Don't Blink, You Might Miss It
XboxAddict is going with a rumor that an Xbox 2 tech demo will be done at this year's E3 by Artoon, the developer of Blinx: The Timesweeper.
Death by intelligence.
But You Cannot Take My Freedom
CNN Money has a post-resignation interview with Ed Fries that looks a bit more deeply than most about why Fries is leaving Microsoft just as details for the Xbox 2 and (hopefully) the release of Halo 2 are right around the corner:
"We're kind of at the point in the project that you have to decide 'are you going to sign up for another five years for the next version or not'," he said. "That's just the natural point to look back at it and ask 'Is this what I want to do? Is everything how I want it to be?'"The departure comes after months of discussions between Fries and Bach. Fries said the company offered to change his job responsibilities in order to convince him to stay, but the two parties could not reach an agreement.
"For me, I'm looking for a situation where I have a lot of freedom around the development of our products and the way those products come to market," he said. "I've had some of that to date, but not as much as I would like."
Thanks Shacknews.
Don't... Follow... The Lights
Louis Wu of HBO warns that because of the number of attending Halo luminaries, the next HBO Junkies lanfest, to be held on January 31, is going to have slightly more restricted attendance than previous ones. In any case, you need to sign up or you've no hope of attending. As usual, of course, Blackstar of Blackstar Productions will be producing a video afterwards for those who are unable to attend (or too damn far away to attend) to watch, enjoy, and gnash their teeth to.
No, You Can't Have Fries With That
...at least, not anymore. In a move that has surprised many, but was apparently a done deal awhile, long time Microsoftie Ed Fries has resigned as head of Microsoft's Game Division.
There are already quite a variety of items up around the web; some full stories, others just mentions like this one. Here's a list of the ones we've logged so far:
- HBO
- Xbox365
- Reuters (via Yahoo News)
- Xbox Solution
Some stories have suggested that Fries will dive back into the gaming arena in some other capacity, possibly with a partnership with Microsoft.
Star Wars: Battlefront Preview
GameSpy just posted a lengthy and informative preview of Star Wars: Battlefront, which is scheduled for (simultaneous?) release on the PC, PS2 & Xbox systems. All in all the game looks like a possible winner, but given LucasArts' history of gaming it could possibly flop as well.
Learn Something New Every Day
Part Two of Xbox 2: Everything We Know is now up at IGN; as it turns out, our guess was correct: all the wish-list items were in Part One, while all the hardboiled facts are in Part Two. Facts include that the Xbox 2 will use an IBM CPU and an ATI GPU, information obviously gleaned either from a freak accident with a bowl of Alphabits and a time machine... or Microsoft press releases. Yeah, definitely the Alphabits.
The Xbox 2 should have a bigger hard drive and more memory; not much question about that. But after two pages (Part One had four) the third page of Part Two is just more blue sky wish-listing; in short, there's not much information here at all aside from the prediction that Xbox 2 games will be shown at E3, hardly a shocker as the console is now in its third year. A prediction like "Bungie will make Halo 3 for the Xbox 2" would be nice, but as it stands, no such luck.
The More You Know, The Better
IGN has put up Part One of an article entitled Xbox 2: Everything We Know. As it turns out, at least half the article is a wish list, along with a prognostication about whether or not it will come true. This must be a new definition of the word know that I wasn't previously aware of, as I had always more closely associated it with words like fact or information, rather than the phrase stuff we think would be cool, which seems to be the new usage according to IGN. Or perhaps all the information is being saved for Part Two, which is promised for January 6 but isn't up yet as far as we can see.
There was one interesting bit of information in the article, although it is uncited: although they think it would be cool if the Xbox 2 was backwards compatible, IGN is going on record saying it definitely won't be.
To my mind, that's a major mistake-- if not for any of the good economic reasons for maintaining backwards compatibility while you're trying to increase market share, but that because that means I'm going to have to keep two Xboxes in my living room if I want to play whatever Bungie game (Halo 3?) comes out for it along with Halo and Halo 2, and that just isn't right.
Aquaduct 2 To Expose Windows Fragbait
Aquaduct 2 has been announced by PhforSlayer of Postpose. Aquaduct users can now play against those using the XBConnect tunneler for Windows, as well as use a nifty new interface for listing, hosting and joining games. Aquaduct 2 should be available "soon" according to the site.
Microsoft Opens Xbox Live Survey
Microsoft is running a survey about the Xbox Live service-- what you like, what you don't like, what you play, etc etc. Technically it's attached to a 2-month free trial offer, but I'm sure they won't mind hearing from you if you're a subscriber already.There are plenty of places to fill in "other" under reasons why you're going to subscribe, or have already. Feel free to put in "Halo 2" someplace.
Halo 2, Now On Speed
This edition of Narc's Retorts isn't as long-- I promise. This one is on how XBL could be used to make speedrunning a more popular gameplay mode in Halo 2.
XBL Could Help Halo Speed Running Go Legit
Any game that continues to have an active community after other games have passed it by technologically usually does so because it is extended and used in ways that weren't necessarily originally intended.
Sometimes this is done by adding in features missing from the original-- such as the options for Internet play created by adding TCP/IP code to Marathon through the Aleph One project, or to Xbox Halo using tunelling programs like PfhorSlayer's Aquaduct.
In some cases it's using the game engine and content as a basis for completely new creative works, like the much-heralded machinima series Red vs Blue, based in the Blood Gulch level in Halo.
Sometimes it's done by modmakers, who create new skins, weapons, vehicles, levels and even entirely new scenarios in an old game engine, breathing new life into it.
Sometimes it's a much simpler process that doesn't really require any technical changes at all, but comes from playing an old game in a different way.
One of the oldest types of this kind of "expansion" is speed running-- ignoring most of the normal goals of gameplay for the sake of completing a level as quickly as possible.
The first speed runners I remember seeing were in the original Quake game, where a group known as Quake Done Quick posted the best speedrunners' times in small, downloadable files that you could put into your game recordings folder and play back at your leisure. The simple ability of the game to record the actions of players and monsters in-game in a small file that could easily be transferred on the Internet-- similar to facilities that existed in other Bungie games, like Marathon and Myth, made the whole speed running process easy and accessible to lots of gamers. Even those without the high-speed, low latency Internet connections could participate in speed-running contests. And the legitimacy of entries could be judged without putting onerous requirements on each participant, since the recording files were generally small.
I'm Back!!
The Player Will Explore This Entire World... Ouch!
A quick viewing of the Bungie-related clip from Inside the Xbox by Film Oasis, as shown on the Discovery Channel and now available for download, reveals a few points about Halo 2, the sequel:
- Everything in Halo 2 will be bump mapped, not just some things.
- Part of Halo 2 will take place during an attempt to repel Covenant invaders from a space station they are attempting to take over.
- Part of Halo 2 will take place in the "wreckage of the previous Halos". (Jaime "Case" Griesemer definitely says "Halos" in this case, intended or not.)
- Halo 2 will feature a space station that functions as a giant weapon, which can be controlled and fired by the player. (This one again comes from Lead Designer Griesemer, and there's nobody around to kick him under the table.)
The documentary has been out a while, so this information isn't new, but these are the solid bits about Halo 2 that occur in the film if you haven't seen it so far and can't manage the large download.
The Bungie Factor
James McQuillian of Film Oasis produced a show for the Discovery Channel about the Xbox entitled "The X Factor: Inside Microsoft's Xbox". One segment, about six minutes long, focuses on Bungie.
McQuillian recently made this clip available online for the Bungie community at HBO, and we've mirrored a copy here.
That's How It's Done
HBO has followed up on their September story about a video showing the Halo50K Tournament finals featuring TDT vs DM playing CTF on Battle Creek. (Who says the military has a monopoly on alphabet soup?) Video CD Productions had a streaming version back then, but now there are QuickTime and Windows Media versions, hosted at Mythica and files.bungie.org. Links are in the HBO news story. We're also mirroring the QuickTime version here at Rampancy, which is 33.5 Mb, 400 x 300 pixels; it's in our Halo Movies section and available for download from RHL. It includes player commentary.