"They have a fantastic night planned for all Xbox 360 fans and Casual Gamers alike, to play some of the best games on the Xbox 360 console. Some of the games include… Guitar Hero World Tour, Halo 3, Street Fighter IV, Virtua Tennis 2009, Pro Evolution Soccer, Sacred 2, Harry Potter and a lot more.

There will also be a raffle where the main prize is an Xbox 360 Pro and a bunch of games with all money raised going to the Royal Children's Hospital.

This is a FREE event but booking is requ..."

"Full list of top titles:

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles

1 Halo 3
2 Call of Duty: WaW
3 Call of Duty 4
4 Gears of War 2
5 GTA IV
6 FIFA 09
7 UFC 2009 Undisputed
8 Left 4 Dead
9 Fallout 3
10 [PROTOTYPE]


Top Arcade Titles

1 Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers
2 GAROU -MARK OF THE WOLVES-
3 Castle Crashers
4 Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
5 Worms
6 Sonic The Hedgehog 3
7 UNO
8 Hasbro Family Game Ni..."

"The developers behind the Halo franchise will be partaking in their annual Bungie Day festivities this year on July 7 2009, the team announced on their latest podcast.

Maps will not be handed out this time around, but there will be a new, special playlist. Rather than doing the traditional 7 vs. 7 setup, the day will feature a 4 vs. 4 playlist where players can earn Recon armor and engage members of the Bungie team for a whole 24 hours. Not many details were revealed, but this playlist is..."

""Games are always packed with items, superpowers, plot devices, and vehicles that I wish I had. I realize that they’re fictional stories, just like we find in books or movies. It’s so different, though. When I’m reading or vegging out to the television on the couch, I’m actively detached. I’m a spectator. When I’m gaming, however, I’m actively involved. When I play Portal, I’m actually creating portals with a special gun to get myself out of sticky situations–even if it’s ..."

"Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)

1 Call of Duty: WaW
2 Halo 3
3 Call of Duty 4
4 Gears of War 2
5 GTA IV
6 FIFA 09
7 UFC 2009 Undisputed
8 Left 4 Dead
9 [PROTOTYPE]
10 Rock Band 2


Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions purchased)

1 Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers
2 Castle Crashers
3 Sonic The Hedgehog 3
4 Worms
5 Sam & Max Save the World
6 UNO
7 CellFactor: Psychokinetic Wars
8 Peggle
9 Hasbro Famil..."

""

"Back when Halo: Recon was announced, and before it became Halo 3: ODST, both Brian Jerrard and Joe Staten at Bungie separately stated that the game wasn't going to be a full retail experience. Staten said, "We do not view this as a $60 title," while Jerrard remarked, "I think this is going to be a good value and a lot of content but we're not viewing this as sort of a full game release in the sense of Halo 3." When pressed further about pricing, Jerrard said that it was too soon to tell, but ..."

"Nobody watches the credits. We’d rather spam the start button than devote even a few minutes to the people who made it all possible. Some developers get this; some don’t. Join us as we berate and praise in roughly equal measures."

"If you've been paying attention to this year's E3 show, you've definitely heard of Halo 3: ODST, the sequel to Halo 2 and prequel to Halo 3. For once, Bungie isn't stealing ALL the limelight with their latest Halo news, but ODST remains one of the most anticipated games of 2009, as evidenced by the hordes of journalists and other attendees at Microsoft's booth; the Seattle-based manufacturer hasn't been liberal with their appointments, either.

While other upcoming Xbox 360 titles like For..."

"Looks like it’s the usual suspects this week.

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)
1 Halo 3
2 Call of Duty: WaW
3 Call of Duty 4
4 Gears of War 2
5 GTA IV
6 UFC 2009 Undisputed Demo
7 FIFA 09
8 UFC 2009 Undisputed
9 Left 4 Dead
10 Fallout 3

Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions purchased)

1 Castle Crashers
2 Peggle
3 Hasbro Family Game Night**
4 Worms
5 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1989 Classic Arcade
6 UNO
7 Star Trek: D•A•C
8 The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai
9 ..."

"In my never-ending quest to fill the giant open spaces of my life I call work, I decided to compile a list of video games guys who are b.a.mf.’s. By this I mean these guys probably couldn’t ever successfully have a girlfriend, can kill without losing sleep, or guys who should really pay a visit to some of the scum that are allowed to exist in this world. Just guys who you don’t want to mess with- ever."

"Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)

1 Halo 3
2 Call of Duty: WaW
3 Call of Duty 4
4 Gears of War 2
5 GTA IV
6 UFC 2009 Undisputed Demo
7 FIFA 09
8 Left 4 Dead
9 Fallout 3
10 Fable II


Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions purchased)

1 Brain Challenge
2 Castle Crashers
3 Star Trek: D•A•C
4 Hasbro Family Game Night **
5 Peggle
6 Worms
7 Space Invaders Extreme
8 UNO
9 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1989 Class..."

"The Nintendo Wii has been a huge success. This is mostly due to its motion sensor controls. One of our first looks at these controls was with Wii Sports."

In this episode, there will be talks on what the RP staff have been playing, including Jack's discovery of Demon's Souls, Jim's DS blowout, and disucssions of online flak between players, in hand with a comical Halo 3 CTF FAIL.

We will also be topping you up on recent gaming news such as Pixeljunk Monster's leap to the handheld.

This episode is hosted by Michael Perry, and stars Rich Matney, Sam Acton, and the two new stars, Jim Hargreaves and Jack Patton.

It's our third episode of t...

"“We generally don't mind comparisons, as I can think of worse franchises to be compared to than Halo or Call of Duty,” Managing Director Herman Hulst said. “What I don't like is being labeled as the ‘killer’ of franchise X. We've set up Killzone as a universe and an experience in its own right, without wanting to benchmark it against any one particular game. We're, obviously, gamers ourselves and we play anything from World of Warcraft to LittleBigPlanet to MotorStorn or Guitar Hero..."

"Why he's overrated: Speaking of 'roid rage, check out this loser. Marcus Fenix is the kind of muscle-bound buffoon that makes even guys like Kratos seem like introspective philosophers. His personality consists entirely of grunting, shouting, and shooting.

As much as Epic Games has tried to fool gamers by licensing tie-in novels and comic books, we all know the truth. There is no real story to be had for Marcus in Gears of War, aside from arm up, take aim and go on a bug hunt. It's all ab..."

"To celebrate the official release of a selection of new titles added to the Xbox360 Classics Range, Microsoft have released a whole new batch of updated cover artwork. Halo 3, Mass Effect and Project Gotham Racing 4 are all available as part of the UK’s Xbox360 Classics Range now, with a Recommended Retail Price of £19.99, and Electronic Theatre can’t recommend all three highly enough."

""

"Do you love Halo? Do online social communities and console video games excite you? Do you love building scalable online infrastructure & websites for large and passionate audiences? The Halo franchise studio is looking for a strong software development engineer with a passion for video games and online services. We have an ambitious task ahead, taking the current Halo community and online gaming support system and bringing it to the next level.

We're looking to blend console, web, and mobi..."

"Show notes:

WCG’s Ultimate Gamer - “Halo 3″ Episode Recap

Couple of Sony tidbits - Rag Doll Kung Fu has no online multiplayer + no speaking Negative on the Home Beta (which is a “Game” btw)

EDGE Online’s Negative N64 article..

.. which some how brings us back to the topic of Review Scores for Video Games.. good or bad?

NEWS:

“Sim City” Creator Will Wright Leaves Maxis, Electronic Arts (only to join back EA)

Yu Suzuki Leaves SEGA (only to join back SEGA)
..."

"God of War II has a hidden message that appears in the sky when you trigger a secret orb stash, echoing the words of Robert Oppenheimer, the 'father of the nuclear bomb'. When Oppenheimer saw the world's first nuclear test in 1945, he said: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds" based on verse 32 from Chapter 11 of the Bhagavad Gita, a sacred Hindu script. And there it is, written slowly in the sky above Kratos – perhaps because of all the power you just absorbed. Eerie, huh? By t..."

"In North America, despite the fore-mentioned flaws, the Xbox360 has a sizable lead over the PLAYSTATION3. It's nearly a 2-to-1 lead. It's no doubt this is due to the price facilitated toward a varying market of gaming consumers, and the superfluous marketing tactics Microsoft has employed to sell their latest console."

"You know that game you play for hours every single night, and dream about playing throughout every single day? We can’t stand the damn thing. You remember that game you treasured as a child, the one you still get warm and fuzzy and misty-eyed just thinking about? Seriously, it sucks.

What follows are the “classics” our individual staffers consider crap. The overrated gems we just don’t understand. You may not agree with us, but that's okay - in most of these cases, we don't even ag..."

"While the Xbox360 and Wii have a considerably lower price and larger install base than the PLAYSTATION3, the console isn’t all that far behind the competition. However, since 2006 Sony has been taken a good pummeling by the media (especially in North America) because of the high-price and gaudy promotional campaign for the third-generation PlayStation console. It’s still not uncommon for a lot of journalists and gamers alike to rant on Sony, claiming that their console is “dying” or �..."

"Spring is nearly here, and with it comes new life for some of this generation's biggest, most action-packed games, exclusively on XboxLIVE!. With more than thirty-five million in combined sales, the Halo and Gears of War franchises have set the bar for multiplayer games on Xbox360. Now players of Halo 3 and Gears of War 2 will see the multiplayer experiences made even bigger by new Game Add-ons."

The NPD Group has released the top twenty software and top ten software by platform lists for the recently unveiled February 2009 sales numbers yesterday, showing the top rankings in software sales for the month. The top ten rankings for accessory sales are also available.

Numbers inserted where known.

Top 20 Games of February 2009
01. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) - 644k
02. [360] Street Fighter IV* (Capcom) - 446k
03. [PS3] Street Fighter IV* (Capcom) - 403k
04. [WII] Wii Play (Nintend...

"Microsoft today announced the expansion of its Classics collection in EMEA to include three blockbuster titles, as it continues its strategy of offering high quality experiences at outstanding value. On 20th March, Halo 3, Mass Effect and Project Gotham Racing 4 will join the elite selection of Xbox360 Classics, with each game available at an Estimated Retail Price (ERP) of just £19.99."

"So a lot of gamers have adopted the name "Halo 4" for now, and silly little fanboy arguments are already popping up. Well, I think they're rather silly -- like the one over Halo 3's "Finish the fight!" slogan. Hey, everyone kind of assumed the fight was finished after John-117 and the Arbiter sent the Covenant running home with their tails between their legs, leaving behind a trail of dead Prophets and Brutes... and those little guys with funny English.

Safe to say most of us are hoping ..."

"Presumably in anticipation of the Resident Evil 5 Console Bundle due to arrive next Friday, GAME have reduced the price of their Xbox360 Elite Consoles by more than 13%."

"The game, O'Connor says, "is significantly more than an add-on. It's a lot of game. You play the game through the point of view of an ODST. They are dropped into combat from orbit. They have a rivalry with the Spartans that is well known to the fans of the fiction. We finally let you into their boots as it were. …It's kind of a detective story in a way. But it is much more action-packed than that."

As for the franchise's main character, O'Connor says, "I doubt we have seen the last of Mas..."

"Saturday night, while many of us were stuffing food into our faces, plenty of folks were still playing Halo 3. At precisely 6:36pm PST, in a three minute and nineteen second game of Infection on Foundry, four players participated in Halo 3's one billionth match.

One Billion. It's a giant number, one that's difficult to understand without the proper context. Our first thought was to put it into perspective by comparing Halo 3's total games played with its predecessor, Halo 2, a title tha..."

"Sean Pertwee is in it:

Any game with Sean Pertwee in it is better than any game without. By this token, Primal is also far superior to Halo 3, as are the original Killzone and Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior. Every multiplayer game needs Sean Pertwee's rasping Englishness barking orders through a gas mask, and if you disagree then you are obviously a casual gamer, which is why you love Halo so much. Halo players are so stupid.
Sean Pertwee was in Event Horizon, which is the best film ever ..."

"This was brought to my attention by BrandonCarlson on Twitter. Turns out that Microsoft might be overcharging JUST a tad for the new Halo 3 Mythic map pack. I'm sure that it's just a mistake, but it's a pretty funny one. Check it out!"

"Being an ardent Halo (check out our Halo 3 review) fan I have been patiently awaiting the release of the new Mythic Map Pack that Bungie have been cooking for the better part of the last six months. I’ve been teased with the weekly updates hinting on the layout and design of the maps and was overjoyed when they were finally revealed.

So you can imagine my excitement when I got my hands on an early code so I can write these impressions. After giving them a good bash it would be simple for ..."

"So, when you've got a new computer game to plug what do you? Easy, you trawl the UK to find UK's hottest female Halo fan.

And after a rather vague selection process which just might have involved wandering round a few modelling agencies, Xbox decided on 25-year-old Amanda Johnstone from South London, a girl who likes nothing more than 'being snuggled up in bed with her Xbox controller, playing Halo to help take her away from her daily stresses.' Halo duvet cover and pillow case set natural..."

"

Master Chief and Arbiter aren't be too safe walking around that world map. See what happens when they come across a....random battle.

Just an FYI. Master Chief is Knight class, while the Arbiter is a Mage"

World renowned machinima series Red vs Blue is back with a new season, following on almost directly from where it left off after mini series Reconstruction. Part 1 has already been uploaded and the gags come quick and fast, you don't need to like Halo to enjoy this entertaining romp.

"Saturday January 17th ‘09 saw one of the biggest Halo 3 events in Australia take place at the Chifley At Lennon’s hotel in the centre of Brisbane.

Among the twenty four teams who attended the event were some of the most talented and skilled in the Australian Halo 3 community. They included: Best BR who came fourth at the World Cyber Games finals in Cologne, Germany last year, Nuke and Pave who were there to prove that they could go toe-to-toe with the best and come out on top, Team Evol..."

"Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (based on UU's)
1 CoD: World at War
2 Halo 3
3 Call of Duty 4
4 Gears of War 2
5 Left 4 Dead
6 GTA IV
7 Fable II
8 FIFA 09
9 Guitar Hero World Tour
10 Madden NFL 09

Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions purchased)
1 The Maw
2 Castle Crashers
3 Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
4 Worms
5 UNO
6 A Kingdom for Keflings
7 Braid
8 Banjo-Kazooie
9 Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
10 Bomberman Live
The above arcade list is based on full versions purchased.

..."

"My initial intention was to check out the "Halo Wedding" (a couple who met playing Halo online and now were getting married publicly at Otronicon) and my other reason was to play on "The Ultimate Rock Band Drum Kit."


Both my dreams came true and much more. I had been to Otronicon in the past, being held at the Science Center and not being as big, it really felt more like an exhibit than a video game convention. This year, it felt a bit bigger and slightly more organized."

"One is a pure, bubbly and pretty-as-pink princess who rarely reveals even the skin of her ankle. The other is a sassy, sexy and no-nonsense computer program who has spent her entire existence in the nude. Within the tightly linked and extraordinarily small world of videogame voice acting, however, these two women are the exact same person."

"

1. Quake
2. Halo 3
3. Half-life
4. Grand Theft Auto IV
5. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
6. Pac-Man
7. Doom
8. Resident Evil 5
9. Mortal Kombat
10. Contra
11. BioShock
12. Metal Gear Solid
13. wipEout
14. Portal
15. flOw
16. Resistance 2
17. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
18. Guitar Hero
19. Gran Turismo
20. Donkey Kong
21. Castlevania
22. Super Mario Bros. 3
23. Left 4 Dead
24. Street Fighter IV
25. Rock Band

"

"If we think about LittleBigPlanet, Age of Conan or Mirror’s Edge, we notice they have two things in common: very successful and well received demo versions (or beta stages) and very poor, lower than anticipated game sales. And since these are not the only titles in which a demo (or the lack of it) appears to be connected with their commercial success, I believe we should analyze the influence demos have in the game world and debate: are game demos game killers?"

"We are waiting to hear back from Microsoft on whether this initiative is a direct response to the case of Daniel Petric, a 17 year-old Ohio resident who was convicted on Monday of killing his mother and wounding his father."

"The problem comes when you go back and look at your list of achievements and see that there are some that are worth 30, 50, 100 or 150 points. Those are the ones you want. You probably also make the assumption if you don’t look at the list that some tasks would be worth a lot. For example, you would think, that completing 50 horde waves would be worth 100 points or at least 50. It’s not easy to do, and you need to have four or five players that work together and stick through all the waves..."

"Petric's defense team admit to his role in the horrific incident but have tried to argue that his youth and addiction to video games mitigate his guilt, meaning he should not be held fully accountable for the crime.

Prosecutors claim Petric, angry that his father had grounded him from playing Halo 3, planned to kill his parents.

However, Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge wasn't too keen on the idea and tossed it as a valid defense, stating that prior calculation was evident."

"Fanboys have been plaguing the Internet for quite some time with their silly propaganda, heinous slander, & a laggard intellect that leaves the rest of us sane humans flabbergasted at the fact that these are the type of people we not only have to deal with on forums or blogs, but also in person typically at retailers where I purchase my games from. I just don't understand the logic behind being a fanboy, I mean the way I see it it's a lose lose situation. These companies do not compensate you..."

"MrWeymes Says: It seems like every time an exclusive first person shooter is announced for the Playstation 3, it is instantly dubbed as a "Halo killer" by anticipatory Sony supporters. The original Resistance: Fall of Man comes to mind. While it may have sold well, and established a respectable fan base, it in no way "killed" the Halo franchise. Haze is another game that was hyped up beyond belief, and was also given the title of "Halo killer." That game was met with average reviews, and didn..."

"So here's the thing, Wii Fit has mass-market appeal, and Wii Sports comes packed in with the Wii, so it's understandable for them to outsell AAA titles from the other consoles. Wii Play, however, isn't even a GOOD GAME. No one will tell you that it is. Yet the fact that it comes with a Wiimote for only $10 more has encouraged nearly 20 MILLION PEOPLE to drop down their precious cash for the thing. More people own this game than Halo 3, Metal Gear Solid 4, and Gears of War COMBINED.

I think..."

"July

Microsoft kicked off this year's E3 with a raft of announcements, or rather a raft of confirmations of leaked Intellisponse data. The only thing missing was Bungie's big reveal, after Microsoft cancelled the unveiling at the last minute."

"The current economic climate is affecting even the big players with recent news that Sony would cut 16,000 jobs and pull out of business to save $1.1 billion a year, due to the financial crisis.

In even more recent developments, Electronic Arts, one of the largest interactive entertainment publishers have reported staff reductions of up to 1,000 employees; this amounts to around 10% of the entire EA workforce. These are nearly double the initial lay-off figures first reported, with the eve..."

"The case against 17-year-old Daniel Petric, who is accused of killing his mother and shooting his father in the head, could be in the hands of a judge today to decide on a verdict.

Petric's lawyers put on a very short defense Tuesday - a handful of friends, family and other character witnesses. They based their defense on what they described as Petric's video-game addiction."

"Daniel Petric was so angry that his father would not allow him to play the violent video game Halo 3 that he killed his mother and shot his father, then tried to make it appear to be a murder-suicide, prosecutors told a Lorain County judge this morning in the boy's murder trial."

"Desirai and John are big-time "Halo" players. She games under the name SickNDeHead. He plays as PsychoVandal. They met when she lived in New York and he was in Florida. She'd become Xbox Live friends with his roommate, and they slowly started to play games together, regularly. When he didn't show up online one day during the time they usually played, she sent him a message and her phone number.

"I was drawn to her laugh," John said in a phone interview with MTV News earlier this week. "I h..."

"Here's Dude Huge's advice:

• Use your smoke grenades to incapacitate him and then rush in with a chainsaw finish.
• The one two punch of melee plus shotgun is always a good thing.
• When in doubt, bring up “Braid” and how trippy it was. He’s likely to start spouting and become distracted.

On to Bungie, whose analysis of Soulja Boy's tactics and tendencies is spot on and filled to the brim with win.

In a one-on -one scenario with Soulja Boy, you’re dealing wit..."

"

1. World of Warcraft
2. Tetris
3. Peggle
4. Everquest
5. The Sims
6. Bejeweled
7. Starcraft
8. Pac-Man
9. Street Fighter II
10. Doom
11. Halo 3
12. Fallout 3
13. Counter-Strike
14. Grand Theft Auto IV
15. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
16. Gears of War 2
17. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
18. Animal Crossing
19. Rock Band 2
20. Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2
21. Super Mario Bros. 3
22. Madden NFL 09
23. Solitaire
24. Burnout Paradise
25. Frogger

"

"Major Nelson has released the weekly list of the top games played on Xbox Live, and the most recent week, November 24th, was quite… different. Why? Because Halo 3, which most people thought would dominate Live for at least two years after its launch but really fell off most peoples’ radars (thanks to Call of Duty 4), has come back and claimed the number one spot."

"Sumthing Else Music Works, Inc., through its licensing relationship with Microsoft Game Studios, has today announced Halo Trilogy – The Complete Original Soundtracks featuring the award-winning original music scores by Bungie Audio Director Martin O'Donnell and Co-Composer Michael Salvatori plus four preview tracks from the forthcoming Real-Time Strategy game Halo Wars, composed by Ensemble Studios Audio Director Stephen Rippy. Halo Trilogy – The Complete Original Soundtracks is released to..."

Do you enjoy games with collectibles? Then this list may be just the thing for you! Whether it's collecting letters, fossils or skulls these games are the top providers for those who love a good scavenger hunt. Collectibles have always made for good fun and lengthening gameplay, so here's the twelve best for you by gamedaily.com.

"The first details on Bungie's ambitious Halo 3 expansion Recon have finally emerged, detailing new equipment, more human characters and surprisingly, an open-world city.

Revealed in the latest issue of US magazine Game Informer, players take control of The Rookie, a faceless, voiceless Orbital Drock Shock Trooper part of a five-man team rocketed into Ground Zero of Earth city New Mombasa, during the events of Halo 2."

Halo 3's Forge Mode has inspired many gamers to do a plethora of different things. Unreality goes through 8 of their favourite, and more or less most crazy, uses of Forge. Ranging from America's favorite pastime (Baseball, not binge drinking contrary to popular belief) all the way to yep, you guessed it - a marriage proposal.


Be sure to check out all the videos and descriptions after the jump!

"I don't think the chart needs to be explained, you have the games, you have how much space they would take on your hard drive, and then how much time you'd be saving (not listed on the chart is how much relief you will be giving your poor disc drive). No longer do 360 fanboys have the fodder of "oh you PS3 people have to install games blah blah" .. in the end, if you have a big enough hard drive, you know you'll be installing these games soon enough."

"Unplayable cut scenes, cinemas, or in-game movies have been a part of video games for more than 20 years. They help advance the plot, serve as a rest area for players and produce shock and awe like any good movie.

While the technique is evolving (some developers like Valve shun them altogether in favor of total interaction), cut scenes often make games feel bigger than they really are. And nobody does it better than the following games when it comes to memorable cinematics."

"...tell developers to get off their lazy a****s and figure out if they want their multiplayer to be memorable. I think Halo's an easy scapegoat for people to target; it's popular. It's obvious that people aren't playing other games because of it. But maybe if we had a reason to play the other games, be it friends wanting to try something new, or developers making them fun, we would."

"People are probably already spewing spittle across their keyboard, while drenching their monitor in a torrent of swear words and fanboy protests. It’s okay, I understand your grief. But this is not a “Halo bashing” article, but rather, a look at how gamers have allowed it to control their online, console gaming experience."

Red vs Blue, the popular machinima series based on Halo, has ended its recent mini-series Reconstruction in its final and 19th episode. Whether your a fan of Halo or not go have a look. This series has action, humor and believe or not an intelligent and gripping story. But the this may not be the end of the tale yet, most of the main characters survive, and there is certainly potential for more episodes. A video of the finale is below.

"Heroes rock. Whether they're fighting nazis, blowing up tanks with their bare hands or saving puppies from burning circus tents, we've always been in awe of these lads and ladies. So here they are...our picks for the 100 greatest heroes of entertainment (games-comics-film). Let the flame wars begin!"

A crossover between Lionhead and Bungie bears strange fruits. Available with the Limited Edition version of Fable 2, you can don your very own set of MJOLNIR Spartan armor, complete with a plasma sword and go chop up some Brutes...whoops I mean bandits.

"The Sniper Rifle is a powerful, if misunderstood beast. For the special breed of action junkie, who is blessed with enough patience to wield it, the weapon says the following: “Provided you sacrifice all of your peripheral vision, I solemnly swear to destroy – not wound or incapacitate, destroy – any son of a bitch you dislike from half a world away, using a bullet longer than most ballpoint pens. That is why they designed me. That is why this multiplayer map has a book depository building..."

"The battle for supremacy begins - NOW. Genius Products, LLC and B1 Games today announced that the first-ever board game based on Microsoft Game Studios and Bungie's best-selling Halo property - Halo Interactive Strategy Game - has shipped to retail outlets nationwide. Bringing the Halo universe to a broader audience through numerous family-friendly features..."

"And when asked if that meant Halo 3 Recon would be a "final statement" from Bungie as far as the Halo trilogy was concerned, Jarrard agreed.

"I think so," he said - but did point out that the company has always supported its community, and has no plans to change that in the near future. "We've stood by this game, and we're going to keep standing by it."

"Halo 3: Recon Full Trailer on link. Large file - be prepared to wait a minute!"

"At a ridiculous hour this morning (4:00am GMT, to be precise), Corporate Vice President of XboxLIVE! John Schappert kicked off the Tokyo game Show 2008. Opening the exhibition with a keynote speech entitled A Canvas for the World, Schappert revealed a number of noteworthy additions to the Xbox360 portfolio.

The New Xbox Experience was served with the additional details concerning the predicted..."

At their conference at the Tokyo Game Show starting today, Microsoft has announced some games headed their way to the Xbox 360:

• Halo 3 Recon
• Ninety-Nine Nights 2
• Tekken 6 (no longer PS3 exclusive)
• Metal Slug 7 [XBLA]
• Arkanoid [XBLA]
• Space Invaders Extreme [XBLA]
• R-Type [XBLA]

I'm not referring to McCain vs. Obama, but Brock vs. Hermes in the Maricopa County District 1 Supervisor race. Ignoring the fact that none of these kids are probably qualified for the position- Brock decides to launch a smear campaign against Hermes, citing his 'Halo Addiction' as one of his 'qualifications'. That was his ace in the hold, not the fact that "Hermes is reported as "DEFENDANT FAILED TO APPEAR" at four court appointments", no the Halo thing is much more important.

Worth a look...

The guys over at Pwn or Die have done their best to photoshop Alaskan Governor turned potential Vice President Sarah Palin into some of our favorite video games as some of our favorite ladies.

From Cortana in Halo to Meryl in MGS, and even Samus and Lara Croft - it is worth peek for a laugh.

"I should point out that these are the top five games that have the most potential for being Halo, GTA IV and KillZone Killers via marketing, community support, critical praise and sales. It's possible any one of these titles could be as controversial as GTA IV, or as supported as KillZone 2, or as long lasting in popularity as Halo 3."

"Microsoft Game Studios head Phil Spencer told Edge on Wednesday that the firm has added a "group of industry heavy hitters" to its lineup, including former Kojima Productions assistant producer Ryan Payton, confirming recent rumors."

"1. Okami (PS2, Wii)
2. LittleBigPlanet (PS3)
3. Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)
4. Mirror's Edge (Xbox 360, PS3)
5. Halo 3 (Xbox 360)
6. Metroid Prime (GC)
7. ICO (PS2) ICO (PS2)
8. Fallout 3 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
9. Team Fortress 2 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
10. Mega Man 9 (Wii, PS3, Xbox 360)"

"In the video below, Sackboy is wearing a green costume to imitate Master Chief, and as your playing the level, the Bungie song kicks giving it the extra effect. The Warthog vehicles I have to admit are pretty nifty, and while you won’t be necessarily kicking alien ass, this is definitely one of the better levels in the beta so far."

