TheFinalFight

Halo 3 pushed to a painful second on Xbox Live.

I know what you're thinking, just three days ago I reported Halo 3 being on top; unfortunately, I was a little late with responding to that. This news is fresh, just came out today and sadly -- the day has finally come, after three weeks of being on top of Major Nelson Live Activity reports, Halo 3 has been pushed to second by it's multiplayer rival, Call of Duty 4. Is it over? You bet your arse it's not. The game is never over with Halo 3, and Bungie is never done with Halo 3. Don't expect Call of Duty 4 to hold that top spot for much longer.

There's also a newcomer in the list, even though there's always newcomers, but this one took fifth over Rock Band and Guitar Hero 3 -- and that game is Madden NFL 2009. Of course, GTAIV is still in third with Gears of War still resounding behind them.

Here's the official list:
Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (based on UU�s)
1 Call of Duty 4
2 Halo 3
3 GTA IV
4 Gears of War
5 Madden NFL 09
6 Rock Band
7 Guitar Hero III
8 Battlefield: Bad Company
9 SOULCALIBUR IV
10 Fable II Pub Games

Source Major Nelson Live Activity for week of August 11th

Halo 3 is still number 1 on Xbox Live

There are a ton of great Xbox 360 games which contain some seriously addicting online, most of which provide some killer (No pun intended) experiences - but what Xbox 360 game has the most people playing? You guessed it: Halo 3. No, not Call of Duty 4, not Gears of War, not even Grand Theft Auto IV -- it's Halo 3. For the third time in a row, Halo 3 is on top according to Major Nelson's Live Activity Reports.

Behind Halo 3 is the normal - Call of Duty 4 comes in second place, with Grand Theft Auto IV coming in third. Below these titles is the normal, Gears of War, Rock band and then Guitar Hero 3. The full list is as follows:

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (based on UU�s)
1 Halo 3
2 Call of Duty 4
3 GTA IV
4 Gears of War
5 Rock Band
6 Guitar Hero III
7 SOULCALIBUR IV
8 Battlefield: Bad Company
9 Braid
10 Madden NFL 09 Demo

We'll see if Halo 3 can continue beating off Call of Duty 4, because I believe that Call of Duty 4 still can put up quite the fight.

Source Major Nelson Live Activity for week of August 4th

Bungie Weekly Update: 8/15/08

This week is a short one, not much to say. Lukems tells us what's gonna happen at PAX, including a chance to play Bungie and win free Recon! Then Lukems tells us what do all the fancy job names really mean, with cool subtitle and everything. You can read the full story below.

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The Penny Arcade Expo

In regards to our booth at Penny-Arcade[Aug. 29-31 in Seattle] (we�ll be sharing a mechaplex-sized booth with the eyes-wide-tight crew over Red vs. Blue), the schedule for events is slowly emerging from the mist. As previously mentioned there will be a handful of daily opportunities to play Bungie for a chance to win Recon. Once you�ve had a shot at glory, that�s it. In addition to the already-announced team of Shishka and I, some new challengers stepped into the fold this week. Calling themselves Team T&T (Shishka and I are Team Free Recon), Joe Tung (a Producer by day) and Luke Timmins (network engineer) are teaming up to take part in the Recon Challenge.

Tung�s first question: Can I talk trash to the fans?

Followed immediately by: Can I call them -blam!- dumpsters?

The schedule is taking shape though and we can confirm that Jen Taylor AKA the voice of Cortana will be spending some time in the booth signing autographs. Again, once we have a firm schedule � we�ll post it publicly so that PAX attendees can plan accordingly. Also, start saving those pennies, we will have some sweet exlusive limited quantity shirts for sale - in addition to upholding our promise of "making it rain with prizes."

From the Mouths of Babes

It�s all so hush-hush right now. But a bunch of folks sent me some examples of what they are currently working on here at Bungie. What does it all mean?

Automating ventriloquism.

David Aldridge, Network Engineer

Throwing some shapes, urban style

Sam Jones, Art Lead

Future development for the win.

Mat Noguchi, Developer of Awesome�

Baking keys, merging clips, and curve cleaning so his turns will be silky smooth.

Joe Spataro, Technical Designer in Animation

Doing my part to shape and direct the future of the Experience.

