Bungie have recently released the Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack. This is a set of multiplayer maps for Halo 2 that are also available as premium downloads via XBox Live, but packaged up on an XBox disk along with some bonus material, some of which you cannot get anywhere else. While the maps will all be available for free download from XBox Live by the end of August, this disk is a cheaper way to get the maps if you have more than one XBox, or the only way to get them if you don’t have a XBox Live subscription.

The pack includes nine new maps – Warlock, Containment, Turf, Sanctuary, Elongation, Backwash, Relic, Terminal and Gemini. Warlock and Elongation are essentially remakes of Halo 1 maps Wizard and Longest, but the others are all new, and set in various locations from the Halo 2 campaign. There are various walkthroughs of the new maps available on-line, but I haven’t had time to check them out yet. Red vs. Blue have some good ones apparently. However, you do get a look at all the new levels through a bonus movie on the disk. In this, various Bungie team members talk about the levels that they worked on, and there are some fly-throughs of the levels. You also get an overview of each level in the manual that comes with the disk.

I didn’t get to play more than a couple of games on the new maps, and can only give my impressions of Warlock, Backwash and Relic. I liked Backwash, it was small enough that you could find the action quite quickly, while at the same time the low visibility meant that you could get close to the other players without them seeing you – if you were careful.

Warlock is fun, and I’ve played several games here – including one game of Oddball which was a blast! The dark areas around the edges of the central arena make it very hard to see anyone, and the bodies often pile up quickly there. As with all the maps, knowing where the weapons and power-ups are helps tremendously

Relic is big, and we ended up with only four players staying on the game. This led to a bit of wandering around, looking for opponents. I did get to play matador to someone trying to run me over with the warthog, and I was quite pleased with myself at my attempts to evade them. However, in my panic I forgot which button you use to board, so I missed the chance to try that feature in anger. Eventually my opponent gave up and drove off to find someone easier to squash!

I’m looking forward to trying out the other maps, and playing more Halo 2 on Live. I’m especially looking forward to checking out Terminal, where a train speeds through the middle of the map from time to time.

Apart from the maps, the MMP disk includes the autoupdate that changed the Halo 2 game engine to fix some of the balance issues, such as underpowered grenades. Most people with XBox Live will already have this. You can tell by looking at the bottom right of the main menu screen. If there’s a “1.1″ there, then you have the update. However, users without XBox Live won’t have received this, so it’s a welcome inclusion.

The other bonus content on the disk includes the behind the scenes video I mentioned earlier, and a new cutscene created exclusively for the MMP. This features the ODSTs on the third Pelican that headed down into New Mombassa, and what happened to it after the Scarab opened fire when approaching the city. This is a great little piece of backstory, and is very well executed – though I did feel that some of the movements were a little slow at times. Bungie are not releasing this video online (at the moment), so the only way you’ll see this (legitimately) is if you buy the disk.

There are two other videos – the 5.1 audio test video featuring a Grunt and a Hunter that also was included on the limited edition version of the Halo 2 disk, and the original E3 2000 demo of Halo. I had never seen the latter, and it’s amazing to see where things came from. It’s essentially a (very long) cutscene. There’s some features that remained essentially unchanged – the design of the Pelican and the Energy Sword for example. However, other stuff never made it to the final version, such as the dinosaurs and the gold Elite’s shield. A nice piece of history to have.

Overall, I think Bungie have done a great job in putting this together. With the release of the MMP, there are now 21 multiplayer maps for Halo 2. From Major Nelson’s interview with Sketch on his most recent blogcast, it would appear that this is the end of the road for new content for Halo 2. The playlists will continue to be tweaked, but no more maps will appear. Also, a comment on the behind the scenes video states that these maps will help “wet the whistle for what’s to come”, a clear indication that Halo 3 is going to be developed – as if there was any doubt about that

Louis Wu has finished putting up all the Halo cutscenes into their Halo Cutscene Library. If you get all the hi-res QuickTime versions, you’re looking at 37 files totalling 387 MB!

I’m planning at some stage in the medium future to revamp my Halo Screensaver so that it can use playlists of files, so that you can watch all the cutscenes one after another, or maybe a whole season of Red vs. Blue

The ongoing rumours of a Halo movie have been vindicated with the news that Microsoft have distributed a script for a Halo movie to several Hollywood studios. The scripts were delivered by couriers rigged out in full Master Chief armour, no doubt provided by Nightmare Armour. The script has been penned by Alex Garland who was the script writer for 28 Days Later. He allegedly was paid $1 million for writing the script. According to Frankie in this week’s Weekly What’s Update Alex is a Halo fan. Commenting on the early draft of the script that Frankie saw, he says that “it rules”.

