Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - The Arkaeologist

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 5
1
I think it does make sense that the "exclusive" digital content will be available later.... A faster Sparrow and more powerful weapons would give players an unfair advantage, because they are usable in multiplayer.

I agree with you completely, Extrapolator Extrodanator.  (Your current self-styling makes me lol.)  I don't think players should be able to buy an advantage.  (There's enough of that in the real world!)  My beef is simply with retailers' use of the word 'exclusive.'  I am after all part librarian, not to mention all curmudgeon.   ;)

2
Well, oh my.  Started looking into this and thought I would share.  First glance: looks as if we may as well be out 100 bucks right off the bat since the limited edition (at $99.99) includes the Destiny expansion pack, which will drop 12/31 and costs $34.99 as a download (or $19.99 per "map").  So you basically get the steelbook, postcards, collectors' edition digital content (ghost casing, emblem and ship variant) and other miscellanea "for free."  (Yes, I'm rolling my eyes, but when I calm myself and swallow that price tag, I have to admit it's not a bad deal for those who will inevitably buy all additional content.)  Though the Game StopAmazon, and Best Buy descriptions are misleading, the expansion pack by itself is only available for pre-order, so I am assuming the special editions do not include immediate access to this content.

As for the pre-order bonuses, Game Stop appears to be the only retailer (sorry beta episode aside, Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy) with an exclusive, a sparrow skin*, which is only exclusive (if you mind their asterisk) until 1/1/2015.  Same with the Vanguard gear, weapons, and emblem, which appear to be the pre-order bonus that comes with the game/is not retailer exclusive: it's early access.  According to one of the disclaimers, you can earn these items through play.  Conclusion: this only really matters if you're buying day one and paying full price.  Otherwise, get it wherever it's cheapest.

One other thing:  I noticed a Bungie disclaimer on gamestop.com stating that you need 20GB available hard drive AND broadband to play the game.  The latter actually affects me though I played the beta on dsl without issue.  Hmmm......

In the interest of thoroughness, for those of you who poop gold (it's a Lannister joke, people!) there's also the Ghost edition for $149.99, which includes the limited stuff PLUS a talking ghost replica/box and a letter of introduction.  (Spectacles on!)

Oh, and one other one other thing.  ;D  According to joystik.com, "Bungie is promising exclusive PlayStation content for both expansion packs."   Marty and Joe have defected, and the Microsoft-Bungie cold war continues.

*Honestly!  A slight mod regarding the GS exclusive sparrow skin.  The exclusive is described as a paint job and an acceleration/top speed/durability upgrade.  The paint job is exclusive until 1/1/2015.  The upgrades are earnable through play so not exclusive, well, ever.  When every "bonus" requires a disclaimer, I think things have gotten a little out of hand.  [Insert retail rage here.]

3
@Night:  Wurgle!

@CG:  But we could call it The Ba$*#^@!! Corner.  It would be AWESOME.

.................................................................................Snow?

4
Raindrops on roses Queen of Thorns' "roses"
And whiskers on kittens And warg-able kittens
Half-man! and two Jo[h]ns
And warm Night's Watch mittens

Didact, Librarian,
Little birds sing,
These are a few of my favorite things.....

Yes, two of my favorite worlds are colliding!  Hoorah!  Now perhaps CG will finally give me a half-corner of the forum for my GRRM obsession.  :-*

 

5
BOBs / Re: Tip of the Spear BOB Hunt
« on: November 02, 2011, 21:20:04 »
Footage of one of the Tip of the Spear Bravo BOB variants (assuming there's more than one) is available on my file share.  It's in two parts because in a fit of pink bow-tied BOB lust, I decided to run directly into a FRG blast. :)

I believe this is a well-documented BOB but I did confirm that he grants the Golden Opportunity Challenge.

6
@Nade:  Fixed above as well.  I was doing too many links too fast....apparently!  Thanks, Nader!
Halopedia info:

 â– The company may be a parody of the present day NOS drink, as the company's logo makes the impression that it deals drinks or water in some way.

Yup, I saw that and it does look water-related.  Could be all it is.  What a coincidence since we know they're FMJ fans.  But I'm sort of into going with the most light-hearted explanation these days! (Bungie employee:  It is 2 a.m. and I need five corporate-y-sounding names by morning.  (Glances at desk and history is made!))  Still think it's possible though.... @:

Ark likes making Bungies more profound than they are.

