News Archives - August 2007

Bungie Weekly Update
Posted by Botolf on August 31, AD 2007 @ 8:19 PM
As the wait for Halo 3 starts to wind down, the latest Bungie.net Weekly Update comes to us. The first subject is taking the game to reviewers for them to play before the September 25th release, and it gets better. A few screenshots of the Bungie.net redesign coming in September are revealed, and it's many tiers for game stats and files. The last section elaborates on Bungie's activities at Liepzig Games Convention and their endless fragging of hapless fans on Sandtrap. Only 25 days to go!
Halo 3 Goes Gold
Posted by Botolf on August 29, AD 2007 @ 6:37 PM
Bungie.net has confirmed that Halo 3 has gone gold! Now the finished game will be mass-produced and shipped out to retailers over the next month or so. 27 more days of waiting for September 25th and the release of Halo 3, let's hope we can all escape spoilers on how the trilogy ends until we finish the game itself!
Halo Wars Monthly Update and New Gameplay Video
Posted by Botolf on August 27, AD 2007 @ 5:29 PM
Ensemble Studios has a short Monthly Update up, but the more exciting news happening today is the unveiling of a ten minute long gameplay video of Halo Wars, which you can find here and here (second has a faster download). The gameplay video shows you the basics of unit selection and unit construction, and moves from a small skirmish with the Covenant to a massive and chaotic battle involving all manners of infantry mixed in with Banshees, Warthogs, Ghosts, Scarabs, and the ultimate UNSC weapon, the orbital MAC cannon strike. Halo Wars is still about a year from release, and it already looks amazing, it's going to be an agonizing wait!
HeavenGames announces StarCraft 2 Heaven!
Posted by Botolf on August 27, AD 2007 @ 4:42 PM
HeavenGames (heavengames.com), the popular network of gaming fansites, has opened its latest chapter with which to bring the real-time strategy world yet another hallmark in game information and community: StarCraft 2 Heaven. Covering the highly anticipated game, StarCraft 2 Heaven promises to offer up-to-date content, the latest news, and an integrated and active community.

StarCraft 2 Heaven (starcraft2.heavengames.com)
launched on August 25th, 2007 and already provides a wealth of
coverage, including a preview from BlizzCon, a gallery of
artwork and screenshots, news, game information, and discussion
forums. Few other sites provide such various and complete content as
StarCraft 2 Heaven!
HaloWars Leipzig Interview
Posted by Botolf on August 26, AD 2007 @ 6:55 PM
From the Leipzig Game Convention in Leipzig, Germany comes a short interview with Halo Wars' executive producer. While short, the interview reveals a demo for Halo Wars (unknown if it's new footage or an actual demo) will be coming on Monday.
Bungie Weekly Update
Posted by Botolf on August 24, AD 2007 @ 9:02 PM
This week's update from the dudes over at Bungie Studios is short, and sucky in comparison to all the cool new Halo 3 content that has surfaced this week, including videos and screenshots of the campaign and Forge. Ah well, at least it's a good read, involving Forge trickery and various floating platforms tricks, the Bungie.net file share and how you'll save screenshots at very high resolutions. A new podcast is on the way, which will talk about Forge extensively.
Bungie Weekly Update
Posted by Botolf on August 18, AD 2007 @ 2:37 AM
The newest Bungie Weekly Update is here! First comes some clarification over Halo 3 Epsilon, the last test-build for non-employees before Halo 3 ships. No, it's not public, sadly, so most of you will just have to wait like the rest of us for September. Epsilon testers get to play around with Forge, the three public beta maps, two of the newer maps (Sandtrap, Last Resort). Jealous yet? To top all those goodies off, testers get to actually play a mission from the campaign, Tsavo Highway to be exact. Please, no e-mail death threats. Later on in the update you'll find talk of Halo 3 played on iMAX screens, bigger file shares for those willing to pay, the WETA warthog with armored, human gunner in tow, and the addition of new Halo 3 screenshots of campaign and a new multiplayer map, Narrows, into the official gallery.
HeavenGames Official Blog: The First Step
Posted by Botolf on August 15, AD 2007 @ 12:33 AM
Source: The HG
Blog

Hey all,

So it's been a little while since my last update. It's mostly because we're
still hard at work figuring out the big picture for HeavenGames' future; it's a
daunting job but I like what’s being hammered out. Anyway, in this article I'm
going to discuss the two biggest problems that I'd like to get fixed before any
grand scheming…and their solutions. Solutions are good.

