As a Christmas present to you all, Captain Spark recorded one last batch of Halo 2 dialogue (he’d said a while ago that he was done) – you can find 13 new snippets, including the Cortana ‘Leave me!’ quote from the end of High Charity, in the Dialogue Databank. Enjoy!(Louis Wu 18:54:24 UTC)
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QuickTime Brute Goodies
I do this with some trepidation… but what’s bandwidth for, if not to spend it profligately? Yesterday, we pointed out a couple of sites that had 720p versions of the Brute video documentary for download – but only one of those (GameVideos.com) offered a QuickTime version. And that QuickTime version had a few drawbacks: it was encoded using the h.264 codec (which is really cool, but beyond the power of many processors to handle properly), and it weighed in at 577 mb, leading a number of folks with full hard drives to despair. It also came in at a rather odd size: 1248×702 pixels. We’re putting up a copy of that vid (with GameVideo’s blessing) that has had all of these shortcomings rectified; our version is encoded with the Sorenson 3 Pro codec (viewable by anybody with a relatively current version of QuickTime), it displays at a full 1280×720 pixels, and it weighs in at 269 mb – big, but still 300 mb shy of the original. (Visually, it’s identical.) For good measure, we’re tossing in a half-size version (640×360, 88 mb) which has the added bonus of being watermark-free. (Our large version, having originated from the GameVideos file, contains the GV watermark.) Be gentle…(Louis Wu 18:19:22 UTC)
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Next Gen looks at 2006’s screwups
Next Generation posted an article last week entitled ‘Gaffes and Blunders in 2006‘ – amidst snickers about the Phantom console, and flying Wii controllers, you’ll find, at Number 6, “When Hollywood Schemers Attack”, a shot at the Halo movie situation. Thanks, 3Suns.(Louis Wu 16:42:36 UTC)
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Vidoc Transcriptions
Two separate transcriptions of the Brute Vidoc appeared on our forum yesterday – RC Master posted a transcript of all the spoken content, and Darkninja90 posted a transcript of all the action (with comments). If you want to see if you missed anything, or if you want to see if the vidoc is worth downloading, these might help!(Louis Wu 16:17:18 UTC)
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Coming Not To Praise Tartarus, But To Bury Him
So the Brute documentary is out. I’m going to stop using Bungie’s VIDOC or Video Documentary term, because I really couldn’t think of any other kind of documentary except perhaps for film, and since George Lucas says film is dead and HD Video is the way to go, I suppose it’s redundant.
Certain pockets of the fan community, while they enjoyed the very slick and polished Halo 3 Announcement Trailer, have been bothered by the stream of apologia that accompanied first the non-real-time, non-Halo-engine CG television commercial, and now the pre-pre-alpha, not-yet-finished visuals of the Brute documentary.
I’d like to praise Bungie for its candor, however. The documentary on the Halo 2 Limited Edition was quite frank about some of Halo 2’s shortcomings, as well as some of the reasons for them. This latest documentary is no different: first and foremost Bungie is admitting that Brutes in Halo 2 were a late addition to the game. They were tough only because they could take a lot of damage; there was no differentiation between different Brute individuals except for Tartarus himself and a few honor guard headdresses, and fighting Brutes was more like fighting Super Flood than fighting Elites or other Covenant units.
Click “read more” below from the front page for the complete text.
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Coming Not To Praise Tartarus, But To Bury Him
So the Brute documentary is out. I’m going to stop using Bungie’s VIDOC or Video Documentary term, because I really couldn’t think of any other kind of documentary except perhaps for film, and since George Lucas says film is dead and HD Video is the way to go, I suppose it’s redundant.
Certain pockets of the fan community, while they enjoyed the very slick and polished Halo 3 Announcement Trailer, have been bothered by the stream of apologia that accompanied first the non-real-time, non-Halo-engine CG television commercial, and now the pre-pre-alpha, not-yet-finished visuals of the Brute documentary.
I’d like to praise Bungie for its candor, however. The documentary on the Halo 2 Limited Edition was quite frank about some of Halo 2’s shortcomings, as well as some of the reasons for them. This latest documentary is no different: first and foremost Bungie is admitting that Brutes in Halo 2 were a late addition to the game. They were tough only because they could take a lot of damage; there was no differentiation between different Brute individuals except for Tartarus himself and a few honor guard headdresses, and fighting Brutes was more like fighting Super Flood than fighting Elites or other Covenant units.
Click “read more” below from the front page for the complete text.
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Halo 2 Main Theme For Piano
I was taking another look at some of the sheet music earlier and I noticed that there was no Halo 2 theme. So I decided to transcribe it. The format is again only for Finale Notepad but will be available in PDF shortly. I also added “The Maw” transcription done by Poop Scoop to the Halo 2 theme because I have heard it before on the title screen. In fact, I hear right after the main theme. So here it is.
