RipTen Videogame Blog » Halo-3

New High Flying Halo Anniversary Screens For Ya, Chief!

Dave Oshry — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 21:00:36 +0000

The Halo: Combat Evolved remake is shaping up to be a must-have game this year. The game you knew and loved forever ago is getting a face lift for the Xbox 360 and LIVE support. Now, you can re-live your first tea bag experience in beautiful high definition and kick some Covenant ass in amazing clarity.

It’ll be all yours on November 15, 2011.

Autistic 11 Year Old Banned from XBL, Mum Cries Discrimination, Cheating Discovered

Murray Hibble — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 23:35:13 +0000

Websites the world over took up arms late last week over the sad tale of an 11 year old autistic boy being banned from Xbox Live and being labeled a cheater. His mother was outraged and immediately reached out for media attention, requesting that Microsoft repair the gamerscore and remove the cheater label.

Today however, it’s been reported that the kid did in fact “unintentionally” take part in gamerscore-modding and here’s the response from MS’s Director of Policy and Enforcement Stephen Toulouse…

“The account Zombie Kill67 transferred from the Xbox it is normally seen on, to an Xbox in another city. The account earned several achievements for Halo 3 that can only be done online and in succession. It was clear they were unlocked out of order and offline. Earning successive online achievements out of order and offline is an impossible feat, not due to skill, but due to the technology of the system. It can only be done by modifying the account and faking the achievements.”

Click here for the full FOX News story (factual for once).

There’s quite some food for thought here. Autism is a serious issue and parents of children afflicted by it should be accorded great respect. What shines out of the above video is the mother’s commitment to Julius’ gaming as a social outlet and her son’s clearly debilitating affliction. In the face of this, it feels wrong to make the issue about how we handle cheating. All Julius did was let his gamerscore be modded to he could achieve a piece of Recon armour through Halo Waypoint and I can understand that neither he nor his mother would even be aware of the consequences should he be caught. Does his mental capacity protect him from such behaviour?

To maintain the integrity of the achievement system, it is important that Microsoft bans those who seek to cheat their way around it. Gamerscore can be approached in several ways, as a personal performance driver, a competition between friends or as a giant swinging e-peen for online forums, it holds a different meaning to each player. Growing up with games, I knew that the second I entered a cheat code, maybe IDDQD (God Mode for the original Doom), the sense of challenge was lost, and once used it was too hard to turn off the minute a challenge did rear its head. If Microsoft didn’t crack down on cheating then all three of the above approaches are voided (personal performance being voided ala IDDQD). It’s easy at this point to ask why Microsoft can’t overturn the ban on this one occasion, but it’s equally easy to understand why they haven’t.

If they overturn the ban here they’ll have a hundred copycat claims the following day along with a wide range of excuses and reasons (real or otherwise) and unless Microsoft wishes to hire their own team of globe-trotting psychiatrists this is unlikely to ever happen. Maybe someone could hack Kinect and create some sort of bullshit detector? Mind you, the Kinect would probably then delete itself out of existence.

It appears Julius is determined to make up ground and is currently showing a gamerscore of 40 from Halo Reach and I’m sure we all wish him well in the journey.

Do you think it’s fair that Julius was labeled a cheater and had his gamerscore reset? Do you think gamerscore warrants such tight controls? Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter - @DarkMellie.

New Bulletstorm Trailer Sticks it to Halo Like a Spike Grenade

Dave Oshry — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 05:16:10 +0000

If Bulletstorm is one thing, it’s over the top – Even when it comes to parody. What better way to take on the king of console first person shooters than to mock Master Chief himself!?

Enjoy:

No idea what we’re talking about? Here is the original Halo 3 “Believe” advert:

Impersonation is the highest form of flattery . . . yeah right!!

