I’ve seen the mist rise from the forest, up the hill and into my room like a living thing.

I’ve seen coyotes playing with young buffalo in a snowy glade in hills so black they named them just that.

I’ve seen grown up men and women, ostensibly adults… frolic.

I’ve seen children grow from defenseless sacks of crying writhing flesh, to strong, smart, brave young men and women.

I’ve seen iron birds, driven by men, soaring like a pre-historic bird of prey. Large and bulky, yet graceful, and deadly.

I’ve seen a machine, built to kill thousands, fire it’s main gun and watched the ground shudder and shake in concentric rings, arcing out from it for thousands of feet.

I’ve seen a lady bug being eaten alive by thousands of smaller ants.

I’ve seen a man utterly destroyed. The pieces remaining no larger than my thumbnail.

I’ve seen the sunrise over the mountains in the fall near Taos. Deep inky black sky giving way to a clear blue in under ten minutes.

I’ve seen great men, act petty.

I’ve seen small man, behave like kings.

I’ve seen a woman go from drug rehab and abuse, to a wonderful mother and wife to a loving husband, only to throw it all away and return to drugs and more abuse.

I’ve seen drunks doing amazing things that they could not have repeated if their lives depended on it.

I’ve seen some of the smartest people in the world, make mistakes a child could have avoided.

I’ve seen a row of headstones that told the story of a desperate father, bringing everything to an end in one moment.

I’ve seen a boy learn in one day how to carve snow with his feet, and glide down a mountain like a tear drop glides down a face.

I’ve seen rivers, made by men, jump their banks and kill.

I’ve seen the sky, fill with clouds and in a night of swirling devastation, lay waste to man’s most permanent structures.

I’ve seen towers fall, and men cry.

I’ve seen happiness on the faces of people who have no reason to have any.

I’ve seen more, and less than I ever thought I would.

I’ve seen my father die, in pain, with no hope, at the end, with morphine, loss of his real mind, surrounded by us, his family, watching him curl up and finally breath his hard fought last breath.

I’ve seen death and birth and all manor of horror and hilarity in between.

I’ve seen love in a woman’s eyes.

… and the show goes on.

I know I’m a week late with this post, but I lost track of time having sexual intercourse with your mothers over Thanksgiving. I stuffed her turkey amirite? I candied her yams.  I mashed her potatoes. I buttered her cornbread. I stuck my penis in her vagina. I guess would be the point I’m trying to convey here.

Like this, except your mom and I were fucking on top of the pumpkin.

In my last article, I brought you the greatest of the great, a superhuman who could stop cancer with a well thrown deep ball. This week I decided to highlight the low-man of video games. A character you pay little attention to, but that shows up in every game. Without them, games would feel incomplete. I’m speaking of course about the low class henchman. We’ve all gotten mad when a seemingly impossible headshot or well placed grenade takes out our main character. I’ve thrown many controllers because a henchman pulled off a once in a lifetime headshot while I was down on health from beating a boss. I remember once I was playing a game called Goldeneye: Rogue Agent, where you could hold hostages in front of you to protect you from damage. In that game I got shot with a rocket launcher from feet away, threw the guy aside and was completely undamaged. I went about the rest of the level crushing people until I wasn’t paying attention and was low on health and got shot by a henchman hiding behind a crate that killed me and made me start the whole damn level over. Let’s just say I bought a new controller the next day.

I was researching for this article as I usually do, by breaking into different game developers headquarters and stealing their files, when I stumbled on an interesting folder. I bring to you now the 1st part of a series that I will probably forget to continue after this week: The Henchman Diaries

Who: Grunt

Where found: The Halo series, but this diary comes from the first game because the second 2 were bullshit.

Day 1:

Three weeks. I was three weeks from being discharged from the Covenant Army before they called me into battle on a secret mission. It turns out that an ancient Forerunner artifact was found during a battle with the humans. Our mission was to eradicate the human presence from the artifact and find out as much as we could about it while there. It’s apparently a giant ring that somehow has atmosphere, the ability to have life grow on it and that somehow is going to help us eradicate the human race and other heretics. Or some shit. I don’t really know because all I could think about when we were being briefed was that there’s a very low possibility of finding some Grunt poontang on whatever the hell this place is. The Elites seem pretty tense, but they always do. We’ve been destroying the humans so far and I’m hoping that I can just hang back and let them do all the work so I can get back home in one piece.

Sexier than anything you saw in Yu's article.

Day 12:

THREE FUCKING WEEKS. We’re getting absolutely slaughtered out here. The humans sent some sort of super soldier code named “Master Chief” who has killed hundreds of us. Whole regiments have been taken out by this one guy and a small legion of troops that couldn’t shoot an Elite if they were 2 feet from one and had a nuclear missile attached to their gun. I’ve heard stories of him sneaking into secured locations and killing grunts napping at their posts. I’ve heard of him taking out several Hunters at a time.  I have no idea how this is even possible, Hunters has been known to take out entire legions of Grunts by themselves. I’ve heard Covenant generals are fumbling around trying to take him out as each one fails to trap and kill Master Chief even though we always heavily fortify the places that we know he’s going to attack at. My regiment is part of a huge attack being led tomorrow, which hopes to kill him just by throwing everything we have at him, including tanks and airships.

Day 13:

We’re stationed outside of the “Control Room” which sounds pretty fucking important if you ask me. There’s a huge force here ready to stop the human attack but we’re steadily hearing that the one called Master Chief is continuing to rip through our forces and is heading directly our way. If I wore pants, I would be shitting in them right now.

Day 13:

I can’t really tell you what happened. Apparently overcome by fear, I passed out but before I did I lobbed up my last plasma grenade hoping to hit Master Chief as he came charging by me at a tank. Not only did I hit him, apparently that plasma grenade stuck to his helmet and somehow killed him. The battle apparently went on for another few minutes before both sides discovered that Master Chief had died, and when the humans eventually saw him they immediately surrendered. I’m being told that there’s going to be a hero’s welcome for me when I return and that the Prophet’s are to honor me. This is a huge step for my race as we have always been viewed as the weakest of the Covenant. Plus I’m going to get a preposterous amount of Grunt lovin’ when I return home as I am being discharged from the army when I return. BOOSH!

Day 45:

So much for the hero’s welcome. I returned to find that I wasn’t being honored but instead it was the Elite who put together the attack that brought down Master Chief and ended the battle for the artifact. I received a short mention and then was shipped back home where they hadn’t even heard the news that there was a battle for the artifact since it was a secret mission. No poontang, no grapes being fed to me by hot naked grunts while I sit on a couch watching Grunt football. Fuck the Covenant. I hear any day now we’re going to turn on the artifact and there’s supposed to be some sort of cleansing of the wicked. Whatever the hell that means. All I know is at least I earned some money to save up for my 30 children to go to college.

Oh yeah for those who are either girls or have been in a coma for the last 10 years SPOILER ALERT: Turning on the ring would kill everybody in the universe. Everybody.

Like this, except if it happened in the entire universe. Yeah they fucked that up.

