Old news but still good news!

Halo a no-show at IGF
Gamespot is reporting that Halo's lack of presence at Microsoft's International Gaming Festival bodes ill for long-suffering PC fans:

And while Microsoft recently admitted that the game is still scheduled for an eventual release on these platforms, the absence of Halo at Microsoft's event--which featured some games that won't be out for another year--suggests that a computer version of the game may be a long way's off.

(The wording itself should raise a few flags, but...) Here's something to chew on - the lack of a PC Halo at the event might just mean that... Bungie isn't ready to show it yet? (Absolutely nothing says it will take more than a year from this point to finish PC Halo, Gamespot's speculations notwithstanding.) Thanks to Alan Koslay for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 21:02:58 UTC) (permalink)

What people won't think of...
Three new tricks have been added to our Gameplay Tricks page - 2 of them collaborations. Bizarre physics, exploiting the zone freeze bug, and weapons theft... they're all worth looking at! (Louis Wu 19:32:23 UTC) (permalink)

I don't think Bo ever killed anyone...
Bonk, unfazed by the fact that his server is offline (because you guys have been downloading too much stuff from it), has created a 14.3 mb, 3 and a half minute long video showing off some fun Warthog driving (plus a bit more). Be warned, though - there are spoilers in here. (Thanks again to Brian Towne for the hosting...) Update: Mr. Zarquon has kindly provided a mirror. Welcome, Tasty Bandwidth... (Louis Wu 18:14:54 UTC) (permalink)

Halo in Japanese
Microsoft's Japanese Xbox site has posted a Halo promo video which basically shows off Halo and talks about the game (I can't understand Japanese, so I apologise for getting that wrong). You can hear all the various characters speaking in Japanese here. The video is Windows Media:

Be warned however that there is potential spoiler material in this video. Pax. (Crux Fidelis 15:49:53 UTC) (permalink)

3 new (near-perfect) Halo reviews
Three new Halo reviews have surfaced - Four Fat Chicks (4/4), Game Industry News (5/5), and a second review from MGON (9.5/10, compared to their first 9.8/10). All three have been added to the Reviews database. Thanks to Blue's News for the heads-up on these. (Louis Wu 13:46:55 UTC) (permalink)

EGM votes Halo GoTY
Not sure how I missed this (my issue came several days ago), but Electronic Gaming Monthly listed its 2001 Gamers' Choice Awards in the April 2002 issue... and Halo picked up Game of the Year.

And on the first day the Xbox did launch with a Halo, and we looked upon it, and we saw that it was good.

Halo placed 3rd in the Readers' Choice poll at EGM's website - 4 votes (of a total of nearly 5000) shy of Final Fantasy X, and 80 votes shy of Grand Theft Auto III. It also won the Readers' Choice Xbox Game of the Year (though the EGM editors decided they couldn't give it both titles, so their Xbox pick was Oddworld). Thanks to VeeoftheMiB for the heads-up! (Louis Wu 12:19:09 UTC) (permalink)

It doesn't LOOK like a bird...
Brad 'Stuy Parker' Root sends in a new treed Warthog shot for our One-Shots page... there are a few more levels in which this can be done! Who will be the first? (Louis Wu 11:52:58 UTC) (permalink)

Story page reawakens?
For those who didn't notice it, the Halo Story page got a massive speculation infusion yesterday - mnemesis processed a goodly number (though nowhere near all) of the backlogged ravings - erm, ideas you people have been sending in. Check it out! While you're there... you might notice that the Level Transcripts section is nearly complete - great thanks to Ape Man and Åstro for sending in 3 of the last 4 levels (the Maw should be coming soon)! Been a long time... but they're there now! (Louis Wu 11:17:08 UTC) (permalink)

Soffish at 7th Column thanks to Frogblast!
Heh - forum regular Frogblast gets a mention at Bungie.net - the Soffish theme for 7th Column fansites has gone live ahead of schedule, because of him. (Remember - if the link leads you to a message about a database wipe, first hit reload to see the REAL message, then send Yeroen a note to fix this. :) ) Thanks to brandontyler for the heads-up! (Louis Wu 19:59:14 UTC) (permalink)

The Repertory comes online
A great big shout-out to Vector40, who has created The Repertory ("because Bandwidth is Expensive™"), a Halo movie site. Currently, it mirrors a few very popular films, as well as being the only source for the videos that go along with Doum and Pat's AotCR trick (their server pulled the vids some time ago). We luv ya, Vec. :) (Folks should realize that without kind souls like Vector40, and Brian Towne of Mythica.org, and B-Sharp of Omnicon, and many others... you might not be seeing much of the cool footage people are creating. Because bandwidth IS expensive... and nobody's making money from this stuff.) (Louis Wu 15:54:34 UTC) (permalink)

Things most sane people wouldn't try
Three more cool feats for you - from two of the most productive teams around. Metafire (with able direction from Legolas) gets down to the bottom of the second Shaft on Silent Cartographer; Eleet Ops Faction rides a pelican to its final resting place, and Metafire (again) surfs a sentinel outside the crashed Pillar of Autumn. Check 'em out in our Gameplay Tricks section! (Louis Wu 03:26:22 UTC) (permalink)

Where's Dastardly when you need him?
Um... (Louis Wu 22:47:08 UTC) (permalink)

Halo SETI Team 14 day stats posted
Scripts have been overhauled (again), and the latest stats for the Halo SETI Marines have been posted. The team continues to add new members... but the total number of CONTRIBUTING members stays roughly constant. Who's slacking? (Not Int_21, that's for sure...) (Louis Wu 15:28:06 UTC) (permalink)

Xbox Connector can help you get online
Another online enabler has come on the scene - the Xbox Connector is an alternative to the GameSpy Tunnel software or the XboxGateway software. Running on any Win32 platform, it requires no other software to operate. Initial reports suggest that with fast connections, 4-box games are quite playable - something not really true with the Tunnel. It's still in beta - but give it a try and let us know what you find! (Louis Wu 03:21:36 UTC) (permalink)

Did he have that on a string?
Several days ago, one of the more impressive feats of mass displacement was demonstrated on our forum. It's now found a home on our Tricks page - a tribute to the power of the plasma grenade (and some simply astounding timing). More to come tomorrow... (Louis Wu 03:11:29 UTC) (permalink)

Bene, bene...
Hehe - Bungie's Tru7h and Reconciliation site has been updated - the Gallery contains clips from 6 different foreign-language builds of Halo (well, 5 plus English, for comparison), as well as new Storyboards of the final scene. (The quality of the translations seems to vary pretty widely - or maybe it's the voice acting; some seem very much in character, while others...) Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 01:57:38 UTC) (permalink)

Forward-looking Fan Fiction
Velker submits the first part of his 'Halo 2' saga, picking up not too far after Halo leaves off. Spoilers, of course, abound - read this only if you've played the game. You'll find it (and plenty of other fun stuff) in our Fan Fiction section. (Louis Wu 22:52:15 UTC) (permalink)

Apologies for the delays in updating the Tricks page - there was some recoding necessary in order to allow multiple credit for specific tricks. That's all finished, now, and the newest entry is up - it shows (with a series of films, from a collection of sources) a pretty interesting glitch in Halo, and maybe suggests some interesting ways to exploit this. Thanks to everyone's patience... enjoy Frozen Stuff! (Spoiler warning should be unnecessary for this section, but I've screwed up recently, so...) (Louis Wu 21:32:50 UTC) (permalink)

Halo SETI stats... coming
Apologies to those few of you waiting on Halo SETI Team stats this week - they were collected this morning, but the SETI@home team once again changed the page format, invalidating all the automatic processing scripts here. We'll get 'em posted sometime, today, or maybe tomorrow; they'll still be Monday morning's stats, though. (Louis Wu 18:45:48 UTC) (permalink)

