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Rumor: First screens, details for Halo Reach leaked

by Xav de Matos { Nov 5th 2009 at 6:48PM }

MLG forum user (and MS Paint fanatic) ToM MoReLLo claims to have played Halo: Reach, and was somehow able to nab multiple blurry screenshots of the game as evidence. Now, when we say blurry we mean blurry. In fact, the classic images of Bigfoot were of higher quality than some of these screens. Perhaps our natural skepticism is taking over, but we're taking these images with a rather large grain of salt.

As for details, the forum post claims Reach will feature squad-based combat and perks, similar to that of Modern Warfare. Squad-based mechanics certainly make sense, considering former Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter creative director Christian Allen joined Bungie in 2007. But again, grain of salt.

Halo: Reach -- Bungie's final title in the Halo universe -- is expected to ship in 2010. Microsoft has yet to reply to our request for a comment on the images.

[Via Shacknews & NeoGAF]

First Halo Waypoint programming revealed

by JC Fletcher { Nov 3rd 2009 at 9:20AM }

Even if you're not in the Halo Waypoint preview, you can get an early look at what's going to be available when it launches for real on Thursday, November 5, thanks to a weekly schedule we received from 343 Industries. By Thursday's launch, you'll already be able to watch a "Spotlight on Louis Wu" and a "Halo in Five Minutes" presentation, as well as page through some Firefight screens from the community.

Other content up this week: "Welcome to Waypoint," which serves as an introduction and overview to the service, some Firefight strategy from Prima, and, on Saturday, a full episode of Halo Legends called "The Babysitter." See the full schedule after the break.

Gallery: Halo Waypoint

Continued →

Xbox Live Top 10: Halo 3, Trials HD continue to dominate

by Xav de Matos { Oct 31st 2009 at 11:05PM }

Surprising no one, Major Nelson's weekly list of most-played games on Xbox Live showcases Halo 3 and a double dose of Call of Duty on the top of the charts, with Modern Warfare and World at War grabbing second and third, respectively. XBLA top-seller Trials HD continues to lead the downloadable space, beating out newcomers Tower Bloxx Deluxe and Panzer General: Allied Assault.

The most notable item on the list is Gearbox Software's Borderlands, debuting at (a disappointing) ninth on the list. Perhaps evidence that inventory shortages may in fact muck up the wheels of a critically acclaimed game's launch. Color us surprised ... then trace us with sarcasm.

G4 competition dishes out rare Halo 3 flaming armor

by Xav de Matos { Oct 31st 2009 at 8:00PM }

Beyond cries from fanboys for Recon, the rarest of all Halo 3 armor permutations -- or at least the rarest option -- is strutting around multiplayer matches with a flaming skull. Originally only available to employees of Bungie, the heated helmets are now the prize for G4's upcoming Sarkathlon.

In order to enter the contest, which runs until midnight on November 8, players must download a special variant of the map Longshore (only found on the second disk of Halo 3: ODST) and find eight hidden grenades scattered throughout the map. The player who completes the task and crosses the finish line in the shortest amount of time with saved replay proof walks away with the flaming skull. It's the Halo equivalent of painting a giant bulls eye on your back, so why wouldn't you want it?

[Image Credit: Hushed Casket]

Animatronic Covenant Elite costume blows yours out of the water

by Griffin McElroy { Oct 19th 2009 at 2:30PM }

The night of All Hallows' Eve is swiftly approaching. We're sure that, by now, you've got a rough outline of what pop culture icon you'll attempt to disguise yourself as. We're also sure that it's not one-tenth as awesome nor as intricate as the Covenant Elite (of Halo fame) costume recently created by YouTube user petemander1. That is, unless your Optimus Prime costume has animatronic, remote-controlled eyes and mandibles. No? It doesn't? That's what we thought.

Check out the two videos posted after the jump to get an early look at Pete's humbling (and slightly terrifying) creation. We'd say we can't wait to see how the full costume turns out, but we've already got plenty of subjects on which to base our nightmares.

Continued →

There's a Battle Rifle in ODST after all

by Richard Mitchell { Oct 15th 2009 at 5:45PM }

Many Halo fans were not pleased to hear that the BR55HB SR Battle Rifle had been cut from the Halo 3: ODST. Like, seriously unhappy. Thanks to Halo.Bungie.Org. we're pleased to report that the hardest of all hardcore weapons was actually included in the game after all. Unfortunately, the weapon only shows up in a cut scene. You'll need quick eyes -- or the pause button -- to see it, but it's definitely there, wielded by an NMPD officer at the end of the NMPD HQ mission. Well, he wields it up until a Brute Chieftain uses the officer's gray matter as hammer lubricant, anyway.

No, you can't use it, but at least you get a badass pistol to compensate for it, right?

ODST reaches 2.5 million sales; Haloverse expansions detailed

by Griffin McElroy { Oct 8th 2009 at 10:28AM }

After yesterday's full-fledged assault on mainstream gaming news coverage, we were refreshed to read this great USA Today report on the current state of the Halo franchise. Sure, it further promotes the tired opinion that Bungie's ever-popular shooter is set to overtake the Star Wars franchise in the cultural marketplace. However, it backs up that assertion with startling figures: According to the report, Halo 3: ODST has sold 2.5 million units in the past two weeks, bringing the total sales for the entire franchise up to a cool 27 million.

Additionally, USA Today further supports its thesis by compiling a list of the future franchise spin-offs, including -- *deep breath* -- Halo: Reach, the Halo: Blood Line comic series, Halo Legends, Halo Waypoint, the Halo: Evolutions novel (and another heretofore unnamed book trilogy), and more McFarlane toys. Some may accuse this franchise of succumbing to over-saturation -- we think it crossed that bridge around the time it got its own Mountain Dew.

