It's the Harvard Master Chief. You just have to love the creativity of some of the brightest minds at MIT. This years prank strikes out at the statue of John Harvard at the Harvard Campus, being turned into the one and only Master Chief. Equipped with the Master Chief helmet and an Assault rifle. John Harvard becomes Spartan 117 otherwise know by the name of John.

It's cool to know that the students of MIT are Halo fans as well. Halo 3 was released this past Tuesday and in just 24 hours grossed a record braking 170 million. With numbers like that I think the Master Chief has earned the right to take a seat and rest for a spell as well.

One of the cool features with Halo 3 is the ability to make small movies to share and take some nice snap shots of the action and share with your friends. So last night while exploring the Sandtrap with Major & Double, I asked the both of them to grab some 4 wheelers and meet me at the crash site.

Pictured above from left to right is Major, TX, and Double at the start of the race. I think I led after the first lap and Major ended with a DNF, leaving Double to finish in first place after 3 laps. The theater stuff afterwards was awesome and clearly unlike any other game that I've ever seen. Not only can I see a replay of what I've done, rotate around, zoom in & out, I can also switch between my friends or zoom at the way out for a eye in the sky view of things.

I'm a big Halo fan, I like Halo 2 as well, I love the books and story line. Halo 3 has set the bar so high in all that it can do. Bungie has really set the bar high with this game. The best thing is we've just started to scratch the surface with this game and all that it can do.

All the launch parties have pretty much wrapped up now and Halo 3 copies are flying off the shelves now at last. Starting off last night with a pre-launch part at Microsoft was a blast, the special invite to the event was cool and getting to play the game at last was great.

Ten large Hi-Def projection screens were set up with a Halo tournament going on in one section and Frag Fest on the rest of the screens. As the tournament winded down, they started playing some campaign mode. Free food and giveaways through out the night would top everything off. Closing out the night at 11pm, I left with a free Shirt, free Hat, free Poster, some Game Fuel, a copy of the XNA software, and having a pretty good time.

I made it to the local Game Stop by 11:45pm and waited until 12:45am to pick up my Halo 3 Limited Edition of the game. The crowd was huge and I have to say I was clearly in the upper age bracket for the most part. Still this is my Harry Potter of sorts and I wanted to see and be apart of the whole thing. The only draw back was seeing someone that had attended the Microsoft event selling hats, posters, & shirts to these kids in line. He clearly made at least $100 of some free swag and just find that a little sad.

I make it home and started out the campaign and the game really rocks. They have done an awesome job with this game. I did a quick multiplayer match to start with and then went into the campaign. Later a friend called me into some of the Forge options and I closed my night out or morning around 3:30am. Tonight will be a little more fun as I start earlier and plan to play solo campaign for the most part.

So tonight or I should say in the morning, marks the launch of the highly anticipated Halo 3. My plans originally were to head home and watch the premiere of Heroes season 2 and then head on out to Game Stop and pick up my reserved copy of Halo 3 at midnight. I'll then head home and play for a few hours and take the next day off.

The cool thing is plans can change and I've been invited to attend the Microsoft Launch event for Halo 3 tonight in Las Colinas. What a cool way to spend a Monday night, leading up to the midnight launch right? Check out the agenda of events for tonight

Hours:
5:30-6:00pm:  Registration
6:00pm:  The Frag Fest Begins
9:00pm:  Tournament Winners Announced
10:00pm:  Prize Drawings
11:00pm:  Everyone Goes Home Happy

This is just one of a dozen or more private events being held all over tonight at Microsoft locations, in addition to the highly publicized events taking place in Miami, New York, Seattle, and Los Angeles, leading the way to the midnight launch.

I can only hope, the everyone goes home happy might mean some cool goodies to take home as well. Still the experience and ability to see and play a little bit tonight will be great. I'll need to wait and see how things turn out and that will determine if I race like crazy and pick up my reserved copy of Halo 3. If I happen to bring one home, I'll need to think about my next move.

In less than 3 hours, I'll start warming up with some multiplayer action and get to see Halo 3 for the first time. The game is expected to be huge and I'm just excited to be apart of this portion.

Still with a Halo 3 tie in comes this weeks Best Buy ad, better yet the Master Chief is promoting the Xbox 360 Zephyr. What's a Zephyr you ask? Pretty much its the Xbox 360 Elite, in white and with only a 20 gig Hard Drive.