R.net's not dead!
Quick note - Rampancy.net, a long-time Bungie fansite, has not (as it might seem) died recently - they're just having DNS troubles. The servers are fine, and can be reached directly via their IP addresses:

They're doing their best to fix the problems - good luck to them! (This message is being crossposted to a number of relevant b.org pages, in the hopes of hitting all interested parties.) (Louis Wu 05:58:58 UTC) (permalink)

Can you reach the Sarge?
Yesterday, the Eleet Ops Faction released an image which we added to our One-Shots section - within hours, folks wanted to know "how?" The team sent along a 7.1 mb MPEG showing how the descent happened... and Brian Towne, of mythica.org, has once again stepped into the breach and provided a home for this. (Of course, additional mirrors are always welcome.) This isn't a must-download; there's no sound, and the footage is really interesting only to those fanatics bent on exploring every inch of Halo's surfaces... but for that subgroup of our readers, a heartfelt thanks to Brian is due! (Louis Wu 03:33:16 UTC) (permalink)

Pondering Halo at GameSpotting
In the latest edition of GameSpot's GameSpotting, Senior Editor Amer Ajami ponders Halo and its refined nature. Check it out here. (Hey, he even links to our Warthog jump mirror - Cool!) Pax. (Crux Fidelis 02:27:05 UTC) (permalink)

One-Shots galore
The cleanout of our backlogged submissions continues. 6 new shots have been added to the One-Shots page; everything from a smiling Jackal to a view from the top of... well, you'll have to look for yourself. Check 'em all out right here! More stuff coming soon, hopefully. (Louis Wu 20:27:59 UTC) (permalink)

Edge Halo review scanned
Gh™lsbane has sent along a scan of a promotional insert for Edge Magazine, included in other magazines as a teaser. This one happens to contain Edge's 10/10 Halo review from issue 104, 3 months back. We've added the insert to our Press Scans database - go see why Edge gave Halo a score shared by only 3 other games in over 100 issues! Warning: Page 4 contains a spoiler-class picture. (Louis Wu 01:25:19 UTC) (permalink)

Looking for the missing Casey
We don't normally do this, but there doesn't seem to be any other way to get to this person - if Casey, aka the Mad Valet, could drop us a line about the movie you uploaded a week or two ago, we'd really appreciate it. Thanks! (Louis Wu 22:41:20 UTC) (permalink)

Cleanin' out the Wallpaper inbox
Two new desktop images for your perusing pleasure: ZMAN sends in a white-themed Halo image, and Germain Couët drops off another one of his very attractive Halo murals. (You'll need a pretty massive monitor to appreciate this...) Check 'em out in our Wallpaper section! (Louis Wu 22:27:25 UTC) (permalink)

New Halo Links (and catching up)
Whew! 1600 forum posts and two extra-heavy titanium-alloy drillbits (needed to remove the lock from the command center here at HBO Central, since Count Zero wouldn't open it voluntarily) later, I'm finally caught up with older material. We'll start with the easy stuff; there are a couple of Halo websites to inform you of. Halo Norge is a general Norwegian Halo site (it's pretty annoying to see scans I created myself with someone else's imprint on them, but hey...), and iBonk.com is a very nicely done Halo Movies site, containing clips of everything from funny sequences to tutorial-type demos. (iBonk isn't new, exactly - but we've neglected to bring it to our readers' attentions before now.) These have been added to our Links list. Wallpaper update coming soon. (Louis Wu 21:57:17 UTC) (permalink)

"Frag out!" Grenades whipped around the corner towards the Covenant squad. We ran out into the secondary corridor, backpedaling as we tried to lay down suppressing fire and retreat simultaneously. Elites roared as they saw us try to escape, lighting up the corridor with white plasma.

Time, now, to break for the door
I've just received word that Louis Wu is back from his vacation. That means that all the content I've been too lazy^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hunable to post will go up pretty soon, probably as soon as Louis gets Security to break into the control room and remove me. Oh well, I was starting to miss that basement anyway... (Count Zero 03:26:21 UTC) (permalink)

Psyjnir HL also rides again
The Hotline section of the beleagured Psyjnir Complex is back up, bringing with it all the Halo content mirrors hosted there. Thanks to Ar-Isildur for the good news. (Count Zero 22:33:27 UTC) (permalink)

I Thought I Saw a Banker's Clerk Descending From a Bus
At last, at long last, Frogblast has found the elusive Halo Hippo! Matt has confirmed that the hippo theory posted here is the genuine item. Extremely lethal indeed... (Count Zero 06:01:36 UTC) (permalink)

Nine times the fun
A new Halo video has surfaced, named Chaos on the Ring, featuring "everything from warthog launching to synchronized grenade tossing". It's in WMV format, so I can't check it out myself, but it's got stuntmaster Randy Glass's stamp of approval. Looks like we could use some more mirrors... (Count Zero 22:42:26 UTC) (permalink)

Another time, another time
It's not over yet for the beleagured Chief as Dyoung92 sends in another part of his take on Halo 2. (Count Zero 06:46:51 UTC) (permalink)

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic...
Chmee writes to announce that Cortana.co.uk has just opened its forums. (Count Zero 06:30:43 UTC) (permalink)

Hmph... East coast is still cooler.
Lots of cool stuff has just appeared on Bungie.net... Top story is the announcement of the E3 Fanfest/Seventh Column Convocation, complete with Halo tournament and "Bungie-style tomfoolery". The Truth and Reconciliation has posted an interview with Bungie artist and Covenant sculptor Juan Ramirez. Speaking of which, the winner of said Covenant sculpture turns out to be Tom Van Sinden, known around here as mnemesis. Congratulations! (Count Zero 16:56:04 UTC) (permalink)

A Site Worth Checking Out
In a quest for perfection, Team 7HR33 has kept their web page private until the last tweak has been given to the content, but each time they came close to finishing (and going public), they decided to add ONE more feature, or ONE more color change, or ONE more cool section. Well, Frogblast has blown their cover... and rather than let you look at a sub-page of the site, and think you've seen what there is, they've decided to open up to the world - The Website of the 7HR33 Halo Team. Check it out - cool movies, a large number of 'firsts'... good stuff. (Louis Wu 05:26:28 UTC) (permalink)

Learn from the masters
If you're lucky enough to be going to Game Developers Conference 2002, don't miss the chance to listen to (and, if my Macworld experiences are any guide, hobnob with) the Bungie personnel who'll be there. Pallor passes along a handy list of events:

What will the AGF think of this?
The Grunt abuse continues as Bonk has some fun with the "frozen AI" bug in this movie. Ouch! (Count Zero 05:03:59 UTC) (permalink)

It's still a dark and storm night
The adventures of the Silver Hawks continue as Vector40 sends in Chapter 3b of his Hawk Chronicles. (Count Zero 04:52:46 UTC) (permalink)

It was actually ON FIRE?!
Our friends at The Psyjnir Complex have run into a bit of trouble with their hardware, as documented here by operator Psyrixx. This site provides several mirrors for Halo content (including the Warthog jumping movies), which are now temporarily down. Get well soon! (Count Zero 20:44:38 UTC) (permalink)

Secrets abound
Legolas has created a guide to virtually every known secret in Halo (and some I didn't know about myself). It's posted at GameFAQs' Halo section. (Count Zero 20:30:43 UTC) (permalink)

Just the place for a Hippo, the Bellman cried...
The quest for the elusive Halo Hippo kicks into high gear with the creation by carrim of The Halo Hippo Hunting Grounds. Who will be the first to find the ultimate easter egg? (Count Zero 07:21:45 UTC) (permalink)

Cortana... Load the jump program.
Ever wanted to send a warthog into orbit yourself? Randy Glass, creator of the world-famous Warthog Jump, has put up a page of info about the movie and the techniques used. Most of these have been seen before, but now they've been collected in one place. Thanks to Vector40 for noticing this. (Count Zero 03:20:51 UTC) (permalink)

