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

May 2003

May 2003 Archived News

News May 31 2003

More desktops than you can shake a stick at
Under the wire... there are 20 new desktops for you today - but half of them are variations. Enforcer turned in 6 images, in 16 variations. (On top of that, we got 4 OTHER submissions.) Check out the whole mess in our Wallpaper section! Update: The total has been reduced by 6 - see this post for details. (Louis Wu 23:53:57 UTC) (permalink)

Yosemite, huh?
Mom, he's doing it again... (Louis Wu 09:50:44 UTC) (permalink)

All Targets Eliminated.
Red vs Blue Episode 8 is now up for sponsors (thanks, Ross). If you watched episode 7, you knew this one was gonna be sad... but man, for a sad episode, it's hilarious. If you don't wanna pay 'em any money, you'll have to wait until Sunday to grab this... but $5 gets you access now. ($10 gets you access to the hi-res version... it's worth it.) (Louis Wu 01:51:59 UTC) (permalink)

Dirrrty Flood.
...missed it by THAT MUCH. One One Se7en's Friday episode was ready to go, but I didn't make it home to post it. Go read it now. (Louis Wu 00:05:04 UTC) (permalink)

News May 30 2003

MS Acquisition FAQ now archived here
Thanks to Eric Jury, who pointed out that the Wayback Machine had an archive of the Acquisition FAQ we mentioned yesterday. I'd checked there... but only on earlier dates (closer to the time of the actual reporting). My mistake. To ensure that it doesn't get lost again (and so that URLs listed can be made to work again), we've archived a copy locally. It's Bungie History, after all. Interestingly enough... the information about Take 2's rights to the Halo engine aren't mentioned. I'm not sure exactly WHERE that information was originally published. (Louis Wu 17:45:52 UTC) (permalink)

Overdue pics...
A week and a half ago, Warbow posted a few very nice shots of the limited-edition Master Chief action figure given away at the fanfest. For some unknown reason, I neglected to ever mention this to the wider front-page audience. Consider it mentioned. (Louis Wu 15:26:50 UTC) (permalink)

Are You Big Enough?
Blackstar is setting up a lanfest in Andover, MA this summer - on a massive, massive screen. (See this forum post for some details.) Attendance is pretty limited... but you can (at the very least) watch the new promo vid for the event. Just under a minute long, 9.1 mb, QuickTime format. I think I saw footage of me dying in there... The Matrix flavor is great, and the vid's got me pumped up for the day! Update: we seem to be significantly slowing down blackstarproductions.net, so we've tossed a copy of this vid up at Mythica.org. Grab whichever copy works faster for you! (Louis Wu 14:55:46 UTC) (permalink)

Westlake says no OS9 Halo
Recently, Westlake updated its Project Status page; The OS 9 status for Halo Mac went from 'Undecided' to 'No'. The Mac version of Halo, then, will be OSX only. Thanks to mnemesis for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 12:12:22 UTC) (permalink)

POA Update - Snail mail sux :(

I'd like to apologize for the holdup in announcing the winners in the recently concluded Pillar of Art contest. An unfortunate set of circumstances: real-life work pressures, judge schedules, and most importantly, awaiting a return package from Bungie of some of the pieces we had the extreme pleasure of showing at the recent E3 Bungie Fanfest... these all conspired to postpone the judgement. :(

If you were one of the lucky ones and got your piece on display at the Fanfest, you should feel good about yourself because alot of folks at the 'fest were drooling at the paintings!

Within the next week or so, a truck should pull up at my doorstep with the handful of pieces that were shown in LA and things should be back on track. Although I can't comment on the individual pieces, I will say this: Some of you folks are absolutely outstanding artists. And your love of the game showed through and through. Louis Wu can attest that a few of the entries literally made my jaw drop. :)

Next, they're doing a story on Blizarde.
Now THIS is a typo no journalist should make. Thanks to HUNTR-KILLR for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 01:55:31 UTC) (permalink)

News May 29 2003

Halo-engined game coming from GoD
Whoa... long time coming, but it looks like Take 2 is finally gonna exercise some options it acquired back in 2000. The Acquisition FAQ doesn't seem to be online anywhere any more (I was pretty sure SOMEONE had archived it, but I can't find a copy), but it included information about what Take 2 got out of the Microsoft/Bungie deal; for their 19.9% share of Bungie, they received all rights to Bungie's Myth franchise, Oni and any sequels, and the right to use the Halo engine in two future games. Since that point (almost three years ago - June 19, 2000), there's been no mention of this last license... until now. Gamespot has put up a news post discussing what's in the works from Take 2.

He also mentioned that one or more of the games in development under the Gathering [of Developers] label will utilize the Halo engine.

Something to look forward to! (The same article states that Duke Nukem Forever will NOT be out this year, but that the project hasn't been totally killed yet.) Thanks to travis for the heads-up! Update: See this news item for info about the FAQ. (Louis Wu 21:56:29 UTC) (permalink)

More Halo Dogtags
Infininja points out another pair of Halo Dog Tag auctions at eBay... this one has just under a day to go, and currently sits at $30... while this one has a bit OVER a day, and is sitting at $4.99 at the moment (that's sure to go up, though). How bad do you want one of these? (Louis Wu 21:31:10 UTC) (permalink)

New pics for you
Four pieces of artwork for you today in the Miscellaneous Art section. Slowly but surely... Update: hot on the heels of that update, we received a Zelda concept from Jerry H. Take a look! (Louis Wu 19:18:40 UTC) (permalink)

Elite This
Gr3yFoX dropped off a modified screenshot for our Wallpaper page. Take a look. (Louis Wu 19:10:38 UTC) (permalink)

Stories to read
5 stories for you in the Fan Fiction section today:

• Chapter 02: Fallen Angel, by Cpt Crapper
• Stowaway Part 2 (2 of 3), by Dispraiser
• Rebirth - Shadow's Chapter 2 - Revelation, by Archangel's Blade, Knightmare, Spartan 451, Shadow
• Foresaken Forefathers Part Four- Rendezvous, by Havok and AlphaBravo343
• ONI Black Ops Part Nine, by Havok

Go get 'em... (Louis Wu 18:15:01 UTC) (permalink)

They just keep coming...
And more pics... Djof, of the Psyjnir Complex, has posted a bunch of his own (and a link to those of Magellan of Wolfpack). E3 Fanfest all over again! (Louis Wu 17:22:52 UTC) (permalink)

Another round of fanfest photos
Skeletor has put up a dozen and a half photos from the E3 Fanfest last week (the perils of non-digital cameras...). Check 'em out... some good flavor stuff in there. (There's a forum thread about this - which is where I learned of it.) You can finally see the 'Boll Says Hi' shirt at the fest! (Louis Wu 09:07:30 UTC) (permalink)

News May 28 2003

Halo PC (but not Mac) FAQ at B.net
Wanna know all the down-and-dirty details about Halo PC? Curious about what's true, and what's just forumboard speculation? Bungie's put together a Halo PC FAQ, just for you. Read it for detalis on the upcoming PC game. (For some unknown reason, it doesn't mention the Mac version even once... but I'm guessing that'll change eventually.) (Louis Wu 23:35:15 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 2 Paradise comes online
Robcsi14 writes to tell us of a new Halo 2 forum, Halo 2 Paradise. There's not much there yet, but he's hoping a post here will change that. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 20:16:27 UTC) (permalink)

FiringSquad looks at Halo 2
FiringSquad has put up a Halo 2 preview - it's actually a review of the trailer, more than anything. We've added it to our Previews database. Thanks to Mhaddy, of the Junkyard, for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 19:21:56 UTC) (permalink)

GCA - Nominees Announced
Since 1998, the Game Critics Awards have been given out to the most promising video games shown each year at E3. In 1999, Oni (PC) took Best Action/Adventure game. In 2000, Halo (for PC) took runner-up for Best Game, PC, and won Best Action Game. (It was nominated for Best of Show and Best Original Game, as well.) In 2001, the Xbox version was nominated for Best Action Game (but lost out to Rogue Squadron 2). In 2002, it wasn't nominated for anything (Bungie didn't even show up at E3 2002, really). For 2003, nominees were announced yesterday... and the Halo franchise garnered a hefty handful of nominations. Halo 2 is in the running for Best of Show, Best Console Game, and Best Action Game, and Halo PC is in the running for Best PC Game. Winners will be announced on June 10. Good luck to Bungie and Gearbox! (Louis Wu 15:39:44 UTC) (permalink)

Easy Reading
Fan Fiction offerings light this week so far...

• Prelude, by Cpt Crapper
• Chapter 01: Fallen Angel, by Cpt Crapper
• Pax the beginning part 3, by Boa
• Last Stand, by Reiyou

Go read 'em... (Louis Wu 13:45:10 UTC) (permalink)

So You Were The One
Stuntmutt looks at the perils of game magazine publishing in the latest One One Se7en. (Louis Wu 13:38:54 UTC) (permalink)

News May 27 2003

The Wrath of Susan
An entertaining Halo LAN practice gets highlighted in today's MacHall. Thanks to Slith for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 22:53:17 UTC) (permalink)

Fanfest Q & A transcript posted
During the Fanfest at E3 recently, some Bungie employees participated in a question and answer session with fanfestgoers. There was a lot of joking, a bit of horseplay, and some good answers. The session was over half an hour long, so we can't exactly bring it to you in video format... but the transcript of the evening is finally ready for reading. Check it out in our Miscellaneous section. (Louis Wu 18:38:02 UTC) (permalink)

Screenshots DB up-to-date
Our Screenshots database just got an infusion of 89 shots, all released over the past three weeks. If you're looking for a Halo screenshot (Halo: CE, Halo 2, or Halo PC), and it's on the net, you'll likely find it here. (This is probably a decent time to point out the (relatively) new sorting feature of the page; you can restrict your view to one flavor of Halo.) (Louis Wu 13:15:15 UTC) (permalink)

HBO-XBL Gamertag list updated
A few days ago, Doggone created a set of icons for the HBO-XBL Gamertag page corresponding to several games we didn't have listed; took a little while to find the time to add them, but you should now be able to identify yourself on the list as playing these games. (Louis Wu 12:08:05 UTC) (permalink)

Who's the Ultimate Halo Fan?
Another entry into the Biggest Halo Fan contest recently held by Bungie came from Brian Josselyn, aka Blackstar. Production quality is pretty high... you've already seen the winner (Red vs Blue's Public Service Announcement), another finalist (Elan Sleazbagano's BHFC), and Maverick's Halo Creations... now check out Blackstar's Ultimate Halo Fan vid. 21.2 mb, 320x240, QuickTime. (The original was bigger, and the credits more readable - blame me, not Brian, for this version.) (Louis Wu 09:10:34 UTC) (permalink)

Movie mirrors - lots and lots of movie mirrors
That Weasel, always lookin' to cause trouble, has mirrored three recent films at That Weasel Television:

• Halo Creations by Maverick J
  • WMP9 (27.3 mb)
  • QuickTime (21.2 mb)
• Master Chief's Pro Skater by goatrope and SniPeR
  • QuickTime (7 mb)
• Silent Cartographer Speed Run by Vern Shields
  • QuickTime (23.1 mb)

Now, you may THINK he's being kind and generous... but what's his real motive?

