My Halo News.com

The latest news about the Halo series of games from Microsoft

  • New Panoramas from RVideo

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    RVideo continues his awesome panorama work in Halo 2; there are three new ones in this forum post. The original .png files (hosted on his server) range from 1 to 1.5 mb; I’ve also added much smaller (filesize, not screensize) jpegs, ranging from 120 to 160 kb. They’re all pretty – but Judgement ROCKS.(Louis Wu 18:34:48 UTC)

  • Friday’s Fanfic

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    Seven new pieces for you in the Fan Fiction section today – go read. (Remember, submitters – there’s a new ‘max 3 submissions per week’ rule… don’t flood the inbox. Thanks!)(Louis Wu 17:51:14 UTC)

  • Nostalgia

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    We got an email from DeAdLy SeNiX, about a montage video he’d edited (using footage from ThePanzerGnome). It’s got a large backstory, and the video itself is over 17 minutes long. It’s currently being hosted by FileFront, with mirrors from impressed watchers. (You can read the backstory, and find the download links, in this forum post at Halo3Forum.com.) The file is enormous – almost 360 mb. I started the download and went to do other things yesterday… and when it got here, and I realized it was almost 20 minutes long, I figured I’d watch a few representative minutes so I could at least say something about it. I ended up watching the whole thing. Great music choices and superb timing mix nicely with some topclass gameplay. (The actual gameplay is less impressive than it used to be; multiple Killimanjaros are no longer a novelty. It’s how they’re put together that matters at this point.) Anyway, if you’ve got an enormous pipe, and room for a third of a gig on your hard drive, grab this puppy; it’s fun to watch. And be sure to read the forum post, for a view into the mindset of the creator; it’ll set you up nicely for the vid itself. (You’ve got plenty of time – it’s a 350 mb download!)(Louis Wu 16:48:31 UTC)

  • Ridonkulous is not a word.

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    Over at Bungie.net last night, KP posted a Halo 3 Humpday Challenge writeup; it was the Community Team vs the Multiplayer team. The Community team lost – though KP suggests it might have happened on purpose. (Of course, KP also suggests that he gets coffee for Marty every morning not because he has to, but out of the kindness of his heart… so you take what you want to from his rationalization.)(Louis Wu 16:28:34 UTC)

  • Ms. Pacman. The arcade’s easiest 200 gamerpoints?

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    Ms. PacmanI bought Ms. Pacman off of the XBOX Live Marketplace last night after I got home from work. Less than one hour later, I had unlocked all of the achievements and gotten a perfect 200/200 points. As a matter of fact, I got 90 points (including the hard-to-get “Perfect” achievement) in the first level. For you information, the “Perfect” achievement is the one where you have to eat all four ghosts four times in one stage. I still haven’t done this in Pacman.

    I bought Pacman when it first came out on the arcade a few weeks ago. I played the demo and it brought back memories of watching my parents play this game on an old Atari. However, I have to admit that I was a little disappointed when I recalled that I was actually just playing the same level over and over. So, I bought Ms. Pacman. It had different levels or stages and I knew this is what I really wanted to play.

    During the first round I got the “Cherry”, “Strawberry”, “Orange” and “Pretzel” achievements right off the bat. Noticing that Ms. Pacman seemed to move a little faster than Pacmac did in his game, I decided to go for chomping all four ghosts with one pellet (something I still haven’t done in Pacman). I simply maneuvered around the stage until all the ghosts, which were following me, were near a pellet. I ate the pellet and ate one, two, three, and four ghosts. I then knew that eating four ghosts in Ms. Pacman was a lot easier than eating them in Pacman. So, I went to the other three pellets and did the same thing: maneuver around the stage until the ghosts are near each other and following me toward a pellet. In the first stage and without dying, I got this achievement. I got 90 points and 7/12 achievements in just a few minutes.

    (Note: The “Perfect” achievement must be gotten on the same level. You must eat all four ghosts after eating each of the four power pellets.)

