Halo PC Preview at FiringSquad. It’s a look at Single-player only, and brings up several points that have been addressed on various messageboards by Bungie and Gearbox employees (so don’t bother sending us outraged emails about how this or that problem is already fixed – we know)… but it’s a view from a PC FPS player, which is how Halo PC SHOULD be judged. 32 screenshots, as well. Thanks to AlStrong for the heads-up on our forum.

For the longest time, the Guardians have baffled players – where do these mysterious killers come from? Stuntmutt looks at the issue in today’s One One Se7en.

Earlier today, we listed links for DivX-encoded versions of FTC’s latest vid (number 7). We’ve gotten the okay from FTC to offer you a QuickTime version, as well. This one is 480×312, 12.5 mb, and is available from files.bungie.org. Mirrors are welcome (though they probably won’t be posted before tonight).

A couple of weeks ago, we mentioned a large video showing multiplayer action at Gamespy – but noted that it was subscriber-only at the time. It’s since been made public – you can grab it from a number of public servers. It’s a 144 mb QuickTime movie (141 mb zipped) showing 4 minutes of gameplay from Gephyrophobia, Timberland, and Blood Gulch. Should really give you a sense for what’s what – format is 640×480, so action is reasonably sized. Got the heads-up from kurieitaa over on the Gearbox forums.

Whoa – I’ve got no idea when this was (re)posted… but the Halo Storyline, originally posted on the now-defunct Xbox.com Flash Halo site, has RESURFACED at Xbox.com. (It was orginally posted in mid-September 2001 – in a hidden format. Once a Bungie fan found it, it was yanked. It reappeared – in an altered format – a couple of months later… and then was yanked again. It was offline for a very, very long time; I’m pretty sure it wasn’t up on the Xbox.com site, say, a month ago.) Nice to see – maybe this can kickstart the dormant Halo Story page, which has been waiting for its maintainers to return from their summer activities…

Saltine sent in a link to a nice flag capture on Battle Creek; you can download it from his site here. (4.7 mb, WMP7 format.) He asks that comments be posted on his Clan page, Halo ThugZ.

9 Fan Fiction pieces for you today:

• Earth, A Place for Death. Part 7: Lifting off, by FuManChu
• MJOLNIR MARK V, by Mainevent
• The Ghosts:Project Ghost(Chapter 1), by Sergeant B
• Assualt of Plaza 13, by The Scribe
• The Fight for Bravo Base; pt. 1, by ONI_operative_343
• Homeworlds V, by Mainevent
• Arcnine, by Master_Chief189
• Soldiers Diary: Homeworlds , by Mainevent
• Halo Trilogy: A Soul to Remember ( Chapter III ), by Alpha Lance

Not too bad, for a Saturday morning…

Tyler Jennings compares shooters in today’s Guest One One Se7en. The collection grows…

Surrept, inspired by Marty O’Donnell’s ‘A Walk in the Woods’ (a track you can find on the Official Halo Soundtrack), has begun work on a remake. It’s not finished yet – but he’s happy to put out the preliminary work (817K, 0:52, mp3 format) for feedback. Comments can be added to this forum thread.

Taking to heart the suggestion that some of the skins submitted might not be of maximum use in the field, Dogsounds has created 4 more skins for the MC, this time all camouflage variants. You can find descriptions of each outfit on our forum… or visit the Variants page for the full collection. (Links to all relevant information about the creation of these skins is contained on that page.) Update: Dogsounds has added one more – a Bungie skin. Check it out.

essex put some AotCR gameplay together with some music… and the end result is a 24 mb download in QT format. Grab it from FilePlanet, then comment here.

Ever wondered what the maximum range of… well, whatever is? Check this out.

Fire Team Charlie has posted FTC7 – and it’s a keeper. Currently available as a 352×224 DivX-encoded AVI weighing in at 7.6 mb, it can be downloaded from the main site, or from Blade’s Team Ice mirror, or from files.bungie.org. A large (640×412, 18.2 mb) version is available for members off the XboxOttawa site. QuickTime versions will be coming tomorrow. Jump in with comments in this forum thread!

Friday night in Redmond… time for another Halo PC update. Michel Bastien, Bungie’s man-in-the-field on this one, is back from the Gearbox studios, and has written up some drool-worthy words for you. They’re in the final stages of testing; they’ve actually got release candidates going. Won’t be too long! Go read the details at Bungie.net.

Woohoo! New screens at Microsoft’s Halo PC site – this time it’s Ice Fields. There haven’t been a lot of views of this level up to now… you get 5 decent ones here, and can get a good feel for level layout. Thanks to spesalfred for the heads-up!

A new Halo PC Editing FAQ has gone up at Gearbox’s site – answers to your questions about what you will, and will not, be able to do once the tools are available. Check it out!

SketchFactor, over at Bungie.net, has put up some cool info about the second wave of Halo Collectibles, available in a couple of months. Descriptions and links to pictures can all be found in his Bungie.net writeup… go check it out!

For those with modded Xboxes, HaloSkins has posted a couple of mods that might be of interest to you. 1guydriveby allows the driver of a Warthog to fire its LAAG gun while driving… your games of Warthog Jousting just got deadlier. Walk on Walls allows you to… well, walk on walls. (Up and over any obstacle, in fact.) Again – you must have a modded Xbox to use these; any questions you have about modding your Xbox in general or applying these particular mods should be directed at modding communities (like HaloSkins), not us. Thanks! (And thanks to decibel for the heads-up on this stuff.

Gearbox has put up another new screenie – this time, it’s a shot of Sapien, the tool used to populate maps after creation. Get a feel for what sort of options are available… (The work items list is down to 48, as well… not long now!) Thanks to Satesh, on our forum, for noticing.

Wow. Sir Dan points out a link to a vid (streaming WMV format) of the final round of Halo50K, TDT vs DM, CTF on Battle Creek. It’s 5:16 long, and shows the entire match (3 captures). Video is hosted by Video CD Productions, and shows some truly impressive teamwork… check it out.