Some people really just don’t need the "Halo 3" Legendary Edition.
While not an issue for the majority of the people that bought "Halo 3" earlier this week, getting that Legendary Edition home can be a hassle. Those that live in major metropolitan areas -- particularly ones with high crime rates -- where mass transportation is the only form of reasonable transportation, how do you get your shiny new purchase home?
Posted 9/25/07 2:24 pm EST by Jason Cipriano in bioshock, Cipriano Achievement Thermometer, halo, Smash Bros. Brawl, Wii, Xbox 360
Two weeks in and things are not going as well as I had expected.
I completely understand that 10,000 achievement points in twelve weeks is a bit of a lofty goal, but I figured I’d be able to squeak out about 1,000 points a week for the first 10 weeks, and then be done with a fortnight to spare. It’s not looking like that’s going to happen. But, really, what difference does that make? You’re playing "Halo 3."
I’ve spent the last two weeks working my way through "BioShock." While it is easily one of the best games that I’ve played this year, it took me about a week longer than I expected to finish, and I didn’t even get the full 1,000 points, finishing with a respectable 950. I also chalked up a small handful of extra points from the Genesis classic, "Sonic the Hedgehog 2," and I ended the week with a meagerly fruitful hour or so of "Halo 3."
My total for the week clocks in at 690, and over the past two weeks I have a total of 1,250 points, which is clearly under my 2,000 point expectation, and which is resulting in me being forced reexamine my gameplay plan for the next 10 weeks.
These are the strategies I used:
Posted 9/24/07 1:31 am EST by Stephen Totilo in FPS, halo, microsoft, Top Entries, Xbox 360
It would be so easy to write a "Halo 3" review. But I won’t.
You can go elsewhere to read how good the game is (though, to finally answer some of the commenters on my recent "Halo"/"Halo 2" binge post, the new game is way more to my liking than the first two).
So go elsewhere to read reviews of "Halo 3." Stay here to read Bungie’s review of how I played "Halo 3."
Without fear of spoilers -- which will be clearly noted -- hit the jump to find out how I did and what it's like to play a major game while one of the people behind it is watching. You'll also learn what sound not to make while playing "Halo 3" in front of a Bungie rep as well as the surprising nature of the game's toughest room.
And you'll learn why never to "John Woo" it.
(Note that all screenshots in this post were taken by me, using "Halo 3," an Xbox 360 and Bungie.net. They all depict scenes from my play-through. I’m the Arbiter. N’Gai is Master Chief. Even better, if you want to watch the final four hours of my and N'Gai's session of the game, you can use the same tools listed above. Log onto Bungie's site, look up my Gamertag, StephenMTV, and download the runs your system. The game's Theater will render the runs. With your controller, you will be able to fly through the levels with a free camera, watching the action from any angle. Send me screenshots of all the mistakes I made.)
Posted 9/21/07 4:38 pm EST by Stephen Totilo in halo, Multiplayer Originals, Publicity Stunts We Fell For, Top Entries, Video, Xbox 360
I'm not a fan of videos that feature bloggers un-boxing new products.
But...
All these other gaming blogger guys are out at the Tokyo Game Show and I'm not. No, I've been working here in New York City all week, launching the snazzy, revised MTV News and MTV Games blog you have before you. But not being with them out there in Japan makes me feel like I have some sort of responsibility -- some call of duty -- to end my work-week by showing the world the absolutely nuts, wow-they-have-a-lot-of-money package Microsoft just sent me to promote "Halo 3."
Hit the jump for pictures of everything we got.
UPDATE: We've got six minutes of video after the jump now, too!
Posted 9/18/07 6:10 pm EST by Jason Mitchell in Celebrities, Culture, FPS, halo, Multiplayer Originals, Video, Xbox 360
The game industry gave us “Lego Star Wars,” and will soon give us “Lego Batman” and “Lego Indiana Jones.” But what about “Lego Halo”? To celebrate the release of "Halo 3" we got Lego artist Nathan Sawaya to recreate Master Chief brick by brick. See how he does it…
Posted 9/13/07 11:45 am EST by Stephen Totilo in halo, The Non-Gamers In Our Lives, Top Entries, Xbox 360
On Sunday at 4pm I beat the first "Halo." On Monday at 1AM I beat "Halo 2." At an undisclosed time on Monday night I beat "Halo 3."
I write this not to brag but to publicly thank my wife, who allowed this to happen. I write this to explain what happens when you go on this kind of "Halo" binge.
I also write this to explain how I pulled this off and still managed to attend a wedding in Ithaca, more than 200 miles away from home, during this "Halo" weekend.
Hint: I have a very understanding lady in my life.
Posted 7/20/07 3:38 pm EST by Stephen Totilo in e3, halo
Some "Halo 3" questions to chew on:
How can Bungie expect people to find "Halo 3" to be both harder and easier than expected?
What steps are they taking to improve the experience of those of us who were slaughtered in the multiplayer beta?
Why won't they put bots in the game?
What does Bungie think of the complaints about graphics in the beta?
How does the size of the new game compare to that of the last two?
Which difficulty level do they want you to play the game on?
And what happened when I actually tried to play "Halo 3" at that level last week at E3?
For all the answers, and more talk on what Bungie learned from the beta, check out my E3 interview with Bungie's Frank O'Connor at MTVNews.com.
Here's a preview: "In terms of the actual game length, it's probably geometrically the biggest 'Halo,' " O'Connor said. "We found in tests [that] it's testing pretty similarly to 'Halo 1' and '2' in terms of overall game length. But we're trying to push people toward playing [the game on the] Heroic [difficulty setting], which is why we demoed that at E3. There's much more going on, and that will certainly take longer than it did on 'Halo 2.' "