Shishka, Multiplayer Community Designer

�I�m Romeo!�

Dan Miller, Mission Designer

Generating pathfinding... again

Lars Bakken, Designer

I�m looking forward to playing more Braid� also Luke is distracting me with silly emails.

Niles, Designer

Gleaming the cube.

Jason Sussman, Environment Artist

Just zipped up.

The Webmaster

I�m giving out tanks to gold medal winners.

Paul Lewellen, Network/Gameplay Engineer

SWIG, import, crash, repeat

Seth Gibson, Maya Technical Artist

Counting the minutes until my iPhone arrives and plotting out my plan to accessorize and applicate it since we don�t have any projects we can announce.

Brian Jarrard, Director Community and PR

Moving markers.

Josh, Production Engineer

Player hands

Scott.S, threeee-deeee.

Making sure she�s got balls.

Pat Jandro, Cinematic Animator

I�ve got a few things going on at the same time. Some have �sheets.� Other ones have �feet.� And �teeth.� But all of them have �color.�

Lorraine McLees, Pixelsmith

Readin�, writin�, and a touch o �rythimitic.

Kurt, Sin-o-matic Designer

Buying clouds.

Steve Lopez, IT Overlord

Sharing, banpuppies, and per-hopper ranks.

Michael, Engineer

I�m moving numbers around, which frighteningly affects people�s lives for months to come. Trust me, I�m focusing on what matters.

Jonty Barnes, Director of Production

Getting hired, getting fire.

Andrew Davis, Graphic Designer

Setting up a mail filter to protect me from Brian Jarrard�s iphone lust

Eamon McKenzie, Assistant to the Zoo Keeper.

My left hand is banning some people who should know better by now, and my right hand is working on something that will be as cool as the Party system was.

Tyson Green, multipurpose designer

I'm bugging Luke about when I'll be on the Podcast

Vic DeLeon, Senior Environment Artist

I am syncing.

Christian Allen, Design Lead

Dropping metal donuts from the sky.

John Gronquist, Effects Artist

Serious, I am doing concept art.

Frank Capezzuto, Environment Artist

Hunting. Killing. Eating.

Harold, President

Continuing my slow crawl toward infinity.

Disembodied Soul

KEEP IT CLEAN!

Joseph Staten (Classified)

Bothering Lukems with mundane and necessary tasks.

Matt, Fun Destruction Committee Chair

Building a coffee table out of telescope parts.

Roger Wolfson, Theoretical Physicist

Preparing to hand out iPhones today (finally!)

Brent Abrahamsen, CFO

im creepin by the kirkland teen center on a tailspy offerin recon for handies

skip weasel, intern

I am scouring a landscape of network data awesomeness, and looking for pebbles of suckage for some mighty smart engineers� and contemplating my bagel-related future.

Nick Gerrone, Network Test Ninjaneer

Connecting the dots.

Robt McLees, writer

Filleting Pipe

Cameron, Environment Artist

Skipping work so I don't have to play Luke in Halo 3

Chris Gossett, Web Dev Lead

Arguing about xbox cryptography

mpriest, producer

Solving the biggest problem with user generated content on bungie.net.

Tom Achronos, Bungie.net Overlord

Making rough calls about how pouncy they should be.

Chris Opdahl, Lead Mission Designer

Building demolition. My desk is a hard hat zone.

Steve Scott, Effects Art Lead

So much time spent on such a seemingly small issue�aDoes it really have to be 2 new #UNDEFINED_STRING# or can we just stick with the 1 #UNDEFINED_STRING# plan we have been testing?

Domenic Koeplin, Test Lead / Release Manager

Making data more fun.

Aaron Lieberman, Tools programmer

New heap.

Drew, engineering

I am Engineering

Max Dyckhoff, AI Engineer

I am in a Disneyland hotel in anaheim, taking a break from the sun, having a snack in an airconditioned room and checking to see if there is any cool email before heading back to ride the teacups.

Dave, UI

Mangling crunchy trees

Chris Tchou, Optical Orgasmist

Taking a drive on the beach.

Alex Pfeiffer, Mission Designer

Preparing to drop in the executive suite

Chris, Mission Architect

Being nice to the goose.

