Monthly Archives: June 2013

The Unlimited Potential of Firefight: A fan’s perspective.

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The following was posted by HaloWaypoint forum user, “BurningHero74.” I have to say he makes some really good points and has some great ideas. I LOVED Firefight in both ODST and Reach. A mix of Spartan Ops and Firefight would be awesome to me.

Anyway, here’s BurningHero74’s thoughts for Halo 5’s Firefight (should there be firefight).

Firefight – “Welcome to the last day of the rest of your life.”

Firefight in Halo 3: ODST was a blast for me. It had me on my toes and made me feel like I was surviving for only the moment. As fun as Reach’s firefight was, it was mediocre for me. It was too easy and Arcade was a terrible mistake IMO. Firefight should and can add an incredible amount of replay value. Now, with Firefight being replaced with Spartan Ops in Halo 4, Halo Xbox One should include two “types” firefight.

Type 1 – Survival
I feel like this should be like Halo 3:ODST’s firefight. Endless waves of enemies. Each wave getting harder and ammo becoming more and more scarce. Skulls turning on every round. Lives not plentiful enough. A sense of dread at every moment. Just a good old fashioned firefight against the Covenant, Forerunner, and/or Flood.

HFFL: I have to say, I really like the idea of endless enemy waves. ODST really had that nailed down. Seeing how long you could last in Firefight, especially with a few of your friends was my favorite experience in ODST.

Type 2 – Objective
Here we have the Spartan Ops spice to add to Survival Firefight. Now the Firefight would still be a single map (like ODST and Reach) but now there are multiple options to flavor the game.
Ideas:
Generator Defense – Defend generator(s).
Reinforcement – Clear out all enemies. If you fail to do so, enemy reinforcements will arrive.
Shelter – Using Basic Editing, get a budget that increases every set and use your budget to place weapons, turrets, cover every set.
Protector – Protect a group of Marines. The more Marines you save, the more points you get.
Escape – Repair a Pelican to escape while defending yourself (If Escape is Disabled, Repairing the Pelican just nets you more points).

HFFL: Some of these ideas are great. I really like the idea of Protector.

Ending
You could enable/disable Endless mode when you customize the game settings so that if you want to play Firefight until you lose all your lives, that’s cool. However, if you want to play Objective and be able to “win”, an ending cutscene would play if you A) Survive all rounds (Survival) or B) Successfully complete your Objective (Objective)

HFFL: Ah this is a good idea. Having a cutscene when you complete objectives just adds to the experience.

Customization
Be able to customize game types and settings just like in Reach and be able to set waves, enemies, and skulls. Be able to enable TEAMS! Teams would try to survive longer, get more points, and/or complete an Objective first! Also, add in more options like Covenant Only, Foreruner Only, Flood Only, or a mixture of all! It would additionally add more replay value to be able to customize how many enemies you want in a vehicle during a round.

HFFL: Yes, these would be some great options for Firefight. However, I’d like to see these in FF matchmaking, not just customs. I didn’t play much of custom FF in Reach.

Bigger Firefight
With more hardware than ever, Halo Xbox One should have a Firefight that allows 8 players at once! Think of the possibilities! Think of the madness O_O Also, there should be an abundance of small firefight maps, some medium sized one, and one or two extremely large Firefight maps like a Spartan Ops map.

HFFL: Totally agree here. More gamers! If there could be teams even better. Having two teams of 4 that fight side by side would be fun, however the point would be to score more than the other team. That would definitely add more competition to Firefight. I had wanted to start a Firefight league in Reach but didn’t have time to get it running before Halo 4 came along.

Space Battles
Space battles. Battles in Space. ‘Nuff said.

HFFL: NOW you’re cooking with grease! I would LOVE to have space battles. We got a good taste of this in Reach, but it was the same mission all the time. Having Firefight space battles would be AWESOME!

Forge
Build your own Firefight map. Think of how much more Firefight could be! First you would make your map, set human spawn points, and then work on setting Ally drop pods, Enemy Drop Pods, and Phantom Drop paths. Then work on Enemy Movement and Ally Movement Paths (set a waypoint type thing to guide AI and prevent them from falling or running into walls). I had an idea that if this was implemented, I could make a shooting gallery with enemies walking into a Gravity lift. There is a multitude of games that could be made from adding such an aspect. And to people who want to do some sort of Rambo Turret Defense, well now they can!

HFFL: I have to again agree here. It’s about time we have FF with Forge mode.

Basically, Firefight has so much potential it hurts. It would be amazing to see much more added to Firefight and for Firefight to be added in Halo Xbox One.

Thanks for Reading.

HFFL: Thank you for posting a very well thought out, constructive post.

-Sal

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Interviews with Anna Popplewell and Tom Green and EMMY Nominations!

