This week, we give an ominous, serious hint about the use of hacked maps, weapon hacks, mods and so on. We talk about the usual community stuff and address pressing issues, new and old.

Untold thousands ask,

I've played games on Containment where players could almost fly, where Warthogs could zoom around like Banshees, and people could get one shot kills with Battle Rifle. Is Bungie aware of this, is it doing anything about it?

We're only going to say this once, so listen carefully, and if you're using hacks, or know anyone who's using them, pay close attention. Every time you show up on Live with a hacked map, hacked save or other exploit, we not only know about it, it lights up our system like a pinball machine. We were almost tempted to print gamertags as examples. Right now, we are taking very, very serious measures to end it. They will be severe measures, and they will be global. That's all we're going to say about it. So now's the time to stop doing it. We are not kidding, and we are not bluffing. The reason the new measures have not been implemented so far is the same reason as ever - testing. This was your last and only warning.

Low on Creativity asks ,

For the first several months of playing Halo 2, I never had this problem. Then one night, I got in a Warthog and it went probably 1/4 speed and its been doing it ever since. It doesn't matter what map or gametype or anything. Sometimes I can get it to go full speed, but probably 90% of the time it goes 1/4 speed and its beyond the point of really pissing me off. Ever encountered this bug before? Any idea how to fix it?

Thanks.

I haven't heard about that one and to be honest, it sounds like a problem with your controller, although that would cause your Chief to walk forward slowly too and it seems like you'd have mentioned that. Try swapping in another controller when it happens next, and also make sure nothing is touching the analog stick when you turn on your Xbox. When you power up the console it does a basic stick calibration. An uncentered stick can cause undesirable effects. And by undesirable, I mean ass.

Purassic Jark asks,

I'm not sure if this is the correct way to ask questions, but I think it will probably get the job done.

I really enjoyed the Official Guide to Halo 2 because it had nice diagrams of the maps that I could study. I was wondering if you guys planned on making a v.2 or something that would have diagrams of the new maps or not - that is if Bungie even makes the guides.

Thanks for your time.

The guides were actually made by a company called Piggyback, who we picked as a partner on the strength of their awesome guides for other games. They make such lovely books. Interestingly, the editors are German, and just to bust any cultural stereotypes, they were all coolly efficient David Hasselhoff fans and they ate sausage all the time. I was expecting them to be comedic vegetarians like you read about. Carsten and his crew hung out here during the final days of halo 2, making sure things like weapon placement were exactly correct. Naturally we waited until four seconds after they left and shifted everything around again. We'd LOVE to work with those guys again some day, maybe Naughty-cal Mapz for Pimps at Sea, but as of now there are no specific plans for an official guide to the new maps.

Akemos asks,

I have really enjoyed all the game type updates to matchmaking, but I'm absolutely fed up that you have acknowledged that the Banshee needs to be removed from Team Rifles on Ascension, yet you have not done so. Playing the gametype on that map is about as fun as putting my face into a blender. When will you fix it?!?

There are two possible reasons - either it takes time to test, assemble and implement these changes, or we're jerks who hate fun. You decide. The reason we don't give dates, or even ballparks, is that they change all the time. So it's better to promise little and deliver more.

Bufu026 asks ,

hey... i always thought of the idea that being able to reset our stats for any playlist we choose would be an ideal feature for halo 2 on xbox live. do you or anybody else at bungie think that they would consider putting in a feature where you could reset your stats for any playlist you choose? by doing this people could remove their bad stats from playing with bad people or just having a really terrible record. it would be similar to leaving a clan and then starting a new one over. please give thought to this idea. many people would be satisfy ed in that they could clear unwanted stats.   

No, because if you were say, a level 25 in Rumble Pit and you could reset yourself to 1, that would suck for all the real level 1 players who then had to play you.

Tervis927 asks,

why is it that a tie counts as a loss on your stats but you gain experience towards gaining new levels.

P. S. isn't Zanzibar in south africa?  

Because that's the way the stats work out best (when they're not being abused). Also, Zanzibar is in East Africa, basking in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean and is actually a lovely place to visit, when it's not swarming with Covenant Troops. Which won't be for another five hundred years, so it's cool.

