Halo Multiplayer Trailer Reaches for the Sky With JetpacksPosted by Mitch on March 3rd, 2010

It’s a real shame that May 3rd is so far away, because watching this multiplayer trailer for Halo: Reach makes me pine for some Halo-flavored action. Actually, that’s not the best way to phrase it because Reach takes what the previous Halos did then mashes it up with Red Faction: Guerrilla (jetpacks) and Call of Duty (loadouts). The prior Halos were good times in multiplayer, but this trailer makes it look like Bungie took their game, as one aging rockstar said, “to eleven.” Have a peek:

Is that some hot stuff or what? Anyone else starting to feel the return of the dreaded but oh-so-sweet Halo hype? This is almost enough for me to forgive the franchise for Legends. What do you guys think about the trailer?

Life After Halo: What Does Bungie Have Planned?Posted by Mitch on February 16th, 2010

When you’ve been basing all your games for the past ten years around one franchise, at a certain point I’d imagine that you’d like to spread your wings a bit and try something different. With Halo: Reach drawing ever closer, various Bungie employees are starting the hype machine for their next title after Reach, a game that will be set in a brand new universe; “something totally original from Bungie”, in the words of Brian Jarrard, the studio’s Community Director.

It’s been a recurring theme whenever anything Halo crops up: people come out of the woodwork maintaining that Bungie can’t do anything but make sub-par (yet extremely popular and lucrative) shooters set in the same generic sci-fi universe. As an avid Halo fan, my automatic response is to defend these claims but after ten years I’d like the see what else Bungie can make. While their talents for building worlds and back-stories haven’t really come across in the games themselves, those of us who cared to read the Halo novels found that the setting of Halo was a lot more deep and varied than a guy in green armor smearing aliens into paste. I for one would be interested to see Bungie take a stab at a Western-style RPG, but that’s just me.

Now that Bungie is an independent studio it’s no longer tied to Microsoft’s whims, so it’ll be interesting to see where their next title ends up. I’m guessing that they will still be a 360-focused studio, but the thought of Bungie making a PlayStation 3 title has me interested. What do you guys want to see out of Bungie post Reach? Do you think this is actually Bungie’s last Halo game, a claim they’ve made in the past? Sound off!

Source: Kotaku

Halo: Reach ViDoc Prepped for Combat InsertionPosted by Mitch on February 12th, 2010

Microsoft’s X10 event wrapped up yesterday, and what a day it was for casual fans and X-Bots alike. Long-coming psychological thriller Alan Wake actually has a release date, and Crackdown 2 is looking very fine in my opinion. The only real disappointment to come out of X10 was the rough-looking trailer for Dead Rising 2, which tempered my excitement for the zombie-slaying sequel a bit. The best news to come out of X10, though, was the announcement of the date for the Halo: Reach beta! Slated for May 3, this beta may be a bit far away but I’m sure that Bungie has some excellent treats to keep the rabid fans sated for a while, like the following ViDoc.

This documentary, even though it’s full of Alpha footage and concept art, has me ridiculously excited for this game. Honestly, when the video gives you a comparison of the graphical changes of the Marine and assault rifle models from Halo 3 to Reach, it’s enough to warm my jaded heart. What do you guys think? Can Bungie finally pull off a more human Halo story? Who else is getting this game?

Halo Legends Clip is a Thing You Can WatchPosted by Mitch on January 22nd, 2010

Most of you have probably figured this little factoid out already, but I am GamerSushi’s resident Halo fan-boy. I seriously loves me some Halo, so naturally you would figure that a series of animated shorts would be right up my alley.

Well, as anyone who becomes engrossed with a franchises’ fictional history can tell you, if you outsource a project to a collection of companies and they do not get it exactly right you will have a large amount of butt-hurt nerds on your hands. That sounds weird, but I digress. If you haven’t caught any of the Halo animes on Waypoint, now’s your chance to see what you haven’t been missing.

The full DVD/Blu-Ray (irony lol) release is in early Feburary, but I think I’ll pass. What about you guys?

GamerSushi Game Night Part Two: Halo for HaitiPosted by Mitch on January 19th, 2010

There’s been a huge outpouring of support for Haiti from all over the world, but the Caribbean nation is still a disaster zone and more help is needed. For those of us who can’t contribute directly, Bungie Studios, makers of the hugely successful Halo series, is holding a charity where they will donate $100 per every thousand players on Wednesday January 20 and Thursday January 21.

