Another very cool piece from Bryn ‘ofthehi77’ Casey – this one is a space battle tidbit known as ‘Goliath. Sizeable (325k, and just about big enough for a monster screen wallpaper)… but definitely worth the look. Check it out!

Stuntmutt goes back to an old favorite for the punchline of today’s One One Se7en. Wait… how is that different from any other day?

22 stories built up in the Fan Fiction section since I left – go read. (I must say, I was FLABBERGASTED to receive an email this morning, at 6:50 am Eastern time, telling me that we OWE the community an update, since there hasn’t been one for 9 days. As a group, Fan Fiction writers are the neediest, least patient, most annoying submitters of fan content I’ve ever worked with, in 11 years of running fan-based websites. Just wanted that on the record.)

Frontline With Suzie is updated with Broadcast 14 – Suzie interviews Engineer Jones, soon after he escapes the Pillar of Autumn. Interesting theory as to the color scheme of the Engineering uniforms… thanks, rockslider.

A couple of days ago, Ducain kicked off a mini-contest at High Impact Halo; it involves tower-to-tower jumping on the original Halo. (Yep, that’s right. You’re STARTING from the top of one of the blue beam towers.) The prize list is growing, thanks to community members; there’s a wad of cash, some XBL trial memberships, an Art of Halo book, a copy of Halo 2… check out the original post, and the followup with more goodies!

Last week, we pointed out a Team Slayer match, on video, at Halo2Forum.com; it was Xit WouNDz vs Str8 Rippin, on Midship, from the point of view of XiT xItwasluckx. There’s another match between these two teams, this time filmed by | Killer N | – same map, KOTH game. Great to watch (and interesting to contrast the communication styles) – it’s a HUGE download (190 mb), because it’s a 17 minute match. If you’ve got a big pipe, swing by and grab this!

F13ND points out an interview with OGRE 1, of Team3D, on the Team3D.net website; he’s looking ahead to this weekend’s MLG Nationals in New York. Take a look!

Yesterday, we mentioned the interview with xItwasluckx at MLG PwnCast – we got a message from QuaDxDaMag3, one of the site administrators, about a second interview, with Fonzi of TmG, and an article about team strategy. Go read!

Saber-Scorpion, who’s been mentioned a few times in the news for his Lego creations, has another couple of models up – the Pillar of Autumn, and a Pelican. Pretty impressive! Thanks to all who wrote in – looks like David was first.

Want more details on the matchmaking algorithms, in laymans terms? Meet the Microosft researchers who helped develop the Halo2 as well as the XBox 360 matchmaking systems. Djof informed us of this video interview which was performed last year and just now presented by MSDN Channel9. Update: There was a small clarification by Chris Butcher – while Bungie worked extensively with the team that developed the TrueSkill system… Halo 2 doesn’t use it.

Okay… this is pretty odd. About a month ago, mike0619 of Team Conquest submitted a vid to the MPRRS called ‘Outbreak’. It received high marks from every reviewer… except one. That one accused the team of plagiarism, and rated the film so low that it failed, even though everyone else passed it. It would have died there… except about a week ago, mike contacted me to ask about what had happened… and I reviewed the film. There was no plagiarism whatsoever, and in fact it’s a pretty nice trailer (typos in the text aside). Be aware that this vid has no relation at all to the Outbreak trailer released last week by 3×8 Productionz. It’s a separate machinima, produced by a different group, though it, too, involves mods. Definitely worth a look! We’ve got an WMP9 version (17.2 mb) or a QuickTime version (20.8 mb) – grab the one that suits you. And to the entire team… we’re sorry for the confusion!

imSuck, of HaloGrid, hooked up with Burnie Burns of Red vs Blue in an XBL lobby, and asked him a bunch of interesting questions. (Kudos, Burnie, for sticking around even when some of the responses got… awkward.) Overall, lots of good info. Swing by HaloGrid to download this 30 mb podcast!

There’s an interview with xItwasluckx of XiT WouNDz over at the website for MLG PwnCast – thanks again, 3Suns.

Big news over at MLGPro.com; looks like they secured $10 Million in funding for the 2006 season, and picked up a new President/CEO – Matthew Bromberg, formerly general manager of Time Warner’s Moviefone and AOL Games properties. Not too shabby! This was in today’s Wall Street Journal (article will be visible for about a week, or can be viewed as a scan) – thanks, Black Six. In other MLG news, they’ve put up a summary of the upcoming NYC championships – thanks, 3Suns.

AnXplayFan noticed yet another full-sized M6D pistol for sale on eBay; if you want to see someone happy with their purchase, go check out Elnea’s RvB journal entry about hers last month. (Rooster Teeth just changed the site to allow unregistered people to see journal entries; I couldn’t get it to work in Safari, but I had no trouble with Firefox… so you SHOULD be able to view this, even if you’re not a member at RvB.) You’ve got a bit over 2 days to make up your mind…

Hrm… Slacker Entertainment posted a new tidbit, called ‘Heroes & Heretics Flashback #1: Flatulon the Uncorked‘, on their website, recently. It’s… wow. It’s something else. I guess this is what happens when you put a bunch of psychologically unstable soldiers together in a remote location, without ammo. Available in lots of formats. Thanks, TheWereSloth.

Halogen, the C&C Generals Halo mod, has put up a new teaser vid; pretty nice footage. High-res is 22.5 mb, low-res is 5 mb (both are WMP9 format). Go grab! Thanks, Logical2u.

Eep – we almost missed this. Remember the Kings Cross Halo sign, that’s being auctioned off in pieces? Piece 1 – MC’s leg and arm – sold last week for AU$560; piece two – MC’s head – is up for grabs right now, for just two more days. Currently almost AU$1000, it’s quite possible it’ll go higher. (It’s 10 feet on a side, fergoshsakes!) Thanks to Frankie for pointing this out on B.net a couple of days ago.

Funky – a custom-cast Master Chief, for sale on eBay. Customized with GI Joe parts and Microman parts, this mini-MC is larger than the stock mini-MC, and far more detailed. Thanks, Joseph Ryan.

Yahoo Games has an interview with Peter Jackson, discussing the translation between video games and films and looking both at the King Kong game, taken from the movie, and the Halo movie taken from the game. Nothing too new, but probably worth a read anyway.