Touching shit right? If I was capable of crying I might have cried for 15 minutes after reading this. But Idon’t cry ever. Just remember next time a lowly henchman takes you out, you may have just made a hero, unless there’s some class division where that person has no chance of being received as a hero. And that your henchman protected something that will eventually destroy the entire universe. Then totally continue with demolishing shit in your room.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my daughter. She’s 8, soon to be 9. And she has an amazing capacity for happiness. As well as grief. She can laugh and play and scream in your ear and have a ball doing it almost no matter the situation or how bad things get. She also can cry at the drop of a hat over things that you would think have no consequence.

Plus, and this is new… she has developed a competitive streak that both reminds me of myself, and scares me silly. She got really frustrated when we went to drive go-karts. She happened to get a fairly slow one and her brother passed her and she got ANGRY about it. The next time out she drove way off to the outside, slow, when she was done I asked why and she said she wasn’t racing, she was just driving.

I realized she’s developed a defense mechanism, admittedly a strange one, but an effective one all the same, to avoiding the feelings she gets when she loses at something. Thinking about it, I have to admit I admire her. It never would have occurred to me at her age. Little gametroll just kept bashing his head against the wall in situations where he had no hope of success. But lil’ girl troll just bypasses the issue all together, still participates, still has fun… and totally junks all the downside of losing.

How come I couldn’t think like that back then?

Still, there’s a concern here that a coping mechanism could turn into a life-long habit. When she’s in up for a promotion, she can’t coast along the outside trying to avoid the pain of not getting the raise. She has to get in there and fight for it. Demonstrate her skills and intellect. She has to compete.

There are a million decisions a parent makes all the time, most without even realizing it, that will effect their children in profound ways, but every once in a while, one comes along that you get to think about. Those are the tough ones. How do I encourage her to compete but not push her to an unhealthy degree? Before anyone posts advice. I’ve got it. I’m on this. Don’t need any help. I just found the whole thing really interesting and strange and it made me feel… aw gawd…. like an adult.

She’s in ballet now, which in a strange way, is a team sport, where you can’t “lose”. But it encourages her to step up to the level of the others so that, as a group, they look good. It’s a good phase between that and eventually, something more directly competitive. Like basketball.

She will never be a ballerina, genetically, she’s bound to wind up approaching 6′0″. But she’s gone to the Houston Ballet all her life, at least 3 or 4 shows a season. And the fact that she gets to wear a tu-tu, just like the one she’s worn since she was 3, but this time OUT OF THE HOUSE… doesn’t hurt.

It’s already 1:30 am and  practically the 3rd day of December already. I’m a little bit fuzzy right now because of too much dessert i had. Anyway, I got this  e-mail from a friend and I found it alarming.

It’s not that I don’t think these things can  happen, I can’t ignore either approve it, all i can do is to present this statement as an evidence and one thing for sure that some details that you’ll be reading can be disturbing.  Please Inform all your Female Friends and guy friend’s daughter.

—The Story—

A woman at a bar on a Saturday night was taken by 5 men, who, according to hospital and police reports, gang raped her before dumping her. Unable to remember the events of the evening, tests later confirmed the repeat rapes, along with traces of Rohypnol in her blood and Progesterex,  essentially a small sterilization pill.

The drug is now being used by rapists at parties to rape AND sterilize their victims. Progesterex is available to vets to sterilize large animals. Progesterex is being used together with Rohypnol, the date rape drug.

As with Rohypnol, all they have to do is drop it into the girl’s drink. The girl can’t remember a thing the next morning, of all that had taken place the night before. Progesterex, which dissolves in drinks just as easily, is such that the victim doesn’t get pregnant; she won’t conceive from the rape and the rapist needn’t worry about having a paternity test identifying him months later.

The drug’s effects ARE NOT TEMPORARY – They are P*E*R*M*A*N* E*N*T!!! Progesterex was designed to sterilize horses. Any female who takes it will
NEVER BE ABLE TO CONCEIVE… The weasels  can get this drug from anyone who is in the vet school or any university.

It’s that easy, and Progesterex is about to break out big on campuses everywhere. Believe it or not, there are even sites on the Internet telling people how to use it.

Please forward this to everyone you know, especially girls… Be careful when you’re out and don’t leave your drink unattended.

Please make the effort to forward this on to all you know… Guys, please inform all your female friends and relatives!

REPOST THIS MSG AS MANY TIMES AS YOU CAN to HELP SAVE THE NEXT VICTIM…..

&$%@#!!!

Yah, I said it.

I am gametroll. I have gone by other names, done other things, and blogged (sort of) for most of my adult life. This will be the first time I’ve blogged without a topic, without a goal, without a product or project. This will just be me. Saying what comes to mind.

What’s on my mind tonight?

Thanksgiving.

I imagine most people have a little less to be thankful for this year than in years past and I am no exception. The brilliant folks manning the rules that govern our economy have seen to it that I have a little less employment, and a lot more debt. Meh, fvck em. I’ll get by. My family, such as it was, has been torn apart by… well… don’t guess I’ll go there other than to say it wasn’t my fault. I’m the victim and please pity me. Well, that’s how it feels when I try to explain what happened.

Yet, even with all that, I’m happier than I’ve been…. ever.

I have the begginings of new life. A girl who treats me like a god, but is sarcastic and mean enough to me to keep my feet on the ground. I’m in a new town that “feels” right. And that’s very important to me. I’ve lived in places I didn’t like for circumstances beyond my control all my life. This is the first time I’ve MOVED somewhere because I liked it there. I have a minimum amount of work, but it’s doing something I enjoy and for a really GREAT lady who is easy to work for. It’s nice when a client knows what they want and isn’t shy about saying it. I have a new (to me) car that is cool as hell looking, drives like a race car and has great gas mileage. Except for the whole teetering financial situation and the blown to smithereens family… it’s been a pretty damned good year.

So, for those things, I’m thankful.

The funny thing about having a limited employment status is you get LOADS of time to think, and plan, and come up with things to keep yourself occupied, but they all have to be low cost or free.

Some things I’ve thought about doing with my time, have started, or might yet start:

• Make my own video game. (I did it for someone else for seven years, why not?)

• Write a book. (I’m not a writer. It would suck. But I still LIKE writing, so who knows.)

• Paint. (I’m an artist after all. No… really… went to college for it and everything.)

• Start a band. (Just started playing guitar this year. I’m not going to get better alone. And why play with others if you can’t come up with a cool name?)

Nothing very realistic there. But all things I’ve seriously considered.

Before I continue, yes, I know, there’s no single point here. Reread the subtitle.

I’ve been watching a lot more TV lately. Usually I watch ONE series and do other things with my time. But lately there’s been a handful (or more) that I’m watching with Chaoswitch (my girlfriend).

Supernatural (Not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. In fact… this season is pretty frikkin great.)

House (I like Gregory. He speaks like I think. I’d never SAY those things… but I don’t have to, he does that for me.)

Heroes (Once again, waning. Sigh. There’s so much potential… and I keep watching… waiting for it to come through.)

Glee (Fvck you! I see you laughing! Shut up!)

Flash Forward (This feels like another Heroes right now. But damn, this COULD be sooooo good. Just BE good already, dammit!)

V (Bad show then, bad show now. Was hoping they’d BSG it… but no.)

