We knew it was coming… here it is! Bungie.net has finally put up a sneak peek of the new site it’s been slaving over for the past 9 months. Go read SketchFactor’s explanation… and look at the new site!

It’s a good thing that files.bungie.org came back online today… because as anyone who tried to download a movie from mythica.org has found, Brian Towne has given up. He’ll be hosting files for the Infinium Labs’ Phantom, an up-and-coming console, rather than Halo movies. And it all stems from bitterness over a long-promised, but undelivered, software addon…

After years of trying to make a go of the full website, and failing, Psyrixx has finally admitted defeat; the Psyjnir Complex will heretofore be represented on the web only by its music subsite, music.psyjnir.org. (This site is managed by Jester, not Psyrixx, and so has a CHANCE of not being run into the ground.) The front page hasn’t changed to reflect the new reality yet… but it will, soon.

Red vs Blue has put up Episode 28.5 for sponsors – and I gotta say, this is the funniest episode of the season, so far. You’ll find it in the Season 2 Sponsors forum (not the normal place). Go watch it. Now. Update: Oops – it’s not just for sponsors… it’s for EVERYONE. GO!

The HBO Weekly Review is revived… literally. I’d say there were 777 reasons to read this… but I think he miscounted; I get 776.

Bungie.net has posted a news item about the new lengths to which the product placement model is being taken in Halo 2; Keds, Arby’s and Starbucks are all among the companies that will be showcased in-game. (Product placement in games is nothing new; the sports games franchises have been doing it for years. This marks a radical departure for Bungie, however, and may lead to more daring risks in game design; Bungie (and Microsoft) will have another source of income aside from game sales, and will be able to afford alienating some players.) Let’s see how it turns out!

We bought Subnova today, as well. Next on the chopping block… eBay.

Calvin and Halo makes a mess today.

BOLL has created a new utility – it gives ANYONE the ability to create One One Se7en strips with Stuntmutt-quality artwork (mostly because it IS Stuntmutt’s artwork). It’s primary purpose, right now, is to provide our forumgoers with a way to communicate via pictures. A more complete explanation of how to use it (especially ON the forum itself) has been posted here, to save room on the front page. Give it a try!

Ducain continues his pretty awesome experimentation with Warthog-assisted flying; the latest movie is just under 10 mb, 2:48 long, in WMP9 format. The forum post contains a pair of links to find it at. I’m amazed that there are STILL ways to blow things up that produce results I’ve never seen before… Update: Ducain added a small movie (2.3 mb) showing a pretty slick final cliff jump. It’s similar to one done by Frogblast oh so long ago… except that 1) it’s in single player, and 2) he STARTS at the top, so grenades are a bit… scarcer. Very nicely done!

SexyJosh points out that he’s written a new Halo-related song for download; you have to register for access at the moment (registration is free).

Files.bungie.org (no, there’s nothing at THAT particular link) is now back open for business; this includes the FTC vids we host. Apologies for the 3-day downtime… we’ll do our best to ensure this doesn’t happen every month. (No guarantees, though.)

In other news, we’ve bought Rampancy.net.

Wow – nice conversion of Blood Gulch for Unreal Tournament 2004… There’s a download link in the thread (along with some pics), but unfortunately no attribution; I have no idea who created this. (The filename simply specifies that it’s a Vehicle CTF map, and the site it’s on has no real information.) Heads-up goes to Konrad on our forum, who found it from Strato.

Alexander Valient found a Halo-related strip from a comic called Alg. – Co. The full page can be found here. And a whole bunch of people mentioned the tiny Halo 2 reference in yesterday’s Crtl+Alt+Del comic. Seems Halo is showing up in more and more places…

Hehe – here’s a fun little Halo-related flash thingy… Nice work from the HaloNATION team. Heads-up from HuMaN_fLy in our forum.

One One Se7en looks at those funny Subnova folks today. Poor MC.

Today’s Halo: Resolution pulls our poor MC out of the frying pan…

Wow. Wraith has managed to add a working Fuel Rod Gun to Two Betrayals; the graphics are a tad blocky, but the functionality rocks. (I’m not sure WHY the graphics are blocky; you’re using the gun that the Spec-Ops Grunts use on that level.) It was originally available as a PC mod, but he also found a way to make it work for Xbox (NTSC). Update: Wraith explains the blockiness here.

There’s an interesting essay on Games, and the stories they try to tell, written by Greg Costikyan, Co-Founder of Unplugged Games. It looks at games in general, and is not Halo-related, in any direct sense… but Halo (and Bungie games in general) tend to try and tell stories, and they do it more successfully than a large chunk of the games released in their genres, so it’s worth a read to anyone who thinks about this sort of thing from time to time. Heads-up comes from Brian Graham, in our forum.