With nearly 500,000 downloads to date, the “Gears of War®” Hidden Fronts Map Pack has become the No. 1 piece of premium downloadable content on Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

“Gears of War” has sold more than 4 million copies worldwide, and continues to hold the title of most popular Xbox 360 game on Xbox LIVE, as “Gears of War” recorded the most number of unique players among all Xbox 360 games in August 2007, as well as the highest cumulative number of hours played by Xbox LIVE members.

In the Hidden Fronts Map Pack, players can clash for control of four dynamic areas, including Bullet Marsh, Garden, Process, and Subway:

Bullet Marsh
In this Kryll-infested swamp, an old generator still powers the area lights. A few stray bullets could easily knock out the generator, leaving combatants to fend for themselves against the Kryll.

Garden
This overgrown and crumbling conservatory still has a working fertilization and pesticide system. This system can pose a serious hazard to anyone who ventures into the greenhouse without first venting the air.

Process
Fight for control of this subterranean Imulsion processing plant, still active despite the cessation of the Pendulum wars.

Subway
Timgad 's Central Subway station used to serve as a central hub for commuters. Now the tunnels are crawling with Locust.

Today marks the date five years ago that Foulbreed and I decided to call our fledgling Halo chapter on Bungie.net "The Hushed Casket" (THX). Much has transpired between then and now. THX has ballooned to encompass over 100 people playing a multitude of games. THX'ers have participated in gaming tournaments all over the United States, and we've actually even won some of them. Our Huntsville, Alabama, based group has changed significantly since then, and because an exhaustive history is available here, in this article I will only recap the past year (August 2006 - August 2007).

Games for Windows - Live users (a.k.a. HALO 2 Vista and Shadowrun Vista gamers) were greeted with a tiny update to their service today. Who knows what the update did? I mean, the Games for Windows - Live website isn't exactly a hot spot for information about the service. Heck the website is still out of date for games that were released months ago.

Looks like we've got a new graphic.

And GfWLive crashes my network after the update.

More pics and analysis after the break.

Edit: It's not available on the XBL Marketplace. It's at XBOX.com.

Tried going to http://charlieoscardelta.com lately? You may have gone there to register for the Call of Duty 4 multiplayer beta. While a few of you were lucky enough to get in, the rest of us have been stuck with error page after error page.

Today a first-come first-server registration for the CoD4 beta was supposed to take place. The CoD.com web server crashed.

The outcome. Infinity Ward is doing away with the first-come first-server beta registration. Instead, they are going to keep it open for 24-hours. It seems like anybody that wants to can register for the beta. However, it appears that there is still a lottery for selection.

So, keep checking http://charlieoscardelta.com for the beta registration page and you'll be good to go.

From a recent Bungie.net article Roger Wolfson, a Bungie programmer, spills the beans on "Bungie Pro".  It's a 750pts/year subscription to give you extra storage space for your saved films, game and map variants, screenshots, film clips, and more.

The current plan is that everyone with a copy of Halo 3 and an Xbox Live Gold account gets 6 slots where you can place up to 25MB of these files to share with the world. Saved films take up the most space, and 25MB should be enough to hold several longish 16-player games.  We don't think the average user will be hurting for space.

Inside your file share, you'll find a button that will lead to an Xbox Live Marketplace panel, offering you a one-year "subscription" to Bungie Pro for a planned 750 Points. Buy this, and for the following year, your file share will balloon to 24 slots and 250MB. At the end of the year, you'll be asked to either re-subscribe, or else bring your share back under the default limit before you can upload new content.

Summary:

• XBL Gold gamers will get 6 slots and 25 MB of storage space.
• You can upgrade to Bungie Pro which will be 24 slots and 250 MB.
• Silver gamers can get Bungie Pro.
• You can browser file shares in-game and at B.net.
• You can pass around URLs to file shares.
• You can click on a URL at B.net and queue a download for your XBOX 360.  The download will begin once you boot up HALO 3. 
• You can download up to 8 file shares at one time.
• You can save screenshots and have them viewable at B.net.
• You can save more than 6 (or 24) file shares to your hdd.  But, online the ones that you share out can be accessed by others.

What do you think about the extra storage space?  At about $10/yr, is it worth it?  Do you think Bungie will offer more incentives to get a Bungie Pro account?

