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Halo Hackers Go Wild, Unleash Flamethrower

Thanks to Halo.Bungie.Org for info on a new Halo Xbox hacking movie revealing some spectacular new tricks, including the ability to use the previously unavailable flamethrower and gravity rifle weapons in-game, plus much more outlandish stunts. As the site says, "...even if you're not excited by the hacking scene, it's a hoot to see how much damage you can do when you're standing in a tower of 3 dozen Master Chiefs and your assault rifle fires frag grenades." These hacks were accomplished by hex-editing a cache file on a modified Xbox, and coincidentally, Gearbox Software have just posted the a new screenshot of the PC-exclusive flamethrower weapon, which probably works a sight better than the unfinished Xbox one.

38 comments

  1. If Halo is only an average FPS... by BigKato · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...like so many on /. proclaim why are there so many articles on it? It is a superior game to most FPS around. Have any of you played the coop mode on it? It's the best coop around, adds so much more gameplay, and demands strategy when you crank the skill level all the way up. The game also has quite a good sense of humor about itself.

    --
    So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
    1. Re:If Halo is only an average FPS... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      darn it. It looks like a really good game. It's a shame you have to have an xbox to play it... can't suppport those MS bastards, no sir!

    2. Re:If Halo is only an average FPS... by ceejayoz · · Score: 2, Insightful

      god, I love coop... I played a huge amount with my brother, and we pretty much knew exactly what the other would do - felt like being on a highly trained special ops team or something... managed to beat the game on Legendary - craziness :-D

      it's a pity they won't have it on Halo PC... hopefully Halo 2 will have it, though

    3. Re:If Halo is only an average FPS... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a shame you have to have an xbox to play it... can't suppport those MS bastards

      just get windows warez

    4. Re:If Halo is only an average FPS... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They lose money on every x-box. Buying one game won't make them break even.

    5. Re:If Halo is only an average FPS... by Kris_J · · Score: 1
      If Halo is only an average FPS like so many on /. proclaim why are there so many articles on it?
      Isn't it the only game available for the Xbox? :)

      More seriously, it was the only decent looking launch title so a lot of people bought it. Personally, I assume from the large numbers of people that feel moved to defend it is an indicator that it's very average and a poor justification to have purchased an Xbox in the first place. I find that I defend, at lenth, products that A) I paid a lot for, and 2) suck in slightly more ways than they rock. Or at least I used to. Now I don't care what other people think.

    6. Re:If Halo is only an average FPS... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thank you, armchair psychoanalyst.

  2. I think... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...the complaints about Halo are valid. Halo is a very good FPS game, but it wasn't as earth-shattering as some (such as myself) hoped it would be (a la Half Life). The game does get quite repetitive, which can be expected of a Doom or Quake-era game, but these days, a gamer SHOULD expect more than seemingly endless hallways that all look alike.

    Halo was a decent single-player game, and there's no denying that the co-op and deathmatch modes are a blast to play (especially with multiple XBOXes hooked up). I can only hope Bungie/Microsoft will be smart enough to allow not only multiplayer deathmatches on XBOX Live (which is already confirmed), but online co-op as well. Halo 2 with online co-op could definately be considered a "killer app" for online console gaming.

    Uh...(just to stay on topic)...cool hacks. ;)

    1. Re:I think... by CashCarSTAR · · Score: 1

      Halo is kinda fun, although not best of breed. It's too repetitive, even though it has great AI. It's fun for sure..but I think it's more of a cause of positive echo chamber (as opposed to Enter The Matrix, a similar game to be honest that was killed by negative echo chamber)

      It's a big disappointment for me personally as well. It was supposed to be a squad based shooter in a semi-persistant battlefield. Obviously that is not what we got.

      The best console FPS IMO is Time Splitters 2, a game which has a lot more interesting things to do to get around the limitations of the console.

      Actually, that was my biggest problem with Halo. No bots for multiplayer. Made things rather sparse.

    2. Re:I think... by blincoln · · Score: 1

      (as opposed to Enter The Matrix, a similar game to be honest that was killed by negative echo chamber)

      I think EtM was killed by buggy releases and unpolished design.

      I thought it was fun when I played through as Ghost, despite the bug that kept me from picking up explosives when I needed them unless I loaded an earlier save and ditched all my grenades before moving on to the area with the explosives.

      A few weeks later I played through as Niobe, and was pretty underwhelmed. Her driving sections seem like filler, and in the last level I got stuck in a wall.

      Those bugs are comparatively minor to others I've read about, including one whose official "solution" is to erase ALL savegames and start from scratch.

      There were definitely some cool moments for both characters, and the exclusive film segments were fun, but I wish I'd waited until it hit the $20 price point.

      --
      "...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman
    3. Re:I think... by li99sh79 · · Score: 1
      The best console FPS IMO is Time Splitters 2, a game which has a lot more interesting things to do to get around the limitations of the console.

      Time Splitters 2, ugh, for whatever reason I get major motion sickness whenever I play it. I'd much rather play Halo, even if the ending is kind of weak, and the levels are repetative.

      -sam
      --
      I was just here, where did I go?
  3. Re:This file might not be on Bungie's site for lon by AndyBusch · · Score: 5, Informative

    Bungie.org is a fan site. Bungie.net is the official Bungie site.

  4. Re:This file might not be on Bungie's site for lon by TitaniumFox · · Score: 1

    I believe Bungie Studios is hosted on bungie.com, not bungie.org (the fan site), where the files are being served from.

    --
    -- I'd say your post was about 3 monkeys, 18 minutes.
  5. Re:This file might not be on Bungie's site for lon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    From the website:
    Bungie.org is an independently owned and operated fansite and is not affiliated with Bungie Studios.

  6. Re:This file might not be on Bungie's site for lon by TitaniumFox · · Score: 1

    Oops. AndyBusch beat me to the post.

    Move along. Nothing to see here.

    --
    -- I'd say your post was about 3 monkeys, 18 minutes.
  7. Flame and Shadow? by Yorrike · · Score: 2, Funny
    "which probably works a sight better than the unfinished Xbox one."

    Or maybe not. The Bungie flames cast shadows....

    --

    Looks can be deceiving. Or CAN they?

    1. Re:Flame and Shadow? by KU_Fletch · · Score: 2, Interesting

      why the hell would flames cast shadows?

      --
      It's not stupid. It's advanced.
    2. Re:Flame and Shadow? by ooPo · · Score: 0

      Yes, so you understand his point exactly. How astute!

    3. Re:Flame and Shadow? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am not a physicist, but if you have an open flame and brighter light source near that flame, wouldn't you get the appearance of a shadow on a nearby wall? Seems like the flame would block the light from the brighter source so on the wall you'd have a flame-shaped 'shadow' created by lower-intensity light. Though in the case of the game, I imagine it's just flawed coding, a minor detail that got overlooked.

    4. Re:Flame and Shadow? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      looks like soot to me.

  8. strange... by wuHoncho · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It is just me or did the soundtrack seem, well, japanese? The movie in general is just flat-out weird. Not quite funny. Just weird.

    I'm not a big fan of Halo myself. I've never played it. None of my friends have. There's just not that sense of greatness about the game that makes me feel like I really need to give a crap about it. But something is worth noting about the game; and that's the sudden deluge of movies circulating the internet that were recorded using the game. This is probably due in part to the game's amazing graphical capability, of which the X-Box itself is very likely playing a key role in, but perhaps also due in part to something easily facilitating video recording? I read something awhile back (probably one of the OpenGL 2.0 white papers about pixel pack/unpack from 3D Labs, maybe not, my brain's starting to fall asleep right now) that seemed to underline the fact that you can send a lot of data to a video card and have it be all accelerated and fast and all, but it's not quite as easy to send it back into memory for, say, recording high-quality 3D rendered movies in real-time. That all we'd need is some kind of bus or compression scheme to get the stuff back into main memory from the video card and all of a sudden you'd have this massive flood of 3D-rendered indie movies.

