Some of you may have noticed that for the last few hours bungie.net has been behaving very poorly, most notably throwing "Service Unavailable" messages.  Please know that we are aware of the issue and have been working on it.  We have a temporary fix in place now.  We thank you for your patience, and apologize for the inconvenience.

If you're reading this, that means the temporary fix to the "Service Unavailable" messages is working, and you shouldn't have to worry about it.  If it isn't working, well, you wouldn't really be able to see this post, now would you?  A more permanent fix to the actual cause of the problem will be along in the near future, but you won't really notice that. Again, thanks for your patience.

Another new family member joins the Bungie army. This time it's engineering intern, Jon Cable, joining us from the University of Michigan to bring his greed for knowledge and coding chops to our world party.

Every now and then we have the good manners to introduce you to new team members. This is one of those rare occasions, and it's an intern! We rarely have interns and when we do, they tend to have radical skillz. Jon Cable is no exception, joining us from the University of Michigan to get his stripes, or at least first blood, as an engineering intern. He's not old enough to drink booze, so we were gentle with him.

We asked Jon to tell us a little about himself. This is what he had to say.

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Tell us a little about yourself, where you come from, and how you got a gig as a Bungie engineering intern.

I'm a senior at the university of Michigan (go blue!), majoring in computer science. I've loved video games since I can remember. Soon after I got my first computer when I was 10, I was modifying the graphics in Marathon. I changed all the pfhor to images of Barney. Following that, I wrote games in TI graphing calculators and VB. In high school I wrote a map editor for Starcraft that's still pretty popular. My stint at Microsoft began the summer after my freshman year in college, when I interned for the MSN subscriptions group. Last summer I worked on the xbox.com site, which was pretty awesome. At the end of that internship I asked my friend Sois (pronounced: "Swaaah") if he could find a job at Bungie for me. And now here I am.

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What kind of video games do you play and what are you playing right now?

I used to be a big fan of RPGs. Some of my favorites are Chrono Trigger and FF7. I've also played Gran Turismo 3 almost to 100% completion. Another set of games I really like are Grand Theft Auto 3, Vice City, and San Andreas. When I play with friends, my favorite games are Halo 1 & 2, Mario Soccer and Warioware. Right now I'm playing Escape Velocity (the original!) on my laptop.

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What do you think the next big thing in video game programming is going to be?

Next-generation interfaces present a whole new world for video games. I think the Revolution's [Ed. note: It is now called the Wii] controller could have some really cool applications.

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Do you have or have you ever had, a pocket protector?

No, and I'm not really sure I even know what they look like.

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What do you think of Sony’s idea to include a Linux distro with the PS3?

It doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that most people would want or use.

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What happens after your internship ends?

I turn 21. w00t!

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Have you eaten a Tijuana Mama yet?

Uh, no....

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Did you realize that you HAVE to eat a Tijuana Mama?

Nope, but I'm curious now...

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Are you familiar with the Xbox 360 architecture? If so, what are its pros and cons?

A little - the parallel processors will be very powerful when they are used effectively. The security features are really good. Wireless controllers are also pretty sweet. I can't think of any cons at the moment.

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What is your most appalling programming-related injury?

Killing 10 million brain cells by programming for about 70 hours.

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What is your greatest coding achievement?

Enhancing the Starcraft game engine by injecting code into its process.

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Who is your all-time programming idol and why?

Alta, because she knows C².

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Why wasn’t it Charlie?

He doesn't know C².

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Discuss Jon in the Forums!

The user interface screen floating around the interzone right now is a fake. It's a pretty fake, but fake nonetheless. We're not going to debunk every fake we see, but that one is clogging the forums. So stop talking about it. It's fake.

That's right, fake.

Think that E3 is all about riding in Limos and signing people's boobs? Think again. E3 can be a squalid pit of putrid horror and grief, as one unlucky community member found out to his infinite sadness. Read all about it here.

No, seriously, click this link to read about it.

Bungie.net member and forum ninja "GameJunkieJim" has put up a homemade Bungie Crossword Puzzle over in the Underground Forum. Test your knowledge of Bungie and see how you stack up against the rest of the community! Are you hardcore or a wannabe?

Do you consider yourself a hardcore Bungie fan? Put your knowledge to the test and take the first ever Bungie Crossword Puzzle! Bungie.net Forum Ninja "GameJunkieJim" whipped up this fanboy treat and it's available in the Underground Forum. Check it out and see how you rank against the rest of the community.

Special thanks to GameJunkieJim (and anyone else who contributed to this that I'm not aware of).

If you can't get your fill of Halo 3 imagery, you're in luck. Head over to the Halo 3 section for a brand new wallpaper, courtesy of AGDTinMan. Forum users will also be happy to know that we've added a few new Halo 3 avatars, created by Shishka. Enjoy!

Hot on the heels of our big Halo 3 announcement comes a few new goodies for Bungie.net members.

For starters, head over to the Halo 3 game section and check out the latest wallpaper that was created by our own AGDTinMan. Adorn your desktop with this sweet image of Master Chief making his triumphant return.

Halo 3 fans can also show their support in our forums by grabbing one of the new avatars that were created by Shishka. Once you're signed in, click in "My Settings" and then the "Avatar" tab at the top of the page and you'll see five new Halo 3 options on the page.

