Old news but still good news!

Halo Love, Aussie Style
According to Hedgemony, Halo is pushing Xbox sales in Australia STILL, more than a year after release. (Okay, it's only been out for 8 months Down Under... but you know what I mean.) For more details and speculation, check his forum post! (Louis Wu 20:15:10 UTC) (permalink)

2003 GDC details surface
The 2003 Game Developers Conference is coming up soon (March 4-8, just 4 months away), and there are already at least three Bungie talks scheduled:

Marty O'Donnell will be part of a 6-person panel deciding Does Melody Matter?

Jaime Griesemer, Tim Longo, and Randy Smith (of Ion Storm) will look at level design On All Levels

Marty, Jaime, and Mat Noguchi will discuss Halo: Development Evolved

(There's another session listed, but it seems to be a duplicate of the last one.) Sounds like there might be some good stuff to hear! (Louis Wu 19:48:11 UTC) (permalink)

Of Movies and Such
Recently, someone going by the name of ArakniZ has been dropping movies off in our Uploads directory. They're in WMP9 format, so we can't watch them. (There is no player for WMP9 for Macs, and none of the front-page HBO staffers has a PC.) Normally, we'd email this information... but ArakniZ hasn't given us an email address. We cannot post what we cannot watch; anyone who wants a movie posted by us needs to put it in a format we can see. (And we'd really, really, REALLY like email addresses we can contact you at, so that we don't have to waste valuable front-page real estate sending personal messages... you don't want it posted, that's fine, but we'd like to be able to contact you about your work.) I've added this information to the Movies page, as well. All that said, we DO have a new vid for you to watch; Calvin has dropped off a short piece analyzing what makes a movie worth watching. (Please don't take it too seriously.) It's in QuickTime format, is just under 2 minutes long, and weighs in at 6.4 mb. We've put a copy up at Mythica.org (which had another terabyte month for the Halo cause - thanks, Brian!). (Louis Wu 11:54:50 UTC) (permalink)

Soon you will be food.
While we Americans filled our bellies, Finn, the Tireless Canadian, updated the Halo Story page. More stuffing than you can shake a fork at! (Louis Wu 17:43:47 UTC) (permalink)

The Visual Comments
Submitted artwork over the past couple of days... JangoMaster126 turns in a minimalist Halo 2 case, Mr. Lolly Pop Man composites a nice Halo montage (full of spoilers), and Andrew Katz takes another stab at the Spartan II logo described in the Fall of Reach. You can find all three images in our Miscellaneous Art section. (Louis Wu 16:43:31 UTC) (permalink)

Project Mjolnir shuts down
Whoa - long break for me. Felt good. :) Back in the saddle, bit in my mouth... Miguel Chavez points out that the guys who were planning to build a Mjolnir Mark VI suit have given up. Bummer... but then, it was a rather ambitious project. (Louis Wu 16:35:35 UTC) (permalink)

What you DON'T want on your table...
Heh - I had every intention of taking the whole day off... but I came down to check for email from a couple of guests, and I saw this Thanksgiving offering from Doggone. I couldn't pass it up. Enjoy the day, everyone! (Louis Wu 14:59:36 UTC) (permalink)

Always Read Before Eating
Just a couple of new Fan Fiction pieces for you this evening:

And with that, I'll wish you a Happy Turkey Day, and bid you adeiu for a bit... (Louis Wu 04:31:13 UTC) (permalink)

Some of you may have noticed that there was some confusion with Fafnir chapters 9 and 10 - I managed to overwrite the comments for chapter 9 accidentally. The database has been cleared up, and all the chapters are configured properly again... but those comments are lost forever, apologies. This is the final chapter of the Fafnir series, and there are just 4 more left in the Shadows of Archon II series. (Louis Wu 15:27:24 UTC) (permalink)

Pictures
It's a snowy morning here at HBO HQ (there are almost 10 inches on the ground, and it's still coming down) - but the fan submissions continue. A pair of images for you in our Miscellaneous Art collection... (Louis Wu 14:59:26 UTC) (permalink)

The Dream Team... aptly named
Curious about who won the AGP Tournament that took place last weekend? Wonder no longer - the full scoop can be found over at Bungie's Tru7h and Reconciliation site. HP Darkman, the winner of the Halo National Championship, anchored the winning team... but check out all the details! (Louis Wu 18:44:45 UTC) (permalink)

Clearing out the backlog - again
In a perfect world, new items we mention on our news page would be added to the various subsections of the site as we get them. In real life, though, I neglect to actually make those secondary additions until someone complains that they can't find some relatively new item. The Miscellaneous section and the Movies section have both been brought up-to-date, with more than half-a-dozen new entries from the past couple of weeks. I'll try and do better. (Louis Wu 15:54:03 UTC) (permalink)

Screens and more
Last week, Bungie posted an article on the Tru7h and Reconciliation website called 'Designing for Carnage', which looked at 3 multiplayer maps and how they were developed. We've added the 15 images (screenshots, 3D Studio Max views, and sketches) to our Screenshots database. For posterity, and all that. (Louis Wu 14:50:10 UTC) (permalink)

Hate that loser table...
Stosh is really turning 'em out... the third 'blam' comic was sent to us recently. You'll find it in our Miscellaneous Art section. (There are some comments about it on Stosh's Blam website.) (Louis Wu 10:00:52 UTC) (permalink)

Lightning Speed
A couple of weeks ago, a suggestion came up that it might be fun to see how fast folks could run through the various levels of Halo. Travis Cossel, Halo moviemaker, has taken up the challenge - and has created a Seventh Column chapter devoted to the cause. Visit Halo@LightningSpeed and check up on the rules... and then get to taping! (Louis Wu 09:13:14 UTC) (permalink)

Starry Starry Cartographer
Team Overkill drops off a Van Gogh-ized version of a Halo screenshot for our Miscellaneous Art collection. (It pulled an 'A' in the class it was turned in for.) (Louis Wu 01:35:30 UTC) (permalink)

Less email, not more - really
A few days ago, Blackstar updated his 'Halo: The Movie Q & A' with some additional information about international folks and assorted sundries. Please, read it and stop emailing him. :) (Thanks to Phoenix155 for the heads-up.) (Louis Wu 01:30:14 UTC) (permalink)

The Jump, Part II is dedicated to the author's friend Ken, who died recently in a car accident. Our sympathies... Update - oops, forgot one; Cameron Eades' Halo: Combat Evolved, chapter 2. Sorry about that! (Louis Wu 21:56:32 UTC) (permalink)

Cov Elite skin for Jedi Knight II
Undaunted by the lack of responses the first time round, Darth Epy0n posted a link to a Jedi Knight II skin download a second time today - and I have to admit, the preview looks pretty dang good. If you play Jedi Knight II, go visit the downloads page at JediKnightII.net and grab this 2.5 mb skin... and let us know how it works! (Louis Wu 21:25:12 UTC) (permalink)

Latest Egg added
The easter egg discovered this weekend has been documented for the Halo Easter Egg page; thanks once again to everyone who contributed. I've taken the liberty of using the screenshots posted by 2 and 2 make 5 for documentation; if this is a problem, I'll replace them with copies I create myself. (Hopefully, it won't be; the only difference will be that I'll have to spend the time to create them. :) ) (Louis Wu 18:29:05 UTC) (permalink)

Improving on masterpieces
Eric Redmond and Skeletor have both submitted modifications of desktops available at Bungie's Tru7h and Reconciliation website - both contain game spoilers. You can find the new work in our Wallpaper section. (Louis Wu 16:25:23 UTC) (permalink)

Playin' with da MC
A pair of modified images from Eric Redmond have been added to the Miscellaneous Art section. (Louis Wu 16:14:58 UTC) (permalink)

Do they even HAVE kneecaps?
Eep - almost forgot to post this! In response to the Great Egg Hunt (sad, sort of, to call it that, given that it was all for one egg, and not even a knock-your-socks-off one... but hey, we'll do better next time), bikeman704 got desperate. You'll find his (spoiler-laden) evidence in our Miscellaneous Art section. (Louis Wu 21:44:53 UTC) (permalink)

Screen Art
Three new desktops for you today, including a rather oddly shaped one, an image that was first submitted in a much smaller size for the Misc. Art section, and a subtly changed image (look closely in the shadows). You'll find all three in our Wallpaper section. (Louis Wu 18:46:05 UTC) (permalink)

These animals do not feed
Another comic from Stosh - this one should be appreciated by Matt Soell. You'll find it in our Miscellaneous Art section. (Louis Wu 18:37:33 UTC) (permalink)

Smile when you're ready.
And while the sick are sleeping, the gnomes work. The Subnova Hotline crew, aided in no small part by Miguel Chavez and in spite of their neglect of the correct answer dangled in front of their noses no fewer than 4 times by Cunbelin, managed to solve the egg mystery; details can be found on our forum. (Credit, too, must go to Matt, who triggered the first clue decoding... and, indeed, to everyone on the HBO forum who participated in this event in recent days. Many insights came from people simply building on other, partial ideas. That's one of the beautiful things about this sort of community activity.) Miguel posted a very humorous (but very long) chat log from the HL server last night... read it for laughs. (Louis Wu 16:45:23 UTC) (permalink)

Now THERE'S a deal.
Wow. Are you a UK resident who hasn't been able to justify the price of an Xbox yet? Here's a deal you just can't turn down... £194.99 buys you

(You can buy the same package, without Halo or Splinter Cell, for £35 less... but why would you want to?) Visit Gameplay's web store for all the details. (This package will be available next Friday.) Thanks to Nijhazer for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 21:20:59 UTC) (permalink)

Version 2
Project-Halo has gotten a facelift, and some new content... browse around! (Louis Wu 20:33:24 UTC) (permalink)

Eggs fer sale...
Over the last few days, the HBO forum has fixated itself on finding a mentioned-in-passing easter egg in Halo. Elan Sleazbagano has done a decent job writing up the progress to date; start here, if you're interested in joining in the hunt. What began as a casual remark has turned into another community event like the bungie.org glyph puzzle last year. Keep an eye on that Miguel character... (Louis Wu 16:07:47 UTC) (permalink)

Riding the Halo
Eric Redmond turned in a very nice piece of Halo artwork; it would probably make a great desktop, if not for the fact that it's less than 400x300 pixels. Nonetheless, it's worth looking at; you'll find it in our Miscellaneous Art section. (There are game spoilers in this image.) (Louis Wu 15:51:43 UTC) (permalink)

Engendering Paranoia
Ever wonder how Bungie works out their multiplayer map designs? Are they totally haphazard, or is there actually thought behind the various features? Get the lowdown on three different maps at Bungie's Tru7h and Reconciliation site, in the latest story written up by Mordia, entitled 'Designing for Carnage'. Very, very cool. (Louis Wu 00:23:20 UTC) (permalink)

Big Cash in Canada
Next weekend, a large gaming event is taking place up in Ontario - Fragapalooza East 2002, 3 days of carnage with $40,000 in prizes to be given out. The focus is on PC games (UT2003 and Warcraft III), but also listed on the 'Official Tournaments' list is Halo CTF, 4vs4. If you're nearby, this might be a worthwhile weekend activity! Thanks to Battleground: Halo for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 17:27:24 UTC) (permalink)

New banner, and new banner policy
James Snow has turned in an update to an older banner in our collection - you'll find it in the Banners section. I'm not 100% comfortable with banners that were built to plug other fansites... but we accepted the older one, so we should accept this one. In other banner news, I need to figure out what we're doing about banners in general; a significant chunk of bandwidth is being wasted by people who use banner links from our pages for their signatures on various message boards. I haven't come up with a perfect solution - what will probably happen in the not-too-distant future is that we'll zip all the full-size banners, and show only a thumbnail; they'll still be accessible for anyone browsing our pages, but external links will no longer work. I hate to do this, but people don't realize that when they post a link like this on a board, we end up paying the bandwidth charge, for zero benefit to ourselves (folks don't even know where the banners come from, in most cases). This is just a heads-up; I don't have time to make these changes right now. If you are one of the people using our banners in your signature, now would be a good time to find other hosting. Thanks! (Louis Wu 16:25:12 UTC) (permalink)

