How can you tell when you host a game in Halo 3?

Also, how can I host a game?

There's no easy obvious way to know in any gametype or map, but there are a few tricks you can use.

Some maps have birds that fly around(Guardian has dinosaur things flying around out past the sniper tower and the pit has birds in the rafters, not sure about any others off the top of my head - look for yourself and see) outside the map. If you can shoot them and they die it means you have host. If you keep shooting and can't even tell you're hitting it means you're off host.

On certain parts of The Pit (on the green walls near camo spawn and in the corner near shotgun) there are cameras. If you're host the camera will follow players around as they pass by, if not they'll simply face forward the entire match.

Another method you can use is to find some explosive barrels or fusion cores and stand on them, then look down and melee. If it blows up and you go flying up into the air then you have host. If it blows up and you just fall down, you're not host. This doesn't work if the explosion kills you, as your body will go flying either way. And obviously this is pretty risky to try in matchmaking

Other then that there are a few obvious hints you can use to figure if you're host or not. Sometimes you'll fire at someone and clearly hit them, you'll see blood splatter and everything, but it doesn't register or do damage. If that happens you're not host. Host also generally has a small advantage in melee and shotgun battles and has a slightly longer ranged BR.

There isn't anyway to guarantee you get host in a matchmaking game, at least not anyway that isn't considered cheating and won't get you banned. Having a good connection will get you host more often and some people say setting matchmaking setting to prefer good connection will give you host more, but there's not much else you can do.

I'll asume you mean via Xbox Live....?

1.) Hosting a game simply means you started the game.

To host a game (I'll assume you mean custom game) select custom games on the main menu. Once in custom games send your friends or recent players invites using your jewel in the center of your controller. Once everyone arrives you can choose map, gametype, player traits, etc...

2.) To see if you are hosting a game look into the party details to see who is Party Leader.... or if you are still in a lobby look to the top of your screen and it will say Party Leader - _______?

Hope I was of some help .... if not e-mail me and ill walk you through it using me gamertag on Xbox Live

*****Oh thanks for the update on the question. Having host in matchmaking is completely randomized and there is no straight-forward way to tell if you are host.

its random, but having a quic connection helps, there are subtle ways to tell like when a bullet you thought missed hits, or you can look at the score screen, if you are green and everybody else is red, that means your host (at the lines on the side that show lag)

oh you mean HAVING host. you can't make that happen on your own, it is random. There is no way to see for sure that you have host. I can tell by when a player keeps winning ties, or a kill you should've had on them didn't work. :(

You will know if your the host because you will be able to choose the game and map also it should say some where on the screen that you are the party leader.