Halo Revisited

by Tiberius Jonez

In November of 2001, Microsoft released the original Xbox, and the game touted as the console's "killer app" at launch was Halo. Halo was a trend-setting game in many respects, such as the auto-recharging shield, which has been adopted by virtually every major shooter since, in the form of auto-regenerating health systems like those used in Gears of War and Call of Duty. It was also the first major game to limit you to carrying two weapons at a time. Another first was the Warthog, Master Chief's favorite armored 4X4. Halo was the first game I can remember to present driving in a shooter in an accesible, fun and satisfying way.

At the time of its release, the Xbox was far superior, technically, to the Playstation 2, and Halo showed us exactly what the new-kid-on-the-block console could do; and the results were stunning; no game had ever looked this good. The first time you emerged from the drop ship and stepped into Halo's ring world is a moment permanently etched in the minds of many gamers. The Xbox was the first console to include a hard-drive, and as such, programmers were able to stream information from the hard-drive, lightening a considerable load for the processor and RAM. The ability to stream from the hard-drive allowed Halo to become the first single-player game to offer an entire game world free of loading screens, so there was nothing to pull you out of the experience; an absolute technical marvel at the time.

While Halo was a trend-setter, it was also just plain fun. It was the first console game to spawn a serious LAN party following; something previously reserved for blockbuster PC titles. In fact, before Xbox Live was even born, loyal players had already figured out a way to play Halo online using their PC's and "tunnel" software. I admit, I used the Xbox Tunnel software to play Halo online with my brother. Even though it was a less than smooth online experience, when it worked it was great fun, and it gave us a taste of things to come.

Sure, it took PC veterans a while to adjust to using a controller in a shooter...but Halo proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that a console shooter with a gamepad control scheme could work, and work well. Seven years later, I now prefer an Xbox 360 controller over a mouse and keyboard anyday.

I recently installed Halo on my PC to see what I thought of the game today, and somewhat to my surprise - it holds up amazingly well, even by today's graphical standards. The animations are excellent, the textures, while not high-res by today's standards, are bright and crisp, and the environmental effects like flying dirt, smoke and muzzle flashes still look very nice.

What made Halo the complete package was its story. Bungie crafted a legitimate sci-fi masterpiece that told an imaginative and well-written story using strong dialogue and the occasional plot twist. It didn't hurt that the game's voice-acting was universally strong...for once voice acting didn't make you cringe - quite the opposite - even today, Halo's voice work sucks you in and keeps you there for the duration.

Some may say the end portion of the game is cheap by virtue of the fact that you essentially play the game's levels in reverse. But in reality, it sticks with the story - you have to go in deep to complete your objective, and you have to get your ass back out of there in one piece to escape.

Another area in which Halo excelled was enemy A.I.. Few games today can match the cunning and unpredictablilty of Master Chief's many foes.

Aside from the weak story, many Xbox fans consider Halo 2 to be the better game, but not me. Sure, Halo 2 had it all over the original in terms of online play, with its fantastic matchmaking and bazillion game types. But the original Halo set the stage for that game and Halo 3 as well as virtually every other online shooter released since on any platform, both in terms of gameplay and presentation.

More than seven years after its original release, I enjoyed Halo as much today as I did then, and in some ways I enjoyed it more now, mainly due to the new respect and admiration gained with the perspective of time. If you've been living under a rock since November, 2001 and have somehow never played Halo, please, do yourself a favor and play it now. I guarantee you will have some fun, whether you play it on the Xbox, Xbox 360 or the PC.

Gears of War 2: Flashback Map Pack

Posted by Tiberius Jonez

Tomorrow, one of the biggest titles of the year ships with a sizable bonus regardless of which version you pick up. In addition to the ten multiplayer maps included with Gears of War 2, Epic Games has added a download code within each new copy of the game to download five additional maps taken from the original Gears of War. The Flashback Map Pack not only adds a dose of nostalgia to the Gears of War 2 multiplayer experience but it freshens the "old" maps with new designs for each.

