Kudos to Jon Chang, who points out a Halo mention in a New York Times Online article on cinematics in video games. (You'll need to sign up for a (free) account to be able to see this.) The article discusses 'parallels between the movie market and the game market', and points to Halo as an example:

In Halo, a futuristic Earth-versus- Them shooter and strategy game scheduled for release early next year by Bungie, the computer-generated preview that sets up the game lasts for nine minutes.

An interesting read, overall... makes me drool for the work that Joe Staten and Marty O'Donnell are doing right now!

In a reply to a reader's letter at the MSXBox site it was reported that Halo might be one of the titles to accompany the Xbox launch. Here's the fullreply to the readers question:

The Xbox will hit the UK around the same time it is released to the rest of the world. No more reading about experiences of gamers from other countries who get systems earlier than the UK. While the launch list for games is not finalized, it seems the most likely games, according to early indications, that will accompany the Xbox launch are Halo, New Legends, Oddworld : Munch's Oddysee, and several Microsoft sports titles.

HBO spin: Halo may actually be bundled with XBox which makes sense since it's a Microsoft title. Also since you won't be able to play Halo without the Xbox hardwareit's certainly consumer friendly to throw in a few games as well.

Haloplayers has put up some alternate links for the Incite movie that is no longer available from its original source. It's WAY out of date now, but there are lots of fans who want to see EVERYTHING. Thanks, HP!

Diogo Barbosa has submitted another version of his beach-scene wallpaper. You'll find it on our Wallpaper page.

Yeah, we said the first chapter was short... but the second followed 6 hours later, so we forgive. One Who Knows has submitted his second installment of his ongoing saga... check it out in our Fan Fiction section! (Remember, you can always use the "More by this author" link that follows each story to read them all, in chronological order, on one page.)

ParaDoxX writes to say that CrimsonRush.com has decided that Halo and Tribes II are the future of gaming, and therefore plans to spend much more time covering them. Stop by for the latest info.

Thanks to One Who Knows, who submitted the first (very short) chapter of a work-in-progress... check it out in our Fan Fiction section!

Ouch... Griffon writes that Halo Command Central has been flooded with visitors since they put up their Halo MP3, and ask that folks not visit for a while. (Seems to me that ANY mention at all is gonna make folks want to go see the damage... try to resist the temptation.) We apologize for any trouble we caused by actually mentioning this file.

Thanks to Eric Meyer, who posted to our forum a clarification of how Amazon.com lists books. Although the actual method is pretty close to what folks have been speculating, it's nice to see some harder facts. Bottom line - don't look for that Sybex Strategy Guide any time soon, though it most likely WILL get published eventually.

Dink!... The Halo SETI Marines fall another notch in the Battle of the Teams, thanks in large part to the disappearance of Oddot, and almost 1400 units. Welcome, though, to the new members - ReddyStupidity, Dr. Gough, OneWhoKnows - who brought almost 1000 new units with them. With work, we'll begin climbing again... but the team needs to crunch to win! The gory details can be found on the 7 day stats page.