Eric Gandhi sent in a new desktop for our database – you’ll find it in the Wallpaper section. Nice and blue…

Three new fan fics this evening (though one is actually a concatenation of a pair of submissions; they both came before I got to this update, and the second was too short to stand alone, and they’re both part of the same story…)

• ODST Saga, Chapter 2, by Robo42786
• Well Enough Alone, Part III, by Ryan
• Halo: Combat Revolved, by eL diAbLo

Check ’em all out (and keep up the comments!) in our Fan Fiction section.

Macgamer.com has put up an interview with Peter Tamte, of Destineer Studios… and while this shouldn’t even need to be said, it does:

One thing which Mac Halo naysayers tend to focus on is, even though Bungie has stated repeatedly that Halo will come to Mac, Microsoft pulls the financial strings (suggesting that it’s not for Bungie to say one way or another if a Mac version can or will get made). When you say that you “know this to be true” about Halo for Mac, is this because of Bungie’s assertion of it or because Microsoft has been clear with you about it? Or something else?

Anybody who has asserted that Microsoft will prevent Halo from shipping on the Macintosh is not well informed. Making Halo available for Macintosh is a promise that was made by Ed Fries, the VP who manages all of Microsoft’s games software, on stage with Steve Jobs at Macworld Expo.

This, of course, won’t actually make a difference with the hardcore doubters… but hey, we don’t have a copy of PC Halo to rub their noses in yet, so this’ll have to do. Go read the rest of the interview – it’s good to hear what Tamte’s got going!

Xbox.com reports that according to NPDFunworld (the folks who keep track of video game sales), Halo has sold over one million copies to date… and has become the fastest million-unit seller ever for any next-gen console. (‘Next-gen console’ means PS2, GameCube, Xbox.)

Statistically, this means that more than six copies of Halo: Combat Evolved have been sold every minute of every day since its launch on Nov. 15, 2001.

In the UK, 86 percent of all Xbox system purchasers bought Halo – whoa. The big question, though, is… how many of them get their Halo news here?

Jeff Green, who wrote an editorial at Gamers.com yesterday, predicting that PC Halo would be cancelled after all, stopped by our forum to clarify his position. Seems he DOES want to see Halo on a PC – he’s just afraid that MS wants to milk the Xbox dollars as much as they can before allowing the PC users to get their hands on this one. (It’s not an uncommon belief, actually, though Bungie would tell you that the current lack of a PC version stems more from… well, from it not being done than it does from any nefarious plot by Microsoft.) Here’s hoping Mr. Green’s pessimism is unfounded!

When Brian Josselyn, of Blackstar Productions, released ‘Halo: The Movie‘, a ‘trailer’ of a ficticious Halo movie, Bungie employee Dave Candland asked, “Want a job at MS marketing? ;)” He was kidding… but Brian’s most recent production, ‘Halo: The Movie Teaser’, shows it wasn’t a fluke. If Bungie ever DOES make this movie, the advertising work is well underway. 🙂 You can find this latest movie (1:34, 10.6 mb, QT5) at Brian’s mac.com space, or at mythica.org (with perpetual thanks to Brian Towne). We’ll set up a mirror page as soon as a few folks volunteer to help with this puppy (hint, hint). Check it out – you won’t regret the download. ObSpoilerWarning: There are minor spoilers here, though nothing as strong as the first one. (Which we forgot to warn you of. Sorry…) Finally, Brian has also put together a newsletter to give people some more information about what he does – you can find it here.

Purgatory has created some Master Chief artwork (both alone an as a poster) we’ve added all 5 variations to the Miscellaneous Art page.