TFF_Exclusive_H3Epsilon.wmv

FYI: I don't consider there to be any spoilers in this videos.

Some notes:

Plasma grenade explosions look great!
Saved film cameras seem really powerful.
Fuel rod cannon is back.
Fire and flames look great.
Check out the pink 360 controller on the table.
Check out the Warthog with only one tail light.
Detaching the camera is amazing.

For those of you that missed Part 1:

Some more details on Forge, the map editor for HALO 3, come from an IGN report.

• New mode/feature called the “Forge” lets you edit weapon placement, spawn points, vehicles and more in real-time during the middle of multiplayer matches. You’ll take on the shape of monitor, similar to the Guilty Spark, and will even be vulnerable to gunfire and player attacks while you edit maps in real-time.
• Multiplayer customization options let you create your very own power-ups with specific attributes. For example, if you want to create a power-up that lets you run twice as fast, kill in a single shot and jump extra high, you can.
• You can share your edited levels with others by placing it in your “shared items” slot, which other players can then access and download to their 360.
• “Bungie Recommends” section on Bungie.net will spotlight Bungie-found user content, like screens, videos, edited levels, rule sets and more.
• Heroic and Legendary difficulties now tougher than ever. Bungie recommends experienced Halo gamers play on these difficulties rather than Normal.

Hrmm. Making customizable power-ups. My only concern is NOT knowing what power-ups are in the map. I would hate to be running around Valhalla and get beaten by someone because they place their custom power-ups somewhere on the map. But, Forge is going to add at a lot of replay and fun to the game. Forge is going to drive more people to sign up on XBOX Live.

Apparently the 360 Wireless Racing Wheel may get a bit smoky when plugged into your wall outlet. Yes, I know it sounds strange, but the wireless racing wheel is only wireless in regards to how it communicates with the 360. You need to plug it into the wall to experience the surprisingly strong force feedback and rumble. Otherwise your batteries will probably only last about 10 minutes. Microsoft is saying that a component inside the wheel *may* start to smoke. They're not calling for a full out recall yet, it's currently termed a "retrofit".

I own the wheel and like it quite a bit. In fact it's probably one of the best racing wheels I've used. Now here's where I'm starting to get irritated. One of, if not *the*, largest software companies in the world is asking me to print out a snail mail form and mail it in in order to get this fixed. Come on Microsoft. Throw up a webpage or something.

I'm still undecided as to whether I want to have mine retrofitted or just keep a close eye on it when it's plugged in. As long as it's not shooting freakin' laser beams at me or my wife I think it'll be fine.

Go Here to print out the retrofit order.

Quote: from xbox.com:
"Newsflash:
Free Retrofit for Wireless Racing Wheel

Published August 22, 2007

As a precautionary measure, Microsoft Corporation is voluntarily providing its customers with a free retrofit to the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel. The Wheels were manufactured during 2006 - 2007. A component in the Wheel chassis may in rare cases overheat and release smoke when the AC-DC power supply is used to energize the Wheel.

Lots of HALO 3 videos are making there ways from camera phones to the series of tubes between you and me. Have a look at what's out there after the break.

I'm excited about this peripheral. It should aid in setting up games and speed up communication between people that may be trying to get into games with one another. I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to send a quick message on the 360 but decided not to because of the effort required. I'm hoping more THX'ers purchase this accessory as well.

It will cost $29.99 and comes with the chat pad attachment and a headset. Little known fact: Gamespot reports that you will also be able to connect your old original Xboxen headsets to the chatpad, so bust out that old Halo 2 in-ear set if you like.

How it works: You will be able to type messages faster through the standard "send message" Xbox Live blade, however an additional button on the chat pad will pop up a quick chat interface over whatever current game your playing. It is yet to be determined whether or not you will be able to hit the quick chat button and send a standard Xbox Live message to one of your friends. If you don't have the accessory it is most likely that you will be able to receive chat messages if your MSN account is synced, however you will have to reply through the standard blade. I would recommend everyone go and get an MSN Messenger account and sync it to your Xbox Live account. This is an easy process and there's plenty of tutorials online.

This is a huge improvement to the 360's current messaging and communication functionality. For only 30 bucks, I'd say it's well worth it.

