For the first time in a while I went into the theatre mode on Halo 3 purely on a whim.

You see normally I only go in when I have done something spectacular, well spectacular for me anyway, and I wish to create a clip of that particular moment. Though today I had a different purpose in mind, inspired by this screenshot, I was going to wander aimlessly around the map as the game played and see what I could see.

I find that with the frenetic pace of some of the fire-fights you sometimes fail to notice the beauty that can be seen in some of the, quite frankly, epic vistas that the environment artists at Bungie have created. We get so caught up in the kill or be killed gameplay that we forget that there is a vast world created for our viewing pleasure.

Sierra 117 is the training level of Halo 3 and much of it takes place in the jungle. The environment is absolutely amazing as these five screenshots show.

While playing through the video a grenade happened to explode where I had the camera positioned, the effect was astounding so I couldn’t help but tear myself away from the landscapes I was taking, and instead take a couple of arty combat shots of Mr 117 himself.

While swinging the camera here and there I came across this shot from right at the start of the level.

Now I am sure that this marine is only turning to face the Chief due to an AI command, but that is a bit soulless for me. I would rather pretend that this is the action of a marine, who in the presence of the living legend that is any Spartan cannot help but stare, as she begins to entertain the hope that with the Chief on their side, Humanity might just survive this war. Maybe I am just reading to much into this image but still it sounds good does it not?

After playing around with Sierra 117 in theatre mode I fired up the saved game of one of my recent Rumble Pit matches while running through this in camera mode I noticed something I had not seen before on Epitaph.

The outside of this map shows that the building in which you are fighting has this fantastic blue stained glass windows that dwarf the Spartan and Elite combatants such is their size. Now according to Halo3.Junk.ws I have played 41 matches on Epitath and while you cannot miss these windows from inside the structure, not once have I noticed this site while outside on one of the walkways. It makes me wonder what sights I am missing in the other multiplayer maps.

One final screenshot for you, while in Epitaph I couldn’t resist attempting a dramatic/arty screenshot.

Not to shabby in my humble opinion.

I hate Boosters plain and simple. People who sit around doing nothing in matches annoy me. It is positively galling with you realise that they have enough people signed into their party doing the same so they are guaranteed to get EXP.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the community I hereby Name and Shame four such boosters:

o DrAsTiC o
o CoVerT x
xDrAsTiC iZ PrO
CaLL Me DrAsTiC

After a a surprisingly easy game of Ninjaball on Construct where I won without any sight of my opponents, I was left bewildered as to what my opponents were up to. So into Halo 3’s marvellous theatre mode I went, and lo and behold to my disgust three of them were doing nothing, the one player who was performing any action was twirling around on the spot, unloading his Assault Rifle into the ceiling until his ammunition was depleted. They were not playing the game, they were boosting their ranks.

Click one of the above links and see for yourself their game history. Countless matches with no action on their part, interspersed with the occasional match where their boredom overcomes them and they play. In these thrown matches they are all on the same zero score when the match finishes. As Rumble Pit is a six man game, the worst position these four shameless vagabonds can find themselves is third place. They are guaranteed that single point of exp they so obviously covert.

Fair enough they would have had to put some effort into getting to level 50 in matchmaking. However now all they are doing is boosting to pad their Rank badges. It is desponding to realise that you have had a fruitless victory, caused only by the greed of your opponents.

The only solace I take is this. Comparing their GamerTags to mine in the Compare Two Gamertags’ Skill in Halo 3 yields a gratifying result. While their Level 50 skills may give them good Ranked Stats, their Social Stats are pathetic. Not much but it’s nice to see their K/D ratio so heavily skewed.

Slot 24 in my File Share contains the video for the full match, if you wish to see for yourself these players complete disregard for the spirit of this game.

What is it with people and the internet.

Before today I knew that people could be rude and disrespectful on Xbox Live, bs angel has certainly had her fair share to say on this matter. Tonight however I got a fresh new insight into John Gabriel’s Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory, and to be perfectly honest I could have done without it.

I decided tonight to play a little late night Halo, 3am for me in the UK, and 7pm-10pm for my American cousins. As I ventured into the big team social playlists I noticed that a lot of people where playing sans mic. How odd I thought as I put on my headset, surely the ability to communicate would be beneficial in one of these team games. I realised both my mistake at the same time that I acquired incontrovertible proof of the above theory.

The second I plugged in my headset, I was bombarded with a stream of trash talk and abuse from the two other players with headsets, who where both on my team but clearly felt that pre-match team-building statements should contain the words ‘faggot’ and ‘bitch’ and combinations of these two delightful phrases.

Needless to say I was very quick in muting these gentlemen, and I use that phrase in its loosest of terms, before removing my headset and wishing that a few of my regular teammates were online so that I could at least get some use out of the team chat facilities in Halo 3. Alas it was not to be, and I was subjected to a 5-3 drubbing in Territories on Valhalla.

However the night, or morn depending on your locale, was still young so I ventured into another Big Team Social match, surely I would not receive the same result this time. Ah, bugger I did. Trash talk is bad enough as it is, but this time it was foul enough to convince stonerkidd420 quit the match before it had even started taking his guest with him. VIP on Sandtrap with a two player handicap. 10-4 to the other team.

By this point I was less than pleased, I had not had the best of games. Two matches marred by the potty mouthed players, and my own poor performances in game had left me with a sour taste in my mouth. Not even my 8 kill streak with the Wraith in the VIP game or my Missile Pod Killing Spree in Territories could console me.

So disenchanted was I with the complete lack of team play and communication in the team hoppers I hopped into Rumble Pit instead. Two games later I was feeling much better. With no teams I didn’t have to worry about poor and abusive communication by team mates rendering the game a joyless slog. I could play to my hearts content, exult in my individual victories, and try to learn from my melancholy musings after every defeat. All in I was enjoying the game again.

Lesson learned, if I go into team games I am taking my friends with me.