    I then spent the next 40 minutes getting the rest of the achievements, the hardest one now being “Clear Round 21”. Since Ms. Pacman (and Pacman) allows you to start your game over at the last level you completed, getting to level 21 was a matter of restarting some of the harder stages from scratch when I ran out of lives.

    If you are wondering if you should buy Ms. Pacman or Pacman, I recommend getting Ms. Pacman. There really isn’t a reason to get Pacman over Ms. Pacman in my opinion since Pacman is really only one stage.

    Ms. Pacman at XBOX.com – (link)
    My gamercard at XBOX.com – (link)

  • The Sublime And The Ridonkulous

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    Rampancy – Se7en Years Of Halo
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    Due to one thing and another, including chetz, h4x, modified weapon spawns, beastly brute spiker dual-wielding, and the fact that Ferrex rulz and Staten droolz, the Halo 3 Multiplayer Team defeated the Bungie Community Team 2 games to 1 in the latest internal humpday. See KP’s writeup on Bungie.net for details.

  • The Man To Deliver The Keynote

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    Rampancy – Se7en Years Of Halo
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    Wideload Games’ Alexander “The Man” Seropian will deliver the keynote address at the Vancouver International Game Summit in May 2007, according to an announcement on MarketWire issued by Reboot Communications Ltd, organizers of the conference. Details on the conference are at the Reboot Conference site.

  • Bungie Store to Go Down for Maintenance

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    Bungie.net’s Recent News
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    This weekend the Bungie Store will be going down for a short period of time, four to five hours, while Sunrise Identity performs maintenance on their servers. During that time you will not be able to use the store.

  • The Mongoose – M274 Ultra-Light All-Terrain Vehicle

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    Hushed Casket News
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    HALO 3's MongooseBungie has officially introduced it’s latest vehicle addition to the Halo universe. “The M274 Ultra-light All-terrain Vehicle provides an alternate means of transporting messages, documents, and light cargo between units. It may also be used to transport forward observers, reconnaissance personnel and sniper teams. Its proven versatility has made it a vital asset to field commanders when used as an alternate means of communication.” Check it out at Bungie.

    ‹ Gears of War LAN at JANLAN 2007 First World of Warcraft Level 70 @ T+28 Hours ›

  • Halo 3 Humpday

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    Bungie.net’s Recent News
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    This week the Bungie Community Team took on the Halo 3 Multiplayer team in a Humpday Challenge. We played a recent build which the multiplayer team itself compiled earlier in the day. Potential for hax and chetz? Astronomical.

  • An Army You Could Set Fire To

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    Nomi is a regular of the irc.bungie.org #hbo channel – and last fall, she was one of the attendees at a LANfest in Ohio, hosted by Tarny. What started as an insert for a Christmas card/thank you note to Tarny has grown into almost a cottage industry – check out her ultra-cool Paper Spartans!(Louis Wu 19:43:07 UTC)

  • More Awards for the Machinimators

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    Deomitrus wrote to point out a press release from the Sentinel Machinima Awards – this is a new awards project intended to replace the ‘Rockets on Prisoner’ Awards. (Well, ‘replace’ is probably a bad word, since Funkmon has said he intends to continue that particular tradition… but the idea is certainly understandable; the Sentinel Machinima Awards will honor the best and brightest machinima for the year.) The full press release can be read at the SMA website.(Louis Wu 18:59:31 UTC)

  • Halo: The Fall

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    Ruben Gonzalez sent along a screenplay adaptation of Eric Nylund’s ‘The Fall of Reach’ – he’s looking for feedback from Halo fans. Give it a read, then stop by our forum and let him know what you think!(Louis Wu 15:41:18 UTC)

