Facebook readers click here for the video.

Apologies for two weeks with no strip. This week’s strip is testament to two great undeniable truths:

1. Four-year olds scare and confuse me

2. I really, really suck at Halo.

Catch this week’s tale of humiliating pwnage right here.

I have long hated the move towards darker and darker games – kinda sucks when you have a hi-def console and a big huge shinyshiny hi-def TV and play a game that takes place in dark, not-much-visible settings. Bit like putting a Fiat 125 engine in a Ferrari, no?

So it is nice that the VISR mode in ODST for once makes darkness cool. Well played, that man. There’s a reason dogsounds hearts Bungie.

Catch this week’s black-as-the-heart-of-an-evil-kitten-huffer strip right here.

I’m pretty sure the real motiovation behind these trailers is Microsoft saying “look, see how utterly fucking awesome a Halo movie would be? Huh? Huh?”

And you know what? I utterly agree. If this is what a mere ad agency can pull off – this and the Believe campaign being even slightly better than the Neil Blomkamp/Peter Jackson shorts – then imagine what a movie studio could do.

Anyway, watch and be awed. That’s a lot of story, action and emotion in just one and a half minutes.

Facebook readers – as ever, click here for the video.

Posted in cool stuff, halo, movies, sci-fi, TV, video games, war Tagged: advertising, bungie, halo, Halo 3 ODST, live-action, microsoft, ODST, video games, videogames, We Are ODST, Xbox 360 ]]> http://blog.dogsounds.com/2009/09/06/we-are-odst/feed/ 1 dogsounds http://blog.dogsounds.com/2009/06/01/e3-2009-microsoft-e3-press-conference-missing-only-fluffy-kittens/ http://blog.dogsounds.com/2009/06/01/e3-2009-microsoft-e3-press-conference-missing-only-fluffy-kittens/#comments Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:50:20 +0000 dogsounds http://dogsounds.wordpress.com/?p=1470 ]]>

So, it’s E3 time. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo square up against each other to wow us with what is to come. In reality of course, it’s simply a big dick-waving session. But we win in the end.

Today sees Microsoft’s press briefing. Microsoft always try to make a big splash, and from what they have shown today they have done a pretty damn good job. It’s hard to imagine how Sony can better this. And Nintendo? Well, there’s no real point them turning up.

What did they announce? Find out after the jump!

First off: games. Some new stuff shown, some stuff we expected.

• The Beatles: Rock Band demoed, with Yoko Ono, Olivia Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney coming on stage.
• Demonstration of Tony Hawk: Ride and how the skateboard peripheral works
• There is apparently a Modern Warfare 2 game coming out, who’da thunk it? With two DLC map packs hitting the 360 first
• Final Fantasty XIII may be around spring 2010 time
• Epic showed off a 3D side scrolling platform-adventure type game called Shadow Complex coming to Xbox Live Arcade. By all accounts in a similar vein to BC: Rearmed
• Joy Ride – an avatar-based racing game, cartoony-style
• Crackdown 2 announced
• Left4Dead 2 trailer
• Splinter Cell Conviction shown, apparently due this autumn “exclusively” on Xbox
• Forza 3 this October
• Halo 3: ODST gameplay shown
• Halo: Reach announced, trailer shown. Takes place in the period before Halo: Combat Evolved. Follows the story in book? Not known. But Halo 3: ODST buyers will get a key for the beta. Game due 2010.
• Alan Wake FINALLY has a release window: Spring 2010

 Okay, that’s the main games. What else?

Microsoft will be providing real-time music on Xbox Live in partnership with Last FM. Not clear if this is U.S. only (I have never heard of Last FM). Will be free for gold subscribers, coming later this year.

You will be able to queue Netflix movies from within Xbox Live (if you live in the U.S, obviously) and will soon be able to just hit ‘play’.

Microsoft are partnering with Sky in Europe, to allow integration of live TV through the 360, no hardware required, a first in the console industry.

Zune video will launch and offer up to 1080p video playable instantly. Not clear if this is U.S. only or not.

