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 | March 2008 |  |
March 2008 Archived News
News March 31 2008
Inside Job
The massive Inside Job, a four and a half minute cutscene weighing in at about 200 mb in HD, is now up for downloading in the Halo 2 Cutscene Library. From a story standpoint, this one can't be missed. From a gorgeousness standpoint, this one is up there with the best. Go watch! Thanks, as always, to Infectionist Machinima and Wraith-Ops. (Louis Wu 21:17:21 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 1 Maps in Goldeneye 007
Ducain forwarded some interesting news from laser - looks like someone's trying
to bring Halo maps into Goldeneye 007. Check out the Hang 'em High movie! (Louis Wu 21:11:16 UTC) (permalink)
More Renderosity Art
A couple of months ago, someone (I can't figure out who) pointed out this picture at Renderosity.com - a very nice render of a Halo landscape, built in Bryce. I asked for, and received, permission to add this to our Misc Art collection, from Orestes, the creator - but somehow, I never actually NOTICED the permission. When I was looking over the pictures we mentioned this morning, I noticed his mail - he pointed out that he'd done this, as well - a render of some banshees over a Terragen'd planet. We'll add these to our queue - but check 'em out now! (Louis Wu 21:05:29 UTC) (permalink)
Sheer Shotguwnage.
Hawty McBloggy found a fun shirt at Split Reason - go look! (Louis Wu 19:13:21 UTC) (permalink)
Catching Up with CJ
Next-Gen has an interview with CJ Cowan, Halo 3's cinematics director - read it for a glimpse inside the studio, a look at how the work pipeline has changed over the years, and a positive spin on Seattle's weather! Thanks, LordGideon. (Louis Wu 17:46:44 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Renders at Renderosity
RVideo ran across a pretty impressive artist over at Renderosity.com - Ubald has been creating Halo-related images for a couple of years now. I've sent off a request to him to be allowed to mirror the Halo content here, for ease of viewing - but you should look through the links RVideo has supplied, and if you're intrigued, there are a couple of dozen Halo images interspersed among 6 gallery pages of renders (lots of Spiderman and AvP stuff) - go crazy! (Louis Wu 16:22:01 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3, Legendary, No Deaths
A couple of years ago, Cody Miller announced that he'd finished Halo 2 on Legendary difficulty, with no deaths - if you wanted to watch it in a reasonably viewable form, you had to download a two-gigabyte file. A couple of days ago, we were contacted by SPDN p0iz3n0us, who's now done the same thing for Halo 3 - but thanks to Bungie's built-in assets, the downloads are much smaller, and you don't have to take his word for it. Swing by his fileshare for 9 downloads, one of each level of Halo 3. All are done on Legendary, all are done with the Iron Skull on. (For those who don't pay close attention to Skulls, the Iron Skull resets you back to the beginning of the level each time you die - so if you finish the level with it on, you've successfully completed it with no deaths.) Theater mode rocks! Update: Cody Miller pointed out (rightly) that this accomplishment is not really analogous to his Halo 2 run, since the levels were not done in one sitting. Apologies to anyone who feels betrayed by my neglect in including this info from the start. (SPDN p0iz3n0us never claimed it was a single runthrough - just that he'd completed all 9 levels on Legendary without dying. Any confusion was my fault. For what it's worth, I'm STILL impressed; this is the first such set of runs I've seen.) (Louis Wu 13:16:35 UTC) (permalink)
Sizing the Ark
This has been discussed before, but the inclusion of our planet for scale is a nice touch. Stephen Loftus has used a screenshot from Halo 3 along with some previous reference info to estimate the size of the Ark. That's one big structure! (Louis Wu 13:15:16 UTC) (permalink)
Oops, sorry.
I'd like to apologize for a post I made yesterday, tying a UFO sighting to the IRIS ARG. While those images did surface during the ARG, they were shown to be unconnected to the game itself (the only thread I could find on a superficial search was this one). Thanks to DHalo for the heads-up. If you'd like to learn more about these UFOs, Sensei322 sent along this YouTube link of a History Channel special on them. I need to be more careful. (Louis Wu 13:11:15 UTC) (permalink)
Stories and Demons
TTL Demag0gue has let us know that Reclaimer Part 38 is now online - Ferial becomes less, rather than more, clear. (The comic has also moved to its own domain. While the old links still work - they're being redirected to the new site - I've updated the links in our news database just for posterity's sake.) (Louis Wu 13:03:22 UTC) (permalink)
She Died in Eden
Cocopjojo let us know that the second part in an analysis of Halo 3's Terminals by vociferous is now online at Ascendant Justice. It's a very extensive and well-researched look at the story of Didact and the Librarian - if you didn't pay very close attention to the terminals as you ran through the game, this really gives you a sense for what's going on behind the scenes. Great work! (Louis Wu 12:57:37 UTC) (permalink)
Grunt Birthday Party Skull - For Real
EternalDarkWing let us know that a friend created a custom Halo 3 Grunt Birthday Party skull - pics and details can be found at Destructoid. It's even got the input plug! (Louis Wu 12:44:31 UTC) (permalink)
News March 30 2008
Consider the casket... unsealed.
Dan Baker has stepped up the pace on his Halo comic - Page 3 has been finished, Page 4 has a gorgeous panel on it, and the whole thing, to date, has been made available in PDF format, if you want to print it out yourself. Go see! (Louis Wu 21:56:26 UTC) (permalink)
Forge Art Contest Update
Maximum Fear has an update on his Forge Art contest posted on his site - entries are still welcome until April 25, but you can see a few of the best things he's gotten so far by swinging by his site. (Louis Wu 21:53:46 UTC) (permalink)
DCGN - a new Friday Night Tradition
AoD Deadite stopped by to report that the Dispatch Community Game Night #1 went well - you can read a Bungie Humpday-style writeup of the games, as well as see a short trailer showing off some of the gameplay, on their website. (I can't find a way to link to the post directly, but as of now it's on top.) If it looks like fun, they're doing this every Friday night. (Louis Wu 21:29:02 UTC) (permalink)
Sleek? I don't think I'd call it sleek.
Not surprisingly, when Wired Magazine took a look at powered suits in honor of the upcoming release of Iron Man, your favorite Mjolnir outfit made the list. (Louis Wu 18:57:30 UTC) (permalink)
More AA Area Fun
Rockslider's expanded the fun you can have with the AA gun megabattle he mentioned last week - now intercept them on their way to the gun. Looks like a blast! (Louis Wu 17:14:10 UTC) (permalink)
Winter on Valhalla
Over on NeoGAF, someone posted pictures of Valhalla... under a heavy layer of snow. Looks great! Thanks, DHalo. (Louis Wu 17:07:08 UTC) (permalink)
The Riot 93
Sigafoos sent word of The Riot 93 - 30 minutes, 12 mb, with the requisite community news and challenges, along with discussion of the upcoming maps. Good luck to Night Rider 7! (Louis Wu 17:05:37 UTC) (permalink)
ARGs taken out of context...
Wow. An image that surfaced during the IRIS ARG last year is back in the news - AOL wonders if it's a real UFO sighting. (Hint: no.) Thanks, DKTH3puma. (Louis Wu 16:42:59 UTC) (permalink)
Grifball Hijinx
QuikThnkr let us know that there are two grifball-related goodies for you to listen to or watch: Week 1 Episode of the Grifball Explosion podcast is up and ready for download - guests included trigger119, who announced that GamingTV would be broadcasting some matches live, with commentary, in the upcoming season... and American Dream has put together a second training video celebrating the start of the Spring Season. (They did this in advance of a big match last season, but we didn't highlight it.) (Louis Wu 13:45:30 UTC) (permalink)
The internet makes people meaner.
Last week, I asked for stories from couples that game together, or that met while gaming. (It seems that submissions to that thread have dwindled; I guess it's time to start thinking about compiling the info into a story...) On the other side of that issue is this kind of thing. People have always groused to friends when their spouse is spending too much time doing something they find less than valuable... but blogging about it - grousing to a MUCH larger potential audience, most of whom don't actually know you or know how lighthearted (or serious) your grousing is - seems... meaner. (Louis Wu 13:36:15 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 HD Clip Recording
Zafar Iqbal found a site that's offering to record Halo 3 clips in any resolution up to 1080i for you. Eventually it'll be a paid service, but right now they're offering a 7-day free trial. Swing by for details! (Louis Wu 13:29:09 UTC) (permalink)
News March 29 2008
I'd have thought Billy Budd would be on there.
Andy's Bi-Monthly Blog has posted a list of the Top 10 Christ Figures - guess who makes number 1? (Louis Wu 21:33:09 UTC) (permalink)
A.I. - Artificial Ignorance: Round 2
In January, ZZoMBiE13 took a look at the AI of Halo, and how there might be some... issues. He's revisited the concept in today's episode of Another Halo Comic Strip. Poor Chief... (Louis Wu 17:13:03 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 HD Cutscenes - two-thirds posted
The next three HD Halo 2 Cutscenes are up now in our Cutscene Library; you can now watch through the end of Quarantine Zone in 720p. Helping hosts are, as always, Infectionist Machinima and Wraith-Ops. (Are you guys enjoying these? We're seeing fewer downloads than we'd expected - but the little feedback we HAVE gotten has been positive. It's a rather interesting result, I think.) (Louis Wu 16:57:49 UTC) (permalink)
Video games - judged on a different scale?
Canada's Globe and Mail has an article questioning whether videogames have the lasting appeal of other media, like movies or books. (And before you point to the success of classic arcade games on Xbox LIVE Marketplace, the author comments that we tend to look at older games through a nostalgic lens, and don't judge them by their current value - so a better test of their ability to last will be whether they still appeal to a generation that never played them when they first came out.) Halo is held up as an example of a game that was lauded upon release, but might not still be played in 20 years. (Louis Wu 16:48:37 UTC) (permalink)
Scarab Battle Panoramas
nomis78 dropped off another couple of panoramas - this time, they're views of the Scarab from the battle on The Storm. Pretty nice! (Louis Wu 16:41:22 UTC) (permalink)
I think he was trying to make baby hammers.
Wayward Spleen was pretty amused by the fact that he and retsamolah crossed a sword and a hammer... and actually parried each other. (I've seen it happen before, but rarely - and never with good screenshots.) Check out his post for more details (and pretty pics). These were taken from a practice game played amongst team HBO last night, after we won our first two Spring League Grifball matches (8-1, 9-0). (Louis Wu 16:35:21 UTC) (permalink)
It's always the hot ones
Elnea has posted Halo Action Figure Theater 141 - and you might be as confused as Jason is after you read it. I know I am... (Louis Wu 16:20:38 UTC) (permalink)
New Halo Gamerpics from VG Cats
iJosh noticed a few Halo-related images in a new batch of gamer pics available on Xbox LIVE Marketplace from VG Cats - 200 MS Points buys you a batch of 20 pics, three of which are Halo-themed. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 16:14:10 UTC) (permalink)
Deus Ex Machina 8: Doomsday, Part 1
Major Silva pointed out that the first part of the two-part finale of the Deus Ex Machina series is now up at Machinima.com. (It's also available at YouTube, if you'd rather watch it there.) John wants to hang it up... but he might not be allowed to. 20 minutes long. (Louis Wu 16:06:25 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie Weekly Update - it's all about Multiplayer
Last night, the Bungie Weekly Update was posted as it usually is on Friday nights - there's some fun stuff in it. The Heroic maps are now free, and Bungie reminds you to download the maps if you want to play them in Matchmaking playlists. There's also discussion of Team SWAT (running this weekend) and the MLG playlist going live on Monday. There's also a call for help from fan communities - Bungie would like fan groups to start sorting some of THEIR members' best Halo 3 creations (screenshots, films, games, etc), so that the Bungie Favorites section can be populated with a more selective group of items. And finally, there's an overhead view and a Halo 2/Halo 3 comparison of Blackout, to get you ready for the Legendary Map Pack release in a few weeks. If you'd rather, you can read it in our Weekly Update Archive. Go look it over! (Louis Wu 15:45:18 UTC) (permalink)
News March 28 2008
As Sold by Sharper Image
Speaking of children, Elnea's posted Halo Action Figure Theater 140 - and even as the pretty blue lady is expounding on the mystical properties of the hammer, John is... oh, never mind. Go read it if you want to stoop to her level. (Louis Wu 19:17:01 UTC) (permalink)
When the wind blows
Dennis Powers let us know that Shipwrecked, Episode 5 is now available at the Halo CE Chronicles website. What a child that man is... (Louis Wu 19:10:14 UTC) (permalink)
Team SWAT is back this weekend.
