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Don’t cut yourself.
Bah. Hawty McBloggy sent this to me last night – somehow I forgot about it. Which is silly, because it’s pretty darned cool. She found a stainless steel Energy Sword on eBay – starting bid is $125, and there are 6 days left in the auction. It looks pretty deadly!(Louis Wu 18:54:10 UTC)
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Sniper School Training Vids now on XBLM
Over at the 405th, Sean Bradley noticed that the US Army Sniper Training Videos are now online on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. (Thanks to Xavier for the heads-up on this.) To download them for yourself (they’re free), go to the Marketplace blade on your 360, then select ‘Spotlight’. Scroll over to ‘Free Stuff’ – you should see ‘Sniper School Free Gamerpic’ or something close to that, a little way down the list. Select it, and you’ll have the option to download each of the four videos (Know Your Weapon, and then Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced Sniper Tactics), as well as a Sniper School Theme. As far as I know, these are not available on the web (and I don’t know if we’re allowed to MAKE them available), so you’ll need to grab them from Marketplace if you want to watch them. They show you nice places to perch if you’re a sniper.(Louis Wu 17:09:37 UTC)
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I’m a coffee man, myself.
Wow. Looks like teabagging – the act, virtual or otherwise, of lowering one’s crotch on the face of another – is being blamed on Halo, at least according to one New Jersey school board. Never mind that the practice has existed for far, far longer than Halo’s been around… thanks, Charley117, who found it at Kotaku.(Louis Wu 16:39:31 UTC)
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The end of an era (soon)
Many people noticed a new notice linked from the main page of mythica.org – Brian Towne is closing things down next month. Mythica.org has been a (maybe the) primary hosting site for Halo media content since there’s BEEN Halo media content. He hasn’t required logins, or made you jump through hoops, or made you watch a film the way HE wants you to watch it – he just hosts content, free of charge to both uploaders and downloaders. For 6 years, he’s made it easy for folks to express themselves though Halo games, and for that, we’re profoundly grateful. It’s gotten to the point where he can’t keep it up, however, and he’s closing the doors at the end of February. (That gives you plenty of time to find the content you’ve been meaning to grab.) It should be noted that some of the content that he hosts – specifically content on files.mythica.org – will continue to remain available; we’ve taken over responsibility for that server, and will keep it up and running for the forseeable future. The bulk of Mythica’s hosting, though, has been useruploads.mythica.org – and that collection of work (about a terabyte and a half of content, streaming out to the internet at 12-15 terabytes/month) is too big for us to handle, and will disappear forever after February.
I’d like to say that were it not for Brian and Mythica, I think the Halo machinima community might never have gotten off the ground; the interest in MAKING machinima was fueled by the early creators, and those creators were hosted by Brian. It can’t be overstated how important he’s been to this community. Thank you, Brian, for all you’ve done.(Louis Wu 15:31:34 UTC)
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Nom De Plume
ZZoMBiE13 takes another shot at the poor Arbiter in today’s installment of Another Halo Comic Strip. What a meanie!(Louis Wu 15:16:47 UTC)
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ZombieTastic
Next Generation has posted a story from Edge Magazine which looks back on Stubbs the Zombie, the first creation of Wideload Games and the only game, so far, to utilize a licensed Halo engine. Was it successful at what it set out to do? Well… what DID it set out to do? Read the article and find out. Thanks to Narcogen, at Rampancy.net, for finding this.(Louis Wu 15:08:44 UTC)
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I Really Hate That Guy
Elnea’s posted Halo Action Figure Theater #118 – the storyline is dark, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel. She promises to brighten things up soon.(Louis Wu 14:53:44 UTC)
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FB vs BkS, Pit KOTH (LBJ took the IRT)
Z sent us word of a fun game he’s spotlighting over at Halo3Forum.com – Final Boss vs Best Kept Secret, King of the Hill, on The Pit, from the point of view of a PuRe GaNgSt3r (a member of BkS). You can stream it, you can download it (a 280 mb WMP9, just a straight rip of the film from APG’s viewpoint), or you can grab a copy of the film from APG’s fileshare, and view it the way you want to. Great game, and really nice to see some pro techniques in a 15 minute battle. Check it out. (Louis Wu 14:51:28 UTC)
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NFNCVP
Last night, Bungie posted a Q&A session with Brian Jarrard about the Bungie Pentathlon, an internal battle of skill that involves all (okay, a lot of) Bungie employees in a day of debauchery and gameplaying. Halo features strongly, which is what makes this relevant for HBO. Go read about it – and pick your favorite team! SPARTAN 294 brought this to the attention of our forum population.(Louis Wu 12:35:26 UTC)
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The Bungie Winter Pentathlon Preview
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The trials, tribulations and test of mens (and a couple women, depending on which team you’re on). The Bungie Winter Pentathalon.
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Podtacular All Stars Strike Again
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The Podtacular all stars strike again, and this time against the competitive guys over at Outcast Reborn.
A tough set of matches was the battle field for these two competitive groups to claim one winner spot in this challenge.
MaesterGXL has written a detailed write up of the match so go ahead and read on…Click on the link below to check out the whole write up of the match.
Yesterday, we had the opportunity to play against the clan Outcast Reborn in a 4vs4 match. They are a great group of competitive players that stress Honor, Valor, and Loyalty. You can check out their site HERE.
