The Paul Christoforo Story: PR Failure to Internet Meme In Less Than 24 Hours

Today much of the enthusiast video game community have been abuzz talking about the saga of Paul Christoforo and the Avenger video game controller add-on for the Xbox 360 and PS3 Controllers. When Dave, a concerned customer that had bought the Avenger product early this month, sent a concerned email to Paul Christoforo, the now-former PR representative for the Avenger product, he received several unfortunate and unprofessional responses from Paul.

Why eSports Matters

Audience at Starcraft 2 finals of MLG Anahiem 2011

Recently I have been enthralled by sudden growth of the international competitive gaming scene, but I still cringe when some claim that eSports will explode into mainstream popularity. While gaming itself has now embedded itself into mainstream culture, competitive gaming has not reached the same level because it remains a niche pastime for the minority of the population. Despite the presence of gaming consoles in almost every household, we will not be seeing "Halo: Reach" or "Starcraft 2" tournament replays sharing airtime with conventional sports on any of the popular network channels. The diversity and vast scope of mainstream gaming is not compatible with the narrow focus of competitive gaming, and any attempts to introduce it into the mainstream awareness are bound for failure.

So is eSports a lost cause destined to burn out with the trends and fads of yesteryear? Actually, no. What makes eSports unique is that it does not need the mainstream to grow, and if it continues the rapid momentum it has built up over most of 2011 it can easily become a global juggernaut in online entertainment.

The Wii U Unveiling Debacle

If Nintendo’s unveiling of the Wii U left you somewhat confused, rest assured that you are not alone. The Wii U unveiling was so underwhelming that Nintendo stock prices dropped to levels never before seen since the original Wii’s launch in 2006. The Wii U unveiling undoubtedly had the biggest splash at this year's E3; it was topic of conversation for everybody who attended E3, and has left the Internet abuzz ever since it was announced. So if the Wii U announcement was successful in getting the new console name out into the public imagination, why did the stockholder exodus occur?

Putting it simply, the Wii U is both too extreme and not extreme enough, and this awkward position means that Nintendo can potentially end up in last place in the home console race. As the core of Nintendo’s strategy to cement their lead in the home gaming console race for the future, Nintendo did not prove that the Wii U and its tablet controller was innovative or advanced enough to keep it at the forefront of the race when the next Xbox or Playstation would eventually come out. Indeed, when compared against Microsoft’s current Kinect controller-less motion capturing technology, to many people the Wii U tablet controller almost looks like a step backwards in terms of pushing the envelope of video gaming.

Review: LA Noire

There will always be a Call of Duty game, a Madden game, or a Need For Speed game, but there will only be one L.A. Noire. There is not a game that exists now that comes close to offering the wonderfully woven tapestry of exposition and tension that L.A. Noire offers, and I am confident that it will remain that way for some time.

You do not simply play L.A. Noire, you become invested in the narrative as it unfolds across multiple cases, and you are enveloped in the grimy underworld and slimy politics of crime-busting in Los Angeles during the late 1940s. Other games about might have atmospheric settings, but L.A. Noire does not simply just have great atmosphere, it drowns you in it.

E3 2010: Motion Control Madness

To be brutally honest, I find it hard to be excited by either the Microsoft Kinect or the Playstation Move. Thanks to the mediocrity of the Nintendo Wii, motion controlled gaming hasn't really been that appealing to me, and a good number of gamers have felt the same too. Safe to say, coming into this year's E3, there have been some fairly high expectations from Kinect and the Move

So were those expectations met after the Microsoft and Sony announcements? Somewhat. Both companies have proved that their ambitious technologies work very well, but they didn't prove that they could challenge the Nintendo juggernaut.

Review: Pokemon Soul Silver uses Nostalgia Attack!

It's Super Effective! 

Oh god. The nostalgia that this game brings back from my childhood memories is amazing. What got me into gaming and anime was none other than the original Pokemon Silver 10 years ago. I was so overcome with nostalgia that I went out and bought a new DS specifically so I could relive those memories with the new Pokemon Soul Silver. Yea. A totally unbiased review coming up.

 Click to see the difference 10 years looks like.

The good? It's the Pokemon game you loved as a kid. The bad? It's still essentially the same Pokemon game that you played as a kid.