A lot of you noticed that the Team SWAT playlist was cut short last weekend; it wasn't available on Sunday. To make up for it, they're bringing it back THIS weekend (again as a double EXP playlist). It's live at 2pm PDT (a bit over 2 hours from now). Have fun, XerxdeeJ! Monday, the MLG playlist mentioned a little while ago goes live (Team Hardcore has been removed to make way for this). (Louis Wu 18:41:38 UTC) (permalink)
New HaloCE content at HaloMaps
Dennis Powers let us know that 30 new maps have been added to the Halo Maps archive this week - including a slick new level called 'Desolate Keep', from Dontu. You can see screenshots here. (Louis Wu 18:37:47 UTC) (permalink)
Consequences - Pilot
FireDragon04 stopped by to announce that Episode One - Pilot of his new machinima, 'Consequences: Hyperions Vengeance', is now available for download. Swing by his website for links. Characters are great, voice acting is (mostly) great, story is a little hard to follow. (Mostly because the hologram is completely unintelligible, I think.) Quality is a little shakey, but not so much that the film's unwatchable. Cinematography's quite nice. Go see! (Louis Wu 18:34:56 UTC) (permalink)
The Hammer That Strikes the Universe
TTL Demag0gue has posted Reclaimer 37 - and Ferial's scheming becomes more obvious, even as the mystery behind Archimedes deepens. (Louis Wu 15:10:23 UTC) (permalink)
Control Room Panorama
nomis78 put together a really nice panorama of the control room from the final level of Halo 3. (You can see a higher-res version of the pic in this post.) Pretty stuff! (Louis Wu 14:11:03 UTC) (permalink)
It is the east and Juliet is the sun!
Hawty McBloggy's now-traditional (if by 'traditional' you mean 'going strong after 5 weeks') Friday Caption Fun feature has results from last week, and a new screen for you to caption. Just don't take mine. (Louis Wu 13:59:58 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: another view
I thought this writeup of Halo 3's good and bad points (more bad than good, according to the writer) was interesting just because of how differently we interpreted parts of the game. The writer found the opening level of Halo to be claustrophobic, plodding, and badly paced - I found it to be nearly the opposite.
In a mission desperately crying out for a sniper rifle you're only given one towards the end of the level, at the point in which its theoretical usefulness had already expired.
I guess he missed all the collectable snipers from Jackals... I was equally amazed by the comment that Halo 1 "wasn't a big multiplayer game, Perfect Dark still being preferred for split screen thrills." In general, I found it a great example of how two people can look at the same thing and see not just different things... but diametrically opposed things. (Louis Wu 13:55:40 UTC) (permalink)
X-Plane Hornet in Action
Mid7night put up a couple of movies of his X-Plane Hornet model in action - no sound, but it's pretty cool-looking nonetheless! (Louis Wu 13:48:46 UTC) (permalink)
In Master Chief We Trust
trigger119 pointed out a moving entry in the MLG Film Festival - check out In Master Chief We Trust, by TheDuoGroup. (Louis Wu 13:37:08 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars Monthly Update
Halo Wars has put up another Monthly Update - mostly, it's a discussion of some music recording the team is doing, and an upcoming tournament they'll be playing. Give it a read! Thanks, Avateur. (Louis Wu 13:05:35 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
Six new stories in the Fan Fiction section today - go read! (Louis Wu 13:04:08 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Legendary Maps in latest Humpday
Bungie posted their latest Halo Humpday Challenge last night - it's easier to pull off a Bungie win when both teams are Bungie. They played on the new maps - if you want to get a sense for flow, give it a read! BolognaFire was first with the news. (Louis Wu 12:57:22 UTC) (permalink)
News March 27 2008
Uncomfortable Silence, in HD
The opening cutscene of Sacred Icon, 'Uncomfortable Silence', is now available in HD for your downloading pleasure from our Cutscene Library. Thanks, as always, to Infectionist Machinima and Wraith7n. Man, I'd forgotten how gorgeous some of the settings in that scene were... (Louis Wu 22:35:13 UTC) (permalink)
BELIEVE Spiker for sale tomorrow
Wow. If you've got REALLY deep pockets, the Spiker from one of the Believe commercials is being auctioned off live, tomorrow - starting bid is $3500, with an expectation that it might reach $5500. (I've never participated in a live auction on eBay before - but apparently, they get to charge a premium on top of your standard bid - realize that whatever you SAY you're bidding, you'll be owing 20% more. That means starting bid is actually $4200...) Thanks, x Zero x. (Louis Wu 22:32:08 UTC) (permalink)
Phantom Pistols on Waterworks
Up on Bungie.net, you'll find a new interview with an old name... Shishka is back at Bungie, and he's here to make your matchmaking experience oh so much better. Go read what he's gonna do for you! (And welcome back, Shishka!) (Louis Wu 18:15:00 UTC) (permalink)
Rules of Engagement
Have you ever wondered what grenades do when you're not using them? ZZoMBiE13 has. Go read Another Halo Comic Strip for details. (Louis Wu 17:54:16 UTC) (permalink)
High Score Halo
Cody Miller announced the opening of High Score Halo, a subsite of High Speed Halo whereby you can win fame and accolades (or at least your initials on a cool retro high score list) by garnering the most points in a Halo 3 campaign run. Go see! (Louis Wu 15:40:52 UTC) (permalink)
Only two million matches in the last 24 hours.
If it wasn't enough to see articles that say "Halo sucks, even though it gave us the underpinnings of an entire generation of shooters", and "Halo sucks, even Barbie's Horse Adventure is more fun", now SPARTAN 294 reminds us that Halo sucks, and has come in second again, to Call of Duty 4, for the 856th consecutive week on Xbox LIVE. Excuse me - I've got to go start a website for a different game. (Louis Wu 15:39:00 UTC) (permalink)
Prayer
Wow. OboeCrazy wrote an English Horn solo with some Oboe and experimentation with guitar pedals... and Elnea added some background effects... and the result is haunting. Go listen to 'Prayer', a "Covenant prayer to their Gods for the Great Journey...a prayer essentially for death, and filled with Flood." (It's unlikely that there'll be bandwidth problems, but if there is, we'll be happy to mirror this.) (Louis Wu 15:09:02 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 - the game bloggers love to hate
Man, it's the day to hate on Halo 3, I guess. ExtremeTech has an article that rates games as to whether they're better, or worse, than Halo 3. Only one game lost to Bungie's newest release on their entire 10-game roster - Crysis. I realized I couldn't take the list seriously, though, when they described 'The Darkness' as 'a bargain bin game' with 'a game-stopping bug', and AI that 'sucks'... but still rated it better than Halo 3. Go see for yourself. (Louis Wu 14:56:18 UTC) (permalink)
Dan Baker's Halo Comic Grows
Dan Baker let us know that he's added new content to his (very high quality) Halo comic - Page 3 has two new panels since we last mentioned it a couple of weeks ago. Go look! (He says more is coming soon.) (Louis Wu 14:17:21 UTC) (permalink)
What Halo brought to the party
Over at Games Are Fun, there's a summary of what Halo has done for the shooter genre on consoles. It's a funny article, because the guy who wrote it clearly doesn't like Halo at all... but still admits that it did a few things right. Give it a look. (Louis Wu 14:13:31 UTC) (permalink)
Important Qualifications
Elnea's posted Halo Action Figure Theater #139 - the pretty blue lady explains how she makes her most important choices. I think it's a valuable glimpse into the female mind. (Louis Wu 13:48:49 UTC) (permalink)
Sony Ericsson Halo theme - now downloadable
Yesterday, we mentioned a Halo theme for Ericsson phones - there was interest in the forum, so Don sent along the theme itself. It's quite small (30k, zipped); to install it, put it in your phone's "theme" directory then apply it by going to settings > display > theme. (The theme itself has an underscore in the front of its name; it's there so that the theme sits at the top of the list. If you'd rather remove it, there's no problem doing so.) Thanks, Don! (Louis Wu 13:33:04 UTC) (permalink)
News March 26 2008
The Catalyzer of Events
TTL Demag0gue stopped by with the latest Reclaimer comic - Ferial is being rather cryptic. (Louis Wu 15:32:41 UTC) (permalink)
M Squared.
Heh - Maluu and MrOllie are back to their old Trick-Jumping ways, with a JumpTactics entry into the MLG Pro Film Festival Contest. It's short, and it makes extensive use of tweaked damage settings... but it's beautiful. Go watch. Thanks to RVideo for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 14:33:17 UTC) (permalink)
Tricking Up a Storm
Wow. Ducain pointed out this newspost at High Impact Halo - seems a bunch of crazy HIH tricksters figured out a way to get a vehicle into the Index Chamber in Halo 2's Quarantine Zone. If you're thinking "yeah, so?" read the explanation of how this came about in grumpy's post. That's some pretty serious dedication, there! (Louis Wu 13:40:20 UTC) (permalink)
McFarlane Series 3 Pics
Littlebigman noticed that Toy News International has pics of McFarlane Series 3 figures. He wasn't very gracious about it, though. (Louis Wu 12:47:42 UTC) (permalink)
Gray Team Transmission One
Lordstemplar1 stopped by to let us know about Gray Team Transmission One, a new machinima project from Mindless Distortion Productions, has been released. You can find download links on the 508th Brigade forum. Twelve minutes long. The writing could use a little help... but the battle scenes are fun. (Louis Wu 12:46:44 UTC) (permalink)
Halo on your cell
Don has reworked his Bungie/Halo 3 cell phone theme - he built it for his Sony Ericsson W580i, but apparently, it works for a few of their models. Check it out! (Louis Wu 12:31:20 UTC) (permalink)
The Exception
Dennis Powers let us know that the Halo CE Chronicles series 'Shipwrecked' Episode 4 is out - The Exception shows what happens when you get too hungry. (Louis Wu 12:29:49 UTC) (permalink)
Our Favorite Things - now on XBLM
If you missed the 'Our Favorite Things' movie download last week (there aren't that many of you who have, we've served almost 100,000 copies of it, in various flavors), Bungie has made it available (for free, of course) on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. Head to New Arrivals -> Halo 3 to grab it! There are a lot of people with better picture and sound on their TV than their computer monitor... and this puppy takes nice advantage of that. (Louis Wu 10:56:12 UTC) (permalink)
News March 25 2008
Who beat that path to my door?
Another Halo Comic Strip shows that Chief's got more than one talent up his sleeve... (Louis Wu 19:05:55 UTC) (permalink)
TTL - now with less shielding
Gah. I hate mornings that get split up. I nearly missed the Tied the Leader update - XerxdeeJ whined mightily about the SWAT playlist (c'mere, boy, I have some lead for your noggin), a TTL-based Xbox 360 theme for a contest has been highlighted, more cool panoramas have been posted, and there's even some CoD4 stuff to read. Check it. (Louis Wu 18:57:26 UTC) (permalink)
Blackout - From Venezuela, with Love
The third map in the Legendary DLC pack has been announced over on Bungie.net - Blackout is a straight-up remake of Lockout. (For all you people screaming that this was going to be Lockout - you were right. Doesn't make the faked magazine cover any more real, however...) Paul Russell, Dan Miller, Blake Low and Allen Murray discuss how this map came about, what's changed from its Halo 2 predecessor, and why the entire structure is not on the back of a llama. Go read! (High-res pics are in the B.net gallery, as well.) (Louis Wu 18:47:57 UTC) (permalink)
Now all you need is a bomb.
pooberry let us know about a bit of an old railroad tie that looks sort of familiar...
(Louis Wu 18:39:29 UTC) (permalink)
But how good's the music?
weephun noticed a UT3 mod that lets Halo 3 run on a PS3... (Louis Wu 18:36:04 UTC) (permalink)
HD Halo 2 - through Regret
The Halo 2 Cutscene Library grows by three more HD scenes - Testament, One Way Ticket, and Sorry, Were You in the Middle of Something? are available for download. Infectionist Machinima and Wraith-ops are, as usual, helping with the bandwidth. Go watch! (Louis Wu 18:17:40 UTC) (permalink)
STA's Athanasia
Z asked us to take a look at STA's Athanasia - a Halo 3 montage with some nice editing. Five and a half minutes long, 126 mb in WMP9 format - give it a look! (Louis Wu 17:55:18 UTC) (permalink)
Heroic DLC - now free
Bungie reminds you that the Heroic DLC is now free - there was an issue this morning making them available, but they're up now. Swing by Xbox LIVE Marketplace and grab 'em if you don't already have 'em! (Louis Wu 17:00:23 UTC) (permalink)
Recovery One, Part IV
The Rooster Teeth crew has released Recovery One, Part IV, with Director's Commentary (for sponsors) and without (for the masses). It's the finale of a great mini-series... go watch! (If you're a sponsor, there are some intriguing hints about what might be coming next...) (Louis Wu 05:05:36 UTC) (permalink)
News March 24 2008
Driftwood Mauler
Omega continues his compilation of a Brute driftwood arsenal - he found a Mauler in the swamp. Strange swamp... (Louis Wu 22:33:56 UTC) (permalink)
MC Armor on eBay
It's Adam Grumbo Day, I guess. One of his suits of Master Chief armor is back up on eBay (the original buyer has decided to resell). Buy it Now price is $7500 (what he originally paid for it), but it's up for best offer, as well. Thanks to Mid7night, who found this on the 405th forums. (Louis Wu 21:02:40 UTC) (permalink)
GBSL08 Kicks Off
If you're playing in the Grifball Spring League, you might want to swing by Grifball.com and check out the schedule - first week games through Thursday are scheduled now (first games are tonight!), and the entire first week should be up by tomorrow. Get Hammered! (Louis Wu 20:13:51 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Wars preview at CVG
Computer and Video Games has a short preview of Halo Wars up right now - thanks to P1 Groupe Italia, who found it at the Halo Wars website. (Louis Wu 20:10:25 UTC) (permalink)
Chris Butcher Podcast - a reminder
So last Friday, Bungie mentioned, at the very end of their Weekly Update, that the latest podcast (with Chris Butcher) was available for download. They're reminding you again today, which suggests that maybe a few of you missed it. Go listen - it's a good interview! (There's also a clip with Major Nelson.) (Louis Wu 18:17:15 UTC) (permalink)
Contamination Trailer - now downloadable
If you watched the Contamination trailer last week, and wished you could see it in higher resolution... swing by GamingTV. There are WMP9 and QT download links with 640x480 versions. Thanks, trigger119. (Louis Wu 17:10:07 UTC) (permalink)
Slippery When Wet
Rock Opera Jr pointed out that Halo got a mention in today's Angry Robot webcomic. (Louis Wu 17:02:57 UTC) (permalink)
Podtacular is finishing its fight
Podtacular is shutting down its podcast in April; they'll still be represented by Pod TV, but JVB and foomojive are moving on. Read the details, and the rationale, at Podtacular.com. We're gonna miss you guys! Thanks, Kia. (Louis Wu 16:30:56 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Violet CQB Spartan from BBTS
Deimos Fawkes noticed that the Big Bad Toy Store will be selling an exclusive Violet CQB Spartan from McFarlane, as part of the Series 3 batch coming this fall. No pics yet... but you can preorder. (You can buy the entire regular series 3 set (8 figures) plus their exclusive for $94, saving a few bucks if you were planning to buy them all.) (Louis Wu 16:27:18 UTC) (permalink)
Dell Living the Game ad - now with sound
Last week, we mentioned a Dell computer commercial that showcased Adam Grumbo's custom Master Chief armor (among other things) - but the link we provided had no sound. Adam posted a new version soon after - but we didn't hear about it until this morning, when Crisis Panda dropped us a line. Go watch with sound! (Louis Wu 16:23:21 UTC) (permalink)
We're all thinkin' it
Larry The Marine has discovered one of the problems with snagging vehicles designed for other races... thanks, 2phast. (Louis Wu 13:40:35 UTC) (permalink)
Ferialogue
TTL Demag0gue stopped by to announce that Reclaimer 35 (he's switching away from Chapter/part designations) - Ferial tries to rationalize his actions. Do you buy it? (Louis Wu 13:00:50 UTC) (permalink)
Take a break from war - with virtual war
The Milawukee Journal Sentinel has a story about US soldiers in Iraq playing shooters to relax. The continual misnaming of 'Call of Duty 4' as 'Call to Action 4' makes me wince... but other than that, it's an interesting look at what soldiers see are the similarities - and the differences - between video games and real combat. (Louis Wu 12:01:35 UTC) (permalink)
Infiltration Teaser Trailer
QuickTactical released a trailer for Infiltration. At least one fan wasn't impressed - but watch it for yourself to decide! (Louis Wu 11:56:40 UTC) (permalink)
No Lockout for you!
A few days ago, a story surfaced that Lockout was being remade for the Legendary map pack. Evidence was presented in the form of a cover from a Dutch gaming mag. Frankie quickly shot it down as fake on the NeoGAF forums (thanks, BolognaFire)... but that didn't stop the story from getting picked up on bigger sites, like Xbox 360 Fanboy. Well... if Frankie's derision isn't enough for you... check out RVideo's thorough deconstruction of the 'evidence'. This is clearly a hoax - and a pretty weak one, at that. (Louis Wu 11:54:42 UTC) (permalink)
Dispatch Update: Episode 1
Lordstemplar1 stopped by with a 'Video Update' of what Dispatch films is doing - it seems to take inspiration from lots of existing work (Sodagod's Inside Machinima, DigitalPh33r's work, even the ForgeHub Video Tutorials). Tells you what the group is up to, and gives you another chance (whether you want it or not) to watch the Blackstone teaser. (Louis Wu 11:46:02 UTC) (permalink)
Pre-Game Lobby: O Hai
On our forum, Harabek announced a new machinima series: Pre-Game Lobby. Interesting bunch of characters, an ongoing Matchmaking-based storyline. This first episode is 19 minutes long, viewable on YouTube in two parts, or downloadable from Filefront in hi-res (almost 300 mb). This one shows potential! (Louis Wu 11:43:00 UTC) (permalink)
Special Delivery
While we slept last night, news on a whole lot of machinima crossed our desks. First up: Spriggs Episode 8 was posted. The storyline's getting more serious (though it's still pretty lighthearted in tone) - and my view of Spriggs is changing. 12 minutes long, downloadable in AVI format or streamable on YouTube. Go watch! (Louis Wu 11:40:10 UTC) (permalink)
News March 23 2008
Helljumpers in HD
Bandwidth usage due to the "Our Favorite Things" video released Friday has dropped below 75Mbit... so I guess it's time to release more HD Halo 2 cutscenes. Today we've got Helljumpers, the opening scene from Delta Halo, along with the 'delta' version (showing the variations in different difficulties). Go grab 'em! Thanks, as always, to HaLo2FrEeEk and Wraith7n for the bandwidth help. (Louis Wu 16:30:27 UTC) (permalink)
The Riot 92
Sigafoos let us know that The Riot 92 is now up - 21 minutes, 9 megs of community news, map discussion, and a discussion of lolcats pics... without the actual pics. (Louis Wu 16:20:33 UTC) (permalink)
Hooking Up with Halo - a Followup
Yesterday, I asked for stories of people who met (or just played with) their significant others on the Halo battlefield. The thread started off really slowly... and I was afraid it was a bust. (The first couple of posts were dumb jokes, and the next series was totally off-topic.) However, I woke up this morning to a whole bunch of exactly what I was looking for - swing by the thread and check out folks who found their love online, who introduced their love to Halo (and then saw that blossom into more than tolerance), who find Halo as a great way to interact. If you've got a similar story - chime in! This stuff is great. (Louis Wu 14:07:00 UTC) (permalink)
News March 22 2008
Life after Stunt
ZZoMBiE13 pays tribute to a true inspiration in today's episode of Another Halo Comic Strip. Great stuff! (Louis Wu 16:05:08 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 is for lovers.
Mike sent us a note wondering if we'd be interested in doing some coverage of couples that play Halo together. I think it's an interesting subject - I know some of our forum denizens are Halo couples, and I've been playing a lot recently with a couple (in fact, the party usually includes his mom, as well - and she's quite good!)... so stop by our forum, and let us know your story. If we get enough good ones, we WILL write up an article! (Louis Wu 15:03:23 UTC) (permalink)
ForgeHub Video Tutorial 7: Gravity Lift Techniques
TheShadyGnome has another ForgeHub Video Tutorial for you - Episode 7 covers Gravity Lift techniques. Use them to constrain your players, or expand the range of their motion - it's up to you! (Louis Wu 14:53:55 UTC) (permalink)
AA Gun Megabattle
Rockslider is back with another megabattle setup - up to 52 Covenant enemies under the AA gun at the end of The Storm. Go read the details at Bad Cyborg! (Louis Wu 14:52:16 UTC) (permalink)
X-Plane Halo Gallery
In other Halo news, Mid7night announced that he's collected all the Halo vehicles he's ported to X-Plane in one place - swing by and take a look! (Louis Wu 14:47:09 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3: It'll beat on your server.
Wow. I think we might have weathered the storm. Last night, we helped Bungie host "Our Favorite Things", a trailer that should pump you up for the Heroic DLC (whether you have it or not) - We served nearly 25,000 copies of it from three separate pipes in the past 12 hours, eating almost a terabyte and a half of bandwidth. I know that some of you went away empty-handed - I'm sorry about that. The load on all three servers is down a bit right now, and the YouTube version Bungie posted last night did, eventually, show up. For those who watched it - what did you think? If you haven't seen the Weekly Update yet (which provided great new pics of Avalanche, details on when you'll hear more about the third new map in the upcoming Legendary map pack, a reminder that Team SWAT is going strong for the weekend on LIVE, and a link to the new Bungie podcast, featuring Chris Butcher, in addition to the movie itself), you should visit Bungie.net and do so (or read it in our Weekly Update Archive). Crazy night! (Louis Wu 13:46:00 UTC) (permalink)
Heroic Trailer Links - the Short Version
Okay, this is just a quick post because there's some confusion about the Heroic trailer being linked to in tonight's Weekly Update, over at Bungie.net. We've put up three separate mirrors of the videos - grab the one that's the right size and filetype for you:
QuickTime 360p (17 mb): files1 | files2 | files3
QuickTime 720p (93 mb): files1 | files2 | files3
WMP9 360p (42 mb): files1 | files2 | files3
WMP9 720p (94 mb): files1 | files2 | files3
Don't hurt us too bad! (Louis Wu 01:55:40 UTC) (permalink)
News March 21 2008
A Halo 2 Review, of Sorts
A few months after Halo 2 was released, a number of long-time Halo fans got together on AIM to discuss what was right - and wrong - about the game. The original plan was to use a cleaned-up version of this discussion as an official HBO review of Halo 2 (any of the participants were free to post it elsewhere as well, of course); real life got in the way of the processing, and this log was all but forgotten. Near the release of Halo 3, I was asked about it - and agreed to clean it up and post it. This turned out to be more work than I thought, because of the chat logging options I'd used - so I put it aside again. Narcogen, at Rampancy.net, had also been present, and had a MUCH better version of the log - and in response to a discussion on our forum, supplied me with that transcript. I did a little formatting, and posted it for posterity. Go read. (Louis Wu 19:04:27 UTC) (permalink)
MS says sorry
Wow. Remember a couple of weeks ago, when Bungie made a bad situation better by sending a huge box of schwag to the guy who'd had his artwork erased when he sent his Xbox in for service? It doesn't end there. Microsoft sent him ANOTHER box of stuff - this one contained a surreal amount of compensation. There's a 360 with signatures from most of the people who signed the first one, plus a bunch of people who didn't (including Bill Gates), plus a load of games, bumper stickers, and more. Me? I think it's a bit overboard... but hey, it's certainly a happy ending for Nathaniel. Thanks to SPARTAN 294 for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 18:40:05 UTC) (permalink)
It's a Wonderful LIVE, Ep 2
DigitalPh33r has released It's a Wonderful LIVE, Episode 2 - mostly, he makes fun of the PS3, but also mocks Canada-ignorant players. 11 minutes long, rather bitter in tone. Doesn't look like it's on YouTube yet - though there ARE some forgeries there right now. Thanks, SPARTAN 294. (Louis Wu 18:17:36 UTC) (permalink)
How long have you been here?
Cody Miller posted a crossword puzzle filled with HBO-derivable trivia - I've taken a look at it, and I'll tell you... it's not easy. He's offering a cool shirt if you can finish it before April 1... (Louis Wu 17:03:35 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
Only five new pieces for you today in the Fan Fiction section (I had to delete a story that had nothing whatsoever to do with Halo). Go read! (Louis Wu 11:45:06 UTC) (permalink)
Forging their way to victory
Aidsterramma noticed that Bungie's writeup of this week's Halo Humpday Challenge is now live - it looks like you can blame Frankie... again. That man needs to get a better net connection. (Louis Wu 11:20:07 UTC) (permalink)
MLG/ESPN Halo 3 Top Ten #2
synide stopped by to announce that the second MLG/ESPN Top Ten is now live - you gotta see these clips. They're all downloadable on from the 'MLG Video' fileshare, so you can watch 'em in hi-def... but Chris Puckett's commentary is classic. Go watch! (Louis Wu 11:16:51 UTC) (permalink)
No, we're all out of rings. How about a nice energy sword?
Hawty McBloggy continues her 'Friday Caption Fun' series - she's got results from last week's pic, as well as a new pic for you to caption. It's great to see what people come up with! (Louis Wu 11:11:58 UTC) (permalink)
No, you can't
I mean, really, you can't. Stop asking. (Count Zero 05:37:44 UTC) (permalink)
News March 20 2008
My head hurts.
Gravemind wrote a massively long 'History of Mid-range Combat in Halo', and posted it on his blog. Go read. (Louis Wu 20:56:58 UTC) (permalink)
Poor little guy...
Hawty McBloggy found another infected action figure - go check it out. Scary! (Louis Wu 20:52:59 UTC) (permalink)
Da-ba-dee, Da-ba-dah
Today's episode of Another Halo Comic Strip shows you why you shouldn't make AIs mad. (Louis Wu 19:09:10 UTC) (permalink)
Team SWAT, baby - yeah
Luke Smith wants you to remember that Team SWAT is live now - the latest Double XP weekend kicked off 8 minutes ago. (Louis Wu 19:08:10 UTC) (permalink)
Grifballin' Podcast
Quikthnkr let us know that the Grifball Explosion Preseason Show 2 is now available for your podcast-listening pleasure. Team Cannonball and LBCountry were guests. (Louis Wu 18:37:20 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief is Living the Game
Adam Grumbo appeared in a Dell computer commercial a while back, dressed in his Master Chief armor - he just found a copy of that commercial (albeit with no sound) on YouTube. Go look!
