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 | April 2008 |  |
April 2008 Archived News
News April 30 2008
Major Pain
Digikid pointed out that Spriggs Episode 9 is available for download. It's getting hard to keep some of these series apart... but there were some funny moments in this one. Go watch!
(Louis Wu 22:41:43 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Screen Shots - new code, and a new home
Sorahn's Halo Screen Shots is a great place to store your Bungie.net screenshots - all the thumbs show up on a single page, there's no rigamarole involved in viewing the large versions, and you can see many collections quickly. And now, Halo Screen Shots is part of the bungie.org family - we're hosting them. (This doesn't mean their old hosting was unreliable - it simply means that as long as we're around, they have a home.) If you haven't visited, now's a good time! We've added a random screen, along with some statistics on the collection, to our Spotlight box over on the right; keep an eye on the growth! (Louis Wu 18:11:15 UTC) (permalink)
L'Excursion Grande
Bzerker01 let us know that Outpost Isil: Episode 5 is now available at Treeskunk Productions, in about a gazillion formats. Almost 10 minutes long, there's weird stuff going on in both bases. Go watch! (Louis Wu 17:54:50 UTC) (permalink)
Panoramas of the Ark
BlueNinja continues to put out new panoramas - I really like these views of The Ark. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 15:11:45 UTC) (permalink)
Weapons Training
TTL Demag0gue let us know that Reclaimer Episode 42 is online - more history, and some nice effects. (Louis Wu 15:10:23 UTC) (permalink)
Bugged
Dennis Powers let us know that Shipwrecked Episode 15 is up - things are getting weird. (Louis Wu 15:08:35 UTC) (permalink)
Crow's Nest Commentary - from its designer
Delicious Pie noticed that Ascendant Justice has updated their article on Crow's Nest with commentary from Dan Miller, the designer of the level. (We originally mentioned this article back in mid-March, but the new commentary went up just a couple of days ago.) Some very interesting tidbits in there - thanks, Dan, and thanks, AJ! (Louis Wu 15:06:47 UTC) (permalink)
News April 29 2008
Halo 3 Legendary - $50 in Canada
If you live in Canada, you can snag the Halo 3 Legendary Edition for $50, until Thursday. Go visit Future Shop. (Louis Wu 22:06:53 UTC) (permalink)
Seeing Double
Halo Action Figure Theater has been updated with a pretty big plot twist... and some nice little eggs. Don't forget to wish Elnea well, after her flu! (Louis Wu 21:12:35 UTC) (permalink)
Caution: Under Construction
Another Halo Comic Strip seems to be having trouble today - can you figure out why? (Louis Wu 15:25:30 UTC) (permalink)
Their armor's too strong for blasters!
It's not the first AT-AT built with Forge - but it looks to be one of the most playable. Lucifer7 dropped off a bunch of screenshots of his latest project - a fully-playable Star Wars-style AT-AT, on Avalanche. Lots of cool little details - read the post! (Louis Wu 14:48:03 UTC) (permalink)
Prelude: An Aural Prologue
Dream053 announced an upcoming machinima project - that's being preceded by a 'prologue', focusing on a story of bonds and brotherhood amongst the Elites. He's released an audio clip that sounds promising! Go listen. (Louis Wu 14:37:02 UTC) (permalink)
Free goodies from Needcoffee
Needcoffee.com is giving away some Halo 3 vehicles from McFarlane - head on over to register! (Louis Wu 14:27:09 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Sculpture - and more
RandomCTG has been doing some sculpting - if you swing by this forum post, you'll find pictures of a Master Chief figurine, an Elite bust, a Master Chief helmet, and even a (very cool) Big Daddy from Bioshock! (He also added some Elite sketches farther down.) (Louis Wu 14:17:57 UTC) (permalink)
How it all began, Part 5
2phast let us know that Larry the Marine 18 is now up - go see why the squad is scared. (Louis Wu 14:14:50 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars Monthly Update
Over at the Halo Wars website, the April Update has been posted - go see how development is going! Thanks, Psychophan7.
(Louis Wu 13:34:05 UTC) (permalink)
The Console War: Trailer
TheSquareCoin stopped by last night with a trailer for a new machinima project out of Chairleg Productions - it's called The Console War, and it'll kick off this weekend, so grab the trailer (in gorgeous HD) and get fired up!
(Louis Wu 13:28:50 UTC) (permalink)
News April 28 2008
Halo 'Elites' Documentary
AcidicReignUK and some friends created a mockumentary for a media studies class - it's a look at the natural life of the blue elite. Nice work! (They all got A's.)
(Louis Wu 23:24:34 UTC) (permalink)
Portarama
ManKitten gets in on the screenshot craze - some pretty nice ones in there! (Louis Wu 22:20:36 UTC) (permalink)
Where in the world is Special Ted?
Injured Knee Productions is running a contest - find Special Ted, win a poster. Confused? Read the details on their site. Thanks, Haloplayer. (Louis Wu 20:32:42 UTC) (permalink)
New Type of Panorama
Don posted a panorama of a different sort. Go look. (Louis Wu 18:27:55 UTC) (permalink)
Bug-Eyes
Dennis Powers let us know that Shipwrecked Episode 14 is now up. Johnston and Taylor have attracted attention... (Louis Wu 18:27:04 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars Audio Director talks to M4G
Music4Games has a great interview with Ensemble Studios' Audio Director and Lead Composer, Stephen Rippy, about the music in Halo Wars. Go read how they'll incorporate the familiar, while staking out their own territory, in the new game! There are also details (including pictures) of the recording session in Prague, Czech Republic, with the FILMharmonic Orchestra and Choir. Good stuff! (Louis Wu 17:02:04 UTC) (permalink)
New Montages at H3F
Z let us know that there are a couple of massive montages over at Halo3Forum.com - Calamity 2 from TM22, ST68, iDrako, and Kraynium - almost 18 minutes long, 327 mb, plus a blooper reel (which I didn't get at all; they didn't look like bloopers to me, for the most part) and Phurion and Fluxy's DualTage - 197 mb, 8 minutes, very nice editing. For those of you who like montages - that's a half-hour's worth of new content! (Louis Wu 16:57:15 UTC) (permalink)
And the panoramas continue
nomis78 posted links to another handful of panoramas - the Rat's Nest one is particularly nice. Take a look! (Louis Wu 16:24:58 UTC) (permalink)
The Riot 97
Sigafoos let us know that The Riot 97 is now up (20 minutes, 8 mb) - there's a slight drop in audio quality because his mic was misbehaving, but there's still plenty of community news, challenge info, and (on their video show) an exclusive (until Wednesday) showing of Outpost: Operation Isil Episode 5, from Treeskunk. Go listen - and watch! (Louis Wu 15:50:42 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Detective - an early look
A couple of weeks ago, we mentioned a live-action Halo short being made by a third-party group, and using a fan with Nightmare Armor. Devastator (the fan with the armor) let us know that there is now a Flickr stream of images from the shoot, and some information about the film itself - it's being done by the CollegeHumor crew, and we have a working title - 'Halo Detective'. Stay tuned for more!
(Louis Wu 15:08:15 UTC) (permalink)
A Weapon, Forged
TTL Demag0gue stopped in to let us know that Reclaimer is back with new content, after a three-week hiatus. Episode 41 gives you a taste of where the Reclaimer comes from (and makes nice use of the new Forge filters). (Louis Wu 15:02:33 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Leopard Dock
Davis Beutler created a Halo-themed Dock for OSX Leopard. You can see pictures of it in use, and find download links, in his forum post. (We've mirrored the actual content, as well.) (Louis Wu 14:59:53 UTC) (permalink)
News April 27 2008
Forge Art Contest Winner
Maximum Fear let us know that they've announced the winner of their Forge Art Contest. They've also included some of the other entries. Great work in there! (Louis Wu 23:41:52 UTC) (permalink)
Combat Animation Teaser
Nabsuh pointed out a teaser showing off his combat animation (and sound design) techniques - it's only a meg, go watch it! (Louis Wu 15:10:10 UTC) (permalink)
A chance at a much longer Steve Downes Interview
SPU7N1K found that there's a longer Steve Downes interview (this was an excerpt, apparently), but if you want to hear it, you'll have to ask for it. Details in his forum post. (Louis Wu 15:06:59 UTC) (permalink)
BlueNinja's Panoramas
BlueNinja put together a new bunch of panoramic shots - some of these are spectacular. Go see! (Louis Wu 15:04:28 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Airbrush Painting
madhippy6 noticed a very cool time-lapse series of a guy airbrushing a Halo painting. Under a minute and a half - go watch! (Louis Wu 14:50:51 UTC) (permalink)
Making Halo Prettiness from Clutter
djstan let us know about a contest held over at Gizmondo, called Cluttar Art - folks make images out of folders on their desktop. Two of them (this one and this one) are Halo related. (Louis Wu 14:49:14 UTC) (permalink)
3D Energy Sword
Dan Gerstner stopped by with news of a new 3D energy sword he created - look pretty impressive! The artwork's over at DeviantART. (Louis Wu 14:45:29 UTC) (permalink)
News April 26 2008
Halotography
Destructoid noticed a Flickr stream of Halo screenshots, enhanced to be more photorealistic - the creator, joshuadamon, felt that his work, which he calls 'Halotography', gives "a much needed breath of fresh air to Halo". Whether or not you agree with that statement, the pictures are absolutely worth a look - great job! (Louis Wu 23:19:43 UTC) (permalink)
SSG Reviews LMP
SecondStoryGamer has a review of the Legendary Map Pack - go see what they thought. (Louis Wu 23:13:29 UTC) (permalink)
PreGame Lobby Episode 3
Harabek let us know that PreGame Lobby Episode 3 has been released - Mike and Brandon meet a famous foe. Maybe more than one. Go watch it on YouTube. (Louis Wu 23:00:59 UTC) (permalink)
Meeting
FireDragon04 let us know that Episode 3 of his Halo 3 machinima 'Consequences' has been released - Collin and Logan have to fight to reach the hologram they'd been talking to - and they learn more about their surroundings. My largest complaint (that the Architect was almost completely unintelligible) has been addressed with subtitles - this story is going forward nicely! (Louis Wu 20:29:38 UTC) (permalink)
He's wearing sweats
Today's Another Halo Comic Strip shows that everyone has their own triggers when it comes to self-motivation. (Louis Wu 15:49:12 UTC) (permalink)
McFarlane's Legendary Collection
Wow - Littlebigman found some pics of a new collection from McFarlane Toys - the Legendary Collection looks pretty sweet! (There's also a link to some new 12-inch McFarlane figures - lots of good stuff coming!) As usual, the full story can be found at spawn.com, as well, with extra pics. (Louis Wu 15:33:40 UTC) (permalink)
Some Cutscene-based Vids for You
Cortana4ever put together a few videos using cutscenes and music - it's an interesting collection. The last one, especially, is pretty evocative. Just as a point of interest - I nearly passed these by completely. Cortana4ever posted them in our forum with a description that basically said 'these are just some things I whipped out in a few minutes, I was bored, they're nothing special.' When someone tells me that their work is not worth much, I'll take them at their word - my time is short, and having someone self-regulate what I have to look at is helpful. If there hadn't been forum regulars responding with words of praise, this would never have made the front page, because I never would have seen the vids. Keep that in mind if you're trying to get people to look at your creations... (Louis Wu 15:19:14 UTC) (permalink)
For, um... rebuilding after the Flood
Simpsons Rule found a civilian that allowed a trade of a pistol for a Brute hammer - it might be the only time you'll see a civilian holding one of those monsters. (He won't use it - but hey, he looks pretty cool even just holding it.) (Louis Wu 14:54:16 UTC) (permalink)
Newcomers
Arby 'n' the Chief, Episode 9: Newcomers can be seen at YouTube (thanks, John_117). Reaction, at least on OUR forum, seems to be mixed; I guess this is one of those things you either like or you don't. (Louis Wu 14:49:19 UTC) (permalink)
Rain: Preview
trigger119 let us know that there's a new film from Zukan available for downloading (or streaming) at GamingTV - Rain is to be a revival of his earlier lauded Vendetta, and this preview looks pretty nice! Go check it out. (Louis Wu 14:45:11 UTC) (permalink)
Oh, Bother.
The Bungie Weekly Update is pretty light this week - some clarification about some of the rumors (and news) floating around out there about upcoming Halo projects, another list of how not to get Recon armor, some matchmaking update news, and details on the Play & Win Sweepstakes we mentioned a while back. Oh, yeah, and a great picture of Luke. As always, read it at Bungie.net or read it in our Weekly Update Archive. (Louis Wu 00:40:25 UTC) (permalink)
News April 25 2008
How Bungie Plays
GamesRadar sat down with Cam 'Cunbelin' Pinard and Jason 'BrownV' Sussman - watched them play, asked them about their strategies and what they like. Fun read! Thanks, Decommissioner. (Louis Wu 19:53:46 UTC) (permalink)
Orange and Purple - aren't Scouts supposed to blend in?
GhettoMole is rapidly nearing completion of his Scout helmet - the secondary color has been finished, only the visor remains! Go look. (Louis Wu 17:29:59 UTC) (permalink)
Hints of Bungie's next Halo title?
Solidly in the 'rumor' category, 1UP.com has some gossip it's pushing from Quartermann's Rumor Mill:
[W]e've heard rumblings that the first one will be a Halo spin-off due in late 2009. Our spies tell us to expect a third-person action/adventure shooter hybrid that takes place before the original Halo, chronicling early skirmishes between the ODST troops and the Covenant. This may or may not be the oft-mentioned "Peter Jackson Halo Project" -- though apparently Microsoft is hiring a seperate team for that -- but WETA is definitely involved in some capacity. Look for a massive reveal around the time Gears of War 2 ships this fall...
