Apparently, people who go online to play Halo 3 today are noticing something strange about the little world map showing where the game’s players are located. Is that…? Yep, that looks like Master Chief’s face emblazoned across half of Europe and Africa. Seems Bungie decided to pull a prank of their own on the game’s online community for April Fools Day. Sounds like something Chairface Chippendale would pull in real life though (kudos if you get that reference).

Via G4TV

You might think that Microsoft’s lawyers are moving quickly to rob every penny from the individual responsible for creating the Master Chief character model in Unreal Tournament 3, but you’d be wrong. As it turns out, what serves as an homage to the Halo series is being treated just as that – not as an act of copyright infringement.

A Microsoft attorney that goes by the alias “DonkeyXote” writes on his Windows Live blog:

Many people are talking about the Master Chief mod for Unreal Tournament 3, that allows you to play in the character of the Master Chief on the PS3. Many people are surprised Microsoft is “allowing” this.

Actually it’s nothing more than the Game Content Usage Rules in action. When these were developed, people all thought they were focused on machinima. The truth is that while they do address machinima they also allow for a lot of other things. Mods like this are one of them. The developers aren’t selling the mod, they’re not monetizing Microsoft’s IP, they’re just creating something to share their love of the Master Chief on a new platform. It’s a great thing for us and a great thing for the gaming community. And much though I love my friends at Epic, Unreal Tournament isn’t Halo. This will also remind people of just how great the Halo games are and remind them that if they’re done with the user-created faux-Halo experience, the real Halo is available only on the Xbox 360. And no one is taking characters from PlayStation games (do they even have any games?) and putting them on our platform…

Aside from the annoyingly anti-Sony, Halo-is-the-best-thing-ever sentiment that he has, I’m glad to see Microsoft isn’t seeking to put a stop to this. One has t wonder what Microsoft would do if Halo levels were replicated in UT3, which seems like more of a “when” rather than an “if.” Writing that, I feel as if I’m about to be barraged with links to different Halo-inspired UT3 maps.

Bungie has now revealed the third map that will appear in the upcoming Legendary Map Pack for Halo 3. The new map, dubbed “Blackout,” is set on a UNSC weather station in an Arctic environment, which looks a lot like an off-shore oil drilling site. The developers are saying it’s like the human version of the previous ”Lockout” map. The Legendary Map Pack is set to hit Xbox Live on April 15th for 800 MS points (though odds are if you wait three months, it’ll become free like the Heroic Map Pack just did).

Via Bungie.net

If you paid the $10 for the Heroic Map Pack that came out back in December, Microsoft has just one thing to say to you: “Suckers!” As of today, that map pack is now 100% free to download through Xbox Live. So to all you patient gamers: congratulations, it paid off. Now maybe the rest of you will think twice about paying for that upcoming Legendary Map Pack…ah, who am I kidding? You Halo nuts will be all over that from day one and probably have a few Forge-made suicide videos on YouTube within the first hour.

Ah, yes. Who could forget the tragic story of Nathaniel, the gamer who sent his beloved Xbox 360, which was covered in signatures and art from numerous figures in the gaming community, off for repairs only to have it returned to him wiped clean? Thanks to the power of the internet, his tale reached the ears of both Bungie and Microsoft who swore they would right this wrong somehow. Bungie sent Nathaniel a package a couple of weeks ago brimming with some unique swag, and now Microsoft has sent along their own gift: a new Xbox 360 console covered in signatures from numerous people from the Xbox 360 and Bungie teams to the Rooster Teeth guys to Bill Gates. Luke McKay (whose work was featured on Nathaniel’s original unit) even drew up some special Halo art work on the console. The package also included a few games, some 360 swag, and a signed picture of Bill Gates. I’d say justice has been served and then some.

Via Hawty McBloggy

Wow. Just wow.

A full size, fully functional Mountain Dew vending machine, signed and illustrated by the entire Bungie team is up for auction on eBay. This vending machine features Halo’s Master Chief from the Halo 2 “Golden” campaign and will dispense delicious frosted beverages of any standard can size; therefore if you want to fill it with beer, you can.

The unit is apparently in great working condition because it was never actually used, although it has been tested and is guaranteed to work. The best thing is, ALL of the proceeds from this auction will go to The Make A Wish Foundation, which is one of Bungie’s favorite charities and Bungie will also pay all other transactional fees that may occur with the purchase.

The only draw back is that the shipping costs for this item range anywhere from $200 -$2000 dollars, unless you would like to drive to the location to pick it up yourself. Who knows, it might be a fun road trip.

Check out the full listing here.

Bungie has revealed another map that will appear in the upcoming Legendary Map pack for Halo 3. This new map, dubbed “Avalanche,” apparently draws a lot of inspiration from the classic Sidewinder map from the original Halo. It will contain a familiar U-shape along with several vehicles to play with a multiple paths between bases. In a lengthy interview with some of the designers of the game, they revealed that essentially started with Sidewinder as a model, but then made numerous tweaks to change all the usual strategies. They also included a tweaked Hornet to make it not so ridiculously unbalanced. The devs also indicated that they may be planning another remake in the future. The Legendary Map pack is set to hit Xbox Live on April 15th for 800 Microsoft points.

Via Bungie.net

Ever since Halo’s release, fans have had the hots for Master Chief’s AI companion, Cortana (it probably doesn’t hurt that she’s nekkid throughout all the games). So it was only a matter of time before someone out there hired a model, covered her in blue paint, threw a wig on her, and took some pictures of her in seductive poses. And of course gave her a toy plasma rifle for some inexplicable reason. I’m labeling this “NSFW,” but I’m not sure if that girl is really completely nude or just strategically covered up. For that matter, can it really be considered “nude,” when she’s portraying a digital representation of an AI? I think I’m more confused than turned on by this, which is why I stick with flesh-colored girls.

You can check out the full sized, more-than-likely NSFW pictures by clicking the link below.

Via I4U News

There are a lot of interesting Halo 3 screens online and via XBL. Recently one of our writers asked readers to submit their own Halo 3 screenshots of some of the funny, cool or impossible moves that have occurred while they were playing.

This week, the submission came from Chris ‘n00dles0up” Sams, and since I do not play Halo 3 and cannot explain what the heck is happening in this shot, I will let him do it instead:

“Basically I snipped someone in a gun turret on the top of an Elephant, and as I was showing a friend I noticed his head stretch backwards, I don’t know how common this is, and I certainly haven’t noticed it before. “

See, that was all greek to me. That being said though, it is an interesting screen. If you have any that you think are worthy send them in to us at gamingtoday@filefront.com.

Brash has recruited Lair developer Factor 5 for a game based on a movie IP. The project is currently top secret with plans for a big reveal at E3 2008. Factor 5 co-founder and president Julian Eggebrecht is highly optimistic about the project despite film-games having earned a bad reputation “because the filmmaker is a game fan who is really excited about how we want to expand on the story of the film, we’ve been given a lot of latitude.”

Brash already has a Saw video game franchise in the works, and has just signed a deal with Folklore dev, Game Republic for another undisclosed movie game project.

via Joystiq