Halopedia:Bungie Weekly Update 06-03-05



This is the Bungie Weekly Update of June 3, 2005, written by Frank O'Connor.

Bungie Update
Not too much going on this week. An update on cheating and glitching, some strange art requests, some story semantics and really, all's quiet on the Halo front. It's almost as if Bungie is busy working on its next project. Which is rumored to be a bitchin' IROC that we're restoring from teh ground up.

Plenty of angry players ask,

What am I supposed to do when I encounter a dirty rotten cheater in Halo 2 on Xbox Live?

We hate cheaters as much as the rest of you and we're doing our best to hunt them down and remove them from our community. You can help our efforts by reporting people using our new "cheater hotline." If you encounter a person who you know is cheating during a game of Halo 2 on Xbox Live, please report them by sending an email to h2cheats@microsoft.com. To expedite our investigations, please be sure to include your gamertag, their gamertag, and when possible a link to the actual game in question. Please keep in mind that submitting false reports of cheaters is only going to hamper our efforts and keep the real cheaters in the system that much longer. Just because you lost it doesn't mean the person broke the rules.

The Bungie Team will be investigating alleged cheaters using data we're able to extract from every game played on Live. Once we have indisputable evidence we will issue the appropriate ban on the offending player - 7 day matchmaking ban for first time offense, permanent for subsequent offenses.

While we don't like jerks anymore than the next person, we are not able to police behavior on Xbox Live. Please do not submit reports of players who are racists, using profanity, making threats or any other inappropriate conduct. Your best defense against these types of people is to use the in-game feedback system and report them. The Xbox Live team monitors this feedback and they will issue punishments ranging from voice muting to full blown banning from all of Xbox Live. The Bungie Team will not be banning players from matchmaking based on inappropriate behavior - we are only reacting to data we can collect that proves someone is cheating or violating our online policies.

Please check out the cheating FAQ on Bungie.net for the latest information regarding cheating, banning and our policies..

Curious folks ask,

What types of cheats or activities does Bungie consider a bannable offense?

Due to the never ending creativity and resourcefulness of griefers and jerks, it's almost impossible to provide a definitive list of all the known offenses occurring on Xbox Live. Suffice it to say, we are well aware of what's going on out there and we'll continue to do our best to stay on top of the latest tricks and exploits. Here are a few examples of the types of things that will get a player banned from Halo 2 Xbox Live matchmaking:


 * Using hacked maps, playlists, profiles or any other user-edited content on Live
 * Manipulating or disrupting data flow between players in a game to give yourself or your team and unfair advantage
 * Interfering with matchmaking to affect the selection of opponents, maps or gametypes.

A good Samaritan asks,

I have edited some of the maps to give players a new experience and enhance the game (or I've created my own playlists to give players what they want), this is ok, right?

No. This is not ok. We do not condone the use of any "hacked" content on Xbox Live at all. Regardless of your intentions, only bad things will come from opening this can of worms. We can and will be detecting instances of players using modified content over Live (in matchmaking as well as custom games) and if found to be guilty, you will be permanently banned. Wannabe hackers should note that even if you're playing modified content offline but your Xbox is connected to Live, you run the risk of being detected and banned.

A few hardcore stat wankers ask,

Are the stats going to be reset again when the new maps are released in July?

We currently do not have any plans to reset player stats when the new maps are released. The reason we reset the stats and leaderboards last time was more due to the auto update than releasing four new maps. In light of rampant cheating we felt that prior stats were mostly invalid and meaningless. The auto update bug fixes and some fairly major gameplay changes were enough to warrant a fresh start and a clean slate for everyone.

Sandy Crack asks,

''I noticed that I can handicap myself during matchmaking. The question is, will this affect my rank?''

Well yes and no. You don't gain anything other than props for playing handicapped in a game, but it's likely you'll perform less well in the long run should you severely handicap yourself. But you know, you can always think of it as Legendary for multiplayer.

Really it's only even in there so that Shishka and Sketch have a chance when I'm owning them in custom games over Live. Yeah. I said it.

Quikthnkr asks,

''[I am paraphrasing a very loooong email] Someone is hijacking my Clan. They keep inviting new players, griefing and diminishing our rank, and Xbox Live won't do anything about it.''

That's because it's none of Xbox Live's business. The person in question is an overlord in your clan, same as you, that's why you can't simply boot him. Now, it also appears from your email that the dispute started as a personal fracas. We cannot get involved in that aspect of it and the problem began because he was legitimately invited and promoted. What he's doing now, is not our concern. Why? Think of it this way - what if YOU were the griefer, sending me this email to make things even worse for the clan? How am I supposed to know who the "good" overlord is and who the "bad" overlord is?

The simple lesson from this is a) that people often suck and b) you need to be really, really careful who you invite to your clan and what privileges you give them. The simplest remedy, and I know this sucks, is to start the clan again from scratch. And be more careful who's in charge this time.

.

Boothby asks,

''Simple question. Is it 'What ARE they to say now?' or 'What HAVE they to say now. ' ''

''I've seen many casual mentions of this line from the Halo 2 promo and I have my own ideas, but I wanted a general consensus. One of those 'I know I'm not crazy' type of things.''

What say you?

The word is "have."

Sammy asks,

Since the Xbox 360 has changeable faceplates, would you ever make a Halo 3 faceplate?

Nice try, Sherlock. There's no reason you couldn't have a Halo 2 faceplate, with Guilty Spark or the Halo itself around the "ring of light." I just checked out some of the new faceplates at the Xbox euro website and they are gorgeous, even the more avant garde ones. I think it'll probably end up a little like skateboards, where the weirder, more collectible, more bizarre the faceplates are, the more popular they'll be. That said, I want aluminum NOW. See some more here

Shadowguitar asks,

''How about Mister Chief's Forza Motorsport car? With his customization?''

No way. That takes ages. But if someone makes me a Mister Chief car in Forza and sends me a picture, I will hand draw them their own Mister Chief as a "prize." The winner will be chosen from whichever one I feel like, and remember this prize is worthless and this contest is hardly worth your time.

Finally, Garriot asks, what would happen if Shishka and Mister Chief had a baby?

Probably something like this: