11 posts tagged “bungie”
My press copy of Halo 3 arrived today and seeing as how reviews are under embargo, I'll refrain from giving my opinion on it. Instead, allow me to show you what Shelby and I were up to this week in preparation to finish the fight.
Other than that, I'll be back later in the day to link to the official impressions over on Joystiq.
Sometimes, I'm a bad Bungie fanboy. You'd think that being the huge whore for Bungie that I am, I would have pre-ordered Halo 3 months, possibly years ago even. Well, at first I was waiting for them to announce some sort of special edition and once they did that I was waiting for them to put some sort of price on the thing. So a year from now when games are costing $80 bucks and the Australian folk are getting even more screwed than they already are, you'll have people like me to thank. People like me with our $130 dollar copies of Halo 3 with the little replica SPARTAN helmet.
When Halo 2 launched, I bought both the regular and the special edition. If the Legendary edition doesn't ship with individual DVD cases inside, I'll be doing the same thing. Like Hell I'm going to disassemble Master Chief's head every time I want to put the game away.
Speaking of Halo 2, I started playing that again recently for multiple reasons. Firstly, there are two new maps coming out tomorrow and while that's exciting enough, we, the people of Joystiq, have something special planned for their release. All the buzz concerning the Halo 3 Beta is enough to get me concerned about my aim, or lack thereof. I used to be the man at Halo, but after not playing for a bit more than a year? Yeah, I'm definitely rusty. So anything I can do to get my Battle Rifle skills back is a notch on the plus side of things.
Consider this post the beginning of the real Halo 3 hype.
I told Shelby that I wouldn't start the hype train early. From the day Peter Moore rolled up his sleeve, bearing the release date on his arm to the eventual Gamestop, barbecue camp out, the wait for Halo 2 was slow, unusual torture. The Haunted Apiary helped pass the time (and even allowed me to play the game earlier than most), but this release could be different. Sure, I'm more grounded in the industry now than I was back in 2004, but nothing is ever certain and needless fiction is never guaranteed.
Unfortunately for me, the hype train is now, officially, in full gear. The 150 Microsoft Points that went towards the newly released Halo 3 theme on Marketplace merely confirmed that.
Last night's commercial is to blame and while it was utterly spectacular, I feel that it was missing something. A bit of soul. In the wake of the Gears of War "Mad World" commercial, it seems as though folks are looking for something with more meaning to it other than big dudes with big guns.
And so, I injected some soul.
This is also part of her ongoing art project, Squenis. Add it today!
If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all. That is the stance I choose to take when concerning the two hardware launches we just witnessed. When there were folks sitting outside in the bitter cold, waiting to either get shot or gain a Playstation 3, I was at home, fiddling around with my virtual pinata. Instead of waking up at the crack of noon to go procure myself a Nintendo Wii, I was in bed, getting some much needed rest.
Even my parents are wondering just whats wrong with me. Sorry folks, but I found it extremely difficult to muster any semblance of excitement concerning these two launches. Having played both the launch and extended library of the two, I'd much rather just sit on the sidelines and do with what I got for now.
And what I got is classic Bungie goodness.
I should really thank Dan for doing what I only failed at in the past -- compiling the Marathon Trilogy for PPC Macs. With the Halo 3 hype in full swing and Halo 2 simply unplayable online thanks to the misanthropic community it still plays host to, I decided to go back and play through Marathon. I've lost count how many times I've done this, but it never seems to get old.
More comparable to fellow classic System Shock than anything else, I still continue to draw comparisons to Doom when speaking of Marathon due to both the chronological order in which I played them and the polar opposites that they represent. Aside from being the more cerebral experience, what I enjoy most about the Marathon Trilogy is that like it's future predecessor, Halo, the world in which you explore is as deep or as shallow as you allow. Depending on your style, it's very much possible to rush through Marathon, guns blazing and generally ignore the system terminals that feed you the story and still feel plenty of satisfaction.
Or you can take your time, relax, and let the timeless ambiance crafted by Bungie take hold. You, along with your AI cohorts can slowly unravel the mysteries of the Pfhor and become self-involved in the ongoing drama of yourself versus Durandal versus whomever -- or whatever decides to cross paths with fate.
