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Planet Xbox 360 takes shots at MLG
Planet Xbox 360 has an opinion piece about MLG, and whether or not they have what it takes to be ‘taken seriously’. Read it for yourself – but I have to say, and I’m saying this as an MLG outsider, some of the arguments used in the piece are silly. The author argues that watching games is nowhere near as fun as playing them – but he ignores the huge number of people who enjoy montages (and, in fact, he ignores the millions of worldwide fans of OTHER gaming leagues, and THEIR spectator sports). For many of us, it’s more fun to play football than to watch it – but that doesn’t negate the success of the NFL. He gripes that focusing on a single game (Halo 2) will hurt MLG in the long run, because people want ‘new and fresh’ material – but NASCAR hasn’t started showing tractor racing, and I doubt they will. He scoffs at the idea that gaming can be a ‘sport’ – in his words, “since when did sitting in a giant hotel ballroom playing games against others for hours, constitute you as an athlete or player of sports?” One might ask the same about the drivers who sit for hours in the front seat of stock cars, circling the same track over and over… but in general, one doesn’t. I’m not sure why this piece rubbed me so strongly the wrong way… but it did. (I enjoy reading about MLG, but I’m not a real part of their community – it just felt like this attack was relatively unwarranted.)(Louis Wu 13:00:58 UTC)
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Probably too expensive to shoot
We got a note from Tim Dadabo, the voice of 343 Guilty Spark; he recently bought a new utility for his wife, and it gave him an idea for a product Microsoft could market. Imagine getting your house cleaned by 343 Guilty Suck… with Tim’s voice saying things like “MMMMMmmm Hmmmmmm Oh Hello! Please… let me clean up that “flood” of spilled Pepsi and chips.” Would you buy one?(Louis Wu 12:00:22 UTC)
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Mysterious Drawer Filling
As is usual on Fridays, the Bungie Weekly Update got posted last night – it’s a short one, with a little bit of info about XBL playlists (Team SWAT is making a comeback next month, unranked), a cool little bit of Halo 3 Alpha trivia, and a teaser for a new… SOMETHING. Hard to tell what the something is – just that everyone from tricksters to pro players will love it. (There are plenty of threads on plenty of forums, speculating about this. Of course, nobody’s really got any clue.) Also as is usual, we’ve put up a local copy in the Weekly Update Archive.(Louis Wu 11:54:03 UTC)
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Bungie Weekly Update
Nothing much to see this week, so move along if you’re expecting a huge revelation. Some good news about multiplayer matchmaking and a couple of interesting images. We’ll have more exciting stuff next week, but for now, on with the show.
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Duke Nukem Forever screenshot in the wild?
Is this the latest Duke Nukem Forever screenshot? 3D Realms president, George Broussard, says that the thumbnail-sized screenshot is an “in game shot.” I have to say that although it is small, the engine looks impressive. The lighting. The shading. The blur.
DNF is the most famous “vaporware” to ever exist…or not exist. 3D Realms still claims that this game has been in development for over 10 years. In fact, 3D Realms claims to be tweaking and polishing the game right now. The game was announced in April 1997.
Screenshots of DNF have surfaced in the past, however, they are hard to find. 3D Realms doesn’t like the shots being published because no screenshot currently represents what the game looks like in its current engine. Reportedly, this game has changed engines several times.
Duke Nukem had me like HALO at one time. I didn’t know better and I didn’t play it that often, but I was in another world when I played that game.
Duke Nukem Forever game page: http://www.3drealms.com/duke4/
Trackback URL for this post:
http://hushedcasket.com:80/trackback/1702Attachment Size duke-nukem-screenshot.gif 14.87 KB
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Duke Nukem Forever screenshot in the wild?
Is this the latest Duke Nukem Forever screenshot? 3D Realms president, George Broussard, says that the thumbnail-sized screenshot is an “in game shot.” I have to say that although it is small, the engine looks impressive. The lighting. The shading. The blur.
DNF is the most famous “vaporware” to ever exist…or not exist. 3D Realms still claims that this game has been in development for over 10 years. In fact, 3D Realms claims to be tweaking and polishing the game right now. The game was announced in April 1997.
Screenshots of DNF have surfaced in the past, however, they are hard to find. 3D Realms doesn’t like the shots being published because no screenshot currently represents what the game looks like in its current engine. Reportedly, this game has changed engines several times.
Duke Nukem had me like HALO at one time. I didn’t know better and I didn’t play it that often, but I was in another world when I played that game.
Duke Nukem Forever game page: http://www.3drealms.com/duke4/
Trackback URL for this post:
http://hushedcasket.com/trackback/1702Attachment Size duke-nukem-screenshot.gif 14.87 KB
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Enjoying the Benefits of Bungie’s Reflective Nature
A couple of weeks ago, Edge put their January 2007 article on Bungie online for all to read – and an enormous number of gaming news outlets jumped on a single quote from the piece – the one where Chris Butcher, expressing his disappointment with the gap between what he felt Halo 2 COULD have been and what it WAS, said ‘we screwed up’. Today, 1Up’s Luke Smith has posted an article in which Bungie themselves respond to the original article, and to the press reaction – it’s worth a read, from anyone who saw just the feeding frenzy, and didn’t really pay attention to the original piece. (Heck, it’s a good read, period – for all of us.) Thanks to GhaleonEB for noticing.(Louis Wu 21:11:09 UTC)
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Forza 2 has been dated
Forza 2 is scheduled to be released this May.
