You might remember a small movie from a group called FTC – it showed some pretty classy shooting. Well, they’ve whipped up another small movie, The Tunnel Trap (it’s 4.7 mb, just under 2 minutes long, in DivX format) that’s simply hilarious. Take a look – and feel free to comment in this forum thread.

For those frustrated by the quietness of the Halo PC teams (multiple Randy Pitchford interviews notwithstanding), swing on by Bungie’s Tru7h and Reconciliation site for a major update. (It can also be found here, in a more permanent location, in case you’re reading this down the road.) Michel Bastien talks about where their time has been spent, and what’s coming… and offers a custom screenshot (you’ll have to post your request on Bungie’s Underground forum). Go read it – now!

A couple of days ago, SouthPaw posted a note on our forum, asking about an odd shape on the top of the pistol. Shishka grabbed a pic – and identified it as a Japanese ‘7’. (BOLL later got a better shot.) Looked like an egg… and lo and behold, that’s exactly what it is. Check this post by SketchFactor for the history behind its creation. Nice going, folks!

Wraith writes that Halo: Shadow Ops is up and running over at Forerunners.org. The hook? Check out the Sounds page, with 45 genuine Grunt WAV files, recorded in-game. (7mb download.) Nice!

The CPL Winter 2003 Championships has been announced – Dallas, TX, December 16-20, 2003. Three tournaments, including a $30,000 Halo PC (team) tournament. Nice! (Thanks to kappa, who noticed it on Cached.net.)

Marathon again… and some other good stuff. Check out the Halo Story Page. Yeah, baby.

One One Se7en looks at Covenant naming standards. Um… yeah.

SketchFactor has posted a note to Bungie.net – if you’re interested in pre-ordering Halo Action Figures, you can do so now at the Bungie Store. Oooh… I want that Warthog.

The Fan Fiction authors have just become guinea pigs again. I’ve made some changes in how the Series name gets chosen; it’ll be much, much harder to forget to add it (or to add the wrong one) now – you’ll have to work at it. 🙂 Of course, it hasn’t been rigorously tested yet – that’s where the authors come in. So submit your stories, and if you notice a major problem with the posted version (as compared to what you originally submitted), please, let us know. It should go without saying that you should keep a local copy of your story, in case of trouble during the submitting process – but I’m going to say it anyway, since many of you don’t seem to bother. Hopefully, this will solve most of the problems you’ve run into – if you find new ones, please tell me; I can’t fix what I don’t know about. Thanks! (Thanks go out to John Myers, for suggesting – in a very useful way – the direction in which I could change the series picker.)

NazdaH has put up another driver-jumping movie (this one FOCUSES on the driver jumps) – lots of places, lots of heights. Again – as we mentioned a couple of days ago, this is a single-person trick; all you need is a warthog, and something to bounce off of. (Basically, you’re translating your forward momentum you gain from the hog’s movement to vertical height by bouncing off an obstacle.) Very cool stuff, even though the video quality is a bit off. WMV7 format, 4.7 mb. Take a look!

A surprisingly deep collection of artwork today has been added to the Miscellaneous art section, including a nice faked Halo2 shot, an interesting take on Cortana, and a pair of simply gorgeous comic-style MCs from ZZoMBiE13 (I’d love to have these last two hanging on my wall!). Check ’em all out!

Nine Fan Fiction bits for you today:

• True Purpose(12), by Frensa Geran
• The Fallen : Halo 2 Chapter 3, Section 1, by Hikaru-119
• The Fallen : Halo 2, Chapter 3, Section 2, by hikaru-119
• Redemption, and Victory Part Two, by Hunter_Killer
• Destination: Marakesh, by The Scribe
• Spartans in NYC Chapter 3, by Chief-117
• The Fall of Fate: Destiny (Part 7), by ‘Nosolee
• Shadow Ops, Chapter 8: End Game, by Agent Shade
• Creation: Part 1, by Zack Hodges

Work on the new interface goes slowly – adding the bits I wanted to add is turning out to be tougher than I expected. Coming…

mehve has updated the Bungie community on the Halo Action Figures – they’re on their way out of the factory right now! They should be hitting the Bungie Store (and other outlets) by early August. Go read about the details! Update: mehve points out that the key points of this news bit have been added to the Halo Action Figures FAQ.

c0ld vengeance and BOLL have put together another Halo Hide and Seek; identify where, in Halo, you’ll find the images posted. There are currently 12 images, in 4 separate posts (to keep from totally overloading dial-up visitors)… in the half-hour since the contest went live, already 2 of the 12 images have been identified! Jump in now for your chance to win!

Telefragged has put up an interview with Randy Pitchford, president of Gearbox, about Halo PC. Much of the info is already out there, but there are some new tidbits. For example, there will be a ‘Classic’ mode in multiplayer that leaves things exactly as they are in the Xbox version, for the purists. (No banshees in Blood Gulch for you folks!) He’s also more optimistic about Coop – though it might not be there at launch. There’s a teaser about Halo PC League play… and some more details about how the multiplayer is set up. For the doomsayers among you, Randy has this:

Halo for PC will come sometime in late summer.

Go check the whole thing out! Thanks to Ramius for the heads-up.

Dave Writz of Halogamers.com has found a new place to use the ghost jumping trick on Sidewinder – it’s a pretty fast in-and-out when you’re headed for a flag capture! Take a look; 6.4 mb in MPEG2 format. (If anyone has real trouble with the format, let us know – I’m sure Dave would be willing to offer a different flavor.)

Dispraiser puts in a call for modders – he’s starting work on a PC mod. He’s got the beginnings of a Halo battle rifle already built – needs skinning, though. Check it out!

Wow. Either someone’s smoking too much crack… or something got leaked. A representative of ArtSource (a digital media staffing agency with an office in Seattle) posted to the CG Talk Hiring forum, with a request that reads in part:

Are you a SENIOR 3D Max modeler (3+ years of work experience) with multiplayer map experience, texturing and game experience? Are you available for CONTRACT work in Seattle for 3+ months?

If you have an amazing reel of strong environment modeling, we need you to work with the HALO and MARATHON team. These positions start out contract but may convert to direct hire.

Longtime Bungie fans might be going a bit berserk right now, given that ‘Marathon team’ reference… but remember one thing: right near the top of Bungie’s very own Jobs page, there’s a disclaimer:

Note to Recruitment Agencies: In accordance with Microsoft’s recruitment policies, Bungie does not accept applicants from recruitment agencies and will not pay a recruitment fee for any candidates.

So: Is ArtSource working in a sanctioned way with Bungie (or Microsoft) – or have they flipped? And how real is the ‘Marathon team’? Speculation is welcome on our forum, and if we get any harder information than this, we’ll be sure to post it right here. (Thanks to Ian Mankowski for finding this gem.) Update: Evil Otto clears up the situation with a flat “there is no Marathon sequel in our plans at this time.” Read his post for more details on how this might have come about. Thanks, EO!

Elliott “zorg” Zastrow writes to point out that the Mad-City Halo Tournament (mentioned about a month ago) is coming along strongly – tournament date looks to be July 19, in Madison, WI. If you’re a single player, they’ve got some resources on their forum for team-matching, to help you find a team to play on. Their website has lots more information. They’re shooting for 40 teams – go sign up today!

Monday’s episode of One One Se7en has been posted… and I wanna know, how do those guys have time for tomfoolery?