Thanks to Chris Cox, who dropped in yet another chapter in the ongoing Warrior saga, told from the Covenant perspective. You’ll find this latest intriguing work in our Fan Fiction section. Remember – you can always read the entire saga, in order, by following the ‘More by this author‘ link in the entry. Chris got this to us before the clock rolled over… but we were out. Congratulations, then, on the first post of the new millenium!

Speaking of seasons… Happy New Year to all of you! And while we’re at it, we hope the end of the second millenium was good for you… and that you find plenty of Covenant to beat up on in the next one!

Mikkel Eriksen writes to tell us that our latest posted theory (No Seasons on Halo) is incorrect. Read his reasoning in our Theories section.

We’ve received word that Halo Command Central will be closing until sometime in May or June. The reason given was lack of time before then for all the maintainers. Pax.

Thanks to Mads Søndergaard, who submitted another desktop for our Wallpaper page. Dark and brooding… Pax.

Vying with BGH for the title of ‘Most Redesigned Site’, Halo Tip throws up another new design, going for the green-and-grey look. Stop by and take a look!

Xbox tidbit – last week, Microsoft downgraded its performance sheet with a 250 MHz graphics processor instead of a 300 MHz one, which drops its polygon performance from 150 M/sec to 125 M/sec. (This is still twice the performance of the PS2.) For reference, here’s the old spec card, distributed to dealers recently. The spin from MSXbox (a fansite) is that these new numbers are more in line with the ‘real world’ performace of the system… sounds like a copout to us. (Thanks to BGH for initial heads-up on tis one.)

Thanks to Brian Norton, who sent in a treatise on offplanet seasons, explaining why Halo won’t have any. You can find it in our Theories section.

Thanks to fAt1, of MPZ Halo, who sent along a link to this Video Business article containing Xbox details. Though some of the info is a little confused (they mention a 64 MB hard drive), much of it looks solid. Among the more interesting tidbits: the current launch window is reportedly September 15 to November 15, 2001, and Microsoft is finding that it needs to restructure its launch plans:

VB has also been told that development for Xbox is so easy that Microsoft is actually restructuring its launch plans, because it literally will have too many games ready for launch. The company is talking to key publishers about holding back some of the launch titles to fill the second and third wave of game releases for 2002.

Not a bad position to be in! The most disturbing bit is the quote at the end from MS’s Marketing Director for WebTV, who suggests that a future box might bundle what’s in the Xbox with what’s in the next generation of WebTV, directly contradicting what Seamus Blackley stated a few months ago. Worth a read!

[FMJ]Phönix[BP] drops a note on our forum mentioning a new German Halo clan, Full Metal Jacket. They seem to be a Sudden Strike clan with a Halo offshoot… I couldn’t get the provided link to connect me with a Halo page, so here’s a direct link.

Well, it only took 17 months, but it’s finally been confirmed that those little blips in the MWNY 99 Halo trailer WERE natural life, and not glitches in the video – Nathan Bitner, former Halo producer and current head honcho of Island Four Software, stated on our forum

Natural life began to appear in the air with the very first trailer…

One can be seen at about 3:11 in the video, behind the Covenant flyer in the blue sky. Pax.

=NAV= Shadow writes to say that the Clan NAVCON site is getting a redesign, and should be back online sometime in early January. You can see a preview image at the site now. Pax.

Bungie’s on the move! Today’s the day… Bungie’s moving out of their temporary digs in the Encarta building, and over into their posh new Gaming Division offices. A Microsoft employee reports almost being crushed in the elevator by a guy carrying a 6-foot cardboard Trow… (Thanks, Aaron.)

Hamish Sinclair writes to point out that in our holiday preparations, we missed an official reply from Microsoft on the EU Xbox release issue (we mentioned the problem here, but at the time it was a rumor). Late last week, Microsoft issued a statement clarifying the issue – the delay IS real, and the reason IS a supply question. You can read about it over at MSXbox.

eldar-colonel, of Halo Hq, sends along a new desktop for our Wallpaper page. A mixture of the old and the new… Pax.

Our forum has moved – the URL is the same, but the machine upon which it resides is different. This means that until your local DNS catches up with our change, you’ll be seeing the old forum. When you don’t see a “Forum is moving” note on the top, you’ll know you’re looking at the new one. The upgrade to the newest WebBBS has certainly been welcome on the Oni Central forum… I hope it’s as welcome here!

And the SETI Halo Marines make a reappearance! Some weird goings-on, though… although the individual stats are increasing normally, the team numbers haven’t changed an iota in the past 24 hours, making one wonder about the accuracy of the Team Standing values. Nevertheless, the Marines have been valiantly plugging away at incoming data, and whether SETI knows it or not, continues to search for the Covenant! All the details can be found on the 21 day stats page.

M E R R Y    C H R I S T M A S !

From the HBO crew and our families, to you and yours, we wish you the merriest of holiday seasons. Pax.

(We’ll be back updating on Tuesday, the 26th.)

General Cicero says on our forum that the position of Pilot is open under the Staff of Caesar at the Roman Federation, a large Halo army. Stop by or email him for details.

No Halo update this week says Matt on our forums. No Halo update next week too. Doesn’t look like we’ll get one on Friday January 5th either. Matt hints at a possible live Halo update at the Bungie fanfest. Go read his full posthere.