Rampancy

Bungie.net will reboot tomorrow with new features enabled. TeamXbox has an interview with Bungie.net's development lead, Chris Gossett, about the new features.

IGN has previewed one of Halo 3's previously unrevealed multiplayer maps: Isolation.

Tyson "Ferrex" Green has put up part two of his three-part series on Forge; this one is on advanced features like inventories, budgets, and quotas. If you missed part one, read that first.

Midnight at The Hushed Casket wonders if Halo 3 can overturn Halo 2's sales records.

Kikizo interviews Harter Ryan of Ensemble Studios about the secrecy surrounding Halo Wars' early development.

A midnight London launch of Halo 3 won't be permitted on Oxford Street, but will be... apparently just about everywhere else.

Major Nelson has a rundown of Halo 3 Launch Events on his blog.

PlanetXbox has details on Circuit City's Halo 3 launch plans.

Tyson "Ferrex" Green has written up the first part of a three-part series on working in Forge, Halo 3's in-game editor. You'll apparently be able to call on a startling variety of objects in the editor; although you won't be able to change map geometry, you'll be able to add objects so large that they will, effectively, change the flow of the map.

And, of course, it's not just editing, it's also a play mode:

Unlike that most famous of Monitors, 343 Guilty Spark, you’re still vulnerable to damage, but it takes a steady shot to hit a moving Monitor. Evasive maneuvers will serve you as well as a gun, but there’s a bit more to Editor Mode than simply dodging bullets. You see, Editor Mode is where the magic happens.

Check out the first part and be sure to watch for the rest coming soon!

Thanks for the heads-up to JawReich in #hbo.

First of all, this page contains SPOILERS. Do NOT read it unless you want the ending of Halo 3 spoiled for you. This is not appearing on the front page unless you've selected to view spoilers, and I've obscured the text by making it white on a white background; you'll have to highlight it to read. That's as much protection as I can give you.

As far as I can determine, this is the legitimate and true summary of Halo 3's plot; but I'll admit, I have not read it in its entirety myself, so if it's wrong, blame the author. It was posted by imKryptonite on the the360Forum.com; for what it's worth, he liked the game and felt it made up for Halo 2's shortcomings.

Here's an excerpt:

So, we start off with Cortana telling us why she picked John 117, and what he had that no one but her saw: Luck. We then witness our dear Spartan crashlanding into a jungle. Sergeant Major what's-his-name (the cool black dude everyone's so fond of) and his squad pick John up and bring him back to normal, at which point he also gets to see the Arbiter again, and find out that "they're with us now". You then fight yourself back to base, where Master Chief barely gets briefed before the whole place is overrun by Covenant forces. You get to shoot some guns and throw some 'nades and before you know it you've armed a bomb that's gonna blow the whole place to smithereens. Enter: Level 3, where you're going hog wild with the Warthog, racing down highways, beating stuff up, et cetera. You do a bunch of semi-important "oh and btw uhh new objective" stuff such as taking down an Anti Air cannon, while the Covenant is still digging happily into whatever the hell it is that's buried deep under Africa.

And then they light it. Now, the general theory is that, duh, that's The Ark, and it's here on Earth, and goddamn did the Prophet of Truth just fire all the goddamn rings in the entire universe from The Ark? But fuck us, we were all wrong. Turns out that wasn't really The Ark after all! Instead, it lighted up the sky, and brought upon us a motherfuckin black hole teleport portal, which some Covenant ships dive into to figure out just what the fuck is going on. However, there's a ship coming out of the portal as well ...

If you really want the rest, check out the forum thread.

The second-to-last Bungie Weekly Update before Halo 3's official release date is well worth the read. The highlights, though, are you should stay out of random Bungie.net player profiles from now on, since you may end up seeing screenshots taken by people who've gotten copies early. Also, Miguel Chavez, invited to play through the game last week, says the ending is "perfect". You've heard it from Bungie's #1 fan.

Of course, Halo 3's street date has been broken about two weeks early.

Rumors are flying that the missing clan features in Halo 3 may be supplied by an XBL update.

Kotaku wonders if Halo hype has gone too far, and I can't help wondering the same thing-- even if I am, for the most part, isolated from it.