(Louis Wu 18:32:41 UTC) (permalink)
HBO League Results
retsamolah stopped by with details about the HBO League's inaugural 1v1 season. (Never heard of the HBO League? Visit the site!) They're currently in the planning stages for season 2, and this one's gonna be 2v2. If you're interested, there are more details in his post. (Louis Wu 18:29:40 UTC) (permalink)
Hi-res Avalanche Screenies at Bungie.net
Gravemind noticed that Bungie has put up high-res versions of the Avalanche screenshots released yesterday in their Screenshots section. Go grab 'em! (Louis Wu 17:41:23 UTC) (permalink)
Broken Iris Contest Winners Posted
In keeping with our 'Thursday at HBO: All Movies, All the Time' theme of the news this morning, we've got the contest winners from HaloGrid's Broken Iris contest. All three winning videos are available in streaming and download forms thanks to GTV. Two of the winners are straight-up music videos (they even use the same Broken Iris song), the third is a WWII machinima. Go watch! Thanks, Hellhawk. (Louis Wu 16:08:01 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Humpday Challenge Rebroadcast
Another one from trigger119 - the Halo Humpday Challenge against the ForgeHub
guys was filmed, as planned, last night... and you can watch it (albeit without audio commentary) at GamingTV. Some bizarre gametypes there - I'm not sure what was going on. The first game had everyone (4 Bungie-ites, and 5 ForgeHubbers) on the same team - only two people scored kills. The second game had everybody against Frankie. The third game looks like a straight-up Hill game, with Bungie losing badly. (I'd watch the footage, but the Justin.TV player crashes for me each time I try to fast-forward.) I guess we're going to have to wait for Bungie's writeup to understand what actually happened... Update: Looks like I was looking at the wrong games. The weird stuff was just warmup. Here's Game 1 (King, ForgeHub wins 451-49), Game 2 (Slayer, Bungie wins 50-31), and Game 3 (One Flag, ForgeHub wins, 2-1). Thanks, trigger, for the clarification. (Louis Wu 15:11:02 UTC) (permalink)
Contamination Trailer
trigger119 stumbled on a trailer for Contamination, an upcoming machinima vid from rtidwell. Nice cinematography! (Louis Wu 14:56:23 UTC) (permalink)
Rockin' it, old-school.
Ducain sent along this link to a video done by SneakyPete. It's been a while since I watched a Halo 1 (well, in this case, Halo PC) trick vid... but man, this guy is GOOD. Check it out - for nostalgia, for smiles, just for the heck of it. YouTube-hosted. (Louis Wu 14:54:00 UTC) (permalink)
News March 19 2008
Halo 2 HD Cutscenes - now through Oracle
I've been meaning to post this all day - but things keep getting in the way. We've posted six more HD cutscenes in the Halo 2 Cutscene Library - starting with Juggernaut, and running all the way through Edification, these cover all of the Arbiter and Oracle levels. Thanks, as always, to Infectionist Machinima (and HaLo2FrEeEk), and to Wraith7n, for the mirror help. Go download now! (Louis Wu 19:49:35 UTC) (permalink)
DLC Answers... and Questions
For folks who were worried that Avalanche might be less of a remake of Sidewinder, and more of a 'spiritual successor', as Guardian was of Lockout, and Valhalla was of Blood Gulch... SketchFactor stopped by our forum to reassure that it's really "a true re-imagining of Sidewinder but with a few changes made to better accommodate Halo 3 gameplay." He also has some very intriguing questions for you about what you'd like to see in the future - read his post for details! (Louis Wu 19:44:26 UTC) (permalink)
This cake ain't a lie.
Dan the Stick thought there wasn't enough cake on our front page, so he sent along a link to DigitalPh33r's blog - with pictures of a home-made Master Chief cake his girlfriend and her mother made for him. A lot of Halo cakes are just decals applied to the top layer of frosting - this one has a design that's actually squirted on there. Pure awesome. (Louis Wu 19:40:47 UTC) (permalink)
Spying Eye
Dennis Powers let us know that the Halo CE Chronicles comic, Episode 3, is now online - I gotta say, discussing pizza when marooned on an island isn't the brightest course of action... but it looks like they'll have other things to worry about soon.
(Louis Wu 18:31:33 UTC) (permalink)
Xbox 360 Theme site opens
Casey Phillips let us know that DashGrounds has opened - it's a resource for Xbox 360 themes... but a lot of them are Halo-based. Go look! (Louis Wu 18:26:04 UTC) (permalink)
The Halo Mountain Dew Vending Machine
So, last night we got mail from quinion, who pointed out an auction on eBay for a 'Signed Halo Mountain Dew Vending Machine'. The seller was 'bungie_llc', with 0 feedback, and the picture was pretty generic - and too low-res to actually see any signatures, if there were, indeed, any to be seen. The description claimed that all proceeds were to go directly to the Make a Wish Foundation - but the auction was not being run through MissionFish (eBay's partner in handling charity auctions). All in all, it looked awfully suspicious... even bogus. So I contacted Bungie. It's real. Not only is it real... according to Frankie, it's "the only one on Earth". Now, if you're not in the Seattle area, getting this puppy shipped is going to be EXPENSIVE... but on the other hand, it's the only signed Halo Mountain Dew vending machine on the planet. Bidding starts at $117, and runs for six more days. (I'd consider bidding if I didn't think my wife would kill me.) (Louis Wu 18:04:04 UTC) (permalink)
Wakey Wakey
Halo Action Figure Theater 138 gets John out of the box... but not into Cortana's (nonexistent) pants. Just as well, I guess. (Louis Wu 13:23:59 UTC) (permalink)
Avalanche - this ain't your momma's Sidewinder
Well, I was rushing to get all that news posted so I could get to the big stuff - Bungie posted pictures of 'Avalanche', one of the new maps coming in the Legendary Map Pack on April 15, along with an interview with some of its designers. Yes, it owes a lot to Sidewinder. No, it's not a recreation of the original. Go look, go read. Exciting stuff! (Louis Wu 12:50:10 UTC) (permalink)
Exclusive Yellow ODST at EE
According to Action Figure Insider, Entertainment Earth will be selling an exclusive yellow ODST McFarlane figure this fall. (If I've mentioned this before, apologies - it's really hard to keep track of what's gone up and what hasn't, McFarlane-wise.) (Louis Wu 12:41:11 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Pro Circuit Ladder Playoffs
PixelBotGo, at MLG Canada, has written up a summary of the MLG 2008 Pro Circuit Ladder #1 Playoffs - go see where they all stand! (Louis Wu 12:36:43 UTC) (permalink)
She's evil, I tell you.
Hawty McBloggy sent me a link that I'm hesitant to pass on, but... well, what the heck. (Louis Wu 12:24:54 UTC) (permalink)
Plot Device
Sane Intolerant continues to follow the Halo Action Figure Theater theme in his Halo Toy Box - I guess if you can't beat 'em, you should piggyback on 'em, right? (Louis Wu 12:23:05 UTC) (permalink)
A Humpday Challenge... live.
Looks like this week's challengers for the Halo Humpday Challenge is the team from ForgeHub - and GamingTV plans to broadcast this match live. More details at GTV. (Louis Wu 12:04:15 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Custom Edition Mod Contest
Wave of Lag stopped by to announce that h2vista.net is running a mod contest; as part of the High Res Halo project (bringing a total graphical overhaul to Halo 1, via Halo Custom Edition), they're building an enormous map originally designed by Mrs Doublefire (who went on to work for Bungie). It's got a lot of space - so they're looking for help filling it. Enter your 'detail object' models, and win both a place in the map, and possibly cash. (More details in the post.) (Louis Wu 11:59:54 UTC) (permalink)
Now THAT'S Devotion
James Center got married last weekend... and he and his new wife are such Halo fans that the wedding cake was Halo-themed! Check it out. (Louis Wu 11:55:40 UTC) (permalink)
Cowboy Bebop - Halo Style
Took the last half of yesterday off, and came back to a mailbox FULL of mail. Let's get to it. Sam M recreated a scene from Cowboy Bebop within the Halo engine; you can watch the Halo vid itself, or a side-by-side comparison of the original with its remake, using the YouTube links in his post. Pretty cool work! (Louis Wu 11:48:25 UTC) (permalink)
News March 18 2008
Monochromatic.
Crap. It's been one of those days. I nearly forgot to post today's Another Halo Comic Strip entry - which is silly, because I talked to ZZoMBiE13 about it this morning. Anyway, it's funny, and you should go read it. (Louis Wu 22:48:12 UTC) (permalink)
More action panoramas
I'm not sure we have the resources to host EVERY collection of panoramas that gets sent to us - but Matt Banks saw the action panoramas that Logan Rini sent in recently, and let us know that he's been working on the same sort of thing. He does nice work, so we posted it. Go look! (Louis Wu 14:00:22 UTC) (permalink)
New map info - you'll have to wait
Delicious Pie stopped by with word from Luke Smith, over at the NeoGAF forum - apparently the planned map reveal (mentioned in last Friday's Weekly Update) that was scheduled to go live today will not be posted until tomorrow. Bummer! (Louis Wu 11:20:44 UTC) (permalink)
HAFT plot synopses posted
Are you having trouble keeping up with the storyline of Halo Action Figure Theater? There was a two-part plot summary on the site - but it only ran through episode #73 (she's up to almost 140 now). Luckily, she's just added two new parts, bringing you almost current. Of course... they might just confuse you more... (Louis Wu 11:16:20 UTC) (permalink)
Inside Halo Episode 9
Dan the Stick was the first to point out Inside Halo, Episode 9 - Sodagod pays tribute to Mythica.org, hosts an interview with DigitalPh33r (pretty funny), and shows off the five top plays of the week. And, oh, yeah, includes a Val Kilmer montage. If you don't want to stream it from YouTube, it's downloadable on Machinima.com, as well. (Louis Wu 10:59:18 UTC) (permalink)
Recovery One, Part III
More Rooster Teeth goodies - Recovery One, Part III has been released for the general public - and director's commentary (including interesting discussion about the cast of this miniseries) is available for sponsors. The series has just one more episode to go... I'd forgotten how good it was. Dark - definitely. Not your typical Rooster Teeth fare. But very nicely put together. (Louis Wu 10:56:12 UTC) (permalink)
Grifball - even the Night Elfs are playing
Over at Grifball.com, you'll find both a highlight reel from the weekend of Social Matchmaking (if you haven't been watching the highlights reels, you can access them all from that post), as well as the full 192-team league breakout for the 2008 Spring League - games get underway next Monday. See you on the court! (Louis Wu 10:51:19 UTC) (permalink)
News March 17 2008
Halo Custom Edition Update
Dennis Powers sent along some stats for the Halo Custom Edition of the Halo Maps website - 56 original multiplayer map designs, 68 modified levels, and 3 single player levels have been added since 2008 began, bringing the total number of assets to 3050. Wow! He also pointed out 4 maps of note - check out Contact, Vestige, Augurer, and Sympathy! (Louis Wu 21:47:52 UTC) (permalink)
Cortana... in the flesh
Xboxter, via email, and CaptainOblivious, on our forum, both pointed out the same NSFW naked Cortana at I4U News. (Xboxter actually found her through Kotaku, but that's neither here nor there.) Pass on this one if your boss doesn't like naked women on your monitor. Otherwise... she's pretty amazing. (Louis Wu 21:39:33 UTC) (permalink)
Inaction Theater
Dennis Powers pays homage to Elnea in the latest Halo CE Chronicles comic. Man... with all this cross-comic referencing, are we gonna be blessed with baby Halo comics? (Wait... we already had those.) (Louis Wu 17:50:45 UTC) (permalink)
Spine Destroyer Trailer
SirTopEmHat let us know that the trailer for his new project, Spine Destroyer, has been posted at FileFront. We've put up a couple of mirrors (a local copy of his WMP9 version, along with a QuickTime version), because it looks fun. Cloverfield-esque. Take a look!
(Louis Wu 16:29:21 UTC) (permalink)
Halo: Orions Spartans II
serpx noticed that Halo: Orions Spartans II is now up at Newgrounds. (We mentioned part I back in mid-September.) It's a little confusing, but if you pay attention, you should be able to get it all. Sounds like this might be the last one, too. (Louis Wu 16:28:00 UTC) (permalink)
Gamers for Giving - a success!
