Author: Louis Wu

Aussie Xbox has put up a bunch of screenshots and some cover art for the upcoming Multiplayer Map Pack release, due in early July. (Xboxyde released some of these shots a couple of weeks ago, but that was well before the media embargo was lifted. It’s unclear what that embargo date actually IS – but…

UNEXPECTED62 has written another strategy guide, this time for Beaver Creek. You’ll find it on his LegendzNeverDie website.

Starting your Memorial Day Weekend off with a cutscene, we’ve released the final scene from Pillar of Autumn – our Halo Cutscene Library now contains all of the first level of the game. Go grab a copy! Update: Mainevent noticed an audio problem on the large WMP9 file; sorry about that. It’s been replaced on…

Back in March, we mentioned the Ultimate Halo Freak contest on Xbox.com. Prove you were more dedicated to Halo than anyone else, win cool stuff. In early April, they picked Keldog, who runs Carnagestats.com, as their winner – and gave him a bunch of cool stuff right at the time he’d been robbed and lost…

Kanbo noticed a new Deviation at DeviantART – looks like JJ.Ying created a set of Halo 2 cursors. (That’s actually just a picture – but you can find a download link on the author’s blog.)

This week’s Weekly What’s Update, populated entirely with questions pulled off our forum, is up at Bungie.net now. Thanks to CougRon, who noticed it before I did.

I missed this yesterday – but 2old2play.com sent some folks to E3 this year, and then submitted their report to Bungie.net – there’s a part 1 and a part 2. (The final picture would suggest that ‘2old2play’ means ‘in your late 20’s’.) Thanks, Stosh. Update: I’ve been corrected – the guy playing in that pic…

Holy Magillicutty, Batman… here’s your chance to get questions answered. Frankie has started a thread on our forum, offering to answer as many questions as you post (civilly) in this week’s Weekly What’s Update. There’s already a decent quantity up there… but get to thinkin’ – you never know! Update: Thread was locked, by Frankie’s…

MacSoft has released Halo Updater 1.5.2, which brings the Mac version of Halo into line with HaloPC and HaloCE v1.07 (fixing a network vulnerability). You can grab the updater (3.5 mb) off our server, or from MacUpdate.com. Get back to playing with your PC buddies!

There’s been some awful puns in One One Se7en through the years… but this one takes the Christmas goose.

Ten new pieces for you in the Fan Fiction section today – get to reading!

Doom 3 has a much larger amount of story material than the original Doom. In addition, it’s presented in-game in a much-more-interactive way than Halo’s story is (instead of simply using cutscenes and the occasional scripted encounter, you can find information on viewscreens, dropped PDAs, lab computers, and more). So has Doom surpassed Halo in…

The Bridge scene from Pillar of Autumn is now available from the Halo Cutscene Library – go grab it!

Back in January, we mentioned a cash prize given out by Twin Galaxies (a game-ranking site) for a Legendary speedrun of Halo 2. HALOChat wrote to point out that the prize has increased (from $150 to $250), and a new ‘Special Rule’ has been instated – the Envy skull (which gives permanent invisibility) cannot be…

JPOGDNA writes to say that new management has taken over on the Halo: Blood Covenant project (a side-scrolling Halo game) – but they’ve hit a snag. They need a new sprite artist (just one), to help with backgrounds, some weapons, character actions and the like. Interested people can send samples of their work to either…

A number of people pointed out this article at Xbox-Scene, showing pictures of the upcoming Xbox 360 kiosk… you gotta wonder why the picture used is a sideways shot from Lockout. Weird. I think SUPERTOY was first.

Over at Halo Babies, you’ll find a photo diary of Master Chief’s E3 Adventure… that guy can get into a lot of trouble! When you’re done with that… there’s also a new strip for the day. You gotta pick your friends carefully…

Dennis Powers points out that the HaloCE 1.07 hotfix is now in the auto-update – but the dedicated server patch (for servers that didn’t use the installation utility to install the server) can still be found at Gearbox Game Zone. Details (and usage) are on this page.

22 out of 24 Xbox Live global regions have a declared winner in the worldwide Halo 2 contest (last mentioned about a month ago) – you can read the official press release for more details. (Only Japan and the US are still awaiting a national champion.) Finals will be played on Friday, June 10.

There’s a short note over at Bungie.net – apparently, the official Nile Rogers website has announced that Marty has finished mastering the Halo 2 soundtrack. No other info is given – but if you’ll remember, the Weekly What’s Update on May 14 suggested an early July release.