About This Site
Daily Musings
News
News Archive
Site Resources
Concept Art
Halo Bulletins
Interviews
Movies
Music
Miscellaneous
Mailbag
HBO PAL
Game Fun
The Halo Story
Tips and Tricks
Fan Creations
Wallpaper
Misc. Art
Fan Fiction
Comics
Logos
Banners
Press Coverage
Halo Reviews
Halo 2 Previews
Press Scans
Community
HBO Forum

Clan HBO Forum
ARG Forum
Links
Admin
Submissions
Uploads
Contact

October 2003

October 2003 Archived News

News October 31 2003

A synergy of subtleties
Gamesradar.uk has put up a pretty massive article called 'The Making of... Halo'. It's a fascinating look behind the scenes - what made it in, what didn't, and in some cases, why. This is a web version of the Edge Magazine feature 'The Making of...' - maybe the January 2004 issue (out in the UK in about 3 weeks). Jaime Griesemer talks quite a bit about how some decisions were made, and even Marty O'Donnell gives away a secret or two:

"And that melee attack sound on the back of a Hunter - gabonk? Think watermelon wrapped in tin foil, and a baseball bat."

Fantastic writing, and a great recap of what makes Halo the addictive masterpiece it is. Thanks to Xzzy for the heads-up! (Louis Wu 19:55:05 UTC) (permalink)

News around the Halo Community
Halo links sent to us in the past few days:

• Cracked Visor - Xbox Halo clan
• Master-Chief.net - Halo forum
• Icegames - Movies, pics (I enjoyed Faint)
• Black Death Squad - Halo PC clan
• Vector Squad - Halo PC clan
• Factor VIII Contingency - Multigame clan (including Halo)

Couple of notes: Black Death Squad has a news item, dated last week, that says that they're using us to host their movies. News to me. Also, the mail about Factor VIII Contingency came in a couple of weeks ago - somehow I missed it completely (it turned up as I was closing windows). And lastly - for all the people who write and ask us why we don't actually ADD these links to the Links page - we're way behind. There are (literally) dozens mentioned in the news that haven't been posted; nobody's taken the time to go through and catalog them. Simple as that. (Louis Wu 14:05:21 UTC) (permalink)

Gamers Europe says 'eh'.
Gamers Europe reviewed Halo (8/10). They were pretty unhappy with it ("in terms of a port, this is pretty poor"), but the last sentence left me scratching my head:

It's hard to recommend if you've not played it before, but if you haven't then in the name of God jump on the bandwagon while you can.

Um... what? Snagged off Blue's News (thanks, Ash). Update: Mark Murphy writes to say that that wording was a mistake; it's been adjusted to be coherent. (It's now consistent with the rest of the review, as well.) (Louis Wu 13:29:57 UTC) (permalink)

Trick, Then.
Proving once again that corn monopoly is NOT to be muscled in on, Stuntmutt serves up a Halloween-related One One Se7en for you. (Personally, I was waiting for the 'ouch'.) (Louis Wu 11:34:15 UTC) (permalink)

You Mean Puns AREN'T Illegal?
Seems Halo: Resolution is trying to muscle in on Stuntmutt's corn monopoly. Hmmm... (Louis Wu 11:29:38 UTC) (permalink)

Now THAT'S fast.
A couple of weeks ago, nukedude was playing around with a mod BOLL had created, one that allowed super speeds. (BOLL had made his own Xbox vid a couple of months ago, on Blood Gulch, with no sound... but after HPC came out, folks discovered that Death Island provided some unique jumping opportunities.) nukedude's vid is called 'SuperSpeed' - ever see a tank do a wheelie? (Would you call it a treadie?) It's 5:14 long, 30.2 mb, and recorded in DivX format. You can find it on Nukedude's site - and we've put a mirror up at Mythica. Take a look! (Louis Wu 11:11:16 UTC) (permalink)

Brain in a Spoon
To kick off Halloween with a bang, we've got Jillybean's 'An HBO Halloween' in our Fan Fiction section. Check it out... it's full of forum regulars. I will say, in my own defense, that I have never, ever, worn a tutu. Except that once. (Louis Wu 02:40:12 UTC) (permalink)

News October 30 2003

Lots to read
15 stories for you today in the Fan Fiction section:

• Spartans Of Darkness Part 1 Reclaimer, by SpartanOmega
• The Hall of Echoes; Chapter 1, by John
• The Hall of Echoes; Chapter 2, by John
• A Pilots Life: Chapter 5-The Jailbreak, by Captain Rasc
• A Pilots Life:Chapter 6-Making a Stand, by Captain Rasc
• The Cell, by Frensa Geran
• Blue Squadron Chronicles, Part Four, by Hunter_Killer
• Attack on ERISTOCK Part 13: Perimeter Defenders, by xitWOUND117
• A Glass Heart, by Jillybean
• Devestation- Chapter 9- Good To Be Home, by Michael
• Episode Six- Hope?...More or less, by Spartan117
• Spartan117 Survay!, by Spartan117
• The Beginning, by Duckfoot
• Halo 2: The Fallen Chp 5 Sect3- Innocent Flame, by Hikaru-119
• Battle of Croton #6: Take your orders and shove em'!!!, by Trevor White aka Boxer[subnova]

Submitters: please be careful; apparently the script will allow you to submit stories over 64k in size, which will bring down the server when I try and approve them. I'll be on the lookout for this in the future, but it would be easier if you simply broke your stories up when they're that big. Thanks! (Louis Wu 20:50:49 UTC) (permalink)

B.net Alert list set up
Some time ago, Deimos Fawkes, over at Subnova, set up a small private monitoring service to notify a few people when Bungie.net posted new content. (Vengeance, a Subnova server, simply watched Bungie.net, and sent out mail - basically a list of headlines - whenever it detected a change.) Yesterday, Ross Mills asked whether this list could be widened - so we've set up a simple mailing list that anyone can subscribe to to get this information. Again - if you subscribe, you'll be notified within 5 minutes of a change in status at Bungie.net. (This means you'll also get mail when Bungie.net goes down.) This does NOT tell you if there's new HBO news, or what the weather is, or ANYTHING else, other than that B.net has been updated. If this interests you, send mail to autoshare@bungie.org with a body that reads 'subscribe bnetalerts' (the link should already do that for you). And if you run into trouble - please let us know. (And if you see Deimos around, thank him!) (Louis Wu 16:57:49 UTC) (permalink)

Scavenger Hunt: mired in the details
Got a grunty thirst for a trinket? Try buying a clue. (Louis Wu 16:17:10 UTC) (permalink)

Local version of chat log now up
Busy morning, but I've finally gotten around to formatting our own copy of the CPL chat last night. (Hehe - I had to go back to this one to remember some formatting I'd used before...) I realize there are half-a-dozen other versions out there, but my long-term experience says that if it's not local, it's not available after a while. (Louis Wu 15:27:52 UTC) (permalink)

Part 3 of the Bungie Fanfest Documentary released
There's a report up on Bungie.net about part 3 of the Bungie Fanfest Documentary; this episode looks at the Halo 2 trailer, and the fun surrounding it. As has been the case, you can find 320x240 versions on Bungie.net (linked in that article), or higher-res versions here:

• QuickTime (500x333, 20 mb) at files.bungie.org or Mythica
• WMP9 (640x480, 20.2 mb) at files.bungie.org or Mythica

Older episodes are linked in this post. (Louis Wu 10:50:30 UTC) (permalink)

HBO-COERCE comes online
C.O.E.R.C.E. (an organization formed last summer to help alleviate HBO's movie bandwidth woes) has now put another Halo PC server online - and we're honored that its name is 'HBO-COERCE'. You can find server password and Ventrilo password listed in this forum post, and the current map rotation (though that's subject to change) in this forum post. Given that there are now three HBO servers, I've opened the GameDaemons one (removed the password protection). You now have three HBO-branded servers to choose from - two of which are GameDaemons boxes. Enjoy! (Louis Wu 10:31:06 UTC) (permalink)

Wow, I like that.
Interesting sketch on the Bungie webcam right now - archived here in case it changes before you read this. (Louis Wu 10:01:23 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Reviews
A couple more reviews for you - Hatekill loved the AI, thought the graphics were too simple, Gametactics thought the 2-gun limit was bogus. Also, Gamestar Magazine (in Germany) reviewed the game, and gave it an 87% (though they're running a silly petition to get Gearbox to add coop play - as though Gearbox wasn't ALREADY doing their damnedest to add it). Thanks, Shacknews, Blue's News, and Uriel.Update: Malcolm Owen, the author of the GameTactics review, writes to correct my interpretation of his opinion on the 2-weapon system.

[...] I meant it as in it is an interesting game ruling which forces the player to think and work out which weapon outweighs what depending on their circumstances.

Sorry about that; his biggest complaint is actually that the game isn't as impressive as it would have been a year ago. (Louis Wu 09:49:44 UTC) (permalink)

CPL talks to Randy Pitchford
CPL has posted an interview with Randy Pitchford - it's pretty focused on league gaming (suprise, surprise), but has some really intriguing info in it. Like this question:

Will HaloPC support demo-recording/playback functions?

Randy : A multiplayer demo recording function is in development at Gearbox. We hope to be rolling this out in time for the winter CPL event as it will happen automatically with some of the changes to allow modification of the game that are happening soon. We must allow the possibility that it won't be available then, though. Our priorities have shifted a lot since launch because our number one priority is responding to the needs of our customers.

Woohoo! Go read the rest. Found this at Blue's News, thanks, Ash. (Louis Wu 09:37:16 UTC) (permalink)

The Warbow?
Today's Guest One One Se7en was drawn by Warbow, and looks at a pretty cool design created by another forum regular, Roger Wilco. Makes a good point, though. (Louis Wu 09:28:47 UTC) (permalink)

CPL Chat posted around the net
A number of sites have put up transcripts of last night's IRC chat on the #CPL channel of Gamesnet with Gearbox, Bungie, and MS - we haven't had time to format our own yet (I wasn't around last night, but I logged it anyway :) ). In the meantime, you can check out

• clan|dc
• The Junkyard
• blam.forerunners.org
• Halomods

Some really good info in there! Update: Oops, missed a couple; Ross Mills posted to our own forum! And so did BOLL... (Louis Wu 09:07:32 UTC) (permalink)

News October 29 2003

Ticked Mice.
And again. This time it's Finn, working toward the Tag Team knockout of the Halo Story Page mailbag (though the first post of the day is mnemesis') - more stuff than you can shake a Forerunner at. (Can you even SHAKE Forerunners? I mean, given the doors on Halo, they must be pretty big, right? Or was that just so their trapezoidal cars could get in? No, that couldn't be it...) Anyway, go read. (And oh, yeah, the fixed content at the top of the subpages has been updated, as well. That Finn... he's a funny guy. (I think Stuntmutt was looking for more corn material...) ) (Louis Wu 16:49:55 UTC) (permalink)

Joy Story
Another One One Se7en crossover... Buzz don't look happy. (Louis Wu 11:54:08 UTC) (permalink)

SpikeTV wants your vote
Frensa Geran points out that SpikeTV is hosting an on-air Video Game Awards night on December 4th - and are currently taking votes for games. Halo 2 is nominated for 'Most Anticipated Game', and Halo PC is up for 'Best PC Game' and 'Best First-Person Action'. (The survey is linked off their front page; it's a javascripted Flash popup, so go in through the front door.) Forum reaction is mixed. (Louis Wu 11:42:29 UTC) (permalink)

Unnatural Predators
Halo: Resolution has a... different take on Steve Ballmer today. Hmm... (Louis Wu 10:13:17 UTC) (permalink)

CPL Interview at B.net
SketchFactor cornered Angel Munoz, President of the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL), and got him to talk about the league, its activities, and its history. It's a great read - go check it out at Bungie.net! (Louis Wu 10:08:05 UTC) (permalink)

News October 28 2003

Be careful what you ask for.
oddworld18, afraid that folks might miss his pearls of wisdom strewn around the Halo Story page today, took the opportunity to insult the management in an attempt to guilt his way onto the front page. It worked. This time. Go read the Story page; there's more than just that charlatan's paranoid ramblings there... (Louis Wu 21:25:06 UTC) (permalink)

MLG results - in full
Earlier today, we posted a note about some pics from the MLG tourney in New York this weekend. MLG themselves have now sent along results from the tourney - and man, do the names look familiar...
Halo FFA:

• 1st Place, $2,000: Zyos (Matt Leto, TX)
• 2nd Place, $1,000: -Hp-Darkman (Dustin Langton, KS)
• 3rd Place, $500: -Hp- Alex (Alex Burden, KS)
• 4th Place, $300: Shizz (Paul Baffi, TX)
• 5th Place, $200: Strangepurple (Doug Fabrizio, NJ)

Halo 4v4:

• 1st Place, $1,000: TDT: -Hp- Darkman, Zyos, Shizz, and -Hp- Alex
• 2nd Place, $500: StK: Strangepurple, Brese (John Calabrese, IN), DrPoon (Pete Fabrizio, NJ), Pray4u (Jayson Strauss, NJ)
• 3rd Place, $200: MoD: Xena (Bonnie Burton, PA), JMB (Johnny Burton, PA), MoD-Burton4 (Jeffrey Burton, PA), Grasshopper (PA)

Strangepurple also won the Oustanding Strategy Award, sponsored by GameTime's DVG Strategy Guides (which netted him ANOTHER $100). Domination! (Louis Wu 20:48:59 UTC) (permalink)

First Strike Preview now online
Recently, we noted that there was a bonus file on the Halo PC CD, a PDF with previews of all three Halo novels on it. We'd held off posting it because we weren't sure whether the file was supposed to be an exclusive goodie for the buyers of Halo PC... but today we received word from Bungie that it's okay to pass this along. The PDF will probably be available from Bungie themselves in the near future - but the intriguing bit for most people, the preview of 'Halo: First Strike' (the new novel due out in December), has now been HTML-ized and made available in our Miscellaneous section. (With the exception of font choice, I did my best to remain true to the PDF in terms of layout.) Enjoy! (Louis Wu 18:25:42 UTC) (permalink)

Bungie, Gearbox, MS chatting with TheCPL tomorrow
I was planning on holding this until tomorrow, but I'd like to stave off the email we'd get if we DIDN'T post it now, so... A couple of weeks ago, we mentioned a chat taking place on The CPL's IRC channel on Gamesnet. SketchFactor wanted to make sure it wasn't forgotten, so he posted a note about it over at Bungie.net today. (The chat takes place tomorrow evening, at 8pm EST/midnight UTC.) We were also reminded this morning by George Kaspiris, of The CPL. Should be a pretty informative chat; if you've got access to an IRC client, you should try and be there! (Louis Wu 17:16:27 UTC) (permalink)

Reactor news, part 2
mehve pointed out that the 'quick Reactor report' we noted yesterday was actually posted from the show; they were NOT back yet. They ARE back now, though, and she's posted a second part, focusing mostly on the reasons Halo fans go to Anime conventions (and how Bungie employees can get their butts kicked at Halo sometimes). Go read! (Louis Wu 10:48:15 UTC) (permalink)

