So here I sit, finishing up an interview with the Film Oasis guys, trying to figure out how far behind I really am because of yesterday’s Fanfest… Over the course of the next couple of days, I’ll do my best to catch up, but please be patient. Stuff isn’t gonna go up in the order it came in here… it’s gonna go up in the order I remember it. First up: a forum thread filled with some hilarious images. The Burninator injected some One One Se7en images into Halo… and eventually BOLL took the concept to its absurd (but just as hilarious) extreme. Check it out!

Yeah, we had all sorts of plans; webcams from multiple places through the house, rotating Halo PC entrants, and on and on… everything fell by the wayside when the playing started. Offensive Tetraboxing kicked off last night; the first of almost 40 guests showed up a bit after midnight, and the first round of Halo gaming continued until 3 am. 4 hours later, folks rolled out of bed, munched through breakfast, and set up gear… and by 10:30, we had more than 30 people playing. Film Oasis, the house that made the DIscovery Channel Halo documentary last year (and that is making a Halo 2 documentary right now) is here, and filming the fans, the action, the food… it’s a blast. We don’t have a lot of content to pass along right now, because frankly, we’re just playing too much… but we’ll at least shoot along a group shot of a subset of the visitors. (They couldn’t all fit in the frame.) There aren’t any names yet – but we’ll add ’em in the writeups. (You SHOULD notice KP standing up in the back – pretty neat, since he has only one knee.)

This week’s Frankie’s Bungie Update is here at HBO – and contains some rather momentous news. A Halo 2 release timeframe has been set – for Fall, 2004. You’ll have to decide for yourself whether the relief at knowing overcomes the disappointment of having to wait another several months… (And congrats to those who procrastinated about c0ld’s release date contest – your chances are much, much better now.)

Sep7imus was the first to point out this news item on Truth and Reconciliation:

Halo 2 will ship in Fall, 2004.

The news item also includes a brand new multiplayer screenshot. Mmm, bumpmapping… (Note: A number of people have been confused by the title of this news item. The game is NOT named “Halo 2: In Reach of Fall”. This is just a reference to the title of novel The Fall of Reach.)

Hehe – c0ld vengeance is offering to pre-order Halo 2 for one lucky forumgoer. Guess the release date, win the game. Read the rules in his forum post.

Narcogen has posted Part Three of the High Ping Bastard’s Guide to Halo over at Rampancy.net – this one looks at gametypes, and how high-ping players can benefit from certain strategies. An interesting read.

Hey – we stopped mentioning the incremental updates on the Halo Flash game under development over at 343GS.com some time ago… but the new features in it now merit another look. A Silent Cartographer-like intro, new sounds, plasma grenades… it’s getting there! (Check the Projects page.)

One One Se7en comes back to Linda – who might be dangerous with more than just a sniper rifle…

Halo: Resolution continues its Matrix-like theme… but the corn is coming.

Eight Fan Fiction pieces today:

• Scope (Prologue), by The Silver Spartan
• The dank, dank, swamp: a comedy poem, by crashedwarthog
• A Killing Glare (Part 1): Cadet 787, by MadJackal
• Neverland: Plans for an assault, by SOS.Odin
• Halo:Sgt.Johnson’s War Chapter 1:Earth , by Sgt.Johnson
• Forced Betrayal (Chapter 5: A New Ally), by CoLd BlooDed
• Getting to Ones Mind, by CoLd BlooDed
• Air Force Wing: Part 3, Consequences, by teemus

I’m likin’ this new submission frequency…

elmatto dropped by our forum to point out an old comic he started drawing about him and some friends playing Halo. It ends rather suddenly (he put it down to lack of interest), but the art style is pretty interesting to me.

Hijack found an interesting article about game marketing over at the Hollywood Reporter, via EvilAvatar.com. Beth Featherstone, Director of Marketing of Microsoft Games, talks about how much trouble it can be to market a game with no fixed release date, using Halo 2 as an example. (There are tidbits of nice info in there, too – like the fact that Halo 2 has over 20,000 lines of dialogue in it already.) Give it a read – but don’t look for a fixed date yet!

Recently, Nintendo cut the price on its Gamecube to $99 (making it cheaper, amusingly, than its Gameboy Advance SP product), in an attempt to regain market share. (It worked; Nintendo sold more Gamecubes in the US in 2003 than Microsoft sold Xboxes.) There’s an article on CNN Money today that suggests that MS might be considering a price drop to the same level by Labor Day – preparing the market for the Xbox 2, maybe as early as next year. (An intermediate drop – to $129 – might happen between now and E3, in May.) Good news for Bungie gamers, anyway… the platform your developer favors is that much cheaper to snarf up! (Thanks to Mr Yun for the heads-up.)

Comics, Part II: Today’s Guest One One Se7en comes from Gram shows why taunting in multiplayer isn’t always a good idea.

Today’s Calvin and Halo (from Blackstar) looks at obsessions, and their effects on your outlook on life. (Obsessions? What are those?)

A month ago, vector40 wrote an article on Banshee flight tactics. Today, he’s released part 2. It’s entitled ‘Crash and Flow‘, and covers more advanced techniques and strategies. Read the first one, if you missed it… then read this one. It’s currently hosted at Rampancy.net (link above), but should be available at the Junkyard and Subnova in the not-too-distant future.

We got an interesting note from Halojunky yesterday:

Inspired by the ‘Nighmare’ real armour created a few weeks ago, i made this 117 helmet. It’s made out of corregated plastic card, tin foil and stickytape. I also added a light and a mission camera.

If anyone wants to buy it, im selling it for £499. A bargain for such a high quality item that took 19 years to complete.

We couldn’t decide on which of the pics he sent us was best – but they were small enough that we thought we’d show you ALL of them (26k).

Halo Babies has released content a day early this week, because mrsmiley is getting on an airplane tomorrow to come HERE and play some Halo. There are a pair of strips; the first is Gruntsbane’s entry in the Plinth of Art contest (which I liked a lot, but which didn’t get a lot of points due to its lack of Art focus) – the other is a Stuntmutt-submitted One One Se7en/HaloBabies crossover. It’s pretty funny stuff… and you won’t find it in the One One Se7en section here, so go check it out!

Battleground: Halo is running a two-part series called ‘Halo 2: Precognition‘. Part 1, released today, speculates about the characters and races we might see in Halo 2. It is based on information gleaned from the Halo novels and the game itself, and contains spoilers for both. Before anyone gets bent out of shape, remember that Viper is NOT claiming this info to be fact.

SESpider wrote to ask for input for his Miniature Halo series. This time, though, he needs pictures. In his words:

I need fans, that can, to get images of the inside of a Covenant Cruiser’s Hallways and Cells (and maybe bridge Room).
The Halls:
The Halls can be Empty or with Covenant In them. There can be NO weapon fire, simply because it’ll take too long to edit out. The views can be from above the ceiling or from a walking position. NO Humans whatsoever! But I can edit out Master Chief’s gun if need be.
The Cell Room:
These have to be somewhat well-lit (but normal like) with Covenant walking about. The views can also be from any angle you choose as long as the Covenant inside are not always in the same spot (unless sleeping).
The Cell:
I need a few good low shots from inside the cells (with or without plasma doors). These shots have to have the cell itself empty and looking out toward the Plasma Door or/and ceiling.
I would get these images myself, but I don’t have any decent program to make them large, clean and clear enough for use.
Send to:
Send all images to SEspider2@yahoo.com in Jpeg or Gif Form ONLY. And provide the name you want used when given credit. Once again, Thank you all for the help and ideas you’ve provided.

Well… you heard the man! Send him some pics!