...but the YouTube assault starts now!



YouTube - The Battle Begins

Time to dance!

Lars is busy cranking away at project "Bakken Crick," and here I am, still stuck in Jurkout. I took Chad's advice from yesterday and added some more flat real estate to the back half of shadow base, using some bridges and floating landing pads that connect back to the central, lower structure. Hopefully, the additional square footage will make the process of creating the myriad of spawns I'll need that much easier.

To tell the truth, I'm not looking forward to it. While there are a whole host of Forge improvements designed to aid in general construction, spawning is and always will be a thinking man's game. Basically, I'm screwed. But it's not all doom and gloom. Chad's promised to give me a few pointers here and there. Hopefully, when we get to that point in the process, his pointers will help you out, too.

But we're not there yet. Carney told me I should add more cover to the lower routes. He suggested I use columns and noted that they've been properly man sized. I only had a brief encounter with Jurkout today, so I didn't get a chance to add them into the mix, but as you can see, I did drop in a pair of man cannons to create a second route up into the back base. From inside, you can drop back down and head through the water up the gut, branch around to the platforms on either side, or ride the central gravity lift back up. Seems like it could play out okay and provide a cool cat and mouse experience. Of course, more likely it'll just be janky and totally suck.

After my first foray into map making, I was asked to drop a Spartan into the mix so people could get a better sense of Jurkout's overall size. See that white blip on the top of the central tower in the image above? That's an initial spawn point, properly Spartan sized. And for that matter, the tower itself is straight out of Lockout. Hopefully, that gives you better grip on the map's scale.











So, there you go. Day 2. (Not that I'm going to be able to update you each and every day.) Next time, I'm going to incorporate some additional cover, play with the movement between the lower routes so people don't accidentally hit the drink thinking they're on solid ground (thanks for the tip, Chad!), and start figuring out where I'm going to put spawns and weapons.

Wish me luck! I'm gonna need it.

DaDeadlyGoose writes:

Really had me going this time.

Been a while since we had some Mongoose action up in this blog. Comm Chatter. Whatever.

"Rampant is Slim Jimmy12's first Goosetage, set to the musical rock stylings of Anberlin and featuring a chorus of dying groans as Spartan meets tires. The montage includes splatters on maps from Avalanche to Valhalla, on a variety of gametypes. It features both riding and driving moments, and quite a few multikill splatters. Extra awesome moments such as a splatter while driving backwards, some insane and completely accidental splatters, a splatter spree on a goose, his landmark 500th and 1000th splatters. Enjoy!"



You Tube - Rampant: A Halo 3 Goosetage

FunkyFunkFunky writes:

It's a Guinness World Record!

FunkyFunkFunky made it into the Guinness World Records Gamers Edition on June 9th 2010 for the World Record Fastest Vidmaster Classic in 2:33 run time! Don't believe it?



Bam! And that's not all. He's also completed the Mythic (All Skulls On) Vidmaster Classic in record 2:34 time and the approval from the Guinness World Records is in pending status!

Check out his File Share for the evidence!

Still have your Halo: CE keycode? Step inside.

Astute users over at HBO noticed that The Wolf did some clarifying on our forums recently. Remember those remarks he made on the podcast way back when? He's about to make good. Hit the link to find out how.

Halo: CE PC Keys

Elite Unleashed.

This week's Chronicles is all action.

Chronicles of ODS Steve: Elite Unleashed (#76)

All the world's a stage.

A caveat: I am not a map designer. I don’t pretend to have a good (or even pedestrian) grasp of player movement, neutral space, or balance. I’m just a guy who makes jokes on the internet. But even I can make a sweet Forge map.

Welcome to Incompetent Cartographer.

I’m not doing this for personal glory. In fact, I fully expect whatever I build to suck. Tremendously. I am not a patient man. I spent a grand total of about three hours with Halo 3’s Forge before throwing my hands up and tossing my controller down. But while I might not have what it takes to make an amazing map destined for our official matchmaking playlists, I can show you the basic steps. I can walk the path. Over the course of the next seven or so weeks, I’m gonna do just that. I’m going to load up Forge World, I’m going to use Forge and attempt to build a multiplayer map, and I’m going to bug Chad and Carney to give me insider tips to help me through the tough times. When I'm finished, I’m going to submit my creation through some of the same channels and mechanisms you’ll be using post-launch so you can see what the process might be like in Reach. Ready?

