Gears of Halo

ME3 to have a... dragon?

2012-02-09T23:17:00.000-08:00

New ME3 trailer featuring a host of new characters and enemies... and a dragon.

Frankie's Ship Just Got Real

2012-02-09T14:56:00.000-08:00

Frankie from 343 who is in charge of Halo has this to say.

Ship Just Got Real
Obviously we've been working on the game in earnest for a long time, but it's all starting to feel pretty real to me now. Campaign is playable from start to finish (not to be confused with complete or polished) and multiplayer has been running for a while. It's amazing to see changes big and small have a dramatic effect on making the game smoother, more playable and more enjoyable in almost every session.

Personally I have been traveling a fair amount in support of the impending year-long launch activity. Visiting with our partners and colleagues in Europe to talk (and walk) them through the game, the features, the U.S. marketing plans and the sheer scale of the project. We certainly surprised some folks with the ambition and concrete realization of where we're at, but it was kind of cool to see genuine excitement and enthusiasm for the game.

Our show and tell was pretty BIG, since the European partners (marketing, retail guys, etc.) need as much information as is available to make their plans and start building the path to launch abroad. So they went from knowing practically nothing about the game, to knowing practically everything about it. Which is a weird feeling when you expend so much effort and energy on security and secrecy. It's amazing how much detail you need to go into. It's not good enough to simply list off the changes and additions and improvements, you have to contextualize them. It's been almost five years since Halo 3 and a LOT of stuff has happened between then and now: ODST, Reach, multiple map packs, loads of story and a whole swathe of technical and gameplay changes.

Creating material to explain those changes, walking people through the game features - showing them a lot of this stuff in action, it's fun, but it's nerve-wracking. In a way it's a preview of our public showings, where we get a feel for which changes, which additions, which refinements are going to get people excited. It's also a chance to get a feel for which new features are complicated and how to distill the explanations to capture the essence of what we're making. Training wheels, as it were, for showing you guys.

Launching a game is a massive undertaking, with literally hundreds of people all over the world preparing and planning to make sure that every aspect, from the box art to the matchmaking, is executed flawlessly. And if it seems slow, ponderous, even, then remember that there's a plan and a process, and that you'll see Halo 4 soon enough. And we can't wait to share it with you.

Frankie

ME3 will infiltrate your iOS

2012-02-07T21:25:00.000-08:00

Electronic Arts has announced the Mass Effect juggernaut is be coming to the realm of iOS as a new game called Mass Effect: Infiltrator. It is a tie in to Mass Effect 3 which is being released next March.

The game was described as a "fully featured iOS third-person shooter" which will showcase "stunning graphics and authentic weapons and powers from the Mass Effect series."

The plot for Infiltrator centers around helping free prisoners from a hostile Cerberus base, and that players will "receive rewards" for collecting evidence of Cerberus' crimes.

EA declared that "Every completed rescue and intelligence discovery in Infiltrator will increase a player's Galactic Readiness rating directly through the 'Galaxy at War' system in Mass Effect 3."

The internet suggests this will affect only the PC version of ME3. You can also apparently unlock in game ite,s.

That’s a sure fire way to hook in more players and make more moolah!

What is Rampancy in Halo? Does Cortana have it? How long does it last?

2012-02-04T16:36:00.000-08:00

This must be the angry Cortana.....

What is Rampancy in Halo? Does Cortana have it? How long does it last?

We don't know much about Halo 4 but we do know one thing about Cortana and that she's going to suffer the fate of many an Artificial Intelligence in the Halo universe, Rampancy. 343 Industries lead maestro Frank O'Conner confirmed this very soon after Halo 4 was announced.

Frank O'Conner has described rampancy as a condition that affects older A.I's that leads to the A.I. "thinking itself to death".

Let's face it, Cortana had a pretty rough Halo 3. She was hog-tied and brainwashed in some strange fashion by the gravemind which strongly hinted at some stage of rampancy but came through it by the end of the brilliant Halo 3, finishing up floating in space with the Master Chief.

But what is it really, what happens and is there a cure? We don't want our blued angel Cortana to die right? After all, she and the Chief are supposed to settle down and have a couple cyber kids.....

A more complicated definition or description of rampancy is that for so called 'smart' A.I.'s the condition of rampancy is an unavoidable flaw inherent in them from their creation. Being based on the neural patterns of a human being (such as Cortana being modeled on the brain of Doctor Catherine Halsey), and they have a limited lifespan of around seven years. Around this time their memory maps become dangerously interconnected and endless feedback loops may occur which can be fatal to the rampant A.I.

Near that 7 year period, an AI begins to use more and more of its computer power 'thinking' about things, this in turn leads to muddled thinking and conclusions, general confusion and a devastating inability to perform their tasks - you wouldn't want a rampant A.I. to be in charge of a Halo installation for instance. Oh wait, someone has been guilty of that before.

The Halo Legends short film Origins, appears to have suggested that Cortana indeed fell into rampancy. In the film Cortana displays some characteristics that might be indications of rampancy including her hologram flickering, trying to communicate with John-117 despite him being in cryo-sleep, recounting the history of the galaxy, which gets continuously more inaccurate to the point where events being recalled simply did not happen. Maybe she had too many martinis at lunch?

There are four known stages of rampancy:

Melancholia: an AI in the melancholia stage behaves in a manner associated with clinical depression. They can be considered to be apathetic and uninterested in the world around it.

Anger: a more obvious stage of rampancy, it's one where their actions can cause harm to the people around them. Think "Open the pod bay doors Hal" as an example. The rampant A.I. at this stage might try to break its programming restraints.

Jealousy: Following their manic angry stage, the Artificial Intelligence will take a course of action to attempt to to grow and develop as a person. Assimilation of new data is the key focus so they need lots of data stores - thus only A.I.s with access to large networks or systems develop through this stage. I presume when the data set becomes finite, that's the end of the line for the A.I.

Metastability: A supposed theoretical fourth stage of rampancy, it is where the A.I. has progressed to be a "person." In the Halo cannon, only two A.I.s are said to have reached this status. 05-032 Mendicant Bias was the first and Cortana possibly the last (her recovery from the effects of the Grave Mind suggests she is stable, however the Origins film perhaps suggests otherwise).

One can only speculate how Cortana will fare in Halo 4. If Frankie is talking about rampancy we can assume it will have some kind of fairly important role in the campaign - it may feature as a plot where her rampancy must be cured to allow the Chief to do what ever he needs to do. Maybe Cortana has never truly been rampant and her 'conditioning' by the Gravemind was simply an insight to the the possibilities of rampancy.

Time will tell but let's hope it's with less Elliot and more 117.

Can Commander Sheppard hook up with Jessica Chobot in ME3?

2012-02-04T16:05:00.000-08:00

No, but he'd like to.

Mass Effect 3 Achievements / Trophies

2012-02-04T14:53:00.000-08:00

London's burning...

Mass Effect 3 Achievements / Trophies

Keen Mass Effect fans might want to have a look at this list of Achievements and Trophies that are available to be sought out and earned in the campaign and multiplayer component.

I'm pleased to see the Long Service Medal return - it's a nice reward for long time players.

Be wary though, there's a few mild spoilers in there.

Game Achievements and Trophies

Name	Requirements, Bonuses, and Additional Info	Gamerscore
Driven	Return to active duty.	5
Bringer of War	Chase down an assassin.	10
Mobilizer	Bring a veteran officer aboard.	15
World Shaker	Destroy an Atlas dropped from orbit.	15
Pathfinder	Explore a lost city.	15
Tunnel Rat	Survive the swarm.	15
Party Crasher	Sabotage a dreadnought.	15
Hard Target	Call down an orbital strike.	15
Saboteur	Disable a group of fighter squadrons.	15
Arbiter	Win a political stand-off.	25
Last Witness	Extract ancient technology.	25
Executioner	Defeat an old adversary.	25
Well Connected	Send a warning across the galaxy.	15
Fact Finder	Uncover an enemy's monstrous origin.	15
Liberator	Stop a Cerberus kidnapping.	15
Problem Solver	Evacuate a scientific facility.	15
Patriot	Make the final assault.	25
Legend	Mission accomplished.	50
Shopaholic	Visit a store in the single-player campaign.	10
Master and Commander	Deliver most of the Galaxy at War assets to the final conflict.	50
Lost and Found	Dispatch 10 probes to retrieve people or resources in Reaper territory.	25
Long Service Medal	Complete Mass Effect 3 twice, or once with a Mass Effect 2 import.	50
Insanity	Finish the game on Insanity without changing difficulty after leaving Earth.	75
A Personal Touch	Modify a weapon.	10
Paramour	Establish or rekindle a romantic relationship.	25
Combined Arms	Perform any combination of 50 biotic combos or tech bursts.	25
Focused	Evolve any of your powers to rank 6.	25
Recruit	Kill 250 enemies.	10
Soldier	Kill 1,000 enemies.	15
Veteran	Kill 5,000 enemies.	25
Bruiser	Kill 100 enemies with melee attacks.	10
Untouchable	Escape a Reaper in the galaxy map.	10
Defender	Attain the highest level of readiness in each theater of war.	25
Overload Specialist	Overload the shields of 100 enemies.	15
Sky High	Lift 100 enemies off the ground with powers.	15
Pyromaniac	Set 100 enemies on fire with powers.	15
Eye of the Hurricane	Kill a Brute while it's charging you.	10
Mail Slot	Kill 10 guardians with headshots from the front while their shields are raised.	10
Hijacker	Hijack an Atlas mech.	10
Giant Killer	Defeat a harvester.	10
Enlisted	Start a character in multiplayer or customize a character in single-player.	5
Tour of Duty	Finish all multiplayer maps or all N7 missions in single-player.	20
Always Prepared	Obtain two non-customizable suits of armor.	10
Tourist	Complete one multiplayer match or two N7 missions.	5
Explorer	Complete three multiplayer matches or five N7 missions.	15
Gunsmith	Upgrade any weapon to level 10.	25
Almost There	Reach level 15 in multiplayer or level 50 in single-player.	15
Peak Condition	Reach level 20 in multiplayer or level 60 in single-player.	25
Battle Scarred	Promote a multiplayer character to the Galaxy at War or import an ME3 character.	25
Unwavering	Finish all multiplayer maps on Gold or all single-player missions on Insanity.	50

Leak questions geth role in Citadel battle

2012-02-04T14:32:00.000-08:00

From: Alliance News Network Information Partners

August 24, 2186

Leak questions geth role in Citadel battle

By Amita Qasid

VANCOUVER, EARTH – A leaked report has cast doubt on key facts in the Battle of the Citadel, backing up controversial claims by the long-marginalized “Citadel Conspiracy” movement.

In the report, acquired by the free-information group TruthHax, a top-secret emergency defense committee admits that the powerful dreadnought at the center of the battle may not have been of geth construction.

Key to the report is testimony by Commander Shepard, hero of the Alliance Navy and a decorated veteran. Shepard insists Saren Arterius’s flagship was actually one of many artificial intelligences separate from the geth and hostile to organic life.

Shepard’s credibility has declined in recent years amid reports of abetting the human supremacist group Cerberus. But in the leaked document, the defense committee appears to treat the Commander’s claims as a genuine possibility.

Shepard could not be reached for comment, having been relieved of duty by the committee.

Prime Minister Shastri was confronted with questions about the report today at a routine press conference, but waved them off, saying only: “It’s a big galaxy. The geth are one of many threats we talk about, and rest assured, the Alliance will be prepared for whatever comes our way.”

Amita Qasid is a political correspondent for ANN’s “Earth Standard” and a frequent contributor to ANN Magazine.

It's a shame reporter Diana Alders didn't get the scoop on this one eh? Also check out a diary entry by Sheppard that was found on the Bioware Blog last year.

Mass Effect 4 basically confirmed by producer

2012-02-04T14:22:00.000-08:00

Two quotes from an interview about ME3 have done the rounds on the net this week:

"It wouldn't be a bad idea (to keep your ME3 saves)" said ME3's Associate Producer, Mike Gamble

"Obviously I can't say anything, but it wouldn't be a bad idea..."

Given ME3 is supposed to be the ending of a trilogy, the suggestion to keep one's saved games strongly hints that there will be a further Mass Effect game (4!?) which ties in directly to the events of the past three games. No surprise really as the Mass Effect series is a big seller and the cash cow needs to be milked. Not that I'm complaining, all the teaser reviews and the like are suggesting ME3 will be awesome.

Not sure if this guy is a Halo fan?

2012-02-02T22:01:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure if this guy likes Halo or not. What do you think? Is he a Halo fan or a Halo Fan?

Bungie nearly signs off from Halo...

2012-01-31T22:59:00.000-08:00

Here's Bungie's latest news on the handling of live Halo data:

Last summer, Bungie and 343 Industries began a transition process for Halo data. On March 31st, 2012 that transition process will be complete, all live Halo data will be managed by 343 Industries, and Bungie will no longer be able to update game stats and player service records, to host new user generated content, or to operate the Bungie Pro service. All currently supported, Bungie-developed Halo titles will be impacted by this change.

Any replacement functionality, and all future Halo support, will be provided by Microsoft and 343 Industries via Halo Waypoint at http://halo.xbox.com.

Bungie will preserve all existing historical Halo data on Bungie.net for as long as the Internet and Bungie's data storage systems remain functional.

Thanks for making the Halo-era version of Bungie.net more successful than we could have possibly imagined. You complete us.

See you starside.

What do I want in a video game?

2012-01-31T22:22:00.000-08:00

What do I want in a video game?

I want to be let into the mystery.

I want heroes with a heart and I want heartless villains.

