This is not the Halo 3 logo, but they have revealed the real final logo. Take a look at the real Halo 3 Logo.

That Halo movie… they still making that? Yes they are. Aint it cool’s Quint put Peter Jackson in the hotseat and made him talk about producing the Halo movie.

Bungie Weekly Update‘s big story is the new podcast. I’m still listening to it, but so far the most startling revelation has nothing to do with Halo 3. Bungie’s staff composer Marty O’Donnel is responsible for the “Flintstone Kids” and “Mr Clean” commercial jingles. Wow. Just… wow.

If you feel like a laugh, read An Interview With A Cheater over at Aeropause. A Halo 2 cheater justify’s his existance. Poorly.

I just read the first Halo novel “The Fall Of Reach” this week and I’m kind of amazed I liked it. I also think it would make a better movie than the first game.
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Wow! I thought Grand Theft Auto 4 wasn’t supposed to be released until next fall! Nevertheless, I’m always ready to do some more random carjacking and pedestrian killing! But what’s with the name change though? And where is the Rockstar logo? All kidding aside, Saint’s Row certainly isn’t gonna win any awards for originality. However, we should be thankful that someone decided to copy GTA instead of something like ‘True Crime’ or ’25 to Life’ for once.
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Last fall, we had no less than 5 classic gaming compilations from Capcom, Namco, Taito, Tecmo, and Midway. Now this is shaping up to be another good fall for fans of classic gaming. You already know about the Wii, and it’s ability to download Genesis and Turbographix 16 games, but what you may not know is that you don’t have to buy the new system in order to play some of Sega’s classics. Indeed, comming this November, the Sega Genesis Collection will be comming to PS2 and PSP with over 30 titles! Shniobi 3, Comix Zone, and Golden Axe 2? I think I’m gonna cry.

If that isn’t enough, Konami is giving Xbox 360 owners old school action via the Live Arcade. You already know that the arcade versions of Contra and Super C are comming, but early next year, Konami is also gonna hit us with the definitive Castlevania game, Symphony of the Night! This is shaping up to be a good time for those who enjoy the games of thier youth.

In 2000, Capcom and it’s biggest rival SNK combined thier forces together to make one of the biggest fighting game crossovers since, well, Marvel vs Capcom.  The result had lots of potential, but the point system made the gameplay painfully unbalanced.  Thankfully, it was followed up upon a year later with what to this day remains the biggest 2-d fighting game ever.  Lots of cast members joined from both companies’ various catalogs, from Fatal Fury and Street Fighter to Samurai Showdown and Darkstalkers, and even lesser known games like Rival Schools and Last Blade.  Capcom adopted SNK’s playing system well and managed to integrate it’s own.  With the 6 grooves, players could play thier favorite characters how they wanted.  In short it was fighting game bliss.

A side note, the Xbox version is the only version with online play, and it was one of the first games on Xbox Live.

During the early part of the PS2’s lifecycle, the original Timesplitters emerged as a FPS game which would quickly challenge the norms of the genre.  It was designed by Free Radical, a studio made up of programmers who had worked on Goldeneye and Perfect Dark for Nintendo 64, so there was already a lot going into it.  It featured some innovative weaponry, a plot spanning several time periods, numerous multiplayer modes, and most of all, a map maker.

A few years later, a sequel came out for all current generation systems.  The stages were bigger, there were even more crazy weapons and multiplayer modes, and the map maker’s functionality had been expanded to allow players to create story mode missions.  It was yet another class expierence,  but still something was missing: online play.

Last year, EA took control of the licence, and released TImesplitters Future perfect.  The series now has a cohesive plot, and the levels are much more multi-faceted.  You play as Cortez as he jumps through different time periods hoping to trace the origin of the timesplitters.  In each period he teams up with a different assistant character as he completes his objectives.  More importantly, the series was online for the first time, and players can create maps to upload and download to and from the internet (except the gamecube version).  This includes storymode missions as well.  In fact, I have a few uploaded to Xbox live under the gamertag “screwfacecapone”.  Even though this is a conclusion to the series, hopefully Free Radical can create more innovative FPS titles on the next generation systems.

Major Nelson once again informs us that Halo 2 is the most played game on Xbox Live, even beating out 360 shooters like GR:AW, Perfect Dark, and Call Of Duty.
Bungie Weekly Update this week focuses on the nearly-in-our-hands graphic novel, as the first books roll off the press.
Theres also a Wallpaper contest going with forum members making their own Hi-Res desktop pictures.
Single Play and Multiplayer tests and Bungie continue, and they Frankie reports that they have a new user interface that fixes many of the problems with Halo 2. Which is dandy, because “Quick Options” didn’t have enough options, and control and headset settings were buried too far into menus to make them useful to make a quick adjustment in game without getting shot at least 3 times.
In other news, my Xbox Live account renewed today. My gamer tag is “FakeTrout” and I will be up for Team Swat tonight.

First things first, Halo 3: Behind the Scenes is up. Its a 7 minute video documenting the process of creating the Halo 3 announcement trailer for E3, as well showing off the trailer in real time from multiple angles. The also confirm speculation that it is a Forerunner structure underneath the New Mombassa, and even acknowledge the frustrations of Halo 2 players when they reached the ending.IGN tries to go Beyond the Trailer buts ends up with little more than speculation and some editors on the verge of geeking out.
What is impressive: Halo 2 has reached Half a Billion Games Played on Xbox Live. Thats roughly 600 games a minute since the release in November 2004. Halo 2 on Vista will not however, use the Live Anywhere service or make matches with Xbox players. Surprised? Don’t be, that was a long shot.
Finally, theres a Halo Graphic Novel Sneak Peek with a few more pieces of artwork. The full book is slated for release July 12.

Major Nelson has announced the Xbox 360 Dashboard release schedule. This comes right on the heels of his fright filled podcast, dreading not having any news for listeners.
Major Nelson is Xbox Live’s Larry Hryb, who frequently speaks of internal workings at Microsoft and about gaming in general. If you don’t listen to the podcasts already, its worth catching up on some of them. Tales of wandering into Sony’s VIP Booth at E3, interviews with Microsoft staffers, and playing Mario Kart against Tycho from Penny-Arcade in an airplane are common topics.