This week we’re looking at Episodes 8 and 9 of Spartan Ops. I had said last week that Episode 7 was pure filler. It was a level of awful that we hadn’t seen since Episode 3. I also skipped over discussing the cinematic for that week.

Today, I’m going to be talking about Doctor Catherine Halsey.

In Episode 6, she tells Captain Lasky that there are secrets left in the universe, and that she so desperately wants to know everything. That’s why she abducted children, you see. She had them indoctrinated and their bodies augmented to be the perfect soldier. Halsey created the Spartan-II program, because she wants to know everything the universe has to offer.

Oh, and she designed the MJOLNIR Mark IV power armor, too. Equipping super children in the most advanced armor that humanity has ever seen so that they can be the best soldiers humanity has ever seen furthers her goal of understanding the universe.

Episode 7 brings us to the UNSC Infinity. It’s been a long time coming. When I first played this Episode back in January, I thought it was really cool to visit Infinity. However, I didn’t really think about what I played. The After Show didn’t really demand that; it was a stream of consciousness guised as dialogue for flavor. But now that I’ve gone back, played through the episode, and given it some serious thought?

I don’t like this episode. It has some major issues. It’s probably the worst episode since Episode 3, and Episode 3 was pure filler. It’s bad.

Only one way to get through this: feet first into hell. See you after the cut!

It’s been awhile, hasn’t it? A little more than two months ago, we saw the season finale of Spartan Ops Season 1. We haven’t posted much on the site since then. We’ve been busy, you see. Everyone is always busy when they’re not doing something, aren’t they? I have been keeping busy with things related to World of Warcraft, but I haven’t finished any of them. Soon, though.

Last time we talked about SpOps, I was just finishing the awful After Show. Let’s go a little further back to Episode 5. I talked about how Jul ‘Mdama is a cunning villain. He started as a Very Evil villain who was bad because Palmer said so. In the three not-so-short episodes that we saw him, we learned that he’s playing a long game.

Let’s watch the Episode 6 cinematic after the cut before we continue.

Season 1 of Spartan Ops has wrapped up. We’re sitting down with the actors portraying Fireteam Crimson in Halo: Infinity. Today we’ll be picking their brains for their thoughts on the big finale. This is also the last time we’ll be talking with Crimson for the foreseeable future. Season 2 might be on the way but we have no information about that at this time. Let’s get right into the action.

Have you ever had a good idea and started working on it? I did, back on May 18, 2012. I had read several quotes from Jay Wilson, then-director of Diablo III, where he had said—and I’m paraphrasing here— “we’re not officially doing a console port.” I started writing a post about how Diablo III was made for consoles, but ultimately I decided to scrap it; honestly, who would have wanted to read about that?

As the year went on, I would revisit the draft and add a few notes, but shelve it again. “Diablo III is old news,” I told myself, “No one cares if it comes to console or not. It’s not as if anyone will read this anyway. You’re wasting your time.” If you’re a longtime reader of the site, you might recall we weren’t good with putting content out consistently in our first year. Lack of self-confidence (and procrastination) was a huge issue for me.

Fast forward to a few nights ago when Sony announced the PlayStation 4. During the presentation, Blizzard’s Chris Metzen came out on stage and said Diablo III was going to be released for both PS3 and PS4. As you can imagine, I am kicking myself right now for not putting this post together sooner. What’s particularly frustrating for me is discovering this article was 80% done when I dusted it off after Chris Metzen left the stage. All I was missing were images.

But enough about how I dropped the ball on this one. Let me tell you how Diablo III might work on the PS3. I’m willfully ignoring the PS4 because I haven’t thoroughly reviewed the system specs, but the increased memory will definitely help.

In World of Warcraft, there is a limit on the number of combat resurrections. Normally a player can only resurrect another player outside of combat; a combat resurrection allows for quick revival during a fight, which could make the difference between a success and a failure. In a 10-man raiding environment, only one combat resurrection is allowed. Twenty-five-man raids are allowed three.

Priests, Paladins, Monks, Druids, and Shaman—every class capable of healing—are able to cast a standard resurrection spell outside of combat. These spells have a cast time of ten seconds. Druids also have Rebirth, which is a combat resurrection spell with a two second cast time. Warlocks have Soulstone resurrection with a three second cast time. Death Knights have Raise Ally, which is instant cast but uses a significant amount of runic power. Lastly, Beast Mastery Hunters can tame a quilen, which can use Eternal Guardian to bring a party member back to life.

Put the Sandbox Tigers away, it’s time we talked about changing the status quo.