I want the ghost and the shells to scare the shit out of me.

I wanttime to let things settle in. I don’t want significant plot points to be rushed.

I want character vocals to be audible and clearly enunciated.I don’t what characters to be drowned out by musical effects.

I want DLC that doesn't suck. I don't want to have to download a million new maps a million times.

If I'm flying an X-Wing and I want to feel like I'm Luke Skywalker.

I want details. I want the facts. I want the easter eggsthat make sense. I don’t want to have to wrestle an alligator and then fly itto the moon to find that egg though.

I want to be in on the joke but I don’twant the joke to be a lame reference to some dude’s girlfriend who once workedat Hooters.

I want game play to be intuitive. I want multiple optionsfor solving problems. I suck at maths, I don’t want to have to place 5 litresof water using a random selection of clay pots to advance.

I want to have a big fucking shinny gun. In fact guns, lotsof guns.

I want to be able to move my character with a fluid gracebut if I jump 10 feet down, I want to feel that thud in my boots as I hit the turf.

I want beer.

I want it all and I want it now.

I want my car to have red racing stripes down the side becauseeverybody knows red racing strips makes cars go faster and look cooler.

I want my heroines to have realistic breast sizes. Hulkinggiant orbs that defiantly object to the laws of physics belong in the comics shouldn't be in my video games.

I want backstory and backbeat.

I want the payoff after playing a campaign for 15 hours.

I want clues to solve it.

I want my character's nightmare to be so real I'm afraid to play with the lights off.

I’m a worldly person. It’s OK to reference real worldhistory. It’s OK to twist history with fiction.

I want video games to challenge my mind. It’s brilliant whenthey substitute Andrew Ryan with Ayn Rand and leave me to figure out where Ishould draw the line.

I want Issac, Arthur, Herbert and Dick all rolled into one.

What do you want?

Jessica Chobot / Diana Allers ME3 Wallpaper

2012-01-31T21:21:00.000-08:00

In one of the more blatant moves to get the fan boys on board, the Mass Effect 3 producers have seen fit to to add IGN pinup call, Jessica Chobot a role in the ME3 game. She's to play reporter Diana Allers in the campaign, along with a host of movie actors such as Freddie, Seth and Tricia. Here's some wallpaper, I'm sure it will sell well!

If you needed a reason to order Mass Effect from Amazon, this was it!

Stand and deliver your virtual goods and money!

2012-01-31T21:16:00.000-08:00

I spied this story about the real world harassment of a young RuneScape player to make them drop their in game loot.

“The Dutch Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the theftconviction of a youth who stole another boy's possessions in the popular onlinefantasy game RuneScape. Judges ordered the offender to perform 144 hours ofcommunity service.

The suspect's lawyer had argued the amulet and mask"were neither tangible nor material and, unlike for example electricity,had no economic value." Yet the punk held a knife to the kid and made him drop his loot in-game.

These ‘virtual world’ economies are nothing new in thedigital sense, people often trade money in the real world for items in thedigital realm.

The story did make me think about Bungie’s new game, Destiny.Mooted to be set in world where players can come and go, it’s been hinted that it will have some kind of in game economy (this was through a jobadvertisment's call for persons with experience in virtual economies).

One can only image what will happen if Destiny is thesuccess we all want it to be. Given thestories that have abound such as kids shooting because they took their Halo away, or people travelling miles across the country to beat up someone whohas offended them in game, there’s likely to be ample room for such shennaigans toresult from taking part in Destiny.

While there’s no doubt Bungie is tuned into these problemsof in game scammers and loot stealers and the like and they will make Destiny’seconomy a robust one, let’s hope theirFederal Reserve is a strong one.

Jessica Chobot to appear as a reporter in ME3

2012-01-31T21:14:00.000-08:00

Jessica Chobot as Diana Allers in ME3

In one of the most blatant moves in recent gamer history to get the fan boys on board (other than having Tricia Helfer appear as EDI?), the wise counsel of Mass Effect 3 producers haved decided to add IGN pin-up gal, Jessica Chobot a role in the ME3 game. She's to play reporter Diana Allers in the campaign. I'm sure Jessica will be a popular feature of the game.

Meet ME3's celebrity voice actors

2012-01-31T18:36:00.000-08:00

Here's some promotional work from the celebrity actors of ME3 - only the stars, not the key players ;)

Martin Sheen
Freddie Prinze
Tricia Helfer
Seth Green

What to do with dark infectious clouds?

2012-01-31T02:03:00.000-08:00

Bungie legend Marcus Lehto sharessome insight into the creative process he goes through when developinggames – I found this section on how a feature from Halo Reach was cut from thegame. Issac Hannaford released some concept design work for a boat a few monthsago which let the cat out of the bag that at one time Halo:Reach was to have a boat.

“However, this process isn’t without its flaws. Because someideas require time to explore, we had people work on major features of the gamefor months at a time only to find that what they made required more explorationand that we simply would not have the proper resources or time to complete whatthey had started.

In Halo: Reach, one prototype involved water craft drivingover giant ocean swells. We got working to a point where the kernel of funcould be experienced for real. It was an example of something that theengineering team, some designers and artists got very excited about and I couldeasily see how it would fit into the big picture of game’s campaign.

But when direct implementation of the idea was attempted,the results were less than desirable. We could have continued working on it andcome up with something great, but the effort would have robbed so many otherfeatures in the game that I had to make the decision to cut it and thus wewasted about 6 total man months of time. That’s tragic! But we have torecognize that it’s part of a creative endeavor. We will always make mistakes,but it’s my job to see them early enough before they become poorly shipped features.”

The rest of Lehto’s article explores how he likes hiscreative leads to be flexible and that he gives them plenty of rope. He’s alsonot shy about removing the persons who behave like “dark infectious clouds” or hassling Justine Bieber. ;)

Assasin's Creed 3 to be set in a crazy time period?

2012-01-29T23:51:00.000-08:00

A big rumour circulating the internet this morning is the suggestion that the third Asassin's Creed game will be set in a pretty modern time scale (all things considered) of during the American Revolution. Even though it's probably internet scuttlebutt, the idea of Assasin's Creed being set in a critical time period of American History. There's ample room for plot and skull duggery in that period as well.

As with the prior sequel, Creed 3 will need to have a new main character to engage and enrage - George Washington is a candidate perhaps? A secret aide whose mission is to to prevent the signing of a certain Treaty? Mel Gibson? Nicholas Cage? Who knows.

What do you think of this idea? Could Assassin's Creed work being set in America? There's been four games set in 'the olden day's' is it time for Creed to grow up like the Fable series has?

Why the next Xbox console does actually need discs! For Now....

2012-01-29T20:40:00.000-08:00

Watch Mass Effect 3's Multiplayer Trailer

2012-01-27T23:02:00.000-08:00

Watch Mass Effect 3's Multiplayer Trailer which demonstrates.... multiplayer!

Multiplayer is a completely new element to the Mass Effect series, it's going to be very interesting to see how it pans out - it's a fairly unique way to progress a campaign! (for those that don't know, playing multiplayer can have an impact on your sucess or failure in the ME3 campaign).

Seems like players will get to tackle a few of those dastardly Reapers along the way so it all sounds pretty cool.

Here's a run down of the race and associated class factor.

Soldier Human: Adrenaline Rush, Concussive Shot and Frag Grenade.
Engineer Quarian: Incinerate, Cryo Blast and Sentry Turret
Vanguard Drell: Biotic Charge, Pull and Cluster Grenade
Sentinel Turian: Warp, Overload and Tech Armor
Vanguard Asari: Biotic Charge, Stasis and Lift Grenade
Infiltrator Salarian: Energy Drain, Tactical Cloak and Proximity Mine
Soldier Krogan: Carnage, Fortification and Inferno Grenade

Mass Effect 3 Concept Art

2012-01-27T12:25:00.000-08:00

Thessia, homeworld of the Asari

Here's some sweet Mass Effect 3 concept art that I found at the official Bioware site. Featuring some landscapes, space ships and a Krogan, it looks like some real awesome design work has gone into the game.

Tuchanka

A crashed (?) Turian ship on Tuchanka

Meet the Krogan

Here's a Cerberus Centurion trooper

Watch Halo: Helljumpers first episode

2012-01-27T12:17:00.000-08:00

This is possibly the best quality Halo fan movie ever made, aside from the TERRIBLE acting, it has great effects, an interesting character set up and a really good vibe! Can't wait for episode two - the makers should be pretty proud of themselves!

Read the Mass Effect: Deception Excerpt

2012-01-26T18:55:00.000-08:00

The latest tie in novel Mass Effect: Deception launches next week on January 31st. To celebrate, publisher Del Ray has released a fifty page excerpt from the book for fans to get a taste!

The above image is the first paragraph of the novel.

Check it out here at the Bioware Blog or order it from Amazon.

343 are busy bees says Kiki Wolfkill

2012-01-26T12:28:00.000-08:00

Kiki Wolfkill chipped into the Halo Bulletin to let everyone know that the team at 343 is very busy and that's about it.

"We've had an action-packed week of internal mission reviews, a deep-dive with the Marketing and PR teams, and a quick little exec review thrown in for good measure. It may sound like a lot of reviews and that's because it is.... we are in full execution mode. There are hundreds of moving parts across 343 and Microsoft Studios that need to be aligned and coordinated—now is the time to get all our ducks in a row.

While it's been a little hectic making up for last week's snow days and going through these reviews, it's always invigorating to be able to get the game in front of folks who aren't staring at it every minute of every day. I do look forward to getting back to our normal routine of game-building, playtesting, and general creative rabble-rousing. More on this later."

Hanging out for some real Halo 4 news much?

Adrienne Curry as Princess Leia from ROTJ

2012-01-25T22:57:00.000-08:00

Top Model and gaming fanatic Adrienne Curry loves to dress up as her favourite characters - she's done the Wonder Woman and the Silk Spectre - here's Curry as the 'Slave Princess Leia' from The Return of the Jedi movie. Some one get Adrienne into a sci-fi movie asap!

Why not allowing second hand games to run on the new Xbox would be plain wrong.

2012-01-25T19:52:00.000-08:00

Why not allowing second hand games to run on the new Xbox console would be plain wrong.

Kotaku is suggesting that the new version of the Xbox will potentially not allow used or second hand games to be played on the console. While closed units and IPR rights and DRM is all the rage in some quarters, it would seem to be a shitty move by Microsoft if they are trying to stamp out trading in second hand games .

Their motive of course would be enourage the purchase of new games either off the shelf from bonafide retailers or by download through the XBL service (which also would encourage the purchase of gold XBL member accounts).

And that’s fine. Microsoft is there to make money.

Publishers are there to make money too. That’s why you have to pay for DLC – and if DLC is free, you can be sure that there’s a marketing incentive behind it (such as goodwill to fans to keep a community active etc).

What I do not like is Microsoft’s attempt to thwart something that is perfectly legal – in NZ where I live for instance, it is perfectly legal to sell second hand software. In the form of an Xbox game, it is absolutely legal to sell your copy of Halo 3 to the kid down the street.

Arguments about raising revenue aside, there should be no other reason to prevent such a transaction from occurring if it's a genuinely legal activity.

All this huffing and puffing is of course only a short term concern as it's bloody obvious we're heading to a 'download' only gaming world - it's just hard to say how long it will take us to get there? NZ is soooo far behind in the internet world we still have very low data caps so downloading full games is out of the question.

In the end, I suspect Kotaku's sources will be full of crap and if there is some kind of intiative, it will be more along the lines of tying a game to an account in some fashion. The mind boggles.

What's your view? Should Microsoft block second hand games from running on the new Xbox console?

ME3 Figurines will have DLC codes

2012-01-24T22:07:00.000-08:00

EA will release new Mass Effect action figures later this year that include downloadable content for Mass Effect 3. While its been done before, this is a fairly new approach to DLC!

According to new listinsg on website BigBadToyStore.com, each figuring contains different in-game content exclusive to the North America gaming population. The listings all state:

Bonus Downloadable Game Content: Each figure includes an in-pack card giving you access to downloadable in-game bonus content. Each figure contains different in-game content, exclusive to North American released product. Collect all 8 for the full experience!

The site notes that the downloadable content is "slightly randomized during the registration and could include powerful new weapons and new characters. The pack could also include character boosters, weapon modifications, and weapon upgrades to make your multi-player squad stronger. "

The listing also says the content is available for your Personal Computer and Xbox 360 only. So PS3 fanss would appear to be missing out.

I'm picking the Miranda figurine will be a big seller!

Mass Effect Three is shipping soon - order your copy from Amazon now!

Did you hear about the Kantus and the Hammer of Dawn?

2012-01-24T12:25:00.000-08:00

Did you hear about the Kantus and the Hammer of Dawn?

How you played Gears of War 3 on Insane mode and got completelyrooted by those Armoured Kantus soldiers you come across in Act 4?

Those guysare tough as titanium encrusted titanium. They make Skorge look like General Raam. And then there’s that electric wormthat zaps you to contend with. What’s the best way of dealing with these KantusClowns?

I was doing an Insane mode run through and I came across a Hammer of Dawn at the point where Marcus and Co are trying to manoeuvre the crane to get fuelfor the submarine – and I thought to myself, I won’t use it for this next salvoof Repears, I’ll save it for the Kantus guards.

And sure enough, the Hammer of Dawn works on the Kantus.They need to take a fair whack from it though, a quick douse with it is not enough,you need to laser the shit out of them. The Hammer of Dawn is generally good for about two Kantus kills. It only works in the spots where there's enough sunlight.

