Red Vs Blue Vs Green
The latest edition of The Hookup, an audio-video and gaming column at Penny Arcade, talks about the impact of High Definition on gaming in general and Xbox Live in particular. Halo, of course, gets mentioned:
Death by intelligence.
Destineer Acquires Atomic Games
Destineer has acquired the makers of Close Combat, a series of military games, according to GameSpot. Destineer was founded by ex-Apple and ex-Bungie employee Peter Tamte. Tamte also hints at "next-gen systems" plans for Destineer.
Lorne Lanning Is Ready For His Closeup
Oddword creator Lorne Lanning is quitting the videogame business to move into CG television and film production because he says the gaming industry's economics just aren't conducive to creativity; his description of the biz reads like a justification for the Hollywood business model adopted by Alex "The Man" Seropian's Wideload Games, due to release Stubbs the Zombie in 'Rebel Without a Pulse" for Xbox, P
He'll Join No Club That Would Have Him As A Member
Luckily for Eric Trautmann, whether or not The Art of Halo makes the game-related bestsellers list at Locus, as he notes on his blog, is not up to him.
Let's Not Talk About Sex, Baby-- Let's Kill Covies
Lance Ulanoff wants to know Who's Afraid of Mature Games. What I want to know is, who's afraid of sex? Why is killing aliens good and killing prostitutes bad? Why is the f-word worse than killing aliens? Why is killing aliens better than killing humans? This and other inconsistencies probed in Who's Afraid Of Sex, the latest of Narc's Retorts.
Who's Afraid Of Sex?
HBO recently provided a link to Lance Ulanoff's column at PC Magazine entitled Who's Afraid of Mature Games. It's a look at the ESRB rating system vis-a-vis his experience deciding whether or not his 10-year-old son should be allowed to play the M-rated Halo 2.
Kill Covies For Christ
Louis Wu at HBO noticed, and Major Nelson also commented on, this article at the Christian Post about using Halo 2's storyline as an example for, and even the Xbox Live communicator as a vehicle for, as they put it, "testifying the faith"-- despite their apparent disapproval of the ga
Dog Pile On Jack Thompson
Claude "Louis Wu" Errera of HBO, the "ultimate Halo fansite" adds a few sticks to Jack Thompson's bonfire his input in the latest addition to the CBS interview series on videogame violence. (The pic of Wu with the Battle Rifle model adds a lot to the presentation--Ed.)
Success: Talent Or Education?
Bungie's Mat "shunji" Noguchi wonders in his blog how much of the success of endeavors like video games is a result of training, education and methodology, and how much is from unquantifiable elements like talent.
What Would Daddy Think?
I guess this news story pretty much invalidates the UNSC's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. I suppose Jacob is spinning in his grave... and that's a disturbing image given what he looked like last time we saw him.
Halo 2 "Too Violent" For Fundraiser
A Washington state high school has cancelled a Halo 2 tournament students planned to support tsunami relief efforts on the grounds that "anything we do that even looks like we're endorsing violence is not appropriate," according to a school district representative. Sounds like something deserving a retort.
Corpse Humping For Columbine
The news that a school district doesn't want to use Halo 2 for a fundraiser is probably going to provoke two kinds of reactions: rabid gamers will again repeat their mantra that there is no definitive proof anywhere that violent games encourage violent behavior (despite the axiom that absence of proof isn't proof of absence) and those who consider themselves upstanding, god-fearing, won't-somebody-please-think-of-the-children "family values" types will applaud the move and pay lip service to more liberal values by pointing
Wreaking Havok With Physics
Filefront has interviewed Steve Collins, CTO at Havok, the company that makes the Havok physics engine used in many games, including Halo 2. An important note is that their measuring stick for what is "right" is what game designers think feels correct, not necessarily scientific accuracy.
A Picture's Worth A Thousand Regular Expressions
Nothing directly Halo-related here, but there's an interesting interview at GamingGroove with Tim Sweeney of Epic Games. One of the topics mentioned was the balance between art creation and programming in games, and how emphasis is switching from the latter to the former:
Best Tools For Machinima?
Slashdot has a post up today where a Creative Writing major asks about tools for machinima; it mentions Halo and Sims 2; both of which are used by Rooster Teeth Productions to make Red vs Blue and The Strangerhood, respectively.