While publisher Microsoft may not be ready to unveil Bungie's next Halo-related project, that hasn't stopped the studio from hinting at its current work, this time in the form of a video acceptance speech for EDGE's Interactive Innovation Award.

Narrated by Bungie's Luke Smith, the video looks to be set in a Halo 3 (360) multiplayer map filled with AI bots, a feature the game currently doesn't support, and appears to show a full-fledged map creator at the end--suggesting that Halo 3 may be receiving additional features and functionality, most likely as downloadable content. Read more »

Developer Bungie has "a lot to learn" from Infinity Ward's use of scripted events in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Bungie programmer Damian Isla has admitted.

"[Infinity Ward] did a hell of a job with their set pieces, of scripting certain moments that they were really sure the player was going to actually see and experience first hand," the lead API programmer told Read more »

Though the first stab at a Halo movie didn't go so well, that hasn't stopped some from trying.

Stuart Beattie, the man that wrote the original treatments for the Spy Hunter and Gears of War movies, has apparently penned a script based off the first Halo book, The Fall of Reach. Read more »

A new multiplayer map for Halo 3 (360) will be released as a free download on July 7, now-independent developer Bungie announced on its site today.

A remake of the original Halo's Chill Out map, the revamp is known as Cold Storage. Read more »

Accompanying our hands-on impressions of the Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack, Shacknews is proud to present a series of exclusive screenshots and video captured during our recent sessions in the multiplayer maps.

The first shots and video are below, the rest follow after the break. Included in all three are the humorous and shameful antics of the Shack's editors. Read more »

There's something special about Bungie's press demonstration get-togethers. It's a magic formula that mixes sleep deprivation, pizza, and sixteen journalists, resulting in the most raucous bunch of unruly bastards you've ever heard. It's a spectacle of such magnitude that it was almost difficult to pay attention to the content on display, rather than my esteemed colleagues calling me "bitch" while smearing my head into the pavement.

But ghastly failures aside, I did manage to walk away from the slaughter with a fair idea of what to expect when the Halo 3 Legendary map pack goes live next week. Three new maps—two remakes, one brand new—might not be the weightiest offering of downloadable content yet seen on the Xbox Live Marketplace, but should prove a worthwhile addition to the burgeoning roster of Halo 3's multiplayer offerings. Read more »

Another batch of screenshots from Bungie's upcoming Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack have been released, giving us a view of the various arenas in a more action-packed format.

The map pack--which is comprised of Blackout, Avalanche, and Ghost Town--is set to appear on April 15, for the price of 800 Microsoft Points ($10). Read more »

Bungie Studios has released a new trailer of its upcoming Legendary map pack for Halo 3 on Xbox Live. The video is available for download on FileShack, or in streaming format below.

Included in the Legendary pack are three new maps for multiplayer fans—Blackout, Avalanche, and Ghost Town. The pack is due for release on April 15 release on the Xbox Live Marketplace, priced at 800 Microsoft Points ($10). Read more »

Bungie today revealed the last unknown map in its upcoming Halo 3 (X360) map pack to be Blackout, a remake of Lockout from Halo 2 (Xbox).

The remade map lifts the familiar level structure from its original Forerunner architecture and situates it in a USNC Antarctic research facility. Speaking on Bungie's community page, the developers emphasized the importance of creating a map that reflected the original Lockout, tweaked and built around the new features in Halo 3. Read more »

Clarifying earlier reports, Bungie has announced that the Heroic Map Pack for Halo 3 will become a free download starting this coming Tuesday, March 25, at 2 AM Pacific time.

The Heroic Map Pack includes the maps Rat's Nest, Standoff, and Foundry. It was originally released on December 11 of last year, at a price of 800 Microsoft Points ($10).

"Remember, as of the April playlist update, the Free Heroic Maps will be required in Ranked Big Team, Social Big Team, Team Slayer and Rocket Race playlists," wrote Bungie's Luke Smith. Read more »

The second downloadable map pack for Bungie's Halo 3 will arrive on April 15, publisher Microsoft and the now-independent developer have announced. At that time, the previously released Heroic Map Pack will, according to Microsoft, become a free download.

Selling for 800 Microsoft Points ($10), the Legendary Map Pack includes three new multiplayer maps. One will be a retooling of the original Halo map Sidewinder titled Avalanche, with the developer issuing several screenshots of the revamped map. Read more »

Coming with the Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack this spring, Ghost Town is a map that Bungie refers to as the "O.K. Corral."

"As an asymmetric map it's designed for things like One Bomb, and One Flag. It also creates a great environment for FFA and team slayer," says Bungie artist Cameron Pinard.

Check out some stills of the arena below. Read more »

Riding a wave of strong software releases and still-fresh hardware offerings, the North American console video game market grew a massive 43 percent in 2007, according to new numbers released today by the NPD Group.

Overall industry sales totaled a record $17.94 billion--compared to 2006's take of $12.53 billion--with software making up $8.64 billion of the pie. The highest-selling games list, which doesn't factor PC software sales into the mix, was unsurprisingly lead by Bungie's Halo 3, followed up by Nintendo's remote-including Wii Play. Read more »