MIT Hacks Harvard For Halo, Game Prompts Lots of Sick Days 127
yonari writes "Early on the morning before the Halo 3 release, John Harvard donned a Mjolnir helmet and a beaver emblem, and carried an assault rifle on his left shoulder, apparently acquired from the UNSC Engineering Division." The Washington Post also points out that a lot of folks took sick days on Tuesday as a consequence of the game's release. "Some local workers won't have to skip out on the office to play the game. At some companies that offer video games as a break room activity, Halo 3 was pre-ordered months ago. The Motley Fool, the Alexandria investment advisory firm, is expecting its copy of the game to arrive from Amazon.com soon. Same for Platinum Solutions, a Reston software consulting firm."
Skipping work (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Skipping work (Score:4, Funny)
OK, depressing defeatism over.
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Unless you also get time-and-a-half overtime pay, that dinner wasn't free.
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Pretty selfish of you to be working like everything was normal, rather than fighting to liberate Earth
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Misleading Title (Score:5, Insightful)
I am all for creative titles to create interest, and I know the pranks are called hacks, but this one is just a little too misleading.
Now MIT hacking an illegal share at Harvard (which is of course exempt from RIAA lawsuits [and therefore I assume game and MPAA by association], according to recent articles here, so they can get away with it...) in order to get the game early - THAT would be good reading. And maybe be counted as extra credit in a class.
On behalf of the Slashdot team, (Score:3, Funny)
Sincerely,
krog
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1. People constantly post that the summary (or in this case title) is misleading, but don't get labeled flamebait nor get "yelled" at. My comment was made because "I" misread it, and so I therefore might think others may do the same thing. You seem to get overly offended that someone would misread or misunderstand something easily.
2. My wife works across the street from MIT. Really. I know what they call pranks... however, hacks are more commonly thought of as hacking on a computer... an
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You have much [wikipedia.org] to [catb.org] learn [mit.edu].
To summarise: when referring to MIT, "hacks" are pranks, often played on rival universities, usually Caltech or Harvard.
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Woops, missed that part. Sorry about that.
It's a medical condition. (Score:5, Funny)
Those with bad breath have halitosis halotosis, and this is characterized by a lack of people willing to play multiplay on the same Xbox.
Just continuing the grand tradition... (Score:4, Informative)
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Somewhere a Microsoft marketing executive is chortling evilly.
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But yes, Bill Gate was probably smiling when he saw this. After all, he dropped out of Harvard.
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That's just awsome (Score:2, Insightful)
A Halo launch is like Christmas (Score:3, Interesting)
I hate Master Chief as much as I hate Santa Claus. And Jesus.
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Though I didn't know that slashdot was the Church of Halo. Maybe it should say "Master Chief Saves" on the front page.
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I like that, I think I might need to make a bumper sticker...
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I hate Master Chief as much as I hate Santa Claus. And Jesus.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEWIw-a0GJw [youtube.com]
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The Hype (Score:2, Interesting)
No sick day for me.. (Score:2)
Sick days (Score:1)
Hmm... (Score:1)
It has nothing on Dragon Quest (Score:2)
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/whats_on/listings/article704332.ece [timesonline.co.uk]
END COMMUNICATION
Not going to switch to Vista (Score:2)
Re:Somebody please explain the appeal (Score:4, Insightful)
Wait, what? Doom's story is exactly this: "A gate to hell opens on Mars and demons appear. Kill them". And Halo's story: "Humans are at war against the Covenant, a conglomeration of several alien races following a religious prophecy that requires them to activate and fire the different halos spread around the galaxy/universe. Firing those halos will kill all sentient life in the galaxy, but they don't know it. The installations were setup by the Forerunners to destroy the Flood, a parasitic alien race that consumes all life forms. You are Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan 117, and you're thrown into the mix." Depending on the game, either you're trying to get off of a halo installation after crash landing and in the process learn about the Flood and what the halo installations do (Halo 1), stopping the Covenant from activating the rest of the installations and destroying all life in the galaxy while finding out why the Covenant are fighting the humans (Forerunner technology on Earth that can activate all of the halo installations) and at the same time converting a portion of the Covenant (the Elites) to the humans' side (Halo 2), or finishing that fight (Halo 3 -- Halo 2 stopped halfway through). Sure sounds the same as "kill the demons from hell, on Mars" to me.
