Channel 9 - Entries tagged with Halo

How Halo 4 is using Windows Azure Service Bus

ClemensV — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 19:20:13 GMT

On the way driving from my hotel to work this morning, I swung by 343 Industries' super-secret hidden space command facility to meet Angus, Caitie, and Hoop from Section 3, the team that creates the services backbone for the Halo game series including Halo Waypoint.

We talk about how the Halo 4 game uses Windows Azure Service Bus in various ways, including the flow of all multiplayer game statistics from the console game into Waypoint, and how Service Bus helped the Halo team dealing with the massive traffic peak occurring on and within a few days of the game title's release.

Ping 146: Ballmer speaks out, Halo movie, Kinect Playfit, Father blames Xbox LIVE

Laura Foy — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 17:44:48 GMT

This week we had the pleasure of being visited by Larry "The Lightbulb" Larsen.Check out all the goodness...

Ballmer defends the last decade [01:48]

New Direction for the Halo Movie [04:45]

Kinect Playfit [07:33]

Xbox LIVE to blame??? [10:13]

Ping 138: Halo 4, Surface 2.0, New Microsoft store, Best way to resign- EVER!

Larry Larsen, Laura Foy — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:12:19 GMT

This week we had the pleasure of being joined by the most diabolical mind on Channel 9, Larry Larsen. Actually I just looked up "diabolical" and it means "having to do with the devil". Larry doesn't have anything to do with the devil, he's just from Florida. Either way it was great to have him! Larry shared his thoughts on these stories and more:

Halo 4 launch date! [02:30]

Second generation Surface [04:30]

Microsoft store draws HUGE line [09:40]

Best. Resignation. Letter. Ever. [07:30]

Ping 124: Control Alt Compete, Salute to Vets, Halo Monument, Microsoft Translator

Laura Foy — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 21:43:12 GMT

Laura and Paul bring you the spiciest stories from Microsoft with a lot of flare and hopefully some humor. Enjoy!

Control Alt Compete

Salute to Vets

Living monument to Halo

Microsoft translator

Ping 109: Microsoft Stores, Halo & Kinect, XP Countdown, Windows 8, Mango

Laura Foy — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 05:36:53 GMT

Paul & Adam wax poetic about these stories and more:

More Microsoft Stores

Halo: Combat Evolved will use Kinect

XP Countdown

Windows 8 on Windows 7

Mango Rumors

Ping 100: HaloFest, Kinect you in Carbonite, Talking to the wall, Ping celebrates 100!

Laura Foy — Mon, 09 May 2011 21:35:47 GMT

That's right folks- Ping is celebrating its 100th episode! We hope you enjoyed every one Here's some other stuff going on this week:

HaloFest at PAX

Kinect hacks: Carnbonite you

New wall technology

Ping 75: IE9 Beta, Halo in History, Tokyo Game Show and SCRABBLE

Laura Foy — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 19:34:00 GMT

In addition to all the hot stories that you'll hear about on this episode of Ping, Paul and Laura FINALLY played that grudge match of Scrabble. Clearly, one of them cheated.

IE9 Beta rocks

Halo and classic literature?

Super Fun Happy Tokyo Game Show

Halo reach hits stores...BIG time

Halo Madness Starts in NYC

Sarah Perez — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:21:00 GMT

The launch of the next installment in the popular Halo series is almost upon us. At 12:10 AM on Tuesday, September 14th, millions of fans will at last be able to purchase Halo:Reach, the prequel to the trilogy of Halo games already released. But for those fans who live in New York City, there’s an event that can’t be missed: the Best Buy Theater in Times Square will be hosting a marquee event where fans will get to play the game just before it goes on sale, meet the creators of “Halo,” win Halo-themed prizes and experience a “surprise” musical performance.

West coast fans won’t be missing out though – at the Music Project | Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, Bungie developers will greet fans on Sept. 13th during the countdown to launch. There will also be prizes and fans will get to play the game early there, too.

Even if you’re not located in one of these cities, a number of retailers will be holding their own celebrations, including Best Buy, GameStop, Wal-Mart, Toys”R”Us and many others, so check out your own local shops for details.

What's Halo 2600?

Sarah Perez — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 15:03:00 GMT

What’s Halo 2600? It’s not the 2600th installment in the Halo series of games, actually. It’s a new (and awesome) version of Halo written for the Atari 2600 game console. Yes really! And it’s playable online right here, with multiple different difficulty levels and even a full-screen mode.

