Bungie Week

Reposted from bungie.net:

Loot Drop

by DeeJ

Comments

A lot of communities are defined by a pecking order. This inescapable phenomenon starts in school, where the big kids dump the little kids’ books on the floor. Later on, we graduate to worrying about what car we drive. This battle of elitism finds its way to the Internet, where wizened cyber-squatters lay in wait for new registrants so they can brag about the fact they’re kind of a big deal.

On Bungie.net, we like to think we’re more inclusive than your average online haunt. We aim to provide a brightly-lit clubhouse where gamers of every breed can swap ideas and trade barbs. New members are the life-blood of any community, so we welcome them with open arms as they knock on our door. 

As much as we love our newbs, we also can’t help but adore the ancients – those old souls who have stuck with us through light and darkness.  For the first dance of our celebration, we’ve taken steps to decorate them in observance of the years they’ve spent with us. To make sure that they don’t go completely drunk with power, however, and to keep them on the razor’s edge of evolution, we’ve designed our new cool table to make room for the new blood as well.

Can you find the first signs of loot? Here’s a hint. Visit our forum (any forum on Bungie.net will do). Click on some names.

If you just joined us, don’t lose heart. We’ve given you something to strive for. These marvelous baubles are available to you as well, given enough time, so stick around. If you’ve been here for years (and years and years), we thank you. This new system will let you strut your longevity. The best part about this loot drop is that it’s only the first of its kind. 

This is just the beginning of how you’ll demonstrate your prowess as a member of this community. If you haven’t heard, we have big plans for how you’ll evolve and grow over time. Bungie.net will be no exception. If you can go the distance, you’ll discover new and exciting ways to elevate your profile to truly mythic status.

Bungie Week is just getting started. Don’t miss the rest of the parade as it rolls through town.

Clan night is 9pm PT tonight, not 8pm PT.

Mis-typed the previous post.

Clan night tonight. 9pm PT. Player's choice.

The way that Player's Choice works is that the first ones on should join the Xbox Live chat party, and we'll discuss what to play.  Remember that you can join the party without an invite by selecting me in your friends list and choosing "Join Party", usually the X button.  Games you should have at the ready:

• Defense Grid (this month's XBL free game): Download to Xbox 360 
• Halo 4
• Left for Dead 2  

Edit: 9pm PT

Defense Grid: The Awakening - Free Download Now!

Reposted from Major Nelson:

Games with Gold for July 1: Defense Grid: The Awakening

As part of the “Games With Gold” program announced at E3 in June, I wanted to give you a heads up the next title will be Defense Grid: The Awakening. Normally 800 Microsoft Points, Defense Grid: The Awakening will be free for Xbox LIVE Gold members July 1st through July 15th .

As a reminder, the program gives Xbox LIVE Gold Members 2 free games to keep each month. A new title will be available the 1st and 16th of each month. 

digg RSS Reader

The digg reader has been released in Beta:

http://digg.com/reader

I just got the Beta today, and it's pretty great.  It automatically imports all your RSS feeds from Google Reader, maintains the folders and organization, uses the same keyboard shortcuts, and works with the digg iPhone app.

Xbox One headset compatibility confirmed; will have adapter to use Xbox 360 headset

Reposted from Gaming Target:

News: Microsoft has confirmed that they will have an adapter to allow you to use your Xbox 360 headset on Xbox One.

Microsoft is currently working on an adapter for current wired headsets to connect to Xbox One. This tidbit of information was revealed when @XboxSupport replied to a question that was posted on Twitter. Previously there were rumors floating around the internet that you wouldn’t be able to use any of our current gen headsets. If you owned a nice pair of headphones (I own Astro A40s myself) then this was obviously unwelcome news. Fortunately though it appears that rumor was just that, a rumor. In the past five weeks or so there has been a lot of misinformation going around the internet regarding Xbox One and it is nice that we at least have an answer for one of the potential issues.

It should be noted that no release date or pricing was given for this adapter. For those who haven’t kept up with this particular rumor, the new XBox One controller will be coming with a new, proprietary data port that was different than what we have with the Xbox 360. According to Microsoft this will result in the audio quality being better than it was with the Xbox 360 headsets since it supports stereo audio which can only be a good thing. Still, there were legitimate concerns that our expensive Turtle Beach or Astro headsets wouldn’t work. Fortunately that rumor has been laid to rest by @XboxSupport.

What do you think of this development? Do you plan on purchasing a new headset to go along with your Xbox One or will you simply purchase the adapter so you can use the headset you have today? Tell us what you think below.

