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Marvel's 'Halo: Uprising' Hardcover Collection Preview

MTV Video Games — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:31:25 +0000

By Rick Marshall

FROM SPLASH PAGE: A comic book based on one of the gaming world's most popular franchises, created by one of the comic book world's most popular writer/artist teams, Marvel Comics' "Halo: Uprising" was as near to a perfect crossover project as we tend to get in the comics and gaming scenes.

Next week, the four-issue series by the award-winning team of Marvel Universe architect Brian Michael Bendis and celebrated artist Alex Maleev ("Daredevil") hits shelves in a special hardcover edition that collects all four issues and features a variety of early art and "making of" content. Marvel has provided MTV News with an exclusive preview of some of that content -- including several inked pages showcasing Maleev's much-praised work in bringing Master Chief, The Covenant and Bendis' "Uprising" tale to life.

Find out more about the "Halo: Uprising" HC collection and get a preview of never-before-seen art over at SplashPage.MTV.com.

Microsoft's Must-Do List For 'Halo Wars'

Tracey John — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:00:49 +0000

The newest game in the "Halo" franchise is here. But it's not a first-person shooter; it's a real-time strategy game. Do you know what to do? The makers of "Halo Wars" suggested 10 things you've got to try in their "must-do" list:

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The Must-Do List For Players of "Halo Wars"
(Real-time Strategy Game for Xbox 360, March 2009)

1. Jack an enemy Wraith tank with a Spartan. This is the absolute best "money shot" in the entire game.

2. Chew through an entire enemy army with the Arbiter's Rage power. It's visceral and evil all rolled up in something never seen in a strategy game before.

3. Get a gold medal on Legendary difficulty on any scenario. This can be incredibly difficult, but it also showcases how many different/evolving strategies you have to employ against a tough opponent.

4. Field a dual Scarab army as any Covenant leader in skirmish. Build some Engineers to heal them up and you might just be able to run the entire map.

5. Play the Deathmatch skirmish mode. It's a huge adrenaline rush where you focus on what to build since all of the techs are purchased for you.

6. Go to www.halowars.com and browse the plethora of stats about all of your games. This can be an invaluable tool to figure out how to beat those pesky online foes.

7. Play the campaign in co-op with another player over Xbox Live or system link. The campaign really plays differently with two people, plus some of those elusive achievements and medals are easier to get with two folks.

8. Play a few skirmish games on Automatic difficulty. This difficulty level will change as your play gets better (or worse). It starts at 40, which is in the ballpark of Normal difficulty, and can go as high as 200. That's twice the difficulty of Legendary. How good are you?

9. Grab all the skulls in the campaign. Each campaign mission has an optional objective to kill a certain number of specific units. Complete that objective and the skull will pop in and flare itself on the minimap. Some skulls affect visual things like the "Wuv Woo" skull that makes Scarabs shoot beams of pure love and rainbows. Other skulls affect gameplay and can even increase your overall score.

10. Visit the Halo Timeline in the main menu. For the true "Halo" fans, there is a lot of lore to uncover here. Much of it unlocks as you explore and play with various parts of the game.

Toy Fair: 'Halo' Toys [photos]

Tracey John — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:30:40 +0000

At Toy Fair, we also checked out the McFarlane Toys booth to see what new "Halo" toys they had. There's more of Master Chief of course, but other series favorites as well. Check 'em out.

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Master Chief, Halo Wave 2, Series 5; October 2009

Sgt. Johnson, Halo Wave 2, Series 5; October 2009

Brute Jump Pack, Halo Wave 3, Series 6; October 2009

Flood Stalker, Halo Wave 3, Series 6; October 2009

Who Owns Web Sites For Future 'Metal Gear Solid,' 'Halo' And 'Gears of War' Sequels?

Patrick Klepek — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:00:24 +0000

After investigating the confusing back-and-forth domain name ownership with the "Killzone" series, we decided to take three platform-defining franchises -- "Metal Gear Solid," "Halo," "Gears of War" -- and see who actually owns the domain names for each game's sequels.

