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October 2010

October 2010 Archived News

News October 31 2010

The World of Halo
Hedgemony rounded up a bunch of Halo mentions on Tumblr - see what others are saying/doing about the game! (Louis Wu 22:15:18 UTC) (permalink)

Guilt O' Lantern Hiccups
Wow, I'm sorry to be writing this so late... but I'm also surprised I have to write it at all. I was sorting through the entries for the Guilt O' Lantern contest, and was THRILLED that there were almost 200 entries. Then I started looking at them - and realized that a huge number don't qualify for Rule #2: they have to be at least 640x480 in size. Maybe it's the advent of cellphone cameras, or maybe it's just that folks don't want to take the time to upload large images - but by the time I'd removed the ineligible entries, we were down to well under 150 entries. If you think you might have uploaded an image that was too small... please, submit it again, in a larger size, in the next 6 hours. Thanks! (Louis Wu 21:40:09 UTC) (permalink)

OLR, AntC Updates
jon cjg has released new vids for both his One Life Remaining and Arby 'n' the Chief series - OLR S2 Episode 12 has nasty goings-on at the University of Esoteria's graduation ceremony, and Arby 'n' the Chief S4 Episode 10 ("Night of the Evading Dead") has our heroes teaming up against a griefer. (Loved the 'Blue Thunder' moment.) Go watch. (Louis Wu 18:00:59 UTC) (permalink)

Reach M6B Pistol for Sale
smick6 has been busy in his workshop - the latest result is a Halo: Reach M6B pistol, which you can buy on eBay right now. Handmade from various materials, including styrene and clay, molded, then cast as a solid urethane plastic final product. Weighs about a pound and a half. Gorgeous! (He also offers a non-painted DIY kit - it's cheaper, but you do your own work.) More photos (LOTS more) can be found in this Photobucket collection, and his build process and info on the construction have been documented on the 405th forums. (Louis Wu 16:53:20 UTC) (permalink)

John O' Lantern.
Stuntmutt has a little Halloween wish for you with today's Holiday-special One One Se7en. (Don't forget - submissions end tonight for the Guilt O' Lantern contest... just 11 more hours to get yours in!) (Louis Wu 16:38:21 UTC) (permalink)

This is Halloween 2.0
AssaultGodzilla has remade his 'This is Halloween' Halo music video (the first version came out last year, but doesn't seem to be available any more). Fantastic timing, great clips. Go watch it - and get in the mood! (Louis Wu 16:36:27 UTC) (permalink)

A Fistful of Arrows - International
Awesome - Leviathan stopped by with links to French and Spanish translations of his 'A Fistful of Arrows' story; if you're a native French or Spanish speaker, and English is hard for you, read these! (To be absolutely clear: Leviathan doesn't work for Bungie, he doesn't work for Microsoft, this story is completely from his own brain. Nobody's "sanctioned" the storyline, this is not canon, it's just a fan's creation. Granted, it's a SPECTACULAR creation, and LOOKS pretty darned official... but it's not.) (Louis Wu 16:34:12 UTC) (permalink)

Quad Package
Tyrant (who's well on his way to a releasable Mythic Guide for Halo: Reach - stay tuned for details) has a Haloween treat for you - a video of four-player Mythic gameplay on The Package, rendered for your viewing pleasure on Bungie.net. It's nearly 50 minutes long - but MAN, it's fun. (Louis Wu 16:33:09 UTC) (permalink)

The Best Video Games Right Now
Thomas Robinson let us know that Reach made Gizmodo's "The Best Video Games Right Now" list - the environment and graphics are "poetic". Nice! (Louis Wu 16:30:19 UTC) (permalink)

More Forge Help from GodlyPerfection
GodlyPerfection stopped in yesterday with three more Forge lessons (and a PDF version for folks who get tired of reading online). Check out his post for summaries and links! (Louis Wu 16:28:43 UTC) (permalink)

News October 30 2010

A Fistful of Arrows 10-12
Leviathan is back with a continuation of his "A Fistful of Arrows" graphic tale - three more pages of scrumpdiddlyumptious artwork and epic storytelling. (And explosions.) Go read! (Louis Wu 19:14:16 UTC) (permalink)

I'm riding a horse. With a BR.
GHOST R3V0LV3R stopped in to exclaim that some friends created a Master Chief helmet and a BR for a local statue - check out the pic. Apparently, video coming soon. (Louis Wu 18:52:18 UTC) (permalink)

BierWiser's Variety Pack
BierWiser put together one final Halo 3 montage - favorite kills and funny clips. Go watch! (Louis Wu 18:51:15 UTC) (permalink)

A Cornucopia of Tidbits
Bungie posted their Weekly Update last night, as usual (and we added it to our Weekly Update Archive, as usual) - it contains a bunch of tasty morsels. Marty included the music from the Noble Map Pack trailer, as an MP3 (w00t), there's a panorama of Breakpoint, some discussion of the Global Challenge unlock progress, a hint of some help Bungie's going to give us for this on Monday, stuff on November playlist updates, info about the DLC Achievements (including hi-res artwork), some VERY cool info from Dan Miller, an amazing Grunt costume, and a pretty awesome Blame Stosh. If you haven't already, go enjoy! (It's possible the achievements are a joke, of some kind. The screenshot that initially hinted at upcoming achievements suggested there'd be ten new achievements, not seven. Or they could be real, with the missing three could be zero-pointers. Who knows?) (Louis Wu 13:17:33 UTC) (permalink)

News October 29 2010

A Grab Bag of Goodies
Good stuff at Bungie.net today:

• Stewie2552 released Funny Halo Reach Fails and Laughs 3 - things to do (and not to do) for Reach lulz.
• The WorkPLace has released Map Pack 1, a whole bunch of cool Forge creations (with descriptions, even).
• The Good Games League has posted Week 3 of their Reach Grifball highlights - some amazing plays, some really funny plays. Check it out!

Friday Funtacular! (Louis Wu 17:11:02 UTC) (permalink)

Headshot Heard 'Round The World: Voting
Whew! Took longer than we'd expected, but hey - there were a LOT of entries to sort through. No matter: Voting for the Headshot Heard 'Round The World contest is now open! We've narrowed the playing field down to 15 finalists, and you get to pick your top three choices. Voting will remain open for a while - but don't put this off forever! Remember, the grand prize winner will collect a Halo: Reach Console Bundle, thanks to the generosity of KontrolFreek! Go watch, and vote! (Louis Wu 14:02:04 UTC) (permalink)

...And a Forge Island Iced Tea.
I think the apocalypse might be nigh... I actually laughed out loud at today's One One Se7en. Watch your back. (Louis Wu 13:46:05 UTC) (permalink)

Forging Ahead: Battle Plans
GhaleonEB's Forge Blog continues - his latest entry is concerned with what needs to happen (during the building process) to ensure that fighting on the map is actually fun. Great read! (Louis Wu 11:44:06 UTC) (permalink)

Wanna get better at multiplayer?
NeoGAF's Leotarius has a blog called 'Hyper Lethal' - and he's focusing on multiplayer tactics in Reach for now. Some interesting stuff in there - the most recent article kicks off his 'Playbook', providing set strategies for one-sided objective matches. Check it out! (Louis Wu 11:36:48 UTC) (permalink)

Talkin' 'bout videogames
Wow... so there's a company who monitors web discussion of video games, and reports their results. (That's odd.) And for the month of September, Halo: Reach was the most talked-about game online. (That's not quite so odd.) If you want more details about Overtone's GameVoice report, go read the press release. (Louis Wu 10:56:40 UTC) (permalink)

FLAG writeup
Morpheus played in last weekend's FLAG Tournament - and wants to tell you ALL about it. (Lots and lots and lots of pics...) (Louis Wu 10:53:40 UTC) (permalink)

Don't make me go back there!
melee stopped by with a screenshot that brings back pretty scary memories... (Louis Wu 10:52:54 UTC) (permalink)

Your world is not real!
JIMBOTHY is back, with a new trailer remake - this time, he's tackled Inception. Check his post for the video link - and once you've watched it, check out his comparison video. Amazing. (Push the button - thanks, nof.) (Louis Wu 10:52:20 UTC) (permalink)

Something's Up in Bungieland...
Some really funky stuff going on on the Bungie Webcam page these days - Hedgemony's curious... are you? (Louis Wu 10:51:50 UTC) (permalink)

Friday's Fan Fiction
Awesome - looks like our Fan Fiction submission page has finally been discovered by a pornsite spam bot. (Don't worry; the only person who suffers is me.) Might have to add a Captcha soon... but in the meantime, there are five new (real) pieces online this week - go read 'em! (Louis Wu 10:49:39 UTC) (permalink)

Lumbering Dinos and Huge Cube Maps
As they mentioned last week, the Halo Humpday Challenge took place against the crew of Naughty Dog (the team behind Uncharted 2, among other games). In a friendly meeting of developers, Bungie pulls out three straight victories. (Very close victories, but victories nonetheless.) Go read urk's writeup. (Louis Wu 10:47:22 UTC) (permalink)

News October 28 2010

Big Numbers
Although they're not listing the total number of units, Microsoft has revealed (via an earnings call today, courtesy of GamesBeat) that Reach generated $350 million in its first 16 days on the market - a decent guess is over 5 million units sold. That's a lot of pizza and Xbox... (Louis Wu 22:26:13 UTC) (permalink)

Carved Beauty
Halo Waypoint has a photo of a pretty amazing Halo pumpkin - check it out. Don't let it make you discouraged, though, if you're planning on entering our contest; we've got multiple prizes. (Louis Wu 22:23:31 UTC) (permalink)

Halo CE News Roundup
Our man in the field send us a list of some cool goings-on in the Halo CE community:

• Precipice has been updated - you can watch the whole video, or you can jump in about 40 seconds for the good stuff.
• If you have an ATI 5 or 6 series card, you can have anti-aliasing in your Halo. Wow.
• Halo Custom Edition is getting bots - awesome!
• If you're a .NET programmer, BlamLib will let you interface with Halo's Tag System. Definitely tech-heavy... but pretty amazing!
• Ifafudafi's Plasma Pack 3 does really funky things with needles. Go look.
• Project Epsilon is Inferno's single player map based on the character Agent Washington from Red vs Blue. It has voice acting and custom animations!
• Someone built a Target Locator in Halo CE. No visuals yet (it's a pistol)... but ti's just as deadly as the Reach version. Pretty snazzy!

Sort of incredible how much stuff is still happening - and how much of it is GOOD. (Louis Wu 21:48:50 UTC) (permalink)

Mood Swings
Geezer Gamers' Sheriff_Bullock has an article called "Six reasons why a HALO hater loves REACH" - it's bringin' 'em back in, baby! (Louis Wu 21:17:52 UTC) (permalink)

Snipers Game Commentary
Mantis_7 let us know that he recorded a game of Snipers Pro on Atom, and added some commentary; if you're an expert, you won't really get anything from this, but if you find yourself more dead than alive, there are tips here that can shift that balance. (Louis Wu 21:17:33 UTC) (permalink)

Map Spotlight Week 2 - Castle Greenskull
Bungie.net's got a new fan-created map on display in a rascal cat's second Map Spotlight feature - Castle Greenskull comes from ibmeubu, and is set up for large games. Go check out the pictures and video! (Louis Wu 21:17:02 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Cutscene Library gets new goodies
Cody Miller recorded a few new bits for our Cutscene Library - an easter egg from ODST (we'd documented it before, but now it's part of the Library), an easter egg from Reach (discussed on our forum, but not previously in the Library), and a dialogue variant that ties in nicely with information available in the Halsey Journal (which comes with the Limited and Legendary editions of Reach). Awesomesauce! (Louis Wu 18:05:11 UTC) (permalink)

National Gaming League Event info
Jay Alexander, Director of the National Gaming League, let us know that the next NGL event is going to be in Cincinnati. More details can also be found on the NGL website. Pretty cool! Go and check it out! (GrimBrother One 16:36:11 UTC) (permalink)

IGN Top 10 Kills
IGN has a new Halo Reach Top 10 Kills up. Some pretty sweet ones in there! Thanks to ChrisTheCrappy for the heads up. (GrimBrother One 14:19:22 UTC) (permalink)

The Spirit of Haloween
Make sure to stop by Waypoint today to check out their feature on the Covenant Spirit Dropship. A nice little bit of info, and some very nice renderings. I really like little things like this... (GrimBrother One 13:26:00 UTC) (permalink)

Yet more fails
chris10023 sends along a video containing another collection of Halo Reach Fails. I definitely laughed at a few of these moments, go and check 'em out! (GrimBrother One 13:18:26 UTC) (permalink)

News October 27 2010

More Halo Yumminess
Halo Waypoint has a couple of goodies for your entertainment, too - Post-It Note Artwork: Master Chief is a video showing you one pretty cool thing you can do with a LOT of Post-It Notes, and When your character dies in Halo: Reach is a rather odd machinima that I'm happy to say does NOT reflect any reality I know about. (There's more than that, of course - those were just two recent pieces that caught my eye.) Go explore! (Louis Wu 20:34:38 UTC) (permalink)

Movie Madness
Nice grab bag of stuff at Bungie.net today:

• Serious Cakes' Lady Cake Ninja celebrated her solo completion of Reach's campaign on Legendary by creating a super-cool Ghost cake - go check it out.
• Axilo put together his first Reach minitage - two and a half minutes of boom-boom. (I'm amused that the teaser pic is of an assault rifle.)
• Project Clan released a Halo 3 trick jumping montage - music makes my head hurt, but the jumps are pretty cool.

