A pretty dark image for you today in the Wallpaper section…

Team Overkill has created an Expression for AOL Instant Messenger based on this site. It’s being hosted by AIM Buddy Expressions, on this page… but there are no previews there, so we’ve put one up here. This work was done with the help of Nick.

Nick found a pretty cool-looking UT2k3 version of Hang ’em High… someone’s putting a lot of time into making it right. The thread (with a number of screens) can be found here. You’ll need to register to view the site, so here’s a link to one of the images, so you can get a better sense for what’s being shown (and a local copy, in case that one goes away).

In time for next week’s perliminary round of the iGames Halo Winter Season, Bungie has posted a Team Tournament Strategy Guide. Complete with very nice overhead shots of the three maps to be used in the qualifiers, this guide should help you and your team enter the fray with s7yle. Check it out!

StarWarsFanMan pointed out a snippet of dialog we missed on the second level of Halo (you only hear it if you don’t climb into the Warthog when Foe Hammer drops it off). We’ve added it to the Halo level transcript.

Two new Fan Fiction authors:

• The Story of Elite 117, by Linda Scanlon
• Perfection Parts 1-4, by Vincent Smith

Go check ’em out…

Did someone blow it? Was Silent Cartographer a doomed mission from the very start? Are courts-martial in order? Be sure to watch Combat History, this week on VisionStar. (Thanks to Travis Cossel, who captured this 40-second, 6.7 mb QT version of the trailer.)

Warbow started a movie based off of School House Rock… but never really got anywhere. The splash screen is great, though.

HaloJuggaloProductions has redone the site (again). There’s a little bit of new content, even.

Just a couple of Fan Fiction pieces for you today:

• Outlaw, part 3, by Chris Cassani
• Halo 2: Return of Death, part 3, by Lord Dagon

Go get ’em…

One Miscellaneous Art submission today…

Today’s desktop submissions can now be found in our Wallpaper section.

Pretty cool pic added to the Phoenix Posthumous Artwork page – though I’d have to question the text that goes along with it. look for dosaphoenix.jpg if the link doesn’t take you all the way down to the bottom…

dolbex points out that the Halo50K preregistration database is now online. It starts with a survey – they’re trying to get an idea about how much interest there is. (After the survey, you’re given a chance to preregister your team; this isn’t the stage at which you need to pay or anything.) Stop by and fill it out!

Gotta love it when the big boys are months behind. Today, Macworld UK posted an article about a talk they had ‘recently’ with Peter Tamte, president of Destineer Studios, and Bold, the company that will publish the Mac version of Halo. The information seems a tad out of date:

“Halo for the Mac will be released in summer 2003 simultaneously with the PC release, and will very much be a multiplayer thing. PC and Mac users will be able to play Halo online against each other. It’s unclear yet whether it will be possible to play against Xbox users, because the Xbox uses a different set of controls.”

Tamte went on to confirm that the Bungie team responsible for Halo is now working on Halo 2, and discussed the way the game is being ported: “Westlake is doing the Mac port. The company is working with the PC code produced by Gearbox for the PC port of the title. Westlake will begin work in mid-September”.

That’s what he told bungie.org’s Freewill in July, Inside Mac Games in August, and MacGamer in September… and what’s with the future tense about the Westlake start date? (Well, to be fair, the possibility that the PC and Xbox versions might be able to play together is new; up until now, the answer has been a flat-out ‘no’.) Thanks to Harry Al-Shakarchi for the heads-up on this one.

Since the Xbox Live Bootcamp summary went online yesterday, two other writeups have come to light. (One was just published, the other I just found.) We’ll be keeping up on these; as new ones come up, we’ll add them to the list. In theory, there will be about a dozen when all is said and done. Right now there are 8.

Dang, and it’s times like these I wish I had a webcam. BOLL has created yet another Flash masterpiece; this one’s a bit larger (640K), and requires that you have a webcam attached to your PC… but if you do, you can put your own face behind the visor of the Master Chief! (Three different image options.) Check it out.

Emildux has written up the Running Riot Invitational Summary, complete with pictures – this was the $1000 first prize competition we mentioned recently. Take a look!

This came in a little while ago, but I forgot about it. 🙁 Jiberish Halo Productions has put together a little vid called ‘Halo – Session‘. It’s in .wmv format, 2:31 long, and weighs in at 12.5 mb. Mostly, it’s a demonstration of what you can do with 400% health, a lot of rockets and grenades, and some careful shooting. We’ve put it up on mythica.org. If you like this, visit Jiberish’s video page; there are a number of other similar films.

A happy birthday wish to Stefan Sinclair! (Earlier today, the Bungie webcam text read ‘HappyBD2me :O)’ – it’s since been shortened to ‘:O)’. *Ar-Isildur speculated from the smiley that this was written by Stefan… and a quick check confirmed this.) Have a Surly Dwarf Ale for all the fans!