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 | March 2005 |  |
March 2005 Archived News
News March 31 2005
Don't tell mom.
New Calvin and Halo from Blackstar this week - man, did that hit home. (Louis Wu 21:13:26 UTC) (permalink)
Fanfic is back
W00T! Subnova is back online, which is awesome news for them - but it also means our Fan Fiction section is back online. Sorry for the downtime! (Louis Wu 21:12:57 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 X-Pack - from a Pro standpoint
MLGPro.com put up an article about the Halo 2 expansion pack - it's a weird read. It jumps back and forth between acceptance of the existing price structure (with solid logic including acknowledgment that the majority of Halo 2 owners don't have Live, and the reminder that if you choose to buy the maps rather than wait to get them free, you've ACCEPTED their cost) and annoyance/regret that the maps aren't free NOW (because, you know, if you're a competitive player, you're FORCED to buy them when they come out - waiting for them is not really an option). There's also a bizarre claim that since Bungie clearly sucks at playing the game (as evidenced by their Halo Humpday Challenge record), they "can't possibly know the complete dynamics of any map they make." (That one made my head spin.) Anyway, go read. Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 20:51:10 UTC) (permalink)
The Codex Ep 7 now out
The Codex Episode 7 has been released - 'The Siege of Halo Base' features the shotgun action of Jack Foster. It's action-packed, and nicely filmed. Currently in QuickTime only, but DivX and WMP9 should be posted later today. (Louis Wu 15:24:05 UTC) (permalink)
Halo for Freelancer
Bronzemage sends us a link to a forum working on a Halo mod for the space-sim Freelancer. This general Freelancer mod site has more info, as well. I poked around a little bit, but didn't find any existing artwork - yet. Check it out if you want to help! (Louis Wu 15:18:49 UTC) (permalink)
Expansion Pack cover art?
Oliver Stopienski, from Halo Orbit, points out that they've got an image that's supposed to be the Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack cover; this is the same artwork that Bungie used for its news post about the expansion pack, so who knows? It might even be true. (It's too small a picture to rule out a simple photoshop job, and there's no mention (that I can understand) of the image's providence in the Halo Orbit news item.) Update: Marc, of Halo Universe, confirms that this image comes from Microsoft's German PR firm - seems like a good bet that it's accurate! (No offense meant to the Halo Orbit folks - my skepticism comes from multiple fakes in the past - not from them, but on the internet in general.) (Louis Wu 15:14:03 UTC) (permalink)
More Montages
SkyLine asked us to point out Wild Card Production's pair of Halo montages - lots of sniping. Hosting's offsite, so what the heck. Wi1D CarD Montage 2 is 45.6 mb, MPEG 1 format (4:33 long). Wi1D CarD Montage 3 is 3:15 long, MPEG1 format, 32.5 mb. (Louis Wu 15:06:59 UTC) (permalink)
Get spam, plus a chance at a free xbox
Black Six points out a Halo 2 Sweepstakes at Gamestop - sign up to win a special edition Xbox, along with both Halo Xbox games. You must be a resident of the US, and a legal adult in your state of residence. You've got until April 13 to sign up! (Louis Wu 15:01:33 UTC) (permalink)
Baby Art? I think not. All grown up.
mr smiley points out another hefty art update at Halo Babies. The Elite and The Assassin and Angel of Prayer were my two favorites, but check 'em all out! (Louis Wu 14:57:51 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Glow Effect in Halo CE
Hehe - SuperSunny has figured out a way to bring the Halo 2 glow effect (light reflecting off the ground) to Halo CE. The innovation doesn't stop! Thanks, MasterGrief. (Louis Wu 14:47:12 UTC) (permalink)
New Columns at Team Tabula Rasa
Team Tabula Rasa has two new columns on Halo 2 strategy online - Furiont opens his 'The Making of a Spartan' column with a recap of how he got started in all this, and Faewraith113 fires up his 'Sententia per Antiquus' column with a piece called 'Community of Electrons', which looks at the growth and evolution of the gaming community over the past 20 or 30 years, and how Halo is helping to bring this to the next level. Go check 'em out! (Louis Wu 14:42:09 UTC) (permalink)
News March 30 2005
Call for Help - Artist Needed
Overswarm is almost ready to start posting his Strategy guides... but he realized that many of his pieces would be better if he had an artist working with him. If you're interested in helping out, and have some talent, drop him an email! (Louis Wu 22:52:24 UTC) (permalink)
Containing the Flood
Mat Noguchi was one of several Bungie employees to present talks at this year's Game Developer's Conference. He was kind enough to provide both the paper and the slides he used for the talk itself (with his notes attached). You can read the paper here, and view the slide show (minus a few real-time demos) here. It's a pretty fascinating read! (Louis Wu 21:38:59 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Stats on your Pocket PC
Hehe - when you absolutely, positively, can't go another minute without your stats... view 'em on your Pocket PC. Thanks to HaloPlanet for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 16:12:12 UTC) (permalink)
The Sniper
This is highly unusual, but I couldn't wait... Jason Borne (you might remember the name - we've got a pretty amazing piece of artwork of his in our Miscellaneous Art collection) dropped off a new image, and since I have no idea when I'll get a chance to update the misc art section again, I thought I'd just post this. 1080x609, 213k... gorgeous. Perfect mix of death machine and peaceful forest scene... (Louis Wu 16:04:33 UTC) (permalink)
Please Stand By
For all the folks writing to us - no, there isn't a One One Se7en today. I think Stuntmutt is angry with me. (Louis Wu 15:58:57 UTC) (permalink)
Why you act like grunt?
Captain Spark posted another 30 dialogue snippets on his website; grab the zip file from there, or browse the new entries in our Dialogue Databank. (Louis Wu 15:46:30 UTC) (permalink)
Buyin' Stuff for MLG
Bigsauce is pretty excited about the new MLG Online Store... because the very first player shirt for sale is his. For AR lovers everywhere! (There'll be other player shirts, with all the big-name Halo pros you've watched...) (Louis Wu 15:27:02 UTC) (permalink)
Mawn-Taj
Bull3tL@g posted a Halo 1 montage on our forum yesterday - lots of nice grenade sticks, and other stuff. 43.1 mb, WMP9 format. Hosted at ods.org. (Louis Wu 15:19:03 UTC) (permalink)
Emblem Checker works again
Thanks to brokenwatch, of H2 Advanced Stats, for sending along the fixes needed to make our Gamertag emblem checker work again after Bungie.net's tweaks recently. Sorry for the downtime! (Louis Wu 13:35:01 UTC) (permalink)
Launch Bay X
dg945 points out the release of Launch Bay X, a Halo CE map created by ejburke. You can watch a gameplay movie (19 mb, WMP9 format) or look at some screenshots before downloading the map (which looks pretty slick!). Check it out! Update: The map is also being mirrored at HaloMaps.org (along with a flash version of the movie). (Louis Wu 13:29:00 UTC) (permalink)
News March 29 2005
We will post no Gravemind before its time.
Ack! Almost forgot. Mike Miller's next installment of his Halo 2 Legendary Walkthrough, a look at Gravemind, will not be released today - it's a pretty complicated level, and he wants to make sure it's done right. We're shooting for next week; in the meantime, make sure you're up to snuff on the rest of the finished levels! (Louis Wu 22:05:36 UTC) (permalink)
Searching has never been easier.
Hehe - nice. prometheus has whipped up a Firefox plugin that lets you search HBO's news archive right from your browser's search box! We're flattered. (Well, okay, I'm flattered. I can't imagine the rest of the staff cares.) If you use Firefox, grab this! (Louis Wu 20:03:02 UTC) (permalink)
Noobs Gone Wild 2
Bonekin posted Noobs Gone Wild 2, a humorous look at silly gameplay (mistakes made both by him and by his opponents - everyone's speared equally) yesterday. (Download links are in the forum post.) We've put up mirrors for his WMP9 versions (hi-res | low-res), and added QuickTime versions that are roughly the same quality as his MPEG versions, but half the size (hi-res, 28.6 mb | low-res, 14.1 mb). Grab what makes sense to you! (Louis Wu 19:27:45 UTC) (permalink)
Stuff and Bother (or That Bothers?)
Finn points out an update on 7hr33.bungie.org, with a list of things that could be fixed in Halo 2 multiplay to make gameplay more enjoyable. Agree, disagree... sound off! (Louis Wu 17:48:48 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Orlando, and Foulacy, over at MLGPro.com
New content up over at MLGPro.com - they've posted info about MLG Orlando, a tournament coming up at the end of April, and an interview with Foulacy, of Str8 Rippin, in which Foulacy talks about what happened at MLG Houston, where he thinks the team is going, and some of his strategies. (A good read, overall - if you're interested in being part of the pro community, you NEED to get inside these guys' heads. And if you're not, it's fascinating to see how they approach gameplay.) (Louis Wu 16:40:58 UTC) (permalink)
Duct Tape... and Newspaper.
Whoa - almost missed this. Minor spoilers, I guess... but pretty darn funny! (Louis Wu 04:03:36 UTC) (permalink)
Earth City, Transcribed
Poop scoop is working on transcribing Earth City, and has created a midi file of it. He's looking for feedback - check his post and give him your ideas! (Louis Wu 03:48:55 UTC) (permalink)
An Open Letter To All Those Who Cheat
I didn't write it. IcedPitchBlack did. You should read it, though. Update: Wow... this seems to have hit a nerve. 165 responses in 11 hours... there are some dissenters, but in general, it seems a LOT of people agree with the sentiment that Halo 2 multiplay should be about FUN, not 'leveling up'. (Louis Wu 03:36:57 UTC) (permalink)
The Oracle Speaks
mercury joins the Halo blog crew with The Oracle - his first piece looks at cheating in matchmaking. It can be nice to have a place to post a solid, well-thought-out piece, separate from a fast-moving forum... (Louis Wu 03:17:27 UTC) (permalink)
News March 28 2005
Retaliation
sh33p posted a trailer for an upcoming machinima project he and some others are working on, called 'Retaliation'. It's available in both WMP9 format (37 mb) or QuickTime format (30 mb). Nice piece - makes you want the full version to be out. Give it a look! (Louis Wu 23:13:55 UTC) (permalink)
Targeting Tidbits
Interesting. Sniper 058 posted a small movie showing the shotgun reticle changing color (and thickness) as it passed over a nearby enemy. A bunch of forumites suggested it was just the layering effect of the HUD on the screen... until Dave Candland (the designer of that HUD) stepped in and confirmed that yes, indeed, the reticle will get fatter when passing over a zone of 'weakness' (like, say, the orange spots of a hunter). He also explained why there's no dot in the center of a reticle always, just when you're in head-shot range. Nice! (Louis Wu 22:11:49 UTC) (permalink)
The Samurai Spirit
Hehe - took almost a week - but Bungie finally posted the post-mortem of last week's Halo Humpday Challenge, during which they were murdalized by the GunShin clan, a group of Japan's finest Halo warriors. Man... the idea of a two man team, one with plasma pistol, the other with a battle rifle, working together faster than a single person can switch from one to the other... wow. Go read. Thanks to JHG, who noticed it before I did. (Louis Wu 22:06:01 UTC) (permalink)
Funny Situations
zerofender pointed out a fun flash animation at Newgrounds - Funny situations. They're not all funny - but they're not very long, and there are 10 of 'em. Artwork is great. (Louis Wu 18:50:42 UTC) (permalink)
BLAM.bungie.org
Hmm. Stuntmutt decided to use ME as a target in today's One One Se7en... I guess he feels that now that he's got 300 strips under his belt, anything goes. I'm posting it because there's no precedent NOT to... but I think it's in somewhat poor taste. (Louis Wu 14:18:13 UTC) (permalink)
Shot replication
Hehe - sort of fun... STB has tried his hand at replicating a few Halo 2 screenshots, using Halo CE. Might have gone better with Elites in the pictures... but they're still nice! (Louis Wu 13:02:08 UTC) (permalink)
Closing in on Two Hours
Wow. Cody Miller posted a note on our forum about the project over at Highspeedhalo.org to put together a sub-2-hour Halo Speedrun; recently, he and goatrope shaved 6 minutes off 3 levels, bringing the 10 level total to 2:09. They're getting close - go visit and see if you can help! (Louis Wu 12:53:38 UTC) (permalink)
HUDless Art - How To
It looks like Saint[lpn] picked yesterday to write a piece on HUDless Halo art creation for his blog - it's a nice summary of the various styles shown to date. Give it a read! (Louis Wu 12:35:59 UTC) (permalink)
Goin' HUDless
prometheus points out that the Halouvre has been updated - there are 225 new images in 7 new galleries in the Halo 1 HUDless section, and three new pics (posted on our forum by Mast3r recently) in the Halo 2 HUDless section. Go bask in the HUDless goodness! (Louis Wu 12:26:13 UTC) (permalink)
Fensler Films, Remade
TLove and DemonStrate are remaking the Fensler Films - a series of G.I. Joe public service announcements with new soundtracks - in the Halo engine. The first couple are available as their own movies, or in split-screen, with the original video running simultaneously (so you can see what they're reproducing). I missed the Fensler Films the first time around, but people love 'em, it seems - and the Halo reproductions are pretty accurate! (Louis Wu 12:14:39 UTC) (permalink)
News March 27 2005
The Avenger
trigger119 writes to point out The Avenger, a new machinima film from Vypers.net. Currently you can grab a trailer in either DivX (13.8 mb) or MPEG1 (10.4 mb) formats from their website. (Louis Wu 23:18:59 UTC) (permalink)
GT 15 - A Modded LAN
GTJuggler filmed a modded LAN recently - the result is up on the Halo GT website. We've tossed up some mirrors for him, for both his QuickTime version (50.3 mb, mythica.org | bungie.org) and a WMP9 version (34.4 mb, bungie.org | mythica.org) (There's a medium-res QT on his site we haven't mirrored.) Pump up the weapons! (Louis Wu 15:21:04 UTC) (permalink)
Giddeyap!
