“Here we are again with another cash cow being brought out to graze.   Is it a bad thing?”

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As any faithful Halo 3 player knows, the new map “Cold Storage” was debuted two nights ago at MLG’s competition at San Diego. The map, which is a remake of Halo: Combat Evolved’s “Chill Out” is Bungie’s final announcement of the new map pack which will also contain the new maps Purple Reign and Moonbase Alpha. Above is some of the first footage debuted at MLG San Diego in which MLG Halo 3 pros Karma and LegendPimps teamed with Bungie developers Shishka and Luke Smith to play a quick 2 on 2 game on the new map.

In all honesty, being a huge Halo fan I’m not very impressed by this announcement. Chill Out never really stood out as one of the best maps in the Halo series, and I was hoping that Bungie would announce a remake or reimagination of Midship, Sanctuary or even Blood Gulch. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how the remake is when the third map pack releases later in the year.

You can’t unscrew the pregnant woman.

Late last month a story surfaced about a gamer by the name of Nathaniel who sent his Xbox 360 in to Microsoft for repairs after it got the infamous red rings. However, his console had special significance because it was covered in unique signatures and custom artwork. He was at first hesitant to part with it, even if it was only to be temporary, but he eventually decided to send it in instead of attempting to fix it himself. He even took precautions like calling ahead and sending a letter with his console to ensure he received the exact same one and the marker wasn’t smudged or removed.

When he got it back, while it was his exact console like he had requested, all the signatures and artwork was gone. Despite his call, letter, and the fact that the permanent marker was obviously meant to be there, someone had cleaned it all off before returning it to him.

Fortunately for Nathaniel, however, Bungie and Microsoft have decided to do whatever they can to help. While they can’t replace the permanent marker that once covered his case, they can shower him with even more, and that’s what Bungie has done already and Microsoft plans on doing.

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Dearest Bungie:

I realize that this may or may not make me sound like a broken record, but Halo 3’s matchmaking system is broken. No, not simply flawed or a little borked but full-blown broken.

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I’ve heard plenty of people complain about how melee works in Halo 3, and while it may not annoy everyone there are those that find it to be an issue. Fortunately, Bungie has been listening to the community’s feedback in between designing new maps and building castles with their money (or maybe pulling a Scrooge McDuck if that’s their style), so the next update will include some changes to the way melee is handled. Certain aspects like shield depletion and simultaneous strikes, among others, will be adjusted to make it more fair:

The bottom line is that we felt it could be improved without alienating folks who hadn’t noticed any problem and so we’ve been working with real life players, like one or two external hardcore clans, as well as the MLG guys, to make sure the changes are satisfactory, balanced, fair and fun.

What I think is really great is that they aren’t only listening to suggestions, but letting outside sources actually be a part of fixing the problem and making improvements. Getting direct help from the players themselves seems like the best way to get it right. Hopefully the vast majority of players end up liking it as well, since they are going pretty in-depth with what needs to be changed to make sure it will actually be better:

We chatted about the general nature of the changes – subtle versus significant, perceived fairness versus actual fairness, system link versus online. Then we rolled up our sleeves and got stuck in. Obviously the MLG guys wanted to see the nature of the changes, so we played a couple of games where points were only awarded for front-facing melees, just to force the issue. The number of simultaneous deaths goes up as a result of some of the changes – but it was the visceral response we were looking for.

Looks like those of you who always blame your losses on cheap melees will have to think of a new excuse (perhaps blaming the rest of the team for being “noobs” and not helping?), since bashing someone over the head with a gun will soon be a much more refined action. The update, which will include a lot of other changes in addition to the melee fix, should be out in a few weeks.

You may remember when Halo 3 first came out, some people with way too much time on their hands decided instead of enjoying the game for what it was they would rather count the pixels. When they did, the result was not the promised resolution of 720p but a mere 640p upscaled to 720p - and with some simple arithmetic it is revealed that Bungie “cheated” gamers of a whole 80 pixels of vertical resolution. That’s right, Bungie had the nerve to lower the native resolution by a mostly unnoticeable 80 pixels for the sake of greatly improved lighting.

