Grif and company seem to have an on going impact on the Halo community. Speaking for myself, it was Red vs Blue that made me aware and an avid fan of Halo, long before I had even bought an Xbox. In fact, it was Halo that brought me back to console gaming, since I had originally played Halo on a PC… huh.

Anyway, the boys over at Rooster Teeth have put together a custom game in Halo 3 called Grifball. Basically, it’s Neutral Assault in a wide open arena. The ball spaws in the middle of the arena, the goals are on opposite ends, and you spawn near your own goal. No shields, health is at 10%, no grenades; you’re armed with an everlasting Gravity Hammer or sword. Ball carriers get 3x shields, 1.5x speed, and friendly kills are active. The full rules explain a lot more, but that’s the basics of the game. There’s a league, a community, blah blah blah, but I only played it for the first time today.

Why? Well, this weekend Bungie has created a new hooper in the Social class of games: Grifball. Incentives? If you with you’ll get double EXP points. Also, since spawn killing is an approved – if not encouraged – game style, you can get insane amounts of medals. Need proof? This game was a shutout: 31 kills, 13 deaths, 48 medals including 2 Exterminations, 1 Killtacular, and 4 Overkills. Another game: 15 kills, 6 deaths, 23 medals including a Killtrocity.

I’ll gladly forget this game though – Major Nelson showed up in a lobby and his team send my team packing…

Good stuff.