Nostalgia aside, it's actually kind of infuriating that most of the general game concepts have remained mostly unchanged for over a decade. So if you're not entranced by the nostalgia or the remade world, Soul Silver won't really have any staying power. Plus this remake hasn't fixed some things about the original, like the utter dearth of different pokemon in the first quarter of the game.

In fact, you can't even some of the newly added Pokemon until really late in the game, which makes me wonder why they added them in the first place.

All that said, it's hard not to be impressed with Soul Silver. Pokemon games have always been about the large immersive worlds with large numbers of interesting creatures, and Soul Silver doesn't disappoint. Not only are there several new areas, but also new additional gameplay aspects like the Pokeathalon mini-game events, so even old veterans of the original Pokemon Silver have something new to see. Add all of the above with a much improved art style, and you got yourself a great looking game.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Soul Silver has been the Pokewalker. Essentially a tamagotchi (remember those?) for Pokemon, it's unique since it operates off a pedometer. However, it doesn't offer anything revolutionary, other than making Pokemanics easier to spot. Luckily, you don't need to use it. The Pokewalker has its uses, but it feels really tacked on.

Honestly, if you want your kids to exercise, find another excuse.

Despite being a remake, there's enough new elements to make Soul Silver worth the money. Once you add in the sheer nostalgia that it brings, it's almost priceless. Plus it doesn't hurt that it's a remake of a very solid game. Of course, if you've never liked the Pokemon games, then Soul Silver won't change your mind.

But if you've hated Pokemon games since you were a kid, you probably hate cute animals and pretty things anyways. Just saying.

Moving nowhere with the PlayStation Move

There's quite a number of differences between the Wii and the new PS3 motion control add-on the PlayStation Move, but it's not a huge exaggeration to call it Sony's 'Wiimote-HD', since both controllers are used in similar fashions when playing games. The most important distinction is the Move's accuracy; it's far better at tracking where the controller is, so it can do a lot more than even the upgraded Wii Motion Plus can hope to do.

So will the Move be Sony's gaming holy grail? Sadly, no.

Unique controls do not always produce unique gameplay. The Wii has proved this with years of simplistic-but-mediocre games best suited for very young kids. Aside from the Nintendo-developed Wii Sports Resort, there hasn't been a Wii game that has delivered on the Wii's original promise. And does Sony really expect the sell the PlayStation Move to the mainstream 'non-gamers' if it's an additional $100 (let's be honest here, it won't be much less than $100) cost on top of the $300 PS3?

Once you consider the launch games for the Move being very similar to current games being offered on the Wii right now, all of what has been announced so far has been rather underwhelming. With the Move, Sony simply isn't making a compelling argument for gamers or mainstream non-gamers to purchase it. These same problems also affect Microsoft's Natal motion controller, so these are problems that aren't necessarily limited to Sony.

I'm tempted to call the PlayStation Move another knee-jerk attempt by Sony to bandwagon on technology trends. But unlike my opinion on the PSP Go, I actually have some hope for Sony in this case. There's some promise in what the Sony can offer through the Move because the technology behind it is rather versatile, but it remains to be seen if they can capitalize on it with some great games after it's launched.

Breaking News: Windows Phone 7 Announced

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona today, Microsoft announced their newest mobile smart phone OS platform, the Windows Phone 7.

*yawn* 

Let's be honest, Microsoft has a tendency to promise big and fail utterly in recent years. I think Windows 7 has been their only major product they released that was a success, and that's because we hit them over the head enough times because of Vista. Plus we're getting into smart phone territory here, in which the popular mind-share of this market has long been captured by the iPhone.

Don't get me wrong, I think Windows Phone 7 is a really slick mobile OS, and it's integration with Xbox Live has great potential. But the success of integration like that is highly dependent on the existence of a diversity of content for it (e.g. games), and there won't be enough Window Phone 7 users to justify developers investing in games for the platform when they can make so much more money off of the wildly popular iPhone app store.

Long story short, I'll be excited if Xbox Live integration isn't just a gimmick a year or so from now. But I'm willing to put down money that nobody will care about it then.

Source and image: Gizmodo

Review: Mass Effect 2

To say that Mass Effect 2 is my favorite game this year would be an understatement. Saying that Mass Effect 2 is my favorite game that I’ve played in my whole life would be more accurate. Mass Effect 2 is by no means the ‘perfect’ game, and there are games out there that arguably have better elements. Bioshock has better atmosphere, Modern Warfare 2 has more thrilling gameplay, Fallout 3 has a bigger world to explore, and the upcoming PS3 game Heavy Rain will definitely be more ‘cinematic’ and emotional than Mass Effect 2. So why Mass Effect 2, if it’s not perfect?

I’ll say it in one word; Immersion.

Video game graphics have proved to be amazing in recent years, but despite these leaps in technology the main problem with video games has been their inability to immerse us in their worlds. Running around any game, you have to actively suspend your notions of reality just to accept what you’re seeing in the game. Some games like Bioshock try to use art style and atmosphere to make it easier to get drawn into the game, other games like Modern Warfare 2 simply rely on pushing you along as fast as possible so you don’t think too much about the world the game is presenting to you.

With Mass Effect 2 though, it engages the most important factor in immersion; you. The whole game is masterfully designed to engage the player in choices that shape the gameplay and the universe.The character that you play isn’t nameless or voiceless like in most other games, your character has an actual personality who builds actual relationships with characters around them. You give the character a name, gender, change their appearance, write their backstory, and customize their abilities to your preference, and all this is before you are presented with the decisions that develop your character's story and relationships.

Decisions you have made in the first Mass Effect have a noticeable effect on the immensely detailed world in Mass Effect 2, effectively writing a game universe that feels unique and tailored to you. The choices that you make don’t have an easily visible foreseeable impact, and they’re morally ambiguous too, which makes every decision fraught with tension as you try to choose what you think is the best decision.The game almost makes you believe you’re writing their story, and that’s the key in Mass Effect 2’s immersion.

It also doesn’t hurt that Mass Effect 2’s combat and level designs have improved leaps and bounds over the first game. Just like the tension found in the moral decisions in the game, every enemy encounter is thrilling and fast-paced, a testament how well designed the combat system and level designs are. You’re still suspending your belief in reality while playing, but the immersion happens so effortlessly because everything in the game is working in harmony to draw you in and invest your emotions in what is unfolding before your eyes. From the vibrant and lush alien worlds to the stellar voice acting (did I mention Martin Sheen voices one of the main characters?), Mass Effect 2 truly rivals some classic sci-fi epics.

Of course, like I said before the game isn’t perfect. I have several gripes with the way that the game’s plot is structured, along with some uncertainties about the balance of the different character abilities, but I haven’t been this enthralled like this by any other video game. Mass Effect 2 isn’t for everyone, as it’s hybrid RPG-FPS system isn’t easy to pick up and the game’s immersion is highly dependant on the player having completed the first Mass Effect (which had its fair amount of gameplay flaws). However, it blows every other game out of the water with its superbly balanced composition of personalized immersion, gameplay elements, epic story, intriguing characters, and emotional impact.

You’ll be hard pressed to find a better produced game than Mass Effect 2. Until Mass Effect 3 comes out, that is.

Review: Star Trek Online

 

I've been jaded with massive multiplayer online games since my time with the infamous World of Warcraft, plus I'm not old (or nerdy) enough to be a true Trekkie. Games that are designed to waste your time like MMOs don't fit my lifestyle, and the only person I can really recognize from Star Trek is Captain Jean-Luc Picard. So you can imagine my sense of disbelief when I realized I actually enjoyed my time with Star Trek Online.

From the time I spent in the game's open beta, there's not much that I can praise about the game's structure. The ground combat is clunky and boring, the user interface isn't intuitive to use, and there's little in the way of guidance in what to do in the game. Want to know the difference between Photon and Quantam torpedos? Don't look at the descriptions in the game, Google it. Want to know where the hell the 'Crystaline Entity' is for that one mission? Google it. I could go on, but you get the overall picture.

 

But I wouldn't be talking about Star Trek Online if it just was mediocre. One thing that the game has satisfied is my childhood fantasies about blowing things up in space. Piloting a lumbering Federation cruiser around Klingon Bird of Preys and crushing them with disruptor beams and photon torpedoes has created a sensation that I haven't felt since I was seven years old and doodling sprawling space battles on the margins of my math homework. The game is quite good at fulfilling the inner Captain Kirk, and even the cumbersome ground battles serves the purpose of giving us the Star Trek experience by expanding the universe beyond go-here-and-blow-up-3-Klingon-ships.

Star Trek Online is about as geeky as one can get (complete with in-game voice over from Leonard Nimoy), and it even appeals to non-Trekkies if you love sci-fi enough. The game is an MMO in concept, but in reality you won't miss much if you want to do things by yourself, which is another plus in my book. I won't be spending much time with the game, but I do appreciate how it has awoken the inner child that I had assumed to be long gone. 

