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CNN puts Halo 4 on a pedestal
CNN posted their 10 Best Video Games of 2012… and Halo 4 came in at #4. (Pretty funny sidenote – when this went live yesterday, the image that represented Halo 4 was actually from Black Ops II – which didn’t make the list. They’ve fixed it now.) Thanks, Avateur.(Louis Wu 18:27:57 UTC)
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THC/Gamers for Giving 4v4 Tournament
CyReN let us know about a 4v4 Halo 4 tournament sponsored by The Halo Council and Gamers For Giving – it’s happening in central Michigan on February 16 and 17, and you’re invited. Your entry fee goes directly to support Gamers Outreach – prizes (and they’re substantial – First Prize in the Halo tourney is $1500) are underwritten by sponsors. Go check it out!(Louis Wu 18:25:13 UTC)
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Farewell, Dalcaeus
It’s been a long time since we’ve heard from LordGideon – but a couple of nights ago, he let us know about a video that made us tear up. PraetoriaGuard and Sword and Shield Gaming recently lost one of their own – and their response was a powerful “We’re here for you” message to anyone struggling with life. Our hearts go out to the family of Daniel Rice – and that includes his online brothers and sisters. Go watch… and remember, you don’t have to go it alone.(Louis Wu 19:04:09 UTC)
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Checking Campaign’s Evolution
I’ve got a bit of trouble with the changing aspect ratio, but the content’s cool enough. Check out Morpheus’ comparison between Halo 4’s Campaign, as shown at E3 2012… and the Campaign in the final game. (It’s embedded in his post, or you can just watch it directly on YouTube.) Subtle changes – but they have a pretty big effect on the feel!(Louis Wu 18:58:56 UTC)
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KSoft gets an update
kornman00 visited on Christmas Eve to announce an updated tool for Halo Wars modding – swing by his post to see what it can do! Awesome stuff for that community.(Louis Wu 18:56:31 UTC)
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Favorite Holiday Memories from 343 Industries
For gamers, the holidays can be a special time, laden with holly-decked memories of gift-giving, cookie-baking and quality time with friends and family. But more importantly, new games. We asked some of the elves hard at work on top secret Halo stuff members of our studio to take a moment out of their preparations and share a few fond holiday recollections. Brace yourselves, Spartans. It’s about to get warm and fuzzy up in here.
Jay Frechette
On a snowy Christmas in 1996, my brother and I got a Nintendo64 with Mario64. We were living in a small town at the time so our friends came over see this AMAZING new system and game. We spent the entire day in front of the TV playing. Everyone wanted a chance to play, so we set the timer on the microwave for 6 minutes and took turns with the controller.
Chris Wilson
In 1989 my twin brother and I had begged our parents for a Nintendo Entertainment system. On Christmas morning, we opened our regular gifts and were disappointed not to get our one coveted gift. But hidden behind the tree was a big box! My brother tore it open and inside was our new NES along with 5 games – Super Mario Brothers, Legend of Zelda, Ikari Warriors, Elevator Action and Duck Hunt. It was glorious and we didn’t sleep much for the rest of our holiday break.
Johan Moe
It was the Christmas of 97’ and I received Diddy Kong Racing from my aunt and uncle. As I am from Norway, we open up presents on Christmas Eve and not Christmas morning. I was over the moon, looking forward to play it all night long. My mom, on the other hand, said I had to wait until the morning. I woke up at 4AM just to play and then I invited my neighbor over to play with me at 8AM or so. I was in heaven: Video game, cocoa, fire in the fireplace and 2 feet of snow outside.
Scott Warner
In a deliberate attempt to date myself, a Holiday gaming memory I have that I still remember as if it was yesterday was waking up on that special day in the mid 80’s and instead of bolting out to go open presents, logging on to a RPG-driven bulletin board system called “The Proving Grounds” so that I could write the FIRST POST of “Merry L33T Christmas!” to my fellow adventurers. Unfortunately upon signing in, my Christmas cheer and youthful innocence were ruined when the BBS informed me that, while I was away, my character had been killed by another user: A hig level unscrupulous mercenary who went by the rather inventive name “YOUR MOM!” Nobody wants to get killed by YOUR MOM! on Christmas Day.
Annie Dennisdóttir-Wright
Every Christmas Eve at my family’s house, my brother and I play Mario Kart until we can’t stay awake anymore. It started out as a way to keep us busy so that we didn’t pester our parents while they were preparing for Christmas festivities, because most of the time we weren’t allowed to just play video games for hours and hours, but now it’s our tradition. I’m always Yoshi and my brother is always Toad. Grand Prix, 150 cc. If we managed to make it through all the cups, we’d start a 50-turn round of Mario Party on Peaches’ Birthday Cake, and that plus too much dinner would usually knock us right out.
Eric Kramer
Every Christmas my brother and myself would receive a bounty of Flea Market games, ranging from Sega Genesis games to N64 games. After all the gifts were opened, we would retreat to our glorious Fortress of Solitude (my brother’s room). In this Fortress of Solitude we’d spend the rest of the day playing the “hidden gems of mighty cheapness” while the rest of the family worked hard on our Christmas dinner.
Will Hardin
I immediately think of legacy of Kain. Christmas 1996, back in Northern Idaho, the day after Christmas I went and purchased Legacy of Kain with my Xmas money and that night it snowed two feet and kept on snowing. Being snowed in, I immersed myself in the land of Nosgoth and I played it for two weeks straight. I will always think fondly of that Xmas and to this day it remains one of my favorite games of all time. “Vae Victis!!”
