My Halo News.com

The latest news about the Halo series of games from Microsoft

  • Status Code Z: U R Bant

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    narcogen

    SketchFactor writes at Bungie.net that if you get this status code from your Xbox:

    “Status Code: Z: 8015 – 190D”

    Congratulations! You’ve been banned for modifying your Xbox. This doesn’t affect your XBL account, but does prevent that console from connecting to Xbox Live. Ever. Major Nelson also notes this on his blog.

  • The Color Of His Parachute

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    narcogen

    Chad “Shishka” Armstrong, formerly Lorraine “Mehve” McLees’ assistant at Bungie, has opened up a 1Up blog. His first significant post tells the story of how he got hired at Bungie and how that led to his current position at Certain Affinity

  • When the HALO 3 beta ends…

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    rapture

    You will probably see this message displayed:

    HALO 3 beta end

    Thanks to Gnome at SR.THX for the screengrab during an update.
    __________________________
    currently playing: Catan, HALO 3 beta, Guitar Hero II
    anticipating: Shadowrun, HALO 2 (PC), HALO 3, Quake Wars (in that order)
    rest in peace: GoW, CoD3
    Shadowrun rocks!

  • Testing Your Medals

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    narcogen

    Sorahn‘s directory of Public Beta medals has been updated; it seems Bungie caved on Cheneymania, renaming it Open Season; also several missing medals, including Hail to the King, have been added.

  • Rule of 3 Fiasco – Update

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    halo@bungie.org
    in
    Wow. For all the people who said that Bungie doesn’t care… you guys can pull your feet out of your mouths now. Microsoft screwed up AGAIN – and for some reason, the 3pm remailing of the ‘Rule of 3’ codes never actually happened. Rather than letting their fans continue to swing in the wind, SketchFactor posted a couple of notes in the Bungie.net forums (here and here), stating that anyone who should have gotten a code but didn’t should send email to BNETBUGS@MICROSOFT.COM, using the account they registered for the contest. Those guys are handling these requests personally – in the middle of a public beta, 4 months before they have to ship the biggest product they’ve ever made. THAT’S fan support.(Louis Wu 02:16:51 UTC)

  • If you mod… beware.

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    halo@bungie.org
    in
    Not much else to say.(Louis Wu 22:37:51 UTC)

  • Xbox Live Bantacular

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    Bungie.net’s Recent News
    Bungie isn’t the only team with a Banhammer. The Xbox Live team has infinitely more powerful tools that obviously span beyond just the Halo games. Be warned that using hacked consoles will get you a one-way ticket to Banville – no matter which game you play.

  • HALO 3 matchmaking troubles

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    rapture

    Many HALO 3 users are experiencing extremely long wait times while trying to join up to public games. A lot of users can’t get in to any game at all while others are waiting 15 or 30 minutes to get to play.

    In the early part of the beta, this was the case when there was a wide spread between the highest and lowest TruSkill rankings. This new trouble seems to be affecting all rankings, even if they are all low and similar.

    Remember, the purpose of the beta is to test matchmaking. I guess it’s being tested pretty heavily today.

    Are any THX’ers affected by this?
    __________________________
    currently playing: Catan, HALO 3 beta, Guitar Hero II
    anticipating: Shadowrun, HALO 2 (PC), HALO 3, Quake Wars (in that order)
    rest in peace: GoW, CoD3
    Shadowrun rocks!

  • You’ve played the beta, now tell the world what you think!

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    foomojive

    Now that the Crackdown download debacle is over, almost all of us that have a golden ticket to the Halo 3 beta should have it. This week we want to hear what you think! Here’s what we’re looking for:

    1. Your review. Just write a one-paragraph review of the beta and send it in. If it’s good, we’ll read it off and talk about it.
    2. Tips for your favorite map(s). Now is the time to build your Halo 3 skills! Send in your tips for how to kick ass in the game types and maps included in the beta.
    3. Tales from the foxhole. We want to hear about some crazy stuff that happened to you in the beta!

    This week we’re recording on Sunday afternoon so be sure to get your stuff in by Sunday morning. You can send it in by clicking Submit news and tips on the right side of the page. The sooner you get yours in, the more likely it will be read on the show!

  • Rule of 3 – Update

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    halo@bungie.org
    in
    Over at Bungie.net, there’s an update for the ‘Rule of 3’ contestant winners – Microsoft plans to resend ALL codes one more time, this afternoon at 3PM PDT. (That’s in just over 2 hours, at the time of this writing.) MAKE SURE you’re not blocking mail from halo3beta{at}microsoft.com, if you’re expecting this message. Thanks, Sketch!(Louis Wu 19:50:41 UTC)

  • Halo 3 "Three Ways to Play" Update

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    Bungie.net’s Recent News
    If you were a winner of the Microsoft Halo 3 “3 Ways to Play” promotion but haven’t received your beta code yet, please read this important update!

