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Halo 3 Glitches, Super jumps, and other atrocitys

Thu, 17 May 2007 16:55:28 GMT

So what's the deal guys? No one has find any super jumps, advantageous glitches, or any good stuff in Halo 3?

I'm diein over here. Someone give this man a super jump or something.

If you know of any superjumps or anything that is advantageous in H3 beta, let me know. Post up a comment and let the world know. Or just email to me. I won't tell anyone ;-0

Free Halo 3 Beta download code.. Want in? Here's how..

Wed, 16 May 2007 20:17:27 GMT

So i woke up this morning and started playing halo 3 beta with Chris A. I took a short break to go fishing and exercise so I didn't feel totally worthless, and I'm going to be getting back on in just a minute.

So how is Halo 3 Beta? It's everything I wanted it to be.. It's freaking awesome. The new guns, the new vehicles, the new physics and game engine. The shields, the portable bounce thingys... It's insane. Matchmaking is awesome. It's great. I can't say enough about it.

If your reading this, you probably don't have Halo 3 Beta because you bought crackdown and it won't let you download halo 3 beta yet. You want to play, and your friend told you I'm giving away Chris A's beta invitation.

Yea. That's right. I am giving away a download code for halo 3 beta. It's virgin. It's never been used. Chris A sold his box and I have my invitation and Crackdown. I have 3 ways to get into halo 3 beta, but I'm already in. I'm not giving you Crackdown even though the game sucks and you can't download beta from it yet, but I will give an invitation code away.

All you have to do is post a comment with WHY I should give you the Halo 3 beta code. When I wake up tomorrow morning (I'll be playing Beta all night...), I will give the code to whomever gave me the best reason that they should receive the code. DO NOT forget to enter your email so I can contact you. You can also leave an AIM screen name so I could contact you faster.

So, why should I give it to you? Hm?

Crackdown Demo Time Limit Unlock

Sun, 28 Jan 2007 17:46:05 GMT

So Crackdowns demo came out this week (it's a GTA rip-off meets marval type game). It looks like an awesome game, but the demo's time limit is really annoying the crap out of me. Someone mentioned to me that I could unlock the time limit in the demo? If anyone has any idea on how to do this, please let me know...

Originally it was said that the demo would cost a little cash (or microsoft points) but I was able to download it free from xbox live marketplace..

OH and I got an email from Bungie saying that I will be receiving Halo 3 beta... I can not wait to get my hands on that.

If you weren't one of the lucky people to get in the beta the right way, some specially marked boxes of crackdown will have a Halo 3 Beta key.

crackdown demo disable time limit no time limit

Xbox 360... Good News Bad News

Wed, 27 Dec 2006 20:58:44 GMT

I've noticed for a couple months now that my CD tray on my xbox 360 has been sticking and thought about sending it in to be repaired but I didn't buy the 2 year warranty. I'll try to open the cd tray and it refuses to open. I can hear the motor trying to push the tray out for a split second and then it quits. When my xbox is doing this, I usually just say screw it and walk away for a day or so and come back and it opens fine....

Well.. Christmas day I come home and expect to play my xbox 360 (I had just gotten Tony Hawks Project 8). I turn on the xbox and it loads to the main screen, but then it locked up and the screen went pixelated. The light on the xbox flashed red with 3 of the 4 lights being lit up.

I tried everything to get it to boot up, checked the cord (it was on the right setting), checked EVERYTHING. I finally gave up after 10 or so attempts and called Microsoft..

There was actually one instance in which the 360 did start and get into Tony Hawks loading screen. Then it locked up...

Okay. Now for the good news, bad news

The good news is that Microsoft will replace ANY XBOX 360 CONSOLE withing the first year, instead of the 90 days they originally promised.

The BAD news is that the xbox 360 has so many problems that they have to give a free 1 year warranty, knowing most of them will have an issue within the first year.

Even worse, I won't have my xbox 360 for over a month, and I really, really want to play Project 8.

If your xbox is having trouble, call 1-800-4MYXBOX...

