As you relax and enjoy playing Halo 2 over the Holidays, we wish you all the best and a Happy New Year. Meanwhile, we answer some of your pressing questions and insult your artistic intelligence with a new Mister Chief. Kinda. [url=/News/TopStory.aspx?story=weeklywhatsdec30]Read the update here.[/url]

There are questions about cheats, rankings, bugs and lots more, so go [url=/News/TopStory.aspx?story=weeklywhatsdec30]read the update now![/url]

Noting that both games are near-essential purchases, the GameDaily Staff has written a feature-by-feature comparison of the PC and console shooters. Naturally we're biased, but we think they picked [url=http://www.gamedaily.com/xbox/halo2/article.asp?section=news&article_id=8093]the right game[/url] although some Bungie staff admit to playing their PCs more frequently of late.

Check out the full article [url=http://www.gamedaily.com/xbox/halo2/article.asp?section=news&article_id=8093]here.[/url]

The onslaught of year-end voting continues as Gamespot opens the polls for their [url=http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/all/bestof2004/day7.html?q=1&tag=gs_hp_topslot_click]2004 Reader's Choice[/url] awards. Halo 2 is nominated in three different categories so please head on over and cast your votes and help us take one more step towards our uber goal of world domination!

Another shameless plug to get votes for Halo 2 in an online poll? Yup! Though some may argue our winning streak hit its peak with the coveted Spike TV awards, it's these reader's choice scenarios that mean the most to us. Tear away the glitz and glam and politics and it's just fans voting for what they liked the most. And that makes us warm and fuzzy all over (in an entirely different way than the Webmasters homebrewed egg nog). Thanks to all our fans for your ongoing support and a kick ass 2004. Have a great holiday!

Reiginko writes:

Aside from being the summer/winter solstice, depending on your hemisphere of choice, today also happens to be the 10th birthday of Marathon's release, and the start of the greatest series of games ever created in the long history of this noble art. In honour of this momentous occasion, your faithful Bungie.net mods have created a chance for all you fans to increase your Pile o' Stuff.

In honour of the 10th birthday of the greatest series of games of all time, your long-suffering B.net Moderator team has organised a chance for you to win a metric heap of Really Cool Stuff™. This contest is unlike any other ever held, as it is in fact a hyper-contest with three completely different separate categories: [*]First off, we’re holding an [b]essay contest[/b]. It has often been asserted by many people that Marathon should be included in the syllabi of English courses at both secondary and tertiary level. Well, okay, replace “often” with “at least once”, and “many people” with “just Reiginko”, and we might be getting somewhere. But that is so beside the point. Marathon and its story is such a rich topic that it’s criminal to [i]not[/i] write an essay about it. Anyway, somebody already [url=http://www.bungie.net/Inside/CustomPage.aspx?section=LettersToTheWebmaster&subsection=Main&page=2]beat us to it[/url] (look for “NoiVad”), so you can’t blame us for starting [i]this[/i] one. If you still aren’t sold on the idea, just remember that essays are only boring and stupid when they’re actually about [url=http://maddox.xmission.com/cellblows.html]boring and stupid things[/url]. [*]If analytical writing isn’t quite your thang, but you still fancy yourself (Narcissist!) quite the wordsmith, perhaps you’ll take a shine to our [b]poetry contest[/b]. It’s basically against The Law™ to [i]not[/i] hold a poetry contest about Marathon, since Marathon poetry contests in one form or another have been going on since [url=http://marathon.bungie.org/story/citadel.html#Six%20Thousand%20Feet%20Under]the W’rkncacnter first swam on the surface of Lh’owon’s sun[/url], so we reckon it’s pretty natural to hold one today. We’ll accept any sort of poem. I think Yoozel wanted to include a rule that we’ll only accept neo-pre-metaphysical flea poems, but that would have been [url=http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/sillymolecules/sillymols.htm]silly[/url]. [*]Finally, if poetry isn’t your best suit either, but you do know how to tickle the humerus, maybe you should have a peek at our [b]joke contest[/b]. Long-time readers of the [url=http://bungie.net/Inside/CustomPage.aspx?section=LettersToTheWebmaster&subsection=Main&page=1]Letters to the Webmaster[/url] will remember that your mum’s favourite drunkard-in-a-gorilla-suit held a similar contest for his correspondents a while back. This time, however, you won’t have to follow the rather esoteric rule that the punchline had to be “frog blast the vent core” (and anyway, one of the winners of that contest didn’t even bother to follow that rule). For more information, including rules, prizes and some handy hints, check out [url=http://bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=1479208&viewreplies=true]this[/urll] forum thread. Now get writing! - Reiginko

That's right. We're hiring and we're looking for a few good men, women and one monkey. Check out our latest [url=/Inside/Page.aspx?section=Jobs&subsection=Main&page=1#UID]Job Postings,[/url] including the latest available position - that of a User Interface Designer.

