My Halo News.com

The latest news about the Halo series of games from Microsoft

  • Last year called… it wants its update back.

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    Wow. Is it 2007 already? If you’re just waking up from a dream about gods bowling, and you’re wondering what happened in the Halo universe since 2005… check out the new top story at Bungie.net. KP’s laid down all the important happenings for 2006. Well, except for all my eBay purchases – where are those, I ask you? Go read.(Louis Wu 19:59:37 UTC)

  • Bungie.net Year in Review

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    We take a long, lingering look back at our annus mirabilis (look it up, ‘tards) and the antics and announcements that defined 2006 for Bungie. What’s going to happen in 2007? Oh, just the release of a little game we like to call Halo 3.

  • Streaming Live.

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    Stuntmutt got a 360 for Christmas. And he’s happy. But there are still some issues… check today’s One One Se7en.(Louis Wu 17:02:48 UTC)

  • Gears of War patch and maps coming this week

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    Two free new maps for Gears of War will be available on Wednesday, January 10th, from the XBOX Live Marketplace.  There will also be a new video available.  This new content is sponsored by the Discovery Channel.  No word on whether there will be any Discovery Channel branding on the maps.

    A patch for Gears of War is also coming out before the maps are rolled out.  The patch should be available tomorrow (Tuesday). Here is what the patch is supposed to change:

    * Fixed aspect ratio distortion when using VGA cable with 4:3 displays at resolutions higher than 640×480
    * Fixed voice issue with new players joining Player Match games in progress
    * Players can now get the Achievement for “Dish Best Served Cold” when using Troika turret to kill RAAM
    * Fixed rare situation where host could loop countdown and never start match
    * Fixed rare situation where players could get stuck after chainsawing in multiplayer
    * Reduced Grenade Tag melee distance
    * Enabled “Strict” NAT check on host to prevent possible connection issues
    * Optimized server browser queries to return results more quickly and prevent scroll bars from hiding quality of service icons
    * Reduced number of possible revives in Execution to match Warzone
    * Removed host name from Ranked match server browser
    * Disabled security cameras in Ranked matches
    * Ranked matches now require balanced teams (3v3 or 4v4)
    * Increased penalty for quitting a Ranked match to -50 points
    * Added additional cheat detection code
    * Additional housekeeping updates

    The two new maps are called Raven Down and Old Bones.

    • Raven Down: "A Raven Helicopter has gone down in the middle of a large scale battle with the omnipresent Locust Horde. Gears have taken out the Seeder and gamers join Delta Forces moving into the crash site from all angles to search for survivors."

      Raven Down map for Gears of War

      Raven Down map for Gears of War

    • Old Bones: "In an attempt to eradicate any traces of human history and culture, the Locust Horde has emerged under Sera’s Capitaline Museums and has begun to destroy them brick by brick. Each gamer’s mission is to help the Delta Force recapture the museums before all remnants of humankind’s existence are obliterated."

      Old Bones map for Gears of War

      Old Bones map for Gears of War

    Epic employees confirmed this news on their forums. XBOXZONE.com.au broke the news on their forums. Additional commentary from 1up.com.

    I think it’s great to see new maps already – especially free maps.  I think that is a heck of  a deal to provide those new maps about two months after release.  This will definitely keep the gameplay fresh.

    Perhaps Epic did fix some bugs and glitches with their next software update and the maps are a way to encourage old and new players to get into Gears of War and check out the changes.

    XBOX 360 owners will be required to accept the new patch while the maps will remain an optional download. The new patch and map may affect competitve Gears of War players in their online leages and tournaments. Will the new maps be a part of the stardard tournament rotations? Will the new patch affect gameplay so much that league rules will need to be changed?

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  • Gaming news from CES 2007

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    The Consumer Electronics Show is now taking place in Las Vegas and many companies are showing off their latest and greatest upcoming products.  Some of those products are video games and gaming hardware.

    Some news that has happened in the last 36-hours:

    Allegedly, Geometry Wars is headed to the PC (via Joystiq.com)

    IPTV is coming to the XBOX 360 in late 2007 with DVR capabilities and voice and video communications. Users will be able to watch live TV and chat with their friends or play a video game while recording a show to the hard drive. (via MS Press Release)

    An update for Gears of War is coming out soon (via Epic forums)

    • 2 new free maps are coming out (allegedly on Wednesday, January 10)
    • A new video is coming out sponsored by the Discovery Channel
    • An update for the game will come out before the content

    The Discovery Channel is giving away 2,000,000 Microsoft points (via XBOXZONE.com.au).

    UNO! will be Live Anywhere meaning XBOX 360 players can now get pwnd by gamers on Windows (via MS Press Release)

    10.4 million XBOX 360 consoles have been shipped to date. 5 million users are on XBOX Live. (via MS Press Release)

  • H2Vista – Achievements Supported

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    In an official press release from Microsoft at CES, there’s a comment about Halo 2 Vista, and its Live capabilities:

    “Halo® 2” for Windows Vista (Microsoft Game Studios/Bungie Studios) will also support Live, including enabling Windows gamers to communicate with Xbox Live gamers and earn Achievements in the famed “Halo 2” campaign – a first for any “Halo” title on any platform.