Bungie is hoping to raise over $77,000 dollars, and we here at GamerSushi think that playing some Halo is a great way to assist in this noble cause. On Thursday January 21, we’re having another Halo 3 game night to benefit the humanitarian efforts in Haiti. It’s simple: all you have to do is log onto X-Box LIVE bearing a specific emblem (directions contained within this link) and your contribution will be counted.

Same deal as last time, Eddy (Pwnocchio) and myself (Lubeius) will be sending out invites at 7:30 pm CST (check your time zone here) so leave your Gamertag in the comments below. News about PC and PS3 Game Nights forthcoming, so don’t think we’ve forgotten about you!

Geek Out Over Early Halo: Reach ScansPosted by Mitch on January 11th, 2010

Like it or lump it, there’s no denying that one of 2010’s biggest titles will be Halo: Reach, Bungie’s (supposed) final game in the Halo series. The next issue of Game Informer was confirmed last week to include a bunch of new information on the upcoming sci-fi shooter, and some kind soul has seen fit to scan an advanced copy onto the internet. The scans are fairly clear considering that they’re straight off a magazine, and I have to say that the game is looking sharp. The infamous “ugly-people” produced by the Halo 3 engine are gone, and the marines in Reach look like actual futuristic grunts as opposed to cartoon characters. Speaking of Grunts, the Covenant species have been given a face-lift and there’s one new type of enemy confirmed, a Jackal look-alike of some sorts.

The article expands upon the setting and the various characters and there’s a lot of info for Halo canon nerds (like myself) to obsess over. Go check out the scans and tell us you thoughts!

Source: All Games Beta

Review: Halo 3: ODSTPosted by Mitch on October 3rd, 2009

Halo 2’s E3 demo from 2003 was the stuff of legends, something that had the fans salivating for the next instalment of Bungie’s break-through franchise. The sight of the Pelican dropship swooping down onto an Earth city under attack by the Covenant took people’s breaths away, and gave them a tantalizing glimpse of our home planet in the Chief’s universe. Ultimately, the final version of Halo 2 featured a New Mombasa that couldn’t deliver on the high hopes set by the demonstration, and left Halo enthusiasts wanting.

Six years later, we finally get our chance to explore the city of New Mombasa as an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, or ODST. These special forces troops are dropped from orbiting ships in one-man pods, and are the only human soldiers in the Halo games that can stand up to SPARTANs in terms of bad-assery. The basic premise of the game is that your squad is dropped into New Mombasa, ostensibly to assault a Covenant ship that’s parked above the city, but things go horribly awry. The ship enters light speed inside Earth’s atmosphere causing a massive explosion and scattering your squad to the winds. You mostly play as the Rookie, a new-comer to the ODST squad, six hours after the drop. You search the hub city of Mombasa for clues as to what happened to your squad and your mission.
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Live Action Halo 3: ODST Short Premiers TonightPosted by Mitch on September 7th, 2009

Tonight at 10:30pm ET/PT, SPIKE TV is going to debut “We are ODST”, a live action short in the vein of “Landfall”, the Neill Blomkamp directed project from 2007.

This may be the first time that I can remember that I tuned in to specifically watch what is essentially a very elaborate commercial, but this is probably worth it. Who else is going to be watching this?

Edit: The full version is up for your enjoyment.

Red vs Blue Meets ODSTPosted by Eddy on September 1st, 2009

I’m sure that many of you are at least somewhat familiar with Red vs Blue, the popular Halo machinima series from Rooster Teeth. Well, it seems the guys got a bit of time to do a ODST crossover with their series. Check out the first segment. As I’ve said before on this site, I’ve been mostly unimpressed with this game until very recently with the “firefight” footage, which is basically horde mode from Gears of War 2. It looks awesome.

Halo 3: ODST Welcomes You to the FrontPosted by Mitch on August 25th, 2009

Still sceptical about Halo 3: ODST? Well, let all-around bad-ass and ten time consecutive winner of the Aliens Character Look-Alike contest Sergeant Major A.J. Johnson walk you through FireFight, ODST’s new co-operative mode. The thought of Halo having a Horde-like mode appeals to me greatly, as I’ve always found the enemy designs in Halo to be fantastic; just one look into the crowd of enemies lets you know your chances of survival. Seeing the hulking silhouettes of two Hunters ambling through the bushels of Grunts is clear indication that now would be a good time to panic.

I’ve been sold on the ODST expansion since it was announced at the Tokyo Game Show last year, but I know that some people aren’t as stoked about this as I am. After seeing the dearth of information about this game, who’s had their mind changed, and who’s sticking to their guns?