What better way to prove your Halo fanboyism than the cruise down the street on a motorcycle wearing an ODST helmet? What may have seemed like a dream to you Halo feins may soon be a realty as what you see above is the X-Lite X-802 concept motorcycle helmet.

Now, the chances of this helmet ever being made available are currently unknown but we’ll keep an eye on it and let you know.

via kotaku

VGChartz

However, you have to make note that ODST was released on a Tuesday while Gears of War 2 was released on a Friday, giving ODST 5 days in their first week of sales while Gears 2 only had 2. So, literally, it’s the 4th fastest selling Xbox 360 game but technically. it’s the third. Get it?

Anyways, sales were right around 1.8 million with 1.7 million of those copies being taken off store shelves in North America, 230,000 in the UK, 50,000 in France and about 20,000 in Japan.

So, it’s official, put Halo on anything and it’ll sell like hot cakes!

Halo

The 2-disc Halo 3: ODST sound track will feature sounds from Marty O’Donnel and Michael Salvatori and is said to showcase the series’ new direction with ODST. Marty O’Donnell comments:

“I’m happy to be able to share all new compositions and recordings created for Halo 3: ODST. The music reflects the new mood, new heroes, and new story of the game. I worked with the Northwest Sinfonia for the orchestral recordings and also added some nice alto sax solos and some new guitar solos. The piano sneaks back in again a few times too, but I can’t seem to help that.”

To snag the soundtrack, just head over to www.sumthingdigital.com or grab it off iTunes on September 22nd.

via kotaku

Instead, Halo Waypoint is a service to be offered over Xbox Live to will include everything to do with the Halo universe; think podcasts, trailers, interviews and more. Additionally, Halo Waypoint will serve as the mode of delivery for the Halo Legends anime mini series that we heard about back in June.

Excited? No? Me neither.

Yesterday Microsoft let us know that there would be an anime miniseries inspiried by their flagship franchise, Halo entitled Halo Legends.

Today, the internets are a buzz over the miniseries’ debut trailer, included above. As you can see, there are segments produced by all 5 Japanese studios that are signed onto the project.

But wait, during Casio Entertainment’s segment there are the beginnings of a CG swordfight. I don’t remember Master Chief moving so nimbly in the video games. Oh well, let’s hope Halo Legends does the franchise justice and isn’t just an attempt by Microsoft to milk the franchise.

Seriously though, what you see above a collection of 6 Halo-inspired Ecko t-shirts that are now available for purchase. They are priced from 32-38 dollars and feature Master Chief aimin’, shootin’ and (most importantly) posin’.

Sure, I have to give it Ecko for making a few cool designs but as for the rest, well, I think Kotaku puts it best when they said they look like “designs that you would expect to see adorning an unlicensed beach towel in a South-East Asian marketplace.

Read (Ecko)

Have you guys all seen the YouTube video of the kid who made ridiculous amounts of Halo weapons out of cardboard? Well, this is the same thing, but a bit more extreme.

Showcased in the above video is a YouTube user by the name of Gradun66 who has made an exact replica of the pistol featured in Halo 1. It has a functioning magazine and bolt-action. There even seems to be a Battle Rifle of the same quality he is working on in the back.

The latest Halo game, Halo 3: ODST, will hit the market exclusively for the Xbox 360 on September 22nd.

It seems Germany is at it again, this time setting their eyes upon Valve’s extremely popular Counter-Strike series. Legislation was recently passed that now makes it illegal to play Counter-Strike in public.

This has led to the cancelation of Germany’s Convention-X-Treme LAN event which is sure to discourage the mass of German gamers. Furthermore, Destructoid is reporting that World of Warcraft has also been banned from public play.

What’s next, Germany, Halo?

In addition to announcing the continuation to the Halo series, Halo: Reach, Bungie also released a teaser trailer for the game that didn’t emerge on the internet until now.

Additionally, Microsoft announced that if you purchase Halo 3: ODST later this year you will be invited to test out a Halo: Reach multiplayer beta, much like the Halo 3 beta included with Crackdown prior to its release.

Anyways, watch the trailer and gawk over Halo’s return.

Microsoft is seeking to keep people on their toes and interested in the console RTS Halo Wars. They’ve just announced a new Xbox 360 exclusive downloadable content pack called “Strategic Options”. It adds three new multiplayer modes to the mix. The first is ‘Keepaway Mode’ which is inspire by classic capture the flag gameplay. Players seek to capture free-roaming Forerunner sentinels, the first to capture three wins. ‘Tug of War Mode’ is a little more straightforward with the decimation of your opponent’s army being the ultimate goal but in the end your remaining units, resources and buildings will all be considered in whether or not you’ve succeeded.

Finally ‘Reinforcement Mode’ provides you with active battle units in successive waves, forcing you to alter your tactics to fit the newest wave of units that have come your way. Thus far there’s no pricing or release date, but it says it’ll be out in the ‘next few weeks’ and for just a few extra gameplay modes and a handful of achievements I certainly hope they won’t try to charge more than $5.

