Ask, and ye shall receive (sometimes). BLOODLUST visited our forum this morning, asking if anyone had high-quality versions of the Difficulty badges visible at the start of Halo. Back in February, we’d posted a composite made by taking screenshots, then extracting the images… it worked, but the quality wasn’t very good. Dave Candland took time out today to send along much prettier versions. You can snag a high-quality jpeg (45K), or a zipped, layered Photoshop document (499k). Use them in good health!

Wednesday’s Fan Fiction offerings:

• Halo: Apocalyptic wars Chapter 2, by Flood impalor
• HALO A New War of old Enemy’s Part 1, by Jeff Graham
• Halo Side Story Chapter Five, by Jordan Dotson
• Revolution 2 Return of the Forerunner Part 4, by Gruntkiller

Just a few to read… Update: Neco Divad sent Chapter 3 of his ‘An Elites Legend’ series 3 days ago, but his ISP failed to deliver it until today; I’m tacking it onto this collection.

Whoa. Dave Candland, in response to a forum thread, has put up a new desktop on Bungie’s Tru7h and Reconciliation site (it’s the last one on the page). WARNING – large spoilers are here for anyone who still hasn’t played the game. For all others, though, this is a masterpiece of work from Craig Mullins, and deserves a home on your desktop.

The massive Halo 2 preview in the November 2002 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly is now available in our Press Scans section. The December issue hit the shelves today, so we can bring you the info-rich article from last month; if you like this article, consider subscribing to the magazine. Overall gaming coverage is pretty high, and if you’d subscribed, you’d have seen this almost 6 weeks ago.

I’ve brought the Movie database up to the present, including a new movie (one we’re not hosting) showing a 16-second warthog jump. You’ll find mirror lists to the recent Jackass and Winter Season Promo films, as well as a few other recent entries. If all goes well, there might even be another one later today. Next up: the Miscellaneous section (woefully behind; almost 3 months out of date). Warning: The new warthog jump film starts with a rather risque clip; right out of a porn movie, as a matter of fact (though with the naughty bits blacked out). Just a quick note in case you’re watching with someone who might not appreciate this…

Over at bungie.net, Dave Candland mentions a new Chapter Theme available for use on your 7th Column chapter site. You can see it in action here. It’s a tad dark… but pretty nicely done!

Stormsinger cranks out another awesome desktop image of the as-yet unseen Heavy Destroyer Phelios… go check our Wallpaper section. Wow.

Gasmask has turned the Halo vehicles into commodities; you can find his work in the Miscellaneous Art section. (For what it’s worth, this has been done before; Germain Couët sent in a pair about 7 months ago.)

StarWarsFanMan has added to the list of mirrors for the Jackass movie. Reminds me I forgot to actually make a mirrors list… tomorrow, I promise. Meanwhile, if you haven’t seen this yet, go visit the Green Marines!

The weekend’s Fan Fiction, bundled up:

• Outlaw, chapter 5, by Chris Cassani
• Halo 2: A New Hope, by Sephiroth
• He’s Baaaaaack! Chapter 2, by Killer_Fairy
• The Time Vortex: Part 1, by Arthur Wellesly
• Perfection: Parts 5-7, by Vincent Smith
• Halo: Apocalyptic wars Chapter 1, by Flood impalor
• The New Reach Campaigns Final Chapter, by Gasmask

Go for it!

Cybrfrk has again updated the Gameplay Tips section – the Site Map is now complete. If you’re a tip submitter, you can use this page to determine what areas of the database are short of tips, and submit information in those areas! Thanks.

Eric Nylund described a special Spartan insignia in ‘The Fall of Reach’:

      There was a special insignia on his uniformed [sic] as well: a golden eagle poised with its talons forward—ready to strike. The bird clutched a lightning bolt in one talon and three arrows in the other.

Warbow has created this patch, for any wannabe Spartans to use – you’ll find it in our Miscellaneous Art section.

GameSplurge put up a Halo 2 Preview this weekend. Nothing new, but hey, previews are previews, right? Thanks to Battleground: Halo for the heads-up.

Sean Smith writes to tell us that Matt Soell will be on The Gamesome Mac, a weekly Mac gaming radio program, tonight. Broadcast is 6-8 pm PST on Monday, November 4 (that means it starts at 9 pm on the east coast, and at 2 am Tuesday, UTC.) If you miss it, archives are kept. Discussed tonight will be (among other things) the Mac version of Halo. Check it out!

Another regular heard from… and another iGames qualifier loss. Vector40 described his Saturday, competing for entrance to the iGames Halo Winter Season. They won their first game (as did Team OvK), and lost their second (as did OvK). Good read, and some decent pointers for folks looking for advice on team games.

Dolbex wrote to say that a recent poll at the Halo50K site (‘What’s your favorite board to play on?’) showed that a huge majority loves Blood Gulch. Check out all the results, they might surprise you!

cobaltnova popped on to the forum yesterday to describe the next tournament his group his hosting. This one’s called the HALO: Killtacular Invitational, and top prize is $1000. If Phoenix, AZ is within your visiting range, be there on January 11.

Ouch. Team Overkill beat themselves, it sounds like… a depressing account of the first qualifying round of the iGames Winter Season. On the plus side, they’ve included a link to a copy of Halo for just $29.99, certianly the cheapest I’ve ever seen it. (You have to put it in your cart to see that price. You can always delete it later.)

Chekov writes that he’d created an Elite costume for Halloween, but didn’t have the nerve to wear it… but sent in a shot of his friend Charles modelling it.

FloodSpecies writes to let us know of a new website; Halo: Installations & Evolution is a roleplaying group based on the Halo universe. The website isn’t finished yet, but you can get a taste for what’s coming. Check it out!