Mark your calenders folks, we’re only four days away from the sign-up to beta test the multiplayer of Halo 3. This monday, Bungie will allow North American gamers to sign up, however, they have already stated that only a fraction will be accepted, so even if you get your sign up in, its no guarantee you’ll be in the beta.

The opening of the beta coincides nicely with the new Halo 3 trailer that will be aired on the same monday during Monday Night Football, nice, eh?

So, clear you schedules now, hunker down at your pc, watch the new trailer, and get ready to fill in that sign up form asap!

Microsoft just released a brand new 360 ad involving cops and robbers. Of course, you can’t have cops and robbers without cars, and thats where things get interesting. If you look closely at the ad, the license plates of the cars are: “GOW 1106″ and “HA LO307.” GOW 1106 could possibly stand for Gears of War 11/06. Coincidentally, Gears of War was released on November 6th.

This leads us to the next point, Halo 307. Could it possibly be Halo 03/07? As in Halo 3 will be released on March 7th 2007? Or is it simply Halo 3 07, as in Halo 3 will be released in 2007. I guess we won’t know for now, but it won’t stop conspiracy theories spreading all over this system of tubes we call the internet.

Check out the video below, maybe you can find some other references to games.
360 Ad

You may have seen my post sometime last week about Bungie releasing some new Halo 3 screenshots. Well, it seems as if I missed a coinciding Bungie article in which they disect 3 of the screenshots and tell us everything that’s happening in said screen.

They chose one screenshot each from the three multiplayer maps they’ve been recently touting, Valhalla, High Ground, and Snowbound. Especially nice is the Valhalla discussion, in which they go into detail about the brand new vehicle, the Mongoose.

Check out all the sweet discussion here: Halo 3 Screenshot Discussion

Just another quick tidbit before I sign off for today, IGN has just released a 1 year retrospective on the Xbox 360, and guess what? Halo gets mentioned quite a few times. Who’da thunk it? Check it out here: IGN 360 Retrospective

If you’re reading this site, you’ve probably heard of the “upcoming sometime in the future” Halo movie. Unfortunately, it now seems as if the movie is not a sureshot thing. In a recent interview, Robbie Bach, Microsoft’s President of Entertainment and Devices, hinted that if Microsoft doesn’t find an outside backer for the Halo movie, they most likely won’t make it at all.

Bach believes Microsoft itself should not be involved in the movie business, therefore, if no backer comes along, Microsoft will simply pass on the movie. Hopefully a studio picks this up, as a Halo movie would be sure to pull in big bucks. I mean honestly, the only person that could make that film flop would be the dreaded Uwe Boll.

Check out the full Robbie Bach interview here: Robbie Bach Interview

Got some major time to kill over Thanksgiving break? Maybe you check out 1UP”s newest epic podcast in which they talk with Bungie about Halo 3 for an astounding 1 and 1/2 hours. Yup, 90 minutes of pure Halo 3 goodness, almost as good as that pumpkin pie I had yesterday. I’d like to say I listened to the entire thing, but I simply don’t have enough time. Maybe you can listen to it all and tell me about it? Check it out here: Halo 3 Podcast

In other news, 1UP also had a major Q&A session with Bungie about how Halo 3 would handle match making. Bungie talks about how the system will be similar to that of Halo 2, however, they will also be adding in new safeguards against those dirty cheaters everyone hates, as well as other new features (you can’t have next gen without oodles of new stuff!). Check it out here: Halo 3 Matchmaking

Invalid Mob, a Finnish gaming clan, have collected a plethora of Halo based flash games on their site. They’ve got 17 total now; I have no idea where they found all these, as I’ve looked and only seen 3 or 4. They’ve got everything from launching warthogs to racing banshees to a sweet side scrolling CTF halo. You can check out all the games here: Halo Flash Games

In other news, the new Static Episode 5 is available. The episode is entitled “What Would my Daughter Think?” and in it, Alex has a near death experience and is forced to figure out his next move (I don’t want to give more away than that). Check it out here: Static Episode 5

PS. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Let’s get started. Today, ComputerandVideoGames released an article previewing Halo Wars. None of the information they present is concrete yet, instead, they’re using concept art to predict how the game will be. Their predictions certainly seem logical, and even if they’re wrong you still get to see the awesome Halo Wars concept art. If you’re one of the .02% of Halo fans who haven’t heard of Halo Wars, its an upcoming RTS from Ensemble (the guys who made Age of Empires) set in the Halo world.
You can read their article here: Halo Wars Predictions

Next on the agenda, Bungie officialy released 5 new high resolution screenshots today. You may have seen these pictures already, as they’ve been widely leaked around the net, but I don’t believe anyone has them in the uber high resolutions Bungie posted. You can check these bad boys out here (hint, they’re the ones date 11.20): Halo 3 Screenshots

1Up’s Episode 56 marks the end of their Halo coverage for this week, but boy do they go out with a bang. In this episode, they talk in great depth (and I mean GREAT depth, like analyzing the map on a white board depth) about 3 of Halo 3’s multiplayer maps, being High Ground, Snow Bound, and Valhalla. Start memorizing now, as they also give you lots of strategies to maximize your pwnage in Halo 3.

Now, for a little summary of the maps:

You can check out the entire 1UP Episode here: 1UP Episode 56
Or, if you want just the Halo part, go here: Halo 3 Maps

First off today, we’ve got news that, in honor of Halo Week, the latest OXM (Official XBox Magazine) podcast contains exclusive interviews with members of the Halo dev team. The podcast is over an hour long (killer for those with no time on their hands, ie. me); during the podcast they discuss such topics as the new Halo announcements this week, Ghosts of Onyx and many more. You can check the podcast out here: Halo Podcast

In other news, if you’re an incredibly rich person I’ve just found a great opportunity for you to immortalize your name. As part of Penny Arcade’s Charity Auction Dinner, Bungie has listed up a great package for sale. If you were to win, you would get a personalized tour of Bungie PLUS a line of dialogue in Halo 3 dedicated to you. How sweet is that? Read all about Child’s Play here: Child’s Play

Its the anniversary of Halo. What better way to celebrate than by amassing one of the largest collections of Halo 3 screenshots on the net? It seems 1UP and I think alike, as they’ve done just that. There’s a total of 33 screens, which is quite a collection considering how stingy Bungie has been with media content.

As expected, all the screens look gorgeous, even for an alpha build. I’m sure you don’t want to hear me babble on about them though, because, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

You can check out all the screens by clicking here: Halo 3 Screens

In other news, 1UP has also posted 1 new piece of concept art for the upcoming RTS Halo Wars. You can view the concept art for a flying marine by clicking here:Flying Marine