Short on words...

...but not on content.  GrifballHub.com doesn't have any fancy tips or tricks for you when it comes to using Forge.  That's okay, you've got it down pat by now, right?  Besides, you're popping in to check out their week 2 Bungie Favorites offerings.  Which I deployed.  Just now.  Check 'em out.

Bungie Favorites

Now with more ninja!

Today's Average Joe took up the Bungie.net Banhammer not too long ago, but we already had his Average Joe interview in the can.  Instead of asking him what the early going has been like and redrafting all of the words below into a Know Your Ninja offering, we figured we'd just slap this out their and let you get familiar sooner rather than later.  It's always better to know the guy who's crushing your soul with one swing of the hammer.  Makes it sting a little bit less.  Read on to get acquainted.

Q. Who are you and what do you do?

A. My name is Mitch and I’m currently a sophomore in college going for my undergrad degree in economics. When college isn’t taking up all my time, I can be seen playing bass, video games, or just lounging around on campus with my friends. Oh and I tend to head to this website called “b.net.” You might have heard of it.

Q. Hell yeah, I have.  I hear it's awesome too.  Speaking of awesome, where'd you get your username?

A. My tag, “x Lord Revan x” originates from Bioware’s KOTOR which came out all the way back in 2003. I happened to make my account in 2005 shortly after the sequel shipped from Obsidian. I just loved the character’s name and decided it had to be my tag. “Lord Revan” was already taken so I added the X’s. I kinda regret that seeing as how prevalent they have become on Xbox LIVE but I wouldn’t change my tag for anything. It’s who I’ve been for four years.

Q. The x's just mean that you're pro.  When you're not practicing your four-shot, what forums do you fire into to get up to speed?

A. Well, when I first came to the site I was interested in monitoring the leaderboards (back in the beginning days of Halo 2), my stats, and seeing the updates to matchmaking. I eventually found myself checking out theories and the Flood.

Now however, I mainly stick to private groups. Shortly after joining I created the group KOTOR with four other awesome members and we still have it kicking. It might be considered 14 years underage but I can’t believe how old that group is. It reminds me of just how long I’ve been on bnet.

I also want to mention how much I love the community forum and the level of interactivity between members it brings. You guys/gals all kick ass.

Q. What compels you to kick ass in games?

A. Truthfully, I think the sole reason I am a gamer would be due to my friends. In high school it was a pretty popular thing for my friends and I to have Halo LAN matches fairly often. Once Halo 2 shipped we all made the jump to playing on Xbox LIVE. I probably spent more time on that than I did studying (not that I advocate that). Now that I’m in college I game to keep in touch with friends at other schools. It’s actually pretty rare when a console isn’t on in my suite. It seems like we all use it as a procrastination tool.

I also love meeting up with some of the guys I have met through bnet. Between private groups and the community forum, I’ve gotten to have a pretty stacked friends list full of Bungie.net members. Its great meeting up with them on LIVE and getting some games going.

Q. What was the first Bungie title you got some games going in?

A. Like everyone else, or so it seems, Halo CE was the first Bungie title I was introduced to. I honestly wish I had known about Marathon back in my youth. Thankfully I’ve made up for it and played through the original Marathon. I gotta start the sequels one of these days…

Although Halo CE might have been my first, it certainly hasn’t been my last Bungie title. Halo CE just sucked me in. I’ve always loved FPS games but I was really attracted by Halo’s story and characters. I must have played through the campaign at least 100 times and no, I am not exaggerating. As I mentioned, LAN matches were also quite frequent in my high school years. Hell, they still are. Recently my suitemates and I, along with our neighbors, got a Halo CE CTF match going on Sidewinder. It brought back some awesome memories.

Q. Looking back on those memories, are you surprised at all that you've become so involved?

A. Honestly, I am a bit surprised by my community involvement. I originally made my account on Bungie.net in order to check out my stats and now I love checking out the community forum and furthering the plan for domination. Privates groups are also amazingly entertaining and have provided me with a ton of memories.

Oh, and the weekly updates are also a big influence on why I venture onto Bungie. Urk, you best keep droppin’ blogs.

Q. I will.  I have to.  Otherwise they'll fire me.  What about you - ever fire off into any other online communities besides Bungie.net?

A. Eh, not really. I really only interact with Bungie. Halo has brought me together with a bunch of my friends and the site itself has rendered me a Live player with a stacked friends list.

Q. Wanna make some shout-outs?

A. I really want to express my love of Marty and Salvatori’s music. You guys are amazing and I envy your musical talents. Having been a musician for years, I really appreciate all the work and effort you put into each and every piece. ODST’s OST was a masterpiece. I must obtain it ASAP.

As far as shout-outs go, I really want to say that Noge, Muno, Stupidi T and Imfrikinbad are kick ass. Without you guys I probably wouldn’t be on the site as often as I am. Also, Hammy, ASS, Molo, Moose, and Dark, you guys have also kept me on the site and contributed to why I am on live so often (even if you do blame me for everything) and for that you all rock. Now, I can’t mention everyone, but to those who I’ve omitted, you guys are awesome too. You jerks know who you are.

I also want to say thanks, to Bungie, for all of the great work you guys have done over the years. Bungie is a big part of my life and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

---

We wouldn't either.  Now get ta werk.  Something tells me there's some folks online right now in desperate need of a banning.  :)

If you want to talk back to x Lord Revan x, or congratulate him on his new gig, jump into the discussion thread attached.

Playing with passion (and a healthy dose of addiction).

We're heading offsite again this week to get you familiar with the Hammer and Oddball wielding maniacs over at GrifballHub.com.  As you might have guessed, these players love them some Grifball. It's right there in the name. Want to know more? Launch into the brief interview below.

"GrifballHub.com was born from the ideas of a few of the current members of the site's staff, including myself. We wanted to create a resource not only for long-standing members of the community, but also for new players looking to learn more about the game of Grifball.

While Grifball.com plays the most important role, serving as the place where teams register to participate in the league and providing a lot of great information regarding team stats, scheduling and game results, what it lacks is a more personal touch. You don't really learn about the players and teams participating in the league. We felt like we had the ability to fill that void with GrifballHub and have done so.

Over the past several months, the Hub has continued to grow and evolve into what it is now - a resource for league news, information on the game of Grifball and how to play, while still also featuring teams and players with both interviews and podcasts which we've affectionately named the HubCast. Perhaps one of our biggest successes has been the Pup and Friends highlight reel, which is released each month following the Grifball Double EXP weekends.

In the month of September, members of the GrifballHub staff made the trek to the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle and participated in the first ever Grifball panel, which along with prominent members of the Grifball community also featured an appearance by none other than Red vs Blue's BurnieBurns. We're hopeful that our appearance at PAX went a long way in continuing to build upon not only what we've personally done with GrifballHub, but to also help spread the word about one of the most infectious and enjoyable game variants in Halo 3!"

What are some of GrifballHub.com's favorite maps?

Guardian and The Pit are two I'm most fond of when not playing Grifball on the Foundry and new Sandbox maps created by Nokyard.

Should I even ask about favorite gametypes?

Well obviously Grifball is the most favorite of those involved with GrifballHub. It's a passion (or perhaps addiction) we all share. When not playing Grifball though, I personally really enjoy SWAT. I fell in love with it in Halo 2, which by the way was my first experience with a first person shooter.

Since the inclusion of Action Sack in matchmaking, I've also become quite fond of two flag shotty. My weakness though is that I tend to forget there's a flag to capture.

What would you like to see injected into Halo 3's matchmaking hoppers?

I would love to see a Social SWAT playlist. While it's fine as ranked, I miss being able to just play it for fun, not worrying so much about dropping in rank.

---

Well, looks like week one with GrifballHub.com has come to a close.  No worries though, we've got a bunch of their content packed into our Bungie Favorites so you can continue getting familiarized. (You should expect Grifball related content.) And of course, if you want to get some more information or just sound off about what you've read, you'll find a handy dandy discussion thread attached so you can do just that.

A sucker for questions.

This week's Average Joe rocks out with his ass out and thinks it's totally alright to teabag other players.  Oh, to be in High School again.  If you want to relive your golden years, or you just want to get to know DTA MoonDawg a little bit better, we cornered him after gym class and forced him to say some nice things about us.  Looks like he didn't get the memo about our moms, though.

Q. Who are you and what do you do?

A. My name is DTA MoonDawg, but others simply call me Moon. If you’re a random player in matchmaking, you’ll know me as “that guy who just teabagged you.” I’m a junior in high school mainly trying to study web design this year. When I have some free time, I either hang with the girlfriend or spend my time Haloing it up with some Xbox LIVE buddies!

Q. Cool. Where'd you get the tag, Moon?

A. Halfway through Halo 3’s lifetime, I was known as MoonDawg92. I then joined my friend’s gaming clan called DTA. That clan died a long time ago, but I liked the name, so I kept it! As for the MoonDawg part… that is a little more personal. I am blessed with the last name of Moon. Yes, I was born of the moon, and yes, I mooned your mom last night. Tell her I said sup. Anyway, MoonDawg was always a little nickname in school, so I put it in my Xbox LIVE tag!

Q. My mom is a classy lady. Don't be coming up in here impugning her reputation and whatnot. Keep your ass in your pants, please, and just tell us where you hang out when you drop by.

A. I mainly haunt the Septagon when I have some free time. However, I try to post in a majority of forums. Except the Flood. Too crazy for my tastes. My favorite area of discussion is definitely Halo’s storyline. I’m a sucker when people start asking questions about the plot. :)

Q. So is that why you game...for the story? Ever jump in for the straight up social aspects with friends and family?

A. When I first got Halo 3, I was mainly just playing with a few friends from school. Eventually, I got involved with a site called Facility B5D and met loads of new people! As for the game itself, I mainly hop online because I love everything about Halo. The gameplay, story, music, graphics, maps, the list goes on and on. It’s very relaxing shooting super soldiers. Who knew?

Q. What was the first Bungie title you spent some quality R&R time with?

A. Oh wow…I’d have to say it all started in early 2001. My friend called me up one day and told me to come over. When I got there, he told me about a demo of some new game coming out called Halo. I decided to give it a shot, so we fired it up. We played The Silent Cartographer a good 20 times that month. I was so addicted to it, I couldn’t wait until November! From that point on, I was a Halo fanatic. Hell, I still am today!

Q. Does that ever surprise you?

A. Not really, I love it here! I came to Bnet in early 2004 before Halo 2’s release to look at a few Halo 2 screenshots. Eventually, I made an account, and later that year…got locked out of the account. Dunno why. A few accounts later, here I am! This is my only active account now.

Q. Are you active in any other online communities?

A. My main online community is Facility B5D. I recently became admin there, and we just did a big visual overhaul. It’s great there! I also spend some time at BWO from time to time. But I feel Bnet is my true home.

Q. Anything you wanna add before you bounce?

A. I want to give a big shout out to all of the great members at B5D. I also want to acknowledge some of my best buddies throughout my Halo career, Hawkeye543, Legendary Blue, teck, Kritical, Anelf3, PunkPirateAFO, Mister Magoo, vanert, tye, mrjoshsays, Halcylon, cortanaV, Qbix, XEROPAIN, Psycho Vandal, SickNdehed, Ryan from R7, and many others. I would go on, but my wall o' text would be even…textier.

---

That would be just fine by me, Moon. Everybody knows that the amount of text is proportionally related to the amount of awesome.  That's why I insist on getting paid by word count. Speaking of words, if you're looking to sound off on this brief interview, lend your own to the discussion thread attached.

No time for a pit stop.

Death by Mongoose is revved and ready for lap two of their Community Spotlight.  This week, they've sent rough rider Rogue Shaddo into the fray to talk about Forge.  If you're looking for tips and tricks to build a better racetrack, he's got a handful.

What inspires your racetrack creations?

All the great racetrack makers out there inspired me. I first discovered racing over a year ago and I’ve loved it ever since. I wanted to make a track, but I had trouble convincing myself to get started. With the arrival of Sandbox, and the constant pestering from Toxic Spade, I decided to finally start my first track and things just took off from there.

How long did it take you to create ?

It takes me an average of about 35 hours to make a track.

35 hours!  What aspect is sucking up all that time?

With any track it’s definitely the ending. It's hard to bring the track around so that you can smoothly make the transition to the start of another lap.

How could we make Forge a bit better?

If I could pick one thing? Make it so you can geo-merge/interlock without having to glitch the pieces to do so. That would make things a lot easier and a whole lot faster.

---

Ah, speed.  On that note, we're putting pedal to the medal and burning out.  Before you find yourself awash in the smell of burnt rubber, take some time to check out Death by Mongoose's week 2 offerings.  We've got 'em ready to go in Bungie Favorites.

Going on philosophical on dat ass.

Today's Average Joe is an artist with an unhealthy addiction to Star Wars.  It's gotten so bad, he even enjoys the new stuff.  Bet he's even a fan of the Christmas special.  While you shudder in terror at the thought of anyone enduring such terror, take a minute to read through his interview below.  It's way better than the EU.  I promise.

