Prometheus addresses the concern that so many bad Halo machinimas may end up being made that no one will pay attention anymore. However, he thinks that original writing and high production values will keep the wheat and the chaff sufficiently separated that this won't happen.
Prometheus writes in his blog that he believes that originality will be the quality that separates wortwhile Halo machinima from the rest, and will prevent the market from being flooded with so much low-quality work that no one will pay any attention to Halo machinima at all.
Mike Miller continues his Legendary Walkthrough of Halo 2; up this time is Quarantine Zone. Like the previous level, Sacred Icon, mostly he just runs right through it, and wonders why, with air transport available, the Covenant don't think of that themselves:
I guess there's no point in wondering why the phantom didn't just drop us off here to begin with. The Covenant probably execute their officers for asking questions like that.
Robert Valdes has written a Halo 3 Wish List for the Games section of Stuffo, a part of the HowStuffWorks website.
Louis Wu, courtesy of Dan Chosich's tipoff, points us to Gamasutra's freely-availably printer-friendly version of Handling Complexity in the Halo 2 AI, the GDC 2005 presentation by Bungie's Damian Isla. Lots of interesting diagrams.
Major Nelson, back from GDC, posted up a big guide to Xbox 2 coverage at Xbox.com. Includes screenshots, movies and info.
Again more news that deserves the personalized touch, but instead is going to get buried in the mass grave that is a news roundup. Pass the lye...
Bungie does care about its fans: the proof is in the Flood pudding that is Sacred Icon, a level that is Halo 2's Library in all but name. Is it an improvement over the original? Find out in the latest installment of Rampancy's Halo 2 Impressions covering Sacred Icon.
(And before anyone else asks, yes, we know we've so far skipped The Arbiter and The Oracle in this series; those are coming --Ed.)
First of all, let's get this straight. This level isn't called The Library, but it might as well be. You don't actually reach the structure on Installation 05 that houses the Index, the one that's called The Library by Tartarus and Commander Keyes, until the very end of the next level, Quarantine Zone. However, that level is a mix of indoor and outdoor environments with a bunch of vehicles thrown in and friendly Covenant troops alongside while you battle both the Flood and the installation's defensive systems.
HBO's Halo 2 Cutscene Library has reached the start of High Charity. (You know, that level where you say "oh no, I have to go BACK through that, but against Flood?" --Ed.)
Now that everyone is back from vacation, the gaming world is moving and shaking again. Here's a look around at items relating to Bungie, Halo, or the Xbox:
The Halo 2 Impressions section continues, today covering Regret, level that is surely the Planes, Trains and Automobiles of Halo 2. Dear Humanity, we regret forgetting to purchase an all-day ride pass...
Regret is a level that I like almost in spite of myself. It pulls off an impressive sleight of hand, managing to create a fair impression of size and continuity in a mission that contains relatively little playable surface (comparatively) with areas that are linked only by pieces of moving geometry that the player has only rudimentary control over.
After the Metroplis closing cutscene, most fans were getting set to break out the pitchforks and the torches to protest that Halo 2 was denying them what they had expected to get-- a long, drawn-out, large-scale invasion of Earth to battle against. That's a shame, because the next two levels, Delta Halo and Regret, are where Halo 2 really starts to shine, although there still are a number of differences from the first game that may eventually prompt fans to fire up the prequel.