Oh the irony in life. A message board which states that it is powered by the Xbox 360 and Bungie serves as a home to several images featuring what the poster, “Tom Morello”, claims to be leaked Halo: Reach in-game weapon screens.

And now, the page scrolling list of leaked images for your speculative pleasure…

Highlights from the leaked screens and info mentioned on the forum reveal a HUD that Morello says lists out things such as teammate names and player perks like cloak, sprint, and hologram. Sprinting will involve the use of the LB button and cloaking will not only hide you from plain sight but also jam your radar and take you offline in terms of communication with your team on Xbox LIVE. Hologram will create a mirror image of your character forcing your enemy to either guess correctly or live long enough to kill both of you.

Morello claims that the photos were taken from inside of an office at Microsoft Headquarters, adding that his initial reasoning for snapping a few pics was to share the existence of a new “Battle Rifle” with the MLG community.

The biggest question that still remains, in my opinion, is whether or not this game will feature the return of Master Chief as a playable character. As you can see in the image below, it does appear that the hand shown topside up does have similar plated armor to that of Master Chief. Of course it could just be a random Spartan. If that’s the case, you can thank the Bungie writers and their self serving need for varied character development.

Is this shit for real? Your guess is as good as mine. If real though, the logic of “no such thing as bad press” says this leak could serve to a be a good thing for the Bungie squad as it will surely steal a small amount of the spotlight currently beaming heavily on Infinity Ward and their impending Modern Warfare 2 release.

What do you think? Are the screens real? Are you a fan of the Halo franchise? Sound off in the comments section below.

Source: mlgpro.com/forum

Yes, you read that right. There is another set of multiplayer maps coming out for Halo 3, no joke. When ODST launches this fall, it will come packed with a Halo 3 multiplayer map disk complete with three new maps.

And if you’re thinking the picture above looks a lot like “Midship” from Halo 2, well you’re right because it’s a remake called “Heretic” included in the new map pack along with “Citadel” and “Longshore”. Hit the jump for a look at the other two maps coming out with ODST this fall.

Citadel

Longshore

Yesterday at Microsoft’s pre-E3 press conference Bungie’s Joe Staten took the stage to show off some actual gameplay footage of Halo 3: ODST, which is scheduled to drop later this year. The single-player expansion campaign will put you in the role as “The Rookie”, a rookie Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, a few weeks before the events of Halo 3. Some features in the game include new silenced weapons, a new visor (which enables a “low-light vision mode”) and a handgun similar the pistol from the first Halo game.

Along with an expanded single-player campaign, ODST will also feature a four-player co-op mode called Firefight mode that will have players take on waves of attacking Covenant (think Horde mode from Gears 2). Check out the video and give us your thoughts.

Contrary to reports made yesterday about a Bungie Producer saying that the developer would be working on Halo 3 content for another two years, Bungie is now stating that there are no current plans to bring any further content to Halo 3 once ODST is released this fall.

“We’ll never say never,” Bungie told Eurogamer, “but currently Bungie has no plans to make new Halo 3 content beyond the release of ODST. We will, however, continue to support the Halo 3 online experience with regular updates to matchmaking playlists and wield the Banhammer as needed.”

Well, now I just don’t know what to believe because Bungie always seems to have something up their sleeves. I guess we’ll just have to enjoy the new Mythic Map Pack, coming out April 9, and ODST this autumn, and then just see what happens from then on.

Source: GameSpy via Eurogamer

Worried that the upcoming ODST expansion for Halo 3 would be the last piece of content for the highly popular FPS? Don’t worry any longer, because it seems like Bungie has plenty more to offer for Halo 3 in the future.

“Halo 3 took two and a half years to make, and we’re still working on it,” producer Allen Murray said. “We’ll probably be working on it for two more years.”

This is great news for Halo 3 fans and even better news for Microsoft, because even with the break up between the two, Bungie still has their sights set on bringing more to the Halo 3 universe.

Source: Joystiq

In a stunning move, Nintendo’s Wii Fit sales have surpassed that of Halo 3 in the United Sates.

Selling in total 6 million units in the US, Wii Fit now holds bragging rights over Halo 3 which has 5.9 million units sold in the US. What also should be noted is that Halo 3 has been available since September 2007 while Wii Fit has only been on the market since May 2008, 8 months after Bungie’s mega hit!

Does this mean Wii Fit is a better entertainment device? Probably not, but it does symoblize America’s obession with losing weight. Congrats to Nintendo, as I guess sometimes a bit of exercise is better than fragging people online 24/7, especially on double xp weekends.

Source: MyWii

The fellas over at JoyStiq put together this video of the new Halo 3 Mythic Map pack, which will come included with the Halo Wars CE and will eventually be released to the XBLM sometime this spring. The video is pretty tight and gives us a great look inside the three new maps: Orbital, Assembly and Sandbox. WATCH THE VIDEO HOMIES!

The Ensemble Studios CGI department has definitely been working overtime cranking out stunning Halo Wars cinematic masterpieces, but what about the “real-time” aspect of the highly anticipated real-time strategy? Ask and you shall receive.

Here’s a brand new campaign focused video demonstration narrated by Halo Wars’ lead developer, Graeme Devine. It gives us some insight into the game’s straight forward interface design, the studio’s commitment to delivering an authentic Halo experience, as well as a brief glimpse of “The Flood.” Hit the jump for the video.

More news from Tokyo Game Show: Microsoft announced the recently teased new Halo 3 expansion, now titled Halo 3: Recon.  The game’s campaign will be a prequel to the story of Halo 3 and will not feature the Master Chief.  Instead, you play as an ODST grunt (well, slightly better than the cannon-fodder “allies” that got in the way in Halo 3, but not quite a Spartan either) and will apparently “require you to employ more elements of stealth and cunning than ever before.” Read on for full details.