Q. Who are you and what do you do?

A. The details of my life are quite inconsequential.

My name is John and I’m a freelance graphic artist as well as lead graphic designer for a start up company. Along with the mouse and keyboard job, I am a full time student at DeVry University – currently enrolled in their GSP (Game and Simulations Programming) course. At 27, I feel I’m the old guy in class, but its nice to actually have goals. I sit in class sometimes and marvel at how little some students’ care about what they are doing. I’m glad I have this opportunity to be a student at this age. I’ve been an artist for all of my life but only had a real opportunity to extend my pencil and paper art to digital art recently. I’ve actually only been using Photoshop and other digital media for about three years, starting with the basics and learning to do more intricate imagery and designs. I was kind of forced into the position when a friend of mine told me to make a logo for our little internet radio show or I’m out of here. I really didn’t know what I was doing, but the results were good so I kept at it.

After a year or two with some basics underway, I started my own sole proprietorship and began doing print ads for Chicago magazines and companies, as well as some web pieces. Recently, well for over two years now actually, I’ve been working with bs angel of HawtyMcBloggy.com and Halo3Screenshots.com. She’s been an amazing supporter of some of my work, getting the first approvals of a lot of my pieces to make sure I didn’t over do anything. I’ve had my hand in her…ahem…site as well, helping with some of her graphics and contests.

I’m also the biggest Star Wars fan you’ll ever talk to. Most people are actually shocked to see me spewing out intelligent information in relation to Star Wars. I even have the tattoo to prove it. And to answer the question right off the bat: Yes, I actually do like the -blam!- that is the new trilogy, but only after I watched all six in one sitting. They are actually stomach-able then.

In short, my hobbies are my job and “If you can make a living doing what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.”

Q. So you're a nerd.  Got it.  What about the name?  As nerdy as nerdy Star Wars stuff?

A. Oye. It’s easier to say that my name is a combination of “Hal” from 2001: A Space Odyssey and a “cylon” from Battlestar Galactica. But it's not. Actually I was virtually unaware of those two movies when I chose this name. It’s actually a misspelling of a Star Wars character I read about in the novel I, Jedi. His name was Hal Halcyon. I could have just said that I wanted to put my own spin on the word “halcyon” - (pronounced /ˈhælsiən/), a term that originates from the Greek myth of Alcyone, is used most often to mean golden or marked by peace and prosperity - but that would have been down right nutty.

So sadly, by the time I realized that I had totally botched the name back in my early online days it was too late. I chose it for Xbox LIVE and never looked back…save for last year when I tried to get “halcyon” only to realize it was already taken.

So yeah, to answer your question, I’m just an idiot sometimes.

Q. Yeah, some jerk is squatting my first choice, too.  When you squat down online, where do you park your pickle jar?

A. Since the revamp of the revamp of the revamp (did I get that right?) I’ve been frequenting the Halo Universe Forum, ODST Forum, and Bungie Community Forum. I stay away from places that make me mad to be online and shake my fist at the screen in boiling rage, but I have found a nice home in the other threads. I was recently holed up solely in the Halo Universe thread specifically because of the work I was doing trying to create an actual interactive “Halo Galactic Map” based off of one of my art pieces. This was a huge undertaking that wound up being more work than fun towards the end. “Too many cooks…” and “we don’t even know where everything is” were some of reason it since has lost its steam. But to SonicJohn’s credit, it looks phenomenal as an alpha stage model. He did a really great job with what I had asked him to do. I think with some input and more work it can really fly. I truly would love nothing more than to finish it.

I’m more into the community as a social place. I tend to leave Halo on the console and avoid conversations that start with “well my BR is bigger than yours….” It's not that I don’t mind discussing the games, I just feel that it’s gets redundant in some areas and that you just wind up screaming at each other because of this, that, or the other. The Bungie Community Forum tends to be the place to find a lot of creativity and new ideas. I love what the scripting guys are doing with Coup d’Bungie only because of how much dedication and time these guys put in. You have to keep your head above some of the stuff that’s out there to really see the threads, post, people, and communities that rise to the top. These parts of the site are what really drive the engine here and aid in making new features and advancements.

Q. So what drives you to play video games when you could be watching the horror that is the Star Wars prequels again?

A. Uh, the fact that you, Bungie, have released crack in the form of a game that never ends? I don’t remember ever not playing games, much less Halo. Any girlfriend I had or will have always needs to know on the first date – I’m a gamer.

Well, I’ve been a gamer since I was able to hold a controller and now that you’ve asked me that, I really don’t have an answer. I wrote a lot of papers and speeches on gaming, social networking, and the gaming industry to only come to the conclusion that gaming was the next logical trend in society. Oh yes, I went all philosophical on your ass.

Baring any long rant on those concepts, I love gaming. I think it’s one of the greatest assets to my life being a graphic guy and all. I have forged a lot of great friendships, most of whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in person and spending some time with. Yoozel loves to cuddle…even when he’s not drunk. (I am full aware of what the repercussions of that statement will be.)

I think it’s the interconnection of a person doing something they can’t in real life that drives most gamers. Whether it’s playing football on an NFL team or tea bagging a bully because he got stuck right in the face! OMG did you see that! ROFLLOL!!!1!!!one! Games allow people to do something extraordinary; whether it’s playing or creating. That’s what drives me to want to do what I’m doing. I want to be a level artist/designer. Ever since I could hold a pencil to a piece of paper I’ve wanted to go into my art. Interact with it. I really, really want to make a perverted joke, but its true. To me, there’s nothing more satisfying than seeing something you’ve created enjoyed and appreciated.

What Bungie has done both on and off line is created a system that allows the user to play a game, submit feedback, have it implemented, and play new features. I.e., crack. I can’t wait for my chance to do that to people.

Q. What was the first Bungie game you mainlined?

A. Honestly, I didn’t even own an Xbox in college back in 2001. I saw my floor mate playing a game that he said we could play together. We started on 343 Guilty Spark of Halo: Combat Evolved. I had originally thought this to be some jungle warfare game, but was totally surprised. I remember that night because it was a Friday night and we started at about 5 PM. When it came time to go out, we realized that we were on the final mission. We just couldn’t stop! We kept getting killed however and figured getting drunk would solve our issues. That was a great college lesson. Regardless we talked to a guy who was mentioning the game and he told us how to take care of the “end run” of the campaign. What a night that was. As you can probably tell, I was super cool.

Q. Oh, yeah. Are you surprised that your initial drunken run drove you to become involved with the Bungie community?

A. Yes and no. I would love to be more involved, but there’s only so much I can offer in my craft that would be allowed. I’m not much in way of posting and being involved in idle chitchat. I make my posts where I see they can add (or subtract) from a subject.

I love doing artwork for the community though, especially of screenshots and renders. BS Angel has given me a ton of support in this area and even let me host my images of remade screenshots on her sites. I can never really thank her enough for how much she has helped me grow in that respect. Plus she claims she “gave me Recon”… whatever that’s about. :)

Community interaction is what makes me feel like I can make anything though. I have a lot of great feedback and support from so many, many people and it lets me expand to areas of art where I would normally shy away from. To be fair, I’ve done very little though. If you look at some of the members who bust their ass to bring up important topics, moderate the forums, and dedicate time and money to hosting sites and offshoots, you really see the level of dedication that people put in. I love putting in all the time I can for art and video.

Q. Do you get involved with those offshoots as well?

A. I won’t speak for anyone, but I’m currently involved in a number of sites that I just can’t get enough of. The aforementioned Hawty McBloggy and her sites have given me so much that all I can do is contribute as much as I can to them. I was a part of a growing audio/video podcast called “Shots in the Dark”, but our two leads left for greener pastures. Now sometimes I write columns for Newsarama.com and some other media sites, but nothing official.

Q. Anything you would like to add before you make the jump to lightspeed?

A. What, you don’t think that’s enough? How much can one person talk about himself or herself?! Answer: a lot.

I first off want to say thank you for this chance to thank everyone that’s ever been involved in my mischief. I know I’m not the easiest person to get along with or work with, but the success we’ve brought to the table speaks for itself. I’d love to give the following shout outs:
Yoozel – I still have the note you left me on my nightstand.

Lil Bob 1269 – You may say “do what now huh?” but you’re a great friend to have.
Cdog23 – You’re aim’s as bad as your grammar, but wouldn’t be where I am without ya!
Catme27 – Gotta get that?

I wont give everyone a personal message – I think I hear the “get off the stage music playing” – but PunkPirateAFO, B5D guys (especially you, Kritical, you stallion you), Sick and Psycho, Kapture (I’ll keep your secret safe), Foman123 (now that I mentioned him this thread will probably get locked), Pika and Jayno, Xeropain, Dupindi and AngelicRenegade, Insain54, Duardo, H3ITWP people, and all those on my friends list. Finally, I really want to give a special thank you to bs angel. You’ve done more for me in the past two years than most people do in a lifetime. You are a wonderful person and I’m glad I can call you my friend. You’ve blown me…away.

---

I see what you did there.  And it is good.  If you just read through Halcylon's sweet interview and want to see all this artwork he's been on about, you can check out his online galleries.  We've featured some of it before in Comm Chatter and in the weekly update, but if you're looking for the one stop Halcylon shop, that's your go to resource.  If you're just looking to sound off and chew on his ear a little, you can hit the discussion thread attached.

The art and science behind driving like an idiot.

If you've been going it solo, trying to rack up kills using the trusty Mongoose in Halo 3, it's time to go brokeback.  Death by Mongoose is a homegrown group that's ready to teach you how it's done.  Hang out tight, and let's go for a ride.

"Death by Mongoose is a group dedicated to the art, and science behind driving around like an idiot and killing someone with a Mongoose. We specialize in helping the less skilled 'goosers become solid splatterers. The Mongoose is a very temperamental vehicle; you can hit someone at full speed, and not even take out their shields. You can just miss to the left or the right, and splatter someone. The Mongoose Gods are picky about whether or not you will kill someone; however, a solid connection helps...

The group’s history: A bunch of people in the Halo 3 forums talking about the Mongoose in a thread. There was a spark, and Major League Goosing was created. As popularity in goosing grew, and we found another group titled 'Death by Mongoose.' After a while the two groups merged into a single group – Death by Mongoose. Chuckles555, and DB5414 were the original 'goosers (OG's if you will) that started Death by Mongoose. Since then I've taken over the role of 'Master Goose Lord,' which is the equivalent of a Master Forum Ninja. I am essentially the x FoMan123 x of Death by Mongoose, without the evil banning sprees."

What are Death by Mongoose's favorite maps?

Valhalla, Standoff, and Sandbox. Valhalla because of the two Mongooses per base, and large area to build up speed. Standoff because it's open, yet you are in partial cover at almost any place in the map. Great driving "lanes" mean great splatter opportunity. Sandbox because it has an open, mongoose laden default layout, and a gazillion forge possibilities. Yes, a gazillion.

And your favorite gametypes?

Territories, VIP, CTF, and Slayer. Territories is a great variant to goose on because it’s kind of nice when people stand still, trying to capture a territory, with a blinking light over their heads saying splatter me. VIP is a gooser favorite because it’s the gametype that we use on Racetracks, and who can honestly say that they don't like racetracks? Capture the flag is a good place to get splatters if your team has trouble scoring the flag. Any time a team is sitting on a flag trying to return it they tend to stand there all nice and still like. We like slayer because it's the most fun gametype in Halo 3 on a Mongoose or not.

What would you like to see injected into Matchmaking?

Personally, I want there to be a full-time Grifball playlist. Other 'goosers think otherwise, so here's some of their opinions:

"I would like to see Valhalla Covies back in BTB and fire bomb grenades. :)" - Mythic v1

"I'd like to see some Standoff more often, as it's great for driving around, and of course ‘goose splattering people. More Territories gametypes would be great too." – A speedy Kitten

"Racetracks added to Action Sack with racetracks that can't be broken/cheated on would be fun". – EliteMuffGoose

"What I would like to see more in matchmaking would be: a racetracks playlist. A weaker weighting on Heavy variants – Tank+Mongoose = :( Also, I want the spawn times of the mongoose to be shorter on sandbox maps, and there to be another goose added on either side of wasteland." -BowlingMongoose

"I would love to see Racetracks in matchmaking. It has been altered and changed so much since its first appearance in custom games. It has become something simple yet an awesome test of skill (in the Mongoose of course) and it is easy to grasp the concept of it. Racetracks would be an awesome thing for matchmaking, and maybe some rocket race in Action Sack instead of its random appearance in multi team." -rraaaaawwwwwwwr

"I think there needs to be Mongooses on Narrows and The Pit. The Pit has lots of good opportunities for Mongoose splatters, like near the overshield spawn. There are lots of places to get splatters on Narrows. Avalanche could use a few more Mongooses as well. Avalanche is one of the biggest maps, yet there is only one goose per side." -i like pie727

Here's a shout out from i like pie727:

"I want to send a shout-out to my cousin who recently joined the Marine Corps, his Gamertag is Gylf117."

I think I speak for everyone in DBM when I say, Thank you Gylf117 and Good luck!

---

Good luck and Godspeed, indeed.  And seems like it's relatively easy to speak for DBM.  "More Mongoose!"  ;)

Since we've come to the end of our Community Spotlight course this week, we've injected some of the group's file selections into the Winner's Circle, aka Bungie Favorites.  Head on over and check 'em out.

