Master Chief is back in his tiniest adventure yet - this time on the Nintendo DS platform in the form of a homebrew game. No, no; it's not the "Halo DS" that Matt Casamassina was talking about before. Homebrew developer cobradragon1020 delivers the latest homebrew game starring the indomitable Spartan warrior from the Halo series with Halo ds. To find out more about this interesting homebrew game, check out our full article on it after the jump.

Download: Halo ds wip 2

Video games and consoles aren't games. At least, Best Buy doesn't think so. A customer recently tried to use a "toy" coupon to purchase an Xbox 360 and two games for the console, but according to Best Buy employees (and their corporate office), the items aren't categorized under "toys." Is there any clear cut distinction between toys and video games? What about the handhelds? Check out the story in the full article.

Master Chief ordering take out at Burger King? Solid Snake wearing Speedos? These are just some hypothetical plugs that gamers might be seeing in the near future with the way in-game advertising has grown into a phenomenal industry nowadays.

As far back as the early '90s, we've seen games that have plugged, advertised or even coerced gamers into taking a gander at their real-life sponsors, as well as the products tied-in with them. The full article awaits after the jump!

(Editor's Note: It's a fresh issue of QuickPeek for a fresh new month. We've finally hit the big "One-Five" edition for our weekly updates, and if some of you've noticed, QuickPeek posts seem to get longer and bulkier with the updates! As always, we'd like to give everyone a resounding "Thanks!" for all the fun and the never ending support. This weekly update of updates is all for you!)

The 15th issue of QuickJump QuickPeek sees the start of a new month. We've got a couple of weeks ahead of us before Halloween finally hits, and even as early as now, there's been some hair-raising news that could leave some of you pale and ghastly (not to mention some toothache from all the sweet stuff going on around the gaming industry as well).

The previous edition of QuickPeek had its own fair share of enormous news - including, of course, the release of Halo 3. Today, we've got some weekly updates that have been specially carved right out of last week's pumpkin. It's big news on top of big news, with some bewitching brew being concocted from the cauldron of the homebrew community on the side.

This has got to be our biggest, meatiest, and most jam-packed issue yet, so you better tighten your bootstraps. You're in for one heck of a ride.

Check out the rest of this 15th issue right behind the Full Article link below!

Originally posted on October 6, 2007 at 2:20 PM.

The rumor mill is hot on the Halo DS project after Matt Casamassina testified about the existence of Halo on Nintendo's handheld, and IGN promised to talk about a demo they were able to get their hands on. Website Siliconera was able to get some clarification from Bungie's Brian Gerard and Frank O’Connor regarding the matter.

Straight from Bungie's community guy himself, "...there has never been an officially funded or sanctioned development of any sort of DS Halo game."

Before that, Bungie.net's content monkey Frank O'Connor did state that "we got pitched for it several times."That said, it's "very likely that somebody at some point in time created a prototype."

Halo on handhelds is possible, but O'Connor doesn't think an FPS would be a good idea given the hardware limitations. A scrolling shoot 'em up or some other form Master Chief can appear in is more feasible for the DS, he said.

Here's another fun thought from the interview: Ninja Gaiden's Ryu Hayabusa could actually appear in Halo's universe. "I'm not going to say you're going to see Ryu in Halo, but I would say that our relationship with Itagaki is alive and well," O'Connor replied when asked about Ryu making a cameo appearance.

For the full transcript, click on the Read link below.

In a recent interview with the New York Times, Entertainment Software Association (ESA) President Michael D. Gallagher revealed that one of the ESA's priorities is to infiltrate Washington.

The new ESA president noted that while the movie and music industries already have backers in Washington, the video game industry does not quite have the same privilege yet.

According to Gallagher, the main challenge lies in "connecting with decision makers and creating champions for the video game industry in the policy-making arena."

In addition to having a smaller budget, Gallagher also noted that the video game industry doesn't have the star power to seduce politicians.

"Washington is very enamored with glitz and the appeal of stars," said Gallagher. "Whenever Bono shows up he creates this bow wave as he comes through, and it's true that stars do help drive messages. And it is true that Master Chief and Mario are not yet household words on the Hill, but wait for the years ahead."

Gallagher also said that the ESA will be revealing its full agenda after E3.

This is excellent news. Our lawmakers make their decisions based on information. If that information only comes from anti-gaming lawyers and anti-gaming activists, then of course our lawmakers are going to develop an anti-gaming bias. So it's good that our industry strengthens its representation.

The virtue vigilante is at it again. This time, he's decided on what to add to his list of new year's resolutions, and opted to share it with the public. You can guess what it's all about, we're sure.

Despite failed attempts to get video games labeled as public nuisances, Jack Thompson is vowing to do more of the same in 2007. A recent emailed press release assures us of his continuing efforts to target M-rated games, even going so far as to call his attempt to make Bully a public nuisance a practice run.

His email reads:

Thompson’s 2006 suit to stop the sale of Take-Two/Rockstar’s Columbine simulator Bully was just a practice run for what is to follow. The court’s order of the production of the Bully game prior to its commercial release sets the precedent for what Thompson will do again, but this time with Mature-rated titles that the Federal Trade Commission has recently found are being sold to children across America 42% of the time!

Since his continued legal presence against videogames is basically assured for next year, the only thing left to wonder about is what games he'll be suing for 2007. Our main predictions: the next Grand Theft Auto game from Take-Two Interactive, for obvious reasons, Halo 3, because Master Chief hides his genocide behind a mask, and Mario Mario, because he's a shroom-sniffing communist.

As sure as we are that the sun will rise in the west east tomorrow morning, we know that it's a fact of life that video game movies have a tendency to suck. Surely, a number of you guys have seen at least one video-game-turned-movie in the past, and quite possibly, a number of you had regretted it. Sometimes, even loyal fans of a video game franchise would turn tail from the game series after watching its film adaptation. Yes. The plight that us gamers go through...

Now, DickMcVengeance saved us some time searching IMDb by compiling a list of video games that are being brought to life on the silver screen. Some of these, you might already have known. But here's the list of movies getting the "big screen" treatment (in alphabetical order):

• Alice (as in American McGee's Alice - stars Sarah Michelle Gellar as Alice)
• Carmen Sandiego
• Castlevania (from the writer/director of AVP, Resident Evil, and Mortal Kombat)
  
• Clock Tower
• Dead or Alive (comes out October 20 in the US)
  
• Far Cry
• Fear Effect
• Halo (with Peter Jackson as Executive Producer)
• Hitman (Vin Diesel as Agent 47, pic above)
  
• Hunter: The Reckoning
• Max Payne
• Mortal Kombat: Devastation
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (with Jerry Bruckheimer as Executive Producer)
  
• Resident Evil: Extinction (starring Ashanti)
  
• Splinter Cell: The Movie
• Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run (starring The Rock)
  
• Tekken (written by the same person who wrote Tomb Raider)
  

Now, we're wondering. Are most of you actually whooping with joy to see your favorite characters (Sam Fisher? Jin Kazama? Master Chief?) in a movie, or are you groaning in agony? Well, judge as you will. We won't. But it'd be interesting to hear your thoughts, though, so go ahead and comment!

Master Chief vs Samus Aran

Why the fight?

They're both genetically altered superhu[wo]man soldiers possessed of powerful suits of battle armor to help bring on the pain. Someone's got to give, come on in and find out who.

Follow the full match after the jump!