Say what you will about the graphics, physics, multiplayer, fanboys, or whatever else, but I don't think anybody familiar with Bungie's work can say that they don't write a compelling and interesting story with a rich history and fully-populated world. See Marathon [wikipedia.org], for example.
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Just curious.
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Re:Somebody please explain the appeal (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, shit. If you want to break it down like that, every FPS has had the same story as Doom. You could probably even break down any game at all that way.
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I'm happy Halo3 is out because it helps collect the jerks in one spot.
Although it is almost funny in Shadowrun having an 100-lbs elf call your 800-lbs Troll a fag. ;)
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Still curious (Score:4, Insightful)
I've observed that most explanations come in one of these two forms.
They acknowledge the story was moderately good, but the multiplayer is what REALLY sets it apart from the rest, and the graphics are so-so.
Thats tough for many PC gamers to swallow. Dual wield and sticky grenades are neat, but I'm sorry, Tribes stomped it. These posts must come from players with very little multiplayer PC game experience. I'd even rank the original Team Fortress as better multiplayer than any Halo. Savage too. Halo is just a fun, _simple_ deathmatch / ctf game. It has basic multiplayer FPS elements, with the exception of a few vehicles, and the shield thing that could make one-on-one duels last longer than in most games of the genre. Those elements were not unique to Halo, see Tribes.
The other form exclaims Halo's AWESOME story, but admits it wasn't a very pretty game. I think these types of posts come from people at lest somewhat experienced with PC games. They think that having any background story at all, especially the decent one Halo apparently has, puts it a notch above most popular PC FPS titles. If they have anything good to say about the multiplayer, it's unclear if they ever ventured past the weak deathmatch modes offered by popular PC single/multi player FPS games. I agree, Halo is better than most cobbled together DM/CTF PC counterparts, but it stops there.
In conclusion, Halo seems to appeal to the lowest common denominator of FPS gamer through several different means, thus it garners a very wide audience that favors it for wildly different reasons. This would explain the greatly differing opinions on it's greatness. However, unless some solid evidence is given to explain why Halo is truly unique and worthy of all the hype it's getting, I'm putting it right up there with the likes of popular boy bands of the 90's and Britney Spears. Popular, not Great.
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Go ahead, mod this flamebait; I bet you can't do it without a guilty conscience though.
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I think the people you tend to see proclaiming this are young, and/or lack gaming experience. I think console gaming really blew up around the time halo and halo2 were out. A lot of these young guys
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I agree, Halo (the whole series) is good, not great. It has done so well because of extensive marketing to people with relatively limited FPS horizons. It really hasn't done anything new I can think of, it just decently rehashed things that were important at the time of its release. Nothing else (on a console) provided the majority of what any Halo game has provided. In other words, I've never liked Halo much and only play it when several friends want to play with me.. but I respect Bungie for their work be
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It's a powerful, easy to use level editor that you can play games in while editting and allows you to share your levels with other console editors. That's pretty revolutionary.
It's named in honour of the Marathon editor, not the Quake editor. Its an homage to their own software, not someone else's.
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Re:Somebody please explain the appeal (Score:4, Informative)
First, the Halo universe does have some depth to it. If you think Halo 2 had the same story as doom then you probably weren't paying attention. It would take too long to explain the story in depth, but I'm sure it's all on wikipedia anyway. Certainly I don't find the Halo games as engrossing as some of the great PC games (thinking of Halflife, Deux Ex, System Shock, and most recently Bioshock) but I would definately say it's above average. At the very least the story is not a negative point. Halo 3 in particular ties up nicely the plot of the first two games.
Secondly the gameplay: I am definately a keyboard/mouse kinda guy. I think a console controller is far inferior. That said, the Halo games basically set the standard for how FPS's should be played on consoles. In this sense the original Halo stands among games like Mario64 and Goldeneye for having great control schemes (for the time). Certainly a keyboard/mouse would be better, but I don't want to use those while sitting on my couch. For the equipment it has, the Halo games have as good control as you could ask for.
