VoOdOo created a movie (under 5 mb, .avi format) showing how to get the Warthog back to the waterfall in Halo without getting on top of the level. Takes a few grenades, and a chunk of your health… but you’ll probably be doing this after everything’s already dead, so don’t worry too much.

Foxhound turns in Chapter 2 of his ‘Apollo‘ series – someone better keep an eye on that Cortana… Check it out in our Fan Fiction section.

Movie mirrors at the Junkyard… They’ve put up copies of both Halobodies.mov (a music video) and BobSuicide (a snuff film). Thanks to Vector40 for the heads-up.

We’ve added Nemesis_007’s Sidewinder Sneak exploit to our Gameplay Tricks page – use this trick, and your multiplayer opponents won’t know what hit ’em! (As several forumgoers pointed out, this is a general glitch in the Halo physics engine, and can be exploited on several other levels… but none with such dramatic results in a multiplayer game.)

Beam Timing Mystery – SOLVED! Jaime Griesemer (aka Flawless Cowboy, Halo level designer) stopped by our forum to explain why there seemed to be a link between the beam timing and motion freeze in areas of Halo you were never supposed to get to in the first place.

Toward the end of the game’s development cycle you try to fix problems that arise in ways that will have the least impact, so you don’t end up creating more bugs than you fix. It looks like a late change in the vehicle physics for the Warthog, a poorly timed save point (that could trigger just before you were killed, creating an infinite cycle of death) a convenient beam-triggering looping script and a very quick fix have come together and created a brand new online multiplayer game for crazy forum posters.

His post goes on to explain some of the other oddities exploited by Halo fanatics, including the invincible marines on the PoA bridge, and the ability to get into the Shaft. Check it out!

There’s a new top dog on the Halo SETI Marines – Durandal turned in 207 units this week, beating out perennial top crunchers Int_21, *-=SHARkY=-*, and charleya. Nice going! Are you crunching your best? Check the 7 day stats to find out! (Admin note – there won’t be any SETI stats next week. 2 week stats will return on February 25.)

Noticed a new music video over at The Cole Protocol – halobodies.mov was created by Darth Gehenna, and sets Halo cutscene action to Drowning Pool‘s ‘Bodies’. Warning – there are MAJOR story spoilers here; don’t watch this unless you’ve played the whole game. That said, this was made by someone who understands that music videos need to have action coordinated to music… it’s pretty nicely done (and tiny – crunched down to 3.5 mb). Take a look! Update: This, too, has been uploaded to the Psyjnir Complex Hotline server. Mirrors are good. 🙂

Phear X has put up a new video, this one called BobSuicide. 7 mb, 45 seconds, and one singing bob. (Me, I’d have turned the soundtrack down a little.) Mirrors, as always, are appreciated. Update: Mirrored, now, thanks to the gracious hosts at the Psyjnir Complex. Grab your Hotline Client and go get it!

Thanks to foxhound, who sent in Chapter 1 of his work-in-progress, Apollo. Check it out in our Fan Fiction section! (Don’t forget to leave him comments…)

Frogblast, a frequent contributor to the Gameplay Tricks section, discovered something pretty intriguing – there’s a link between the blue energy beams that mysteriously fire on the level Halo, and your ability to move around on the top of the level. (The why is completely unknown, and might be something worth discussing on the Halo Story page… but the how has never been noticed before, and can be very useful to Halo Explorers.) It’s been known for some time that climbing above certain areas in Halo will eventually lead to an inability to move – but one thing Frogblast discovered is that there are ‘freeze zones’ that will hold you captive… if you’re in them when those beams fire. Check the latest entry to the Gameplay Tricks section for a passel of pictures and a movie, showing the effect.

Ooh! Ooh! They’re almost ready!

Griffon turns in a desktop image based on his ‘Halo Dude‘ he created back in May of last year. He realizes the helmet’s a little out of date… but hey, it looks pretty good! You’ll find it in our Wallpaper section. And speaking of Wallpaper, Xcruiser has created a 1024×768 version of the wallpaper he submitted yesterday – both jpeg and gif versions are available.

Cybrfrk writes to say that he’s put the Warthog Jump movie up on his site in .WMV format (with permission) – sound quality is pretty low, but for folks having trouble with QuickTime, this might be the way to go – plus, it’s only 8.5 mb. (He’s also started his filmed cutscene collection – the Maw final cutscene (non-legendary), as well as the final credits, are now up.) We’ve added the Warthog Jump link to our mirror list.

Bat 21 and Longstreet also took a Warthog to the Map Room on Silent Cartographer… but when they got there, they played around a bit. Check it out in the Gameplay Tricks section. (The first image throws me a little… are there two jeeps there?)

The second part (of four) of dyoung92’s ‘Halo 2 Story‘ came in today… nice example of cliffhanger writing. Check it out in our Fan Fiction section.

mnemesis single-handedly keeps the Halo Story page alive, bringing you speculation about the various races involved in the game, and how they might be related. (Okay, not single-handedly – he couldn’t do it without your submissions. You know what I mean, though.)

Not fully Halo news… but it’s pretty funny: This week’s Mac Hall comic at Inside Mac Games focuses on the inline safety release built into each Xbox controller from Microsoft. (Interestingly enough, the Mac Hall general response to this feature characterizes them strongly as PC (as opposed to console) gamers – almost every console gamer I’ve talked to about this thinks it’s brilliant, and that every controller should contain this feature. Hell, I thought it was silly… until the first time I backed away from the screen, trying to avoid that charging Hunter, and accidentally knocked my chair over backwards; that inline release saved a lot of equipment that day (as well as my game; instant pause until I reconnected, giving me time to regain my equilibrium.) It’s a good thing, I think… but that doesn’t mean it’s not fodder for the Mac Hall Funny Machine. 🙂 Plus, it gives ’em a chance to take a shot at the size of the Xbox…) Thanks to Vector40 for the heads-up.

Corbantis turns in the next installment of his Tides of War series – Chapter 2 is action-packed! check it out in our Fan Fiction section.

Matt Soell stops in to explain (again) the lack of news on the PC and Mac versions of Halo. Bottom line – he’ll talk when there’s something to say. This was nice, though:

I’ll say this much: the last time I talked to Alex and Michael about what’s happening with PC/Mac Halo – probably about two weeks ago – their answers buoyed my spirits considerably.

Just be patient, and when there’s news, we promise… we’ll make a big stink about it.

Reidbo stops by our forum to give out a new server location for his ‘Dukes of Halo’ video – you can find it here, in both sizes.