Here's the official info from Xbox.com:
"Chatting with friends and family on Xbox LIVE® and Windows-based PCs is easy using the Xbox 360 Messenger Kit. This device easily connects to any Xbox 360 controller and provides easy to use chat capabilities while maintaining gameplay functionality in one easy-to-hold device.

In case anyone is debating purchase of the Bioshock limited edition I thought I might show you exactly what you get. The box is big: about 5" x 6" x 6". Inside you'll find the DVD case marked limited edition, game manual, game, an audio EP with three tracks, a behind the scenes DVD, ...and a Big Daddy (Bouncer) figurine that will pwn your face off! It is heavy! Must be made of lead pewter. Detail on it is pretty good, and there are a few (but not enough) splatters of blood. The EP is interesting, but nothing really special. I thought it might be audio tracks from pre 1960 that you hear inside the game, but the songs are remixes. The third track is pretty cool. All tracks are kind of new age / techno. I won't watch the behind the scenes DVD until I finish the game, so I'm reserving comments on that one. For the figurine alone, the extra $10 over the regular edition MSRP is a no brainer for me. More pics after the break.

Don't get me wrong. I think HALO 3's multiplayer gameplay will play almost exactly like HALO 2's. Well, that's without saying how Forge (HALO 3's game editor) will impact online play. But for the most part, the game will be about dropping your SMG and looking for a Battle Rifle or Carbine.

There's a killer article at Wired.com that looks at the science and research that went into HALO 3. It's a long read, but it is very interesting. Any HALO fan will enjoy reading it.

There's also amazing quotes in there that back up a lot of what our staff said when HALO 2 was released (i.e., it wasn't finished and they detailed the release because of major internal errors). We took some heat from other HALO communities, but in the end we were right.

HALO 3 will be finished. So many angles of the game have been analyzed for thousands and thousands of hours. Thousands of hours of psychological research has taken place. Bungie has learned from the things they did right (and wrong) in HALO 2. They've also learned from Gears of War, Perfect Dark Zero, Call of Duty 2, and the other major FPS titles that have already been released for the XBOX 360.

The Wired article explains all of this.

Go give the article a read at Wired.com (link).

I received a tip late last night (Friday August 17th) that the Huntsville, Alabama, Circuit City had Bioshock available for sale. I arrived this morning to find the rumors were true, and happily purchased a copy. How did the street date get screwed up so badly for Bioshock?

The first 13 pages (plus the cover) of the Halo 3 manual have surfaced on the net. I read all of it and found no real spoilers. It does give a bit of detail about Gravemind, but I'm unsure if it's a spoiler or if I just didn't pick up on it. There does appear to be weapons missing, such as the flamethrower, but it otherwise looks incredibly legit. Click read more for all of the scans.

As the LAN approaches I thought I'd post some house rules so everyone is on the same page with what I expect. I'm not the type to flip out about any of the below concerns, but knowing the below info makes things easier on everyone.

1. No dipping or smoking inside the house. No spit bottles, cans, cups, nothing. Both are permissible on the back porch where you can spit in the yard.

2. No drinks on the ground. Keep your drinks on a table or some other elevated surface.

3. If you spill something, grab a towel (which will be available) and clean it up immediately (not after the round is over).

4. My dog and cat are both friendly. The dog will probably be apprehensive of all the things you're carrying in your hands on your way in, but after you put it all down just kneel, let her sniff you, and you'll be best buds. She'll probably decide to stay in the back yard during most of the LAN. Do not feed her anything unless I give you a doggie treat to feed her. My cat is deaf. No amount of yelling at her will get her attention. Do not feed her either.

5. There is a beverage refrigerator in the garage for your use. Alcohol is permitted. Do not get drunk.

6. Parking is a big concern. Park along the road that goes directly towards my house and ends at a stop sign with my house at 1 o'clock. If you really want to take one for the team drop off your items in front of my house and then take that same road further back to where new homes are being built around the curve. Don't block anybody's driveway. Leave the left lane of my driveway open for my wife and I to come and go if we need to.

7. There is a Wal-Mart 4 minutes from my house. I suggest grabbing last minute supplies there before you arrive. However, there are no "close" electronic stores that will have audio adapters for your speakers, and Wal-Mart probably won't either.