Let’s begin.

First things first, before you make a kick ass map on Forge World, you need to scout out some suitable terrain. It’s no small task, Ponce, there’s plenty of geography to explore.

Yup, I went with the Lagoon. The water here is deep enough to be deadly and I figured I could do something interesting by submerging some walkways knee deep in the gentle, crystal blue waves. Plus, it’s an awesome looking sea cave with waterfalls spilling down from high above. Even if my map sucks butts, at least the surrounding space will look downright beautiful. Thanks, Cotton!

Let's get down to business.


Bye, bye random spawns. With this deadly water ensconcing my map, I figure I’ll be meeting my watery maker on a regular basis as I twist and turn the pieces into place. Can’t be spawning up in the Coliseum, now can I?




Before I get too deep, let’s save this sucker, give it a name, and provide a description. As you can see, I got all 80's with it. Catch the reference? Yeah, you're probably not old enough.


Now that we’re working in a safe environment, it’s time to get on the grid. Just like in Sandbox, this grid will act as a physical barrier, so any objects I set on it will be perfectly placed at the right height. Unlike Sandbox, I can slap this grid wherever I want. And now I'm ready to start building. I'd call it the mass out phase, but let's get real -- that's way too official sounding for what I'm about to do. It's gonna get ugly.


Bring your waterwings, chumps! It's gonna get wet and wild.



Back down to business. Shadow Base needs some more love.


And some Gadgets. Does two teleporters and two man cannons seem a bit much?


What about a ginormous base?


Yeah, I think I'm gonna stop for now, but that's not bad for my first few hours, eh? Before I could get too confident, Miller spotted me working in Jurkout yesterday and asked me if I did it all by myself. Like I was a toddler.

“Really? You didn’t have any help?”

Yes, Dan…really. Fortunately for me, Chad stopped by early this morning to offer up a more helpful tip.

“There are a lot of narrow paths and not much dance floor.”

That’s because I haven’t built out the arms or added the Falcons in yet, Chad! (Dammit, he’s right.) Looks like I have a lot more work to do. Stay tuned.

Reconfiguration.

What's the point of all this?

Red vs. Blue: Revelation Chapter 14

Billdebeast writes:

Cue the inspirational music.

Why do I feel like running down the beach all of the sudden?

"Billdebeast has rolled out another funtage, featuring clips this time from ODST and the Reach beta as well as Halo 3. It's a fun watch with nice editing and a range of music. Enjoy!"



YouTube - Unidentified Failing Object 4

Zoxin1 writes:

We'll do it live!

Okay, maybe live isn't such a great idea after all. Bill O'Reilly would not be amused. You might be, though.

"After extended consideration, Zoxin It Up! LIVE is now switching to a pre-recorded format on YouTube, as compared to our previous format of broadcasting live. Too many instances of technical difficulties arose, causing frustration among the viewers, hosts, and guests. Advantages to this format include 720p HD video, interactive transitions between segments, and organized commercial breaks!

This month, we bring you our interview/E3 talk with CMNeir! We talk about the ups and downs about the new Xbox 360, CMNeir's plans for the summer, and much more!

As for people with addictions to PRIZES, we have your buzz! We're giving away some sweet product from our good friends over at KontrolFreek! Just leave a video response to LAST clip (Part 5) of the podcast telling us why you need them! It's a podcast that you don't wanna miss! Just hit the link below to begin your interactive podcast journey! Bon voyage!"

YouTube - Zoxin It Up! LIVE - July 2010

Anoj writes:

A Whole New World.

Because readings for suckers...

"This episode of Bungie Explains covers the usual juicy details of the Weekly Updates but also encompasses the Forge World ViDoc and the Halo Reach Unboxing videos as well.  If you have a tendency to shy away from reading the updates or don't know all there is to know about the recent announcements then this is the video for you! Enjoy!"

YouTube - Bungie Explains: Episode 13

insaneAssass1n9 writes:

Staying inside the lines.

Wow. Usually when I click on these submissions I expect something a bit more explicit. This is explicitly awesome!



YouTube - Pure, Halo Fanart

Gear61 Owns writes:

Now let's have some fun.

He said bottom.

