Another article about girl gamers and how the stereotypes are changing, focusing on one of the founders of the PMS clan – give it a read. They like to play Halo.

So there was a fuss a little bit ago, after Joe Staten revealed, at a talk at NWU, that three levels had been cut from the end of Halo 2 (we knew material had been cut, just not how much) – Stuntmutt puts it all in perspective in today’s One One Se7en.

Elnea has whipped up an alternative Halo track called ‘Blood Gulch 120’ – it’s a melding of the Red vs Blue theme ‘Blood Gulch Blues’ and the Halo theme, all cranked up to 120 beats per minute (she needed a workout tune). OboeCrazy’s Oboe adds a great touch! You can grab it from Elnea’s .Mac space, but we’re hosting a copy as well, because it’s not really polite to bring down someone else’s webspace. Go listen! (MP3 format, 4.6 mb.) Thanks to HavokBlue for pointing it out before I read it in Elnea’s RvB journal.

MLG PwnCast has released Episode 14 – Flying with McGavin. Go listen.

I’m not really sure what it means… but Halo 2 IS on the list of games offered for the WCG 2006 season – but it’s listed under ‘Terrestrial Games’, which maybe means US-only? I can’t tell. Anyway, they’ve got Blizzard down as the Developer, so who knows.

If you’re near St. Louis, MO, check out this Gamecrazy Halo 2 tourney at the LANetarium, coming up on May 27. Thanks, GotFrag.

Who’da thunk it? One One Se7en turned three years old today – nicely timed with the use of artwork on the first HBO shirt. Stuntmutt took advantage of the announcement to show off one of my favorite shirt designs (that we passed on, because it required more colors than we could afford) in a special Sunday Strip. He also wrote up a blog entry which mentions the shirt (along with a TON of other related stuff) – definitely worth a read. Go read, go laugh, go buy a shirt.

Digikid sent us mail about Portent, a HaloCE map; you can grab a video promo (33 mb, WMP9 format) to see how it looks, or just download the map file (right-click and save-as). Check it out!

Z pointed out another fun montage at Halo2Forum – it’s Reid18’s Montage 4. The guy gets some amazing cross-map sticks… it’s a little heavy on the effects, but it’s pretty entertaining. 146 mb, WMP9 format.

Slacker Entertainment has done a major overhaul on their website, to make content more accessible – and they’ve switched to a RoosterTeeth-like model for distribution of their Heretics & Heroes series; if you become a sponsor (for $10), you get access to high- and low-res versions of all of their content (plus bonuses, like mp3 versions of the music) as it comes out, while the low-res versions of all episodes will be available a few days later for free. Right now, Episode 5: Operation Clenched Bowels is up for sponsors – and it’s a doozy. There’s still humor – but this is a pretty serious episode, and the battle directing is quite good. I’m loving the dialogue – both human and Covenant – and I’m loving the cinematography. If you’ve got the $10, you should shoot it to these guys.

There were those that said this day would never come… I was one of ’em. But times change, and opportunities arise, and if you’re really, really lucky, you can grab ’em as they’re going by. That’s true for us… and it’s true for you. (Wait – what’s he talking about?) I’ll tell you what I’m talking about. HBO got together with some of its favorite artists, and put together some amazingly cool stuff for you. We have some totally unique posters that you can’t buy – but you can win. We also have a spectacular new t-shirt, thanks to our friends at splode, that you can’t win, but you can buy. In fact – if you want a shot at the posters – you HAVE to buy! Go read all the details on our E3 Goodies page. (There’s also an opportunity to get invited to the infamous DeanFest (I’m not sure it has a real name yet this year, but search our news for ‘Plasma Fiesta’ for reports of last year’s version) – you have to be in the LA area for this one, but a raffle for this, too, is available to all shirt buyers.) Before I crash into bed for the night, I’d like to send out a HUGE round of thanks to all the folks who made this possible – the artists, Dustin at splode, and Miguel Chavez, the Peruvian version of the Tasmanian Devil, without whose energy none of this would have happened. Enough blathering. Go check out the cool artwork, go buy a shirt, go register for cool stuff. We love ya.

Fr3d-105 points out that Podtacular Episode 60 is out – it’s a grab bag. Go listen!

Sane-Intolerant, one of the winners in our Soundtrack Contest, had something of an edge over other contestants – he’s been doing this for a while. Check out his DeviantART gallery – there are a LOT of Halo action figure shots; there are some pretty cool ones in there. Good stuff!

Mintz pointed out that there a couple of newly-formatted movies available at Halo Portable (as well as the chance to grab the next set of wallpapers early) – go visit!

Even after deleting all the non-English fanfic and the non-Halo fanfic (!!), there are still 25 new pieces for you in the Fan Fiction section. Go read. (Sorry it didn’t get posted yesterday, as it normally would have.)

The team that brought you The Codex series last year has released an Announcement Teaser for The Heretic, an upcoming series. Spectacular editing work, married to pristine camera handling, all bundled up with a gorgeous new piece from Edgen, called ‘Halo – The Heretic’ – this one should SERIOUSLY whet your appetite. Grab it in QuickTime or WMP9 formats from The Heretic website. If you love the music as much as we do, Edgen has given us permission to host a copy of it, in MP3 format – 2.3 mb. (And if you want to check out more of Edgen’s work, visit his portfolio reel – there’s some amazing stuff in there.) Comments (on either The Heretic, or its music) can be added to Nerrolken’s forum thread.

The Weekly Update is available now at Bungie.net (thanks, Frankie) – and the best news of all is that there won’t be any more Pimps at Sea fakery after this! No, actually, the best news of all is that they’re making an Excel spreadsheet with all the game variants in use on XBL available – go grab it! There’s also some great new schwag at the Bungie Store, a HINT of movie news, and a nice Mister Chief sketch. Go read. (As usual, you can choose to read it here at HBO, in our Weekly Update Archive.)

Swing by the results page for the final results of the Halo 2 Soundtrack contest – and congrats to our 7 winners! (You folks will probably get email later tonight or tomorrow with a bit more detail.)