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Activision: Call of Duty 4 was best-selling game of 2007
Much like the dim-witted kid you constantly taunted in kindergarten, Activision is having extraordinary difficulty making it past the number "1." Constantly cited in press releases, it appears uno is the only number the publisher cares to count on: #1 US publisher in 2007; a $1 billion dollar franchise in Guitar Hero; and #1 game in last week's Xbox Live Activity. Perhaps you too would be laughing all the way to the bank if you weren't such a mean-spirited brat in your early years.Activision's latest claim to #1 fame is based on sales figures obtained from The NPD Group, Chart Track and The GFK Group, which label Infinity Ward's critically acclaimed Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare as the best-selling game for 2007. The frantic first-person shooter is said to have sold in excess of 7 million units worldwide, a particularly impressive victory considering the game's relatively recent November release. Of course, those keen on the shooting of the aliens will recall that Microsoft claimed an 8.1 million sales 'splosion for Halo 3 earlier this month, bringing the title of "Best-selling Game of 2007 OMG" title into minor dispute. We've contacted both boasters to clarify the figures ... just so we can be sure to stick the air pump into the right ego. Regardless, you'd best take this as a sign to start counting down the months until the inevitable Call of Duty 5 arrives. Let's just hope it's not a #2.
Recut Halo's story, win a filming trip to L.A.
If you're an aspiring movie maker in Europe then it's time to dust off the digi-cam and flex your creative muscles. Microsoft just launched their Halo: Recut competition where they want fans to create a short story depicting an unseen Master Chief adventure. The rules, subject matter and method of creation is quite open, all they want is a mini story featuring Mr. Master Chief. And if your video is chosen as the cream of the crop, Microsoft will fly your film making bum all the way to Universal Studios in L.A. where you'll have a chance to experience a four week film making session. So, start percolating those ideas and wrangle up the resources needed, because entry into the Halo: Recut competition ends March 21st. Make us proud soldier.
Halo 3 McFarlane figures now fully packaged
Today, we bring you newish product shots of those lovable Halo 3 McFarlane action figures that'll be available this March. But this time there's a twist. You see, we don't have any new action figures to show you, instead we have the figures' finalized packaging. Which, we must admit, is just as exciting as seeing the figures themselves. We've thrown, erm, "carefully uploaded" all of the Halo 3 series one figures' packaging shots in the gallery below, including Master Chief, a few Grunts, a Jackal and a Cortana figure who comes with a light up base. Batteries probably not included. Give the product shot a quick look over and imprint their likeness into the back of your head. Because, come launch day, you'll need to know what to look for on store shelves.%Gallery-7108%
iHaloStats: Halo 3 stats for your iPhone
Cause when you're on the go and you just need to know what your total ranked kills are in Halo 3, you don't want to futz around Bungie.net on your gimped mobile browser. Nope, you can bust out your iPhone, load up www.ihalostats.com and lust over the number porn that Bungie's collecting from each and every match in a specially formatted web-app. You know what we love most about this? That some random guy made a custom version of Bungie.net for your iPhone while Microsoft's Mobile Live Anywhere remains "a bridge to be built."[Thanks, Veronica]%Gallery-14444%
CoD4 boots Halo 3 from its Xbox Live throne
There's no need to pinch yourself (we already did), you are not dreaming and this is no joke. Halo 3 has, for the first time since its launch, been dethroned from its communist rule over the most played Xbox Live games. Dethroned by another FPS that goes by the name of Call of Duty 4. Gasp!Major Nelson's weekly list of the most played games on Xbox Live shows that last week, CoD4 took the number one spot away from Halo 3, kicking Master Chief down to the number two slot. Though, Halo 3's older brother Halo 2 still reigns supreme on the original Xbox list if that's any consolation for the Halo camp. And before hell breaks loose in the comments, know that we have faith in both the Halo 3 and CoD4 communities to act civil, respectful and understanding of each other's feelings. We know your fanboy unity will protect you from the temptations of flaming. Ah, who are we kidding? Let the flame wars begin! [Thanks, to everyone who sent this in]
Bungie talks new H3 maps and plays with toys
Over on Bungie.net this week, Bungie talks about the three upcoming downloadable content Halo 3 maps officially becoming "content complete", which means they are pretty much done and just need a bunch of testing. The three maps, codenamed "Cottonball", "Purple Reign" and "OK Corral", all vary in size from small to the the ginormous and should give plenty of variety when the DLC hits this Spring. And for the record, Purple Reign's "one way glass" sound wicked cool and OK Corral's twisted wreckage, broken buildings and overall destruction makes our inner fanboy smile uncontrollably. Make the jump to get all the descriptive deets on these three upcoming gems in the rough.Finally, the Bungie Weekly Update gives us pictorial evidence of what happens when Halo movie props from WETA and team Bungie mix ... childish, random behavior. You owe it to yourself to look over the pictures of team Bungie playing with life size replicas of Carbines, Spike Grenades and Gravity Hammers. They even got a game of Grifball going using their newly found toys. Anyhoo, harmony and a good gut chuckle is but a click away.
Halo 3 Spartan Laser suicide for the ages
There are so many Halo 3 videos out there, we try not to post too many. That said, the occasional video shows up that just begs to be shown. And this is just such a video. If the headline didn't tip you off, the video above displays an unsuspecting Halo 3 player being destroyed by his own Spartan Laser blast. We won't spoil the particulars for you, but suffice it say it's not likely to happen again. Oh, and a tip to all the Halo 3 clip makers out there: good music can make your video. Our hats off to the creator of this video for his musical choice. [Thanks, Progn0sticator]
Bungie's homegrown Forge tips
Bungie's Brian "Ske7ch" Jarrard has posted some Halo 3 maps he created before the holidays over at Bungie.net. As is all the rage these days, Ske7ch made his creations on Foundry, the map specifically designed for the Forge map editor. In addition to explaining each map in detail and the inspirations behind them, Ske7ch also gives a few modest tips to would be Forgers. First and foremost, those wishing to design a map should think about exactly what kind of map is being made. Maps should be designed with certain game types in mind, like CTF, Slayer, or Assault. Another practical tip is using crates to help line up wall placements. Other things to keep in mind: Forging in multiplayer may not be the best idea, give players landmarks (signs, set pieces, etc.) to help them navigate the map, and remember to just keep at it. Head over to Bungie.net to read his tips in detail and don't forget to queue up Ske7ch's creations in Halo 3 so you can try them out yourself.
Pictures of Halo 3 McFarlane figures in the wild
Over at the Japanese'ish forums at Toysdaily, ALIEN0021 posted a few new, unseen pictures of Halo 3 McFarlane figures in the wild. These new pictures look to be from the first series and are so close up that they showcase the insane amount of craftsmanship and detail that McFarlane put into them. Just look at these sculpts and the paint jobs and try to not be amazed. These new pictures further solidify our excitement and have caused us to take on the new Halo figure mantra; Joyride Studios who? Make a quick jump over to Toysdaily and give the up close and personal pics a quick look over. They is delectable[Via The ToyPit]
Master Chief Transformer, maximize!
We can think of nothing more enjoyable than the sheer awesomeness of Halo 3 and everyone's favorite Spartan, Master Chief. Then again, we can also think of nothing better than our childhood memories of transforming and playing with our old-school Transformers toys. And now we can have both.Friendly eBay seller digitalworld40 skillfully crafted a custom transforming toy that blends our obsessive love of everything Master Chief with our nostalgic addiction of Transformers into one toy. Meet the Master Chief Transformer! This custom toy is an APC 117 Transformer who is artfully decorated to look like Master Chief when "maximized". Do we love it? Yes. Do we want it? Yes. Can we have it? Eh, probably not. The $200 price tag would force us to eat nothing but Macaroni & Cheese for the entire month of February. Then again, Mac & Cheese isn't all that bad ...[Thanks, grigdog]
Bungie's Halo 3 Q&A: Life, new maps and armor
Last night's newly posted Bungie Weekly Update features talk of mis-communication and the new McFarlane figures, but most importantly they answered a bunch of Halo 3 community questions. How nice of them.In their "FAQ ATTACK!", team Bungie took on the community's hardest hitting questions including the gems "Which is Bungie's favorite – Badgers or Raccoons?" and "Why won't you guys accept my Friend Requests?!" Not only are those answered, but the auto-update is discussed, Standoff Easter Eggs get clarification, matchmaking hopper changes are pondered and we get confirmation there there will be water in the upcoming Halo 3 maps. We're not worthy! Get your second January dose of Bungie Weekly Update goodness after the jump, before you get a case of the shakes and black out.
Pics of Halo 3 Series 2 McFarlane figures unleashed
He teased us with some Arbiter pics earlier this month, but today Todd McFarlane is showing off the entire Halo 3 Series 2 line of action figures that are due out in June. And be double warned Halo fanboys, Series 2 is just as hot as Series 1.Uploaded to the gallery below is the final sculpts of the entire Halo 3 Series 2 line of action figures from McFarlane that will release later this June. Featuring 18 points of articulation and beautiful paint jobs are Series 2 figures including Master Chief sporting a shotgun and spartan laser (yum!), the Arbiter, a Drone, an ODST soldier, a Brute Stalker and a handful of other Spartans. The Spartans pictured include a CQB in red, Scout in tan and an exclusive EVA in white that'll be available at specialty retailers. McFarlane also lists six other color variant figures (complete list after the break) as part of Series 2, but they're limited to select stores. Now it's time to prepare by clearing off the bookshelf to make room for all this action figure goodness. Who needs books when you have Halo 3 figures.%Gallery-7108%
US Army hosts first ever Halo 3 Xbox Live tournament
The United States Army is working with Microsoft to sponsor the first Halo 3 tournament to be held over Xbox Live. The tournament -- which is sadly limited to U.S. gamers only -- begins in April, and will feature prizes for top players.Leading up to the tournament, the US Army will sponsor a series of "Basic Combat Training" mini-contests through Xbox Live, where players register and play Halo 3 on certain days in order to win. Registration has already begun for the first contest, entitled "Sniper School," and gameplay will begin on January 19. Registration for the main tournament will begin in March.
NPR takes a condescending look at stories in games
Did you know that video games have stories? Oh, you did? Well, apparently NPR's Chana Joffe-Walt didn't, which only partly explains her condescending -- borderline inflammatory -- piece on Bungie's Joseph Staten, who wrote the latest Halo novel, Contact Harvest. Throughout the piece, Joffe-Walt takes unfair jabs at video game fans, questioning their literacy ("Do gamers read?") as well as their general sophistication. Near the beginning of the interview, Joffe-Walt asks Staten, quite sincerely: "Isn't gaming all just, like, shoot-em-up? Why do you need story?" Clearly, she might not have been the best choice to do a piece on video games. In the future, NPR, please leave the video game stories to Heather Chaplin, whose recent piece "Video Games that Got Away" offered a positive and mainstream-oriented look at games, as opposed to a negative, narrow-minded one.
Halo 3 Championship Tournament on Xbox Live
Today, Microsoft, Bungie and the US Army announced their plans to recruit the best Halo 3 gamers with the launch of the first ever Halo 3 Championship Tournament this April, exclusively on Xbox Live. This is the same tournament that slipped out of the PR team's lips a bit early last month, but now it's official and ready to go.Registration for the online tournament will open up sometime in March with the actual competition going down in April with winners walking away with prizes and instant gaming fame. And to prepare for April's Halo 3 Championship Tournament they'll be holding monthly Combat Training Exercises to build excitement. The first event being Sniper School which is now open for registration, followed by Heavy Weapons on February 9th and Vehicles on March 1st. You'll have to register for each Combat Training Exercise when the time comes, so watch for those. Finally, the US Army will be sponsoring a Destination Experience site on Xbox Live that will serve up videos, tips and expert Halo 3 advice. Get in on the action by registering for Sniper School right now, join all the other events through March, learn to pwn like a pro and come April you'll have a chance to prove yourself in the online tournament. We expect that you'll do just fine.