Facebook AND twitter will be integrated into yor Xbox dashboard this autumn. Not sure how I feel about this one! Screenshots can be posted to facebook real-time, and you can see Live and facebook friends all at the same time. With my facebook friends list, that’s going to be a fucking nightmare. Facebook friends who are also on Xbox Live appear with their avatars.

Then a big announcement ( I left it till now to maintain the flow): Hideo Kojima comes on stage and announces Metal Gear is coming to Xbox with a new game: Metal Gear Solid Rising, and all-new instalment in the franchise which seems to focus around Raiden, not Snake. It is not *explicity* stated if this is Xbox exclusive or not.

Then finally the biggest of the big announcements: confirmation of the new motion controller system, codenamed Project Natal. As the leaks suggested a few weeks ago, the camera-like device sits in front of your TV. But unlike the Wii detector bar thing, this is a camera and detects fulll body motion without the need for any controller.

And not just that, it also detects voice, and Microsoft say it can identify the user by the voice.

And not just that, it can supposedly make out facial expressions and identify you by face.

Several silly Wii-like applications are demonstrated – the player’s movement animated the avatar in slinging paint at a large canvas, two women try on virtual clothes, players “press” the buzzer in 1 Vs. 100. Steven Spielberg takes the stage and discusses it as the future. Ho-um me-too stuff so far.

Natal developer Kudo Tsunoda takes the stage in sunglasses, the Natal camera recognises him and signs his profile into Xbox Live and the console. He then proceeds to navigate the Xbox dashboard with his hands, ‘Minority Report’ style.

These all seem ok but nothing too fancy, But then the last set of demonstrations are the real show-stealer.

A virtual character called Milo appears on screen. A female demonstrator stands on stage. Milo walks closer to the screen, looks at the woman and starts to talk to her. She talks back. They interact, Milo seems to respond to her voice and facial expressions. He throws her some goggles; she reaches out to catch them. There is a pond on the screen; the woman leans in and sees her own reflection, and waves her hand to create virtual ripples, the pond reacting to her hand motions. Finally, she draws a picture on a piece of paper, shows it to Milo and “passes” it to him – he picks up the paper and there on screen is a virtual piece of paper with her drawing on it.

Fuck me. Imagine that shit in Fallout 3? I could finaly pet Dogmeat!

Peter Molyneux states that this works, now.

All I can say is….I have no idea how Sony are going to come even close to all that at all. Microsoft said they would re-invent how you play games and the role the console plays in the home, and they weren’t kidding. More than all the other announcements, if the Natal system – whenever it comes out – is anywhere near as complex and accomplished as this tech demo, then wow, we are in for one hell of a ride.

I’ll post the Sony and Nintendo conferences too, when they happen.

Out.

(Facebook users: click here to see the videos)

So, when the Halo movie was planned way back when, renowned effects studio Weta set about building props and assorted stuff for the project. What was the coolest thing they built by far, and who got a chance to play with this wonderful toy recently? Find out after the jump!

One thing they built was a full-size, almost-fully-functioning Warthog, the iconic UNSC vehicle that we all know and love. Sadly, the LAAG chain-gun is non-funtional (although the barrels rotate and the whole unit judders to suggest firing when the triggers are pulled), but pretty much everything else that is on this venerable vehicle works – the winch, the four-wheel steering, even the vehicle status displays on the dashboard (which are, rather cleverly, a small LCD photo frame snuggled into the fascia complete with a memory stick port from which it gets animated displays).

We saw it briefly in the video where Bungie’s producer Curtis Creamer taking it for a spin – embarrassingly, into a wall – and in Neil Blomkamp’s rather excellent live-action short to promote Halo 3, “Landfall“.

Now Official Xbox Magazine’s Alistair Wallis has had a chance to ship out to New Zealand to visit Weta and to  – oh, one can only imagine the joy – actually drive the beast. And suit up like a UNSC Marine, complete with Battle Rifle. Read Alistair’s full in-depth article on OXM.com here. Videos of all three are below.

