|
Spoilers are currently disabled. (All newsposts are visible.) |
||
View the Archives: |
||
 | April 2005 |  |
April 2005 Archived News
News April 30 2005
Your whining shames us all!
Captain Spark posted another batch of dialogue snippets on his website yesterday - they're now in searchable form in our Dialogue Databank. Elites and Grunts, this time around. (Louis Wu 13:35:37 UTC) (permalink)
Out of place, geographically...
Michael M. was vacationing in Australia, and ran across a hotel that looked familiar. (Louis Wu 13:19:20 UTC) (permalink)
Epic Battle
HunterXL points out a Halo 2 mod from TheTykoMan, part of the 7th Sanctum modding clan. Looks like he's managed to bring together a LOT of marines and either sword-wielding or beam-rifle-wielding enemies... if you've got a modded box, and you want to get into a pretty big battle in single player, check this out! (Pics and a video are linked in the HaloMods forum thread.) (Louis Wu 13:16:50 UTC) (permalink)
SoCal Tourney
There's a Team Slayer tournament at Cal Poly Pomona on May 13, sponsored by MLG - more details are in this news post. Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 13:03:58 UTC) (permalink)
Play Goldfinger online
Another 'Game with Fame' opportunity - the band Goldfinger will be online on Sunday, May 1. You can find full details in the official press release. (Louis Wu 12:49:56 UTC) (permalink)
Stuff that should interest you
Today's Weekly What's Update is posted over at Bungie.net - and it focuses mostly on the new playlists, due to be in place on Xbox Live late next week. There are a bunch of changes made to decrease the effect 'griefers' (folks who play mostly to make OTHERS miserable) have on games, and also some style changes. There's also info about the stats reset coming soon, as well as questions left over from the recent Auto-Update and the Downloadable Content release this week. And (and this is WHOLLY unnecessary) a Mister-Chief-painted Scion. Well, on second thought... I don't really like Scions. So... yeah. (Louis Wu 00:08:20 UTC) (permalink)
News April 29 2005
A Cody Day In Hell.
Today's One One Se7en will make more sense... soon. (Louis Wu 18:43:32 UTC) (permalink)
It's a Mod, Mod, Mod World
Some interesting stuff going on in the HaloCE world... Halohoger has released a trailer for his upcoming Area 54 - you can grab it at HaloMods. And jahrain is working on a mod that remakes a village from 'The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time' - pics are up on the Gearbox forums. Thanks to MasterGrief for letting us know about both of these. (Louis Wu 18:35:20 UTC) (permalink)
Objective-based game lovers, unite!
Mothergoat is trying to compile a list of gamers that enjoy objective games, but aren't obnoxious Live-users. If you're interested, read his post, visit his forum, add your name. (Louis Wu 18:30:58 UTC) (permalink)
Yet more words
Twelve new pieces for you today in the Fan Fiction section - go read! (Louis Wu 18:17:45 UTC) (permalink)
Free online tourney Monday
Matt Scalcione points out that HaloTournies.com is running a free tournament on Monday, May 2. Winning prize is a $35 EBGames gift certificate. More details can be found on the site. (Louis Wu 18:09:00 UTC) (permalink)
XBL integration at 2old2play.com
DSmooth writes to point out that 2old2play.com has set up a new service whereby you have access to lots of information if you link your gamertag on the site; a Friends list, wireless Friends list, stats integration, and more! Check out all the details. (Louis Wu 17:12:33 UTC) (permalink)
Sometimes, the hype is accurate.
Wow. This is a little off-topic... but not really. I've spent the morning running some tests with QuickTime 7, and the new H.264 codec. It blows away EVERYTHING I've used up to this point - I'm seriously considering making it the new 'default' QuickTime codec for HBO-released movies. (QuickTime 7 is a free download for all, though if you use QT6 Pro, you'll have to pay for a new Pro license.) This is mostly a heads-up. (Louis Wu 14:35:53 UTC) (permalink)
A nice tip o' the hat.
Lionhead Studios, creators of Black & White and Black and White 2, has put up a page with questions and answers for the developers about the making of B&W 2. If you scroll down to the section entitled 'Blooming and Trees', you'll see that the inspiration for this technique came straight from the original Halo. Nice! Thanks, HookMeUpImLocal. (Louis Wu 13:39:45 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie-signed Xbox for Auction
Shinesevens noticed a signed Xbox on eBay - there are 5 days left. This was brought to the Seattle fanfest the day Halo 2 was released, and has been signed by many Bungie employees. No bids, currently. Interesting collector's item! (Louis Wu 13:24:54 UTC) (permalink)
9th Map identified
rRootage scanned the display case for the new Multiplayer Map Pack - he found it on display at EBGames. It contains pretty solid confirmation that one of the remaining maps (almost certainly Backwash) is set in a 343GS-type swamp... which would pin down Frankie's last remaining hint word, 'Firefly'. The original post is here, with speculation - the actual scan is in this post. (This is news because before this point, 8 of the 9 maps were either released or fully described (look for the writeups on Luke Timmins' talk at the University of Utah for details on 4 of the 5 coming out in June) - Backwash was the only unknown, and many people speculated that it would be a remake of Damnation. Looks like that's not the case.) Update: Whoa. mnemesis noticed yet another box acronym. Get started! (If you don't know about Bungie and box acronyms... read this.) (Louis Wu 12:59:48 UTC) (permalink)
Halo PC Still Selling
HaloPC slips to number 9 on the Top 10 PC Games list for the week of April 10-16. The most amazing thing about this is that week is some 80 weeks after the game was released! Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 11:02:38 UTC) (permalink)
Magnum 1.1
mrsmiley was unhappy with the changes to the magnum in the recent autoupdate - his response is today's Halo Babies. (Louis Wu 10:53:57 UTC) (permalink)
Cairo Station Signage
Stephen Loftus has posted yet another in-depth study of Halo - this time, his focus is the signage of Cairo Station. Awesome job - and the pictures, all hand-done in Adobe Illustrator, are gorgeous! Check it out. (Louis Wu 01:01:25 UTC) (permalink)
News April 28 2005
Stryke Force - in Hi Res
Stryke Force had released hi-res versions of their movies on the cover DVDs for Xbox World - now they're making them available on their website. You can find WMP9 versions of the Opening Credits, plus Episodes 1 and 2, in nice hi-res, on their Videos page. QuickTime links should be up there soon. (Louis Wu 20:06:21 UTC) (permalink)
Online Tourney
Machello writes to point out a new online tourney sponsored by the Arm Chair Athletes - prizes will probably be Halo 2 merchandise, but mostly, you're playing for pride. If you're interested in signing up, there's a forum set up for it. (Louis Wu 18:43:03 UTC) (permalink)
Design students have varied tastes
The Art Institutes system of schools recently conducted a national survey on video game preferences - and the results were more eclectic than the surveyors had expected. A press release from the Institutes suggests that while Halo 2 got the most votes for the overall Favorite Video Game from the over 1,000 students polled, only 11 percent actually voted for it. Silmiarly it took Best Video Graphics... but with only 14 percent of the votes. There's a page devoted to the survey results at the Art Institutes website - but the 'Survey Results' link is not a summary of results, it's an Excel spreadsheet containing ALL the raw data. (As far as I can tell, the only summaries are in the press release.) (Louis Wu 18:36:37 UTC) (permalink)
Dodgy journalism
Wow, even the big boys are falling all over themselves with Xbox 360 fever. There's been a rumor floating around that Halo 2 will come pre-loaded on the hard drive of the next-generation Xbox; we've mostly stayed away from it, because Bungie ain't talking, and nobody else really knows anything. However, it just got sillier - CVG actually posted an article suggesting that an anonymously-sent image MIGHT actually be a box shot for this new game. Ignoring the absurdity of the concept (if the game comes pre-loaded on the hard drive, why would you need a box in the first place?), the fact that this is simply the current box, with an Xbox 360 logo slapped on top and a hastily-drawn 'Director's Cut' (with a non-printing character subbing in for the apostrophe, no less) on the front tells you all you really need to know about its legitimacy. CVG should be ashamed of itself for fanning flames with something this weak. (Louis Wu 18:04:04 UTC) (permalink)
Writing is easy.
Looks like the Halo 2 'good/bad' debate has spilled over into today's PvP - thanks, mnemesis. (Louis Wu 16:26:01 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Predator Trailer
Bestmasterchief submitted a trailer for an upcoming Predator remake (in Halo 2). (This has no relation at all to the Halo 1 Predator vids made by c0ld vengeance and demonelite.) Currently it's just cinematic footage, nicely timed to a Predator trailer audio track, but the final film will contain multiplayer footage mixed with movie sound. The trailer passed our Peer Review Rating System, so you can grab it in WMP9 (10.8 mb) or QuickTime (8.9 mb) formats. (While we're on the subject of the MPRRS - it looks like CYBRFRK has updated the FAQ with some common questions - details are in this forum post.) (Louis Wu 15:59:01 UTC) (permalink)
Fly If I Wanted To
sorahn, over at High Impact Halo, brought attention to a video posted a week ago on their forum. It's a nice tribute to an activity that has been sadly curtailed by the recent autoupdate. I've put up the original WMP9 vid (7.6 mb), as well as a QuickTime version (8.7 mb) for folks who are interested in seeing this. Randy Newman rocks. (Louis Wu 15:43:27 UTC) (permalink)
Second Humpday Loss for the Frag Dolls?
Nice find by markhamx2 (with some link help from Pballwizard) - Bungie played three team slayer games against the Frag Dolls last night (and kicked some serious booty in the process); it's not a guarantee that these three games constituted the Halo Humpday Challenge matches... but it's a good bet. (Some might complain that the Frag Dolls are getting their second matchup with Bungie before so many opponents have gotten their first... but hey, Bungie makes the rules. ) (Louis Wu 15:09:56 UTC) (permalink)
NSCS adds product reviews
Overswarm has added 3 new articles to his Not So Common Sense guide - not exactly strategy, but useful to the Halo community nonetheless. These are reviews of products relevant to the community - he looks at CarnageStats, GCSkins, and MLG's VoD. Check out the articles section for more details! (Louis Wu 14:23:11 UTC) (permalink)
New Halo 2 Guitar Tabs
The Se7enth Prophet found a couple more guitar tabs at powertab.net - they're posted on our forum. 'Flawed Legacy' and 'In Amber Clad' - get to playing! (They're available in .ptb format on this page.) (Louis Wu 10:16:21 UTC) (permalink)
New material brings discussion
Lots of people are discussing the auto-update and the new maps, and how they're affecting gameplay across the board.
- Gotfrag discusses how this affects MLG and pro players (thanks, 3Suns)
- Team 7hr33 is happy with the changes, but thinks that they highlight underlying flaws that still exist
- kons0ul laments the lack of fan-created content for Halo 2, a complaint brought on by the new maps (heads-up came here)
- Saint [lpn] looks at the long-term effects of the auto-update changes (mentioned here)
I'm sure there is (or will be) more... these are just the ones that popped up in the last day or so. Update: one more, written last week, over at Rampancy.net - sistimatic wrote up his own impressions the day the autoupdate was released. I even commented on it at the time - but somehow neglected to actually POST my comments. Gah. (Louis Wu 10:11:49 UTC) (permalink)
for them foreigners
RedNovember writes to say that an obscure Indian comic he reads, Badmash, had Halo content in it yesterday. Look out - it's invading our lives! (Louis Wu 10:02:34 UTC) (permalink)
XBList updated
Ben Hollis writes that he's updated XBList, his program that allows you to see who's on Xbox Live. Lots of bugfixes, update checking, and faster emblems. Give it a shot! (Louis Wu 09:59:05 UTC) (permalink)
1,071,973 Matches and Counting...
It's Wednesday, right? Cause One One Se7en comes out on Wednesday, and I never miss a deadline, you know that, right? It's Wednesday. It's even a funny one. Just remember - it's Wednesday. Until after you read this post. (Louis Wu 09:43:32 UTC) (permalink)
News April 27 2005
Montage by Sigma
Sigma posted a short montage on our forum a couple of weeks ago; general reception was positive (though almost everyone thought the subject matter was a bit... unusual). He submitted it to our Peer Review Rating system... and the final result missed a 'Passing' grade by 0.5%. Ain't it a nice thing that the admin has the power to override the system? You can grab this in QuickTime (large, 10.8 mb, or small, 4.8 mb) or WMP9 (large, 10.5 mb or small, 4.6 mb). It's not very long, but it's fun! (Louis Wu 20:59:21 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Flash at Newgrounds
A couple of new Flash items at Newgrounds, Halo-related; there's a CTF game on Blood Gulch (thanks, DarkSky Forever), and a 'Halo for Retards' vid - mostly clips parodying Halo - thanks, ghostofhalo. (Louis Wu 20:40:33 UTC) (permalink)
Think of a Happy Place!
Red vs Blue has posted Episode 55, Defusing the Situation, for sponsors (it'll be up for the public this Friday). Andy (their newest character) gets angry, Grif gets shafted. Donut WANTS to - never mind. Thanks to Dewmazz for noticing. (Louis Wu 18:45:25 UTC) (permalink)
Fog of War trailer
A few days ago, Major Hit submitted his 'Fog of War' trailer to our Movie Peer Review Rating System - it failed, but for unacceptable reasons. (One of the judges didn't have the proper codec to see the original file, and instead of simply passing on the review, proceeded to slam it pretty hard.) We've re-encoded it to QuickTime (12.8 mb) and WMP9 (13.5 mb) formats - go watch! This one looks to have potential. (Louis Wu 16:59:07 UTC) (permalink)
Official PR, nice and tidy
For folks keeping up on the official Microsoft Halo-related press releases, this is the one for Monday's map release. Thanks, Ted! Update: Marc Friedrichs, of Halo Universe, points out that the German press release contains the following additions:
- In Europe the Expansion Pack will be released on July 1, 2005
- All maps will be available free via Xbox Live on August 30, 2005
The freebie date is worldwide, not just Europe. (Louis Wu 16:20:16 UTC) (permalink)
New maps already in Matchmaking?
Hmm... there's a thread over on the Xbox Addict forums suggesting that the new maps have already begun showing up in the matchmaking playlists. I'm a bit skeptical, given that 1) Turf (the map mentioned) isn't even free, meaning that many XBL users won't have it, 2) Bungie said it wasn't happening yet (though that was some time ago), and 3) there's no mention I can find on OTHER forums, at this point. You never know, though. Check it out! (If we get more info - confirming or denying - we'll be sure to pass it on.) Thanks, SKooT. Update: Poboonru points out a game played yesterday that seems to suggest that Turf is, indeed, part of the Team Slayer playlist. Update 2: my bad - that game is full of the folks who said they've found a way to hack matchmaking. This almost certainly isn't something your average player can participate in. Sorry. (Thanks to the many, many people who pointed this out.) Update 3: Official word from Bungie on this issue: the maps have NOT been released into current playlists yet (still slated for May 5), and the only people playing them this way are hacking - they're currently sifting the database for violators; anyone found participating in these games will be permanently banned from XBL Halo 2 Matchmaking and use of Bungie.net web services. Don't do it, folks - it's not worth it. (Louis Wu 12:45:15 UTC) (permalink)
Worldwide Halo Tourney now includes US
A while ago, we mentioned a European Halo tournament promoted by Xbox.com - looks like the US is finally getting in on the action, thanks to Gamestop. Thanks to many who wrote about this - looks like 3Suns was first. (Louis Wu 12:38:29 UTC) (permalink)
Covenant Cameo in w00tness
w00tness continues to include Halo in its episodes; Monday's comic contains a major battle scene with many, many recognizable ship types - including Covenant cruisers. Thanks, XB-70. (Louis Wu 12:35:18 UTC) (permalink)
Act... or Play Halo? Tough Choice.