You can always see the latest Bungie job postings [url=/Inside/Page.aspx?section=Jobs&subsection=Main&page=1]here[/url] for a chance to work at the happiest place on Earth (apart from Disneyand). Remember to check the requirements carefully before applying.

Our networking genius and world-famous SuperKiwi, Chris Butcher, is interviewed by [url=http://stuffo.howstuffworks.com/halo-network.htm]How Stuff Works[/url] about the delicate complexity of Halo 2 network code.

Go read the interview with Butcher [url=http://stuffo.howstuffworks.com/halo-network.htm]right here[/url].

The eponymous [url=http://www.jukesbox.com/]Mr. Jukes[/url] has beaten Bungie to it - that is to say, posted a number of [url=http://www.jukesbox.com/]cool jumping videos[/url]. Some are easy, some are tricky, some obvious and some obscure. Most of them have a purpose and it's fun to see some of the crazier jumps.

Keep an eye on Bungie.net too, as we'll have some nifty insider tips that even Mr. Jukes hasn't thought of yet.

The forums are back online. Sorry for the delay.

Sorry about the downtime, but when your recalculating the ordering of forums of this size, things can take a while. New Mombassa alone has 51,541 total topics and 623,614 total posts. The forums should behave a bit better now. We will be watching to make sure all goes well.

Presents are cool, but cards are even better. Why? Because old people put cash in them! Our Halo holiday cards are even better than cash, however, featuring amusing Halo inspired holiday messages, and are available right now at [url=http://www.bungiestore.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=14&idproduct=262]The Bungie Store[/url].

There are tons of other great holiday gift ideas to be found, from clothes to action figures. Check out the selection at [url=http://www.bungiestore.com]The Bungie Store[/url].

Tomorrow is bungie.net upgrade day! Read on how this will affect your viewing of stats and forums. Updated: The main portion of this is done, but forums are currently offline, probably until tomorrow.

At approximately 11:30am Pacific time on Tuesday, December 7th, bungie.net will be offline for a performance and bugfix upgrade. All services will be offline from 30 to 60 minutes. After this downtime, everything except for forums and private messaging will return to service. Forums and related systems will be offline for at least twelve hours. Yeah, we know, but the forums need to be fixed. You might have noticed that they order posts strangely sometimes and have entire pages disappear at a time. Well, we're aiming to fix that. But, to do so, we have to run a script on our forum database to fix all the old posts. Since our forum system contains so much data, it will take a while. We apologize for the downtime, but we think you'll be pleased with the results.

Thanks to you guys, we've been inducted to the Metreon's [url=http://www.walkofgame.com/inductees.htm]"Walk of Game"[/url] which is of course the gaming equivalent of the Hollywood walk of fame. Thanks to your voting, we actually made it! Thanks!

You can check out the other inductees right [url=http://www.walkofgame.com/inductees.htm]here![/url]

Seems like 'tis the season to be polling. Everyone is collating votes for their games of the month, year, decade etc. 1up.com is now accepting votes for its [url=http://bestof2004.1up.com/]Best of 2004[/url] awards and you can if you like, vote for Halo 2 in a few categories.

Again, to cast your vote, simply visit [url=http://bestof2004.1up.com/]www.1up.com[/url] and click a few times. It's actually a quite lovely voting interface.

Lots of players have asked us if there's a way to archive older stats. Well, not through Bungie.net, but it looks like our users are starting to come up with their own solutions using the XML feed available at Bungie.net. One apparently brilliant player has come up with a [url=http://www.isamrad.com/Halo2RSS/#Install%20steps]neat solution[/url].

