Yesterday, Rip-Saw posted a note about an option to view the 3D screenshot Bungie posted Friday for those without QuickTime – he created a 2.1 mb, 320×240 animated gif. Viewing it took a little work; there’s no .gif extension on it, so many browsers don’t know what to do with it. BOLL came to the rescue, with a more elegant (though quite a bit larger) solution: a 7.4 mb Flash version (640×480) that reproduced the rotational options of the 3D QuickTime VR version. There is a problem with that version, though – it’s a really, really, REALLY slow download outside of Scandinavia. He’s uploaded an updated version to our servers; this one remembers your starting point (multiple rotations aren’t quite so jarring any more), and he’s added an auto-rotate feature (left and right arrows, down arrow to stop). View it in our Miscellaneous section. (Again, if you’ve got the hi-res QuickTime version, and it works for you, you don’t really need this – it’s for the QuickTime-impaired.)

Hot on the heels of Friday’s 3D screenshot, One One Se7en has gone 3D. Sort of.

Not being able to access the Fan Fiction admin section didn’t seem to stop submissions – there are 32 new pieces in the section for you today. Some good, some… um, not so good. Check ’em out.

Red vs Blue has released a bonus vid found on last month’s Computer Gaming World cover CD to sponsors; check the Season 2 Sponsors forum for a link. (Non-sponsors; you might still find that CGW on store shelves.) It shows off some of the FAILED concepts they didn’t go with, before deciding on the RvB comedy theme. Personally, I think Soldiers with Passion could have gone somewhere… if only they had more women. Thanks to Ross Mills for the heads-up.

Blade writes to point out that he’s posted Episode 2 of his ‘Blood Gulch Experience’ on his Teamhalo website. (Free registration required.) This is 8:28 of standard gameplay on Blood Gulch, weighing in at 51 mb in WMP9 format. The point, it seems, is to show how much better Halo looks on his new Radeon 9200 video card. Um… okay. And there’s a video posted in his forum – even bigger (98.8 mb, 16:18 long), showing gameplay using NiTrOuSoXiDe’s Halo 2 mod (version 5.5, released recently) – the gameplay’s nothing special, but it’s nice to see the mod in action. This one doesn’t require registration to get.

Steve writes to ask that we remind people of the Fan Fiction contest we mentioned last week – there are just two weeks left to enter a submission. If you’re going to enter, keep the deadline in mind!

Interesting find by Anton P. Nym: If you visit the Library, one of Bungie.net’s new forums, the splash bar at the top has a pretty interesting secondary definition for the word itself:

2. A collection of cloned DNA sequences whose location and identity can be established by mapping the genome of a particular organism.

So is THAT what level 7 is all about? Hmm…

Apologies – once again, we’re having trouble with one of our mirror sites; everything it handled has been redirected at this point, EXCEPT the Fan Fiction section (because of its dynamic nature, it CAN’T be mirrored properly). That section is offline until we can fix the problem. Sorry. Update: Fixed, more easily than expected. All sections (including Fanfic) are back online. Thanks, 3!

Rockslider points out the next episode in Frontline with Suzie – this week’s episode is called ‘the heavy brigade‘, and talks to a Hunter.

Dr. Nick points out that even though the actual movies are being hosted elsewhere, the Advanced Essentials movie brought enough traffic to the [-GTC-] website that it’s offline again. I wasn’t smart enough to record all the mirrors, but I can at least point out the b.org ones: we’re hosting both the DivX version and the QuickTime version. Read the original news post for more info on the vid itself.

Out of time and out of options, it seems, Frankie has posted this week’s Bungie Weekly Update over at Bungie.net, on the new ‘New Mombasa‘ forum. It’s not particularly meaty this week – but Frankie has lots of excuses for that. There IS some discussion of new maps, a new (previously unmentioned) weapon, and some fun stuff about dialog. Go read!

Red vs Blue has Episode 34 – ‘aftermath, before biology’ – up for sponsors. (The general public will have to wait a couple of days.) It’s 4:27 of RvB goodness, with a great combination of humor and plot advancement. And the – oh, go watch it.

So Bungie’s got a new toy – they can make 3D screenshots! And the first one is a pretty slick piece of work. It’s called “Army of One”, and it’s available in both high (8.4 mb) and low (1.3 mb) res versions. Grab it (make sure you have QuickTime installed), and go to town rotating around the sword-wielding elite, checking out ALL the action! Farsight was the first to stumble on the story, before it made it onto b.net’s front page.

As a followup to their Basic Essentials movie released last week, [-GTC-] has created Advanced Essentials, a new film showing some lesser-known tricks of the trade. Some are useful in single player (grenade jumping, for example), while others are purely multiplayer (speeding up the invisibility powerup). Again, the movie is presented in a clean, easy-to-understand manner. It’s available in both QuickTime (13.3 mb) and DivX (15.7 mb) formats, and [-GTC-] has gone to the effort of setting up mirrors ahead of time. You can find three mirrors (we’re one of ’em) on their Advanced Essentials download page. Go grab it!

Aquaduct 2 is imminent – “we’re talking days or maybe hours now” (written about 11 hours ago). Mac-based Xbox tunneling is almost upgraded! Thanks to Sharp for noticing!

One One Se7en continues its look at new Halo 2 stuff. Was this what they meant by ‘battle damage’?

Halo: Resolution gets… odd.

Slick. Dark Helmet has filmed some really cool Lifepod launch angles on Halo; you can find the movie (wmp9, 3.5 mb) and a thread of discussion, over at High Impact Halo. Thanks to vshields ash for the heads-up.

Halo Babies has not only a new strip for you today, but a bunch of new artwork: a pair of new wallpapers (very nice) and a couple of new avatars. Check ’em all out!

KurtVanHulle points out a new Halo remix at OverClocked ReMix. Interesting Celtic overtones.