thunderhawk555 popped onto our forum with a tidbit from Gamestop – they suggested that there were ‘exclusive modes only available for play over Xbox Live’. (thunderhawk was skeptical, hence the post.) EvilOtto jumped in for one of his rare but welcome visits to debunk this rumor (in classic EO fashion).

I don’t know if this came from Gamestop or MS marketing or Satan, but you can all rest assured, we’re not hiding any gametypes from people that don’t have Xbox Live.

One wonders if those are all similar, or if they get progressively worse, or what…

kornman00 mentioned that Supreme Conflict: The Enna Wars (formerly Project Halo) had an update posted; you can find it here. Personally, unless you’re excited by dialog boxes, I’d recommend passing on the screenshots of Bruce.

Just in time to be up-to-date before the NEXT Bungie Weekly Update is released, we’ve updated our Weekly Update Archive, so that you can now see that a search on ‘Jaime‘ shows that Mr. Griesemer has been lying low since mid-April, as far as these updates go. (He was mentioned in passing on April 30, but it doesn’t count, in terms of actual work updates.) Sekretz… lots of sekretz…

Apple has posted an interesting interview with Phil Sulak and Ken Cobb, of Westlake Software. It’s geared towards techheads (it’s on their Developer site, after all), and focuses on the tools Westlake used to bring this game to market, but it’s full of little tidbits for non-professionals who are interested in how it all works. Thanks, Carlo Zottman.

Today’s Calvin and Halo looks at a situation that many kids would love, but wouldn’t happen in too many houses. Still, it’s nice to dream!

Adam Daniel found an interesting article on the New York Times website (free registration required) which discusses movie-to-game licenses, and why most of the games don’t work. Halo is held up more than once as an example of how the model (that you need brand recognition, either because your game has a precursor or because it’s based on a mass-market item like a movie) is flawed. Adam points out that we (online Halo fans) get props:

“Everyone is trying to make gaming more mainstream, but it’s still the hard-core gamers that get it started. Look at Halo. That’s not a franchise sequel or a licensed property, but the word of mouth from the hard-core community really drove the larger market and made it the success that it is.”

Nice! Go read.

DJ SKILZ is a Scratch DJ/Scratch Artist, and has created a couple of pieces with Halo influences. Read his forum thread, visit his website, download the tracks.

MarkHawk points out a new Subzero Rivalries at Evilburger.net. The scary thing is, I’ve MET people that stupid.

Thanks once again to the kindness and hard work of a reader (thanks, Uriel!), the Movies database is nearly up-to-date. It’s accurate to just before E3, actually. (The next batch is gonna be a doozy.) 2 months, 50 movies… the database has almost 500 entries in it. That’s a lot of footage!

One One Se7en takes a look at one of the changes in Halo 2, and how it might affect some Halo players.

Halo: Resolution shows you what to do when the wrong kind of soldier shows up.

19 new stories for you in the Fan Fiction section today; go take a look!

Xorian points out a co-worker’s MIDI renditions of ‘Covenant Dance’, usable as a ringtone for your cell phone. There are two versions, both quite good. Check ’em out!

Poll news: First up, the poll we mentioned yesterday at Slashdot. Another 21,000 votes have been cast since we mentioned it, and the percentages haven’t changed all that much; Doom III and Half-Life 2 are still dominating with 25% each, and Halo 2 is still in third place (now with 13% – about half as many votes as the two biggies). Meanwhile, over at Gamespot (thanks, Jay), there’s a poll asking which game should take home the most prizes at the Game Critics Awards in a couple of weeks – and Halo 2 is out in front with 43% of the almost 2500 votes. Interesting to see the differences in audience!

Eep – we forgot to post yesterday’s Calvin and Halo. Sorry! Go read it – the idea of playing that game in real life is WONDERFUL.

Halo 2 leads the pack of 2004 Game Critic Awards Nominees with 4 nominations: Best of Show, Best Console Game, Best Action Game, and Best Online Multiplayer Game. Results in two weeks!

Halo 2 took Best of Show (and runner-up for Best Xbox Game) at Gamestyle’s Best of E3 awards. Thanks, Lothar Hex.

Ciarán points out that another change in Bungie.net’s Halo 2 FAQ is a line added to the bottom of the Limited Edition question:

This offer will be subject to availability in your country, but is not limited to the US.

There was evidence that this product would be available outside the US, but it’s nice to have an official word on that.

Bungie.net came back online a couple of hours ago, with 5 new forums, snappier response times, and some information about the Seventh Column site. Go read about it!

Quick roundup of some Halo 2 impressions articles we missed in the last few days:

• Worthplaying
• PC Arena
• Gamers Hell (really short)
• Boomtown

Good stuff.