Halo 4: Season One Spartan Ops

Below is the trailer for Season One of Spartan Ops.

This is something new for the Halo franchise: Episodic content which may fill the gap between Halo 4 and Halo 5. 

Taking place 6 months after the events in Halo 4, this new content is based on the planet Requiem and will consist of 10 episodes, each with 5 missions, that you can play with up to 4 friends. The first season is free and they recommend that you finish the campaign before to avoid spoilers.

More info in this article.

Session Report - BSG Exodus - I Make A Big Mistake

This 6 player game was played on 1 September 2012. From the Pegasus Expansion we used Pegasus but did not use New Caprica. From the Exodus Expansion, we used the Conflicted Loyalties and the Cylon Pursuit board, but not the Ionian Nebula. We played without a Cylon Sympathizer.

The players, in turn order:

Cally - Mat

Tigh - Garrett

Baltar (President) - Justin

Tory - Me

Cain (Admiral) – Brendan

Boomer (CAG) - Charlie

I am not a Cylon.

Another game with a few new players. Perhaps an easy game for us humans to identify the Cylons since we have 2 of 6 players having an extra chance to be a Cylon.

Disney to Acquire Lucasfilm

Cost: 4.05 billion dollars

This includes a deal for Star Wars: Episode 7 to be released in 2015.

Press release is here.

Halo 4: Triumph or Fail?

Halo 4 will be released on November 6th. With over 1 million pre orders, gamers are expecting the best Halo yet. This will be the first non-Bungie Halo game. Can Microsoft's designated successor, 343 Industries, deliver the experience that made the Halo franchise so successful?

The Case for Fail

A New Team or Studio. Whenever a successful franchise is turned over to a new company or even a new team, the potential to screw it up is high. The video game industry is littered with sequels of games that failed. Perfect Dark: Zero, Lost Planet 2 and every Sonic game, just to name a few. A search of "video game sequels that failed" will turn up 2 million hits.It's hard to make a sequel. Expectations are high and longtime fans can be picky. 

Halo 4 Leaks, Bans and Sabotage

This article from TorrentFreak goes into the detail, but to summarize, the pirates are getting vindictive.

If you pirate a game, you should not be surprised if the company takes some action against you, such as permanently banning you from XBox Live, in response. 

Even though every Halo game has been pirated, this time some people have actively taken to trying to spoil the story for the rest of us. Choosing to pirate a game is an active act, and one should not be surprised if you might find comments on a pirate post that might give the story away. But posting spoilers in various threads, putting up a YouTube video of the game's ending is going beyond the pale. 

If you do not want to spoil the story, be careful what you search before the release.

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn - Part 4

Part 4 of 5 of the live action video. The Master Chief is on the scene and the action is ongoing.

Or follow the link:

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn - Part 4

Eclipse Impressions - Updated

I am a fan of science fiction and have been looking for a good sci-fi themed, conquer the galaxy board game for some time. The obvious first choice was Twilight Imperium (3rd edition). Typical game length for TI is 1+ hour per player. In our first game of TI it took us three hours to get through 3 turns. Getting the time and the players together for such a long game was a chore. Twilight Imperium is not a cheap game, so I held off purchasing it as I really wanted to be sure it was something I would get a lot of use out of before I bought it.

Then last year along came Eclipse. I missed the first order (they ran out of copies) and had to wait for the second printing which came out around May, to get my copy. Although approximately the same price as TI, the reviews for Eclipse were very good and it maintains a high rating on Board Game Geek. The group I regularly game with has been running a Warhammer tournament for the last few months, but last week I finally got a chance to try out a short 2 player game. We did a test game, reading the rules as we played, getting a feel for the game before introducing it to a full 6 players.

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn - Part 3

Part 3 of 5 of the live action video, and, in my view, the best yet. Something is starting to happen. I can't wait for part 4.

Or follow the link:

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn - Part 3

Halo 4 Leaked

This article discusses a possible Halo 4 leak. 

A torrent is available. The amount of people that have claimed to have downloaded the game makes it appear that this is real.

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn - Part 2

Part 2 of the live action video as part of the run up to Halo 4.

Or follow the link:

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn - Part 2

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn - Part 1

Part 1 of the live action video as part of the run up to Halo 4.

Or follow the link:

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn - Part 1