A load of HALO 3 accessories and merchandise is headed our way. The controllers and headset are designed by Spawn and McFarlane Toys creator Todd McFarlane. Here’s a look at what is in store (geddit? “in store”?).

* Xbox 360 Limited Edition “Halo 3” Wireless Controllers. Two new Xbox 360 Limited Edition Halo 3 Wireless Controllers will be available starting Sept. 18 and can be preordered today at select retailers. Designed with original artwork by legendary Spawn artist Todd McFarlane, they will be available in either the Covenant Brute or Master Chief themes. Each controller will be packaged with a limited edition “Halo 3” collectible figurine created by McFarlane Toys will sell for an estimated retail price $59.99 (U.S.).

* Xbox 360 Limited Edition “Halo 3” Wireless Headset. For the “Halo 3” enthusiast who enjoys wireless mobility while playing with friends on Xbox LIVE, the Xbox 360 Limited Edition Halo 3 Wireless Headset will sport the Spartan green and gold and provide high-quality voice connections over Xbox LIVE for an estimated retail price of $59.99 (U.S.). Available in early September, this accessory can be preordered today at select retailers.

* “Halo: Contact Harvest.” “Halo” fans can look forward to the latest book in the “Halo” saga, “Halo: Contact Harvest,” published by Tor Books and due Oct. 2, 2007. Written by Joseph Staten, the Bungie Studios cinematic and writing lead for the first two “Halo” games, the newest piece of fiction precedes the current New York Times’ best-selling book series, telling the tale of the first encounters between UNSC forces and the alien Covenant race that threatens to destroy all humanity. The trade paperback will cost $12.95 (U.S.).

* Marvel Comic miniseries. Bungie Studios has teamed up with Marvel Comics to release the monthly miniseries “Halo: Uprising.” The four-issue miniseries, featuring original storylines and artwork from the Eisner Award-winning team of superscribe Brian Michael Bendis and artist extraordinaire Alex Maleev, will launch with issue one on July 25, 2007 and cost $3.99 (U.S.) per issue.

* Zune™-Halo 3 edition. Encased in collectible packaging, the Zune-Halo 3 edition digital media player comes preloaded with artwork, trailers and music from all three “Halo” games, as well as an exclusive new episode of “Red vs. Blue” from the fan-adored machinima creator Rooster Teeth Productions LLC. The Zune-Halo 3 edition will be available exclusively at GameStop starting June 15 for an estimated retail price of $249 (U.S.).

I’m Zune-less right now. Unless more features are added (maybe even some removed) to the Zune, I won’t be getting one. I would probably rather have a brown-colored Zune anyway.

The wireless headset looks really cool. However, I’m not sure I could put up with the static interference that it transmits. Here’s hoping that bug gets fixed.

I’m totally down with the Marvel comic book series. Actually, I’ve already gotten my stash reserved at a local comic book store. Here’s hoping I can get hooked up with a special edition version of the first comic.

The book is a no-brainer. I own all of the HALO novels. I will own the next one.

The wireless controllers are a tough call for me. They look cool. They are very collectible. I want one or both. But $60 for a controller is a little steep. $120 for two is not going to go over well with the Mses. I’ll definitely have to think this one through.

Via Gamerscore blog: http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2007/06/13/551258.aspx

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currently playing: Shadowrun
on the back burner: Catan, HALO 3 beta, Guitar Hero II, HALO 2 (PC)
rest in peace: GoW, CoD3,
Shadowrun rocks!

According to XBLArcade.com, German website xbox-arkiv says that the German ratings board, the USK, has been asked to rate Marathon 2: Durandal, indicating that a port of the Bungie shooter classic, already open sourced and available as Aleph One will be making its way to Xbox Live Arcade sometime in the future.

So now it’s over. For just about everybody. I thought I’d do one last collection of observations about the Beta before we begin the four months or so waiting for the Real Thing to arrive. However, before that happens, it’s interesting to note that the beta isn’t over for everybody…

Click “read more” from the front page for the entire text.

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Bungie likes to tease its fans. Remember the Cortana Letters that helped introduce the world to the HALO universe? Those were cryptic emails that originated from the Microsoft campus revealing clues about the HALO universe. Viral marketing from 1999.

