And so it begins… The Great Halo Scavenger Hunt is on! It’s been a long time in the making; this is a contest that involves many different websites in the Halo/Bungie community. Part of the fun is actually going to be figuring out what you’re supposed to be doing, so we’re not going to give you all that much to go on, to start with… but you should stop by TGHSH Rules page for an overview, basic rules, and a prize list. (It’s a hell of a prize list. Bungie rocks.) There are two interwoven parts to this hunt; there’s the main scavenger hunt (which is convoluted, and requires collecting a LOT of information, but has some pretty slick schwag for those who make it to the finish line), and the ‘Instant Win’ category, which provides bonus gifts for the first 7 people to discover the IW doodads. Through it all, we’ll be here, moderating, helping out with occasional clues, doing our best to keep folks from cheating their way to the end. And for those around during the Glyph contest we held a couple of years ago, a familiar name will be back to egg you on. In fact, she’s already popped her head up… Enough of this – go read the Rules page, and start searching!

Brian Hurley’s HaloQuery app has been updated for BSD Unix. We’ve got a copy running here, showing the status of the HBO dedicated server. He’s given us permission to release the package (488K) containing the source code, plus executables for Win32, Linux, and OpenBSD. (Any other unix flavor simply requires a quick compile.) Eventually, this will be updated to use html templates, so that folks can customize the look to match their sites… but for the time being, it’s quite functional as is!

Zeta writes to point out TRIBES e-Sports, a multi-platform gaming clan in Europe. They have a Halo Xbox category. Check ’em out!

Wonga. You go the weekend without posting, and the Fan Fiction queue gets ridiculous. 25 stories for you (and that’s AFTER I culled the stuff that really didn’t belong):

• A Letter Home, by Hikaru-119
• HALO-003 Part 1, by EliteFoe
• Taking the High Road [H&R 13], by Jillybean
• Attack on ERISTOCK Part 7: John-117, by xitWOUND117
• The Horde: Prologue, by Awesomedudeman
• Invasion, by Chummu
• The 7th Column: Disguise, by Mainevent
• Survival, Chapter Seven, by Agent Shade
• Warriors of Valour: Part 1, by Ghost sniper
• Warriors of Valour: Part 2, by Ghost sniper
• Warriors of Valour: Part 3, by Ghost sniper
• Warriors of Valour: Part 4, by Ghost sniper
• Halo: The MCconto Chronicles Part 12, by JCDenton
• Evanangel (part 01), by Jinkaiden-XI
• The Cyborg Wars Series: The Prologue, by Jonathan D. Smith
• Calling, by Frensa Geran
• Flyboys, by Mainevent
• The 405th, by Capo Rip
• Covenant Hunters, by Randy
• The Battles For Centauri Primus : Chapter Two, by spartandude117
• Covenant Chronicles: Grunts, by FOrunnER
• Contract Killers, by Havok
• The Chief’s Death, by BlackValkyire
• Marooned, by Steve Ollett
• Covenant Humans part 1: Human Victory, by Sammanam

My fingers hurt.

Two more Halo PC server admin tools, straight from the Gearbox forums. (Thanks to programerz for a kickass summary, btw). First up is Halo Query, a tool for Win32/Linux platforms (BSD coming soon) that will show some very pretty stats of the server. Second up is stang’s Halo Server Admin, a small app that runs on the server and allows easy access to 6 basic commands (show players, kick player, ban player, next map, restart map, shutdown server). All of this stuff, btw, is before Gearbox has even released the final version of the Dedicated Server…

Red vs Blue has put up a page containing some of their favorite fan-created works with the public. videos, pics, buddy icons… it’s all there. Check it out. Thanks to nof for the heads-up.

Break Point has created an Image Gallery, where community members can upload pictures of tricks and score screens for free hosting. Comments can go in this forum thread. (To date, Stuntmutt hasn’t uploaded any pictures there.)

In an attempt to have October 6 declared ‘Stuntmutt News Day’, Stuntmutt sends word that Game Revolution has reviewed Halo PC. Biggest complaints are system requirements (big surprise there) and the fact that you can’t play as the Covenant. Final score: A-.

This came in yesterday, I spaced. The Junkyard has written up a Halo PC review, covering a bunch of aspects not really touched on by other reviewers. Nice read – and you can add comments in their forum thread.

Stuntmutt found a hilariously mislabeled picture over at the Wizard Entertainment site – check the caption on the top picture. In case someone gets on the ball and fixes it before you read it, here’s a screenshot (165K).

When I first saw today’s One One Se7en, I laughed out loud. Then I went to CafePress to make it a reality. (Don’t worry, I came to my senses.)

Today’s Halo: Resolution looks at just how powerful that LAAG can be. (Powerful enough to give substance to a hologram? You bet.)

Shacknews has added Halo PC to its ShackReviews database. This means you can write a review for it there. Go make your opinion known. Thanks to Ash for the heads-up.

New ladder system for Halo PC gaming, over at Total Assault Gaming. They claim to be the first out of the gate with this.

New movie from BOLL over at HaloMods – Xbox footage of some really, really, REALLY fast vehicles. So fast that control is the major challenge. (Outrunning Wraith blasts is pretty simple…) Thanks to SourceGuy for the heads-up.

Yesterday’s One One Se7en guest strip is followed up by ANOTHER one from Devilmingy, in the same theme; this time looking at the Sidewinder Saga (which has also folded). Such is life.

Benny, from Xbox Ottawa, has put together a pretty dang funny Flash animation that seems to be the first stop-motion footage using the MC action figure I’ve seen to date. (Visit the site for details on its making.) Thanks to Marc Sutherland for the heads-up.

PVB CROUCHELLE writes (in a way that is truly painful to the eyes) about a new site devoted to a Red vs Blue spinoff called Pink vs Brown. There are no vids yet… but I guess they’re coming. Update: this news item reminded halo fan about RedvsBlack. Maybe those spinoff One One Se7ens aren’t so non-topical after all…

Simpsons Rule has put up a new site containing images for forum flames. (That is… images you can tack onto a forum thread to let someone know you’re unhappy with what they’ve said.) It also has other artwork of his. Take a look.

If you have a machine capable of running the Perl Object Environment, EmmEss has just released a Halo client component for it; you can query basic server info and detailed player/rule info with it. There’s an example page showing the stats you can get from it here, and comments about it can go to this thread in the Gearbox Forums. The geek in me drools…