Putting things in their proper place.

The first Average Joe of 2010, Gnome13 is ready to settle into our cozy couch, drop all of his personal details, and get some Bungie.net therapy on.  Even though it's an egregious violation of the doctor/patient privilege, I'm willing to let you sit in and have a listen.  Just keep your heavy breathing to a minimum.  Observe:

Q. Who are you and what do you do?

A. I go by Max. Max isn’t short for anything, but I’ve heard a lot of potential suffixes. Most of them are pretty tired, but every now and then I hear a good one.

I am 22 so far, I have a job, I go to school, and ladies, I am single!

I work at a Ford dealership. I am the very prestigious Warehouse Manager. Fancy title is fancy. I don’t actually manage any employees and my paycheck actually says "Shipping and Receiving," but there is a warehouse I manage. Essentially, I’m in charge of making sure everything that comes in via our freight service, UPS, and FedEx gets put in the proper place. My job also includes quite a bit of problem solving. Just today I had to figure out how to fit 200 tires into a space for only 100 tires.

I love my job. Even when there aren’t parts to process, there are people to talk to. There are people of many professions involved in a dealership, and they each have something interesting to talk about. I am never bored.

Besides my job during the day, I go to school. I am studying to get my Bachelor’s in computer science at ITT Tech. I am in their electronic program, and I can’t think of anything I enjoy more than electronics. It is like a playground, and I don’t necessarily mean to say I’m giddy as a school boy for my field of study. There is just such a diversity of toys to make my favorite. First, you learn what each toy does and how it functions. Then, you learn how to combine them.

In my free time, I do laundry. I also love puzzles. My latest accomplishment is solving a 7 layered V-Cube (same principle as a Rubik’s cube but with 7 layers) in less than 30 minutes.

Q. Mind peeling back some more of your personal layers and telling us where you got your tag?  Won't take thirty minutes.  Promise.

A. Gnome13? Oh jeez…

My Bnet tag comes from a high school friend. I went over to his house one day. His house was like Joe’s Crab Shack, set to a Steven King’s It theme. There were clown dolls and the like lining the walls. His little brother gave me a small garden gnome. What more inspiration do I need, right? The 13 comes from a bit of immaturity that I have long since replaced with a different form of immaturity I like to call creativity.
That’s how I ended with my IRC handle and my gamer tag, Mahcks. Mahcks is actually a common misspelling of my first name. Also, Moks is a common mispronunciation of my gamer tag.

Q. When you're floating around down here, which forums do you make your most frequent haunts?

A. I feel most comfortable on the main forums and groups here on Bnet. Some of the people here are like family. I love the mythic members group. Those guys are a lot of fun.

I like to read all of the main forums. I get a good laugh from the Flood and Halo forums. I love how active they are. Their self healing is inspiring. The Septagon is probably my favorite, though. I don’t know why, really. The people that frequent that place are just easy going and fun to hangout with.

I pretty much live in the #moap and #bungienet IRC channels. It’s another laugh a minute with those guys. It takes a bit of a thick skin for those plain-text punching bags, but you learn to love those people like family after a while.

Q. Do you game with friends and family?  What inspires you to play games?

A. I’m pretty lax when I’m playing multiplayer, but not when I’m playing the single player. I get into stories pretty big. I am a huge fan of science fiction, so I can believe just about anything for ten minutes. This gives me plenty of time to determine if a game is going to keep me interested.

The story is one of the most important aspects of a video game and is second only to game play. A story can not get in the way of the game play. At the same time, story can not be sacrificed for game play. If an idea simply can’t be fun and interesting at the same time, don’t push the triangle peg into the square slot.

I like to have fun! Competitive gaming just doesn’t appeal to me. I game with friends almost always. My brother plays with me on occasion, but he’s moved to PC games lately.

There is one guy at work that is a little too into the National Socialist Undead Brainvora for me. Every morning at work he tells me about his games while I smell my coffee.

Q. What was the first Bungie title you played?

A. Halo: CE will forever be the bully that stole my lunch money. I remember my brother and me going to a birthday party at this kid’s house soon after the Xbox’s release. This kid got an Xbox and Halo for his birthday. It was a sleepover, so we spent the early hours of the night playing the Fusion Frenzy demo on Halo: CE, but after everyone went to sleep I booted me some campaign. My brother and I made it halfway through the second level before getting distracted by driving the warthog over hills. The next day we decided we would have Halo. We sold our N64 and saved a bunch of lunch money and allowance to get it.

Since then, my brother and I have had a tradition of playing through each Halo on co-op as soon as it came out. Co-op mode was what made Halo: CE my first virtual crush.

Q. Are you surprised by your crush on the Bungie Community?

A. A little, actually. It has been four years since I first set eyes on the forums on this site. I have been visiting almost everyday since. I can’t think of any habit I’ve kept for that long. I’ve been through so much in the last four years. This community has never abandoned me. I can always relate to the people here expressing their ideas and opinions.

Q. Relate anywhere else online?

A. There have been plenty of other Halo related sites I’ve hung out at, but nothing like my activity on the Bnet forums.

Q. So faithful.  We love that.  Make some shout outs and play us out.

A. These forums have been a major source of stability in my life. I’ve had some pretty rough patches. You guys are my therapy. I want to thank all of the people involved in this community for putting up with my shenanigans and occasional misguided banter.

I would like to thank all of the people that made PAX this year more than a crazy cool video game nerd hall. DieByMyHand had a great LAN party, and I’m thankful I got to help. Also, I need to thank The Slayer for keeping a watchful eye on me (if you haven’t met him, he looks just like his avatar).

If there was ever a reason for me to have withdrawals from prolonged absence from the internet, it is #moap. You guys rock.

Lastly, I want to thank Bungie. They made Halo, you know.

---

Everybody knows that.  Right?  Right?

Thanks to Gnome13 for getting all therapeutic up in this piece.  If you want to get something off your chest, we're always here for you, Max.  Hell, we'll host a discussion thread for this interview if you still want to talk about it.

Not patient enough.

Lord Spanky has been patiently waiting for his turn in the Average Joe machine.  Well, I just flipped a lever, turned a dial, and we're gonna run this sucker through the ringer.  If you met him online and wanted to learn more about him (man, aren't you a glutton for punishment), strap in, buckle up, pull on a helmet, and get read to ride.  Or just read this interview.  Whatever.

Q. Who are you and what do you do?

A. My name is Shane, I'm 17, and I'm currently a Senior in High School. I live in Ohio, but if any of you want to find out the city I live in, you'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands. Which is a paradox, sort of, because you'd have to know where I was first in order to kill me in order to pull the information from my hands.

You see why I'm so deadly.

As for my hobbies, they are not many; the simple pleasures, really. I enjoy playing videogames, primarily with Bungie.net people on Bungie-produced games, I enjoy reading several Science Fiction and Fantasy novel series, I enjoy making theories on the Haloverse (that's right guys, check out that Universe Forum from time to time. I've got some interesting stuff in there…) and I enjoy talking with my girlfriend when the chance comes 'round, which is just about every day. Beyond that my life exists as a mundane reflection of the typical obligations of a Senior: homework, school, studying, failing to get enough sleep.

Q. Sleep is important.  Always remember to settle in at a decent hour.  Your mind and body will thank you.  How did you settle into your gamertag?

A. Oh hell. Alright, before we go anywhere, I would like to let everyone know, right now, that I am NOT a snake, nor is my name pronounced "Snake-y". It's actually "Snak-ie", due to some crazy/awesome English law or whatnot.

Now that that's out of the way, my name originated from way back in the day, 'round 8th or 9th grade, when myself and my friends were just wee lads. For some reason we got together and started making up words; I don't remember our exact motivation for this, but I can assure you all that we were under the influence of nothing more than caffeine. One of the new "words" was "Shnakie", but jmh9072, a previous Average Joe and one of my closer friends, mispronounced it "Snakie" the day or two before I made my first account. The first account was made as "Lord Shnakie", the correct pronunciation, but I promptly forgot the e-mail account attached to it and never used it again. The very next day, I used jmh's mispronunciation of "Snakie" to create this account name, and it's stuck with me for over three years now, also becoming my first (and only) gamertag.

The way I look at it, the origins were… odd, to say the least, but the outcome is a unique name that I've really carved out for myself, something that doesn't very easily get lost in all the clutter around it. For that, at least, I'm thankful.

Q. Now that we've got the name and the correct pronunciation, how 'bout telling us where you hang out when you visit Bungie.net and what in particular you like about this here place?

A. Hmm… what do I like in particular? Well, when I joined B.net back in '06, I was under pressure from jmh to participate in the big theory threads in the Halo 3 Forum. That was when I met my first big-shots, like ICEMAN ASSASS1N and opogjijijp, and when I got my first big taste of the theory scene, which is one I have continued to populate through my time on this site. I also learned quite a bit about game mechanics and creation from my early days in that forum, too, and gained a healthy… er… disrespect for the rules. I do believe that four out of my… well… six warnings came from pre-'08.

After making a few too many threads to do with a particular theory of mine and getting called a jackass by several users (by essentially making sure people saw it by creating "new" versions that had barely nothing different from the original, I won't deny it) I left the public forums in favor of the privates, where I joined some of my more memorable groups, such as the Council of Spartans (which has since died) and KOTOR, of which I am still a big part. My time posting only in Private Chapters continued for about a year, until I jumped back out to the forum scene in July of '08, at which point the big controversy about the E3/ODST news release was going on. I tried to help out a bit, but forgot to check the rules and posted in a recon thread, which landed me my first ban and an additional warning, which made me angry enough to actually forsake the Halo 3 Forum (like it was that forum's fault!) and travel elsewhere. Namely, the Community.

Ahh, the Community. As much as it's a center for thought-provoking discussion and site updates, it's a cesspit of elitism and repeat threads. Nevertheless, I have been posting there for well over a year now, and it's important to mention in my cycle of site travel (and growing maturity). The Community contributed to fixing my horrible arrogance problem, my writing style, and my thought processes. More than any other group or forum on the site, the Community has molded my mind into the Snakie that you see the words flowing from this day. But the Community isn't my favorite forum, not anymore… more like just the place where I post the most. A few months ago, with the introduction of the Bungie Universe forum, I've sort of… migrated, in a sense. A forum made entirely for theorists? I about died in ecstasy. That's where it's all at, at least for now.

Q. So, why gaming?

A. Gaming is a communal thing for me; I don't do it for the enjoyment a game itself brings, not unless I've got no choice. If I've got no internet, I play one of my single-player games. But, if I've got internet, I'm playing so I can hang out with friends and like-minded individuals. I may get on a single-player game, but I'll still be in a party with friends. It's just the way I am: I have to play with people if I have the option to, or at least talk to them. At the same time, though, the people I happen to have on my friends list for the most part are users from this very site. I suppose I enjoy hanging out with people from this place even in my time away from it. I'm in love with it that much, I suppose.

Q. What was the first Bungie title you fell in love with?

A. I jumped on the bandwagon with Halo: CE. I was young at the time, perhaps 8 or 9, and my cousin had an Xbox and the game. So he came over to my house and we spent the day playing on Easy, because we couldn't do anything harder. I remember the sense of awe that stuck with me to this day, though: the feeling that something's going to jump out and end me every time I come to a corner, the horror at the discovery of the Flood, the mystery of the story itself. That, more than anything else, is why I remain a theorist to this day. My goal is to find those mysteries.

Q. Spoilers!  (Are you surprised by your level of community involvement?)

A. Not really, no. I'm currently living in a semi-gutted house that we've had under renovation for some time now, and my existing entertainment basically consists of two TVs (only one with cable), the internet, books, and videogames. Videogames are great, and I've spent 137 hours on a single profile in Fallout 3 (impressive, right?), but that can't take up all of my time any more than reading Frank Herbert's Dune three times in a row can (oh yes, I've done that). The obvious answer? Internet. The obvious place? Bungie. It flexes my brain at the same time it gives me carpel tunnel. What more could a guy ask!

Q. Dunno.  Do you check out any other online communities on a regular basis?

A. No, I'm pretty much attached to Bungie.net at the hip. I've briefly tried out other such sites, but I keep bring drawn back to Bungie.net for a myriad of reasons, and I never seem to return to the other ones. I think it's really mainly because I've already got quite a bit of friends here, I'm aware of the site rules, and, to be quite frank, Bungie.net is ten times more organized (and better) than all those other guys, anyway.

Q. Wanna yell at some people and say what's up?

A. This is going to be quite long.

Before all else, I have an interesting fact to bring up: my hometown is getting a Mythic/Joe monopoly. Myself, jmh9072, and BerserkerBarrage are all from the same state, not to mention the same city, and are now all Occasional-Mythics (at the least) and Average Joes! Favoritism, urk? For shame!

Now that that's done:

First and foremost, I want to give a shout-out to my buddy jmh9072, fellow sometimes-Mythic member, fellow Ohioan, fellow Average Joe, and the very reason I'm being graced with this article today. It's all down to you, mate.

