Very nice – oil writes to point out that his stat tracking site has been updated; you should go visit! I checked it out, and it calculates a LOT of stuff. Comments can go in this forum post by DRT 117.

Overswarm is back from summer break, with a bunch of new goodies for you in the Not So Common Sense Strategy Guide; if you head to the Articles and Extras section, you’ll find two new pieces – one points out some of the LESS-desirable playstyles out there (try not to fall into one of these categories), the other looks at specific gametypes, and the strategies that might help you improve your game at them. In the Movies and Commentary section, there’s a new Advanced Vehicle Guide, this one covering Scorpions and Wraiths – watch it to glean tips for better offensive (and defensive) use of these monsters. Go read!

Another piece of Halowiki news… LegendaryMark has written up a useful article discussing how to make the most of a matchmade team, especially bigger ones. Sometimes the most frustrating thing is getting people to pay attention to you… this might help. Go read it!

Many people wrote in with news of Halo references in the movie 40 Year Old Virgin… I’m not sure that’s a good thing or a bad one. I think Reinhard Mazariegos might have been first.

Wow. PEZ has adapted an existing script for Firefox that, when installed in your browser, will add links to any bungie.org or bungie.net page that contains keywords with corresponding pages on the Halowiki.net website. If this doesn’t make a lot of sense, go read the page he’s put up about it. I just installed the Greasemonkey plugin and his web linker script… and both Bungie.net and bungie.org just got a whole lot more linked for me. (The new links to halowiki content are differentiated from existing links by a dotted red underline – so you’ll know which ones are ones we put there, and which ones are supplementary info.) Cool! (If you don’t use Firefox – any platform – this is useless to you.)

There’s a writeup of a custom gametype called ‘Snowball’ over at Geezer Gamers; it’s a little like Zombies, but not really. The thing that makes it… well, odd is the requirement of teabagging your opponent. (You have to.) It’s a funny writeup for a somewhat unique gametype – go check it out! (Thanks again, 3Suns.)

Dyslexia has written up a post-mortem of the MLG Las Vegas event – it’s a fun read. Oh, the mixing of gambling and pro Halo… thanks, 3Suns.

The Weekly What’s Update has been posted; there’s info about the upcoming free release of all maps that are currently not free (and you should definitely download them soon after August 30, because they WILL be integrated into all playlists; if you don’t have ’em, you don’t play), and info about Kirkland, where the Bungie team is moving to (apparently, the other game developers complained about the smell so much that Microsoft moved them several miles away). And there’s a link to Aaron Walpole’s Canadian Idol page – he’s in the top 5 now (this was mentioned by D-Man earlier today, but I passed on it because it’s not really Halo news… but since it’s in the WWU…). And there’s a mister chief picture that just creeps me out. Go read.

Z points out a new montage, from Bballplaya12, over on Halo2Forum.com. 64 mb, WMP9 format. Lots and lots of sticks and snipes. Good timing, and some of the sticks (especially the ones on Lockout) are pretty impressive. Go grab a copy!

One One Se7en, at a loss for its own content, sucked in Halo Babies today. Poor Baby MC…

DarqKnyght created a spoof montage – ever wonder what it would sound like if Homer Simpson played Xbox Live? Wonder no more! Timing is beautiful, and there were several laugh-out-loud clip choices (for me, at least). Warning ahead of time: anyone who chooses to denigrate the actual gameplay shown (“those weren’t very impressive kills”) on our forum will be mocked mercilessly by me – this montage is NOT about the masterful play, it’s about the great matchup between gameplay and Simpson snippets. Go watch – it’s funny. 34.4 mb, in either WMP9 or QuickTime formats.

Twelve new pieces in the Fan Fiction section today, including the Noob Diary entries that made the front page of B.net a couple of days ago, some intriguing poems, and more. Go read!

Pvt. Jenkins posted a note on our forum – he’s looking for a ‘manly voice’ for his Flash movie. The movie itself is done – all that’s needed is the audio. (This makes a project like this much more promising than, say, “I’m really interested in making a Halo movie – who’s with me?”) Read the post, see if you meet the requirements (no, Jilly, you don’t) – drop him some email!

drumyouaway submitted a trailer for Barney Just Wants a Hug to the MPRRS – and though a few people were unhappy with the aspect ratio of some of the footage, it passed the system, and so we’re hosting it for you to see. Short, odd… sort of like my kids. WMP9 (7.6 mb) or QuickTime (7.1 mb) formats.

There’s another piece on Bungie.net that should be read by everyone who plays Halo 2 on Xbox Live; apparently, the’ve started to run queries on their game database, looking not for modders, but for players who’ve played ‘a significant number of games with modders’. Yesterday, they temp-banned a few thousand of them – and the next time won’t be temporary. This doesn’t mean you should panic if you find yourself in a game with a modder; one is not a ‘significant number of games’. It DOES mean that if you’re doing a lot of custom gaming, and your friends are modders… you might find yourself banned, even though you don’t mod. Worth thinking about! Update: Sketchfactor dropped by our forum to clarify that the current tempban was only for people who were playing with modders in Matchmaking – not custom games. (There was some apprehension that you could get banned from matchmaking by inadvertently playing in custom games with modders.) He certainly did not rule out the possibility that playing with modders in custom games might, at some point, get you banned from matchmaking – but right now, they’re focusing on matchmaking primarily.

Yesterday afternoon, Sketchfactor posted an interview with Major Nelson, Xbox Live Director of Programming, over at Bungie.net; read it to get a sense for what this guy does. There was a snippet that hinted at how much new info Live would be giving you about opponents once the 360 is released – I’m looking forward to that!

New comic up at Halo Babies – I gotta say, that’s one fast-thinking grunt! There’s also a reminder about the Red vs Blue Comic Contest, which ends in a couple of days. Go check it out!

I meant to post this yesterday, when she put it up on the forum… but real life has been getting in the way recently. Pinkuh revealed a sketch of an upcoming piece of work she’s making for the Team Schooly D clan – we’ve added it to her art page. (It’s the one dated ’18 August’.) Enjoy!

The High Impact Halo logo contest has come to an end – you can see the winner (and a fine choice it is) on their front page. Congrats to T010! (And taking a page from the HollywoodHalo playbook, there is a Video Update summarizing the past week – multiple formats, 25-35 mb, depending… give it a watch!)

This Spartan Life has put up a new Video Blog – Episode 2 gets into the host’s personal life (well, sort of). Scary. (Just hit the ‘Blogs’ link at the top to see it.) 5.4 mb, QuickTime format. Thanks to Squatting Bear, who pointed it out before it even showed up on the page.