7
I sort of see what your getting at, but what is the HINOS reference in ODST?
Hinos is a company in New Mombasa.  Here are the images in our image gallery and here is more info from the haloped.  We had discussed Hinos before on here, but I should have provided more background.  Sorry!

ill be sure to find the bilboard in the game. Do you know its position?
I can't remember the exact location at the moment, but you can see the images in the gallery, link directly above in my response to Monx.

Very interesting!
Now I need to watch FMJ!
Like other Kubrick films, it gets under your skin.  For me, the music esp. (as featured at the beginning of the video linked in the OP).

Hinos is a car company, IIRC. what are the colors on this billboard? I can't watch the video right now.
Hino appears to be a manufacturer of big diesel trucks/buses/chassis, Australian I assume, Japanese it seems.  So if you had multiple Hinos, you would have Hinos....so yea! :laugh:  Though according to the haloped, Hinos products, whatever they may be, appear to be small enough to be sold in a store with other products.  It does look water-related.  As for colors, Night, green and white in the film (Hynos), blue and white on grey in-game (Hinos).  I haven't researched every occurrence in film though to guarantee that the color scheme is consistent.

Update @Night:  The Hinos letters are black with a red dot over the 'i' on the Oh2-Hnzu store sign.  See haloped.


8
WARNING:  Some of the below links, in particular the video, may contain graphic violence and/or bad language and are not for the faint of heart.  View at your own risk.

So I was watching Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket over the weekend because I have Netflix and I felt like something dark and depressing and IMPORTANT.  Or something like this.  :P  Anyhow, imagine my surprise when I catch a glimpse of a billboard in the film's background that reads "HYNOS" (as seen at 8:06 in this video).  (More on this video later.  For now just forward to that.)  This rang a bell of course because of the Hinos references in ODST and also because of the "There Are Many Like It" Daily Challenge, which I recently realized was a reference to The Rifleman's Creed, which is prominently featured in FMJ.

I did a little research on Hynos and according to Rob Ager, who has written extensively on the subliminal messages present in the film (and is the creator of the above youtube video), Hynos was a real-life Vietnamese toothpaste manufacturing company.  Thus, the billboard makes sense in the context of the film.  However, Ager hypothesizes that the film's billboards contain hidden messages.  

Ager is kind of like us, or put another way, Ager is to Kubrick what we are to Halo - totally committed and more than a little insane.  You can read for yourself here, or here for the whole dissertation, but I warn you:  it's quite a slog.  The two things that leapt out at me were a) that the film is widely believed to contain hidden messages (sort of like something else we know) and b) that Ager believes one of the central themes to be that the soldiers are really fighting themselves.  Whether this is a psychic battle (as most of us might draw from watching the film or any other good war movie) or whether Kubrick is actually alleging some kind of conspiracy (as Ager hypothesizes), I really cannot say.  BUT I did find this interesting because it's another case - as with the terminals and datapads - where we have stories within stories and where this second "hidden" story seems to indicate that the enemy is not who we believe it to be.  

Anyhoo, I'm getting grandiose as usual.  Most likely, the Bungie guys are big hoo-rah! fans of FMJ and the Hinos company is a shout-out among the more obvious shout-outs, the main one being the casting of FMJ's Animal Mother, Adam Baldwin of Firefly fame, as the voice of ODST Dutch, who says things like, "Haven't you ever seen Full Metal Jacket?"

9
Intel / Re: Possible hint at Scarab Gun
« on: May 16, 2011, 12:58:59 »
Tartarus 14 (in Bungie thread from OP) probably has it right:  According to him, there's a storyline in Band of Brothers, the name of which is taken from Shakespeare's Henry V btw, where a guy is looking for a gun, and Ron Livingston, who voices Trooper 5, stars in BoB. And yes, check out that acronym!

Update:  a little more on the BoB storyline here.

10
Intel / Re: Possible hint at Scarab Gun
« on: May 14, 2011, 16:03:13 »
Whoops!  I didn't think it was rendered.  Sorry, Pulse, Monx.

I think forum-goers were right re: what he's saying.