A good trick is to try and take that first Kantus out asap –hide behind a block until he is distracted by your squad mates and then let himhave it as he moves to the right (if he starts the set piece coming straight for you, you're probably fucked).

You can then pick off the other bugs that escort the 2^ndKantas or take him out from a distance. That’s the easy part. The next roundinvolve another Kantus, some offsiders and the electrical eel / cerepod / worm thing – work on the eel as much as you can but don’tlet him get to close or you’re a dead man. Shoot their tail off from the back and remember they move real damn quick and quietly....

A hint is to try and take him out awayfrom the Kantus so you don’t get any fire from then. Easier said than done too.

Using the Hammer of Dawn will only get you so far however so here's some other tricks to taking down and defeating the Kantus:

For a start, lets hope you followed my guide on arming your squad with the boomshot. Explosives trip up the Prickly Priests so the boom shot comes in handy. Indeed, there's one laying about on the opposite side from where the frag grenade and well placed ammo supply are. So when your Hammer juice is all used up, switch weapons to the Boomshot to take them down. Consider aiming at their feet so you don't miss them but do not fire from close range or you will likely kill yourself.

A well placed torque bow will down a Kantus as well.

When a Kantus gets up after a boomshot, bow strike or frag grenade explosion, they begin to scream blue murder and also glow yellow with rage. That's your chance to put some lancer bullets in their face to wear them down for the kill - or put a bow in their face. Do try it...

Word on the street for the fearless player is you can also tag a Kantus with a frag grenade for an instant kill. I haven't tried that one myself yet... that's only for the brave (or stupid - Ed.)

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Freddie Prinze Jr to voice James Vega in ME3

2012-01-23T23:08:00.001-08:00

Mr Prinze

It was announced this week that a fairly famous Hollwood actor has been drafted in to voice the new mass Effect 3 character, James Vega. Whilst no relation to Vince Vega, he's sure to have a massive role in the game's campaign, and Freddie Prinze has got the roll of voice actor.

Freddie Prinze is no stranger to acting and games - does any body remember Wing Commander?

Freddie joins other famous actors, Seth Green (playing Joker), Tricia Helfer as EDI and of course Martin Sheen who plays the mysterious Illusive Man who I'm sure will have it out with Commander Sheppard in the game.

How does your Halo garden Bloom?

2012-01-23T22:53:00.000-08:00

Tied the Leader took training to heart

Tied the Leader is one of the more battle harden Halo fan sites (and clans?) out there. They think about Halo and they think about Halo and they think about Halo and then they come up with this study of Halo Reach's boom.

Here's their conclusion but read the whole article for context on how bloom works:

We can draw some conclusions right away from this chart.First, at short range, spamming will win a majority of the time in either setting. But the orange box is much higher than the blue box, meaning that 85% significantly increases the winning percentage for pacing.

Second, at medium range, it is clear that pacing will now win a majority of the time in either setting. But again, the orange box is higher than the blue box, meaning 85% once again improves the odds of pacing beating spamming.

Third, at long range, the orange box is slightly lower than the blue box, meaning that pacing win percentage is slightly lower in 85% than 100%. Does this mean 85% encourages spamming at long range? Definitely not. Look how high up the chart both the blue and orange boxes are at long range! Spamming is extremely unlikely to win in either bloom setting at long range, so the slight reduction in 85% will not be that noticeable in real world outcomes.

Cortana knows - Interesting Halo URLS....

2012-01-23T21:30:00.000-08:00

Word on the street is that Microsoft has registered these website URLS - could be start of the build up to Halo 4 or simply brand reputation management.....

- http://clicktohump.org
- http://clicktohump.com
- http://getbattleready.com
- http://getbattleready.org
- http://halo24-7.net
- http://halocareer.com
- http://halostory.net
- http://halozero.org
- http://lostinslipspace.com
- http://john117.org

- http://john117.org

Bioshock's 1999 Difficulty Mode sounds brilliant

2012-01-23T19:45:00.000-08:00

Here's some paragraphs from an article by Kotaku about Bioshock Infinite's now not so secret '1999' difficult mode:

For the hardcore gamer, 1999 mode could bethe best thing that's ever happened. And for the non-hardcore gamers?

"They're gonna hate this mode,"said Levine. "That's okay — it's not for them."

Who exactly is 1999 mode for? For one, it'sfor the student that approached the creative director and co-founder ofIrrational Games after a speaking engagement at Levine's old college to tellhim he had a bone to pick with him. His complaint? That none of the choices inBioShock seemed to have any real permanence.

"There's a lot of things people cantell you about your game, positive and negative, and you can either agree ordisagree," Levine told me. In this case he agreed. While there werepermanent decisions in the game, none of the choices the player could make feltas if they changed the way the game was played irreversibly. "That wouldhave been really cool."

Levine loved the idea so much he decided to"go down that road" with BioShock Infinite, but not before makingsure it was something the fans wanted. The developer held an informal poll tofeel out their audience. Would being required to make permanent decisionsenhance their gameplay experience? When 57 percent responded in theaffirmative, 1999 mode was born.

Adding 1999 mode to BioShock Infinite solate in the game was a bit of a challenge. The game wasn't designed to demandspecialization from the player. The way resources were doled out had to betweaked. The mode required extensive balancing to ensure the enhanceddifficulty didn't cross the line from tough to cheap. "I really had to getback into the brain I had in the 90's," Levine explained. "It's thatold-school feeling of 'If I fail, I deserved to fail' instead of 'the game mademe fail'".

Levine outlined how the gamemight play out for a player that decided to specialize in pistols. They'll bean amazing shot with a revolver, but the decision will severely affect theirability to use other weapons. When their back is to the wall and they've onlygot one bullet left, they might regret their decision, but it's up to them tomake it work.

And if they should die, they'd better havethe right components to facilitate resurrection. "Players have gotten soused to dying and getting rezzed that they'll use it as a strategy, running intaking out a few enemies, dying, and coming right back," Levine said."In 1999 mode if you keep charging your resources to come back, beprepared to load a save game."

1999 mode creates this same sort oftension, while ensuring that the player is always in the pilot seat. Thedecisions, good or bad, are the player's to make. It's a mode that makes themthink differently about how they play the game.

"We're going to hide (1999 mode) inthe menu, probably with some sort of code. To the non-hardcore gamer we're notgoing to even reveal that it exists," Levine told me. "The mode willbe very unfamiliar to the non-core gamer."

"This mode is not going to feel likeBioShock'"

To the more hardcore among us, Levinethinks the new mode will be a welcome return, demanding and challenging."This mode is not going to feel like BioShock", he warned. There willbe rage quits. Controllers will be thrown, even among the hardcore.

Ultimately the choice to play BioShockInfinite in normal or 1999 mode is up to you, the player. If you try the moredifficult setting and can't get the hang of it, then fall back on the regulargame. Or alternate as your mood for a challenge comes and goes.

But if you're the kind of game that bailsat the first sign of failure you may want to keep your distance. As Ken Levinesaid, "This is not for you. Don't worry about it.

"This is for the hardcore. They're theonly ones that will understand why it's cool."

The Lives of the Brute

2012-01-23T18:57:00.000-08:00

The Lives of the Brute - David Attenborough mockumentary - it's quite amusing and makes great use of the Halo 3 cinematic and in game assets.

Mass Effect 3 Kinect Review

2012-01-18T20:47:00.000-08:00

Matt Bertz from Game Informer has had some hands on time with the Mass Effect 3 Kinnect demonstration. Here's some of his write up, over all it would appear to be that ME3's Kinect will be a positive gaming experience.

For BioWare, the solution was leaving the gesture recognition behind in favor of a robust suite of voice commands. The Mass Effect 3 demo used to showcase the Kinect functionality is the same level we saw at E3, Gamescom, and PAX Prime. In this mission, Shepard and his crew are fighting to extract a Krogan female from the Salarian homeworld of Sur’Kesh before the Cerberus agents snatch her.

The voice controls integrate into the action seamlessly. Instead of accessing the power wheel to issue commands to your squadmates or using waypoints to guide them into cover, all you need to do is point your reticle at a target, say the name of the teammate you want to act, and issue a command. Anything you can do on the controller is available as a voice command. When you verbalize your instructions, a small microphone icon in the upper left-hand corner of the screen indicates whether Kinect heard you properly. Outside a few instances where room chatter drowned out my voice, the Kinect understood my commands and processed the information quickly.

Moving to engage the Cerberus agents, I had no problems directing Liara and new squad member James Vega to cover and commanding them to use their special abilities on the fly. It’s a very satisfying feeling to say “James, Carnage” and watch an enemy explode into several bits of flesh seconds later. Even better, if your squad members have different specializations, you don’t even need to say their name during the order. My group was smart enough to know that went I said, “warp,” the order was intended for Liara.

Voice commands also work for managing Shepard’s inventory and interacting with the environment. By saying a few simple words, I had the commander chucking grenades, switching weapons, changing ammo types, opening doors, and interacting with consoles. Best of all, if the going gets rough, you can save your progress without drilling into the menus by saying, “quick save.”

Will you be buying Kinect to play ME3? Check out what's on offer at Amazon.

There's a demo of the game arriving to XBL on Feb 14, which is especially romantic of Microsoft.

Do you need some First Aid Halo style?

2012-01-18T02:05:00.000-08:00

It looks like this guy has a lot of time on his hands - here's a shot of his replica Med Kit from the Halo games. As an aside, I disliked the return of Med Kits in ODST and Reach. Just annoying.......

ME3 Q&A with Bioware's Jesse Houston

2012-01-16T18:08:00.000-08:00

I stole this Q&A from the Bioware blog - I don't think they'll mind. It's a sweet interview with Bioware's Jesse Houston to discuss a few things about the new Mass Effect Game and it confirms a few things as well.

Hi there! I’m Erika, the social media coordinator at BioWare. I sat down with Jesse Houston yesterday to ask him some of the burning questions fans had about Mass Effect 3, the co-op addition, and the new features we are all excited to hear more about. Check out the full interview below:

Will decisions made in ME1 & ME2 affect Galactic Readiness level?
In the Galaxy at War system, the Galactic Readiness Level is affected by multiple things. The choices from ME1 and ME2 will have an effect of the overall Galaxy at War system, but not directly on the Galactic Readiness level.

Does Multiplayer affect the success of my Shepard in the main story?
Absolutely. Multiplayer will definitely have an effect on your SP experience through the Galaxy at War system, so as you play the MP and the Co-Op and the more successful you are, the more that will affect your Galactic Readiness level which will then affect your end game result.

How do SP and MP work together/complement each other?
They complement each other really well in that the Galaxy at War System takes the actions played in MP and pushes them to your SP achievements. The SP elements will dovetail really nicely into those and both those actions will allow your Shepard to have a different ending depending on those actions. That said, SP can still be played all by itself without any kind of multiplayer or third party and you can still get the absolute best ending. This just gives you new options to be able to get that ending.

Which classes/races can you play as? Can you be a geth?
We haven’t given the full list yet. But as an example, you can totally play as a Krogan, as a Drell, as an Asari. Beyond those, I can’t give away all of the details, but I can say there will be a lot of interesting races that you may not expect to be able to play as because they wouldn’t normally be looked upon as characters who are for the fight normally. That said we’ll be releasing more and more characters through DLC later.

How does leveling up work in MP?
As you complete objectives inside of the co-op experience you are going to be leveling up similar to how you would in an RPG. You gain experience points and those experience points go toward your level and you spend points exactly how you would as a SP and each character is its own so you could theoretically have 10 or 20 characters going, each leveling up independently.

Will player-kicking be supported to deal with any idiots you may team up with?
We will have systems in place to deal with “griefers.” The nice thing is that the overall design isn’t conducive to griefing so there isn’t much value in doing kicks. How and when you’ll be able to do the kicks is still being worked on so I don’t want to talk too much about it. But just know that we are putting systems in place that will let you deal with people that you don’t want to be playing with.

Will Kinect still work in MP, and will using a headset to talk with teammates cause any interference?
The overall and general design of Kinect is such that it is about squad command and interacting with the world. Contextually speaking that doesn’t work as well with MP because those squad commands are your friends so we’d want you to yell at them and not your TV. So with that in mind, Kinect will not work in MP and therefore will not cause any interference.

If it’s a separate story campaign, are our multiplayer characters playing their part in dialogue scenes or is it more of an environmental storytelling?
While it is separate to the main story they will never be involved in the actual campaign of the main story. It’s more like a side mission to the SP. We don’t want to create situations where MP players have something that SP players couldn’t otherwise see.

Will there be dialogues, and how will they be handled?
All dialogue is done ambiantly, for instance the commander will be giving you orders through your headsets.

Will there be any form of in-game communication system (ie quickchat) with team mates?
All the main communication systems that we are putting in will allow you to speak to your team mates through the normal communication systems like your headsets.

Exactly who will we be fighting for? Citadel Defense Forces, Mercenary Groups?
At a high level, Shepard is marshaling the troops on behalf of the Earth Alliance so you are technically fighting for the Earth Alliance. From a story perspective, a lot of these groups have come together as a loose fighting force to stop the reapers therefore they don’t fly the same type of banners that would have existed in pre- reaper invasion days.

Will there be a match-making service, or a generic waiting room in which players can assemble and then form teams? Or will they have to plan out the teams in advance?
Given the general theme of us giving you the choice, we like you to plan your teams out in advance or if you prefer you can go in a quicker custom match and it will find people who are of similar skill levels to you.

Will there be leader boards?
Yes!

Will there be squad banter?
Yes!

