“Thermal Abyss” by Xi U2 RoKKeR iX on 05.10.2009

“Reloading…” by Blazen Drifter on 12.17.2009

“Purple Rain” by Spade193 on 04.29.2009

Want to be included in our next Screenshot Sunday?
Send an email to Screenshots@AMatchMadeInHalo.com with a link to your image or fileshare on Bungie.net

I don’t know how it happened. It was like a silent plague that came in. Sick got it first. Again, I don’t know how. But it has spread so fast that our little one, roommate, and even co-workers have caught it within two days.

I’m talking about Angry Birds for the iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. This game is Probably more addicting than Plants Vs Zombies. Nah, I’d say it’s a tie. But nonetheless, This game is crazy!

Imagine fat, ugly piggies come in and take your eggs. Oh…that would make me angry. Well these little birdies take into their own hands, and put a slingshot in yours. Yes, a slingshot.

Angry Birds by Rovio and Click Gamer resembles Crush the Castle in most cases, but this one comes with 160 levels, achievements, and 5 different birds each with their own abilities. The nasty little piggies take cover in structures made from wood, ice, and stone that you must crush using the Angry Birds as projectiles. Now, I say nasty piggies because you have NO IDEA how angry you might get at them while playing…so angry.

The Good- This game will keep you entertained for HOURS. you may even have to sit near an outlet or your computer to keep your phone charged while playing…

The Bad- See above…

The Price- 0.99¢ ($4.99 for HD version) Frakking worth it. Period.

Platforms- iPhone, iPod Touch, and now there’s an HD version for iPad

My advice is to grab this up and enjoy yourself…. I know you will. Smash some Piggies!

“FusionFireworks” by NetoBochas on 05.01.2009

“Fireworks” by Leprecon250 on 02.13.2008

“Scarablosion” by ~Unknown~ on 10.30.2008

Want to be included in our next Screenshot Sunday?
Send an email to Screenshots@AMatchMadeInHalo.com with a link to your image or fileshare on Bungie.net

Nintendo stepped onto the stage to chat awhile, mostly about 3D. Then up out of the floor, accompanied by a smoke machine, rose the 3DS. Interesting little hand held, looks a lot like a DSi with a shinier finish and an extra camera. This little device is capable of delivering a 3D picture on the top screen, but you aren’t stuck with everything in 3D since Nintendo graciously included the option to turn it off. I like options so you get points for that, Nintendo. Soon after the unveiling of the 3DS was the first showing of the new Kid Icarus game. Needless to say there were several members of the audience a bit excited about this.

Epic Mickey had a demo shown of it along with the announcement of Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, personally excited to get my hands on both. Of course, it would be a travesty to not mention the fact that Goldeneye will be making a triumphant return to the gaming arena as a remake featuring at least eight of the original characters playable. Goldeneye will be a Wii exclusive and also answers the question why an XBLA port of the game was refused earlier on. Interesting note, a new Kirby game is apparently in the works called Kirby’s Epic Yarn. The whole world looks like it is made of various cloth as you dash about through the side scrolling action. My one question for Nintendo: why the sudden interest in the word epic? Just now noticing its proliferation amongst the internet populace?

Several other trailers were shown, Donkey Kong game, Metroid: Other M, Dragon Quest IX. Honestly the one that really caught my eye out of all of this has to be The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. That’s right, a new LoZ game is in the works. Well, some un-confirmed rumors and leaks around the net hinted at this, but having solid proof of its development for the Wii is gratifying. Seems this new LoZ game will make heavy use of the Wii Motion Plus as you actually use the nunchuk to raise your shield and defend while slashing with the Wiimote.

Sony’s end of the E3 fun was rather interesting as well. A new Twisted Metal was announced, finally a continuation of the longest running series in PlayStation history will be coming to the PS3. Tons of fans are probably grinning like idiots, or it could have been the ice cream truck they drove out on stage that did that. Playstation Move was dated and priced officially, if you want to just grab the controller itself it will set you back $49.99. The Playstation Navigation controller is priced by itself as $29.99 but you can go out and buy a bundle pack including both controllers and a sports game for $99.99 if you planned to get both anyway.

Rumors had it that PSN was going to go subscription based and this E3 has semi-dispelled those rumors. PSN will still be free but there will also be a premium version where you can get access to content early and some content that isn’t available to free members of PSN. The service will run $49.99 for a year of service, and Sony is offering up a free three months so you can try it out before you lay down the cash.

In a shocking announcement, Steam will be coming to PS3 starting with Portal 2. It seems the bad blood between Sony and Valve has finally been laid to rest, and now Valve wants to bring the Steam platform to Sony’s console. Obviously this has Sony and PS3 owners fairly excited, for us with Xbox 360’s we will just have to keep waiting for that Team Fortress 2 update if you catch my drift.