I may have found something really interesting this time around–a Halo game that isn’t just more motion sickness-inducing run-and-gun action.  Brand new out of the pack is the Xbox 360’s newest colossal cash grab, Halo Wars.

On the off chance that you’ve been in a coma for the last ten years and need a quick crash course, here’s the skinny.  There was this MONSTER franchise that came out of Microsoft.  It was like their Doom.  Or maybe their Final Fantasy, if Final Fantasy were a first person shooter.  It was called Halo, and there were three of them, all with that same first person shooter engine.  Now, apparently, Microsoft is beginning to take its cues from Ben Franklin, convinced that shooter games are like fish AND houseguests–after three installments, they start to stink.  Thus, they had to go in a different direction, and they looked to the real-time strategy game for their inspiration.

Thus was Halo Wars born.  And the result was actually better than much of its predecessors, even though I’m probably just a bit biased against first person shooters.

Basically, playing in story mode, you’ll be sent along with a contingent of UNSC troops on board the UNSC Spirit of Fire, to investigate Covenant activity on planet Harvest.  This is all, parenthetically, set about twenty years before Halo.  Anyway, after the UNSC, as led by Sergeant Forge, hits dirtside on Harvest, they find the Covenant is actively engaged in excavating a “holy relic” which is actually a Forerunner facility that’s really a map to another star system.  The star system the Forerunners were trying to point out is Arcadia, home to a small human colony.  The Spirit of Fire immediately heads for Arcadia, only to find the Covenant is ahead of them and ravaging the planet, which is itself the key to the single most destructive force unearthed in the galaxy.  I won’t spoiler on just what it is because it is actually pretty mindblowing.

Indeed, Halo Wars is mindblowing on a whole lot of levels.  Graphically it’s an absolute triumph–this thing looks so sharp and clear that calling it “realistic” is almost an insult. The musical score, meanwhile, sounds as symphonic as it ever did.  And normally about this point I’d start complaining about the gameplay, or how I had to sit through a raftload of cut scenes before I even got to the game–well no sir, not this time.  This time I got action within a few minutes and I got it pretty well at that.  Even the tutorial wasn’t tough to sit through, and that’s something of an achievement in and of itself.  I can’t even complain about the gameplay, because there was just something so invigorating about having a quarter-dozen Warthogs and a collection of various Marine troops under your command to just send in a thoroughly crushing fashion onto any Covenant position you can find.

It’s fun to keep an eye on your resources, and engineer fresh bases as you need them, complete with automated turret defenses.  Every step feels like a victory in a game like this, as you go marching into battle in Covenant-occupied territory, both taking and holding territory.  It’s only your wits that keep you alive in a game like this, not your trigger finger, and that’s an interesting departure from the ordinary, one that I’m all too happy to embrace.

Halo Wars should prove to be plenty of fun for anyone else who takes a run at it.

Ever since Halo 2 on Xbox Live for the original Xbox, there have been those users unhappy with their ranking who feel the need to manipulate the network to their advantage.

Well, the problem hasn’t stop and it has infact escalated. Apparently, creators of such methods are selling programs, and even offering services, that kick your opponent off of Xbox Live. How is it done?

Well, the cheater routes their Xbox connection through their computer, obtains your IP address, floods it with packets, and kicks you off. Sounds like fun? It’s not, I’ve encountered one too many of these guys on Halo 3.

Microsoft has issued the following statement on the subject:

We are investigating reports involving the use of malicious software tools that an attacker could use to try and disrupt an Xbox LIVE player’s internet connection.

This problem is not related to the Xbox Live service, but to the player’s internet connection. The attacker could also attempt [to] disrupt other internet activities, such as streaming video or web browsing, using the same tools.”

Read (Kotaku)

The bundle retails for $350 and comes with a 60 gigabyte Xbox 360 Pro unit, a one-month subscription to Xbox Live and copies of both Halo 3 and Halo Wars. Of course debate will rage about whether or not this bundle really constitutes the ultimate in Halo games, with probably a lot of people thinking that a true ‘Best Of’ bundle would include a disc of the original, or a voucher for downloading the original from the Xbox Originals.

As one might expect, the lawyers attempted to blame the crime on Petric’s video game addiction, which had something to do with why his parents instructed him not to buy Halo 3. They were going for the insanity defense, but the murder-suicide plot and the fact that Petric admitted to thinking about killing his parents in the weeks before the crime generally eroded his claim of insanity and he was convicted.

Daniel Petric now faces sentencing with life in prison without parole as the maximum sentence. While this is a terrible tragedy and I send my sympathies to Mr. Petric and his family, it’s good to see that the spirit of accountability is still alive in a country that’s all together too quick to blame others.