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fud_key_art

343 has announced that many of the talented people behind Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn have been put into consideration for an Emmy! Check out the categories below and to celebrate, enjoy the chat with Tom Green (Thomas Lasky) and Anna Popplewell (Chyler Silva).

Anna Popplewell’s Interview
anna1
Halo Waypoint (HW): How did you prepare for your role? What kind of training did you need?
Anna: I tried to immerse myself in the Halo universe as much as I could. I read and watched everything I could get my hands on. The Halo novels The Fall of Reach and Contact Harvest were especially useful for contextualizing the period of Halo mythology when our story is set. I also played the game, of course. I’m useless at the game, sadly! When the cast arrived in Vancouver, we went through a military boot camp, learning such tactics as how to handle rifles, march, do drills, assault courses and pushups. It was tough but really taught us to act like a squad and gave a sense of what military training is like. Documentaries on West Point Academy and the war documentaries Restrepo and Armadillo were also particularly useful.

HW: What was it like getting to see and meet Halo fans at events?
Anna: It’s both terrifying and wonderful to work in a franchise like Halo. It’s amazing that it has such a huge number of enthusiastic fans behind it, who are so involved in the world and hungry for its live-action realization. However, along with that comes pressure not to disappoint the fans! So, meeting the fans is both brilliant and a little bit terrifying.

HW: What about the story of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn drew you to the project?
Anna: The scope of the world is epic and enormous, but the humans within it are so relatable, interesting and vulnerable. I like that juxtaposition. This story takes place at a particularly interesting point in Halo history—a time when soldiers are having to entirely reconsider who they’re fighting and why.

HW: How was working on Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn different from other projects that you’ve worked on?
Anna: It was much more physical than anything that I’ve worked on before.

HW: How are you similar to your character? Different?
Anna: I suppose I can be as determined as Chyler, but I’m not as disciplined or as brave.

HW: Describe your character in one word.
Anna: Resolute.

HW: How does it feel to be submitted for an Emmy nomination for “#55 Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series” for your role as Chyler Silva?
Anna: It feels unreal! I’m extremely flattered to be submitted.

Tom Green’s Interview
cadet_thomas_lasky-03
HW: How did you prepare for your role? What kind of training did you need to do?
Tom: In my preparation for the role of cadet Thomas Lasky, I found myself focusing on the physical aspect of the character more than anything else. To bring Lasky to life, I felt it was important to immerse myself in the series’ world of a uniformed, military environment. Once the rest of the cast and myself arrived in Canada, we were quickly thrust into a military boot camp that ran for a week and covered everything, including weapons/combat training, marching, saluting, leadership skills, improving our fitness levels and being punished by our superiors in the appropriate fashion, sometimes for even the smallest mistakes. During the boot camp, I had my head shaved and was watching military documentaries on the side to get a taste of the trials and tribulations real people faced in these kind of hostile environments.

HW: What was it like getting to see and meet Halo fans at events?
Tom: Meeting the Halo fans at Comic-Con for the first time really changed my whole perspective on the project because I discovered that I had underestimated how big the franchise was. I found it a bit overwhelming at first, but when people started to accept me and the whole cast as a part of the Halo world, it was very comforting.
It was great to meet the people responsible for the franchise’s success and see how everybody was incredibly excited for Forward Unto Dawn and everything it had to offer.

HW: What about the story of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn drew you to the project?
Tom: After reading the script, I found myself drawn to the human element of the project. When we think of Halo, we immediately think of the Master Chief, aliens, weapons and outer space worlds. I found the idea of focusing on REAL people and their relationships with one another at the Academy quite audacious, but I definitely felt that it could work. It was pretty scary too because we weren’t sure if the die-hard Halo fans would take to the idea of humanizing Halo and introducing raw, human emotion into the fast-paced, violent world. I felt that the audience, Halo fans or not, could really identify with the characters in Forward Unto Dawn.

HW: How was working on Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn different from other projects that you’ve worked on?
Tom: Forward Unto Dawn was different from anything else I’ve previously worked on for a few reasons: It was the first job I had done that was of the Science Fiction genre, it required me to use an accent and it was the first set that I’d been on that used a great deal of CGI and visual effects.

HW: How are you similar to your character? Different?
Tom: Looking back on it, I think Thomas Lasky and I aren’t too different. I identified with his ambivalence at the academy because I shared those feelings in high school, and I think we’re both very analytical people. However, I would consider myself more outspoken than him and more of an extrovert.

HW: Describe your character in one word.
Tom: Leader.

HW: How does it feel to be submitted for an Emmy nomination for “#52 Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series” for your role as Thomas Lasky?
Tom: I’m thrilled! Seeing my name and the word “Emmy” used in the same sentence is definitely a first! Very exciting.