I should mention that there was a warning as to a possible problem for me. A friend and I had the xbox lock up like this twice while playing Halo 2, a month or so before the xbox finally died completly.

Wii Remote RECALL

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 22:38:08 GMT

There have been reports of several lawsuits related to the Wii strap. What Nintendo didn't say is that it's not just the straps that are breaking, it is the CONNECTION point that can also fail. The strap seems to have been designed as the original weak link, but as the new straps are rolling out, more and more people are reporting that the connection point is breaking.

There have been several new lawsuits filed relating to the Wii-mote's connection point failing and it looks like Nintendo may have a complete remote recall in the near future.

As you can see in the picture, the connection point is just a THIN strip of plastic that is not reinforced. The cheap plastic is prone to breaking when the strap does not.

With a total remote recall, Nintendo is going to loose big. I have no idea how high the losses would be, but it would be enough to really hurt their sales and their market share. The Wii is still outselling the playstation 3 and xbox 360, but can they really afford a total recall?

Either way, it will be nice to see people quit crying about their wii's breaking their TV's, or them breaking their fingers on their coffee tables.

halo 3 weapon cheat

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 19:10:53 GMT

I heard that there are going to be some interesting new weapons in Halo 3, and that there will still be a halo 3 weapon cheat like the noob combo. I have a friend with a friend who shows me some halo 3 scans and a preview. Seeing the scans and the new noob combo is really making it hard to wait for halo 3. I really, really wish I had these scans so I could post them here for you guys. Luckily, my friend showed me a couple tricks that should help me get picked as a beta tester for halo 3. I hope I get to play it before all of you suckers :-P.

I had someone ask me today if halo 3 would be available for the playstation 3. If you think that Microsoft is going to give PS3 their prized halo, your crazy. You won't even see Halo 2 for the playstation 2 or playstation 3.

Now if bungie would just tell us exactly when Halo 3 is coming out, that would be greatttt.

My Wii remote beat me and my TV up...

Sat, 16 Dec 2006 21:43:44 GMT

I have seen so many people crying lately about their wii mote slipping out of their hand and breaking their tv, the strap breaking and the remote flying into their dog, and people crying about their broken fingers or bruised wrists after hitting a near by object.

It's kind of sad when you site around crying about hurting yourself in a virtual game of baseball or bowling.

These reports are getting old and if I hear any more people crying about the wii remote strap breaking after the recall and re- release of the new 1mm remote strap, I'm going to die. Hopefully the wii remote strap breaking issues will stop with the release of the wider and stronger 1 mm wii mote strap.

I do feel for those who broke their tv, but come on, it's your own fault. I have a dog crate that I stub my toe on nearly every day and have broken my toe on in the past, and you don't see me crying on the internet about (actually, im here crying about it right now). So if you have the old wii remote with the older strap, please use this recall to your advantage and get your strap replaced for free so I do not have to hear you cry about it breaking.

Last week everyone was crying because they didn't know how to get a wii or where to find a wii. I guess I'm jealous because I don't have a wii or a wii remote to break my fingers while using. I'll catch you WiiBabys on the flip.

Before I go I just want to apologize for the really lame photochop.. It's the best I could do on my laptop with the touchpad.. I still can't use those things efficiently.

Free xbox live gold memberships

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 02:04:21 GMT

Anyone know if there is anywhere to get free xbox live gold memberships? My friend’s xbox live gold membership ran out and we need a new live membership or 2 so we can bust some heads on Halo 2. Yea, so if anyone knows of a way to get free xbox live gold trials, post up. I could also use some more free trials for my xbox 360 so I can let my friends play online with me. I’ve tried looking in the past but couldn’t find anything. My account has something like 11 months left on it but my trial account has expired (when you buy a 360 you get something like a one month trial for xbox live gold)…

Tony Hawks Project 8

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 02:03:00 GMT

Whoever gave it 2 out of 5 stars is retarted. Tony Hawk’s Project 8 is freaking awesome. The graphics and game play are awesome. I don’t think any Tony Hawk could be rated a 2 out of 5, the gameplay on every Tony Hawk game has been awesome and I’m sure any future Tony Hawk’s will be just as good. The guys who gave it a 2 out of 5 are probably 30 years old and living in their parents basement playing World of Warcraft. In the tony hawk commercial you can see 2 real skaters do a jump, and then it shows the same scene in game. I watched this with my mom and she didn’t notice that the 3rd was CG. Also, the song in the commercial is "I Should Of Known" by Million Dollar Itch. I couldn’t find the lyrics though.