Hehe - I've seen people playing with the gas tanks on Metropolis before... but I've never seen anyone try to RIDE them. Hats off to Motherstooth! (Louis Wu 14:30:57 UTC) (permalink)
Floor Wax... or Dessert Topping?
Mat Noguchi talked a little bit about the decision to write your own code, or incorporate an existing package... and he talked about how sound guys are friendlier than code guys. Go read his weblog. Thanks, Cybrfrk. (Louis Wu 14:20:32 UTC) (permalink)
News March 26 2005
Delta Squad Ep 3 Trailer
Chronic V1RU5 has released a trailer for Episode 3 of their Delta Squad series. They won't be able to release the whole thing before the first of next month, for bandwidth reasons... but you can grab a 4.5 mb teaser right now (WMP9 format). Thanks, KingFarnox. (Louis Wu 21:14:03 UTC) (permalink)
Amateur Online league at MLG filling up
Recently, we mentioned the opening of a pair of online leagues over at MLGPro.com - looks like the Amateur league is already over half-filled. If you're interested in playing in this, get over there and sign up! (Louis Wu 21:10:14 UTC) (permalink)
Anti-Cheating Website
Cheated online, but don't know where to turn? Check out StopStandby.com, a website run by an extremely persistent webmaster who wants to help you get your story out. (Bungie has said that the Standby problem will pretty much disappear after the online patch they're releasing in the next few weeks - but as TheSPFXmaN, Project Lead for Stop Standby, says, cheating will never go away, and they'll be here to help expose it in whatever form it takes.) (Louis Wu 21:07:12 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Action Figure Auction
Josh sent us email about an auction he's got going on eBay - every Halo 2 action figure released to date (plus a few Halo figures, as well). There's some rare stuff here - the Civilian Hog, several limited edition models... it's a big package. (16 full-size figures, plus two mini packs, and a Halo watch, all in all.) Starting bid is $475, plus $60 shipping. (This is considerably higher than list price - but many of these items can't be bought at ANY price, any more.) You've got a little less than 5 days to decide. (Louis Wu 20:18:29 UTC) (permalink)
TheGhost's Halo 2 Montage
TheGhost put together a montage video; halofreak4567 posted a link on our forum. It's a nice montage - great timing, good gameplay - so we've mirrored both the original WMP9 version (23.1 mb, bungie.org | mythica.org) as well as a QuickTime version (23.8 mb, bungie.org | mythica.org). Grab what works best for you! (Louis Wu 14:57:54 UTC) (permalink)
What were they thinking?
Narcogen, over at Rampancy.net, has written a piece looking at your options in terms of the new Downloadable Content announced yesterday. He suggests that the plan actually borders on common sense. (He means that in a GOOD way.) (Louis Wu 12:54:48 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2v2 (plus racing stuff) in NY
On April 9, Xtournaments will be running a Halo2 2v2 tourney in Smithtown, NY - details can be found on this page. (They're also running Gran Tourismo 4 Time trials for the Red Bull Driver Search on the same day - win a chance to race a real Formula 1 car!) If you live near New York City, check this out. (Louis Wu 12:36:54 UTC) (permalink)
Pimp it
retsamolah has posted 'Shameless Self-Promotion', a montage vid in widescreen. 41.6 mb, QuickTime format. Not quite up to the machine-like standards of some of the pro players... but there are some nice kills. He's listed a pair of mirrors in this post, and Hawk7886 added a third in this one. Gotta love Dire Straits soundtracks... (Louis Wu 12:29:16 UTC) (permalink)
Not So Common Sense - Coming Soon
Over on the Bungie.net forums, Overswarm has been making a name for himself with a strategy guide, presented in forum posts, called 'Not So Common Sense'. He came to us with a proposal - that he codify this guide, organize it, and that we give it a permanent home here at HBO. Seemed like a pretty reasonable idea - so look for his articles to begin appearing soon. To whet the appetite, he put together a teaser vid - you can grab a copy in WMP9 (8.2 mb) or QuickTime (7.2 mb) formats. Music is 'Secret', by Linkin Park. (Louis Wu 12:21:16 UTC) (permalink)
The return of an old favorite
Hawaiian Pig has revisited his RvB Set Pieces, with a new batch of 5 shots from recent episodes. Fun! (Louis Wu 12:03:37 UTC) (permalink)
Last Stand IA 1
Phoenix_9286 posted an Informational Announcement for his Last Stand comic series, over on DeviantART. The Elites behind the characters... (Louis Wu 12:01:38 UTC) (permalink)
News March 25 2005
How I Saved Christmas
Red Vs Blue have released episode 53, "Let's Come To Order" for sponsors over at their site. Louis would have posted this, but he's off monkeying around about somewhere. (mnemesis 22:44:45 UTC) (permalink)
A home for your toys
WOW. If you're a Halo action figure collector, you want to know about these guys - Out of Reach Constructions, an Australian firm specializing in Halo-themed display structures for your action figures. They ain't cheap (the two existing structures are A$160 plus shipping and handling, with four new prototypes on the way)... but they're beautiful. The site contains photos of the various models, plus info about the manufacturing process. I want! Thanks to Halo Planet for the heads-up on this. (Louis Wu 21:51:46 UTC) (permalink)
Videogame Violence Feedback
William Vitka posted another piece today in his GameCore series about videogame violence - this one is a collection of email feedback he's received on the rest of the articles. It's interesting that more than one of the letters involve interaction with Jack Thompson, the lawyer who suggests that videogame violence drives our children to murder - and in each of those cases, polite requests for clarification were met with curses and vulgarity. Says a lot about the guy, doesn't it? Go read! (Louis Wu 20:57:43 UTC) (permalink)
Hahaha... get in line.
Captain Spark has posted another four dozen dialogue snippets - you can grab them en masse on his website, or peruse them individually in our Dialogue Databank. Enjoy! (Louis Wu 20:29:37 UTC) (permalink)
Three Pundred.
Clearly, of FAR more importance to anyone visiting this website than news of downloadable content is the fact that Stuntmutt has posted his 300th One One Se7en today. Do him a favor, and go read it. Update: As if it weren't groanworthy enough... (Louis Wu 18:41:31 UTC) (permalink)
DLC Screenshots
Don't forget - it was mentioned in the WWU, but in case you missed it, there are new screenshots available showing the first four levels of DLC in Bungie's Screenshots section. We'll be adding them to our own section in the not-too-distant future. I can't wait to play Needler Warlock... (Louis Wu 18:33:49 UTC) (permalink)
Downloadable Content - Solid News
There's a Special Edition Weekly What's Update over at Bungie.net... and it's focused on the Xbox Expansion Pack (information about which was leaked earlier this week). Some of the info out there was accurate (the fact that the Pack existed, for example) - some wasn't. The truth: There ARE 9 maps. They WILL be available for purchase on disc, for $20. (Release date is late June.) The first two WILL be available for download, on Xbox Live, for free, in late April. Two more will be available the same day, for download, but won't be free - they'll cost $6 for the pair. The last 5 maps will be available for download on June 28 (same day that the disc will be available), for $12. Go read the full Weekly What's Update for tons of info about the first four maps (including screenshots), as well as a bunch of questions (and answers) about why the release is happening this way. (There's also an official press release on Xbox.com.) Update: I forgot a critical piece, for those who aren't going to bother reading the Bungie-written stuff - ALL the maps will be free for download on XBL by the end of the summer. If you don't want to pay, you can wait and get stuff for nothing. (Well, nothing past the cost of Live in the first place...) Update 2: MS's PR army sent us a copy of the press release, too. You can see it here. (Louis Wu 18:07:44 UTC) (permalink)
Reticula
SS Crow sent us Reticula (Halo Mix), a 'Techno-Trance-ISH mix of a few Halo 2 voice clips mixed with the power of Electronica!' It's 4:32 long, 8.3 mb... give it a listen! (Louis Wu 15:58:16 UTC) (permalink)
Works for everyone else...
We have a special Guest Calvin and Halo strip today, courtesy of Free at Last (with approval from Blackstar) - a stinging comment about the reaction to this week's Halo 2 Expansion Pack news leak. (Louis Wu 15:56:15 UTC) (permalink)
E3 Opportunities
Wishing you could go to E3 this year, but not eligible to get in? Major Nelson mentions an Xbox.com contest; they're giving away two free trips as an 'Apprentice'. You must be a US resident, and 21 or older. There are some other rules - so go check 'em out! Thanks, Cybrfrk. (Louis Wu 15:52:06 UTC) (permalink)
Puntastic
Halo Babies has a new strip today - 'Very Punny' makes a grab for some One One Se7en territory. They've also got a news post about Joel 'Gruntsbane' Casebeer's resume going online - with some cool artwork. Check it out! (Louis Wu 15:48:44 UTC) (permalink)
News March 24 2005
Change your desktop?
Clearing out the Wallpaper queue... 19 images built up over a few weeks. A bunch of images from Demonic Spartan (if you like his style, you'll be in heaven), plus lots of others. This one might be my favorite... (Louis Wu 21:11:47 UTC) (permalink)
Tourney Calendar
HALOChat has seen a need - and filled it. There's a new section of the HALOChat website that lists all upcoming tournaments - at the moment, it contains only entries we've mentioned in our news, but I'm guessing that as word spreads, it has the potential to become a clearinghouse for Tournament announcements. Give it a looksee - and if you know of a tourney that's not on the list... let 'em know! (Louis Wu 20:21:26 UTC) (permalink)
Bluestone joins the bloggers
Bluestone repurposed his website as a Halo blog, and has posted images showing his latest work on the (astoundingly long-in-production) Halo Flash Game he started... oh, sometime in 2003. Let him know what you think in his forum thread. (Louis Wu 19:33:14 UTC) (permalink)
Where's John Madden when you need him?
rockslider continues his study of ways to fight lots and lots and lots of enemies in Halo (the original, not Halo 2) - his latest update looks at Assault on the Control Room, and a number of enjoyable scenarios you can set up. Check it out! (Louis Wu 19:28:35 UTC) (permalink)
More overpriced Kubricks
Boxer found a pair of Halo Kubricks on eBay - this one has a starting bid of $60, with four and a half days left on the auction (no bids yet), and this one has a current bid of $50, with almost 6 days left on the auction. Seems rather expensive for a small plastic toy the seller got for free - but hey, that's capitalism, right? (Louis Wu 18:48:30 UTC) (permalink)
North American Tourneys
Couple of tournaments we heard about recently - HaLyCoN mentioned GTA's Finest, for clans in the Greater Toronto area this June - $1000 for first place, but no word on what it costs to get in.... and Ryan Burke writes to tell us about a tourney hosted by the Carlsbad Christian Assembly, in Carlsbad, CA - April 1, entrance is $2, prize for the grand champion, proceed to go to the Speed the Light foundation. (Louis Wu 16:31:45 UTC) (permalink)
Makin' Movies
prometheus writes to point out that he's posted an interview with Blackstar, a longtime community member and filmmaker, at his Tru7h and Rationalization blog. Go read! (Louis Wu 13:32:29 UTC) (permalink)
Sparky Talks Ghosts and Stuff
Sparky points out that his Guide to Halo 2 Covenant Vehicles is now posted at TalkXbox.com. Go read! (Louis Wu 12:33:12 UTC) (permalink)
Worked.