The sound master sounds off
Xbox.com has put up an interview with Bungie audio director and Halo music composer Marty O'Donnell. Lots of fun stuff in there! Thanks to Nijhazer for pointing this out. (Count Zero 00:14:12 UTC) (permalink)

The captain! He's one of... THEM!
Can it really be? Has Liquidex discovered Halo's most precious secret, its greatest mystery? I'm convinced, but you'll have to decide for yourself (Count Zero 00:06:05 UTC) (permalink)

Inventory surplus! Everything must go!
Another bit of script-exploiting fun comes to us from Frogblast, who has noticed that there's more to Assault on the Control Room's vehicle population than meets the eye. Be the first kid on your block to collect them all! (Count Zero 17:04:51 UTC) (permalink)

Another One-Shots submission
The One-Shots submissions continue - pad_avox drops off a fun shot from Silent Cartographer for our collection. Oh, what we owe R.G. and his Warthog Jump... (Louis Wu 05:15:12 UTC) (permalink)

French Halo Goodness
Thanks to Firfin, who pointed out a couple of French articles - a Halo review at Jeux Network (this has been added to the Reviews database), and a preview at VosJeux. Check 'em both out!

Is Halo IGN's Game of the Year? (Yes.)
Spotted on IGN was this article on the Japanese release of Halo, which contains this tidbit:

... would go without Halo, IGN`s game of the year for 2001...

I can't tell if this has already been announced to IGN Insiders (I don't have an account) or it's an editorial slip of the tongue. Any subscribers around here? Update: Deimos found confirmation of this on Microsoft's site. Congratulations to the Halo team! (Count Zero 21:51:49 UTC) (permalink)

Where's Hamish when you need him?
The Halo Story Page has been slowing down a bit lately... Word from the management is that they are understaffed and overworked, so they have put out the call for additional hands. If you have some spare time and you know and love Halo's story, head over to this post and drop them a line. (Count Zero 20:12:03 UTC) (permalink)

Back to the mines...
What Count Zero said recently was true - I'm pretty much out of touch right now, and database updates are gonna be hard. However - I've found the time to add a couple of submissions to the One-Shots page, as well as a collection of images to the Tips and Tricks section. Yes, there are more coming. Soon, I hope. (Louis Wu 06:05:04 UTC) (permalink)

[insert sigh of exasperation here]
Posting this is probably futile, but it's been a slow day... Yet again, a confirmation of the PC/Mac version of Halo has been posted. Perhaps a secondhand report from some random forum poster (no offense, Jager) will satisfy those who will not believe the official statements from Bungie. (Count Zero 04:23:38 UTC) (permalink)

Mirror, unmirror, off the wall...
Mirror update: What Goes Up has appeared on Forerunners.org HL, and Bravehamster has had to pull Warthog Jump after 8,000 downloads and 160G. Thanks to everyone for the help! (Count Zero 03:06:55 UTC) (permalink)

It's not that I'm lazy... OK, not *just*.
Anyone who has submitted a gameplay tip/trick or a one-shot image may be wondering why it hasn't been posted yet. Louis has been slowly converting the site to a très swankèy database setup that's a vast improvement over the old applescripts-and-BBedit platform we used to run. The downside is that second-level grunts like me don't have access to the new stuff, which includes the tips'n'tricks/one-shot section. Rest assured that all submissions are still in the queue, and will be posted as soon as Louis gets back from his trip. (Count Zero 19:44:33 UTC) (permalink)

The antidote to the Halo Boy Band
There's yet another HMV in town: Siva (W'rk) has made a fast and furious video named "How I Learned to Stop Playing and Love the Halo", set to the heavy sounds of Napalm Death's "Incendiary Incoming". Mirrors have sprung up here (thanks to Mr. Zarquon) and here (thanks to the Psyjnir Complex). (I'd been holding off on posting this one until I could verify that one of the mirrors worked, but now that there are several up it's become a moot point.) (Count Zero 19:34:15 UTC) (permalink)

Plasma grenade in the side pocket
Frogblast has posted a short video of a neat trick for taking out Banshees. Major Sack on that lad... (Count Zero 19:29:17 UTC) (permalink)

EL-E-VA-TION!
A new mirror for What Goes Up has gone up (heh) at Rampancy.net's web site, to complement the copy on their Hotline server. All the mirrors so far can be found on our WGU Mirrors page. (Count Zero 19:24:48 UTC) (permalink)

Celestial Seasonings has nothing on this
This was spotted on the Marathon's Story forums. I'm speechless. (Count Zero 02:08:31 UTC) (permalink)

Mobilize Hotline forces
More mirrors are appearing as What Goes Up hits Hotline on our mirrors list. (Count Zero 01:53:43 UTC) (permalink)

The fan fiction must roll
The fan fiction continues to roll in as dyoung92 sends in Part 3 of his take on possible events in Halo 2. (Count Zero 21:52:22 UTC) (permalink)

Mmm... schwag.
Need something to pass the time until the Bungie Store reopens? How about voting for what you want? Remember that Bungie browses these forums... (Count Zero 21:02:49 UTC) (permalink)

Mirror, mirror, mirror, mirror...
Another mirror for Warthog Jump has surfaced, hosting both the low and high-rez versions. (Count Zero 20:48:09 UTC) (permalink)

Fly like a warthog / To the sea...
The fruits of the Halo video revolution are beginning to bloom... Aikidoka and Halorigin have put together a piece named What Goes Up, featuring more Warthog tomfoolery in the style of the original Warthog Jump (although these guys claim prior art with this post). But, since the movie is 35MB, we have the same problem as last time, and are forced to put out the same call for mirrors. Any more benevolent bandwidth barons out there? UPDATE: The first mirror for this movie has appeared. We'll be collecting them here. (Count Zero 19:55:32 UTC) (permalink)

Hittin' the slopes...
Just a heads-up... I'm headed out of town for a bit. Count Zero's on the case... but please don't get on him if things take a bit longer than usual. Good help is SO hard to find. I'd hate to lose him because you folks chased him off... (Louis Wu 07:40:11 UTC) (permalink)

That mnemesis, he's a hard one...
Some good stuff over at the Halo Story page... even the homework assignment. Eep! (Louis Wu 07:37:46 UTC) (permalink)

More One-Shots
The One-Shots page gets a shot in the arm... or 4. Check it out. (Louis Wu 07:34:38 UTC) (permalink)

More stories than you can shake a grunt at
A plethora of pulchritudinous parables... the Fan Fiction coffers runneth over. Gasmask continues his Strange Tale with 'Return to Halo', Corbantis turns in the third segment of his Tides of War saga, and Vector40 sends us... something different. Go read up in the Fan Fiction section! (Louis Wu 03:49:32 UTC) (permalink)

Halo in Japan - April 25
The Japanese Halo Release has been announced: April 25th is the big day. (It says that here, in the press release on the Xbox Japan site... but it's in Japanese.) Cover art isn't up yet... but word from Gothmog (Halo product planner) is that it'll be different than the US/European box. Not quite in time for the Xbox launch there... but not too far off! (Louis Wu 03:10:52 UTC) (permalink)

The REST of the new TandR content
DOH! SO enthralled was I by the McLees interview that I missed the OTHER new stuff - Rob's artwork is on display in the Weapons Gallery, and a seventh page has been added to the Concept Art section (MAJOR story spoilers). Check 'em out! (There's some serious Story Page fodder in there, actually...) (Louis Wu 22:31:39 UTC) (permalink)

Rob McLees interview posted at TandR
Took a bit longer than expected... but the Rob McLees interview is finally up at Bungie.net's Tru7h and Reconciliation site. There's an interesting mix of material - gun stuff, mysticism, and getting set on fire - twice. Rob's focus was on the guns of Halo, since he was responsible for most of them:

Q: What was your favorite gun in halo? Why?

