In a briefly worded post, Marty O’Donnell clarifies the status of the Halo Soundtrack project:

1 CD All Halo music

soon(tm)

Yep, we’re droolin…

Gasmask sends in the first installment of ‘Halo: A Strange Tale‘, looking at the exploits of the MC and Cortana about 6 months after Halo. Check it out in our Fan Fiction section!

Games Radar has an article on the Japanese launch of the Xbox – Release date is set for February 22, and launch price is 34,800 yen (a little over $250). Even though shooters aren’t as popular in Japan as they are in the US, it’s still a little surprising that Halo is not a launch title. Thanks to Veebs for the heads-up.

Heh – Mark Levin points out this page, devoted to an Xbox emulator. Sounds exciting… except that the screenshot of the emulator showing Halo in action looks… somewhat familiar. Okay, REALLY familiar. In fact, I don’t think you can actually REPRODUCE this scene in the shipping version of Halo. Ah, well… careful what you download. More info: Further investigation by folks who are good at this sort of thing (read further down in the thread) suggest this is nothing more than a hoax, and a poorly done one at that.

Reg Juice Schultz, Vitamin and KillGore =PN= all dropped us notes to let us know that Games Domain has posted a ‘Preview’ of PC Halo. There’s really not a lot of information there… and whatever decent speculation you MIGHT find is diminished in value by the final line:

Expect more details on the acclaimed title update very soon. With a Spring 2002 release promised, we can’t wait for Bungie’s masterpiece to grace our desktops.

To be clear: NOBODY with any authority to do so has ‘promised’ a Spring 2002 release. Even so, it’s interesting to see that the previews are already beginning.

Chmee writes to point out that Battleground: Halo is being revamped. The front page says only ‘Reformat in Progress’… Update: SonicStorm, of BGH, has asked us to adjust our post to respect BGH’s privacy until the new site design is live. Keep an eye on them for developments.

Tom Murphy releases two Fan Fiction articles; the third installment of Pride and Honor (depressing) and a satire called ‘Halo: A Comedy‘ (a little depressing, as well, for how close to reality it comes). Check ’em out in our Fan Fiction section!

More new content hits Truth & Reconciliation! Outtakes and concept art for Covenant craft hit the site. Pax.

For those who didn’t notice, the Halo Story Page processed a slew of submissions yesterday… several sections got updates. Make it a daily (or almost-daily) stop!

Gaming Age has a Quick Poll – Game of the Year? Halo is currently leading (with Grand Theft Auto 3 close behind). Go vote! Thanks to op_ivy for the heads-up.

Get Into The Game has put up the transcript of the chat with Chris Butcher… and it’s a great read! Lot’s o’ good technical info… and some silliness:

i am tyler durden does the Master Chief wear boxers or briefs?
chris butcher [peeks]
let’s just say he’s the ultimate commando

Go read the rest; chock-full of AI info, advice for budding developers, literary inspiration, and much more. A very worthwhile visit.

Forum regular *Ar-Isildur of *WP* is hosting an end-of-chemo party that focuses on Halo – read the details here. 24 hours of Halo goodness… it’s gonna be worth the trip.

Miguel Chavez points out that Bungie.net has put up a new QuickPoll – who do you think is going to win the Bungie Pentathlon this Friday? Before you vote for the best-named team (Online Cinematesticle – made up of the Online, Cinematics, and Test teams), remember that multigenarian Marty O’Donnell will be anchoring the tug-of-war.

Images dance past, flashing by at increasing speed until he cannot begin to decipher what they might be. Next come the lights, expanding into thin lines stretching endlessly, arcing behind some unseen horizon. As he watches, they bend and ripple against each other, dissolving amongst the rainbow spectrum like the pattern of waves crisscrossing one another far upon a windswept ocean.

Gordi turns in another installment of his as-yet-unnamed saga, this one titled ‘Prelude to Paradise‘. You’ll find it in our Fan Fiction section – don’t forget to leave him feedback!

Interesting MacWorld tidbit: During downtimes at the MacOSX Gaming presentation area, a movie looped all day, showing footage from current and upcoming Mac games. One of the clips showed Halo… footage from the E3 2000 movie. At the bottom was written ‘Halo: Published by Bold by Destineer’. Luckily, Peter Tamte of Bold was on hand to clarify; the movie was made by an outside contractor, and contains… questionable info. (The content – from a 2-year-old movie – should have been a clue…) Tamte stated that Microsoft has not made any statement about who is doing the conversion, nor who is publishing the Mac version… and until they do, no statement at all is appropriate. All he’s willing to confirm is that Halo is coming to the Mac. Until Microsoft (or Bungie) makes a formal decision, any speculation is just that – speculation.

The chat with Chris Butcher just ended. Some nice questions were asked and getintothegame.com will be posting a transcript of the chat by tomorrow morning.

I’d have a transcript myself but I foolishly chose Java for the chatroom and that didn’t allow me to copy text. Oh well. Pax.

Inside Mac Games caught up with Peter Tamte here at MacWorld yesterday… and one of their topics of conversation was Halo.

As for Halo, Tamte confirmed what Microsoft has been saying: Halo will come to the Mac. Other than that, no details were forthcoming whether Bold will publish it.

Not a lot of info… but when there’s more, we’ll give it to you! Thanks to Mike Patton for noticing.

In an uncharacteristically patient (for this subject) post, Matt Soell elaborates on the reasons that information about the PC version of Halo hasn’t been forthcoming – definitely worth a read for those impatient for new info or confirmation of the project’s continued existence. Thanks, Matt!

That’s a lot of copies… Halo sales, according to information released by Microsoft at the Computer Electronics Show (via Wired Magazine) have topped 750,000 copies in the first 2 months of availability. Not too shabby! Thanks to Mr. Yun for the article heads-up.

Don’t forget that getintothegame.com is holding their chat with Chris Butcher at 4 PM CST today. There you can ask a multitude of questions about Halo. Yes, even the “will there be a PC/Mac version?” question.

Register now if you haven’t already! Pax.