"What are the best-selling games in America, Japan, and Europe (UK) this week? Thanks to Amazon online sales data here are the games that are the most popular now.

Mario Kart Wii races to the first place on the Wii chart. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed holds on to the #1 spot on the PS3 and PSP charts. Rock Band 2 returns to the top of the Xbox 360 hitlist. Lego Batman debuts on the PS2 chart. Spore returns to the first place in the PC top 5. Lastly Guitar Hero: On Tour returns to the DS ch..."

"Gearbox has modeled the adventuring and questing after the likes of Diablo and the shooting after Halo. So you can pretty much bet that a lot of questing in Borderlands will render loot-runs and adventuring much like Diablo III."

"With that squared away, there are other details that have been found in the trailer -- perhaps most notably a date of 01/06/09, which some have interpreted as a possible release date. There is also the Xbox Live Marketplace description for the trailer to take into account, which refers to the game as a "new Halo 3 campaign experience.""

"Bungie’s Keep it Clean trailer has instantly sparked web-wide analysis, with sites digging through it frame by frame for clues as to what the game may be.

The Xbox Live version of the movie has confirmed that the new Bungie product is a Halo 3 add-on, proclaiming: “High action and deep mystery await players in this new Halo 3 campaign experience. Prepare to drop!” More on Joystiq.

X3F’s spotted a date in there as well. January 6, 2009 is clearly included on one of the movie’s frame..."

"Only a few moments ago, Bungie published a new revelation on their website, bungie.net. Since early this morning, a strange homepage appeared with a countdown timer ending at approximately 3:07pm GMT today - marking the third anniversary of Halo 3's original unveiling. At this time, a new trailer was launched. Exactly what the trailer is for remains a mystery, but I'm sure the Electronic Theatre Forums will be flooded with guesses soon enough..."

"have seen toy versions of the Covenant Energy Sword from Halo 3 in the past, but sissy plastic toys are for little girls and people who can make a clear distinction between right and wrong. A replica with two spectrum treated 19-inch stainless steel blades are for real men. The kind of men that don’t think before they act and send in homemade videos to the guys from Jackass.

If you are wondering, the spectrum treatment gives the metal color-changing properties that mimic the effect seen o..."

New achievements have come out for Halo 3, it will be available to update this Tuesday. There are ten new achievements in total, giving you 250 for all of them. Here are the achievements:

• Vidmaster Challenge: Lightswitch (0 points) – Get to the rank of Lieutenant in any playlist in the new EXP progression system.
• Vidmaster Challenge: 7 on 7 (0 points) – Enter into any ranked or social playlist with 7 EXP on the 7th of the month.
• Vidmaster Challenge: Annual (0 points) – After 9/25/08, c...

1 Wii sports
2 Braid
3 Halo 3
4 Fallout 3
5 Rockband

A very interesting list indeed. Recently a newspaper in the UK named the Independent released their list of the top 50 games of all time, above is the top five.

Their number one choice was Wii Sports, is this a joke? The inclusion of Halo3 makes some sense, but are there not many better games that should've made the top 5?

"Obviously, this situation is bad: a child is dead and it’s a horrible tragedy. His family and members of community must be reeling from this, and certainly should be. This is a terrible occurrence, one that should never, ever, have to happen. None the less, this isn’t an excuse for journalistic integrity to go out the window though.

The article didn’t outright implicate games in the accidental death, but they mentioned them enough for people to make the link. People like Luke Plunkett o..."

"The name "Halo" sounds much catchier and should adorn the £4.4 billion experiment, according to a poll organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry in London.

Several other entries to the competition proved popular. Colliderscope garnered many votes, along with Black Mesa, the name of an ill-fated research facility in the game franchise Half-Life.

To reflect the endless quest to find the answer to life, the universe, and everything, some suggested Cern should name the experiment after t..."

"Once, we were a proud warrior people, adept in every skill, discipline and combat technique required to earn mastery over our every digital domain. We were a pantheon of noble thumb-ninjas, our legendary victories and kill-counts matched in number only by the calluses on our digits; calluses we wore as badges of honour through the eternal, bloody war against AI and our fellow man. But through its ever more sophisticated design and an unerring need to be accessible to all, modern gaming has do..."

"Before the over the top, logo heavy madness of today’s next-gen masterpieces became the visual norm for video game cover art, there was the basic beauty of the Atari 2600’s approach to package design. Clean composition and vague descriptive text came together to create something that was just so…intangibly fresh and mesmerizing."

"Rumor has it that Ryan Payton, late of Kojima Productions, has landed a pretty impressive job here in the states.

Our very reliable sources tell us that Payton has been hired by Microsoft to be the creative director on the upcoming, and still not dead, Peter Jackson Halo game.

The news, very reliable news, comes weeks after we broke the news that Gearbox Director of Technology Corrinne Yu had been hired by Microsoft Game Studios to be Principle Engine Architect for Microsoft's Halo Fran..."

"An 11-year-old Johnson Creek boy died from a gunshot wound Thursday at his home. Foul play is not suspected and the sheriff's department said this morning it appears the shooting was accidental.

According to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, dispatchers received a report of the shooting in the town of Farmington at approximately 2:15 p.m. Thursday. The deceased person was Joshua J. Nimm, 11, of W5098 River Road, Johnson Creek.

Deputies, along with personnel from the Johnson Cre..."

"



"

"It's hard to say if the last week of the Olympics gave Segas' Beijing 2008 - The Official Video Game of the Olympic Games a boost, but that hasn't stopped the PlayStation 3 version of the game moving up four spots from the previous week, into sixth spot. The Xbox 360 version of Beijing 2008 also made it into the charts, though at the much lower position of number 10. Nintendo's Brain Training series are regular contenders in the charts, with Dr Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brai..."

"With Bungie admittedly uninterested in creating Halo games ad nauseum, and Gearbox one of the industry's top FPS developers, we've certainly heard crazier rumors. And there are few licenses that would get a studio chieftain to inadvertently slam his own games in development. Whatever the project is, Pitchford has said he'll be directing it himself, adding, "When you find out what this is, you'll likely agree that I can't oversell this one." Nope, you probably couldn't Randy. Overselling Halo ..."

""There will be no insertion of Campaign objects, enemies or friendlies via the Forge as folks have speculated. There will be no "bots" added to the game. The "set" on Rat's Nest was designed to appear like a backlot of a film set, a holding area, not some depiction of a brand-new feature that implements Campaign objects into multiplayer. Do consider this issue a closed one. Calm yourselves down, pump the brakes, and take a breath.""

""The announcement that was pulled from E3 at the last minute (much to Bungie’s annoyance after having a count down on their website that ended with no announcement being made) but it seems that you can not contain the truth -it will come out if you like it or not. An expansion is coming to Halo 3.""

"GameVee: Grab is a free utility that will take videos from your Halo 3 fileshare, and host them on your GameVee account for all to see.

When the popular GameVee Grab public beta ended late last year, users were left with no details on when the ever-so-popular utility would be returned public use. Recently, the long awaited final version was released.

By creating a free account and providing some basic information about the film you wish to "grab" (gamertag, film name, etc.) GameVee will..."

"The video was made as Bungie’s response to the Edge Innovation Award (which Halo 3 has won two years running now), and it displays this blue spartan running around various parts of the multiplayer map “Rat’s Nest” being a really jerk by telling us that Bungie is hard at work at some project. While he wouldn’t say what the project was, there was plenty of hints that it was another Halo game (the biggest being that the video is run in Halo 3 itself). At one point he even says, “Even tho..."

"Unlike most industry award shows, G-Phoria's twelve month of eligibility run from August of the preceding year through July of the current year.

Xbox 360 was named the station's favorite system -- which falls in line with the award distribution. Of the show's 18 game awards, only four went to titles not available on Microsoft's system: Best Graphics and Best Voice Acting for Kojima Productions' Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Best Racing Game for Nintendo EAD's Mario Kart Wii, an..."

"Very sad news from Redmond, Wash. Melissa Batten, 36, a software development engineer in Microsoft's Xbox division, was murdered by her estranged husband, who then shot himself to death, earlier this week.

Batten, a Harvard-educated lawyer, was a Software Development Engineer in Test for Microsoft, supporting Rare on its 360 titles work. She had worked for Microsoft since 2002, earning credits in Halo 3 and Gears of War as an SDET. Earlier, as a lawyer, she had been a public defender for t..."

"BRIGHTON--Damian Isla of Bungie Studios addressed the 2008 Developer Conference and Expo yesterday. The AI expert talked about the challenges he'd faced leading the artificial-intelligence development on Halo 3, how the AI has changed since the original Halo, and the problems being faced by the development team on their next project.

It is friendly AI, rather than opposition AI, that is currently his team's focus, according to Isla. Making friendly NPCs react in a manner that is both usefu..."

"Bungie is one of the most talented studios out there, constantly living up to the hype with the Halo games. Whatever they make, whatever is going to be announced or shown, whether it’s new footage of Halo Wars, the revelation of Peter Jackson’s new Halo trilogy, all of which are games that Bungie has a hand in, or something completely new, there’s no denying one thing: Whatever Bungie does is going to be massive, whether it’s a new Halo or something new, or even more than one reveal."

"What.... the.... hell?

Orlando's Channel Six news is reporting that pedophiles are offering "game points" in exchange for nude images of children sent through video games.

Well reporting is a bit of an overstatement, they declare that in their headline and the first sentence of their "story" but never really explain what the hell they're going on about. In fact the entire story is a mess of quotes, misstatements and supposition that never gets around to actually explaining what the stor..."

"The Strong Pretty-Boy- Usually Doesn't Show Emotion
Read: Sephiroth, Cloud, Squall, etc...

The Pure Hearted Love Interest
Read: Any Princess, Riona, Aerith, Yuna

The Masked Mystery Man
Read: Master Chief, Grey Fox (Cyborg Ninja)

The Stereotypical "Black-Guy"
Read: Barret, 50 Cent

The Half Naked Armor Clad Woman
Read: Does it matter?"

"Today, details are coming in about what Bungie intended to reveal at Microsoft’s E3 press conference. While specific information about its upcoming Halo project remain a secret, the developer reportedly planned to show a sixty second “knock’em down” teaser trailer, only to have it pulled at the last minute."

"Here’s something to add to all the E3 drama this week about Bungie Studios‘ canceled/postponed/hyped debut of a new game…

In an interview shot for MTV News on Tuesday, Microsoft’s head of Xbox business Don Mattrick, confirmed to me that Bungie is indeed working on a new “Halo” game of some sort for Microsoft.

I had been asking Mattrick about the lack of “Halo” news at E3. He said that Microsoft’s Monday press conference was already loaded with content and so any announcements f..."

"Note: Just a quote. Not the entire article.

"3. Halo: Combat Evolved

This game, although heralded by many a stooge, has so many problems and missing features that it's impossible to play. For one, the game disk doesn't work when I place it in my PS2 (which I bought from Wal-Mart). It's obvious that the developers are *bleep* based off of this anomaly alone, as any game that doesn't run on a PS2 was probably created by homosexuals.""

"Oh man… no full retail releases for you this week, readers. Indeed, the schedule is empty until next month here in the UK. On the plus side that means you’ve now got the chance to pick up some summer bargains, revisit some old favourites or just bump up that gamerscore, but any of you looking for anything new and exciting will have a wait on your hands. It rather scuppers anyone who writes a weekly 360 article for a popular new gaming website. Bugger."

"Tip #1- Know Thy Surroundings

If you're not careful, it's pretty easy to get lost in Cold Storage during your first games. Use distinct landmarks such as: teleporters, weapon spawns, and places around the map that catch your attention.

Tip #2 - The Spawns

For instance, if you remember Chill Out fairly well, then you'll be happy to hear that the Overshield, Active Camo, Rocket, Frag Grenade, Plasma Grenade, Shotgun, Plasma Rifle, and Assualt Rifle kept their spawning locations. New t..."

"* America's Army (Obviously)

• 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand
• Patriotic Pinball
• Frontlines: Fuel of War
• Christian Founders 3D Computer Game
• 18 Wheels of Steel: American Long Haul
• America: The Game
• Freedom Fighters
• Desert Strike/Jungle Strike/Urban Strike
• Metal Wolf Chaos
• Tycoon Series
• Terrorist Takedown
• GRAW 2
• Political Machine 2008
• Oregon Trail
• NARC
• American Gladiators
• Fugitive Hunter
• Halo
• FDNY: American Hero - Fire Fighter

"

"







"

"Bungie has confirmed that a new multiplayer map for Halo 3 will be available to download via Xbox live on Monday.Better still, it will be completely free!

Bungie say that the new map, entitled Cold Storage, will be implemented into playlists that require the Legendary maps. It has also decided to drop the price of the Legendary map pack from 800 to 600 points. Ah, I see. It's free, but it's not if you didn't buy the pack."

"Now our source is really sticking her/his/its neck out.

As we told you earlier, our inside woman/man/thing got hold of some pretty exciting news.

News that Bungie was already hard at work developing what will be Halo 4.

Now we’re told that this will be announced officially at E3.

The prior news was probably like a weatherman predicting a hurricane “sometime somewhere.” This starts the ticking clock for what would end up being a pretty big deal."

"Sure, this is just a marketing survey. More an indication of what Microsoft are thinking than what they're actively doing with the series. But even the thought of them thinking about a Halo racing game or a "more family friendly Halo game" (Scene It? hosted by Cortana?) should be enough to give you an indication of just how many Halo games you can expect to start hearing about over the next few years."

"Across the pond, consumers prefer racing and soccer games to blockbuster action, adventure and first-person shooter games that are the staple of the U.S. diet. Indeed, Europeans view such games as "evil," says Cevat Yerli, chief executive of Crytek, a German game developer that specializes in first-person shooters."

"Videogame characters are lazy, forgetful, or just plain stupid. Cutscene after cutscene, they exhibit planet-shaking combat abilities and a level of indestructibility which would make God himself jealous. But as soon as you pick up the controller? The Incredible Hulk turns back into Bruce Banner and all of those showboating tricks and superhuman powers disappear into the ether.

They're constantly saving their best tricks until we've already done all the hard work for them, and even if not,..."

