Halo 3

Halo 3 melee has now been "fixed" after careful testing by Bungie and pro-gamers from the MLG.

Boot up Halo and you'll be auto-updated. Two notes from Bungie on the patch:

NOTE: You may experience a few laggier-than-usual games after the update is installed as it resets your hosting and network connection history. This history should grow rapidly for an improved situation.

NOTE 2: If you run into a map loading error after the autoupdate, where a map freezes at a certain percentage loaded, try restarting Halo 3 while holding down the “A” button and "Up" on the D-Pad simultaneously while the game is booting. That may help with your problem. If the problem persists after this step, try following the normal steps for cleaning your disc or disc tray.

The melee fix can be summed up by this:

"Melee contests will only produce a winner if he has a sizeable health advantage over the loser. Otherwise, both players may die in the clash."

For a lengthy essay on the fix, head on over to Bungie.net.

From now until Monday, Halo 3 players will be treated to a Valentine's Day Massacre playlist, which will be a variation of the Team Doubles playlist. You know, for you and that special someone.

The playlist will also help Bungie test out some tournament tracking features they are working on and they say they will be doling out some awards for secret reasons and stats. Their example, which will not be a real one, is a prize for the most vehicle hijacks.

They plan to hold a few tournaments next month through the use of special playlists that will appear during the contests.

Maybe they should send a card to Infinity Ward, though, as CoD4 seems to holding most of Xbox Live's traffic nowadays.

Bungie.net: The St. Valentine's Day Massacre Playlist

The most recent Bungie podcast has revealed something quite interesting to its listeners. The next release from them will be "something totally different" from the Halo series. Christian Allen, Bungie's lead designer, essentially said it's far too early in development to talk about.

We can't even begin to speculate what this could mean or what their perspective of "totally different" actually means. Are we talkin space MMO different, sports game different, or the main character's name is Master Chef and he's battling Aliens called the Ovenant in an interstellar cooking competition kind of different?

the Bungie Podcast

Also, remember this?

In the latest Bungie.net update, Frankie regrets to inform us that one of their favorite maps slated for the next map pack will not make the deadline.

The map, codenamed "Purple Reign" (which we can only assume is a closed in box with Needlers everywhere) will go back to development.

A new challenger approaches and that map is codenamed "Moonlight Sonata", which Bungie believes will "be universally adored". Supposedly a small map, suitable for 1v1 Slayer, the new map will hopefully be as good as they say it is.

Also in the update were details about some work on the melee system.

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Adidas, the most-dope shoe company since they were made immortal by Run DMC, are cementing their legacy with the above Gilbert Arenas Halo 3 sneakers.

Yeah. We want them too. Arenas, know for cheating at Halo 3, playing great ball, and funding game team The Final Boss, was supposed to wear a pair on the court on February 8th, but he's injured.

The kicks are super-scarce--only 100 pairs globally--so if you need them hit select stores on February 8.

Complex: adidas Gil II Zero Halo Sneaker

 The wraps are off the latest Hummer, and if you doubt the influence of Halo 3 on popular culture, this should settle your rhetorical hash:

Tell us that isn't modeled after the Warthog. The Hummer HX features fully removeable doors and roof panels. and All its missing is a rooftop gun mount.

Click the link for many more pics.

Jalopnik: Hummer HX Concept Embargo Totally Fragged

You gotta watch this video a gamer posted on Youtube of the most elaborate suicide ever! The guy went through Halo 3 and set up objects in a Chuts ‘n’ Ladders-style death death contraption.

It took him four days and 65 takes to get it right,but, boy-oh-boy, is it neat-o!

Andrew Podolsky, an apparent svengali of stationary, created a pretty sweet paper model replica of the Pelican dropship from Halo.

TheFeed doesn't have a lot of skills when it comes to making anything but annoying cat macros, so this is pretty impressive. 

Podolsky also earns bonus points for an Shadowcat replica in the background too.

Full pics after the jump

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Sure, Nintendo is selling a million-billion Wii's (though they don't take a loss on them), but their software attach rates aren't as high as they could be.

Sony is moving even less software. Microsoft has no problem moving software and it shows.

Apparently, about 52% of Xbox 360 owners that live in the United States own Halo 3.

Compare this to Super Mario Galaxy, which has only been out for a few weeks, and its attach rate of 18.7%. We'll give Galaxy time to catch up, though.

GameDaily: Halo 3 Purchased by 52% of Xbox 360 Owners in U.S.

Here we take a look at the 3rd map included in the Halo 3 Heroic Map Pack, "Standoff". This map is mostly open with hills and rocks providing cover.

There are two bases and a bunch of vehicles. The hills can make for some awesome jumping, but be careful because it's really easy to flip a Warthog on this map.

Grab your battle rifles and check this map out:

Rat's Nest is a great Team Slayer or CTF map (though the flags are set really close to each other). Set inside a Marine base it features vehicles in tight hallways and Grav Lifts that can be used to reach high areas.

This is sure to be a new favorite for team games.

The Heroic Map Pack has officially been released for Halo 3 and it was enough to drag us away from Call of Duty 4. Here's some footage of Foundry, the smallest map of the bunch.

In smaller games, this map definitely creates some cat-and-mouse situations and control of the rocket launcher and shotgun are going to be key.

The boxes and fences offer opportunities for skillful jumpers to get an advantage over less skilled players.

All in all, this is a great map.

The holiday season: is here, giving us all time to reflect on the year that's gone by and make a top ten list!

According to Time Magazine's top ten list, the game of the year is Halo 3. Not too surprising... Halo 3 is followd by The Orange Box...which is not surprising...and then comes to the totally unsurprising Rock Band.

This year of mind-blowing videogames has spoiled everyone, even Time Magazine... in what other year in gaming history would Bioshock comes in number 5, and God of War 2 at number 10?

Check out the whole list yourself at Time Magazine's official site... and while you're there, check out who won top ten gadgets. Hint: It's the iPhone.

In a very informal poll conducted around G4's office, 0% of respondents reported that Halo 3 bricked their 360, but apparently, we got lucky.

Gossip website TMZ is, for some reason, reporting that a class action lawsuit was filed in Federal Court, which claims Halo 3 is causing major problems for 360s.

Randy Nunez alleges that when he used the game on his console, it would "crash, freeze, or lock up" while running.

So he filed a class-action suit. For five million bucks.

In an unrelated side note, the editors of TMZ, a website that hosts literally thousands of hours of cellphone footage of vapid actresses walking out of restaraunts, thinks you are a nerd.

TMZ: Halo 3 Allegedly "Crashes" -- Gamers Pissed!

New Halo 3 maps are coming for your downloading pleasure!

The trio of awesome new multiplayer battlefields are as follows:

• Standoff: a "symmetrical valley" with "entrenched bases and fields of boulders is ideal for mid-sized objective and Slayer game types."
• Rat’s Nest: "vast, labyrinthine passages bring something new to the “Halo” multiplayer experience: an indoor vehicle paradise, strongly influenced by the Campaign mode, ideal for big team battles."
• Foundry: "The ultimate Forge map – players can edit every single object in this voluminous industrial warehouse, place stairways, walls, bridges and tunnels to create an entirely new play space and build almost any kind of map they can think of."

The map-pack will cost you 800 M'Soft points and be available on December 11th. Or, if you'd rather not pay for the maps, wait until Spring 2008, and they will be free.

Click the cut for more picks and the complete press release!

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