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Halo 2 Main Theme For Piano
I was taking another look at some of the sheet music earlier and I noticed that there was no Halo 2 theme. So I decided to transcribe it. The format is again only for Finale Notepad but will be available in PDF shortly. I also added “The Maw” transcription done by Poop Scoop to the Halo 2 theme because I have heard it before on the title screen. In fact, I hear right after the main theme. So here it is.
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GTV Intro Contest
We got word from trigger119 that GamingTV is holding a video intro contest – make them a cool intro, win stuff. More details are in this post at GTV!(Louis Wu 22:33:42 UTC)
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720p downloadable Vidocs
There’s a news post further down the page with links to web versions of the Brute Vidoc – but I thought a separate note was warranted for 720p versions (1280×720). You can find them at both TeamXbox (WMP9, 232 mb – thanks, MasterChief2829) and GameVideos.com (WMP9, 478 mb, QuickTime, 577 mb – thanks, giga). High-res goodness… mmm!(Louis Wu 21:56:35 UTC)
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In-Fusio and MS – mad at each other
Mercury noticed an article at the Inquirer – looks like In-Fusio is suing Microsoft over Halo; the claim is that Microsoft is thwarting In-Fusio from developing the product, but demanding payment anyway. End result for us? No Halo on your cell phone, at least for now. Bummer!(Louis Wu 21:32:11 UTC)
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This… is… MARTA!
Frankie has updated the news post from last night, which mentions the Brute Vidoc, to include a short question and answer session answering your most-asked questions. And he added in some great pics to try and distract you from the fact that he’s got no more screenshots for you. Go read!(Louis Wu 21:17:34 UTC)
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Basket Case.
Stuntmutt looks at a new form of Covenant attack in today’s One One Se7en.(Louis Wu 17:20:06 UTC)
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Love/Hate Relationship
Paul Maestri hasn’t had a chance to see the Brutes ViDoc yet – I think it might be getting to him. Check today’s Halo Heads.(Louis Wu 17:03:49 UTC)
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Brute Vid online, lots of places
For folks who don’t have a 360, or Xbox Live… the Halo 3 ViDoc ‘Et Tu, Brute?’ is available at millions of places across the web. (Well, okay, not millions. But a lot.) There are 640×360 versions at GameVideos.com (thanks, z77) and Xboxyde (thanks, Urk), and Wraith-ops.com (thanks, Wraith7n). There’s a 428×240 version at JeuxFrance (thanks, Xavier De Coster). There are lots and lots of YouTube links (here’s one, here’s another, there are plenty more). I’m sure there are others – but this is a reasonable collection of links. YouNewb has 89 screenshots. (There are a bunch at that Xboxyde link above, too.) If/when higher-res versions become available on the web, we’ll be sure to let you know.(Louis Wu 16:25:22 UTC)
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Art inspired by the Halo 3 Ad for sale
Pavel Dolgov (we’ve mentioned him before) has created an 8×10 painting inspired by the Halo 3 ad – you can view it on eBay. The auction ends on December 29. If you like his work, remember that he takes commissions.(Louis Wu 15:34:19 UTC)
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Libertyville Halo – studio video
We’ve mentioned the Libertyville Halo performance a few times now (it first came up in September, and we posted a higher-quality recording a couple of weeks ago) – now there’s a video to go with the studio audio. Eastbeast314 found a version on YouTube, and DarkHelmet found it on Break.com. Go watch!(Louis Wu 15:30:50 UTC)
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MLG Pro Circuit, Online Tourney
Over at MLGPro.com, you can watch Week 6 of the MLG Pro Circuit if you missed it on USA last weekend, and there’s an update for the MLG Online tourney. Thanks, 3Suns.(Louis Wu 15:27:00 UTC)
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Halo Outkastz Trailer
Deekor sent word of a teaser for the upcoming Halo Outkatz series (stop by their website for more info). Mythica’s got a QuickTime link, and there’s a YouTube version. It’s very short – but it made me laugh. Give it a look!(Louis Wu 15:21:30 UTC)
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Jungle Trigonometry: Food
The big news today is going to be the Brutes documentary released on Xbox Live Marketplace earlier this morning, and we’ll certainly get to that – but there’s a bunch of other Halo goodness that yearns to be free, as well. First up – trigger119 is hosting, over at GamingTV.org, a new vid from SodaGod, called ‘Jungle Trigonometry: Food‘. It’s bright, it’s funny, it’s well filmed. Have I said SodaGod is one of my favorite machinimators? He is. Grab this – it’s worth the download. (We’ve got mirrors, but as of now they don’t seem to be needed.)(Louis Wu 14:59:53 UTC)