Well, Halo is still my favorite franchise even if I haven't played it in a few years. It's at least my favorite for the FPS genre. I don't anything in a FPS (maybe Far Cry for PC) had the impact that Halo had when I first played it on the Xbox. The franchise just gives an epic feel to everything it produces. Well, I finally got to see this: Halo Legends: Babysitter

I was not disappointed.

I'm not a huge fan of anime, but this was good. Again, the story ended with that nostalgic epic feeling that I got from the first Halo game. It was a sad ending, but if you've read the Halo novels then you already know how many Spartans fought and died during the war against the Covenant.

Here's a snippet of a review from Jesus at Couch Campus

The Halo Legends anthology is an toon adaptation of the Halo series consisting of seven short films animated by five different Japanese production houses. The Babysitter is the first installment of Halo Legends which was recently released on Halo Waypoint for a limited time.

Animated by Studio4°C, The Babysitter tells the story of four Helljumpers, sent on a mission to eliminate a key covenant prophet on a distant planet and to photograph ancient architecture that predates both the humans and the Covenants. Their biggest concern being the Spartan sent to accompany them on this mission. The Babysitter focuses on the rivalry between the Spartan-II Commandos and the ODST. http://www.couchcampus.com/2009/11/halo-legends-the-babysitter/

I suggest you read it all but it contains spoilers so be careful if you haven't seen it.

This video shows the coolness of the universe of Halo. I'm looking forward to the rest of the toons but I do have some gripes about this one. It was a bit bland looking, the detail wasn't really there and the color palette didn't do it for me. Massive gold blueprint. I thought maybe it was just a tad rushed? Don't know, but it could have been a bit longer and maybe just a tad deeper in story. My guess is that they are introducing these new Spartans so that later they may use them in games or video features. My guess is the Spartan in this toon will be in the new game Halo Reach.

Here's a Halo wiki if your interested in learning the story and universe of Halo. Halowiki

Well, it's Sunday and a slow day, especially this early in the morning. I thought I would post some of the news out there today because there is some stuff worth checking out.

Looks like the PC gamers are getting slowly squeezed out by the industry: Activision 'Not Overly Concerned' With Modern Warfare 2 PC Backlash

This one is a heartbreaker! Zelda Wii might miss 2010

Staring into the crystal ball

During a recent sales meeting, Nintendo president, Satoru Iwata, admitted that the Wii was losing momentum. Sales were down, interest was slightly dissolving in favor of higher-definition systems and the holiday season, with only one big release (New Super Mario Bros. Wii), looked grim. But cheer up, Nintendo. Your future isn't nearly as bleak as you may think. Here's what we expect from the world's biggest video game publisher. Nintendo's Next Move

Microsoft's social hub for all things Halo-related successfully launched yesterday, and the new animated show "Halo Legends" will kick off tomorrow. Halo Waypoint is being dubbed "the new virtual home for all things Halo." Launched yesterday as part of the Xbox Live service, Waypoint will serve as a social hub for Halo players, as well as a place to go for daily updates of Halo-related content. Microsoft promises "daily updates of fresh, exciting content such as developer interviews, trailers and screenshots, exclusive video footage, community activities and the latest Halo news." Halo Waypoint live, Halo Legends starts tomorrow

Rock Band 3 Won't Be Just a Rhythm Game - Don't expect the next Rock Band to be a rehashed title with an updated set list. It appears Harmonix is hard at work on reinventing the music game genre.

Dhani Harrison, son of Beatles legend George Harrison and developer on The Beatles: Rock Band, told the Chicago Tribune new details on the still unannounced Rock Band 3 project. Ultimate WoW Guide

NetFlix In Action on the Playstation 3

That's just a few of the cool stories I found. That's it for gaming news but I'll put up more later if I get a chance.

On another note, I'm finally playing Company of Heroes, yet another of the cheap videogames I bought during the Direct2Drive $5.00 special. I'll write a review once I'm done.

Dawn of War - Winter Assault Review

Winter Assault is definitely a game I would recommend for RTS fans like myself. It has all of what you would expect from a good expansion; New characters; new multiplayer modes, etc. But it definitely scores lower than the original (as is usually the case) for a couple of reasons. First, the story is not as compelling. Yeah, I know the first DoW got criticized by some for it's story, but I actually enjoyed the storyline and the voice acting was pretty good and it was epic in scope. In contrast, Winter Assault's story is just lacks the compelling nature of the original, it's just not as interesting. In addition, the voice acting is at times way too cartoony. I expect some exaggerated voice acting for the Orc's, they are after all the comic relief faction of the game, but the over the top character and voice acting for Chaos was just a step too far. It contributed greatly to making the game feel more like a cartoon rather than an epic RTS.

The online package is really nice though and adds alot to the game as a whole. With the new races and new features and maps, it really does improve on the original. Each race feels distinctly different for the most part. There is a bit of crossover, but each race does feel different and makes for playing it differently than the others. All in all a great video game, and a cheap game for me since it's one of the ones that I bought during the Direct 2 Drive $5.00 sale's special.

All in all a good game but don't expect the epic story line of the original Dawn of War release. I gave it an 8.0 on my Gamespot review.