Official game description from Xbox.com:

• All-new campaign content: The Halo 3: Recon campaign is an intriguing side story that takes place during the terrifying events leading up to the Master Chief’s return to New Mombasa in Halo 3. Experience the fate of Earth from the brand-new perspective of a special forces ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper), adding a unique outlook and new gameplay elements to the events that unfold in the trilogy’s finale. While the feel of this new chapter greatly resembles that of previous Halo experiences, Halo 3: Recon will require you to employ more elements of stealth and cunning than ever before.
• Prepare to drop: Known for their courage, valor and, at times, insanity, ODSTs are among the fiercest UNSC soldiers, priding themselves on being the first unit deployed into hostile situations. While not as large or supernaturally gifted as their Spartan comrades, these “Hell Jumpers” more than compensate with their ferocious attitudes and unwavering nerve.
• Expanded multiplayer collection: No Halo experience would be complete without groundbreaking multiplayer content, and Halo 3: Recon gives fans more of what they love. With exclusive new maps and expanded Forge options, Xbox LIVE® Gold members will find more multiplayer content than ever before with Halo 3: Recon.
• Ever-growing community options: Enjoy all the great Halo 3 technological innovations, including Saved Films, screenshots, Campaign Scoring, and four-player co-op. All of the new multiplayer maps fully support the Forge editor, offering endless gameplay customization possibilities.

I was never a big fan of the overhyped monster that is the Halo franchise, but I am oddly pretty interested in seeing how Recon plays. Let’s just hope it doesn’t get overhyped by the time it releases next year and ends up on my list of games to hate on principle. My magic 8-ball says “Fat chance”.

Bungie have confirmed that the line “Maddie, where are you?” – which we spotted in the new Halo 3 campaign trailer released yesterday – is not related to missing British toddler Madeleine McCann.

Over on Bungie.net, writer Luke Smith said:

“As always, all of the characters in our games are fictional. Any similarities between real life and the characters in our games are purely coincidental.

“That said, this is both an unfortunate and untended [sic] coincidence.”

Which is what was expected, and mercifully the mainstream rags haven’t picked up on it. But do you believe it’s genuine or a sly bit of PR?

Following a 12-hour countdown, Bungie has posted a 60 second teaser trailer for their new Halo game – “a new Halo 3 campaign experience”.

The CG trailer is massively cryptic.  Seen through the eyes of the Superintendent, an apparently abandoned cityscape gets bombed to hell and back and left in a smoky ruin. Though close up, these ‘bombs’ are pods.

But that’s pretty much it, aside from the the ‘Prepare to Drop’ tagline and the Halo 3 logo. We only know it’s a campaign by helpful description from Xbox Live Marketplace. What we can tell from the trailer however:

00:09 – Well, that’s a pod alright
00:13 – Notice the evacuate sign on the left… and in small letters under it: “City of New Mombasa”
00:36 – For one frame “Maddie, Where Are You” appears. Speculation about that is rife across the web that this ia a reference to missing schoolgirl Madeleine McCann. We can’t imagine it being true, but can’t recall any Maddie from Halo either…
00:36 again – The Flood are almost certainly involved. ”Danger: Flood Zone” appears in the next frame. It’s a fair guess this isn’t a public maintenence issue.

Naturally, more predictions are already being made, but it’s all conjecture. Cast your bets.

After receiving the Edge Award for Interactive Innovation, Halo 3 creators Bungie have thanked the publication via a highly entertaining video.  In it there are hints towards a new Halo development, but not a new game as many have been suggesting.

We suspect that when Luke Smith says, “Even though in Halo 3 you finished the fight, it doesn’t necessarily mean the ride’s over,” he is referring to the often teased Halo 3 online expansion. For example, a few weeks ago this was said on Bungie’s very own blog:

While a lot of the changes done this month were backend things that players will never notice, you would be right to think that August’s changes feel very minimal. The reason for this is that we’ve been focused on preparing a larger series of changes to Matchmaking for September. Much larger.

Much, much larger.

No, really. It’s huge. You should see how giddy Luke gets when I talk about the tentative plan.

And even before then “major changes to the Halo 3 Online experience” were teased. Check out the video below.

After the controversy of E3, where Bungie were stopped from making a new game announcement by Microsoft, it seems all they can do is hint and tease.  Well, we’re taking notice and we expect to hear more about an online expansion very soon.  September maybe…

Image Credit: DeepBlue of Neogaf

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Bungie’s lead AI programmer Damian Isla praises Activision and Infinity Ward’s hugely successful FPS, Call of Duty 4. Even going as far as saying that Halo could learn a few things from Call of Duty.

“We have a lot to learn from their success too, they did some very innovative things to keep people going and their experience-rewards system was something that we paid a lot of attention to,” Isla explained.

“I think it’s a great game and single player obviously is fantastic… they did a hell of a job with their set pieces, of scripting certain moments that they were really sure the player was going to actually see and experience first hand. The way that they use those moments to craft the player experience…Halo has a lot to learn from.”

While both games are extremely outstanding and have a strong fan base, the battle for the most-played game on Xbox Live continues between Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4.

It’s good to hear that Bungie is willing to learn from other successful games so they can make their titles better. Because we all know improvements can always be made to make any game better.

Source: gamesindustry.biz

In a recent interview, Microsoft’s Senior Vice President of Interactive Entertainment, Don Mattrick, responded to Bungie’s public disagreement with the company’s decision to put off their E3 Halo announcement. Mattrick was quoted saying:

“One of the things that we decided, when you have the number one game in the world as we have in Halo, it’s a safe prediction that if we do a separate event for Halo, that it’ll be well-attended, well covered …”

As a member of the press who was in attendance for the Microsoft’s press conference, I find their reasoning absurd. The attendance numbers were announced well in advance of the event, and yet they waited until the last moment before pulling the rug out from underneath Bungie.

Many (including myself) expected a response from Microsoft that cited something along the lines of production issues. However, the company instead decided to come out pointing its finger at E3’s size and significance.