Pics from MLG tourney
(GT)Juggler went down to NYC this weekend, and took part in the MLG tournament at Gametime Nation... and snapped a bunch of shots. You'll find 'em on his website. Take a look! (Louis Wu 10:30:55 UTC) (permalink)

Why I luv Xboxconnect...
Speaking of Guest One One Se7en strips, today's entry is from Stephan Hennion, and although it's ostensibly about XboxConnect, the sentiments apply nicely to some HPC games as well. Take a look! (Louis Wu 10:02:08 UTC) (permalink)

What's a FAQ, anyway?
Back in April, we started hosting a comic strip called One One Se7en. Its simple artwork and clever writing caught on - it's become one of our most popular features. So much so, in fact, that many people have submitted their OWN One One Se7en strips, which are now posted on days when Stuntmutt's official strips are not. Still, though, there is some confusion about how to go about creating and submitting strips, and what's really acceptable. To that end, Stuntmutt (in his own inimitable style) has written a FAQ, of sorts, to cover the basics. Check it out. (Louis Wu 09:52:47 UTC) (permalink)

Fan Fiction
Sizeable Fan Fiction update (17 stories) today:

• The Man - A Halo Comedy, by Dispraiser
• A John Before Halo: Part 14, by J-117
• Countdown Earth: Hour Six, by Mainevent
• The Conqueror's Fall, by Walker
• Shadow Ops II: Nowhere to Run, Chapter One, by Nemesis
• Halo: The MCconto Chronicles Part 14, by JCDenton
• AN ANCHOR IN THE STARS: Chapt: 2, by Sketcher
• Battle for the Norah: Part Eight, by Sterfrye36
• Children Stolen, by The Chalk
• Marooned Chapter 4, by Steve Ollett
• Halo Trilogy: Operation Info Retrieval (Chapter VII/part I), by Alpha Lance
• New Lunar HQ: Chapter 4, by Fleet Admiral
• Waiting, by Rory
• CR4WL1NG, by Mainevent
• Heaven isn't all its cracked up to be, by AmokTheClown
• The Resurrection of the Chief Chapter 2 & 3, by CovieKilla
• The Disaster of New LA, by David C. Jacobson

Probably becauuse I didn't get to one yesterday. Read, there'll be more tomorrow. (Louis Wu 09:28:53 UTC) (permalink)

News October 27 2003

More on the Console/PC issue
Yesterday, we mentioned an interesting article from Mat Noguchi on the differences between console and PC programming. There's been a second part posted - and it, too, is quite informative. Thanks to Narcogen, at Rampancy.net, for noticing. (A more recent note suggests that folks are using this info inappropriately... remember, Mat's a programmer at Bungie, he doesn't work for Gearbox, and Halo PC support questions should not be directed at him.) (Louis Wu 19:32:42 UTC) (permalink)

HaloPC Online Tourney - in 6 hours!
Rapture reminds us that there's another SeeMePlayMe tourney (2vs2) on tonight; the festivities kick off at 7 pm Central time. The more teams that enter, the more months of a gold account are on the table... so sign up! (Louis Wu 19:26:38 UTC) (permalink)

Covering the bases, indeed.
Finn, unwilling to be shown up by mnemesis, has submitted his OWN mammoth Halo Story page update. Classical connections, books, chess... It's a pretty erudite update. Read and be illuminated! Update: Oops - both Finn AND mnemesis get credit for today's update; my bad. (They work well together, but I've found that fear and paranoia breed more productivity than kindness and contentment. Don't tell them.) (Louis Wu 18:40:30 UTC) (permalink)

GameDaemons server back up!
GameDaemons came through! The problem (the loss of the GameDaemons-hosted HBO dedicated server) arose from a series of bizarre events all occurring simultaneously - but the support staff worked overtime, and the problem is fixed. There are now TWO listed servers; both use the same password (again, just visit our forum for info), both are listed in the status page (and have links on our main page). The Subnova server MIGHT disappear, if they decide they need the resources back... but we're extremely grateful it was around during the downtime, and so, apparently, are our forumgoers. Go play! (Louis Wu 17:35:52 UTC) (permalink)

Worthplaying says it's worth playing
Quiet weekend for Halo reviews. The only one listed at Blue's News was the one at Worthplaying. It was written by someone who actually never played the Xbox version (or at least, never played it all the way through, campaign). Disappointment at system specs, disappointment about lack of Coop... but he was impressed by the solo AI, and enjoyed the immersion. There are 40 screenshots (though they're at 1024x768, not the listed 1600x1200), as well. (Louis Wu 16:16:08 UTC) (permalink)

HBO HaloPC Server back up!
Really, what else is there to say? It's back up, so feel free to hop on and get some good carnage in! (Ding 16:11:29 UTC) (permalink)

7 Boobs
Remember when Halo PC went gold, and Gearbox was posting tons of pics of that gold master in various places? One of them even found their way into One One Se7en. Gotta love the queue times... (Louis Wu 12:54:35 UTC) (permalink)

Do You Think It's Us?
Halo: Resolution provides reason number 2,342 why you should be happy Halo's not MORE realistic. (Louis Wu 12:44:09 UTC) (permalink)

Congrats, RvB!
Thanks to jayWHY, for noticing that Machinima.com has posted the results from Saturday's Machinima Awards 2003 (they'll be officially posted by Machinima.org later today). Red vs Blue's Blood Gulch Chronicles took Best Independent Machinima Film, Best Writing, and Best Picture - not a bad collection of prizes! (You can download most of the entries, including a whopping 487 mb, 4-episode version of Blood Gulch Chronicles, from FilePlanet.) (Louis Wu 11:53:02 UTC) (permalink)

Halo PC Server Status
You may have noticed that our Halo PC dedicated server has been offline for about 24 hours; we're having trouble figuring out what the problem is. In the meantime, though, our friends at Subnova have come to our rescue - you'll find a server called 'HBO-Subnova' in the ingame server listing now. The password is the same as the one we set up yesterday on the GameDaemons box (you can find it prominently displayed on our forum if you missed it), and the mapcycle is ROUGHLY the same (I'm ashamed to say I didn't save local backups of some of the gametypes or the init file). When we get the GameDaemons problem sorted out, we'll rename that server to HBO-GameDaemons, so that the two servers appear next to each other in the server listing. Additionally, the Server Status link on our main page has been updated with the new URL. Again, apologies for the downtime, and enjoy the hospitality of Subnova! (Louis Wu 04:13:42 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Ops opens its doors
Tycho, from Unreal Ops, dropped us a note about a new site he's started up called (not surprisingly) Halo Ops. It's a slick-looking site, and it starts off with a bang - an interview with Randy Pitchford, put together during the Halo PC Fanstock event that took place a couple of months ago. Some very nice background info in there - go check it out! (And keep an eye on the site; if he's anywhere near as devoted to it as he is to Unreal Ops, it's gonna be a serious player in the Halo scene.) (Louis Wu 02:26:11 UTC) (permalink)

The word from Reactor
mehve is back from Anime Reactor (we mentioned she was going last week), and has posted a quick summary of events at Bungie.net. Sounds like a more complete writeup is coming! (Louis Wu 01:57:14 UTC) (permalink)

News October 26 2003

The Angry Zen Master on fixed platforms
Nice. Mat Noguchi took a look at a thorny issue (why does the Xbox, with (by today's standards) middle-of-the-road hardware, kick PC butt when it comes to rendering Halo?) in his weblog. Definitely for the geeks... but an interesting read. (Noticed by Cullen, in our forum.) (Louis Wu 16:24:27 UTC) (permalink)

Of dimes, and football fields
Whoa. Not one, but TWO new updates to the Halo Story page - mnemesis is making significant inroads on the bulging mailbag. Sevens, Forerunner, malicious AIs, and more! Go read all the juicy details. (Louis Wu 14:33:54 UTC) (permalink)

Jonah 117
Stuntmutt, inspired by the rockin' online fun of Halo PC, hits it right on the money with a Sunday One One Se7en. (Timing is pretty slick, given the recent passwording of the HBO server, limiting access to HBO visitors alone...) (Louis Wu 02:39:37 UTC) (permalink)

News October 25 2003

Halo PC server changes
You may have noticed that the HBO Halo PC dedicated server is now password-protected. No, we're not getting elitist, or anything... we're simply opening up space for folks from our very own community looking to play with each other on a great server. If you visit our forum, there's a big, hard-to-miss link near the top, which reads 'FIND HBO SERVER PASSWORD INFO HERE'. Click it for the current server pass (if it changes, the current version will always be there) and information about connecting to a Ventrilo voicechat server to be used by HBO servergoers. The first few hours of operation have proven extremely satisfying; may it continue this way! (Louis Wu 21:56:24 UTC) (permalink)

Sparkedit 2.0 - now for HaloPC, too!
Sparkedit 2.0 has been released - and it now works with Halo PC. Just tested it out - and I must say, it's pretty slick. Check it out! (Thanks to Grenadiac for the heads-up.) (Louis Wu 21:50:34 UTC) (permalink)

Misc Art - finally
Once again, we've let the user-submitted artwork sections fall by the wayside because of the madness surrounding Halo PC (and now Mac Halo). Apologies to creators and viewers alike. We've got 5 Miscellaneous Art pieces for you today, including a modified screenshot, two comics, and a pair of awesome drawings. (ZZoMBiE13 continues to blow me away.) Go look! (Louis Wu 15:08:47 UTC) (permalink)

Free bookable HaloPC servers (UK)
Multi Player Zone is offering free bookable Halo servers; you need to register (free) to read that, or to visit the 'book a server' page, but if you've got a clan that needs a server to practice on, and you're broke... check 'em out. (They're in the UK, btw.) I found this link at Halocity. (Louis Wu 11:12:16 UTC) (permalink)

Preview of HaloSpy
funky wrote to point out a new Halo PC browser app - it's called HaloSpy, and it lets you query specific servers for detailed info (before joining the game). You can read about it (and see screenshots) in this thread at Halocity. It's not available for download yet. (Louis Wu 11:00:46 UTC) (permalink)

More Halo sites to look at
Website roundup: these are links sent to us in the past few days. Apologies for any delays in posting.

• Black vs Red - a new series of movies (there's a trailer up - but it's totally black)
• Avatar Storm (follow the Halo Page link) - not much there yet
• ClanBase added another pair of Halo ladders - Team Slayer and Assault
• Halo Humpers - a Halo clan
• HaloRevolution.tk gets a new look and a bunch of Halo PC info

I'm sure there were more, but I can't find 'em. :( (Louis Wu 10:56:48 UTC) (permalink)

It Looks So Real...
Ooh... I've been waiting for this One One Se7en guest strip to make it out of the queue for a LONG time. BOLL, in typical BOLL fashion, takes One One Se7en to the next level. (I went and looked into the memory card slots of my controller, just to be sure.) (Louis Wu 10:25:02 UTC) (permalink)

When Words Collide
18 stories for you this time around in Fan Fiction:

• The High Tide Chapter 1+2 together, by Relentless_hate
• Halo 2: The New Front (Chapter 3), by System Failure
• The Resurrection of the Chief Chapter 1, by CovieKilla
• A Pilot's Life: Chapter 4- Desperate Battles, by Captain Rasc
• Devestation- Chapter 8- Destruction and Devestation, by Michael
• Halo: A Troubled Galaxy Ch. 4 (Final), by Ghost
• Dreams of Master Chief, by Max Ellis
• Attack on ERISTOCK Part 12: The Uncovering of Illyadar, by xitWOUND117
• The Adventures of Alpha Squad, Part Two, by Hunter_Killer
• Blue Squadron Chronicles, Part Three, by Hunter_Killer
• Homeworlds XXII, by Mainevent
• A Soul of Steel: Part 4, by The Scribe
• A Marine Named Peters: BOOM, by GLADIATRRR3000
• AN ANCHOR IN THE STARS: Chapter 1, by Sketcher
• Sons of Sparta V, by SOS.Odin
• The Rebel: If you want something done right..., by Elfster
• The Last Chance Chapter for everything 1: The first move, by brian murphy
• Shadow Ops II: Nowhere to Run, Prologue, by Nemesis

Go get 'em - there's sure to be more tomorrow. (Louis Wu 10:15:48 UTC) (permalink)

Bonus stuff for Halo PC buyers
Okay, this never got posted on the front page because it was sort of a cool bonus for folks with Halo PC to find on their own... but it's starting to clutter our forum, so I'm putting it here. On the Halo PC CD is a Goodies folder. (Most people never see it, because the disc is set to Autorun; there's no reason to open it.) Inside the Goodies folder is a file called 'Preview.pdf' - it contains previews of all three Halo novels, including 8 pages devoted to 'Halo: First Strike', due out in early December. It's chock-full of spoilers, so if you want to read the story without preconceptions, pass on this... but if you are curious, there it is. (And before anyone writes to us screaming about how they found this first, and should get credit for it... we knew it was there in mid-September, a couple of weeks before the game was actually out. If you told us about it BEFORE that, we're happy to listen to your claim. If you mentioned it after... congratulations for finding it on your own, but there ain't no public credit for ya. :) ) (Louis Wu 09:22:23 UTC) (permalink)

Does YOUR clan have what it takes?
CarnageReport.com, just opened a couple of days ago, is already running a contest! They're looking for the clan with the best website. Rules are posted, and you've got until November 15 to get an entry in. Prizes are Bungie schwag - goodly chunks of it. Take a look! (Louis Wu 01:30:41 UTC) (permalink)

Discussions of Fortress Worlds
mnemesis, loathe to let a month go by without an update, posted a collection of postulations on the Halo Story page - just 29 days since the last one! Worth a read, for sure! (Louis Wu 01:24:52 UTC) (permalink)

CTF Pro
Thanks to mrsmiley - there's a new comic up at Halobabies.net. I've had exactly that feeling! (Louis Wu 01:20:11 UTC) (permalink)

News October 24 2003

RvB on MSNBC
The Machinima Film Festival to take place in New York tomorrow got a writeup on MSNBC. Red vs Blue (nominated for lots of awards) is mentioned prominently, and even Randy Glass' Warthog Jump site gets a link. Check it out! (Thanks, Kev117.) (Louis Wu 19:39:30 UTC) (permalink)

The Devil's game - or something you can't live without?
Hehe - Konrad9 points out a pair of print articles mentioning Halo; one is in Ladies' Home Journal, and discusses the damage games do to kids, and the other is in Popular Science (or Mechanics - he's not sure), and looks at LCD screens for consoles (so that you can 'take Halo on the road'). It's all in your perspective... (Louis Wu 16:50:26 UTC) (permalink)

They laughed, they cried, they got more popcorn
Four new reviews today, listed once again by Blue's News. We've got The Armchair Empire, PC Gameworld, Gamehelper, and VideoGamesLife. Grades ranged from a low of 7/10 (Gamehelper) to a high of 94 (VideoGamesLife). Check 'em out. (Louis Wu 16:27:47 UTC) (permalink)