Go watch. (Louis Wu 19:44:18 UTC) (permalink)

Checkin' out the new digs
Yaters went to visit a buddy who works at Bungie (looks like his buddy is Evil Otto), and got a tour of the first level of the studio. Some great pictures in there! Go check it out. (Just so this doesn't generate a whole lot of headache for Bungie and you - there are no public tours. Even the areas that Yaters got into are off-limits, unless you've got an invite - and you ain't gonna get an invite by asking for one.) (Louis Wu 19:04:41 UTC) (permalink)

Upgrading
Almost missed this - but the Rooster Teeth crew has posted Red vs Blue PSA #4 - should you upgrade your armor? They'll help you decide. (Louis Wu 16:21:05 UTC) (permalink)

Snap a screenshot, win Noble maps
munky-058 wants to share the love he has for Halo: Reach - he wants you to capture spectacular moments in multiplayer games, and give him the screenshots. He's gonna give away three Noble Map Pack codes to his favorite three entries. Read his post for full details. How can you go wrong? (Louis Wu 15:55:36 UTC) (permalink)

In Da Club.
Stuntmutt makes me rave with his puns in today's One One Se7en. Where's my bouncer? (Louis Wu 15:36:29 UTC) (permalink)

WHY ARE YOU HERE?
thebruce0 was at Reach's launch event in Toronto, and put together a video record of the event - pretty amazing. (This has been posted before, but never here - and it's absolutely worth watching. I'm not sure all fans would be as willing to jump into the role-playing required here... but it's definitely a step up from the typical "would you like a copy of Game Informer with that?") (Louis Wu 15:22:43 UTC) (permalink)

Forge Lesson 32
Continuing on the Forge train, GodlyPerfection is back with Lesson 32 of his outstanding Forge Lessons. Go and check it out! (GrimBrother One 14:14:46 UTC) (permalink)

Forging Ahead: Another Set of Eyes
GhaleonEB has updated his Forging blog, with a new article that looks at getting feedback from friends on a work-in-progress... and how to gather information from them directly. Always remember: your creation has to be fun to OTHER people if it's going to be used... (Louis Wu 12:54:27 UTC) (permalink)

Time to Unlock
If you're curious about the pace at which we're filling the Challenge thermometer on Bungie.net, there are a couple of useful ways to keep track of things. Over at Bungie.net, Spitfire222 has been putting up comparison images every day, showing the movement of the bar relative to the first day's movement. Looks like we DEFINITELY complete more challenges on the weekends... And if you're tired of checking to see if the image has been updated, NeoGAF's Chapel wrote a script that tweets when the image shifts; you can keep track of these changes by monitoring his #closer2commander Twitter hashtag. (Louis Wu 12:42:28 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Art - In Progress
Sl'askia posted a work in progress image showing the latest in her 'Observing' piece - TDSpiral was inspired to put together his own WIP image, showing how he draws, as well. Pretty cool to get these glimpses into the creative process! (Louis Wu 12:41:48 UTC) (permalink)

News October 26 2010

Tales from the Cryptum
Beckx decided it would be prudent to let our forum know about an article on io9.com discussing Cryptum. Excellent read! Wise choice indeed, Beckx... (GrimBrother One 19:55:50 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Reach: Top 10 Epic Fails: Episode 6
Anoj is back with his latest Reach Top 10 vid - this one is Top 10 Epic Fails. It's well-named. This one is one of my favorites, I think. Thanks, Moorpheusl9. (Louis Wu 18:59:33 UTC) (permalink)

Wait... what?
The Torontoist has a story about Halo: The Ballet - the actors call themselves 'Halorinas'. I... yeah, just go read about it, and watch the video of a rehearsal. (Louis Wu 18:51:24 UTC) (permalink)

Movies and Stats - what more is there?
Couple of fun bits in Bungie's Comm Chatter today: Stewie2552 created his Halo Music Video Montage 1 (songs acted out in Halo), and there's a summary of the new and improved features at Halocharts.com. Go see! (Louis Wu 17:19:08 UTC) (permalink)

GGL Week 2 Highlight Reel
puptastrophe from GrifballHub wanted to let you all know that the highlights from Week 2 of the GGL are up. Some epic hammer action, go and soak it up! (GrimBrother One 16:12:57 UTC) (permalink)

Reach GT Championship
The GT stands for Gran Truck. Swing by Waypoint today to check out their latest episode of A Different Way to Campaign. This one looks at turning Winter Contingency into an all out grand prix! Pretty fun vid, go and check it out! (GrimBrother One 16:03:19 UTC) (permalink)

Orbital Drop Speedrun Troopers
RC Master stopped by the forum to to let us know about some new ODST speedruns from the guys at High Speed Halo. Stop by his post for more details and links to lots of different videos! (GrimBrother One 15:46:26 UTC) (permalink)

Subgriminal Messaging
General Battuta is trying to determine how the Halo games compare to each other according to darkness, hopelessness, and grim-factor. He offers a nice writeup and breakdown of just how grim he thinks each game is, and which moments and levels really drive home the grimness. Go and check it out for yourself, and let him know what you think! (How could I not think this was front-page material?) (GrimBrother One 15:02:09 UTC) (permalink)

Halo for the Holidays
Looking for something to get that special someone for Diwali this year? How about a copy of Reach? At least that's what the fine folks over at India's GameGuru.in think. Pretty awesome to see the Halo effect show itself in all corners of the globe! Thanks to Anton P. Nym for the head's up. (GrimBrother One 14:52:04 UTC) (permalink)

Forging the Win... again
bs angel wanted everyone to know that Episode 2 of Sam5000's Forging the Win series is up. Some great stuff in there for aspiring map-makers and map-gawkers alike! (GrimBrother One 14:44:39 UTC) (permalink)

October's 405th Replicas
Make sure to stop by the Waypoint blog to check out the October edition of their feature on replicas by the guys and gals of the 405th. Some... okay MOST of these are simply stunning. Go look! (GrimBrother One 14:39:38 UTC) (permalink)

Waypoint Community Outreach
Halo Waypoint has a new video series called Community Outreach where they play with members of the Halo community and discuss the various Multiplayer and Firefight maps. This episode features Vociferous playing with Nick Puleo, who is the owner and managing editor at Co-Optimus.com. There's some great conversation in there, go and check it out! (GrimBrother One 14:35:58 UTC) (permalink)

Pretty sure he's the H in HBO
Hedgemony decided to give our forum a small taste of what he's been finding on Tumblr lately, specifically (obviously) related to all things Halo. Go and check out his Halo Tumblr Roundup on our forum and bask in the awesome! (GrimBrother One 14:28:13 UTC) (permalink)

This election is actually fun
Goosechecka from our friends over at GrifballHub are excited to let us know about a new community feature that shows off some awesome fan-forged Grifball arenas that they are looking to get into the upcoming Grifball Playlist (mentioned by Bungie in their latest Weekly Update). Go cast your vote and help decide what maps YOU want to be playing on! (GrimBrother One 14:12:08 UTC) (permalink)

Epic Halo Sleeve
Rob Schneider is working on a Halo tattoo - the artist is D'Lacie McBride, in Portland, OR. Fifteen hours in, the sleeve looks like this. Can't wait to see the finished product! (Louis Wu 13:26:47 UTC) (permalink)

The Old Side of the Story
Last week, Bungie challenged 2old2play in the Halo Humpday - their writeup went up on Friday, but 2o2p took the weekend to think about it. (Don't forget - they're old.) Fun read! Thanks, DEEP NNN. (Louis Wu 13:25:13 UTC) (permalink)

Ten Year Old Dirt
Looks like Ed Fries has been talking to Develop magazine - and while the entire interview is coming soon, there's a tidbit up now. It involves Steve Jobs, and his reaction to the news that Microsoft had purchased Bungie in 2000. The more you know... Thanks to ElzarTheBam for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 13:23:51 UTC) (permalink)

Bungie's Jetpack Inspiration?
Yeah, so, if you shoot someone with a rocket, and they armor-lock, you generally find that you've wasted your rocket. (Sometimes, you've even killed yourself inadvertently with it.) But not always... thanks, MrBig. (Louis Wu 13:22:30 UTC) (permalink)

News October 25 2010

Art
The focus this week for Bungie's Tag and Release feature is 'Wallpaper' - it's amazing what you can do in-engine. Amazing. (Louis Wu 21:32:32 UTC) (permalink)

Put the helmet back on!
Dj Lars ran across an ad for a game night at a Swedish shop... that uses Halo in a rather odd way. (Louis Wu 21:31:03 UTC) (permalink)

Hoarders
GodlyPerfection and a friend have built a new Headhunter experience - swing by his post to watch a video of the gameplay, a description of why it's different, and a download link. Looks like a lot of fun! (Louis Wu 21:30:29 UTC) (permalink)

Reach Bloopers, Glitches, and Stunts
Pyroman stopped by with word of Halo Reach: Reach Bloopers, Glitches and Stunts - a video filled with (surprise, surprise) bloopers, glitches, and stunts. Some are pretty funny! Check it out. (Louis Wu 21:29:26 UTC) (permalink)

Reach Remakes... Probably Not
A week or so ago, a rumor surfaced that Microsoft might be looking at remaking the previous Halo games in the Reach engine - looks like that might not turn out to be true. Phil Spencer talked to IGN - he said that while he doesn't think it's a bad idea, it's not something on the front burner. (Louis Wu 20:35:50 UTC) (permalink)

WP's Halo Noble Team Contest
Adam Pavlacka sent word that WorthPlaying has a bunch of super-exclusive gear they're giving away - you can't get this stuff ANYWHERE! Swing by, check it out, join in. (Louis Wu 18:34:39 UTC) (permalink)

Video Games Live: Level 2
Video Games Live has created a trailer for their Video Games Live: Level 2 DVD - if you've never gotten a chance to see this live (or even if you have), this is full of concert footage, interviews, and behind-the-scenes goodies. Halo, of course, is well-represented. Check it out! (Louis Wu 18:30:28 UTC) (permalink)

Site Giveaway Updates
The submission period for the Headshot Heard 'Round The World contest ended on Friday - nearly 200 headshot clips were sent to us. Admins are currently going through the entries, and paring the finalists down to a far more reasonable number; when we've got this set up, we'll be asking you, the community, to vote for your favorites. Look for the voting page later this week! And the entries for the 2010 Guilt O' Lantern contest have begun to arrive en masse - we're nearing 50 entries, and there's still nearly a week to go before the deadline! Halo Waypoint tweeted about a pretty amazing pumpkin last night - I hope it gets submitted by its creator! (Louis Wu 17:17:09 UTC) (permalink)

Raise the FLAG
Congrats to the FLAG organizers - their tournament went off as planned this weekend, and more than $7500 was raised for breast and cervical cancer research. Halo gamers are awesome! (Louis Wu 17:12:23 UTC) (permalink)

European Noble Team Statues
Sean Bradley ran across a really interesting story on a spanish website - looks like Microsoft commissioned a totally different Noble Team statue from a sculpture studio in Spain. Lots of in-progress pictures at Taringa.net (Google-translated here), some on-display pics at ultimapantalla.net (Google-translated here). Apparently, these statues are on tour in Spain through October. Pretty cool! (Louis Wu 16:11:26 UTC) (permalink)

Noble Stats - Reboot
Brian Kerr wrote to ask us to let you know that NobleStats.com is back up and running again - more stats, faster processing, no downtime! Take another look. (Louis Wu 16:10:44 UTC) (permalink)

This is my DMR, this is my gun
Leviathan noticed a very cool Reach-inspired poster up on DeviantArt. Go and check it out for yourself! (GrimBrother One 13:43:19 UTC) (permalink)

Rib It
Stunt must be all hopped up on something. Go and check out today's One One Se7en and see what I mean. (GrimBrother One 13:35:43 UTC) (permalink)

Red Dead Connection
Joshua Stone noticed a cool little Halo reference in a cutscene from Red Dead Redemption. Can you catch what it is? Go try! (GrimBrother One 13:33:21 UTC) (permalink)

Noble Indeed
Bungie just released the new Noble Map Pack trailer upon an unsuspecting world. Go and get it! Thanks to ChenK for being the first to post it on our forum. (GrimBrother One 13:09:09 UTC) (permalink)

Juicy bits on Jackals
Halo Waypoint just put up a new story-fleshing video up on their website. This one deals with the Kig-Yar. Go and give it a watch! (GrimBrother One 01:42:18 UTC) (permalink)

News October 24 2010

Generally Speaking
General Battuta wrote up a well thought-out piece breaking down his thoughts on the NPC behavior and interaction in Reach. He lists some great examples of where Reach got it right, and where it thought it might be lacking. Stop by and offer your own thoughts! (GrimBrother One 19:38:06 UTC) (permalink)

GodlyPDFection
GodlyPerfection just made his awesome Forge Lessons into a sweet PDF document! This is going to be great for people like Hedge to view at their leisure on sunny mornings, over coffee and bacon, with their finest smoking jacket on, watching the girls frolic on the trampolines across from the grotto. No really, it's that good. Go and get them here. (GrimBrother One 05:46:11 UTC) (permalink)

Crashed party
Paul from Treeskunk Productions wanted to let us know that their newest Machinima project, Crashed: Episode 0, is out now and ready for viewing. Go and check it out! (GrimBrother One 05:35:54 UTC) (permalink)

Infected by Forge
skullkid3128 over at the BNET forums wanted everyone to know about a Halloween Infection Forge Contest he has going on. Looks to be a pretty fun time with some cool prizes to boot! Stop by his post to learn more. (GrimBrother One 05:34:37 UTC) (permalink)

A Monument to all your... wait
Dan de Board showed off a really sweet map called Monument, built as a tribute to Relic. Check it out in his fileshare here! (GrimBrother One 05:33:42 UTC) (permalink)

Waypoint Weekly Roundup
I must say, I really love it when bs angel makes things easy. 343's Community Manager has put together a handy Waypoint Weekly Roundup to help you catch up on content you might have missed on their web portal. Nice! (GrimBrother One 05:32:11 UTC) (permalink)

Trophies. Not for PSN.
The Waypoint blog has a cool video from one of the 405th. If you ever wondered how you might go about making Spartan-shaped trophies... wonder no more. (GrimBrother One 05:30:52 UTC) (permalink)