True or not, the comments made by Mattrick add salt to E3’s already gaping wounds. The event of old is rolling in it’s grave right now.

Source: Eurogamer

Update on the previous Bungie cock-block snafu:  Microsoft, as the publishing giant apparently behind Bungie’s latest game, rescinded their green light just hours shy of Bungie’s official announcement.  Bungie was about to make us all climax, but Microsoft stepped in with its shotgun and forced them to stop. This does not make us happy, Microsoft… not happy at all.

The countdown screen with the letter to the fans stayed up for about as long as the countdown itself was set to last. At that point, it was business as usual at Bungie.net, including an update to the community on the situation from community manager Luke Smith, featuring a useful and equally entertaining mini-Q&A:

“1. OMG! The announce was posted at 7! This is all part of the plan.
The news was broken to us shortly before 7 p.m. and we decided to keep with tradition to make a clean break.

2. Why leave the splash page up if it’s not happening?
We left the splash page up for the folks who didn’t see the message or were planning on tuning in the following morning before the news vanished into Bungie.net’s ether.

3. But Harold Ryan is only a TESTER this has to be fake!
Harold was a tester, but assumed the position of President a while ago. Crazy Wiki’s and their misinformation.”

In addition, the LA Times had the opportunity to interview the Microsoft Senior Vice President for Interactive Entertainment Business, better known as Don Mattrick. Rightfully so, they asked about the precarious situation they put themselves in by shoving Bungie to the side. Apparently, it was cut to make room for Microsoft to act like Nintendo with games like You’re In The Movies and appeal to the proverbial alpha moms who won’t ever hear about their press conference. Intelligently, he referred to it as “an embarrassment of riches”.

But we’re not buying it. What really happened was, Microsoft caught wind that neither Nintendo nor Sony had anything to top “omgz FFXIII 360! PS3 are doomed!” Even Mattrick himself effectively revealed that they killed it at the last minute: “We felt we could do this game more justice with a more dedicated event.”

So, X08, pretty much.

Source: LA Times via Joystiq and Bungie.net

For those that may not know, Bungie has had a countdown going for about a little over a day now, but at exactly exactly 00:12:00:00 the countdown stopped.  The above information was posted.

The basic gist of it is that Bungie was forced by their publishing partner to not reveal said product at the planned time. The quote in full along with more information after the break.

From: Harold Ryan

Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 7:00 PM

Subject: E3 Announce

For the last several months, we’ve been building toward a reveal of something exciting that Bungie is working on. We were looking forward to sharing that with our fan community during the week of E3. However, those plans were just changed by our publisher.

We realize that many of our fans are disappointed by this turn of events; members of the Bungie team share that disappointment.

When the right time comes, we look forward to sharing this exciting announcement with you. Until then, we appreciate your continued support and patience.

Harold Ryan

President

Bungie LLC

First things first, their publishing partner for this new venture has been confirmed to be Microsoft by Bungie community manager, Luke Smith. The immediate knee-jerk reaction from fans and media was speculation that this was just a ploy to get fans riled up, to then follow up with a huge ‘Just kidding, guys! Here’s our new game, love it!’

But it’s been multiple sources have said this is not a red herring. Microsoft did indeed stop the announcement, and everyone at Bungie is as upset as their fans.

We’re waiting for some sort of an explanation from Microsoft. We’ll keep you posted should any more information arise.

Source: Bungie

Bungie and Microsoft have announced and detailed quite a bit about the upcoming Halo 3 multiplayer DLC; dubbed the Legendary Map Pack.

The Legendary Map Pack is a follow up to the Heroic Map Pack, released early December. It includes 3 new maps, the first of which is named Ghost Town; a “battle-scarred maze of narrow passages and dangerous ruins outside the once-prosperous city of Voi,” created for the intention of Team Slayer and objective-chasing based modes.

According to Gamasutra, the map will include “collapsed ceilings, shell-battered buildings with catwalks and stairways allowing ‘dizzying rooftop battles.’”

The second map is called Avalanche, and for those of you that may not know it’s a tribute to the much-loved Sidewinder multiplayer map from the original Halo. This map was designed with large vehicle-oriented objective map.

This map is not a remake, it’s purely a tribute, so even though you may be blown up by nostalgia-induced day dreams, you will see “new interiors and exteriors and new vehicle variants, including the Hornet.”

The third and final map has yet to be detailed, but Bungie promises it to be “another returning classic.” Anybody have any guesses? Along with the maps, Bungie promises to include “new ways to create and share their custom Halo 3 content.”

The pack will be available for download at the Xbox Live Marketplace on April 20th.

Source: Gamasutra

Maybe Jack Thompson isn’t as crazy as we all know he is, and the Department of Defense actually is training an army of super soldiers through video games. Or maybe he is crazy and the Army is just jumping on the Halo 3 bandwagon.

Either way, The Army has teamed up with Microsoft to offer all you scum suckin’ maggots a chance to prove you aren’t a worthless lump of dog excrement – by putting together a Halo 3 Tournament, exclusively on Xbox Live.

Registration starts in March and the tournament starts in April, with prizes for winners and finalists. So if you think you’ve got game, prove it, and you could be the lucky winner of an all-expenses paid trip to a land of sun and sand (and oil). Or maybe just some exclusive Halo swag and Microsoft goodies.

For those interested in getting a little pre-tournament practice, There will also be some training drills to keep your skills sharp. Team Xbox reports there will be training sessions for sniping, heavy weapons and vehicles.

Registration for the first of three training sessions begins on Jan. 7, with gameplay beginning exclusively on Xbox LIVE on Jan. 19. Winners of these Basic Combat Training sessions will receive prizes, including Microsoft Points, exclusive “Halo 3” art, and more.