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6164805.html?tag=latestnews;title;2
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Being the Best – THEtom’s thoughts
Over at MLGPro.com, Ogre 2 has written up his thoughts about being voted Best Overall Player by his peers. Thanks, 3Suns.(Louis Wu 18:28:40 UTC)
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New Too Human Screenshot
Ever since I read an article from one of Mintz’s old gaming magazines while I was in Iraq, I have been intrigued by “Too Human.” The main character is Baldur, who you might recognize from Norse mythology. If not, give him a wiki (aka “Baldr”). The game is quite lofty, announcing a trilogy a full year before the initial game’s release. Like many 360 games this year (Assassin’s Creed, Bioshock), it promises to be “revolutionary.” Silicon Knights has been slow to deliver solid information and gameplay scenes, but I am still holding out hope that an awesome campaign could deliver this one. Here’s some screencaps, artwork, and a recent article from Joystiq:
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/25/too-human-emerging-from-a-very-cold-place/
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Craft, not Art
Eric Trautmann was asked recently to review Lost Planet – and in doing so, he took a look at storytelling in general in videogames. In specific, he looked at Halo, and pointed out that there’s a clear difference between ‘story’ and ‘plot’ – and Halo has more of the latter than the former.There’s no story there. The character learns nothing, changes not one whit, but instead merely moves through plot, and a derivative one at that.
(Before you get bent out of shape, realize that he’s not saying Halo sucks – he’s saying that stripped down to its essence, what makes Halo’s singleplayer stand out is not the originality of the storyline, but the way in which it was implemented.) Great read, overall – many thanks to Narcogen, over at Rampancy.net, for noticing it.(Louis Wu 13:13:45 UTC)
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Editing Contest Results Announced
On Wednesday, the Halopeño So Hot Editing Contest (announced in November, submission window closing in December) had its winners announced; Kanbo, who won second place, let us know a few days earlier, but the actual results page went up this week. Congrats to Jamie98s, Kanbo, and Devlin, for pulling in First, Second, and Third Place, respectively! Swing by the Halopen page to view the winning entries.(Louis Wu 13:01:33 UTC)
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ModTacular
Z wrote to point out the H3F ModTage – a video from Nastadon and Callous, showcasing a number of modded maps (and the weapons and vehicles that go with them). 154 mb, WMP9 format – swing by Halo3Forum.com to pick it up!(Louis Wu 12:51:23 UTC)
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Friday’s Fanfic
Ten new pieces for you today in the Fan Fiction section – go read!(Louis Wu 11:47:20 UTC)
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Mid-Air No-Scopes On Turret Jerks
There was a new Halo 3 Humpday this week, and it got posted last night. Once again, a coordinated team of Bungie employees went into Halo 3 matchmaking against 3 separate ragtag groups of whoever showed – and surprise, surprise, they won. (Good thing it’s still early in the Alpha cycle, and they can keep that confidence level up…) The writeup contains screenshots of the tweaked Bungie.net stats pages; kills are now broken out by type, and separate track is kept of suicide/betrayal totals. Schedonnardus was the first to notice this publicly.(Louis Wu 11:38:27 UTC)
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EHS Plays Halo
PositronTF noticed another marching band playing Halo while browsing YouTube – it’s unclear where this is (what high school, or even what state), but it’s fun. (Some of the baton twirlers seem to be holding energy swords.)(Louis Wu 11:31:45 UTC)
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KP In Action… Touchtyping
Games In Action gets to the bottom of the conspiracy that put KP in position to
get Frankie’s coffeekeep the Halo fan community abreast of Halo 3’s development. It’s a sordid tale of job applications and interviews that exposes the seamy underbelly of game development.Of course, working at Bungie isn’t all sushi farts and roses, but there are advantages, says KP:
The best part is being a part of the playtests, easily. It’s like having a LAN at your buddy’s house except it’s better ventilated, everyone has their own setup and sometimes your box crashes. Not only are they fun but often there’ll be some pretty in-depth discussions after the fact. At first I just watched those go down, but now that I’ve actually got some experience and skill playing the game, I’m comfortable sharing my opinion. It’s very cool to have the ear of the Halo 3 multiplayer lead.
One can only wonder if that ear is going to end up in a jar, like Ling Ling. Thanks for the heads-up to Louis Wu at (where else?) HBO.
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Only initial shipments of Crackdown will have H3 beta code
Only initial shipments of Crackdown will have the HALO 3 beta code. There have been conflicting reports from major gaming news sites. Many sites have given misleading information. I’ll say again: only early copies of Crackdown will have the HALO 3 beta code. So, pre-ordering Crackdown is the most certain way to get in the beta. Given that H3 has such a fanbase, Crackdown could sell out on launch.
Most likely, you’ll get a code with the game and go to the “redeem code” section of the XBOX Live Marketplace menu. You’ll submit the code and it will take you to the HALO 3 beta download.
How’s the Crackdown demo working out for you?
The latest news about the Halo series of games from Microsoft