Zach Wigal, of the Gamers Outreach Foundation (search our news for more details), let us know that the Gamers for Giving event they held a couple of weeks ago went swimmingly - over 600 participants and spectators were present, and $4000 was raised for a local branch of the Autism Society of America. Go look at the pics! (Louis Wu 16:03:42 UTC) (permalink)
MA5 Interactive Model
sender let us know that over on the 405th forums, bevbor has made a SolidWorks MA5 interactive model. You'll need Windows to play with it. 4.3 mb download, password-protected. (Password is included in the forum thread.) (Louis Wu 15:57:36 UTC) (permalink)
Grifball Spring League - The Radio Version
Quikthnkr stopped by late last night to point out The Grifball Explosion, a new podcast devoted to Grifball and the working of the Spring League. If you're playing in the league (or even just interested in the sport itself), swing by and listen! (Division details are up now in the Grifball forum, though they haven't been published officially yet, so things might still change.) (Louis Wu 14:49:27 UTC) (permalink)
Irish I hadn't seen that
Today's Larry the Marine celebrates St. Paddy's Day... in a way that maybe it shouldn't be celebrated. Thanks, 2phast. (No, really, thanks.) (Louis Wu 14:21:29 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 in WCG 2008
Halo was a part of the World Cyber Games in 2003, 2004, and 2005 - but they dropped it in 2006 and 2007. (2001 and 2002 were PC-only competitions; Halo wasn't even eligible.) It's back now - Halo 3 was announced yesterday as one of the fourteen games (four console titles) in WCG 2008. Nice! (We mentioned the possibility in October, good to see it's panned out.) (Louis Wu 14:19:16 UTC) (permalink)
News March 16 2008
A Whisper in the Storm - in HD, directly
A couple of hundred people have downloaded A Whisper in the Storm via BitTorrent, saving us a bunch of gigs of bandwidth - I'm pretty sure we can handle the rest of the demand via direct downloads. (The torrents are still running, and we're still supplying a healthy seed for those who would like to use that method - but the Cutscene Library will now point you to direct download links.) (Louis Wu 20:42:54 UTC) (permalink)
X-Play's Sarkathlon - Results
We've made a couple of mentions of the obstacle course set up by Mr Sark, over at G4TV (when it was announced, and about halfway through); Thursday, final results were posted, and I'd have to say High Impact Halo played an enormous role. One of the three honorable mentions hails from there... as well as first and second place runners in the actual competition. Congrats to all winners! (Louis Wu 19:11:36 UTC) (permalink)
The Riot 91
Sigafoos let us know that The Riot 91 is now up for downloading - 20 minutes, 8 mb, full of community stuff, discussion, mac software advice, and more. Oh, yeah, and a newly-designed front page. Go read, go listen! (Louis Wu 18:55:10 UTC) (permalink)
Halo Story Timeline Updated
UNSC Trooper took it upon himself to fill in a bunch of gaps in our Halo Story Timeline - he sent along key events from several sources we hadn't gotten to yet (Contact Harvest, Halo Wars, Halo: Uprising, the Halo Graphic Novel), as well as some unmentioned events from sources we HAVE covered. We're running out of colors! Go check out the new work. And thanks, UNSC Trooper! (Louis Wu 17:28:50 UTC) (permalink)
Action Panoramas
Logan "Crab" Rini sent along a bunch of panoramas he's been putting together; they're more varied than many of the 'glorious landscapes' we've seen from others. (Some are exactly that - but others are action shots with a much wider angle of viewing than we're used to seeing.) These are quite large, for the most part - so we're hosting them on one of our big-pipe fileservers. Take a look! (Louis Wu 16:47:33 UTC) (permalink)
Navigating Halo - how intuitive IS it?
This blog post showed up in my Google Alerts mailbox - I'm posting it because (past the amazing-to-me fact that an English teacher living in South Korea knows NO Korean) I found it interesting that Halo 3 seemed hard to navigate without verbal cues. I can't remember any places where things weren't mostly clear by the geography (or HUD indications, if you waited too long)... but maybe that's just because I WAS listening to directions. How many games are playable without prompting? Do you agree with this writer? Seemed like fun questions for a lazy Sunday morning. (Louis Wu 15:14:34 UTC) (permalink)
Forge Art Contest Update
A couple of days ago, we mentioned a contest at Maximum Fear - apparently, the submission email was incorrect. If you submitted an entry, you might want to swing by again and resubmit. Maximum Fear says "sorry!" (Louis Wu 14:58:44 UTC) (permalink)
Do the Guardians make pie?
Ultimate_Dragon wrote up a glitch he experienced a few days ago... but when he posted it in text form, it didn't get a lot of response - maybe because people couldn't really picture what was happening. So he made a small vid, which he's posted on YouTube. His theory is that under certain conditions, if you're off-host you can be killed by a flying object... but the host won't enforce the death unless you come in contact with the item a second time. (Anyone ever watch 'Pushing Daisies'?) Seems sort of far-fetched... but the video is intriguing, and apparently, the result is repeatable. Go look!
(Louis Wu 14:54:10 UTC) (permalink)
Painful Demonstration
Halo Action Figure Theater is updated with more unveiling... and another mystery. Check it out! (Louis Wu 14:31:57 UTC) (permalink)
Arbiter Helmet - Detailing Starts
Keegan has begun work on the detailing of his Arbiter helmet. (Search our news for earlier posts.) This pic is a bit out-of-focus... but it's still clear enough to see that this is looking good! (Louis Wu 14:30:24 UTC) (permalink)
News March 15 2008
Cubee Craft Master Chief
Hawty McBloggy found a papercraft Master Chief at Cubee Craft - cut him out, fold him over, stand him up. (Apparently, it's a bit more work than it looks...) Swing by and make your own! (Louis Wu 19:06:14 UTC) (permalink)
Defrag
Today's edition of Another Halo Comic Strip solves the mystery of Cortana's rampancy - I should have known. (Louis Wu 16:08:32 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Flashmaps
PEZ let us know that halowiki.net is hosting new Flash map overviews, put together by Devozade. The first map up is Sandtrap, and the overviews should be embeddable in other sites. Check it out! (Louis Wu 16:04:48 UTC) (permalink)
Weta's headed to London on May 24
Ross Mills noticed a tiny reference in the writeup for the London Movie Comic Media expo, coming in late May - Weta workshops will be there, with (among a lot of other things) "A sneak preview of the new Halo range of Collectibles, featuring Master Chief." Nice! (Louis Wu 16:01:57 UTC) (permalink)
Whisper in the Storm in HD - on BT for now
Okay, the next Halo 2 HD cutscene release is ready... but this one's a little different. Whisper in the Storm is 5:40 long - an enormous piece of work. In HD, it's also an enormous file - it's roughly a quarter of a gigabyte. To save our servers just a little bit, we're holding back on the direct download until some of the initial demand is sated via BitTorrent - swing by the Cutscene Library and click the 'bittorrent' link for either the QuickTime or the WMP9 versions, and leverage the power of peer-to-peer filesharing! (Depending on demand, we'll release the direct download later this weekend... but if you can utilize the BT link, we'd really appreciate it.) We're seeding the torrent with 20Mb/sec for each flavor to start, so even early downloaders should see speedy downloads. This one's great - go watch it in HD glory! (Louis Wu 02:47:18 UTC) (permalink)
A New Fantastic Point Of View
Sane Intolerant has restarted Halo Toy Box - he, too, has switched to McFarlane figures, and like Elnea, has noticed Cortana's hawtness. (Louis Wu 02:43:22 UTC) (permalink)
Bungie animators talk to RZG
Kevin Larrabee, of Red Zone Gamer, let us know that in their latest podcast (number 4), he interviewed Seth Gibson (Bungie Tech Designer) and David Hunt (Bungie Lead Character Rigger and Cinematics Technical Director) about working at Bungie, how they got into animation, what they enjoy playing now, and more. The podcast is two and a half hours long, 66.1 mb, in mp3 format; go listen! (Louis Wu 02:27:37 UTC) (permalink)
Blackstone Teaser 2
Lordstemplar1 stopped by to announce the release of Blackstone Teaser 2. Just under a minute, about 10 mb to download, or streamable from a couple of places. Looks a little scary! (Louis Wu 02:24:57 UTC) (permalink)
Not sure I'd wanna use it, but it's purty
Pixellated ran across some pictures of a laptop case mod that's heavily inspired by Halo. Nice! (Louis Wu 02:07:28 UTC) (permalink)
Brawl
SPARTAN 294 noticed that DigitalPh33r released Arby 'n' the Chief Episode 6 - "Brawl". Eight and a half minutes long, it gets back to the fun that might have been missing from the last couple of episodes. Arby and the Chief play some Super Smash Brothers Brawl... and it doesn't go so well for one of 'em. Go watch! (Louis Wu 02:02:27 UTC) (permalink)
News March 14 2008
Another Friday, Another Update
Bungie's Weekly Update is available now over at Bungie.net (and in our Weekly Update Archive) - lots of details about the upcoming MLG playlist, some stats about the popularity of various settings and armor choices, a few random Recon giftings, and some great screenshots of vehicles that have received a cosmetic (and in the case of the Hornet, gameplay) update for the upcoming Legendary Map Pack. Go read! (Louis Wu 23:51:13 UTC) (permalink)
Pontiac rides the Halo 3 train - er, car
As was noted last fall, Pontiac got involved in the Halo 3 hype with a 'First to Play' contest, and a Halo-branded G8. Zach Mulkey points out that the website for the G8 shows off a car covered with hundreds (thousands?) of photos and movies... and some of them are Halo-related. Can you find all the Halo tidbits? (Louis Wu 20:12:52 UTC) (permalink)
I forgot how much he made...
Don't think it's a regular thing or anything... but Stuntmutt couldn't help responding to a lament in our forum. (Louis Wu 17:08:29 UTC) (permalink)
Deus Meus
A year ago, Elnea posted Deus Meus, a Spartan battle prayer. She's recently gotten some high-end tools, and has been playing with this for a bit... and yesterday, she posted a newly-remastered version that's simply gorgeous. Go listen. (Louis Wu 14:22:00 UTC) (permalink)
My, what big teeth you have, grandma!
Hawty McBloggy reminds us that it's Friday, which means Friday Caption Fun. She's got the submissions from last week (165 of them, though she's picked out a few of her favorites), plus a new pic for you to think about - go see what you can come up with! (Louis Wu 13:08:27 UTC) (permalink)
The UNSC - Test Your Knowledge
UNSC_Trooper has put together a short quiz on the UNSC - how much do you know? (Louis Wu 13:04:32 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fanfic
Five new pieces for you this week in the Fan Fiction section - go read! (Louis Wu 12:23:34 UTC) (permalink)
Punch it. Get us close.
I posted this last night, but forgot to mention it; we'll probably be posting another one later today, so I wanted to get this announced: Field Expedient is now available in HD in the Halo 2 Cutscene Library. Mirrors, as always, include Infectionist Machinima and Wraith-Ops. (Louis Wu 12:15:58 UTC) (permalink)
I Can See Clearly Now
Okay, Halo Action Figure Theater just officially got weird. Like... weirder than it's been. I'll never look at an infection form the same. (Louis Wu 12:12:57 UTC) (permalink)
News March 13 2008
Generals are banned from the Humpday.
The Halo Humpday Challenge this week was against Army of the Republic, a gaming clan that plays Halo 3, among other titles. Apparently, they play it pretty well - Bungie got slaughtered. Luke's writeup rocks. Go read it. (Louis Wu 21:40:16 UTC) (permalink)
Grind Rider Teaser Trailer
JustAnotherFan stopped by to announce a teaser trailer for Grind Rider, a new machinima coming this summer. Camera work looks pretty cool - keep your eyes open! (Louis Wu 21:09:02 UTC) (permalink)
Forge Art Contest
Maximum Fear let us know he's hosting a Forge art contest at his website - create a piece of art using Forge, take a screenshot, win a Bungie Store certificate! Go read all the rules and details. (Louis Wu 18:14:17 UTC) (permalink)
A Voice from the Tomb - and a review of Crow's Nest
Over at Ascendant Justice, vociferous has begun pinning down the story told by Halo 3's terminals. It's rather detailed, and chock-full of interesting stuff; give it a read! While you're there, they've put up a review of Crow's Nest - including a Legendary saved film of the entire level. (They're doing this for every level; the Sierra 117 review we mentioned last week has a saved film, too.) Thanks to Cocopjojo for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 15:43:46 UTC) (permalink)
Ran-Pants-See
Cortana's decline continues in today's episode of Another Halo Comic Strip - I think Arby's got it right in this one. (Louis Wu 14:50:07 UTC) (permalink)
The Never-Ending Halo Quiz Game
Dan Lewis let us know that Halopedia has a Never-Ending Halo Quiz Game - users create the questions, so there's really no finish. It's already got over 2000 questions! (Louis Wu 14:43:45 UTC) (permalink)
More Halo 2 HD Cutscenes
Some coordination problems delayed our next release of the Halo 2 cutscenes in HD - but 'They'll regret that, too', along with both 'Ladies Like Superior Firepower' variants, are now available in our Cutscene Library. Thanks as always to HaLo2FrEeEk and Wraith7n! (Louis Wu 13:40:05 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Mongoose Jump - in 3D
Hawty McBloggy stumbled across a pretty cool video on YouTube; Kroden35 has created a Stereo 3D movie of a Mongoose jump (on High Ground) - no glasses required. The same eye skills that let you view magic pictures will let you watch this mongoose go off a rock... in 3D. It's pretty amazing, once your eyes adjust! Check it out. (Louis Wu 13:34:52 UTC) (permalink)
Grifball Spring League - Starting Up
Quikthnkr (the new commissioner of the Grifball Spring 08 League) dropped by to point out that signups are happening now. If your team participated in the Winter League (and didn't get cut), you can sign up now - if you're interested in starting a new team, signups begin today at noon (central time). More details and info can be found in Quik's post. Get goin'! (Louis Wu 13:31:58 UTC) (permalink)
Life after Halo is hazy
Popular Mechanics has an article about the perils (and potentialities) of last year's astounding year in videogame growth (led by Halo 3's record-breaking first week of sales) - on the one hand, topping what has been done will be hard; there comes a point at which folks get apathetic. On the other hand, the boost to the industry overall has opened the door for smaller developers who might not have had a big enough market to sell to previously... Thanks, Grunt2552.
