How Much Does Halo Cost You?

Similar to the TTL Homework assignment, I wondered exactly how much money has been spent on Halo (both mine, and my parents') since I first picked up the XBox the Christmas it came out.

Brace yourself.

Items Quantity Price Xbox (First Gen) 1 $299.99 Xbox (repl.) 1 $149.00 XB360 (plus HDD) 1 $180.00 AMAZON! Halo 1 1 $49.99 Halo 1 (rep) 1 $19.99 Halo 2 LE 2 $120.00 XBL (years) 4 $200.00 H3 1 $129.99 H3 Zune(with Warranty) 1 $309.33 EGM H3 Dec. 06 1 $5.99 EGM H3 Sept. 07 1 $5.99 OXM H3 Oct. 07 1 $9.99 Halo Dogtag 1 $70.00 Halo 2 Dogtag + Pen 1 $25.00 Beach Towel 1 $35.00 XB360 Faceplate 1 $14.99 XB360 Skins 1 $21.99 Heretic Action Fig 1 $14.99 ODST Action Fig 1 $25.00 Invisi Grunt Action Fig 1 $15.99 Zanzibar Shirt 1 $18.95 Cortana Tank 1 $18.95 MC Tuxedo Shirt 1 $18.95 H3 Beta Shirt 2 $33.90 HGN 1 $20.00 H:U 1 $3.99 Prisoner Print 1 $60.00 Print by the Greg guy 1 $25.00 FoR 1 $6.99 The Flood 1 $6.99 First Strike 1 $6.99 GoO 1 $12.95 Emotion Shirt 1 $18.00 Last Stand Shirt 1 $18.00 CTF Shirt 1 $18.00 We Do Our Part Shirt 1 $18.00 H3 Pins 2 $11.98 H3 Stickers 2 $5.98 Carnage Patch 1 $0.99 H2 Patch 1 $3.99 H3 Controllers 2 $119.84 Preorder ArtiFX Statue 1 $100.00 Preorder Grunt Water Bottle 1 $9.95 That’s how much the UNSC one costs, can't remember. Game Fuel (12 packs) 3 $11.98 Buy 2 get one Free Game Fuel (20 oz) 1 $1.59 May be off.. Game Fuel (2L) 1 $2.99 May be off.. H3 Brown Shirt 1 $0.00 Contact Harvest Cover 1 $0.00 ODST HGN Action Fig 1 $0.00 Black H1 Spartan Action Fig 1 $0.00 Total $2,278.17 $2,278.17
None of the prices above include shipping, or taxes. Thank god.

This was not as bad as I imagined, but still, erk. And to think it probably won't end here.

How much have you spent? Guesstimates?

Sci-fi Writers Join War on Terror

My literature/English class centers around Science Fiction, so today my professor brought in an article from May of this year, explaining how Science fiction writers are being used by the Homeland Security Department.

A great read, and really interesting to know that there is only one woman in the group. Sigma, the group name, requires that you have to have at least on technical doctorate degree, and obviously a heavy interest in Science Fiction. Both of these requirements are pretty male dominated. I think the whole Sigma funding sounds a little science fiction-y itself. That money is going to these authors who live in the future, and think of the impossible. Although if someone was clever enough to think of it, then maybe it's not impossible...

But the main part of the article that caught my eye was one of the members, Larry Niven. Mr. Ringworld himself!

His quote as follows:

Why offer their ideas to the government instead of private companies that pay big bucks?

"To save civilization," Ringworld author Larry Niven says. "We do it in fiction. Why wouldn't we want to do it in fact?"

This struck me as awesome because the second we started up on the article, I was immediately thinking about Halo/Ringworld, in general. Kinda like a subconscious deja-vu thing :)

Darnit Wu

Wu complained about the lighiting in my first Textana pic.

So he tricked me into going outside this morning and taking a new one, which makes me look 10x more grumpy. The one size smaller than labeled deal worked out just fine for a medium. So to all the girls I talked to about the shirt sizing: order away.

roar

Shopping Spree

Over the weekend I managed to accumulate a few goodies...

1. Halo: Uprising

I first got a glimpse of this at Comic-Con 07 and was eager to get my head wrapped around another comic book medium for Halo (HGN, anyone?). The guy at Comics n Stuff sold me the last copy and gave me a heads up on the release date for the next issue, not that I remember it though. I've already read through it. I love the illustrations, and the big, two page panel in the civilian storyline. What I don't like are the massive ads stapled into the comic itself, incredibly distracting from my read (well, they ARE ads...), only because I don't care about the conversation between a Lion and an SUV. What I did enjoy was the set up of the story to come. I'm sure someone was thinking "How bad of a position can we put the Master Chief in, for him to fight and frag his way out of?" 4/5

2.MadCatz Halo 3 Faceplate and Skins

At first I thought about giving this set away for my H3 Multiplayerpalooza birthday party, but my little sister really likes it. I'm a little sad it cost over twenty dollars, and that I snagged it on the other side a bit, but it looks much better than I thought it would. Since MadCatz signed their multi-year agreement with Microsoft, maybe I can get a hold on a much more appealing skin and faceplate design... 3/5

3. OXM Monthly Oct. 07

The content inside is nothing new, and only spans a page and a third (the remaining bit is on Halo Wars). I bought it soley for the cover art, which depicts a Master Chief, tinted in blue light. In his visor is a reflection of Cortana, passing out (like in the E3 trailer, but hotter). 1/5

4. EGM September Issue
Yeah, I know. Old. I had to fish out the Master Chief cover. Not leaving a score cause it's already been reviewed to death. But EGM > OXM. Tru fax.

5. Panera Bread for Lunch

Greek Salad and Broccoli and Cheddar soup, if you must know. Delicious. 5/5

6. Cortana Tank Top

I was stalking/tracking this item every minute since I ordered it the day it went up in the Bungie Store. I think the cute part is the stream of code printed on the inside collar :) It's quickly become my favorite new shirt, and like another female halo fan, I've already planned to wear this shirt to the midnight release at GameStop on September 25th. 5/5

Ta-Da!

After maybe a couple hours of searching, I found a template online for Blogger that I liked. Then after another hour or so of photoshopping, I Halo-ified it. I'm pretty happy with the end result, but that won't keep me from making a few adjustments here and there.

PAX is taking place this weekend. Guess who isn't going!

Have fun, everyone!