News October 23 2010

Grandmaster Chief
Just in case it got lost in the shuffle, kapowaz wanted everyone to know that the full track for the chiptunes song used in the intro of the first Sparkast can be downloaded directly here. Stop by his post for more details! (GrimBrother One 10:05:42 UTC) (permalink)

Laughtacular
ZZoMBiE13 let us know that Achievement Hunter's Fails of the Weak: Episode 5 is up on the Rooster Teeth site. Hilarity ensues... go and see! (GrimBrother One 09:49:33 UTC) (permalink)

Like a rock...
Tighclops has a pretty funny clip for everyone to see. I definitely laughed. Go see! (GrimBrother One 09:40:46 UTC) (permalink)

Wolves among the stars
Dani lets us know that Triumvirate: See No Evil has gone live over at Forward Unto Dawn. Trust me, you should REALLY go and check it out. It's part one of an awesome analysis of the datapads found throughout Halo: Reach. What are you waiting for? Go look! (GrimBrother One 09:33:21 UTC) (permalink)

E.O.A. Episode 2
MelkorTheGreat stopped by to let us know about Halo Reach E.O.A. Episode 2. Some really funny stuff... go have a look! (GrimBrother One 09:26:34 UTC) (permalink)

Class is back in session
GodlyPerfection is back with Lesson 31 of his awesome Forge Guide. A reminder to all up-and-coming Forgers out there: these are not to be missed! Go and check it out! (GrimBrother One 09:21:36 UTC) (permalink)

It's the Longerist
ckamp has been working on a really great remake of the classic map "Longest". Really nice stuff! Go and check it out and then let him know what you think! (GrimBrother One 09:13:54 UTC) (permalink)

One of those weeks
Bungie seems to be lamenting the fact that their latest Weekly Update isn't quite as morsel-filled as we may have gotten used to. No matter, there is still plenty of reason to go and give it a read... (GrimBrother One 09:02:54 UTC) (permalink)

News October 22 2010

Friday Fanfic
Once again, only one new entry in our Fanfic section... the next Chapter in Joshua Uda's Forerunner story. Go and have a look. (GrimBrother One 11:35:11 UTC) (permalink)

H3 EXP(2) Weekend
Looks like Halo 3 Double EXP this weekend is Team Flag. As always, thanks to FyreWulff for the heads up! (GrimBrother One 05:09:35 UTC) (permalink)

GRuNTs and Grav Hammers
The fine folks over at GrifballHub want to let you all know about a special Halloween Grifball Tournament taking place on October 26, 2010. The event will utilize a special community Map and Gametype, and looks like it will be a lot of fun! Definitely head over their way for more details and discussion! (GrimBrother One 04:36:35 UTC) (permalink)

Sparkast Number 001
If you are looking forward to the new Forerunner novel due out early next year as much as I am, then you will DEFINITELY want to check out the first "Sparkast", 343 Industries' first Podcast. In it, listen to Frankie, David Ellis, and Greg Bear all talk a great deal about the process of developing the novel, as well as a few cryptic hints about what to expect when the first book drops. A great listen, go and check it out now! (GrimBrother One 04:34:47 UTC) (permalink)

How did the Humpday Challenge go? It Depends...
Bungie visited the retirement home for their most recent Humpday Challenge against the folks over at 2old2play. Or so they thought... what they got was a pretty good fight as 2old2play battled dentures and nail against some of Bungie's best... go and check out the results for yourself! (GrimBrother One 04:33:19 UTC) (permalink)

No Lifeguard on Duty
Just a quick reminder to go and check out Zen Volta's very cool Forge map Pool Day. He also has a special gametype to go along with it. Now if only we could add Water Wings as an Armor Ability... (GrimBrother One 04:30:35 UTC) (permalink)

You know, he has gotten taller...
Hyokin wanted to let us know about a Machinima short that he put together. I'd say it came out really well! Go and check out "SHORTACULAR" and let him know what you think! (GrimBrother One 04:29:37 UTC) (permalink)

You're Pretty Handy With That Sabre
The hits just keep on flying in today's One One Se7en with Stunt exploring Six's Junk in the Trunk. (GrimBrother One 03:39:42 UTC) (permalink)

News October 21 2010

Quick Draw
Decadence Night showed us his awesome Forge map called High Noon a couple weeks back. Now, he's brought us the updated version. The original was outstanding, and it should only be better now... You can also stop by his post at Forgehub and check it out! (GrimBrother One 21:11:05 UTC) (permalink)

Spartans... Squared.
Kotaku gives us a closer look at the new Reach figures from Square Enix. Pretty sweet looking! I think I need to make room on my shelf next to the Legendary statue... (GrimBrother One 20:47:39 UTC) (permalink)

Site Administrivia
Just a quick word - I'm gone for the next four days, so any mail sent to my personal address will languish unread until Sunday night. If you have Halo news, send it to halo@bungie.org. Also, this means I will be gone for the ending of the submission period of the Headshot Heard 'Round The World contest. Don't worry - any entries sent in before 9pm PST tomorrow will qualify - and we'll post a page full of finalists sometime next week (after HBO and KontrolFreek admins have a chance to pare down the list a bit). Enjoy your weekend - and be nice to Grim! (Louis Wu 18:42:16 UTC) (permalink)

I need a turntable.
Kotaku has a little piece on a random meeting in DJ Hero... by a pair of Spartans. Heh. Thanks, JDQuackers. (Louis Wu 18:29:14 UTC) (permalink)

Map Spotlight Week 1 - dmg04's Progression
A new feature is up on Bungie.net - it's called Map Spotlight, and it looks at a fan-created map, 'Progression', with commentary by its maker. Check it out! (Louis Wu 18:18:39 UTC) (permalink)

Halo: Reach - Top Ten Kill
IGN's got their Top Ten Kills for the week of October 20 online - some nice moements! Go watch. Thanks, urk. (Louis Wu 18:18:06 UTC) (permalink)

Born to Run
Brian Gilmore let us know that Geekscape's Teabag Prevention Presents has a new guide for you - this one focuses on the Sprint armor ability. You might think sprinting is pretty basic stuff - but there are times to use it, and times to back off. And TPP is here to help you decide which is which. Check it! (Louis Wu 14:15:10 UTC) (permalink)

Penny Arcade print raffled off for charity
2old2play's DSmooth sent word that they'd received a signed print of the Penny Arcade 'Dotage' strip (it revolves around older gamers...) - they're raffling it off for Child's Play. Awesome beans! Go visit their site for full details, including how you can get in on the action. (Louis Wu 14:04:48 UTC) (permalink)

A Fistful of Arrows, Pages 6-9
Leviathan is back with several more pages of his 'A Fistful of Arrows' graphic novelette - I don't know if I have the superlatives needed to fully express how cool this is. Pages 6-7 (plus a recap of p5) are here, pages 8-9 are here. If you process only one newspost this morning - make it this one. (Louis Wu 12:21:26 UTC) (permalink)

Get off my ring!
Chris Pollit is a character artist who decided to take on the challenge of visualizing Master Chief in his late 50s (well, that's silly, he's ALREADY in his 40s by the time Halo plays out - but let's say "older") - he did an amazing job. If you scroll down to the 'Comicon Challenge 2010' section of his site, you'll see a series of pictures which expand on that shot at the top. Thanks to onebitrocket, who found this at OXM UK. (Louis Wu 12:20:17 UTC) (permalink)

Oni for Cheap
Somewhat off-topic - but pretty cool for Bungie fans; Ze Moose pointed out a place where you can buy Oni (Bungie's anime shooter/fighter, not the shadowy UNSC spy wing) for Windows for $5, shipped. Nice! (Louis Wu 12:19:12 UTC) (permalink)

Reach Media Kit for Sale
This one's only got a few hours left - but someone is selling a Reach Media Review Kit on eBay. Comes with a Controller, the game, a copy of the Fall of Reach reissue, and a copy of Halo: Overture, a rare history/art book. Current price is $200, but the auction ends this afternoon. Thanks, rolandk73. (Louis Wu 12:18:26 UTC) (permalink)

Rare Reach Backpack for Sale
Colin Auxier won a Halo: Reach backpack during a competition at his local Gamestop - he isn't going to use it, so it's up on eBay now. Buy It Now price is $70 - go grab it if you want it! (Looks like the same kind of bag as Bungie's selling for $90, but with a different graphic. These are definitely rare.) (Louis Wu 12:16:29 UTC) (permalink)

She does know how to pick 'em
Another from the lovely BS Angel, as she sends along her newest Reach Favs collection. Some simply AWESOME shots in there... Go and look! (GrimBrother One 12:03:05 UTC) (permalink)

The companion map to Chocolate
BS Angel details in the Waypoint blog a new Forgehub map called Vanilla. Pretty neat little writeup about it, go and give it a spin! (GrimBrother One 11:59:05 UTC) (permalink)

Bittersweet Symphony
Chris101b thought he found a musical pattern throughout Reach's score, so he created a mashup of music from different spots in the game. Sounds pretty awesome, go check it out! (GrimBrother One 11:55:03 UTC) (permalink)

No... pumpkins?
I'm very, very sad - I checked the uploads folder for the Guilt O' Lantern contest... and we've only got a single entry! I realize there are still 10 days left... but usually by this time, we've got a dozen or two. Here's hoping we didn't wait too long to announce this one - I'm always so amazed by the carving work done by Halo fans! Please don't forget this year. (Louis Wu 11:01:38 UTC) (permalink)

Devin-Sent, Round 2 - Winner!
Congrats to TortIesaur, whose name was picked at random from the entrants to the most recent round of Devin-Sent - Devin Olsen will be sending along a Reach Strategy Guide. How cool is it that community members want to simply give Halo stuff away, from a love of the game? (Hint: very, very cool.) (Louis Wu 10:57:15 UTC) (permalink)

They even got Teddy's beard.
NeoGAF's Dug noticed a Halo Waypoint Tweet a couple of nights ago - it led me to the Reach Screenshot of the Day on Waypoint, which is really, really cool. Check it out! (Louis Wu 10:39:52 UTC) (permalink)

News October 20 2010

Good Luck is a running theme in Halo
Halo Waypoint sends along Episode 3 of the Top Ten Luckiest Kills in Reach. Why do I always seem to be on the receiving end of moments like these? (GrimBrother One 19:17:14 UTC) (permalink)

Comm Chatter Cornucopia
A few new vids at Bungie.net today:

• Bagel put together "Northern Neighbors", a community montage - gameplay comes from a bunch of Vancouverites. What's a video roundup without a montage?
• Anoj is back with Halo: Reach Top 10 Splatters, the fifth in his Reach Top 10 series. Roadkill!
• Engineering Win w/Hutch is a show that'll help you hone your skills - this is multiplayer gameplay with commentary. Watch it and get better!
• The Upright Citizens Brigade hosted a production called 'Halo: Reach The Show' - awesome way to mix stuff you love! (If you were there, you got to see Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk, as well...)

Nice way to spend a few free minutes! Update: GrimBrother One pointed out that the Anoj vid was mentioned here yesterday... oops. (Louis Wu 17:34:27 UTC) (permalink)

A Shadow Of A Man.
Stunt continues his string of cruel "big man" jokes in today's One One Se7en. If I didn't know better, I'd think these were aimed at me... (Louis Wu 17:14:29 UTC) (permalink)

Set the respawn time to eternity, please
QuickTactical dropped by to let us know about a College Humor piece about respawning. Pretty funny, check it out! (Thanks to Jon by email as well for the tip) (GrimBrother One 15:50:29 UTC) (permalink)

At least their priorities are straight
jlm699 found a pretty funny error message as he was poking around the revamped Xbox website. Pretty funny stuff! (GrimBrother One 13:36:26 UTC) (permalink)

Mark IX
TTL Demag0gue let us know that the Reclaimer story continues - but it seems like we might have missed something. Check out Mark IX. (Louis Wu 13:19:10 UTC) (permalink)

Fiction Evolved
IGN took a long, detailed look at the development of the Halo universe, how the story has been handled up to this point, how it will be handled going forward. It's a pretty interesting read! Thanks, Avateur. (Louis Wu 13:16:16 UTC) (permalink)

I wonder if it can use Armor Abilities
Make sure you stop over at the Waypoint blog today to check out a pretty awesome fan-made Skirmisher mask. One of those would definitely make Halloween night a bit more memorable! (GrimBrother One 12:39:55 UTC) (permalink)

Flashy new Firefight map
Davidoooo created a cool flash-based game for a school project and wanted to share with us. Go and give his version of Firefight a try and then tell him what you think! (GrimBrother One 12:37:32 UTC) (permalink)

Art compliments life
Ibeechu wanted our forum to see a nice surprise sent to his art school from Bungie animators. It's very cool, you should check it out! (GrimBrother One 12:35:28 UTC) (permalink)

News October 19 2010

Tweet Your Six
Last but not least for today, Bungie got excited about a new app that let's you Tweet your Reach accomplishments and general awesomeness. Looks like the site is still getting up and running, but if Bungie likes what they see, you may too... so go and have a look! (GrimBrother One 21:02:19 UTC) (permalink)

Sunday Drivin'
Keeping on the Top 10 video train, Halo Waypoint wanted to make us aware of Anoj's newest Top 10, this time looking at Splatter Kills. Some nice vehicular manslaughter going on there, all set to the dulcet tunes of one Mr. Marty O'Donnell. Go and watch! (GrimBrother One 20:56:10 UTC) (permalink)

A dose of Unreality
Toxic Mayhem let our forum know about two pieces from UnrealityMag.com. The first one shows off their opinion of the Top 10 funniest Halo Reach Kills (so far). The second one contains their list of the Top 10 Cheapest Video Game Weapons. Obviously, if it makes this page, you can be sure to find a familiar friend on that roll call. Check it out! (GrimBrother One 20:50:21 UTC) (permalink)

Wrong Hero Medal
So, Kotaku just put up a little video that they say is The Real Reason Reach Fell. Um... At least now we know what really happens to Spartan washouts... (GrimBrother One 19:43:10 UTC) (permalink)

Halo stuff on Inside Gaming
Halo Waypoint wants us to check out the latest episode of Inside Gaming. They've sent along a handy link that let's you jump to the important bits. You know, the stuff about Halo. Give it a look! (GrimBrother One 18:07:42 UTC) (permalink)

Marissa's Bunny Reach Console Giveaway
Marissa's Bunny, the site set up to raise awareness for Infantile Spasms, has a new giveaway that might be of interest to Halo fans (heh): they're offering a Halo: Reach Xbox 360 console. The generous donor who provided the box asks that you remember that Marissa's fundraiser is still going; there's no requirement to enter, but you should consider it. There are multiple ways to enter; they're all listed on the contest's info page. Go see about getting yourself one of these puppies... for free! (Louis Wu 17:37:06 UTC) (permalink)

A Fistful of Videos
The video collection on Bungie.net's Comm Chatter today is both large and varied. A short summary:

• Bart's Manor is an Infection map that just keeps getting better.
• Halo: Reach Top 10 Kills Episode 1 and Halo: Reach Top 10 Fails Episode 2 show off the highs and the lows of Matchmaking, from the viewpoint of 360Cinema.
• CruelLEGACEY has put together his second collection of The Fails of Reach.
• deathVANQUISHED mashed up Carl Sagan's "A Pale Blue Dot" with Halo: Reach, and came up with an interesting piece.