Duckbill's Gulch
Want a lot of Warthogs on your desktop? Visit our Wallpaper section. (Louis Wu 15:54:47 UTC) (permalink)

Black and Blue
A pair of new desktops for you have been submitted to our Wallpaper section. (A reminder; if you upload material either to our ftp uploads area or our http uploads area, and do not identify it, we cannot post it.) (Louis Wu 18:51:14 UTC) (permalink)

50 States, 50 Chapters
7th Column chapters Halo Diplomatic Core and xboxlanaz have taken it upon themselves to create a list of the top chapters in each state of the US, one chapter per state. You can see their work in progress here. We're tickled that the HBO Junkies were picked as the Connecticut representative. Check out the list, and give 'em some feedback on the project! (Louis Wu 14:55:37 UTC) (permalink)

What's in a Voice?
Back in August, Mr.Poke discovered a pretty cool mp3 of some of Jen Taylor's voice acting credits. It's pretty fun to hear 'Cortana' selling body wash and chicken strips. It never occurred to me, or to anyone else who communicated with me, to look for other Halo voice actors... but today Stuntmutt found a similar file for Steve Downes, the voice of the Master Chief. That got me to do a bit of digging... and armed with The Names Behind The Voices, and the archives of Voicebank.net and The Talent Group, you can find clips from a large number of Halo voice actors. Moviemakers... start your engines! (Louis Wu 14:21:30 UTC) (permalink)

Halo opening cinematic, credited
Whoa - great find by Ghôlsbane. If you visit COMPUTERCAFE.com, and navigate your way through gallery -> broadcast -> Bungie (in the Flash version, it's the first icon), you'll see the opening movie (the cells morphing into the earth, with a Bungie logo), and its credits.It was created by NoiseTV, for Microsoft/Bungie. Interesting that nobody involved is credited anywhere in the Halo manual. Anyway, if you have need for an opening cinematic that has to capture the attention, now you know a company to call! (Louis Wu 20:51:50 UTC) (permalink)

Movie Mirror picks up the slack
That Weasel, enjoying the newfound space on That Weasel Television, has added two new mirrors; the OXM Warthog Jump movie and Jackass. Links have been added where appropriate. He's also put up a movie we decided we didn't have space for; The First Time Playing Halo Online, by Assassin X. It's 20 mb, 8:25 long, and in .wmv format. Once again, the community thanks you! (Louis Wu 20:22:28 UTC) (permalink)

A story and a poem
Just a couple of entries in the Fan Fiction database today:

For those who don't know what a sestina is, you should read this. (Louis Wu 20:11:36 UTC) (permalink)

Noc on Live
Interesting forum post from Noctavis, on Xbox Live, and his first few days' worth of impressions. Worth a read, if you're contemplating jumping into XBL. (Not Halo-related, but hey, Noc's been around a long time, and XBL is the FUTURE of great Halo (2) gaming.) (Louis Wu 17:11:15 UTC) (permalink)

Not-Silent Jay
Bungie rocks. I think that's what this website (this family of websites) comes down to. Latest example: When Jay Weinland, Bungie Audio Gnome, learned that forum regular Hedgemony was on a quest to catalog all the existing lines of dialog in Halo, he popped into our forum with some targets to shoot at. The basic numbers:

153 AI categories (i.e. killed enemy with mounted weapon)

~5600 combat dialog speech files

1,238 scripted dialog files (cinematics and set in-level dialog)

Dialog attributed to 4 marines, 2 sargeants, grunt, elite, jackal, flood, Keyes, hunter, and the Monitor

There are some caveats explaining why all of the dialog can't be found... but this should help Hedge get a lot farther along. One source for AI categories which hasn't been tapped yet, I don't think, is Marty's speech at the Game Developers Conference last March... I'm pretty sure all 153 are visible there. Bottom line; this is a huge project... but not one that Hedge can be helped with, except peripherally (like this). Here's hoping he gets there! (Louis Wu 15:18:07 UTC) (permalink)

Have you got a savage breast?
Back in August, Silverbrin turned in a piece of music called 'Mahdrigalo'. It was well-received... but SB has built on it.

A few months ago I uploaded a piece of fan music called "Mahdrigalo". It was a combination of the Halo gregorian chant with the Siege of Madrigal. Both (in my opinion) are some of Marty's best works. Both songs are also on the Halo soundtrack. After releasing the somewhat crude midi, I got a surprising amount of requests to rework the piece into a more high quality audio effort. Months passed and I came to own some new software. I decided to start from scratch and bring the old piece to life through more powerful software; the way it was meant to be heard. After a a few days of tinkering I was able to recreate the original Mahdrigalo and maintain a duel Myth/Halo aura. The main differences between this sequal and the original include a much higher quality of audio and a new ending. I hope you enjoy Mahdrigalo2.mp3.

From where I sit, it's definitely a more polished piece of work... check it out, it weighs in at 4.8 mb. (It's currently hosted here, but if bandwidth issues get in the way (and we'll only know if you tell us), we'll move it to another server.) (Louis Wu 14:45:44 UTC) (permalink)

And so it goes...
Apologies to all who used it appropriately... but html capability has been removed from the Fan Fiction comments section. Hopefully, the ability to express oneself without the use of garish colors or page-breaking code will still be enough for people choosing to give feedback on stories. (Louis Wu 22:02:39 UTC) (permalink)

Samus and MC... whatta combo!
Andrew Mello submits a piece that gives homage to classics from the past and future. You'll find it in our Miscellaneous Art section. (Louis Wu 18:47:20 UTC) (permalink)

That Weasel is Back!
This came in yesterday, but I almost missed it - That Weasel Television, a longtime bandwidth contributor to the HBO movie scene, is back in business on a new host, and has mirrored two recent movies, Speed and Haliens. (Links have been added where appropriate.) Welcome back, TW! (Louis Wu 17:16:52 UTC) (permalink)