Bungie HAS been really busy of late - but this is the first I've heard of a "third-person action/adventure shooter hybrid". Don't get all excited yet - it may turn out to be true, or it may turn out to be a bit of undigested beef. (I found this in my Google Alerts mailbox, but I just checked the forum, and it looks like Red_Breast started a thread about it about an hour ago.) (Louis Wu 14:03:49 UTC) (permalink)
It's a water pump. Definitely.
Hawty McBloggy has returned to her Rorschach Inkblot tests, based on heatmaps of multiplayer killzones - today's looks at the death on Blackout. You can also see answers from Foundry, the last map she covered (back in February). Go tell her what you see! (Louis Wu 10:30:26 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
Just a few pieces posted this week in the Fan Fiction section - go read 'em!
(Louis Wu 10:29:39 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: Uprising - Issue 4 Cover Art Revealed
mcdizzell noticed that Marvel's posted the cover art (or SOME cover art) for the fourth Halo comic. I said I wouldn't post any more news about the series until the next issue was actually released - but it's pretty artwork. Go look.
(Louis Wu 10:29:18 UTC) (permalink)
News April 24 2008
Just Playin'
Luke McKay whipped up a little Cortana doodle today, over in his RvB Journal - we've added it to his Gallery here. (Louis Wu 21:44:22 UTC) (permalink)
Double XP SWAT Weekend Live Now
Bungie has announced that this weekend's Double XP playlist will be SWAT - and that it's live, now. (XerxdeeJ... LIVE is calling you!) This is the last SWAT weekend - and your last chance to play SWAT unranked; when it comes back in May, it'll be a full-time playlist, and it will be ranked. Go shoot! (Louis Wu 21:32:38 UTC) (permalink)
So THAT'S where the M rating came from!
Hawty McBloggy found a fun shirt at Split Reason - I've never seen a Spartan Laser do that, but it makes a nice sign! (Louis Wu 21:29:16 UTC) (permalink)
Beat The Yeti - week of 4/23
HeavenlyYeti let us know that Beat the Yeti had another challenge - this time it was Team Yeti vs Team Flaming Tampons. Three games, with an overall tie. Sounds like fun games! (Louis Wu 21:27:36 UTC) (permalink)
Podtacular Pod TV Pilot
The first episode of the new Podtacular Video Podcast (numbered 159, as a continuation of the audio podcast) is now up at Podtacular.com. Freak in a Box and Crypto flix interview Foo Mo Jive and JVB. 37 mb, 18 minutes, with layout of the upcoming episodes. Go watch! Thanks, Samus 117. (Louis Wu 21:22:12 UTC) (permalink)
When Missiles Go Rogue
PaulMc's friend was playing on Valhalla, and took a shot at a Banshee with his missile pod, from pretty close range. He missed, the Banshee boosted in and splattered him. Pretty standard, right? Well... the missile ALMOST got a lock... so it decided it was gonna follow that Banshee after all. The 'shee had headed for the enemy base, looking to see what it could hit... the missile caught up to it as it rounded the spire. It started down for the kill... and then it found a new target. This one was moving more slowly, perhaps, or maybe it was the peanut-butter coating on the Elite armor. We'll never know. The missile flew into the ground behind the running Elite that had just spawned, killing him. The cool part? That running Elite was PaulMc's friend, back from purgatory just in time to be killed by his own missile. Check this post for HD download links of the 24-second film clip, if you don't want to download the Fileshare'd Saved Film Paul put up. This one needs a special medal, I think... (Louis Wu 20:23:07 UTC) (permalink)
Lowered Expectations
ZZoMBiE13 looks at the naming of the Halo Map Packs to date, does some extrapolating, and lets you know what might be coming next, in the latest installment of Another Halo Comic Strip. Here's hoping he's wrong. (Louis Wu 20:20:03 UTC) (permalink)
Inside Halo 13
Whoa, that was quick. Inside Halo 13 is now online - The Dead Pixel shows off some cool screens, details a new request for submissions (you'll have to watch it yourself for specifics), executes some mailbag hijinx, and gives you a taste of the endtimes. Go watch! Thanks, Adam Kovic. (Louis Wu 20:12:10 UTC) (permalink)
Bugs
Dennis Powers let us know that Shipwrecked Episode 13 is now up - some nice animations in those shots! (Louis Wu 20:04:21 UTC) (permalink)
NFL Running Back to host a Halo 3 tourney in NE
If you live in Omaha, NE (or nearby, I guess), you might be interested in a Halo 3 tournament to be hosted this weekend at Heidelberg's Sports Bar by Ahman Green, an NFL running back with the Houston Texans. Details (and an application form) are available in the Omaha World Herald story linked above. (Louis Wu 20:02:31 UTC) (permalink)
Summary, Observations, Hypothesis, Experiment, Conclusion
Game and Player has a scientific review of the Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack. Go read it to see what that means. (Louis Wu 19:57:02 UTC) (permalink)
Chairleg offering a Halo 3 Cutscene in HD
The Chairleg Productions crew is planning on releasing some new machinima in HD, and to test whether their server can handle the load, they're releasing a Halo 3 cutscene (the ending of Floodgate) in QuickTime H.264 HD format. Swing by Squarecoin's forum post for details and a download link.
(Louis Wu 19:22:51 UTC) (permalink)
Scout Helmet - nearing completion
We got new pics of GhettoMole's Scout helmet - he's finished up the grey and black painting, looking forward to the violet highlights and the visor! Go look. (Louis Wu 19:22:02 UTC) (permalink)
Camouflage for when you're hiding in a weapons bin
SPU7N1K was doing some searching, and stumbled across a blog post from back in September, showing off photos of a couple of Halo 3 caps I don't recall seeing before. I'm not sure I'd wear 'em - but it's interesting that they're out there. (Louis Wu 19:21:37 UTC) (permalink)
Magic Overshield Grab
xenøs was messing around with some map building, and ran across a pretty bizarre glitch; apparently, you can pick up an overshield by traveling between a pair of teleporters that has that overshield near the path that connects them. Huh? Watch his movie for more details (downloadable saved films linked in the forum post, too), and see if you can figure out what's going on! (Louis Wu 19:21:14 UTC) (permalink)
Brothers in Arms
Phatcorns dropped in with a link to a little montage vid showing off some brotherly love. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy. (Louis Wu 19:20:29 UTC) (permalink)
Banshee Hijacking
I hate days like this. Sorry for the lack of news. Rockslider wrote up an easy way to hijack banshees on The Covenant - swing by Bad Cyborg for details. (Louis Wu 19:19:19 UTC) (permalink)
News April 23 2008
Peter Jackson's Halo Project Resurfaces
Joystiq (and the MTV Multiplayer blog before it) are discussing some new job postings on Microsoft's Careers website, that point to (and this is now confirmed) an expansion of the team for Peter Jackson's 'Halo' project. Does this mean that the game is just now getting into the engineering phase? Or has it just grown beyond its original scope? More when we know it! Thanks, JeBr0nie. (Louis Wu 21:28:52 UTC) (permalink)
ESPN Saturday Night
trigger119 let us know that MLG is hosting a rebroadcast of ESPN Saturday Night from the Meadowlands... in 11 parts. (Louis Wu 21:15:51 UTC) (permalink)
Phoenix Teaser
AoD Deadite dropped in to point out a new teaser from Dispatch Films - Phoenix will be out this summer, the YouTube flick will only take 45 seconds of your time. (Louis Wu 21:13:43 UTC) (permalink)
Team Doubles Strategy Guide
PEZ let us know that there's a new Team Doubles strategy guide posted up at Halowiki.net - go give it a read! (Louis Wu 21:12:09 UTC) (permalink)
Pretty Pictures
I've said it before - we're not going to get into the habit of front-paging every screenshot (or screenshot collection) that comes to our attention; the risk of being flooded is too great, and there are already great places to see cool screenshots (try I <3 Halo 3 Screenshots or haloscreenshots.net, for example). However, there are occasionally collections posted on our forum that I like a lot - Leviathan stopped by this morning with a handful that are pretty cool. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 16:27:09 UTC) (permalink)
NPR looks at Machinima
Free at Last noticed an NPR piece on machinima - and two major Halo players (Red vs Blue and The Codex) get mentions. (Louis Wu 16:15:58 UTC) (permalink)
Input and Output
Some nice goodies over in Hawty McBloggy's little corner of the net - she found a fun site that shows you what might get lost in translation... and while her Halo 3 pickup lines might lose some of their efficacy, they absolutely gain some hilarity. She also found a truly gorgeous set of customized input devices - a keyboard and two controllers - painted with a Halo 3 theme. I'd buy those... in a heartbeart. (Louis Wu 16:06:55 UTC) (permalink)
Legendary Maps can't push Halo 3 back on top
MasterChief2829 pointed out Major Nelson's weekly Top Games on LIVE list - the release of CoD4 DLC has kept Call of Duty on the top of the list, even with the resurgence of Halo 3 play due to the Legendary Map Pack. (This news shouldn't bother Halo fans too much - regardless of who's on top of that list, the simple fact is, there are a lot of people playing Halo 3 these days, and the new maps are... spectacular.) (Louis Wu 16:01:33 UTC) (permalink)
How it all began, Part 4
ryu9921 let us know that Larry the Marine Part 18 is up - another 'How it all began' piece. Poor Larry... (Louis Wu 15:47:08 UTC) (permalink)
Fan Recon meets Pro Hog
Xavier pointed out a pretty interesting thread over at the 405th Forums - Belakor (we've mentioned him before, he's building some real-life Recon armor) went to the Armageddon Con in Wellington, NZ, and took a whole bunch of pictures. They're not all online yet - but the ones that are are great. Weta was there, with their Warthog... the shots he took in full Recon gear next to the full-sized hog are just glorious. (Louis Wu 15:28:34 UTC) (permalink)
A new naming scheme.
Spartan Jag noticed a Halo reference in Married to the Sea a couple of days ago - I forgot to post this. Good stuff! (Louis Wu 15:15:48 UTC) (permalink)
News April 22 2008
Frag a Friend!
kilaMOMjaro let us know that it's time once again for the PraetoriaGuard-sponsored Frag a Friend event that happens each month. Attendance is open to community leaders (clan leaders, website maintainers, etc) - you have to sign up, and your eligibility will be screened by a human before you're added to the roster (last time, there were almost too many people to play), but it should be a good way to get together with others who are shepherding the fan community! If you're signed up, look for gamertags Smackafied or kilam0mjaro at 9pm on Friday, April 25! (Louis Wu 19:18:11 UTC) (permalink)
Someday-Night Grifball - Tonight
If you're curious about Someday-Night Grifball, the live rebroadcast of a league game that happens now and again, tonight, Pandamonium will be playing Team Russia, at 11 pm EST. You can watch it at GamingTV (thanks, trigger119) or justintv (thanks, Quikthnkr).
(Louis Wu 18:26:00 UTC) (permalink)
Beware of Low-Flying Mongeese
Okay, the replay was probably a bit excessive (I don't think we needed to see the banshee and chopper kills again), but overall, this betrayal is pretty entertaining. When you're in a tank, beware of the debris you generate. The life you take might just belong to a teammate. (Louis Wu 18:05:51 UTC) (permalink)
Coneheads
In the world of Halo weaponry, everything's relative. Nobody knows that better than ZZoMBiE13, as shown in today's Another Halo Comic Strip. (Louis Wu 15:24:34 UTC) (permalink)
HTB - Et tu, Brute?
Sane Intolerant let us know that two new episodes of Halo Toy Box Theater have been posted - the first one makes sense, the second... less so. (Louis Wu 14:22:26 UTC) (permalink)
Kill your enemies, kill your friends
XerxdeeJ stopped by with news of updates at Tied the Leader - there's a field report from a Halo tournament at the University of Michigan, and an exhortation to see what clan play is all about. Go read! (Louis Wu 12:25:27 UTC) (permalink)
Cavegirls and Ambassadors to help out with Legendary Weekend
We mentioned the Legendary Map Pack Weekend Play & Win Sweepstakes last week - but the page on Xbox.com has some extra info now; they've put up a list of Cavegirls who'll be playing on Saturday, so you can look for their gamertags - and a list of Xbox Ambassadors who'll be playing Sunday night, to help you out. It's not 'Game with Fame' so much as 'Game with Fun'. (Louis Wu 12:17:59 UTC) (permalink)
Inside Halo 3: Episode 12
gunluva noticed that Inside Halo 3: Episode 12 is now live; Sodagod has some weird interview techniques, but all in all it's pretty entertaining! 5 and a half minutes, including an interview with Phreak, the top five plays of the week, a machinima roundup, and a decided lack of boobies. (Wait, what?) (Louis Wu 12:09:14 UTC) (permalink)
When search sites get REALLY focused
What a bizarre website. (No, I didn't ask the question. It was there when I got there.) And none of those links actually answer the question - I'm posting this because I thought the whole CONCEPT was bizarre. (Louis Wu 12:05:37 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Tourney in Bristol, TN
Meghan Hall let us know that the Ultimate Gamers International will be hosting another Halo 3 tournament at the Bristol Dragway in northern Tennessee, on April 26. Entry is $10, gates open at noon, bring your own 360 and controllers. Swing by the website for more info, including a contact number. (If you've got questions you'd like to email, try here.) (Louis Wu 12:02:13 UTC) (permalink)
News April 21 2008
Blocked Spartan
ZZoMBiE13 created a wallpaper version of the last panel of Sunday's Another Halo Comic Strip - you can grab it here. (Louis Wu 21:34:52 UTC) (permalink)
Hindsight: Tsavo Highway
Cocopjojo let us know that the next episode of Hindsight, Ascendant Justice's look at each Halo 3 Campaign level, is online. Tsavo Highway covers the fourth chapter of the saga - pretty thoroughly. You'll find documentation of quite a lot of dialogue you might have missed, unless you spent some time exploring - and you'll find descriptions of approaches you might not have considered. There's also an addendum, with saved films and gameplay tips, including a method for speedrunning the level. All in all, a solid read! Go check it out. (Louis Wu 21:10:56 UTC) (permalink)
Grifball UK Week 1 Highlights
Over at Grifball.com, Gingerlink has posted Week 1 highlights of the UK league - more coming soon, apparently. Go watch! (Louis Wu 21:01:46 UTC) (permalink)
It's like Montana, but not.
