A new campaign for Bungie's Xbox 360 shooter Halo 3 may be on the way this month, according to various pictures taken at PAX last weekend.

A member on the Ascendant Justice forums posted copies of pictures taken of a screen showing new Halo 3 Xbox 360 achievements. The originals, which resided in a web folder entitled "pax08," are now offline.

Cold Storage, a downloadable add-on map for Bungie's Halo 3

Of note are 6 new "Skull" achievements, referring to the hard-to-find Skull items scattered across the Halo series' single-player campaigns. Another achievement, entitled "Vidmaster Challenge: Annual," has the description "After 9/25/08, completed Halo on 4-player Legendary LIVE co-op, with Iron, and everyone in Ghosts," signaling a possible September 25 release date for the new content.... Read more

Despite Microsoft's past efforts to prevent Xbox Live account hijacking, the theft of Halo 3 multiplayer producer Joe Tung's account has pulled the issue back to the forefront.

The hijacking was not the result of sophisticated computer wizardry, but rather "social engineering," the act of creatively lying to customer service representatives to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information. Xbox Live stores credit card information, and while hackers are unable to steal that information for their own use, they can make unauthorized purchases from a stolen account

Tung is far from alone, as account hijackings are not uncommon among players of Bungie's online behemoth Halo 3. He is not even the only Bungie employee to be a victim of such thieves. But his position makes his case the highest profile to date.

Microsoft claims it previously retrained customer service employees ... Read more

Bungie recently shot down its own rumors that bots--artificial intelligence opponents--would be added to its hit Xbox 360 shooter Halo 3.

The studio behind Halo had created the bot buzz in a video acceptance speech for an EDGE Magazine award.

In denying the rumors, community manager Luke Smith blasted select members of Bungie's famously devout community as "overly zealous, froth-filled fans bathed in excitement, undoubtedly quivering at things they are looking at with a far-too strong microscope."

"There will be no 'bots' added to the game," Smith concluded, adding, "Do consider this issue a closed one. Calm yourselves down, pump the brakes, and take a breath."

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.

"Even though in Halo 3 you finished the fight, that doesn't necessarily mean that the ride's over," noted Smith. "Wait a second, there is no way we're showing this yet."

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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 GamesIndustry.biz. "Halo has a lot to learn from."

Left, Bungie's Halo 3. Right, Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Though both shooters have many scripted moments, Isla lamented that Halo players often miss them or "don't experience it in quite the same way that we ... 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.

Taking place before the first Halo game, the Eric Nylund-written novel details Master Chief separation from the other Spartans and what led to the discovery of Halo.

According to LatinoReview, concept artist Kasra Farahani (The Wolf Man, Avatar, Spider-Man 3) has been commissioned to provide illustrations, including the one above, that will be used in an eventual pitch to win the approval of property holder Microsoft. "From what I'm told, the presentation is very cool," wrote reporter El Mayimbe.

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.

In addition to the free map, Bungie revealed that the price of the recently released Legendary Map Pack will be permanently lowered from 800 Microsoft Points ($10) to 600 Microsoft Points ($7.50) beginning that same day.

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.

Due out April 15, the downloadable Legendary Map Pack will sell for 800 Microsoft Points ($10). It features three new Halo 3 (X360) maps, two of which are reimagined versions of classic Halo and Halo 2 arenas. For more, scope out our preview.

Avalanche

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Registered users can use the HD Stream ... Read more

With the second Halo 3 (X360) multiplayer map pack due out April 15--better known in some circles as Tuesday--the Shack editors recently took the three new maps for a spin. Aaron Linde's got the word on the new arenas, along with exclusive screenshots and movies.

"Internally we were calling [Ghost Town] the Counter-Strike map for a long time, mostly because of the choke points and the sight lines," said Bungie multiplayer designer Lars Bakken. "It plays really differently from the other maps we've had." 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).

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).

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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.

Blackout will be accompanied by the previously revealed Avalanche and Ghost Town in the Halo 3 Legendary map pack, aimed for an April 15 release on the Xbox Live Marketplace. The pack will sell for 800 Microsoft Points ($10).

Bungie's previous Halo 3 DLC effort, the Heroic map pack, is available for download free of charge as of today on the Xbox Live Marketplace.