So I'm looking through the ads on Sunday and wanted to see what is for sale and how much Halo 3 promotions are out and about. I start looking at my favorites, Best Buy top of the list.

Xbox 360 with HDMI is the listing and it shows a Premium in the pick and the current Premium price.

The fact is shows as with HDMI means these are the new motherboards being used and more and likely the Zephyr and not the Falcon's. A good buy for someone looking to get into gaming, or you pay the extra and get the Elite for a larger Hard Drive.

The Falcon's are due out later this year to next year and will have the 65nm processor. The new processor can only make it a better machine. Still the Elites/Zephyr line is made to take care of the issues that have plagued the Xbox 360 for some. With the Tuesday release of Halo 3 and Best Buy's ad, its a smart buy in my book.

Sponsored by Game Stop
Starting tomorrow 6:00pm at various Game Stop locations in the North Texas area, you can enter to play in a Halo tournament. The perlims will begin this Sunday and players will take part in 4 person Slayer matches.

The finals will be held at the Buffalo Wild Wings, located in Grand Prairie on September 26th. The finals will be played using Halo 3. The grand prize winner will take home a life size Statue of Master Chief & a copy of Halo 3 Legendary version. Second place win a copy of Halo 3 Limited, third places wins a copy of Halo 3 regular, and fourth place wins a Halo 3 guide book. I think second and third place will also win some gift cards, the locations should have all the prize details as well.

Please contact the following locations for more information on the tournament. Some have sign up sheets and others are a first come entered basis. Each store is only taking up to 32 slots. So you need to be available tomorrow at 6:00pm and then on Wednesday for the finals. You can also call some of the other locations and see if they will be hosting the tournament also.

Game Stop locations

• Collins & I-30
• Great Southwest & I-20
• Parks Mall Arlington (Upstairs)
• Beach Street in Fort Worth
• Ridgemar Mall
• West Berry Fort Worth
• Burleson

I planned to blog every day about Halo this month and I think I did fairly well. I missed a day here or there and on some days I had two entries. All in all, its been fun and I think I've done a fairly good job. Today's entry is more in the line of news updates.

My goals to complete Halo 2 before launch are slowly coming in line. Going to do my best, but I'm left with only two full days and about a 3rd of the game still. Ghosts of Onyx is closer and I think I'll have that wrapped easy. On a side note, I got my brother reading the books and the infection is sitting in, next is to get him over to see the game and get him hooked. :)

Halo 3 street date is broken and of all places, England. The numbers have slowly started to climb, with a large number of the players being in England. Not sure how the Yanks got a hold of copies, but at least a good Six held from the US. These are just numbers that show up from the 360 Friends Spot & Live Eye service, that means we more and likely have a lot more playing.

My favorite promo picture for Halo 3, comes from none other than London England's BFI Imax cinema. The September 25 launch party is still scheduled to go on as planned, even with the pre-released copies being sold and the slight leak in Halo hype because of it.

The official release date of September 26 will take place in England and then everybody will be happy. But until that time comes, I can sit and watch the selection of people across the pond, rack up hour after hour of game play.

Wish me luck in my quest to finish Halo 2 and the 4th book in the series and I hope to see you all online next week, when all the official fun begins. Oh, I've also heard that Trixie has sent on the list of names to become Ambassadors, I can only hope that I made the list and will be selected. As it turns out, I already know a decent amount of Ambassadors, so hopefully that is a plus.

With the upcoming launch of Halo 3 in just 6 days, the need for friendly faces on Xbox Live has come about. It's time to build up the ranks of the Xbox Ambassador program and I've volunteered to be apart. I'm not sure how many they'll take, but I'm hoping to help out, if at all possible.

Sales of the Xbox 360 console will climb higher this month and massive numbers will make their way to Xbox Live to take part for the first time and play Halo 3. That is a lot of new people, new to the whole system and new to meeting and playing games online.

The Ambassadors are here to be added to your friends list, help you around and play some games. It's a good way to get started, especially if you don't already have a large number of friends. Things are going to get crazy over the next few days and it will take a lot of help from the community to help these people out.

So wether I make it or not, I plan to help and if you can help out as well, that would be great too. The Ambassadors will be around for people to contact, but honestly, this is our Community here and deep down inside we are all Ambassadors in a small way.

