Bungie's Halo 3 will be getting a double XP weekend when playing the Living Dead playlist. This is pretty awesome news for everyone looking to raise their rankings online. For more on this, head on over to the full article.

If you always find yourself becoming frag-fodder in Bungie's Halo 3, then consider yourself lucky right now: a Microsoft employee posted an internal office email listing several useful tips on how to rule in Halo 3. The tips vary: how to use maps more effectively, how to lob a bomb more effectively, and even how to gain the most EXP. Some of the hints are basic, but of course, knowing is half the battle.

Here are some of the questions that were tackled in Microsoft's internal email distribution list:

• What are the tricks to being really good in Halo 3 Multiplayer?
• What controller sensitively should I get used to? 10?
• What weapons do more damage at the head versus the body?
• What is the secret to being a good grenadier?
• How do you use the battle rifle successfully?

If you're an avid Halo 3 fan, and if you find yourself whiling indecent amounts of time away on Multiplayer, you shouldn't pass this article up.

Check out the article in the Read link!

There have been complaints that the Halo 3 Limited Edition case is made of poor quality. Hooterville on the NeoGAF forums said that one of his friends opened three copies of the game and found that the discs were all loose and heavily scratched. The person who posted this complaint also put up a few pictures of the product showing the scratches.

  

It wasn't mentioned where the product was ordered from, but three copies is a pretty big number. Hopefully, this is just a fluke and most players will be getting a good copy of the game. If more reports of this pop up, Microsoft and Bungie may have to step in to control the situation.

If you didn't pre-order the game, Halo 3 is slated for release this September 25 with a midnight launch party in various locations. Considering the number of people who will be in attendance, you might want to clear your schedule if you plan on picking up a copy.

 

Another map from the 12 names taken from the beta code has been confirmed: the multiplayer map Construct. GameSpot folks give us the scoop as they interview Tyson Green, multiplayer design lead for Halo 3 who also gave us the info on the multiplayer map Isolation.

Construct has an industrial-type theme to it - all grays and silver. It's divided into the upper and lower levels to house the opposing teams and both have their own unique strengths and weaknesses, as the developers strive for balance with each map. The upper levels in the map are more advantageous in terms of location while the lower levels have the better weapons.

The upper levels of the map are easier to defend. Green described it this way:

There's a lot of room to move and choose your engagements there, and it takes a coordinated offense to root you out (which make for the best clashes, win or lose). It's also pretty exciting when a fusion coil pops out of the lift with a grenade right after it. It makes you move in a real hurry.

The lower levels, on the other hand, contain the better choice in weapons, each with its own strengths in charging the upper levels:

[In the lower levels] you can nab a Spartan Laser for picking off people on the upper levels, and a selection of Brute Shots and Maulers for bum-rushing the lifts. On the upper level, there's a sniper rifle for watching the approaches, and a sword sits out where you have to put yourself in a potentially compromising situation to pick it up.

Because of the difficulties in getting from one level to another using lifts, the use of Banshees have been constricted and developers focused on giving a higher emphasis on infantry combat and zone control. Stay tuned for more Halo 3 updates from Bungie Studios before the game is finally released on September 25.

 

Two more short-but-sweet doses of sweet Spartan-blasting action in this video update of Bungie's Halo 3, courtesy of the folks from GC. This one features an entirely-new map never before seen - and while we're not sure yet just where it actually is, we couldn't help but whistle a famous spaghetti western tune when we imagine ourselves in it. Yes, it's a sun-baked desert map, with the sand and the blinding sunlight and everything.

Sadly, there were no tumbleweeds or bleached animal skeletons lying about - but there's definitely a lot of sun-up shooting showdowns happening. The environment itself looks absolutely gorgeous and realistic for what it represents, and yours truly couldn't help but feel the sunlight that must be beating down upon those stalwart Spartans trying to take each other out. It's that impressive.

Enjoy the videos!

The other video after the jump!

While we've seen our share of Warthogs and the other land-based vehicles in the oodles of beta gameplay videos of Bungie's upcoming hit, Halo 3, we've never really seen anything that made us go "wow" - in the COOL BEANS THIS THING IS HUGE I WANNA DRIVE IT AND BLOW STUFF UP WITH IT sense. Well, now there is one, and that's the Elephant, captured on video during a beta gameplay session.

While we don't know quite just what the Elephant is capable of, or what its payload actually is, one thing's for sure - it's pretty darn big. It's so big, the camera actually has to pan out quite a distance away just for you to see the entire vehicle AND where you're headed. It's also slow, but hey, who needs to be fast when you're built like a tank? Or two tanks taped together!