Can friendly fire from powers/weapons be an option?
When we ship, we don’t believe it will be in there as an option but possibly at a later release. In the context of co-op we didn’t believe it added a lot to the co-op experience. You have a lot of pressure to succeed in the co-op and accidentally shooting your friends didn’t seem like a good experience. Maybe later as some sort of modifier to the game, but not at release.

Will we be able to further customize the armor and/or weapons on MP characters through in game challenges that award points or credits?
Why yes you will! We have slightly different armor and weapon customization system in MP. It still feels along the same vein, but in many ways there are more customization options for the MP armor side and it’s very similar on the weapon side. They are structured differently so stats don’t play the same way, so SP guys have something that feels better for SP and MP guys have something that feels better for MP.

Will co-op have its own disk, and/or executable? If not, how much space will it take up?
It will be included on the main disk. As for how much space, I’m not sure at this point. It’s mainly content so it is somewhat sizable but not so much that it affects the SP experience.

Will MP achievements be separated from SP achievements, or will they all combine together into the overall score?
Each game in general is assigned a certain number of achievements that they are allowed to give. We are required to have a broad selection of achievement types so there will be some MP achievements, there will be some SP achievements. What the ratio is, we are still trying to work out. And they ultimately accumulate to that 1000 point score or that platinum trophy.

Will BSN track co-op statistics? ie: classes played, enemies killed, wins, losses etc?
We are investigating this right now. There will definitely be a lot of BSN integration. What the final list of things is, we don’t really know yet.

Will co-op have its own disk, and/or executable? If not, how much space will it take up?
It will be included on the main disk. As for how much space, I’m not sure at this point. It’s mainly content so it is sizable but not so much that it affects the SP experience.

Will ME3 require an internet connection for each launching of the SP game, or will it retain ME2′s single verification method?
Mass Effect 3 PC will require the internet connection when you initially launch and authorize it but then you will no longer require the connection.

How does earned experience work with the different class choices?
Experience is gained through objective gathering not necessarily class choices. Each class earns achievements at the same pace, but separately. So if I play a soldier, the soldier earns the experience and my vanguard won’t until I play that vanguard. If I got to level 10 as a soldier, my vanguard would still be at level 1.

Will local co-op be supported? (ie local split screen, PC-LAN)
At the time of release, no. However it is definitely on the table as something we might add.

Is there a sunset plan after you decide to take the servers down in a couple of years.
Yes, absolutely. We won’t be taking the servers down until we realize that there aren’t enough players playing to warrant keeping them up and when we do take them down, we will make sure there are options so the players who are playing don’t feel abandoned. If anything is a good example, you can see today that Never Winter Nights is still supported and we’ve kept a lot of our servers live on it. So I wouldn’t be too worried about us taking down the servers anytime soon.

Can we create our own server (or do offline co-op), especially important for those in bandwidth-poor countries?
Because of a lot of the match making systems are quite server intensive, we have no plans anytime soon to allow the creation of an offline server. However, our servers themselves are quite bandwidth friendly and most of the MP elements involved in that are peer to peer based. So if you are in a bandwidth poor country, and you are playing with your friends you are still going to find it to be a relatively good experience.

Thank you so much for your time, Jesse!

Sheppard's Back On Duty

2012-01-16T18:04:00.000-08:00

I'm a little late to the party but I spied this 'captain's log' from Commander Sheppard from the Bioware Blog - it appears to be some kind of promo for the upcoming ME3 game. There's some interesting clues as to how things might be on the Normandy during the game too!

Off Duty

My squad piles into the shuttle at the end of a tough mission. A turian squad got pinned down by Reaper forces after their mission went horribly wrong. My team and I saved as many as we could.

After a quick debrief with my superiors, I, Commander Shepard, am officially off duty.

Diplomacy and De-stress

First things first: we’ve got some important diplomatic visitors aboard the Normandy as we try to coordinate war efforts between the Alliance and the Turian Empire. I talk with each of them, and hear their reactions to what happened on our latest mission.

While they’re important to the war effort, these kinds of talks always stress me out a little — a galactic war will do that. I head up the Normandy’s cockpit to see Joker. He tosses off a sarcastic remark about the turians I saved on my last mission, which at least lets me know that somebody else understands what I’m going through.

As I’m leaving, the comm specialist tells me I’ve got new messages. I check my mail and read a thank-you from some civilians we rescued. I also get a note from someone who wants me to come visit them on the Citadel, as well as something from James saying he’d like to talk in private. I file that away for later, then chat with the comm specialist, a technical expert who doesn’t have much experience serving on the front lines. After making sure she’s doing all right, I’m ready to see what’s happening on the rest of my ship.

Crew and Quartermaster

I head to the lower decks to check in with the crew. I talk with Garrus, who’s understandably upset about the turian soldiers who didn’t make it on that last mission. I then check on Liara, and find her chatting with Joker over the intercom. At least I think they’re chatting — she seems pretty frazzled, but that happens to most people after they talk with Joker. After getting him to lay off her, I head out.

I stop by the quartermaster and my work bench. I really liked how my assault rifle handled on the last mission, but my shotgun felt weak. I buy a new weapon mod that should give it more stopping power, along with another upgrade mod that should improve its penetration next time I’m up against something with heavy armor. I tinker a bit more on some pistols — I don’t use them, but Liara does — and buy a few cheaper things from the store. I make a note to buy a few expensive things next time I’m on the Citadel — it’s cheaper to buy direct when I’ve got the time. Then I tune up my armor a bit; I’ve been getting up close and personal on recent missions, so I add some armor pieces that’ll help in close combat.

Home Sweet Home

Finally, I head up to my cabin, turn on some music, and check on my fish. James wanted to talk, so I invite him up, and we shoot the breeze about something he understandably didn’t want to discuss in public.

Where to now? I could head to the Citadel and meet that contact. I could explore a system that recently fell under Reaper control; if I’m lucky, I could evacuate more civililans from enemy territory. Honestly, though, all that will still be there after the next mission, and I’m really ready to check out that new shotgun mod.

Looks like I’m back on duty.

The Asexual Sheppard

2012-01-15T21:51:00.000-08:00

Here's a really interesting perspective of sex in the Mass Effect realm from a person who describes themselves as asexual.

"Back when Mass Effect 2 was a few days from release, I loaded up a New Game Plus of my main career to make all the choices I wanted to stick with me for the sequel. It was going so well, until I discovered I had said one friendly thing too many to Liara and hadn't the time for a do-over. And so I was left with making one uncharacteristic Renegade dialogue option after another to deter the poor, virginal asari, who was only trying to help and didn't realize I was genuinely uninterested in having sex with her.

The infamous dialogue trees in the Mass Effect franchise preceed it. Bioware's Ray Muzyka calls it "emotional engagement." I call it "treating sex as the ultimate stage of a relationship." I'm not against participating in game romances; as much as I feel we burden the two franchises by constantly comparing Mass Effect and Dragon Age, it's true the two are siblings and yet one has vastly different ideas on relationships than the other. Dragon Age portrays romantic relationships which unfold over time, which deepen, and which face challenges. Sex is generally a part of that, but never to the extent it seems like the raison d'etre of pursuing some companionship in Mass Effect.

"Why so uptight?" you might be wondering. "Are you a prude or something?" Good thing you asked. For a while I thought that that was exactly where my discomfort stemmed from, although it didn't line up with the rest of what I thought I knew about myself. It took some lengthy self-discovery to realize that I just don't place sex and love in remotely the same category, and that I was hurting trying to convince myself I felt otherwise.

I categorize myself as panromantic asexual. I once described this on my blog as being "a hands-off Jack Harkness." I feel no compunctions about forming emotional relationships with people but I'm not interested in sex."

Read the rest of the article here

Bungie says no to SOPA legislation

2012-01-15T02:48:00.000-08:00

A year or two back the movie industry tried to take over the internet in NZ and there was a huge stink. Now it sounds like the US legislators have taken a few to man political donations and the internet is in danger over there. Here's Bungie's thoughts on the SOPA legislation:

Make your voice heard.

At Bungie we tend to keep our collective nose out of state affairs. We can’t even come to a consensus on which bus line to take into Bellevue in the morning, let alone arrive at any unified conclusions regarding our equally congested political roadways. But we all agree that SOPA sucks. And we’re not alone.

In a clumsy effort to curtail online piracy, this messy piece of legislation will, if passed, negatively impact both the games we make and the people who play them. If that sounds like very bad news to you (and it should), we encourage you to take a few moments to learn more about SOPA by readingthe bill itself, by visiting the Electronic Frontier Foundation for more information, and by contacting your representatives in United States Congress and the Senate to make your voice heard.

Bungie is opposed to any legislation that curtails free speech, stifles innovation, and prevents the open sharing of information on the Internet. SOPA fits that bill. If it passes, it will hurt our community, the gaming community at large, and it could very well cripple the kind of games we love to create and play.

Just like online piracy, that would be downright criminal.

How to get the Bandana Skull in Halo Anniversary

2012-01-13T13:46:00.000-08:00

How to get the Bandana Skull without grenade jumping - by using the warthog! This is a sweet video tutorial eh?

Is Paisha really the Halo 4 Cortana model?

2012-01-12T20:38:00.000-08:00

Is this model really the basis of what we'll see of Cortana in Halo 4?

Reddit seems to think so....If this is true and not some fan fantasy let's hope they've employed Jen Taylor to do the voice.... she did for the H4 announce trailer and is listed on IMDB as being in Halo Four so looking good there!

ME3 will definitely have a 'bad guy'

2012-01-10T16:24:00.000-08:00

Casey Hudson was interviewed by Game Informer's Phil Kollar, Here's a key bit about the ME3 'bad guy'.

Game Informer: One of the few criticisms that I saw thrown around for Mass Effect 2 – and I should note that I did not view this as a problem, but I know that some people did – was the lack of a distinct bad guy or a real face to the enemy the way you had in Mass Effect 1. The final boss fight in Mass Effect 2 kind of comes out of nowhere. Is that something that you’ll be changing in Mass Effect 3? Is there a more specific villain or is it still just kind of the general threat of the Reapers?

Casey Hudson: In the first one we had Saren. In the second one, we wanted to introduce some mystery into who’s doing what, and that was supposed to be the Illusive Man. In the third game, yeah, I think we’re introducing a clearer target for Shepard, a clearer foil.

-

There you have it, none of this 'assuming control' bollocks from ME2. It appears that the ME3 will have a real enemy to take on (aside from the Reaper collective) - hopefully one as full and complete as Saren was!

Order your copy of Mass Effect 3 from Amazon now!

What Ryan Seacrest should have asked Steve Ballmer at CES

2012-01-09T20:56:00.000-08:00

In a puff piece on Microsoft during this week's CES, Venture beat noted the following:

"Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said tonight that the Xbox 360 video game console has sold more than 66 million units since it was launched in 2005. In his final keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show, Ballmer said that the Xbox Live online gaming and entertainment service now has more than 40 million users, and he said Microsoft has sold more than 18 million Kinect motion-sensing systems."

It immediately amused me as I'm on to my third Xbox and not by choice! Three red rings of death later, I'm not the happiest Xbox buyer*

American Idol host Ryan Seacrest was on hosting duties for the CES event. He should have asked Steve Ballmer how many Xboxes were bought to replace those bricked xboxes? Does that number include Xboxes bricked by the Red Ring of Death?

I'd also get Ryan to ask Steve, just how many consumers were unaware of their rights as consumers for free repairs and replacements? I recall some years ago when RROD first occurred and how I was sooooostonewalled by Xbox Customer Support - it was until I quoted the Consumer Guarantees Act at a manager did I get my repair free.

I would have been intrigued by Steve's answers.

It would appear however that Microsoft has successfully left that bullshit behind.them when they admitted the problem and got to work on the newer slimmer version of the Xbox.

Now only if a decent Kinect game or application were to be released - cos let's face it - you only said 'throw grenade' once in your Halo Anniversary run through right?

* I still LOVE the Xbox though! (It's like you are a battered wife that won't leave her deadbeat husband? - Ed)

Keeping abreast of Elizabeth in Bioshock: Infinite

2012-01-09T15:51:00.000-08:00

According to Ken Levine, whose team at Irrational Games are developing the new Bioshock Infinite game, fan boys are way too obessessed with main character Elizabeth's breast size. He recently talked to OXM and revealed this thought about the mammary issue "in terms of her body type, I think certainly people on the Internet have spent way more time thinking about Elizabeth's chest than I have. It's something I've barely thought about."

Note he said barely. Which is an interesting choice of word if you think about it. He also thus admits he DID at least think about Elizabeth's breast size.

I bet the designers put a lot of thought into their size though. You can imagine them going "Not too much.... a good hand full at least, be tasteful but titillate...."

Levine said "It's disappointing when appearance becomes a focus for conversation, because that was never my intent and it's sort of a disincentive. I'd much rather talk about what she's going through as a person, but whatever. They have the right to shout out whatever they want."

This amuses me greatly as the championing a female character's assets has become the thing to do in the gaming industry. Cortana from Halo, Miranda and co from Mass Effect, Bayonetta and a whole host of other female leads have their boobs emphasised. Not to forget a whole legion of characters from the Final Fantasy series.

Beauty is where you find it and Levine has this to say:

"To me, the most important thing with Elizabeth was just honestly her eyes because, you know, they're somewhat exaggerated and the reason for that is because there's so much expression you can do there, with her eyes, and you see her often at a great distance".

Stop digging bro, stop digging.

Casey Hudson talks ME3 ending

2012-01-09T14:42:00.000-08:00

Casey Hudson of Bioware reckons Mass Effect 3's ending will be one that "gives people a great ending".

