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 | October 2006 |  |
October 2006 Archived News
News October 31 2006
MLG Vidcast Episode 4
Over at MLGPro.com, MLG Vidcast Episode 4 has been posted; a talk with FBI GamerGraffix, highlights from the championship series. Go watch! Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 21:35:47 UTC) (permalink)
GoO Review online at Subnova
Over at Subnova, Funkmon wrote up a review of Ghosts of Onyx - he wasn't horribly impressed. Do NOT read this review if you haven't finished the book yet - it's chock-full of story spoilers. Personally, I disagree with a lot of what he says - but he backs up his arguments with examples, for the most part, so you can decide for yourself whether his logic is credible. Give it a read! (Again, only do this if you've FINISHED Ghosts of Onyx - or you'll be disappointed when you DO read it.) Update: If you're having trouble reading this, be patient (or come back later) - apparently, you guys are swamping the SN server. Oh, the price of fame... Update 2: Mintz wrote to say this is mirrored at Halo: Portable, as well, just in case. (Louis Wu 19:43:05 UTC) (permalink)
Red Rover
Paul Maestri points out that Halo Heads 24 is up. He gently shows us that some games don't translate from one medium to another... (Louis Wu 17:52:51 UTC) (permalink)
Out For The Count.
You know... I've actually been waiting for the pun used in today's Holiday One One Se7en for several years... I'm glad it was finally garlic-pressed into service. (Louis Wu 17:02:00 UTC) (permalink)
Pretty, ain't it?
Captain Spark released another couple of dozen snippets today - some were upgrades on existing clips, but the new ones are all now browsable in our Dialogue Databank. (You can, of course, grab them from his website, as well.) (Louis Wu 16:57:12 UTC) (permalink)
Git 'er done.
Heh - there's an editorial at Cinema Blend today about how Halo (the movie) could make a billion dollars. Okay, that's probably a stretch. The gist, however, is solid - there are a LOT of gamers, they WANT to see a good movie, whoever nails it first is gonna make a mint. And Halo has everything going for it. Here's hoping the funding comes through! (Louis Wu 16:32:36 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Movie Postponed
Wow. Looks like the Halo movie is on hold at this point. A press release (quoted by both Ain't It Cool News and the Halo The Movie blog, though not, apparently, available on the web anywhere) from Peter Jackson and Wingnut Interactive states that they've agreed to "postpone making a feature film based on the Halo video game universe until we can fulfill the promise we made to millions of Halo fans throughout the world that we would settle for no less than bringing a first class film to the big screen." This is not a cancellation of the project - but it does put a kink in a 2008 air date, that's for sure. Check both sites above for more details. (Louis Wu 13:37:39 UTC) (permalink)
How many Hot Pockets is that?
Over on Bungie.net, there's a fun little story packed with statistics - as of today, just shy of 2 years since launch, Xbox Live passed the four billion games played mark. Wowwowwow! More numbers for your digestion in the article. (Louis Wu 02:04:32 UTC) (permalink)
News October 30 2006
New Halo Movie Review Blog Opens
Demag0gue stopped by to say he's started a new Halo movie review blog, entitled Penitent Tangential. Very cool idea - check it out! (Louis Wu 22:52:01 UTC) (permalink)
I Wooden Kid You.
Some of us have a harder time resisting temptation than others. Stuntmutt feels your pain - check today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 17:26:21 UTC) (permalink)
It ain't gonna fly.
Dry Ice found an interesting building in Dubai. See what you think! (Louis Wu 17:19:33 UTC) (permalink)
New Mombasa - A Different View
Double News Postage - RVideo also submitted a new piece of work to the MPRRS recently. The first time through, it seems that most of the reviewers didn't get what he was doing. He overhauled the entire piece, incorporating some of the advice they'd given - and though some STILL didn't get it the second time through, enough liked it that it passed. This vid is in the genre - sort of - of Jamie98s's 'Oh So Beautiful' vids; it's a look at Halo from a perspective you don't normally get. (He uses a modded Xbox for the most spectacular stuff.) There are sweeping vistas above the city of New Mombasa, seat-level views from speeding warthogs, stop-motion action sequences. I love it. In a relatively unprecedented move, I'm going to host the first version he submitted, too, because there were a couple of sequences he cut for the passing version which I found exceedingly cool. (The view from the Scorpion's gunner seat at the end of the bridge is one that stands out.) This might not be for everybody - some reviewers totally missed the concept, and marked it down for being boring, or having no real action, or no plot. (Both versions have a similar goal - to give you a view of the city of New Mombasa that you don't get in-game - but the second version did a much better job of tightening in on the concept. However, if you really don't WANT to see another view of the city, you won't find much for you in either version.)
Final Version (Niven Edit): WMP9 (21.8 mb) | QT (24.8 mb)
Original Version (Lonely Scarab Edit): WMP9 (41.7 mb) | QT (46.8 mb)
In any case - I was pretty impressed with it, both as a final product and as an evolution; give it a look, with an open mind... you might be too! (Louis Wu 16:20:19 UTC) (permalink)
QsK Icy's First Montage
QsK King submitted his clanmate's montage to the MPRRS - they liked it. It seems to end rather abruptly... but other than that, it's a pretty nice piece of work. Almost 6 minutes long, available in WMP9 format (74.1 mb) or QuickTime format (73.1 mb). (Louis Wu 15:08:30 UTC) (permalink)
New Halo Trilogy Theme Available
Dolbex pointed out a post on Major Nelson's blog announcing a new Halo Trilogy theme for the Xbox360 - "Each blade presents a re-imagined view from the Halo universe, including all three iterations of the Master Chief's iconic Spartan armor, from past, present and future." 150 points, or free with the purchase of a Halo 3 faceplate. It's not yet available for preview on the Xbox.com Themes page, but it probably will be soon. (Louis Wu 14:25:26 UTC) (permalink)
UNSCDF Contest Winners Announced
Thanks to Saint, who noticed (heh) that the UNSCDF Fan Fiction Contest winners have been posted; congrats to the 5 winners (including Saint), each of whom will receive a signed copy of Ghosts of Onyx. (Louis Wu 14:17:16 UTC) (permalink)
New Reversed Jackal Snippets (and a final home for all)
A couple of months ago, RVideo reversed some Jackal dialogue snippets, and did a nice job of remodulating them to be audible. We said, at the time, that we would add them to the Dialogue Databank at some point. Things, as usual, got in the way, and it never happened. Today, he stopped by with a few more; they were done around the same time, but he forgot to post them here. All 11 are now included in the Dialogue Databank. The Jackals seem to be the least consistent of all voice types - some clips are reversed, some aren't... some clips are heavily modulated, others just lightly so. I guess whatever worked! (Louis Wu 14:03:00 UTC) (permalink)
News October 29 2006
Angels and Airwaves
Queef58 submitted 'Angels and Airwaves - The Adventure Music Video' to the MPRRS - the song, set to Halo. Heavy compression makes for small download sizes! Grab it in WMP9 format (24.3 mb) or QuickTime format (28 mb). (Louis Wu 23:08:31 UTC) (permalink)
WikiRiot Episode 22
Sigafoos writes about WikiRiot Ep 22, now available - clan highlights, discussions of scans, and more. 26 minutes, 10 mb. Go grab a copy. (Louis Wu 17:59:50 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: Portable Bookmarks
Mintz wrote about Halo bookmarks, now available at Halo: Portable. Digital devices are so yesterday, dude. They're back to the cutting-edge medium - paper. (Louis Wu 17:57:34 UTC) (permalink)
New Montage Offerings at H3F
Z pointed out a couple of fun montage vids over at Halo3Forum.com - Typo's First Montage (123 mb, WMP9 format) has tons of nice gameplay strung together well, and GuN Sh0t's Montage 2 Trailer is a short (90 second, 28 mb, WMP9 format) hi-intensity trailer leaving you wanting more. Apparently, there are many more to come. (Louis Wu 13:26:37 UTC) (permalink)
News October 28 2006
Jarhead Halo
The second movie to clear yesterday was a trailer called 'Jarhead Halo' - Cydex took the Jarhead trailer, and set it to Halo footage. Resolution leaves something to be desired these days, but it's a nice piece of work; well synched. WMP9 is 10.3 mb, QuickTime is 9.3 mb. (Louis Wu 16:22:55 UTC) (permalink)
Elite vs Elite 4
A couple of movies passed through the MPRRS yesterday - you KNOW I'm sick if I can't keep up with THOSE guys! (I kid, I kid - they've been great recently.) The first was Elite vs Elite 4, another short Spy vs Spy parody. Great sound effects - keep an eye on EternalScrappy! Grab this in WMP9 format (22.3 mb) or QuickTime format (22.7 mb). (Louis Wu 16:13:26 UTC) (permalink)
Soon Parted.
Wow, things are REALLY slipping through the cracks. Yesterday's One One Se7en got 75% of the way through the news posting process - but no further. I guess I passed out there somewhere. Anyway, it's up now. Apologies for the delay. I suppose, after reading it, some of you might choose to send me nasty mail for correcting my oversight... (Louis Wu 16:05:23 UTC) (permalink)
Ghosts of Onyx on Store Shelves Now, for some
We've received multiple reports that local Barnes and Noble booksellers have gotten early shipments of Ghosts of Onyx - if you're lucky, you might find one in your area, too! (Louis Wu 06:53:48 UTC) (permalink)
My mom's like super-talented.
Red vs Blue Episode 81, Sibling Arrivalries, is now available for download by Sponsors - I'm lovin' the new character. If you're a freeloader, you can grab this (as usual) on Sunday evening or so - otherwise, grab a copy now. Thanks to LX925, who pointed it out on our forum. (Louis Wu 06:51:20 UTC) (permalink)
Shoot where you look.
This puppy passed through my inbox today - I'm having trouble visualizing a situation where I didn't think I'd thrown away $400 if I bought one, but one man's trash... (Louis Wu 06:49:49 UTC) (permalink)
Stupid + Lazy = Busy; hey, I'm gonna start using that
The Bungie Weekly Update discussed some Halo 3 matchmaking tests (cool to see that sort of thing happening at this stage), and commented on (sort of) a couple of the Halo news bits that came out this week. Light, but hey, they're busy guys! You can read it at B.net, of course, or you can read it in our Weekly Update Archive. (Louis Wu 06:44:01 UTC) (permalink)
News October 27 2006
Don't let him near your wife.
For a long time, Miguel Chavez was known as 'Bungie's Number One Fan' - self-titled, originally, I think, but easily justified. Mig was there on the forefront of every news wave - coming back with his own special spin about the newest development in the Bungie world. Of late, he hasn't been around all that much - real life gets in the way, sometimes. Every now and then, though, he'll pop up with something new that will remind you all over again just WHY we love him so very much. And KP - hats off to you for taking it like a champ! (Louis Wu 20:53:13 UTC) (permalink)
Be excellent to each other.
