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 | June 2008 |  |
June 2008 Archived News
News June 30 2008
Halo 3 competing for Sound Production Award
The Mix Foundation has announced the nominees for the award for Creative Achievement in Interactive Entertainment Sound Production at the upcoming 24th Annual TEC Awards. Halo 3 is up against Bioshock, Call of Duty 4, The Orange Box, and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Winners will be announced on October 3. The full press release is here. (Louis Wu 21:00:46 UTC) (permalink)
Views from the Edge - Updated
BlueNinja pointed out that he's updated his 'Views from the Edge' blog with a bunch of new panoramas - there are even some Halo 2 versions! Go look. (If you're looking for stuff since the last time we mentioned the site, it looks like the 'Campaign: The Covenant' link about halfway down the June list is the first new one.) (Louis Wu 15:14:05 UTC) (permalink)
First Kill
Tony "ubald" Marcotte let us know that he's created a new Halo render - this one is called 'First Kill of the Day', and it's a pretty nice piece of work! The subject material is a little... disturbing, but maybe that's just me. We've updated his local gallery here. (Louis Wu 13:58:37 UTC) (permalink)
Forging Retrospective Part III
TrueDarkFusion pointed out that the third part of Forge Hub's Forging Retrospective is now online. This one looks at Forge's long-term popularity, in the face of not only other aspects of Halo 3, but other GAMES. Go read! (Louis Wu 13:45:28 UTC) (permalink)
Unity
TTL Demag0gue let us know that Reclaimer 60 is now up - with word of a whole new cast of characters. Things are getting complicated! (Louis Wu 13:39:28 UTC) (permalink)
News June 29 2008
To those about to Rick!
Yeah, so if it had been anyone but ZZoMBiE13, I'd have said no... but hey, Another Halo Comic Strip is his baby, and the Guest strips that run on Sundays are his choices. I say this so that you don't blame me for what you're about to view. (Louis Wu 18:36:49 UTC) (permalink)
7 billion on the 7th - regular updates
If you want to keep track of how the 7 billion by 7/7 challenge is going, some folks over at WoW United (yes, a World of Warcraft website) have put together a nice tracking page - time, enemies left, day's target, and more. (There's a separate page that keeps track of the official Bungie.net total that's updated every 15 minutes.) Thanks to DancingJesus for the heads-up. It's not looking very good - we need a little less than 175 million kills left, and the total over the last 24 hours is less than 15 million. On the other hand, the WoW United page is counting down to the very START of Bungie Day (midnight between the 6th and the 7th) rather than the very END (midnight between the 7th and the 8th), so there is potentially 12% more time than they expected to finish the project. Are you doing your part? (Louis Wu 16:51:38 UTC) (permalink)
Demented Weekly - a new Comic
Demented Decoy sent word that he's been working on a series of screenshot-based comics called 'Demented Weekly' - so far, there are 4 issues (well, 3, the first one is more of a preview of the series). They're downloadable in PDF format, and they follow the antics of the Across the Waves crew in Matchmaking. Swing by to grab 'em!
(Louis Wu 14:54:22 UTC) (permalink)
HBOFF Filter Help
kr-1426 let us know that Arthur Wellesly has posted this week's Fan Fic Pick of the Week for June 27 - swing by and read it! (Louis Wu 14:54:01 UTC) (permalink)
Interesting coincidence - or something more?
John_117 pointed out a thread he started on Bungie.net, with an interesting picture comparison. (While you should visit his thread here, or his thread there, in order to comment, I've archived a copy of the picture for posterity - so that when someone goes back and reads this news post down the road a ways, they'll know what it's talking about.)
(Louis Wu 14:52:28 UTC) (permalink)
News June 28 2008
7 Billion by 7/7 - Step It Up!
A few days ago, we mentioned a pretty fun goal the Halo community could shoot for - 7 billion campaign kills by Bungie Day (July 7). GhaleonEB, over at the NeoGAF forums, has been crunching the numbers each day since this challenge started... and it's not looking good, at the current rate. Unless we pick up the pace, we're going to fall short by about 50 million kills. The good news is, there are still 10 days left in the challenge, and speeding up the carnage just a little bit could make all the difference. If you haven't done any Campaign killing recently... why not jump on and contribute? If you don't care WHERE you play, and you just want the fastest way to build your kill count, jump into Crow's Nest at Rally Point Bravo, on Easy - seems you can crank out 75 kills in about 3 minutes (then do it again!). Thanks to the whole NeoGAF crew for inspiration - I know we've got people on our own forum working on this, but they're not discussing it. (Louis Wu 19:26:00 UTC) (permalink)
The Wonders of Technology
Today's edition of Another Halo Comic Strip shows what happens when people with odd minds play too many video games. Careful, ZZoMBiE13. (Louis Wu 19:08:55 UTC) (permalink)
Little Red Adventures: Episode 2
Obie let us know that a Halo 3 machinima series he started back in December has been updated with a second episode. Little Red Adventures: Episode 2 follows Little Red and Goosey as they continue their search for hacks for Halo 3 - and meet some new friends! Great cinematography, lots of fun. You can watch this on YouTube, or you can download the high-res Divx version (55 mb) from Obie's site - or you can grab a QuickTime version (57 mb) from us. Enjoy it! (Louis Wu 15:26:08 UTC) (permalink)
High Ground Battle Ground - in 3D (Two Flavors)
Hawty McBloggy found another Halo-themed 3D Steregraphic video - this one shows some cool action on High Ground, and if crossing your eyes is too much work, there's a section of the video that let's you see the action with standard 3D Glasses (Red and Blue lenses). Check it out1 (Louis Wu 13:41:45 UTC) (permalink)
Xbox Live Friends for Mac Users - Updated
Wil, from Mindquirk Software, let us know that there's a new version of Xbox Live Friends, with new Halo 3 features (screenshots, recent games stuff) - if you're running Mac OSX 10.5 (Leopard), grab this! It's free, and it's cool! (Louis Wu 13:39:12 UTC) (permalink)
News June 27 2008
Bungie Weekly Update, June 27
Bungie's posted the June 27 Bungie Weekly Update quite a bit earlier than usual (it's been up since before 4 pm, their time) - it contains more exhortations for anticipation of Good Things on both Bungie Day and PAX Weekend, a recap of the Content License Transfer Tool we mentioned yesterday, new overhead screens of Cold Storage, a matchmamking update, and... something else. As usual, you can read it in our Weekly Update Archive, if you choose. (Louis Wu 23:31:06 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief Theater 3000 - now with added cast
mrsmiley let us know that he's joined Pyroman in doing Master Chief Theater 3000 - he's voicing the part of the Arbiter in Part 4, now up on YouTube. Go watch! (Louis Wu 23:27:08 UTC) (permalink)
Halo costumes - coming soon
Costume City is selling Rubie's Master Chief costumes - the Collector's model is listed as in stock, shipping now. (The two cheaper models are 'coming soon'.) These are the same costumes we mentioned back in February; that site is listing a July 31 ship date for these items. With the exception of the high-end model, these are definitely the cheapest way to get into a Master Chief outfit you don't make yourself this year! Thanks, Parabus.
(Louis Wu 19:51:32 UTC) (permalink)
More Halo Goodies coming from Master Replicas
ODSTAdrianFii noticed that Master Replicas has posted a preview of their upcoming Halo 3 material - good looking stuff! (Louis Wu 19:40:41 UTC) (permalink)
I switch to your side - you let me go! Deal?
Captain Spark was playing Campaign, and started hearing a bunch of new Grunt dialogue. He's not coming out of retirement - but he sent along nearly 50 new snippets for our Halo 3 Dialogue Databank. Some of them are simply priceless. Go listen! (Louis Wu 14:37:08 UTC) (permalink)
Cry Havoc, and let slip the dogs of war!
It's Friday, so Hawty McBloggy has another edition of Friday Caption Fun for you - this week's image is a great shot, and should lead to some interesting choices! (Louis Wu 14:02:20 UTC) (permalink)
Sempiternal Chaos
TTL Demag0gue let us know that Reclaimer 59 is up - Ferial's talking to a new AI. Who's this? (Louis Wu 13:09:56 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie's Attention to Detail
Omega compared the African coastline, as seen in one of the final cutscenes of Halo 3, to a current-day map, to pinpoint where Forward Unto Dawn came down. You can get a really nice sense of scale of the size of the portal to the Ark. Great work! (Louis Wu 13:08:29 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
Nine new pieces in the Fan Fiction section this week - go read! (Louis Wu 13:04:33 UTC) (permalink)
News June 26 2008
Halo 3 Cutscenes - now in HD
A few inquisitive souls have already found the new links... but for the rest of you, I'm (tentatively) pleased to announce that our Halo 3 Cutscene Library has just been upgraded with HD versions (thanks, once again, to Cody Miller) - this leaves only the Halo 1 scenes in standard res. (That's almost completely my fault; we've got people chomping at the bit to record, and I've been too busy to process stuff. But that's neither here nor there, right now.) Swing by and grab (some) Halo 3 scenes! To explain the hesitancy: I'm nervous, because we're talking about a LOT of bandwidth, and even though I've devoted three servers to the situation, I'm not totally confident we can keep up with demand if people start downloading the entire collection at a shot. So be gentle... but go see what you can find! And if you see Cody, say thanks. (Louis Wu 23:13:54 UTC) (permalink)
The Cole Protocol - Available for Preorder
Simpsons Rule noticed that Amazon has The Cole Protocol available for preorder - current price is $10.17, and posted release date is November 25, 2008. Poking around a bit, though, Barnes & Noble has a listing, too - sort of. (No author, no title, just a release date of September 30 and a price of $12.70 - the only way you know it's The Cole Protocol is by the ISBN number. I'll stick with Amazon on this one, thanks.) (Louis Wu 21:05:50 UTC) (permalink)
BZZZT!