This might be of interest to some - it certainly was of interest to Urban Reflex. XxPacmaynExX found a spot outside the Blackout map that can be built into anything you want; it has no 'floor' (well, no floor texture), but it's a space that's roughly 4x the size of Foundry's open space. If you're looking to build something big, and Foundry feels too small... swing by and grab his map! (Louis Wu 19:54:53 UTC) (permalink)
Remembrance
Dennis Powers let us know that Shipwrecked Episode 12 is up - careful where you let your memory take you... (Louis Wu 19:14:45 UTC) (permalink)
Laughs for Cash Needs Your Vote
trigger119 let us know that voting is now open for the Laughs for Cash contest. Go visit, watch the five finalists, and cast your vote for the funniest! (Louis Wu 19:11:40 UTC) (permalink)
Modded Controllers - Reviewed
Back in February, we mentioned some HG modded controllers, with extra buttons on the bottom. Yesterday, these were reviewed by XboxNowOnline. Go see what they thought! (Louis Wu 19:07:33 UTC) (permalink)
Wait - how did that fit in the box?
OMG The Bungie webcams are taking pictures in the future! (Thanks, INteRn.) (Louis Wu 14:43:56 UTC) (permalink)
Vendetta
Syrok created a Halo 3 machinima project for the Northwest High School Film Festival - It's called 'Vendetta', and it follows a pair of soldiers assigned to assassinate a target. When the job goes bad, the surviving soldier looks for revenge. You can watch it on YouTube, or download a higher-res version from FileFront (103 mb). (Louis Wu 14:41:09 UTC) (permalink)
News April 20 2008
Want a custom-painted McFarlane figure?
Raulboy stopped by with a pictures (more in this post) of a repainted McFarlane figure his brother did. If you're interested, he's offering (for a fee) to custom-paint one for you, as well. Check the post for details. (Louis Wu 23:06:21 UTC) (permalink)
Gentle Giant Halo 3 offerings at NYCC
Cool Toy Review has new pics of upcoming Gentle Giant figures taken at the New York Comic Con - the Arbiter bust looks amazing. (Louis Wu 22:59:26 UTC) (permalink)
Podtacular 157 (and 158)
Podtacular has released part one of their two-part final episode, ever. We really are gonna miss you guys - go listen! 90 minutes, 55 mb. Thanks, Kia. Update: And... Part 2 is up. 60 mb, 98 minutes. Goodbyes from around the Halo community, and a very early interview. Thanks again, Kia - and goodbye, guys. (Louis Wu 21:38:29 UTC) (permalink)
Darth Maul Spartan
Hawty McBloggy noticed a custom Halo 3/Star Wars action figure for sale on eBay - current bid is $14.99. (I mean, really, it's just a McFarlane figure with some horns glued on, and a felt cape, and some custom paint... but hey, how often are you gonna find one of these?) (Louis Wu 18:53:10 UTC) (permalink)
Battlefield Halo Upgraded
MR-T has upgraded his browser-based Halo game - lots of changes. Swing by the site for details! (Louis Wu 18:49:43 UTC) (permalink)
The Riot 96
Sigafoos let us know that The Riot 96 is online at Second-Foundation.net. 23 minutes, 9 mb, community news, video stuff, map discussion. Go listen (and watch!). (Louis Wu 17:21:25 UTC) (permalink)
Out of this world - er, map
Didn't take long for folks to find some cool glitches in the Legendary maps. (I probably should cruise through the High Impact Halo forums to see more - but this showed up in my mailbox, which is always easier.) Over at GlitchBlog.com, there are a couple of videos from the ProjectModGaming crew in which they've glitched their way out of Avalanche (not in pan-cam mode, either) and Ghost Town. The first one, especially, is pretty cool (though I'm not sure I understand what they did). (Louis Wu 17:16:39 UTC) (permalink)
Orange Scout
GhettoMole continues his rapid progress on his Scout helmet - it's now painted his standard Multiplayer primary color orange. Go check out the latest pics! (Louis Wu 17:03:52 UTC) (permalink)
Grifball Explosion, Week 4
Week 4 of Grifball Explosion was recorded Friday night - I managed to miss posting a note about it yesterday. It contains an interview with Andy the Bomb, the standard Q&A with the Commissioner, and community news from the voice of Someday-Night Grifball. You can go listen at Talkshoe. Thanks, Quikthnkr. (Louis Wu 16:45:58 UTC) (permalink)
Interview with Charity Gamers
AnTi PRO, of Arm the Flag, has done a machinima-style interview of KSI Freedom 6, the leader and creator of Charity Gamers. Go watch to learn how these guys got started, and what they're doing to help cure cancer! In addition to both sites mentioned above, the video can also be seen on YouTube, and HaloTube. (Louis Wu 15:53:36 UTC) (permalink)
Wuvvy takes a Nap
Elnea's posted Episode 144 of Halo Action Figure Theater - see how many eggs you can find in that last panel! (Louis Wu 15:20:07 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3, single segment, 77 minutes.
Wow. XBmaster has become the first person to complete Halo 3 in a single run, without dying. It's on easy, and it took him 77 minutes (well, and 3 seconds, but we'll forgive him those three). You can watch it over at High Speed Halo. (It's also available as Fileshare-hosted film clips, so you can use Bungie's timestamps to confirm that this was done in one sitting.) Thanks, NOKYARD. Update: Sunburned Goose points out that this is not a 'no deaths' run; He dies jumping off the Scarab at 5:20 through the Storm. My bad, sorry. (Louis Wu 15:17:44 UTC) (permalink)
Zombie Death Squad
ZDSvideos let us know that Zombie Death Squad is a new thriller/action machinima; they've already posted a teaser. Go watch! (They're always looking for help, so if you like what you see, join 'em.)
(Louis Wu 15:10:11 UTC) (permalink)
Beat the Yeti
McNealy let us know that he's put together a "ripoff of the Bungie Humpday" - it's called Beat the Yeti, and the first week's competition was exactly that (his gamertag is heavenlyyeti). If you'd like to participate, there's contact info at the end of the post. (Louis Wu 15:08:23 UTC) (permalink)
Marines on the Beach
Rockslider's back, this time showing how you can get 10 marines together on the beach on The Covenant... and then do nasty things to them. Bad Cyborg! (Louis Wu 15:03:52 UTC) (permalink)
Wind Chill Factor
ZZoMBiE13 was very nice about it - but I screwed up, and forgot to post yesterday's Another Halo Comic Strip. Which is too bad, because it's pretty darned insightful. Well, I guess it's okay, because you can read it now! So go read it now, and become aware of one of the lesser-known dangers of Avalanche. (Louis Wu 14:18:08 UTC) (permalink)
News April 19 2008
The World's Longest Halo 3 Review
Gravemind has written what he calls 'The World's Longest Halo 3 Review'. The short version: "not bad, could have been better." Go read why. (Louis Wu 18:03:55 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Story Timeline updated
UNSC Trooper has updated the Halo Story timeline with info from the Halo 3 game (and some ancillary sources). Check it out! (Louis Wu 17:50:05 UTC) (permalink)
For Great Justice (and multiple kills)
bigroot posted a short clip of a fun triple-kill he had with a trip mine - if he hadn't thrown the grenade that put the fully-loaded hog on top of that mine, it would have just been a randomly lucky set of kills... but his own grenade made it justice. Swing by YouTube to watch. (Louis Wu 17:42:37 UTC) (permalink)
Legendary and More
DigitalPh33r has posted Arby 'n' the Chief Episode 8, over at Machinima.com - it's a look at the Legendary Map Pack, and it's got some funny moments. (Thanks, SPARTAN 294.) If you swing by his blog, you'll see other news - he's done with It's a Wonderful Live, and the series finale for Deus Ex Machina is getting delayed until it's as good as he can make it. (Currently, he's shooting for 'late May'.) There's other news, as well - check it out if you like his work! (Louis Wu 17:40:19 UTC) (permalink)
More Blackout Jumping
RVideo noticed another Blackout Jumping video over at Halo3Forum - put together by JalapenoZ and friends, it includes a few jumps not seen in Sain7's entry yesterday. Take a look! (Louis Wu 17:34:04 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars Alpha spotted in the wild
Interesting - Xbox360Fanboy has a sighting of the Halo Wars Alpha being played on Xbox LIVE. Thanks to Spenser for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 16:56:41 UTC) (permalink)
US Army/MLG Halo 3 film winners posted
MLGPro.com has posted the winners (and runners-up) for the US Army Halo 3 Film Festival - some great movies in there! Go watch. (Louis Wu 16:24:10 UTC) (permalink)
Exclusive Halo 3 McFarlane Figures at SDCC
Aaron 'Bigsauce' Martin let us know that Spawn.com has pics of a pair of exclusive Halo 3 McFarlane Action Figures at the San Diego Comic Con this summer - an Active-Camo CQB and a very cool-looking EVA Spartan labeled 'Hellspartan'. Go look! (Louis Wu 16:08:36 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Tinker Toys
GameTap looked at some of the fun stuff you can do with Forge and the new Legendary maps - go download! (Louis Wu 16:04:58 UTC) (permalink)
Scout Helmet Progress
GhettoMole sent along another pair of pictures of his in-progress Scout helmet - it now has resin on it. Next up - paint, and a visor! (Louis Wu 16:03:45 UTC) (permalink)
Obviously
Dennis Powers let us know that Shipwrecked, Episode 11 is now online. If I had to be alone with these two guys, I don't know what I'd do. (Louis Wu 16:02:25 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie Weekly Update
Last night was Friday night - so Bungie, as is their custom, wrote up a Weekly Update (which, of course, is also available in our Weekly Update Archive). It contains information about a couple of glitches related to the Legendary Map Pack release, some very vague news about what's going on in the Bungie headquarters, a recap of the MLG Meadowlands event from the standpoint of Bungie's Luke Smith, and a section on how not to get Recon armor. (If you want Recon armor, read this. More than once.) When you're done reading - go play some Halo! (Louis Wu 14:17:07 UTC) (permalink)
News April 18 2008
Blackout Jumping
Sain7 whipped up a little Blackout Jumps tutorial recently - it's available in his Fileshare. However, if you don't want to fire up Halo 3 just to watch this, there are 720p renders of the video in this post. Some nice jumps in there! (Louis Wu 16:17:27 UTC) (permalink)
X-Play's Sarkathlon 2: Recon Challenge
Mr Sark dropped us a note with details about X-Play's Sarkathlon 2: Recon Challenge (it was on last night's show). It takes place on Avalanche, and the object is to get through the course as quickly as possible and be holding eight grenades when you cross the finish line. The winning time will earn its submitter a set of Recon armor. The full instructions are in the video linked above, but to make things a little bit easier, here's a link to Mr Sark's Fileshare. Grab Sarkathlon2-VIP (the gametype), Sarkathlon2-Map (the map - duh), and Sarkathlon2-Tut (a tutorial showing you what you need to do). You've got two weeks - submissions must be in by Friday, May 2. Next week's show will have a leaderboard, showing off the best times submitted to that point, and the winner will be announced on air on Friday, May 2. Get practicing! (Louis Wu 14:40:50 UTC) (permalink)
H3 v CoD4: A DLC Showdown
Games Radar postd a DLC showdown between Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 - it's pretty hostile (as in, neither side will concede that the other actually has something of value) and doesn't provide much more insight than that conversation you had with your roommate at 3 am about this very subject - but hey, it's a big gaming website, so it must be important, right? (Louis Wu 14:11:47 UTC) (permalink)
abReacT
Straight gameplay montages have been done so often, and for so long, that it's hard to get excited about new ones. Z sent word of a new one, over at Halo3Forum, from Kriptic - I actually enjoyed watching it. Lots of sticks and snipes - but the focus seemed to be on Exterminations, and a couple of them were really nice (no easy kills). Great situational awareness (using fusion cores to maximum advantage), great control. Give it a shot! 123 mb for 6 minutes of gameplay. (Louis Wu 14:05:16 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
Five new pieces in the Fan Fiction section this week - get to reading! (Louis Wu 13:58:23 UTC) (permalink)
A bunch of nice shots
S043 took a bunch of nice screenshots, and posted 'em on our forum. Normally, I'd let these go by - we see a LOT of screenshots on our forum - but I liked this batch. (He posted a second batch later in the evening.) And radiant penguin stopped by, as well, with some new (and really, really impressive) vertical panoramas taken on the Legendary maps. I LOVE 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams' - and 'Cold Feet' is a great composition, too. Update: HaLo2FrEeEk decided to get into this, too - check the post for four Legendary map panoramas.
(Louis Wu 13:08:08 UTC) (permalink)
Wait... OTHER people wake up like that too?