Go watch! (Louis Wu 17:27:28 UTC) (permalink)

Keep the AspiHogstra Flying
Whoa. Dark Helmet is back to his old Warthog-Launching ways - only he's doing it in Reach. He's come up with a way of putting a hog on top of ONI Sword Base... old school style. Check it out! Thanks, Ducain. (Louis Wu 17:15:15 UTC) (permalink)

Hammer? I hardly know her!
GrifballHub published the results of their Community Feedback poll getting everyone's opinion on the new GrifBall 3.0 Gametype. Go and check out what people had to say! (GrimBrother One 16:56:14 UTC) (permalink)

Reach warfront tweaks
Don't forget, today marks the day Bungie is releasing their latest Playlist Update for Reach. Changes include new maps in the rotation for both Competitive Matchmaking as well as Firefight (Yay Glacier!), putting the "Sniper" back in Sniper Attack, and a whole bunch of other small tweaks. Log in today and check it out! Update: playlist updates are now live! (4:10pm UTC, Tuesday) (GrimBrother One 15:01:44 UTC) (permalink)

Waypoint Spartans, Part 2
In case you haven't gotten a chance to see it, Waypoint recently released a 2-part Intel video about the history of the Spartan program. Both parts are available on your Xbox 360 through Waypoint, but you can also watch Part 2 on Waypoint's website right now. Check it out! (GrimBrother One 14:27:26 UTC) (permalink)

Halo: Reach - Fails of the Weak Volume #4
AchievementHunter's Reach Fails of the Weak #4 has a bunch of clips of folks dying in Reach - some are pretty common, others are not so much. Loved the grunt assassination on the If They Came to See Me Beg Achievement attempt... thanks, padraig08. (Louis Wu 14:16:22 UTC) (permalink)

ONI Sword Base Speed Run
Devin Olsen stopped in with word of a sub-5-minute coop speedrun of ONI Sword Base - it's on Easy, but even still, it uses some sneaky tricks I'd love to try on harder difficulties! (Louis Wu 14:15:55 UTC) (permalink)

Today, class...
GodlyPerfection dropped by to let everyone know that Lesson 30 of his awesome Forge philosphy/tutorial is up. Some AWESOME stuff in there for cartographers both fledgling and experienced. Why aren't you looking at it yet? (GrimBrother One 14:08:32 UTC) (permalink)

Subject has been lost
CrazedOne1988 wants you to check out Containment Breach, a Machinima project with a really cool atmosphere and some good action. Check it out, then pop back here to let him know what you think! (GrimBrother One 14:00:33 UTC) (permalink)

Sign, sign, everywhere a...
Epyon MX stopped by our forum to sing the praises of Bungie's benevolence, and had a pretty cool story to tell. Check it out! (GrimBrother One 13:52:13 UTC) (permalink)

Get out, boom, get in, done.
So what do you do when you're a gunner on a Falcon, and you know you can't kill that Banshee quickly enough to stop it from destroying your ride? Well, Sai-kun's friend showed him one pretty awesome alternative... go watch 'Conquer the Sky'. And smile. (Louis Wu 12:54:17 UTC) (permalink)

By Jorge!
I think I said to myself at least a dozen times yesterday "I should really post that One One Se7en" - but in the end, I totally forgot. Again. It's up now, but after reading it again, I think it was self-preservation that induced my amnesia. Where's that bottle of Jack? (I'm probably just peeved that Stuntmutt took so many shots at an overly-tall character...) (Louis Wu 12:42:52 UTC) (permalink)

Forging Ahead: Dead Ends
GhaleonEB has updated his Forging blog - the latest entry deals with the problems inherent in making a fully Forged vehicle-centric map. It's an interesting read, and touches on ideas that ANY Forger should be thinking about... check it out. (Louis Wu 12:39:58 UTC) (permalink)

The SuperinDentant? Wait, no...
pillar of awesome was browsing through some old posters from the 1930s... and one of them seemed awfully familiar. Bungie inspiration... or just a random coincidence? You decide! (Louis Wu 10:46:54 UTC) (permalink)

Tag and Release: Shotgun
This week's Tag and Release feature at Bungie.net focused on that master of close-quarters combat, the UNSC Shotgun. Pics range from badass to... well, heartwarming. (Louis Wu 10:45:14 UTC) (permalink)

News October 18 2010

The Flaming Ninja Challenge: Reach
pete_the_duck has released his first Reach obstacle course - and man, it looks like a doozy! He's taken pictures of some of the tricky bits; go look. (If your controller drifts when you take your fingers off the sticks... this probably isn't for you.) (Louis Wu 21:43:48 UTC) (permalink)

DIY Paint-a-Chief
The ever-spectacular BS Angel passes along this awesome Master Chief digital painting tutorial for those, as she says, "artsy types". Go and check it out! (GrimBrother One 20:37:07 UTC) (permalink)

Statue of Limitations
So... just in case anyone has the spare room, cash, and lack of an easily-disturbed significant other, here is an eBay auction for you. It's 1 of 18 Limited Edition (ya think?) Noble Team statues, just like you saw at all the conventions. It's life size, baby... and so is the price. Current bid is just under $1500 usd (not to mention the est $600 shipping). If anyone wants to know what I want for Christmas... (GrimBrother One 20:18:00 UTC) (permalink)

Missing In Action Trailer
The DuoGroup has always been known for top-notch machinima - and their latest offering, a trailer for 'Missing In Action', doesn't disappoint. It's only a minute long... but it uses Reach's assets to fantastic effect. Go watch. (Thanks again, urk.) (Louis Wu 17:31:42 UTC) (permalink)

Forge Contest: Pillar Punch
Looks like Forgemaps.com wants to see your best Forge effort, set on Forge World's Pillar - they'll give the winner a prize! Thanks, urk. (Louis Wu 17:28:18 UTC) (permalink)

Bust a move!
Cortana4ever was sad at the thought that Halo fans might not see her take on this rather bizarre set of moments from a customs game last week... you should watch. And laugh. (Louis Wu 16:51:58 UTC) (permalink)

We want your headshots!
I checked our contest email over the weekend, and there are only about 50 valid entries for the KontrolFreek Headshot Heard 'Round The World contest - you guys remember there's a Halo: Reach Xbox 360 on the line, right? All you have to do is submit a cool headshot video that's less than a minute long, and you're in the running! Do you not like free stuff, or something? (Louis Wu 16:36:38 UTC) (permalink)

MLG DC - 2 in a row for FB
Congratulations to Final Boss, who came back from the Losers Bracket to win MLG DC this weekend! (They were placed in the Losers Bracket by Dynasty - but then came back to beat them in the Losers Bracket Finals, and took Triggers Down in the WB Finals. Amazing!) Full recaps can be found on MLGPro.com. (Louis Wu 16:33:02 UTC) (permalink)

Halo: Machina di Morte?
hotshot revan brought our forum's attention to a rumor essentially claiming that 343 Industries is looking to remake/remaster the previous Halo games (or at least Halo: Combat Evolved) using the Reach engine. Plausible? Huge stretch? Go look and discuss... (GrimBrother One 16:22:55 UTC) (permalink)

Very well, then!
AytonHunter wants everyone's thoughts on a new Reach Machinima short called "I Sense Danger!". I'm just impressed John Cleese found time in his busy schedule to do voice work for them... (GrimBrother One 15:52:35 UTC) (permalink)

Let them see cake
Apparently, Spencermx14 was feeling a little front-page envy when he saw Nevan's Birthday Cake, so he wanted to show off his own. Pretty sweet! (GrimBrother One 15:16:02 UTC) (permalink)

The news is Grim
You might have noticed that the newsposts today have a new name attached to them... a grateful welcome to GrimBrother One, who's stepped on board as our freshest newshound. (Heck, he was doing a lot of the work from the cheap seats already... we figured it was only fair to move him up on stage.) What does this mean for you, the Halo fan reading this? Not a huge amount, actually - except that if you're planning on emailing us news, mail it to halo@bungie.org, rather than directly to, say, me - because when I'm not around, news in my inbox just sits there. (Louis Wu 15:07:36 UTC) (permalink)

Operation Chastity updates
For those of you who might not have noticed, Pete Cooper let everyone know on the Operation Chastity site that the OC Warthog built for their film is featured in the November issue of Land Rover Owners International magazine. Awesome! Also, Pete's most recent blog entry mentions a website revamp and a new monthly mailing list. Go get your fan flick fix! (GrimBrother One 14:33:10 UTC) (permalink)

Falling through the Quanta
TTL Demag0gue dropped by to let every know that the latest Reclaimer issue is out, and it just happens to also be the first of its series done using Reach. Looking good! (GrimBrother One 14:06:41 UTC) (permalink)

Lineage Confirmed
POSTMORTEM from Forward Unto Dawn sent along a YouTube video he found that takes a pretty clear look at what the hidden voices are saying in the first Datapad in Halo: Reach. Pretty cool stuff to let your mind chew on, and it's only the first one! It's the first time I had seen it... go check it out! Update: Apparently, the reason I hadn't seen it before is because in my spoiler-avoiding first few days of Reach, I missed this thread by thebruce0, where he directs us to LOTS of awesome things he has found so far, regarding the datapads and more. Go check it out if you missed that too! (GrimBrother One 12:23:46 UTC) (permalink)

Reach-themed car for Forza 3 VIP's
Just after the release of Halo: Reach, Turn 10 Studios made an announcement in their Weekly Blog about a custom Reach-themed car that would be sent out to Forza 3 VIP's. A couple of weeks ago, they made good on that promise. If you play Forza 3 but have ignored it lately for obvious reasons, go look to see if you have a new ride! (GrimBrother One 12:10:18 UTC) (permalink)

News October 17 2010

Revolutions: coming soon
Earlier this summer, we mentinoed a Fan Fiction project being undertaken by a number of Bungie.net groups - MaxRealflugel wrote to send along a flyer for the final product, and promise that the contents would be available late this month or early next month. Keep your eyes open! (Louis Wu 18:59:41 UTC) (permalink)

Happy Halo!
Nevan received a pretty cool cake for his 21st birthday - go see! (Louis Wu 18:58:48 UTC) (permalink)

Halopedia - back on its own
CaptainTony stopped in to announce that Halopedia has moved - it's back on its own domain now, no longer a part of wikia.com. For a site as big and content-rich as this one, that sort of news warrants a front-page post. (Louis Wu 18:57:38 UTC) (permalink)

Tex vs MEGA Meta
ZZoMBiE13 just finished up some cool RvB Revelation fan art - Tex faces off against The Meta. Nice work! (Louis Wu 15:07:23 UTC) (permalink)

JonCJG Machinima Update
I need to start looking for these more often; I keep missing updates. Here's what's new:

• One Life Remaining S2: Episode 11
• Arby 'n' the Chief S04E08: "B&" (2/2)
• Arby 'n' the Chief S04E09: "Digital Fruitcakes" (plus the production script)

OLR is a little confusing, Arby 'n' the Chief is not. Go watch! (Louis Wu 15:06:18 UTC) (permalink)

Good Game, Guys
Avateur and UnrealCh13f met up with some Tied the Leader guys in Matchmaking last night - and the picture story of their contests is fun to read! Go live vicariously. (Louis Wu 15:01:29 UTC) (permalink)

A Fistful of Arrows p. 4-5
Leviathan stopped in with pages 4 and 5 of his 'A Fistful of Arrows' graphic story - with every page, I'm more and more impressed. The art is spectacular, and the dialogue NAILS the characters. It's not often I wish I could hold off viewing fan content until it's finished... but this time, I'm frustrated that Page 6 isn't up yet! Go see. (Louis Wu 14:57:55 UTC) (permalink)

Halo: Reach - Final Thoughts
Over at Gamespot, Marcus Lehto talked at length about the making of Reach, and the decisions the Bungie team struggled with to bring us the game we're actually playing now. It's a fascinating read - some of this info has made it out before (usually in interviews), some is new (at least to me). Go read it, and see Reach through the eyes of its Creative Director. Thanks, darthbob. (Louis Wu 14:56:29 UTC) (permalink)

A Starry Night on Reach
MoonDawg Productions put together a remake of the Starry Night Halo 3 trailer... from within the Halo: Reach engine. Nice job! Thanks, GrimBrother One. (Louis Wu 14:55:16 UTC) (permalink)

