Overheard at the countdown to the 'Halo 3' era
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With just minutes to go until the official launch of Halo 3, those playing at the pre-launch event in Silicon Valley were in high spirits.
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If we could get the Chief's MA5K carbine too... CES If you've already got the Xbox 360 special edition console and Lego-like Msster Chief figures, but you still feel like you hadn't quite satisfied your Halo habit, you need a Covenant plasma pistol, rifle... or energy sword.â¦
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The CE and tech media is billing Halo 3 as the "PS3 killer." While that may not be too far from the truth, it may also be a bit premature. Either way, time is running out.
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Microsoft hopes the launch Tuesday of its much-anticipated &quot;Halo 3&quot; game will turn into another blockbuster that will fend off challenges from Nintendo&#39;s Wii and Sony&#39;s Playstation 3.
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Gabe: I just have some random stuff to share here.Pokemon League night is next Tuesday at the Comic Stop. Matches start at six pm, but you can show up a little early if you'd like to trade cards. As always new players are welcome, just bring a starter deck. It's also a good idea to register at Go-Pokemon.com and bring your POP ID. A reader wrote in today to tell me that he was doing the New York Times crossword puzzle for January 30th and noticed this clue for 12 down:  "Tycho's pal in the webcomic 'Penny Arcade' (4 letters)." That's totally awesome. I'm sure the Force Unleashed will be fine. The time period around the original trilogy is just getting so crowded. Now Vader has a secret apprentice? I mean, it makes sense canonically to me. The Emperor had Mara Jade out there doing his dirty work. It's not unreasonable to think Vader had a similar arrangement. Also the very nature of Sith rule makes covering your ass a necessity. The hook for the game is fine and I don't mind the 3rd person action stuff. There are a few games I'd much rather see them make though. The fact that they have not made a sequel to Republic Commando is fucking criminal. That's not a joke either. I mean that someone over there should be put in jail for the rest of their life. RepCom was an incredible squad based shooter, and unlike most games in that genre it was packed with awesome characters. This games deserves a next gen sequel. The other game that needs a next gen installment is Tie Fighter. Seriously that game came out in 1994 and it's one of the best space shooters ever. And for fucks sake stop setting things during the movies. There's nearly sixty years worth of incredible content (minus the dark nest series) extending out past Return of the Jedi. You don't have to keep trying to cram stories into the same 20 year period. They're milking so much content out of that period that eventually we'll be playing a game as Luke where the goal is to repair vaporators on the south ridge. Hurry up you've only got 'till mid day!Rez is available on Xbox Live now. It's one of the best games ever made.   The most popular piece of clothing we've ever made, AKA The Black Mantle is back in stock. It's joined by its polar opposite, the Luminous Vestments. I have a feeling both will be sold out before I finish typing this.   -Gabe out
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[jhu: red by joan: ] In &quot;Halo 2,&quot; you blow the heads off hundreds of space aliens with shotguns, rocket launchers and rifles.
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Tycho:  In a conference call earlier this week about the Activision/Blizzard/Merger/thing, Activision CEO Robert Kotick dropped the quote from the first panel of the strip completely without irony.  No doubt a phrase like that is "hot talk" for the financial set, but when they're speaking within earshot of the community, they might want to be more choosy.
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Even if you don&#39;t play video games, chances are you&#39;ve heard of &quot;Halo 2.&quot;. Microsoft Corp. made sure of that with a massive public relations blitz, boldly proclaiming that &quot;there hasn&#39;t been this much anticipation
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Readers chime in on the future of video games and the dehumanizing pace of modern life.
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In my own case, the event is the release of Halo 2 shortly after midnight this morning. It&#39;s the sequel to my favorite video game Halo: Combat Evolved, one of the best games ever made for
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Gabe: I know we don't talk about our game much. We really don't want to beat you guys over the head with it. Honestly we handle most of our big projects that way. We try to make coming here "easy" and I don't want you guys to feel like you're constantly being pitched something. Balancing that against the fact that if we don't tell you about things like new shirts and books you are less likely to purchase them is tricky. another reason for the lack of coverage is that we really weren't sure the game was going to be any good. We're doing a lot of the art and all the writing but the reality is that this was a collaboration with the Hothead guys and until very recently I wasn't convinced making the game was a good idea.Tycho said it best in a couple interviews "games look like shit until they look awesome." it's really more than that though because they also play like shit until they are fun. I remember getting the first build months ago and telling Tycho we should scrap the entire thing. The builds kept coming though and they kept getting better and better. I understand now that that's just how game development works. It wasn't until the most recent build that I finally saw something genuinely fun. The Hothead guys obviously knew what they were making but for me it was like looking at a sketch and not understanding how it could ever be a finished painting. I've played through it multiple times now and I can tell you truthfully that it's funny and it's fun to play. If you like PA I believe you will enjoy it. If you don't know about PA I think you will still laugh and If you hate us you'll hate our game. The game just hit beta and Hothead is polishing it more and more every day. I can tell you that what I see right now I'm honestly proud of. Tycho has written some of his best stuff for this game. Like me, he hates himself and hates the things he makes so he would never link you to this, but I feel like he deserves it. A while back Tycho spent a week at the Hothead studio writing non stop for the game. Ron Gilbert was up there as well and he posted this on his blog shortly after."Jerry from PA is up here as well doing the writing and it's a thrill to see him work.He's a top-shelf writer, right up there with Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman."I'm sure when Tycho sees I linked that he'll go right for his wrists, but it's true. An early build of the game recently made its way through the media digestive system. The result is that you will see coverage of it popping up at many of your favorite game news sites. Everything I've seen so far has been very positive but I guess that's the way it is with previews. I think the best place to go is Gametrailers as they simply post high quality video of the game being played. You can make your own decisions based on what you see. If you want more you can watch the 1up show where a narcoleptic Jedi will tell you that the game is "like not really like PA but also like totally like PA." Maybe that's helpful to someone? The Gamelife blog over at Wired also has a very complete write up of the game if you want more than just raw footage. It's funny, before the game I never would have thought twice about calling someone a narcoleptic Jedi. After I had typed it out though I paused. Am I Derek Smart now? Will this effect our PR persons relationship with 1Up and other media outlets? Will they savage us in their review and will that hurt sales? Should I not talk about the coverage at all?Even if all of that is true should I care?Obviously the answer is no. -Gabe out
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SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Microsoft is counting on the biggest weapon in its video-game arsenal, Halo 3, to boost the Xbox 360&#39;s fortunes after the company&#39;s warranty problems.  At the company&#39;s event Tuesday on the eve of the E3 video game industry convention, Bungie Studios showed the first live footage from the second sequel in the best-selling sci-fi combat series. Halo 3, which arrives in stores Sept. 25, will come in three flavors: a $60 standard edition; $70 for a limited edition with a bonus making-of disc and art book; and $130 for a limited &quot;Legendary&quot; edition that comes in a Spartan military helmet case.
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Halo 3, one of the most heavily marketed games in history, goes on sale at midnight in the US.
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With Halo 2 racking up record sales and eager fans rushing to Microsoft&#39;s Xbox Live online gaming service to compete with other gamers from around the world, it should be an exciting time for Xbox enthusiasts.
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Consider this your backstage pass to Halo 3's secretive single-player campaign.
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Is Bungie's long-awaited and overly hyped game good enough to silence the brewing backlash? Commentary by Clive Thompson.
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Long lines greet release of Xbox game sequel. Also: The transformative powers of "Half-Life 2."