Three ex-Bungie vets form Moonshot Games

by David Hinkle { Oct 7th 2009 at 3:30PM }

Tired of telling the tale of Master Chief and all of those spinning rings in space, three Bungie veterans have packed their bags and left the company, GI.biz reports. The trio -- Michel Bastien, Damián Isla and Rob Strokes -- have decided to embark on their own adventure together as Moonshot Games, a studio based in both the Seattle and Boston areas.

There's no word on what the new studio will be focusing on, but with all three having spent years making Halo 2 and Halo 3, we'd say it's safe to assume the studio's new project won't include any AI constructs or multi-billion dollar cyborgs. Well, unless they decide to stick to what they know best ...

Xbox Live Top 10: Halo 3, Trials HD, Forza 3 demo

by David Hinkle { Oct 6th 2009 at 2:45PM }

As our more astute readers likely gathered from this very post's headline, another week has gone, so it's about time we checked in with Major Nelson to see what made his list of the most-played games on Xbox Live. Unsurprisingly, Bungie's dynamic duo of Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST managed to do well, taking the first and third spots, respectively -- Call of Duty 4 was in the second slot, while Forza 3's demo managed to get some play time on folks' boxes, taking a tight turn into the seventh place spot.

On the XBLA side, Trials HD did backflips to the top of the list, beating out recent releases Zombie Apocalypse and Bust-A-Move Live!. The remainder of the XBLA list saw favorites Battlefield 1943 and Shadow Complex rounding out the bottom end of the top five.

Watch the making of Halo 3: ODST live-action short

by Randy Nelson { Sep 30th 2009 at 3:45PM }

Like us, you've probably been wondering what sort of work (apart from directing people in costumes and laying on the special effects) went into Microsoft's now-legendary Halo 3: ODST live-action short, "The Life." Its creators must have anticipated our curiosity because they've put together a short-but-sweet behind the scenes video, which includes a rough cut of a scene that didn't make it into the final production.

The micro-documentary also reveals some surprising trivia about the shoot, including the fact that the opening funeral scene was shot inside the cooling tower of an operating nuclear power plant. Oh, and the battle sequence? They filmed it at the bottom of a coal strip-mine. Really? We could have swarn it was New Mombasa.

Microsoft says Halo 3: ODST disc read errors aren't 'widespread'

by Griffin McElroy { Sep 28th 2009 at 7:30PM }

Bungie quickly responded to a 60-page-long thread on the Halo 3: ODST forums where users complained the title had experienced disc read errors while playing in the game's Campaign and Firefight modes. Now, Microsoft has also sounded off on the errors, telling Eurogamer, "we are aware of a very small number of people who are reporting they can't play the game," and later adding "at this point it doesn't appear to be a widespread issue."

In our last post regarding the game-crashing errors, we asked readers if they had encountered similar problems during their time with ODST. Out of the 5,608 participants who responded at the time this article was written, 1,769 (or 31.5 percent) had reported technical issues with the game. We're sure Microsoft has their own method of tracking this data, but our polling figures certainly make the problems seem as though they've spread fairly wide.

Septagon Xbox 360 case mod keeps it clean, simple

by David Hinkle { Sep 28th 2009 at 10:15AM }

Even though the above mod isn't the flashiest or covered in all kinds of figures, we must say we enjoy the simple tastefulness of the Septagon'd Xbox 360. Created by Aron (via Hawty McBloggy), the mod also features a new silver color for the console and some built-in LED lights for a cooling and calming effect. And while any one of us would undoubtedly be satisfied with the above mod, Aaron has plans to keep going with the mod and will eventually add some plexiglass.

We have just one suggestion, Aaron: move the Xbox 360. How are you going to play any games with that thing in front of your TV?

[Via Bungie]

TGS 2009: Wait to play Halo 3: ODST, get UNSC threads

by Xav de Matos { Sep 27th 2009 at 1:00AM }

During the last day of TGS 2009, Microsoft was handing out free (and stylish!) UNSC-branded t-shirts to gamers willing to wait in line to play (the already released) Halo 3: ODST. For their effort, gamers seemed to enjoy the reward of partaking in local multiplayer sessions of ODST's Firefight mode.

Check out a closer look at the shirt after the break.

Continued →

Users report Halo 3: ODST disc read errors

by Richard Mitchell { Sep 24th 2009 at 3:30PM }

According to a rather lengthy thread on Bungie.net, several Halo 3: ODST players are having technical issues with the game. Users are reporting that disc read errors are occurring during the game, rendering it unplayable. Some believe the issue only affects older consoles, specifically those with older DVD drives. Anecdotally, our own David Hinkle encountered the DRE issue on a 2008 Elite. According to Hinkle, installing the game to the hard drive seemed to fix the problem. He later bought a second copy of the game and hasn't encountered the issue again. It's also worth noting that this issue seems to be isolated to the ODST campaign and Firefight mode. The Halo 3 multiplayer disc appears to be unaffected.

Bungie is looking into the problem, with a member of the test team asking forum users for specific information about problems that have been encountered. For those out there with a copy of ODST, let your voice be heard in the poll below.

Halo 3: ODST logs over 900K players in one day

by Richard Mitchell { Sep 23rd 2009 at 5:15PM }

It's been on store shelves for less than two days and Halo 3: ODST has logged nearly a million players in the last 24 hours. More specifically, according to Bungie.net, the game had logged 936,278 players when this post was written. All of those troopers have managed to put away 5,653,310 games. That's roughly six games per person in a 24-hour period. On a weekday. We don't want to jump the gun here, but Bungie just might have a success on its hands.