They're leet.

I get an error when trying to DL the maps right now. Rumor is that either too many people are trying to DL or that they've been taken offline to fix the bug in Tombstone. Check out the video below to see how thorough Bungie's alpha and beta testing programs are and why they only need three weeks of public H3 beta testing...because they're just that good. We're never going to find any significant bugs that they didn't find already.

I might have a Shadowrun match tonight, but I'll definitely be playing some Hang 'Em. I hope a lot of you get online tonight.

Something quite apparent to those trying out the new maps are that the death barriers are now ever so prevalent, as if you even try to get to outside areas not intended to be reached in the game, you die instantly, and are greeted with "You fell to your death." Quite absurd.

I bet Certain Affinity is laughing their asses off right now. "Hey, think of all the gamers that will be trying to get outside the level--let's put all these enticing cliffs and areas outside the area and watch people die as they attempt in never-ending vain to get outside the map."

I'll most definitely be up for some H2 tonight.

I'll be on tonight, assuming I can get the maps downloaded.

You might have trouble with your credit card information on file at Microsoft. Perhaps your expiration date is obsolete or even your card #?

That bug actually happens in a lot of HALO maps...it just happens in obscure places that no one uses. That one is obviously out in the open.

I'm dl'ing now.

No CC problems either. Just retried and got them successfully.

Had a great time with everyone. We had a 5v5 custom going at one point. I think Desolation (Derelict) is my favorite of the two maps. For the first time in a long time I really enjoyed H2.

But maybe that's because none of you know my Gamertag.

I agree. I played some customs last night and I actually had fun. That's a big deal when it comes to me and Halo 2. One thing I noticed is there aren't many easily defined locations on the map, at least not if you haven't played the original a lot. There are no weapons at pistol spawn, so what do you call it? There is usually a lot of activity there. Same thing for camo spawn. There really isn't anything there to name it by, except maybe curvy ramp. Not a big deal for me, but a lot of people didn't start playing Halo until Halo 2 came out. Also, I had trouble with the invisible wall above big ramp more than once last night. I don't see how things like that weren't discovered in these months of playtesting.

These maps were made by Certain Affinity. So, they weren't really made by Bungie.

I doubt that MSBungie kicked playtesters off of H3 testing to test these maps. H3 has been playtested for years. These maps were probably tested for 6-8 months.

That invisible wall is actually present in a lot of maps. They are usually in places that don't matter though. In a private discussion with a developer, he said it was a flaw in the compiler that exports to maps into a format that the HALO engine can use. Each compile puts the anomaly in a new location.

However, over at HBO are a lot of reports of bugs in the maps. People are getting out of the levels (this was supposed to have been stopped). Also, there's an H1 pistol hidden in HEH. However, supposedly it's just geometry and not an actually weapon that can be used. It's hidden behind a cage.

*******************************

I had a terrible time pubbing H2 last night. The public Shadowrun community has spoiled me. Last night I played H2 before THX'ers got online. I pub'd three games. In each game, I was verbally abused at least a dozen times -- even by my own team. It also continued over to the post-game lobby. It made the game very unpleasant. In each game, the game never finished with full teams. At least 2 people quit out in each match.

Is this an H2 problem or is this an XBOX Live problem? I know that GoW had it share of troublemakers. However, they aren't as bad as the average person playing H2. Do you think that public stats and ranking caused this?

Once I played a few private games last night, it got better. That's why having an out-of-game community is important -- you can build a casual environment that doesn't lead to unpleasant gaming experiences.

Most definitely a Halo 2 problem. It's not like you won't find trouble making, homophobic, racist, asinine, immature jackasses in other online communities--all online games have had their share of those. It's just that Halo 2 has more of them.

I don't want to say that public stats and ranking causes all this unprovoked aggression amongst gamers, but they're definitely factors.

"Pubbing"? Is that what you call matchmaking? I've never heard that term used outside of PC games.

Rap, I understand what you're saying, but I don't think it really matters who made the maps. The maps have the Bungie/MS name on them and are made for use with a Bungie/MS product. Bungie/MS are responsible for everything they release with their name on it. You have to supervise the people working for you. It is that lack of supervision as a whole that lends me to believe the same lack of supervision could be present in Halo 3.

Matchmaking isn't a lot of fun at all unless your team is completely comprised of friends or you're in rumble pit, IMO. However, the customs we played last night were a lot of fun.

Enraged Gnome, most of us used a combination of new map and old map terminology last night. The base colors are reversed, which I hate, but I try to use the new colors. I still call the area by active camo "invisi." I picked up the phrase "catacombs" from Willdabeast for the area with the new overshield. "Shotgun room" is still correct. I went back and forth between using the phrase "uncovered ramp" and "air lift." Desolation was a little tougher to describe.

I have not played, or indeed even downloaded the maps. I plan on doing so tonight.

Playing in public = pubbing. I guess it works for thumb-aimers too...?

HALO 3 is probably the most important XBOX 360 game out there. I don't think HALO Wars or the Peter Jackson games are going to get as thorough a playtest as H3 even though they are in the HALO IP.

It's looking like HALO-related stuff made outside of the Bungie house isn't as polished as the stuff made in-house. These 2 new maps and HALO PC are examples. All had some Bungie oversight, but they have obvious problems (HALO PC had a blue million).

Whether the development of the new maps or HALO PC had a lack of supervision or not, I certainly have faith that H3 will have plenty of supervision - not only from Bungie, but from several levels of management at Microsoft. I doubt J Allard or Billy G gave a flip about the new maps or HALO PC. But they certainly care about the quality of H3 and what it offers to the world.

the only thing better than this is the fabled Halo 1.5
I enjoy them all, though they obviously play different since its Halo 2.

That's a good point.