Nomination Categories
SPECIAL CLASS – SHORT-FORMAT LIVE ACTION ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAM
Lydia Antonini – EXECUTIVE PRODUCER/ Josh Feldman ¬ EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
TOM GREEN as “Thomas Lasky” – Episode 5

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
ANNA POPPLEWELL as “Chyler Silva” – Episode 3

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Masam Holden as “Michael Sullivan” – Episode 4

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Enisha Brewster as “April Orenski” – Episode 1

OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES
Todd Helbing & Aaron Helbing – Episodes 1 & 3

OUTSTANDING SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
John Sullivan

OUTSTANDING MUSIC COMPOSITION FOR A SERIES
Nathan Lanier

HFFL: Congrats to all who were nominated! I’m still scratching my head though why Stewart Hendler the director wasn’t nominated???

-Sal

Very cool Halo/Metroid Fan Made video mash-up!

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The graphics are somewhere between Halo CE and Halo 2. But the action is golden!
Towards the end there is some gratuitous stuff. Still it’s all in good fun. Be sure and watch all the way to the end!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeGAzjs1fMU&feature=share

Hmm, I like this Spartan. And wouldn’t it be cool to get a Samus Armor in Halo!

-Sal

The Halo Bulletin 6.27.13

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halobulletinheader_6-27-13Bravo brings us this week’s builletin.

The first part talks about his travelling between pro-league events and E3, then on to RTX (Rooster Teeth Expo) coming next week. Of note is during RTX there will be  apanel called “What’s Next: Halo 4 SUmmer 2013.” I hope we get some exciting news. Maybe a new DLC? Or Spartan Ops Season 2? I’m crossing my fingers here but not holding my breath.

Up next is an article on Spartan Assault. To be more specific, last week Bravo asked the community to submit questions regarding the upcoming title and he took them to other 343 people in the know who answered several of them.

The one glaring omission was of course would H:SA be coming to XBOX Live Arcade…

Anyway, here are all of the questions asked (and hey what do you know, the pick one of MINE to answer-well, they sort of answered it….cryptic!):

Q: Will there be any new weapons to use in this game or only weapons from previous games? -Cizlin
A: We have a suite of the old Halo favorites whilst adding some new turbocharged versions of existing weapons.

Q: Will our profile for Halo: Spartan Assault carry over between Windows 8 PC and Windows Phone 8? -bfett9
A: Cloud saving is enabled in the game, allowing players to carry their profile over between Windows 8 (Tablet or Desktop) and Windows Phone 8.

Q: How long will it take to complete the main Campaign in Halo: Spartan Assault? -TashiGAF
A: The main campaign contains 25 missions plus mission-specific and weekly challenges, which add to the gameplay duration.

Q: Where does the story fit in the Halo timeline? -jesse7456
A: The story of Halo: Spartan Assault takes place in the hectic time between Halo 3 (where it looked like things were calming down as far as intergalactic warfare was concerned) and the start of Halo 4 (where said hopes were quite thoroughly dashed). Anybody who played Halo 4 met Commander Sarah Palmer and the idea of Spartan Ops, and Spartan Assault lets you go back and see where Palmer and this new Spartan mission structure got started.

Q: How much will the game cost? -monkeyisbest
A: $6.99 USD.

Q: Is 100% of the save data and game progress saved to the cloud? -Falcon 304
A: Games are saved locally and also saved to the cloud when the user is connected to the Internet.

Q: While the Covenant forces seem to be that of the original empire, with Sangheili and Jiralhanae together, the inclusion of the Spartan-IVs and characters such as Parg Vol indicate that this might be a post-war splinter faction. Any clarification on who we’re actually fighting? -Dark Auk
A: It’s a bit too early to head down Spoiler Lane on this one, but you’ll be fighting some familiar faces with interesting new motivations.

Q: Will there be a large difference between the prices for each platform, or will it cost the same regardless of platform choice (PC, phone and tablet)? -SpiritHawk7
A: Price is the same across all platforms.

Q: For the PC platform, will there be a physical disc for the game that one can pre-order and purchase from retailers, or is it download only like on the phone and tablet? -SpiritHawk7
A: Halo: Spartan Assault is available from the Windows 8 Store or the Windows 8 Phone Store; there is no physical disc.

Q: Can we earn awards in-game that will benefit us in Halo 4, such as weapon skins, XP, Emblems and Armor? -a live dinosaur
A: Halo: Spartan Assault players will indeed receive extra content in Halo 4, including an Emblem and some XP.

Q: Will we play Palmer as an ODST at any point in this game? -DecepticonCobra
A: No disrespect to the ODSTs, but once you make it to the Spartans, you stay a Spartan…so no; this story focuses on Commander Palmer’s early days as a Spartan-IV.

Here’s one of the questions of mine that I submitted that they (sort of) answered.
Q: Is there any significance to Palmer’s armor being silver while Spartan Davis’ is gold? -HaloFanForLife1 
A: Maaaaabye.
HFFL: Very cryptic response…I’m thinking YES.