The game was created as a hobby by Ed Fries, the former, now retired, head of Microsoft Game Studios who thought the creation might appeal to the small community of Atari enthusiasts, but not many others. As it turns out, Halo 2600 is becoming a viral hit, and is getting written up in gaming blogs across the Web and even mainstream news publications. It even sports a Facebook page with nearly 1,200 fans.

On the Page’s description, it says that Halo 2600 is attempt to answer the question: “What might Halo have looked like if it was written in 1977 when the Atari 2600 was first released?"

You can find out the answer to that question for yourself, here.

Get Halo Desktop Customization Tools

Sarah Perez — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 13:30:00 GMT

With Halo:Reach’s launch only weeks away (it arrives Sept. 14th), when I came across the How-To Geek’s latest regarding a complete desktop customization guide for Halo fans, I thought it was worth sharing.

Here, one of my favorite “how-to” bloggers offers up custom wallpapers, icon packs and Halo fonts, all of which can be used to create the perfect Halo-inspired desktop. The wallpapers feature Master Chief, of course, as well as other scenes from Halo games. Also, there are several different icon packs to choose from, which work on Windows 7, Vista or XP. And if you want to go all out, there are three different Halo fonts available for download as well.

You can grab all the downloads from here.

In the meantime, while you wait for Halo:Reach, check out Halo 2600. It’s an free online version of the game, designed as if it was for the Atari 2600. Awesome!

Play Halo to Help Haiti

Sarah Perez — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:44:00 GMT

In a recent post on the Bungie blog, makers of the Halo series of videogames, the company writes they are rallying their fan community to help the Haiti relief efforts. The company is selling a special shirt where all proceeds will go to the American Red Cross. Sales from all other Bungie “swag” will also go to the Red Cross up until the end of February.

However, the easiest way to help the survivors of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake which devastated the Republic of Haiti on January 12th, is to do what video gamers already enjoy doing: play Halo. According to the post, Halo 3 and ODST players can show their support by going online and updating their appearance with a special emblem demonstrating their commitment to the cause. For every thousand that participate, Bungie will donate $100 to the Red Cross. This event will run from 1 AM PST Wednesday, 1/20, through 11:59 PM PST Thursday 1/21.

To update your character’s appearance to reflect the new emblem, do the following:

Press START
Select “SETTINGS” / “APPEARANCE”
Select “EMBLEM”
Select “Hearts” ICON, “Circle” BACKGROUND
Back out to the APPEARANCES menu and select “COLORS”
Set “EMBLEM PRIMARY” to RED (or MAROON / BRICK / ROSE depending on which game you’re playing)
Set “EMBLEM SECONDARY” to WHITE

Corrinne Yu: Principal Engine Architect, Halo Team Microsoft

Tina — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:34:00 GMT

Corrinne Yu is Principal Engine Architect at Halo Team Microsoft. She is a 1st Party Halo Lead. She is the first and only female Technical Lead of the whole Microsoft Game Studios. With almost 20 years of programming experience in large companies, she has programmed games and engines since the beginning of the 3D game industry and was an early pioneer of game engine development. She has worked as Director of Technology of several 3D game companies like ION Storm and Gearbox and was Lead Programmer of an early version of the Prey engine. She is the first female founding member of Microsoft's Direct 3D Advisory Board and Graphics Advisory Board. Besides gaming, she had programmed on the Space Shuttle Project at Rockwell International California. She had designed and conducted accelerator experiments at LINAC in California and the accelerator at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Her nuclear physics research had won her a national award from the U.S. Department of Energy. She volunteered time in the past to advise on CUDA, visual computer and GPU simulation at NVidia. She remains active on the GAB and continues to volunteer time to review the designs of new Direct 3Ds.

Halo 3 Recon Announced

Sarah Perez — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:28:00 GMT

At the Tokyo Game Show, a new release of an Xbox 360 exclusive, Halo 3 Recon, was announced. The Recon game is a standalone expansion that extends “Halo 3” with several hours of a new campaign and multiplayer gameplay. Although Recon is being released after Halo 3, it’s really a prequel that predates the events in Halo 3 while giving you a look at the Halo universe through the eyes of a new hero, a special forces ODST (Obital Drop Shock Tropper).