Lie To Me (Consistently awesome.)

Sons of Anarchy (I hate the premise, the story, the art and locations… but the acting is so damned good I can’t turn away.)

Dexter (Tall, gangely guy who likes to kill the bad people. How could I NOT like this show?)

All that added to her Netflix cue and random string of ID channel and History channel shows… It’s amazing I have time for anything BUT TV anymore.

Seriously?! When am I going to have time to blog?! Guess we’ll see.

To download issues 1-3 Thanks to Rutiger

Grunts

Check out our video tip on calling monster bucks

Be sure to join http://thehuntingchannelonline.com to learn more, to see more, to get more everyday!

Esta semana hemos visto que en nuestro videoclub han traído juegos nuevos y uno de ellos es Halo: ODST, el nuevo juego de Halo. Primero vamos a presentaros este título. Empezamos con la historia que nos explica que el Covenant ha podido penetrar en las defensas terrestres y han arrasado la ciudad de Nueva Mombasa. Nosotros somos “El Novato” de la última esperanza de acabar con la nave que había penetrado la barrera defensiva. Miembro de un comando especial con los mejores agentes. Pero algo sale mal y caemos a Nueva Mombasa solos y teniendo que buscar a nuestros compañeros para intentar llegar a la nave que está encima nuestro.

Salimos de nuestra cápsula en un espacio lleno de Covenant y muy peligroso. Llevamos la típica Pistola de Halo, pero con silenciador y una ametralladora semiautomática. Lo primero que deberemos hacer es curarnos, si vamos hacia la derecha encontraremos un puesto con vida, recordad que los grandes saltos des de una zona a más altura no las soportaremos demasiado bien, tened cuidado. Después de conseguir vida, puede que nos sintamos un poco desorientados, pues tocamos la “X” para activar el “Visir”, que nos ayuda a posicionar a los enemigos, a los aliados y a poder analizar la zona en busca de pistas o algo útil. Así podremos avanzar hasta una zona con Covenants, así pues, tras acabar con todos deberemos llamar por teléfono para poder conseguir el mapa que nos guiará durante el juego. Veremos que encima de la vida aparecerá una brújula en la que se nos apuntará cual es nuestro objetivo. Nuestra misión: localizar a nuestros compañeros y para ello tendremos que ser un poco detectives y buscar pistas de por dónde han pasado ellos.

- La primera pista, un casco y el recuerdo de una de las conversaciones que hubo a bordo de la nave.

BUCK

Después de una pista reviviremos los pasos del personaje al que corresponde la pista encontrada, hasta que cumplamos una misión que debe realizar y volveremos a ser “El Novato” para seguir investigando y avanzando tal y como lo hizo este personaje.

Buck, el jefe del escuadrón. Empezamos viendo a través de las cámaras de la ciudad como cae una de las naves, en la que va Buck. Nuestra misión será encontrar a Verónica, la técnica del grupo después de contactar con ella y saber que no puede salir de su cápsula. Avanzamos acabando con leves amenazas del Covenant hasta encontrar a dos compañeros. Estos nos recomiendan que entremos a través de los edificios para poder franquear a los Brute que hay en la calle. Pero cuidado porque estos dos aliados no tienen mucho aguante y si nos despistamos los Brute nos atacarán por detrás. Una vez acabamos con la amenaza, bajamos y seguimos por la calle y en poco recorrido encontramos a otra compañera y Verónica nos habla, deberemos entrar en el edificio para intentar acabar con todos los Covenants que nos encontramos. Si podéis os aconsejo que llevéis a mano un arma de largo alcance, ya que hay un Brute con una Carabina de plasma y tres o cuatro más con armas de corto alcance. Además en un puesto privilegiado hay un Chacal con otra Carabina. Os aconsejo tener una Carabina también y apuntar a la cabeza de los Brute para intentar acabar con ellos, normalmente en 5 o 6 disparos salta el casco y luego con un tiro más en la cocorota lo mandaréis al otro barrio.

Pasando por el puente donde estaban la mayoría de sus efectivos, encontraremos una puerta, recomiendo que no la toméis, ya que es una trampa y acabaremos en la calle delante de dos Hunters. Si queréis un reto bajad por ahí e intentad que uno de ellos entre por las escaleras, así podréis con él. Para acabar con el segundo podéis usar el mismo método o salir a la calle y utilizar el autobús chamuscado para cubriros.

Para no caer en la trampa deberemos ir por la calle de la derecha si miramos des de dónde venimos. Cuidado! Porque hay un cañón de plasma, con un arma de larga distancia acabaréis con él fácilmente. Si no tenéis balas hay más en el puente, recordad que un Brute llevaba una. Seguiremos adelante y llegaremos a una plaza donde hay tres Grunts atacando a una cápsula, bajamos, acabamos con ellos y la abrimos. Verónica no está…

NOVATO

Volvemos a la noche, donde “El Novato” tiene que seguir buscando pistas y encontrar a sus compañeros. Debemos salir a la calle y en el mapa se nos marca una baliza que tenemos que encontrar. Emprendemos el camino, recomiendo ir con sigilo, porque estos personajes no son como el Jefe Maestro y no cuentan con escudo. La dificultad a la que he jugado es Normal y ya tenía problemas por culpa de la vida. Llegaremos a una plaza y tened mucho cuidado porque hay tres Brute y un Rastreador, una aparato que parece de Biotecnología y que nos rastrea con dos rayos de luz hasta encontrarnos. Si lo hace nos seguirá y cuando se acerque explotará a nuestro lado. Ojo! Cuando lleguemos a la baliza, atentos a los francotiradores que hay en las posiciones más altas.

- La segunda pista es una cámara tirada en el suelo.

DUTCH

Este soldado ha caído en la Reserva Natural de la ciudad (cambiamos los escenarios de ciudad por un escenario abierto y muy bien iluminado). Tenemos suerte y en este tramo del juego encontraremos muchas de las armas pesadas de Halo, el láser Spartan, el rifle de francotirador, el lanzacohetes… Tenemos que usar el Warthog, pero recomiendo que subáis y bajéis para que los compañeros lo usen y cojáis vosotros la moto de los Brute. Para acabar con los tanques de los Covenant yo he utilizado el láser Spartan a larga distancia, pero si os gusta más la aventura podéis ir con la moto Brute. Si después de esta primera escaramuza tenemos poca vida, a la derecha de la puerta que tenemos que pasar hay vida y un Ghost. Yo lo he cogido, es más manejable que la moto de Brute pero un poco más frágil. Entramos a un valle, con dos tanques Covenant y cuatro torretas láser. Primero acabad con las motos de Brute y los Ghosts que hay en la valle y después ir al edificio central, allí hay un lanzacohetes y un rifle de francotirador. Si os quedan disparos del láser, usadlo para el tanque, si no es así (como yo, que acabe con las torretas con él), usad el lanzacohetes, si falláis (como yo, jajajaja) no os desesperéis, usad el rifle de francotirador para acabar con el Brute que controla la torreta del tanque (nunca fallo con este rifle…) entonces acercaros al tanque con cuidado y con un par de granadas de plasma o granadas Brute estará listo.