Now, Class Action Connect is offering a lawsuit against Bungie, so that gamers everywhere can get the money they deserve for having to enjoy the incredible lighting in less-than-HD 640p. Bungie is finally being called out for their grievous affront to humanity, and they could have to pay for Halo 3’s unforgivable lack of 80p. The description from Class Action Connect:

A team of class action attorneys has launched an investigation into complaints that Halo 3 was falsely marketed as a high definition product, but does not actually render native high definition resolutions. These complaints are that, although Halo 3 was advertised as having a 720p resolution (720 pixels), it natively renders at 640p (640 pixels) and is simply scaled up to 720p. Read more about it here. If you purchased the Halo 3 game, you may be entitled to recover money.

Justice prevails once again. However, Halo 3 is not the only game to withhold pixels, or even the worst offender, so it’s time to bring all the other developers who have made games in less than 720p and make them pay too. It is inconceivable that anyone would makes aspects other than the resolution their priority, and even if they made a fun, entertaining, and amazing game they need to be brought to court for every slight aspect that was promised but not delivered. These lawyers need something to do with their time, afterall.

[Via Xbox-Scene]

Halo 3’s saved films have changed the game, and even added some more depth since every moment can now be relived from any angle, and your best kills can be scrutinized endlessly. Now you actually have to back up your claims, and the things you used to think were amazing seem like nothing compared to the feats others have shared.

However, sharing your Halo 3 videos with people who don’t have Xbox 360s of their own can be hard without the right equipment - well, until now. But GeeVee.com’s new GeeVeeGrab for Halo 3 makes it incredibly simple. All you need to do is supply them with some basic information about the video and they’ll do the rest.

First of all you need to make an account here, then go to the GeeVeeGrab for Halo 3. Enter your gamertag, the name of your film on your file share, and then the title and description for the site. Then just click “Grab,” and they do everything else for you while you wait for them to send you an e-mail as soon as your video has been processed and is available on their site. Videos can be up to 45 minutes, so you shouldn’t have to worry about length - but I really doubt anyone’s going to want to sit through almost an hour of you getting your ass kicked. However, it is still in beta so there may be problems and it can take a while for your video to be available. Still, it’s well worth the wait, and I tried it with one of my videos and was definitely satisfied with the whole process.

It’s really great to be able to upload your Halo 3 videos to the internet so easily, and it means the amount of insane Halo 3 clips circulating the internet is about to grow a lot. However, everyone is going to start uploading their videos, so there will also be a lot more lame videos to go through. Just because you thought it was amazing doesn’t mean it really was - yeah, we’ve all gotten a double kill or ran over someone with a vehicle. Don’t assume it’s special just because you’ve never done it before.

[Via the forums - Thanks SRX]

A few weeks ago Bungie teased of upcoming Halo 3 downloadable content, and in the newest Bungie Weekly Update more information is revealed:

The other thing keeping the designers busy, and the artists and audio guys for that matter, is downloadable content. The maps themselves are being prepared in a logical order, designed to fill gaps in our matchmaking selection and add new, interesting environments to our multiplayer arsenal. The more finished the maps are, the faster they’re likely to make it to marketplace. We’ll have more news on the specific plans for timing and availability soon, and we promise to let you guys get a look at the maps and hear more about what they have to offer.

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I can’t believe it, but Halo 3 sales were actually beaten this week. Half-Life 2: The Orange Box sold 348,049 copies on its first week, while Halo 3 sold 285,860 units this week. Seems like Microsoft’s most anticipated title for the Xbox 360 could be dying down…this week at least. I’m sure Halo 3 will top the charts next week, while Orange Box will bump down to second place.

In somewhat related news, Orange Box seems to be doing pretty poor on Xbox Live. According to Major Nelson, Orange Box is the 9th top played online title of the week, while Halo 3 is still number 1.

The first playlist update for Halo 3 has now gone live, and Bungie has the details on what they’ve changed:

Big Team Battle matches are now 16-player affairs.

In the Team Slayer playlist, the appearance of Shotty Snipers has been greatly reduced.

Now, when players veto Shotty Snipers, the game that results from the veto will not be Shotty Snipers.

In one-sided VIP matches, the attacking team will now see a waypoint for the VIP they are hunting.

In Lone Wolves, Slayer gametypes will appear more frequently.

Not too many changes, but some that have been asked for and look like they will make certain playlists even better. Good to see Bungie keeping the game fresh, and if Halo 2 is any indication we’ll be getting plenty more of these.