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Frank O'Connor leaves Bungie for more Halos
For Bungie fans one name has been synonymous with a Halo branded encyclopedia of knowledge and human complaint cushion. Frank O'Connor, content manager at Bungie Studios, has announced he is leaving his position and heading to Microsoft in order to work more closely on the Halo franchise.In his final weekly update, Frankie thanks fans for their continued support and for not following up on various death threats made throughout the years. We'd like to believe that's a joke, but we're sure it isn't.Frankie left fans with something they've grown to expect from Bungie's public face, a tease for the future. "I was busy working on a story for one of our next games, an experience that is destined to surprise, amaze and entertain like nothing we've ever made before." We know every Bungie fan is holding their breath for the next morsel of info that drops and can't wait to see what Bungie has in store for the future.Take care Frankie, and don't be a stranger.[via Joystiq]
Community Content: Back at Blackout Edition
Each week, X3F showcases the best in Halo 3 downloads with Community Content. To find out how to set up your Bungie.net account, click here. Submit your own ideas at: comcon [AT] xbox360fanboy [DOT] comThis week in Community Content we bring you a subtle change to Blackout. Blackout is supposed to represent isolation from the outside world. Fighting for survival on a floating oil rig, you must fend off your foes and achieve the maximum body count to come out on top. This week's content, Juicy Blackdome, changes the map on its head by removing the majority of the maps power weapons and creating a new perch for players to "rain down" the doom.Due to technical difficulties, no video walkthrough for this weeks content is provided. Apologizes!
MSNBC readers rate World of Warcraft as most addicting game
Kristen Kalning, the games editor of MSNBC, asked her readers, "What game hooked you and why?" After the flood of e-mails finished cascading through her inbox and she tallied the votes in each one, it wasn't surprising that World of Warcraft came up as the leader.While she does say that other games like City of Heroes, and other non MMO games like Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, and even Guitar Hero came up, her article took the time to mostly focus on the addicting properties of WoW. Readers added their own tales of addiction and the addiction of others, and Kalning relates some of the most woe-worthy stories she received in her inbox.However, the article isn't all doom and gloom. One reader took the time to talk about how Guild Wars helped her with her shyness while another reader explained the proud feeling his Halo 3 accomplishments give him. It's always nice to see that games aren't harming the social habits of every gamer who picks up a controller or keyboard and mouse.If you're fascinated by addiction, or just looking for a story to scare your WoW addicted spouse, be sure to drop by and check out her article, as well as the original. If it's the addicted spouse, however, may we interest you in a detox clinic?
Community Content Recap
Each week, X3F showcases the best in Halo 3 downloads with Community Content. To find out how to set up your Bungie.net account, click here. Submit your own ideas at: comcon [AT] xbox360fanboy [DOT] comOrdinarily at this time of day you'd be shaking your head at lame machinima and commenting on the latest entry into our weekly Halo 3-centric feature, Community Content. This week is slightly different.After unleashing user-generated content for nearly four months we thought now would be a good time to recap all the content we've ever recommended in our weekly Community Content feature.Missed a few weeks? Looking to spice up that copy of Halo 3 you still hold onto for dear life? Check out our super-list of Community Content after the break!
Community Content: Snowed In Edition
Each week, X3F showcases the best in Halo 3 downloads with Community Content. To find out how to set up your Bungie.net account, click here. Submit your own ideas at: comcon [AT] xbox360fanboy [DOT] comThis week in Community Content we bring your an Avalanche map variant that adds a touch more of Sidewinder into the mix. Cottonball is vehicular mayhem at its best with twice as many rides equaling twice as much carnage for Big Team or Objective based gametypes.Perfect for Capture the Flag, Assault or a high scoring Team Deathmatch, Cottonball is a minimalist approach to Community Content is a whole lot of fun to play. Check it out!Music: "Foreplay of War" by Critical Mood[iTunes] Subscribe to X3F TV directly in iTunes.[Zune] Subscribe to the X3F TV directly (Zune Marketplace link coming soon).[RSS] Add the X3F TV feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.[MP4] Download the MP4 Directly.
Halo 3 celebrates Cinco de Mayo with double XP
Everyone knows that Cinco de Mayo celebrates when Mexican Spartan forces destroyed a batch of French Covenant troops in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. So it seems only fitting that the bravery and sacrifice of those armored soldiers be honored with a Halo 3 Double XP weekend (which has already kicked off) and a new playlist for Fiesta (which spawns players with random weapons) called "Cinco de Mayo."Two words of warning before you begin jamming cervezas and the right trigger: 1. Everyone can get double XP but you need the Heroic and Legendary map packs to play in "Cinco de Mayo." 2. The party only lasts until Tuesday, with the fiesta becomes a siesta.
Halo 3 Forge mode art attack!
A day after showcasing some nice Halo 3 screenshot art we got word of a contest on Maximum Fear that asked gamers to get creative with Halo 3's Forge mode. Halo 3 player Hahka submitted the winning piece, as shown above, and took home a $25 Bungie Store gift card.Some of the other entries included a shockingly realistic portrait of Bungie's Frank O'Connor and a disturbing recreation of Michael Jackson's mug. Oh, so that's how his doctors figure out how to resculpt his face everytime! Makes sense.[Thanks David and Nathan]
Halotography: An artistic look at Halo 3
One of our loyal X3F tipsters shot us a link to an amazing, beautifully artistic, Halo 3 screenshot gallery from Flickr user Joshuadamon. The Halotography set is JD's perspective on the Halo universe using the popular screenshot feature provided in the best-selling Xbox 360 exclusive.Some shots, like the one above titled Chicken!, showcase perfect moments in the game, while others are so stunning you'd forget you were looking at in game screens.Thumbs up to Joshua Damon for his beautiful work and to everyone else who gets creative with their copy of Halo 3![Thanks, Conner]
Community Content: City of the Dead Edition
Each week, X3F showcases the best in Halo 3 downloads with Community Content. To find out how to set up your Bungie.net account, click here. Submit your own ideas at: comcon [AT] xbox360fanboy [DOT] comThis week's Community Content is an Infection gametype on a variant of Ghost Town. In Dead City, human players must survive for five minutes as they wait for emergency evacuation from a contaminated village. Utilizing two bases connected by a barricaded catwalk, humans have few weapons at their disposal as they fight to stay alive.Dead City is unique because it utilizes a day and night cycle. Using the newly added filters in Halo 3, the map changes from Day to dusk to dawn. As it gets more and more difficult to see the tension to survive the winding clock rises. Check out Dead City today!Music: "Drowning Not Waving" by Armitage Shanks[iTunes] Subscribe to X3F TV directly in iTunes.[Zune] Subscribe to the X3F TV directly (Zune Marketplace link coming soon).[RSS] Add the X3F TV feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.[MP4] Download the MP4 Directly.
Community Content: Smells Like a Rat Edition
Each week, X3F showcases the best in Halo 3 downloads with Community Content. To find out how to set up your Bungie.net account, click here. Submit your own ideas at: comcon [AT] xbox360fanboy [DOT] comA few technical issues forced us to release this week's Community Content a few days late, but we're such big fans of this week's map that we think it'll be worth the wait!This week in Community Content we bring you a new take on Rat's Nest. A closed off interior lined with vehicles, strategic equipment placements and a single territory that gives the controlling team dibs on the lone tank makes this version of Rat's Nest into something fierce. Made for almost any gametype, the map called Rodent's Abode is as fun as it is dangerous. And by that we mean lots.Music: "Only Mystery Ambiguso" by Parlour Steps[iTunes] Subscribe to X3F TV directly in iTunes.[Zune] Subscribe to the X3F TV directly (Zune Marketplace link coming soon).[RSS] Add the X3F TV feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.[MP4] Download the MP4 Directly.
Are you buying the Halo 3 Legendary map pack?
In case you didn't mark your Cortana swimsuit calendar, we wanted to remind you that today, April 15, marks the release of the "Legendary Map Pack" for Halo 3. For 800 points ($10) you can pick up Ghost Town, Blackout (a remake of Halo 2's Lockout) and Avalanche, a new take on Halo: CE map Sidewinder.When the Heroic map pack went free (as we presume Legendary will at some point) there was actually a mini-renaissance of Halo 3 around the Joystiq offices. Now, that doesn't mean we're going to drop 10 bucks for one fresh map and two remakes, but we are looking forward to the Legendary pack going free. We are curious though: Are you playing enough Halo 3 to justify the purchase? Or will you be waiting? Gallery: Halo 3 DLC: Legendary Map Pack
Community Content: Painted Into a Corner Edition
Each week, X3F showcases the best in Halo 3 downloads with Community Content. To find out how to set up your Bungie.net account, click here. Submit your own ideas at: comcon [AT] xbox360fanboy [DOT] comThis week brings us paintballin' action so sweet even Greg Hastings is sure to pop in his copy of Halo 3. This one shot, one kill variant, coupled with the Foundry based map make it as stressful and enjoyable as actually being beaned in the head with a paint pellet without all the fuss of running around and actually getting beaned in the head with a paint pellet.It's pretty much a win-win situation if you ask us![iTunes] Subscribe to X3F TV directly in iTunes.[Zune] Subscribe to the X3F TV directly (Zune Marketplace link coming soon).[RSS] Add the X3F TV feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.[MP4] Download the MP4 Directly.
Halo 3 marketing designed to not make Master Chief a 'reckless American cowboy'
At the MI6 marketing conference in San Francisco, GameDaily reports on how Halo 3's marketing molded the image of Master Chief. Jerret West, global group product manager at Microsoft, explains they didn't want to portray Master Chief "as a reckless American cowboy." They needed him to be accepted as a savior of humanity and integrate Halo into pop culture. West notes the team had pop culture benchmarks like making the cover of Time or Wired, and worked with numerous other companies to push marketing ideas. Chris Lee, a product manager from Microsoft, points out that Halo didn't have an awareness problem, it had a perception problem for being too hardcore. Looks like the team's efforts to make the Master Chief mainstream worked out. Halo 3 ended up becoming one of the best selling games last year.
Announcement: April Community Content hits Friday
For the past few weeks we've brought you fresh content for Halo 3 from your fellow readers in our weekly Thursday feature, Community Content. Today we want to announce that Community Content will be moving to a new home on Friday for the remainder of April.By moving the feature we hope to open up new opportunities for X3F LIVE events with content that would be fresh in every ones mind. So, this Friday stay tuned for yet another go at Community Content.
X3F TV -- Points>Life: Hungry? It's the Famine Skull!
Each week, X3F tips gamers to the tricks of the trade of Achievement hording in Points>Life. Every week a new achievement is unlocked to help you continue your unhealthy obsession with the Xbox 360 meta-game.We heard the screams and the cheers. While the community seemed to enjoy last week's inaugural episode of Points>Life we were begged to make sure the entire segment didn't become saturated with Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3 achievement tips. With that in mind we bring you this tip from Halo 3!The majority of hardcore achievement fiends have already mastered the 1000 in Halo 3, but for those of you looking to unlock some new armor we bring you the easiest way to grab the Famine skull on the mission, The Ark. Check out this week's Points>Life feature and rest assured, next week will not have anything to do with Call of Duty 4 or Halo 3. We promise!Note: While we love when you comment in the regular spot, check out the comment function on Viddler! Make sure to sign up for an account to add a comment directly onto the video![iTunes] Subscribe to X3F TV directly in iTunes.[Zune] Subscribe to the X3F TV directly (Zune Marketplace link coming soon).[RSS] Add the X3F TV feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.[MP4] Download the MP4 directly.
Halo 3 WTF moment montage [Update]
Update: Although the original video we added was great, this is the video you were supposed to see. The original was a music video that was created using Halo 3 moments. Apology for the error. The music video we had listed before can be found after the jump for arguments sake.Have you ever had a moment while playing Halo 3 that made you stare into space, puzzled as to what just transpired? Thankfully YouTube user xXSCREWSTONEXx was around to piece together some of the funniest and strangest "what the..." moments in Halo 3. Some of these moments pulled from the single to multiplayer modes of Halo 3 are hilariously gut-busting while others might make you excruciatingly angry (defusing Plasmas FTL).Check out the video and laugh that even one of the best games available in this generation could have a hiccup every once in a while.
Recap: X3F LIVE's visit into 2Fort
On Friday evening X3F LIVE made it's triumphant return with an hour long romp in 2Fort, from last week's Community Content. While the initial match of multi-flag went horribly wrong due to my inability to set a time limit, Xbox Live's wonky server issues and the horde of X3F readers attempting to get into the 16-player game, the event ended nicely with four solid rounds of single-flag.We'd like to thank everyone who participated in the event and promise you won't have to wait long for another X3F LIVE evening.[iTunes] Subscribe to X3F TV directly in iTunes.[Zune] Subscribe to the X3F TV directly (Zune Marketplace link coming soon).[RSS] Add the X3F TV feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.[MP4] Download the MP4 Directly.
Halo 3 Mini-Legendary edition
When Halo 3 hit store shelves last year the ultimate fan option was the Legendary edition which, along with the game, included a replica of Master Chief's signature helmet. The problem was the entire collection was lambasted for being a touch on the gigantic size.DeviantART user 2twoproductions must have had space issues with her gaming setup because today she showed off her latest work, a mini . The mini-Legendary edition includes the famous helmet, game holder, cardboard box and even the slip cover. With the size of this helmet we wonder just how big this artist's cat is.[Thanks to Amy for the fantastic artwork]
Rooster Teeth announces new series
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."The teaser follows two recovery agents at Outpost 17-B "Valhalla" as they sweep a barricaded base after a suspected incident. A voice-over reads a letter from the director of Project Freelancer in respect to a request made from the chairman of the Oversight Sub-committee for an investigation into the Outpost's deserted status. We don't want to ruin the entire trailer but let's just say that Reconstruction has definitely piqued our interest.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
X3F Live: Halo 3 tonight and our new Social Gamertag for the X3F Army
Update: To clarify, tonight's match will be hosted by Xav using the Gamertag X3FLIVE. Look for that match at 8PM EST.No need to adjust your vision loyal X3F soldiers. Tonight, in a rare non-achievement boosting event, X3F will host X3F Live. Tonight's event? An hour long romp in 2Fort Classic from this week's Community Content!Tonight at 8PM EST join some of the crew in, what is sure to be an epic 8v8 match of multi flag carnage in Halo 3 using our user submitted downloadable content*!But that's not all. While our friends lists have been filled to the brim we realized there may be very little interaction between the readers so we've magicked up a solution that's been around for a while.Simply add the gamertag X3FLIVE to your Xbox 360 Friends List and you'll be able to see when other X3F readers are online using the "Friends of Friends" feature! Now, coordinate gaming sessions with your fellow X3F Army recruits any time you go online!We'll open the game at 8PM EST and the first readers to join will be able to play a few rounds, and then we'll cycle a new game for a new batch of readers. That is if anyone can make it to our very short notice session at all!*In order to play 2Fort Classic you are required to download the Halo 3 Heroic Map Pack, which is available on the Xbox Live Markeplace for free!
