In just long enough to notice a new Subzero Chronicles comic – hehe, I played in a game like this today. Thanks, MarkHawk. Update: should have read the whole thread… MarkHawk points out a new wallpaper, as well.

SanchezTheLlama has posted his weekly update of Project Halo: Webwar Evolved. A new battle rifle, new music, engine progress… things seem to be progressing nicely! Check it out.

At the risk of generating yet MORE mail complaining about the database problem, I’m posting today’s Guest One One Se7en. It’s from Bridie… and it scares me a little. I think it must be British humor. (I say that because we don’t HAVE Minties here.) Update: my mistake; it’s not a British thing at all, it’s an Australian one.

We’re having some trouble with one of the machines serving HBO pages; if you load a page, and get an error page that says ‘The database failed to initialize’ – please, reload the page. Almost always, it’ll work the second time out. We’re doing what we can to fix this… please be patient. (You don’t need to tell us about it – a few hundred people have already done that. Thanks!)

SESpider, with the help of PsYcHoDaN, has completely overhauled the layout of the Miniature Halo layout, and you can see the results in the latest edition; Miniature Halo Page 17 is now up for viewing. He asks that you please email him (link on the Miniature Halo page) with your thoughts of the new layout – they want to know how you like it!

This week’s Bungie Update can be found at 343GS.com – in their forum. Give it a look – lots of very cool little tidbits. For folks looking for new screenshots or a movie, this isn’t for you… but for people who want to know where the team is, and how the development is going… check it out!

SketchFactor, over at Bungie.net, has written up a full article on the Halo PC World Championship, held recently in Los Angeles. It’s not quite as good as being there… but it’s as close as most of us are gonna get. Check it out!

A quick reminder – tomorrow is the day for the Winter Philadelphia Regional Tournament, run by Major League Gaming. This will feature the biggest Halo tournament ever held in the US, with over 300 competitors and 75 teams already registered. The guaranteed purse has been increased to $16,000, to be awarded to the tournament winners. If you’re anywhere near the Downtown Marriott in Philadelphia tomorrow or Sunday… you’ve gotta go! More details can be found at the Halo Nationals website.

Walshicus updated his Halo Stellar Cartography information, based on requests from fan fiction authors. The map, small Excel file, and text information are all new. (The large 30,000-star Excel file is unchanged.)

343GS.com has put up episode 14 of its EchoFourNineteen comic; check the downloads section. Thanks to MasterToad for pointing it out.

A tiny tidbit from bentllama – the bizarre T stance occasionally seen in Halo animations when they SHOULD have a weapon, but don’t, has been fixed; it won’t show up in Halo 2. Always nice when glitches are taken care of!

Red vs Blue episode 24 is up for Sponsors now – 3:55 of Warthog goodness. Oops, sorry… Puma goodness. The cliffhanger for next week has me on the edge of my seat!

Da Loaph discovered an interesting little page; it’s a part of the Oddlots Irregulars website, and it pays tribute to Halo. There are a couple of comics on the page, as well as a couple of custom gametypes (downloadable, even). Take a look! Update: It’s now 2005, and Oddlots has changed its site layout dramatically; that page no longer exists. The two images do, though: Cortana | MC. If the day comes when they’re no longer hosted there, you can find them here: Cortana | MC.

CENOBITE has opened a new Seventh Column chapter, the Blood Chiefs, devoted to the creative side of Halo. It’s a place where ‘an elite group of artists, musicians and writers can share their love of the world that is HALO. ‘ It currently contains a link to an older piece that bears quite a bit of resemblance to a Flood warrior… Check it out!

Craig Mullins, master digital artist (with longtime ties to the Bungie community), has posted a new sketch of the MC on his site; it’s not in the Gallery yet. (There are a few images in the gallery that might remind you of Halo items – there’s a buggy that bears a resemblance to an early tank concept sketch, another one that reminds some of the Warthog, and a wild piece that could be a Seige Tank with legs.) Thanks to Orion, who posted this info on the Subnova Hotline server last night (and to Deimos for bringing it to my attention).

One One Se7en finishes up the tribute series with a nod to Toyfare Magazine. Wait… isn’t this Miniature Halo territory? Oh, man… here come the lawsuits.

There MIGHT be a problem or two with the Scorpion design… as Halo: Resolution points out.

Dispraiser writes about the Halo Generals Mod – a conversion for C&C Generals: Zero Hour. They’ve got a new home, a new site layout, and some new renders of vehicles for you to see. They’ll be adding content regularly, so if you’re a C&C Generals player, check back often! They’re still looking for help from folks who can make their homepage pretty with Photoshop, and folks who can get unwraps from already completed models. (The more unwrappers they get, the sooner the mod gets finished.)

Battleground: Halo has posted a pair of articles this morning; TCLN-Zenn has written a piece on the Halo Team Killing situation (he’s very unhappy with it, and with the fix implemented by Gearbox), and Banshee Ace has interviewed a member of the DC clan. Take a look.

SESpider has been overwhelmed with emails asking when the next panel of his Miniature Halo series is coming out. He’s started a thread in our forum; if you have questions, post them here, and he’ll try to answer. There’s an example of one of the panels that got tossed because of their new design, so you can see sort of where they’re going.