As amazing as it may seem, the site has recently been a bit hectic as far as work on it is concerned, and as a result, you have been enduring a rather high number of updates. I personally apologise for this, but I promise you this is for the benefit of the site as a whole, and for you guys as members. Here is what you should have already noticed, or what you will in the near future:

New Layout- It has been designed this way so that the site returns to the feeling of being more Halo orientated again, which is just given the fact that this is a Halo fan site. Because over time forums tend to expand in terms of sections, and the resultant look can become somewhat intimidating to new members and sometimes new sections are not as popular as first expected, we do need to experience a bit of a trim of sections to make the entire experience more member-friendly. This may seem a bit weird for a while, especially if you have gotten used to what we have been using in recent times, but give this some time, and it should work out quite nicely for you all =).

Tournament and Competitions- With this increased emphasis on Halo 3 and, of course, the Halo universe in general, we are going to focus more on the tournament side of things for members to get involved with. As a result, there is going to be less emphasis and dedicated time for contests such as TCOTM and SOTW, as you cannot spend sufficient time on a good sig if you are playing a lot of time in within tournaments. The Tournaments are currently on Hiatus status in order to allow people to accommodate to Halo 3 and allow gametypes to be set in stone (we all know what it is like if there are conflicts on this front!)
SOTW is going to go for a trial break, so as to stop the risk of it becoming so stale and repetitive with ideas. Because this is a trial, it is very likely to return, but just remember that there are many other delights to this site that are equally deserving of your time. This will take place as off the upcoming Monday (1st of October) and I will announce the winning of this week’s SOTW as the last post in the voting thread, so keep your eyes peeled when that thread is made.
When it comes to TCOTM, as with any contest, the idea of “the more entrants the merrier” applies. However, this can also be intimidating for a member who is subjected to watching 15 different clips to see which entry is ultimately the best. To resolve this issue, if a certain threshold number of entries is entered within TCOTM (and this is encouraged), then the moderators will vote and decide upon the top 5 entries (this may be top 6 if it is too hard to pick just 5) and the winner will then be decided upon by you out of these top entries. This way, you don’t watch countless entries, and you are also graced with the fortune of seeing the cream of the crop.

Now for something that many of you will be happy to see- The Halo News bot has been given early retirement. This allows for a less congested New Posts button, and an overall more comprehensible searching experience. Although it will not be updating the site with RSS feeds at regular intervals, it will sometimes provide us with a valid piece of news that will be visible to all members. These subjects will be chosen by the mods so if you think that a thread has been wrongly decided to be shown, then blame my terrible decision-making abilities and any problems will be amended.

That is all there is to be said, so let me just wish everyone who is working laboriously to attain all of Halo 3’s 49 achievements good luck and don’t forget to pm me or one of the other mods when you finally make it.

Have a nice day, all of you =)

Good Write up Kossick.
Tournaments sound like a good thing to look forward to, if i get back on live.
hopefully it will all work as planned.

Yay, good bye Halo News Bot. Good luck with the site staff.

I kinda liked that halo news guy, although he never returned my Pm's, so I'm over him. I'm still stoked on this achivment contest, just that last skull is gonna be holding all of us back.

Edit: Nvm it's been found

Dbl Edit: It's not even an achievement... I feel dumb.

thanx...love the updates

Haha, I was going to make a comment, but I was just that tired.....

No more general gaming although I understand the reasoning I'm still upset.

very nice write up.

ill miss bot boy but i think its for the best. yet one more thing the mods can be bitched at for, posting threads from bot boy that people dont like lol. but this should be better imo. thanks for the updates

42-42-564

sweet stuff man.. to bad i wont be able to enjoy the H3 tournys till 2008 lol.. well bot boy will be missed and it will probably be for the best.