Right behind jmh, I want to give a shout to my best e-buddy burritosenior, who is the God-King of the Halo 3 Forum. PM him for me, guys, until he decides to give up trying to make me join Mythic Members.

Behind burrito I want to give shout-outs to the entire Community and Universe forum, along with my favorite private group, KOTOR (simply because the sheer magnitude of these shout-outs, they come before the rest of you guys, my apologies). To quote Bilbo Baggins like the massive Tolkein nerd I am, "I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."
Next up, Robby118, my Bungie.net stalker. I didn't forget you, you creepy ass. Along with Robby comes YahwehFreak4evr, who is another creepy stalker. And what the hell, I'll throw hamdog in there as well, even though he's not really a stalker. Oh, and Duardo. He's not really a stalker, either, but he tried to steal my docs.

Next group includes the best theorists still on this site, and very close acquaintances and friends of mine. I salute you: SpoonGuard, Wolverfrog, Agustus, opogjijijp, and MLG Cheehwawah.

My Xbox Live Buddies: Singularity7, REVERENC3, whatiplaylike/hamdog, Helveck, Iggyhopper, lolpokey, Omnicent, Pirated Bads, Tartan118 (<3), TheScriptKeeper, and x Lord Revan x.

My Bungie.net friends. Essentially, everyone I didn't mention elsewhere that happen to think I like them, just group yourselves here.

---

I'm tired.  Too many shout outs.  Need rest.  Discussion thread attached.

Back for more.

As we mentioned last week, the players over at Clantacular.com aren't into Halo 3 content as much as some of the groups we spotlight.  They're into playing.  So, when it came to select some more screenshots this week, they turned to the B.net community at large.  In addition to the new hit of content, they're also talking about their map, Top Floor.  Before you go up to the top, go down and get informed about what it took to cook it up.

Q. What inspired Top Floor?

A. This map was one of the first ones we did as a community. It was made for our Clantacular.com Birthday Bash announced on Bungie back in May of 2008. We were just going for a fun FFA map for an open party. We were looking to have enough room to host a full custom party on Black Out and play for a full 24 hours.

Q. How long did it take to create?

A. It only took about a week to create.

Q. Only a week!?  What aspect took the longest to get right?

A. Adding the forth floor on blackout and getting everything spaced just right so that the floor was easy to access. And making enough room for a 16 player SWAT FFA with frags!

Q. How could The Forge be improved?

A. Unlimited items, it really bites when you just need one more wall! Why make Forge a game? It would be nice to have a full arsenal of map building resources. However, I am sure that is what everyone says right?

Honestly... Forge is already pretty awesome! We are just glad to have it! Thanks Bungie!

---

I see what you did there.  You couched your criticism inside some compliments.  Good communication skillz, yo!

If you want to communicate with Clantac, you should check out their website.  If you just want to see what kind of content they have on offer, stop into Bungie Favorites.

Slappin' on his serious face.

Screecherz might not know where his gamertag comes from, but he sure knows where he likes to spend some of his down time.  If you've seen him maxin' relaxin' right here on Bungie.net and wondered what in the world his story is, wonder no more - we cornered him and forced him to answer our not-so-pressing questions.  Scroll down for his answers.

Q. Who are you and what do you do?

A. My name is Tom, I recently turned 16, and I live just south of the Twin Cities in the warm and sunny state of Minnesota. I am currently unemployed, but I’m about to hop back onto the occupation train and work at a delicious sub shop – none other than the Blue Ox Sandwich Factory. If you haven’t heard of it buy yourself a plane ticket and grab a bite to eat, it’s worth it.

My weeks and weekends go by pretty normally, I play some Xbox (when it isn’t flashing red lights at me), I swim a lot, and I try to get my school homework done. Swimming is my favorite thing to do, but unless I rake up some cash, I won’t get any pool time until next spring.

Q. Well, that was relatively coherent and subdued for a guy who goes by "Screecherz."  Where'd you get the gamertag?

A. The origins of my name are pretty obscure to me. My profile here was taken from my gamer tag, which, in turn was derived from my old online PC name of "Screech." Where that name came from, I couldn’t tell you. I could have thought it was cool or original at some point, but it’s really not clear to me at this point. To make it quite clear, it isn’t taken from Saved by the Bell, and no, I do not make pornos.

Q. I don't think Screech did either.  Stunt double and all that.  Either way, this is getting a little too mature for my liking.  Let's talk about where you waste the most time when you're online.  What forums do you hang out in?

A. My most active forum would probably be the Community Forum, but the fast pace of ODST and The Flood have brought my interest there as well. I like the Community Forum because it gives me a chance to slap on my Serious Face and kick some ass, but people don’t ever listen. The ODST forum gives me a chance to help out lost gamers, and the Flood is, well, the Flood. I can’t say more than that.

Asides from the Forums, I’m also an avid Private Group poster. In my groups I get a chance to act ridiculously stupid without being judged, and I get to have a little more fun than is normally allowed in the Public Forums. So for anyone who likes to butcher the English language, or just can’t help it, private groups are the place for you.

Q. So, why gaming?

A. Gaming is primarily just a way for me to have fun personally; however with Xbox LIVE starting to become a huge social networking project, I’ve been able to hook up with a lot of friends and family. I have a good dozen personal friends on my list, and a few family members (some from Pennsylvania) that frequent Xbox LIVE. All in all, I use the service to have some nice clean fun.

Q. What was the first Bungie title you had some good, old fashioned, and totally clean fun with?

A. Halo: PC. My dad got me into this when he first played through the campaign, I was young, and so I wasn’t allowed to play it until I gained a few years for the tally, but it was well worth the wait. I have no end to the praise I can give that game, and I continue to hop on it from time to time. If I had a genie lamp, wish number one would be to resurrect the game, give it Xbox LIVE multiplayer support, and completely revamp the graphics (leaving the physics untouched, of course).

BRAGGING: I used to hold the Number 3 global spot in Oddball for Halo: PC. Just sayin’.

Q. Whoa, nice.  Who would have thought?  On the subject of disbelief and incredulity, did you ever think you'd be so involved with a gaming community?

A. I’m not so much surprised at how involved I am in the community as much as I am surprised at how well it took me in. After a slow start, I started to get familiarized with a few members of the site and now I am a full blown elitist. I believe Singularity was the person who got the ball rolling for me, but I do like to think I am responsible for a little bit of awesome.

Q. Do you get involved with any other online hot spots?

A. The only entertainment community I am a part of is Bungie.net. The forum structure, the great look of the site, private groups, stats, screenshots, etc, all make me come back here. The only other group I used to be involved with was BFM, a group that was dedicated to racing in Halo: PC.

BRAGGING: I used to hold the 107th global spot in Racing for Halo: PC. Just sayin’.

Q. Well, it's not top three, but I guess it's okay.  Anything you would like to add before we cross this here finish line?

A. I’d like to thank the people who accepted me into the community for one, but I would like to make a few shout-outs to some special friends in real life and Xbox LIVE. First off, JT, for being one of the best, most helpful, and most fun to play with friends over Xbox LIVE. Rhi, for giving me an outlet to blow off steam and for loving me so much, and lastly all members of the Web team – who make the coolest site that I have come to know.

---

Thanks to Tom for taking time out to tackle our interrogation.  If you want to take the time to say what's up to Screecherz, we've got a discussion thread up and going so you can do just that.  Drop in and tell him how awesome he is.

Heading for a showdown.

If you came into the Community Spotlight this week looking for a group focused on snapping epic screenshots, you can get to steppin'.  That's right...go on, beat it.  Scram!  Clantacular.com isn't in it for the aesthetic appeal.  They're an offsite, gameplay-focused group of kick ass players.  Sound like a squad you want to roll with?  Read on.

"Clantacular.com has been serving up Halo 2 and Halo 3 clan match services for three years, starting in 2006 as a Halo 2 Clan recruiting site and then moving on to ranked clan match stats for Halo 2 and 3. We've been dedicated to keeping the Halo Clan Spirit alive since 2006.

Never charging a dime, yet always giving back to the Halo community, we host a Halo 2 and Halo 3 reporting system, taking custom stats from your rss feeds to confirm that the games played are legit. We even host an FFA reporting system so the community can throw down and earn some Clantac ranks on FFA nights. Meantime, you can catch the real action in the community forums and meet up with clans that have been around for years.  Not only does the community give clans a place to recruit and come together for showdown, they also have a great community of independent players who just hang out in the forums and show up for online FFA events.

Clantacular.com has been spotlighted a few times over the years on the Bungie homepage, once for being the only clan stats support for Halo 2 and again for our World Clan Wars Tourney where clans took over countries like a game of Risk. We've also taken part in a Humpday Challenge.

Clantac is not just a Halo clan ladder site, but a melting pot of clans, teams, and Halo players from around the world. Not ruled by the corporate world or the need for advertising, you will not see ads or fancy money making schemes.  At Clantac it's about one thing and one thing only... Halo!

Q. Alright, so let's talk a little bit of Halo.  What are Clantac's favorite maps?

A. We love the Mythic Maps. Clantac is very team oriented - most of the time Slayer oriented - so old school hardcore maps seem to be our favs. MLG Forged maps, Blackout, The Pit, or anything that makes for a good 4v4 or Big Team Battle work too.

Q. And your favorite Game Variants?

A. Hardcore, MLG, default Slayer, Snipers, Swat, Flag and Bomb.

Q. What would you like to see added into Matchmaking?

A. Bring back clan matches! LOL ;) (As if you didn't see that coming!)

---

Actually, I didn't.  See, I'm not all that bright.  Seems like Clantacular.com is doing a pretty good job on their own though.  If you want to see more, their week one selection of files are loaded and ready for deployment.  Grab 'em from Bungie Favorites and remember to take some time to check out their site.  You should also stop into the discussion thread attached to this article.  Unless you just want to whine about the screenshots.  I already told you to scram.

A little disgusted by his own habitual lurking.

Big Black Bear doesn't really know my mother.  He says he does, but he's full of lies.  Point of fact, my mom has never even set foot in Canada.  Never will.  Now that I've established this man as a habitual liar willing to say anything to gain and hold your interest, why not read an interview we conducted with him that delves into his deepest, darkest desires, exposes the delicate web of lies he desperately clings to, and marks him as a really cool guy you should already be familiar with because he's an awesome part of our community even if he's ashamed of hanging out in The Flood?  Well?

Q. Who are you and what do you do?

A. Well, hello there! Nice to finally meet you! Your mom has told me so much about you. My name is Mike. I’m 28 and I hail from the far north (New Brunswick, Canada, to be exact). For the last five years, I’ve worked as a consultant at a company that specializes in Software Quality Assurance. Basically, I work with clients to help them develop or supplement their existing software testing practices. You guys don’t need anyone like that at Bungie, do you?

Outside of that, some of my spare time is spent playing video games, obviously, but I do have other interests as well. All through high school and university, I was on the wrestling team and though I don’t compete any more, I do still try to stay involved in the sport as much as possible.

I imagine a few of my hobbies will have to take a back-seat in the near future, though. My wife and I are both very excited to have a “Baby Black Bear” on the way. March, 2010… Prepare to drop!

Q. Congratulations!  Did you pluck that out of a big book of baby names?

A. I was originally going to just be “Black Bear”, after the name of my university wrestling team (the Black Bears Wrestling Club). As it turns out, though, “Black Bear” by itself was taken. So, I tried “Big Black Bear” and bingo! It worked! Plus, it sounds scarier, don’t you think?

Q. I dunno, I think a really tiny bear might be horrific in its own minuscule right.  Anywho, now that we got you to talk about the inspiration for the name, how's about you tell us where you hang out when you're around these here parts?

A. As much as I hate to admit it, I suppose I’m more of a “Floodian” than anything. It’s actually been quite some time since I’ve posted anywhere else, as a matter of fact. Back in the day, I started in the Halo 2 and Halo 2 Multiplayer forums (New Mombasa and Zanzibar), and I’ve posted a fair bit in the Septagon, but The Flood is where I always seem to go back to.

What I like about The Flood is that it’s a place where I can discuss just about anything (except Halo) with people who share some of my interests. It’s a group of people that I’ve been able to discuss a few of the biggest moments in my life with, from the death of my sister, to getting married, to my upcoming transition to parenthood.

Achronos always talks about the “signal to noise ratio” and while that ratio is pretty low in The Flood at times, there can actually be some pretty interesting discussions.

Q. Achronos talks about a lot of things.  Just nod and look a little bit agitated and he'll assume that you're attentively listening.  Since you're hanging out in The Flood, I assume you like to play the video games.  What compels you to pick up a controller?

A. The power of Christ compels me! The power of Christ compels me!

Okay, lame horror movie references aside, I’ve always been a bit of a gamer at heart. I’ve just always been attracted to video games, computers, and electronics. My first console was an Atari 2600.

I enjoy gaming with just about anyone, really. At the client I’m working with now, there’s a bit of a tradition. Every break and lunch is dedicated to playing some good, old-fashioned Halo 2. The guys here love their Lockout with random secondary weapons, and they hate the motion tracker. If you ask me, they’re just a bunch of screen-watching n00bs, but it’s all in good fun. Every now and again we’ll even get together for “Halo night”, which is just a big LAN party here at the office.