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.

"We're requiring these maps in the following playlists to give players more options with the map rotations and by including a high population playlist like Team Slayer, we hope that the maps will permeate through the Community, resulting in more games played on these maps in Matchmaking."

The upcoming Legendary Map Pack is still on target for an April 15 release. Much like the Heroic Map Pack, it will initially sell for 800 Microsoft Points ($10), though Bungie claims it is unaware if or when the Legendary pack may become free.

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.

Bungie had previously released several screenshots of another map in the pack, Ghost Town. The third map, code-named Moonlight Sonata, remains shrouded in mystery.

"Remember, we just make the maps, we don't get to price them," Bungie community manager Luke Smith wrote on the company's website.

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.

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.

The top ten software titles follow, listed in order of units sold:

1. Halo 3 (Bungie, Microsoft Game Studios, X360) - 4.82 million
2. Wii Play with Wii Remote (Nintendo, Wii) - 4.12 million
3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward, Activision, X360) - 3.04 million
4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Neversoft, Activision, PS2) - 2.72 million
5. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo EAD Tokyo, Nintendo, Wii) - 2.52 million
6. Pokemon Diamond Version (Game Freak, Nintendo, NDS) - 2.48 million
7. Madden NFL 08 (EA Sports, Electronic Arts, PS2) - 1.90 million
8. Guitar Hero II (Harmonix, Activision, PS2) - 1.89 million
9. Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft, X360) - 1.87 million
10. Mario Party 8 (Hudson Soft, Wii) - 1.82 million

Consoles hardware sales topped out at $5.12 billion, with Nintendo again leading the competition. The yearly numbers are as follows, with life-to-date totals... Read more

Microsoft plans to train fans of Bungie's Halo 3 (X360) and then pit them against one another in the game's first official tournament, with the sponsorship of the U.S. Army.

Starting on January 19, three training sessions will be held: Sniper School, Heavy Weapons, and Vehicles, with registration for Sniper School now open at the official site. Those who register their Xbox Live gamertags and then play an online Halo 3 match will also be entered into a sweepstakes to win a framed Master Chief print or 800 Microsoft Points.

Registration for the championship tournament itself will open in March, with the games to begin in April.

Xbox Live user and sales data recently unveiled on Major Nelson's blog shows Halo 3 (Xbox 360) at the top of the heap in terms of unique users through 2007, while TMNT 1989 Arcade (XBLA) won the #1 spot in sales of downloadable games on the platform.

Released in March, TMNT 1989 Arcade beat out Worms, Bomberman Live, Uno and other marquee releases for top sales on Xbox Live Arcade. Halo 3's lead in regards to unique users online was followed by Gears of War and Call of Duty 4 as second and third place, respectively.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the data also lists Halo 2 retaining its place as first on the list of the most-played original Xbox titles. A complete list of the top titles in all three categories follows. ... Read more

The Xbox 360 has sold in excess of 17.7 million units worldwide, Microsoft revealed today in a statement that included several other sales figures.

The company also announced that Bungie's Xbox 360 exclusive Halo 3 has sold over 8.1 million copies since September 25, 2007, with BioWare's fellow Xbox 360 exclusive Mass Effect moving more than 1.6 million units after its November 20 release.

The figures follow proclamations made by Microsoft VP of corporate marketing Jeff Bell last December, in which he claimed that Halo 3 had sold in excess of 5 million units and Mass Effect sales totaled over 1 million copies.

"When we look back at 2007, we'll say this was the best holiday lineup in video game history," Bell stated at the time.

Bungie's Halo 3 (X360) has sold more than 5 million copies since the game debuted in late September, Microsoft corporate VP of marketing Jeff Bell told GameDaily BIZ.

In its first month of availability, Halo 3 totaled over 3 million copies according to sales figures from September. Shortly after its release, developer Bungie broke away from owner Microsoft, though it will still develop exclusively for the Xbox 360. A new set of multiplayer maps for the game, said to be the first of many, was released this morning.

Bell also noted that BioWare's hotly anticipated sci-fi RPG Mass Effect (X360), which Microsoft published, sold over 1 million copies within its first three weeks on the market.

"When we look back at 2007, we'll say this was the best holiday lineup in video game history," claimed Bell.