Yum!

We would like to say thank you to everyone who watched, supported and most of all donated. We would also like to thank our prize sponsors for the kind donations they sent our way. Details of the people who won books/decals etc have been taken and these will be dispatched very soon.

A congratulations also goes to edgey707 who won the Halo League with 800 points. Well done!  Prizes will be given to the top 3.

Pleas email team@haloathon.com your address details and we’ll get them sent out ASAP.

See you all next year for Haloathon 3!

Festivities will begin on the live stream and webchat channel on this page at 7pm. We also have the haloathon league this year where you can join in the fun by playing as much Reach Matchmaking as you can and see if you can top the league!

We will also be dishing out Halo related swag throughout the event so make sure you keep dropping in and shouting loud over on twitter and facebook.

See you on the 7th,
Team Grim

Halo: Reach

Reach was first unveiled at the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards. Bungie offered a beta version of the multiplayer game to owners of Halo 3: ODST, using player feedback to fix bugs and tweak the game.

Above extract from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo:_Reach

Halo 3: ODST

Bungie initially conceived ODST as a small side project to produce in the lull between Halo 3‘s completion and Halo: Reach. Instead of featuring recognizable characters such as armored protagonist Master Chief, the developers focused on the ODSTs. Story director Joseph Staten penned a detective story utilizing film noir designs, settings, and characters. Composer Martin O’Donnell abandoned his previous Halo themes to create a quieter, jazz-influenced sound. During development, the planned expansion grew in scope to that of a full-sized game. Release marketing for the game included a tie-in comic, live-action trailers, and print and web advertisements.

Upon release, ODST became the top-selling Xbox 360 game worldwide. The title received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the atmosphere, music, and story approach. Reviewers were divided on whether the relatively short campaign and included extras were enough to justify the game’s US$60 price tag. The game was the top-selling title in the United States in September 2009, and sold more than 3 million copies worldwide. Softpedia, Time and Wired were among the publications that declared the game one of the year’s best.

Above extract from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_3:_ODST

Halo Wars

Halo Wars was officially unveiled at the X06 Xbox show in 2006. Ensemble designed the game specifically for the Xbox 360 controller, in an attempt to circumvent issues present in previous console RTS. Ensemble was closed by Microsoft before the game’s release, but Robot Entertainment was quickly founded by many of Ensemble’s former employees; this new company continued to support Halo Wars with updates and downloadable content.

Halo Wars received generally positive reviews. Reviewers lauded the game’s pre-rendered cinematics, attention to detail in replicating the Halo universe, and intuitive control scheme. Complaints against the game included the lack of an option to play as Covenant or Flood factions in the campaign mode, and the lack of strategic options during play. Critics from GameSpot and USA Today wrote that experienced RTS players would find the strategic elements of the title shallow. The game sold one million units worldwide through March 2009, making it the best-selling console real-time strategy game to date.

Above extract from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_Wars

Halo 3

Halo 3‘s story centers on the interstellar war between 26th century humanity, led by the United Nations Space Command, and a collection of alien races known as the Covenant. The player assumes the role of the Master Chief, a cybernetically enhanced supersoldier, as he wages war in defense of humanity, assisted by human Marines as well as an allied alien race called Elites, which is led by Rtas’Vadum. The game features vehicles, weapons, and gameplay not present in previous titles of the series, as well as the addition of saved gameplay films, file sharing, and the Forge map editor; a utility which allows the player to perform modifications to multiplayer levels.

Halo 3 grossed US$300 million in its first week. More than one million people played Halo 3 on Xbox Live in the first twenty hours. As of January 3, 2008, Halo 3 has sold 8.1 million copies, and was the best-selling video game of 2007 in the U.S. Overall, the game was very well-received by critics, with the Forge and multiplayer offerings singled out as strong features. By March 2009 more than one billion online matches had been played. A prequel to the game, Halo 3: ODST, was released worldwide on September 22, 2009.

Above extract from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_3

After the success of Combat Evolved, a sequel was expected and highly anticipated. Bungie found inspiration in plot points and gameplay elements that had been left out of their first game, including multiplayer over the internet through Xbox Live. Time constraints forced a series of cutbacks in the size and scope of the game, including a cliffhanger ending to the game’s campaign mode that left many in the studio dissatisfied. Among Halo 2‘s marketing efforts was an alternate reality game called “Ilovebees” that involved players solving real-world puzzles.

On release, Halo 2 was the most popular video game on Xbox Live, holding that rank until the release of Gears of War for the Xbox 360 nearly two years later. By June 20, 2006, more than 500 million games of Halo 2 had been played and more than 710 million hours have been spent playing it on Xbox Live; by May 9, 2007, this number had risen to more than five million unique players on Xbox Live As of November 2008, Halo 2 is the best-selling first-generation Xbox game with 8.46 million copies sold worldwide, with at least 6.3 million copies sold in the US alone. Critical reception of the game was generally positive, with most publications lauding the strong multiplayer component; at the same time, the campaign was the focus of criticism for its cliffhanger ending.

Above extract from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_2