Year: 2005

Leave it to Halo Babies to come up with new, less-violent uses for some of the weapons in Halo 2.

Until recently, the scoring algorithm at the Movie Peer Review Rating System gave extra weight to smaller movies, on the principle that if it wasn’t a hassle to download (or serve), it didn’t have to be QUITE as good. We’ve rethought that rule… but tonight, there are two short films that made the cut with…

Bungie’s side of the story for last night’s Halo Humpday Challenge has been posted – it’s an entertaining read. It’s okay to have awful stats if your team wins anyway. I’m not sure I like the title ‘Anti-MLG’ that was tossed at HBO… but I can’t deny we like chaotic gametypes (monosnipe CTF is positively…

Chris Bryan continues to work on Halo-related pieces – if you check his wearable Master Chief suit page, you’ll find a new picture; he’s put together a pair of M7/Caseless SMGs that look pretty nice! (He wonders whether he should make ’em shiny, or leave ’em matte… personally, I like ’em the way they are.)

Last week, Stryke Force released hi-res versions of their first couple of episodes. People liked them – so they’ve released hi-res versions of episodes 3, 4, and 5. WMP9 versions are up on their downloads page right now – QuickTime links should be up soon. This is one of the more polished machinima series out…

BIGwooly, a name that will be familiar to long-time fans, is back with a new montage. He submitted this to our Movie Peer Review Rating System, and passed nicely; there’s some great audio sync going on here. Final credits are also a great example of how this can be done nicely, without too much time…

A week ago, we mentioned a fun little Flash game at Newgrounds, where you could play some CTF on Blood Gulch in your spare time. We were contacted by the author, and now there’s a copy hosted here, as well. Enjoy!

Congratulations to 4orty2wo Entertainment – they took home this year’s Games-Related Webby Award for their “I Love Bees” Halo 2 campaign. Seems likely that ARGs will take on a much greater role in marketing in the future, now that they’ve got a success like this under their belts! (Thanks, Ripp.)

The HBO Lekgolos played Bungie last night in the Halo Humpday Challenge – and prometheus got the jump on Frankie with a writeup on our forum. There’s no Mister Chief artwork, but otherwise, it’s a great post. (Hmm… come to think of it, the lack of Mister Chief artwork does it GOOD.) The Lekgolos lost…

Episode 10 of the Codex has been released; it had been delayed due to technical difficulties, necessitating some refilming, but I must say, it didn’t suffer from the delay. This episode is fantastic. Great cinematography, great battle scenes, wonderful plot advancement. A must-see. Available in Quicktime format now – coming soon in DivX and WMP9.…

It can’t possibly be Thursday, because that would mean we once again forgot to post a One One Se7en on its regularly scheduled day. And that can’t possibly have happened, because this one so nicely spears Stuntmutt for his online behavior – how could I miss that? (Thanks to Francesco Poli, the One One Se7en…

As promised yesterday, Bungie has updated the Halo 2 matchmaking playlists and reset all player stats (aside from some minor oddness). The Matchmaking FAQ has been updated with details on the new gametypes, including the brand-new Double Team playlist. Thanks to the ten billion people who wrote to tell us this.

Gamasutra has an interesting piece up (free registration required) on game marketing – and ARGs like “I Love Bees” got high marks from readers. Once again, Halo 2 ends up on top of the pack… thanks, Deanero.

Yet another interview up over at MLGPro.com – this one with Str8 Rippin, talking about MLG Orlando and how it went for them. (Thanks, trigger119.) There’s also more info about MLG’s 2v2 Online League – go read if you’re playing.

For those waiting for news about the second volume of the Official Halo 2 Soundtrack… Marty posted a note on the Marty Army 7th Column Group’s website last night, with a bit of information:I finished the Halo 2 Soundtrack Volume 2 today and listened to it (all 70 minutes worth) in one sitting. I liked…

PingZing dropped off a fun dialogue snippet – you can find it in our Dialogue Databank.

Finn thinks it’s still winter, or something – or at least, he’s chosen to shake the Halo Story Page Mailbag out all over his floor and actually READ stuff in it, instead of going outside to play. Bad for his complexion, good for your speculation. There’s a TON of stuff in this update… make sure…

More Halo Machinima out there: trigger119 points out Starship Troopers Part 1, hosted at halomachinima.com (though he’d be thrilled if anyone wanted to help mirror – this puppy is 109 mb), and gearboxgamezone.com has the Sponsors vs Freeloaders trailer (originally a contest winner, hosted at SvF.com in AVI format, GBGZ has it in WMP9 and…

Static Bursts points out a thread at the Gearbox forums about an upcoming Halo CE map, a remake of Headlong. There’s a RapidShare-hosted vid (13 mb, WMP9 format) showing the new map, as well as some cool weapons in a tweaked Hang ’em High, and there are pics in the thread. Looks pretty nice! Update:…

Over at Bungie.net, there’s a large article with info about upcoming Bungie-related events: Wednesday, May 4, stats will be reset, and the Matchmaking Playlists will be updated. Details about the new playlists can be found in the article, so go read! (Details about the stats reset are pretty straightforward – they’re getting reset, so you’re…