Tag Archives: Halo 3

I want to be like Marty

By complete accident, I ran across the achievements for Halo 3 ODST while checking out the new Bungie.net design. There are some pretty sweet achievements in there. My favorite is “Be Like Marty” which awards players for not killing a single enemy for an entire round of Firefight. Achievements for being bad? That’s unheard of! Of course not many people are going to achieve this while trying to help their team but its still pretty amusing. Poor Marty, he’s the brunt of so many jokes at Bungie. He’s a good guy though, and obviously very well respected despite the jokes.

Two other achievements I really like are “Stunning!” and “My Clothes!” which award players for using the plasma pistol effectively. The plasma pistol has always had a bad rep but I think its vastly underestimated. I have very few kills with it in Halo 3, but I use it frequently to stun a vehicle or drop an enemies shields instantly. I bet some Halo 3 players don’t even realize how effective it can be, so maybe these achievements will add some spice to Halo 3 matches. Of course our pink friend, the needler, returns with another achievement much like in Halo 3. Also featured are the Splaser (Spartan Laser), the new automag and Plasma Grenades.

There are some juicy hints as to what we might find in the campaign. Looks like we’ll be searching for audio logs instead of skulls. “Naughty Naughty” and “Good Samaritan” sound like they have something to do with the engineers we’ll run into during the campaign. You have to choose between killing the engineers or not and it looks like you’ll get an achievement both ways. I guess I’ll have to replay that part twice!

There seem to be a lot of unlockable levels and characters for Firefight which is exciting. However, a few look like they’re going to be a bitch to get. That’s ok, I like challenges. Speaking of challenges, the Vidmaster Challenges look like they’re going to be real tough this time too.

I’m looking forward to working on these achievements next week! Here’s the full list:

  • Listener – Find the first Audio Log – 5
  • Naughty Naughty – Killing things that are new and different is good, alone or with another ODST – 5
  • Tuned In – Find 3 Audio Logs, alone or with another ODST – 15
  • Audiophile – Find all Audio Logs, alone or with another ODST – 75
  • All Ears – Find 15 Audio Logs, alone or with another ODST – 30
  • Good Samaritan – Killing things that are new and different is bad, alone or with another ODST – 20
  • Both Tubes – Get 10 Rocket kills on Kizingo Boulevard – 5
  • Wraith Killer – Kill all Wraiths in Uplift Reserve – 5
  • Laser Blaster – Get 10 Spartan Laser kills on ONI Alpha Site – 5
  • I Like Fire – Kill 10 enemies with the Flamethrower on Data Hive – 5
  • Dome Inspector – Get 15 headshot kills on NMPD HQ – 5
  • Be Like Marty – In Firefight, finish a full round without killing a single enemy – 10
  • Firefight: Last Exit – Score over 200,000 points in Firefight on Last Exit – 10
  • Firefight: Chasm Ten – Score over 200,000 points in Firefight on Chasm Ten – 10
  • Vidmaster Challenge: Classic – Finish any level solo on Legendary, on LIVE, with no shots fired or grenades thrown – 25
  • Vidmaster Challenge: Déjà Vu – Complete Highway on 4-player Legendary LIVE co-op, with Iron, and no ‘Hog or Scorpion – 25
  • Vidmaster Challenge: Endure – In Firefight, on any mission, pass the 4th Set on 4-player Heroic LIVE co-op – 25
  • Firefight: Windward – Score over 200,000 points in Firefight on Windward – 10
  • Firefight: Lost Platoon – Score over 200,000 points in Firefight on Lost Platoon – 10
  • Firefight: Crater – Score over 200,000 points in Firefight on Crater – 10
  • Firefight: Rally Point – Score over 200,000 points in Firefight on Rally Point – 10
  • Firefight: Alpha Site – Score over 200,000 points in Firefight on Alpha Site – 10
  • Firefight: Security Zone – Score over 200,000 points in Firefight on Security Zone – 10
  • Super Sleuth – Find the final clue unraveling the mystery, alone or with another ODST – 10
  • Pink and Deadly – Get 10 Needler supercombine kills on any covenant – 5
  • My Clothes! – Plasma Pistol Overcharge and quickly kill 10 Brutes – 5
  • Trading Down – Trade weapons with a fellow character – 5
  • Tayari Plaza – Complete Tayari Plaza on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary to unlock a new Firefight character – 30
  • Headcase – Finish any level with at least one Skull activated – 5
  • Ewww, Sticky – Get 5 sticky grenade kills in any level – 5
  • Tourist – Access and download the city map to your VISR – 5
  • Heal Up – Find the first Medical Kiosk and heal yourself – 5
  • Dark Times – Kill 5 enemies while using VISR mode – 5
  • Stunning! – Stun a vehicle with an overcharged plasma pistol and quickly kill the driver – 5
  • Boom, Headshot – Get 10 automag headshot kills in any level – 5
  • Uplift Reserve – Complete Uplift Reserve on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary to unlock a new Firefight character – 30
  • Campaign Complete: Heroic – Complete the Campaign on Heroic difficulty – 100
  • Campaign Complete: Normal – Complete the Campaign on Normal difficulty – 100
  • Campaign Complete: Legendary – Complete the Campaign on Legendary to unlock a new Firefight character – 100
  • Gumshoe – Find the 3rd clue unraveling the mystery, alone or with another ODST – 10
  • Junior Detective – Find the first clue unraveling the mystery – 10
  • Coastal Highway – Complete Coastal Highway on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary to unlock a new Firefight mission – 50
  • ONI Alpha Site – Complete ONI Alpha Site on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary to unlock a new Firefight mission – 30
  • Kizingo Boulevard – Complete Kizingo Blvd. on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary to unlock a new Firefight character – 30
  • NMPD HQ – Complete NMPD HQ on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary to unlock a new Firefight character – 30
  • Data Hive – Complete Data Hive on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary to unlock a new Firefight mission – 50
  • Kikowani Station – Complete Kikowani Station on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary – 30