PEZ was pretty proud to be featured twice over at Tied the Leader - the second time came in the form of a 22 Questions interview. Way to go, PEZ! (While you're there, you should read the wrapup on Podcasting, too - been a good week!) (Louis Wu 20:15:42 UTC) (permalink)
Moving Forward On Movie Stuff
Over at IGN Movies, there's a short article today about the Halo movie, and its current situation. Looks like the two likeliest possibilities are that 1) Warner Bros. and Paramount will step in with funding, or 2) Microsoft will go it alone. Either way, money isn't going to be the biggest hurdle - it never was. There aren't a lot of other movies in this position, though - to have your primary financial backing bow out, and to be able to say 'meh' - that's cash in the bank, baby. And through all of this - there's talk of yet ANOTHER screenplay rewrite, this time by Josh Olsen, who wrote the screenplay for 'A History of Violence'. We'll keep you informed! (Louis Wu 19:56:25 UTC) (permalink)
Smuckers FTW
Paul Maestri wrote to point out that Halo Heads 23 is now posted - and I must say, that's got to be the best idea for an online mod I've ever heard of. (Louis Wu 18:37:30 UTC) (permalink)
Yehsus Montage One Trailer
Yehsus submitted a trailer for his first Halo 2 montage to the MPRRS - they liked the synching, they liked the editing. Editing was done by HD Savage of QsK. It's pretty short - under 2 minutes - because it's just a trailer - give it a watch! 24.9 mb in WMP9 format, 22.8 mb in QuickTime format. (Louis Wu 15:09:00 UTC) (permalink)
Go To Sleep
Yesterday, EternalScrappy's 'Go To Sleep', a video set to the tune of the same name by Eminem, came through our system - the music's a bit harsher than we usually see around here, but the MPRRS passed it along, so we'll do the same. You probably want to have the volume down if you're watching this at work. WMP9 format or QuickTime format, 33.1 mb. (Louis Wu 15:05:38 UTC) (permalink)
Hollywood Halo's Humpday Happenstance
The Halo Humpday Challenge seems to be harder and harder to keep as the weeks go by; this week, two Bungie employees lassooed two Cayote Cavegirls to provide at least a modicum of resistence to the opposing Hollywood Halo team. Didn't go so well, for Bungie - they lost all three matches. Swing by to read KP's entertaining writeup - and wish the boys luck in actually fielding a team next week! (Louis Wu 14:37:36 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fiction
Eleven new stories and poems went live this morning in the Fan Fiction section - go read! (Louis Wu 14:25:58 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Blowout in LEVEL
Deepblue stopped by our forum to announce that LEVEL, a large gaming mag in Sweden, has a huge Halo 3 section in their latest edition (not out on newsstands yet, only subscribers have it at this stage). He discusses some of the biggest bombshells revealed in the story - and if you're the type of person who doesn't want to know any of the surprises before you get to play them yourself, do NOT read this. Two new weapons and a new vehicle are described. (Among other tidbits.) People are demanding scans, so I'll remind the forum now what our general policy is: we will not allow any scans of magazines currently on store shelves to be shown in our forum. If the magazine is so new that it's not even ON store shelves yet, it should be obvious to you that we won't allow it in this case, either. When Issue 8 hits the shelves, probably in early December, if someone has sent along scans of the article, we'll post it then - but not before. (Louis Wu 14:11:33 UTC) (permalink)
News October 26 2006
Rocketing Crime
Paul Maestri shot us the word that Halo Heads 22 was posted - things NOT to settle with a Rocket Launcher. Go build your own list. (Louis Wu 20:10:11 UTC) (permalink)
Peter Tamte to talk in Ohio Tomorrow
John Turner was checking the events calendar of his school, Shawnee University in Portsmouth, OH, and noticed that Peter Tamte was going to be speaking at a tech conference there tomorrow. (Yeah, we know - short notice.) It's unclear how much of his Bungie experience will make it into this talk, but the blurb on the Shawnee website mentions Halo prominiently. If you're in the area... this could be good! (Louis Wu 19:50:38 UTC) (permalink)
The SnowGlobe Show
Turtle Mann submitted 'The SnowGlobe Show' to the MPRRS recently, and they liked it. A variety show, with the comedy coming from the clan interactions. Give it a look! Available in WMP9 format (45.4 mb) or QuickTime format (47.9 mb). (Louis Wu 19:45:34 UTC) (permalink)
Static - Episode 1
Dennis Powers writes to point out The Halo CE Chronicles has kicked off Season 4, entitled 'Static'. Episode 1 is now available for download. It tells the story of Petty Officer Alex Hicks, the last survivor of a UNSC crash on the First Ring World. Go grab a copy in WMP9, QuickTime, or streaming Flash. (Louis Wu 16:03:33 UTC) (permalink)
Always cool to meet the talent
Very cool - Narcogen ran across an opportunity in Lacey, WA by reading Eric Trautmann's blog; Jay Faerber, the author of the 'Armor Testing' story in the Halo Graphic Novel, will be on hand at Olympic Cards and Comics to sign stuff (and answer questions) this Saturday, October 28, from 1-5 pm. After the signing/Q&A session, there'll be a Halo tourney, with some nice goodies in the pot. (Louis Wu 13:16:22 UTC) (permalink)
Hired Gun - Number One with a Bullet
While I slept (heh - right now, I'm not doing much else), KP dashed around to all the team members working on Halo 2 Vista (codenamed 'Hired Gun'), and asked 'em a few questions for you. Go meet the guys (of both sexes) that are gonna be bringing you this masterpiece in just a very few months! (Louis Wu 13:10:46 UTC) (permalink)
News October 25 2006
Original HGN artwork - for sale on eBay?
Wow. I have no idea about the background of this seller, or whether this is normal for this industry - but it seems like a pretty awesome opportunity for the right collector. BARBARIC_RAGE noticed an eBay auction, ending tomorrow night, for what purports to be a page of the original Simon Bisley artwork used in the Halo Graphic Novel. Gorgeous! If we get more info on this, we'll pass it along. (Louis Wu 22:09:25 UTC) (permalink)
Same Great Hero, Brand New Flavor
ChrisVioxxx stumbled across this online ad as he was websurfing yesterday - while I find it hilarious, I have the same problem Chris has - I have trouble seeing anyone with the authority to authorize this actually doing so. Which would suggest, funny as it is, look quick, cause it won't be around for long. (Louis Wu 22:00:33 UTC) (permalink)
The Film's Shot.
So this weekend's big news was the pullout of Universal and Fox as backers for the Halo film. What does Stuntmutt get out of it all? A pun so bad it made me groan louder than this blasted pneumonia. Read today's One One Se7en if you want to see it for yourself. (Louis Wu 15:11:05 UTC) (permalink)
Shooting for total accuracy.
Devin White has been hard at work creating a Spartan helmet - he's done a pretty amazing job! Check out some pics on this page. (Louis Wu 15:04:25 UTC) (permalink)
NYC Halo 2 Tourney, Nov 11
Tnl Alex posted details of a New York City tourney on our forum this morning - FFA, 2v2 and 4v4, coming up on November 11. Entry fee is $10/pp for the FFA, $15/pp for the team games, with the pot being split up between the top three winners. Go read the forum post for more details! (Louis Wu 14:00:16 UTC) (permalink)
All she needs is a shotgun.
KP continues with his IM interviews of community members - this time, he snagged Zoom Demon, of the Cayote Cavegirls, for a pleasant little monitor-side chat over sandwiches and rice and orange chicken. You may think that KP picked Zoom Demon just because she was a hawt chik - but it's not true. There are lots of interesting things going on right now in Cavegirl territory that are worth hearing about - the recent Fight like a Girl tournament, which raised cash for Breast Cancer research, is a great example. Go read the interview! (And then let KP's mom know he's not eating very well out in Washington...) (Louis Wu 13:28:20 UTC) (permalink)
New ODST Comic
Ryan - 117 sent us a link to his new online comic - ODST Lock & Load. He's looking for suggestions for the next comic - if you have any, toss 'em in the comments section! (Louis Wu 13:21:42 UTC) (permalink)
GiA - Design your own Halo 3 Vehicle/Weapon
Nathan Gibson wrote to let us know that Games in Action is having a competition allowing members to submit designs for Halo 3 Weapons/Vehicles. It should be stressed that this is for fun, and is NOT official (you will NOT see your masterpiece in the final game, for example), but it should be a good time - and there might be prizes available at the end of it all. Read the forum post for more details! (Louis Wu 13:13:07 UTC) (permalink)
Ghosts of Onyx Excerpt in OXM
It's been mentioned a number of times in our forum, but I'm not sure I've ever front-paged it; I'm going to do so now, so that the info is here for any to find. The December issue of OXM Magazine has a very large (7 magazine pages) excerpt from the upcoming Ghosts of Onyx book; it's pretty much the entire prologue. I won't spoil it for those who want to read the book in its entirety, but it certainly answers a number of questions floating around about the book in the past few months. If you're worried you won't be able to wait until October 31 to read this stuff... find the mag, there's at least something that might slake your thirst a little. (Louis Wu 13:03:19 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Pro Circuit Teaser Up
If you swing by the MLGPro website, you can see a trailer for the upcoming MLG 2006 Pro Circuit TV show, to be aired in a few weeks on USA Networks. For those of us without access to Video on Demand, or simply without the time to follow the pro tour closely - this show should do a wonderful job of bringing the excitement and enthusiasm of the pro circuit to the masses. Check out the trailer! (Louis Wu 12:51:56 UTC) (permalink)
News October 24 2006
Tapped into the perfect market
Owm pointed out a great article about the Rooster Teeth boys over at the Escapist - it's Halo-related in that it discusses Red vs Blue, but it's great writing in any case. Go read. (Louis Wu 21:15:31 UTC) (permalink)
Elite vs Elite Eps 1, 2, 3
Wow. eternalscrappy submitted three short films to the MPRRS yesterday - Elite vs Elite 1, 2, and 3 - and all 3 passed, in short order. They're in the style of Spy vs Spy (if you grew up reading Mad Magazine), and they're pretty funny. Short and sweet - if they're not your style, we didn't waste much of your time. You can grab each episode in either QuickTime or WMP9 format - your call.
Ep 1 WMP9 (14.3 mb) | QT (13.8 mb)
Ep 2 WMP9 (12.9 mb) | QT (12.5 mb)
Ep 3 WMP9 (12.6 mb) | QT (11.4 mb)
(Louis Wu 17:33:14 UTC) (permalink)
Is it me, or have you lost some weight?
Christian Anderson found this odd image (173K) in the danish Metroexpress - it's a flyer for the Danish Electronic Entertainment Expo. He apologizes for the bad scanner quality... (Louis Wu 17:32:03 UTC) (permalink)
That Voice In Your Helmet
Today's Halo Heads shows that we all might have something we like to hide from our teammates out there on the field of battle... judge not, lest ye be judged. Thanks, Paul M. (Louis Wu 17:21:58 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Demo Rumor Gets Annoying
There's a rumor floating around that a Halo 3 Demo will be coming out on Xbox Live. (This time, Horus let us know on our forum.) We hate rumors, generally; 99% of the time, they're false, and they always increase the amount of correspondence we get. There's nothing that suggests that this one is any different (JeBr0nie found a small article at OXM UK, but there's nothing really in it to suggest that there's more to this than wishful thinking) - but we wanted at least to acknowledge that it's out there, so that you can hold off on sending us those notes telling us about it. If it looks like there's any truth to it whatsoever, you KNOW we'll be on it so fast that Frankie's head will spin li- um, never mind. We'll be on it. For now, know that it's out there, and that there's no official truth to it. (Louis Wu 17:11:54 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie.net Community Art Spotlight
Saw a note over at Bungie.net that they're going to start highlighting community artwork. This isn't supposed to eat into existing art outlets around the community; if you're highlighting your wares on a specific website already (like this one), this should be considered a bonus, not a replacement. Give the thread a read - and get to creating! (Louis Wu 16:16:39 UTC) (permalink)
News October 23 2006
Manifestation pt 3
Pixellated noticed another Halo reference int a recent Pixelated Pupils strip... it's a little... odd. (Louis Wu 16:17:07 UTC) (permalink)
No Res For The Wicked.
Last week, KP taunted us with pixellated views of some new Halo 3 map in his Humpday writeup. In today's One One Se7en, Stuntmutt finds the silver lining in that mean nasty KP-sized cloud. (Louis Wu 16:12:37 UTC) (permalink)
Corn on the CoB
PEZ pointed out that HaloWiki's Clan of Bobs has been profiled over at Tied the Leader - go read about what makes 'em tick. (While you're there, you should probably also check out the 22 Questions interview with Sigafoos and Brathnok.) (Louis Wu 15:54:19 UTC) (permalink)
WikiRiot 21
Sigafoos sent word that WikiRiot Episode 21 is now available; 53 minutes, 22 mb, focusing mostly on clan stuff. Guest-hosted by Night Rider 7, because Brathnok was out of town. Go listen! (Louis Wu 15:44:21 UTC) (permalink)
Them Joyride Guys... They're Serious.
Wow. Stephen Loftus has been known for a while as someone who goes to great lengths to measure the Bungie Haloverse. Recently, he sent two images to be attached to his Scale Comparison article (a UNSC Weaponry Scale Chart and a Covenant Weaponry Scale Chart - these are both recreations of existing images, but with a twist; he's photographed all the accessories that come with the Halo Action Figures. I'm telling you... for toys, it's amazing how much effort went into making sure they were to the proper scale! Check these out. (Louis Wu 15:30:52 UTC) (permalink)
News October 22 2006
Voice over voi-ami
Today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer had a great article about voice actors, and how this niche is definitely expanding the options open to actors out there, especially in areas with high needs in the voice-acting arenas. Halo features prominently. (Louis Wu 20:44:23 UTC) (permalink)
Wait... that makes... wait...
Jillybean found a reader submission in the Halo Story mailbag that tickled her fancy. Go read why! (Louis Wu 20:41:30 UTC) (permalink)
TSAH2 - The Toon
Retsof-Noraa pointed out a new Flash movie called 'There's Something About Halo 2' - the movie isn't done yet, but Legendary Frog has released his toon. And it's really nicely done. Check it out! (Louis Wu 14:59:05 UTC) (permalink)
News October 21 2006
After 4 years, Halo's still in the lineup
Three years ago, IGN started a Top 100 Games of all time list (updated annually, of course) - Halo came in 39th. The following year, IGN let the readers decide - Halo and Halo 2 placed 18th and 19th, respectively, on the list. In 2005, it was back to the editors - Halo placed 30th, Halo 2 wasn't even on the list. (Ouch!) A week or so ago, they started listing this year's winners (thanks, Brian O'Sullivan) - it wasn't until Thursday that the full standings of the Halo franchise were known. (This year, Halo placed 14th, and Halo 2 placed 25th.) You really gotta wonder how much of this is darts on a dartboard... and how much is careful analysis. Thanks to HaloPlanet for reminding me to revisit the top 100 site. (Louis Wu 20:22:12 UTC) (permalink)
I've done my part today.
Yesterday, Captain Spark posted another 28 dialogue snippets - you can grab them en masse from his site, or browse them in our Dialogue Databank. (Louis Wu 17:12:23 UTC) (permalink)
Terminal Dogs - Redux
A couple of weeks ago, we mentioned the machinima project 'Terminal Dogs' - it was being hosted on machinima.com and YouTube. I guess Krad Productions wanted to widen the viewership, because they submitted the film to the MPRRS - and the reviewers liked it. We're hosting a WMP9 version (24.7 mb) and a QuickTime version (23.3 mb). Once again - this is a couple of scenes from the fantastic movie 'Reservoir Dogs', recreated in Halo. (Louis Wu 16:54:09 UTC) (permalink)
Malay Mail says HGN Doesn't Cut It
The Malay Mail reviewed the Halo Graphic Novel - and found it lacking. Go read why. (Louis Wu 16:51:30 UTC) (permalink)
Copies are in the wild.
BOLL noticed this blog post at destructoid.com - looks like advance copies of Ghosts of Onyx are beginning to arrive at reviewers' doors! (Louis Wu 13:28:26 UTC) (permalink)
Second GoO excerpt available
UrsosArctos found a second excerpt from Ghosts of Onyx - this one completes the cliffhanger situation left by the first excerpt. Again - if you're looking to avoid spoilers, don't follow this link. (Louis Wu 13:26:09 UTC) (permalink)
Hello, Juneau!
Over at Red vs Blue, there's a new Public Service Announcement - this one's called 'Planning to Fail', and it discusses what you might do when zombies take over the earth. Currently for sponsors-only, but it should be available for the masses by the end of the weekend. Thanks to darthbob for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 13:10:30 UTC) (permalink)
New art at the Halouvre
prometheus stopped by with word that the Halouvre had been updated - lots and lots and lots of new shots, from a variety of artists. Check out his forum post for details - and then check out the new work! (Louis Wu 12:49:31 UTC) (permalink)
News from The Bungie World
A day late, a dollar short... the Weekly Update went up as usual last night on Bungie.net, but we were... indisposed. If you haven't read it yet, you should - it's full of Bungie goodness, from movie news to Halo 3 tidbits to a community roundup to a Q&A session with Mat Noguchi to the ever-popular Whaaambulance. And an unusual Mister Chief. Go read! (It's available in our Weekly Update Archive, as well.) (Louis Wu 12:33:38 UTC) (permalink)
News October 20 2006
Indiana Chief
Paul Maestri released Halo Heads 20 today - Clash of the Arks! Check it out. (Louis Wu 19:54:05 UTC) (permalink)
S'What?
Today's One One Se7en looks at a recent change in the XBL playlists. Be careful what you wish for... (Louis Wu 12:50:33 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fiction
9 new pieces in the Fan Fiction section for you this week... go read! (Louis Wu 12:42:03 UTC) (permalink)
No Dev Kit For You!
KP pointed out that in lieu of a real Halo Humpday Challenge, there's another Halo 3 random match writeup; you can pore over it for clues about Halo 3 multiplay, as some on our forum have done... or you can read it and be amused and move on. Clearly, it was written specifically so that KP could rub his Halo 3 superiority in to his workmates... do you really want to support that kind of pettiness? (Louis Wu 12:35:08 UTC) (permalink)
Universal, Fox Pull out of Halo Movie Deal
Wow. Big news this morning involves the Halo movie - looks like Universal and Fox have both pulled out of the deal, citing fears of ballooning costs, and an unwillingness on Microsoft's part to budge on the existing deal. According to Variety, where I read this story (thanks, runnersdialzero), this doesn't spell the end of the project; work continues at Weta Digital while new distribution partners are courted. There are similar stories at Cinema Blend, CanMag, Joystiq, and Voodoo Extreme (thanks, Rampancy.net) with differing takes on the situation. The Halo Movie blog has put together a bunch of links including video footage of Jackson discussing this on NZ television, as well. As more details become public, we'll let you know! (Louis Wu 11:12:56 UTC) (permalink)
News October 19 2006
Snap into a Transformer
Paul Maestri takes a look at corporate sponsorship in the latest Halo Heads... here's hoping his vision is cloudy. (Louis Wu 20:05:18 UTC) (permalink)
HaloWorkMontage
Doug Godfrey has been working on his own Halo models for a while (search our news database if you'd like to see older bits) - recently he submitted a work montage to the MPRRS, and they liked it. It's a teaser of what's to come - it's only a minute long. You can grab it in its original DivX format (15.9 mb), or in WMP9 format (12.6 mb) or QuickTime format (16.2 mb). Nice work! (Louis Wu 16:33:23 UTC) (permalink)
Blackout
A TTL Gunslinger stopped by to point out a new article at Tied the Leader - a discussion of the 24 hour XBL blackout that took place a couple of days ago. Fun read! There's also a clan profile of Podtacular - go read! (Louis Wu 16:28:02 UTC) (permalink)
Ghosts of Onyx Excerpt
downrodeo found a short excerpt from Ghosts of Onyx at a Canadian Amazon website - if you're not afraid of spoilers, go read! (I'm not saying there ARE spoilers - I'm saying that there isn't a single unified idea of what 'spoiler' means in this community, and it's almost guaranteed that some of you will feel this material is spoiler-laden. So you've been warned.) (Louis Wu 16:08:42 UTC) (permalink)
UNSCDF interviews Eric Nylund
Major Silva stopped by our forum yesterday to announce that his interview with Eric Nylund was now posted at UNSCDF; while Nylund still doesn't give away a lot of secrets about the upcoming Ghosts of Onyx, it's clear that there are still good questions you can ask (the guys who did the IGN and Gamespot interviews recently might take a look). Check it out! (Louis Wu 16:02:43 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie Community Spotlight: Chris547
KP interviewed another community member via IM yesterday - Chris547, a Bungie.net moderator, talked about what got him going in the Bungie community, and what constitutes a good day. Go read! (Louis Wu 15:58:54 UTC) (permalink)
News October 18 2006
Tsquared on Fox
Tyger let us know that Tsquared was on Fox recently - MLGPro has all the details. (Louis Wu 19:57:10 UTC) (permalink)
17 - 24
Paul Maestri points out a new Halo Heads comic - for those who had trouble with the loss of Xbox Live for 24 (plus) hours, this one's for you. (Louis Wu 19:55:58 UTC) (permalink)
HALOW33N
Dave wrote to point out a Halo tourney in Columbus, OH this weekend (Oct 22nd) - swing by their website for more details! (Louis Wu 19:49:15 UTC) (permalink)
Executive Stress.