The Basic Combat Training schedule is as follows:

* Registration begins: 1/7, Training begins: 1/19 – Sniper School
* Registration begins: 1/28, Training begins: 2/9 – Heavy Weapons
* Registration begins: 2/18, Training begins: 3/1– Vehicles

Registration is open now, so get your butt into boot camp you useless ape, and earn the name “Spartan.”

As if the recent Xbox Live issues hadn’t caused enough problems, it now appears that you can actually lose an unlocked achievement as well. I’ve had a recent run-in with this disturbing occurrence, and as always, 1-800-4my-xbox’s Max was there to help me out — and of course by help me out, I mean annoy me while I try to connect to a real person.

It all started with a 400-mile trip home for the holidays. I met up with one of my friends to play some co-op Guitar Hero II, something that requires both people to be in the same room (no online play, which is why we didn’t do it before).

We decided we would try to get all of the co-op achievements while I was home because it would be a long time before we would get another chance.

To make a long story short, we got all of the co-op achievements except for 800k pair and millionaire pair (800,000 and 1 million points in a co-op song, respectively).

We had done pretty well on Free Bird so we decided we would try to get the 800k – it seemed doable if we rocked out hard enough. We played quite a few times, getting close but not quite breaking the 800k mark. We decided to rest for the night and try again the next day.

After a nap and some cereal, we were primed and ready to melt faces. After two or three attempts, we blew the doors off – 840,996 points. I was so excited that we finally unlocked the achievement that I immediately hit the guide button and stared at it for about 2 minutes.

We were so proud of ourselves that we actually took a picture of the newspaper score screen so we could remember this moment always.

This picture is not doctored – we really are that sexy

Fast-forward about a week to today. Out of curiosity, I looked at my Guitar Hero II achievements to see what I had left, and to my surprise – no 800k pair. What the hell?

I checked my friends achievement list, and he still had the achievement. I know it wasn’t just a dream. So why the fudge don’t I have it? I thought maybe this was yet another problem with Xbox Live, so I gave them a call.

Once I connect to a real person, I tell him this whole story. After I finish he asks:

“Is this related to Halo 3?”

What? Are you fucking serious? I keep my composure (because I’m asking him for help, after all) and simply say “No, Guitar Hero II”.

He puts me on hold for 10 minutes and when he comes back, much to my surprise, he says that this is actually a known issue with Halo 3 and that I’m not the only one. I repeat again that it’s not Halo 3 I’m having trouble with, it’s Guitar Hero II.

“Oh, right. I thought you said Halo 3, but it applies to all games anyways”.

Basically, while attempting to “fix” Xbox Live, they’ve systematically been rolling back and recovering portions of their servers to weed out the bugs. Again, this is not the “official” word from Microsoft, but the guy on 1-800-4my-xbox said that’s what was going on. He seemed to know what I was talking about when I told him my issue, so that leads me to believe he’s not just making stuff up.

Now, for my problem, what I need to do is get another achievement on Guitar Hero II in order to update my account. Unlocking a new achievement should re-register my previous achievements, and re-unlock the one I’m missing.

Simple, right? No. Absolutely not simple at all. The only achievements I have left to get require 5-starring Hard and Expert (not gonna happen), getting a million points in co-op (doing that would get me 800k anyways, and I can’t do any co-op by myself), and getting 500,000 points on a song in single player (again, not gonna happen).

What if this missing achievement was the last one I could possibly get on the game? What would they do then?

I do have to give the “agent” credit, though. Most tech support blows smoke up my ass because they really have no idea how to help me. This guy at least found out about the problem and how to solve it. While I don’t know (and might never know) if it will work, it’s nice that it at least seems to make sense. On top of that, he didn’t treat me like I’m the idiot, even though he did try to make me think I was playing Halo 3. They never stop advertising that game, do they?

It’s not every day that you’re mentioned by name on the official news blog of a deep-in the-hundreds cable channel, but G4TV’s The Feed should probably check their facts a little more carefully before assigning folksy, Bush-like nicknames.

Although the idea of buying “Svengali of Stationery” vanity plates and a matching neck tattoo are tempting, I really can’t take credit for the fine piece of papercraft we featured two days ago. The actual artist is from Planet Starfreak, a fantastically talented German crafting website.

Still, G4TV’s blog (excerpt below) did give me a hearty (if undeserved) shout-out, so thanks for that.

Andrew Podolsky, an apparent svengali of stationary [sic], created a pretty sweet paper model replica of the Pelican dropship from Halo.

TheFeed doesn’t have a lot of skills when it comes to making anything but annoying cat macros, so this is pretty impressive.

Podolsky also earns bonus points for an Shadowcat replica in the background too.

They also provided a link to Ripten, and awarded some extra nerdy “bonus points” for the other mecha-paper-thing on the table in the picture. Apparently it’s a “Shadowcat”, but I just thought it was an AT walker from Return of the Jedi.

How can you tell that I am no master of papercraft? Well, in the article I said that my previous attempts at papercraft have sucked, but that might have been ambiguous enough to imply that I was a talented papercraft designer and not an untalented papercraft abuser. Also, we linked to the original site. But now, I’m finally setting the record straight: I suck at folding and gluing paper together. It’s a skill I haven’t used since kindergarten, and frankly I don’t much miss it.

Also, take a close look at those pictures. You see those funny squiggles and numbers? That’s math, and it looks really hard. Again, this is a skill I haven’t used since Freshman Astronomy and, frankly, I don’t miss it much either. It turns out you can have a very fulfilling career as a freelance game writer without having to fold paper, do maths, or recognize “Shadowcat”.

So G4TV, I’d be glad to go on one of your fabulous shows and demonstrate my “Svengali of stationery” skills, but if I come up with a sudden hand cramp on the air you’ll have to forgive me. Or I could just rent out your 3am to 5am time slot and do a two-hour Ripten infomercial along with that Giovanni guy selling the roll out keyboard. Either way, I think you’ll be seeing a lot more of this site in the future.