My wife, on the other hand, is a different story. Though she isn’t really into first-person shooters, she does enjoy some of the more casual games. So, when we play together, or if we have company over, we usually end up playing Rock Band or something on the Wii.

Q. Oh, man.  Scoring some brownie points with the lady.  Good show.  But enough about you and your family - what was the first Bungie game you played and what made it so irresistably incredible?

A. The first Bungie game I played was Halo: Combat Evolved. Some people I was working with at the time kept telling me what a great game it was and how much I was missing out on, so I finally broke down and rented it a month or so before Halo 2 came out. In the week I had the game I was hooked. I returned it to the video store and immediately bought my own copy. I just had to finish the campaign. It just had such an epic feeling to it, unlike anything I had played up to that point (and probably since).

Since then, I haven’t missed out on a single Bungie game. I walked in and bought Halo 2 the day it was released and had my copies of Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST both pre-ordered. I’m sure I’ll do the same for Halo: Reach.

Q. Damn right you will (and thanks)!  Does that kind of brand loyalty, willful submission to consumerism, and community involvement totally freak you out?

A. I’m a little disgusted by it, to be honest… Fortunately (or unfortunately), sitting in front of a computer all day provides me all kinds of opportunity to keep myself distracted from actual work by lurking on the forums.

Outside of that, though, I’m not nearly as involved in the community as some of the other people around here. Being up in Canada, I’m not really able to make it to any of the big launch parties or community events, like PAX. For me, it was a big day when I got one of my screenshots on Bungie Favorites. It’s actually quite flattering to know that somebody actually thinks I add “an interesting and unique flavor to our community mix."

Q. Ew. That sounds disgusting.  I'm gonna go swig some Scope.  While I'm swishing, tell us about any other online communties that you're inolved with?

A. Not “involved”, per se... As I mentioned, though, my wife and I play a fair bit of Rock Band, so I tend to lurk around the forums there to keep myself informed. It’s actually quite interesting to see the contrasts between a smaller community like that and the one here.

Q. Cool.  You wanna add a little story now that we've come to the end of things? Wanna make a shout-out, bro?

A. Sure! I’m gonna send a shout out to my boy SoundEffect. You know him, don’t you? He actually sits two cubes over from me at work. For anyone who hasn’t heard of him, he’s done some pretty amazing work over at HBO. So, definitely go check it out. I honestly don’t know anyone who’s more into the world of Halo than that guy.

And, of course, I can’t forget my lovely wife, Grunt Girl. After all, she’s the one who puts up with me every day and supports my gaming addiction.

Oh, and say hi to your mom for me.

---

Hey!  I'll have you know that my mom is a classy lady!  Well, I suppose turnabout is fair play. 

Thanks to Big Black Bear for lumbering into our Community Spotlight and sharing his deepest darkest fears and ridiculous myriad of insecurities with us.  If you want to prod him to see if he bites (or if you just want to say what's up), hit the discussion thread attached.  Maybe talk about whether or not a black bear's scale ultimately makes a difference in how terrifying it is.  SoundEffect should be able to provide detailed schematics to guide the discussion.

Drums in the deep and another week of content.

The MoleN steps up this week to deliver Aberrant Designs' second round of community spotlight content.  He also has some post mortem details charting the construction of his map variant, Lords of Moria, and some ideas covering what he thinks could help Forge become a better tool.  Read up.

Q. What inspired Lords of Moria?

A. My creation was inspired by my favorite movie series, The Lord of the Rings. The map itself is based off of an area located in the Mines of Moria, and is a direct remake of Balin's Tomb. For all of you who are not familiar with Lord of the Rings, the map is basically a chamber filled with pillars, a tomb and more. I do feel I accurately remade the map, as it is nearly identical to the area I was attempting to remake.

Q. How long did it take to excavate and remake?

A. This map took much longer than I expected, coming in on around twenty hours of building. Many things took much time to perfect, and I had many versions. I had to test it, make improvements, make sure it was to scale with the original, and test some more. It also had to be aesthetically pleasing for me to be satisfied with it, so I went back to this map a lot to fix things up. Over all, it was worth the effort, as I highly enjoy the final product.

Q. Which part of the finishing process took up the most amount of time?

A. The aspect that took the longest to get right was the gate. I probably remade the gate three separate times, changing my design, adding more, and fixing any problems that may have affected the map negatively. I wanted the map to look real, so the gate was a must have and it must look great. The well was a close second, as it was a real challenge for me to make and to design (as it was supposed to be quite smooth and yet function properly, killing any foolish enough to jump into it's depths).

Q. How could Forge be improved?

A. Although Forge is already amazing, it could use a bit of touching up. I would love features that allow you to interlock, geomerge, etc. without the need to glitch. The thing I would like to see most in Forge however is a weather and environment filter. These would alter things such as objects you can place and the environment you place them in. Maps with storms occurring above would be as easy as spawning a filter, and those looking to remake old maps or construct new masterpieces would only need to add an environment filter (such as valley), and items such as trees, rocks, etc. would be placeable, adding a whole new meaning to 'forge'.

---

Well, we don't know about easy, but we do know that the second week of Aberrant Designs' Community Spotlight has come to to a close.  Check out their latest batch of Bungie Favorites - they're online and ready to go, right now.  Since they're primary focus is snapping screenshots, we've slapped up the latest MLG map and game variants in case you've yet to become acquainted.

Trying to find out where the bananas went.

Iggyhopper conducted this interview from a half finished house.  In the face of extreme and dangerous conditions, he toiled so that you might be entertained.  Are you not entertained?  Probably not, but that's because you haven't read the interview yet.

Q. Who are you and what do you do?

A. My name is Greg, although the other options were Alexander, or Mike, but my dad chose Greg just because it was cool. I am way awesome because I have two different colored eyes (one blue and one brown), something called “Heterochromia.” I was born, and still live in the glorious city of Modesto, California. I’m 18-years-old and still look 21 because I have this god-awful beard growing on my face (maybe it’s time to shave). I’m an ex-skateboarder, a mediocre guitar and piano player, and one super awesome programmer. I am currently a part-time student in my third semester, taking every class that can do with computers (synthesizers are quite spectacular, by the way), and kicking some butt over Xbox LIVE.

When I’m not being awesome by playing Halo or Worms, my family and I work on the house. My parents have completely torn apart and rebuilt our last house, now we’ve moved and are doing the same to this one. It feels so great to complete something so big, but it’s pretty much like indoor camping if you’re living in the house you’re renovating. As a matter of fact, as I’m writing this, my computer chair is on the bare concrete floor, right now. I could basically build a house from scratch, with all this stuff I’ve been doing over the years.

Q. How did you end up camping on your gamertag?

A. There is this game, called “Iggy’s Wrecking Balls.” It’s basically a racing game that takes place on broken up, vertical levels. You could grapple onto higher platforms, and even throw your friends off too. I had great fun with that game, so I decided Iggy would be the first part of my gamertag. The second half had to feel right, it had to roll off the tongue, it also, more importantly, had to be original. This is when I came up with “hopper” as the second half. The name was born, and can easily be shortened to just Iggy. That isn’t my first gamertag though, the first one I ever had was “Realm32”, but that got lost with the new Xbox 360 experience, so now I hop “iggies”, as I’m told.

Q. I have no idea what that means.  Cool story, though.  Tell me what forums you haunt when you're not renovating your pad?

A. Oh, I’ll haunt the Halo 3 forum, maybe scare some people over in the Halo 3: ODST forum. You can find me most of the time in the Community forums, and I will visit The Flood from time to time. There’s just so many creepy castles to choose from, I can’t haunt all of them, you know. Sometimes I’ll even send completely random messages to people to spark some kind of interesting conversation. I’ll get a good reply back (from cool people), and maybe a laugh.

Q. Oh man, I see what you did there with the play on words and whatnot.  What compels you to play games?

A. My game is always on with my little brother, who I introduced into Halo: Combat Evolved when he was five. He’s an adorable little brat who loves playing games and being cool, what can I say. He’s just so gullible for scams though because, well, he’s a kid. That’s why I’m here to keep him in check. I was playing my first games on the TurboGrafX-16 and the Super Nintendo. I’d see my dad always playing Galaga ’90, and I’d always play Bonk or Donkey Kong Country. It’s now 2009, so he isn’t really good with Halo 3, he just wants the sniper so he can shoot people. He can’t ever manage to move and shoot at the same time, though. My mom will always be a Pac-man and Frogger fan, no Halo for her.

What compels me to game is a good question. I think this comes from me wanting to always make games, no matter what. Sometimes when I was younger, I’d try to make my own board games out of paper and a few pieces of tape. Another factor is probably getting the best high score, or getting 100% completion (okay 99%, I’m lazy). I’m always interested in the soundtracks of the games, and the story. What happened to DK? His bananas got stolen, so I wanted to play the game to find out where his bananas went!

Q. What was the first Bungie title you played?

A. The first game I ever played was Halo: Combat Evolved, and that was when I was 9 or 10. It was a Christmas present with seven other games, and an Xbox. While a kid, I had known nothing about the story, but when I look at it now, I can see why it was so great. I don’t think any other game had deep game-play like Halo: CE did. I didn’t play multiplayer except to bash hogs with my brother, but the campaign was fun! The Halo series can be compared to a black hole, you are safe as long as you’re far away. The closer you get to it, the harder it is to get away. Once you get sucked in, you just keep learning about it, you can’t escape, but it’s fun to spin around in circles all the time, right?

Q. Are you surprised by how far you've been sucked into the community?

A. Definitely. I am really surprised, because normally I’ll join a community because I just want to know more, ask quick questions, all the same stuff. With Bungie, I would actually want to make good topics and threads, and then get to have responses by the actual employees (sometimes). It’s so fun to read when people discover new things. I also write user-scripts for greasemonkey to make Bungie.net extra awesome. If you want to learn more, you can visit the Script Central thread in the Community forums.

Q. Do you get involved with any other communities?

A. I am a part of the starcraft.org network, and the Team 17 forums for my beloved Worms. When I’m not playing Halo 3, I’m playing Worms, you can bet on it. I’m usually mapping and modding Starcraft as well.

Q. Anything you wanna add? Wanna make some shout-outs?

A. Do A Barrel Roll!

I’d like to make a shout out to Mr WhatsItToYa, my brother. I’d also like to shout out to these people I know in no particular order: Sarsion, Cortana 5, TheScriptKeeper, CAVX, Duardo, and Lord Snakie.

Here’s some people I saw on the forums, and thought they were pretty awesome: Energy Sword, L00, and Old Papa Rich. Shout out to them because they’re cool.

Last but not least, I shout at you, Urk.

Hmm, it doesn’t feel like I’m shouting. Let me get a feel for it... I’M SHOUTING!!!... Okay.

---

Okay.  Thanks for the interview, Greg.  Good luck with the renovations and thanks for helping us keep the community in great shape.  We'll set up a discussion thread so people can pop in and shout back.

Striving for excellence and taking sweet screenshots.

Aberrant Designs is a Bungie.net group that knows what they like.  They like screenshots.  And they're damn good at showing them off.  If you want to see what else they have to show you, check out what they have to say for themselves:

"Dozens of groups are made here on Bungie.net every single day with one sole purpose in mind; to create the largest, most enjoyable group out there. Most of these groups are made to let users share their screenshots and Halo-related content with other users. The groups normally fill quite quickly with the right leader, and before you know it, you have a monumental screenshot group with hundreds of members. But, with monumental groups come monumental problems. Nearly all members coming into a group have one sole purpose; to post all of their content to other users in the hopes that they become the next Predator, their hopes filled with coveted Recon and friends lists full of Bungie workers. After a staggering amount of threads are made, with little or no replies, the members get frustrated and leave the group for other groups, or, in some cases, make their own group. This is generally what happens with screenshot groups; it is almost inevitable.

But then, there are the groups who persevere.

We are Aberrant Designs. Originally founded and built by CAUS7IC (an elite Photoshopper and dedicated group leader) for elite screenshot artisans and Photoshoppers, Aberrant Designs has become one of the most active groups on Bungie.net.

We don't have a staggering amount of members. But we do have talent. Our members excel in a wide range of different professions; from screenshots to 3D modeling, Photoshop to video producing, and much, much more. We provide regular contests, not all pertaining to screenshots, as well as a few tutorials on how to improve various screenshot and Photoshop methods. The community is extremely friendly, and are willing to give constructive criticism and compliments at any given time.

Aberrant Designs' point system is something we take pride in, too. One of the most organized ranking systems for a group on Bungie.net, our points system allows members to collect points needed to rank up by winning contests, creating a wallpaper, having content published, etc. Once they have enough points to rank up, they will be promoted to one of almost a dozen different ranks, some ranks not even attained by members yet.

As well as an organized ranking system, Aberrant Designs also has an organized "roll call". Every month or so, members will be required to address their presence in the roll call thread. Members who do not participate, or who do not have a leave of absence or legitimate reason for not participating, shall be kicked from the group. Threads are also organized into various categories to keep the forum nice and neat.

We are Aberrant Designs. We strive for excellence, and we hope that you too may join us one day in our mission for excellence."