Stuntmutt looks at the newest Team Carnage playlist in today's One One Se7en... it definitely seems to be this way for the first few weeks. (Louis Wu 14:05:04 UTC) (permalink)
All Star
Hellhawk submitted 'All Star' to the MPRRS yesterday; it's a music video set to the Smash Mouth song. Great quality, nice visuals... the reviewers liked it, and so did I. Grab it in WMP9 format (44.5 mb) or QuickTime format (40.9 mb). (Louis Wu 14:01:04 UTC) (permalink)
Unyielding Screenies
Laird stopped by our forum last night with some screenshots from the upcoming Unyielding Part 2. He's shooting for January... looks pretty good! (Louis Wu 13:48:29 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Owl
Jake Meents pointed out a Halo-related strip from the webcomic Oxygen Deficient. Heh - been there, done that. (Louis Wu 13:46:17 UTC) (permalink)
Comeback Kids
There's a hefty writeup of the Carbon-Final Boss matchup in New York last weekend over at MLGPro.com - thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 13:43:13 UTC) (permalink)
News October 17 2006
Simulation 2: Snowbound
Simulation 2: Snowbound tells a story of an army simulation - a live-fire exercise where nothing is real. (It's the followup to HollywoodNHouse's Simulation). The MPRRS liked it - so we're hosting a WMP9 version (40.9 mb) and a QuickTime version (37.9 mb) - grab the one that works best for you! (Louis Wu 21:57:32 UTC) (permalink)
Karma - more machine than man
MLG has a nice writeup of the 1v1 bracket (which Karma dominated) in New York; I find it interesting to compare how the top 1v1 players do in team situations. Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 21:50:09 UTC) (permalink)
Operation: Backwash Ep0
Treeskunk Productions have released Outpost: Backwash, Episode 0; it ties this series together with their older 'Outpost: Coagulation' series. It's available in a wide variety of formats from their Media page - go pick one! Thanks, trigger119. (Louis Wu 20:58:34 UTC) (permalink)
Lost: Halostyle Ep 9 - Protect This
Haloplayer submitted 'Lost: Halostyle Episode 9 - Protect This' to the MPRRS a couple of days ago; it passed with flying colors. Great quality, great filming, great audio, and it's funny to boot. Go grab a copy - it's available in WMP9 format (47.1 mb) and QuickTime format (48.6 mb). This is definitely one of my favorite ongoing series! (Louis Wu 14:18:03 UTC) (permalink)
If you believe
wheeler found a pixelart community that's populating the moon with familiar characters. If you scroll over to the black 2001 Obelisk, at the top of the image, and then scroll down from there a ways, you'll run into a familiar character. (Look at the whole pic, there's some amazing stuff in there.) (Louis Wu 14:10:05 UTC) (permalink)
Tournament Writeup for non-pro gamers
DPAD has an interesting writeup of the Upper Bracket Finals in New York last weekend (the first matchup between Final Boss and Carbon) - it's written from the perspective of someone who's not a huge part of the console gaming community, so you might get a better understanding of what's going on if you don't generally follow this stuff. It does a great job of letting you follow along with the action - check it out! (Remember, though, that this was the match that sent Carbon to the Loser's Bracket - where they battled back to face FB AGAIN, and win.) (Louis Wu 14:06:57 UTC) (permalink)
Last Dance (of the Demon)
More goodness from Mothergoat - he released 'Last Dance (of the Demon)', a new piece he composed for a Halo CE map called Akathisia. He's not sure when the map's coming out, though, so he's releasing the song now. Almost 6 minutes long, 10.6 mb in MP3 format... great piece. Go listen! (We'll mirror it if there are any problems - just let us know.) (Louis Wu 14:02:01 UTC) (permalink)
He's a sneaky one, that Finn
Spartan Jag noticed that Finn's been stealthily updating the Halo Story page over the past couple of weeks - you even gotta go back into September to see all the stuff we didn't comment on. Go read! (Louis Wu 13:44:55 UTC) (permalink)
Comic Relief
Looks like it's the day for Halo references in cartoons. demus found an entry in a contest that depicts what most of us have wanted to do, from time to time, on XBL... and BitMaP shared a comic he'd drawn that looks at some potential work opportunities for Jeff Steitzer (the 'Voice of God', who announces Halo Multiplayer). Whee! (Louis Wu 13:36:54 UTC) (permalink)
News October 16 2006
A Pail Imitation.
This is being added a bit late - but in all honesty, I ALREADY ADDED it once. I have no idea what happened to the news post - I blame the ferrets. Anyway, as I said earlier, Stuntmutt toyed with a new bling scheme in today's One One Se7en. In retrospect, EternalSlayer's forum post makes a lot more sense - I had no clue at the time that there was no newspost on the front page. Thanks to KP, who pointed out that the news post was actually missing (and, I suppose, for providing the inspiration for the strip itself). (Louis Wu 22:47:34 UTC) (permalink)
Trailer Trash
Gah. A video submitted by Kusho to the MPRRS, entitled 'Trailer Trash', passed last night - it tells the story of 4 contestants, each with a movie trailer they're proud of, in a game show in which the winner takes all... and the losers die. Almost 12 minutes long, available in both WMP9 format (112 mb) or QuickTime format (102 mb) - go watch! (Louis Wu 17:03:03 UTC) (permalink)
Promotional Video Contest Winners Announced
Cybiotik wrote to point out that the fan-run video contest on Bungie.net we mentioned back in August has had its winners announced - congrats to the winners! (Louis Wu 13:19:21 UTC) (permalink)
What a wonderful world
ICDedPpl found a fun article in a Papua New Guinea newspaper - 'Halo, one of the best video games created'. Amazing what passes for news these days... (Louis Wu 13:04:00 UTC) (permalink)
Cleaning the Grand Canyon with a Toothbrush
We haven't heard from mrsmiley in a while - but he sent a note this morning, pointing us to a thread on the Halo Babies forum that contains a picture created entirely in MS Paint. (If you've ever worked with MS Paint, you know how limited its toolset is.) This picture is astounding, given its origins. Check it out! Update: eep, you have to be logged into the Halo Babies forum to see this. Sorry for the confusion. Thanks, icefire. (Louis Wu 11:16:49 UTC) (permalink)
More MLG Writeups
Lots of articles out there about yesterday's MLG Playoff results in New York - Amped eSports has a summary of Carbon's win over Final Boss, and a spotlight on FBI GamerGraffix.com, who earned themselves the single available berth to MLG's Las Vegas Final next month - and MLG themselves have a summary of the 4v4 Level 2 Playoffs. There's $100,000 waiting for the first-place team in Las Vegas... that's some crazy money. (Louis Wu 11:04:28 UTC) (permalink)
News October 15 2006
Carbon Wins MLG Playoffs
Congrats to Carbon, who came back from being beaten in the Winners Bracket Finals in New York to play Final Boss again, in the overall finals... and win! I wish I had VoD... (Louis Wu 22:30:04 UTC) (permalink)
Wikiriot 20
Sigafoos points out that Wikiriot 20 is now online - 33 minutes, 13.3 mb. Full of... you know, stuff. Go listen. (Louis Wu 22:26:57 UTC) (permalink)
Totally Random SV 2 - Shoplifters will be Prosecuted
Keyboard Killer, of Pothole Studios, submitted another Totally Random Short Video to the MPRRS; they liked this one, too. It's called 'Shoplifters will be Prosecuted', and it's short and sweet. Great filming, great use of mods. You can grab it in its original DivX format (17.4 mb), or in WMP9 (16.4 mb) or QuickTime (18.2 mb) formats - your choice. (Louis Wu 21:17:13 UTC) (permalink)
Halo on your PSP
No, not like that. Zukan found a 2D arcade game called 'Super Mini Halo', created by Jpdeathblade at DcEmu. The forum thread contains a shot showing off the sprite art, and a short video showing the first level's gameplay. 1.3 mb download, available for 1.5 and 2.71. I can't tell you what it really plays like, since I don't have a PSP... but it's a tiny download, check it out! (Louis Wu 15:58:06 UTC) (permalink)
Gunniversary
The Tied the Leader Gunslingers celebrated their 1-year anniversary yesterday - thanks to both Quikthnkr, who invited people to say hi in their forums, and XerxdeeJ, who challenges the world to a duel in a blog post - beat the Gunslingers, win a buck. (Read for details.) Congrats, guys - you've had a great first year! (Louis Wu 13:43:22 UTC) (permalink)
1v1 2006 Champ - Karma
Playoffs in New York are underway - the 1v1 Championship concluded yesterday, with Karma coming out on top (and winning the $5000 first-prize purse). Thanks to 3Suns, who pointed out the MLG article. There's also a writeup on GotFrag, for people looking for every perspective. The 4v4 competitions take place today. (Louis Wu 13:38:01 UTC) (permalink)
News October 14 2006
ModIt
Will "Dracc" Curry pointed us to his blog, 'ModIt', which discusses (surprise, surprise) modding. Not just Xbox/Halo modding - but it certainly touches on that. In fact, his latest entry tries to draw a distinction between modders and cheaters on XBL, with respect to Halo. If you're interested in the idea of modifying your hardware to get more enjoyment out of it, you might find this interesting. (Louis Wu 19:13:54 UTC) (permalink)
MLG NY Pre-Game Interviews
Amped eSports has interviews with a couple of MGL Pro gamers you don't hear from very often - elamitewarrior, and MimiC. Check 'em out as the league gears up for the New York playoffs! (Louis Wu 12:54:09 UTC) (permalink)
I'd bet on the Elite.
Luke McKay is on a Halo sketch kick - another image showed up in his RvB journal last night, and we've added it to his gallery here at HBO. Nice action! (Louis Wu 12:10:31 UTC) (permalink)
Halo CD Key Recovery Tool
Wow, very cool. We've received quite a bit of mail over the past 3 years from people who've lost their Halo PC CD Key (because they lost the case it was attached to) - and wanting to know if we knew how to extract that CD Key from their registry. Up until now, we've had to tell people that they were out of luck. TheGhost sent us a note last night, however, pointing to a thread on the Halo 2 Vista forums, announcing a new tool he'd created - it can extract, and decrypt, that Key from your registry, allowing you to reinstall Halo PC from your CD without needing that small orange sticker you started with. Having had trouble finding the original case to MY Halo PC CD in the past, I applaud this tool! (Louis Wu 12:01:34 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Pro TV Broadcast Dates
GameBattles has concrete dates for the broadcast of MLG content on USA Networks starting in November - check it out, and mark the dates on your calendar! (Louis Wu 11:55:19 UTC) (permalink)
Gamespot Interview - Nylund
Eric Nylund talked to Gamespot yesterday, as well (not wanting to make them feel left out after the IGN interview, I guess) - again, he does a pretty good job of filling the interview without actually saying much about unannounced material... but it's an interesting read nonetheless. Looks like Maxmidget was first. (Louis Wu 11:44:03 UTC) (permalink)
News October 13 2006
Mister Chief needs a haircut -- bleh!