The writeup isn't up yet on Bungie.net - but it looks like Bungie took a BEATING in last night's Halo Humpday Challenge. (There's a little bit of trash talking amongst some of the players in that thread - but mostly it's just bitterness, I think. I'd say I have to give Shishka the points for the cheapest shot.) We'll let you know when Frankie's post-mortem goes live - should be a fun read.(There's also this thread - sounds like these guys were... um, pretty good.) (Louis Wu 12:19:01 UTC) (permalink)
The Sign of Four
Thanks to a whole lot of people (the first that I saw was weasel032) who pointed us to this post on Bungie.net, where Frankie announces that the upcoming Halo 2 update will add a 2 vs. 2 playlist. Looks like specific info on the update is finally starting to appear! (Count Zero 03:06:15 UTC) (permalink)
News March 23 2005
I want victory to become a habit.
RibsMaster dropped off another 20 dialogue snippets for our Dialogue Databank. That Johnson character... he can be rude. (Louis Wu 19:44:27 UTC) (permalink)
We finally got a piece of the pie...
Looks like Microsoft is moving the Bungie team from their digs in the Redmond Millenium campus into the Kirkland Hardware Store, in Kirkland, WA (a few miles away). Apparently, they're growing out of their existing space, and this is a way to keep them together as a team. (Of course, it separates them from the REST of the MS-based game developers... but hey, nobody liked those guys anyway.) The move should take place later this year, once renovations on the Kirkland property are complete. Thanks, orion 12. (Louis Wu 19:13:57 UTC) (permalink)
The Incredible, Audible Egg
A couple of months ago, in response to some overenthusiastic 'win at all costs' techniques used to pull easter eggs out of Halo 2, Marty O'Donnell posted a note on our forum talking about the mystique behind eggs, and why you shouldn't try to 'brute-force' them. To soften the reprimand, he tossed out a couple of teasers - hints to eggs that hadn't been found. One of those teasers fell to egghunters just a couple of weeks later - but the other one stood until today. (Well... it's possible that it's STILL standing; Phatcorns post isn't fully clear, and even his later explanation shows that the triggers for this bit aren't known yet.) Regardless... it's always cool when an easter egg comes to light. (This post isn't being marked as 'spoiler' material, because in order to be spoiled, you have to actually follow those links. Use your willpower if you don't want that.) (Louis Wu 18:17:46 UTC) (permalink)
Gametypes - from a fan
SonGoharotto posted a link to a page that contains some of his favorite custom gametypes - looks like some nice ones in there! (Louis Wu 18:07:25 UTC) (permalink)
Feet First Into... Oh Hell!
Stuntmutt takes a look at his clan's online performance in today's One One Se7en. Been there, felt that. (Louis Wu 17:46:01 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Blogging
More blog action around the Haloverse:
- nof is unhappy with matchmaking. (He also had something to say recently about the state of Halo moviemaking.)
- Saint[lpn] rants about the DLC issue, and various forms of government, over at Sanction Three.
- Narcogen puts forward his own thoughts on Halo moviemaking (this one's a monster read, and brings up a number of good points).
I'm loving the whole Halo blog idea; it gives people a chance to speculate on topics that might not be appropriate for forums, or might get lost too quickly in a more fluid environment. Go read - and think! (Louis Wu 15:29:14 UTC) (permalink)
New Jersey Tourney Saturday
Looks like another Halo tourney in Wayne, NJ this weekend. 2v2, $25 to enter, they're shooting for a $500 prize for first place. Details in this forum post, or at Cybrconxion.com. (Louis Wu 15:18:44 UTC) (permalink)
News March 22 2005
They're Gonna Send You Home to Mother...
Mike Miller continues his dash through Halo 2 Legendary - literally. Quarantine Zone has been posted... and (like last week) Mike's decided that discretion is the better part of valor. Translated, that means 'run like hell'. I couldn't help thinking about all the lucky rocket shots that took me out during parts of this level, and how you might find yourself doing it more than once... but all in all, it's a pretty speedy way through. Don't get comfortable thinking that running will always get you out of trouble, though - Gravemind is next, and there ain't no easy way out. For now, though - go check out Quarantine Zone on crank! (Louis Wu 18:39:52 UTC) (permalink)
Hustling Halo 2
XBL-base Halo 2 cheating gets a wider audience, with an article in the April 2005 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine. (We can't bring you scans of EGM any more, by their request - but you can find this on your local newsstand.) There's nothing in the article that hasn't been seen online... but it's notable simply because the problem was given a full page in a major US gaming mag. Thanks, ChaotikZero1. (Louis Wu 18:20:36 UTC) (permalink)
Fanfic - down for a bit
As some of you might have noticed, the Fan Fiction section went offline yesterday. This is because the T1 that fed the wireless bridge connecting Subnova's Core to the internet was turned off. All local (to Subnova HQ) servers - like the one hosting HBO's Fan Fiction section - are offline, until a replacement can be found. Services hosted elsewhere - Subnova's main website, the IRC network - should still be online (or, more accurately, should be reachable again). We apologize for the downtime - we're doing the best we can. (Louis Wu 17:49:34 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Statistics 2.2 Released
Darkphibre has updated his Halo Statistics program - version 2.2 now works with Bungie's adjusted feeds, and has a bunch of new features. Read his forum post for details, including a screenshot and a download link. Update: I almost forgot - Darkphibre would love help getting the word out about this tool. He's only ever announced it here - but he feels that it's finally stable and user-friendly enough for wider coverage. (Louis Wu 13:24:38 UTC) (permalink)
Toys, toys, more toys
Wow - if you're one of those people that has to have EVERY Halo action figure... break out that wallet. Gamestop is offering a couple of case packs; you can buy the Halo 2 Warthog Battle Damaged Case Pack, with 12 warthogs total (six regular, four battle-damaged assault hogs, and two civilian hogs), for just over $100... or the Halo 2 Spartan Battle Damage Case Pack, with 6 figures in 3 colors (only $90 for this one). Wonga! Thanks, littlebigman. (Louis Wu 12:05:27 UTC) (permalink)
A new gaming league fires up Halo
Video Gamers League (VGL) has kicked off registration for a nationwide Halo 2 tournament. Qualifiers will be taking place in 28 metropolitan areas, and FFA tourneys will be free to enter. Top prize will be a 2005 Scion xB. Visit the VGL website for more details! (Louis Wu 12:00:35 UTC) (permalink)
Prometheus
Over at HaloDev, you can read about Prometheus - a map editor designed to edit and create maps for Halo, Halo 2, and future games that use the Halo engine. It's not available yet - but there's a page full of info (and a list of Halo modding luminaries working on this that suggests it has a pretty good chance of succeeding). Go check it out - there are 10 screenshots to whet your appetite. (Louis Wu 11:50:19 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Expansion Pack - now for sale
EB Games is now offering the Halo 2 Expansion Pack - $19.99, containing 9 new multiplayer maps, a new cinematic video (!!), and a new mini-documentary video from Bungie. Ship date is listed as May 24th. Did EB Games post this a little too early...? No word from Bungie yet about the availability of certain parts of this directly over Live - more when we know it. Update: Looks like there's a pretty sizeable thread about this already on our forum - nova posted it last night. I haven't read the whole thing yet - but lots of people are complaining that they have to pay for this. I cannot understand why nobody willing to wait for an official announcement from Bungie - we have no IDEA whether the material will be available via another route, and what (if anything) it will cost. Update: looks like the listing has been pulled from the EBGames website. No real surprise there... (Louis Wu 11:13:48 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Takes Top Audio Honors
Way to go! Marty and company took home Audio of the Year and Best Original Soundtrack Album at the 3rd Annual G.A.N.G. Awards a couple of weeks ago in San Francisco. (The sponsors, Game Audio Network Guild, posted the results today on their website.) Thanks to John Rivas, who got this from TeamXbox. (Louis Wu 02:11:59 UTC) (permalink)
News March 21 2005
Sauce For The Goose.
Thank goodness for that After War email - it reminded me I forgot to post today's One One Se7en. Stuntmutt points out some inconsistencies in trash talk... not that I'd know what he was talking about, nope, not me... (Louis Wu 21:56:46 UTC) (permalink)
After War 16
Kevin Ryan writes to say that After War Episode 16 has been posted - cleaning up some loose ends. The storyline seems to be coming to a head! (Louis Wu 21:54:51 UTC) (permalink)
MLG play - online
Last week, MLGPro.com posted a news item about the opening of a pair of online leagues - pro and amateur. Looks like a nice way to participate, if you can't make it to the big tourneys! Check out all the details. Thanks, FWR_Ghost. (Louis Wu 16:27:29 UTC) (permalink)
Look - Flamingos. And Penguins!
Wow. Fire Team Charlie has posted Episode 18 for members - currently DivX-only (74.5 mb), but QuickTime coming soon. With all the machinima coming out these days, and no updates since mid-January, you might have forgotten about these guys... that would be a mistake. A great blend of Halo footage and humor, with just the right amount of mod effects. This one was all Benny - and it rocks. (Should be up for the masses by Wednesday.) (Louis Wu 16:04:33 UTC) (permalink)
How much is too much?
prometheus added a new article on Halo Machinima to his Halo-themed blog, Tru7h and Rationalization. Is the field growing too crowded? Sound off! (He's also posted a link on our forum, so you can chime in there, as well.) (Louis Wu 14:27:20 UTC) (permalink)
Delta Squad Ep 2 - again
Yesterday's release of Delta Squad Episode 2 managed to bring down the server for Chronic V1RU5 - they hope to be up and running later this week. In the meantime, there's a mirror of the video at halomachinima.com, and we've put up our own mirrors - two for the original WMP9 (mythica.org | bungie.org) and two for a QuickTime version (bungie.org | mythica.org). It's a fun film - we hate to see sites go under. Update: Apparently, the Chronic V1RU5 team jumped the gun with the halomachinima.com mirror; it's up now, however. You need to right-click and Save As if you use this link. (Louis Wu 13:55:47 UTC) (permalink)
Rainy Monday Reading
24 new stories for you in the Fan Fiction section this morning - those writers were pretty busy over the weekend! Go read. (Louis Wu 13:54:59 UTC) (permalink)
teamhalo's Halo 2 Online LAN
Blade writes that the online LAN party he hosted recently was a success - a writeup can be found here. (Keep an eye on the site, if you liked the writeup - that was part one.) (Louis Wu 13:27:06 UTC) (permalink)
News March 20 2005
Delta Squad, Episode 2: Headlong
Chronic V1RU5 has released episode 2 of their Delta Squad series. 55 mb, WMP9 format. Infiltration of an enemy base (Headlong), followed by a huge battle. Once again, battle footage has some nice 'shakeycam' work... really feels like wartime journalism. It's a little hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys - armor colors at a distance are pretty close (especially in low light). Voice work... needs work. Cinematography, however, is top-notch. This is another series worth keeping an eye on! (Louis Wu 19:36:04 UTC) (permalink)
Walk of Game, revisited
Eep - this came in almost 2 weeks ago - but I missed it. SUPERTOY was in San Francisco during the Walk of Game induction ceremony on March 8, and took a couple of pictures - one of the Halo display, and one of the Halo star on the walk itself. If you visit San Francisco, swing by the Metreon, and see these for yourself! (Louis Wu 15:35:39 UTC) (permalink)
Chocolate Latte? Isn't that a Mocha?
Phoenix_9286 pointed out that Page 8 of his Last Stand comic is up at DevianART. I gotta say... if the elites really WERE this incompetent, I'd be whipping through Legendary with ease. (Louis Wu 13:24:45 UTC) (permalink)
It's pronounced nuclear.
Red vs Blue has posted Episode 52, 'Have We Met?' on their video page for sponsors. (Yes, of course, it'll be up for everyone else in a couple of days.) Time travel can be rough. This one's more than 10 minutes long - and pretty funny. Thanks to lots of folks for pointing this out - looks like StickyHelljumper was first. (Louis Wu 12:32:48 UTC) (permalink)
News March 19 2005
Tell me a story.