Some of the changes you can expect include the waters of Canals now being frozen, Gridlock's been overtaken by lush vegetation, Tyro Station seems to have had an upgrade in tech, Mansion appears more abandoned than ever and Subway has dried up and now rains pieces of ash from the ongoing war.

Check out the video to see the changes for yourself.

Don't forget to get Carcassonne for free while you can!

Don't forget to hop on your Xbox 360 today and grab yourself a free game. In celebration of Xbox Live's fifth birthday, Microsoft is stuffing your Christmas stocking early, but only for a limited time, with the board game turned turn-based strategy game, Carcassonne. I downloaded it a few hours ago and took it for a spin and it's quite fun.

Anytime you can get something for free, it's at least worth a look, and in this case, it's actually worth more than a look. A game of Carcassonne is played on a gridded board using 72 tiles as the playing pieces. These tiles have a certain symmetry to them, so you can create matching connections between them, with the objective being to construct self-contained cities, roads, farms and more. With the tiles looking like squares snipped out of Google Earth, they need to be rotated then placed on the board in such a way as to form the largest properties possible.

The tiles’ symmetry means that roads will line up, though a roadway has to end cleanly, such as an intersection. Each player has a certain number of “followers” that can be placed on contiguous land areas, roads and fields as a way to “claim” it for yourself. When an element of geography is completed—such as a city having a complete, unbroken wall around it; or a monastery piece being fully circled by eight other tiles—the followers indicate who is the owner, and therefore who’ll get the points.

The game is easy to learn and surprisingly full of strategy. The graphics are charming and up to par with most of the better XBLA offerings.

You have until midnight tomorrow night to get Carcassonne for free, so what are you waiting for? Go!

Read a full review of Carcassonne here.

Downloadable Xbox games coming to Xbox Live

Microsoft has confirmed earlier reports that 'Xbox Originals' will be made available for download starting Dec. 4th as part of the Xbox Live Fall Update. There will also be a gift for long time Xbox Live subscribers.

Each original Xbox game can be purchased and downloaded for 1200 points ($15). In its press release, Microsoft explicitly names Halo, Psychonauts, Crimson Skies and Fable as titles for the Xbox Originals service, but does not confirm which titles will come first. According to the press release, "This new service will launch with an array of blockbuster titles spanning the most popular genres from action-adventure to classic role-playing games."

While I would personally love to see Psychonauts on the launch list, third-party reports claim the preliminary lineup will include Halo, Fable, Indigo Prophecy, Crimson Skies, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath Of Cortex and Burnout 3.

To celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Xbox Live service, Microsoft will be offering Carcassonne (Hexic 2 in Korea) free to all subscribers for 48 hours, along with 500 Microsoft Points to subscribers who've been on since 2002 -- sometimes living on the bleeding edge of early adoption does pay off!

Latest on Halo 3 DLC from Bungie

Halo 3's motto has been "Finish the Fight", and soon (hopefully) you'll get to finish the fight some more with new downloadable content including new maps. One of those maps is called O.K. Corral. According to Bungie's Luke Smith, "it is an asymmetrical medium-sized map and O.K. Corral had its lighting tweaked considerably. The changes shifted the sun’s position, giving the entire map a warm death-at-sunset feel." Sounds cool to me.

He also dropped some more details about "Jodrell Bank" and "Purple Reign". The most interesting to me was "Vandelay", which Smith says is the simplest map Bungie has ever made. It is specifically intended to be used in the forge mode of the game for creating some maniacally fun maps.

As far as when you can expect to actually receive the new goodies, he was pretty vague. We'll update you when we hear more.

"Puzzle Quest" Casts A Spell Over Xbox Live

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords keeps getting better as it evolves from PC screen, to handheld screen, and finally to glorious HD on the Xbox 360. While the DS and PSP versions received decent scores, the new 360 iteration with added online multiplayer modes has gotten stellar scores from both IGN and Gamespot. With the Wii version costing $30 and PS2 version at $20 due Nov. 13, the real Puzzle Quest gem is the $15 HD version available on XBLA.