No hemos acabado. Avanzamos montaña arriba y encontramos una zona que un estructura Covenant, acabad con los enemigos como más os guste. Después seguid subiendo por la derecha de la valle. Bajarán un par de Banshes, pero con acabar con uno los demás se acojonarán. Destruid las torretas (creo que son 3) y luego tendremos que saltar al vacío.

NOVATO

Llueve si seguimos el rastro de los demás. Me ha costado entender el juego, pero ahora lo veo claro. Mientras avanzamos tenemos que ir usando el mapa, porque nos indica donde están los enemigos y podemos ir rodeándolos por dentro de los edificios o pasando por otras calles. Si no podemos evitar toparnos con uno de ellos, puede que la marca signifique un grupo o uno solo. Si es un grupo recomiendo la larga distancia para acabar con ellos rápido y antes de que los refuerzos lleguen de otros puntos de la ciudad. Si es uno solo, podemos matarlo a golpes y así no haremos ruido. Tenemos que ser un poco Splinter Cell cuando jugamos con “El Novato”. Cuando llegáis al punto de la baliza, no os desesperéis para encontrarlo, mirad arriba.

- La tercera pista un cañón Gaus que tenéis que ir a mirar. Subid al edificio por las escaleras para llegar allí.

MICKEY

Aparecemos en una plaza en la que vemos el Escorpión, que tendremos que conducir para llegar a través de las calles destrozando a los Covenant como si matásemos a moscas a cañonazos. Cuando lleguemos a nuestro destino, no demasiado difícil con el tanque, hay dos barreras que no nos dejan pasar a donde está Duck y tenemos que bajarnos para seguir. Entonces en el punto de reunión nos tienen una emboscada, con un tanque Covenant y una horda de Grunts, Chacals y Brutes. Recomiendo acabar primero con la infantería, podéis cubriros en las zonas altas que hay a derecha e izquierda porque sino os franquearán por ambos lados. Cuando acabéis con la infantería, acercaros al tanque para destruirlo. Hay un sistema de puentes por el que podréis ir para acercaros sin ser vistos des de la perspectiva del tanque. Usad las granadas de plasma para dejarlo frito!

NOVATO

La tarea de “El Novato”, sigue su curso y nosotros no queremos desvelar más datos de la trama para que os enganchéis y descubráis los demás retos y pistas por vuestra cuenta. Pero antes de acabar para los nuevos seguidores de la saga y para recordatorio de los más expertos, vamos a ver los puntos débiles de los enemigos.

ENEMIGOS:

- Los Grunt: Un tiro certero en la cabeza acabará con estos pequeñines sin problemas.

- Los Chacal: Algunos van con escudos y otros no. Para los que no, cualquier tiro va bien. Pero para los que llevan escudo, deberéis apuntar en la pequeña entrada que tiene el escudo para desequilibrar al atacante y entonces podemos llenarlo de plomo.

- Los Brute: Unos cuantos disparos con una carabina des de la lejanía es lo más sencillo a parte de usar las armas pesadas del juego.

- Los Rastreadores: Necesitaremos unos cuatro o cinco disparos de un arma de francotirador para poder hacer que explote.

- Los Hunters: Tenéis que dispararles en la espalda, en la parte naranja de la misma. El arma que me parece más efectiva en caso de no disponer de armas pesadas es la pistola de munición perforante.

Para finalizar me gustaría daros un par de consejos:

- Usad el sigilo y la oscuridad de la noche para pasar desapercivido y no tener que enfrentaros a los enemigos sin aliados.

- No malgastéis los tiros de las armas pesadas porque seguro que más adelante lo lamentaréis.

- Cuidado con la vida, manteneros a cubierto, estos soldados no tienen escudo.

- No saltéis des de lugares muy elevados, al igual que el Jefe Maestro no le sentaba muy bien.

Bueno espero que disfrutéis de este juegazo, con grandes gráficos y con una banda sonora verdaderamente muy acertada. Con canciones llenas de acción el las batallas y con desesperación en los momentos en que buscaremos pistas y avanzamos por la ciudad desolada y arrasada.

Os dejamos con el tráiler con actores del juego.

On August 23, 2009, I wrote this about  how Atty. General Holder’s decision to investigate the CIA and its interrogation techniques was gonna occur as a cover for the president to seem tough on agency abuse……..I wrote a subsequent Update on September 18, 2009, in which I commented on the fact that seven former CIA Directors had written to Obama forcefully objecting to the naming of a special investigator to review what was originally about 24 cases of abuse of power and techniques……..

This evening has a backgrounder piece,  with leaked information to the Washington Post , giving details on less than 10 cases that the former prosecutor , John H Dunham will look at. As things have cooled on the story….. Holder has  retreated (but still kept Obama out of the spotlight, on the issue), issuing a statement clarifying the fact that probably no criminal charges will be filed……..John Wu, the person I thought this thing might find as the bad guy is NOT mentioned….at all……( I was wrong)……

…….I don’t think this  is gonna go anyplace…..Not with the agency, former Intel chiefs, the republicans, the grunts , and the agencies friends,  from both parties breathing down Obama’s neck……….And the issue has died in the media…….A victim of the White House’s constant throwing issues at the media and congress……….

Update:……..Obama has said again…he trusts Holder to press ahead…which doesn’t change my basic anaylsis of the situation……which is that not much is gonna happen here…….

Update#2……..Holder has found some backing from some retired military men who want the CIA to follow the rules, like the miltary is supposed to…..

This is science, I’m pretty sure.

Via OMGBlog.

Aging makes a bunch of collateral strikes that one doesn’t expect.  That’s assuming you already know that spider veins and age spots are going to decorate your body and those darned skin tags are going to show up in extremely irritating places.  (Or maybe it’s just me who gets them underneath my bra elastic.)

Why do ears and noses continue to grow even as hearing and sense of smell decline?

Feet?  When I was in college, I wore a size 6.  Are my feet growing, too, or have my arches sunk 2 1/2 sizes?

Even as some parts are balding, let’s not even talk about inappropriate hairs that crop up in other places.   Last week when we were preparing to drive back to Charlotte, Dearly Beloved pointed to his nose and asked, “Do you want me to tweeze these white nose hairs or would you rather I leave them so you’ll have something to obsess about on the trip home?”

I voted for the pluck.  (But thanks for asking.)

No, in the ever-changing period between maturity and over-ripening,  I was referring to the noises we find ourselves emitting.  It’s hard to know where to start…! I’m not speaking of gas, although more than one friend has confessed how irritating it is to have spent all those years telling their children it is rude to break wind, only to have grandchildren now whispering that Grandma “let one.”

I wonder if T. Boone Pickens is looking into harnessing this.   He’s already thinking “natural gas” to run cars.  I can see it now. . . a world where senior citizens and 9-year-old boys fuel the country’s transportation needs.

No, I was speaking of noises within my own house.  For sometime now, DB and I have  realized that we’ve developed some decidedly annoying habits.  By the time he pointed mine out to me,  it was full-blown and hard to break:  I grunt.

I grunt when I sit down and when I stand up.  I grunt when I reach for the car door or when I bend over to retrieve something.  Not just a soft sigh kind of grunt, either.  If you heard Venus Williams in a tie-breaker at Wimbleton and me as I was reaching in the back of a lower cabinet looking for a pot lid,  you’d be hard pressed to guess which one of us was exerting the most effort.