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Sony owns Killzone.com and Killzone3.com, but not Killzone2.com…or Killzone4.com and Killzone5.com -- but Killzone6.com is still available.

Is this an isolated case, or are other publishers as forgetful when it comes to locking down the domain names for the games they spend millions creating? Turns out it's not isolated at all -- this practice is rampant all over video games.

We chose three major franchises -- "Metal Gear Solid," "Halo," "Gears of War" -- and looked up the most commonly associated domains to see who actually owns the rights. We don't have a Nintendo franchise because Nintendo games don't usually follow a numerical sequel structure.

Did you know that Halo.com doesn't even point to anything "Halo" related? It's actually a website for HALO Branding, a company that makes merchandise for a number of companies -- MTV included, according to the website. It does have a link to what it claims is "Halo"-related gaming, but it forwards to a DELL website. Weird!

Halo2.com is less strange, forwarding to a "Halo 2" web site for the Vista version, while Halo3.com is actually about "Halo 3." It stops there, though, as Microsoft doesn't own Halo4.com, Halo5.com, Halo6.com, Halo7.com, Halo8.com or -- breathe! -- Halo9.com, but it does have some ownership connection to Halo10.com. If you want Halo11.com, however, it's all yours!

As for "Metal Gear Solid," Konami only owns the rights to MetalGearSolid.com, which forward to Kojima Productions' website. MetalGearSolid2.com, MetalGearSolid3.com, MetalGearSolid4.com, MetalGearSolid5.com, MetalGearSolid6.com, MetalGearSolid7.com are all in the hands of various entities -- but MetalGearSolid8.com is available!

"Gears of War" is in the same situation as Solid Snake, where Microsoft (or Epic Games) was only interested in grabbing the first domain and left the rest to the scavengers. GearsofWar2.com, GearsofWar3.com, GearsofWar4.com and GearsofWar5.com are registered to various individuals, while GearsofWar6.com remains untouched.

Phew, that's a lot of links.

Have you guys found any other web site anomalies?

Got a comment you can’t bring yourself to share below this post? Drop me an e-mail.

The 5 Most Notorious Multiplayer Gaming Glitches

Stephen Totilo — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:00:58 +0000

Our Multiplayer intern and multiplayer gaming expert, Sal Basile, is back for another piece about glitchy online games. Today, he's got a list of his five most notorious multiplayer glitches -- and info on what the developers and gamers did about them.

by Sal Basile

No other game has made me so enraged, so filled with hate, and yet, kept me coming back for more, as a little game called "Counter-Strike". When "Counter-Strike" first came out, it was a haven for the cheaters using aimbots (which guided their bullets right into my skull), glitchers doing the bunny hop (which allowed them to fly over my head), and exploiters who would freeze the game so I couldn't move (but they could).

Many gamers share this love-hate relationship for "Counter-Strike", which is one of the best online first-person shooters of its day -- when people aren’t cheating, that is.

Here are my Top 5 Most Notorious Multiplayer Glitches:

5. Game: "SOCOM US NAVY Seals"
Platform: Playstation 2
Developer: Zipper Interactive
Glitch: No Ladder Clipping

Then: "SOCOM" was released on August 27, 2002, and was the first online shooter to use the Playstation 2's network adapter. The Ladder glitch allowed players to slide down out of the boundaries of the map. While outside the boundaries, all solid objects appeared to be invisible and players could shoot through walls.

Now: Zipper never addressed "SOCOM"'s online play, leaving its players to be walked all over by glitchers. In addition to the numerous glitches throughout the game, online play did not have any cheat protection, allowing players to log on with Gameshark or Action Replay activated. No protection against this lead to cheaters with infinite health, ammo, and even the ability to fly. "SOCOM 2" used the DNAS to prevent cheaters from logging on, but this was bypassed shortly. "SOCOM 3" had the same problem. Now, with the recent release of "SOCOM: Confrontation" on the PS3, the cheat codes are gone, but the glitches are still rampant, leaving an all to familiar bad taste in SOCOM players' mouths.