The Elder, Audio Director

Bungie Weekly Update: 8/08/08

First off apologies for posting this a week late. Now that I'm back, I'll be postitng these weekly with short summaries and then the full story. Now that we've got that over with...
This week in the Bungie update, Lukems thanks everyone for winning the G-Phoria game of the year award, after all, it was all of you guys who voted for Halo 3, correct? He then continues on discussing Recon armour (again) and how you CAN'T get it and why a Bungie Employee will NEVER ask you for your password. And the rest is about the new presentations added to the Bungie publications section of the website. You can read the full story below.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

Last night, G4TV revealed the winners of their G-Phoria awards – this is a fan-voted awards show and Halo 3 was voted the Best Game of the Year by you guys. Regrettably, we weren’t able to make it down in person, but we conjured up a quick little acceptance blurb that is worth your while to check out.

You can view it over at G4 by clicking here.

Cluttering Up the Yard

There’s been an excessive amount of hair, soap and grime clogging Sketch and I’s inboxes of late (he created this thread to remind folks); the result of a couple of different “Internet scams,” where folks imbue words with falsities and then faithful believers blight our Inboxes with messages at the behest of the deceiver. The recent “Watch this video on Youtube, send a Bungie staffer a PM and get Recon,” craze has been like watching Lemmings throw themselves off of a cliff and fantastically crash into the craggy shores of the Cannot Have Recon list.

These are some hard and fast safe bets you can make while you’re out there Internet-ing it up, or running amok on Xbox Live.

A Bungie Employee will NEVER ask for your LiveID or password

A Bungie Employee will NEVER send you a URL to a web site

A Bungie Employee will NEVER offer Recon in return for something via an XBL message

Beating a Bungie Employee at Halo 3 or challenging them to play you will not get you Recon.

Unless it’s announced on Bungie.net, completing a Forged obstacle will not get you Recon.

Sending harassing messages to users who have Recon will not get you Recon.

If they aren’t someone you don’t know personally, it’s probably not worth having them on your Friend’s List

If someone sends you something that seems too good to be true (go to this URL for free Xbox points), it is too good to be true. Don’t go.

Put on Your Thinking Cap

We’ve just updated the Bungie Publications with some presentations that you folks will probably be interested in. They are a sultry mix of very recent, semi-recent and classic presentations.

Halo AI Retrospective: 8 Years of Work on 30 Seconds of Fun

By: Damian Isla, AI Engineering Lead

Presented at: Develop ’08

Download here

Isla examines the iterative changes made in the Halo trilogy’s AI. From Halo: Combat Evolved’s Elites, to the ferocious Brutes of Halo 3’s and a look what must improve in our AI looking forward.

Decision Making and Knowledge Representation in Halo 3

By: Max Dyckhoff, AI Engineer

Presented at: MALAGA Workshop, NIPS ‘07

Download here

Dyckhoff exposes the major representations used in Halo 3’s AI systems, and the algorithms behind the complex decision making which drives the industry leading AI.

Evolving Halo’s Behavior Tree AI

By: Max Dyckhoff, AI Engineer

Presented at: GDC ‘07

Download here

An analysis of the improvements to the behavior tree AI system from Halo 2 to Halo 3. Presented as part of a three-part session at GDC ’07 in collaboration with developers on EA’s Spore.

The Technology of Halo 2

By: Chris Butcher, Engineering Lead

Presented at: Gametech 2004

Download here

At its heart, the Halo engine is a world simulation engine. Engineering Lead Chris Butcher describes the evolution of the “Halo” engine from its traceable origins in Pathways into Darkness and to its present state in Halo 2.

The Illusion of Intelligence: The Integration of AI and Level Design in Halo

By: Chris Butcher, Engineering Lead and Jaime Griesemer, Design Lead

Presented at: GDC ’02

Download here

An investigation of the intersection between design and code as it relates to combat behavior in Halo: Combat Evolved.

Halo 3 on top again, surprised?

The most recent Live activity report released by Major Nelson has been released and guess what game made the top spot yet again - Halo 3. Now, this may come off as a surprise to some, considering Call of Duty 4 has been giving Halo a run for its money - but this goes to show that Halo 3 is here to stay.