Join Sniper School with Halo 3 and Play & Win [update]
Update: Oops, we sort of mis-read the prize payouts. Each day you play you get an entry into the giveaway, but no daily prizes will be awarded. Instead, there will only be one drawing that will award 1,251 winners. Our odds and excitement just decreased.In an effort to give back to the Halo 3 community and recruit soldiers promote Army awareness, the US Army and Microsoft have partnered to give out all kinds of goods in their latest Halo 3 Sniper School Play & Win giveaway (which looks to be open to US residents only). Starting right now, you can make your way to Xbox.com and register your gamertag to prepare for the week long Sniper School fun which kicks off on January 19th and runs through 25th. Every day you play Halo 3 matchmaking, you'll be entered into the drawing where they'll be giving away one limited edition Halo 3 Giclee Print print as well as 1,250 800 Microsoft point redemption codes totaling over 8,750 exactly 1,251 individual winners. But remember, you have to register first and play Halo 3 daily from the 19th through the 25th to win.While you're waiting for the Play & Win party to begin, may be entice you with a free Sniper School theme and gamer picture set download? Yeah, we thought so.
360 sales reach 17.7 million, Halo 3 surges to 8.1
Late last night, the Xbox 360 marketing team released new sales numbers and factoids prior to the official NPD being released and things are peaches and cream. Peaches and cream with extra sugar.Microsoft revealed that to date, the Xbox 360 has sold a solid 17.7 million consoles worldwide and it's rumored that December's numbers will eclipse November's sales reaching the 1 million unit mark. But that isn't all. Microsoft also gloated that Mass Effect has now sold 1.6 million copies since its November 20th release and Master Chief's Halo 3 has moved an astonishing 8.1 million copies since September. 8.1 million copies! That means nearly half of ALL Xbox 360 owners have purchased Halo 3. Simply amazing. Now we'll go back to patiently waiting for December's NPD to release. Until then, we'll be eating some peaches and cream in the break room. Holler if you need us.
Microsoft: 17.7 million Xbox 360s and 8.1 million copies of Halo 3 sold worldwide
Microsoft sent out a little email of jubilation this evening touting sales figures for the Xbox 360 and a few of its published titles. Microsoft states it has sold 17.7 million Xbox 360 consoles worldwide and although the NPD numbers aren't out yet for December, the Xbox 360 sales should be higher than the 770K sold in November. Not including the data from December, Microsoft says it currently has a hardware to software ratio of 6.9; that's a .3 increase since we last checked all the consoles in October.Speaking of software, "teh Haloz" was sold 8.1 million copies since launching Sept. 25 and it appears the statistic that around 50% of Xbox 360 owners have Halo 3 is not just a US number, but a global figure. In a great sign for fans of dramatic space operas, Mass Effect sold 1.6 million units since introducing us to interstellar pleasure Nov. 20 -- keep those Hanar tentacles crossed for a sequel announcement this year. The full NPD numbers will hit the streets on Jan. 17 to give us the full details of this very merry consumermas.
Really real and wearable Halo 3 Recon helmet
Earning the uber l33t Halo 3 Recon Armor from the filthy clutches of Bungie is no easy feat. You must make some sort of community contribution or find a new and adventurous way of killing yourself in-game. Simply put, Recon Armor is cool, but nearly impossible to obtain and that's exactly why Belakor over at the 405th Forums created his own.Made out of l33t plastic, l33t paint and lots of l33t love is the life-size and fully wearable Halo 3 Recon helmet you see above. And for those who haven't the slightest idea to what Recon armor looks like, take a look at this and compare it to the helmet above. Nearly identical, no? It's a work of art and if Belakor doesn't get some in-game Recon Armor to match his real-life Recon armor then we'll have to rough up the folks over at Bungie. It's only right.
McFarlane showcases Halo 3 Arbiter figure
News about series one of the Halo 3 McFarlane action figures is so old hat and so 2007. What is newsworthy in 2008 is details about series two and good old Toddy came through for us.Over at Spawn.com and posted in our handy gallery below is the first look at the Arbiter figure that'll be a part of the second series of Halo 3 action figures releasing in June. Note the craftsmanship, eighteen points of articulation and the Arbiter's piercing eyes ... we're in action figure love. Remember too that the second series will also include another Master Chief, a Drone, a few Spartans and a Brute Stalker as well. So keep your eyes open for "first look" photos of those over at Spawn.com in the next few months. We're saving up already.%Gallery-7108%
