It’s not easy being cheesy.

The cake is real.

The cake is real.

First I’ll say this: I liked District 9.

However, I never really thought Neill Blomkamp was really the best choice to do the Halo film, and reading this quote in his interview with Rotten Tomatoes only confirmed it for me:

But the flip side is that the reason I wanted to do Halo in the first place, and the reason I was so energised to do Halo, is that creatively I love it. I totally love the universe of Halo on every level. Not only is it this epic space saga but Master Chief is such an awesome character. This guy – whether he knows it or not – is a victim of this military-industrial complex. It’s a totally compelling world to be involved in.

I can easily see where Blomkamp gets that interpretation.

At the same time, that’s not Halo. That’s not the story we saw in the Halo games, and it’s not the story we saw in the novels.

It’s actually closer to the story in Marathon, although the source of the victimization there isn’t the amorphous “military industrial complex” but their avatars, the three AIs aboard the colony ship Marathon, and the alien species that Durandal puts humanity into contact with, and later foments revolution among (the slaver Phfor and their slaves, the S’pht).

If the subtext of a Halo film by Blomkamp would have been that, when all is said and done, Cortana was “honored to serve” with the Master Chief because she was programmed to, and that the Master Chief saved Earth and humanity from the Flood, from the Halo array, and from the Covenant because he was a victim, then I think it’s just as well that film never got made. Not everything needs to be made ironic.

A film based on a theme like that would be interesting to watch, and I’d like to see it, whether directed by Blomkamp or someone else.

A film based on the Halo games might also be interesting, and if it looked good I’d also consider going to see it.

I just don’t think these two things have much in common with each other. Blomkamp’s admittedly accurate, but undeniably cynical interpretation of the Chief’s motives is a bitter baker’s chocolate I want nowhere near my chunky peanut butter Halo.

PS: Another podcast episode due out very very shortly, although it does look like I might miss the deadline of getting the last episodes out before ODST drops by a few hours. The last two episodes are mercifully short (at least compared to the two-plus hour endurance test that was The Covenant.

This week’s contest is based on Halo 3: ODST. RT members will compete in groups of 4 in a week long competition. The team that posts the highest score in a fire fight round on Crater will win RvB Reconstruction DVDs autographed by the cast and kudos on the main page.

Setup a group at Roosterteeth.com that consists of your 4 RT team members and name the group, “ODST Contest: YOUR TEAM NAME” You will post links to Bungie’s stat page of your team in the group and we will post leader boards throughout the week. You can play as many rounds as you want and post the highest score you’ve registered. To enter, email Contest [at] RoosterTeeth.com with the RT member names of your group as well as a link to your group on Roosterteeth.Com. We’ll end the contest exactly 1 week after the release of ODST. Good luck.

So the big news with housewives and Geoffs is that Ellen Degeneres is replacing Paula Abdul permanently on American Idol. I have no idea what kind of musical expertise she has, but she’s a Porsche de Rossi expert, so that makes her qualified for anything in my book.

After you’ve read today’s comic, then guffawed a bit, then read it again, guffawed a little more at the multiple layers of humor, then read AGAIN because you can’t believe human beings can be so funny, why not check out the two contests we have running over on Achievement Hunter. The winners get cool stuff like free video games, and I have it on good authority that the best kinds of video games are of the free variety.

We’ve added a special bonus scene to our last RT Short and it’s only for our awesome sponsors. Burnie and Geoff confront Joel when he makes some serious allegations about Pongo.

Ahoy folks. I’m still looking for a few more entries for the two contests I’m running right now!

Just wanted to give you a heads up that you still have time to submit your METAL FACE or your WOOOOs and win some free stuff. You like free stuff, don’t you???

If you haven’t entered yet, read the original post to get the details and then you are in the running for some coolness. Best of luck!

Alright, voting has begun on the best METAL FACE from Achievement Hunter. Go check out the bracket here, in our tournament section.

Then, when you are ready to decide who is MORE METAL, you can vote for your favorites, to see who moves on to round two!

All non-winners will be sacrificed to the METAL GODS!

Good luck everyone!

I’m sure you saw the last comic, so sure in fact, that I’m not even going to link it (hint: it’s a few posts below), but the shit has gotten crazy. Check out Paula’s retort to Ellen taking her old job.

Yesterday we had another mammoth gaming milestone grace one of our Achievement Hunters. RealDeal211 is the 5th Achievement Hunter the gain 100,000 gamerscore! Drop by his profile and congratulate him on this epic milestone.

In about 3 days or so, some game that everyone is hyped for is coming out. Not sure what the fuss is all about, but there might be some stuff on the front page next week that is related. You never know.

****UPDATE****

Round three has begun! Vote for your favorite!

****UPDATE****

Have you been keeping track of the most METAL FACE on Achievement Hunter? Go check out the bracket here, in our tournament section.

Round two has begun, and is almost done actually! Once the polls hit 100 total votes I will close the polls and move on to round 3. Keep checking back and voting so we can give some free stuff to these folks who submitted their photos! So, go and vote on Round 2 then come back here and give me a high-five.

This week’s contest is based on Halo 3: ODST. RT members will compete in groups of 4 in a week long competition. The team that posts the highest score in a fire fight round on Crater will win RvB Reconstruction DVDs autographed by the cast and kudos on the main page.

Setup a group at RT.com that consists of your 4 RT team members and name the group, “ODST Contest: YOUR TEAM NAME” You will post links to Bungie’s stat page of your team in the group and we will post leader boards throughout the week. You can play as many rounds as you want and post the highest score you’ve registered. To enter, email Contest [at] RoosterTeeth.com with the RT member names of your group as well as a link to your group on RT.Com. We’ll end the contest exactly 1 week after the release of ODST. Good luck.

****UPDATE****

Round three has begun! Vote for your favorite!

****UPDATE****

Have you been keeping track of the most METAL FACE on Achievement Hunter? Go check out the bracket here, in our tournament section.

Round two has begun, and is almost done actually! Once the polls hit 100 total votes I will close the polls and move on to round 3. Keep checking back and voting so we can give some free stuff to these folks who submitted their photos! So, go and vote on Round 2 then come back here and give me a high-five.