ODSTs are known for their courage, valor and, at times, insanity, and are among the fiercest UNSC soldiers, priding themselves on being the first unit deployed into hostile situations. While not as large or supernaturally gifted as their Spartan comrades, these “Hell Jumpers” more than compensate with their ferocious attitudes and unwavering nerve.

The new chapter will have the feel of Halo 3, but players will need to employ more stealth and cunning than before. The game is slated for a 2009 release. Go here to watch trailers.

Halo 3 Heroic Maps Free Today

Sarah Perez — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:26:00 GMT

Happy Halo Map Pack Day! As of today, Halo 3's formerly $10 set of maps, the Heroic Map Pack, is now free. This add-on lets you add new battle zones to the Halo 3 game. The pack consists of the Rat's Nest, Standoff, and Foundry maps, where players are provided with things like labyrinthine mazes (Rat's Nest) and editable objects that can be used to create a custom battlefield (Foundry). The next series of maps, the Legendary Map Pack, will be available on April 15th for 800 Microsoft Points.

Addicted to Video Games! For boys only?....hmmm

Tina — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 18:23:00 GMT

Okay, I was perusing the internet this morning and I came across this article on ABC News.com. To summarize it, they stated: When testing the brain activity of men and women playing video games, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine found that the reward centers of men's brains were far more activated than those in women's brains. "These gender differences may help explain why males are more attracted to, and more likely to become 'hooked' on video games than females," the researchers wrote in their paper. There is no doubt that I was "addicted" to the original Halo. Now, that could have had something to do with timing as well. I was working at G4 where LAN Parties and blowing each other up all day was part of my job but I played all night long when I got home. And my weekends were filled with marathon sessions in "Hang 'Em High" and "Blood Gulch". However, I do believe there are exceptions to every rule and I can say that the Original Halo is the only video game I was literally "Addicted" too. Have you ever been addicted to a video game, which one and do you agree it may be a boy thing?

The Voice behind Halo's Guilty Spark

Tina — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 23:05:00 GMT

Our beloved Duncan came across an interview with Tim Dadabo who is the voice behind Halo's Guilty Spark. 360 Stylecast did the interview and Tim offers a little perspective into the Halo Universe. Check out the podcast which is hosted by Avid X and Bimbo Barbie. I had an opportunity to do a little video game voice-over myself for the highly acclaimed video game JAWS UNLEASHED on the Xbox. Yea, I didn't think you played it. It got a 3.8 on gamespot. I could only play past the first level where I heard myself screaming "It's a Shark"! "Somebody help me"! "My leg, My leg"! I was too frustrated by the controls and choppy gameplay to continue, although I'm sure JAWS takes a chunk out of me in Level 2. It was a pretty cool experience regardless.

10 Halo 3 Links

Sarah Perez — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 23:13:00 GMT

The highly anticipated Halo 3 release happens Monday at midnight. Here are a few cool Halo 3 links to get you more excited (if that is even possible) until you can play the blockbuster game:
[Update: Too many good links to stop at 10]

First of all, if you haven't checked out the Halo 3 site, stop what you are doing, and go see it. Right now! The site, using Silverlight technology, is so cool that you don't even have to be a rabid Halo fanboy to appreciate it. Here, you can take a 360 degree tour of the Halo 3 world, taking custom screenshots along the way. The screenshots can then be used as wallpaper, posted to your blog or website.
If you're an XBox Live Silver member, visit the Best Buy website, where they are offering 3 days of free online gameplay using XBox Live Gold. You also might win a Pontiac G6 GXP with a custom Halo 3 paint job.
Get some sweet Halo 3 action figures.
Visit the Windows Mobile website to pick up some free Halo ringtones and wallpapers for your phone.
Get a Halo 3 edition Zune. Besides having killer custom graphics & packaging, the Halo 3 Zune comes loaded with music, artwork, trailers, and videos from Halo, Halo 2, and Halo 3 as well as an exclusive episode of Red vs. Blue.
Watch a live action short film based on the Halo franchise over on MSN.
Stock up on Halo 3 Dew to fuel those first few days and nights where you will be calling in...cough..."sick" to work.
XBox 360 Halo Edition. Yeah.
Grab a Halo Covenant replica weapon or laser tag rifle.
Pick up a Halo fan suit for the win (if you have a spare $20k.)
Check out some of the Halo 3 game guide and Halo 3 videos in HD via Silverlight. (thanks, Sean)
See a couple of lucky guys (who try to) drive a real Warthog.
And see an 'unbagging' of the Halo 3 press bag (I want to be press!)