Now you can add more movies to HBO and hose more bandwidth. ;)

See? He doesn't care about us at all. Go download some movies - maybe we'll add another one in the morning. (Louis Wu 02:33:59 UTC) (permalink)

E3 T-Shirts... on display
Last week, I became 5 T-shirts richer at the Bungie Fanfest. I figured some folks might like to see these... so I photographed them and whipped up a web page for them. The pictures are a bit lame... but give me a break, it rained most of the weekend; I took these in the few minutes of sun we had Sunday afternoon. The server's being a bit flakey this evening; if the individual images don't load right away, be patient. (Louis Wu 02:17:12 UTC) (permalink)

Now THAT'S some cool music.
Last year, Justin Durban turned in a pair of pretty nice pieces of music based on the halo theme (here and here). He's done it again - today we got a copy of Ruined Desert, a 5.4 mb mp3. Here's what Justin says about it:

This one gives it a small bit of an ethnic feel. I'm imagining a desert scene inside a HUGE sandlike temple. Almost if it was back in the day of Caesar and the Romans. Or even the ancient Egyptian times. Perhaps a gladiator type arena fight and preparation?

Of course, I have to thank Marty O'Donnell again for creating a kickass soundtrack and inspirational music.

Go grab a copy, and see what you think. I can see the dunes now... (Louis Wu 00:32:34 UTC) (permalink)

News May 26 2003

Gamers.com updates Halo 2 preview
Gamers.com has replaced their Xbox Nation reprint with a preview that is built around the E3 demo. (It's really just a blow-by-blow of the demo itself, with a bit of commentary tossed in.) It reminds me that I could have put the XBN article up months ago... I'll have to find it. Meanwhile, go read Gamers.com! Thanks to Marcus Mann for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 20:45:24 UTC) (permalink)

Good news for non-US gamers
Gamefront.de reported yesterday that Ed Fries has confirmed a simultaneous worldwide release of Halo 2. Now, that seems like a hard thing to confirm at this stage... but the fact that Fries is saying it publicly suggests that it's probably a pretty high priority for Microsoft. We'll see what comes of it. Thanks to Harry Al-Shakarchi for the heads-up (and the translation of the German post). (Louis Wu 20:27:52 UTC) (permalink)

TechTV's x-play votes for Halo 2
TechTV has put up a page describing the fourth episode of their E3 coverage (to be aired Tuesday at 11:30 pm, and Wednesday at 2:30 am and 4 pm Eastern). The highlights (at least as far as this site is concerned) - Halo 2 takes top honors in the Xbox category. Thanks to Gasmask for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 18:27:51 UTC) (permalink)

That Reclaimer pic rocks.
Six images for you today in the Miscellaneous Art section, including four by Mugetsu (very high quality) and a couple of funny photo manipulations. Check 'em all out! Update: Oops, somehow I missed one. (It was hiding. I swear.) Check out BOLL's commentary on Bungie's Halo Babies... (Louis Wu 18:02:57 UTC) (permalink)

A lot more? Oh, no!
Three Halo2-related desktop images for you today... check 'em out in our Wallpaper section. (Louis Wu 17:43:57 UTC) (permalink)

343,000,000 Light Years Away.
Wonder of wonders, Monday's episode of One One Se7en is actually being released on... MONDAY! For what it's worth, I wondered how the little twerp was gonna get there, too. (Louis Wu 17:18:37 UTC) (permalink)

Another Fan Creation
Because it's so much fun watching the bandwidth meter spike on Mythica, we're going to release some of the non-winning movies submitted to the Biggest Halo Fan contest. First up: MaverickJ put together a gameplay vid called Halo Creations. Original format is WMP9 (27.3 mb, 5:00 long, 320x240), we've also re-encoded it into QuickTime format (21.2 mb). These links point to the Mythica.org copies, but the QT version can also be found at the Psyjnir Complex Hotline server, and the WMP9 version can be found at Maverick's Project Spartan. Hopefully, we'll have more to show you in the future. (Louis Wu 16:57:07 UTC) (permalink)

Kickflip x 2
goatrope and SniPeR got together and made a small film called Master Chief's Pro Skater. It's pretty cute... and it's only 7 mb. (QuickTime format.) The music is what makes it for me... I gotta go find that japanese vid again now. (Louis Wu 12:41:18 UTC) (permalink)

Stories to be read
It's Memorial Day, and it's raining here at HBO HQ... a perfect day for reading military fiction:

• Sniper, by Michael Quarterman
• Episode-III A shot from the Darkness, by Jon Michael Marlowe
• ONI Black Ops Part Eight, by Havok
• True Purpose(6), by Frensa Geran
• Halo from the Flood's Point of View: The Encounter (Part 1), by Simpsons Rule
• Halo from the Flood's Point of View: The Encounter (Part 2), by Simpsons Rule
• Forsaken Forefathers part III: Unexpected Annhialation, by AlphaBravo343 and Havok

Go see what the Fan Fiction section has to offer. (Louis Wu 09:57:58 UTC) (permalink)

There's a pattern here...
Gamespot has put up its 'Best of E3' awards. Once again, Halo 2 takes Xbox honors... but was beaten by Half-Life 2 for overall honors. Go read why. (Thanks to Da Loaph for the heads-up.) Update: Da Loaph missed it first time through (and so did we) - but Halo PC made #2 in the Top PC games. I'm happy he went back! (Louis Wu 00:00:36 UTC) (permalink)

News May 25 2003

Halo Art - Amazes and Delights
Quick Pillar of Art contest update: we spent a good chunk of today going over most of the entries. Some entries are still in Seattle; they'd been displayed at the fanfest, and haven't made it back to us yet. For this reason, and because some of the judges need a little extra time to see some of the entries, we've postponed the announcement of the winners; it should happen a week or so after the original date (May 26). It's going to be tough - many of the entries are amazing. As soon as we've pinned it all down, a gallery page will be made available, so that the world can see what these folks put together. I think you'll be as impressed as we were. (Louis Wu 01:14:03 UTC) (permalink)

Eye of the Beholder
Friday's One One Se7en is finally visible... sometimes you gotta wonder who's running this joint. (Louis Wu 00:41:32 UTC) (permalink)

News May 24 2003

What MC's REALLY thinking
SadisticFreak33 found a new Halo comic on the net - check out this episode of Aikida. Which reminds me... once again, I forgot to post yesterday's episode of One One Se7en. Unfortunately, it has to wait a few hours... I'm on the way out... (Louis Wu 14:10:42 UTC) (permalink)

Art is good.
Six pieces of artwork for you in the Miscellaneous Art section - some killer stuff. Check it out! (Louis Wu 14:01:09 UTC) (permalink)

Mike Myers as Master Chief
Three new desktops for you today... at least a couple to drool over. Check 'em out on our Wallpaper page. (Louis Wu 10:53:41 UTC) (permalink)

Curse you, Gordon Freeman!
Though Halo 2 took Xbox Best of Show in IGN's E3 awards, it lost out (once again) to Half-Life 2 in the OVERALL Best of Show. Beaten in all categories: Best of Show, Best Graphics, Technological Excellence... ouch. Thanks once again to BGH for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 10:35:53 UTC) (permalink)

Teaser clip from HJP
Dinky writes to point out a new clip from an upcoming movie that HaloJuggaloProductions is putting together. It's small (9 seconds long, 1.2 mb, and soundless), but it shows the style he's shooting for. Take a look! (Louis Wu 10:19:40 UTC) (permalink)

WBHF - Staten Island Style
Paul Gelardi, aka Elan Sleazbagano on our forum, was one of three finalists in the World's Biggest Halo Fan competition. His entry, 1:19 long (and only 5.1 big; what's stopping you?) explains why he is the World's Biggest Halo Fan. The last 10 seconds seal it for me! (Louis Wu 08:16:33 UTC) (permalink)

Halo PC video available
Lion discovered a pretty nice little bit of Halo PC footage over at iFilm. 5:52 long, it comes in your choice of three streaming formats (though with some sneakiness it's downloadable; the QuickTime clip is 12.6 mb big).It shows footage from some new multiplayer maps, with an emphasis on Banshee fighting, as well as some solo play. Great to watch if you want to see where the PC version is! (Louis Wu 08:09:37 UTC) (permalink)

News May 23 2003

CGN previews Halo 2
Oops - another one we missed... Cyber Gaming Network has put up a Halo 2 preview. Not very long... but they hit the highlights. Again, thanks to BGH. We've added this to our Previews database. (Louis Wu 21:31:40 UTC) (permalink)

The Treachery of Bits
Hehe - we almost forgot to mention... several hours before WE came back online, another casualty of digital corruption, Subnova, came back up, sporting a database that's two months old. It must have gone through the Blue Base Teleporter... (Louis Wu 21:13:55 UTC) (permalink)

Reminder
People are STILL sending us E3 demo movie links of varying legality, so let me repeat what was posted last week: There will, very soon, be an official version of the movie released by Bungie. This will be a direct-feed video (unlike all the existing ones, which were done with camcorders), it will be higher quality than the cams, and it will be official and completely legal. It will almost certainly be released either on Halo.bungie.net or through our existing mirror system (I don't know this at the moment). That is the ONLY version of the movie we will ever post a link to. So please stop mailing them in, OK? (Count Zero 20:44:10 UTC) (permalink)

IGN verdict: Halo 2 ROCKS.
IGN has posted their Xbox Best of E3 awards, and Halo 2 took a few: Best Graphics, Technological Excellence, Best Shooter, and Best Xbox Game of E3. Not too shabby! Thanks to Battleground: Halo for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 20:43:28 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 2: Second Best of Show, says Gamespy
The rest of Gamespy's Top 25 games at E3 (we mentioned it yesterday, when Halo PC pulled 24th), is up... and Halo 2 snagged #2. (First place went to Half-Life 2.) Go read what they liked, and didn't like! (Louis Wu 20:23:59 UTC) (permalink)

Dude, hold still. I don't think it sees us.
c0ld vengeance (among others, but he was first) noticed that Red vs Blue Episode 7 was posted this morning for sponsors. (It'll be out for the general public on Sunday.) Personally, I found it to be the brightest spot of my morning. Pay 'em the measly $5 and get your copy now! (Louis Wu 20:16:57 UTC) (permalink)

OXM Fanfest Report on B.net
Frank O'Connor, Executive Editor of OXM, enjoyed himself at the Fanfest last week. So much so that he wrote up the details in an entertaining report. And gave it to Bungie. Who posted it at B.net. Go read it. (mnemesis gets first dibs on notice.) (Louis Wu 20:09:52 UTC) (permalink)

Dead Time is Over (for now)
We're back. (Duh.) Gonna try and catch up now. Lots of you rock. Some of you don't. And so it goes. (Louis Wu 20:03:37 UTC) (permalink)

SC Speed Run - fixed
Update on a recent movie: I was an idiot, and sound is broken on the early version of the Silent Cartographer Speed Run for 95% of viewers. (It's a mystery to me why it's not 100%, but some people have no problems.) In any case, both versions (Mythica and Psyjnir) have been replaced with new versions; if you were having trouble before, grab it again. Apologies for the waste of time/bandwidth; I'll try not to do this again. (Louis Wu 00:09:00 UTC) (permalink)