The [url=http://www.isamrad.com/Halo2RSS/#Install%20steps]website[/url] allows you to download an Excel spreadsheet and synchronize it with (some of) your stats, allowing you to maintain records as big as you like. Since this solution was created by a Halo 2 fan, and not Bungie Studios or Microsoft, we cannot be responsible for its content or functionality, we're simply mentioning it as a neat use of the XML data from Bungie.net.

We've been gathering a lot of feedback since Halo 2 was released and today we're happy to announce that we've released some significant updates to the Xbox Live [url=/Stats/page.aspx?section=FAQInfo&subsection=playlists&page=1]Matchmaking Playlists[/url]. Read on for the full scoop!

We've had a great first few weeks playing Halo 2 on Xbox Live but over the course of our day to day play we found a few things that needed to be tweaked and improved upon. Our own experiences, along with tons of feedback from you, resulted in todays large Playlist Update. Please remember that our Xbox Live matchmaking system is dynamic and is controlled behind the scenes by a small file we can upload to the Xbox Live servers. We have the ability to make small or large tweaks to the games and maps that you play when participating in a matchmade games behind the scenes, with no impact to the players. Unlike an actual auto update like the one we released a few weeks ago that is downloaded and makes code changes to the game itself, playlist updates consist of a single file that exists on the actual Live server. Officially, this kind of update is referred to as a "TMS", or "Title-Managed Storage." Each title has a little storage space on the Live servers where files like a playlist can live. You can read the full list of gametypes and maps for each playlist [url=/Stats/page.aspx?section=FAQInfo&subsection=playlists&page=1]HERE.[/url] Please note that while you will see a lot of different games, i.e. Oddball, King, etc.., these are all weighted much less than the primary games (listed at the top of each playlist). Here's a quick overview of what has changed: 1. Two brand new playlists - "TEAM SLAYER" - You wanted it, now you've got it. All team slayer, all the time. This is a new ranked playlist so everyone will be able to battle their way to the top of the leaderboards all over again. "RUMBLE TRAINING" - This is a new [i]unranked[/i] playlist that shares the Rumble Pit playlists. The best part about this new playlist is that you can enter into it with guests and even as a party of up to 8 players. 2. Freshening Existing Playlists - The various gametypes and maps for the existing gametypes have been freshened up and the various weights have been adjusted to create more variety and take advantage of more of what's available. Foundation has also been added where applicable. 3. Big Team Battle - You can now enter this playlist with a party of up to 8 players. However, please note that entering into playlists witih large parties may result in longer wait times as the game tries to find another party of 8. We'll be monitoring this. 4. Major Clan Match - This playlist now supports parties as small as 5 and the team imbalance has been changed to 1. So, no more 6 vs. 8 matches. 5. Game Times - The match time limit for nearly every gametype has been extended to allow for more carnage. 6. Miscellaneous Tweaks - A number of other little things have been adjusted like removing the Banshee from the Head to Head matches on Ascension, removing the glitched "Sudden Death" from some Assault games that could cause the match to last forever and we even added a CTF variant featuring Wraiths and turrets on Coagulation. [b]PLEASE NOTE : If you happen to be playing Xbox Live when the playlists were released, you will need to sign out and sign back in again before you can see the new playlists.[/b] Thank you to everyone for your [url=/Forums/topics.aspx?forumID=5576]feedback[/url] and we'll continue to monitor and update our playlists to further improve the Halo 2 Xbox Live experience.

Everyone's least favorite jerk is back to occasionally dispense wisdom, but hardly ever advice, and neither if an insult will do. This month [url=/Inside/CustomPage.aspx?section=LettersToTheWebmaster&subsection=Main&page=16]The Webmaster[/url] is waxing rhapsodical on themes as diverse as Live play, banning and cursing.

If you've never read the [url=/Inside/CustomPage.aspx?section=LettersToTheWebmaster&subsection=Main&page=16]Letters to the Webmaster[/url] before, we should warn you, he's mean, surly and largely pointless.

That's right, we don't just talk about games, we also [i]make[/i] them. And we can't do it on our own, so we're [url=http://www.bungie.net/Inside/Page.aspx?section=Jobs&subsection=Main&page=1]HIRING NEW PEEPS![/url] So, maybe you're qualified, or you know someone who is, or maybe you just want to know more.

Either way, you can go check out our current [url=http://www.bungie.net/Inside/Page.aspx?section=Jobs&subsection=Main&page=1]available positions[/url] and see what tickles your fancy.