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Joystiq's Top 10 of 2007: Halo 3
Imagine you're on a deserted island. Of course, it's one of those islands with a conveniently laid Ethernet cable that runs from the ocean, up the beach and down a hatch. Inside there's a 'game station' equipped with an enormous HD display, surround sound, a RROD-proof Xbox 360 (among other current gaming systems) and a comfy chair. Whether you've arrived in this fantasy realm by sea, air or warp pipe, you've got one – and only one – game disc from the past year stuffed in your back pocket. What is it? If you answered "Halo 3," you're correct! The shared sentiment around Joystiq HQ is that an island getaway is just what we need to get better acquainted with Halo 3. We're familiar with the shooting of the aliens, but aside from this most basic objective (executed with superiority, by the way), Halo 3 remains a potential funbox waiting to be busted open. The reality is, we aren't on an island, and the offerings have been piled so high since late August that Halo 3 was in and out of our 'Box as soon as the campaign was conquered and a few multiplayer matches were logged. We sampled more than we explored the intricate depths of Bungie's last Halo game-until-the-next-one. Still, even a terse study of the game was enough to validate Halo 3 as a shoo-in for one of the ten best games of 2007. But No. 6? Halo 3 gets docked for being Halo 3, or 'Halo a third time.' Bungie delivered the charm on its first swing, so there's little need for vindication (unless you were offended by Halo 2's cliffhanger). It's unlikely though, that any developer could deliver this 'total package' without having been shackled to the material for nearly a decade. Bungie's confidence in its subject has yielded an exceptionally fine-tuned product peppered with unique, community-building features. Considering the abundance of content – and the freedom to interact with the content in different ways – Halo 3 has a lasting potential that is unparalleled by this year's other releases.Thanks to Halo 3, "Halo Nation" is now 5 million strong and growing, a clear signal that Wikipedia needs to disambiguate its entry for "Halo effect," appending a new description separate from meanings in psychology and business: A man in a green suit becomes the 21st Century's Skywalker. That's the only Halo effect we know.%Gallery-2155% Yes, I'll gladly accept the charges ->
Halo celeb victim of repeated account hacks, Xbox Live "customer support"
We know customer support reps have a lot on their plates -- especially those responsible for answer the queries of 13-year-old Halo mavens protesting supposed hackers stealing all their kills -- but it looks like the Xbox Live support staff is dropping the ball on this particular issue. Pro gamer Skyllus vBi, a member of pro gaming group Team vBi, was awarded some super-rare "Recon Armor" by Bungie staff a few months ago for his entertaining method of suicide depicted in a popular online video. Naturally, his account became an immediate target for hackers, and they didn't have much trouble swiping his info. Turns out there's a bit of a flaw in the phone support system that allows a hacker to use social engineering to sweet talk account details out of a customer support rep without much hassle. Skyllus has had this particular attack performed on his account three times so far, and is having a bear of a time working it out with Xbox Live support staff. Not only is his precious armor in jeopardy from attacks like this, but all the credit card info and other personal details stored on a Xbox Live / Windows Live account. Stir in some of the login and account retrieval woes that many users have been experience of late and you've got a recipe for some much-needed intervention over in Redmond.[Via Joystiq; thanks to everyone who sent this in]
H3 Recon Armor owner's Live account hijacked
We guess having the privilege of owning a set of Halo 3 Recon Armor puts a giant "please hack my Xbox Live account" target on your back. A target that nobody would be proud to wear.If you recall, Halo 3 gamer Skyllus vBi earned some shweet Recon Armor for his suicidal sniping abilities back in October which instantly brought fame, chicks and money into his life. But owning the l33t Recon Armor has also brought lots of jealousy and envy. Just this week Skyllus' Xbox Live account was hijacked through what seems to be "pre-texting" methods by an unknown gamer who singled him out simply because of his Recon status. Skyllus is, in effect, locked out of his Xbox Live account. So far, he has reached out to Bungie and has gone through the proper 1-800-4-MYXBOX channels, but has yet to be successful in regaining access to his account since the hijacker changed all his information. An investigation is pending, discussions over at Bungie.net and TeamXbox are taking place and Skyllus is updating everyone on the status over at Team vBi. Hopefully, Microsoft will fix this mess and Skyllus will again regain control of his account and Recon Armor. And maybe Xbox Live CS will quit being duped by pre-texting antics. Shame on them.[Thanks, xX Twilight Xx]
Pro gamer gets XBL account stolen for Halo 3 armor
Skyllus vBi, member of the professional gaming group Team vBi, just can't seem to catch a break. After being recognized by Bungie for making a very popular Halo 3 video, Skyllus was rewarded with the incredibly rare in-game "Recon Armor", which only Bungie employees and a select few Halo community members have. Of course, it didn't take long for some of the shadier members of Halo 3's player base to grow green with envy -- Skyllus has reportedly had his Xbox Live account hacked three times since late October.The latest hack that Skyllus has suffered has been particularly difficult on him, due to Live's uncooperative customer service. After being told that there was nothing he could do to regain control of the account, and being given the runaround for a few hours, Skyllus had to settle for the promise of an investigation into the account in question.Keep in mind that any kind of identity theft is illegal, especially if the hacker touches the victim's credit cards (which are easily accessible through information on an XBL account). We hope that the digital notoriety that comes from wearing rare armor in a game is worth the risk of going to real-world jail.(Thanks to everyone who sent this in!)