In the future, wars will be fought not with plasma cannons and energy swords, but with tiny spaceships made out of paper and glue. So what if humankind ultimately loses the war? Our cute paper armadas will charm every alien life form in the galaxy.

At least, that’s the thinking behind Master Chief’s latest artistic endeavor, the Paper Pelican Dropship. I personally am terrible at these kinds of crafts–my Snake in a Box ended up looking like a wad of spitballs by the time I was “done”.

Still, a little careful crafting might be the perfect way to win over the Halo fan in your life for the holidays, especially if the stores are all closed on Christmas Eve, or you’re snowed into your winter cabin with nothing to do to pass the time except fold and glue paper. Stave off cabin fever and “the crazies” for long enough and maybe these little paper marines will fly in and save you.

Source: Paperkraft

Broken links on both Xbox.com and Bungie.com? What’s the deal here? It appears that Microsoft has “updated” the details to the promotion which originally stated that those who bought an Xbox 360 between November 21st and December 21st would receive a free copy of Halo 3.

The update now states that in order to qualify for the free copy of Halo 3, you must have an active XBL subscription on the original Xbox. Seems like poor logic if you ask us, as Microsoft is essentially telling new customers “take your money elsewhere”.

Source: Kotaku

Weapons have been a source of pain and suffering throughout human history. Since the first caveman bashed in his buddy’s head with a rock for eying his woman, weapons have played an important role in the decay of society. Alfred Nobel invented the Nobel Peace Prize to counter the moniker of “Merchant of Death” – bestowed unto the genius for his most famous invention, dynamite.

He knew that weapons were merely devices aimed at enhancing the destructive capabilities of humans, and their presence put the entire world in Jeopardy. His last will and testament was designed to prevent this catastrophe from happening, and his vision has promoted peace, art, and the progression of science since 1901.

Weapons are also a helluva’ lot of fun. Ninja swords, maces, sniper rifles, and grenades make the world a better place. And dynamite looks great stuffed down an opponent’s throat. I am talking about the world of video games of course – a place where killing is called “fragging” and headshots reign supreme.

In the real world I am a peace loving, anti-war, Che Guevara T-shirt wearing law abider. But once I hit that power button on the console, things change. I want to see the pink mist! And that’s where this edition of Ripten’s Top-Ten takes us. Today we choose the weapons that give us those shark-like grins and quench our lust for bloodshed. The instruments of malice that deal digital death faster than a bar serving Molotov cocktails. These are the weapons that make us cheer and our opponents shudder. This one … could get a little messy. And now for #10 on our list, The Gravity Hammer.

Halo has brought us a lot of great weapons over the years. Some of them were good, some were bad, and some wouldn’t help you punch your way out of a wet paper bag. The great ones can always be identified however, by their demand in an online fragfest. Game after game yields mad sprints to snag the most destructive vehicles, the best powerups, and the most ferocious artillery, but there is one weapon that’ll send a room full of enemies dashing for the exits: The Gravity Hammer.

We first got a glimpse of the Hammer in Halo II being wielded by the Chieftain Brute Tartarus. It sure dealt with the Arbiter quickly, sending poor little pixilated Keith David careening down a bottomless pit. While not exactly an instrument of finesse, the Gravity Hammer was perfectly designed for blunt force trauma. Have a room full of elites that needs eradicating? Use the Hammer. A co-worker parked his warthog in your parking space? Use the Hammer. Can’t open that pesky jar of preservatives? Employ the Hammer. The Brute Gravity Hammer follows the ethos of the “if it ain’t broke, break it” variety. And it does this very well.

The weapons of Halo III are vast and varied. The Spartan Laser is favored for ending those annoying killing sprees by all the Maverick wannabes taking to the skies in their banshees on Valhalla. The Flamethrower is great for guarding those gravity lifts on Construct. And the rocket launcher found on the catwalk on Narrows will make your opponents wish they’d never enlisted. All these weapons serve a purpose, but it is the Hammer alone that delivers that indefinable satisfaction that comes with the knowledge that you just bashed a person into another time zone. Never has using a force amplifier tool dating back to 30,000 BCE so much fun.

The Gravity Hammer has its limitations, as do all the weapons on this list. It’s slow, its bulky, and its impossible to sneak through a metal detector, but it causes an certain emotion in its victims that leads to its inclusion in our Top Ten…that emotion is FEAR. People will fear you when they turn a corner to see this beauty cocked and waiting. And in the world of gaming, it’s always better to be feared than loved.

Top Ten Most Badass Weapons List: 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1

Earlier this week on Fox’s The Morning Show, psychologist Susan Bartell spoke out on video game violence. In particular about how playing Halo affects a different part of your brain than when your playing a non violent game. Yet her credibility was seriously called into question as GamePolitics.com interviewed her today.

GP: One thing I found especially concerning… was [an e-mail] comment that you only saw the [Indiana University] brain scan pix five minutes before air [of The Morning Show]. That being the case, do you think it appropriate to go on and offer a professional opinion based on the scans to the audience?

Dr. Bartell: That’s the way it is with TV — it’s just not a black and white thing. I am genuinely sorry that it caused such a sense that I was being so disrespectful [to gamers]. The scans aside I stand by my opinion that violent games should not be played by teens… As to whether I should have responded to the scans — my intent was going on air to discuss whether the church should be holding Halo nights, clearly that was derailed.

GP: In all honesty, I’m having difficulty reconciling “that’s the way it is with TV” to responsible professionalism. It smacks of sensationalism. Just being candid here.