DB, on the other hand, is a yawner. In his case. . . well, remember the Dr. Seuss character named Von Vleck, who “is yawning so wide you can look down his neck”? What do you want to know about the view beyond DB’s tonsils?   His yawns are not silent; there is a deep breath intake, followed by a lion-worthy roar.  Since he is Mr. Proper,  it is quite out of character for him to yawn so widely that it exceeds the span of covering hand.

To add to the audio, we have Miss Piggy, the snorter, still trolling the kitchen floor.   The sounds would be appropriate on a truffle hunt, perhaps,  but are way over-the-top for the Crumb Police.   If we toss cereal out for the birds, she will spend hours making sure she finds every single one.

She makes that sound when she has an itch too.   With what we spend each month on flea control, we should be spared the neght-neght-neght-neght-neght as she burrows into various parts of her body on a scavenger hunt for itch-causers.

Picture this bedroom scene because I promise it’s the truth:  DB is asleep, having dozed off watching a baseball game and I am reading a book.  Miss Piggy is soundly asleep in the den at the other end of the house.   When I turn off the tv and the light and am just beginning to fall asleep, however,  here she comes, clicking down the hall to the bedroom.  She climbs into her dog bed and begins the annoying neght-neght-neght hygiene ritual.

I might WELCOME the sound of a buzzing fly or cricket at that point.  I can’t yell at her to stop so I climb out of bed and stand over her to whisper ferociously, “STOP THAT!” She will cease and desist immediately,  sometimes moving into snoring mode before I barely have time to get re-settled in the bed.

What would Mother Goose have thought of all this noise?

Mr. Lee had a habit, you see. . .

he would yawn and open so wide

That a little bird, in a movement absurd,

built a tiny nest inside.

Mistress Mary, sounding quite scary,

emitted groans and grunts of grand scale

The noises were heard by the small yellow bird

Which thought they came from a whale.

Miss Piggy, the dog in the corner,

so convincingly snorted and sniffed as she’d root

Folks thought her to be the Muppet herself,

Hiding in a cocker spaniel suit.

The Lee household sounded so exotic

As they yawned, grunted, groaned, and roared,

Imagine their surprise when the notice arrived:

A Zoo violation, warned the zoning board.

P.S.  Happy Birthday, Son-O-Mine!

Chapter 1   Chapter 2    Chapter 3    Chapter 4

MINUTEMEN: THE CRUCIBLE

Chapter 5 – “City Limits”

Charles River
City of Boston
United North American Protectorate
October 10, 2552
Afternoon

“So I’m railing this chick from behind, right?”

Tim McManus and Rachel Lynch warily looked over their shoulders from the front of a tiny motorboat. Behind the water craft, Harvard University burned. The three survivors had gone through collapsing buildings, the assumed deaths of all their friends, and failed miserably in their mission to save other survivors on the campus.

The path ahead appeared no better.

The rickety craft they were trapped on sputtered and puttered along at an agonizingly slow pace, weaving past partially submerged chunks of high-rise office buildings, floating sections of obliterated trees, and bobbing corpses. Until Ron Parsons had spoken, the group had sat in soppy silence for upwards of fifteen minutes. Tim’s brown eyes narrowed in a look that asked just what Ron was on about.

“We’re going at it for, like, forty minutes. Intense stuff.”

Rachel tilted her perfectly proportioned face in utter disturbed confusion.

Parsons looked at his two companions like they had grown extra heads. “Come on, at the forty minute mark you start to get bored unless you’re changing it up.”

McManus turned his attention to the approaching river bank and the smoking, demolished city of Boston ahead. “I’m not entirely sure why we’re sharing this, Ron.”

Parsons threw his hands up. “You know what? Fine. Let’s just sit here in silence while I putter across the River Styx and we can just stew in our thoughts about Boston being destroyed and our friends being dead and Earth being invaded by the goddamn Covenant…which, if you do the short math, means we’re going to die, by the way.”

The antique gas-powered outboard motor took over the conversation as Ron proceeded to pout in the back of the boat. “Don’t know why I’m driving this friggin’ thing anyway,” he muttered to himself.

“All right,” Lynch sighed, turning her body toward Parsons but staring up at the sky. “So what happened next?”

The blonde-haired, slightly lanky Bostonian brightened. “So I decide I’m going to just go for it and put it in her ass.” Ron ignored the disapproving looks his boorish tale was receiving and kept on. “So she gives me the fish eye, right? She asks, ‘The hell do you think you’re doing?’ I say, ‘I was gonna put it in your ass.’ She gets all high and mighty and says, ‘Well that’s a bit presumptuous,’ and I go, ‘Presumptuous?’ Damn, that’s a big word for a nine-year-old.”

Tim knew that he should not laugh, but it bubbled up from a dark place in his gut and blew out his mouth in a shameful guffaw. He clamped a hand over his mouth and was relieved to see that Rachel had a dirty sense of humor, too. “That’s fucked up, Ron.” McManus chastised.

“Yeah, but it’s a decent pick-up line.”

Tim and Rachel finally gave in, bursting out laughing and nearly doubling over. It felt good to laugh, and to Tim it seemed as if he had not laughed in years. Parsons adjusted course to avoid a submerged car in the shallows and faked a wistful sigh.

As Rachel wiped away a mirthful tear and sniffed for a second, McManus turned around and wagged a finger toward the boat’s pilot, who was wearing a satisfied, wily smile.

“No more jokes,” the Harvard Junior said in a low, angry voice, though the broad grin on his face betrayed him. Ron nodded back.

“Yes, sir,” Parsons mocked Tim. “Not even my best stuff anyway.”

The bottom of the crew team’s pace craft scraped up against the silty bank and ground to a halt. The relatively happy go lucky mood inside the boat fled the scene as the three survivors jumped out. Ron had his M6C Magnum pistol out already, but it probably would have done better in his holster as he slipped and scrambled up the bank to join Lynch and McManus taking cover behind an overturned bench. Tim had his Battle Rifle slung across his chest but was focused on frowning at the late Walt Merriweather’s data pad that he had out and working.

It was hard for Tim to come to grips with the events of less than an hour ago. Officer Merriweather, a veteran of the UNSC, had entrusted him with the powerful military-grade COM system as a dying gift. It was even harder to forget that Walt’s last selfless command, made while he was pinned in a burning building saving Tim’s life, was to escort desperate Harvard survivors to the safety of a Marine escort. Less than an hour ago, Tim and his friends failed Walt Merriweather completely.

That wasn’t fair, McManus told himself for the hundredth time. I’m just a kid. I can hardly take care of myself. I didn’t even know those people. He should have known I couldn’t do it…I should have known I couldn’t do it. Jesus. Oh God…

A firm hand gripping the top of Tim’s head brought him out of himself and he became aware that he wasn’t breathing and his face was turning a bright red. Rachel and Ron were looking at him with trepidation, Ron’s hand still on Tim’s head and twisting it so he faced them.

“What’s your malfunction, smart kid?” Parsons asked.