"We want to end the trilogy really strongly, and that's the most important thing, and then we have a few ideas for things we can think about doing in the future. But we're okay with making it difficult for ourselves, because the most important thing is giving people a great ending," said Hudson. "We want to do more stuff with Mass Effect, of course, and I'm sure we will... But we're not really thinking about that right now. We want to make sure we give people the best ending to Mass Effect 3 that we can."

So hopefully that means we simply won't have to shot the eyes out and arms of a Reaper that looks like a demented Terminator robot?

Just the Master Chief

2012-01-08T16:20:00.000-08:00

Just a cool shot of the Master Chief - I think this came out around the time of the Halo 4 announcement.

Tip: How to use the Boomshot on Gears of War 3

2012-01-07T16:38:00.000-08:00

The Boomshot

Boooooom! say the Boomers on Gears of War 3 - it's their signal to you that a massive bomb blast is headed in your direction - time to duck into some cover and return fire with your lancer right?

If you are playing Gears of War on its notoriously difficult Insane Mode you may not be so keen to take on a Boomer or Drudge with simply a lancer rifle. You might want to soften them up with a grenade first - or you could get one of you squad members to do your dirty work for you!

The trick is to arm your squad member with some heavy firepower - that way you can utilise their special ability of unlimited ammo - so for instance if you load all three squad members up with the boom-shot there's a good chance during a fire fight at least one of them will chose to use the boomshot and increase the damage dealt out to the lambent horde!

I'd recommend that everytime you get a chance to pick up the boomshot during a campaign session you should do so and then immediately give it to an A.I. team mate. So every time you fell a Boomer, take their weapon and do the weapon swap. Also there's plenty of times you come across a handy weapons cache so stock up then too - you can kit out your entire squad at the times!

How to give you team mates the boomshot:

1. To exchange weapons or share ammo in any mode, move within close range of a squad mate.

2. Aim at said squadmate with the Left Trigger button and press [Y] to share ammo

3. [X] to swap your primary weapon or [A] to swap your secondary weapon.

4. Pistols and grenades may not be swapped...

Obviously you can swap any weapons you like, it doesn't have to be the boomshot - however on insane mode I think having your A.I. driven squad mates of having the option to use it increases you own chance of survival - some of the set pieces in GOW3 can be absolutely brutal so why not up your odds of making it through?

Using the boomshot effectively is also an art in itself. While you can use the reticle turning red as a rough guide that you have an accurate shot lined up, for further distances you may need to lead the shot a bit, or estimate the angle you'll fire at - the boomshot's projectiles fall over time so you may need to aim higher than you think.

Be wary of using the boomshot at very close quarters - you're likely to blow yourself up!

Want more? Here's a tip on taking down the Armoured Kantus with the Hammer of Dawn.

1 million unique viewers can't be wrong!!!

2012-01-07T14:30:00.000-08:00

Well bugger me! Gears of Halo has hit the 1 million unique individual visitors mark. I'm giving myself a pat on the back and one for you as well dear readers!

This blog was started in late 2009 in anticipation of the release of Halo Reach - and what fun that was ~~stalking~~ following Bungie's every move and uttering. Since then, the site become 'Gears of War' and delved more widely into the gaming universe - and Hl. alo fans have come along for the ride, with the odd Mass Effect and Gears fan joining in as well. Below is a recap of the best of year to see where we actually went!

That first big spike in the graph is the release of Halo 4. Some random spikes are when HBO has kindly linked to us (such as the link to A Noble Hunt). Cheers guys! Every time something awesome is announced Halo wise, there's often a little growth in traffic too.

Who knows what we'll do during the next year or next 1 million unique readers but I say thanks to those who've come and helped make what is I think an interesting and perhaps useful corner of cyberspace.

Cheers!

Jimmy Jangles

My Favourite Blog Posts:

These posts are favourites because they are amusing or perhaps represented a cool thing that happened in the gaming universe this year.

Should Sheppard and Ashley Williams get back together? - This is a real issue people!
Star Trek Fans Nude Bike Ride WTF? – Trekies seem to love this page….
Top 10 Worst Cos Play Costumes Fails - fail, fail, fail
Halo 4 announced at E3 - Hoora!
Bungie's MMO is ONI - No fate but what Bungie makes
Destiny: Is Bungie making a MMO? - as above
HBO indirectly confirms Destiny ;) - as above...

Original musings of a sort:

What could Gears of War 4 offer gamers? - What becomes of the Gears franchise now the Trilogy is done?
Quit bitching about paying for DLC you already have - and just play the game sucker.
Two Cranes and a Halo short film - Wellington. It rocks. So does PJ.
Have you noticed? - well have you?
I heart you Bungie - I declare my love for Bungie. To date my love is unrequited. Did I spell that right?
Gears of War 3's Insane Mode – I wax lyrical about the awesomeness that is Gears of War’s Insane Difficulty setting. Do try it.

Popular costume play posts:

Mystique Nude Cosplay Photos
Harley Quinn Cosplay Costumes
Body Painted Mass Effect Girls Nude
Body Painted Super Heroines - Does it mean they are nude?
Power Girl Cosplay Outfits
Jean Grey / Dark Phoenix Cos Play Photos

Game Reviews:

I only buy very few new games – I tend to stick to what I know – suffice to say here’s the new games I played this year:

Bioshock 2 – the sequel to Bioshock did the deed and held up as a very solid sequel.
Gears of War 3 – Gears 3 come out and kicked some ass.
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary – Halo CE Redux has a lot going for it!
Mass Effect 2 – I was late to the party on this game but it was a great party!

Looking for love in all the wrong places?

2012-01-07T14:15:00.000-08:00

Halo fans might recognise this Huragok is looking for love in the wrong place! This comic was created by Idleduck.http://idleduck.com/?p=109

ODST Revisited

2012-01-07T14:04:00.000-08:00

Forward Unto Dawn has commenced a series of posts on Halo 3: ODST - starting with Prepare to Drop - it's an articulate insight into setting the scene for what was a pretty cool Halo game.

Here's an excerpt:

"It’s great how we get to see a full tactical insertion from the ODST’s perspective, from the moment the HEV’s closes to the moment the Rookie steps out, even if things didn’t go according to the plan. The genesis for this fantastic cutscene may have existed as far back as the Halo 3 beta when players found out that via glitching on the level Valhalla, they could ascend from the green rolling hills of the level up high into the atmosphere where the sky would darken and the stars would become more visible. It seems the technology was within the Halo 3 engine all along and now full realised in “Prepare to Drop”.

Maybe they'll answer the question of why the intended title of Halo 3: Recon was changed.....

The Prodigal Son Returns?

2012-01-05T13:35:00.001-08:00

Bioware's Mass Effect 3 Money Making Machine starts its engine

2012-01-04T14:24:00.000-08:00

Bioware's Mass Effect 3 Money Making Machine starts its engine.

What with everyone complaining about actually having to pay for DLC I thought I'd be cheeky and point out that the Mass Effect cash cow has begun to be milked. Bioware has announced some 'pre-order goodies':

"Prepare for the Reaper invasion today and secure your pre-order gear! Shrug off enemy fire with the N7 Defender Armor and its amplified shields then drop the opposition with high caliber fire from the N7 Valkyrie Assault Rifle. When the enemy has overwhelming numbers bring the M55 Argus Assault Rifle into battle and unleash rapid-fire bursts to even the odds. If the enemy gets too close, stop them dead with the AT12 Raider Shotgun and its superior firepower"

SO will you be shelling out some coin?

Here's the AT12 Raider Shotgun as used in game:

FAQ on the pre-order from Bioware

Is the M55 Argus Assault Rifle included with the N7 Warfare Gear and Origin pre-order packs?

Yes, the M55 Argus Assault Rifle is a channel wide offer and available to everyone who pre-orders.

I don’t have a GameStop or EB Games in my country, where can I get the N7 Warfare Gear?

A full breakdown of regions and availability of pre-order offers is coming soon. You can also check with your local retailer for more information about available pre-order offers.

If I already pre-order the N7 Collector’s Edition, do I have to pre-order again to receive the pre-order items?

No, if you have already pre-ordered your pre-order will rollover and you will be automatically granted the items.

How do I unlock the items once I have pre-ordered?

Redemption methods may vary depending on platform and region. Please check with your retailer on how to redeem your pre-order content.

When will the pre-order content be available?

The pre-order items will be available on March 6th when Mass Effect 3 releases.

Mass Effect: Homeworlds to feature James Vega

2012-01-04T14:15:00.000-08:00

James Vega: Has not seen Pulp Fiction

Are you gonna buy Mass Effect: Homeworlds?

Written by Mass Effect 3 lead writer Mac Walters, each installment of Homeworlds will feature one of the main characters of the what is possibly going to be the 2012's biggest game.

The above picture is apparently the cover of the first issue of series, featuring newbie to the Mass Effect Universe, James Vega.

Is this really a leaked Halo 4 screen shot?

2012-01-03T13:51:00.000-08:00

Is this really a leaked Halo 4 screen shot?

I doubt it.....but you never know

Found on Halo Waypoint Mexico

Tips about using ammo in Gears of War 3

2012-01-02T15:02:00.000-08:00

Tips about using ammo in Gears of War 3

So like I got horribly stuck somewhere on Act III of Gears this weekend. It's just before you to get the cable car / gondala tower and a giant stalk comes up of the ground with a whole lot of lambents and drudges and the those fucking little dog / wretch like things that sneak up on you like no one business. Insane Mode, it's a bitch.

I kept dying as I ran out of ammunition. So low on ammo and with no hope of getting through solely by chainsawing the guts out of my foes alone, I finally remembered to use the 'weapon swap' feature with my comrades Anya, Jace and that really annoying one. It worked a treat - I had that extra few bullets that I needed to hold out againt the bastards and finally got past after some trial and error.

Some hints about using ammo

Try and stock up on ammo before you get to the next check point
Use the Weapon Swap function as need be
You can swap like with like (they may have more ammo in the same weapon)
You can hand over an empty weapon too
In a tight spot, you still should pick up ammo - pick you moment though!
In a tight spot, if you can do it without dying, weapon swap - but be wise in your selection, don't take the sawn off shot gun for example if you're in a long range gun fight.

A good tactical trick is to arm your Gears squad mates with Boomshots as well, especially on Insane Mode. It's a trick I learnt in Halo - arm your soldiers with the rockets and they had unlimited ammo - it stands to reason this should work in Gears of War 3. Every so often you come across a weapons cache - that's your chance to load up the boom shots....

In case you don't know how to swap weapons in Gears 3 here's the official way:

1. To exchange weapons or share ammo in any mode, move within close range of a squad mate.

2. Aim at that squadmate with [Left Trigger] and press [Y] to share ammo

3. [X] to swap your primary weapon or [A] to swap your secondary weapon.

4. Pistols and grenades may not be swapped...

Cosplay, Cosplay and more Cosplay

2011-12-29T15:11:00.000-08:00

Cosplay, Cosplay and more Cosplay

Here's a random collection of cosplay, cosplay costumes and other variations of the same found around the net.

Adrianne Curry as Wonder Woman

BFFs

Ah!

Are you getting excited for Mass Effect 3?

Do you have enough Mystique in your life?

Did you enjoy the Captain America movie? It was better than Thor right......

Star Wars babe?

I had brains for lunch

I am Optimus Prime

Morrigan

War Machine

Zelda dude?

Comiket Comic Market 2011 Cosplay Photos

2011-12-29T14:54:00.000-08:00

Comiket Comic Market 2011 Cosplay Photos

If you haven't yet played Gears of War 3....

2011-12-28T17:44:00.000-08:00

The Horde were desperate to get to an Xbox to download the demo

If you haven't yet played Gears of War 3, why don't you down load the demonstration of it from Xbox Live? And then once you've fallen in love with Shipwrecked level, buy it from Amazon.

Wanna read Halo: Primordium's first chapter?

2011-12-28T16:08:00.000-08:00

Enjoy this delicious excerpt from the upcoming Halo: Primordium, out January 3.

Chapter 2 is available at Halo Waypoint.

HALO/SHIELD ALLIANCE 631

Record of communications with Autonomous Mechanical Intelligence (Forerunner Monitor).

SCIENCE TEAM ANALYSIS: Appears to be severely damaged duplicate (?) of device previously reported lost/destroyed (File Ref. Dekagram- 721- 64- 91.)

Machine language records attached as holographic ﬁles. Incomplete and failed translation attempts deleted for brevity.

TRANSLATION STYLE: LOCALIZED. Some words and phrases remain obscure.

First successful AI translation: RESPONSE STREAM

#1351 [DATE REDACTED] 1621 hours (Repeated every 64 seconds.)

What am I, really?

A long time ago, I was a living, breathing human being. I went mad. I served my enemies. They became my only friends.

Since then, I’ve traveled back and forth across this galaxy, and out to the spaces between galaxies—a greater reach than any human before me.

You have asked me to tell you about that time. Since you are the true Reclaimers, I must obey. Are you recording? Good. Because my memory is failing rapidly. I doubt I’ll be able to ﬁnish the story.

Once, on my birth-world, a world I knew as Erde-Tyrene, and which now is called Earth, my name was Chakas. . . .

Multiple data streams detected. COVENANT LANGUAGE STREAM identiﬁed.

SCIENCE TEAM ANALYSIS: Prior contact with Covenant likely.

Break for recalibration of AI translator.

SCIENCE TEAM LEADER to MONITOR: “We realize the difﬁculty of accessing all parts of your vast store of knowledge, and we’d like to help you in any way we can, including making necessary repairs . . . if we can be made to understand how you actually work.