Beam me up, Scotty!

Oh god I'm talking about music

2009 has been a rather interesting year for alt. rock and rock music. The album I was looking forward to the most, Weezer's latest album Raditude, was almost painful for me to listen to as a whole. But on the flip side, there was some decent stuff that graced the air waves in the past year. The Fray's latest self-titled album was really nice to listen to, and Third Eye Blind's Ursa Major was a solid reminder to why I liked them so much.

But really, I think the biggest surprise of 2009 for me was Switchfoot's Hello Hurricane. I've never been a fan of their older albums (or their past musical styles), but in this album they really pulled out all the stops to refresh their sound. Unlike Weezer's Red Album (again Weezer, c'mon), their musical experimentations blend nicely with their patented vocal catches and soft sounds to create an album that's musically diverse and fun to listen to. Before Hello Hurricane, I wouldn't have put 'musically diverse' and 'Switchfoot' in the same sentence. But now I can do that without any sense of sarcasm.

Another solid album that also came out at the tail end of the year is Leona Lewis's Echo. Not that I expected anything less, even with the standards she set with her stellar first album. What is confusing me though, is why Square Enix choose her single "My Hands" as the theme song for the international version of Final Fantasy XIII. "My Hands" is a nice song...but it doesn't match the whole Final Fantasy concept of androgynous Japanese teenagers summoning giant ice-machine-monsters to fight the Greater Evil. The only people who are going to buy Final Fantasy XIII are people who love the Japanese flavor of the series, so why replace the perfectly fine original Japanese theme?

Heh. I knew I'd manage to talk about games somehow.

Delicious Delays Ahead

Let's make this clear. Last time when I said there would most likely be delays with Gran Turismo 5, I kinda said that to spite the Sony fanboys. And I can't believe I was right. Anyways, those wondering what the hell I'm talking about, Polyphony Digital announced recently that they were delaying the Japanese release date for GT5. The game was supposed to come out in March of this year in Japan, but now the new release date remains unknown.

I don't know about you, but I busted out laughing when I saw the news.Oh you Sony fanboys, how you guys must be fuming at this point...

The American release date ostensibly remains the same (Summer-ish 2010), but at this point I wouldn't be surprised if the weather gets awfully cold before us gajin will be able to pick up a copy of GT5. I'm sure the delay wasn't because they're still fixing or polishing things in the game, but rather due to the rather ambitious Gran Turismo TV they wanted to include with the game. I think the Top Gear motto also applies here; "Ambitious, but rubbish."

Source: Joystiq

Gran Turismo 5 release date CONFIRMED...not really

Man, this is getting really irritating. Even for someone who's not sacrificing carbon fiber to the Polyphony Digital gods, the constant "Did we say [insert date]? We really meant [insert later date]" is really annoying.

Anyways, date kinda confirmed. "Summer 2010" is the official word, which I put quotes around since whenever a game developer says something like that instead of an actual month, there's a very good chance it can change. I'm predicting if the date changes, the game will finally be released in the fall. The reason why I say this is because it's the end of 2009 right now, and the original predicted release date was early 2010 (Q1 2010). Pushing back the official guesstimate of the release date when the games supposed to come out in about four months only happens when there's some difficulties.

Just a friendly reminder, there were three full Forza Motorsport games since Gran Turismo 4 was launched in the US in March of 2005. By the time GT5 comes out, it would have been five years since the last game. Is this a result of the quest for perfection, or is the scope of the game getting too big to handle? We'll see if it comes out in Summer 2010.

So until then Sony fanboys, hang tight and keep on praying at the Polyphony Digital altar. Maybe the game will come out earlier if you pray hard enough. Maybe.

So, Facebook on the 360...

...is extremely stupid. The only cool thing is that you can add people from your Facebook friends list to your Xbox Live friends list. The hitch is that you can only do that if they have already downloaded and installed the small Facebook addition on their 360...which none of my friends have. And I don't blame them, since everyone I know uses their 360 to play games instead of Facebook-stalking.

Unbeliveable, I know.

In a way, Facebook has become its own gaming platform. There are a ton of (rather shady) mini games and personality quizs floating around the social site, and then's there's "games" like Farmville and Cafe World. There's a lot of people that are happily distracted with these games, and companies have taken notice. Mark my words, there will be a Maple Story-esque MMO coming to Facebook soon. And it will be VERY popular.