Today's weekly update is full of useful answers, as asked by fans of our site in this thread. A very strong warning to modders and cheating in general. Nice tidbits on the latest news. Thanks to wortwortwort for the reminder. (Cybrfrk 20:44:52 UTC) (permalink)
Baby Steps
Wow. Rooster Teeth has released Episode 80 of Red vs Blue, 'Baby Steps', WAY early (by their normal timeframe) - sponsors can grab a copy right now. They seem to have fixed the Video Archive issue, as well... thanks, KP. (Louis Wu 20:03:37 UTC) (permalink)
Wall-mountable statue up for grabs
Wow, nice. GryphonOsiris found a pretty cool Halo Master Chief statue (well, it's wall-mounted, so I'm not sure what you'd call it) on eBay - check it out! Do it quickly, though - only 4 hours left. (Current bid is just over $150, and reserve isn't met yet.) (Louis Wu 18:13:20 UTC) (permalink)
Don't Try This at Home
Paul Maestri points out that Halo Heads 17 is online - I'm starting to worry about the intelligence of that GoO spartan... (Louis Wu 18:01:38 UTC) (permalink)
More Progress on Mjolnir Suit
If you scroll down to the bottom of Trevor Chesler's Mjolnir Armor page, you'll find a few new pics of his helmet; he's nearly finished with it. Lookin' good! (Louis Wu 16:57:35 UTC) (permalink)
Rank Outsider.
Stuntmutt wrote today's One One Se7en when it was unclear whether the Gears of War XBL Party Furor would apply to Halo 3 or not. (It seems that it won't.) Still pretty funny, though. (Louis Wu 16:32:11 UTC) (permalink)
Caving on Cheaters
Thanks to XerxdeeJ, who pointed out new content at Tied the Leader - there's a Reader's Poll asking if cheating is dropping at all on XBL (TTL would suggest it is), and a 22 Questions interview with Cayote, of the Cayote Cavegirls. Check it out! (Louis Wu 16:20:14 UTC) (permalink)
Let's leave 'em neutered!
Captain Spark turned in another bunch of dialogue snippets - you can grab them off his website, or you can browse them in our Dialogue Databank. Some really nice Stacker quotes in there! (Louis Wu 16:12:24 UTC) (permalink)
Coinkidink.
Odd. 13 new pieces available in the Fan Fiction section this Friday, October 13. Go read? (Louis Wu 15:50:46 UTC) (permalink)
RvB Exclusive on Xbox World 360
Mike 'Feenix' Oldman writes to let us know that Issue 45 of the UK's Xbox World 360 Magazine will contain "an exclusive, one-off episode of the hilarious Halo machinima series, Red Vs. Blue" on its cover DVD. (This issue goes on sale October 18.) You won't find this episode on the RvB website - it was made for the Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival in August, and "shows what happens when Grif, Church and Co. plan their trip to Scotland to attend the festival". Look for a copy at your favorite newsstand! (Louis Wu 14:10:36 UTC) (permalink)
IGN talks to Eric Nylund
IGN has put up an interview with Eric Nylund, focusing on the upcoming Ghosts of Onyx novel. Eric does a great job of keeping secrets secret; he answers questions, but gives away almost nothing. Nevertheless, it's a fun read, and should whet your appetite nicely! Looks like Leviathan was first. (Louis Wu 14:07:00 UTC) (permalink)
News October 12 2006
Needs more CoW bell.
Another Wednesday has passed, and another Halo Humpday. Who was up? Code of War. How'd they do? Oh, it wasn't even a contest. Loved the lego head bit, though. Go read. (Louis Wu 23:04:27 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Stats Tracker
Darkphibre stopped by our forum to point out updates in his Halo 2 Stats Tracker, now up to version 2.36. Give it a read - and download a copy! (Louis Wu 22:08:11 UTC) (permalink)
It's Chris the Hippie Day at H3F
Over at Halo3Forum.com, where the quest to solve Chris the Hippie's mystery is reaching new heights, Z has posted an older trailer CtH made but never had hosted. It's definitely all about the editing - gameplay is an afterthought. However... the editing is quite nice. Check it out (and maybe get involved in the puzzle!). (Louis Wu 22:06:11 UTC) (permalink)
It ain't just KP any more
Tempus Fugit noticed an entry in IGN editor Doug Perry's blog, discussing an event that just went on recently in Kirkland - EGM guys, as well as some European journalists, got to play a full day of Halo 3 multiplayer (as well as seeing a short single-player clip). Good stuff! (Louis Wu 21:57:39 UTC) (permalink)
Games as Interactive Storytelling - TKM Podcast
The Kindlings Muse has a three-part podcast entitled 'Games as Interactive Storytelling' - focusing on Halo, and Bungie; Part 1 (posted yesterday) had Marty O'Donnell talking about what got him going (and what keeps him going), Part 2 (posted today) contains an interview of CJ Cowan, director of cinematics (as well as Matthew Koenig of Seattle Pacific University). Tomorrow's segment will contain audience questions (this was recorded live at Hales Ales Brewery and Pub in Seattle). Meaty stuff - go listen! Thanks to Spec_Ops_Assault for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 20:06:09 UTC) (permalink)
White Ninja loves Halo
whizkid64 pointed out some WhiteNinja Comics Fanart that's Halo-related. (Louis Wu 19:55:07 UTC) (permalink)
She's not Mrs. Cart... Yet.
In a move guaranteed to startle the cynical among you, I've managed to keep on top of the Miscellaneous Art queue - here are 30 more entries (more than 40 individual images), clearing it out through today. Sketches, cartoons, scans of everything from pencil drawings to oil paintings, composites... there's something for everyone in here, and a whole lot of it is great. Go look! (Louis Wu 19:12:13 UTC) (permalink)
You Got Questions? Yeah, well.
KP has posted on our forum (and on lots of other forums) that Bungie is looking for questions to answer in this week's Weekly Update - don't bother asking about unreleased/unannounced stuff, but if you see this soon after it's posted, go ahead and toss your question into the hat! (Louis Wu 18:08:19 UTC) (permalink)
News from Halo Orbit
Xerxes, from Halo Orbit (one of the Old Guard - a German Halo website that's celebrating its 6th birthday today) wrote to point out a few things. They're running a contest right now - submit artwork and win special ranks on their forums or a place on their team for a Bungie Humpday Challenge. There's also an extensive interview with their chief editor Legend. And finally, Xerxes is stepping down - it's been a good run, but it's time for him to move on; at this point, his last job is to find someone with good web skills to take over. If you read German - go read! (Louis Wu 16:42:53 UTC) (permalink)
Grunt Costume
Awesome. Norumu stopped by to post some pictures of a Grunt costume he created a year ago for a 'nerd convention' (not my words). Cardboard and duct tape for the win! (Louis Wu 14:42:07 UTC) (permalink)
When Artists Want to Mess With Your Head
Wow. Bungie fans are nuts. Omega was scanning over some hi-res promo pics, pixel-by-pixel, it seems, when he ran across a Marathon logo tucked into a corner of the Halo 3 Assault Rifle. On an image that's almost 2500 pixels tall, the logo takes up a square that's 18x18 pixels... meaning that on a 720p screen, that puppy would be all of 5 pixels on a side, and on a (far more standard) 480p screen, you're looking at 3 or 4 pixels on a side. Absolutely, totally invisible in-game... but CLEARLY there. (I redid his picture, and made the reference file available, for anyone who wants to look for themselves.) I'd call this an honest-to-goodness egg... nice find! (Louis Wu 11:18:37 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Playoff Preview Coverage
There are a couple of stories out there about the MLG Playoffs - a big one at MLG's own site (thanks, 3Suns), and a smaller one at Amped eSports. Lot of money on the line! (Louis Wu 10:19:52 UTC) (permalink)
News October 11 2006
The Mackies - 2006 Nominations
The Mackies (annual machinima awards) nominations have been posted - and a few Halo projects are up for stuff. CROSSFIRE's 'Desolate' has been nominated for Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Design, and Best Independent Machinima, Red vs Blue are up for Best Voice-Acting Performance, Best Writing, and Best Series, and This Spartan Life is up for Best Series. Good luck to all of 'em! (Louis Wu 19:40:39 UTC) (permalink)
A Bankable Franchise.
It's Comic Day, apparently. And if you're going to have Comic Day at HBO, you have to remember One One Se7en, right? Stuntmutt goes back to the motherlode that was X06 for today's strip. (Louis Wu 18:51:32 UTC) (permalink)
Golf Evolved
goatrope noticed that today's Penny Arcade also has a Halo reference - nice shot at EA. (Louis Wu 12:51:08 UTC) (permalink)
More Fanboys
Pixellated pointed out another couple of Halo-related episodes of F@NBOY$ - we mentioned one two days ago. I suppose it's not surprising if one of your three main characters is a 360 Fangirl that you'd use the Master Chief a lot... (Louis Wu 12:49:12 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Assault - Teaser
Slimby noticed a Halo Flash vid that will act as the intro to an upcoming game - looks promising! Check it out. (Louis Wu 12:46:11 UTC) (permalink)
B.net Intervwu
More Bungie.net content for you today, an extensive interview with everyone's favorite admin, Louis Wu. It's done in a new format for the Spotlights, via instant messenger, so it's a bit more relaxed and insult-laden. Alright, a lot more insult-laden. I'd really like to see some feedback on this format (though all you Wu-ites are obviously biased so I'll have to discount most of it), if you prefer not to venture into the Bnet forums to do so, you can use the HBO thread started by Big Goalie Dan. (KP 01:02:57 UTC) (permalink)
News October 10 2006
Full Playlist Overhaul
Silly me... I didn't bother to check online when I read that Team SWAT had gone ranked; I'd have found that there were other changes, as well. As KP explains on Bungie.net, Team Carnage has changed, as well - this time, the list comes from the fine crew at Real Custom Games, a 7th Column group. KP's writeup has a full list of gametypes - looks like I need to set aside some time for playing, stat! If you visit the Optimatch forum, you'll find a new post by Ninja 0n Fire, as well, outlining the rest of the changes - games pulled, games added on the various playlists. Good stuff! (Louis Wu 19:36:42 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 XBL Change - Team SWAT Ranked
Interesting - in what seems to be a stealth playlist update, Team SWAT is now ranked. When an explanation shows up from Bungie, we'll point to it. Thanks to Paul, on our forum, for the first local heads-up. (Louis Wu 19:22:19 UTC) (permalink)
I don't need a weapon - any more.
