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.

In the midst of a war, they’re still keeping track of expenses? You know it! Check out Halo: Resolution today.

There’s a great interview up over at Bungie.net – Brook Szabo talked to Lorraine McLees about what it’s like to work at Bungie (among other things). Lorraine rocks. Read this.

Major League Gaming, the folks who sponsor the Dream Team (among other activities), have partnered with GameTime Nation to launch a weekly tournament series in New York City, NYCGL. It opens the first week in November, and Halo (xbox) is among the titles in play. More details can be found at the website.

DOH! Almost forgot to post today’s Guest One One Se7en, this one from Iceman1330 again. A little bit risque, I’d say…

From pretty much the time of Halo PC’s release, folks with NVIDIA cards have experienced more problems than their brethren with ATI cards; framerates were dramatically lower. AnandTech has taken a look at Halo performance using the latest NVIDIA drivers (52.14, not actually available yet, should be out later this month), and found that framerates nearly double when compared to the current drivers. Thanks to Gawyn, over at Subnova, for the heads-up.

Another pair of Game server browsers are now Halo-compatible: Server Watch v3.4.2 now has a Halo plugin, and Kquery4 (Alpha) supports Halo. Check ’em out! (These are, again, alternatives to the in-game server browser provided by Gamespy.)

A plethora of Halo reviews since our last roundup:

• GameZone (9.2/10)
• Gaming Horizon (9.5/10)
• Computer and Video Games (84/100)
• DailyGame (9.5/10)
• Next Level Gaming (98/100)
• Computer Games Romania (90/100)

There are 70 new screens (beautiful) at Computer Games Romania, and 15 (with HORRIBLE colors) at CVG. Thanks, Blues News, for keeping up while I was playing Halo PC!

Development on SparkEdit, the Halo map viewer, continues apace. HaloMods now has a 2:10 long movie (wmp7 format, 10.2 mb download) showing the new object placement code; 2 minutes of a MC respawning a couple of hundred feet above Blood Gulch. Over and over and over again. Thanks to SourceGuy for the heads-up.