Bob W points out an interview with Adam Baldwin and Nathan Fillion over at Ain't It Cool News. These guys are in a movie called Serenity, slated for release in September - the only reason this is Halo-newsworthy is because Nathan is pretty obsessed with the game, and mentions it half a dozen times during the interview. Oddness... (Louis Wu 12:28:16 UTC) (permalink)
New Scenery for Old Guys
Geezer Gamers has posted a mini-review of the new maps; bottom line, they like 'em. Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 11:09:19 UTC) (permalink)
News April 26 2005
Who WAS that masked Forerunner?
Looks like the Halo Story page got an update - Finn's been poring over the mailbag, and found some choice nuggets. Lots of speculation about old stuff... (Louis Wu 21:46:30 UTC) (permalink)
Legendary Walkthrough: High Charity
Mike Miller's Halo 2 Legendary Walkthrough continues to grow with High Charity - it's dark, it's messy, he gets through it fast. Seven vids, to help you through the rough parts. Say goodbye to the Master Chief! (Louis Wu 14:23:03 UTC) (permalink)
More new map gameplay on GameTrailers
Over on GameTrailers.com, you'll find 4 new Halo movies - gameplay vids of the four new maps. Two of them are in 'HD' (640x480), the other two are 480x360. A nice addition to the GameSpot/IGN/GameInformer gameplay vids released recently. Thanks, Christian Andersen. (Louis Wu 11:05:46 UTC) (permalink)
Rockets On Prisoner - 2005
ThatWeasel points out that the website is up for the 2005 Rockets on Prisoner Awards - a fan-driven awards ceremony celebrating the best films of the year. Go check out the details, and leave your feedback! (Louis Wu 10:59:19 UTC) (permalink)
Uncharted Territories
Red vs Blue has released a special Map Pack Day video - it's available in Hi-res for sponsors, lo-res for everyone else. Mom jokes, strategic planning, and footage of all four new maps - all in a single day! Thanks to PsychoJoe for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 10:29:52 UTC) (permalink)
Might as well Jump
Jumping's all the rage these days - and if you're into it, there's some amazing stuff out there. Jump Tactics just released Episode III - Headlong last night; the zip file (which actually contains a couple of vids, and a nice piano piece) is almost 114 mb, and available as a BitTorrent download. (The link above leads to a press release posted on our forum.) And though it was originally posted a week ago at High Impact Halo, I never pointed out Broncho and Friends' Jumping Vid here because the server load from the HIH folks was high enough (we served over 200 GB of the film on its first day of release). It seems to have died down a bit, though, so if you haven't seen it, grab this one, too. That's a lot of jumping footage - go see what you can use on the new maps! (Turf seems BUILT for jumpsters.) (Louis Wu 10:03:55 UTC) (permalink)
Wow - it's been a year?
Exactly one year ago today, a fan project that took on a life of its own kicked off. By the time it was done, some folks were clapping, others were shaking their fists - but all agreed it had made a mark on the fan community. Its mastermind just popped up for cake. (Louis Wu 09:13:58 UTC) (permalink)
News April 25 2005
DLC Confusion
There seem to be a number of questions folks have about the new Downloadable Content, and what's covered (and NOT covered) when you buy it. Major Nelson, Director of Programming for Xbox Live, has posted a DLC FAQ over on the Xbox.com forums (free registration required to see it). There are a number of questions and answers (and he'll be updating as needed) - but the big stuff boils down to the fact that downloadable content is tied to an Xbox, not a gamertag or a Live account. If you have 5 Xboxes, you need to buy the content 5 times. (Alternatively, you can wait until June 28th, and buy the DVD - once.) If your Xbox dies, and you need to replace it - you lose all downloaded content. And so on. Go read the FAQ for more info. Thanks, CYBRFRK. (Louis Wu 22:26:02 UTC) (permalink)
The Face in the Ring
Didn't take long... the first egg in the new maps was actually found before they went live (on Turf, you'll find two cola machines; one with a rooster, the other with teeth) - but now that the maps have been released, a slightly less obvious one has been pinned down. Walshicus on our own forum, and A Random Hero on the High Impact Halo forums, both noticed a face in the Halo overhanging Containment - both thought it might be Frankie, but it sure looks to me like Chris Carney. (Thanks to A Random Hero for the screenshot from the level.) (Louis Wu 19:28:23 UTC) (permalink)
Artwork needed
The Freelancer Halo mod folks need help with pictures (in-game or fan art) of Covenant and UNSC starships (not fighters). If you've got something that will work, drop by. (Louis Wu 16:33:21 UTC) (permalink)
Monday Morning Missives
Eep - moved 'em, but forgot to mention 'em. 11 new stories in the Fan Fiction section today. Go read! (Louis Wu 15:10:25 UTC) (permalink)
Contain Yourself.
Bungie has said that the new (free) downloadable map Containment is the largest yet available for Halo 2 multiplay. Stuntmutt agrees - check today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 14:48:55 UTC) (permalink)
Newly Transcribed Music at R.net
There are two new transcriptions available over at Rampancy.net - Walk in the Woods, and Under Cover of Night (both from the Halo Original Soundtrack) can be grabbed, once you log in. MIDI, PrintMusic, and PDF versions. Thanks to Devin Eastman for the transcriptions. (Louis Wu 14:27:14 UTC) (permalink)
Mandy Patinkin would be proud.
Last Stand gets two more episodes today - this comic is really coming into its own. Nice compositing, a storyline, and Princess Bride references - what more could you want? Update: looks like Resolute got an update, too. (Louis Wu 13:24:50 UTC) (permalink)
New maps - available already
Word was that the downloadable content would be available by morning-ish, PST, today - but we just got a report (thanks, Jinno) that it's already up, at least in some places. Remember - they're staggering it, so you might not see it right away. Update: Doh - looks like folks have been downloading for hours. Silly me. (Louis Wu 12:12:30 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Orlando Results
GotFrag has information and results from MLG Orlando - there's a writeup of the action, as well as the Championship bracket. Congrats to Team 3D (formerly StK) and iGameSpot (formerly Legendz) for the top two spots! Thanks to dedalus and 3Suns for information. (Louis Wu 11:06:11 UTC) (permalink)
Lots more dialogue
A few days ago, thesaelens mailed us a collection of new snippets - and yesterday, Captain Spark mentioned another batch he'd posted on his website. The collection - 53 snippets in all - has been added to our Dialogue Databank. Some great stuff this time around! (Louis Wu 10:35:09 UTC) (permalink)
Pains of Life
NickLee808 points out that EvilBurger has posted a new Subzero Rivalries... been a little while. (Louis Wu 10:27:02 UTC) (permalink)
News April 24 2005
NSCS Update
Overswarm has submitted a sizeable amount of new content for his Not So Common Sense Halo Strategy Guide:
- Advanced Combat Techniques (main page) gets some basic info about what comes out of guns, and how to use this info.
- A Warthog Guide, discussing the main types of hog available, and what's important about each.
- A new movie - Advanced Vehicle Techniques - Warthog - intended to supplement the written guide.
- Several new questions added to the FAQ
Go read it all! (Louis Wu 19:58:43 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Orlando - FFA results
MLG posted a roundup of the FFA portion of MLG Orlando yesterday afternoon - congrats to K 2the Arma and Tsquared for taking first and second. (Team StK has changed its name to Team 3D, and none of its members made it past the semi-final round of the FFA tourney... but they've got a fourth place seed in today's pool play.) Thanks to Quinion for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 14:09:56 UTC) (permalink)
New(er) maps described
Ender Illes followed up his first post about Luke Timmins' Halo presentation at the University of Utah with a second one - this one focused on the maps coming out in June. (No, there's no info about Backwash here - Bungie's doing a good job of keeping that one out of the public eye. The other four, however, are detailed nicely, though without pictures.) Go read! (Louis Wu 14:02:33 UTC) (permalink)
Artpad - on the rise again
Looks like Artpad-based art might be making a comeback on our forum - Evolved posted this image, and this one, recently. (Some visitors might remember the last craze, a few months ago.) Good stuff! (Louis Wu 13:44:55 UTC) (permalink)
Arbiter and Chief Print
The Bungie Store has put up a new, limited edition (500 copies) print of the very cool Master Chief and Arbiter image created by Craig Mullins (you can find an early version of the picture in our Mullins gallery). 8x10, $25 - just like the last one. Get 'em before they're gone! Thanks, Desolation33. (Louis Wu 12:37:42 UTC) (permalink)
Friends List Reset Rumor: FALSE
A couple of days ago, a rumor started somehow that Bungie was going to reset your XBL Friends list in the near future. Not only is this ridiculous (Bungie has no control over your Friends list; only Xbox Live can do that), Frankie has specifically denied that Bungie has any interest in doing so. Please, for the sanity of everyone on your list, STOP sending messages to them telling them that they're going to lose your name. (They MIGHT, if you don't stop messaging them... but it won't be Bungie's fault.) (Louis Wu 12:30:26 UTC) (permalink)
Calling on Community Spirit
This one's a bit... different. Many of you probably enjoy the artwork of Tina Leyk; she does some spectacular stuff, and has been inspiring Halo artists for quite some time now. Unfortunately, she's hit some rather rough times, personally - so we're hoping the Halo community might be able to help out. I've put up a small page where, if you'd like to help her out, you can contribute via Paypal. The account this goes to belongs to her brother, Tim. (Bungie.org plays no role here except facilitator; the money is going straight to the Leyks.) If you've enjoyed Tina's work in the past, and would like to see her in a position to create more, please consider chipping in! Every little bit helps. Thanks! (Louis Wu 12:19:48 UTC) (permalink)
Turf Walkthrough Now Up for All
Wow. Guess yesterday was a vacation day around here... sorry about the lack of news. First up: Red vs Blue released the fourth (and last) of their new map walktrhroughs - the WMP9 versions (high and low res) can both be found on their video downloads page; all are open to the public. We've also put up hi-res (15.9 mb) and lo-res (4.1 mb) QuickTime versions, for those that would rather use that. And it seems that the lo-res Sanctuary version I mentioned yesterday never actually got uploaded; it's there now. Apologies. (Louis Wu 12:12:55 UTC) (permalink)
News April 23 2005
Halo 3 Trailer
The movies continue today... this one comes from Lt Tuma, who's shown his ability to put existing clips together in the past. He calls this one 'Halo 3 Trailer' - the majority is already-released footage, but it is interspersed with plenty of well-chosen recorded pieces, and the audio is FANTASTIC. To me, this is a demonstration that a creative flair can make ANY footage work. (The second half is REALLY well-done.) The film is 480x360, and available in both QuickTime (21 mb, bungie.org | mythica.org) or WMP9 (21.6 mb, mythica.org | bungie.org). Grab the flavor of your choice, and check it out. It's full of both Halo 1 and Halo 2 spoilers - just so you know. (Louis Wu 13:53:06 UTC) (permalink)
Needles in the Sky
Rockslider has worked out reproducible 'Elite Fireworks' for the original Halo - this has been seen before, but now there's a recipe. Fun stuff! (Louis Wu 13:40:15 UTC) (permalink)
Star Wars Trailer (and MPRRS info)
Eep - dontcha hate it when you set something up to make things easier and faster, and it works, and you STILL screw up? On April 20, The7ftman submitted "Star Wars Episode VII The Final Battle", a trailer for an upcoming movie his clan is working on, to the Movie Peer Review Rating System. 9 hours later, the requisite number of reviewers had seen and rated the film, and the overall score was good enough to pass. Now it's almost 3 days after THAT, and the film still hasn't been released. (My fault, entirely.) Pretty short - but then, it's just a trailer. Available in WMP9 format (10.1 mb) and QuickTime format (9 mb). While we're on the subject of the MPRRS, I should mention that Cybrfrk has been working on the information available here; he's updated the "How this tool works" page, the FAQ, and streamlined the front page, maximizing info in minimum space. Poke around - and submit your files! Don't let my slowness discourage you. (Louis Wu 12:49:16 UTC) (permalink)
Sanctuary - now for everyone
As expected, Red vs Blue has released both a high-res and a low-res version of their Sanctuary Walkthrough for the public, in WMP9 format - we've also put up a high-res (12.3 mb) and a low-res (3.2 mb) version in QuickTime. Enjoy. (Louis Wu 12:31:53 UTC) (permalink)
Plains, Trains, and High Charity
Ender Illes also attended Luke Timmins' presentation at the University of Utah, and wrote up a bit more detailed synopsis on our forum. Sounds like a great talk from Luke, and thanks to Ender for the detailed info (at least as much as he was comfortable sharing)! ;-) (mnemesis 04:05:33 UTC) (permalink)
Sanctuary Walkthrough Posted
Over at Red vs Blue, you'll find (if you're a sponsor) high and low-res WMP9 versions of their Sanctuary walkthrough. I'd guess later tonight, or maybe tomorrow morning, these will be available to the masses. We'll have QuickTime versions up sometime tomorrow morning, as well. (No time to work on 'em tonight, sorry.) (Louis Wu 01:25:44 UTC) (permalink)
MONKEYS!
The Weekly What's Update is up over at Bungie.net - info about the upcoming maps, info about why you got banned from XBL this week, info about the leaderboards reset. And oh, yeah, a Mister Chief drawing that makes Leonardo cry. (And I don't mean the ninja turtle.) (Louis Wu 01:23:29 UTC) (permalink)
News April 22 2005
New Maps - Multiple Views
Ooh... cool. Promotheus just pointed out that the new maps are visible on Bungie.net's stats page, in all their multi-view splendor; you just need to find someone who's been playing them. Like, say... Shishka. Visit his stats page, click on any game tied to a new map, and bring up the Game Viewer... you'll see the maps laid out in full. W00T! (Louis Wu 22:34:41 UTC) (permalink)
Inside scoops... and other cool info
{SS}Zag1 attended Luke Timmins' talk at the University of Utah last night - and posted a brief summary on our forum. Sounds like it would have been a nice thing to see! (Louis Wu 22:21:37 UTC) (permalink)
The Wrong 100 Percent
Last month's OXM cover disc contained a pretty entertaining Mockumentary about Conker, the squirrel star of Conker's Bad Fur Day and and the new Conker, Live and Reloaded. There's a cameo by Marty O'Donnell, and some other Halo-related content. If you don't get the magazine, though, you can still watch the movie - it's up over at Gametrailers.com. Thanks to I)aemonicus for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 22:04:08 UTC) (permalink)
The Big Blue Boom
Shishka has posted yet another 3D screenshot over at Bungie.net - this one is on Turf. Shishka manages to win a Pyrrhic victory by nuking EVERYONE - but oh, it's so beautiful. (He also made a new forum avatar that would drive me out of my mind, if I read the bungie.net forums for any length of time.) (Louis Wu 21:49:09 UTC) (permalink)
Stryke Force Ep 5 Posted
The Stryke Force team has put up Episode 5: "Guerillas in the Midst". Twists, turns, and an executioner I'd love to hire. They've got the original WMP9 up on their Videos page, and it's been mirrored at HaloMachinima.com (thanks, trigger119). I've also converted it to QuickTime, and made both versions available here: WMP9 (25.9 mb, mythica.org | bungie.org), QuickTime (22.9 mb, bungie.org | mythica.org). Go watch! (Louis Wu 17:58:55 UTC) (permalink)
Infidelity.