ZZoMBiE13's latest episode of Another Halo Comic Strip shows just how innovative the Master Chief can be. (Well... or the fans that put thoughts in his head...) (Louis Wu 19:46:09 UTC) (permalink)
Xbox DLC - Now Transferable
Yay! KP stopped by with some awesome news - Xbox 360 downloaded content licenses can now be migrated to a new machine. This means (for example) that if you buy Halo 3 DLC, and then your Xbox red-rings, or you upgrade to an Elite, you no longer have to jump through hoops to play the maps you already bought. More details in KP's post, or in the Xbox.com article he references. Have I said yay yet? Yay! (Louis Wu 19:42:11 UTC) (permalink)
Awake
Dennis Powers let us know that Shipwrecked 32 is live - looks like Taylor got a bit pummeled by the river trip. (Louis Wu 18:45:37 UTC) (permalink)
3Ballin'
SonofMacPhisto was the first to notice that the new Double XP Weekend Playlist is live - 3 Ball is full of games with 3 oddballs, and 4 teams of 3 players each. Go have fun! (Louis Wu 18:12:01 UTC) (permalink)
HaloNorge Summer Tournament - Video
Magnus "ScUmMy" Valebjørg let us know that HaloNorge.com just hosted a summer tournament - and ZpiKe uploaded video footage from the three Winners Bracket Finals and the three Grand Finals - you can grab them from this post (they're hosted on FileFront). I don't think there's any way I could get 'wood' into this newspost for a bad joke. (Louis Wu 17:45:46 UTC) (permalink)
Scorpiowned
TJ Ramirez caught a Scorpion on Avalanche getting... buffeted. Wonder if the driver lived through that? Thanks to Urk for the mundane stuff. (If you have a Vimeo account (free), you can download the HD version at the bottom of the page. It's worth it.) (Louis Wu 17:15:54 UTC) (permalink)
ESPN/MLG Top Ten #5
MLGPro.com has posted the ESPN/MLG Top Ten #5 - this one features user-submitted clips, and they're quite good. Thanks to Buttskunk, who was proud of his son's appearance at #9! (Louis Wu 15:27:26 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Goodies, on Display
Seraph XXVII just recently put together all his Halo schwag, and took pics. Pretty nice collection! (Louis Wu 15:02:11 UTC) (permalink)
FFA Tourney to celebrate Independence Day
TheChrisD let us know that The Rumble Pit World Series will be - oh, heck, I'll let him tell it:
On the 4th of July ay 8pm EST, the Rumble Pit World Series will be holding a special 1-hour FFA match to celebrate Independence Day (as well as a few other minor holidays), dubbed the "Fireworks". There are only 16 advance slots open (as in those are the people to get first invites, afterwards it's open party), and the winner of the whole game will receive a 12-month XBL subscription card.
Swing by to read the full details! (Louis Wu 14:57:47 UTC) (permalink)
Finish the Fight - Now Finished
Over at the newly reskinned Rampancy.net (nice work, Blackstar!), you can find a full score transcription of Finish the Fight (woodwinds/brass/percussion/choir/strings). The work was done by Jonathan Churchill, and as always, you'll need to be logged in to actually download the files. Pretty nice work! (This was originally released in late April, but it wasn't actually finished. Now it is.) (Louis Wu 14:54:44 UTC) (permalink)
Concept Art - for Halo Wars?
Mrguy ran across a pretty cool piece of concept art created by Ed Lee, who worked on the Halo Graphic Novel, and Halo Wars. (Not sure where this picture fits in - I'd GUESS Halo Wars, but that could be wrong.) He found it on the Gnomon School website (where Ed is an instructor), and PriorMarcus found a larger version on Ed's website. Pretty cool Banshee Carrier! (Louis Wu 14:49:16 UTC) (permalink)
News June 25 2008
Halo Wars: UNSC Arsenal
Whoa, very cool. The Halo Wars website has started to post info about the UNSC Arsenal on their website - check this page here. There are still some 'hidden' sections - but those will probably come online in the near future, as we ramp up to E3. Thanks, Botolf. (Louis Wu 21:06:38 UTC) (permalink)
Grifball Summer League - Kicking Off
NOKYARD pointed out that Grifball Summer League has been announced - there are some interesting changes (there will be a veteran tier and a rookie tier, for example), so go read the note. The official game variant and the official map are, as always, on the top of Grifball.com. Go sign up! (Louis Wu 18:25:20 UTC) (permalink)
Visual Echoes
TTL Demag0gue mentioned that Reclaimer 58 is now up - what's going on? (Louis Wu 16:45:37 UTC) (permalink)
Yes, we cannon!
MffnMn was the first to point out a Halo reference on last night's The Daily Show - you can watch the whole 5 and a half minute segment on Comedy Central's site. If that's more than you want, the video-game-related part of the McCain/Obama comparison can be downloaded from us (1:15 long, about 11 mb in either QuickTime or WMP9 formats) - pretty funny use of Halo 3! (Louis Wu 16:42:03 UTC) (permalink)
Fishing for Fan Feedback
Xmoosev3 noticed that over at Kotaku Australia, they'd gotten their hands on a Microsoft marketing survey... asking what sort of Halo games you might be willing to buy in the future. It's a pretty wide list! Update: Hawty McBloggy posted this as well - go see what her readers are saying! (Louis Wu 16:37:02 UTC) (permalink)
Gavino and Dan's Halo 3 Compilation
Yesterday, Gavino, a well-known fixture in the Red vs Blue community, posted a Halo Compilation. (Most of us call those things 'montages' - but hey, he's a brit.) Now, normally, I wouldn't even mention stuff that's posted in RvB journals, because they're not visible without an account... but this vid is pretty fun, so we put up local copies (QuickTime | WMP9 - each about 50 mb) if you don't have an account. (If you do, you can watch it streaming, and you can comment.) Fun gameplay (plenty of betrayals), fun music, nice editing. Go enjoy! Update: RvB's web guy, Ben, let me know that I'm behind the times - you can, indeed, read Gavino's post and watch his streaming vid there, if you choose. (You can't comment without logging in - but I can now link directly to content within the site! w00t!) (Louis Wu 16:33:46 UTC) (permalink)
News June 24 2008
To those about to Rock!
ZZoMBiE13 has cause for celebration in today's Another Halo Comic Strip - go see why. (Louis Wu 20:02:17 UTC) (permalink)
The Riot 104
Sigafoos let us know that The Riot 104 is now up - Halo talk, as usual, plus MGS4 spoilers (no, neither Sigafoos nor Brathnok have played the game) - 21 minutes, 9 mb. Tuesday? These puppies are slipping... (Louis Wu 14:25:15 UTC) (permalink)
Halo-themed Custom Guitar
Hawty McBloggy pointed out an amazing guitar she found at the Halo Museum (a site, by the way, that I'd never heard of, but that has some pretty fun stuff in it) - go check out the story of this custom-painted, Halo-themed, flame-bodied, Steve-Vai-signed guitar!
(Louis Wu 10:24:18 UTC) (permalink)
7 Billion by 7/7
We've gotten a number of emails about a challenge put forth by Sir Killalot33 over on the Bungie.net forums - in light of the fact that a few days ago, the number of Campaign kills surpassed the population of this planet, and the fact that Bungie Day is just 13 days from now... can we, the Halo community, pass the 7 billion kills mark before 7/7? This has been front-paged at Bungie.net, and there's a sizeable thread going right now on our own forum - if you want to help, jump in and start playing! (ACEfanatic02 has some nice suggestions in terms of efficiency.)
(Louis Wu 10:15:39 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Canon Contest 2008
The HBO Fan Fiction Forum is running a contest - prove how knowledgeable you are about Halo canon! Go read the rules (and the questions) at the HBOFF forum. Thanks, UNSC Trooper.
(Louis Wu 10:09:04 UTC) (permalink)
TTL AtLANtica Recap
At the end of May, a whole lot of TTL Gunslingers got together in Florida and partied for a weekend. They had fun, they raised money for charity, they played a lot of Halo. They filmed the whole shebang. Swing by Tied the Leader for a writeup, and a link to the video, either streaming or in quarter-of-a-gig HD goodness. Good game, guys... good game. (Thanks, XerxdeeJ.)
(Louis Wu 10:06:54 UTC) (permalink)
GUILT-E mb?
Bootstrap Boon recreated the WALL-E trailer... with a more familiar cast of characters. Nice job! (Louis Wu 09:54:42 UTC) (permalink)
Loopholes
Dennis Powers let us know that Shipwrecked Episode 31 is up - the Guardians have taken an interest.
(Louis Wu 09:54:25 UTC) (permalink)
Maxim says we have a hero.
xupaosso found a slideshow on Maxim (pages aren't SFW) showing off their choices for The Greatest Video Game Heroes of All Time. Master Chief is on the list. Update: oops... this is OLD. (I thought it was old when I saw it - but I didn't find the original, so I assumed it was faulty memory. Silly me.) Thanks, J23. (Louis Wu 09:53:36 UTC) (permalink)
A Halo Fan's Recommended Reading Primer
Yesterday, SinisterSamurai asked about recommended reading - it started off as a 'what are some books recommended by the Bungie dudes who worked on Halo?', but has since branched off a bit - the thread is FULL of recommendations of all sorts of good Sci-Fi (and other stuff). Dave Candland tossed in a list he compiled during an internal email exchange at Bungie, and mnemesis cleaned it up a bit (and combined it with an older list Bungie actually published). If you're looking for summer reading - check out this thread. (Louis Wu 09:52:38 UTC) (permalink)
I miss the shoulder missiles.
Over at Bungie.net, you can see a screenshot that recreates the very first Halo screenshot ever released - in a slightly updated engine. Go look! (Louis Wu 09:52:17 UTC) (permalink)
Plan of Attack
K8lunch noticed that there's a new Larry the Marine up - Larry needs to work on those instinctive responses. (Louis Wu 09:51:46 UTC) (permalink)
News June 23 2008
RvB PSA #36
The Red vs Blue website has a new PSA online - it's currently up for sponsors, but it'll be up for everyone in the near future. It'll help you a lot in getting along with other internet users! Go watch. (Louis Wu 18:12:47 UTC) (permalink)
Engineer Plushie
You mght remember that last summer, Horus visited our forum with pictures of (and templates for) a Grunt Plushie. He's back, this time wth an Engineer Plushie - and man, it's cute. Check it out! (Louis Wu 14:32:39 UTC) (permalink)
I tried to think of a good title for this...
Sparkypinball stopped by with word of a film he helped make, interviewing porn stars about their gaming proclivities. A lot of them, apparently, play Halo. The video is safe for work. (Louis Wu 14:25:08 UTC) (permalink)
Green Screen map for Halo 3 Machinimators
iGuardian managed to get a teleporter outside Guardian, to a place surrounded with just green. Why does this matter to you? Well, if you're a machinima creator, this gives you a green screen for use with your Halo characters. Funky! Downloadable map is here, movie showing the effect is here. (Louis Wu 14:21:26 UTC) (permalink)
Free Halo 3? Not Hardly.
Everyone's seen those 'Get a free Xbox 360 with a free copy of Halo 3!' ads popping up on websites - most of us realize that there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. That doesn't stop people from trying, though - and I read a writeup this morning that should help you decide whether following those links are a good idea for you, or not. The nasty part of the whole process is you have to commit to spending cash long before you are made aware of the full cost of the endeavor. If you decide, partway through (as the writer's husband did) that it's getting too rich for your blood... you can fold, but not without losing SOMETHING. Worth reading. (Louis Wu 14:19:41 UTC) (permalink)
Terpsichore
TTL Demag0gue told us that it's Reclaimer Monday - Episode 57 looks at how Viper plans to get control of their base back. (Louis Wu 14:18:05 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars Monthly Update - and a preview
The Halo Wars Monthly Update was posted on Friday (thanks to Omega for pointing it out yesterday - I feel behind, now). There's info about the upcoming E3 show (and what will be seen there), info on the Cyclops unit, some strategy advice, and word that the screenshots archive is going to be updated soon. (Don't forget the large screenshot collection posted recently by GamePro.com - and I hate to say it, but I totally missed the preview of the game that went along with those screens - thanks to Planet Halo for noticing that.) (Louis Wu 14:14:59 UTC) (permalink)
The Website is Down
Wow - this link was passed along to me tonight, and it's one of the funniest vids I've seen in a while. A chunk of Halo footage makes it relevant - but I'd be recommending it anyway, even without the Halo connection. (Well, maybe not here, on HBO's front page - but I'd be working to get the word out in other ways.) Go watch 'The Website is Down: Sales Guy vs Web Dude' and laugh. (Minor NSFW elements.) (Louis Wu 00:15:22 UTC) (permalink)
News June 22 2008
Product Placement
Dave Candland, Halo's lead UI designer (you might know him as Evil Otto), decided to try his hand at guest-stripping for Another Halo Comic Strip - the result is actually quite funny. If ZZoMBiE13 can get enough submissions that conform to his guidelines, a Sunday Guest strip will be a regular feature - but they have to be funny! See? If Dave can do it, you can do it. (Louis Wu 13:47:40 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3: the Jock to MGS4's Nerd
Ouch. The New York Times has an article about Metal Gear Solid 4, and the hidden political and philosophical messages that it might or might not contain. (That's not the 'ouch' part.) In discussing the importance of these elements, one of the people interviewed, Leigh Alexander (an associate editor at Kotaku), contended that it's those story elements that are critical to the MGS experience - and used Halo as a counterexample. (That's the 'ouch' part.)