Captain Spark pumped out ANOTHER collection of dialogue snippets - you can grab the whole pack on his website, or see them individually in our Dialogue Databank. Good stuff! (Louis Wu 20:56:12 UTC) (permalink)
A squirrel-crushing, deer smacking, driving machine
Andras Ostrom sent us a short little flick, based on Canyonero, the monster SUV from The Simpsons. If you want to see how great timing can make a difference between a ho-hum vid and a fun one, watch this. Great song, nice footage, wonderful camera angles - and perfect timing. QuickTime format, 7.8 mb. (Louis Wu 19:56:57 UTC) (permalink)
Online LAN party, take 2
Last week, we mentioned an online LAN party. It didn't happen - but apparently, Blade's trying again - today, at 5 pm eastern. See the previous post for details. (Louis Wu 19:50:54 UTC) (permalink)
March Madness, Halo Flavor
Ross Cidlowski points out that CBS has been using some Halo 2 tracks as background music for player highlights during the NCAA tournament. We saw this last year during football season, as well - just goes to show, Marty's music fits well when trying to convey strength and power! (Louis Wu 19:22:14 UTC) (permalink)
More NZ tourney details
A bit more info on the New Zealand Halo 2 Battle tourney we mentioned last month - looks like the winners will not only represent NZ in the online Global Halo 2 tournament, but they'll also compete in the Australasia heats of the World Cyber Games in Sydney, Australia - and if they win, will head to Singapore in November to compete on a world scale (prize purse this time around is half a million dollars, US). Check out this article at Thread for more details. (Louis Wu 14:49:07 UTC) (permalink)
For All Things a First
HaloMaps.org has put up Episode 8, For All Things a First, of the Halo CE Chronicles. The Spartan and the AI continue their search for the drop pod, but meet up with some trouble. Thanks, Dennis Powers. (Louis Wu 12:38:54 UTC) (permalink)
Be Yourself
Burly posted a note on our forum about a Halo1 and 2 montage he's created; it's available via BitTorrent. (At the moment, there are only a couple of seeds, so downloads may be slow until this picks up.) It's six and a half minutes of clan play (you'll see the same names over and over again) - lots of sniping, plenty of grenades. Minimal (if any) effort put into timing the gameplay with the music; basically, it's just footage, with a soundtrack. I'm posting this because we've been lobbied (by forum and email) to do so, and because the bandwidth cost to us is zero - but once the new movie notification system goes into place, we'll have to pass on vids like this. (Note: I'm not saying 'don't watch this' - I'm saying 'this is like 80% of other montages out there'. If you like montages, download this.) (Louis Wu 12:22:25 UTC) (permalink)
Fleetwood Mac's got nothing on the internet.
Man... the things that can fill your inbox. You wouldn't BELIEVE how much mail we got (and even more surprising, the variety of email addresses people thought it would be appropriate to send this news TO) about the Halo 2 add-on rumors circulating around the internet right now. Frankie said last night in his Weekly What's Update that they'd have an official statement next week, but that some of the info floating around is actually WRONG - so be careful what you believe. You can go read what the big boys think about all this stuff, though - Gamespot and IGN both have articles up, and so do many smaller gaming websites. This news post serves as notice that we've acknowledged the rumors exist - and that we're going to keep mum on the subject until there's something official from the only people who really know what's going on... Bungie. You can stop mailing us about this stuff. Thanks! (Louis Wu 11:19:34 UTC) (permalink)
Weekly What's Update
A small but informative update this week, over on Bungie.Net. An announcement about a big announcement about DLC, specific info on upcoming cheat and bug fixes, some humonguous stats, and a pretty sad Mister Chief. Like that's any different. Check it out! (mnemesis 00:55:50 UTC) (permalink)
News March 18 2005
The beginnings of a Transcript library...
Took us long enough - but the first four chapters of Halo 2, in transcript form, are now up on the Halo Story page. (Look down the left navbar for them. Thanks, Apeman and mnemesis!) If anyone feels up to transcribing other levels (and can convince our Story page crew that they'll do a competent job), feel free to contact them. (Do NOT transcribe stuff without contacting them first; you might find that someone else already did the level you worked so hard on, so that all that work is for naught.) We're slow... but we'll get there. Eventually. (Louis Wu 21:11:52 UTC) (permalink)
Stryke Force 4: Operation Ninja
More good machinima for you today - Stryke Force Episode 4 has been released. If you haven't seen this series, grab the earlier episodes first. (If you live in Great Britain, think about picking up Xbox World magazine - the cover discs will be including hi-res (DVD-quality) versions for the forseeable future; Episode 1 is on the April disc.) Ep 4 is called 'Operation Ninja, and has Murphy and Feenix rushing in to rescue Camz... but running into a bit of trouble on the way. We've provided mirrors for this film that haven't made it onto their Videos page yet - we're offering both the WMP9 (25.4 mb, mythica.org | bungie.org) and a QuickTime version (22 mb, bungie.org | mythica.org). Grab your favorite flavor! Update: Their video page is updated. Visit for all mirrors. (Louis Wu 19:45:43 UTC) (permalink)
Sake!
It's been a little while since w00tness had Halo content in it... but it does again. Thnaks to Chris Cantrall for noticing. (Comic-Trocity!) (Louis Wu 16:39:34 UTC) (permalink)
117 - from RAWR
Not too long ago, we got email from Tim Leyk (brother to one of our favorite artists) about a movie a friend of his, Fireb0rn, of RAWR Productions, had put together. It's the story of a lone Spartan defending Zanzibar against impossible odds; camerawork is great, the musical choice fits perfectly, and the story (though short) will hook you. Everything machinima should be doing. The vid is called 117, and is available in several flavors:
Hi-res, QuickTime (640x480, 31.2 mb): bungie.org | mythica.orgWhew! Enjoy. (Louis Wu 16:29:45 UTC) (permalink)
Hi-res, WMP9 (640x480, 31.7 mb): mythica.org | bungie.org
Lo-res, QuickTime (320x240, 11.9 mb):bungie.org | mythica.org
Lo-res, WMP9 (320x240, 13.2 mb): mythica.org | bungie.org
Resident Feeble.
Looks to me like Stuntmutt's got his hands on another game - check out today's One One Se7en. (Comic-Tacular!) (Louis Wu 15:33:36 UTC) (permalink)
I have lost it!
Captain Spark put up another twenty dialogue snippets yesterday; on his own website, they're now available for individual download, or you can search for particular text in our Dialogue Databank. (Current volume of Halo 2 dialogue: 853 snippets.) (Louis Wu 14:21:36 UTC) (permalink)
The Ultimate Halo Freak Contest
Xbox.com has posted a page advertising the Ultimate Halo Freak contest. It's open only to US residents 18 or older - write a snippet, 250 words or less, about why you're the freakiest of the Halo freaks, and if you win, go home with a bundle of Halo schwag. Sounds easy! Thanks, altodarknight. (Louis Wu 13:38:53 UTC) (permalink)
Now all we need is de plane!
Comic Number Two for the day: Halo Babies hits the magical 77 strips with the third in their three-part series about Bungie Fundamentals. You know, I'd completely forgotten about Muro... (Louis Wu 13:31:04 UTC) (permalink)
More like True Lies...
Today's Penny Arcade answers the nasty beatdown the PA boys took from Bungie's harsh Humpday challengers... sort of. The news writeup is pretty funny, too. Looks like Recoil was the first to find it. (Louis Wu 13:16:54 UTC) (permalink)
White Out
He's baaack... (Louis Wu 05:33:07 UTC) (permalink)
News March 17 2005
I'd love to see him on a mammoth...
Blackstar sent in a new Calvin and Halo for your viewing pleasure - and he brings up a very good point. I've wondered myself... (Louis Wu 19:41:59 UTC) (permalink)
How to hold a title
There's a blow-by-blow writeup of the StK-x6 championship match at the MLG event in Houston last weekend over at the MLGPro.com website. Interesting read! Thanks, 3Suns. (Louis Wu 19:28:33 UTC) (permalink)
How to Witness Using Halo 2
Wow... now I've seen everything. There's an article in the Christian Post about using Halo 2 to get the word out about Christianity.
"Jesus came to this planet to save the planet from a group much worse than the Covenant (the aliens) and from a fate much worse than physical death."
... I don't know what to say. (Louis Wu 18:51:29 UTC) (permalink)
The Return of Wonderboy
Well, just the song, actually. Back in July, 2003, Eric Vogt set Halo gameplay to Tenacious D's Wonderboy, a wonderfully overmelodramatic ballad about Wonderboy and Nastyman. (A working link to that movie can be found in our movies section.) Today, markhamx2 posted a note on our forum about a new vid, filmed in Halo 2 on Coagulation this time, set to the same song. They did a great job with it - we've put up local mirrors (19.6 mb, mythica.org | bungie.org) for the existing WMP9, so you don't have to use that Rapidshare link, and re-encoded it to QuickTime, as well (14.6 mb, bungie.org | mythica.org) for those who can't use Windows Media Player. Always enjoyable to see Halo action wedded to funny songs! (Louis Wu 16:31:50 UTC) (permalink)
Deep Conspiratorial Nanobots
Jillybean took time out from pub-crawling to rummage through the Halo Story Page mailbag - go read what she found. (Louis Wu 15:28:28 UTC) (permalink)
Query Spree Updated
Query Spree, a polished and feature-rich Halo Stats aggregator, got an update last night - tons of new features. Go read about it, and grab a copy to keep track of your winnings! Thanks, MrMischief66. (Louis Wu 14:10:12 UTC) (permalink)
Big Honkin' Movie Mirrors
That Weasel writes to point out that mirrors for several really large movies have been added to the That Weasel Television HBO Mirror - you can find downloadable versions of Platoon Remix (WMP9 and QT), Platoon 2 (WMP9 and QT), and Say Good Night (QT). If BitTorrent doesn't do it for you - here's a way to grab these files via http! Thanks, TW. Update: Nirvana has added both the original QuickTime and a re-encoded 'lo-fi' MPEG of Say Good Night to his Halo Vids site. (Links don't seem to be on the main page yet - grab 'em from his forum post.) More mirrors! (Louis Wu 14:08:30 UTC) (permalink)
Ambush
Episode 6 of The Codex Series was posted last night - and wow, has the action heated up. This one has an original score and some great shot compositing. Overall, a fantastic battle sequence - two, actually. The Covenant shoot about as well as Imperial Stormtroopers... but that model worked really well for Lucas, so I say go for it! This series is shaping up to be one of the new stars in the Halo machinima firmament. Looking forward to Episode 7! (They've also got desktops available for download.) (Louis Wu 14:02:53 UTC) (permalink)
They must have been pounding nails...
Yesterday's Halo Humpday Challenge went off against Penny Arcade, as expected... and ouch, what a hammering the poor PA guys took! Three sets, same map, same rules... mostly the same outcome. Go read Frankie talk some mean trash. I'm expecting retribution - in the form of a funny comic - sometime in the not-too-distant future. (And yes, once again, the results were known long before the writeup went live, thanks to Bungie's supercool stats setup - thanks, GhaleonEB.) (Louis Wu 13:57:59 UTC) (permalink)
News March 16 2005
What's next
CNN's Game Over column has a piece on a wishlist for Xbox 2 - top on the list is backwards compatibiliity, so folks can play Halo 2. Thanks, Byrne McLaughlin. (Louis Wu 21:37:10 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2: The Art of War
TalkXbox has started a series of strategy videos - an intro video promoting the series is now posted. Eisen Feuer, the new Strategy Video Maker at TalkXbox, let us know on our forum. (Louis Wu 21:31:22 UTC) (permalink)
Gaming - from a retail perspective
William Vitka's Violence in Videogame series at CBSNews.com continues with an interview with Hal Halpin, president of the Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association. This one's a little different than older ones in the series - the questions aren't the same, but the idea - to explore the effect of violence in videogames on our society - hasn't changed. Halpin's professional stance is predictable - after all, he represents game retailers, so it's not surprising that he opposes legislation that would ban the sale of videogames in certain markets - but he makes some interesting points.
Games that are marketed as violent and with gratuitous sex or violence in order to sensationalize, typically aren't good games and wouldn't sell if it weren't for politicians and the media hyping the title.
I wonder if the politicians understand this? Go check out the piece - it's an interesting read! (Louis Wu 20:21:22 UTC) (permalink)
Art Overload
Once again, I've been remiss at clearing out the various art queues around this place. I just processed the Miscellaneous Art queue - more than a month's worth of images in there, some ASTOUNDINGLY good. Somewhere between 30 and 40 images, depending on how you count them. Of particular note are the two movie posters done by Patrick Ballesteros for a Halo 2 tourney not too long ago. But they're not the only thing in there... go look at ALL of it! And to the submitters - thanks for your patience! Update: Oops, missed one. Liam Quigley's sketch has been added to the mix. Last one at the URL above. (Louis Wu 19:37:21 UTC) (permalink)
Konoko Pops.