    That said - it is quite likely that this, and the others like it (if you haven't already, check out Red vs. Blue and see what I'm talking about here), is the tip of a very big iceberg.

    --


    Just another freak in the freak kingdom.
    1. Re:strange... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      The song is from the opening of the anime Chobits. As far as WHY they decided to pick that track is beyond me. :p

    2. Re:strange... by __aasfhc1949 · · Score: 1

      If anyone's interested in acquiring an .mp3 version of the song in question, a quick google search revealed this site: http://www.seikaianime.com/Music.html.

    3. Re:strange... by dpete4552 · · Score: 1

      Why not just capture the video signal as it is going to the monitor, the way a VCR is able to intercept a video signal going to the TV. And from there have the recording device record the video.

      --
      http://www.archive.org/details/ThePowerOfNightmares
    4. Re:strange... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Chiiiiiiiiiiii?

    5. Re:strange... by Rayonic · · Score: 1

      I'm not a big fan of Halo myself. I've never played it. None of my friends have. There's just not that sense of greatness about the game that makes me feel like I really need to give a crap about it.

      Translation: "Due to a mixture of preconcieved notions and biases, I have decided not to care about the game. Futhermore, I don't even feel like making up reasons not to play it. Thus I'll post up some bullshit about 'sense of greatness' or whatever, and leave it at that. Plus, rejecting things that are popular makes me feel cool."

    6. Re:strange... by waffle+zero · · Score: 2, Insightful
      It is just me or did the soundtrack seem, well, japanese?

      The song used is the movie is "Let Me Be With You" and according to some lyrics I found, the artist is ROUND TABLE featuring Nino. The song was used as the title theme to the anime series Chobits.

      The series was recently released on DVD in North America and seems to have a sold fan following. Although I have to admit, the song is vastly out of place in a Halo video. I've watched the fan subs and a song whose refrain made me cry in the last episode seems like blasphemy in this context. Why couldn't they have done like every other demo video and choose generic metal like that Drowning Pool song "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor"?

    7. Re:strange... by wuHoncho · · Score: 1

      Why not just capture the video signal as it is going to the monitor, the way a VCR is able to intercept a video signal going to the TV. And from there have the recording device record the video.

      That's not impossible, but it would be much simpler if one could could send stuff straight back into memory. It opens up the possibility of doing rendering and post-production on the same workstation in one easy session. Remember, we're talking indie filmmakers here. Think Kevin Smith types. The less technically involved the process, the better.

      --


      Just another freak in the freak kingdom.
  9. If Gigli is such a crappy movie... by anonymous+loser · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Why are there so many articles about it?

    1. Re:If Gigli is such a crappy movie... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      idk but apparently Ebert gave it a pretty good rating so maybe that's the reason? Oops, didn't mean to completely ruin your theory ;)

  10. bork bork bork by scrytch · · Score: 3, Funny

    it's a hoot to see how much damage you can do when you're standing in a tower of 3 dozen Master Chiefs and your assault rifle fires frag grenades.

    Am I the only one that read that as "a tower of 3 dozen Master Chefs" the first time? Oh the humanity! Bouillabaisse everywhere!

    --
    I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
  11. That movie was by luekj · · Score: 1
    GREAT.

    It was great!

    Hillarious!!

    YEAH WOHOO!

    --
    Many Thanks,

    Luke

  12. Re:strange by wuHoncho · · Score: 1

    I'm bored, so I'll pick apart your somewhat inaccurate, if not trollish, translation:

    Due to a mixture of preconcieved notions and biases, I have decided not to care about the game.
    Hmm..well, yeah. That and I don't feel like coughing up $180 for an X-Box to find out. That's money better spent on beer. :)

    Futhermore, I don't even feel like making up reasons not to play it.
    No. I just don't care. It's pretty simple, actually.