"Until recently, Microsoft could brag about how Live was by far the most feature-complete online service on any platform, with a unified Friends list, the best online shop, voice and video chat as standard and a consistent and stable online experience. But in recent months there’s been a shift in the market, and even bigger changes are coming. Microsoft is the only player to charge for online play, and their policy has landed some of the best online games on the 360... but as PC and PlayStati..."

XboxFocus goes through the Ten Commandments governing over the sacred ways of the Xbox Live Achievements. The things that everyone is gunning for, no matter how ridiculous the means to achieve them are.

What do you need to become Halo's iconic Master Chief? Well unless you work within NASA, some card, resin, fibreglass and a lot of time on your hands!

Whilst searching for an original fancy dress costume for my university's annual Summer Ball I stumbled across 405th.com. Here is the epicenter of everything related to amateur armour construction and a collection of Halo fans determined to don the Chief's shiny green helmet for themselves. Have a look at the pictures attached to see my own e...

"Like any good video game research, which generally uses dated games for its findings, the journal of Cyberpsychology & Behavior studied the outcome of 1,347 online matches, using Unreal Tournament 2004.

The results proved less neutral than gamers might expect, with red players winning 55 percent of the time over blue. According to neuroscientist Mihai Moldovan of the University of Copenhagen, this is because red is a distracting color for men, thus blue teams struggle more for kills.

A ..."

"(Video in link)"

"Everyone is familiar with this gaming phenomenon, and everyone seems to have nothing but praise for this apparently revolutionary shooter. It sells as if it had been forged by a limited supply of solid God and was guaranteed to provide full-body orgasms lasting hours. Master Chief has been carried up the Mount Olympus of gaming by the critical community on a palanquin of perfect 10s to stand alongside other legends like Mario, Link, and Sonic.

Halo, in my infuriated opinion, is the most o..."

"Perhaps Brodie Bruce put it best when he said “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned for Sega”. Indeed, there is a social stigma that goes along with being a gamer that seems to be at its worst when dealing with the fairer sex. It’s clear that there are female gamers out there, but unfortunately the majority of them just don’t have a spot in their life for a 360. When dating, the videogame topic is one that’s often avoided until absolutely necessary. Girls often turn up their noses at t..."

"We'll admit to not following advancements in balloon animal technology, so we were understandably blown away to see this nearly life-sized Master Chief inflatable construction—clearly not an animal. This is the stuff of dreams and nightmares, the work of a balloonsmith known as Balloon Guy, a master of the latex folding arts. Based out of Provo, Utah, Balloon Guy says he'll make almost anything "as long as it's family friendly." He's also in possession of a rather dapper vest!

Balloon Guy..."

"One of the things that Rockstar has always managed to do with spin-offs, (feigned) sequels and new IP, is convince the industry that it’s something worth noticing because it’s something worth playing. The revolutionary step from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas to Grand Theft Auto IV is almost staggering, if you neglect the missing airplanes and a slightly smaller play-area. But all of what is absent in this newer GTA from San Andreas is made up for in generationally satiated content (a.k.a ne..."

"The resolution itself is unsurprising since the game was ported from the Xbox 360, but the side by side comparisons carried out by numerous websites tell a more complex story. For example, in IGN’s head to head, the PS3’s Anti-Aliasing is cited as being the better of the two versions, even though the Xbox 360 has 2xAA. This could be due to the upscaling and post-processing effects smoothing the edges on the PS3."

"Following Bungie's split from Microsoft, it looked like it was over for both the Halo developer and their corpse-humping shooter for a while, but according to the latest round of magazine rumours a new Halo is already well underway (we can hear the hype machine being prepped already).

According to US mag Electronic Gaming Monthly, Bungie's already prepping a Halo spin-off for release in late 2009.

Supposedly, it's a third-person "action/adventure shooter hybrid," that takes place before..."

"UPDATE: Microsoft just contacted MTV Multiplayer with an official statement, confirming the prospective hires will work on Peter Jackson’s “Halo” project.

“A Peter Jackson-helmed Halo project was announced at X06 in Barcelona,” said a Microsoft spokesperson. “Since then, Microsoft Game Studios has been hard at work collaborating with Peter Jackson and Bungie on the development of that project. At this time, it’s necessary to grow the internal team to keep pace with development. Bung..."

"Both these deals are selling at a huge discount to the recommended retail prices of their constituent parts – Microsoft is basically giving away Halo 3 for free.

This is further proof that Microsoft is taking the release of GTA IV very, very, seriously, and views its launch as a make-or-break moment for the Xbox 360."

"Call of Duty 4 vs. Halo 3. According to our sister site, Next-Gen, these games aren't just this generation's most popular shooters. They're the two best-selling games of any genre and of any platform. How could we not pit them against each other?"

"Microsoft knew Halo 3 could be big, bigger than gaming itself. As West says, it "wasn't about video games, wasn't about video games press," but the franchise had to become part of pop culture. "You have to be very articulate about the tactics."

West talks about showcase cover stories that were beyond the games press. "We needed a Wired cover, we needed a Time cover." The team also set popular culture goals, or benchmarks to see "if we were moving into the pop culture.""

"The Halo 3 multiplayer train will be getting some more gas in its engine next week when Microsoft and Bungie release the Legendary Map Pack, a trio of new maps that are all but guaranteed to find themselves in heavy play rotation. The new content adds one original map, Ghost Town, and two reimagined fan favorites, new takes on the classic Sidewinder and Lockout maps, into the mix. On top of that, the new maps come with some very cool new content to play with in Forge mode. We took a trip to B..."

Bungie's latest Halo 3 video documentary is now available for viewing at Gametrailers. Virtual alter-egos of the team behind the upcoming "Legendary Map Pack" take viewers through a light-hearted tour of the new maps.



The "Legendary Map Pack" is scheduled to release next Tuesday at a price of 800 Microsoft Points. You can view a hi-definiton version of the video via the source link below.

"When we are looking to create objects in forge we will basically try to make items that can be used in various ways. So we will usually start with basic primitives such as a box or cylinder then we will move onto items like walls and bridges. We will also try and make things that match the map that they are being placed in as best as possible. For example the objects in Foundry were built with the specifications set by the map layout. But they had to be versatile enough that players can m..."

"Internet phenomenon Rooster Teeth, creators of the hit series Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles, have announced a new series titled Red vs. Blue: Reconstruction. The only information available on the new series is the release of a teaser trailer that appears to change the focus of the RT group from comedy to suspense. However, when the nature of the Halo 3-set series was questioned in the teaser's comments Rooster Teeth front-man Burnie Burns told fans, "Don't let appearances fool you.""

Take a sneak peek at the upcoming "Legendary Map Pack" for Halo 3 in this new trailer.


The three new maps are set to be released April 15 via the Xbox Live Marketplace. Pricing is likely to be the same as the previously released "Heroic Map Pack", which was distributed to players for 800 Microsoft Points.

Be sure to check out the hi-definition version of the trailer at the source link below.

"According to the Latino Review, screenwriter Stuart Beattie (who penned the script for the upcoming G.I. Joe movie) took it upon himself to write a screenplay for the Halo movie, without Microsoft's knowledge and in his spare time because he's a huge fan of the franchise. The screenplay is said to be called Halo: The Fall of Reach and is based on Eric Nylund's novel of the same name. And unlike the official movie script that Microsoft had written with Master Chief playing a supporting role, B..."

Halo 3's "Heroic Map Pack" will no longer carry its 800 Microsoft Points price tag as of this Tuesday. The three multiplayer maps - "Standoff", "Foundry" and "Rat's Nest" - will be made free in anticipation of the "Legendary Map Pack", scheduled to release April 15. The content was originally released last December via the Xbox Live Marketplace.

A fantastically creative trailer has been released by Bungie to mark the occasion.



Be sure to check out the hi-definition version of t...

"What do warthogs, pelicans, energy swords and Spartan lasers have in common? And how do they relate to John 1:17?

They’re all part of a video game called Halo 3, the top-selling video game of 2007 that pre-sold more than 1 million copies two months before it even hit stores. In the first two weeks after its release, Halo 3—the third installment of Microsoft’s first-person shooter game—made more than $300 million in sales.

...

“If the Old Testament were a video game, it would mak..."

"According to the latest issue of EGM, Microsoft Game Studios and Bungie are working on a LEGO Halo game for the Xbox 360. According to the article in EGM, LEGO Halo will have you play through all three games in the Halo trilogy."

"Microsoft has unveiled plans for the Official European Halo 3 Tournament, which will run from 18th to 30th March.

Prizes on offer include exclusive Halo 3 artwork and an Xbox 360 Elite. Plus, as the tournament is sponsored by Samsung, you could win one of their Crystal Design 40" Series 6 FHD tellies.

Registration for the competition opens today. Just open up the Xbox Live Dashboard and click on the relevant advert - you'll also get a free gamerpic to download.

During the tourname..."

"Yes, just when you thought you were the ultimate Halo geek, just when you thought there was nothing else that Bungie could whore its first-person behemoth onto, up prances Germany’s favourite three-striped sporting brand with a truly, truly hideous addition to the growing catalogue of Halo merchandise disasters.

A picture is worth a thousand words and, in this case, if we were pushed to submit a thousand-word news article then the vast majority of them would begin with ‘f’ and end with ..."

"In their latest podcast, Bungie team members revealed that the new game the Halo developer is currently keeping themselves busy with is something very different from what gamers have come to expect from the company.

As usual with games very early in the development cycle, the devs are keeping their lips sealed for the time being, saying it’s still “far far too early” to talk about any specifics. And, as opposed to bashing their own game, one of them said: “some of the stuff that I’ve ..."

"The impressive all-metal ‘reaper of death’ is presently to be found through online auction Web site eBay, where seller Lionheartsrealm is hoping to reap nothing more than a ton of cash in return for the deadly looking blade.

Made from solid stainless steel, which will probably make it rather difficult to wield, the loving creation is 36-inches long, 14-inches wide, and comes with a custom handle that apparently makes it "fit for any elite.""

"Are the cracks beginning to appear in Bungie’s well-worn battle armour? Well, according to Xbox Live aficionado Major Nelson, Halo 3 has this week been deposed by Activision’s impressive Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

Based on weekly unique user figures, Call of Duty 4 has pushed Halo 3 into second on the Top Live Titles chart, with Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, Gears of War, and Rock Band rounding out the top five."

"HW Sales
System December 2007 Annual 2007
PlayStation 2 1.1 million 3.97 million
PlayStation 3 797.6 K 2.56 million
PlayStation Portable 1.06 million 3.82 million
Xbox 360 1.26 million 4.62 million
Wii 1.35 million 6.29 million
Nintendo DS 2.47 million 8.50 million


Top 10 SW Sales
360 CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE ACTIVISION (CORP) NOV 2007 MATURE (M) *1 1.47 million
WII SUPER MARIO GALAXY NINTENDO OF AMERICA NOV 2007 EVERYONE (E) 2 1.40 million
PS2 GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF..."

"While you’d be best advised to only gaze upon its rancid colour in a darkened room (gaming is always best that way anyhow), the new Halo 3-themed XFunctional videogame chair sure looks like something you’d expect to find Commander Miranda Keyes perched on while barking orders from the bridge of UNSC Frigate ‘Forward Unto Dawn’ – apologies for the geeky outburst."

"Not one to pass up the opportunity to give itself a corporate reach-around, Microsoft dispatched an extremely self-congratulatory internal memo just prior to Bill Gates taking to the CES stage this past Sunday, which actually reveals a little more bite than the hugely anticipated keynote."

"Although Halo 3 has thus far missed out on any notable ‘Game of the Year’ awards, Microsoft now reveals that Bungie’s phenomenally popular FPS finale has sold in excess of 8.1 million copies worldwide since the game was released on Sept. 25 of 2007."

"For most, the prospect of escaping to the online world of Xbox Live is something anticipated with excitement over the course of yet another mundane day’s existence. However, for two young sisters in the state of Washington, Microsoft’s hugely popular multiplayer haven recently became the platform for a friendship that quickly turned into a frightening obsession."

"While some readers may deride the respectability of certain review sources listed on Metacritics pages, there’s little arguing with contributing numbers provided by IGN, GameSpot, GameSpy, Game Informer, Edge, 1UP, Play, and Games Radar.

Bearing that in mind, Metacritic has unveiled various "Best" and "Dud" games spread across a host of categories, which are as follows..."

"The worst thing is that Microsoft isn’t helping the poor guy - 18004MYXBOX has hung up on him and Windows Live Support has turned a blind eye to the issue. So he and his buddies are working on getting the message heard by as many as possible with the obvious goal of forcing Microsoft and Bungie to deal with the issue."

""I think we’ve got magic in the disc," enthused lead designer Graeme Devine. "We've worked on the controls, gameplay, and story for this game being very much aware of what has gone before us. I was down in playtest yesterday and actually did not get to sit down and play because folks were spending their lunches playing the game. I know we're doing well when that happens.""

"As we all know, obesity is a serious issue especially in the US, and fat kids are becoming the majority (let’s see you pick on them now), but who carries the blame for turning the youth into useless balls of fat? Well, I know what you’re thinking, lots of fat food and soda right? Maybe the food has something to do with it, but definitely not the sweet soda. At least that’s what the American Beverage Association (ABA) is saying."

"Some of these surprises may be the new game mode titled 'Grifball'. Yes, thats right, 'Grifball' as in Sarge's comment from season 4 of Red vs Blue mentioning 'Grifball'. Well no longer do you have to wonder what this amazing sport is as you will be playing it not before long."

"sonycowboy

Many thanks to NPD

Hardware Unit Sales

PlayStation 2 496K
PlayStation 3 466K
PSP 567K
Xbox 360 770K
Wii 981K
Nintendo DS 1.53 million

November 2007 Top 10 Video Games Rank # Units
360 CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE ACTIVISION (CORP) NOV 2007 MATURE (M) 1 1.57 million
WII SUPER MARIO GALAXY NINTENDO OF AMERICA NOV 2007 EVERYONE (E) 2 1.12 million
360 ASSASSIN'S CREED UBISOFT NOV 2007 MATURE (M) 3 980K
PS2 GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK ACTIVISION (CORP..."

