montage from Cloud, an MLG Pro who plays for the #1 Team Instinct. This morning, the full montage was released at Halo3Forum.com. It's available on YouTube, or as a 330mb HD download. Editing might be a bit over-the-top... but gameplay is amazing. A great watch. Thanks, RVideo. (Louis Wu 01:01:42 UTC) (permalink)

Memories
Hawty McBloggy is highlighting a Halo Machinima in which the main character looks back... on the Halo Reach Beta. Heh. (Don't worry - he'll get another chance in just a couple of months.) (Louis Wu 01:01:00 UTC) (permalink)

Social Infection Launch Contest
Hey You stopped by with word of a Forge contest he's running at his new site, Social Infection. Build an Infection map by the end of July, and you could win a copy of Left 4 Dead 2, a 3-month LIVE card, or site perks. Go read about it! (Louis Wu 00:57:36 UTC) (permalink)

Medal Mania, and More
The Bungie Weekly Update is live - and it's pretty light-hearted. Shishka takes a ribbing, as does Carney. Lars takes some questions. (NO MORE BUGGERS IN FIREFIGHT! MY NIGHT HAS BEEN MADE!) Stosh takes a fantastic moment from multiplayer and immortalizes it. And urk takes a du- wait, that's not right. Never mind. (The first few are accurate, anyway.) If you would like a copy of the update that's standards-compliant, lean, and Silverlight-free, be sure to check out our Weekly Update Archive. Because we love you. (Louis Wu 00:11:31 UTC) (permalink)

News July 2 2010

Top 10 Halo 3 Multikills: Episode 55
The latest from Anoj is up - Episode 55 of his Top 10 Series is 'Halo 3 Multikills'. Lots and lots of multikills. (And some clutch Halo play.) Go watch! Thanks, urk. (Louis Wu 23:35:43 UTC) (permalink)

Out Of Time
Tommy92L sent word of Out Of Time, a new machinima created in Halo 3: ODST. Great cinematography, great energy. The mission might not be as simple as it looks... (Louis Wu 13:20:15 UTC) (permalink)

What are YOUR tools?
Tepec Harkness stopped in with word of a video which makes music from Halo sounds. It's not the first time it's been done (earlier examples are here, here, here, here and others unlinked), but it's the first time I'm seeing it being used to advertise a fansite. The tagline is "To Play is Good - To Create is Better" and the site is Halo Creation, a French Halo forum. Check it out! (Louis Wu 13:19:12 UTC) (permalink)

Fire Team Zulu: Zoo Zoom/Ashes To Fire
FyreWulff's FTZ challenges this week include a Legendary romp on NMPD HQ, and a relatively unstructured run through Lost Platoon. Hard or Easy - pick your road! (Louis Wu 13:16:59 UTC) (permalink)

She goes up to 99.
Friday Caption Fun is clearly an institution at this point; 99 rounds (in 2.5 years) is a LOT of captions! This week's installment contains (as usual) some of the top responses from last week's pic... plus a new shot that's begging for your sparkling wit. Go play! (Louis Wu 13:15:51 UTC) (permalink)

Spartan II Armor - great pics
Otakon08Ikari (also known as PsH Bling) dropped some pics of some finished Spartan II armor on the 405th forum - nice composition! Check 'em out. (Louis Wu 13:14:48 UTC) (permalink)

Friday's Fan Fiction
Just three new stories today in the Fan Fiction section - go catch up! (Louis Wu 13:13:48 UTC) (permalink)

News July 1 2010

A Quartet of Creations
Four new movies for you in Bungie's Comm Chatter today:

• Black Box is a Halo 3 montage from Pacific Lutheran University's Halo club
• Wonderful Scenery is a Halo Reach Beta scenery montage from LazerManiac
• One in a Million is a Halo 3 montage from Trigatron
• The Spring League 2010 Grifball Amateur All Star Game was recorded live last week, and is now available to be watched on YouTube. (Live commentary is cool - but seems like refilming with Theater Mode might be nice, after the fact...)

That should be enough to keep you busy for a bit. (Louis Wu 18:06:13 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 Matchmaking Updates
FyreWulff noticed that Halo 3 matchmaking's been updated - big changes are a loss of the MLG FFA list, and the fact that Social Big Team now requires all DLC. Check his post for the full list! (Louis Wu 17:54:50 UTC) (permalink)

The Fall of Beta, Pages 7-8
pete_the_duck's 'The Fall of Beta' comic storyline continues, with pages 7-8. Things are heating up! (Louis Wu 15:23:32 UTC) (permalink)

Capture and Fly
Vandya stopped in with word of 'Capture and Fly', a machimina depicting an epic battle on Valhalla between teams of Spartans vs Elites. Really nice choreography, and an ending you won't expect. Take a look! (Louis Wu 15:23:06 UTC) (permalink)

IGN Top Kills - Laser Focused
Gilver noticed the latest IGN Top Kills of the Week - no, not just because he's in it. This one's all lasers. Lost of random, unanticipated deaths with lasers, I guess... (Louis Wu 15:22:34 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Characters on a PS3
Anton P. Nym pointed out an interesting article on IGN about ModNation Racers avatars - ModNation Racers is a PS3 kart racer that lets you create your own racers. IGN has highlighted some of the best Xbox-game-based ones, and both Master Chief and Cortana made the list. Fun! (Louis Wu 15:22:05 UTC) (permalink)

Double-Take Ts
A sombrero-wearing Master Chief? Hawty found you a shirt. Go see. (Louis Wu 15:21:18 UTC) (permalink)

July 2010

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