A: The Elite's energy sword. Because it's the only one that behaves like a real weapon - you get hit with it, you die.

Standing on the shoulders of giants...
Frogblast, aka Metafire, in his continuing quest to go where no man has gone before, has touched the face of God. Wait... no, that's not right - he's touched the ceiling of the Truth and Reconciliation... from the inside of Keyes. (No, it's not the same. Yes, it's pretty cool anyway.) Check out the details in our Gameplay Tricks section! (Louis Wu 17:58:56 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Orbit previews Halo
Xerxes writes to say that Halo Orbit, a German Halo site, has put up a preview of Halo (out in just over a month in Germany). If you read German, check it out! (Louis Wu 14:16:13 UTC) (permalink)

Ring configuration diagram updated
Confused about where you stand on Halo? poena.dare #CP#g created an updated version of his Ring Configuration graphic (originally posted here, a week ago), giving you some sense of perspective for the size of the ring, and your position on it. (The 300 km value at the bottom was chosen because that's how far Cortana tells you the Truth and Reconciliation is from you at the end of the level Halo - it's just used to handle the thickness details.) Incidentally, the first post, while having a now-outdated ring config diagram, also has a handy-dandy flowchart showing your travel through the various levels - this can be pretty helpful in deciphering where you are. Nice work! (Louis Wu 13:51:58 UTC) (permalink)

Warthog Jump demand is overwhelming
Warthog Jump movie update: heavy demand has cost two mirrors - maserati.ca and the Junkyard have both dropped out of the hosting ring. (Lots and lots of you grabbed files at those two places - we're seriously indebted to both of them for the bandwidth!) Additionally, Bravehamster has moved his copy of the movie to a new link. Our Warthog Jump Mirrors list has been updated with all of these changes. Update: Deimos™ tosses his bandwidth into the ring: from 2100 to 0730 EST, he's got a Hotline mirror of the file running here. During the day, the server is doing other things... but at night (his time), go for it! (Louis Wu 03:26:45 UTC) (permalink)

Tweeter LANfest described
Lophan has posted a Halo @ Tweeter Day postmortem on our forum, detailing the goings-on this past weekend of the Philly Halo Anonymous chapter of the Seventh Column... if you weren't there, you missed up to 15 players fragging each other on huge bigscreen HDTVs for over 6 hours. (Freewill, another attendee, posted a couple of pics recently.) Wow... a 2 hour, 6x6 CTF game... ouch. Go read it! (Louis Wu 03:00:47 UTC) (permalink)

The top of Keyes falls
Nemesis_007 posted a detailed description explaining how to get to the top of Keyes... and Frogblast took him up on it and got up there, taking pictures all the way. Together, they bring you a pictoral record of the first melee attack on the Truth and Reconciliation (from the outside, anyway). The Gameplay Tricks section shows all. (Louis Wu 02:52:06 UTC) (permalink)

Bungie does well in IGDCA nominations
Thanks to Aginor, who pointed out that the International Game Developers Choice Awards nominees were announced today - Bungie nominations are as follows: Halo for Game of the Year, Marty O'Donnell & team for Excellence in Audio, and Jason Jones & team for Excellence in Programming. Winners will be announced on March 21, during the Game Developers Conference. Kudos all 'round! (Louis Wu 17:32:59 UTC) (permalink)

One-Shots page goes live
The One-Shots page of the Gameplay Tricks section is finally open for business. Sorry for the delay! We've added a number of images which have popped up in the last couple of months... I'm sure there are more that we've missed. (We'll pop 'em in when we find 'em.) Feel free to submit your own, but remember... if it's not something new or different, it probably won't be posted. (Folks don't want to look at 800 shots of the Blood Gulch bases being stuffed with vehicles, after all...) It should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway... Here Be Spoilers. (Louis Wu 16:11:59 UTC) (permalink)

New vids mirrored at forerunners.org hl
Steve Campbell writes to let us know that both the Suicide Bobs vid and the Halobodies music vid have been mirrored at the Forerunners.org Hotline server. Thanks, Steve! (Louis Wu 16:10:51 UTC) (permalink)

Alternate route to the waterfall
VoOdOo created a movie (under 5 mb, .avi format) showing how to get the Warthog back to the waterfall in Halo without getting on top of the level. Takes a few grenades, and a chunk of your health... but you'll probably be doing this after everything's already dead, so don't worry too much. (Louis Wu 10:21:40 UTC) (permalink)

You will burn next, human
Foxhound turns in Chapter 2 of his 'Apollo' series - someone better keep an eye on that Cortana... Check it out in our Fan Fiction section. (Louis Wu 10:14:15 UTC) (permalink)

Gameplay Tricks updated with Sidewinder Sneak
We've added Nemesis_007's Sidewinder Sneak exploit to our Gameplay Tricks page - use this trick, and your multiplayer opponents won't know what hit 'em! (As several forumgoers pointed out, this is a general glitch in the Halo physics engine, and can be exploited on several other levels... but none with such dramatic results in a multiplayer game.) (Louis Wu 01:49:03 UTC) (permalink)

Yes, it's real, Virginia...
Beam Timing Mystery - SOLVED! Jaime Griesemer (aka Flawless Cowboy, Halo level designer) stopped by our forum to explain why there seemed to be a link between the beam timing and motion freeze in areas of Halo you were never supposed to get to in the first place.

Toward the end of the game's development cycle you try to fix problems that arise in ways that will have the least impact, so you don't end up creating more bugs than you fix. It looks like a late change in the vehicle physics for the Warthog, a poorly timed save point (that could trigger just before you were killed, creating an infinite cycle of death) a convenient beam-triggering looping script and a very quick fix have come together and created a brand new online multiplayer game for crazy forum posters.

His post goes on to explain some of the other oddities exploited by Halo fanatics, including the invincible marines on the PoA bridge, and the ability to get into the Shaft. Check it out! (Louis Wu 19:11:49 UTC) (permalink)

Halo SETI Team 7 day stats posted
There's a new top dog on the Halo SETI Marines - Durandal turned in 207 units this week, beating out perennial top crunchers Int_21, *-=SHARkY=-*, and charleya. Nice going! Are you crunching your best? Check the 7 day stats to find out! (Admin note - there won't be any SETI stats next week. 2 week stats will return on February 25.) (Louis Wu 16:18:27 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Music Video at Cole Protocol
Noticed a new music video over at The Cole Protocol - halobodies.mov was created by Darth Gehenna, and sets Halo cutscene action to Drowning Pool's 'Bodies'. Warning - there are MAJOR story spoilers here; don't watch this unless you've played the whole game. That said, this was made by someone who understands that music videos need to have action coordinated to music... it's pretty nicely done (and tiny - crunched down to 3.5 mb). Take a look! Update: This, too, has been uploaded to the Psyjnir Complex Hotline server. Mirrors are good. :) (Louis Wu 07:07:41 UTC) (permalink)

That first one made me crack up!
Phear X has put up a new video, this one called BobSuicide. 7 mb, 45 seconds, and one singing bob. (Me, I'd have turned the soundtrack down a little.) Mirrors, as always, are appreciated. Update: Mirrored, now, thanks to the gracious hosts at the Psyjnir Complex. Grab your Hotline Client and go get it! (Louis Wu 06:36:34 UTC) (permalink)

Dang... what ARE those beams?
Frogblast, a frequent contributor to the Gameplay Tricks section, discovered something pretty intriguing - there's a link between the blue energy beams that mysteriously fire on the level Halo, and your ability to move around on the top of the level. (The why is completely unknown, and might be something worth discussing on the Halo Story page... but the how has never been noticed before, and can be very useful to Halo Explorers.) It's been known for some time that climbing above certain areas in Halo will eventually lead to an inability to move - but one thing Frogblast discovered is that there are 'freeze zones' that will hold you captive... if you're in them when those beams fire. Check the latest entry to the Gameplay Tricks section for a passel of pictures and a movie, showing the effect. (Louis Wu 02:47:13 UTC) (permalink)

