Chronique:Halo Bulletin 02/11/2011

HALOween

Every morning when I walk into the studio, I’m greeted by Master Chief, who, day after day, stands stoically at the door, guarding the entrance from possible split-lipped intruders. Then, after venturing in another dozen feet or so, I catch sight of Jun, crouched in a sniper position with his finger resting lightly on the trigger of his rifle, keeping watch for approaching packs of methane-breathing arthropods. Scattered amongst the rest of the studio are more members of Noble Team, protecting the farthest nooks and crannies of our workspace while occasionally sporting various fashionable accessories such as aprons (when we have a BBQ), cobwebs and spiders (on Halloween), and whatever other random objects people happen to bring to work that day. I think it’s because of that constant exposure to super-soldiers that I found myself having this conversation on Monday:

Not Me: I was thinking about tweeting this. What do you think? (Points to an image of a Spartan sitting at a desk.)

Me: That’s a great picture, but don’t you think we should post something related to Halloween today?

Not Me: Jessica, this is related to Halloween. Someone wore that costume to school.

Me: Oh.

….

Me: Yeah, go ahead and post it.

Now that I think about it, there were definitely a higher-than-average number of Spartans out and about on Halloween. At one point, when traversing the barely lit streets of my neighborhood, I stumbled upon either John-117 shortly after he was initially kidnapped or a super-cute Spartan bobblehead. Either way, his helmet was too big for his body, his codpiece was the size of his torso, and he clearly needed a weapon since the only thing he was wielding was a bag. I didn’t want to scare his parents by asking if I could take his picture, so I am unable to share his unbelievably adorable likeness. What I can share, however, are the costumes my coworkers wore that fine Halloween day.

Some of these images will not be burned into your retinas for all time. Others will. You have been warned.

Halo: Anniversary Launch Party

While we may have celebrated Halloween without you, we certainly wouldn’t do the same with the launch of Halo: Anniversary. That’s why we’d like to officially invite you to join us and other Halo fans at Microsoft stores nationwide on November 14th. Come at 10 p.m., show off your mad skills in some classic Red vs. Blue multiplayer matches on the maps that started it all, and then get your copy of Halo: Anniversary at midnight. (Semi-relevant, I heard the first 100 people to purchase the game in person at each location will get a little something in the form of a Grunt plushie. Just FYI.)

In an attempt to spread the love, we’ll have special guests at a few of the locations. Frank O'Connor will be at the Los Angeles store, a few people from Rooster Teeth will be at the Houston store, and some Certain Affinity folks will be at both the Houston and Seattle locations. Here are all the participating Microsoft stores, should you find yourself within traveling vicinity of any of these fabulous cities:

Scottsdale, AZ - Scottsdale Fashion Square

Costa Mesa, CA - South Coast Plaza

Los Angeles, CA - Westfield Century City

Mission Viejo, CA - The Shops at Mission Viejo

San Diego, CA - Fashion Valley Mall

Santa Clara, CA - Westfield Valley Fair

Lone Tree, CO - Park Meadows Mall

Atlanta, GA - Lenox Square Mall

Oak Brook, IL - Oakbrook Center

Bloomington, MN - Mall of America

Houston, TX - Houston Galleria

Bellevue, WA - Bellevue Square Mall

Seattle, WA - University Village

If you’d like to start prepping for the madness that will be the multiplayer matches that evening, I highly recommend whipping out your Combat Evolved and Halo 2 discs and refamiliarizing yourself with the maps that will soon be available in Anniversary. It may be easier to watch this video though, should you need a refresher on Hang ’Em High in particular. Here’s a helpful hint, in case you haven’t been on this playspace since Tombstone: aim for the people on the other team. Preferably with your shiny, like-new, three-shot-kill CE Magnum.

And while we’re talking about videos, I’ll go ahead and leave this new Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary trailer—which focuses on the renowned Campaign experience—right here. Yes, it came out on Monday, but there’s nothing stopping you from watching it again. And again. And again. And again.

Halo: Anniversary Skulls

Skulls, which just so happen to make for spooky Halloween decorations, are bony structures in the head. Within the world of Halo though, they are also game-modifiers, and Halo: Anniversary is not only bringing back your favorites but also introducing some new ones. In order to leave an air of mystery around them, I will tell you their names but I won’t be revealing what they do. Gotta leave a few surprises for the first night, right? By the way, if you’re wondering where the skulls are hidden, I recently asked Chad just that, and the only response I got was a frighteningly long bout of maniacal laughter. It’s not looking good for us, fellow skull hunters, it’s not looking good….

Halo Jack-o’-Lanterns

We’ve covered costumes and skulls so far in this Halloween-themed Bulletin, so I do believe that leaves us with only one more thing to discuss: pumpkins. I mean, what’s Halloween without incredibly awesome Halo-themed jack-o’-lanterns, right? Many of you carved some jaw-droppingly amazing creations, so here is just a tiny portion of those that were sent to us. You can see more on our Facebook page, if gourd-like squashes happen to be your thing.

Wow. That was a lot of pictures. I would apologize, but I know you’d much rather look at images than actually read my words. No worries, I don’t blame you. I do hope you enjoyed the lack of text this week though, because next week I have a feeling I will be extra verbose. Until then….

<3,

bs angel

P.S. And because I feel 42 pictures in today’s Bulletin isn’t quite enough, here’s one more for you in the form of your wallpaper-friendly Friday Caption Fun image. Click to embiggen, then right click and save as background. Only after you submit your quip for last week’s picture, though. Get to it already!