#toyfair
This is a Banshee prototype, one of a couple of impressive Halo prototype toys shown at Toy Fair 2011. Most of what was in the Halo section of the McFarlane toy company's booth has a release date, but the best stuff, like this Covenant vehicle, isn't quite ready for production. More »
French site Halo Destiny, a unofficial fan community, has posted several images of what is alleged to be an upcoming map pack for Halo: Reach. Reportedly called the "Defiant Map Pack," the site claims the DLC will contain three maps: "Condemned," "Unearthed" and "Highlands" (which echoes Halo 3's High Ground map in name). Condemned reportedly takes place aboard a human frigate, while Unearthed plays host to more open spaces. As for Highlands, its most prominent feature appears to be a giant Covenant cruiser in the process of glassing a planet.
Additionally, the Highlands map is referred to as "Training Preserve" on the Flickr account where the images are hosted, so it may not be related to the old High Ground map at all. Oddly enough, Unearthed bears the strongest resemblance to High Ground, but, unfortunately, the low resolution of the images makes detailed analysis difficult.
As of publishing, the Halo Destiny site is down for maintenance, though the Flickr images are still available. We've contacted Bungie for comment and will update if and when we learn more.
#video
Myth: You can kill an opposing player in Halo Reach by shooting their helmet attachments. Busted. Myth: You can survive a fatal Reach vehicle crash by bailing out. Confirmed. More »
#xbox360
The ups and downs of Halo: Reach multiplayer... how do they affect the human heart? One player decided to monitor his heartbeat during a six minute game session to track the effects of Xbox Live on the old ticker. More »
#art
Isaac Hannaford is a concept artist at former Halo developers (and series creators) Bungie, and recently got the all-clear to post a ton of his work on his personal site. Good news for us! More »
The new Halo house, 343 Industries, is once again hiring for "Halo jobs," ranging from "multiplayer designer" to "environment artist." Though the dozen listings don't spell out anything specific about a new project, job applicants must "demonstrate that you've played all of the games and thought a lot about the [Halo] franchise."
So far, there's been no official announcement regarding a new Halo game, with 343's current focus on "supporting" Halo: Reach, according to Microsoft. An HD remake of Halo: Combat Evolved, built with the Reach game engine, is rumored to be in development.
Defend The House returns with episode number 5 of its delightful Halo: Reach Mythbusters series. This time around, it tackles such myths as destroying holograms with armor lock, protecting yourself from assault bomb explosions and -- perhaps coolest of all -- actually catching a rocket in an armor lock hold.
The gang also shows itself "wearing" powerups from the game, which is confirmed to be possible, although it's basically a glitch that the host can't actually do. Being as it's a glitch, you'll have to try that one at your own risk -- Bungie may not take kindly to it once discovered. It is probably good with the rocket catch, though, so do that one all you want. It's pretty awesome.
#clips
The force of a gravity hammer will not save you from a terrible fall. That and other Halo Reach myths are busted (and some confirmed) in the newest episode of Halo Reach Mythbusters. More »
Following the launch of Halo: Reach, we reported that the game's co-op functionality requires an Xbox 360 hard drive. This was of particular concern to those who had purchased one the newly released 4GB Xbox 360 S models. At the time, we were told that the issue was "temporary" and that Microsoft was "working to resolve it."
Repeated attempts to confirm with Microsoft when the situation will be resolved have been met with assurances that the company would let us know when there's an update, though no further details have been provided. It's currently unclear if and when the issue will ever be fixed, so consider this a PSA: If you've been holding off on picking up Reach until this particular shortcoming is addressed, you may want to start shopping for hard drives instead.
Just as promised, Greg Bear's Halo: Cryptum is now available for purchase on your reading device or, dare we say, at your favorite book store -- as if people still buy books! Cryptum is the first of three planned novels focusing on the Forerunners, the race of aliens preceding humans and the Covenant in the Halo universe. The books will finally shed some light on what pushed the Forerunners to extinction and offer greater detail on the Precursors, the other super advanced race which preceded the Forerunners.
It's likely that no skull has provided more joy in a Halo game than "Grunt Birthday Party," the toggle that makes headshots on the Convenant's Grunts explode into confetti while children cheer. An enterprising Halo fan has recreated the charming little bit of flair in real life, building a papier-mâché grunt, loading it up with some confetti and an exploding rifle target, then shooting at the thing with a real-life gun.
As Bungie's official blog says, "Don't try this at home." But we're glad somebody did -- you can see the headshot in slow motion, along with some making-of pictures, after the break.
Eric Ruth, the de-make whiz responsible for the 8-bit-inspired Pixel Force: DJ Hero, has given the original Halo: Combat Evolved a retro makeover. The result is a side-scrolling shooter slash top-down Warthog driving game you'll be able to play yourself next month (until Microsoft pulls it).
To celebrate the holidays, we're having twelve straight days of giveaways up through Christmas day. And while we say it's to celebrate, really ... we're simply getting rid of some of the larger packages around the ol' office.
