CPL has announced its Summer 2004 Extreme Championship, with a $70,000 Halo PC CPL-Assault tournament. Wow. 4000 players (it’s bring-your-own-computer), July 28th-August 1st in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Thanks to SketchFactor, over at Bungie.net, for pointing it out.

plumpy writes to point out the website for Clan Electrik, a Halo PC clan in Utah. Nice looking website (should have entered it in the CarnageReport contest) – check ’em out!

rapture saved you the trouble of reading the Gearbox forums by pulling out a raft of interesting tidbits posted by Gearbox employees; info about the next HPC patch, teasers about easter eggs, info about the editing tools… go look. Then thank rapture.

Today’s One One Se7en continue’s the thread started on Monday – how many shots do we need to take at Halo PC’s framerate, anyway? (I mean… it’s not like it’s a fast-moving target…) We’ve also added a Guest Queue approximate wait time, to let strip creators know what they’re in for when they submit a strip. It’s not an exact science, because it depends on special strip submissions by Stuntmutt (Sundays, holidays) – but it should give you a rough idea. (Hmm… looks like they’re coming about as fast as Halo PC MC… I’m here all week.)

OMGWTF – 500 years in the future, and we’re STILL getting cold calls? Halo: Resolution looks at one possible solution.

Chase writes about a Halo Tournament in West Jordan, Utah, on February 6. It’s called the Blue Pheonix (no, I didn’t spell that wrong). It had a website… but it seems to be gone already. Now you know what I know.

Seven desktop images for you today on the Wallpaper page, clearing out the queue. Better than last time! A word of warning – a couple of these come dangerously close to failing to meet our image posting guidelines… please, if you’re submitting artwork, read the guidelines. Thanks!

241 new screenshots have been added to the Screenshots Database, covering all reviews listed to date and bringing us to the present. This brings the total number of Halo PC shots (1279) to within striking distance of all the Xbox Halo shots to date (1312) – wow.

Almost missed this – I’m WAY behind on mail. Jarvis Badgley subscribes to a monthly mailing list from Del Rey Books which keeps him informed of upcoming SF releases. In this month’s note:

HALO FANS REJOICE!

Del Rey has an agreement to produce THE ART OF HALO by Eric Trautmann, under the very successful Microsoft Xbox publishing program, for next October. This intensely illustrated journey through the world of Halo will show how the Bungee [sic] game team created the characters, the environment, the action, and the brilliant graphics for the award-winning game.

Whoa. Now THAT’S gonna be one pretty book. (There is not yet any information about this on Del Rey’s website. The newsletter itself can be seen here – the bit in question is down near the bottom.)

Couple of reviews in the past week – both courtesy of Blue’s News. Review Gamer mostly liked it (8.96/10); they felt a few parts were too linear. Gbase.ch (a Swiss site, in German) wrote Update: A few more, courtesy of GameRankings:

• Game2Extreme (October 22, 8.6/10)
• Game Power Australia (November 3, 8.5/10)
• TechTV (November 5, 4/5)
• In the Mix (November 6, 3/5)
• Games First (November 9, 4/5)

That should do it for a bit…

Well, doodoo. Somehow, I managed to miss the third and final installment of the Anime Reactor writeup that mehve put up at Bungie.net – it’s over a week old now. There’s a little bit of Halo information, and I’m gonna post this so that I can find it in six months… but if you’ve been keeping up on the news at Bungie.net, you’ve already seen this.

Whoa. Totally missed this in time to warn you… but the deadline has passed for the Clan Website contest being run by Carnagereport.com (we mentioned it a couple of weeks ago). Judging is happening this week, and the results will be announced on Saturday, November 15. (Hey! Maybe THAT’S what all the rumors were about!)

Nick Danger pointed out a pretty funny movie over at Halomods – a 2D Halo scroller? Dunno if it’s real or not – but the vid’s definitely worth the download. (3.3 mb, AVI format.)

