Author: Kainan32

Every Monday, we feature a community member who does one or more of the following things: routinely goes above and beyond for their fellow forum members, is a positive and active member of the community, and/or sends me mass amounts of cat pictures. This week our Community Member of the Week is Hotrod192. Read a little more about him below, then hit his profile to learn more about this Trekkie!

Gamertag: Hotrod192.

Origin of gamertag: It was actually a joke a long time ago, almost 10 years now when I was talking about Pokemon with a friend… It’s a long story.

Halo game(s) you are currently playing: Reach! And Halo 4 in my mind, if that counts. No? Darn…

Favorite map, game type and playlist: Oh man, this is a tough one… I do really enjoy my Big Team Battle and Invasion, though I also love Team/Super Slayer and Action Sack. As for map, Avalanche and Last Resort in Halo 3 were amazing, as is Timberland from Halo 1 PC/Reach.

Least favorite map, game type and playlist: I really can’t say I like Sword Base all that much due to all battles happening in one spot. My least favorite game type is King of the Hill, since I’m never able to stay in the hill for more than two seconds before getting blown up. As for least favorite playlist, that title goes to MLG since they don’t believe in using most of the weapons in the game.

Preferred control scheme: Default from Reach.

Halo playing style (offense, defense, sniper, driver, etc.): I’m always aggressively on the offensive, charging in and killing stuff (though in a smart way!). I also love to be the gunner in the Warthog with a great driver.

Favorite character: I felt really connected to Jorge, since his was a Spartan as well as a caring man. I found that special and was quite saddened when he sacrificed himself.

Favorite book: Can I choose more than one? Fall of Reach, First Strike, Ghosts of Onyx and Glasslands were all amazing.

Favorite Halo quote: Send me out… with a bang. -Sergeant Johnson

Get to know Hotrod192 here!

From gamefloor:

Enjoy the enhanced version of the original Halo 4 cover art trailer! This exclusive trailer is produced and presented by gamefloor.net.

Fan-made Halo 4 Enhanced Cover Art Pre-Order Trailer

Office of Halo Intelligence, or OHI for short, is a semi-regular diary-type feature brought to you by various members of the Halo 4 development team. Frank O’Connor, Franchise Development Director, kindly agreed to write the eighth entry. We hope you enjoy an inside look at the making of our next title!

From the 5.25.12 edition of the Halo Bulletin:

I am such a hipster that I was at E3 before it was even E3. That’s literally true. I distinctly remember hassling Brad Dourif about the Dune movie outside the Nintendo booth at the Vegas CES where what became E3 used to be off in a tent in the corner.

E3 is a blessing and a curse. It’s a fantastic showcase for the industry, a truly magical experience where the best and brightest in gaming get to show off their impending wares, meet with the retailers who are tasked with selling those wares, and become inspired and excited for what the next months and years hold for the games industry. And of course as a spectacle, it has effectively become a consumer event, a bit like the Oscars, where the drive for all the George Clooney facemaking and fake clapping is really the audience watching at home.

And it‘s probably not a secret that while the business rationale for polishing content and creating presentations for E3 is really the retail business and the financial nuts and bolts it entails, the real pressure is reinforced by the need to create something magical for fans to get excited about.

Everyone in the studio, from artists to testers, from engineers to accountants, from animators to audio specialists, is driven by the pressure to create something amazing and impressive. And it’s tough. E3 often sidelines staff and resources, focused on creating “out of order” polish areas that break the logic of a schedule. Which is why we have talented producers and associate producers who create plans, years in advance to ensure that E3 stuff has no effect on the overall shipping schedule. They are unsung heroes, so consider this their song.

And the rest of the staff are knuckles down, heads down, spirits up, working 12, 15, even 24 hour shifts to make sure that the stuff we do show at E3, is worth your time and ours. We sometimes refer to it as a goat Rodeo, but it’s a lot more coordinated, often with laser-focused concentration on making sure that we’re not misusing human and technical resources that would be better used polishing and shipping the game. E3 should be an event that helps lift your game, and shine light on it, not hurt the main project. And so that’s where we are.

Can’t say too much about what we have to show in a couple of weeks, but I can say confidently that we’re looking forward to sharing more and more of our game, our ambition and our innovation with you guys over the coming months. And as fans, as gamers, we ourselves are looking forward to seeing what our colleagues and competitors are showing at E3, just from the same place of excitement and curiosity as you guys.

Of course, when we go to E3, we’re typically trapped at the Microsoft booth and only get to hear about stuff, rather than actually seeing it. Invariably someone will drop by whatever meeting room we’re trapped in, and tell us about how absolutely epic something looks in a distant corner of the show. That we can’t go see.

Frankie

From Alex:

This is Just Mad’s second Halo: Reach montage, edited by himself. Every clip in this montage goes 2-3 Multikills farther than you think it’s going to go, and the clips are quite clean overall and have a lot of no scopes and under pressure shots. I especially enjoyed the last clip, even though it didn’t feature any sniping whatsoever. As usual for Just Mad, the editing is simple yet effective, not doing much more than basic syncing. Enjoy!

Just Mad 1 – A Halo: Reach Montage

From Halo Diehards:

What do you get when you mix mace and Windex? No, not the lachrymatory agent and popular ammonia window treatment! This mixture is actually good for your eyes, unless as previously mentioned, you keep them crossed too long. Enjoy our exclusive interview with the eye magic-maker himself. Introducing, Mace Windex, 3D Halo image maker!

Halo Diehards Spotlight: Mace Windex, 3D Imagery

From BravoMLG:

Here is the second batch of top plays submitted by the community! Wanna see your clips featured? Send ’em over to sosickclips@gmail.com with a 720p+ YouTube link and your gamertag. Clutch plays/MLG/Multikills/casual/lucky/random, anything goes!

SoSick Top 6 Halo: Reach Plays 2

If you like getting a large amount of kills in a short amount of time or you just have a thing for the letter “M”, this week’s Weekly Challenge is for you. So pop in your Halo: Reach disc, grab your favorite weapon and prepare for the following:

MULTIPLICATIVE – 25,000cR
Earn 200 Multikills in multiplayer Matchmaking this week.

Don’t forget to check out the forums for tips, tricks, and a few comrades to play with:

Weekly Challenge Thread