The second in an on-going Halo Mega Bloks series, Thrill Squad, was posted today. I found it to be a LOT of fun to watch. Action, great stop motion, good effects with some humor added in.
In case you missed part one, here it is:
So do you like these vids? Yes, they promote the toys. Of course they should. Other than that though, do you like the story, action, humor?
As a fan of Halo Mega Bloks, you know I do!
-Sal
This is a reblog of an article posted today on totalxbox.com, written by Edwin Evans-Thirwell. As usual, my thoughts will be interjected in BLUE.
Here’s your enigma for today: 343 Industries is in the market for a software development engineer to help “drive the future of Halo”, a process that involves work with “external partners”. Another hint, perhaps, that talk of a third-party developed Halo 2 Anniversary reboot is more than talk?
HFFL: Okay, once again rumors crop up about a Halo 2 Anniversary. I say get on with it. If we’re getting it this year, then let’s hear SOMETHING about it. Yes, E3 is coming, but it’s still a couple months off. As well, here we are again with yet another third-party to be involved with Halo. With respect to 343, can’t they design their own franchise? Why myst they always look outside of their own studio? Is it that the talent pool isn’t as good? Or that they don’t have enough people? Or that their taking on TOO much at one time? I think it’s likely a mix of all three with the latter of the three being the biggest contributing factor.
The right candidate will help 343 with “the challenging task of ensuring our external partners are able to turn world class games into industry movers”. He or she “will be able to support external partners using a mature pipeline, drive new techniques and algorithms, take a lead on performance tuning issues and bringing passion and new ideas to the table. They will also be approachable and able to work with closely with artists and designers to understand requirements and solve problems.”
HFFL: Hmm, so this doesn’t actually sound like it’s an external partner per say, but rather a go-between/liason of the studio with those external partners.
Applicants should have “recently shipped a AAA Xbox One title”, and will be expected to “get up to speed quickly on [an] existing codebase already in production”. This suggests – and I’m stretching here, no doubt – that 343’s mostly unrevealed Halo Xbox One will be the technological basis for any hypothetical parallel projects.
HFFL: Okay, really…how many XBOX One vets are there out there right now? And how many of them have actually shipped a AAA title? Seems like a pretty small pool to get applicants from. Looks like they’re trying to steal away another person from another studio. Not at all unheard of. However, this again points to the worries by some in the Halo community that the skill needed for designing for the XBOX One isn’t fully there yet at 343. That’s worrisome if there is supposed to be a new Halo game for the One this year.
Halo Anniversary co-developers Saber Interactive and Certain Affinity are tipped to be working on Halo 2 Anniversary by a number of sources. Microsoft has stated that these and other reports are “based solely on speculation”, which isn’t quite the same thing as saying that they’re false. “Other than confirming that your Halo journey on Xbox One begins in 2014, we have made no announcements related to specific titles,” adds the statement in question.
HFFL: Again with this cryptic crap…Again, please, as a fan and consumer, I’d really like to know if something is coming out this year. It WILL impact my budget and purchasing for the XBOX One. Keep lagging on and not giving us any info and well….my money may have to go somewhere else. I’m not saying a different console, just for other things in general. I’d like to know now, not 2 months or more down the road. I do not yet have an XBOX One, so that’s $535 (includes tax) for just the console, not to mention the game and if there is any limited/legendary edition as well. Some of us are not made of money, so we DO need a large enough buffer of time to be able to save up for these things.Â
Halo 2 Anniversary rumours aside, he mention of external partners could also allude to a project at Vanguard, co-developer of the moderately well-received Halo: Spartan Assault. It could also refer to an externally developed DLC pack for Halo Xbox One, rather than a full game. Your guess is as good as mine, frankly.
HFFL: Well, while I’ve enjoyed Spartan Assault, I don’t think it warrants having a sequel. DLC pack? Um, have they looked at sales of Halo 4 DLC? AND the fact that many who bought Halo 4 DLC are still PO’ed that they can’t play that content on a regular basis? I sincerely hope it’s not either of these cases, but rather a NEW game.
343 is known to be working on at least one game that isn’t Halo Xbox One or the forthcoming Halo TV series. We’ll hear more at E3, hopefully.
HFFL: Yes, I sincerely hope so. And it MUST be not just good, not just great, but OVER THE TOP AWESOME. Anything less is really going to be deflating to the Halo community, well, at least to THIS Halo fan…
-Sal