My Halo News.com

The latest news about the Halo series of games from Microsoft

  • News Catchup

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    halo@bungie.org
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    News dump, yet again (I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to the day when coverage can go back to commentary on every item):

    • The Seattle Post-Intelligencer thought Halo 3 was good, but not great; there were plot holes. Three stars out of four.

    • 3of9 found a very cool UNSC logo shirt at MyTeeSpot

    • Gamespot created a graphical comparison between the three games; it’s a little unfair because they did a far better job getting screenshots for Halo 3 than for the other two, but the general idea is sound (thanks, Marcus-626)

    • Scott Hanselman reviewed the game for his blog, and declared it ‘balanced’

    • Britain’s Telegraph reviews Halo 3, and says that “Halo 3 crosses into the “essential” category effortlessly”.

    • TheStreet.com warns that enthusiastic launch events do NOT say anything useful long-term for investors; they’re taking a ‘wait and see’ approach.

    • Apparently, the US Air Force took advantage of the launch to try to do some recruiting in a small town in New Hampshire

    • Yahoo Games has posted a Halo 3: First Tips article

    • The New York Times posted a ‘ho hum’ article; I must include this quote:
      For all its grand panoramas and its galaxywide narrative, Halo 3’s plot feels like a bit of a throwaway, a rather short adventure with a predictable story and dialogue that is sometimes as hokey as something from an old John Wayne war movie.
      The author felt that Halo 3 was simply Halo 2 with better graphics.

    • Binary Bonsai thought the story was a little obscure, but that the game was really fun anyway

    More news coming soon – this was just a way to TRY and clear out the bulk of the backlog.(Louis Wu 14:46:17 UTC)

  • Halo 2 With New Graphics

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    narcogen

    It’s one thing to always see the glass half full, or to always look for the flaw in an otherwise brilliant diamond.

    There’s also such a thing as being a spoiler; having no other purpose than to be contrary, “alternative”, or to actively dislike that which others like for the sake of disagreement itself.

    You can be the judge of which category Charles Herold at the New York Times falls into with his review of Halo 3:

    It is difficult to say that one likes, but does not love, a Halo game. Halo fans are so worshipful of the series that anything short of drooling admiration is seen as something akin to blasphemy. One is expected to love Halo games the way one is expected to love Harry Potter, “American Idol,” Tom Hanks, the Beatles and chocolate (some of which I love, some of which I don’t).

    Yet, while Halo 3 is a slickly produced, exciting, well-made shooter, I wouldn’t class it as one of those creations that rival the importance of bendable straws or casual Fridays. And saying that could well result in a few angry letters.

    It doesn’t really matter what reviewers say, though. Halo 3 is not just a game: it is a phenomenon fueled by obsessed fans, slick advertising and excessive press coverage (of which I find myself a part).

    Perhaps there is the real core of Herold’s criticism of Halo 3: it renders the opinion of reviewers irrelevant. For shame!

  • Halo 3 Launch FAQ

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    halo@bungie.org
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    Bungie’s got a Halo 3 Launch FAQ posted; the answers to some of the most common questions they’re seeing can be found in there. Worth a look, even if you’re not having trouble – you might learn something!(Louis Wu 04:19:00 UTC)

  • Singapore Launch Rundown

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    halo@bungie.org
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    We got mail from a couple of people about some recent Halo 3 events in Singapore; Spu7n1k sent along info from his blog (17 September | 19 September | 22 September), showing the progress on his launch party costume – winner of best costume got a Legendary Edition, which isn’t even sold in Singapore; I don’t know if he won), as well as links to videos of the Believer 3 and Believer 4 events (these were filmed by Duelist). Finally, he sent along pics of the schwag from these events (a Halo 3 cap from 3, and a wristband from 4). Qdepartment went to the launch, and sent along a whole bunch of pics – the best of the bunch were a shot of a Master Chief statue at the event, and a pic of the nice bag all the schwag came in. Nice deal for those guys!(Louis Wu 04:13:39 UTC)

  • Download A Blank Slate

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    narcogen

    Want to mess around with Forge maps without having to delete all the default items? Download these modified maps by Chevmeister, with all the default items carefully removed.

  • Halo 3 Sells $170M In 24 Hours

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    narcogen

    According to Microsoft, the Halo franchise’s latest installment has shattered one-day entertainment sales records again; Halo 3 did $170 million USD in its first day of sales in the US.

  • Watch the World Light Up with Halo 3

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    halo@bungie.org
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    Sunburned Goose, from 2old2play.com, sent along this animated gif showing the Online World Map (visible with real-time data on Bungie’s Online page) over the course of 24 hours, from Monday afternoon through Tuesday afternoon. For a slightly different view of the same sort of data, Tieno, over at the Neogaf forum, put up a similar image from the night of the launch (thanks, GhaleonEB).(Louis Wu 03:42:32 UTC)

  • MLG Goodies

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    halo@bungie.org
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    3Suns pointed out a couple of hot links at MLGPro.com – their Halo 3 Launchtacular page, and a recap page from Orlando, including a spotlight on Str8 Rippin, the 4v4 champs this time around. Check it out!(Louis Wu 03:24:02 UTC)

  • Exclusive Halo 3 stuff for Gold users on XBLM?

