My Halo News.com

The latest news about the Halo series of games from Microsoft

  • Interview with Aaron Greenburg: Microsoft’s group marketing manager for Xbox Live

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    foomojive
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    Although this isn’t related to Halo, DarthBALLZ45 from the Podtacular crew recently interviewed Mr. Greenburg about Xbox Live Arcade, The Xbox Vision camera, Sony and Nintendo’s online plans and most importantly his favorite hip-hop artist. Smile Click “read more” for the interview. Thanks to both Aaron and Darth!

    DB What is the meaning behind your Gamertag “BIGVIP”?

    Aaron Greenberg That was a nickname some guys at work gave me. I am a big hip-hop fan, so they used to call me “Notorious” or “Notorious BIGVIP”, but ended up shortening it to just “BIGVIP”

    DB What is you daily routine as a member of the Xbox Team?

    AG I currently am a Group Manager for Xbox focused primarily on Xbox Live, I work daily with PR, Marketing and the Product Teams to drive our strategy for the business.

    DB I hear you into Hip-Hop/Rap-who’s your favorite artist or group right now?

    AG I am currently listening to Rick Ro$$, Pimp C and the new Justin Timberlake CD. I got the JT CD early from Europe and it is hot, Timberland delivered again.

    DB What was you first job at Microsoft?

    AG I started in 1997 working with our businesses in Latin America. I joined the Xbox team in 2000 and was one of the original members, even before the PS2 launched. It has been a wild ride and it feels like we got a lot of the details right with the Xbox 360. Taking my Xbox hat off and just personally as a gamer, I will probably get a Wii, but see no reason to buy a PS3.

    DB I heard about people being able to test out the Xbox Live Vision Camera before it’s released, can you remind us on how to do that?

    AG We seeded cameras into the community to our MVP members and also provide a number for giveaways to blog and podcast sites as well.

    DB When did you guys first come up with the concept of Xbox Live Arcade Wednesdays? What were early ideas like?

    AG It was locked down earlier this year, but not too far before we announced it. We knew we had a huge number of new titles coming and wanted to manage the portfolio in a way that would be predictable for our owners. Also, with Wednesday being in the middle of the week, it works out nicely as we can release these games at the same time around the world.

    DB What’s your current favorite 360 game and/or arcade title out or not out to the public right now? I see you have been playing Madden 07 a couple days before launch!

    AG Right now I am really into Madden, normally I am a bigger NCAA Football fan, but for some reason I really got hooked on Madden instead this year. I also just recently picked-up Saints Row and am starting to get into that. On the Arcade side, I love the social games like UNO and Poker a lot. On the retro side, my favorites would have to be Galaga and Frogger. Titles I cannot wait to play include Lumines Live and Small Arms.

    DB What is your favorite feature about the Vision Camera?

    AG Customizing my Gamer Picture, I change it almost every day, that and sending funny pictures to my friends. I am in a big Madden rivalry right now with K Rock XP from SquadXP.com and we keep sending these crazy pictures holding trophies and football jerseys trying to intimidate the other guy. I can’t wait to give him the beating he deserves the next time we play.

    These next two questions are from some of the cool people from the forums at podtacular.com

    From Sil3nT71 what do you think of the Wii Virtual Console, and Sony’s plans to create a similar service? What is going to set Xbox Live Arcade apart from its competitors?

    AG I really have not seen any details on the Wii Virtual Console or similar plans from Sony. I assume they will both leverage their back catalogues. I feel like we have taken the right approach by partnering with the largest publishers of classic video games like Namco, Konami, Capcom, Midway and Sega plus being a destination for original independent developed games as well. Then you start to think about the XNA Game Studio Express and how the community will now start building there own games, really the future for digitally distributed games is super exciting.

    From Uhh Negative Are there going to be more oportunities to download games free within the first 48 hours such as Poker? Do you use feedback from consumers to determine what games you bring to Arcade?

    AG Poker was a huge hit, we had more downloads in the first 24 hours than any other item ever on Marketplace. That is a pretty big deal, given all the big demos and videos that have been up from some major franchises. But, to be honest this is not part of a long term strategy for us, it costs a lot of money to build these games and I am sure a number of people that downloaded it for free would have been willing to pay for it. Think of this as something we did as a thank you to the community for their support. Otherwise, all new Arcade will continue to have a free trial that everyone can download. Yes, we do listen to consumer feedback on what games to bring to Arcade, some of this is limited by rights, publishers and development cycles, but when we can we do try to give the people what they want.

    Much thanks to BIGVIP for letting me do this interview with him.

    (This was originally posted in our forums by DarthBallz45)

  • Watch a bunch of guys playing a game – on TV!