The Wallpaper continues...
Griffon turns in a desktop image based on his 'Halo Dude' he created back in May of last year. He realizes the helmet's a little out of date... but hey, it looks pretty good! You'll find it in our Wallpaper section. And speaking of Wallpaper, Xcruiser has created a 1024x768 version of the wallpaper he submitted yesterday - both jpeg and gif versions are available. (Louis Wu 01:03:17 UTC) (permalink)

Warthog Jump goes WMV
Cybrfrk writes to say that he's put the Warthog Jump movie up on his site in .WMV format (with permission) - sound quality is pretty low, but for folks having trouble with QuickTime, this might be the way to go - plus, it's only 8.5 mb. (He's also started his filmed cutscene collection - the Maw final cutscene (non-legendary), as well as the final credits, are now up.) We've added the Warthog Jump link to our mirror list. (Louis Wu 00:51:10 UTC) (permalink)

Standing Jeep Room Only
Bat 21 and Longstreet also took a Warthog to the Map Room on Silent Cartographer... but when they got there, they played around a bit. Check it out in the Gameplay Tricks section. (The first image throws me a little... are there two jeeps there?) (Louis Wu 00:38:04 UTC) (permalink)

Red-hot speculation, just for you
mnemesis single-handedly keeps the Halo Story page alive, bringing you speculation about the various races involved in the game, and how they might be related. (Okay, not single-handedly - he couldn't do it without your submissions. You know what I mean, though.) (Louis Wu 16:20:43 UTC) (permalink)

Mac Hall and the Xbox
Not fully Halo news... but it's pretty funny: This week's Mac Hall comic at Inside Mac Games focuses on the inline safety release built into each Xbox controller from Microsoft. (Interestingly enough, the Mac Hall general response to this feature characterizes them strongly as PC (as opposed to console) gamers - almost every console gamer I've talked to about this thinks it's brilliant, and that every controller should contain this feature. Hell, I thought it was silly... until the first time I backed away from the screen, trying to avoid that charging Hunter, and accidentally knocked my chair over backwards; that inline release saved a lot of equipment that day (as well as my game; instant pause until I reconnected, giving me time to regain my equilibrium.) It's a good thing, I think... but that doesn't mean it's not fodder for the Mac Hall Funny Machine. :) Plus, it gives 'em a chance to take a shot at the size of the Xbox...) Thanks to Vector40 for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 16:03:12 UTC) (permalink)

Psst! Hey, need a chill pill?
Matt Soell stops in to explain (again) the lack of news on the PC and Mac versions of Halo. Bottom line - he'll talk when there's something to say. This was nice, though:

I'll say this much: the last time I talked to Alex and Michael about what's happening with PC/Mac Halo - probably about two weeks ago - their answers buoyed my spirits considerably.

Just be patient, and when there's news, we promise... we'll make a big stink about it. (Louis Wu 15:39:19 UTC) (permalink)

Just some good ol' boys...
Reidbo stops by our forum to give out a new server location for his 'Dukes of Halo' video - you can find it here, in both sizes. (Louis Wu 15:36:45 UTC) (permalink)

Weapons and slowdowns at the Junkyard
Junkyard news: Vector40 writes to say that the Halo Weapons Guide has been updated with Strategy information for each of the weapons. It's well-marked for spoiler info, so you don't have to avoid the Weapons Guide if you're avoiding spoilers. Additionally, Ryan 'Mhaddy' Matthews, the JY's head honcho, writes to explain some of the slowness you might be experiencing there - it has nothing to do with an overloaded connection; it's a runaway mySQL process (the database that handles all the back-end stuff). They're working on it... but please be patient. (Louis Wu 15:12:11 UTC) (permalink)

Sidewinder Sneak
Major multiplayer tip for Sidewinder: This was discovered (apparently by accident) by Nemesis_007 - but I've made a film of it, to prove it actually works. :) If you strafe sideways in a Ghost towards the grate where the invisibility and shield powerups are sitting, a well-timed dismount will actually get you pushed THROUGH the grate by the still-sliding vehicle. (Nemesis_007 says it works with the Warthog, as well, but it's harder to time right.) Jump too early, you'll get crushed like a bug. Jump too late, and you'll exit the wrong side of the Ghost. Time it perfectly, though... and through you go. What's more, the Ghost sits there, next to the grating... if you walk up to it (from the other side of the grate, mind you), you'll get the 'Press X to enter Ghost' message, and pressing X will cause you to magically pass through the grate. CTF in Sidewinder just became a whole new ballgame. If you want to see this in action (and have QuickTime 5 installed on your computer), grab this short movie (750k), showing the pass-through in action (in both directions). Yowsers. (Louis Wu 01:22:29 UTC) (permalink)

OXM tidbit posted to the net
Ouch. Seems XboxGate ripped the Halo Legendary Ending (included on the last Official Xbox Magazine DVD) into RealPlayer format, and have posted it, in its entirety, on their site (5 mb). (Interestingly, the blurb with it says

"Do you think Halo is to hard in legendary? Do you still want to see the end movie? Well we made it possible."

Yeah, sorta...) Remember, you won't feel right about watching this unless you EARNED it... Update: Seems this scene (in its entirety, rather than just the critical difference filmed last month) has been available in .wmv format at Cybrfrk'n for a couple of weeks. It's 10 megs, instead of five... but some people are allergic to RealMedia. Plus, it was recorded by the sitemaster, rather than ripped off a DVD. (If you check the front page of that site, you'll notice a small .wmv showing a quick way to the top of Silent Cartographer, single-player, no explosives, as well.) (Louis Wu 12:05:38 UTC) (permalink)

Knuckle abrasions, definitely
Merciless turned in a set of pics showing the progression of a jeep down below the Silent Cartographer level, to the map room itself. No, it's not the first time it's been done... but it's the first time it's been documented like this. (The images aren't great, but you can tell what's going on.) Check it out in our Gameplay Tricks section! (Louis Wu 11:52:14 UTC) (permalink)

Legendary Walkthrough of PoA posted
Whoa. No7orious has written a Legendary Walkthrough for the first level of the game, Pillar of Autumn... and Bungie liked it enough that they put it up at their Tru7h and Reconciliation site (along with 25 screenshots illustrating some of the finer points). Very nice! Check it out if you're having your... um, head handed to you on a platter when trying to play through this level on Legendary. (And as Yeroen says in this news item, maybe this will start a trend!) Thanks to Acrappa, of Rampancy.net, for pointing this puppy out. (Louis Wu 01:12:56 UTC) (permalink)

Press Scans archive comes online
At long last, our Press Scans section comes online. Here you'll find 40 print magazine articles, collected from a variety of countries over the past two and a half years. Larger articles are available for convenient one-shot downloads, or can be read page by page online. (Smaller articles are not bundled up.) Quality, in general, is pretty good, though a few are hard to read - use this resource as a way to see what's been said about Halo in the past! (Translations of foreign-language articles, where available, are included.) You'll find some treasures in here, as well - for example, the January 2002 article from the Official Xbox Magazine contains a full walkthrough of Halo... Feedback on useability is always welcomed - if there's a feature you'd like to see implemented, drop us a note! (Louis Wu 22:10:52 UTC) (permalink)

Danish X-Byte reviews Halo
Jesper Nielsen, of the Danish Xbox site X-Byte, let us know of a review of Halo there. They liked it - 9/10, which Jesper says is very good - this site is pretty discerning. (We thank him also for the quote translation - there aren't a lot of good Danish translators out there on the net...) We've added this to our Reviews database. (Louis Wu 20:18:11 UTC) (permalink)

Halo in Wired
Call me lazy - or call it late. Noah "migraineboy" Brimhall said it just fine, though, so I'm just gonna quote him.

