It’s been a long time coming… but we’ve begun to populate the Halo Easter Eggs page. At the moment, there’s just a single entry… but there are more coming. Be aware that ‘Easter Eggs’ will be pretty stringently defined – we’re not talking bugs, here, or weird behavior (they’ll go somewhere else in this same section); we’re talking deliberate items added by Bungie folk designed to reward the adventurous/observant. We’ll do our best to credit the first documented finding of each egg… and nothing will get posted without verification from a HBO staff member. (No ‘unlock the guns by finishing Legendary in 3 hours’ stuff!) That said, visit the Easter Eggs page to see our first goodie!

If you thought our speculation about the origins of the Carrier Form of the Flood were a bit off the wall, wait until you check the updated Flood Mechanics page – the REAL info is considerably stranger.

This came in a few days ago – I was out of town, on a slow connection, and I filed it. Then I forgot about it. Which is a shame… Team 7HR33 created a short (18 seconds, 2 mb) movie showing some VERY stylish hunter killin’. Coop play, one takes a hunter from the front, the other from the rear… one shot each. Flawless… and nearly simultaneous. (Quality, as with all Team 7HR33 material, is quite high.)

Curious about the Flood? Wondering what it is you’ve been shooting so much of? Thanks to the above-and-beyond help of Dave Candland, we’re able to bring you Flood Mechanics, a section devoted to the inner workings of the Halo’s most corrupted life forms. Obviously, this is chock-full of spoilers… but you wouldn’t even be reading this if you had spoilers turned off, so go to it!

Last week, Halo took GameFAQ’s Xbox Game of the Year daily poll, with 60% of the 16,000 votes cast. Currently, the poll of the day is ‘Overall Game of the Year’… and Halo is being trounced – a measly 5% of the 5500 votes cast so far puts it in 5th place (and only a dozen or so votes ahead of Diablo II). See what you can do about this… thanks to VeeoftheMiB@aol.com for the heads-up.

Whoa – Team 7HR33 continues its groundbreaking ways, this time with a rather interesting picture. (You’ll find discussion of it in this forum thread.) Hummanahummanahummana…

strykerwolf continues his modeling ways… this time it’s the Master Chief. Check out the links in his forum post – they’re not ready for prime time at this stage, but Counter Strike might be gettin’ some Halo lovin’ soon!

A number of new submissions for the Halo Story page have been processed – speculation continues unabated, and the religious underpinnings of Halo become more and more clear. Check ’em out at the Halo Story page!

Wow. Over the past couple of years, there have been a number of posts concerning the various symbols visible in Halo (and a theory or two)… but never have they all been put together in so pretty a format as Team 7HR33 has done. Check it out! (We’ll be adding this to the Halo Story page in the near future, hopefully.) Speculation as to meaning may begin! (Warning: these could be considered spoilers, to some.)

We’ve added the 23 new screens from the Computer and Video Games review mentioned earlier to the Screenshots database (as well as a funny screen created by Bungie for an article on the Seventh Column site last week – thanks to Freewill for reminding me about it). Remember – there are major spoilers in the CVG shots (not to mention some pretty psychadelic colors…) – visit only if you’re not saving yourself.

Thanks to DT_Spike, who pointed out that Computer and Video Games put up a Halo review last week – we managed to miss it. It’s a pretty glowing review… but be warned, it’s FULL of spoilers (both in the review itself and in the accompanying screens). We’ve added it to the Reviews page here, and we’ll be adding the screens to the Screenshots database soon, as well.

IGN has put up an Overall Game of the Year poll – see if you can help Halo rise to the top! Thanks to Adam Daniel for the heads-up.

Johnnycab & MuFF DaDDy spent a little time putting vehicles up in a tree on Blood Gulch, and were kind enough to send us the pics. You’ll find ’em in our Tips and Tricks section. (Yes, there are tips coming soon. I promise!)

Halo sighting at the Consumer Electronics show, held recently in Las Vegas – It’s a display for the Altec Lansing XA 3051 Dolby Digital 5.1 solution, aimed at gamers… and what better way to show it off? (Full-size image is here.) Thanks to Caerdwyn for the heads-up.

Brizzle sends in some very nice shots showing what you can put inside the Blood Gulch bases. Check ’em out in the Tips and Tricks section.

The Halo Story page has been updated with a number of items. There’s still more in the queue – if you sent in speculation, don’t worry, we haven’t lost it! Check out the news page for the latest.

Eep – almost missed this! Elbert Wall pointed out that the Poll of the Day at Gamefaqs was ‘What was the best Xbox Game of the Year?‘ Luckily, that’s STILL the question… and the answer, according to the almost 16,000 people who voted so far, is Halo (with 60% of the vote). Go add your voice!

Several days ago, Ben Kane added a pair of pictures to his collection of interesting places – unfortunately, they didn’t make it here until this evening. You’ll find them in our Tips and Tricks section. (They’re right down at the bottom, and I won’t describe them so that folks who don’t want to be spoiled don’t have hear about them.)

The Gaming Age poll we mentioned a few days ago has ended, and Halo took the Game of the Year title, with 31% of the vote. Thanks again to op_ivy for the heads-up.

Speaking of familiar things… Matt Soell makes a Truth and Reconciliation post pointing to an interesting weapons page; does that gun remind you of anything?