Dr. Bartell: I can understand how you feel… there is an element of sensationalism to it I suppose, but no less, IMO than all the hoopla created by the GP posters in response to my appearance. I appreciate candor — it will always help me grow as a person and as a professional. I couldn’t — five minutes before going on air — say, sorry I won’t do it, I don’t have enough background information about this brain scan! I’m just not that much of a purist…

Much respect to Dennis McCauley of GamePolitics for calling out Miss Bartell. My question is, who gives these people doctorates? Did she get her diploma in the mail? “I couldn’t — five minutes before going on air — say, sorry I won’t do it, I don’t have enough background information about this brain scan!” This just goes to show its all about ratings, and therefore the blame can’t solely be placed on Miss Bartell. Fox would have paraded out some other “Specialist” who wanted to promote book sales.

In addition if you look at the brain scans on the show, while playing Halo you can clearly see the activity is at the back of the brain. The back of the brain is referred to as the Occipital Lobe, the region of the brain that controls visual movement, as well as shape and color recognition. Sounds like a pretty consistent description of a video game to me. Yet with the non violent game, the diagram of the brain activity is diffused in different areas, meaning the individual was thinking about other things and NOT fully focused on paying the game. Probably because the non violent game they gave this guy was boring as hell.

Sensationalism indeed Miss Bartell. One thing is for certain, until the first generation of adults who grew up on Grand Theft Auto and Madden become parents themselves, we will continue to have these blind accusations about videogame violence. Take heart gamers, the freedom of entertainment shall be ours … eventually. When the suburban housewives get as sick of hearing about video game violence as we do, it will be game over for the Jack Thompsons and Dr. Bartell’s of the world.

Source: GamePolitics.com

Halo 3 is still the topic of controversy weeks after its release, and this time it has nothing to do with the Bungie and Microsoft split.

According to the numbers published on rottentomatoes.com, Octobers ticket sales are at one of the lowest points in recent box office history. What does that mean? Well, according to a short list of film executives and researchers, it means that the general movie going audience is staying home playing Halo 3 instead of spending $24.50 for popcorn, soda, and a glimpse at Mr. Woodcock, Ben’s half hearted attempt at finding true love, or Dwayne’s game plan.

Mike Hickey, analyst at Janco Partners, a Denver based research firm states “The audience on this game is the 18-to-34 demographic, similar to what you’d see in cinemas,” he goes on to state that “this could last for several weeks.”

This is an absolutely ridiculous assumption, as every gamer knows Ben Stiller hasn’t made a decent movie in years, and the Rock — sorry, “Dwayne Johnson” is better off sticking to action movies, as long as they aren’t video game related (see DOOM). On a positive note though, maybe this will finally convince a studio to get the wheels rolling on a Halo movie.

Source: Advertising Age, Rotten Tomatoes

Ok, so we came across this little bit of heaven while browsing reddit.com and just had to share the find with our readers. Granted, not everyone here at ripten was completely in love with Bungie’s latest Halo release in terms of the campaign mode, but the multiplayer aspect of Halo 3 can hardly be called a disappointment.

That said, below are a few highlights from an “open letter to Bungie” we discovered which was posted anonymously on craigslist.org. In it the writer discusses their dislike for the latest release in the Halo series as well as some ideas and suggestions for Bungie in the future.

“It is evident that you are now in bed with Microsoft by the fact that you released a game like “Halo 3” with seemingly no regard for the consumers that have padded your pockets.” Not sure about everyone else, but when we are in bed with someone we don’t usually break up with them, unless the sex was bad, and even then it’s usually after they have gone home.

“If you are going to justify the $60.00 … at least give us further customization options. For instance, wouldn’t it be fun to make the “Master Chief” run around shooting people in his underwear? That, personally, would crack me up.” We are definitely not licensed psychiatrists, but a few of us did stay at the local Holiday Inn express last night and we think this guy has a thing for the Chief. If they are willing to dish out $60 for undie mode, imagine what they would be willing to pay for some all out nudity.

“Furthermore, I believe Lara Croft is empowering to younger female gamers. There. I said it.” Good, get it out … get it all out.

“What would you think about a sexy three way between Master Chief, Lara Croft and Space Pac Man? Haha! That would be wild! No, no…not for the game. It is just funny to think about. Don’t you think?” Right about now we are wondering how many drawings this kid has done in his sketch pad of the afore mentioned threesome.

“I think “Terms of Endearment” the video game could be AWESOME!” If Bungie takes this game concept on they will need to push one of the others aside and personally we really want to see the “Three Men and a Baby” videogame first.

“(I was pretty mad back then when I got that game and no angels were in it. I ain’t no bible nut but I guess you could consider me “spiritual”)” Because we all know that there is nothing worse than buying a game expecting to get Michael Landon only to be let down completely.

If the quotes we pulled weren’t enough, we went ahead and included the entire work of art as well. The complete letter as it appears on craigslist.org is posted below … enjoy it, we sure did.

- – – – – – – – – – – – – – -

October 9, 2007
Bungie Studios
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052

To Whom It May Concern:

It is evident that you are now in bed with Microsoft by the fact that you released a game like “Halo 3” with seemingly no regard for the consumers that have padded your pockets.

I would, however, like to congratulate you on the marketing campaign which, by all accounts, was the most skillful and creative development to come out of the entire “Halo 3” debacle.

Overrated does not begin to describe it. “Next Gen”, indeed. It would appear that you consciously did not deliver on what you promised because you knew the game would sell record amounts of copies no matter what you did. RING RING! Hear that? That’s Bungie phoning it in.

The graphics were no better than “Halo 2”. The campaign play is boring and repetitive. If you are going to justify the $60.00 price tag on the multi-player aspects alone, then at least give us further customization options. For instance, wouldn’t it be fun to make the “Master Chief” run around shooting people in his underwear? That, personally, would crack me up.

Additionally, I was saddened to see that you did not include one of the Halo franchise’s most beloved characters – Lara Croft. Hey – I’m no kind of freaky perv but let’s face facts – SHE IS HAWT! I can’t help but think that Lara Croft was the reason “Halo 1” and “Halo 2” sold so many copies in the first place and then you go and ruin it all by NOT EVEN MAKING MENTION OF HER IN “HALO 3”?

