When Bungie releases Halo 3 sometime next year, I’m hoping that the user colors/emblem system gets some upgrades. I have tried again and again to find the perfect emblem and the perfect color scheme, but I’m just not sure it’s possible with the options available. My wish list:

1. More colors to choose from. In Halo 2 we are given 18 colors to choose from. And they are all washed out. The white is more of an off white, and the black (“steel”) is gray. Steel and brown are almost the same color. Red and crimson are almost the same color. Modern consoles render millions of colors. Given the broadband connection required for Live, it’s not asking too much that users get a color picker for 24-bit color depth. Or at the very least 256 colors.

2. The ability to choose more than four colors. Yep, we only get four colors in Halo 2. Primary Player Color (main armor color, icon background 1), Secondary Player Color (armor trim, icon background 2), Primary Emblem Color, and Secondary Emblem Color.

3. More emblems. We get 64 in Halo 2. Ten of these are single digits, 0-9. Some of them are too similar to each other. Some of them are too obscure for anyone to recognize or understand. Some are just too hard to make out on the screen. And Bungie could release more as time goes on. It could hold contests — users could submit new emblem designs.

4. More emblem backgrounds. How about a sunburst background? Or a background consisting of more than two colors?

5. Armor patterns. Tiger stripes. Leopard spots. Racing stripes. You can customize your team’s uniform in Madden — why not in Halo? Halo 2 gives the user the trim (Secondary Player) color, but it’s not enough. Besides — in team games, your personal color choices get wiped out — your only unique identifier is your icon. Why not white arms or white shoes or a white helmet? This should be kept in check so that a user’s team affiliation is obscured, but it could be done.

6. Numbers in addition to emblems. The NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL do it. And let’s make them double-digit numbers. I was number 25 in high school.

7. Adjustable armor appearance. The Arbiter has different armor than a standard Elite. A Helljumper has different armor than a Spartan. Or maybe just gives a few tweaks.

I could go on. Heck, maybe I’ll add more later.