Average Joe - TTL Demag0gue
Posted by urk at
2/10/2009 9:44 AM PST
"Whoa, this is different."
Not one to subscribe to convention, TTL Demag0gue, the creator of Reclaimer, Tied the Leader Gunslinger, and benefactor of
Halo 3 Webcomics, eschewed the standard question and answer format in favor of pics, panels, and fancy schmancy dialog bubbles. If you've ever wondered what drives Jim to pump out his awesome comic week after week, or why he's committed himself to helping others up the quality bar of their own competing comics, check out the inline comic below. Click to make big.
Big thanks to TTL Demag0gue for taking the time out to not only answer our questions, but to do so is such a unique format. Pretty awesome guy. If this is the first time you've come across his work, make sure you check out the links above, or simply end your reading here with a quick click to check out his ongoing webcomic,
Reclaimer.
ODST 4th Battalion's Favorites Updated
Posted by urk at
2/4/2009 11:35 AM PST
Reinforcements.
ODST 4th Battalion is back on the battlefield this week with a new round of content for Bungie Favorites and a short and sharp question and answer session that takes a look at the map Sanctum. Sanctum was crafted by ODST 4th Battalion tactician, Cheeto666. Here's the brief briefing on what went into his map and what he thinks Forge could use to make it a little bit better.
Q. What inspired your creation?
A. Nothing, really. Like most maps, I just start throwing stuff around, and have fun with it.
Q. How long did it take to create?
A. A week.
Q. What aspect took the longest to get right?
A. To this day I'm not sure if I got it right, but just getting a good balance of vehicles and weapons and base area was hard to make it equal.
Q. How could The Forge be improved?
A. Forge is pretty much good as is, but the one thing that could be fixed is when you bring in items. It brings in an item from somewhere else, like you grab it off a shelf. I would like it if the object spawned directly in front of you, so you don't get that "Could not create object. Not enough room" stuff.
Well, it looks like though this week's Q&A is short and sweet, it's pretty much good as is. As always, if you want to see what the group on display has to offer, check out the links above to enlist or queue up some content for Halo 3. Ordnance has been deployed.
Average Joe - Vociferous
Posted by urk at
2/3/2009 11:57 AM PST
Wet, mangled, and reeking of dog breath.
Another offering from the Ascendant Justice cargo hold, Vociferous has been living up to his moniker for quite some time now, lending his magnifying glass and floral prose to those looking for more insight into Halo's narrative. Like his comrade Cocopjojo, his words are often so close to the source material that we seldom feel the need to offer up any corrections. This man knows his Halo. If you want to learn a little about his own non-fictional tale, read on for some information about the man behind the "Wall of Text."
Q. Who are you and what do you do?
A. I'm Jeremy, but most folks know me as Vociferous from Ascendant Justice. Outside the Jundland Wastes of the internet, I'm a fairly simple guy; I spend most of my time hanging out with my wife and son, who is easily the biggest Halo fan I know.
When I'm not reading or writing, I spend most of the time working a real job: I'm a community administrator with a leading wireless company's website. Essentially, I babysit grown adults on an internet forum and support center - about 1.6 million of them.
Q. Diaper change time must be a drag. Where did your tag come from?
A. "Vociferous" actually came into being around the launch of Halo 2. At the time, I had tossed around a few ideas with some of the originals from Ascendant Justice and this one was the one that stuck. Anyone who knows me personally will advocate its depictive accuracy.
I'm rolling with Mr Vociferous now because I committed the cardinal sin of changing my original tag which was, in fact, "vociferous". Now some dude has that gamertag and and as internet justice would have it, the last game he played was PGR3.
Yes, that's right. PGR friggin' 3.
Q. Kudos to him for being savvy. What forums do you drift around in when you have the spare time?
A. I originally hail from Ascendant Justice's forum, but as of late, I've been participating heavily on NeoGAF - both are good folks. I got involved in all of this by starting a small thread on a backwater forum which was really just a way to organize my own thoughts on Halo 2. A lot of helpful hands later and we had a small, fledgling group of guys who loved discussing Halo as much as they enjoyed playing it.
Q. What do you enjoy about that play experience? Do you ever invite your friends and family to share in the fun?
A. Since the advent of Halo: Combat Evolved, I rarely steer my ship far away from the port. I was a heavy gamer in earlier years, but with a family in the picture, I find myself fine tuning my gaming focus on things with guaranteed payoffs. Halo's easily one of them.
I'm really hoping that the new maps and the upcoming expansion re-energize my original base of friends at Ascendant Justice. I have fond memories of razing enemies with those dudes across the geometry of Lockout, Midship, Sanctuary, Turf and Terminal for hours on end back in 2005. I'd like to recreate that in the next few months.
Q. Ah, the future. It will be glorious. But what about the past? What was the first Bungie title you played?
A. My first full Bungie experience was Halo. I had known about Bungie and their games before, but Halo caught the corner of my eye while I was on the way to pick up a GameCube and I have never looked back. There's something magical about that first game. I think what Bungie has done with Halo 2 and Halo 3 is revolutionary and to be applauded, but for me, the first Halo had this powerful draw and charisma about it that I still find myself drawn to.
Maybe it was the crisp controls and movement, maybe it was the sprawling majesty of the nonlinear environments or maybe it was just the perfect composite of sandbox and combat together -- whatever it was, I was hooked on day one. I played hours upon hours, sometimes reloading the same exact encounter repeatedly for six months in a row just so I could experience it differently each time. (Two Betrayals, you have my number. Call me some time.)
The game was friggin' brilliant.
Q. Are you surprised by your friggin' level of community involvement?
A. Nah, I'm not really surprised. Relatively speaking, I've always been this involved in the Halo community since 2004. Thanks to Jironimo, nowadays I have a channel now for my writing - the blog. Before that, a lot of my stuff got tossed onto forums and then eventually passed around the internets as gospel or rumor until it came back to me, hitting my front door like a wet and mangled newspaper with the stench of dog breath.
I'd get my hopes up because someone would tell me that they had an official document chalk full of content for the next Halo game, only to realize that they were talking about something I wrote in my spare time. ULTIMATE SAD FACE! In the end, Bungie surpassed my wildest imagination in their sequels, so it made little difference. At least now I write things and there's no question where it came from.
Well, except for the -blam!- stuff. That's urk's fault.
It hurts me when you say that, Voc. I think we better wrap up.
Thanks to Vociferous for supplying the answers to our pressing questions and for the walls of text he supplies over at Ascendant Justice. We're looking forward to what comes next...as long as it doesn't arrive wet and mangled on our Internet doorstep.