Bungie's answer to the frequently asked question of whether or not they'll be making any more Halo games has just gotten more vague. Senior designer Lars Bakken said last month that Halo: Reach is likely the last one, but now another Bungie member is saying that they don't even know.

If you're still itching for new Halo 3 content, then you better make sure to get Halo 3: ODST. Based on an IGN interview with Bungie community director Brian Jarrard, it looks like there will be no more Halo 3 content from Bungie after the expansion pack hits.

So Bungie is wrapping up its time with the Halo franchise with the last of the trilogy, Recon. Everyone's been asking what their plans are after Halo, but they've been pretty mum about it. However, one thing is clear: they aren't tied down to the Xbox 360 and the PC anymore.

Go to the full article to read up on what Bungie's Brian Jarrard has to say about the studio moving on to new projects.

Bungie's recent podcast, dated July 8, appears to hint at something important happening on July 14, though no one has any idea what could happen on that day. Could it be a big game announcement? Learn what was said after the jump!

In an interview, Bungie Studio's Brian Jarrard spoke about how they are hoping to knock Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare off from the XBL Activity charts and how they have been developing the gameplay of Halo 3 through the handling of user-created content. Details of the interview after the jump!

If you thought Bungie Studios was just locked on to the Halo franchise alone, you may want to think again. After investors liberated Bungie from the grasp of Microsoft, the studio now has the liberty to develop games based on totally new IPs. And Bungie has just revealed in a recent podcast that they've got one already cooking, though it's something that gamers might find different - seeing as it's coming from Bungie. More at the full story.

The recent split between Bungie Studios (of Halo fame) and Microsoft generated a lot of buzz, most of them fearful ones. What about Halo? Will the split mean that there's going to be some degree of enmity between Bungie and Microsoft? Bungie's Community Lead Brian Jarrard cleared up some of the speculations in an interview with 1Up.

Jarrard said that it was "nervewracking" to see the initial rumors of their split with Microsoft spread like wildfire online, especially when both Bungie and Microsoft were not at liberty to say anything about the split at that time. He was quick to point out, however, that the rumors didn't cause friction between Bungie and Microsoft.

When presented with the possibility of Microsoft not giving Bungie Studios their independence, Jarrard answered:

It's hard to say what could or would have happened. Who knows. But it's definitely true that this newfound relationship with Microsoft will help to reinvigorate and energize many of our elder team members.

In a previous article, Microsoft has assured Halo fans that another Halo game is in the works. Reaffirming what Shane Kim earlier said, Jarrard also talked about the new Halo title during the interview. "I wouldn't call it "Halo 4", but it is based in the Halo Universe [...] Halo 3 was definitely not the last Bungie Halo game," he said.

All's well that ends well, we say. We're sure that you want to get more information about the upcoming Halo game, so stay tuned for more updates!

Click on the Read link for the entire interview!

 

There are reports coming in about a weapon first seen in Bungie's Halo 2, wielded by Tartarus (a special version called the "Fist of Rukt"), and could possibly appear on Halo 3. The Gravity Hammer, as it's called, was claimed to be spotted in a Halo 3 demonstration during Bungie's presentation at the E3 Media & Business Summit. And what's more, the weapon appeared on not just a single Spartan, but two of them.

 

The portrayal of the Gravity Hammer was still shown in stills, although Bungie's Brian Jarrard (aka "Ske7ch") pointed out the weapon during a freeze frame and abruptly said he could not comment about it. In fact, Jarrad made a note of the weapon twice, as if trying to wink at the audience about something they could expect in Halo 3.

Intentional? We'd like to think so, and it might be safe to expect an update on that weapon before the title's release on the Xbox 360 come September 25, possibly on Bungie's own weekly updates. But sneaking into Bungie's Halo 3 Forums have users celebrating the weapon's debut on Halo 3, which leads us to believe the weapon will in fact be usable. Whether by Brute or by Spartans, however, is an issue that has yet to be determined.

Kudos to T3rr0r for the screen capture. More on Halo 3 as the updates roll in.

 

Big secrets and info coming your way in this interview with Bungie Community Lead Brian Jarrard regarding Halo 3. We give you the choicest tidbits of info with the upcoming sequel to the FPS that's got everyone talking.

Jarrard began the interview by saying that fans shouldn't really take the Halo 3 beta experience as the final experience itself, because everything and anything a beta player saw, heard, and tinkered around with can and will change in the title's commercial release.

This means that those who toiled all day and night to be the awesome fragmasters in the Halo 3 beta still have an uphill battle in their hands - although, that still depends on how much Bungie change the actual game. Maybe a female Master Chief? Probably not.

Brian also said that the information they gleaned from the beta was enough to see that they really need to step up the hardware of the servers. The beta alone rendered their previous setup quite inadequate, so they immediately went ahead and slapped on some serious muscle onto the Halo 3 servers to take care of the extra load.

When asked about the fact that a lot of hidden data in the game was uncovered by the Halo modding community, and so easily at that, Brian replied with a rather cryptic response: the extra weapons and items found were actually relics from the last game.

But if they were found so easily, one could easily wonder if the code was left in the open for the sole purpose of being found. He also revealed that the guys over at Bungie actually had a hoot out of seeing the Halo community go into such a frenzy in finding the so-called "secret items".

Certainly big secrets revealed indeed. You can peruse the interview by clicking on the Read link we've supplied below.

In a 1UP podcast show, one of Bungie's developers reveals his true gaming self: he's a WoW-head - and a very disturbingly geekish one at that! He reveals his broad knowledge of the World of Warcraft by issuing his two cents worth of the current issues involved in the WoW community.

And that includes his comments on the 2.1.0 patch coming up for World of Warcraft (soon, hopefully), which covers the recent addressing of the consumables requirement for end-game raids, how Lady Vashj got owned, and the Can't Quit You guild (which apparently should have been "Can't Quit You, WoW!" guild) which reached over 500 members and stopped recruiting.

Now while Brian Jarrard isn't the first industry celeb to go online and make his WoW addiction known, he didn't feel shy to reveal his love for being a Priest, a Druid and an enhancement Shaman. And get this: Bungie has a guild stuffed with the lot of them, but since (and we quote) "...[Bungie has] been distracted [because they're] working on Halo 3...," they're only now reduced to a small "core" of them who still play the game. Funny how it's not the other way around!

Halo 3 delayed by World of Warcraft addiction? Whoa, that'll be the day... Still, you cannot help but notice a growing trend as the MMO market expands to even the game developers themselves!  As 1Up stated in their summarized the phenomenon in their Legendary Thread:

So instead of just playing WoW, they also now talk about playing WoW. And record it, so that when you aren't playing WoW, or thinking about WoW, or talking about WoW, you can listen to other people talking about WoW. It's magical!