The Complete Guide to Halo: Reach Secrets and Easter Eggs

Brandon Fenty — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 04:00:27 +0000

So you’ve been playing Reach for a few days now, you’ve beaten the campaign and are smashing n00bs in matchmaking. But you can’t shake the feeling that there’s something more. Turns out, you’re right. Here’s the current complete list of Halo: Reach secrets and Easter Eggs:

Reach Racer

Want to race warthogs against friends? Halo: Reach fulfills this deep need…if you know where to look. It’s a little tricky, and you’ll need to be playing co-op on Mission 3 to do it. There are two ‘switches’ that you have to hit X on simultaneously to activate the minigame. Both switches can be found after Rally Point Alpha, where you must destroy the Wraiths. Switch A is found on the shore of the water just southeast of the buildings with a pair switches you must activate. It’s on a pile of rocks near the frozen waterfall. You’ll know’re in the right place when you get a message saying “Hold X to Open Door.” Note: You must reload your weapon before getting this. Switch B is just past the AA cannon in the next area. A pile of rocks with some trees that overlooks the vast, walled complex on the ice below the area. When bothe racers are in position, press X simultaneously and a message will appear on screen saying “REACH RACER”. You will then be warped to the Oni: Sword Base with two Gauss Cannon Wart Hogs ready for racing. You can race your friend through a course marked by red waypoints. At the end of the race, the loser’s Wart Hog will explode and you’ll both be warped back to race anew.

Master Chief Cameo

Who says Master Chief isn’t in Halo: Reach!? Upon completing the final level (The Pillar of Autumn), you will see a cut-scene of the ship taking off. When the cut-scene starts, hold your aiming stick (it will be dependent on your control scheme) so that you would “turn right” normally.

At the point when the UNSC shuttle docks at the Pillar of Autumn’s landing bay, the camera will move to the right and you’ll catch a glimpse of the famous spartan, still in his capsule.

Brute Dance Party

Ever wanted to see a grunt boogey? Reach has it all. After you’ve cleared out the dance club in Mission 7 (including the Hunters), return and you’ll be greeted with a full-on dance party, complete with dancing grunts, and a brute DJ and bartender. Be careful, you don’t want to activate the jammer, or you want be able to get back into the building.

Avatar Unlocks

Carter’s Helmet – Clear a Campaign mission on Legendary without dying (Note: To get this easily, play through an entire level on Legendary and die as much as you want. At the end of the level, save and quit. Choose “Resume Campaign” and then finish the level without dying.)

Emile’s Helmet – Earn a Bulltrue medal in either multiplayer or Firefight Matchmaking (Kill someone while they’re lunging with an Energy Sword attack)

Jorge’s Helmet – Earn a Killtacular in multiplayer Matchmaking (Kill 5 enemies within 4 seconds of eachother)

Jun’s Helmet – Kill 100 enemies in a row without dying in either the Campaign or Firefight (set your shields/life to infinite in a Firefight match)

Kat’s Helmet – Avenge a teammate’s death in multiplayer Matchmaking (Kill someone who killed your teammate)

Well, there you go. Because Halo: Reach is the type of game that just keeps on giving, new secrets and Easter Eggs will be added when found. Be sure to check this page periodically as we’ll make sure to keep it up to date.

Jaw Dropping Halo: Reach Stats

Garrett Hartman — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 04:32:51 +0000

Halo is known for it’s loyal and active fanbase. Hell, when microsoft discontinued xbox live service for Halo 2 it still had a healthy gaming community. So how popular is Halo: Reach? The statistics Bungie has compiled are jaw dropping.

Keep in mind these stats compiled end September 18th – not even a full week:

31,000,000 Games have been played since launch
98,000,000 Player-games have been recorded
8,214,338 Daily Challenges have been completed
255,996 Weekly Challenges have been completed
78,499,560,895 Total Credits have been earned
953 Man-years have been spent in matchmade games
1365 Man-years have been spent in campaign
854,107 files have been uploaded
577,804 recommendations have been sent to friends
4,619,455 files have been downloaded

Quite impressive. I would love to see the stat for hours of productivity lost.

What do you think about these stats?

New Halo Novels to be Set Following Third Game

David Oxford — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 03:05:42 +0000

Though Halo 3 was set to mark the end of Bungie’s acclaimed trilogy, that hasn’t stopped new stories from being written in further games. However, these stories– Halo Wars, Halo 3: ODST, and even the upcoming Halo: Reach– all take place prior to or concurrent with the games in the regularly-numbered titles.