Games like Marathon could not exist in this day and age due to the amount of personal investment involved by the player to get the full picture, but this type of storytelling can still be seen today in both the Metroid Prime and Elder Scrolls series -- the latter of which being a particularly extreme case. Modern gaming practically dictates that story be hand fed to the player by means of beating them over the head with cut-scenes and paint-by-numbers direction. Even Bungie's own Halo series is guilty of this. Though, in typical fashion, the layers can be easily peeled back through novels, comic books and even alternate-reality games.
As technology and design continue to evolve by leaps and bounds, the slice of humanity injected into each project seems to become smaller and smaller. Thank goodness for sarcastic, hate mongering artificial intelligence to remind us what humanity in gaming is all about.
What's on your Top 5 video games list?
Submitted by mileena.
Ah, a generic video games QotD! I'm going to be anal and split this up between my current top five and my all-time top five. Both of which are in no particular order.
Current Top Five Video Games
- Viva Pinata - Rare, XBOX 360
- Elite Beat Agents - iNIS, Nintendo DS
- Marathon 2: Durandal - Bungie, Mac
- Gears of War - Epic, XBOX 360
- Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime - Square-Enix, Nintendo DS
- Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike - Capcom, Arcade
- Super Mario Bros - Nintendo, NES
- Halo 2, Bungie, XBOX
- Sam & Max: Hit The Road, Lucasarts, PC
- Mars Matrix, Capcom, Dreamcast
Halo 2 in there is obvious. I believe I've blogged about the impact that Sam & Max made on me as a kid growing up so we don't need to go into that. And while I'm nowhere near being some insane Dreamcast fan that won't let go, Mars Matrix struck the perfect balance between being a ridiculously hardcore shooter while not being overly pretentious.
Thanks, Mileena.
I arrived at the office today with only two things on my agenda. First of all, I needed to drop off my top secret copy of Dead or Alive Xtreme 2, having finished the preview. Secondly, to have lunch with my editor, Matt. This entire foray into cheap Chinese food was to take me about an hour and get me back home come noon time.
Twelve hours later and I just getting on the train back home, weighed down by a copious amount of swag, hardware and top secret unmentionables. Despite how severely fatigued (And slightly buzzed) I am feeling, today was an exceptionally good day.
The initial appointment that Matt conned me into staying for gave me enough free time to work in my first, in-house Playstation 3 preview. I can't say what I played at the moment, but being able to sit down in quiet room with a new piece of hardware with no distractions was a blessing. I've played more than my fair share of Playstation 3 titles, but nothing beats an in-house demo. While I was at it I got my first PS3 review lined up and even sampled a few more of the launch titles coming in the next few weeks. Nothing in particular to call home about, but the experience was well worth it.
From there on out the day snowballed into a nonstop frenzy of work to do, work to plan, games to play and companies to discuss. Jeremy invited me onto his Retronauts Podcast to discuss the subject in gaming I hold most dear -- Bungie. I'm not especially looking forward to hearing it back and, quite honestly, I don't plan on downloading it. I really don't like to hear my voice. Really. In fact, I don't even like to go back and see my published work. If anything, I give it a quick glance to see how the editing went and than I move on to my next project. Regardless of how shy I am about my work, the podcast was fun. Being able to completely gush about Marathon for an hour is something I rarely, if ever get to do.
The highlight of the evening, however, was the Microsoft press party. Free drinks typically brings all the alcoholic journalists to the bar, but this event was different. These press gatherings are usually an excuse to grab a few drinks and do the meet and greet. This was quite possibly the first press gathering where I spent more time actually playing the games surrounding us instead of schmoozing it up at the bar. Just about every XBOX Live Arcade title in the pipe for 2006 was available for play, including this weeks game, Contra. Much to my surprise, Virtua Tennis 3 was on display, so I had to sit down and take the time to dish up the Seigaku skills against Roger "The Machine" Federer.
And proving once and for all that the original rock gods of 1UP can break just about anything Red Octane puts in front of us, a fellow journalist and I managed to crash the build of Guitar Hero 2 for XBOX 360 on display to the point where it wouldn't boot up at all. During a blistering, eight times multiplier during "Message in a Bottle" Expert, the game froze up completely. Having been involved in the breaking of a pre-release Guitar Hero build last year, I am now fully aware that I rock far too hard.
