Legends is a new freeware game in development with the Torque game engine (the engine that powers Tribes2 – and made available by Dynamix for low-cost development). An anonymous tip suggested we take a look at the newer skins; a set released a couple of weeks ago looks rather… familiar. Sincere flattery, it is!

Congrats to Spatula, who posted (over on the TeamXbox forums) pictures of a scorpion, among other vehicles, INSIDE the Blood Gulch base… nicely done. (We’d be happy to add these pics to our Tips and Tricks section, with permission from Spatula… hint, hint…)

New wallpaper was dropped into our ftp dropbox yesterday – but without attribution. You’ll find it in our Wallpaper section, but if you know who created it, please drop us a note!

PCDestroyer submits an interesting look at some of the moral questions touched on in ‘Fall of Reach’ – check out ‘Halo: Project Zeus‘ in our Fan Fiction section. (He’s asked for feedback; this story is an experiment for him. Be sure to leave him some comments!)

Gamespot has put up the results of their 2001 Readers’ Choice Awards; Halo took Best Xbox Game (with an overwhelming 71% of the vote), and 2nd Best Video Game overall (behind Grand Theft Auto III for the PS2). Thanks to mastasnypa for the heads-up.

Gordi turns in another chapter of his unnamed series – this one is called ‘Whiskey Nine‘. It’s good – read it. Fan Fiction section, of course.

Quick note; for those sending in submissions for our Tips and Tricks section, please don’t lose hope; I’m still on the road, and won’t be able to add these before the middle of next week, when I arrive home again. I haven’t lost them, though!

Germain Couët turns in another large image for use as a desktop – check it out in our Wallpaper section.

Halo: A Strange Tale, Part 2 enters our Fan Fiction collection – and aside from some spelling anomalies, it seems to want to tie Marathon into Halo a tad more tightly. Check it out.

Battleground: Halo’s new layout is now live. Check it out.

In a briefly worded post, Marty O’Donnell clarifies the status of the Halo Soundtrack project:

1 CD All Halo music

soon(tm)

Yep, we’re droolin…

Gasmask sends in the first installment of ‘Halo: A Strange Tale‘, looking at the exploits of the MC and Cortana about 6 months after Halo. Check it out in our Fan Fiction section!

Games Radar has an article on the Japanese launch of the Xbox – Release date is set for February 22, and launch price is 34,800 yen (a little over $250). Even though shooters aren’t as popular in Japan as they are in the US, it’s still a little surprising that Halo is not a launch title. Thanks to Veebs for the heads-up.

Heh – Mark Levin points out this page, devoted to an Xbox emulator. Sounds exciting… except that the screenshot of the emulator showing Halo in action looks… somewhat familiar. Okay, REALLY familiar. In fact, I don’t think you can actually REPRODUCE this scene in the shipping version of Halo. Ah, well… careful what you download. More info: Further investigation by folks who are good at this sort of thing (read further down in the thread) suggest this is nothing more than a hoax, and a poorly done one at that.

Reg Juice Schultz, Vitamin and KillGore =PN= all dropped us notes to let us know that Games Domain has posted a ‘Preview’ of PC Halo. There’s really not a lot of information there… and whatever decent speculation you MIGHT find is diminished in value by the final line:

Expect more details on the acclaimed title update very soon. With a Spring 2002 release promised, we can’t wait for Bungie’s masterpiece to grace our desktops.

To be clear: NOBODY with any authority to do so has ‘promised’ a Spring 2002 release. Even so, it’s interesting to see that the previews are already beginning.

Chmee writes to point out that Battleground: Halo is being revamped. The front page says only ‘Reformat in Progress’… Update: SonicStorm, of BGH, has asked us to adjust our post to respect BGH’s privacy until the new site design is live. Keep an eye on them for developments.

Tom Murphy releases two Fan Fiction articles; the third installment of Pride and Honor (depressing) and a satire called ‘Halo: A Comedy‘ (a little depressing, as well, for how close to reality it comes). Check ’em out in our Fan Fiction section!

More new content hits Truth & Reconciliation! Outtakes and concept art for Covenant craft hit the site. Pax.

For those who didn’t notice, the Halo Story Page processed a slew of submissions yesterday… several sections got updates. Make it a daily (or almost-daily) stop!

Gaming Age has a Quick Poll – Game of the Year? Halo is currently leading (with Grand Theft Auto 3 close behind). Go vote! Thanks to op_ivy for the heads-up.