  • More Gender in Halo 2

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    HBO
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    Heh – this is one of the reasons I like this community so much. Cody Miller resurrected an older post from DanteThePoet, about gender usage in Halo 2… and the resultant thread is actually pretty highbrow, given the potential for crude humor. If you’re interested in how women are portrayed in Halo 2, you might want to join in. (If you’re looking for bathroom humor or boob jokes, you should probably go elsewhere.)(Louis Wu 15:16:13 UTC)

  • More LAN reportage

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    rapture wrote up his own version of the Undead JANLAN 2007 event last weekend (the one Mintz went to only to get a front-page mention for) – comments can go either after the story itself, or in response to his forum post.(Louis Wu 15:01:15 UTC)

  • MLG Content

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    Tons of new stuff at MLGPro.com – you’ll find Player Match Commentary from Strongside (it’s currently the default video), plus Part II and Part III of the 2006 Halo Retrospective, plus the Division I Quarterfinal Wrap-up. That should keep you busy… (Louis Wu 14:54:27 UTC)

  • A Small Experiment

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    Rampancy – Se7en Years Of Halo
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    Just so viewers know, I’ve enabled an interstitial ad on the site. It’s the first such ad requested on the site, through the AdBrite service, which I haven’t actively used since mid-2005; I found that Google AdWords was sufficient to chip in enough small change to make me feel that the site isn’t just a huge drag on the server that doesn’t pay for itself. It doesn’t pay for itself, but at least it’s not freeloading.

    I’ve enabled this ad mostly to see what it looks like. Supposedly it’s a full page ad shown after three pageviews, and only once a day for each viewer. The site it is advertising seems to be a blogging and discussion site, and seems reasonably safe.

    I will be keeping a close eye on this ad; if it really is obnoxious, or the site it actually links to is in any way inappropriate, I will disable it, and if anybody sees the ad and has any comments about it, please feel free.

  • News Update For January 11, 2007

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    Rampancy – Se7en Years Of Halo
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    Not even two weeks into the new year, and real life plus other circumstances have already conspired to let far too much Halo and Bungie material slide by without a mention. So here’s a quick list of what’s been going on:

    Community Shuffle
    Due to spam attacks, HBO’s forum has had to require users to register. Registration consists, currently, of just entering a password and a nickname when you post, and then remembering that password for future posts (or letting your browser do it for you). Currently no email address or captcha is required, so it’s a lot easier than registering here at Rampancy. If you haven’t already, there’s no excuse not to, and in retrospect it’s amazing Louis Wu was able to keep the forum so open, including what is essentially anonymous posting, for so long.

    Changes are also afoot at HaloGrid, which is closing its forum for reasons too lengthy to summarize here, so just read the note from imSuck on the front page. There’s also a discussion thread about it in the HBO forum.

    Two Seats, No Waiting
    The quick and nimble Mongoose ATV, due to appear this year in Halo 3, gets a discussion cum dissection at Bungie.net courtesy of KP, complete with in-game examples of possible uses, specializing on Valhalla.

    Cross-Dressing For Success
    Rumors swirl that Halo 2 Vista players can compete against Xbox players on Live, but Bungie quashes it.

    Bungie’s Post Of The Year
    The post of the year award goes to KP for the post, Bungie.net Year in Review, which was the only post that met the criteria for this award by summarizing all the Bungie related news during the past year. Despite being an employee of Bungie, KP was eligible. As a bonus, this one includes a year’s worth of Mister Chiefs, which is probably the scariest thing on the Internet this side of the average MySpace page.

  • Hydrogen-injected, my patootie

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    Over at Bungie.net, you’ll find a detailed summary of the M274 ULATV “Mongoose” – a vehicle we’ve all heard about, but very few have seen in action. What it can do, when you should use it, when you should get your butt off one… it’s all in there. Great read!(Louis Wu 00:33:18 UTC)

  • The Mongoose

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    Bungie.net’s Recent News
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    With the invaluable help of Robt. McLees, Bungie formally introduces you to The Mongoose, the newest addition to the UNSC’s ever-expanding arsenal with which to wage war against the Covenant.