Halo 3 is packing some serious firepower here, and we can't wait to see how everything plays out (including that Gravity Hammer we see clipped to that lucky Master Chief's back). Updates as we get them - enjoy the video!

Looks like last month's speculation was true after all. Microsoft has just sent out word that come this Wednesday, they will be updating Xbox Live Arcade with Bungie Software's old FPS classic, Marathon: Durandal.

This game originally made its way to the Macintosh platform, and is something of a direct ancestor to the Halo franchise; Norse names, player-controlled super-soldiers, and all. Marathon's XBLA release will include redrawn graphics, revamped controls (for the 360 controller), and networks support for multiplayer mode.

Another game also to be expected this Wednesday is Spyglass Board Games. This title is actually a collection of classic board games like chess, checkers, mancala, and reversi. Spyglass Board Games for the XBLA will carry support for the Xbox Live Vision camera, as well as integrated video chat.

Freeverse Software is reportedly preparing both Marathon (800 MS Points) and Spyglass (400 MS Points).

What we have for you today are five new scans for upcoming monster-of-a-title Halo 3, courtesy of online site Deeko. While the said site failed to mention what magazine exactly these were taken from, they are clearly from a French publication judging from the text accompanying the images.

Anyway, the images are looking good as always despite the rather grainy texture of the scans themselves. More importantly, we find this batch particularly interesting as they focused on Halo 3's single campaign. And of course it can't be more exciting than playing Master Chief riding a Warthog and chasing down enemies.

As much as we love Halo 3's background story, we'd also like to slug it out with our friends online. However, it was reported earlier that Bungie Software is having problems with co-op multiplay and there's a danger that the video game will just remain offline. While we wait for more confirmation about this, let's just enjoy the mag scans in the meantime.

   

If you've ever fantasized about wielding a piece or two of Master Chief's formidable arsenal of toys that go ZAP and BOOM, your fantasies may be closer to reality than you previously thought. Jasman Toys, makers of the hugely-popular Laser Command laser tag gunplay set, will be unveiling their latest creation in Comic-Con: actual working replicas of Halo 3 weapons, complete with all the features that made you fall in love with them the second Master Chief started blowing things up with them!

Of course, they're not actually "working", in the sense that they don't blow stuff up. They're parts and pieces of their latest laser tag gunplay set, called Halo Laser Pursuit. Meaning they shoot lasers - the safe kind - instead of plasma or any of the explosive stuff we've been spoiled with in Halo. Fret not, however - even with that little issue of the replicas not being actual weapons of mass destruction, the guys at Jasman Toys have been hard at work making sure that the replicas themselves are completely faithful to their in-game counterparts.

More details after the jump!

 

With the amount of hype Halo 3 has built up, it cannot be helped that gamers are stoked about the game. As a testament to that, the Halo 3 beta testing debuted on the Xbox Live charts at 3 and stayed there for the entire 23 days that it was running. (Not bad for a beta!)

If you're like most of us here at QJ.NET who can't wait for the next update from Bungie (which might be a bit much considering we just covered some news on that), well here's a few new tidbits of info from Bungie.net. First up we have a remake on one of the most popular Halo 2 maps: Zanzibar. This refurbished map called Last Resort, the developers have said that it looks and plays a bit more wide open.

This is because of an expanded walkway near Camp Froman and a significantly larger interior with some new entry points. Veterans of the game watch out, you might just be shocked when some youngblood owns you because of some entrance that wasn't in the original map.

Next up we have Epitaph. Developers have called it an extremely elevated Forerunner structure. Essentially a series of external hallways leading into a multi-level interior with a central theater at the center on the lowest level, it is comparable to most maps in the Halo 3 portfolio.

An interesting note about this map is the fact that Epitaph has had multiple revisions since media were invited to check out the structure. Changes such as the location of weapons and a few structural changes have changed the way the map plays considerably.

Finally we have the brute chopper (pictured at top of the article) and the cosmetic changes to the Spartan Armor. The brute chopper is said to be armed with four linked auto cannons and has a top speed of 75 mph. This vehicle is something we recommend running away from if you see it coming your way.

The Spartan Armor has 2 new additions in the form of C.Q.B. (Close Quarters Battle) and E.V.A. (Extra Vehicular Activity). It's been noted that both of these have no effect on gameplay aside from looking cool as you tear your way through multiplayer.

It's been said before, but this game looks amazing. The additions of the new variants of Spartan Armor and the map changes are really great and should really add some spice to our weekly Halo sessions. More updates on Halo 3 as they get released.

More screenshots at our full article - as always, just look below for the Full Article link.