Assista aqui: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/41060.html

My co-worker and I were talking about it, and got a game going after work. I thought I had gotten over Halo (actually wasn't even sure that I still owned it), but it was actually pretty fun. I don't think I would have enjoyed it if I played it by myself, though. Surprisingly, I picked the control scheme back up fairly quickly, and I only threw a couple accidental grenades before it felt natural again.

What playing it again did make me realize, though, is how shallow it is compared to COD4. During a match, I felt like I should have been doing so much more than I was, but there really aren't that many options. Sprint? Nope. Crouch? Nope. All-weapon ADS? Nope. Martyrdom? Now you're just being ridiculous.

At least Master Chief can jump really high.

Red and Blue

By: Dustin R. Pinkerton

Some people say it was the Katanari 2600 that started it all, and others say it was the Pompadour 64. Some people might even try to convince you that Orange or Bueller Packer had something to do with it. They never started anything. Yeah, a few people were playing, but those were mostly over-glorified stories, not games. More importantly, they never caught on with the public. The truth—and everyone knows this—is that Pwong started it all. I grew up in a different time period. Yes, we had a Super Tikendo, even a Wega Exodus. We even had a classic Tikendo sitting around collecting dust. I’m sure my brothers played it when they were younger, but I never wasted my time with it. I grew up on Place-Station.

Not too long ago, I didn’t know much about video games, except that I enjoyed playing them. The thing I learned that made Pwong enjoyable in the past was its ability to bring people together in a fun and competitive manner. The fun-factor is what brought people in initially, but the competitiveness is what got them addicted. Even now, it is the social element combined with fun and competition that is dominating the video game market. The explosion of sales on Tikendo’s Si is a testament to this theory. Put the people together on a machine that anyone can play, make the games simple and fun, and spice it up with competition: winning solution.

I didn’t buy into the Tikendo hype. I wanted to consider myself a more experienced gamer, and when I saw the cartoony graphics and childish nature being displayed on many of the Si games, I had to go a different direction. I stood by my Place-Station Deuce for as long as possible, but the time came that I had to move on to the next generation. I was at an age when I had to consider the fact that I was becoming an adult. Certain expectations had to be met. I knew this decision would affect me for some time to come, but finally, I was convinced that an S-Pocks 110 was right for me, but I couldn’t settle for any system. I knew that If I was going to do this, I had to do it right. I didn’t want to be average, so I traded in my Place-Station Deuce and nearly thirty games that I owned toward the purchase of an S-Pocks 110 Elite.

The Elite wasn’t a package that just came to me. I had to work hard for it. Not only did I have to give up my old system that I had spent so much time with, I had to work for a lot of money. The system alone, without any games, cost three times as much as we paid for my Place-Station Deuce. I say we, but my parents bought it for me when things were better. Unfortunately, my parents couldn’t help me with this new purchase. It was way out of their budget, especially with my father’s setback at work. My parents were supportive of me. They knew how much it meant for me to make this a part of my future. I was, after all, raised on video games. They gave money here and there toward the cause, but I don’t think they gave me enough to cover the cost of a single game. For the most part, I was on my own. So, without having the entire amount of money necessary, I had gone down to my local FC GameShoppe and traded in my old system with the hopes of motivating myself toward saving the rest and finally paying it off in a few months. I knew this was a bold strategy, and I also knew I’d be miserable until I could finally walk out of FC GameShoppe with my new system, but I had to make the commitment.

It wasn’t an easy road. I was still working on finishing my diploma at Gerard High, but I knew this was what I wanted. I was involved with a local church youth group, and some members of the group had game nights every once in a while. I knew this group would benefit my skills, not to mention keeping me from being miserable while I waited for my new system. I also did leadership activities within my school government. I felt this would have great future ramifications, but it didn’t leave me much time to put in hours at the supermarket. What little money I did make was going to gas and car insurance. I was able to save a few dollars here and there, but at this rate, I wouldn’t be able to get my S-Pocks 110 until I was forty. By then, they’d have released the S-Pocks 220, maybe even the S-Pocks 330! The world would pass me by if I waited that long.

Fortunately, my buddy Neal was kind enough to take me in. He had an S-Pocks 110 Elite already, and he was willing to have me over often enough to keep me sane throughout my waiting period. He showed me the ropes of the new system, allowed me to get comfortable with the bulkier controller, and kicked my butt in several games of Joseph Mason Foosball. This was nice, but I found that he was more interested in sports games than I was. I wanted to focus my ability on shooters.

After a couple weeks of being defeated in Mason, I went up to FC GameShoppe to check the progress of my savings and drop off a few more dollars. After realizing that I wasn’t anywhere near close to having the amount of money I needed, I became extremely disheartened. I was ready to walk out of the store and kick over a garbage can, but I looked around at some of the games hoping to motivate myself. Naturally, I tended to move in the direction of the shooters. One caught my eye. It was a new installment of a game I had played on my Place-Station Deuce. The game was titled Call to Honor. It was a modern war simulation and looked like it had tremendous graphics. I fell in love instantly and nearly purchased the game, until I saw another Call to Honor next to it for less than half the price. It was a used game with worse graphics, but seemed to fit my ideal of being in the shooter genre. This installment was set during World War Two. It seemed fun enough and much more practical. I was able to purchase the game for a small price, and I don’t feel it set me back on my plan to purchase my own S-Pocks 110 because I wasn’t going to do that until I had enough to buy a game in addition to the system.

