News briefs

Medieval weapon building to be held Oct. 14

The Medieval Combat Club, a Portland State recreation student group, will be holding a weapons-building event Friday, Oct. 14 in Science Building 2, Room 139D.

The event, called Foamsmithing 101, will provide the materials and equipment necessary to build one-handed swords, daggers and other medieval weaponry using foam padding.

Practices, which are held on Saturdays at 1 p.m. in the wrestling gym of the Peter W. Stott Center, are designed to help interested students get ideas for the kind of weapons they would like to make.

The club participates in mock battles of medieval combat with foam-padded weapons. They also offer sword-fighting instructions to all members. The organization is open to all PSU students enrolled in at least one credit.

–Carly Nairn

$300 million for Halo 3

Gamers around the globe dropped nearly $300 million on Halo 3 in the week since the first-person shooter for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console debuted, the company said Thursday.

The company also said that in the week after the Sept. 25 launch, Xbox 360 console sales “nearly tripled” from the weekly average before Halo 3 hit store shelves, according to initial reports from retailers worldwide.

More than 2.7 million people have logged on to Xbox Live to collectively play 40 million hours of Halo 3 with other gamers, Microsoft said.

Halo 3, the much-anticipated last installment of a trilogy, was developed by Microsoft-owned Bungie Studios.

Microsoft said sales hit $170 million in the game’s first 24 hours on sale in the United States, surpassing Spider-Man 3, which grossed $151 million in its opening weekend. Halo 3 sells for $60, while the average price of a movie ticket in 2006 was $6.55, according to the Motion Picture Association of America.

The company is also selling a version of Halo 3 with a disk of bonus features that costs $70, and one packaged in a replica of protagonist Master Chief’s helmet that costs $130.

-Associated Press