Representing the All-Stars:Maester
Tarheels
Chevelle
Dialpex
Blobby
woofRepresenting Outcast Reborn:
OcR Ballin
OcR Hurricane
OcR OUPimp
OcR Hunter501
OcR Rhino
OcR Defkism
Braaterz1st Game- MLG Ball on Guardian
Game Link
Tone: Last second heroics (again!)This match was probably the hardest oddball game the Allstars have ever had to face. There was no point in the match where either team had a distinct advantage in time. The game basically flowed where one team would get 20-30 seconds, try to setup, and then die, followed by the other team doing the same exact process. It was impossible for either team to get a good setup and control the map and every player was fighting to their fullest the whole match. Just like our first match against the Junkies, this match also came down to the very last seconds. With Podtacular leading near the end of the game, OcR came back and took a 2 second lead with around 15 seconds remaining, the All-stars were able to kill the ball guy and hold the ball for just enough time to regain a 3 second lead with 7 seconds left in the game. We jumped off the map with the ball and it returned to the middle and in a last second dash for the ball by OcR, the allstars were able to stop them and finished the game with a win by 2 seconds.
Podtacular wins 192-190
2nd Game- MLG Flag on Narrows
Game Link
Tone: Get me water!This game…absolutely has to of been the most strenuous match ever for the Allstars. Typically MLG flag games are supposed to end at the 15 minute mark if one team has the lead, but the game wasn’t ended at that point in this match. This was their pick for the 2nd game which happens to be our normal pick, so instead of subbing out our players we left the original team we made the strategy for this map with. The Allstars started out with a cap not too long into the game, and the scored remained for probably the next 12 minutes. This game basically turned into an endless slayer match, with numerous futile attempts by both teams to try and move the flag. There were several times where both times got the enemy flag to their own side of the map, but with the extremely quick return time in this gametype, it was near impossible to score. Finally under the 10 minute mark the Allstars were able to score their second flag, and after 5 more minutes of slayer the Allstars were able to score the final cap. Amazingly both teams had nearly the same stats player for player, both teams scoring just under 200 kills/deaths, and just over 100 assists. (This video is not in my fileshare because it is such a big file at 15.5mb)
Podtacular wins 3-0
Game 3- MLG TS Construct
Game Link
Tone: Kill for killWith this being the 3rd game, the Allstars were looking to close the match and guarantee victory. This game we subbed out to bring Blobby and Dialpex onto our roster. Like any typical Construct game, both teams tried desperately to control the top. Neither team was able to lockdown the map and the game became just a kill for kill slayer fest. Neither team had a significant lead throughout the game but OcR was able to pull ahead when it counted.
OcR wins 50-44
Game 4- MLG Hill Pit
Game Link
Tone: Comeback galoreWith this being the second pick of OcR, we decided to bring back some players on the roster, bringing in woof for Chevelle. This game was clearly dominated by OcR for the good beginning portion of the game. The Allstars were just lacking the setup,the snipers, and the overshield that were necessary to control the hill effectively. At one point OcR had a 50 point lead with(125-75 seconds), but the Allstars were able to come back and tie the lead. It was back and forth domination of the hill until each team had around 190 seconds, where the Allstars completely took over and were able to finish the game off with a win.
Podtacular wins 250-197With that, the Allstars were able to seal their victory, in what was supposed to be a best of 5, but ended up only with 4 matches because of time constraints. Every game was definitely a battle and there was no break for anybody at any point. If anybody wants some great competition check these guys out!
If you want to watch the gameplay from games 1,3,4 check out my Fileshare
More discussion on the forums HERE
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Grifball Week Two Highlights
Week Two highlights are posted over at Grifball.com – go watch some great play in Flash or QuickTime formats. Rooster Teeth has added commentary this time around.(Louis Wu 14:02:31 UTC)
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Phosphorescence.
Doesn’t happen often – but today’s One One Se7en was a genuine laugh-out-loud moment.(Louis Wu 13:56:59 UTC)
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More Halo 3 Machinima
I guess it’s the morning to announce movies – we heard from a couple of other people, as well. Lordstemplar1 stopped in to put up a teaser for Blackstone, an upcoming project, and AnTi PRO pointed out a thread on Arm the Flag which provides download links for Oregon Trail: Pioneering Evolved Ep 1. Go watch!(Louis Wu 13:46:28 UTC)
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Geezers Like Halo
Geezer Gamers have posted their first annual Geezergamer of the Year Awards – and Halo 3 took both Multiplayer Game of the Year and Geezer Game of the Year. w00t!(Louis Wu 13:42:34 UTC)
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Hail… Mendicant?
Hawty McBloggy found a video of some pretty amazingly lucky sticks in Halo 3 – a couple actually look like the thrower wanted to hit something, but most were just ‘toss this and pray’ examples. Even so, it’s pretty funny to see folks turn glowy blue (or orange) with zero warning.(Louis Wu 13:40:27 UTC)
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A day in the life of a concept artist
Ensemble Concept Artist Bart Tiongson was nice enough to put together a summary of his usual day – this can give you an idea of what a concept artist on a title like Halo Wars does for a job. (He’s also got a small update on Halo Wars itself.) Thanks, Planet Halo.(Louis Wu 13:37:20 UTC)
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Forging 101 #3 – Floating Platforms
TheShadyGnome stopped by with word of the newest Forging 101 video tutorial – this one will show you how to build floating platforms. Go watch!(Louis Wu 13:34:19 UTC)
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iHaloStats – iPhone Stats, to the Max
A month ago, we mentioned a small app you could use from your iPhone to get your Halo 3 stats – now there’s another option, and it’s pretty amazing. iHaloStats.com shows you everything from a summary page to your medal chest to your weapons stats. All nicely formatted for the iPhone. Check it out! (This was created by the same guy who showed you how to make stereoscopic screenshots from Halo 3.)(Louis Wu 20:02:00 UTC)
The latest news about the Halo series of games from Microsoft