Hey - he's cute!
Stosh has started up a new comic series, called 'Blamed!' You'll find the first installment in our Miscellaneous Art section. (Louis Wu 17:48:43 UTC) (permalink)

Halo: The Movie. (No, not that one.)
Blackstar has been working on a Halo movie for quite some time. He's recently put up a Question and Answer session explaining a bit about the project, and how you can get your grubby mitts on a copy (no, you won't be able to download this one). Check it out! (Thanks to Rampancy.net for the heads-up.) (Louis Wu 16:43:38 UTC) (permalink)

Kind words...
We get nice mail sometimes... but we got a note yesterday that stood out. (Well, for me, at least.) It's just a note from a Halo player, explaining how he got hooked, and why HBO pleasantly surprised him... but it cleanly sums up what I like about this community, as well. With Ed's permission, I'm archiving this for posterity; you can find it in our Miscellaneous section. (Louis Wu 16:36:43 UTC) (permalink)

Hunter Madness
Update on the 3D Hunter model from Aleph One... •M has generously sent along a few other variants; we've put them all on their own Miscellaneous page. Gah - I'd LOVE to see a Halo Marathon mod... (Louis Wu 21:13:42 UTC) (permalink)

Halo for BF: 1942?
We received word of a mod for Battlefield: 1942 that takes place in the Halo universe. The creator is looking for help in building this, although at the moment it's not clear whether Bungie will actually allow a mod like this to be released. (With Halo for PC still in production, the fear is twofold; first, that Bungie/Gearbox/Westlake will be judged by the quality of third-party work, and second, that folks will say "well, I can just play Halo on [existing engine of your choice] - why buy Halo for PC?" Until these issues are worked out to Bungie's satisfaction, any such mod is in limbo. That's not to say there's no value in showing you what's already been accomplished...) Take a look, and feel free to comment on our forum! (Louis Wu 20:25:39 UTC) (permalink)

The Mod Squad Strikes!
Heh - check this puppy out. You can see some static pics on •M's spnkrghol gallery page - a Myth-to-Aleph One conversion that seems to be taking a side trip or two. (I found the first link in this post on the Marathon's Story page forum.) Bungie fans are great. :) (Louis Wu 18:04:04 UTC) (permalink)

Fans help make it good
Matt Soell has written a short update to let you know what's going on with the ongoing Halo Winter Season. You can find it on B.net's Tru7h and Reconciliation site. Round 1 saw 1100 people. How many will turn out for the next round? (Louis Wu 14:56:58 UTC) (permalink)

Artwork stuff
Quiet weekend for Halo news, mostly because I'm taking it off with my family. :) Spec Ops Elite has sent in an image he calls the Covenant Homeworld... you'll find it in our Miscellaneous Art section. And to whoever uploaded a pretty cool-looking Master Chief/Xbox wallpaper from Switzerland yesterday... we only got the first 250k of it; could you try again? (And please - identify it while you're at it. Thanks!) (Louis Wu 02:32:21 UTC) (permalink)

King Fu? I don't think so.
Having trouble coming up with a Gamertag to use for Xbox Live? Dave Candland has written a guide on how to create the perfect name. Check it out at B.net! (Louis Wu 02:20:12 UTC) (permalink)

Chief's Bad Day
Mark Couto has put together a 5 minute video showing how bad a day the Master Chief can really have. The first 3 minutes are deaths by explosion... lots and lots of them. (Good views of various levels.) The last 2 minutes are a slight reworking of the final sequence in Halo. (Punchline's near the end.) Yes, there are lots of spoilers. It's in .wmv format, but the data rate is low enough that even Mac users should be able to watch it. Mythica's hosting this, all 17.7 mb of it. Enjoy! Update: This has been mirrored on Pez's ftp server. Thanks, Pez! (Louis Wu 18:36:16 UTC) (permalink)

Boatloads of words
Six pieces of Fan Fiction for you today, three from new authors:

The Fan Fiction section has been enhanced a bit - there is still a limit as to how big a story can be and fit into the database... but it will only appear once in the story listing. (Immediate impetus was Andrew Golightly's 130k story, but this has been on the to-do list for quite some time.) Go read! (Louis Wu 17:06:14 UTC) (permalink)

Gives new meaning to 'Crash and Burn'
Hojjen brings you news of the annual RocketRace - you can find details in our Miscellaneous Art section. (Louis Wu 14:41:04 UTC) (permalink)

Photo Impact and you
Back to the fan submissions... Jack Smith has turned in a logo modification. You'll find it in our Logos section (whose idea was that, anyway?). (Louis Wu 14:29:08 UTC) (permalink)

The Junkyard - up again, naturally
After two weeks of downtime, The Junkyard is back up and running... gotta love those 'quick' server moves. We feel for ya, Mhaddy! Swing by and say hello... (Louis Wu 14:21:15 UTC) (permalink)

Xbox is One today!
For anyone who's totally out of it, today marks two major points in the Xbox lifespan; it's the one-year anniversary of its debut (and, of course, the one-year anniversary of Halo - yes, it was RELEASED before the 15th last year, but you couldn't PLAY it before the 15th, except in special circumstances) and it's the launch date of Xbox Live (which will be fully supported by Halo 2 next year). Happy Birthday! (Louis Wu 14:13:36 UTC) (permalink)

4 last pics
One last batch of photos came in last night - you'll find it on our Live Party Launch coverage page. More pictures (with minimal identifiers, as well) can be found over at Xbox.com. It'll be interesting to see how many Xboxes make it on to various TV shows after this... (Thanks to wheeler, Frogblast, and Team Overkill for help in identifying some of the pics. We're still a half-dozen short, though.) (Louis Wu 13:58:04 UTC) (permalink)

Time to hit the sack...
Another batch of XBL Launch Party pics have gone up (the last of the evening, for me; anything that comes in now goes up in the morning), but identification of these people needs someone more celebrity-savvy than I am. If you can identify the folks in these pics, please, drop us a line! (Louis Wu 06:18:01 UTC) (permalink)