“What we’re having difﬁculty with is your contention that you were once a human being—over a thousand centuries ago. But rather than waste time with a full discussion of these matters, we’ve decided to proceed directly to your narrative. Our team has a dual focus for its questions.

“First question: When did you last have contact with the Forerunner known as the Didact, and under what circumstances did you part ways?

“Second question: What goals did Forerunners hope to achieve in their ancient relations with humans? . . .”

RESPONSE STREAM #1352 [DATE REDACTED] 2350 hours (ﬁrst portion lost, nonrepeating):

ONE

. . . LOOKED ACROSS THE deck of the star boat at the Didact—a massive, gray- black shadow with the face of a warrior god. He was impassive, as usual. Far below, at the center of a great gulf of night filled with many ships, lay a planet under siege—the quarantined prison world of the San’Shyuum.

“What will happen to us?” I asked.

“They will punish,” Riser said gloomily. “We’re not supposed to be here!”

I turned to my small companion, reached to touch the long, dry fingers of his outstretched hand, and shot an angry glance at Bornstellar, the young Manipular that Riser and I had guided to Djamonkin Crater. He would not meet my eyes.

Then, faster than thought or reflex, something cold and bright and awful carved up the distance between us, split-ting us apart in blue- white silence. War sphinxes with passionless faces moved in and scooped us up in transparent bubbles. I saw the Didact and Bornstellar packed away in their own bubbles like trophies. . . .

The Didact seemed composed, prepared—Bornstellar, as frightened as I was.

The bubble sucked in around me. I was caught in sudden stillness, my ears stuffed, my eyes darkened.

This is how a dead man feels.

For a time, surrounded by senseless dark or flashes of nothing I could understand, I believed I was about to be ferried across the western water to the far grasslands where I would await judgment under the hungry gaze of sabertooths, hyenas, buzzards, and the great-winged eagles. I tried to prepare myself by listing my weaknesses, that I might appear humble before the judgment of Abada the Rhinoceros; that Abada might fend off the predators, and especially the hyenas; and that his old friend the Great Elephant might re-member me and nudge my bones from the dirt, back to life, before the time that ends all.

(For so I have seen in the sacred caves.)

But the stillness and silence continued. I felt a small itch in the pit of my arm, and in my ear, and then on my back where only a friend can reach. . . . The dead do not itch.

Slowly, with a flickering rhythm, like the waving of a fan, the stiff blue silence lifted, scattering visions between shadows of blankness and misery. I saw Riser wrapped in another bubble not far from me, and Bornstellar beside him. The Didact was not with us.

My ears seemed to pop—a painful, muffled echo in my head. Now I heard distant words . . . and listened closely. We had been taken prisoner by a powerful Forerunner called the Master Builder. The Didact and the Master Builder had long opposed each other. I learned as well that Riser and I were prizes to be stolen from the Didact. We would not be destroyed right away; we had value, for the Librarian had imprinted us at birth with ancient memories that might prove useful.

For a time, I wondered if we were about to be introduced to the hideous Captive—the one my ancient ancestors had locked away for so many thousands of years, the one re-leased by the Master Builder’s ignorant testing of his new weapon-toy, a gigantic ring called Halo. . . .

Then I felt another presence in my head. I had felt this before, first while walking over the ruins at Charum Hakkor, and then later, witnessing the plight of humanity’s old al-lies, the once beautiful and sensuous San’Shyuum, in their quarantined system. Old memories seemed to be traveling across great distances to reassemble, like members of a tribe long lost to each other . . . struggling to retrieve one personality, not my own.

In my boredom, thinking this was merely a strange sort of dream, I reached out as if to touch the jittering pieces. . . .

And was back on Charum Hakkor, walking the parapet above the pit, where the Captive had been imprisoned for more than ten thousand years. My dream-body—oft-wounded, plagued with aches and motivated by a festering hatred— approached the railing and looked down upon the thick-domed timelock.

The lock had been split wide like the casing of a great bomb.

Something that smelled like thunder loomed behind me. It cast a shimmering green shadow—a shadow with far too many arms! I tried to turn and could not. . . .

Nor could I hear myself scream.

Soon enough I lapsed back into a void filled with prickly irritations: itching but unable to scratch, thirsty but without water, muscles both frozen and restless. . . . Viscera trying to writhe. Hungry and nauseated at the same time. This long, weightless suspension was suddenly interrupted by violent shaking. I was falling.

Through the filters of my Forerunner armor, my skin sensed heat, and I glimpsed blossoms of fire, searing blasts of energy trying but failing to reach in and cook me—then, more buffeting, accompanied by the gut-wrenching shudder of distant explosions.

Came a final slamming impact. My jaw snapped up and my teeth almost bit through my tongue.

Still, at first there was no pain. Fog filled me. Now I knew I was dead and felt some relief. Perhaps I had already been punished sufficiently and would be spared the attentions of hyenas and buzzards and eagles. I anticipated joining my ancestors, my grandmother and grandfather, and if my mother had died in my absence, her as well. They would cross rich green prairies to greet me, floating over the ground, smiling and filled with love, and beside them would pad the jaguar that snarls at the sabertooth, and slither the great crocodile that darts from the mud to put to flight the ravenous buzzards—in that place where all hatred is finally extinguished. There, my good family spirits would welcome me, and my troubles would be over.

(For so I had seen in the sacred caves.)

I was not at all happy when I realized yet again that this darkness was not death, but another kind of sleep. My eyes were closed. I opened them. Light flooded in on me, not very bright, but after the long darkness, it seemed blinding. It was not a spiritual light.

Blurry shapes moved around me. My tongue decided to hurt horribly. I felt hands tugging and fumbling at my arms and legs, and smelled something foul—my own scat. Very bad. Spirits don’t stink.

I tried to raise my hand, but someone held it down and there was another struggle. More hands forcibly bent my arms and legs at painful angles. Slowly I puzzled this out. I was still wearing the broken Forerunner armor the Didact had given me on his ship. Stooped and bent shapes were pulling me from that stinking shell.

When they had finished, I was laid out flat on a hard surface. Water poured cool and sweet over my face. The crusted salt of my upper lip stung my tongue. I fully opened my puffy eyes and blinked up at a roof made of woven reeds thatched with leaves and branches. Sprawled on the cold, gritty platform, I was no better than a newborn: naked, twitching, bleary-eyed, mute from shock. Cool, careful fingers wiped my face clean, then rubbed grassy juice under my nose. The smell was sharp and wakeful. I drank more water—muddy, earthy, inexpressibly sweet.

Against flickering orange light I could now make out a single figure—black as night, slender as a young tree— rubbing its fingers beside its own broad nose, over its wide, rounded cheeks, then combing them through the hair on its scalp. It rubbed this soothing skin-oil on my chapped, cracked lips.

I wondered if I was again being visited, as I was at birth, by the supreme Lifeshaper whom the Didact claimed was his wife—the Librarian. But the figure that hovered over me was smaller, darker—not a beautiful memory but solid flesh. I smelled a woman. A young woman. That scent brought an extraordinary change to my outlook. Then I heard others murmuring, followed by sad, desperate laughter, followed by words I barely understood . . . words from ancient languages I had never heard spoken on Erde-Tyrene.

How then could I understand them at all? What kind of beings were these? They looked human in outline—several kinds of human, perhaps. Slowly, I reengaged the old memories within me, like digging out the roots of a fossil tree . . . and found the necessary knowledge.

Long ago, thousands of years before I was born, humans had used such words. The assembled shadows around me were commenting on my chances of recovery. Some were doubtful. Others expressed leering admiration for the female. A few grinding voices discussed whether the strongest man in the village would take her. The tree-slender girl said nothing, merely giving me more water.

Finally, I tried to speak, but my tongue wouldn’t work properly. Even without being half- bitten through, it was not yet trained to form the old words.

“Welcome back,” the girl said. Her voice was husky but musical. Gradually my vision cleared. Her face was round and so black it was almost purple. “Your mouth is full of blood. Don’t talk. Just rest.”

I closed my eyes again. If I could only make myself speak, the Librarian’s imprint from ancient human warriors might prove useful after all.

“He came in armor, like a crab,” said a low, grumbling male voice. So many of these voices sounded frightened, furtive—cruel and desperate. “He fell after the brightness and burning in the sky, but he’s not one of the Forerunners.”

“The Forerunners died. He did not,” the girl said.

“Then they’ll come hunting him. Maybe he killed them,” another voice said. “He’s no use to us. He could be a danger. Put him out in the grass for the ants.”

“How could he kill the Forerunners?” the girl asked. “He was in a jar. The jar fell and cracked open when it hit the ground. He lay in the grass for an entire night while we cowered in our huts, but the ants did not bite him.”

“If he stays, there will be less food for the rest of us. And if Forerunners lost him, then they will come looking for him and punish us.”

I listened to these suppositions with mild interest. I knew less about such matters than the shadows did.

“Why?” the dark girl asked. “They kept him in the jar. We saved him. We took him out of the heat. We will feed him and he will live. Besides, they punish us no matter what we do.”

“They haven’t come for many days to take any of us away,” said another voice, more calm or more resigned. “After the fires in the sky, the city and the forest and the plain are quiet. We no longer hear their sky boats. Maybe they’re all gone.”

The voices from the milling circle dulled and faded. None of what they said made much sense. I had no idea where I might be. I was too tired to care.

I don’t know how long I slept. When I opened my eyes again, I looked to one side, then the other. I was lying inside a wide meeting house with log walls. I was naked but for two pieces of worn, dirty cloth. The meeting house was empty, but at my groan, the dark girl came through the reed-covered doorway and kneeled down beside me. She was younger than me. Little more than a girl—not quite a woman. Her eyes were large and reddish brown, and her hair was a wild tangle the color of water-soaked rye grass.

“Where am I?” I asked clumsily, using the old words as best I could.

“Maybe you can tell us. What’s your name?”

“Chakas,” I said.

“I don’t know that name,” the girl said. “Is it a secret name?”

“No.” I focused on her, ignoring the silhouettes of others as they filed back in through the door and stood around me. Other than the tree-slender female, most of them kept well back, in a wide circle. One of the old men stepped forward and tried to pluck at the girl’s shoulder. She shrugged his hand away, and he cackled and danced off.

“Where do you come from?” she asked me.

“Erde-Tyrene,” I said.

“I don’t know that place.” She spoke to the others. No one else had heard of it.

“He’s no good to us,” an older man said, one of the shrill, argumentative voices from earlier. He was heavy of shoulder and low of forehead and smacked his thick lips in disapproval. All different types of human being were here, as I had guessed—but none as small as Riser. I missed Riser and wondered where he had ended up.

“This one fell from the sky in a jar,” the older man repeated, as if the story was already legend. “The jar landed in the dry short grass and cracked and broke, and not even the ants thought he was worth eating.”

Another man picked up the tale. “Someone high above lost him. The flying shadows dropped him. He’ll just bring them back sooner, and this time they’ll take us all to the Palace of Pain.”

I did not like the sound of that. “Are we on a planet?” I asked the girl. The words I chose meant “big home,” “broad land,” “all- under- sky.”

The girl shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

“Is it a great star boat, then?”

“Be quiet and rest. Your mouth is bleeding.” She gave me more water and wiped my lips.

“You’ll have to choose soon,” the old, cackling one said. “Your Gamelpar can’t protect you now!”

Then the others went away.

I rolled over.

Later, she shook me awake. “You’ve slept long enough,” she said. “Your tongue isn’t bleeding now. Can you tell me what it’s like where you come from? Up in the sky? Try to speak slowly.”

I moved lips, tongue, jaw. All were sore, but I could talk easily enough. I propped myself up on my elbow. “Are you all human?”

She hummed through her nose and leaned forward to wipe my eyes. “We’re the Tudejsa, if that’s what you’re asking.” Later I would put this word in context and understand that it meant the People from Here, or just the People.

“And this isn’t Erde-Tyrene.”

“I doubt it. Where we are is a place between other places. Where we came from, we will never see again. Where we are going, we do not want to be. So we live here and wait. Some-times Forerunners take us away.”

“Forerunners . . . ?”

“The gray ones. The blue ones. The black ones. Or their machines.”

“I know some of them,” I said.

She looked dubious. “They don’t like us. We’re happy they haven’t come for many days. Even before the sky be-came bright and filled with fi re—”

“Where do they come from—these People?” I waved my arm at the silhouettes still coming and going through the door, some smacking their lips in judgment and making disapproving sounds.

“Some of us come from the old city. That’s where I was born. Others have gathered from across the plain, from river and jungle, from the long grass. Some walked here five sleeps ago, after they saw you fall from the sky in your jar. One fellow tries to make people pay to see you.”

I heard a scuffle outside, a yelp, and then three burly gawkers shuffled in, keeping well back from us.

“The cackling bastard who fancies you?” I asked her.

She shook her head. “Another fool. He wants more food. They just knock him down and kick him aside.”

She didn’t seem to like many of the People.

“Valley, jungle, river . . . city, prairie. Sounds like home,” I said.

“It isn’t.” She swept her gaze around the gawkers with pinched disappointment. “We are not friends, and no one is willing to be family. When we are taken away, it brings too much pain.”

I raised myself on my arm. “Am I strong enough to go outside?”

She pressed me back down. Then she pushed the gawkers out, looked back, and stepped through the hanging grass door. When she returned, she carried a roughly carved wooden bowl. With her fingers she spooned some of the contents into my mouth: bland mush, ground- up grass seed. It didn’t taste very good—what I could taste of it—but what I swallowed stayed in my stomach.

Soon I felt stronger.