Today's One One Se7en shows why mixing games can be a hassle. (Louis Wu 16:46:30 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
Whee! Once I deleted 19 of the 20 submitted copies of maxx's Warrior's Fate chapter, the Fan Fiction queue had just 14 entries in it - which have now been processed. Go read (and be happy you don't need to read Warrior's Fate 20 times). (Louis Wu 16:19:11 UTC) (permalink)
Online Tourney in May
neXtournaments is hosting another Halo 2 online tourney - 2v2, May 7 and 8, $5/person to enter, with cash prizes to the top teams. More details at neXtournaments. (Louis Wu 15:40:42 UTC) (permalink)
Revamped Stubbs
Stubbs the Zombie, Wideload's Halo-engined brainfest, has a new website - flashy, and full of nice pictures (and downloads). Go look! (Louis Wu 15:28:12 UTC) (permalink)
License and registration, please.
Remember that crazy Elite driver yesterday? Captain Spark followed the guy some more - he gets some mad air in this one. 7.6 mb or so (depending on flavor). He makes me laugh. (Louis Wu 14:10:18 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: Covenant War - the Coaster
Halo mentions a Halo-related roller coaster in development for Roller Coaster Tycoon 3. Details (and a link) are in the forum post. Halo - it's everywhere! (Louis Wu 13:21:01 UTC) (permalink)
Making like Mice
There've been a couple of small updates to the Halo Story page in the last day or two - and Jilly suggests that there's more to come. Should we trust her, or is she just stalling? (Louis Wu 13:14:54 UTC) (permalink)
Halo CE Maps site grows
Dennis Powers writes to point out that Halomaps.org has moved, and split, and grown, and all sorts of things. The old address works - but it now brings you to the Halo CE website, haloce.gearboxgamezone.com. All movies have been split off (except for map demo movies) and are hosted at movies.gearboxgamezone.com. This covers not only Halo machinima, but Brothers In Arms material, as well. If you have content you'd like them to host, there's an upload link in the navbar. Keep an eye on this growing family of sites! (Louis Wu 12:32:39 UTC) (permalink)
The Adventure of Superchief
Poor Master Chief... he NEVER gets no respect. Go check out Halo Babies today. (Louis Wu 12:26:33 UTC) (permalink)
Containment and Humpday Vids Redux
The Containment video we mentioned earlier is now available, in both high and low resolution, to everyone (not just sponsors) over at Red vs Blue - in WMP9 format. To ease the pain for folks looking for QuickTime, we're hosting both high res (30.6 mb) and low res (10.8 mb) versions - if you need Windows Media Player format, go to RvB, if you need QT, come here. (Also, the low-res Humpday Challenge vid is also available at RvB, for non-sponsors. Grab the popcorn - it's Movie Night! (Louis Wu 03:24:41 UTC) (permalink)
News April 21 2005
New Content at RvB
There are two new videos up at Red vs Blue - both are for sponsors right now, but at least SOME of the versions will be available to the general public later this evening. There's a second new map walkthrough - this one covers Containment. Hi and lo-res WMP9s again (we'll be posting QT versions later this evening, as well). The second is RvB's take on the Halo Humpday Challenge... it's pretty funny. Well, if you're not them. If you're a sponsor - go watch now! If you're not... wait a few hours, THEN go watch. (Louis Wu 22:49:45 UTC) (permalink)
Total Destruction
This week's Halo Humpday Challenge, against the Red vs Blue boys, is up at Bungie.net - it shows off Bungie's latest winning technique; invite in a group of people and make them play you on maps they've never seen before, but that you've been testing for 5 months! The results are pretty predictable. Thanks, Eric. (Louis Wu 20:57:38 UTC) (permalink)
Upcoming Tourneys
A couple of tournaments have been brought to our attention in the last few days - sorry for the timelag in posting them. The UGA Halo Club is hosting a Halo 2 tourney Athens, GA on April 24 - admission is free, top prize is $100. More details can be found in this news post on the Club's Bungie.net group site. (Thanks, AngelicLionheart.) And Game Junkie is hosting a multigametype tourney on April 30, in West Chester, OH - details can be found on this page. Entrance is $40 by the 27th, $60 after that (per 4-man team), $300 in cash and prizes guaranteed. Thanks, AeroJonesy. (Louis Wu 15:11:58 UTC) (permalink)
Shooting Straight
Overswarm has added an 'Aiming and Maneuvering' page to his Not So Common Sense Strategy Guide - go read it for some tips that will make your shots more accurate! (Louis Wu 14:27:30 UTC) (permalink)
Stubbs - A Zombie with an Attitude
Karri Scott, of Aspyr, wanted to make sure we noticed the interview with Matt Soell over at IGN - it's a pretty in-depth look at Wideload's upcoming Stubbs the Zombie game, including a discussion about what was added to the base Halo engine to make it work in this context, where the music is coming from (Mike Salvatori, Marty O'Donnell's Total Audio partner, is doing it), and another look at the business model that Wideload is using (a small core team augmented by contractors to supply content). A good read - check it out! (Louis Wu 12:08:33 UTC) (permalink)
Trautmann Roundup
A couple of interesting entries in Eric Trautmann's weblog - thanks for notice goes to Rampancy.net. Trautmann's 'The Art of Halo' made the Locus best-selling Gaming-Related Books list this month - it joins all three Halo novels on the top-5 list. (Locus is a big science fiction/fantasy mag.) And Ross Mills asked 5 questions which Eric answered - the first is an interesting discussion of game stories (and where Halo fits). Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 11:55:57 UTC) (permalink)
Too much fun.
Captain Spark did some character swapping with the original Halo - he wanted to see how well Elites could drive warthogs. The answer seems to be 'about as well as a 16-year-old American Male'. (Louis Wu 11:55:35 UTC) (permalink)
Quarantined
Rampancy.net has put up another in its series of Halo 2 Impressions - sistimatic takes a close look at Quarantine Zone. There are some things that bother him - but there are also things that bring him back to the high points of the first Halo. Go see if you agree. (Louis Wu 11:55:10 UTC) (permalink)
BR accuracy clarification
Significant confusion has arisen about the Battle Rifle's accuracy, following the release of Oranjoose's video showing its new non-existent bullet spread. According to Achronos, over on the Bungie.net forums, it's not so much that the Battle Rifle was changed by the Auto-Update - it's that a bug that affected the accuracy of headshot weapons was fixed, and the BR benefitted more visibly than anything else. (Louis Wu 11:52:48 UTC) (permalink)
Video Walkthroughs - Wizard
Red vs Blue's Burnie Burns has put together walkthroughs for the four new maps coming out on Monday; they'll be releasing 1 per day for the next four days. Tonight's release is Warlock; you can find both high-res (19.9 mb) and low-res (5.9 mb) WMP9 versions in their video archive (the hi-res versions are for sponsors only). We've agreed to help out with low-res web mirrors (both WMP9 and QuickTime - 5.5 mb), as well as hi-res BitTorrent links (with hefty seed bandwidth) - WMP9 and QuickTime. If you want to see how the levels are put together - grab these video walkthroughs, starting with tonight's entry of Warlock! Update: RT has posted the hi-res WMP9 for non-sponsors, as well, and HaloImpulse has put up both the low-res and the hi-res WMP9, with .rar compression. (Louis Wu 01:04:46 UTC) (permalink)
News April 20 2005
More DLC Map Vids at Gamespy
Another dozen (well, almost) vids of the upcoming Halo 2 maps have been posted at Gamespy - these are the complementary files to IGN's offerings a couple of nights ago. (If you look at filenames, IGN got the evens, Gamespy got the odds.) Go grab 'em in the flavor of your choice - unlike IGN's, these are downloadable in hi-res by the general public. Thanks, John Rivas. (Louis Wu 19:17:20 UTC) (permalink)
Hooray For Halowood.
Got a movie, want it hosted by us, but can't get past the MPRRS? Stuntmutt can help with today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 16:20:45 UTC) (permalink)
The Talking Sketch
Looks like Brian Jarrard was pretty busy this past week - in addition to the interview vid at Gamespot we mentioned a couple of days ago, and the one at IGN that was findable (but not explicitly mentioned in our news), there's a THIRD interview about the new material, this time over at 1UP.com. (This one's text-based, not in video format.) There's some intriguing info in there - check out the details on banning, the info on playlist changes to avoid obnoxious situations, the discussion about what happened to the needler (and the promised, but unrealized, changes). This interview is actually page 2 of 1UP's article - page one is an intro to the maps themselves. Thanks (yet again), 3Suns. (Louis Wu 14:14:39 UTC) (permalink)
The Patchwork Halo
Dyslexia, over at MLGPro.com, has posted an article evaluating the changes to online play due to the Auto-Update - it's a pretty in-depth read, and while it's slanted a bit to the viewpoint of the changes and how they affect MLG players, there's plenty of general info for less competitive folks. A very nice overview. Thanks (again), 3Suns. (Louis Wu 14:04:25 UTC) (permalink)
Filming improvements in HaloCE
Looks like the Spectator Chasecam we mentioned a few days ago has been perfected, and released - if you want to play with it, go grab it off the Gearbox forum! Thanks, MasterGrief. (Louis Wu 12:34:33 UTC) (permalink)
Wow.
This raised goosebumps on my arms. Here's hoping it wasn't faked. (Louis Wu 07:01:18 UTC) (permalink)
Map Screens - Writ Big
Bungie has posted very large versions of many of the new screenshots released recently - the smallest is 960x720, the largest 1920x1768. As SketchFactor put it, if you haven't seen them or you want to see them in a larger format or with a less obtrusive watermark, they've got you covered. Go download! (Louis Wu 06:22:35 UTC) (permalink)
1.1 Update Impressions at Stage Select
A relatively abrasive summary of the new Auto-Update has been posted at Stage Select. Funny, unless you get annoyed with the unrelenting sarcasm. (Louis Wu 06:01:52 UTC) (permalink)
Walshy Talks to TXB
David "Walshy" Walsh, a member of Team STK (maybe the best, if 6-year-olds can be believed), has been interviewed over at TeamXbox. Interesting read - guy has a solid head on his shoulders. Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 05:46:16 UTC) (permalink)
Blow Me Away
Back in February, Lt Tuma sent along a montage - a trailer, really; campaign footage mixed with cutscenes, set to Breaking Benjamin's Blow Me Away. It wasn't that I didn't like it - I never even got around to WATCHING it. Recently, he wrote to ask again about it - so I watched it. And liked it - quite a bit. We have a new Peer-Review system in place at this point, however... so I asked if he'd be willing to submit to it. He said sure - so I dropped it into the hopper. Two and a half hours later, it had received ratings from 12 volunteer reviewers, and the consensus was 'thumbs-up'... now isn't that better than languishing in a queue for two months? You can grab it in WMP9 format (17.4 mb, mythica.org | bungie.org) or QuickTime format (15 mb, bungie.org | mythica.org) - here's hoping you like it! (Louis Wu 05:30:52 UTC) (permalink)
Too much Halo, not enough sleep
boogey-woogie points out an article at The Nevada Sagebrush about one of the finalists in MTV's Best Gamer on Campus contest. Sounds to me like the guy plays too much Halo 2... (Registration is required - Bugmenot.com can help.) (Louis Wu 05:23:13 UTC) (permalink)
News April 19 2005
Uprising - on Legendary
Sometimes, days just don't go as you plan. Mike Miller got the materials for his latest Legendary Walkthrough chapter, Uprising, in on time... but events here have conspired to keep me from posting the link. Go look at it; the man CONTINUES to blow me away. Sometimes it's because he's just so dang accurate with his grenade throws... but sometimes, it's because he comes up with a simple (yet to me, completely new) way of looking at a problem - and solving it. 13 videos, in either QuickTime or WMP9 formats, will get you through this beautiful but deadly level in multiple ways. Check it out! (Louis Wu 20:39:33 UTC) (permalink)
Tuesday's Fanfic
There are 27 new pieces up in the Fan Fiction section today; busy weekend for the writers. Go read! (Louis Wu 14:50:10 UTC) (permalink)
They'll never see it coming.
Strategy guides like Not So Common Sense are all well and good, but they can only take you so far. Sometimes you need to think outside the box to get that critical advantage. Now, Mr Kippling has revealed some of his most deadly secrets of clan match strategy. Go forth and dominate! (Count Zero 14:30:34 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Theme Tab
Calvin Chaos noticed a new tab for the Halo 2 Theme over at Mxtabs.net - if you play, go grab this! (Louis Wu 14:11:56 UTC) (permalink)
THAT wasn't supposed to happen...
Hehe - oops... If you visit the GameInformer preview we mentioned earlier, and head to the Media page, you'll find a 17.7 mb film labeled 'Sanctuary #2'. Somebody's gonna get yelled at - cause this ain't Sanctuary at all... it's Gemini, one of the five maps slated for release in late June. It's a really dark video, and if you don't grab it soon, it probably won't be there (I'm guessing as soon as someone realizes the booboo, it'll go bye-bye), but for the lucky few, this is a bonus attributable to human error. (Thanks to Apocalidiot and chaosknight514 for pointing this out - I wasn't going to watch the GI films until tomorrow.) (Louis Wu 03:22:50 UTC) (permalink)
New Map Media Frenzy
Wow, very nice - there are 28 new map pics over at Gamespot showing off the new levels; many gameplay shots, but also several overhead shots showing the full level layouts. (Thanks, Red Leader.) There's a written preview (with a movie - an interview with Brian Jarrard about the new material), as well. Not to be outdone, IGN has their own preview - some of the same screenshots (with the IGN watermark, of course, instead of the Gamespot one), plus 12 new vids (streaming for the masses, downloadable for IGN Insiders) showing off the first four maps. None of the new media is on Bungie.net yet (nor has anyone sent us copies behind the scenes) - but if we get our hands on un-watermarked copies, we'll be sure to post 'em. Update: looks like the shots are up at TeamXbox, too (with a smaller watermark than GS or IGN) - thanks, chaos recon. Update 2: GameInformer has a preview/media, too. (I'm sad - we're not on the right lists, I guess.) Thanks, Apocalidiot. (Louis Wu 00:56:36 UTC) (permalink)
Maptacular Monday!
