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OMG Call of Duty 4 Gameplay Video Looks Incredible

Apparently this is in-game footage, folks. That’s right – looks like we’ve got an FPS that actually stands a chance during the Halo 3 onslaught later this year. I just can’t figure out if that smoke looks really good, or really out of place…


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RIP: Halo 3 Beta. It’s All Over

Halo 3 logo

Oh, Halo 3 beta, how I will miss you. We had such good times together. Whether it was VIP on Snowbound, Territories on Valhalla or 1 Flag CTF on High Ground, you never failed to entertain me. The countless kills with the Spartan Laser were never any less satisfying than my very first one. Headshots, ohhh the headshots; the way you would fling the recipient’s body backwards. The satisfying noise spike grenades would make when sticking to someone. Intense firefights, bubble shields, endless bouts of profanity-filled gaming – you were only a beta, a simple beta, yet few things could measure up to the experience you served up each and every time I played a game.

In fact, you mean so much to me, I’ve written you a Haiku. I hope it has the correct number of syllables, because I’m far too depressed to do the appropriate research.

Oh Halo 3 beta
Man cannons are so so silly
Please don’t change their sweet names

RIP Halo 3 beta. September 25 cannot possibly come soon enough.


Halo 3 Limited Edition Case Revealed

Halo 3 limited edition

The so called “Limited” Edition (limited to the number of them they can sell, no doubt) of Halo 3 has had its case unveiled, and I’ve gotta say – it looks pretty sweet. Sweet to the point where I considered changing my plans to purchase the Legendary Edition. For only $70 – $10 more than the standard edition, and $60 less than the Legendary Edition – you’ll receive a copy of the game, a bonus disc with all sorts of goodies, and a Halo fiction and art book. There was an erroneous picture floating around the internet that showed a second game disc, but this was proven to be a mistake on Microsoft’s end. Bungie.net’s Frankie explains the error:

The Collector’s Edition picture erroneously shows that it ships with a Bonus Content disc and a Game Two disc. Incorrect. It’s a mistake at MS’ end and we’re updating retailers with the correct image. The “Game Disc 2” shown in the art actually refers to an interactive Bonus Content disc. It’s an Xbox “executable” (think of it like a menu-driven disc, similar to the Official Xbox Magazine cover disc) and internally, has always been referred to as “Game Disc 2” because it has to go through the same certification process as Halo 3 itself. That was somehow communicated to MS retail marketing verbatim. Hence the error. No big deal.

It actually is a pretty complicated situation, so check after the break for the full explanation and list of contents for each Halo 3 SKU.

Click to continue reading Halo 3 Limited Edition Case Revealed

Read More | Bungie.net

Chatlog: The Halo 3 Beta: Two Weeks Later

Halo 3 teaser Master Chief

The Beta has been available to the public for nearly two weeks, and with well over a hundred games between the two of them, editors Chris Pereira and Kyle Ulrich have a discussion about the experience thus far - what they like, what they don’t, what needs to be changed, and more.

Kyle: First off, the graphics. While the beta looks good, it’s absolutely clear that what is there is merely a foundation for what the finished product will become. A lot of people have been quick to criticize the game for looking too similar to Halo 2, without taking into consideration that the majority of the assets that we’re seeing in this beta - the levels, weapons, and character models - have been finished for months, as early as last October. Particle effects are nonexistent - grenades and muzzle fire lack flourish. From my perspective, we’re going to be looking at almost an entirely different game come September. I’d imagine that there are layers and layers of polish that have yet to be implemented. Believe.

Chris: You’re right. is the type of developer that waits until the last moment to slap on that extra layer of gloss that makes everything oh-so-pretty. And unlike many games, gimmicky bloom effects aren’t what make Halo look good. And after all, this beta isn’t a tech demo; don’t expect it to wow you with its graphics.

Kyle: The gameplay is an entirely different story, though. Even in this early, unfinished stage, the balance is remarkable. Nothing feels particularly unusable and the power weapons are exactly what they should be: hard to use, one-hit skill kills. Everything from the recoil of the sniper rifle to the shortening of the Shotgun’s ammo chamber make major strides at leveling the playing field. The even smattering of spray and prays and one-shots coalesce and riff off each other beautifully. For my money, an unfinished product has never played so marvelously. Also, the tweaking of the objective game types shakes things up well. Territories is simply awesome.

Click to continue reading Chatlog: The Halo 3 Beta: Two Weeks Later


$90 For GTA IV And Goodies, Anyone?

Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Action, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360,

GTA IVLike seemingly every other game on the market, ’s IV will be releasing a special edition of the game, which will retail for $89.99. That’s a whole $30 more than the standard game, so there must be something in there to really make it worthwhile, right?

Well, that all depends on your ability to care about what is, for the most part, some worthless junk. Those three extra Hamiltons will land you a metal case, some special packaging, a soundtrack CD with exclusive tracks, a keychain, a customized Rockstar Games duffle bag, a behind-the-scenes art book and, of course, a copy of GTA IV. No special in-game treatment for you special edition owners out there.

$90 is a whole lot to ask for what boils down to a CD, art book, and metal case. With ’s Legendary Edition priced at $129.99, just how high can the price go on these special/collector’s editions? And when you factor in the already-promised downloadable content for the game, diehard GTA fans will be forking over quite the load of cash this October.

Read More | 1UP

Halo 3 Beta To See Maintenance And Playlist Update

Halo 3 Master Chief

This week will showcase the first substantial change to Halo 3’s matchmaking playlist. Team Training is going bye-bye in order to be replaced by Big Team Training – 6v6 games of the objective and slayer variety on High Ground and Valhalla. Luke Smith also stated on Bungie.net, “… we’ve made some slight tweaks to the Team Skirmish playlist that should add greater variety in the opponents you’ll face.” If only that meant no slayer games in the skirmish playlist. Slayer is not an objective game! Go play Team Slayer if that’s what tickles your fancy.

In unrelated news, later today (May 23), some sort of proverbial flip will be temporarily switched between the hours of 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. PST. It supposedly should have no impact, but Frankie warns of what may potentially happen:

Should your game encounter a rare crash, your Xbox 360 will give you an alert screen, explaining that it’s uploading data to Bungie servers. We actually need this data, and we need your cooperation too. Although you probably won’t see that screen, if you do, let it finish uploading the data. It may take some time – upwards of 10-20 seconds and perhaps longer. So we beg your patience. When the process has completed correctly this is the message you’ll see, “File upload complete. Visit http://www.bungie.net/forums/halo3beta for more information (safe to reboot).”

Read More | Bungie.net

Bleeding Edge TV 171: GamerAndy Live! Video

Last week before the Halo 3 event down in San Francisco, Andru Edwards, GamerAndy, and Edie Sellers got together to do the first video episode of GamerAndy Live! We weigh in on such topics as Halo 3, Forza Motorport 2, the PS3, and other various video game related topics.


Video of Halo 3 Zune Unboxing

We just got our hands on one of the new Edition units, and we thought you might like to see us do an unboxing on video. That is the goal of this episode of Unboxing Live. Peep the video, and then check out the Halo Zune unboxing gallery if you wanna take a look at the stills, yo.

Read More | Unboxing

Video Unboxing: Zune Halo 3 Edition

We just got our hands on one of the new Edition units, and we thought you might like to see us do an unboxing on video. That is the goal of this episode of Unboxing Live. Peep the video, and then check out the Halo Zune unboxing gallery if you wanna take a look at the stills, yo.

Read More | Unboxing

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