The newest Gamepro magazine issue has more than a dozen preview pages showing off Halo 3's updated weapons, vehicles, equipment, beta maps, and the levels Shrine, Epitaph, and Last Resort. The most exciting new feature they reveal is the ability to extensively customize your player armor:

"Tired of staring at Master Chief's mug? Halo 3's online mode offers new armor permutations that allow players to customize their personas from head to toe. Will the Covenenat Elite player models be eligible for similar upgrades? Only Bungie knows."  

Create-A-Spartan opens up many questions, none of which Bungie is willing to talk about yet. Will the armor permutations affect your online health meter? Do different sets of armor portray different ranks of any sort? Or is it all just for a fun change of appearance to visually set Halo 3 apart from Halo 2? We'll have to wait and see, Bungie doesn't want to spoil all their secrets, but it's obvious they've still got at least a few more they're keeping from us. Check out the high quality scans from Arrogantics below.

With Halo 3's beta gaining lots of attention, and its September 25th release slowly approaching, the Halo movie hopes are being raised once again:

"That ever-elusive Halo film may soon see the light of day, according to attached producer and Hobbit scholar Peter Jackson, but that he'll only do it if Neill Blomkamp stays on as director."

Peter Jackson thinks that Halo 3's sales will speak loudly and get everybody to rethink letting this cinematic opportunity pass by. With the Legendary Edition costing $130, Microsoft and Bungie might as well finance the movie themselves, and release it as a straight-to-DVD film that costs some other outrageous price that we'll still eagerly pay to see.

We've seen some cool tricks and glitches in Halo 3 already, and now we've got an impressive kill to add to the list of things to try. AssassinSniper managed to take out an approaching enemy banshee in the sky by easily tossing a trip mine into a man cannon to send it up in air. With just the right timing he pulled off the fireworks display for the memorable kill.

I hope everyone has fun with their friends and family today, anyone have any big gaming plans? In honor of Memorial Day and all the fallen soldiers in the past, let's share our most memorable gaming victories. Was it setting a Mario Party mini-game record or lapping your friend in Mario Kart? Perhaps a GoldenEye 64 story involving proximity mines and rockets? Maybe a Killtacular in Halo 2 or a huge guild raid in World of Warcraft? I've got countless crazy Super Smash Bros. stories, but they're all overshadowed by something my friend pulled off in Counter-Strike.

My friend was running through the de_dust map in the wide tunnel low passage area at the bottom of the map, the place with boxes all around and an overhang spot for snipers to hide at the end of the low path. Expecting an enemy to peak its head over the overhang at the end of the path, he aimed upwards ready to shoot, but instead, the enemy dropped down from the opposite overhang, exposing his feet first from above as he fell down with his back turned to my friend. He got ready to shoot, aimed for the falling head, and pulled the trigger at the exact moment that someone popped out from behind a box in front of him, which was also the same moment that sniper he was originally looking for popped his head up from his hiding spot. Trigger finger. One shot. Three kills. Audio goes crazy with celebrations filled with swearing.

What are some of your most memorable gaming victories? 

Halo 3 is still months away from coming out on Xbox 360, and fans are already having fun finding all the tricks and glitches in the multiplayer. Players goatrope and DevinOlsensBack have recorded their exploration of the three beta maps as they find the strategic hidden limits Bungie tucked into each level. The first half of the footage is all focused on Highground's several perches around the perimeter of the environment, and how you can leapfrog your way to the top of the surrounding cliffs.

Valhalla has a few spots where collision clipping allows you to perch yourself up in a corner on thin air. They've also used grenades on each other and vehicles to catapult over huge distances and glitching the death code. And in Snowbound they show how far you an push the height limits of each map. The buildings reach far into the sky, yet they've already found a way to get more than half way up each structure. My main reason for liking Halo 2 more than the first Halo was because of the maps, and so far I'm loving Halo 3's maps.

Poor MajorNelson, look what you overeager gamers did to his homepage:

We're aware that some users are having difficulty downloading the Halo 3 multiplayer beta via Crackdown. Bungie Studios is working with the Xbox Live team to resolve this as quickly as possible - stay tuned. Gamers entering the beta through other means, such as the Friends and Family remain unaffected.

I don't think I've ever seen MajorNelson's page crash and resort to black and white, you've sucked the green life out of the Xbox 360. Microsoft also announced late last night that September 25th is the target release date for Halo 3, a full month earlier than we had expected. I'm surprised they would announce the date until after the beta testing had concluded, but now we'll hold them to it.

If you're stuck without the Halo 3 beta download this morning you might as well download Aegis Wing on Xbox Live Arcade today. It's a side-scrolling shooter that's free, here's some pictures.

All the commotion over the upcoming Halo 3 beta makes it feel like some sort of Gamers' Suffrage movement just ended. Bungie has been offering beta Halo 3 gameplay to a select few since Friday, but tomorrow at 8 A.M. Eastern Time (5 A.M. Pacific Time) the public beta download for Halo 3 will finally be available on your Xbox 360s. Here's a epic sized Bloomberg prediction: There will be lots of lag and timed out connections with fans bitching about having to wait a few more hours than they expected to get their hands on Halo 3.