Metal Gear Solid, Ms. Alexander said, "has the characters and the narrative, the symbolism and the metaphors, and all of the lore that ties it together," whereas Halo is popular "not because of any of its peripheral elements or anything else about it, other that you shoot people."
I guess Ms. Alexander hasn't spent a lot of time around these parts... (Louis Wu 13:48:33 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Campaign Kill Count Exceeds World Population
Omega pointed out that as of right now (the critical point was passed sometime late yesterday or early today), the number of kills in Halo 3's campaign exceeds the population on our planet, right now. That's a lot of killing! (Louis Wu 13:48:14 UTC) (permalink)
Doomsday Part 2 (Act 2)
Smurfa noticed that DigitalPh33r has posted Episode 9, Part 2 (Act 2) of 'Deus Ex Machinima' over at Machinima.com. Lots of action, no dialogue. Make sure you're up on the story before you watch this. (Louis Wu 13:37:00 UTC) (permalink)
News June 21 2008
Screw your pass!
Today's edition of Another Halo Comic Strip is an interesting look at Finders Keepers... (Louis Wu 22:36:42 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Believe wins two Grand Prix Lions
The Halo 3 'Believe' campaign continues to rack up advertising awards - the latest is a pair of Gran Prix Lions (Film and Integrated) won at the 55th International Advertising Festival in Cannes last night. Check sample writeups at Adweek and AdvertisingAge. (Louis Wu 20:15:39 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Corpse Alphabet
Hawty McBloggy has kicked off the Halo Corpse Alphabet, a rather macabre project aimed at reproducing the standard English alphabet in... well, dead Spartans. The news story shows off an example of an X. Go see what you can contribute! (Louis Wu 19:36:56 UTC) (permalink)
Forecast the Series Episode 4
Tyler sent word that Forecast the Series Episode 4 is now online - you can read about it on their website, or watch it on YouTube. Folks are getting pretty creative with the machinimatography! (On second thought, there's not much to read - just go watch it.) (Louis Wu 19:36:10 UTC) (permalink)
Inside Halo 18
Inside Halo 18 has a really short recap of MLG San Diego, the top 5 plays of the week, and some machinima highlights - go watch! Thanks, Bob 116. Update: It's also downloadable at machinima.com (thanks, Smurfa). (Louis Wu 16:55:19 UTC) (permalink)
Library Learns from Halo LAN
Heh - the Plumsted, NJ public library has discovered that you can attract a little-seen demographic (young adults) by hosting a Halo lanfest. (The article mentions that young MALE adults were brought in - but the picture accompanying the story shows a mixed audience.) The question is, are they checking out books before they leave? (Louis Wu 12:44:45 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief Mingles Down Under
News.com.au has a story about Supanova, a science fiction convention in Sydney, Australia this weekend. The picture gallery has a couple of nice shots of a fan's Master Chief costume. (Louis Wu 12:44:19 UTC) (permalink)
Fan Fic Pick of the Week
UNSC Trooper pointed out that the Fan Fic Pick of the Week is up over at the HBOFF forum. Go see what (ENS) Rabid_Gallagher came up with as the top few stories of the batch!
(Louis Wu 12:43:42 UTC) (permalink)
The Battle Rifle, Cold Storage, and More
Last night, Bungie posted their Weekly Update (available, as always, in our Weekly Update Archive in addition to Bungie.net), and it contains a monster writeup of the Halo 3 Battle Rifle, and how it was designed to work. (This week saw a lot of discussion around the net about how the battle rifle is 'broken' - its bullet spread is too random at long range for many hardcore users. The explanation in the WU makes it clear that this is by design - and only affects the weapon at long range. Bungie wanted the BR to be used primarily as a mid-range weapon, with long-range tasks (like pinging a sniper to pull him out of scope, or finishing off an unshielded target), but without the ability to be used as a universal "I can kill anything on the map with this puppy, regardless of location" tool.) Past this very detailed writeup, there's also information about the San Diego Comic Convention, mention of a couple of dates to keep track of, and a couple of gorgeous screenshots of Cold Storage (nee Chill Out). Large versions of the Cold Storage shots are available in Bungie's Screenshot Gallery. Go read! It's a good 'un. (Louis Wu 10:38:03 UTC) (permalink)
News June 20 2008
Legendary Crest - life-size
You might or might not remember link4044 - he built a really cool Assault Rifle last year. He's back - and this time, he's putting together a Legendary Crest. It looks incredible! Check it out. (Louis Wu 20:43:03 UTC) (permalink)
MLG/ESPN Top Ten #4
MLGPro.com has posted the MLG/ESPN Top Ten #4 - this one is completely culled from the MLG Meadowlands tournament, and you'll see some great pro playing. Take a look! (Louis Wu 19:23:08 UTC) (permalink)
Solo, Legendary, All Skulls On. Yeah, Baby.
Wow. NOKYARD sent word that Pahis (Pahat Pojat) has done some amazing Campaign work - first up, he beat the Million Point Challenge using just three levels; The Ark (443,175), The Covenant (415,230), and Cortana (168,075). (This blows away the first instance of that challenge being beaten, back in October - that one needed six levels.) Go read the news post at High Speed Halo for download links (or grab the runs themselves from Pahis' FileShare). That October news post, with the challenge getting beaten the first time? I asked if anyone wanted to try for two million points - Pahis has done that, with a combined total of 2,243,974 points for all nine levels. These runs are done Solo, Legendary, All Skulls On - as of May 2, only two people had completed the game in this mode. According to NOKYARD, he holds the High Score record for all Campaign missions, the SLASO record for each mission, and has completed the entire game in SLASO style in 4:13:22 (though not in a single sitting). Insanity. Go watch some of it.
(Louis Wu 18:50:27 UTC) (permalink)
Chairleg Discusses Console Wars in a new Podcast
Chairleg Productions has posted a podcast discussing some of the special effects and how they took care of them in their latest production, Console Wars. (We mentioned it on Tuesday.) If you haven't seen the video yet, you should - since our newspost, which contained links for an SD flash version and a downloadable HD QuickTime version, they've put it up on YouTube, and we provided a couple of mirrors (the HD QuickTime, and an HD WMP9). Watch the video, listen to the podcast - these guys are at the top of their form! Thanks to TheSquareCoin for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 18:26:11 UTC) (permalink)
Hold me, baby. This thing flies.
It's Friday, so it's time for another round of Friday Caption Fun - this time, I'm guessing Hawty McBloggy is going to get a LOT of sex-while-driving jokes as submissions. Go see what you can come up with!
(Louis Wu 14:27:02 UTC) (permalink)
Mix Picks, Week 7
xMixMasterx is back with a new set of Mix Picks for you - culled from Bungie community map submissions, this is a list of four maps with descriptions and reviews. Always nice to have someone sifting for gold! (Louis Wu 14:23:35 UTC) (permalink)
More Halo Sculptures from RandomCTG
RandomCTG stopped by again yesterday with some new sculptures. (We saw a few items back in April - the Brute stuff is new here, along with the Elite figurine, and the Bioshock Big Daddy has been finished.) Check 'em out - pretty nice work! (Louis Wu 14:22:31 UTC) (permalink)
Septagon Gazette
Scruss let us know that the Septagon, a Bungie.net group, has created the Septagon Gazette, a biweekly Bungie/Halo paper. Scruss and Just Another Fan report on happenings in the Bungie community, in the style of the Onion. There are currently two episodes available for download, from MediaFire - the June 9 issue is 3.6 mb, and the June 18 issue is 7 mb. (Adobe Reader could handle these, but OSX's Preview choked on the text.) (Louis Wu 13:58:31 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 PC Gaming Headset, for Cheap
If you're looking for a noise-cancelling PC gaming headset, you could do much worse than the Plantronics .Audio 350 Halo 2 unit - right now, Buy.com is selling it for $10, with free shipping. (If you, for some reason, have a problem with the Halo 2 branding, you could, I suppose, buy the NON-branded version - but that one costs $25.) Thanks, Black Six.
(Louis Wu 13:55:40 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
It's almost like a Fan Fiction renaissance - fifteen new pieces this week, and many of the submitters are old-timers! Check it out. (Louis Wu 13:53:47 UTC) (permalink)
News June 19 2008
The Bungie Store has Left the Building
Hawty McBloggy was the first (that I know of) to notice that the Bungie Store is no longer online. Be patient, and a replacement location for buying your favorite Bungie schwag will be forthcoming! (Louis Wu 23:22:27 UTC) (permalink)
Team Snipers - For Double XP
Not listed on Bungie.net, yet, but this week's Double XP playlist is Team Snipers - and it's live. Go shoot someone in the head! (Louis Wu 20:25:14 UTC) (permalink)
Big W3rdz Mayk Yu Smrt
Heh - ZZoMBiE13 takes a shot at something he knows pretty intimately in today's edition of Another Halo Comic Strip. I gotta get playing with him... (Louis Wu 16:31:01 UTC) (permalink)
Beastie Boys - Sabotage (in Halo 3)
Chris Sauer has just finished creating a Halo 3 version of the Beastie Boys music video Sabotage. If you've never seen the vid before (I hadn't), he also put up a side-by-side vid showing the original and the Halo 3 version running together - I must say, he did a pretty good job! Check it out. (Louis Wu 14:49:56 UTC) (permalink)
MLG San Diego Halo 3 Wrap Up
MLGPro.com has put up a wrap-up article discussing MLG San Diego - now that the dust has settled, go see what they thought! (Louis Wu 14:27:41 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars Addict Podcast Ep 1
Sam152 let us know that Halo Wars Addict has started up a podcast - first episode is just over half an hour, 32 mb, and discusses all the new Halo Wars info coming out now. Check it out! (Louis Wu 14:27:12 UTC) (permalink)
The Fine Print
Ray Greaves creates Chronicles of Something, a webcomic about... well, mostly about creating a webcomic, it seems. The latest issue is Halo-related - go see Ray's take on how Halo 3's ending came about.
