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Friday Fiction
There are 18 pieces for you today in the Fan Fiction section – go read. I had to delete a surprising number of stories from the queue – either there is a large influx of new writers, or there are community members who simply don’t want to read the rules. If you don’t want your story deleted – read the rules. If you can’t be bothered to format your story for readability, we can’t be bothered to post it. And if you think that filling out the end of a story with meaningless text to get around the 750 word limit will work… you’re sadly mistaken. Please… read the rules. Thanks.
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Class. All the way around.
I doubt they do this for EVERY applicant – but the fact that they do it at all is pretty darned nice. weephun (a forum regular, and a major contributor during the I Love Bees ARG) applied for a job as a Test Engineer a bit ago. He didn’t have the game programming experience to get the job… but Bungie let him know they appreciated his time in any case. How cool is that?
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This Spartan Life – O’Donnell Interview, Pt 2
This Spartan Life has released module 3 of Episode 3 – it’s the second part of the interview with Marty O’Donnell. It’s a great discussion of the power of sound design, set amidst the battle for bodyguard position… with a nice homage to Newman and Redford at the end. (I have to say – while Marty’s skills as a musician are undeniable… his acting leaves a bit to be desired.) This one’s quite large; 7 minutes, and weighing in at more than 10 mb/minute… go grab a copy. QuickTime is up now, WMP9 should be coming soon.
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77 Minutes. OMG.
Wonga. So there’s a project over at High Speed Halo to complete Halo (the first one) in 77 minutes – and they’re currently 6 seconds from that goal. I have no doubt that once it’s completed, they’ll work to bring every difficulty level up to Legendary – but for now, the whole concept of finishing the entire game in an hour and 17 minutes at ANY difficulty level blows me away. Thanks, HIH.
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Ceramic MC updated pics
A couple of weeks ago, we mentioned a project to put together a ceramic Master Chief – last night, boltofaire stopped by our forum again with new pics. Check ’em out!
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MC Statue – Cheap, so far
If you’re interested in one of those 3-foot-high Master Chief statues, there’s one on eBay right now, with a starting bid of $9.99, and no reserve. (Still almost a week left, though.) Thanks, Cassius.
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Pinkuh Art Dump
Pinkuh dropped by our forum last night to display a bunch of commissioned, Halo-related work; neat stuff! (We’ve added them to her Gallery page here, as well.)
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Where’d everybody go?
*UPDATE* – Somehow, in another strange turn of events, the original map has returned, with everybody’s pins intact. Go figure…
Somehow, our entire Frappr map went missing. Don’t know what happened but it’s a shame too because last time I checked I think we had like around 250 pins on the map. And then POOF!–it was gone.
So I started it all over again. It’s a clean slate now, so get over there and add yourself and represent your part of the world!
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Where’d everybody go?
*UPDATE* – Somehow, in another strange turn of events, the original map has returned, with everybody’s pins intact. Go figure…
Somehow, our entire Frappr map went missing. Don’t know what happened but it’s a shame too because last time I checked I think we had like around 250 pins on the map. And then POOF!–it was gone.
So I started it all over again. It’s a clean slate now, so get over there and add yourself and represent your part of the world!
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OSTv2 Track Listing
Over at the Sumthing Distribution site, you can find a track listing for the Halo 2 Original Soundtrack Volume 2. As far as I know, nobody else has published this yet. I’m drooling already! Update: Mintz pointed out that Bungie themselves published the track listing more than three months ago.
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ODSTees.
Last week, Gryphonosiris asked for slogan ideas for T-shirts with ODST themes. Today, Stuntmutt puts up a few in the current One One Se7en. Um…
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PwnCast Problems Fixed
We got word from Bluestrike2, at MLG PwnCast, that there was a problem with the enhanced version of Episode 6, released yesterday, that affected a small number of people, that has now been fixed. If you tried to get the iTunes version and failed yesterday, you should try again.
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Procrastination can be good.
Luke McKay wanted to be working on some art projects last night – but he couldn’t concentrate, so what came out instead was another RvB vignette. Ah, memories!
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Cynics Take Two
The Halo Movie Cynics Database has been quite popular since its inception back in December. If you haven’t seen it, I urge you to visit. However, not all the submissions have been exactly in line with what we envisioned. So with the help of uber-cool Cybrfrk, the database’s home page has been revamped, calling out three great examples of what we’re looking for – and three examples that don’t really make the grade. So if you were thinking of submitting something, check them out!
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Monster Forum Roundup
There were a large number of intriguing forum posts last night – here’s a quick roundup.- Jason Jones and Alex Seropian both made it onto Next Generation’s list of ‘The Hot 100 Game Developers‘. Interestingly, Randy Pitchford is on the list as well, but Halo PC is not mentioned in the paragraph explaining his contributions. Thanks, GhaleonEB.
- Joyride has posted pics of the Halo 2 Series 7 action figures – Zattack89 thoughtfully provides links.
- 3Suns found an article which isn’t really Halo-related – except in its depiction of a product nicely described by Eric Nylund in the Halo novels. Scientists in Hong Kong have developed a solution that acts like Nylund’s biofoam – healing wounds with astounding speed (and in many cases in ways that were once impossible).
- Chris Butcher, speaking at the Game Developers Conference this week, discussed C# as a development environment, and how it’s helped Bungie with its latest projects – thanks, 3Suns. (Other Bungie speakers include Marty O’Donnell and Jay Weinland, helping with Audio Boot Camp. There might be more; a quick review of the speakers didn’t turn ’em up.)
- gijake mentions that Chris Burke, of This Spartan Life, is interviewed in the April edition of Wired magazine. (It’s part of a large article on ‘The New World of Games’, a collection of pieces looking at how games are transforming our culture.) This isn’t online yet – but it will be on March 27.