Not much has changed from the previous update, Grand Theft Auto IV is still up there along with Gears of War, Guitar Hero 3 and Rock Band. But will this fight for second and first place ever end between Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4? Don't count on it!

List:
Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (based on UU�s)
1 Halo 3
2 Call of Duty 4
3 GTA IV
4 Gears of War
5 Guitar Hero III
6 Rock Band
7 Battlefield: Bad Company
8 Too Human Demo
9 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2
10 NCAA Football 09

Source Major Nelson Live Activity for week of July 21st

Is Halo bringing out the dice? Sort of.

It appears that Halo, the critically acclaimed violent video game which is rated mature on the Xbox and Xbox 360, has finally reached a new home - on the board game front. What does this mean? A violent video game which is rated mature on consoles will be "family-friendly". Got to love that!

"Take on the role of UNSC or Covenant forces in this action-packed, strategic board game based on the acclaimed Xbox hit. Both teams have crash-landed on an unexplored alien world and must battle for survival and control using all of their skills to outmaneuver the enemy."

After reading the description, or having a look at the picture below - you can pretty much tell you might actually have fun with this board game if you're a fan of the Halo universe. But what exactly are the creators aiming this board game for? Yep - the family. Apparently, if your father just isn't with the gaming on consoles - can't keep up with the split second decision which require the hand and eye coordination, he should sit down with his son and play some Halo on a board game.

Source B1 Games

Halo's no-show at E3 is no laughing matter.

Bungie Studios very own President reported to Eurogamer telling them that "Halo's no-show was no laughing matter". Huge rumors flew around what Bungie was going to show and mass dissapointment, or rather mass displeasure for Microsoft for pulling the plug on the announcement. What does Bungie Studios have up their sleeve? Well according to Xbox executive Don Mattrick, it's a new Halo game.

Apparantly, Ryan didn't agree with the decision, and wanted to show Bungie fans what they've been up too. "Keeping things clean, I certainly didn't agree with the decision to delay our news until sometime after E3," Ryan said. "Bungie is always concerned first and foremost with our fans. Whenever we are prevented from exceeding their positive expectations it is not a laughing matter."

Source Eurogamer

Bungie working on 3 new projects.

In the latest update at Bungie.net which mostly discussed Bungie at PAX (Penny Arcade Expo), SketchFactor gave some insight on what Bungie has been up too - and according to Sketch, Bungie has three distinct projects which are underway. Unfortunately Bungie has no plans to announce anything big at PAX.

Here's what Sketch had to say:

"For the record, we have no plans to make any big announcements or huge reveals at PAX this year. While we will have some Halo 3 multiplayer stuff for you to check out, this is not going to be the "big announcement" many of our fans are clamoring for. Rest assured that when the time is right, we will be making announcements and talking about the stuff we're currently working on. At the moment we do have three distinct projects underway within Bungie - some familiar, some not. Some on a closer horizon, some quite far off."

Source Bungie @ PAX

Xbox Live Activity - Halo 3 back on top

According to the most recent Major Nelson's Live Activity report, Halo 3 has acclaimed the top-spot once more, knocking Call of Duty 4 to the second position in the never ending multiplayer online battle between Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4. Both offer quite the amazing online experience on Xbox Live, and both continue to get hundreds of thousands of unique players each and every day.

Below Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 is Grand Theft Auto 4 which resounded in a strong third place with Gears of War in fourth place. The official list is as follows:

1 Halo 3
2 Call of Duty 4
3 GTA IV
4 Gears of War
5 Guitar Hero III
6 Rock Band
7 Too Human Demo
8 Battlefield: Bad Company
9 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2
10 FIFA 08

Source Major Nelson's Live Activity Report

New ViDOC Of Legendary Maps

Have you been wondering what the new maps look like and how the new forge option is going to work? Bungie has released a new ViDOC that covers the new maps and the new forge options with special commentary by the guys who designed them. Check it out and get ahead of the game with Bungie's new ViDoc!

QuickTime

LARGE

MEDIUM

SMALL

Windws Media

LARGE

MEDIUM

SMALL

Bungie Link MapMaker, MapMaker Make Me a MAP...

Written by Bruticus713. Posted by madBOX20