Q. What are Aberrant Designs' favorite maps?

A. Since we are dominantly a screenshot group, we split this into two different parts: favorite maps for screenshots and favorite maps for playing. Our favorites for taking screenshots are Avalanche, Ghost Town, Sandbox, and Floodgate. All those maps have several areas that provide great backgrounds and lighting giving us numerous possibilities for effects. Our favorites for things like customs and Matchmaking are Valhalla, The Pit, Sandbox variants, Standoff, and Guardian.

Q. What about Gametypes?

A. A lot of us enjoy playing Slayer, Capture the Flag, and Infection. Team BRs is the dominant slayer gametype that we play. As for CTF, we enjoy a combination of 2 Flag and 1 Sided Flag but mainly 2 Flag. Infection is the only one where we don't have a particular gametype that we enjoy to play the most.

Q. What would you like to see in Matchmaking that isn't there right now?

A. There were four things that most of our group wanted to see implemented into Matchmaking. The most common thing we came up with was a BRs only playlist or gametype. No grenades, no power ups, no equipment. Just you, your BR, and a bunch of guys to shoot at. Another thing mentioned a lot was better user-created content, rather than more user-created content. Third was a return of Rocket Race or a revised form of Rocket Race as a full-time playlist. We greatly enjoy playing it but would also like to see things like a Brute Shot version of RR or a racing gametype like from Halotracks to add variety to the playlist. The last thing we wish to have added is a full-time Infection playlist.

---

Unfortunately, our full allocation of time for Aberrant Designs' week one spotlight is all used up.  If you want to learn more, make sure you visit their group home and check out all the content they have on offer for their first round of Bungie Favorites selections.

Takes what he can get.  (Including Foman's mom.)

Duardo wants you to feel right at home here at Bungie.net.  So much so that he's put together a whole pile of words in order to help you get acquainted and acclimated.  Follow his advise and you should do just fine.  Don't and he'll smash the hell out of you.

Q. Who you are and what you do when you’re not banning fools.

A. My name is Drew, and I’m a college student majoring in Mass Communication, particularly news writing, cinema/television, and public relations.

Interestingly enough, this semester I found out I was a senior (I didn’t even know I was a junior!). While scheduling classes for next semester, my advisor tells me that I can graduate a full semester early due to the university changing their criteria to graduate.

When I’m not at school I’m working at a local movie theater, where I’m the assistant manager and head projectionist. Basically, I’m the guy who puts the previews and movies together, and loads them onto the screen for your enjoyment.

I got my name, “Duardo,” from Spanish class my freshman year of high school. We had to choose a Spanish name, and the teacher suggested to pick one using the first letter of our name. I found “Duardo” and thought it sounded cool. Turns out that, not only is it a nickname for Eduardo (Edward) which I have no connection to, but also is a variant of Duarte, which means a wealthy guard.

Q. What did you do with your time on Bungie.net before you took up "guard duty"?

A. I was introduced to the site in 2002, when my friends and I would have LAN parties with Halo: Combat Evolved every weekend. One of my friends would go to the old Tru7h and Reconciliation site, and read the updates and whatnot. I never really looked into the website until 2003, where I would read the updates and the forums.

I loved reading the theories for Halo 2. I loved how everyone seemed to be so excited about it. The site soon changed to the New Hawtness in 2004, and on September 17, 2004, I finally joined. I already knew where everything was and what the rules were (mostly), so I got right into things. I think I joined initially to answer someone’s question, but then decided to introduce myself.

Funny about that thread is that a moderator had posted in it saying, “Welcome Duardo. Make sure you know what forum is what. But also make sure you don't let people get to you. This place rocks! Enjoy yourself.”

I feel that that is the essence of what all of us need to do for newer members. Make them feel welcome.

I would log on each day and roam Zanzibar, and then New Mombasa (the Halo 2 Forums) and the Septagon (Community Forum now). After Halo 2 was released and Zanzibar became a spam pit, I switched over to visiting the Septagon, Underground (Universe Forum), and the Flood.

The Septagon was having an Unofficial Promotional Video Contest, and I loved making and editing movies, so I felt really involved with the community at the time.

Couple years later changes came, people left, new people showed up, Foman’s Mom showed up, etc. Halo 3 was releasing soon, and I was getting annoyed seeing repeat topics all the time, so I created a FAQ where I, and some others, would answer people’s questions.

Then the Member Titles came out, and once again I got annoyed seeing repeat topics - Bam, another FAQ. Surprised to still see it’s alive and well after two years.

After going to PAX 08 (which was amazingly awesome – got to meet so many awesome people), I was asked to join HFCS and became a Ninja September 19, 2008.

Q. Do you ever get annoyed enough to want to make an escape for a spell?

Of course. Who actually likes getting hate PMs all day (besides you)? As a ninja, our job is to enforce the rules and keep the forums clean of rule breakers. Look for the bad before the good. This can get depressing sometimes, haha. Sometimes it’s better to let the forums burn for a bit, instead of having the ninja’s too burnt out to care about enforcing the rules. Thankfully I have school and work to keep me preoccupied when I don’t want to get one. That’s the beauty of the Internet. I can just click a button and turn off the computer, or go live my life if I want.

Q. When you click buttons with an eye toward checking out some other sites, where are you looking to find cool stuff?

I enjoy reading about video games, so I’ll venture to Kotaku after I get off Bnet. I usually go there, Cracked.com (hilarious site), Rooster Teeth, Hawty McBloggy, some Apple sites (not the fruit), and I enjoy reading random Wikipedia articles if you can believe that. I just find things interesting.

‘Course since I work at a movie theater, I get to watch all the latest movies, and not pay a dime. I also enjoy playing my video games (currently playing Left 4 Dead, Shadow Complex, batman: Arkham Asylum, and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom hourglass.

Q. And what keeps you coming back to Bungie.net for more?

Foman’s mom.

No really.

Seriously though, I love the community. I love seeing so many people dedicated to a particular company/game, and I love being a part of it. There have been bad times, sure, but there have also been so many great things too. I love that Bungie employees take time out of their day to interact with us. It makes Bungie.net feel very home like. You could say it’s my Internet home.

Q. How has your view of your Internet home changed during your residence?

The Community has evolved over time. It was once a place where everybody knew everybody, and slowly grew with the release of new games, and now people have developed real life friendships because of the bond they share with Bungie.net

This community will only get bigger as time passes. Is that a good thing? Sure! Look at all the fansites dedicated to Halo or to Bungie. It’s really amazing how one game can change everything.

Q. How sweet is it to swing the Banhammer?

Imagine if you were the Incredible Hulk and just started smashing things for the hell of it. It’s that awesome. I’m glad that I was trusted enough to help keep the forums clean. It can be a rough job sometimes, but it’s usually made up with chocolates and hookers (who all happen to be wearing the Webmaster’s face for some reason). I’ll take what I can get though.

I’d like to acknowledge some people if possible.

Thanks for putting up with me. Thanks for being awesome. Thanks for becoming my friends. Thanks for the good times.

Curtis, Quincy, Marshall – you guys were there in the beginning, and deserve a special shout out.

Lord Snakie, Helveck, Cryptic, my fellow moderators (particularly Qbix, The Slayer Bro, El Roboto, Butane, RN54, TGP, Yoozel, Nos, stosh), Foman for being awesome with myself and his mom (he got me back, damn him), Halcylon, BS Angel, CAVX, Sonic John, Cortana 5, Gamerz, Predator, True Underdog/NinjAg/Mr Mousetrap/True Underdog, T1B3R7uMB0YXVI, Evilcam, brutenextdoor, dmg04, Dropship dude, Faulty Jaboom, Guitarplay123, Hawkeye, Obi, immortal eNeME, Kapture, Ouizer, Radekk, Sadistic, Zayne, and all the rest of you whom I love, especially you urk.

---

Aw, I totally love you too, Drew.  That's why I bought you dinner when you came into town.  Too bad you didn't pick up the signals then though, I think there might have been some magic between us.

If you just read this interview and want to send some of your own signals Duardo's way, stop on into the discussion thread attached and say hello.  Might want to play nice though, he's looking to keep things clean.

Bringing great ideas to life.

ReconLIVE returns for round two of their community spotlight.  This time out, they're exploring their custom map variant, Sanction.  Check out what it took to get it constructed and then jump over to Bungie Favorites to see the rest of their week two selections.

Q. Where did the idea for Sanction come from?

A. Construct! We started off with the idea of re-creating the top portion of Construct with the sword area, lobby, and two side rooms. We thought this would turn out to be a pretty interesting, small CTF & Team Slayer map.

Q. How long did it take to recreate?

A. Once we really got down to business, the general layout that we wanted was done in just under two days. We spent a few more days fine tuning the map through community play tests and fixing exploitable spots where you could jump outside of the bases. Good times.

Q. What aspect took you the longest to get just right?

A. Finding a layout that worked and yet was still fun to play on. Our original “finished” version was, quite frankly, terrible. The map had almost zero cover and during an initial match immediately turned into a “run into the middle and throw as many grenades as possible”. After this, we realized the map needed more, so we decided to split the middle and add tunnels under the bases. Surprisingly, everything fit perfectly and worked really well together. We hope the community thinks so as well!

Q. How could Forge be improved?

A. As I’m sure it’s been said before, we’d all love to see some sort of terrain editor. Adding trees, rocks, and everything of that sort would be amazing! It would be also awesome to include decorative type props to spruce the maps up a bit and give them more of a professional feel. It could be little things, such as: adding in power grids, generators, or even throwing in some random cables that we can strew along the ground. Also, adding something along the lines of environmental effects such as rain, snow etc.

Above all, Forge was a great addition to Halo 3 and has given the community, ourselves included, a chance to build upon our great ideas and bring them to life.

---

If you want to add yourself to ReconLIVE's community, the link to their site is up at the top of this interview.  If you just want to see what they have in store for you inside Bungie Favorites, the link is in this sentence.  Click stuff.  It'll be great!

Enjoys a wet sock beat down in the shower.


Okay, maybe Matty isn't exactly into sopping wet sock shower violence.  We just snagged that snippet out of the interview below as a sneaky way to get you to click in.  Since you're already here, why not read the rest of Chunky_Lover's Average Joe spotlight?  It's not his fault that we roped you in under false pretenses!

Q. Who are you and what do you do?

A. My name is Matt, or as my friends and parents call me, Matty. I'm the proud son of a seasoned hockey loving family (which is a must if you are Canadian like moi). I've been working part time....wait? No I haven't! Since having been graduated recently I am now considering rainy west coast Septembers as part of my extra long Summer Break.

However besides being lazy, I have discovered a passion for 3D.  Everything from Zbrush to 3ds Max just gets me excited every time I think about something I want to make. Modeling and Animation specifically, and I hope to have it be my future career someday.

I'm also a seasoned Paintballer and Hockey player, although being over age to play minor hockey, I have decided to take up some Rec Hockey with a few friends of mine, which is fun if you enjoy fights and having wet sock beat downs in the showers.

Q. Who doesn't?  But since we can't dig into details about your soapy scrub-a-dub escapades, maybe you should just tell us where you snagged your gamertag.

A. I think a name should actually mean something. It should have deep meaning, today's gamertags seem to all be about alternating capital and lower case letters.  My tag is Matty McDee, which is a name my father gave to me when I was little. Its kind of odd recalling this strange tune he used to sing "Matty McDee sittin' in a tree" and it would continue with strange rhymes that made no sense but I think it speaks to me more than ever.

Q. S-o-c-k-i-n-g.  Sorry, had to do it.  When your looking to let other people speak to you online, what forums do you step into to for some conversation these days?

A. I am a frequent in the ODST, Reach and Bungie Community Forums. I enjoy pushing people in the right direction instead of the wrong one in terms of gaming.

One thing I truly love about this community is the amount of fan-made content that streams off these forums. I remember just reading some of the most magnificent fan fiction when I first joined Bungie.net. This decision kind of pulled me into a lifestyle restless nights of all-nighter LAN parties with friends and having Halo themed "drinking" games.

I have one story where me and few friends were playing one of these games and we decided to play one were if we died in the game we had to take a shot. So we started up a game of No-Shields and Rocket Starts on Guardian. After the first couple of deaths you were still able to fight back and get your friends to get intoxicated faster, but at usually in drinking games there is always one guy who decides to lose the game to get drunk fast before everyone else, which in this case was another friend of mine committing suicide every time he spawned. Playing that made the night fly by and gave birth to many laughs when we watched the film in the morning.

Q. Sounds like a fun game for a group of mature, drinking age friends!  What else besides booze compels you to take up a controller?

A. When the Hockey season ends, that's what usually compels me to dust of the controller.

...no not really actually. I find that playing with friends that you can get along with and make fun of when they do or say stupid things over Xbox LIVE to other people is one of the greatest gifts in the world. At one point last summer, I took up a Game Design class at my local College and the Teachers of this course would host these LAN parties were would play Team Fortress 2 and Halo 2 PC in the labs. We would play either until the sun came up, or the keg ran out.

It was a great class, definitely worth the money, and I would suggest it to any aspiring game designers out there and not just because of the keg.

