HBO: Smooth sailing on an ocean of crap.

New Jobs at Bungie
Rampancy.net posted links to two new Bungie jobs listed at Gamasutra (but not yet on the Bungie Jobs page). These new job openings (posted a week ago) are for a 3D Environment Artist and a Developer. (The developer job is for Halo 2 - the last bullet in the 'Responsibilities' list is "Work with the graphics team, artists and designers to insure that Halo 2 is the best looking game on this planet or any other." Seems like a worthwhile goal to me!) To see these at Gamasutra, you'll need an account there. It's free - and if you're too lazy to sign up for one, you probably don't want these jobs. (Louis Wu 20:08:58 UTC) (permalink)

Look, Ma - No Hands!
HUNTR-KILLR created a small (900K) movie showing the jumping ability of a floodified marine with the recent Halo hack. The library is 4 stories high... the marine has no trouble getting above the final platform in one huge leap. (For good measure, a second jump proves, once and for all, that there are no branches in the roof. If you don't know what that means... consider yourself lucky.) (Louis Wu 19:16:28 UTC) (permalink)

The wonder of drawing
A pair of great sketches from Tina - originally done with coloring pencils (sorry, Tina, I'm American, can't use the British spelling without twinging :) ) and pen, with a little photoshop help. (Spoilers, for those still keeping track.) You'll find 'em in our Miscellaneous Art section. (Louis Wu 19:03:15 UTC) (permalink)

Don't Pay to Read
Wanna get a copy of the next Halo book (Halo: The Flood) for free? The MOSHPIT, a 7th Column chapter at Bungie.net, is giving one away - just drop by their website and add your name to the giveaway database. They'll pick a winner at random on April 1, and ship a copy to that lucky person the day the book becomes available! (MOSHPIT Membership is welcome, but not required, for this contest.) (Louis Wu 17:53:44 UTC) (permalink)

Hacking movies, organized
A bunch of mirrors have come online for both Halo Hackin' Fun 2 (released a couple of days ago) and Heffalumps and Woozles (released last night). I've set up mirror pages for both - follow the links above to grab your copy. Thanks to all the bandwidth providers - you guys make all this possible! (Louis Wu 17:42:14 UTC) (permalink)

The Human-Covenant War, a desperate struggle for humankind's very survival, has reached its boiling point on the mysterious, ring world called Halo. But the fierce Covenant warriors, the mightiest alien military force known, are not the only peril lying in wait.

As the fortress world of Reach and its brave defenders were bombarded to rubble, a single cruiser fled the carnage with the battle's only human survivors-Captain Keyes, his crew of a few hundred Marines, and the last remaining SPARTAN super-soldier, the Master Chief.

With the cruiser's artificial intelligence, Cortana, concealed in his battle armor, the Master Chief crash lands on Halo in the midst of a massive Covenant occupation. Curiously, the alien soldiers appear to be searching for something hidden on the ring. Built by a long-dead race, Halo harbors many deadly secrets, but one overshadows them all. Now the Master Chief must lead the scattered troops in a brutal race to unravel Halo's darkest mystery-and unleash its greatest source of power. . . .

Heh - one of the topics that's come up a lot recently on our forum is whether the Forerunners are actually gone or not - this text suggests they are, but is it just random copy written by someone who doesn't look as closely at the story as some of our visitors? (Thanks to Aaron Charles for noticing the new copy.) (Louis Wu 13:52:43 UTC) (permalink)

And Another One...
Okay... we've got another Hacking vid for you. This one is called 'Heffalumps and Woozles', and was created by HUNTR-KILLR. (Okay, he shouldn't be blamed for the name. That's my fault - it's full of such fancy that the name just seemed to fit.) This one's a monster; 11 and a half minutes long, 33 megs, in QT format. There's no sound at all, and segments are broken up by a second or two of black space, so keep your eyes open. There are more cool things than you can shake a honey pot at! Think of this one as a library of what might be. Right now, it's ONLY at Mythica.org - we'd love mirrors. (I'm currently uploading it to the psyjnir.com hotline server, but I'm only getting about 6k/sec... gonna be an hour or more.) The next movie after this one won't be a hacking vid - we've had a Blood Gulch action flick in the queue for FAR too long. (Sorry, Mobius.) Oh - and Dinky, of HaloJuggaloProductions, sent along a link for Dozi's SECOND hacking fun film - you can grab it here, if mythica is too overloaded with this current film. Thanks, Dinky! Update: Frogblast, in his infinite kindness (and despite the pain), has provided mirrors for both 'Heffalumps', and the recent Halo Hackin' Fun 2. We <3 you, Froggie... (Louis Wu 00:22:21 UTC) (permalink)