Everyone is trying to integrate Facebook or Facebook-like social networking into their products. But Facebook is developing too quickly for companies to catch up. The PS3/360 Facebook addon would have been cool...a year ago. Now, there's a bunch of additional things on Facebook that both consoles can't really integrate.

The people behind Facebook and all the Facebook apps aren't stupid; it's only going to be a matter of time before we can share music clips/videos/playlists via Facebook music player, and I wouldn't be surprised to wake up tomorrow to find out that you can blog via Facebook. At this rate, Facebook will take over our Internet social lives.

As for the rest of our Internet time, Google has us covered. Hell, I'm posting from a Google blog (Blogger is owned by Google FYI). How we're going to spend time on the Internet in the near future is going to be interesting, that's for sure.

Tech Predictions for 2010

Instead of having a Best Game of The Year or a List of 10 Things in 2009 That Were Hella Cool, I shall now gaze into the all-seeing crystal ball and look into the future. Let's just hope that I don't look in the wrong place and see my roommate naked or something. Ugh. Anyways, without further ado, Justin's Totally Thought-out Predictions for 2010.

1. 2010 will be a year dominated by gaming sequels - Sequels to Gears of War, Resistance, Halo (ok maybe not a sequel, but it's close), Gran Turismo, Mass Effect, Bioshock, Splinter Cell, and Call of Duty will almost certainly coming out next year. And there isn't an original IP that looks like it will stand out from the crowd.
   
2. The Wii will see a gajillion consoles - Duh.
3. Google will release their much hyped 'Google' phone - Because they can. Headline in 2012: Google takes over the World, Bill Gates sobs.
4. Speaking of Google, Chrome OS will not be released - Official word says late 2010, but I personally doubt it. There's some tech hurdles that need to be jumped, a highly skeptical public that needs to be convinced, and more solid-state netbooks that need to be released.
5. Japan will make another robot for...something weird - Another duh. But I gotta have these freebies in here so this list sounds somewhat legit.
6. The Xbox 360 will continue to be in 3rd place behind the PS3 in monthly sales - This might seem like blasphemy coming from me, but the future for the 360 isn't bright. Of course, I have a very good chance of being wrong, especially if Natal comes out in 2010. But otherwise, Halo: Reach and Gears of War 3 won't guarantee sustained dominance over the PS3 for 2010.
   
7. Apple tablet announced - Cupertino has been playing around with us for so long that it's impossible to deny the existence of one without angering legions of Apple fanboys. Plus, it's guaranteed to sell like hotcakes, and it does make sense, so it's a win-win situation.
8. More torrent trackers will bite the dust - With the departure of Mininova and Pirate Bay to more legitimate shores, it's only a matter of time before unregulated torrent trackers die off. But hey, someone can always place a tracker in Russia or China...
9. Yahoo will be bought by someone - Yahoo's sucking right now, and they're overdue for a change in direction and focus. Either someone's going to shake up the leadership over there, or Yahoo will go the way of Earthlink into irrelevance.
10. I will continue to make a fool out of myself on this blog - Guaranteed.

And yes, I did say hella.

Quick Look: Forza 3 vs Gran Turismo 5

Forza 3 > Gran Turismo 5. There, end of quick look.

Fine, I'll do a proper look at it. Thank Sahil for this post, since I didn't want to bother writing something up on this game. Honestly, it's everything in Forza 2, but better. From the much-improved single player racing season to the multiplayer, if you're a car fanatic who likes to customize and race cars, this game will be the end of your productive life.

That said, how will it compare to GT5? Well, GT5 will sell more thanks to the fact thanks to the nostalgia factor plus the cool $60 million and 5 years of development that Polyphony Digital spent making the car models spotless. GT5 also has a leg up on the diversity of racing events, from dirt rallying to NASCAR racing, not to mention the much-trumpeted Gran Turismo TV, which will supposedly bring the wet dreams of car nerds to life.

Ugh. Horrible mental image there. Anyways, moving on.

On the other hand, Forza 3 has a community aspect that definitely won't be in GT5, with the community interface built-in from the get go in the form of the Auction House, where you can get anything from custom car liveries to replays of crazy dudes drifting down Fujimi Kaido. Plus, the physics and the tech behind the car gameplay is second to none, making racing in Forza 3 a experience. This is in stark contrast to feel of the cars in GT5, which feel a bit awkward in comparison (judging from GT Prologue).