Q. Yeah. Study up, kids. What was the first Bungie title you played, Matty?

A. The first one was way back when? I believe it was Oni. I remember having to be baby's at at the age that I played it and the babysitter would play Oni on the PlayStation. I usually wouldn't play it until she had to use the washroom but truly that was the first Bungie title that I actually played.

The game that called me into the steamy whirlpool jacuzzi I like to call Bungie was Halo Combat Evolved which I canon-balled into. When I first played it I was stuck on the Pillar of Autumn and at the time my TV was so bad that during dark parts of that level I could not see a thing! I had to bring it over to my friends house to use his TV to beat the first level of Halo. Sad isn't it?

Q. Are you surprised by your level of community involvement?

A. Actually having to look back at some of the stuff I have posted and contributed to things like IRIS and ILB, I really think that I have made some form of a difference in this community, if not that I try to bring a positive attitude to some of the more negative topics I am really surprised. Bungie.net is on the sites I spend the most time on and I'm not the least bit ashamed by it because between the shenanigans that go down in the Flood or some alcohol abused forum posters in other forums...this place can never get old.

Not to mention its always nice to get a random private message even almost coming on two years since it came out saying "Oh I know you! You were on the Podcast!"

Q. Do you get involved with any other shameless online communities?

A. Not really anything specific. I am member of the Poly Count community and NeoGaf, but I'm much more frequent on B.net. I'm not big on joining other communities I always tend to make my first post an awkward one or I make an awkward moment even more awkward.

Over Bungie.net however I am a frequent in a Group called The Relocated Community also known as "TRC" which earlier in the year we had an unexpected name change but yeah, definitely a fine place to be especially for random fun and casual custom games.

Q. Anything awkward you wanna add? Wanna make a shout-out?

A. Why yes, I would. I would like to say first "Oh Hai thar" to my parents and my little brother Chris. I would also like to shout out everyone over there at TRC and the Mythix I <3 you guys and Crow for teaching me the 3 Dimensional ropes figuratively and physically speaking and last but not least the old gang of Trey(Milk), Justin(Beaver), Josh(ArabMan), Zack(Sharpshooter), Nick(Pyode) and Lee and the Shermanator your guys are the bestest.

---

Not sure bestest is a word.  We'll let it slide though.  Thanks for the interview, Matty.

If you want to slide on over to Matty's side of the couch (mind the keg), we've got a discussion thread all set up so you can say hello.  Better here then in the shower.  Trust us.

Settin' up tournaments and offering something more.


ReconLIVE started as a place to host Halo 3 tournaments, but evolved into a site to facilitate something more community driven.  They're not the largest offsite community going, far from it, but hey, not every group we take a look at needs to be the size of a small army.  If you're looking for a close knit group of Halo 3 players to square off against over Xbox LIVE, you should give ReconLIVE a look.  Here's what they had to say about themselves, in their own words:

Everything started back when a friend and I had participated in a local Halo 3 tournament at a Play N Trade. We enjoyed every minute of it, even though we lost. Since then, we’ve always wanted to participate in more tournaments and compete against other great gamers. Unfortunately, Play N Trade rarely hosted Halo 3 tournaments, and if they did, we always missed them. This got us thinking: Why not play in Halo 3 tournaments over Xbox LIVE? After doing some searching for a website hosting online Halo 3 tournaments, we came up empty handed. That’s when an idea sparked; we could make a website for the Halo 3 community and host tournaments over Xbox LIVE.

ReconLIVE started back in February of this year with only five people lending a helping hand in getting things started. I was the only one that had any background working on websites, and none of us had any experience assembling a tightly knit gaming community. What we did have was commitment to a specific view. We knew what we were looking for and what we wanted to offer the community; it was just a matter of making it a reality. When we officially launched www.ReconLIVE.net we didn’t see a very large turnout. The toughest aspect of starting a new website is getting your name out there. After about three months, we realized that not everyone was interested in tournaments alone. They were looking for something more. As a collaborative effort between some old friends, we improved our site to offer multiple contests as well as a place to chat and relate with people that have familiar interests. Specifically, Halo!

Since this realization, we've begun to expand to a more community based hub. Aside from tournaments, we've also begun to offer other competitions, such as caption contests each month. There’s also a very strong community spirit. People often meet and help each other rank up or play custom games out of the blue. These are people they've just met, and now they're on each other’s friends lists!

The funny thing about all of this is that, since we’re the ones who actually setup and host the tournaments, we don’t really get to compete. What’s in it for us is the fact that we can offer these tournaments to everyone else, something that wasn’t available to us. We do occasionally set up matches that let us compete against the community for fun, and of course LET them win a few matches. (Just kidding, we fail.)

The ReconLIVE today won’t be the ReconLIVE you see tomorrow. We’re always open to ideas and suggestions from our community to improve our website and make it a more enjoyable place for them to be. It’s a great feeling to be able to offer something back to the community that you’ve shared so many games with over the years. Bungie has created a gaming environment like nothing ever before it. We’re just glad to be a part of it.

Q. What are some of ReconLIVE's favorite maps?

A. A map we love to play on is an old favorite from Halo 2 – Last Resort. It’s an amazing map for objective game types and ridiculously fun to play on with your buddies.

With Avalanche being a remake of Sidewinder from the original Halo, it became another instant favorite. From the outstanding look and feel, to the many different types of strategies, it’s a perfect map.

Guardian. The map has a great layout and a very familiar feel to it. Lockout was one of the best Halo 2 maps and when Guardian was released with Halo 3, it brought back that same close combat feel; while still leaving enough room for those epic BR battles.

Q. And your favorite Game Variants?

A. We’re really big CTF fans. It all goes back to the memories of LAN parties on the original Halo…playing CTF on Blood Gulch. Another, of course, is Team Slayer with its raw carnage. What else could you ask for?

Q. What would you like to see in Matchmaking that isn’t there today?

A. We were really sad to see Team Objective go. The decision however made sense; hardly anyone ever played in it. Being the CTF fanatics we are, we loved playing in the Team Flag Double EXP weekend. It’d be really amazing to see that become a permanent playlist. Team Slayer who?

---

We'll, speaking of going, there goes ReconLIVE's first week in the Community Spotlight.  If you want to see what kind of content they think you should be looking at, make sure you check out their selections for Bungie Favorites.

Master of the dropships.


Our ninjas have the week off.  Well, not from patrolling the forums and banning fools, just from the forced interviews we've been making them endure these last few weeks.  No worries though, we're dipping our bucket back into Average Joe well.  Up for today, Dropship dude.  He jingles, owns a sweet Crystal Xbox, and he's underage.  Sound like your kind of guy?  Read up.

Q. Who are you and what do you do?

A. A lot of people around here will know me as Dropship dude. Some will know me as Ross. Others will know me as “the Brit” (yes, I’m British), and a few will still wonder who the heck I am. I’m 16 (bet that was a surprise to a lot of you), and when I grow up I want to be a racer. No, really. Hey, some people can hope, right?

I’m an A-level student studying Geography (so I know why the land looks like it does), Biology (so I understand what’s going on in my body when I see a... never mind), English (bcuz i r know speek inglesh vury will), and Maths (so that if I ever need to know the graph for a cubic equation, in a real life situation, I can look back and say: wow, it really was useful).

When I’m not in school sleeping, I’m at home sleeping, or sitting at my desk playing on my PC or Xbox. I’ve been playing a lot of this new game which came out a little while ago. Something by a developer named after an extreme sport. Unfortunately for my social life, gaming is a huge part of what I do, hence the pale skin and glasses. Nothing a fake tan and contacts can’t sort – after all, that’s what women these days do, right?

Moving on...

Q. Yeah, let's skip right past the battle of the sexes and head into less dangerous territory.  Where did you drum up your gamertag?

A. This fancy jingle? It all started back in the days of Halo: Combat Evolved. I just got an Xbox (Crystal, might I add – oh, and another thing I want to add: that Xbox still works, after an awfully long time. Odd that), and a few games. Halo: CE was my first shooter ever, and it got me hooked. After I finished Halo: CE on Legendary for the first time , I saw an advert on the telly for Halo 2. Naturally, I wanted it.

About a week after getting Halo 2, I bought Halo: CE for the PC. It was on that fateful day when my online alias was created. While playing on the level “Halo”, I got to the point where it’s just before you first get a Warthog. A Covenant dropship flew overhead, and glitched. It floated there, and never moved. I managed to get on top of it, and at that moment, I proclaimed myself “Dropship dude”, the master of the dropships.

Hey, I was 11 – can you blame me?

I never actually got onto Xbox LIVE until I got my first Xbox 360, back in 2005, and even then, all I played was Halo 2. That’s when I plonked in my old ‘tag (which I will not state. It was too horrific). In 2006, I visited BNet for the first time, and needed a name other than that horrible failure I already had. So, I used Dropship dude. Earlier this year, my old ‘tag was finally complained about enough to get Microsoft to make me change it. I was saved!

Q. Yeah, don't be bringin' any horrible failures up in here.  Now that you got that all sorted out, where do end up spending most of your time around these parts?

A. I’m a regular here at BNet. It’s my home inside my home. Try looking on the Halo 3: ODST forum for me – I’m usually found pointing out people’s faults, and making large, boring posts. If you can’t seem to find me, I’ll likely be on one of the 25 private groups I’m in. Mostly ODST 4th Battalion, because they made me a moderator. Oh, OK, and for some other reasons too.

I’m also a bit of - OK, a HUGE - elitist, so I hang out on the Mythic Members group a bit too. Nothing there but awesome people and awesome things you regulars can’t see. Well, I guess we could let you in, urk.

Q. Very nice of you.  Lemme think about it.  I get kinda squirmy when people ask me to commit.  While I'm mulling it over, tell me why you enjoy playing games.

A. I find gaming a very relaxing, sometimes aggravating, time-consuming past-time. As such, I love it. I’m on my Xbox an unhealthy amount. I usually chill on Halo 3 and ODST with my main men Daft Whiteboy, BlandKitten, Slayer6070, and Kirbacious D. Ever since Combat Evolved, I’ve been a gamer. I mean, it was a large step up from Spyro the Dragon on PS2, to shooting aliens in the face with big-ass guns on the Xbox.

Saying that, I still enjoy far more casual games. I love Burnout games (Takedown especially), and that new “Split Second” game looks hella fun.

Q. What was the first Bungie title you played and had hella fun with?

A. I remember playing a Marathon game once, but not well enough to say when it was. So, I’ll just stick with Halo: Combat Evolved. It was so good, I did what Johnson told me to do at the end of the PC demo, and bought another copy for the PC. So I have three copies of Halo: CE, two of Halo 2, two of Halo 3 (limited, and regular) and one of ODST. Why so many? Well, I like to game while I game.

Q. Are you surprised that you like to get involved with the community afterward?

A. Not really. It’s the best online community of all. I wouldn’t trade it for anything – the witty remarks, the great discussions, and the extremely active members, all make a great place to visit while I just sit in a chair, drink Pepsi, and listen to some good music.

Q. Are you involved with any communities outside of Bungie.net?

A. Nah, although, I am hoping to go to PAX sometime. It’s a bit too expensive for a student to go to Seattle for a week, but if it means a trip to Bungie Studios, I’m willing to pay. Speaking of which, any chance I can bunk with one of you guys while I stay? Just trying to reduce costs, ya know.

Q. No chance. You can, however, make some shout outs and say some stuff before you shove off.

A. While I was writing most of this, my dog was nudging my arm and liking my wrists. I think he wants a walk. Ah well.

As for shout-outs, I want to thank all the active folks at O4B, the Mythic Member crew, the moderation team (apart from Achilles because he won’t ever accept my friend request), the Bungie team (duh), my Endure team of Marcara 08, ZaRoC 19, and Sl Loboz, my main men mentioned above, everyone on my Xbox LIVE friends list, and Marty O’Donnell, for making such kick-ass music.

Oh, and one more thing: Can I haz Re-

-ach?

---

I see what you did there.  Ask me again in Fall 2010.  In the meantime, you should head off to the thread this news article has automatically created.  Say hello to your throng of adoring fans.  All that stuff.  (Oh, and don't forget about your dog.)

Simple, sweet, and symmetrical.


The Upper Echelon returns for another round in the spotlight.  For week two, they're talking about their Map Variant, Sand Gulch.  It's so awesome, it took two people to get it into fighting shape.  Read all about it.

Q. What inspired Sand Gulch?

Skitzo yo: To begin with, Dino's lack of wanting to play matchmaking and my fear of playing alone (lots of strangers on that there internet).  I don't know about Dino, but I wanted something simple, sweet, and symmetrical.

Haloassassin92 (Dino): Well, when I first started working on it I wanted a good symmetrical big team map like Blood Gulch (hence the name) since all we had was Valhalla, Standoff, Avalanche and Rat's Nest. All good maps but I wanted more variety when I was playing squad battle (or was it rank big team battle at the time). One that was good for Slayer, CTF, Assault, Oddball, and King of the Hill.

Q. How long did you spend getting it into shape?

Skitzo yo: We might have different ideas on how long it took to create (Dino takes forever).  I'm going to make a huge estimate and say three days. (Not three days straight though).