So what happens when you're not up on 'l33t speak'? Read One One Se7en to find out. (Louis Wu 17:11:08 UTC) (permalink)
Wednesday Reading
Nineteen new pieces up in the Fan Fiction section - growing by leaps and bounds... (Louis Wu 14:57:53 UTC) (permalink)
Wednesday is Art Day at HB
Another large art update over at Halo Babies - Tina's posted her Dre'al images there, as well, plus many, many other creations. The Sexy Joe image is fantastic! (The MS Paint artwork is also really impressive.) Go look at all of it! (Louis Wu 14:42:29 UTC) (permalink)
Dre'al, Colored
Back in December, Tina Leyk sketched out Dre'al, her Elite fan character, on the Halo Babies forum. (We hosted a copy here, too.) It wasn't colored, though, because she didn't feel she had the right tools at the time. She's gotten back to it... and while she's not thrilled with the result, I think I can say it's GORGEOUS. (It's the last image on her art page; one of these days, I REALLY have to beef up the organization of her artwork; there's just too much of it to keep track of this way.) And Tina - Happy Belated Birthday! (Louis Wu 14:10:57 UTC) (permalink)
A viable strategy?
Today's Penny Arcade suggests who might be playing in tonight's Halo Humpday Challenge... Thanks, Ross Mills. (Louis Wu 13:52:23 UTC) (permalink)
Blogging - Halo Style
I've said for over a year that the web needs more Halo-based weblogs. prometheus felt the same way - and recently, Tru7h and Rationalization was born. The first entry deals with matchmaking. Go give it a read! (Louis Wu 13:49:48 UTC) (permalink)
News March 15 2005
Who Watches the Sentinels?
It's looking like the HBO Sentinels, the West Coast (US) Clan of HBO regulars, is leaderless at the moment. Clan Uberlord (hey, he has the title cause he's the only one who was willing to muck out the clans' stable stalls) KP is hunting for a new sucker - erm, leader - willing to keep the clan running and handle the day-to-day administrivia (more like month-to-month, actually; clans mostly run themselves - read his post for full details). If you're interested, follow the directions listed in the forum post. (If you can't handle that, we're pretty sure you don't qualify as an applicant.) (Louis Wu 23:14:12 UTC) (permalink)
Might as well Jump
Mr Jukes continues his work in the Halo Jumping field - Jump Session #10 has been posted to his website (and to our mirror site, as well - good for QuickTime lovers). There are also a couple of vids from the Jumptacular crew... if you haven't been in a while, go visit! (For the person who complained recently that we're not posting enough movies - there are more than 10 new ones on today's front page. Does that do it for you?) (Louis Wu 22:54:39 UTC) (permalink)
The Platoon 2: Concrete Jungle
As mentioned this morning, the Halogrid team released 'The Platoon 2: Concrete Jungle' today. There's a direct download link for the WMP9 version (71 mb) on their movies page - but there's no guarantee how long the bandwidth for that will last. I've created BitTorrent seeds (with decent starting bandwidth) for both that WMP9 version and a QuickTime version (78.5 mb) - these are probably your best bet, if you're looking to download this movie without bankrupting the team that built it. Dennis Powers, of HaloMaps.org, has also thrown up http downloads for the WMP9 version, as well as both versions of the first episode (the remix we mentioned this morning, and the original, first-person-version released in February). Use these only if BitTorrent is not an option for you. This one is quite good; great camera work, a moving battle scene... I LOVED the HellJumpers insert, very clever trick. Go watch! (Louis Wu 19:07:34 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Tips - Back online, and better than ever
Cybrfrk has finished the conversion of the Halo Tips section (which has languished for some time) - it's back up and running, and we're going to need volunteers to man it. (If you're interested, mail us and let us know why.) The approval process will be similar to the one that will soon go into place for Halo videos - and that's what Cybrfrk is moving on to next, coding-wise. Remember: this section is for gameplay tips - NOT tricks. We're not looking for ways out of Headlong, or places where the invisible wall is broken on Outskirts' beach. This is a collection of information that will help you stay alive longer - both in single player and multiplayer. If you have something you'd like to submit - load up the submission page and go to town. If you've followed the pretty basic instructions, we'll approve it and add it to the collection. (Louis Wu 17:39:50 UTC) (permalink)
Operation: Run Like a Mofo
Mike Miller's Halo 2 Legendary Walkthrough continues - this week it's Sacred Icon. It's a short chapter - because it's a relatively short level. (Especially the way Mike does it.) Go read - and watch. And kick some butt. (Louis Wu 14:09:27 UTC) (permalink)
That's a long version number...
LunarShadow's H2O Stats reader has been updated to deal with the changes in Bungie's Stats feeds. You can grab a new copy in this forum post. (Louis Wu 13:27:00 UTC) (permalink)
Say Good Night (to the bad guy)
FuzzySmurf put together a nice montage vid - great quality, some nice moves (I like seeing teamwork sometimes). Since he's okay with us releasing it via BitTorrent, the bandwidth hit to us is minimal (and fully controllable) - we like that. The movie is in QuickTime format, 54 mb, and the torrent can be grabbed here. We're supplying a healthy starter block of bandwidth for seeding... at least for now. Go get it! (Louis Wu 11:49:44 UTC) (permalink)
Platoon Remix Redux
A week ago, we mentioned a movie called 'Platoon', which recreated the beach scene in Saving Private Ryan. The Platoon Remix was only available in WMP9 format... and they were victims of their own success; they ran out of bandwidth. It was a really nicely done film, so we've put up a pair of mirrors (44.4 mb, mythica.org | bungie.org) - and we've re-encoded it in QuickTime format, as well (47.2 mb, bungie.org | mythica.org). In the next day or so, we should also have the second installment of this series online for you - Platoon 2 was filmed on Headlong, and also shows some great camera work. We may need to BitTorrent it to begin with... it's rather large. (Louis Wu 11:27:15 UTC) (permalink)
Copy that Grunt!
Dan Brennan writes to say that his Halo in your Hometown photoshop contest has announced winners - the top 7 entries can be found here. Nice work, everyone! (Louis Wu 10:45:49 UTC) (permalink)
Stupid Contest? WHAT?
Sep7imus has been Spotlighted over at The Junkyard - he's the latest in their long series of community interviews. Go read it for a glimpse into the life of a longtime HBO forum poster! Thanks, Mhaddy. (Louis Wu 10:27:36 UTC) (permalink)
News March 14 2005
PlanetDoom Editor talks about violence
The next GameSpeak, the series of interviews at CBSNews.com about violence in videogames, has been posted - this one has Jeff McAllister, of PlanetDoom, taking a crack at the questions. Not surprisingly, Jeff falls firmly into the 'video games are no better or worse than other forms of entertainment' camp. Coming up in the series: a huge 'Mailbag Blast-O-Rama' article containing some of the email readers received when trying to contact Jack Thompson (that should be FUN), and an interview with Hal Halpin, president of the Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association. Stay tuned! (Louis Wu 22:18:48 UTC) (permalink)
A Worthy Disc
DoctorEvol decided to mill the Seventh Column logo out of solid aluminum. There are a pair of pictures in this post - the circle is 8 inches (20.3 cm) across, the depth of the cut is about a seventh of an inch or so (40 mm). Check it out! (Louis Wu 21:28:26 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie AI Programmer Talks Shop
Damian Isla's talk from the 2005 Game Developers Conference, 'Handling Complexity in the Halo 2 AI', is now online at Gamasutra. If you're not a member (and don't feel like signing up), the Printer-Friendly version does not require a login to view. It's a pretty intense read - but fascinating. Check it out, if you're curious about how character AI works. Thanks, Dan Chosich. (Louis Wu 21:19:22 UTC) (permalink)
Infamous Last Words.
Today's One One Se7en looks at some of the things you might hear on your XBL headset just before that Red X appears... (Louis Wu 17:51:56 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Wish List at Stuffo
HowStuffWorks has put together their Halo 3 Wishlist. Comes with pictures, even. Funky. Thanks, Eli Payne. (Louis Wu 17:32:50 UTC) (permalink)
Training Mode... Terminated!
A few weeks ago, Tree Skunk productions released the first couple of episodes of Outpost: Coagulation. We've been announcing them as they come out - but the news posts haven't been terribly enthusiastic. This was primarily because I felt the series needed to focus; audio work was shakey in most episodes, and the plot seemed to be staying awfully close to an RvB-type thing. Well, they've released episode 4, and they seem to have taken these criticisms to heart (or maybe they're just hitting their stride). Audio work is MUCH better, there's a storyline that stands on its own, and the camera work continues to be quite good. (I'm lovin' the talking hog. Think Speed Buggy with an attitude.) Currently WMP9 only, though I'll be encoding a QuickTime version later today (if they're interested). Go watch. (Louis Wu 15:09:23 UTC) (permalink)
Jump Tactics Tourney Update
HALOChat posted an update for the Jump Tactics JUMPS tournament - if you're participating, it's in your interest to read this stuff before Wednesday. So what are you waiting for? (Louis Wu 14:33:03 UTC) (permalink)
StK takes x6 in Houston
WaLKa pointed out results from this weekend's MLG Houston tournament on our forum - StK beat Check 6 for the title, with Str8 Rippin picking up third place. Lots of articles can be found on the MLGPro.com website. Go read about it! (Louis Wu 14:28:10 UTC) (permalink)
New Strategy Guide (and writer) at TalkXbox
Not long ago, we mentioned that TalkXbox.com was looking for a new Strategy writer. One of the applicants (thanks to that news post, apparently) was Sparky - search our news for some of his existing strategy guides. He got the job - and at the moment has a big front-page banner at the top of TalkXbox.com for his Guide to Vehicle Handling (which is NOT the same as the guide of the same name he wrote on our forum last year - this one is totally updated for Halo 2, and contains nice pics and everything). Go check it out! (Louis Wu 13:12:31 UTC) (permalink)
Story Page FAQ updated
Finn has taken some time and updated the Halo Story Page FAQ - it's absolutely worth a read if you're interested in submitting info to that portion of the site. Remember: the Story page is there for thoughtful speculation about... well, the story. To speculate about fiction, you have to ENJOY reading, really - Story page submitters have less excuse than anyone (except maybe Fan Fiction submitters) for not reading Frequently Asked Questions lists before contributing. So go read! (He did good, even. It won't hurt.) (Louis Wu 12:08:34 UTC) (permalink)
The Philips Phile - Halo Style!
This is one of the oddest things I've seen - but it's pretty fun. There's a talk radio program in the Orlando, FL market called The Philips Phile - they've got a couple of real Halo fans on staff. (In the past, they've sponsored mini tournaments - Motherstooth made this cool trophy for one.) Now, if you visit their homepage, and look for a picture of a Master Chief with an energy sword, you can follow the link to 'Philips Phile - Halo Style'... a series of videos (made by Motherstooth, hosted by That Weasel) starring the characters of the show in Halo machinima. (For the record, all hosting and moviemaking is done by fans - the radio program is not making any money off of this.) It's probably of most interest to those who know (or at least can hear) the show... but for me, it shows the lengths to which fans will go to show their love. Check it out! (Louis Wu 11:46:48 UTC) (permalink)
News March 13 2005
Pillar of Autumn Uniforms
Another fun piece from Stephen Loftus - this time, he's chosen to look at uniforms used on the Pillar of Autumn. There's some interesting speculation, which he'd love to have input on (via email, or on the forum) - so read it over and toss in your two cents! Update: oops, looks like Stephen already STARTED a discussion. (I've been out all afternoon.) Use this thread, instead. (Louis Wu 22:44:57 UTC) (permalink)
I'd be offended...
You thought Calvin and Halo was dead... it's not. It's just resting. Special Sunday Edition - thanks, Blackstar! (Louis Wu 18:30:34 UTC) (permalink)
WCG 2005 Europe goes to Germany
Oliver Stopienski sent along info about the World Cyber Games 2005 European Championships at CeBit recently; German Sebastian "hAnkey" Droschak (from the OCRANA.ATI squad) took first place, beating out DJE the KING of France. (Stopienski is a fellow squadmember.) Nice going! (Louis Wu 18:09:39 UTC) (permalink)
I have always wanted to be taller.
The Red vs Blue website is over its recent problems (hard drive failure) - and Episode 51 is now up for sponsors. Eight and a half minutes... history continues to be rewritten. (It's even called 'Episode 50 part 2'.) I'm lovin' this... (Louis Wu 16:38:13 UTC) (permalink)
News March 12 2005
Saturday Light Reading
Fourteen new stories added to the Fan Fiction section today - the series continue to grow. Go read! (Louis Wu 15:14:26 UTC) (permalink)
Large-screen tourney in Canada
Graham Bouvier points out a halo 2 tournament, played out on movie screens, in Canada (more than a dozen across the country). Check the page for details! (Louis Wu 13:02:51 UTC) (permalink)
One Last Ambient Snippet
A couple of days ago, WraithX found one more Swahili clip on Outskirts - he posted it, along with a guide to finding all the overhead speakers on the level, on our forum. Rehema came by and translated it - we've added it to our Dialogue Databank. Thanks, guys! (We don't know for SURE that there aren't any more snippets - you might hear something new, for example, when in possession of the IWHBYD skull. Or via some other trigger. This seems to be the lot, though, for regular gameplay.) (Louis Wu 12:12:29 UTC) (permalink)
Progress continues on an MC Suit
Alan James has finished the gun for his MC suit - you can see a picture on his Suit page. (Louis Wu 12:04:12 UTC) (permalink)
Pick a pretty picture
ICDedPpl reminds the community that today is the last day to vote for the Halo in my Hometown contestants. Apparently, lots of people visited, but not very many voted. So go vote! (Louis Wu 11:42:31 UTC) (permalink)
GDC Keynote Mirror
If you missed grabbing the GDC Keynote blogcast at Major Nelson's yesterday, there's another source for it - GloryFish has put up a copy. Save the Major a bit of bandwidth... (Louis Wu 02:10:25 UTC) (permalink)
That thing just won't stop selling.
