Shishka reiterates soon after: [quote][url=http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=13690]How Not to Get Recon, Revisited, by Hieronymus J Shishka Esq. I see I have your attention. Good! This is the first stop on the road to glory. However, it seems I need to clarify exactly what the situation is. I've received a lot of panicked messages from people who think I'm going to ban them from Recon because they asked for it a month ago, which is not the case. Let's be clear; the people that get themselves on the list are the scum and villains that wretched hives are built to contain. Pestering me about Recon merely annoys me. To be true, we've never been very clear on how to get Recon, or how not to get it. I'm going to resolve that issue right now. To get Recon: Do something that makes a big enough impression on Bungie and/or the Halo Community to make us think "Hey, this guy deserves Recon." At that point Bungie will simply decide to award it, based on opinion and emotional feeling NOT on any specific achievable criteria. What doesn't get you Recon: * Asking for it, no matter how nicely (Or how rudely) you ask. No Live messages, no emails, no phone calls, no asking. Do NOT contact Bungie directly to ask for Recon under any circumstances. * Matching with a Bungie employee and then killing them. Remember, if you see a flaming head in a game the best thing to do is simply sacrifice yourself to them. * Getting a film clip, screenshot, game or map variant into Bungie Favorites or Matchmaking.*** * Reaching General or level 50 in any playlist. * Annoying the hell out of someone with Recon by chasing them around saying "Hey, wait! Hey, wait! Hey, wait!" instead of playing the game. This is not Zelda, and you are not Navi. What gets you BANNED from Recon: * Being caught using any of the standard methods of cheating. * Getting a voice ban in matchmaking. * Getting an upload ban for hosting inappropriate content in your file share. * Being caught in your filthy lies like the shell of a human being you (hypothetically) are. *** It might, sure, but it's certainly not a guarantee and likely won't so don't make stuff for favorites if you just want Recon. And since we've been asked directly: No, getting a temporary QOS ban because you hosted some pretty laggy games with people on another continent isn't going to get you banned from Recon. A short history of a few laggy games gives you the benefit of the doubt. And I say this with all the vim, venom and vinegar I can muster when I point out that we can give you Recon, and we can also take it away. Play nice out there. Don't sell it. Don't blackmail people with it. Don't do anything other than use it yourself. Okay?[/url][/quote] Alas! A contest with skill to win Recon. All you had to do was [url=http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=13772]photoshop a certain picture the best. Winners... er... win.[/url] [url=http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=13795]And the winners are...[/url] This just in though (and this was a good thing to add because apparently some people actually believed this): Getting on the Bungie Favorites does [i]not[/i] get you Recon! *gasp!* [i]Bungie how could you? u suk!1!!!!11!!!ONE11!1oNe!!!!eleven!!!!!!!11!111!1!!!!!!!exclamation point!11!![/i][quote] [url=http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=13931]OK, my group wants to be on Favorites, get me on so we can all get Recon! Group selection wasn't egalitarian. Months ago I asked for folks (in this very space) to send me a message with their email and a link to their group's Web site and then I culled through those groups and chose a bunch of groups and sent them emails with the guidelines for submitting Favorites. People on Favorites with Recon are just coincidental. They don't have Recon for any of these reasons: * They downloaded a particular file and recommended it to someone. * They were on Bungie Favorites. * They asked for it in a PM, Xbox Live Message, or on the Forums.[/url][/quote] Oh, also... [url=http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=14219][i]stop spamming Bungie Employee inboxes with threads about Recon! Geez![/i][/url] Now this was huge. A large, public event. A prize up for grabs?... Recon. It was known as PAX- the Penny Arcade Expo (which is coming up in August of 2009 as well, Bnet people). Take heed: This was announced. Bungie Employees will [i]never[/i] say something like 1v1 me 4 the 'con. No- Recon events are announced on their website here guys. Keep that in mind- for your account's safety. Now then: [quote][url=http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=14472]PAX is coming to Seattle at the end of August - 62 days to be precise. This year Bungie will be there in full force with our own swanky booth jam packed with goodness. Come by and meet members of our team, play some games with us, win prizes and maybe even see some new stuff and meet some special guests. One thing for certain is that at specified times, we'll be offering a chance to play 2v2 against Luke and Shishka for a chance to win some in-game Recon armor.