My xbox 360 eats game discs like their candy

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 02:02:07 GMT

My xbox 360 just ate another fucking disc. So far I have had three $60 games ruined. I use my 360 standing up for better ventilation, and maybe this is what is causing it. The cd tray sucks, and I don’t know how it happens but the three ruined discs have gotten scratched all around the rim. You can see a picture of the damage to my Gears of War disc below. The cd has been so badly scratched that it will not play (obviously)…. When will we use something better than CD’s? This is 2006. Just let us download the games from the xbox live market or something. I’m sick of having discs replaced. If this happened to you, call the company who produced the game and make arrangements to send in your game disc. They will send you back a new disc for a small fee (much less than $60)….

EDIT: sorry about that, my camera is out of batterys. I will post the pictures tomorrow mourning.

New Halo 2 Maps for the XBOX 360

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 08:04:46 GMT

Word is that there are going to be some new Halo 2 Muliplayer Maps released exclusively to the xbox 360, meaning you will need an xbox 360 to use the new maps. I don't know if for sure if the maps will only be available for the 360, but at this time it appears so. I'm assuming if they are released only for the xbox 360, that they will be free of charge. The maps should be coming this spring.

About every matchmaking game I joined earlier had people talking about the new maps. There's been a lot of useless talk on the bungie halo 2 forums (www.bungie.net), but you can find a little information in this thread: http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=9099093

Also of slight interest are the following threads on bungie:
http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=9234172
http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=9353595
http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=9291083
http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=9151793
http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=9213418

As you can see some people are already beginning to doubt that the new maps are in fact coming out. This has been a common trend as I remember when the last map pack was released the same talk was going on in the forums and in xbox live. I am 100% positive we will see these new maps this spring around the same time as Halo 3 beta tests. Releasing the new maps will rekindle peoples interest in the Halo brand and get people off of gears of war.

Tips for finding a Nintendo Wii

Tue, 12 Dec 2006 07:19:30 GMT

If your still wondering where to get a nintendo wii, you need to check your local walmarts every mourning, early in the mourning. I had a an appointment with my doctor early this mourning and decided to go by walmart as someone told me they would have a playstation 3 in stock. Well, I went to the back and saw a PS3 and 2 Wii's. I don't know how the walmart had a playstation 3 in stock, but there were 2 Nintendo Wii 's in stock. So my advice is check all your local electronic retailers early in the mourning when everyone else is headed to work and kids are in school.

If you have a Nintendo Wii, I recommend picking up an S-Video cable. If your wondering where to get an S-Video cable for a Wii, check this site: http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-10u-49-en-70-1mwg.html

I have been told the S-Video cable for the Japanese version of the Wii will work with the American version.

I'm still kicking myself in the ass for not having the cash to grab the Wii when I was there. By the time I got back from my doctors appointment and was able to run by the bank, the Wii's and the Playstation 3 were all gone. It's amazing the PS3's are still selling for so much when you can find some stragglers on retailers shelfs.

Halo 3 Commercial Master Chiefts Helmet

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 06:49:35 GMT

There has been a lot of talk about something behind hidden in master chiefs helmets reflection. On bungie's site there is a hint at this.. you can see the image bungie posted below:

It could be bungie just messing with us. I mean, it is bungie. I don't have time tonight to enhance hundreds of frames of the commercial, but either there is frame with something hidden in it, or bungie is just messing with us about halo 3. We know they are out here reading blogs (not mine, for sure) and forums, so it might just be a time waster. But this is Bungie. There is something hidden in that commercial ad and I will find all of it tomorrow. Bungie watch out.

By the way, the reflection in the master chief helmet above is has the following text proceeding it: "

Finally, it wouldn’t be an update without a suitably themed Mr. Chief. This one is full of secret.

PS, happy birthday to Mat’s Mom. We know you went through hell. Thanks for gifting him to us, by the way. Class move."

Bungie's Website: http://www.bungie.net/News/TopStory.aspx?cid=9300

Bungie Weekly Update
Posted by Frankie at 12/8/2006 3:47 PM PST

The funniest thing about the reaction to last week’s TV commercial was probably the oft-repeated claim that the CG on the two kids looked super fake. Which is especially amusing given that the kids, and even the clumps of grass around them, were real. It was all filled with real actors in a real studio. The CG doesn’t begin until you see the Chief’s helmet for the first time.

And of course, in spite of all our attempts to be clear about the content of the commercial, some folks still claimed we were trying to pass it off as gameplay. It was not ever designed to look like gameplay. It was designed to make the Chief look like an unstoppable badass. Mission accomplished!

There was also tons of understandable confusion about the beta. If you go to www.halo3.com, to sign up for the beta, it becomes abundantly clear that it is aimed squarely at US and Canadian residents. Not to worry. This is “phase one” of the beta process. There will be other ways to get into the Halo 3 beta, and it will be open to other countries. We’ll keep you updated as we get more details – such as when you can find out if you’re in the beta, and what t do next. But basically, nothing to worry about.

But on to the matter at hand. The commercial itself. Lots of you wanted to know more, and so, we bring you more. Lots more.

First, we chatted with Ed Ulbrich, the president of Digital Domain’s commercial division.

Bungie: First off, great work Ed, the guys at Bungie were pleased as punch with the final commercial. Can you tell us a little bit about Digital Domain and what the company has achieved in the past?

Ed: As you're probably aware, Digital Domain is an award-winning, full-service digital studio and creates SPX and other visual imagery for feature films, commercials and music videos. As a pioneer in digital effects, our business units have been recognized with top industry awards, including five Academy Awards(r), multiple BAFTA awards, numerous advertising honors including 34 Clio Awards and 8 Cannes Lion Awards, and our work has even earned MTV's Music Video of the Year Award and a Grammy.

Since our beginnings in 1993, we've worked to create next generation technology and truly innovative approaches to extend the boundaries of visual effects to create seamless environments, whether it's creating the 1945 reality of sands and seas of Iwo Jima (including the thousands of troops and ships involved in the battle), as in our current work in the film Flags of our Fathers, or the impact of a new ice age in The Day After Tomorrow.

As you might not know, Digital Domain has made several extremely strategic moves over the last year to grow into new and pretty exciting areas. The company was acquired in May of this year by Wyndcrest Holdings, which includes director Michael Bay as a member. As one of the world's most successful action directors (Bad Boys, The Rock, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor and Bad Boys II), Michael understands visual excitement and how to take action to the next level. We've also hired three top executives in our industry, Mark Miller, Cliff Plumer and Kim Libreri who most recently worked with Industrial Light and Magic, who have a shared vision for convergence of media and technology that we believe can really take our industry to the next level.

Bungie: What kind of assets did Bungie supply you with for the commercial CG?

Ed: Bungie was extremely open and helpful to us. They literally opened up the studio to us and gave us an amazing view into their upcoming game, Halo 3. From the start, Bungie wanted us to give their fans a new and unique visual experience for the Halo Universe. To accomplish this, Bungie supplied us with all their models, textures, and game footage, for all of the characters, weapons, and vehicles seen in this commercial. With these files from Bungie as reference, we modeled, textured, and animated these assets to fit the demanding needs of this spot.

Bungie: What software and processes do you use to turn those assets into a CG movie?

Ed: We began with modeling Master Chief and all of the other assets you see in the spot in Maya and Lightwave. We then textured them in Deep Paint and Photoshop. After that, matte paintings of all the skies, mountains, and select terrain were done in Photoshop. We then started the animation process. For the effect we wanted, we started with motion capture that Joseph Kosinski directed. Then, based on our needs, we key framed on top of it in Maya. All of that was then pushed into lighting. We split this duty between Max/Vray and Lightwave for the characters and terrain. We used Houdini to create fx elements like the sand explosions and blue mortars, and Lightwave for the flowing grass. When all of these things were ready, we composited it into a final image using our in-house compositing software, Nuke and Autodesk's Flame.

