Microsoft announced “Halo 4″ at their press conference June 6 at E3, nearly nine months after “Halo: Reach” launched on the 360. The minute-and-a-half trailer left more questions than answers themselves. Among those questions one in particular begs to be asked: is Microsoft trying to salvage their first real mascot from the figurative grave?

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Why, indeed? Episode 007 of the critically acclaimed (not really) Marooners’ Talk podcast, titled “GIR! Why was there bacon in the soap?!” is done and ready for your listening pleasure! This episode again features the dulcet tones of Chris and Lindsey only, since none of our writers like us enough to chat with us about cool stuff for an hour (insert sad face so sad that a simple emoticon could not hope to convey the truly Homeric sadness felt at this abandonment here). Read the full story

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I am both blessed and cursed with a wife who enjoys video games as much as I do. I am blessed, because she is my enabler. I don’t have to justify buying video games, consoles, or other electronics to her, because she understands the compulsion, and revels in it. I am cursed, because we only have one gaming setup, which means that we must learn to share time with our games. As only children, sharing was never that big of an issue growing up, so you can imagine how difficult it is when we’re nearing 30. Read the full story

Today, for all you Halo fans, is Bungie Day. The creators of the Halo series, Bungie, have an affinity for the number 7. Since today is 7/7/09 that makes it Bungie Day!

If you own Halo 3 and have an Xbox Live account, you can go into the special playlist “Bungie vs. The World” so that you can be matched up with some of the Bungie staff. If you win the round with them, you will be awarded Recon armor. They even have a Scoreboard going where you can track how the games are going.

Typically on special days, presents are given… right? RIGHT! Bungie has gifted us with images of 3 upcoming maps that will be on Halo: ODST. If you ever played Halo 2, most of you will be familiar with the new map Heretic. It’s an updated version of Midship, and if you ever played on Midship you will remember all of the strategies you and your team can execute to own your opponents.

Image Courtesy of Bungie

The next map is Citadel, a long abandoned Forerunner stronghold. It’s a small, symmetrical map and offers little safety for players looking to hide out and camp. Citadel’s tight quarters force you and your team to really work together, keeping up constant communication, and keeping an eye out. Citadel will also force players who are used to long range battles, especially with the sniper, to change up their tactics and adjust to close combat tactics.

Image Courtesy of Bungie

The third, and final map, Bungie showed today was Longshore. It’s located at Old Mombasa and used to be a port. It’s great for large scale combat but can be used for smaller battles. Longshore appears to be a cluster of industrial buildings and will feature elevated walks as well as open areas. Longshore seems like the type of map where you can come up with many diverse strategies ranging from long range to close.

Image Courtesy of Bungie

Hopefully the images of the new maps have you all excited. I know I am, and I can’t wait until Halo: ODST is released. As more information is given, we will be sure to update you all!

- She Who Has The Last Word.

I never played Halo 2 very often.  I’m not particularly brilliant at it, and never have been.  I’m getting better, but it’s a slow process.  Lindsey, on the other hand, is a fiend.  She was very well known on Xbox Live, and was a very skilled player.  She gave it up for a couple of years, but a few nights ago, the urge to play hit her hard, and we found ourselves playing Halo 2 online.  As an added bonus, I found myself being constantly berated and vented on by my ever-loving wife because of my lack of skill.

Needless to say, we had a little discussion about both of our shortcomings, and are working together to improve ourselves in our game play and game attitude.

Anyway, for the most part we’ve been having a lot of fun with it.  Lindsey has reconnected with some old Halo 2 friends, and I’m learning more and more about the game with each match played.

-Because I said so