There’s a report up on Bungie.net about part 3 of the Bungie Fanfest Documentary; this episode looks at the Halo 2 trailer, and the fun surrounding it. As has been the case, you can find 320×240 versions on Bungie.net (linked in that article), or higher-res versions here:

• QuickTime (500×333, 20 mb) at files.bungie.org or Mythica
• WMP9 (640×480, 20.2 mb) at files.bungie.org or Mythica

Older episodes are linked in this post.

C.O.E.R.C.E. (an organization formed last summer to help alleviate HBO’s movie bandwidth woes) has now put another Halo PC server online – and we’re honored that its name is ‘HBO-COERCE’. You can find server password and Ventrilo password listed in this forum post, and the current map rotation (though that’s subject to change) in this forum post. Given that there are now three HBO servers, I’ve opened the GameDaemons one (removed the password protection). You now have three HBO-branded servers to choose from – two of which are GameDaemons boxes. Enjoy!

Interesting sketch on the Bungie webcam right now – archived here in case it changes before you read this.

A couple more reviews for you – Hatekill loved the AI, thought the graphics were too simple, Gametactics thought the 2-gun limit was bogus. Also, Gamestar Magazine (in Germany) reviewed the game, and gave it an 87% (though they’re running a silly petition to get Gearbox to add coop play – as though Gearbox wasn’t ALREADY doing their damnedest to add it). Thanks, Shacknews, Blue’s News, and Uriel.Update: Malcolm Owen, the author of the GameTactics review, writes to correct my interpretation of his opinion on the 2-weapon system.

[…] I meant it as in it is an interesting game ruling which forces the player to think and work out which weapon outweighs what depending on their circumstances.

Sorry about that; his biggest complaint is actually that the game isn’t as impressive as it would have been a year ago.

CPL has posted an interview with Randy Pitchford – it’s pretty focused on league gaming (suprise, surprise), but has some really intriguing info in it. Like this question:

Will HaloPC support demo-recording/playback functions?

Randy : A multiplayer demo recording function is in development at Gearbox. We hope to be rolling this out in time for the winter CPL event as it will happen automatically with some of the changes to allow modification of the game that are happening soon. We must allow the possibility that it won’t be available then, though. Our priorities have shifted a lot since launch because our number one priority is responding to the needs of our customers.

Woohoo! Go read the rest. Found this at Blue’s News, thanks, Ash.

Today’s Guest One One Se7en was drawn by Warbow, and looks at a pretty cool design created by another forum regular, Roger Wilco. Makes a good point, though.

A number of sites have put up transcripts of last night’s IRC chat on the #CPL channel of Gamesnet with Gearbox, Bungie, and MS – we haven’t had time to format our own yet (I wasn’t around last night, but I logged it anyway 🙂 ). In the meantime, you can check out

• clan|dc
• The Junkyard
• blam.forerunners.org
• Halomods

Some really good info in there! Update: Oops, missed a couple; Ross Mills posted to our own forum! And so did BOLL…

And again. This time it’s Finn, working toward the Tag Team knockout of the Halo Story Page mailbag (though the first post of the day is mnemesis’) – more stuff than you can shake a Forerunner at. (Can you even SHAKE Forerunners? I mean, given the doors on Halo, they must be pretty big, right? Or was that just so their trapezoidal cars could get in? No, that couldn’t be it…) Anyway, go read. (And oh, yeah, the fixed content at the top of the subpages has been updated, as well. That Finn… he’s a funny guy. (I think Stuntmutt was looking for more corn material…) )

Another One One Se7en crossover… Buzz don’t look happy.

Frensa Geran points out that SpikeTV is hosting an on-air Video Game Awards night on December 4th – and are currently taking votes for games. Halo 2 is nominated for ‘Most Anticipated Game’, and Halo PC is up for ‘Best PC Game’ and ‘Best First-Person Action’. (The survey is linked off their front page; it’s a javascripted Flash popup, so go in through the front door.) Forum reaction is mixed.

Halo: Resolution has a… different take on Steve Ballmer today. Hmm…

SketchFactor cornered Angel Munoz, President of the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL), and got him to talk about the league, its activities, and its history. It’s a great read – go check it out at Bungie.net!

oddworld18, afraid that folks might miss his pearls of wisdom strewn around the Halo Story page today, took the opportunity to insult the management in an attempt to guilt his way onto the front page. It worked. This time. Go read the Story page; there’s more than just that charlatan’s paranoid ramblings there…

Earlier today, we posted a note about some pics from the MLG tourney in New York this weekend. MLG themselves have now sent along results from the tourney – and man, do the names look familiar…
Halo FFA:

• 1st Place, $2,000: Zyos (Matt Leto, TX)
• 2nd Place, $1,000: -Hp-Darkman (Dustin Langton, KS)
• 3rd Place, $500: -Hp- Alex (Alex Burden, KS)
• 4th Place, $300: Shizz (Paul Baffi, TX)
• 5th Place, $200: Strangepurple (Doug Fabrizio, NJ)

Halo 4v4:

• 1st Place, $1,000: TDT: -Hp- Darkman, Zyos, Shizz, and -Hp- Alex
• 2nd Place, $500: StK: Strangepurple, Brese (John Calabrese, IN), DrPoon (Pete Fabrizio, NJ), Pray4u (Jayson Strauss, NJ)
• 3rd Place, $200: MoD: Xena (Bonnie Burton, PA), JMB (Johnny Burton, PA), MoD-Burton4 (Jeffrey Burton, PA), Grasshopper (PA)

Strangepurple also won the Oustanding Strategy Award, sponsored by GameTime’s DVG Strategy Guides (which netted him ANOTHER $100). Domination!

Recently, we noted that there was a bonus file on the Halo PC CD, a PDF with previews of all three Halo novels on it. We’d held off posting it because we weren’t sure whether the file was supposed to be an exclusive goodie for the buyers of Halo PC… but today we received word from Bungie that it’s okay to pass this along. The PDF will probably be available from Bungie themselves in the near future – but the intriguing bit for most people, the preview of ‘Halo: First Strike‘ (the new novel due out in December), has now been HTML-ized and made available in our Miscellaneous section. (With the exception of font choice, I did my best to remain true to the PDF in terms of layout.) Enjoy!

I was planning on holding this until tomorrow, but I’d like to stave off the email we’d get if we DIDN’T post it now, so… A couple of weeks ago, we mentioned a chat taking place on The CPL’s IRC channel on Gamesnet. SketchFactor wanted to make sure it wasn’t forgotten, so he posted a note about it over at Bungie.net today. (The chat takes place tomorrow evening, at 8pm EST/midnight UTC.) We were also reminded this morning by George Kaspiris, of The CPL. Should be a pretty informative chat; if you’ve got access to an IRC client, you should try and be there!

mehve pointed out that the ‘quick Reactor report’ we noted yesterday was actually posted from the show; they were NOT back yet. They ARE back now, though, and she’s posted a second part, focusing mostly on the reasons Halo fans go to Anime conventions (and how Bungie employees can get their butts kicked at Halo sometimes). Go read!

(GT)Juggler went down to NYC this weekend, and took part in the MLG tournament at Gametime Nation… and snapped a bunch of shots. You’ll find ’em on his website. Take a look!