Sure Halo 3 and Halo 2 are cool games, but for the competitive Halo-scene Halo: Combat Evolved is arguably the best of the trilogy.

Well now you have a chance to snag the historic game for 50% off the 1200 Microsoft point price tag, thanks to Microsoft’s Holiday Deal of the Week series. And, for the math geniuses out there, that brings the price down to 600 Microsoft Points.

This deal with be available starting tomorrow on Xbox Originals and, of course, is only offered to Xbox Live Gold members.

Read (MajorNelson)

The first deal is for the Halo Legendary map pack which will be available for 400 MS points or $5 real world cash. That’s a discount of 200 points which begins on Tuesday at 9AM pacific time until next Monday when a new item will go on sale.

Are you one of those people who needs to have absolutely every peice of Halo merchandise on the market? Well you better add another item to your list as it was recently made known that Sumthing Else’s 5-disc Halo soundtrack will hit store shelves tomorrow.

Included in the bundle are the original soundtracks from Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, both Halo 3 discs, and a DVD containing tracks from Halo Wars and all kinds of behind the scenes goodness.

Kotaku lets us know that Best Buy has the bundle up for pre-order at a none-too-high price of $34.99, a must have for any Halo fanatic.

Press release after the break

SUMTHING ELSE MUSIC WORKS ANNOUNCES RELEASE OFHALO TRILOGY ®€” THE COMPLETE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS

5-disc set includes the original music scores and Halo Wars DVD featuring 4 preview tracks and behind-the-scenes from the recording session

New York – Dec. 1st, 2008 – Sumthing Else Music Works, Inc., through its licensing relationship with Microsoft Game Studios, proudly presents Halo® Trilogy – The Complete Original Soundtracks featuring the award-winning original music scores by Bungie Audio Director Martin O’Donnell and Co-Composer Michael Salvatori plus four preview tracks from the forthcoming real-time strategy game Halo Wars™, composed by Ensemble Studios Audio Director Stephen Rippy. Halo Trilogy – The Complete Original Soundtracks is released tomorrow, Dec. 2, 2008, to retail outlets through Nile Rodgers’ Sumthing Else Music Works record label www.sumthing.com, and for digital download at www.sumthingdigital.com.

Halo Trilogy – The Complete Original Soundtracks contents:

Disc 1 – Halo: Combat Evolved Original Soundtrack.

Disc 2 – Halo 2 Original Soundtrack Volume Two.

Disc 3 – Halo Wars Bonus DVD;

Four preview tracks from the upcoming soundtrack presented in 5.1.

A behind-the-scenes look at the recording sessions set to the Halo Wars main theme music.

“Five Long Years” Opening cinematic of the Halo Wars campaign.

Disc 4 – Halo 3 Original Soundtrack.

Disc 5 – Halo 3 Original Soundtrack (cont’d).

Originally created by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios, the Halo franchise is exclusive to the Xbox and Xbox 360 video game and entertainment systems and is optimized for the Xbox LIVE online entertainment network. Halo 3 was released in 37 countries and 17 languages. To date, more than 24.8 million copies of the games in the Halo trilogy have been sold worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.halo3.com/.

Based on the legendary Halo universe, Halo Wars is a real-time strategy game for the Xbox 360 developed by Ensemble Studios. In campaign mode, command the armies of the UNSC warship Spirit of Fire, with familiar and new UNSC units in its initial encounters against the Covenant, an alien coalition threatening to obliterate mankind. Halo Wars immerses players in an early period of the storied Halo universe, allowing you to experience events leading up to the first Halo title for Xbox. For more information visit http://www.halowars.com/.

"The Halo movie in its initial incarnation is dead. No one is pursuing it anymore," said Beattie. "I’m just a fan and I desperately want to see a Halo movie out there.”

Beattie wrote the script during the downtime he got during last year’s Hollywood writer’s strike. It got Bungie’s attention and he is currently in talks with Microsoft.

The new script is based on “Halo: The Fall of Reach”, a novel by Eric Nylund taking place before the current trilogy of games.

"[My script] sets up a world 500 years in the future and we have colonies, there’s the UNSC, there’s the secret Spartan training program. And you see this six-year-old kid kidnapped in the middle of the night," said Beattie.

More on this as it develops.

The two join a group of “heavy hitters” which includes Corrrinne Yu (Gearbox) and former Bungie writer Frank O’ Connor.

The Halo series is currently undergoing a lot of development, with Gearbox rumored to be working on Halo 4 for the next Xbox console. Series creator Bungie is working on a new campaign for Halo 3, with Ensemble Studios wrapping up work on Halo Wars.

Citing a “reliable source”, Shacknews has posted word that Ryan Payton will be serving as creative director on the new Halo project in development by Microsoft Game Studios and Peter Jackson.

Microsoft’s internal Halo team currently consists of Corrinne Yu (ex-Gearbox), Frank O’Connor (ex-Bungie) and is currently seeking more staff.