A Prelude to Capulin 3
SicktistiK sent word of 'A Prelude to Capulin 3', which is the first Reach-based montage in his and Emptyproductions' Capulin series. It's 9 minutes long, so I'm not sure what the FULL Capulin 3 will look like... but if you're up for a lot of Reach multiplay footage, swing by! (Louis Wu 14:54:39 UTC) (permalink)

Black Ink - Reminder
halosavior dropped us a note to remind folks that his Black Ink fan fiction contest (we mentioned it last month) s coming to a close - deadline is October 31. You've still got a couple of weeks - go write! (Louis Wu 14:54:14 UTC) (permalink)

News October 16 2010

Halo Reach Mythbusters: Episode 3
Halo Reach Mythbusters: Episode 3 is now out - did you know you could pass through a one-way barrier the wrong way? Me either. (Louis Wu 16:01:24 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Zero: ODST Tech Demo
HCDPAMF let us know that Dobermann has released a Halo Zero: ODST Tech Demo - you can grab a copy (4.7 mb) from the first post in that thread. Halo Zero is the fanmade sidescroller that's been improved regularly for quite a while... check this out! (Louis Wu 16:00:53 UTC) (permalink)

Reach nominated for HMMA
Halo: Reach has been nominated for "Best Original Score - Video Game" at The Hollywood Music In Media Awards; you can see the rest of the nominees here. Nice! Thanks, Greg O'Connor-Read. (Louis Wu 15:56:23 UTC) (permalink)

McFarlane Reach Series 2, 3 Figures
McFarlane has posted a 'first look' at Halo: Reach Series 2 figures, and announced Series 3. Read the details on their site! Thanks, Mr.Sci-Fi. (Louis Wu 15:55:46 UTC) (permalink)

Battle Creek - in UT3
Bret_Hart has created a UT3 version of Battle Creek - you can see a video of gameplay here. Thanks, Dennis Powers (who pointed out the Halo Maps forum post announcing this.) (Louis Wu 15:55:09 UTC) (permalink)

It's been a long time coming.
Maybe you thought we forgot about it this year... but Halloween is fast-approaching, and what would Halloween be without a Guilt O' Lantern Contest? (And man, what would HBO be this month if we didn't have at least 77 contests going at all times?) Prizes this year are graciously donated by the Halo Waypoint team - first place will walk away with a Frank O'Connor original Mister Chief painting! (The last time one of these went on the market, it sold for over $400.) Check out past galleries (all linked from the contest page), think about how to make the best pumpkin ever, and get carving! (Louis Wu 02:04:27 UTC) (permalink)

Devin-Sent, Round 2
Devin says... why wait? The second round of his contest is now live - swing by to put your name into the hat to win a Reach Official Strategy Guide. You've got until Wednesday, so don't dawdle too long! Update: Sorry about the broken form, fixed now. (Louis Wu 00:42:09 UTC) (permalink)

Twistin' By The Pool
The Bungie Weekly Update went live half an hour ago (that timestamp at the top is full of LIEZ) - and it's absolutely worth your time to read. There's a recap of the hot news of the week, of course (Noble Map Pack, Forgetacular contest)... but also boatloads of new info about Playlist changes (both Multiplayer - new forged maps! - AND Firefight - go play some Glacier!), info about when the level cap will be lifted (it's up to us!), and a very cool news tidbit about a Make-a-Wish kid who's getting better. Go read! (It is, of course, available in our Weekly Update Archive, if you'd rather read it there.) (Louis Wu 00:09:26 UTC) (permalink)

News October 15 2010

A Fistful of Arrows
Wow. Just... wow. Leviathan is back with a new comic - this one involves Noble Team a bit before Reach starts. Page 1 is in this forum post, Pages 2-3 are here. Images are quite large... but worth the download effort. Wow. (Louis Wu 22:38:22 UTC) (permalink)

Going back over the missing pieces...
coreross did a great job of outlining some bits from the 'A Spartan Will Rise' video (released by Bungie back in August) that were not actually in the shipping game... interesting stuff! Swing by his website for pictures. (Louis Wu 22:32:28 UTC) (permalink)

Domino's Grab Bag Giveaways, Round 12 - Winner
It's Winner Central here at HBO - Dom's Grab Bag Giveaways ALSO has a winner: James Qian will be able to choose from Dom's long list of prize options. (The list is still visible on the contest page, even though you can't enter the next round yet.) A bit of administrivia: we still haven't heard from Blissful Rage, who won the LAST round. We're going to wait two more days (until Sunday evening around 8pm PST), and then pick a new winner for that round. Remember: if you enter one of these contests, be sure to check to see if you won! Even if you miss the email, it's posted on our front page (search for "Giveaways", for example), and it's listed (for at least a few days) on the contest page itself. Thanks! (Louis Wu 22:14:33 UTC) (permalink)

Stick an AI Chip in your laptop
GrimBrother One pointed out a Waypoint story about a really cool USB flash drive - it's not for sale, unfortunately (it's fan-made), but you can see pictures... I love it. (Louis Wu 22:13:02 UTC) (permalink)

Devin-Sent, Round 1 - Winner
Devin Olsen decided to stick with 'Devin-Sent' as the name of his series of giveaways - so he's awarded the first round to the very first submitter who suggested he do just that. (That person is Roche178, who will soon have a copy of the Reach Official Soundtrack in his hot little hands.) Keep your eyes open for the next round - the giveaway winner will be totally random! (Louis Wu 21:55:26 UTC) (permalink)

Legendary Tidbit
When Cody began recording the Halo: Reach cutscenes, we discussed areas that might have different dialogue based on difficulty level - we didn't find any. Therefore, there is only one version of each cutscene in our library. However, Phlux stopped by today with a minor (but pretty significant) change that occurs in one of the scenes near the end of the game (story spoilers in both the discussion and the dialogue) - you have to be playing on Legendary, and you have to have the IWHBYD skull on (and even then, it's not a given). Pretty subtle, Bungie! (Looks like we'll be adding some content to the Cutscene Library soon!) (Louis Wu 21:44:07 UTC) (permalink)

Wanna learn about FPS Freeks?
The Headshot Heard 'Round The World contest is going great guns - thanks for all the submissions! You've still got a week to add yours, so be sure to keep track of your best shot. KontrolFreek, the kind folks supplying all the prizes, want to help you understand their product - if you have any questions at all, add 'em to this forum thread! We'll get answers, and post 'em for you. (Louis Wu 19:15:28 UTC) (permalink)

Forging Ahead: The Big Picture
GhaleonEB's updated his Forging Ahead blog - 'The Big Picture' discusses 'massing out', the creation of the base structure for the map. Great read! (Louis Wu 19:09:57 UTC) (permalink)

Another Best Of List
CVG has compiled their list of the Top 5 Games You Can't Buy for PS3 (they call it Xbox Exclusives, but admit some of the games are available on PC) - Halo 3 comes in at #2. (Louis Wu 18:57:08 UTC) (permalink)

Friday Movie Mania
Bunch o' movies at Bungie's Comm Chatter today:

Go watch! (Louis Wu 17:33:08 UTC) (permalink)

Gueta Outta Here.
Today's One One Se7en made me smile. For multiple reasons. (Louis Wu 16:52:04 UTC) (permalink)

GrifballHub Auction for Extra Life
Goosechecka let us know that GrifballHub is auctioning off goodies for Extra Life - you can bid on a signed Reach poster from PAX, or a signed Reach controller (or you can simply donate to Extra Life, and help sick kids all over the world). Check it out! (Louis Wu 16:42:43 UTC) (permalink)

Die Trying
neo56695 let us know about "Die Trying", a Halo Reach music video - some really clever clip choices (and some really odd ones). Check it - works pretty well, overall! (Plenty of campaign spoilers here.) (Louis Wu 16:34:43 UTC) (permalink)

Reach Playlist Updates
TravisSch (among others) pointed out that Bungie's Playlists page has been updated with new info - a Snipers playlist will be going live on Tuesday, along with a Living Dead list. Nice! (Don't forget that Campaign Matchmaking starts today.) (Louis Wu 16:26:16 UTC) (permalink)

Lemmings Evolved
RC Master found a Covenant playing for the wrong team. I laughed. (YouTubed, too, if you have an issue with Silverlight.) (Louis Wu 16:23:27 UTC) (permalink)

Spartan Armor on eBay
kornman00 is selling his custom-made (just for him) Spartan Armor on eBay - it ain't cheap, but it looks fantastic! Check out the listing for full details. (Louis Wu 16:21:43 UTC) (permalink)

September Reach Sales in US: 3.3 Million
IGN posted some sales stats for Reach, according to NPD - 3.3 copies sold in the US during September. This matches the first 12 days of sales of Halo 3, back in 2007 - making Reach only the third game of this generation to sell more than 3 million copies during its launch month. (Modern Warfare 2 sold 4.2 million copies its first month.) (Louis Wu 16:20:31 UTC) (permalink)

H3 Double XP Weekend: Grifball (Ranked)
Yesterday, Ranked Grifball became the Double EXP Weekend Playlist for Halo 3 - need a killionaire in your Ranked medal chest? Here's your chance! Thanks, FyreWulff. (Louis Wu 16:19:46 UTC) (permalink)

Boneyard Weirdness
FyreWulff found some strange... thingies in Boneyard when he was exploring in Forge. Leftover bits from the Beta? Objects for game modes that were cut? Hmm... (Louis Wu 16:19:11 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Reach Tribute - Bodhisvatta Cathedral
Cortana4ever whipped up a tribute to Reach - contains lots of spoilers, but if you've finished the campaign, it's a nice emotional farewell to Bungie's involvement in the series. (Louis Wu 16:18:11 UTC) (permalink)

Friday's Fan Fiction
Only one new piece this week in the Fan Fiction section... too many Reach Daily Challenges? Go see. (Louis Wu 16:16:39 UTC) (permalink)

News October 14 2010

Humpday Challenge: HaloGAF
I would have lost money on this match had I bet on it... but Bungie faced off against the Halo fans from NeoGAF last night - and beat them. (Well, in two games, anyway. The third game, against what could be described as the HaloGAF Dream Team, was, in the words of GhaleonEB, "a mauling for the ages".) The writeup is pretty entertaining, and the visual assets are great. Go see. (The second game, of course, IS available online - video from tashi's viewpoint is here, game stats are here. That's what's known as a 'Double Steaktacular'.) (Louis Wu 22:06:39 UTC) (permalink)

SA's Top 10: Local Multiplayer Games A
AfroRyan let us know that ScrewAttack has a list of the Top 10 Local Multiplayer Games (on consoles)... Halo (the original) comes in at #3. Nice! (Louis Wu 21:51:06 UTC) (permalink)

Game Forged: Results
Took longer than we'd hoped - but our results for the Game Forged contest are now online. Swing by for a full writeup - a discussion of what we got, what won, and why! Thanks again to Game Paused, for supplying the goodies we're giving to the winners! Update: we got a note from Marcelo Vega that THE GARGANTUAN is now fully playable as a Race map - if you'd like to try it, grab it here. (Louis Wu 19:24:14 UTC) (permalink)

Noble Map Pack
If a cool Forge contest isn't enough for you, check out the Noble Map Pack - a downloadable map pack containing three new maps (one small, one large, one Invasion). This will go on sale on November 30 (77 days after Halo: Reach's release), for the now-standard price of 800 MS Points. GrimBrother One (where ISN'T that guy?) found a gallery of screenshots at Halo Waypoint, as well. (Louis Wu 14:28:46 UTC) (permalink)

Forgetacular ForTheWin
If you live in the US, and you're any good at all at building maps, you should check out the Bungie Reach Forgetacular Contest - Bungie's offering 7 Limited Edition Halo: Reach Xbox 360 consoles (!!!) to the winners. May I be the first to say... wonga. (Louis Wu 14:28:26 UTC) (permalink)

The Making Of Deliver Hope
GrimBrother One is on a roll today - he pointed out the link to the "Making of Deliver Hope" piece now up on Halo Waypoint. Fascinating look behind the scenes - check it out! (Louis Wu 14:27:54 UTC) (permalink)

Reach Fan Music (for download)
A couple of days ago, we mentioned a stats app that had a demo movie containing fan-composed music. Well, SilverBrin did the composing, and he stopped by yesterday to offer the music for download, by itself. Go grab a copy - it's quite peaceful! (Louis Wu 14:27:21 UTC) (permalink)

This one time at Banned Camp...
Yesterday, another batch of Reach players felt the wrath of the Bungie Banhammer - again for credit cheating. (You won't get banned or have your credits reset for in-game farming - you can play all the Gruntpocalypse you can stand, and using that Target Locator over and over again on Sword Base is completely fine. You WILL get banned or reset (or both) for unplugging your internet in order to fool the system into thinking you haven't completed a challenge you HAVE completed.) The B.net thread is full of delicious, salty tears - read it and be nourished. Sl'askia started a thread on our forum, if you feel like participating in the laughter. (Louis Wu 14:26:33 UTC) (permalink)

RC Rocket Hogs
Looks like NKOK has announced RC Rocket Hogs - according to the press release (dated October 12), they should be buyable in 'late September'. Heh. They look pretty cool! Thanks, GrimBrother One. (Louis Wu 14:25:54 UTC) (permalink)

News October 13 2010

Awesome scenery
Bungie just got hold of a piece of the Believe Diorama, it looks like. Thanks again, GrimBrother One. (Louis Wu 21:24:37 UTC) (permalink)

Warthog Launching... off of Frigates
MelkorTheGreat let us know that a buddy, Anakade, managed to make a killer jump on Tip of the Spear... check it out! (Louis Wu 21:24:17 UTC) (permalink)

New Deliver Hope content tomorrow
GrimBrother One noticed a tweet from Halo Waypoint - looks like a new 'making-of' video about the Deliver Hope short will be going live on Waypoint tomorrow! Nice. (Louis Wu 21:23:59 UTC) (permalink)