Hawty McBloggy has part two of her 'You Know You Play Too Much Halo When...' quiz online right now - go see how bad your obsession really is. (Louis Wu 13:07:49 UTC) (permalink)
Double XP Weekend - Legendary Brawl
Almost forgot to mention - yesterday, Bungie made the latest Double XP Weekend playlist live. This one is called 'Legendary Brawl', and it's a 12-player free-for-all on the newest maps (both the Heroic and Legendary map packs are represented). You must have both sets of maps to play this. It's a ranked list, so your chances to grab those last few multiplayer achievements are right there in front of you! (Louis Wu 13:07:32 UTC) (permalink)
CI Design Contest - End Date and Prizes
HaLo2FrEeEk let us know that the cutoff date for the Infectionist Machinima Design Contest is coming up - April 30 is the last day to submit entries. Prizes include 1600 MS points, a 1-month LIVE code, and a custom title on their forum, with a runner-up getting an honorable mention on the front page and a dedicated forum thread displaying their work. More details can be found at the Infectionist Machinima website. (Louis Wu 13:07:15 UTC) (permalink)
Major's Minute - Master Chief Edition
darthbob noticed a new interview on the Inside Xbox link of Xbox LIVE Marketplace - it's the latest edition of Major's Minute, and this week Major Nelson is talking to Frankie about the Legendary maps. 60 seconds of info - short and sweet! (Louis Wu 13:06:55 UTC) (permalink)
News April 17 2008
A Halo Live-action Short - coming soon!
Devastator has shown up around the halo scene a few times - he's got a set of Nightmare Armor that he's worn to several high-profile Halo events, and he's got a large Legendary tattoo on his leg. Seems he was recently contacted by a group looking to film a live-action Halo flick - he's put up some pictures on the GameGoons forum. The final product should be out soon - they're just finishing up the special effects. We'll keep you posted!
(Louis Wu 21:27:43 UTC) (permalink)
Escape From Zanzibar - Reborn and Remastered
Crabbo pointed out a trailer for a remake of 'Escape from Zanzibar' - rebuilt in Halo 3. Looks action-filled! (Louis Wu 21:24:04 UTC) (permalink)
Surly Teammates and Betrayals FTW
This week, the Halo 3 Humpday Challenge was another "let's play random games in Matchmaking and call it a match" entry - except with very pretty pictures. (I gotta say, the "oops, we missed that hog with a rocket" shot is nothing short of awesome.) Nice writeup! Thanks, Jordan117. (Louis Wu 19:19:46 UTC) (permalink)
Why is it called JUICY?
ZZoMBiE13 continues with his Legendary theme this week, as Another Halo Comic Strip shows once again how to elicit a major emotional response from the Arbiter. (Louis Wu 17:35:55 UTC) (permalink)
A wearable Scout helmet
As mentioned earlier, we had another batch of fun content from GhettoMole - not only did he send us a link to a custom-built Jackal, but he's working on a wearable Scout helmet. Swing by this page for progress pictures!
(Louis Wu 15:18:12 UTC) (permalink)
Maximum Fear Competition - Cortana Speedrun
Maximum Fear is hosting a contest - complete the campaign level Cortana on Legendary faster than anyone else, win a $25 Bungie Store gift certificate. (There's also a $10 certificate for the highest score, regardless of time.) For reference, the best time currently listed for a Legendary runthrough of Cortana over at High Speed Halo is 8:15. (Louis Wu 14:59:47 UTC) (permalink)
It's Halo Week at Angry Robot, Apparently
Rock Opera Jr stopped in to let everyone know that Angry Robot has a lot of Halo content this week - they've put up a review of the Legendary Map Pack, a Halo-themed podcast, and a comic that features a pet flood spore. Go check it out! (Louis Wu 14:54:55 UTC) (permalink)
Jackal Model, built from parts
GhettoMole put together a Halo Jackal from bits and pieces of Warhammer models - great job! (Check back in a bit for more from him.) (Louis Wu 12:59:22 UTC) (permalink)
Lost Shorts 1 - New Armor
Haloplayer stopped by to point out Lost Shorts 1, "New Armor" - an extended gay joke set in their Lost Cause universe. (Louis Wu 12:50:10 UTC) (permalink)
Them's Some Expensive Halo Cars
Hawty McBloggy found what might be the most expensive Halo 3 Hot Wheels customs ever. $700 for a pair of vehicles, with a total of four hand-painted figures. I guess if you're really, really rich and having trouble figuring out what to do with all that cash... (Louis Wu 12:42:57 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 3v3 tourney in WA this Saturday
bigazn13 let us know there's going to be a 3v3 Halo tourney in Bonney Lake, WA this coming Saturday, April 19 - $35/team to enter, $30 of each entry will go into the payment pool, split 70/30 between first and second place. More info (including timing) can be found on the Gamebreakerz website (about halfway down the front page). (Louis Wu 12:39:54 UTC) (permalink)
Forces Trailer
Delta's making a Halo machinima as a physics project ("A study of Dynamic Physics in Action Movies") - the trailer's up now. Go watch, and give him some feedback! (Louis Wu 12:35:48 UTC) (permalink)
I dare you to jump in there. I dare you.
A fun little Forge experiment on Avalanche showed up in my Google Alerts box this morning - a few gravity lifts + Avalanche's mancannons + lots and lots of plasma grenades = pretty patterns! (Louis Wu 12:30:28 UTC) (permalink)
Par Avion
blackouTT let us know that he's posted his entry for GamingTV's Laughs for Cash competition - you can download it and decide what you think about it. Par Avion is a spoof of many other machinima projects, and follows the travels of a player in Matchmaking after he picks up a mysterious object. Very nicely put together, with some funny jabs at the genre. (Plenty of swearing, so turn down the volume a bit if you're watching this at work.) See if you can recognize all the original projects he's lampooning! (There's a Director's Cut, as well, with commentary.) (Louis Wu 12:27:09 UTC) (permalink)
Limited Edition Controllers - For Cheap
Darknesshasfallen noticed that Target has put the Limited Edition Halo controllers on clearance - you might want to check a local store to see if this is true for you, as well. (He found them for under $10 there.) (Louis Wu 12:26:19 UTC) (permalink)
Floaty Silence 4 - Climax of Boredom
Hellhawk announced Floaty Silence 4 - Climax of Boredom a couple of days ago, I decided to wait until I could watch it to announce it. I'm glad I did; it's a pretty funny reenactment of the Crow's Nest opening cutscene. Go watch it! (Louis Wu 12:24:41 UTC) (permalink)
Panoramadingdong
The panorama craze continues - Crab has sent us another 6, including two from the new Legendary maps and 4 from older multiplayer locations (I LOVE the Avalanche cloud system!), and nomis78 stopped by with a pair from Avalanche and one from Construct. (Crab says he's done for the time being, but there are still several artists toiling away to bring you new and breathtaking vistas.) (Louis Wu 12:20:46 UTC) (permalink)
News April 16 2008
Legendary Panoramas
RVideo's already put some time into Legendary panoramas - this post, and this one, both have gorgeous shots from outside Avalanche and Blackout. (The first one also has a bunch of wallpaper options of the first Blackout shot.) The Avalanche piece is simply amazing. And... that's it for today. Away from the keyboard until tonight! (Louis Wu 12:21:54 UTC) (permalink)
mychildren mybride- headshot
Raulboy found a song that's clearly Halo-inspired... but listening to it makes my ears bleed. What a tradeoff! (Louis Wu 12:18:56 UTC) (permalink)
Sarkathlon II - and an exclusive prize
General Vagueness was the first to let us know about a new contest being run by G4TV's Mr Sark - the Sarkathlon II will be unveiled tomorrow, and run for two weeks... and the top prize is Recon Armor from Bungie. Go watch the vid! (Louis Wu 12:16:39 UTC) (permalink)
I need a cigar.
SPARTAN-1138 found a pretty odd film on YouTube - someone performing Sergeant Johnson's speeches from Halo and Halo 2. (Louis Wu 12:10:25 UTC) (permalink)
News April 15 2008
You Know The Drill.
It's amazing what'll bring some people out of retirement. (Don't get used to it - this won't be a regular occurance.) Stuntmutt celebrates the release of the Legendary Map Pack with a pair of groanworthy puns - go see! (Louis Wu 20:18:00 UTC) (permalink)
Superheroes
AytonHunter stopped by to announce that Halopen has released 'Superheroes', a 30-minute machinima project. (There's no way I can watch a 30 minute film on this connection while out of town - so watch it yourself, and add your review to AytonHunter's thread!) (Louis Wu 20:17:22 UTC) (permalink)
Outside
RVideo stopped by with 'Outside', a pan-cam montage video showing a number of multiplayer maps from far, far outside the field of play. Very cool views! (Louis Wu 20:10:40 UTC) (permalink)
Preorder Ninja Gaiden II, get Legendary maps free
Darknesshasfallen noticed that Circuit City is offering a free code for the Legendary Map Pack if you place a preorder on Ninja Gaiden II. (Hawty McBlogggy found this at Xbox360Fanboy, as well.) Not a bad deal if you were going to buy Ninja Gaiden anyway and you're willing to wait a few days for the maps! (Louis Wu 20:01:40 UTC) (permalink)
Double your Someday-Night Grifball pleasure
trigger119 let us know there'll be two separate Someday-Night Grifball games tonight - swing by for more details! (Louis Wu 19:50:25 UTC) (permalink)
Legendary Play and Win
Nice promotion: Xbox.com is giving away a ton of schwag to folks playing on the Legendary maps. Read this page for full details - basically, you register by downloading a gamerpic from Xbox LIVE Marketplace, then play online between April 25-27 on the new maps; winners will be chosen at random.
Thanks, DiscipleN2k. (Louis Wu 19:13:35 UTC) (permalink)
Laughs for Cash - Submissions Closed
trigger119 let us know that the submission period for the Laughs for Cash contest is now over - GamingTV staff and friends will be narrowing entries down to 5 finalists, and public voting will begin on April 21. Read the news post for more details. (Louis Wu 18:50:58 UTC) (permalink)
What about the listmakers?
Kezins.com has put up a list of The 10 Most Annoying Types Of Halo 3 Players - seemed more like a list of people who pissed off the author last night, but maybe not. (Louis Wu 18:47:57 UTC) (permalink)
Convince Me
Dennis Powers let us know that Shipwrecked Episode 10 is online - how do YOU deal with world-shaking news? (Louis Wu 18:37:16 UTC) (permalink)
Game with Fame: Avenged Sevenfold
Wow, bizarre. On this day when the Legendary Map Pack is released, Xbox.com has scheduled a DIFFERENT Halo 3-multiplayer activity - there's a Game With Fame set up with the band Avenged Sevenfold. If you want to play, you need to send a Friend Request (assuming there's still space) to one of two gamertags listed on the announcement page before 8 pm ET tonight. (Louis Wu 18:32:54 UTC) (permalink)
Deja Bu
ZZoMBiE13 takes a look at Ghost Town in today's episode of Another Halo Comic Strip - yes, you can groan now. (Louis Wu 12:50:49 UTC) (permalink)
Vidtacular
I'm out of town, so news might be slow for a couple of days - but it's amazing how many movies were announced today. I can't even watch most of them, so you're on your own in terms of quality (you might be able to get some idea from the respective forum posts):
- Vash10 pointed out a video called 'Diamondback', showing highlights of an epic game of CTF on a Forged version of Avalanche. This one I watched - fantastic.
- AoD Deadite announced the Dispatch Custom Game Night #2 video - games played last week.
- Howlingwolf came by with news of a trailer for 82nd Airborne.
- Phatcorns told us about a montage put together from a single Neutral Assault game on Standoff - lots of kills, no win. (Nice timing with the music, though.)
- Z sent along a link to Im'ma Shine, a hard-to-classify montage-like video. (I haven't been able to watch this yet.)
That should be enough to keep you watching for a bit... (Louis Wu 04:28:14 UTC) (permalink)
Overdriftactular
Jared Rea is one of the people who's gotten his hands on a Legendary code early - and he's spent the advance time building a Mongoose racetrack on Avalanche. Check out the pictures and writeup for Overdriftactular - a final version should be available by the time the maps are up. (Louis Wu 04:24:33 UTC) (permalink)
Trying to connect with their audience
Delta noticed an article about future weapons/armor systems for Canadian soldiers, in the Toronto Star - the gear is compared to Halo's Spartans more than once. (Louis Wu 04:22:39 UTC) (permalink)
Firebomb, in 3D
SpartanX announced the release of a study of the Firebomb, over at DeviantART. Great work! (Louis Wu 04:19:56 UTC) (permalink)
News April 14 2008
Frankie interviewed on Inside Xbox
Morpheus pointed out that there's a video up on Inside Xbox (an Xbox LIVE feature accessible from the LIVE tab of your 360 dashboard) - looks like it went up Friday, in fact - that has an interview with Frankie, and covers the Legendary Map Pack. Game footage looks to have been taken from the press event Bungie held a week and a half ago (you can see KP's adorable face in a couple of places), and it gives you yet another perspective on what Bungie wanted to do with these maps. Watch it - and then buy the maps tomorrow! (Louis Wu 14:06:22 UTC) (permalink)
Through the Looking Glass
Master Kim noticed an old article about game design (specifically, "Fully Interactive Surfaces") which focuses on Doom 3 and Half-Life 2, but also mentions Halo a couple of times. Might be worth a read, if you're interested in that sort of thing! (It was written in 2005 - keep that in mind.) (Louis Wu 13:55:24 UTC) (permalink)
Where's 'Rosebud. Kettle. Black.'?