Q: Is Halo: Spartan Assault going to become a platform to explore more corners of the vast and rich Halo universe? -erickyboo
A: We’ve definitely thought about visiting other important moments in the Halo storyline in a Spartan Assault kind of way, but all attention right now is on getting this first effort finished and as awesome as we can make it.

Q: When will Halo: Spartan Assault release? -The Little Moa
A: July 2013. We have not yet nailed down the specific date. We’ll announce the date just as soon as the details are finalized.

Q: What’s the story with the Brutes in Halo: Spartan Assault? Are they part of the Covenant Loyalists? Are they allied with Jul’s forces? If so, why? -Toa Freak
A: We’ll have lots more to say about who is or isn’t in Halo: Spartan Assault once the game is out in the wild (and what we have to say will make a lot more sense then, too). On the upside, though, there’s not long to wait!

Lots of good questions. (I like mine the best, but then I’m biased, lol)

Next up we have the weekly Matchmaking Playlist Update and it’s going to make some people very happy!

Big Team Skirmish  (YEA!!!!!)
Due to high demand, Big Team Skirmish will be making its Matchmaking premiere in Monday’s update, replacing the current Team Objective playlist. We have chosen to offer 8 vs. 8 objective as a separate offering from Big Team Infinity Slayer so as to not disrupt our most popular playlist. However, we’ll monitor population and trends so that we can react accordingly. The following 8 vs. 8 game modes will be offered when the playlists launches:

Big Team CTF – Longbow, Ragnarok, Complex
Big Team King of the Hill – Exile, Longbow
Big Team Regicide – Complex, Settler

HFFL: The only thing I’m bummed about is that Team Objective keeps getting pushed aside. We MUST have a 4v4 Team Objective playlist. The only reason why the current one doesn’t do so well is that it’s 6v6. Get back to the normal 4v4 team size and I’ll bet we see that playlist rise in population again.

Continuing on is a new gametype within an existing playlist. HIVEMIND….ooohhh SCARY!

Flood Updates 
Also coming next week is an infectiously fun Flood update. We’ve teamed up with the Community Cartographers and Flood fanatics to deliver a new game type and accompanying maps. The new game type, Hivemind, adds a brand-new experience to the playlist. To give you some insight into the development of this game type, I figured it’d be best to talk to the Cartographers themselves and allow them to explain the settings and project overall. Below is a note from Alzarahn and a few others who assisted in the development of Hivemind.

“I started by looking for a subsection of the community that focused on Flood content. This search led me to The Halo Forge Epidemic, The MK25 Clan, and various independent Flood forgers. I gathered together a group with a firm knowledge of Flood’s gameplay balances and core concepts, with the goal of creating a singular, fresh new game type for the Flood playlist.

We endeavored together to create a Flood game type in which a player did not feel disadvantaged for spawning as either Flood or human; a balance between the two was crucial. The idea of a Flood player killing in two hits was adopted early on, along with the removal of Armor Abilities and the choice of every human’s starting weapon, the beloved MA5D Assault Rifle. Concepts such as Initial and Random Ordnance as on-map weapon pick-ups, along with smaller changes to base player settings, were continually adjusted as we proceeded with community map testing.

Many great community Flood maps were polished to compliment the game type, which we eventually dubbed “Hivemind” in honor of how it was developed. I could spend hours describing the setup and core concepts of this particular game type, but I’ll allow some of these community Flood developers to share what they believe makes Hivemind great:

“Hivemind gives humans a second chance to stay alive, while the default Flood is a one-lunge kill. This change increases the amount of time players get to spend on each map. Overall, it’s a very balanced experience for the humans and Flood.” – NARB GUY

“I truly enjoy the strategic aspects that this game type adds by allowing players to gather their own weapons throughout the map, not to mention that a two-hit Flood game type makes for a survivable and enjoyable environment for players.” – Robius5991

I hope in the days to come that you can see the fruits of our labor and that the community is pleased with both what we’ve tried to create, and how we chose to create it. I’ll see you in the playlist, dead or alive.”

– Alzarahn

HFFL: Want to check out the maps for this new gametype? Click the links below to download!
Payload by Narb Guy
Drillsite by Pa1nts
Temple by Mr Pokephile
Repression by Auxi Klutch

Dominion
We’ve also been working on an update to the Dominion playlist. For starters, we have modified the resupply of the bases to provide mostly Loadout weapons and grenades rather than a large number of power weapons. Also, we’ve added a brand-new game type named Lockdown. This new mode focuses the action on one central base that both teams must fight to control. The scoring settings are as follows:

• Score to win: 100
• Capture Points: 0
• Standard Capture Time: 1
• Fortified Capture Time: 5
• Fortify Points: 0
• Fortify Time: 15
• Resupply Points: 10
• Resupply Frequency: 25
• Last Stand: False

HFFL: Okay, this sounds cool. Certainly lots of intense fighting over ONE location! I can see this coming to a standstill on more than one occasion though.