We were then shipped off with a goodie bag filled with awesome swag -- the above merely the choice pick. I popped in Gears of War the moment I got home and, not surprisingly, my friends list was filled with folks I had just seen at the bar, all playing Gears of War. With my work queue about ten high at the moment, I think I might just have to postpone my Emergence Day.
The next two days will almost feel like an honest day of work as I'll be taking over for Chris Kohler and the Wired Games Blog while he and seemingly everybody else I know is up in Washington, schmoozing it up with Nintendo and playing Twilight Princess until they puke. I, obviously, don't care about that last part as Chris explains in his farewell post-
To entertain you in my absence, I have enlisted 1up writer Jared Rea to come in and blog tomorrow and Friday. Mostly this is because he invited me to see Jenny Lewis and I owe him one. Also because he's an Xbot who says he'll buy all three versions of Halo 3, and even likes Viva Pinata. So, that should be an interesting change of pace around here...
It's true. No, not that first part. I'm about as free from bias as you can get in this industry (Although I do seem to raise a brow at any PSP title still in development) but it's not about that. I will buy all three versions of Halo because I am weak to Bungie. If they had released three different, barely distinguishable versions of Marathon, I would have bought all of those too. Should they come up with a fourth featuring an autographed photo of Marty O'Donnel and Joel Staten in an arm wrestling contest, I'll buy that too.
As for Viva Pinata, I don't have to defend that. Its absolutely fantastic and a complete shame that it polarizes the weeaboo crowd so much.
Wink.
Let's get one thing straight. I am a complete whore for anything that has the word "Halo" on it. I've read the novels multiple times over. I collect the figures, I bought the graphic novel and I even participated in what was quite possibly the craziest event of 2005, the I Love Bees alternative reality game. Then, I followed it up by being the first in line at my Gamestop for the midnight release of Halo 2. This of course, all stems from my deep rooted love for Bungie, dating all the way back to the 1993 release of Pathways into Darkness. So when I talk about Halo, it comes from a very, very deep place.
Which is why I am so excited over the upcoming film adaptation. To those who have not been following the drama, Peter Jackson stepped into the picture (A Universal and Twentieth Century Fox joint) as the executive producer some months ago. This of course means that not only does the production now have the absolute best in the field, but also Jacksons own WETA special effects studio, which has in recent years given Industrial Light and Magic a run for their money.
Alex Garland, best known for his work on the film 28 Days Later, was paid one million dollars by Microsoft and Bungie to script the film, but this has been under the subject of rumors as of late with D.B. Weiss being pegged as the rewrite man. Seeing as how Garland's previous credits include the 2000 disaster, The Beach, I am honestly feeling a bit relieved in believing this rumor.
You're probably wondering why I haven't mentioned the director of what will surely be the theatrical event of 2008. That is because, until this week, there has not been one. Enter Neill Blomkamp, an incredible visual effects artist and director who's credits include, well, a hand full of extremely impressive indie productions. While the kids on the internet to cry foul to this apparant nobody, one look at his work is typically enough to silence even the harshest of fanboy critics, fearful of another Super Mario Bros or House of the Dead.
In the short film, Alive In Joberg, Blomkamp's touch for alternate futures and alien ordeals is obvious. His ability to present the subject of creatures from other worlds, in a realistic and very human fashion is the core of the Halo universe. Watching Alive in Joberg, it is plain to see exactly what Bungie sees in him.
More of Blomkamp's short films reveal a love for science-fiction and in particular, super solders. In Tetra Vaal, Blomkamp takes a very viral approach to the concept of realistic, bi-pedal robots doing the work for the police in some of the toughest streets on the planet. For Adidas, he created Yellow that once again has concepts and ideas that parallel the universe that Bungie built. It's also quite surprising as to the quality of effects produced in these films on what I would imagine is a much smaller budget than most Hollywood studios.
Regardless of who was chosen to direct my favorite tank-man, I was already going to go on a nerd campout come box office time. I can't rest easy yet as it still has not been officially announced as to wether or not Marty O'Donnel, the absolutely brilliant mind behind the score of Halo, will be the one behind the soundtrack of the movie. So until then, I still get to hold my breath.