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. Player's choice.

Options to have ready:
- Halo 4
- Left for Dead 2
- Fable 3

Clan night tomorrow.

Clan night for this week will be tomorrow (Wednesday), largely because I'm out of town and scheduled this trip around a Wednesday clan night.

We are trending towards moving it back to Tuesdays starting next week though.  People seem to like that better.

Clan night attendance

Since moving to Wednesdays, we have had 2 of 5 clan nights where nobody showed up.  Octurian Pewn, the reason we moved to Wednesdays at 8pm PT, has missed 3 of the last 4 clan nights.  Wednesdays have been the poorest attended clan nights, averaging only 3 players per week and an overall average 29% attendance rate.



I want clan nights to be fun for the clan.  It's not fun when people don't show up.  Should we move to a system where people sign up each week?  Should it be a different day?  Should we cancel clan nights until X1 launches?

X1 Changes DRM Policy

Microsoft has removed the 24 hour checkins, and has re-enabled disc sharing. Digital sharing appears to have changed and may no longer be available.

http://news.xbox.com/2013/06/update

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. Halo 4.

Thoughts on new games?

Clan Night Tonight. 8pm PT. Halo 4.

Lots of E3 excitement this week.

Destiny Gameplay

Bungie's next game, Destiny, has been shown off at E3.  We've learned a lot this week.

In some respects, Destiny has clear Bungie/Halo lineage, with familiar elements like Halo-ish guns, radar, targeting reticles, reticle bloom (Halo Reach), ammo counters, general FPS mechanics, regenerating health, critical hit headshots.

In other ways, Destiny is bringing in a ton of MMO elements.  New items:

• Multi-platform: On at least X1 and PS4.  I haven't seen anything that says you can play cross-platform (X1 and PS4 players playing together in the same game), but it's no longer Xbox only.
• emotes: The demo shows a player waving using the "emote" function.
• Character leveling: Instead of just unlocking armor, both users and enemies will have some kind of XP leveling.  Bosses appear to just have a "boss" level that transcends numbers.
• Ghost: Some kind of remote control drone or scanner.
• Special abilities: Like a hand thrown fire bomb of sorts.
• Player revivals: Bring fellow players back to life.
• Loot: Pick up stuff after battles, like better guns.
• Multiple guns: At least one class of character has slots for 3 guns.
• Multiple upgrades: Upgrade slots for head, hands, chest, belt, feet, presumably for armor.
• Equipment leveling: Upgrade at least guns, probably armor too.
• Player classes: Titan (heavily armored, shotgun), Hunter (lightly armored, sniper), Warlock (medium armored, machine gun)
• Shared world: Seamless multiplayer with things like Public Events that bring other fire teams in for a co-op engagement on the fly.

For those who have played MMOs like WoW or Guild Wars, these new game elements will be familiar.

X1 Pre-Orders Open Now

Pre-order notifications started going out just after noon PT today:

• Amazon.com: I have pre-ordered from here.
• Console price: $499.99
• Shipping: $0.00-$3.99 Eligible for Prime ($3.99 one-day shipping, free two-day shipping)
• Tax: $44.10
• Bonuses: Day One Console includes a limited edition controller, token code to unlock Day One achievement, premium packaging, and decal.
• Microsoft.com: Their webserver is getting hammered, response time is pretty slow.
• Console price: $499.99
• Shipping: $0.00 (unclear how fast - all it says is "Pre-order now to get Xbox One on the day it's released")
• Tax: $43.78
• Bonuses: I assume you get all the same free stuff as at Amazon, but it's not shown on the website.
• Gamestop.com: They were showing the console by itself two hours ago, but they're only listing bundles now.  Which kind of seem like a rip-off.
• Console price: $559.98 (bundled with Kinect Sports Rivals, Dead Rising 3, or Ryse)
• Shipping: $18.49-$24.99 ($24.99 for one-day, $21.99 for two-day)
• Tax: $51.19
• Bonuses: I assume you get all the same free stuff as at Amazon, but it's not shown on the website.