"Microsoft big cheese and Corporate Vice President of Global Marketing for the Xbox 360 Jeff Bell has revealed that Halo 3 has reached a quite a staggering 5 million sales. We all felt the hype, and saw the frenzied enthusiasm for the games release, but 5 million sales is still quite astonishing.

Speaking to Gamedaily, Jeff Bell enthused that "We've... seen a strong response to both Halo 3 sales with more than 5 million, and Mass Effect which has sold more than a million copies in less than..."

"Packaged as the ‘Halo 3 Heroic Map Pack,’ the three new environments are all-but guaranteed to add yet more appeal and interest to the massively popular world of Halo 3 multiplayer, which has already drawn the attention of five million online players since the ‘finish the fight’ sequel launched at the end of September."

"Now, far be it from me to disagree with Time...I have to call shenanigans on a few things here. First: Halo 3, while a great game, is not as good as BioShock. Halo 3 is still plagued by problems seen in previous games where both level design and gameplay are concerned. BioShock, on the other hand, was a superb gaming experience and should have easily been the top of the bunch on the list."

"While Sony fans will be left seething that the PlayStation 3 is not represented beyond cross platform titles, it’s more probable that general gaming fans will be taking issue with TIME’s ordering rather than the included selection."

"Though the initial rumors left many an industry watcher frothy with derision, Bungie Studios confirmed in October that it would be amicably splitting from Microsoft upon completion of the final installment its best-selling Halo trilogy. Though Microsoft would retain a minority stake in the lauded studio as well as maintain a publishing agreement, Bungie would return to its bachelorhood days as an independent, privately held developer.

With Bungie no longer tied to Microsoft, many speculat..."

"Now that his battle is done, Master Chief seeks other fights. For instance, here we see him stand against global warming, spiting carbon monoxide emissions and the sun's building rays by standing defiant in frozen water. Don't mind his yellow glow. His bloom lighting is under control...it's just that a dog passed by not so long ago. (OK, fine. No yellow, "lemon flavored, we promise" snow was used in the building of this Master Chief sculpture. And his battle against polluters is in no way san..."

"Microsoft is facing yet another class action lawsuit, this one filed by a disgruntled customer who claims that despite the package in which Halo 3 is sold claiming the game is compatible with the Xbox 360, it does not actually run on the Xbox 360.

Randy Nunez of California launched the suit, which also names Halo 3 developer Bungie as a defendant, after purchasing the game in mid-October from a Gamestop location in San Diego. "Relying on defendants' skill and judgment to furnish goods suit..."

"Halo and Guitar Hero fans are in for a treat today, with the release of the Halo theme Mjolnir Mix as a free download on Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

Once downloaded Guitar Hero III players will be able to rock out to the iconic theme tune by Martin O'Donnell & Michael Salvatori, with guitars performed by Steve Vai.

This is already the second free download for Guitar Hero III, the first giving players the ability to play the game's three boss battles as standard songs apart from within the ca..."

"Available for 800 Microsoft Points exclusively on Xbox LIVE Marketplace, each map presents a totally different play style.

The symmetrical valley of Standoff, with its entrenched bases and fields of boulders is ideal for mid-sized objective and Slayer game types.
The vast, labyrinthine passages of the Rat's Nest bring something completely new to the multiplayer experience: an indoor vehicle paradise. Strongly influenced by the Campaign mode, this map is ideal for big team battles.
Foundr..."

"Many thanks to the NPD group and some commentary from their Anita Frazier, NPD analyst.

Absolutely insane results. YTD industry sales up 73%, 45% for SW. And Wii GH3 edges out the PS2 version, and Half-Life 2 has a very, very good first month, given the competition.

And, what was that Sony???? You sold 75k in the last week of this reported month? And you sold 46k for the 3 weeks before that??

HW Results

Wii 519K
Nintendo DS 458K
Xbox 360 366K
PSP 286K
PlayStation 2 184K
PlayS..."

"It's not easy to choose between two obvious Game of the Year candidates, but in reality, not everyone can afford to buy every game out there. So we pose the question: If you had to choose, would you buy Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare or Halo 3? We break each game down into nine categories to see who emerges victorious."

"On November 3, 2007 Moviesign made a Forge map in Halo® 3, and set up what his girlfriend of over two years (furtive penguin) thought was going to be a two-on-two match with his friends. They started the game and Moviesign led furtive penguin to a spot where he claimed he'd put an energy sword.

Instead there was a nice top-down view where he had spelled out a proposal in weapons. He then asked her to be his teammate for life.

Furtive penguin and Moviesign recently moved from Indianap..."

"The classmate also said the boy previously said he ''sits on his roof and shoots pigeons with an assault rifle'' and that he and some friends had made a movie ''dealing with snuffing people out.''

Based on that, Principal Joseph DeLuca searched the boy's locker and discovered the notebook.

The teen's mother said many of the writings and drawings relate to the video game ''Halo,'' which features a superhuman soldier who battles aliens."

"A 'juvenile' lover of Halo 3 has been accused of punching his mother (after she forced him to end his game) and fighting with sheriff's deputies as they tried to restrain him. Further reports that he attacked his mother and police with a 360 controller melee-style attack have yet to be confirmed. And won't be. We made that bit up."

The Rumor Mill report in the December 2007 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly has a juicy Halo-related tidbit. According to the Q-Man, Microsoft is hard at work on a Massively Multiplayer Online game based in the Halo universe. There is also speculation this is connected to the Peter Jackson Halo project that was announced at X06.

There is no comparison to the hype between the Orange Box and Halo 3. Everyone knew that Halo 3 was upon us. We all saw the Halo 3 commercials on TV, all the news reports, blog posts. But on the back burner with not as much advertising was Valve's Orange Box.

Next Gen have come up with some sales positions for sales in the US. You might have expected Halo 3 to be at the top at that list but with Valve giving a 20% price cut to the Orange Box sales have sprung it ahead to take the #1 spot f...

"We have listed 10 issues which Bungie needs to address or have completely screwed up with the production of Halo 3. In no way are we anti-halo or anti-Bungie, we gave Halo 3 with a 9.7/10 in our review and are just pointing out the obvious flaws in the Halo 3 game."

"HW Sales
PlayStation 2 215K
PlayStation 3 119.4K
PlayStation Portable 284.5K
Xbox 360 527.8K
Wii 501K
Nintendo DS 495.8K
Game Boy Advance 75K

SW Sales
360 HALO 3* MICROSOFT (CORP) 1 3.3 million
WII PLAY W/ REMOTE NINTENDO OF AMERICA 2 282K
NDS LEGEND OF ZELDA: PHANTOM HOURGLASS NINTENDO OF AMERICA 3 224K
PS2 MADDEN NFL 08 ELECTRONIC ARTS 4 205K
360 SKATE ELECTRONIC ARTS 5 175K
360 MADDEN NFL 08 ELECTRONIC ARTS 6 173K
WII METROID PRIME 3: CORRUPTION NINTENDO OF AMERICA 7 167K
..."

"... In Halo 3.

Like that Bungie shooter everybody's always yapping about? Like annoyingly tuneful pop-rock outfit Fall Out Boy? Then golly, does Microsoft have an offer you can’t turn down."

"Halo 3? Oh puh-lease, Bungie’s game is small fry. Or at least, it could look that way by the time Grand Theft Auto IV rolls around next year. That's the view of Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey, who reckons that the Xbox 360 shooter shouldn't get too comfy on its laurels."

"It has conquered most of the known world. It is hailed as a god among games. It has stolen nearly all the souls of gamers, and bought the rest of them. It has millions on their couches, working as expendable labour for it every day. It is Halo. But, like any good Roman Emperor, it still has a giant, knobbly and crooked nose on that cold face..."

A Halo 3 player simply gets owned while playing Halo 3 and then snaps. This results in the Xbox 360 ending up in his garden. This video also includes screens of the aftermath.

"As a new weekly feature, I’ll give you five places where some of the big and highly anticipated games suck. Yes, suck. But don’t take it too seriously, as we’d feel horrible if you start crying because we just bashed your favorite game. No really, don’t take it too seriously."

"You didn’t think Bungie’s long-time relationship with the Redmond behemoth was all roses and kisses, did you?"

"It's the Xbox 360 title that has become the fastest-selling game ever in the US and already made developer Bungie a cool $300 million. It's everywhere, and it even has its own drink. It's Halo 3, of course, and even the Japanese, it seems, can't resist.

The game was released on September 27 in the region and burst straight into the Japanese charts at number one, according to figures released by Media Create for the week of September 24 to 30. Halo 3 sold 58,672 units in its first week on ..."

"Xbox 360-exclusive Halo 3 made $170 million on its first day on sale in the US alone, and also broke Australian sales records according to figures released down under. Now Bungie has one more reason to celebrate, as week-one sales have clocked in at a rather reasonable $300 million worldwide.

Halo 3, which is the fastest-selling game ever, is being billed by Microsoft as "one of the most successful entertainment properties in history." The company released a statement saying that initial ..."

"So, to tie this up for you, I offer these 3 points:

1. Console FPSs suck for anyone with a PC and, um, skill. If you can’t find a way to make sense of this you can take your purse, capri pants and subscription to Teen magazine and go home.

2. Halo 3 is Halo: Combat Evolved, only it has actually evolved into what they wanted the first time through. The crappy excuse for a story is evidence of this.

3. At the end of the day, the game is a badass good time if you want to get into a qua..."

"Courtesy of Jonnyram at NeoGAF:
Media Create Sales 9/24 - 9/30: Halo on top! #1
01./--. [360] Halo 3 - 59,000 / NEW
02./03. [DS] Pokemon Fushigi no Dungeon: Toki - 55,000 / 440,000
03./01. [PSP] Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII - 54,000 / 649,000
04./--. [DS] Tamagotchi Petit Petit Omisecchi Minasankyu! - 54,000 / NEW
05./04. [DS] Pokemon Fushigi no Dungeon: Yami - 46,000 / 389,000
06./--. [PS2] Bleach Blade Battlers 2nd - 31,000 / NEW
07./--. [DS] English Test 2 - 28,000 / NEW
08./--. ..."

"“Halo 3” is quickly staking its place as the most popular Xbox LIVE® game in history with members gathering in record numbers to play on the world’s largest online gaming and entertainment network on TV. More than 2.7 million gamers have played “Halo 3” on Xbox LIVE in the first week, representing nearly one-third of the 7 million Xbox LIVE members worldwide. Within the first day of its launch, “Halo 3” players worldwide racked up more than 3.6 million hours of online gameplay, which ..."

"George gets to jetset with the Bungie crew in Microsoft
Attending the launch near Seattle, WA at Best Buy
We break down the new modes of play
Forge and Video mode are covered
Favorite and hated maps and modes
A comparison between how different Halo plays on the console vs. the PCs."

"Some time ago, I blogged about playing a cancelled version of Halo DS. The game was the real deal, created by a real development studio and with a very big publisher. But for reasons we won't discuss, Halo DS was never released. Clearly. Obviously. Still, it would've been cool, huh?

My Halo DS blog has haunted me since I posted it because many people were skeptical of my claims. I wouldn't make something like that up, of course, but that hardly silenced any of my critics. When my brother ..."

""Apparently MS just wants Bungie to make Halo for the rest of their natural days, and Bungie doesn't like how MS is constantly trying to "handle" everything they do; the way they market their games, the way they interact with their fans (basically the fact that they do appreciate their fans), and how stingie they are with the profits (comparable to the rest of the industry). So as of today they are their own independent entity. They'll probably make Halo 4 for Microsoft, however hey are also ..."

"Speaking with Bungie at an exclusive Microsoft event this month we were informed that there was no rest for the wicked for the team as they were already beavering away at the next Halo game in the franchise. When questioned whether the game would be a prequel, Bungie remained tight lipped as always but we have a hunch that the game might actually be Halo - The Movie Game (insert movie title prefix here). Either way, it's early days considering many are still tackling the single player of Halo..."

"In fact, if you do a comparison shot between the native 1152x640 image and the scaled 1280x720, it's practically impossible to discern the difference. We would ignore it entirely were it not for the internet's propensity for drama where none exists. In fact the reason we haven't mentioned this before in weekly updates, is the simple fact that it would have distracted conversation away from more important aspects of the game, and given tinfoil hats some new gristle to chew on as they catalogue..."

Right after being disappointed due to scratched discs Halo 3 fans are now crying upset because a feature that was promised to be in the game, by not one but many Bungie employees is no where to be seen.

What feature is this? an in-game browser which makes finding particular types of games easier to join. Yet another thing that should of been standard on Halo 2. So far 35 pages worth of "signed" messages of users supporting this.

Not to mention more complaints does Halo 3 really deserve...

"The morning was spent digging into the campaign, which I've now finished, but I don't want to say anything about that right now, because I don't want to spoil anything yet. You guys need to hurry and finish the fight, though, because I don't know how long I can hold back."

"I tested approximately sixty X360 games (and lot of PS3 games too ), all are 720p except two 1080p (VT3 and NBA street), two 600p (PGR3 and Tomb Raider) and Two 640p (Perfect Dark and Halo3)."

"One million gamers connected to the Xbox LIVE online gaming service in the first day, making it the most active day in Xbox LIVE history. Halo 2 logged 690,000 multiplayer games on day one – Halo 3 logged 2.4 million games on day one. There were 2.5 million campaign levels played around the world in the first 24 hours."

"According to Microsoft, the game set new pre-order records for games in Australia, followed by another reported record broken for fastest first day sales, which totaled 50,000 copies and AU$6 million in revenue."

"Included in the huge personalized duffel bag of goodies are Xbox 360 controllers, a Halo 3 Xbox Live headset, a displayable Master Chief helmet and a $480 Halo 3 limited edition Xbox 360, not to mention a first aid kit and some UNSC-issued food."

"I wish Forge had a "clear everything" option. It's sort of a pain to delete every object. It's especially hard on levels with a lot of foliage where you have to hunt down the weapons and grenades and delete them. I also wish forge had its own matchmaking playlist or something that would allow more people to find good forge games where they do nothing but mess around. Could there be an update that would include such a playlist?