Moreover even after having played just about every fps I can think of on PC, I have never found a game that had vehicles that were as fun to drive as in Halo. Halflife 2 came close, and other games may have more realistic vehicle control, but the vehicles in the Halo series are just FUN. However Bungi accomplished that, they did it damn well.
Third the graphics. I freely conceed that Halo 2 had shitacular graphics compared to computer games of the same time. After all Halflife 2 was released at the same time and was far prettier on a high-end (for the time) PC. However Halo 2 did have some of the best graphics for the xbox at the time, and for that console generation on the whole (off the top of my head I can only think of RE4 on the GC having undeniably superior graphics) For Halo 3 that is much less of an issue - the graphics are great. They aren't as gritty as Gears of War or as atmospheric as Bioshock, but they are not meant to be. They're rich, colorful and detailed, and the draw distance is impressive.
Finally I will end with the main point of Halo - MULTIPLAYER. Completely disregarding the story, the graphics, or the lack of mouse control, you still have one of the funnest multiplayer games around. Sitting in front of a big tv and playing with a few friends is an experience that cannot easily be matched on the PC, and is definately not matched by any other console game. It's like a Counterstrike LAN party but you don't have to lug a computer all over the place. In a word: awesome.
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Actually, being a mouse/keyboard guy myself, I think the metroid prime series is the best approximation of FPS on console (and I haven't yet played 3, which is supposed to be by far the best). Have you played MP 3? I'm just curious as I haven't heard anyone compare the three control schemes (mouse/keyboard, dual analogue, Wiimote)?
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Actually I have played a fair bit of MP3 on a friends wii and thought it was great. I plan to pick up a wii around christmas when the new smash bros comes out and I will definitely be picking up MP3.
I'm a big fan of the first two metroid primes as well. From what I played, the 3rd controlled wonderfully. It was a bit different - I'd say it's more intuitive than a controller by far, but still not quite up to keyboard/mouse. That may just be because I have
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1) Keyboard + Mouse: Pretty much any that allows mouse sensitivity adjusting
2) Dual analog: Halo2/3/Shadowrun(Who all use the same input scheme), and R6:Vegas
3) Wiimote: Metroid Prime 3
KB/m just needs to allow sensitivity adjustment which is already provided for in pretty much all modern DX games.
Dual Analog needs sensitivity tuning so that the distance from the center results in an appropriate speed of acceleration, also, auto-aim
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If you think Halo 2 had the same story as doom then you probably weren't paying attention. It would take too long to explain the story in depth, but I'm sure it's all on wikipedia anyway.
You shouldn't have to "pay attention" to the story to experience it. Playing the game should be a vehicle for telling a story, not the other way around; Metal Gear Solid nailed this, Halo did not. If you're simply using the story as an explaination for why I'm out here killing things (yes, even if you explain a little more after every battle), then you're just wasting effort -- it may be a more in-depth story than Doom, but it's a story that should be in the front of the manual and not crammed in the middl
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First: I say "not paying attention" to mean neglecting doing something that someone should be doing (namely being cognizant of what's going on) not failing to do something that requires effort. In this sense I meant to say that anyone thinking that Halo 2 and Doom have the same story must be being willfully ignorant - not that they are failing to notice some nuanced plot point.
Two: I would bet good money that there are MORE cut scenes in the MGS games than in the Halo games used to explain the s
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But did you read his post?
Terrible graphics, pathetic sound, gameplay physics that make no sense, and the exact same story as Doom... one of the worst first person shooters ever made...
Thats not an insightful critique; it's just a string of insults. In a story that is only slightly related to halo (I think the news here was the MIT hack itself) that usually means trolling. If he wasn't trolling then he should learn to write a bit more eloquently.
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It means he thought the game was crappy and wants to know what everyone who is participating in this circle jerk over it sees in it. I'm curious as well (though I don't consider it a crappy game as I've never played it).
And no, the story was definitely about Halo. Did you read the part about people taking sick days to play Halo? That had nothing to do with MIT or Harvard (except that some people connected with both universities probably took sick days as well).
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Sitting in front of a big tv and playing with a few friends is an experience that cannot easily be matched on the PC, and is definately not matched by any other console game.
I have to disagree on this one. While sitting around on a couch with four friends is tough with PCs, hopping on Vent or Teamspeak with a whole lot MORE friend is remarkably easy. Plus you don't need to suffer through the whole splitscreen experience (ya, I know you get used to it but that's always irritated me).