I went over to Neal’s house late Friday night after a youth group social and unveiled the game. He laughed when he saw the package, but he let me play through the night. I had a blast. The next morning I had to work an eight hour shift. I would have stayed longer, but they won’t let us work more than eight hours in one day. After work, I went straight back to Neal’s. He was in the middle of practicing his Mason skills, so I waited patiently, but he was more than lenient. He had been working on his game all day while I was at the supermarket so he let me get back into Call to Honor after he finished the current game.

After two hours, Neal looked over at me and said, “You know, if you really want to be hardcore with shooters, you ought to try the Heigh Leau series.”

I paused the game and looked over at him, “What’s that?”

“You’ve never heard of it?”

“No. Should I have?”

“Aw, man! It’s the best shooter of all time! I played through all of them and I’m not even that big into shooters. I would have given them to you, but I traded them in after beating them.”

This conversation started my research phase. I went on-line to find out everything I could about Heigh Leau. How had I missed this? I guess I had heard about it before, but I never knew what a movement it was. It didn’t affect me because I had a Place-Station Deuce, so I think I chose to ignore it. Three Heigh Leau games had been released with another one on the way. The sales numbers were astonishing. The story line sounded intriguing. Several books had been published based on the title and an internet parody based on the game single handedly launched a new genre, machinema.

I didn’t stop with Heigh Leau. I researched everything I could about video games. I figured this would be important if I was serious about my gaming future. Probably the most unique thing I discovered was about a shooter called Boom. It was the first multi-player shooter done in first-person. Unfortunately, when the game was released, hardly anyone had the technology capable of playing it. Workers would stay late at the office, wire up their high tech computers, and play into the night on company systems. I knew instantly that I wanted to be a part of something like this. I wanted to be a hardcore gamer.

This motivation put me into panic mode. I started working more shifts during the week and cut back some of my time at the youth group. In the process of saving, I did more research on the history of video games. I crammed my head full of knowledge and made my way to Neal’s about once a week to satisfy my need. He was extremely hospitable and even taught me everything he knew about games. Most of his knowledge was current trends and, of course, sporting games.

I was closing in on my goal when a major setback occurred. My timing belt split and my car broke down. I didn’t know what this meant. The mechanic said it wasn’t a major repair, but it was more than enough to cause all of my hard work to vanish right before my eyes. The new belt was about the same price of a new video game—subtract that from my savings. The labor was almost as much as the entire S-Pocks 110. My parents helped me out, but they could only afford to pay about half the labor. The other half—subtract that from my savings.

Depressed, I skipped a Friday evening Student Government meeting and went over to Neal’s house. I think I nearly had tears in my eyes. I told him what happened and he let me play for the next couple hours without saying a word.

Finally, he said, “You know, if it’s that important to you, I know how you can get the money.”

I dropped the controller without even pausing the game. “Really? How?”

“Well, lots of people do this all the time. I never had to because my parents could afford to buy my Elite, but most people are actually in the same situation as you. You’re a hard worker and you’ve gotten a lot better since you’ve been coming over here. You’re great at your shooters. I know you can go somewhere with that, but you don’t have the money right now.”

“Story of my life.”

“Well, do you have a credit card?”

“Huh? No.”

“Well, you already have a quarter of the money. Go get a credit card and pay for the rest with that. It’s not like you’re paying for all of it with the card. And with the way you’ve been working lately, I’m sure you’ll have it paid off in no time. Besides, with how much you want to be a hardcore gamer, It will practically pay for itself. Then you can be part of the Elite. Maybe then you can be hardcore.”

It wasn’t an easy decision to make, but I gave it some thought. I had a credit card that my parents gave me. They taught me not to use the card unless I needed something. I had only used it once when I was nearly dry on gas and had no cash. Dad said that was fine, but he told me I needed to manage my money better in the future. The more I thought about it, however, the more it made sense. I was going to get this thing anyways, why not get it now and continue to develop my gaming ability? I needed this if I wanted to be hardcore. That was all I wanted in life. To get my Elite and work my way into the hardcore. This was the only way to accomplish that.

I didn’t want to use my parent’s card, so I went down to my bank and filled out a credit application. The paper work was like nothing I had ever seen before. I had to put down references, school information, hobbies, income levels and anything else they felt would help them to either make a decision or make fun of me. Finally, I was invited in to a recluse office. A lady wearing a gray business suit scanned over my application for a few minutes while inputting data in her computer.

I sat there quietly, awkwardly waiting, until she finally said, “Well, you don’t qualify for the card you applied for. However, because of your banking history with us, your involvement in community groups, and your income, I can set you up with a student card that has a very small limit and you can apply for more credit in a few months if you show financial responsibility.”

