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More Ghosts of Onyx Music
Sean Mortensen continues his musical tributes to Ghosts of Onyx – today there’s a theme for Lucy (mp3, 1 mb), and one for the Spartan III program (mp3, 2.5 mb). Give a listen! (Louis Wu 20:42:11 UTC)
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ESRB ratings – and what they mean to you
You know… normally I would have let this slide, because we’ve already posted about the news that this article is ostensibly about, but there’s a comment that I simply don’t feel comfortable letting by. Xboxer put up a news post about the Jeff Bell comment to Major Nelson which many sites have been interpreting as possible confirmation of 4-player coop (we put up a note last night), and in it they commented on the ESRB rating it looks like Halo 3 will get:Halo 3 is likely to receive an ESRB rating of “M” for Mature, just like its two predecessors. According to this official guidelines, titles with this rating “have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.”
Bell’s three sons are aged 10, 14, and 18, so he’s basically making a public statement of his intention to ignore the parental guidelines laid down by a regulatory body. That’s fine for Joe Public, but not so good when you’re in the business of making videogames and should be setting a public example.I’d like to point out that ESRB’s guidelines are exactly that – guidelines. Choosing to play an M-rated game with your sub-17-year-old children (or, for that matter, a T-rated game with your sub-13-year-old kids) does not mean you’re ‘ignoring the guidelines’ – it means you’ve considered them, and chosen to override them. Mr. Bell did not say “yeah, I think my kids are gonna be playing that Halo game” – he talked about playing the game WITH them. He knows what’s in it, he knows his children, and he’s made a decision that the game is appropriate for them. And that is absolutely the perogative (indeed, the JOB) of a parent. Okay, enough editorializing on the news page. Sorry. I just thought that needed to be clarified.(Louis Wu 20:18:53 UTC)
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Single Player Writeups
1Up has a writeup of the level one demo that many press folks saw at E3. So does Too Opinionated Gaming. So does Ars Technica (which uses the article to mention the Saved Film editor and the playable gravity hammer, as well). And Wired. ActionTrip was there (they have a separate writeup of the Halo Wars demo, as well). And our very own mnemesis spent Friday afternoon in a Santa Monica hotel room. Everybody brings their own take to these sorts of demos; some of these are short reads, nothing more than an overview, while others are in-depth looks at what’s changed and what hasn’t. (I might be biased, but I found mnem’s writeup to be the best overview of this batch; he didn’t try to provide a summary of the actual gameplay, but instead tried to focus on how the new features of Halo 3, as shown in this demo, affected the actual gameplay.) Go read up.(Louis Wu 13:03:13 UTC)
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Moore discusses demand for the Halo 3 360
Gizmodo talked to Peter Moore about the ‘tepid reaction’ the audience had to his unveiling of the Halo 3 Xbox 360 at the Microsoft Press Conference last Tuesday. Moore wrote it off to his poor showmanship, rather than a true indication of the demand for this product. Either way, it’ll be available for preorder soon – we’ll know which is the true interpretation.(Louis Wu 12:47:01 UTC)
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Recording through Socks
Mintz tells us that the next ‘regularly scheduled podcast’ is now available at Halo: Portable. They discuss a bunch of stuff (itemized on that link page above.) Hmm… given that the last one was in late February, I suppose you can expect Episode 10 to show up some time near Christmas. (Louis Wu 12:40:33 UTC)
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Leaks Will not be Tolerated
Mister Froggy let us know about Halo, Articulated #56 – Bungie didn’t give you the dialogue that goes with some of the scenes in the recent Halo 3 trailer, but one of them is unveiled here for you.(Louis Wu 12:34:59 UTC)
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Killzone 2 trailer. Zamazing.
The Microsoft fanboy in me may never forgive me for posting this video. But as a gamer and a lover of immersive first person shooters, I must post this video.
I don’t own a PlayStation 3. But trailers like this make me want to own one. All of a sudden, HALO 3 looks a lot different to me.
currently playing: Shadowrun
on the back burner: Catan, Guitar Hero II, HALO 2 (PC)
Shadowrun rocks!
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Halo: Portable Podcast Episode 9
52MB – 56:54 Minutes
Here is your regularly scheduled podcast, folks. Funkmon and I discuss the Halo 3 beta, the different Halo 3 SKUs, Bungie Day, my article about Halo 2’s Matchmaking, listener email, Tex’s lameness, and more. This was recorded just before E3, so none of that stuff is in here. However, it will be in the next one!
Funkmon was using an MP3 player covered with a sock, so his voice quality is lacking compared to my professional, sound-canceling, $30 USB headset/mic combo. Click the pic to enjoy!
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4 person co-op… confirmed?
Hmm… Either Jeff Bell (Microsoft VP) slipped up and admitted something he shouldn’t be talking about… or we’re just misunderstanding the context. UNSCleric.com picked up a throwaway comment at the end of an interview Jeff gave to Major Nelson – and in it he seems to be saying that Halo 3 will have 4-person co-op. (Bungie has confirmed that Co-op will be in Halo 3 – but past that basic fact, NOTHING has been confirmed; we don’t know how many people will be able to play cooperatively, and we don’t know whether they’ll be confined to a single 360, or will be able to play via system link, or online. So this tidbit, if true and being interpreted correctly, adds a tiny bit to our overall knowledge base.) Found this at Digg.(Louis Wu 01:11:54 UTC)
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Friday the Thirteenth, Bungie Style
The Bungie Weekly Update is up now (both at Bungie, and in our Weekly Update Archive) – a nice summary of how the week went for Brian and Frankie, down in LA at E3, plus an awesome shot of the cover for this fall’s Halo novel. Go read! Avateur was first with the notice.(Louis Wu 01:01:19 UTC)
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Bungie Weekly Update: 7/13/07
Sure it’s the13th, but moreover it’s Friday and you know what that means: Tons of text to read in the Bungie Weekly Update.