News May 22 2003

Silent Cartographer - in under 5 minutes.
Vern Shields put together a pretty nice speed run for Silent Cartographer. Yes, it's on Easy... but there are some pretty cool aspects to it. First, he completed the entire level in 4:43, measured from starting to ending checkpoints. Second, as he leaves the underground area, he passes not one, but TWO gold elites. Third, at the top of the last ramp, there's a nice example of mass scripted death - all the baddies simply fall dead on the ground as he reaches them. Fourth - the ending cutscene has a surprise in it... watch it all the way through. And fifth... well, he picked a piece of music that meshes amazingly well with the action. Nicely done all around. There are other nuggets worth seeing... grab the film at Mythica. (It should also be on the Psyjnir Complex Hotline server sometime later tonight.) It's in QuickTime format, and weighs in at 23.1 mb. The Legendary Speed Runners have something to shoot for! (Louis Wu 21:42:20 UTC) (permalink)

Halo PC makes E3 roundup
Somehow we missed it... but Gamespy has been building its 'Top 25 Games of E3' list... and Halo PC made it in at #24. Now... I played a few of the other games listed (the top 10 aren't up yet), and I'm not sure at all how they did the math... but hey, they can say anything they want, right? Tanks to Battleground: Halo ("Best Halo site on the 'net", according to Gamespy) for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 20:42:43 UTC) (permalink)

Hacked.
DOH! I've got to set up some sort of email notification system to remind me about this puppy... but the next episode of One One Se7en is online (it's yesterday's, actually). I gotta say... these bring a smile to my face. If they do the same to you, drop Stuntmutt some mail. (Louis Wu 13:23:58 UTC) (permalink)

IGN Halo 2 preview - now free
ragereset points out that the IGN Insider article we mentioned a couple of days ago is now open to the general public. It's definitely worth a read - there's some interesting content that hasn't been posted anywhere else, and now you don't have to pay to see it. (Louis Wu 08:03:44 UTC) (permalink)

New Desktop at B.net
Thanks to HemoGloben, who pointed out the new desktop at Bungie's Truth and Reconciliation site. Nice ghost work by mehve! (Louis Wu 01:27:26 UTC) (permalink)

Trivia Contest - back online
For those interested in trying their luck (or trying their luck again), the E3 2003 Trivia Contest is back online - and the IP block has been removed. Remember; most of the answers can be found online! (Louis Wu 01:26:48 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Tourney in Wisconsin
We got mail from Elliott Zastrow about the RLXC Mad-City Halo Team Tournament, in Madison, WI in mid-July. 4-player team tournament, $80/team entrance, $2400 cash purse to split between the top 5 teams. You'll find more details on the tournament webpage. Check 'em out if you're in the area! (Louis Wu 00:47:08 UTC) (permalink)

News May 21 2003

Reading Stuff
Nine Fan Fiction pieces for you, all bits of larger stories:

• Episode-II The Saviour awakens, by Jon Michael Marlowe
• Halo: White Battleground (Trailer), by ShadowWolf Forsythe
• Halo: Reclaimer- Part 2, by T. K. Niemann
• Chapter 1: Reveille, by Diamond Dog
• True Purpose(5), by Frensa Geran
• ONI Black Ops Part Seven, by Havok
• Training day, by Edward
• Croton 3, by Earl Hershberger
• Shadow's Chapter , by Knightmare, Spartan 451, Archangel's Blade, Shadow

Go for it! (Louis Wu 22:56:37 UTC) (permalink)

Top Trivia Scorers Posted
For those interested in seeing how they stacked up against the competition, we've put the top 100 contestants in the online trivia contest up on our E3 Coverage page. Take a look! (The trivia contest itself will be up again later tonight, or tomorrow - and the IP ban will be removed, so if you'd like to try again, you'll be able to.) (Louis Wu 22:45:07 UTC) (permalink)

As always... PA is on point
Tycho, of Penny Arcade, gave a quick E3 rundown in today's strip... and Halo 2 was included. Covers the subject pretty well. Thanks to Ross Mills for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 17:50:06 UTC) (permalink)

More Halo 2 coverage
Bullseye points out that Firing Squad has put up an overview of Halo 2 from E3. If you've been eagerly snarfing up every Halo 2 tidbit to be released recently, there won't be anything new here... but it's a nice writeup nevertheless. (Louis Wu 13:37:17 UTC) (permalink)

This Egg's for You
Hehe - pretty cool... come up with a cool phrase or quote, and it might make it into Halo 2 as an easter egg. Want the details on this fun little contest? Go read the news story at Bungie.net. Thanks to PanZer for the heads-up on our forum. (Louis Wu 03:36:32 UTC) (permalink)

News May 20 2003

It wasn't trivial.
The winner of the Online Trivia Contest held last week here has been revealed, over at Bungie.net, by SketchFactor. Congratulations to Thomas Langdon, who pulled the high score (36/49, or 73%) out of the 326 people who took it. (Yeah, it was TOUGH.) We should have it back online to play with later this week. If there's interest, I'd be happy to post the top 100 or so. (Louis Wu 19:05:59 UTC) (permalink)

Screenshot oversight
In the fervor of last week, we managed to forget to post about a seventh screenshot at Bungie.net; unlike the first 6, it's at 640x480, because apparently the depth-of-field effect only works at that resolution. It's very slick, though - worth seeing! (It's the last shot on the page.) (Louis Wu 13:58:21 UTC) (permalink)

Gamespot talks to Pete Parsons
For those with Gamespot Complete access (it seems many people paid them the $5 monthly fee to get the Halo 2 trailer), there's a new interview up; Pete Parsons, Studio Manager at Bungie, discussed the trailer, and the future with respect to Halo 2, with a Gamespot staffer. You'll find it on their media page. Just under 5 minutes, it weighs in at 62 mb. (Louis Wu 13:42:05 UTC) (permalink)

Film competition? Oh, yeah...
The Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences is now looking for films. From their official announcement:

The Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences has officially opened its 2003 Call for Entries, accepting submissions of Machinima works for this year’s Machinima Film Festival (Machinima films are films made within a real-time virtual 3D environment, i.e. 3D game engine). The early submission deadline is August 1, 2003 and the final deadline is September 15, 2003. This year’s festival is to be held in New York City in October 2003.

Visit the site and look around - and think about an entry if you're so inclined! (Louis Wu 09:35:37 UTC) (permalink)

Tiny Details You Never Knew, part 132
mehve, otherwise known as Bungie artist Lorraine McLees, points out on our forum that Cortana's face was modeled after Nefertiti, an ancient Egyptian queen. (There are hundreds of pictures of her - just do a Google image search; here's one example, on a page describing the queen herself.) Thanks, mehve! (Louis Wu 08:50:06 UTC) (permalink)

Discovery Channel Details
It's been mentioned that one of the videos shown at the fanfest involved a documentary being done for the Discovery Channel. Forum visitor none posted a summary of the actual piece, as well as showtimes. (Be aware that the documentary will not contain all the footage shown at the fanfest.) (Louis Wu 08:15:06 UTC) (permalink)

More details from IGN
IGN has also put up an Insider-only article containing updates on the Halo 2 info beyond that which you can glean from watching the trailer. Much of this info is available elsewhere (our forum, for example, in the form of reports from the show or the fanfest), but some was new for me. Probably the most interesting bit was that the covenant mortar (referred to as a 'turret' by Marty O'Donnell at the show) you see early on in the trailer will be a controllable vehicle, much as the Shades are in Halo: CE. I'm lookin' forward to some serious shelling! (Louis Wu 07:56:37 UTC) (permalink)

Poll: Xbox Game of Show at E3?
Rage Reset points out that the front page of IGN Xbox contains a poll asking your opinion about the Xbox game of the show for E3. Halo 2 is currently stomping the competition with almost 70% of the vote... but hey, a poll's a poll. (Louis Wu 07:46:17 UTC) (permalink)

HaloRAMA lama ding dong
BOLL has added another 20 panoramas to his HaloRAMA collection. You can view all images in the default mode, or you can check out just the new images. There are some stunning ones in there! (The Flash interface needs to be updated - by BOLL - before it can show these new images, so for the time being, it's straight html for you...) (Louis Wu 01:23:25 UTC) (permalink)

News May 19 2003

Xbox LAN AZ fanfest pics
Xbox LAN AZ showed up in force at E3 and the fanfest; their fanfest pictures are now online. Thanks to Cybrfrk for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 19:07:53 UTC) (permalink)

Things it might be fun to meet in Halo 2
Miscellaneous Art, too, was submitted while we were gone. Three pieces - including a shot of Danung, a rockin' Grunt. Check 'em all out in the Miscellaneous Art section. (Louis Wu 18:17:00 UTC) (permalink)

Not Just for Marines Any More
Clearing out the desktop queue; there are 9 images built up since we left for E3 (two are variants, so there are only 7 visible on the main Wallpaper page). Some pretty amazing stuff this time around... (Louis Wu 17:42:53 UTC) (permalink)

Hamilton waxes sage
Gamespy snagged Hamilton Chu for a discussion of Halo 2, and it went live yesterday. It's a very nice piece; I particularly liked this bit of game development philosophy:

You want to give the player choice -- or, in a certain sense, the illusion of choice. As a designer, there's the one best experience -- in our genre, that is. There's one best experience you want the player to have. Usually you want to make it clear to the player what they're supposed to do, and sometimes if you're good they'll think they thought of it themselves.

Go read the rest of it. Thanks to Halo-Game's Eclarap for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 17:20:47 UTC) (permalink)

Hunk o' Burnin' Love
One of the articles that came out last week that we neglected to mention was a Halo PC piece at IGN PC. There's some tasty stuff in there... but the most surprising thing (to me) was this bit (in a list of things that are new in the PC version):

Flamethrower: You heard correctly. Though Randy didn't elaborate any, there will be a flamethrower in the game. How do you like that information? Flame on!

This was not visible at all in the multiplayer levels being shown at E3... I'm intrigued. Thanks to Da Loaph for reminding me I hadn't posted this. (Louis Wu 16:52:40 UTC) (permalink)

Flash Banshees
Evan Grant wrote to point out a small flash game he's made; there seem to be a few glitches (I could never figure out whether shooting was possible, and the score seems to remain zero no matter how many Banshees I avoid, and in some browsers moving forward quits the game), but it's pretty small, so loading it isn't too much of a pain. (Louis Wu 15:44:25 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Half-Life mod - up for grabs
Some time ago, BOLL started work on a Halo-related mod for Sven Co-op, itself a Half-Life mod. He's decided to give it away, because he no longer has time to work on it. You can read the details in the Sven Co-op forums... or simply download the existing package. Update: BOLL clarified that Sven Co-op actually allows custom models to be built right into maps; BOLL's project, although including custom models for monsters and weapons, is still just a map. (I think we're simply describing the same thing with different words... but he's right, we should be more accurate in the description. :) ) (Louis Wu 15:22:28 UTC) (permalink)

One One Se7en - times 7hree
Gah! We got behind because of E3 -I'm really sorry. There are three new episodes of One One Se7en for your viewing pleasure. (These are the episodes for last Wednesday, last Friday, and today.) I'll try and make sure this doesn't happen again. (Louis Wu 14:13:26 UTC) (permalink)

AGP E3 Trailer available
Dan Chosich created a 50 minute video for the AGP Spring Tournament this year... and has put up the trailer for it on his site. We were asked by Jay Umboh, the president of the AGP, to mirror this... and it's pretty dang cool, so that's exactly what we're doing. You can find a copy on Mythica.org, which has a bigger pipe than ever before (something we'll be putting to the test in the very near future...). Screensize is 720x405, filesize is 16.5 mb, duration is 1:30, and format is QuickTime. Enjoy! (Louis Wu 00:02:27 UTC) (permalink)