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Second, have you played the game? I never got the chance to play the demo, and I haven't been able to play the full game yet either because the roomie's completely addicted and has parked his ass in front of my TV for the past 24 hours, but I've heard that most people who've played either one fell in love with this iteration of the series. My roomate is a
Re:Somebody please explain the appeal (Score:4, Interesting)
I also liked Halo 2. Story wasn't perfect, but some decent settings and some new things (dual-wielding, etc) that really added to the game. Have played it through a few times, played absolutely shitloads of games locally with friends and a few hundred games on Live which I got this year. I like some of the multiplayer maps (e.g., Lockout) so much that it would concern my girlfriend if she knew.
I got Halo 3 on the day it launched and have started playing the campaign. We had a few people playing online to test out the multiplayer on opening night and it was pretty decent - no less fun than Halo 2. A few "This isn't like Lockout?!" complaints, but we all gradually came around due to some hilarity with the Gravity Hammer, bubble shield, flares, etc. One friend has bought a 360 today so he can get in on the action.
The graphics aren't the best shown by a FPS, no, but are very, very good. The map designs, IMO, are up there with say Half-Life 2 which I was really impressed by - terrain, lighting, everything looks excellent. The characters are great, though not quite Gears of War (in which the characters were awesome). The atmosphere is fun. Everything comes together really well - the fluidity is far superior to other FPSs IMO - everything is to scale as opposed to some of those FPS where you feel too close to the ground, or you don't seem to jump more than 15cm. The audio is really good. Grunts saying stuff about how they're going to work together to kill you, or marines complaining about you stealing their kill (as in the previous versions) are good fun.
As a product, the value for money for someone like me and many others is exceptional - I'll play through the campaign a few times solo, maybe a couple of times co-op. Then I'll play with friends locally or on Live once every week or so. Then a few hundred games on Live in match-making. Plus muck around with Forge, and try out the Theater mode which is really interesting.
I'd be interested to see an honest breakdown of Halo-haters into categories:
- an Xbox vs PS thing
- tied to Microsoft
- console vs PC
- mouse/kb vs controller sticks
- simply didn't like it
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2) Don't get in a vehicle when the other team controls the rocket launcher.
Vehicles used well can be devastating, but there are counters to them, obviously.
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That is one of my favorite Penny Arcade comics... after many an online deathmatch, it just seems so fitting
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Finished Halo 3 campaign this morning. Stumbling across a few of the terminals along the way makes me wish they could've catered more for the highbrow audience that appreciated Deus Ex. I read through a site detailing the terminals from Marathon and it seemed intriguing. They could have definitely re-badged that aspect further in Halo (which, to be fair, already borrows quite h
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You're assuming console players don't also play PC games. Maybe I'm unique, but I don't think so. Prior to playing Halo, I played plenty of FPS games on PC, from Wolf3d to Quake 3 (around the time of Halo 1's launch) and everything in between. I've backed off a lot on PC gaming since, but I've played a few more recent PC games (Far Cry, for example). What's to like about Halo?
TV output? (Score:3, Insightful)
Unique (at the time) gameplay mechanics: Shields that recharge if you take a break from the action
Citation needed. I distinctly remember shield regeneration from Faceball 2000 a decade earlier.
Grenades thrown via a separate button. To be fair, TF1 did this first, but Halo did it better.
Forsaken did it early on as well: gun on one fire button and missile on the other.
A fun console experience. Relaxing on a couch in front of a 50" HDTV with a 5.1 surround sound speaker setup beats being hunched over a keyboard and mouse in front of a 20" monitor with 2-channel stereo any day
Didn't PCs have SDTV output at the time?
A great musical score. Marty O'Donnell is a musical genius
More of a genius than Trent Reznor (Quake [wikipedia.org]; Halo 2 [wikipedia.org])?
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If it did, I don't see any reference to it on the wikipedia page [wikipedia.org] or this 1up page [1up.com]. The 1up page does list several landmarks for the game, but not regenerating shields.
