Halo Waypoint now live on Xbox Live

Starting Saturday, Nov. 7, Halo Waypoint will begin previewing new Halo content on Xbox Live. The new virtual home for all things Halo launches today on Xbox LIVE, and will be the “exclusive destination for full-episode previews of Halo Legends beginning Saturday, Nov. 7. Halo Waypoint promises daily updates featuring developer interviews, trailers and screenshots, exclusive video footage, community activities and the latest Halo news.

In addition, Halo Waypoint includes a career system that tracks players’ accomplishments across multiple Halo games and gives them new ways to show off their in game exploits. Players who participate in Halo Waypoint will be rewarded with a variety of Bungie-created Halo 3: ODST Avatar Awardables for attaining specific Achievements in the game. Rewards vary from T-shirts to full sets of ODST armor. These awardables are retroactive, so if players have already unlocked the requisite Achievements, the awards will be ready for them once they enlist in Halo Waypoint.

Turn on your Xbox 360 and log on to Xbox Live to learn more.

Halo 3, Trials HD tops on Xbox Live

What’s hot happening and downright exciting on Xbox Live lately, According to data from Major Nelson’s official Blog, Halo 3 is all the rage for the week of Oct. 26, 2009. The top Arcade title for the week (based on sales, not usage) was Trials HD, followed by the new South Park tower defense game, Konami’s Zombie Apocalypse and Battlefield 1943. I can’t believe that Castle Crashers is still in the top ten after all this time.

The top Indie game for the week was Avatar Drop, followed by I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1, Pumpkin Chop, Miner Dig Deep and Headshot. It’s nice to see that Miner Dig Deep is getting some sales because it is one of the best Indie games released so far in my ever so humble opinion. The full list of games after the break.

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Halo 3, Battlefield 1943 tops on Xbox Live

Halo 3, Battlefield 1943, Halo 2 and RC-AirSim were the top games on Xbox Live according to the LIVE Activity report from Major Nelson for the week of July 20, 2009. Halo 3, Call of Duty 4 and Call of Duty: world at War continued to take the top three spots for games played online, followed by Gears of War 2 and (my current favorite) Battlefield 1943.

Battlefield 1943 was also the top Xbox Live Arcade game for the week, beating out the physics based Splosion Man, The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, Castle Crashers (which just won’t go away), and Worms 2: Armageddon.

Sane sh*t, different day for Xbox Originals: Halo 2 was at the top of the heap, followed by Star Wars: Battlefront 2, Counter-Strike, Fable and Splinter Cell Chaos.

Finally, RC-AirSim made its way back to the top of the Community Games list, beating out Fireworks HD, myFishtank, Kodu Game Lab and Gamerbots:Third-Robot Shooting. The complete list can be found after the break:

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Halo 3: ODST multiplayer maps revealed

Microsoft and Bungie today revealed the remaining three multiplayer maps that will come with Halo 3: ODST - to be released in September. Halo 3: ODST will also include a second standalone disc with three new Halo 3 multiplayer maps, all original Halo 3 maps, as well as the Legendary, Heroic, and Mythic Map packs for a total of 24 maps.

The three new Halo 3: ODST maps are Heretic, Citadel and Longshore. Shades of Halo 2 abound in Heretic; Citadel puts players in a long abandoned Foreunner stronghold and Longshore lets players run and gun in an industrial themed port. Details on all three maps can be found after the jump.

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Halo 3, Worms 2 dominate Xbox Live

For the week of June 29, 2009, Halo 3, Worms 2: Armageddon, Halo 2, and Kodu Game Lab were the top distraction on Xbox Live, based on games sold and unique users on Microsoft’s popular service. For the top Xbox 360 titles played for the week it was the usual suspects: Halo 3, Call of Duty: World at War, Call of duty 4, Gears of War 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV.

On the Arcade side of things, Xbox Live users seem to have fallen in love with the latest Worms game (which drove the first one up the charts last week, so no shock there), but are still very much in love with the new Magic The Gathering game and Castle Crashers. Castle Crashers just won’t fall out of the top five - The Behemoth said that they’ll be showing off their next game at Comic-Con. Original Xbox owners are still enamored with Halo 2 and Counter-Strike , while the Community Games are now being dominated by Microsoft’s handy dandy game building software for Xbox Live.

The full list of winners can be seen after the break.

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The benefit of pre-ordering Halo 3: ODST

Consumers who pre-order Halo 3: ODST now will receive Sgt. Johnson as a playable Firefight character, according to Microsoft. A fan favorite, Halo series stalwart Sergeant Avery Junior Johnson, is a tough-as-nails career Marine who has been in more life or death battles than he cares to remember. Sgt. Johnson will be a playable character in the game’s new Firefight multiplayer mode. Consumers who pre-order the game will also gain access to the upcoming Halo Reach multiplayer beta set

to kick off later this year. Firefight is a new cooperative multiplayer mode which allows players to experience the campaign in co-operative mode. Halo 3: ODST also includes a second standalone disc with three new Halo 3 multiplayer maps, all original Halo 3 maps, as well as the Legendary, Heroic, and Mythic Map packs for a total of 24 maps.

Halo 3: ODST will be released on September 22 exclusively for Xbox 360. Halo 3: ODST is available for pre-order in both a standard package and a Halo 3: ODST Collector’s Pack which includes the game and an exclusive laser etched Wireless Controller. The Halo 3: ODST Collector’s Pack is available for pre-order in the US exclusively at GameStop, and is available worldwide at other participating retailers. Halo 3: ODST will have a suggested retail price of $59.99 USD and the Collector’s Pack will have a suggested retail price of $99.99 USD.

Microsoft, Ubisoft Vets Join Jerry Bruckheimer

Jerry Bruckheimer and MTV Games today announced two executive appointments to Jerry Bruckheimer Games that officially mark the producer’s entrance into the video game industry. Industry veterans, Jim Veevaert and Jay Cohen, have been named President of Production and President of Development respectively. Bruckheimer and MTV Games previously announced this exclusive deal to create new and original video game content together. Details on the partnership have been quiet until today’s executive appointments.

Jim Veevaert is 15 year veteran, having spent the past eight years at Microsoft overseeing the the Halo franchise. As the Executive Producer for Halo 3, Veevaert was responsible for production and franchise management for the Halo Xbox 360 game series and Microsoft’s relationship with video game developer Bungie Studios. Prior to his work on the Halo series, Veevaert brought the Epic Games relationship to Microsoft, along with the Gears of War franchise. Veevaert led collaboration with the creative leads of Rare Ltd in the United Kingdom to expand the Viva Piñata franchise with an original television production and series of companion games.

A 13 year veteran in the interactive entertainment industry, Jay Cohen spent the past decade at Ubisoft building the company’s North American subsidiary. During his tenure as Senior Vice President of Publishing, Cohen and his team successfully engineered and executed the launches of blockbuster franchises such as Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, Prince of Persia, Rayman and Assassin’s Creed. Cohen currently sits as Chairman of the Board for the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences as well.