(Louis Wu 13:29:07 UTC) (permalink)
Newer shot of Cortana ArtFX Statue
Darknesshasfallen noticed new shots of the upcoming Cortana ArtFX statue (first mentioned a few weeks ago, with a cardboard mockup at ToyFair 08) - swing by Big Bad Toy Store to see it. (Louis Wu 13:28:33 UTC) (permalink)
News March 12 2008
Chief vs Cortana
Cortana4ever let us know that sometimes the rivalry between Cortana and the Chief gets a little... competitive. Check it out - it's fun! (Louis Wu 21:32:56 UTC) (permalink)
MLG Playlist - coming soon
Tyger was the first (but not, by a long shot, the only) person to point out that the Team Hardcore playlist will be replaced in a few weeks with a new MLG playlist. Details are at MLGPro.com. (Louis Wu 21:11:53 UTC) (permalink)
Leprechauns
Bzerker01 pointed out 'Leprechauns', a machinima short created by Treeskunk Productions for the GamingTV 'Laughs for Cash' contest. He said that it "goes further than anything we have released before into the land of weird." After watching it, I can't disagree. Available in a lot of formats, from a lot of places. (Louis Wu 18:07:31 UTC) (permalink)
Thank goodness Bungie wasn't around in 1901.
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is performing Mahler's Symphony No. 4 tonight and tomorrow at Roy Thomson Hall. This tidbit of information is on a Halo news page because the conductor, Peter Oundjian, and a journalist, John Keillor, suggest that Mahler's impetus for the 4th and our enjoyment of the carnage of the Halo 3 battlefield are facets of the same thing - a cry against "society's rage for order". I've seen some interesting pitches for classical concerts in my time... but this one's definitely up there. (Louis Wu 17:45:41 UTC) (permalink)
Getting ready to open the casket
It's a day for comics, I guess - Dan Baker has posted Page 3 of his Halo Comic - it's just a little one... but it sets up a pretty critical scene. Go see! (Louis Wu 16:58:51 UTC) (permalink)
Making Movies
Psychophan7 noticed a new job offering at Bungie - Cinematic Animator. It's not Halo-related (well, probably not) - but it's of interest to a significant chunk of our reader base, so here you go. (I wish Bungie would date these...) Update: looks like they've just posted a 3D Artist position, too. Thanks again, Psychophan7. (Louis Wu 16:55:18 UTC) (permalink)
Everyone Out of the Pool
Dennis Powers wrote to say that the second episode of the Halo CE Chronicles Comic, 'Everyone Out of the Pool', is now online. He's also posted a comic tribute to Stuntmutt. (We miss him too, Dennis.)
(Louis Wu 16:53:19 UTC) (permalink)
Extraction
TTL Demag0gue pointed out that Reclaimer Chapter Three, Part Eleven has been posted - are you starting to get an idea about Archimedes?
(Louis Wu 13:50:40 UTC) (permalink)
More Concept Art from Ensemble
Omega noticed that there's another Forerunner structure (as concept art) posted over at the Halo Wars website. This one looks pretty cool - I love the ground work! (Louis Wu 13:46:19 UTC) (permalink)
Gotta love those multisticks!
Hawty McBloggy ran across a fun series on machinima.com - check out 'Confirmed Kills' for some great Xbox LIVE plays. (Louis Wu 13:32:05 UTC) (permalink)
No Fred Savage Here
The Calgary Herald has a piece on the recent Pro Gaming League tournament in Alberta, Canada - it's a view of the tournament scene from someone who really isn't part of it. Short and sweet. (Louis Wu 12:32:01 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 File Search
oriol let us know that Grunts R Us have put together a search function for Bungie.net's Community Files collection. It uses Google's search engine, with some custom tweaks; you can search by keyword, author, filetype, and more. Go try it out! (Louis Wu 12:30:04 UTC) (permalink)
Orbital Defense - needs your help
spesalfred is working on a Halo-based flash game in which you use MAC guns to protect Earth from the invading Covenant fleet. It's coming along - but he really needs help with some artwork. He's got a playable game you can try out; it's rough, but it should show you where he's going. If you'd like to help him with the artwork, drop him a line - he'd love to hear from you. (Louis Wu 12:26:07 UTC) (permalink)
News March 11 2008
Return to Sender - in 720p
Apologies for the delay - we've fallen behind on the release of the Halo 2 Hi-Def cutscenes, but the next one (Return to Sender) is now available. Once again, the link will give you a random selection from the mirror lists - hosts include Infectionist Machinima, bungie.org, and Wraith-Ops. Thanks, all! (Louis Wu 20:45:32 UTC) (permalink)
Custom Spartan (Unusual) on eBay
Hawty McBloggy found a rather intense modded action figure on eBay today; if I explain what makes it intense, I'll need to put a spoiler tag on this newspost, so I'd rather just tell you to jump over to her blog post. You've got a few days to think about this... current bid is at $40. (Louis Wu 19:01:23 UTC) (permalink)
Diminishing returns
Today's episode of Another Halo Comic Strip is a little odd - but I think ZZoMBiE13's motives were pure. (Louis Wu 15:21:30 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3: still number 2
So even with a DoubleXP weekend, Halo 3 couldn't pass Call of Duty 4 on the LIVE activity list. To all those who said CoD4 was just a flash in the pan... what have they to say now? (Thanks, SPARTAN 294.) (Louis Wu 14:31:45 UTC) (permalink)
Recovery One, Part Two (For All)
Over at Red vs Blue, folks who haven't seen Recovery One can find Part Two available for watching... and sponsors can watch the director's commentary. Pretty interesting backstory stuff! (Louis Wu 11:30:23 UTC) (permalink)
The Social Goes Live
Scotty let us know about The Social, a new website aimed at the social aspects of Halo 3. It's a place to share content, stats, and more; they've even got their own medal chest (a lot like Bungie's medal chest, except with different medals). Take a look - and if you like what you see, sign up! (Louis Wu 11:25:55 UTC) (permalink)
Good Game.
It's Tuesday, so it's time for a Tied The Leader update. XerxdeeJ doesn't disappoint - there are a few new bits to be seen. There's a funny whine about those gold bars that'll show up on the bottom of your rank icon if you wait too long to level up, there's an interview with the Grifball League's new commissioner (TTL's own QuikThnkr), and there are new (and amazing) shots at El Burritoh's Haloramics subsite. (Louis Wu 11:18:52 UTC) (permalink)
Arbiter Helmet - smoothing continues.
Keegan stopped by again to show off the basic smoothing on his Arbiter helmet - looking pretty good! (If you missed 'em, earlier pictures went up a few days ago.) (Louis Wu 11:04:07 UTC) (permalink)
Baby Got Back
Elnea has posted Halo Action Figure 135, and once again she's focusing on the physical. (Or maybe Jason's focusing on the physical. I'm not sure.) Either way, though, any strip that references Buckaroo Banzai can't be all bad. (Louis Wu 11:01:09 UTC) (permalink)
The Return of the Sniper
Ultimate Dragon let us know that Sniper vs Noob Documentary #3 has been released - it's more a vehicle for showing off fun Forge ideas than a serious machinima, but it's nicely presented. Take a look! (Louis Wu 10:59:02 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Championship - kicking off tonight
SketchFactor reminds everyone that the official playlist for the Halo 3 Championship sponsored by the Army and Xbox.com will be online starting tonight, at 9pm PDT. (That's a little more than 15 hours from the time of this writing.) You've still got a few days to register, if you haven't yet. (Louis Wu 09:49:42 UTC) (permalink)
Recon's in the works.
Yesterday, Bungie posted an in-depth interview with Todd McFarlane, focusing on how his Halo action figures are created. There's an awful lot of info there... take a look! (Louis Wu 09:46:02 UTC) (permalink)
News March 10 2008
The Riot 90
Sigafoos let us know (late) that The Riot 90 is now up - it was broadcast last night, but it took them until this morning to get the recorded version up. 22 minutes, 9 mb, community news, clan challenges, news, and scotch. Go listen! (Louis Wu 15:27:14 UTC) (permalink)
My list is shorter... but some items are identical.
Sep7imus pointed out a list at McSweeney's Internet Tendency in which Nick Sustana itemizes a collection of things that will destroy his heterosexual marriage long before gay marriage ever will - and yes, Halo 3 is one of those things. Time for a constitutional ban? (Louis Wu 15:22:49 UTC) (permalink)
Problems
Sometimes Mondays are comic-heavy, even in this post-Stuntmutt age - today is one of those Mondays. TTL Demag0gue stopped by to apologize for the downtime, promise that it probably won't happen again soon, and announce that Reclaimer Chapter Three, Part Ten is now up. He's adjusted the look, and would like some feedback... he's also brought both Viper squads together for the first time! (Louis Wu 15:14:21 UTC) (permalink)
The Halo 3 Lagovator
Omega experienced a 'feature' of Xbox LIVE recently that he felt was worth sharing - what happens when lag keeps the host from knowing exactly where you are... even when you're not moving? Now, I know it's not the first time this has been experienced - it's probably not even the first time it's been documented like this. But it was funny, and well-presented, and I liked it. You should watch. (YouTube vid, 4 minutes or so.)
(Louis Wu 15:09:46 UTC) (permalink)
Dressed for Work
Elnea's posted Episode 134 of Halo Action Figure Theater - and the questions about the plot of the series are becoming subsumed by... well, all I'm sayin' is maybe McFarlane should have given Cortana a bikini top. That's all I'm sayin'.
(Louis Wu 14:50:08 UTC) (permalink)
The 7 Deadly Sins of Voice Chat
Computer and Video Games wrote up an article about Mario Kart Wii, discussing why voice chat would be a bad thing for it to have... and most of the negative examples are Halo-related. Ouch!
(Louis Wu 14:46:31 UTC) (permalink)
Signed Master Chief statue - a second opportunity
Hawty McBloggy noticed that one of the Master Chief statues we helped auction off to benefit Katrina victims a couple of years ago is back on eBay - its owner needs to move, and it doesn't fit. (Our original link is listed in her blog post.) Here's your chance! (Louis Wu 14:44:59 UTC) (permalink)
ZZoMBiE-papered walls
ZZoMBiE13 got a bunch of requests for wallpaper renditions from yesterday's edition of Another Halo Comic Strip - he supplied three different ones, which we've added to the Wallpaper section.
(Louis Wu 14:42:56 UTC) (permalink)
Can't beat that
2phast pointed out that the next Larry the Marine is posted now - Larry discovers what DOES beat tank.
(Louis Wu 14:40:45 UTC) (permalink)
News March 9 2008
First Person... Shooter?
Gah. I managed to forget to post yesterday's episode of Another Halo Comic Strip. Which stinks, because it's really well-done, and funny. Go read it. (Sorry, ZZoMBiE13!) (Louis Wu 16:21:16 UTC) (permalink)
Building Better Battles
Damien Isla was one of the Bungie employees who talked at this year's Game Developer Conference - he described how the Halo 3 AI Objectives System made the game more fun for players. Over at Game/AI, he's written about how he didn't actually think this system would work, during development - its focus on end results, rather than guidelines TOWARDS those results, would be too hard for designers to work with (he thought). He was wrong - and he talks a little bit about why. If you're interested in the behind-the-scenes stuff, this is a fun blog post! (Louis Wu 15:44:04 UTC) (permalink)
Rocket Assault
Rockslider continues to look for new ways to enjoy Halo 3 - today he's come up with a marine-saving challenge, and a related rocket launcher preservation mission. (I'd love to see footage from the battle he describes.) Give it a read at Bad Cyborg! (Louis Wu 15:09:15 UTC) (permalink)
Learning from a master
1Up has posted an article called 'Five Things We've Learned From D&D' - a tribute to Gary Gygax. In each lesson, they point to current games that have taken inspiration from Gygax's innovations. Halo pops up a couple of times (though not always in a positive light). (Louis Wu 14:37:33 UTC) (permalink)
Prophecy Episode 3
Lordstemplar1 pointed out that Prophecy Episode 3 has been posted on the 508th Brigade forum. 12 minutes long, it tells the story of the Covenant overrunning of Thermopylae - and the human resistance to overwhelming force. Nice battle footage, and a well-told story - this one's shaping up! (Louis Wu 14:25:34 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 2 Vista - for cheap
Black Six noticed that GoGamer.com is selling Halo 2 Vista for $15 - for the next 41 hours or so. (He actually told us about this 8 hours ago... but hey, we all gotta sleep sometime.) (Louis Wu 14:08:08 UTC) (permalink)
The Halo CE Chronicles Comic
Getting into the screenshot-based comic game is Dennis Powers, who's creating a graphic novella about a couple of characters you'll see more of in the Season 5 machinima of The Halo CE Chronicles, currently in production. New episodes will be up once per week. (Details about the comic are here - the comic itself is here.) (Louis Wu 14:05:57 UTC) (permalink)
News March 8 2008
Home Field Advantage, in HD
The Halo 2 HD Cutscenes have been updated to include 'Home Field Advantage', setting the stage for both the Cairo Station battles and the birth of a new 'Arbiter'. 150 mb, give or take (depending on which version you grab). Thanks again to HaLo2FrEeEk for capturing these! (Louis Wu 18:09:09 UTC) (permalink)
Forerunner Structures at HaloWars.com
Omega noticed that the Halo Wars website has updated with new concept art of some Forerunner architecture. (Our forum denizens don't think too highly of the design, apparently, if Omega's thread is any indication.) (Louis Wu 18:04:12 UTC) (permalink)
Play ball!