Next Generation has put together their list of the Top 10 Games Industry Taglines - Halo 3's 'Finish the Fight' comes in at #5. (Louis Wu 09:52:04 UTC) (permalink)
New Transcribed Music at R.net
More transcribed music at Rampancy.net - Mike Poe gives you 'This is the Hour', and Spencer Anunsen and Devin Eastman bring you Ghosts of Reach. Go play! (Louis Wu 09:31:26 UTC) (permalink)
Flip-Yap comes to life - in LEGO
Unique Name pointed out a LEGO grunt - there are photos at both Flickr and Brickshelf. (Louis Wu 09:27:59 UTC) (permalink)
More Halo 3 3D Action
Back in mid-March, we mentioned a video found by Hawty McBloggy; Kroden35 had created a stereo 3D version of a mongoose jump, on High Ground. It required that you cross your eyes to see the 3D action, but it was worth the effort. He's been hard at work creating more, since then - there's a slideshow of images from Sandtrap, a 3D mongoose flip on Valhalla (comes right atcha), a 3D intro for future vids, and his latest product, a Wraith battle on Valhalla. This is the one that got Hawty McBloggy to cross her eyes some more - it really is an impressive piece of work, and worth the trouble it takes to see. Go do it! (Louis Wu 09:23:47 UTC) (permalink)
I Got a Grifball Jones
The first real episode of Someday-Night Grifball took place at 10pm ET last night - you can swing by and watch the archived action between American Dream and Team STFU. (Well, as of this writing, you can't, yet - but soon.) They also broadcast the third episode of the Grifball Explosion podcast - that's up for listening, too. Go get your Grifball fix! Thanks, Quik. (Louis Wu 09:08:12 UTC) (permalink)
How it all began, Part 3
The 'How it all began' series continues with T.J. over at Larry the Marine. Thanks, 2phast. (Louis Wu 09:00:58 UTC) (permalink)
If Pigs Could Fly
Be careful where you park your car - remember, you're still responsible for the damage it does, even when you're not in it. Thanks, Raulboy. (Louis Wu 08:56:23 UTC) (permalink)
More Lips to Love
Halo Action Figure Theater sees another update, with more surprises - Episode 143 takes Lois and Steve to a new level. (Louis Wu 08:50:39 UTC) (permalink)
FB Wins in NJ
In a weekend of surprising finishes, Final Boss battled back from the Losers Bracket to win the Meadowlands yesterday - and take home the $20,000 top prize. MLGPro.com is chock-full of articles about the various matchups - swing by to read all the details. JawReich was first on our forum with the news. (Louis Wu 08:49:14 UTC) (permalink)
News April 13 2008
New Panoramas from radiant penguin
radiant penguin stopped by with new panoramas - some very, very nice work. The subject material is different than most panoramas coming out these days - the end result is pretty powerful. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 22:14:54 UTC) (permalink)
The Riot 95
Sigafoos reported that The Riot 95 (and 94, since he forgot to post last week's show) can be heard over at Second-Foundation.net. 28 minutes, 11.5 mb, better sound quality, discussion of new maps, and totally random video assets. Go listen (and watch)! (Louis Wu 22:12:01 UTC) (permalink)
More McFarlane Series 3 Pics
Littlebigman ran across some new pics of McFarlane Series 3 figures - both Campaign and Multiplayer. (These can also be seen at Spawn.com - thanks, Boxer.) (Louis Wu 22:08:30 UTC) (permalink)
ForgeHub Tutorial - Placing Objects in Water
Dragoncoals let us know that Forging 101 Tutorial 8, covering Placing Objects in Water, is now available from Flem Productions. These guys have a really disturbing affinity for dancing elites, but their Forge tips are great. Go watch! (Louis Wu 16:01:05 UTC) (permalink)
Portrait of Steve Downes
JAY132 found a pair of videos from UnMaskChief - Austin Pruett and Jack Francis McTigue put together an interview (and some nice documentary footage) of Steve Downes, the voice of the Master Chief. (It's in two parts - start with Part 1, then watch Part 2). It's a pretty interesting look at the man behind the voice - and how the Halo phenomenon has affected him! (Louis Wu 15:45:33 UTC) (permalink)
Legendary Map Gameplay - Full Game
So, we sort of wanted to give people a taste for how the new maps played - there are already a few films around the net showing them off, but gameplay on the ones I've seen leaves something to be desired. I figured, we had fun during the Humpday challenge - I could just convert the Blackout game to a film, and post it. However... my gameplay on Blackout was pretty boring. And when I tried to watch the game through someone else's eyes, I realized my connection must have been off (everyone's pretty jerky). So I asked Schooly D to upload his copy - but unfortunately, by the time I asked him, he'd played too much, and the Humpday games were no longer in his Recent Games list. So I tried retsamolah - but he told me that Blackout from his perspective was pretty dull, and I ran into the same problem trying to view the game from other perspectives that I'd had with my own films. However, he said that the Ghost Town game was pretty exciting - even if it ended in a draw. So I watched it (from his film) - and he was right, it was pretty enjoyable. Lots of action, lots of chances to see how the map flows. (Didn't hurt that he had 6 bomb stops along the way, and our single score.) It's a thirteen minute game, so there's no way we could bring this to you in 720p - it would be a half-gig file. (I say "would be", but I know it is, because I rendered it to find out.) However, it's still quite watchable at 360p - so we're offering it in both WMP9 (142 mb) and QuickTime (129 mb) formats. It's just a game - nobody's showing off, nobody's doing anything spectacular. It is, however, the best first look at Ghost Town, in any real depth, that you'll get. Update: Apologies - there's a small sync problem between the audio and the video (for both versions); turns out it traces back to the original capture, which means I can't fix it right now. (I'm leaving for the rest of the day in about 15 minutes.) If that sort of thing really bothers you, pass on this download. I'll do my best to fix it soon!
(Louis Wu 13:25:46 UTC) (permalink)
Flag Cap as a story
naveeda found a video created by puddin, over at the 2old2play forums, showing off a very nicely composed flag capture - great music, great angles. The footage was captured off a TV, which makes it less crisp than some would like - but it's absolutely watchable. Nice job! Go watch. (Louis Wu 13:23:10 UTC) (permalink)
Legendary Press - final entries
The last couple of attendees to Bungie's Legendary map press event posted their stories late Friday - I never got around to recognizing them. Check out Mr Sark's interview with Brian Jarrard at G4TV, and IGN's Hands-On. If you missed the first two batches, they're here and here.
(Louis Wu 13:17:07 UTC) (permalink)
Don't Stop the Music
Hellhawk created a small vid for entertainment during intermission at a movie contest - it should make you smile. Go watch!
(Louis Wu 13:06:29 UTC) (permalink)
Jump
RVideo dropped off a single panorama yesterday - it's pretty cool. Check out the Artifact... moments before the jump. (Louis Wu 13:05:03 UTC) (permalink)
Unforgotten Piano Tutorial
Renovatio Music has a video tutorial to help you play Unforgotten on a piano. (The link goes to Part 2 - I couldn't find a direct link anywhere to Part 1, but if you scroll down to the bottom of the page, it's the last video on the right.) Looks pretty useful, if you're trying to learn this! (Louis Wu 13:04:17 UTC) (permalink)
Bait MasterPaper
ZZoMBiE13, upon request, has sent us a panel from yesterday's installment of Another Halo Comic Strip sized for widescreen wallpaper. Go spruce up!
(Louis Wu 12:59:00 UTC) (permalink)
In a Flash
Dennis Powers let us know that Shipwrecked Episode 9 is up - things just got quite a bit more serious.
(Louis Wu 12:58:23 UTC) (permalink)
News April 12 2008
Bait Master
Today's episode of Another Halo Comic Strip shows why the Covenant have an edge when it's time to go fishing. (Louis Wu 20:29:10 UTC) (permalink)
A missing piece of Contact Harvest (for Audio Book buyers)
Jordan117 bought the Audio Book version of Contact Harvest - and realized after the fact that he'd missed the post-epilogue section of the book - which was sad, because it's a powerful ending to the story itself. He decided to transcribe the ending, for others in his situation. (If you haven't read the book yet, don't follow this link.) If you bought the Audio Book, when you're finished listening to it, swing by and read this! (Louis Wu 20:23:19 UTC) (permalink)
Free Gamerpics and a Theme from McFarlane
Hawty McBloggy noticed that McFarlane Toys will be providing a cool gamer picture pack, and a dashboard theme, for your LIVE decor - and both are free. Nice-looking stuff! (Louis Wu 20:16:29 UTC) (permalink)
Pistol Render
A few days ago, Flinet posted some renders of a Halo pistol he's been working on - we managed to miss the forum post. He followed up today with an email - so go look! (Louis Wu 20:12:45 UTC) (permalink)
A Fleshy Pulse
Over at Ascendant Justice, vociferous takes a look at multiplayer. Typically in-depth and thorough. Thanks, Jironimo. (Louis Wu 15:37:56 UTC) (permalink)
Marathon Man - A New Beginning
Sniper2477 stopped by to announce Marathon Man - "A New Beginning", the latest episode of his ongoing machinima. I had a little trouble with the story, and one gratuitously silly scene, but otherwise a fine effort. (Louis Wu 15:37:36 UTC) (permalink)
It's a Wonderful Live Episode 3
J23 noticed that It's a Wonderful Live Episode 3 has been posted - slower and more rambling than earlier episodes, but still with its standard rants at LIVE silliness. (Louis Wu 15:37:15 UTC) (permalink)
CovieCast Episode 3
Dream053 reports that The CovieCast Episode 3 is up. Go listen! Update: Episode 4 is up now, too. I can't place all the footage, but I can place some of it, and I can't figure out what any of it has to do with Halo in the first place. If this doesn't change, this'll be the last CovieCast post we make. (Louis Wu 15:36:56 UTC) (permalink)
Where are they now?
oddgodhmk worked on a comic featuring Cortana. Not really polite, but the artwork's cool. (Louis Wu 15:36:37 UTC) (permalink)
Grifball Mania Grips the Nation!
Quikthnkr has been really busy with Grifball stuff - there's a video showing you how NOT to play Grifball, a promotional video explaining how Someday-Night Grifball will work, and the recording of the first run-through of an actual GAME of Someday-Night Grifball. (This is a spectator version of the sport.) Go check it all out! (Louis Wu 15:28:33 UTC) (permalink)
Da Newz
The Bungie Weekly Update is up over at Bungie.net (as well as in our Weekly Update Archive) - lots of Legendary stuff (including a cool deal!), info about the MLG Meadowlands tourney, a funny look at Bungie's news queue, a playlist update, and too many pies for Frankie. Go read! (Louis Wu 00:31:17 UTC) (permalink)
She blinded me - with previews!
Lots and lots and LOTS more Legendary previews:
- Gametrailers: Interview | Ghost Town | Avalanche | Blackout (thanks, darthbob)
- Xbox360Fanboy (thanks again, darthbob)
- 1Up Show (interview with Lars and Frankie - thanks, Red_Breast)
- Gamespot (thanks, google)
- Gametap (Frankie gets plowed by a Warthog - thanks, Jared Rea)
- Gamespy (thanks, google)
Is that enough? Geez. (Louis Wu 00:27:08 UTC) (permalink)
News April 11 2008
Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack - Press Frenzy
As has been mentioned a couple of times, Bungie held a press event last week for the Legendary Map Pack - and two of the invitees came from fansites. KP was there representing HBO, and TTL L Askan was there representing Tied the Leader. Writeups from both individuals are fascinating reads - we've got KP's here, and L Askan's is posted at Tied The Leader (duh). [side note: the final section of KP's piece just made me laugh. A lot. -ed] Other media outlets have released, or will be releasing, their own coverage today, since the embargo has been lifted - You can go read 1Up's recap (with video walkthroughs of the maps), a TeamXbox preview (impressions, mostly), and an official writeup on Xbox.com. (There were a couple of other gaming news outlets there, as well - but their writeups aren't online at this point. We'll add them when they appear.) There's also a preview at x360.com.au - they weren't at this particular event, but they got their hands on the maps, as well, and have added their thoughts to the mix. Get to reading! (Louis Wu 18:41:45 UTC) (permalink)
Denied.
So in Bungie's writeup of the Humpday challenge this week, SketchFactor mentioned an epic stop by team HBO, keeping Bungie from scoring a third flag at one point. Turns out the hero was mnemesis - he was able to provide a screenshot, but a screenshot doesn't do the event justice. So I've taken Sketch's film clip, and converted it to 720p video footage - swing by our forum to download the flavor of your choice. (Louis Wu 18:40:40 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Achievement Survey
wkfd is conducting a survey for his Games Software Development course at Glasgow Caledonian University - it looks at the Achievement system for Xbox games in general, and for Halo 3 in specific. Swing by and spend a few minutes answering his questions! (Louis Wu 18:32:43 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3: MLG 2008 Meadowlands Preview
GotFrag has a preview of the Meadowlands competition that kicks off the MLG 2008 Pro Circuit today - go read! (Louis Wu 18:27:00 UTC) (permalink)
Collisions
FireDragon04 let us know that Consequences: Hyperions Vengeance Episode 2 has been released - the storyline becomes a little less convoluted. As before - great camerawork, great voiceacting, interesting effects. I'm looking forward to actually figuring out what that hologram is saying! (Louis Wu 18:05:54 UTC) (permalink)
Dissecting the Halo 3 Marketing Campaign
Yesterday, we mentioned that the Halo 3 marketing campaign was honored at the MI6 Conference - there are a couple of articles discussing that win. GameDaily has one, and Gamasutra has another. Go read! (Louis Wu 16:26:50 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 second in total sales this year
Next-Gen has posted the 100 best-selling games in the past 12 months (March 1, 2007 - March 1, 2008). Proving that it's the holiday season that drives all sales for the year, seven of the top 10 sellers were released in the final three months of last year - and Call of Duty 4 has surpassed Halo 3 in total sales at this point. Interesting numbers all around! (Louis Wu 15:49:12 UTC) (permalink)
A strange metric - but they're still up there!
