Latest Gear Live Videos
Bleeding Edge TV 370: A Tour of Bungie Studios, the folks behind Halo
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Full Episodes, High Score, Features, Podcasts, Video Games, Videocasts, Videos
In this one we bring you behind the scenes at Bungie Studios in Redmond, WA. Bungie is the maker of the popular Halo series of games, and we were there for an early look at the Halo: Reach Noble Map Pack. We figured we'd get a tour of the place as well, to show you guys just how cool Bungie is. In the video, you get a look at some of the life-sized Halo props and gear, awards they've won, what's in the Bungie rec room (they're huge Street Fighter fans!), and more.
Big thank you to JackThreads for sponsoring the show - be sure to check them out, we've got exclusive invite codes that give you $5 to use towards anything you'd like. In addition, we wanna thank GoToMeeting as well - be sure to get your GoToMeeting 30-Day free trial and experience the freedom of being able to share and access your desktop from anywhere, remotely.
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Wearable LEGO Master Chief helmet
Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Design, Video Games
Ben Caulkins (a.k.a. Benny Brickster) created this gray LEGO Master Chief helmet from scratch, and yes, it is wearable. Just don't go running around expecting your shields to recharge after a well placed head shot. At least not until they invent bulletproof LEGO blocks.
Read More 
| Brothers Brick
The 5 Most Memorable Video Game Experiences
Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Action, Adventure, Bungie, Culture, Editorial, Features, Fighting, First Person Shooters, Microsoft, Nintendo, Xbox
Once in awhile there comes along an experience that shapes the way that we look at things. A video game experience that makes something in your brain tingle. A game where simply a mere melody from its title screen sends nostalgia crawling up your spine. There are a few video games with these kinds of experience that stick out in our minds; not just for being great games, but for their “wow” factors. Sometimes these experiences are shaped by our personal interpretations; i.e. revolving around what was going on in our lives at the time. Therefore, you may have a different top five list, but we can all agree that the following five games helped to shape the way video games are made even to this day.
Win one of 300 Halo: Reach Honor the Code kits!
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Microsoft, Video Games
We're giving away one of just 300 Halo: Reach Honor the Code kits, created by Mountain Dew. The Honor the Code promotion allows consumers to enter codes from Mountain Dew and Doritos items for a chance to win a bunch of Xbox 360 and Halo: Reach gear. The Honor the Code kit includes:
- Six unique 20 ounce bottles of DEW, including the exclusive version of Mountain Dew White Out that is available only in this kit. Each bottle features different characters from the game
- Two bags of Doritos featuring “Halo: Reach” characters
Of course, the items each have codes you can enter at the Honor the Code website for a chance at all the goods, which include limited edition Xbox 360 bundles, games, and even a Mongoose ATV. So, you wanna win this thing or what? Here's how to enter:
- Follow the Gear Live Twitter account
- On Twitter, post this tweet about our contest: “Hey @gearlive I wanna Honor the Code! http://gear.lv/e-honorcode” (Click here to tweet this now)
That's it! We will pick a winner at the end of the day tomorrow, October 29th. You've gotta be in the US to win. We've got video of the Honor the Code kit after the break.
Gallery: Win one of 300 Halo: Reach Honor the Code kits!
Halo: Reach armor lock glitch
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: First Person Shooters, Microsoft, Mods/Hacks, Xbox 360
The guys over at Machinima have already found a frightening glitch in the armor lock mod. But beware, learning this ability is something that you can never take back from your memory!
Microsoft prepares ban hammer for Halo: Reach pirates
Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Bungie, First Person Shooters, Microsoft, Xbox 360, Xbox Live
Though the temptation may be great to jump online early, perpetrators of downloading early copies of Halo: Reach better think twice before firing up their illegally attained games online. Microsoft is no stranger to banning as many users as they see fit suspected of playing pirated copies of their games. A representative for Microsoft had this to say:
“We are aware that an unauthorized copy of “Halo: Reach” has leaked. We are aggressively investigating the matter. We have no further details to share at this time.”
Sounds like Microsoft is pretty pissed at the whole situation, and we all know what happens when Microsoft feels slighted. Last fall, gamers playing pirated copies of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 prompted Microsoft to ban up to a million players to get their message across. And that message is that pirating will not be tolerated.
“We are aggressively pursuing the violators. Microsoft’s commitment to combat piracy and support safer and more secure gameplay for the 25 million members of the Xbox LIVE community remains a top priority. All consumers should know that piracy is illegal and modifying their Xbox 360 console violates the Xbox LIVE terms of use, will void their warranty and result in a ban from Xbox LIVE.”
Read More | Kotaku
Samsung Epic 4G ad with Master Chief?
Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Cell Phones, Handhelds, Video Games, Videos
If you’ve seen the new Samsung Epic 4G commercial then you might have been fooled into watching the whole thing thinking it was a new Halo: Reach commercial (raises hand). The similarities are probably not a coincidence considering Halo: Reach is set to be the biggest game of the year, and all eyes are on it right now. Knowing this, Samsung could have purposely chosen to borrow the money making look of Master Chief.