Icy Guy dropped off 13 new dialogue snippets, all captured from Halo 3 multiplayer - go listen in our Dialogue Databank! (Louis Wu 13:34:06 UTC) (permalink)
X-Play's Sarkathlon - Update
Mr Sark reminded us that the Sarkathlon Contest running over at G4's X-Play (we mentioned it last week) ends this Tuesday night (March 11) at midnight, PST. They aired the midway leaderboards on Wednesday, and the top time was DJ Maluu (the name should be familiar to folks who've watched Halo jump videos), at 1:50.13. The top 10 times were all within 20 seconds of that. (He also mentioned that although the High Impact Halo trick of grabbing a Banshee early on was innovative (and might even get someone a little schwag), it was far enough outside the rules that those times won't be counted. He's impressed by their creativity, though!) If you haven't tried the course yet, swing by his fileshare, grab the files (see last week's post for details on which ones), and get running - you've got a couple of days left! (Louis Wu 13:26:01 UTC) (permalink)
Cortana gets eyes, MC gets shoulders
Whoa, weird. I was closing out some temporary text files in preparation for heading up for the night... and found a news post I wrote this morning sometime, but forgot to post. Oops! John_117 made some more progress on his Master Chief wall painting - check his forum post for the pics! (Louis Wu 03:19:54 UTC) (permalink)
Requiem for the Damned
Pico stopped by (welcome back, Pico!) with a stop-motion flick showing aoff a battle between... well, a lot of folks. Including Master Chief, which is what makes it all Halo-related. Pretty fun piece! (I especially loved the bit where Diablo flips Kaneda's bike - nicely fluid, and great shadows!) There are multiple download links in Pico's forum post - you can grab his H.264-encoded QuickTime (56 mb), or our own Sorenson3Pro-encoded QuickTime (61mb) or WMP9 (54 mb) versions. Give it a shot! (Louis Wu 03:08:13 UTC) (permalink)
Luke doesn't want your manbabies.
SPARTAN 294 was the first to notice the new Bungie Weekly Update (it's in our Weekly Update Archive, too, if you'd rather have the light background) - lots of cool info in this one. Stuff about how matchmaking deals with 'mixed skill' parties, fascinating details about how the game chooses which spawn point to bring you back on, a cool tidbit about your plasma pistol, info about how screenshots are put together... and more. And a trap. bar. Go read! (Louis Wu 02:40:52 UTC) (permalink)
I don't think that's what Louie was singing about.
DigitalPh33r has kicked off a new machinima series - 'It's a Wonderful LIVE, Episode 1' chronicles his experiences with other gamers, as affected by his Recon armor. Thanks, SPARTAN 294. (Louis Wu 02:26:00 UTC) (permalink)
All's well that ends well.
Hawty McBloggy followed up on her story about Nathaniel, the unlucky gamer who had his Xbox 360 cleaned a little too well - looks like Bungie went a little overboard in an effort to even things out. A feel-good story for sure! Thanks, the Light Show. (Louis Wu 02:23:11 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Launch wins PR award
The PRWeek 2008 awards were given out on Thursday night - and Microsoft and their external PR firm Edelman took home Technology Campaign of the Year for the Halo 3 launch. Nice work! (Louis Wu 02:20:32 UTC) (permalink)
halo.bungie.org news widget updated
Terminator182 has updated his HBO News Widget (for Mac OSX's Dashboard) - bug fixes and graphical tweaks make this useful tool even better! Check it out. (Louis Wu 02:08:20 UTC) (permalink)
Pixellated Halo: The Trailer
Leviathan has been working on Pixellated Halo for a while now - he's getting tired of boring still shots for updates. So he made a movie. It's a bit over 3 minutes long, and it does a good job of showing off gameplay, scenery, and cutscenes - it looks pretty exciting! You can grab it in WMP9 or QuickTime format from us - your choice. (It's about 7.5 mb, either way.) (Louis Wu 02:05:47 UTC) (permalink)
News March 7 2008
Halo 2 Cutscenes... now in Hi-Def
Sometimes things only get done here when people do them, and then tell us about it. Not long ago, HaLo2FrEeEk, of Infectionist Machinima, contacted us about some hi-def (720p) versions of the Halo 2 cutscenes he'd created, using Halo 2 PC. They were beautiful... and big. So we're sharing the load. If you visit the Halo 2 page of our Cutscene Library, you'll find a new option - HD (WMP9 or QuickTime). If the link says 'ci mirror list', clicking it will visit a load-balancing script on the Infectionist Machinima server, and point you to the best download option, spreading the bandwidth hit. (If the Infectionist Machinima website is offline, our local mirrors will still be available.) Because the files are so large, we're going to be releasing them slowly - right now, only the very first cutscene is up, but there'll be more as we see how big the demand is. Go see how good 'One Size Fits All' looks in high definition! Update: Thanks to Wraith7n, who's mirroring the two new HD files; his bandwidth will be added to the pool! (Louis Wu 17:33:47 UTC) (permalink)
Friday Caption Fun - a Hit
Hawty McBloggy found that her Friday Caption Fun experiment last week went really well; there were over 100 entries from users, some of them very funny. Go read what folks thought of the last entry... and think up your own witticisms for the new one she just posted! (Louis Wu 15:13:36 UTC) (permalink)
The beginnings of an Arbiter helmet
Keegan stopped by to let us know that he's started work on an Arbiter helmet; you can see some early progress pics in his forum post. NIce! (Louis Wu 13:12:18 UTC) (permalink)
Friday's Fan Fiction
Just six new pieces in the Fan Fiction section this week... go read 'em! (Louis Wu 13:06:31 UTC) (permalink)
A Rare Humpday
Bungie played the guys from Rare this week in their Halo Humpday Challenge - apparently, they were forced to play at the crack of daw- um, 9 am. Poor guys; I hate having to get up that early. Even with that ridiculous requirement, AND some sneaky player shenanigans... they STILL won (though only by a hair; the first game was close, the second game closer, and the third game they actually lost). There's a hidden apology buried in the writeup somewhere... can you find it? Thanks to LackOfKnowledge for the heads-up (I was too busy playing Grifball last night to notice). (Louis Wu 12:58:12 UTC) (permalink)
News March 6 2008
Halo music from the Austin Wind Symphony
Adam Grumbo let us know that the Austin Wind Symphony will be performing "The Music of Video Games" tomorrow night, at the Bethany Lutheran Church (which I assume is in Austin - the website makes ABSOLUTELY NO MENTION of how to find the locale - there's not even a street address to Google); Adam will be present, in full Master Chief regalia, so stop by and take some pics! (This is NOT a Video Games Live production - they'll be in Austin later this summer, working with the Austin Symphony.) (Louis Wu 22:43:20 UTC) (permalink)
Friendly antagonism
Today's episode of Another Halo Comic Strip might actually provide an alternate explanation for Stuntmutt's decision to retire One One Se7en... (Louis Wu 19:19:51 UTC) (permalink)
The Making of a Custom Spartan Helmet
Hawty McBloggy found a video made by Richiedude, of the 405th, showing the evolution of a fan-made Spartan helmet. Pretty cool! (Louis Wu 19:18:25 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3: The Show
Sep7imus alerted us to a note on the website of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, a Hollywood comedy theater. On Thursday, March 20, at 9:30 pm, they're hosting 'Halo 3: The Show', based on (well, duh) Halo 3. A panel of celebrities (including Halo 3 voice actors Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk) will discuss the game, show video clips, and more. Check out the web page for full details. Hey - it's only $5! Reserve your tickets today. (Louis Wu 15:34:52 UTC) (permalink)
Master Chief vs Spiderman
spu7n1k has been working (for a while) on a 'Master Chief vs Spiderman' comic - he's decided to start posting these to spur himself to faster progress. I'm not sure if you should ask why these two guys are fighting... but if you wanted to see them do it, swing by his post! (Louis Wu 15:20:35 UTC) (permalink)
Halo 3 Gamertag Stat Info App
DHalo let us know that he's created an app that works with the HaloAPI to save your stats to a file on your drive. It requires Windows (and .NET) to run. A download link is in his post on the HaloAPI forum. (Louis Wu 15:06:16 UTC) (permalink)
The Future of Forge
Brian Jarrard sat down with IGN Australia to talk about Forge, user-created content, and where Bungie wants to go with all this stuff in the future. Nice read! Thanks to cheapLEY for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 15:03:16 UTC) (permalink)
News March 5 2008
Ten Hawt Desktops
Hawty McBloggy picked out some kickass Halo 3 Wallpaper designs from around the net - she got a bunch from here, but she also got a bunch from other places. Go see! Thanks, discopete019. (Louis Wu 23:15:54 UTC) (permalink)
March Playlist Update Info
Bungie's posted info about the March Playlist update over at Bungie.net - they're introducing DoubleXP weekend playlists, with the first one featuring Grifball. They're also adding some tweaks to the Heroic DLC hopper, and some random changes to other playlists. Go read for full details! Thanks, Pkmnrulz240. (Louis Wu 23:13:03 UTC) (permalink)
HSH Tourney Highlights
Cody Miller posted highlights from the recent High Speed Halo tournament - check out the videos in his forum post. Looks like it was a lot of fun! (Louis Wu 21:40:03 UTC) (permalink)
Signed Halo 3 Legendary Master Chief Helmet
Bungie Lead Mission Designer Chris Opdahl has a sister at the Magnolia Intermediate School in Grass Valley, CA - and he's managed to get her a Bungie-signed Legendary Helmet to auction on eBay as a fundraiser for the school. If you're interested in the helmet, or in helping out the school... swing by the auction page! (Louis Wu 14:28:02 UTC) (permalink)
The Red guy was campaigning for Obama
Schedonnardus went to an Election Coverage party at his school last night (he lives in Texas)... and snapped some pictures of a blue Master Chief pulling for Ron Paul. Check out his forum post for pics, and a vid. (Louis Wu 12:45:21 UTC) (permalink)
School Bands play Halo
QuickTactical showed off a YouTube vid of 4 school bands playing a Halo piece together - apparently, this was only the second time they'd played it as a group. Not bad! (Louis Wu 12:41:30 UTC) (permalink)
I'm hosting a 'take out my garbage' contest.