Greg Snook interview now up
Ross Mills, among others, pointed out that the Greg Snook interview we mentioned a couple of days ago is available for download at BreakManX.com. (The site was down from overload earlier today... but it's up at the moment.) I haven't had time to actually LISTEN to it - it's over three hours long, and weighs in at 85 mb, zipped - but it's had some decent reviews on our forum. Check it out! (Louis Wu 00:01:21 UTC) (permalink)

Brotherly Love
Nice find by Gholsbane; Mat Noguchi, Tools Programmer for Bungie, is represented in a pretty cool manner by his brother in this image. I like it! (Louis Wu 00:01:14 UTC) (permalink)

News May 18 2003

The Trailer Issue - Clarification
One last one, before I collapse: To the hundreds (no joke!) of people sending us Halo 2 trailer links... feel free to stop at any point. They're out there for anyone who wants them, but we're not going to link to them. We're waiting for the official version from Bungie, which is likely to be released later this week. (Marty, Jay, and Joe have to get together, record a copy and compress it for the web, and then distribute it to sites that can handle the bandwidth spike. There's no real timeframe for how long this will take... but later this week is a pretty good bet.) We're not saying you shouldn't watch the 800 recompressed versions of the shakeycam recordings that Gamespot and IGN snagged that first night - we're just saying that we're not gonna link to any of them. Again, if you want to see them, they're really, really trivial to find. You don't need our help. (Louis Wu 15:04:26 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 2: Fantasy Seige
Several people (first here) have pointed out on the forum that this page at Xbox.com has Halo 2 listed as "Halo 2: Truth and Reconciliation". However, according to Lorraine "mehve" Reyes-McLees, we have not discovered a subtitle for Halo 2. This wouldn't be the first miscommunication between Bungie and Microsoft's PR department. So please stop sending it in :) (Count Zero 14:44:19 UTC) (permalink)

Never-before-seen screens at a Danish site
Interesting. There seems to be a passel of new screenshots at Boomtown, a Danish gaming site. Conversations with Bungie employees this past week led me to believe that these shots wouldn't actually be released... but it seems that Boomtown has a source that thinks differently. The article is in Danish, but Mr Leut, who pointed out the screens on our forum, says that the text describes being able to use human and alien weapons simultaneously. Check 'em out - as far as I know, some of these pics haven't been seen ANYWHERE else, online or in print. (There are several that appear, in modified format, in the OXM article... but these have backgrounds that the OXM shots don't have.) (Louis Wu 14:45:36 UTC) (permalink)

Fan Fiction doesn't stop for E3
Back from LA, and utterly exhausted... but hey, you guys are worth it, so here's a Fan Fiction update:

• Halo: Aftermath 02, by Cpt Crapper
• ONI Experimental Vehicle and Weapons Database: Volume 1, by LordofDestruction
• The Prologue, by Simpsons Rule
• The End, by Clark S.
• Critters the Reckoning part one, by Caleb Generoso
• ONI Black Ops Part Six, by Havok
• Chapter 5: The Beginning, by Ace
• Halo 2: The Covenant Wars [Chapter 1], by Thomas Harper
• To Kill a Mockingbird continued, by sunscorpian
• Chapter 3: Friendship, by Vinny

There'll be more stuff later today, I think... it's unclear whether there'll be time for it; I've been gone for 3 days, and there's some family stuff to attend to. To the people who wanted to know why the artwork they sent in 24 hours previously hasn't been posted yet... um, I've been gone. (Louis Wu 14:28:21 UTC) (permalink)

News May 17 2003

Psst... wanna see more pics?
Another batch of pics has gone live at the E3 2003 coverage page. Check out the top news post over there for more details on my thoughts about them. I promise, there'll be more updates in the next few days... but right now, we've got to get ready to go see the Matrix. (Louis Wu 18:07:06 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Programmer Greg Snook interviewed
Thanks to iZoD, who points out an interview with Greg Snook, a member of the Halo 2 dev team, today at BreakManX.com at 2 pm central time. This translates to 7 pm UTC, for those who care. (Louis Wu 09:50:45 UTC) (permalink)

E3 Trailer Transcript - Corrected
Thanks to several more viewings of the Halo 2 trailer (and a little bit of help from Marty O'Donnell), we're happy to bring you a full, corrected transcript of the E3 Halo 2 trailer. As an added bonus, it includes a transcript of a small bit that showed in the theater during the E3 showings, but not at the press conference. Thanks to Cybrfrk for his help with this section. A look over this transcript will reveal several interesting tidbits of information to the observant visitor. Deciphering the meaning of that last sentence is left as an exercise for the reader. (Louis Wu 09:39:08 UTC) (permalink)

Bungie Trivia Contest - all done!
It was up a bit longer than it was supposed to be - blame deanero and his fine hospitality for the 12-player lanfest that ran for 5 or 6 hours this evening. The Bungie Trivia contest has been taken offline at this point, and we'll be announcing the winners as soon as SketchFactor gets back to Seattle and settles in - probably Monday. Over 300 people took the online test - with almost a third of those attempting to take it more than once. (Shame on you! :) ) Thanks for your participation... and again, the winner(s) (and their prize(s)) will be announced soon! (Louis Wu 09:10:17 UTC) (permalink)

Audio interview of Pitchford now up
Randy Pitchford of Gearbox and Michel Bastien of Bungie were interviewed by Gamespy's Livewire at E3 2003. The interview, in audio format, is available for download from Fileplanet; it weighs in at 32 mb. Thanks to Scott Velasquez, of Gearbox, for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 02:10:55 UTC) (permalink)

E3 images, take 2
The next batch (another dozen pictures) of E3 Fanfest pictures has been added to our E3 2003 Gallery. Take a look! (Louis Wu 02:01:19 UTC) (permalink)

News May 16 2003

First set of pics up
Check out the E3 2003 coverage page for the first of our fanfest pictures. We'd forgotten that updating pages takes time away from other stuff... like playing Halo, so it's gonna take us a bit longer than we'd expected to get 'em all up. Look at it this way - there's something to look forward to. (Louis Wu 19:33:59 UTC) (permalink)

We're awake...
A bit disheveled - we were at the Beverly Hilton until 2 am last night with SketchFactor and Achronos - but not really the worse for wear... I'm going to attempt to process some of the photos we have this morning, but to start with, you can read a couple of fanfest writeups by forum regulars Shishka and Skeletor. As a point of interest, about 200 of you have taken the online trivia contest so far... and it's proving to be somewhat more difficult than I'd expected. The high score so far has more than a dozen wrong answers... (Louis Wu 16:17:55 UTC) (permalink)

Bungie Store Discount Issue
Quick note about the 15% discount available at the Bungie Store: it seems that there's a glitch in the registration system. If you've already got an account at the Store, you're given the option to enter a promo code when you log in (which is where you put in the 15% off code)... but if you fill your cart, and THEN create an account, you never get the promo code option. Solution for the short term: if you don't have an account... create one BEFORE ordering anything. Once it's created, log out... THEN order. This information will probably be rectified in the not-too-distant future - everyone at Bungie is sorry for the hassle. (Anyone who DIDN'T get the discount will be taken care of; there are timestamps on all orders. Not to worry - Bungie'll take care of you!) (Louis Wu 03:33:14 UTC) (permalink)

Status update
Apologies for the up-down-up status of the servers here - it's hard to monitor stuff from the E3 floor. This is just a quick heads-up that the Bungie Online Trivia Contest will be available in a bit under 2 hours right here. Check back! (Louis Wu 00:19:10 UTC) (permalink)

News May 15 2003

Arizona competition - it's hot.
Leavin', on an airplane... but one last news post before I go. We got word from Emildux about new CobaltNova happenings:

This summer Arizona will be home to two of the biggest and entertaining Halo parties in the nation whose prizes will total $7500. You may have heard of these NO ELIMINATION tournaments already but some recent website updates and news has come up so we're out in force pimping to the public. Below you'll find the pertinent links, dates, unique aspects, art contests, and more. Thank you for your interest.

• $2500 HALO: Running Riot Invitational 3 (14 June 2003)
• $5000 HALO: Killtacular Classic (Mid-August/Early September)

Both events will take place on Saturdays. There was more - much more - in the email he sent... but it's all available on the webpages... go look. (Louis Wu 06:47:26 UTC) (permalink)

You can't get ready for this.
Forum regular Shishka has written up his impressions of Bungie goodness seen during his first day on the E3 floor - and it sounds like he's still coming off the high. Go read it and drool if you're coming to E3, weep if you're not. (Louis Wu 05:57:03 UTC) (permalink)

E3 Coverage Section is now Operational
A second news item on Bungie.net discusses the online trivia contest to be hosted here at Bungie.org, starting tomorrow night. The trivia contest, and most of our other E3-specific coverage, will be accessed on our E3 2003 page - right now, most sections are offline, because there either isn't any content or you're not allowed to see the content... but keep your eyes peeled! (Louis Wu 01:44:46 UTC) (permalink)

15% off Halo Schwag
Woohoo! Just in time for the fanfest, Bungie is running a special at the Bungie Store - 15% EVERYTHING. The offer is only good on Thursday, starting at 12:01 am PDT (7:01 am UTC - that's less than 6 hours from now) and ending at midnight (7 am Friday UTC). Go read the details on how to get in on the deal at Bungie.net. (Louis Wu 01:16:13 UTC) (permalink)

News May 14 2003

Pitchford Holds Forth
The Randy Pitchford interview we mentioned yesterday has come to pass... and gawd, is it full of information. Everything from how Gearbox got the job to build Halo PC in the first place, to how they're getting around some of the stickiest problems in the conversion, to what WASN'T hard... wow. Go read this. Thanks to TankRamp, of the venerable Battleground: Halo, for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 19:08:31 UTC) (permalink)

And, of course, ff
I guess even the Fan Fiction writers got caught up in the E3 content craze - there are only four stories for you today:

• True Purpose(4), by Frensa Geran
• ONI Black Ops Part Five, by Havok
• Foresaken Forefathers Part Two: Righteous Rebirth, by Havok and AlphaBravo343
• Halo 2: The Wraiths part two: New Friends, by Wiley Kimball

Go read 'em, before there's more... (Louis Wu 11:13:30 UTC) (permalink)

Backlog, continued
And 8 art pieces for you... check the Miscellaneous Art section. (Louis Wu 11:04:39 UTC) (permalink)

I want that hog.
So much Halo 2/Halo PC goodness... we've neglected the staple parts of this site for too long. First up, desktop images. There are 5 of 'em for you. Check the Wallpaper section. (There are some real classics in there...) (Louis Wu 10:32:03 UTC) (permalink)

You like your screenies big, and clean?
Nick has posted the full 1280x960 un-watermarked versions of the 6 Halo 2 shots released yesterday on our forum. (ShackNews put them up yesterday in this format, as well - it's nice when sites are willing to distribute press material without branding it or altering the size...) (Louis Wu 09:49:51 UTC) (permalink)

PC Halo Gameplay Footage
IGN has put up 8 clips, over 40 megabytes worth of material, of gameplay in PC Halo, including views of new maps, and the use of the fuel rod cannon. As of right now, it's not Insider-protected. Go check 'em out! (Thanks to Bullseye for the heads-up.) (Louis Wu 09:10:01 UTC) (permalink)