In a move calculated to keep their post on our front page for the maximum time possible, Bungie has just posted a new top story, pinning down the new maps download date. (It's next Monday, April 25.) There are descriptions of the levels (if you missed them the first time around)... but the big news is clearly the date itself. (The maps passed certification today.) Today was Auto-Update day... next week is Map day! Get happy! (Louis Wu 00:23:52 UTC) (permalink)
News April 18 2005
Comic Creation Tutorial
Gruntsbane has created a tutorial explaining how he makes the Halo Babies comic strips - it's pretty cool stuff! (The HB news post, with user comments, is here.) (Louis Wu 23:39:25 UTC) (permalink)
Melee Damage Chart updated
Hypnotoad, who created some melee damage charts a couple of months ago, has updated them to reflect the new realities of the Auto-Update. I'm sure those numbers could be made friendlier... but it's a useful chart, nonetheless! (Louis Wu 23:36:04 UTC) (permalink)
Dan Cody in the next Game With Fame
The next "Game With Fame" Challenge on Xbox Live is coming up on April 22 - this Friday. You'll have the chance to play against Dan Cody, All-American defensive end from the University of Oklahoma. More details can be found in the official press release. (Louis Wu 17:59:22 UTC) (permalink)
Mauled.
In honor of the Auto-Update that's shown up today, Stuntmutt looks at some of the improvements to gameplay in today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 17:29:33 UTC) (permalink)
Hacked Save Warning
Whoa... be careful. Frankie writes,
If you have a hacked game save/profile, do NOT sign into Live with it after the update. You'll be banned. Delete it, or don't sign into Live.
You've been warned! (It's unclear whether this means JUST the hacked saves that let you cheat, or ALL hacked saves - for now, you're safer if you remove ALL of them - after backing them up, of course.) (Louis Wu 16:29:08 UTC) (permalink)
Gotfrag - back in (Halo) business
Gotfrag, a site aimed at competitive gaming, has reopened its Halo 2 coverage with new staff and no fewer than 7 new articles. Swing by and read some! (Older Halo 2 material requires a Gotfrag Prime account, but these should be available to everyone.)
- Lil Poison: Superkid or Jedi Knight?
- Check Six: Dedicated to Dominance
- As the Lines Blur: Controller vs Keyboard/Mouse
- Pro Style Playlists in H2: a Possibility, or Wishful Thinking?
- Trick Jumping: An Underrated Edge
- MLG Online League Preview
- Is Professional Gaming Here to Stay?
The Lil Poison article is great! (They're all well-written, actually, but I loved seeing the info on the 6-year-old wonder.) Thanks, James Schneider. (Louis Wu 16:25:34 UTC) (permalink)
Why Tricking is So Cool.
Yesterday afternoon, I saw a news post on the front page of High Impact Halo which pointed to this forum thread there. choroboy managed to bring a pair of Hunters into the Control Room on Great Journey - and it's astounding how poorly they do against Tartarus' hammer. I didn't post these yesterday, because the movies were hosted on putfile and rapidshare, and i didn't want to make people suffer unduly... but I've localized them, and Ducain was kind enough to add the local links to the thread, so go grab 'em! Getting the Hunters in is pretty darn cool in itself - but the outcome of the Hunter/Tartarus fight is amazing; I'm guessing there's some special weakness there. (Louis Wu 15:25:56 UTC) (permalink)
Don't worry - it's still coming.
For all the people checking every 10 seconds or so to see if the Auto-Update has been released... word is that you won't see it BEFORE about 9 am PST (4 pm GMT), and (if the WWU was accurate) maybe not right then, either (since they're going to try and spread the bandwidth load over time). Patience... (Louis Wu 14:54:48 UTC) (permalink)
Halogen Teaser Posted
Halogen, the C&C Generals Halo Total Conversion, has put up a trailer for the mod; it's pretty high-quality. There's only a little bit of actual game footage... but it's pretty cool stuff! Comes in multiple flavors (and I sent along some mirror links, to help with the bandwidth) - go grab one and check it out! (Louis Wu 13:46:19 UTC) (permalink)
Mjolnir Mix, by the Video Game Pianist
Ross Mills pointed out a website called 'Video Game Pianist' - it's some really nice piano work focused on (wait for it) video game music. There's a really nice version of the Halo 2 Theme (Mjolnir Mix) - but the only way to get it on the website is to download an entire CD's worth of video game music (70 mb or so). This may appeal to many of you (almost certainly DOES appeal to many of you)... but it's overkill for those who just want to hear the Halo piece. We've gotten permission from Martin Leung, the Video Game Pianist, to host the theme here; 2.7 mb, MP3 format. If you like what you hear, explore the site! (Louis Wu 01:50:16 UTC) (permalink)
H2-Prime... coming soon
Wave of Lag pointed out a thread at the Gearbox forums devoted to a new HaloCE map called 'H2-Prime'... looks pretty fun! Check out the pics (and there are some small vids farther along in the thread). (Louis Wu 01:45:59 UTC) (permalink)
Humpday Challenge - On Your Screen
Art Vandelay recorded some of last week's Halo Humpday Challenge between High Impact Halo and Bungie, on XBL; I thought the third game was pretty interesting to watch. Remember; you're seeing this entirely from a single player's viewpoint, with no editing; It's not nearly as exciting as it would have been had multiple people recorded the game and then had the final product edited together... but it SHOULD give you a sense for how both teams played. (You'll see that Sketch's writeup is... um, less than accurate (It's HIH that scores first), and there's a hilarious sequence starting at around 4:20 or so - were I to give it a title, it would probably be 'Duck Hunt'.) The game was Neutral Flag CTF on Colossus with Snipers, and the vid is 9:05 long, weighing in at 33.3 mb. You can grab it in WMP9 format (mythica.org | bungie.org) or QuickTime format (bungie.org | mythica.org) - nice stuff! (Louis Wu 01:34:37 UTC) (permalink)
More Sex, Drugs, and Halo Pros mirrors
The DJ, of Halo Impulse, sent us more links for the Team GaG vid from yesterday - these have been rar-compressed, but otherwise are unchanged from the versions we posted. We're lovin' the community help!
WMP9 Hi-Res | WMP9 Lo-Res | QT Hi-Res | QT Lo-Res
Enjoy! (Louis Wu 01:17:09 UTC) (permalink)
News April 17 2005
Fushiko's Trick
A small trick movie made its way through our Peer Review process - and passed; we're gonna let it go this time, because it's pretty small, and has a neat trick, but we need to remind both submitters and reviewers that this system is NOT for trick vids; there are better places for those. That said, check out Fushiko's Bomb-sticking vid - WMP9 format, 3.3 mb. (Louis Wu 19:35:58 UTC) (permalink)
Slippery Bad Guy!
Captain Spark posted another 62 dialogue snippets on his website; we've added them to the Dialogue Databank. There's some good stuff in there - including a Marathon reference (well, a Carlito's Way reference, I suppose, but it was a Marathon level title), and some pretty funny quotes. (Louis Wu 16:52:33 UTC) (permalink)
Mirror, mirror, on the net...
Nirvana has posted a bunch of mirrored movies on his HaloVids site - check this forum post for the list! (Louis Wu 14:44:35 UTC) (permalink)
Major MLG Changes due to Auto-Update
There are a couple of important news items over at MLGPro.com for folks who play in their tournaments. The first points out that having the MLG Online League actually start competition the night the auto-update comes out might cause some headaches... so they've pushed the leagues back a week for folks to get used to the changes. (Thanks, Clan Fire When Ready.) The second warns anyone heading to MLG Orlando next week to NOT allow the Auto Update onto their Xbox, since the update will NOT be supported at the tournament. (All SUBSEQUENT tourneys will use it - but this one is so close that it seemed unreasonable to expect folks to change their playstyle overnight.) For practicing between Monday and the 23rd, they suggest XBox Connect. Wow... makes me glad I'm not organizing this stuff! (Louis Wu 13:16:08 UTC) (permalink)
What's on YOUR tombstone?
Wow... this is a little weird, I think. ManKitten found an ad in American Funeral Director, a publication for the mortuary industry, promoting a product to help you remember your loved one for the important things in their life... and the example they put together involves Halo 2. Go check out the picture. (Louis Wu 13:08:43 UTC) (permalink)
The Art of Controller Tossing
Team Tabula Rasa has a new 'Making of a Spartan' column - this one is called 'The Art of Controller Tossing'. (Well, it's really about goals, and managing your anger in ways that don't involve destruction of property... but the subtitle is funnier.) This is all about what the author did to move away from a plateau he'd reached in online play. Thanks to crazyc33 for pointing it out on our forum. (Louis Wu 12:19:23 UTC) (permalink)
Sex, Drugs, and Halo Pros (Part 1)
Team GAG created a documentary-type vid called 'Sex, Drugs, and Halo Pros, Part 1', an 8-minute condensed view of the team's road trip from Chicago to Houston to participate in the MLG tournament that took place there in March. Three guys, a car, a video camera, and a pro Halo tourney... it's a lot of fun to watch. Heads-up for those just looking for gameplay footage; part one covers getting to the tourney itself; there's very little gameplay at all.) If you visit their website, you'll find download links for hi-res (640x480, 73.3 mb) and low-res (320x240, 30.6 mb) WMP9 versions of this video. ConorOberst has mirrored the hi-res version - and to that we add our own mirrors (hi-res WMP9, mythica.org | bungie.org, low-res WMP9, bungie.org | mythica.org) and a QuickTime version, as well (hi-res, 59 mb, bungie.org | mythica.org, and low-res, 29 mb, mythica.org | bungie.org). This puppy's pretty big; if you have bandwidth to spare, put up a copy, and send us a link; we'll add it to this post! Update: Thanks to Feenix, who's added all four versions to the collection at That Weasel Television. Update 2: trigger119 writes to say that the two hi-res versions can be found on HaloMachinima.com. (Louis Wu 11:38:58 UTC) (permalink)
News April 16 2005
BitTorrented Montages
We have two different montages for you today; both are in QuickTime format, both are very high-quality, video-wise, and both are nicely timed by their creators. Both are available (for now) only via BitTorrent. The first is from pushbak, and is called 'Defense'. It's 500x300, 4:08 long, and weighs in at 35.1 mb. The second is from FuzzySmurf, and is called 'Savior'. It's 640x480, 5:07 long, and weighs in at 62.2 mb. That's 100 MB of montage goodness. If you like montages, check these two out! (Louis Wu 13:25:14 UTC) (permalink)
Building Play Areas
3Suns uncovered an article posted a few months ago at HaloMods - it's a piece on 'Game-environment creation', and contains some of the thoughts that should go into level development; it's a good read for anyone interested in the idea of building a playable level. If someone asks you "why is there a catwalk up there?" and you can't answer them... maybe it doesn't belong. (Louis Wu 12:55:42 UTC) (permalink)
Your Guest Is As Good As Mine.
If you're feeling withdrawal symptoms from One One Se7en because it's the weekend (yeah, like it's good enough to be ADDICTED to), you can swing by Stuntmutt's blog; he's posted a series of guest strips that have been building up. I'm sort of glad I don't play online with the Helljumpers... And while we're talking about comics - Mr Kippling posted Bye-stander 8, and Über-Chief 69 posted Resolute 9 (and redid his website). And Red Leader posted "This Island Earth" 6. Wonga! (Louis Wu 12:45:08 UTC) (permalink)
HALOader updated
Gravity has uploaded HALOader, his stats-tracking app, to 1.1.04b - new features include a full internal messaging system. More details (and a link) in the forum post. (Louis Wu 11:18:08 UTC) (permalink)
Buy in bulk, save cash
He mentioned this via email a few days ago... but I forgot to follow up. Mintz08 has posted a link to a discounted four-pack of Halo 2 action figures (Series 2) for about 25% less than the four figures would cost individually. The site it's on (BigBadToyStore) also takes Paypal, a plus. If you're in the market, go look! (Louis Wu 11:16:06 UTC) (permalink)
Praetoria Guard released new blooper reel
HymnToNinkasi pointed out a new movie by the Praetoria Guard yesterday - it's a blooper reel for Video 2.5. You can find it on thier Downloads page (follow 'Downloads from their main site). 20.4 mb, WMP9 format. (Louis Wu 11:13:31 UTC) (permalink)
Pink Death, Amplified
I'm not supposed to be here, but I'm trying to save my inbox from the assault it would receive if I left this until morning; Shishka has posted another way-cool 3d screenshot over at Bungie.net, this one of Containment. You wanna see what those new land mines can do? Check this out. (You'd think, given that today is agdTinman's last day at Bungie, that Shishka would have let this flag capture go... but no. Guy's a monster. Go tell him what you think of his heartlessness.) (Louis Wu 02:32:04 UTC) (permalink)
News April 15 2005
...and some tourneys.
Oops, almost missed this (because it morphed to its final form from a less news-worthy origin), but there's also a Tourney roundup at Bungie.net - see what's happening in your area! (Louis Wu 22:53:47 UTC) (permalink)
Is it Monday yet?
Weekly What's Update - it's big. Real big. The REAL news? The Autoupdate - the fix that will handle cheats, bugs, the like - is coming on Monday. Yes, THIS Monday. What else is in it? Well... that's what the WWU is all about. Go read. (Louis Wu 21:23:06 UTC) (permalink)
Where's PolitenessMan when you need him?
Insert25.com posted 'Twenty-Two Halo 2 Rules of Etiquette' - some are common sense, some are funny, some are... well, go read. Thanks, orion 12. (He likes rule 21.) (Louis Wu 16:36:52 UTC) (permalink)
Too Much Mountain Dew?
Stuntmutt continues the MD gag in today's One One Se7en. Yeah, he's a lightweight. (Louis Wu 15:20:33 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Dos and Don'ts
Another video has made it through our Movie Peer Review Rating System - this one comes from TWIXMIX and Stones174 (with a little help from Bob), and gives you some ideas about what to do, and not do, in Halo 2. Astoundingly small video for the length. It's over 7 minutes long, and weighs in at 8.5 mb in WMP9 format, or 9.3 mb in QuickTime format. (Louis Wu 15:17:12 UTC) (permalink)
Advanced Combat Techniques, Volume 1
Overswarm has put together Volume 1 of a video series he calls 'Advanced Combat Techniques - you can find the video (about 11 mb, depending on flavor) in the Movies section of his Not So Common Sense guide. There are some fantastic tricks in here - you might have died at the hands of a better player because of some of them, and now you can exact your revenge! Go watch. (Louis Wu 15:05:32 UTC) (permalink)
Halo CE Chronicles now in QuickTime
Dennis Powers points out that QuickTime versions of all episodes of the Halo CE Chronicles are now online, in large and small sizes. If you've been waiting for a non-Flash, non-WMP9 format of these files... wait no more. (Louis Wu 14:22:13 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie vs HIH - Bungie's story
Eep - meant to post this last night... forgot. :( Sketch wrote up the Halo Humpday Challenge at Bungie.net this week - Frankie was locked out of not just the writeup, but the game itself. Ouch! There's an interesting tidbit at the bottom of the writeup... looks like we might get to hear about new maps next week! (Louis Wu 14:00:42 UTC) (permalink)
Spamtacular!
