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If anyone still finds this site useful, please let me know in the comments on this post. If there isn’t any real interest it’s likely that I will shut this site down. Claude is of course still keeping the lights on over at HBO where you can get your fill of whatever Halo news is still being generated.

Yesterday's Halo Bulletin focused on matchmaking updates (yay, Heavies!), the recently-released Escalation #05 and some fantastic melee screenshots. Check it out - either at Halo Waypoint, or right here!(Louis Wu 22:23:02 UTC)

Meant to get to this yesterday - sorry. Halochief89 stopped by with word of a fan fiction comic called 'DogTag Origins' - it focuses on a Spartan named Melissa. You can read her data file (and some expanded backstory) on his DeviantART account, or just jump through the pages in this Imgur album. Interesting!(Louis Wu 21:56:06 UTC)

TheSparbiter dropped by to let us know about his latest Halo music video. The video utilizes the song 'Bartholomew' by The Silent Comedy and it fits nicely with the visuals. Check it out!(mastrbiggy 21:37:41 UTC)

As I’ve written before, holidays are pretty fantastic at 343. Sometimes we have unlimited amounts of Lucky Charms, other times we get custom Halo valentines. Most times, there is a lot of delicious homemade food. This past Tuesday was Earth Day, and as you may have guessed, it was a pretty big deal here at 343. Sitting on each desk on Tuesday morning was a little surprise in the form of a custom-made trading card. It is worth noting here that the cards were made from 100% recycled paper.

The franchise team put together a collection of eight trading cards, each featuring a planet from the Halo universe, and gave each employee a random card. This made everyone excited, and also made some people want all of the cards. I may or may not be one of those people. The planet I received was Earth – good place to start, I thought. I quickly looked around at neighboring desks to see which cards my co-workers had received, and immediately stared going through my inventory of Halo figures, dogtags, and other trinkets for items to barter with. Others were a bit more direct, and started negotiating trades on an email chain with the entire studio. This is when I knew things were gonna get serious.

 

By the end of the day, I had traded a set of Halo 4 Infinity dog tags for Sanghelios (URS IV), and was lucky enough to nab a Te (SVIR V) in exchange for a future favor. I realize this may have been a questionable decision, but I really wanted the card. At the time of this writing, I am still actively searching for the remaining five Earth Day 2014 Halo trading cards. I will find them.

This week, we’ve got a new issue of Halo: Escalation, a (heavy) Halo 4 Matchmaking update, and more. Let’s chat!

The fifth issue of Dark Horse's ongoing comic series - Halo: Escalation - is now for sale! Missing for thirty years, a legendary UNSC warship is discovered deep behind enemy lines. As Infinity plans a rescue mission, however, Admiral Hood’s past with the ship’s captain threatens to jeopardize the mission. The investigation into the UNSC saboteur continues as the journalist infiltrates an Elite holy land in search of answers.

Published by Dark Horse Comics, Halo: Escalation spins directly out of the events of Halo 4. Below, check out pages 6-11 of Halo: Escalation #5.

Page 06		Page 07
Page 08		Page 09
Page 10		Page 11

Visit the official Dark Horse website to purchase Halo: Escalation #5.

343 Industries and Dark Horse Comics have just released Issue #5 of Halo: Escalation. Some things are really starting to heat up in the Halo Universe! Some key questions answered, and even more raised. If you are still on the fence, then get down, it's dangerous. Also, you can check out a couple of previews from Waypoint and from Dark Horse. Go read it!(GrimBrother One 13:45:23 UTC)

Gaming conventions have already kicked off for the year and Penny Arcade Expo, or PAX is no exception. While there wasn’t a Halo presence at PAX East this year, as a gamer on the east coast, it’s a hard event to pass up. For us, the big games of interest were Titanfall and the announcement of the Borderlands Pre-sequel. Our PAX experience this time, however was filled with what most people would get out of a PAX experience: waiting in lines, walking the show floor over and over, and attending various panels instead of our normal shenanigans of handing around what Halo presence or booth there has been in the past since we’ve been going. My good friend Vanirfreyja was there along the journey for the PAX East weekend and joins us as we take a look back at the highlights of the expo.

Wow, this is actually pretty cool. Gamecheat set up some AI-on-AI battles to see which was more badass - Covenant Hunters or Forerunner Knight Battlewagons? From 1v1 up to 20v20 (which might be a little out of Halo 4's processing range, actually), check this film out to see how these guys choose to fight each other - and who's stronger! (I actually found myself impressed with how the AI handled the varying fights - not from a FIGHTING standpoint, but from a TACTICS one.)(Louis Wu 16:03:20 UTC)

Gugga Leunnam put together another mashup trailer - this time he took the audio from the Godzilla trailers and edited it to various Halo footage. As always, the end result is pretty superb. Check it out!(mastrbiggy 17:40:20 UTC)

Yesterday, Edge Magazine released a retrospective on Halo - one of a very few titles to ever earn the coveted '10' in an Edge review. It's a look back at what made that first title so special - and how gaming has changed forever in response. As with most Edge articles, it's full of memorable writing (the description of the Library as "the long dark night of the shotgun" was especially enjoyable), but mostly it's just about revisiting an old favorite through the eyes of someone who loved it as much as you did. Go give it a read! (Louis Wu 14:17:14 UTC)

Yesterday, Edge Magazine released a retrospective on Halo - one of a very few titles to ever earn the coveted '10' in an Edge review. It's a look back at what made that first title so special - and how gaming has changed forever in response. As with most Edge articles, it's full of memorable writing (the description of the Library as "the long dark night of the shotgun" was especially enjoyable), but mostly it's just about revisiting an old favorite through the eyes of someone who loved it as much as you did. Go give it a read! (Louis Wu 14:17:14 UTC)

Dust Storm let us know that Podtacular 418 is available for download - this week, they've teamed up with Guardian Radio to discuss the departure of Marty O'Donnell from Bungie and what he's meant to Halo fans over the years. Go listen!(Louis Wu 14:06:57 UTC)

Dust Storm let us know that Podtacular 418 is available for download - this week, they've teamed up with Guardian Radio to discuss the departure of Marty O'Donnell from Bungie and what he's meant to Halo fans over the years. Go listen!(Louis Wu 14:06:57 UTC)

DANYVADERDAY created this awesome teaser banner for the rumored Halo 2 Anniversary game - if only a mobile version was available! Thanks, Craig M. Ferguson.(mastrbiggy 06:40:55 UTC)

(mastrbiggy 06:40:12 UTC)

In January, Lord Zedd posted a short video purporting to show off a newly-discovered Halo 3 Easter Egg - but refused to explain how to reproduce it. (He preferred that fans find it on their own.) There wasn't enough in the video he posted for me to be able to tell if this was staged or real - so I left it alone, figuring that sooner or later, we'd know, one way or the other. It's Easter today, so I guess Lord Zedd decided it was time - he's posted a video showing how to trigger the egg. (It's pretty ridiculous - I don't think this would EVER have been found if not for modders looking through the code.) Go watch - I'm guessing whoever put that into the game knew they were moving over to 343 after Halo 3! (Or maybe they were just commenting on the franchise; the decision to relinquish the Halo IP was finalized in the summer of 2007, just before Halo 3's release.) Pretty cool! Thanks, gamerguy2002.(Louis Wu 17:03:41 UTC)

SEspider found a pretty fun video called 'Chalk Warfare 3.0' - well-done effects, and the Halo Energy Sword plays a pretty important role! Check it out. (Louis Wu 16:57:03 UTC)