(Louis Wu 14:26:39 UTC) (permalink)
News June 18 2008
Golden Joystick Voting Opens
The Golden Joystick Awards website is now open for voting - Halo 3 is up for 'Nuts All Nighter', 'BBC 1Xtra Soundtrack of the Year', 'Ultimate Game of the Year', and 'Xbox Game of the Year'. (There are plenty of other categories to keep you busy, too.) Go vote! Thanks, Kotaku. (Louis Wu 18:34:50 UTC) (permalink)
How to Win in Halo 3
Hawty McBloggy found an instructional video that, if followed religiously, will make you a better Halo player. Because we could all use a little help, right? (Louis Wu 13:16:16 UTC) (permalink)
Outpost: Isil Episode 6 - The Art-ish of War
Bzerker01 wrote to say that Outpost: Isil Episode 6 is now available for download. Mysteries unraveled, jokes told, genitalia protected. Go watch! (You've got the choice of about a million different formats from a gazillion different sites.) (Louis Wu 12:41:50 UTC) (permalink)
Rerouting Slipspace
TTL Demag0gue let us know that Reclaimer Episode 56 is now up - Viper is beginning to realize just how much trouble they're in... (Louis Wu 12:40:28 UTC) (permalink)
Abyss Studios Teaser
halosavior sent word that Abyss Studios is working on a new machinima series - it's still a ways off, but there's a teaser up now. Read about it in the top news post on their website, then follow the links for the video itself! (Louis Wu 12:38:49 UTC) (permalink)
Veracity
Josh Brookes let us know he's working on a machinima series called 'Veracity' - it's the story of a man fighting to protect his city from demonic forces. It's got three episodes so far (though each is broken into pieces, because they're too long for YouTube); you can watch them all starting at this playlist link.
(Louis Wu 12:36:34 UTC) (permalink)
More Halo-related Spore Critters
We mentioned the Spore creation of KraZi Chief yesterday - a thread on our forum has exploded with new content from other creators. Browse through (starting here) for a Halo Wars concept critter, some grunts, some elites, and a jackal! In many cases, the creature file is included, if you want to play with it yourself. Nice work from TheSneak and thebadgerwithin! Update: Looks like Hawty McBloggy's getting in on the action, too. (Louis Wu 12:12:41 UTC) (permalink)
Machinima in Australia
Sgt. Hartsock was proud of the fact that his portrait of the 'This Spartan Life' crew was used in a Kotaku Australia story about the Machinima Film Festival that took place a couple of days ago in Melbourne. Lots of Halo content discussed there! (Rooster Teeth's Burnie Burns and TSL's Chris Burke, both of whom participated in a number of panels at that festival, are in Sydney tonight for the Sydney Film Festival, as well.) (Louis Wu 12:08:31 UTC) (permalink)
New Halo Wars Screenshots
MrSprout was the first to point out a new batch of about 40 Halo Wars screenshots (really new, this time, not snagged from a released trailer or scrounged up from some obscure past), over at GamePro.com. This game is looking pretty good! (Louis Wu 12:03:31 UTC) (permalink)
News June 17 2008
Console Wars Episode 1
TheSquareCoin stopped by to announce Console Wars Episode 1 (or 5, depending on where you're looking) - it's available in standard-def streaming flash or high-def QuickTime, and it's quite good. Film quality is very, very high - with some spectacularly well-done special effects - and comedy is pleasantly strange (in line with other Chairleg products). Grab this one - it's worth watching. (Download speeds seem a tad slow - if it gets worse, we'll put up mirrors.) (Louis Wu 19:25:02 UTC) (permalink)
ZZoMBiE's Back
ZZoMBiE13 has taken over comic duties again at Another Halo Comic Strip - though after today's strip, you may be clamoring for those guest artists... (Louis Wu 16:09:56 UTC) (permalink)
Blind Wolf - in Spore
Heh, cool. Remember the Blind Wolf? It made its first appearance in 'Evolution', a retrospective look at Halo's development, and then showed up as concept art (screenshot, 60k) in the 'Cutting Room Floor' feature of the Halo 2 Special Edition DVD. This morning, KraZi Chief sent us a shot taken from within the Creature Creator demo for the game Spore - nice start! (KraZi Chief complained about the color palette and the lack of resources remaining - and hinted there might be more 'Halo-esque critters' coming later on. Even with the limitations, this looks great!)
(Louis Wu 13:11:17 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie's MLG Tourney Wrapup
Luke Smith and Shishka wrote up a joint blog post about the MLG San Diego tourney, and their involvement in it. Best news in the piece? Cold Storage art assets coming to Bungie.net later this week.
(Louis Wu 13:03:56 UTC) (permalink)
New Halo Wars Screens Surface
Worth Playing posted 3 new screenshots from the GamePro Halo Wars spread - when I was trying to figure out if these were authorized or not, I ran across three OTHER ones on GamePro's website, posted last week. The WP shots look digital, which is a step towards the light side (they're not scans, at least). Check 'em out! Update: Psychophan7 pointed out (correctly) that the Worth Playing shots came from last year's E3 Demo (still available on the Halo Wars website). Bah. I hate sites that sleaze their way to pageviews. (The three shots on the GamePro site are definitely new, though.)
(Louis Wu 12:49:09 UTC) (permalink)
Inside Halo 17
Adam Kovic reminded us that Inside Halo 17 was released a few days ago - eep, we missed it. (Especially bad, since it highlighted HBO...) Also contains some great flag-related screenshots, and potentially dead puppies. Go watch! (Louis Wu 12:48:30 UTC) (permalink)
Funko to sell Halo Bobbleheads
Hawty McBloggy found an auction on eBay for a Master Chief bobblehead... but a little digging around showed that Funko is releasing these puppies in the next month or two, and their street price is considerably lower than that eBay Buy it Now price. If you want one of these, preorder from a legitimate outlet, or wait until July/August (depending on the variant) to buy them. The three spartans (silver, red, blue) can be grabbed at the San Diego Comic Con - the green Master Chief will be available a couple of weeks later. (Louis Wu 12:47:17 UTC) (permalink)
Comics and such
Dennis Powers sent word that Shipwrecked Episode 30 ('Watched') is now online (Johnston and Taylor are in a new valley, but still under surveillance), and Sane Intolerant told us that a new episode of Halo Toy Box is up, in which internet memes are torqued to fit the Halo universe. And K8lunch let us know that the latest Larry the Marine ('Wish come true') has been posted, as well - be careful what you wish for! Comics everywhere! (Louis Wu 12:43:15 UTC) (permalink)
Spike Grenade, Modelled
Spartanx5 is back with another weapon model (we last saw him in early May with an energy sword) - this time he's worked on the Spike Grenade. Swing by his DeviantART page to see what he's done! (Louis Wu 12:42:35 UTC) (permalink)
News June 16 2008
The Cole Protocol - coming Fall 2008
Bungie's posted a news item about The Cole Protocol, a new novel set in the Halo universe. It's the sixth such novel, and it's being written by Tobias Buckell. It's due out this fall. This seems to be a followup to Ghosts of Onyx, though there's very little information about the book itself in the news post. Thanks to CougRon for noticing. (Louis Wu 19:28:28 UTC) (permalink)
Views from the Edge
BlueNinja has been working on some new panoramic shots - check 'em out. (Louis Wu 18:10:20 UTC) (permalink)
RvB: Reconstruction Chapter 4
Rooster Teeth has released RvB: Reconstruction Chapter 4 for sponsors (if previous releases are any indication, it'll be up for everyone within the hour) - Caboose and Washington go looking for an old friend. Well... maybe not so much a friend, as an acquaintance. Co-worker. Mortal enemy? Dang. Go watch. (Louis Wu 17:10:59 UTC) (permalink)
Ascendant Justice: The Architecture of War
Another interesting series has been started over at Ascendant Justice - they're calling it 'The Architecture of War', and it looks at the factors of the Halo campaigns that make them so enjoyable to return to again and again. First up - Environments. Go see how your surroundings affect your playstyle! Upcoming chapters include 'Sandbox' and 'Enemies'. Thanks to mendicantbias00 for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 16:09:49 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief Theater 3000 - Episode 2
Pyroman has released the second Master Chief Theater 3000 - it's short, but that's because he didn't want to combine cutscenes from different levels. Go watch! (Louis Wu 13:08:58 UTC) (permalink)
Infiltration
TTL Demag0gue let us know that Reclaimer 55 is now up - Viper is working with Archimedes, but has run into a snag... (Louis Wu 13:07:41 UTC) (permalink)
The Riot 103
The Riot 103 was delayed a week because of sickness - but it's up now. As usual, full of community news, new map talk, and an iPhone interface for the show. 27 minutes, 11 mb. Thanks, Sigafoos. (Louis Wu 13:05:40 UTC) (permalink)
Anybody want a Halo 3 HotPocket?
