Even the L.A. Times is caught up in Bungiegate – and it's getting (some) answers. The paper spoke with Xbox senior VP Don Mattrick, who told its writers that Microsoft decided to omit the announcement of the next Halo universe game from its pre-E3 press conference ... to save time.

As the story goes, Microsoft's presser was originally planned to run two-and-a-half hours, but Mattrick wanted to get it down to under 90 minutes. For some reason, a Halo game was cut to make way for such content (what Mattrick is quoted as calling "an embarrasment of riches") as the needlessly long (and silly) live demo of You're In The Movies. We're sure it wasn't cut because it would have taken attention away from Final Fantasy XIII for 360. Oh no. Never.

When do we get to see it, then? "We felt we could do this game more justice with a more dedicated event," Mattrick said in the L.A. Times piece. Given that Bungie was ready to rock with an announcement on Tuesday, we're guessing that it would prefer ... soon.

In an interview with MTV News, Xbox bossman Don Mattrick confirmed that Bungie was indeed working on a new Halo game for Microsoft Game Studios. Asked to clarify if this project was either Ensemble Studios' upcoming Halo Wars or the still mysterious Peter Jackson Halo Chronicles project, Mattrick said neither. Evidently, this would be another Halo game. We know, you're shocked.

The real question is: Is Mattrick talking about the long-rumored Halo Recon Advanced Warfighter title or the recently teased game whose announcement was unceremoniously canceled? Or perhaps those two are one and the same? Regardless, Mattrick wasn't sharing that info; he quickly changed the subject.

We had a chance to speak with newly appointed general manager of Microsoft Game Studios Phil Spencer earlier this afternoon but there's good news and bad news. The bad news: We spoke with him just a couple hours before Bungie announced that the very same Microsoft Game Studios "changed" plans to announce the game this week. The good news: We just so happened to ask Spencer about the lack of a Bungie announcement in Microsoft's press conference (as expected) and the publishing relationship with Bungie.

Spencer: "Our relationship with Bungie was always about a triple-A creative studio building content for our platform, and our working relationship brought about Halo 1, Halo 2, Halo 3 – which I think are great games. If that's the core of the relationship, creative people building content for our platforms, I don't think the relationship has changed. We have a relationship with a very talented studio who wants to create games for Xbox.

After weeks of speculation regarding their new project, Bungie just updated their site with the sobering news that plans to announce the game at E3 "were just changed by [its] publisher." We can only assume that that publisher is none other than Microsoft Game Studios; if so, it's certainly not a promising sign for the newly freed Bungie's publishing relationship with former parent company Microsoft.

We've put requests into Bungie and Microsoft. Read Bungie pres Harold Ryan's message after the break. (Note there's no mention of the publisher; looks like they want to keep it clean).

[Update: We just heard back from Bungie's Luke "Luke Smith" Smith who tells us, "We still have an exclusive publishing agreement with Microsoft, as we confirmed when we announced the split last year. That arrangement has not changed." So, there you have it. No word back from the Big M. Update 2: Luke's keeping busy. He left two comments on NeoGAF (here and here) not only assuring skeptics that this was in fact not a part of the game's marketing plan ("not our style") and that Bungie's publisher is, indeed, Microsoft.

Update 3: Those sleuths at X3F have noticed a sort of reversal in Bungie's teasing: references to the superintendent in Halo 3 have been removed. Update 4: We interviewed Microsoft Game Studio's Phil Spencer earlier this afternoon, just before this news broke, but conveniently we had already asked him about the absence of Bungie's game at the Microsoft press conference. Read his comments here.

Update 5: Xboss Don Mattrick has confirmed that Bungie is in fact working on a new Halo title. Whether or not this unannounced project is that title is unclear. Update 6 (17 July): Mattrick tells the L.A. Times the Bungie announcements was cut to -- get this -- save time. After all, they had an "embarrassment of riches" as it was.]

Seems like we're inching closer to that July 14th announcement Bungie is supposed to make today. Bungie.net has been updated with a new countdown, which refreshes with a new message:

• Keep it clean
• Please remain calm
• Services will resume
• No public access
• Emergency lights active
• Proceed with caution

What will it be? Halo Blue? A XBLA game? Or something entirely different?

[Thanks to everyone that sent this in!]

A trusted Wal-Mart source has sent Joystiq an image taken from the company's intranet, "The Wire," showing a listing for Halo "Blue." We've also received an unverified tip detailing Halo "Blue," though it's unclear whether that information stems from the same retail listing. With so little information available about what Blue is, we're guessing the shown Sept. 30 date is placeholder. The Microsoft press conference is in less than 12 hours, so stay tuned.

Based on their overt teasing, we're willing to bet Bungie is announcing a new game tomorrow. An unverified tip to Joystiq said that whatever game is announced Monday will be out this year. Assuming this isn't Halo Recon Advanced Warfighter or Peter Jackson's Halo project, one potential candidate for such a title with a short development time would be Xbox Live Arcade. A recent countdown rumored to be connected to Bungie (and once counting down to tomorrow) has changed to now end on August 7 just after 7:00 pm PT, although a WHOIS query of the site doesn't add credence to the rumored connection.

Compounding the rumor is Bungie's mysterious fixation with "The Superintendent." Who's the superintendent? We're glad you asked. He's the icon shown above who as far back as May has been popping up on Bungie t-shirts, in their news posts and forums and in the recent Bungie Day gamerpics pack as the unacknowledged eighth gamerpic. So are we barking up the wrong tree? We'll find out for sure tomorrow.

In anticipation of next week's E3 Media and Business Summit, we've prepared bingo cards for each of the big press conferences, filled with some likely (and some not-so-likely) predictions for what each of the big three console makers intends to announce at arguably the biggest trade shows of the year.

