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Not since last October's "Living Dead" event has team Bungie released a specially themed Halo 3 matchmaking hopper, but today is the day of love. So, with that in mind, Bungie knew they had an obligation to fulfill.

With the thick stench smell of love wafting through the air, team Bungie will be releasing a new Halo 3 "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" ranked matchmaking playlist. The new playlist is (fittingly) a team doubles slayer fest where players will have to "partner up" to dish out the Valentines pain. Even better is the fact that Bungie promises to hand out special prizes to those gamers who perform amazing feats and perform amazing acts. What the prizes will be and what must be done to earn them is unknown, but we're thinking Recon armor will be in the mix. Yeah, it's possible. But you'll never know what prizes can be won or what fun can be had unless you partner up and play the St. Valentines' Day Massacre playlist. But you'll have to get fragging soon. The playlist love affair will only be available today starting at 1:00PM eastern through Monday, February 18th at 5:00AM eastern. And please, no teabagging.

The battle for Xbox Live supremacy continues this week. Quick recap: about a month ago, Call of Duty 4 managed to kick Halo 3 off of the top Xbox Live spot. The following week, Halo 3 returned to the number one slot. Last week, COD4 knocked Halo 3 off of its perch once again. Well, guess what folks: Major Nelson just posted the most recent Xbox Live top ten and ... Call of Duty 4 is still number one. That's right, Call of Duty 4 has been number one for two weeks in a row. Can it last? Frankly, we hope not, because finding images for the COD4 / Halo 3 feud is one of the highlights of our week.

Sifting through player content for Halo 3 can sometimes be a pain. What's good, what is teh sux? Luckily X3F has your back with our brand new weekly feature, Community Content.

Every Thursday afternoon, beginning this Valentine's Day, X3F will pick the best of community made content for Halo 3 made using the innovative Forge mode. We'll review and detail the content weekly and provide you the access to add fresh maps and variants to your favorite Xbox Live experience, Halo 3. Caught the developer bug? You can submit your own Halo 3 content to: comcon [at] xbox360fanboy [dot] com. Provide us with a description of your content with a link to your File Share (make sure the content is uploaded!) and we'll take care of the rest.

Don't know how to add content to your copy of Halo 3? Jump into this post for a detailed breakdown of the easy to use Bungie.net feature, just in time for our first Community Content this Thursday, February 14.

For their 6th Annual Visual Effects Society Awards, Halo 3 was chosen as the recipient of two awards during the announcement last night in Hollywood. Marcus Lehto, Jonty Barnes, Stephen Scott, and CJ Cowan got the nod for Outstanding Real Time Visuals in a Video Game, while Matthew Gratzner, Alan Scott, Seth Curlin, and Greg Boettcher, won Outstanding Models or Miniatures in a Broadcast Program or Commercial for the Halo 3 Believe campaign. We love Halo as much as the next guy, some more than others, but when it comes to visuals we're thinking maybe the VES had their mailbox raided and missed a few contenders.

[via HBO]

The upcoming Halo 3 map pack will be swapping one oft-discussed map for a relatively unknown entrant. In the latest Bungie Weekly Update, Frankie confirmed that codename "Purple Reign" has fallen behind and will be replaced with the map codenamed "Moonlight Sonata." Said Frankie, "Usually I am in the business of soft-selling new maps in case folks have adverse reactions ... but this time, confidence is high. It will be beloved."

The next collection of Halo 3 maps is expected to arrive this spring when the current map pack will become free to download.

[Via X3F]

Gird your loins, because the McFarlane Toys line of Halo 3 action figures is on its way. Still due to drop in March, the snazzy-looking collectibles have already gone through packaging design, and X3F has collected some photos of what to look out for on retail shelves.

With war-torn backdrops, and minimalistic packaging (except for the bizarre "Cortana LIGHTS UP!" sticker), these designs were clearly made to show off the figures, and for good reason. We might just pick up a few Spartan soldiers for ourselves, to re-enact our favorite Halo 3 multiplayer moments.

Update: Xbox.com registration is now open.

We just checked our official X3F calendar (and the XBLM) and wouldn't you know that registration for the second Halo 3 Championship training sessions just opened up. Heavy Weapon training registration just went live today and even though an Xbox.com registration page has yet to go live, you can download the official Heavy Weapon gamer picture set and theme and that will get you insta-registered for the training session on February 9th. And just like Sniper School, this Heavy Weapon training will come complete with Halo 3 video strategies and some Play & Win. But unlike Sniper School, Heavy Weapon is all about the big, the explosive and the damaging weapons. No stealth shooting here, it's all about the "BOOM" and the "KABLAM!" Remember, Xbox.com has yet to post any info regarding Heavy Weapon training or any way to register online, but when they do we'll be sure to supply you with the proper linkage. Now run along and have fun rocket-whoring.

