It turns out AirForce Delta Storm didn't work and I had to return it, but it was the first demo on Official Xbox Magazine's demo disc 3. So I played it there and everything else that was on it. 

In my plan to study a decade a month for the year of 2019, I've finished my first book on January's decade 1900-1909 concerning art. Then I finally finished up Halo: Silent Storm, a kind of return to the roots of the Halo story. I hope the same is true of the next game. 

I played about 7 hours of Halo 5 today. After every level, I felt like I was near the end but that's probably because every level has a massive finale that seemed like it could've been the end of the game. It became, after a dozen levels, kind of exhausting, really. 

I finished Halo 3 in about 5.5 hours. That's the shortest of the series yet. I was surprised by that. Seems Halo 2 is the longest so far at 8 hours. 

Once upon a time, Halo used to mean something. Halo was the game which revolutionized the first person shooter genre on consoles, offered mechanics that developers still copy to this day, and was the unparalleled king of multiplayer games outside of PC. There were first person shooters and then there was Halo.

I have this friend on my XBL account that I've known since I started my account back in fall of '07. That was not too long after my brother/roommate came home with an HDTV, an Xbox 360 and a copy of Halo 3. I spent the next 2 1/2 years off-and-on with Halo 3 multiplayer and met a lot of friends (and scores more of people that I hope get eaten by wolves). One guy in particular kept in touch with the next 2 entries in the franchise (ODST, Reach) but when 4 was released, he apparently was not impressed. He was so angry at the direction the franchise had taken under 343 Industries that his XBL profile has statements like "343 sucks" or "343 ruined Halo".

Now that Microsoft has revealed the Xbox One, the stage is finally set and all the players have taken their places. I already talked about how excited I am at the prospect of a new knockdown, drag out console war, and it’s already begun thanks to some snarky comments by Sony on the big Xbox day. In just a matter of months, gamers will either be voting for their console champion of choice or taking a Switzerland approach and waiting on the sidelines to see who comes out on top. With all of this in mind, I think it’s important to talk about this next generation, and what it means to you as a gamer.

It was sure tough to follow the fantastic year of gaming we had in 2011, but 2012 did a bang up job of holding its own with plenty of amazing releases and some big industry changes to boot.  As the current console generation appears to finally be wrapping up, we welcomed the Wii U on the scene as well as Sony’s newest flashy handheld.  Game makers continued to stretch what’s possible from the Xbox 360 and PS3 while the PC seems to be roaring back into prominence thanks to Steam and other download services.  Yet, despite some developers’ mastery of the current hardware, not every game released was worth spending your money or time on.  The fact that there are plenty of sloppy and poorly made games being pumped out makes the ones that really wow us that much more noteworthy.   And there were definitely tons of games to get excited about!

Confession time: I’m a Halo noob, having only completed Halo 3 and played the first two games for a few hours each prior to this review. But that’s okay, because it’s a brand new day in the Halo universe, right? We have the first chapter in an all-new trilogy featuring everyone’s favorite Master Chief, and it’s also the first mainline game by 343 Industries (taking the reins from Halo creators Bungie). This should be the perfect jumping-on point for new players, while giving stalwart fans more of the game they love. That’s the dream, anyway. The reality is a bit different.

I’m sure that many were nervous when they learned that Halo 4 was being helmed by a brand new studio. After an impressive showing at this year’s E3, it’s been becoming more and more apparent that not only does 343 Industries know what they are doing, but they are pushing the series in a fresh, yet familiar direction. 

This year was a bit thinner than what we were expecting, especially with Nintendo supposedly pulling back the curtain on the Wii U.  But while we were left a bit underwhelmed and with more questions than answers there were still plenty of games on display to get us excited for something.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen Master Chief in action.  The Spartan cyborg, to which Microsoft arguably owes the success of the Xbox and 360, hasn’t starred in a new game since Halo 3 graced the scene nearly five years ago.  Last year at E3, Microsoft blew the lid off the first non-Bungie developed mainline Halo game with the surprise announcement of Halo 4 and today we finally learn when we’ll be able to get our mitts on it.

Bungie doesn't make Halo games anymore, but they have still maintained the game stats and player service records for the Halo games thus far. Well, that will change on March 31, because Bungie issued a statement today saying that all live data will now be handled by 343 Industries.

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary features Kinect support, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the game’s box. You’ll see it mentioned if you’re one of those gamers who still cracks open the instruction manual, but the reason for the lack of Kinect notification on the box stems from the fact that the feature isn’t on the game disc.

According to GameRant, 343 Industries revealed at a panel at New York Comic Con the Kinect functionality Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary will have. At E3 earlier this year, it was announced that this HD remake of the first Halo game would have Kinect support. Now we know what that functionality will entail. Get ready to yell at your TV in the heat of battle!

Today, Microsoft announced at their press conference that two Halo games are currently in the works, with neither being developed by series creators, Bungie Studios. Instead 343 Industries in conjunction with Microsoft Game Studios are developing the two titles, Halo Anniversary and Halo 4.

Halo Waypoint is an upcoming Dashboard coming to Xbox 360 this Fall and is a collaborative effort between Certain Affinity and 343 Industries.

Halo has been met with critical acclaim ever since its premier on the original Xbox eight years ago. Bungie’s latest installment of the series, Halo 3: ODST for the Xbox 360 has already sold 2.5 million copies worldwide, generating more than $125 million in revenue.

A recent USA Today article confirmed that Halo 3: ODST has sold over 2.5 million copies in two weeks and that Master Chief will return eventually.

Halo 3: ODST, the latest game in the popular Halo series, is officially in stores worldwide as of September 22.