4. Game: "Super Smash Brothers Melee"
Platform: Gamecube
Developer: HAL Laboratory
Glitch: Wave-Dashing

Then: Shortly after the Gamecube's launch, "Melee" was released on December 2, 2001. Although the game had no online play, "Super Smash Brothers Melee" quickly became Nintendo's flagship fighting game. Wave-dashing is a glitch that allowed players to slide across the floor at quick speeds. Using this glitch made it easier for players to link together moves for combos or dodge enemy attacks.

Now: Like "Halo 3"'s removal of a beloved glitch in its predecessor (see below), Nintendo released "Super Smash Brothers Brawl," which removed the Wave-Dashing glitch. This made tournament players angry but welcomed a larger crowd to its pick-up and play atmosphere.

3. Game: "Marvel vs. Capcom"
Platform: Arcade
Developer: Capcom
Glitch: Wolverine Infinite Combo Glitch

Then: Released in arcades everywhere on January 23, 1998, "Marvel vs. Capcom" became a favorite amongst arcade junkies. Many characters were capable of performing their own unbreakable infinite combos with the right dexterity and speed, but Wolverine's was the most easily-performed in the middle of a match. After killing an opponent's first character a player needed to stand behind the spawn point of an opponent's second character. There, Wolverine could achieve an at least a 99-hit unbreakable combo. Using the three different punch buttons -- combined with dashing -- Wolverine's animation could be cut short so his position would not be reset after an attack. This allowed for constant combos to be done without the character being pushed back to his original attack position.

Now: "Marvel vs. Capcom 2" was released on March 30, 2000 with all the infinite combo capabilities intact. Like The BxR "Halo" supporters, and the Wave-dashers of "Smash Brothers", "Marvel vs. Capcom" players have agreed infinite combos are a part of the game and most competitive players believe to be considered competitive you must be able to do them.

2. Game: "Goldeneye 007"
Platform: Nintendo 64
Developer: Rareware
Glitch: Invisible Mines

Then: "Goldeneye" revolutionized first person shooters on August 25, 1997. Its smooth gameplay and multiplayer deathmatch modes were a marvel of its time. This glitch allowed players to visually remove mines from where they placed them even thought the game still recorded the position as if they were still there. By putting mines on ammo boxes and then picking the ammo box up the mine becomes invisible, while still being able to be detonated.

Now: "Goldeneye"'s spiritual successor, "Perfect Dark," also had this same glitch but with more dangerous outcomes. Using turrets that could stick to glass players could place floating turrets that hovered in mid-air. These turrets did not, however, become invisible.

1. Game: "Halo 2"
Platform: Xbox
Developer: Bungie Studios
Glitch: BxR

Then: Released on November 9th, 2004, "Halo 2" brought the joys of the first "Halo"'s multiplayer to Xbox Live. The BxR glitch was known by all competitive "Halo 2" players. It is the button combination to instantly kill another player. While using a Battle Rifle, meleeing someone (B), hitting the reload button (X), and then shooting them (R) instantly kills that player. Hitting the X button canceled out the melee animation, allowing to melee and shoot in a single motion.

Now: With the release of "Halo 3," most "Halo" lovers now stick with playing "Halo" on the next-gen system. "Halo 3" removed the BxR glitch from the game, adhering more to that casual gamer rather than its competitive followers. Many lovers of "Halo 2" were enraged by this, defending the glitch, claiming it was a tactical skill to be able to do it correctly. Bungie, however, agreed it was a glitch and took it out for the third game.

Coming tomorrow: a look at the glitch situation around a major PS3 multiplayer exclusive, "Metal Gear Online."

'Halo Wars' Feels Like A 'Diablo' RTS

Patrick Klepek — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:00:26 +0000

Coming from someone who hasn't seriously played a real-time-strategy game since "StarCraft," this comparison might sound crazy, but the two early missions in the "Halo Wars" demo felt like Ensemble's simplification makes "Halo Wars" feel like a bizarre "Diablo" action game.

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Some gamers already have the two-mission "Halo Wars" demo on Xbox Live and I'm one of them. Prior to this, I hadn't seen "Halo Wars" in person and haven't touched a strategy game since "StarCraft" in the 90s. "Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3" almost converted me, but it never happened.