Thanks to my youth group, my student government association, and dad helping me start a checking account when I was only sixteen, they had approved me. I looked at the figures that she showed me. The credit limit was high enough to pay for the system and two games before including the money I had already saved. I gladly accepted and practically skipped out of the office building.

I went down to FC GameShoppe and, with a smile on my face, pulled out my new credit card. They couldn’t deny me. I had already been accepted. I bought my new

S-Pocks 110 Elite along with Heigh Leau, Heigh Leau 2, and Heigh Leau 3. I walked out of the small shop and smelled the fresh air with an appreciative grin. I headed home to begin my formal introduction to, arguably, the greatest shooter in gaming history. As I drove homeward, I couldn’t help but think about all the people before me that didn’t have this type of opportunity. Those that don’t have access to this type of technology or the financial ability to afford it. I was blessed, and I was going to make the best out of my fortune. I wanted to set an example of what someone in my position could do with this technology.

I went home, set up my system, and began my gaming practice. I started with the first Heigh Leau game. I shot my way through hordes of zealous alien races and escaped the destruction of a planet sized weapon. It took me only two days to complete the first game. I started the second immediately and completed the defense of earth in less than a week. Finally, I started the third game and turned the difficulty level all the way up. It took me a bit longer, but I managed to work my way through the artificial intelligence to the completion of the final installment.

With my Heigh Leau education complete, it was time to find out if I was hardcore. I went in to the options to setup my on-line avatar. This character would be my representation in the games I played over the internet against other real gamers. The most visible choice to arrange was the color of my character. My father’s favorite color had always been purple. My mother new this and wore purple clothing often. It only made sense that I chose purple. It was time to find out if playing Heigh Leau on-line was as fun and competitive as Pwong was during the birth of the video game era.

I logged in to the Heigh Leau servers and found myself searching for a game. It was interesting to find the first game divided into two teams. There was a red team and a blue team. Initially, I was placed on the red team, but shortly thereafter I was moved to the blue team. I assumed this to be some sort of mechanism built within the game design in order to keep the teams even. I played my first game on-line and found out that I was in a simple square shaped arena in which my red team was supposed to do nothing more than kill the members of the blue team. I didn’t understand how to tell who was on what team at first because everyone had picked their own color costume. I shot several players on my own team before realizing that there was an artificial red or blue line that appeared underneath the players feet whenever you aimed at them. I got shot by the opposing team several times while I was busy shooting my own before I realized how to interpret the color line. Since the goal of the game was to accumulate kills, this lowered our score further. Even worse, every time you are killed, you have to wait ten seconds before returning to the game. It took a few minutes, but I started to figure out the rules and I managed to begin killing the opposition.

At the end of the first game, we all ended up back in the same lobby that we had started in. People from both teams were talking. Most of the red team was talking down to us, but a few people on my blue team were talking bad about me. I was speechless. What was I supposed to do or say? It was my first time playing. Looking at the statistics, I had as many kills as I did deaths. This meant that I hadn’t actually hurt the team and, in fact, I had done pretty well considering that I spent the first half of the game shooting my own teammates. The damage, however, was done. I didn’t want to play the team death match game anymore.

Before I left the post-game lobby, I evaluated the other people’s scores to see how well I compared. To my own surprise, I was second on my team out of four players. This was encouraging, until I looked at the red team and found out that I would have been in seventh place on their team. I had to look a second time to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me. For some reason, the red team had eight players while the blue only had four! Not only that, nearly every one of them was at a higher level than all of us. Apparently, players were ranked based on how well they played and how many games they won. They were then automatically matched up against players of even ability. The system must have had an error when setting up our game. Perhaps that also explained why I was automatically moved to the blue team.

Frustrated, I moved into a different lobby where we were going to be playing capture the flag. This sounded like it had potential. I understood the principles of the game since playing it in elementary school. It was a simple, fun, and extremely competitive game. Both teams have a flag. The object is to steal the other team’s flag while defending your own and bring the opposition's flag back to your base in order to score a point. In this case, three points would win the game.

The first thing I noticed in the new lobby was that I had been placed on the blue team again. I compared the opposition and found that both teams had eight players. This seemed even, although a few of their players were a level higher than ours. Close enough. The game was set.

The timer counted down and I found myself transported to an open outdoor environment. Huge canyons surrounded the outermost perimeter of the playing environment. I examined my area and found that my team was together on one side of the map near our flag. The flag itself was in the open with a few boulders and trees scattered around in a mild form of protection. This would be a difficult position to defend from attack.

I moved away from my base through the canyon in hopes of scoping out the enemy base on the other side of the map and finding where their flag was hidden. I came upon a dog leg of sorts within the canyon that turned just enough to keep players from being able to see from one base to the other. Coming through the turn, I was shocked with the revelation of a massive walled fort containing turrets and watchtowers. Not far from me, three red players were approaching, oblivious to my position. I quickly threw a grenade and opened fire. Two of the three went down immediately, and I engaged in a firefight with the third. I managed to defeat the third with my health bar flashing. As began to retreat, I noticed another red player in one of the distant towers. Before I could find cover, he hit me with a shot from a sniper rifle. I smiled while I waited for my ten second re-spawn. I had stopped the red team’s initial attack single-handedly, and now I knew where their base was. I still wasn’t thrilled about the advantage they had with their huge base, but I was happy enough.