Alistair, you suck, and I hate you completely.

OXM take the ‘hog for a spin. Gits. 

Bungie’s Curtis Creamer drives the beast. YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG!

Neil Blomkamp’s fantastic live-action short, “Landfall”. A tiny hint of what could have been.

But this one kinda excels.  Created bt two gamers who run by the gamertags Battle Wolf and LiL Frostyy  – thank fuck, no l33tspeak – it’s a classic Heath Robinson (or Rube Goldberg, for our American cousins out there) setup to say Merry Christmas to Bungie.  I mean, just exactly how do you set up this kind of stuff? How do you figure out where stuff needs to go? And who has the patience to sit there building this step by step, with test grenades, figuring out where everything goes?

Jeez. I have to bow to that kind of INSANE commitment.

Readers on facebook will have to click here to watch the film due to facebook being incredibly shite.

To keep something happening, I have been using Halo 3 screenshots to create the strip. It’s either that or use a mouse to draw the strip, and that is SO not going to happen.

Anyway, as I can do these really quickly, I haven’t been posting updates every time a new one goes up. But going up they have been , so go take a look.

Keep checking in every now and then for updates. Once I am back up to tablet-y speed, I will let you know and service will return to normal.

So, after a couple of days of countdown timer – much the same as the timer that was cancelled just before E3 by Microsoft – we finally have our big reveal from Bungie regarding their next project.

The timer followed a string of tease forum posts and articles posted by the Superintendent. And the big reveal? A trailer that hints at an expansion pack for Halo 3, featuring everybody’s favorite leathernecks, the ODST’s. Full video and discussion after the jump (readers on Facebook – click here to see the video)

So what does this all mean? Other than it is the most bizarre teaser campaign ever known? Teasers to a countdown clock, that is s teaser to a trailer, which is a teaser. Wait…what?

Way back when, posts on Bungie’s forums began to appear from an enigmatic poster later to be known as the Superintendent. Similar to posts by the AI Adjutant Reflex that appeared prior to Halo 3‘s launch, these posts were instantly recognised as part of something in-house. Speculation ran rife about whether there was another ARG like Iris or I Love Bees about to surface. Then a countdown timer replaced Bungie.net‘s front page, and the clock was ticking down to E3. Everyone realised that something was going to happen, most likely during the Microsoft E3 presser. Wouldn’t be the first time.

And gamers of the world watched. And watched. And watched. And nothing happened. Later, it would be revealed that there was to be an announcement from Bungie, but that it had been pulled at the last minute by Microsoft, to be given a venue all its own. It was apparently too big to be lumped in with all the other stuff. And, as Microsoft said at the time, they already had shown an “emabarrassment of riches” (which is certainly true, they utterly pwned the weak and desperate presser thrown by Sony, and the utter cringeworthy patronising shitey bollocks that was the Nintendo presser).

Bungie pulled a special podcast at the last minute. Harold Ryan, sudio producer, posted an apologetic (and somewhat fucked-off sounding) note on the Bungie.net front page. And everything went quiet.

Until last week, when a post suddenly appeared on the site, from the Superintendent. The post featured a captured transmission between the Superintendent and the ONI Prowler ship, “Tokyo Rules“:

<\\> UNSC OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE

<\\> CLASSIFIED SIGNALS ARCHIVE [ONI.SEC.PRTCL-1A]                

<\ OPENED PER OFFICIAL REQUEST [DARE.V.500341(S1)]  

\ SOURCE: URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE A.I. [SUPERINTENDENT]

\ RECIPIENT: PROWLER “TOKYO RULES” [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]                                                                
>> NOTATION KEYWORD SEARCH: “EMERGENCY” “DATA” “CORRUPTION”                                
>> (…) ~ QUERY RUNNING                                
>> (..)                                
>> (.)   \ VTT TRANSCRIPT AS FOLLOWS…                   

