TeamXbox has an article about the cooperative agreement between Microsoft and Del Rey books – based on the success of ‘Halo: The Fall of Reach’, Del Rey plans to put out 2-3 more books this fall, and 6 titles in 2003. Most interesting to readers of THIS site:

Three new novels are tentatively planned for release beginning in Fall 2002. […] Finally, a new Halo novel will feature a storyline that follows-up and significantly expands upon events in HALO: THE FALL OF REACH.

No word yet on who’s writing it. Nice pickup by Eric Salzman!

Tom’s Hardware Guide has put up an article on the Xbox, and includes a 2-page overview of Halo, among other games. It’s not really a review… but it’s a nice read, written from a hardware junkie’s perspective. They liked it. (Thanks to XNOR for pointing it out, and DeAdLy_cOoKiE (whoa, twice in a week) for pinpointing it.)

Even more mirrors! First, for Cal’s Blood Gulch Tower movie:

• Unsys.com (thanks, Doum)
• Mythica.org (thanks again, Brian)

One more Warthog Jump mirror has surfaced, as well – Rampancy.net is serving up the hi-res version. (Thanks!) We’ll compile full mirror lists for both movies later today.

Heh – very cool. Deimosâ„¢, of Subnova, has managed to get the Warthog back to the very start of the level Halo – follow this link, then head to the bottom of his ‘Halo fun page’ for a pic. (We’ll be adding this to the One-Shots page in the near future.)

Another mirror for the Warthog Jump movies just surfaced – thanks to Steve Campbell, who put them both (hi and low-res) up via Hotline at hl.forerunners.org. Mmm… resumable downloads…

MaxThndr drops off Chapter 1 of his new ‘Halo II: The Ardan Landings’ series. (Warning – there ARE story spoilers in this one.) We’d like to make a request of Fan Fiction writers – we’d like to ask that if you decide to write chaptered stories (as a huge percentage of you do), that you wait until you have a reasonably-sized chunk before you submit it to the archive. Lately, there have been a large number of very short submissions – we received a chunk of unpleasant mail the last time this happened (we were posting 2 or 3 250-word chapters per day at one point), and we’d like to avoid this. Writing very short chapters is fine – but hold on to them until you’ve got 2 or three to submit, if you choose to write this way. (MaxThndr’s submission is right on the edge of what we’d consider long enough, which is why we’ve taken this opportunity to make this request now.) The Fan Fiction collection lives and breathes because the fans show the authors that their work is worth reading – let’s keep it that way.

Hmm… this is interesting. If you’ve ever headed back to the start of Silent Cartographer after activating the Cartographer (that is, rather than getting into the dropship that would end the level), you’ll find that all the Marines you’d left near the start were dead. (Presumably, they were slaughtered by random Covs you managed to miss along the way.) Apparently, though, this is a scripted outcome, one you have no control over; Chez Wiz reports that

I’ve loaded six into the three warthogs and driven them out deep in the ocean, but I still find them dead after coming out of the map room and bypass getting in the dropship.

That’s sort of disappointing… don’t you wish you could save the poor buggers? I wonder what would happen if you forced them down into the interior of SC, then got them out of the jeep and blocked their return with the jeep itself? Would they STILL die? Will anyone find out?

More movie mirrors… Tim writes that he’s got the hi-res warthog jump movie up on maserati.ca, and Vector40 has put up a copy of Cal’s ‘Climbing Blood Gulch in a Ghost’ (in .rm format, same as Psyjnir’s mirror) at The Junkyard. (Cal has also – temporarily – put up a copy on his own server.) Have I mentioned how wonderful this community is for picking up the bandwidth slack?

More video material – Cal, a frequent contributor to our Gameplay Tricks section, has made a low-resolution movie showing how he got a ghost up to the Tower in Blood Gulch. If you can help him with the hosting of this 3.5 mb movie, drop him a line!

Mirrors for the Warthog Jump movie:

• Psyjnir Complex Hotline (Hi-res – Files>Halo>Movies>halo_warthog_jump_.mov)
• Mythica.org (Hi-res – thanks, Brian!)
• bungie.org mirror (lo-res only)
• Original site (both, for now – low-res-only soon)

More as we hear of ’em! (This one’s really worth seeing, if that wasn’t clear already. Check the praise in this forum thread.) Quick Update: Drew “DKo5” McCoy writes to say that the hi-res version is now mirrored on his UT clan’s webspace. Thanks, Drew!

Okay, put your coffee down (and anything else nearby that might spill), and run, don’t walk, over to this directory. Randy Glass has made one of the funniest fan vids I’ve ever seen – a brilliant combination of Halo footage and miscellaneous sounds and music… it simply MUST be seen to be believed. (Remember, he did this without any of the kewl dev tools Bungie has at their disposal for making movies… this is straight gameplay, with a fantastic eye for capturing the moment.) There are two flavors: a 23 mb, hi-res version and a 10 mb lower-res version. The hi-res version will only be available at oz.net for the next 12 hours or so… but Psyjnir.com will be mirroring it shortly on its Hotline server (other mirror volunteers – let us know). The low-res version is actually quite viewable, so if you don’t get the big one in time, or don’t have the bandwidth to grab it, grab the small one. For those interested in making Halo vids – take heed. This film (like Aaron Suhr’s ‘The People That We Love’, before it) sets a standard worth striving for. Update: In case you had any doubt, this film just received Marty’s Seal of Excellence.

A couple of Wallpapers came in recently – the SocketError Team dropped off another one (sort of hurts my eyes after a while), and the BlargMaster whipped up a nice image using Strykerwolf’s new Counter-Strike skin. You can find both of these in the Wallpaper section.

Tom Murphy turns in Part 3… hmm, half of Part 1… well, the next bit of the ‘Casualties of War’ series. You can read the latest piece alone, or the series as a whole – whatever’s easiest for you. Don’t forget to tell him what you think!

The Halo SETI Marines continue to hold steady at 61 in the Battle of the Teams – the big mover today was Rogue Spartan IV, who leapt into the top 600 in his second week on the team. Are YOU moving? Check the 7 day stats page to see!

If you want a good laugh, check out the bottom of the boot of the new Counter-Strike Master Chief skin created by Strykerwolf. He’s made it easy for you… he’s posted a link to a pic in a recent forum post. (The REAL MC, btw, has Marcus Lehto’s initials burned in.)

The long-awaited Halo Story Page Level Transcripts are beginning to appear again… Level 5, Assault On The Control Room, went up about 3 minutes ago. Don’t forget – if you find/know of additional text, feel free to send it to the Halo Story Page crew! Update: Level 6 (343 Guilty Spark) has now been added, as well.

Thanks to DeAdLy_cOoKiE (whoa, did I just say that?) for pointing out a new Halo review at MGON – they loved it. We’ve added it to our Reviews section – total currently stands at 68 reviews, with an average score of 94.5%!

Metafire, aka Frogblast on our forum, has given us permission to mirror some of the tricks found on his Exploration pages. We’ve added four new collections to our Gameplay Tricks section – an illustration of a climbing route up Silent Cartographer (not requiring explosives), a route out of Truth and Reconciliation, and a pair of Assault narratives. Check ’em out on the Gameplay Tricks page!

potatorobot writes to say that he’s created a side-scroller called ‘Zalo: Combat Devolved’ – it’s a parody of Halo, “the world’s best game”. More information – and a download link for a Windows executable – can be found here. (The HBO staff hasn’t tested this game yet.)

Heh – Aaron Suhr made a short movie showing a pretty nifty way of killing a Banshee. I’ve never had that sort of luck…