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With just a couple of days more for us to enjoy Ensemble’s swan song, Halo Wars, Microsoft has released the next dev diary, or ViDoc as Bungie christened them, to get the hype train rolling for the next game set in the Haloverse. After introducing us to the Spartans last time around, the new diary focuses on how the team focused on developing a strategy game that was exclusive to the consoles, including working with the vast amounts of material available in the Halo universe, getting the controls just right for “consolification” and meeting all the expectations of the fans and (former) skeptics such as myself.
With the game having gone gold and set to take players back to the Halo universe come February 27th, Halo: Wars is all set to start building the hype all over again, this time with the demo coming up on 05/02/2007, featuring two tutorials, the first two campaign missions and a multiplayer map. And if that don’t whet your appetite, here’s three ultra-high-resolution screenshots of the game featuring lone Warthogs and massive battles between the UNSC and the We ♥ Purple Covenant forces. Click on the thumbnails below for the full-resolution images. Don’t say we didn’t warn you though – they’re huge.
Bobby’s been at it again, but this time he’s got an entire page devoted to his crazy-crafting antics. The place could use some sprucing up, but all in good time. Has that ever stopped the Durkaman before? Satan only wishes!
Afterall, who knew that the Master Chief was such an expressive individual, the birds in GTA can’t be seen together less their primary role decreases by ten-folda, and that trading your maa for a gaming collection is a smidge of bloody nonsense (but just a smidge). Krishnan has some of his GMod strips up as well, but they’re mostly farty old. Much like he is. Oh yes.
Bungie.net has been going berserk for quite some time now, with a timer counting down to something big. After rumors ran rampant (oh boy, there’s that word again) about the new Master Chief-less Halo game, the Halo movie and a whole lot of other crap, it looks like it’s definitely a remake of something from Bungie’s past.
Talking to a highly placed Xbox 360 insider earlier today afternoon, we’ve learned something about the new Bungie project, with our conversation going something like this:
Me: So, about the new Bungie project, do you know what it is?
Mr. X: Yes. (laughs)
Me: So, is it something which will have us jumping for joy?
Mr. X: Well, not really. Actually, it depends. Are you a hardcore Bungie fan?
Me: Yes! So its not Halo related.
Mr. X: No, absolutely not.
Me: Is it a new IP from Bungie?
Mr. X: No, it’s not a new IP. That much I can confirm.
Me: So, is it something like Myth or Marathon, from Bungie’s past?
Mr. X: (awkward silence)
Me: God, I hope its something like Myth or Marathon or Pathways into Darkness or something like that.
Mr. X: (laughs)
and the conversation ended there abruptly. With confirmation that the new project is indeed a revival and not something new, which combined with the “Pardon our Dust” message on the Bungie.net website (remember “Please Excuse our Dust”?), who’s eager for a reimagining of PiD? Or Myth? Or Marathon?
Oh hey, speaking of mixing booze and silly rhythm games! Last Saturday, Reggie and I were invited to a gamer party hosted by Maxim-now-turned-Microsoft employee, Nikhill Koshi, along with the usual suspects such as fellow employee/friend Sanjoy John and the girls from Genesis (the PR group, not the 16-bit console that had that one kick-ass Aladdin game). Sorry Mohit Anand fans, no loving here for you. Besides that, I suppose there were other people present. I wouldn’t know if mentioning any names would spark your general interest meter, since the games they mostly played were borderline “eh” at most. First you got the men fondling with their balls in FIFA and NBA 2K-whatever for what seemed like forever. Then you got the women laughing it up in Project Gotham Racing and Dead or Alive 4, since they were the easiest games to get into (somebody should introduce these ladies to the Wii!).
After having finished the fight last September, rabid fans of the Halo franchise had to be content with sticking their friends with grenades online and waiting for the next game set in the Haloverse, the first RTS in the series – Halo Wars. Though the continuation of the story (or rather, the prequel) was expected long before Halo 3 wrapped up (or not) the Master Chief saga, few expected it to take the form of a real time strategy game that Bungie, in collaboration with Age of Empires legend Ensemble Studios are expected to spring on us later this year. RTS games on the Xbox 360, like Command & Conquer: Tiberium Wars before it, have always been iffy, what with the level of control and freedom that a conventional keyboard-mouse combination offers, but Ensemble Studios, like every other console RTS dev before them, have claimed to have worked out the nuances of controlling the game using a standard Xbox 360 controller without frustration levels peaking into the red-zone.
