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