Blinding stopped by to announce a 'Forging Contest' - he's looking for a Forged map he can use to make machinima, and (for now, at least), the winner will get to have their map used in a Halo 3 machinima. (Eventually, if he makes enough money from Google's AdSense, he'll offer other goodies - but for now, it's the pride of winning.) Read all the details, including what he needs, in his forum post. (Louis Wu 12:39:15 UTC) (permalink)
Win Free Halo 3 Figures from McFarlane
The Spawn.com website is giving away two complete sets of the McFarlane Halo 3 Series 1 figures - just fill in the form here, and you might win! (Hurry; contest ends next Thursday.) (Louis Wu 12:36:02 UTC) (permalink)
A Cautionary Tale
oriol003 wanted us to know about a news post at Grunts R Us - apparently, a significant number of the Recon winners from the Valentines Day playlist have been 'hacked', and had their accounts stolen. (I have no way of verifying this information - but for the purposes of this newspost, we'll assume it's true.) I don't work for Microsoft, and I'm not privy to huge amounts of backroom information - but the info I DO have (not about these cases specifically, but about older ones) suggests that most of the time, 'hacking' entails guessing a simple password. If you don't want your Xbox Live account stolen... make sure your password is secure. (That doesn't only mean not telling anybody. That means following basic password safety rules - don't use real words, don't use facts about your life (like your birthday), mix lower/uppercase letters, add numbers, make sure it's long enough, and so on.) It is very, very, VERY unlikely that these accounts are being taken over by tricking representatives at the Xbox Live service center - and it's even MORE unlikely that someone is actually 'hacking' into the LIVE database and accessing the accounts directly. Be safe, and your chances of being on this list are about the same as your chances of being hit by lightning... twice. Update: Anton P. Nym adds a bunch of useful information about protecting yourself in this forum post. (Louis Wu 12:31:05 UTC) (permalink)
A Halo Comic - a fan takes on Marvel
Dan Baker contacted us and told us that because he was disappointed with Halo: Uprising, he decided to do something about it. He's started his own Halo comic - penciled, inked, painted in Photoshop, laid out in InDesign. He's going to be providing it in two formats - an online version posted panel by panel as he completes them, and a decent-res PDF that folks can download and print, if they choose. The first few pages are up now - and quality is VERY high. Check this out! (Louis Wu 01:23:36 UTC) (permalink)
The Heart of Dorkness
Digikid pointed out that Spriggs Episode 7 has been released; currently there's only a DivX download available, but more is coming. 16 minutes, 87 mb, the story is getting far more coherent. (No less silly - but that's not necessarily a bad thing.) Go watch! (Louis Wu 01:13:26 UTC) (permalink)
Halownage.com FFA Tourney
Lani let us know that Halownage is running a small 32-player online tournament - play starts and ends on March 20, with Microsoft points, XBL subscriptions, and HoC credits on the line. Go read the Halownage forum post for the full details. (Louis Wu 01:08:31 UTC) (permalink)
News March 4 2008
Now Firing
It's common knowledge that Bungie employees have access to heads of flame when playing on Xbox LIVE - ZZoMBiE13 shows you why that might not be something to strive for in today's edition of Another Halo Comic Strip. (He also had something eloquent to say about Stuntmutt's retirement yesterday... conveniently desktop-sized if you've got an Apple laptop.) (Louis Wu 19:53:25 UTC) (permalink)
Fan Art Contest at B.net
Rokit and friends have kicked off an art contest on the Bungie.net forums - submit your Bungie-related artwork, maybe go home with some cool Bungie store schwag. Go read the rules! Thanks, Maximum Fear. (Louis Wu 19:35:59 UTC) (permalink)
If she starts singing Debby Boone, I'm leaving.
Hawty McBloggy found an interesting lamp on eBay recently; a jackal squares off against a pair of spartans in a tree. Check it out! Update: That's it. I've had it. (Louis Wu 19:25:15 UTC) (permalink)
CoD4/Halo 3 Mystery... solved.
SPARTAN 294 pointed out that according to Major Nelson, Call of Duty 4 is still on top of the LIVE activity charts. I did some math... and I'd like to personally apologize for this. You see, CoD4 started this run on February 7... the day before I stopped playing Halo 3 - except for three short social games this weekend. (I haven't been playing CoD4 - I haven't been playing ANYTHING. Life's been too crazy.) Coincidence? I don't think so!
(Louis Wu 19:11:57 UTC) (permalink)
I Wemember Wanda
I love it when a plan comes together. At least, that's what it SEEMS like is happening with Halo Action Figure Theater - Elnea let us know that HAFT 133 went live last night, and things are STARTING to look like they have a shape. (She's also got some interesting background info on the lengths she had to go to in order to get the shot...) (Louis Wu 18:34:11 UTC) (permalink)
Ascendant Justice Gets into the Blogging Game
Cocopjojo pointed out a new blog at Ascendant Justice - there are a few articles up already. Old and Aspiring looks at the upcoming Legendary Map Pack (and tries to make some predictions), they've got a Downloadable Content Page where they've compiled every quote Bungie's given about each upcoming map, and they're kicking off a Campaign review series called 'Hindsight: Halo 3'. Should give you a little bit to read! (Louis Wu 13:59:50 UTC) (permalink)
Didja know it was a cross?
Insight Gamer (and others in his thread) have been playing around with Spartan Laser physics - reminds me of the early days of Halo again! With Theater mode, you can see all sorts of secrets behind the curtain... (Louis Wu 13:54:54 UTC) (permalink)
Halo (two flavors) shows up on Terminator
Juxtapose was the first to let us know that Halo 3 (and Halo 2) made cameo appearances in the Season Finale of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Files (a TV show on Fox). He sent this along Sunday night; apparently, he'd been able to see it on CTV on Sunday, even though it broadcast here in the US last night (Monday). Had I been more on the ball, I could have actually told you about it BEFORE it aired... sorry about that. If you'd like to see it after the fact, visit Fox's website. Pretty neat to see multiple instances in the same episode! (Louis Wu 13:45:27 UTC) (permalink)
Recovery One, Part 1 - For Everyone
Back in November (well, starting in late October, I guess), Rooster Teeth posted a machinima series on Xbox Live Marketplace and on their website, for sponsors - Recovery One is a four-part series that follows up on Out of Mind, and expands the RvB universe. (It's considerably darker than the standard RvB fare.) It's now available for free for all on their website - if you haven't seen it, go watch Part 1! (Sponsors should visit, too - Director's Commentary for Part 1 has been posted, as well.) (Louis Wu 13:32:08 UTC) (permalink)
Grifball Champs - Team Cannonball!
Congratulations to Team Cannonball, who won the Winter Grifball League Championships last night, beating Grunts of Fury by a score of 8 goals to 1. They finish the season undefeated, having a total of only 14 goals scored against them in all 14 games they played (while scoring 94 against their opponents). Well-played, guys! (Thanks to Quikthnkr for the first heads-up.) (Louis Wu 11:49:20 UTC) (permalink)
You Can Has Recon.
So... remember that auction we held recently, for a piece of Mister Chief artwork, with proceeds going to charity? Well, the price for that puppy took off after someone asked "if I buy it, can I have Recon armor?" and Frankie said "of course." The guy who bought it, though, bandicat... he's just a nice guy, a member of the US Armed Forces, and he was bidding on this thing to help out the Brian Morden Foundation. He didn't even have a LIVE account. When the dust settled, he found himself $6100 poorer (although for a very good cause), and in possession of a suit of armor usable only on a service he didn't have access to. Ouch! Well... his awkward ownership is your good fortune. Bungie looked at his situation, and did two things: they gave him a LIVE account to go with that Recon armor... and they gave him permission to sell it. Which means you can buy it. I would hazard a guess that this will be the only time, ever, that you'll be able to BUY Recon armor, with Bungie's blessing. You've got 5 days - get to bidding. Update: wow - looks like eBay pulled the listing, claiming a copyright violation. Hopefully, this will be cleared up soon. (Louis Wu 02:13:52 UTC) (permalink)
News March 3 2008
Not Just All Good Things.
Stuntmutt might make you cry today. Go read One One Se7en to see why. (Louis Wu 14:11:07 UTC) (permalink)
Help RJB Finish the Fight Tournament
kilaMOMjaro let us know that Gaming4Others has kicked off registration for a tournament that will help one of their members get a new kidney. (No, I'm not joking.) The Help RJB Finish the Fight Charity Tourney takes place on March 22, and entrants can compete in the FFA or 4v4 contests. Registration is $10/person, and prizes will be announced soon. (They've gotten so many donated that they need to sort 'em all out.) There are some details about RagingJellyBean and her need for a kidney on their Events page. Play Halo, save a life! (Louis Wu 14:08:39 UTC) (permalink)
Buy McFarlane/ActionClix stuff (or get it free)
Tyler Tschida let us know that he's opened up a new site called Installation 05, specifically to sell products like McFarlane's Toys and ActionClix sets. They're running a promotion right now where they're giving away a 5-figure ActionClix set to a lucky winner - and if you mention HBO, your entry is doubled. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 14:03:36 UTC) (permalink)
This could totally work.
2phast wrote to point out that the next Larry the Marine is now up - Larry has come up with yet another plan to defeat the Covenant. This one's definitely better than the last one... but I think it still might have some holes. (Louis Wu 13:56:01 UTC) (permalink)
Inside Halo - Episode 8
Vincent let us know that the latest Inside Halo (the Halo news machinima from Soda God) is now available at machinima.com (and YouTube). Swing by and watch! (Louis Wu 13:42:06 UTC) (permalink)
News March 2 2008
To pwn or not to pwn
j.miggz recreated Hamlet's most famous soliloquy in Halo-speak. I don't know whether to applaud or bang my head on the wall. Go read. (Louis Wu 20:16:34 UTC) (permalink)
HayLol 2
Darkspire Films has put a bunch of their clips together in one montage they call 'HayLol 2' - check it out, there are some funny skits in there! Thanks, Raulboy. (Louis Wu 19:39:43 UTC) (permalink)
The Riot 89
Sigafoos reminded us that The Riot 89 is now up - 32 minutes, 13 MB, lots of stuff like challenges, tourneys, the Frag a Friend event(s), what kind of idiots they are, and more. Go listen! (Louis Wu 19:30:28 UTC) (permalink)
343 Cardboard Spark
Paula Rodriguez sent along some pictures of her cardboard Guilty Spark to Tim Dadabo, the voice of Spark. He was so tickled he sent them to us. We're sharing them with you. Enjoy!
(Louis Wu 18:53:13 UTC) (permalink)
They might have gotten you.
To all the folks who've noticed that the latest issue of EGM contains a story about an upcoming Halo LEGO game... we'd like to remind you that that issue of EGM happens to be the April issue. (Louis Wu 16:44:10 UTC) (permalink)
A 21 Gun Salute... without the guns
I neglected to note its passing with an update... but Mythica.org officially went offline on Friday. (Thursday, for file downloads... but the site was still up on Friday.) Again, I'd like to thank Brian for his years of Halo community support - I don't think his influence on the success of Halo machinima can be overstated. (It's hard to appreciate that today, with resources like YouTube and GeeVee and Halo 3's theater mode... but when Mythica opened its doors to fans looking to share their work, bandwidth was EXPENSIVE, and there were very few options for people with just a movie or two.) Thanks, Brian! Mythica will be missed. (Louis Wu 16:30:05 UTC) (permalink)
News March 1 2008
X-Play Halo 3 Viewer Challenge
Scott Robison let us know about a new challenge from X-Play (G4TV's game review show) - Mr Sark (that's his gamertag, take note, you'll need it later) has created the Sarkathlon, an obstacle course built on Standoff. Visit his fileshare, and download three files: the Sarkathlon-VIP map (Slot 4), the map itself (labeled 'Watch tut vid!', slot 5), and the Sarkathlon-Tut film clip (slot 6). Figure out what's going on by watching the film, then try to run through the course as quickly as you can. When you're happy with your result, save the film to your own fileshare, and recommend it to Mr Sark. Winners get fame and t-shirts (though maybe not in that order). You've got until midnight March 11 (I'm not sure what timezone, but I'd assume Pacific) to submit your run - they'll have a leaderboard up on the show Wednesday March 5, so you can see what you're up against. Get to practicing! (Louis Wu 18:50:27 UTC) (permalink)
The Odd Couple; 2008
Sometimes, the Arbiter just feels a little put upon. Check out today's installment of Another Halo Comic Strip. (Louis Wu 18:50:04 UTC) (permalink)
Play Halo with just knives.
rapture pointed out a funny little clip at YouTube - Robin Williams backstage at the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference riffing on Halo 3 (and the guys who try to pick up his daughter online). (Louis Wu 18:46:48 UTC) (permalink)
McFarlane Action Figure Review at IGN
IGN has reviewed McFarlane's Series 1 figures - go read what they thought! (Louis Wu 18:43:38 UTC) (permalink)
Go read a book, dork!
Joystiq snagged a couple of clips off the Conan O'Brien show - one of 'em is ith SNL's Jason Sudeikis, who calls Halo his 'first love', and then demonstrates Halo 3 teabagging... in front of a national audience. (Louis Wu 18:24:05 UTC) (permalink)
It's not his spleen, either.
Elnea stopped by to point out that not only is the next Halo Action Figure Theater out (I'd say it's probably not recommended for our youngest viewers, because at heart Elnea is a little twisted), but she's posted a review of the new Halo Action Figures she picked up yesterday - good stuff. Go read - but make sure you're of age! (Louis Wu 17:17:57 UTC) (permalink)
Symbiosis
Major Silva was the first to point out that Deus Ex Machina Episode 7 is now available on Machinima.com. DigitalPh33r's series continues in its odd progression... the numbers on the machinima.com page aren't right (they list a size of about 120mb, and a length of 27:31, when the episode is actually about 30 mb, and just over 16 minutes long), but you can download it there, or view it on YouTube (thanks, Vincent). (Louis Wu 17:12:04 UTC) (permalink)
Another Friday, another Weekly Update
Last night, Bungie posted their Weekly What's Update on Bungie.net - it contains an interview with a bunch of Bungie guys about Bumper Jumper, a control scheme you may or may not have tried out... and a Q&A with questions culled from Bungie.net. Our forum is full of griping this morning about how Bungie keep releasing these Q&A sessions with no real info... so if you're not interested in reading vague answers to specific questions, you might wanna pass on this one. (Well, read the Bumper Jumper interview anyway - it's pretty interesting.) It's available, as always, in our Weekly Update Archive if you need it.
(Louis Wu 16:56:12 UTC) (permalink)
| March 2008 | |
