A couple of days ago, Team Overkill was kind enough to upload a copy of the ‘special ending’ that follows the single-level demo you can find on the June 2002 Official Xbox Magazine cover disc – we were going to release it, but Bungie came through with a direct version. (We’re THRILLED to get submissions like Team Overkill’s – the work of people like them is what makes it possible to bring the rest of our visitors cool stuff – but in this case, we couldn’t turn down the second offer. 🙂 ) Once again, we’ve set you up with a pair of mirrors: Mythica.org and the Psyjnir.com Hotline server. We would REALLY like to add more mirrors to the mirror list, though – so anyone who can handle this… please, let us know. It’s only 5 mb.

A couple of escapades have been posted to the Gameplay Tricks section – some great out-of-map shots on Battle Creek (nobody’s ever gotten out before) and Blood Gulch (a whole BUNCH of places never seen before)… check ’em out! (More stuff coming soon.)

Djoey 154 writes to say he’s translated Marty O’Donnell’s GDC talk into French – you can read it at Halo-Game.

Your daily Fan Fiction batch:

• Covie In The Crib, by WolfgangMjolnir
• Halo: Aftermath (gj) (Prologue), by GarlicJr11
• The First Step Into A Long Fall Part 1, by JediKnight114
• Capture of the Bounty Part III, by SkyRyan1
• ODST Saga part 5, by Robo42786

Interesting mix, today…

Last week, Trey Ikon submitted a series of pistol concept sketches – pretty cool stuff. Today, we’re adding another series that he mentioned on our forum yesterday – you’ll find ’em in our Miscellaneous Art section. That pistol/shotgun combo is getting prettier and prettier…

We get some pretty odd Wallpaper sometimes…

An early greyscale concept drawing of the Master Chief has been colored by WeTsLaYeR – we’ve added it to our Miscellaneous Art section.

A few weeks ago, SaTaN discovered a cool new trick – you could use the momentum of a vehicle to push your player up a LONG way. He described it on our forum, and then Bonk filmed a demo of the technique… but SaTaN’s put out a video of his own, showing how versatile this trick really is (and showing some s7yle in the process). We’ve started you out with two mirrors for the 8.6 mb film… but we’re happy to list more.

Daniel, of Team 7hr33, points out that his sister Robyn (Dephalt) wrote (and recorded) a very nice addition to Marty O’Donnell’s ‘Siege of Madrigal’, and the result is posted on Team 7hr33’s website. (Sheet music is also included.) Go listen! (It’s on the Miscellaneous page.)

Fan Fic For Freddy:

• The awakening, part 1, by agsbladerboy55
• Capture of the Bounty, part 2, by SkyRyan1
• The Hell Of War, part 9, by Jaywhit10

Get to readin’!

Alex Cross, who has been writing chapters for the Fan Fiction series Aftermath for about a month now, has submitted a desktop image to accompany the writing. You’ll find it in our Wallpaper section.

Now this is just plain cool. Some Halo fanatics recreated some Halo wallpaper at a Sidewalk Arts festival in Georgia… in chalk. Lots of chalk. Check out the results in our Miscellaneous Art section. (Explanation included.)

Yesterday, Matthew Brady found this Japanese Halo review, but didn’t know what it said. A quick question on our forum elicited two translations – interesting reading!

Small change in the Gameplay Tricks section – you now have the option to search by Trick Type. (If you don’t care about Exploration, but want to see all the weird glitches people have found… this is for you.) As soon as I can figure out a clean way to do it, you’ll be able to combine limiters – explorations on Blood Gulch, for example. (Right now, the only way I came up with takes too much room at the top of the page…) Thanks to Reckless Angel for the suggestion. And while we’re thanking people, thanks to Mark Mendenhall for suggesting a variant of the Trick Suggestions database that went up a couple of days ago – be sure to add your ideas to the list!

Red hunter at night, take flight. To the Wallpaper section with you!

Today’s Fan Fiction batch:

• Capture of the Bounty, by SkyRyan1
• Effusion, part 6, by Tursas
• The Hell Of War, part 8, by Jaywhit10
• Operation False Prophets, part 10, by Ian Barnes

Went nicely with Barenaked Ladies…

Another half-dozen tricks have been uploaded to the Gameplay Tricks section – keep an eye out for easier navigation, coming soon. In the meantime, check these babies out – they range from elegant to seriously useful, with fun stuff thrown in just for kicks. And what’s this? The queue is almost empty! W00t!

Nice article over at Gamespot – this issue of Gamespotting has ‘Halo’s 10 Commandments‘, a well-written list explaining why Greg Kasavin says he “wouldn’t hesitate to name Halo as my single favorite system launch game of all time.” The only thing that bugged me was the pic he chose to illustrate The Co-op Mode’… Thanks to DT for the heads-up.

Robert Whitaker has kindly translated (or explained) the speech and captions of the four Japanese Halo commercials released last week – visit his translations page and see if you can decipher the inscrutable Japanese advertising mindset…

Wondering why the number of grenades in ammo caches on multiplayer maps isn’t constant? Read this.