Archive for December, 2004

Weekly What’s Update – for some

December 31st, 2004

Working on this New Years Eve Day, Frankie has posted the last 2004 Weekly What's Update over at Bungie.net - except the link isn't working for everyone. It's worth a read when you can get in, though - there's some good stuff in this one. (The most interesting bit to me, actually, was about Marathon, not Halo:

Dorothy asks,

I was wondering if Bungie still sells that game Marathon. It's really hard to find now-a-days.

We don't, but you CAN download it for free from a number of places. Google it. There are even updated versions with fancy new-fangled graphics. Bungie has sorta given its blessing to this kind of thing. It's not strictly legal, but nobody's coming after you either.

This isn't the same as saying 'you can safely serve copies of the games to people', but it certainly leans closer to that attitude...) Go read it now, or if you're getting an error message, wait a bit and read it later. Thanks, Frankie.

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Now THAT would be cool on a mantel.

December 31st, 2004

A 13 inch, 4 pound metal statue of the Master Chief is now for sale on eBay. Starting bid is $100, but reserve is higher than that. If you bid, notice that shipping will be from Paris, France, so take that cost into account. The fact that Frankie weighed in on the thread suggests that this puppy is real. Thanks, Zerostar.

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Joint Effort

December 31st, 2004

NINJ4 posted an animated One One Se7en on our forum - not only in line with Stuntmutt's brand of humor, but it takes a SHOT at Stuntmutt. What more could you want from a One One Se7en?

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The Prophets chose YOU!

December 31st, 2004

A couple of days ago, Captain Spark released 62 new dialogue snippets, downloadable in one zipped bundle from his website. If you'd rather pick and choose which snippets you get (or like the ability to search for text), these snippets have now been added to our Halo 2 Dialogue Databank. Happy hunting!

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Metropolis never looked so good.

December 31st, 2004

Twenty-five new panoramic shots just got added to BOLL's HALOrama collection - mostly multiplayer, but some impressive campaign shots, too. Go look!

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Donkey Chief.

December 31st, 2004

It's hard to argue with Stuntmutt's reasoning in today's One One Se7en - this is the pièce de résistance in his argument that Halo 2 is a regression to simpler times in console gaming.

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Zombies Expansion

December 31st, 2004

VerdaFolio has written up an article on the Dawn of the Dead gametype - but this one covers much more than a simple rehashing of the rules. It looks at what levels are good for gameplay, plus game variants that might be enjoyable. Thanks to Narcogen, at Rampancy.net, for the heads-up.

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Pretty, but still confining

December 31st, 2004

Rampancy.net continues its analysis of Halo 2 with Impressions of Delta Halo. Again, the things that work, and the things that don't, areas that are fun and areas that are not. Very well-written.

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Odd NTSC/PAL issue

December 31st, 2004

When we posted the 'Hot Pursuit' cutscene (with the Heretic escaping in a Banshee), Jillybean mentioned that whenever SHE watched the scene, the Heretic crashed into a wall before flying away. I'd never seen this - but a couple of other Europeans agreed, that's the way it was for them. This seems to be a timing issue, based on the PAL/NTSC differences. (I thought Bungie had removed that particular constraint from the game... guess I was wrong.) BOLL was kind enough to send along some footage - I've put up small versions of the PAL cutscene (QuickTime and WMP9), so you can see the difference. Weird! Update: At least two PAL users have chimed in to say that the crashing does NOT happen on their Xboxes. Bottom line - we have no idea why he crashes for some people.

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Awkward is as awkward does.

December 31st, 2004

Halo Babies is back with a new series - and there's a new Cortana (just like in Halo 2). Check out the strip - and some Cortana concept sketches.

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More on video games and combat

December 31st, 2004

Yesterday, we mentioned an article that suggested that video games might help train people to be better soldiers. It inspired quite a bit of discussion on our forum. Today, MIT's Technology Review has an article about what soldiers in Iraq do on their off-time... and it seems a lot of it is 'play video games'. The end of the article, however, suggests that the soldiers themselves don't think that the game-playing gets them any more prepared for real combat - another set of voices, weighing in.

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Finishing off the Gas Giant

December 31st, 2004

We're releasing two more cutscenes this evening over in the Cutscene Library: The Oracle and Edification bracket the Heretic Boss Battle. (I don't THINK just those words are spoilers, in and of themselves... but if you consider them to be, please accept my apologies.) Enjoy!

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THEM vs US

December 31st, 2004

Another Machinima series starting up - THEM vs US: A Zanzibar Story. Currently there's just a teaser up on the page, but they promise more to come. Their hook - it's all being done over XBL. The performers have never met in real life. Give it a look!

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That Weasel Cranks Out the Vids

December 31st, 2004

More video madness: over at That Weasel Television, the community has been uploading mountains of new video footage - much of it is trick material, but there are also a number of gameplay/music vids. If you're jonesing for new video material (and I'm having a little trouble seeing how you could be, these days, but hey, it takes all kinds), swing on by the TWTv Halo Exclusives page and see what you can find!

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MTV’s Making The Video

December 31st, 2004

Back in early November, MTV put up a special called 'Making The Video Game: Halo 2', which took a sort of documentary look at the making of the game. (It wasn't very much like the DVD that comes with the Limited Edition... but it was interesting. Bungie.net mentioned it here - we put up some info here.) As far as I can tell, today was the last day of its rotation in the MTV on-air schedule... so we can put up a copy for download. Or... more accurately, we can publicize a download that's been available for quite some time. Icetiger, over at HaloPlanet, recorded this and posted it at FilePlanet a couple of months ago - it's 21 minutes long, WMP9 format, 77.5 mb (commercials yanked). For folks who don't want the WMP9 version, I've created a QuickTime version - 77.8 mb. Grab the one that works best for you! Update: this movie, in both QuickTime AND WMP9 flavors, along with several other recent movies, are now available also at That Weasel Television - if you'd like the WMP9 version, but don't like (or can't use) FilePlanet, this is for you!

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video contest – last chance

December 30th, 2004

Dennis Powers points out that you've got a little more than one day to get your entry in to Halo Maps' Halo CE Video Contest - there are 2 dozen entries already submitted (high and low res), check 'em out and create something better, but do it FAST!

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Master Chief in your Living Room

December 30th, 2004

Ross Mills found another couple of Master Chief statues on eBay - one is 3 feet tall, the other is 6 feet tall. They've both got a few days left on their auctions - if you want one of these puppies, go bid!

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You can’t fit that stuff in a stocking, anyway.

December 30th, 2004

Oh, the lessons of the holidays... today's Calvin and Halo hammers home that it's better to give than to receive. (At least, if you're gonna be receiving later on...)

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User-built resources

December 30th, 2004

Goose241 writes that he's set up an online wiki to collect Multiplayer Strategies - this is a place you can contribute your own ideas to. (While we're on the subject of wikis... Khas wrote a few days ago that he'd added an article to Wikipedia about MAC guns.)

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Canadian Tourney Pushed Back

December 30th, 2004

We mentioned a Canadian tourney about a month ago, sponsored by the Maasai Clan - it looks like it's been delayed until mid-March, in order to get the Canadian Gaming League involved. Thanks to Narcogen, at Rampancy.net, for the heads-up on the delay.

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