Paaarty!
Microsoft is holding a massive shindig at an undisclosed location this evening to celebrate tomorrow's Xbox Live launch. We can't tell you where it is... but we can show you some pics. A photographer will be sending in pictures regularly this evening... I might be asleep for some of it, but we'll put 'em up as we get 'em. For now, check out the pre-party stuff on our Xbox Live Launch Party coverage page. (Louis Wu 04:24:53 UTC) (permalink)

Themes for hire
Got some cool ideas for a 7th Column theme, but never found the time to implement them? Never been a better time - Bungie's running a Theme contest. Prizes are cash to be spent at the Bungie Store, so turn on your creativity, whip out your editing program, and get theming! Full details are in the story. (Louis Wu 03:29:11 UTC) (permalink)

Audio all around
Heh - Xbox Live is launched officially TOMORROW... and already there's a web page up that shows you how to split the audio signal so that your friend, visiting your house and playing as a guest, can join in the verbal fun. Not sure how happy MS will be about this (they're kinda hoping that the Guest accounts will convince people to buy their own XBL account, since the guests don't get audio, normally)... but all the parts are off-the-shelf (and require no physical modification of any MS-supplied hardware). Radio Shack part numbers are included. Thanks to kiro69, who posted this to the Marty Army Chapter of the 7th Column. Update: Mr. Poke discovered a 3/32" splitter at Radio Shack, obviating the need for a couple of adapters recommended in this article. As for part number 274-948, and you'll save about $6 in extra parts. (Louis Wu 14:10:45 UTC) (permalink)

You'll find, if you read straight from the fiction page (instead of from these links) that Fafnir part 8 has been broken up into two chunks - this is a necessary evil of our databasing system. The two listings (chunk 1 and chunk 2) will show the same content; the only place it's actually broken up is if you read the series as a whole. (One of these days, I'll clean up the code so that this won't happen.) (Louis Wu 13:35:31 UTC) (permalink)

Everything Ever Said - In One Place
Forum wordsmith Hedgemony has taken on the daunting task of compiling a full list of all the dialogue spoken by NPCs in Halo. This has been attempted before (PanZer set up a database in his 7th Column Chapter which currently has over 780 entries in it, though many are duplicates), but never quite so systematically. Marty O'Donnell chimed in with useful information about the scope of the project, and ways to improve the odds of hearing new dialogue. As of about 12 hours ago, Hedge was up to just under 500 entries, categorized; I'm posting this here to encourage him to take this as far as possible, and to offer a home for the final product. Let him know what you think! (Louis Wu 10:38:31 UTC) (permalink)

Monochrome simplicity
Ripsaw has dropped off a black-and-white desktop for our Wallpaper collection. Take a look. (Louis Wu 10:27:55 UTC) (permalink)

Art offerings
In the Miscellaneous Art collection today, an image originally posted on our forum showing J-Lo's latest suitor, and three dark options for boot image replacement for Jaguar. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 10:21:31 UTC) (permalink)

How fast ARE you?
Åstro the Space Duck has thrown down the gauntlet on our forum, and laid out rules for 'Halo Done Quick', an informal tournament in which players try to beat the various levels in the shortest amount of time. Chime in with your own suggestions, and if this gets off the ground, maybe we'll even offer prizes. (No promises, yet.) (Louis Wu 15:18:12 UTC) (permalink)

Videogame Talk looks at Halo
Thanks to manicm, who pointed out a new Halo review at Videogame Talk. It's written from the perspective of a movie watcher... but the reviewer really enjoyed the game. We've added it to our Reviews Database. (Louis Wu 20:56:12 UTC) (permalink)

Long may it wave...
Warbow has finally settled on a flag design (there were threads on our forum here and here in recent days), and has submitted his final product to our Miscellaneous Art section. Take a look! (Louis Wu 19:31:14 UTC) (permalink)

MC in Black
Tim Cordova has dropped off another Halo 2 composite for your desktop - you'll find it in our Wallpaper section. (Louis Wu 19:24:08 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Fan Music Rocks.
Wow. Justin Durban, who turned in a pretty cool reworking of the Halo theme about 6 weeks ago, has spoken again. Justin says:

Its hard to describe this one is like. I guess you'll just have to hear it. Basically the theme comes in and out and is even modified to a point. Perhaps Marty will do the same with his score.

It starts quietly, and builds to a beautiful finale - this is three and a half minutes of beauty. It weighs in at just under 5 megs... if you're a fan of the Halo 2 theme, you should grab this piece. (You can check out more of Justin's work at Edgen Animations, if you like what you hear.) (Louis Wu 09:10:03 UTC) (permalink)

Space Battles...
Forum regular Roger Wilco has been playing with 3D toys again. Read about the movie-in-(very-slow-)progress on our forum. (Louis Wu 02:13:12 UTC) (permalink)

New Job Opening at Bungie
And the hiring goes on. Bungie is now calling for a Physics Programmer, for the new project the former Phoenix team is working on. Go read about it, and send in a resume if you fit the bill! (Louis Wu 01:54:07 UTC) (permalink)

Bizarre Maw Behavior
It's not often any more that new behavior pops up in Halo. Ritalin, on our forum, discovered some that is pretty hard to explain. He was playing on the Maw, and found a spawn site for sentinels. I did some experimenting, and learned something odd; in this one particular location, the position of the player determines the stability of the sentinels! Get too close to them, and they'll explode. There is nowhere else in the game that I've ever encountered this behavior - in many places, you can run right into them, with no ill effects. Here, though... step in their path (or even close to it) and they simply explode. Anyone have any suggestions as to why this might happen? Discuss the possibilities in the forum thread! (Louis Wu 21:02:38 UTC) (permalink)

Uploading is now easier
One of the biggest complaints we have here is that uploading a file is quite difficult. We've finally made it easier. If you'll check our navbar, there's a new link in the 'Admin' section - HTTP uploads. If you're having trouble using the FTP uploads link, try this; it works much better for browser uploads. If you run into trouble... please let us know! (Louis Wu 16:13:10 UTC) (permalink)