To help speed up the process and cut back on the chaos, Bungie has an official guide here for you to read, that'll answer your setup, gameplay, and customization questions. Either give it a browse now or save it for tomorrow morning when you're waiting for the massive download, but you might want to at least take a quick peak at their weapons and vehicles and equipment pictures to get a preview of what's in store for you tomorrow. And if all Halo hell breaks loose tomorrow and you don't get a chance to play, don't worry too much, the open beta will run through June 6th.

The tips on how to set things up depending on whether or not you have Crackdown or not will help a lot of people, but the things I found helpful were the elaborate map guides for Highground, Snowbound, and Valhalla. Once you've gotten some gameplay time in, be sure to come back here and leave your feedback on which guns and maps you liked the most and least.

Bungie sent out an official fact sheet for their Halo 3 game coming this Fall, with paragraphs of details we already know about. The pricing for the three different Halo 3 editions has only been rumored and hinted at until now though, and Bungie confirmed that the Legendary cat helmet package is as expensive as we had feared:

Legendary Edition ($129.99):
Individually numbered and available while supplies last, the Legendary Edition includes a copy of “Halo 3” in a collectible Spartan helmet case. In addition to the game, the exclusive set includes the following content:

• Remastered cinematic material from “Halo: Combat Evolved” and “Halo 2” with developer commentary
• “A day in the life at Bungie” featurette
• High definition “Making of ‘Halo 3’” documentary
• Featurettes on game design, development, and more
• Early game concepts and their evolution over the course of “Halo 3’s” development
• Audio-video calibration tool custom designed by the “Halo 3” graphics and audio team
• Exclusive content from the creative minds of Machinima artists Red vs. Blue and This Spartan Life
• Illuminating “Halo 3” storyboard art book from artist Lee Wilson
• The Legendary Edition will be available in limited quantities for a limited time at select retailers.
  

Limited Edition ($69.99):
Available while supplies last, the Limited Edition includes a copy of “Halo 3” in a sleek metal collector’s case. In addition to the game, the exclusive set includes the following content:

• High definition “Making of ‘Halo 3’” documentary
• Featurettes on game design, development, and more
• Early game concepts and their evolution over the course of “Halo 3’s” development
• Audio-video calibration tool custom designed by the “Halo 3” graphics and audio team
• Elaborate and compelling “Halo” fiction and art book
• The Limited Edition will be available for a limited time at select retailers.

And then there's the regular copy which still offers you a great game, for only $59.99. Way to make us feel poor, Bungie. I've got all the next generation systems, but why should I spend the current price of a PlayStation 2 for just one game? The obvious answer is, of course, because some people will buy it. The limited edition looks good enough for me, here's a few Halo 3 gameplay pictures one of my readers took at a beta event. Thanks, Gary Domican!

TheBBPS found this Make-A-Wish charity eBay auction called Konsoles for Kids. One word short of a racist alliteration acronym, here are its details:

To celebrate the Xbox 360 console's first birthday in Australia, the Xbox Australia team has joined forces with an array of celebrities to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Australia by auctioning off celebrity autographed Xbox 360 consoles. This is a 1-of-a-kind customised Xbox 360 console personally autographed by Bungie, creators of the Halo trilogy. You will not find another like it in the world.

The lucky winner of the auction will receive the Xbox 360 system which includes the customised celebrity Xbox 360 console (airbrushed with portrait image and personally signed by Bungie, creators of the Halo trilogy), an Xbox 360 wireless controller, an Xbox 360 20 gig hard-drive, an Xbox 360 Media Remote and Xbox Live Silver membership. Total retail value is $649.00.

Even though 100% of the $24,300 auction will go to the Make-A-Wish foundation in Australia, I can't help but get a little pissed that someone would pay so much for a Xbox 360. Makes me wonder how much an autographed Final Fantasy XIII themed PS3 might go for.

Most of the video is smooth, but the person filming made the most sloppy zoom in possible to show that MajorNelson is actually one of the people playing in the Halo 3 match. You'll get to see more of Last Resort (the updated Zanzibar map) multiplayer gameplay action. The audio is supposed to be loud and obnoxiously NSFW, but there's another videos that you can watch here after the jump. (click and scroll down). Thanks to reader Stoney for the tip!

Want to help shape the future of Halo 3? It's not much, but Bungie is running a contest that lets gamers design Spartan emblems:

This is a skill-based Contest. The object of this Contest is to create an original emblem to be used as a decorative element for Spartan armor in the Xbox 360 game, Halo 3. For purpose of this Contest, each original emblem you create and submit in the Contest will be called an “entry.” All eligible entries received will be judged using the criteria in Paragraph 4, and the judges will select one person who will receive the prize described below.

There's about ten million different rules, but it's pretty simple - just make something cool using only two colors that they can legally include in the game, and you'll be seeing your creation in Halo 3.