The start of the ad depicts a character bearing a strong resemblance to Halo’s Master Chief. The pseudo Chief is then chased by an alien space craft which bombards the Spartan-like clone with some heavy missile fire. Unmasking himself, the Samsung’s Spartan hops into his own aircraft, epic chase ensues. The terrain containing the massive battle is then revealed to take place in the palm of your hand - the slogan for the theater-like experience promised by the Samsung Galaxy S. All Halo inspired themes aside, it’s a pretty cool commercial, though you have no clue what it’s about until the very end. Microsoft states that “the commercial in question is not sanctioned by Microsoft.” However, whether or not Microsoft will want to have the look alike Master Chief hero pulled from the air is not known at this point.
Check out the ad for yourself below.
Halo: Reach leaks out…via Xbox Live
Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Bungie, Corporate News, First Person Shooters, Xbox 360, Xbox Live
Keeping in tradition with Halo 3 and Halo 2 before it, the Halo series has managed to fall into unsavory pirate hands yet again with Halo: Reach. How did the leak occur, you ask? Directly from Microsoft’s own servers on Xbox Live. This is because Bungie provided authorized reviewers with the codes to download the game which is currently on display in the Xbox Live Marketplace. However, having Reach hiding in plain site wasn’t clever enough to keep the modders from getting their greedy little hands on Reach a full month early.
With Reach already floating around on some torrents out there and in the hard drives of a climbing number of peoples computers, you can expect details from the games story to begin surfacing online. Futhermore, I can safely predict that there will be another epidemic of eager gamers playing Reach online and subsequently being caught and banned from Xbox Live. Microsoft claims that they are “aggressively investigating” the leak, as I’m sure they are furious, but expecting, of the incident. While Halo has been plagued with early downloads, video games don’t suffer from the same stigma of illegal Internet downloads as music, and the sales don’t seem to decline any. Anticipate Halo: Reach to do big numbers on its release date regardless of the incident.
Halo 2600 Takes Master Chief Back In Time
While the original Halo: Combat Evolved may look as ancient as they come to some of today’s gamers, the former VP of Microsoft’s game publishing division was curious to how Halo would fare in the retro days of Atari 2600. The result? Halo: 2600! Halo 2600 began as a way for Ed to get his hands dirty in some 2600 code work, but the resulting experience transformed into a complete retro classic showcased at the Classic Gaming Expo. To solidify the retro experience, Halo 2600 even sports a cartridge modeled in true 2600 fashion. Below, Ed discusses his experience making Halo 2600, and a bug that seems to fit into the Halo experience:
“It’s around this time that I discovered the existence of what I call “Magic Land”. I was working on a bug with the boss encounter and accidentally found myself completely outside the 64 room map. I was wandering through memory that was never intended to be interpreted as part of the map but the code was doing the best it could to interpret what was being thrown at it. Strange, misshapen monsters attacked me in even stranger ways as I wandered through this bizarre land that I had unintentionally created. I left a bug or two in the final game to allow others to find and explore this strange landscape as I did.”
While waiting for Halo: Reach to hit stores, get your Master Chief fix here.
Read More | Halo 2600
Halo: Reach introduces Forge World
Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Bungie, First Person Shooters, Microsoft, Xbox 360, Xbox Live
It’s no shocker that Bungie’s Halo: Reach finale is going to be epic, to say the least. But no one was prepared for just how ambitious the last Halo world would be. That is, until ‘Forge World’ was shown for the first time. In fact, epic is an understatement referring to Forge World. To envision the vastness only a word such as ‘Brobdingnagian’ is befitting. To put it simply - you are not ready.
By now you’re scratching your head wondering “what the heck is Forge World?!” Basically, Forge World is five multi-player maps rolled into one - Canyon, Island, “The Rock,” Quarry, and Coliseum. Each of these maps is set in a different location of the colossal map. In Forge World the player is god, able to customize these areas as they see fit, à la the forge editor from Halo 3. However, unlike Halo 3’s forge editor you are given more options to create developer worthy maps. In fact, Bungie had so much fun in forging these new maps that they even added six of their own Forge World creations to be put into regular game rotation in Halo: Reach’s online multi-player. One of which is a remake of the classic ‘Blood Gulch”, now called ‘Hemorrhage’. To get an idea of the scope of Forge World, Hemorrhage is like a mere sandbox in the middle of the desert.
Bungie is aiming to have gamers create their own multi-player maps with newer forge tools that allow greater creativity. In this new Forge World you will have access to about 150 transferable objects. Thankfully, the physics of objects can be altered accordingly to make mid-air and other placements easier. Also, you now have the ability to “phase” objects into other parts of the map, creating whole new structures and consequently different ways to engage in combat. Created maps can then be “tagged”, allowing other gamers to download them. Think of Forge World as your own personal Inception - “it’s pure creation”. With even more objects to place, a much larger scale world, and the player’s own creativity driving them, we can expect to see some insane multi-player maps start to surface immediately after D-day (September 14th).
Read More | Bungie.net
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