Now, let’s get to the juicy stuff. I know it was weird for me leaving Tech Tuesday off yesterday without a video. That’s not my style. Today I promise to make it up to you by bringing you the recording of the winner of E3 in my book. Sony’s very own, Kevin Butler. This man is a gamer, and if this was all just acting. Well then he is a damn good actor. Regardless, best moment from today and has redeemed Sony for a few things in my book. Congrats Kevin Butler, you sir are the winner of E3.

Microsoft went into this year’s E3 convention with a very clear goal: demonstration of the newly named Kinetic. A large majority of their press conference consisted of showing off it’s features and a few tech demos of games that will be released for it. Even the announcer’s from ESPN’s Sports Center dropped in to announce the partnership between ESPN and Xbox Live to bring Sports Center to the dashboard, free to gold members like Last.FM, Facebook, and Twitter.

This was an interesting look into Kinetic’s capabilities and compared to last year’s E3, they’ve smoothed out a few things. The voice command inclusion should hit home with a decent sized audience. Another interesting feature that’s been added and refined is the tracking of the camera in the sense that it will actually turn and adjust itself to be able to see you. This little feature was demonstrated by a developer and her twin sister chatting in a video chat with the twin moving side to side to show it off.

Speaking of video calls, the quality of the video and sound seemed top notch though I do need to caution not to get overly excited since the whole thing happened on a fairly robust network. Actual quality with home connections still needs to be shown, but it seems like this new addon isn’t going to be a piece of expensive plastic like so many nay-sayers have voiced. One last little note on this device, there are fifteen confirmed launch games for when it hits store shelves on November 4th.

Now, Chatting away about Kinect is good and all but there are some other topics to touch on before we get to the juicy tidbits of the press conference. A teaser trailer was shown for Call of Duty: Black Ops and the game looks like it will be another solid hit under Activision’s belt. Hideo Kojima took the stage to chat a moment about handing over the torch then passed the spotlight off to his producer Shigenobu Matsuyama who then proceeded to show the teaser trailer of Metal Gear Solid Rising. Lots of dicing things up in the trailer, everything from people and cars to a watermelon. The audience was excited to see Cliff take the stage and show off Gears of War 3 and the four player co-op it will be sporting.

What had me on the edge the moment I realized where the presentation was going is when the speaker started talking about the game that redefined Xbox Live and how it is always good to know stories from the beginning. Yes, that’s right. Halo. Specifically Reach. The audience was treated to a big thank you from Bungie for helping out with the beta then a teaser trailer composed of campaign footage ending in possibly one of the best confirmations of a single player aspect dreamed up. Dog fights in space. The trailer cut off right as you can see the player shifting a craft dubbed the Sabre left and right to dodge incoming fire.

Now for that juicy tidbit I mentioned earlier. The Xbox 360 Slim was unveiled in a sneaky way. The little bugger was on stage disguised as a normal 360 the entire time. The new model looks just like the leaked pictures that surfaced a few days ago. The slim will sport an internal 802.11N wifi card and an internal 250Gb hard drive. The real kicker of all this? $299 price tag. No joke.

Oh, did I mention that retailers have already received the consoles and will be available later this week? The new console is also listed as having a custom port made for Kinect to provide connectivity and power to the device. It was expected the device would need to be powered by an adapter or by batteries, but this will alleviate that requirement. The slim still has the ethernet ports and USB ports so wired connections still haven’t been removed for those preferring ethernet cord connections won’t be left out. Check out Kotaku for a picture of the preliminary system specs.

Stay tuned for a wrap-up tomorrow so get back to grinding through your respective games. Whether that be behind the wheel of a race car or on the back of a horse. I’ll be back with some highlights of other happenings at E3.

Child’s Play Charity has been a major contributor in helping children across the country, and now has reached across the GLOBE! Through gaming tournaments, donations, gaming community auctions, and other awesome events Child’s Play has helped raise over 5 million dollars in toys, games, books, and financial help for sick children in hospitals all over. Here’s another chance for you to help out…

We are here to help spread the word for RvB -Vancouver. They are currently holding an auction to benefit Child’s Play Charities. Well known video game studios have donated various items for you to bid on. Such names involved are Bungie Studios, E.A., Infinity Ward, Microsoft, and many others. The items range from Signed copies of their respective games to Special Edition merchandise. There’s even a replica ODST helmet donated by Sean Bradley of the 405th!

So get in there and get bidding, those items are HOT!

Want a bit more info on Child’s Play?… here ya go…
“When gamers give back, it makes a difference!” -Child’s Play Charity

First thought, wow really? Even with all this Infinity Ward stuff going on? Then again, Bungie knows how to handle themselves (look back to Bungie Day ‘07) and Activision does admittedly have a worldwide reach in the gaming market. So while it may seem odd at first, it does make complete sense for them to pursue this deal if they wish to complete Step 7 of their world domination checklist.