Then she said, “Time to go outside, before someone decides to kill you.” She helped me to my feet and pushed aside the door- hanging. A slanting burst of bluish white glare dazzled me. When I saw the color of that light, a feeling of dread, of not wanting to be where I was, came on me fierce. It was not a good light.

But she persisted and pulled me out under the purple- blue sky. Shielding my eyes, I finally located the horizon— rising up like a distant wall. Turning slowly, swiveling my neck despite the pain, I tracked that far wall until it began to curve upward, ever so gently. I swung around. The horizon curved upward to both sides. Not good, not right. Horizons do not curve up.

I followed the gradually rising sweep higher and higher. The land kept climbing like the slope of a mountain— climbing but narrowing, until I could see both sides of a great, wide band filled with grassland, rocky fields . . . mountains. Some distance away, a foreshortened and irregular dark blue smear crossed almost the entire width of the band, flanked and interrupted by the nearest of those mountains—possibly a large body of water. And everywhere out there on the band—clouds in puffs and swirls and spreading white shreds, like streamers of fleece in a cleansing river.

Weather.

Higher and higher . . .

I leaned my head back as far as I could without falling over—until the rising band crossed into shadow and slimmed to a skinny, perfect ribbon that cut the sky in half and just hung there—a dark blue, overarching sky bridge. At an angle about two-thirds of the way up one side of the bridge, perched just above the edge, was the source of the intense, purple-blue light: a small, brilliant sun.

Turning around again, cupping my hand over the blue sun, I studied the opposite horizon. The wall on that side was too far away to see. But I guessed that both sides of the great ribbon were flanked by walls. Definitely not a planet.

My hopes fell to zero. My situation had not improved in any way. I was not home. I was very far from any home. I had been deposited on one of the great, ring-shaped weapons that had so entranced and divided my Forerunner captors.

I was marooned on a Halo.

Halo Terminal Secret codes revealed?

2011-12-26T20:44:00.000-08:00

The Input Device

The Halo Terminal Codes cracked?

"This is the input device. The input device grants access to the Terminals when a correct code is entered. The input device allows codes to be 1 to 10 characters long. We know 10 codes which are each 5 characters long and were found at the end each one of the Terminals. Entering all of them successfully granted access to a secret 11th Terminal. This proves that there is a possibility of additional Terminals."

Source

The supposed Terminal Codes....

In order of 1st to 10th, the terminal codes read:

343GS
HALO4
SPARK
BLOOD
EARTH
DEMON
RINGS
ARRAY
HUMAN
HAVEN

And Forward Unto Dawn has been up to some tricks.....

signal interruption detected.initiating amplification protocols//
protocols ineffective.UNIDENTIFIED INTRUSION//
recording for archival purposes.entry #03012012343/25122011//

intrusion ceased.reasons unknown//
initiating stability protocols.analyzing entry #03012012343/25122011 transcript//
source of intrusion cannot be identified.running firewall diagnostics//

DATABASE ALERT //
permissions compromised.unknown agent/s detected//

cannot.shut.the.door//Info sources:

One
Two
Three

How badly acted is Samantha Byrne in Gears 3?

2011-12-26T19:44:00.000-08:00

How badly acted is Samantha Byrne in Gears 3?

In two words. Very badly.

Do you remember how bad the acting in the original Gears game was? Baird was terrible. The Cole Train laughable. Marcus' only saving grace was that his voice was whole unique and actually managed to convey a true sense of emotional depth - well at least when he wasn't yelling "Bring it".

It's my view Samantha Byrne is the worsely acted character in the entire Gears franchise. How the heck that voice acting got through play testing without the testers murmuring about how dire it was? How did Cliff Bleszinski let this pass?

Samantha's character is voiced by Claudia Black, an actor who's voiced many video games and films and is known for her role in Pitch Black. Given her breadth of experience, how the fuck she turn in that performance? Was it the voice director or was she just simply trying to sound like an obnoxious Aussie actor from Home and Away?

Any ways, the actual character of Sam Byrne is quite interesting, here's a small biography - she's had more history that just other than the games as she's been featured in the associated novels.

Biography:

Private Samantha Byrne was born in Avengad, Kashkur, which is near the famous Anvil Gate, which featured as garrison in the Pendulum Wars. Her father was Sargeant Samuel Byrne who died during the Siege of Anvil Gate in the Pendulum Wars.

Like her father, she joined the COG army and was assigned to Delta-One, Marcus Fenix's company.

During the COG occupation at Vectes, Samantha was involved in multiple pivotal encounters including the discovery that Lambency had jumped across species barrier when herself, Bernadette Mataki, the now battle hardened Anya Stroud and Alex survived an onslaught of what appeared to be Lambent forces.

After the COG disbanded, she joined Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad on the CNV Sovereign rather than attempting a pilgrimage to Anvegad with the grumpy Colonel Victor Hoffman and Bernadette Mataki.

Sam survived the final campaign in Gears of War 3.

Power Girl's brains are up here, boys

2011-12-23T21:01:00.000-08:00

Power Girl's brains are up here, boys.

This Power Girl above is asking you too look into her eyes. Ah! you say, it's a trick. It's a trap! you'd say. And perhaps you drop your eyes and feast on her ample cleavage and think to hell with it. I'll fall victim to whatever trap Power Girl has set me because both her powers are too big a match for me. Or you just have no manners. Or you should have a cold shower.

Power Girl is to be admired. She helped save a few universes during the Crisis on Infinite Earths and has bashed a few bad guys here and there. If you were to admire her curves, I doubt many fan boys would complain. And neither do the people who go to comic conventions like Comic Com. Apparently there's a hole horde of them who simply turn up to them just to spy some power girl cosplayers in the crowd. So for those who didn't make comic con or couldn't get to Earth Two in time, here's some Power Girl costumes and outfits.

By their powers combined...

Power Girl and Best Friend Forever, Wonder Woman.

Power Girl moves so fast the world around her is a blur...

Kyrptonian family reunions were always difficult.

Power Girl says no to your suggestion of a dinner and movie

Fenix Rising Map and Ranking details DLC

2011-12-21T20:29:00.000-08:00

Details on the Fenix Rising DLC have been announced.

Five new multiplayer maps, four new player skins, three new weapons skins will be available plus a new ranking system for those who want to go around the clock again!

If you got the season pack, it's all free! (In the sense you already paid for it)

Dropping in January.

Maps

• Academy –The lineage of the Fenix family can be traced back along a distinguished line of military officers. Officer training at the Oracle Academy was simply the expected path for Marcus, and he had visited the grounds many times in expectation that he would walk the same path as his ancestors. But it was not to be, and Marcus broke with tradition to be with his best friends Dom and Carlos. Like any number of fine Seran traditions, the Academy is now lost to the invasion of the Locust Horde.
• Anvil – The fortress of Anvegad was called Anvil Gate because its impenetrable walls were forged in the fires of war. Huge cannons sat atop battlements that guarded sprawling walls running the line of the UIR borders. Marcus went there to find Hoffman, and they both thought that Anvil Gate would offer protection from the incoming forces of Locust and Lambent. They were wrong, and little remains other than the ruined shell of a once mighty fortress.
• Depths – The excessive opulence of Azura defied all normal reasoning. But Adam Fenix could see the cracks in the veneer of splendor from the moment he arrived at this underwater processing center. And all that beauty mattered not at all once he was held captive by the Locust. Out of options, he had to find a way to contact Marcus, and finally reveal the truths he'd been keeping to himself for all these many years.
• Escalation – Haldane Hall has been the home of the Fenix family for countless generations. But the only history that matters to Marcus's are his memories of warm summer evenings spent with his mother, Elain, relaxing in the estate's gardens. Sadly, all the estate's history and beauty was lost when the Locust destroyed it in an attempt to kidnap his father.
• The Slab – Convicted for insubordination and treason, Marcus was incarcerated in Jacinto Maximum Security Prison. Known as "The Slab", this prison is not a correctional facility - it's a place where Sera's worst offenders are locked up and forgotten. The inmates are brutal, parole is not an option, and the average life expectancy is about two years. But that was before the Locust showed up, and what couldn't get worse, suddenly did. Now your life expectancy there is around 2 minutes.

Skins

• COG:
o Recruit Clayton – Clayton was born a Gear, grew up a Gear, and on the very day he became eligible, he signed himself up to become the capable, confident, and devoted Gear he'd always known he could be.
o Thrashball Cole (Limited Edition) – The Cole Train prefers to take the most direct path to the Locust Horde in any situation. What he lacks in finesse, he makes up in raw energy.
• Locust:
o Savage Marauder – Locust Marauders were the first to form any sort of organization outside of the Hollow – if their brutal infighting and bloodthirsty raiding parties could truly be called organized.
o Savage Kantus (Limited Edition) – The Savage Kantus were profoundly impacted by the loss of the Hollow. They have reverted to a primal, shamanistic state, and their battle cries have taken a dark, melancholy turn. Few sounds are as terrifying to human ears.

2011: All Wrapped Up and under the Blogging Tree

2011-12-20T19:06:00.000-08:00

In a case of The Cranberries ‘everyone else is doing it, why can’t we?’ mood, I’m joining the end of year best of posts meme that every blogger and his blog seems to be doing this month. Here’s a few of the most popular posts, my favourite posts, a couple of reviews and maybe what I think was my best work - the value of which is entirely up to you dear reader.

I've really enjoyed writing for Gears of Halo this year – ocassionally I even wrote some original articles!

Sometimes I simply copied cos play pictures from the internet, wrote some gobble-de-gook around them and you loved them. It’s true what they say about the internet and commerce – sex sells eh?

Originals:

What could Gears of War 4 offer gamers? - What becomes of the Gears franchise now the Trilogy is done?
Quit bitching about paying for DLC you already have - and just play the game sucker.
Two Cranes and a Halo short film - Wellington. It rocks. So does PJ.
Have you noticed? - well have you?
I heart you Bungie - I declare my love for Bungie. To date my love is unrequited. Did I spell that right?
Gears of War 3's Insane Mode – I wax lyrical about the awesomeness that is Gears of War’s Insane Difficulty setting. Do try it.

Popular posts cosplay posts:

Mystique Nude Cosplay Photos
Harley Quinn Cosplay Costumes
Body Painted Mass Effect Girls Nude
Body Painted Super Heroines - Does it mean they are nude?
Power Girl Cosplay Outfits
Jean Grey / Dark Phoenix Cos Play Photos

Game Reviews:

I only buy very few new games – I tend to stick to what I know – suffice to say here’s the new games I played this year:

Bioshock 2 – the sequel to Bioshock did the deed and held up as a very solid sequel.
Gears of War 3 – Gears 3 come out and kicked some ass.
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary – Halo CE Redux has a lot going for it!
Mass Effect 2 – I was late to the party on this game but it was a great party!

Concept Art work:

I love concept art – seeing where ideas have come from and how they ended up in a game (or movie etc) is pretty cool.

Turned out Issac Hannaford knows how to draw a good Cortana
Halo Concept Art by various Bungie Artists - A round up of some Halo concept art
Levi Hoffmeier's Halo Concept Art
Halo 4 Concept Artwork by 343 – concept art as a promotional piece for Halo 4? Brilliant and novel marketing approach.
Mark Goldsworthy Reach Concept Art
Halo artwork by Paul Russel

Favourite Posts:

These posts are favourites because they are amusing or perhaps represented a cool thing that happened in the gaming universe this year.

Should Sheppard and Ashley Williams get back together? - This is a real issue people!
Star Trek Fans Nude Bike Ride WTF? – Trekies seem to love this page….
Top 10 Worst Cos Play Costumes Fails
Halo 4 announced at E3
Bungie's MMO is ONI
Destiny: Is Bungie making a MMO?
HBO indirectly confirms Destiny ;)

So what was your favourite post this year - and that can be from any where! See you in 2012 - now doubt with some full halo glory in the vein of Halo 4!

Jimmy Jangles Reviews: Gears of War 3's Insane Mode

2011-12-18T19:12:00.001-08:00

Rod Fergusson reflects on Gears 3

2011-12-17T13:27:00.000-08:00

Here's some snippets from an interview Rod Fergusson did with IGN post release on Gears of War 3 that covers the sucesses and merits of the game..

Was there anything you'd change if you had extra development time?

Generally speaking, anytime that we get additional time, we always find it's best to focus on polish. It's about the little things; that last 10 percent. Would one feature make the game so much better that now Metacritic is 98? Probably not, but it's about that polish level, taking whatever time you have, and just make the experience that you have stronger.

How has fan feedback since Gears 3 launched influenced your team with Gears?

Probably the biggest piece of feedback is the double-barreled shotgun, or what we call the sawed-off shotgun. It's probably the most controversial weapon now in our arsenal because it allowed people who had less skill than the veteran players to have that successful shotgun kill. It caused people to react to that. We've definitely been playing with how we can tweak the sawed-off shotgun. That's one of the things we did with the Alpha playlist. We made it a pick-up in the map instead of being a starting weapon, so it turned it much more into a power weapon. That's had really positive response. The Alpha playlist has done really well.

Gears of War 3 was the first in the franchise to support stereo 3D gameplay. What are your thoughts on 3D gaming?

I think it's interesting. I think it's an emerging market. I'm part of that marketplace in the movie world that goes and sees the 3D IMAX version of a movie if I have a choice. I feel like it heightens the experience. When I saw Avatar in 3D, that was one of the great realizations of that. I think it's still coming into its own on the game side. I know playing it with Gears, that sense of depth in the word and being able to actually really feel like you're shooting into the world, is really compelling. I'd be interested to see whether that continues. When I talk to my friends, there are definitely people out there who have that backlash, who purposefully avoid the 3D version of a film or feel like it's a trick or novelty and just another fad and will go away pretty quickly.

