News:Oracle Newsletter Volume XVIII
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
 The Official Newsletter of Halopedia Volume XVIII - August 6, 2008 The Oracle bids thee tidings in this volume of the Oracle Newsletter, for August 6, 2008! | ||||||||
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The Official Newsletter of Halopedia Volume XVIII - August 6, 2008 Written by forgottenlord, Editor |
| Yes, folks, it's been 10 months since our last edition and over a year since the edition before that but the Oracle is finally back. With our team of writers, editors and distributors, we hope to be able to bring the Oracle back into full service, supplying you with a regular dose of news from around Halopedia and the greater Halo world.
Unfortunately, we will not be able to supply you with this news every fortnight as it was done under our former editor, Relentless Recusant. However, we intend to have a monthly distribution. But the Oracle could never succeed without the help of you, the wonderful Oracle reader. Do you know of an event happening in the Halo world that we might want to check out? Have you noticed something really cool in the community? Got a comment you'd like to make? We want to hear about it - drop us a line on our talk page. Want to join our team? Sign up in our application center. We're always interested in seeing new faces. |
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The Official Newsletter of Halopedia Volume XVIII - August 6, 2008 Written by Master Chief Petty Officer, Intern Writer |
| Ever since the last issue of the Oracle Newsletter was published, Halopedia emerged through a huge revolution. What with the newly added point systems, blog functions, Halopedia turns out more like Facebook.
One of the functions highlighted is the Blog function, which of course let users express themselves freely through articles and pages , some are merely poorly developed articles created by “a noob (literally translated as “a new person”). But there are a wide varieties of blogs which you might find interesting as listed below. Blog #1: Enrichment of Halopedia
Blog #2: Sub-admins are not happening
Blog #3: UNSC weaker than modern military
Blog #4: Ten things bungie should add in halo 4
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The Official Newsletter of Halopedia Volume XVIII - August 6, 2008 Written by Grievious797, Intern Writer |
| During early 4th quarter of 2007, Bungie announced their separation from the mothership Microsoft, which was supposed to bring in a golden era for the Halo series. It seems that the mark signifying the completion of step 6 of Bungie's world domination plan should be erased. Microsoft's publishing deal continues to remind Bungie that they are not truly independent, and are still controlled by the will of Microsoft.
The latest casualty of Microsoft's iron fist: Bungie's new game announcement. The new game, not yet revealed to us, was shelved by Microsoft 'not wanting to jump the gun'. However, Don Mattrick of Microsoft Game Studios 'let it slip' that Bungie is working on a new Halo game. He was the one that canceled the announcement. The countdown timer in place on Bungie.net, counted down until twelve hours left, then a letter from Bungie CEO Harold Ryan said 'Microsoft has canceled the announcement', acting as a big 'screw you' to Bungie studios and the fanbase that is bringing in the cash. The shelving of the announcement to quote 'A later date' deepened the schism between Microsoft and Bungie, sparking a debate whether game publishers get too much power over game developers. A small portion of the fanbase, however, decided to get their revenge against Bungie for allowing Microsoft to do this. The way they carried their vengeance: vandalizing Bungie related pages here on Halopedia. My opinion on this? Bungie's declaring of independence did nothing but dig them in a hole. They don't have Microsoft's massive budget, nor the machines they were given every 2 years to upgrade their capabilities. |
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The Official Newsletter of Halopedia Volume XVIII - August 6, 2008 Written by Simon rjh, Intern Writer |
| Halo 2 was famous for being the best online multiplayer game of its time, and Halo 3 continued the trend when it updated and improved the multiplayer experience, giving the players added abilities, such as Forge, allowing them to create their own maps, and Theater, allowing them to relive their greatest multiplayer moments and share them with friends. Halo 3 was criticised for the lack of original multiplayer maps, but since its release, Bungie have released several new maps downloadable via the Xbox Live Marketplace. Unfortunately, they have not mentioned whether they are going to put the maps onto a disc so that offline players can purchase them, similar to the Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack.
