Last week, SketchFactor put up the first part of his ‘Building a Better Chapter’ article at Bungie.net. He has now posted Part Two – and for this one, he’s interviewed five chapter founders for their ideas about what makes a good chapter. Get to readin’!

Hehe – Roger Wilco came across an owner’s manual for Halo. Pretty funny.

A month ago, a pair from Canada sent in times for speed runs through the various levels of Halo, performed on Easy. Yesterday, Åstro and his partner, Coreman (Team Poughkeepsie), sent word (and a pair of films) of their work on the first of 10 levels… performed on Legendary. Their run of Pillar of Autumn is just a hair faster than Hartley and Copeland’s… on a much rougher difficulty setting. The gauntlet, thrown down 4 months ago, now has some content behind it. The movie of this feat, which includes everything from the time the Bungie logo leaves the screen through the Level 2 loading screen, is available in both QuickTime and Windows Media Player 9 formats (25.6 and 18.6 mb, respectively) from Mythica.org, and both versions have been mirrored on the Psyjnir.com Hotline server. (We are happy, of course, to announce mirrors – just let us know if you put these up.)

Not that he’s trying to get you to think, or anything… but Finn has updated the Halo Story page again with some intriguing speculation from our forum. Check it out!

Killer points out that you can vote for the best game in the UK – you won’t be able to SEE the results (you have to watch Game Stars on ITV1, in the UK, for that), but heck, you can vote for Halo in 5 or 6 categories.

Is the flood ebbing? Fan Fiction increases by only three stories today:

• Battle for Chippanicas Gorge Part 3, by Austin Peters
• Halo 2: Blade Squadron Part 1, by Andrew Golightly
• MARINES: Operation 2 (part 2), by Matt Anderson

Go get ’em!

Interesting. Team Overkill points out a product available at various online sellers (a couple of links in the forum post) which contains the Halo National Championship on DVD. Price varies, but is below $10 at both links. It also comes with a bunch of Xbox demos.

Whoa – get it quick, while it lasts! ToysRUs, through Amazon.com, is currently offering Halo for $29.99 online. If the Best Buy promotion is anything to go on, this will only last a couple of days. If you need another copy of Halo (because you’re playing more LAN fests, or because yours is scratched), here’s your chance to save $20! Thanks to Jose Vasquez for the heads-up.

Miguel Chavez has written up a stunning recap of Brian Morden’s memorial service last month, over at Bungie Sightings. Read it, if only to see what a relationship primarily built through the internet can generate.

Hehe- Warbow turns in Calvin and Halo number 5. Snowmen! (Spoilers, of a sort, for Halo virgins.)

Three new images for you in our Miscellaneous Art collection today…

Pretty cool desktop image from Dave Driggs – it’s not completely Halo-related (it’s based on Bungie’s 7th Column website), but it’s close enough for government work. (Well, and I like it a lot.) You’ll find it in our Wallpaper section.

7 new Fan Fiction pieces for you today:

• The Battle for Rackma VI: Part 3, by gwinnalex
• Fallen Angel 8: The Final Jihad, by Gruntkiller/Covert
• Halo Zero part 6- Return of 343, by nicholas
• Escaping the Autumn, by Glenny
• Chapter 4.5-Hunt for the Index (The Real one.), by Ultra Sonic 007
• MARINES: Operation 2, by Matt Anderson
• Battle For Chippanicas Gorge Part 2, by Austin Peters

If you don’t see something you submitted, check your email. If you STILL can’t figure out what’s going on, make sure your submission met the fiction guidelines.

For the second time in three days, the Halo Story page has been updated. Finn AND mnemesis working? What is the world coming to? Go read.

Break Point points out another site – his Halo Amateur League, set up for XboxConnect tournaments. Take a look if you’re into online gaming!

John Yates points out a pretty funny little film over at G4Tv. It’s called Happy Halo Days, and was obviously made for the Christmas season – but this is the first we’ve heard of it. It’s in streaming Windows Media format; I couldn’t find any tools that actually saved this puppy. Check it out!

th3gh05t points out that MTV is going to be showing an episode of ‘True Life’ called ‘I am a gamer’. It looks at the life of videogame players. Showtime is 10pm. If there are Halo sightings, we’ll let you know.

stoopkid90 writes to let us know of two new Halo sites, Halo4u and Halo Reamped. We’ve added ’em to our Links page.

Pretty hefty-sized Fan Fiction update this evening:

• Chapter 4-Hunt for the Index, by Ultra Sonic 007
• Halo: Reunion from Destruction Part 5 of 5, by Frensa Geran
• The Traumatised Marine (bitesize part 1), (bitesize part 2), and (final bitesize part 3), by Traumatised Marine
• Chapter 3.5-The REAL Incursion, by Ultra Sonic 007
• The Battle for Rackma VI, by gwinnalex
• Chapter 5 A New Enemy, by monitor101
• 6 Way War Ch. 3: Bloodshed continues…, by Demosthenes
• Operation One: Basic, by Matt Anderson
• ES01 – Eternal Sunder (part 01): Prologue , by Wado
• Sarge’s Story: Stacker, by Jamirus99
• A New Beginning Part Two, by Bryce
• Battle at Chppanicas Gorge, by Austin Peters
• Legend Hunting Part Six, by Dispraiser

The bugs continue to be worked out of the system. If you run into trouble submitting a story, please send email, explaining EXACTLY what you did, and EXACTLY what error you got. With your help, we’ll weed out the last few stragglers!

Cybrfrk captured a fleeting glimpse of an Elite action figure in progress that showed up on the Bungie webcam today. (More pictures in this forum thread.)