Halo suit on eBay

Larry Larsen — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:38:00 GMT

Whether you're planning the live-action version of Red vs. Blue, or you just want to have the coolest Halloween suit ever, this fine example of ringworld craftsmanship is now available. In what is labeled "the best and most accurate Master Chief costume on eBay" [should be green IMHO] this suit is made of urethane plastic, unlike all the cheap Master Chief costumes that litter the floor of your closet.

You should know what this cosutme doesn't come with: The helmet will be swapped out with a different one, the "assault rifle" is really only half there (though you could just pick up a Covenant Plasma Rifle and claim you ditched the assault rifle when you ran out of ammo), there is no Warthog, and at over ~~$3000~~ $5000 so far you'll have to find your own pack big enough to hold the buyer's remorse.

Bid with confidence.

Anunciado o Progama de Pré-Vendas de Halo 3 no Brasil

Galileu Vieira — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 21:15:00 GMT

Foi anunciado para o dia 4 de setembro o início das pré-vendas de Halo 3 para o Xbox 360 no Brasil. Considerado o jogo mais esperado do ano, Halo 3 terá três versões à venda no Brasil.

Standard (R$ 179)

Limited (R$ 249)
A versão Limited vem em uma caixa metalizada com um dos discos bônus contidos na versão Legendary. Também vem com um guia especial sobre o universo Halo.

Legendary (R$ 399)
A versão Legendary é feita para colecionadores e será produzida em quantidade limitada. O principal destaque é a caixa em formato de capacete espartano. Esta versão também vem com dois discos de conteúdo adicional e desenhos de Halo 3 criados pelo artista Lee Wilson.

O jogo será lançado no mesmo dia ao redor do mundo e as versões vendidas no Brasil serão totalmente dubladas. Essas são algumas das vantagens do Xbox 360 estar oficialmente no Brasil.

Halo 3 to dent GDP starting on 25 September

JD Lewin — Wed, 16 May 2007 14:20:00 GMT

Cancel your summer vacation and hold onto those sick days, because the end of this fall is when you’re going to need at least a week off from work. The release date for Halo 3, the most anticipated game since lava tag with the cute girl you met while finger-painting, has been proclaimed as 25 September 2007. Before that, you full-blooded fan boys and girls can pre-order the Halo 3 Edition Zune from GameStop. Also if you’ve been wanting for luscious video content, be sure to check out the Halo 3 Betalicious video post by Bungie last week.

Red vs. Blue and WPF/E make for machinima nirvana

JD Lewin — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 18:12:00 GMT

The greatest side-effect of Halo mulitplayer, at least in the realm of online video, is without a doubt Red vs. Blue. Combine that with the slick cool of WPF/E technology and you get something fantastic. One of our intrepid evangelists here at MS stepped into the RvB world recently for what resembles an interview. One thing led to another, and after our own Adam layed down some sweet code, we have a WPF/E presentation of Scott Guthrie's Red vs. Blue adventure.

Halo 3 Commercial up on Xbox Marketplace

Duncan Mackenzie — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 18:46:00 GMT

~~So the~~ ~~Halo 3 'trailer/ad/commercial'~~ went up on the Xbox Marketplace yesterday (after it played during Monday Night Football), so later that night I jumped onto my 360 to download it. Imagine my surprise when I found it that it costs money to download and watch a commercial... 150 points! I think that is only about $1.88 in 'real money', but still... sadly, I might end up paying for it, but I think I'll just wait for someone to upload a high resolution copy up onto the Internets for me... what about you?

Update: Major Nelson's posts about this say it is free and at least one on10 member downloaded it for free as well... so either I was too tired from coding last night and read it wrong or I ran into a momentary glitch.... I'll start pulling my foot out of my mouth now.

You can view the commercial online, if you can't wait to go home and download the 720p version.

Halo 3 Legendary Edition details

Duncan Mackenzie — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 19:16:00 GMT

Oh my...

the Halo 3 Legendary Edition, which comes packed into a Halo Spartan Mjolnir Mark VI Helmet replica will sell for $99.99.

(from teamxbox.com)