Gaming Horizon has reviewed the Multiplayer Map Pack – they call it a ‘no-brainer’ twice, and their bottom line is ‘An all-around nice package’. I think they liked it.

My goodness – I’m not sure what happened, but it looks like I’ve taken the last 18 hours off, with respect to this website. Sorry! First up today – a movie that passed the MPRRS a couple of days ago; a third installment of Jamie98s’ Oh So Beautiful series. This one (Oh So Beautiful III) takes a 7:22 stroll through the single-player maps, looking for gorgeous scenery – and we all know, there’s plenty to find! You can grab this in WMP9 format (25.2 mb) or QuickTime format (26.3 mb). Enjoy!

For those who’d rather watch online, the Halo CE Chronicles season 2 episodes (10, 11, 12) are now available in streaming Flash format, in addition to the existing downloadable WMP9 and QuickTime formats. Check the HCEC website for details.

Kr4zed submitted his second montage to our peer review rating system, and got a passing grade – check it out! (Reviewers liked the synching and editing in general.) Available in both WMP9 format (42 mb) and QuickTime format (43 mb).

Stuntmutt has – check today’s One One Se7en.

Seems like song parodies are the new hot thing – there are a handful amongst the ten new pieces in the Fan Fiction section today. Go sing.

Over at This Spartan Life, you’ll find a new video blog – Damain lets you know what’s fun – and sometimes not so fun – about putting together a video talk show. Just hit the ‘blogs’ link! (10 mb, QuickTime format.)

Gametrailers has posted a video preview of the Multiplayer Map Pack – nice footage, mostly decent descriptions (Hehe – I liked that Gemini was influenced by ‘High Clarity’) – but their bottom-line advice: because the maps will be free by the end of August, buying them now is a waste of money. This download is about 40 mb, in QuickTime or WMP9 formats. Thanks, 3Suns.

There’s an article in today’s News Tribune (a Tacoma, WA newspaper) about machinima – and it comes with a great poster. Thanks to Ename Nep for the heads-up.

Trigger119 posted a note on our forum, pointing to a page on halomachinima.com; he’s made all the episodes to date of The Codex Series (17 in all) available in a format readable by your PSP. (There are also standard WMP9 and QuickTime mirror links, to take some of the strain off the Codex Series website.) Check it out!

There’s a nice radio interview with SketchFactor over on Majornelson.com – he’s released the podcast in both WMA format and MP3 format. The podcast is about 45 minutes long – the interview with Sketch starts around 18:30 in, and lasts about 20 minutes. It covers a variety of subjects – worth a listen! Thanks to Kevin Augspurger for the heads-up.

Ajay wrote to point out Halo2D, a 2D Halo game he’s working on. (A very early screenshot can be seen here.) You can download a really early version (it’s NOT done) off his website – he gives props to Halo: Resolution’s sprites. (This is PC-only.) Update: Turkman points out another 2D Halo game – this one based on the sprites from Halo: Blood Covenant. More info (and a site link) can be found in his forum post.

Continuing their ongoing “I want to see the sun rise against a horizon of floating hypodermic needles” travelogue, the RvB clan (somehow legitimizing their sorry drunken asses with “Rooster Teeth Productions”) will be appearing at Lincoln Center, Sunday, August 21st 6PM. You can buy tickets for their NYC Premiere showing of Season Three here.

Even if you already bought the DVD, the bonus here is that you’ll actually be seeing the ‘Director’s Cut’ which in this case seems to buck the trend and actually CUT material in order to increase the joke to checking-your-watch ratio. I guess on second pass it was time to nix Church’s sololiquy on armor-crotch rash.

I will definitely be there, and I urge any other local (or not so local) fans of RvB and Halo to make an appearance. If enough of us get together to show our appreciation for these guys and gals, I bet Burnie will buy us all a fifth of Southern Comfort like last time.

PraetoriaGuard has opened a new website – Halo2Cheaters.com. They want to provide a player-accessible database of cheaters; you can submit gamertags and game links, upload vids of cheaters, or just vent. (All reports will be reviewed by site admins before being made public; you won’t be able to accuse the guy who just pissed you off unless he really DID cheat.) They’re aware of the h2cheats@microsoft.com feedback address – but none of what goes there is made public; this gives the community a chance to see who’s who. The full press release is here, on the PraetoriaGuard forum – or just visit the new site. Update: Just found this post on our forum; looks like CarnageStats.com is helping, too. W00t!

MLGPro.com has started up a new weekly feature, to be posted on Fridays – it’s called ‘Editor’s Corner’, and it gives Dyslexia a place to hold forth on topics of interest. This week’s rant (posted on Sunday, accidentally) looks at the recent AutoUpdate – or, more accurately, at the reaction it’s received on forums around the net. It’s a surprising read – here’s a guy who is fully immersed in the MLG culture – he provides the majority of the content on the MLG website these days – writing that people in general, and MLGers in specific, should take a step back and stop hating Bungie for dumb reasons. Whoa. (I’m POSITIVE he’s gonna get a lot of flak for this one – but I agree with almost everything he says, and applaud him for saying it.) Thanks to 3Suns for the heads-up.

duderlock wanted us to point out that the GameRiot tour will be hitting the House of Blues in LA this week – visiting will give you the chance to play against Zyos; score 3 point, win 6 months of Gamefly rentals… beat him, get $100, an MTV jacket, and an MLG management contract. This is true – but it’s also true everywhere GameRiot goes; there are still plenty of cities left to challenge him in. Check out the tour schedule! (So far, 3 people have garnered management contracts in this competition, the latest in St. Joseph, MI, last week. You can read about it in the blog of BJ, the site host.)

RmicF is working on a Halo vid, and looking for help. You can see some renders of the work done so far in his forum post – looks promising!

*Butcher interviewed Foxygrandpa117 (I refuse to write it the way he did), and posted the result on our forum. Just turned 15… and has been part of the tricking scene for a while, is going to tournaments, it’s interesting. Go read.

rockslider continues to add battle plans to his Rockslide Megabattle site – check this forum post for details. Great to see this stuff is still being refined!

Patriarch917 continues his Halo Parody spree – the latest entry is ‘My SMGs’, a takeoff of Green Day’s ‘Minority’. It weighs in at 2.4 mb, and you can find a download link – and lyrics – on his music page. (His email address is at the top of the page, if you want to let him know what you think of these songs.)