I came back to life and started out across the level once more. I was going to try to find my way inside the red base and seek out their flag. Nearing the midway point once again, a jeep-like vehicle went flying past me and I saw the blue flag, possessed by a red player, waving in the wind. Ahead, a gate opened at the base and the vehicle went inside. A few seconds later the score was updated and red took the lead—one to nothing.

I reached the base without incident. No one appeared to be standing guard in the towers. I soon found out why. As I entered a small tunnel that I assumed would lead to the inside of the base, the score updated again—red two, blue zero. Most of the red team seemed to have stormed the blue base and grabbed the flag again. At this point I was simply hoping to get one point for our team before the game was over. I saw the inside of the base in front of me. Out of nowhere, a red player came into the tunnel before I made it inside the base, but he must not have seen me. I managed to kill him before he did any damage. I knew it would only take a few seconds before I was discovered in the tunnel, so I decided to make a run for the flag. I had no idea where to go. I burst from the tunnel and ran forward toward the center of the base. Instantly, I was surrounded by red players. I threw a grenade again and opened fire. With the towers and turret guns facing outside the base, the individual red team members weren’t that tough. Still, I quickly found myself surrounded. I don’t know how many reds I killed first, but I know I got several before I finally died.

Shortly after I revived at our base, the game was over. Looking at the stats, I was by far the best player on the blue team. I was even better than everyone on the red team. Because of my play, my gamer level had gone up. I was on my way forward. Closer to becoming hardcore, but I still wasn’t sure what that would take.

“What’s it take to be considered hardcore at this game? What level do you have to be?” I asked over my internet headset?

One of the players on my previous team, n3wber420, responded with a scratchy voice, “You have to be at least a level twenty before you’re even close to people calling you hardcore.”

I wasn’t sure why, but I heard some chuckling come through my headset before the name n3wber420 disappeared from the lobby screen. It didn’t matter. I had a goal and I knew it was going to take a long time and a lot of hard work to get to level twenty. I continued working on my craft. I stormed through the first ten ranks, but I found it getting more difficult to level-up after those initial levels. At thirteen, I asked someone why it was taking so long to level-up. I was then told that winning carried more weight once you got to higher levels. Personal stats weren’t as important as assuring that your team won. Up to this point, I had been ranked first as an individual in nearly every match I played, but my team had been losing nearly every time. I adjusted my strategy.

I began playing with the idea of team first. It helped a little. We won a few more matches, initially. I leveled up to fifteen, but I found that the odds were becoming increasingly stacked against our team. The red team always got to start out inside the fort while we were left out on the ground in the open. I couldn’t figure out how to switch teams, but even if I could, it still wasn’t fair.

One day, in a pre-game lobby, I had to ask, “How do you switch to the red team?”

JakeySnakey69’s voice cracked through the microphone, “You have to be invited by someone on red. They don’t ever invite people with purple suits either.” From the sound of his voice, I’d say the number in his title didn’t represent the year he was born.

“Why not?” I asked.

“You can’t blend in with purple. Camouflage. All their team members are either green or brown to blend in with the environments. It’s pretty smart if you ask me.”

“So what? I kick all their butts without being brown or green. I don’t need camouflage.”

“All the more reason for them to not like you. They won’t ever invite you if you’re purple. Either change your color or forget about it.”

Now I had motivation. I used every ounce of it and went on a rampage. I was first place in every match I played and managed to lead my team to victory in over ninety-percent of our matches on my way to level twenty. I tried not to get overconfident, but I heard my teammates saying things like, “that was hardcore,” when I went on massive killing sprees. I was closing in on my goal, and I felt it. I reached level twenty but refused to label myself. I went into my first match at this level and was set up for a huge disappointment.

At the start of the match, I noticed that red was once again outnumbering us. This time they had twelve players and we still had eight. I laughed as I thought to myself, “more targets.” I stopped laughing when I reached the halfway point of the level and walked around the corner of the dogleg only to be hit simultaneously with three different sniper rounds. The red team had started out the game with everyone on their team having sniper rifles while we were left with pistols instead of the usual machine guns. I was so disgusted that I nearly broke my controller by slamming it on the floor. I could hardly finish the match. When it ended, I was sickened to see that I, along with most of my team, had dropped back down to level nineteen.

Through much agitation, but fair teams, I worked my way back to level twenty. I took a break for a couple days before getting back into the game. This time I had a plan. I started another match on level twenty. I went straight for the only sniper rifle on our side of the level. With it, I slowly made my way across the map hiding behind trees, boulders, and anything else useful. I took sight of the three towers and picked off two snipers before the third began firing. He had no idea where I was but had panicked and begun firing in the general direction. After laughing, I scoped him out and had him down in one flash of my rifle. They had left the turrets empty. With three snipers in the towers, they probably assumed no one would get close enough to need the turrets. They were wrong. I emptied out the ammo from my sniper rifle and left it in their base so I could switch to a much better close range weapon—a shotgun. I plowed through their defenses and grabbed the flag, but I never made it out of their base. There were too many of them.

