Halo 2 or bigger friends list?

Posted on August 13, 2009 by Dust Storm

Apparently the REAL reason we cannot have larger friends list is that it would break Xbox Live play for Halo 2 (and other less played Xbox games). Patrick Klepek from G4 says:

The continued community support behind Halo 2 is the only reason Microsoft hasn’t ditched the lingering ancient Xbox Live architecture, a high-level Microsoft source confirmed to me late last week.

The source also says that a patch is not possible, or else they would have done it long ago. So when to move on and leave Halo 2 in the dust? That decision may be in the hands of gamers. If online play of Halo 2 continues at the level it is now, especially after the release of ODST, Microsoft may have no choice but to keep Live functioning for Halo 2. However, if it drops off, that may be the opening they need to go ahead with the bigger friends lists. So what is your priority? Is the fact we will soon have a Midship version in Halo 3 a deciding factor for you?

You are encouraged to let your voice be heard at the G4 article and in the Xbox Live forums.

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Podtacular Episode 200 Livestream Success

Posted on August 10, 2009 by Dust Storm

Thanks to everyone who came to the live show last night! At max, we had 30 viewers but there have been over 8000 visits to the stream in the past 24 hrs. The 200th episode is currently looping on the livestream. So you can go relive all the crazy moments anytime. Guests & Hosts included Foo mo jive, Spelchek, CapnKrunk, ChuckieJ, Lancelot and of course Dust Storm and GLewis. Also, there were a few call-ins, an epic “Keep on Fraggin'” by Rice Snak Rozz and the community, and a “moment montage” by Lilkuke. Audio version coming later this week.

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Podtacular 200 Live

Posted on August 8, 2009 by Dust Storm

Episode 200 will be broadcasted live from livestream tomorrow, August 9th at 6PM Pacific, 9PM Eastern. We would really like to see a nice turnout to the show and fill up the chat. All the regular hosts will be there along with some the old hosts and some special guests.

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Podtacular 199: Halo News Review

Posted on August 5, 2009 by Dust Storm

Shownotes

In the midst of my packing, I managed to pull together this podcast with a few guests who have all been here before: ChuckieJ, Painkilla05, and AceofSpadesCard from My Halo Life. So we had a big discussion about all the news that came out, especially about Halo Legends: Chuckie will feel the pain. So recording and release in the same night is something I hope I don’t have to do again. 90+ minutes of goodness await. Make sure to call in for 200 as we are not taking submissions. Enjoy

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:42:19 — 46.9MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS

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Podtacular 198: Callins and Tales from the Foxhole

Posted on July 30, 2009 by Dust Storm

Shownotes

So if you are one of the many faithful followers on Twitter, you would have known that this week we had the producers of Cyberline Films come join us on the podcast. Creators of My Halo Life Chickenwaffle, JakFireDragon and AceofSpades sat down with us for some lengthy humor all of which you will get to experience in this episode. Because of the duration of the show and the amount of extra editing that would have to go in, I’m presenting the full 2 and a half hours of recording: the longest Podtacular podcast to date. Consider it the summer blockbuster that’s not 200. So if you are getting any last summer vacations in, this would be great for the road. Chuckie is also back with more voicemails with an interesting song at the end. Enjoy

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:34:19 — 70.8MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS

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With the good news, comes some bad news

Posted on July 25, 2009 by Dust Storm

I figured that the news announced by Frankie at the Halo ComicCon Panel would be all we would get this week. Unfortunately this was not the case.

Someone from IGN UK apparently spiked Lars Bakken’s kool-aid, because he gave up the answer to the question fans have been wondering ever since Halo: Reach was announced, namely: is this Bungie’s last Halo game? According to Thug Lars, this is the case. Joystiq contacted Bungie about it though and they were told “we’re not ready to talk about any plans or games beyond Halo 3: ODST or Halo: Reach.” The Bungie quote does re-iterate that they are working on a new IP but Mr. Bakken told Eurogamer that the publisher will likely not be Microsoft. (none of this is mentioned in this week’s Bungie Update) Discuss here…

The next piece of news is not at all surprising but it is awfully final. Both Peter Jackson and Neill Blomkamp have stated that the Halo movie is dead. Blomkamp says he would not take part even if he was asked to again. Jackson revealed (or did we know this?) that the movie died due to internal politics between the two studios involved, not the high budget. Jackson and Blomkamp have taken the momentum from preparing for the Halo movie and put it toward District 9 which comes to theaters very soon. Halo Chronicles, a video game Jackson was to also work on, “collapsed” when the movie did. Discuss here…

As a long time Bungie fan and Halo fan, I look forward to both the new Halo content and whatever this new Bungie IP is. (Note: Marathon, Myth, ONI and Abuse aren’t “new” so it’s doubtful we will see sequels to those games anytime soon.)

UPDATE: Turns out Lars wasn’t done making big admissions to the European gaming press. No DLC has been planned for ODST though “anything’s possible”. The obvious choice would be future Firefight maps and I really hope they change their minds. Since ODST has been done for a while, they should be working on DLC right now. Perhaps another studio can make some DLC?

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Halo Universe Announcements Flurry

Posted on July 23, 2009 by Dust Storm

This week has seen several major announcements that will shape the Halo Universe for quite a while. Let’s name them off (with forum links for discussion):

Robot released Title Update 3 with much needed balance changes to warthogs, Prof. Anders and more. A map pack was also released for 800 points.

343 Industries is the entity inside of Microsoft that will manage the Halo intellectual property (IP). Frankie O’Connor is the spokesman and probably the man in charge.

As part of 343 Industries pushing forward the Halo Universe into new arenas, three things were announced:

These announcements and their implications will be discussed on Episode 199 of Podtacular, the Unofficial Halo Universe Podcast.

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