Okay, this is just silly. Hawty McBloggy found an auction on eBay where someone's selling a donut hole that looks like a Master Chief helmet. Well... it's SUPPOSED to look like a Master Chief helmet. (I don't see it, myself. Looks like a Dunkin Munchkin. Munchkins cost about a quarter each. Remember that when you realize that starting bid on this puppy is $25 with shipping.) People will sell anything... (Louis Wu 12:23:36 UTC) (permalink)
Amp Your Game - Halo 3 pro opportunity for Canadian gamers
Amp Energy Drinks is holding a series of tourneys across Canada to find a 4th player for an Amp-sponsored pro team - there are four more opportunities to show up and strut your stuff. Check the article in the London Free Press for details. (Louis Wu 12:11:03 UTC) (permalink)
Long Range Fun on The Ark
Rockslider's on an enforced break from Halo 3 for a while (RROD woes), but he's still got a piece he wrote for some long-range fun on The Ark. Go see what's there! (Louis Wu 12:08:08 UTC) (permalink)
Cortana Fan Art at GR
BlueNinja noticed a feature over at GamesRadar in which they posted a whole bunch of Cortana fan art - looks like someone just went through DeviantART and grabbed every pic they could find. Nice collection! (Louis Wu 12:06:28 UTC) (permalink)
Fan Fic Pick of the Week
UNSC Trooper stopped by yesterday to point out the HBO Fan Fic Pick of the Week - this one written up by SeverianofUrth. If you're looking for help sifting through the weekly submissions, this series is worth a read! (Louis Wu 12:03:48 UTC) (permalink)
MLG San Diego - Cold Storage Unveiled, Str8 Rippin Wins
The big news this weekend was the unveiling of Cold Storage, a new remake of Chill Out that Bungie brought with them to MLG San Diego. (The 'screens' in that story are pretty lousy - you can get a slightly better look at the map in a fan-recorded video from the event over at GameTrailers - thanks, MasterChief2829.) The jury's still out on this one - but reaction from the event (where the only people who actually SAW the map were) is pretty positive. While you're over at MLGPro.com, check out the San Diego Hall of Champions - congrats to Str8 Rippin, who took first place in the 4v4. (Louis Wu 11:57:54 UTC) (permalink)
News June 15 2008
Happy Father's Day
An unexpectedly full schedule on this Father's Day has made Halo-related updates less than feasible. Please enjoy this day set aside for your dad (at least in the US), and we'll be back tomorrow! (Louis Wu 14:27:23 UTC) (permalink)
News June 14 2008
Halo: Retro Evolved
Maximum Fear is running a contest - create a screenshot of what Halo would have looked like if it had been released on the original Nintendo Entertainment System, win prizes. Details on their site! (Louis Wu 23:09:47 UTC) (permalink)
Vehicle Panoramas - Longsword and Phantom
Bry is back with more ship panoramas! - this time it's the Longsword and the Phantom. Swing by his forum post for some pretty cool mongo-shots! (Louis Wu 21:46:35 UTC) (permalink)
Gray Team Pilot: Reloaded
Marc Swint, of Mindless Distortion Productions, let us know that they've redone Gray Team Transmission One: Inception, because they felt it was needed. Go watch the relaunch of the pilot at YouTube. (Louis Wu 18:25:34 UTC) (permalink)
Down The Drain
Dennis Powers let us know that Shipwrecked 29 is up - those guys might be in trouble... (Louis Wu 18:25:17 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Halo 3 Streams - Live from San Diego
As you might have noticed with our In the Spotlight image on the right - MLG will be broadcasting Halo 3 streams live from San Diego, today and tomorrow - click through to watch! (As of this writing, they haven't started yet - they kick off in about 90 minutes.) (Louis Wu 14:01:50 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie Weekly Update - Short and Sweet
Last night's Bungie Weekly Update (viewable, as usual, either on Bungie.net or in our Weekly Update Archive) was pretty simple - Luke and Shishka are off in San Diego for MLG's tourney there - it covered banning fun, some cool user-created content, a hint about late summer, and a warning about Big Team Battle. Go read! (Louis Wu 13:58:58 UTC) (permalink)
News June 13 2008
GwF - James McAvoy plays Halo 3
Xbox.com's Game with Fame is back with another Halo 3 challenge - this Sunday, you can play with James McAvoy, star of the new movie Wanted. Thanks to Xbox360Fanboy for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 20:16:10 UTC) (permalink)
Syndicated Forum Goodness
So a week or so ago, General Vagueness asked whether our forum had an RSS feed, so that he could keep up on the latest posts without having to drop in and load the main page. There wasn't one... then. Two long-time contributors jumped in to fill the void - BOLL whipped up a php-based feed, and almost immediately afterwards Ciarán sent along modifications to the actual forum script that created a perl-based feed that's updated as new posts are made. I kept meaning to combine the best parts of these two scripts - we don't need two - but life's been busy this week, so I decided to leave it up to the users. Check 'em both out, decide what you like about each, and add your comments to this thread. we'll put together a final version based on your recommendations. Thanks, of course, to both Ciarán and BOLL - you guys rock. (Louis Wu 18:26:54 UTC) (permalink)
Spotlight on: Compound Intelligence
This week's Community Spotlight over at Bungie.net is on Compound Intelligence, a group that started up in response to the Iris ARG last summer. You can learn more about them in the writeup, and you can see some of their favorite files in the Bungie Favorites section, which they're currently filling. (Louis Wu 18:16:33 UTC) (permalink)
Rude Awakening
It's been a nice break, I think... but there are limits. Stuntmutt is on hand to help ZZoMBiE13 come to some foregone conclusions. Go read today's guest Another Halo Comic Strip. (Louis Wu 17:59:16 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars, as seen by its Community Manager
Halo Wars Addict interviewed Thunder, the Community Manager over at Ensemble Studios. Some good info, some nice dodging - go give it a read! This might be the last big chunk of Halo Wars news before E3, coming up in mid-July. (Louis Wu 17:52:48 UTC) (permalink)
Finnish Spartan's Molded Helmet
Finnish Spartan sent us pics of his latest piece of work - a Spartan Helmet. Spiffy! Check it out. (Louis Wu 17:23:19 UTC) (permalink)
Pink Spartans - now up for preorder
mendicantbias00 noticed that D&R has finally posted info on how to preorder their Pink Mark VI Halo Exclusive McFarlane figure - if you've been waiting for a Pink McFarlane (yes, bs angel, I'm looking at you), this is it!
(Louis Wu 17:22:35 UTC) (permalink)
Daddy, I'm tired - can I come out now?
It's Friday, so it's time for another Friday Caption Fun over at Hawty McBloggy's. She got almost 500 submissions for last week's pic (which I suppose explains why she didn't laugh at my entry (the post title)) - and she's got a new one up for you now... go toss in your two cents! (Louis Wu 17:21:32 UTC) (permalink)
Neurons Episode 2 - Mirrors Teaser
BlitzSnake sent word that a NEW trailer for Neurons 2 is now up on YouTube. (The last one was posted in February. And if I hadn't been told this was a Halo machinima, I sure wouldn't learn that from the new trailer...)
(Louis Wu 17:21:11 UTC) (permalink)
Frag a Friend - and the Ultimate Deathmatch!
kilaMOMjaro let us know about a couple of upcoming goodies from The PraetoriaGuard - next week is the next edition of Frag a Friend, the ongoing community leader get-together. (If you're a leader of an established Halo community, you're eligible for play - swing by and sign up.) And coming up at the end of August, look for Halo 3 Ultimate Deathmatch - a 1v1 tourney, pistols only! Rules and prizes are listed in the PG announcement. Get fraggin'!
(Louis Wu 17:20:25 UTC) (permalink)
GotFrag MLG San Diego Halo 3 Preview
GotFrag has put up its own preview of MLG San Diego, set to kick off tomorrow. Go check out their picks for top performances, then follow along tomorrow to see how they did! (Louis Wu 17:18:19 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
Nine new pieces for you today in the Fan Fiction section - go read! (Submitters - don't forget to read the submission guidelines... I hate having to delete submissions because they violate the rules.) (Louis Wu 17:17:11 UTC) (permalink)
Stride Championship Series, Episode 4
MLGPro.com has posted Episode 4 of its Stride Championship Series - this time it's Fatal Images vs Ambush on Guardian, and it's a nailbiter. Thanks to the Bungie Blog for the heads-up (though it's incorrectly labeled as Part 5 there). (Louis Wu 17:15:49 UTC) (permalink)
News June 12 2008
The Lord of the Halo
Wow - ReleasetheMonk continues with his Halo-footage-and-movie-soundtracks mashups - this time, it's Lord of the Rings, and I have to say, I'm impressed with the timing. Great clip choices, great synching! Go watch.
(Louis Wu 21:10:31 UTC) (permalink)
Wartogs in Mirror are Closer than they Appear
elessar787 noticed a photoshop contest on cracked.com where people added video game items to real-life photos. Halo gets its share of love. (Louis Wu 21:09:31 UTC) (permalink)
Terminal Smuggling
Wow, very cool. Capt Spanish has reformatted the Smuggler text (provided for us in recent Bungie Weekly Updates) into a more... appropriate style. Go see! (Louis Wu 20:32:59 UTC) (permalink)
Deconstructing the Spawn Point
Over at Forge Hub, Devinish has put together a pretty extensive Advanced Guide to Respawns - if you're into building maps with Forge, this puppy is almost certainly worth reading. Thanks, Luke. (Louis Wu 20:21:15 UTC) (permalink)
Not Sisterball This Time
As of half an hour ago, the latest Double Experience Weekend went active on Xbox Live - Grifball (Spring League Rules, for real this time) is going until Monday morning, early. Go get hammered! (Louis Wu 18:32:15 UTC) (permalink)
Misc Art Deluge - restoppering dam
Okay, it's not COMPLETELY clear - there've been submissions in the past couple of weeks that haven't made it in, I think - but the last batch of processed Miscellaneous Art is now up for viewing. Some pretty cool stuff in there today! (I'd have to say my favorites were from Trevor Corbin and Nelson Polanco, though the Halo Transformer's pretty rad, and Levi Hoffmeier's stuff continues to rock.) Next up, hopefully - wallpaper. (Louis Wu 18:08:08 UTC) (permalink)
Free Games for South Africans
You may have noticed - it's a pretty slow news day, Halo-wise. If you live in South Africa, you've got a chance to win a 'games hamper' (a collection of 360 games, including Halo 3) just for filling out the form on this page at iafrica.com. Not a bad deal! (Louis Wu 17:57:39 UTC) (permalink)
News June 11 2008
Misc Art Deluge Continues
As promised (I BET YOU THOUGHT I FORGOT! HAH!), there's another batch of Miscellaneous Art posted today - sketches, paintings, even a panorama. Go see! (No, the queue's not empty yet.) (Louis Wu 18:22:02 UTC) (permalink)
Enigma Chapter 1
Moorhead let us know about Enigma, his new machinima series - Chapter 1 is up on YouTube now. It's a mystery! (Nice cinematography.) (Louis Wu 18:08:37 UTC) (permalink)
Shipwrecked - it's on fire
Dennis Powers stopped by our forum to point out Shipwrecked Episodes 26, 27, and 28 - looks like someone's been watching some Newman/Redford movies! (Louis Wu 17:57:02 UTC) (permalink)
HMV - Bohemian Rhapsody
Back in 2003, Ross Mills created a Halo music video set to Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody', using footage from Halo. There've been versions since then... but today HeavenlyYeti pointed out a Halo 3 version posted on YouTube back in March, created by a group known as Frenchie Films Productions - pretty nice work! Check it out.
(Louis Wu 17:29:07 UTC) (permalink)
Boom-Dee-Yada!
Mariachi found a great parody of the fantastic Discovery Channel "I love the whole world" commercial (original viewable here) - you can watch it at CollegeHumor.com, or at GamersProdigy, the site that made it. It's not all Halo - but it's all good. (Louis Wu 14:17:26 UTC) (permalink)
Hindsight: Floodgate
Ascendant Justice continues with their Hindsight series, walking through each level of Halo 3. Yesterday, they released Floodgate, a short level which nevertheless signals a major turning point in the game. As always, the level of detail is very, very high - you'll likely read a few points you never noticed while playing the game. The Addendum, as usual, provides a Legendary runthrough of the game. Thanks, mendicantbias00 (and DHalo). (Louis Wu 14:07:38 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Crusades kicks off
Sam152, of Halo Wars Addict, let us know that his site has posted an interview with the owner of HaloCrusades.com - the home of an online Halo RPG. (There's not much to see at the website itself, unless you set up an account... so if you're interested in this sort of thing, you'll have to explore on your own!) (Louis Wu 13:57:17 UTC) (permalink)
Do they make pills for that?
