Author: narcogen

MacWorld has mentioned Marathon as one of the best games on the Mac, as part of their commemoration of the Mac’s 25th anniversary.

Heard about Marathon or Myth, but haven’t played them? Played some solo Marathon or Myth, but haven’t had a chance to check out multiplayer? Then check out For Carnage, Apply Within, a group of fans dedicated to arranging regular multiplayer games of these classic Bungie titles. Thanks for the heads-up to urk on Bungie.net.

Blackstar of Blackstar Productions and Narcogen of Bungie fansite Rampancy.net run through the Halo 3 level “Floodgate”, covering gameplay and story, as well as the usual three elements: something that made us Angry, something that made us Sad, and something from another game that we Envy and wish Halo 3 had that it doesn’t. Show…

In an interview with GamePro, Bungie’s own Joe Staten talks about Halo 3: ODST, due out this fall, clarifying when the game takes place (between the end of Metropolis in Halo 2 and the Arrival scene that begins Halo 3). Of course, he also teases fans about an unknown enemy, but what do you expect?…

Rockslider, who skipped Halo 2 to spend a few more years working over megabattles in Halo 1, has found Halo 3 a little more to his taste. His latest entry is on rocket and sniper action on The Ark. Thanks to Rockslider for the heads-up in the HBO forum.

This remark from Valve’s Jason Holtman is the analysis of game piracy that I’ve been waiting to hear someone utter for years: the idea that copyright infringement needs to be analyzed from economic rather than purely legal or moral standpoints. It is, essentially, the market telling producers that something is wrong, and that smart producers…

Normally I avoid even commenting on the intersections between violent real-world crime and fantasy videogame violence. There’s really little point. There’s not much more than can be said on the matter than what is already out there. However, the remarks of Judge James Burge following his conviction of Daniel Petric are simply so ridiculous that…

Wideload Games, developers of Hail to the Chimp and Stubbs the Zombie, is developing a new game: Texas Cheat’Em for Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network, due out this spring. Later it will come to PC. No details yet on the Wideload site, or an indication of whether this is either “Hot Sauce” or…

Thanks to Louis Wu who wrote in to Bungie.net about Coldnose Sloth, who successfully recreated the serial number generator for Marathon and gave it a web interface, for those times when you need some extra serial numbers for multiplayer.

Blackstar and Narcogen look at the return of the Flood to the Halo series in Halo 3’s Floodgate level. Part one of two. This is the M4A version of the episode, compatible with iTunes; it contains advanced features such as embedded graphics and chapter markers. If you want the plain MP3 version to play in…

Blackstar and Narcogen look at the return of the Flood to the Halo series in Halo 3’s Floodgate level. Part one of two. This is the MP3 version of the episode, compatible with the online player. If you use iTunes and want the advanced features, go to this version: http://rampancy.net/audio/AAC/08/01/2009/Anger_Sadness_and_Envy_Episode_5_Floodgate_Part_1_2_mp4

Hawty McBloggy has put up the nominations for the 2008 Best of Halo awards, divided into ten categories, over at HawtyMcBloggy.com and Rampancy’s been nominated, in the best resource website category. Up against the 800lb. gorilla that is HBO one can’t expect to do more than score a point here or there, but the real…

…or the Spartan gets it!

According to Marty O’Donnell (and he should know) you can finally buy 100% official Halo sheet music, starting with One Final Effort from Halo 3. Thanks Louis Wu at HBO.

Still ten shopping days left, but Aleph One has left all the old school fans a present to open early: a new version of the open source Marathon engine for playing Marathon 1, Marathon 2, Marathon Infinity and third-party scenarios on PCs, Macs, and Linux computers.

HBO and the HBO forum have both provided links to an editorial by “William Usher” at Cinema Blend about how Halo is killing console gaming. So now that this specious attempt to nab page hits has worked, there can be little further damage that I can do except to examine the author’s premise and see…

GamesIndustryBiz has put up the second part of an interview with Bungie’s Brian “SketchFactor” Jarrard and Luke Smith. Here is part one. Sketch remarks therein that Bungie has complete freedom to choose the publisher and platform for their new intellectual property– property that Microsoft does not own. Microsoft does own Halo, and Bungie has a…

Bad Cyborg covers some interesting techniques for tackling Tsavo Highway on foot. This is a lot of fun, if you’ve never tried it, you’re missing out. A level that with vehicles and support troops is a quick breeze through the trees with a couple of thorny spots becomes a nice challenge all the way through.

GameCock, famed interrupter of awards ceremonies, holder of funerals for tradeshows, and publishers of games by Wideload such as Hail to the Chimp, have been acquired by SouthPeak. SouthPeak published last year’s Two Worlds RPG on the PC and 360, a game that was widely criticized for failing to live up to the high standards…

Liveblogging the Microsoft keynote address from the Tokyo Games Show in Japan, Major Nelson says that Microsoft has shown the announcement trailer for Bungie’s next Halo game. It’s a prologue to Halo 3 called Halo 3: Recon, and as the rumor mill has long anticipated, it is a story told from the perspective of ODST…