Wraith has discovered that the flamethrower IS available on a couple of Campaign levels in Halo PC; he’s taken a few screenshots on the Library, and created ppfs for both the Library and Keyes, the two levels he found it on. You can see the screens in this forum post, or download a zip file containing all 6 screens, the two ppfs, and a readme from THIS post. Try it out on the covenant!

Chelsea’s beginning to make grunting noises…

Today’s Guest One One Se7en comes from Spooky Donkey, and looks at potential jobs for the MC. And while we’re discussing One One Se7en, congratulations to IXIGhandiIXI, who found the One One Se7en easter egg which has been hidden in the section (in plain sight) for over a month now. The rest of you are slacking…

Enemy Down, a UK-based ladder site for Counter-Strike and Day of Defeat, has added Halo to their list of supported games. There are new CTF and Slayer ladders. If you’re a UK Halo player, stop by and sign up, and climb the multiplayer ranks!

BGT writes to point out the Home Front mod for Battlefield 1942. (We’ve mentioned it a couple of times in the past few months.) Front and center on their website is a new map of the city of Côte d’Azur on Sigma Octanus IV. (It features prominently in the Fall of Reach book.) Nice looking city, with plenty of places for fighting! Check it out.

disturbedroach, from Halo Center, wrote to say that they’ve set up their site to allow user-uploaded maps to be added to the database; if you have a modded map that you want available to the community, visit Halo Center and upload it!

Couple of new Halo reviews for you; Tom’s Hardware (thanks, Mondo-77 and JP) and Eurogamer (thanks, Blues News, via ash) both looked at the game. Tom’s LOVED It. “I would mention major drawbacks of this game, but there’s one problem: I haven’t been able to find any.” It’s an interesting review, because it focuses on many points I haven’t seen brought up before (or thought much about myself). Eurogamer’s is actually a pair of reviews; the first editor was pretty unhappy with what DIDN’T get improved between the Xbox and PC versions, the second acknowledges some of the weaknesses that other reviewers have noted, but ends with this comment:

With Doom III and Half-Life 2 now delayed to 2004, there’s only one other real contender for the crown of being the top multiplayer FPS this Christmas; and unless Unreal Tournament 2004 can pull something fairly amazing out of the hat, we’re pretty confident that Halo PC is that game.

Pretty much sums it up for me, too.

Clan AKA has created a tool that can modify the Blood Gulch map to change projectiles (tank shells can be replaced with needles, for example, or vice versa). At the moment, it doesn’t do anything else, but they’re coming out with new versions every day, and they should have a final with in a week (one which will let you change ANYTHING). It’s only 11k, so its a much easier solution than downloading a 5+ mb modified mapfile; just grab this, and add the effects you want yourself!

Nick the Roadie points out that Cyberjocks (near Buffalo, NY) is having another Halo tourney, coming up on October 18. Same rules as the last one we mentioned.

Small note for uploaders: there are a number of folks who’ve uploaded mods of existing maps to us, all (at this stage) involving simple hex editing of the mapfile to change weapons, or effects. It’s great that folks are modding Halo PC before the official tools even get released… but we’re having trouble justifying the bandwidth needs for such basic modifications. For example: someone recreated BOLL’s ‘Wheels on Fire‘ mod – except only the wheels part (and projectile impacts). The resultant zip file is over 5 megs… don’t get me wrong, it’s cool and all, but I’d rather wait until there are tools that can create a 5k patcher than house a 5 mb full map for a change this small. There are plenty of Halo mod sites on the net that can house these; we’re going to wait until more complicated mods are available before we start our collection. Thanks!

First easter egg in Halo PC – confirmed. ‘halo fan’ sent in this image he captured while using the ‘walk on walls’ mod. Remember that the designer of Timberland is David Mertz – and his response to this discovery was amusement:

Hehe, it was a matter of time before someone found it, its hard because you have to go really, really high.

They actually are not jumping out of Timberland, Timberland has a really, really high maximum ceiling height so that the player can arc Fuel Rod Gun shots without them hitting the sky box.

I’d never noticed that last tidbit about Timberland… but then, I’m usually using the fuel rod gun to take out warthogs, not shell the enemy base. Good to know!

c0ld vengeance played a little bit of Gephyrophobia before writing today’s Guest One One Se7en strip. I know exactly how he feels.

Another Halo review over at FiringSquad… they gave it 80%. Pretty honest review; worth a read. (It’s quite negative in parts, but one gets the impression that the criticism comes from wanting to see something beautiful done right, rather than just to whine.) Hopefully, Gearbox is listening to some of the suggestions made in reviews like this one. (That is… if they can get past the negative tone. 🙂 ) Thanks to Bullseye for the heads-up.

16 Fan Fiction stories for you on this Friday afternoon…

• The Fallen: Halo 2 Ch5S1 Moving In, by Hikaru-119
• The Fallen: Halo 2 Ch5S2 Where Did They Come From?, by Hikaru-119
• Crazy Cowboy [H&R 14], by Jillybean
• Attack on ERISTOCK Part 9: Invaders, by xitWOUND117
• The Rise and Fall of the Flood Chapter 9, by BlackValkyire
• MJOLNIR, Prologue, by Nemesis
• Sons of Sparta II, by SOS.Odin
• The 7th Column: Abandoned, by Mainevent
• The Fight for Bravo Base; pt. 6- Evac, by ONI_operative_343
• Covenant Humans part 2: Not what they seem, by Sammanam
• The Fall of Earth, Part One, by Hunter_Killer
• Sons of Sparta III, by SOS.Odin
• Tides of War, by Mainevent
• Project Sabotage – Part 1, by Ferrex
• Contract Killers (Part III), by Havok
• Survival, Chapter Nine, by Agent Shade

Go get ’em, before the Saturday batch comes!

Ever play coop with someone who likes to let YOU do all the work? Halo Babies looks at the phenomenon today with a new strip. Check it out! (Thanks to mrsmiley for the heads-up.)

I’ve seen a couple of disturbing posts on our forum (and there are likely similar ones in other places) to the effect of ‘now that the Scavenger Hunt has been solved…’ Folks, there are 28 prizes to be won in the main hunt. As of this moment, 3 of them have been claimed. We’ll probably start dropping hints this weekend, to get people back on track… but there is still a mountain of schwag to take home, so don’t stop looking!

They were big… then they were gone. Then they were big… then they were gone. They’re back again – and it looks like they’re gonna be big again. Go visit Haloplayers and see Barak’s new design. (He just got his copy of Halo PC, so keeping the site updated might be a problem…)

First news story of the day was a Brooke Szabo interview with Lorraine McLees; there’s ANOTHER Szabo piece over at Xbox.com, this time detailing how the Xbox (well, her association with someone who WORKED for a company developing for the Xbox, but eventually the box itself) changed her life. Check it out! (Halo plays a central role, for those worried about on-topicness.) Thanks to gd for the heads-up.

Stuntmutt points out that The Master Chief action figure is in the spotlight over at Wizard Universe. These are toy freaks… and they love the MC. Go read why.

That MC, he’s one funny… nah. Go see One One Se7en and decide for yourself.