    Heh – will this convince Achievement-happy gamers who might otherwise have passed on this release to upgrade to Vista after all? (Louis Wu 14:28:25 UTC)

  • The CovieCast

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    Zukan pointed out The CovieCast, a podcast (of sorts) – a radio program done by Axel, inspired, it seems, by Tom Leykis (I’d hoped I’d heard the last of him when I left the West Coast). in it, modders and non-modders debate the subject of modding in Halo. I can’t tell if this is supposed to be propaganda for the HaloMods community, or if it just turned out that way… 10 minutes, 9.4 mb. Update: as Dream051 on our forum, the creator has put up Episode 2. No more Leykis (yay!) – just some familiar characters from a game we love. (Louis Wu 14:21:01 UTC)

  • Campaign Panoramas

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    RVideo is back, with four new panoramas from Halo 2’s campaign. Gorgeous work! I’m lovin’ Activated, especially. He’s made these available in png format – they’re huge. I’ve added local jpeg mirrors – much smaller. Check ’em out!(Louis Wu 14:02:53 UTC)

  • Halo Zero – soon for PSP

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    Zukan pointed out that Halo Zero, a fanmade PC Halo sidescroller, is being ported to the PSP; there are a few screenshots linked in his post. More platforms = more better!(Louis Wu 13:41:36 UTC)

  • The dangers of overhype

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    Back in December, when the Halo 3 ad premiered on Monday Night Football in all its CG glory, some fans worried that the general public was going to think that this ad showed Halo 3 as it looked, in-game, and be disappointed when they finally saw the actual product. (I was one that didn’t worry too much; I felt that anyone who was really interested would do some looking online, and find the info about its CG roots pretty easily – and those who weren’t that interested wouldn’t care much either way.) Yesterday, though, this same ad was shown during Bill Gates’ keynote speech at the huge Consumer Electronics Show – and here, it was shown amongst standard gameplay footage from, for example, new games coming out for Windows Vista, with no qualifications about how it was created. According to GhaleonEB, the implication seemed to be that it was gameplay footage – and this, to an audience that WILL make noise when they learn that the game doesn’t look this way. Unfortunate… thanks to Stonesand for pointing it out.(Louis Wu 13:20:21 UTC)

  • Lost: Halostyle Ep 12

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    HaloPlayer stopped by yesterday to point out Lost: Halostyle Episode 12 – “The Plunge: Part 1”. Treading a fine line between comedy and drama, this series continues to please – solid story, solid humor, solid characters. Solid action in this ep, as well – great ideas! Definitely worth the download. (I’d suggest using our local mirror links (also in the forum post) for downloading; save their bandwidth.)(Louis Wu 12:56:08 UTC)

  • R.net updates Halo 3 FAQ

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    Narcogen, over at Rampancy.net, has organized all the Halo 3 info he can find into a new Halo 3 FAQ (with a new format) – took a few days to become visible to the masses, but go take a look now!(Louis Wu 11:44:53 UTC)

  • Escape Station – Online Tourneys

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    Bungie.net had word of a new website devoted to online tournaments – Escape Station brings people together to kill each other in lots of games, including Halo 2 (their favorite). Check ’em out!(Louis Wu 11:41:12 UTC)

  • CMT adds Halo 3 Weapons

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    Stealth_1000 stopped by with news of some new Halo 3 weapons incorporated already into new work from the Custom Map Team – good stuff!(Louis Wu 11:38:47 UTC)

  • Worst Game Endings Ever

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    Yesterday, Paul found an article on ComputerandVideoGames.com entitled ‘The worst game endings ever‘ – and yes, Halo 2 is on it. (They call it a crime.) (Louis Wu 11:34:40 UTC)

  • Podtacular All-Stars vs. Praetoria Guard

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    The Podtacular All-Stars are back in action! This time they took on the illustrious Praetoria Guard, a long-running and famous Halo 2 clan with a rich heritage. These guys put up a great fight, and it looks like it was an exciting set of games! Read a full review of the matches written by MaesterGXL in the forums. Congratulations All-Stars, and thanks Praetoria for a great game!

  • The Riot 30

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    Sigafoos writes to point out The Riot 30 – community discussions, and the announcement of Community Awards for 2006. Voting opens Wednesday, but you can discuss stuff on their forum now. 23 minutes, 9 mb. Go listen.(Louis Wu 20:40:43 UTC)

  • Arbiter model project

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    The More Deluded has been working on a bust of the Arbiter – pretty impressive-looking! Check it out.(Louis Wu 17:29:20 UTC)

  • Halo on a DS – another view

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    leprecaun90210 noticed a writeup on HaloInformer, speculating about the Halo on a Nintendo DS story that popped up a couple of days ago. HaloInformer doesn’t know anything more than the rest of us – but the reasoning is solid. If it turns out to be true, Matt Cassamina’s going to have to rethink how he posts controversial stories, maybe…(Louis Wu 17:26:45 UTC)

  • ODST Test

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    Laird whipped up a test video showing an ODST ready for use in machinima. It’s tiny (about 800k, in either WMP9 format or QuickTime – it’s only 12 seconds long, with no sound) – but the potential is fantastic. Check it out.(Louis Wu 14:53:03 UTC)