Jamie Noguchi’s brother works for Bungie. Jamie writes a comic called Angry Zen Master. Jamie’s latest strip takes a calculated, insider look at Bungie’s latest doings – go read. And if you’re disappointed that the secret’s out… blame Jamie’s brother Mat. That guy just can’t keep his mouth shut. (Thanks, mnemesis.)

Last month, we posted a short trailer for ‘Noobs, Experts, and In Between’ – it hadn’t passed the MPRRS, but I liked it, and it had been close. The creator has redone it a bit, and this time it DID pass – so we’re hosting ANOTHER copy. 1:16 long, 4.3 mb in WMP9 format, or 4.1 mb in QuickTime format. Enjoy!

Playfeed wrote a review of Halo 2 that starts with “Last week I found Halo 2 in a Limited Collectors Edition tin a pawn show for $15 bucks…” – what blew the reviewer away was how much fun the game actually was. He admits that he ridiculed the game when it came out, entirely because of the massive hype… but he now regrets that. Interesting!

Two more of the high-quality flythrough trailers, commissioned by Microsoft, have been released – Gametrailers.com has both HD (640×472) and regular (480×360) sizes, in both WMP9 and QuickTime, while TeamXbox has 640×480 WMP9 versions. The Turf film, in particular, is a fantastic example of how to marry audio to video, even without ‘action’. Thanks to all who let us know – 3Suns was first. Update: These are available for Gamespot Complete members, as well, over at Gamespot. (No streaming versions yet.) Thanks, Kliend. If you want streaming, head over to IGN. Update 2: Both Sanctuary and Turf are also available, in the 640×480 WMP9 versions, at CANOE.

Stryke Force has posted a teaser for episode 6 on their website – the WMP9 is up now, and weighs in at 8.5 mb. The QuickTime should be up soon, at roughly the same size. They’re also recruiting for an XBL clan, so if you like their stuff, check out the clan!

DoctorEvol pointed out a site called ‘Kiss The Chief‘… a series of pics of the MC, after he gets out of the military and stops working out. Bizarre stuff.

I think this was the last big challenge from Halo, trick-wise… Ms. Man has gotten to the bottom of Truth and Reconciliation, in single-player. (He did this in Co-op mode back in October.) You can find the vid in WMP9 format linked off the High Impact Halo forum (26.6 mb), or grab a QuickTime version from bungie.org (27.5 mb). Warning: the music will make your brain explode. And not in a good way.

LordGideon has written up Lesson 3 of his Video Production Guide – this one looks at how to use Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5, for folks who want to take a step up from Windows Movie Maker. Clear, concise, helpful – go give it a read!

Hardcore sends along word of a Halo 2 4v4 Slayer tourney hosted by Storm Gaming Ladders – more details can be found on their website. $1/player, money is due by July 31. Go look!

They say it’s not cheating, really – but it can be pretty darn annoying. What? Well, you’ll have to read One One Se7en to find out.

DarkChief writes to point out First Drop, a fanfic he’s writing on his website, Halotips.net. Give it a look! (Check out the rest of the site while you’re there.) Update: eep, looks like his account has gotten suspended. Skip this one for now – it’ll be back soon.

Marl heard one too many Livers call someone a n00b – and snapped. You can read his rant on his Xanga site.

The top two guys on Project Torlan (the Halo to UT total conversion project) have dropped out, for personal reasons, which will likely bring this project to an end, though they still plan on releasing most of their work in development this summer. Sadness. Thanks to zugy for the heads-up.

Time for bed, here… but before I go, something that’s been in the works for quite some time. The Fan Fiction section has been moved – it’s now hosted on a far more robust connection, and the code has all been rewritten in php. Should look (mostly) the same – well, the huge page listing is gone at the top of the main page, and some of the search functions are a little more interesting – but the downtime should stop happening. There’s no guarantees I got everything right, so if you run into a problem, please let me know. Otherwise, though, go read the eight new stories posted this evening.

In honor of Father’s Day here in the US (a holiday my family usually gives pretty minimal attention to, except for this year, it seems), HBO is going to take the day off. I’ll be back posting later tonight or tomorrow – apologies for the downtime!

A bit ago, we heard from Juan Martinez, who was working on another Rocket Launcher model. (We mentioned one last month.) Yesterday, he sent us pictures – that thing looks pretty cool! Check it out.

Steve The Plank released ‘Sin City: Trailer’ last week over at High Impact Halo; it was greeted with approval. He submitted it to the Movie Peer Review Rating System, where it was ALSO greeted with approval. For anyone who hasn’t seen it yet – you can grab the original WMP9 (6.8 mb), or a cropped (to get rid of a lot of the extra black space – actual film size hasn’t changed one pixel) QuickTime (also 6.8 mb) from our servers. Nicely captures the grit of the Sin City movie, with great editing and a close attention to the original trailer.

Over at Rampancy.net, Narcogen takes a close look at the recent rumors swirling around about Halo 3, taking them apart point by point. He doesn’t have any more (or less) info about this stuff than anyone else on the net – he just seems to have his feet more firmly on the ground than many. Read this post, if you’re at ALL thinking that the current rumors might be true. It contains something relatively important in the analysis of rumors… common sense.

Gravity lets us know that HALOader, a stats program, has been updated – it now handles gamer comparisons. Swing by and give it a look!

The Codex, Episode 14, has been released – this one keeps getting better. Great filming, great voice work, an interesting storyline. Nice cliffhanger, even. Go watch – and let ’em know what you think! (QuickTime and WMP9 formats.)