Archive for October, 2001
Halo Center comes back
October 31st, 2001
Halo Center, a large Halo fansite that's been dormant since August, is up and running again. Updated content, new newsie (Corven)... good to see 'em back, just in time for the Xbox version of Halo! (Kudos to Narcogen, of Rampancy.net, for picking up on the resurrection.)
Interview with Eric Nylund
October 31st, 2001
I'd like to apologize - HBO (and the rest of bungie.org, for that matter) is experiencing some pretty funky network activity. Apparently, Lucent decided to perform software upgrades on all the routing equipment at our upstream provider... but they forgot to iron out the bugs first. They're working on it. In the meantime, we thought we'd pass along a little interview we conducted recently. Eric Nylund, author of 'Halo: The Fall of Reach', was kind enough to answer seven questions for us - and we think you might find some interesting tidbits in there. Feel free to post your comments on the forum.
Hack that Xbox!
October 31st, 2001
You know, one of the coolest things about Bungie employees is that sometimes, they think like fans. :) Yesterday, a forum visitor asked about IPX through IP tunneling, as a way to connect Xboxes across the net (while making them think they're LAN-connected) - and the response of a Bungie network programmer?
my thoughts are I'm glad to hear people considering this :O)
Heh - and to think someone told me this evening how easy it is for an innocent comment to spin out of control on these boards...
Men in Grey
October 31st, 2001
'Tis the evening for artwork submissions... Arch Angel sends us a greyscale Marine for our Miscellaneous Art section.
Excerpt of Fall of Reach posted
October 31st, 2001
A couple of days ago, Hamish Sinclair wondered about the eBook version of Eric Nylund's novel, Halo: The Fall of Reach. Well, today, Random House put up an excerpt from it - for those who were unsure of buying it, go read this; you can make up your own mind, instead of relying on the reviews of others.
5 new wallpapers…
October 31st, 2001
Glug... we're DROWNING in desktops! Evilbum sends us not one, not two... FIVE new ones for our Wallpaper section. Go get 'em.
binary wallpaper
October 31st, 2001
Gah! First it's ascii art in html format... now it's ascii art as... ART! Well, desktops, anyway. Blizzard turns in a pair of desktop images for our Wallpaper section, and for good measure throws in the Halo logo, in binary code. (You'll find that last in our Logos section.)
Dots R Us
October 31st, 2001
Not satisfied with yesterday's ascii logo, [SE]X-Com has submitted an even more elaborate image: the Halo marine. (427K) God help us...
Halo at CNN
October 31st, 2001
The Sci-Tech section of CNN.com looked at consoles yesterday in the article, 'Which new game console should you buy?' Nine editors from Gamepro.com looked at the available options... recommendations for a Dreamcast came, disturbingly, from MORE THAN ONE OF THEM. Despite this, it was fun to read their views of the Xbox - most thought Halo was a solid plus for the platform, though one was skeptical:
Are you willing to take a risk on a brand-new, unproven game system (Xbox) with a large variety of unproven game titles (Amped, Fuzion Frenzy, Halo, etc.) or do you choose the granddaddy of video gaming and buy Nintendo's GameCube [...]?
Guh. Star Dingo has it right:
I have spent more time with the Xbox, and realize that I find myself willing to commit unspeakable acts in order to play more Halo.
Go read the whole thing - laugh at some of it, and realize that in the outside world (the world of CNN readers, as opposed to hardcore gamers), the Xbox has a tough road ahead. Thanks to Lophan for the heads-up.
Multiplayer Guide open to all
October 31st, 2001
First up - it seems like the IGN Insider Multiplayer Guide mentioned yesterday has been opened to the public. Go check it out here - and don't say they never gave you nuthin'. (Thanks to Erick Delgado for the heads-up.)
Playable Halo in stores
October 30th, 2001
A couple of threads over on the TeamXbox forums suggest that Halo is beginning to show up in retail kiosks - one in Orlando, FL and another in Exton, PA (both in Babbages stores) have playable versions. Gameplay reports are always welcome. :)
Strategy Guide grows, a little
October 30th, 2001
Rampancy.net uncovered some more details about the Halo Strategy Guide, due soon from Prima Games. Prima has a listing for it now (they didn't in August when we first noticed this)... the release date is unchanged (November 11), but the book's gotten longer (160 vs the previously reported 144 pages). Bigger is better, right? It's $14.99... but hey, strategy doesn't come cheap!
Halo… logo, sort of
October 30th, 2001
Hehe - [SE]X-Com, editor over at Socket Error, sent in a Halo logo... well, you just gotta see it. (136K) The time some people have...
Homemade Xbox
October 30th, 2001
Philip Palermo submits a pair of images he rendered with TrueSpace 5 (they took about an hour each). Pretty nice work... We've placed them in the Miscellaneous Art section, but these are more or less the right size for a small desktop (800x578 or so each).
Xbox Odyssey info
October 30th, 2001
W00t! Heads-up kudos to Cesar, from TeamXbox - Xbox.com has put up an information page about the Xbox Odyssey (which TeamXbox mentioned last week) - one of the photos shows an ENORMOUS plasma screen, running Halo... if you live in (or near) San Fransisco, LA, San Diego, or Phoenix, GET YOURSELF INTO THIS THING. (It's coming to 40 cities - this is just the first leg.)
Multiplayer Guide at IGNinsider
October 30th, 2001
IGN Insider has posted a Multiplayer Halo Guide (or at least the first part of one) - it's only available to Insiders, those who pay the subscription fee for their premium service. (Insider access costs $10/3 months or $20/year, but there are several ways of getting it free.) 13 multiplayer maps are described, with a screenshot of each one in action. Apparently, one of our forum-goers decided to post the text from this article on our forum. For future reference - we'd rather this didn't happen. Hopefully, IGN will release this information on their non-subscription site in the not-too-distant future.
Halo preview at Gamers.com
October 30th, 2001
Thanks to Bob Blandeburgo, who pointed out a new Halo preview at Gamers.com - it's a good read. The control scheme is described in detail, for those who have been curious, and there aren't any spoilers, for those trying to avoid too much information. They complain about the standard thing PC gamers complain about - lack of mouse and keyboard support - and they mention framerate stutters, though they point out that they have a pre-gold release of the game... generally, they liked it. Also included are 25 screen captures, many showing areas not seen before. These are 640x480; it's clear, however, that these were grabbed from a 320x240 movie and blown up to double-size. However, they're still worth a look; some are just plain fun.
Halomedia comes online
October 30th, 2001
Speaking of new sites, Nartin Spitzenberg points out that Halomedia (also German) is now online. Nice design!
A pair of desktops
October 30th, 2001
[lw]Reicheraltermann sends in a pair of desktops for our Wallpaper section - pretty nice to look at. One of them advertises a Halo site (German) we've never heard of: haLoXpEriEnCe.multipalyer.de (not fully online yet, it would appear). In any case, check out the images!