It'll all fall down to your personal preferences in the end. I personally prefer the ability to fully customize and tune my Evo X MR, and the improved physics in Forza 3 really makes racing in that game so freaking awesome with a racing wheel. Forza 3 is a game for people who love to racing cars. Gran Turismo 5 will be a game for people who love collecting cars. Choose accordingly.

Quick Look: Modern Warfare 2

Maybe you're heard about this game, especially if you're one of the 4.7 million Americans who have bought this piece of digital testosterone on the first day of sale. They could seriously melt down the disc, bottle it, sell it as a energy drink, and nobody would be the wiser.

So is it the Video Game Masterpiece of 2009? Not quite. The single player is functionally good, but the story sucks. The ending is a huge cop-out, the controversial scene where you kill civilians is rather pointless, and the action lacks any ebb and flow.

And oh god, don't get me started on the fucking plot holes. Is this really the best you can do Infinity Ward? If Tom Clancy and Michael Bay both overdosed on LSD and had a bastardized child, it would be Modern Warfare 2's plot. Unlike the first game's story, which was compelling and exciting, it feels as if the writers were trying too hard to make something awesome happen all the time. The end result is a steaming pile of shit that is only saved by the game's superb gameplay sections.

There, rant over. Moving on, the changes that they added for multiplayer add a surprisingly pleasant amount of depth, and the co-op Spec-Ops levels a blast to play with a friend. Just for these reasons alone, it's well worth the hype. I can easily envision spending way too much time playing online, which the same can't be said for Halo 3: ODST.

There's a reason why this is the one of the two video games that I bought this year (the other being Forza 3). There's a lot of value behind the dirt-splattered box art, and if you can stand being stabbed repeatedly in your mind, the single player is somewhat fun.

PSP Go on Sale Tomorrow; World Yawns

Sony's foray into the digital download gaming market is coming out tomorrow, but I could care less. Apparently some other people aren't excited about the PSP Go either. So what will I be doing tomorrow? Doing something a lot more interesting than trying out at the PSP Go: watching grass grow at the 56th annual Grass and Wet Paint Watching Festival. I hear this year they'll actually have grass from Brazil we can watch!

I'll also rather get sunburned and jump into seawater than buy any other PSP products.

My hatred of Sony and their handling of the PSP is pretty well known. Long story short, Sony screwed over everyone (myself included) who had actually bought the old PSP by making it impossible to use games that we have already purchased on UMD on the PSP Go, all for a wonderful $250.

Mind you, that's only $50 less than a PS3 or Xbox 360, for a thing that has nowhere near the usefulness of either gaming console. I wouldn't be so harsh if they bothered to upgrade the PSP Go's media and web support, but they didn't. So what are you getting for $250? Absolutely nothing worthwhile.

Quick Look: Halo 3: ODST

If you liked Halo 3, you'll Like Halo 3: ODST Rise of the Abbreviations. That said, I enjoyed it and its focus on the characters. All of the cutscenes were charming, thanks to the Firefly crew voicing the main characters. I even didn't mind the slightly hammy romantic scene near the end.

Charm aside, mechanically the game is supposed to play differently than Halo 3 thanks to you being a 'ordinary' grunt instead of the Master Chief, but honestly I didn't notice a substantial difference. You'll take cover more and be more cautious, but since the game throws much fewer enemies at you your weakness are kind of subdued. So the game isn't too hard, and it feels rather short as well once you finish. You'll definitely be left wanting more once the credits hit.

ODST is a good direction for the franchise to go in, with the beautiful open-world night time exploration, and its great attempts at bringing in more character to the Halo universe. But the Halo formula is starting to wear thin a bit, and it remains to be seen how Bungie can keep the next Halo game as fresh as ODST is.

Yea. I'm done. I'm off to play Firefight for another 3 hours.

So, I heard there was a Halo anime

So you know how I was talking about the Halo anime earlier?

Yeeeea.

Anime this isn't. While the animation and art might might be anime-inspired, the writing and dialogue were clearly created by the same dudes who write all the stuff that show up on Cartoon Network. Judging from this clip, it doesn't look horrible, but Halo Legends isn't something that I'd consider quality.

Of course, this isn't a surprise to anybody. But watching this clip did fulfill my weekly quota of Master Chief punching Brutes to death.