Updated weapon and power-up respawns across the following maps in Dominion:
Exile
Overshield near Blue spawn
• Repawns in 90 sec (86 in Forge)
Sticky Detonator above Red spawn
• Respawns in 120 sec (116 in Forge)

Longbow
Shotgun near each spawn
• Respawns in 120 sec (116 in Forge)
Rocket Launcher on back beach in between Alpha and Charlie
• Respawns in 120 sec (116 in Forge)

Meltdown
Needlers in each teleporter bunker
• Respawns in 60 sec (56 in Forge)
Fuel Rod Cannon on main bridge
• Respawns in 120 sec (116 in Forge)

Vortex
Concussion Rifle near Red spawn
• Respawns in 120 sec (116 in Forge)
Sniper Rifle near Blue spawn
• Respawns in 120 sec (116 in Forge)
Energy Sword underneath Bravo
• Respawns in 120 sec (116 in Forge)

Additionally, we’ve optimized spawns on Haven (removed the “ditch” spawns on bottom Open Ramp), fixed a rotating ordnance issue on Simplex, and updated voting options in Infinity Slayer, SWAT and Big Team Infinity Slayer to include an on-disk map in the first slot to allow for the best experiences for split-screen players and optimized overall map variety.

Action Sack’s Mini Slayer will also be receiving a new map on Monday. The map, appropriately named Napoleon, uses a blocked-off section of Complex’s central cliff-side base and provides compact, arena-esque chaos to tickle your Mini Slayer fancy.

HFFL: I submitted four mini-slayer maps to 343. Hopefully, they’ll add one or more of these into rotation at some point. I didn’t expect them to be put in so soon as I’m sure they want to play test them first and fix any issue that might arise. Here’s hoping though that they pick one of mine. I’d be extremely honored and excited to see one of my maps in official matchmaking rotation!

And finally, the bulletin ends with the weekly Screenshot Spotlight. This week’s subject: MANTIS!

To read the full bulletin (though this week I included much of it here) and to see the gallery of Mantis images, go to the official site.

-Sal

Fan Made Master Chief statues!

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Jason Evans a new subscriber to HFFL forward on pics of his two sculpts of Master Chief. Both were made using apoxy. Not sure if the bronze colored one is actual bronze or bronze paint.

Either way the sculpts are very well detailed.

Jason Evans Master Chief Sculpt Front

Jason Evans Master Chief Sculpt Back

Jason Evans Master Chief Sculpt faux BRONZEJason has a deviantart page where these pictures are also shown.

Thanks for sharing your nicely sculpted and very detailed statues and welcome to HFFL!

-Sal

 

 

Goodwill Hunter’s amazing Covenant Cruiser custom from Mega Bloks.

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Once again Goodwill Hunter knocks it out of the park and creates a fantastic custom build out of Mega Bloks. Unlike my creations which are done from one set of Mega Bloks only, GWH has the good fortune to be able to make his out of several sets. Rather than me go on about this awesome build, I’ll let him tell you about it in his words. I’ll interject comments along the way.

Covenant CCS-class Battlecruiser Custom Build 

This idea to try this build popped into my head when the Phantom sets went on sale for $15 at Groupon a while back. Unlike Sal’s recent single-set build, 2 Phantoms and a pair of Covenant Anti-air sets ended up providing most of the bloks for this build, along with the usual mix of bits and pieces left over from previous builds. The concept from the beginning was to stagger sets of curved bloks to approximate the organic look and feel of the Battlecruiser design…I think this approach was for the most part successful. 