The Statesman asks,

How can a guy with the user name "CENSORED " climb to #3 on a leaderboard and not get noticed as having an offensive name? Don't you guys have some sort of list of key letter groupings that flags a user automatically .

Yes, some letter groupings are automatically detected. the one you pointed out had a novel use of three "s" characters. But he's being forced to change his gamertag. We've even had one or two inadvertently offensive gamertags happen, that their creators didn't notice made some odd combination of words.
 

Sk8Spartan171 asks ,

When I go to matchmaking people always complain and say "dude your an elite, what an idiot"etc. Is there really that big of a difference between an elite and a spartan. the rumor is it is easier to kill an elite but when i was a spartan i died as much as i do now.

There are a lot of psychological differences, and some tricky players in custom games have found color combos for armor that can initially confuse rival teams, but in terms of overall balance, they are identical. Same speed, jump, all that. I find it harder to hit head shots against Elites, but that's partly in my imagination. the fact that they look alien makes them automatically jarring as far as your psyche is concerned - whether that has any effect in gameplay, we'll leave to psychologists and anthropologists.

Colostomy Frag asks,

What does "Noob" mean? I hear it all the time when i'm playing on Live. Sometimes directed at me and sometimes at others. I get that it's an insult, but what does it literally mean?

It's short for "Newbie" meaning, "New Player." It is used exclusively by players who've apparently forgotten that without exception, they were recently "noobs" too. Anyway, it's a general insult and it's often applied in the following context - "Noob-Combo." Referring to Plasma Pistol and Battle Rifle combo, which is far from a Noob combo. In fact a real noob combo would be one Needler and a handkerchief.

Omaega asks,

Will i be able to do a system link on HALO 2 using 1 xbox and 1 xbox 360, this would mean buying another copy of halo 2 but i don't mind because it would make ultra sized LAN parties a lot easier.

Will the next 5 maps be released in the UK on 5th July or do we have to wait longer?

I honestly have no idea. I would think, and I'm only guessing, that Ethernet System Link would work between 360 consoles, since the 360 has an Ethernet port and the emulation will work with all aspects of the game. But would a 360 System Link to an Xbox 1? I don't know. The System Linking happens in the game software, not the dashboard, so given that both games (on the 360 and on the Xbox) are the same code - it seems plausible at least. We'll tell you more when we find out more. The maps should be available in the UK on the same day as the rest of the world. And available for download and retail (all 9 maps plus the feature documentary and the short animation) on the same day.

KoolDudeHez asks,

a few of my m8s and myself have been arguing about the autoaim in Halo2, we do know that the autoaim in Halo:CE was minimal and for Halo2 the autoaim was strengthened, but why?

the main arguments seem to be that it was to make the game easier but I think it is also to do with latency issues over xbox Live. stronger autoaim needed to be included to make sure with people with varying latency were on a level playing field. Am I right? ?

Autoaim actually varies between weapons, and even weapon combos and while lag and connectivity were all taken into account, the main concern was enjoyable control and balance between each weapon.

JellyBelly asks,

Is there going to be a Weekly Update next week?

Possibly not. I am going on a mental world tour, hitting Copenhagen, Edinburgh and the quaint Italian town of Positano next week. If I find an internet cafe with no Spumoni on it, then I will try to post somethin' but I can't promise. If you are Danish, Scottish or Italian, then keep your eyes peeled for a hot bald dude at the airport. It's either me, or Mr. Clean.

Mista Hankey asks,

Do you think they will ever be a Halo movie? If a direct er came to you and asked you if he could use the Halo name in a movie, would you take the offer or would reject it?

I am baffled that you were able to send this mail from your underground bunker, but yes, it does indeed look like there will be a Halo movie. Lots of action last week in Hollywood hints strongly at the possibility. So look out for more news on that next week. No word yet on the director though.

Shoutouts to The Don Wan The Drastik Clan and The Don Wan's BF. Woop-woop on the Whistle Tip-tip. And finally, Paul E Walnuts asked what Mister Chief would look like if I drew him with my eyes closed: