Cold Storage map is coming July 7th and will be free of charge courtesy of Bungie. Watch the aptly name “On the Seven7th Day” video from Bungie showcasing this remake of the classic Halo multiplayer map.

Courtesy of this month’s GamePro, which is as you read this working its way to subscriber’s mailboxes. While the cover feature promises news on all future Halo titles, it only dishes out hard information (and gorgeous new screens) on Halo Wars. But that’s OK. We’ll take it.

Because a console RTS (Real-Time-Strategy) is a new experience for Ensemble, they’ve stripped back their traditional playstyle in favor of something a little more Halo-esque. Which means only one economic unit - “supplies” - and fast, fast, fast battles, with the team promising you can be fighting “within ten seconds” of hitting the battlefield.

Also revealed is at least a partial list of the units that’ll be available.

UNSC Forces

Marines
Flamethrower Marines
Spartans
Warthogs
Scorpions
Cobras (anti-vehicle artillery)
Hornets
Wolverines (anti-aircraft vehicle)
Elephants (!!)
Cyclops (enormous UNSC mech unit)
Vultures (mysterious, enormous vehicle)

Covenant Forces (not all units revealed)

Grunts
Jackals
Hunters
Ghosts
Banshees
Scarabs
Elites

- GamePro July 2008

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This well produced short from College Humor features detectives investigating a mysterious death in Halo 3. Good stuff.

Flipping the calendar to a new month means it is time for another refresh to Halo 3’s Matchmaking playlists. A detailed changelist for the month of June is below. Direct your vitriol, adoration and quirky one-liners to the Optimatch Forum.
Hardcore

ADDED Head to Head (Ranked)

• 1vs 1 hopper
• Relies primarily on Duels-style Slayer (indicator over the head of the person with the high score)
• Smaller maps customized in Forge
• Low weighted instances of Oddball and KotH

UPDATED MLG

• v5 map variants added
• Forge map “Amplified” added for Slayer and KotH
• Blackout replaces Guardian as Oddball map
• Legendary not required on this playlist.

UPDATED SWAT

• ShWATguns variant added
• Shotty starts
• No shields, 150% damage resistance
• SWATball variant added
• SWAT style oddball
• 200 points to win
• SWAT 2 Flag variant added
• SWAT style Capture the Flag
• On The Pit and Snowbound
• Players can not return flags, returns after 15 seconds on its own.
• 3 Flags to win

Ranked

UPDATED Team Slayer

• Decreased weighting on BR start game types

UPDATED Team Objective

• Increased weighting on symmetrical map/gametype combinations, Example: Multi Flag on The Pit
• Increased weighting on asymmetrical map/gametype combinations, Example: 1 Flag on High Ground

UPDATED Ranked Big Team

• Ranked Big Team will be worth double EXP for the month of June
• All restrictions are being removed.
• Fixed bug from May Mid-Month update that made the playlist require Legendary (The June playlist will only require Heroic)
• If Ranked Big Team does not perform well this month, it may be retired in July.

Social

UPDATED Social Slayer

• Team Snipers “Score to Win” requirement increased to 50

DLC

UPDATED DLC Slayer

• Reintegrated Heroic Maps

UPDATED DLC Objective

• Increased focus on asymmetrical games on Avalanche, symmetrical games on Ghost Town
• Reintegrated Heroic maps

Double EXP Weekends (In order of appearance)

ADDED Rockets

• 8 Player FFA Insanity

UPDATED Grifball Spring League

• Bug fixes from the May version so that Carrier Damage Resistance is correct
• Bug fix so forced player color is correct when carrying the bomb.

UPDATED Team Snipers

• Score to Win requirements increased to 50 for slayer games

ADDED 3 Ball

• 4v4v4v4 Gametypes with 3 Oddballs

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Attention all Halo 3 players!

X-Play is giving away Recon Armor for Halo 3 – the kind you can only normally wear in the game if you work at Bungie. That’s right; this highly exclusive armor can be yours!

Loading.Ready.Run shares with us a brilliant glimpse of our future courtesy of Halo. While quite similar to the most excellent EPIC (which I also recommend viewing at your earliest convenience) I consider the following to be the best video game mockumentary I have ever seen. Enjoy.

Body Pieces
Spartan

EVA……………..Complete Tsavo Highway on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary
EOD……………..Complete Tsavo Highway on Legendary
Scout……………Unlock “Too Close to the Sun” Achievement (Destroy an enemy banshee with the Sp’laser or missile pod in a ranked playlist or campaign)

Elite

Flight……………Complete Tsavo Highway on Heroic or Legendary
Ascetic…………Unlock “Up Close and Personal” Achievement (Kill 5 enemies via melee or assassination in a ranked FFA playlist)
Commando….Unlock “Triple Kill” Achievement (Get one triple kill)

Shoulder Pieces
Spartan

EVA……………..Complete The Ark on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary
EOD…………….Complete The Ark on Legendary
Security……….Earn 750 Gamerscore Points
Scout……………Unlock “We’re in for some Chop” Achievement (Destroy an enemy vehicle with a piece of equipment in a ranked playlist or campaign)

Elite

Flight……………Complete The Ark on Heroic or Legendary
Ascetic…………Unlock “Overkill” Achievement (Get one overkill)
Commando….Unlock “Killing Frenzy” Achievement (Get one killing frenzy)

Head Pieces
Spartan

EVA……………..Complete Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary
EOD……………..Complete Campaign on Legendary
Security………..Earn 1,000 Gamerscore Points
Scout…………….Unlock “Used Car Salesman” Achievement (Destroy an enemy vehicle containing 3 enemies in Campaign or ranked playlists)
Mark V………….Unlock “UNSC Spartan” Achievement (Reach Sergeant ranking online)
ODST……………Unlock “Spartan Graduate” Achievement (Earn 5 EXP or complete 10 ranked matches)
Rogue………….Unlock “Spartan Officer” Achievement (Advance to the Spartan Officer ranks online)

Elite
Flight……………Complete Campaign on Heroic or Legendary
Ascetic………….Unlock “Steppin’ Razor” Achievement (Get one triple kill with an energy sword in ranked FFA)
Commando….Unlock “Overkill” Achievement (Get one overkill)

Looking to for the 9 skulls in Halo 3? Here are two videos from xTala25x & Slick Nick that detail the locations of the hidden skulls that will net you cool gameplay-altering options, obtain even higher scores in the campaigns meta-game, and 90 achievement points.

The following video features Curtis Creamer, CJ Cowan and Harold Ryan from Bungie Studios driving a warthog made for Peter Jackson’s Halo project. Very cool.

The latest song from SarcasticGamer is about Microsoft’s soon to be released Halo 3. Jeromy “Doc” Adams had this to say regarding the song:

With all of the Halo 3 Hype that’s ramping up, we knew we couldn’t let this record-breaking franchise get away unscathed. Here’s “The Halo 3 Hype Hoedown”, delivering 3 minutes of foot stompin’, spoon clackin’ funny for fanboys and skeptics alike.

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