Keep looking...
Well, the last round of clues about the Great Halo Scavenger Hunt helped another person across the finish line... but there are still 2 dozen prizes to be won. Let's look at Trinkets again - I pointed one out that was purely text-based, but some are buried in images. (No, you don't have to break down every image on every website; the trinkets themselves are plain to see, once you're looking at the right image.) How to find them? Well, narrow down your search to websites that are heavily involved in the Halo community, to begin with. And on sites that allow searching, search for 'trinket' - or other terms associated with this competition. (Who's behind it all, for example?) We've got goodies - but we can't give 'em to you unless you follow the breadcrumbs! Maybe just sit down with a nice mug of coffee and do some clicking. (Louis Wu 15:28:09 UTC) (permalink)

GameDaemons now offering dedicated HPC servers
You may have noticed the link to the Halo PC Dedicated Server at the top of our index page. Over the past month, this has proven to be a very popular server (the biggest complaint is that it's almost always full). Partly, this is due to the fact that it's fast, with minimal lag - features attributable to its host, GameDaemons. And they're now offering dedicated Halo PC servers to the masses! Visit the signup page for details on pricing and location. They're not the cheapest game in town... but that's because they're providing high-quality servers on unbeatable network pipes, and you get what you pay for. I'm thrilled with the service we've gotten, and can wholeheartedly recommend them. (Thanks to KnightWolfJK, for the heads-up.) Followup: gwdpto is interested in sharing admin privs with a few like-minded people on one of these servers for a 3 month period. Read his forum post for details. (Louis Wu 14:49:01 UTC) (permalink)

Picked Up An Oversight.
One One Se7en hits the venerable age of 77 strips today - but it's pretty clear the MC hasn't learned much in that time. (I guess he DID make it where he was trying to go - but then, he does that every day, these days, so...) (Louis Wu 13:10:45 UTC) (permalink)

City Limits
Today's Halo: Resolution takes potshots at an American landmark... seems to me, though, that the jab would be better applied about 375 miles south. Hmm... (Louis Wu 13:06:09 UTC) (permalink)

Two Hogs out the Back
Okay, so a week or so ago, Ash posted a quick note about getting two hogs out the back of the Maw. What did he mean? Well, he meant taking a pair of hogs past the Longsword that normally finishes the level... and pulling a double Thelma and Louise out the back entrance. Well, he sent along a tape, and some music, and I slapped 'em together as he asked... and it's a heck of a run. I mean, jeez. Even though I KNEW he was gonna make it, I wasn't sure. Movie is 3 and a half minutes long, Quicktime format, 14.5 mb large. Check it out. (There are spoilers, for anyone who hasn't finished the game...) (Louis Wu 03:02:39 UTC) (permalink)

The future's so bright...
So you wanna know what it's like being an animator for Bungie? You wanna find out how to break into the industry? You wanna know how to build a gingerbread house using canadian bacon instead of gingerbread? Read Nathan 'bentllama' Walpole's interview over at DPerry.com. It's awesome. (Okay, so it won't tell you anything about homebuilding with canadian bacon... but the rest is all good.) (Louis Wu 00:22:44 UTC) (permalink)

News October 23 2003

Halo on NVIDIA cards just got faster
NVIDIA has finally released non-beta versions of its release 50 drivers (52.16, to be precise). Performance in Halo PC improves by up to 58%, according to the official press release. Thanks, botman on our forum and Sean Johnson via email. This release is for Win2K/WinXP only. (Louis Wu 20:40:10 UTC) (permalink)

HBO regular wins SMPM tourney
Rapture mentioned on our forum that he and Diesel, from The Hushed Casket, won the SeeMePlayMe online tourney we pointed out yesterday. He also gave SeeMePlayMe some major props - he's looking for more folks to join him there for rockin' Halo fun. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 14:38:25 UTC) (permalink)

Split the difference - call it a 9
Paul Ryan points out two Halo reviews at Ace Games - an Xbox review that escaped us whenever it was published (they gave it a 10/10), and a new PC review (it got 8/10). They weren't written by the same reviewer, but it's interesting to see them side by side. (Louis Wu 13:27:37 UTC) (permalink)

See-Through You.
Aaron Claussen steps out of today's One One Se7en guest strip to look at the phenomenon from the outside. (Louis Wu 09:27:10 UTC) (permalink)

Stories, as well
11 Fan Fiction pieces today.

• The Point of No Return [H&R 16], by Jillybean
• Halo 2: The New Front (Chapter 2) , by System Failure
• Appocalypse-Sector 2, by FFEcho
• Marooned, Chapter 3, by Steve Ollett
• Derailed Part 10, by Dispraiser
• Earth's Fate: Chapter 1, by Sergeant B
• Evanangel (Part Three), by Jinkaiden-XI
• Plasma Burns and Bullet Shells-chapter 6, by Myth
• Countdown Earth: Hour Seven, by Mainevent
• New Lunar HQ: Chapter 3, by Fleet Admiral
• A Spartan Names James- Part 3, by ZePHyR wRaiTH

There would have been more, but a suprising number of authors believe the 750 word minimum is just for show, and can be avoided by padding their stories with garbage. It's there for a reason, folks. (Louis Wu 09:24:09 UTC) (permalink)

Thursday Reviews
Three new reviews today, courtesy of Blue's News (and Ash) - GameAxis, Gaming Age, and GameSpot AU. The first has something of a twisted view on the history of the game, but they loved playing it. The other two had the standard complaints (repetitive levels, steep system requrements, no coop). (Louis Wu 09:16:54 UTC) (permalink)

New goodies from Team Sexy
Team Sexy has added some extra films for their registered users; visit the forum, follow the Extras thread at the top. There's an alternate ending for their Red vs Who movie, as well as outtakes (both in Quicktime and DivX). There's also a slick desktop and an audio track for an upcoming film. Thanks to SexyJosh for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 08:24:11 UTC) (permalink)

It must be one o' them automatic boot shiners
Benny, over at XboxOttawa, has created another intstallment of Madda Cheeb, a Flash-based vehicle for his trash-talking action figure. It weighs in at 1.6 mb, and though it's not a substitute for the long-awaited FTC 9 (coming, they say!), it is pretty funny, and very nicely made. (Louis Wu 07:53:04 UTC) (permalink)

BG mod available from FilePlanet
Framerate writes to say that a mod of Blood Gulch he's created is now available on FilePlanet; it's a hexedited version of the map allowing the LAAG to fire plasma blasts and the pistol to shoot rockets. (At 13.7 mb, one wonders why folks don't just download the 46Kb BG Edit from Clan AKA to make their own...) (Louis Wu 07:31:14 UTC) (permalink)

CarnageReport is born
Dolbex, the mastermind behind Halo50K and a classy guy in his own right, has opened CarnageReport.com, a site devoted to tracking stats on Halo PC. Read the official press release, or just explore the site. Cool idea! (Louis Wu 01:04:12 UTC) (permalink)

News October 22 2003

First Strike info
Thanks to Wheeler, who pointed out that the Halo: First Strike page at Random House has been updated - there's a quick summary of the plot (including some pretty massive spoilers, if you haven't finished Halo yet, and even if you have). Check it out - unless you'd rather wait until December. (Louis Wu 18:37:59 UTC) (permalink)

SeeMePlayMe - tonight
SMPM-Albert writes to say that a new version of the SeeMePlayMe client will be out soon (possibly tomorrow) with a bunch of new features. Their next tournament is this evening, at 7 pm Central Standard Time - so go and play! (Louis Wu 17:53:18 UTC) (permalink)

Action figure preorders now up at the Bungie Store
Wave 2 of the Halo Action Figures (Red Master Chief, Elite, Ghost) are now available for preorder from the Bungie Store. This is of special interest to non-US residents, since DieCastExpress (the primary web outlet for Joyride's action figures) doesn't ship internationally. As the Elite would say, wortwortwort! (Thanks to broony for the heads-up.) (Louis Wu 17:50:21 UTC) (permalink)

shot1big.jpg
One One Se7en takes a different perspective on the Covenant weapon collection... (Louis Wu 13:20:20 UTC) (permalink)

Developers, Developers, Developers!
Halo: Resolution reminds us that even in the 26th century, it'll be hard to forget Steve Ballmer. (Louis Wu 13:19:30 UTC) (permalink)

Another Wednesday, more words
12 Fan FIction stories for you today:

• Attack on ERISTOCK Part 11: The Four Horsemen, by xitWOUND117
• Angels war IV stage, by Javier Fernandez-Vina
• Appocalypse-Sector 1, by FFEcho
• Derailed Part 9, by Dispraiser
• A pilot's life: Chapter Three-Swamp King, by Captain Rasc
• War: Not a happy thing(Chapter 1), by Z4
• Halo 2: The New Front (Chapter 1), by System Failure
• Homeworlds XXI, by Mainevent
• The Rise and Fall of the Flood FINAL CHAPTER, by BlackValkyire
• Urchins, by Monarch Rat
• Battle for Croton 5 If a big purple dinosaur can be your friend why not a big blue Alien?, by Earl Hershberger aka Funkster
• 1st Special Forces Group part 3, by grylsy

They just keep rolling in... (Louis Wu 13:13:47 UTC) (permalink)

News October 21 2003

The reviews continue
Two more reviews - this time from Rampancy.net (who got 'em from Blue's News, hehe): LoadedInc and deadalfs. LoadedInc was pretty disappointed, deadalfs enjoyed it, mostly. More screenshots in the queue... it never ends. (Louis Wu 21:05:05 UTC) (permalink)

Bungie artists to show at Anime Reactor
Gonna be near Chicago next weekend? Three Bungie artists (mehve, Robert Mclees, and Shi Kai Wang) will be at Anime Reactor, an Anime convention to be held at the Holiday Inn-O'Hare, in Rosemont. They're holding an Xbox Halo tourney, and will be giving away prizes. (They'll also be doing autograph sessions, panel discussions, and workshops.) Sounds like a party! (Louis Wu 20:38:39 UTC) (permalink)

Cold hard cash for modding
Whoa. Halo Maps Mods and More is offering $1000 for the best modded map submitted by December 10. These are not the same guys as you'll find at Halomods, I don't think. And there's zero information (that I could find, anyway) about the rules for this competition. But wow... $1000 is a lot of money. (If they follow through, of course.) Posted on our forum by ToolNIN. (If you have any questions, be sure to add 'em to that thread.) (Louis Wu 20:19:05 UTC) (permalink)

It was 3 weeks before Christmas...
Whoa. Both Inside Mac Games and MacGamer have articles up today about the Mac Halo ship date - and December 3 is easily in time to buy a copy to put under your favorite Mac owner's tree. Woohoo! (Thanks, madscientist.) (Louis Wu 17:25:18 UTC) (permalink)

October Screens added
Gah. All these Halo reviews... the Screenshots database was out of date. I've just added 18 collections (334 shots) to bring us up to the weekend. It never ends... (Louis Wu 17:00:59 UTC) (permalink)

Blood Gulch Pitfalls
You ever play with folks that don't seem to do much except take credit for your team's win? dustin has... and he made a Guest One One Se7en to commemorate the activity. (Louis Wu 09:51:25 UTC) (permalink)

They had a party - but nobody came
Gah - nobody showed up! SeeMePlayMe held a tourney yesterday... and the HBO team of synide, goatrope, jayWHY, and devin were the only folks there. :( People - try this out. It costs nothing to enter, and there are prizes to win. (Next tourney is Thursday, a 2v2 event.) (Louis Wu 08:35:14 UTC) (permalink)

I'm just dying to make a Guilty Spark.
While I was having my backside handed to me in online Halo (Anonyme, I'm not letting you have any more rocket launchers!), SketchFactor posted a new contest up on Bungie.net. It's a Halo-ween Pumpkin Carving Contest! Make a cool Halo-related pumpkin, take a pic, send it in. Win stuff. More details in the article. Excuse me, I need to go find a band-aid. (Louis Wu 01:24:38 UTC) (permalink)

News October 20 2003

Seeing black in your sniper scope?
Just noticed this on the Gearbox technical forum, it's a bug that's bitten me, I figured it could use wider dissemination. Eternal (a Gearbox programmer) explained the 'night vision black patch' problem that Radeon users with the Catalyst 3.8 drivers are experiencing; it's a driver issue, and something that will require a new driver patch from ATI to fix. Eternal suggests a couple of workarounds while you wait. (Louis Wu 20:54:27 UTC) (permalink)

Reviews? Did someone say reviews?
Well, it's been a whole 48 hours since our last Review roundup... guess it's time to look again. GameOver, JIVE Magazine, YiYas (in German), and 3DAvenue. Comments ranged from 'mind-bendingly, stultifyingly, dull and repetitious' (GameOver) to 'one all-around tight package' (JIVE magazine). Blue's News found these for me. (Louis Wu 19:56:27 UTC) (permalink)

WCG Tourney taken by TDT member
Gah. I gotta get a better junk filter. The MLG press releases get filtered right into my Junk folder, when they'd be far better off on HBO's front page... Major League Gaming announced on Friday that Matt "Zyos" Leto, a member of The Dream Team (a group MLG sponsors), walked away with top Halo honors at the World Cyber Games tourney in Seoul, Korea last week. (He pocketed $20,000.) Streaming video of the event is available on this page... you're looking for 'Leto vs Hebbada'. (The blow-by-blow is rather bizarre.) Go check it out! (Louis Wu 19:30:37 UTC) (permalink)

cortana.org, forerunners.org offline for a bit
Got word from Steve Campbell that forerunners.org and cortana.org will be offline for several days, as they migrate to new servers. This affects our Great Halo Scavenger Hunt... but hopefully, the downtime won't be too long. Update: Apparently, the downtime was measured in minutes, not days. They're back up. :) (Why is a Star Trek movie ringing in my brain?) (Louis Wu 18:48:31 UTC) (permalink)

SeeMePlayMe tourney tonight
Just a reminder - there's a 4v4 Halo PC tournament over at SeeMePlayMe this evening; 7 pm Central time. Grab the SeeMePlayMe client, jump into the Halo lobby, and you're off! (There's at least one HBO-related team playing tonight.) Top prize is a SeeMePlayMe Gold account (which, among other things, allows you to create on-the-fly HaloPC servers all the time, instead of just when they've made them free to all.) Details on SeeMePlayMe, for those who missed them last week, can be found here. (Louis Wu 16:31:54 UTC) (permalink)

ediuG ygetartS
One One Se7en contemplates the frightening possibility that the the internet has spread quite a bit by the 26th century...

