There’s a very cool new article up at bungie.net, discussing how Nicole, otherwise known as Spartan 458 and a denizen of Nassau Station (found only in Dead or Alive 4), came to be. (First off – the girl is HUGE. 6’8″, 370 lbs; she’s bigger than your average NFL linebacker. I’m guessing it’s solid muscle, though…) There’s lots of info about her origins, about her place in the Halo universe, about Frankie’s ability (or inability) to pull off a plasma stick in DOA4. Go read!

Very cool – Se7en One has created a Halo chess set in 3Ds max. This version is Elites vs Brutes… but there’s speculation in the thread about other variants. Fun stuff!

Doug Godfrey released a teaser for his 3Dsmax-rendered Halo movie – looking pretty slick! If you have trouble with divx-encoded files, we’ve put up WMP9 and QuickTime versions (as well as mirrored Doug’s original AVI) – links are in this post.

Nice interview with Team3D over at MLGPro.com – talking about how they dominated in Atlanta, and about what’s coming. Give it a read! Thanks, 3Suns.

Some of you might remember a pretty cool video of a high school marching band playing Halo tunes… well, it looks like the Sandra Day O’Connor High School is going to be performing that show again at Mt. Carmel High School in San Diego, on December 27th. If you’re nearby… you might wanna stop in! Thanks, Cybrfrk.

Mothergoat’s at it again – a new map, coupled with great Halo-inspired music… check it out! Download, movies, screenshots and the music file are all available from his forum post.

Thanks once again to Subnova’s 3of9 – The Seeker is back online! Searching a large number of Halo-related websites, this search engine might very well be the only search tool you need to find that elusive tidbit of Halo info. Check it out!

Wow… I could have SWORN today’s One One Se7en was recycled… but the only Rocky Horror strips I could find were from Ross Mills, and they’re not really the same thing at all. Anyway, the joke SHOULD have popped up before now… it amazes me how much fodder there actually is for this sort of thing.

Ten new pieces in our own Fan Fiction section today – I wonder how many of those should enter the contest at BFO? Go read.

Whoa, very cool. Swing by Wideloadgames.org – they have a story about a contest being run by Chris Hughes, who was the Lead Character Modeler for Stubbs the Zombie (and who, before that, was an artist with Bungie on Oni and Halo); find something on Chris’ website, Polymallet.com, win a really nice sketch of Stubbs! Full details, in The Battle Cat’s inimitable style, and including a shot of the prize, can be seen in the top newspost at WLG.

I missed this yesterday, but Bungie.net has news of a Fan Fiction contest being run by Bungie Fans Online and the Bungie.net Fanfic Group. Full details can be found in links leading off that news article – go read!

linus (among others) pointed out that Halo Zero has been released in its final form. A 2D sidescroller, using the sprites from Console Troopers, it’s getting decent reviews – if you’ve got a PC, grab a copy!

Looks like a 3-day Halo tourney will be happening in Palm Springs, CA starting tonight, in the Mary Pickford Theatre. Check out this article for more details. $5 to get in, no word on prizes.

Z pointed out another killer montage at Halo2forum.com – Reid18’s montage is full of stickies. (Some pretty nice sniping work, too.) WMP9 format, 178 mb.

Friday, we mentioned Podtacular 36 – since then, they’ve released Episode 37 (HZanzibar tips, among other subjects) and Episode 38 (listener-submitted gametypes, funny gamertags, and more). Busy guys! Go listen.

F13ND, over at Team3D.net, has interviewed Hotshy about becoming a pro Halo player. If you’re thinking about moving in this direction, you should read this!

Red vs Blue Episode 69, ‘Talk of the Town‘, went up for sponsors last night (which means the public versions should be up late tomorrow night or Wednesday) – go grab a copy if you’re a sponsor. Hilarious stuff… and I’m looking forward to some butt-whupping by Tex in the near future. Hmm… looks like it was mentioned on our forum by Phan7om this morning.

Stephen Loftus has once again delved into the universe Bungie created, and put together a substantial quantity of information about the Covenant Battle Cruiser (the Truth and Reconciliation is an example of this class of vessel). It’s a pretty fascinating read – but be warned, the page contains almost 300k of graphics (mostly in the form of thumbnails). Some of the pictures are amazing. Go read! (If you’re new to Mr. Loftus’ work, and you find this interesting, be sure to check out his other projects!)

Heh. Today’s UserFriendly comic tweaks Microsoft’s CEO in relation to the upcoming Halo movie. Thanks, SteelGaribaldi.

Z pointed out a new montage at Halo2Forum.com – gameplay is by MADDOG, editying by Crypty. Pretty impressive stuff on both fronts. Definitely worth a watch, if you’ve got a fat pipe (vid is 150 mb, almost 7 minutes long). WMP9 format, and pretty high bitrate, so you’ll need a reasonably fast computer to watch it.