To The Losers I Played Last Night

We played a match of Social Big Team – Neutral Assault against a team of eight level 45-50 generals/brigadiers last night. We got slaughtered. I have a message for them:

You are lame. Plain and simple.

If you get a kick out of joining up with eight equally lame friends and exploiting extremely unfair flaws in a map so the other team instantly dies after spawning for 15 minutes straight during an objective game, you need to see a shrink. There is something wrong with you if you think that is fun. You could have won the game in a couple minutes by picking up the bomb and planting it in our base a few times. I even would have forgiven you for T-bagging us a few times. I don’t understand why you would want to put your balls anywhere near another man’s face but that’s at least a little more normal. But no, you carried on slaughtering us as we spawned until we left after seven minutes. I’m not sure why we attempted to put up with it that long but that’s not the point. The point is, SEEK HELP.

On a better note, while waiting for one of the next matches to start, one of the kids on the other team felt he needed to share that he figured out how to identify noobs…

You want to know how to tell if someone is a noob? If their weapon of destruction is the battle rifle, they’re a total noob.

Right… We then slaughtered their team 100-68. The funny part is four of them had BR as their tool of destruction. It’s really silly to label a weapon as a noob weapon. Obviously it is a good weapon and players do well with it, so why would someone pass up a good weapon for an inferior one? I think that kid just sucks.

I can’t wait for Halo 3 ODST and Borderlands. Not only because they’re both kick ass games, they’ll give us a break from the obnoxious kids that play Halo 3. More on those games soon.

Game with the Lame Generals
Game with the Noobs

You Suck

This is too damn funny:

The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing But The Truth

I’ll admit, I’m not that great of a Halo 3 player, but neither are half the people I go down in a blazing glory with. Yet every time my team mates are just a bunch of useless whiners making up all kinds of excuses for their poor performance. Yes, there are a fair amount of cheaters and level boosters, but there aren’t nearly as many as I hear complaints about. You suck at life Halo, get over it.