Problem 1: HeavenGames current staff system is not what
HeavenGames needs
While everyone works as hard as possible, the current staff system is simply not
enough for what HeavenGames needs. Becoming staff is a big ordeal at
HeavenGames, largely because of the daunting committment on both sides...

Solution: Reorganize the staff system
Reorganizing the staff system will help our current staff operate more
efficiently. First, we will make sure that all of the owners are active at
HeavenGames. Next, Seraphs will be required to heavily advertise job openings
to ensure consistent service and organization across the network. Finally, we
will work to make a job at HeavenGames more attractive by giving benefits such
as possible college credit and aid in getting a job in the gaming
industry...(Read
more!)
Fan Fiction Contest Results
Posted by Botolf on August 12, AD 2007 @ 10:38 PM
AvidWriter has posted the results for the Halo Fan Fiction Contest here.At stake was various Heavengames and Halo goodies, among them t-shirts and game soundtracks. The winners are:

1st Place: Travis Knight - Halo 3 Ending FanFiction

2nd Place: Leon S Kennedy - Halo: Resistance

3rd Place: Tsukahara - Shadows of an Empire
Comic Books and Flamethrowers
Posted by Botolf on August 10, AD 2007 @ 11:00 PM
What a packed Halo-related Friday this turned out to be. In the Bungie Weekly Update, a few pages of the upcoming Halo Graphic Novel are revealed, and seem to reference an infamous character from the various Halo novels. A lengthy question/answer segment follows, which reveals that the female player voice option indeed is in there, and that there's still many secrets not yet revealed to us.

Jap88 has also found an article here, that reveals the addition to Halo 3 of two new weapons, one that has been tried for inclusion to the series since it first began. That weapon, of course, is the flamethrower. Cut from Halo 1, cut from Halo 2, Xboxers haven't yet had the chance to wield it's fiery power (Aside from it's inclusion to Halo PC). The flamethrower will be a new addition the line of 3rd-person heavy equipment like the portable turret and missile pod, and as such will slow the user down. Also new is a fourth grenade type, which is also flame-based, and is effective at cutting off narrow corridors and escape routes. Molotov cocktails, eat your heart out.

Bungie Weekly Update
Posted by Botolf on August 3, AD 2007 @ 9:38 PM
Another week, another Bungie Weekly Update. It starts with some clarification about Halo 3's 4 player Coop mode, both online and off, and then moves onto the Writers vs Artists Halo 3 struggle, detailing the odd variants the Artists prefer. The update (thankfully) goes back to the mechanics of Co-op, and reveals that there are 3-4 points throughout the level in which players can join a campaign match, so you are not just limited to joining before the level begins. There are also some measures to-be-announced that make Co-op more difficult, according to the amount of players playing. Bungie also confirms that players will have a score (meta-game, perhaps), and getting kills/headshots, etc, will increase this score. And at the end of the update, a hilarious situation made in Forge, and the Audio/Visual calibration application for Halo 3 in more detail.
Staff
Posted by WatchWood on August 3, AD 2007 @ 1:50 AM
We have new staff here at Halo Wars Heaven. AvidWriter has joined our team, and will be taking charge of the Fan Fictioning section of the site.
Official HeavenGames CEO Blog Opens
Posted by Socvazius on August 2, AD 2007 @ 2:59 PM
Source: The HG Blog


(I'm pensive about so many things in this photo)

Hey everyone,

My name is Socvazius; I'm the new CEO of HG, but I've been around for quite a long time. I started visiting HG in late 1997 (at age 11), joined the staff in 2000 (my first article, a masterpiece by any standard), joined the executive board in 2003 (I have nothing to say here but I wanted to add a parenthesis for consistency), and became owner in 2005 (when I turned 18). Over all that time, I have been webmaster of 6 Heavens and have done about every possible job.

Offline, I go by the name Sergio Prado and I study history at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts. I am currently working in marketing at Vivendi Universal on Empire Earth III and World in Conflict. I love philosophy, history, physics and politics among other things, and to compensate for my nerdy tendencies I've been known to karate it up as well as do all the other things that college students do. Oh yes.

Anyway, this is my blog! While I will surely use this blog for my own narcissistic ramblings, I intend it to be used mostly to keep everyone up to date on what's going on in HeavenGames, especially the stuff that pertains to my job: management, PR, and all the other fun parts of a gaming website. In fact, I do have some news that you guys might be interested in. For the past couple months the owners have been discussing a major revamp of how HG operates, including its staff management and exactly what services it will provide to the community. We're zeroing in on a finalized plan, so keep your eyes peeled for a freakin huge article that'll be way too long to be worth reading!

Until the next post my friends,
Soccy