Master Chief
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Pink Spartans know how to rock
What's better than a pink Master Chief, a replica Guitar Hero II X-plorer guitar, and over 70 sparkly jewels? The answer: nothing! Girly Halo fan bs angel created a jewel encrusted X-plorer guitar for her pink Master Chief spartan to rock out with. The project took around two hours to complete with most of that time dedicated to attaching the little jewels. You can check out more pictures of this pink wonder after the break. Now only if bs angel can hook us up with a few tickets to the pink Master Chief rock concert that's going down this Summer ... our fingers are crossed.[Via HBO]
Halo's Todd McFarlane controllers and wireless headset
Microsoft is going all out with their Halo tie-ins for that big incoming finale. On top of the Mad Catz merchandise, there are some official Microsoft Halo 3 accessories incoming to finish the fight. GamingTalkHQ found images of two official Xbox controllers and a Halo 3 wireless headset for the Xbox 360 at Gamestop.com.All three items are listed at $59.99 with a release of Sept. 4; however, Gamestop is notoriously bad with their prices and dates this far out. The controller art is done by Todd McFarlane (Spawn) and also comes with a Halo 3 figurine by McFarlane Toys. So, maybe, it will end up costing $60. We'll find out more closer to release and when these items become "official".[Thanks Alex]%Gallery-3895%
Master Chief's face? Kinda sorta ...
From day one Halo fans have been wondering what's hiding under that Spartan helmet and what our hero really looks like. And thanks to the Halo 3 beta and some nice camera work, fans were able to position the Mongoose camera inside the helmet of another player. The result, a look at a fully modeled face behind the visor featuring some pale skin and glowing eyes. True, it isn't the best look behind the helmet and one could make the argument that it's just a generic multiplayer model and not our Master Chief. But we can't help but take this one step further and fantasize about the possibility that Master Chief will be taking his helmet off this September seeing that Bungie went through the work to model faces. Speaking of which, would you be down with seeing the person behind the helmet or do you think Master Chief's badass appeal comes from his semi-hidden look?[Via Game Stooge]
The face of Halo's Master Chief?
Like looking into the Ark of the Covenant, there is a sect of fanboy that believes to actually see the face of Master Chief would mean the melting of your face and the imminent collapse of the universe. Then there are those so desperate to see the man (or woman), they'll look for it in the reflection of the helmet in the Halo 3 commercial, or just Photoshop it in. Ever see Chuck Norris Master Chief, how about Ellen?As for this video, the Master Chief looks half-Protoss under the mask. Maybe Bungie is hinting that Halo 3 will reveal a merging of the Starcraft and Halo universes? Wouldn't that be amazing? We could write fan fiction all day about such things. But is it the face of the Master Chief? Does the Master Chief even have a face? What is a face? All these questions and more will still be there when we finish the fight this September and Halo 3 unleashes so we can test this little video for ourselves.[Thanks, Justin and Jonah]
Video: "I Want Master Chief"
Step 1: Watch the above video. Step 2: Pick your jaw up from the floor. Step 3: Read on.Wow, that was unique. A Halo 2 machinima musical produced by two females starring an Elite pining after Master Chief. Yeah, unique. Enough so for the lovely ladies to deserve interviewing from Frankie over at Bungie.net for their work of art. While it may have left us feeling literally without speech, what's your take? Surely it's going to leave you with some form of an opinion, so lets hear it.
Today's chiefiest video: Master Chief Sucks at Halo
With all of the Halo 3 news that's been appearing on Joystiq, and every gaming related site across the globe, we thought we'd offer up a moment of levity in the form of this video.Now, first things first, the language in this video is definitely NSFW, for home, for younger ears, or your grandma, just so you know. However, it's probably the best representation of the type of behavior and communication you run into while playing both Halo 2 and the Halo 3 beta.it's also pretty funny, lolololololololol.[Thanks, DawgOnU]
Analysts: Halo 3 will finally make Xbox division profitable
Four analysts at Goldman-Sachs have predicted that Bungie's Halo 3 will rake in over $170 million in revenue for the quarter. The analysts also assert that the game will put the Xbox division in the black for its first quarter ever with just the first week of sales. Other notes by the analysts: The figure is based on estimates that 4.2 million copies shipped in the quarter and an installed user base of 13.2 million by September. That would mean Halo 3 would be purchased by nearly one-third of Xbox 360 owners. It is assumed that Microsoft keeps 80 percent of the retail price on first-party titles. Halo 2 sold 7.5 million in its first quarter of release, with 2.38 million on the first day. That amounts to 38 percent of the user base. Recently Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division, stated that he expects the Xbox to be profitable next year. We have very little doubt that Master Chief can pull the Xbox brand out of the red for at least the first quarter or two, but can Microsoft fill the void with other titles and services once the momentum slows down? [Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]
Halo-wood Party: The Devil Wears Combat Boots
The Master Chief is a busy cyborg. Between saving humanity from The Flood, fighting Brutes, blowing up Halos, being pampered by Microsoft, penning his memoirs and having coffee with Cortana, he just didn't have time to learn the names of the celebrities who attended his Hollywood party last night. Can you help him?Below is a gallery of all the folks that showed up to get down with the Master Chief. Keep a count of the people you can name from this list and help the Master Chief. Require some assistance? We're not much help. Aisha Tyler (former Talk Soup hostess, lover of our "friend" Ross, deceased friend of Ghost Whisperer) is the goddess in the white dress, but you'll have to figure out the rest on your own. Napoleon Dynamite is in there along with The Human Torch. Some of these people should really have name tags.%Gallery-3177%
Reuters: Halo 3 gets mixed reviews
Yes, it's coming from non-gaming news source Reuters. No, you shouldn't expect to base "reviews" off previews. However, it is an international wire service that'll influence the Halo 3 message in the "average" consumer's mind, so here we are. Reuters reports that players had mixed reviews about the beta at the NYC and San Francisco Halo events from last weekend. Poor Nicholas Puleo of EvilAvatar is thrown by Reuters into the crosshairs of Halo fanboys everywhere by saying, "The graphics can use some work ... They're not much different than the previousHalo ... They've got five, six months until release, so they'll add some polish ... When I compare it to other things in the platform, it's not standout." Wait fanboys, don't hunt him down just yet. Despite that one quote and the headline, the Reuters piece is actually just a bunch of quotes from Microsoft marketing folks. Of course, the great "duh" quote goes to Craig Davison, Microsoft's director of marketing, "There's a significant number of people just waiting for that one game and this is the game." It'll certainly be an interesting month for NPD data the month after Halo 3 launches to see if there is a spike in Xbox 360 sales -- and how significant it'll be.
Ceramic Spartan helmet is l33t
Look at that lovely piece of art. It's a Spartan helmet in all its Halo glory, just sit back and take it in. Sculpture extraordinaire dharcha1 was inspired by a little game called Halo 3 and for art class created an extremely realistic Spartan helmet. Actually, we're thinking the ceramic helmet was created because he couldn't afford the Halo 3 Legendary Edition's helmet. As we all know, asking one's parents for a third house mortgage to buy a video game sometimes just isn't feasible. Anyway, check out more pictures of dharcha1's Halo Spartan helmet after the jump, including photos of the lengthy creation process. Oh, and don't forget to admire his work with a flattering helmet stare. Helmet staring rocks![Via Digg]
Friday Video: This one's for all the brawlers
Since this week featured a heavy dose of awesome in the way of an epic battle between Samus and Halo's Master Chief (sort of ...), we couldn't help but think about other possible matchups. Like ... Samus versus Solid Snake.* Where could we possibly see that?Oh, right. We will see that -- when Super Smash Bros. Brawl hits. Until then, we'll have to settle for yet another SSBB video. You guys keep making 'em, and we'll keep showing them.*Actually, that would be a pretty simple fight ... after all, it only takes a crab to punk Snake down.
Battle of the FPS Titans: Samus vs. Master Chief
For nearly six years now the message board battle has raged. Samus Aran vs. Master Chief: who would win a battle of the armor-suited titans? Arguing fanboys everywhere should realize, though, that the competition presents a false choice. As the above video proves, when Samus Aran fights the Master Chief, we're all winners.The fight sequence takes a little while to get going, but once it does the heavily Matrix-inspired action doesn't disappoint. The video is all the more impressive considering it's largely the work of one man, an amateur 3D animator named Monty Oum. We won't spoil the super-surprise ending, but don't be surprised to see a little unexpected tenderness on the battlefield.
High school Halo 2 tournament quashed by school officials
The Ann Arbor News reported this weekend about a high school junior's plans for a school-sanctioned Halo 2 tournament, which was canceled after local police got wind of it. Zach Wigal had hacked through a jungle of bureaucracy for nine months while planning the tournament, spending $650 of his own cash on a permit, printing 2,500 fliers, and clearing the idea with school officials. Four days before the event, Wigal's dad made a courtesy call to the cops, letting them know than an estimated 300 gamers were about to descend on the high school commons, suggesting that the officer might want to attend for security reasons. That set off a chain reaction of concerned phone calls that ended up with the school officials rescinding their permission for the tournament, ostensibly because "kids 17 and under playing an M-rated game for money is not something appropriate for the high school." A reasonable decision, but one that they were perfectly capable of making, oh, nine months ago. Zach Wigal had better hope he gets that $650 back.
Crackdown disc required to play Halo 3 Beta
On Monday, we showed you a screenshot of the Halo 3 Beta download screen in retail copies of Crackdown. Today, we have a picture of the invite card, which confirms how the process works. In short, you need to have the Crackdown game in your Xbox 360 to play the Halo 3 Beta. It does NOT show up in your "Demos and More" tab on the dashboard after downloading it through Crackdown. This coincides with the original press release, which stated you had to load the game to download the beta. Check out the invite card after the break.
Real-life Halo suit up for sale on eBay
Less than a month after energetic Troy Hurtubise set out to attract a corporate buyer for his Halo-inspired "Trojan" suit, the man known for inventing the 'bear suit' is broke and turning to eBay. Hurtubise's full-body exoskeleton ballistic armor will apparently be sold to the highest bidder (currently $10,000) when the online auction closes February 15. Hurtubise allegedly spent $15,000 (all of his family's savings) and roughly 1,750 hours creating his most ambitious project to date.The Trojan suit boasts such splendid pageantry as an ophthalmologist-approved helmet-mounted laser sight, wrist-mounted canister of ultra-mace (capable of downing 40 machete-clad "insurgents"), and crouch-mounted world clock. All this and more documented in the video below...
Halo 3 documentary broken down into itty, bitty pieces
89 of 'em to be exact. That's really making the Et tu, Brute? documentary last a little while longer, and moves things up to a whole new level of fanaticism. It also proves that Halo fans are hardcore, and are probably going through Bungie's trash bins on a nightly basis. Let us know if you find anything good, but if you find Frankie's chewed gum ... spare us the dental records. Check out all of the photo-remnants from the chop-job on YouNEWB.com, and try to find new tidbits about the upcoming Halo 3. At the very least, you've got all new desktops for your computer, and at the worst, you've wasted 15 minutes of your life. Blame us or love us, it's your call. [Thanks, Billy Bob]
New image from Master Chief's Monday Night invasion
Let's see, he's got the crouched position down pat, and that armor could probably withstand a direct hit from Joey Porter or Richard Seymour. Heck, even the guy's name is synonymous with the sport (in Kansas City, anyway). But is Master Chief -- cue Hank Williams, Jr. -- really ready for some football?!! Bungie seems to think so, which is why they've released this image from a new Halo 3 commercial that will appear during ESPN's next Monday Night Football broadcast. The ad was produced by visual effects studio Digital Domain using Halo assets, so don't expect to see any in-game footage. Still, it looks pretty sweet, and it just might make sitting through Tony Kornheiser more bearable (note to ESPN: first TV timeout, please).
Female Spartan voiced by Ellen DeGeneres?
Bungie is throwing the option out there for Halo 3 multiplayer, as part of custom character design, to allow players the option of having a Spartan warrior with a female voice. They aren't promising this as an option, but are merely opening up the conversation for discussion on their boards. And they want to hear from the ladies, saying, "If you ARE a dude, we don't care what you think, because we're not asking you. Anyone who says anything stupid or sexist in the discussion forum will be megabanned."GayGamer.net has a running joke regarding Ellen DeGeneres playing the Master Chief and defying stereotypes. Bungie did cast Michelle Rodriguez (LOST, Resident Evil) as a soldiers voice in Halo 2. It's certainly interesting to see Bungie take the testosterone soaked genre of first-person shooters, amplified by 1000 when in multiplayer, and give it a twist. It's actually not that far of a stretch, anybody who played Metroid Prime looked at the world through a woman's eyes. Also, considering there is always a 12-year-old with a microphone in deathmatch, listening to those pre-pubescent cries means we listen to women's voices all the time anyway. Hey Bungie, go for it, most gamers prefer listening to the battle cries and death moans of a grown woman than a 12-year-old boy.[via GayGamer]
Halo, the Latin epic
To what extent is Halo an extension of the interactive storytelling of old? The latest issue of The Escapist has a thought-provoking piece comparing Bungie Studio's Halo with Virgil's The Aeneid. The theme of a revered, super-human warrior protecting his home world against two enemies (one with whom we can sympathize, in the case of the Covenant / Greece) is prevalent through each tale. The interactivity, according to author Roger Travis, is an illusion for both the gamer and the Roman audience: we are immersed within the story but have no say over its outcome. Master Chief as Aeneas notwithstanding (no word on where multiplayer fits into the comparison), to what extent could one design a game where the progression is wholly determined by the user? Could the lore of World of Warcraft be expanded through the present-day actions of its masses? Even open-ended games like Fable and Oblivion have main quests and endings. To play devil's advocate to our own question, perchance a central plot is required in story-driven games in order to give the wandering avatar an initial feeling of purpose. Could there be a cutoff point where the user is left to his or her own devices, or must we always be in pursuit of some tangible outcome laid before us?
Pokemond Diamond and Pearl break sales records?
We knew the launch was crazy, but this is ridiculous: some (unconfirmed) sources over at 4 color rebellion are stating that the entire launch allocation of two million copies of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl have completed sold out ... in less than a day. Furthermore, half a million DS Lites (including the new special edition, shown here) flew off the shelves as well. Next week's sales numbers should be ... interesting, to say the least. We're not sure, but this might be an all-time sales record in Japan, and if one takes into account the proportional population of Japan versus the U.S., Pokemon Diamond and Pearl exceeds even Halo 2's ridiculous first day numbers (2.4 million sold in 24 hours). Take that, Master Chief.
