Wave of Lag has released a couple of new Urban Combat maps for Halo CE – along with tags for his version of the Kestrel (a vehicle shown as concept art on the Limited Edition DVD, but never released by Bungie in any form). Check this forum post for details and a Gearbox forum link.

Very cool – a new Public Service Announcement has been posted over at Red vs Blue… “The Olympics Suck.” It’s pretty funny; I was just discussing why nobody watched the Olympics this year, over dinner… and now this! It’s got something for everybody – even Stephen Colbert. If you’re a sponsor, go grab a copy. If you’re not… wait a few days. Maybe watch some Olympic highlights or something while you wait. Thanks, CougRon.

Bungie Weekly Update was posted (as usual, while I was out for dinner) – swing by and read about what they’re NOT doing, as well as a little about what is coming up. You can also read it in our Weekly Update Archive, if you like white better than blue. Was Frankie first? Do bears sh- um, never mind. No, as a matter of fact, he wasn’t – because he’s skiing in Tahoe. Shishka was first.

Took a little longer to judge than we’d originally counted on (hey – almost three hundred entries had to be read through, groaned at, and ranked!), but the 7 on the 7th Joke Contest has finally been judged, and results have been posted. Congrats to the winners (you’ll be contacted soon for mailing info)! Thanks to everyone who entered, and thanks to Bungie for the action figures!

Recently, Uwe Boll has spoken out about his opinion of the chances that the Halo movie will succeed. Stuntmutt tosses his two cents on that subject into the pot with today’s One One Se7en.

More NYC Halo Nationals stuff – at MLGPro.com, there’s an overview of the Finals (thanks, 3Suns), and at Team3D.net, there’s Part 1 of a wrapup – an interview with Hotshy (thanks, F13ND). Go read!

Captain Spark released another batch of dialogue snippets (and celebrated his 25th wedding anniversary, and is gearing up for his birthday – w00t!) – you can grab ’em from his website, or browse ’em in the Dialogue Databank. And there are more snippets coming from Hellhawk and Bloodpuppy, soon – I just haven’t gotten ’em processed yet!

Twenty new pieces up in the Fan Fiction section this week – go read!

The Game with Fame series continues, with the cast from Hollyoaks (a British soap) looking to take on some of their fans on March 4. We seem to have fallen off the notification list for these things – but you can read the press release elsewhere around the net (XGP Gaming has a copy, and so does TeamXbox).

Remember that pirate comment Frankie made in last week’s Weekly Update, when referring to an upcoming Halo Humpday Challenge? Turns out it was because Bungie played against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this week. Frankie did a good job staying with the football theme all the way through the writeup. There’s a scary pic at the end, with (as several people pointed out to us) two pictures of Marty in it. And of course, the obligatory First (down) post by Frankie. (And oh, yeah, in case I forget… congrats, Bungie, for pulling out the win in the last few seconds!)

Nice. MLGPro.com has put up a gallery of photos from last weekend’s National Championships; 434 pics of people playing Halo. Go look. Thanks, 3Suns.

Rockslider continues the Frontline with Suzie series – today she’s interviewing some swampdwellers. Well… not really dwelling. More being lost, actually. Go read.

This Spartan LIfe has posted Episode 3, Module 1 – visit the site for download options. Damian has some… staff issues. Here’s hoping he works ’em out soon! The QuickTime is 16.6 mb, the WMP9 should be available soon. (There’s also an alternate version of the Solid Gold Elite Dancers module released a few weeks ago; it’s mostly the same episode, except slightly less integrated into the storyline than the original.)

Wow, bizarre. Remember Video Games Live? They’re claiming to be happening again (there are two dates on their Tour page)… but they’re no longer the only game in town. Play! bills itself as ‘A Video Game Symphony’, and features music from ‘a catalogue of blockbuster video game titles’… including Halo. They kick off in Chicago, on May 27… with dates in Stockholm and Philadelphia already scheduled. Tommy Tallarico… watch your back! Thanks, Hanchen Lu.

More movies. Well, movie. This one ALMOST passed the MPRRS. (Missed by 0.4%.) It’s a music video from Belligerent, set to 311’s ‘Love Song’, and it’s pretty nicely done. Not too huge, and the suggestions made by the reviewers aren’t dealbreakers, in my opinion. Grab it in WMP9 format (28.3 mb) or QuickTime format (26.3 mb).

Funkiness. Looks like someone’s trying to create a version of Halo that runs on the PSP. Should be fun to keep an eye on… thanks, Hexudus.

BootStrap Boon put together a vid called ‘Lament for Pvt. Jenkins’ recently, and the MPRRS said ‘yeah!’ It’s an alternate look at what might have happened to the poor dead Private from Halo, and aside from some odd aspect issues, and the occasional interlacing, it’s quite well done. He does a really nice job of integrating Dialogue Databank snippets into his footage, so all dialogue is done by the original Halo marines. It’s rather large; both long (11:40) and big (856×480), so it weighs in at 115 mb, in either WMP9 or QuickTime formats. Give it a whirl!

Spartan Jag wrote up a FAQ for Action Replay, the device that lets you trade saved games with other Halo players (well, lots of games, but this is a Halo site, right?). Check it out on our forum.