    Thus I'll post up some bullshit about 'sense of greatness' or whatever, and leave it at that.
    Sense of greatness bullshit? You mean that when Doom came out, nothing seemed really special about it? Did the Sims seem like just another stupid Sim-something-or-other game? And I suppose the fact that we got entire boatloads worth of gaming goodness when Half-Life came out, it meant nothing to you?

    Don't get me wrong, Halo looks very nice. It's an excellent demo of the X-Box's graphical capabilities, and seems to have some good physics, too. But from my distant view of it, it doesn't seem terribly special apart from all the movies being made from it (See original post). And something whose primary purpose or special feature is in the field of filmmaking, it's really more of a tool than a game, no?

    Plus, rejecting things that are popular makes me feel cool.
    Mmmm..no. First off, relatively speaking, Halo is not popular, as nobody I know owns or has even played a copy (See original post). Usually, that's a sign of unpopularity. And if I feel any cooler for not really worrying about whether or not I should like some video game that nobody whose opinion I care about cares about, well...hmm..let me think about that one...actually yeah, I think that would make me cooler than if I were to be standing there thinking "should..should I like Halo? b..becuase somebody on the internet said it was popular. and if I don't like it, I won't be cool!"

    I want the last five minutes of my life back.

    --


    Just another freak in the freak kingdom.
  13. Hex Editing Tools for Halo maps. by Rahszhul · · Score: 1

    After having seen this, I tried the stuff out myself, and had some fun with it.

    Then I thought to myself, that it'd be alot easier if an interface was made to help make this a bit quicker. Oddly enough, 4 days later, 2 seperate tools have been released.

    The first, called Cartographer, is quasi-decent. It only supports three maps (as of typing this) and it lists all editable items. The only thing that should be changed about this, is any item can be changed into any other item, which can cause your xbox to bomb on trying to load the level.

    The other, called "HaloMapEditor" sounds a bit better. It can edit all maps, compressed, or cached versions. Which in theory is ... AWESOME. The downside, I've been able to load maps, and the program recognizes the map, but I cannot get anything to change (i.e. The dropdowns aren't filled with any data).

    Either way, I had some decent fun trying to figure out how to work these things.

    If one xbox has the editted map on it, and the other doesn't. It will "lag out" as the editted map it reporting stuff blowing up, and the other is thinking that Assualt Rifle Bullets don't explode!!

    But if both are running the same edit on each xbox, then everything runs beautifully.

    At any rate, theres nothing like creating a ton of Master Chiefs, and blowing the stack up with a Warthog that flings a ton of rockets per second.

  14. Re:strange by Rayonic · · Score: 1

    Hmm..well, yeah. That and I don't feel like coughing up $180 for an X-Box to find out. That's money better spent on beer. :)

    I actually haven't played it either (waiting for the PC version), but I haven't dismissed it out of hand.

    Sense of greatness bullshit? You mean that when Doom came out, nothing seemed really special about it? [snip]

    Ah, I see, only the most groundbreaking games will do. Games must be few and far between for you, then.

    Don't get me wrong, Halo looks very nice. It's an excellent demo of the X-Box's graphical capabilities, and seems to have some good physics, too.

    Actually, the most noteworthy thing about Halo is the AI, both in the enemies and in your CPU-controlled teammates. But I suppose breaking new ground in one category isn't enough to turn your head?

    On a related note, I can only assume that you're passing up Half Life 2 when it comes out. From all accounts, the only groundbreaking part of it is it's nifty physics engine.

    Halo is not popular, as nobody I know owns or has even played a copy

    Soccer is not popular, as nobody I know watches or has even played it.

    Technically speaking, 3 million in sales makes a game moderately popular. Plus, there also seems to be quite a lot of people anticipating it's PC release.

    I want the last five minutes of my life back.

    Since I was being a tad trollish, this comment made me smile.