Haloassassin92: In total it took about a month. I started about ten days before Skitzo, working on the center and how the bases may look because I had the Mythic maps.

After he started to help it took another three days to get it to look good enough to get test played. We tested played it over and over and over with many people (most from atlas, others from other friends) asking for there feed back and editing the map little by little until it not only looked great but played great.

Q. What aspect took the longest to get right?

Skitzo yo: Trying to get the bases aligned and have similar proportions wasn't the funnest task ever.

Haloassassin92: For me the center, once we started working together getting the bases symmetrical (one of those times I would loved to have copy & paste).

Q. How could Forge be made mo better?

Haloassassin92: I would love to see a "click" option for moving objects so with one click the object rotates 90 degree so I can keep objects straight.

Skitzo yo: Copy & Paste? I've heard quite a few people complain about not being able to have one side of their "symmetrical" map, well...symmetrical to the other.  Having copy/paste would help some of the more 1 sided thinkers.  Copy/paste would also make Forging quicker and not such a tedious task. Take all that time to make one base and what next? Make it again...who has time for that? All that would be needed is to highlight the structure you want to duplicate, and as long as you have the budget and space...POOF! Twins.

Oh, and with copy and paste should come the rotate ability so both structures aren't pointing the same direction. The ability to drag multiple pieces instead of one at a time would of been nice too.

---

If you think it's a drag to have to read about Sand Gulch without getting to play it, no worries, The Upper Echelon slapped it in their favorites from last week.  You can get it, and a whole new batch of Bungie Favorites right now.  Nice guys, eh?

Rock-rock-boom-boom.

Sir Fragula is doing stuff with things here at Bungie.net.  He's also so invested that he plans on sticking around well into his old age.  If you want to stick around and not end up pinwheeling out of Bungie.net by way of this Ninja's banhammer, you should read the interview below.  Failure to comply might prove risky.

Q. Who are you and what do you do?

A. Right now I’m an analyst with a fairly well known British company. We do stuff with things and help people with what-have-you. Interests include getting lost on public transport, walking a maniac of a dog and curry. Spend most of my gaming time with an elite cadre of gentlemen who’ve learned that my in-game flying skills are perfectly offset by my cruel tendency to eject out of planes and helicopters seconds before impacting skyscrapers.

Q. You do some weird stuff.  I'm kinda sorry I asked.  Since I'm not into learning lessons, here's question number two:  What did you do with  yourself at Bungie.net before taking up the Banhammer?

A. For the first couple of years I’d mostly use Bungie’s generous chapter tools to organise Halo 1 LANs, and generally keep in touch with old school buddies.

Q. Now that you're a bit more involved, do you ever feel the need to take a break and return to old school form?

A. Sometimes. I think it’s important not to get too involved or stressed about any job, and taking a break when you start to feel that things aren’t getting fun. But really, like all ninjas we’re here because we like the place and we want to see it continue to develop into a place people want to visit; a break every now and then doesn’t take that away.

Q. When you do take your time away, what online places outside of Bungie.net are you checking yourself into?

A. Do a fair bit of surfing on NeoGAF and Arstechnica in particular. I also like to pretend I still have the time to just *learn* stuff for its own sake, so I do a bit of reading around my degree subjects of Economics and International Relations. Arms Control in particular is my current interest.

Oh! And I’m learning C# for XNA. Got a great idea for a space shooter game; you play a sleek triangular ship with a forward facing cannon tasked with defending itself against an ever increasing number of asteroids. I think I’ll call it “rock-rock-boom-boom”.

Q. Sounds sweet.  What about Bungie.net keeps you coming back for some surfing between all that learning?

A. It’s like an addictive MMO. I’ve got my account up to Ninja and I’m not going to lose all those man-hours spent playing! Maybe I’ll give it a rest when I reach the Achronos level cap and get a pimpin’ Chopper mount or something.

Q. How has your view of the massively multiplayer B.net community changed since you've signed on?

A. It’s certainly a lot larger; I mean compare how many members we had back when I joined in 2002 to now! I think it’s interesting – and natural - how most of the discussion has shifted away from the minutia of the storyline to the balance of the multiplayer game. It’s also cool how a lot of the early community stuff involved recording jaw dropping stunts [remember Boll’s Warthog ‘nade Launch tribute game?] whereas these days people are making jaw dropping Forge-Art and levels, and sharing them through the excellent tools Bungie have given us.

Q. Be honest, how excellent is it to swing the Banhammer?

A. Bloody awesome. You’re pretty much guaranteed a 30% response rate to any swing of the hammer and they’re mostly a gold mine of hilarious half explanations and random insults. If I’m still doing this when I’m 80 I may end up banning randomly just for the conversation.

---

Bloody awesome indeed.  Thanks for the conversation (and the hard work), Sir Fragula.  If you're still here when you're 80 years old, we'll send you a free t-shirt.  In the meantime, we've set up a discussion thread so people can say hello.  Hopefully it's the right size.

These guys and gals are golden.


Got gold bars propping up your Halo 3 matchmaking rank?  Not a worry in the world.  If you're looking for a group that celebrates your status, you've come to the right place.  Get up to speed on the Bungie.net group, The Upper Echelon.  Here's what they had to say for themselves:

BrenGT2: The Upper Echelon is a sanctuary of sorts. It's a place where all those who have reached the grade four status of their current matchmaking ranks can escape the craziness of the public forums and meet amazing community members from all over the world, knowing that we all share one thing in common.

Through the founding of TUE, some of the most amazing Bungie.net members have graced the group with their presence. The best part is when a group of us gets together in matchmaking and beats the other team. We prove that those with gold bars are a force to be reckoned with, and to quote one of the members of the group, "we are proud of the adornments that reside under our ranks!"

As of late, the group has become a real hub for our members to meet on a daily basis. Our forums are always humming with activity, and the topics are really interesting. We also have a group on HaloCharts by the same name which has also seen a great deal of success.

The Upper Echelon has become so much more than just a group; it's a sprawling community. We are the place where the casual and the serious gamer can meet and enjoy the game that brought us all together.

MR DROZ: There's a common misconception that if you have gold bars than you must be a bad player. This is absolutely not true. The ranking system works just fine and people belong at certain levels. For instance I am a Staff Captain. I have no business playing against a General. None what so ever. I am a casual gamer and I play for fun. Many of us do.

I've always felt that it's a blessing to have gold bars. I feel that grade 4 ranks are amongst the best in the game at that skill level. We have a member that we call the Goat Snatcher (pm me later for explanation, don't worry it's clean). He's a Brig-Gen and I swear on everything holy that he sends Grade 2 Generals screaming for mommy. A lot of our members are like this. We truly enjoy going into BTB with a full party, getting trash talked, and then stomping the other team.

One of my favorite things to do at TUE is interview high profile members of the community. I've interviewed a few of the Forum Moderators and I'm currently working on an interview with Firestream from Halo Charts. The interview with Foman was by far the most fun so far (sorry Duardo). You wouldn't believe how many people simply wanted to ask "Y U BAN ME?" A few people actually said "why did you unban me"? That poor guy. He's damned if he does, damned if he doesn't!

Q. What are your favorite maps?

BrenGT2: My favorite maps are generally the big team maps, like Valhalla, Standoff and Sand Trap, but many of the smaller maps like Construct, Cold Storage and Ghost Town are really great.

I feel that Cold Storage is under-utilized in matchmaking, which is really unfortunate. Not only is the map beautiful to look at (which Forerunner map isn't?) but is also plays beautifully. The teleporters add a level of uncertainty that makes gameplay even more frenzied and fun.

MR DROZ: Anything that allows me the ability to run over my teammates with a mongoose. *Waves at Skittles and Kelly*

Q. What are your favorite gametypes?

BrenGT2: My favorite gametypes are on the opposite ends of the spectrum, it seems. On the one hand, I love Big Team Battle, as it's a great way for a big group of us to get into matchmaking together. It's also that much more full of action, especially when we are matched up with a really good team. On the other hand, I love Rumble Pit. On those days when I just feel like a good skirmish with no other team mates to worry about, this is perfect for that.

Of course, for those other days, there is always Action Sack. I find myself going into this playlist a lot more these days. I like variety, and Action Sack delivers that in strides.

MR DROZ: The gametype really depends on the map that goes with it. Team BR's is great but only on the more open maps like The Pit. Duals is great but only on close-quarters maps like Snowbound. Everybody rushes the basement. There's really no need for BR's in such a closed space. At least not in my opinion. Shishka knows best. He's got all that data in front of him to work from. As Johnson would say... "He knows what the ladies like."

Q. What would you like to see in Matchmaking that isn't?

BrenGT2: This is the hardest question to answer by far. At the moment, I really like the way that matchmaking has been set up, but it would be cool to see more Team Flag than there has been. We at The Upper Echelon love our Team Flag.

MR DROZ: Indeed. Team Flag is by far the most fun I've had in a long time. Every time this comes up our forum explodes with excitement. Most of us are teamwork orientated players and we really do well with CTF games.

---

Thanks to The Upper Echelon for answering our not so difficult questions and for gracing our game with a little bit of precious mettle.  If you want to test your own, apply for membership (you gotta have gold bars) and check out their group home right here at Bungie.net.  If you just want to check out their content, they've uploaded some new gems into Bungie Favorites.

Not a heel. Get it?


Achilles arrives just in time to make it back to back Bungie.net Ninjas for this Tuesday morning interview thing we do.  He's old, he's into hanging out and having good times, and if you're a dummy, he's probably given you a timeout or two here at Bungie.net so you could spend some time alone thinking about what you did.  If you're here for revenge, might want to think twice.  If you're just here to check out the choice interview with a fine, upstanding Bungie.net moderator, you should get scrolling.

Q. Without revealing too many of your super secret personal details, tell us who you are and what you do.

A. My names is Wayne and I am somewhere in my 30’s. Not sure where because I have problems counting that high. I work all day fixing computers or as I call them “peoples magic pr0n boxes.” When I am not at work you can find me playing Halo 3 or ODST online with my core group of friends and spending time with the wife. I love to listen to quite a range of music, but I love listening to punk music the most especially the Ramones and Pennywise.

I also make some Halo vids in my spare time. They are not any of that MLG uber 1337 skillz crap. Just vids I make for me and my friends. You can find my channel here. My greatest influence in starting to do these would be the great Impurity. His vids showed me that they can be fun and not have to be all pro.

Q. What did you do with yourself on Bungie.net before you went all pro and picked up the Banhammer?

A. Mostly I lurked around to see what the hell was going on. I really never did anything on the internet until I moved to Cali for a bit. Once I got to B.net I frequented the old Zanzibar forum. Talk about the Wild West. Kids these days have no idea how much tamer the forums are compared to then. That sounded really old didn’t it? Next thing you know I will be yelling like Recon for kids to get off my lawn while I am in my car in another state.

The first person I met though was a brash young buck who liked to sign his posts like a complete asshat. I believe you did one of these interviews with him already. Yep, my first B.net accountabilibuddy was BersworkerGarage. After getting my first friend I started to branch out into the Jumpers and some other older groups like MOAP and TFM. Now I have a huge list of pretty cool people that I can call on to hang out with and have some good times.

Q. When you're tired of being accountable, where do you go to get some time away?

A. I have a few sites that I check up on rather regularly even though I don’t post there. Let me get you a quick list. HBO, HawtyMcbloggy, Halocharts, Youtube, Twitter, and Zero Punctuation.

Q. Pretty solid list.  What keeps you coming back to Bungie.net?

A. Mostly I come back because this is the place where it all started for me. Also because I am a complete -blam!- and I don’t get along well with groups that make you have to have an application and referral to join. With that being said it is better if I just stay close to home.

Q. How has this place changed since it all started for you?

A. That is actually a question that I could go on and on about for hours. I would think it would be best suited to an After School Special.

Q. Hmm.  Pass.  How good do you feel after you've swung the Banhammer and nuked some poor soul for no reason?

A. I won’t lie. It is cool to make stupid people disappear. The brochure though said I would get mad money and ho’s. I have yet to see either from my time as a moderator.

[Eds. note: Mad money and ho's not included - urk]

I would like to give a big list of shout outs as well to all my peeps. If I forget to mention you well I am sorry and you can just kiss my ass. You know I still love you.

Achronos (stop team killing me!), Obi Wan Stevobi, El Roboto, Impurity, Butane123, immortal eNeME, Louis Wu, Senor Leche (Hurry home man!), Mr.XCYTMENT, Recon Number 54, Ouizer, Pete VenkmanPHD, ODST McKenzie, Predator5791, all the TFM dudes, Se7enDaysEnd, SniperStealth, THE DON WAN, ToMaHAVVK x, True Underdog, Tuffjuice, hawkeye543, and Guitarplyr123 , Foman123, TGP, AdversePosesion, and BerserkerBarage.

Also I would like to post a vid if I may. One of my favorite bands doing an awesome cover of a Ramones song.

---

You may.  You also forgot to mention me.  Jerk.  If you wanna tell Achilles how much of a jerk he is, hit the discussion thread attached.  Same if you just want to say what's up.  You know what, just go with the latter.  Wayne's looking to make some people disappear.