-
It’s all about the Dance
Oh, my goodness – we did it again! This has been a crazy week; here’s hoping it’s unique. Catch-up time: let’s start with a really fantastic article which delineates just what’s so cool about Silent Cartographer, and how that applies to the rest of Halo. Andre Dunn was the first to tell us about it, and Kermit kicked off a forum thread which spawned a few great comments. Go read! (Louis Wu 01:33:14 UTC)
-
The Halo Bulletin: 9.5.14

This past weekend, we brought a few things we’ve been working on to this massive gaming expo called PAX Prime. It happens every year right down the road, so we usually walk over and check it out. Luckily for us, thousands of you came too, and even eagerly waited in line to play Halo: The Master Chief Collection for the first time in North America. With help from our friends at Xbox, ASTRO Gaming, Skullcandy Gaming, and ESL, we set up several 4v4 stations all around the expo with multiplayer gameplay on the recently announced re-mastered version of Lockout, set the game timer, and let you play to your heart’s content (or until you hit the score limit) (or the time limit).

Halo: The Master Chief Collection at PAX Prime 2014. (photo credit: Tom Matthews)
-
A new look at a classic
Marty O’Donnell posted a copy of the original 1999 MacWorld New York Halo trailer last night – and beyond the powerful nostalgia of this iconic video, this is worth watching because you haven’t really seen it before. It’s a slightly different cut than the official Apple/Bungie trailer we’ve all pored over – there are different edits, and a couple of additional clips that weren’t in the released version. Over at Rampancy.net, Narcogen has posted a side-by-side comparison of the two videos, making it easier to pick out some of these differences – upon watching both, it’s clear that the released version is more polished, but it’s wonderful to see this early cut!(Louis Wu 16:30:36 UTC)
-
PAX Vids For All
343 Industries has released web versions of the two Halo Channel pieces revealed during the MCC Panel at PAX last week – go watch the Behind-the-Scenes look at Nightfall and the Halo 2 Anniversary Gun Audio Demo (thanks, Grizzlei). If you have comments, there are threads for both in our forum (Nightfall | Audio Demo).(Louis Wu 16:19:02 UTC)
-
Icy Silence
Prime999r stopped by with word of ‘Icy Silence‘, his latest machinima. It’s short, but powerful – a powerless observer stands by as an alien invasion takes place. Check it out! (Louis Wu 16:15:22 UTC)
-
VTHU: Writing Round 3
Postmortem has kicked off another writing round of his Visualizing the Halo Universe project – this one looks at Solitary, the Halo CE Anniversary remake of Prisoner. What can you come up with? Let him know!k(Louis Wu 16:11:27 UTC)
-
Halo MWNY Comparison
Since Marty O’Donnell just posted a version of the Halo MWNY trailer from 1999, (view it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL0hrSSUpHw ) I thought I’d splice together a side-by-side comparison of that version and the one from Bungie’s own YouTube channel, which I remember as being the version actually shown to the MWNY audience and captured in multiple shakycam videos.
Bungie’s version is on the left; Marty O’Donnell’s version is on the right.
These appears to be slightly different performances of basically the same demo, but when you sync the two copies to the music, some of the edits aren’t in the exact same place, and there are a few segments that are slightly different.
There’s a graphical glitch in Marty’s version when the Spartan first emerges into the outdoors– some of the polygons that make up the tunnel walls become transparent briefly. There’s also a different camera angle that shows multiple flying objects over the water. These appeared briefly in the official version and were never positively identified; perhaps they were an element removed from the game before release?
Finally, the Bungie flag at the end of Marty’s version has a glowing Apple logo on top of it.
You can see one of the actual shakycam videos of the trailer as shown to the MacWorld crowd here:
http://rampancy.net/video/media/26/05/2009/Halo_Sneak_Peek_MacObservers_Idiots
-
Halo x Attack on Titan
tadboz pointed out Halo x Attack on Titan, a Halo-based recreation of an anime opening. (If you check this comparison link, you can see how amazingly the Halo 4 shots mirror the originals.) I’d never seen the anime – but that didn’t stop me from appreciating the work!(Louis Wu 02:29:47 UTC)
-
Time is a precious resource
Whee! You’d think that now that PAX is over, we’d have more time to update HBO. (You’d be wrong.) Apologies for the downtime (again). Sort of feels like a broken record… During the weekend, Urban Reflex posted a link to his Halo Timeline – it does a great job of putting a HUGE number of disparate sources into chronological order. Check it out! (Louis Wu 02:20:21 UTC)
-
-
-
ASE Ep. 128 Marathon EVIL 6: Mr Bill Meets Gumby
We’ve finished with the canonical Marathon Trilogy and are moving on to third party scenarios, starting with EVIL. In this scenario, a UESC ship from Tau Ceti runs into a spatial anomaly that sends them far away where we encounter something dark and evil.
In this episode, we try (and fail) to capture the ultra powerful Mystics.
There’s also a few other things that go on. About halfway through, we find a switch we know we’re supposed to push, but that it seems like we can’t push. What happened was (and not for the first time) it was activated by weapons fire, but we failed to notice and didn’t go looking for the door it opened. Instead we quit out and Narcogen finished the level solo.
EVIL can be played, like the other Marathon games, using the open source Aleph One engine which you can get here for Windows, Mac and Linux:
EVIL and other third party scenarios for the Aleph One engine can be downloaded here:
http://source.bungie.org/scenarios.php#more
We use irons’ Co-Op script, which gives weapons and ammo to both players if either picks any up, and prevents weapon loss on death (so items can’t be destroyed in lava or slime). The script also allows one player to teleport to a destination set by themselves or their partner, in case co-op players run into a problem a solo player would have to restart for.
http://simplici7y.com/items/co-op
EVIL has its own spoiler guide:
http://marathon.bungie.org/spoiler/evil/
Subscribe to the Narcogen’s YouTube channel for Anger, Sadness and Envy video podcasts:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIof4Cp3-cam7bAFzDEwK_wzSSEya050i
Subscribe to the iTunes channel or RSS feed for shorts and audio podcasts:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/anger-sadness-and-envy/id266991411?mt=2
http://feeds.feedburner.com/AngerSadnessEnvy
Music used in this episode:
“What About Bob?” by Alexander Seropian, remixed by Craig Hardgrove (intro music)
“New Pacific (Reprise)” by Alexander Seropian, remixed by Craig Hardgrove (outro music)Marathon,Marathon Infinity (Video Game),Bungie,Bungie Studios (Organization),Cooperative Gameplay (Gameplay Mode),Cooperative Game (Game Genre),Let’s Play
-
-
Wort Wort Wort
Tex was a little devious, and mucked around the settings menu on Halo 2 Anniversary when nobody was looking – check out what she found!(Louis Wu 23:46:26 UTC)
-
ASE Ep. 127 Marathon EVIL 5: Hackers
We’ve finished with the canonical Marathon Trilogy and are moving on to third party scenarios, starting with EVIL. In this scenario, a UESC ship from Tau Ceti runs into a spatial anomaly that sends them far away where we encounter something dark and evil.
In this episode, we discover an alien race even more powerful than the legendary S’pht’Kr.
EVIL can be played, like the other Marathon games, using the open source Aleph One engine which you can get here for Windows, Mac and Linux:
EVIL and other third party scenarios for the Aleph One engine can be downloaded here:
http://source.bungie.org/scenarios.php#more
We use irons’ Co-Op script, which gives weapons and ammo to both players if either picks any up, and prevents weapon loss on death (so items can’t be destroyed in lava or slime). The script also allows one player to teleport to a destination set by themselves or their partner, in case co-op players run into a problem a solo player would have to restart for.
http://simplici7y.com/items/co-op
EVIL has its own spoiler guide:
http://marathon.bungie.org/spoiler/evil/
Subscribe to the Narcogen’s YouTube channel for Anger, Sadness and Envy video podcasts:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIof4Cp3-cam7bAFzDEwK_wzSSEya050i
Subscribe to the iTunes channel or RSS feed for shorts and audio podcasts:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/anger-sadness-and-envy/id266991411?mt=2
http://feeds.feedburner.com/AngerSadnessEnvy
Music used in this episode:
“What About Bob?” by Alexander Seropian, remixed by Craig Hardgrove (intro music)
“New Pacific (Reprise)” by Alexander Seropian, remixed by Craig Hardgrove (outro music)Marathon,Marathon Infinity (Video Game),Bungie,Bungie Studios (Organization),Cooperative Gameplay (Gameplay Mode),Cooperative Game (Game Genre),Let’s Play
-
Some kids have awesome parents
Swing by the Sci-Con Tampa Facebook page for some awesome pics of a fan-made mini-Warthog created by Mystic Makings LLC (for their young daughter): here are some in-progress pics, and here is an awesome shot of their 3-year-old on the main gun. Thanks, RVideo.(Louis Wu 18:17:07 UTC)
-
Halo at PAX Prime 2014!

