Halo Comic Series to Feature Hit Creative Team

by Philip Kollar

Comic books seem to be making the leap into video games with an ever-increasing frequency, but, for some reason, it rarely seems to go the other way. Even in the rare cases we do see comics based on videogames -- such as Metal Gear Solid or Tomb Raider) -- they tend to be from smaller publishers like IDW or Top Cow rather than Marvel or DC.

Thus, why last year's Halo graphic novel came as such a shocker. Less surprisingly, the Halo graphic novel hardcover, released last July, sold very well, remaining in the top ten for several months and nestling in as Marvel's best-selling graphic novel of the year. Less surprising yet, soon after the graphic novel's release and success, Marvel and Bungie revealed their intention to print more money with a Halo ongoing series. Little talk of the ongoing has slipped out since its announcement, but Newsarama had this tantalizing tidbit hidden in their coverage of last weekend's New York Comic-Con:

"Quesada also announced a Halo ongoing, naming Brian Bendis and Alex Maleev as the surprise creative team on the new series."

Given the not-terribly-popular group of creators that worked on the graphic novel, Marvel easily could have given this new ongoing to a similarly obscure writer and artist. Instead they've bizarrely decided to go with Bendis and Maleev, who are easily two of the most well-known guys working at Marvel right now. For the non-comics-literate, let me explain why the choice is significant:

Brian Michael Bendis is often lovingly (and occasionally scornfully) referred to as Marvel's "golden boy." He's always writing a ridiculous number of books, many of which are at the top in terms of importance to Marvel's universes and sales. At the moment, these include Ultimate Spider-Man, New Avengers, and Mighty Avengers. Past important works for the company have included launching Ultimate Fantastic Four and writing 2005's big summer event, House of M. One of Bendis's most prolific works at Marvel was a four-year run with Alex Maleev on Daredevil. Kicking off on issue #26 and going all the way to #81, the two crafted a wildly popular and well-done epic featuring Daredevil's identity being outed to the press. Sales soared, and this soon became one of the most popular runs on Daredevil in the title's history.

These two on the new Halo ongoing series should be big. And it should mean very good things for comic fans and video game fans alike. No firm news yet on when we should expect the comic to start hitting stores, but 1UP will keep you updated as more news drops.

(c) www.gametab.com

WoW Gamer Gets Busted for Using Library Wi-Fi After Hours

21-year old Brian Tanner got busted by the cops up in Palmer, Alaska for using the local library's free Wi-Fi to play World of Warcraft after the library had closed. Patrolling cops seized the poor guy's laptop and claimed that although the library provides free Wi-Fi, there are rules governing its use. Rules which apparently Tanner wasn't following. Only one room in NY's Public Library offers free Wi-Fi (and you're not allowed to plug into an outlet) so I feel Tanner's pain, but if the library (which you'd think would want to provide free Wi-Fi for everyone) doesn't want people using their "service" after hours, then don't broadcast your signal. – Louis Ramirez

(c) www.gizmodo.com

Supreme Commander Goes Gold

The announcement that Total Annihilation fans have been waiting to hear for years hit the tubes today - Supreme Commander has completed development. Supreme Commander is a real-time strategy game that promotes mechanical battles on an unprecedented scale in the genre. Gas Powered Games CEO and creator of Total Annihilation, Chris Taylor states "Supreme Commander delivers the first-ever full Theatre of War zoom function, adding tremendous depth to the three story-driven campaigns and highly addictive multiplayer." Look out for this one in stores on the 20th of February

(c) www.gamearena.com.au

Gerritsen Leaves Human Head Software

by Jason McMaster

Human Head Software, developer of Prey (a successful multi-platform title, with over a million sales, that was released mid-2006), has lost its leader. Timoth Gerritsen, CEO of Human Head since 1998, left the company shortly before Thanksgiving. Gerritsen, who started with the company shortly after its inception, lead Human Head through several successful gaming projects including Dead Man’s Hand and Rune.

Firing Squad spoke with Gerritsen who said that he decided to sell his share in the company because the other owners wanted to take the company in a different direction than what he had in mind. In the meantime, Paul MacArthur, co-founder and company president, will act as the CEO. Gerritsen, who was not only CEO but the producer for Prey, has said that he left on friendly terms and plans to stay in the game business.