Halo web stuff again – apologies for letting this build up.

• Echo-413 (General Halo Guide site)
• Seraphim Clan (Halo PC clan)
• Art of Death clan (Halo PC clan)
• Nemex Clan (Halo PC clan)

The Soviet Spartan, of Art of Death, wanted folks to know that he’s working on setting up allied and rival clans – he’d love to see clans register at teamwarfare.com to maximize this. Check ’em all out!

So how much DOES the MC weigh? {SS}Zag1 looks at the issue in today’s guest One One Se7en. For future reference – this is a bad thing to do to a superior officer… ESPECIALLY on Veterans Day. (Thanks, to all the real-world soldiers out there.)

Absurd number of Fan Fiction bits, because I was off this weekend…

• Blue Squadron Chronicles, Part Five, by Hunter_Killer
• Blue Squadron Theme Song, by Hunter_Killer
• The 7th Column: First Strike, by Mainevent
• Derailed Final Part, by Dispraiser
• A John Before Halo: Part 15, by J-117
• Shadow Ops II: Nowhere to Run, Chapter Four, by Nemesis
• Shell Shock- chapter 1: , by Myth
• Threat Assasin # 1- Chapter 3- Brother’s fate, by Lone Jackal
• 1m x 1m, by Steve
• Halo: The Scythe of Death Part Six, by LordofDestruction
• Galaxy 07 – Part 1, by Jillybean
• Battle of the East N. American Protectorate P1, by Steve
• Misunderstood (Halo Rap), by CovieKilla
• Appocalypse-Sector 3, by FF Echo
• Final Fate: Mankind’s Demise, by Jinkaiden-XI
• Shadow Ops II: Nowhere to Run, Chapter Five, by Nemesis
• Fall from grace (Halo 2: Chapter 12), by Shadowrunner
• Ghostrider 5: Lt. Tyler Kent, by Tyler
• Caught on Film, Chapter 1, by Dropship Pilot
• Halo: The MCconto Chronicles part 15/16, by JCDenton
• Silent Skin Slit Pt. 2, by Silent Death Sorrow
• UNSC Special Forces: Proluge, by Nightblade
• March of the N00bs – Part 2a, by Wado
• March of the N00bs – Part 2b, by Wado
• Closing with the Enemy Chapter 1 Unexpected Arrival, by monitor101
• Hidden Love, by Mainevent
• Halo 2 Rise of a Hero Chapter 3, by CovieKilla

Think you’re man (or woman) enough to read ’em all? Ha!

Synide has whipped up a new vid, just in time for the opening of halo.synide.net. It’s called bridgeJump.mov, and it weighs in at 8.6 mb (QuickTime format, 320×240). It shows a trick not yet filmed (crossing the light bridge gap before the bridge has been activated)… but the rest of the movie shows what happens when a Halo trickster is questioned as to WHY he performs tricks. You can grab this from halo.synide.net, as mentioned (linked right off the news section), or from a mirror at files.bungie.org.

The Rabid Lilliputians, a clan of… well, small players with their tongues wedged firmly in their cheeks, have set up a tournament: Best of the Best. You go to their site, you vote for who you think are the top 10 HPC players. After the voting period has ended, the top 15 nominated players will e chosen, and will meet in a single game. (The extra slot is for an observer.) Go read the details at tRL, or see stan’s post in our forum.

There’s an article over at the Junkyard, written by MrFluffyPants26, about BOLL’s mods. The first half is pretty interesting – some thoughts from BOLL on which mods he likes best, and what he used – and then there’s a description of a few of the best-known mods. The second half is completely indecipherable – it’s a list, but it’s not clear what it’s a list OF. What mods exist? What’s changed in particular mods? (Which ones, then?) Dunno. Anyway, go read the first half.

If you live in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland, Halo Orbit is running a Halo quiz with Halo schwag as prizes. Take a look!