rockslider continues his study of ways to fight lots and lots and lots of enemies in Halo (the original, not Halo 2) – his latest update looks at Assault on the Control Room, and a number of enjoyable scenarios you can set up. Check it out!

Boxer found a pair of Halo Kubricks on eBay – this one has a starting bid of $60, with four and a half days left on the auction (no bids yet), and this one has a current bid of $50, with almost 6 days left on the auction. Seems rather expensive for a small plastic toy the seller got for free – but hey, that’s capitalism, right?

Couple of tournaments we heard about recently – HaLyCoN mentioned GTA’s Finest, for clans in the Greater Toronto area this June – $1000 for first place, but no word on what it costs to get in…. and Ryan Burke writes to tell us about a tourney hosted by the Carlsbad Christian Assembly, in Carlsbad, CA – April 1, entrance is $2, prize for the grand champion, proceed to go to the Speed the Light foundation.

prometheus writes to point out that he’s posted an interview with Blackstar, a longtime community member and filmmaker, at his Tru7h and Rationalization blog. Go read!

Sparky points out that his Guide to Halo 2 Covenant Vehicles is now posted at TalkXbox.com. Go read!

The writeup isn’t up yet on Bungie.net – but it looks like Bungie took a BEATING in last night’s Halo Humpday Challenge. (There’s a little bit of trash talking amongst some of the players in that thread – but mostly it’s just bitterness, I think. I’d say I have to give Shishka the points for the cheapest shot.) We’ll let you know when Frankie’s post-mortem goes live – should be a fun read.(There’s also this thread – sounds like these guys were… um, pretty good.)

Thanks to a whole lot of people (the first that I saw was weasel032) who pointed us to this post on Bungie.net, where Frankie announces that the upcoming Halo 2 update will add a 2 vs. 2 playlist. Looks like specific info on the update is finally starting to appear!

RibsMaster dropped off another 20 dialogue snippets for our Dialogue Databank. That Johnson character… he can be rude.

Looks like Microsoft is moving the Bungie team from their digs in the Redmond Millenium campus into the Kirkland Hardware Store, in Kirkland, WA (a few miles away). Apparently, they’re growing out of their existing space, and this is a way to keep them together as a team. (Of course, it separates them from the REST of the MS-based game developers… but hey, nobody liked those guys anyway.) The move should take place later this year, once renovations on the Kirkland property are complete. Thanks, orion 12.

A couple of months ago, in response to some overenthusiastic ‘win at all costs’ techniques used to pull easter eggs out of Halo 2, Marty O’Donnell posted a note on our forum talking about the mystique behind eggs, and why you shouldn’t try to ‘brute-force’ them. To soften the reprimand, he tossed out a couple of teasers – hints to eggs that hadn’t been found. One of those teasers fell to egghunters just a couple of weeks later – but the other one stood until today. (Well… it’s possible that it’s STILL standing; Phatcorns post isn’t fully clear, and even his later explanation shows that the triggers for this bit aren’t known yet.) Regardless… it’s always cool when an easter egg comes to light. (This post isn’t being marked as ‘spoiler’ material, because in order to be spoiled, you have to actually follow those links. Use your willpower if you don’t want that.)

SonGoharotto posted a link to a page that contains some of his favorite custom gametypes – looks like some nice ones in there!

Stuntmutt takes a look at his clan’s online performance in today’s One One Se7en. Been there, felt that.

More blog action around the Haloverse:

• nof is unhappy with matchmaking. (He also had something to say recently about the state of Halo moviemaking.)
• Saint[lpn] rants about the DLC issue, and various forms of government, over at Sanction Three.
• Narcogen puts forward his own thoughts on Halo moviemaking (this one’s a monster read, and brings up a number of good points).

I’m loving the whole Halo blog idea; it gives people a chance to speculate on topics that might not be appropriate for forums, or might get lost too quickly in a more fluid environment. Go read – and think!

Looks like another Halo tourney in Wayne, NJ this weekend. 2v2, $25 to enter, they’re shooting for a $500 prize for first place. Details in this forum post, or at Cybrconxion.com.

Mike Miller continues his dash through Halo 2 Legendary – literally. Quarantine Zone has been posted… and (like last week) Mike’s decided that discretion is the better part of valor. Translated, that means ‘run like hell’. I couldn’t help thinking about all the lucky rocket shots that took me out during parts of this level, and how you might find yourself doing it more than once… but all in all, it’s a pretty speedy way through. Don’t get comfortable thinking that running will always get you out of trouble, though – Gravemind is next, and there ain’t no easy way out. For now, though – go check out Quarantine Zone on crank!

XBL-base Halo 2 cheating gets a wider audience, with an article in the April 2005 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine. (We can’t bring you scans of EGM any more, by their request – but you can find this on your local newsstand.) There’s nothing in the article that hasn’t been seen online… but it’s notable simply because the problem was given a full page in a major US gaming mag. Thanks, ChaotikZero1.

As some of you might have noticed, the Fan Fiction section went offline yesterday. This is because the T1 that fed the wireless bridge connecting Subnova’s Core to the internet was turned off. All local (to Subnova HQ) servers – like the one hosting HBO’s Fan Fiction section – are offline, until a replacement can be found. Services hosted elsewhere – Subnova’s main website, the IRC network – should still be online (or, more accurately, should be reachable again). We apologize for the downtime – we’re doing the best we can.

Darkphibre has updated his Halo Statistics program – version 2.2 now works with Bungie’s adjusted feeds, and has a bunch of new features. Read his forum post for details, including a screenshot and a download link. Update: I almost forgot – Darkphibre would love help getting the word out about this tool. He’s only ever announced it here – but he feels that it’s finally stable and user-friendly enough for wider coverage.

Wow – if you’re one of those people that has to have EVERY Halo action figure… break out that wallet. Gamestop is offering a couple of case packs; you can buy the Halo 2 Warthog Battle Damaged Case Pack, with 12 warthogs total (six regular, four battle-damaged assault hogs, and two civilian hogs), for just over $100… or the Halo 2 Spartan Battle Damage Case Pack, with 6 figures in 3 colors (only $90 for this one). Wonga! Thanks, littlebigman.