The Lanwerx party that Bungie is tossing tomorrow (today, for some of you) in Seattle is not restricted to Seattle denizens only… there are 15 dedicated servers being put aside for online Halo PC play – for folks to jump in and play along with those that are there in person. Details on servers (and passwords to enter) can be found in this Bungie.net post. It’s a party, and you’re invited! (Comments can be tossed into this HBO forum thread.)

MASSIVE story over on Bungie.net – a celebration of Halo’s second anniversary, and a look back (through the eyes of fans and developers alike) on what those two years have meant. Absolutely worth a read (except for the third fan bit). Make sure you’ve got your milk and cookies – it’s gonna take you a while to get through it.

Hehe – Halobabies.net has put up a new comic, in honor of tomorrow’s 2-year anniversary of Halo – I certainly cracked a smile. Take a look!

Ryan ‘Mhaddy’ Matthews of the Junkyard writes to point out a couple of recent Halo community member spotlights; check out what makes Barak (of Haloplayers.com) tick, and get a glimpse into the life of Dinky, of HaloJuggaloProductions. In case you missed them, there are several older spotlights that might cover folks you’ve heard of: Gruntsbane and mrsmiley (from Halobabies.net), Pallor, 3of9 and mad.max (of Subnova), Dolbex (of Carnagereport.com), Fluffy (from Battleground: Halo), Emil (from CobaltNova), Bluestone (from 343GS.com) and a couple of guys from HBO.

Took a little while – but some recent submissions by Captain Spark have been added to the Dialogue Databank. 25 snippets, from Grunts and Sergeant Stacker. Go listen! (There are still a whole passel of elite sounds awaiting addition… they’re more work than I’ve had time for.)

A teaser post… for a new contest? Check this forum post. (And look farther down in the thread for the “Images local” post if the images don’t show up for you.) The email address should tell you all you need to know about who’s running this puppy…

Steve Christofferson dropped into our forum to let folks know that Halo PC is FINALLY available in Japan – details are in his post.

Part 3 of Stuntmutt’s Halo PC MC lampoon is up on the One One Se7en page. Wait for it…

Oh, the problems with being a pixellated character… check Halo: Resolution for Captain Keyes’ latest problem.

Finn, taking a break from the Halo Story page, has written up a couple of interesting rambles; there’s his (slightly overdue, but still welcome) impressions of the 4-day bacchanal that was E3 2003 (complete with pictures), and an entertaining essay on Bungie and the Heroic Epic, an exposition on the depths of Bungie’s storytelling… quite fitting for a Story page editor. Check ’em out!

Soviet Spartan has a proposal for a Halo PC clan community – read it on our forum.

Curmudgeon Gamer has written up a review of Halo PC; interesting overview. Pointed out by Mr. Mechanical on our forum.

A few websites for you: first up, we mentioned the Blue Pheonix tourney recently, but couldn’t find the website; turns out, the server is case-sensitive. Go look it over for tourney details. In addition, we’ve got word of another Clan site for you: Clan uD is currently recruiting. They can also be found on IRC at #clanud on irc.gamesnet.com.

The mystery of why the HBO-GameDaemons was difficult to connect to has been solved! Turns out there was some confusion as to what IP address it resided at; it’s now at its original home (which is different from the IP it’s been at for the past few weeks): 69.12.12.101. It can be connected to directly via that IP, and the status link at the top of our news page points there as well. We’re back!

25 pieces for you in today’s Fan Fiction update:

• Spartans Of Darkness Part 3, by SpartanOmega
• Threat Assasin # 1- Chapter 4- The Plan, by Lone Jackal
• And now all hell will break loose Part 8, by metallicafan
• The Spear of Tyr, by Gre’Thor117
• Confed Wars, Part One, by Hunter_Killer
• A Series of Wierd Events- Sequel, Part One, by Hunter_Killer
• The Green Tin Man, by Choasbringer
• Spartan III’s, Chapter 6, Battles of the Sea, by FOrunnER
• Emperor’s Children: Flood Survival: Part III, by Forever Forerunner
• Rebirth – The Long Expected Meeting, by KnightmareWolf, Shadow, Archangels_Blade, Spartan415
• A Pilot’s Life: Chapter 8-Dead Wrong, by Captain Rasc
• Dreams of the Past. Chapter 1. Going In, by Meyer
• Death and Flame, by Robert Alexander Deen Corregan
• Attack on ERISTOCK Part 15: One More Time, by xitWOUND117
• Shell Shock- Chapter 2, by Myth
• Athenians-II: Chapter 1 The Behemoth, by ZackDark
• Galaxy 07 – Part 2 – Sanctuary, by Jillybean
• Halo 2:CH2 PT1 City take over, by Chris-124 & David-125
• Caught on Film,Chapter 2, by Dropship Pilot
• The Fall of New York: Part III , by hunter_elite
• VENGEANCE [2], by GLADIATRRR3000
• Countdown Earth: Hour Five, by Mainevent
• Neverland: A New Beginning, by SOS.Odin
• Shadow Ops II: Nowhere to Run, Chapter Six, by Nemesis
• A Pilot’s Life:Chapter 7-The Resistance, by Captain Rasc

Go to it…

One One Se7en – where the message often outweighs the medium. Today’s Guest strip is a perfect example. Thanks, {SS}Zag1.

Bungie.net will be offline next week in order to update the site in a major way – read the details in this article. What this will eventually mean to you is a lot more Halo goodness, customized the way you like it… so get ready.

In what was a long-overdue overhaul, the HBO-GameDaemons dedicated server mapcycle has been radically rewritten. Several games that didn’t work were tweaked, others were removed altogether, and a few new ones were added. Chief among the additions are several gametypes developed by long-time Bungie fan (but only recently a Halo convert) Dispatcher – as far as I know, these are mostly untested. They LOOK fun on paper, though. If they work out, we’ll be putting them up for download. (If they don’t, we’ll be passing along feedback to Dispatcher.) Jump on the server, and try ’em out!

Undaunted by the dousing of the ‘Halo 2 is coming this week’ rumor, the gnomes have developed a NEW rumor – this time that ‘Halo 1.5’, a Live-enabled version of Xbox Halo, will be released by the end of the month. (Stories are on sites like GamesRadar UK and Eurogamer.) Evidence cited includes a new strategy guide, listed only as ‘Halo Deluxe Edition’ due out from Prima early next month. SketchFactor has once again stepped in with his hose; this time, it’s just a short note:

Halo “deluxe” = Halo PC (and soon for Mac). Sorry. Give it up.

Can we stop with the conspiracy theories now?

CobaltNova writes to point out the Week One Summary of the CobaltNova Halo League, with player stats and rankings. Check it out!