Only on Destructoid: [Whenever possible, Destructoid critiques overlooked design aspects of games both old and recent for our "Revisited" series.]There exists in the gaming community a particularly virulent strain of... 70 comments
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Assassin's Creed is generally considered to be a solid, if somewhat flawed, videogame. Despite earning praise for its visuals, concept and unique story, the 2007 title was criticized for its repe... 619 comments
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Tis' the season for gift giving. With some many great games released this year, finding the perfect gift for that gamer in your life (or for yourself, you selfish jerk!) can be quite a task.
That... 32 comments
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All these Black Friday deals are a bitch to keep track of. That's what we're here for, though. Over the past few weeks we've been reporting on some good deals, but having to hop around our fine w... 32 comments
Zombies. Gamers love them. They infest almost every single genre of gaming and then some. There are zombie shooters, zombie survival-horror, zombie platformers, zombie tower defense games, zombie... 32 comments
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While those of us with laptops who couldn't process their way out of a simple algebraic equation are playing Left 4 Dead 2 on their 360, there is definitely a large chunk of gamers out there who ... 26 comments
A surprise announcement at E3 this year, the PlayStation 3 exclusive ModNation Racers looks to redefine the kart racing genre with its ridiculous level of customization and community featur... 27 comments
The latest Halo novel from Thor Books has been released in stores this week. Halo: Evolutions is a collection of stories from multiple perspectives within the Halo universe. The book features multiple authors, such as Eric Nylund, Tobias Buckell, Karen Traviss and several more.
The one thing Halo 2 and Halo 3 did horribly wrong was the story. Rather, the lack of story. The Halo novels, for the most part, fill you in on what has been going on in the Halo universe. The books have covered very important things such as how the Covenant wars started in the first place and how the SPARTAN IIs were created.
The books really do a great job at getting you sucked into the Haloverse. I highly recommend that any Halo fan should at least read the first Halo novel, The Fall of Reach. If that doesn't do it for you, then I don't know, go play Modern Warfare II or something.
Still fired up from those leakedHalo: Reach images? Then sit down, and prepare to immediately stand up in just a second. Probably.
Along with the list of nominees for the Spike Video Game Awards going out today, we have also been informed that the show will be the source for all of your Halo: Reach reveal needs. That'll be happening during the live show on December 12, but don't worry about remembering the exact date.
I'm sure there will be plenty of commercials to remind us when the VGAs are going down. And, knowing how these things usually happen, you can bet Spike has secured a number of other world premieres beyond Halo: Reach. Are you ready?
""They're meant to be popcorn entertainment, and there's enough wiz-bang Buck Rogers meets Platoon shit in there to satisfy."
This is a nice quote. I'm still laughing. I can't say I was satisfied..."...
The first episode of Halo Legends, The Babysitter, was released earlier this week on Halo Waypoint. It was only up for 24 hours for whatever reason but now you can check it out on YouTube before it gets taken down!
The episode follows a few Orbital Drop Shock Troopers and a SPARTAN II as they go on a mission to assassinate a Prophet. We also get a nice look at some ancient Forerunner buildings showing that the Forerunners may have possibly been as big as Zentradis from Robotech.
I know this is anime, but I can't get over the fact that most of the characters hair styles are completely against military regulation. Come on! Check out the second part of the episode after the break.
"@Infinitys End
I never said all of them were, just the ones with Clayface as an example. Which puts Feat of Clay part 1 out since the character hadn't started morphing yet. Mostly they hired fr..."...
The first Halo: Reach images might have been leaked this afternoon via the MLG message board. User “Tom Morello,” recently created a thread showing a blurry, perhaps camera-phone-snatched photograph of the anticipated Halo follow-up’s Battle Rifle. He updated the thread again with more photographs of weapons, each of the same quality and with his username branded over as a watermark.
Some of the weapons shown are familiar (needler plasma pistol, rocket launcher) while others are not so much -- especially this super Needler thing. Of note is the HUD, which Morello says lists teammate names as well as shows what "perks" players are carrying. In another post, Morello said he was carrying three at the time of one of the photos: sprinting, cloaking, and "halogram."
When another user asked Morello where he snapped the images, he replied “at Microsoft HQ, btw, in a office.” Morello explained the motivation behind grabbing the initial image as wanting to show the MLG community the Battle Rifle, which didn’t appear in the latest Halo title, ODST.
The first image is in the header. The rest are available in the MLG thread or collected nicely in this NeoGAF thread.
We stress that we haven’t the slightest if these images or light details are the real stuff or not. Take this with a grain of salt. We've contacted Bungie for confirmation of these images and details.
Have you checked out This Spartan Life? It's a talk show -- in Halo. It was started in 2005 and they basically do all the interviews while shooting at each other and launching rockets with massive explosions and the like. They've done some pretty funny and interesting interviews with the likes of Bungie lead composer Marty O’Donnell, Red Vs Blue creator Bernie Burns and former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren. Plus, there is dance routines to chiptunes. It's pretty enjoyable on the whole, but the next season is in peril and they're hoping for some support.
They're holding a support thingy where those who donate can win some prizes and other fancy things. The biggest prize is a virtual date with Amber one of the Solid Gold Dancers from the show (or any other member of the show). Basically, you get to play some Halo with an internet famous person. Could be exciting. Still, the real reason to give is because it's a very solid show that needs some help. Check it out and if you want to donate please do.
"i found TSL a long time ago maybe the beginning of 2006. i was a modder of halo CE and the site i got my mods and the like also had a movie section. so i went over there and didn't find anything ..."...
People who are in the Xbox 360 Dashboard preview can now check out Halo Waypoint. Waypoint is going to be your one-stop destination for all things Halo-related. You'll get to see movies, get news, earn rewards and do a bunch of other neat things.
Reader Hawk xSx sent us a heads-up about Waypoint releasing today, and he told us that there are some Avatar Awards related to your Achievements from Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST and Halo Wars. You'll get some Halo-related clothing and toys to mess around with.
Sounds interesting, but I really just don't see the point to all this. I'm probably the biggest Halo fanatic on this Web site, too, and I could care less. Granted, I am looking forward to Halo Legends and Waypoint is going to be the only way to see it.
Last week I introduced a new format for these weekly game debates, and it went great! I used two of the most loved series in the game industry of all time, and the result was just as vicious from both sides as I expected to see. It was a lot of fun to read through everyone's extra commentary on the additional bonus questions, and it offered a whole lot more insight into what we considered before casting our votes. Here was the outcome:
Legend of Zelda series (91 votes) -- Winner!
Final Fantasy series (57 votes)
First of all, yes, spinoff gameslike Halo 3: ODST and Half-Life episodes are included, but Counter-Strike and all other mods of either game are not counted. From there, the choice is up to you.
Which series do you like better as a whole, and why? What aspects or individual games of the series made up your mind? Is your choice mainly due to support for that series, or your dislike of other series? Give it some serious thought, share your thought process with all of us, and then get some FPSfriends to join in on the fun.
New Bonus Questions! Hit the jump to see not one, but all of the bonus questions. From now on I'm going to try a slightly new format to encourage more discussion! Feel free to suggest bonus questions of your own that you'd like to see used in next week's debate topic, which is also listed below.
Peter Molyneux may be a hype producing blow hardall the time sometimes, but the games he and Lionhead Studios have put out over the years are nothing if they aren't innovative. While they may not live up to his very own hype, they do often feature aspects that are new and fresh. Where does Molynuex get his inspiration, though? What games does he respect as the one's that truly changed the game?
At BAFTA’s Annual Video Games Lecture last night, Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux revealed what he thinks are the five most revolutionary games of the last 20 years. That time frame excludes most of the 8-bit era so we're pretty much eliminating most of Nintendo's and Sega's classics and jumping straight into the modern era of gaming. What were his top five then?
Dune 2, Super Mario 64, Tomb Raider, Halo and World of Warcraft.
Any of his choices surprise anyone? I did not expect to see Tomb Raider on there, but he gives a pretty convincing argument for it, saying that Eidos subverted the tradition of muscled men being heroes, and created a unique character that confronted many stereotypes held in gaming. The other games are pretty obvious choices all around (he gives props to Mario 64 for influencing GTA), but if you want to understand his full reasoning behind selecting each game you can read a full report of the talk here.
"After reading the reasons behind the choices, they all make sense to me. He's not giving his list of the best games ever, just the most influential and revolutionary games of the past 20 years.
..."...
YouTuber petemander1 is going to be the talk of his Halloween party as he's going to have the best Halloween costume of the night. petemander1 is working on a Covenant Elite costume based on the Halo games. The thing that makes his costume stand out from others' though, is that it incorporates animatronics and the eyes and mandibles are all remote-controllable.
The video above and after the jump shows off what petemander1 has created so far. It looks great, yet it also looks pretty scary. I don't know about petemander1, but if this was my project, I'd use it to run around scaring little children in order to steal their candy ...
Chad played Halo for the first time finally. He didn't seem to like it that much. Probably because he sucks at awesome videogames.
Dyson found out that nauseous feeling is intentional in Dark Void, we're giving away some Gunnar Optiks, the Left 4 Dead 2 boycott is over, GT 5 could have been released at any point, Madden NFL Arcade was announced and more pew pew pew happened on 10/14/09.
And not the oh-I-am-just-not-a-big-fan-of-that-game kind of enemy. No, retro fans think Halo actually is the devil and the main thing that is wrong with videogames today. Trust me when I tell you, we have had many passionate discussions about this exact topic on RetroforceGO! They have almost turned violent.
So, it goes without saying that I have avoided playing Halo like the plague after all these years. But after crossing my arms like a baby and refusing to play the game, I was finally, unceremoniously pushed over the edge by Destructoid community member Dexter345. He sat me over a chair, hit me with a belt (metaphorically, of course), and chastised me for my stubborn attitude about not wanting to play one of the most popular and influential videogames of the last ten years.
After rubbing my now sore metaphorical behind, I thought to myself: maybe he’s right. Why shouldn’t I, at the very least, try a game that, for better or worse, has made a huge mark on popular videogame culture?
So, I finally bit the bullet, borrowed Dexter’s copy, and decided to play through the first Halo on my Xbox 360. The good news: I still like retro games. Whew! But what of my eight-years-in-the-making experience? Is there a reason so many retro fans hate the game so much? Hit the jump for the sexy details.
"First of all, great article. As others have said, you are a very good writer.
Moving on.. I have to say that however un-baised and 2001'ish you attempted to approach Halo, it is simply not possi..."...
Okay, first of all, there's a community devoted to modifying Power Wheels. That's just awesome.
Anyway, user flux83 over on the Modified Power Wheels Forums took a Street Scene Silverado Power Wheel and beefed the thing up to become a Warthog from the Halo series. flux83 detailed the entire project over the Power Wheels forum and the thing looks great. He even named it the Chupa Thingy, based on a joke from Red vs Blue.
This is totally the luckiest kid ever and he is officially more cooler than this Halo kid now.
Dust 514 is looking like a promising project. It's a first-person tactical shooter set in the EVE Online universe and it's also coming to home consoles. This is the HD debut trailer for the game and, as you can see, it's certainly something that Halo fans will feel right at home with.
Seems like it could be quite cool, and I really like the idea that battles fought in Dust 514 will actually affect the EVE MMO. We'll have to see how all that works before getting too excited, but it seems as if a very solid FPS is in the works. Check out the trailer and lt us know what you think.
"@Ganjookie
Dust links with EVE.
When EVE players want to claim a planet or sector for themselves it sets up servers for Dust. The outcome of the battles in Dust then decide whether an EVE insur..."...
343 Industries plans to keep the Halo IP around for a while. Speaking to USA Today about the proliferation of Halo across various mediums, 343 Industries creative director Frank O’Connor said the Microsoft division has a creative plan for Halo that spans, at least, the next six years. He added that it should tie two bits of media -- the comic books and the novels -- together.
"We do have a plan that goes out at least six years," O’Connor said. "Eventually, it will become very apparent that there is a plan for the way the canon all ties together and the way the comic books and the novels all tie together."
As the Today article makes a point of, Halo is in everything from comic books, to videogames, to toys, and even to anime. It’s hard to believe that 343 Industries, the official caretakers of the Halo universe, wouldn’t be prepared to keep the IP fresh and moving for the next half-decade with all the stuff out on shelves.
That said, more Halo -- and possibly Master Chief -- after Halo: Reach? Bring it on 343 Industries.
"Halo = Saw
Master Chief = Jigsaw
Jigsaw: I died like 10 movies ago, but not really LOL. I'm still around for the money and the milking, just as long as these monkies (literally) can continue mak..."...
Destructoid is an independently-run publication forged by our love of video games and the gaming community's need of accountable enthusiast press living the dream since March 16, 2006
10:00 PM on 11.27.2009, Hamza CTZ Aziz
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