Pixellated pointed out that Pixelated Pupils (a webcomic, no relation) was celebrating its 100th episode - and nicely linked all the Halo-related episodes. Good stuff! (Louis Wu 17:54:25 UTC) (permalink)
Sore Loser
Paul Maestri points out that Halo Heads 16 is now live; a look at modders, and the reactions they engender. I'd forgotten how much I hate Monopoly! (Louis Wu 17:44:11 UTC) (permalink)
Chief and Cortana
Luke McKay put up another Halo-related doodle today - we've added it to his gallery here. Love the hair! (Louis Wu 16:37:14 UTC) (permalink)
Briar's Armor Rocks.
KP dropped by our forum this morning to show off a new toy he'd picked up. Yes, you probably want one, too. No, he won't send you this one. Yes, he's a poopyhead. (Louis Wu 15:34:55 UTC) (permalink)
Halo and the Aeneid
Interesting. The Escapist has an article up now which tries to find an entertainment medium which can be compared evenly to videogames... and ends up correlating the Master Chief to Virgil's Aeneas. Nicely done! Thanks, Hanchen Lu. (Louis Wu 15:25:12 UTC) (permalink)
News October 9 2006
The Key to Victory
Over at MLG Pro, Foulacy has taken a close look at some of the reasons why Carbon might have won in Orlando... and how they can make it happen again in the playoffs. Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 23:10:30 UTC) (permalink)
Chris the Hippie's Volume 4
Z sent word of Chris the Hippie's Volume 4, a montage that's more AudioSlave and Foo Fighters than Halo 2. Really heavy on the effects, with (apparently) a mystery hidden within. 150 mb, WMP9 format, hosted by Halo3Forum.com. (Louis Wu 21:04:03 UTC) (permalink)
Amor Omnia Vincit.
Occasionally, Stuntmutt takes a break from corn to do a public service. Usually, though, even when he's doing a public service, he still keeps the corn in. Witness today's One One Se7en, which is actually a love note from one fan to another. With a side helping of corn. (Louis Wu 17:53:12 UTC) (permalink)
Labels
Josh found a Halo reference in an old episode of F@NB0Y$ - there's no date on it, but I'd guess it was sometime back in May. Gotta love the 360 fangirl... (Louis Wu 17:17:51 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Scale Comparison Updated
Stephen Loftus has updated his Halo Scale Comparison article; the beginning of it hasn't changed, but if you scroll down near the bottom of the page, you'll find an entirely new scale navigation system. Starting with the Halo itself, you can drill down through the various constructs in the game and compare them with like-sized items. He's added dozens of items to the charts; go explore! (In a totally coincidental but rather fortuitous bit of timing, In_Amber_Clad just happened to ask about this info this morning; if you have questions or comments, this thread is a fine place to put them.) (Louis Wu 13:34:48 UTC) (permalink)
You are how you play.
Tied the Leader weighs in on the Ranked Party issue (see this newspost for more details on the issue) - thanks, Compton. While you're there, check out the rest of their recent content - a 22 Questions interview with machinima creator Bryboy Remix, and a clan profile of Truth Regret. (Louis Wu 13:25:36 UTC) (permalink)
News October 8 2006
WikiRiot 19
Sigafoos sent word that WikiRiot 19 is ready for download - 29 mb, 1:11 long, with two interviews (WillClan4Food and Podtacular), as well as other assorted silliness. Go listen. (Louis Wu 22:14:13 UTC) (permalink)
Don't make him angry.
Luke McKay doodled a Master Chief yesterday... I'm guessing he was a bit annoyed at something. We've added it to his Gallery here. (Louis Wu 19:05:27 UTC) (permalink)
HWC talks to Dispraiser
Halo Wars Central sat down with Dispraiser to talk about the shutdown of the Halogen project, and what Slipstream is up to at this point. (Halogen's website seems to have gotten hacked today; unclear how long that will stay true.) Give it a read... sounds like they're moving on to other things! (Louis Wu 18:51:19 UTC) (permalink)
Beats working at a restaurant
The Palm Beach Post has a large writeup of Tom 'TSquared' Taylor in today's edition; some fun facts in there. Give it a read! (Louis Wu 18:28:01 UTC) (permalink)
It's Raining In Seattle
The Bungie Weekly Update went up a bit late this week, because Frankie's doing unspeakable things in unspeakable places (which, apparently, don't have access to the intarwebs) - KP put one up this morning, in his stead. It's entertaining, and informative if you were really curious about a day in the life of Marty O'Donnell (I know I USED to be), and it should make you smile a little. Even if it doesn't, don't tell KP - he worked really hard this past week, and his defensive shield is low. Thanks to c0ld, who was first with the news on our forum - and if you have any reason not to read it at B.net, it's available, as usual, in our Weekly Update Archive. (Louis Wu 18:23:30 UTC) (permalink)
News October 7 2006
Over the Limit - Act 0 - The Pheonix Army
Pothole Studios submitted 'Over the Limit, Act 0 - The Pheonix Army' (yes, the typo's intentional) to the MPRRS; it lingered for a bit, but the reviewers are back on track and have cleared out all backlogged submissions - this one passed. They didn't want hosting - the video is available from their site, in DivX format (45 mb), but if they run into trouble, we'll certainly put up mirrors. It's an interesting start - can't wait to see the rest! (Louis Wu 13:48:05 UTC) (permalink)
Corrupt, Remastered
xbryboyremix remastered his highly-regarded video 'Corrupt' - enhanced video, remastered digital audio, realistic visual effects... the MPRRS liked the changes, so we're swapping the old links for new ones. It's roughly the same size as it used to be - 78 mb for the WMP9 version, 83.5 mb for the QuickTime version; you can grab it again to see the changes, or grab it for the first time, if you missed it the last time around. Really well-done machinima. (Louis Wu 13:34:58 UTC) (permalink)
Ghandi calls Carbon
More MLG Pro Picks - this time it's Ghandi. I think I'm gonna have to say that's the last one we're gonna point out - this could go on for a long, long time. If you're interested in how the Halo pros view the upcoming playoffs... I'd say you should visit MLG more often. Thanks, as usual, to 3Suns. (Louis Wu 13:34:17 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Arcade Shooter
Adam Chapman noticed a Flash Halo game at Games121 - it's pretty basic, but hey! Give it a try. I found I could kill about 50 baddies before losing my 100 health points - this goes with my 1:2 kill-to-death ratio on Xbox Live pretty nicely. So you folks with 5:1 K:D ratios should put down at least 500 baddies before dying, right? (Louis Wu 13:29:38 UTC) (permalink)
An edge of your seat thrill ride
2old2play took a look at the evolution of the First Person Shooter - it's called 'Wolfenstein: There and Back Again', and it traces our love with this genre from its birth in 1992 through the present. Halo, not surprisingly, makes an appearance. Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 13:26:18 UTC) (permalink)
Ranked Multiplayer now Random on Live
Ouch. Latest news about Gears of War (Joystiq and Xboxic) is that you will not be able to play ranked games with your friends; the TrueSkill ranking system requires that you go into a game paired up with people with roughly the same ability as you have - randomized. You can play with a party - just not in a ranked game. This, apparently, is now a requirement of Microsoft Live certification. Halo 2 was released before this requirement was implemented, so it's exempt - which is why you can put together a party of friends for Big Team Battle, or Team Slayer - but Halo 3 will likely be subject to the same rules GoW is now facing. If you want to discuss this, 3Suns has started up a thread about it on our forum. Update: Wow, this has generated quite a bit of discussion on our forum - mostly negative (towards the policy, as it's understood). There's a comment by Achronos on the Bungie.net forums that suggests that there's a misunderstanding here... but closer reading of joeGraf's comments in the Gears of War forum thread that started the firestorm makes me think that Achronos is incorrect. If we get better clarification, we'll be sure to pass it along. (Louis Wu 13:14:43 UTC) (permalink)
PstP Halo Nod
Pixellated noticed that over at Press Start To Play, there's a piece of promotional art for Otokon that features a Spartan and an Elite (check the October 6 news post). (Louis Wu 12:55:44 UTC) (permalink)
Got Your Back
Red vs Blue Episode 79 has been posted for sponsors (which means, of course, that it'll be two days before it's available for everybody else) - almost 5 minutes of great lines from Sarge and the gang. I like Shiela when she's crazy. Looks like Psychophan7 was first. (Oh, yeah, and speaking of Sarge... there was an MP3 file full of Sarge outtakes, talking about Morris the Cat, released a few days ago - forgot to mention it. This one is sponsors-only, as well.) (Louis Wu 12:30:28 UTC) (permalink)
Pie: Chapter 2
A month ago, we posted Pie, Chapter 1, from Machine Enema. Today, Pie Chapter 2 passed the MPRRS, and narrowly missed placing in the Top 10 scores since the MPRRS opened. It's really, really well done. Heavy on the effects - but that's part of the ambience. Fantastic story, fantastic voice acting, fantastic cinematography. It's also enormous. (15 minutes, more than 150 mb.) You can grab a copy in WMP9 format (153 mb) or QuickTime format (161 mb)... here's hoping the servers don't melt. Definitely worth watching. Definitely. (Louis Wu 00:01:16 UTC) (permalink)
News October 6 2006
A (Lack Of) I.
Stuntmutt continues his riffs on Halo Wars in today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 15:09:53 UTC) (permalink)
Halo - Big in Japan. Still.
Whoa, bizarre. Gamasutra has this week's sales records through yesterday in their Saling the World column... and Halo shows up a few times (which doesn't really surprise me), including at the number one spot in Japan - with the original Halo (THAT surprises me). Again: the number one-selling Xbox game in Japan this week... is Halo. (Halo 2 was 4th in Japan, and 5th on the North America list - and absent altogether on the UK list.) (Louis Wu 14:55:19 UTC) (permalink)
Terminal Dogs, Part I
Evan Ryan, of Krad Productions, let us know that Terminal Dogs, Part: 1 is now up at both Machinima.com (hi-res) and YouTube (low-res); as you might guess from the title, it's a Halo take on Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (RD's dialogue, Krad's video). I love that film... time to go rent it again, I think. In the meantime, check this out - nice filming job! (Louis Wu 13:47:57 UTC) (permalink)
Halo to Myth II
Back in March, there were reports of a couple of different Halo mods for Myth II - this one, at PlayMyth.net (thanks, Chris Arthur) which also led me eventually to this one, at Project Magma; it's unclear whether either of these went anywhere after March, or whether any actual files were released... but the screens are nice! (Not sure why these didn't cross our radar before now...) (Louis Wu 11:08:49 UTC) (permalink)
PhaLanX Montage 8: Bloodwork
PhaLanX submitted his 8th montage (composited by EphruM) to the MPRRS; for the most part, they loved it. He doesn't actually need hosting; the WMP9 is being hosted by HaloBoards... but since it made it through our system, we're making a QuickTime version (91 mb) available for those who need it. Great gameplay, really nice editing. I really enjoyed this one! (Louis Wu 10:38:54 UTC) (permalink)
I wonder how long that took to film?