According to HBO, The New York Times has an article that gives more information, including Microsoft’s demands:

Aside from the $10 million upfront fee, Microsoft was asking for 15 percent of the studio’s first-dollar box- office gross receipts. The budget could be no less than $75 million, not including the fees for the actors and director. If the studio did not make the movie, it would forfeit the $10 million fee.

Microsoft also wanted creative control, with the script and characters unchanged. The studio would have to pay to fly a Microsoft representative to watch all cuts of the movie, and the studio would forgo merchandising rights.

According to the article, Microsoft has not got things its own way, and has tentatively reached agreement with Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox. Apparently the details of the agreement are:

Microsoft would be paid no more than $5 million for Halo, half the original asking price. That amount was part of a deal to give Microsoft 10 percent of the first-dollar box-office gross receipts, less than before but still considerable given Microsoft’s lack of a track record. Universal, in turn, would oversee production and get domestic distribution rights, while Fox would get the foreign rights and have a say in production.

The main sticking point seems to be the creative control that Microsoft wishes to retain.

Personally, I’d really look forward to a Halo movie – but I’d rather not have any Halo movie than have one that messes with the story or doesn’t abide by the Halo Story Bible. Whether it’s live action of CGI doesn’t bother me, but live-action would be great if they could pull it off. I’m not sure who I’d like playing the Master Chief – perhaps Steve Downes who does the voice of the MC in the games. However, I think Scarlett Johansson would make an excellent Cortana

Jillybean has posted a small update to the Halo Story Page. I don’t particularly agree with the theory presented, i.e. that the Halos work by teleporting the Flood to nearby planets and (somehow) forcing them to consume all sentient life so quickly that the Flood overpopulate and cannot survive.

The main flaw in this theory is that it assumes that the Flood cannot spread further from the target planets, i.e. that there is no FTL technology there. If there is, then the Halos have helped the Flood spread – potentially beyond the range of any Halo. This would appear to be counter to their purpose of preventing the Flood from spreading.

The second flaw is that the Flood have not died off in the time it has taken for the Covenant and Humans to develop sentience. They have remained in stasis for over 100,000 (local) years on the first Halo. Perhaps this was something that the Forerunner could not predict. Regardless of how the Halos actually work, this basic fact – that the Flood have not died out in the millennia since the Halos were fired – is a significant flaw in the Forerunner’s strategy to stop the Flood.

Perhaps the fact that the Flood are confined to the Halos is the best that they could achieve, and the Galaxy has been given an opportunity to regenerate itself – much like a forest fire helps the new saplings germinate and grow. 343 Guilty Spark’s comments at the end of Halo 2 would seem to indicate that the Forerunners had run out of options, so maybe they reckoned that the best that they could do is minimise the threat of the Flood as much as possible, with the hope that the Galaxy would come up with new sentient beings that might find a way to truly neutralise the Flood. And if they too failed, then the Halos still remain to do their job, like a galactic reset button.

Except that we broke one….

HBO have added the Silent Cartographer cutscenese to their Halo Cutscenes Library. Personally, I’m having trouble downloading a couple of the hi-res QuickTime versions, but I’m sure Louis will have this sorted out soon

Update: Sure enough, Louis has fixed the problem. You can now download all the cutscenes, plus there’s a new mirror site too!

Red Vs Blue have updated their website to a new look and feel, and apparently there’s some new functionality in there too. They are progressing well with production of the DVD for Season 3, which should have lots of extra features in it.

Bungie reports that Volume 2 of the Halo 2 Soundtrack has been mastered, so it should be available to purchase soon. They also have their E3 report up, and the lowdown on the latest Halo Humpday Challenge.

HBO have announced that they have opened their new Halo Cutscene Library. It only has the opening Pillar of Autumn cutscene so far, but hopefully it won’t be long before the full set of cutscenes are available for download.

The Halo Story Page has been updated by Jillybean. Mostly speculation regarding Forerunners/The Ark/Humans.

HBO reports that Robbie Bach, Chief XBox Officer, has contradicted Bill Gates’ claim that the Playstation 3 will run into Halo 3 when the PS3 is launched next year. I liked this quote in particular from Robbie:

With all respect to Bill, I don’t run Bungie’s studio, and neither does he.

Red vs Blue bring Season 3 to an end with Episode 57. Finally they use a feature from Halo 2 multi-player that I have been waiting for them to take advantage of. For you non-sponsors, hang in there, it’s worth the wait

I miss the fact that sponsoring doesn’t entitle you to a free DVD this season. Mind you, for the small fee they charge, it’s probably a bit much to ask for hi-res videos, early access to them, and a free DVD in a proper case with box art – with easter eggs included – to be shipped to Ireland! I suppose I’ll just have to order it via the store just like everyone else to ensure my collection is complete