Halo

Japanese Halo Fan Cosplays as Master Chief, Climbs Mt. Fuji (In Protest!)

Japanese Halo fans are pissed. For a decade, the roles of Master Chief and Cortana have been voiced by Atsuki Tani and Akiko Koike, but for Halo 4, the pair have been replaced by Rikiya Koyama and Ayumi Fujimura. Changing the voice of a man with no face is pretty drastic, so you can understand…

Take a Good Look at the New Enemies of Halo 4

Looking at this 10 minute video from 343 Industries, makers of the upcoming Halo 4, it’s clear that the mark of Forerunner technology is in something like a break action shotgun that, like, actually breaks apart and re-forms as it is reloaded. You see the same kind of telekinetic influence in other concepts of the…

Here’s To Looking Good in Halo Battle Armor

The world is getting a new Halo game this year, Halo 4. That’s pretty exciting, I reckon! Many gamers love Halo, but some don’t just stop at playing the games. They love dressing up in Halo combat gear. And why wouldn’t they? Here’s a sampling of some—certainly not all—of the finest Halo armor cosplays the…

Why Did Resistance Never Get As Big As Halo? Maybe It Changed Too Much.

Resistance started out as a Halo clone. It was to be Sony’s answer to Microsoft, the PlayStation’s own sci-fi shooter and killer app. It was to sell millions and earn its own base of rabid fans. That never happened. While Resistance did okay, it never quite became the blockbuster Sony and developer Insomniac were hoping…

Maybe Zynga’s Not Such a Bad Place To Work After All…

Zynga, the home to games like Farmville, doesn’t seem to be the greatest place on Earth to work. It’s not entirely awful, though. Here’s a new multiplayer gaming setup built into the company’s cafeteria. That’s sixteen screens. Is it enough to make me want to work there? Hell no. Is it enough to make me…

This Amazing Harmonica Player Gets The Halo Composer’s Endorsement

It’s always fun to hear composers talk about their favorite musicians. This past weekend at PAX, I sat down with a group of the biggest names in AAA video game music to talk about all things musical and video games. Fresh from their panel at PAX, I chatted with Dragon Age composer Inon Zur, Assassin’s…

How Halo 4 Is Now Pissing Off Rabid Japanese Fans

Master Chief is one of video gaming’s icons. Much like Mario and Sonic, the Halo series protagonist has become a video game company poster child. However, with the upcoming release of Halo 4, many Japanese gamers are not happy with how the helmeted gun-toting warrior is sounding. On August 24th, Soutaro Tojima, the audio director…

Halo 4’s Ten-Minute “Documentary” Is Also One Giant Game Trailer

Well, here’s a pleasant surprise. This is a “documentary” on the making of Halo 4 that runs for over ten minutes. You’d think such a clip would be full of agonising monologues by developers, and it is, but instead of just focusing on talking heads you’re also seeing a ton of of in-game and cinematic…

‘Grifball’ is Officially Added to Halo 4‘s Multiplayer

“Grifball,” the insane, deadly multiplayer sport Rooster Teeth created for Halo, will be featured as one of the main multiplayer modes in Halo 4, 343 Industries said yesterday at PAX 2012. GrifballHub.com supplies that video of its PAX demo. In the mod, opposing teams hustle a “grifball” back and forth on the map attempting to…

The Halo series returns to Major League Gaming this November when Halo 4 joins the pro circuit

Halo LEGO For Classy Older Folks

Everybody knows that the discerning LEGO fan can not be seen dead buying children’s toys. No, they collect LEGO sets that reflect their more adult tastes, like fancy architecture and expensive sweaters. This mock-up, then, is a nice compromise. It’s technically Halo LEGO, being a Forerunner Spire, but because that’s a building, and it’s presented…

Getting Very Close To Halo 4’s Master Chief (And Friends)

While we’re yet to get our hands on Halo 4, I did this weekend get my hands all over small plastic representations of some of the game’s principal cast, including John 117 himself, Master Chief. To coincide with the release of Microsoft’s biggest game of the year, McFarlane is releasing three separate lines of toys…

I Can Predict The Entire Halo 4 Plot, Using Only The Halo 4 Soundtrack

Microsoft and 343 have been typically tight-lipped when it comes to plot details surrounding Halo 4. But today, that all changed: The track-listing for the game’s soundtrack was released. Oh yeah. You read that right. Using the track names from the soundtrack, I have pieced together some highly precise (ish) predictions about the story of…

A Bunch Of Famous DJs Remix The Pants Off Of The Halo 4 Soundtrack

We haven’t even heard most of Massive Attack maestro Neil Davidge‘s Halo 4 soundtrack but it’s already being mashed, sliced, and remixed by a bunch of different DJs and producers. Davidge is taking the reins on the Halo series, which has up until now always featured the iconic work of Martin O’Donnell. The soundtrack itself…

Halo 4’s Spartan Specializations Change the Way You’ll Play Multiplayer

The big changes to Halo multiplayer keep coming to the next entry in the sci-fi shooter franchise. Microsoft’s just announced that a new set of class-based Specialization ranks that players can earn after they hit level 50. As explained on Halo Waypoint, specializations dole out armor modifications designed to enhance certain playstyles. So, the Wetwork…

This is an Impressive, $400 Tribute to The Original Master Chief

Sideshow will soon be releasing this enormous piece based not only on Halo’s Master Chief, but on what looks like his original design from the very first Halo, all the way back in 2001. While it’s called a “figure”, poseability seems to be severely limited, but at $400 and weighing a ton, it’s not like…

I Want an Entire Coffee Table Book Made From This Video Game Artist’s Amazing Paintings

Ruan Jia is a concept artist currently living in Quebec. Having formerly worked for Chinese developers NetDragon, his most recent gig was with Volta, a studio that specialises in providing things like art and world building for video game companies. His art isn’t just great by concept art standards. If I could print these off…

This Halo Concept Art is so Old it’s Drawn on Paper

Lovers of Halo (or of art in the most traditional sense) should dig these images from artist Eddie Smith, who over the years has worked on several games in the epic sci-fi saga. The more recent the games are, the more modern the art, but my favourites are Smith’s pieces for the first two Halos,…

Everything You Wanted (or Needed) to Know About Halo 4’s Guns

The history. The purpose. The sound effects. The enormous write-up over on Halo Waypoint (linked below) has everything a series fan – or firearm fetishist – could ever want with regards to humanity’s weapons of choice. And if you don’t feel like reading? Here’s every UNSC gun in the game, shooting things in the face.…

Batman Sucks at Halo, But Excels at Kicking Robin’s Ass

The Dark Knight is not very good at Halo. Bruce Wayne was obviously too busy with all that money and grief as a kid to have learned his way around a control pad. He’s making up for it now, though. The only way he knows how.