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OSX Dashboard HBO WIdget Updated
Terminator182 let us know that version 2.21 of his HBO RSS News Widget, for Mac OSX’s Dashboard, has been available since late March. (We haven’t mentioned it since March 8.) Just installed the update – nice changes! Go read the details.(Louis Wu 11:28:54 UTC)
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Panorama Contest at CI
HaLo2FrEeEk let us know that Clan Infectionist is holding a panorama contest – winner gets frontpage mention on their website and a custom forum title. You’ve got until May 18.(Louis Wu 11:28:35 UTC)
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XBL most played: GTA IV, CoD4, H3, GH3, GoW…
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Move over Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3. Grand Theft Auto IV is now the #1 game on XBOX Live (thanks Major Nelson). For the first time, Halo moves to #3 (the lowest a Halo title has ever been).
CoD4 and Halo 3 have been and will remain at the top of the XBOX Live leaderboards for some time to come because they offer a proven multiplayer experience with high replay value. Halo 2 is still the #1 original XBOX title on XBOX Live. I don’t recall it at anytime being #2 on that list.
Multiplayer modes in GTA IV is new to the series. Will gamers find replay value in GTA IV? Will it play much like the way Bioshock did? Amazing story. But not much replay value.
I’m guessing that in 4-8 weeks after the newness of GTA IV has worn off, CoD4 and Halo 3 will be ahead of GTA IV in the number of unique users on XBOX Live.
Or have I totally under estimated the GTA IV following? A huge hit on the PlayStation consoles, does GTA have some kind of a massive cult following that’s going to keep playing this game until the end of the year?
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RT: Summer Sale Extravaganza
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Hey there everyone. I just wanted to draw your attention to the store today, as we’re holding a “beginning of Summer” sale. We are discontinuing a bunch of our shirts, to clear out space for some new stuff eventually. There’s a good chance that…
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Out of my mind… back in five minutes.
Heh – Xbox360Fanboy found a funny Halo version of the A-Team intro… wow, the memories. If you remember this from when it wasn’t on TV Land… you’re old.(Louis Wu 18:25:42 UTC)
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Denim Plush Grunt
When you can’t buy a plush grunt from Bungie, someone else will step in, eventually, and fill the void. Hawty McBloggy found someone who did that – check out the denim grunt you can pick up on eBay.(Louis Wu 17:37:57 UTC)
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New? Or Improved?
XerxdeeJ popped in with news of an interesting piece over at the Tied the Leader blog – it’s a panel discussion about downloadable content, where a large number of TTL stalwarts weigh in about whether they’d rather see totally new and fresh maps… or reimaginings of older favorites. While there is definitely a range of opinions, I was actually surprised by the consistency in the bottom-line feelings of the respondents; I thought there’d be a more pronounced polarity. Go read!(Louis Wu 15:09:55 UTC)
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Xbox LIVE Activity – no longer Halo news?
As most people expected, GTA4 has taken the top spot on the Xbox LIVE activity list published each week by Major Nelson. This pushes Halo 3 down to #3. It’s probable that if we mention this list on the front page again, it’ll be because Halo has climbed back up to the top. (It seems rather unlikely at this point that this will happen; while there is no shortage of players for the game, new games continue to be released. We are no longer in the situation where a Halo title is the only reason to buy a LIVE subscription, as was true for much of Halo 2’s reign.) Thanks, JeBr0nie.(Louis Wu 14:59:21 UTC)
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Behind the Scenes
Today’s installment of Another Halo Comic Strip lets you in on the secret of how the Master Chief does all that he does. I KNEW it!(Louis Wu 13:16:42 UTC)
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Gameplayer looks at Halo Wars
Australia’s Gameplayer got a chance to sit down in front of Halo Wars recently, and they’re anxious to tell you all about it. They’re optimistic that Ensemble can pull off an authentic-feeling Halo vibe for the RTS, and they’re looking forward to extras – lead designer Graeme Devine hopes that Ensemble will be able to release a map editor with the game. Go read the whole interview!(Louis Wu 12:31:06 UTC)
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More WETA Warthog pics
A couple of weeks ago, we mentioned that Belakor had visited the Armageddon con in New Zealand, and taken some pics of the WETA Warthog that was on display there. Looks like NZGamer.com was also there – they posted THEIR pics yesterday. Thanks, Wolverine Monkey.(Louis Wu 10:05:36 UTC)
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Halo 2 HD – in progress
Jean-Luc (who’s been rendering Halo images for quite some time) stopped by last night to announce an ambitious project; he plans to recreate the Halo cutscenes (all three games) in HD, with completely redone graphics and animation. His post contains some stills to show you ‘an approximation of quality’ – and I must say, if he pulls this off, it will be very, very cool indeed. Go see!(Louis Wu 10:00:54 UTC)
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Cool the Dew
During the ramp-up to Halo 3, a lot of Halo 3-branded merchandise hit the streets; not all of it was for the public. Stores received cool display stuff – and some of that sort of thing usually makes it to eBay. Hawty McBloggy noticed a pretty neat little mini-cooler, plastered with Halo Game Fuel images; current bid is $76, with about five and a half days to go. Does your game room need a fridge?(Louis Wu 09:57:02 UTC)
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Bug Stinger
Dennis Powers wrote to say that Shipwrecked Episode 17 is up – I think these guys need guns.(Louis Wu 09:53:03 UTC)
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Helping you parse the Files Forum
Maximum Fear let us know that his site is running a weekly roundup of Halo 3 content, culled from the Halo 3 Files Forum at Bungie.net. They’ll be including stuff like map and game variants in the future – but for now, it’s just screenshots. Check it out – and submit your favorite links! (Louis Wu 09:51:28 UTC)
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Shack Says Chimp Slips Slightly
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ShackNews is reporting that Wideload Games’ Hail to the Chimp, originally announced for a May release, is slightly delayed until June 24 so that some final finishing touches can be put on the game. Chimp is to be released on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and is priced at an affordable $40.
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Forerunner Terminal Network Archives – Now Online
It’s been a long time coming… but HBO is proud to announce that the Forerunner Terminal Network Archives are now online. You can read a history of this project on our forum – thanks go out to the recording crew (OboeCrazy, nico, bebop gastulum, and Venom Kitetsu), for collecting the info needed to create the downloadable movies, and Capt Spanish, for his amazing interface and painstaking transcriptions.(Louis Wu 16:14:25 UTC)
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Things Bungie should have added
Blackstar, in a fit of creativity, whipped out three new custom medals last night; check them out on his ‘Extra Medals’ page. (Remember, you can see full-sized versions of the medals simply by mousing over the thumbnails.) Links for examples of all of them (including the new ones ‘Returned to Sender’, ‘Watch for Falling Hogs’, and ‘Brain Drained’) are in each entry.(Louis Wu 15:16:23 UTC)
The latest news about the Halo series of games from Microsoft