Those who have been left wondering where things go after [SPOILER] at the end of Halo 3 appear to have some good news afoot… that is, if they’re into reading.

More Halo novels are on the way, according to publisher Tor Books. Writer Karen Traviss has signed a multi-book deal, and will be exploring the post-Halo 3 universe, beginning with the aftermath of the events of Halo: Ghosts of Onyx.

Her name may also ring a few bells, whether you’re a fan of Halo or not. In addition to penning the Halo: Evolutions short story “Human Weakness,” she has written best-selling novels set in the Star Wars and Gears of War universes.

As an aside, one has to wonder what kind of results she could produce if a crossover between all three were to be greenlit.

Unfortunately, it’s too bad that the target Halo demographic doesn’t match up with Pizza Hut’s Book It! program– who could resist the combination of Spartans and free pizza? On the other hand, if Xbox LIVE is any indication, there is probably plenty of unintended room for overlap.

Source: Destructoid

$100,000 Virgin Gaming Red Hot Summer Tournament Is On, Ends August 8th

Chad Lakkis — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 00:23:22 +0000

If you’re into lazy days at the beach then this news update isn’t for you. But, if your idea of a fun consists of pwning noobs in online tournaments and winning boat loads of money for your efforts, then Virgin Gaming has got you covered this Summer like a well placed gob of sun screen.

From now til August 8th, Virgin Gaming’s $100,000 Red Hot Summer will pick up the tab on any Madden NFL 10, FIFA 10, and Halo 3 tournament. The tournaments are available in daily, weekly, and monthly formats, and if that isn’t enough, the top 256 qualifiers for each game will win a monthly cash bonus, with the top 128 being granted entry to a $2,500 prize pool “invite-only” end-of-the-month tournament in July and August.

The tournaments will be held on both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 (with the exception of Halo 3 of course), and total cash prizes allotted to each game vary, with Halo 3 and Madden 10 getting $5,000 each, and FIFA 10 scoring $10,000.

Looking to get in on the action? Existing Virgin Gaming members simply need to start playing in order to be qualified. If you haven’t signed up yet, head on over to Virgin Gaming to register.

Halo 3 Offering 2X XP, Gears of War 2 8X XP for 4th of July Weekend

Rangebar Merani — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 04:44:00 +0000

Not partying this weekend for the 4th of July? Maybe no plans? Not invited to the local pool party? Well, sorryboutcha, but at least there’s plenty of gaming to be done this Independence Day weekend with special events from both Halo 3 and Gears of War 2 to celebrate.

Halo 3 is offering double experience points for it’s popular bomb detonation game, Grifball, while Gears of War 2 totally blows the lid off with eight times the experience points across all multiplayer gametypes. Yes, I said eight times the experience points. Now that’s a crazy-ass promotion. Too bad I’ll be busy tomorrow grillin’ out, drinking and, of course, chillin’ poolside with the ladies. Ooowww!

Happy Independence day to you all, have fun and please be safe!

Greenberg: Halo 3 Outsold Several Top Sony Exclusives, Combined

Chad Lakkis — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 01:13:05 +0000

I’ve never been able to get into the Halo series myself, not to say that I think it’s bad, I’ve just never got around to falling in love with it. However, examining some recent NPD data makes it easy to see that I’m certainly the minority.

According to a recent tweet by Aaron Greenberg, Microsoft’s Xbox Product Director, the third installment of Bungies popular Halo franchise gobbled up the collective efforts of some of Sony’s most highly touted console exclusives:

“Just in from research team (NPD),” Greenberg wrote in the Twitter update, “Halo 3 has outsold Resistance 1 + 2, Uncharted 1+2, Killzone 2 and God of War III COMBINED….wow.”