Heh - very cool, and almost TOTALLY off-topic. Zugy found a video showing live-action Space Invaders; this is one of those things that shows up in your email inbox and (usually) puts a smile on your face. I get to post it because they decided to use the shield recharging sound effect at the end of each round. (Yeah, I know... it's a stretch. Go watch anyway, because it's really fun.) (Louis Wu 10:19:05 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
23 new pieces in the Fan Fiction section this week. Sounds like a lot - but a number of submitters released 2 or 3 chapters at a time this week. Anyway, lots to read. Get started. (Louis Wu 10:14:08 UTC) (permalink)
Cpt. Anarchy's Playoff Picks
Still more pro picks at MLG - Cpt. Anarchy predicts his top 8 teams (with some nice reasoning). Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 10:05:19 UTC) (permalink)
Chalky Chief
Heh - cool; 'spu7n1k', in Singapore, drew a nice Master Chief in chalk outside his door - just watch that dog! Thanks, Ryan -117. (Louis Wu 10:03:19 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: Mobile Portal Answer Session
Gamasutra has posted a Q&A with Andy Babb, the Senior VP of Marketing for In-Fusio, the Mobile Portal people. There are some clarifications on cost (the portal is technically free, but you have to buy at least one credit in order to access it; you then USE that credit to buy content), and more info about the secret codes that unlock content in The Vault. I don't have a Verizon phone, but if I did, after reading this, I'd be pounding on the Vault with a copy of the Halo Story Page in front of me, trying a whole bunch of keywords to see if they work as codes. Anyway - good read, check it out. (Louis Wu 10:01:00 UTC) (permalink)
More beautiful with each passing month.
Bungie has posted the second Halo 2 Vista Developer Diary - Matt Priestly, H2Vista's producer, discusses the state of development in areas like performance, UI, and the keyboard-vs-controller debate. Their preferred screen resolution is 1920x1200... and they have it running at 60fps. Nice! (I wonder what sort of stats your PC has to have to manage that, though...) Looks like TheGhost was first with the heads-up, via email. (Louis Wu 09:56:39 UTC) (permalink)
News October 5 2006
Revenge of the Chief
Wow. Paul Maestri ate a few too many mushrooms, and came up with Halo Heads 15. My brain hurts. (Louis Wu 20:24:42 UTC) (permalink)
Cuttin' a 'Kin
The last three years, around this time of year, you've been able to take a knife to a member of the cucurbit family (maybe you know it better as a pumpkin), and win cool stuff from us. vshields asked if we were gonna do it again - the answer was 'yes, of course, we do it every year'... except for one small problem. Life is so crazy right now that I haven't had time to even THINK about prizes; we've got nothing to offer you at the moment. However, if I wait any longer to announce the contest, you're not going to have enough time to come up with a cool design! So, here's the deal: We're holding the 343 Guilt O' Lantern contest again this year. It'll have way-cool prizes for the top three carvings (plus bonus prizes if winners from previous years are at the top again - see the Rules section for more details) - we just don't know what they are yet. But they'll be way-cool. We'll supply a bunch, and we'll gladly entertain offers from the community, if anyone wants to contribute (as has happened in the past). Get to thinking - you've got just under 4 weeks! (Louis Wu 20:13:39 UTC) (permalink)
Totally Random SV 1 - Attack of the Clones
KeyboardKiller, of Pothole Studios, submitted 'Totally Random SV 1 - Attack of the Clones' to the MPRRS a LONG time ago. (For some reason, our reviewers have stopped reviewing.) It finally made it through the system today, with a passing grade. 'SV' stands for 'Short Video', and it is that... and Totally Random. Quite nicely filmed, very nice use of mods, pretty darned funny. Available in WMP9 format (22.6 mb), QuickTime format (25.5 mb), and the original DivX-encoded AVI (25.9 mb). Take your pick! (Louis Wu 19:29:03 UTC) (permalink)
Inafune - Remaking Halo
3Suns points out a feature at Kotaku - an interview with Keiji Inafune, a longtime Capcom bigwig who's currently working on Lost Planet.
"I really wanted to do something as cool as Halo. I'm a big Halo fan, but not well know in Japan. It's very interesting, but very American. But we wanted to do something that had more of a Japanese flavor. That's why we added robots. In America, mech-type robots are not so cool. Just look at the mechs in The Matrix."
Capcom said it couldn't sell it. It was "just a mech game," but Inafune contested that it wasn't just a mech game. It was his take on Halo.
Apparently, even though his bosses told him he couldn't do it, he went ahead anyway - "The buildings are separte, so managers aren't able to check everything they do". Heh. Interesting read - check it out! (Louis Wu 19:26:35 UTC) (permalink)
Podtacular 83
ImmortalThree writes to let us know that Podtacular Episode 83 is up - with guest hosts Damian and Fyb3roptik, from This Spartan Life. They've also got a new Myspace page up... check 'em out! (Louis Wu 17:41:44 UTC) (permalink)
Game Trailers Leading
Next Generation has posted an article about how important trailers have become to the marketing of videogames - as they are for the marketing of movies. Halo 3 is held up as a prime example of how to do it right. Thanks, LegendaryMark. (Louis Wu 17:37:15 UTC) (permalink)
Trevor's Mjolnir Update
Trevor Chesler sent us another batch of pics of his Mjolnir armor construction - you'll find them here. Work progresses! (Louis Wu 14:56:16 UTC) (permalink)
Zune'd Cortana
Pinkuh posted an... interesting rendition of Cortana (probably not fully safe for work) on our forum - it's "the first officialy unofficial artwork for the Zune" (whatever that means). We've added it to her Gallery, as well. (Louis Wu 14:29:30 UTC) (permalink)
Which Side Are You On?
Wow, neat. Rooster Teeth sponsored a shuttle bus at the Gamestop Manager's Conference... and tricked it out something fierce. I wanna ride on that! Thanks, Tex. (Louis Wu 14:24:50 UTC) (permalink)
Wingnut - Building... Something.
Over at Rampancy.net, Narcogen found a couple of articles relating to Wingnut Interactive and its upcoming work (Stuff, mentioned here, and The Record, mentioned here) - I must say that after having read both, I STILL have no idea what Jackson's planning... but it's becoming clearer to me that he's not entirely sure, either. We'll all have to wait and see... (Louis Wu 14:21:41 UTC) (permalink)
Do it this way.
GamePro posted a design doc for Halo 3, detailing the things THEY'D like to see in the upcoming shooter. Check back next year to see how Bungie did at satisfying them. (You can also read this at GameTrailers.com (sort of - each page is a separate news entry) - thanks, Oscar. (Louis Wu 14:17:51 UTC) (permalink)
Playoff Picks: Vash
Another in the Pros Picks series - Vash looks at playoff possibilities. Slightly different top 8 than earlier pros... we'll see. Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 14:04:43 UTC) (permalink)
Literary Blood and Bone Ballet
I found it sort of strange that there'd be a full writeup of the Halo Graphic Novel at this stage, several months after its release... but you never can tell with journalists. The Marine Corps Times has put up a piece that describes the work pretty solidly; if you need an article that references most important people involved, this is your baby. (Louis Wu 14:00:09 UTC) (permalink)
Tied the Leader - lots more stuff
Yesterday, I mentioned a writeup of a fun gaming evening over at Tied the Leader - but I forgot to check for OTHER new content. There's plenty. Not all of it is Halo-related; they cover gaming in general, though they do FOCUS on Halo. Recent Halo goodies include a profile of the Panic Attacks clan, a balanced look at the expansion of the Halo franchise, and a Readers Poll, asking if you're planning on playing Halo Wars when it's released. Go look! (Louis Wu 13:56:35 UTC) (permalink)
News October 4 2006
Dead Man's Potluck: Round 2
Monday night, a bunch of us got together for something Dweezle calls 'Dead Man's Potluck'. Everyone had to bring a silly gametype. (I was not allowed to use the Team Carnage options - party poopers, all of 'em.) It was a fun time - and Dweezle's written it all up. And Eisen Feuer filmed the whole shebang - that's a lot of video! Check it out. (Louis Wu 21:28:26 UTC) (permalink)
A Miner Problem.
Doh! Almost forgot to post today's One One Se7en. Maybe it was my subconscious... telling me to keep away from Halo Wars jokes... (Louis Wu 20:09:08 UTC) (permalink)
I got a bask'eball jones...
No Soup 4 You was reading nba.com, and ran across the blog of Gilbert Arenas, of the Washington Wizards. What's this guy doing with some of his extra cash? Why... he's sponsoring Final Boss! Nice. (Louis Wu 20:07:23 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: Mobile Portal Code - Cracked
Wow. So the letters on the news page (I'll be yanking them soon, so look now) were noticed by two separate groups within 60 seconds of going live. (Probably more - but c0ld vengeance mentioned them in IRC's #hbo channel, and Pratch sent mail about them; nobody else pointed them out to ME.) c0ld started a thread on the forum, which got a lot of decent speculation... and then on irc, Decommissioner (with a little spelling help from Konrad) nailed it down - half an hour after it went live. The hive mind works well! The Portal code, for those who can find the Vault on their Verizon phone, is 'GRAVEMIND' - courtesy of IN-FUSIO and the HBO community. Enjoy! (Louis Wu 17:12:34 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: Mobile Portal Launches
A press release went out over the wire this morning - Verizon and IN-FUSIO (the mobile games publisher with rights to Halo on mobile phones) have launched 'Halo: Mobile Portal' for Verizon Get It Now customers. If you have a Get It Now phone, you can download the portal and have access to Halo wallpapers, ringtones, XBL stats, story snippets, and more. The section contains a locked area called 'The Vault' - content here is available only through codes hidden throughout the Halo universe. What does this mean? Well, one of them is available here at HBO. More details are forthcoming. (Louis Wu 16:23:46 UTC) (permalink)
More MLG Pro Picks
MLG's feature on pro picks continues, with Samurai providing his predictions for the coming playoffs. Same 8 teams that Elamite Warrior picked... but not in the same order. Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 15:28:56 UTC) (permalink)
Norwegian Halo 2 Tourney
Stian Øby Johansen sent word about a huge Norwegian Halo 2 tourney - largest ever in that country, apparently. (The info page is in Norwegian.) FFA, 1v1, and 4v4 competitions, with lots of prizes (including one surprise prize). November 17-19 in Oslo... be there or be Swedish! (Louis Wu 12:44:53 UTC) (permalink)
The Rescue
Over at HaloGrid, imSuck put together 'The Rescue', a webcomic that uses screenshots from the Halo Wars trailer and his own very internet brand of humor. lolz. (Louis Wu 12:40:23 UTC) (permalink)
I'm still better then you.