            [SUPERINTENDENT]: “METROPOLITAN EMERGENCY!”                 
            [SUPERINTENDENT]: “METROPOLITAN EMERGENCY!”                 
            [SUPERINTENDENT]: “METROPOLITAN EMER–!”                 
            [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “We know. Personnel are en route. Can you–”                 
            [SUPERINTENDENT]: “DETOUR! PROCEED WITH CAUTION!”                 
            [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “–put Kinsler on the line?”                 
            [SUPERINTENDENT]: [UNITELLIGIBLE > DOG GROWLING(?)]                 
            [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “Sorry, what?”                 
            [SUPERINTENDENT]: “BE A HERO! REPORT VIOLATORS!” 
            [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “Oh, come on… ”                 
            [SUPERINTENDENT]: “METROPOLITAN EMER–!”                 
            [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “Listen. We have a report of core data corruption.”                 
            [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “I need you to upload your–”                 
            [SUPERINTENDENT]: “PARDON OUR DUST!”                 
            [SUPERINTENDENT]: “YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK!”                 
            [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER] “–logs for the last twenty-four hours!”                 
            [SUPERINTENDENT]: “KEEP IT CLEAN!”                 
            [SUPERINTENDENT]: “KEEP IT CLEAN!”                 
            [SUPERINTENDENT]: “KEEP IT CLEAN!”                 
            [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: [UNINTELLIGIBLE > PROFANITY (?)]                 
            [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “We’re sending a team, alright?”                 
            [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “Until they arrive, all additional comm needs to route through me.”                 
            [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “Repeat and acknowledge.”                 
            [SUPERINTENDENT]: “OBEY POSTED LIMITS!”                 
            [SUPERINTENDENT]: “YIELD TO UPHILL TRAFFIC!”                 
            [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “I’ll take that as a ‘yes’…”                 
            [SUPERINTENDENT]: “PLEASE REMAIN CALM!”  

\ ~ QUERY COMPLETE

\ ARCHIVE CLOSED \>

This was dissected by the typically rabid and inquisitive Bungie followers, and it was understood that the Superintendent seemed to be a mertopolitan AI – a program that effectively runs a city, and communicates with the populace. It is assumed that due to corruption, the AI can no longer correctly communicate with the authorities, and has resorted to using phrases normally reserved for public signage to get its message across. Some have interpreted the message to mean that disaster has fallen the city, that the city should be avoided, has been occupied and that significant damage has been done to the infrastructure. It was also assumed – incorrectly – that the Prowler name “Tokyo Rules” was a suggestion that something was to be revealed at TGS in Japan next month. I say incorrect, as it seems we didn’t have to wait that long after all.

Then, a week later, another transcript appeared, this time between an ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) Section One Lieutenant and an un-named Admiral aboard the heavy cruiser “Say My Name“:

<\\> UNSC OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE
<\\> TAC-OPS LOGISTICS DATABASE [ONI.SEC.PRTCL-1A]              

<\ * PRIORITY! * RESOURCE RE-ALLOCATION REQUEST

>> SENT: [DARE.V.500341(S1)]
>> RECEIVED: HEAVY CRUISER “SAY MY NAME” [SMN.ACTUAL]                                                                

\ PARTIAL VTT TRANSCRIPT AS FOLLOWS…                  

[SMN.ACTUAL]: “The situation on the ground isn’t my concern.”                
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “I understand, Admiral. But I need –”
[EXPLOSION (4.0098s)]
[SMN.UNKNOWN]:[UNINTELLIGIBLE > PANIC(?)]
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Empty archer pods six through twelve!”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Ready the MAC, and come about!”
[SMN.UNKNOWN]:[UNINTELLIGIBLE > INSUBORDINATION(?)]
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “It may have passed us, Lieutenant, but it’s still in range.”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Come about. And shoot it in the ass.”
[EXPLOSION (2.3482s)]
[STATIC (3.8761s)]
[SMN.UNKNOWN]:[UNINTELLIGIBLE > COMPLIANCE(?)]
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Admiral, about my squad?”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “I’ve forwarded their NCO’s name to your –”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Enough, Captain!”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “If I survive this attack…”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “I will deploy per my orders from Fleet HQ!”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Sir. I don’t report to Fleet.”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “And the men I want? Now they don’t either.”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Please. Read my request.”
[STATIC (2.8179s)]
[EXPLOSION (3.0194s)]
[STATIC (7.4501s)]
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Didn’t think you S1 types ever left your cave.”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Desperate times…”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Alright, Captain. You’ve got your squad.”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “If I survive the attack.”
[EXPLOSION (2.9016s)]
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “And right now? That’ll take a genuine act of God.”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “I’ll see what I can do.”