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    HBO
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    The introduction of fantabulous Halo tourneys continues to creep into our living room (I know, slightly redundant!). If you have DirecTV, you can catch a free preview on channel 101 this weekend. Halo 2 is one of 5 different tourney’s being showcased. I wonder if they can pull it off? Color me interested! Noticed at Slashdot.(Ding 17:09:30 UTC)

  • Soul Survivor

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    HBO
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    MaritalBlaze54 continues his series of music videos – this time out it’s Soul Survivor, by Akon and Young Jeezy, and it tells the story of a pair of drug dealers jumped by an enemy gang. The MPRRS liked it, so we’re hosting it. WMP9 format is 56.4 mb, QuickTime format is 55.6 mb.(Louis Wu 14:42:02 UTC)

  • Team Halo2.junk.ws beats Podtacular All-Stars!

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    foomojive
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    Yes, the undefeated Podtacular All-Stars have in fact been defeated by the guys at halo2.junk.ws, the halo 2 stats site. Good game guys, looks like it was really close! It went win, loss, win, tie, loss, loss. So we were one kill away from winning the challenge. Good game, and we’re looking forward to the rematch! MaesterGXL has a detailed writeup of the match in the forums.

  • Team Halo2.junk.ws beats Podtacular All-Stars!

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    foomojive
    in

    Yes, the undefeated Podtacular All-Stars have in fact been defeated by the guys at halo2.junk.ws, the halo 2 stats site. Looks like it was really close! It went win, loss, win, tie, loss, loss. So we were one kill away from winning the challenge. Good game, and we’re looking forward to the rematch! MaesterGXL has a detailed writeup of the match in the forums.

  • A Clay Sculpture You Must See

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    HBO
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    A couple of days ago, a Halo fan from China posted a bunch of pictures over at High Impact Halo. They don’t normally post news about fan creations – so Amaroq shot us a heads-up, and I contacted the artist. He gave me permission to put these pics up here, in a format that might be more friendly to the bandwidth-challenged. Check this clay sculpture out (he’s included everything from sketch to final product) – it’s jaw-dropping. Update: The artist was kind enough to send a whole series of images, more closeups, and other angles; if you looked before this update was posted, the original 9 shots have been expanded to 34. Check out his work!(Louis Wu 01:23:37 UTC)

  • Weekly Porridge #35: Caught in the Headlights

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    foomojive
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    Quality Jeverage brings us another awesome comic, this time about the Podtacular spotlight aka heat lamp. This reminds me of wizard of oz. More talk in the forums.

    ‹ Weekly Porridge #34: Sweet Victoryup

  • Weekly Porridge #35: Caught in the Headlights

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    by

    foomojive
    in

    Quality Jeverage brings us another awesome comic, this time about the Podtacular spotlight aka heat lamp. This reminds me of wizard of oz. More talk in the forums.

    ‹ Weekly Porridge #34: Sweet VictoryupWeekly Porridge #36: Lamb of Pod ›

  • Corrupt – by Bryboy Remix

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    mintz
    in

    15:05 Mins

    From HBO

    Alright, I’m tired of starving you guys for content, so here’s a little something. The PSP/iPod versions will be out soon.
    This video is incredible. The mood it puts you in with its excellent camera angles and amazing voiceovers, with top-notch dialogue, could send chills down your spine. You really feel for the main character, who must stop a corrupt government amidst his own dreams and flashbacks. This is a video you can’t miss.

    PSP – Coming Soon
    		 Pocket PC – 20.8MB
    		 iPod – Coming Soon

  • Dual Tage Pooh and KSP

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    HBO
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    KSP SRT and |X|POOHBEAR|X| put together a dual montage – the MPRRS liked it a lot, and with good reason; solid gameplay and nice timing. Lots of BR action, lots of great grenade placement, plenty of multisnipes. 7 and a half minutes long, just over 100 mb in either WMP9 or QuickTime format – go watch it!(Louis Wu 19:41:26 UTC)

  • Corrupt – by xbryboyremix

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    by

    Halo: Portable news feed
    in

    15:05 Mins

    From HBO

    Alright, I’m tired of starving you guys for content, so here’s a little something.

    This video is incredible. The mood it puts you in with its excellent camera angles and amazing voiceovers, with top-notch dialogue, could send chills down your spine. You really feel for the main character, who must stop a corrupt government amidst his own dreams and flashbacks. This is a video you can’t miss.

    Update: PSP added.

    Update 2: iPod too. Like my fade?

    Also, check out xbryboyremix’s site.

