Archive for July, 2001
Details from poetry
July 31st, 2001
Joseph Staten shows off his poetry-writing skills (or should that be his future-channeling skills?) with this post on the R.net forum. It suggests some more parallels with the Marathon storyline - there, 10 Mjolnir Mark IV cyborgs lived on Tau Ceti, but only one (through an accident of fate) was offplanet when disaster struck - here, there are 50 cyborgs ('the ones that need no name'), but only one (the player) survives the destruction of Reach (the last human outpost to be destroyed - 700 million dead). It also places the events of Halo roughly 200 years before the events of the first Marathon... or 100 years AFTER the Marathon is launched. You gotta love those crunch breaks...
Random Musings
July 30th, 2001More fire started coming from several directions and all we saw was the setting sun and a few clouds as the pilot traded speed for distance in what was becoming a desperate attempt to break contact.
Newcomer John Oreskovich sends in a story apparently titled Halo, Random Musings. The Fan Fiction area continues to grow.
New QOTW at Online Universe
July 30th, 2001
The Online Universe has put up the results of last week's Question of the Week: 'What weapons would you want to use in the game?' Some answers were predictable, others less so. The next question is up, as well: 'What features would you want in the Halo map editor?' Navigation has been improved at the site, but the owner continues to look for feedback - visit, and give him some!
Halo SETI Team 7 day stats posted
July 30th, 2001
The Halo SETI Marines hold position this week - welcome to Timberwolf, who comes in bringing 113 units. Are YOU keeping up with the advancing Covenant horde? Check the 7 day stats to find out!
Halo Developer Diary, Part Three
July 30th, 2001
PlanetXbox has put up part three of its Halo Developer Diary series (part one and part two were mentioned earlier), an interview series with Jaime Griesemer about the process Halo is going through on its way to release. This installment is a fascinating look at interactive scripting, and shows how Bungie's working on getting you to forget you're playing a game:
The communication system constantly monitors the game, looking for any of the dozens of hooks it can use to call combat dialog. Just to give you an idea of the complexity of the system, it knows who damaged who, what their respective races were, what weapon was used, how bad the damage was, and what the other characters in the encounter were doing when the damage was dealt, and it can call different lines of combat dialog based on all of these parameters. This means we can have someone say "Eat lead" and be sure he's not firing a flame-thrower. Sometimes they even laugh at each other's jokes or comment on something somebody else said in the heat of battle. This gives our characters real personality and believability.
There's also a little snippet that answers a longstanding question:
The entire first level revolves around the defense and eventual abandonment of the Pillar of Autumn...
It's been speculated that we'd see the PoA only in a cutscene at the start of the game; when the Halo Updates started mentioning some modeling of the ship itself, folks wondered if that meant it would be a battleground instead of a movie - this seems to confirm that it will be. Go read the whole thing - it made me tingle.
HQ HALO moves to a new host
July 29th, 2001
Andreas den Hertog writes to say that HQ HALO has moved to a new host. We've updated our Links page accordingly.
I get the SplashZooka, man
July 29th, 2001
What happens when it gets too hot to fight? Why, the tough pick up Super Soakers, of course! Steen Nielson sends in a doctored (no, really?) image showing just how cool the Halo inhabitants can be. You'll find it in our Miscellaneous Art section.
Wallpaper section updated
July 28th, 2001
Johannes Gunnar Thorsteinsson sends in a new Wallpaper for our Wallpaper section. In his words,
and what is the main colour in it, of course the fantastic and the great "b.org" color
(I think he's talking about the shirt.) Soothing... so soothing...
Let’s hope there are oceans…
July 28th, 2001A message flashed across the computer screen in the EUD Roswell headquarters: IT IS SUCCESSFUL. NO FURTHER COM.
Omniscient's 'Sea of Steel' saga continues with Part Two in our Fan Fiction section.
A day playing Halo
July 28th, 2001
Sometimes, being part of a big organization means that things happen you don't plan on. This message was posted on the Usenet newsgroup comp.sys.mac.games.action yesterday - apparently, someone got into the beta testing lab, but wasn't required to sign an NDA, and took the opportunity to pass along the info he learned. It's an interesting read. (Thank goodness Google has DejaNews up and running again...) Thanks to TomeOne for the heads-up.
Matt’s got a secret…
July 28th, 2001
Heh - the gooey green stuff is a big-enough surprise that even being on the Halo Dev team doesn't guarantee you know what it is - Chris Butcher (over on the R.net forum) says even HE can't answer the question Matt asked yesterday.
Better Gaming Through Physics
July 28th, 2001
This week's Halo Update is here - and while it's mostly bugfixes and tweaks, there's a bit of provocative stuff in there. What's green and gooey and eats through the ground? (Happy Birthday, Other Mehve!) Go read all the goodness for yourself - it'll be in the Halo Update Database in a few minutes.
PC Zone says PC yes
July 27th, 2001
Thanks to fate, who found the link at Blue's News... PC Zone has put their Halo Preview online. They're looking forward to the PC Multiplayer, obviously... and they think that the Xbox version is being badly rushed. Hmm. Read the preview for yourself!
Are you tired of this yet?
July 27th, 2001
You know... there have been a LOT of specific occasions where Matt Soell has stepped up and explicitly confirmed that Halo was DEFINITELY coming to the Mac and PC. There was this one... and this one... and this one... there was even this one (recently) from Alex Seropian, co-founder and current manager of Bungie Studios. Well, it doesn't seem to matter - folks are STILL popping up with rumors to the contrary. So once again, Matt steps forward, and confirms that yes, Virginia, there WILL be a PC version. Take note. (Again.)
Photoshop is cool.
July 26th, 2001
Aginor started with the flamethrower pic from the new OXM preview, did a bit of judicious pixel pushing to remove the text (and fill in the remaining space), added a Halo logo... and ended up with this bit of Miscellaneous Halo Art. Nice job! As he says, it's a shame the original pic was low-res, or this would make a pretty nice desktop pic. Pax.
Bob gets a gun
July 26th, 2001The reality, or rather the surreality, of the situation began to sink in. Bob put his other hand on his knee and leant heavily on it. His breathing quickened and his vision blurred momentarily. "Talking to a plant. How foolish."
Tursas sends along chapter 6 of his Hermes Trismegistus saga - you'll find it in our Fan Fiction section. (Remember, the 'more by this author' link allows you to catch up on the last chapter, if you've forgotten where you were...)
Gamespot poll needs smashing
July 26th, 2001
It's that time again... Id points out (over on R.net's forum) that Gamespot's got a new 'Which Xbox title are you most looking forward to' poll up; Halo's currently in fourth place, behind WWF Raw is War, Metal Gear Solid X, and Matrix. See if you can help...
New flash intro at clan NAVCON
July 26th, 2001
=NAV=Shadow writes to say that clan NAVCON has created a new (4.3 MB!) flash intro for their website, showing the various members of the clan. They're looking for new members, and clans that would like to become allies. Visit the site, or drop =NAV=Shadow a note if you're interested!
Still MORE Fan Fiction for you
July 25th, 2001
Vector40 sends in the introductory piece of a multipart story in the works - Hawk Chronicles. The Fan Fiction section overfloweth!
I want one of those…
July 25th, 2001"At an unknown time, your ship is going to disappear and reappear somewhere else. If all goes well, that is."
Part 1 of Omniscient's story 'Sea of Steel' has been added to the Fan Fiction section - it's a night for reading. Check it out - aircraft carriers on Halo...