Gamespot (90/100) - "Online play is a great addition, even if it's limited to straightforward ranked and player matches. It's still fun to be able to take the character you've been building up in the single-player campaign against another live player, and the ability to adjust the time limit for each player's turn can make the action much more frantic and challenging. ... Despite coming out on XBLA a good half a year after the original DS and PSP releases, Puzzle Quest still feels incredibly fresh and vital, and the changes made in between make it even easier to recommend."

IGN (90/100) - "The minor glitches that were apparent in the DS version are nowhere to be found here. It's also a bargain on XBLA, priced at half the amount of the portable versions. If you haven't played Puzzle Quest, yet, this is a definite download. And if you have it's likely you'll fall in love with its seemingly endless set of quests to be accomplished, different classes to try, and new spells to master all over again. Throw in achievements, higher resolution graphics, and online multiplayer -- Puzzle Quest is a marriage that will last."

Guitar Hero III Demo Tomorrow

Guitar Hero III will rock your world tomorrow with a five-song demo for the game hitting Xbox Live. If you're still missing out on the glory that is Xbox Live you can also get the demo with the December issue of OXM.

Here's a list of the five songs you'll be rocking in the demo:

"Hit Me with Your Best Shot" – Pat Benetar
"Lay Down" – Priestess
"Even Flow" – Pearl Jam
"Rock You Like a Hurricane" – Scorpions
"The Metal" by Tenacious D

Halo 3 Kills MS MVP's 681 Day Achievement Streak

I like my Xbox 360, I would go as far as to say I love it. If that's true, then Knuckles Dawson must be the conjoined twin of an Xbox 360 because how else can you explain a gamerscore achievement streak of 681 days. His 50,000 Gamerscore is surreal.

Knuckles earned at least one achievement each day from November 22, 2005 - October 4, 2007. He was awarded the Microsoft MVP honor this month. I can only assume Bill Gates had a previous engagement otherwise he surely would have honored him personally.

The streak finally ended with a marathon session of Halo 3 Co-op. "The Way The World Ends" was the final level they played...poetically ironic.

I offer a bow to you, Knuckles. Good job. Just be careful heading out into the daylight...I don't want you to suffer radiation burns from sudden extended exposure to the sun.

Halo 3 Matchmaking Patch Available Now!

Bungie has released a patch today on Xbox Live for Halo 3's matchmaking system. The big fixes are listed below. Glad to see less Shotty Sniper!!

Big Team Battle matches are now 16-player affairs.
In the Team Slayer playlist, the appearance of Shotty Snipers has been greatly reduced.
Now, when players veto Shotty Snipers, the game that results from the veto will not be Shotty Snipers.
In one-sided VIP matches, the attacking team will now see a waypoint for the VIP they are hunting.
In Lone Wolves, Slayer gametypes will appear more frequently.

Always good to see a developer respond quickly to player feedback. Thanks Bungie!

Halo 3 Beta Impressions

I have ventured back into the sunlight after a week of playing the Halo 3 Beta and I'm ready to report my initial impressions of the game. First of all, everything I say today should be taken with a large grain of salt since the game is in fact a Beta and not a completed product. This holds especially true for graphics since a large part of polishing happens during the very last phase of development on most games.

Graphics are a big part of the Halo franchise, and while Halo 2 didn't make any huge leaps beyond Halo 1, it did look more polished and had some nicer textures. Judging from the Halo 3 Beta, I would say the same generally holds true this time around too. Some things in the Beta seem much improved, mainly explosions. Now, when you throw a grenade, whether it explodes in the snow or in the dirt or sand, the particle effects are very nice and quite cinematic. Dirt flies realistically and smoke looks very believable. After you play a while little things start to catch your eye too, like the footprints left in the snow by yourself and your enemies or the textures used on some of the buildings (the gold honeycomb pattern especially).