Here’s one last little thing for you to think over, in Urk’s post this is mentioned:

“We chose to partner with Activision on our next IP because of their global reach, multi-platform experience and marketing expertise,” said Harold Ryan, President of Bungie. “From working together over the past nine months on this agreement, it is clear that Activision supports our commitment to giving our fans the best possible gaming experiences.”

Yes. You read that right, multi-platform. It’s been awhile since a Bungie game has been on anything but the Xbox console, but it seems like Bungie’s next IP will not be a platform exclusive title.

I invite everyone to discuss, share ideas why this could be a good or bad thing. I know where I stand on this deal, but where do you stand? I particularly want to hear from members of the 7th Column on this matter. You know who you are.

There is one thing I want to mention for you to think about while you are gunning down the opposing team, it is a good thing the service is being shut off now while the community that still supported this game is around rather than later down the road when only the most die-hard players are left.

Of course, there is another reason to play Halo 2 on the 14th if you need a reason other than sending off an iconic game with the respect it’s come to deserve. Bungie is handing out a piece of “visual flair” for use in Halo: Reach multiplayer if you play Halo 2 matchmaking.

I’ll see you on the battlefield over the next two days. Keep it clean, and let’s make one final memory of Halo 2 online play.

Times like this are why I really love being into technology! There are so many new developments, not even a week goes by without some new product-line launching. A few days ago we saw Apple released their new iPhone OS 4 to developers, and just recently they announced upgrades to their MacBook Pro laptops. Not to be left out of the news, Microsoft also announced a new product line of mobile devices called the Kin. Here’s an overview…

Microsoft Kin

The Kin does not sport Phone OS 7 (or any previous Microsoft Phone OS), but it does sport some nice features. The Kin OS is more like Phone OS 7 Lite (for lack of a better term). The Home screen, called the “Kin Loop,” is similar to the Phone OS 7’s Live Tiles – it presents aggregated feeds from all of your social networks in a magazine-like interface and lets you prioritize which contacts you want to see more updates from. Also, a full Zune interface lets you stream media (if you have Zune Pass) via wifi or 3G. The big difference between the platforms is that Kin devices do not (currently) support 3rd party apps or gaming.

Kin devices come in 2 flavors, aptly named Thing Kin One and Thing Kin Two. Both have a touch screen, full QWERTY keyboard, FM radio, basic photo/video editing, and location-aware search features which bring you local results first. Here are some device-specific features:

• Kin One - 2.1″ screen, 4GB memory, 5MP camera w/ flash, shoots SD video, mono speaker, compact Blackberry-style keyboard, rounded square (squared circle? squircle?) shape similar to the Palm Pre
• Kin Two - 3.5″ screen, 8GB memory, 8MP camera w/ flash, shoots HD (720P!!) video, stereo speakers, wider landscape keyboard, candy bar shape

Folks who got to play with the devices hands-on have said the pictures and video are some of the best they’ve seen from a cell phone. Media can be easily shared across social networks or to specific friends by dragging to a green dot on the screen called the “Kin Spot.” Media gets automatically uploaded to the “Kin Studio” for easy access from any web browser. The “Kin Studio” is a rather impressive feature. You can log in from any computer and view all of your photos, videos, text messages, contacts, call log, etc, just as easily as you could from your phone. All of your media and updates get timestamped and geo-tagged so you can view all of your posts in chronological order on a time line.

There are however many limitations that may make these smart phones seem rather dumb and keep them from being any real competition to the iPhone or Android devices: no universal inbox, no calendar support, no Flash/Silverlight support, no memory card slot and, as mentioned, no 3rd party apps or gaming.

So why is M$ releasing this extremely limited platform when it just recently announced a much more feature-rich Phone OS 7 coming out later this year? Well the Kin seems to have evolved from Microsoft’s Project Pink, which was in the rumor-mill well before Phone OS 7 was even whispered about. Industry analysts say the project may have been too heavily invested in to scrap. While there currently doesn’t seem to be much synergy between the 2 platforms other than the Zune interface, Microsoft GM Matt Bencke states that this is just the beginning of their overall strategy; they will start to share more code and we should start seeing the platforms converge over time.

While users seeking more advanced features would be better off waiting for Phone OS 7 devices to come out, it’s obvious these phones are targeting an audience that favors quick, easy media sharing and status updates over more complex and potentially more expensive devices. Whether that audience exists in this day and age where the iPhone pretty much sets the standard is anybody’s guess.

Kin devices will be available next month exclusively through Verizon Wireless (US) and Vodafone (international). No pricing yet, but my expectation is that they will go for around $100.