Hawty McBloggy found a video about a rather strange affliction - not sure I see the humor in it that she does, but it definitely had its moments. (Louis Wu 13:44:30 UTC) (permalink)
Hostile [Carrier Signal]
TTL Demag0gue mentioned that Reclaimer 54 is now available for viewing - it uses some nice screenshots gleaned from Haloscreenshots.net, and the news post suggests that if you'd like to participate in the NEXT episode, your own screens might be used. (Louis Wu 13:40:51 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: Impossible
ReleasetheMonk has added a new parody to his action movie series - Halo: Impossible uses cutscene footage and music we all know and love to give you the flavor of a popcorn-munching experience. (Louis Wu 13:39:08 UTC) (permalink)
Reconstruction Chapter 3 Commentary
Rooster Teeth has posted a Director's Commentary on Chapter 3 of RvB: Reconstruction for sponsors - it contains lots of information about how they expect this season to play out, and it shows off how they implemented one of the cooler effects in this episode. Definitely worth a watch!
(Louis Wu 13:35:03 UTC) (permalink)
Ranked BTB - Safe for the time being
Another note at Bungie.net - apparently, the tweaks applied to the Ranked Big Team Battle playlist (in terms of game variety, and the bonus of double experience points through June) has boosted population enough that Bungie is not currently worried about having to cancel the list. (That's not to say if everyone leaves tomorrow, they won't reconsider - but for now, it's safe.) (Louis Wu 13:31:50 UTC) (permalink)
MLG San Diego Halo 3 Preview
MLGPro.com has posted a San Diego Preview article, giving you some ideas about who to watch in the upcoming gameplay this weekend. Go give it a read! (Thanks to Bungie's blog for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 13:29:02 UTC) (permalink)
News June 10 2008
9 - 5
We've always thought of the Master Chief as the Last Great Hope of Mankind - but Alexander Farr (a guest artist for ZZoMBiE13's Another Halo Comic Strip) wonders what things would be like if he were a little less... altruistic. (Louis Wu 20:17:25 UTC) (permalink)
Misc Art Floodgates Open
Speaking of art... I'm embarrassed at how long the art queues are here at HBO. Artists submitting their work (or posting it on our forum) have been ASTOUNDINGLY patient - but I'm finally finding some time to clear out the queues. I'm putting up the first 22 pieces in the Miscellaneous Art gallery today - there'll be another batch tomorrow, and on and on until they're clear. Go see what's there now; some have surfaced before, many are brand-new. Levi Hoffmeier has a whole batch (with more coming in the next couple of days), Sea-Salt created a very cool Family Guy/Halo crossover, and there's even a Mongoose Transformer. Poke around! (Louis Wu 20:14:09 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief and Cortana Original Art
Hawty McBloggy found a piece of Halo artwork for sale on eBay - it's pretty nicely done (if a tad expensive). Take a look! (Louis Wu 20:05:59 UTC) (permalink)
How it all began, Conclusion
The final Larry the Marine
'How it all began' episode is now up - 2phast is gearing up for new adventures! (Louis Wu 18:16:46 UTC) (permalink)
Isla to look back at Halo
According to Next Generation, several keynote speakers for this year's Develop conference have been announced - and among them is Damian Isla (AI Programming Lead for Halo 2 and Halo 3), who will discuss "Halo AI Retrospective: Eight Years of Work on 30 Seconds of Fun". The conference takes place in Brighton (in the UK), at the end of July. (Louis Wu 15:45:31 UTC) (permalink)
Stiched
FireDragon04 sent word of Stiched (not a typo) - a bunch of silly skits and lots of teabagging. He's looking for feedback - leave a comment! (Louis Wu 14:27:09 UTC) (permalink)
ScrewAttack's Top 10 FPS Games Ever
ScrewAttack put together their Top Ten FPS Games Ever - Halo (the original) made it near the top. Many of the GameTrailers commenters find issues with the list - see what you think! Thanks, PHANTOMFIRE X. (Louis Wu 14:15:37 UTC) (permalink)
UMGSO played Halo
Bryan Ojeda noticed that the University of Maryland's Gamer Symphony Orchestra played the Halo 3 theme at last year's Fall Concert - you can hear it on their website. (Forumgoers are giving it low marks; see if you agree!) (Louis Wu 14:13:28 UTC) (permalink)
News June 9 2008
More Linktaculars for everyone!
Luke Smith posted a note on Bungie.net explaining a small change on Xbox LIVE for folks with Bungie.net profiles - the seventh column symbol will appear automatically now, instead of having to be turned on explicitly. (You can still turn it off if you want.) (Louis Wu 22:00:34 UTC) (permalink)
Escape from Zanzibar Teaser
Crabbo let us know that Escape from Zanzibar has a new teaser up now - go watch! (Louis Wu 21:58:46 UTC) (permalink)
RvB: Reconstruction - Chapter 3
Reconstruction Chapter 3 has been posted for Sponsors over at the Red vs Blue website - wait a little if you want the free version. (Update: posted for all, now.) "Did my dad die again?" I love Caboose. (Directory's commentary coming later tonight, apparently.) (Louis Wu 18:03:56 UTC) (permalink)
The Gate
TTL Demag0gue pointed out Episode 53 of The Reclaimer - looks like Resplendent Legacy is happy to mess with our hero. (Louis Wu 14:32:55 UTC) (permalink)
Vulcan
Adrenaline stumbled across a game called 'Vulcan', a top-down shooter that seems to take quite a few of its design features from a well-known FPS. It might provide a few minutes of entertainment... (Louis Wu 14:29:09 UTC) (permalink)
DigitalPh33r's Guide to Making Halo 3 Machinima: Part One
DigitalPh33r has posted Part One of his Guide to Making Halo 3 Machinima - he won't hold your hand, but he WILL tell you what not to do. 13 minutes long. (Louis Wu 14:05:13 UTC) (permalink)
There's no u in mold.
Jillybean's being poetic again. Someone get the tissues. (Louis Wu 13:59:48 UTC) (permalink)
News June 8 2008
Forge Hub - A Forging Retrospective Part II
TrueDarkFusion let us know that Part II of the Forging Retrospective is now online at Forge Hub - it's a look at what Foundry brought to the Forging table. Go read! (Louis Wu 21:56:32 UTC) (permalink)
Gray Team Transmission Three Trailer Part 2 (and stuff)
Marc Swint, of Mindless Distortion Productions, let us know that they've released Gray Team: Transmission 3 - Relegation (Part 2) Trailer (yes, that's a long title for the second half of a trailer), as well as a video update, which includes a mailbag segment. Go watch! (Louis Wu 18:43:01 UTC) (permalink)
HBOFF interviews William Dietz
UNSC Trooper stopped by last night to point out an interview he conducted with William Dietz, the author of Halo: The Flood. Swing by the HBO Fan Fiction forum and hear from Mr. Dietz how he got started as an author, how he got involved with the Halo universe, and what he thinks about Fan Fiction. Nice read!
(Louis Wu 14:33:26 UTC) (permalink)
John 117: Tomorrow Never is the Same
ReleasetheMonk created a James-Bond-like trailer for a nonexistent movie using Halo cutscene footage. Go see! (Louis Wu 14:23:42 UTC) (permalink)
News June 7 2008
Forecast the Series: Episode 3
Tyler let us know that Young Street Productions has released Forecast Episode 3 - there's some funky love stuff going on, and the potential for a new character. And general meanness towards Craig. Go watch! (Louis Wu 18:04:34 UTC) (permalink)
Mix Picks Week 6
XMixMasterX stopped by to point out Mix Picks Week 6 - a bunch of new map reviews based on items he found on B.net. Go read! (Louis Wu 18:00:59 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Action Figure Prototypes
Linda let us know that there's a forum with some pretty neat pictures of Halo 3 action figure prototypes, some going back years. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 17:56:53 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars Post Alpha Control Scheme
As we mentioned a few days ago, the July episode of GamePro has a sizeable article on Halo Wars - and one of the things they discuss is the control scheme of the game. (This is what critics seem to be most skeptical about - many people don't think you can create a control scheme with a console controller that will give you gameplay on par with PC RTS's.) Halo Wars Addict has looked at the GamePro info, and put together a graphic that lets you see how the control scheme works. Thanks, Sam152. (Louis Wu 14:51:15 UTC) (permalink)
The Smuggler, Part 2
Avateur kicked off the analysis of the cryptic content at the bottom of this week's Update - you can read it over at args.bungie.org. (Louis Wu 14:46:18 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief 3000 Ep 1
pyroman took a page from the MST3K playbook, and created Master Chief Theater 3000. Episode 1 covers the opening cutscene of Halo 3. Check it out! (Louis Wu 14:44:44 UTC) (permalink)
Generi-Soldiers FTW
Gamesradar is disappointed by all the masked heroes in our video games. Guess who's on the list? (Louis Wu 14:40:14 UTC) (permalink)
Where does the bias come from?
Gamespot has a blog piece about the video game press - and how they can be influenced by fan expectations, in a way that doesn't look good when you check back later. Halo 2 and 3 are used as examples of the phenomenon. Give it a read, and decide if you agree! (Louis Wu 14:30:41 UTC) (permalink)
Backlash: Episode 15
bndud let us know that the first episode of Backlash (which is really the 15th episode of Cops and Robbers) is now up at RobbersUnite.com. He suggests watching the first 14 episodes first. (Louis Wu 14:26:40 UTC) (permalink)
2old2playHALO Pwnathon 2008
2old2play is hosting a charity drive to benefit the PKD Foundation - it's a series of challenges, primarily Halo-related. Go read the details at 2o2p! Thanks, naveeda. (Louis Wu 14:21:26 UTC) (permalink)
Truthiness, Whiteboards, and Maintenance
Yesterday's edition of the Bungie Weekly Update was a little light on information - some travel info, some head-to-head info, some BTB info, ways NOT to submit news, a teaser about next month, and... another Superintendent message? Go read - either at Bungie.net, or in our Weekly Update Archive. (Louis Wu 13:16:25 UTC) (permalink)
News June 6 2008
A Clover on my Shoulder
Folks have been making montages of gameplay footage for almost as long as Halo's been out, and I think I've been pretty consistent in my tastes during that time. I've always felt that some effects can add to the interest level of the montage - but there's a point at which visual effects take away from a montage's enjoyability. We got word from Lando Griff1n today that his montage was posted, over at Bungie.net (well, hosted by Halo3Montage, but the discussion is at B.net), and I downloaded the HD version to check it out. I think I can say with confidence that I've never seen a montage with more video effects than this one. It's fascinating just from an academic standpooint... but I warn you, you might have some trouble watching it if you've been drinking. There are smaller versions if 330 mb is too much for you. (Louis Wu 19:58:31 UTC) (permalink)
Machinimania
Bungie's Blog has a machinima roundup - looks to be a bunch of submitted movies, with descriptions by their creators. Most have been mentioned here before - but not all. Go poke around! (Louis Wu 19:22:32 UTC) (permalink)
Speed Reading
Cthulhu117 let us know that the Fan Fic Pick of the Week is already online. That was fast! (Louis Wu 17:48:41 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: The Day the World Died
shisno34 pointed out 'The Day our World Died', a fan film created by some students in Sweden as an entry into the 'Halo 3 Recut' contest Microsoft Europe ran this spring. Pretty nice! (Louis Wu 17:31:11 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3: Vehicles Gone Wild
This showed up in my Google alerts this morning - it made me smile. Very cute idea! (Louis Wu 17:26:05 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
Wow - almost forgot it was Friday! Ten new pieces in the Fan Fiction section today - go see what you can find! (Louis Wu 15:54:31 UTC) (permalink)
Wear Your Helmet
Today's edition of Another Halo Comic Strip is another zinger from Keith Jones - it might be considered a little more mature in content than other strips, but its humor can't be denied. (Louis Wu 14:30:55 UTC) (permalink)
Philly Gamers - looking for a web overhaul
Paul Miles, from PhillyGamers.net, let us know that they've got six LAN tournaments scheduled between the July 4th weekend and the end of September - all are in and around Philadelphia, and all will have Halo 3 2v2 events (among other games). They're looking for someone who wants to help rebuild their website - if you're interested, swing by and let 'em know! (Preferred contact appears to be their Myspace profile.) (Louis Wu 14:01:55 UTC) (permalink)
Top Ten US Console Games, from NPD (via GS)
Interesting. Gamespot has posted some info from NPD, the industry tracking group that keeps up on sales numbers... they've listed the Top Ten Best-Selling Non-PC Games in the US (yes, that's a bunch of qualifiers), and a Halo game is there. But maybe not the one you expected... it's Halo 2. (Halo 3 has sold almost 8 million copies worldwide, so far - but only about 5.75 million of those have been in the US.) (Louis Wu 13:36:25 UTC) (permalink)
Unlucky Elite 2
Last September, Jamie98s let us know about the Unlucky Elite - today, he's released a sequel. Unlucky Elite 2 follows our hapless friend as he continues his fight against the human. Great sound, nice effects, well-done all around. You can watch the streaming version at Jamie98s' site, but since nobody should have to be subjected to MegaUpload, we're providing mirrors for the download versions - both WMP9 and QuickTime. (They're 62 mb each.) (Louis Wu 13:20:33 UTC) (permalink)
From Medusa's Head
It's time for a new Reclaimer comic, or so TTL Demag0gue tells us - Episode 52 provides the names of two more AIs (and the origin of one of those). Funky! (Louis Wu 13:02:33 UTC) (permalink)
Okay, we're going to cut the leg now. Bite hard.