I like the new High Ground map a lot. It is not overly large but has many different paths for approaching your enemy from either end of the map. It can be a good map for sniping, but is best for medium or close-range combat.

Valhalla, as has been reported is a remake of a map from Halo 2 and Snowbound is a large circular snowy level with two small hangars in the middle for gathering nades and such. Underground tunnels connect much of the map as well.

Gameplay wise, it took a little while to get used to the new dual wielding and equipment controls, but once you adapt to them they are very nice additions to the franchise. Especially the equipment key (X button). I haven't found anything more satisfying so far than letting a warthog loaded full with enemies drive straight towards me, then hitting "X" to deploy a trip mine and then leaping as they pass below me. While in mid-air, I spin around and watch as they explode into so many charred bits a couple seconds later. This is truly a visceral experience. Otherwise, as far as movement and "feel", the gameplay feels very much like Halo 2, which is a very good thing. Another great moment was when I followed an enemy in one of the flying craft, I ran up behind him, deployed an energy drain grenade which grounded his bird. Then, while he was surely screaming something along the lines of "why the hell won't this thing move!?", I ran up to him and bashed him in the face with a melee attack while he was still seated in the cockpit. Priceless!

The new FILM feature makes scenes like the above even more thrilling when you get to watch them over again in the "theater". You can upload "films" to share with your friends too. With the Beta, you can upload up to six "films" for sharing, but I haven't reached a limit on how many you can save for your own private viewing. I probably have 15 or so saved right now. There may not be a limit as they are saved to your harddrive. A nice thing about the "films" is that they are not mpeg files, they are just stored data of your round so they are MUCH smaller files than they would be if they were simple recordings of video. The "films" are played back using the games engine, so they are an exact replay of everything that occurred in the round. While the Beta limits you to one perspective, the view from your character, apparently the full version is going to allow you to view replays from any character or any other point on the battlefield and from any angle. You'll also be able to rewind, pause and fast forward, all things that are unavailable in the Beta.

Lag is a non-issue unless you choose to play with people from far corners of the earth. Even then, I experienced only occasional lag while playing with some friends in the UK. In those games my character's movements were unaffected but I saw some of my teammates skip across the level or get hung up in long launches from the man cannon as if suspended from a giant invisible yo-yo. It was pretty funny actually.

The matchmaking is as fantastic as ever. Finding the kind of game you want to play and the players you want to play against is as easy and customizable as ever. Halo has always been the standard by which all other online matchmaking systems are measured, and that remains unchanged.

Overall, my time with the Halo 3 Beta has been very fun. The only moments of frustration for me are during Sniper/Shotgun only rounds. I SUCK at sniping but I'm great at getting sniped; sometimes I think my head must be five feet in diameter.

All in all, I'd say if the beta is any indication, Halo 3 looks like a winner. Halo 3 is scheduled for release on September 25th.

Halo 3 invading the planet September 25th

If you were lucky enough to be a winner in the Rule of 3 contest or if you bought an early copy of Crackdown, Halo 3 will be hitting your hardrive tomorrow in the form of the Beta. Now the Official Game also has an official release date...September 25th, 2007.

At $130 for the legend edition, I'd bet this game is gonna rock some wallets as well as ruin some relationships and grade point averages.

See you online!

NPD online gaming report shows Solitaire still dominates WOW and Xbox Live is King!

The NPD Group has released Online Gaming 2007: The Virtual Landscape, which is a marketing report containing statistics pertinent to the growing field of online gaming. It is a statistical breakdown of who's playing what online when and on what devices. The information contained in the report is of vital importance to game, console and PC developers who will use the information for formulating future strategies for maximizing revenues.

For gamers it is interesting to see exactly what types of games are the most popular online and it might reveal some interesting future online gaming trends.

