Month: July 2004

aiMutation is a Windows program for modifying the appearance of the AOL Instant Messenger. Recently, a new skin was released with a Halo theme. Thanks to Baldev Patel for the heads-up.

Many of you probably saw threads on various Halo or Xbox forums this weekend about leaked beta screenshots. Bungie has yet to make a public announcement about this (it’s unlikely that they ever will, actually), but there are many clues that suggest that these aren’t fakes; that they did, in fact, come from a beta…

Massive content update over at Halo Babies – new fan art, a new fan STRIP section, and some credit stuff. w00t!

Brand-new layout at XboxOttawa… and with it comes a new Flash game called Melee Combat. It’s a bit hard on your keyboard… Go play. Thanks, Mantis819.

Dark Helmet posted a small video showing his own Marine Launching techniques yesterday, on the High Impact Halo forums – he shows that Marines take no fall damage, no matter HOW FAR they fall (or what hits them)… but more importantly, he’s invented a new sport – Halo Trap, using marines as the pidgeons. Hmm……

A full-blown website devoted to Mac Halo development has been opened – it existed, in a much simpler and less interactive form, on HaloMods, but it now has a site of its own, and a much more extensive layout. If you’re a Mac user interested in modding Halo, check it out! (Thanks, Nick.)

c0ld vengeance, with a little help from his friends, has put together a series of Mosaic pictures – 5 can be found in this forum post, and one more in this followup. The software used to make these is linked from here. Intriguing views…

It’s Monday, so there’s lots of action on the Going Nowhere Fast front. The sixth level run – 343 Guilty Spark – is now available for download via BitTorrent, to begin with. It’s a 58 mb file; 7:41 to dash from the Pelican dropoff to the final pickup spot, and the first use of the…

c0ld vengeance has apparently made his opinion about the 2-day European delay for Halo 2 known… and today’s One One Se7en addresses his concerns. Sort of.

Ten new stories for you in the Fan Fiction section… and a special-case instruction. Wado SG asked me how folks could submit their entries to the now-defunct Enkidu Fan Fiction contest and have them all be grouped together; I suggested using the Series Title field. Wado reminded me that this is normally tied to the…

Sector Seven Halo has put up another installment of its Marines comic. I’m not sure I get it…

The whole MegaBattle concept is being expanded over at the Gearbox Forums – check the top several threads for fantastic examples. A new technique, documented in this thread by king_nothing, allows for some incredible vehicle-in-air shots with multiple players inside. Again – this technique REQUIRES Halo Custom Edition; the detachable camera is not available in…

I’ve run across a really nice Halo Custom Edition map in the last couple of days – this is absolutely worth your time if you’ve got HCE. (If you DON’T have HCE, and you’re using a PC, you really need to ask yourself why not… it’s free, the massive download is a one-time deal (an…

Ducain continues the abuse of Sarge – his latest foray includes a beautiful hog jump with the MC, Sarge, and no damage. Find it in this forum post – with a QuickTime link in this one. 5 mb or so.

The fourth Going Nowhere Fast run, goatrope’s zippy Silent Cartographer dash, is now available via direct download from a half-dozen mirrors. If you haven’t watched this 33 mb piece… you should grab it now.

Finn blames it on the weather. I say he’s just coming to his senses. Whatever the reason, the Halo Story Page has been updated for the first time in almost three weeks. Go read.

Ever wondered what it would be like to do beta-testing full-time for a company like Bungie? It might not be what you think it is. Swing on by Bungie.net for a new Top Story on this very subject… thanks to clarksbrother for the heads-up.

Curt is Not, from the Xboxottawa forums, has put together a musical tribute to Halo, overdubbing his own voice into a recording of Skid Row’s I Remember You (6 mb download). It’s a bit scary, actually… but quite funny.

This week’s Bungie Update is over at the Penny Arcade forums – it’s a bit lighter than last week, but still full of tasty morsels. And… um, somewhat odd Misterchief art. Hmm. Thanks to many, though the first at HBO seems to be Leprechaun.

Looks like I missed a bunch of things while I was out of town this week. Thanks To HaloPlanet’s newsies for being on the job. Major League Gaming released a vid of the final match between StK and FFA at Midwest Mayhem. 71.2 mb, 640×480, 7:16 of a rough Team Slayer match on Hang ’em…