Today's card is for Microsoft (special thanks to X3F). We're going out on a limb and giving Avatars away as the free space. Click on each of the slides above for more information about our predictions. Microsoft's E3 press conference is scheduled for next Monday at 10:30 am PT (that's 1:30 pm Joystiq Time / ET). As always, we'll be liveblogging the event, so you can play along in real-time with us.

Stay tuned for more press conference bingo cards in the days leading up to the conference. (Also: check out our bingo card for Sony's press conference.)

Download a copy (PNG file) and play along!

Update: Only hours after we post this ... N2, you hit my battleship!

You may remember in the announcement video for this year's Bungie Day when rascally Luke Smith hinted at the announcement of a new Bungie game. Well, the 7th has come and gone and we're still no closer to knowing what the team is working on after finally undoing the double square knot on Master Chief's apron strings. If yesterday's episode of the Bungie podcast is any indication though, it seems we'll be hearing something at the start of E3.

Here's the exchange between co-hosts Luke Smith and Brian Jarrard you can find at the 90-minute mark of this week's cast, in script form for your reading pleasure:

Jarrard: "Isn't there something going on on July 14th, or something like that?"
Smith: "Yeah, around then."
Jarrard: "Somehow that's sticking in my head for some reason. Guess we'll have to see."
Smith: "Yep, we'll just have to."

So, what could it be? Well, as it's being announced on the same day as the Microsoft press conference, we think either a new 360/PC game or something Halo 3 related is a safe bet. How's that for vague?

[Via CVG]

Just a friendly reminder that today (July 7) is Bungie Day, which means free Bungie-related gamerpics and themes available on Xbox Live today (and only today). Additionally, the new Halo 3 map Cold Storage is also available free of charge for today. As for that announcement that was teased over the weekend, we've heard nothing so far. Trust us, though, if and when Bungie announces something, we'll let you know.

[Via X3F]

Confused about what exactly you need to do to play the new Halo 3 multiplayer map, Cold Storage, come Monday, Bungie Day? Let Bungie's Luke & Co. explain it all in the "On the Seven7th Day" vidoc, embedded after the break. In short, you need the Heroic map pack (don't worry, it's free), the Legendary map pack (it's being dropped from $10 to $7.50 on Monday) and then, of course the Cold Storage map which, they want you to know, will be free not only on Bungie Day but every day. You also get a good idea of what the map – a remake of Halo: Combat Evolved's "Chill Out" – has got to offer.

Oh, and what's this about celebrating Bungie's independence as a multi-game studio by announcing a game on Bungie Day? Seven guys in a shoebox? Just banter or a tease of what Bungie's got planned for Monday? No, seriously, we're asking you here ...

Like the rumbling of thunder in the distance, an unstoppable force is audibly and rapidly approaching us. Soon, a cacophony of clicks will ring through our ears, the reverberating result of posting an article which not only concerns Halo 3, but prominently features the word "free." What have we done?

Bungie's Luke Smith has announced via Bungie.net that "Cold Storage," a chilly new multiplayer map for everybody's favorite cyborg shoot-em-up, will be downloadable -- for free -- from the Xbox Live Marketplace beginning Monday Bungie Day, July 7. The map will be implemented in regular rotation in playlists that require the Legendary Map Pack, which will also drop from 800 MS Points ($10) to 600 MS Points ($7.50) on the same day. If you haven't tried those environments out yet, now's the time to join in on the gradual extermination of Earth's population.

[Update: Check out a tour of Cold Storage, along with a tease of what Bungie's got in store for Bungie Day, here.]

Just because there are Spartans in it doesn't mean it's a history book. Sci-fi scribe Tobias S. Buckell has been tapped to write the sixth novel based on and in the Halo universe, Halo: The Cole Protocol, due this fall.

Buckell is no stranger to the genre, his most recent work, Ragamuffin, having received a 2007 Nebula Award nomination for Best Novel. According to Bungie, The Cole Protocol promises plenty of fan service, focusing on the whereabouts of the Spartan Gray Team and "an unexplored conflict of the Human-Covenant War where unlikely alliances are formed and shattered." Formed and shattered.

Yes, we know, you've been clamoring for more multiplayer maps like an irate, "plz sir can I hav sum moar" Oliver Twist. You yearn for more of Bungie's first-person shootery, dreaming of running and gunning down corridors you haven't been through countless times already. It'll genuinely make your day to see new downloadable content pop up on the Xbox Live Marketplace, but until a new Halo 3 map pack is announced, that day is still quite a ways off. But here, have some Marathon 2: Durandal stuff in the meantime.

For 250 MS Points (an awkward $3.125), the Jjaro Map Pack will net you 12 new multiplayer environments, playable in King of the Hill, Kill the Man with the Ball and Tag modes, and two achievements worth a combined 30 gamer points. If the game's infamously sickening motion doesn't make you throw up, be sure to grab the content just in case Marathon gets thrown off Xbox Live Arcade.

Attendees of a recent Major League Gaming event in San Diego were rewarded for their ability to watch other people play video games for eight hours with a visit from Bungie figureheads Shishka and Lukems, who gave the glassy-eyed viewers a sneak peek at their newest multiplayer map for Halo 3, named "Cold Storage". This new map is apparently set in the back room of a Cold Stone Creamery, as part of Bungie's recent partnership with the highly successful, treatweaving corporation.

Actually, the map closely resembles a level from Halo the first, titled "Chill Out". It was one of the game's more unique maps, due to it's smaller size and asymmetry -- though how those aspects will carry over into the remake has yet to be revealed, as Bungie has yet to "formally" announce said map. Apparently, speaking to a roomful of professional video game spectators doesn't count as a formal social engagement. Who'd have thunk it?