While we wait for the official demo of the game to check out the control scheme for ourselves and speculate on the possibility of wreaking havoc with the Covenant war machine, one of our friends over at Microsoft, like many of us from time to time, developed a case of verbal diarrhoea and slipped us some really interesting information. Now, while we are never in the habit of starting rumors, this one comes from someone on the inside who swears on its authenticity on pain of death, and we’ve been sitting on this one for almost a couple of weeks now, trying to verify it before we say anything about it.
Warning! The following review holds heavy spoilers for Halo 3 and the series’ storyline in general. If you haven’t played the game yet and care a bit about its narrative, I highly recommend you NOT read the below text. Otherwise, you are most welcome to click the link below and crawl into my parlor.
Remember when IGN’s Matt Casamassina was wailing on how he knew about the development and cancellation of a Halo for the Nintendo DS, going as far to say that he even played what was already completed? Naturally, most of us didn’t believe him. Well if you listen closely, you might here Cassamassina effectively shoving a spoon full of my own words (along with everyone else from the internet, I’m assuming) down my throat. Real hard. The proof is in the pudding!
Frankly, I’m a little confused. True, Bungie denied that they ever worked on a Game Boy Advance game based on the Halo universe, yet this became completely overlooked and unmentioned? Talk about keeping secrets. But then again, there’s the possibility that Matt could be pulling one seriously late April Fools joke here. That would be awfully mean of him! For now, I’ll give the benefit of the doubt for now and admit defeat.
Be sure to watch the video that reveals it all, after the break. Dual-wielding ahoy!
Yeah. ANOTHER Bioshock post, as if there weren’t enough of them already! But this one’s special. At least to me. Because Bioshock friggin’ BROKE my console!
It all starts off with me waiting for the game to come out, telling my retailer to hold on to a copy for me – no matter what, finally getting it and applying the patch!
Yeah, the patch. Now this isn’t a rant about the patch itself, but the utter disgust I’m feeling at the lack of proper testing before a release for a patch to a game that isn’t as impressive as it promised to be. Yeah – I can tell that after playing the 1st 3 levels.
Which brings around another observation. Gears of War used the UE3 engine, and it had problems. Bioshock uses UE3 and it has its own problems. No – not just the annoying bastard corpses that keep twitching like a dead frog’s leg being electrocuted, but I also was subjected to torn textures and clipping when viewing a certain surface at an angle! Hey 2K (wherever you are – Boston or Oz) – the last time I saw something like that was on my Diamond Monster Fusion 16 MB 3D accelerator card!! Whatever happened to “next gen”?
So now I’m pissed off because I pre-ordered Halo 3 : Collectors Edition, I’ll have you know – but now all I can do is just sit and read the manual over and over again till I manage to figure out the ending. That, or I get my replacement console by the 26th of September – which seems highly unlikely!
So if you’re reading this because Bioshock broke your console too, then here’s all I have to say -THE DARKNESS kicks ass! On a more constructive note, if you don’t already know, then here’s what to do in case you downloaded the Bioshock patch on Live. To clear the patch from the system’s cache, hold down both RB+LB (that’s the bumpers – NOT triggers) on the controller right from the second you boot your console till the 2K logo finishes. Bear in mind that you’ll need to do this EACH TIME you play the game.
Time for me to go and curl up in a corner while I sob uncontrollably.
Think Evil. Breed Evil. Control All. Thats what the game’s tag line says and you’re all fired up to unleash all your rage caused from years of virginity upon anything that laughs at you. But you’re let down. Why? Read on, and I’ll explain in this very quick take on Overlord.
Overlord is an RPG that allows you to be truly and genuinely evil and piss off the world to no end. The objective here is to strike fear into the hearts of your enemies and make them tremble at your very name. The more people you successfully manage to impress with your evil-ness, the more powerful you become! To do this, in addition to your broke-ass weapon, you’re also given some cool magic spells and most importantly minions to do your bidding. Think of the minions as the Gremlins meets the small wise-ass, smack-talking Grunt dudes from Halo.