CNN – Microsoft goes social with new Kin smartphones
PCWorld – Microsoft Unveils ‘Social’ Kin Phones
PCWorld – Microsoft Kin: Phones Sport Zune, Target Social Set
Engadget – Live from Microsoft’s ‘It’s Time To Share’ event!
Engadget – Microsoft Kin One and Kin Two announced: Windows Phone roots with a social slant (updated with video)
Engadget – Microsoft Kin One and Kin Two first hands-on!
Gizmodo – Microsoft Kin: The Perfect Phone for Sidekick Fans
Gizmodo – Why Microsoft Is Trying to Sell a (Smart) Dumbphone

Apple MacBook Pro

New 15-17″ models come with Intel’s highly-anticipated Core i5 and Core i7 mobile chipsets, and benchmarks show they were worth the wait with a noticeable performance increase (up to 50% with the Core i7 model) over the previous Core 2 Duo models. The expected battery life on these models are also pretty incredible, ranging from 8-10 hours of casual use.

<Geek alert> Here come the specs…

• All models come with – 4GB RAM, a slot-load 8X SuperDrive® with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive, Mini DisplayPort (VGA, DVI and HDMI adapters sold separately), AirPort Extreme® 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, Gigabit Ethernet port, iSight® video camera, two USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire® 800 port (FireWire 400 compatible), SD card slot, glass Multi-Touch trackpad, illuminated keyboard
• 13″ model – starts out at $1,199 and comes with a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor, NVIDIA GeForce GT 320M, 250GB HDD and up to 10 hours of battery life. Possible upgrades include 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 8GB RAM, 500GB HDD or 512GB SSD with a completely max’d out model coming out to $3,299.
• 15″ model – starts out at $1,799 and comes with a 2.4GHz Core i5 processor, NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M with 256MB RAM, 320GB HDD and up to 9 hours of battery life. Possible upgrades include 2.53GHz Core i5 or 2.66GHz Core i7 processors, 8GB RAM, 500GB HDD or 512GB SSD, hi-res 1680×1050 glossy display and anti-glare options with a completely max’d out model coming out to $4,049.
• 17″ model – starts out at $2,299 and comes with a a 2.53GHz Core i5 processor, NVIDIA GeForce GT 300M with 512MB RAM, 500GB HDD, 1920×1200 hi-res glossy display and a battery life rated from 8 to 9 hours. Possible upgrades include a 2.66 Core i7 processor, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD and anti-glare option with a completely max’d out model coming out to $4,249.

</Geek alert>

Apple continues to set the bar in terms of style and performance, but you have to be willing to pay the price for it.

Engaget – Apple refreshes MacBook Pro family with Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors… at long last!
Engadget – MacBook Pro Core i7 unboxing and preview
Gizmodo – New MacBook Pros Feature Core i5 and i7 Processors
Gizmodo – MacBook Pro 15-inch Core i7 Benchmarked: It’s So Fast
Boy Genius Report – Apple refreshes its MacBook Pro line-up

Let’s see if I can discuss this little tidbit without turning into a complete Linux fanboy in the process. Microsoft’s Head of Security for their UK division has stated that switching your browser from Internet Explorer to…any other browser will open you up to much more severe security risks. Now, without going back and listing off some security holes that have been in IE6, but I will give a link. This statement from the Head of Security comes after the admittance by MS that an IE flaw was used to attack Google and gain access to users accounts. They even admitted that it was unlikely Firefox or any other browser was affected by this exploit. The whole situation is a huge PR disaster for Microsoft, and I look forward to seeing if they will release an awkward video ad to promote IE now.

AT&T has fixed a bug with their handling of Facebook Mobile that caused users to log into the wrong account. Yes, I mean actually logging into some random person’s Facebook on your phone and being able to pose as them. Fortunately it seemed to have been only in a few isolated incidents, and unfortunately no hilarious stories could be found involving this security blunder. AT&T has put a new layer of security into the login process and have been working with Facebook to be certain the issue wont pop up randomly in the future. Rest easy Facebook users, but don’t click on that weird looking link like you want to.

Keeping with today’s trend of exploits and bugs in software. If you run a D-Link router or you know someone that does, you might want to pay attention. There was a fairly significant hole in the security of current D-Link firmware that was recently brought to light. The bug was in how D-Link implemented Cisco’s Home Network Administration Protocol for router configuration. If you own a D-Link router that matches one of these three model numbers: DIR-855 (hardware version A2), DIR-655 (versions A1 to A4), and DIR-635 (version B). Go upgrade immediately.

Time has come again for me to wrap this up, and yes today the title does tie into a video. Today’s video was discovered during my browsing of headlines on 1up. I know some of you will really enjoy this, particularly those that hunt after something with a passion on certain video games. Enjoy everyone, I’ll see you next week…or sooner if I can get the logistics of my tournament settled.