I talked about the game a few weeks ago, after I'd been exposed to it by one of the developers at San Diego Comic-Con, but apparently it got caught up in some kind of certification purgatory and has only just now been released.  Owners of the Palm Pre have been enjoying it already, no doubt making use of its handy keyboard entry system, but it's excellent no matter where you play it.   

It had originally been our intention to deliver - in a wholly ironic context, of course - the kind of rich, braised meats that the faithful crave when considering the marriage of companies with holdings as vast as Disney and Marvel. As we were writing it, we felt that we were doing so with an uncharacteristic desire to please, coupled with the knowledge that Gabriel would execute such fantasies with a high degree of mechanical skill.

ODST's Firefight mode is one of the rounds in the Omegathon this year, and understanding some of the ways in which it deviates from vanilla Halo I thought might be useful for our contestants.  Then, after I'd gotten done reading it, I thought it was just interesting in general.  I figured I might as well post it.  

Halo 3: ODST Firefight Omegathon FAQ

What's Firefight?
Firefight is a 4-player cooperative game where the goal is to survive,
progress and score as many points as possible.

How does the game work?
Groups of randomly spawned Covenant enemies enter the battlefield via drop
ships or doors in successive waves.  In general, each wave entails two
groups of random enemies. Once cleared, the next wave commences, signified
by an announcer and HUD message.  For the purposes of Omegathon, this will
continue for 10 minutes or until a team has run out of lives.

Waves 1 through 4 will always be a random assortment of enemies - Grunts,
Buggers, Jackals, Brutes, Hunters and even Wraiths.  Wave 5 will include a
random mix of enemies but will always include several Brute Chieftains.

A full "round" is complete after the final enemy is killed in the 5th wave.
Upon doing so, players will be rewarded with fresh health, additional lives
and replenishment of their ammo and health pack cache.

How do the difficulty modifier skulls work in Firefight?
The skulls from Halo 3 are back and integrated into the heart of the
Firefight experience.  Skulls will systematically activate as players
progress through Firefight play with a new skull turning on at the start of
each new round (a new round starts upon completing every 5th wave).

At the start of the game, "Tough Luck" is enabled. This skull drastically
increases an enemy's tendency to dive out of the way to avoid incoming
grenades, making them more nimble and agile against these attacks.

If you make it through to the end of the 5th wave and begin round two, a
second skull will activate in addition to "Tough Luck". "Catch" greatly
increases the enemy tendency to throw grenades (including suicide grunts who
rush the player with armed plasma grenades).

At the start of Round 3, a third skull is added to the previous two. "Black
Eye" means that players can only regain health by melee attacking enemies.
Normally, as a player incurs damage, their HUD will turn red and if they
continue taking damage, their base stamina will deteriorate. However, if you
back off and remove yourself from danger, your health will restore and your
base stamina will not be affected. With Black Eye, the initial damage done
will not dissipate until you melee enemies.

These are the only 3 skulls that will possible come into play during a 10
minute game, depending how quickly and far a team progresses.

How does scoring work?
The base scoring system is similar to what is found in Halo 3's "campaign
scoring" and competitive multiplayer mode.  You are awarded points for every
enemy you kill. Extra points are earned for things like headshots, killing
sprees, multi-kills, assists, etc.

Killing as many enemies as possible, in skillful ways, without dying, is the
path to earning the highest scores.  Larger, more difficult units like
Wraiths and Chieftains are worth a lot more points than something like a
Grunt or Bugger.  Completing early waves faster means you can get to the
later waves, and higher scoring enemies, quicker.

Killing a teammate will result in a negative score penalty.  Dying from an
enemy does not incur a score penalty but will reset any chain counters you
may have been accruing.


What equipment will the ODST team start with?
Each member of the squad will start out with the silenced pistol and sound
suppressed SMG (both of which can zoom) along with several frag grenades.
You will undoubtedly be forced to pick up dropped Covenant weapons along the
way.

Players begin inside a start room that will also contain additional pistols,
SMGs and grenades.  Once depleted, this ammo cache will not replenish until
the end of the round (5 waves complete).