Cyborgs Have Laws, Too
Today's Halo: Resolution looks at the little things that fortunately don't get in your way while playing... (Louis Wu 11:11:57 UTC) (permalink)

Stories
10 Fan Fiction stories for you today:

• Kirk's Odysee, by Gasman
• Chapter 6: The Trap, by Ace
• Chapter 7: Defeat and Capture, by Ace
• A pilot's life: Chapter 2 Fallen Angel, by Captain Rasc
• Countdown Earth: Hour Eight, by Mainevent
• Plasma Burns and Bullet shells-chapter 4, by Myth
• Spartan III's, Part 5: The discovery , by FOrunnER
• Halo: A Troubled Galaxy Ch. 3, by Ghost
• Plasma Burns and Bullet Shells-chapter 5, by Myth
• The Rise and Fall of the Flood Chapter 12, by BlackValkyire

There were many more, but one was a potentially offensive poem, and 6 others were reposted from May; the beauty of our Series link is that you don't NEED to repost stories you're returning to six months later... folks can STILL read them as a unit. (Louis Wu 11:03:26 UTC) (permalink)

Game Guide at GameSpot
GameSpot has posted a Halo Game Guide; it requires basic registration (free) for the web version, and paid registration for the downloadable Acrobat version. Lots of interesting information for Halo newcomers, and 27 new screenshots. Thanks to Scimitarex for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 10:35:00 UTC) (permalink)

Unintended Consequences
Mat Noguchi's blog answers another niggling question about why a certain glitch occurs. You may have noticed that the Scorpion tank can be used as a catapult, of sorts; if you're standing on an upside-down one, and flip it ('Press X to flip'), you'll be launched pretty darn high. (This was first noticed about 2 months after the Xbox was released.) Now we know why. (This phenomenon has ALSO been exploited for some of the coolest high-jumps out there that use a Warthog; Dark Helmet discovered that if he climbed to the top level of the Blue Beam towers, then launched a Warthog with grenades on the ground below him, he could use the 'Press X to flip' temporary invincibility to get the hog to bump HIM into the sky. This can be seen in several released films - here's one.) Thanks to Sir Fragula for noticing the article. (Louis Wu 10:08:37 UTC) (permalink)

Too Much Time
Team Sexy has been working on a new movie called Damnation - but it's been delayed, for technical reasons. To tide you over, they've created a movie called 'Too Much Time', which parodies most of the gameplay movies out there (their own included). To get it, simply register on their forum, then download it from the Too Much Time thread. To help out on bandwidth, we're mirroring this for a day; you can also find a copy on files.bungie.org, until tomorrow. It's 28.8 mb, and encoded in DivX format. (Louis Wu 09:42:53 UTC) (permalink)

News October 19 2003

Halo GT video 2 posted
(GT)Juggler created another Halo GT video - this one's 5:18 long, and available in two sizes; a high-res version at 56.5 mb, and a lower-res version at 12.7 mb. (They're both 320x240 screen res; one just has less compression.) It's full of tricks, funky places to go, weird camera angles... fun stuff to watch. Almost all of it has been seen in other vids, but the synchronization with the audio is quite good. He's hosting both versions on the HaloGT website; check the Halo Media page. (This news was originally submitted a couple of weeks ago, but I managed to lose it.) (Louis Wu 20:38:39 UTC) (permalink)

Qtracker adds Halo support
Another server browser, Qtracker, has now added support for Halo. Yet another option if you're unhappy with the internal browser built into Halo PC. Thanks, Blues News (via Ash). (Louis Wu 15:09:58 UTC) (permalink)

Suicide Penalty
Today's guest One One Se7en comes from Experiment_01, and looks at one of the downsides to careless multiplay. (Louis Wu 04:32:33 UTC) (permalink)

And now for something completely different
You'd have thought that we'd have planned something clever for news post 7777, wouldn't you? Something suitably Bungie-oriented, maybe mysterious... definitely cool. Yeah, well, it crept up on us. Meleed us in the back of the head, even. Sorry; there's nothing here. Not even a clue (even an obscure one) for the Great Halo Scavenger Hunt. Hmm... (Louis Wu 04:24:51 UTC) (permalink)

Demo list - bigger now
As a reminder, the list of places you can grab the 131 mb Halo PC Demo has grown to more than a couple of dozen, in many countries. There's still no official word on dedicated Demo servers... but have no fear, they're coming. (Louis Wu 04:10:29 UTC) (permalink)

They write, and they write, and they write...
Monster quantities of Fan Fiction:

• Harvest, by Hikaru-119
• Angels war III stage, by Javier Fernandez-Vina
• Human Elite Interlude: Between ch 2 and 3, by Tinmad!
• Blue Squadron Chronicles, Part Two, by Hunter_Killer
• Pilots Life: Chapter 1-Alpha Squadron, by Captain Rasc
• Homeworlds (X)2, by Mainevent
• The Rise and Fall of the Flood Chapter 11, by BlackValkyire
• Plasma Burns and Bullet Shells-chapter 3, by Myth
• Halo: A Troubled Galaxy, by Ghost
• MJOLNIR, Chapter Three, by Nemesis
• Darkness, by Captain Jack Who Lay Out The Smack
• Tales From the Hook: Old Dead Man, by Alpha Lance/Jinkaiden-XI
• We are the Marines, by Captain Rasc
• Invasion of X41 (Chptr 2: War Zone), by CoLd BlooDed
• Chapter two: Old friends saying goodbye, by Awacar
• Human Elite Ch 3, by Tinmad!
• Human Elite Ch 4, by Tinmad!
• For Every Cowboy . . . [H&R 15], by Jillybean
• Sons of Sparta IV, by SOS.Odin
• SHINOBI CHRONICLES � IGNORANCE IS BLISS (part 1), by Matt James
• A New Masada, by Walker

You'd never know it was a weekend... (Louis Wu 04:04:58 UTC) (permalink)

Capture of the Week
Dang. synide shows how it's done. Check out this flag capture on Timberland - it's just a meg, 15 seconds long, and if every cap went this smoothly, games would last a couple of minutes. You can let him know what you think in this forum thread. (Louis Wu 02:17:10 UTC) (permalink)

News October 18 2003

BGH talks to TCLN
DOH! This came in yesterday, I totally spaced. Battleground: Halo has interviewed the co-owners of the Cobra League Network, a group devoted to game ladders (one that recently added Halo to its lineup). The interview gives some insight into how the group was formed, and what they do... go check it out for info on game ladders and how they work! (Louis Wu 17:20:54 UTC) (permalink)

Review Roundup
New Halo reviews at Adrenaline Vault, GamePlanet.nz, Gaming Illustrated, and The Entertainment Depot. Opinions ranged from 'eh' to 'good with flaws'. Thanks, as usual, to Blue's News. Update: oops, missed one; Boomtown looked at it yesterday, too. Thanks, Narcogen (who got it from Shacknews). (Louis Wu 16:54:25 UTC) (permalink)

Randy Pitchford talks performance at AVault
The Adrenaline Vault has posted an interview with Randy Pitchford about Halo PC's performance. On the positive side, he points out a bunch of the critical issues that explain some of the negative press Halo's been getting. (The biggest is that this is really the first mainstream game to extensively use DX9 - and people haven't adjusted their expectations from experiences with DX7/8 yet.) The negative side is that some of the frustration of dealing with day-to-day problems leaks out into some of his answers. It's a good read, and there's a lot to look forward to. I'm just glad I'm not forced to support people screaming for my blood... (Louis Wu 14:38:51 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Scavenger Hunt FAQ posted
Yayap the grunt has written a short FAQ about the Great Halo Scavenger Hunt; we've linked it in our list of helpful URLs on the right side of the forum. Yayap isn't a Bungie or b.org employee; he's just a fan who's written up what's known about this hunt to date. If you're having trouble figuring out what you're supposed to be doing, give it a read! (Louis Wu 14:25:16 UTC) (permalink)

Mac Halo Info... tantalizing
Oops - almost missed this one. SketchFactor posted a mini-update on Mac Halo over at bungie.net; the official beta testing starts next week. That's rockin' news... (Louis Wu 04:10:25 UTC) (permalink)

Co-op Love
Speaking of comics, today's guest One One Se7en comes from forum regular hehbo2k3. He looks at the PC coop issue. And what an issue it is. (Louis Wu 04:02:20 UTC) (permalink)

Halobabies update
New strip over at Halobabies.net! The Baby Hunter... ain't very nice. Thanks, mrsmiley. (There are also a couple of new sketches in the MOXC Sketches section, for registered visitors.) (Louis Wu 03:48:45 UTC) (permalink)

News October 17 2003

New Zealand Halo press
Michael M. points out an article about Halo PC on XtraMSN, a New Zealand portal site. Not a lot of info... but press is press. Now let's see... $99 NZ dollars... that's about $59 US. Not too bad. (Louis Wu 20:07:37 UTC) (permalink)

CNN looks at Halo
CNN reviewed Halo today - sort of. That is - it's not an in-depth review... but it's a full CNN article, and that's about as mainstream as it gets. Mostly, the reviewer was happy with it. (He was sad about the lack of coop.) Thanks, RustedAngel! (Louis Wu 19:31:51 UTC) (permalink)

Lots of places for the demo
Mirror sites for the Halo Trial are coming fast and furious. We've compiled a mirror list; if you know of a mirror that's not listed, please drop us a note. Thanks! (Louis Wu 19:07:26 UTC) (permalink)

It's after 10 PST...
The Halo PC demo is now available over at IGN - go grab it! (131 mb...) Update: 3D Gamers has put up a mirror already - we'll probably create a mirror page later today. Thanks, Frans. (Louis Wu 17:27:13 UTC) (permalink)

We knew the How - now we know the Why
Yesterday, we mentioned a blog written by Mat Noguchi, a Bungie programmer. He's added another Halo tidbit to the mix; he explains WHY the infinite ammo/camo glitch (one we chronicled pretty thoroughly in the one and only Keyes' Corner entry to date) comes about. Way cool. (Thanks to Rampancy.net, who noticed the RSS feed for that page (and the article itself, for that matter) - it'll be easier to keep up on changes.) (Louis Wu 10:57:17 UTC) (permalink)

Rampancy Upgrades
Gah - I haven't been making my rounds. (Been a busy week.) Lots of new knicknacks over at Rampancy.net; this news post summarizes the enhancements to the user experience. (Louis Wu 10:42:40 UTC) (permalink)

Review Roundup
It must be Friday - time for another roundup of Halo reviews (thanks again to Blue's News). Lessee... we got GamerDad, Gamer's Hell, Gameguru Mania (with 60 screenshots), and Wicked Toast. The first three thought it was okay, the last one hated it. Well, 'hated' might be too strong a term; the final summation was 'an overall good game with some hideously disappointing bits'. (They lamented the 'Doom-level' AI and the 'now-standard assortment of Deathmatches, CTFs and Assaults' in multiplayer - two criticisms that tell me they didn't put very much time into their test.) Go check 'em all out; new perspectives are always an okay thing. Update: Whoops, missed one; Christ Centered Game Reviews looked at Halo, and gave it a 90%. I'm not sure I see the 'Christ centered' part of the review, except the note that swearing is almost nonexistent... there was a review last year from a Christian site that seemed to hold the game to a much higher standard. I guess you just never know. Thanks, Narcogen, at R.net (who noticed it at Battleground: Halo.) (Louis Wu 10:27:25 UTC) (permalink)

The Soviet Mind Game.
Maybe I've just been around too long... but today's One One Se7en made me laugh out loud. I miss that game... (Louis Wu 09:48:10 UTC) (permalink)

Laundry Day
The Master Chief is just like you - he's too busy to pick up his clothes. Or so says Halo: Resolution today... (Louis Wu 09:46:33 UTC) (permalink)

Lots of writing for Friday
17 stories and poems for you today in the Fan Fiction section.

• The Resistance Alliance: Prologue, by Awesomedudeman
• Angels war II stage, by Javier Fernandez-vina
• The Rise and Fall of the Flood Chapter 10, by BlackValkyire
• Evanangel (Part Two), by Jinkaiden-XI
• Threatened-pt 1, by UNSC_spec._117
• Modern Trench Warfare, by Postman
• A Marine Named Peters: Ouch, these walls are HOT!, by GLADIATRRR3000
• Aftermath, Chapter 1, by FOrunnER
• Yearning, by Sergeant B
• A Marine's Cheer, by Alpha Lance
• Brave Jumpers of the Skies, by Alpha Lance
• Halo: A Troubled Galaxy , by Ghost
• MJOLNIR, Chapter Two, by Nemesis
• Jaffa Part 3, by Neal Stack
• Homeworlds XIX, by Mainevent
• A John Before Halo: Escape (Part 13) , by J-117
• Plasma Burns and Bullet Shells-chapter 2, by Myth

Another day, another torrent... (Louis Wu 09:43:39 UTC) (permalink)

Halo PC Demo - Friday Morning
131 mb of Halo goodness... Friday at 10 am PST! (That's 5 pm UTC, or 1 pm Eastern.) Check out the article at IGN - The Halo PC demo (Silent Cartographer for solo play, Blood Gulch with limited vehicles for netplay) will be released (exclusively, they say) at IGN Downloads. Thanks to the former Huntr-Killr for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 00:29:41 UTC) (permalink)

News October 16 2003

CNN plays Halo at EGM
This morning, on CNN Headline News, there was a piece showing a CNN reporter taking over the Editor in Chief's job for the day over at Electronic Gaming Monthly. According to Blackstar, They played a bit of Blood Gulch multiplayer; not a bad job to have! And now you can read the story on CNN.com (thanks, Lophan and Cybrfrk) - there's a small fact box halfway down the page about the 16-player game of Halo they played. Halo in the news! (Louis Wu 21:09:32 UTC) (permalink)

The Halo For Windows Worldwide Tournament
Whoa. It's been announced. The Halo for Windows Worldwide Tournament will kick off on November 15 - you have to be registered by then to play. (Registration opens today.) Play will take place in iGames member centers around the world. Go read the B.net page for full details; prizes look pretty cool. (Louis Wu 17:56:52 UTC) (permalink)

Of his own FreeWill - The Scavenger Hunt and Mig
Leave it to Miguel to make things accessible to the world. Sometimes we forget that not EVERYONE reading this website has been here since Bungie opened its doors 12 years ago. (Okay, truth be told, NONE of us have been here THAT long... but you get the point.) Read this forum post for some pretty concrete suggestions about where the motivations for the Scavenger Hunt might have come from, and where you might go with what you have. For the record: Miguel is not privy in any way to the inner workings of the contest; beyond knowing that it's going on, he's not participating at all, either as a searcher or a creator. He's just trying to give you some overlying perspective. (Louis Wu 16:40:23 UTC) (permalink)

There's Hardcore, and there's stupid.
Hardcore's Hardcorner, a column over at Xbox.com, covers Halo this time round. Check out 'They Call Him MASTER Chief'. Tactics discussion, then a look at Halo 2. Thanks to Rendar for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 13:00:02 UTC) (permalink)

Someone slipped sodium pentathol in her tea...
Chelsea Bridge, in a break from her standard obscure references, almost gets specific in a Great Halo Scavenger Hunt clue. Whoa. (Louis Wu 12:53:09 UTC) (permalink)

Talk to Halo Devs, IRC chat from CPL
An IRC chat with representatives from Microsoft, Bungie, and Gearbox will take place on October 29 on the channel #CPL on GamesNET. Details are here, on the CPL site. Topics will include HaloPC and the CPL Winter Championship coming up in December. Thanks to kappa for the heads-up on our forum. (Louis Wu 12:43:43 UTC) (permalink)

An inside look at a Bungie employee
Holy moley. Mat Noguchi, Tools and Sounds programmer for Halo, dropped a small note in our forum, pointing to a new blog he's started up... the relevant entry (for now, and for this community) is here. He's explained WHY Object Overload is allowed to happen in the game. For those who don't pay attention to glitch discussions, object overload is term given to the phenomenon where the Halo engine stops being able to keep track of all the objects in the game... and stops rendering ALL of them. (The limit's pretty high, and it's hard to reach unless you're trying.) It's a glitch that was exploited for one of the coolest tricks in the game; snagging a Banshee on the Maw. And now we know WHY it happens. (And now there's one MORE site to keep an eye on for interesting Halo news, from time to time...) (Louis Wu 11:26:51 UTC) (permalink)

HaloBunker Wallpaper contest ends
The Wallpaper contest at Halo Bunker that we mentioned a couple of weeks ago has ended - and the three winners are posted on the site. Check 'em out! (Thanks to The Elite Spartan for the heads-up.) (Louis Wu 11:15:55 UTC) (permalink)

HBO Represent!
synide is organizing a team of HBO regulars for the next SeeMePlayMe tournament (to be held online this coming Monday). He and jayWHY (who killed me a LOT of times yesterday, btw) need two more people for the 4v4 team. You can contact him on SeeMePlayMe, or our forum, I'd guess. (Louis Wu 11:11:54 UTC) (permalink)

SparkEdit 1.1 is out
Grenadiac writes to point out that SparkEdit 1.1 (an Xbox Halo map editor/viewer) has been released. You can edit cache files to move player spawns, scenery, weapons, flags, hill placement, and more. There's a movie demonstrating some object placement here, and the app itself can be found here, on HaloMods. (Louis Wu 11:08:30 UTC) (permalink)

What Lies Beneath
Today's Guest One One Se7en comes from Limax - who takes a closer look at those hunters. (Louis Wu 10:56:00 UTC) (permalink)

Proliferating Halo sites
A whole bunch of clan/news sites in our mailbox recently...

• Grunts with a Vengeance (Halo PC clan)
• Clan 93rd V.S.D. (Halo 2 clan)
• Alpha Base (7th Column chapter, Halo PC squad)
• Bravo vs Delta (Comedy series, trailer available)
• Got Halo (General site, not finished yet)

I'm sure there are more on the way - that's what's piled up in the last day or two. One of these days, when time permits, we really have to update our Links page. (Louis Wu 10:34:15 UTC) (permalink)

News October 15 2003

Nice job, guys! Cold fusion on me!
Been a long time in the queue - but there are 30 new snippets in the Dialogue Databank, all from Captain Spark. Some real classics this time around! (There are still several dozen queued snippets - at this point, all Elites. Coming soon, I hope.) (Louis Wu 22:37:57 UTC) (permalink)

New screenshots at Bungie.net
Seven new screens over at Bungie.net - they were all taken by beta testers, and the filenames include the submitter. Most should be familiar to you, if you've been around here for any length of time. These are the top 7 screens of a much larger pool submitted to Bungie during the beta test, and are all worth checking out! (Louis Wu 19:35:36 UTC) (permalink)

Free copies of Halo PC from Hypothermia
HardOCP's alter-ego site Hypothermia is giving away 10 copies of Halo PC; three are autographed by the entire Gearbox team. All 10 will be given away, 1 per day. There's a pretty funny story that goes with the acquisition of the ten copies on the site... check it out. Thanks to Carlo Zottman for the heads-up on this one. (Louis Wu 15:25:13 UTC) (permalink)

RvB - Machinima machines
The Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences announced the nominees for the 2003 Machinima Awards in New York today. Winners will be announced on October 25, at the American Museum of the Moving Image. Red vs Blue was nominated for an astounding number of categories, including

• Best Picture
• Best Direction
• Best Virtual Performance
• Best Writing
• Best Editing
• Best Independent Film

In addition, Halo 2 was nominated for the best Commercial/Game Machinima. (This last is odd, since it won't be out in 2003...) Check both the Academy's website, and the Museum's, for more details. Nice going, RvB! (Louis Wu 12:30:53 UTC) (permalink)

Because we hate to see goodies go to waste...
Wow. It looks like folks have pretty much given up on the Great Halo Scavenger Hunt... and that makes me sad. There's a post on our forum that MIGHT summarize what the problem is - but I know that the puzzle is solveable, since several people have solved it already. So here's the deal: we're gonna give you one of the trinkets. This was the first one found, and it was posted on our forum at least twice, so I don't feel too bad giving it away. If you visit Battleground: Halo, and stop by their FAQ, a text search on the page will turn up a question that isn't linked at the top. It's down in the last section, and it asks 'What is the fifth trinket?' and the answer is 'East'. They're not all in plain sight like that - but (with a couple of exceptions) they all mention 'trinket', which should make things a bit simpler. Remember - you're looking for 10 of these, and you're looking on Halo-related websites for them. In the process of finding them, you should ALSO find clues about what to do with them. (At the start, don't worry about what to do with them - just keep track of them. It really will become clearer.) Only 3 of the 28 prizes have been claimed at this point... there is still a LOT of schwag to grab! (Louis Wu 10:05:47 UTC) (permalink)

'John' 117
Stuntmutt looks at the human side of the Master Chief in today's One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 10:04:54 UTC) (permalink)

Funding My Foot!
Today's Halo: Resolution shows the agressive side of Cortana. Ouch. (Louis Wu 10:03:51 UTC) (permalink)

Words for Wednesday
20 stories for you in the Fan Fiction section today:

• The 7th Column: Revelations, by Mainevent
• Charge of the Grunt Brigade - Part Three: Second, by Walker
• Calling(1), by Frensa Geran
• Marooned - Chapter 2, by Steve Ollett
• The final war: Chapter one: The forming of an alliance, by Awacar
• Jaffa Part 2, by Neal Stack
• A John Before Halo: Defense (Part 12), by J-117
• Marine Rifles, CHAPTER 2, by Marine Black Ops
• Branded for Life Part 1, by PaYnE
• Countdown Earth: Hour Nine, by Mainevent
• Battle for the Norah: Part Seven, by Sterfrye36
• The Mutation (A sequel to the Virus) Prologue, by monitor101
• Attack on ERISTOCK Part 10: Hunters, by xitWOUND117
• Angels war, by Javier fernandez-vina
• 3rd Squadron, by Alpha Lance
• Plasma Burns and Bullet shells-chapter 1, by Myth
• Survival, Chapter Eleven(Finale), by Agent Shade
• A Spartan Named James- Part 2, by ZePHyR wRaiTH
• Destiny is Calling, by Alpha Lance
• The Rebel: Can We Get Some WD-40 Down Here?, by Elfster

A lot of writers are still having trouble with the whole 'series' concept... if anyone can suggest a way to make it clearer in the docs, I'm all ears. (Louis Wu 09:57:24 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 2 Sessions Report
Marty O'Donnell recently chatted with Music 4 Games about the recording sessions produced so far for Halo 2 - it's an interesting read. There's a pretty intriguing bit at the end, too...

"All this music has been mixed in Surround Sound and will be released as part of a bonus DVD that will come free with the re-release of the Halo Soundtrack this fall."

Another reason to buy the Halo Soundtrack! (Louis Wu 00:06:40 UTC) (permalink)

News October 14 2003

Fall Brawl in Rhode Island
Bloodgulch.com is hosting the Halo Fall Brawl, on Sunday, November 2, at 11:30. It takes place in Riverside, Rhode Island (just east of Providence), and costs $80/team to get in. Prizes aren't listed yet, but they'll include cash and schwag from Alienware, NVIDIA, Bawls, Dominos, Dunkin' Donuts... check it out. (Louis Wu 19:43:27 UTC) (permalink)

Mini-action figures coming soon!
Coming in November, from Joyride - 3" action figures, in 2-piece sets (jackal and MC, or red/blue MCs) and 5-piece sets (5 different-colored MCs, or MC, pair of marines, pair of jackals). It's almost time for battles! Thanks to krapshmeer for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 19:36:07 UTC) (permalink)

Halo City opens its doors
New Halo site out there: Halo City. info comes from programerz, a source of lots and lots of good info at the Gearbox forums... site gets thumbs-up from forum regular gwdpto. Clans who sign up today get access to a free Teamspeak server (for voice chat over IP). (Louis Wu 19:08:10 UTC) (permalink)

Yeah, next you'll say the phone rang.
Boxer is apparently looking for ways to rationalize his awful rocket-launching skills in online Halo PC play. To this end, he's even created a comic over at Subnova, going so far as to blame his uber-n00bishness as 'lag'. Pfft. (Okay, okay... it really IS a problem sometimes. But geez... did he leave himself wide open, or what?) (Louis Wu 18:26:14 UTC) (permalink)

Don't let him out of your sight...
Whoa - very cool. 1UP put up a new feature called '50 to Watch', a group of people they believe 'will help define gaming the most in the next 12 months'. They're (mostly) in alphabetical order, so the list isn't ranked, per se... but one of the 50 (Number 17, in fact) is Jaime Griesemer, lead designer for Halo 2. Thanks to Pallor, over at Subnova, for pointing it out. (Louis Wu 18:22:57 UTC) (permalink)

Free Dedicated Server on SeeMePlayMe
Got a note from the folks at SeeMePlayMe, a gaming/chat solution which now covers Halo (along with other games). Pretty cool stuff; The software is free (though there are advantages to subscribing), and one of the new features with respect to Halo is that you can set up your own dedicated server for free. You and your friends meet in a 'room', where you can chat, view each others' webcams, whatever... when you're ready, you can set up a private Halo server, with your own parameters (map, options, number of players, etc.) and get to playing. A screenshot of the interface is here. As the service becomes more popular, the number of days that non-paying members can create servers every week may decrease... but you'll ALWAYS be able to JOIN a game. (You also have access to the standard servers out there; SeeMeePlayMe can act as an alternative to the Gamespy server browser built into Halo, an alternative with a built-in chat option, for the 'we need a lobby' folks.) If your clan needs a place to meet, but doesn't want to deal with the hassle of collecting money from all members to pay for a dedicated server, this is an option you should definitely check out! Update: This page at SeeMePlayMe should explain what they're about, and what they offer. (Louis Wu 17:44:31 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Reviews all around
A few new reviews for you: Gamezilla says 'buy it', even though they were unhappy with the repetitive level design and steep system requirements, Jolt.co.uk gave it a 93% for fun factor, and Gamer's Pulse gave it an Editor's Choice Award although they were unhappy with performance issues. Thanks to Blue's News and Shacknews, via ash. (Louis Wu 09:52:01 UTC) (permalink)

There's A New Sheriff In Town...
Today's Guest One One Se7en is from b.org's own CYBRFRK, who looks at the newest weapon in the Halo arsenal. Yup... nasty toy. (Louis Wu 01:08:38 UTC) (permalink)

News October 13 2003

Halo URL
Coolness! HA|aD Monkey submitted a slick little app to the Junkyard which, once installed, allows you to connect to Halo servers via a halo://your.address.here link. Handy! (Requires Windows XP/2000) (Louis Wu 17:00:38 UTC) (permalink)

Another Halo ladder in Europe
Another ladder site for Halo PC, again in Europe: ClanBase has added a pair of CTF ladders (CTF Europe and CTF 2on2 Europe). They'll add a Slayer ladder as soon as at least 10 clans ask for it. ClanBase supports more than 2 dozen games, so their comments about Halo instant popularity being rare carry some weight! (Louis Wu 14:22:10 UTC) (permalink)

4v4 tourney in Chicago
Game On Entertainment is hosting a 4v4 tournament with a $100/team entry fee and a $2000 purse; it's taking place in Chicago, on November 8. Check the website for full details. Thanks to Battleground: Halo for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 13:54:04 UTC) (permalink)

BBC says Halo has problems
There's an article on the BBC News website called 'PC bugs undermine Halo shooter' which laments the problems in Halo PC. Most of the complaints have been heard before (high requirements, weaker weapons), but a couple are new - including one rather surprising one:

But the most serious problem comes with the multi-player option. The computer is prone to crash during gameplay when you change maps, even on a machine using Windows XP. In one case, the crash led to the so-called "blue screen of death", something that simply does not happen with XP.

I'd love to see corroboration of this - I was under the impression that that screen no longer even existed under XP. (For the record, I've never seen Halo crash while changing maps, either.) Thanks to Beats for the heads-up on this one. Update: looks like I haven't been doing my homework. Plenty of folks wrote in to tell me about BSODs in XP (I'm not a huge PC user, so I don't feel so bad about this), but others wrote to tell me that the phenomenon is NOT limited to a small group; there are many messages about BSOD crashes over on the Gearbox Technical forum. Before Halo PC was released, I was completely up-to-date on this forum... but in the last couple of weeks, I've been falling behind. After doing some searches, it seems that the majority of (though by no means ALL) the problems are with people who have ATI 8500/9000/9200 cards; many were able to make them go away by installing the latest Catalyst drivers (and ensuring that OLDER drivers were cleared out), but some were not. (Many problems seem to be tied to the ati3d2ag.dll file - specifically, multiple instances of it.) I haven't run across an official Gearbox response to the problem, but I'd guess they're working hard on it. (Louis Wu 11:00:38 UTC) (permalink)

I'm Guessing Here...
One One Se7en speculates about weapons that ALMOST made it. ALMOST. (Louis Wu 01:47:34 UTC) (permalink)

A Lesson In Driver Safety
So what happens when a warthog meets a civilian car? Halo: Resolution checks it out. Ouch! (Louis Wu 01:42:22 UTC) (permalink)

Clearing out the backlog - again
In all the hubbub about Halo PC (its release, the setup of online servers for it, my wasting of several hours a day playing it) and the Great Halo Scavenger Hunt, a few user submission sections have been neglected for a bit. We've got 9 items in the Miscellaneous Art section, ranging from comics (4 of 'em, actually) to pixel art to a KILLER MC render. Check it all out! (Louis Wu 01:39:22 UTC) (permalink)

More words than Columbus ever wrote
24 Fan Fiction pieces for you today - busy weekend for the writers.

• The legend of the gold master chief, by Jmotoblaze
• Battleground Earth, Part One, by Hunter_Killer
• Chapter Seven: Rise of the Phoenix, by Blue Jaguar
• The Fall of Fate: Invasion, Part Three(13), by 'Nosolee
• Homeworlds XVIII, by Mainevent
• Battle for the Norah: Part Six, by Sterfrye36
• From The Front Lines, by PaYnE
• A Spartan Named James, by ZePHyR WRaiTh
• MJOLNIR, Chapter One, by Nemesis
• Invasion of X41 (Chptr 1: Invaded), by CoLd BlooDed
• Another day in the life of Master Chief..., by that guy over there who smiles just a biiit too wide....
• Marine Rifles, CHAPTER 1, by Marine Black Ops
• part1:Fragments of Halo, by Fenrisc
• A Final Oration, by 'Nosolee
• Devestation- Chapter 5- Friendly Fire?, by Michael
• Devestation- Chapter 6- Char Man'ame, by Michael
• Derailed Part 8, by Dispraiser
• Survival, Chapter Ten, by Agent Shade
• Halo: The MCconto Chronicles PART 13, by JCDenton
• The Men that Make the Marines, by Walker
• Cry for the Dead, by Walker
• Jaffa Part 1, by Neal Stack
• Deliberation, by Dispraiser
• The Rebel: Window of Opportunity, by Elfster

Whew - good thing today is a holiday in the US! (Louis Wu 01:37:07 UTC) (permalink)

News October 12 2003

Hack me, baby.
As usual, BOLL rocks. HHHT, the Helpful Halo Hacking Tool, provides an easy way to apply ppf files to modify maps (and lets you backup your originals, in case you forget!). Screenshot here, to show you the interface. Hacking was never easier. (Louis Wu 19:34:28 UTC) (permalink)

Poetry for Prizes
Hmm. Shadow Claw sends word that his 7th Column chapter, Born to Frag, is hosting a contest; send in a funny, eight-lined Halo and Halloween-related poem by October 31, and you could win some schwag. First prize is a pair of speakers, second prize is The Sims Livin' Large, 3rd is $20, and fourth is a secret prize. Sounds easy enough... (Louis Wu 15:46:00 UTC) (permalink)

Flamethrower... in Campaign
Wraith has discovered that the flamethrower IS available on a couple of Campaign levels in Halo PC; he's taken a few screenshots on the Library, and created ppfs for both the Library and Keyes, the two levels he found it on. You can see the screens in this forum post, or download a zip file containing all 6 screens, the two ppfs, and a readme from THIS post. Try it out on the covenant! (Louis Wu 15:08:09 UTC) (permalink)

Hunt or Die
Chelsea's beginning to make grunting noises... (Louis Wu 14:43:37 UTC) (permalink)

Master Chef
Today's Guest One One Se7en comes from Spooky Donkey, and looks at potential jobs for the MC. And while we're discussing One One Se7en, congratulations to IXIGhandiIXI, who found the One One Se7en easter egg which has been hidden in the section (in plain sight) for over a month now. The rest of you are slacking... (Louis Wu 14:40:43 UTC) (permalink)

Enemy Down adds Halo ladders
Enemy Down, a UK-based ladder site for Counter-Strike and Day of Defeat, has added Halo to their list of supported games. There are new CTF and Slayer ladders. If you're a UK Halo player, stop by and sign up, and climb the multiplayer ranks! (Louis Wu 14:01:30 UTC) (permalink)

Progress on Home Front continues
BGT writes to point out the Home Front mod for Battlefield 1942. (We've mentioned it a couple of times in the past few months.) Front and center on their website is a new map of the city of Côte d'Azur on Sigma Octanus IV. (It features prominently in the Fall of Reach book.) Nice looking city, with plenty of places for fighting! Check it out. (Louis Wu 13:57:13 UTC) (permalink)

A home for your modded map
disturbedroach, from Halo Center, wrote to say that they've set up their site to allow user-uploaded maps to be added to the database; if you have a modded map that you want available to the community, visit Halo Center and upload it! (Louis Wu 13:45:49 UTC) (permalink)

Halo reviews for Saturday
Couple of new Halo reviews for you; Tom's Hardware (thanks, Mondo-77 and JP) and Eurogamer (thanks, Blues News, via ash) both looked at the game. Tom's LOVED It. "I would mention major drawbacks of this game, but there's one problem: I haven't been able to find any." It's an interesting review, because it focuses on many points I haven't seen brought up before (or thought much about myself). Eurogamer's is actually a pair of reviews; the first editor was pretty unhappy with what DIDN'T get improved between the Xbox and PC versions, the second acknowledges some of the weaknesses that other reviewers have noted, but ends with this comment:

With Doom III and Half-Life 2 now delayed to 2004, there's only one other real contender for the crown of being the top multiplayer FPS this Christmas; and unless Unreal Tournament 2004 can pull something fairly amazing out of the hat, we're pretty confident that Halo PC is that game.

Pretty much sums it up for me, too. (Louis Wu 13:40:27 UTC) (permalink)

Blood Gulch modding tool
Clan AKA has created a tool that can modify the Blood Gulch map to change projectiles (tank shells can be replaced with needles, for example, or vice versa). At the moment, it doesn't do anything else, but they're coming out with new versions every day, and they should have a final with in a week (one which will let you change ANYTHING). It's only 11k, so its a much easier solution than downloading a 5+ mb modified mapfile; just grab this, and add the effects you want yourself! (Louis Wu 12:53:22 UTC) (permalink)

News October 11 2003

Another Halo tourney in upstate NY
Nick the Roadie points out that Cyberjocks (near Buffalo, NY) is having another Halo tourney, coming up on October 18. Same rules as the last one we mentioned. (Louis Wu 14:55:07 UTC) (permalink)

A thought about PC mods
Small note for uploaders: there are a number of folks who've uploaded mods of existing maps to us, all (at this stage) involving simple hex editing of the mapfile to change weapons, or effects. It's great that folks are modding Halo PC before the official tools even get released... but we're having trouble justifying the bandwidth needs for such basic modifications. For example: someone recreated BOLL's 'Wheels on Fire' mod - except only the wheels part (and projectile impacts). The resultant zip file is over 5 megs... don't get me wrong, it's cool and all, but I'd rather wait until there are tools that can create a 5k patcher than house a 5 mb full map for a change this small. There are plenty of Halo mod sites on the net that can house these; we're going to wait until more complicated mods are available before we start our collection. Thanks! (Louis Wu 14:10:46 UTC) (permalink)

Gearbox DID add eggs.
First easter egg in Halo PC - confirmed. 'halo fan' sent in this image he captured while using the 'walk on walls' mod. Remember that the designer of Timberland is David Mertz - and his response to this discovery was amusement:

Hehe, it was a matter of time before someone found it, its hard because you have to go really, really high.

They actually are not jumping out of Timberland, Timberland has a really, really high maximum ceiling height so that the player can arc Fuel Rod Gun shots without them hitting the sky box.

I'd never noticed that last tidbit about Timberland... but then, I'm usually using the fuel rod gun to take out warthogs, not shell the enemy base. Good to know! (Louis Wu 10:15:38 UTC) (permalink)

Gephyro... What??
c0ld vengeance played a little bit of Gephyrophobia before writing today's Guest One One Se7en strip. I know exactly how he feels. (Louis Wu 09:38:35 UTC) (permalink)

FiringSquad looks at Halo
Another Halo review over at FiringSquad... they gave it 80%. Pretty honest review; worth a read. (It's quite negative in parts, but one gets the impression that the criticism comes from wanting to see something beautiful done right, rather than just to whine.) Hopefully, Gearbox is listening to some of the suggestions made in reviews like this one. (That is... if they can get past the negative tone. :) ) Thanks to Bullseye for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 02:02:51 UTC) (permalink)

News October 10 2003

Friday Fables
16 Fan Fiction stories for you on this Friday afternoon...

• The Fallen: Halo 2 Ch5S1 Moving In, by Hikaru-119
• The Fallen: Halo 2 Ch5S2 Where Did They Come From?, by Hikaru-119
• Crazy Cowboy [H&R 14], by Jillybean
• Attack on ERISTOCK Part 9: Invaders, by xitWOUND117
• The Rise and Fall of the Flood Chapter 9, by BlackValkyire
• MJOLNIR, Prologue, by Nemesis
• Sons of Sparta II, by SOS.Odin
• The 7th Column: Abandoned, by Mainevent
• The Fight for Bravo Base; pt. 6- Evac, by ONI_operative_343
• Covenant Humans part 2: Not what they seem, by Sammanam
• The Fall of Earth, Part One, by Hunter_Killer
• Sons of Sparta III, by SOS.Odin
• Tides of War, by Mainevent
• Project Sabotage - Part 1, by Ferrex
• Contract Killers (Part III), by Havok
• Survival, Chapter Nine, by Agent Shade

Go get 'em, before the Saturday batch comes! (Louis Wu 20:13:58 UTC) (permalink)

Legendary Tactics
Ever play coop with someone who likes to let YOU do all the work? Halo Babies looks at the phenomenon today with a new strip. Check it out! (Thanks to mrsmiley for the heads-up.) (Louis Wu 16:01:46 UTC) (permalink)

Skavenger Hunt Update
I've seen a couple of disturbing posts on our forum (and there are likely similar ones in other places) to the effect of 'now that the Scavenger Hunt has been solved...' Folks, there are 28 prizes to be won in the main hunt. As of this moment, 3 of them have been claimed. We'll probably start dropping hints this weekend, to get people back on track... but there is still a mountain of schwag to take home, so don't stop looking! (Louis Wu 13:57:10 UTC) (permalink)

Haloplayers is back!
They were big... then they were gone. Then they were big... then they were gone. They're back again - and it looks like they're gonna be big again. Go visit Haloplayers and see Barak's new design. (He just got his copy of Halo PC, so keeping the site updated might be a problem...) (Louis Wu 13:28:46 UTC) (permalink)

Xbox - spreading marriage at the speed of gaming
First news story of the day was a Brooke Szabo interview with Lorraine McLees; there's ANOTHER Szabo piece over at Xbox.com, this time detailing how the Xbox (well, her association with someone who WORKED for a company developing for the Xbox, but eventually the box itself) changed her life. Check it out! (Halo plays a central role, for those worried about on-topicness.) Thanks to gd for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 13:02:11 UTC) (permalink)

18 points of articulation - and the finger of god
Stuntmutt points out that The Master Chief action figure is in the spotlight over at Wizard Universe. These are toy freaks... and they love the MC. Go read why. (Louis Wu 12:25:41 UTC) (permalink)

The Aforementioned Corn.
That MC, he's one funny... nah. Go see One One Se7en and decide for yourself. (Louis Wu 04:10:56 UTC) (permalink)

My Other Bank Account
In the midst of a war, they're still keeping track of expenses? You know it! Check out Halo: Resolution today. (Louis Wu 04:07:27 UTC) (permalink)

A GIRL did that?
There's a great interview up over at Bungie.net - Brook Szabo talked to Lorraine McLees about what it's like to work at Bungie (among other things). Lorraine rocks. Read this. (Louis Wu 01:32:21 UTC) (permalink)

News October 9 2003

NYC Gaming League kicks off in 3 weeks
Major League Gaming, the folks who sponsor the Dream Team (among other activities), have partnered with GameTime Nation to launch a weekly tournament series in New York City, NYCGL. It opens the first week in November, and Halo (xbox) is among the titles in play. More details can be found at the website. (Louis Wu 21:18:47 UTC) (permalink)

What Comes Up Must Come Down
DOH! Almost forgot to post today's Guest One One Se7en, this one from Iceman1330 again. A little bit risque, I'd say... (Louis Wu 18:45:36 UTC) (permalink)

Good news for NVIDIA cards
From pretty much the time of Halo PC's release, folks with NVIDIA cards have experienced more problems than their brethren with ATI cards; framerates were dramatically lower. AnandTech has taken a look at Halo performance using the latest NVIDIA drivers (52.14, not actually available yet, should be out later this month), and found that framerates nearly double when compared to the current drivers. Thanks to Gawyn, over at Subnova, for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 14:07:00 UTC) (permalink)

More server browsers available
Another pair of Game server browsers are now Halo-compatible: Server Watch v3.4.2 now has a Halo plugin, and Kquery4 (Alpha) supports Halo. Check 'em out! (These are, again, alternatives to the in-game server browser provided by Gamespy.) (Louis Wu 11:22:54 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Reviews - lots of 'em.
A plethora of Halo reviews since our last roundup:

• GameZone (9.2/10)
• Gaming Horizon (9.5/10)
• Computer and Video Games (84/100)
• DailyGame (9.5/10)
• Next Level Gaming (98/100)
• Computer Games Romania (90/100)

There are 70 new screens (beautiful) at Computer Games Romania, and 15 (with HORRIBLE colors) at CVG. Thanks, Blues News, for keeping up while I was playing Halo PC! (Louis Wu 11:17:43 UTC) (permalink)

SparkEdit's object placement possibilities
Development on SparkEdit, the Halo map viewer, continues apace. HaloMods now has a 2:10 long movie (wmp7 format, 10.2 mb download) showing the new object placement code; 2 minutes of a MC respawning a couple of hundred feet above Blood Gulch. Over and over and over again. Thanks to SourceGuy for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 10:39:07 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Carnage Logger
Xzzy has taken the next step in Halo stats, and begun building the Halo Carnage Logger. It keeps track of more than just the current game - it maintains stats over time. It's still in beta, and not available for download yet - but it will be. (Currently, it's pointed at the HBO server.) (Louis Wu 10:29:28 UTC) (permalink)

Bungie beefs up Halo PC info
Bungie has posted a standalone HTML version of the Halo PC Performance FAQ, as well, and added a few other documents to their Halo PC Info page. If you're having trouble with Halo PC, this is one of the first places you should look. They've also opened a new forum, called 'The Maw' - it's for discussion of all things Halo PC. Add it to your site visiting list! (Louis Wu 10:28:34 UTC) (permalink)

News October 8 2003

Halo Clan Update
A bunch of clan mail we haven't gotten to yet:

• Halo 4 Ever - German clan
• Mortus Immortalis - gaming clan with a recently-formed Halo division
• Clan Omnipotence - Xbox Halo clan, recruiting
• Team GyA - Halo PC clan, currently recruiting
• team execute - german Halo PC clan (they also have an IRC channel at #execute-team @quakenet)

Go check 'em out, talk to the ones that look interesting! Update: Clan Omnipotence is Halo PC-only, actually; there was info about their Xbox activities, but now they're focused on the PC version. (Louis Wu 19:37:44 UTC) (permalink)

Performance FAQ posted by Bungie/Gearbox
Bungie has posted a FAQ about the new Halo PC 1.02 patch, and about performance issues on various PCs. It's a critical read for anyone having trouble with Halo PC. It's currently available as a downloadable RTF file, but we've HTML-ized it and made it available here (with Bungie's permission). Read, bookmark, spread the word. (The B.net article also contains a link to a database of gametypes you can add to... go look!) (Louis Wu 18:04:47 UTC) (permalink)

GameDaemons-HBO now running Halo Server 1.02
Just a heads-up... the HBO Halo PC server is now running v1.02. You'll need to upgrade your Halo client in order to see it. To do this, simply quit out of Halo, then restart it. The next time you try to connect to internet multiplayer, you'll be given the option to update. See you online! (Louis Wu 17:09:16 UTC) (permalink)

The Halo Query App list grows
Another slick little Halo query app, this one built in PHP. Sometime today, it should be available for download; for now, you can test it by putting in the IP address of a server you know about. Created by nontent, and mentioned on the Gearbox forums. Update: Eep - another one, missed this - zeeg has put one up here, for viewing (with the code here). Comments in this thread on the Gearbox forums. (Louis Wu 15:42:48 UTC) (permalink)

The Great Halo Scavenger Hunt Update
Just wanted to let people know where things stood... the Instant Win prizes were easier to find than anyone thought. The 7th (and final) one was found less than 24 hours after the Hunt began, at 10:21 pm UTC on the 7th. Not long afterwards, the Grand Prize for the hunt itself was captured - the winning submission arrived at 3:40 am UTC this morning. This was much, much faster than we'd anticipated... but then again, we'd envisioned this contest as an individual hunt, and the winning entry came from a team of 6. [Side note: you guys couldn't have found a 7th?] This means 2 things for all other contestants: the contest is quite solveable, as evidenced by the fact that it has ALREADY been solved... and there are still 27 prizes to win, so hope is far from lost. Congratulations to the 8 winners so far counted! (Well, okay, 13...) (Louis Wu 14:36:08 UTC) (permalink)

Real Halo
Been a while since we released a new Halo movie - but Mike and Sir Dan (who've released movies under the name Athol Productions in the past) have put together another fun bit; it's called 'Real Halo'... and that's just what it is. Very nice video editing. (If this had been made in time for the World's Biggest Halo Fan contest, it would have been a strong contender.) QuickTime 5 format, 15.6 mb. Go grab a copy from Mythica now! (We'll toss another copy up on files.bungie.org if bandwidth gets tight... but it shouldn't.) (Louis Wu 10:43:03 UTC) (permalink)

Jolly Green MC
Does the Master Chief have a future as a comedian? Check today's One One Se7en to decide for yourself. (Louis Wu 09:48:06 UTC) (permalink)

Nuclear Waste Crossing
New York... a dangerous town? Yep - and today's Halo: Resolution looks at why. (No, the rats aren't REALLY that big.) (Louis Wu 09:47:30 UTC) (permalink)

Wednesday's words
Fifteen Fan Fiction pieces for you today...

• Attack on ERISTOCK Part 8: Valley Conquerers, by xitWOUND117
• The Battle for Earth, by Sammanam
• Halo: The Remaining Forces, by Mark Wright (AKA SCORPION)
• Earth Under Fire, by Master_Chief189
• Survival, Chapter Eight, by Agent Shade
• Devestation- Chapter 4- Fight for Halo, by Michael
• The Battles For Centauri Primus : Chapter Three, by spartandude117
• Cerberus, by SirPopNFresh
• The rise and fall of the covenant, by John`117
• The Plague Part 3 (Finale), by monitor101
• Homeworlds XVII, by Mainevent
• A John Before Halo: Mass Death (Part 11), by J-117
• Contract Killers (Part II), by Havok
• Calistra: The Tides of War, by Jason
• The Reedeemers pt1, by The Spartan of peace and war

Those of you not playing Halo PC online, get to reading! (Louis Wu 09:43:33 UTC) (permalink)

An alternative way to find games
For those who aren't happy with the Gamespy interface for finding online Halo servers, The All-Seeing Eye now supports Halo. You'll need to make the Finland 2.0 Beta scanner your default scanner in order to find the update... but it's there. Sorting is MUCH cleaner, you can add favorite servers to a 'Favorites' list, and on and on. (It's not free - you should know that at the outset. But it IS far more powerful. And it supports many more games than just Halo.) Thanks to Reppyboyo on the Gearbox forums. (Louis Wu 01:34:53 UTC) (permalink)

Halo PC Dedicated Server v1.02 is available
Halo Dedicated Server 1.02 has been released; it adds the ability to run multiple instances of the server on a single machine, and enables RCON functionality (you can remotely control the server, without needing direct access to the machine). Gearbox and Bungie are making this available tonight, so that folks running dedicated servers can be prepared when the client patch goes live at roughly 9:30 am Pacific time. DO NOT INSTALL THIS TONIGHT - nobody will be able to play on your server. Simply get it to your server tonight, so that you're ready when the switchover occurs tomorrow. (This is a 7 mb download; the mapfiles are not included. They will be released tomorrow, for those who don't already have them.) (Louis Wu 01:20:35 UTC) (permalink)

News October 7 2003

More Management tools for HaloPC DS
More Halo PC Server management options: Nocsole is a Win32 app that runs on the server box, and allows RCON commands to be sent to it. You can see screenshots of it (and download it) on the Halo PC Beta board. (Thanks, tHe cLeanER.) There's also a Game Query Module for PHPNuke; you can see it in use here, drab it from disgruntledtech here. (Thanks, trampi3 on the Gearbox forums.) The options increase... (Louis Wu 22:32:52 UTC) (permalink)

An unofficial scavenger hunt FAQ
Yayap the grunt has taken it upon himself to write up a short FAQ about the Great Halo Scavenger Hunt. Yayap has no affiliation with bungie.org, and no inside knowledge about the Hunt... but he did mostly get the details right. If you're confused about where to start, you might want to read this. (Louis Wu 17:45:19 UTC) (permalink)

Got an opinion on those maps?
New poll at Bungie.net: "Which new Halo PC map is your favorite?" Go toss in your two cents! Thanks to Ross Mills for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 17:33:20 UTC) (permalink)

Trust No 1
Today's Guest One One Se7en comes from 343GS - and it looks at the joy of giving. (Louis Wu 08:50:22 UTC) (permalink)

Rocket Hog... on your desk.
Dave Mertz has put up some pretty intriguing shots over at the Gearbox forums... they're not on any Joyride list of upcoming action figures, but before you get the idea that he just spraypainted a standard 'hog, check out the rocket launcher on the back. Where did this bad boy come from? (Louis Wu 00:35:47 UTC) (permalink)

Remembering the rules
You know, it's pretty cool that there's all sorts of speculation going on in our forum about the scavenger hunt, and we're really happy that folks have gotten past the initial hurdle of 'how do I do this?' - but do you folks remember that this is a RACE? There are a limited number of prizes, and they'll go to the first group that finishes the hunt; if you tell everyone about the trinkets you've found, you're just decreasing the odds that it'll be YOU at that finish line. (Whatever floats your boat, though.) One other minor thing... please don't email us, asking for clues, or what the next step is. This is your hunt... find what you can. We're not being rude when we don't answer your email queries - we're gently helping you along the path to self-sufficiency. Good luck! (Louis Wu 00:09:30 UTC) (permalink)

MS Halo Support Site Live
Wow. Don't ask me how... but somehow I missed the official Microsoft Halo PC Support site going live late last week. Boatloads of info about video issues, sound issues, framerate issues... go read it. (Louis Wu 00:01:39 UTC) (permalink)

News October 6 2003

The Great Halo Scavenger Hunt
And so it begins... The Great Halo Scavenger Hunt is on! It's been a long time in the making; this is a contest that involves many different websites in the Halo/Bungie community. Part of the fun is actually going to be figuring out what you're supposed to be doing, so we're not going to give you all that much to go on, to start with... but you should stop by TGHSH Rules page for an overview, basic rules, and a prize list. (It's a hell of a prize list. Bungie rocks.) There are two interwoven parts to this hunt; there's the main scavenger hunt (which is convoluted, and requires collecting a LOT of information, but has some pretty slick schwag for those who make it to the finish line), and the 'Instant Win' category, which provides bonus gifts for the first 7 people to discover the IW doodads. Through it all, we'll be here, moderating, helping out with occasional clues, doing our best to keep folks from cheating their way to the end. And for those around during the Glyph contest we held a couple of years ago, a familiar name will be back to egg you on. In fact, she's already popped her head up... Enough of this - go read the Rules page, and start searching! (Louis Wu 18:25:19 UTC) (permalink)

HaloQuery - see what your server is doing
Brian Hurley's HaloQuery app has been updated for BSD Unix. We've got a copy running here, showing the status of the HBO dedicated server. He's given us permission to release the package (488K) containing the source code, plus executables for Win32, Linux, and OpenBSD. (Any other unix flavor simply requires a quick compile.) Eventually, this will be updated to use html templates, so that folks can customize the look to match their sites... but for the time being, it's quite functional as is! (Louis Wu 18:23:45 UTC) (permalink)

TRB clan plays Halo
Zeta writes to point out TRIBES e-Sports, a multi-platform gaming clan in Europe. They have a Halo Xbox category. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 18:16:25 UTC) (permalink)

Read Read Read
Wonga. You go the weekend without posting, and the Fan Fiction queue gets ridiculous. 25 stories for you (and that's AFTER I culled the stuff that really didn't belong):

• A Letter Home, by Hikaru-119
• HALO-003 Part 1, by EliteFoe
• Taking the High Road [H&R 13], by Jillybean
• Attack on ERISTOCK Part 7: John-117, by xitWOUND117
• The Horde: Prologue, by Awesomedudeman
• Invasion, by Chummu
• The 7th Column: Disguise, by Mainevent
• Survival, Chapter Seven, by Agent Shade
• Warriors of Valour: Part 1, by Ghost sniper
• Warriors of Valour: Part 2, by Ghost sniper
• Warriors of Valour: Part 3, by Ghost sniper
• Warriors of Valour: Part 4, by Ghost sniper
• Halo: The MCconto Chronicles Part 12, by JCDenton
• Evanangel (part 01), by Jinkaiden-XI
• The Cyborg Wars Series: The Prologue, by Jonathan D. Smith
• Calling, by Frensa Geran
• Flyboys, by Mainevent
• The 405th, by Capo Rip
• Covenant Hunters, by Randy
• The Battles For Centauri Primus : Chapter Two, by spartandude117
• Covenant Chronicles: Grunts, by FOrunnER
• Contract Killers, by Havok
• The Chief's Death, by BlackValkyire
• Marooned, by Steve Ollett
• Covenant Humans part 1: Human Victory, by Sammanam

My fingers hurt. (Louis Wu 17:17:50 UTC) (permalink)

Tools to admin your dedicated server
Two more Halo PC server admin tools, straight from the Gearbox forums. (Thanks to programerz for a kickass summary, btw). First up is Halo Query, a tool for Win32/Linux platforms (BSD coming soon) that will show some very pretty stats of the server. Second up is stang's Halo Server Admin, a small app that runs on the server and allows easy access to 6 basic commands (show players, kick player, ban player, next map, restart map, shutdown server). All of this stuff, btw, is before Gearbox has even released the final version of the Dedicated Server... (Louis Wu 16:18:19 UTC) (permalink)

Tree Frogs Rock.
Red vs Blue has put up a page containing some of their favorite fan-created works with the public. videos, pics, buddy icons... it's all there. Check it out. Thanks to nof for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 10:42:35 UTC) (permalink)

Image Gallery opens
Break Point has created an Image Gallery, where community members can upload pictures of tricks and score screens for free hosting. Comments can go in this forum thread. (To date, Stuntmutt hasn't uploaded any pictures there.) (Louis Wu 10:34:14 UTC) (permalink)

GR plays Halo
In an attempt to have October 6 declared 'Stuntmutt News Day', Stuntmutt sends word that Game Revolution has reviewed Halo PC. Biggest complaints are system requirements (big surprise there) and the fact that you can't play as the Covenant. Final score: A-. (Louis Wu 10:26:02 UTC) (permalink)

The Junkyard looks at Halo PC
This came in yesterday, I spaced. The Junkyard has written up a Halo PC review, covering a bunch of aspects not really touched on by other reviewers. Nice read - and you can add comments in their forum thread. (Louis Wu 10:02:55 UTC) (permalink)

Bad hair day. Really bad.
Stuntmutt found a hilariously mislabeled picture over at the Wizard Entertainment site - check the caption on the top picture. In case someone gets on the ball and fixes it before you read it, here's a screenshot (165K). (Louis Wu 09:49:46 UTC) (permalink)

Cortana Gets Shirty.
When I first saw today's One One Se7en, I laughed out loud. Then I went to CafePress to make it a reality. (Don't worry, I came to my senses.) (Louis Wu 09:34:39 UTC) (permalink)

Professional Drivers On A Closed Course
Today's Halo: Resolution looks at just how powerful that LAAG can be. (Powerful enough to give substance to a hologram? You bet.) (Louis Wu 09:32:00 UTC) (permalink)

News October 5 2003

You can review Halo PC at Shacknews
Shacknews has added Halo PC to its ShackReviews database. This means you can write a review for it there. Go make your opinion known. Thanks to Ash for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 18:33:17 UTC) (permalink)

Free dedicated ladder for Halo
New ladder system for Halo PC gaming, over at Total Assault Gaming. They claim to be the first out of the gate with this. (Louis Wu 17:12:43 UTC) (permalink)

Give that guy a ticket.
New movie from BOLL over at HaloMods - Xbox footage of some really, really, REALLY fast vehicles. So fast that control is the major challenge. (Outrunning Wraith blasts is pretty simple...) Thanks to SourceGuy for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 17:06:17 UTC) (permalink)

Red vs... who Part 3
Yesterday's One One Se7en guest strip is followed up by ANOTHER one from Devilmingy, in the same theme; this time looking at the Sidewinder Saga (which has also folded). Such is life. (Louis Wu 16:03:55 UTC) (permalink)

Madda Cheeb
Benny, from Xbox Ottawa, has put together a pretty dang funny Flash animation that seems to be the first stop-motion footage using the MC action figure I've seen to date. (Visit the site for details on its making.) Thanks to Marc Sutherland for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 16:01:07 UTC) (permalink)

Pink vs Brown
PVB CROUCHELLE writes (in a way that is truly painful to the eyes) about a new site devoted to a Red vs Blue spinoff called Pink vs Brown. There are no vids yet... but I guess they're coming. Update: this news item reminded halo fan about RedvsBlack. Maybe those spinoff One One Se7ens aren't so non-topical after all... (Louis Wu 15:52:27 UTC) (permalink)

Flames R Us
Simpsons Rule has put up a new site containing images for forum flames. (That is... images you can tack onto a forum thread to let someone know you're unhappy with what they've said.) It also has other artwork of his. Take a look. (Louis Wu 15:49:09 UTC) (permalink)

Web interface for HPC server stats
If you have a machine capable of running the Perl Object Environment, EmmEss has just released a Halo client component for it; you can query basic server info and detailed player/rule info with it. There's an example page showing the stats you can get from it here, and comments about it can go to this thread in the Gearbox Forums. The geek in me drools... (Louis Wu 02:50:54 UTC) (permalink)

Blood Gulch mod available
Hehe - didn't take long... the first PC mod has been released; it's a 5.3 mb download, and it's a modified version of Blood Gulch. Some of the vehicles have new skins, and the LAAG fires unlimited rockets. This sort of thing will be much easier once Sapien is released... but it's nice to know that folks are already on the case. Thanks, [[[-X-]]]. (Louis Wu 02:40:17 UTC) (permalink)