Black Six pointed out that Develop 100 has a list of the top 100 most successful game studios in the world (based on 2007 retail revenues in the UK - go figure). Bungie sits at #8. Not bad! (It's an odd list; it focuses on individual studios, rather than companies. EA, for example, has 9 entries in the top 100 (and two in the top 10). In fact... if you combined entries, Bungie would move up to number 7.) (Louis Wu 15:05:36 UTC) (permalink)
If you score 20 or above, get help.
Hawty McBloggy has taken the responses from last week's challenge ("come up with a good ending to "You know you play too much Halo when...") and turned them into a quiz. Go take it! (Louis Wu 14:58:20 UTC) (permalink)
Red Cortana for Sale
GamesBond007 noticed a rather odd auction on eBay - it's a Halo 1 Cortana figure, from Joyride... but it's red, not purple (and the eyes are yellow). It's described as a rare prototype - but I don't know any way to confirm its authenticity. (That doesn't mean it's not worth buying; it could very well be real, or it could be a cool-looking fan modification, and either way it would be an interesting buy. I'm just saying that you should go into this understanding that it might not be what it says it is.) Intriguing, no matter what. Go look! Update: we got confirmation from a few different sources that this is, indeed, an authentic Joyride creation - it's not fanmade. (Louis Wu 14:50:24 UTC) (permalink)
He's like Harold, with his purple crayon.
When you're an artist, you get your own parking space. Even if you have to make it. RVideo discovered one for Chris Barrett on the tarmac outside The Pit.
(Louis Wu 14:44:08 UTC) (permalink)
Pre-Game Lobby Episode 2
Harabek let us know that Pre-Game Lobby Episode 2 is out - the lovable collection of Matchmaking misfits are back, and learning skills like trashtalking, genital-building, and custom Achievement creation. Go watch! (Louis Wu 14:32:05 UTC) (permalink)
The Prodigious Permutation - Trailer
GeneticSpartan dropped by to announce a trailer for his new movie, 'The Prodigious Permutation'. Nice camera work! (Louis Wu 14:18:49 UTC) (permalink)
Monk Theme For Everyone
Over at Rampancy.net, Jonathan Churchill has posted a transcription of the Halo main theme, in PDF format. (You'll need to be signed in to download it.) (Louis Wu 14:09:32 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
The Fan Fiction queue was light this week - just three new pieces. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 14:05:54 UTC) (permalink)
We all had fun. Except Luke.
As a number of people noticed last night, HBO played Bungie in this week's Halo Humpday Challenge - on the Legendary Map Pack maps. The end result was a draw; we each won one, lost one, and tied one. The overall fun? Win-win. The new maps have had a simply ginormous amount of love and care poured into them - they play really, really well. (Surprisingly - at least to me - of the three, I found Blackout to be the least enjoyable. That's sort of like saying "out of these three awesome ice cream flavors, I liked this one the least," though.) I'd like to point out that every single person on the HBO team is involved in some way in the administration of a bungie.org website: mnemesis, Free2BMe (posting here as Ding), and I are all involved in HBO newsposting, Schooly D and retsamolah run HBOL, a competitive league I stay pretty far away from, and goatrope has a long-standing involvement in the administration of irc.bungie.org. No ringers here! Thanks to pete_the_duck for being the first to notice. (Louis Wu 02:11:18 UTC) (permalink)
Is this another chance for a slightly NSFW graphic?
The latest Bungie Podcast is also up - one hour, 54 mb of Lars Bakken and Shishka. (More than you can take? Maybe.) Thanks to Psychophan7 for the first heads-up on this, and the Double XP post, as well. (Louis Wu 00:50:26 UTC) (permalink)
Salt Lake City - here's your chance to practice
The Living Dead Double XP Weekend has kicked off - though it's not actually Double XP yet, due to a technical glitch. (It should be by tomorrow, though.) Go shoot some zombies! (Louis Wu 00:45:48 UTC) (permalink)
News April 10 2008
Inside Halo 11
Inside Halo 11 is now up at YouTube (and probably soon on Machinima.com) - Dead Pixel answers your questions about machinima and lets you hear some bad, bad singing. Thanks, Adam Kovic. (Louis Wu 21:15:34 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 marketing honored at Marketing conference
According to GameDaily, the Halo 3 marketing campaign was honored last night at the MI6 Conference - full results aren't posted yet, but when they are, we'll tell you what the honor was. (Louis Wu 18:54:40 UTC) (permalink)
Believe and IRIS both up for Webbys
akqa let us know that both the Halo 3 website and the IRIS ARG are up for Webby awards - you can swing by and vote in the Peoples Voice balloting! (Louis Wu 18:52:43 UTC) (permalink)
The thrill of the game
ZZoMBiE13 explores the dangers of Grifball... for fans. Check today's entry of Another Halo Comic Strip. (Louis Wu 18:37:19 UTC) (permalink)
I'm not sure, but I'd guess Brutes were involved.
Miles Dude sent in a funny dialogue clip he captured between a couple of marines - go listen to it in our Dialogue Databank! (Louis Wu 18:25:35 UTC) (permalink)
Acquiring a Halo site
Anti Enemy is selling (bartering?) the website, 'spartan117.com'. He's looking for best offer - doesn't have to be money, I guess. Go check. (Louis Wu 18:23:01 UTC) (permalink)
Legendary Map Heatmaps in place
Herr Zrbo, among others, let us know that the Legendary Map Pack maps now have representative Heat Maps (showing kills and deaths) posted on Bungie.net. There's no actual data yet - but the overhead views are nice... (Louis Wu 13:15:31 UTC) (permalink)
Fyreball Halo 3 Tournament
Maximum Fear noticed that Fyreball is running a Halo tournament - 4v4, all team members must be signed up on Fyreball, all teams must be signed up by the end of today. Prizes! (Louis Wu 13:12:28 UTC) (permalink)
Revisiting the Set
Wow, this is very cool. pete_the_duck decided to see if he could use the camera coordinates (shown when in pan-cam mode, and visible in cutscenes) to revisit cutscene locations while in Theater mode. He was successful in a number of locations on the Ark. Check out his pics! (Louis Wu 12:56:38 UTC) (permalink)
Tsquared montage preview
SirTopEmHat stopped by to point out a new montage preview he's putting together, using gameplay from Str8 Rippin's Tsquared. Short but sweet! (Louis Wu 12:45:32 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief CaramellDansen
AngelicLionheart noticed a rendering of Master Chief doing the CaramellDansen. It's much longer than it needs to be - but funny nonetheless. (Louis Wu 12:31:41 UTC) (permalink)
A Halo 3 War Memorial
John_117 put together a 'War Memorial' vid, which he posted on YouTube - it's surprisingly evocative. Go watch! (Louis Wu 12:08:55 UTC) (permalink)
Don't use this on your little brother.
Hawty McBloggy ran across another life-size, made-of-steel energy sword for sale on eBay. It ain't cheap - but it's pretty nicely finished! You've still got three and a half days to decide - current bid is just under $175. (Louis Wu 12:07:08 UTC) (permalink)
Out of Bounds Panoramas
Well, yesterday's news was frozen at midday in order to keep the Vidoc story at the top; I thought it was a worthwhile sacrifice. However, it means there's a bit of built-up queued news at this point... let's start with some very cool panoramas posted yesterday by RVideo. (There's also one extra one in this post.) He's been playing with getting out of bounds with the 'pan-scan' camera - the pictures he's getting are glorious testaments to Bungie's artwork in areas that you normally can't see much detail. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 11:50:14 UTC) (permalink)
News April 9 2008
Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack Vidoc
Bungie has posted 'Mapmaker, mapmaker make me a map!' - a brand-new Vidoc that looks at the three new maps coming next week in the Legendary Map Pack. This one is fun - it's along the lines of the old 'Evolution' video, where a bunch of Bungie guys get together and discuss the content, and crack jokes. In this case, each map is covered by some of the artists and developers that worked on it - there's gameplay discussion, background, and Paul Russell phone call jokes. You get a look at what's available via Forge (including the new screen effects), and you get a look at the flow of the maps themselves - all the while being entertained by Bungie devs having a good time. (Don't forget the great camera work!) This puppy is 10 minutes long, so downloads are hefty - if you'd rather, you'll be able to grab it from Xbox LIVE Marketplace (for free, of course) tomorrow. Go watch - and get pumped up! (Louis Wu 17:33:34 UTC) (permalink)
Boss Battles
Morpheus noticed that G4TV recently posted a 'Top 7 Toughest Boss Battles of 07' - and Halo 3's Scarabs came in at Number 3. Fun watch! (Louis Wu 17:21:07 UTC) (permalink)
When Games clash with Culture
Gamasutra has an interview with Englobe's Tom Edwards about gaming's 'Geocultural Risks'. One of the examples he discusses is a name change he oversaw during the development of Halo 2. It's been known for quite some time that the Arbiter was originally known as 'Dervish', and the name was changed for political reasons... but I've never seen the reasoning for the change spelled out quite so clearly before this interview. Give it a read! (Louis Wu 17:03:52 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars Team Mood: Positive
Halo France has interviewed Graeme Divine, from the Halo Wars team - there's quite a bit of information here! Go give it a read - either in its original English, or its translated French. Thanks, Sirkan! (Louis Wu 17:00:15 UTC) (permalink)
Ezekiel
Underdawg253 dropped into our forum with word of 'Ezekiel', the latest offering from Etzun Films. This is the first part of 3, and it might confuse you. (Or it might not.) He links to a YouTube version, and mid-quality downloadable version from FileFront, and the original thread at HaloGrid (with hidden spoilers if you want to know what's going on). Nice camerawork. (Louis Wu 16:44:04 UTC) (permalink)
LIVE Lists again
SPARTAN 294 reported that once again, CoD4 is on top of the Most Played list on LIVE. From the thread responses, it sounds like our forum denizens are getting tired of hearing about it. (Louis Wu 16:36:10 UTC) (permalink)
A and Q
Yesterday, we mentioned a blog question by Maximum Fear - he got a bunch of answers, which he's posted, and he's put up a new question: which Halo game is your favorite? Go tell him. (Louis Wu 16:23:59 UTC) (permalink)
FedEx'd.
Yesterday, AfRo SaUcE stopped by our forum to highlight an interesting betrayal. He was playing through Floodgate... and he was teamkilled by the Arbiter. (Not his buddy PLAYING as the Arbiter - no, this was the NPC version.) He's got the clip up at Bungie.net - or you can watch the YouTubed version, with his commentary and ready-made replays. To top it all off, Blackstar has created another one of his 'Custom Halo 3 Medals' to commemorate this hilarious occurance (it's at the bottom of the list). Who knew the Arbiter could be so clumsy? (Louis Wu 15:48:14 UTC) (permalink)
News April 8 2008
MLG to Preview Blackout in NJ this weekend
Ben let us know that MLG has announced that Bungie will be previewing Blackout at the MLG Meadowlands event this weekend - and attendees will get a chance to play it, a few days ahead of the public. Nice! (Louis Wu 21:53:25 UTC) (permalink)
Pest Control
Dennis Powers let us know that Shipwrecked Episode 8 is up. I could use a maid like that... (Louis Wu 21:47:32 UTC) (permalink)
B.net Blackout
Magni Harvald was the first on our forum to notice that Bungie.net has put up a pretty amazing-looking background in anticipation of the release of the Legendary Map Pack next week. Kevin 'CreditWhore' Paul did his best to not only take credit for the image, but for the idea behind using the image - luckily, good people are on the job, keeping justice afloat. Update: Oops - apologies to KP, who really DID invent the combustion engine, quantum engineering, and time travel. We didn't mean to malign his many accomplishments. Update 2: KP asked for a second clarification - he really only invented time travel to annoy Shishka. And that's the end of that. (Louis Wu 19:15:45 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Screenshots - Writ Big
As we mentioned earlier today, Bungie held a small press event last week, focused on the Legendary Map Pack. Writeups from that event are embargoed for a little while longer - but the artwork assets that were distributed to attendees are allowed to go up today. (Many of these images were included in last Friday's Bungie Weekly Update - but there are some new ones, and there are certainly higher-res versions here.) Most sites will slap their own watermark on the bottom, and resize the images to something appropriate for the web - but we love you, so we're giving you full-sized, unwatermarked (well, beyond what Bungie already put on some of them) images. Swing by the Legendary Map Pack Assets page for more details. (Louis Wu 16:54:34 UTC) (permalink)
No Scope Was Involved
Heh - Darkspire has posted their take on no-scopes - it's pretty funny. Go watch! Thanks, oddworld. (Louis Wu 16:40:36 UTC) (permalink)
There's no need to Ph33r
Arby 'n' the Chief gets a close look-over in today's Another Halo Comic Strip. Me? I'm more interested in getting my hands on that drink... (Louis Wu 13:20:50 UTC) (permalink)
Did it make you breakfast, the morning after?
Maximum Fear wants to know what Halo has done for you. Swing by his site and let him know! (Louis Wu 12:23:11 UTC) (permalink)
MLG 2008 Halo 3 Preview
The 2008 MLG Season looks to be interesting - lots of new talent, lots of upsets in the buildup. For a summary of where things stand, swing by MLG Canada for their season preview. (Louis Wu 12:20:41 UTC) (permalink)
Small is Beautiful.
