Remember that Microsoft survey we mentioned last week? In the latest Rumor Control article, Gamespot uses it as a jumping-off spot for wild speculation that Microsoft might be considering a ‘strategy-based simulation game’ centered on Halo. (Yeah, they say ‘it’s bogus’ – but who came up with in the first place? THEY DID.) Thanks, KP.

Okay, people do lots of things to get on the news page here… but the latest episode of Resolute is just… wrong. You should tell ÜberChief that.

The next chapter of the Halo CE Chronicles, Episode 15, Conflict, has been posted over at the HCEC website. The action heats up – an extraction goes bad, and the Spartan is left to fend for himself. As usual, it’s available in WMP9, QuickTime, and streaming Flash formats. Go watch!

Over at H2Wiki, there’s a nice article from LegendaryMark entitled ‘What makes a great Halo 2 Multiplayer Gamer?‘ As you might expect from the title, it looks at some of the things that make good gamers great – and points out why you might be stuck where you are, level-wise, until you rethink your gameplay strategies. Go read!

ST stopped by our forum to point out an article on his blog about the Map Pack. The beautiful thing about the internet is the variety of perspectives… I was reading through his reasons for liking (or not liking) the maps, and I couldn’t find a single one I fully agreed with. However, he did a great job of explaining WHY he holds the opinions he does – and it’s clear to me that we just have very, very, VERY different playstyles (and likes). Go check it out – and give him your own opinions!

Stuntmutt takes aim at the newest wearables in the Bungie Store in today’s One One Se7en.

Just six new entries in the Fan Fiction collection today – go see what’s there!

Chris Remo, of Shacknews, got a chance to play a new iteration of Stubbs The Zombie, Wideload’s Halo-engined undead romp, at QuakeCon this weekend. He’d been worried – he played it at GDC a few months ago, and had been disappointed. This time around, though, he had a lot of fun – go read why. Good to hear! Thanks to Rampancy.net for noticing this.

The 2old2play LAN party we mentioned last month went down this past weekend – and by all accounts, it was a blast. (I ran into Doodi on XBL last night, and there should be some fun footage coming from it in the not-too-distant future.) XerxDeej was one of the attendees… and you can check out HIS experience on his Tied the Leader blog.

Another piece of Tina Leyk art surfaces – this one was a birthday present for a friend – his furry avatar, clothed in spartan armor. Fun! Check it out on her fan art page.

A couple of weeks ago, we mentioned Halo patches from the Boy Scout National Jamboree – thanks to contractor, from Red vs Blue, who had a complete set, you can see what all three looked like. Nice! Update: DOH! I forgot to actually link to them. Sorry.

If you head over to MLGPro.com, you’ll find lots of results from MLG Las Vegas – looks like TmG Zyos won the free-for-all and TmG (Trademark Gamers, the newest iteration of Str8 Rippin) is set up against IgameSpot in the finals for the Winners bracket. (Team 3D, coming off their Philly loss, went to a World Cyber Games event this weekend instead.) There’s tons more info – here’s a full list of tidbits. Thanks, 3Suns.

Chairleg Productions came out of – well, pretty much nowhere a couple of days ago with their well-received Tale of Two Countries. Today, they’re back, with another MPRRS-approved film, this one called ‘Nephrons – Minus Six’. It’s not yet Episode One, and indeed you will one day have the opportunity to meet a real-life Nephron… in the meantime, get acquainted with Jimmy, and the rest of the cast! WMP9 format (31 mb) or QuickTime format (28.4 mb).

MasterToad points out another Halo-related comic – the latest episode of Hypercombofinish looks at games in our future.

Patriarch917 has submitted what he thinks might be his final parody (at least for the time being) – he and his wife just had a second baby (check out the pic of Lily on his music page), and law school starts today. This one is called ‘A Sniper Shot Me‘, and is a parody of Audio Adrenaline’s Christian rock anthem ‘Some kind of Zombie’. 6.6 mb, in MP3 format. Check it out!

Midnight Carnage, of the Final Supremacy team, submitted Lost Stratosphere Episode 1 to our Movie Peer Review Rating System a couple of days ago – they liked it… a lot. Go grab The Fall of Eagle Base, the first chapter in a Cov vs Human conflict machinima, in either WMP9 (50.9 mb) or Quicktime (50.7 mb) formats.

Friday’s PvP pointed out one of the more annoying types of Halo players – thanks, Rota Jota.

This went live a few days ago, but the primary domain name hadn’t resolved when LordGideon pointed it out, so I decided to wait – then I forgot. Thanks to Manual, of PraetoriaGuard, for reminding me. Swing by Halo2Gametypes.com, a new website from the PraetoriaGuard clan (you can access their family of sites from their webring). This site is another storage repository for Halo 2 Gametypes (as the name might suggest) – the interface matches what you get when you’re setting up a gametype in Halo 2, and the existing types can be rated by visitors. Use it to inspire you!

The New York Times has an article on how life is more cushy than expected for some GIs in Iraq – and Halo figures prominently. (Free registration required – or use bugmenot.com) Thanks, OP4 Trajan.

Wonga. Took the day off yesterday… and the mailbox is flooded. Let’s see what we can get through. First up: ZKP writes to say that he and a group of friends are making a Halo mod for Age of Kings: The Conquerers. You can find basic info on their website – I’m sure more info will be forthcoming. Halo – it’s everywhere!