Video: A forged Foundry is good for suicides too
Artistically suiciding in Halo 3 is hard work. So hard, that when we need to pull a suicide maneuver we either jump off the map or simply toss a grenade at our feet. But that isn't how Evlmidget25 rolls. He's too darn creative, too artistic and has too much time on his hands for a typical run of the mill suicide. And by the Epic Suicide evidence above, we think you'll agree that not only is watching plasma grenades hop through a map mildly entertaining, but the perfect timing of it all is awe inspiring. Yeah ... we'll perform wondrous Halo 3 suicides one day. It'll be one of our new years resolutions.[Via Digg]
Bungie lays out matchmaking map changes
We asked for it and in typical Bungie fashion, they delivered. As part of this week's Bungie Weekly Update, Frankie conveniently outlined all the changes that have been made to Halo 3's matchmaking including the different weapon changes in each map. Go ahead, analyze all the changes after the break and be sure to take note that Bungie doesn't like the Mauler or non-Bubble Shield Equipment. You see, the Mauler has been either removed, replaced or reduced in each map and has an increased spawn time while the Flare and Radar Jammer have been removed entirely. We ask why all the Mauler hate Bungie? Are you admitting weapon balance defeat and giving up on the love it or hate it "can opener"? For shame! For shame!
Halo 3 adds Team Hardcore and Control playlists
Without any official announcement over on Bungie.net (those lazy Bungie.net'ers), we discovered that two new playlists have been added to Halo 3's matchmaking hopper. The playlist changes are the same ones that Bungie previously revealed a few weeks back and include the addition of both ranked Team Hardcore and Team Control. Hardcore is a 4v4 playlist that features default use of the Battle Rifle and a motion tracker doesn't pickup any of the enemy's movements (but will show where your teammates are). It's truly hardcore stealth stuff. Control is also a 4v4 playlist that features nothing but control based gametypes including Territories, King of the Hill, etc. We haven't played this playlist at all, but we're sure the Territories lovers of the world (are there any out there?) will enjoy it. That's it guys, two brand new playlist additions to switch up your Halo 3 gaming. Have fun!We also should note that lately, Bungie has been screwing with enhancing each playlist. They've been making changes including the removal of certain gametypes and addition of new custom maps to the deletion of weapons on certain maps (why no Mauler madness on Guardian?) We can't locate concrete facts on all the playlist, gametype or map changes, so if you have the info please share. Now back to Team Hardcore ...
Over half of US 360 owners bought Halo 3
Do you live in the United States? Do you own an Xbox 360? If you answered yes to both of these questions, there's about a 1-in-2 chance that you own Halo 3. At least, that's what GameDaily says. How do they know this? Elementary, dear reader. With an Xbox 360 installed base of 7.9 million units in the US and 4.1 million copies of Halo 3 sold in the US, that's an impressive 52% of US 360 owners with a copy of their very own. Furthermore, Halo 3 had a profound effect on console sales. As analyst Anita Frazier noted, "That is why content is so important - a really killer game drives hardware adoption more than any other factor (including price cuts)." So, for the record, if anyone asks you, Halo 3 is the most successful thing ever.[Via Joystiq]
Halo 3 bought by 52% of US Xbox 360 owners
Doing some simple math, GameDaily estimates that 52% of Xbox 360 owners in the US purchased a copy of Halo 3. With 4.1 million Halo 3 copies sold in the US through November and 7.9 million Xbox 360s purchased to date, it appears like a simple enough conclusion.NPD's analyst Anita Frazier says the power of Halo 3 is evident in the fact that it clearly drove Xbox 360 hardware sales in September, even more effectively than a price cut would. Halo 3 may not make every outlet's game of the year round-ups, but it's sure to receive game of the year from Microsoft's accountants.