Mirror, mirror, on the net...
Thanks to Pez and vector40, we've added a few mirrors for the Haliens movies, in both .wmv and .mov formats now. Check out the mirrors list... and feel free to add your server to it! (Louis Wu 02:39:19 UTC) (permalink)

Best Halo Team in Michigan
The ACM Microsoft Michigan Halo Tournament took place last Thursday. Over 100 players came together for the largest team event to date... and Team PS walked away with the prize. Check out the website for details on the individual rounds, plus pics, prize listings, and more! Thanks to Steve Messinger for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 18:08:33 UTC) (permalink)

Get to reading! [Side note for Fan Fiction authors: we received two unpleasant notes in the last couple of days - one was rude, the other downright offensive. Both came from authors who were angry that they had received spam because their email address was posted with a story. (One received a virus, apparently.) Nothing says you have to have your email address posted with your story. If you do not tell us not to post it, though, we will, since it seems that most authors WANT feedback. Know this, though: if you choose to send us nasty mail blaming us for messages you receive because your address is posted, we'll pull all your stories, and refuse to accept new ones. I don't need that sort of abuse; you don't pay me enough for it. Thanks.] (Louis Wu 17:57:51 UTC) (permalink)

Haliens - now in QT format!
It's not perfect, but it's certainly watchable. Thanks to the work of Cybrfrk and customsex, and a little help from Apple and Sorenson, we've got a decent version of the recent Haliens movie for you in QuickTime format. Anyone who had trouble with the .wmv version... this puppy's for you. Currently, it's only at Mythica.org and the Psyjnir.com hotline server, but we'd LOVE to compile a bigger mirror list; feel free to host it and tell us about it. This bad boy is 36.7 mb, 8 minutes, 320x240 (pretty close to the original). Have I said thanks to Cybrfrk and customsex yet? Go get it! (Louis Wu 16:17:27 UTC) (permalink)

HBO Housecleaning
Whew - a productive Saturday morning! In between recycling, and kid-shuttling, I've managed to bring the Movies, Interviews, and (most importantly) Miscellaneous databases up to date! Boy, does that feel good. More than 2 dozen miscellaneous items have been added, along with half-a-dozen interviews and about that many movies. Enjoy! (Time to clean the windows.) (Louis Wu 18:26:22 UTC) (permalink)

The Need for Speed
Vector40 has let us know that Rampancy.net is providing a mirror for Crocodile Bungie's Speed video - we've added it to the Mirrors list. We're still working on the Haliens format issue... (Louis Wu 12:18:38 UTC) (permalink)

More accolades for the Chief
Lorraine Reyes (via Matt Soell) points out on Bungie's Tru7h and Reconciliation that G4Tv's Filter program has given Halo a few nods; Number 1 in their Top 10 Arsenals program, and Numbers 1 (Warthog) and 3 (Scorpion) in their Top 10 Coolest Vehicles program. Not too shabby! (Louis Wu 02:14:15 UTC) (permalink)

Haliens: This Time, It's War.
5 months ago, 'The Matrix (Halo Remix)' hit the streets; it was a movie that recreated the entire first scene of The Matrix, within the Halo engine. (It did a bang-up job of it, too.) Now, c0ld vengeance and demonelite have taken on a similar task... check out Haliens, a kickass new movie that recreates a good deal of James Cameron's 'Aliens' from within Halo. The only thing I'm really, really, REALLY unhappy with is that it's only available in .WMV format - if you have trouble with that (if you're on a not-brand-new Mac or a *nix box), you're out of luck. For everyone else, download this puppy today. It's 8 minutes long, just under 40 megs, and 320x240 big. I can't say enough good stuff about it. (Almost every great Bill Paxton line from Aliens is in this vid.) At the moment, we've only got it up at mythica.org and the Psyjnir.com hotline server... so if you can help out with this monster, please let us know. (Louis Wu 18:05:05 UTC) (permalink)

More Movie Mirrors
Thanks to Pez, who has resurrected his FTP server, and added new mirrors for the Speed movies (both sizes) and Heaven and Hell. Speed's capped at a pretty low figure, but it should be fine for slower links. Thanks, Pez! (Louis Wu 20:57:33 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Novel Details
We haven't mentioned the next Halo novel in a while - since September 9, to be precise. At that point, we knew that the title would be 'Halo: The Flood', the author would be William Dietz, and the release date was set for sometime in April 2003. Now, thanks to Dave Candland, we know what it's about: Dave says "It will be the novelization of the game." I'm not sure if I should be excited, or disappointed... (Louis Wu 20:46:04 UTC) (permalink)

Man, those are purty.
How much would you pay for a Master Chief patch? How about a Legendary one? Warbow's just designing them, not actually producing them, but I bet if there were interest... (Louis Wu 20:35:42 UTC) (permalink)

Speed. Indeed.
In 1998, when people were stil playing Quake, a group of insane people decided to not only see how fast they could get through the entire game, but to put together their results in attractive, viewable packages. The result was Quake Done Quick. Now, nobody's EVER going to run through Halo in under 15 minutes (the unskippable cutscenes alone would take longer than that), but Inky and FeralBob of the Down Under group Crocodile Bungie, have done the next best thing; a movie called 'Speed'. Halo, start to finish, in a bit over 3 minutes. Yes, there are spoilers. (They're easy to miss if you blink.) There are two versions; a 25 mb, 300x240 copy (with a few small exceptions, very clear) and a 10 mb, 200x166 copy (compression artifacts are a bit higher, of necessity). You can find all current links on the Speed Mirrors page, and we're happy to add other mirror offers. (Louis Wu 16:40:42 UTC) (permalink)

Warthog Shopping Carts - Yeah, Baby!
The boys over at Battleground: Halo have wrangled a bit of time with the Master Chief, and have posted an interview with the guy. Always nice to get a view behind the curtain! (Louis Wu 15:38:48 UTC) (permalink)