This is going to be the first in a series of reviews of the Halo 3 multiplayer map packs. The Heroic Map Pack was the first of these downloadable extras, so it makes sense to review this one first. The pack consists of Foundry, Rat's Nest and Standoff, and although it cost 800C when it was first released, it is now free. Foundry was a very original map in the sense that it was designed specifically for Forge. The original maps forge "palettes" were very limited from a design point of view, apart from the crates, barriers, grav lifts and teleporters that were good when playing Infection, and the Fusion Cores that were fun because everyone likes explosions, it was mainly ascetical objects such as floodlights and rucksacks (yes, rucksacks. I tried to make a barricade out of them, it didn’t work). Foundry completely changed this, and its forge palette was focused purely on design, with immovable objects such as crates and walls, and more tactical items, such as shield doors and man-cannons. Bungie challenged its loyal community to make their own maps, and Foundry spawned many wonderful and original maps (and more terrible ones that had no weapons or respawn points). Although Bungie hinted that there are internal discussions on a new Forge-orientated map, Foundry still remains the best artist’s palette on Halo 3. Rat's Nest is basically a racetrack with bases inside. Great for vehicular combat, it can also get pretty intense inside the tight quarters of the bases. Most of the combat takes place down the central corridor and the open area around the pelican (no, you can not has pelican) which is perched on a sheer cliff face. With the Warthogs rolling precariously close to the edge, and the gravity hammer spawning nearby, its always good to ambush a passing vehicle and send them plummeting to their deaths. Like Foundry, Rat’s Nest has immovable objects in Forge so you can block off different portions of the map, which is useful if you want the map to be entirely vehicular-based, i.e. block off the bases and put all respawn points outside, for terrifying hammer-zombie infection games. Standoff is a roughly symmetrical map that is very versatile, suiting vehicular and long range combat, and still having intense close-quarter battles. It has the Halo layout we've all come to know and love – 2 bases facing each other at the map’s extremities, with a wide open space in between with good lines of sight but also plenty of cover. Strangely, sniper weapons do not spawn on this map by default, so in matchmaking, you'll be relying on the base turrets and BRs for long range combat. Vehicles play a large part in objective games, often the game is decided by the addition of a Warthog or Mongoose carrying the flag to safety. However, there are plenty of counter-vehicle weapons, with a Rocket Launcher spawning just outside each base, lots of plasma grenades scattered around the map, and a Spartan Laser in the middle just waiting to be picked up. If you play Halo 3 online, I highly recommend you buy this map pack. Several matchmaking playlists require it and they make for great games. Standoff is a good objective and slayer map, Rat's Nest makes for some unique custom games, and Foundry is awesome for the limitless map combinations in Forge. And even better, you can download all three for free. |
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The Official Newsletter of Halopedia Volume XVIII - August 6, 2008 Written by Grievous797, Intern Writer |
| For months, the Oracle newsletter has remained dysfunctional, with only a single newsletter in nearly a year. Now, a tradition that began at the very beginnings of this humble newsletter, the Meet Someone New segment, is rebirthed under the name of 'Meet the HotM', and now being put on regular circulation beginning this issue. Our first interviewee of this rebirthed article, is Ghost Sangheili (AKA Pryo Zarkum).
Question #1: What brought you to Halopedia? Answer: Well I found it one day somehow, I have no clue. I made an IP edit to fix a spelling mistake. Then that "Halopedia wants YOU" thingy popped up from Dragonclaws, so I made an account. Question #2: What do you like about Halopedia, and why? Answer: Lots and lots and lots of information, it's good to be a member of such a credible wiki. But we have a pretty nice social community as well... *irony* Question #3: If you had a chance to become an admin, would you accept it? Answer: Not now, mostly becuase I'll be on a one month leave soon. Also, my *ahem* conduct on the IRC gives most ops a headache. Question #4: What do you like most about the Halopedia community? Answer: IRC FTW Question #5: If you could pick one real world job occupation, what would it be? Answer: Heh... Structural Engineer for Intamin Incorporated. Roller coaster designers, one of the best firms on the planet. Question #6: What is your favorite video game? Answer: Halo: Combat Evolved: Custom Edition Question #7: IRC or Halopedia? Answer: Halopedia would be fine without the IRC, but I wouldn't even know about the IRC if there was no Halopedia. Question #8: Pie or Cake? Answer: Teh pie is a lie. Question #9: If you could overthrow one admin, who would it be? Answer: What admin do we /all/ want to overthrow? Question #10: Are you happy this Q/A is over? Answer: *refuses to comment* |
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The Official Newsletter of Halopedia Volume XVIII - August 6, 2008 Written by forgottenlord, Editor |
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The Official Newsletter of Halopedia Volume XVIII - August 6, 2008 Written by Andrew-996, Intern Writer |
Welcome to the Usergroup News. Some big changes have resurrected and occurred in the usergroups lately. Important users have left, a usergroup was resurrected, and the Article for Improvement voting running as of now. It's all here, in the news.
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