Bungie weekly: what's next for Halo 3 DLC, Grifball
In the latest Bungie Weekly Update, Frankie and the gang lay down some information about future Halo 3 downloadable content and also discuss the latest sports craze that's sweeping the nation, Grifball. A few vague but tantalizing tidbits were dropped about forthcoming DLC. Bungie lets us know that future DLC might arena maps suited specifically for competitive play, updates to classic Halo maps, weird maps designed for weird game types, and more items for Forge. It's important to stress the word "might," as these things aren't certain to be included in new DLC, but they very well could be.The second major portion of the update discusses Grifball, a Foundry map variant and gametype that plays out sort of like an insane mixture between Assault, hockey, football, and American Gladiators. As the name suggests, the game was created by none other than one of our favorite machinima creators (and Fancast guests) Burnie Burns of Rooster Teeth Productions. Why is it called Grifball? Let's just say that the man who grabs the ball turns orange. Let's also say that the opposing team wants to kill the man with the ball.
Forged Halo 3 "marble maze" is inspiring
While cruisin'' through Digg we came across a video by mus65tang1 featuring some interesting forging on Foundry involving the soccer ball. Mus65tang1 created what he calls a "marble maze" which is a rather cool series of lifts, ramps and shield doors setup to carry the soccer ball through Foundry. It isn't over the top spectacular, but it's entertaining and it inspired us. It inspired us to not only create our own marble maze of sorts, but to convert ours into a Rube Goldberg machine. And so, per Rube Goldberg rules, we must create a "marble maze" that completes a simple task. Maybe our soccer maze will complete the task of blowing up fusion cores, releasing a mongoose to drive or capturing a flag for us. Yeah, that'd be cool. Or our Rube Goldberg forging inspiration will end like it always does; after ten minutes we give up, resort to childish behavior and blow crap up. That'll probably be what happens.[Via Digg]
GameDaily's leave a comment, win a Halo 3 360 giveaway
The cool cats over at GameDaily are giving away a Halo 3 Xbox 360 as part of their Win-It-All Holiday Giveaway and we think you should enter. The giveaway runs from now'ish through Monday, December 17th at 8:00PM eastern and is sadly only open to US residents who are 18 years or older. But good news is that if you meet the requirements and are a US adult then your giveaway chances are great. They're so great because, at the time of this writing, there are absolutely zero entrants, which statistically makes your odds of winning the Xbox 360 somewhere around ... guaranteed to one! All you have to do to enter the fun is head on over to GameDaily, create an account (icky, we know), post a comment and press submit. Then wait patiently for an email stating you've won a new Halo 3 Xbox 360. It's easy as rhubarb pie!
Come get your Halo 3 Legendary edition for $60
In an offer that can be filed under the holy-wowzaz-that's-clearance-priced-Mr.-Clearance-man file, Walmart is offering the Halo 3 Legendary edition for $59.82. Which is like half off of retail! The Legendary edition is available in-store or online where you'll have to pay shipping and tax. That is unless you use Walmart's "site to store" option where they ship it to your local Walmart of choice for free and all you have to do is pick it up. But that's the deal guys, $60 for Halo 3, the cat helmet and all the bonus content. We hear it makes the perfect holiday gift.[Thanks, to everyone who sent this in]
Halo 3 Standoff eggs: Is that a face in my moon? [update]
Update: Having trouble seeing Carney's lovely mug? Check out the 7th Columnist, they have a good pic.Bungie isn't new to hiding Easter eggs in their games and Halo 3's new Heroic Map Pack is no exception. So far, gamers have found two Easter egg gems hidden in multiplayer map Standoff, one being a throwback to an old school egg found in Halo 2's Containment. ProjectModGaming created a nifty video (embedded above) showing off both eggs including Bungie environment artist Chris Carney's face in the moon as well as Bungie 3D artist Travis Brady standing on Standoff's satellite dishes. Bungie, you guys are like deranged egg hiding Easter rabbits. Hippity hop guys, hippity hop.