Ending Bob.
BlueNinja posted a picture story about his encounter with a 'Bob', one of the Gold Rangers you occasionally see in Reach's campaign. (Their overall purpose is still a mystery.) Fun stuff! (Video in this post.) (Louis Wu 21:23:32 UTC) (permalink)

Halo and Vision
drcarr (an optometrist and avid Halo player) is conducting a survey on the effects of videogames on the overall health of players' eyes. Read his post for a summary, then swing by and take the survey! Your data will be put to good use. (Louis Wu 21:23:12 UTC) (permalink)

Forge Design Theory Lessons
Whoa. Head out for the afternoon, and you might just come back to a forum full of interesting new content! First up: GodlyPerfection stopped in with word of a series of Forge Design Theory lessons he's written up ovear at ReachingPerfection.com. His forum post contains a full index, but you'll need to read the content there. Amazing-looking stuff! (Louis Wu 21:22:54 UTC) (permalink)

Snipers Are Wussies - in Reach
Bryan Simon let us know about Snipers Are Wussies, a Halo Reach Montage. It differs from your average montage in that the music is written (and performed) by the montage maker. (The song has been around for a couple of years, and in fact has already been turned into a montage... but this is the first Reach version, and it's pretty funny. (Louis Wu 18:04:59 UTC) (permalink)

Forgotten Treasures 2
One last tidbit from Bungie.net's Comm Chatter - word that Forge Hub is running Forgotten Treasures 2, a contest where your goal is to recreate great maps from Halo's past. Check their website for more details! (Louis Wu 18:04:11 UTC) (permalink)

SIP Achievement Guide
Looks like the Spartan I Project has put together an achievement guide for Halo Reach - swing by the Bungie.net forum for a whole bunch of links. Nice! (Thanks, urk.) (Louis Wu 18:03:46 UTC) (permalink)

2010 MLG Pro Circuit - Washington
urk reminded us that this weekend is the fourth of five major events in MLG's 2010 Pro Circuit - and the first that will showcase Halo: Reach. More details at the MLG Pro site! (Louis Wu 18:02:36 UTC) (permalink)

Testing the limits of the Lock
Wow. Armor Lock doesn't work like I thought it did. Check out The Armor Lock Files, courtesy of The WorkPLace and Squeaky Boot Productions. Thanks, Pete Rock. (Louis Wu 16:44:45 UTC) (permalink)

Forgineers giving away goodies
We heard from a number of members of the Forgineers that they're running a new contest; join the group and post in the thread for your chance to win a Halo Reach controller and a Noble Six Avatar Helmet. You have until October 31 to participate! (Louis Wu 16:43:43 UTC) (permalink)

Time to bake that cake
ZZoMBiE13 has come back to close the loop - he's submitted one final episode of Another Halo Comic Strip. It's funny, and it's fantastically drawn, and it's got a sad goodbye attached. You should go look. (Louis Wu 14:45:47 UTC) (permalink)

Evolution of the Warthog, Redux
Willy has updated his 2-year-old article on the Evolution of the Warthog - you can read the new version on his CE United website. (Louis Wu 14:43:52 UTC) (permalink)

Spine Chilling.
Today's One One Se7en shows in clear terms why it's a very, very good thing that Stuntmutt wasn't hired to write dialogue for Reach. (Louis Wu 14:41:31 UTC) (permalink)

Reach Windows 7 Theme Pack
Pob noticed that there's a Halo Reach Windows 7 Theme pack, containing 7 wallpapers, matching frame colors, and full menu sound effects. You can download it from Microsoft's website. (Louis Wu 14:38:31 UTC) (permalink)

Perpetual 7 on the 7th
Bungie put up a small note yesterday - the 7 on the 7th Halo 3 playlist has become permanent - and it'll be reset on the first of every month, to make getting the achievement easier! Nice. (Louis Wu 14:28:34 UTC) (permalink)

News October 12 2010

The Headshot Heard 'Round the World
You'd think with all these giveaways and contests, it would be December, or something... nope, still October. We've got a new one for you - KontrolFreek wants to see your most impressive headshot clip. In return, they're giving away a whole bunch of FPS Freek Legendarys (they're controller enhancers - they'll make you play better), and some bigger prizes as well. Check out the full details on the contest page. And start domin'! (Louis Wu 19:48:54 UTC) (permalink)

Tuesday Video Pair
Couple of fun vids for you today, courtesy of Bungie's Comm Chatter: The WorkPLace has 'Fustom Friday', with plenty of hilarious hijinx... and Just Mad and Cray have a dualtage called 'Coexistence' - nice gameplay, not overly edited. Go watch! (Louis Wu 18:45:05 UTC) (permalink)

The First Mythic Conquerer
We got word from Tyrant that the first Mythic Conquerer has emerged - Legendary Smile has become the first person to finish every Reach Campaign level at Mythic Difficulty (Solo, Legendary, All Skulls On, no saves). Amazing! (Keep an eye out - Tyrant's Reach Mythic Guide will begin soon.) (Louis Wu 16:56:07 UTC) (permalink)

Domino's Grab Bag Giveaways, Round 12
Domino Theory has expanded the scope of his giveaways - you now get to pick what you'll receive, if you win! It's an embarrassment of riches. (Nothing's stopping you from entering both Domino's giveaway and Devin's giveaway... HBO is just your one-stop-shop for free stuff these days!) (Louis Wu 14:59:31 UTC) (permalink)

On Design-Centric Game Criticism
There's a discussion about game criticism at PopMatter's Moving Pixels, talking about how game design commentary can be useful even to those who haven't played the game if done right. Halo is used as an example. Great read! (Louis Wu 14:58:17 UTC) (permalink)

Social Infection Forge Contest
Hey You is running a Forge competition for Infection maps - you can read all the details in this group post on Bungie.net. Deadline is Halloween, and prizes include Live subscriptions, avatar codes, and more. Check it out! (Louis Wu 14:57:33 UTC) (permalink)

Tag and Release: Falcon
Geez. Almost missed yesterday's Tag and Release feature on Bungie.net - which would have been a shame, since there are some epic Falcon pics. Go look! (Louis Wu 14:57:07 UTC) (permalink)

Always a Bridesmaid
Elnea reminded us that she'd updated Halo Action Figure theater this weekend - it's a little... disturbing. Spartan Bride magazine, though, is amazing. (Louis Wu 14:55:37 UTC) (permalink)

Game For A Cure
spankysully stopped in to announce a Halo Reach tournament being run to raise money for cancer research. $20 per team to enter, tourney happens at the end of November. Go sign up! (Louis Wu 14:54:35 UTC) (permalink)

Fails of the Weak, Volume 3
ZZoMBiE13 sent word that Achievement Hunter's Fails of the Weak Volume 3 is now online - Jack and Geoff look at clips of bad luck (and bad playing). The Elite Slayer fail on Cage made me laugh out loud. (Louis Wu 14:54:09 UTC) (permalink)

Sneaky...
Ever wonder how Bungie put a Skirmisher on the roof of the first building in Winter Contingency... but never let you see it? (It shows up on your motion sensor, and you can HEAR it... but you can't see it.) Heh... they cheated. Thanks, Cuban Legend. (Louis Wu 14:53:25 UTC) (permalink)

News October 11 2010

More Challenge Goodness
Thanks to Sorahn's snazzy work, our forum is now sporting a cool little block at the top, showing the day's challenges in an easy-to-digest format. w00t! Update: now it's prettier, thanks to HawaiianPig. (Louis Wu 22:55:12 UTC) (permalink)

Give Them Props.
Ever felt naked without air support? Stuntmutt examines the phenomenon in today's One One Se7en. (That's probably the only time you can put 'naked' and 'Stuntmutt' in close proximity and not need to wash your mind.) (Louis Wu 20:01:47 UTC) (permalink)

New 343i Podcast with Greg Bear
According to David Ellis' Twitter feed, a new podcast from 343i will go live tonight or tomorrow - and it will have David and Frankie talking to Greg Bear about Halo: Cryptum. Sounds like something to wait for! Thanks, GrimBrother One. (Louis Wu 19:53:13 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Reach Stats - Android App (Progress)
Mad Cow's been working on a Reach Stats app for the Android phone - you can see how it works in this video. A bare-bones list of what's in progress, what's already in there, and an interface for leaving feedback can be found at his website. You can grab a copy at the Android Marketplace under "Halo Reach Stats" by LOLDEV, LLC. The music playing in that video might just be the first Halo: Reach fan music, created by longtime Bungie fan SilverBrin. This is looking (and sounding) great! (Louis Wu 19:51:21 UTC) (permalink)

Getchyer Red-Hot Sigs Heah
Firestream let us know that HaloCharts is now offering a set of Reach Stat Signature Images to all members - just log in (or create an account) and click My Sigs! He provided an example to see what you're getting into. (This doesn't mean we're allowing sigs on our forum... but you can use 'em anywhere else.) (Louis Wu 19:48:11 UTC) (permalink)

Forging Ahead: Testing Ground
GhaleonEB has posted the next installment on Forging Ahead, his Forge blog at Forward Unto Dawn. This one focuses on his early experiments with Reach's Forge, trying to see what the limits might be before he gets into serious map development. Interesting read! (Louis Wu 19:15:13 UTC) (permalink)

NeoGAF delivers the fun
I've been a little slack in my reading of NeoGAF's Halo thread (it's usually chock-full of pass-onable goodness), so I went through the last 750 posts or so this morning. Here are some of the morsels I found:

• DancingJesus found a video showing just how bad Kinect for Halo: Reach would be...
• Dani posted screenshots and a download link for Ghostbusters, an Infection gametype that looks to be a whole lot of fun.
• Sai-kun posted a rendered film of his friend getting a badass-looking kill on a hog - doesn't sound like much, but watch it. It's epic.
• IGN posted their Top Ten Kill video for October 6, and aesop noticed - because he's in it. (Maybe this should be subtitled 'lots of betrayals'...)
• wwm0nkey found a YouTube vid showing what the various maps look like when fog is turned off - it's obvious why the fog is there in the first place (especially on maps like Reflection), but MAN those are some gorgeous areas. Nice job, Bungie artists!

I'm sure there's more I missed - but hey, that's a start! (Louis Wu 19:13:36 UTC) (permalink)

Waypoint Nuggets
As always these days, there's a ton of new content at Halo Waypoint's website - I think I'd get snowed under if I tried to summarize all of it, but here are a couple of choice tidbits I wish I'd noticed sooner:

• This Reach Legendary Cake is seriously legendary.
• Fails of the Weak Volume 2 is a video from the Achievement Hunter crew - the fails are funny, but the series title is funnier.

Swing by the site for lots more stuff; they're keeping busy! (Louis Wu 19:12:12 UTC) (permalink)

Monday Movie Madness
urk's back from vacation, and Bungie's Comm Chatter has a batch of new videos for you!

• ChrisOfTheDead is back with Shenanigans 10 - wtf moments in Reach
• Smite put together a sub-3-minute minitage called 'Hold Your Color' - seriously heavy on the effects
• KayEmX and FKIV whipped up a nice little dualtage, also under 3 minutes. Sniper-full.

Go watch! (Louis Wu 19:11:12 UTC) (permalink)

Got Video Skillz? Talk to Waypoint.
Cocopjojo stopped by our forum with word of a new job available at 343i/Waypoint - Video Producer. The job sounds like a dream for Halo machinimators! Check it out. (Louis Wu 19:10:03 UTC) (permalink)

Devin-Sent - a Giveaway
Devin Olsen has decided to start up a giveaway series of his own - and the first round is simple. He's looking for a title for the series! If your creativeness leads to a new name for this series, you win the prize... but if he doesn't find a title he likes, the winner will be chosen at random from all entries. What do you have to lose? Toss your name (and your idea) in the pot! (Louis Wu 17:33:45 UTC) (permalink)

Custom Music Offer
Sean Mortensen (he's created a few Halo-based scores in the past, search our news) is offering to compose music to match pieces of Halo novels/comics/etc - let him know what you've read, and he'll do what he can! (Louis Wu 17:27:00 UTC) (permalink)

Reach HD Film Capture Service
Sakis sent word that he is kicking off a Reach Film Capture Service - prices are considerably lower than the cost of Bungie Pro rendering. (Right now, he's charging $1 per 10 minutes of HD video.) (Louis Wu 17:26:19 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Minimates
Simpsons Rule was at New York Comic Con this weekend, and saw some new Halo Minimates on display - looks like you could make your own Halo Babies live-action stuff with these! Aww... (Louis Wu 17:25:51 UTC) (permalink)

HMV Hell: Reach
Bryan 'imSuck' Smith sent word that he's finished his HMV Hell: Reach video - it's more than 8 and a half minutes long, in HD format. You can watch it on YouTube, or download a gigantic copy from his HMV Hell site. (The site also contains information about the videos he's made in this genre, and links to previous versions, if you haven't seen them.) He did a fantastic job of filming these clips - great use of the Theater camera! (Remember, also, that all of the clips in this video were rendered with Bungie Pro - no capture card needed.) There's a comment thread going on our forum, if you'd like to discuss. (Louis Wu 17:23:03 UTC) (permalink)

Bingo!
PharaohsRaiment posted a pretty fun piece of artwork on our forum - I'm wondering how the Elite handles that cup! (Louis Wu 17:22:13 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 1 and 2 memorabilia for sale
Suircata continues to post Halo schwag on eBay - some oversize promo boxes and a set of strategy guides make up the latest batch. Go see! (Louis Wu 17:21:14 UTC) (permalink)

McFarlane 2-packs for cheap
Mr.Sci-Fi noticed that Fred Meyer is selling Halo Reach Action Figure 2-packs for half price right now - if you're in the market, this is a great deal! (He also found a box containing the NKOK Offroad Warthog at Toy R Us, and filmed the box for you.) (Louis Wu 17:20:48 UTC) (permalink)