(c) www.gigagamez.com

Microsoft Sued by Developer Over Mobile "Halo" Game

In-Fusio sues Microsoft over mobile "Halo"
In-Fusio is suing Microsoft over an alleged breach of contract involving Microsoft's popular Halo video game. The French game developer has not been able to release a mobile version of Halo since Microsoft has yet to approve any of the company's game designs. Although Microsoft has not officially approved a game design, In-Fusio continued to spend development money on the Halo properties.
The original agreement between the two companies had In-Fusio paying Microsoft minimum guaranteed royalties of $2 million, divided in $500,000 payments from January 1, 2006, to June 1, 2008, according to the lawsuit. After Microsoft initially rejected In-Fusio's designs, Microsoft agreed to temporarily delay the payment system until the Halo design concepts were fixed.

In November, 2006, however, things began to turn south for everyone involved. In-Fusio claimed that Microsoft sent out a notice that would effectively eliminate the contract if In-Fusio did not make a $500,000 payment within 30 days. On December 27, 2006, Microsoft issued a termination notice to In-Fusio.
In-Fusio believes that Microsoft is not able to terminate the contract, since Microsoft was in breach of agreement for rejecting In-Fusio's game designs with no official explanation.

In-Fusio has only released Halo Portal, a service which allows gamers to download wallpapers and ringtones to mobile phones.

There is no official word from Microsoft over the lawsuit.

(c) www.dailytech.com

Sims Wii

Blimey. This came from nowhere this month, and watching the stubby-limbed Chibi-faced characters of the Japanese trailer (Chibi being the form of highly stylised drawing in which the body is about the same size as the head. Chibi is used to describe a small person or child; but often in a derogatory way), you'd be hard pushed to recognise this as an actual Sims game, so alien does it seem from what came before. A radical Japan-ification has taken place - The Sims now sporting a distinct Animal Crossing/Harvest Moon vibe.
Greater construction control is promised to be on the way. You'll be constructing your own home, houses for other residents, businesses - going against the pre-designed communal area approach of previous Sims titles - as well as general eye-pleasing greenery. While we're promised the ability to design our own town, the game will decide how to populate the world - much like Animal Crossing.

With house construction, EA Japan are really going all out to accommodate The Sims, both literally and figuratively, on the Wii. The remote pointer can replicate the PC's mouse cursor control infinitely better than a clumsy analogue stick. It's a case of pointing, picking up, dragging and dropping. No opportunity for cowboy builders here.
A detailed character creator has also been revealed. Like the Mii creation, it focuses on facial details over clothes and body shape. It would've been good to have used our Miis instead - no matter how hard you try, you're not going to be able to make a likeness of yourself in-game. Unless you happpen to have a rectangular Bomberman-style head, that is.
But, though simplified, the faces are capable of wearing numerous goofy expressions - from angry frowns to googly eyes - which are used to indicate what's going on in their little Sim minds much more effectively than a thought bubble or meter-bar ever could. Online functions - visiting other towns perhaps? - and DS connectivity have also been mentioned in development plans; hopefully The Sims will fill the house-developing, townvisiting gap until the inevitable Animal Crossing game rears its own oddlyshaped head.

(c) www.computerandvideogames.com

New Wii, PS3, & 360 Games

January will be another slow month for new game releases for ALL the next generation gaming consoles. There will only be one game available for the PS3 and two games for each the Wii and 360. If you are waiting for new games to purchase, you might as well go pickup a currently available one unless you find something on the list below interesting. From our perspective, the only games worth purchasing this month are Sonic The Hedgehog for the PS3 and Fuzion Frenzy for the Xbox 360.

PlayStation 3:
Sonic The Hedgehog - Sega

Wii:
Baseball - Nintendo
Urban Champions - Nintendo

Xbox 360:
Fuzion Frenzy 2 - Microsoft
Dance Dance Revolution Universe - Konami

Note: The items mentioned above are games for the PlayStation 3 and Wii that are planned to be launched in December 2006. The list is accurate as of 11/30/06, however game may be added or removed. Therefore check Nintendo’s and/or Sony’s webpage for any changes.

(c) www.skattertech.com