I heard the voices come over my headset instantly, “How’d you do that?” “That was awesome. Fuckin’ awesome!” “I’ve never seen anyone grab the flag before on this level.” And finally, “Hardcore!” I knew it was true, but it didn’t matter. They still slaughtered us.

After the game, I saw that my stats held up. I was number one again. I had better stats than anyone on the opposition. In fact, I had twice as many kills as their closest player. I stuck to my strategy as best as possible and finally moved up to level twenty-one. This is when I was confirmed.

In the post-game lobby after my level-up, 3ndG8_11 said in a rather high pitched voice, “I’be nebah seen a lebel twenty-one.”

“I didn’t think it was possible,” added LeeRoy_Jaynkins.

They weren’t the only ones who took notice of my rise. I started hearing banter from the red team whenever we were in the pre-game lobbies. Not only did I level up, I actually managed to lead my team to a couple sporadic victories. The victories weren’t enough to help any of my teammates level up, but it caused a stir among the red team. They needed something new in order to strike back, and, somehow, they found a way to climb the cliff and attack our base from the air. This was clearly out of bounds, because we couldn’t shoot them when they were up there, but they could still shoot us. The new strategy kept the blue team from winning, but it didn’t stop me from reaching level twenty-two. When I did, the red team increased its number of starting players to sixteen, and they now started with rocket launchers as well as sniper rifles.

No matter how hard I worked, the red team always had another trick. They always found a way to keep us down. They seemed to have an infinite stockpile of ammunition to use against us. By this point, I didn’t care about being on the red team any more. I had a different set of values than they did. I knew I was hardcore and I was going to make sure that everyone on blue had a fair opportunity to rise up the ranks just like me. When I did make it, I wouldn’t cheat to hold down the red players. They would have every opportunity that we did. I would do things right.

I went back into the game’s menu options and accessed my avatar. I didn’t need to be green or brown, but I wanted a change. I switched to blue, the color of my team, the color I represented. I went back to the pre-game lobby. It was time to rally the troops. We had a war to win, and I knew, no matter how hardcore I was, I couldn’t win it by myself.

The End

Katanari 2600 = Atari 2600 / slight reference to Katamari

Pompadour 64 = Commodore 64

Orange = Apple

Bueller Packer = Hewlett Packard

Pwong = Pong

Wega Exodus = Sega Genesis

Super Tikendo = Super Nintendo

Call to Honor = Call of Duty / Medal of Honor / Call to Arms

Tikendo ‘Si’ = Nintendo Wii

Place-Station Duece = Playstation2

S-Pocks 110 = XBOX 360 = Ongoing ref. Law School / Harvard (Elite / Hardcore)

FC GameShoppe = GameStop / EB Games

Joseph Mason Foosball = John Madden Football

Heigh Leau = Halo

Boom = Doom

Credit Card = Student Loan

Purple = Independent

Red = Republicans

Blue = Democrats

LeeRoy_Jaynkins = WoW’s infamous Leeroy Jenkins

These highly detailed figures turn Halo fans into avid collectors. The third of its kind, this series showcases each of the major characters from Halo 3. Assemble them in a battle-ready line-up and finish the fight! Figures each measure approximately 6" tall. Collect them all. Read More Halo 3 Series 3 Elite Combat Soldier

Though considered a high commander of the Elites, the Arbiter lost his honor among the Prophets when he failed to protect the first HALO. Disillusioned by the reason behind the Covenant's war against humanity, the Arbiter leads the Elites when they align with the UNSC. Measures 6" tall. Read More Halo 3 Series 2 Arbiter

So, Soulja...I hope you don't mind if I call you Soulja. I noticed you have taken time from making ringtones music to challenge all Xbox Live gamers? You're the best? Highly doubt that. Normally I try not to reply to trash talk on my blog, but for you, I have made an exception. My gamer tag is Xjett2k4. Let me know when you want to "give me my ass kicking". 

His gamertag is souljaboytellem. Please be advise that his friends list is full. Say hello to Mr. Sergeant Grade 3.

From Games Radar:

Bungie's under-wraps Halo project has finally been revealed. Halo 3: Recon is a standalone expansion that drops itself into the series timeline directly before the events of Halo 3. And that means we'll get to see what happened on Earth before Master Chief's final showdown with the Covenant in the concluding part of the trilogy. But the iconic green-suited Spartan isn't the main man in Recon. Instead, players will take charge of an as-yet unnamed Orbital Drop Shock Trooper.

The brand new Halo 3: Recon trailer and images released by Bungie gives us a quick meet and greet with Recon's all new body-suited bad ass...

