OK folks, this is the big one: Real details on the computer version of Halo. Zaruthustran first broke the story on the forum, and then the press release hit Blue’s News.

The important parts:

• PC version: Gearbox Software (Half-Life: Opposing Forces).
• Macintosh version: Westlake Interactive (Mac ports of Deus Ex, Unreal Tournament, and more).
• Publisher: Destineer
• Release date: “Summer 2003” for the PC, just “2003” for the Mac.

There’s one more critical line in there: “Additional information regarding game content, features and enhancements will be announced at a later date”.

Well, there you have it. Not much more I can say here (except maybe, to some people, “We told you so”).

Thanks once again to Team Overkill, who provided copies of the Halo-related videos on the July OXM DVD – the top 3 Top Plays were Halo stunts, and they made a movie called ‘Dreams of Master Chief‘ (a spoof on Warthog Jumping, with stunt footage by Randy Glass himself). The films are 2.2 mb and 21 mb, respectively, and in QuickTime 5 format. We needed to wait until the issue was off the shelves before we could post these.

Apparently yesterday’s translation of the GameReactor interview left a bit to be desired (despite being endorsed by the man himself). So much that Christian H?jberg has sent in an alternate translation (as well as pointing out that GameReactor is a Danish site, not Scandinavian as was claimed yesterday). Since I have no way to verify either translation or pick a superior, I’ll just post them both and let the Danes sort it out…

If you’re in the southeast Michigan neighborhood and have a hankering for a SPNKRing, MOSHPIT is planning a big Halo bash “within the next month”. From the looks of this, it will be a major event, with food, organized tournaments with prizes, and laser tag(!). For more information, head over to the MOSHPIT Seventh Column chapter.

Johannes Petersson has sent in a translation of the GameReactor interview posted earlier. Thanks from everyone on this side of the pond!

fAt1 informs us that the August issue of PC Gamer UK claims to have a little information on the computer version of Halo. Specifically, they predict that Remedy Entertainment, the studio behind Max Payne, is doing the port. Remember, this information did NOT come from Bungie and has NOT been verified.

Subnova has noticed an interview with Halo designer Jaime Greisemer at the Scandinavian site GameReactor. There is no English version of the article, but translation assistance is always welcome… Thanks to Pallor for the heads-up.

Dang, almost forgot – this came in on Saturday, but we were so busy playing Halo that I never put it up. 🙁 NevaFuse and Spike Lee made (and are hosting) a movie called ‘Blur of Halo‘. It’s a Warthog Jump vid, in .wmv format; it’s 8.8 mb, and a bit over a minute long. They made it because they felt there was a glut of movies that weren’t of very high quality, and wanted to contribute to the other side of the fence. Take a look!

That Weasel writes to say that he’s put up a mirror of ‘Hamlet‘ at That Weasel Television, and n3m has temporarily put up a European mirror of ‘The Castle‘, as well; it’s always nice to have multiple options! (And Psyrixx wrote to berate us for forgetting Bungie Day on Sunday… don’t worry, we noticed.)

Culture comes to HBO – The Master Chief stars in Hamlet, a new movie trailer by Warbow. (A cookie to anyone who can tell where Blackstar helped out…) This one gets the HBO Seal of Approval. You’ll find it at Mythica.org (where else?). 4 megs, in QT5 format – check it out!

Jester has written up a summary of the Northwest Regional Halo Tournament, held at the end of June in Boise. You can read it at The Psyjnir Complex. Congrats to the HALOID Elite!

It’s the last Fan Fiction for a few days – Spartan415 has turned in Chapter 7 of The Lost Spartan. I’m going to be out of town for a few days, and while it’s POSSIBLE that I’ll find time to process fan fiction, it’s rather unlikely. Enjoy!

Built-up Fan Fiction:

• There is Another, chapter 2, by Chris Reebe
• Ascendant Part VI, by Archangel’s Blade
• The Halo Saga, by Ariel Razon
• Little Round Top, by Anthony Coronado
• Rise To Honor, part 7, by Shadow
• A Second Last Chance, Chapter 5 and Chapter 6, by Torch99

The Halo Saga has been split into 5 pieces to fit into the database, but can be read in one piece at the link above.

‘Freedom to Kill’ Quick Update: We’ve set up a webcam showing the gameplay on one of the screens here – a beautiful projector image provided by Freewill. There’s no guarantee that what you see will be interesting… but you’ll see what we see, refreshed every 30 seconds. 😉 (We may actually move the camera around a bit… or we may forget it’s there, and simply play. 🙂 ) At the moment, a couple of guys are cooping through T&R on Legendary… but who knows how long that’s gonna last? Enjoy!

News is backing up a little – the HBO Junkies have been having a weekend-long lanfest (started Friday evening, we’re just getting going again today after knocking off at 3 am last night), so news has been sparse… but there are a couple of movies for you anyway today. First up is yet another addition to Warbow’s Bottom of the Maw Jump Trick – Halo Wannabe has submitted a movie showing a much more reproducible route to the bottom. (This film is 2.7 mb.) For a wider audience, Skavenger_s7 (and Renegade Theatre) have melded Robert Redford and Halo in a beautiful way – check out The Castle, a 4.7 mb, 60-second short. Enjoy the vids, enjoy the day! We’ll be back soon. (Time to start shooting again…) (To all content submitters – we’ll get to your stuff as soon as we can. Please don’t send new copies, thinking we didn’t get it. Thanks!)

Gonna be scarce around here for a bit… but here’s some Fan Fiction to keep you busy:

• Rogue Enemies (several parts), by Spartan415
• Pre-Op – The battle of Beta Tucanae, by Knight Premier
• Titan, part 1, by Jaywhit10
• The Aftermath, part 3, by Gasmask

Enjoy your weekend!

Music4Games.net has reviewed the Halo Soundtrack… and it’s definitely worth a read. It’s not an album you’ll find in your record store’s easy listening section, they say:

This soundtrack really highlights the importance and difference between writing great “game music”, as opposed to simply writing great music that’s used in a game.

They didn’t love everything, but they were good about describing where they thought the faults lay. At the end of the day, they ask, “will game music ever be the same again?” – high praise, indeed!

Fourth of July Fan Fiction:

• Rise To Honor, chapter 6, by Shadow
• The Brethren of Saturn, chapter 4, by Lynnada
• There is Another, chapter 1, by Chris Reebe

That’s all for today – back to enjoying the holiday!

We don’t get many of these any more, but Scott Dyer has sent in 3 new modifications of the Halo (Combat Evolved) logo. You’ll find ’em in our Logos section!

Fireworks-filled Fan Fiction on this Fourth of July:

• Order of the Seraphim, chapter 4, by Jehkoh
• Halo 2: The Fallen, by Mike Foreman
• My Funny Little Life: In the Beginning,, by SkyRyan1
• Halo: The Forerunner Chronicles, chapter 2, by Anthony Coronado
• The Lost Spartan, chapter 6, by Spartan415

And just in time for our 547th entry in the Fan Fiction database (yeah, amazed me, too), Vector40 has written another must-read-for-authors article on filetypes. Check it out, over at Zenith!