Halo Center, a large Halo fansite that's been dormant since August, is up and running again. Updated content, new newsie (Corven)... good to see 'em back, just in time for the Xbox version of Halo! (Kudos to Narcogen, of Rampancy.net, for picking up on the resurrection.)

I'd like to apologize - HBO (and the rest of bungie.org, for that matter) is experiencing some pretty funky network activity. Apparently, Lucent decided to perform software upgrades on all the routing equipment at our upstream provider... but they forgot to iron out the bugs first. They're working on it. In the meantime, we thought we'd pass along a little interview we conducted recently. Eric Nylund, author of 'Halo: The Fall of Reach', was kind enough to answer seven questions for us - and we think you might find some interesting tidbits in there. Feel free to post your comments on the forum.

You know, one of the coolest things about Bungie employees is that sometimes, they think like fans. :) Yesterday, a forum visitor asked about IPX through IP tunneling, as a way to connect Xboxes across the net (while making them think they're LAN-connected) - and the response of a Bungie network programmer?

my thoughts are I'm glad to hear people considering this :O)

Heh - and to think someone told me this evening how easy it is for an innocent comment to spin out of control on these boards...

'Tis the evening for artwork submissions... Arch Angel sends us a greyscale Marine for our Miscellaneous Art section.

A couple of days ago, Hamish Sinclair wondered about the eBook version of Eric Nylund's novel, Halo: The Fall of Reach. Well, today, Random House put up an excerpt from it - for those who were unsure of buying it, go read this; you can make up your own mind, instead of relying on the reviews of others.

Glug... we're DROWNING in desktops! Evilbum sends us not one, not two... FIVE new ones for our Wallpaper section. Go get 'em.

Gah! First it's ascii art in html format... now it's ascii art as... ART! Well, desktops, anyway. Blizzard turns in a pair of desktop images for our Wallpaper section, and for good measure throws in the Halo logo, in binary code. (You'll find that last in our Logos section.)

Not satisfied with yesterday's ascii logo, [SE]X-Com has submitted an even more elaborate image: the Halo marine. (427K) God help us...

The Sci-Tech section of CNN.com looked at consoles yesterday in the article, 'Which new game console should you buy?' Nine editors from Gamepro.com looked at the available options... recommendations for a Dreamcast came, disturbingly, from MORE THAN ONE OF THEM. Despite this, it was fun to read their views of the Xbox - most thought Halo was a solid plus for the platform, though one was skeptical:

Are you willing to take a risk on a brand-new, unproven game system (Xbox) with a large variety of unproven game titles (Amped, Fuzion Frenzy, Halo, etc.) or do you choose the granddaddy of video gaming and buy Nintendo's GameCube [...]?

Guh. Star Dingo has it right:

I have spent more time with the Xbox, and realize that I find myself willing to commit unspeakable acts in order to play more Halo.

Go read the whole thing - laugh at some of it, and realize that in the outside world (the world of CNN readers, as opposed to hardcore gamers), the Xbox has a tough road ahead. Thanks to Lophan for the heads-up.

First up - it seems like the IGN Insider Multiplayer Guide mentioned yesterday has been opened to the public. Go check it out here - and don't say they never gave you nuthin'. (Thanks to Erick Delgado for the heads-up.)