EL33TONLINE: News tag archive: halo
Never before have we felt so secure, although we couldn’t help but wonder if we were being followed as we walked the halls of Gamescom.
We’re talking about none other than the Spartan army, although it still remains unclear whether Master Chief himself was among the forces.
It’s nice to see that Spartans are not afraid to ask for directions.
According to a reader-voted list appearing in the latest iteration of Guinness World Records’ Gamer’s Edition book, Bungie’s Halo franchise is the best videogame series of all time.
Guinness World Records gaming editor Gaz Deaves said that instead of asking “developers, industry insiders and journalists to rank their favorite titles,” the team at Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition took a different approach and decided to approach “a different kind of expert: the players themselves!”
“We are confident that this ‘top 50’ more accurately reflects the tastes of the average gamer and not just the critics,” said Deaves.
There’s no doubt of that, as the 13 000 online voters pushed not only one fan favourite online shooter straight to the top of the list, but another, the Call of Duty franchise, found its way into second place on the list.
Do you want to see the rest of the ‘Top 50 Videogame Series of All Time’ list (which features The Legend of Zelda and No. 3, Guitar Hero at No. 4 and Metal Gear at No. 5)?
Head on down below:
In a shocking announcement (especially in light of the recent Infinity Ward goings-on), Bungie has signed a 10 year, exclusive, worldwide partnership deal with Activision, which will see the next game from the Halo creators showing up on multiple platforms for the first time.
Said to be a “big action game universe,” Bungie’s next project, and all products based off of this wholly new intellectual property, will be exclusively published and distributed by Activision under this new deal.
Finally, Bungie and IGN Entertainment have delivered what the world has been asking - no - begging for: A live action Bollywood film adaptation of the Halo universe.
Watch the amazing, fantastic, incredible trailer for the Halo Movie below:
Halo developer Bungie has updated its Twitter account with the above image, claiming that ‘something big’ may be coming along this week.
From the update:
It’s been announced that three developers from mega-developers Bungie (they made something called ‘Halo’) have left the safety and sanctity of the venerable development house and formed their own studio, Moonshot Games.
Moonshot, headquartered in Seattle and with engineering support in Boston, will focus on creating smaller, downloadable titles as opposed to monoliths such as Halo.
The principles of Moonshot are Michel Bastien who will act as managing director (formerly a producer on Halo 2 and 3), Rob Stokes as creative director (who was a writer and mission director on Halo 2 and 3) and Damian Isla as technology director (who used to be an engineer back at Bungie).
Halo Legends is a collection of seven short films all directed and created by noteworthy Japanese animation studios, including Bones, Casio Entertainment, Production I.G., Studio 4°C and Toei Animation, with creative direction by Appleseed director and creator, Shinji Aramaki.
Six of the stories will form part of the official Halo universe, while the film created by Toei will be a parody of the game series’ ‘lore.’ Halo Legends is due for release in early 2010.
So by now you may have guessed that Halo Legends will be a distinctly anime production, not only in appearance, but thematically as well, which is all the more evident with the release of six promotional posters and a debut trailer for the collection, all of which you can glimpse below:
During Comic-Con over the past week, Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson commented on the status of his much-rumoured Halo game project, a collaboration between Bungie, Microsoft and Jackson himself, entitled Halo Chronicles.
Jackson said the project was dead.
Now, however, Microsoft have issued an official statement regarding the project, reigniting the possibility that the game (and possibly even the Halo movie) will still see the light of day. The statement reads:
It’s long been rumoured that the Lord of the Rings director, Peter Jackson, would work with Bungie and Microsoft on a Halo-themed videogame, Halo Chronicles, but according to an interview with Jackson, ‘his’ Halo game projects is no more, thanks to the Halo film project falling through. Jackson said:
“That Halo project is no longer happening, it sort of collapsed when the movie didn’t end up happening.”
Jackson also spoke briefly about why the Halo film project didn’t come to fruition, saying: “Well, Microsoft has a whole strategy with the Halo property, and when the rights expired with the two studios, that sort of ended my involvement with the project.”