Still Waiting
AssaultGodzilla is back with another vid - this one is set to Sum 41's "Still Waiting". Still amazes me he can use so many disparate Halo sources and create vids that feel 'right'. Timing is AMAZING. (Louis Wu 17:19:24 UTC) (permalink)

News October 10 2010

Slushy's Halo 3 Montage Trailer
Slushy put together a Halo 3 montage trailer (full version coming soon) - just takes a minute to watch. (Louis Wu 18:34:23 UTC) (permalink)

Square Enix Reach Statues - Update
Kotaku has some new photos of the Square Enix Reach figures coming next year - they're gorgeous! Thanks, GrimBrother One. (Louis Wu 17:25:04 UTC) (permalink)

Apt. 117 - Episode One
A couple of days ago, Halo Waypoint announced a teaser for a new animated series called 'Apt 117' (the link we list no longer works - looks like it was taken down). Reception for the trailer on our forum (and elsewhere) was decidedly... chilly. Well, you've got another opportunity to judge it, because we've got Episode One available for viewing now. You can stream it, or download HD versions (in WMP9 or QT formats). Go see! (I definitely chuckled more than once.) (Louis Wu 16:26:12 UTC) (permalink)

An Epic Tale
SonofMacPhisto told a nice story on our forum. Grab some cocoa and check it out! (Louis Wu 16:25:59 UTC) (permalink)

I don't think you can afford one of those...
Sometimes, you can overwhelm the game engine. Usually, the effects are pretty funny. Thanks, Captain Spark. (Louis Wu 16:25:39 UTC) (permalink)

Reach Radio Dialogue
GrimBrother One has collected all the radio dialogue audible in Reach's Multiplayer and Firefight maps (we mentioned them a couple of weeks ago) - it's not new material, but it's nicely organized. If you missed these the first time around, check 'em out now! (Louis Wu 16:25:23 UTC) (permalink)

Turns out Starlight was wrong.
That bombshell from yesterday? About 6 new games and a movie coming from 343 Industries, starting in 2 years? Yeah, that might not be fully accurate. In fact, according to Frankie... it's hogwash. For those who were worried about the downhill slide of quality that this sort of content schedule would inevitably incite... breathe easy. (Louis Wu 16:24:46 UTC) (permalink)

Reach Challenge RSS Choices
A few days ago, we put up an RSS feed for Bungie.net's Daily Challenges, so that you could get a quick look at what today's challenges are without loading a web page. Sorahn liked it - but missed the pretty icons Bungie uses to identify classes of challenges - so he helped with a SECOND feed; this one has pics. If your feed reader is text-only, stick with the first one. If your feed reader handles images, and you like having the entries jazzed up a bit, try out the second one! (Louis Wu 16:23:23 UTC) (permalink)

News October 9 2010

Two new trilogies and a movie? Wonga.
Hmm... during a panel discussion at New York Comic Con last night, Jeff Gomez, President and CEO of Starlight Runner, a PR company, previewed a slide showing some of the upcoming stuff from the Halo franchise - "two new trilogies starting in 2012/2013 with a major motion picture set for release by 2014." Wow... that's a lot of content. Thanks, Exanubisleader. (Louis Wu 20:16:01 UTC) (permalink)

Domino's HBO Giveaways, Round 11 - Winner Picked
Congratulations to Blissful Rage, who won the latest giveaway from Domino Theory - a soundtrack will be on its way soon! And keep your eyes peeled for more chances. (Louis Wu 20:10:27 UTC) (permalink)

Game Forged: Contest Update
Thanks a million to the volunteers that offered their time last night to test out the submissions for our Game Forged contest - we're still waiting on results from a couple of groups, and depending on final tallies, we may need to do ANOTHER round of testing... but we should have results for you soon! (Special thanks to Kermit, who stepped up and handled the coordination beautifully.) (Louis Wu 15:06:04 UTC) (permalink)

Reach for More
Wired's Game|Life highlights a new Reach rap from Chicago-based 'The Energy Commission' - it's pretty funny! (Bonus: there's a referenced video from 2007, made in honor of the Halo Zune, that I'd never seen before.) Go watch! (Louis Wu 15:05:04 UTC) (permalink)

Halo: Cryptum Details
Yesterday, Halo Waypoint posted a press release about the newest novel in the Halo library - Halo: Cryptum. It's the first of Greg Bear's Forerunner trilogy, and the press release displays the cover art, discusses Bear himself, and announces that the book will be available (in both print and audio formats) in January 2011. Check it out! (Louis Wu 15:04:08 UTC) (permalink)

It's all about polishing
It's old, but I just found it this morning - Marty O'Donnell was interviewed by ChicagoNow.com's game blog GameSmith about a month ago - he talks about Chicago, videogames, and Reach. Give it a read! (Louis Wu 15:03:05 UTC) (permalink)

Crashed: Coming Soon
shiruken sent word that Treeskunk Productions has some news for you - there's a Side Note with Paul Shelley that announces a new series they're putting together in Reach: Crashed. The video describes (in general terms) the idea, and shows a teaser for the series itself. Check it! (Louis Wu 15:02:32 UTC) (permalink)

Camo Camo Camo Camo Chameleon
Brian Gilmore and jake108 both made sure we knew about the newest offering from the Teabag Prevention Team - it focuses on the Active Camo Armor Ability, and if you follow its advice, you'll find yourself getting more kills, and fewer deaths. And how could that be a bad thing? (Plus, any article title that references Boy George is golden. Wait, no... that's totally wrong.) (Louis Wu 15:01:34 UTC) (permalink)

Ma'am's The Word.
I feel terrible. After forgetting Monday's One One Se7en and promising to include one on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday... I forgot Friday's. So here's Friday's. After reading it, you may wish I'd left it out... (Louis Wu 15:01:00 UTC) (permalink)

News October 8 2010

Clearing in the Future
The Bungie Weekly Update is live - Sketch was feeling as though he didn't have that much to share, but it's still full of a bunch of interesting info. Swing by to give it a read! (It is, of course, also available in our Weekly Update Archive.) (Louis Wu 23:14:46 UTC) (permalink)

Where the demons dwell
DEEP NNN stopped in with a bunch of links to his blog at 2old2play - he's been building Stonehenge within Forge World. Go check out the progression! (Louis Wu 16:02:51 UTC) (permalink)

I will not buy this record - it is scratched.
Anton P. Nym just threw down the gauntlet for what looks like one of the more entertaining contests out there - he's looking for a particular (staged) screenshot, and if you're the first to provide it, he'll provide 15 render minutes for your finest Halo shenanigans. Go see if you can give him what he wants! Update: Whoa. HQHB answered this challenge in under 2 hours. Insanity! (Louis Wu 14:48:55 UTC) (permalink)

Forging Ahead
GhaleonEB has decided to start a blog about Forging - he's focusing on how a map comes into being, rather than the nuts and bolts of actually building it. His opening entry is now up at Forward Unto Dawn - go give it a read! And bookmark it, because I'm betting future installments are gonna be fascinating. (Louis Wu 14:39:39 UTC) (permalink)

Another industry look at Halo movie prospects
Vulture, an entertainment blog at New York Magazine, touched on the news that Stephen Spielberg is interested in a Halo movie - although we already posted about this on Wednesday, the Vulture article also contains a run-down of what happened to the FIRST attempt at a Halo movie. Some of those facts were common knowledge before, some were new to me. Interesting read! (Please don't get too offended by Vulture's characterization of Halo's novels...) Thanks, newguy2445. (Louis Wu 14:36:25 UTC) (permalink)

Rocketman
FugitiveSoldier presented a short film of a Revenant's misfortune on Hemorrhage... I guess those 'seam' issues aren't just in fan-made maps! (FugitiveSoldier thinks it might be related to host migration.) (Louis Wu 14:35:00 UTC) (permalink)

Prettifying the already pretty
Hedgemony stopped by to say that he's taking submissions again - and he includes an example of a recent screenshot he enhanced a bit for a fan. Dang. (Louis Wu 14:34:03 UTC) (permalink)

It's the little details...
Stephen Loftus noticed that there was a bit of non-English writing at the end of one of the entries in Halsey's Journal (the book that comes with the Limited and Legendary Editions of Halo: Reach) - so he sent it to a friend in India, who was able to read it. (A scan of the snippet is here, if you want to see it for yourself.) You can read the email exchange between Stephen and his friend on our forum - and follow the rest of the thread for speculation about what it actually signifies. What a great little touch! (Louis Wu 14:33:16 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Reach Fails, Episode 2
chris10023 let us know that Halo Reach Fails, Episode 2, is online - it had me chuckling all the way through. I especially liked the Campaign fails! Go watch. (Louis Wu 14:32:19 UTC) (permalink)

Friday's Fan Fiction
Three new pieces are up in the Fan Fiction section this week - go read! (Louis Wu 14:31:55 UTC) (permalink)

Bungie Ties the Leader
The latest Top Story on Bungie.net is a writeup of the Halo Humpday Challenge against Tied the Leader. Why a Top Story this time? Well, because (spoilers!) Bungie won. It's a great read - sounds like they were some fun games. (XerxdeeJ stopped by to point out that the TTL writeup was online, as well - a fine example of graceful acquiescence.) deeJ makes a great point - it's not so much who wins or loses, it's that Bungie makes these happen at all. So who's next? (Louis Wu 14:30:31 UTC) (permalink)

News October 7 2010

Noble Prize.
Today's One One Se7en takes a cynical look at Bungie's motives with respect to friendly non-player characters... hmm. (Louis Wu 17:59:45 UTC) (permalink)

Bungie's Global Challenges - via RSS
A couple of weeks ago, brokenwatch (the name is not unknown here) posted some quick code on NeoGAF, showing you how to host your own RSS feed for Bungie's daily challenges. Well, not everyone has the resources to host a feed - so we've taken the liberty of doing this for you. (We've also cleaned up the output a little, for validation purposes, and cached the result, so that there's no hit on Bungie's servers for this content.) It's pretty bare-bones... but that's all that's really needed here. Load this in your favorite RSS reader, and you've got a tiny, easy-to-read record of today's challenges! (Thanks to Yossarian Drew for the push we needed to make this live.) (Louis Wu 14:37:13 UTC) (permalink)

Obligatory
Anton P. Nym noticed that the latest VG Cats is Halo-related. I kinda wish this sort of thing happened more often on CSI, actually. (Louis Wu 13:39:04 UTC) (permalink)

Gorgeous end-of-Reach panos
Al7eredBeasT let us know that he's whipped up a couple of Halo Reach panoramas - they're gorgeous, but they were compiled from images taken near the end of the campaign, so if you haven't finished, they have spoilers. That said, you should see 'em: Final Days of Reach and [title redacted for spoiler reasons]. Gotta love those skyboxes... (Louis Wu 13:21:04 UTC) (permalink)

OLR S2 Ep 10
We're a couple of weeks behind (as usual), but joncjg's One Life Remaining Season 2, Episode 10 has been out since September 24. Katyhryn gets kidnapped while being taken into custody... things get weird. (Louis Wu 13:20:38 UTC) (permalink)

More goodies from Halo Waypoint
bs angel sent along a few links from the Halo Waypoint blog that you might be interested in:

• Anoj is back with a new Top 10 Reach Kills vid - this one focuses on multikills. There are some great ones in here!
• Halo Reach Forges showcased a Quiddich map - if you like what you see, the map and gametype can be downloaded here.
• REJ put together a trailer for a full Red vs Blue movie - 8 seasons, compressed into three minutes!

While you're there, you should check out the trailer for Apt. 117, a new animated series created by Powerhouse Animation for 343 Industries - thanks to onebitrocket for the heads-up. Good stuff! (Louis Wu 13:19:57 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Typography
Hedgemony noticed an artsy Halo-themed image that you can buy on a lot of surfaces - t-shirts, laptop skins, canvas. Interesting! (Some of our forumgoers were unhappy with typos and misquotes.) (Louis Wu 13:19:21 UTC) (permalink)

MLG.TV
MLG Pro has opened MLG.TV, a new site with lots of video. If you're looking for pro gameplay, this seems like a likely spot. Thanks, Devin Olsen. (Louis Wu 13:18:56 UTC) (permalink)

News October 6 2010

What if the world... persisted?
Not really Halo-related, but we don't have a site up yet for Bungie's next title... looks like Joe Staten has started some speculation with a comment he made yesterday at his GDC Online talk. Hmm... (Louis Wu 17:51:09 UTC) (permalink)

Halo: Reach Fan Trailer
NeoGAF's Popeck put together a trailer for Reach that started with the premise, "what if you played the game as Master Chief?" Interesting piece of work! (Spoilers abound, of course.) (Louis Wu 17:49:30 UTC) (permalink)

Horrible plot, cliche'd characters, and repetitive gameplay
Yahtzee has found the time to review Halo: Reach. Visit the Escapist for his typical snarky but hilarious jibes, this time aimed at Bungie's latest. (Warning: it's full of campaign spoilers. Though he'd disagree.) normanthesquid brought it to our attention. (Louis Wu 16:37:39 UTC) (permalink)

Making Safe Pockets
A couple of months ago, we mentioned a talk that would be given by Joe Staten at the 2010 Game Developers Conference Online conference, which kicked off yesterday. Over to Gamasutra, you can read a summary of what he discussed - sounds like the problems some people have with Reach have actually been part of the plan for years! Thanks, Anton P. Nym. (Louis Wu 16:19:02 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Movie Rumor Surface Yet Again
According to IGN, Stephen Spielberg is interested in obtaining the screen rights to make a Halo movie based on one or more Halo novels. (He's staying away from the games themselves to avoid a lawsuit from Fox/Universal, apparently.) Interesting to see if this goes anywhere... thanks, Gilver. (Louis Wu 16:12:54 UTC) (permalink)

