Halo 3 garners a mention in today's Penny Arcade cartoon, as a pawn in the ongoing chess match between Microsoft and Sony over the next-generation console launches.

In case you've been hiding under a rock for the past few days, it appears that Microsoft has scheduled the Xbox 2 introduction-- to be MC'd by Elijah "Frodo Lives" Woods and accompanied musically by The Killers-- for May 12 on Music Television. Xbox365 (and many others, including HBO) has the story.

Other items:

• A possible Project Gotham 3 screenshot has surfaced at ourcolony.net, the site that may, or may not, be a Beast/I Love Bees style Alternative Reality Game created to promote the Xbox 2.

SPOnG has a story speculating that the on-again, off-again adventure game Kameo will be released finally on the Xbox 2 rather than the Xbox. More surprisingly, it claims that it was ported to the new console by Rare only six weeks after they received their first Xenon development kits, and that they could have done it even faster.

(Could this give credence to rumors of Halo 2.5 for Xbox 2 as a launch title? Only the Shadow knows --Ed.)

Eurogamer has a story quoting Shane Kim at Microsoft Game Studios that the Xbox's most popular franchises, including Halo, Fable amd Project Gotham Racing, will be making their way onto the next console:

"Without giving away all the surprises we have in store, gamers that love franchises like Halo, Fable, and Project Gotham Racing can safely assume we will continue to invest in them as we move into the next generation."

The article goes on to speculate that sequels to Halo 2 and Fable would not likely be launch titles given that those studios just completed their last games in late 2004.

Having finally gotten online, I've just now gotten around to discussing my favorite topic related to Internet gaming: the scourge of lag. Of course, the broadband-only Xbox Live service is designed not to have any, but under extreme circumstances there is still some lag to deal with. The first part of the High Ping Bastard's Guide to Halo 2 is on how choosing the right weapon for when you're playing on a not-so-fast connection.

Spong, featuring a new Googlified logo, put up a story late last night (so it's not an April Fool's joke, at least not a fair one) that says the Xbox 2 will have downloadable demo content right at launch.

In other news:

• rapture at cooked gamers wonders if these are Halo 3 screenshots...
• HBO is hosting Mat "shunji" Noguchi's GDC talk on Bungie's tag system as used in Halo and Halo 2.
• Blackstar documents vehicle warping in real life.
• Team Tabula Rasa has put up its first two strategy columns: Making of a Spartan by Furiont and Sententia per Antiquus by Faewraith113.

Another big fan art update over at Halo Babies. Thanks mrsmiley.

SPOnG has a story that claims retail channels are being told that current Xbox hardware is being phased out; Major Nelson denies this in his blog, saying that shortages of Xbox hardware in the retail channel are due to the popularity of the console.

Eurogamer has a story that indicates it may be possible to "customize" your Xbox 2-- or at least for Microsoft to custom-tailor the console different geographical regions:

"We have ways, we have ideas. Look at cell phones," Microsoft VP J Allard told trade publication MCV. "You can have snap-on faceplates, you can change the skin and the batteries, and you can change the ringtones. I think we need to have a global foundation, and then personalise within region."

The story also claims that Microsoft is promising to ship 1 million of the next-generation console before Christmas.

In other news:

• dementedpuppy dot com notes that Halomaps.co.uk will not be reopening. The announcement came in the Gearbox Forum.
• Major League Gaming has info about their upcoming Orlando event, as well as an interview with Foulacy of Str8 Rippin.

Joystiq links to a story at gamenews.botros.net saying that the latest OXM demo disc contained an update with five new game types for Halo 2. They are:

• Peacemakers
• Covie Gulch
• Classic CTF Tank
• Swords w/o Radar
• Golden Showers

The pistol-whipping delivered to Bungie in last week's Humpday Challenge came from the land of the rising sun, in the form of the GunShin clan. The match was arranged by Microsoft's Japanese office, who was apparently asked to find a "group of typical Japanese players". Bungie lost all three games. After a tentative 1-0 flag win on Headlong, GunShin capped off the victory with a 3-0 flag win on Coagulation in which Frankie admits Bungie never managed to get out of their own base and a stunning 100-35 Slayer win on Colossus where GunShin apparently deployed an odd variation of the plasma pistol - battle rifle combo, where the weapons were wielded by different players. (Now that's teamwork--Ed.)

dolbex writes that Major League Gaming's new online leagues are starting to fill up-- go check out the site for details on how to register your team!

The latest Narc's Retort is Bordering On Common Sense, about Bungie's downloadable content plans.