Heaven and Hell mirror
GJ, of Fantazm, drops us a line about a mirror for Heaven and Hell... which is good, because there's another movie coming today. Let's hope Mythica can hold up to the demand! (Louis Wu 15:17:20 UTC) (permalink)

More pics, even.
Eclectic? Yes. For your viewing pleasure today, we've got a poster for a movie we'd rather not see, an early Christmas present, and an astounding (and huge) battlefield sketch in our Miscellaneous Art collection. (Louis Wu 15:13:10 UTC) (permalink)

New images for your screen
Bunch of desktops for you today... some cool backgrounds that poena.dare #CP# pulled from a GDC Talk that Marty O'Donnell gave last spring, and some weirdly-shaped collections from Gasmask. You'll find 'em all in our Wallpaper section. (Louis Wu 14:55:54 UTC) (permalink)

Where you are, revisited
In February, poena.dare #CP# created a series of images for discussions on our forum that helped illustrate Halo's place in the galaxy, and your place in Halo. For some reason, though we mentioned them in the news, we never added them to the site itself. This has now been rectified; you can find all three images in our Miscellaneous section. (No, this is not linked on the main page there yet. It will be soon, I hope.) (Louis Wu 14:22:19 UTC) (permalink)

Silent Cartographer - Highs and Lows
Matthew Smith has put together a film he calls 'Heaven and Hell: The Top and Bottom of the Silent Cartographer'. It's 8:51 long, and weighs in at 24.2 mb. (It uses the DivX 4.02 codec to achieve this impressive feat, and is quite watchable.) It shows a number of things that have been filmed before (invincibility jumping, glitching the Shaft cutscene, dropship riding), but it also shows things not seen before, such as the bottom of the Silent Cartographer main shaft. (Not the Security override.) Did you know it was 851 feet down? This one caps our Silent Cartographer collection, I think... time to move on to other levels. Before you go, though, download and watch this! We've tossed a copy up at Mythica.org (thanks, as usual, to Brian Towne, for his terabyte+/month donation to the cause). If you've got the space... feel free to mirror this (and tell us about it). (Louis Wu 00:48:03 UTC) (permalink)

I love 'em, but they're wrong.
Before any of you break your keyboards in your frenzy to send us word that Penny Arcade is reporting that Halo will have Xbox Live support... they're not. Tycho mentioned a rumor he heard, but he follows it with

but I haven't heard this verified anywhere else, so keep your expectations low.

We couldn't agree with that last more. Bungie has said, over and over, that it's not happening. Matt said it again, just 4 days ago. Much as I enjoy Penny Arcade, if it comes down to a wild rumor mentioned by a comic writer vs. the unambiguous wording of a Bungie employee... I'm gonna have to go with the Bungie guy. (Thanks to mnemesis for the heads-up on this one.) (Louis Wu 18:34:39 UTC) (permalink)

Difficulty badges, for sale cheap
Ask, and ye shall receive (sometimes). BLOODLUST visited our forum this morning, asking if anyone had high-quality versions of the Difficulty badges visible at the start of Halo. Back in February, we'd posted a composite made by taking screenshots, then extracting the images... it worked, but the quality wasn't very good. Dave Candland took time out today to send along much prettier versions. You can snag a high-quality jpeg (45K), or a zipped, layered Photoshop document (499k). Use them in good health! (Louis Wu 18:16:56 UTC) (permalink)

Just a few to read... Update: Neco Divad sent Chapter 3 of his 'An Elites Legend' series 3 days ago, but his ISP failed to deliver it until today; I'm tacking it onto this collection. (Louis Wu 17:17:15 UTC) (permalink)

Craig Mullins Stunner Available
Whoa. Dave Candland, in response to a forum thread, has put up a new desktop on Bungie's Tru7h and Reconciliation site (it's the last one on the page). WARNING - large spoilers are here for anyone who still hasn't played the game. For all others, though, this is a masterpiece of work from Craig Mullins, and deserves a home on your desktop. (Louis Wu 00:43:29 UTC) (permalink)

November EGM Halo2 article online
The massive Halo 2 preview in the November 2002 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly is now available in our Press Scans section. The December issue hit the shelves today, so we can bring you the info-rich article from last month; if you like this article, consider subscribing to the magazine. Overall gaming coverage is pretty high, and if you'd subscribed, you'd have seen this almost 6 weeks ago. (Louis Wu 00:12:50 UTC) (permalink)

Movies updated
I've brought the Movie database up to the present, including a new movie (one we're not hosting) showing a 16-second warthog jump. You'll find mirror lists to the recent Jackass and Winter Season Promo films, as well as a few other recent entries. If all goes well, there might even be another one later today. Next up: the Miscellaneous section (woefully behind; almost 3 months out of date). Warning: The new warthog jump film starts with a rather risque clip; right out of a porn movie, as a matter of fact (though with the naughty bits blacked out). Just a quick note in case you're watching with someone who might not appreciate this... (Louis Wu 00:02:04 UTC) (permalink)

Marines of Old...
Over at bungie.net, Dave Candland mentions a new Chapter Theme available for use on your 7th Column chapter site. You can see it in action here. It's a tad dark... but pretty nicely done! (Louis Wu 20:27:37 UTC) (permalink)

Desktops to die for
Stormsinger cranks out another awesome desktop image of the as-yet unseen Heavy Destroyer Phelios... go check our Wallpaper section. Wow. (Louis Wu 15:02:57 UTC) (permalink)

Misc Art
Gasmask has turned the Halo vehicles into commodities; you can find his work in the Miscellaneous Art section. (For what it's worth, this has been done before; Germain Couët sent in a pair about 7 months ago.) (Louis Wu 14:57:42 UTC) (permalink)

YAJAM
StarWarsFanMan has added to the list of mirrors for the Jackass movie. Reminds me I forgot to actually make a mirrors list... tomorrow, I promise. Meanwhile, if you haven't seen this yet, go visit the Green Marines! (Louis Wu 02:26:46 UTC) (permalink)

Info where it's most needed
Cybrfrk has again updated the Gameplay Tips section - the Site Map is now complete. If you're a tip submitter, you can use this page to determine what areas of the database are short of tips, and submit information in those areas! Thanks. (Louis Wu 22:03:36 UTC) (permalink)

Spartan Patch now available
Eric Nylund described a special Spartan insignia in 'The Fall of Reach':

There was a special insignia on his uniformed [sic] as well: a golden eagle poised with its talons forward—ready to strike. The bird clutched a lightning bolt in one talon and three arrows in the other.