- Gamasutra has an article about how to put more emotion into gameplay – and Halo is held up as a powerful example – thanks again, 3Suns.
Whew! Are you burned out yet?
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Halo 2 Vista Info
There’s an article on Bungie.net in which Frankie sits down with a couple of the people working on Halo 2 Vista, and gets some details on the project – what’s coming, how they’re planning to bring Halo 2 to PCs, why they went Vista-only. There’s a little bit of info about a map editor, being handled by an outside team, with a promise of more information in the not-too-distant future. (Good news for content creators!) Worth a read, if you’re anticipating this upcoming product. First heads-up goes to Spartan Jag, on our forum. In related news, Joystiq has a bit about a delay for Windows Vista (until after the Christmas season) – will this also mean a delay in Halo 2 Vista?
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Submit stuff for Episode 56: Podtacular Update!
UPDATE: The show has been recorded and it turned out really good. We end up having a long and interesting conversation toward the end. We’ll get it published ASAP. Thanks for all the submissions!
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As usual, Episode 55 has been recorded and is being edited. Which reminds me, Freak in a Box will be doing Pod TV only very shortly, so if you want to edit audio for the show, email me! We’re going to do some kind of contest to see who can edit audio the best since we have multiple applicants for this.
By the way, real quick, we need the Podtacular Pro overlords to submit their pick for the Podtacular All-Stars! We have a match coming soon with a certain arch-nemesis. Ok, back to business.
News, Views, Tattoos
Yeah, this is the update show, where we talk about what’s been going on this month in Halo and Podtacular. So if you got news, send it in! Maybe it’s Halo 3 whisperings, or your friend is selling an elite helmet made out of a paint bucket on eBay, or a tournament coming up, or something with your clan. Just use the submit news and tips link on the right side and send it in. Don’t forget to put down your gamertag so we know who to credit! We’re also looking for web resources, so if you have a cool Halo site you’ve seen, send that in too.
Oh, and if you have any Halo or Podtacular tattoos… well that leads right into our next topic.
You know you’ve played too much Halo if…
Yes, it’s back! This topic just keeps on going, people have been sending them in all month. Got a good way to finish that sentence? Send it in with your gamertag. If it’s good, we’ll put it on the show!
Move it! Send stuff in! That’s an order, soldier! Doubletime!!
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Submit stuff for Episode 56: Podtacular Update!
UPDATE: The show has been recorded and it turned out really good. We end up having a long and interesting conversation toward the end. We’ll get it published ASAP. Thanks for all the submissions!
——
As usual, Episode 55 has been recorded and is being edited. Which reminds me, Freak in a Box will be doing Pod TV only very shortly, so if you want to edit audio for the show, email me! We’re going to do some kind of contest to see who can edit audio the best since we have multiple applicants for this.
By the way, real quick, we need the Podtacular Pro overlords to submit their pick for the Podtacular All-Stars! We have a match coming soon with a certain arch-nemesis. Ok, back to business.
News, Views, Tattoos
Yeah, this is the update show, where we talk about what’s been going on this month in Halo and Podtacular. So if you got news, send it in! Maybe it’s Halo 3 whisperings, or your friend is selling an elite helmet made out of a paint bucket on eBay, or a tournament coming up, or something with your clan. Just use the submit news and tips link on the right side and send it in. Don’t forget to put down your gamertag so we know who to credit! We’re also looking for web resources, so if you have a cool Halo site you’ve seen, send that in too.
Oh, and if you have any Halo or Podtacular tattoos… well that leads right into our next topic.
You know you’ve played too much Halo if…
Yes, it’s back! This topic just keeps on going, people have been sending them in all month. Got a good way to finish that sentence? Send it in with your gamertag. If it’s good, we’ll put it on the show!
Move it! Send stuff in! That’s an order, soldier! Doubletime!!
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Gameplay May Change During Online Play
Obienator, of Wld n Crzy Guyz, put together a film called ‘Gameplay May Change During Online Play’ – it’s the story of a normal bunch of guys, meeting a bunch of Xbox Live scum on the field of battle. It’s pretty funny, and the MPRRS reviewers ranked it in the top 6 movies to come through the system. It’s quite large (15 minutes, 100 mb), so be ready for a long download… but it’s worth it! (I can say I’ve personally ‘met’ each and every one of the red team members in my time on Live.) Snag a copy in WMP9 format, or QuickTime format – your call! Obie also wrote up a blog post about the making of this video; swing by and read it, it’s pretty funny.
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Stealing Sucks. Really.
I wish this sort of thing never needed to be written – but I HATE theft of intellectual property. A week and a half ago, Tony Muzzatti dropped by our forum to announce a casting call for a new TV pilot he was going to film. It included links to a promo video. A few days later, he stopped by again, with more details. A week after that, a movie was submitted to the MPRRS, by Zach Larson, of Team ZCZ, otherwise known as ClanFSR. (You might remember ClanFSR; they were in our news a month ago for stealing other people’s videos and claiming them for their own.) The video submitted by Zach used the same music, the same dialogue, the same action as Tony’s promo vid; the biggest difference was that it had been refilmed on Headlong, where Tony’s was filmed on Coagulation. It’s one thing to hear someone’s idea, say “hey, I can do that better”, and beat them to market… it’s another thing entirely to rip them off outright and claim their work as your own. Once again, ClanFSR/ClanZCZ/ClanWhatever has shown that they have zero morals, and about that much creativity. Here’s a warning to steer clear. (And if you DO happen to run into one of ’em, keep your hand on your wallet.)
The latest news about the Halo series of games from Microsoft