11
Intel / Re: Possible hint at Scarab Gun
« on: May 14, 2011, 15:07:02 »
I understand, Sir Pickle.  Thanks for the edit. ;)

Do you know where on the level the ODST is so that people without access to Pro can go and have a listen?

12
Intel / Re: Possible hint at Scarab Gun
« on: May 14, 2011, 14:53:26 »
Warning: don't read if you want to listen first.

Something like (copied from the forum so take it with a grain of salt): "If you see a pod marked Sullivan, you should call me over. Reports show he didn't make the drop and I've had an eye on his sidearm."

Is Sullivan - provided that's what he's saying - really dead though?  He's on the roster of participants in the Battle of Earth, which occurs later.  Though it may not matter if he's dead if you can find his pod.


People will read anyway and then will only hear that. :)   - Pulse Cloud

13
So I noticed this a while ago and never published it.

I think the Tempest multiplayer map may allude to Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Points of interest:

The map is part of Bungie's final Halo DLC - Microsoft hired Certain Affinity to do the Defiant pack - and is frequently mentioned last of the three Noble maps (as in the Noble trailer).  The Tempest is commonly regarded as Shakespeare's final solo play.

The Tempest is believed to have been written in 1610 or 1611.  The Noble map pack was released in November of 2010, exactly four hundred years later.  Not that this means anything but it's cool....

The Tempest takes place on an island, where Prospero and his daughter Miranda (yes, Miranda) have been shipwrecked.  The Tempest map landmass is nearly, if not completely, surrounded by water.  It is also the site of a downed Longsword.

Prospero instructs his servant-spirit Ariel to create the storm, or tempest, of the play's title in order to shipwreck Prospero's usurping brother Antonio on the island.  According to the Halopedia, "[t]he Forerunner structures on the map are weather control systems."  I need to confirm this independently.

Possible points of investigation:

The above-mentioned weather control systems.

The radio chatter on the radio by the Longsword.

The Longsword's various number/letter combos:  
UNSC 7-89
AF 9l 002
37TFW

The words beneath the Longsword emblem/insignia.  (I'm assuming the winged sword is particular to the Longsword.)  I'm thinking AD (Air Defense?) Combat Command, which seems irrelevant to the tempest connection, but...

There also appears to be an animal print on the longsword. ???

My sad file share footage of the above is here.

Also, does the story of The Tempest relate in other ways that might help in deciphering larger Reach mysteries?  I imagine it's just a cool map name for the final map, but are there further clues in the parallels?  Prospero is a godlike figure, so intelligent he can work "magic."  His daughter is Miranda.  He is served by a spirit, Ariel, who is humanlike in personality and is often the true, if unseen, catalyst of events.  We know from the datapads the AI's are controlling/influencing events and may have drawn the Covenant to Reach intentionally similar to the way that Ariel manipulates the weather to bring Prospero's enemies to the island.  We also know that Cortana manipulates events by plotting the course that will take the Pillar of Autumn/UNSC - and the Covenant as well - to the first Halo ring. (Fall of Reach, p. 336)

Bizarro update upon further research:

Shakespeare is widely believed to have gotten the idea for The Tempest from the real-life shipwreck of the Sea Venture, the flagship of the Virginia Company, which encountered a storm on July 24, 1609, on its way from Plymouth to Jamestown.  This date leapt out at me because gameplay in Reach begins on July 24, 2552.  Quoting the wikipedia article (italics mine):

Quote
The Admiral of the Company, Sir George Somers himself, was at the helm through the storm. When he spied land on the morning of July 25, the water in the hold had risen to nine feet, and crew and passengers had been driven past the point of exhaustion. Somers deliberately drove the ship onto the reefs of what proved to be Bermuda in order to prevent its foundering. This allowed all 150 people aboard, and one dog, to be landed safely ashore.











14
As far as I know, it has only appeared these two times.  Please update us on other dates if you find them.
I's pretty sure this was a challenge last week as well.  It seemed very familiar when I saw it Sunday.

Yup, here it is.

P.S.
Your sarcasm is a bit unnerving.
= ode de pickle

15
SGP Task Force: 7 / Re: 55.6992.3840
« on: April 06, 2011, 11:35:13 »
Isn't there a way to make in-game location coordinates appear?

And hello again!

(And no, Enigma, I don't!)

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 5