DOH! is right.
In a stunningly sudden series of events, another Halo egg has been found... all in a day, sort of. Read the story on the Eggs page. A weird symbol, noticed 17 months ago, brought up again and again over the past year and a half... and then BOOM - identified (well, almost) by a threesome of Bungie employees in the span of a couple of hours. A nice sideline while the madness of E3 swirls around us! (Louis Wu 02:03:51 UTC) (permalink)

The link that wouldn't die
While we were sleeping - er, crashing, Bungie put up another desktop on their Wallpapers page. (Last image on the page.) You know... that sure looks like S'pht writing in the background, to me... (Louis Wu 01:28:28 UTC) (permalink)

It's a bird... it's a plane... it's MASTER DOG!
Batfink has created an MC model - and applied it as a dog, as well as the standard shape. Pretty funny stuff! (Louis Wu 01:08:35 UTC) (permalink)

News May 13 2003

Another egg, mb?
Evil Otto chimes in to a thread concerning a mark on the bottom of the pistol. It's a bad time to ask - a number of the crew are down in LA at E3 - but it's likely that this image is deliberate, and it's possible that this image is actually an egg. More as we know it. (For the record, this was first pointed out to us via email by To[X]iC, in March... but I forgot to follow up on it.) (Louis Wu 19:18:28 UTC) (permalink)

A hot parcel, indeed.
So, seeing as how it's a slow news day, Finn decided that it might be a good time to take care of a few little Halo Story Page posts. Well... maybe more than a few. Okay, if you really want to know... 29. There. Happy? Geez. (He didn't even have the decency to stop at a multiple of 7...) Anyway, if you've got a spare hour or three, stop on by the Story page and read until your eyes bleed. And then write to him some more. Because he likes that. (Louis Wu 19:02:36 UTC) (permalink)

Are you overloaded yet?
Dang - wouldn't you know it? Bungie has updated their Truth and Reconciliation site with new Halo PC screens - and because they love you so much, there are three never-before-seen images in there. Go get 'em! (Louis Wu 18:50:00 UTC) (permalink)

IGN's thoughts on the trailer
Likely, anybody who went poking around after downloading the clips alraeady saw this... but we figured we should mention it, just for completeness' sake. IGN posted their demo impressions late last night. Man, even after seeing the trailer, I'm droolin' over the writeup. Check it out. (Louis Wu 18:09:50 UTC) (permalink)

We seem to say this a lot...
To all the people sending in versions of the Gamespot/IGN movies, for wider distribution, two things:

• It is totally against our policy to distribute material that is restricted by its owner.
• It's totally unclear to me whether Gamespot and IGN even had PERMISSION to tape the press conference footage last night... the release I saw stated 'no videocameras'.

Either way, this movie is not distributable - it either is footage that belongs to Bungie/MS, and should never have been put on the web in this form AT ALL... or Gamespot and IGN got permission to make these films, and the product belongs to them; if they choose to require a subscription for viewing, that's their perogative. No matter what the real situation is... we can't serve this movie, or point you to places that are serving it. Sorry. I promise... there will be a high-quality, direct-feed version released eventually, that will be free to download. We thank you for your patience and understanding. (Louis Wu 15:41:47 UTC) (permalink)

It's not easy bein' green
Okay, everyone's jonesin' for some Halo 2 goodness, and not everyone's gettin' their fix... but the old world must go on, as well. Mythica's server load is back down to human levels, so it's time to release another movie. This one's called 'Bein' Green' - and it sets some basic MC action to a backdrop of Muppet music. I've got a soft spot in my heart for frogs these days... so go watch it. 2:20 long, 9.6 mb big, QuickTime format. (Louis Wu 14:59:36 UTC) (permalink)

Randy Pitchford talks to Gamespy
If you've got a PC, and you'd like to hear a live interview with Randy Pitchford, President of Gearbox (the folks bringing you PC Halo), then stop by Gamespy, pick up a copy of the Gamespy Arcade software (Windows only), and tune in tomorrow morning at 11 am pacific (18:00 UTC) for the goodness. If you're on a non-windows machine... well, you're out of luck. (Louis Wu 14:51:36 UTC) (permalink)

Trailer transcript posted
For those not willing (or able) to download the IGN or Gamespot full trailers, and not happy about waiting until the web version is released to the world, we've put together a transcript of the dialogue. There are a few holes (and we're happy to get submissions to fill them), but all in all, it'll give you a feeling for how complex the random chatter has become, and will also give you an idea of what's in store. If you don't want to be spoiled, don't read this. (Louis Wu 14:33:30 UTC) (permalink)

And still MORE coverage.
More Gamespot Halo 2 coverage: there's a Halo 2 Impressions article (you can compare it to mnemesis' piece here) and two new Halo 2 trailers - one for basic subscribers, one for paying subscribers. Unfortunately, the video downloads REQUIRE a PC - they're handled by a protected delivery system that has no Macintosh software available. If you have access to a PC, you can grab the first vid simply by registering - it's 9.7 mb, in QuickTime format. Unlike the IGN video, this one is a direct feed; it was not recorded with a handheld camera.Update: I'm wrong, it's only a direct AUDIO feed; the video is handheld, though of higher quality than the IGN footage. It's made up of short clips from the full version. Update 2: Ciarán points out that I was probably right the first time; the short version is NOT made of clips from the long one. Check this post for details. (Louis Wu 09:20:48 UTC) (permalink)

Press shots... now.
Recently, there has been some discussion about a pair of screenshots for PC Halo that have appeared (one each) in the current issues of Computer Games Magazine and Computer Gaming Monthly. For those who can't wait until June for us to post the press scans, the shots are now online at Microsoft's PC Halo site: the Computer Games shot is here (apologies for not using the Flash interface; there's no way to give a direct URL that way), and the CGM spread is this image (though without the large logo in the center). Who says we never gave you anything? (Louis Wu 08:20:25 UTC) (permalink)

Oh... my... eyes...
Gamespot has posted 6 spankin' new screenshots of Halo 2 - and all I can say is, bumpmapping is astounding stuff. You must see these. Thanks to Ross Mills for the heads-up. Update: these images are also available (at a smaller size, but without the gamespot imprint) from the IGN media page. (Louis Wu 07:49:23 UTC) (permalink)

But... but... what was IN it?
For those of you who want a more in-depth description of the teaser itself, our very own mnemesis was there... and wrote up his impressions a couple of hours ago. There are no pictures, other than the ones his words will paint in your mind... but for those who have to wait to see the actual footage (which, unfortunately, is almost everyone), this should alleviate some of the burning curiosity. Check it out! (Louis Wu 07:43:13 UTC) (permalink)

Buckle your seatbelt, Dorothy...
The lucky few are staggering home from E3 right now (it's 10PM PST), and they're bringing Halo-related goodness with them.

• First up are reports from Microsoft's press conference, by GamerFeed (thanks Zeegs) and Gamespot (thanks Darkstar).
• Secondly, KookyBastard discovered that Microsoft's Halo PC page has gone live, with a ton of new stuff (beyond what appeared on Gamespy earlier today).
• Thirdly, IGN scores the knockout with a video of the Halo 2 portion of the aforementioned press conference. The complete 8-minute demo is for Insiders only, but they have kindly posted 5 teaser clips to show you what you're missing.

Bungie Webcam Widget for OSX
The timing isn't great, since the webcam is offline for a little bit, but Joshua Pettigrew has created a pretty cool widget for use with a wicked-cool program called Konfabulator that puts the Bungie Webcam image into a free-floating frame on your desktop, no browser required. Konfabulator runs only on MacOSX - so if you're running some other operating system, this ain't very much use to you... but for those of us with OSX, it's pretty nifty. (Konfabulator rocks. Period.) (Louis Wu 01:33:56 UTC) (permalink)

Monday evening reading
6 Fan Fiction pieces for you:

• Hell's Curse, by Ben87R6
• The Road to Zaxheoa: Chapter 3:, by Nike
• Assault on Beta VI, by Nike
• Halo: Aftermath, by Cpt Crapper
• The Devils Brigade Prt. IV, by Spinks
• Battle for the Norah: Part 1, by Agent Shade

See what you can find that you like. (Louis Wu 00:46:01 UTC) (permalink)

Salt loving and vacuum-resistant...
Finn has dug into the Halo Story Page mailbag once again, and pulled out a few interesting morsels. Things you never knew! Check it out. (Louis Wu 00:42:09 UTC) (permalink)

No webcam? Ack!
An update from Achronos on bungie.net suggests that there might be a good tidbit or two coming from Bungie in the next few days... stay tuned. (Louis Wu 00:39:56 UTC) (permalink)

News May 12 2003

Nice gun.
Speaking of comics, the next installment of One One Se7en is up. Another Metroid/Halo connection... (Louis Wu 18:43:06 UTC) (permalink)

The Megg, Reloaded
Shishka pokes fun at the Megg searchers (and does unspeakable things to Gawyn's body parts) in the latest Subnova comic. Check it out! (Louis Wu 18:40:11 UTC) (permalink)

Pillar of Art Contest Update
Just a quick note to let folks know that we've received the early-bird entries for the contest and have chosen the ones we can haul across the country to the Fanfest this week. (Some of them are actually being delivered to HBO West, and won't need hauling at all.) We'd just like to say that we've been floored by the overall quality of the entries so far, and are looking forward to the rest that we'll see this weekend/early next week. (Remember, the actual contest deadline is Friday, May 16 - we'll be in LA, but the mail will be checked). You guys rock! (Louis Wu 17:46:11 UTC) (permalink)

Mullins, writ big
eddie m noticed a blown-up version of the Halo2 poster on the E3 show floor, over at Gamespot... check it out. (Louis Wu 16:33:41 UTC) (permalink)

XBC Tourney in the works
Maverick J points out an online tourney (on XboxConnect) being organized by Project Spartan. The contest is to be held on May 17th, and currently has 10 2-man teams signed up. Read the post (or visit the site) for more details. (Louis Wu 16:25:23 UTC) (permalink)

PC Halo - Revealed!
Wowowow. The promised Gamespy Halo PC article went online early this morning... and I'm still reeling. (There are actually two articles - the main one, and a separate one on the new multiplayer features available in the PC version.) Release date is tentatively August or September... and it's gonna be a winner. The 10 campaign levels have been translated faithfully from the original; with the exception of the higher resolution (it was demoed at 1024x768 for Gamespy, but the implication was that even higher resolutions should be supported) and the interface tweaks (there are more keys on a keyboard than buttons on an Xbox controller, after all), the solo campaign will be identical to the original. The differences will lie in multiplayer. There are 6 brand-new multiplayer maps, as well as the ability to use the covenant fuel cannon, fly the banshee, and drive a modified warthog (with a rocket launcher in the back). There are also new multiplayer modes, and the ability to tweak existing modes:

...you can give the Red Team a set of Warthogs that respawn immediately, while giving the Blue Team one Scorpion tank that only reappears after a minute.