NASCAR fans at the Dover 400 Nextel Cup Series on Sunday, September 23, will have a chance to not only check out the Halo 3 game before it release date, but will also see David Stremme's #40 Dodge Avenger with the re-branded Halo 3 logos. Microsoft has teamed up with retailer Target and Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates in the re-branding of the NASCAR vehicle with Halo 3 logos.

"I'm honored and excited to be running the Halo 3 car at Dover and can't wait to show off this awesome paint scheme," said Stremme. "It's going to be a special experience when the car rolls off the truck for the first time at Dover -- as a Halo fan, I'm thrilled."

The Master Chief vehicle already has its orders as it enters into a battle with Greg Biffle's Wii-branded #16 Ford Fusion in its final race at Dover on Sept. 23. Please tell me that Master Chief can handle anything the Wii dishes out. It's clear that marketing for Halo 3 is just about everywhere and I don't think you can get in front of more eyeballs than at NASCAR

What would really be cool is to see if this car could be a download for the Xbox 360 NASCAR 08 or better yet could Bungie drop this in with the Forge so we can run down some people or race against a Warthog?

Spoilers start to surface as the release date draws near. How someone might get a hold or speculate what is going to happen, I'm not sure. I'm doing my best to avoid these sites and areas. It's going to be tough and I'll have to watch, when and how I play the game.

I treat this just like reading a book and I want to do my best to be apart of the experience and not an outsider, finding out something before I'm suppose to. So I really dislike when people put out stuff like this or at least don't put up warnings. Just as its hard when TV shows release information before I've watched it, being in the day and age of Tivo, I find myself avoiding news and fast forwarding through commercials. I'm still almost a season behind on ER and trying to get caught up on that.

Point is, be careful on what and when you post something. You never know what someone might see or hear in a given situation. I'm not sure what a respectable time frame is and even then it might be good to state Spoiler warning. As I work my way through the game after its release, I've already planned to stay away from a lot of the forums pertaining to Halo and will have to be careful on the sites I visit. I will also need to watch what I post as well.

Wow, after 21 weeks of being on Xbox Live and Halo 2 being my favorite game, I finally see my goal is within reach at last. This was my year to get the Xbox 360 and Halo 3 was the main reason. So many years of listening about the game, I'm finally going to be apart of the finish at least.

So I've got slightly over a week to wrap up Halo 2 and I'm just a tad over the halfway point. I'll need to set some time aside and really work at finishing the game. I pretty much only have 1 weekend left and that means come Friday through Sunday, I know what I'll need to focus on, if I don't finish it before then.

Ghosts of Onyx is also on my list and I'm slightly past the halfway mark on this too. I pretty much read when I get the time and try to read daily, during my lunch breaks at work. I feel that I'll hit this goal as well. I've really enjoyed the books and plan to read them over again already.

This week I also want to get some final live Halo action in, I only think its fitting to spend some final Halo 2 days on live as we approach the release of Halo 3. After the launch, the Halo 2 servers will become some what of a ghost town I think. Should be a pretty cool week as we make the final turn and head into the final stretch for the release of Halo 3.

It's rumored that some upcoming showings of Future Weapons on the Discovery Channel will feature tie ins to Halo 3. I haven't seen these commercials and have only found a few posts mentioning the possibilities. I would also expect other news channels will cover this on September 24th through 25th, on a national level and along with your local news stations. Keep your eyes and ears open as the date draws closer fans. But I have located the following through a Tivo search on Halo 3. Time to set those recorders now if you want to stay on top of the upcoming release via your TV.

CW Now: Series Premiere A hunt to find the coolest jobs; awaiting the release of "Halo 3"; applying sheets of 24-karat gold to the face. Sun 9/23 6:00pm 33 CW duration 0:30.

Attack of the Show!: Preview of G4's "Halo 3 Countdown Live." Mon 9/24 6:00pm 354 G4 duration 1:00.

Game Head: "Halo 3: Launched." Mon 9/24 11:30pm 325 SPIKE duration 0:30.

Halo 3 Countdown Live: Counting down to the video game's release; behind the scenes with Halo's developers. Mon 9/24 7:00pm G4 duration 4:30.

Halo 3: Sci vs. Fi. Tue 9/25 3:00pm 244 SCFI Duration 0:30

Microsoft and Bungie have released some of the coolest promotional pieces for the upcoming Halo 3 release.

 Earlier in the week we saw the release of the Museum video and it really helps set the mood for the game. Being a huge fan and following along with the books and the games, this clip perhaps gives you some spoiler fodder and has helped set the buzz for things to come.

 Today marked the release of the 2nd clip and all I can say is I got a chill watching this clip. Like I've said, if you don't want any spoilers, then I recommend that you avoid the clips. For those of you wanting more... all you have to do is read the promotional information below and just Believe.

  A hero is more than a person, a hero is a belief. A belief that, against impossible odds, the world can be saved—and that the world is still worth saving. Heroes inspire that belief in us. They renew our faith and give us that most precious of all gifts—hope. The world needs heroes. That's why, when a true hero arrives, the world will honor him.

 Museum
Master Chief's legend lives on in first-hand stories told by the men who served with him in the Battle for New Mombasa.

Diorama
The John-117 Monument, created in the year 2607, on exhibit in the Museum of Humanity, was crafted by historians to pay tribute to the greatest of heroes, Master Chief Petty Officer John-117.

BELIEVE—The Interactive Exhibit
Visit the John-117 Monument and get a hands-on look at the amazing detail that went into crafting this stunning tribute. The exhibit is filled with first-person accounts from the soldiers who were there, fighting for our very survival. From billows of smoke erupting from a cannon to the sweat dripping from a Marine's brow, you can explore this painstaking recreation of our greatest fight, and Earth's greatest Hero.

Is it possible to take to much time though...
So the launch date is getting closer & closer and I'm looking forward to this game and being apart of the Midnight launch events.

I plan to head home and play for a few hours and hope to get in on some Co-Op action. I've even gone as far as taking the 25th off. I figure if I want to stay up late and play, no biggie, I'll just take a day for myself and stay home. I can play a little more that evening perhaps and I know that weekend will be filled with lots of Halo live events.

I was amazed to hear some people are taking a full two weeks off. Now it sure seems they are doing this to play the game. They didn't state that they had family vacation and planned other events. We're talking two full weeks and a goal of playing video games the whole time.

I'm sorry, I'm a huge fan and I really hope the game can be beat in couple days, because I just can't see taking two weeks off for the game. It should be interesting to see what all the excuses are and how many take off large amounts of time.

It's crazy... and the build up for this title is huge to say the least. From Burger King meals to 7-11 Slurpee's, you will see the Master Chief everywhere. I'm not sure if its Bungie & Microsoft paying for this or if its Burger King & 7-11 paying for this. Who ever pays who, I think its a win win for all parties involved.

The Halo faithful are excited and buying up this stuff right and left. It's also hard to think of a place with out a 7-11, but it seems that is the case. Lucky the Xbox Community is close and willing to help out their friends who don't have one on every corner. I've already picked up two extra sets and will mail them out this week to a couple friends of mine (Slurpee, not included of course).

The set of 3 cups are some of the best I've seen and should hold up quite well. My daughter noticed the cups and asked me what they were. I told her my favorite game on your favorite drink. She smiled and looked back, then she said, "Daddy, that would be cool if they Made Halo Coffee for you." Something tells me its too late to strike a deal with Starbucks.

Some of the fan created stuff for Halo is the best you'll find. By now I'm sure you all have heard of the Red vs. Blue Machinama, some really cool stuff that has been created with the Halo game engines. The guys write some really good stuff and I love watching their films. But fans have also created some stuff in the form of Fan Fiction stories and some really cool comics as well. One of my favorites is called Halo Heads. You have about 60 comics to make your way through and this will be a fun way to pass your time. If you like these then you should also check out some of the other comics too.

They don't call it Halo 2 for nothing...
My first trip to Delta Halo was with an original Halo edition Xbox. Wait, I never made it to Delta Halo... My first trip was with my Xbox 360 Elite, last night. So I'm working my way through the game and plan to finish it before the release of Halo 3, on September 25th, 2007.

Actually when I played it the first time, I made it about halfway through the first part of the Arbiter role. I wasn't a big fan of that at first, my second time through, I was cooler with the whole process and found it really intense to say the least. But enough about that, lets get back to Delta Halo now.

