The real-world technology of Halo

Games

Richard Fisher, technology editor

Cool technology and video games are bedfellows. That's the thinking behind the marketing for the newest incarnation of the Halo video games this week.

Halo: Reach is the latest in a series of first-person shooter games set in a future where humanity is at war with aliens. So far, so predictable. But to say the series is a phenomenon is an understatement. It has spawned fervent fan sites, comics and even books: in 2001 a sci-fi novel called The Fall of Reach foretold much of the storyline of this latest game.

It's easy to see why: the Halo games have consistently offered some of the most innovative and exhilarating gaming out there. But what particularly caught our eye at New Scientist about the latest Halo launch is the real-world technology that's being used to promote it.

On Monday, the Xbox team staged an impressive stunt in Trafalgar Square, London. StuntmanDan Schlund, who calls himself the Rocketman, dressed up as a Halo soldier and donned a jetpack. He then noisily flew above the surrounding tourists and commuters. You can watch a video of the stunt here.

New Scientist wrote about this kind of jetpack back in 2005. The packs are fuelled by the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, which provides thrust but also cool exhaust gases. In total, you get about 30 seconds of flight.

Another intriguing Halo publicity stunt that's been running for the past few weeks is helped by some real-world robotics.

At a website called Remember Reach, fans of the game have been asked to contribute to an art installation, which is supposedly in honour of the game's characters. Though bizarre, the idea behind it is quite interesting: a combination of crowdsourcing and robotics.

When fans visit Remember Reach, they are offered a one-time opportunity to control the movement of a real robotic arm inside a warehouse in San Francisco.

The arm is similar to the industrial robots that build cars, and is made by KUKA of Germany. As it happens, New Scientist covered the growing commercial availability of these robots this week.

Attached to the end of the robot arm is a point of light. A camera watches the robot arm shift around a darkened warehouse as it lingers at certain points to "plot" visitors' chosen points on a long exposure film. Over time, the individual dots build up to create a fuzzy artwork of theHalo soldiers. Wired filmed the arm in action last month.

But how good is the game? The Halo franchise has traditionally offered straightforward, old-school gaming. Hordes of aliens run at you. Stuff explodes. You mow them down.

The cannon-fodder of Halo is a coalition of extremist religious races called the Covenant, which are motivated to destroy humanity because they believe it is an affront to their gods. In the past, you played the Master Chief, who is the ultimate warrior, with the most advanced military might that Earth has to offer. It's an alien War on Terror.

Despite the unfortunate allegory, Halo: Reach is attempting to be a bit more complex, grown-up and darker than its predecessors.

It's part of a trend seen in many of today's video games, from Bioshock to Modern Warfare 2, which aim to connect with us on a more emotional level via complex storylines and difficult player choices - at least where possible amid the intensity of a first-person shooter game.

Halo: Reach doesn't quite achieve the emotional tug and moral ambiguities of some of the other recent blockbusters in this ilk, but the makers did try.

Gone is the Master Chief, a lot of the 80s action movie dialogue, and the likelihood that your super-warrior will save humanity. You play a more vulnerable soldier sent to a distant planet far from home in 2552, and now you're part of a team. Civilians have more of a role in the game than in the past, and you get to know more about the personalities of your fellow soldiers. People die, and they don't get extra lives.

Crucially, it looks like your team won't come out as winners. We know from the outset that the planet Reach is doomed.

All the best bits of the gameplay from the prior incarnations have been preserved, and largely improved upon. The game feels bigger, sharper and more frenetic than its predecessors. The improved AI of the enemies is impressive. (For deeper gameplay reviews, see The Guardian ,The New York Times and Destructoid.)

The tone of Halo: Reach may still be a touch melodramatic, and at times the earnestness of the characters gets silly, but the attempt to add more subtlety to the story Halo is refreshing. And it's more fun to play than ever.

(Images: Microsoft)

Intel, McAfee Envision Integrated Security Beyond PCs

Intel's agreement to purchase McAfee stems from a relationship that began 18 months ago between both companies looking to extend security solutions far beyond the PC world, according to executives.

Intel and McAfee had been collaborating to enhance and integrate security offerings into Intel's hardware and at a certain point, it just made more sense to bring McAfee in house to continue that fusion of security and processors, said Intel executives on a call with analysts Thursday.

Intel agreed to buy McAfee for $7.68 billion in cash, or $48 per share, on Thursday. McAfee was founded in 1987 and had about $2 billion in revenue in 2009. "Having McAfee in the Intel family allows us deeper integration and the best capability it's possible to offer," said Paul Otellini, President and CEO, Intel, on the call with analysts.

Otellini also indicated that Intel may look to integrate McAfee into a wider variety of non-PC technology, including the company's Smart TV initiative. "We haven't gone through pricing models for Smart TV security yet, but given that it is software—and increasingly necessary software—and these [solutions] can have an annuity stream with it, it looks like a pretty positive deal relative to our low-end offerings," Otellini said.

Because Intel and McAfee have been working jointly, if separately, for 18 months, the first products to feature integrated technology between the two companies should come in early 2011, said Renee James, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Software and Services Group, Intel.

"We don't comment on future products, but we will see lots of opportunities to take advantage of security features in our core products today. I look forward to updating you in the first part of next year," she said. "Yes, the products did grow out of the relationship that is pre-established. [Buying McAfee] gives us the insight of additional enhanced solutions that we could create. The products we're contemplating are based on already existing technology for existing PC products."

Buying McAfee allows Intel to accelerate its plan to create hardware-enhanced security, according to Intel.

"The way I think of it is we have enhanced and new opportunities to [integrate] that we can't do alone in software. It's an enhanced category of products only created by unique hardware innovation in combination with the software products we sell today," James said.

David DeWalt, CEO of McAfee, wrote in a blog post that the Intel deal emphasizes that security is becoming a more-important subject in an increasingly-connected world.

"The number of connected devices is expected to grow from 1 billion to 50 billion by 2020, according to industry estimates. This explosive growth of Internet and IP-enabled devices is reshaping communication, collaboration and commerce opportunities for individuals and organizations around the world," DeWalt wrote.

"The current cybersecurity model isn't extensible across the proliferating spectrum of devices—providing protection to a heterogeneous world of connected devices requires a fundamentally new approach to security. The industry needed a paradigm shift, incremental improvements can't bridge the opportunity gap."

The Intel-McAfee merger will help bring those solutions to market, DeWalt wrote. "We are joining forces to tackle this next generation cybersecurity issue, which impacts everyone and anything connecting to the Internet," he wrote. "Security will be a third pillar in Intel's strategy, next to power efficient performance and Internet connectivity. By bringing McAfee's security DNA to Intel, we can offer better solutions and products to the market. By next year, we will introduce new security offerings as a result of our collaboration."

Otellini doesn't think Intel and McAfee will look at bundling per se and noted that Intel intends to continue to work with other security vendors. "We're not a McAfee only strategy," Otellini said. He didn't say whether he thought other security vendors might not want to work with Intel now that McAfee is part of Intel.

While Intel will look to integrate more security into its hardware, it will continue to offer software-only security solutions by McAfee too, Otellini said. "That's a growing and robust market and great business that McAfee in today," he said.