A sizeable Fan Fiction collection for you tonight:

• ODST Saga, Chapter 1, by Robo42786
• The Saga Continues: Halo 2, by Edward Parker
• Roughneck Two-Zero, Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, by Anthony Coronado
• Damuis, by Mr Bill Jr V
• Effusion, Chapter 3, by Tursas
• In The Beginning, by Kellen Squire
• The Past, by SkyRyan1
• The Long Ride Home, by Joshua Barreto

The collection grows… and grows… and grows…

Florian writes to tell us about HalosHome.de (also reachable at HaloSource.de), a new German Halo site. Check it out!

Apologies for the news blackout of the last 36 hours – HBO HQ was host to a 15-player lanfest yesterday (guests started arriving at 9 am, we closed the last door around 11 pm), so updating took a second seat. 🙂 In that time, Computer Gaming World columnist Jeff Green put up an article at Gamers.com in which he (once again) called into question the PC versions of Halo. Bungie’s own Matt Soell commented on Mr. Green’s words on our forum this morning… but we’re still intrigued about the Halo ‘announcement’ happening at a Microsoft party in San Francisco this week. More details when we find them… (Thanks to Cesar Berardini, of TeamXbox, who provided us with the first heads-up on this issue.)

A month ago, Xbox Au posted a Halo review – they said it was derivative, but gave it a 9.4. They’ve now yanked that review, and written a new one – score has dropped to 8.8. (They were unhappy with the short replay value. Guess nobody told them about the exploration possibilities.) We’ve adjusted our Reviews database accordingly.

New Wallpapers at Bungie’s Tru7h and Reconciliation site – six images, in four resolutions each. (Spoiler warning is necessary for the last one.) Check ’em out!

Heh – it’s not every day that fans find out something that BUNGIE didn’t know… three weeks ago, Matt Soell created the Rumor Control Database in an effort to debunk the most common (false) rumors concerning Halo that have been circulating the internet. One of the most persistent has been “If you beat the game on Normal, then on Legendary, all in 3 hours, you’ll get a third weapon.” Matt’s response?

“Nope. You’ll always have a two-weapon limit.”

Heh – today, Reckless Angel posted a note to our forum stating that this was not true… and 12 hours and 8 minutes later, Frogblast posted video proof of his claim. Turns out it’s a timing issue, and getting that third weapon depends on beating a timed checkpoint… but apparently, it’s not so tough to beat. The fans of this game continue to amaze me. (In all fairness, this glitch will turn up on no other level, because there is nowhere else that you start with no weapons. However, you CAN play an entire level of Halo – 10% of the game – with three weapons instead of two… and that’s just plain cool.)

Loren Judah has turned in another desktop image – this time Hunter-based. You’ll find it (in two resolutions) in our Wallpaper section.

Another pair of Halo reviews has come to our attention: Xbox Advanced and Gamespot UK. We’ve added both to the Reviews database. Thanks to EssBee and DT_Spike, respectively, for the heads-ups.

Tarrsk posted a very nice MC sketch to our forum – we’ve added it (and two partial sketches, showing the progress of the work) to our Miscellaneous Art section.

The daily Fan Fiction influx:

• Banserki’s Journal, Part 4, by Sarge
• The Hell of War, Part 4, by Jaywhit10
• Covenant War, by Slith
• The Rookie, Part 2, by The British Commando
• Order of the Seraphim, Part 3, by Jehkoh

I’m also impressed by the level of feedback being given on the Fan Fiction entries – nice job, all around!

Yes, it took FOREVER – but the Gameplay Tricks queue is CLEARED! There are 10 new entries, almost all from new tricksters – the collection is seriously eclectic. 8 new tricksters, 9 maps covered… explore. Highlights for me included the cool teleporting marines glitch on Silent Cartographer and the gorgeous vistas found above the waterfall on Halo… but it’s all good. Go check it out! (One-Shots should be coming in the next few days… if all goes well.)

Djoey.154 sends in version 2 of his Halo Winamp skin – again, since we don’t have a downloads section, you’ll find this in the Miscellaneous Art section.

The Japanese box art for Halo on Xbox is up at the Japanese Amazon web site. Check it out here. Pax.