halo

Microsoft X10 conference wrap-up

After a four-year hiatus, Microsoft held its X10 conference this week in San Francisco primarily to announce a bunch of release dates for some notable 360-only games due out this year. The company also flexed its exclusivity muscles by showing off some content that'll only be available on Xbox 360.

We've got all the highlights from the event below, along with all of the show's debut trailers in the video playlist to the right.

Halo: Reach: No solid release date for the game, but Halo 3: ODST owners can get a taste of the title's multiplayer … Read more

Halo: Reach to go into multiplayer beta on May 3

SAN FRANCISCO--If Master Chief means something to you, then get ready. The Halo: Reach multiplayer beta will open up on May 3.

"Reach," as it's being called, is the latest iteration of the hugely popular Halo franchise for Microsoft's Xbox 360. The game is expected to ship sometime this fall, but before that, "millions" of Halo fans will get a chance to play the game and help its developer, Bungie, get the title ready for the masses.

Just this week, Halo: Reach entered private alpha, and on May 3, fans who already have Halo: ODST will be able to access the Reach multiplayer beta using their ODST discs.

For Microsoft and Bungie, Halo: Reach is a crucial title this year. The Xbox has been performing strongly over the last year, but Sony's PlayStation 3 has finally begun to make up some ground on it over the last few months. For Bungie, the game is an opportunity to take on the success of Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which has set records as the best-selling console game of all time.

According to Bungie creative director Marcus Lehto, Reach is a standalone prequel to the existing Halo series, offering fans of the hit franchise an entirely new story and new characters on a scale unlike what Bungie has done with the game before.

Lehto explained that Reach will have a much darker story line and will focus on a "key turning point in the Human-Covenant War." Halo: Reach takes place in 2552.

In the new game, the planet Reach is humankind's last line of defense against the Covenant. But the planet is also home to the Spartan program, the heart of the human military. The game focuses on one group of Spartans known as Noble Team, led by Carter 259. … Read more

Bungie plans 'one last hoorah' for Halo 2

When Microsoft announced last week that it would stop supporting original Xbox games on Xbox Live, some called it an end of an era.

Bungie, the developer behind the Halo series, agrees. And it wants to ensure that Halo 2 doesn't go down without a fight--or at least a proper farewell.

Writing on the Bungie blog, the company expressed regret that Microsoft has decided to discontinue support for Xbox games on its online-gaming platform.

Bungie pointed out that Halo 2, which was originally designed for the first Xbox, "has been at or near the top of the Xbox … Read more

What video game sequels get wrong

Film critics have decried the disease of sequel-itis since the Hollywood blockbuster era began more than 30 years ago. They bemoan the lack of originality, the reliance on popular themes and characters, and the sheeplike masses who flock to repeated installments of their favorite franchises. Video games have been onboard with the idea of sequels almost from the very start (remember Ms. Pac-Man?), but the idea of creating cash-generating franchises has taken on new importance in an increasingly hit-driven environment.

So, it's only natural for some industry watchers to bemoan the likes of Mass Effect 2, Halo 3, BioShock 2, Assassin's Creed 2, and others. But, judging from recent experience, the real problem is not that these games share too much with movie sequels, it's that they're not enough alike.

Having played nearly every notable recent and upcoming video game sequel, it's clear that the hubris of game developers and publishers is having a potentially audience-sapping effect--their unquestioned assumption is that you not only played the original game a new sequel is based on, but also finished it, and can clearly remember every plot twist up to two years later. This blindness to anything but the uber-fan audience is a disservice to the very mainstream game buyers who keep the entire industry afloat. … Read more

Bungie: Play Halo and help Haiti

For those looking to help people in Haiti in creative ways, Bungie has announced that the more people who play Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST on Xbox Live Wednesday and Thursday, the more money it will donate to the cause.

Bungie wrote on its company blog that gamers who play Halo 3 or Halo 3: ODST on Xbox Live any time on Wednesday or Thursday will need to wear a "special emblem signifying [their] commitment to the cause." That special emblem is a red heart that can be added to the user's player by visiting the &… Read more

Modern Warfare 2 joins 'Avatar' in ultra-elite $1 billion club

For an entertainment property to hit $1 billion in sales is a very rare feat. For two separate properties to pass the 10-figure mark at the same time may well be a first.

On Wednesday, Activision Blizzard announced that its mega-hit video game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, had crossed the billion-dollar mark, after just two months on store shelves--and the entertainment industry's single-day sales record. That milestone came shortly after it was announced that James Cameron's uber-blockbuster movie, "Avatar," had also reached that financial promised land.

To be sure, these are just round numbers, and don't have any formal meaning, but there's no arguing with the fact that it sure sounds good for the entertainment business to be sporting two separate billion-dollar titles at the same time, especially since they come from such different corners of the world.

In the history of video games, a billion-dollar hit is an extreme rarity. It's hard to tell precisely how many there have been, but it's possible that number is as small as two.… Read more

What is Halo Reach's 'Super Secret Game Mode?'

Twice a year, Halo creator Bungie holds internal competitions called pentathlons where teams play Bungie video game titles, as well as offline game classics like Pictionary and Hacky Sack. Bungie calls it a "celebration of gaming" for Bungie employees.

On Wednesday, Bungie wrote a blog post discussing this year's Winter Pentathlon. Included with all the other titles participants will play, the company included the latest installment in the Halo franchise Halo Reach, which is scheduled to hit store shelves later in the year.

Typically, a mention of an upcoming release in a Bungie pentathlon wouldn't matter. … Read more

N.O.V.A.: The next best thing to Halo for iPhone

Will we ever see Halo for iPhone? Let me be the first to say: who cares? We've got N.O.V.A.

Short for Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance (as if that matters), Gameloft's first-person shooter borrows heavily from the Halo playbook.

You're the sometimes solo, sometimes squad-based hero out to save mankind from the alien threat du jour. The game's 13 single-player missions span five environments (from bunker to jungle to spacecraft), each one dripping in console-quality graphic goodness.

An excellent tutorial acclimates you to the controls, which are always a challenge for any iPhone/iPod … Read more

A Halo release that will be playable on the PS3

The success of the Halo franchise has been incredible. So much so, it was only a matter of time before we'd see a movie. Microsoft plans on releasing a seven-part series spanning from its origins to the game's third installment, titled Halo Legends.

The announcement was made at the 2009 Comic-Con in San Diego. The series will be available for download via Xbox Live this fall. According to Blu-ray.com we can expect to see this on Blu-ray sometime in 2010, so there will finally be a disc labeled Halo that will play on the PS3 for all … Read more