X1 E3 Announcements: Halo in 2014

E3 has kicked off in Los Angeles, and the Xbox One announcements are coming out fast and furious from the Microsoft meeting.  The next Halo won't be coming out until 2014, it was teased with just a brief trailer:

Other items announced:

•  XBL Gold members will start receiving two free game downloads a month on X360 from now until X1 launch.  The first two are Assassin's Creed 2 and Halo 3
• Forza 5 will have a new "drivatar" feature.  The game will learn how you drive, and then build an avatar for you in the cloud.  The avatar will then drive (as you) against other players, while you're off-line doing other things.
• Game replays will be managed via twitch.tv, the interface into the X1 DVR replay system
• Friend lists will no longer be limited to 100
• Purchases will be done using real dollars, instead of Microsoft Points
• Xbox Live can now be shared amongst family members
• X1 will be launching in November for $499

Call of Duty: Ghosts

Gameplay from the newest CoD game was shown at a pre-E3 show yesterday, running on next-gen (X1/PS4) hardware.  It looks gorgeous.  Scuba diving and a dog in the squad.

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. Halo 4.

Xbox One excitement.

How to watch the Xbox E3 2013 Media Briefing

Reposted from Major Nelson:

E3 is almost here, so I wanted to let you know how you can watch the Xbox E3 2013 Media Briefing show “Xbox: A new Generation of Games Revealed.”
Watch the main event live at 12:30p ET/9:30a PT/16:30 GMT via the live global stream that will be available on Xbox LIVE and Xbox.com. If you are in the US or Canada, you can also watch the broadcast on Spike TV. 
The show will be 90-minutes and be presented without commercial interruptions.
The full show will be available later in the day for viewing via video on demand on Xbox.com and Xbox LIVE.

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. Halo 4.

Lots of folks out of town methinks.

No clan night this week

John is out of town on vacation. Xbox One was announced today, the next gen Xbox console. The only Halo piece of the announcement was that they are working with Steven Spielberg to do a live action Halo TV series on the new platform. Microsoft will have more gaming related news at E3 in a few weeks.

For now, you can sign up to be notified of when pre-orders become available. Signing up automatically gets you a $10 credit to the Microsoft store.

http://xbox.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/html/pbpage.XboxAnnounce?siteID=te1Fq2FCseg-S8LSBK8kZmmrrS5ooXxsWg

H4 Campaign: Dawn - Hidden BRs

Near the end of the first playable H4 campaign level, Dawn, there are some hidden BRs that are very useful.  Just before you head out the door to the space engagement, there are four BRs hidden behind wall panels.  There's a BR rack outside as well, but not enough for multiple players.

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. Halo 4.

New night and new time!

Durango

Shared by OD via pastebin:

1. I am being very careful with what I say here for obvious reasons.
2.  
3. Xbox 3 / 720 / Durango is in disarray.
4.  
5. Microsoft were taken completely by surprise by the power of PS4 and the elegance of the design. Their relationship with AMD is also under extreme duress as they feel AMD have given Sony preferential hardware development support (the truth is that Sony's own engineers supported the process)
6.  
7. Durango was engineered to be 'affordable' not just for the end consumer, but for MS to break even on day one - while including kinect in the box with every system. The apparent complexity of the hardware diagrams is due to lots of choices that are designed to make up for the components used. Microsoft assumed Sony would create a system based on low end hardware and arrogantly (that word aptly describes the exec team following the success of kinect - they think they are strategically untouchable) assumed they would have the same difficulties internally as last gen. To see the ducks in a row is disturbing. Microsoft are very much aware that World Wide Studios represents a force to be reckoned with now Sony has sorted out the cross regional culture.
8.  
9. Developers can't write to the metal on the system, but rather have to use an API - the reason for this is MS are planning regular Apple-style revisions. They have calculated that having lower performance on day one wont matter if over several years they can upgrade the system. A second calculation is that both console's first games will not fully tap into the power of the system. That means that by the time PS4 is hitting its stride, MS will have a new revision on the market. DO NOT EXPECT TO HEAR A WHISPER OF THAT AT LAUNCH. They know people might wait.
10.  
11. It is not all bad news though. The reason they weren't at GDC is that they don't want any leaks and did not want to disclose much more than they already have. They have had very positive focus group tests for their plans with both gamers and casual type customers. There is one problem with that. The comments do not take into account how those same people will react after seeing Durango games next to PlayStaion 4.
12.  
13. That said EVERYTHING is running late, there's heating issues and the system OS (which is built around windows 8 to eventually allow unified apps across Xbox, Winphone and PC), isn't ready.
14.  
15. The system is indeed 'coming in hot' in more ways than one.
16.  
17. Developers are frustrated with the complexity of the memory set up and an apparent change in focus by MS (Xbox was their trogan horse to beat Sony in the living room, now they are more concerned about google and Apple).
18.  
19. To confirm / deny rumours:
20.  
21. Must have kinect to work (true, kinect is integrated across the system, but hand tracking means it can offer a touch screen-like experience on your TV)
22.  
23. Always online. (false, the system is ALWAYS CONNECTED, just like PS4 it does a lot of stuff in the background - if you don't connect to the net you can play game but the console isn't worthwhile - a lot of the experience will be about being connected)
24.  
25. Tiered pricing and subscription based subsidy (True)
26.  
27. The system will now come with 12GB of GDDR3 memory (True - this won't make a huge difference to performance in the short term, but it is cheap and gives microsoft one of the few areas where Durango can claim a victory of sorts. The logic is that the average joe will believe more memory is better. Why not? The PC market has been teaching him this for years)
28.  
29. Anti Used Games. (True. They have a system and it works. Time will tell if they decide to implement it though.)
30.  
31. Windows 8 (True. The dashboard is Metro in style, but closer to Windows Phone 8 than the desltop version in style and function. All games will have a live tile tracking stats, friends, etc)
32.  
33. Xbox 360 SOC (True. MS will be pushing this HEAVILY as Sony dont have it. One of the key messages on May 21 will be that your entire library is coming with you to next gen. The kicker though? Durango upscales 360 games to 1080p output. Again this is one of the few areas MS can claim a lead over Sony and they will push this a lot)
34.  
35. Chief will be in attendance at Launch. Possibly saved for E3, but Microsofts biggest games will not miss launch when they are going head to head with Sony. While not quite an original story, you'll play various missions from the Chief's career before Halo 1 in a squad based co op shooter. Think Halo x Borderlands in many ways - the character creation and upgrade system from Halo 4 is being carried over but will be pat of the campaign). Think spartan ops on steroids.
36.  
37. At this point it could go either way - MS are down to the wire on everything. The system and key games could slip - there's some very tired engineers at Xbox Campus. Pay very close attention on the 21st - the slight of hand could be just as big as Sony in 2005 if things not gelled).

