Death by intelligence.
Clain Plaid Opens Halo Server
Don't know how we missed this, but way back on February 6, longtime Bungie community members Clan Plaid opened their very own Halo server. It should be in the lists as #CP#_For_Fun_&_Honor!. Official "Halo Nights" are Mondays at 9 P.M. eastern time.
Microsoft Sends Tsunami Warning To XBL Developers
1Up Xbox is running a story that Microsoft has announced a new suite of development tools for Xbox Live; they're calling it Tsunami, and it will allow developers to create XBL clans, tournaments, user-created content, and integrate with MSN Messenger.
There's no specific information on when players will get to use these new features; we can only hope it is in time for Halo 2.
XBConnect 4.0 Beta Goes Public
th3gh05t has posted at Halo-Source.com that Beta 4.0 of XBconnect is now available. XbConnect allows Xbox users to connect to each other over the Internet and play games that don't support Xbox Live.
Gearbox's Botman Explains Halo ICMP Voodoo
Over in the HBO forum, RunningRiot voiced the common-enough question: why in-game and out-of-game pings to Halo servers often don't match up. Botman from Gearbox stopped in to provide the answer:
Let's say you can ICMP ping a host and average 80 ms. If the host's frame rate is 60 FPS, then your game ping time would be around 97ms. Now let's say the host's frame rate is 30 FPS instead of 60 FPS. 30 frames per second (1/30th of a second) is 33.333 milliseconds. So now your game ping time has gone to 113 milliseconds (80ms + 33ms). The game ping time depends on how quickly the server can respond to a client's request. The higher the frame rate for the server, the more rapidly the server can respond to clients and the lower the game ping time will be.
There's more detail to it than that, though, as well as a link to a longer article by Yahn Bernier from Valve on latency in games at Blue's News. Thanks Louis Wu at HBO.
Xbox Halo Reload Exploit Works In PC Halo
There's a thread in the HBO forum where mikeman445 pointed out a couple of tricks relating to weapon reloading in Halo; one that he was familiar with, the other he wasn't, but noticed in a tournament video featuring StK vs. TDT.
nof of ninjasonfire noted that StK discovered a bug where if you press the reload button twice and then switch weapons, the first weapon will reload its clip, thus bypassing the time needed to reload the weapon during the reload animations.
nof also points out that this trick still works in Halo PC, and is especially effective on the rocket launcher because of its long reload time.
It became known to nof about eight months ago, at which time he believes the knowledge was fairly exclusive. Guess it isn't any more. Here's hoping that Bungie and Gearbox can get this fixed in a future patch.
I Was Just Shooting To Get Your Attention
... so pay no attention to those bulletholes in your back. Too often, communication in online games is on that level, especially if you aren't able to use voice services. Halo.fropco.com has a new article up on teamwork in Halo called Sum Utilis Militis. Thanks John "Raider".
Staying At Home But Keeping It Xtreme
Steve at Forerunners.org pointed out a new offer from HomeLAN called HomeLAN Xtreme On Demand; the first 100 customers will get a special price of $99 per month. You have to register for an account with them to get the full pricing plan.
Now Everybody Play Nice, Please
Part Four of the High Ping Bastard's Guide to Halo is up. This one is about the finer points of etiquette when playing on a slow connection-- when to apologize, when not to, when discretion is the better part of valor and when to get the heck out of Dodge... I mean, the server. Salad fork not required.
Etiquette
When I began writing the High Ping Bastard's Guide to Halo, the intention was solely to discuss issues that plague those of us with high latency connections (like me). Louis Wu at HBO, among others, were kind enough to say that some of the tips were useful even for other players. In this section, some of the issues will apply only to high ping players, but some will be quite intentionally aimed at the general Halo-playing audience.
Lag Etiquette
If you have a slow connection and you play Halo online a lot, chances are sooner or later you're going to see lag mentioned in the chat. You're going to see players complaining that they are lagging; you're going to see players complaining that someone else is lagging the game; and at the worst, you may see one or more players complaining that you're lagging the game. You're likely going to see suggestions, cajolery, and even threats to get you to leave the game.
First of all, don't get offended right away. It's easy to feel like you're being unfairly singled out. After all, nobody has a low speed connection on purpose as a lifestyle choice; for some it's a function of location, for others, budget. You may very well have language directed at you suggesting that you leave the game if you can't afford a "real" Internet connection. But before retaliating-- either with words or weapons-- do yourself a favor and become a bit better informed. Hit F1 and bring up the score overlay; in the latest patch for Halo, this screen now shows ping times. (Alas, but the end-of-game carnage screen, that shows scores, kills, assists and deaths-- does not. I dearly wish it did, as I think most players recognize that a high ping makes the game harder to play, and it'd be nice for people to see when the game is over that despite that, some high ping players still are able to be competetive and even win a game now and then.)
TWL: HaloPC CTF Pro League Preseason Begins
New Voice, Chat Features For Xbox Live
Connected Home is reporting that a new update to Xbox Live, version 3.0, is coming sometime this spring and will add new voice and chat capabilities, possibly even voicemail, as well as special features for clans. Thanks Xbox365.
High Ping Bastard's Guide To Halo, Part Three
Part Three of our High Ping Bastard's Guide to Halo is online now, focusing on the various different game types, which are more (or less) advantageous for those on slow connections, and the different roles that HPBs can play in those games effectively.
HBO Launches New HomeLAN Servers
HBO has two new PC Halo servers running at HomeLAN: HBO East and HBO West. In fact, Rampancy is so far east that we actually get a better ping from HBO West.