Lukey25 found a pretty funny comic at Wayneker.com. The art's nothing to write home about - but the strips are great. (And the one above is Halo-related.) (Louis Wu 12:37:29 UTC) (permalink)
Narc to the Rescue
Narcogen has noticed that a lot of people are reacting in not-so-rational ways to Halo Wars; recently, he's done his best to dispel some of the worst reasoning. You can find some great arguments about the handling of the Halogen project in this thread (try here, here, and here), and over at Rampancy.net, he's written up an entire article on the Battle Rifle Debate ("how come the Spartans in the Halo Wars trailer are using a gun that showed up in Halo 2, even though HW is supposed to take place before Halo 1?"). I have very few illusions that his arguments will actually sway the most rabid of naysayers... but for folks who haven't really been paying attention that closely, his writing should give you a decent, relatively unbiased view of the situation(s). (Louis Wu 12:28:57 UTC) (permalink)
Episodic Gaming
CNN takes a look at the rise of episodic gaming - and games like Halo 2, with its cliffhanger ending, are credited with opening the door, in a way. Give it a read. Thanks, Obienator. (Louis Wu 12:20:52 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Vista vids at GameTrailers
At GameTrailers.com, you'll find a pair of new Halo 2 Vista gameplay trailers (in regular and HD), recorded at X06. (Look for the October 3 content.) As with previous H2Vista gameplay vids, it's clear that folks aren't used to the controls yet; there's a lot of standing in one place going on. However, you should get a decent sense for how the game looks, compared to the Xbox version. Chrisvioxxx was first with the news. (Louis Wu 12:12:53 UTC) (permalink)
News October 3 2006
The squeaky wheel gets greased, punk.
Unbeknownst to us, Captain Spark's been busy on his website; he's reorganized all of his 2005 dialogue submissions to include the new category names (individual marines, etc), and he's added two new collections (on September 20 and September 29). We've added all 37 new snippets to our Dialogue Databank - there are some classics in there! (Louis Wu 18:52:29 UTC) (permalink)
SIXAXIS OF EVIL
Paul Maestri writes to let us know that Halo Heads 14 is up - it takes a shot at Sony's latest PS3 move. I'm still chuckling... (Louis Wu 18:29:13 UTC) (permalink)
That's how he rolls.
Luke McKay sketched up a scene from RvB Episode 78 today... you gotta wonder if Church would make a decent parent. (Louis Wu 18:13:33 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Who?
Elnea mashed up the theme from Doctor Who with the Halo theme... what came out was pretty cool. (She also created some artwork for this - you can find it in her gallery here.) On the off-chance her .Mac site runs out of bandwidth, the mashup is mirrored here. Go listen! (She originally posted this in her RvB journal - I can't remember if this is visible without an account there or not.) (Louis Wu 15:09:34 UTC) (permalink)
Death by Klondike Bar
Over at Geezer Gamers, there's a fun interview with Boys in Blue, a Geezer cop from Texas - great questions, entertaining answers. I mean, my goodness, the man was instrumental in instigating an online divorce, for goodness' sake! Halo brings us all together, doesn't it? Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 14:40:48 UTC) (permalink)
Season Shockers, and Playoff Picks
New MLG content - there's an article that looks back on the biggest surprises of the 2006 season, and a new feature - pros pick winners. First up - Elamite Warrior (recently nominated for the Scion Player of the Year competition) calls his playoff picks. Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 13:48:42 UTC) (permalink)
New Halo 3 content next month from EGM
1Up.com is crowing about a huge content blowout Electronic Games Monthly will be bringing you with the December issue (on newsstands November 14, likely in subscribers' mailboxes a couple of weeks before that) - Halo 3, baby! New screens, video content (well, that will be delivered on the website), new secrets. (No guarantee on that last - we all know how tight-lipped Bungie can be. Definitely screens and vids, though.) Thanks, chargeorge. (Louis Wu 13:27:25 UTC) (permalink)
You Can't Park Here - Again. (Still?)
Over at Red vs Blue, the first episode of Season Five is now available for the general public. Normally, this doesn't get a new news post here (we mention the new episode when it goes live for sponsors, and figure those getting it for free are capable of adding 48 hours to the release time to figure out when it will be available for them) - but this one's a bit different; there's new content for sponsors, too. They've released a 'Director's Commentary' version; listen to Burnie and Geoff discuss the difficulties behind the shots, the inconsistencies they removed (and the ones they left), and more. Pretty interesting stuff! (Louis Wu 13:21:09 UTC) (permalink)
Stoking the coals
BBC News takes a look at fan reaction to recent Halo-related announcements; it's a nice overview of the situation as it stands. (I do have to question their choice of sources, though...) Thanks to hminn for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 13:11:06 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars Central Goes Live
The fan community wasted no time setting up new outlets for the newest Halo content - Halo Wars Central went live recently, and is now hosting an art contest (though it doesn't look like there are any prizes at stake here, besides bragging rights). Get involved! (Louis Wu 13:05:28 UTC) (permalink)
Losing Marbles
KP sat down with GameJunkieJim, a Bungie.net moderator and the editor of the 'Bungie Bathroom Reader', to find out what makes him tick - and what tricks he's got to bag the classy ladies. Check it out on Bungie.net. (hnc was first on our forum to notice.) (Louis Wu 12:59:14 UTC) (permalink)
News October 2 2006
HW Remix
Geoff Chang edited the Halo Wars trailer and set it to music from the movie 'The Island'. Works pretty well! (Louis Wu 20:02:54 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 tourney in UK
Hexus Gaming has a press release about XL, an Xbox/Xbox 360 tourney that will take place at the Birmingham National Exhibition Center in Birmingham, England, on November 25-26. Lots of cash and prizes on the line! (Louis Wu 19:09:05 UTC) (permalink)
Spartan Group OMG.
Since last week's announcement about Halo Wars, our forum has been rife with discussion about what this might mean for fans down the road - the usual cries of 'sellout!' and 'doom, despair' have been flying for days. Folks are even annoyed by the cheesiness of the final line of the Halo Wars trailer, and basing predictions about the game itself on this annoyance. Stuntmutt, as usual, cuts through the words and delivers a pithy summary - check out today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 16:24:25 UTC) (permalink)
Dropshock Episode 24
Dropshock Episode 24 has been released - as usual, it's lewd and crude. Minimal Halo content these days - but they've got a brand-new website, so there you go. 1:14 long, 34 mb. Thanks, Adam Russell. (Louis Wu 16:02:37 UTC) (permalink)
HW Marketplace Goodies
Last week, after Halo Wars was announced, Xbox Live Marketplace made available both new gamertag icons and a 360 Halo Wars Theme - we didn't get around to pointing them out, though other sites have. Thanks to c0ld vengeance for the reminder. (Louis Wu 15:15:59 UTC) (permalink)
Mute Radio Ep 4
Bluestrike2 let us know that Mute Radio Episode 4 has been posted - there's an interview with Sundance DiGiovanni, of Major League Gaming. 35 minutes, 32 mb... go listen! (Louis Wu 14:32:13 UTC) (permalink)
Bottom of AotCR - Again (but worth it)
The first visit to the bottom of Assault on the Control Room (that I know about) was Frogblast's, back in August 2002. (Others had gotten to the banshee boundary earlier - but nobody had gotten through it.) Now, more than 4 years later, 3rd Person revisits the idea - and does it in s7yle. He uses a checkpoint-delay system I've never seen before; it adds a bit of extra work at the start, but MAN does it save time later. Beautifully filmed, perfectly explained. I can remember the days when I would have been horrified that a single Halo trick required a 65 mb movie to display... but this was beautiful. Thanks, Ducain. (Louis Wu 14:21:19 UTC) (permalink)
HaloMods Movie Contest
Excal, over at HaloMods, kicked off a movie contest yesterday - check that page for rules, deadlines, and prizes. Sounds like fun! (If you have questions not answered by that contest page, post 'em in this forum topic at HaloMods.) (Louis Wu 14:13:32 UTC) (permalink)
News October 1 2006
OMGLOLWTFBBQ! Montage Trailer
EphruM sent the trailer to his OMGLOLWTFBBQ! montage along to the MPRRS; they loved it. Great kills, great synching, great editing. Shorter than most montages (but then, it's a trailer) - 2:40, 34 mb in WMP9 format, 36.2 mb in QuickTime format. (Louis Wu 23:10:04 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Vid Content
Tyger let us know of a couple of fun things at MLGPro.com - the MLG Vidcast Episode 2 is now available (Firefox, if you're a Mac user), and there's a fun little clip posted by Ramby, of Storm Ventures. Take a look! (Louis Wu 22:39:04 UTC) (permalink)
QsK Montage Contest
QsK Productions sent word that they're running a montage contest sponsored by triplekill.com. First prize is at least $100 (more if they get extra donations); full rules and details can be found at their site. (Louis Wu 22:36:13 UTC) (permalink)
WikiRiot 18
Sigafoos writes to point out WikiRiot 18 - X06 coverage, and an interview with AthenaTwin and Mary Jane PMS. (And the usual stuff, of course.) 83 minutes, 33 mb. Go listen. (Louis Wu 22:10:57 UTC) (permalink)
GiA Team Swat Tourney Wrapped Up
Bootsman stopped by our forum to announce that the Team SWAT tournament they started up in June has come to an end - Invalid Mob took top prize, and went home with $200. Full details can be found on their forum. (Louis Wu 14:24:32 UTC) (permalink)
Old People's Favorite Weapons
3Suns noticed an article at 2Old2Play about their Top 10 FPS Weapons... the Halo 2 sword comes in at Number 6... but the original Halo pistol takes top honors. Go read the rest of the list! (Louis Wu 13:09:43 UTC) (permalink)
What a crappy way to start a Sunday.
So I got some email from a guy claiming to be the leader of Random Outburst Pro, taking us to task for hosting his videos without his permission. Seems someone submitted them to the MPRRS without his permission. He felt it was unacceptable that we didn't crosscheck the submitting email address with the address listed on his website to confirm that it was him, in fact, submitting the work, and he asked us to pull it. I've pulled it (which seems ridiculous to me; he was getting free hosting, and free publicity, and NOBODY was taking credit for the work away from him - but hey, it's his work, so it's his call), but I need to make this absolutely clear from this point forward:
If someone contacts us about work submitted to the MPRRS, and shows us that the submitter had no right to submit it, we'll pull it. (This has ALWAYS been the policy, in fact.) We will NOT, however, be double- and triple-checking submissions, crosschecking with websites, verifying email addresses, or anything else, BEFORE THE FACT. We take IP ownership pretty seriously around here, and will crack down on offenders as soon as we find out about them (again, as we've done in the past) - but it is not, and never will be, our policy to require picture ID before you can submit work to us. If you run across something of yours that we're hosting that you didn't submit, feel free to ask us to take it down... but don't for a minute think you can lecture us that we didn't do due diligence before we hosted it. That is NOT something we have time for. (Louis Wu 12:47:45 UTC) (permalink)
| October 2006 | |