Over at Hawty McBloggy's place, you'll find a cool story about The Teeniest Tiniest Halo 3 Legendary Edition Ever. Apparently, a woman decided to recreate the Halo 3 Legendary Edition... in miniature. (The box is 5.5 cm on its longest side. That's just a hair over 2 inches, for all you non-scientific Americans. I mean... that's the size of your thumb, from knuckle to knuckle!) For all that tinyness, it's gorgeous, and astoundingly detailed. Go look. (And be sure to check out the rest of 2twoproductions' gallery, at DeviantART - there's lots of cool stuff in there.) (Louis Wu 11:24:03 UTC) (permalink)
How it all began, Part 2
2phast let us know that the next Larry the Marine is up - it continues the retrospective explaining how these guys made it into the military in the first place. (I guess literal is useful, when you're on the front lines...) (Louis Wu 11:18:24 UTC) (permalink)
TTL Textual Thoughts
Tied the Leader had a representative at a recent press event at Bungie HQ, focusing on the Legendary Map Pack. Swing by the blog for a teaser of what's coming later this week. While you're there, go read their open letter to Luke Smith, who apparently ambushed them into unwittingly playing a Humpday rematch... (Louis Wu 11:16:00 UTC) (permalink)
Kilimanjaro is an island?
RVideo (a huge supplier of panoramic shots in the past) is back with some pretty cool 'Outside the Box' shots from the beginning and the end of the game. His shot of Kilimanjaro is gorgeous... and his views of the Ark are enlightening. Go look! (Louis Wu 11:12:18 UTC) (permalink)
Customized Nightmare Armor outfit on eBay
Hawty McBloggy ran across this Nightmare Armor outfit on eBay - a standard Spartan Armor setup originally made by Nightmare Armor... then modified with lots of LEDs, and other mods. (You can read the details in the description. In really, really big letters.) Buy It Now price is $7k - but they'll consider your best offer. (Louis Wu 11:09:09 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 tourney in central FL
Gamers Paradise Ocala is hosting a Halo 3 tournament on April 19 (assuming they have a minimum of 20 pre-registered competitors by Friday, April 18). As their name would suggest, they're in Ocala, FL, between Jacksonville and Tampa. $15 to get in, $300 for the winner. (Louis Wu 11:03:03 UTC) (permalink)
News April 7 2008
Halo 3.5 (sort of)
Heh - VelocityTino was given an assignment in a video class - dialogue was supplied, and he had to produce a scene using it. He decided to create a live-action Halo short. Amazing work for one guy. Check it out! (Louis Wu 19:10:53 UTC) (permalink)
That's totally not how Bungie envisioned her. Really.
Over in his RvB journal, Luke McKay posted an interesting interpretation of Cortana yesterday - we've added it to his gallery here at HBO. Looks like Big Goalie Dan was first with the news. (Louis Wu 15:06:09 UTC) (permalink)
Hva er nytt i versjon v5?
ScUmMy let us know that HaloNorge.com has totally revamped their website, with a brand-new ladder system. If you're Norwegian, and you play Halo - check it out! (Louis Wu 13:58:42 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 for $40
Time is short, because I was out yesterday afternoon - but the Best Buy website is having a Springtime Sale that ends today (it started yesterday), and Halo 3 is selling for $39.99. If you need an extra copy, now's the time to snag it! (Louis Wu 13:54:10 UTC) (permalink)
Personalized Halo 3 Profile Images (a little late)
Yesterday, Hawty McBloggy posted a piece about personalized Halo 3 profile images, created by Bootsman. I read it, said to myself, "yeah, we've already covered that", and moved on. (I remembered reading an email from Bootsman, pointing to a post at Fyreball offering this service, and I remembered writing a short newspost about it.) Later in the day, Hawty sent an email, saying "I know you've probably covered this, but I searched and couldn't find it, so I'm letting you know." I searched myself, so that i could suggest to her how to more effectively search next time... and I realized that the post didn't exist. (I blame Ferrex.) So: if you're interested in personalized Halo 3 profile images, and the description about how they're made (in Hawty's blog post) makes you think "that's just too much work" - swing by either info post for contact info, and let Bootsman do the work for you! Update: Bootsman asks that if you want to add your name to the queue, that you visit his Bungie.net thread, rather than the Fyreball one - he's trying to keep everything in one place. (Louis Wu 13:42:58 UTC) (permalink)
Happy Birthday, HIH!
We missed it when it came by on Friday - but then, so did they. High Impact Halo has just celebrated its fourth birthday - man, how time flies! Go give 'em a hug. (Louis Wu 13:05:07 UTC) (permalink)
Panoramania
The latest panorama craze apparently kicked off a month ago when Crab sent us a batch of images he'd been working on. This inspired a number of other fans to create their own images, or release them. (Halo panoramas are nothing new - but sometimes, you're exhorted to action when you see something that grabs you; this seems to have happened to a bunch of artists recently.) Last week, Crab sent us three new images to add to his collection; the email managed to get buried until today. Go look, though, because they're great shots from the end of Sierra 117. In our forum, radiant penguin added his own site to the panorama cornucopia; he started working on these when Tied the Leader opened Haloramics back in February. radiant penguins' shots are different from many that we've seen here recently, in that he's actually tweaked contrast and saturation, yielding images that are bolder than your average screenshot. Feedback on the forum is quite positive - so be sure to browse the Panoramas section of Halo Prints! (Louis Wu 12:20:45 UTC) (permalink)
News April 6 2008
Panoramas, and Bungie's lighting code
WNxSajuukCor ran into a problem with lighting when building large panoramas - though it could be argued that his 'problem' is actually not a 'problem' at all. Go read about it, and check out the image he was working on. (Personally, I LIKE the lighting as it turned out.) (Louis Wu 16:40:07 UTC) (permalink)
Clan Infectionist Frontpage Design Contest
HaLo2FrEeEk, of Infectionist Machinima (the guy who re-recorded all the Halo 2 cutscenes in HD), is running a contest right now - he's hoping to find someone who can redesign their front page. Current prize list is... rather vague, but if you're looking for a showcase for your amazing graphic skillz, you might want to check this one out! (Louis Wu 16:18:04 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 in HD - Complete
The final cutscenes from Halo 2 (the finale, the credits, and the little bit after the credits) are now live in HD in our Halo 2 Cutscene Library. As usual, hosting is shared between us, Infectionist Machinima, and Wraith-Ops. If you've missed any of these, you should really take a look - the difference between what we had before and what's up now is vast. (Louis Wu 04:10:30 UTC) (permalink)
Forerunner Structure from Halo Wars
Jaded Target noticed a new piece of artwork over at the Halo Wars site - it's another Forerunner building concept. Go take a look! (There's also confirmation that the news that the Forerunner would be playable in Halo Wars was, indeed, an April Fools joke.) (Louis Wu 04:02:04 UTC) (permalink)
Brute Bionicle
retinence stopped by with links to a Brute Bionicle he built, complete with Fist of Rukt. Nice work! (Louis Wu 03:58:55 UTC) (permalink)
Welcome Back
And while we're forgetting comics, Elnea posted Halo Action Figure 142 yesterday - complete with a link that will make you cry. (Don't say I didn't warn you, after you sit through it.) Tip o' the hat for the reminder to CougRon, who pointed it out tonight. (Louis Wu 03:54:49 UTC) (permalink)
ComBUSTable
You'd think, after ALMOST missing the posting of Another Halo Comic Strip on Thursday, I'd be more careful for a little while... nope. I missed Saturday's posting, because... ah, I have no excuse. It's too bad, though, because ZZoMBiE13 is tackling the tough subjects these days - this one has science, and everything. Go read. (Louis Wu 03:49:58 UTC) (permalink)
News April 5 2008
Are the Mets even around in 2552?
New Luke McKay artwork, in honor of Reconstruction, was posted today in his RvB image library. We've added it to his gallery here at HBO. (Louis Wu 22:20:27 UTC) (permalink)
Red vs Blue: Reconstruction
The Rooster Teeth crew have announced a new machinima series - Reconstruction. These guys will show you why they're the best-known Halo machinimators out there - the trailer looks fantastic, and should leave you drooling for the first episode. This one definitely looks more serious than the original RvB series (though Burnie says "don't let appearances fool you") - it's more along the lines (so far) of the Recovery One miniseries. Go watch it on their site, or download it in QT or WMV formats - and get ready! Thanks to Alloran, who was first to let us know. (Louis Wu 18:02:33 UTC) (permalink)
Ark Control Room Panorama
nomis78 put together a giant panorama of the Control Room on the Ark (from near where you fight the double-scarab battle). There's some distortion due to the sheer size of this puppy - but it's a pretty cool image. Check it out! (Louis Wu 17:57:40 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 FFA for Charity, in PA
Ryan Hemhauser let us know that Charity Gamers will be running a Halo 2 FFA in Reading, PA at the Too Many Games convention on May 4. $5 to sign up, with prizes for 1st and 2nd. Proceeds will benefit the National MS Society. Go read about it! (Louis Wu 16:34:56 UTC) (permalink)
Grifball Spring League Week One Highlights
The Grifball Spring League Week One Highlights are available for watching at grifball.com. (The Ajax stuff that controls which movie you watch seems to remember which one you LAST watched - so if you find yourself watching the Social Highlights, make sure you select the proper movie from the list.) The highlights are awesome, but the sound is horrible; the commentary is nearly unhearable under the game sound effects. I guess you'll have to make up your own! Thanks, Major Silva. (Louis Wu 16:32:33 UTC) (permalink)
MA5C for sale
Adam Grumbo is selling a life-sized, plastic resin assault rifle on eBay; you've only got another day to bid. (It was a three-day listing, but we didn't hear about it until last night, and I'm just now getting to posting it.) Current bid is $75, and this puppy looks SHARP. (He's included photos of a similar gun being wielded, and a pre-paint model - the listing confirms that you'll receive a fully-painted version.) (Louis Wu 15:29:17 UTC) (permalink)
News April 4 2008
The Update. It's Weekly.
The Bungie Weekly Update is now live over at Bungie.net (thanks, Vandle Valsher) - there's some awesome info about Forge, as it'll work with the Legendary maps, along with an interview with David Aldridge, a new Bungie Network Engineer hire, and a picture of Shishka that NOBODY should be subjected to. (Thanks, Frankie. You jerk.) Go read it at Bungie.net - or in our Weekly Update Archive. (Louis Wu 23:16:05 UTC) (permalink)
Girls
DigitalPh33r's Arby 'n' the Chief Episode 7 is now up on Machinima.com and YouTube - Chief goes after girls. (You might think the whole Tag thing is over the top... but I've got 14-year-olds in the house, and I can say that's totally real.) The rest of it... man. Thanks, discopete019. (Louis Wu 19:18:50 UTC) (permalink)
Hey - I want a pony!
Heh - SarcasticGamer.com has its own take on the whole concept of DoubleXP Weekends. (Bungie spells better than they do, though.) (Louis Wu 19:03:11 UTC) (permalink)
Lookin' to take a shot
Over at Teen Ink, there's a story written by someone who went to their first MLG tournament last summer, in Chicago. Check out how it goes for the non-pros! (Louis Wu 18:03:10 UTC) (permalink)
No Moss Grows
Dennis Powers let us know that Shipwrecked Episode 7 is up - I gotta say, if I were Corporal Johnston, I'd think about ways to go solo. (Louis Wu 18:01:56 UTC) (permalink)
Inside Halo: Episode 10
Smurfa noticed that Inside Halo: Episode 10 has been posted to Machinima.com. (It's also available on YouTube.) SodaGod covers Halo Wars, HaloTube, the top 5 Halo clips of the week, and a summary of the week's Halo Machinima offerings... with a healthy dose of his bizarre humor. Go watch! (Louis Wu 16:46:55 UTC) (permalink)
I think they must have run out of baddies.
Australian PC World has posted their '47 Most Diabolical Video-Game Villains of All Time' (where on EARTH did they get that number from?) - and an old favorite from the Halo series comes in at number 31. Go read! Thanks, Black Six. (Louis Wu 14:40:30 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Story Page - It's Alive!
UNSC Trooper has jumped into the updating game with a vengeance - the Halo Story Page has seen more activity in the past 4 days than it saw in the prior 6 months. (Jillybean, not to be outdone, has popped her own post up on top - but I'd have to say the driving force is Trooper right now.) Will this spawn a new round of Halo Story speculation? We can only wait and see! In the meantime, go read the goodies posted recently! (Louis Wu 14:37:43 UTC) (permalink)
Ascendant Empire
TTL Demag0gue has posted Reclaimer #40 over at the Reclaimer website. Looks like there's a bit of bad blood between Ferial and the AI... (Louis Wu 14:32:28 UTC) (permalink)
Progression
Z pointed out a Halo 2 montage from Phurion called 'Progression'. Encoded in Perian, it seems to need the VLC player to display properly. (The windows version is actually included with the download - but Mac/*nix users can grab it from the VLC homepage.) It's a monster (almost 300 mb), but it's fun to see Halo 2 gameplay again! (Louis Wu 14:28:39 UTC) (permalink)
The Light of the Fading Sun
FireDragon04 has released a Halo 3 short, set in his 'Consequences' universe - there's a short FAQ on the download page if you are confused after watching. (I was.) Two minutes long, available in divx, wmv, or streaming from YouTube. (Louis Wu 14:26:55 UTC) (permalink)
be Human in Hull
zukan stopped by to announce that his 'be Human' machinima (it won a special award in our Zune contest last year) will be featured in the upcoming Hull Short Film Festival in mid-April. If you live nearby, go watch! (Random Hull quote: "There's music on every corner, even if it's just coming out of the local record shops." If you can place that, you get a cookie.) (Louis Wu 14:03:08 UTC) (permalink)
Guardian Beat
Gunluva created 'Guardian Beat' - it's another of his sound effect vids (the first was mentioned a few days ago), this time on Sandtrap. This time around, he's added an external drum track. (Louis Wu 13:54:22 UTC) (permalink)
Max Hoberman at Gamasutra
scarab noticed an interview with Certain Affinity's Max Hoberman over at Gamasutra - for the most part, he discusses their upcoming game Plunder. scarab made this Halo-related by suggesting that Max's experience building a useful multiplayer system for Halo 2 and 3 would help him out in his quest to build one for Plunder... always good to see what ex-Bungie guys are up to! (Louis Wu 13:44:50 UTC) (permalink)
Is your other car a Warthog?
