Author: Louis Wu

A couple of net reviews out there for you – Xbox World Australia has given the Multiplayer Map Pack a once-over (they liked it, but would have appreciated some single-player love), and Gaming Horizon has pinned down Halo 2 (yeah, the game, not the map pack) – if you’ve read any of the hundreds of…

Fan Fiction writers must be focusing on the 117 Words contest – in the last 5 days, there’ve only been 8 new submissions. Go read!

NB writes to say that on page 20 of today’s New York Times Magazine is an article about machinima and Red vs Blue. I couldn’t find it online yet – probably will show up tomorrow, since the Magazine section is part of Sunday’s paper, even though you can buy it on Saturday – but it…

As you may or may not have noticed, the Seeker link we had on the right side of this page is gone. It turned out to be more resource-intensive than Subnova could handle (a full explanation is here). If the situation changes, we’ll be sure to let you know!

The Codex Series, Episode 19, is now online – ‘Power Plays’ is the second-to-last episode, and has some great scenes in it. Great action, nice suspense… go watch! The final scene will be posted at 7 PM Central time (that’s midnight, UTC) next Friday night… they want as many people online as they can get.…

That Weasel dropped a note letting us know that the Third Annual Rockets on Prisoner Awards has officially kicked off. There are 9 video categories and seven sub-categories – and the public is encouraged to participate by nominating videos of their choice. (Each person gets 1 nomination per day for the next 7 days -…

Bytesector has posted an interview with the 2005 Canadian Halo 2 Champion (from the Worldwide Halo tour tourney concluded this past June. Some of his answers threw me for a loop – but overall, it’s an interesting read.

OperationMEDUSA points a new stats program, currently in beta-test, called ZenStats, being coded by JonathonZenith. (The front-page interface isn’t done yet – but the stats themselves are pretty impressive!) Give it a look.

There’s a really interesting article over at the Economist, looking at how games have become a major form of entertainment in our society. It touches on the controversy surrounding some games, and explores some of the uses that games can have. (It also points out, in a stark graph, the inverse trends in the US…

Yeah, that’s the lesson in the most recent Weekly What’s Update, posted over at Bungie.net. Pretty simple, eh? Looks like there are still lots of people who don’t understand what that means. Oh – and if nobody solves the ‘Hi, Ben’ thing by next week, Frankie says he’ll spill the beans. Get to work -…

The Halo CE Chronicles episode 14, ‘Searching’, has been released – a description of the episode can be found on the website, and the video is available for download in WMP9 (24.5 mb), QuickTime (22.6 mb), and streaming Flash (9.3 mb) formats. This one reveals some of the motivation driving the Station Commander, and sets…

My kids and I have been going through the newest Harry Potter novel in the evenings – I think Stuntmutt may have permanently scarred me with today’s One One Se7en.

Samir Patel pointed out Incoming, a mod for Half-Life 2. (It was a mod for Half-Life first, and we mentioned it about 3 years ago.) It’s not a Halo mod – but it DOES ‘feature elements from [Halo] as a token of appreciation’ (specifically the Warthog and the Spartan armor). Go check it out.

imSuck created a new music video, using the Halo 2 engine, for the song ‘Blurry’ by Puddle of Mudd. Video quality is really high, and cinematography is far from the madding crowd. One reviewer for the Movie Peer Review Rating System wrote that “this should be the quintessential piece that wannabes watch.” (I’m not sure…

Halo Babies has a new strip up today (of course they do – it’s Friday)… but they also have a new contest: come up with a Red vs Blue-themed plot for a Halo Babies strip, you could win a copy of the Red vs Blue Season 3 DVD. Nice! (For those keeping track, ‘A Changing…

Dyslexia sat down with Str8 Rippin after their win in Philly – read the interview over at MLGPro.com. Thanks, 3Suns.

Seraphim writes that the Metroid Online Mapping Team is hosting a new logo contest – winner will get his/her alias stamped on the bottom of Samus’ boot. You’ve got a bit under 2 weeks – results can be posted on their forum.

Dicehead Games in Cleveland, Tennessee will be hosting 2v2 tourneys (August 11 and 25), $5/person to get in. Their website includes driving directions. Thanks, Sir Wilshire.

Ajay points out that he’s put together a physics demo for the physics engine he’ll be using for Halo2D, a project he’s been working on. A screenshot can be seen here, and the demo can be downloaded here (4.9 mb). Hold down the left mouse button to move the MC.

Zeke points out an auction on eBay for a patch from the Boy Scouts National Jamboree this year (4 days left, currently at $42) – and in a second post, shows an alternate version. Interesting use of the Master Chief!