If you're currently in the market for a fresh copy of Halo 3 then you're in luck, because this week Best Buy is offering Master Chief for the cheap. Through Sunday, they're selling standard edition copies of Halo 3 for the gotta have it price of $38. We are also hearing that some Best Buy stores are super clearancing out leftover Legendary Edition copies for as low as $79, but your mileage will vary on that. This week we also spotted a solid pre-order deal over at Circuit City where you can score a free $10 gift card when you pre-order either Devil May Cry 4 or Turok. Finally, on the hardware side of things, Circuit City has taken $10 off their entire lineup of 360 wireless controllers (including pink and black) and our friends at Best Buy Canada are offering an Xbox 360 Pro bundle (which comes bundled with GRAW2 and RSV) for $399.

That's about it for crazy exciting deals this week. Remember to spend wisely and make sure there's food in the pantry before spending this week's entire paycheck on video game goods.

[Thanks, Trekster_Gamer]

Last November, Microsoft ran an offer where all new Xbox 360 owners could grab a free copy of Halo 3 for upgrading to Xbox Live gold and registering the new console's serial number. Well, Microsoft was supposed to get the free copies of Halo 3 to their new 360 owners by January 18th, but have hit a bit of a snag.

According to a few fanboy tipsters, all the Halo 3 shipments have been delayed, but Microsoft promises to get those who completed the offer a copy of the game within' three weeks. How nice of 'em. That means, if you were one of those who participated in the offer and you don't receive your Halo 3 by mid February, call up Microsoft and yell, yell away. Screaming is healthy, especially when it's over the phone with someone you don't even know.

[Thanks, Drew Green and Ted]

Much like the dim-witted kid you constantly taunted in kindergarten, Activision is having extraordinary difficulty making it past the number "1." Constantly cited in press releases, it appears uno is the only number the publisher cares to count on: #1 US publisher in 2007; a $1 billion dollar franchise in Guitar Hero; and #1 game in last week's Xbox Live Activity. Perhaps you too would be laughing all the way to the bank if you weren't such a mean-spirited brat in your early years.

Activision's latest claim to #1 fame is based on sales figures obtained from The NPD Group, Chart Track and The GFK Group, which label Infinity Ward's critically acclaimed Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare as the best-selling game for 2007. The frantic first-person shooter is said to have sold in excess of 7 million units worldwide, a particularly impressive victory considering the game's relatively recent November release. Of course, those keen on the shooting of the aliens will recall that Microsoft claimed an 8.1 million sales 'splosion for Halo 3 earlier this month, bringing the title of "Best-selling Game of 2007 OMG" title into minor dispute.

We've contacted both boasters to clarify the figures ... just so we can be sure to stick the air pump into the right ego. Regardless, you'd best take this as a sign to start counting down the months until the inevitable Call of Duty 5 arrives. Let's just hope it's not a #2.

If you're an aspiring movie maker in Europe then it's time to dust off the digi-cam and flex your creative muscles. Microsoft just launched their Halo: Recut competition where they want fans to create a short story depicting an unseen Master Chief adventure. The rules, subject matter and method of creation is quite open, all they want is a mini story featuring Mr. Master Chief. And if your video is chosen as the cream of the crop, Microsoft will fly your film making bum all the way to Universal Studios in L.A. where you'll have a chance to experience a four week film making session. So, start percolating those ideas and wrangle up the resources needed, because entry into the Halo: Recut competition ends March 21st. Make us proud soldier.

Today, we bring you newish product shots of those lovable Halo 3 McFarlane action figures that'll be available this March. But this time there's a twist. You see, we don't have any new action figures to show you, instead we have the figures' finalized packaging. Which, we must admit, is just as exciting as seeing the figures themselves. We've thrown, erm, "carefully uploaded" all of the Halo 3 series one figures' packaging shots in the gallery below, including Master Chief, a few Grunts, a Jackal and a Cortana figure who comes with a light up base. Batteries probably not included. Give the product shot a quick look over and imprint their likeness into the back of your head. Because, come launch day, you'll need to know what to look for on store shelves.

Cause when you're on the go and you just need to know what your total ranked kills are in Halo 3, you don't want to futz around Bungie.net on your gimped mobile browser. Nope, you can bust out your iPhone, load up www.ihalostats.com and lust over the number porn that Bungie's collecting from each and every match in a specially formatted web-app. You know what we love most about this? That some random guy made a custom version of Bungie.net for your iPhone while Microsoft's Mobile Live Anywhere remains "a bridge to be built."

[Thanks, Veronica]

There's no need to pinch yourself (we already did), you are not dreaming and this is no joke. Halo 3 has, for the first time since its launch, been dethroned from its communist rule over the most played Xbox Live games. Dethroned by another FPS that goes by the name of Call of Duty 4. Gasp!

Major Nelson's weekly list of the most played games on Xbox Live shows that last week, CoD4 took the number one spot away from Halo 3, kicking Master Chief down to the number two slot. Though, Halo 3's older brother Halo 2 still reigns supreme on the original Xbox list if that's any consolation for the Halo camp. And before hell breaks loose in the comments, know that we have faith in both the Halo 3 and CoD4 communities to act civil, respectful and understanding of each other's feelings. We know your fanboy unity will protect you from the temptations of flaming. Ah, who are we kidding? Let the flame wars begin!

[Thanks, to everyone who sent this in]