Happy Haloversary
Today marks the one year anniversary of the Xbox and Halo, as well as the launch date of Xbox Live. Watch later this weekend for a retrospective on the last year of Halo and a look at what we know so far about Halo 2.
Death by intelligence.
First Round Tournament Report
I recently participated in the intitial qualifying match for the Halo Winter Season tournament. My team did fairly good, had fun, and dropped out, though we'll be trying again at the next qualifier. I've blogged my report of it, playing Team Slayer, 4 vs. 4 on Hang 'Em High.
Team Overkill Falls In Winter Season Opener
Despite losing in the second match to Thugs n Rebels, Team Overkill still posted a description of their participation in the Halo Winter Season qualifier at Kings Games in Brooklyn, New York. Louis Wu had the story at HBO.
Halo Winter Season Rules Posted
Team Overkill, via Louis Wu at HBO, has pointed out that the Halo Winter Season rules are now posted at iGames.
Winter Season Regional Matches Posted
The Halo Winter Games, whose first qualifying match is this Saturday, has had its gametypes posted at the iGames site. Good to know if you're planning on competing.
They Could Tell Us, But Then...
Only a few weeks after the announcement, already the clamor is beginning for more information on Halo 2.
Matt dropped into the HBO forum to explain the need for secrecy and hint at a bit more...
And if that wasn't enough, it looks like the Halo Updates may make a return soon...
Don't Mess Around With Frogblast
Frogblast is meaner than a junkyard dog. We swear. I mean, look-- Matt said so!
Seriously, though, this story by Matt in the HBO forum is definitely worth the read, I almost died laughing.
Canadian Confirms: No Halo For GBA
As if anyone thought otherwise, Xbox Canada's marketing manager Ryan Mugford has revealed an an interview with Game Nation that Halo will not be coming to the GameBoy Advance:
Mugford (still laughing) - Yeah, well unless you're getting different information than me, Halo is not coming out for the Game Boy Advance.Abel - No, I know, I was teasing you.
Could Halo be patched to work with Xbox Live?
Again, nope.
Matt Soell again on the Bungie Rumor Control page at Bungie.net wrote:
There is no Halo 1.5 project. The Xbox version of Halo does not have the necessary hooks to look for a patch or upgrade, so even if we made new content or features for the game there would be no way to add them.
Why is Halo 1 not being updated or patched for Xbox Live?
Matt Soell of Bungie wrote in the HBO forum that Bungie decided they would rather write a whole new game with XBL support than revamp an old one:
Xbox Live and Halo
Will Halo 1 be playable on Xbox Live?
The short answer is no. Look below for longer answers.
When will Phoenix be released?
As Phoenix is as yet not officially announced, no release date has been set.
Rumor has it Phoenix will be released before Halo 2.
UPDATE: Since Phoenix has been cancelled, obviously it won't ever be released, and no release date was ever officially announced or even hinted at. The same is true of the as-yet unnamed replacement project that the Phoenix team is working on as of this writing.
These developments also discredit the source of the rumors that indicated Phoenix (or, indeed, any project from that team) would be released before Halo 2.
Does Phoenix use the Halo engine?
It is unknown at this time whether Phoenix uses the Halo engine, a modified Halo engine, or something entirely different. It is widely believed that it is either the Halo engine or something based on it.
Update:
After the cancellation of Phoenix, Matt Soell at Bungie was asked whether Phoenix used the Halo engine.
He replied:
The original basis was the Halo engine, but like Halo (which began as an evolution of the Myth engine) there were significant differences between Phoenix's engine and the original code.
Phoenix FAQ Updated
In the interests of posterity, we've added news of Phoenix's cancellation to our Phoenix FAQ.
How did we find out Phoenix was cancelled?
Rumors circulated in various forums, and an individual claimed to have been told by an anonymous Bungie employee via AIM instant message that Phoenix had been cancelled and an announcement would shortly be made.
Matt Soell responded both to email inquiries from Rampancy as well as with this forum post at HBO: