Remember Reach…a blast from the past.

So today I was just surfing the webs and did a random Google image search for Halo Reach. One of the images was linked to a post I made on my other blog a few years ago about Halo Reach, linking to the Remember Reach website and its Statue of Light Memorial to Team Noble. It really is a pretty awesome little thing, gave me a little chill when I watched the video again.

You can see where your individual light is in the sculpture…that bright point in Emile’s leg is mine.
You know, taken altogether I think Reach is my favorite standalone Halo game. I mean of Course CE is CE…its what got me into this in the first place, its amazing. But Reach…Reach was Bungies swan song to the Halo series, the last game in the franchise that really put them on the map.
(Yea yea Myth and Marathon. Sure both great series, but also not Halo. Not Halo’s numbers if nothing else.)
They really put a lot of love into the game and it shows.
Halo Reach, if you by some odd chance do not know, is the story of the Fall of Reach. Reach  was the name of the planet which was the heart of the UNSC Military industrial-complex. It had the main shipyards and training facilities. It was where the UNSC HQ was located.
It was where all hope for a military victory against the government died on July 24th, 2552. On that day a massive Covenant fleet (preceded by a much smaller assault group) launched an assault on the Epsilon Eridani system, led there unwittingly by the UNSC Iroquois, commanded by Jacob Keyes.

*They had to do a bit of ret-conning here. In the book The Fall of Reach, the Pillar of Autumn had been selected and retro-fitted prior to the Covenant invasion of Reach for a mission involving Spartan-II’s (Blue Team I think) to try and kidnap one of the Prophets in hopes that a peace could then be brokered. It was already in space going through a shakedown run when the first Covenant forces jumped in-system. In the game the ship is in a dock on the planet’s surface. Nevermind that you would never refit something that size in-atmosphere in reality (you know what I mean). Just a plot device to make Noble’s sacrifice mean all the more.*
Keyes went on to immediately command the Pillar of Autumn as it fled the system in a last ditch attempt at securing one of the Prophets in an attempt to sue for peace. It was Cortana’s split-second decision to use coordinates discovered in a Forerunner artifact as their destination point. This happened to be the locale of Halo Installation 07, and kicked off the events of Halo: Combat Evolved.

As I said it was their swan song to a much beloved franchise, one that has now seen a new game (Halo 4) launched under the banner of 343 Industries.
Halo: Reach is the story of a group of Spartan-III’s, Noble Team. Their trials, triumphs, and ultimate sacrifice in the days following the events of July 24th, 2552. You play the newest edition to the team, a FNG to replace a beloved comrade, so you’re not exactly welcomed with open arms by everyone just at the start.


But as the plot unfolds you are quickly accepted into the fold. The dialog, pacing, and in general just the basic plot of the story are all quite good. You become invested in the characters, and you feel it when each one dies. And die they will. This game isn’t so much about winning. I mean winning to the extent of having a goal and accomplishing it, yes. Then winning comes into it. But living..not so much. I’m not going to say anything about the very end but…I will say enjoyed the way it was done more than just about any game ending ever. Bravo Bungie. Bravo.
Anyway go check out Remember Reach and check out an interesting concept in game promotion from a few years ago, if nothing else.


Anyone who had a Nintendo game system as a kid remembers these games. #5 brings back memories! http://bit.ly/WwVDIW

Hahaha, The Abridged version of Sony's PS4 Release Show

Oh this is just fucking hilarious lol. The Abridged, and infintely more enjoyable, version of Sony's PlayStation 4 release show/extravaganza/IDKWTF

Seriously I'm not seeing a whole lot (or literally anything) here that's making me rethink my hatred for Sony or most of its products (including this POS Vaio laptop I'm writing this blog on! This fucking thing was the last straw for me as far as buying Sony products as a whole goes..). Just looks like more of the same ol' bullshit and I'm not even seeing super super fantastic graphical advances..I understand a lot of that has to do with what engines are out there or it and that as time goes on it will improve.

Problem is it just looks (specs and gameplay) like another shitty Sony product. Sony was once THE electronics company. But their standards have been falling in every category for years. A lot of what their running on these days is brand name. I read this very interesting article on Kotaku a couple of months ago about how poorly Sony was doing domestically, as they have traditionally always had strong domestic sales in Japan. The article went on to say that a lot of the smaller electronics retailers in Japan no longer even carry a supply of Sony devices. Samsung/Korea is where its at these days.

Oh and fucking blasphemy! Notice Bungie? :(  I know thats dumb but whatever. I know that the frst Halo was supposed to be an RTS on Mac. Whatever. Bungie shouldn't be on Playstation...its just wrong.

 I really love how their doing their damnedest to get their name out there before Microsoft this time around. Maybe they learned something from the last cycle after all. I doubt its gonna save'um.

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Experiment...PS4 Deets Released

After weeks of speculation, Sony officially unveiled its next console from a live event in New York today: the PlayStation 4. The console will be released this holiday season.

Sony's Andrew House said the new console will create "experiences that surpass gamers' wildest expectations."

Lead system architect on the PlayStation 4, Mark Cerny, said "the development of a next-gen platform started about five years ago" and that it's goal is "freeing developers from technological barriers." Cerny has a history in the video game industry dating back more than 30 years, first with Atari and later companies like Sega of Japan and Universal Interactive Studios.

Cerny said the platform is "by game creators for game creators" and that its architecture is "like a PC, but supercharged." PS4 uses the X86 CPU and has 8GB of memory and a local hard drive. It uses APU technology and GDDR5 memory, which is typically reserved for "top of the line, high end graphics cards."

The pillars of PS4 are Simple, Immediate, Social, Integrated and Personalized. PlayStation 4 supports suspending and reloading play sessions. The console has a secondary chip for uploading and downloading in the background. Digital games can be played as they are being downloaded.

Lol, this is NOT what it will look like. They've released all the specs but unit design is still a mock up.

Ok, now I could give a fuck a less about the PS4. 

The Original PlayStation was one of the best consoles of all time. Amazing and groundbreaking. I still have vivid memories of that xmas when I woke up and tore open my first PS and popped in the Warhawk Demo (remember those? they still do those in gaming mags?) and had my god damn mind blown. Shit was awesome.

Now the amount of love and veneration I hold for the PS1 is almost diametrically opposed to the low disregard that I hold the PS2 and 3 in. PS3 never really got a fair shot. I'll admit I'm a 360 fanboy. But thats only because I liked the original Xbox so much better than the PS2...hell I liked the GameCube better than the PS2. And I know I'm very much in the minority there. They still make games for that fuckin console lol, shits wild. My biggest problem was that it never seemed like enough of a step-up from the PS1 to me. And by the time the PS3 came about I was firmly in Microsoft's clutches. Plus, do any side by side same game on 360 and PS3 and the PS3 version looks like shit. They're acknowledging they lost this round of the console wars just by these press releases. What happened to that 10 year dev cycle? Lol.

Anyway let's see if the experiment works.

Again though, and for real, fuck the PlayStation 4. For that matter fuck Sony. I have been burned by that company waaay too many times.

Link to IGN article

Link to the Techradar.com article

Might as well dust this off too...

Well look at this shit. When I made this blog Reach had yet to come out, now Halo 4 has been out for like over a quarter. My how the time flys huh? In that time lots of other things have been released (books and such) that I haven't really been able to keep on top of.

Anyway this is a good friend of mine that I've played the various Halo games with since Halo 2. When I first met him he was only like 13 I think, he lied about his age so we would let him play with us lol. Anyway the kid has always been good. One of the best players I personally know. This is a little something he threw together.

It sucks, I bought Halo 4 right when it came out and I've yet to beat the campaign. Just for lack of doing it. I haven't played any games at all in like 3 weeks...weird considering all my extra free time now.