Halo

One of my favorite time wasters on YouTube are the Vsauce channels. I was thrilled earlier this month when Vsauce3 tackled something that I have always wondered about but dared not ask: can I actually rocket jump in the real world like I did in Quake? The answer is disappointing, but at least I know for sure.

British publisher Titan Books has decided to celebrate the gorgeous artwork that provides the basis for our favorite digital adventures in two new books: The Art of Assassin's Creed III and Awakening: The Art of Halo 4. If you've got a finicky game-lover on your holiday shopping list, both of these books could make fantastic presents.

I was listening to a podcast recently (and I've heard this same thing multiple times from other people over the last week or so) and I was shaking my head at the way the speakers were discussing recent Events Which Shall Not Be Named. Over and over, they were so insistent that reviewers are "getting paid off" for good scores.

I'm not much into the college marching bands, I don't watch college football and no matter how amazing some say Drumline was, it has never occurred to me that I need to watch a marching band actually do anything.

This is a different matter entirely.

The Ohio State University pays tribute to beloved classic video games (and Halo) during the half-time show at the Ohio State University vs Nebraska game. Games honored at the show were Tetris, Pokémon, Super Mario Bros., Tetris, Halo, The Legend of Zelda and Pac-Man. Try not to jump out of your seat and cheer when Epona makes an appearance.

In another example of "any publicity is good publicity," Microsoft invites Conan O'Brien into the offices of 343 Industries so that he can expose millions of his viewers to its upcoming Halo 4 game.

As one would expect from the Conan O'Brien Show, it degrades into an opportunity for silliness on O'Brien's part with very little of the game actually shown. To be fair, O'Brien is funny and the representatives for 343 Industries take their beating pretty well.

Tired of seeing Minecraft user-creations? Too bad cause here is another one! Minecraft forum user Garified, constructed not one but two UNSC frigates in the game—one large-scale and one a bit smaller—modeled after Halo: Reach's UNSC Savannah. After the impressive recreation of a scale model Star Trek Enterprise that made the rounds earlier in the life of Minecraft, this Halo ship is no less impressive.

Bungie has wanted to tell the Halo story from a new angle for a while. Apparently, it had grown tired of telling and re-telling the story of a lone space marine cliché in the middle of a clichéd fight with invading space aliens. It's first attempt at breaking out was 2009's Halo 3: ODST, a game that didn't even feature the Master Chief.

It tried again with 2010's Halo: Reach. This time the story revolves around a squad of similarly-skilled marines. This should have been the perfect venue for Bungie to stretch its legs, but anyone who played it probably noticed that Reach also fell victim to the cliché bug as demonstrated by this Machinima video.

Way back in 2007 I played a game about humanity fighting a last, desperate battle against an overwhelming alien threat. It was a crushing bore, and a review of it that reflected that opinion proved slightly controversial. Just weeks later I played a second game about humanity fighting a last, desperate battle against an overwhelming alien threat, and was far more impressed. Since no one cares about Halo 3 any more, and a new Earth Defense Force is coming out, I thought this would finally be an appropriate time to publish an article comparing the two games.

This week, it's some good old fashioned game talk. Amnesia The Dark Descent! Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker! Alan Wake! Plus: Games are too buggy, Richard sings (twice), and stay tuned after the credits for some impromptu Halo: Reach chat. Featuring Chi Kong Lui, Brad Gallaway, Mike Bracken, Richard Naik, and Tim "Let's Grow a Beard Together" Spaeth.

Download: Right click here and select "Save Target As..."
Subscribe: iTunes | Zune | RSS
Read: Transcript

Games discussed:

• Amnesia: The Dark Descent
• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
• Alan Wake
• Halo: Reach

Please send feedback and mailbag questions to podcast (at) gamecritics (dot) com.