    PSP – 61.6MB


    		 Pocket PC – 20.8MB


    		 iPod – 40 MB

  • Putting on Skis for that Slippery Slope

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    HBO
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    It’s not particularly Halo-related – but we mentioned the workshop a couple of weeks ago, so a followup seems in order. Gamasutra has a writeup of the Comedy in Games panel at the Game Writers Conference held recently. Matt Soell had quite a lot to say in it. Go read! Thanks to Narcogen, over at Rampancy.net, for picking this up.(Louis Wu 14:12:58 UTC)

  • Rtas ‘Vadumee, Realized

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    HBO
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    Mister Froggy decided not to wait for Joyride to release a Half-Jaw action figure… he made one himself. Check out the details in this forum post.(Louis Wu 14:05:48 UTC)

  • Ouch.

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    HBO
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    BJB found a Sunday at Ten episode that gives Rules of Etiquette for Halo 2 LANs. Good stuff.(Louis Wu 13:59:28 UTC)

  • So Hawaii’s first?

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    HBO
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    It’s been a busy few days; there’ve been some recent forum tidbits that got glossed over, but are worth a look. First up: Pixellated stumbled across a site devoted to lenticular clouds that contained an image that was really familiar! (Unfortunately, the larger version on the original site is no longer there.)(Louis Wu 13:54:35 UTC)

  • Bungie Gets Interviewed

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    HBO
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    Over at IGN, there are a pair of new interviews – Frankie and SketchFactor in one, Lorraine and Robert McLees in the other. I haven’t had time to watch these yet (and won’t before this afternoon), but there’s almost certainly tasty information available for fans here. These are downloadable for IGN Insiders, streamable for everyone else. Thanks to Cocopjojo for the heads-up.(Louis Wu 13:43:47 UTC)

  • Halogen Closes its Doors

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    HBO
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    We’ve been reporting on Halogen, the Halo total conversion for C&C Generals, since we first got word of it in August, 2003. Today, however, the news isn’t so good – they’ve received a Cease and Desist order from Microsoft; the mod is being shut down. (Bungie’s been making noise about stuff like this for a couple of years now; Halogen’s not the first mod to be asked to close down, but it’s still a hard blow when a project has been evolving for more than three years, to be told you can no longer work on it.) Our sympathies go out to the Halogen crew!(Louis Wu 13:14:40 UTC)

  • Always Leave Them Laughing

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    narcogen
    in

    Although two panelists– Al Lowe, Leisure Suit Larry creator and Erik Wolpaw, better known as Old Man Murray and a writer on Psychonauts were no-shows, attendees at the Game Writers Conference were treated to a few laughs by Wideload Games’ Matt Soell and Tom Abernathy of Pandemic, makers of Destroy All Humans!

    Making gamers laugh is a serious business, made more serious by the fact that comedy is not as well established a subgenre of games as it is of film. Still, said Soell, comedy has its place:

    Mainstream games might include too many serious-themed games, Soell suggested, probably owing to the first-person shooter genre where the hero character is a grim, gun-toting killer. But even Doom had the “BFG,” Abernathy said, which was funny if you knew what the initials stood for, and the brooding Max Payne had joke moments. Comedy can be the glue to hold stories together, or as Soell put it, provide moments of levity so the player doesn’t become exhausted.

    Gamasutra has a short article summing up some of the pair’s observations at the panel.

  • Always Leave Them Laughing

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    by

    Rampancy – Se7en Years Of Halo
    in

    Although two panelists– Al Lowe, Leisure Suit Larry creator and Erik Wolpaw, better known as Old Man Murray and a writer on Psychonauts were no-shows, attendees at the Game Writers Conference were treated to a few laughs by Wideload Games’ Matt Soell and Tom Abernathy of Pandemic, makers of Destroy All Humans!


    Making gamers laugh is a serious business, made more serious by the fact that comedy is not as well established a subgenre of games as it is of film. Still, said Soell, comedy has its place:



    Mainstream games might include too many serious-themed games, Soell suggested, probably owing to the first-person shooter genre where the hero character is a grim, gun-toting killer. But even Doom had the “BFG,” Abernathy said, which was funny if you knew what the initials stood for, and the brooding Max Payne had joke moments. Comedy can be the glue to hold stories together, or as Soell put it, provide moments of levity so the player doesn’t become exhausted.


    Gamasutra has a short article summing up some of the pair’s observations at the panel.







  • Microsoft Foxes Halogen Project

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    narcogen
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    Halogen, an unofficial fan project to create a real-time strategy game in the Halo universe, is shutting down due to a request from Microsoft. From their homepage:

    Hours ago, we finally recieved the words we’ve been dreading since the mod started to get noticed. Microsoft has decided that we are infringing on the intellectual property of Bungie Studios and has asked us to stop development on Halogen.

    The site notes that the forum and other areas will be shut down within a week.