HFFL: I missed out on that sale or I’d have pounced on it! LOL

1-front 3-4 SB
I started by creating the basic outline of the ship in grey plates, for which the quarter-circle plates from the AA set were essential. The roughly triangular grey plates from the Wraith were also key in completing the narrower part of the body as well as the rear propulsion pod.
HFFL: This is a great way to start a custom build. Getting your starting layer figured out makes the build much easier to complete.
2-top rear 3-4 SB
Similar to the Scarab build, the actual size of the Battlecruiser was determined in large part by the head piece from the Phantom.
HFFL: It’s funny that GWH mentions this as I’m working on a Covenant Super Cruiser (using only one Phantom) with the idea of using the head piece as the starting point.
3-front 3-4 port
Once the overall length and width were set, it was just a matter of filling out the top and bottom in line with the guide images I used. 
4-various views SIDE
Here are a few of the guide images I used as a reference:
HFFL: Below are in fact the very same reference pics I used for my custom as well. Great source material!
5-reference pics
Most of the structural strength in this build comes from the layer of bloks sandwiched between the original outline plates and another slightly smaller layer of plates on the bottom of the ship. Edging this layer with angled-bottom grey bloks helped maintain the organic feel of the build. 6-fron 3-4 SB bottom
Lots of fun detail on the bottom of the ship, including the forward fins, glassing weapon, lights, and the piping to the engines.7-rear 3-4 SC bottom
A pair of Sabre exhausts left over from the Broadsword build, accented with clear blue hubs, made the perfect engines for the Battlecruiser. 8-rear most 3-4 ENGINE detail
As I was finishing this build, I had a chance to show it to a few new friends who are familiar with Halo. They seemed to like it, but one of them asked, “Where does the pilot go?” Given its scale, I hadn’t really thought about a pilot, but looking at what Mega did with the FUD and what I ended up doing with the Infinity build, it seemed like a fair question. There was really only one place that made sense and would work with how the ship was built, so I squeezed in a control center and an Elite pilot at the front of the ship. While wildly out of scale, it definitely makes the build more fun, so thanks for the idea guys! 9-cockpit with pilot
Really happy with how this build turned out, and I was surprised at how sturdy it ended up being given its relative length and narrowness. But as always, if you’re so inclined, I’d love to hear what you think…thanks!
HFFL: I’m pretty happy with it too! LOL I wish I had the extra funds to build something like this. Hopefully Mega Bloks will come out with an official set of this ship.

GWH goes on to say, “this build clocks in at 26-1/2 inches, nose to tail.” Folks on the bloks.hyperboard (where I found this at) asked GWH for a comparison pic. At the time of this writing he hadn’t yet put one up, so put together a quick one using my FUD and two custom Cruiser. (Forgive me of the bad hack job of a crop on the FUD, it was late when I did this and wanted to get it out there.) The ships are to scale with each other (though not in the Halo-verse).

FUD-Covie Cruiser custom comparisons

The above graphic shows the official Forward Unto Dawn set from Mega Bloks, GWH’s custom Covie Cruiser, my cruiser I wrote about a week ago, and a much smaller mini cruiser I made last year.

I applaud GWH for his build. He always has some great customs.

I did get some negativity over this though. A person on that collecting forum e-mailed me a quick but mean e-mail stating:

“Goodwill Hunter totally kicked your ass! His cruiser beats yours anyday”

Folks, I’m not in a competition with GWH here (or anywhere…). I create my customs from one set, he from multiple sets. Even if it were a case of just one set each, it’s still not a competition. If it were, I’d never feature his stuff here. I hope you good readers know that I enjoy sharing (with permission) other peoples Halo related work, be that Mega Bloks customs, artwork, videos, etc.

While I of course enjoy being able to show my own stuff, it would be rather narrow minded of me to do only that. Through this blog I seek to share the whole of the Halo community, not self promote.

-Sal

Master Chief custom blue 6ft tall statue available…

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Got a spare $3,000? Then head on over to eBay where you can find this 6 foot tall custom blue painted Master Chief statue.

$(KGrHqR,!nYFG2Qo)dmwBRyKl3gP-g~~60_57$T2eC16h,!)kE9s4,Bu0EBRyKlURiiQ~~60_57$(KGrHqR,!pIFHHmT!rgjBRyKloWek!~~60_57

Link to auction: Rare 6ft Tall Master Chief Halo Statue

Whew, WAY to rich for my blood. Besides, I have the 3ft version of this and am pretty content. No way I’d pay $3k for this.

I’d like to thank Tom Garrett of HaloCollector on facebook for posting this.

-Sal

Halo Fan Friday League

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Starting this Friday June 28, I’ll be having a weekly HFFL gaming night in Halo 4. The time will run from 8-10pm EST.

Matchmaking will be the usual games played, though I may incorporate some custom games. If you’d like to join in on the fun, just send me an invite via XBOX Live on that Friday.

This is for blog subscribers, twitter and facebook friends and followers only. The idea is for me to get to know YOU folks better. So please, do not bring along a friend that isn’t registered at one of the three listed above (unless they register before Friday).

Hope to see YOU there!

-Sal

Microsoft Builds A Mountain On The Farm To Beat Sony

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The following is an article posted on forbes.com today.

The battle between the new generation of gaming consoles from Microsoft MSFT -1.13% (MSFT) and Sony (SNE) is on.  Sony won round one when Microsoft tried to impose its highly unpopular restrictions on used game sales and internet connectivity on Xbox One.  Microsoft has tried to neutralize Sony’s advantage by rescinding the restrictions.

Microsoft is counting on what it’s calling “Project Mountain” to help Xbox One beat PS4 from Sony.  Project Mountain is a massive data center to be based in West Des Moines, Iowa.  The Des Moines Register  reports that the Iowa Economic Development Authority Board has approved $20 million in tax credits for Project Mountain.  Microsoft will initially invest $700 million in Project Mountain and later on push it to $1 billion.  Christian Belady of Microsoft said, “The expansion supports the growing demand for Microsoft’s cloud services.” The project represents “our latest in efficient data center thinking.”