New content at Halo Babies today - the second half of the Spam comic series is up (hehe - made ME chuckle), and there's some non-Halo-related material from Gruntsbane, showing off what he does when he's NOT drawing the Babies. Go see! (Louis Wu 13:25:13 UTC) (permalink)
e-Blacks get ready to rumble
Gameplanet, in New Zealand, has more info about the winners of the Halo 2 competition in NZ last weekend (we mentioned it Sunday) - turns out the top 2 players are headed to Sydney, not just the top player. (Louis Wu 13:06:05 UTC) (permalink)
News April 14 2005
Immaturity Reigns
Wow. One of these days, I need to pay attention to our rules; they're set up for a reason. When we automated our Links section, we got over a hundred submissions in the first few days - we set up a rule saying 'no more front-page mentions for new sites' because we didn't want the front page to be nothing but new site mentions. Yesterday, we got email asking us to front-page 2old2play, a splinter group of the Geezer Gamers. I declined - but was sent a series of emails over the course of the afternoon, hounding me to reconsider. So this morning, mostly to make the emails stop, I did. Now I'm getting emails from folks who stayed in the original Geezer Gamers, telling me that the split was pretty unfriendly, that the information we posted wasn't true, and that we needed to set the record straight on the slander. Let this post stand as notice that never again will we EVER post news about a new site, unless there is content that WE believe warrants a post. NO exceptions. Don't ask - because it won't happen. I refuse to participate in he-said, she-said games. (Louis Wu 21:45:13 UTC) (permalink)
Alan James MC Suit - Progress Continues
Almost 2 weeks ago, Alan James sent us new pictures of his under-construction Master Chief Suit - this time, it's arm (or leg?) pieces. Apologies for taking so long to get them up... check 'em out, and follow along with the progress! (Louis Wu 21:12:48 UTC) (permalink)
AiDcomics to host community strips
AiDcomics has seen a niche, and decided to fill it. They're offering hosting for Halo-based comics (that meet their guidelines). If you pen a Halo-based comic, but have trouble finding a home for it... these guys can help you out. Read the news post on the main page for details! (Louis Wu 18:49:44 UTC) (permalink)
HaloCE Chasecam
bitterbanana has gotten a Spectator Chasecam working in HaloCE; you can see a short video of it (AVI format, 3.7 mb) in action on the Gearbox forums. Still a bit jerky... but it's early yet. Thanks, MasterGrief. (Louis Wu 18:06:28 UTC) (permalink)
Seropian on the Edge
Fozma points out an interview with Alex Seropian about Stubbs the Zombie, Wideload's Halo-engined game, in the May issue of Edge magazine. My copy hasn't arrived yet, so I can't discuss it... but hey, Edge is good stuff! (Louis Wu 17:53:01 UTC) (permalink)
Thursday Fiction
13 new pieces (stories and poems) in the Fan Fiction section since Monday. Go read! (Louis Wu 17:41:21 UTC) (permalink)
Gandhi - the nice killer
Another interview up over at MLGPro.com - this one with GandhiTheGreat, a jock by day, a video game geek at night. Go read about the Gandhi Hop! Thanks, James Schneider. (Louis Wu 17:05:50 UTC) (permalink)
The Avenger, Trailer 2
trigger119 wrote to say that a new trailer for The Avenger has been posted at halomachinima.com, in the Action/Drama section. (This is probably a good time to point out that the Movies section of that site has been rearranged by category, to make films easier to find.) The trailer is pretty short, and makes no sense to me... but it could just be that I'm missing my coffee or something. MPEG-1 format, 12.8 mb. (Louis Wu 16:48:53 UTC) (permalink)
Sax and Violins
The latest in the series of Narc's Retorts is up over at Rampancy.net - Narcogen takes American society to task for suggesting that violence is equivalent to sex in the context of 'things that are bad for our kids'. (This is also the subject of a sizeable thread on our forum, as well - both the thread and Narc's retort stem from the PC Mag piece on the subject of game ratings posted yesterday.) (Louis Wu 13:39:28 UTC) (permalink)
HIH vs Bungie - Humpday news
Phan7om posted a note on our forum about last night's Halo Humpday Challenge; he knows about it because he played in it. (This week, the High Impact Halo admins and forum mods took on Bungie - and lost.) Bungie's writeup isn't posted yet - but Phan7om's forum post contains links to all three games. Hard to hide stuff around here! (Louis Wu 13:12:15 UTC) (permalink)
The Battle Continues
It's amazing how easy it is for things to get away from you. Last week, we put up a gallery for the Halo-related art of Bryn Casey. The same day, his brother posted on our forum, with a NEW picture... and I'm just now getting around to adding it to the gallery. Time... it's an eel. Covered in vaseline. Go look - as Bryn says, it was originally painted with acrylics on an 18x24 canvas... pretty cool stuff. (Louis Wu 12:47:27 UTC) (permalink)
CPL changes Halo 2 tourney format
HALOChat posted a bunch of links to the Cyberathlete Professional League - seems they're moving to a 4v4 format for their Halo 2 tourney, instead of the original 5v5. Many more details, including location and date, can be found in the forum post. (Louis Wu 12:43:10 UTC) (permalink)
Prometheus Update
Nick points out a new update about Prometheus, the multi-version editor in development. A bunch of questions answered (mostly bringing expectations back into line with reality), a set of new screenshots. Go look! (Louis Wu 12:35:02 UTC) (permalink)
Halo/Star Wars crossover
Mjolnir14 points out a thread on the FileFront forums about a project starting up to create a Halo mod for Star Wars Battlefront. If this is your cup of tea, go see if you can help! (Louis Wu 12:29:22 UTC) (permalink)
Remembrance
The Codex Episode 9 - 'Remembrance' - has been released. QuickTime only right now, but other formats are on the way. Emotional. (Great filming, as usual.) Thanks, StickyHelljumper. (Louis Wu 12:27:40 UTC) (permalink)
Back to Basics
Wow - a comic that's been dormant for months, Adventures in Disaster, has put up episode 17... poor MC. Thanks, Boxer. (Louis Wu 12:19:07 UTC) (permalink)
Old Guy Tantrums
So you thought that the one thing that older gamers had over younger ones was maturity? You thought wrong. Seems that the Geezer Gamers clan, the first Halo 2 clan devoted to gamers who worry more about their kids than they do about their allowance, has been letting in much younger members, which has offended the REAL 'older crowd' - a rift has occurred, with a new faction, 2old2play, heading off and forming their own clan. Membership is restricted to 25 and older, and the website will have a whole bunch of cool features like video tutorials and private clan forums. And a special nap area, maybe. Thanks, Dave Friesen. (Louis Wu 12:14:13 UTC) (permalink)
News April 13 2005
SEE? I KNEW Halo 3 was done.
Ross Mills points out a Halo 3 reference in today's Penny Arcade. Let's see Bungie try and wiggle out of THIS one! (Louis Wu 18:07:58 UTC) (permalink)
Soldiers in the Sky
Another product of the Movie Peer Review Rating System - Nighthawk 117's Soldiers in the Sky is a tribute to the ODSTs. A great example of HUDless filming (if you have Action Replay, you might want to check this thread out at High Impact Halo - thanks, Dry Ice), it ties solo gameplay pretty nicely to a classic Johnny Horton song. Stirring. You can find it in WMP9 format (640x480, 18.5 mb) at either mythica.org or bungie.org, or in QuickTime format (640x480, 19.1 mb at bungie.org or mythica.org. Our reviewers are champing at the bit - if you've got video that you want the masses to see, visit the MPRRS! (Louis Wu 17:49:43 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Season Changes
More MLG news - MLG San Diego has been cancelled (they couldn't find a venue), MLG Seattle moves to September, plus info on MLG St. Louis, MLG Philadelphia (Halo Nationals 2), MLG Vegas, and more. Go read! (Louis Wu 17:41:15 UTC) (permalink)
Medal Madness
El B has finished creating hi-quality vector versions of Bungie's game medals for use in the stats program Query Spree (and other places, I'd imagine, now that they're done) - pretty stuff! (Louis Wu 17:37:57 UTC) (permalink)
Aaugghhh!
synide asked that I remind people that the deadline for MLG's Online League registration is today - but he asked me to post it yesterday. I forgot. If you're intending to play in either the amateur or pro leagues, and your team isn't signed up yet... do it now, or you're not gonna be playing. (Louis Wu 17:31:28 UTC) (permalink)
How Do You Dew?
Today's One One Se7en shows you the perils of the upcoming DLC... be careful out there. (Louis Wu 15:26:58 UTC) (permalink)
Lookin' For Fun
ST started a Halo-related blog - this one devoted to his Halo 2 stats. His post 'A look at H2 through the eyes of the mediocre player' is a rambling look at what it takes to find a 'fun' game. (Louis Wu 14:59:41 UTC) (permalink)
Who's Afraid of Mature Games
There's a fascinating article over at PC Magazine; a father, not really a video game player, discusses the ESRB rating system, and where it might be falling short. (One of his conclusions: "I'm sorry, but Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas should not have the same letter rating as Halo 2.") Mostly, I saw exactly where he was coming from - but there are a few ideas that make me go "Huh?" (He believes that if you're going to have a hero like the Master Chief in a game, you should not allow him the free will to kill his fellow soldiers.) Anyway - worth a read, for anyone who has a stake in the rating system - this means parents, kids who need to rely on their parents to approve games, and anyone else who needs a way to judge content without having to play it all. (Louis Wu 14:50:58 UTC) (permalink)
The Mystery Gamer Rides Again
We mentioned the Mystery Gamer (and some Halo playing online) back in January - according to XBOX365, the games have begun again. If you happen to find yourself in a game with someone with the gamertag XboxLive, finish the game - if you win, you get an official XBL shirt. There's a list of the games (and playtimes) the Mystery Gamer will be playing in the article - Halo 2 comes up on April 21 and May 2. Check it out! (Louis Wu 14:38:02 UTC) (permalink)
NSCS: Matchmaking Gametypes
Overswarm has updated his Not So Common Sense guide here at HBO with a slew of pages detailing strategies and techniques for the Matchmaking gametypes on XBL. Go visit the section, and see how you can improve your game! (As always, it's a work-in-progress; pages that aren't linked simply don't exist yet.) (Louis Wu 14:25:22 UTC) (permalink)
News April 12 2005
Uprising - next week
Quick note, just so folks don't get antsy... Mike Miller's release of Uprising for his Legendary Walkthrough won't be coming out today - he wanted a bit more time to go over a few parts. We'll be releasing it next Tuesday, instead. Sorry for the delay! (Louis Wu 23:00:37 UTC) (permalink)
Out of Reach Productions - now cheaper
A couple of weeks ago, we mentioned Out of Reach Productions, an Australian company that makes displays to house your Halo toys. Their prices are now reduced - the two existing structures are A$120, or US$94 plus shipping. In addition, there are two other designs they're almost done with - and they're working with SEspider to design more. If you'd like to help, apparently you can mail him with drawings. Go visit the site for more details! (Louis Wu 19:35:04 UTC) (permalink)
Game Diversity at Tourneys
Video Gamers League started a program where gamers can vote on which games they'll have running at their tournaments; visit their page for more details. (As far as I can tell, this is in addition to Halo, and you're not limited at all in what you vote for.) (Louis Wu 19:26:32 UTC) (permalink)
Much Viewers' Poll
MuchMusic, Canada's equivalent of MTV, is hosting their 2005 Viewers' Poll... and if you scroll down far enough, you'll find 'Most Addictive Video Game', bracketed in between 'Best Animal in a Movie' and 'Most Drool-Worthy Female'.
Halo 2 is up against Katamari Damacy, Half-Life 2, GTA: SA, and NFL Street 2.
Thanks, KainsWrath. (Louis Wu 17:44:37 UTC) (permalink)
Purple and Pink - Mirrored
Yesterday, we mentioned a series of machinima vids aimed at promoting a Christian weekend retreat, as well as basic human kindness. Our link (and other links around the Halo community) caused a pretty large spike in their bandwidth consumption - to ameliorate the problem, we're mirroring the files for them. All vids are 320x240, QuickTime MPEG-4 format.
iGod promo med (6.4 mb, bungie.org | mythica.org)
iGod promo hi (15.5 mb, bungie.org | mythica.org)
Episode 1 med (7.2 mb, mythica.org | bungie.org)
Episode 1 hi (17.5 mb, mythica.org | bungie.org)
Episode 2 med (9.9 mb, bungie.org | mythica.org)
Episode 2 hi (24.3 mb, bungie.org | mythica.org)
Episode 3 med (7.5 mb, mythica.org | bungie.org)
Episode 3 hi (18.3 mb, mythica.org | bungie.org)
These are pretty nicely done - if you didn't see them yesterday, watch them now! (The original website contains extras like credits and scripts, as well as upcoming bloopers, outtakes, and behind-the-scenes footage. Use our links for the big-bandwidth stuff, though. Thanks!) (Louis Wu 16:37:29 UTC) (permalink)
Battle of the HUDless shots!
Wow. Yesterday afternoon, Mast3r posted a pair of gorgeous HUDless shots (one shot, two sizes) - today, prometheus unveiled his own versions of the same view (started several days ago, and covering much more territory). Great minds think alike. They're ALL beautiful! Check out both links. (Louis Wu 16:00:17 UTC) (permalink)
The Fall of the Covenant Trailer
trigger119 writes to let us know about a trailer for Fall of the Covenant, a new machinima film he's working on; you can grab it in WMP9 format at halomachinima.com. 13 mb, 640x480. Movie coming 'Summer 2005'. (Final product will be in the 20-30 minute range.) (Louis Wu 15:47:32 UTC) (permalink)
Sector 7 mirrors Cutscene Library
Sector 7 Halo has begun mirroring the Halo 2 Cutscene Library - you can find the first 11 scenes up now, with more on the way. We've added the mirror link to the scenes that are currently there, and will continue updating until they have the whole collection. (Louis Wu 15:37:53 UTC) (permalink)
Hey Maybe There Will Be Music
A whole lot of people have sent this one in... On May 12th, MTV will air a special named "MTV Presents: The Next-Generation Xbox Revealed". The event will be hosted by Elijah Wood (Frodo from Lord of the Rings, in case there's anyone left who doesn't know that) and feature the band The Killers.
Viewers will get an exclusive look at the Xbox vision for the next generation—one that ensures that the user experience is always connected, always personalized, and always in high definition. The special will feature never-before-seen, action-packed gameplay of future Xbox games; a peek into the future of the Xbox Live™ online gaming service; backstage celebrity interviews; and exclusive insider footage on the making of the next-generation console.