"This is a Halo 3 community trick jumping video from HighImpactHalo, put together by Lord Guntaz, entitled, 'The Bottom Line.' It features some unique jumps using devices such as wraiths and a nice amount of cool tandem jumps. Enjoy!"



YouTube - The Bottom Line - A Halo 3 Community Trick Jumping Montage

Gear61 Owns writes:

A thing to watch.

Claude told me I wasn't putting enough montages into the mix. Then he started singing some crappy Bangles song from the 80's. Then he cursed at me and said he was going to get a mop. "This is a Halo 3 montage/funtage from Red Bull Sniper entitled, 'Serious Business,' put together by himself. Even though the gameplay and editing might not be the best, I haven't had this much fun watching a Halo video in a while. If you've seen the trailer for this montage, you'll know that the title is pure sarcasm. This montage does not take itself seriously in any way, shape or form, which is why it was so fun to watch for me. There's a couple references to classic montages such as Apex and Dualtality and a bunch of humorous tidbits spread throughout the video. The gameplay is pretty good as well, showcasing some sick 2 for 1's and a sweet 2v2 overkill extermination on the Pit. Enjoy!"



YouTube - Serious Business - A Halo 3 Montage/Funtage

Gear61 Owns writes:

All I have is you.

The guy in the soundtrack for this montage is yelling at me.

"This is Phurion's and Fluxy's 2nd Halo 3 dualtage, edited by Phurion himself. I was a bit disappointed in the beginning of the video due to the lackluster footage (I had sky high expectations for this montage), but this video picks up quickly and is overall simply insane. The gameplay is absolutely sick in this montage and interestingly, most of the best clips are from MLG, showcasing a good amount of killtaculars and incredible snipes. The editing is what you would expect from Phurion, nothing but well applied, well synced effects that aren't over the top and only add to the footage. This is definitely a great entry for the Movie Competition and I hope you like it as much as I did. Enjoy!"



YouTube - Phurion Fluxy 2 - A Halo 3 Montage

Gear61 Owns writes:

We were the kings and queens of promise.

Montage Monday demands more montage.

"This is a Halo 3 tritage from Kampy, Nv1incible, and Poisonous Slinky entitled, 'Contractus,' edited by Nv1incible himself. It's been hard for me to be impressed by any videos anymore with all of these recently released insane montages such as Roadblock's final and Frenetic Array, but this video did and that's saying something. As expected, the gameplay in this video is just -blam!- ridiculous. This montage is just absolutely packed full of incredible multikills, snipes, and exterminations and showcases a good amount of footage from both MLG and non MLG gametypes. The editing is really good as well, featuring some great syncing and creative theater work. And to top it all off, the video is in beautiful 1080p. Enjoy!"



YouTube - Contractus - A Halo 3 Montage

Gear61 Owns writes:

It's Halo...in cartoon form!

And it's not even Saturday morning!

"This is a Halo 3 montage from thestrangestick, edited by himself, entitled, 'The Animatage.' The gameplay isn't the best, but the editing is incredibly creative, showcasing a never before seen cartoonish custom HUD which obviously took a LOT of time to make alongside some cool effects that are made to look like they're hand drawn. Enjoy!"



YouTube - The Animetage - A Halo 3 MOntage

IGN has the answer.

IGN.com wants to chat with you about Credits and Daily Challenges. Don't worry, it's a pretty short article. We're gonna get through this together. (Thanks to HBO for the link.)

Why is Master Chief in Halo: Reach?

Gear61 Owns writes:

Let's lock, load, and get down to voting.

We're a little late getting the word out, but the voting continues. You still have a chance to weigh in.

"The videos are in, the nominees have been chosen, and the prizes have been set. Now it's up to you, the Halo community, to choose which ones you like best. Let's make this one hell of a competition guys."

Halo3Forum Halo 3 Movie Competition 2 :: Prizes, Nominations, and Schedule

emilio30 writes:

One word....Church.

Episode 30 of The Running Riot Podcast will be recorded LIVE on August 2nd at 9:30pm ET. Our guest will be Burnie Burns from Rooster Teeth. Yep, you read that right. Come over to The Running Riot on the 2nd to tune into the live show and chat along with us!

Comic-Con Multimedia Madness!

Up in all their high resolution glory in our fancy Halo: Reach project page.