Gamertell

Halo fans may have another item to add to their holiday wishlist - the Halo Trilogy - The Complete Original Soundtracks boxed set. Sumthing Else Music Works’ has just announced that the five disc release, which also comes with four tracks from Halo Wars will be available both in stores and for download on December 2, 2008. Amazon‘s currently listing the set for $26.99. If you search for Halo at Sumthing Digital, the Halo soundtracks are $9.99 each, so the boxed set ends up being a pretty good deal.

The Halo Wars special DVD that’s included with this set may be the most appealing to fans. It not only has four unspecified tracks from the forthcoming Xbox 360 real-time strategy game set in the Halo universe, but it also shows the recording session where the Halo Wars theme was created and the opening “Five Long Years” movie that will appear in Halo Wars.

The contents of the pack are pretty standard, aside from the Halo Wars special DVD. There are four CDs…

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According to Bungie’s community and PR director Brian Jarrard, Halo 3: Recon, the recently revealed standalone campaign expansion pack for Halo 3, may very well be the company’s final game to use the Halo property which it created (and is now owned by Microsoft Game Studios).

Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, Jarrard explained that he believes “when [Recon] wraps up in a couple of months that will be the time when that team moves on to something else.” He expects that some members of the team will move onto something entirely new, while others will be…

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Bungie has finally confirmed that more achievements are being added to Halo 3 as well as several other upgrades.

According to the announcement, the ten Achievements are part of the “Title Update 2” (aka TU2) which, putting an end to many rumors, is “not ushering in a new ‘BR spread,‘ nor does it incorporate enemy AI and campaign components to the Forge map editor.“ The other major addition is the “Playlist Ratings” which are “the playlist-level decoupling of Trueskill values (the in-game number next to your name) from Experience (the icon next to your name).“ They also assure gamers that the Trueskill values are not being reset.

Smaller additions include…

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According to our traffic reports, you, our valued readers, crave more data on the Halo 3 “Marathon Man” achievement. I will not lie, this warms my heart. It means that there are new players still trickling into the game, a phenomenon I heartily doubted would occur. At the very least, it means that old players who remained firmly entrenched in the multiplayer milieu, that denigrating digital pit of infamy, are at least taking a look at the campaign mode.

So, for your reading pleasure, I hereby confer upon you a series of posts which contain transcripts of these enigmatic forerunner structures taken directly from the game, along with my humble analysis of each. For the locations of these back story tidbits, refer to the excellent post by our very own Phil Madison via our not so very own GamesRadar. Enjoy!

Click through for the full transcripts…

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A lot of lesser known, smaller games got their moments in the sun at the Game Developers Conference, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t any love for more established, smaller sized games. Xbox Live’s Arcade has been one of the providers of tiny games that get you and all your friends buzzing for a week and a half. At GDC 2008, the results of a community vote for 2007’s batch of Live Arcade games was unveiled. Any chance Space Giraffe took top honors?

It was Hudson’s Bomberman Live as Best Overall with just a bit of an upset over Namco Bandai’s Pac-Man: Championship Edition, which won for Best Original Game. And looks like Bungie’s magic couldn’t rub off on its 1994 shooter Marathon, as Konami’s Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was named…

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Looking for a legit response for my previous post titled “Am I getting old or is game text getting smaller?“ I contacted the PR department for Bungie.

In the original post, I made a physical measurement comparison of the word “Campaign” used in the main menu of each of the three Halo games to verify that there is, indeed, a significant decrease in text size with each new game.

To my humorous surprise, Bungie quickly responded via email with microscopically small text. Here’s the official response…

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If my eyes are getting worse, I might have to blame game developers and publishers. No, I’m not sitting too close to the TV while gaming (10 feet away, thank you). Instead, the in-game text is getting smaller and more difficult to read.

Case in point: I physically measured the word “CAMPAIGN” in Halo, Halo 2 and Halo 3 on the same TV being played through the Xbox 360. Yes, I took a measuring tape and pressed it against a TV screen.