Their research indicates that 62% of all gamers play online games. You may have expected MMO's like World of Warcraft to be the number one genre of online game, but the fact is MMO's are not even second. The top dog of internet games is still casual card, puzzle, arcade, and word games, which represented 44% of the online games available across all platforms. Meanwhile, family oriented games made up 25% of the share while MMO games of all types held only 19%.

According to the NPD's research, 42% of all online gamers are female, which may account for the high popularity of casual games genres. In addition, the report also reveals that the majority of online gamers fall within the bracket of middle income ($35,000~$75,000) households.

In terms of the most popular gaming consoles, Microsoft's Xbox 360 has solitary control over the top spot, with the highest percentage of actual online use at 54%. However, owners of the Nintendo Wii may be the most internet savvy, as 76% of Wii owners surveyed are connected to the internet. The percentage of connectivity for the other two next-gen consoles hovers at around 70%.

While Nintendo Wii owners may have the highest percentage of internet connections, they aren't spending most of their time online with their Wii's. According to NPD's data, Xbox 360 users spend the most amount of time online, with an average of approximately 7.1 hours per week. The PS3 came in second at 6.1 hours a week, while PC/Mac users spent about 5.8. All other connected consoles amounted to less than four hours a week of online playing time.

If you think about it, none of this seems very surprising to me except maybe the amount of Wii owners with an internet connection. Otherwise, I would always expect casual games to dominate the online PC gaming space. People have a lot more opportunities for playing those types of games during the work week than they do to sit down and waste 4 or 5 hours playing WOW. Xbox Live is the best console online gaming platform available so it dominates the Console online space.

Xbox Live... Where is everyone?

Recent visits online to Xbox Live have revealed a disturbing problem, there hardly seems to be anyone playing online. Is it just me or are there no people online? Is it part of the matchmaking that I don't see other opponents? Or are people just waiting for the spring dashboard update? Or is the dashboard update being implemented and clogging up the works?

I tried several games, Gears of War, Ghost Recon 2, MLB2K7 and DOA3 online and the result was the same across all of these games...where there are normally dozens and dozens of games to join, there were only two or three to join this weekend. Clearly something is amiss.

I have emailed Epic and Microsoft for an explanation. When and if I get a reply, I'll let you know.

Until then, anyone want to meet me for a game of Baseball?

Halo 3 Video Leaked

This video features a map based on Halo 2's Zanzibar map. You can tell by the generator in the middle of the map seen in other parts of the leaked video which are available with a little searching.

The shield bubble is looking mouth-wateringly sweet. I did notice quite a bit of texture draw-in when crossing the steel grate flooring, but otherwise the game is shaping up very nicely. Enjoy this video as you can bet it cost (or will cost) someone their job.

Halo 3 Beta opens May 16th

You've got your copy of Crackdown ready and you've been chomping at the bit for this news to arrive. Well, finish whatever you have to get done now and clear your calendar because the Halo 3 beta is coming, and it's coming on May 16th.

Bungie made the announcement today and Halo players around the world wept in gratitude.

The announcement squashed rumours that there would be two different beta start dates for those who had got their beta keys either through the Rule of Three promotion or through purchasing a specially marked copy of Crackdown. Access to the beta will be rolled out simultaneously worldwide at 1 p.m. GMT (5 a.m. PDT) on May 16, and will end on June 7 at 7:59 a.m. GMT (June 6 at 11:59 p.m. PDT). Those who have not yet obtained a Halo 3 beta key can still sign up by buying a copy of the Xbox 360 game Crackdown.

There will be three maps available to play--Snowbound, High Ground, and Valhalla--which will "represent a mixture of large- and medium-scale combat environments." New vehicles will include the nimble Mongoose all-terrain vehicle, and new weapons will be available, such as the "new and improved" Assault Rifle, the Brute Spiker, the Spartan Laser, and Spike Grenades.