It’s worth mentioning that even if the NPD data is spot on, Halo 3 has had nearly 3 years to build these numbers, while titles such as God of War III (released March 2010), Uncharted 2 (released October 2009), and Killzone 2 (released February 2009) are still fairly recent editions to the gaming market. None the less, this is an impressive notch in the heavily armored belt that is Halo.

PS2 “Mountain” & Halo “Believe” Spots Nominated for Commercial of the Decade by Adweek

Chad Lakkis — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:03:40 +0000

Not one, but two video game related commercials have been selected for consideration to win the AdweekMedia Commercial of the Decade. The list took AdweekMedia editors over a month of back and forth deliberation to narrow down, and when the smoke cleared, both the Sony PlayStation 2 “Mountain” spot and the Halo 3 “Believe” commercial made the cut. Have a look at them both below.

Sony PlayStation 2 “Mountain”

Bungie’s Halo 3 “Believe”

A little off topic here, but is it just me, or does Xbox 360 “Jump In” series of commercials from 2006 seem to borrow a lot from the PS2 “Mountain” spot of 2004? The whole connection between people outside in the city streets doing things meant to symbolize online interaction seems very similar to me. While I’m on that, I’ll get another thing off my chest. I also think that the latest “It’s More Fun Time” campaign for the Xbox 360 featuring Glee actress Jane Lynch is trying to cash in on the same successful tongue and cheek approach Sony achieved with their PlayStation 3 “It Only Does Everything” campaign. Just my two cents.

Anyway, time to get back on topic. As someone who spent years working on the advertising end of things, I’m glad to see two video game themed commercials get selected and I’d be even happier to see one of them win.

Celebrate the 4th of July with a Halo 3 Double XP Weekend

Dylan Duarte — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:02:22 +0000

First Range told you about Call of Duty: World at War. Then he told you about Gears of War 2. Now I’m here to tell you that Bungie is also giving Halo 3 players a double XP weekend. However, this “weekend” begins today and goes until 2am Monday. It also requires the Heroic, Legendary, and Mythic map packs. Enjoy.

Bungie

E3 09: Halo 3: ODST Gameplay Footage

Rangebar Merani — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:48:42 +0000

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.

Preview: Section 8 Solves Three of Your Favorite FPS’s Problems

Jonathan Zungre — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 00:48:19 +0000

They’re not calling themselves a “Halo Killer” but it seems that many of the main features in Section 8 were created in response to what annoyed them, and probably annoy you, about established FPS franchises like Halo and Battlefield.

Let’s go through 3 problems even the best first person shooters have and the ways Section 8 provides a solution.

Problem 1: Spawning Then Immediately Dying

If you spawn near a camping sniper, or in the trajectory of a rocket, or just die within seconds of spawning, it sucks. You probably feel a little cheated by the game, which, I’m pretty sure, is never one of the developer’s goals.

Solution: Let the Player Choose his Spawn Point and Make the Act of Spawning Awesome.

Section 8′s eliminates the annoyance of cheap deaths via their most impressive feature: “Burning in.” Every time you die, you’re taken to an orbital drop ship. You choose the point on the map you want to “burn in” to and the ship torpedoes you screaming through the atmosphere headfirst, in first person view, until you slam into the ground with thunderous force.

There’s a strategy to where you choose to burn in, as well. You can burn in right on the inside of an opponents base, but if your teammates haven’t disabled their anti-air guns, you may not make it to the ground in one piece. Or you could just try to aim your burn in to land on some poor sucker’s head and score the game’s only one hit kill.

No one wants to ride passenger in a real life Warthog either…

Problem 2: Feeling Lame Riding in the Passenger Side of a Vehicle

OK, how many times have you been playing Halo 3 and got stuck shooting the machine gun of the Scorpion or the Wraith while your buddy gets to drive and shoot the cannon? It sucks. It sucks so much that many players will just go on foot rather than rolling like that.

Solution: Vehicles Where Everyone Gets to Do Something Cool:

In Section 8, when you drive a tank everyone gets to do something awesome. So if you’re not driving and shooting the cannon, you’re launching a cluster bomb reminiscent of Gear’s of War 2′s mortar, or you’re shooting the huge caliber bullets of the anti-air gun. Whoever gets in has a job and has fun. There are no back of the Mongoose experiences here.

