Monthly Archives: December 2012

Halo 4 Infinity Challenge!!!

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http://halo4infinitychallenge.com/platform/web/registration/Welcome.html

So what is this? Well first go check that link as it should answer most if not all of your questions.

It’s a challenge and you need to climb the leaderboards! The two grand prizes are a Halo truck and a 2 minute appearance in a Halo game. The truck can be won by winning the War Games portion of the Infinity Challenge, while the 2 minute appearance in Spartan Ops. While I’d love to win the truck, I REALLLLLLLY want to win that 2 minute spot. To be immortalized in Halo like that? WOW!

I wish everyone good games for those who participate!

-Sal

SR130 attained in Halo 4!

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I hit this on Sunday. I’d have posted sooner, but I was having SO much fun with my buds online that I couldn’t stop in the middle of that to post this. Besides, I wanted to do a proper write up of this and not just something quick to say I hit that rank.

I’m really surprised that it only took 40 days to hit the highest SR rank in Halo 4. I wonder if there will be more added somewhere down the line.

I understand 343 wanting people to be able to rank up fast enough to get all the specializations quick. Honestly though, I think this was just a bit TOO quick. For me I know there will be several I’ll barely use if at all. One I know I won’t use anymore is the XP boost. Unless again, there is going to be additional levels added. For now though I can ignore that one and just play with the other specializations. If XP is still be tracked after 130, I’ll no doubt have ranked up quite a lot by the time more levels are added. (Again, IF they are.)

So now that I have every specialization what to use?
I have one of my specializations (from here on “S”) as a Driver/Gunner combo. So it won’t matter if I’m driving or gunning, I’m going to help the vehicle in some capacity.
Another I have makes use of nades. I couple more grenade damage with being able to pick up dropped nades.
Another one is used for big maps when sniping is needed. I picked active camo, along with having a sensor while scoped.
Yet another is used for two primary weapons and utilizes fast reload/swapping weapons. Good for those more enclosed small to mid maps where confrontations can occur quickly.
The last one I’m going to use to switch around things until I find some combination that works well for certain gametypes/playlists. For now it’s using Forerunner weapons as a way to help work on those commendations.

So, you may have noticed the emblem in the pic. That is the Spartan Emblem. You only get that once you’ve hit 130. (Not the rounded diamond in the BG, you can get that very early). I think I’ll likely not switch this one out, except on days I hold HFFL playdates.

Speaking of, now that XP doesn’t matter to me…I’m up for just about any gametype. So I’m going to hold HFFL playdates fairly frequently. I’ve got a few custom maps I’m working on, so those are options. Of course though if the party wants to play War Games, Spartan Ops or Campaign, I’m cool with that.

Anyway, I want to say a HUGE thanks to everyone who’s gamed with me over the past 6 weeks in Halo 4. You’ve helped me in attaining the rank quick by gaming with me. THANKS!

On that note and I’ve said it before, if you’re looking for the fastest way to rank up, Spartan Ops Matchmaking with the XP specialization on and using Mountain Dew/Doritos XP is by far the FASTEST way to do it. You can earn between 11-14K PER MATCH.

-Sal

Halo Toy Review: Mega Bloks Battlescape III

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Mega Brand’s 3rd (technically fourth) battlescape brings us Forerunner Sentinels! As well a cool Forerunner structure and a Reddish Mark VII Spartan.

The beautifully packaged set. Graphics are always top notch here.

A shot of the back of the box. Note that it shows when you combine the forerunner structure here with the one in the new Warthog set that you can make a Forerunner tower. Very cool!

The contents of the box.

All the pieces sorted. As you can see the majority of them are of the dark grey variety.

The Sentinel Enforcer starts to take shape.

The Enforcer is completed and looks GREAT!

Now we move on to the regular Sentinel.

The core of the Sentinel.

Back wings.

The back wings attached, the front arms, then attached. This is already starting to look like a Sentinel.

The head, detail, and attachment.

Note the Sentinel Beam on the underside of it! The Sentinel has 4 points of articulation.

Moving on, we now see how the Forerunner structure takes place.

The simple base portion as it attaches to the Battlescape baseplates.

Walls and ramparts are added, as well as the tall side parts.

The set is finished with the Sentinels being raised in the air with translucent bars. Also note the Reddish Spartan figure. It’s not entirely Red. It’s more a tomato red with a slight orange tinge. I like it!

I do plan on taking the Forerunner structure apart and making it into something else. However, as an option you can also simply remove the bloks that atach it to the baseplate and have this:

This is an ever so simple modification that still keeps the structure intact. The bloks from the underside have been added to the structure by the tall parts. If you have two of these sets, you could make a cool enclosed fort.

At 242 pieces, the set is a bit low on parts. However, you do get the LARGE battlescape. I was able to get this set on a buy one, get one half off sale from Toys R Us. Certainly that makes it worth it. I really hope we get to see the regular Sentinel again in future sets. It’s a great buildable “minifig.”

At $50 it’s a bit pricey. Other than that, the set is VERY cool!

I give this set an 8 of 10 medals.
-Sal

Halo Toy Review: Mega Bloks Covenant Combat Cobalt Unit

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Here’s a look at one of the NEW combat unit sets from Mega Bloks. It’s the Covenant Combat Cobalt Unit. The set will cost around $15 US. Is it worth it? Read on!

Here’s the packaging. Great job here. It clearly shows all figures and accessories. Great presentation.

Here’s the card after the bubble has been removed. I like it. I may just find a use for this in a diorama.

This is all the contents of the package. I did not use the bloks for display. I’ll incorporate them into another project I’m working on.

Here are the figures closer up. These are FANTASTIC! Great painting on these. MUCH better than any previous version of the Brutes. And of course, as some of you know, I’m A HUGE fan of translucent figures. So, that grunt is VERY welcome into the collection.

As mentioned, this set costs $15. Is it worth it? Considering single pack figures run $3-3.50 each, at 4 figs, that would be $12-14. There are a few additional bloks. So you may say, well that just doesn’t add up. However, math wise yes, it doesn’t add, up, but QUALITY wise, it definitely DOES. These figs are AWESOME. I wish I could have a few squads worth of each minifigs. I like the brute figs. By far the best paint to date.

My only minor nitpick would be that I’d have preferred the painted grunt’s skin to be a much lighter shade of grey.

So I HIGHLY recommend this set to anyone who likes brutes and/or well painted figures.

I give this 9 out of 10 medals.
-Sal

More Halo 4 concept art by Jon Liberto.

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I’m a fan of concept art as you long term readers know. Jon Liberto is one of the artist for Halo and I quite enjoy his work. Here are 26 pieces of his work. Some you may have seen, others not. Enjoy!

I’d like to thank Halo.Bungie.org for posting the link on Twitter to this.

-Sal

SR117 reached in Halo 4!

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Woot! I didn’t expect it to be this easy or this quick. Now the dilema though is do I stop here and forever have my account at 117 or continue on to 130. Sigh….too bad 343 didn’t think of this before. It would have been AWESOME to end at 117. But I’m the type of player that likes to go for it all. So, I’ll be continuing on towards 130.

I just HAD to record this rank though, as it’s special, IMO.

I’m glad I got to the rank with the MC armor on. (Okay technically a generic Mark VII, but still…)

-Sal

New Halo Play Arts Kai figures!

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I showed you both the Spartan Soldier and Commander Sarah Palmer at New York Comicon. They were unpainted at that time…

Now though…BAM! Wow, these look amazing. I think I’m going to have to get the Palmer figure.

Yeah, these figures are a bit expensive. It’s the main reason why I don’t collect them. But I’ll make an exception in Palmer’s case.

-Sal