  • Another Beta Egg – Solved (mostly)

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    halo@bungie.org
    in
    A few days ago, Anton P. Nym noticed that one of the computers in the small room behind the flag on High Ground was emitting Morse Code – it took a little while for a recording to be made, but today, Cocopjojo uploaded one, and in short order Ducain translated the messages. Two famous Bungie slogans, and what looks to be an acronym… a very cool little egg! (If you have any suggestions for the acronym, be sure to send ’em in!)(Louis Wu 19:04:10 UTC)

  • Dune? Croon? Prune? Hell NO! Halo 3 Zune!

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    Bungie.net’s Recent News
    One more item of “gotta have it” merchandise for the Halo collecting crowd.  Grunty-Flakes?  Master Chief Breakfast Bars?  UNSC standard issue Underoos?  Spartan prophylactics? (look out “Trojan Man”!)   None of those are on shelves….  yet.  But there IS the Special Edition Halo® – Zune™!

  • RT: Beta Blues

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    Rooster Teeth News
    If you’re reading this, then you are dumb. You should totally be playing the Halo 3 Multiplayer beta right now. Duh. But, since you’re already here and all, you might as well read today’s comic below, and today’s sponsor only comic here. You know…

  • Rule of 3 Woes

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    halo@bungie.org
    in
    We’ve received a number of emails from folks who won entrance to the Beta via the ‘Rule of 3’ contest last December, but haven’t yet gotten their invite – and I can only imagine that Bungie has received orders of magnitude more. It truly does suck to have won a slot into the beta this way and then not be able to use it… but I’d ask all involved to stay calm and try to work out the problems. I wrote up a forum post explaining some of the issues; give it a read.(Louis Wu 15:08:51 UTC)

  • Bungalo Blues – the Beginning

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    halo@bungie.org
    in
    Second Foundation, the guys behind the Riot podcast, are kicking off a new project soon – Macro-Syllabic is creating an ‘audio play’ (think I Love Bees style) called ‘Bungalo Blues’. It’s not out yet (they’re not really foolish enough to try and compete with the Halo 3 Beta right now), but they’ve got an info page up, so you can see what’s coming, and who’s involved. Their writer is well-known around here – which may or may not bode well for the final product. Thanks to Cyclone Ranger for the heads-up.(Louis Wu 14:14:43 UTC)

  • The Paper Spartan Army Grows

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    halo@bungie.org
    in
    Nomi’s been pretty busy recently; if you check out her Paper Spartans page, you’ll find a number of new spartans (scroll to the bottom), as well as a cool reproduction of the UNSC logo. (It’s hard to tell from that photo, but it’s made the same way the paper spartans are – with layers of construction paper.)(Louis Wu 14:06:25 UTC)

  • Halo-wood… gah.

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    halo@bungie.org
    in
    Dry Ice, our reporter on the ground in Hollywood (heh), found a writeup of the Hollywood press event on Xbox.com – complete with video footage. Get a look at the place, the people, and watch an interview with Joe ‘New0001’ Tung, Halo 3’s Multiplayer Producer (and notorious sniper whore).(Louis Wu 13:59:05 UTC)

  • Bobbing for Stories

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    halo@bungie.org
    in
    Shishka is a name that is familiar to most long-time Bungie fans; he’s been around for quite some time. He went from fanboi to Bungie employee to one of the first members of the Certain Affinity team – and you can read about that path in his new blog at 1Up. If you’re a Halo fan, you’ve seen a lot of his work – now go learn about the man! Thanks to Ducain, at CertainAffinity.net, for the heads-up.(Louis Wu 13:54:10 UTC)

  • Soup To Nuts, from Sketch

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    halo@bungie.org
    in
    Game Informer talked to Brian Jarrard recently about the beta – go read the interview. (He mentions numbers in the interview; he says “I wouldn’t be surprised if a couple hundred thousand people log in and try the beta at some point in time.” According to Bungie.net right now, there have been 246,940 Halo 3 players in the last 24 hours – and remember, the Crackdown problem wasn’t fixed until about 10 pm EST last night (on a weekday) – 3 AM on the other side of the Atlantic!) It’s a good read, for some of the thinking that goes on behind the scenes – it’s quite extensive, check it out!(Louis Wu 13:40:18 UTC)