Microsoft had earlier said that Xbox One would be supported by more than 300,000 cloud servers.  Now we know that these cloud servers are part of Project Mountain.

Parts of Microsoft’s strategy can be gleaned by an interview with Matt Booty, General Manager of Redmond Game Studios, published in Ars Technica.  Booty said, “Things that I would call latency-sensitive would be reactions to animations in a shooter, reactions to hits and shots in a racing game, reactions to collisions. Those things you need to have happen immediately and on frame and in sync with your controller. There are some things in a video game world, though, that don’t necessarily need to be updated every frame or don’t change that much in reaction to what’s going on.”

There is an obvious question about such heavy dependence on cloud servers in gaming because traditionally cloud servers have produced a lag.  Gamers certainly do not want a lag.

Part of the controversy surrounding Xbox One was the requirement for Xbox One to connect to the internet at least once a day.  Now Microsoft has rescinded that requirement but the open question is how well will the games work on Xbox One if there is no internet connection in view of the heavy dependence  of Xbox One on cloud?  What will happen if the internet connection is slow?  Will gamers with a slow connection get a lousy experience?

Sony did a masterful job of attacking Microsoft at E3 Conference in Los Angeles when Microsoft stumbled on digital right management (DRM) requirements for Xbox One.  It is yet to be seen if Sony PS4 can capitalize on obvious potential issues on Xbox One due to heavy cloud reliance.

Sony has purchased Gaikai, a cloud gaming service, for $380 million. It is not clear how Sony plans to use Gaikai with PS4.

In terms of movement in stocks of Sony and Microsoft, in the medium-term the battle between Xbox One and PS4 will have some impact.  In the short-term, Microsoft stock will be driven by the speculation of Steve Ballmerengineering a restructuring.  Short-term movements in Sony stocks will be dictated by the exchange rate between the U. S. dollar and the Japanese yen as well as speculation related to activist investor Dan Loeb’s proposal to restructure Sony.

GameStop GME -1.86% (GME) stock, the king of used game sales, has benefited by Microsoft giving into the gamers’ demands of mostly unrestricted used game sales. As Xbox One’s heavy reliance on cloud gets highlighted, it will create some conviction on the part of those who are short GameStop stock about holes in the long-term story of GameStop.  Traditionally GameStop has driven much of its revenues from its retail stores buying and selling games.  As a result, the expected short squeeze in GameStop stock may not materialize.  As of May 31, 2013, 34.90 million shares of GameStop were sold short; float is only 114.97 million and the short ratio is 8.70.

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HFFL: Hmm, I should hope that 300,000 servers is enough to fill the need of games being played…

Looking for Commander Sarah Palmer Art (non-vulgar)

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In light of Halo: Spartan Assault coming next month, I’d like to showcase art depicting the UNSC Infinity’s Spartan Commander, Sarah Palmer.

I looked on deviantart.com and found this:

sarah_palmer_by_grandbigbird-d5xf28isource link

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to create some form of artwork (non-vulgar) that prominently features Sarah Palmer. You can use whatever medium you like, but it must be submitted in .jpg format to me. To enter, send me an e-mail to [email protected] and I’ll showcase it here on the blog.

-Sal

Working on a cool new project…

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Okay so last week I asked for help regarding business who have partnered with 343 in the past. Now I’m moving on to phase two of this project. This is the development phase. I should hopefully finish this within the week, then it’s on to phase three, the “pitch.”

From there it will be in 343’s hands. For now I can’t go into further detail. Believe me, it bugs me that I can’t tell you all just yet.However, when/if I can, I will let you know as is early as possible.

So will multiplayer become DLC in the future?

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Here’s a thought folks and hear me out….

With Microsoft’s reversal on the DRM policy for the XBOX One, what if they considered making anything that isn’t CAMPAIGN in their exclusive titles DLC?

For instance, imagine the next Halo game being campaign only. Then to play multiplayer you have to BUY that separately as DLC.

I can see this as a way for developers (not just MS, but Sony and 3rd parties) making more money. Want to buy the game, sure, you get CAMPAIGN ONLY. Want those multiplayer experiences though, you have to pay EXTRA for it. And of course don’t expect games to become cheaper due to that. Both MS and Sony know we consumers are now used to the $60 per game pricepoint, so that will stay.

So what would this mean? Well, those who buy games only for campaign would still have that. But those of us (and I’d say it’s the majority of gamers) who buy for multiplayer/matchmaking) we’d have to shell out more money. Since this can ONLY be sold as new, places like Gamestop wouldn’t be able to undercut the developers. Gamestop would still get money from initial sales of games and a little bit from resale, but the larger portion would go to the developers. Even if Gamestop were to sell CODES for multiplayer in games, it’s still that initial sale in a sense. So again, the devs would get more money.