Andy Dudynsky
Christmas 2008 –
I heard that around 30 of my best friends and some of the best Halo players in the world would be traveling to a house in Chicago to meet up and play Halo 3 at what would become one of the biggest Halo LANs of all time. I immediately booked a flight for the day after Christmas, and as the snow fell outside, we played unending hours of H3 and arcade games and certainly didn’t get much sleep. We all slept in ridiculous spots on the floor, made life-long friendships and Chicago became the home of competitive Halo for the next 3 years, as most of us would return at least a dozen times over the next 3 years to practice for tournaments and get away from the terrors of “real life”.
Adam Nielsen
In December 1991, we were heading back from a friend’s house when we hit a patch of black ice and our van collided with a truck in someone’s drive way. We were invited inside their home while we waited for a tow truck. My brother and I met a new friend that day: The Super Nintendo! The son of this family was sitting down and invited us to join him as he played Super Mario World. Don’t remember how far we got, but it was a blast to play and it made my brother and me giddy as all heck.
Vic Deleon
It was a perfect Christmas day; Halo 2 had just shipped and I was on vacation. I remember eating the most delicious meatloaf I’ve ever had in my life. The dessert was Crème Brûlée with Master Chief’s helmet burned on the top. It was insanely good. Then I played some Halo and got 9 kills with only 2 deaths in one game. Those of you who have played with me know that’s virtually impossible because I suck so bad. After that I took a really long nap. It was indeed, the perfect Christmas Day.
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Silent Day, Apparently
Sometimes, we’re later than we expect to be… but as has often been the case in the past, we’re celebrating this special day with family.M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S !
As usual, we have a new Christmas Comic for you, from Stuntmutt… along with some cool holiday artwork (this year it’s from 343 Industries)… and a day of rest. See you all on Wednesday!
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Infinity Challenge Weekly Update
343 new(ish) hire Bravo brings you details on the Halo 4 Infinity Challenge, and what you’ll need to join the leaderboard frontrunners. Focus this week: Capture the Flag! Go play more objective.(Louis Wu 17:55:32 UTC)
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Halo 4 Concept Art, from Chad Haley
Chad Haley worked on Character, Vehicle, and Weapon art for Halo 4 – and if you swing by his personal blog, you can see a bunch of examples of his contributions. Thanks, scarab!(Louis Wu 17:43:04 UTC)
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Teach Me How to Super Bounce 2
GeneticSpartan let us know about ‘Teach Me How to Super Bounce 2‘, a new machinima he’s released (his first in Halo 4!) – it made me laugh. Really nice work!(Louis Wu 17:16:06 UTC)
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The Philosophy Behind War Games A Rebuttal
Havok read an interview with Kevin Franklin, Competitive Multiplayer Lead Designer for Halo 4, which described some of the philosophy behind the changes that Halo 4 brought to the franchise. He took issue with some of Kevin’s ideas, and has written up a rebuttal on his blog. It has some interesting points. Give it a read! (Louis Wu 17:14:36 UTC)
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12 Days of Halo 4
Another musical offering – this time from Wintergore. It’s the 12 Days of Halo 4, and I have to say, I’m impressed with the level of work that went into this. (Not too many repeated clips!) The Halo Waypoint blog turned this one up. (Louis Wu 17:11:30 UTC)
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Halo 4/Hip-Hop Mini-Documentary
SkeeTV has released a mini-documentary about hip-hop stars playing Halo – go see what Soulja Boy, Xzibit, DJ Skee, Prodigy, and more think about Halo 4 (and its predecessors)! Thanks to mastrbiggy, who found this on Jesse Snyder’s Twitter feed. (The gamertag Xzibit talks about, Konkey Dong, doesn’t actually seem to exist. Sadness!) (Louis Wu 17:09:36 UTC)
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Suicide!! Episode 5 (Halo 4 Musical)
DeathMcGunz and his buddies are nostalgic for older Halo maps – they’ve released a musical tribute to what isn’t new. Go watch! (Louis Wu 17:05:52 UTC)
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Let them eat cake
Robowski tipped us about a new blog post on Post Game Carnage Report – newcomer The Wach takes a close look at the Halo 4 Infinity Challenge, and his chances (and yours) of winning it. Good stuff! (Louis Wu 16:39:58 UTC)
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Campaign and Spartan Ops, Legendarily
RC Master’s been busy – he stopped by our forum with links to six new videos, showing off speed runs on Campaign and Legendary Solo runs on Spartan Ops. Immerse yourself! (Louis Wu 17:06:33 UTC)
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Campaign and Spartan Ops, Legendarily
RC Master’s been busy – he stopped by our forum with links to six new videos, showing off speed runs on Campaign and Legendary Solo runs on Spartan Ops. Immerse yourself! (Louis Wu 17:06:33 UTC)
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A look at what almost was
Funky. A Halo 4 player named Lord Zedd discovered a couple of Armor Abilities that were pulled from normal play… but without disabling the actual code. He’s activated these on Harvest (via modding), and you can see how they work in a video from Clicked. Nowise10, who brought this to the attention of NeoGAF, took a bunch of screenshots if you don’t have time for a video. The first ability is ‘Teleport’ – much like what the Promethean Knights can do in Campaign. The second is ‘Hacker’ – it lets you turn off the Armor Ability of your enemy. Check ’em out! (Louis Wu 17:04:32 UTC)
The latest news about the Halo series of games from Microsoft