Author: halo@bungie.org

Dennis Powers pointed out that the Halo CE community has been working on bubble shield-type tags – you can grab them here (a couple of maps that use them are Nhpgulch and Covenieye). There are also tags for Halo 3-style backpack weapons – they’re in use in Backpack Gulch. Cool stuff!(Louis Wu 16:46:12 UTC)

Last week, Bungie posted an analysis of the upcoming Brute Spiker; in it, one of the UNSC Marines referred to Brutes as ‘Bravo Kilos’. If this reference was lost on you, today’s One One Se7en might be, too… or maybe Stuntmutt will have cleared it up for you.(Louis Wu 15:58:24 UTC)

SpotlightPro.org is hosting a 2v2 tournament, top prize includes a 12-month XBL subscription. Go check out the details! Thanks, ClearviewPro.(Louis Wu 15:15:50 UTC)

Sane Intolerant has updated his Halo Toy Box series – today’s episode compares Cortana to the Crackdown announcer. Even if you’re Jillybean, you HAVE to admit our Cortana is better than this vision.(Louis Wu 20:49:35 UTC)

Sigafoos pointed out that The Riot 38 is now online – 9.5 mb, 23 minutes long. Highlights include site design discussion, clan challenges, halo news, and monkeys. (Bungie’s monkeys, not Second Foundation’s.) Enjoy!(Louis Wu 20:41:31 UTC)

Coweh stopped by to point out The Uneven Elephant, a new Halo-related blog he’s started up. The first real post is a speculation about the X-button functionality, but he promises more activity as the Halo 3 beta gets going.(Louis Wu 13:00:24 UTC)

DocOctavius and his buddies at the yayap.com forums were trying to work out the mechanics of the bubble shield shown off in last December’s Halo 3 ad; he rendered a local version, and it look pretty cool. Check it out! (QuickTime format, 232K)(Louis Wu 12:56:39 UTC)

The latest episode of Red vs Blue is now up for sponsors (thanks, Angrist) – Sister gets oiled up and nekkid, Simmons gets jealous, and Caboose tries to get dead. Or not to get dead. Go watch! (Unless you’re not a sponsor – in which case, come back in 48 hours, read this again, and…

ImmortalThree reminded us that Podtacular 102 (Customs and Call-ins) and Podtacular 103 (the Halo 3 Show, with George from aeropause.com) are now online – go listen!(Louis Wu 12:47:58 UTC)

We got word from SourceGuy, about a new website on the Halo modding scene – Halo Vicis. Right now, they’ve got a couple of exclusive tidbits you might want to check out – a new app known as H2Core, for working with Halo 2 maps, and a tutorial to help you convert a HaloCE map…

The Bungie Weekly Update this week has some cool H3 info (chetz and waters), a tiny bit of info about the upcoming Halo 2 maps, and some scary stuff about Marty. Really scary, in fact. And some stuff about Video Games Live. And some more scary stuff about Marty. Go read – either at Bungie.net,…

Mister Froggy pointed out Halo, Articulated #18 – in which a dirty secret is revealed.(Louis Wu 01:42:48 UTC)

Couple of different Halo tournaments mentioned on our forum today – Relentless Azn mentioned a pair of Gamebreakerz tourneys in Kent, Washington on March 23 (2v2) and March 30-31 (4v4), and Scooter let us know about Game Junkie’s “St. Patrick’s Day Massacre” near Cincinnati, OH on March 17. Get to playin’!(Louis Wu 01:41:22 UTC)

Some fans have expressed unhappiness with the spate of Halo-branded merchandise being announced in recent weeks… Stuntmutt, as usual, has his own take on the situation, spun off from a comment in last week’s BWU. Check today’s One One Se7en.(Louis Wu 18:09:29 UTC)

This one’s DEEP in the rumor category – and remember, the Mole is right, at best, about half the time. According to Planet Halo, OXM’s Rumor Mole suggests that Certain Affinity, the team started by Halo Multiplayer Lead Max Hoberman that is currently working on some Halo 2 maps to be released soonish, is ALSO…

Later than usual, but there are now 13 new pieces available in the Fan Fiction section – go read!(Louis Wu 17:49:52 UTC)

Yesterday afternoon, The J3ster noticed that the static-filled image at the bottom of the HaloWars update had changed; it still isn’t discernable, but it’s getting closer. Keep your eye on it!(Louis Wu 13:24:11 UTC)

Heh – Rockslider’s still at it. New section at Bad Cyborg today – gather 6 Hunters together on Silent Cartographer, and have some fun!(Louis Wu 13:10:48 UTC)

I was gonna wait on this, but the news is too good to sit on. MLGPro.com has made their Video on Demand service free. FREE! Thousands of matches, dating back 3 years (Halo 1 footage, even) – there for the watching. Mac and PC alike, since the DRM is gone. Go read the details (including…

Okay, rumor-busting time. There’s a doozy, going around (see QJ.net and Computer and Video Games, for example) that there may be two different Halo 3 beta groups; the first will be for competition winners (including the first two phases of the Rule of Three), the second will be for Crackdown purchasers. According to these articles,…