Just a quick note to let folks know that we’ve received the early-bird entries for the contest and have chosen the ones we can haul across the country to the Fanfest this week. (Some of them are actually being delivered to HBO West, and won’t need hauling at all.) We’d just like to say that we’ve been floored by the overall quality of the entries so far, and are looking forward to the rest that we’ll see this weekend/early next week. (Remember, the actual contest deadline is Friday, May 16 – we’ll be in LA, but the mail will be checked). You guys rock!

eddie m noticed a blown-up version of the Halo2 poster on the E3 show floor, over at Gamespot… check it out.

Maverick J points out an online tourney (on XboxConnect) being organized by Project Spartan. The contest is to be held on May 17th, and currently has 10 2-man teams signed up. Read the post (or visit the site) for more details.

Wowowow. The promised Gamespy Halo PC article went online early this morning… and I’m still reeling. (There are actually two articles – the main one, and a separate one on the new multiplayer features available in the PC version.) Release date is tentatively August or September… and it’s gonna be a winner. The 10 campaign levels have been translated faithfully from the original; with the exception of the higher resolution (it was demoed at 1024×768 for Gamespy, but the implication was that even higher resolutions should be supported) and the interface tweaks (there are more keys on a keyboard than buttons on an Xbox controller, after all), the solo campaign will be identical to the original. The differences will lie in multiplayer. There are 6 brand-new multiplayer maps, as well as the ability to use the covenant fuel cannon, fly the banshee, and drive a modified warthog (with a rocket launcher in the back). There are also new multiplayer modes, and the ability to tweak existing modes:

…you can give the Red Team a set of Warthogs that respawn immediately, while giving the Blue Team one Scorpion tank that only reappears after a minute.

The only feature of the Xbox version that’s in danger of NOT making it over to the PC side is Coop play. Gearbox is hopeful they can find a way to implement it easily before Halo PC goes gold… but they can’t promise anything. Oh, and the keyboard/controller debates can finally be decided, since they’ve included gamepad support; grudge matches are SURE to be played. Anyway, there are pages and pages of juicy content in the two stories, and 16 screenshots/concept art images… so go read!

A week and a half ago, we mentioned a Halo card game – now there’s a second one. Sarge Rules points out his website for it – check out ‘Phoenix Sanction‘.

SniPeR and -nEo-Atomic have put together a short film called ‘Cold Metal Flat Pedal’, which shows some warthog flipping stunts. We’ve chosen not to host it, but forum regular BOLL has kindly stepped up for this one. (Get it soon; it might get pulled during school hours in Sweden, which start at maybe 4 am eastern time.) 3:04 long, 4.8 mb big, in WMP7 format. Update: pulled, for bandwidth issues. Sorry, folks!

The 67th Raptors have gone live with their website, dedicated to the only operational Halo 2 clan out there. (There was an earlier one, but they’ve already disbanded, it seems.) Taking a page from Bungie themselves, color-wise, they’ve put together a pretty spiffy site – check ’em out!

9 Fan Fiction pieces for you today.

• The Flood: A force to be reckoned with (Part 2), by crashedwarthog
• Chapter One: The Dream, by Ace
• Fallen Angel 16: Seeing the Light (Series Finale), by Gruntkiller/Covert
• ONI Black Ops Part Four, by Havok
• Chapter 2: The Few, The Proud, by Ace
• Chapter 3: Brute Strength, by Ace
• Chapter 4: Funeral for a Friend, by Ace
• Battle for the Norah: Prologue, by Agent Shade
• The day of a grunt, by Halowolf

A note: The last story is in French. I was going to reject it… but then I remembered that we already had a story in German. However, a warning: this is the last non-English story we will accept, without an accompanying translation. Sorry – we just don’t have the resources. Update: thanks to the half-dozen people who submitted translations of the French story – we’ve picked the one that we think is closest to the original (in spirit), and posted it – Ghôlsbane’s The Day of a Grunt (translated). Enjoy! (This doesn’t change our decision to keep the English-only requirement from here on out…)

Well, Mythica’s back down to it’s standard 5 Mbit/sec serving rate, so the Birds spike is over; time for the NEXT movie. This one’s from Mister E, and it’s called ‘Timing’. The theme is exactly that – there are lots of ‘kill and then die’ sequences, with some very nice integration with the trance-like music. It’s just under 2 minutes, and is available in both Windows Media Player 9 (18.1 mb, 640×480) and QuickTime (12.4 mb, 480×360) formats from Mythica, as well as mirrors at That Weasel Television (the QT version there is 10.1 mb, and of lower quality) and the Psyjnir Complex Hotline server (the QT version is the 12.4 mb version).