Now that our next project is officially out in the open, you can expect to see plenty more Halo 3 related goodies in the weeks and months ahead. We've got a few new screenshots up our sleeves as well as another surprise that will be worth waiting for and maybe a few things coming to the Bungie Store in the not too distant future. It wouldn't be nearly as fun to just release everything at once so you'll just have to keep checking back to see what's next.

We've updated the Windows Media versions of the Halo 3 Announcement teaser trailer.  There isn't much difference between the old and new, the new are simply uncropped versions of the same video.  They simply look better in Windows Media Player.  They are a little larger, but we want to make sure everyone has the best possible view of the teaser, regardless of their choice of media player.

The new links are below.  We've updated the top story to reflect these links, although the old links will still work and show the original one if you want to compare.

E32006 Announce Trailer (WMV, small)

E32006 Announce Trailer (WMV, large)

Have you been looking for a good excuse to get your Myth back on? Well, now certainly is a good time to do so, because Myth World Cup is here again! MWC06 is now open for registrations, so head over to www.mwc06.com and come compete for the 1000$ grand prize!

Myth World Cup is here again!

Have you been looking for a good excuse to dust off that good old Myth 2 cd of yours? Well, now certainly is a good time to do so, because Myth World Cup is here again! MWC06 is now open for registrations, so come compete for the excellent prizes we have! We are expecting to have the same amount of teams as previous years, which is around 30. The tournament organizing crew is the same gang that organized MWC04. We are following the good old MWC pattern, but we have made some new exciting changes to freshen up the experience.

The registration will stay open for three weeks and the tournament will start in early June. The tournament is expected to end in August as usual. Make sure you check out our prizes section, because this year we also have a 1000$ grand prize for the winners of this tournament! We also have several smaller money prizes that we are giving out for the player with the best ratios and for the person who writes the best article.

Head over to www.mwc06.com and sign up your team or go look for one!

Despite some initial problems, the Halo 3 page is now available.  This means you can see the screenshot gallery, storyboards, grab a wallpaper, and read the FAQ.

We're sorry for the delay, but now you have access to the full glory of our announcement day content.

ODST1125 writes:

After a month or two of organisation, we have finally done it! Seventh Column Contests (proudly) presents

After a month or two of organization, we have finally done it! Seventh Column Contests proudly presents the Bungie Music Contest - an opportunity for fans of Bungie and Marty's work to come and demonstrate their own musical talents, competing against each other. The contest was originally devised by Butane123 and other members of the Bungie.org internet relay chat (IRC), and organized by the members of Seventh Column Contests. kd5shw has kindly offered to sponsor the contest and reward the winner with a sum of cash (either in check or pay pal). Here are the rules:


•  Using preexisting song files made by Martin O'Donnell or any other Bungie employees is not allowed and you can NOT alter them in any way to make them your own.
•  Submissions will be about Bungie, any submissions disregarding this rule will be ignored. Music must be in the style of a videogame. The submission should be able to be used in a Bungie game. (i.e. it shouldn't sound like you just slapped it in there in order to enter).
•  All file formats should be in mp3.
•  All entries must be prefaced with a short description of the inspiration for your piece. This is used so that the audience knows what the piece is about, and also understands its relation to Bungie.
•  You are allowed to only have one submissions, making more than one account to submit another entry will disqualify you for the competition.
•  Participants must be a member of B.net prior to the start of the contest.
•  You are to submit the entry at: [email protected]
•  Send all entries to [email protected] with the subject "music contest".
•  No plagiarism
•  Do not use pirated or in any other way, illegal software to produce music.
•  All times are in Pacific Standard Time. Also known as B.net time.
If you have anymore questions, you can get them answered in this thread.

Thanks for reading, and good luck!

Thanks for the help, Alex!

Halowiki.net is getting larger!  We have just recently hit the benchmark of 1000 legitimate content articles.  Halowiki.net is the place for anything related to Halo 2 multiplayer information.  Halowiki.net, the Halo2 information database that is created by the community.

Halowiki is one of the best sources on the internet for anyone who wants to learn about almost anything related to Halo 2 Multiplayer.  You can learn about anything from map or weapon strategy, to how to execute some pretty amazing jumps.  The hosting clan, the Clan of Bobs is the best around.  Strictly against all forms of cheating, be it superjump or standby, bridge or mod, the Clan of Bobs strides to clean up Xbox live and make it fun for everyone.

Stop by and check us out!

Just as a quick notice - Xbox Live will be unavailable due to scheduled maintenance on May 2 beginning at 2am PDT for 14-16 hours.  This means no Halo 2 online during that time.  Please refrain from emailing us about it, we're not the ones doing maintenance.

The planned maintenance will also affect xbox.com, and some stat displays on bungie.net could possibily be affected.

Jeremiah writes:

Stats for the new Rumble Hardcore playlist have been reset to correct a problem that was preventing some users from using the playlist.  Read on for more details...

This morning, stats for the new Rumble Hardcore playlist were reset in an effort to correct a problem that was preventing some of our users from using the playlist.

The process should now be complete, so any games you play this afternoon should count towards your future stats.  We apologize for the loss of 2 days worth of stats, but at least we took care of it now instead of a week from now.

For those of you who feel this is a tragedy, keep in mind that this is not a permanent playlist and it could be removed in the next update or a following update, don't get too attached to your rank.  Your stats for the past 2 days are not as important as some of our other users not even being able to use the playlist, so man up and don't complain about it.