SketchFactor has posted at Bungie.net that since the introduction of the modified content detection in AutoUpdate 4 yesterday, more than 2,500 permanent matchmaking bans have been issued by the "self-aware automated Banhammer". Sketch also notes that in addition to this automatic routine, Bungie will still be looking for players who use other methods like boosting and standbying, as well as searching for players who built their rank by using modified content prior to the AU's deployment. Users are still encouraged to use XBL's feedback system to report cheaters, griefers and other behavioral problems.

Bungie has rolled out the latest autoupdate-- you now have to download it in order to play in matchmaking on Xbox Live. The update includes code to detect modified content; it also (purportedly) fixes the teleporter bug on Relic. The Rampancy Cave's Internet connection has been out for the past twelve hours, so I've had no chance either to confirm the teleporter fix or comment on how well the update is fighting modders and cheaters; Bungie's own Achronos has posted in the HBO forum that the update should cause a gradual decline rather than an immediate stop in cheating.

Bungie.net has a couple of updates today; SketchFactor has posted that the last Humpday Challenge pitted Bungie against Team Korea where Bungie won a best four of five match; next they'll take on Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, Sketch has also posted that the playlists have been updated to include the new maps.

Rumble Preview has Slayer on all the new maps except Containment, as well as some slayer variants as well as two oddball games and two hill games. The first batch of small new maps-- Turf, Sanctuary, and Warlock-- now appear in the regular Rumble Pit playlist. There's also a note about banning cheaters and the next autoupdate-- basically, until the next AU comes out, the addition of these new maps to ranked playlists will likely mean that things will "get worse before they get better".

Subnova has a new feature called Seeker which you can use to search more than a dozen different Halo sites, including Bungie.net, Halo.Bungie.Org, Rampancy.net, and many others. You can search using Seeker or read about what Seeker does. Thanks Louis Wu at HBO for the heads-up and for using the headline I was going to use.

Frankie is back at Bungie now with a brand-new Weekly What's Update. This one covers the teleporter glitch on Relic (it's "being taken care of"), demos for Halo and Halo 2, and what Sketch would look like if he ate all the pies.

Bungie fans are wished a happy July 7, 2005 (7/7/2005). Happy Bungie Day!

• Bungie's latest What's What Update is all about cheating and assuring players that the situation is going to improve; apparently another auto-update is on the way.
• Bungie is also looking to hire artists, animators, and programmers.
• GameSpy compiled a list of Xbox Live's top 25 games; Halo 2 was number one, and Halo 1 number six. (Who is number one? You are number six--Ed.)
• Matt Soell reminded HBO forumgoers not to forget Mike Salvatori when praising music in Bungie games like Halo and Halo 2. Salvatori is also working with Wideload Games on the soundtrack for Stubbs the Zombie.
• Every Friday, the Frag Dolls are going to take on Xbox Live subscribers, starting on July 15 with Halo 2.

A lot of goings-on in the Halo 2 Map world recently. Of course, the Killtacular Pack which was released as a split between two free maps and two premium maps is now available in its entirety for free from Xbox Live; Containment, Warlock, Turf and Sanctuary.

The next set of five maps is due out soon; Red vs Blue has video previews of Elongation and Backwash, and SketchFactor has returned from gallivanting long enough to put up Bungie's preview of Relic, following up on last week's preview of Terminal. And if you missed them earlier, before that Bungie.net previewed Backwash and Elongation themselves as well.

Relic is an island map set on Delta Halo, with its original design origins reaching back to Halo's ancient history as a PC/Macintosh game prior to Microsoft's buyout of Bungie Software.

With both SketchFactor and Frankie off gallivanting (no doubt accelerating at 32 feet per second per second, naturally) Shishka was left alone at the switch this week, and submitted three QuickTime 3d screenshots of Terminal in lieu of the What's What Update for last week.

Ok, shoot us for not knowing this, but there are apparently two Angry Zen Masters-- Mat "MSN" Noguchi over at Bungie, and his brother Jamie "jamihn" Noguchi, who since late March of this year has been doing a webcomic called (appropriately enough) Angry Zen Master, which occasionally features both himself and his brother, Mat.

Louis Wu at HBO, alerted by mnemesis, pointed out that Halo 3 does get a mention in the latest comic... sort of. Athough AZM isn't a Halo or even a gaming comic per se, it is well worth a look.

In the absence of real information, outrageous rumors about Halo 3-- a game that hasn't even really been announced officially by Bungie-- are circulating far and wide. Since Bungie probably isn't going to shoot them down just now, I thought I'd take aim and do some Halo 3 Rumor Control in the latest Narc's Retort.

According to rumor, Microsoft developed and Alex Garland wrote a Halo movie script that was shopped to Hollywood studios yesterday by couriers in Master Chief suits. (Perhaps the Nightmare Armor guys got some work? --Ed.) Apparently, though, the reaction was not that positive.