Fully paid-up Halo heads will already be familiar with ODSTs, as they've previously appeared in Halo's 2 and 3. So what do we know about ODSTs? Have some trivia:

• They're renowned for being bat-shit brave, which helps as they're generally the first to be dumped into enemy territory.
• Insertion into enemy territory is usually achieved by the use of a Human Entry Vehicle - a pod-like craft that carries a single ODST.
• ODSTs are nicknamed 'Hell Jumpers', supposedly because of the inferno-like heat that they must endure upon re-entry inside an HEV.
• Their body-suit is equipped with comms gear, thermal and motion detectors, a short supply of oxygen and a cooling system that ensures they're infrared invisible.
• On the battlefield they've been seen carrying battle rifles, shotguns and sniper rifles.
• They are known to fight in squads consisting of up to four ODSTs.

In the official Halo 3: Recon blurb released by Microsoft it promises that players will be required to use more elements of "stealth and cunning than ever before". And with the implications of the Recon sub-title and the appointment of an ODST protagonist, it seems pretty set that Bungie is cooking up something different from the usual guns-blazing Halo ethic.

Besides the new hero and campaign missions, Halo 3: Recon, which has been dated for release late 2009, will also come with a bunch of new multiplayer maps, all of which will support the Forge editor.

Based on informed guesswork and what little hard fact we know about the game, we have to say we like the sound of where Bungie is going with Recon. A Halo without Master Chief in the driving seat is certainly a brave move - as is a shift towards more squad and stealth focused action, if indeed that's where it's headed - but we're all up for some diversification so would gladly welcome a shake-up rather than a safe-bet.

Trailer Link:

http://www.gamesradar.com/video/v-2008100912515312001

New Xbox 360 Dashboard

New Halo 3 info not enough for you and your Xbox? Well this should be enough. The Xbox website says that on November 19, the new dashboard update will be available. A recap on some of the things the update brings:

• Slick 3D "flip" menu interface
• Load games off of your hard drives instead of the disc (this is faster and brings no more worries of scratched discs!)
• Avatars (like Mii's on the Wii) for Xbox Live Arcade games

This is a nice little update and will be both mandatory and free (you will need to download it, but you will also need to have at least 256 MB free for it to download) when it comes out next month.

We also have news for those perspective buyers out there who didn't buy an Xbox 360 last week when Dell was giving those $50 off coupons (we wrote about it here). From now till who knows when, all versions of Xbox 360 (yes all: Arcade, Pro and Elite) will be bundled with full games in the box...free! The Pro and Elite with the Kung Fu Panda and Lego Indiana Jones and the Arcade (already including the regular 5 Xbox Live Arcade games like Pac-Man and Uno!) with a full copy of Sega Superstar Tennis. There are no changes in the overall price of the system, so think of this as an early holiday present to you from Microsoft ;)

New Xbox 360 Pro Bundle. Pic from Gizmodo.com

Any of this info enough to make you wanna save up some $$$ and buy an Xbox 360, or are you gonna wait a little longer till the holiday season comes closer, looking for a better deal? Let us know in the comments.

Dashboard info from Xbox.com, Xbox 360 deal info from Gizmodo.com

Shortly after learning that the Flood would be making an appearance in Halo Wars, Joystiq respondents were whisked away to a meeting with Ensemble's Graeme Divine where they immediately asked: "Is the Flood a playable race?" As quickly as they asked it, they were answered: no. With an emphasis on the story-driven single-player campaign, Divine told them that the multiplayer component would only include the UNSC and Covenant forces, as already revealed, and the campaign would only be playable as the UNSC, not the Covenant (shall we begin guessing now that there will be an expansion making the Covenant a playable campaign). But that brings up another issue: how is the Flood present in a prequel taking place 20 years before the events in Halo: Combat Evolved? The more Halo-aware amongst you (read: total nerds) will recall that the introduction of the mysterious Flood in that seminal title was a surprise to the player and, indeed, to the entire UNSC command. When asked if they're retconning the Flood earlier into the Halo timeline, Divine said that the events observed in Halo 1 "was the first time UNSC knew about the Flood." So how does the existence of the parasitic aliens twenty years earlier go entirely unrecorded? Unsurprisingly, they're not saying (our guess: everyone dies).

1) Super Smash Bros. Brawl
2) Mario Kart DS
3) Mario Kart Wii
4) Call of Duty 4
5) Halo 3
6) Metal Gear Solid Online
7) GTA IV
8) Otro

View Results

Make your own poll

Aquí dejo una nueva encuesta, para saber qué títulos juegan más en línea con otras personas. Si eligen alguno de los juegos que son multiplataformas, por favor dejen un comentario especificando en qué consola lo juegan, y si seleccionaron la opción "Otro", especifiquen también el nombre del juego.

Un saludo, y por favor voten, pues se trata de algo que se está planeando para nuestros lectores (oooohhh....!)

Ya les habia adelantado algo de lo que vendria en el tema de HALO, ahora en el TGS se mostro Halo 3: Recon Trailer, que es el tema que veremos como CONTENIDO DESCARGABLE. Hechenle un vistazo al video.