“That fell apart because of internal politics at Fox and Universal. It had nothing to do with the budget or anything else. In fact, we hadn’t even been greenlit at all at that point.”
Halo 3 once again trumps all in the Xbox LIVE Activity charts this week, while Call of Duty: World at War, Call of Duty 4, Gears of War 2 and GTA IV can’t keep up with it.
As for the best-selling Xbox LIVE Arcade titles, new entry Brain Challenge has rocketed to No. 1, while stalwart Castle Crashers, and relatively new Star Trek DAC bring up the rear.
The Community Games listing, on the other hand, is still looking very similar to weeks gone by, as RC-AirSim stops by at No. 1, newer title ezmuze+ Hamst3r edition manages a place at No. 2, while familiar face, Rumble Massage, keeps it together at No. 3.
The full global list of top played Xbox Live games, original Xbox games and top selling XBLA and XNA Community Games follows below, all based on unique users and full versions purchased.
Halo 3 has managed to fend off all of the pretenders on the Xbox LIVE Activity ranking this week to remain the No. 1 most played game on Xbox LIVE this past week.
Not much has changed in top five line-up, though, as Halo 3 is followed by Call of Duty: World at War, Call of Duty 4, Gears of War 2 and GTA IV taking the place of Resident Evil 5.
OutRun Online Arcade is the best selling Xbox LIVE Arcade title this week, with the combined sales of Hasbro Family Game Night having to settle for second best, as Castle Crashers remains in the top three yet again.
The top three Community Games haven’t changed one iota, as RC-AirSim, Rumble Massage and Drumkit all keep their places from last week.
The full global list of top played Xbox Live games, original Xbox games and top selling XBLA and XNA Community Games follows below, all based on unique users and full versions purchased.
Halo Wars just hit shelves this past Friday, but already there are more Halo developments under way.
Halo 3: ODST is a standalone expansion for Halo 3 that sees players stepping into the shoes of a UNSC Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (ODST) rather than Master Chief. The game is set in New Mombasa and takes place just after Halo 2 and before the events that lead up to Halo 3, tasking players with finding out what happened to the ODST’s missing teammates.
USA Today recently sat down with Halo franchise development director Frank O’ Conner who says that Halo 3: ODST “is significantly more than an add-on. It’s a lot of game. You play the game through the point of view of an ODST. They are dropped into combat from orbit.”
“They have a rivalry with the Spartans that is well known to the fans of the fiction. We finally let you into their boots as it were. …It’s kind of a detective story in a way. But it is much more action-packed than that” O’ Conner continued.
We know that a lot of Halo fans are wondering if Master Chief will make an appearance in Halo 3: ODST…what does O’ Conner think about this possibility? He commented “I doubt we have seen the last of Master Chief.”
There you have it then…the big chief could be back.
Throughout March, Microsoft will be releasing a three-part series of videos detailing the expanded universe of Halo, from the very first first-person shooter, Halo: Combat Evolved, to the recently released strategy title, Halo Wars, and beyond.
The first episode is available on Xbox LIVE Marketplace now, although you can cheat and watch the video below, featuring interviews with important contributors to, and critics of, the Halo universe, not least of which is everybody’s fan favourite, Frank O’ Connor. Enjoy:
A company called Sumthing Else Music Works has announced the release of a music package called Halo Trilogy - The Complete Original Soundtracks, featuring music from the entire trilogy of Halo games.
Sumthing Else Music Works, in associated with Microsoft Game Studios, is now able to present the works of Bungie Audio Director Martin O’Donnell and Co-Composer Michael Salvatori, as well as four preview tracks from the upcoming Halo Wars, composed by Ensemble Studios’ Audio Director Stephen Rippy, all in one convenient package.
Halo Trilogy – The Complete Original Soundtracks releases today in the US, while Halo fans around the world will be able to access the music as a digital download through www.sumthingdigital.com.
The soundtrack listing follows below:
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