So you wanna start a clan...
Viper, over at Battleground: Halo, has written up an article about starting up a gaming clan. Pretty topical, given the number of new Halo PC clans springing up these days... go check it out! (Louis Wu 00:33:35 UTC) (permalink)

News October 4 2003

Some call it a puma...
Yesterday's Ctrl+Alt+Del comic looked at the addictive quality of HPC yesterday. Thanks to Djof for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 19:20:37 UTC) (permalink)

A Trip To The Library
Spartaco and CCR have put together a movie called 'A Trip To The Library' - content is pretty obvious (a runthrough of the Library :) ). It's recorded in DivX 5.05, and weighs in at 16.1 mb. They're hosting it themselves. For folks who haven't yet PLAYED the Library, this movie contains spoilers. (Louis Wu 15:19:38 UTC) (permalink)

Red vs... Who Part 2
Speaking of comics... today's Guest One One Se7en comes from Devilmingy, and looks at a (now-abandoned) Red vs Blue spinoff series. Oh, the problems with non-instant release of topical material! (Louis Wu 12:02:38 UTC) (permalink)

With Friends Like These...
Thanks to mrsmiley, who points out that Halobabies.net has been updated with a new comic. (Louis Wu 11:41:00 UTC) (permalink)

PC Gamer UK looks at Halo PC
Griffon points out that PC Gamer UK covered Halo in its latest issue; it's a 4 page review that calls Halo 'one of the greatest first-person shooter single-player games of all time'. They gave it a 91% - which they said would have been a 94% had co-op been enabled. Scans will be added when the issue is off newsstand shelves. (Louis Wu 11:02:06 UTC) (permalink)

IMG previews Mac Halo
Inside Mac Games got a chance to play the beta version of Mac Halo recently, and has written up a 3 page preview. If you've been waiting for more news of this version, check it out! Thanks to Blackstar for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 09:36:10 UTC) (permalink)

Xbox tourney in Texas - now
Oops - another tournament, this one Xbox-based, and starting today. The 'Master Chief Mayhem' Xbox tournament takes place in Cyclone Skatepark in McKinney, Texas. A pre-party happens today until 11 pm (about 2 hours from now), then registration for the full tourney ends tomorrow morning at 10 am. $40 early registration, $50 at the door, with a top prize of $600. They sent a flyer. (Louis Wu 01:50:12 UTC) (permalink)

Online Halo PC Tourneys at SeeMePlayMe
SeeMePlayMe is running a series of online tournaments, starting this Monday. Visit their Halo Tournaments page for times and server names... and see what's what! (Louis Wu 01:29:38 UTC) (permalink)

News October 3 2003

Halo HQ goes live
A new news site is up and running - Halo HQ (no relation to any site with that name in the past, for oldtimers) will be adding to the content that's currently up. They'll be looking for newsies, as well; if you're interested, drop pyro a line. (Louis Wu 19:02:56 UTC) (permalink)

Halo PC Gametype FAQ posted
Missed this in the hubbub yesterday... but Shishka has written up a Halo PC Gametype FAQ and posted it over at Subnova. Some of Halo's gametypes are different from what PC FPS-players are used to; I saw this firsthand yesterday, when I was killed several times by teammates who had no clue what the rules were. If you're at all unclear about Halo gametypes, read this document. (Louis Wu 14:14:33 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Anime
Neko Ewen posted yesterday on our forum about some Halo comics... check 'em out! (Louis Wu 10:52:29 UTC) (permalink)

Comparably Equipped For Under 10,000
The next episode of Halo: Resolution is up, as well. Cortana and the MC find... wheels. I knew it couldn't be quite as simple as just having Foe Hammer drop off what I needed... (Louis Wu 10:24:05 UTC) (permalink)

The Rules.
That Cortana, she's a card... just check One One Se7en. (Or is she ON a card? I can never remember...) (Louis Wu 10:21:12 UTC) (permalink)

And mirrors, and mirrors, and mirrors...
While we slept, the mirrors for the Halo PC dedicated server (pre-release, remember) continued to pour in. The full mirror list is here, a backup (in case HBO is down) is here. Both links can be found on Bungie.net, if you can't get here. It's amazing to see how many people are already playing online! (There were several thousand last night - 2 days after the game's release.) (Louis Wu 10:06:18 UTC) (permalink)

In the midst of chaos, Fan Fiction
Even the Fan Fiction writers are affected by the release of Halo PC - only 8 submissions in the last 2 days!

• Derailed Part 7, by Dispraiser
• Unforgiven, by Mainevent
• Attack on ERISTOCK Part 6: The Boarders, by xitWOUND117
• The Final Conflict: Chapter 2, by Blade
• Homeworlds XVI, by Mainevent
• A song by a Sergeant , by Sergeant B
• Holy Halos!, by WeaseL!
• A John Before Halo: Part 10, by J-117

Go read - I'm sure they'll be back to their old posting rates before long... (Louis Wu 09:56:42 UTC) (permalink)

News October 2 2003

Stripped Archive - for folks who have Halo PC
BOLL hit upon the very intelligent (but not previously considered) idea of yanking the map files from the server download. This is NOT a download for someone who wants to simply unpack the server and go... but if you're going to be serving from the same machine that you've already got Halo PC installed on, it's much easier to download a 1.7 mb file and copy over the mapfiles from a second directory... you'll find the link at the bottom of our mirror page (and ITS mirror). (Louis Wu 21:48:17 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Dedicated Server (Pre-Release) Available
Okay, here's the deal. Bungie and Gearbox didn't wanna let you folks spend the weekend without a dedicated server for Halo PC - so they're seeding you with a pre-release version. It runs nicely, it's just a bit rough on the front end. You'll want to read the installation instructions very carefully for details on setup - and be aware that there is not yet support for remote management. (You have to have access to the server itself to make changes. RCON is coming.) We've put up a mirror page, and listed a pair of our own servers for hosting this - but what we really need is mirrors - and lots of them. This is a 100+ mb file, and a lot of people are gonna want it... Please, once you've got a copy, if you've got the bandwidth, make it available somewhere and send us a link. (BitTorrent links are appreciated, as well; we haven't put up a seed, but we're happy to point to one, if someone else can host it.) Update: A couple more mirrors have come online: FileRush has put up a BitTorrent seed, and WorthPlaying has the file on a number of servers. (Links for both are on the mirror page - and the mirror page mirror, on www.bungie.org.) Keep 'em coming! The more mirrors there are, the smaller the cost for everyone helping out! Update 2: The mirrors keep pouring in - you guys rock. :) From this point on, simply visit either copy of the mirror page; the list now is up to 9 sites (some with multiple mirrors) for http downloads, and two sites for BitTorrent seeds. We're always happy for more, of course! (Louis Wu 19:51:01 UTC) (permalink)

Mythica is back!
DOH! I'm an idiot. Mythica.org went live again this morning... and I forgot to mention it! It's up and running, and serving movies like there's no tomorrow. Bandwidth isn't going to be a huge problem, because if/when Mythica hits its limit, we've got a backup in files.bungie.org (which mirrors all of Mythica's data). If there have been movies you've been holding off on grabbing... now's the time! (Direct links don't work; you'll need to go through our Movies page. Which is way behind... so you'll need to go through our news page. Ouch.) (Louis Wu 18:40:32 UTC) (permalink)

Hardfought helps out with game tweaks
K2 writes to say that on the Hardfought forum, there's a thread devoted to tweaking your computer (and Halo PC) to maximize performance. Lots of information; you'll have to register to see it, though. Take a look! (Louis Wu 18:34:48 UTC) (permalink)

Having trouble with Halo PC? Check this.
Cunbelin has written up a short guide to help optimize your multiplayer experience in Halo PC (thereby obviating the need to write one myself). You can find it over at Subnova. (Louis Wu 12:41:06 UTC) (permalink)

Mac Halo is now Beta
Woohoo! momo noticed that Westlake's Project Status page has been updated; Mac Halo status is now Beta. Gettin' closer... (Louis Wu 12:26:32 UTC) (permalink)

Action Figures, Wave 2
The second wave of Halo action figures (including the Elite, the Ghost, another MC with new weapons, a red MC, and the Warthog (same as Wave 1, but some folks were having trouble finding it), are now available for preorder from DieCastExpress. Thanks to MinM for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 12:21:11 UTC) (permalink)

Club for Fan Fiction writers
There've been a few Halo-focused fanfic websites in the past, but they've all faded. Elfster has created a 7th Column Chapter for fiction writers to congregate on; if the Comments section of our Fan Fiction section don't give you your needed level of interaction, check out 'Just one of those days', with a built-in forum and everything. (Louis Wu 09:10:32 UTC) (permalink)

Lots and lots of Halo sites
Another site roundup... looks like the release of Halo has also released some massive creative juices.

• The Elite Operatives, a Halo PC clan, are currently recruiting.
• When Hogs Fly is a clan that organized itself from regulars on the Gearbox forums. It's not clear if they're recruiting or not, and be careful about using the 'Home' link on their site (I got into a nasty auto-refresh loop that way).
• Team sYn is NOT actively recruiting at the moment, but they are looking for some decent competition. Drop 'em a line if you're interested.
• HaloMods, a site that's been in the news before (it's the home of SparkEdit, the Halo map viewer), has gotten a facelift/redesign. Take a look!

And that wraps up another new-halo-site update. (Louis Wu 09:03:25 UTC) (permalink)

The medium for the message
As Halo PC grows in popularity, alternate ways for players to communicate need to be found. we got a note from adam at irc.PGPN.com, an irc network. Their #halo channel is becoming quite popular, and they'd like it to continue to grow; check 'em out. (Louis Wu 08:54:11 UTC) (permalink)

Team Sexy gets online
Team Sexy Productions, the group behind movies like 'The Hall of the Sidewinder King' and 'Red vs Who?', has put up a website with their existing movies and (soon to come) a trailer on their upcoming miniseries. Check it out! (Louis Wu 08:48:33 UTC) (permalink)

MacAddict says Halo's here
November's MacAddict magazine contains an article on Mac Halo. Not a lot of info... but always nice to see in print! Thanks to Latent Node for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 08:40:09 UTC) (permalink)

Free copy of (German) Halo PC
Halo Universe (in Germany) is giving away a free copy of Halo PC (German version). All you need to do is count the number of Halo screenshots at Amazon.de and then email your results (along with name, address and halouniverse.de username, if you have one) to a special email address. Check their main page for more details! (Louis Wu 08:37:31 UTC) (permalink)

Still Working The Bugs Out.
Today's Guest One One Se7en finds MC and Cortana... well, a little bit outside the ring. She really needs to work on that coordinates thing. Thanks, Macegac. (Louis Wu 08:29:40 UTC) (permalink)

News October 1 2003

Make Wallpaper, Win Halo
Halo Bunker is running a contest; come up with the 'sickest halo pc desktop image'. First and Second Prize winners will get copies of Halo PC, Third Prize will get Halo for Xbox. Deadline is October 10. Visit the site for more details. Thanks to [[[-X-]]] for the heads-up on our forum. (Louis Wu 18:45:22 UTC) (permalink)

Halo site roundup
A bunch of new clans/websites to mention: Baptized by Fire is a clan involved in many games. Halo is now on its 'Future Games' list, and they'll be adding it soon. Halo Center is a full fansite, with sections for Halo (PC and Mac) and Halo 2; it's part of Ogre's Network. And The Scorpion Warriors are a Halo clan that's recruiting at the moment (they mostly play on Xbox, but they're looking at the PC version). Check 'em ALL out! (Louis Wu 14:00:25 UTC) (permalink)

Cookie weirdness...
Sorry, folks. You may have noticed that your spoiler settings reverted recently to 'No Spoilers' - though you hadn't done anything about them. This is due to the September 30th, 2003 expiration date that cookie held. Silly me. It's been reset (to December 31, 2004 - we'll figure out if things need to change before that date arrives); in the meantime, simply hit the 'Change this!' link above to reset your spoiler cookie. (You may have to run it through twice; the first time resets the date, the second time the cookie grabs. It seems to vary by browser; when your banner shows green on the main page, all is well.) (Louis Wu 13:15:42 UTC) (permalink)

Only Following Orders.
Today's One One Se7en explores the better part of valor. Or something. (Louis Wu 01:29:34 UTC) (permalink)

Donut or Bagel? Oh, wait, that's a different site...
Gah. I thought I could get away with not posting this... but there seem to be a lot of Gamespy fans among you. The current Gamespy Grudge match (visible on the bottom left of their home page) is between Halo's Master Chief and Half-Life's Gordon Freeman. Go vote. At the moment, MC's getting his butt kicked. First heads-up for this goes to jabond102, about 24 hours ago. (Louis Wu 01:28:35 UTC) (permalink)

A Strange, Strange World
Fuzzy has altered the release schedule of Halo: Resolution; it's now going to come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Therefore, Episode 2 is up now - it's called 'A Strange, Strange World', and it takes care of a problem I'd very much like to deal with in this manner... (Louis Wu 00:57:50 UTC) (permalink)

Reviews out the yin-yang
The next round of reviews have come out: Games Domain, ActionTrip, Gaming Nexus, Homelan Fed, and PC Arena. Lots of screenies. Lots of 'it's fun', lots of 'it needs big iron'. Thanks to Blue's News for the links. (Louis Wu 00:18:23 UTC) (permalink)

Wednesday's Words
17 new stories for you in the Fan Fiction section:

• Chapter Six: Rise of the Phoenix, by Blue Jaguar
• All Roads Lead To Sol...Despite What The Map Says: Chapter 11, by S7N
• Buried Treasure: The Finale, by Frensa Geran
• Temporal Rift PART II: SLAVER SLASHING - A GOOD PARTTIME JOB, by Alexander_Valient
• Halo: The MCconto Chronicles Part 11, by JCDenton
• Death By Corrosion V1, E1: Start From The Beginning, by Kurt Cobain
• Have Faith (Recreated/ corrected mistakes), by Alpha Lance
• Death By Corrosion V1, E2: Tell Me More, by Kurt Cobain
• The Fight for Bravo Base; pt. 5- Enemy Reinforcements, by ONI_operative_343
• And now all hell will break loose Part 6, by metallicafan
• Spartan III's Part IV, by FOrunnER
• Part 1 Awakening, by Ghost Sniper
• Part 2 Malice, by Ghost Sniper
• The Inter-Galaxic Wars, by Hunter_Killer
• Attack on Eristock Part 5: The Covenant's Discovery, by xitWOUND117
• Home Is Where The Halo Is [H&R12], by Jillybean
• The Marine's Requiem, by Gasmask

Read Read Read... (Louis Wu 00:06:15 UTC) (permalink)

October 2003

We are NOT Bungie, Inc.! Bungie Inc. are bungie.net!
Halo © Bungie Inc., 1999-2012, Microsoft 2012-2025
Intellectual © halo.bungie.org, 1999-2025