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H2V Artist talks about the game
Spong has an interview with Colin Riley, Technical Artist for Halo 2 Vista, covering the game and how some decisions about it were made. For a technical artist, he certainly seems to have the marketingspeak down…(Louis Wu 19:37:34 UTC)
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Threshold Part 1
I seem to have misunderstood – Halopen’s Threshold Part 1 is already out, and available on their website, in multiple formats. Very heavy on the effects, intriguing use of mods, nice cinematography. Story seems a bit slow, and somewhat capricious – but it’s worth watching. Check it out!(Louis Wu 18:48:26 UTC)
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Over His Head.
The puns in today’s One One Se7en will make you wish Stuntmutt’s paternity leave had been longer. Maybe if we all chip in…(Louis Wu 17:59:10 UTC)
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Awesome Chief
DarkSim noticed a piece of artwork at DeviantART created by the comic book artist Daniel Luvisi – It’s a rendition of the Master Chief, and is listed as ‘Sneak Peek’. More to come?(Louis Wu 17:56:11 UTC)
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Situational Awareness.
Boxer has returned to AiD (If you’re too new to the HBO community to remember Adventures in Disaster, check our news archive – some of the links still work). COMIX!(Louis Wu 17:42:26 UTC)
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Arms Race, Re-edited
Geoff Chang re-edited the Arms Race video to be more ‘propaganda-like’, in his words. The end result is pretty interesting! There are two trailers in his first post, and another one in this post – all to the same movie, just different hosts/formats. Watch the one that works best for you.(Louis Wu 17:37:06 UTC)
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Threshold – It’s Coming
bryboy remix sent word of a new film from Halopen – it’s called Threshold, and it’ll be out soon. (Today, probably.) Read this description for more details – and then keep your eyes peeled for the final product!(Louis Wu 14:56:57 UTC)
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New Bungie Renders
Yesterday, Bungie also updated its Renders section – there are three new images available, two Master Chief poses and a really cool Golden Brute. As with all new Bungie renders, these are placed on a black background – they look cool, but it makes them a bit harder to use for fan artwork purposes. Never fear, though – we’ve got your back. You can grab much higher resolution versions, in uncompressed layered TIFF format, here – but be warned, the three images, compressed, are STILL 25 mb. (These came out of the Xbox.com press kit – but we’re saving you having to download the entire 250+ mb shebang; most of that size is for a bunch of uncompressed tiffs of the screenshots Bungie released a few days ago.)(Louis Wu 13:38:46 UTC)
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Gears of War coming to PC. Supports DirectX 10, game editor, new maps, new campaign chapters, Games for Windows – Live.
In a move that makes total sense, Microsoft is bringing Gears of War to the PC during the holiday season of 2007. This is going to be a great move for PC gamers. Gears is a high profile game and it was only released for the XBOX 360 in late 2006. This game is still fresh.
It is going to wear the “Games for Windows” badge and come with a host of exclusive features not available on the XBOX 360 version of this game. The game will support five new campaign chapters. Campaign was the “killer” feature for Gears of War. Adding five new chapters is going to sell a lot of copies. Gamers were not only into the story that Gears presented, they were into the characters that we played and assisted us throughout the campaign. That’s when you know you’ve built a good campaign – when fans bond with the characters.
Another feature that PC gamers will be excited about is the game editor that will allow users to can create and publish new multiplayer content. They will be using the Unreal Editor – one of the most popular editors available. Players can now import custom artwork into the engine, create particle systems, scripted encounters, cinematics, and more. While I’ve never been a fan of games that did this, it’s still a great option to include that will add to replayability.
Gears PC will also ship with new multiplayer maps, one new multiplayer game mode and new achievements.
The game supports the Games for Windows – Live online service. Many people have read my takes on the shortcomings for Games for Windows – Live. In short, it needs a lot of help and could be more crippled than the XBOX Live beta from 2002. A high profile game like Gears of War will surely bring some changes to the GfWL service. While HALO 2 was a high profile game (understatement?), it was released in 2004 and launched the GfWL service. HALO 2 (PC) game got mediocre reviews and had a quite launch with crippling online connection errors. Gears should change that. Gears PC will be in your face and heavily marketed. Here’s hoping that MORE users on the GfWL will give Micrsoft the data and feedback it needs to make the service better. If for nothing else, a hugely popular title like Gears PC will at least assure us that support forums and message boards will fill up with requests and threads for support. More feedback, even about technical issues, will eventually lead to a better service.
Gears of War PC will also run on DirectX 10. This is going to help usher in the DX10 era. Unfortunately, DX10 hardware hasn’t penetrated the market yet. Still, more and more gamers are updating their rigs to the latest cards from ATi and nVidia. DirectX10 will ensure that this game looks better than the XBOX 360 version while playing at higher resolutions. However, it will come at a price. Since DirectX10 is new, most PC gamers will have to buy new hardware.
This game will most likely NOT support cross-platform play allowing PC gamers and XBOX 360 gamers to play together in the same game. While it works well with Shadowrun, there’s no sign of that happening in Gears.
There’s also no mention of dedicated servers being released for Gears. Being able to play Gears on a super highspeed network connection would have ensured lagless games and possibly more than 8 players in a game.
Gears PC will be the biggest Games for Windows title to date. It’s going to drive the community and technology which will lead to even better games later in 2008.
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currently playing: Shadowrun
on the back burner: Catan, Guitar Hero II, HALO 2 (PC)
Shadowrun rocks!
The latest news about the Halo series of games from Microsoft