McManus took a breath. “Nothing,” he said, more to himself than anyone else. “Nothing’s wrong.”

Neither of the two looked convinced, but they chose to ignore it. “So what’s the story?” Ron questioned.

McManus shook his head. “There’s a whole lot of red between us and the evacuation zone, I assume that’s Covenant. Everywhere else that’s clear to travel looks treacherous at best. So many buildings went down this thing’s having a hard time seeing through the smoke.”

Lynch was on the other side the Harvard student, looking over his shoulder. “So many buildings,” she whispered in a hushed, awed voice.

McManus peered over the fallen bench into the war zone. “It looks kinda better on the edges of Boston. What’s your address?” He poked at his taller, blonde companion. Before Ron could answer, Lynch pushed Tim’s data pad down and tried to shove them down with her good arm. Both men glared at their female accomplice.

“What are you—” Tim tried to say, before the surprisingly powerful Boston College student clamped a hand over his mouth. McManus now noticed Parsons was pressed against the dirt, eyes wide, mouth agape. As Tim hugged the ground with them, he saw through the wooden slats of the outdoor furniture what had thrown his friends into a panic.

They were short, almost comically squat, and waddled like babies, babies with hooves and methane rebreather tanks. Tim almost squeaked in surprise, but found that Rachel’s hand was still clamped hard on his mouth.

It smelled like sweat and the last gasps of an expensive perfume, but McManus did not have time to let his mind wander. Five Grunts were clopping past them, and despite their size they were the scariest things Tim had seen in his life.

Each of the kids stared in absolute awe, their first encounter with the genocidal aliens that had burned their planets one by one. McManus could not believe that these things were the one of the races that were winning battles hand over fist. They clutched weapons in their hands that looked like purple and black remote controls linked in their middle, ending in two glowing green tips that stood out like highlighters under black lights. They jabbered back in forth in a language Tim did not understand, and for a few terrifying seconds that felt like hours, they stood around not ten feet from the petrified humans.

McManus looked over and noticed Parsons ever so slowly bringing his pistol to his side, preparing to fire if he had to. Tim cursed himself for having dropped to the ground so clumsily, pinning his Battle Rifle between his chest and the ground. He did not dare move to adjust it.

He wondered if that was the last mistake he would ever make in his life for another few seconds until the Grunts trooped off, satisfied that nothing was amiss on the banks of the Charles River. As they turned their backs to the water completely, the group gave a collective, relieved exhale. Parsons rolled over on his back and stared at the autumn sky for a second.

“We don’t need to go to my place,” he said. “I just need to get out of this city. There’s nothing for me back home.”

“Don’t you have a gun at your place?” McManus whispered, still afraid to talk at normal volumes. Parsons looked at Tim as if he had spoken in Chinese.

“Covenant are here,” Ron hissed, “on the ground. I’ve got a gun now. We need to get the fuck out of here.”

“They’re gone,” Rachel said, keeping an eye on the scouts’ progress. “We should move.”

They each rose slowly from their prone positions, never wanting to pry their eyes away from the direction their enemy had gone. McManus willed the Grunts to continue on their patrol as the three kids hustled, low and fast, among the spotted trees until they came to the edge of a six-lane highway known as Soldier’s Field Road. Tim scrutinized the intact roofs across the wide space of the road and grunted.

“What?” Ron asked, arriving last and watching the group’s back.

“If they’re on the ground,” Tim explained, taking a knee behind the guardrail, pointing at the ground and then gesturing towards the city, “then they could also have guys on the roofs, snipers and stuff.”

“So?”

McManus was now scanning the rooftops with the help of his rifle’s scope. “So we’ve gotta cross that road and there’s not a lot of cars! We’re in the open, like, forever!”

Ron heaved his shoulders up in a sigh, sliding his pistol into the black thigh holster and securing it tightly. As he adjusted the straps on his backpack, Tim now started looking at Parsons more carefully.

“What?” Tim questioned him, “What are you thinking?”

The tall blonde cafeteria worker tightened the laces of his shoes, turned himself around so he was facing the city, bent down until he nearly touched the ground, and launched himself over the guardrail of the highway. He landed nimbly and took off in a dead sprint for the other side of the road, weaving around cars and vaulting hoods when he had to, and finished up his no-cover run by jumping on the trunk of a small, abandoned sports car and used it to clear the adjacent guardrail to safety. Tim and Rachel’s stared in surprise as they peeked over cover, then Lynch’s eyes narrowed in consternation.

“I think he did that last part to show off.”

“He’s gonna get himself killed or worse.” Tim spat. “But I didn’t see anything on the roof so I guess it’s clear. Let’s stay low and get this over with.”

Ninety seconds later they caught up with Parsons, who was lounging with his back against the guardrail, nibbling on the remnants of his beef jerky. Ron looked up at Tim’s annoyed expression and offered some of the dried meat. Tim slapped the hand away.

“The fuck is wrong with you?” McManus demanded.

“We had to cross the street,” Parsons offered. “I crossed the street.”

“You get shot and we don’t—we can’t—help you get out of here, Ron.”

“Never asked you to.”

“Are you joking right now?”

“Hey, you came to me, smart kid.”

“Will you two just shut up?” Lynch halted the brewing argument, kicking dirt at them and bringing the group’s attention to her. “Ron, have some patience. Tim, stop trying to put all this on yourself. Can we get the hell out of here now?”

The familiar, comforting blue light of the data pad glowed in McManus’ face as he switched it on again. Tim pointed straight ahead down a street towards a major intersection littered with waves of paper debris and overturned cars. “We go to that intersection and head northeast,” he said. “We stick to alleys and make sure we can hide quickly.”

“Any other way than that?” Parsons asked, still munching thoughtfully on his snack and sitting on the ground. Tim accepted a bottle of water from Rachel and looked back.

“Why?” He asked, irritated.

Parsons stood up slowly, fatigue creeping into his muscles like doubt. “Because,” he pointed out, “Right before you guys crossed the street a whole bunch o’ folks tossed themselves off the roof of that apartment building onto the intersection and I imagine it’s gross.” Off his partners’ disgusted expressions, Ron shrugged. “You asked,” he said simply, following behind as they detoured toward a nearby alleyway.

As the trio entered Boston city limits, Tim became aware of yet another enemy: the city itself. The Covenant had taken the place that he had called home and had turned it against him. Streets or alleys that would have given him safe passage were blocked. Houses and buildings that could be used for shelter were in danger of collapsing around them or risked being consumed by nearby blazes. The crumbling husks of structures meant that the threesome was not only watching their front and back, but also above and below.

As another pile of bricks fell from seven stories up and landed ten feet in front of him, McManus became more and more angry at the thought that his city was more likely to kill him than the aliens that destroyed it.

The echoing growl coming from the main street ahead of him immediately wiped that thought away.

“Hide!” Tim whispered frantically, pushing and shoving his friends into a small alcove that served as a restaurant’s loading dock. Rachel and Ron were about to protest before they heard it again, a series of barked growls, short aggressive roars, and the occasional “wort.” McManus dared to sneak another peek around the wall and down the alley, but the sight he saw caused him to lose his breath and duck back to his fellow survivors.

