Fly to space in a banshee!

You may have read some of Bungie's weekly updates about the number of things going on behind the scenes in Halo 3. Specifically, the sky you see in Halo 3 is much more complex than you might believe. The game engine simulates the pollution and other particles in the atmosphere that cause the sky to appear blue, when in actuality the sky is not blue at all. Granted, you won't ever notice this effect as you're playing a game of Slayer, but it is there. As proof of this, we present to you this video of a Banshee flying far into the sky of Valhalla. The Banshee flies so high that it actually pierces the cloud cover and reaches an altitude at which the sky is no longer blue and stars are visible. Honestly, it's pretty serene up there. Just a little food for thought the next time you waste some fool with the Spartan Laser.

Evidence of new aircraft in Halo 3!

You may recall the fuss created by a group of modders last week, in which several things were discovered inside the Halo 3 beta code. There were mentions of new medals, weapons, and vehicles. In particular, the code snippets lead many to believe there would be new aircraft, specifically the Chopper, Pelican, and Phantom. Well, kiddies, throw another log on the rumor fire, as a new medal has been uncovered. This medal is awarded to those who "board an aircraft." We have to note, as did our tipster, that the medal says "aircraft" and not "Banshee." Is this proof that their are more controllable aircraft in Halo 3? Hell no, but it's starting to look that way.Hit the "read" link to see a game of the Halo 3 beta with the mysterious medal.

Halo 3 four player co-op confirmed?

It looks like the beta code has revealed more info about how we'll be playing the campaign. Over at the 7th Columnist they dug up some error text in the Halo 3 beta code that could confirm four player co-op, which states "The party size is too large to start the game. Up to 4 players may play coop on Xbox Live or System Link". Does this confirm four player co-op in campaign? Well, not just yet ... but we'll be an optimistic bunch and cross our fingers and toes. Anyone thinking four player co-op over Xbox Live would be the greatest thing since, say, sliced bread?

Get into custom game menus in H3 beta!!

The fellas over at Hushed Casket are reporting that while playing the Halo 3 beta some players have experienced a network error, causing a weird bug to occur, which ultimately displays a hidden custom game settings menu. The custom games menu is chalk full of options, including the ability to change players' speed, ammunition count, recharge rate, motion tracker range, and even gravity settings. Don't believe us? Take a look at all the screenshots that Hushed Casket has unearthed and a full list of custom gametype options after the break. But don't get too excited, because the Halo 3 beta custom gametypes menu is only for looks and does not allow you to make a game with the options. Which is too bad, because we so wanted to play a few rounds of Tankball.

Modders accidentally leak Halo 3 information!

A Halo modding community has accidentally made various hidden game files public, found by retrieving hidden data in the Halo 3 Beta code. They reveal new weapons, vehicles and equipment and also suggest new modes and rankings for the full single and multiplayer game.Before we go any further, a warning: the following are in no way official or confirmed features of Halo 3, but they do appear in the Halo 3 Beta code in some form too complicated for us to comprehend or explain. I'm just the messenger.

New equipment:Instacover, Smoke (suggested this might be a smoke grenade?), Jammer
New vehicles: Chopper, Pelican, Shadow
New weapons: Flamethrower, Claymore Grenade
New mode:Infection (described as "Destroy the Flood or become infected. Score points for killing flood or big points for infecting a human. The player with the most points wins."
New rankings:The highest rankings are now Killpocalypse and Killionaire, instead of Double Kill and Triple Kill.
A reference to a map editor has also been found, a returning feature from Halo 2!Its about damn time but, it may be refrence to in house map builder for bungie.

The information has since been removed from the bungie forum in question.