Maybe real-time-strategy has changed since I last visited, but while I credit Ensemble Studios for making "Halo Wars" perfectly manageable on an Xbox 360 controller -- it only took a few minutes to become comfortable with commanding units -- it didn't feel like the strategy games I remembered.

Instead, "Halo Wars" felt like an action game to me -- a strange, "Halo"-themed action game more like "Diablo" than "StarCraft." In the first two missions, you're taught the basics of base building. I used to love base building, working to construct an impenetrable fortress.

Base building does not appear to be a central tenant of "Halo Wars;" instead, it's only there to produce resources and units to make progress outside the base. There is little in the way of customization to make a base feel like your "Halo Wars" base. The "Halo Wars" website details a single turret option for defense -- at least on the USNC side -- which was an option I didn't get to play with.

But managing your home turf isn't everything. The combat in "Halo Wars" is strangely satisfying because it's familiar and yet so different. You're watching the characters and sound effects you love, but instead of being involved in the action, you're just watching series of animations play out after you click X and the A.I. goes to work. The scripted nature almost doesn't feel right, but because the early missions required no mental dexterity, I'm hopeful later "Halo Wars" missions will give me a reason to become more engaged.

These complaints could have everything to do with the demo only featuring the first few missions, but if a demo is supposed to give me a solid taste of the rest of the game, the "Halo Wars" didn't do a very good job. Ensemble's control scheme is phenomenal, but it's the rest of the game that gives me pause.

The review disc for "Halo Wars" is sitting next to me. The answers are probably there. I'll pop it in soon and let you guys know what I find.

Got a comment you can’t bring yourself to share below this post? Drop me an e-mail.

Exclusive: Watch The 'Halo' Wedding Ceremony

Tracey John — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

On January 17, gamers Desirai and John exchanged vows at their "Halo"-themed wedding with the ceremony officiated by a man dressed as Master Chief. Our own Multiplayer editor Stephen Totilo was there to witness the nuptials firsthand in Orlando, Florida. Here's his report filed at MTVNews.com, and take a look at the video to see what the special event was like.

'Halo' Wedding A Success -- 'Teammates For Life!'

Stephen Totilo — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 16:00:12 +0000

Yes, that's Master Chief officiating a wedding ceremony. I spent Saturday down here in Orlando attending Desirai Labrada and John Henry's Halo Wedding, which went off with barely any hitches. We'll have video from the wedding here and on MTV on Monday, Jan 26.

The bride entered to the "Halo 3" menu music. The backdrop of the ceremony was a basic recreation of the "Halo" map Ivory Tower. The groom had his "Halo" emblem on his tie; hers was on her dress sleeves. Their wedding favors were made to look like plasma grenades. And instead of being pronounced "man and wife," Desirai and John were declared "teammates for life."

Your reporter with the master of ceremonies.

Check back soon for our Halo wedding video. More details about the wedding can be found at A Match Made In Halo. The wedding was held at Orlando's annual Full Sail University science and gaming event, Otronicon.

As 'Halo' Wedding Nears, It's About The Little Details -- Like 'Halo' Ties

Patrick Klepek — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 19:00:02 +0000

Stephen is boarding a plane as we speak to attend the Full Sail University-backed "Halo" wedding we've been talking about for weeks. The wedding finally taking place this Saturday in Orlando, Florida. The happy couple has been updating us on the planning progress, and today we receive a glimpse into how they're adding a flavor of "Halo" to last-minute wedding details.

(Videos not viewable by users logging in from Canada or the U.K.)

Microsoft Sends Loads of Wedding Gifts To 'Halo' Couple [video]

Stephen Totilo — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:00:50 +0000

John and Desirai are getting married this Saturday in a "Halo"-themed ceremony, so guess what shows up in the mail? A Microsoft-sent gift box full of "Halo" stuff and one non-"Halo" surprise. And it includes a very nice note. Classy, Microsoft! The so-called Match Made In Halo will take place on Saturday in Orlando thanks to the support and backing of Desirai's alma mater, Full Sail University. See the video below!

(Videos not viewable by users logging in from Canada or the U.K.)