In the meantime I have created blank variants of every map and ..."

"The organization of far-out political figure Lyndon LaRouche, which blamed the Virginia Tech massacre on video games, has now targeted Halo 3.

An article on the LaRouche website (see: Halo 3: The Third Wave of Destroying the U.S.) rhetorically asks:"

"In the wake of yesterday’s server-crashing, mind-numbing revelation by GamePolitics that the anti-game attorney sent gay porn pics to a federal judge we could use a couple of Jack-less days.

Alas, it’s not to be. The activist, who sometimes refers to himself as the “Energizer Bunny” of the game violence debate, is at it again.

In a press release issued late yesterday, Thompson claims that his 15-year-old son has once again purchased an M-rated (17 and older) game at a South Florida ..."

"Microsoft is gearing up to further promote Halo 3's release in Australia and help support two local charities, Make-A-Wish Foundation and Mission Australia. The program will incorporate several high-profile celebrities and signed console auctions to help raise money and awareness."

"Microsoft founder and chairman Bill Gates carded the first guy in a retail line to buy Halo 3.

Himself. Personally.

As reported by Reuters, Gates was on hand at a midnight launch event at a Best Buy near Microsoft HQ in Redmond, Washington:

...

Gates personally sold and autographed the first copy to Ritesh David, a 17-year-old who was stunned to find himself being served by the richest man in America."

"It appears that America’s Army isn’t the only link to the gamer generation being pursued by military recruiters.

The New Hampshire Union-Leader reports on a Halo 3 launch event in Manchester in which under-17’s were turned away from a local GameStop’s Halo 2 tournament, only to be ushered into a similar event set up by nearby Air Force recruiters:"

"Pre-order and launch sales for Halo 3 on Tues. have driven Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 past competitors at retailer Amazon.com. On Tues., the Xbox 360 Premium SKU ranked at No. 5 at Amazon's Computer & Video Games division, an increase from a rank of No. 7 the week prior.

By comparison, Nintendo Co.'s Wii ranked at No. 7 and the 60GB PS3 ranked at No. 9 on Tues. morning."

""

I read the paper daily and this caught by eye. I knew there had to be something in one of the papers about the currently very popular (which, I don't see why; same shit different box).

The metro (metronews.ca) reports that Halo 3 is Microsofts hopes to widen its lead over Sony in the battle for industry dominance. Wait, I thought that belonged to the Nintendo DS and Wii?

"Halo 3 is seen to be the $30 billion US video game industry's equivalent of a new Potter book"

Says the Metro. S...

"Some US customers queuing up to splash out hard-earned dollarbucks on Halo 3 have returned home to find their discs unreadable.

The main offender seems to be the Limited Edition of the game, which comes in a metallic casing without a knobbly protrusion to hold the DVD in place. Because of this, disgruntled fans are reporting heavy scratching on their copies."

"So, yeah, Halo 3. Biggest gaming event of the year, I suppose. Last night, I got from it everything I'm going to get from the single player game. It's short. I finished the Normal mode in a single evening, clocking maybe eight or ten hours, most of them out of a sense of obligation rather than wanting to know what happens next."

"I am glad that this did not happen to me while playing. I sat through the last level muttering the chant, "please don't die on me now". Occasionally, I would pause and knock on all things wood in my condo, just for extra karma."

According to the LA Times, Halo 3 is going to rack in a good $500 million for Microsoft. With about 10 million copies to be sold worldwide at about $70 a piece, that's $700 million. Microsoft will take about 80% of that, which is $560. Taking off all the payments Microsoft has to pay to Bungie and it's associates, Microsoft is left with a hefty $500 million to roll in like a stack of hay.

"There was a similar problem with the Prey Collectors Edition, but this problem appears to be more fatal. We'll try to get in contact with Microsoft to see if they've had any reports on this yet, if we find out anything then we'll be sure to let you know."

"The original Halo pushed the first-person shooter genre forward with its new game mechanics, impressive visuals and distinctive style. Those generic boundaries are once again redefined in Halo 3."

"Six years ago come November, a little franchise by the name of Halo, launched on a brand new console from Microsoft. In a couple of days, the Halo saga will close with the third entry in the series. We at Aeropause were sent a review copy of Halo 3 from Microsoft. Now with the review embargo lifted, we can give our readers the scoop on the last part of this arcing trilogy."

"Bungie's head of production Jonty Barnes has confirmed that Halo 3 will be receiving downloadable content, infact this is inevitable. Barnes noted that Bungie has continued to support Halo 2 and released new DLC for the title which is now two and a half years old so ultimately Halo 3 will be receiving some royal treatment too. Barnes remarked he is particularly excited by Halo 3's map editing feature too."

"With the video game event of the year - the Halo 3 launch - just days away, game-hatin’ attorney Jack Thompson is apparently seeking to re-create one of his greatest non-triumphs.

Although he failed miserably with a similar bid against Rockstar’s Bully in 2006, Thompson hopes to have a Florida court declare Halo 3 a public nuisance. He promised as much late last year (see: Jack Thompson Vows More Public Nuisance Suits Against Games in 2007).

No surprise, really, that Halo 3 is in the ..."

"More than 42,000 pre-orders have been lodged for the M-rated game in Australia, which will retail at $99.95 for the standard edition."

""

"Microsoft: "We can confirm that Microsoft is not taking any action (such as banning Xbox Live accounts) against gamers who are playing Halo 3 before the official street date. Any rumours or speculation to the contrary are false.""

"Halo 3　10/9/9/9"

It truely is an Unbiased trailer showing how the XBOX was defeated by PS3 after the two rival games (Halo 3 and Killzone 2) were released.

Created by Sony's Defence Force, the video yet once more fails to be clever or entertaining. Take a look at it yourself and give your opinions of the video:

"To celebrate the launch, on Tuesday 25th Halo 3 is taking over the BFI IMAX cinema in Waterloo (UK's biggest cinema screen) where lucky fans and a number of top celebrities will be going head to head playing Halo 3 on the giant screen. Tickets to the red carpet premiere event can be won at www.xbox.com, along with giveaways in The Daily Telegraph this Saturday and on Kiss FM next Tuesday."

"• What not having Home this year would mean for Sony. And Paul's opinion of them.
• Nintendo's SMS sweepstakes supporting Phantom Hourglass
• The Microsoft Chatpad: People over 30 need not apply?
• 1Up interview of Konami's Igarashi: He's coming around to the idea of a Wii Castlevania.
• Stephen suggests a design for Wii Castlevania, gives kudos to the PS2's Castlevania games.
• Wii VC in Europe gets Super Mario 2 for a limited time. Then what happens?
• Guitar Hero 3 coming to t..."

"GamerMetrics analyst predicts other titles will lose out in the wake of Halo 3 popularity.

Nick Williams, an analyst for GamerMetrics, predicts that Halo 3 will sell over four million units in the US alone by the end of October and drive increased Xbox 360 console sales.

"More importantly for Microsoft, Halo 3 will drive significant incremental Xbox 360 hardware sales during the upcoming holiday season, taking the focus away from the Wii and PlayStation 3," says Williams.

Williams a..."

"JAFFE: sweet- sadly it will rile up halo fans...hope they see that I DO LIKE HALO! I just don't get the religious fervor and feel much of the fervor has been purchased by Microsoft. But they'll still hate me

ADAM: *bleep* halo

JAFFE: well they don't have your name! You can say that! Anyway- ok, gotta go! See ya! And please, for the love of God: LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!!!!!

ADAM: actaully, i stand by what i said, you can print my name, just leave out "*bleep* halo"

JAFFE: shit really?..."

"On top of having the car and the sponsorship of the race, there will also be demo kiosks at the raceway that will allow race fans to try out Halo 3 two days before it launches."

You might have seen the Master Chief helmet up for bid, but now you can get the full suit. Yes, you can wear the whole thing and be able to walk around. The suit is red and the current bid is above $1,000. If you're interested, check it out now and get to the source before you miss the deadline of Septemeber 20th.

Aparently, the headsets for the upcoming game, Halo 3 for the Xbox 360, are also age restricted. At EB Games and GameStop, the cashier will ask you for identification(if they're doing their job) and you must show them verification that you are 17 or older. Surprised? Maybe you shouldn't, since the game seems to be rated M for Mature and the online can only boost up the age restriction.

"One lucky eBay buyer is now the proud owner of a PAL copy of Halo 3, after two leaked copies found their way onto the internet auction site.

The Australian seller, who some how had to obtaine the game from a warehouse or shop stock room, took pictures of the open boxes and the disc to verify that is was the real deal, before putting the items on eBay.

He only asked a low fee of $149 Australian (£60) or roughly $120 American, because we’re sure some Halofanatic fans out there would hav..."

"Tomorrow, Microsoft is having a pre-TGS press conference. The briefing will feature new trailers and a few surprises. I'll be on the ground covering the event. What can we expect? Rumor has it that third party companies like Square Enix, Bandai Namco, Koei, Konami and Tecmo will be showing their Xbox 360 support. Here's what will apparently be shown:

Square Enix
The Last Remnant
New Xbox 360 exclusive

Bandai Namco
Beautiful Katamari Damacy
Ace Combat 6
New Xbox 360 title

Koei
S..."

"Taken from a Blockbuster store in the UK. It's a bold marketing approach, even by Sony's standards."

"But the real reason we get into this business, of course, is to play all the games. Better yet? Experiencing them days, weeks, maybe even months before anyone else. And best of all? Knowing you're the first person to play something PERIOD."

"Wow guys, I am not sure if I have ever seen a promo like this before. Pontiac is doing a “First to play/First to own” themed promo for upcoming Halo 3. Today Pontiac announced that gamers would get the chance to play Halo 3 at one of two events scheduled for next week."

Getting Banned these days is becoming a bragging right, but I don't think you'd be doing much bragging over the loss of your XBOX Live Account, just complaining... then again the reason for being banned is very much justified.

A Xbox Live member known as Scar somehow managed to get himself an illegal copy of the "Halo 3 Epsilon Beta" (he somehow managed to get it from a Microsoft employee). Cut things short, he played the game ONLINE on the STOLEN version, and managed to get found out (du...

"Welcome to the UGO's World of Halo. This is the realm of Master Chief. Enter and join the epic battle that has been chronicled in video games (including Halo 3, Halo Wars, and beyond) novels (The Fall of Reach and The Flood), comics (The Graphic Novel and Uprising) and the Halo movie."

"This is a direct contradiction from the latest hands-on by IGN and Game Informer, whom actually chose to note the positives of the early version of the game in relation to the "aggressively good" intelligence of the game."

"With over 1.5 million preorders, an aggressive marketing campaign and plenty of hype, Halo 3 is just as important as Brunswick Bowling. Ok, that's not entirely true. We dug the beta, and playing through the single player campaign alongside three buddies can be a fun time, but we refuse to drink the Kool-Aid for the following reasons..."

"Halo 3's playback function offers standard fast-forward, pause and rewind controls. It also allows a modest degree of editing, with the ability to trim unwanted bits. If there's a dull section in a match, you can pretend it didn't happen... or if all you want is to show off that one really sweet part where you blew up someone's Warthog so hard they flew outside the level boundaries, you can do that, too.

In the hands of someone who knows what they're doing, Halo 3's playback can be enterta..."

"Confirmation just came in that one of Italy's leading retail chains has received stocks of the Halo 3 Limited Edition for Xbox 360 3 weeks before its street date."

"What happens when you cross one of the world's biggest game releases, a huge film and television firm and a popular animated comedy? Why, it's 20th Century Fox's plans to make a wad of Family Guy episodes available for download on Xbox Live in the run-up to the release of Halo 3."

"If you aren’t expecting a giant leap forward in overall gameplay, then you will be unquestionably pleased with what plays very much like Halo 2.5. Conversely, if you were hoping for fundamental, earth shaking differences to the Halo design, you will be left disappointed."

"And I don’t mean just money-wise in the pockets of Microsoft and Bungie.

Halo 3 went officially gold today, meaning the title is completed and has been released to manufacturing. It was suspected that it was going to soon, as Frank O’ Connor (more affectionately known as Frankie) from Bungie Studios was seen playing the final build on his Xbox Live account. Harold Ryan, Studio Head at Bungie Studios, said the following:

“This is a huge milestone for us and a big cause for celebratio..."

"We’ve all played a game where someone other than the main character has a huge role in the game, usually an unsung role. The problem is that these characters are absolutely vital to not only the enjoyment of the game but in pushing the story further along and quite often even saving the main character a time or two. Well it's time these silent saviors get recognized, so here's the top 5 best supporting characters. They were picked based on personality, in-game presence, and over-all abili..."

"Halo3 Fans who have been eagerly awaiting the release of the OFFICIAL Faceplates and Skin Consoles from Mad Catz need wait no longer! Mad Catz now has these plates online and available for order."

"By using information hidden in the Halo 3 Beta code, we've managed to put together a guide to the story, including the locations, battles and a couple of horrifying twists to boot. Can't wait until September to find out how the story ends? Then read on, cautiously (warning: massive spoilers abound!). You've been warned."

"This information was leaked by Frank O’Connor, who was spotted online (GT: Frankie) playing the final retail build of Halo 3."

"- So, it was Frankie (Franklez) and Luke (lukemz) playing the entire time.
- They showed us what the Campaign Scoring screen looked like.
- They played through part of Tsavo Highway:
- You start in a garage-type place, and are given verbal instructions on what to do (basically, get the hell out of the caves).
- You get in one of the Warthogs, and leave the garage, going through the caves
- When you exit the caves, you're in areas bordered by hills. There are Grunts and Brutes every now a..."

"Nothing, however, is as huge or important as the release of Halo 3 this September. The trilogy capper to one of the most successful videogaming franchises of all time is almost guaranteed commercial success. Okay, okay, it is guaranteed. But just because Halo 3 will be the biggest seller doesn't mean it will be the best game this holiday... or even the best shooter. That honor could go to BioShock."

"For those looking to snag up one of the ultimate collectors edition for Halo 3, you better preorder now. Most GameStop’s and EBgames will be shutting off the reserve skus for this version later this week."

