certain affinity

David Bowman, Design Lead at Certain Affinity, dishes on the Age of Booty blog about their upcoming pirate-themed XBLA game of the same name (previously called Plunder) and some of its influences, including Settlers of Catan.

There is no release date yet, but the game is speculatively expected out in the second half of this year.

Bungie spinoff A Certain Affinity, last known for the last Halo 2 downloadable maps (Blastacular pack) that recreated the Halo 1 favorite Hang'em High, has announced a new title coming this summer for Xbox Live Arcade at PlayStation Network, according to EGM (via ShackNews).

Certain Affinity hasn't made an official announcement yet, but their news page does confirm that this isn't an early April Fool's joke (unlike Lego Halo).

Looks like fans of the extended Bungieverse will get their Pimps At Sea after all. Just remember to pillage before you burn, guys.

Hey every1,

How do ya submit comments and posts, i wanna submit some cool shit but it wont let me, wen i click my subjects and then submit, it wont let me type anything, its gettin freakin annoying!!!!!!!!!!!!

if you look closley, you can see an orange stripe around the hunters back waist area and around his neck. when the hunter has his back turned to you, shoot the orange stripe (with a pistol to make it look cooler) at the orange strip OR shoot it when the hunter turns to whack you if you hit him i9n the neck he will drop in one hit

Chad "Shishka" Armstrong, formerly Lorraine "Mehve" McLees' assistant at Bungie, has opened up a 1Up blog. His first significant post tells the story of how he got hired at Bungie and how that led to his current position at Certain Affinity

With the Public Beta fast approaching, there's even more Halo-related news spiraling out of Bungie and the community.

The Year We Make Contact

The author of the next Halo novel, Contact Harvest, will be none other than Joseph Staten. It'll be interesting to see how things turn out with the same writer on the game and the novel. I suppose this isn't what people mean when they say "media convergence" but it certainly is something. It'll be interesting to see if any more is revealed by something written by one of the creators of the Halo universe itself, instead of something mediated through the Halo Bible and written by an outside professional.

Put A Dime In The Jukebox, Baby

Halo 3 Beta Tester Mr. Jukes put together a video to whet the community's appetite for the game. Either that, or to rub it in that he's played it already and we haven't. Don't let that stop you from watching, though.

You Beta Players Get Offa My Lawn

If you're one of the stalwarts still playing Halo 2, don't forget to download Tombstone and Desolation again, because they've had their glitches fixed and are required for many playlists now. Also, the stat reset is now complete, so it's time for everybody to restart their climb to that legitimate 40 rating.

Ducain wrote to alert me of an update at Certain Affinity's site, and it's good news all around.

First off, they're passing around the news that Frankie at Bungie.net says the map downloading problems have been fixed.

Secondly, the first Certain Affinity fansite, CertainAffinity.net, is now open for business, although you may still smell sawdust from fresh construction.

Not an entire day has passed since the release of Tombstone, Certain Affinity's Halo 2 homage to the Halo 1 favorite Hang 'Em High, along with Desolation, their remake of Derelict, before the first cracks are being found.

GhostFaction at High Impact Halo has posted a vid by DominoEffect that shows a way out of the map, avoiding the invisible instant-kill barriers put there to stop people from doing so. The method doesn't look that practical, but it does show how effective it is trying to stop Halo players from going somewhere.

Perhaps a more serious problem is revealed by another vid, by Glow Burn, shows at least one spot on Tombstone where an invisible wall protects a player from gunfire and grenades, but allows him or her to retaliate. HIH has a thread especially for glitches found on the new maps.

April 4 2007 Eric Nylund author of the halo books announced that there will be at least 2 more books following ghosts of onyx they will be based on showing exactly what was going on every where else while master chief was off blowing up a covenate sacred ring and disabiling a covenate armada on his way back.

here is my source.

http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/13188/Halo-Ghosts-of-Onyx-Enjoys-Mass-Market-Debut-Today/

Surprise, surprise-- the new Halo 2 maps by Certain Affinity apparently won't be only for the Xbox 360, but will also run on the original console. Hang 'em High and Derelict are coming to the new engine as Tombstone and Desolation.

Apparently this means that Xbox Marketplace can't be used, since it doesn't support original Xbox games. That's a shame, since for some odd reason, I can use Marketplace perfectly well on my 360, but the in-game downloader for Halo 2 maps doesn't work at all, which has cut me out of Halo matchmaking. Anybody had this problem and found a way around it?

It has been confirmed that Kieth David (The Arbiter) has been put in the cast for halo 3. sothe Arbiter will return on halo 3 wether or not he is playable is yet to be discovered.

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UPDATE: Since I wrote this entry last week, it was announced that the new Halo 2 multiplayer maps will make some XBL playlists 360-only, since the maps are only being released for the 360. In defense, we've been told that most Halo 2 players are using 360s. However, Microsoft does not release breakdowns between the two consoles. Microsoft, I find it hard to believe that so many gamers have drifted away from XBL that there are more Halo 2 players using 360s on XBL than there are on the original console, given that there are three times as many original Xboxes. Players I know that have both prefer to use the original to play online because of the lag caused by emulation.

Is it really necessary to use Halo 2 maps to try and pressure more gamers onto the new platform? Is Halo 3 really so far away that you can't wait for that to draw gamers to the 360? Is two years really too long to support an online game?

If you want us to believe that original console owners really don't count, show us the numbers!

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GhaleonB, via Louis Wu at HBO, points out that Microsoft has put out a nice press release (even attributed and with a dateline, thanks guys) touting the six million user milestone reached by Xbox Live.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love Xbox Live. While not an ardent online gamer, the service as a whole is well put togther and thought out: the integrated friends list and messaging, content downloads, gamerscore achievements; the works. The idea of separate friends lists for each game (Sony) and cryptic friend codes (Nintendo) really make me wonder what anybody else is thinking as far as online console gaming goes.

However, just because I've been a subscriber since Halo 2 launched doesn't mean I'm ready to drink whatever kool aid Microsoft is going to serve up regarding the service; and this press release is at least as interesting for what it doesn't say as for what it does say and the way it says it.

 Click here for the complete text.

Max "Yeroen" Hoberman, Bungie alum and founder of Texas-based Certain Affinity, now working on new Halo 2 multiplayer maps for release next year, gave an interview to Firing Squad.

However, that's not all they're working on, apparently:

FiringSquad: You are also working on a new game. What can you tell us about this game at this stage?

Max Hoberman: Sorry, I can't really say much. We've been in development since November 1st, and we're excited about where it's going, but it's way too early to discuss!

Thanks to 3Suns for the heads-up in the HBO forum.

Max "Yeroen" Hoberman, one of the longest-serving Bungie employees, is founding a new games development company, Certain Affinity. The CA team of developers in Austin, Texas, including other Bungie alumni such as David Bowman and Chad "Shishka" Armstrong are already hard at work on new maps for Halo 2. Bungie.net has the lowdown in an interview with Frankie. The CA site has the official press release, as well as a note that they're looking for an environment artist.