Dang, still going. Halo (the original) moved into 7th place in overall game sales for the week of February 20-26, according to the NPD Group (as reported by Evil Avatar). Halo 2... ain't on the Top 10 list. Wow. Thanks, 3Suns. Update: Oops... that was the PC list - no WONDER Halo 2 wasn't in it! My bad - thanks, Borgboy. (Still pretty cool; the game is a year and a half old, with TONS of stuff released in the interim!) (Louis Wu 01:55:42 UTC) (permalink)
Weekly What's Update - March 11
It's Friday evening, which means time for another Weekly What's Update over at Bungie.net. More vagueness, some surprising lack of easter-egg knowledge, another Hint Word (I'm thinkin' we're gonna see Tinkerbell underneath Union Station in the next DLC), a fair response to the 'please keep sword flying in!' request, and the saddest looking coconut bra I've ever seen in my life. Go read. (Louis Wu 01:52:26 UTC) (permalink)
News March 11 2005
I couldn't have said it better myself.
Captain Spark released another bundle of dialogue snippets on his website; we've added them to our Dialogue Databank, as well. Elites, Grunts, and a couple of Marine bits... (Louis Wu 23:07:49 UTC) (permalink)
Bumpmapping in Halo CE - a tutorial
Wow, nice. CrowPath has written up a really nice tutorial on bumpmapping in Halo CE - the first 3 parts of the five-part tutorial are online now, with the last two coming soon. Check it out! Thanks, MasterGrief. (Louis Wu 23:05:14 UTC) (permalink)
Destiny? More like Disaster.
Oh, man... so Frankie invited me out for drinks, he just wanted to chat, he said. I was a little suspicious when I woke up with a headache in a strange hotel room... but all my clothes were on, so I let it go. Little did I know he was recording the whole thing... I deny everything. Except the dog. (Louis Wu 20:53:18 UTC) (permalink)
Down Low-dable.
Stuntmutt anticipates more DLC comments in this evening's Weekly What's Update - check today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 15:54:13 UTC) (permalink)
That's just too much money.
Wow. Blind Sniper005 noticed a Halo 2 Kubrick toy (distributed for free to early purchasers of Halo 2) on eBay - with a starting bid of $75. OUCH! Update: Item sold early via a Buy it Now bid. All gone! Thanks, Jammerfer. (Louis Wu 15:35:42 UTC) (permalink)
Delta Squad Ep 2 Preview
We mentioned Chronic V1RU5 about a month ago, when their release of Delta Squad Episode 1 hit the net. They now have a website, and a trailer for Episode 2 (due out March 26). WMP9 format, 9.2 mb. (The money shot at the end is fun.) (Louis Wu 15:01:56 UTC) (permalink)
I don't think those are all hot...
Halo Babies continues its look back at Bungie Fundamentals - with another staple, the 'strong female character'. Too bad Leela was never actualized... (Louis Wu 14:55:31 UTC) (permalink)
Happiness is a warm gun
Hehe - less than a day after I rant about how many montage films (well, films in general, I guess) are out there, II TRU7H II sends us a link. He's hosting, and it's not a bad piece - so here you go. '15FPS' - WMP9 format, 22.6 mb. Snipes and sticks, with some great oddball melee runs. (Louis Wu 14:52:29 UTC) (permalink)
Hi-tech vs low-brow
Wednesday's Halo Humpday Challenge writeup went up on Bungie.net last night - and it looks like Bungie's long winning drought is over. Bungie took on Pioneer Electronics - and Bungie cleaned up. (Frankie was very nice about it.) Go read! (Louis Wu 14:45:10 UTC) (permalink)
Light at the end of the tunnel
Wow. The Movie Conunundrum I laid out yesterday has turned into a monster thread, with lots of decent ideas coming from lots of people. If you've offered your services as a volunteer 'watcher' - please be patient; I've recorded all names, but we won't do anything with them until the new upload system is built. So if you don't hear anything back in the next few days, it doesn't mean we've said no (or yes, for that matter) - it's just that we've not made any decisions yet. The outpouring of support, however, is heartwarming - thanks. (Louis Wu 14:41:49 UTC) (permalink)
News March 10 2005
The Halo Movie Conundrum
There's been a growing problem I've been worried about in the last couple of months, with respect to Halo videos - explaining it is something that would take far too much space for a front-page news post. Besides, I'm looking to start a discussion about the issue, and that's hard to do from here. Therefore, I've posted my (rant? lament?) on the forum - please, take a few minutes and read it... and toss in your two cents. Thanks! (Louis Wu 21:39:35 UTC) (permalink)
Kentucky Tourney
Paul Ritter writes to point out a Halo 2 tourney in Covington, KY (just over the river from Cincinnati, OH). Entry is $30/person, they're shooting for 35-50 teams. Competition happens on April 9 - so get on over and register! (Louis Wu 19:46:23 UTC) (permalink)
Die-Cast Hogs
Wow, very cool. Looks like Joyride'll be coming out with a die-cast warthog (or three) in the not-too-distant future! (June/July, to be specific.) Thanks to littlebigman for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 19:43:14 UTC) (permalink)
LiL Poison - again
Hehe - remember LiL Poison, the youngest pro gamer ever? Well, he's got his own website now. He'll be playing in the MLG Houston event this weekend. Thanks to Victor of Xtournaments ("Dad") for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 15:32:18 UTC) (permalink)
Stubbs the Zombie - in action
Wideload is showing off Stubbs the Zombie, their Halo-engine-based offering, at the GDC this year - and they've updated their Stubbs website to reflect this. There are 14 new screenshots and 9 video clips. Thanks to Rampancy.net for the news - and visit their newly-opened Wideload Games Forum to talk about this stuff! (Louis Wu 13:55:12 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie at GDC Keynote
J Allard was joined by several Bungie employees during yesterday's GDC keynote speech - Dan Chosich points out an MP3 of the speech at Major Nelson's weblog, and serpx mentions that Gamespot has video (streaming for free, download for Complete members). Dan also transcribed the Bungie comments, if you don't want to download anything. (Louis Wu 13:42:46 UTC) (permalink)
It's all over but the writeup...
...and figuring out who these guys represented. TheLethalSpartan found the four games of the Halo Humpday Challenge, played yesterday between Bungie and... somebody; looks like Bungie won this time around. We'll have to wait for the official article on B.net to get the details, though... (Louis Wu 13:33:38 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 - Best Audio, IDGA
In February, we mentioned that Halo 2 was up for Best Audio in the 2005 Game Developers Choice Awards. According to Slashdot, they won. Congrats, guys! (Louis Wu 13:27:13 UTC) (permalink)
Give out your email, win Halo 2
Echoes found a Canadian Halo 2 contest - rules are on this page. You must be a resident of Canada and 'the age of majority or older in the province or territory in which [you] reside at the time of entry'. Seems like a marketing ploy, more than anything... but there are free Halo 2 games up for grabs. (Louis Wu 13:12:03 UTC) (permalink)
The Halo 2 Effect
The Lexington Herald-Leader has an article today about the power of Halo to bring people together; it focuses on some local players, but the ideas are pretty universal. Give it a read! (Louis Wu 11:46:52 UTC) (permalink)
WCG Opens at CeBIT
The World Cyber Games Samsung Euro Championship kicked off in Hanover, Germany today; the full list of games is here, the Halo 2-specific stuff is here. Good luck to the competitors! Looking forward to movies... thanks, Marc, of Halo Universe. (Louis Wu 11:34:52 UTC) (permalink)
Shadows in the Dark
The Codex, Episode 5, has been released - swing on by The Codex Series website to grab a copy, in QuickTime, WMP9, or DivX formats. Very nicely done suspense episode this time out. Looking forward to Episode 6! They mention on their site that they're pretty close to 1,000,000 page hits - with a day or two left in their first 30 days since the release of their first episode. Go visit, and push them over the line! (Louis Wu 11:28:13 UTC) (permalink)
News March 9 2005
Obsession is a fine thing
Jillybean attacked the forest of spam that is our Halo Story email queue, and extracted a few choice truffles hiding in the weeds. (There's also a tidbit from Finn in there - man, the whole CREW is hopping! Well, except mnemesis. He got into the cough syrup again last night, and I don't think he's awake yet.) (Louis Wu 22:09:26 UTC) (permalink)
Minature Halo Art Contest Results
SEspider posted a bunch of entries for his Miniature Halo Art Contest, and declared a winner. Nice work! (Louis Wu 22:05:58 UTC) (permalink)
H2O Updated
LunarShadow stopped by to point out that a new version of his H2O Stats Reader is out. Check the forum post for details and a download link. (Louis Wu 22:04:06 UTC) (permalink)
My own views on violence
Whee - tooting my own horn! The next installment of the CBS News 'Violence in Gaming' series has been posted - and it's me answering the questions this time around. Remember - as is true with all pieces in this series, the questions were answered without reading any of the other respondents' replies. This is starting to feel like a 'Pile on Jack Thompson' collection... but that wasn't the intent at all. (I didn't even know he was among the people interviewed when I answered these questions.) As always - discussion on our forum is great... but please stay away from general politics; limit the discussion to this topic (violence in videogames), in order to keep the flames to a minimum. Thanks! Update: oops, seems I lied. The last half of the second-to-last question WAS in direct response to Mr. Thompson's piece; it was added after the original interview, from an email exchange I had with William Vitka. The REST of the questions, however, were answered 'in a vacuum', with respect to other interviewees. (Louis Wu 19:34:39 UTC) (permalink)
On the internet, nobody knows you're an underdog.
AYB Fonzi, a member of the Str8 Rippin clan, has been interviewed over at MLGPro.com. (Interestingly enough, the interview was conducted over XBL, via headsets - nice!) An interesting story about a group of guys who came together over Xbox Live, and challenged the upper crusts of the Halo Pro scene. Give it a read - and be sure to check out the streaming footage from MLG Houston, kicking off this weekend! (Louis Wu 15:40:22 UTC) (permalink)
Yo' Elite Councillor.
Sarge meets up with an Elite Councillor in today's One One Se7en... and the results ain't pretty. (Louis Wu 13:54:37 UTC) (permalink)
Wednesday's Reading
Fourteen new stories for you in today's Fan Fiction offering - and a milestone for me; the first post that I can remember where I didn't need to delete a single entry! Wow. Go read. Update: There's a fifteenth now, because someone... made noise. (No, this will not become a habit.) (Louis Wu 13:50:59 UTC) (permalink)
The Art Flow Continues
There's another massive art update (Halo and non-Halo work both) over at Halo Babies today - some fun stuff in there! (Louis Wu 12:42:48 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Cleans up in Q Awards
The Gamefly Q Awards (we mentioned these in January) were announced this morning at the Game Developers Conference - Halo 2 took hom Favorite Game of the Year, Favorite Xbox Game, and Favorite Shooter. Nice! You can read about it on PR Newswire or Yahoo Finance. (Louis Wu 12:24:29 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Tourney in Canada, too
Turns out that National Xbox Tournament we mentioned a couple of days ago is not just Europe - it's happening in Canada, too. Thanks, Speny Honest. (Louis Wu 12:20:29 UTC) (permalink)
News March 8 2005
Follow Me To Victory!
Captain Spark posted another batch of dialogue snippets on his website yesterday - all elites, this time around. We've added them to the Dialogue Databank. (Louis Wu 20:53:20 UTC) (permalink)
2005 Walk of Game Induction
Shane writes to remind everyone that Halo will be inducted into the Walk of Game this evening at 5:30 pm on Metreon's Ground Level in San Francisco. Not exactly the same as getting your hands into the concrete... but if you're in SF, go show your support! (Louis Wu 20:34:04 UTC) (permalink)
I Regret... nothing.