We've already seen some of Microsoft's ideas in the GDC video that circulated not too long ago, but it looks like Microsoft is planning to steal back the console launch thunder after Sony announced that their press conference at E3 would precede Microsoft's. The special will be broadcast at 9:30PM EST on May 12th in the US and shortly afterwards at varying times in other countries. (Count Zero 14:37:19 UTC) (permalink)
Fine-tuning the Databank
DarkSim took the time to reclassify a number of the dialogue snippets in our Dialogue Databank; they were moved from generic 'Elite' snippets to 'SpecOps Commander' snippets. (Half-Jaw has a sizeable speaking part, and is voiced by Robert Davi - seems like he should have his own category.) Thanks, DarkSim! (Louis Wu 14:12:23 UTC) (permalink)
Vic DeLeon - in the Spotlight
Trixie, over at Xbox.com, has focused a Developer Spotlight on Vic DeLeon, the last person hired for the Halo 2 team (and the artist behind Warlock, one of the first of the upcoming downloadable maps). Check out his road to Bungie Studios, and the reasons he's earned his Gamertag of 'Lowest Ranked'. (You can play him online on April 30, 8-9 pm Pacific, even.) Thanks, orion 12. (Louis Wu 13:32:16 UTC) (permalink)
Funky Map
MasterGrief points out pics of Yoyorast Island, a HaloCE map that "looks like something outta a Doctor Seuss book", in his opinion. (I'd agree.) LOTS of pics; 56k warning. (Louis Wu 13:24:42 UTC) (permalink)
Tourney in Southern Oregon
Mechroneal writes about a Halo 2 tourney in Medford, OR, April 15-17. It's being held at Creature Coffee, entrance is $10 for singles, $25 for teams, top prize is $100. There should be info added to his website later this week. (Louis Wu 13:21:24 UTC) (permalink)
Interview with a modder
MereCatfish sat down with Masters1337, a HaloCE modder working on the Coagulation Halo 2 CE mod (among other things). Go read his opinions on HaloCE vs Halo PC, where Gearbox stands in all this, his thoughts about Halo 2, as well. Update: seems I got a critical fact wrong - Masters1337 is NOT part of the Halo 2 CE team, he's part of the Halo 2 conversion map team. Sorry for the confusion. Thanks to both Masters1337 and NiTrOuSoXiDe for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 13:14:59 UTC) (permalink)
News April 11 2005
Artness.
Another art update at Halo Babies - some really nice stuff! (It's not all Halo-related... but it's all fun!) Thanks to PlasmaFire for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 23:34:04 UTC) (permalink)
Halo's Hidden Hero
MLGPro.com has posted an interview with Sergio, the quiet member of x6. Go read it! (Thanks, 3Suns.) (Louis Wu 22:21:50 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 up for a Spacey
Halo 2 is up against Burnout 3, Far Cry, GTA: SA, and Half-Life 2 in the Video Game category Spaceys Viewers Choice awards - go tell 'em what you like! Thanks, Cary Trussler. (Louis Wu 20:02:10 UTC) (permalink)
The Art of Marksmanship
TalkXbox has posted the next chapter of its Art of War strategy guide - it's called 'The Art of Marksmanship', and it contains an instructional video (25.6 mb, MPEG-4 format) to go with its text instruction. (The video seems like more of a montage - SP and MP - than 'instruction'... but Eisen Feuer acknowledges this on the page itself.) Thanks to BattleVark for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 17:40:12 UTC) (permalink)
STK Poisons take XTourney
STK won the 2v2 Halo tournament run by XTournaments last weekend - congrats, LiL Poison and Poison! More details can be found on the XTournaments site. (Louis Wu 17:30:37 UTC) (permalink)
Halo makes Time's Top 100
Cheers, Mr Danger lets us know that the Halo Team has been listed in the Top 100 Most Influential People in the World in the newest Time Magazine (you must be a magazine subscriber to read this online). Way to go! (Louis Wu 17:28:21 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 - The Movie (trailer)
Progress continues on the Movie Peer Review Rating System; we've tweaked the required final score to be a bit lower (it seemed we were weeding out EVERYTHING), and we've added 3 more reviewers to the 'Required Reviewers' total - when we required 7 reviewers, a single low rating could knock a contender out of the running (and at least one reviewer has been rating vids consistently below average). We also changed the wording on the response that submitters get if their movie doesn't make the cut; they're now encouraged to use the feedback to improve their movie, and resubmit. (That was always part of the plan, but I don't think we made it clear enough - this system was built for two primary reasons; to weed out some of the overabundance of videos... but also to help moviemakers IMPROVE their skills.) The first result of these changes - a video that was submitted, and rejected, was edited with an eye to the criticism and resubmitted - and it passed. You can grab comradx's Halo 2: The Movie (Trailer) in WMP9 format (29.2 mb, mythica.org | bungie.org) or QuickTime format (29.2 mb, bungie.org | mythica.org) - it's the first teaser of a full-length movie based on the Halo 2 storyline, using cutscene footage mixed with David Galindo's impressive works (with full permission). There's a thread devoted to this project over at High Impact Halo. (Louis Wu 14:50:04 UTC) (permalink)
Where have you BEEN, young man?
Mommeeeeeee! He's at it AGAIN! (Louis Wu 14:18:06 UTC) (permalink)
Overrun and Underwhelmed
I HATE it when my notes get buried, and I forget to post something. Yaksha visited our forum yesterday to announce Episode 6 of Sponsors vs Freeloaders - Overrun and Underwhelmed. Film quality continues to be quite good - and there's still a plot. Multiple resolutions are available. Grab a copy! (Louis Wu 13:27:56 UTC) (permalink)
Glad He Ate Her.
In order to 'get' this week's One One Se7en, you have to 1) remember the names of downloadable maps Bungie plans to release in June, 2) be old, and 3) have watched some REALLY bad television in your youth. That's... um, 7 of us. For the rest of you, there's Google. (Louis Wu 13:20:55 UTC) (permalink)
iGod... Holy Halo
Wow. Now THIS is something... I haven't seen before. A collection of south Texas religious groups (they might all be the same entity; I can't tell - but we've got Fuzion Church, Crossroads Baptist Church, and Chi-Ro Ministries) has put together a series of Halo-based machinima to promote a Christian weekend retreat - and to promote Christian principles in general. Movies are in QuickTime format, and available in a couple of different resolutions each. Definitely points for innovative use of modern technology to get across an age-old message... thanks to HaloPlanet for pointing this out. (Louis Wu 13:15:39 UTC) (permalink)
Monday's Thirteen
Thirteen new pieces of Fan Fiction for you this morning - the weekend catch. Go read! (Louis Wu 12:56:40 UTC) (permalink)
And MORE Comics.
The comic flood doesn't end. (It would be really nice if some of it would slow down until the creators had time to make stuff FUNNY... but hey, you can't have everything. And no, I'm not saying they're ALL un-funny... just that some are coming out so quickly that the chance for humor is trampled by the rush to release.)
- Last Stand Page 11 was released last night.
- Halo in Paradise got another episode.
- This Island Earth got another ep, and the first two were worked on some more.
I'm wondering when the fan apathy is gonna set in, with all this content release... Update: Bye-Stander has gotten a new episode today, as well. (Louis Wu 10:46:13 UTC) (permalink)
The Stranger vs Master Chief
This... is just a bizarre article to see at a site like HowStuffWorks. (Then again... maybe it's not.) Thanks to Ian Wiseman for the heads-up. (There's voting at the end - be sure to vote.) (Louis Wu 10:41:08 UTC) (permalink)
Video Flood
There've been a ton of movies announced on our forum recently; none of these have been submitted to our peer review rating system, so they're not eligible for HBO hosting, but you can still check them out:
- Praetoria Guard has 3 films out (one is a blooper reel)
- KoTHALO has released a trailer for 3lite, another zombie-type movie
- Spartan92290 posted a note about Grunts Gone Wild, a grunt party movie (better link here)
- Nighthawk 117 put up a vehicle antics film - acrobatics in Halo 2
I'm sure there are others I missed. (Louis Wu 10:37:17 UTC) (permalink)
Movie DB at TrickingIT
TrickingIT.com has set up a movies database where you can rate released films. At the moment, it's mostly just promotional info about recent or upcoming films (the majority of posts have no ratings at all)... but I guess the more people who use this, the more useful it will become. (You must be registered at that site to even SEE the database.) There's more info in a forum post made by Phan7om, as well as on the TrickingIT.com front page. (Louis Wu 10:26:41 UTC) (permalink)
News April 10 2005
Comic Invasion
Wow... must be comic time. We've been told about three new ones this weekend:
- 2401 is sort of a One-One-Se7en-esque strip from Guilty Spark - humor is a bit spotty, but it's early yet. As of this writing, there are 7 strips in that thread.
- Halo In Paradise has just a single strip up - and apparently, something went terribly wrong when he saved it (so it's really small). Strip 2 coming soon.
- This Island Earth is a merging of Halo and a classic 1955 B-movie from Andrew Gaynor of Black Art Studios; there are currently two pages up, with more coming soon, homework allowing.
In addition, we got mail from Über-Chief 69 about bandwidth problems with Resolute (mentioned a couple of times recently in our news). If anyone wants to help... hmm. I'd tell you to contact him via his website, but there doesn't seem to be any contact link at all there. Oh, well. (Louis Wu 21:44:20 UTC) (permalink)
Minor Site Cleanup
We've placed a link to the Movie Peer Review Rating System on the news pages - if you've got a Halo movie you need hosting for, go visit! (There's now a stats section at the top of the page; you can get an idea of what we're seeing by looking at approval rates and processing times. Initial response has been smaller than I'd expected; is it possible that folks aren't willing to face the opinions of their peers, or is it just that suddenly, nobody needs hosting any more?) We've also augmented the 'Hot Pages' list on the right with a couple of new links (more coming soon, maybe). Update: A page has (finally) been added that contains links to all the articles we host here that have been written by Stephen Loftus. (Louis Wu 15:13:17 UTC) (permalink)
Triple Threat
Keving Atherton writes about a series called 'Triple Threat' - a trailer (WMP9 format, 20.4 mb) is available here, from the Olapstats.com forum. If you like impossible odds... you'll like this trailer. (Louis Wu 14:47:10 UTC) (permalink)
Religious Architecture.
I HATE it when I forget stuff. I forgot Friday's One One Se7en. What's worse... nobody noticed. Hmm... (The thing is, this one hits close to home. Maybe that's why I forgot it.) (Louis Wu 14:20:47 UTC) (permalink)
Halo CE Chronicles gets a new home
The Halo CE Chronicles, a machinima series attempting to show a more human side of a Spartan, has gotten popular enough that it's moved to its own site (up till now, it's been hosted on halomaps.org). The videos are now available not only in their original Flash movie format, but also in WMP9 and QuickTime. Thanks to Dennis Powers, who let our forum know. (Louis Wu 13:50:08 UTC) (permalink)
NZ Halo 2 Champ crowned
The New Zealand tournament we mentioned in February and March has now been completed - and David Beaton (16) is the overall winner. Congrats! He's off to Australia soon to compete against the rest of the world. (Louis Wu 13:46:18 UTC) (permalink)
News April 9 2005
He's showing up in the oddest places...
Hehe - now THERE'S an energy sword. (Louis Wu 13:54:12 UTC) (permalink)
Resolute Issue 6
Über-Chief 69 points out that Resolute Issue 6 has been released - MC and Sonic get some ideas about Mario... (Louis Wu 13:50:35 UTC) (permalink)
Elite Fight
Hehe - the first movie approval by the new MPRRS has been issued - and it's for a movie I meant to post a month ago (in a slightly smaller form), but forgot. I guess that means the system works! Check out Zukan's Elite Fight (QuickTime, 10.7 mb), a short but intense battle betweem a pair of elites. (He originally posted a smaller, less polished version in our forums in early March.) And to give you an idea about how the system works - here's the feedback page generated by our movie peer review rating system. From submission to approval (a movie needs 7 reviews, and a non-public minimum score, to pass) was about 3 and a quarter hours! Here's hoping that the sort of feedback provided by our volunteers will make ALL submissions better. (Louis Wu 11:13:29 UTC) (permalink)
HALOader updated
Gravity points out that HALOader, an Bungie RSS stat reader, has been updated - visit the site for more details. (Louis Wu 11:02:57 UTC) (permalink)
I'm Not The Jerk, You're The Jerk, Jerk.
The latest from Red vs Blue, episode 54, "Hello My Name Is Andrew," is available for sponsors over on their video page. Dubious mathematics, a new epithet for the human race, and a brand-new character (among other things) are all available now for sponsors. If you're not a sponsor, look for it in a few days. (mnemesis 06:12:26 UTC) (permalink)
Not So Common Sense opens its doors
A couple of weeks ago, we mentioned that Overswarm would be creating an online strategy guide here at HBO - the first few pieces are now online. As you navigate through, you'll find many links specified, but not yet functional - this should give you an idea of what's coming. Anywhere you FIND a working link, there's new content; explore! (You'll find a couple of articles, some movie commentary, and plenty of basic intro information. And there's plenty more coming.) Check out Not So Common Sense! (Louis Wu 00:15:21 UTC) (permalink)
The Chief Walks Away
This week's WWU mentioned that there won't be an official Bungie Fanfest at this year's E3. You may wonder, what are we missing by not having one of those? Well, one of the things that happened last year was that Lorraine McLees sketched a bunch of on-demand pictures for lucky visitors. One of those visitors was Eric Good, who asked Lorraine for a specific viewpoint of the Master Chief... he was kind enough to share this pic with the Halo community. Not something you see every day... (Louis Wu 00:05:01 UTC) (permalink)
Warlock - in 3D
SketchFactor has posted another one of Bungie's delicious 3D screenshots, utilizing QuickTime to show the picture in 360 beautiful degrees. That's Sketch's body, flying in death on a platform in Warlock... (Louis Wu 00:02:39 UTC) (permalink)
News April 8 2005
Stabbed in the spleen with a number 2 pencil.
Weekly What's Update is up really early today. Good stuff in there. Looks like the cheat fixes will be out in the next couple of weeks, barring nasty crashes... no fanfest at E3 this year (boo!)... the recently-released game save that lets you play online without reloading will get you BANNED, immediately (no second chances)... and a bunch more. And an Atari 2600 Mister Chief. What more could you want? Thanks, Mr Yun. (Louis Wu 20:58:15 UTC) (permalink)
The MPRRS - Now Live
A month ago, I posted a note explaining a logistical problem we were facing with regard to Halo movies. It spawned a massive forum thread, and the concept for the HBO Movies Peer Review Rating System was born. From here on in, this is how all movies to HBO will be submitted. It's a work-in-progress; if we run into snags, or unexpected bumps, we'll certainly modify the system... but it's been tested a bit, and does what we want it to do. This is good for everyone; it reduces MY workload, by having movies filtered through a first layer of reviewers... it increases the overall quality of HBO movie releases (I don't even SEE the stuff that doesn't make the first cut)... it speeds up the release process (no more waiting 2 months for your movie to see the light of day)... and (maybe most importantly) it provides constructive criticism to ALL submitters, in the hopes of improving the quality of released material. If you have a movie you'd like hosted by HBO, visit the site, and follow the directions - our bandwidth is waiting for you. I'd like to thank the peer reviewers who volunteered for this project (and I'm guessing we're going to need more, over time, as people cycle in and out - let us know if you're interested, we'll add you to a waiting list), but most of all, thanks to Cybrfrk, who coded this monster. Now get to submitting! (Louis Wu 17:03:53 UTC) (permalink)
H2O updated
LunarShadow has updated his H2O Stats Reader - bunch of new features, bug fixes. Details in this forum post. (Louis Wu 13:18:43 UTC) (permalink)
Wait! I lost him!
Hehe - today's Halo Babies is the first of a two-part strip, looking at what can only be described as spam. (If you look closely, I got a kill.) (Louis Wu 12:56:54 UTC) (permalink)
Bye-Stander Page 6
Mr Kippling reorganized his comic blog, and added a sixth page - it's posted here. (Louis Wu 12:53:00 UTC) (permalink)
I thought PCMag covered PCs?
PC Magazine has a short article putting Doom 3 head to head with Halo 2 (both on the Xbox). They like 'em both - but recommend Halo 2 if you're only going to buy one. (Louis Wu 12:50:55 UTC) (permalink)
Frag grenades don't stick.
