HaloFest

  For those of you who weren't informed, this year marks the 10th anniversary of Halo: Combat Evolved. This calls for a celebration! That celebration was HaloFest.

    PAX Prime is huge. The entire event takes up the 4 stories of the convention center and over flows into the annex across Pike street and the Paramount Theater. HaloFest was a part of PAX Prime, meaning that your PAX badge would get you in to HaloFest as well. But HaloFest was definitely a totally separate experience. Inside the incredibly well put together area, all other games were lost. It was all about Halo and there were some incredible representations of the universe that was created for the players to escape into. That escape was real for the 3 days that the event covered.

  There were several game areas set up where anyone could sit or stand and play a round of Firefight or Big Team Battle with the other Halo lovers in the room. I even picked up a controller a few times, just so they could start the game. I got my ass handed to me in the Big Team Battle and Free for All matches that I played but I got my first and second double kill playing Firefight. Mike had a good time exploring the title update which had changes that he was really excited about.

  There were several lounges set up and some really great demonstrations. Forza 4 for the Kinect will include the Warthog as one of the vehicle choices and there was an area where you could use the Kinect and play with the Warthog in your garage. There was also Fruit Ninja Kinect set up with a special edition HaloFest background. It was awesome to see the ninja disappear when the Active Camo fruit was sliced. The Halo Fruit Ninja isn't going to be available for download though. Or so they say.

   The Commissary had the most fantastic part of HaloFest: The Grunt Plushies with a limit of 3 for the first 2 days, then the limit was lifted on the third. They were also selling exclusive HaloFest toys and shirts. And they handed out really neat shoulder bags with a set of MegaBlocks Warthog blocks to the first 5000 people. That's a lot of people, but PAX hosted 70,000 people and I heard some pretty disappointed people towards the end of the three days. I also saw that the special edition MegaBlocks are being sold on eBay and I think that if you didn't want one, why did you take one? And how could you sell that super cute, tiny, little plasma sword? Really people. But I digress...

  We were fortunate enough to get invited to the HaloFest VIP party put on by Microsoft's 343 Studio. Mike and I spent Friday night from 8-11 mingling with other Halo lovers, 343 employees and a handful of other internet and Halo VIP's. We met Major Nelson, Stepto, Marty O'Donnell, Burnie Burns (squee!!) and a few other people. Also, there was cake. Enough cake for 1000 people.

  David Ellis hosted a costume contest with about a dozen incredibly well put together costumes. My vote was most certainly for Marissa's bunny in the Noble 6 armor, but a really well done Spartan took the win. The costumes were amazing. I'll upload them to a sharable site when they're ready.

  It was an excellent event hosted by excellent people. I can't thank the 343 team enough for what they did.

  Also, Luke McKay, next time you and I make eye contact 200 times in 3 days, I promise I'll stop being a pansy and say hello, maybe even get you to sign the first comic book I ever purchased because it was drawn by you.

  I don't care what anyone says. The reason we went to PAX Prime this year was for HaloFest. Next year, if there is no HaloFest, we'll probably go for PAX's sake, but this year... no.

Fellowship of the Game pt. 2

  There was entirely too much awesome for me to be able to chronicle every moment. I was so exhausted by the end of every day that I could barely clear the memory card of pictures before passing out. I apologize for the delay in reporting but I do intend to chronicle what is now referred to as "Rukari-Fest" and all 3 days of HaloFest and PAX Prime for your reading pleasure. And I took about a million pictures, so there's that too.

 Downtown Seattle on a Thursday morning is an interesting place. I really love Seattle so I'm never going to complain about it. I'll just always make sure to be extra cautious for the cars around me because I'm pretty sure they're not watching for me at all. But I digress. Mike and I arrived downtown and parked. 

  Rukari (aka rukizzel) got in touch with Mike about 11 AM and we met up with him and Scott from Canada (aka Das Kalk). Then, a whole bunch of other guys showed up including Kevin Hurd*, MrMiagy, TheLightShow & Marissa's Bunny GrimBrotherOne & GrimBrotherFour, HyperTrooper from Germany and KalamariKid. And about a dozen other guys who's names I can't remember but were all really awesome to hang out with. 

  The local buddy, Rukari, made a few suggestions about what we could do for the day, after an obligatory tourist visit to the incredibly disgusting gum wall. We divided up between cars and drove to Gorditos Mexican Restaraunt and then we were headed to Bellevue to see... BUNGIE HEADQUARTERS!

  I drove my neon with Mike in the front seat and Grim Brothers in the backseat and another young man from Arizona that I'm really sorry I didn't ever hear his name and felt too awkward to ask later. Also, I apologize to my passengers for my lack of finding places ability but thanks for sharing the adventure with us anyway. We did find the restaurant, obviously and the food was awesome. We fit 15 people around tables. Mike and I mingled. It was excellent.

