Rampancy

One of the oft-discussed topics among those following the upcoming Halo Wars RTS game by Ensemble for the Xbox 360 console is whether or not a workable interface for a strategy game can be created for a console. Many commenters have offered that RTS games just belong on PCs to be played with mice and keyboards, mirroring the comments of many PC gamers before the release of console FPS games like GoldenEye and Halo.

What are they to say now? Now that the Command & Conquer series is also coming to the Xbox 360?

[image:42829 left hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0] Bungie commemorates the fifth anniversary of the release of Halo with an announcement that touches on both Halo 3 and Halo 2.

First, there will be a Halo 3 television commercial airing during Monday Night Football on December 4th.

Secondly, in the spring of 2007 there will be more Halo 2 maps available. They won't be free, and you'll need a 360 with the hard drive (required for Halo 2 backwards compatibility anyway).

Thirdly, next spring will also see the launch of some kind of Halo 3 Public Beta. Fans will get a chance to play Halo 3 multiplayer on Xbox Live before the game is actually released.

Last but not least, a new screenshot from an actual campaign level, recently reproduced in Newsweek magazine. We've added it to the Halo 3 gallery.

UPDATE: Microsoft has an official press release on the announcements as well; a copy has been posted at Team Xbox.

The newest installment of 1Up's Three Weeks of Halo 3 looks at player complaints about Halo 2's online play and how those are being addressed in Halo 3, including weapon spawns, dual-wielding, player icons and more.

In particular, Ferrex mentions how the weapon spawn system in Halo 1 was made, and how in Halo 3, it'll be a revolution, not an evolution, since "weapon spawns have been rebuilt from the ground up."

Can't wait.

Gilbert Arenas of the Washington Wizards spends a lot of time online playing Halo 2. He brings an Xbox 360 to the hotel with him on the road and connects to Xbox Live through their Internet connection.

What does he want to do next? According to Xbox.com, he wants to be a modder.

"First it was just a lot of team play, then I got into sniping," said Arenas. "Now I'm into modding. I want to mod. I've been modded against so many times it's messing up my ranking. As soon as I'm about to get up to a higher ranking, I get modded three times in a row. I'm getting my mod box."

Here's hoping Arenas is joking, or that Bungie and Microsoft won't be treating celebrity cheaters any differently than the garden variety.