I Love Bees stepped it up a bit as it had fanboys and girls running from phone booth to phone booth all across the country to help usher in HALO 2. In that case Microsoft hired a company and actors to broadcast messages to fans via telephones and the website ilovebees.com. That had internet message boards burning up for weeks. Hackers and code crackers were digging deep into the I Love Bees websites even examining minute image files by opening them in text editors and scanning them for hidden text. As crazy as it sounds, Bungie is that much crazier because there WAS hidden text in the image files.

Remember “The Meg” easter egg in HALO 1? What about the hidden letters and abbreviations that Bungie has placed in most all of their products?

Bungie knows their fans. They like to play games. So now that the HALO 3 beta has ended are we being prepped for a new HALO 3 ARG?

Over on the Bungie.net forums a special user has registered and posted cryptic messages. The username is AdjutantReflex. That user has a special “class” assigned to it by a Bungie.net forum administrator. Most people on that forum are classified as “member”. VIPs and Bungie employees have special classes that identify them as something other than an average user. AdjutantReflex has this kind of marking. That user is part of the “CompoundIntelligence” class.

AdjutantReflex’s first post on the Bungie.net forum reads “This will be a good place to begin” in a yellow-colored font. The first post was made at 06.11.2007 10:26 AM PDT. Its subject was titled “System Integrity Confirmed”. Shortly after that post was made someone under the same username made a post on the popular HALO fansite halo.bungie.org. Here is that post that reads “Another good place” with the same subject line from the Bungie.net post.

Later on in a follow-up post on H.B.O. forum the AdjutantReflex. posts “I am a facilitator. I will serve you. But not yet.”

Then in a reply made on the Bungie.net forums in another thread titled “Archive/Resource Estimate” the poster writes “36 hours 50 minutes remaining. [Hibernation resumed]”. That post was made at exactly 06.12.2007 12:10 PM PDT. Note that the initial post in that thread reads "Archives/Resources will be compiled in approximately 38 hours. No significant incident predicted. Systems, functions and attitudes are nominal." That post was made at 06.12.2007 11:00 AM PDT

So what happens on the 14th of June at 1 AM PDT?

Apparently AdjutantReflex also had an XBOX Live profile at XBOX.com. I said "had". That profile is now offline and there’s no sign that it ever existed. However, many fanatics are reporting that AdjutantReflex’s profile at Bungie.net did in fact have a link to that user’s XBOX Live profile (like almost everyone else on the Bungie.net forums). Additionally, some of those users are reporting that AdjutantReflex accepted friend requests on XBOX Live and even communicated with fans.

Some of the transcripts of the messages sent between the fans and AdjutantReflex have been appearing online. They are cryptic much like the I Love Bees messages. Halo fan "Simon78" and other users are keeping track of the communications from AdjutantReflex at halowiki.net.

Examples from the communications:

Q: Request summary of activities in past 24 hours.
A: Query denied. Only the Reclaimer may issue commands.

Q: Where can the Reclaimer be located?
A: //all reclaimer data is classified.

Q: nomis78?
A: I am in communication with that individual. He may be a threat to the array.

Q: Oly Oly Oxen Free
A: Reading…. Human language of Latin origin… Meaning unknown.

Q: LIFE IS THE PATH
A: Life is death. Death is life. Such terms matter not to me.

Q: Am I the Reclaimer?
A: Time will tell.

Q: Are you the same from Bungie.net?
A: Data mining has occured there, yes.

Q: What will happen in 38 hours?
A: Unknown at this point. Events have yet to occur that will decide that. Events will occur soon.

Q: How do we trigger said events?
A: Events will trigger only through teamwork. Data mining is suggested.

Q: Can you give us some guidance?
A: Domain: www.bungie.net// : Only together can you……….

There are many more supposed communications found on the halowiki.net page.

It appears that something will happen on the 14th that will involve "teamwork" and "datamining". This is just what happened with I Love Bees, The Meg easter egg in the HALO 1 campaign, the hidden Skulls in the HALO 2 campaign, and so on.

Sources:
AdjutantReflex’s first created thread on Bungie.net forums
AdjutantReflex’s second thread on Bungie.net forums
All of Adjustant Reflex’s posts on Bungie.net forums (15 at the time of this writing)
AdjustantReflex’s first post and replies at Halo.Bungie.Org
halowiki.net communications log

currently playing: Shadowrun
on the back burner: Catan, HALO 3 beta, Guitar Hero II, HALO 2 (PC)
rest in peace: GoW, CoD3,
Shadowrun rocks!

