halo

LOS ANGELES--Look around the halls of E3 2011, and you might notice something strangely similar about many of the most-hyped games on display. There's Battlefield 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Gears of War 3, Uncharted 3, and Mass Effect 3. BioShock Infinite is the third game in that series, and Skyrim is the third modern/console version of an Elder Scrolls game (technically, it's the fifth game in the series, as there were a couple of prior PC games back in the '90s). We've also spotted Saints Row: the Third, Serious Sam 3, and Ninja Gaiden 3, Deus Ex: Human Revolution (the third game in that series), and there are probably a few others I've missed.

This collection of third-timers is partially a coincidence, and partly indicative of the industry's addiction to sequels. With production and advertising budgets at or near what Hollywood movie studios have been spending for years, there's a natural, and very understandable, attraction to finding a successful formula and sticking with it.

A trilogy is also a familiar construct from the larger media world that consumers are comfortable with, and the format is useful for putting together a compelling story arc over the course of three films or novels. But while most movies quit after three outings, there's no doubt you'll be seeing a fourth chapter in many of the game franchises above within a year or two. … Read more

LOS ANGELES--Microsoft began its press conference with some gameplay demos of Modern Warfare 3, Tomb Raider, and Mass Effect 3. Though these titles certainly impressed, they'll be available on multiple consoles.

But at E3, it's exclusives that count, and Microsoft finally showcased a number of titles that will only be available on Xbox 360 and Kinect:

Xbox 360:

As we suspected, an intense Gears of War 3 demo delighted the crowd with Marcus Fenix battling a skyscraper-size alien. The game will be out in September.

Next we saw a teaser-trailer for the ancient Rome inspired Ryse that looks to feature Kinect implementation. There wasn't too much information here--just that it's being developed by the team behind the Crysis franchise, Crytek.… Read more

As indicated in the above image, Microsoft has some exciting announcements to make at its 9:30 a.m. PT E3 press conference. The problem for Microsoft is that this information wasn't supposed to be public yet. According to Kotaku, Microsoft News, and other blogs, this image appeared briefly around 9:30 a.m. ET on Xbox.com. It's since been removed, but the screenshot lives on.

In addition to the XBox 360 games we already knew were coming (Gears of War 3, Modern Warfare 3), the image mentions Halo 4, a … Read more

What better venue for an episode of Crave than the annual Maker Faire in San Mateo, Calif.? We rub elbows with robots, learn the art of making a Master Chief costume, and meet a group of teens who take Rock Band to its fiery extreme.

Subscribe in iTunes SD Video | Subscribe in RSS SD Video… Read more

First came the halo effect of computer purchases: iPod or iPhone buyers deciding they'd like a Mac. Now I'm wondering whether there will be a similar trend among programmers.

I started pondering the idea after hearing from MacPhun, the developers of FX Photo Studio, a $1 iOS app that just made the jump to a Mac OS X app that costs $20 for the regular version and $40 for the pro version. If MacPhun is willing to take the leap, perhaps others are?

I see the move as an interesting possibility because of a few factors:

• The Mac … Read more

You know that end-of-the-day feeling when you've been staring at the computer for eight hours and your eyeballs feel like you've been face down in a dune in the Sahara desert? It's just the price you pay for having a desk job in the exciting era of modern technology.

I never thought much about how I could give my aching eyes a break until Antec's "soundscience bias lighting halo 6 LED kit" showed up in my mailbox. That's a long lowercase name for a long strip of USB-powered LED lighting. The $12.95 kit just launched today.

It's a pretty simple concept. You remove the adhesive backing and slap the strip onto the back of your monitor. It's good for up to a 24-inch display. Plug it into a USB port and it emanates with a gentle glow from behind your monitor. The LEDs can be pretty subtle, especially with daylight streaming through a nearby window. As it gets darker, the effect is more pronounced. … Read more

On today's preGame, we'll be screening the teaser-trailer for Inversion, a game set to hit consoles in February 2012. So why all the excitement now? Let's just say the live-action trailer leaves us with a few unanswered questions.

Next we'll take a look at the technology behind the next installment of the SOCOM franchise in SOCOM 4. Find out how the game attempts to max out the PlayStation 3 and how development made PlayStation Move a major factor in the title's creation.

Jeff will then take a look at WWE All Stars for Xbox 360 … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Fans of the Gears, put a big circle around April on your calendars: the public multiplayer beta of Gears of War 3 will be opening up around the middle of that month.

At Microsoft's Xbox February Showcase event here today, the company announced the timing of the Gears of War 3 beta opening, as well as a slew of other game-related new items. Among them: that on March 15, the Halo: Reach "Defiant Map Pack" would go on sale; the availability of Halo Waypoint, a mobile stat-checking feature for the mega-hit franchise that will be accessible … Read more

Famed Halo developer Bungie is working on a new title that could be quite different from what it has offered in the past.

Bungie is working on a massively multiplayer online (MMO) first-person shooter, currently named "Destiny," gaming blog Kotaku is reporting, citing an unnamed source. The source told Kotaku that the title is built on a new graphics engine that Bungie has developed, and will live completely online. The person told the gaming blog that the title is basically a "World of Warcraft in space."

This isn't the first time that rumors have cropped … Read more