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Yet more answers to pressing questions about Halo 2 online and off. This week we discuss recent movie rumors, Thai food etiquette, Matt Soell and lots, lots more. Plus a moody new Mister Chief.

<toggledisplay> Posted by Frankie at 2/4/2005 4:37 PM PST

Every week we attempt to answer the most common and pressing questions in the Halo 2 community. This week movies, madness, Thai food and more.

Billions and billions asked,

I heard Uwe Boll was directing Halo the movie and it was going to star the Taco Bell dog and Paulie Shore. IS THIS TRUE?

Well, the statement above does sound like an "interesting" project, but as ever, if you didn't hear it officially from Microsoft or Bungie Studios, you didn't hear it confirmed. This is Microsoft's official line on the existence or non-existence of a Halo movie:

"Halo is one of the most sought after properties and since the November launch of Halo 2, the interest level has exploded. Halo 2 has now sold more than 6.4 million copies worldwide, bringing the entire Halo franchise to a collective 12.8 million units in just three years’ time. We have not, however, made any official movie announcements."

Is that ambiguous PR talk for, "We haven't announced nothin'?" Yes! Why yes it is!

A few folks asked,

Is it true that Bungie.net Stats are going down on Sunday?

This Sunday is the Superbowl, but we'll still be working to make Halo 2 better. On Sunday evening at around 10pm, the Halo 2 Stats display on bungie.net will be offline for approximately 24 hours. This only affects the web site display, not the collection of your game data or your Xbox Live play.

See, the problem is you guys play lots of Halo 2. So, our stats database needs to have some upgrades done to it to make sure it can handle the load. Bear in mind that your stats will still be collected as you play, they just won't be processed for viewing on the web site until the maintenance period is completed. We apologize for the downtime, hopefully we'll complete the maintenance faster than 24 hours.

We've finally hit the point where we needed to either get rid of the oldest games, permanently, and only keep the most recent three month's worth, or go shopping for massive amounts of server storage to keep all the games more or less indefinitely (though details like the game viewer would still get trimmed after a couple weeks). We went with the choice that involved the massive shopping, so on Sunday night we'll begin copying the existing data over to our ridiculously huge new drive array. How huge? Well, I think the temperature of the US is going to go up by a few degrees when we turn this thing on....

In other news, we'll pass the 75,000,000 Live!-games-played mark (games that Bungie.net tracked stats for – that number can be different to the actual number of games played) sometime this (Friday) evening.

Lots of you asked, and quite suspiciously I might add,

Is it possible for me to change my Xbox Live Gamertag?

The short answer is no, but here's the long one anyway. A number of you are actually referring to changing your name from the one you selected for your free two-month trial. If you decide to "renew" your Xbox Live account at the expiry of the trial period, you automatically keep your name and can't change it.

If you cancel, you are then free to start a new Xbox Live account and choose a new name. All of which should take a minute or two from the Xbox dashboard. However, you should note that if you choose that route, you'll have to start again from scratch, re-adding your Friends, rebuilding your stats and losing all your messages and other data.

There is one exception to the no name-change rule, which a couple of you, innocent and guilty, may have encountered. That is, some names are deemed unsuitable by the system, some for seemingly innocuous reasons, some because certain clowns choose racist names, offensive ones, re-spellings of curse words and so on. If the system spots this, you will be automatically forced to choose a less stupid name.

Smiley asked,

Whatever happened to Matt Soell, who used to work at Bungie.net?

Matt is the writer for Wideload, a studio started by some former Bungie employees in Chicago, and he's currently writing the story and dialog for their Halo-engine based shooter, Stubbs the Zombie. But you can read more about what Matt's been up to here: Matt Soell Interview

Nchamp asks,

I am a big fan of halo and I was wondering when does Halo 2 come out on PC/mac? please reply?

At the present time there are no plans to make PC or Mac versions of Halo 2. Should that ever change, we'll let you know.

GI Ladouche asks,

First off, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to read this and for creating a game as beautiful as Halo 2; it's much appreciated. However, I have a question about download content that I don't believe has been ask/answered. Will there be other downloadable contents other then maps, such as weapons, vehicles, and even possibly skins? Me and my friend's have wondered this for some time. Thanks again for your time.

Downloadable content will primarily consist of multiplayer maps. We won't be adding new weapons, skins, vehicles or other new features using downloadable content. And we promise we'll let you know when to expect this stuff.

Tony asks,

Would you agree that being an elite is at a far great disadvantage than a Spartan, since the head is so big and can be easily sniped. Your thoughts?

They're actually very well balanced in terms of scale and ability, however, there are some aesthetic things that make it easier for some people to spot Elites – perhaps their sheer alien-ness. They do actually have one slight advantage – the back of their head is slightly obscured by the bulk of their shoulders. That said, most of the better players out there are using Spartans. .

Dave asks,

I have a huge problem. I live in Connecticut and the state wants to pass a law that outlaws violent video games including Halo. If this ever happens I wont be able to live without all of the Halo titles. I know that there will be a HALO 3 and I wont be able to have it if this law gets passed. Being a devoted Halo fan I need to stop this from happening. Any ideas? Help me out.

Dave, you should note that the great state of Hawaii has no such plans pending, and has the added advantage of being a tropical paradise. Connecticut, on the other hand is a frozen hellhole for two or three months out of the year, and the rest of the time, while quite lovely, is a chick-State. I suggest that rather than worrying about the state politics in Connecticut, you get yourself some sun, brah.

Tom asks,

Some friends of mine told me about a secret pack coming out for Halo 2 some time this February. Is this true or are they taking advantage of my extreme gullibility. If it is true do you have any details like dates you could tell me? Thanks again guys, and awesome work on all of your games (especially Halo 1 & 2) ?

The whole February 9th thing is bogus. Some kid claimed (in spite of evidence to the contrary) that halo 2's end credits featured feb 9th as a mysterious date. They did not in fact contain that date. Somebody simply made it up. Nothing particularly special is going to happen on February 9th.

Frankie asks,

Why is Mr. Smiley such a big jerk?

Mr. Smiley doesn't have his alleged friends standing behind him making fun of him for the entire game.

Special Ed 99 asks,

Lets say I'm in a Team Slayer game and the Thai food delivery guy shows up. When I go to answer the door, is it better for me to just drop out of the match and let my team play man-down or is it better to hide in a corner and hope not to suffer too many beat downs? I could always return to save the day after all.

First, where is your wife/GF/roommate? Secondly, you should never back out. Try this. Ask the Thai guy on the phone the exact cost. Have that, plus tip ready. When the doorbell rings, run, snatch, hand off money. Run back. Let food get cold. At most you'll lose one, maybe two lives.

Chad asks ,

Chad asked what Mister Chief would look like if he'd been drawn by the great Edward Gorey, and I reckon it would be something like (but much better than) this:

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