The only feature of the Xbox version that's in danger of NOT making it over to the PC side is Coop play. Gearbox is hopeful they can find a way to implement it easily before Halo PC goes gold... but they can't promise anything. Oh, and the keyboard/controller debates can finally be decided, since they've included gamepad support; grudge matches are SURE to be played. Anyway, there are pages and pages of juicy content in the two stories, and 16 screenshots/concept art images... so go read! (Louis Wu 12:52:57 UTC) (permalink)

Phoenix Sanction comes online
A week and a half ago, we mentioned a Halo card game - now there's a second one. Sarge Rules points out his website for it - check out 'Phoenix Sanction'. (Louis Wu 00:48:29 UTC) (permalink)

The in-air seat changes are pretty neat...
SniPeR and -nEo-Atomic have put together a short film called 'Cold Metal Flat Pedal', which shows some warthog flipping stunts. We've chosen not to host it, but forum regular BOLL has kindly stepped up for this one. (Get it soon; it might get pulled during school hours in Sweden, which start at maybe 4 am eastern time.) 3:04 long, 4.8 mb big, in WMP7 format. Update: pulled, for bandwidth issues. Sorry, folks! (Louis Wu 00:17:39 UTC) (permalink)

News May 11 2003

67th Raptors now online
The 67th Raptors have gone live with their website, dedicated to the only operational Halo 2 clan out there. (There was an earlier one, but they've already disbanded, it seems.) Taking a page from Bungie themselves, color-wise, they've put together a pretty spiffy site - check 'em out! (Louis Wu 21:50:06 UTC) (permalink)

Stories - and a note
9 Fan Fiction pieces for you today.

• The Flood: A force to be reckoned with (Part 2), by crashedwarthog
• Chapter One: The Dream, by Ace
• Fallen Angel 16: Seeing the Light (Series Finale), by Gruntkiller/Covert
• ONI Black Ops Part Four, by Havok
• Chapter 2: The Few, The Proud, by Ace
• Chapter 3: Brute Strength, by Ace
• Chapter 4: Funeral for a Friend, by Ace
• Battle for the Norah: Prologue, by Agent Shade
• The day of a grunt, by Halowolf

A note: The last story is in French. I was going to reject it... but then I remembered that we already had a story in German. However, a warning: this is the last non-English story we will accept, without an accompanying translation. Sorry - we just don't have the resources. Update: thanks to the half-dozen people who submitted translations of the French story - we've picked the one that we think is closest to the original (in spirit), and posted it - Ghôlsbane's The Day of a Grunt (translated). Enjoy! (This doesn't change our decision to keep the English-only requirement from here on out...) (Louis Wu 16:20:50 UTC) (permalink)

Timing
Well, Mythica's back down to it's standard 5 Mbit/sec serving rate, so the Birds spike is over; time for the NEXT movie. This one's from Mister E, and it's called 'Timing'. The theme is exactly that - there are lots of 'kill and then die' sequences, with some very nice integration with the trance-like music. It's just under 2 minutes, and is available in both Windows Media Player 9 (18.1 mb, 640x480) and QuickTime (12.4 mb, 480x360) formats from Mythica, as well as mirrors at That Weasel Television (the QT version there is 10.1 mb, and of lower quality) and the Psyjnir Complex Hotline server (the QT version is the 12.4 mb version). (Louis Wu 15:34:22 UTC) (permalink)

News May 10 2003

I Like Birds - a lot.
Well, this one's out of order, a little... but we're having trouble contacting the next guy on the list. Hickadam, shown in the past to have a pretty amazing sense of timing, has come up with a new movie. It's called 'Birds', and it looks at some of the most loveable creatures in Halo. The original is a wmv file. Thanks to Cybrfrk, we were able to convert this to a high-quality MPEG, which was then converted to a QuickTime movie for all those who have trouble with Windows Media Player files. Grab the one that works best for you. Mythica has the 10.8 mb WMV, and the 10.4 mb MOV, and the Psyjnir Complex Hotline server has both, as well. (Mirrors are, of course, always appreciated.) I loved this one. (And Eels rock.) Update: Thanks to That Weasel, who's put both versions up at That Weasel Television. Enjoy! (Louis Wu 13:17:15 UTC) (permalink)

Movies at Nukedude
Two movies hosted by Nukedude - there's a mirror of the recently released Lethal Rage, and a movie by forumgoer Danny, showing gameplay on Blood Gulch. Thanks, Nukedude! (Louis Wu 12:46:21 UTC) (permalink)

Someone's always watching...
Three new banners from our own Cybrfrk - two large and one small, all in the Banners section. (Louis Wu 12:42:47 UTC) (permalink)

More pretty artwork
The miscellaneous artwork submission is smaller than the desktop one today; just one image. Again, there was more, but it came unattributed. Nothing we can do with it... Anyway, check the Miscellaneous Art section for BOLL's fun take on what to do about lamers... (Louis Wu 12:25:48 UTC) (permalink)

Art for your screen
The desktop art has been building up for a few days; this week was spent working on getting ready for E3. However, we're clearing the inbox today. We've got seven for you... you'll find 'em in the Wallpaper section. Misc art will come soon, as well as a few new banners; there were 10 very nice new banners in our uploads folder, but they came with zero identification, so there's nothing we can do with them. Once again - no ID, no postee. (Louis Wu 12:13:01 UTC) (permalink)

The Love Lives On.
An interesting tidbit of off-topic news... SilverBrin has posted a note explaining about the setup of the official Brian Morden Foundation, an organization set up in memory of Brian Morden, better known as *Ar-Isildur around these parts. Visit the links for more information, or to buy one of the cool <3 T-shirts. (Louis Wu 11:07:06 UTC) (permalink)

Psst... wanna free Cortana figure?
Email from EVILDARKZERO reminded us that we never mentioned the Halo Action Figure Contest being run in the June issue of OXM. To win the full line of soon-to-be-released Halo action figures, all you need to do is send an email to xboxmag@futurenetworkusa.com, with your name, address, email and phone number, and you'll be entered. (They're picking 25 winners at random.) You can also send a letter to

Halo Action Figure Contest
c/o Official Xbox Magazine
150 North Hill Drive
Brisbane, CA 94005

Now THAT'S intriguing.
Somehow this got missed by the majority of Fanfest attendees... thanks to Warbow for pointing it out. A few days ago, a letter went out to all attendees, with information about logistics, a schedule, and a description of what will be going on. One of the subsections of the general overview was titled 'Videos Galore' - it described some of the video footage that will be visible throughout the night. Most of it was expected, and I guess I must have skimmed it... because I missed this line:

"...a Halo 2 documentary being produced for an upcoming special on the Discovery Channel...

Whoa. A WHAT? Okay, certainly MY appetite is whetted... if we discover more about this before the show, we'll be sure to post it. (Louis Wu 02:21:18 UTC) (permalink)

Things that make you go Hmm...
Tiny but potentially significant Halo Story Page update... thanks, Finn. (Louis Wu 01:42:37 UTC) (permalink)

News May 9 2003

That thing's gotta run out of bullets SOMETIME.
Episode 6 of Red vs Blue is up for Sponsors at the Red vs Blue site (head to your forum, look for the link) - it'll be out for the rest of the world on Sunday, but if you've dropped 'em a little cash, pick up your copy today. 'Laughing out Loud' is way overused on the internet... but the teleportation sequence in this episode sure had me doing it for real. (Louis Wu 16:02:58 UTC) (permalink)

Halo: First Strike info
Ciarán did some digging, and came up with a bit more information about the next Halo novel, working title 'Halo: First Strike'. From a Random House employee:

As for "First Strike," it will take place immediately after "The Flood," and will continue to follow the Master Chief. Other than that, I can't yet reveal.

Halo50K - redux
Dolbex writes to say that the Halo50K site has been overhauled completely, in anticipation of Halo50K2, coming up this August in New Jersey. 64 teams, $15,000. Sign up now! (Louis Wu 15:14:22 UTC) (permalink)

Stories that just don't stop coming
12 Fan Fiction pieces for you today:

• The Devils Brigade Prt. III, by Spinks
• (Chapter 1) M31: First Blood, by Greg and Wes Foutch
• (Part 2) M31: First Blood, by Greg and Wes Foutch
• (Part 3) M31: First Blood, by Greg and Wes Foutch
• True Purpose(3), by Frensa Geran
• Unexpected Surprises Part 5, by JediKnight114
• Covenant Elite Morphology, by Mr Yun
• ONI Black Ops Part Three, by Havok
• Prologue: The Master Chief, by Ace
• Spartans: Combat Evolved Part One: Paintball Wars, by LordofDestruction
• Chapter 1: Reporting to Earth, by TheGladiator
• The Flood: A force to be reckoned with (Part 1), by crashedwarthog

Enjoy. (Louis Wu 12:18:20 UTC) (permalink)

Flowers, eh?
The MC has a crisis of identity - check out the latest One One Se7en comic from Stuntmutt. (Louis Wu 12:08:57 UTC) (permalink)

CLOSE YOUR MOUTH! The flies are getting in.
As mnemesis said... Whoa. The long-awaited overhaul of Bungie's Truth and Reconciliation site is complete... and man, is there some good stuff for you to much on. Lessee... New screenshots, new concept art, a new render, a new storyboard, the final level of Bungie's Legendary Walkthrough... dang. You should be finished reading about the time the E3 stuff pours into your brain. (Louis Wu 02:29:06 UTC) (permalink)

Movie Mirrorage
That Weasel steps up to the plate and mirrors Lethal Rage - always nice to have extra bandwidth! New movie coming tomorrow... (Louis Wu 02:17:31 UTC) (permalink)

E3 details - right from the horse's - um, pig's mouth
Holy flaming bacon, Batman! Bungie.net has put up a look at what's to come at E3 next week... and just reading the text will clog your arteries. If you're young and healthy, swing by and read up... if you're old and fat, be careful. (There are also juicy details on PC Halo , from Michel Bastien, its producer... go read. And read. And then jog around the block a few times.) (Louis Wu 01:14:36 UTC) (permalink)

News May 8 2003

Don't kill the cops...
We've had a few interesting movies submitted recently. We can't put them all up at once, because we'd kill our kind bandwidth hosts... but here's the first one. Called 'Lethal Rage', it's a sordid tale of murder and gang violence in the city... all set on Sidewinder. Parts are rather dark; blame me, not Pico, the creator. (Well, the original was pretty dark in those places... but not quite THIS dark.) Sound issues are NOT my fault. :) 5:37 long, 26 mb big. QT format. If you can mirror this, please, let us know! (Louis Wu 23:17:27 UTC) (permalink)

Play Halo, win a shirt
Cool details from AEG, a PR firm that works with Microsoft:

Fragmasters and gamers alike are encouraged to get in on the Halo PC action at E3 for the chance to win a coveted Halo PC T-shirt. Gamers who attend E3, the annual video game convention taking place in Los Angeles from May 14 through 16, will get the first chance to play the new Halo PC multiplayer in the Microsoft booth (#1246). Winners of each four-player match will receive a Halo PC T-shirt and earn bragging rights over their friends. The competitions will take place throughout all three exposition days.

Nice! Gonna be a lot of people running around in Halo T's... (Louis Wu 23:02:31 UTC) (permalink)

Trivia Contest Details (online version)
Good news from Bungie, about the online version of the Trivia Contest to be hosted during the fanfest:

• Because they get screwed in almost all contests, international fans are welcome to participate in this trivia contest. If you win, Bungie'll be happy to mail the prize pack to wherever you live.
• Because 7-11 pm Pacific time is an inconvenient timeframe in some parts of the world, and because Bungie's already recognizing that international people will be playing along, the contest will be online here from 7 pm Pacific on Thursday (2 am Friday UTC) through 7 pm Pacific on Friday (2 am Saturday UTC). You are responsible for figuring out how that translates to your local time.