In the March 2002 issue of Wired magazine there is an interesting article on AI in games called "Wild Things" and in the article there are several mentions of Halo, including a great quote from Chris Butcher.

"One of the things that makes Halo's AI interesting is the sense that the AI doesn't cheat. It doesn't regard you, the player, as anything special, nor does know special things about where you are," explains Halo AI engineer Chris Butcher. "The NPCs all have their own unique knowledge model, which means that any given character in the world doesn't know where the player is. All they know is where they last saw him."

The article gives Halo a lot of credit for its very good AI and has a screen shot from the game also.

My copy hasn't arrived yet - Guess I'll be looking at this tomorrow. On the upside, I got a significant distance towards finishing the Press Scans section today - one more day of grunt work ought to do it... then it's off to Gameplay Tips. (Yes, I know, Miscellaneous Resources is still empty, too... geez.) (Louis Wu 04:30:39 UTC) (permalink)

More Ardan Landings
MaxThndr's Chapter 4 of Halo II: The Ardan Landings has been submitted - it's Part 3, due to the fact that I combined chapters 2 and 3 into a single part, but don't be confused - you can always read the series en toto. The Fan Fiction section is nothing if not flexible! (Louis Wu 04:21:33 UTC) (permalink)

Warthog mirror dances
You lose, you gain... Brian Towne had to bow out of the Warthog Jump mirroring - after well over 10,000 downloads (more than 200 gigs), the demand was still so high that it was saturating his (rather large) pipe. (He hasn't removed any of the OTHER movies he's mirroring - if you need any of them, they're still there.) Jumping in to fill the gap is Bravehamster =PN=, a longtime community member - we've added bravehamster.com to the mirror list. Thanks, Brian, for all your help... and thanks, Mike, for jumping aboard the mirror train! Update: Vector40 tentatively throws his hat (and The Junkyard's pipe) into the ring - another mirror added. The entire mirror list thanks you, Vec. Another update: Firfin, of Halo Game (a French Halo site), has added the hi-res version, as well. Thanks, Firfin! (Louis Wu 01:53:40 UTC) (permalink)

Out of Halo - completely
Another first - Getting completely OFF the map on the level Halo. Folks have gotten to the tops of the mountains in the Reunion Tour section (and even ALMOST to the top in the Flawless Cowboy section, though the jeep loses power before you peak, and drops back down)... but nobody's documented getting OFF the map (into totally untextured areas) until now. Check out the pics in our Gameplay Tricks section. (Louis Wu 14:54:33 UTC) (permalink)

More vehicle antics
Cal has turned in another series of pics - this time, he's put 4 ghosts and two warthogs upstairs in a Sidewinder base. Pretty pictures (though less useful in multiplay than, say, filling a Blood Gulch base - there's no flag to block up here) - and some interesting physics glitches when a jeep gets stuck in the ladder well. Check it out in our Gameplay Tricks section. (Louis Wu 14:20:13 UTC) (permalink)

Difficulty symbols, bigger
We've gotten requests a number of times for pointers to the symbols used in the difficulty screens at the start of Halo (most recently, this morning). We'd put this page up back in October... but the images are somewhat small. To make life easier for those attempting to use these symbols in clan websites or the like, we've extracted them from the difficulty screens, and combined them for easy access. You can find them here. (Louis Wu 13:25:22 UTC) (permalink)

Two bottles of jack and a basket of twinkies
It's Cortana Day at Tru7h and Reconciliation! Bungie has put up new storyboards (for a major Cortana scene), Cortana voice outtakes, and an interview with Jen Taylor, the voice of Cortana! (The interview will show you a glimpse of Matt Soell's odder side... but it will also give you some good info on Jen, the Cinematics team (well, okay, that wasn't so good), and an upcoming movie Jen stars in.) Check it out. (Louis Wu 10:13:01 UTC) (permalink)

Another Warthog Jump mirror
The Warthog jump movie got a mention (thanks, Tarrsk) on Penny Arcade, among other places... my guess is, demand is not going to die down any time soon. (And download numbers are rather high, according to a couple of mirror hosters...) With all that in mind, we want to thank Dukeman330 for adding another mirror, for both hi and lo-res versions of the vid. All the mirrors that we know of can be found on our mirror list - hopefully, if you haven't gotten this yet, you can find it from one of these sites. (Louis Wu 09:49:26 UTC) (permalink)

Halo finalist for 8 AIAS awards
Rather than reword it badly, I'm just gonna shamelessly suck text from the AIAS site:

The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) today announced the finalists for the 5th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. Halo: Combat Evolved for the Xbox, developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft, and ICO for the Playstation 2 (PS2), developed by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and published by Sony Computer Entertainment America, lead the field with finalist nods in 8 categories each, including nominations for Game of the Year, Console Game of the Year and Console Action/Adventure Game of the Year.

The 8 categories that Halo is a finalist in are: Game of the Year, Console Game of the Year, Console Action/Adventure Game of the Year, Innovation in Console Gaming, Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction, Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering, Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering, and Outstanding Achievement in Game Design. (Interestingly enough, Halo wasn't a finalist in any Sound or Story categories...) Looks like even the academics like this game! (Thanks to Gothmog for the heads-up.) (Louis Wu 01:47:50 UTC) (permalink)

Flying tanks... who'da thunk it?
R.G.'s Warthog Jump movie, showing the stockpiling of large numbers of explosive devices and their potential effect on heavy equipment, has inspired other Halo engineers. TitaniumPez has taken a few pictures showing how to bring the Scorpion, previously useless once you reach the pillars after the ice area of Assault on the Control Room, just a bit farther. Check the details (and TP's plea) in our Gameplay Tricks section! (Louis Wu 20:37:37 UTC) (permalink)

Dukes vid mirrored at psyjnir.com
The first mirror for the Dukes of Halo vid has popped up - jump on over to the Psyjnir Complex Hotline server for either the medium or small versions. (And while you're on the net, fire up a web browser and read the funnies at the Complex's website...) (Louis Wu 19:58:12 UTC) (permalink)

He was a good kid...
Reidbo has put up a small movie called 'Dukes of Halo', based on the intro to the TV series 'Dukes of Hazzard'. Stays true to the original, and has a few nice jeep launches (Bo would be proud). There are two versions - a 320x240 version that weighs in at 6.3 mb, or a 240x180 version that weighs in at 2.3 mb. Check it out - currently, they're available on Reidbo's server, but (as usual) mirrors are appreciated. (Louis Wu 19:09:28 UTC) (permalink)

Battle of the Bay
Heh - take your lanfest to the Next Level. The Bay Area Halo Players Group have put together a pretty slick website for the Battle of the Bay, an upcoming lanfest in San Francisco. They're looking for 48 Halo players to participate - they've got Bungie-supplied swag to give away, and the Official Xbox Magazine is talking about filming some footage for inclusion on their monthly DVD. The only catch? It ain't free. (Admission fee is $20, or $15 if you supply hardware). If you live in or near San Francisco, this sounds like a killer event! (Thanks to Rico for the heads-up.) (Louis Wu 18:45:39 UTC) (permalink)

Try and do that with a REAL tank!
We've put our first image up on the One-Shots page... not so much because we were ready for it to go live yet, but because we received a submission of similar pics for the Gameplay Tricks section, and wanted to make sure that credit went where credit was due. You'll find Roman's Ostrich pic on the One-Shots page (soon to be populated with other images, as well), and Spike Lee's series of pics in our Gameplay Tricks section. Both deal with the subject of upending a tank... (Louis Wu 15:22:44 UTC) (permalink)

Supreme War Master T'soll Vorskray grinned with delight as the last of the pathetic human battle ships was obliterated, the Gods surely smiled upon his forces on this glorious day.

