Just when we thought one Showdown was enough, 343 has announced in their latest Halo Bulletin that Pax Prime will feature it’s own Showdown on Halo 2 Anniversary. We were very excited to watch the Gamescom Showdown finals and see European pro team TCM take home the first place prize. Now we have the Americans to give their go at Halo 2 Anniversary for the same prize purse of $10K. If you’re going to be at Pax Prime this year, you will have the opportunity to play for a spot in the Showdown at the Astro Gaming booth with games of the showdown being broadcast on Saturday and Sunday. Also on Saturday is the Halo panel at 11:00A PDT with more delicious Master Chief Collection goodness. Make sure you hit us up on Twitter if you’re going to be in town next weekend.
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Podtacular 439: Show Me The Showdowns
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Evolution of Midship
Chief Canuck put together a video he calls ‘Halo 5 Guardians: Evolution of Midship‘. Does a pretty nice job showing how the map has developed over the years! Thanks, Vic.(Louis Wu 22:01:44 UTC)
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I dunno… they’re armored, right?
The ALS ice bucket challenge might be getting out of hand… but this is one of the coolest ones I’ve seen. Halo-related because of the challenges at the end.(Louis Wu 21:59:08 UTC)
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It was a heckuva week.
This week’s Halo Bulletin covers the madness that was Gamescom, with pictures, a recap of the reveals, and an interview with the winners of the Gamescom Showdown. There’s also a teaser for the upcoming tournament at PAX (which starts in a week!). Finally, there is a screenshot spotlight on Classic Maps – intriguing pics! Read it on Halo Waypoint, or read it here. (Don’t miss the film of some 343 employees rising to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge… pretty awesome!)(Louis Wu 15:13:36 UTC)
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The Halo Bulletin: 8.21.14
We have returned from the world’s largest game show. We gave you a brand new look at Halo 2: Anniversary, and if you were with us in Germany, you likely got hands on with the all-new multiplayer. We braved absurd crowds and lines, and most of us made it home alive. I have returned home with a terrible fever, which is why today’s Bulletin is coming in one day late. Thank you for your patience, friends. The below picture helps to shed light on why we barely survived gamescom.
While this picture does well to show just how packed the gamescom floor is, nothing can prepare you for the show itself. Every square foot of the convention center is always covered. You cannot see the floor. Was there even a floor? I’m not sure. Each hallway, each booth, and each concession stand is packed at all times. Luckily, the Halo booths in the halls were no exception. Thousands of you played Halo 2: Anniversary at the Xbox and ESL booths, and it was beyond exciting to see nostalgic smiles. For those of you who came by and said hello, thank you.
Traveling for industry events always offers something very special: the opportunity to meet Halo fans from all around the world, with different stories about which game is their favorite, why, and how Halo has changed their life. To the members of Italy’s 17K group, Germany’s HaloFactor, HaloFrance and everyone else that we had the pleasure of meeting, we’d like to say thank you. Being able to exchange stories, kills, and email addresses was the highlight of our trip, and we hope to cross paths again soon.
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Getting the Blood Pumping
Ready to get hyped for the Master Chief Collection? Go watch Beyond Entertainment’s Halo: The Return, edited by Snipetality. It’s spectacular. Grimbrother One was the first to point this out to us.c(Louis Wu 22:01:17 UTC)
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Fears about Halo 2
Over at The Sixth Axis, Matt Wingler wonders how good his memory is. Will Halo 2 stand up to the nostalgia? Check out his thoughts!(Louis Wu 21:59:07 UTC)
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Oonsk Oonsk Oonsk…
Revenant1988 stopped in with a video of some new upgrades to a classic Sean Bradley energy sword prop… you’re ready for that rave with this one!(Louis Wu 21:56:28 UTC)
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Awesome schwag for sale
pete_the_duck has found himself in a pretty tight space, financially, and has decided to part with some classic Halo schwag to help pay some bills. If you bid on this stuff, you’re not getting merchandise from someone who bought it originally as an investment – you’re getting gear that a serious Halo fan has acquired over many years, and loved for all of that time. Check out the offerings… and see what you might want!(Louis Wu 21:20:07 UTC)
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ASE Ep. 124 Marathon EVIL 2: Ten Thousand Spoons
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 meet our first Devlin and find out that a more familiar threat is also nearby…
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
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Halo 2 Limited Edition Mylar Print for sale
Jem Pizzazz let us know that a pretty nice Mylar print is up for sale on eBay right now; this is Lorraine McLees’ Halo 2 MC artwork, and you haven’t been able to buy it (except from previous owners) since 2004. Take a look!(Louis Wu 22:02:16 UTC)
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Halo 3 ODST AI Battle – ODST Squad in Firefight
Gamecheat13 took all the named ODSTs from Halo 3: ODST, and tossed ’em into Firefight, to see how they do against waves of Covenant. Interestingly, their biggest weakness seems to be grenades. Pretty interesting watch! Check it out.(Louis Wu 21:57:41 UTC)
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Crash Site Crashers
Episode 14 of Red vs Blue Season 12 went live this week – Reds and Blues split up to complete a couple of important tasks… and come back with varying success. Go watch!(Louis Wu 16:58:45 UTC)
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The Spirit of Fire EP13
The folks over at HaloFanForLife have released episode 13 of The Spirit of Fire podcast. In this episode the crew share their thoughts on the Halo reveals at Gamescom and talk about the recent HFFL LANstravaganza. Go listen!(mastrbiggy 23:49:21 UTC)
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ASE Ep. 123 Marathon EVIL 1: Mangle him, really
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.
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)
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In Memoriam: The Metaltage
RVideo sent us a link to a trailer for In Memoriam: The Metaltage. It’s only a minute long, but it does a fantastic job of building hype for the final product… go watch!(Louis Wu 21:50:54 UTC)
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Halo 2: Anniversary Pro Team Scrimmage
Chris101b stopped in to let us know that 343 has released an hour of gameplay on two the new maps (Ascension and Sanctuary) from the MC Collection – it’s 2v2 and the players are all ex-Pros (that now work for the studio). Good stuff! (Louis Wu 21:49:21 UTC)