Bungie Podcast talks original ending of Halo 2
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, grunts and elites, a brand new Bungie Podcast is now available for your listening pleasure. The latest episode features none other than Marty O'Donnell, Halo music composer and ex-mullet-haver. Thrill as Marty, Frank, and Luke discuss the minutiae of creating an ultimate 5.1 sound setup, the Halo 3 Original Soundtrack, and oh so much more. In particular, Marty reveals that Bungie actually recorded Halo 2's original ending with the game's voice actors. Yes, somewhere, in a secret vault, lies the real ending of Halo 2 as Bungie originally planned it. So, will Marty ever release the recording so we can all enjoy it? No, so don't get your hopes up. Of course, they spend some time generally chatting about the music of Halo 3. Head over to Bungie.net to grab the episode.
Halo 3 voted retail's biggest moment of 2007
The UK's Marketing for Home Computing and Video Games (MCV) revealed the results of their 2007 retail surveys and things are looking good for the Xbox 360 in the UK. The survey showed that the majority of retailers agree that Halo 3's launch was the single biggest retail event in 2007 just narrowly beating out the success of the Wii. And their 360 praise continues, with the majority of UK retailers saying that the Xbox 360 will win the console war (49%), that Microsoft has the best quality and attitude towards retail of any publisher (38%) and that Microsoft is the best overall company of the year (29%). Tis' all good stuff! What more can be said? Retail UK loves the Xbox 360, Halo 3 and Microsoft ... they go all googly eyed for 'em.
Is new Halo 3 DLC worth the coin?
We're sure that a certain portion of you couldn't wait to slide that cool sawbuck into your 360 and get the new Halo 3 Heroic Map Pack. Heck, we'd imagine that you're still playing them right now, eyes reddened and bleary from lack of sleep and pants soiled beyond all recognition for fear of being kicked from your l33t party.Just for a moment though, we'd beg of a you a rare moment of altruism and ask you to help those who are still on the fence. The holidays are tight times, and $10 could go a long way towards a hydrofoil for your uncle or something. So we ask for your impressions: How do you like the new maps? Which is your favorite? And, of course, the big question: Were they worth your hard-earned cash?%Gallery-10581%
First look at Halo 3's Heroic Map Pack
We've done it again fanboys. We've gone and stayed up all night (and morning) painstakingly editing a multiplayer map walk through video for your enjoyment and entertainment. What can we say, we're hardcore. Our Halo 3 Heroic Map Pack walk through is embedded above and, just like our Gears of War Hidden Fronts walk through that was posted a few months back, we break down each map, give you a glimpse at what is offered and show off a few highlights. It's an X3F original video and we think it's worth your time. Even if you're firmly against purchasing the DLC.On a side note, we don't recommend the consumption of three energy drinks at two-o-clock in the morning. Not only will you get sick of the patented energy drink taste, but you'll also get a nasty stomach ache to boot. Sleep deprivation and energy drink stomach issues aside, our Halo 3 Standoff, Foundry and Rat's Nest video preview awaits your viewing ... just push play.
Halo 3 crowned TIME's game of the year
TIME Magazine has revealed their top ten games of 2007 and wouldn't you know it, Halo 3 is their number one pick. Good choice. TIME says that Halo 3 is their game of the year because "every level is perfectly paced and balanced and graced with soaring architectural compositions" and that "it's graphically gorgeous". Well said. Other top ten finishers include The Orange Box at #2, Rock Band at #3, BioShock at #5, CoD4 at #6, Mass Effect at #8 and Ace Combat 6 lands in at #9. Anyone seeing a trend here? Xbox 360 games are teh awesome and are 100% TIME approved.
Mass Effect amasses a million in sales
Never let it be said that lesbian sex scenes don't sell video games -- and epic space opera plots don't hurt either. Wysteria Lane's street-hardened Microsoft executive Jeff Bell reveals to GameDaily that Mass Effect has affected one million in global sales over the three weeks since launch. In the same breath Bell also said that Halo 3 has reached the five million sales mark. There's still no word if the rest of the Mass Effect franchise will still be Microsoft exclusive, but with sales this strong we're pretty sure MS is going to try and keep Mass Effect all to itself. We'll see if some exclusivity money changes hands -- and if Sony decides not to partake in the process.