Furiont has written another article for his "The Making of a Spartan" column at Team Tabula Rasa - this one's called 'Multiplayer Havoc', and it discusses the pain of entering the XBL Halo 2 online world... before you have skillz. I must say, I can relate. (Louis Wu 12:40:10 UTC) (permalink)
Lee sponsors VGL
Video Gamers League sent out a press release announcing that Lee Jeans has signed on as a tournament sponsor for VGL's series of tourneys; it's an interesting shift from power drinks and computer companies. A sign that video game tourneys are mainstream enough to warrant a jeans company to jump into the action? (Louis Wu 12:31:03 UTC) (permalink)
Query Spree Sig - Updated
The Query Spree signature (for use on forums OTHER than our main one, of course) is beginning to look quite nice - check out this forum post! El B has made with the pretty. (Louis Wu 03:13:34 UTC) (permalink)
Opening Moves
The Codex, Episode 8, has been released. Action's a little slow, but character development is topnotch. (What's a good story without an evil villain?) Available, as usual, in QuickTime, DivX, and WMP9. (If you're feeling lost, storywise, be sure to check out the Characters and Story pages to catch up.) Thanks, StickyHelljumper. (Louis Wu 02:52:35 UTC) (permalink)
He's late. Blame Crux.
One more set of pics from last weekend's Resurrection lanfest - Count Zero has posted his photo montage. Nice shots of Oliver... (Louis Wu 02:43:20 UTC) (permalink)
New vids at Halomachinima
trigger119 writes to say that Halomachinima.com has posted 4 new machinimas - in WMP9 and DivX formats (each movie). Descriptions can be found in this forum post. See what appeals to you! (Louis Wu 02:33:50 UTC) (permalink)
The Longsword, Opened
Stephen Loftus has turned in another of his analysis pieces on the Halo environment - this one is a tour of the Longsword, inside and out. Check it out - pretty neat stuff! (Comments can go in the forum.) (Louis Wu 02:10:13 UTC) (permalink)
News April 7 2005
Cool Halo stuff in the UK
Michael Smith is selling some promotional Halo schwag he's collected, on eBay.co.uk. First two items up are a Halo PC Oversized Promo Box (Currently at £5) and a Master Chief resin sculpture (33 cm, or 13"), currently at £45. Forum thread is here. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 20:48:25 UTC) (permalink)
Everything Halo 2
Pizack points out an article he helped write at Everything2.com, a wiki-like site with tidbits about... oh, lots of things. This particular article is about Halo 2. (First half contains spoilers.) (Louis Wu 20:39:17 UTC) (permalink)
What did Mercy mean?
Interesting post went up yesterday at the Halo Story Page. I didn't notice until I was berated by Ciarán on the forum. Go read... funky stuff. (Louis Wu 20:31:45 UTC) (permalink)
Art on an assembly line
William Vitka's latest Gamecore article on CBSNews.com looks at the idea of a Halo movie... from the standpoint of someone who's worried about the 'mogulization' of video games (more and more games being made by fewer and fewer developers, with big-budget sequels getting the nod over edgy indie releases). Will the 'right' people be able to guide the development of a Halo film, or will any such project be taken over by movie company executives who simply want to blow up more stuff? (Louis Wu 19:32:21 UTC) (permalink)
The Art of Bryn Casey
Bryn Casey, who posts online as ofthehi77, has created quite a bit of traditional-media art focused on Halo over the past couple of years. We liked it enough that we decided to put up a gallery page for him; he'll be adding to it over time. Most of these pieces have been seen, either posted here in our Miscellaneous Art collection, or on our forum, or at Yayap.com - but now they're all in one place, broken out by medium. Browse the collection - there's some really nice stuff in there! (Louis Wu 19:14:52 UTC) (permalink)
Ze Boss, Ze Boss!
Broadcast Gamer, run by longtime Bungie community member MC Wilson, aka Nijhazer, has an audio interview with our own Claude Errera covering a wide range of Bungie (and Bungie.Org)-related topics, including the upcoming Halo 2 content, eternally lingering Marathon fan projects, sneaky Russians single-handedly reverse engineering older Bungie games, and an old Bungie.Org friend, Pierre. Give it a listen and let MC know what you think! I'd like to send out a virtual croissant to Pierre, wherever he is. (mnemesis 16:57:32 UTC) (permalink)
Timmins to talk Halo 2 in Utah
Luke Timmins, a programmer on Halo 2, will be speaking at the University of Utah on April 21 (admission is free). Full details can be found at Voodoo Extreme (thanks, orion 12). (Louis Wu 15:29:59 UTC) (permalink)
Halo PC - still selling strongly
3Suns points out the latest Top Ten Bestselling PC Games list at Evil Avatar... it's amazing that Halo is still on it. (At number 7, no less!) Doom 3 (released August 2004) is no longer there... Half-Life 2 (released mid-November 2004) is number 6. In fact, with the exception of an $11 Sims expansion pack, Halo PC is the oldest game on the list, and one of the only ones not released in mid-2004 or later. Amazing!
Now THAT'S Love.
Lachdannan received a really cool gift from his girlfriend for his birthday... the forum crowd thinks he should marry her! (Louis Wu 14:35:41 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Comics Explode
Comics around the net today:
- After War 17 has been posted at Black Art Studios - The Chief and Sarge go out on a limb.
- Uber-Chief 69 has put up a website for Resolute - there are now 5 episodes of this sprite-based comic. (He announced it on our forum, as well.)
- Mr Kippling has blogged his Bye-stander comic; remember, read from the bottom up for it to make sense.
It's funnies day! (Louis Wu 14:29:36 UTC) (permalink)
Movie Mirrors at HaloVids
Nirvana has posted a number of movie mirrors - you can find the link in this forum post. Always nice to have more bandwidth! (Louis Wu 14:02:34 UTC) (permalink)
Happy Birthday, HIH!
High Impact Halo is a year old today! Amazing how a small site devoted to the vids of a single person has grown into the most comprehensive Halo tricking site on the internet, in one short year. Congrats, guys! (Ducain started a thread here - go spank him.) (Louis Wu 14:01:21 UTC) (permalink)
From Greatness Comes Greatness
Motherstooth has started a new machinima series... it's called Miranda, and it focuses on your favorite female Halo 2 UNSC Captain. Episode One introduces her in a way you've never seen... she really IS pretty tough. Check it out! WMP9 format, 9.6 mb, hosted by That Weasel Television. Update: There's a QuickTime version up now, as well (9.4 mb). (Louis Wu 13:42:11 UTC) (permalink)
More movies at CollegeHumor (and elsewhere)
Lots of College Humor links today... folks went searching. (First off: that GTA vid we mentioned yesterday can be found at its home site, as well - thanks, Austin Wilkinson. And while we're on the subject of GTA remakes... Fbu pointed out that he made his own version a couple of months ago, on KoTHalo.com.) Uber Hax0r sent us a link to Napoleon Halo-mite, a remake of a Napoleon Dynamite scene in Halo. This, too, can be found on its home site - and was first pointed out on our forum by Corgana, a couple of weeks ago, who ALSO found it on collegehumor. And LeaveMeAlone117 sent us a link for a Nike Just Do It spoof (which was actually posted on our forum by nash--housewares on April 1, but I was a bit busy preparing for a LANfest, and missed it). Wonga. (Louis Wu 11:02:14 UTC) (permalink)
Now. We want it now.
Mercury points out another entry in his Halo blog - a discussion of the downloadable content coming soon, and a look at how these things get promoted. Go read! (Louis Wu 10:48:27 UTC) (permalink)
News April 6 2005
The Chant Has Begun
Among the concerts presented this summer at the Hollywood Bowl, one strikes a chord here. "Video Games Live," featuring music from a variety of different games including Halo, is scheduled for July 6th. Sycophantic Marty fans eagerly await word on whether he will be conducting/playing/singing at the event. You can check out the Video Games Live site here. As an actual monk, I suppose I better brush up on my chanting skills. (Thanks, Music4Games.) Pax. (Crux Fidelis 23:31:21 UTC) (permalink)
Aren't antelopes brown?
If you're interested in helping out a biology student, go read this forum post - Kyle Schouviller is trying to build a dataset that will show which color provides the best camoflauge. I think he's got his work cut out for him (and then some)... but you gotta give him credit - he's trying to use Halo 2 to prove a point about natural selection! Check it out. (Louis Wu 19:58:59 UTC) (permalink)
The Chief - through the eyes of a master
A new piece from Craig Mullins today - a spectacular Mullins-esque rendition of the Master Chief. So few strokes... so much detail! Thanks, KP. (It's the last image on the page, if you're having trouble finding it.) (Louis Wu 19:37:22 UTC) (permalink)
Blue Goo
This is just... odd. (Louis Wu 18:19:01 UTC) (permalink)
Tourney Reminder
Vic points out that the 2v2 tournament in New York we mentioned recently is happening this weekend - free Red Bull! Check the post, and check the site. (Louis Wu 18:14:20 UTC) (permalink)
On Top of Old Banshee...
TheDaringDuke put together a short vid on Banshee piggybacking, and boosting techniques. I've seen Banshee riding before... but the barrel rolls and boosting were new for me, and the presentation makes it easy to emulate. Worth a look! (Louis Wu 16:40:56 UTC) (permalink)
Midi Halo
Damian has sent along a midi file of the Halo theme... 8k. (Louis Wu 15:58:36 UTC) (permalink)
B.net back to normal
As many noticed over the last few days, Bungie.net has been in a variable state of down-ness... they went offline for maintenance on Monday, came back Tuesday, but the forums were still down. Achronos pointed out (both on our forum and on Bungie.net) that things went back to normal last evening. Once again, he blames the Webmaster for everything - when I know for a FACT that the Webmaster has been in a rehab clinic for the past week. You can never trust that Achronos... (Louis Wu 15:39:25 UTC) (permalink)
Ak-bah!
Looks like the HBO Clan members haven't quite forgiven Stuntmutt for last week's April Fools joke... as seen in today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 15:28:58 UTC) (permalink)
PoA Space Beta (HaloCE)
Jack Bauer points out a HaloCE map he's working - The Pillar of Autumn, in space. The beta (as seen in the screenshots in the Gearbox Forums thread) look great! (Louis Wu 15:26:31 UTC) (permalink)
The future is not set.
A lot of people have sent this one in, but we were all too busy at the lanparty to handle it- Last Friday, Xbox.com posted an interview with Microsoft Game Studios head Shane Kim. In this interview, he drops a number of hints about Microsoft's plans for the next-generation Xbox, in particular this one:
Xbox.com: What about existing franchises—will we see those on the next-generation Xbox?
Kim: That's probably the most-asked question I get right now! The short answer is yes. Without giving away all the surprises we have in store, gamers that love franchises like Halo, Fable, and Project Gotham Racing can safely assume we will continue to invest in them as we move into the next generation.
Now, please realize that this is NOT a confirmation of Halo 3. This isn't the first time this sort of thing has happened- Steve Ballmer once said something similar, and it turned out to be false in the end. Simple common- and business- sense tells us that a third Halo game is very likely, but this interview isn't the announcement we're waiting for. (Count Zero 14:52:45 UTC) (permalink)
GTA: Headlong
LeaveMeAlone117 found a trailer for Grand Theft Auto: Headlong, a remake of the GTA: SA commercial in the Halo engine. 8.1 mb, WMP9 format. ObWarning: College Humor (the site that the video is hosted on) is not safe for work. (Louis Wu 15:04:03 UTC) (permalink)
Wonderboy - again
Hehe. In mid-March, we put up a copy of a Halo 2 vid telling the story of Wonderboy, Tenacious D's mythical hero. It was the second Wonderboy vid we'd posted; the first went up in mid-2003. Now, there's a third. Team Legacy Productions has put together their OWN version... timing's quite nice. You can grab a WMP9 version (14.8 mb) or a QuickTime version (14.5 mb). Let the Wonderboy competition commence! (Louis Wu 14:57:51 UTC) (permalink)
News April 5 2005
Bits and Pieces... and stuff
It must be spring - Finn has taken off his snowshoes and put away his anorak and come out from his igloo in the far north of Canada just long enough to sort through the forum for the choicest Halo Story-related tidbits to add to the Halo Story page. Don't expect him to stick around, though - caribou season is right around the corner. (Louis Wu 20:44:31 UTC) (permalink)
Covenant Rat Race
So it looks like somehow, I missed the REAL strip last Friday at Halo Babies - I only noticed the April Fool's strip. Ouch. Go back and check it out, if you missed it too... it's pretty funny! (Louis Wu 20:17:03 UTC) (permalink)
Hunters and Jackals and Brutes, Oh My!
Gravemind might be the single most difficult level in Halo 2 - which is one of the reasons it took Mike Miller two weeks to churn out the Gravemind chapter of his Legendary Walkthrough. His hard work will make it much easier for you, however; he's created a monster piece, with 20 individual video clips (totalling almost 100 mb, depending on the flavor you choose) to help you through the level with the fewest casualties. There are some 'omg I can't believe I didn't think of that' tricks in this walkthrough - or at least there were, for me. (The lift ambush technique is brilliant, if daring.) Go read, download, and try it for yourself! (Louis Wu 20:05:01 UTC) (permalink)
Sound Extravaganza
A number of snippets were submitted to the Dialogue Databank this weekend; Mr Fiddle pointed out a clip originally posted on the High Impact Halo forums, showing Herbie (an invincible grunt - do a search at HIH for more details) singing a hilarious rendition of the Beatle's 'Something' (IWHBYD skull required) - we've included the snippet itself, plus both QuickTime and WMP9 versions of the movie... and Captain Spark, in the last submission for a while, dropped off almost 50 new brute and elite clips. Go listen to everything! (Louis Wu 19:52:31 UTC) (permalink)
Jumping Vids at Team Dirty Tricks
Trevor points out that teamdirtytricks.net now has seven downloadable jumping vids - go check 'em out! (Louis Wu 18:25:43 UTC) (permalink)
The Needler Songs
A week ago, Bonekin visited our forum with a link to a hilarious sendup of a Christina Aguilera song, called 'Beautiful Needler'. Took a little while to track down the author... but today, unableelephant found the Gamespot journal of Archie Gates, the song's creator - and it turns out there isn't just one, but TWO Needler songs. The second one is a takeoff of Simon and Garfunkel's Sound of Silence, and it's fantastic! We've gotten permission to host both; you can find them here
- Beautiful Needler (2.8 mb, mp3)
- Sound of Needler (2.5 mb, mp3)
The ending of Sound of Needler is laugh-out-loud funny. Go listen! (Louis Wu 18:09:55 UTC) (permalink)
Fan Fiction - New Blood
The Fan Fiction section went offline for a couple of weeks on March 21, due to server connection issues. It came back up last Thursday - and today, finally, I've cleared the queue of submitted stories for the last few days. 23 new pieces, some quite good. Go read. (Louis Wu 15:41:12 UTC) (permalink)
Resurrection Writeups, Installment 2
Another Resurrection writeup - this one from retsamolah. Comes with some fun pics, and a movie that starts with a pretty cool intro, will make you queasy with the b-roll gamplay footage, and ends with the unveiling of the Mullins print these guys got for me. Amazing stuff. (There's another movie mirror from prometheus, if the two that rets supplied go down.) (Louis Wu 14:53:37 UTC) (permalink)
Forfeit
We got another montage from FuzzySmurf - this one's called Forfeit. Once again, we're providing a BitTorrent link for it (as we did for his last montage) - this is a relatively painless way for us to host montages, so I'm far more flexible about them. Composition is nice, quality is quite high. 56.5 mb, QuickTime format. Go watch! (Louis Wu 14:32:38 UTC) (permalink)
Ogre Madness
A new Ogre Montage went up last Friday - you can find it at Combovideos.com. There's a sizeable thread over at MLGPro.com about it. Thanks to STB on our own forum for the heads-up. 55.1 mb, almost 12 minutes long, WMP9 format. These guys are unreal... I just spent a weekend playing with a group that's got some very decent players, but this is an entirely different league. (Louis Wu 14:20:53 UTC) (permalink)
Fahordlingrads!