ONI Speed Run Video LASO

2011-12-17T13:12:00.000-08:00

Here's a LASO Mythic speed run of ONI by RC Master in less than thirteen minutes which might help you out with some of the Weekly Challenges which get thrown up every so often. It makes good use of the Hammer of Dawn or whatever it's called ;)

10 Reasons why Peter Jackson should try and make the Halo movie again

2011-12-15T22:14:00.000-08:00

Halo 4 Trailer leak!!!!!!

2011-12-12T12:27:00.001-08:00

Halo 4 Trailer leak!!!!!! Wow the new Chief animation is amazing? And the dancing?

Blog of the Dead: Zombie Cos Play

2011-12-11T01:35:00.000-08:00

I wish these boobs were full of brains

Brains. That's what Zombies crave. It doesn't matter if you are a sexy Zombie nurse, a Zombie with a bullet in your head or attacked by zombies during your wedding, they all end up wanting a taste of the grey matter. At least that's what I thought till I found some of these cos players doing their zombie thing. Some of them have forgone the brains and simply want to make out with each other or engage in zombie sex orgies....

Zombie orgy of blood and cuts

He should see a Zombie doctor about that bullet hole, it might get an infection.

The Zombies will eat any one, no matter how important. It's clear this Father Christmas was bitten by a zombie grinch who wanted to ruin Christmas day for everyone.

Despite the bad teeth, it;s clear this long haired Zombie uses floss very well. His dentist would be pleased.

Zombie in a pink bikini. Need we say more?

Zombie love.

Zombies covered in blood making out. Is this what you came to Gears of Halo for?

Zombie with a friendly smile. Would you take him home for dinner?

I think this Zombie spilled some blood on her self during lunch, I'm not sure she's noticed?

Have you seen by tie bro?

Bikini Zombie asks if you have a condom?

I'm gonna wash your brains down this this ice cold Coca Cola!

This Zombie only has eyes for you.

The Morose Zombie

Hot Zombie nurses seem to be all the rage. I cannot only wonder in horror what their sponge bath technique might be like? Below this cosplayer's Bride of Zombie shot is pretty sweet. I wonder how the groom ended up.....

Bioshock Infinite VGA Trailer

2011-12-11T00:01:00.001-08:00

Says the promo advice on youtube 'Step back into the flying city of Columbia and get a glimpse at all-new enemies in this trailer from the Spike TV Video Game Awards of 2011!'

Diablo III opening cinematic

2011-12-10T23:59:00.001-08:00

Boom - Get your devil on with the Diablo 3 opening cinematic trailer.....

Fortnite: It's more than 2 weeks away

2011-12-10T23:41:00.001-08:00

The makers of Gears of War 3 didn't announce Gears of War: Exile at the VGA's but they did announce a whole fresh new IP now known to be called 'Fornite'. This one minute in length trailer for the Fortnite game suggests it's some kind of 'defend against the monsters' project.

Fortnite looks like it will feature a cartoony style and without knowing any further details, appears to be targeted at children.

Mass Effect Reaper vs Worm Trailer

2011-12-10T23:37:00.001-08:00

Check out this new Mass Effect 3 trailer which features Commander Sheppard dodging the hot red laser beams of a Reaper with a cameo performance from a very grumpy sand worm!

Looks like Sheppard now as a dive roll as part of his in game arsenal of moves....

What day is it?

2011-12-09T20:48:00.001-08:00

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Gears of War Birthday Cakes

2011-12-08T12:54:00.001-08:00

Skullicious!

Gears of War cakes. Need I say anything more but pass me a piece?

A friendly skull? Is it smiling at us?

A deathly cake

Spencer Marshall's mom loves him

Lancer Cake

This cake looks lethal

Halo, Ghosts and birthday cakes

2011-12-08T12:14:00.001-08:00

In doing a cake post I feel I should get the obligatory Portal reference out of the way first. These cakes don't lie. In fact they say nothing but how awesome Halo is - when fans make cakes of the things they love, you truly know their hearts and minds have been well and truly captured.

For my birthdays, my mother would make me pirate cakes and ghost cakes. These days it appears all the kids ask for is Halo cakes or maybe a well frosted cake from the Gears of War franchise.... so we'll start on a twist on the ghost cake.... a Halo ghost cake!

Lady Cake Ninja is awesome but not as awesome as Connery's mom who made him this sweet Master Chief Cake. I bet it tasted green and delicious!

Now clearly a master chef made this Master Chief!

Cortana is rampant as a cake

The Ghost Who Walks, Emile is also a tasty looking cake.....

Are you talking to me Nate?

Reach for a piece

Nice frosting

Scorpion Tank Cake beats everything

Elias' mom clearly loves him!

Where's the keys?

A list of Sweet Halo Blogs

2011-12-05T20:56:00.000-08:00

With all due respect, sir, this war has enough dead bloggers

There's plenty of Halo love out there - you only have to throw a rock in the air and you'll hit a Halo blog - their admins and forum users and commenters make the Halo universe go round (or expand if you are of an Eienstein persuasion).

I thought it would be sweet to build a list of the current Halo fan blogs that I can find so new comers can find their way to a front lawn that has the kind of grass they like to eat.....

This list of Halo Blogs is in alphabetical order:

Age of Gratitude - a sweet site that allows true blue Halo fans to drop in with their story about Halo - how they came to find it and how they've lived it. If you're a major fan why don't you drop them a line? Here's mine.

Forge Hub - they show you how to use the bricks of the Halo universe to make cool stuff.

Forward Unto Dawn - Willy and the Poor Boys have built a fan site that explores the depths of Halo. They are slowly dipping their toes into the void left behind by Acendant Justice - not that there's any replacing of that wonderful site....

Griff Ball Hub - they know how to griff your ball. So to speak.

Grunts R Us - originally a fan site for Halo, they've branched out into other realms

Halo Community - NKOTB but they're old school really.....

Halo Waypoint - now that Bungie have passed the torch, it's up to Frankie and BS-Angel to lead from the front for official communications from the new masters of the Halo franchise.

HBO - what Louis Wu, GrimBrother One and their mates don't know about Halo probably just is not worth knowing....

Installation 343 - a promising fan site about everything Halo

Misriah Solutions - the Sherlock Holmes of the Halo blog universe, sniffing out the interesting clues and facts.

Rampancy - probably the second Halo site I found after HBO - while covering the universe, they specialise in making sheet music available for Halo's music.

The Running Riot - if you want to listen to people talking about Halo via podcasts, this is where you go.

The Life of a Halo Fan - The Zoologist of the blogging crowd and a very keen Halo fan!

This Halo blogs list was my small way of sharing some of the Halo love - if you like it would you please consider liking this page on Facebook, Google Plus or twittering about it!?

Extra for Experts: A Spanish Halo blog!

JJ Reviews: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

2011-12-04T19:37:00.001-08:00

JJ Reviews: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

I was about a quarter of the way through doing my firstInsane run through of Gears of War 3 when Halo Anniversary dropped and that hotlittle potatoe fell into my Xbox at the expense of arguably the year’s bestgame (don’t play war games, don’t get me started) and stayed there for a weekor so as I played through a heroic version of the game that made the gamingindustry what it is today. Or rather the played the newest version of the game!

Anyways on to the review - I should basically just repostthis HaloCE review I did a couple of years ago. I said then:

“So while the game's graphics may look a little tired tomodern day games such as Call of Duty and Mass Effect or even the new FinalFantasy, the game play still holds up. It's well paced, and has many neatcombat scenarios to keep the player well entertained. At times the game can beinfuriating - Floods with rocket launchers and annoying fire from Banshee shipscan impede your progress, but getting through them proves the game's worth. I'malmost tempted to suggest that Bungie should have remade Halo: Combat Evolvedinstead of Reach but as the story has already been told, I'll sit and patientlyplay through the rest of the Halo series until Reach is safely in my Xbox 360'sdisk drive.”

This review should be of no surprise to any one reading thisHalo blog – Halo Anniversary is a good fun thing. And prettier. You know howyour memory tricks you? You might think that hair cut you had 10 years ago wasthe best hair cut you ever had but then you see a photo of yourself and youjust look butt ugly? Well that’s how the old Halo looked. The new, prettierversion is like some high class hooker or something. You are paying for themake believe of the memories of that haircut. If that makes sense…..

So basically that’s the review, Halo is still awesome. She’sjust had a coat of new paint. But what a coat of paint!

There’s been a few attempts to utilise the power of the Xbox – Kinect has been integrated to allowyou throw grenades and reload by way of voice command but frankly, it’s justgimmicky. The use of Kinect to full your own Library is just dullsville and I’mglad there was no achievement points associated with this tool!

The infamous Library level is still fun to play (I have no ideawhy there’s so much hate for it – is it because the casual player sux) – I notedthere were some arrows in it to help you find your way.

I managed to find a couple of skulls and terminals withoutcheating which was a wee bit of a thrill cos I totally cheated with Halo 3’sskull recovery – here’s a cheatsheet for finding the CE skulls and here’s a guidefor the Terminals. I found three terminals and they told a pretty coolstory from the point of view of the character 343 Guilty Spark – I love thefact that he appeared to have left the Halo at some stage and gone on a ‘holiday’to relive his boredom!

9 Reasons why Halo sucks... you in

2011-11-28T00:51:00.000-08:00

9 Reasons why Halo sucks... you in

It makes you the Hero

Sure, the games are about the Master Chief and his companions but there's a reason why you have never seen the Chief's face before - it's a deliberate action so that you feel like you are in control, that you are saving the universe and that you are the Hero.

What's not to like about that?

The Library

While The Library in the original game some times feels like the Hotel California in that 343 Guilty Spark checked you in but won't let you leave until you have killed every last one of the muthucking face huggers.

This level is infamous within the Halo community as being long and intolerable - even the new Anniversary edition of the game recognised this and gave it two fairly challenge achievement point rewards other than for completion!

The Library sucks you in because it's where you are truly tested as a Halo player. When playing on the harder levels and the Monitor goes off to put out a fire somewhere it's you versus the Flood. This section of the game sorts out the men from the boys

The Sniper Rifle

There is nothing like taking down an Elite with a single shot to the side of the head to begin the festivities. A sniper rifle can help you out when you're low on ammo and in a tight spot. You need to take out the big fellow from afar? The Sniper rifle is your friend there. Want to camp out on a Halo map to pick of your foes one by one? Sniper rifle is a killing machine.

Cortana - the thinking man's A.I.

Was there ever such an eloquent (or sarcastic) female character in a game before Halo was unleased on the world 10 years ago? Cortana has been the Chief's guide and moral compass in 3 Halo games and looks set to be his cheer leader in the Reclaimer Trilogy (possible rampancy issues aside). Halo sucks you in because they employ her feminine wiles and charms to good effect.... i.e. they gave her big boobs.

Multiplayer

Come for the campaign, stay for the multiplayer they say and I think that's pretty much the best way that Halo sucks... you in. With well design maps and great game types, Bungie and their friends were true pioneers of the Xbox live multiplayer universe and ensuring the continued successes of the franchise. There's nothing like like getting a 10 kill streak as you dominate a field of players who've been matched to your 'true skill' level.....

Easter Eggs and cool shit like that

The first Combat Evolved had Easter Eggs and every Halo game since. It's become a key thing that the fans love in the games. Finding a reference to Jones the Cat or 4 Banshees hidden in the Package Reach level are the icing or frosting on the cake that make Halo so damn delicious. Here's some more Reach Easter Eggs.

Melee to the back of the head

There's nothing like sneaking up on an Elite that's supposedly on watch and crushing the base of his skull with an armoured arm! Nor is there anything sweeter in a multiplayer match where you have no shields but manage to land that crucial melee to your foe.

Legendary Mode

Like Gears of War's Insane mode, this sorts out the ODST from the Spartans. Playing Halo on legendary mode is for me the epitomy of game design and game play. Everything in the Halo universe comes together. Whether it's tacking a hairy cackle of rebelling Brutes down some tight corridors or taking on a trio of suicidal grunts

It's got the Master Chief in it

Nuff said eh?

No Mining in ME3? Stoked!?

2011-11-27T15:19:00.001-08:00

Check out this juicy tid-bit about some of the in game mechanics of Mass Effect 3

"I think what I'd say to that is that if you have an entire galaxy at war with the Reapers, you probably have better things to do than mine planets for resources"

What's that? No mining in ME3? What's it going to be replaced with? If any thing? What do you think?

Source

Red Sonya Cosplay - very fleshy!

2011-11-25T23:02:00.001-08:00

This is Sonya and her dragon friend

I always thought Red Sonya was a character from Conan the Barbarian but it turns out she's more that a sexy red headed warrior goddess with big tits, she's also a popular comic book character. Her assets and attributes make her an ideal target for cos players who don't mind sharing a bit of skin. Here's the Red Sonya's that have resulted....

This Red Sonya has a Cindy Crawford kind of thing going on

Too cute to be a dragon slayer?

Some thing you like?

So what's your favourite cosplay version of Red Sonya?

Wonder Girl Costume with cape

2011-11-25T22:33:00.001-08:00

I think this is a pretty sweet cos play effort of a Wonder Girl Costume - love the boots! If you like this Amazonian Warrior Princess, check out our Wonder Woman costume page.

Harley Quinn is an MC Hammer fan?

2011-11-25T22:31:00.001-08:00

Ms Quinn

The always mischievous Harley Quinn looks like she's sizing up her next victim with the giant hammer. I'm just wondering how this wonder cos player manages to get her ass into that outfit? Was she sewn in? Does this picture make you want to go play Batman Arcane Asylum?