Furthermore, I believe Lara Croft is empowering to younger female gamers. There. I said it.

If I had been designing this game, instead of a bunch of hollow promises (thanks marketing!) I would include the Master Chief in his underwear function (mentioned above and still hilarious) and Lara Croft and maybe a multi-player way for them to get intimate, if you know what I mean.

Let’s face it. You got a lot of younger players out there who buy your game even with the “M” for “MATURE” rating. I don’t need to teach you guys a biology class on teen sex but the fact of the matter is there are way to many pregnant teens out there and I think a little interactive education between Master Chief and Lara Croft could be very beneficial to our nation’s youth.

I’m not talking anything “X” rated here. Master Chief could stay in his underwear (ha, ha) and Lara in her short shorts. The key here is EDUCATION. Will you take that key and unlock the vault of learning? Or will you continue to make disappointments like “Halo 3”?

One of my favorite parts of “Halo 2” was the boss battle with “Space Pac-Man”. You kind of left it at a cliff-hanger inferring that Space Pac-Man would return in “Halo 3”. Once again, my gaming experience was stained with disappointment. While I love the voice work of MASTER ACTOR KEITH DAVID (John Carpenter’s “The Thing”.) it would have been so much better to hear his sultry baritone coming out of Space Pac Man’s mouth and not that Archie character or whatever he was called.

What would you think about a sexy three way between Master Chief, Lara Croft and Space Pac Man? Haha! That would be wild! No, no…not for the game. It is just funny to think about. Don’t you think?

The point I’m trying to make here is that you could have gone a lot of different directions or, at the very least, fulfilled some of the hype you got everyone worked up about. However, I suppose you did what you needed to. Namely, sell 18 gazillion copies without any thought put into satisfying consumer expectation.

I’m no game designer. I leave that to guys at NASA. But I’ve been knocking around a few ideas that I will share with you. Maybe you can use some of these next time BEFORE you release another steaming pile of poo like “Halo 3”.

1. Okay – now – you guys are all nerds so I’m sure you’ve heard of “Star Trek”, right? All those great characters and the kids just LOVE Mr. McCoy and Chewbacca. Now – stick with me here – what IF you took the crew of the USS Enterprise and turned them all – get ready – INTO BABIES. And then – instead of a space SHIP – they are in a space CRIB! (On a side note – you guys really set something off in me with the Space Pac Man. Now – I like to just think of EVERYTHING in space. Like “Space Pope”.)

I’m not quite sure of what the actual game play would be like. That’s for you eggheads to workout. But the concept – Star Trek Babies – is pure gold.

2. The problem with video games based on movies is that they’re never any good. Am I right? So – why not make MORE games based on Oscar winning motion pictures. Brace yourself because I think “Terms of Endearment” the video game could be AWESOME! You can choose to play the Timothy Hutton character – hold on – that was “Ordinary People”. Well who cares? They are both great movies and I can tell you right HERE and NOW that none of your competitors will have even thought about this. What would YOU rather do? Control some Dig-Dug in a dirt thing or help Deborah Winger deal with her impending demise? I think the choice is quite clear.

3. With the success of “The Sims” the argument that people like to do the exact same things they do in real live except on a computer is now academic. Yes…academic. So, pretty much, you guys might try that angle.

In conclusion, I will give you kudos to buying off most of the drooling, sycophantic game reviewers. However, you haven’t fooled EVERYONE.

Have a margarita down at the local Chevy’s in Redmond on me, guys. You got my $60.00 so you can certainly afford it. Maybe you can get a little drunk and think about the good old days when you made that ONE good game – the original “Halo”. (On a side note – I was pretty mad back then when I got that game and no angels were in it. I ain’t no bible nut but I guess you could consider me “spiritual”)

I will not be buying any more of your products if this is the quality I can expect from your future endeavors.

Regards,

NAME REMOVED FOR PRIVACY REASONS
I did however mail this to Bungie
Source: Craigslist.org

In 2005, Universal Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox announced that they would be working with Microsoft to release a Halo film based on the success of the video game series. They named Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh as the executive producers, who both worked together on the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

A year later, both Universal and Fox pull out of the project – leaving many fans wondering if they will ever get to see a live action movie.

On October 4th 2007, Neill Blomkamp, who was supposed to direct the Halo film, said in an interview with Creativity-Online.com that the project is officially dead.

“The film is entirely dead,” said Blomkamp in the interview. “All of the design and everything that we’d made for the film is just locked up in some locker somewhere …”

“…the film collapsed at the end of last year, and it’s been dead, ever since then. I’ll be curious to see what happens.”

According to imdb.com, Halo was purchased by Fox and the project will go on.

Who knows if a Halo film will be ever produced, but with the popularity and recent success of Halo 3, fans shouldn’t be surprised if development starts up again.

In the meantime, fans can view Blomkamp’s latest Halo 3 live action short below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Halo 3’s multiplayer mode, along with Microsoft’s entire strategy for domination in the console wars, can be summed up in two beautiful words: Endless replayability.

This is a desert island game–assuming you had an HDTV and Internet connection on the island, and didn’t use team chat to send out an SOS. It’s a game that you could easily spend weeks, months, and years perfecting without getting bored. The online matchmaking system ramps up the challenge so smoothly that after you learn the ropes “powning noobs” you’ll be experiencing a much greater difficulty playing against Halo experts.

And there’s no shortage of competition either. By hyping this game as the “biggest entertainment launch in history”, Microsoft brought nearly 3 million Halo 3 players into the fold in the first week. The result is that at any given time you can find between 250,000 to 750,000 people playing Halo multiplayer all over the world, and all of them want to kick your ass.

Halo 3 multiplayer options include slayer (deathmatch), team slayer, oddball, king of the hill, crazy king, capture the flag, and melee weapons only. Variations such as shotty snipers, where every player starts with a super-long range and super-close range weapon, require players to use the maps in different ways. And then there’s vehicles, like the new Mongoose which is useful for little more than making a getaway with the flag, or the Ghost, which is very deadly until it’s stuck with a couple of plasma grenades.

These “standard” multiplayer options are staggering, but it’s the custom games built using the Forge map editor that really gives this mode marathon legs. Bungie will feature some of the best level designs, so don’t be surprised if variations on racing, baseball, and VIP end up becoming popular hits.

Matchmaking uses two different types of scoring–an experience level, which goes up and up at seemingly random times, and a skill level which can go down if you’re not performing well. You are awarded medals and rankings for your experience and skill level, so everyone will be able to tell if you’re an easy target or a seasoned slayer. Plus if you’re really hardcore, you can review videos of every match played online.

It’s easy to buy Halo 3 and completely ignore the single player campaign, just because the multiplayer is so damn good. This makes multiplayer only games like Shadowrun look pathetic in comparison, and Team Fortress 2 and Call of Duty 4 will be hard pressed to match Halo 3’s brand of longevity. Halo 3’s closest comparison might actually be World of Warcraft–a massively multiplayer, mainstream experience that can entertain for years.

It could use more maps (but hey, that’s what downloadable content was made for), and some Xbox Live players need to come pre-muted, but those are literally my only complaints for this landmark achievement of an online console game.

Multiplayer – Reviewed by Andrew Podolsky.

Campaign – Reviewed by Rob Way. (click here to read)

Overall – Rob Way & Andrew Podolsky fight it out…results below.

Halo’s storyline finally comes full circle, and not the good kind of circle I used to draw in math class with a compass — the bad kind of circle I used to draw on the asphalt when I was five!

If Bungie’s mission was to make us feel like pigeons, preordering the game, waiting three months, and ultimately paying $60 for a game that doesn’t deliver anything that remotely resembles a decent story, then CONGRATULATIONS!

If I didn’t preorder it, wait three months, and drop $60, I would throw the Halo 3 game disk into my bathroom sink and set it on fire, then use it to line Pirate’s (my cat) cat box.

If you think I’m being harsh, lets take a trip down memory lane. There I was sitting at my computer watching the first CGI trailer for Halo 3 (you know, the one with the two kids staring at the stars asking philosophical questions) then BAM, in comes Master Chief caught up in some massive battle putting on his helmet. The first thing that crossed my mind was “are we finally going to learn about Master Chief’s past?” The answer: Of course not! I mean, why would I ever think that?

And the actual storyline (I use that word loosely) is a much bigger letdown than being denied a glimpse under the Chief’s helmet. For starters, how about the fact that they cut the entire “Arbiter” storyline right out of the game? Heck, why not — it’s not like he had a role in Halo 2 or a big part in Halo 3 — he’s just your right hand man for the entire game!

Let’s not forget about Cortana. In fact, you couldn’t even if you wanted to since she pops up on your screen every 15 to 30 minutes slowing your gameplay down. Her random babble annoyed me and didn’t have a direct connection to the story at all. Oh, and does anyone remember Gravemind from Halo 2? Well, you might as well forget him, because he’s not in Halo 3 — unless you count his one-sided dialogue, which like Cortana, slows down your gameplay.

As far as weapons go, there are few new additions, and what was added wasn’t very impressive or useful for that matter. I found myself using the Assault Rifle throughout the majority of the game, that is until I ran into a tank, then I would either use the rocket launcher or run into it with a Ghost, firing repeatedly until it exploded.

There are some new vehicles as well, like the Chopper (the brute version of an ATV) which closely resembles a 1980’s Big Wheel, and the Hornet (the human version of the Banshee) which looks a lot like the Turtle Glider from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles .

One new feature they added, which I thought was awesome, was the ability to destroy the Scarabs, the giant spider like tanks featured in cut scenes from past iterations of the game. Of course that lost its luster once I realized all you had to do to destroy it was stand underneath its leg joints and fire away.

Graphics are what you would expect from a next gen Halo game, as it features bright shiny colors throughout. In terms of sound, though, it didn’t take long before the same Halo theme beat me into submission. Although with new renditions of the theme added, there were moments where I expected a Brown Coat or Reavers to jump out (yea a Firefly references — I’m a nerd).

Overall, I was not impressed with Bungie and Microsoft’s agenda to make more money by milking a franchise for all its worth (did you get your Halo themed Xbox 360?), and I can assure you this won’t be the last time we all see Master Chief.

Campaign – Reviewed by Rob Way.

Multiplayer – Reviewed by Andrew Podolsky. (click here to read)

Overall – Rob Way & Andrew Podolsky fight it out…results below.

It’s official. Bungie is now a privately held independent company, meaning they are no longer owned by Microsoft. Although Bungie is not owned by Microsoft anymore, Microsoft still owns a minority equity interest in Bungie.

As part of the transaction, both companies will still have a development and publishing relationship focused on the continuing success of the “Halo” franchise.

“This exciting evolution of our relationship with Microsoft will enable us to expand both creatively and organizationally in our mission to create world-class games,” said Harold Ryan, studio head for Bungie. “We will continue to develop with our primary focus on Microsoft’s platforms; we greatly value our mutually prosperous relationship with our publisher, Microsoft Game Studios, and we look forward to continuing that affiliation through ‘Halo’ and beyond.”

Bungie was founded in 1991 and came to success with the first two “Myth” games, but “Halo” became global success for them when they worked with Microsoft.

“Working with Microsoft was great for us, it allowed us to grow as a team and make the ambitious, blockbuster games we all wanted to work on. And they will continue to be a great partner. But Bungie is like a shark. We have to keep moving to survive. We have to continually test ourselves, or we might as well be dolphins. Or manatees,” said Jason Jones, Bungie founder and partner.

It’s uncertain now if Bungie will develop games for other gaming consoles, but this can change in the near future.