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    halo@bungie.org
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    According to this story at 1Up, there is new content on Xbox Live Marketplace that’s free to Gold users. However, following the image shown in the story gets me to a page that has 5 theme/gamerpic items available – all of which cost money (well, points). There are supposedly also videos coming later this week – we’ll see what happens there. Thanks to Zeouterlimits for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 03:16:56 UTC)

  • Shack looks at Forge

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    halo@bungie.org
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    Shacknews has posted an article about Forge, and what it can do. It’s a great read – go check it out! Thanks, Chris Remo(Louis Wu 03:04:18 UTC)

  • Another shoutout for a community member in need

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    halo@bungie.org
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    trigger119 pointed out the GTV Spotlight over at GamingTV – it focuses on Zukan, a longtime community contributor who is suffering from Hodgkin Lymphoma – he’ll be starting chemo soon. Stop by and give the guy some support!(Louis Wu 03:02:05 UTC)

  • Halomen

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    halo@bungie.org
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    Samir Patel pointed out Halomen, an adult-rated Flash vid at Newgrounds which comes up with an alternate storyline for Halo. Animation and artwork are great, story… not so much.(Louis Wu 02:59:37 UTC)

  • Lego Zanzibar – finished

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    halo@bungie.org
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    Kooberz let us know he’s finished his Lego Zanzibar video – you can see it on YouTube. It’s a 9 minute walktrhough, showing how closely he matched the Lego stuff to the in-game map. Even the bridge works! Insanity. It also contains tons of info about the building of the project – if you’re into Lego construction, this is amazing.(Louis Wu 02:47:52 UTC)

  • Halo 3 OST – Coming in November, Probably

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    halo@bungie.org
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    We’ve received news from a couple of fronts about the upcoming Halo 3 Official Soundtrack. SeannyD got email from Risa Malkinson, from Sumthing Distribution, letting him know that the release date will be in November. This is corroborated by Aj6627, who noticed that the Amazon listing for the soundtrack has a release date of November 16. (It also says ‘1 Disc’, and we know from last week’s interview with Marty O’Donnell on Music4Games that this information is probably wrong… so take it all with a grain of salt.)(Louis Wu 02:42:19 UTC)

  • Huffington Post Shows Chimp Love…

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    narcogen

    …or rather woodchuck love, as a new blogger, the animal kingdom newscaster Woodchuck Chumley has shown up at the Huffington Post with his own blog. Perhaps he’ll be answering the age-old question, how much wood would a woodchuck chuck. Or maybe he’ll just talk animal kingdom politics:

    As we approach election year, I feel it’s only appropriate to step outside the usual role of ambivalent newscaster and tell you not only what I know about the candidates and their platforms, but what I feel about them as well. Perhaps some of you will complain that journalists ought to keep their opinions to themselves and strive to remain unbiased. If you don’t like it, go back to your feed bag and keep swallowing what the rest of the media is spoon-feeding you. Because they’re doing the same thing. They’re just not as honest about it.

    Whoops! Did I say that?

    Be sure to watch that space in anticipation of information about Hail to the Chimp. Or at least a few more funny reads like this one.

  • That guy’s nuts.

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    halo@bungie.org
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    You think YOU’RE devoted to Halo? You ain’t got NOTHIN’ on Alterb0y, a soldier in Iraq. He had his wife pick up his copy Legendary Edition copy and FedEx it overseas. Legendary Edition of Halo 3: $129.99 (plus tax). FedEx shipping: $326. The ability to play Halo 3 with your buds in the desert – well, not quite priceless. I’m thinking it’s closer to $600. (Louis Wu 22:57:43 UTC)

  • Suck it, Spiderman

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    halo@bungie.org
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    Major Nelson posted a press release about yesterday’s sales – Halo 3 is officially the biggest single-day sales event in entertainment history. $170 Million in the US, in 24 hours… not too shabby. Thanks, KP.(Louis Wu 22:46:39 UTC)

  • Teh Funniez

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    halo@bungie.org
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    Comic roundup for Wednesday:

    • LostRock11 noticed that SORE THUMBS had Halo 3-related strips on Monday and Wednesday – they both hit home
    • Ure Paul let us know that ActionTrip celebrated the release of Halo 3 with a Muppets-inspired comic (I love those guys)
    • Subnova comes back online with a new .Comic – and a mini-review of Halo 3 to boot

    Good stuff!(Louis Wu 22:44:48 UTC)

  • Halo 3 Launch Week FAQ

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    Bungie.net’s Recent News
    Now that Halo 3 is released, many of you have questions. Fortunately we have answers.

  • Halo 3 Launch Week FAQ

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    narcogen

    Bungie has put up a Halo 3 Launch Week FAQ to cover some of the most common new player questions, especially about issues surrounding screenshot uploads and other features that might be having the kinks still worked out.