Learn all about Bungie's latest vehicle in the Halo 3 series, the Mongoose, in this feature over at Bungie.net. It's an interesting read so I suggest you go read it.

Not much new about Halo 2 for Vista from this years CES. According to TeamXbox the game runs wonderfully on high-end PC's and Vista gamers will be able to unlock achievements in Halo 2. You can see the full quote here below:

Finally, we spent a little time with an old friend. The PC version of Halo 2 was playable, and we were surprised to see people lined up to play a game that's been available for over two years. Of course, once we started playing, we realized that the game looks and plays wonderfully on the high-end PCs at the booth. Although there were plenty of mouse-and-keyboard setups, every one of the 6 players was using one of the USB Xbox 360 controllers to frag their enemies. The game runs extremely smoothly, too, and it features higher resolution graphics than its console counterpart. So why are we jealous of the PC gamers who will be getting the game soon? Because Halo 2 will give them achievements! Come on, Microsoft, can't you release a patch so that we can do the same thing? You know we want those points!

By now, most people must have realized how much money can be made from the Halo 3 BETA that is launching this spring. Just recently it was announced that you could get into the BETA by paying $60 for, as IGN called it, "the Halo 3 Multiplayer Demo Disc Also Featuring Crackdown". Judging from various Halo forums it's obvious that a lot of people are prepared to pay to get into the BETA. Today I got an email from the people over at ActionTrip who has found a new way to get into the Halo 3 BETA coming this spring.

TeamXbox reports that Microsoft has been sued by the mobile developer In-Fusio for Microsoft not allowing them to release a Halo game for cellular phones, a license which they have already payed for. Microsoft on the other hand is trying to terminate the contract. You can read more about it over at TeamXbox.

Mr. Titan made me aware of a Microsoft press release with information as to what you must to do to be able to get your chance of being among the lucky people that get to BETA-test Halo 3 this spring.

Examples of ways that are mentioned are that you buy the upcoming game "Crackdown" that is soon to be released. Just make sure that there is the special "Halo 3 BETA label" on the cover so that your buy isn't completely worthless (I'm not saying that Crackdown will be a poor game, but if your intention is to get into the BETA then you might not be so interested in the actual game). You can also get into the game by playing Halo 2 for 3 hours on a certain night and then be among the first 13.333 people that sign up at Halo.com. Some BETA-slots will also be made available to dedicated members of the community.

You can read the whole article and press release at Bungie.net by following this link. If you have any comments on this or want to discuss it you can do so in this thread by Mr. Titan.

Aceman made a topic in our forums with pictures from an event in Iraq where US soldiers got to play some Halo 3 Alpha Multiplayer. It's not high-quality footage but it might be interesting to see anyway. Check out this thread for pictures and video.

There are still a few hours left until it's time to celebrate the coming of the new year. More hours for some of you, I'm thinking about you Americans, and less for some of us Europeans and of course those living even further to the East, the Australians. I, on behalf of the Halo Planet staff, GameSpy Industries and IGN Entertainment would like to thank you for the past year and wish you all a Happy New Year! BGH4Lyf!