That's all for now, but I may add more later. I hope everyone understands I'm not being a prick, but there are some things we all have to know to get along in my house for 12 hours or more.

The fifth annual THX Birthday LAN is scheduled for October 6, 2007, in Huntsville, Alabama. This will be THX's innaugural Halo 3 LAN to commemorate our 5th birthday on August 28th. This gives you almost two full work weeks plus one weekend after the release of Halo 3 to develop your skills before the LAN. Halo 3 will be the only game played at the LAN. No Halo 1, Halo2, Guitar Hero I/II, XBL Arcade games, Dead or Alive, Tekken Tag, Viva Pinata, or any other software besides Halo 3 will be allowed. Playing other games at LANs makes game coordination more difficult, causes others to wait on you, and therefore it will not be allowed.

Location will be my place. PM me if you need directions.

Go here to add this event to your Facebook events (link)

A Halo 3/ Xbox 360 LAN brings about many different planning factors than our traditional Halo 1 LANs. First, HD displays are preferred. I can provide 2 HDTVs, a 67" DLP and a 30" CRT. Next, because Halo 3 does not have the 4 Xbox maximum per game, ala Halo 1, individual LCD monitors with Xbox 360 VGA cables are encouraged. We no longer have to bring gargantuan TVs. If many people bring their personal 360, a copy of Halo 3, and a personal 19-24" monitor then everyone can have an excellent gaming experience. I can provide one 22" monitor, but my VGA cable is in use on my 67" TV. If you have a monitor and need VGA cables then they are available on Ebay for under $10 or locally for $40.

Next, the LAN architecture at my house will be a little different than normal, and hopefully better. I have in-wall ethernet drops to five rooms of the house. I plan to employ a certain person's 16-port switch in my telco closet to link all the rooms together. The only further thing needed besides some relatively short (15') ethernet cables will be hubs/4-port switches to expand the wall outlets to handle more than one Xbox 360. For instance, in my bedroom I have one wall ethernet outlet that will be networked on the main switch. If we connect a hub to it then we can connect multiple 360s to the hub and have up to four boxes networked on the one wall outlet. This has a neat side effect: achievements. Theoretically, we will all have internet and XBL access, and be able to earn online achievements during the LAN.

Setup will go on the evening of Friday October 5th. I would like to get the main network architecture along with at least half the equipment in place and test the network and XBL connectivity. This will also allow for TV remotes to be forgotten on Friday night so a trip to Wal-Mart will not be necessary on Saturday. Thankfully, I do have a universal remote, but it is about 5 years old so I may not have codes for newly popular manufacturers like Westinghouse. Those participating in setup will also be able to recover their accounts for use online the next day.

LAN participants may begin arriving at 10 AM on Saturday. Late is fine; arrive whenever you can. LAN will end when nobody remains at my house/awake/conscious.

I suggest eating an early lunch/ late breakfast before you arrive. Participants are encouraged to bring snacks and beverages to fuel the fire. Pizza will be on call when we reach a critical mass of gamers that need a meal.

A few closing notes:
Please check your calendar and commit to or deny attendance early. This greatly aids planning.
Be unselfish with your equipment. Bringing your personal Xbox 360, Halo 3 software, small monitor, and ethernet cable is a very light burden and will enhance the LAN experience for everyone for 12 hours or more.
Bring your TV's remote or know how to change its input without it.
Invite your friends. Use the mass market appeal of Halo 3 to build the THX network.
Don't leave things at my house. Any property left on Saturday will be available for pickup on Sunday. After Sunday it will become victim to my 100+ feedback Ebay account.

Let's make this the best LAN yet. THX Birthday LANs and Holiday LANs have become stellar events. Let's continue that fine tradition and set a new standard. As one of the few well-known voices in the Halo community that regularly LANs we have the opportunity to make this one of the first, biggest, and best-covered Halo 3 LANs.

Post your discussion, questions, and equipment below. After you have confirmed attendance and what equipment you will bring I will edit the second post of this thread titled "Attendance and Equipment Roster." Use this post as gospel for what you should bring. Don't worry, I won't put anything on there you didn't volunteer.

Spoiler warning. XBOX.com has a listing showing the achievements available in HALO 3. There are not any major spoilers in there. In fact everything mentioned in the achievement list has been discussed on the THX website before. If knowing things like the number of missions in the campaign bothers you, then quit out now.

