Daniel wrote to let us know that SETI@home, the organization that uses member computers around the world to help analyze radio telescope data in an attempt to find extraterrestrial computers, will be shifting to a completely new infrastructure in 2 weeks, and current groups will have their totals locked. From 1999 through 2002, the Halo SETI Marines participated in the program, looking for signs of the Covenant – and in fact are STILL looking, though we here at HBO no longer follow the search. However, come December 15, the workunit totals will be frozen. It’s been a good run, Marines… thank you for your service.

A few days ago, Dustin Kaufman sent us a link to a movie at break.com, showing an Xbox360 commercial that never got released. It’s not really Halo-related (though you CAN say it’s FPS-related)… and break.com seems to be having some trouble with bandwidth issues, but it’s available on YouTube now, as well. Thanks to Pinkuh, who pointed out this Inside Microsoft blog entry.

Narcogen, at Rampancy.net, has gotten his hands on the script reviewed by El Mayimbe last month – and asserts that it’s credible. Interesting read!

Some great content over at Team3D – an interview with the OGREs about WCG Singapore (where they won $20k) and MLG Atlanta (where they split $6500 with the other two members of their 4-man team, and OGRE2 took another $1200 home in FFA championship money)… and reflections on Atlanta directly from the OGREs themselves. Go read! Thanks, F13ND.

Back in November, we mentioned an article in the South Dakota State University Collegian in which a female student complained that Halo was sucking up time rightly spent with girlfriends. A couple of weeks later, we mentioned a rebuttal, by Lady Rziha. Yesterday, the Collegian posted yet ANOTHER followup, again from a woman, condemning not the attitude of the gamers who responded the first time, but the responses themselves. “In the time it took each person to write a letter about the game, he or she could have donated cans to the food pantry, picked up trash outside of their house, or have been a mentor to a small child.” I gotta wonder… what could Sara have done in the time it took her to write this tirade? Next up – angry words from video game characters themselves, annoyed that people are manipulating them to make social points. It’s a game, folks.

Over on Bungie.net, there’s word of an art contest being sponsored by Bungie Fans Online – it’s Bungie-related, so it’s not necessarily ONLY Halo, though I’d be surprised if the majority of submissions weren’t about Halo. Prizes are ‘some Bungie stuff’ (not sure what that means, but that’s what the note says), and submissions are due by January 7, so you’ve got just over a month. Rules and details are in the b.net post. Thanks goes to Wild Bud on our forum for the heads-up.

Stuntmutt makes it clear in today’s One One Se7en that if you’re going to be punny, be sure you know your audience.

Seven new pieces in the Fan Fiction section today. Too late for lunchtime reading… unless you’re on the US west coast.

Hehe – Jim Shorts pointed out some photos showing a bunch of guys (presumably waiting to buy 360s last week) playing Halo 2 on the side of a Best Buy. Now THAT might make the time go faster!

Over in the UK, it looks like Halo 2 has been released as an ‘Xbox Classic’ (similar to the US ‘Platinum’ category?), and is selling for £16.99 (just under $30 US). That’s better than the US Amazon price of $33.95… though it wouldn’t pay to order from the UK, for a few reasons; it’s PAL, for one, so it won’t play in the standard NTSC Xbox, and the shipping would easily swamp your savings anyway. For UK Halo players, though, it’s a great deal! Thanks, Ross Mills. Update: Thanks to 3of9, who pointed out that here in the US, you can buy Halo 2 from Wal-Mart for just $17.82. Beat that, ya brits!

GameDaily has a My Turn column (written by Chance Thomas, a composer who’s worked on games like King Kong, X-Men, and Lord of the Rings), discussing how the videogame soundtrack is an underexploited market. Halo is held up as a shining example – go Marty!

UNSCDF has put up a legendary walkthrough of The Arbiter – it’s the fourth level they’ve posted. Check it out!

Word from Cybrfrk is that we’re getting short of movie reviewers for the MPRRS. He just added everyone in the queue, and pulled all those who weren’t actually submitting reviews… and the end result was a shortage of bodies. If you’re interested in participating, please fill out an application! (Remember, before you do, that the job tends to wear down even the most enthusiastic of watchers; a LOT of movies come through the system, and most of them require work. If you sign up, you’re agreeing to help the moviemakers improve their products by supplying them with constructive feedback… and to help the HBO staff by filtering the incoming movies to a more manageable volume.) Thanks in advance!

Nexus Beat sends word of a new tournament site – they’re starting with Halo and Halo 2, but they’ll be adding others down the road. Wasabi 360 has already gotten going with a 2v2 MLG-style tourney that’s pretty close to capacity – go check it out!

Over at Podtacular.com, you’ll find Episode 33 – where the talk ranges from 360 madness to halo 2 on the 360 to the latest news from the Halo community. 19.3 mb, 21 minutes. Go listen! Thanks, Foo Mo Jive.

Last week, Red vs Blue appeared on ‘Total Request Live‘, an MTV program. The team was interviewed about how the series is put together, and for fun they created a video involving TRL’s host. That video is now available for download for sponsors – it should be up for everyone in the next day or two. Thanks, Cramesta.

Stuntmutt explains why you should always know who you’re talking to, in today’s One One Se7en.

Eight new pieces for you in the Fan Fiction section today. Burn off some turkey calories by reading!

Man, I HATE rumors. I hate ’em because they travel around the net, and they take on a life of their own, and by the time they get back to you a second time, they’re fact, in the eyes of many who read them. I’m posting this because I want to make it clear that it’s a rumor – likely a rumor concocted by the website itself to generate traffic. If there’s any news on Halo 3, it will come out of Bungie – and we’ll be all over it like lions on wounded antelope. That said: PALGN is suggesting that the reason we haven’t heard anything from Bungie about Halo 3 is because Bungie isn’t MAKING Halo 3 – someone else is. Here’s the part I love:

Some Microsoft executives were not happy with Halo 2, in particular some of the repetitive level design. They want the game to be a PS3 killer, and believe another developer has more chance of making it that great a game.

Whatever you want to say about Bungie… you’re not gonna find a lot of prospects for a Microsoft-controlled studio that can do a better job with Halo 3. Until official information comes out about the game, however, I suppose it’s fair game for articles like this…

The guys over at UNSCDF have put up a new article… about a weapon that gets a half-sentence mention in Fall of Reach. It covers the HMG-38, an outmoded machine gun now in use by pirates. (I guess this should be classified as Fan Fiction?) Comments can go here.