Mothergoat wrote a new song for the next episode of Sponsors vs Freeloaders… but that series was in limbo for a while, and although things are looking up again, it almost certainly won’t be out before June. So MG got the go-ahead to release the song now. It’s Halo-related mostly in the sense that it was created for a Halo machinima series; it’s original work, doesn’t seem to be based on Halo themes. That said, though – it’s pretty solid stuff – go listen! It’s pretty short (under a minute and a half) and pretty small (under 2 mb) – but there’s a lot of energy packed in there!

The final MLG PwnCast of the weekend is up – Episode 13, also covering MLG New York. Yes, it’s true – these guys released 8 podcasts in their first 7 months… and 5 in the last week. They’re crazy. (But they’re slowing down. No more before Wednesday or so, they say.)

Heh – there’s a very cool vid available over at GameTrailers – a Tekken-style fight between two guys from the University of Rhode Island, one wearing Halo regalia. Not completely safe for work – I’d probably give it a PG-13 or so (suggestive language). Funny as all get-out, though. Really nicely done. Thanks, Chaos Recon.

Those Pwncast guys are outta control. Episode 12 went up today; call-ins from New York, and the MLG competition held there this weekend. Go listen!

North Jersey Media Group has an article focusing on Bonnie Burton, who goes by Xena in Halo circles – the only girl to make the top 128 competitors at MLG New York. (Before anyone gets upset at ‘girl’, instead of ‘woman’… Bonnie is 15.) It’s interesting to see how much press MLG is getting these days – how fast pro gaming is catching on with mainstream news outlets – and it’ll be more interesting to see if women continue to make inroads into the gaming ranks.

spartanerik found a side-scrolling Halo shooter at Newgrounds; I couldn’t get the sword to work, but otherwise, its seems entertaining. While you’re there, Shadowmotion found a movie called ‘Resident Cactuar’ which made me want 10 minutes back, but which has some Halo content.

Tempus Fugit found a post on the TeamXbox Forums from someone who went to Joe Staten’s talk at Northwestern on Saturday. Some interesting tidbits about Halo 2’s ending (3 levels cut, not just one), some tidbits about the Halo movie (it won’t be a story adaptation, a lot will be CG, no director yet), a tiny bit about E3 (or not). Go read! Update: DOH! I should check our own forum for this stuff… a few hours later, SleeperQ posted his own writeup.

A video game widow discusses losing her husband to his Xbox – yes, Halo gets a mention. Pretty rational piece, overall.

Holy Audio Overload, Batman! MLG PwnCast releases Episode 11 – their third in three days. This one focuses on MLG New York (which is in progress right now). Go listen!

Rockslider continues his Bad Cyborg investigations with more falling grunts! Check out the forum post, then go read the new section. And a happy 2nd birthday!

Okay, this is an unusual one. A couple of days ago, a movie titled ‘Halo | Redemption’ passed the MPRRS. It had been filmed in Halo 1, back in 2003 – but had never been distributed outside of some friends. Jeff Stoltzfus and Shawn Heifert, the co-creators, had been assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division at the time of creation, and they did their best to keep the military chatter authentic. When Jeff decided to submit it to the MPRRS, he re-edited it to add black bars to block out the HUD and the cameraman’s pistol – but was unhappy with the result. His words:

“We both love the original version since we’ve seen it in this form for the past 3 years and feel it shows more [full camera view] – gives a more complete feel/provides a better sense of closure [opening narration and titles and closing credits and end music] – which provides a more “movie” type experience. I believe some of the peer reviews touched on these subjects. We know the pistol is lame in the camera view but we hope viewers will overlook this as trivial given it was created 3 years ago and that the emotions created over the entire piece will outweigh this fact.”

I liked the piece, quite a lot, in both formats – so I agreed that we’d host the original, even though it was the modified (considerably shorter) version that passed the MPRRS. Full credits can be found in this forum post (and if you have comments, this is a fine thread to put them in). The QuickTime version (65 mb) is higher-quality than the WMP9 version (50 mb), but both are quite watchable. Grab one and check this out!

It’s a short Weekly Update this week over at Bungie.net – even Frankie’s FIRST post is short. Pretty cool image of Mister Chief, though. Go read. (You can, of course, choose to read it here, in our Weekly Update Archive.)

Very nice. McGrude found this image in a Worth1000 contest – RvB stamps for Going Postal 6. If you’re a member – go vote on it!

Foo Mo Jive points out that Podtacular Episode 59 was released a bit ago… we’re slacking. Go listen! They want to hit 1500 listeners by E3.

A couple of tournament announcements – one I missed from earlier this week (sorry, XsAik0) in Northern Virginia – 2v2 on April 29, more details here or here, and one in West Chester Ohio – 4v4 on May 6 (thanks, Scooter). If you live in either area, check these out!

Lots of new content over at Halo: Portable – you can find Mutha G’s Lookie vid, a collection of Halo rap mp3s, Stephen Loftus’ article on Phantoms, and some PSP wallpapers from Major.Dump. (And of course, later tonight you’ll be able to find a portable version of the weekly update there, as well.)

On the heels of this week’s MLG news, MLG PwnCast releases Episode 10 (yes, 9 came out a couple of days ago) – go listen. (There’s also a ‘call to action’ for anyone at MLG New York.)

A few folks saw this on Wednesday – but it’s still relevant, and new to most. And given Frankie’s postage recently, it’s even MORE appropriate. Go check out today’s One One Se7en.