Halopedia:Bungie Weekly Update 12-17-04

This is the Bungie Weekly Update for December 17, 2004, written by Frank O'Connor.

Bungie Update
Lots of questions ranging from Easter Eggs to what happens to cheater jerks. Check out our answers and be sure to submit questions about anything that bothers, intrigues or baffles you.

Albert Prince asks,

''Last week you mentioned that you were going to be banning players who use the suspend modem cheat. I think this is just a bluff to scare people and stop them from doing it.''

It is NOT a bluff. In fact, we've already banned many players - suspending their Xbox Live accounts and kicking them off the service completely. They are not only cheats, but in clear violation of the Xbox Live terms of use. Simple as that. And if you're out there using the suspend modem cheat thinking we aren't going to do anything, you should know, it's just a matter of time. We absolutely encourage players to send feedback about cheaters. There's no excuse for it whatsoever.

To report a cheat, press the Y menu to bring up your friends list, and scroll right 'til you reach the similar looking "Players List" where you should find a list of recent players, including the cheater you wish to report. Select his or her name, and then choose the "Leave Feedback" option. You can leave positive feedback for good players, or report cheaters directly. We will investigate and act.

You may also report cheaters here: Cheater Reporting Forum!

Please do NOT abuse this. One trip to the blue waiting screen does not necessarily mean someone is cheating, so please be quite sure you know that a cheater has been identified before posting here.

Sixpack asks,

''If you guys make downloadable maps, will I be able to play them in the Xbox Live playlists? And what would happen if I didn't have the maps?''

Future downloadable maps will be playable in Matchmade Playlists, but players who don't have the new maps will not be inconvenienced, since they simply won't be playing in those playlists containing the new maps and likely aren't playing on Xbox Live anyway. Final decisions on how to organize all that are a ways off, but we'll take care of it neatly.

PandaMuffins asks,

If I'm in a clan match and we are the higher level, does the lower level have better advantage to kill you, better shields, etc?

My friend recently told me this is it true?!

No. Although the other clan would in theory have the opportunity to individually handicap themselves in arranged games, it doesn't happen automatically under ANY circumstances and can't happen at all in Matchmade games.

Vinnie asks,

How do I get the bungie.net logo behind my gamertag?

Easy. Sign up for Bungie.net, make sure your Gamertag is linked and click on "My Settings" at the top of the Bungie.net page when it appears. You will see a row of tabs at the top of the next page. Click the one labeled, "Web Settings" and near the bottom of the next page you'll see the option, "Show Bungienet User Status in Halo2." Select the button that turns the feature on. Bingo, the bungie.net identifier will show people on Xbox Live that you mean business.

Lots of folks ask,

How can I unlink my Gamertag, or better yet, link it to a different Passport account?

Well, you can't actually unlink it, but you CAN link to a different account. Simply follow the steps detailed here:

Gamertag Linking Support Page

Tupacalypse1872 asks,

''Hey man, a couple of questions and requests. First, who is Mister Chief? When are there gunna be some new content downloads, and whats gunna be featured on them? And are you guys going to be having any tourneys or anything like that anytime soon? Aright, and, for my requests; i think u guys should make some new levels for Live, and some new stuff for campaign, some new weapons, and be able to be all the characters on live, not just Master Chief and Arbiter, and new vehicles would be phat too. Well, hope u do some of this stuff, and please let me know when you gotta new content download coming in, that would be wicked, well, peace out bud, have a good one.''

Mister Chief is a horrible thing I made up one week when there were no screenshots of Halo 2 coming out for ages. It was meant to be a joke but he kind of has a life of his own. I think it's because his teeth are on the outside of his helmet. There's even a Mister Chief game, available here:

Mister Chief's Mayo!

As for downloads, there will in fact be downloadable maps. I played one of them yesterday. There's no schedule available at this time but we will keep you posted.

Namisar asks,

''My thumb hurts from holding the left control stick down when I want to sneak up on somebody, I'm sure you agree that not only are you doing a number on the controller holding it down and moving it at the same time, but it also doesn't feel very good for your thumb. This problem would be easily solved if the crouch was turned into a toggle instead of a hold. Is this something bungie could do? I love sneaking in for an assassination kill but my thumb is so sore...''

''Also why is it that if you play a game that involves offense vs. defense the red team always wins even if the scores are tied? I've played 1 flag CTF on Zanzibar many times where the outcome has been 2 to 2 and yet the red team (being the last team on offense) wins. Why is that?''

Your thumb hurts because that's the payoff for being invisible to radar. When you're crouch walking, you have an enormous strategic advantage, and the balance is that it's tough to do for an extended period. A good analog would be the physical act of crouch walking. Try it in your house and see how long you can keep it up.

As for your second question - it's not the color of the winning team - it's a number of factors, including things like who scored last. We're looking into other tie game problems though, so bear with us.

Robert asks,

''I want to post questions about Halo 2 but I do not know how. My questions are how will clan matches be posted? Will you keep track of all games won and lost by your clan? Will there be specific information like who played in the clan match, who got what kills, scores and who was the mvp? Will head shots be included also for example the sniper head shot is an instant kill on Halo 1, so on Halo 2 will the Human sniper and Covenant sniper have the head shot advantage for those sniper lovers? My friend also wants to know if grenades can explode in mid air after being bounced off a wall or the ground?''

Phew. Here we go. Well, this is a good place to get questions answered. Clan matches are recorded and posted on Bungie.net's Stats Page, you simply search for your Clan or the Clan you're interested in. Very, very specific information is recorded, not only with sniper kills and general frags recorded, but a visual guide to who did what to whom and where. There's an argument about whether Covenant or Humans have the sniper advantage, but personally I find it hard to hit an Elite in the back of the head, but I am a lousy sniper, it has to be said. Grenades will explode if bounced off the ground. They have a very short timer fuse of about a second.

JediPilot asks,

''Hey, uh, "Franky" I guess it is (not frequent to bungie.net), how's it going? Quick question - How or where do we ask questions for the weekly update? I see a lot of great questions being answered, but I've some of my own. Where do we ask or where is the weekly update section? I only read them through the home page...''

You can PM me, or go to this forum thread: What's Update Forum Link

Larboz asks,

And at what point can we expect to hear about your next project?

Don't hold your breath. Bungie takes its projects very seriously, but you shouldn't expect any announcement any time soon. We're not being jerks, we're just concentrating very hard on our next game.

A few good peeps ask,

It seems that quite a few people are experiencing issues with downloading the new matchmaking playlists when they get on Live.

We're looking into this one, but the good news is that the solution seems pretty simple - just sign out of Live and then sign back in again. If that fails, try power cycling your Xbox.

Archos asks,

''Are their any hidden weapons, vehicles, creatures, etc. in halo 2? (i know about the skulls) also is their really a "scarab gun"? Thanks''

There is in fact a ton of hidden stuff, and not just the skulls. And yes, the Scarab Gun exists. Think, MASSIVE FIREPOWER! For one level only.

JoshC3 asks,

''I was wondering if there were any plans in the future to expand the capacity for friends lists. It seems I have reached my limit pretty quickly. Thanks.''

The honest answer is that I do not know. The Friends List limit is decided by Xbox Live, not by Bungie. The limit is 100 friends and that gets very difficult to manage when it's full. I know because mine is jammed.

And finally, not for the faint hearted, the new Mister Chief. I was asked what he would look like if he were real. Shudder.