Would this piss we gamers off? You bet. However if the big guns like MS and Sony both adopted this business model together, then we’d have no choice on consoles (yes PC, but I’m not talking about that…).

To take this a step further, let’s say multiplayer becomes a one-time DLC fee, say $30. What would stop MS and Sony eventually going to a pay PER play for multiplayer? Nothing super expensive, say 25 cents US per hour. Doesn’t sound like much, but when you consider the MANY hours people put into multiplayer that would really add up over time.

Whew, maybe I shouldn’t have thought out loud on this. I hope MS/Sony doesn’t read this article…

-Sal

XBOX Employee heartbroken over the loss of DRM.

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Okay, I think you all know how I felt about this. However, given that I did a podcast with Podtacular last night to discuss this, I agreed that there could be a compromise to allowing DRM on the XBOX One.

Having said that one of the features that the host “Dust Storm” and the other guest “Drax” were excited about and let me know what it meant turns out to be something of a farce. Not that those fellows were lying, but rather their interpretation of what “Family Sharing” was to be.

In a blog post from a Microsoft employee, the employee explains how Family Sharing was going to work. From having talked with several friends over XBOX Live about this, those friends thought it was a way to share your whole game library with up to 10 people. While that is true…it is only to a point. Most of my friends thought this meant you could share those games “forever.” That is NOT the case.

The following is the statement in which the Microsoft employee talks about what Family Sharing was going to be. I’ve underlined the KEY sentences so you can see where this was going to go wrong. In the case of other color text, that’s me making a comment within the following paragraph)

First is family sharing, this feature is near and dear to me and I truly felt it would have helped the industry grow and make both gamers and developers happy. The premise is simple and elegant, when you buy your games for Xbox One, you can set any of them to be part of your shared library. Anyone who you deem to be family had access to these games regardless of where they are in the world. There was never any catch to that, they didn’t have to share the same billing address or physical address it could be anyone. When your family member accesses any of your games, they’re placed into a special demo mode This demo mode in most cases would be the full game with a . This allowed the person to play the game, get familiar with it then make a purchase if they wanted to. When the time limit was up they would automatically be prompted to the Marketplace so that they may order it if liked the game. (See folks, this was NEVER going to be about completely sharing games with your family for good, essentially sharing purchases…Your family was going to have to BUY the game past the demo mode!!!)

HFFL: See, Microsoft was STILL trying to sell you on something without giving the full details. Now this employee who is heartbroken has let slip another detail that was MISLEADING the general public. You want evidence of that? Go listne to the podcast I did last night. You’ll hear both Dust Storm and Drax talk about sharing their games via Family Sharing. Drax in particular about buying a game and sharing it with a friend to play multiplayer. At no point did he think this was going to be on a limited basis. Now I do not make that comment to call him out. Rather, it’s to show the underpinning of Microsoft’s PR nightmare and show how they were hiding facts. By only sharing HALF the story, they had hoped to get gamers excited about the new DRM policy. By the time the truth would have been leaked, I’m pretty sure MS was banking on many of those who pre-ordered would simply continue on since they had already gone through the motion of pre-ordering.

The employee goes on to talk about another feature not talked about. Social Media within the XBOX One. No, I’m not talking Facebook or Twitter, though the employee states those options were still within the XBOX One. Rather a social media aspect that was being built right into the XBOX. See, THIS is the kind of thing I and I’m sure many other gamers would have liked to have known. Is it that it wasn’t ready to show at the reveal or E3? Fine, you can still talk about the feature. Is it that it wasn’t going to be ready for the XBOX One day one launch? No worries, let us know that it will be available after launch and a relative time as to when it would have been implemented. Personally, I don’t see a reason why THIS still can’t be instituted into the XBOX. If they don’t have that available, to me it shows that in a way, this is MS “punishing” the community by voting down it’s DRM policy.

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Do I feel sorry for Microsoft? No. They make MAJOR scratch, money dinero, bank, greenbacks. Am I concerned for the small time developer? In part yes. But I’m never going to go back on believing that being able to buy and sell used games is a benefit to the gamer.

This said, I definitely see a rise in DLC/Season passes and the like being instituted into more games. In fact, I can almost see where multiplayer portions of games become additional DLC that you have to pay for instead of being included. Yes, you’ll get the campaign of the game, but if you want that continued experience in the form of multiplayer, you’ll have to pay for that. In this way, the developer would make the money they are losing. Now, that said, are campaign only games worth $60? Some yes, most NO. Would we see the price come down for games then? Hell no. You know the gamign industry and hell any industry for that matter isn’t going to LOWER prices. Especially when they know the consumer is used to paying a certain amount for a product (even if that product becomes LESS than what was sold previously).

-Sal