"Here's a fantastic new batch of Halo 3 single-player and multiplayer screenshots - easily the best bunch we've seen so far."

"You know a game is going to be big when you can not only pre-order the game itself, but also matching accessories.

For example, you can now put your name down at GameStop (and only GameStop, we’re told) for this fetching Halo 3 Missile Case, a close recreation of the famous missile ammo pickup that could be found scattered around the polygonal worlds of Halo and Halo 2 respectively."

"We haven't gone hands-on with Halo 3: The Ride yet—it's still in private beta—but our estimation of development progress indicates we'll be testing the single and multiplayer portions within a day or two. If the artwork we've seen on the partially constructed version of Halo 3: The Ride shares any art assets with the game its promoting at the Leipzig Games Convention, you'll be taking Master Chief and pals through a fantastic German castle and rescuing a mysterious "Sparkle Princess." If I'..."

With roughly 99.9% of the game complete, the game is looking to reach Gold stage very soon. Halo 3's Closed beta, given the nickname Epsilon, went live a few days ago, and is only for a limited audience. Those that can't play it however, can bask in the glory of knowing what was included in the Beta (or be Jealous, that someone they know can play the following).

1. The Forge:
   Halo 3’s Forge is a mode that allows for both play and design to co-exist and cooperate. A multiplayer focused tool,...

"Like the continuous ebb and flow of the tides and the inevitability of sunrise and sunset, Halo 3 will be released on the PC at some stage in the future. Still, Bungie is keeping quiet about any such port in light of the game's impending Xbox 360 release.

"I can tell you for a fact that there's not one line of code written for a PC version at this point," Bungie's Frank O'Connor told GameSpot."

"With Halo 3 a short forty days away, Microsoft has just cranked our excitement levels up another notch by posting an absolutely final list of the shooter’s 49 different Achievements on the official Xbox website. But before you rush off there to take a peek, a word of warning: the names of the game’s nine Campaign missions are on display, so if you’ve been deliberately avoiding anything that may spoil your Halo 3 experience on 25 September, hold those horses."

"Purchasing a Microsoft Xbox 360 without the risk of breakdown? Surely not! Yep, it could soon be a reality. Reports suggest that thanks to a deal with a Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturing company (imaginatively named the Taiwan Semiconductor Company), a new 90nm chip that's been in production since early 2006 and is now being slotted into new machines and could bring Xbox 360 gaming woes to an end."

"Unique to the Halo 3 Xbox 360 Limited Edition:

- Halo 3 Special Edition Wireless Controller
- Halo 3 Special Edition 20GB Hard Drive
- Halo 3 Special Edition Wired Headset
- Halo 3 Special Edition Gamer Pics and Theme (Exclusive download via Xbox LIVE)

The Halo 3 LE Xbox 360 also includes an HDMI port, now standard in Premium as well as Elite Xbox 360s.

With the lack of a transfer kit in the box and the form of the free Xbox 360 data migration cable asking for an Elite Xbox 360 s..."

"In its first 24 hours of release in 2004, the second installment of the sci-fi shooter earned $125 million. That number forced many nongamers to take the vidgame biz seriously for the first time.

With "Halo 3," Microsoft's Xbox unit wants not only to top the 2004 figure but to reach $155 million in a single day -- besting the $151 million opening weekend for "Spider-Man 3," the current record holder for a pic at the box office."

"Now when you’re playing as the rebels the most tactical advantage you’ll have in combat is using Nectar against Mantel. One way of doing this is stripping the Nectar pack off a dead Mantel soldier and strapping it to a grenade – toss the makeshift grenade at Mantel soldiers and watch as they kill off their own from the Nectar overdose."

"I know. I said I wouldn’t be updating the site until Tuesday, but how could I pass up some Halo 3 news? Some of you may have noticed gamers (like Bungie and Microsoft employees) on Xbox Live playing a little something titled “Halo 3 Epsilon”. Well, specific details on just what Epsilon is have finally surfaced. The following email has been sent out to Halo 3 beta testers (and no, I don’t mean owners of Crackdown):

“Congratulations on being selected to participate in the Halo 3 Epsilo..."

"Here are some newly acquired Halo 3 scan. These scans show master chief like never before in some new postures. The scans speak for themselves, explaining them would be a waste of time and talk is cheap, hit jump to check them all out."

"With the highly anticipated Halo 3 for the Xbox 360 scheduled to ship in North America September 25, Microsoft has confirmed that over 1 million copies of the game have been pre-ordered from North American retail outlets, marking the fastest pre-sale in video game history, according to the company.

"This September, Halo 3 will push video game entertainment into the forefront of mainstream culture," said Chris Di Cesare, director of creative marketing at Microsoft. "Teaming up with some of ..."

"Xbox Newsletter is hosting a sweepstakes for Halo 3 consisting of three rounds, and three chances to win. By going here and registering for each round (when they become available), you’ll have the chance to win prizes like:

* Halo 3 Legendary Edition game
* Halo 3 Special Edition Xbox 360 console
* Halo Graphic Novel Autographed by Bungie
* 1600 Microsoft Points

and more!

Each round of the sweepstakes gets better and better with more and more prizes to win, so be ..."

"This has not been confirmed by any of the reports released by Bungie. However, a new screenshot acquired from Bungie’s,award winning studios, upcoming sequel to one of the most popular video series games to be ever created, show that “body targeting functionality” has been implemented in Halo 3."

"In a conference call Thursday, Midway announced that its delaying upcoming FPS Blacksite: Area 51 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. Originally scheduled for release in September, the game will now release on October 26th in Europe, and November 5th in the US.

No reason was given for the delay, but Midway representatives had previously stated that the company was unafraid of putting its premiere FPS up against Halo 3 in September on Xbox 360. Perhaps Midway finally came to its senses, or..."

"As promised, Bungie's Luke Smith has revealed the details of Halo 3's surprising new mode: a four-player cooperative online adventure that lets you and up to three buddies take on the game's Campaign mode as a group. Calling the mode "some of our greatest ever Halo experiences," Smith gave the following examples of how the cooperative gameplay can affect the game:

While only two of these players will be able to share a single screen, you'll be able to add a third and fourth either via loca..."

"This picture has been circulating the internet recently but there has been no confirmation of its authenticity. Now, if this picture is real, the question here is... Is Master Chief dying in Halo 3? This picture certainly portrays the idea that the UNSC is honoring Masterchief but even if its a legit picture, it might just be honoring his life and Master Chief is still alive. The tension builds... freakin marketing schemes. We can only wait and see."

"Never one to miss an opportunity to regale readers with office antics, we decided to do a taste test to see how this new "invigorating blast of citrus cherry flavor with other natural flavors" Mountain holds up. Does the Halo 3 branding make it taste better? Does it really help you "get an edge on the competition" in games as the box claims? We were about to find out.

Serving Size: 1 Can
Calories: 170
Total Fat: 0g
Sodium: 65 mg, 3% daily value
Total Carb: 46g, 15% daily value
Sugars:..."

"Here are some newly released Halo 3 screens and Updated information from Joypad and Famitsu magazines . The screens are looking great as always.“Halo” trilogy, is set to shatter day-one entertainment sales records when it is released in Europe on Wednesday, September 26 Created by legendary developer Bungie Studios and exclusive to the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system. Hit jump to screens."

"Epic President Mark Rein has admitted that the various sales records set by his company’s Gears of War are highly likely to be decimated when Halo 3 launches on the Xbox 360 in late-September.

Not that Rein is terribly bothered, mind. "All those records we broke with Gears of War are going down on September 25," he conceded"

What Halo Players all over the world hoped for has happened, after the announcement that there will be No Online Co-op For Halo 3, fans can now rejoice knowing that Microsoft and Bungie have finally announced that there will INDEED be a 4-player online Co-op mode for the game. The announcement was made in Amsterdam during a press conference today, and relayed through the Dutch site, InsideGamer.

"With each passing week, seemingly more and more Halo 3 campaign screens and info begin to surface, stirring hype before its grand release this September. This time, French gaming magazine Joypad has revealed several new screens that take place in one of Halo 3’s jungle locales. It’s now evident: Bungie sure as hell wasn’t lying when they said the Halo 3 single player would look great.

Though slightly blurry, these scans have helped illustrate what Bungie hopes to accomplish graphically ..."

""All we confirmed to EGM ... regarding Cooperative Play in Halo 3's Campaign is that System Link co-op will be included in Halo 3," said Bungie's Frank O'Connor.

"Just like we told EGM, we're aware that people want co-op online but the challenge of getting our complicated A.I. systems, huge game world, and gargantuan encounters neatly packaged and transferring across the Interwebz is a mythic undertaking."

He added, "All that said, EGM doesn't really know whether or not Halo 3 will shi..."

"In this video interview, you'll see Frank O'Connor of Bungie asked about some of the details which may surface up in that "little thing" called Halo 3 coming out soon for the Microsoft Xbox 360. Let's see if we can break into his vow of secrecy:

So, what did we find out about Halo 3 today? Well, it did give us goosebumps when we heard that phrase announcing that "starting on September 25th, Halo 3 will record the biggest launch in entertainment history," but a lot of the questions definite..."

"The fact that this year's E3 video game conference was supposed to be a lower-budget affair than years past was a point seemingly lost on Microsoft, which rented out an entire (big, nice, fancy, expensive) hotel in Santa Monica to show off its wares. While the entire lineup consisted of more than a dozen titles spanning both Xbox 360 and PC, three in particular caught our eye: 'Fable 2,' 'Mass Effect' and 'Halo 3.'

'Fable 2'
The earliest along of the lot was 'Fable 2,' from gaming legend ..."

"Master Replicas, who have done many replicas including Star Wars props, are producing some special stuff for all the ‘Halo 3′ fans out there. The scaled replicas (3.3″ x 6″ x 2.8″) of the Covenant Carbine and BR55 Battle Rifle are available for pre-order for $19.99 and they will begin shipping in “Fall 2007.” Both are die-cast metal with plastic molded accents and come with a display stand featuring the Halo 3 logo.

Being somebody that has purchased items from Master Replicas I can sa..."

Halo 3 is considered Microsoft's prized game, that is said to boost the sales of the console expenentially. However, it seems that GamerSquad have gotten news that Halo 3 WONT be playable online.

Multiplayer will still be an option via LAN and Split-Screen, however when it comes to playing the game over XBOX Live, it seems that Bungie are struggling to get the game running "niggle-free" over the Live service.

"We're not dumb," explained Bungie's Frank O'Connor. "We know that people want i...

"July 11, 2007 - At a behind closed doors session at E3 2007, Bungie gave a comprehensive demo of its video editor. The video player was included in the Halo 3 Beta, but was only capable of saving entire matches. The completed editor is a true marvel and unlike anything we've ever seen in a console game."

"The tone from Microsoft tonight was one of celebration and anticipation, as they ran down their successes since the 360 launched and hyped their lineup between now and the end of the year. Peter Moore framed the discussing by recalling the blockbuster holiday season of 2004, which was driven by the Grand Theft Auto, Madden, and Halo franchises.

Moore stated that 'the only place to play all three games' this year is the 360. In addition to showing off other heavyweight titles like Mass Eff..."

"Right at the end of Microsoft's E3 2007 conference, exec Peter Moore revealed a special edition Xbox 360 to be branded with Halo 3. The system is army green, with a matching controller.

The special edition console will be available worldwide in September alongside the launch of Halo 3. Superfans can look forward to other Halo 3-themed accessories. No price was revealed.

Moore added that Halo will be a billion-dollar franchise by the end of the year."

"The Microsoft press conference might not have brought about many surprises and we had to wait all the way until the very end before Peter Moore decided to provide the first glimpse at the single-player campaign in Halo 3. No, we didn't really find out much about what's going on in the story, but there were plenty of little touches -- Cortana falling over as Chief watches on -- that'll have fans speculating until September 25."

"With GamerSquad's "E3 Trailer Park Blowout" shifting steadily up through the gears in Vol. 01 and Vol. 02, we’re at breakneck speed with today’s Vol. 03, which packs in Halo 3, Mass Effect, Lost Odyssey, Brunswick Pro Bowling, Age of Conan, Aion, Burnout Paradise, Madden NFL 08, Project Gotham Racing 4, and more..."

"We tried to hold back, but we can't. Something this cool, we just can't keep to ourselves. Resistance is futile. Here's a sneak peek at our upcoming Halo 3 figures."

"Here it is everybody, the freebies from Bungie. On Xbox Live, you can get a new theme and picture pack set. Remember, it's only available until Sunday.

On Bungie's Web site, they've released the lovely picture seen above from the cover of Gamepro magazine. They've also released some information on the Brute Chopper and two variations of the Mjolnir armor. The pictures of the Mjolnir armor are in 3D so you can spin them right round and view all the angles of the image.

I always find it..."

"Sure, there was a similarly numbered day back in the 70s. Way back then, the nation was enraptured with Star Wars, several Bungie employees weren't even single-cell beings, Frankie was running amok and surviving stab wounds in Scotland and Bungie, well there wasn't even a Bungie back then. But now there is and the importance of the seventh day of the seventh month in the seventh year is not lost on us.

First off, if you've got an Xbox 360 log in and poke around the Marketplace for new Gam..."

"Bungie just threw up a spanking new, pristine 'in-game' screen taken from Halo 3’s single-player campaign, and Christonabike does it look wonderful. Yes, yes, we’d normally steer clear of posting articles about what is ultimately just one screenshot, but let’s not forget: this is comfortably one of 2007’s most keenly anticipated titles."

"The prizefight between these two powerful works-in-progress pits Sony ’s big online-only affair against Microsoft’s multiplayer addiction. Which sandbox game takes the prize in beta form? Matt Swider of Gaming Target judges the public betas of these system sellers in 12 rounds."

"Now that the dust has finally had a few weeks to settle after the excitement of the multiplayer beta for Halo 3, the guys over at IGN have been working their socks off to persuade the big guns at Bungie to allow them some quality time with the post-beta version of the upcoming Microsoft Xbox 360 first-person shooter. And they've succeeded."