Warbow has created this patch, for any wannabe Spartans to use - you'll find it in our Miscellaneous Art section. (Louis Wu 18:12:33 UTC) (permalink)

GameSplurge looks to Halo 2
GameSplurge put up a Halo 2 Preview this weekend. Nothing new, but hey, previews are previews, right? Thanks to Battleground: Halo for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 17:46:48 UTC) (permalink)

Matt Soell on the Gamesome Mac
Sean Smith writes to tell us that Matt Soell will be on The Gamesome Mac, a weekly Mac gaming radio program, tonight. Broadcast is 6-8 pm PST on Monday, November 4 (that means it starts at 9 pm on the east coast, and at 2 am Tuesday, UTC.) If you miss it, archives are kept. Discussed tonight will be (among other things) the Mac version of Halo. Check it out! (Louis Wu 14:08:59 UTC) (permalink)

Hang 'em REAL High.
Another regular heard from... and another iGames qualifier loss. Vector40 described his Saturday, competing for entrance to the iGames Halo Winter Season. They won their first game (as did Team OvK), and lost their second (as did OvK). Good read, and some decent pointers for folks looking for advice on team games. (Louis Wu 13:47:36 UTC) (permalink)

Favorite map?
Dolbex wrote to say that a recent poll at the Halo50K site ('What's your favorite board to play on?') showed that a huge majority loves Blood Gulch. Check out all the results, they might surprise you! (Louis Wu 13:15:00 UTC) (permalink)

$1k for winning at Halo...
cobaltnova popped on to the forum yesterday to describe the next tournament his group his hosting. This one's called the HALO: Killtacular Invitational, and top prize is $1000. If Phoenix, AZ is within your visiting range, be there on January 11. (Louis Wu 13:11:38 UTC) (permalink)

Bad game, good price
Ouch. Team Overkill beat themselves, it sounds like... a depressing account of the first qualifying round of the iGames Winter Season. On the plus side, they've included a link to a copy of Halo for just $29.99, certianly the cheapest I've ever seen it. (You have to put it in your cart to see that price. You can always delete it later.) (Louis Wu 23:14:15 UTC) (permalink)

Why not Elites?
Chekov writes that he'd created an Elite costume for Halloween, but didn't have the nerve to wear it... but sent in a shot of his friend Charles modelling it. (Louis Wu 20:14:03 UTC) (permalink)

HIE thee to a website!
FloodSpecies writes to let us know of a new website; Halo: Installations & Evolution is a roleplaying group based on the Halo universe. The website isn't finished yet, but you can get a taste for what's coming. Check it out! (Louis Wu 20:09:00 UTC) (permalink)

the rifle design is my own, and this is a basic render. I had more in depth drawings, but they were deleted in the thunderstorm that half-fried my hard drive. If I ever can replecate them, I will turn them in. This is basically to add depth to my story, by showing what the new thing looks like.

This is actually a model with an integrated Grenade Launcher which WILL make an appearance. however the one desribed so far lacks this explosive feature.

Go read and look! (This will be the last post for a while... headed up to Thanks-Killing for the day.) (Louis Wu 15:59:11 UTC) (permalink)

I gotchyer tip, right heah...
Whoa. The Gameplay Tips section, somewhat neglected in recent weeks, has had a facelift. 40+ new tips, plus (some much-needed) sorting functions! The site map has been updated, as well. As far as I can tell, Cybrfrk has left out some of the SupaMegaTricksta-type tips that we get... which is a fine thing, SMT is in a class by himself. Go check it out, and improve your gameplay today! (Louis Wu 00:27:02 UTC) (permalink)

You're with who?
Skip Weasel the pegboy, Bungie intern etraordinaire (or something), returns in the latest Bungie comic. (That thing, minus the sign, really is in the building.) (Louis Wu 00:19:49 UTC) (permalink)

You gotta see these...
We get a lot of Wallpaper submissions. Periodically, I threaten to create some sort of 'maintainer's choice' gallery, to showcase the ones I consider to be the best of the best. I haven't found time to do this yet... but when it happens, the two new entries from Stormsinger will definitely be in there. Check these out in the Wallpaper section - they ROCK. (Louis Wu 18:59:39 UTC) (permalink)

Stories to tide you over
Stories from the last day or so, just clearing out the Fan Fiction queue:

Catchin' up...
A couple of pieces of Miscellaneous Art submitted over the last couple of days; apologies, it's been busy. You'll find the original version of strykerwolf's Halloween (modified version visible on yesterday's news page), and a clan logo from some Halo fanatics in Finland. Enjoy! (Louis Wu 17:28:03 UTC) (permalink)

Hey! You got HBO in my XBL!
Tarrsk is compiling a database of HBO forumgoers who play on Xbox Live; it's unclear at the moment where it will be hosted, but if you want to be included, simply reply to the forum thread, or email Tarrsk with your HBO forum screen name and your XBL gamer tag. (If you include only one or the other, or submit your entry more than once, you'll likely be ignored.) Update: there is a page live for this - you'll find it here. (Louis Wu 16:19:05 UTC) (permalink)

I want candy - NOW.
Forum regular Warbow sent his son out for trick-or-treating last night as a Master Chief. You can see his post (and the resultant thread) on the forum, and we've added a local copy of the pictures. Now that's fatherly dedication! (Louis Wu 15:19:26 UTC) (permalink)

Grunt-O-Lantern!
Thank goodness SOMEONE saved a copy of this; we were out trick-or-treating, I would have missed it. (Thanks to Candyman for the creation, and mnemesis for its posterity assuredness.) Bed... (Louis Wu 02:44:11 UTC) (permalink)

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