Bioshock: Breaking the Mold is the title, and because the limited edition of the game couldn't ship with a book of concept art as the developers initially wanted, it's now being offered for download in PDF format in both standard and high resolution versions. Gamers interested in the plot may want to skip the foreward by Ken Levine as it contains spoilers.

Get your copy of the art book here.

If you like to support a local comic shop in Huntsville, I recommend Haven Comics on Slaughter Rd just off University. I know the owner and he's reserved a few posters in case some of THX wants them. More pics from the comic after the jump.

It's about 15 minutes old and weighs a hefty 1.35 GB, and you can get your copy for free on XBL. The Bioshock television trailer is also available from gametrailers. The SD version is below and the HD version is available for download here. Additionally, Major Nelson interviews Ken Levine of Irrational Games about Bioshock and the demo in his latest podcast. What a pleasant Sunday evening surprise.

IGN has Halo 3 news. New weapon (sorta) and 4th grenade type.

1. The Flamethrower from Halo:CE PC



2. The Flame Grenade
   

The flamethrower is handled like a turret so you will be controlling from 3rd person.

"The flamethrower does things that just weren't possible in Halo 2. This is, more or less, a living flame. "If you shoot a pillar, the liquid in the flamethrower will adhere to it and burn there," O'Connor explained. "Likewise with the floor and with bad guys. It will cause continual damage to a vehicle. When the flames start to cool down and evaporate, it stops causing damage. If you're lucky enough to keep it on a Warthog, then you will in fact take it down with a flamethrower."

Personally, I think the grenade is pretty rad it will mix things up. The flamethrower kinda meh, but I will have to use it first. I never really liked the movie "Aliens" which I think inspired a lot of flamethrower love.

IGN Halo 3 Story

When I first started learning about audio and video with my Playstation 2, which was super cool in 2000 because it doubled as a DVD player, I was rather intimidated by all the terminology involved with gaming and home theater audio/video. Only through constant internet forum perusing have I been able to keep semi-knowledgeable on the subject, and the problem has only gotten worse with the addition of tons of new connections/formats/signals since then. In an effort to help those who may be starting the venture fresh, this article seeks to demystify one of the main sources of confusion: connections and cables. I shall start with video connections. A small amount of basic knowledge may be required when we get into resolutions, HDTV, and bandwidth, but I will try to keep this as entry level as possible. Unfortunately, breaking down the many video formats is outside the scope of this article (the definition of 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, and 1080p). However, I have linked you to the wiki on each topic, and there are plenty of resources available on the net to better understand video formats. The title of each section also links to the relevant wiki. Without further ado, the following is a comprehensive description of all video connections you are likely to encounter in North America in the year 2007.

[Disclaimer to video geeks: I am trying to make this easy for a beginner, so I am going to present some facts in a way that may not be 100% technically correct (e.g. 480p is SDTV at twice the speed). I am also going to ignore PAL. Spare me the nasty comments on what an ignoramus I am and try to understand the intent. If you think I am genuinely wrong then please point it out and we'll discuss.]

Click 'read more' for the full scoop.

Yesterday photos appeared showing a white XBOX 360 with an HDMI port. Was that a Premium or a white Elite? Well, it was a Premium.

Over on FatWallet.com, one user reported buying an XBOX 360 Premium at their local Target yesterday. On the box was an HDMI logo. The owner confirmed that the Premium did in fact have an HDMI port on the back of the console.

All of a sudden the XBOX 360 has gotten more affordable while getting more powerful. Buy your Premiums with care and make sure you get one with HDMI out.

Tip: Get an HDMI to DVI cable to play your 360 on PC monitors. Don't buy the cable from Best Buy, CompUSA, Circuit City, etc. They will charge you $50 to $150 for a 6-foot cable. I just bought my cable for $10 from my local computer shop. Recall that the XBOX 360 VGA cable costs $40.

Note: See that port above the HDMI port in the image above? Notice anything different about it? You can't plug the first-gen XBOX 360 A/V packs into that slot if you have an HDMI cable plugged in at the same time. This may or may not affect anyone. Not worry, Microsoft ships a slimmed down A/V adapter to plug into the 360's A/V port. You can get Optical Audio and L/R Audio from that adapter.