For those who absolutely can't wait for May 16 to see the game in action, Bungie has released a "Vidoc" titled "Is Quisnam Protero Damno" that shows off the multilpayer portion of Halo 3 in action. The video is now available at Bungie.net and on Xbox Live Marketplace

The game will be releaseed in three different versions in November. The Legendary edition is going to be $129.99, the Standard will retail at $59.99; the Limited edition will be $69.99.

So, which version of the full game do you plan to buy in November? For $130 you get a plastic helmet! wOOt!

Gears of War "Annex" Update This Week

With all the matches being played on Live each day it sounds pretty strange to call multiplayer a "weakness" for Gears of War. But even the most avid of those players recognize that the basic team deathmatch variants available only graze the surface of the team-play potential of the game. This week Epic plans to release Annex, a new game mode that steps up in a big way to fulfill more of that promise. And we're not just saying that; we've played it, and afterward it left no doubt that once released this is the new mode of choice everyone will be playing.

Aside from the new game mode, it seems the Lancer has gotten a little boost to it's stopping power; a welcome change to everyone sick of being run down by enemies with shotties.

1UP has all the details from their exclusive hands-on time with the new game mode. It sounds very exciting.

I'll see everyone online once it hits!

Halo 3 Beta to come preloaded on 360 Elite?

Could Microsoft be planning to offer you another opportunity to get into the Halo 3 beta by preloading it on Xbox 360 Elite hard drives? I've seen some speculation to this effect around the net and I've got to say I think it is totally unfounded.

Think about it...first of all Microsoft assumes a good chunk of Elite buyers will be current 360 owners. Given the fact that transferring your present harddrive contents to the Elite's drive deletes the Elite's original contents, that wouldn't make a lot of sense. Plus, why would MS want to give you any motivation to not buy Crackdown to get the Beta?

Most people are pointing to the Elite's release date of April 29th being the same as the Halo 3 Beta's planned release date of "Spring" as evidence of an 'Elite Halo 3 Beta'...I don't buy it.

Sorry folks, but if you want to get in the Halo 3 beta and you're not related to Bill Gates or Peter Moore, you better go buy your copy of Crackdown now while you still can.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance DLC coming to XBLM

Activision plans to release Marvel Ultimate Alliance Heroes and Villains, a multi-part expansion pack for the Xbox 360 version of Marvel Ultimate Alliance in April. Heroes and Villains will feature eight new playable characters: The Incredible Hulk, Magneto, Hawkeye, Sabretooth, Doctor Doom, Cyclops, Nightcrawler and Venom, each complete with new signature powers, skins, dialog, conversations and (whoohoo!!) achievement points.

The expansion will be available via Xbox Live Marketplace and will be released in three packs. The Hero Pack and Villain Pack will each be 500 Microsoft points and the Combined Hero and Villain Pack will be 800 Microsoft points. Heroes and Villains gamer pic packs will also be available for 80 Microsoft points each.

More achievments and more Marvel characters? Count me in!

Guitar Hero 2 rocking April 3rd!

Glue your egg cartons to the walls, warn the neighbors, tease your hair and break out your eye makeup because in case you missed it, Red Octane announced last week that Guitar Hero 2 is finished and will be released for the Xbox 360 on April 3rd.

With downloadable content exclusive to the Xbox 360, a beautiful new guitar controller and more great songs, I can hardly contain my excitement.

I've been waiting for this ever since the game was announced. What will be this year's "Bark at the Moon"? Man, that song was a killer in GH1.

You can't kill Rock n Roll!

CAL announces $5,000 Gears of War tourney!

The Cyberathlete Amateur League (CAL) announced the launch of its first online Gears of War tournament.

The $10 online registration is now open for the Gears of War tournament, which will consist of a four week / eight match season followed by a playoff tournament for $5,000 in cash prizes.

To register online or for more information visit the CAL Gears of War division.

For discussions about rules and formats, visit the official CAL Gears of War forum.

Gears of War has sold more than 3 million units and is the most popular game on Microsoft’s Xbox Live service. Though released in November and available only for the Xbox 360 console, it quickly became the fourth-bestselling game of 2006.