We've added some insanely hard questions, so the likelihood of multiple perfect scorers has dropped precipitously... but in the event of a tie, the winner will be chosen at random from the pool of leading scorers. All decisions made by management are final and not open to discussion. Don't mess with us - we'll send Ling-Ling to deliver you a world of hurt. (Louis Wu 18:12:04 UTC) (permalink)

Another online Halo choice
Snoppydude points out a new Xbox online linking tunnel, called X-Link Messenger. There's very little information at the website - but if we learn more, we'll let you know. (Louis Wu 09:40:46 UTC) (permalink)

Halo50K impressions
Team Overkill has put up a writeup of their Halo50K experience - go check out boatloads of pics and some funny commentary. (There's a big one coming from NOF, of Team HBO, as well; in fact, it's been online since last week, but there are currently almost 250 images loading on the single-page writeup... until we adjust this a bit, it'll kill both browsers and the server. Soon...) (Louis Wu 09:35:22 UTC) (permalink)

The Halo Lego Collection Grows
More Lego stuff, thanks to Fury Three: another Warthog design, and the first Lego Banshee published to the internet. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 09:28:56 UTC) (permalink)

Gettin' there, any way you can
When you absolutely, positively need to get there overnight, and the elevator just isn't working... BOLL to the rescue. Pretty funny stuff. (Louis Wu 09:18:33 UTC) (permalink)

Halo in the news at IGN
IGN has a couple of features that mention Halo. Their Top 100 Games of All Time (which still has the top 20 to post) puts Halo at #39 - thanks to the dozens of outraged Halo fans who pointed this out to us - and their 'Big Game of E3' article puts Halo 2 at #1 on the Top 25 Most Wanted List, based on fan data. (Thanks to Dan Carroll and Furiouspumpkin13 for the heads-up on this one.) So there you go. (Louis Wu 09:17:59 UTC) (permalink)

News May 7 2003

Wisconsin tourney results
A month ago, we mentioned a team tournament in Madison, WI. Today, Poocho reminded us that the tourney happened last weekend; results and gaming impressions can be found here. (Louis Wu 20:14:33 UTC) (permalink)

The Road to Fanfest
SketchFactor has put up a massive article at Bungie.net describing how things are going on the way to next week's fanfest, and what the fan at home can expect to see (and get) during this time. Lots of cool stuff, but here are a couple of tidbits. There's a Fanfest Q&A database that Bungie.net users can add questions to - anything submitted before Monday will get collected by Sketch, and some of the best will be answered by Bungie employees in attendance at the Fest. (Check the 'Have Questions? Get Answers' section of the article for more details on what can be asked, and so on.) There'll be an online version of the traditional Bungie Trivia Contest, hosted right here at HBO - but it'll only be available on Thursday night. Be sure to stop by after 7 pm PST (2 am Friday UTC) to try your hand! (The online winner will receive a Bungie Prize Pack.) The Bungie webcam will be at the show, so remember: Someone Has To Watch The Webcam. Go read the rest of the piece - and start drooling! (Louis Wu 19:46:24 UTC) (permalink)

America's Biggest Halo Fans... revealed!
Bungie has posted the names of the finalists in its America's Biggest Halo Fan contest - congratulations go out to Paul Gelardi (who posts on our forum as Elan Sleazbagano), Geoff Fink (gfunk over at Red vs Blue), and Jeremy Roos. See you guys in LA! (Louis Wu 19:06:12 UTC) (permalink)

Curl Up.
One One Se7en continues with MC speculating on the relative benefits of various armor... (Louis Wu 14:44:25 UTC) (permalink)

A little Mac Halo news, too
Thanks to Jota Rota, who noticed a One on One with Glenda Adams over at IMG; there are a couple of brief mentions of Mac Halo. Worth a read! (Louis Wu 13:14:02 UTC) (permalink)

$2500 tournament in Arizona
CobaltNova wrote to let us know that planning is underway for the Halo: Running Riot Invitational 3, the

"third edition of the wildly popular series pitting 4-man teams against each other in the now universally copied NO ELIMINATION format that has drawn teams from as far as Texas, Colorado and even Ohio."

More details can be found at the CobaltNova website. Date is June 14, in Phoenix, AZ. (Louis Wu 12:47:53 UTC) (permalink)

Pre-E3 Halo PC Madness
Gamespy.com mentioned a couple of days ago that next Monday it will have a complete rundown on Halo PC - a 'massive world exclusive preview no gamer should miss." Sounds good to us! Thanks to Professor Card for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 12:43:54 UTC) (permalink)

News May 6 2003

Stories for a Tuesday
Fan Fiction is light today - only 5 entries:

• The Road to Zaxheoa: Chapter 2: Extraction, by Nike
• Truth and Reconciliation, by Andrew
• The Fall of Fate: Aftermath , by 'Nosolee
• Halo: The Arrival, by Colianknight
• The Devil's Brigade Prt. II, by Spinks

Read 'em while they're hot... (Louis Wu 22:03:54 UTC) (permalink)

More big money tourney action
Wishin' you had another chance at the multi-thousand dollar first prize from Halo50K? Well, Game City is gearing up for a 4-man Halo Nationals event coming up in early July in Orlando, FL - if they get 50+ teams entered, first prize will be $5,000. Swing on by and check 'em out! (Thanks to Bungie.net for the heads-up - and while we're talking Bungie.net, they've postponed the move of Truth and Reconciliation to its own domain until Thursday night. Better late than never!) (Louis Wu 21:50:15 UTC) (permalink)

More banners
Two snazzy (but rather large) banners from Luke Harrison - check 'em out in our Banners section. (Louis Wu 21:23:01 UTC) (permalink)

More cool panoramas
BOLL has updated his HALOrama collection with 15 new images, from both campaign and multiplayer levels. We've split the page up a bit to decrease loading times, and also made a more obvious link to his own nifty rotating Flash viewer. Check out the new stuff! (Louis Wu 20:31:16 UTC) (permalink)

Wanna Test Halo PC?
Whoa. Randy Pitchford, of Gearbox, is looking for Halo PC testers. It might be a bit late; it was posted last night on Blue's News - but you never know! If you're in the Plano, TX area, read the rest of the requirements, and see what you can get in on! Thanks to The Night Rider for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 18:13:46 UTC) (permalink)

Can't... hold... on...
Okay, that's it. My brain has officially exploded. Finn and mnemesis have tagteamed on the latest Story page update; in the past 24 hours, there have been ANOTHER 13 entries added into that rapidly growing database of knowledge. Read and be wiser. (Louis Wu 17:25:52 UTC) (permalink)

The Stuntmutt Parade Continues
Eep - life got too busy yesterday, and I forgot to mention that another episode of One One Se7en went live. Check it out - Master Chief learns a hard lesson from Sam Fisher. (Louis Wu 16:05:05 UTC) (permalink)

EW rates Halo
Everybody and their brother has written to tell us that Entertainment Weekly has rated Halo #16 in the Top 100 Video Games of All Time in their May issue. Okay, it's posted. Can I go home now? (Louis Wu 13:09:35 UTC) (permalink)

Models to play with
Roger Wilco has updated his 'Temporary and Miscellaneous' collection of Halo-inspired vehicles/weapons/whatever to include .max format models of several of the most popular ones. If you want to do your own messing, go visit and grab the model you want! (He's also said that amenable to releasing other formats, as time permits.) (Louis Wu 09:10:31 UTC) (permalink)

Where's my Refresh button?
In the midst of a horrendously stupid forum thread, Achronos dropped an intriguing little hint this evening... Looks like Bungie.net might be getting a facelift soon. Update: A news item on Bungie.net clarifies that the update has to do with Truth and Reconciliation moving to its own subdomain. (Louis Wu 01:02:56 UTC) (permalink)

News May 5 2003

America's Biggest Fan... still undecided
SketchFactor let us know that although the America's Biggest Halo Fan Contest was supposed to have been decided today, they're running a bit behind, and plan to make an announcement sometime in the next day or two. Be patient, folks! (Louis Wu 20:34:30 UTC) (permalink)

Well, maybe not.
Quick followup on a tidbit from last week: Eric Trautmann popped into our forum to clarify that 'Halo: First Strike' is a working title for the next Halo novel, and will most likely not be the final name of the book. Looks like someone at Del Rey was just trying to clear their inbox a bit early. More on this when we know something. (Louis Wu 20:29:21 UTC) (permalink)

Monday Morning Reading
10 new stories for you - the Fan Fiction section never stops:

• Halo, by Andrew
• The Entar Chronicles Part 3, by Locke
• ONI Black Operations Part 3, by Jaywhit10
• Pax-the begaining Part 2, by Boa
• Battlefield 2552: Road to Redemption, by John Morris
• (Prologue) M31: First Blood, by Greg and Wes Foutch
• The Megg: The Escape, by Simpsons Rule
• The Virus Part 3, by monitor101
• Spartans: Combat Evolved: Prologue, by LordofDestruction
• ONI Black Ops Part Two, by Havok

Go read 'em... (Louis Wu 18:01:08 UTC) (permalink)

News May 4 2003

E3 pics! (Well, from last year.)
Just in time for E3 2003, Skeletor posts his pictures from E3 2002. Get psyched! (Louis Wu 22:56:51 UTC) (permalink)

Banners added
A pair of new banners, from a pair of fans; check out our Banners section. (Louis Wu 17:50:16 UTC) (permalink)

stories, stories, and more stories
Six stories, two poems in today's Fan Fiction update:

• ONI Black Ops Chapter One, by Havok
• Forsaken Forefathers: The Beginning of the End?, by AlphaBravo343 and Havok
• Taking Halo: Chapter 3, Bullets, Missiles and Plasma , by Steele
• The Start of my Beginning, by Andrew
• Spartan II: Stranded Chapter 2: Infection, by Vinny
• Halo 2: Revenge of a Spartan, Chapter 6, by LostRock
• The Human Race, by Nike
• Fallen Angel 15: The God's Ring, by Gruntkiller/Covert

Sunday reading... (Louis Wu 15:08:52 UTC) (permalink)

For the record, rocks aren't people.
Episode 5 of Red vs Blue was released yesterday to sponsors - it'll be available to the public in the next 12-18 hours. This one's a plotbuilder... but it's still pretty darn funny. Check it out, as soon as you're able! 15-35 mb, depending on which version you download. Update: Once again, Halo-Game in France has mirrored this episode; check 'em out if you're having trouble with the main site! (Louis Wu 01:22:44 UTC) (permalink)

I'm gonna need to buy a new shovel...
They're un-friggin'-stoppable. The team of mnemesis and Finn seem to be determined to clear the entire Story page email archive before the Armageddon - and at this rate, they'll do it handily. A pretty sizeable update from mnemesis tonight covers a wide range of ideas - and bumps down a post from yesterday that we didn't even have time to mention! Go read. (Take THAT, Opie!) (Louis Wu 00:48:33 UTC) (permalink)

Administrivia: copyrights
Dang. Yesterday, we posted a bunch of desktops - and it turns out that one of them used, as a backdrop, an image created by Greg Martin (the second time this has occurred here at HBO). You CANNOT use copyrighted work as the basis for submissions here - ESPECIALLY not Mr. Martin's, who says clearly, in several places around his website, that his artwork is NOT to be used this way. We've pulled the piece involved. Apologies for the confusion. (Louis Wu 00:12:51 UTC) (permalink)

News May 3 2003

Even Banners.
And finally, a fan-produced banner. That should clear out the images queue. If you submitted a piece of artwork and we haven't posted it or contacted you, please send an email naming the piece (do not resend it unless we ask you to!), and we'll see what we can do. (Louis Wu 11:06:25 UTC) (permalink)