Additionally, each starting area has 4 health packs.  There will be two
upstairs and two downstairs on opposite sides of the room. Use these
sparingly but definitely use them to avoid a death (dying will reset your
ongoing score/chain multiplayer you'd otherwise be building).   At the end
of a round, the stash of health packs is restored. (Also, the player's
current health is automatically restored)

Weapons on the map, like turrets, are also replaced at the end of each round
(if they are removed from the tripod).


How many lives are available?
Each squad starts off with shared pool of 7 lives to work with. It's
important to note that these are SHARED between all four players and makes
coordination, teamwork and strategic use of health packs a must.  If one or
more players is alive at the end of a round, additional lives will be added
back to the pool.


How does the health system work in ODST?
ODSTs have a stamina bar represented at the top of the HUD. After taking
enough damage, indicated by a reddening of the screen, this base stamina
will start to erode.  Alternatively, you can remove yourself from danger and
reset your initial damage state. The only way to get base stamina restored
is by use of a health pack.  If you've played Halo: Combat Evolved, the
health model in ODST will be very familiar.


How does the game end?
For the Omegathon, teams will have 10 minutes to get the highest score
possible. The game will conclude when the time is up. Additionally, if a
team uses up all of their available lives, the game is over.

Is there any difference between the various playable ODST characters?
There are no gameplay differences between the available models. The only
difference is aesthetic and each character has their own unique first person
combat dialog.

What other helps tips or insights should players be aware of?

Another round of judging produced a bumper crop of indie bliss this year, with a few you've probably heard of honored further and a selection of out-of-the-way delights calibrated to tantalize.  They'll be easy to find in the Exhibition Hall, as always - booth 3103, right at the entrance.

So desperate was I for entertainment that my television came to rest on America's Got Talent, a program whose title seems to protest too much, causing me to question the premise at a fundamental level, when I was snared by the raw jubilance of Isharaa.

I was overjoyed to have them play at PAX last year, and they appeared to be overjoyed to play there, and also the people listening appeared (if not overjoyed, then) at least happy, so it was a success pretty much all around.

We wrapped up Batman yesterday, and it was unrelenting in its quality. I hope you already know that for yourself - that you have maneuvered its perils and triumphs firsthand, and are aware that developer Rocksteady has delivered a cornerstone experience that defines what the medium was about in the year of our Lord two-thousand and nine.

I should try to be less comprehensive in the title, so that I have something to write about down here.  How are you?  Good, thanks.

Dissidia is actually really interesting, and it didn't particularly need to be: Final Fantasy's luxurious familiarity still retains its alchemical power. They could have gotten away with less, and they didn't. One of many savory demos recently released, you could be forgiven for missing it. Go now, and sin no more.

I've done my best to manicure out of my consciousness the lion's share of superstitions, some of which literally concern lions.

Passes for individual days are still available!  (For now! DUN DUN DUN!)

Another of my projects that got announced last week was the cover to a new Dungeons and Dragons book. The book is  called the players strategy guide and from what I hear it's designed to help you build a solid character. There's some fuzzy pictures from the presentation at Gencon, but here's a better look at the front half of the wrap around cover I did.

We spent some time with Wolfenstein - which I can't help but pronounce voolfenshteen - cataloguing a portion of our conversation in strip form. It has not managed to burrow through our chests and and plant its shivering ova in our soft tissue, at least not yet - I haven't been able to figure out if the new Voolfenshteen is a reliquary packed with outmoded shooter tropes or an act of intentional deference to the classics.

Pretty much what it says up there.  If you're thinking of coming to the entire show, think quickly, and grab your tickets.  We expect those to sell out today.  We'll have a limited number of day passes available, but we can't guarantee there'll be any left when you get there.

Here is a recording I made yesterday while I was making the strip:

As proponents of interactive electronic entertainment, we're accustomed to troglodytic salvos from all corners re: the fiendish nature of this hobby. I feel like troglodytic is a savvy choice, but I may be in the minority; I would also accept backwoods, and bonus points could certainly be earned for uncorking something like "benighted" or "unlettered."