It's Friday, so it's time for Caption Fun over at Hawty McBloggy's. She's got last week's results up (some funny lines in the more than 300 submissions!), and a new picture to work with. Go see! (Speaking of caption fun, over at Forge Hub, they're running a screenshot caption contest - come up with a caption, and get some front-page time there!) (Louis Wu 13:00:27 UTC) (permalink)
Community Spotlight: HaloTracks
Yesterday afternoon, Bungie posted a new Community Spotlight - this one is on HaloTracks, a site devoted to Halo racing enthusiasts. (A chunk of the spotlight is spent discussing the Wallrider map - i have to say, I downloaded this, and while the track itself is pretty cool, be aware that there are a LOT of things you can do to get your mongoose stuck permanently in places it can't get out - I wasn't even TRYING to break things and I lost the first two vehicles I climbed on.) Go check 'em out - their creations are currently filling up Bungie Favorites! (Louis Wu 12:38:53 UTC) (permalink)
News June 5 2008
Take a Rocket Ride to Heaven
It's Thursday, and it's after 11 am PDT... which means Double XP Weekend is ON. This week, it's Rockets FFA. Go blow someone up. Thanks, Captain Spark. Only the best for our boys (and girls)... (Louis Wu 18:55:33 UTC) (permalink)
Maptrocity
Z let us know about Maptrocity, a video that was modeled after insidi0us' amazing Maptacular video (released two and a half years ago). Maptrocity is a Halo 3-based version, and a lot of work went in to making sure medals/kill types/etc lined up by the end. The transitions aren't as spectacular as they were in the Halo version by insidi0us - but for the most part they're pretty good, and overall it's a great romp through the Halo 3 multiplayer maps. 9:23 long, 131 mb, WMP9 format. Go grab a copy from Halo3Forum.com! Update: At some point, the H3F link stopped working - so here's a local download link (WMV, 131 mb) and a YouTube link. (Louis Wu 18:50:59 UTC) (permalink)
Podtacular's Summer Tourney
PodTacular's running a Summer Tournament - 4v4 MLG-style play. Are you part of a known Halo community? Sign up! You might want to read the discussion on Podtacular.com and the writeup on Bungie.net before you do... (Louis Wu 17:50:45 UTC) (permalink)
Pananorama
nomis78 announced that he's posted 6 new panoramas over at NHP, his panorama blog. The Last Resort work is HUGE. (Louis Wu 17:39:55 UTC) (permalink)
Real-Life Cortanas (a Round-Up)
Hawty McBloggy has put together a piece on real-life Cortanas - we've covered most of them before, but there's at least one new one, and her take, even on the ones we've seen before, it a good read. Check it out! (Louis Wu 16:49:37 UTC) (permalink)
The Gunslingers
There's a new episode of Halo Action Figure Theater available today - our heroes get some help from an unlikely quarter. Carrying unlikely weapons. And suchlike. (Louis Wu 15:51:41 UTC) (permalink)
RvB 1, Armor Testing Recreated with CGI
Major.Dump stopped by with a couple of eye-popping links - these are movies he created as CG adaptations of existing material. The first is a reproduction of Red vs Blue Episode 1, and the second is a trailer for his interpretation of the 'Armor Testing' story seen in the Halo Graphic Novel. Both are astounding - I hope we can get high-res versions of these that we can share. In the meantime, though, go watch the YouTube versions. They're great. Update: Thanks a million to Laird, who was able to get us HD (1280x720) copies of both movies. I'm putting up double mirrors of these, just in case demand is high. The Armor Testing Trailer is 88 mb in WMP9 format, 95 mb in QuickTime format: WMP9 Mirror 1 | WMP9 Mirror 2 | QT Mirror 1 | QT Mirror 2. The CGI version of RvB's Episode 1 is 98 mb in WMP9 format, 102 mb in QuickTime format: WMP9 Mirror 1 | WMP9 Mirror 2 | QT Mirror 1 | QT Mirror 2. Grab the one(s) you need! (Louis Wu 15:31:29 UTC) (permalink)
Vehicle Panoramas, Part One
Bry decided to create some very specific panoramas - these are devoted to Halo 3 vehicles. Specifically, he's completed the Pelican and the CCS Battlecruiser. Swing by his post for links - there are some gorgeous pics in there! (Louis Wu 15:26:06 UTC) (permalink)
Lord Mongoose Goostage
SonofMacPhisto pointed out a Mongoose Montage, posted at MLGPro.com and highlighted by Bungie's new blog - you'll see some pretty amazing driving, shooting, and pwnage in general. Check it out! (Louis Wu 15:22:50 UTC) (permalink)
Listening to Gamers Play, not Talk
The Screen Play blog in the Sydney (AU) Morning Herald has an article about Framework, a game development conference that took place in Melbourne yesterday. A significant chunk of it is devoted to some information from Keith Steury, who was involved in usability testing for Halo when he worked for Microsoft Game Studios. There's some fascinating info about how decisions were made, and what sort of changes came about because of the testing. Go read! Update: DOH! Didn't notice Ding beat me to this by a few minutes. Worth the read twice, I guess. (Pretty funny that we focused on the same point for our headlines...) (Louis Wu 15:17:58 UTC) (permalink)
The Halocaust
NartFOpc pointed out a school project on YouTube - someone used Halo 3 to create an overview of the Holocaust. Many of our forumgoers found this in bad taste - but I'd have to say that it's a well-done treatment. The subject material was handled with respect. Decide for yourself! (Louis Wu 15:11:10 UTC) (permalink)
Games and Violence - analyzing the data
RevDotNed suggested some light summer reading - Grand Theft Childhood looks at the relationship between violent video games and behavior. Halo is mentioned a few times, which helps justify its presence here on HBO's front page - but really, this is a subject that comes up a lot, and this book seems to do a reasonable job of addressing it. Check it out! (Louis Wu 15:04:35 UTC) (permalink)
Pro-Tips from a Pro
Back on May 22, we mentioned a weekly film clip feature from G4TV's X-Play, whereby TSquared, from Str8 Rippin, provided tips on Bungie's maps. Since then, there've been two new ones - Standoff aired May 27, and Rat's Nest went live June 3. Step up your game! (Louis Wu 15:00:59 UTC) (permalink)
Look as I do, not as I say
Keith Steury, formerly of MGS, spoke at an event in Melbourne and touched on how Bungie changed the rules when it comes to testing. Though back in the day it almost turned into a meme ("Bungie cares more about mothers that play Halo!") this article highlights that clever selection of datapoints gives you richer results. The result being a smoothly polished game experience we've come to love in the Halo series. Will it continue to bleed into other games? Looks like our friends down under are listening! Hat tip to Google Alerts. (Ding 14:59:32 UTC) (permalink)
News June 4 2008
The Return of the Prequel Rumor
Remember this rumor about a Halo prequel? It's popped up again, in a different form - CVG is reporting that the latest issue of EGM has some info about something that sounds the same - but there's no mention of Gearbox. Hmm... same game, different developer? Different game altogether? Totally false rumor? Your guess is as good as ours. (Louis Wu 20:54:10 UTC) (permalink)
Invitation
ZZoMBiE13 takes a break from his break to bring you rules about how to submit Guest Strips for Another Halo Comic Strip. Go read 'em... then get to composing! (Louis Wu 20:40:55 UTC) (permalink)
Inside Halo 16
The latest Inside Halo (Episode 16) is now up for downloading on YouTube - they're still in Mexico, it's still surreal, but they're coming home. News, video picks, top plays. What more could you want? (Louis Wu 20:42:28 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Meta Game Guide, from Grunts R Us
Grunts R Us has put together a Halo 3 Meta Game guide - point values for everything are laid out for you to study. Plan out your high score today! Thanks to Bungie's new blog for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 20:36:26 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars detailed in July issue of GamePro
Looks like your next good look at Halo Wars is going to come from GamePro magazine... check out the July issue for details! (Louis Wu 19:50:46 UTC) (permalink)
How to use Halo 3 Vehicles effectively
PEZ let us know that halowiki.net has a new article on effective vehicle usage - go read it, and see your vehicles do more! (Louis Wu 19:22:08 UTC) (permalink)
4-player Coop Halo 3 Speedruns, Legendary
I'm a little nervous front-paging this, because we're talking about four and a half gigs worth of videos... but you guys are gonna be gentle, right? Cody Miller stopped by to let us know that High Speed Halo has posted four-player Coop Speedruns from six of Halo 3's 9 levels (all on Legendary). You can watch them in small, medium, or large formats - but be aware that all the runs are being served from the same (bungie.org) server, so if your download's really slow, maybe give it a bit and try again later. Update: nash--housewares pointed out that there's a typo on the Uniques page - apparently, all of the 'Halo' links are pointing to 'Storm' videos. I don't have access to that page to fix it; I've sent mail to someone who does (Cody's now gone for a bit). Update 2: Dang, that was fast - fixed on the main page, so the links here are pulled! (Louis Wu 17:14:35 UTC) (permalink)
Real Life Warthog Launch
Heh - Conscars, over at Modacity, did a bit of editing to come up with a fun 12-second clip - swing by to check it out. The engineers seal this one. Thanks, rob oplawar. (Louis Wu 16:32:49 UTC) (permalink)
Trust (and goodies)
TTL Demag0gue let us know that Reclaimer #51 has been released - Resplendent Legacy clears up some sticky points for our hero. Also, there are fan-created wallpapers for download - go see! (Louis Wu 12:23:12 UTC) (permalink)
Jasman Toys - getting cheaper?