  We piled back into the cars and I immediately got us lost trying to find Bungie. But... everything happens for a reason. We were the last to arrive at the Bungie Headquarters and just as we were getting there, Rukari and the rest were deciding to just take some pictures and go, lower lips tripping them up all the way. But who comes up the escalator, just as we start towards it? Urk. And he invited us in. All 15 of us at one time!

  They geeked out instantly. Every one of them. I mean really, really hard core geeking. It was awesome. I felt the tingle of excitement myself as we walked into the sacred room and peered down the hall to see a life size master chief looking down at us. Whoa.

 They also had scale replicas of a Carbine, Sniper Rifle, Gravity Hammer and I think it was a Bubble Shield. So what did they do? Played with the giant weapons of course. And I took pictures with a smile on my face. If there's one thing a Halo widow loves it's to see her Halo Lover happy. And boy was he ever!

 We headed back downtown after that and all went our separate ways. Rukari and a few other friends stayed downtown all night at the front of the line. I hear there were even XBOX's down there at one point. Rukari stayed in line all night to be the first inside HaloFest in the morning. And he was. 

  We met up with a couple of the guys and had some drinks later that night. Then, we met new friends from our home state at a different bar. At midnight, we dragged our tired feet back to the car with Grim Brothers and friend in tow, headed back to the hotel in Sea-Tac. We made plans to head back to Seattle very early and then slept fast and hard until 5 AM.

  I've written about the fellowship of gaming, and I got to see it in action again today. It's incredible that strangers who only know each other through their voices over the internet and a spread of community forums, can sit and be so comfortable with each other. It was a lot of fun to meet up with the people Mike's known for a while now. I'm finally be able to put faces to some of the muffled voices I hear through his headset and shake the hands that type some of the tweets I see. Thanks guys for a great Thursday. I'll tell all about Friday tomorrow. 

How the Living Dead Playlist Works

  Zombies: walking dead people searching for walking live people for both nutritional purposes and to make more Zombies. See, we’re wrong when we think about Zombies as mindless beings; they’re not. They have a dual motive and they’re quite effective at achieving their short-term goals. I mean when they see something they want, they stop at nothing to get it. Oh, to have that much dedication.

  But I digress. This is supposed to be about Zombies in Halo Reach.

  Alpha Zombies and Infected will be two of the game types presented in the Living Dead playlist. From my understanding, they’re basically the same game, except in Alpha Zombies, the zombies have infinite run, which means that as long as they’re moving forward, they’re moving fast. Zombies also jump higher but they can be taken out with one kill.

  It works like this: Twelve players go into the game.  A few of them, I think two or three, start as Zombies. These guys are going to try to kill the Spartans and make more Zombies to run around and kill the rest of the Spartans. Eventually, there will be a last man standing. Once he’s or she is turned into a Zombie, the round is over. Three rounds make a match.  At the end of the match, the highest number of kills wins. There’s a timer on the match, but I’ve never seen it run out so I’m not really sure how long it lasts. This game goes quick.

  I think the best maps for playing the Living Dead games are ones with lots of corners and cubbies for hiding in. Reflection is a good map for this reason. If you’re not sure which one Reflection is, I like to think of it like a really fancy doctors office with weird elevators and a Koi pond. Now, with the plentitude of hiding spaces you’ve got to watch out for Zombies and a lot of the players find that the camping strategy works well in this game type, regardless of whether you’re Zombie or human. Hole up and wait for someone to kill. Or you’re just waiting for everyone else to become a Zombie. I think that the major advantage for the last man standing would be the number of kills you could get if all the Zombies come running at you at once. FUN!

  Now, the weapons. When you’re a Zombie you get a Plasma Sword. Close combat means you’re more likely to die. You’re even more likely to die because the humans have guns, just like we will when the Zombies come for us.  The guns are Shotguns and Pistols. Headshots aplenty, as long as you don’t run out of bullets. Then, you’re in for close combat with Zombies and I think you know what that means. (If not, return to the beginning of this ditty and start reading again.)

  To me, Zombies seems fun, but frustrating because of the amount of potential deaths. But… being the Zombie can be fun, and just because you’re really good at being the last man standing doesn’t mean you can get the most kills. Some players are ninja Zombies with the Sword.

  The Magic of Halo doesn’t skip over this game type, so be aware that some bullets can turn corners and sometimes that Plasma Sword in your hand is just a figment of your imagination and passes right through opponents.

  So, with that being typed, I think you should go give the Living Dead playlist a try.