Halowars - Play Halo, win money (maybe)
Yeroen put up a note about the World Championship Halo League (self-titled) - they're trying to secure sponsorship so that they can offer cash prizes in their online Halo tournaments... but in the meantime, you can sign up for online play (via Gamespy Tunnel) at the W.C.H.L's website. Good luck to these guys! (A small note about the bungie.net link - there seems to be a small glitch with b.net's permalinks, with respect to outside referrers - if you get an empty page, or a note about a wiped database, simply reload once you're there - the news story should show up.) (Louis Wu 02:13:30 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Online puts up a forum
PTM dropped us a note to let us know that Halo Online now has their forum online. You can find it here. (Louis Wu 01:59:24 UTC) (permalink)

FAQ updated to deal with movies
Due to the overwhelming number of people who are complaining that they can't view the movies on this site, we've added a QuickTime movie question to our FAQ. If someone asks this question on our forum, or on a different forum, feel free to point them to this entry. (And speaking of QuickTime movies, the Warthog Jump Mirror list has been updated to include That Weasel Television - thanks, TW!) Update: That Weasel writes to let us know the lo-res version of the Warthog Jump movie is at TWT, as well. (Stock up on that Advil, my friend...) The mirror page has been updated to reflect the new link. (Louis Wu 01:45:37 UTC) (permalink)

Fly me to the moon...
The list of mirrors for the Warthog Jump video has been getting hard to follow, so we've made it a little easier to figure out what's where. Here's a full list, broken down by which version is mirrored and what protocol is needed to get it. For all those having trouble seeing it - this movie uses Sorenson 3 compression, and requires QuickTime 5 to view - QuickTime 4 won't cut it, nor will WMP's QT decoder. A link to Apple's download page is provided (QT 5 is free). Thanks again to all those providing bandwidth for this puppy - and if you haven't seen it yet, go download it now! (Louis Wu 22:39:25 UTC) (permalink)

FoR sequel coming... soon
TeamXbox has an article about the cooperative agreement between Microsoft and Del Rey books - based on the success of 'Halo: The Fall of Reach', Del Rey plans to put out 2-3 more books this fall, and 6 titles in 2003. Most interesting to readers of THIS site:

No word yet on who's writing it. Nice pickup by Eric Salzman! (Louis Wu 19:45:12 UTC) (permalink)

Tom's Hardware Guide looks at Halo
Tom's Hardware Guide has put up an article on the Xbox, and includes a 2-page overview of Halo, among other games. It's not really a review... but it's a nice read, written from a hardware junkie's perspective. They liked it. (Thanks to XNOR for pointing it out, and DeAdLy_cOoKiE (whoa, twice in a week) for pinpointing it.) (Louis Wu 19:23:05 UTC) (permalink)

Got enough mirrors yet?
Even more mirrors! First, for Cal's Blood Gulch Tower movie:

One more Warthog Jump mirror has surfaced, as well - Rampancy.net is serving up the hi-res version. (Thanks!) We'll compile full mirror lists for both movies later today. (Louis Wu 19:03:50 UTC) (permalink)

Warthog on the bridge!
Heh - very cool. Deimos™, of Subnova, has managed to get the Warthog back to the very start of the level Halo - follow this link, then head to the bottom of his 'Halo fun page' for a pic. (We'll be adding this to the One-Shots page in the near future.) (Louis Wu 14:49:15 UTC) (permalink)

The Warthog finds another Garage
Another mirror for the Warthog Jump movies just surfaced - thanks to Steve Campbell, who put them both (hi and low-res) up via Hotline at hl.forerunners.org. Mmm... resumable downloads... (Louis Wu 10:43:53 UTC) (permalink)

New fan fiction, and a request
MaxThndr drops off Chapter 1 of his new 'Halo II: The Ardan Landings' series. (Warning - there ARE story spoilers in this one.) We'd like to make a request of Fan Fiction writers - we'd like to ask that if you decide to write chaptered stories (as a huge percentage of you do), that you wait until you have a reasonably-sized chunk before you submit it to the archive. Lately, there have been a large number of very short submissions - we received a chunk of unpleasant mail the last time this happened (we were posting 2 or 3 250-word chapters per day at one point), and we'd like to avoid this. Writing very short chapters is fine - but hold on to them until you've got 2 or three to submit, if you choose to write this way. (MaxThndr's submission is right on the edge of what we'd consider long enough, which is why we've taken this opportunity to make this request now.) The Fan Fiction collection lives and breathes because the fans show the authors that their work is worth reading - let's keep it that way. (Louis Wu 09:53:20 UTC) (permalink)

Beating the scripts
Hmm... this is interesting. If you've ever headed back to the start of Silent Cartographer after activating the Cartographer (that is, rather than getting into the dropship that would end the level), you'll find that all the Marines you'd left near the start were dead. (Presumably, they were slaughtered by random Covs you managed to miss along the way.) Apparently, though, this is a scripted outcome, one you have no control over; Chez Wiz reports that

That's sort of disappointing... don't you wish you could save the poor buggers? I wonder what would happen if you forced them down into the interior of SC, then got them out of the jeep and blocked their return with the jeep itself? Would they STILL die? Will anyone find out? (Louis Wu 09:32:14 UTC) (permalink)

Still more movie mirrors
More movie mirrors... Tim writes that he's got the hi-res warthog jump movie up on maserati.ca, and Vector40 has put up a copy of Cal's 'Climbing Blood Gulch in a Ghost' (in .rm format, same as Psyjnir's mirror) at The Junkyard. (Cal has also - temporarily - put up a copy on his own server.) Have I mentioned how wonderful this community is for picking up the bandwidth slack? (Louis Wu 09:17:04 UTC) (permalink)

Ghost to Tower movie, looking for home
More video material - Cal, a frequent contributor to our Gameplay Tricks section, has made a low-resolution movie showing how he got a ghost up to the Tower in Blood Gulch. If you can help him with the hosting of this 3.5 mb movie, drop him a line! (Louis Wu 22:49:10 UTC) (permalink)

More as we hear of 'em! (This one's really worth seeing, if that wasn't clear already. Check the praise in this forum thread.) Quick Update: Drew "DKo5" McCoy writes to say that the hi-res version is now mirrored on his UT clan's webspace. Thanks, Drew! (Louis Wu 22:33:17 UTC) (permalink)

A movie you MUST watch
Okay, put your coffee down (and anything else nearby that might spill), and run, don't walk, over to this directory. Randy Glass has made one of the funniest fan vids I've ever seen - a brilliant combination of Halo footage and miscellaneous sounds and music... it simply MUST be seen to be believed. (Remember, he did this without any of the kewl dev tools Bungie has at their disposal for making movies... this is straight gameplay, with a fantastic eye for capturing the moment.) There are two flavors: a 23 mb, hi-res version and a 10 mb lower-res version. The hi-res version will only be available at oz.net for the next 12 hours or so... but Psyjnir.com will be mirroring it shortly on its Hotline server (other mirror volunteers - let us know). The low-res version is actually quite viewable, so if you don't get the big one in time, or don't have the bandwidth to grab it, grab the small one. For those interested in making Halo vids - take heed. This film (like Aaron Suhr's 'The People That We Love', before it) sets a standard worth striving for. Update: In case you had any doubt, this film just received Marty's Seal of Excellence. (Louis Wu 17:15:44 UTC) (permalink)

More Wallpaper added
A couple of Wallpapers came in recently - the SocketError Team dropped off another one (sort of hurts my eyes after a while), and the BlargMaster whipped up a nice image using Strykerwolf's new Counter-Strike skin. You can find both of these in the Wallpaper section. (Louis Wu 15:53:05 UTC) (permalink)

Casualties, continued
Tom Murphy turns in Part 3... hmm, half of Part 1... well, the next bit of the 'Casualties of War' series. You can read the latest piece alone, or the series as a whole - whatever's easiest for you. Don't forget to tell him what you think! (Louis Wu 15:38:54 UTC) (permalink)