Our theme for day eight is Halo: Reach and, we'll be honest ... it's a strange collection. First (and certainly foremost!) is this pair of military-grade Oster hair clippers and virtually indestructible Pelican case. Some of you may be more interested in an actual video game than hair clippers with video game branding so, for you, we've got another Halo: Reach-themed case. The press kit briefcase, pictured after the break, includes a copy of the game, The Fall of Reach book by Eric Nylund, the Halo: Reach gamepad, and some other trinkets. We're going to send both cases out to one lucky reader. Find out how to enter after the break.
The Grunt genocide continues, a fact highlighted in Bungie's latest and very thorough infographic for Halo: Reach. 11 billion grunts have met their demise at the hands of a Spartan, representing a full third of all Covenant kills across all gametypes. Between September 14 and December 10, players have logged "just over 1.3 billion games," taking up a collective 24,000 years of actual human time and earning 900 trillion credits.
A stunning 1,500 people have managed to hang on to enough of those creds to nab the "Pestilence" armor effect, while only 1,000 have earned "Inclement Weather." More unbelievable? 320,000 people have won the "Unf-believable" medal, earned by completing 40 kills without dying. We totally would've gotten that one too, had that kamikaze Grunt not popped around the corner at the last minute. Never again!
The infographic can be seen in full just below the break.
#screengrab
This colossal infographic anchors the latest Bungie Weekly Update. Thirty-three billion have been killed in firefight, campaign and multiplayer. The smallest number: 1,000 have unlocked the "Inclement Weather" armor effect. Thanks to Ursus-Veritas for the tip. More »
Put a megaton of Fallout 3 in your Halo: Reach with an impressive Forge World recreation of the town that has an undetonated nuke* as its centerpiece. *Nuke does not actually explode in Reach version.
#clips
This may be the sweetest wedding proposal I've ever seen. Sid Ceaser, Muppet fan, had two puppets made, one in his likeness, the other, his girlfriend's. Then he made a movie with them. Then he had the clip played at the movies. More »
Walmart has a pretty spectacular deal going on for Xbox owners. The chain is currently offering one year of Xbox Live Gold and a select game for $79. SlickDeals notes that shipping is only $1.97. Don't fret about that "select game" business in the previous sentence either, as the eligible games are actually pretty good, including Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and many, many others.
Considering a 12 month Xbox Live sub usually runs for $60 on its own, you might as well toss in a $20 game (that also usually runs for $60), right?
#clips
When building a ramp in the Forge level creator in Halo Reach, don't get your hopes up. Not only will it not get you anywhere, but it may just break the laws of Halo physics. More »
Alan Marsala and Chance McManus (best name ever, by the way) both like Halo: Reach. They also like making movies. Perhaps it was inevitable then that the two would be combined. Whatever the reason, we're glad it happened -- their short film, You Will Never Get the Power Core, is a whole lot of fun.
Defend The House, a troupe of game sleuths, just debuted its fourth episode of Halo: Reach "Mythbusters," dispelling the hearsay of the land's people and offering us the cold hard facts we desire. Be sure to thank them the next time you almost try to trick a sniper with a hologram.
Defend The House, a troupe of game sleuths, just debuted its fourth episode of Halo: Reach "Mythbusters," dispelling the hearsay of the land's people and offering us the cold hard facts we desire. Be sure to thank them the next time you almost try to trick a sniper with a hologram.
#clips
What if the Halo movie was like Who Framed Roger Rabbit starring Master Chief and some real actors? Wonder no more. This is it. It's called "You Will Never Get the Power Core." More »
Microsoft has responded to European chatter surrounding a Halo: Combat Evolved high-definition remake by saying, "Right now our focus is on supporting Halo: Reach. We have nothing to announce at this time." Putting that through the Joystiq PR Translation Machine pops out one thing: "42." Clearly, we need to call maintenance.
Eurogamer published the quote from Microsoft after Games Master magazine implied that a Halo remake was underway at 343 Industries (the current Halo custodian), using the Reach engine. Allegedly, the HD Halo would drop next November, to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the original Xbox shooter.
#xbox360
Halo: Reach got a fresh injection of new maps earlier today courtesy of the Noble Map Pack. Why many of us are content to play within the confines of Bungie's three new maps, others would prefer to explore. More »
ORIGIN: OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE
CLASS: SSSS | ORIG MSG IDENT: 19738244 | DISTR: LIMITED / CODE-WORD RESTRICTED
SUBJ: ENVIRONMENTAL TRAINING PROGRAM (NOBLE MAP PACK)
Message to all Spartan III operatives: Environmental training program classified "Noble Map Pack" is now available for download and evaluation. Program contains three new environments: Breakpoint, Tempest, Anchor 9 (see: visual archive). 800 Microsoft Points ($10) required for program access. New honorary distinctions (classification: "Achievements") will be awarded to the most dedicated personnel. Access to program may be obtained at this node.
We got a brief demonstration last week of the three new Halo: Reach battlefields present in the Noble Map Pack -- however, don't you want a tour from the sage minds who created said arenas? Well, then, look no further than the three Bungie video tours posted just after the jump.
Halo: Reach for $40? Split/Second for just $20? It's just Cyber Monday -- the online equivalent of last Friday's big brick-and-mortar shopping day -- at Best Buy.
Other highlights include Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit at just $35, and Medal of Honor gets the same $25 discount. If those deals weren't enough, for every two games you purchase Best Buy even throws in a free $10 gift card. All without leaving your computer! Head past the break to see all the deals.