Mike Miller once again comes through - what can arguably be called the most difficult level in Halo 2 now has a Legendary Walkthrough to help you along. Regret went up today - with 15 movies showing you a multitude of techniques that can get you past the hard stuff. Mix them in with Mike's clear writing (and amusing commentary on the things he DOESN'T like) and you end up with a great read, even if (like me) your chances of actually USING this guide to get through the level on Legendary are about as good as Punxsutawney Phil's chances of avoiding humans on February 2. Check it out! (Louis Wu 19:22:46 UTC) (permalink)
Fishes are good for eating.
Work on Last Stand continues - Phoenix_9286 announced Page Seven on our forum yesterday. This is turning into an F-Troop sort of thing... (Louis Wu 14:42:14 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie.net Guides: Lockout
Back in January, we mentioned that Bungie was beginning work on a series of Multiplayer guides, with Lockout and Ascension first up. It's unclear when it went up... but Cptn Mexico just pointed out that the Lockout guide is now online. It's pretty in-depth; a walkthrough, strategies, tips, all backed up with pretty pictures and video... go read! (Bungie.net sometimes doesn't like external referral links, so if you get an error page, simply follow the 'Guides' link that should be on the left on that page.) (Louis Wu 14:01:27 UTC) (permalink)
Videogame violence - the discussion continues
Spenser noticed the next installment of William Vitka's series on video game violence at CBSNews.com - this interview is with Scott Ramsoomair, of VG Cats. This one's a bit more 'off the cuff' - someone who doesn't take the issue quite as seriously as say, Jack Thompson. And for those who think that discussion in THIS community is reactionary and thought-free, you should read this post by SPARTAN-01110101 - he makes a point that certainly opened MY eyes a little... Update: I'm a little behind, so I'm just noticing a link to a pretty interesting Thompson rebuttal on Friday's Penny Arcade news page. Lots of good points in there. (Louis Wu 13:30:25 UTC) (permalink)
The Platoon Remix
imSuck wrote to let us know that Halogrid, a 'movie making clan kind of joining the ranks', had released their OWN 'storming the beach' video a few days ago; it's called The Platoon Remix, and can be found on their website. It's 44 mb, 6:03 long, 640x480. They tried to recreate the beach scene in Saving Private Ryan - and I think they did a very impressive job. Give it a look! Update: Dennis Powers pointed out a post he made on HaloMaps.org about the ORIGINAL Platoon (the one they remixed to make this vid) - and it's a fascinating comparison. The first one was first-person, compared to this one's third-person; it had some weaknesses (the Halo 2 HUD, including messages about kills and deaths, and occasional voiceovers ("Gained the lead!") take away from the immersion level)... but overall, it's a great piece, and an entirely different feel compared to this remix. Worth downloading. As soon as the current rush quiets down, we'll do our best to create QT versions of these two, and throw up some mirrors. (Louis Wu 12:03:28 UTC) (permalink)
LAN party... online
Blade is having a Halo 2 party - and wants to invite you. It's like a LAN fest - but it's online. Details can be found on the teamhalo forum. (If you want to reply, you'll need to register.) (Louis Wu 11:55:47 UTC) (permalink)
Saving Private Cyan - Ep 2
A month ago, TurtleTurtleClan hit the scene with Episode 1 of Saving Private Cyan. Great cinematography, so-so voice acting. Today, they're releasing episode 2 - well, I guess we are releasing it for them. (The last time around, the fans shut 'em down, they loved 'em so much.) Voice acting is much better, cinematography is still great. It remains to be seen how the story will play out - but it's an entertaining film, well worth the download. We've got a QuickTime version for you (640x288, 37.6 mb - mirrors at mythica.org | bungie.org) and a WMP9 version (640x288, 31.4 mb - mirrors at mythica.org | bungie.org). Check it out! And sound off - either in our forum, or in theirs. (Louis Wu 03:05:09 UTC) (permalink)
News March 7 2005
Staff Increase Rumor: BUSTED
Two days ago, we mentioned an article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that quoted J Allard as saying that Bungie was "doubling staff for the next installment [of Halo]". Today, that quote is all over the net - I saw stories about it at CVG and TeamXbox, for example. Straight from the horse's mouth (separate emails from two different Bungie community team members) - this is completely untrue. Bungie hasn't even officially confirmed that they're making a third installment - but they're absolutely, positively, not doubling their staff any time soon. Remember: if you didn't hear it from Bungie... take it with a grain of salt. (Louis Wu 16:51:54 UTC) (permalink)
European Halo 2 Tourney
Europeans - start preparing for the first official European Halo 2 Championship, being set up by Xbox.com. Check your country-based Xbox.com website to see if signups are open for your country yet. (The UK-based page is up, for example.) There's some nice schwag up for grabs, so register soon! Thanks to Eurogamer and CVG for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 16:45:37 UTC) (permalink)
What do you NEED?
Been a while, but Mat Noguchi (Desk Mess Consultant on the Halo 2 dev team) has updated his blog with some thoughts. He discusses how studios approach the 'how do we get the most out of our creative people?' problem - disjointed but fun read. Thanks, Cybrfrk. (Louis Wu 14:24:06 UTC) (permalink)
Sniping.
Stuntmutt always said he stole his best work; I certainly remember seeing today's One One Se7en gag in a few old Warner Brothers cartoons (just swap in Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, and Bugs Bunny where appropriate). Nevertheless... it's certainly topical and relevant in today's XBL milieu. (Louis Wu 13:25:47 UTC) (permalink)
The Battle Begins
Phoenix_9286 has posted episode 6 of Last Stand, his Halo 2 comic. If you haven't read the rest, links are in the text blurb below the comic on the DeviantArt page. (Louis Wu 12:44:12 UTC) (permalink)
Not as Lost in Translation
AsiaOne has put up another interview with Brian Jarrard, aka SketchFactor, collected during his recent tour of Asia to promote Halo 2. This one does a much better job with translations than the last one did - there are no obvious gaffes like "most of [our games before Halo] were not successful" or "[Microsoft] cancelled several hundred game development projects". There's a little discussion of a Halo movie (but again, it's just speculation, and Bungie is NOT saying they're involved in any real planning), and another pretty clear statement that the next installment of Halo is in the works. Go read. (Louis Wu 11:32:12 UTC) (permalink)
The Spotlight Reopens
The Junkyard continues its Spotlight series (after a 3-month break) with a look at Ross Mills. Tattoos, The Princess Bride, and Fable - go see what ELSE defines this guy. Ross's instincts for self-promotion have not failed him. Thanks, Mhaddy. (Louis Wu 11:24:11 UTC) (permalink)
News March 6 2005
GameSpeak: Video Game Violence
William Vitka is a columnist with CBSNews.com - we mentioned his very first piece, a look at the power of Halo 2, back in November. Recently, he began publishing a series of interviews focused on the issue of violence in videogames; a series of questions was sent to a variety of people with opinions on the subject. The first installment was with Jack Thompson, an attorney who's been one of the most outspoken critics of video game violence; several of the claims he made were so outrageous, I chose to hold off on publicizing the series until some counterpoint material was online. (There's no faster way to incite a flamewar on our forum than the material produced by Mr. Thompson.) Last week, it was Tim Buckley, the artist behind the webcomic Ctrl+Alt+Del, in the spotlight... and I understand that this week's entry will be my own responses. I'm willing to allow discussion on our forum about this, under a few conditions: people stay civil, people refrain from ad hominem attacks (if you don't know what those are, look it up), and (maybe most important), people do NOT send nasty notes to those who've expressed opinions they don't agree with. There's no better way to vindicate a viewpoint than to show that those opposing that viewpoint need to resort to crude or vulgar language; if you disagree with an opinion, explain WHY in reasonable terms. I'll post again when my own series of answers gets posted. (Louis Wu 21:54:16 UTC) (permalink)
Remembering the Future
Dennis Powers continues his introspective machinima series 'The Halo CE Chronicles' with Episode 7, 'Remembering the Future'. The Spartan comes to grips with the loss of a friend, and his AI companion attempts to understand the human concept of grief. Pretty scenery, and a thoughtful (though action-free) episode. Proof that Halo machinima doesn't have to be all about blowing stuff up. Flash format, 6:10 long, 6.6 mb. (Louis Wu 18:19:58 UTC) (permalink)
One minute to win.
Icy Guy and RMC 12 submitted another 12 multiplayer dialogue snippets for our Dialogue Databank - go listen. (Louis Wu 18:00:20 UTC) (permalink)
Strategy Writer Needed
coolp dropped by our forum to let people know that TalkXbox.com is looking for a new Strategy writer to continue their series of Strategy of the Week articles. Read the forum post for more details. (Louis Wu 17:13:34 UTC) (permalink)
(Party) Hats Off to Thirteen Twelve
Geez - you'd think we weren't fans, or something. Thanks for reminding us, Toby. (Louis Wu 16:56:11 UTC) (permalink)
Of Horses and Pigs
Must be a weekend for in-depth looks. Speedy posted a treatise on our forum on The Mechanical Aspects of the M12 Warthog LRV. When was the last time you saw a physics analysis of a video game model? (Louis Wu 16:44:32 UTC) (permalink)
Prisoner - for HL2
Wow, very nice - mortey points out a thread in the Halflife2.net forums showing screenshots of an in-progress map for Half-Life 2 deathmatch, based on Halo's Prisoner. Great work! (Louis Wu 16:25:56 UTC) (permalink)
What Fits Where
Stephen Loftus continues his in-depth analysis of the Halo game world with a piece called 'The Pillar of Autumn Conundrum'. In it, he looks at the UNSC ship with an eye to reconciling various size anomalies - he finds that Bungie did a great job of remaining consistent with scale issues... but took a few liberties in the dimensional arena. The pictures are GORGEOUS. Check it out. (Louis Wu 15:58:58 UTC) (permalink)
CHEESE PUFFS!
Dark Helmet, longtime Halo trickster and current High Impact Halo admin, sat down with Ducain for a 1-on-1 interview recently. Nice read; go visit to see what drives people like DH to blow up hogs (and lots of other stuff). Thanks, Ducain. (Louis Wu 15:39:13 UTC) (permalink)
News March 5 2005
More Swahili Snippets
Yesterday, WraithX posted three new Swahili clips he found in the final tunnel in Outskirts - and rehema once again translated these to English for us. We've added all three (with their translations) to our Dialogue Databank... along with a multiplayer sound submitted by Remotemonkey. Coming up on 800 Halo 2 snippets! (Louis Wu 13:08:21 UTC) (permalink)
Lots of words
Has it really been a week since I posted a Fan Fiction update? There are 28 new pieces today, so yeah... maybe. (Louis Wu 12:55:24 UTC) (permalink)
Halo really IS big business
Wow. There's an article from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer today that talks about the big-business aspect of video game development... but buried in it are a bunch of tidbits that I haven't seen anywhere else yet. It talks about the newest job opening on Bungie's Jobs page - they're looking for an AI Engineer (we haven't mentioned this one yet). It discusses average salaries for programmers, artists, animators, and designers - a subject that came up very recently on our forum. It mentions that Microsoft will likely get about 2.5 percent of its sales and 7.5 percent of its profits from video games in the current fiscal year - pointing out the extreme profitability of game titles compared to MS's other products. And it quotes J Allard as saying that Bungie will DOUBLE its current staff of 65 people to work on 'the next installment [of Halo]'. THAT is a bombshell - if true. Go read! (Louis Wu 11:50:57 UTC) (permalink)
Arbiter vs Mega Man
Over at GameFAQsASCII.com, there's a Character Battle - Arbiter vs Mega Man. Only 75 people have voted at this point - wouldn't take much to sway this one. Thanks, Harrison. (I gotta say, I really don't understand the point of polls like this; I'm posting this one because we got a half-dozen emails about it, and I want them to stop. In fact, I think I'll take this opportunity to lay down new HBO policy - after this one, we won't be mentioning Character Battle-type polls any more here. So go vote in this one; it's the last one we'll cover.) (Louis Wu 11:36:34 UTC) (permalink)
Halo in a LOT of Hometowns
The Halo in my Hometown contest being run by ICDedPpl is now open for votes; all contest entries are posted (there are 272 of them!), and you can vote for as many as you like. Go visit, browse, vote! (Voting ends in a week - so get started. 272 pics is a lot to go through.) (Louis Wu 11:31:25 UTC) (permalink)
Monkey Chief, and Other Stuff
Bungie's Weekly What's Update has been posted at Bungie.net - and there might be info in there that even makes the disgruntled among you happy. Cheat fixes could be ready within a month (if everything goes according to plan) - and there's a list of some of the worst cheats that will be fixed. It also addresses some of the direct complaints folks have had about the Weekly What's Updates to this point. It's a good read - go read. (Louis Wu 02:35:07 UTC) (permalink)
News March 4 2005
Wreaking Havok
Ever wonder why Bungie scrapped its from-the-ground-up physics engine in Halo and incorporated an existing middleware solution known as Havok for Halo 2's physics requirements? Wonder no more. Bungie's put up a sizeable article over at Bungie.net, explaining exactly why they moved to this solution, and what it means for you, the player. There's tons of info - and a glimpse into the life of a big-game programmer or 3. Check it out! (Louis Wu 22:49:22 UTC) (permalink)
Best Gamer On Campus
MLGPro.com has news of a contest, hosted by MTV, to find the Best Gamer On Campus. Some more details can be found here. (Well, the actual contest page is up, as well - that's got lots of info.) See what you've got! (Louis Wu 19:28:43 UTC) (permalink)
The Dauntless Spartans
Not long ago, we received a widescreen trailer for an upcoming machinima series, the Dauntless Spartans. I liked the footage a lot - though the voice acting needs a LOT of work; hopefully, this can be addressed before the first episode is actually released. We're hosting both the original WMP9 trailer (8.5 mb) and a re-encoded QuickTime version (10.5 mb) - it's not huge, so give it a shot! (Thanks to logan for sending this in.) (Louis Wu 18:45:55 UTC) (permalink)
Sniffing the Vinegar
trigger119 writes to let us know that Episode 3 of Outpost: Coagulation has been posted, to go along with their new website, Tree Skunk Productions. Weak point is voice work; it's pretty hard to understand some of the dialogue. Past that, though, this episode introduces a new character (well, two), and brings O:C even closer to its RvB roots. WMP9 format, 22.1 mb. (Louis Wu 17:14:50 UTC) (permalink)
Warbow's Foolproof Early Warning System.