Halo SETI Team 7 day stats posted
The Halo SETI Marines continue to hold steady at 61 in the Battle of the Teams - the big mover today was Rogue Spartan IV, who leapt into the top 600 in his second week on the team. Are YOU moving? Check the 7 day stats page to see! (Louis Wu 15:19:16 UTC) (permalink)

A nod to the first
If you want a good laugh, check out the bottom of the boot of the new Counter-Strike Master Chief skin created by Strykerwolf. He's made it easy for you... he's posted a link to a pic in a recent forum post. (The REAL MC, btw, has Marcus Lehto's initials burned in.) (Louis Wu 07:22:18 UTC) (permalink)

MGON reviews Halo
Thanks to DeAdLy_cOoKiE (whoa, did I just say that?) for pointing out a new Halo review at MGON - they loved it. We've added it to our Reviews section - total currently stands at 68 reviews, with an average score of 94.5%! (Louis Wu 00:36:43 UTC) (permalink)

4 new Tricks collections
Metafire, aka Frogblast on our forum, has given us permission to mirror some of the tricks found on his Exploration pages. We've added four new collections to our Gameplay Tricks section - an illustration of a climbing route up Silent Cartographer (not requiring explosives), a route out of Truth and Reconciliation, and a pair of Assault narratives. Check 'em out on the Gameplay Tricks page! (Louis Wu 22:54:56 UTC) (permalink)

Zalo: Combat Devolved
potatorobot writes to say that he's created a side-scroller called 'Zalo: Combat Devolved' - it's a parody of Halo, "the world's best game". More information - and a download link for a Windows executable - can be found here. (The HBO staff hasn't tested this game yet.) (Louis Wu 15:44:10 UTC) (permalink)

Boom!
Heh - Aaron Suhr made a short movie showing a pretty nifty way of killing a Banshee. I've never had that sort of luck... (Louis Wu 15:06:34 UTC) (permalink)

C-S skin finshed
Hibiki points out that the Counter-Strike skin that Strykerwolf has been working on is now finished, and posted at Polycount. Go check it out - if you play C-S, you MUST get this skin! (Louis Wu 14:17:50 UTC) (permalink)

BungieColor, indeed
Kaworu Nagisa submits a gorgeous pair of images for use as wallpaper - they're actually a bit small for my desktop, but they're both really nicely done. Check 'em out in our Wallpaper section. (Louis Wu 14:14:50 UTC) (permalink)

Gaming Universe is back
Some of you might remember a site called 'The Online Universe' - it disappeared from the Halo scene last summer sometime. It's back, renamed as The Gaming Universe, and there's a new Halo Question of the Week - stop by and make your opinion known. (Louis Wu 14:03:26 UTC) (permalink)

Who do YOU want to hear from?
Matt Soell put a note up at the Tru7h and Reconciliation site to let everyone know that the Robert McLees interview is still going - it hasn't been forgotten. Should be posted sometime next week... at which point they'll be taking questions for ANOTHER Bungie employee. If you have a special Bungie dude or dudette you'd like to hear from, message Matt. (This was posted last night, but we somehow missed it, even though we noticed the new Halo content.) (Louis Wu 22:27:46 UTC) (permalink)

Hey! You can ride it!
Whoa. Metafire managed to get into the second Pelican on Assault on the Control Room (the one that flies over the bridge) - and he took some pics. Oops - guess Bungie should have renumbered one of those... (Louis Wu 22:08:57 UTC) (permalink)

More fiction for you
dyoung92 submits Part 1 of his 'Halo 2 Story', which picks up where the game leaves off. (Don't read this if you haven't finished yet.) Check it out in our Fan Fiction section! (Louis Wu 21:52:59 UTC) (permalink)

More vehicle collecting
Aaron Suhr stops by our forum to point out that he's upped his 'ultimate vehicle collection' by several - he's added another 7 shades, and one more ghost (albeit a broken one). There's a new movie which shows off the collection better. The time this guy has... we've updated his Gameplay Tricks page with the new info. (This info is also available on Aaron's mac.com page.) (Louis Wu 21:12:53 UTC) (permalink)

Assault first bridge trick, filmed
Doum and Pat, a pair of Halo fanatics from Quebec, have made a series of movies to show how to get down to the bottom off the first bridge of Assault on the Control Room - it requires some tricky timing in coop mode. The films were encoded with DivX 4 - I found that they were viewable on a Mac with the newest DivX decoder (the Windows decoder has never been a problem). Quality is somewhat low (it was filmed off a TV screen), but you can certainly see what you need to be doing. Movies are hosted on Doum's server.

Part 1 (2.83 MB) - how to get under the bridge

Part 2 (2.06 MB) - how to get on the edge near the ground

Part 3 (4.28 MB) - where to go down

Part 4 (3.16 MB) - how to go down

Using this trick, you avoid triggering any baddies - you'll be traveling through a totally unpopulated level. You'll need to use the Banshee on the ground to head back up to the bridge, since the door at the bottom is locked. Nice job, guys! (Louis Wu 11:00:09 UTC) (permalink)

Easier-to-find tricks
The Gameplay Tricks are pouring in... and the collection was getting pretty hard to navigate. We've made it a bit neater, hopefully easier to find what you're looking for... and we've added three new collections. (All are mirrors of the creators' collections elsewhere... but we're hoping this becomes the central repository for this sort of thing - it makes it much easier to compare techniques if you don't have to hunt all over the net.) You might notice, as well, the link to the One-Shots page... this, hopefully, is coming soon. Thanks to Cal and Aaron Suhr for this evening's submissions - go check 'em out! (Louis Wu 03:39:23 UTC) (permalink)

Truth and Recon gets an update
Massive new content to Bungie's Tru7h and Reconciliation site: two new Gallery sections (one of which was seen last week, in the Marcus Lehto article), the first cutscene, and some way-cool concept art. Check it out! (Louis Wu 01:06:22 UTC) (permalink)

There's only so much you can do...
A sniper battles it out against unpleasant odds in carrim's 'I am Sniper', newly added to our Fan Fiction section. Take a look! (Louis Wu 01:05:21 UTC) (permalink)

New site section in Links
With the huge influx of new tricks footage and pictures comes a new breed of website - the Gameplay Tricks and Tips collections. Currently, there are two that we know of (well, three, but one's not ready for prime time yet) - if you know of more, we'd love to hear about it! In the meantime, check our Links page for the existing collections. (Louis Wu 16:53:34 UTC) (permalink)

When gamers get bored
Whoa! Aaron Suhr has put together the 'ultimate vehicle collection'... check out 'Master Chief's Quality Used War Machines'. 12 Ghosts, 2 Banshees, 1 Wraith, a Warthog, and a Scorpion... plus 13 Shades. (Don't even ASK him how long it took.) Pics, plus a 5 meg flyover 'test drive', can be found on this page. This can be beaten... there are vehicles missing. Can YOU top it? (Louis Wu 14:34:15 UTC) (permalink)

Halo in diagnostics CD movie
French site XboxManiac has posted a movie from a Xbox Diagnostic CD that is used to test hardware. At the beginning you see quite a bit of Halo footage. Check it out (Windows Media Player plugin/player required). Pax. (Crux Fidelis 11:46:19 UTC) (permalink)

Stephen King meets Iain M. Banks
Vector40 bursts back on the Fan Fiction scene, with a different sort of story. 'What Drives Us' is a tale of love and betrayal, courage and vengeance. It's pretty good. Read it in our Fan Fiction section. (Louis Wu 02:30:24 UTC) (permalink)

What's YOUR favorite level?
Halo Online has put up a point/counterpoint discussion of their favorite levels - up tonight, Silent Cartographer vs. Two Betrayals. You'll have to stop by to see who wins... (Louis Wu 01:40:59 UTC) (permalink)

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