Stuntmutt, never one to be right there on top of the day’s events, has written a Sunday Strip for One One Se7en that looks at… well, last week’s Weekly Bungie Update. You can never sink too low, it seems. There’s always another rung down.

HomelanFed recently interviewed the First Strike mod team about their work – the result is an interesting read. How they got started, what their mod will cover, what we might be seeing in the future… check it out!

Wow – now THAT’S a slick-looking Warthog. quaglinoman, over at the Halomods forums, has posted a TRON-inspired warthog (the original movie, not the recent game) – and it looks great. Check it out! (Thanks to TURBO for the heads-up.)

John Kedrowski pointed out the sad news that CobaltNova is hanging it up. No more Halo for Emil… he’s closing the doors.

Stuntmutt has provided the world with a bonus movie today – it weighs in at 552k, and it shows off what might just be the most powerful weapon we’ll see against certain enemies. Check out Pump Action!

Our Homelan-sponsored IRC channel has become its own little community – something that many realized would happen. It’s a place for forum regulars and irregulars alike, along with visitors from other sites and the odd (and I do mean odd) Bungie employee to come and hang out; in general, it’s a friendly place. We had a problem a little while ago with a rather persistent troll, and the result was that we muted the channel; in order to speak, you have to be ‘voiced’. Setting people up for automatic voice (given by the channel server as you enter the channel) is easy to do – but requires that your nickname is registered. (There’s information on how to do this on our IRC Info page.) This is all well and good… but it turns out that many IRC clients neglect to ‘Identify’ the user automatically – so the server isn’t sure it’s really you, and the autovoice doesn’t work. One of the worst offenders is mIRC, a popular Windows-based client. Setting up Auto-Identify is a bit obscure – so Nick has gone ahead and made a short video (1.8 mb) showing how to do it. If you use mIRC, and you’re tired of pestering channel operators for voice so that you can speak… check this out!

And because too what fun is text without pictures, we have today’s Guest One One Se7en – Jillybean threatens to take over the place. After that last post, i’ve half a mind to let her.

Geez – you don’t update Fan Fiction for a few days, and suddenly you’ve got 29 entries to post.

• The Raptros Saga: Ch.1: Awakening, by Raptros-v75
• Chapet one: Unforgiving Wounds, by ToFu
• Sep’Reo [The Reclamation]: Chapter 1, by JJiggssaw
• The Covenant Weapon–chapter 2 Capture, by Halo_2204
• The Fall of Rye: Chapter 1: The Seige, by teemus
• The Croton Chronicles: Prologue, by Earl Hershberger (Funkster) & Trevor White (Boxer[subnova])
• The Croton Chronicles: Chapter 1, by Earl Hershberger (Funkster) & Trevor White (Boxer[subnova])
• The Croton Chronicles: Chapter 1.5, It’s half as good but twice as fun, by Earl Hershberger (Funkster) & Trevor White (Boxer[subnova])
• The Croton Chronicles: Chapter 2, At least we’re not dead…yet, by Earl Hershberger (Funkster) & Trevor White (Boxer[subnova])
• The Croton Chronicles: Chapter 3, This is where the fun starts, by Earl Hershberger (Funkster) & Trevor White (Boxer[subnova])
• The Croton Chronicles: Chapter 3.76, The sea may be a cruel mistress&#4294967173but trees hurt more, by Earl Hershberger (Funkster) & Trevor White (Boxer[subnova])
• The Croton Chronicles: Chapter 5, If a big purple dinosaur can be your friend why not a big blue Ali, by Earl Hershberger (Funkster) & Trevor White (Boxer[subnova])
• The Croton Chronicles: Chapter 6, Take your orders and shove em’!!!, by Earl Hershberger (Funkster) & Trevor White (Boxer[subnova])
• The Croton Chronicles: Chapter 7.1, With enemies like these, who needs enemies?, by Earl Hershberger (Funkster) & Trevor White (Boxer[subnova])
• The Croton Chronicles: Chapter 9, Into the belly of the beast&#4294967173and it&#4294967186s not feeling too well, by Earl Hershberger (Funkster) & Trevor White (Boxer[subnova])
• Hit Hard Ch. 4 pt. 2 –Reclaimer–, by Nick Kang
• Spartan -116 and -118 (Chapter 1), by John Wilson
• Mysteries Part 4, by Horror
• The Enemy Within-Chapter Five: Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire, by Mind_Affecting_Parasite
• Halo 2: Chapter One and Chapter Two, by John E
• Probably No Choice, Part II, by Jon M… a.k.a The Flu
• Halo: The Battle Within. Chapter 2, by Bryan D. (A.K.A. B-Man)
• New Mombasa, by Steve
• Battle for Nagidrac System: Part One – Section 1, by BullsEye & Fig
• Battle for Nagidrac System: Part 1 – Section 2, by BullsEye & Fig
• ODST Lead the Way Chapter 1, by Helljumper
• Alive, by Solidus Snake
• The End of the Covenant and The Fall of A Hero., by Jagged
• A Marine Named Peters: The Finale, Part Two: Peters’ View, by GLADIATRRR3000

Gah – I hope that’s the last of it for the weekend… luckily, you’ve got two days to read all this. In the future, I’d appreciate it if folks would keep their handles to a minimum – post by your real name, or post by a nickname… but don’t post by both, it makes a total mess of my front page. Thanks!

I missed the “Bushwacker” yesterday – I hope this doesn’t kill Revenant_SP001’s Tripod account. (If it does, I grabbed a copy – let us know.)

Today’s REAL Bungie Weekly Update is over at TeamXbox – and it’s a doozy. Halo 2 PIC! Okay… it’s just a prototype of the Joyride action figure… but it’s way cool-looking. There’s also lots of info about the week’s progress; ambient life, new control schemes, lightmaps, you name it. Go read!

Devin Olsen posted a note about a movie he and Goatrope made – getting to the top of Gephyrophobia. There are three mirrors for the 7 mb, 1-minute DivX-encoded film listed in the forum post. Take a look!

Episode 25 of Red vs Blue‘s Blood Gulch Chronicles has been posted for sponsors. It’s a monster – 4:48 of hilarity. They just keep getting better and better. Thanks, Ross.

Whoa. WAY ahead of schedule, Frankie has posted this week’s Bungie Update over at the IGN forums. Info on the upcoming web overhaul, voice chat, new multiplayer options, and (w00t!) final Halo 2 box art – what more do you want? Go read. (Thanks for the heads-up, Obie!) Update: I should have known it was posted too early – sorry, folks, this was a fake. Bad news for everyone, now – folks are gonna be suspicious of EVERY update from here on in.

More rendering from DocOctavius – this time, it’s our friend the Elite. I like it!

Cortana.org is stating that testing is going on for the Halo Editing Kit, and that ‘things have progressed’. If we hear more, we’ll be sure to pass it on!

One One Se7en checks out the Covenant heirarchy, or something.

Whoa – Captain Keyes wearing Nightmare Armor? Check out today’s Halo: Resolution…

Hehe – there’s a new Halo Babies comic up – and I gotta say, I’ve been there. Oh, yeah, I’ve been there. Note that this week, while the art is still Gruntsbane’s, the strip was written by a fan, vmanjr. Nice to be using community input!

SexyJosh has released another Halo-inspired tune over at his website – this one is 3.4 mb, 3:36 long, and is sad for Grunts. Go listen! (You can comment in this forum thread.)