Bungie: How did you feel about working with someone else's models and IP, and the Halo franchise generally?

Ed: Sometimes it can be difficult working with someone else's IP, but in this instance that wasn't the case. Bungie had everything together, allowing us access to really top quality models, textures and footage, and worked very, very closely with us. One of the great experiences of this project was that everyone pulled together with the common vision of creating an end product that is truly spectacular.

Bungie: What kind of similarities do you see between game production and movie-style CG creation?

Ed: For us, there's really no difference in creating visuals for games, feature films or commercials - we're in the business of making a vision real, whether it belongs to a developer or director. At Digital Domain, we're very much focused on convergence - it's something that we have been talking about for some time and we're now beginning to see it come together. Our belief is that as we create digital assets, there is an ability to easily repurpose those assets for features from games or games from features - allowing games and features to each have extremely high production values and an extremely realistic look and feel.

We've begun using in-game engines and assets to render gaming commercials - with this approach, we can provide an accurate depiction of actual game visuals and game play, because we're using actual game assets in our commercial development. And we feel that this technique may open up a new genre of feature and/or game-related films that are built in realtime engines. This kind of digital asset sharing and convergence in production really is the wave of the future, and cross development will begin to blur the lines of effects being created for features or games.

Bungie: What was the most challenging aspect of creating Starry Night?

Ed: Basically, it was time. Bungie, Microsoft, McCann Worldgroup, and Digital Domain wanted to create an unforgettable "bridge" spot in the Halo Universe. A filmic look at what Master Chief has been through in the last two games and where he is going in Halo 3. And we all needed to do it in less than five weeks! I must say, the best thing about this commercial for me, was watching everyone at Bungie, Microsoft, McCann Worldgroup, and Digital Domain pull together and giving more than they had to make this event happen. I'll never forget that.

Bungie: What are you guys working on after this?

Ed: We do have several revolutionary projects that we expect will open a few eyes. We've finished a series of commercials that will launch in January that take virtual humans to the next level. We're also working on two major features that use this technology to do things that haven't been seen in visual effects. It's all part of a substantial and ongoing R+D effort we've undertaken to make tremendous advancements in this space and bring more realistic characters to gaming. And, we are in discussions for the first converged film project with shared assets for gaming, so we do have some pretty exciting times in the months ahead.

The Chief's "bubble shield." Does it represent something used in-game? That would be telling. Although a surprising number of theories have emerged about what it would do to gameplay.

Next up was audio. Lots of folks have remarked on the lovely audio design in the spot, from the screaming explosion midway through, to the stirring Marty music in the end. Now the music is all Marty, but the sound effects were by Machine Head, and we chatted with Stephen Dewey, the Sound Designer and founder of machine head.

Bungie: Although the music is by our own Marty O'Donnell, you guys did the very interesting audio design. Can you tell us what inspired you and how that process worked? (Machine Head)

Stephen: I was inspired from the first instant of seeing this spot. For me, creating sounds that are futuristic, that have an 'I have not heard that before quality' yet are plausible to events and objects that are familiar to us humans in 2006 is the most fun I could have. This short film has an abundance of opportunities for all the things I love to do, voice manipulation, the juxtaposition of tiny sound filigree to enormous explosions, fantasy devices, good solid foley and enough time to show it all off. The process was fantastic, everyone involved was very supportive and collaborative, special thanks to Joseph Kosinski, the director and all from the agency who allowed me to run off into my sound playground. I was given some initial broad direction, then after I had made my first pass of interpreting what I saw on the screen into the sound realm, there followed a series of sit downs with Joseph and the agency team, experimenting and refining the elements of the soundtrack.

