-
Halo: The Long Road
On November 15, 2001, the original Xbox was released… and fans all over the US got their hands on what turned out to be a turning point in console gaming – Halo: Combat Evolved. (The rest of the world had to wait a little longer for the joy.) Today is the seventh anniversary of that day – and in honor of this, we’re looking back at how Halo has affected your life since then. We’d love it if you stopped by our forum with any stories you’ve got – reminiscences, great plays, real-life meetups, fun events… it’s been a wild ride, where did it take you? We got word from chaosTheory, a moderator at the MLGPro forums, that he was releasing his fourth and final Halo:CE montage in celebration of this anniversary – it’s a monster (23 minutes, over 260 mb), but it’s a great look back at the gameplay that hooked an awful lot of us into a series of games that shows no sign of shuttering its doors. Go watch it – maybe before you visit our thread; it could remind you of what you loved at the beginning.(Louis Wu 15:32:22 UTC)
-
I want to respawn with you
Hawty McBloggy sent a Halo-themed love note to her husband yesterday – oh, so tremendously sweet!(Louis Wu 15:15:15 UTC)
-
Halo Wars: Honor Guard and Flame Hog
The Halo Wars website posted a new piece of concept art showing off the Covenant Honor Guard Wraith and the UNSC Flaming Warthog (scroll down to ‘Unit Concepts’ on the Concept Art page). Judgement reserved until we see these in action… thanks, Keiran Lovett.(Louis Wu 15:05:50 UTC)
-
Pro Tips with TSquared – a backlog
It’s been a while since we’ve mentioned a Pro Tips with T-Squared on X-Play – but we’ll give you a recap from June through now. There were tips for Blackout in May – but he came back to the map on June 24, with four new jumps. On August 5th, he put together some nice pointers for Narrows… and just last week he released a collection for Cold Storage. Go watch! (Louis Wu 15:01:55 UTC)
-
Off To a Good Start
GameDaily put up a list of their Top 25 Best ‘First Levels’ in Games… and the Pillar of Autumn made the list. Go read why! Thanks, darthbob.(Louis Wu 14:44:45 UTC)
-
My7hos’ Charity Auctions – Final Round
My7hos has posted the last batch of items he’s got for donation to the Tied the Leader Foundation – several posters and special action figures are up for grabs! Go check ’em out, and remember – the money’s going to a good cause!(Louis Wu 14:40:40 UTC)
-
Fan Fiction Writers help a fan support Child’s Play
A Halo Fan…natic stopped in to point out that the winners in the HBOFF “You’re Doing It Write” challenge have been posted – these guys helped Phædrus donate $400 to charity! Awesome job, everyone!(Louis Wu 14:38:35 UTC)
-
AH: New Xbox Experience Preview: Part 2 of 3
TGIF, right? The first of today’s videos is the second part to the New Xbox Experience Preview, showing off some features such as playing from your Hard Drive, deleting 0 Gamerscore titles from your Game History and more. Check it out, and remember that…
-
AH: Gears of War 2: Collectibles Act Five
And there we have it. All five acts in Gears of War 2 have been covered for their secret collectibles. With this video you should have your 41 of 41. Aren’t you excited? I’m giddy. Seriously though, the feedback has been great from you guys and…
-
Business Friday – it’ll make you cry
The Bungie Weekly Update is live (after some oddness) – it’s not very meaty, but the view inside Bungie Studios at the end is nothing short of frightening. Go read! (If you have any sort of problem with Bungie.net, it’s always up in our Weekly Update Archive.)(Louis Wu 02:07:10 UTC)
-
-
Song of the Clan
Wow. A long time ago, Elnea wrote an instrumental piece – a sad song about a group of Elites preparing for a battle they know they’ll lose. It was recorded as a duet with piano (Elnea) and oboe (OboeCrazy), but never released. Later, she expanded the piece with lyrics – and a friend (Felicia Quinn) recorded it for a student recital. You can listen to the instrumental version (50 seconds) on Elnea’s mac.com site. The expanded version is there as well – but it was recorded from the back of the room, and is very hard to hear; I normalized it a little, and you can listen to that version here. (Elnea’s page is definitely worth visiting – she’s got backgroud, lyrics, credits – the whole shebang.)(Louis Wu 22:18:49 UTC)
-
Halo Custom Edition Map Screenshot Archive
Dennis Powers let us know that the Halo CE Maps website has put together a Map Screenshot Archive – and they’re looking for help in fleshing it out! Swing by and see what you can do. (Upload page for Halo CE screenshots, along with rules, is here.)(Louis Wu 22:03:41 UTC)
-
-
Hey, remember me?
ZZoMBiE13 created what might be his last RvB: Reconstruction fan art piece – take a look!(Louis Wu 21:06:54 UTC)
-
Echoes of War
So, I ran across an interesting story on Kotaku today. Apparently the Eminence Symphony Orchestra released probably one of the most amazing music collections I’ve never thought of hearing this way.
They’ve basically been composing and arranging full orchestral music from the world of Blizzard- The Diablo series, Starcraft, and Warcraft.
After reading the Kotaku article linked at the beginning of this post, checking out the sample tracks, and checking out the video trailer, I’m definitely convinced this is worth a buy. I’m a big fan of classical music anyhow…and combining that with games is usually win-win.
The “Echoes of War” release is in 2 different packages. You can buy the Standard Edition for $29.95. The Standard Edition contains:
* Two audio CDs
* 8-page colour booklet
* 15 audio tracks
* Over 90 MINUTES of orchestral music including exclusive music from World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, StarCraft: Ghost, StarCraft 2 and Diablo IIIThe 2nd package is the “Legendary Edition” for $49.95. The Legendary Edition comes with:
* Two audio discs
* DVD including feature length documentary Inside the Echoes of War, Kow Otani featurette Taking of Diablo and more
* 32-page colour booklet
* Nine exclusive art cards
* 15 audio tracks
* Over 90 MINUTES of orchestral music including exclusive music from World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, StarCraft: Ghost, StarCraft 2 and Diablo IIIApparently from what Kotaku says, there is a limited number of the Legendary Edition being made. What that number is, is unknown- might be just a sales ploy. No way of knowing, yet.
The documentary “behind the scenes” aspect of the Legendary Edition really caught my eye…so I’m springing for the Legendary.
-
-
Hindsight: Halo 3 – Cortana
The most recent installment of Ascendant Justice’s ‘Hindsight’ series covers Cortana – and went live over a week ago. As is always the case with AJ writeups, this is chock-full of details and interesting tidbits you might have missed on your own run-through of the level. (There’s also some fascinating discussion about plot points that strikes major chords.) There’s an addendum that might help you get through the level on Legendary, as well. Thanks, vlad3163.(Louis Wu 15:38:36 UTC)
-
-
A cake so good, your cat could wear it.
Avateur found a pretty amazing looking Master Chief Helmet cake over at Team Teabag – go take a look! (If you live anywhere near Redmond, WA, you can even buy it.)(Louis Wu 15:01:28 UTC)
The latest news about the Halo series of games from Microsoft