Whew! Back to normal. To all those who missed the joke… we used (without permission) the design of our good friends over at Rampancy.net for a little April Fools prank. It’s not clear that anyone actually poked around, so we’ll tell you that there were a number of easter eggs secreted away around the site… and hopefully a chuckle or two. We’re done with that until next year, though… back to your regularly scheduled Halo coverage.

Griffon, of Halo Command Central, sends word that something is afoot… nice redesign! Pax.

Thanks to Nick Rolfe, who points out (on R.net’s forum) that Demonews.com has gotten their hands on a Halo Tech Demo, featuring all the weapons and the first two levels. Warning – it’s Direct3D only. If this works for you, go grab it! Pax.

Thanks to No7orious, who notes (on the R.net forum) that xbox.ign.com has an interview with Ed Fries, in which some issues are brought up surrounding the cultural differences between the US and Japan, and how they might affect some of the Xbox products:

An example is Halo — in Halo, the alien creatures look sort of cat-like, and cats here are associated with lots of good things, so to have cats be the enemy is sort of a problem [laughs]. That’s the kind of thing, as Americans, that we never get.

An interesting thought…

Massa, of Halo Network, has grabbed a copy of Gamestar, a German gaming mag, and has passed along some interesting news. First, the movie on the cover CD is actually a combination of the first (very short) video that appeared on Microsoft’s Gamestock page for a short while, plus the Gamespot video… albeit higher quality than either of the web-released versions. Second, a couple of facts that he found intriguing:

The first thing is that they mention an actualʲelease-date for the PC version wich is set for Q2/2002, which they claim is 6 months after the release of the Xbox version. The second thing is that they claim that there will be a “Star-Wars-like Jetbike” for the Humans. That could be the equivalent for the Covenant’s ghost.

Good stuff… if you can get your hands on that mag, it might be worth picking up. Thanks, Massa!

The Halo Times’ Team sends word that another French Halo site, The Halo Times, has opened its doors. The community grows! Check ’em out.

Thanks to Matt, who popped into our forum, and Evil Bastard, who dropped us email, for letting us know that this week’s Halo Update is over at Battleground: Halo. Grenades are back, the team is bigger (an artist working on multiplayer? Cool!), and some pretty interesting scripting stuff… go check it out.

Marty O’Donnell popped into our forum (props for realizing it was even up) to elaborate a bit on the audio for the Gamestock video. Seems the out-of-sync issues folks have noticed are not present on his copy of the film… nice to know. (We’re gonna leave the Backstreet Boys comment alone, though…

Zypper posted a pretty nice summary of an Xbox Tech Demo held on the USC campus today… definitely worth a read. Pax.

Massa, of Halo Network, writes to say that Halo showed up on German television yesterday. RTL2, a German television station, covered it as part of an Xbox report… and it was mentioned on their web site. The web report suggests that Halo has been downgraded for the Xbox, and that the PC version will contain all the goodies originally promised… but it looks a lot like (in Massa’s words) “a rumor created by journalists who do not really know what they’re talking about…” We’d agree. Still, nice to see Halo making the nightly news!

Thanks to Nate, who sent in a little bit of Photoshop fun for our Miscellaneous Art section. Opening a new day with a bang…

News? We don’t need no steenkin’ news…

Razorback sends in another desktop for our Wallpaper page (our third today!)… speed kills.

genohunter sends word that a new Halo clan, HELL (Halo ELite League) is open for business. It’s French… but they plan on keeping up with the Halo news! Stop by and take a look.

$erial-ki!!A sends word that PC Gamer UK magazine are also advertising their next edition as follows:

‘We VISIT BUNGIE to get all the latest news and incredible SCREENSHOTS of this stunning tactical shooter!’

$erial-ki!!A goes on to note that PC Gamer UK got new previously unseen shots in their last feature on Halo. So we might be lucky. 🙂

Brian Davis sends in a second desktop image for today – same style, different colors. Check it out in our Wallpaper section. Pax.

JB sends word that they have a new Halo fan site up and running at scabiesbaby.com. Go take a look.

Griffon, of Halo Command Central, sends word that the June edition of PC Gamer UK should have the 182 MB Gamestock video on its cover DVD… if you’re on a slow connection, this might be a reasonable option (it should be out by mid-may).

LADA KING sends in a large Halo-centric banner for our Banner section… nice to see action in that quarter!

Brian Davis sends in another desktop image for our Wallpaper section – nice colors!