“Are they the big ones?” she whispered, petrified. “Are there Elites out there?”

McManus nodded, eyes wide but with a resigned expression. Ron swore and ran to the doors leading into the restaurant but found them locked. There was no advancing, no retreat. On either side, brick structures towered over them with no chance of climbing out. They were truly trapped, and the sounds of the Covenant were getting louder and clearer. Tim suddenly realized Rachel was grabbing his arm, and her hand was shaking.

“We’re going to die,” Lynch breathed, her eyes misting. “I don’t want to die.”

The unwilling leader of the survivors snuck one more quick look around the corner. Tim had seen videos of Elites in news broadcasts, but they had always been piles of corpses from very far away and never lasted for more than a few seconds. Never had they put the hostile alien species up in a comparison of humans, and McManus had been hard pressed to find even an illegal pirated video of real battlefield footage. Therefore he, and the rest of his ragtag group of survivors, had never seen backbone of the Covenant military as they really were.

The videos did not do them justice.

They were massive. They were twice as tall as Tim and broad as an ox; their hooves alone were as big as McManus’ head and their armor, when it was not streaked with human blood, gleamed along smooth curves and glinted off sharp edges. The Grunts had scared Tim, but these behemoths petrified him with fear, and they were heading straight for his hiding spot.

CHAPTER SIX

you will need, batteries, recorder, dress shoes, dress pants,two  speakers, batteries, wires, and a piece of particle board.

setup is pretty simple.  the only thing worth noting are the speakers.  left channel points up for grunts, groans, and maybe even a little crying.  the right channel points down into the bowl, for splashing, doo doo noise, flatulence, and pee pee sound.  the rest of it should be pretty simple to figure out. 

top view of man's greatest achievement

  simply record doo doo sounds, pee sounds, grunts, groans, farts, splashes, etc.

the most important thing is really the shoes.  it’s gotta be the shoes.  get some nice ones.  that way people will think it is a higher up, and will be less likely to ask for a courtesy flush or offer help of some sort.  

robo dump from outside the stall

Memorial Day History.

These “Holidays” fascinate me. So I dig a bit, most of the time I find these origins wild, scary, or downright sick.  But this is just a recognition of the dead, a custom found in countless cultures. The fact that the United States, England etc. practice it, makes me skeptical anyway. Beware the Pagan practices as you will make your allegiances unwittingly.

ATTENTION, this is the LAST episode of Zombie Attack. Forever. It will never be written, posted, or read on this blog ever again.

…or will it?

Haha, Enjoy

Number One

“Rrrr…fine, get the engineer over here.”
The engineer stepped forward and the grunts stood back.
“Who needs a locksmith, eh?” he said as he lit his torch and blowtorched the door. When he was done, he kicked down the door, as some grunts stormed in. Two grunts were left behind as a support panel collapsed and blocked the doorway.
The grunts saw Walter, feasting on some scientists.
The leader aimed his gun at Walter.
Walter, alerted, turned around, and stumbled towards the soldiers. They all fired at the same time, killing Walter, as yellow green blood sprayed out of the gun wounds like a can of spray paint. There was a scientist. He begged and pleaded, but they all shot him anyway. They let some residents that were trapped in cages. They all thanked them. There was an emergency exit button. The leader pressed it, and a gate opened at the far end of the hall. It was a security helicopter. The troops and refugees crammed into the chopper and took off.
“You know what to do, medic.”
The medic threw out some red flares onto the helipad, and as soon the flare bounced into the gates just before they closed, then a bomber flew over them and dropped some bombs, and the mountain imploded. The residents recovered from some illnesses as a result of some experiments, but no one knows whatever happened to Gold Team…

Hands-on  Mythic Map Pack Impressions

The wait is over as Mythic is unleashed on the world, but was it worth it?

By Dimorphic

©2009 Ryan Fernance

Being an ardent Halo (check out our Halo 3 review) fan I have been patiently awaiting the release of the new Mythic Map Pack that Bungie have been cooking for the better part of the last six months. I’ve been teased with the weekly updates hinting on the layout and design of the maps and was overjoyed when they were finally revealed.

So you can imagine my excitement when I got my hands on an early code so I can write these impressions. After giving them a good bash it would be simple for me to just say BUY THEM, but I am going to put a little more effort into it than that.

The Mythic Map Pack comprises three new maps; Assembly, Orbital and Sandbox.

All of which offer decidedly different play styles than what is already on offer and from each other. Ranging from small quarters slayer oriented skirmishes to larger objective based battlefields, the Mythic Map Pack is sure to appeal to all Halo fans and FPS fans alike.

Assembly:

Assembly is the first map I booted up and upon entering I instantly found it to be somewhat familiar. Those that played Halo 2 probably remember the map Midship and while Assembly is a different design it still gives off a Midship feeling. The setting for the map appears to be in a Covenant Scarab factory surrounded by coolant that looks decidedly like immulsion from Gears of War.

Overhead the bodies of unfinished Scarabs cross over on an air lift which produces a hum which provides the ambient noise of the map. The entire feeling is one of being deep behind enemy lines, in the bowls of a Covenant factory and it works well for a map.

But how does Assembly play? It’s a small, circular symmetrical map that fills a niche that Halo 3 hasn’t really addressed yet. The map has a lower and ‘upper’ level, both of which can been seen from anywhere on the map. Down below funnels into the middle room which houses a Gravity Hammer and seems like a good spot for grenade spam for a few easy kills as undoubtedly people will be running for the power weapon. There are also small gravity lifts that suck you up to the top level into the bases.

There are ramps leading up to the second level which all connect into the middle room which houses a cool power shield with an active-camo power up in the middle. The second level also has the bases which radiate out from the centre are a focal point of combat.

The map will play well catering for smaller conflicts such as free-for-all and 4-4 team slayer. It is also suited to multi-flag CTF games and even King of the Hill. The many choke points will make for cool last stand situations as it is very versatile and probably my favourite of the pack.

Orbital:

The second map I tried out was Orbital. Different from Assembly, Orbital is set on the Quito Space Tether, which is a UNSC space elevator and as such have a very different feel than Assembly.

Being set on a space station gave Bungie an interesting design issue, as space is usually seen as sterile and plain. It has been given a human touch with screens and computers throughout giving off red and blue hues as well as plant life growing over balconies and stairwells, giving that colourful human touch to an otherwise plain station.

Looking out the windows of the base gives off a spectacular view of the Earth below and it’s obvious from this how much crafting Bungie put into their creations. Every little detail is taken care of right down to the garbage spilling out of the bins, making the world feel lived in an not just a ‘map’.

The two main corridors of the map overlap each other leading into two atrium’s. The atrium’s will be the focus point of the map being that they intersect with every other path or hallway in the playing space. There is a winding stair case that leads to the upper level of the atrium and has maintenance corridors leading back out into the corridors.

Interestingly the map does house vehicles, the default ones being Ghosts and Mongooses. I don’t really think they will play much of a part in combat though as in the confided spaces it will lead to easy stick’s.

Orbital seems like it is designed for medium sized games, Team Slayer and will be good for one-flag CTF and one-bomb Assualt. It is an asymmetrical map and it will lead to some good, competitive games.