The word “CAMPAIGN” appears in the menu of all three games in the franchise and should be indicative of the menu text used throughout each game. In each case it is white on a dark background and written in all caps.

Click through for the full results…

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Xbox 360 fans can heave a big sigh of relief. Bungie, developer of the Halo series, told Eurogamer that it intends to continue producing titles exclusively for the Xbox 360.

Jonty Barnes, Bungie’s Executive Producer, said that Bungie hopes to maintain a strong relationship with Microsoft and that it has no plans to develop for other platforms at this time, though it is a possibility in the future. The interview also indicates that Bungie has no current plans for Xbox Live Arcade and that efforts will be focused primarily on completing its existing Halo properties and hopefully moving on to new efforts.

Bungie is a developer that seemed to enjoy near overnight success with the release of Halo: Combat Evolved. Sporting a spectacular visual atmosphere, varied musical soundtrack and slick controls that warranted seamless multiplayer competition, it was an instant classic and sent Bungie spinning into the spotlight of gaming development. Halo 2 and Halo 3 have only further intensified positive sentiments among fans, sparking a rich community and making “Xbox” a brand recognizable in many households, even in those typically uninterested in video gaming.

One of the biggest concerns of die-hard Xbox fans since Bungie claimed its independence from Microsoft has been whether or not a potential strained relationship between the two giants would result in a redirection of quality Bungie products to other systems. Thankfully, it would seem that this is far from being the case. The future looks bright for Xbox 360 owners, but let’s hope that Bungie’s new properties come soon, lest oversaturation of Halo lead to regrettable mediocrity. I’m looking at you, Medal of Honor.

Read [ Eurogamer ] Via [ GamesIndustry Biz ]

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November 22, 2007, marked the second anniversary of Microsoft’s Xbox 360, and what a year it has been. Not only has Xbox for the first time in its history turned a profit thanks to the success of Halo 3, but Microsoft has also done the unthinkable, surpassing Sony’s PS3 sales in Japan.

With another year under the 360’s belt, we thought it best to look back at some of the biggest news that helped shaped 2007 to be the most successful year in not only the Xbox’s life but also one of the best years in recent gaming history. With plenty of ups and downs this year, one can imagine what wonders there are to come in the months ahead.

Grabbing exclusive rights to Grand Theft Auto IV downloadable content

It is no secret that part of PS2’s original success was in part because of the Grand Theft Auto series. The GTA franchise would go on to become on of the biggest selling titles in recent history propelling Sony into the lead in the last console wars. Following the shocking news from E3 2006 that GTA would no longer be an exclusive title for Sony, Microsoft announced this year that they had locked exclusive rights to the first two pieces of original material developed by Rockstar Games as downloadable content through Xbox Live.

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The world of hardcore gaming can be lonely. With all those hours glued to a couch fragging people online or running around on raids, it can be difficult to get out there and meet new people. Some gamers have turned to online dating sites to find their other half but there seems to be a new trend in the world of gaming. With the constant social interactions that multiplayer games offer, bonds have started to form and sometimes this can lead to players becoming more than teammates.

On November 3, 2007, an Xbox Live user with the gamertag “Moviesign” used Halo 3’s multiplayer mode in a most unusual way. He wasn’t cheating in any way, but he used the to propose to his girlfriend of over two years, “furtive penguin.”

According to the story, “Moviesign” invited his girlfriend to a multiplayer game that was supposed to be just a two-on-two match using a level created with The Forge. They started out and “Moviesign” asked “furtive penguin” to follow him to a place where he had hidden an energy sword. When they got there they found not only one but multiple energy swords, but along with those there were other weapons (both human and Covenant) carefully arranged on the floor in a pattern that formed the words “MARRY ME?” The answer was yes and they posted an image capturing the moment.

I’m sure Bungie didn’t see that one coming but I guess we will be seeing different and innovative uses for this system more frequently. Congrats to both of them and hats off to “Moviesign” for the most creative use of The Forge yet. 

Read [Neatorama] Also Read [Xbox.com]

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