Ever feel like you can't identify where a teammate is when he's shouting urgent directions? Today's One One Se7en provides one possible solution. (I wouldn't suggest counting on this one too often, unless you enjoy hearing your teammates swearing at you.) (Louis Wu 17:06:35 UTC) (permalink)
7he Bridge
Team Scoog, previously known for a fantastic Halo movie, Out for Blood, has created '7he Bridge' - a 2v2 Spartan vs Covenant battle to control a bridge. It's a bit dark at the beginning - but quality improves later on, and the camera work is just great. The announcement (with a comcast link to the original WMP9 film) can be found here; we've mirrored both that version (17.9 mb, mythica.org | bungie.org) and a new QuickTime version (16.5 mb, bungie.org | mythica.org)... grab the one that works best for you. (Louis Wu 16:51:49 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie Fundamentals
Halo Babies starts a 3-part series today, outlining the secrets to Bungie's success. This joke is much funnier if you know some older Bungie games. Looking forward to parts 2 and 3! (Louis Wu 13:22:29 UTC) (permalink)
US Army vs Bungie - no contest
For some odd reason, it's not on Bungie.net yet... but an hour ago, Frankie posted a note on our forum pointing out a new Halo Humpday Challenge writeup. Bungie played the US Army... and lost pretty badly. Well, they actually lost pretty gracefully, if you read the writeup - they were beaten by a huge margin, but (in Frankie's words) 'in a strangely acceptable way'. Nice. (For what it's worth, these games were found this morning - and identified as Humpday Challenge games - by folks using the awesome power of the B.net stats system.) (Louis Wu 03:01:47 UTC) (permalink)
News March 3 2005
Pink!
Tina Leyk recently posted a new Fur-Lo guest strip on her weblog; with her permission, I've added this ('Pink', by Fugiri-Shi) to our Fur-Lo archive mirror here at HBO. Gotta watch those flags! (Louis Wu 18:20:13 UTC) (permalink)
Mongooses and Skyhawks, oh my!
Halogen, the Halo mod for Command and Conquer Generals: Zero Hour, has
been updated again - new vehicles and buildings. Thanks, Logical2u. (Louis Wu 16:49:14 UTC) (permalink)
Oxygen - bah.
After a sizeable stretch without submissions, the Halo 2 Dialogue Databank grows by 22 snippets, from three separate submitters. Captain Spark found a fantastic whiney grunt (forum thread is here), thesaelens tossed us another group of grunt quotes, and Icy Guy sent along the beginnings of our Halo 2 Multiplayer category. Check 'em out! Update: Whoa - it looks like Captain Spark was actually way busier than all that. He recorded another 53 snippets yesterday, in a marathon 11 hour session - you can grab them all at his website. I've separated out the duplicates, and added the 46 new ones to our databank - the same link from earlier today will get you there (or this one will get you just Captain Spark's entries). It's awesome to hear a snippet from the E3 2000 video in Halo 2! (Louis Wu 14:44:14 UTC) (permalink)
Regrouping
The Codex Series has released episode 4 - the humans have figured out how they might use the Codex to their advantage, at least in the short term. This one sets up action for the future, more than anything else. Go visit the site! (Apologies for my statement in an older Codex-related news post that incorrectly suggested that the Codex was on Earth - it's not.) (Louis Wu 11:16:53 UTC) (permalink)
Umm, yeah
Tricky points out an episode of Caffeine Online with Halo relevance. Title is appropriate. (Louis Wu 11:10:58 UTC) (permalink)
Art - for the most part
The art continues to pour out of the Halo Babies community - tons of good stuff in today's update. (My favorite has to be the CyberJackal pic - but check 'em ALL out!) Thanks, mrsmiley. (Louis Wu 11:01:57 UTC) (permalink)
News March 2 2005
Bafta dominated by HL2
The Bafta Interactive Entertainment Awards were held yesterday and today in London - and Halo 2 went home with the Best Xbox Game award. In every other category for which it had been nominated, however (Action/Adventure, Online & Multiplayer, and Animation), it was beaten out by Half-Life 2. Ouch! Thanks to ICDedPpl, who saw it at Mirror.co.uk. (Louis Wu 21:51:10 UTC) (permalink)
Up to Speed
Afterwar 15 has been posted at Black Arts Studios - with some extra dialogue to explain what accidentally got left out of episode 12. Thanks, Kevin. (Louis Wu 21:05:54 UTC) (permalink)
Conversations %%! Universe
Included with the Limited Edition of Halo 2 was a booklet titled, "Conversations From The Universe," detailing a few choice bits of interactions between various entities within the Halo universe. A number of folks have mentioned this booklet, and some of the information it contained, in forum posts over the last few months. Over at the Halo Story Page, we've finally completed a transcription of the text, available on our Resources page for your perusal. Unfortunately, we had a kind of electro-magnetic incident here recently and much of the original text was corrupted. We've put up as much as we can at the moment, such as it is, so go check it out and see what you think. (mnemesis 18:28:01 UTC) (permalink)
BOTD2: Biohazard
Not long ago, ipushmycar announced the release of BOTD2: Biohazard, a followup video to Beach of the Dead. (The trailer was released in mid-January, to rave reviews and heavy anticipation.) Beach of the Dead 2 does a fantastic job of telling a classic zombie tale with no dialogue at all (beyond the narrator's voiceover at the start). This is really well-made machinima; great camerawork, great 'acting' - it hooks you early and holds you right through the end. The initial release was WMP9-only, and came in two flavors; a high-res 640x288 version that weighed in at a whopping 84.7 mb, and a low-res 320x144 version that was still a hefty 40.3 mb. In addition, both of these suffered from pretty heavy interlacing issues. ipushmycar went to the extra effort of reencoding to fix the interlace problem, and sent us a version we could turn into nice QuickTime releases; again, there's a high-res (640x288, 45.5 mb) version (mythica.org | bungie.org) and a lowres (320x144, 24.3 mb) version (mythica.org | bungie.org). If you still need the original WMP9 versions, the links for both flavors are in ipushmycar's forum thread. Watch this one! Update: (30 July 2006) A recent forum thread reminded me that TrickingIt.com no longer exists - which means the WMP9 versions of this film are no longer linked anywhere. Here are some local copies (hires, 640x290, 42.4 mb | lowres, 320x144, 26.4 mb). (Louis Wu 16:41:07 UTC) (permalink)
As Tammy Wynette Once Sang...
The actual strip in todays' One One Se7en is quite funny - but the title pun makes me want to tear my eyes out and beat Stuntmutt with them. (Louis Wu 15:44:48 UTC) (permalink)
Tainted Love - in VERY hi res
You might remember a movie called Tainted Love - 12 minutes of Halo 2 gameplay, presented in Widescreen format. The Tainted One wasn't satisfied with just presenting this to you in a web-sized box; he decided that folks should be able to see this in full wide-screen, DVD-quality goodness. To that end, he created a couple of HUGE versions; they measure 840x480 in screensize, and weigh in at 2 or 3 Mbps (depending on the version you choose) - be careful, because if you want to play the WMP9 version on a PC, you're gonna need a real processor. (The QuickTime is a bit more forgiving, but still looks pretty darn impressive.) Because of their massive size, these are available ONLY as BitTorrent downloads; Please be patient at the start, and once you've grabbed a copy, leave your BitTorrent window open to share the love. The QuickTime version is 207 mb, the WMP9 version is 283 mb. Behold one man's obsession with good-looking Halo footage! (Louis Wu 12:15:08 UTC) (permalink)
Last Stand - now with 5 episodes
A couple of weeks ago, Phoenix_9286 posted a link to the start of his new 'comic' (I'm not sure it can be called that; it's more of a storyboard tale, or something - he creates it by combining in-game screenshots and comic-style dialogue balloons). I forgot to mention it - but recently, he posted a link to the fifth episode - and the writeup below that contains links to the first 4. He's cranking them out at a Stuntmutt-style rate, and there's a plot, even, so it's time to mention this. Go read 'em over at DeviantArt. (Louis Wu 11:08:09 UTC) (permalink)
Size DOES Matter.
Stephen Loftus continues his in-depth analyses of the structural underpinnnings of the Halo universe - tonight, we have a treatise on how he's determined sizes of various objects and creatures. A good read, with great graphics. Check out his Halo Scale Comparison! (Louis Wu 03:16:53 UTC) (permalink)
News March 1 2005
Back into the Breach
Mike Miller's Legendary Walkthrough grows by another chapter - Delta Halo is now posted. Sixteen vids will help you get through this gorgeous level in style. (Be sure to check the main page, as well; there are a few updates, most notably the Sword Flying information added yesterday.) Mike's not sure whether he'll make the Tuesday deadline for Regret... but whenever it comes out, it'll be worth the wait. (Louis Wu 17:19:29 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Respawn Times
A couple of years ago, folks sat down and timed the respawn intervals between various weapons and items on various multiplayer maps in the original Halo. We posted the findings in our Miscellaneous section. Now, MurderDog and some friends have done the same work for all the Halo 2 maps; for folks wondering how long they have to wait for that Rocket Launcher, this should help. (Louis Wu 15:07:16 UTC) (permalink)
Geometric plates
Alan James continues his work on a Master Chief suit - the main body piece begins to be formed. You'll find the progress shown on his suit page. (Louis Wu 13:48:26 UTC) (permalink)
The Head
Fans ROCK. An anonymous one just sent me one of the coolest Halo gifts I've ever received - a Nightmare Armor helmet (shot 1 | shot 2). It's stuff like this that will finally get me to build a Halo display area in my office, I think. My week just got better. (Louis Wu 13:35:22 UTC) (permalink)
ILB Content Revisited
Saint has updated the Library with all of the I Love Bees wav files. If you've never listened to these, and never felt like looking for them, they're nicely organized in one place. (Hint for folks announcing stuff on our forum - you'll get more readers if you actually provide a LINK to the new content. Or even just to the site you're talking about, generally.) (Louis Wu 11:53:16 UTC) (permalink)
J-U-M-P-S Tournament
Jump Tactics has announced a Jump Tournament - show off the best jumping skills, win stuff like controllers, T-Shirts, video hosting. You can read all the details at HALOChat, or on our forum. Competition starts in less than three weeks - get practicing! (Louis Wu 11:25:46 UTC) (permalink)
Playable Art
Wow, cool. OxYgEn, over at the Gearbox forums, has announced a new Halo CE map based on (of all things) a piece of Tina Leyk artwork. Check out the starting phases of Installation 07. Thanks, MasterGrief. (Louis Wu 11:16:39 UTC) (permalink)
Hearts and Minds
Brian Jarrard, aka SketchFactor, is still in Asia on a promotional tour for Halo 2 - he recently gave an interview to the DigiTimes.com, in Taiwan. It's a general piece, introducing Taiwanese readers to the phenomenon that is Halo 2. Nice little sketch of Sketch, though! (Louis Wu 11:12:55 UTC) (permalink)
| March 2005 | |