Kill Stuff for a Helmet
Dust Storm let us know that Podtacular is giving away a Noble 6 Avatar Helmet code - all you have to do is last the longest on the Campaign level 'Lone Wolf' on Heroic. Deadline is this Saturday - more details on their site! (Louis Wu 15:33:06 UTC) (permalink)

I was wondering if you knew what time it was...
FoxmanFX pointed out a Halo Reach Stop Motion vid in Robot Chicken format on YouTube - KoBaCaaTT, the creator, has a ton of other ones (check the Suggestions box), as well. Halo Love! (Louis Wu 15:16:10 UTC) (permalink)

Spartan vs Spartan
DHalo pointed out a new Ript T-shirt that combines two very cool franchises... and you've got 15 hours to buy it at just $10. Awesome! (Louis Wu 13:58:31 UTC) (permalink)

Hey Moa!
Dang it, I totally forgot to post Monday's One One Se7en... so this week, you'll get three in a row (one today, one tomorrow, one on Friday). Consider it sort of like eating your Brussel Sprouts. (Louis Wu 13:41:31 UTC) (permalink)

Don't make them angry. You wouldn't like them...
This is an odd one - TPA Nightmare sent us a link to a video that shows a pair of rockets, locked on to a Falcon... the first one kills the target, but the second one decides that rather than waste its locked-on status, it's going to take out a different vehicle on a totally different trajectory. I'm not sure how I feel about self-aware rockets... (If you want to explore what the rocket does, the two halves of that video can be downloaded from his fileshare.) (Louis Wu 12:04:14 UTC) (permalink)

FLAG FTW
You might have noticed the thumbnail on the right side of this page, advertising the Fight Like a Girl Tournament - but if you haven't followed the link, you might not know that it's a tourney that benefits Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Cervical Cancer Coalition. Game time is just 14 days away - so sign up to have some fun and kick cancer's butt! (Louis Wu 12:03:04 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Reach Tricks
CMNeir sent word of Halo Reach Tricks Episode 1 - it's the evolution of his 100-plus episode Halo 3 Tricks video series. In fact, they're already up to Episode 11 at this point, so if you like what you see, there are plenty more to watch! The full playlist is here. (Louis Wu 11:55:06 UTC) (permalink)

Frankie Talks Halo
OXM's Ryan McCaffrey let NeoGAF know that the latest OXM podcast contains a monster interview with Frank O'Connor - talk ranges from Halo merch to universe canon, with lots of stuff in between. As Ryan says, the Frankie interview starts at 40:00. Go listen! (Louis Wu 11:53:52 UTC) (permalink)

Raising money for kids, one Elite at a time
Clefton Twain is participating in a fundraiser for the University of Missouri Children's Hospital - on October 16, he'll be playing videogames for 24 hours straight. And what will he be playing? Why, Halo, of course. (He's going to do his best to get through as many Halo campaigns as possible in those 24 hours.) Visit his donation page, and toss in a few bucks! Or just cheer him on! (Louis Wu 11:52:24 UTC) (permalink)

News October 5 2010

Waypoint's website full of surprises
If you haven't visited Halo Waypoint's website recently, you're missing some good stuff.

• Forge Hub has put together a montage of their community's top Halo 3 maps - some very cool looking goodies!
• Brady Games (the folks who released the Halo: Reach Strategy Guide have a video showing off Reach's Armor Abilities - I learned a few things about timing!
• There's a Reach Tip of the Day Collection - a pretty eclectic group of hints and strategies for everything from multiplayer to Forge.
• There's a gallery of fan-made Halo armor/weaponry from the 405th - If you've never seen the full range of work these guys do, this is a fantastic primer.
• There's a a video and a mini-interview with Cheap Ass Gamer, the highlighted Grifball Team of the Month this month.

And these are just the top stories! The website's definitely fleshing out - spend a little time exploring! (Louis Wu 12:43:05 UTC) (permalink)

Playlist Changes Detailed
Bungie's Jeremiah posted a list of changes to the Halo: Reach playlists, scheduled to go live today. Swing by and read it to get up to speed! Thanks, FyreWulff. Update: It's live now. Go play! (Louis Wu 12:41:44 UTC) (permalink)

Awesome Reach
egoraptor, a popular Newgrounds submitter, created a new piece called 'Awesome Reach' (you can watch it at YouTube, if you'd rather). Definitely NSFW. Thanks, padraig08. (Louis Wu 12:40:57 UTC) (permalink)

News October 4 2010

Noble Team Logo, Modified
Mr.Sci-Fi decided to retool the Noble Team logo, for post-Reach use. Check for yourself how he did! (Louis Wu 22:03:53 UTC) (permalink)

Top Five Halo Reach Cutscenes
gameXcess.net has covered what they consider to be the Top 5 Halo Reach cutscenes. (That seems like a disproportionately large percentage of the total, to me - sort of like if 24 NFL teams made it into the playoffs, or something - but hey, they went to the trouble of rating 'em, you should watch.) Thanks, Maniac. (Louis Wu 20:47:55 UTC) (permalink)

Look out! Behind you!
This week's Tag and Release feature at Bungie.net focuses on the term 'Assassinate' - and MAN there are some nice pics in there. Go look. (Louis Wu 20:19:28 UTC) (permalink)

Game Forged - your chance at cool duds
Thanks to the generosity of a gaming apparel outfit, we've got a new contest for you! Swing by the Game Forged page to read the details - but basically, you need to Forge up a new creation by the end of the week, in order to get in the running for a cool new shirt. Check it out - and get Forging! (Louis Wu 18:03:35 UTC) (permalink)

Barking Spartans?
Bizarre - FoxmanFX noticed that the cover of Terrence Green's Barking Dogs (which has nothing whatsoever to do with Halo, as far as I can tell) has a cover that... well, has something to do with Halo. (Louis Wu 16:42:25 UTC) (permalink)

Domino's HBO Giveaways - Round 11
Domino gave away a Reach Official Soundtrack last week - and now he's doing it again. Visit the Domino's HBO Giveaways page for yet another chance to win one of these puppies! (This is why Halo fans rock.) (Louis Wu 15:27:13 UTC) (permalink)

The Dream Team
Over at NeoGAF, Sikamikanico posted a Reach montage he'd put together from a marathon 72-hour play session - I found it to be a lot of fun. Go watch! (Louis Wu 15:25:03 UTC) (permalink)

Emile Rocks.
Schooly D got fellow forumite Tex to whip up an Emile pic - there are spoilers that can be inferred, so look only if you've finished Reach's campaign. I can't tell if he's scary... or adorable. (Louis Wu 13:55:18 UTC) (permalink)

I don't think the bumpers are rated for that.
Kotaku has some pictures of a Halo R/C Warthog that's been... modified a bit. This one can do 35 miles per hour. Not sure if you need a driver's license. Thanks, dogchow33. (Louis Wu 13:54:48 UTC) (permalink)

What Pros Like about Reach
Wondering what MLG Pros think about Reach? Red Bull asked a simple question - got a bunch of answers. (Louis Wu 13:53:51 UTC) (permalink)

Beware the Mysterious Bubble Lock
Dojorkan was just trying to... well, I'm not sure what; a bubble shield won't generally help you from a Ghost bearing down on your position... but the Halo gods were smiling on him - this time, they gave him just a hint of armor lock at the beginning of his ability. It was enough. (Louis Wu 13:53:06 UTC) (permalink)

Invasion just got more interesting
Vlad356 sent word of this thread at Bungie.net (you can read about it on ForgeHub if you'd rather) - he's come up with a pretty cool destructible door for Invasion games. Check the rendered video for a demo - and see what you can come up with in terms of using this! (Louis Wu 13:49:09 UTC) (permalink)

Skill in Halo Reach?
Firestream let us know that HaloCharts now has a feature where you can see roughly what your skill level would be for each playlist in Halo Reach - assuming Reach HAD skill levels. I'm not sure I understand how it works... but check it out for yourself! (Firestream offered up HC Redemption's page as an example.) (Louis Wu 13:46:54 UTC) (permalink)

The Ark
Sqork posted images from a new map he built - The Ark is a small(ish) arena map - some very cool features! Check it out. (Louis Wu 13:45:47 UTC) (permalink)

News October 3 2010

Get your hands on some classic Halo schwag
Suircata is selling off a bunch of Halo memorabilia - starting with some unopened Series 1 Joyride Action Figures. Read the post for details on future offerings! (Louis Wu 18:44:34 UTC) (permalink)

Powerhouse, then and now
StUnNeR H2K put together a video showing how Powerhouse changed from the Beta to Reach's release version. Pretty cool! (Louis Wu 17:31:53 UTC) (permalink)

Hazard Cinema Top Halo Reach Plays, Week 1
Hazard Cinema sent word that their Top Halo Reach Plays, Week 1, has been online for a couple of weeks. (Not sure where Weeks 2 and 3 are...) There are only 7 plays, because it's the first week - go see what they found to be cool. (Louis Wu 17:31:16 UTC) (permalink)

Giddyap
Apparently, some forum regulars had fun in BTB last night. If you see them get into a Warthog... stay away. Thanks, pete_the_duck. (Louis Wu 17:30:43 UTC) (permalink)

TotS, 'rama'd
Leviathan whipped up some pretty panoramas from Tip of the Spear, shwoing off the level of detail Bungie included in this environment. Pretty cool stuff! (Louis Wu 17:28:57 UTC) (permalink)

News October 2 2010

Charge It!
Oh, man... this is so cute. It's touches like this that make me love Bungie. (Louis Wu 19:02:41 UTC) (permalink)

Free copy of Reach from 360 Junkies
We got word that the 360 Junkies were giving away their review copy of Halo: Reach. If you've never played the game, you have a shot at winning; post in that thread, and they'll pick a winner on Monday. Good luck! (Louis Wu 17:14:18 UTC) (permalink)

ubald comic - Sample Page O1
Tony 'ubald' Marcotte sent along a new sample page for his comic - should give you a decent idea of the LOOK of the project. Awesome stuff! (Louis Wu 17:13:07 UTC) (permalink)

News October 1 2010

Rounding Out the Week
Jump on over to Bungie.net for the latest Bungie Weekly Update - it's chock-full of details about the Reach October Playlist Update, info about a way to get community content into matchmaking, some basic questions and answers that have come up this week, some audio info from the Bungie audio team, a silly Blame Stosh, and more - go read! (As always, it's in our Weekly Update Archive, as well.) (Louis Wu 23:53:33 UTC) (permalink)

Domino's HBO Giveaways - Winner Picked
Domino Theory picked a winner for his latest giveaway - congrats to Dannzyz! A soundtrack will be in the mail soon. (And if you didn't win - keep your eyes peeled next week, for a repeat contest.) (Louis Wu 23:01:55 UTC) (permalink)

Remember Reach
It's a week old - but Virtual Shackles took a nice shot at Phil Spencer, who talked about upping the frequency of Halo releases in the future. Ouch! (Louis Wu 18:25:07 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Reach Bungie Employee Bloopers
americanista123 is back with another blooper reel filled with clips of Bungie employees... not always winning. (Sometimes winning big, though.) Thanks, urk! (Louis Wu 18:21:33 UTC) (permalink)

What's next... speedrunning Elites?
pete_the_duck found a Grunt who's learning from human Reach tricksters. Scary... (Louis Wu 15:45:40 UTC) (permalink)

The Joy Of Six.
Stuntmutt seems to be amused that you can play as a male or female Noble Six in Reach - witness the latest One One Se7en. Oh, Muttley... (Louis Wu 15:29:45 UTC) (permalink)

Pop Lock and Drop!
Brian Gilmore sent word that the newest article up at Geekscape's Teabag Prevention site will help you use Armor Lock to its greatest effect. If you find yourself skipping over this Armor Ability because it keeps getting you killed, you should read this. (Louis Wu 15:29:19 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Reach Fails Episode 1
chris10023 let us know that Halo Reach Fails Episode 1 is now online - oh, so many new opportunities for failure now! (The Epic Fail of the Week is hilarious.) (Louis Wu 15:28:53 UTC) (permalink)

Haunted
TDSpiral was impressed by the Bungie-exclusive (well, for now, at least) Skull Helmet in Reach - so he drew it. Killer. (Louis Wu 15:28:36 UTC) (permalink)

Sing it, baby!
Cody Miller has been outspoken about his unhappiness with Reach's story. He's now taken that dissatisfaction to a new level - in song. Story Ain't Deep would make Mark Knopfler cringe, but is pretty funny. His Nirvana parody, 'Smells Like Retcon', is less successful, mostly because Cody confuses 'grunge' for 'drunk'. And Hawaiian Pig gets in on the action with his Firefly theme, repurposed (extra points for playing the music himself!). (reprobate wanted to play, too - he didn't record his version, it's just lyrics, and he's not taking the same shots at the Reach story... but it's a decent effort nonetheless. One might even say Noble.) (Louis Wu 15:27:01 UTC) (permalink)

Screenshot Heaven
Hedgemony surfaced last night to announce that HedgemonyLovesHalo has hit 800 images - the man has NOT lost his touch. Go look. (Louis Wu 15:26:40 UTC) (permalink)

We are smart, and good at games.
Avateur was the first to notice the writeup last night of the most recent Reach Humpday Challenge - Bungie took on their own forum moderators... and lost. (Now, to be fair to Bungie, the two games they lost were very, very close - one kill in the first game, one flag in the last - while the game they won was a Steaktacular win. Still... losing is losing.) Go read about it! (Louis Wu 15:26:03 UTC) (permalink)

Friday's Fan Fiction
Just two new pieces this week in the Fan Fiction section... I guess everyone's busy playing Reach. Go read. (Louis Wu 15:23:43 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 Double EXP Continues
Missed this yesterday, but FyreWulff pointed out that the Halo 3 Double EXP Weekend Playlist is Prepare To Drop... and that his Double EXP Weekend Archive has been updated. Jeremiah SAID there would be more... (Louis Wu 15:23:17 UTC) (permalink)

October 2010

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