Sloppy Potatoes

Halo fans are going to be very happy with ODST

An unapologetic fan to the end, I love me the Haloz - every one, and even though I was disappointed with the end, I liked Halo 2 - and can’t be more excited for ODST or Halo: Reach.

Halo 3 was supposed to be the end of the trilogy, and with Bungie’s separation from Microsoft, one could assume the worst and that Microsoft would whore out the franchise and turn it into a yearly release. After reading Luke’s post two Fridays ago — if you like Halo and are not reading Bungie’s weekly update, you’re missing some very entertaining and informative writing — I was anxious to see Bungie’s next project, Halo or not.

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Holy Crap! It’s Halo: Reach… from Bungie

Rumored earlier today and announced at Microsoft’s E3 Press Conference, Halo Reach is Bungie’s secret project and a prequel to the Halo series.

True game information was virtually non-existent, but there are hints at the story and, more importantly the final line of the trailer is very enjoyable:

There are Spartans on the ground sir.

Spartans with an “s.” As in plural. As in multiple Master Chiefs demolishing badguys. Oh, the joyous explosions and armor-piercing toys that await us in 2010.

And if you want to get in on the multiplayer beta for Reach – remember the Halo 3 beta? If you got in you know awesome, if you didn’t you know disappointment — all you have to do is buy Halo 3: ODST when it releases on Sept. 22, 2009 and you’re entered.

Some other educated speculations for Halo Reach:

• It will be based on The Fall of Reach, a book written with Bungie’s permission and that follows Halo’s canon.
• This will be the beginning of a prequel trilogy of awesome.
• Master Chief will at least make an experience, if not be one of many playable Spartans in the game.
• Return of Halo 1 Pistol. We know it’s coming to ODST, but if it was a standard loadout in Halo 1, it could be deduced that it will have a place in an earlier game. What other new (old?) weapons will be introduced.
• I’m looking forward to a return to fighting against the original covenant guards, the Elites. But what other new precursor type aliens are we going to be sticking with grenades and splattering with our Warthogs…
• … Speaking of Warthogs, surely the vehicles have evolved too. So we’ll have new vehicles.
• Bungie will tease us like small children and give us a tiny morsel every so many weeks. We will gobble up that nugget and whine for more. But, Bungie knows we love it.

I’ll post a little something on Halo 3: ODST tomorrow. That game looks completely awesome, and worth buying even if you don’t want the extra multiplayer maps and the MP Beta key for Reach. Return of the pistol, folks. Return of the pistol.

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The Lego "Whatever" conundrum [Xbox 360]

xep44@sloppypotatoes.com

Video games that don’t take a lot of skill or brainpower to enjoy deserve a place in every collection, and in every console. A couple of my favorites are the Lego Star Wars games.

I played Lego Star Wars, LSW II and LSW: The Complete Collection and I had some mindless fun with every one of them. Blasting Stormtroopers until they explode into a pile of Lego pieces is fun. So is reliving the Star Wars storyline in Lego form.

With those fond memories in mind sights were set on Lego Batman, but the result was disappointment. It also raised the question why is this game disappointing?It’s not that Lego Batman is a bad game, any more than a game fan could consider all the family-focused Lego games, it’s that the fun factor wasn’t there.

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Fantasy draft prep/tips Ninjastyle

Over at www.chinstrapninjas.com I posted a few things you should do to get ready for your draft and a few things to remember while drafting.

Here’s an excerpt from each, followed by a link to each. We’ll start with 7 great steps to prep for your fantasy draft:

2. You research, you research your butt off

Just read. You don’t have to spend hours a day, but go to a respected Web site, like www.chinstrapninjas.com — our team previews are a couple quick hits about the more mention-worthy layers on major league rosters — or any of the other more well-known sports outlets out there. Read up, see what people are saying. Has someone busted onto the spring training scene and earned a roster spot. Maybe that talented young player hasn’t won his spot yet and was banished to the minors (Wieters!) for a little while. You need to know as much as you possibly can before moving on to the next step.

Read the full article by clicking here.

And, today 10 ways to kill like a Ninja at your fantasy baseball draft:

5. Don’t pick a catcher until you can’t stand not having one… then wait a little longer

Seriously, there’s no need to take a catcher early. Brian McCann and Russell Martin are going to go too early. Joe Mauer might be the most overrated hitter in baseball. Will Geovany Soto grind to a sophomore slump? Meanwhile the end of deep drafts will leave you with guys like Jeff Clement, Chris Snyder, Kelly Shoppach and Ramon Hernandez. Check their projections. Not bad for the end of the draft.

Read the full article by clicking here.

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Send the family away, order some pizza, Halo 3’s Mythic Map Pack available for all on April 9

Yes, I am a Halo fanboy. But the greatest first person shooter on the planet is getting another map pack and it’ll be here on April 9.

Few games drew as much fanfare as Halo 3 did, and few have as many loyal followers as the epic masterpiece. Those fellows over at www.bungie.net are nice enough to keep a running log of players and matches played.

Now, remember, this game released on Sept. 25, 2007 — yes, going on two years ago — and there are still 34,000 people playing online right now, and it’s noon on a Tuesday. Bungie numbers show 696,898 unique players logged 1,430,596 matches in the last 24 hours. That’s a year-and-a-half later folks. Oh, and the UNSC campaign kill count — baddies killed by Xbox Live-enabled Halo 3 players in the single player game — is 9,777,665,269. Yep, 9.7 billion.

So, I’m not the only one rocking the Halo Underoos, and I won’t be the only one downloading these maps for 800 Microsoft Points ($10) either. The pack includes new killing venues Orbital, Assembly and Sandbox, along with skulls to collect and achievements to gain.

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Updating Ninjas, Halo Wars and Hi-Def

It’s been too long since I last posted and tons of things have happened since then.

First off, I’ve been posting like mad at www.chinstrapninas.com, in particular I’ve dumped a bunch of 2009 fantasy baseball team previews and have nearly completed my 2009 rankings.

If you haven’t been checking them out regularly, why not go check them out now. You can click the links above, or click here to go to the fantasy baseball navigation page at Chinstrap Ninjas.

As for posting here, I’ve got some Halo Wars for you. Yes, it’s completely Halo, and completely awesome. I also purchased MLB2K9, which rocks, and finally plugged in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

I also pulled DiRT out of the I’ve-really-gotta-play-that pile and basked in the glow of mud, dirt and fast metal on my new flat screen TV. It’s not your 50-inch 1080p plasma, it’s not quite that hi-def, but it’s hi-def enough to make 360 games look amazing, and that’s without an HDMI cable.

DVDs look amazing, too.

Maybe I’ll throw in a little Gamerscore Update. I haven’t done one of those in a while, so that could be interesting.

Oh, and that whole line of posts on media — in particular the newspaper world, which I love, and how it’s going to survive this economic apocalypse.

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