So we had a cool show planned for this week. In the mean time real life came in and said “oh no you di-in’t” and snapped in a Z-formation and said not this week. I’ll spare you the boring details but this week instead of recording the next show I’m gonna spend that time getting episode 116 ready for prime time since I won’t have time to edit the show until then. Thanks for your patience. We have some interesting stuff planned for the next few shows, so stay tuned!

So we had a cool show planned for this week. In the mean time real life came in and said “oh no you di-in’t” and snapped in a Z-formation and said not this week. I’ll spare you the boring details but this week instead of recording the next show I’m gonna spend that time getting episode 116 ready for prime time since I won’t have time to edit the show until then. Thanks for your patience. We have some interesting stuff planned for the next few shows, so stay tuned!

So we had a cool show planned for this week. In the mean time real life came in and said “oh no you di-in’t” and snapped in a Z-formation and said not this week. I’ll spare you the boring details but this week instead of recording the next show I’m gonna spend that time getting episode 116 ready for prime time since I won’t have time to edit the show until then. Thanks for your patience. We have some interesting stuff planned for the next few shows, so stay tuned!

Believe it or not, Google has yet another tool to make your life easier, more interesting, and even help you make some money: Google Finance (Beta). Read about it’s plethora of features and why it’s better than Yahoo! Finance after the break.

I discovered Google Finance while experimenting with Yahoo! Finance. I had just finished entering my portfolio into Yahoo! Finance and I was a little unhappy with the display of information. Some of the information I wanted was in a small box in the upper left corner. OK, nothing wrong with that. Then a little more of the information I wanted was on the middle right. Between the two blocks were ridiculous amounts of graphic advertisements and a listing of financial news articles and blogs that didn’t appeal to me. After toying with it for a few minutes I had the thought: “Google generally does everything Yahoo! does, only better. I wonder if there’s a Google Finance?” After a quick Google search my suspicions were confirmed.

Setting up my portfolio in Google Finance took less time and was much less confusing than Yahoo! Finance. Yahoo! required me to access two pages via a “continue” or “next” button to enter pertinent info while filling most of the screen with options I wasn’t interested in. After completing the info I was also never sure exactly which “edit” button would edit my portfolio, edit the way it is viewed, or edit some other random function. Google Finance was beautifully simple. I get approximately the same screen to edit my portfolio as I did to enter it. All the fields are intuitive and the format is very sleek.

Now when I view Google Finance I see everything I want to see on one simple screen that doesn’t require scrolling. I see my portfolio’s daily performance in the upper left, news related to my portfolio in the center, a market overview on the right, and some more interesting columns on bottom like gainers/losers, all market news, and a market summary by sector. The only thing I have to scroll downward to access (on a 20” monitor at 1600×1200) is videos about the market.

Like most other things Google, Google Finance is not only sleek but very powerful when you dig a little deeper. When I click on the symbol for one of my holdings on the main screen it opens a page with detailed information. If the holding is a mutual fund it will essentially open the fund sheet and a performance chart that is customizable to the n’th degree. I can adjust the time frame I want to view visually by adjusting the width of a slider. I can then slide the window along the specified time frame that I select at top that ranges from one day back to inception. As I adjust the timeframe slider the scale of the graph at top automatically adjusts to provide more or less detail as appropriate. I can also hold my mouse pointer anywhere I desire over the line graph and it will project a point downward onto the graph and tell me the associated day and closing value in the upper right corner. I can easily compare it with other holdings by hitting the compare button above the graph and entering the holding’s symbol. I only have to remember the first couple letters of the symbol because Google Finance brings up an auto-complete list of symbols that match what you’ve entered so far along with descriptions of the holding to ensure you’re selecting the correct one.

If the holding you select from the main page is a stock or index the same uber-cool graph comes up but you get even more interesting information and more options. Directly to the right of the graph is news about that particular holding. The news stories are labeled alphabetically and a corresponding labeled marker appears on the graph on the corresponding point in time that the story broke. The graph is also labeled with splits and other pertinent events. New stories are labeled in reverse chronological order so you see the most recent news first. You can easily customize whether you want to see all or none of these features with the “settings” button above the chart. Underneath the news column you’ll find Google group discussions related to the holding. Additionally you’ll find all the key information you would expect plus a list of related companies and their performances.

Google stuck to the KISS principle with Google Finance and hit another homerun. It’s easy to setup and edit, visually pleasing and neatly organized, and intensely detailed and powerful should one wish to delve into it. It’s probable that many investment firms offering online access to their clients don’t offer tools this powerful.

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