I hadn’t realized the details were going to be released this early… but apparently, MS lips are a bit looser than Bungie lips; a bad thing when lots of people have access to information. Gamepro has put up some details about the demo to be released on Friday – the WMP9 version will be roughly 150 mb, and filmed in gorgeous 640×480 video (with Dolby 5.1 surround sound). Gamepro doesn’t mention it, but there’ll be other formats available, as well. (Not ALL of us can see WMP9 video, after all.) Thanks to Appleicious for the heads-up.

Thanks to Twilight, who was first (of many) to point out the Seattle Times article on Justin Timberlake’s visit to Bungie. I thought about leaving this in the forum, but how could I pass up journalism like this?

He thrilled the Bungie team by signing autographs and multiplaying with them. They, in turn, tried to wow him with their latest game, Brute Force.

I haven’t received the flood of outraged emails from Bungie employees who were shocked at this representation yet… but I’m guessing that’s because they haven’t stopped laughing long enough to type. (For those keeping score, no, Bungie did NOT create Brute Force.)

For those not tuned in to the minute-by-minute goings-on at bungie.net, about an hour ago, SketchFactor announced that the E3 2003 vid (the real deal, not the shakeycam versions floating around the net) will be released this Friday. Start your browsers!

Evil Otto posted a note on bungie.net explaining that the Halo 2 content contest would probably be written up, with winners announced, by early next week. Good luck to all who entered! (I’d like to take this contest-mentioning opportunity to apologize to all Pillar of Art entrants, and those waiting to see the final work product; the pieces we showed at E3 are finally on their way back to the East coast, and we should have judging and announcements ready in the next little bit, as well. We never, ever, EVER thought it would take this long, and we’re sorry. More details can be found at the Pillar of Art site.)

Thanks to iZoD, who reminded us that the Game Critics Awards were announced today. Halo was nominated for several awards, but was beaten out by Half-Life 2 in every category except Best Console Game. (Still, for a studio now devoted to console titles, that’s not a bad honor…)

How many Fan Fiction pieces today? Why, Seven, of course.

• .halo 5: Insertion, by Neo//hack
• .halo 6: Fall of Irvine, by Neo//hack
• .halo 7: Fallen Tears, by Neo//hack
• Taking Halo: (Chapter Four) The Cartographer, by Steele
• Longsword: Desperation- Part Three, by Sterfrye36
• The Fall of Fate: Trapdoor, by ‘Nosolee
• On A Pale Horse: The Reverence, by Silent Hunter

Have you read them all?

Chris Preziotti points out that the Elite Guide now has its own domain name, 1337guide.com. We’ve updated our Links list.

Dr Evil has turned in a rather large banner, which we’ve added to our Banners section. (The preview version is still pretty big, but smaller than the original.)

Four desktop images for you, as well, clearing out the Wallpaper queue that’s built for a week now. Sorry about that…

Seven art bits for you in the Miscellaneous Art section today. Now, before anyone jumps into their email program to write a nasty missive about how this image or that one doesn’t meet our posting guidelines, and how the hell could I post it, blah, blah blah (as seems to happen pretty much any time I post ANYTHING these days)… they wouldn’t be posted unless I thought they should be posted. If you’re not happy with the arbitrary whims of the archive maintainer, find a different place to submit your files (or browse them, for that matter). Grumpy? Me? Never.

Today’s One One Se7en looks at Bungie’s underlying motives… I think Cortana’s pretty sharp, when it comes right down to it.

Whoa – the Fan Fiction submitters have been busy this weekend. 17 new stories:

• Longsword: Desperation-Part Two, by Sterfrye36
• Robotic Deception, by Gasmask
• .halo 2, by Neo//hack
• One Shot, One Kill Part 1, by HunterKiller
• .halo 3, by Neo//hack
• The Fallen: Halo 2 Chapter 1 Section 1, by Hikaru-119
• The Fallen: Chapter 1Part 2, by Hikaru-119
• The Fallen: Chapter 1 Part 3, by Hikaru-119
• The Fallen: Chapter 1 Part 4, by Hikaru-119
• The Fallen: Chapter 1 Part 5, by Hikaru-119
• Halo: The Scythe of Death Part One, by LordofDestruction
• .halo 4, by Neo//hack
• The Fall of Fate: Flee, by ‘Nosolee
• Zudo – Part1: The Creation, by Hunter
• True Purpose(9), by Frensa Geran
• CR.04: Chaotic Reign .04: Light of the Ender (Series Finale), by Neo//hack
• Bloody War: Pluto Disastor, by Ishkabibbl

Get to it…

Andrew Katz pointed out that Gamers.com (the parent website to EGM, whose poll on the most exciting game at E3 we reported yesterday) has their own poll, with the same question… and as of right now, Halo 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3 are tied with 28% of the vote each… while Half-Life 2 is tied with Mario Kart: Double Dash for third place (and 13% of the vote each). Seems a bit off to me… go add your vote!

Well, many couldn’t wait… but many did. The July 2003 issue of the Official Xbox Magazine hit store shelves yesterday… so we can now bring you the June issue, with the 14-page Halo 2 Exclusive that got folks so riled up last month. You’ll find it in our Press Scans section.

gspawn points out a poll (that seems to have ended) over at Electronic Gaming Monthly’s website; they’d asked ‘which game from E3 has you most excited?’ – and Halo 2 ran away with 39% of the vote. Not bad! (Again, though, Half-Life 2 wasn’t one of the options…)

Calvin Hansen alerts us to a version of Hang ’em High for Star Trek: Elite Force, over at EliteForceFiles.com. The screenshot looks pretty good!

Wolf writes to say that Sector 7 will be putting up a ‘Halo Quiz’ soon. There are already 15 questions… but they need more. They’re looking for fan input… if you have a question, send it along (along with either 4 answer choices, if it’s multiple choice – true/false questions are acceptable as well) – they’ll pick the best ones!

Stuntmutt pointed out that some of the newest One One Se7ens (no, you can’t see ’em yet) had better looking type than the older ones – and I realized that this was the fault of a setting on my computer. (It’s a long story.) Bottom line: I’ve gone back and regenerated ALL the One One Se7ens; type is better (more readable) across the board. Sorry for the inconvenience!

A few weeks ago, we posted a note about a movie that was being hosted by BOLL, temporarily. It was only up for a day or so… nukedude has come to the rescue, and if you’re interested in the film, you can grab it there.

Episode 17 of Stuntmutt’s One One Se7en is up and ready for reading. For the 3 of you still holding out for the PC version of Halo, there are spoilers in this one. For the rest of you… giggle.