Clan nights moving to Wednesdays at 8pm PT

After years of having clan night on Tuesday, we are going to try a move to Wednesdays.  I know that the voting was totally broken, but seems like Wednesdays is what most people wanted.

Vote to move clan night

So Octurian Pewn, one of our most active clan members, has moved to the East Coast.  As a result, 9pm PT is a more difficult time.  We're scoping to see if the clan can support moving clan night up an hour to 8pm PT.  Unfortunately, GT has a recurring conflict at 8pm PT on Tuesdays.  Please take a look at the clan poll at the top of the page and vote for your preferences.

Next Xbox: Microsoft sets big reveal for May 21

Via OD, from cnet:

The software giant sends out invitations that confirm rumors of the next-generation console's unveiling next month.

by Jay Greene

April 24, 2013 10:10 AM PDT

Microsoft has confirmed one of the worst-kept secrets in tech: The next Xbox will be revealed on May 21.

The company on Wednesday morning sent out invitations to the media for a product unveiling.
"A New Generation Revealed," the invitation reads. "Don Mattrick and the Xbox team invite you to the Xbox campus for a special unveiling." (Mattrick is the president of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business division that includes the Xbox.)

The company plans to broadcast the unveiling live on the Xbox, as well as on Spike TV.
Earlier this month, longtime Microsoft blogger Paul Thurrott broke the news of the date of the debut in an interview with the video blog "What the Tech." (His comments about the next Xbox start at the 54:44 mark.)

The Xbox 360 has been the king of consoles in the United States for more than two years, outselling the Nintendo Wii and the Sony PlayStation 3. So Microsoft has been in no rush to debut a new version, preferring instead to let rivals show their hands.

That's why the unveiling of the next Xbox will be the last among the big three companies. In a bid to get ahead of the competition and jump-start its sagging console fortunes, last November Nintendo launched its Wii U, which comes with a tablet-like game controller that doubles as a second screen. In February, Sony took the wraps off the PlayStation 4, which has a far zippier graphics engine and beefier storage than its 7-year-old predecessor.

Microsoft's gathering will come three weeks before the giant E3 gaming trade show in Los Angeles. The company is likely to unveil the technical specifics, as well as talk about the entertainment focus of the Xbox that goes beyond gaming, at its May 21 event. If history is a good gauge, the company will show off some of the biggest gaming titles for the next Xbox at E3.

Clan night tonight. 9pm PT. Halo 4.

It's OD's cake day!