Sandbox:

The third and final map in the Mythic Pack is Sandbox. While Assembly and Orbital focused on frantic firefights Sandbox is a Forgers delight, offering the most dynamic customisation options I’ve seen in an FPS map. The default setup lends itself well to large objective games with Warthogs and Choppers littered throughout the map, but it really is Forge where this map will open up and invite players in.

The design is similar to Sandtrap in that it is surrounded by a desert and venturing out too far will see the giant monolith towers blast you to smithereens. The towers also beam the maps lighting which makes it feel almost like a sporting arena. Dark skies also make for a moodier atmosphere. The whipping sand and ever present buz of combat make for a nice battlefield.

As awesome as the default set up is, this map has much more than meets the eye. There are three tiers to Sandbox, two of which you cannot see unless you open up Forge. Along with the ground level is the Crypt and the Skybox. By removing a key-stone on the ground or going through a teleporter in Forge you can access these areas and the full scope of this map comes into play.

Skybox is designed around letting players create their own high-flying wire fighting maps where falling off the edge means instant death. Think Blackout or Guardian but fully customisable and you’re getting the idea.

The Crypt on the other hand is a cavernous underground area which looks perfect for Grifball but will also make for some cool tower type map structures. The freedom is well and truly placed in the players hands with this one. Not only is everything changeable but there are some cool new Forge items as well.

You have access too base lighting, so you can colour your own red and blue bases, or just add some colour lighting to the map. Also the Kill-ball makes its first appearance. The Kill-ball is a large, spherical, orange ball of pure death. If you touch it at all you die so it makes for a great environmental hazard.

The wrap up

One interesting to come with the Mythic Pack is the introduction of multiplayer skulls. On each of the three maps is a hidden skull which unlock achievements, and collecting them all unlocks yet another. No word on what they will do just yet but no doubt Bungie have a plan in store for us.

All in all I would say that the Mythic Map Pack is well worth a purchase. The variety offered here is three fold and each map fills a spot in the Halo 3 library. Production and design values are all through the roof and as with every Bungie production they are just simply fun. Skulls and Forge aside the maps play well but with those added bonuses it makes the pack too good to pass up.

Read OXCGN's Halo Wars Review now ....

I’ll say it again, BUY THEM!

True value“9/10

Or WIN them in the great OXCGN Halo Wars

Limited Edition Competition

©2009 Ryan Fernance

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Hello all, and welcome to yet another WRA games preview. This is ReFleX here, bringing you some info on the new games in one of the most popular franchises of all time – Halo. This post is basically going to be 2 mini-previews piled into one post. (theres not too much info on either game). To get things started in this preview post, we are going to take a very quick look at the better known game, Halo 3: ODST. After that we will talk about the new, just announced game at E3 game, Halo: Reach. Well, you know what this post is all about, so lets get this shit started with, shall we??

Halo 3: ODST

*Note – ODST = Orbital Drop Shock Troopers*

We start this preview post out with Halo 3: ODST, originally titled Halo 3: recon (that name sounds better in my opinion). Over the last few months, we have been gradually fed new information on this game by Bungie, and now we have a pretty good clue whats going on. In this game dont play as Master Chief, or any other spartan. You play as a UNSC marine, more specifically a Shock Trooper or “Hell Jumper” who goes on various recon and support missions. The actual story for this game is being kept on rails right now, but Bungie has assured us that it will tie into the Halo 3 storyline somehow. However, storyline isnt all there is to a game, and we know several other details about this expansion game of sorts. Before we discuss those though, lets look at a few vids on the game from Bungie.

Official Halo 3: ODST Trailer

Halo 3: ODST E3 Interview with Brian Jarrard from Bungie

The second video gives us several details about ODST. The game’s campaign will support 4-player co-op, just like Halo 3. You will also have several new attachments like supressors added to your gun, as well as teammates and allies you have to rely on to get through the game. The reason for this is simple and is explained in the vid. Since you aren’t a Spartan, you dont have the insanely quick reflexes and jumping ability of the Spartans, so you have to take advantage of other things. Basically, it is a slower, more tactical approach to Halo gameplay. Unfortunately since it is an expansion of Halo 3 we won’t be seeing any online play like this (it would be a nice change of pace though). Instead, you get a separate disc with regular Halo 3 online multiplayer (for those who didnt get Halo 3??) as well as all current DLC + 3 brand new, ODST exclusive maps. While this may seem like kind of a downer, most Halo  3 multiplayer fans shouldn’t be too disappointed, especially considering the multiplayer beta that will be included for the next game…..

Halo: Reach

At E3 this year, Bungie showed us a very vague trailer of a new game entitled ‘Halo: Reach’. (seen below) While some people immediately started claiming that this was “Halo 4″, and that it continued from where the story left off at the end of the credits in Halo 3, most people with half a brain realized that this game was a prelude to the original game, Halo: Combat Evolved. The major clue for this comes from the title of the game. In the Halo book series the very first book was entitled “Halo: The Fall of Reach“. The events from this book directly lead up to the events of Combat Evolved. Another clue comes from the first few seconds of the trailer where it says, “From the Beginning, You know the end.” This statement implies that ‘Reach’ will be starting at the very beginning of the known Halo world, just like the book, ‘The Fall of Reach’ does…..

Below is the teaser trailer for Halo: Reach. Below that is a brief summary of the storyline from ‘Halo: The Fall of Reach’. Right now this all we really know about this game other than the fact that it will be released next year, and that a multiplayer beta for the game will be released in 2010 for people who purchased ODST.

**Note – Watch the version on youtube if possible… it looks waaay cooler**

Summary – For full summary view the, ‘The Fall of Reach’ wiki.
This book is the prelude to the game Halo: Combat Evolved. It tells the story of how the spartans were trained, and how the war with the Covenant was started. It also gives us some more info into the mysterious Covenant artifacts. The main focus of the book comes in the last section of it – The fall of the planet ‘Reach’. Reach is one of the main human bases in the battle against the Covenant. It’s defenses are said to be unbreakable, and it is widely believed that the Covenant couldn’t even get through them. (that’s why the people in the video are so surprised) It’s location is also un-known to the Covenant throughout most of the book till Captain Jacob Keyes, commander of the ship Iroquois and a major character in “Combat Evolved” unwittingly travels to the planet with a Covenant tracking device from a previous battle aboard his ship. To put things short, the Covenant, much to the surprise of Reach’s inhabitants, manages to overwhelm the defenses and “glass” or “vitrify” the planet. Master Chief is the only original spartan who manages to live, and escapes aboard the ship “The Pillar of Autumn” with its new commander – Captain Keyes. (yes – him again ) This leads us straight into the events of the original game, ‘Combat Evolved’.

Curse you Bungie and your badass logos!!!

Unfortunately, that’s all we really know about this game now. The teaser was very vague so all I had to go on was the book that I read several years ago, and wikipedia. I hope you guys enjoyed these “mini-previews” and are looking forard to these Halo games as much as I am. If your not a Halo fan or don’t have an X-box, I really feel sorry for you. Well, that’s about it for me. Try not to talk too much trash if your a Halo hater…. ReFleX, signing out again people!!

Peace