Happy Bungie Day!

Today is Bungie Day which means all kinds of weird quirky Bungie stuff. Today we have the “Bungie vs the World” playlist in Halo 3 where you can play against Bungie staff for a chance to win Recon armor (which means 13 year olds everywhere are bringing their A-game today). Erika and I will hopefully hit up that list for a while tonight and we’ll find ourselves up against some flaming heads.

Thanks for another fantastic year, Bungie!

Non facete nobis calcitrare vestrum perinæum.

Bungie Day 2009

Who says I’m too old to game?

Last weekend Erika and I were playing Halo 3 and we got matched up with a couple teenagers who obviously play way too much. I’ll give it to them, they were good, but they were also snotty little *$#&-tards. They had the audacity to say we’re too old to be playing video games. I asked what they would be doing when they’re our age and they quickly backed off. Huh, funny how that works.

That brings up an interesting trend though. When I was their age, the thought of an adult playing video games was pretty alien. Playing games like Action Quake or Counter Strike as a teen I came across a few older gentlemen but they just got more respect even if they sucked at the game. Now days there are certainly more 25+ gamers but we’re also surrounded be even more teens. And apparently they don’t share the same respect I held for my elders back then since every time age comes up in-game, we get ridiculed by someone. I don’t get it.

Anyway, this seems to have sprung a bunch of sites focused on finding older and/or mature gamers to join up with. I’d like to touch on a few that I think are pretty neat.

Co-Optimus: By far my favorite gaming site at the moment. The whole focus of this site is co-op gaming. There is no age requirement but I think the co-op focus tends to attract more considerate and friendly gamers. The news coverage is superb and covers only the games I’m interested in (hint: co-op). The only news you’ll see about a non-co-op game is news that the developers dropped co-op or it should have had co-op. The reviews are mostly co-op-centric giving a score on the co-op aspects of the game but also touching on single player and multiplayer aspects as well. One of the best features of the site is the database which helps you search for co-op games and shows a breakdown of each games’ co-op capabilities. It also helps you match up with other members that have the same games (requires you to add each of your games though). With 2,500+ members (its a pretty new site), there’s plenty of co-op to be had but its definitely a more intimate community than the next two sites.

The Older Gamers: This one is mostly a community site but also hosts a few guilds/clans. You must be 25+ to join and as a result, nearly everyone is friendly and considerate. There’s no emphasis on co-op gaming although there are plenty of people looking for co-op partners. There are user reviews and blogs in addition to the staff reviews, previews, and general news. I don’t keep up with their news quite as much but they’re pretty thorough. With 30,000+ members, there are a TON of opportunities to meet people here.

2Old2Play: This site I just joined so I probably can’t shine light on everything they have to offer but its definitely an interesting site. Again, this one has a 25+ age requirement so you’ll find mostly considerate and friendly gamers here. The first thing I noticed after joining is they have a google map of players! Its not quite as cool as I had hoped but its a start. You can search by username, gamertag, or pick a clan from the drop down and you’ll see a pinpoint on the map of results. Of course this only works if the users put their zip code in their profile. What would be nice is if you could search by zip or state and find people in your area or at least your time zone. They seem to have a more clan-centric and competitive view here, there are a TON of clans and it looks pretty easy to get recruited in a clan. Personally, I don’t have the time to devote to a clan anymore but for other (single) adults, this might be a pretty handy site to hook up with a clan. They host and advertise tournaments and LAN parties all over the US. They also host user reviews and blogs (everyone gets a blog) which seem to be utilized quite a bit. 2Old2Play’s roster has almost 18,000 members.

Well those are all the notable sites I’ve found. I had a few others on my list but I disqualified them for either being empty, out of date, or poorly constructed sites. I’m a member on all three sites now with the username “smurphster” on each so look me up if you join them.

Happy gaming!