Saturday, August 30

In the winner’s bracket, we have TCM, VWS, Triggers Down and Excellence.
In the loser’s bracket, we have TFG, Darkest Hour, Reality Check and USA.

Friday, August 29

And the three teams to qualify at PAX Prime this year are…

Team name: TFG
Players: TRANSFORMER, HIGHLIGHTS, Dietrich, Sukkafish
Team name: USA
Players: Unyshek, NartTopc, Dragonite, Nak3d Eli
Team name: Reality Check
Players: Suddoth 1, Thrust, Zoo Wuu, Suddoth 2We’re beyond excited that Lockout was announced as another re-mastered multiplayer map in Halo 2: Anniversary!
Lockout’s legendary makeup of towers, hallways, ramps, and rooms made it one of the most iconic and beloved Halo maps of all time. As one of the flagship Halo 2 tournament maps, Lockout was home to a wide host of game types, including Free-for-All, Oddball, King of the Hill, 1-Flag CTF, and of course, Team Slayer. Get ready to return to this classic battleground as Lockdown, part of the Halo 2 Anniversary multiplayer experience in Halo: The Master Chief Collection.
We also have some wallpapers of Lockout concept art for your viewing pleasure. Check out the rest of the screenshots here.


-
Halo Showdown Finals – Pax Prime 2014
Today is the final day of the Halo Showdown tournament – 10k and bragging rights are on the line! Remember to pick ‘source’ as your viewing option for the 60fps experience. See you in the chat!(mastrbiggy 17:33:04 UTC)
-
Halo Panel – Pax Prime 2014
If you missed yesterday’s Pax Prime 2014 Halo panel, you can watch the archived version on the PAX Twitch channel. There’s plenty of new info on H2A, Forge, Audio and a small taste of the Master Chief Collection version of Halo 3. Ducain23 also uploaded a YouTube version. Go watch!(mastrbiggy 17:30:33 UTC)
-
Data Pads – the Portable Version
Urban Reflex wanted a local, easily-to-access version of the Reach Data Pads on his PC – so he compiled them (thank goodness for Halopedia!) and saved them in PDF format. And then he was courteous enough to send US a copy, so you can have them too. Enjoy!(Louis Wu 16:13:45 UTC)