Late nights, rule breaking. Sound pranks. Kudos to Marty too for coming up with a musical score that mapped the emotional curve without bombastically overpowering the soundtrack, and to Jeff Payne for getting all the sounds to sit so well with each other in the mix.

The audio and music from the commercial were a big hit. Notably the "screaming" explosion that introduces the Chief about halfway through.

And last, but not least – we chatted with the ad agency responsible for the entirety of the project - McCann Erickson SF’s Group Creative Director, Scott Duchon.

Bungie: What was the inspiration behind the theme of the commercial?

Scott: The inspiration for the commercial came from us wanting to do something that would resonate with the Halo Nation as well as someone who only has a passing knowledge of the Halo franchise. But the idea to show a young child and then jarringly switch to a battle weary soldier came from Tim Stier. By day he's an Art Director at McCann Worldgroup, SF, by night he's a Halo fanatic. We felt this misdirect would allow for people who had no idea who Master Chief was to be able to connect with a more human side of this war, and the Master Chief’s plight, while the Halo Nation would relish the idea of seeing what goes on in the heat of battle.

Matt Priestley, currently hard at work on the ever-more impressive looking Halo 2 for Windows Vista, wanted to chime in with a quick update about the project:

We know some of you want to hear more about the online plans for Halo 2 on Windows Vista. Microsoft will soon have a lot more to say about the Live gaming and entertainment network on Windows, but what we can tell you now is that you’ll be able to play H2V online and even interact with your friends on the Xbox 360 at zero cost (although Halo 2 doesn’t support cross-platform multiplayer). Now that said, there are going to be some very tempting reasons for you to upgrade to a full paid Live Gold membership. We’re sure you want to know more, but you’ll just have to wait until Microsoft is ready to spill the beans.

Finally, it wouldn’t be an update without a suitably themed Mr. Chief. This one is full of secret.

PS, happy birthday to Mat’s Mom. We know you went through hell. Thanks for gifting him to us, by the way. Class move.

Where to get a Wii?

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 19:21:44 GMT

Anyone have an idea of where to get a Wii for under $450? I checked ebay and they are kind of high... I would really like a Wii but don't know where to look. Is there a site that tracks shipments of Wii's and can give me an idea of when to catch a Wii in stock?

If anyone knows where to find a nintendo wii, please email me. I really want to get down on some tennis, or baseball, or boxing, or golf... !!!!!!

Edit Devember 15th 2006: I signed up for one of those Refer people and complete offers and win a free wii things. If you want to try it out, visit http://wii.123stuffforfree.com

Update December 19th 2006: Only 3 more sign ups to go! Help me get a free Wii, just sign up and complete an offer! http://wii.123stuffforfree.com

if you signed up, send me an email at chrisrrutherford@gmail.com and I will make a list below of other people who still need referrals so that they can get their free wii also!

Halo 3 Commercial and hidden extras

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 02:01:32 GMT

So I saw the Halo 3 commercial a couple days ago and really don't like the idea of the shield (this is what X is going to be, it was not used in previous Halo's).... The coolest thing I have heard of is going to be the ability to reload your duel wielded weapons with the bump's on the 360's controller, though I don't know how this and the shield are going to affect game play.

Someone mentioned a possible hidden easter eggs in the Halo 3 wallpaper that can be seen here (http://www.bungie.net/images/games/Halo3/wallpapers/h3icon_1024.jpg). I have tried putting the other wallpapers over it and blended them in different ways, but I haven't come up with anything doing that. Maybe they will release a new wallpaper in the coming weeks which will reveal the secrets of this wallpaper. It wouldn't be anything new for bungie to hide a hidden message in the wallpaper as I remember there being a hidden message in a previous microsoft release. If anyone knows anything about this, hit me up and let me know.

UPDATE: someone mentioned laying the 800x600 wallpaper over the largest one, and then translate the slashes at the top into morris code? I don't know morris code so if someone could just tell me what is hidden in there, it would be greeeatttt.

Testing The Blog

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 23:43:56 GMT

This will be the text on your new blog entry. You can paste designs from Dreamweaver or MSWord or even other web pages.

Just testing out the blogging and commenting system, also the archiving system?