"Bungie's Halo 3 multiplayer beta may have shut up shop but the fun continues today with no less then 30 - yes, that's 30 - new screenshots from the multiplayer bit of the hotly anticipated Xbox 360 shooter.

Many of the shots show the remake of the Zanzibar level - renamed Last Resort for Halo 3 - that's being squeezed in but there's also new map Shrine and Brute Chopper action to be had. Let your eyes rampage all over the goodness."

"With the Halo 3 beta officially over and the world now waiting on pins and needles for the highly-anticipated title to come out, here's an opportunity to get in touch with the legend that is Master Chief himself before any other Halo fan could - and that's by ownership of the Spartan Helmet that's currently up for grabs on eBay.

For a mere pittance of US$ 250, one can actually examine and touch a meticulously-detailed, if a bit downsized, realization of Master Chief's helmet. Purchased dir..."

"A French coder who goes by the name of Xero has released a demo version of 2D Halo homebrew game for the Sony PSP handheld system on the XtreamLua forums.

The demo utilizes a side-scrolling view and comes with two gameplay modes: Killer and Survivor. In Killer, you have to kill all the grunts that appear on-screen while avoiding their fire. In Survivor, the objective is to avoid as many plasmas as you can without using your own gun.

Since it's a first release, there are a few bugs left ..."

"
"

"Microsoft has confirmed all 49 official achievements for Bungie's first-person shooter (dare we say "killer app"?) Halo 3, and we have them all here for you to study up on, extract from, and prepare for."

"Proving that you're never too old to play with toys (just hope you never hear editor Stevie let loose his passion for Transformers!), Todd McFarlane Toys has today told Next-Gen that it actively pursued, and secured, the rights to make a new line of action figures based on the Halo videogame franchise."

"Twentieth Century Fox Licensing and Merchandising announced a partnership with Microsoft to act as the primary licensing agent for its top-selling video game franchise "Halo," which already has 30 licensees across a full range of product categories.

Fox Licensing will enter the strategic partnership with Microsoft -- which has generated more than $700 million in sales from the "Halo" franchise, with more than 14.5 million video games sold -- to expand the brand's licensing and merchandise ..."

"According to Live guru MajorNelson, there were some 820,000 unique participants in the beta, playing more than 12 million hours combined worth of gameplay. This is equivalent to more than 1,400 years of continuous play, notes the Major.

As expected, it also had quite a bit of effect on Live's bandwidth usage, adding a further 350 terabytes worth of data being downloaded from Microsoft's network. Not a bad effort at all."

"Comic book artist Todd McFarlane, known for Spawn and various others, is not an stranger in the gaming industry and has collaborated with Bungie and Microsoft to decorate Halo 3 themed Xbox 360 controllers (one Spartan, one Covenant) for $59.99, which also includes a McFarlane Toys Halo 3 action figure. For that same price you can also get a camo green Halo 3 wireless headset, both items are over at GameStop, but won't be available until early September."

"In anticipation of Halo 3’s release and the complete meltdown of Xbox Live on September 25, Microsoft has designed a pair of official Xbox 360 wireless controllers, in both Covenant and Spartan flavours. There’s also a Spartan green Xbox Live headset to complete the set."

"Possibly one of the best kept secrets in the gaming world, the physical identity of the eponymous Master Chief has been a subject of conjecture, controversy and contention since the very first Halo burst onto the Xbox back in 2001 - remember those filthy low-down stories that claimed if you finished the game within a certain time you actually SAW the Chief's mug after he removed the Spartan helmet?"

"GameSpy: Gears of War was very successful for you. Does Halo 3 have to beat Gears? Are you aware of fierce competition between these developers to make the top shooter on 360?
Shane Kim: I'll answer your second question first. Yes, there's definitely competition between the teams, just like there would be between sports teams or any creative entity. And that's healthy and good, and we want to cultivate that. Everybody wants to be the best, and I only want to work with teams that want to be ..."

"The latest rumor floating around is that Halo 3 is so huge, as a game, that it can't fit on a single disc. Joystiq has a story about it, CVG has a story about it, Xbox360Fanboy has a story about it. (Actually, now that I read CVG's entry again, it's just a straight report that the art's out - no speculation there at all. Good for them.) Bungie is pretty amused by the misinterpretation of the artwork; there'll be more info in tonight's Weekly Update, but for now, you should understand that one..."

"Usually box art wouldn't be very exciting, but this is Halo 3 box art.

Gav's already fired up the printer to make little replica boxes, and pretend that he didn't, in fact, just get Halo 2 PC in the mail but via a mammoth Microsoft bugger-up got a final, unrated copy of Bungie's third. He can dream, bless him.

There's only two days of the multiplayer beta left (and don't we know it), so if you were thinking about being social this weekend you might want to break off any prior obligation..."

"According to the recent Gamepro Magazine, Dutch developer Guerrilla is coming along in their development of Killzone 2. According to the magazine Killzone will appear, thus already, in September of this year. Now some may take what Gamepro says with a grain of salt, but if their right, this would be the most idiotic move in gaming history. Halo 3 has 5 plus million copies reserved. That alone is almost double the entire PS3 user base. I am a hardcore Sony fan to the death, but this is not the..."

"The Bungie team brings to the table three new maps; Valhalla, Snowbound and High Ground, each of which introduces new aspects of game play and despite their unfinished state, play relatively smoothly, with very few glitches and healthy fast paced combat guaranteed to keep you on your toes"

"While This is an unconfirmed picture of the Halo 3 Box Art, I think it's safe to say that this might actually be the Official Box Art for Halo 3 Standard Edition. The reason behind our confidence is, because its strikingly similar to the art on the Official Halo 3 Mountain Dew. Pictures of The Halo 3 Mountain Dew can be seen at Major Nelson's Flickr Album.

Also, It would make sense to release the cover art for Halo 3, since it ships in September of this year. Hopefully within the next few ..."

""We’re continually shocked here at 7th Columnist to see just how much info is lying around in the Halo 3 public beta. Sure, we always thought having a brief look within would be worthwhile, but not for one second did we think we’d find so much. Everything from new vehicles and weapons, to 4 player co-op and gametypes have been put under the microscope and that’s still not all of it.""

"If there is one game that Xbox 360 gamers are waiting for since the launch of the console, it’s Halo 3. Microsoft has confirmed that the game would be launched this coming September 25.

Microsoft vice president Peter Moore spoke about Halo 3 at the announcement party: “‘Halo 3′ is much more than a video-game release; it’s the biggest entertainment event of the year.”

He added: “We intend to deliver a finale that will go down in entertainment history.”

The company has also give..."

"As we continue the search through the source files of the Halo 3 beta more and more interesting and revealing information keeps popping up.

Today we see new evidence of further customisation options of multiplayer characters, beyond that of different models like Spartan or Elite (as in Halo 2) and colour and emblem changes (seen in the beta so far) and instead, the exciting possibility of varying armour types and the ability for users to mix and match.

Cobra, Intruder, Ninja and Regulat..."

"Yesterday we checked some facts regarding an email sent to Microsoft (into which we were copied) regarding Halo 3. The email was sent by Florida lawyer, John Bruce Thompson. The email contained the statement: "The Beta (of Halo 3) version that was released last week shows us all just how violent the game is and how inappropriate it is for play by anyone under 17."

We asked the following questions by email:

1) When did you play the Halo 3 Beta? I'd like to check for factual purposes.

..."

"Just when you thought it was safe to check your inbox. Miami attorney and anti-game activist Jack Thompson was back at it again today. It seems Mr. Thompson is taking issue with the pending release of Microsoft's Halo 3 game, currently being enjoyed by 360 owners everywhere with its multiplayer beta.



Thompson forwarded Game Almighty a copy of the following letter supposedly sent along to Microsoft Chairman, Bill Gates:

Bill Gates

Microsoft Corporation

Redmond, Washington ..."

"Bungie, developer of the Halo franchise, recorded on Mon. that more than 351,000 games of the new Halo 3 beta have been played on Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 in the past 24 hours.

A total of 351,818 games have been played during the past day. The Halo 3 beta launched on May 16.

In addition, 246,200 players have been logged in the past 24 hours. As of Mon. afternoon, 46,000 players were in Halo 3 game sessions.

The beta introduces players to three all-new maps to be featured in the fin..."

"''New equipment:
Instacover
Smoke (suggested this might be a smoke grenade?)
Jammer

New vehicles:
Chopper
Pelican
Shadow

New weapons:
Flamethrower
Claymore Grenade

New mode:
Infection (described as "Destroy the Flood or become infected. Score points for killing flood or big points for infecting a human. The player with the most points wins.")

New rankings:
The highest rankings are now Killpocalypse and Killionaire, instead of Double Kill and Triple Kill.''"

This video shows the differences between Halo 3 and its most recent predecessor, Halo 2, in multiplayer. The graphics don't seem to have changed too awfully much, but some of the weapons look neat. Please note that the Halo 3 multiplayer is still in Beta and many changes can yet be made before its September release.

"SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp.'s public test of its upcoming "Halo 3" video game got off to a rocky start on Wednesday after many users found they were unable to try out the science fiction-themed shooter.

Owners of Microsoft's Xbox 360 console were supposed to be able to participate in the public test, or beta, of the game by downloading a code included with "Crackdown," another Xbox 360 game published by Microsoft in February.

The public test began on Wednesday, but many us..."

""This is going to be a huge competitive advantage for us. Sony has nothing like it."

That was Shane Kim, head of Microsoft Game Studios, on their biggest venture for the year, Bungie's Halo 3. This, despite of the mixed reviews from gamers who got to try out the game at the Beta test. From the preview, statements like, "The graphics can use some work... they're not much different than the previous Halo..." surfaced, surprisingly.

Why is it a surprise? Because considering all the hype s..."

"Countdown begins for what promises to be bigger than any movie launch in history; Beta preview adds to early excitement."

"There have been some seriously mixed signals about the future of the Halo franchise once Halo 3 drops this fall. Apparently, it's the end of Bungie's trilogy that started on the original Xbox, but we're still anticipating Halo Wars from Ensemble Studios and a spin-off spearheaded by filmmaker Peter Jackson. Does Halo 3 mean the removal of Bungie from the franchise's lead, or simply the end of Master Chief?

The head of Microsoft Game Studios, Shane Kim, doesn't make the situation much clear..."

"We first got our hands on the Halo 3 Beta last Friday. After a few hours of fragging, the IGN editors came to the same conclusions: The Needler kicks ass, the rocket launcher is too slow, and the Brute Shot is crap. A weekend of play later and opinions are slowly changing at IGN. It turns out that while the Needler does indeed dominate and, yeah, the rocket launcher is slower than in Halo 2, the Brute Shot may not actually suck.

The Brute Shot holds six grenades in a clip, which can be fir..."

New screens for Halo 3 beta, showing some of the new weapons and levels that are in the game. There seems to be a lot more heavy artillery in the game's arsenal of weapons. Also, the Mongoose is looking pretty nice, which can seat two people, shown in another screen at Gamespot.

"A seemingly narked Bungie has responded to comments made by Nintendo legend, Shigeru Miyamoto who claimed he could make Halo.

Last week Miyamoto was quoted saying: "I could make Halo. It's not that I couldn't design that game. It's just that I choose not to."

Taking that as a personal challenge, Bungie's Frank O'Connor told Joystiq: "I just want to go on the record and say that Bungie is hard at work on a side-scrolling platform game featuring some plumbers - I'm not going to say what t..."

"Right Click and "Save as" or stream here"

"Next Wednesday, Crackdown purchasers lucky enough to receive an invite to the Halo 3 beta will get their first chance to play Bungie's long-awaited shooter. Today, press outlets were given their own codes to access the beta, and the first screens of and video footage (below) from Halo 3 multiplayer are already on GameSpot.

For the past several hours, GameSpot editors have been sampling the beta's three maps and multiplayer modes. Editors are currently engaging in live gameplay, and the vir..."

"SYDNEY 9 May 2007 - Gamers all over the world have demonstrated their excitement and passion for all things Halo as the Konsoles for Kids charity auction for the "Halo 3" Xbox 360 console has seen bidding on eBay skyrocket to over $21,000.

With one day to go until bidding closes, the "Halo 3" Xbox 360 console - exclusively customised with Halo artwork and signed by the game's development team at Bungie Studios - could possibly be one of the most expensive consoles ever to be sold in the w..."

"Announcing the competition on Bungie's website, community manager Frank O'Connor said that Halo 3 artist David Candland realised how cool it would be for one Halo fan to design an emblem that would be included in the final game.

"Remember, we're looking for something cool and original," explained O'Connor. "Maybe your Halo clan has a cool original logo, but this will be used by folks outside of your clan too, so don't send us something you don't want others to use. And obvious as this soun..."

"Dean Takahashi today revealed via his blog that new details on Halo 3 will be released on May 11. What form those details will take is unknown, whether they relate to the game's story, its multiplayer component or some other element. Halo 3 is currently set to release sometime in Fall 2007.


"The week of May 11 is a big one for previews this year. Typically, this time of year is when E3 is supposed to happen," said Takahashi's original blog post. "We all know it's been postponed until Jul..."

"A seven-minute long video that purports to be leaked footage from a beta version of Halo 3 has appeared on the Internet, giving viewers a glimpse of what to expect when the multiplayer trial of the hugely-anticipated Xbox 360 game kicks off next month.

However, while the footage certainly gives a flavour of Halo 3's multiplayer mode it's thought the action isn't taken directly from the trial version of the game, because it's set in and around a map called Last Resort rather than the three ..."

"The Xbox 360's flagship title Halo 3 will support true (not upscaled) 1080p at 60fps, after Microsoft issued an edict to developers Bungie that it must be the most technically advanced game available on the platform.

A source close to a Bungie insider has revealed that whilst Microsoft have always maintained that a resolution of 720p is the 'sweet spot' for Xbox 360 games last year's E3 Expo 'led to a broadening of perspective' at Microsoft. Whilst Sony were scorned in the gaming media for..."

Some new screens from the beta test og Halo 3 have been put up. No news on who took these but they obviously want to be kept anonymous (blacking out of names on screen). More screenshots on the source for your viewing pleasure. Looks a lot like Halo and Halo 2 doesn't it? just different maps.