Sure. Some TVs even had VGA inputs at the time, or through the use of a converter box you could translate VGA to YPrPb component. It was still a hassle to setup, the composite/s-video SDTV output was 480i
But why aren't there more 10-foot PC games? (Score:2)
If it did, I don't see any reference to it on the wikipedia page or this 1up page. The 1up page does list several landmarks for the game, but not regenerating shields.
In Faceball, you started out with 3 max hit points. Every time you got hit, your HAPPYFACE lost 1 point. Every time you didn't get hit for about 10 consecutive seconds, your HAPPYFACE regained 1 point if it weren't already at max HP.
the composite/s-video SDTV output was 480i rather than 480p (progressive scan really does make a difference)
Consoles of the era tended to be 480i (SDTV) too, not 480p (EDTV). A lot of PS2 games ran in 640x240 as a way of doing 480i with less frame buffer VRAM, and GameCube dropped the component (and progressive) output after the first couple production runs.
and you're still tied to a keyboard and mouse. A PC with incidental TV support is not the same as a console designed around the "10 foot experience".
Is there a specific reas
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But Halo 1 and 2 ran in 480p, which is what we were talking about. As well, almost every Xbox game supported 480p (there were a very few that didn't, such as Hitman 2, Kung Fu Chaos, and Manhunt). Gamecube removing component support was just stupid on Ninte
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The number of people who not only have gamepads but also have their PCs hooked to their TVs is very small. The gamepad population has changed a bit since you can use Xbox 360 controllers on a PC just by plugging them in (or using a wireless adapter for the wireless controllers), but those people still aren't connecting their PCs to their TVs. If I had to guess, I would say that more people don't because PC interfaces are still too tied to kb/mouse, and kb/mouse doesn't work well from a couch.
In many cases, four gamers are present in one house, such as a parent, two children, and a friend of one of the children. A four-player console setup costs $900 ($500 for a console and controllers and $400 for a big EDTV) or less if you already have a big TV. But because major PC game developers have neglected 10-foot modes, a four-player PC setup costs well over twice that for four PCs and four monitors. So taking into account the lockout chip business model that pervades the console market, how can a sma
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This is a question that Microsoft at least is taking very seriously. XBLA has been a great tool for introducing smaller, independent developers to the masses without requiring massive amounts of money (an XBLA title may cost upwards of $50-100K, which is very cheap compared to the multiple millions spent on many titles these days). For example, Ninja Bee [ninjabee.com] now has several games
I have to do this... (Score:1)
Shields that recharge if you take a break from the action, which lets you focus on tactics rather than finding health and armor pickups. Pretty much everybody's copied this mechanic now, but Halo did it first. (I'm sure you can dig up some obscure title that actually did it first, but Halo was the first popular game to use this approach)
What gameplay value do the the shields really provide? Longer one-on-one fights, more defensive play? Is it any different than what was provided with Tribes's free movement and health packs? We even had shields...
I wish I could find a fan of both Tr [wikipedia.org]
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The shields (or any recharging health system like in Gears of War or the recent Call of Duty games) gives you the ability to keep playing without having to scrounge around for health. There were many times while playing more conventional games (Quake 2, Half-life, Doom 3, etc) where I would often
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> and it did allow multi-box LAN play (up to 16 players, with any number of boxes or
> players per boxes, from 4 boxes with 4 players each to 16 boxes with 1 player each).
Actually, you are describing Halo 2 here. Halo 1 was limited to only 4 boxes per game.
Pat.
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A compelling and interesting story. Half-life did that first, but the story is different from Half-life. It's okay to like both.
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How exactly do you use a mouse and keyboard from a recliner, while still reclining? Also, since we were talking specifically about gaming, watching TV and movies or rea
Bond. James Bond. (Score:2)
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Head Like a Hole (Score:4, Funny)
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Anyway, I remember very clearly the day that Halo 2, the game, was released. All day, Fraternity-type guys were driving by with their windows rolled down, shaking their copy of Ha
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Halo's multiplayer has set new standards for console FPS games. As for the "hype" being centered in by far the largest market for video games i
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I guess we are the largest market if you are comparing North America, South America, Antartica, Australia, and Afri
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He didn't spoil the ending for us, but there is no way he lied to us, haha. Maybe he is just a good gamer? I know he helped us quite a bit doing the co-op campaign.