Rampancy.net reader and games programmer OldNick (MobyGames profile) expands on some complaints observations made about Halo 3's NPC behaviors during the last podcast episode; namely, that sometimes getting marines to do what you want (or even what seems reasonable) seems unreasonably hard:

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Sergeant Johnson says:

"When I was a kid, we didn't get any fancy-schmanzy Spartan lasers for Christmas. We got two sticks and a rock! And we had to share the rock. Buck up, kids... you're very lucky Marines."

First GameSpy, now TeamXbox shun Halo 3 when it comes to top honors in its year-end awards roundup. Crackdown-- the game that at first people thought might only be bought by people who wanted into the Halo 3 Public Beta, but then turned out to be good in its own right-- was dubbed best action game.

Mass Effect took the overall Game of the Year award.

GameSpy wants you to know they love Halo 3. They really do. It's just that 2007 was just too good a year for the console, and well... a game that executes really well on a known formula while tinkering with details and adding some new features just isn't quite enough to make the top half of a top ten list this year.

Ask many Bungie fans what they think makes their favorite games different than others, and you might get an answer like "addictive multiplayer". From a perhaps smaller, but no less dedicated or vocal group, you might get "the story" as an answer.

Not everyone agrees.

Dallas News technology writer Victor Godinez thinks videogame writing has a long way to go, and points up Halo 3 as an example:

With the release of the Foundry map, especially targeted for users of Halo 3's map editor, Forge, Rampancy.net opens its Forge Maps database. Users can submit their maps with a screenshot, descriptions, and links to the map posts on Bungie.net, as well as rate maps submitted by other users.

Submit your own maps today (registered users only-- we have to know whose map it is!).