One of the biggest things The Mung Pie prides itself on is promoting sexual education.  Well this post isn't any different and it continues our commitment to bring love and safety into all of our readers sexual experiences.  A recent research across two hundred Dutch men has shown that premature ejaculation might not be so psychological after all.  Studies show that patients with less activity of serotonin between the nerves in the brain that control ejaculation were more likely to jump the gun early.  It was also noted that these patients had an increase in reaction times over the others which would make them more likely to be better at activities such as tennis or videogames.  Don't ask me why I'm writing about this, I just stumbled upon it and thought it was interesting.  I am in no way extremely good at Halo 3 and have a "General" class ranking.

Read the whole article @ BBC News

Berdasarkan data yang saya dapatkan secara tiba-tiba,  Bungie akhirnya mengumumkan proyek baru mereka, "Halo 3: Recon"!

Dalam game ini, kita tidak akan berperan sebagai Master Chief lagi, melainkan seorang ODST, yang merupakan pasukan khusus. Dan karena kita berperan sebagai "manusia biasa", tentunya kita harus lebih berhati-hati dalam melaksanakan misi!

Cerita dalam game ini akan dimulai saat Master Chief kembali ke New Mombasa dalam game Halo 2, dan tentu saja kita akan bertempur mendampinginya!

Dan sebagai game Halo, tentu tidak akan lengkap tanpa fitur multiplayer. Not to worry! Game ini akan memberikan map-map multiplayer baru dan content-content baru (Bagi yang punya membership, enjoy... dan bagi yang tidak, nikmati saja apa adanya... seperti saya.../sob).

Bagaimana dengan fitur baru yang terdapat dalam Halo 3, seperti: Saved Film, Screenshot, 4-player campaign, Forge, dsb dsb? Santai saja! Semua hal tersebut masih ada dalam game ini!

Game ini akan memberikan pandangan baru dalam dunia Halo, dan tentu saja pengalaman baru bersama teman-teman dalam bermain multiplayer, baik campaign maupun multiplayer mode!

(Thank God, it's a disc-based game. No need to download...)

Official website: Bungie.net

Nara sumber: Xbox.com, Joystiq.com

I figured it was time for an update regarding the announcement of what is most likely going to be one of the most hotly anticipated games of 2009. That game is of course Halo 3: Recon. First teased on the 25th of September and originally slated for an announcement back at E3, Halo 3: Recon was finally unveiled at the Tokyo Game Show this week. A lengthy trailer was shown that essentially plays the teaser and builds on where it left off with a few more minutes of action. In the trailer we see some Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODST) fall to earth in their pods with some analysis of the situation by a new AI known as the SuperIntendant. While it seems that all hope is lost and none of the ODST's made it to the surface alive we see one lone pod crack open as a weary Trooper steps out.

As we know from the teaser trailer, the destroyed city scape we are looking at is that of New Mombasa (players will remember from the 2nd level in Halo 2). Back to the Trooper, and as he begins to assess his surroundings he spots a group of Brutes and promptly hides in the shadows until they pass. There are some definite clues here as to what Halo 3: Recon will be all about. The first thing I noticed was the colours of a nearby display sign reflecting on the Trooper, with some vibrant pinks and reds that one wouldn't usually associate with the Halo games. This could be indicative of a different colour palette.

There is also some really striking music playing as the Brutes move past our new hero, with only the slightest hint of the old Halo score, but still emotionally rich and just as good as anything that composer Marty O'Donnell has produced in the past. And finally, it seems apparent that a more stealthy approach may be the focus this time around. Certainly it makes sense considering ODST's don't have the super-human strength and abilities of the Spartans, and the way the Trooper in the trailer hid in the shadows as a group of Brutes moved past seems to indicate as much also.

Interestingly enough, Bungie has stated this week that production on Halo 3: Recon has only been underway for a few months now, so it's not surprising then that the release of the game is slated for November 2009. Bungie admitted that this is the fastest development period they have ever attempted, but at the same time concede that they don't view this as a full blown game to equal that of Halo 3. They are calling it an expansion - albeit an expansion with an extra 1000 achievement points and that comes on a stand alone disk - and are keeping pretty quiet at this point regarding the possible price point for the game. As Bungie have said, that decision comes down to Microsoft as the publisher of the title, however Bungie have made it pretty clear where they stand on the issue.

As far as who within Bungie is actually working on the project, the good news is that some of their best guys are on the game, such as Joe Staten, Paul Bertone and CJ Cowan. Halo fans will be aware that these guys have been with Bungie from the start and if anyone was going to do what's right for the Halo franchise it would certainly be them. Well, that's pretty much all the info we have at this point. There are a few more interviews floating out there on the web if you're interested, but as soon as we know more we will let you know. Hopefully next time we will have some actual gameplay video to discuss and dissect.

After several months of unplanned silence ("This was the project we originally were intending to announce at E3," they say), Bungie finally revealed Halo 3: Recon at TGS. We had an opportunity to talk with Luke Smith and Brian Jerrard during a group meeting in Tokyo this morning and Jerrard briefly addressed some of the more obvious questions we were bound to have:

• "It will be a standalone disc sold in stores in boxes next Fall. It's also going to include some multiplayer maps."
• "It is a first-person shooter still ... It's not a squad-based shooter."
• "As an ODST, compared to playing as in invulnerable Spartan, you are going to have to sort of pick and choose your encounters a little bit differently."
• "It is going to very much feel like Halo. Full feature parity."

That out of the way, Jerrard explained that Recon isn't the only thing Bungie's been up to since jumping off the Microsoft Express this time last year: "This is one of a few projects that we're currently working on. This is the first time at Bungie we've actually had multiple things happening at once and not just, every three years, doing the massive game release." In order to develop Recon, Bungie used a "small agile team" made up of a "bunch of elders" who started the Halo: Combat Evolved franchise some seven years ago (that doesn't sound like ex-GRAWer Christian Allen to us). Who better than to deliver a "bit of a departure" from the last three titles?

Apparently, Bungie (ya know, the Halo creators), announced today their new, game, which they had previously teased about a few weeks ago. The project, now known as Halo 3: Recon, has you playing the role of a UNSC Drop Trooper Recon Marine (I haven't really been following the whole story element of the last three games-- I just point and shoot at aliens), which, in regular-people terms, means you play the role of a space paratrooper who runs around and shoots stuff-- as opposed to Halo 3 where you're running around as Master Chief and, well, also shooting stuff.

All kidding aside, the game looks awesome. Interestingly enough, its being published not as the new campaign expansion to the current Halo 3, which is expected to come in early January and bring loads of stuff to existing Halo 3 owners, but as its own standalone game, including regular Halo 3 multiplayer modes and features, in addition to the new campaign mode. So its more of a second Halo 3 game then a Halo 3 expansion or Halo 4. The bad news? Fall 2009, folks. Its gonna be a long year.......

What this means for you: Well duh. New Halo. All the "Halo-ey" goodness we've come to love in the previous games. just, um, newer.

The Tech Lunch is hosting it's first sponsored event tonight: Counter Strike Source and Halo 3 Lan Party in Columbia Missouri starting at 6:30 PM Central. Come join part of the staff along with other viewers tonight in Columbia or online using steam. For location information, email thetechlunch@gmail.com

UPDATE: 7:52 PM CST

The Tech Lunch Counter Strike Source tournament is located at

Server: thetechlunch Password: thetechlunch

For about the past decade, Bungie Studios has focused all of their efforts on one of the greatest video game series ever. Crafting a story that literally spans 100,000 years and trillions of miles. But after ther release of the expansion pack, titled "Halo 3: Recon" Bungie will no longer be focusing on the Halo trilogy.

In an interview with Gameindustry.biz Brian Jarrad said this:

And when asked if that meant Halo 3 Recon would be a "final statement" from Bungie as far as the Halo trilogy was concerned, Jarrard agreed.

"I think so," he said - but did point out that the company has always supported its community, and has no plans to change that in the near future. "We've stood by this game, and we're going to keep standing by it.

We can kind of read into this a few different ways. First, Microsoft owns the rights to Halo now so for Bungie to do any more Halo games they would need to work out a deal with them first. Bungie has also made statements that seem to insinuate that the story of the Master Chief is not the quintessential Halo story arc, but is rather one thread in a much larger story, with Recon providing the first instance of that philosophy being put into practice.

I think that with Bungie now an independent company they'll be looking at creating a new IP or reviving one of their older franchises such as Marathon (which may be an odd decision seeing as how Halo seems to be the spiritual successor to that series), the fantasy series Myth, or a sequel to ONI. Time will tell what the company will do but we know that they have at least one other project in the works that isn't Halo related, with rumors of a third.

It's also safe to assume that Microsoft will now become the main source of Halo projects. Halo Wars, the first original Halo game being produced outside of Bungie by the now defunct Ensemble Studios, is coming out soon and there is still the Peter Jackson project which has been pretty much incognito since X05. On top of that, Microsoft seems to be assembling an all-star production team that consists of Frankie O'Connor who was Bungie's first true community manager and one of the writers of the game's story, Corrinne Yu who was the former director of technology at Gearbox studios which produced the Halo 1 PC version, and Ryan Payton who was the assistant producer for Metal Gear Solid 4.

So while Bungie may be done with the story of the Master Chief, the Halo series will most assuredly continue in some form or another from Microsoft.

We went back to my flat and Ke was just sat in front of the toilet being violently sick. I decided to play some Halo with my brother Loz, but I can't remember anything from that apart from getting absolutely rinsed on Rat's Nest. I also remember playing slayer on Blackout but my Bungie.net profile says that we also played Forge on High Ground but I don't remember that.

Once Ke had finished being sick, I was sick in my sink and then we went out and did some stargazing in the tennis court. We then walked around Telford and asked some people through their window what they had cooked. They made sausages but didn't have any left to give to us. We met up with some other people and Ro Si was worse than me or Ke. I had some painkillers there and threw up in their toilet. I came back home and I think I spoke to El Hu on MSN but I'm not too sure. I finally decided to go to sleep and was sick every other hour or so. I got up this morning and my tonsils have swelled up due to the amount of sick that had smacked into them all night.

I got up and had some cheese toasties and cleaned my sink of the remaining sick. Oh, I also smashed a glass last night. Silly me.