Author: halo@bungie.org

Archie Gates is at it again – if you visit his MySpace page, you’ll find his newest audio creation, ‘ESRB Notice’; it’s streamable for free, or downloadable for a buck. Anyone who has spent ANY time on Xbox Live playing Halo 2 will relate – instantly. Hilarious stuff!(Louis Wu 14:36:13 UTC)

Over at MLGPro.com, there are two new episodes of the Sound Arguments podcast – Episode 10 looks at gametype changes for the 2007 season, and Episode 11 makes predictions about this weekend’s opener in Charlotte. Go listen! Thanks, 3Suns.(Louis Wu 13:34:20 UTC)

The Halo 2 Auto-update, mentioned (and described) in last Friday’s Bungie Weekly Update, is now live, according to sawnose at Bungie. (He quotes the weekly update in the rest of his post; the only new content is the fact that it’s live.) Thanks to The Vector Kid for noticing.(Louis Wu 13:17:44 UTC)

Over at The Age Blogs (commentary from an Australian newspaper) there’s a rant about the two new maps coming next week, and how they’re an example of Microsoft’s money-grubbing policies. The argument is that since the maps will show up in most matchmaking playlists, and if you don’t have them, you won’t be allowed INTO…

Last night, Bungie put up a pretty nice interview with Chris Wood, Certain Affinity’s Art Lead – they discuss the making of the two new maps being released next week. Worth a read – these look to be a blast! Thanks, masterchief2829.(Louis Wu 12:45:45 UTC)

DuBbLe continues his work on his X-Plane Shortsword – it’s now textured, and there’s a short vid. Give it a look!(Louis Wu 12:38:55 UTC)

The Vidoc analyses continue – Advanced Media Network gave it a shot (thanks, sgtsmiles), They drew a counterpoint from Daniel Pervan (thanks, Samir Patel). 1Up created a (30 minute) video analysis (thanks, White Rabbit). Remember – those guys actually PLAYED the version that footage comes from; they might know a thing or two. Computer and…

ImmortalThree let us know that Podtacular Episode 108: Round Table Show is now available – guests are Robert Summa (of destructoid.com) and Anjo Banjo (wife of Uncle Gamer’s Liquilife). 1:19 long, 72 mb. Go listen!(Louis Wu 19:52:14 UTC)

Wonga. Certain Affinity has posted a large batch of screenshots and concept artwork for Tombstone and Desolation (and there’s more if you poke around… at least until they decide to close off directory browsing – thanks, MasterChief2829 and pillar of awesome). Gorgeous stuff – and you can get a really good sense for how they’ve…

DuBbLe has gotten inspired by the posts he’s seen of Mid7night’s X-Plane work; he posted some shots of a Shortsword he made a while back. Looks good!(Louis Wu 17:41:45 UTC)

Haloplayer stopped by to point out the second half of the Lost: Halostyle Season Finale – it’s available in streaming format, plus 3 downloadable options, from their site, and (because we like this series so much, and because this episode is pretty darned funny) in several flavors from us, as well: we’ve mirrored the to…

Speaking of Tombstone, Stuntmutt takes a new shot at it in today’s One One Se7en.(Louis Wu 12:11:23 UTC)

We heard from imSuck (and others) about a new contest being held by HaloGrid – the Affinity Machinima Challenge. You’ve got between April 17, when Tombstone and Desolation are released for Halo 2, and May 1, when the contest ends, to create a cool new piece of machinima involving those two maps. There are cash…

Simply Greg announced that Energy Episode Five: The Race is now available for download, in multiple flavors. The conflict between the humans and the Aeros has come to a head…(Louis Wu 12:04:11 UTC)

Devrous stopped in for his fourth weekly update of FS2H, his Freespace 2 Halo mod. Lots and lots and LOTS of pictures – go see how it’s going!(Louis Wu 11:57:01 UTC)

PLAY! is a video game symphony, a lot like Video Games Live; they’re back on tour, and will be in San Jose, CA on May 26. If you’re in the area, check ’em out! Thanks, Mrguy.(Louis Wu 11:54:23 UTC)

TeamXbox put up a list of their Top 20 Weapons of All-Time – amazingly enough, the Grenade Shield (or Bubbleshield, as Bungie calls it) made the list. (Seems rather absurd to me, actually; not only don’t we know how well it works, it’s not really even a weapon.) Halo 2’s plasma grenade and energy sword…

Trunks stopped by to point out a new Halo-themed Trunks and Soto comic – I’m not sure their term for the Mancannon is any less… snicker-worthy than Bungie’s, but you gotta love the t-shirt!(Louis Wu 11:40:27 UTC)

Sane Intolerant sent word that a new Halo Toy Box is up – this series is becoming more and more incomprehensible to me, but maybe it’s clearer to you.(Louis Wu 11:35:57 UTC)

Adam Chapman ran across an auction of one of the full-sized Master Chief statues (6 feet tall) on eBay; it’s pickup-only, in New York City, and there’s about 2 days left on the auction. Starting bid is $500 – the statue has quite a lot of chipped paint, so if you buy it, realize that…