Author: HBO

seRn stopped by to show off a piece of art he made for a friend, cut out of 16 gauge stainless steel. The links in his first post point back to his website, the images in his second post are local versions. (Save him the bandwidth, and look at the local versions…)(Louis Wu 13:19:31 UTC)

The details of the Grand Finals Championship Event of the World Series of Video Games were posted yesterday on the WSVG website; in the Halo 2 competition, 4 qualifying teams are competing for a grand prize of $20,000, rolex watches, and computer systems. Nice haul! Thanks, GotFrag.(Louis Wu 13:13:35 UTC)

Bungie collected a group of people begrudged by Joe Tung, and then beat them in their first Halo Humpday win in… well, a long time. I guess if you pull a bunch of people together that have nothing but the hate of a Bungie programmer in common, you’ve got a chance that they might not…

Over at Bungie.net, there’s an updated Halo 2 Vista FAQ, with lots of answers for the questions you might have about the upcoming Halo 2 Vista release. (‘Upcoming’ means ‘early 2007’, not ‘next week’.) Check it out!(Louis Wu 00:46:20 UTC)

Over at MLGPro.com, there’s an audio analysis of the New York results, with specific breakdowns of Carbon and Final Boss. MP3 is 5.5 mb, 12 minutes long – go listen! Thanks, 3Suns.(Louis Wu 22:10:25 UTC)

Dennis Powers writes to let us know that the third episode of Static is now online at the Halo CE Chronicles website. Alex is in trouble! It’s a good thing Bob’s a lousy shot… go check it out. 30+ mb in QuickTime or WMP9 formats (640×480), or 19 mb in streaming Flash format (320×240).(Louis Wu…

Paul Maestri, too, wishes Halo 2 a happy birthday – with a new episode of Halo Heads. (Trust me, guys – the rationale expressed in the second panel will NOT fly with your wives.)(Louis Wu 18:54:29 UTC)

gold_leader pointed out this video at YouTube, which parodies the Bud Light ‘Real American Heroes’ ads, includes a Halo reference, and is quite funny. (Louis Wu 17:02:25 UTC)

An article at news.com.au focuses on Tom ‘Tsquared’ Taylor – and suggests that playing videogames professionally isn’t all fun and… well, games. Give it a read to see the rigors Tom is subjected to daily.(Louis Wu 16:54:13 UTC)

Last week, a number of threads popped up in our forum about a Needler sighting on the comedy central cartoon ‘Drawn Together’ (here, here, and here). It seems that clip is now available on YouTube (thanks, Aaron Camp).(Louis Wu 16:50:43 UTC)

Max (]-=ODST=-[ Epsilon) sent along a screenshot (3k) of a Gears of War achievement that pays tribute to Red vs Blue – Burnie mentioned this last week in his Red vs Blue journal, because they’re thinking about giving a cool prize to the first person to earn this achievement, but for those of us without…

Today is the second anniversary of the release of Halo 2 – and fans want to say ‘Happy Birthday!’ Black Guard collected shots from around the web of Halo cakes, and Mattbluhalofan actually created a special pic just for today (155k). Play some Halo 2 today to celebrate!(Louis Wu 16:12:02 UTC)

MMaster dropped by to let people know about three commercials filmed for the upcoming MLG TV season on USA – I’m not sure they’d make me watch, but they’re fun, anyway. Check his forum post, watch for yourself!(Louis Wu 16:05:28 UTC)

A few people pointed out that the full version of ‘There’s Something About Halo 2’ is now available at Newgrounds – looks like Sane Intolerant was first. We mentioned one of the five parts of it a couple of weeks ago – but the whole thing is done now. Artwork is great, in all sections…

Tucker Barrie noticed a really nice looking Halo 3 stained glass window for sale on eBay – but you have to be able to pick it up in Buffalo, NY; the seller isn’t shipping. Starting bid is $500, you’ve got another day before the auction ends. This is definitely a unique piece!(Louis Wu 16:00:52 UTC)

Over on Bungie.net, you’ll find a Community Spotlight on Dweezle, of the Tied the Leader guys and a rage-filled sharkfeeder. Go read about what makes the guy tick! (Then bug him to hold another lan, and make sure he invites you.)(Louis Wu 00:54:44 UTC)

The HSP Timeline page has been updated with events from Ghosts of Onyx. Read the book, if you haven’t already, and go check out how the events fit into the larger picture. I guess I gotta work on the vessels and names pages now. (Clearly, this timeline contains spoilers for those who haven’t read the…

Ross Mills looks to be the proud new owner of a set of Mjolnir Armor…(Louis Wu 19:06:52 UTC)

The 1Up Multiplayer Map Preview is now online (thanks, mercury) – in-depth descriptions of Snowbound, High Ground, and Valhalla. They sound great! Go read.(Louis Wu 17:23:32 UTC)

Another 72 dialogue snippets have been added to the Dialogue Databank, courtesy of Hellhawk (they’ve been queued up for MONTHS, I’m sorry it’s taken so long); there are still almost 100 snippets total waiting in the queue, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel! In the meantime, go listen to a few dozen…