Hawty McBloggy is kicking off a new feature - 'Do You Play Too Much Halo?' Looks a lot like 'You might be a redneck...' with a different focus. Go add your own examples! (Louis Wu 13:29:44 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie steps up to the Major Leagues
Bungie decided to play this week's Halo Humpday Challenge against randoms in the MLG playlist, and they brought along a ringer - MLG Commissioner John Nelson. The writeup shows why MLG team play is a different world than your standard matchmaking fare. (Thanks to the coordination efforts of Nelson, Bungie won two of the three games. Nice!) Stuicide (who was part of the team Bungie stomped in game 2) mentioned this on our forum last night, but nobody cared to comment. (Louis Wu 13:10:13 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
The Fan Fiction section has eight new pieces this week - go read! (Louis Wu 12:44:04 UTC) (permalink)
News April 3 2008
Film at 11
I didn't back-date this newspost - nope. It was posted during Thursday's news cycle at HBO - thank goodness for daylight savings time. I would never screw up and forget to post an episode of Another Halo Comic Strip, because they're very funny. (This one's pretty cute, and was worked over a couple of times, so I CERTAINLY wouldn't have missed it. Because I never forget anything.) (Louis Wu 23:56:09 UTC) (permalink)
Get Hammered.
Do you like Grifball? You've got another chance to play it for double experience points - the playlist is live now, and will disappear Monday morning at 2 am PT. w00t! Update: Just noticed that the Grifball Intergalactic World Championship will be taking place in Seattle in August! Thanks, KP. (Louis Wu 22:38:59 UTC) (permalink)
And then, when I was six...
Ducain, over at High Impact Halo, made the mistake of asking the two biggest blowhards he could find about the Halo community, and how it's changed over the years. (Yes, one of those blowhards is me.) He did a very nice job formatting our walls of text. If you've got time to read a book or two, swing by. (Louis Wu 18:24:19 UTC) (permalink)
Get the helmet, and the game, for under $70.
JeSteR 343 found a company that's selling the Halo 3 Legendary Edition for $69.90. Dunno how long that'll last... (Louis Wu 18:21:44 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack Trailer Available
I'm sure there's already a 50-post thread on our forum about this... but I'm just walking in the door, and it's news, so I'm posting it. Bungie has put up a short trailer (1:20 long) showing off the Legendary maps - I don't know who's doing the voiceover, but they do Byron sweet justice. Go grab this, in one of 6 flavors. And drool. Maps coming in less than 2 weeks. Update: David Scully does the voiceover. The man's amazing. Update 2: If you want to stream this, it's available at YouTube (thanks, GH) and Vimeo (thanks, RVideo). (Louis Wu 17:28:31 UTC) (permalink)
Panoramas - and more
Seems like panoramas are all the rage right now. Blinding stopped by with a couple from multiplayer, nomis78 added new ones from Tsavo Highway, and P1ankton sent us a link to a monster collection of images (they're not all panoramas, but many are, and the ones that aren't are pretty nicely composed) over at TeamXbox - basically a pictoral tour of the Halo 3 campaign. Lots of pretty pictures everywhere! Update: The bandwagon is listing to the left right now - WNxSajuukCor just jumped aboard. (Louis Wu 11:14:25 UTC) (permalink)
Be careful who you anger.
Wow. Over at DLSReports.com, there's a story about a guy who does (well, did) tech support for Comcast who got cheated on while playing Halo 2 - and he took his revenge by using Comcast's internal tools to find the cheater's home address and phone and calling the guy's father. The DSLReports story focuses on the inappropriate use of proprietary information - but the lesson stands; you're almost never as anonymous as you think you are. Thanks, Z (who apparently undeleted the post linked to at the start of the story, since I can read it there again). (Louis Wu 11:13:03 UTC) (permalink)
What the...
Hawty McBloggy found a My Little Master Chief Pony on eBay. It's as bizarre as it sounds. (Louis Wu 11:11:32 UTC) (permalink)
I thought he built those in Photoshop.
The discussion of how big the Ark really is pops up now and then on our forum - occasionally, some interesting data is thrown into the pot by well-placed screenshots. Omega did exactly that yesterday with some bizarre out-of-map pictures he took on the last level of the game... follow his Bungie.net link for a collection of really odd screenshots. (I don't think the inclusion of the name 'Ark' should be considered a spoiler - but there's probably info in the thread that is. I'm just telling you this so I don't have to flag the whole post.) (Louis Wu 11:08:43 UTC) (permalink)
C'mon, folks. Think a little.
Apparently, there are still people confused about which of our newsposts on Tuesday were real, and which were April Fools jokes. The Bungie Online Map, HIH closing its doors, Legendary Armor getting a C&D notice, the Halo MMO, and the Halo Wars interview were all fake. Everything else was (as far as I know) real. If the news date says "April 1" and the actual news is hard to believe... look twice. Really. (Louis Wu 11:06:57 UTC) (permalink)
News April 2 2008
Gravemind through the Control Room - in HD
Thanks to Infectionist Machinima and Wraith-Ops, we're comfortable adding a significant chunk of the remaining Halo 2 HD cutscenes to our Cutscene Library - all but the finale and credits are online. Swing by and watch the unfolding of the Halo 2 storyline in HD! (Louis Wu 20:10:42 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Online Playoffs Update
GotFrag has a summary of the MLG Online Playoffs so far - there are some pretty interesting outcomes! Take a look. (Louis Wu 20:05:43 UTC) (permalink)
ubald's Halo renders - now local
A couple of days ago, we mentioned some pretty cool Halo renders (with added work done) over at Renderosity. I got in contact with the creator, ubald, and was given permission to mirror them here - you can find all of his Halo work in one easy-to-navigate collection. (He's got plenty of Non-Halo work over at Renderosity - if you're interested, browse his gallery there! (Louis Wu 19:52:06 UTC) (permalink)
More Halo 3 Panoramas
nomis78 created a few panoramas last week - he's back with a few more. Check this post, and this one, for both small and large versions.
(Louis Wu 19:47:03 UTC) (permalink)
Sometimes you don't want to be fooled.
PHANTOMFIRE X let us know that DS Fanboy has a list of the 'Top ten horrendous April Fools' joke ideas for DS owners'... and Halo DS is on the list. (Problem is, it's not really a joke...) (Louis Wu 18:41:58 UTC) (permalink)
Outpost: Isil Episode 4
Bzerker01 let us know that Outpost: Isil Episode 4 is up at Treeskunk Productions - the humans look for lost stuff, the Covenant looks for food. When they find each other, you learn which side shoots better. Sort of. (Louis Wu 15:42:43 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 still at No. 2 on LIVE charts
SPARTAN 294 pointed out that Major Nelson's LIVE Activity list for last week has Call of Duty 4 still on top of the charts. (My last few posts about this list have had tongue-in-cheek commentary about what the list might mean to the Halo community, and without fail, have caused people to rant at me either that I was taking things too seriously or that I wasn't taking them seriously enough - so I'm leaving this as a straight news bit. There's the list.) (Louis Wu 15:29:38 UTC) (permalink)
Cavalcade
TTL Demag0gue has posted the next episode of his Reclaimer comic - #39 introduces Cavalcade, and further deepens the mystery of Ferial's motivations. What's really going on? (Louis Wu 15:15:26 UTC) (permalink)
More goodies from Installation 05
We got word from Tyler Tschida, of Installation 05, that a regular from our forum - JeSteR 343 - won the free ActionClix set they gave away last month. (Congrats, JeSteR!) They've got a new contest up right now - submit a cool screenshot, win a McFarlane Brute Chopper. Go read the page for full details! You've got until April 26 to submit. (Louis Wu 15:13:05 UTC) (permalink)
Starship Trooper - look familiar?
Merc noticed a page selling a custom-made sculpted figure from Starship Troopers (well, maybe not any more - the page dates back 7 years) - it looks a lot like a Halo marine with Hayabusa shoulders. Interesting! (If you're interested in ordering, you might want to contact the creator first on this page.) (Louis Wu 15:08:31 UTC) (permalink)
News April 1 2008
Bleeder, indeed.
Cody Miller announced that the winner of his crossword puzzle was goatrope. Go see how you did. (Louis Wu 22:34:58 UTC) (permalink)
Fatum Trailer
Nabsuh stopped by to point out a trailer for Fatum, an upcoming Halo 3 machinima he's doing CGI for. Go watch it on YouTube. (Louis Wu 22:21:36 UTC) (permalink)
Forerunner Tank - Finally
Over at Halo Wars Heaven, there's a new interview with Halo Wars lead designer Graeme Devine, in which a playable Forerunner race is announced. J23 noticed this mentioned on the official Halo Wars website. (Louis Wu 21:32:56 UTC) (permalink)
How it all began, Part 1
Aaron Fish let us know that Larry the Marine 15 was released yesterday. It's the beginning of a look back at how Larry got himself into this mess in the first place... (Louis Wu 20:49:33 UTC) (permalink)
Gray Team Transmission Two Trailer
Marc Swint let us know that Mindless Distortion has posted a trailer for Gray Team Transmission Two: Relegation. You can stream or download it from a variety of sources - they've taken the feedback they got from Transmission One (released last week), and are promising an improved machinima project. Take a look! (Louis Wu 20:40:44 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: Divide of the Covenant
Casters Realm has news of 'Halo: Divide of the Covenant', a Halo MMO. (Here's a hint, for folks creating April Fools posts in the future - don't use artwork from existing Halo projects if you want to be taken even a LITTLE bit seriously.) Thanks, gunluva. (Louis Wu 20:26:06 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief: UNMASKED!
Today's episode of Another Halo Comic Strip answers a question a lot of people have asked for a long time. You might not be happy with the result, though. (Louis Wu 19:01:57 UTC) (permalink)
It kinda looks like a movie.
If you're a Red vs Blue fan, you can celebrate their 5th birthday with them - by buying the RvB Box Set. It includes all five seasons, plus a bonus disc that contains lots and lots of good stuff that never made it out before. (You can read about it on the RvB website.) If you already HAVE all five years on DVD (as many of us do), never fear - instead of the $70 box set, you can buy the box and the bonus disc for $20. Don't be a cockbite - get yours today! (Louis Wu 18:48:34 UTC) (permalink)
The Colors to Know
Halo CE Chronicles' Shipwrecked, Episode 6 is now up - this puppy's degenerating. (Louis Wu 18:27:31 UTC) (permalink)
Fly That Flag
Wow, I hate it when news posts are eaten by the site gremlins. GameSpot is running a Halo 3 CTF tournament - registration begins tomorrow, runs for 5 days. Winning team gets a $200 Best Buy card. Swing by for more details. (Louis Wu 18:23:52 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie's hiring again!
Check out the Bungie.net Jobs page - there are three new jobs (Port/Emulation Specialist, 3D UI Designer, and Animator/Dance Choreographer) you might be qualified for. Sort of makes you wonder what they're working on, doesn't it? (Louis Wu 17:15:36 UTC) (permalink)
The Detonation Tritage
Z pointed out a new Halo 3 montage from ipwnt, Sargoth, and Zanster - you can download it (all 180 mb of it) from Halo3Forum.com. I found the editing to be pretty distracting - but if you like funky cuts, this one's for you. (Louis Wu 17:11:23 UTC) (permalink)
Rememberance - on an Accordion
Wow - chargeorge pointed out a friend who recorded Halo 2's Rememberance on an accordion. You can hear it on his Facebook page. Will it spark interest in this? (Louis Wu 16:21:10 UTC) (permalink)
The Man can be a Harsh Mistress
Over at the 405th Forums (nice makeover, btw), there's a sad tale of Microsoft heavy-handedness - the Legendary Armor crew has been served with a Cease and Desist notice. Sorry, guys! (Louis Wu 15:41:01 UTC) (permalink)
The Halo Movie - of interest to screenwriters
You may remember the name 'El Mayimbe' - he works over at LatinoReview.com, and breaks a lot of movie stories. He showed up here in 2005, when he reviewed the original Halo movie script. I'm not sure April 1 is the best choice of 'days to break interesting news'... but if you swing by LR.com, you'll find a story about Stuart Beattie, the screenwriter behind the upcoming G.I. Joe. Apparently, he's written a spec script roughly based on the Fall of Reach storyline. Who knows where this will go? (Louis Wu 15:23:49 UTC) (permalink)
Once upon a time...
The timing is unfortunate, since a lot of people will assume it's false - but we've added a team member to our Halo Story Page crew. Welcome to UNSC Trooper, who hopes to help bring the section out of hibernation - he's already posted his first news bit! (Louis Wu 15:15:43 UTC) (permalink)
High Impact Halo is no more
In sad news, it looks like High Impact Halo has closed its doors - visiting the site shows a domain parking page, so I guess Ducain let the domain expire. I knew he was starting to get tired... but I hadn't realized he was ready to hang it up. We'll miss you, man. (Louis Wu 14:27:25 UTC) (permalink)
Sounds of Foundry
gunluva created a fun video he calls 'Sounds of Foundry' - music is where you find it. (Louis Wu 14:24:09 UTC) (permalink)
Like coordinating a marching band, but bigger.
Due to a complicated sales manouver by Microsoft, players of Halo 3 in Europe and Africa have caused an intriguing pattern to be created on Bungie's Players Online map (visible both on their website and in the Matchmaking lobby on Xbox LIVE). It's unclear how long they can convince these players to stay online (and thus keep the pattern up) - one would imagine it wouldn't be more than another 6-12 hours. Thanks to all who noticed this - looks like profhalo was first. (Louis Wu 14:06:15 UTC) (permalink)
| April 2008 | |