What happens when you mix Homestarrunner, Snoop Dogg, and Halo? You get more Halo rap. Seems to be the thing these days. Fo shizzle. (Created by Bomberman21 and TheSizzler82 for their clan, Fahordlingrads.) (Louis Wu 13:53:02 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 LE for cheap
Wow. Amazon.com is selling the Halo 2 Limited Edition (well, actually Tiger Direct is, THROUGH Amazon) for $35 plus shipping. What a deal! Thanks, Joystiq. (Louis Wu 13:35:53 UTC) (permalink)
Last Stand Page Ten
Phoenix_9286 has posted Page 10 of his Last Stand comic - Montoya takes off. I can't tell - is it getting more serious? Is this just an anomaly? You decide. (Louis Wu 12:52:19 UTC) (permalink)
More Halo Rap
Okay - this one needs a MAJOR MPAA Explicit Lyrics warning... but it's pretty darn funny. Coaxke posted the latest offering from Futuristic Sex Robotz, a 'Gangster Nerd Rap group', on our forum; there's an MP3, as well as a music video in both QuickTime and WMP9 formats. We've mirrored all three items, to save them bandwidth:
MP3 (4.5 mb)
QuickTime (24.3 mb)
WMP9 (18.4 mb)
You'll need to visit the links in the forum post for lyrics. Again - if you're underage, don't go there without permission! (Louis Wu 12:25:39 UTC) (permalink)
April Fools Strip Returns
Many, many, MANY people have complained that they never got to see the original strip that started the April Fools joke about Stuntmutt leaving One One Se7en. It was originally pulled because the content was inflammatory - intentionally so, in fact. I've reinstalled it... but I've added a disclaimer to the page itself, so that people running across it randomly in the future won't send off letters expressing how offended they are. If you don't find it in poor taste, fine - but if you do, remember that it was INTENDED to be in poor taste; this is not Stuntmutt's personal opinion, nor mine. (Louis Wu 11:49:17 UTC) (permalink)
News April 4 2005
Strategy Guide - Ascension
UNEXPECTED62 wrote up a strategy guide for Ascension - you can find it on Clan LND's website. (Louis Wu 19:11:11 UTC) (permalink)
Chiefman
mtusk is working on a new flash animation/comic based on Halo: Resolution's released sprites. The start can be found at DeviantART. There's not much there yet... but what there is is pretty polished. Check it out! (Louis Wu 17:33:13 UTC) (permalink)
The Majesty of Space
Awesome HUDless widescreen shot of Cairo Station, from the outside, by prometheus. If you like what you see, be SURE to explore the Halouvre - there are more items like this. (Louis Wu 17:27:02 UTC) (permalink)
Not Just for April 1.
Meant to post this earlier this morning - but there's been a lot to do. Posting it now because I need to head out for a few hours, and didn't want to forget. Today's One One Se7en is another apology, of sorts. (Louis Wu 13:24:20 UTC) (permalink)
The Plains of Marathon
Rampancy.net has fired up a new column, called 'A Sistematic Approach' - staffer Sistematic is writing about Halo in the context of older Bungie games. The first column is called 'Marathon Lessons', which looks at Halo 2 and the lessons that can be learned from the first Battle of Marathon (fought in 490 BC). (Louis Wu 13:20:08 UTC) (permalink)
Resurrection Recap, Part 1
The first few writeups of the lanfest here are posted - nukedude put up a bunch of pics, KP blogged it, goatrope got in on the action. I'm sure there'll be more (I've even got some stuff of my own to write this time around)... but this is a decent start. (Louis Wu 10:52:55 UTC) (permalink)
One One Se7en - Still Going
Stuntmutt comes clean - yes, the falling-out last week was an elaborate April Fools joke that took a few days to build up. I, too, would like to apologize to anyone who felt stressed by the idea that One One Se7en would be disappearing any time soon (or worse, would be taken over by me). For those who found Friday's strip unfunny - dang, that was part of the prank! (And for those who found it FUNNY... hmm.) (Louis Wu 10:45:44 UTC) (permalink)
Spring Slaughter - planning underway
AltoDarkNight has put together a web page for the Clan HBO Tournaments in general, and Spring Slaughter: Lively Death 2005, the first tourney, in specific. Rules are up, Round 1 starts next week. Go check it out! (Louis Wu 10:19:50 UTC) (permalink)
teamhalo Halo 2 party
teamhalo writes to point out another Online LANfest, coming up this Saturday. (Louis Wu 10:15:10 UTC) (permalink)
Unfair Advantage
Ross Mills found a Halo-related episode of Reverend Fun today. Halo is even finding its way into Bible humor! (Louis Wu 10:13:05 UTC) (permalink)
Prometheus - the REAL update
While we weren't posting, there was an update that Project Prometheus, the multi-game Halo editor, was cancelled. Turns out it was a belated April Fool's joke. A new update today answers a bunch of questions, and has a small movie showing some of the stuff Prometheus can do. Go check it out! (Louis Wu 10:09:30 UTC) (permalink)
Friends Watcher with Benefits
Ben Hollis points out his new Xbox Live Friends List watcher, XBList. Runs on Windows, displays your Live Friends list in a buddy-list style. Incorporates player emblems, and double-clicking on a friend loads their stats. (Louis Wu 10:02:33 UTC) (permalink)
Time Enough to Consider
Dennis Powers writes to let people know that Episode 9, Time Enough to Consider, of the Halo CE Chronicles has been posted at HaloMaps.org. 8.4 mb, Flash movie format. The Spartan and the AI find the drop pod they've been looking for - and a few things they weren't. (Louis Wu 09:59:37 UTC) (permalink)
Stubbs, Exposed
1UP.com has a sizeable article on Stubbs the Zombie, the upcoming Halo-engined game from Wideload Games. It's a pretty interesting read - go check it out! Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 09:49:40 UTC) (permalink)
Mapmaking contest
Team Tabula Rasa is running a contest for new map content - create a new map, win a beer stein. Read details on their contest page. (Louis Wu 09:44:50 UTC) (permalink)
Nuts Bombs and BAM
Tree Skunk Productions put up Outpost Coagulation: Episode 5 this weekend - you can download it from their server or from Halomachinima.com. WMP9 format, 21.3 mb. (Louis Wu 09:42:46 UTC) (permalink)
News April 3 2005
No... energy...
Jillybean took some time this weekend to update the Halo Story Page - there's some interesting stuff there! I apologize... but the rest of the news is gonna have to wait. (Louis Wu 21:46:41 UTC) (permalink)
Resurrection - bagged and boxed.
The last of the guests have left, the last of the empty cans and bottles have been bagged. Another HBO HQ lan has come and gone - and I am TIRED. I'm sure there will be writeups, with pics, posted to our forum soon (if they're not there already - I haven't had a chance to look yet) - but the short summary is... they came, they played Halo, they ate a LOT. I'm gonna try and catch up on some of the news we've heard about in the last couple of days... but if I fall asleep, it'll be posted tomorrow. (Louis Wu 20:07:31 UTC) (permalink)
News April 2 2005
Out of Hang 'em High
Ragnarocker found a new trick - getting out of Hang 'em High. It's not very long - under 10 seconds - but it's available in both MASSIVE 1280x1024 format (2.1 mb) and a more reasonable 640x512 (1.1 mb). Good times! (Louis Wu 17:00:52 UTC) (permalink)
Requiem for a Pistol
A couple of white boys put together a Halo rap - I went in with preconceptions, prepared to mock... but was suitably amused by the time it ended. Really nicely done. MP3, 3.6 mb, lyrics included. (If the site's bandwidth doesn't hold out, we're happy to mirror this whole page.) MPAA warning - explicit lyrics. Thanks to Mintz08 for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 13:51:00 UTC) (permalink)
Legendary
blackouTT and others from clan Tricking IT have begun work on Legendary, a new machinima - 4 Spartans against the universe. Halomachinima.com is hosting a WMP9 and a DivX version of the trailer (a bit over 20 mb, for either version) - production quality is somewhat inconsistent, but hopefully that will be cleared up before they're done. They're shooting for a mid-April release. (Louis Wu 11:42:30 UTC) (permalink)
Weekly Whaaa?
I hesitate to even post this link, given that it's no longer April 1, and people have shown that no matter WHAT gets put on the internet, SOMEONE will believe it... but it was pretty funny, so I'm posting it. Yesterday, as its final April Fool's joke of the year, Bungie put up a great Weekly What's Update, filled with questions that everyone has been asking, but answers that nobody expected. And while I'm here... thanks to the many, many, MANY people who wrote in to tell us that many of the stories we posted yesterday were bogus - yeah, we know. That's what April Fool's is all about. (The one story that might need an actual update is the screenshot post from cookedGamers - apparently, those ARE UT2006 shots, as rapture suggested (I thought mockingly) at the bottom of his news post. They just LOOK like Halo shots. I can't begin to list all the people who wrote to us about this - but thanks, all of you.) (Louis Wu 11:34:48 UTC) (permalink)
News April 1 2005
I CALL ROCKETS!
W00t! It's back, baby! (Louis Wu 22:48:49 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 beats class
The Waltonian, the newspaper for Eastern University (St. Davids, PA), has an article about Halo 2's effect on grade inflation (hint - it ain't positive). The things kids are wasting their time on... (Louis Wu 20:15:00 UTC) (permalink)
Eggsponential Disclosure
Wow. Bungie has decided to help out the egg hunt - apparently, a number of fun Announcer snippets have been hidden in Halo 2 multiplay so well that nobody's found them. An interview with Max Hoberman about the philosophy of egglaying is followed by these snippets, coupled with their triggers in-game... go listen... then try and find them on your own! (Louis Wu 20:08:39 UTC) (permalink)
After War the comic - dead
Kevin Ryan has decided to give up on After War - too much time out of his schedule. The good news - he's switching to Timesplitters 3, a game worked on by Subnova's own Madmax. Go try that out! (Louis Wu 20:03:34 UTC) (permalink)
117... 58... HIKE!
Yahoo! Games Domain has an article about upcoming spinoff titles - Master Chief Football, due out at Christmas, followed by Master Chief Golf and Master Chief Wimbleton 2006 next year. They also mentioned Master Chief Party. Thanks, Uukla the Mok. (Louis Wu 16:58:34 UTC) (permalink)
Nice screenies
Interesting - rapture found some cool screenshots (and corresponding concept artwork) - upcoming levels? (Damnation-style...) Thanks, Narcogen. (Louis Wu 15:46:21 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 gone - Halo back for MLG
Major League Gaming has decided to return to its roots - it's swapping Halo for Halo 2 in its 2005 tournaments. The reasoning is clearly laid out in this news post on MLGPro.com. For all the pro gamers angry about the loss of skill in gameplay - problem solved. (Louis Wu 15:02:08 UTC) (permalink)
Shoot me now. Wait... you did already.
Rampancy.net has posted the first chapter of its High Ping Bastard's Guide to Halo 2 - it covers Weapons and Encounter Times. If you're on a high-ping connection (say, you're European but like playing Americans, or vice versa), this is worth a read. (The news ain't good, though... basically, you're up a creek, no matter what.) (Louis Wu 14:44:39 UTC) (permalink)
Karmagheddon.
We've received a lot of mail about the situation involving Monday's One One Se7en - I'm sorry to say that Stuntmutt has decided not to create any more strips. He has, however, given me permission to take over at strip-making; with over 300 strips in the archive to cut and paste from, my lack of artistic ability is not much of a handicap. Today's One One Se7en is my first attempt - here's hoping that the tradition will continue without much of a bump. (Louis Wu 14:28:15 UTC) (permalink)
At Last.
Not exactly Halo news... but it's near and dear to the hearts of many of our readers. Looks like there WILL be a Bungie-built movie... but it's not Halo. Trading on Halo's buzz factor, Bungie's convinced new studio BraneDamage to create 'Pimps at Sea: Avast Me Bitches', and shooting will begin in August. (There'll be an Xbox2 title released sometime in 2006.) Full details at 1UP.com. Thanks, master chiefie. (Louis Wu 14:19:56 UTC) (permalink)
Last Stand 09
Phoenix_9286 posted Page 9 of his Last Stand comic last night - you can find links to all previous comics on this page, now. (Louis Wu 14:11:57 UTC) (permalink)
Cover Art Revisiting
Followup on yesterday's Expansion Pack artwork tidbit - Marc from Halo Universe got word from the press agency that the artwork ISN'T final. (So yes, Tom, in this case 'FPO' DOES mean 'For Placeholding Only'.) Bottom line - we still don't know what the box will look like. (That WAS a nice pic, though...) (Louis Wu 11:51:22 UTC) (permalink)
Clan News
HBO Clan news - lots of it, it seems. c0ld vengeance has decided that he doesn't have what it takes to be clan overlord for the HBO Helljumpers, and has stepped down, turning over the reins of power to BOLL. (The Helljumpers website has been hacked by the same folks who took over the forum for a short time a couple of weeks ago.) The HBO Lekgolos have become the Lord British Shishkabobs - you gotta love that new logo. (Makes 'We'll Eat Your Bones' take on a whole new meaning...) As far as I know, the Sentinels, the Spartans, and the Forerunners are just fine today. (Louis Wu 11:38:38 UTC) (permalink)
Query Spree Flash Stats Signature - Beta
Query Spree, a pretty slick stat-tracking program for Halo 2 XBL stats, has opened their flash stat signature to a 'public beta'. Visit this page, follow the instructions. It's very nice-looking - and Query Spree 1.1.3 will have even more stats to report. For new features in the flash signature, send email to El Bastard. (Louis Wu 11:23:59 UTC) (permalink)
Put a marine on your butt.
For all those who think that the love of a game like Halo can never lead to financial success (unless you're a part of Microsoft)... take heart. Halo Babies has been contracted by Proctor and Gamble; the "buttsock marine" has become the logo of the newest line of Pampers. Check out all the details! (Louis Wu 11:14:44 UTC) (permalink)
Pretty in Pink.
CVG has a story this morning about unlockable content on the upcoming expansion pack - the option to play several levels as a side-scroller. (You won't be playing as the Master Chief, either - you'll be playing as Mistriss Chiefette. Imagine taking on the Library with a handbag (a new weapon being created specifically for this purpose)! Go read. (Louis Wu 11:08:56 UTC) (permalink)
| April 2005 | |
