The past few weeks Bungie teased its fans hinting that an announcement was coming soon, even putting up a teaser image and countdown clock on their website, indicating something was coming up for E3, but when push came to shove, nothing happened. Bungie's President Harold Ryan apologized saying, "We were looking forward to sharing that with our fan community during the week of E3. However, those plans were just changed by our publisher."

At this weekend's Major League Gaming Halo 3 competition in San Diego, Bungie's Lukems and Shishka revealed that they are working on a remake of the classic Halo: Combat Evolved map Chill Out, to be released in the upcoming map pack as Cold Storage. No further info was revealed, but details are expected in the next Bungie update.

An interview with Bungie studio manager Harold Ryan gives more details about the split with Microsoft, but also reveals some future plans. First, the obvious: Bungie is currently working on Halo 3 downloadable content with new maps, but now that the studio is independent, a new IP is also in the works. Last, but not least, "we have other Halo games that are cranking along also."

Microsoft announced a plan for Halo development studio Bungie Studios to embark on a path to become an independent company, although Microsoft will retain an equity interest and own the Halo franchise, in addition to other future properties that Bungie may develop.

Former Red Storm Creative Director Christian Allen revealed that he is leaving his position at Red Storm and has accepted a Design Lead offer over at Bungie, to work "on something a bit different than Ghost Recon." Christian Allen, a former US Marine, joined Red Storm in 2002, and worked his way up from Assistant Designer to Creative Director, but having worked on 7 different Ghost Recon titles, all good things come to an end.

The epic saga continues with Halo 3, in this third chapter of the Halo trilogy, Master Chief returns to finish the fight, bringing the epic conflict between the Covenant, the Flood, and the entire human race to a dramatic, pulse-pounding climax. In its latest update, Bungie revealed Halo 3 would be released 'Fall 2007.'

In a community Q&A on the Bungie website, project lead Jo Clowes reveals a few more scant details on the upcoming Halo 2 Windows Vista edition. Confirming there will be no cross platform multiplayer gaming between PC and Xbox, Jo did reveal you could send invites and msg's to Xbox users, part of the Live Anywhere service, as well as the fact that multiplayer sessions will be capped at 16 users. Mod tools, dedicated server files and more customization options, so you can tweak mp sessions to your liking, will be part of the PC exclusive package.

Spectrum MediaWorks today announced that Bungie co-founder Alexander Seropian has joined Jim Banister and Bradford Scherick's management team to lead the company's programming development and strategic cross-media initiatives.

Earlier today, a story on IGN caused a ruckus when somebody asked whether there was truth to the rumor of a GBA version of Bungie's FPS Halo being in the works. A moderator replied, acknowledging the rumor and then suggested that there could very well be truth to the story. That, in turn, triggered a reply in the Bungie forums, where they claim a Halo GBA version is very "unlikely," and there are no plans for it. The previously-mentioned IGN moderator is "sticking to [his] guns" and claims to have heard from several development sources that such plans HAVE existed since last Christmas. Read all about it over at IGN...

Wideload Games, Inc., unveiled itself to the world today as a new development studio dedicated to making hit video and computer games by injecting a unique blend of their visionary development model, creative gameplay and oddball humor into the computer and video games industry. Wideload was started by Alexander Seropian, industry veteran and founder of Bungie Studios of Halo, Myth and Marathon fame.

What is the most anticipated release from Bungie Studios this year? Yep! You guessed it, the launch of the new Bungie.net. (There's also that little game they are working on...) Bungie, the development studio that brought gamers the award-winning Halo and is currently developing the highly anticipated Halo 2 for Xbox, today announced the relaunch of the popular Bungie.net site. Read more for details and a brand new Halo 2 screen...