Problem 3: Trekking across a Huge Map to Get to the Battle

When you’re dealing with the absolutely huge maps of Battlefield or similar franchises, you are often left with a tedious trek across a huge landscape unless you find a vehicle. Even in games without huge maps, the relatively slow pace of your characters movement can be a chore.

Solution: Make Each Player as Fast as a Speeding Vehicle.

Section 8 lets you become the vehicle. If you’ve got a long expanse to traverse, you have the ability to trigger your Overdrive, which shifts the camera to a third person perspective and lets you sprint at ridiculous speeds. This coupled with the built in jet pack for jumping lets you bound across large portions the game map like the Incredible Hulk.

If you want to be able to sprint for longer, put more points into your Overdrive before you spawn and you’ll never again have to experience Master Chief’s slow trot.

Section 8 seems to be made by developers that feel your pain as a FPS fan and want to give you a game that takes the weaknesses of current FPSs and turns them into strengths. They’re a long way off from release but these features look promising.

Halo 3 multiplayer free for Silver XBL members this weekend

Sam Naylor — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 21:26:21 +0000

That’s right folks, this weekend you can play on Halo 3′s multiplayer totally free. To celebrate the release of the Mythic Map Pack, Microsoft have allowed all of their loyal customers, even the ones who don’t pay extra money to them, to play Halo 3′s multiplayer. So, if you’re one of the few people who has Halo 3 but no Gold account, dig out that disc!

Halo 3 Mythic Map Pack Now Available on XBL

Rangebar Merani — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:56:37 +0000

If you didn’t buy the collector’s edition of Halo Wars, you’ll be happy to know that the Mythic Map Pack for Halo 3 is now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 Microsoft Points ($10USD). The map pack includes three new maps: Sandbox, Assembly and Orbital. I personally haven’t played the new maps yet, but you can bet your ass I’ll be on Halo 3 playing them today.

GDC09: Halo 3 Actually Does End with ODST

Rangebar Merani — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:01:58 +0000

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

GDC09: ODST Not the End of Halo 3 Content

Rangebar Merani — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:15:22 +0000

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

Halo (All I Play-Oh)

Dylan Duarte — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 06:47:18 +0000

Video game-themed parody song writers Palette Swapped Ninja take aim at Halo 3. Halo (All I Play-Oh) is based on the Red Hot Chili Pepper’s Snow (Hey Oh) and the lead singer sounds alarmingly like RHCP frontman Anthony Kiedis. The accompanying video is by YouTuber and Halo 3 player Aven Phoenix. Good stuff.

Halo 3 Mythic DLC and Gears 2 Snowblind DLC Coming Soon

Demi Adejuyigbe — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 03:45:10 +0000

The 1490 entrants of our Halo 3 Mythic Map Pack contest that didn’t win can soon take solace in the fact that the Halo 3 Mythic Map Pack (as well as the Gears of War 2 Snowblind DLC) will soon be hitting XBL. Major Nelson announced today that the Gears of War 2 DLC will be available on March 31st for 800 Microsoft points, while the Mythic map pack for Halo 3 will be available on April 9th for 800 Microsoft points.

The GOW2 content comes with 4 brand new maps, Grindyard, Courtyard, Fuel Depot, and Under Hill, as well as new Achievements and a brand new progression of ranks. Meanwhile, the Halo 3 content comes with 3 new maps, Assembly, Orbital and Sandbox, as well as a brand new Forge that allows you to start construction completely from scratch. Fancy!

Anyone out there in Ripten Land planning to slap down 10 bucks on this DLC, or are you gonna wait until it starts hitting the digital bargain bin? It doesn’t really matter for me, since I no longer own these games, but if I were you, I’d probably wait on the GOW2 pack and pick up the Halo 3 pack, if not for the new Forge alone. It’s very, very classy.

Wii Fit Sales Surpass That of Halo 3 in the United States

Tyrell Jackson — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 23:57:14 +0000

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