Logos, too
We also received a couple of logos a little while back; they're on our Logos page. (Louis Wu 11:02:38 UTC) (permalink)

More pretty pictures
Non-desktop artwork - we've got three for you. A cool collaboration between Postman and Dogsounds (posted on our forum a while ago, but only approved by both recently), another bizarre comic from Hack Trio (this is the last one we'll post in Misc Art - any more submissions will have to wait for the opening of the HBO Comics section), and a pretty cool chip BOLL yanked from my neck. You'll find all three in the Miscellaneous Art archives. (Louis Wu 10:49:55 UTC) (permalink)

Wallpaper
It's been a little while since we cleared the images queues... first up, desktop images. After tossing out the non-attributed ones (how hard is it to upload a text file telling us you created a picture, folks?), we've got 6 images for you, from three different artists. Check 'em all out in the Wallpaper section. Update: oops, missed one; from the filename, I thought it was a logo submission. Check out Mister E's Halo logo background, too. Update 2: We've pulled one of these entries because it included copyrighted work. (Louis Wu 10:34:08 UTC) (permalink)

Whoa - ten levels?
Got a TI 83 (or better) calculator? Then check out this game in the TI games archives - hehbo2k3, who pointed it out on our forum, says it's a pretty fun game. (Unfortunately, it won't run on my trusty HP 28S, so I can't tell you what it looks like.) Update: Griffon points out a couple of screenshots; one from the original version, one from the new. Check 'em out. (Scroll down to 'First Halo83.5 Screens!') (Louis Wu 09:09:46 UTC) (permalink)

Pfhorum Pfhancy? Pfhhht.
Once again, Opie301 gently reminds us that he's better at keeping track of when the Halo Story Page is updated than I am. (As a matter of fact, mnemesis told me that this would be going up - but he didn't tell me when it was UP, so my bad for not checking.) It's just a mini-update, compared to the monsters mnemesis and Finn have been putting up recently... a summary of the best speculation that's shown up recently on the forum. Still, worth a look, especially if you don't have time to read every post on the forum, looking for Story nuggets. (Louis Wu 09:03:39 UTC) (permalink)

Look at that armor.
Konrad9 found a 'new' screenshot at Gamespot. (It's not really new; it was seen in print before, in an OXM article (that for some reason isn't scanned here) - but it's never been seen online, in this resolution.) Very nice bumpmapping! We've added it to our Screenshots Database. (Louis Wu 08:57:12 UTC) (permalink)

I've seen that dude before...
...but it wasn't in Halo. Skeletor isolated a marine underground in 343 GS - and he doesn't look like any other Halo marines I know about. (Well, that's not totally true - I think it's the guy on the left in this pic - but I can't say as I've ever seen him myself in the game...) A year and a half later, and still the weirdness... (Louis Wu 01:31:16 UTC) (permalink)

Halo: First Strike surfaces
Eric Rickards made a pretty intriguing discovery; on Del Rey's website, you can find preliminary information about a third Halo novel, entitled 'Halo: First Strike'. The author is (once again) Eric Nylund... and the release date is scheduled for December 2003. Could this be (as Eric postulates) a Fall of Reach prequel... or will it tell the story of what happened between Halo and Halo 2? More info as soon as we get it... (Feel free to speculate in this forum thread.) (Louis Wu 00:41:53 UTC) (permalink)

News May 2 2003

Um... I don't know what to say.
Sometimes, we get movie submissions that don't meet our guidelines... because they're so far out there they can't even be HELD UP to the guidelines. Halo War is one of those. 215K of MC-rockin' insanity. So if you watch that, and say to yourself, "self, where can I get more of that MC-rockin' insanity?" - well, look no further than the 'Halo 2: are u ready?' trailer, also from Paul - 292K worth of mind-bending Halo 2 action. (Both movies are in QuickTime format.) It must be Friday. (Louis Wu 21:03:55 UTC) (permalink)

Carnage in Kansas
kiro69 sends word of a Wichita, KS Halo tourney to be held on May 24 - $5 entrance fee, to be pooled and paid out to the 3 top finishers. More details can be found at the 7th Column chapter Midwest Assassins. (Louis Wu 20:50:30 UTC) (permalink)

MSNBC Poll (and article)
MSNBC has an article asking whether Half-Life 2 and Doom III can revive game sales. Halo (and Halo 2) are mentioned at the end of the article, in a section entitled 'Don't forget the consoles' - and there's a poll attached to the article asking which game you'd like to have delivered to your door tomorrow. Halo 2 is running third... but only by about 150 votes (out of nearly 2500 cast). See what you can do about that! (Thanks to Lophan for the heads-up.) (Louis Wu 20:40:27 UTC) (permalink)

One One Se7en, Episode 2 - and a comic status update
We said he'd be adding one every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday... and he is. Stuntmutt's second comic ('Splinter Sell') goes live today. It's likely that we'll be adding a Comics subsection to HBO to house this, Warbow's Calvin and Halo, Hack Trio's... thing, and a new one by Mathjis Buster (and anything else that comes along) pretty soon. (Louis Wu 18:20:56 UTC) (permalink)

Rhapsody - now in MPEG
Earlier today (okay, last night, local time), we posted a note about a movie we couldn't watch, hosted by That Weasel Television. Thanks to the kindness of our forumites, we had a couple of flavors submitted that we COULD watch; we've tossed Lion's MPEG version up to Mythica - it's 27.2 mb (as opposed to the original 21 mb). You can grab it here. Enjoy! Update: You can watch it on YouTube, now, too. (Louis Wu 18:06:07 UTC) (permalink)

I like to sit... and spin.
A little while ago, we put up a page dedicated to BOLL's cool panoramic Halo shots. Recently, he built a wicked-cool Flash interface for viewing these... so we've dumped it into the directory here. Use the plain-vanilla page we built... or BOLL's much slicker viewer. (Benefit of ours, I guess, is that downloading the files is much easier.) (Louis Wu 00:13:38 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Tourneys in Arkansas
synide has put together a website for tournaments in the Jonesboro, Arkansas area. If you're interested, stop on by and sign up! (Louis Wu 00:09:59 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Rhapsody
Ross Mills has created a Halo movie in which (I think) the Queen song 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is acted out, using Halo characters. Ross wasn't able to figure out how to convert his WMP9 movie into a format we could read, so he's gone elsewhere for hosting; That Weasel Television has put it up... and given it the That Weasel Seal of Approval. Maybe someday I'll get to see it - but in the meantime, if you have a computer that can view WMP9 films, head over to That Weasel TV and grab this 21 meg movie. (Louis Wu 00:03:57 UTC) (permalink)

News May 1 2003

Spread the Love
To show his appreciation for the astounding goodness that is the Halo 2 spread in the Official Xbox Magazine this month, bikeman704 triggered the Megg... and added a bit. Cool. (Hehe... he's still got four bullets left...) (Louis Wu 21:32:32 UTC) (permalink)

Lawdy, Lawdy.
Gah! I forget to check the Fan Fiction section for a couple of days, and things go MAD! 18 new stories since Monday...

• Stowaway Part 2 (1 of 3), by Dispraiser
• Epic Poem I, by devilsNight
• The Road to Zaxheoa: Chapter 1: The Covenant Attack, by Nike
• True Purpose(2), by Frensa Geran
• Just Getting Started Chapter Eight, by James Kinsella
• Death from Above part VI: The Gods of War, by AlphaBravo343
• ONI Black Operations Part 2, by Jaywhit10
• Brutus, the Spartans, two AIs and the Pirate Fleet (Part 3), by Traumatised Marine
• Battlefield 2552 first Clash of a New Campaign, by John Morris
• Fallen Angel 14: Last Man, by Gruntkiller/Covert
• The Marines, by Nike
• Just Getting Started Chapter Nine, by James Kinsella
• Pelican Charlie 223 Chapter One, by James Kinsella
• The End , by Tsuranuku
• The Megg Story, by Simpsons Rule
• Pax-The begaining Part 1, by Boa
• Rebirth - To Biraak, by KnightmareWolf, Shadow, Archangels_Blade, Spartan415
• Pelican Charlie 223 Chapter Two, by James Kinsella

Read 'em if you dare. (Louis Wu 21:05:09 UTC) (permalink)

Evil Comedy Geniuses Need Halo Love, Too
Nice find by aaron charles - a sizeable writeup about a bunch of (old) guys who get together regularly to play Halo - in LA Weekly. (It's the second story down, titled 'War Games: Playing the First Battle of the 26th Century'.) Beaten by Chinese children... but back for more. (Louis Wu 21:02:36 UTC) (permalink)

They write, and write, and write...
The tireless grunts at the Halo Story Page have given you even MORE content to chew on. There's now a HSP FAQ... and 'Halothon', an addendum to the Marathon Connections page. (It's not really story-related, but it's not really eggs, either; it was homeless, so Finn gave it a home.) Read and be wiser. (Louis Wu 20:36:02 UTC) (permalink)

Art Asylum? Some other asylum, mb...
A new Halo-related comic at Subnova today - posted last night, but I couldn't get to it right away. For what it's worth, Deimos is a nicer guy than that. (Pallor, now... Pallor might have done that.) (Louis Wu 20:33:39 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Orbit - Now With Marshmallows!
Xerxes writes to let us know that Halo Orbit just got a new layout - it loads three times as fast as the old one, and includes a news search function, among other new tidbits. (Anyone paying attention knows how much I love news search functions, and realizes Halo Orbit just got 14 brownie points for this.) Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 20:11:48 UTC) (permalink)

On the floor, at the fanfest - E3 and PC Halo
The boys at Battleground: Halo got a note from David Mertz, the lead level designer for Halo PC. Go read it on their front page (or at this more permanent location) for details on their preparations for E3. (Louis Wu 12:12:27 UTC) (permalink)

Poll Smash.
gd points out that there's a new poll over at Gamespot: 'Which of these highly-anticipated first-person shooters are you most looking forward to?' Halo 2 currently has 42% of nearly 8000 votes... but you can help make sure it doesn't lose that edge. (Louis Wu 09:01:43 UTC) (permalink)

Wow, that's a lot of blood.
Hehe... for another take on the OXM Halo 2 scan issue, check out Penny Arcade's comic yesterday. (More info is available in the news, as well.) Thanks to Ross Mills for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 08:41:16 UTC) (permalink)

When Good AIs Go Bad
A sad, sad story... go read the tale of the AAARDP. And let this be a lesson to you! (A lesson about what, I'm not sure.) (Louis Wu 08:33:07 UTC) (permalink)

Halo - The Card Game
Whoa. Ceri Thomas has created a Halo card game - and at first blush, it's pretty dang high quality. Rules (and cards) come in the form of a 2.2 mb PDF; download it, print it on cardstock, and cut it up. I haven't actually played it... but the rules are pretty clear, and seem to be well thought-out. A forum post has been pretty positive so far, and has a mirror for the pdf - at Halo-Game, in France. Check it out. (Louis Wu 01:40:21 UTC) (permalink)

Ode to a Shotgun
Slothboy let us know about 'Ash vs. The Covenant', his tribute to the Halo WAST-M. Check it out - timing is QUITE good. (Format is mpeg-4; QuickTime 6 will open it, but I'm not sure about other programs.) 9.2 mb, 1:26 long. Two thumbs up. Minor spoilers, for anyone keeping track. (Louis Wu 01:15:16 UTC) (permalink)

May 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