Well, this one’s out of order, a little… but we’re having trouble contacting the next guy on the list. Hickadam, shown in the past to have a pretty amazing sense of timing, has come up with a new movie. It’s called ‘Birds’, and it looks at some of the most loveable creatures in Halo. The original is a wmv file. Thanks to Cybrfrk, we were able to convert this to a high-quality MPEG, which was then converted to a QuickTime movie for all those who have trouble with Windows Media Player files. Grab the one that works best for you. Mythica has the 10.8 mb WMV, and the 10.4 mb MOV, and the Psyjnir Complex Hotline server has both, as well. (Mirrors are, of course, always appreciated.) I loved this one. (And Eels rock.) Update: Thanks to That Weasel, who’s put both versions up at That Weasel Television. Enjoy!

Two movies hosted by Nukedude – there’s a mirror of the recently released Lethal Rage, and a movie by forumgoer Danny, showing gameplay on Blood Gulch. Thanks, Nukedude!

Three new banners from our own Cybrfrk – two large and one small, all in the Banners section.

The miscellaneous artwork submission is smaller than the desktop one today; just one image. Again, there was more, but it came unattributed. Nothing we can do with it… Anyway, check the Miscellaneous Art section for BOLL’s fun take on what to do about lamers…

The desktop art has been building up for a few days; this week was spent working on getting ready for E3. However, we’re clearing the inbox today. We’ve got seven for you… you’ll find ’em in the Wallpaper section. Misc art will come soon, as well as a few new banners; there were 10 very nice new banners in our uploads folder, but they came with zero identification, so there’s nothing we can do with them. Once again – no ID, no postee.

An interesting tidbit of off-topic news… SilverBrin has posted a note explaining about the setup of the official Brian Morden Foundation, an organization set up in memory of Brian Morden, better known as *Ar-Isildur around these parts. Visit the links for more information, or to buy one of the cool <3 T-shirts.

Email from EVILDARKZERO reminded us that we never mentioned the Halo Action Figure Contest being run in the June issue of OXM. To win the full line of soon-to-be-released Halo action figures, all you need to do is send an email to xboxmag@futurenetworkusa.com, with your name, address, email and phone number, and you’ll be entered. (They’re picking 25 winners at random.) You can also send a letter to

Halo Action Figure Contest
c/o Official Xbox Magazine
150 North Hill Drive
Brisbane, CA 94005

Entries must be received no later than June 15, 2003, and the winner will be chosen on or about July 1, 2003. C’mon… what do you have to lose? (Contest is open to residents of the US only, sorry. And for some bizarre reason, it’s void in Rhode Island, too. And Puerto Rico. And where prohibited by law. I think it’s good to go in Peoria, however.)

Somehow this got missed by the majority of Fanfest attendees… thanks to Warbow for pointing it out. A few days ago, a letter went out to all attendees, with information about logistics, a schedule, and a description of what will be going on. One of the subsections of the general overview was titled ‘Videos Galore’ – it described some of the video footage that will be visible throughout the night. Most of it was expected, and I guess I must have skimmed it… because I missed this line:

“…a Halo 2 documentary being produced for an upcoming special on the Discovery Channel…

Whoa. A WHAT? Okay, certainly MY appetite is whetted… if we discover more about this before the show, we’ll be sure to post it.

Tiny but potentially significant Halo Story Page update… thanks, Finn.

Episode 6 of Red vs Blue is up for Sponsors at the Red vs Blue site (head to your forum, look for the link) – it’ll be out for the rest of the world on Sunday, but if you’ve dropped ’em a little cash, pick up your copy today. ‘Laughing out Loud’ is way overused on the internet… but the teleportation sequence in this episode sure had me doing it for real.

Ciarán did some digging, and came up with a bit more information about the next Halo novel, working title ‘Halo: First Strike’. From a Random House employee:

As for “First Strike,” it will take place immediately after “The Flood,” and will continue to follow the Master Chief. Other than that, I can’t yet reveal.

Interesting… interesting. Check out the forum post for more info about eBook versions of the first two novels, as well.