\ ~ REQUEST COMPLETE
\ DATABASE CLOSED \>

• Signage within the film and the presence of the Space Tether elevator tower suggests that New Mombasa and surrounding cities are the source of the CCTV footage.
• It is assumed after comparisons that *some* of the pods seen hurtling towards the ground are ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper) pods. However, some are seen veering off in a different direction, and it is not known if these are Covenant or other UNSC forces. This lends a lot of weight to the rumors about the nature of the game.
• A Covenant heavy cruiser – similar to to the Prophet Regret’s ship that loomed over New Mombasa in Halo 2 – can be glimpsed off in the distance.  
• The white flash – that the CCTV text describes as EMP - is seen, and knocks out the camera. But it is not clear if this is the blast that struck New Mombasa after Regret’s ship jumped to slipspace in Halo 2, as the post-flash damage seems far less.
• The phrase “POP: 0″ on the camera text suggests that the city has already been evacuated successfully.
• Signage for “AMG” (the company that makes the Warthog) and “Traxus” (the shipping company prevalent in the Halo Universe) can be seen on buildings.
• Familiar phrases from the Superintendent – the city AI – appear in flashes, including “Pardon Our Dust“, “Please Remain Calm” and  the ironic “Danger: Flood Zone“. It is unclear what the phrase “Maddie, Where Are You?” means, although Brian Jarrard at Bungie has explained that it has nothing to do with missing child Madeleine McCann and is a coincidence (although why anyone should think of that I have no idea. I grew bored of that media circus and story months ago and have long relegated it to a distant and forgotten memory).
• The date 01/06/09 appears within garbled text, but it is unclear as to the relevance or significance of this date. That is, whether it is a release date or, alternatively, simply a date for a new teaser or trailer. Also, there is no way to know if this means January 6th or June 1st, 2009 (personally, I hope January 6th, because, well, that’s like, much closer to NOW).
• The trailer is now available on Xbox Live with the following item descriptor: “Action and deep mystery await players in this new Halo 3 Campaign experience. Prepare to drop!“. This suggests that the new “game” is in fact perhaps an add-on to the Halo 3 campaign, and puts you in the role of an ODST. Which would kick ass. Like, serious ass. Due to the vague nature of the teaser video, it is unclear whether this expansion (if that is what it is, and not a standalone game) will take place before the events in Halo 2, alongside the New Mombasa missions that we played through as the Master Chief, or AFTER the blast caused by Regret’s ship jumping to slipspace.

So, watch, pick apart, and study the frames. After all, if you are still reading, you are obviously a Halo geek like me, and will undoubtedly do so anyway. Find something interesting? Let me know and I’ll add it.

 I can has new game now plz? Kthxbai!

Anyway, the latest strip is up. It was supposed to be a special strip for Mart’s birthday on Tuesday – happy birthday, you old bugger – but my graphics tablet has finally given up the ghost and I am unable to draw. So, for the foreseeable future, until I can afford a new one, I am having to use screenies from Halo.

I hope you don’t mind – it could be a while. But I would rather give you these than no strips at all. Many thanks for your patience. The new strip is here.

P.S. Mart is the blue dude

UPDATE: I’ll be able to add a larger number of strips each week as these don’t take long to do, so rather than post a blog for every one, simply check back every other day or so to see new ones.