[/url][/quote] Now this was just funny: [url=http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=14735]Bungie Employee asks for Recon among other things. Hah- wonder how that turned out. -.-[/url] Now in a Q&A (question and answer) weekly update once upon a time, there were numerous question about Recon. [url=http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=14920][quote][b]A Deaf Boy asks:[/b][i] Do you really ban people from Recon Armor when they spam your inbox?[/i] In some cases, definitely. All that spamming my inbox does is force the valuable, informative posts deeper into the message queue and decrease the likelihood that I'm going to read them. All of the folks who got scammed into PMing me something about a Hotdog stand? Sigh. That was a glorious waste of everyone's time. [/quote] [u](editor's note: The hotdog scam was a reference to some kid messaging people saying if they sent a certain PM to employees they'd get Recon. False? You bet your left buttocks it was.)[/u] [quote][b]Insanitarium89 asks:[/b][i] Was it really finding the code for IWHBYD that caused you to lock up Recon armor?[/i] Nope. We figured that the Hayabusa helmet was going to be pretty coveted until the hex files revealed the way to unlock the armor. We assumed once a handful of people figured out how to unlock the Hayabusa helmet that everyone would. We planned to hold one of the armor permutations back throughout development, what happened after the game shipped had no bearing on it. [/quote] ([u]Editor's Note: that was actually a concern back then. People wondered about that. Some people thought Bungie was really mad that the Hayabusa became what it did after someone figured out the IWHBYD skull's location with the help of Hex Codes.[/u])[/url] [url=http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=15171]Shishka's on Team Free Recon :P[/url] Man, that guy must just be [i]such[/i] a Burger King. [url=http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=15268]More PAX Recon Info[/url]. [url=http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=15366]And More[/url]. [url=http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=15422]Results of said contest at PAX- 27 teams walked away with Recon.[/url] [url=http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=15595]Kinda funny Employee talks about being level one with Recon[/url]. Another says he offered Recon to a girl for getting a hug, hah. [url=http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=ournextgame]OH BLAM![/url] The announcement of Bungie's next game: Halo 3: Recon. Now called Halo 3: ODST due to a name change, the game Halo 3: Recon was a major reason in the rule about 'No Recon Discussion' being lifted. Clearly with the name of the game being that- and no separate forum for the game (as at the time webmaster 'Achronos' was against adding a forum he says, based on the game being an expansion)- it would be near impossible to moderate all Recon discussion. Therefore the rule about talking about Recon was removed. [url=http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=16208]Ah, perhaps the biggest and most important update for the ikkle kiddies obsessed over Recon in ages. This is the weekly update where Bungie announces that you can get Recon with your purchase of Halo 3: ODST.[/url] The story was actually in that issue of Game Informer. Bungie, however, wanted to clear some things up. Yet there was a catch. And get this: Those dum bungy guis are making you work for it! You have to get 7 vidmaster achievements. I mean, WTF?!? Obviously they don't know who they're dealing with! Therefore: Childrens spam the forums with Recon topics. *sigh* what a shame. Seems Bungie actually clearing it up themselves didn't help matters that much. Oh well. [url=http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=16271]Alas, Halo 3: Recon is no more[/url]. The game was, at this point, referred to as Halo 3: ODST. Name change name change. Took a while for some people to get over that but it works, eh? I skipped the Pentathlon updates, but there couldn't have been anything about Recon in there, right? [i]Right?[/i] Oh, good time to mention I've been skipping all the 'breaking in' updates as well. But those are very interesting guys- especially is you're interested in becoming a Bungie Employee. Use the search bar and search by news by clicking the little arrow and type in 'broken in'. Lots of good information was in there. [Edited on 07.28.2009 2:45 PM PDT]