The cut scenes are really cool and give you a lot of information to help the story along. One of my favorite scenes is pictured above, as it gives you a feel of what these Halo worlds look like. So last night Master Chief has to drop down to the planets surface. It's another deadly ring that needs to be dealt with.

I can't explain how much I've really enjoyed this series of games and I can't wait to finish this leg of the journey. I already know it is suppose to end with a cliff hanger, but I haven't experienced it and feel I'll enjoy it just the same.

I need to make some time and get some online game play in the mix as well. Hopefully over the next few days, I can complete some more of the story and take a break for a hour or so Live action. I have only about 15 days to do this, I don't see a problem with reaching that goal.

"Isolate that signal! Master Chief, mind telling me what you're doing on that ship?", said Lord Hood.

Sir. Finishing this fight.

In general, he's a man of few words and the phrase actions speak louder than words fits. Just the same, your not going to find much of game with out some dialog and Bungie does a great job of providing tons of dialog and sounds for their games.

But did you know that when the Master Chief is not fighting the Covenant, he really has a lot to say? The voice that inspires us during game play is none other than, Steve Downes, American disc jockey for the morning 97.1 WDRV "The Drive" in Chicago, Illinois.

Steve Downes' began his voice acting career in 1999 with the role of Gunnar in the video game Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator by Valkyrie Studios. It was this minor role that caught the attention of the voice acting director and composer, Martin "Marty" O'Donnell and when Marty began working on the video game Halo: Combat Evolved at Bungie Studios, he invited Steve to voice act as the game's main character, Master Chief.

In an interview with Buttonbasher, he was asked if he would like to continue voice acting after Halo 3 and this is what he had to say in response.

Voicing for video games is like no other voice work. It’s very intense for a short period of time, and then there’s long stretches where you’re not involved with the character at all. It’s good that way. When it comes time for HALO 3, I’ll be chompin at the bit to bring the Chief back to life.

Halo fans could only hope to hear more out of the Master Chief and more and likely would need to set their sights on a possible Halo movie. If you would to listen to Steve Downes in the meantime, you need to head to Chicago or tune in via the Internet broadcast to catch him during his day job.

John, was born in the year 2511 and lived with his family on the human colony planet Eridanus 2. John and seventy-four other children his age were covertly taken from their homes and replaced with flash clones to hide the kidnapping in the year 2517. The original children were then brought to planet Reach, one of the UNSC's headquarters and trained to become SPARTAN-II super soldiers. This was Earth's last hope.

On Reach, the children began intensive physical, mental and psychological training as part of the Spartan program and are assigned new identification numbers instead of last names; John becomes known as John-117 or Spartan-117. Approximately eight years later, John and the other Spartans are biologically and cybernetically augmented and enhanced. The high risk procedures would only allow John and thirty-two other Spartans survive.

John would soon rise to the head of the Spartans and take the role as Master Chief as he is so fondly known through out the Halo series. It's the Master Chief we root for and love to see win. He's come a long way from the early drawings and grown through out the whole story line. Soon we will close in on the final chapters as we help John finish the fight.

The perfect warrior, the lone Spartan, Earth's final hope rests in the hands of the Master Chief. From the books, the games, the graphic novels, and the comic book series, we have had a great time being apart of something wonderful.

If you haven't had a chance to learn about the hero, then I recommend taking the time and looking back at where it all began. I for one am glad I took the time to learn the back story for this game, its made it a real treat for sure.

In the spirit of dual wielding with Master Chief, I have another Halo story for today or tonight. So I've been working on something Halo related each day and was late yesterday and the release went up this morning and everything has been leading up to Halo 2 at last. I could talk more about the game and I pretty much have heard minor spoilers and know that it ends at a cliff hanger and fans wanting more.

For me, it's still the next part of the story and one that I haven't finished just yet, but I hope to do that before the release of Halo 3. I played the first part of Halo 2 with Master Chief and then switched to the multiplayer action on Xbox Live. So I need to make it a point and go back to the campaign and finish what I started.

Halo 2 held the number 1 spot for games played on Xbox Live right up until the release of Gears Of War and so far to date has sold a total of 8 million copies world wide. It's clearly continued to be the cornerstone for the Xbox console and a welcome part to my Halo collection. I can even see myself playing it from time to time, even after Halo 3 is released.