The Jasman Plasma Pistol laser toy has been out since last fall - but until now, it's been $80 or so per unit, a pretty steep price to pay. According to this new post on The Xbox Collector, though, Jasman is releasing a pair of pistols for $40 - either it's a huge discount, or these are lower quality, or smaller size, or SOMETHING. We'll keep an eye on this. (Louis Wu 12:17:22 UTC) (permalink)
Rare Action Figures on eBay
PFG let us know that he's listed two unreleased Halo figures on eBay - the first is a prototype White Spartan with funky mismatched emblems, the second is a Battle Damaged Halo 3 Master Chief created by Joyride before they backed out of the Halo 3 license - there are very few of these out there. You've got four days to make up your mind on these two - check 'em out! (Louis Wu 11:53:05 UTC) (permalink)
News June 3 2008
Accessible Gameplay Vision
Bungie's hiring again - this time, they're looking for a User Experience Designer. The listing on the Jobs page is... extensive. Go see what they want! (Louis Wu 21:23:14 UTC) (permalink)
Games as Effective Learning
Kotaku has an interview with François Boucher-Genesse, mission designer on Halo 3, who's left Bungie to enter the world of academia. Go read why! (Louis Wu 21:17:58 UTC) (permalink)
Tapped
Today's Guest Edition of Another Halo Comic Strip comes from Lafinman - does the UNSC need to work on its hardware? (Louis Wu 20:28:25 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars - a Chumpion?
Game Guru, in India, has listed their 6 'Chumpions' of 2008 - games that have no chance of living up to the hype. Halo Wars is on their list, because they don't believe a Real Time Strategy game will work on a console. Hmm... (Louis Wu 20:28:14 UTC) (permalink)
Theory of Evolution
2P START! has another Halo-related comic (it was posted in April, but Don just brought it to our attention today) - pretty clever! (Louis Wu 17:07:49 UTC) (permalink)
HBO RSS News Widget Updated
Terminator182 let us know that his HBO RSS News Widget has gotten a few minor tweaks (version number is now 2.22); looks like fonts have been cleaned up. Check it out! (Louis Wu 17:03:55 UTC) (permalink)
The Riot 102
Sigafoos pointed us to The Riot 102 - 21 minutes, 9 mb, full of challenges, videos, and - mudkips? WTF... (Louis Wu 12:25:44 UTC) (permalink)
TTL Tuesday
XerxdeeJ stopped by with word of a Tied the Leader update - no writeup on the LAN festivities yet (hey, they spent a couple of weeks partying, it might take a few days to recap the fun!), but there are two new articles: a new panel discussion about the parts of Halo that might be able to use a little work (some great, and some not so great, suggestions in there!), and a call to save Big Team Battle, with a challenge to all clans looking for a piece of TTL. Go read! (Louis Wu 12:22:01 UTC) (permalink)
What a troublemaker.
Captain Spark figured out a way to break Sierra 117 - nice going, dude. Who's gonna pay for that? (Louis Wu 12:10:34 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief Balloon - and More
Simpsons Rule was the first to notice an article over at Kotaku about Balloon Guy... and his amazing talents with balloons. (Check out his Featured Images slideshow - there's some really cool stuff in there.) (Louis Wu 12:08:07 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 June Matchmaking Changes
Bungie.net contains a list of changes that will go live in roughly 5 hours to the Halo 3 Matchmaking playlist - 1v1 is back! (And 3Ball is coming in a few weeks...) Go read all the details. (Louis Wu 11:58:45 UTC) (permalink)
News June 2 2008
Reconstruction: Chapter 2
RvB's Reconstruction Chapter 2 is now online for the public (and in a larger format for Sponsors). We're back to the humor! And the music. And stuff. Go watch! (Louis Wu 23:35:48 UTC) (permalink)
AtLANtica - in Pictures
You may or may not have known that Tied the Leader held another of their huge clanwide LANs earlier this month - it was a full vacation for many of the attendees. My guess is tomorrow's Tied the Leader update will have a full writeup of the event - but to whet your appetite, Stuicide pointed out the group's Flickr stream, with hundreds of photos taken during the event. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 23:05:46 UTC) (permalink)
A new top spot for Halo 3 Tips
Pez is pretty excited that halowiki.net is the top choice for Google if you search for 'Halo 3 Tips' - and he thinks it's because they finally realized how bad their Tips page was, and reorganized it to be... well, good. Go check it out!
(Louis Wu 22:56:36 UTC) (permalink)
New Series, New Packaging
Xbox360Fanboy has shots of the packaging for the McFarlane Halo 3 Series 2 figures - things are a little less bulky this time around. (Louis Wu 22:51:27 UTC) (permalink)
More from the Stride Championship Series
Once again, Luke Smith was the first to let us know about the latest episode of the Stride Championship Series at MLGPro.com - Week 3 is Final Boss vs Triggers Down, Team Slayer on Narrows. It's a blowout - but maybe not the way you'd expect. We mentioned Week One back on May 24 - but nobody noticed Week 2, with Classic vs The Influence on Onslaught. Watch 'em both! (Louis Wu 22:47:25 UTC) (permalink)
Hats and Cats
More Halo comic stuff for you around the web today - Shipwrecked Episode 25 ("Out of the Frying Pan") and Larry the Marine Episode 24 ("How it all began, Part 9") were both put up. Thanks, Dennis Powers and 2Phast! (Louis Wu 18:37:17 UTC) (permalink)
Shield Worlds, on Ascendant Justice
Ascendant Justice has posted 'Shield World', an article that looks at the third element of the Forerunner equation - the Shield Worlds, as exemplified by the structure that dominates the book 'Ghosts of Onyx'. Go read vociferous' thoughts on where Bungie (or another development entity) might go next with the Halo story! Thanks, mendicantbias00. (Louis Wu 15:35:41 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie in 2008: Reflecting on Halo 3 (and Beyond)
Back in early May, we mentioned an interview with Mike Zak in Game Developer magazine - the full version of that interview (apparently the GD version was an excerpt), including Brian Jarrard, is now available on Gamasutra. They've also got an interview with Chris Butcher, unpublished before now. Combined, the interviews take up 11 pages... and are a fascinating read. Everything from playing in the Halo playground (I think the HIH guys might have something to say about Bungie's feelings of freedom in the three games) to how they work, to what sort of skills are important in turning out a top-tier game like Halo 3... it's a great pair of interviews. (Louis Wu 15:19:34 UTC) (permalink)
Inspired by Pac-Man
Hawty McBloggy let us know that she's interviewed ZZoMBiE13, of Another Halo Comic Strip - it's a great piece. Go read how ZZoMBiE13 got into this stuff in the first place... and what keeps him going! (Louis Wu 14:29:40 UTC) (permalink)
Forging Retrospective, Part 1
ForgeHub's TrueDarkFusion let us know that he's working on a Forging Retrospective - the first of three parts is up now. Come see how far they've come! (Louis Wu 14:27:10 UTC) (permalink)
Believer Trailer
Nicodemus-07 announced the first trailer to his Halo 3 machinima series 'Believer' - a team of Spartans hunts for Cortana between Halo 2 and Halo 3. Go watch it on YouTube. (Louis Wu 14:23:11 UTC) (permalink)
Constructs of the Forerunners
TTL Demag0gue reminded us that new Reclaimers are released on Mondays - Number 50 is now online. The Reclaimer's mission objectives have changed a bit... (Louis Wu 14:21:23 UTC) (permalink)
Don't Drop the Soap
Haloplayer let us know that Lost Cause 18 is now out - if you've forgotten what's going on (after all, Lost Cause 17 was released in mid-February), you might want to grab that one as a recap. 18 is available as streaming media, , plus multiple download flavors. The map used for the filming has been uploaded as well, if you want to play - check the IKP post for details. (Louis Wu 14:19:50 UTC) (permalink)
News June 1 2008
The Hacker
Time Glitch let us know put together The Hacker - I'm mentioning it because the Xbox LIVE message should be real. (Louis Wu 19:54:21 UTC) (permalink)
Backlash Action Trailer
bndud announced a new trailer for Backlash, a machinima series that follows the Robbers Unite machinima series 'Cops and Robbers'. Looks to be a mixture of Halo 2 and Halo 3 footage... first episode should be out on Friday. Keep your eyes peeled! (Louis Wu 15:29:26 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3: Confirmed Kills, Episode 10
A video series called 'Confirmed Kills' has released Episode 10 - it's a multikill special. Most of the kills seem relatively attainable by your average player - I'm front-paging this because this kind of series gets better with better clips, and they only get what's submitted to them. If you've got some cool kills, send them the clips! (Louis Wu 15:19:53 UTC) (permalink)
FB and Carbon Battling it out at WGC 2008 US Open
Over at Brightcove, there's a clip from a WGC 2008 US Open Halo 3 match between Final Boss and Carbon; you can't tell who wins it (it's just a random 2 minute clip, with gameplay mixed with shots of the players), but it's sort of fun. Maybe full games will come later. Looks like this was posted by eSports TV. (Louis Wu 15:17:04 UTC) (permalink)
Video interview with RvB's nico
So I'm ashamed to say, I haven't kept up on the RvB Sponsors forum as closely as I should have - which means I've missed some great content. Now, this content is only available to RvB sponsors, which (for most sites) would mean I'd pass over it in front-page news (we're all about open-source material, baby)... but heck, it's RvB. We ALWAYS mention RvB sponsor material. It's the best $10 you'll spend on Halo material, I think. The cool thing I noticed: there's an interview with nico, about RvB music, that was deleted from the Bonus DVD - nico discusses where some of this came from, how Tex's real name fits into things, and more evidence that RT hates - well, you'll have to watch to learn. (Louis Wu 14:35:24 UTC) (permalink)
Conflict (Part 2 of 2)
shisno34 was the first to point out Arby 'n' the Chief Episode 12 - Conflict, Part 2 of 2. Will the Chief succeed in killing Todd and Travis? You'll have to watch to find out! (Louis Wu 12:54:56 UTC) (permalink)
There goes that 99% SLA
Whee doggies! I love leaving the country. This morning, I got an email from the company that hosts the files*.bungie.org servers. One of their data centers had an explosion that knocked out several walls and an electrical equipment room. All servers are fine... but those hosted in that building are not accessible until (at the earliest) later this afternoon. ('This afternoon' would be Sunday, central standard time - the center is in Dallas.) This affects a number of bungie.org sites - the most relevant to Halo visitors is HaloScreenshots. Apologies for the outage - but we should be back up and running in the next 12 hours sometime. (Louis Wu 11:53:32 UTC) (permalink)
| June 2008 | |
