Tip, tricks, and life lessons.

The Game Developer Conference Vault has made some popular video talks free – you can now watch David Aldridge’s “I Shot You First: Networking the Gameplay of Halo: Reach” online without having a subscription. The notes from this talk have been available since March – but now you can actually WATCH it. Nice!(Louis Wu 16:40:38 UTC)

Brought to you by the letter é.

And the horse you rode in on…

Tyrant’s back with a new collection of Mythic Tips and Tricks – this one focuses on Pillar of Autumn, just in time to make this week’s big challenge just a bit easier. It contains a plethora of tricks and exploits that will allow you to speed through areas normally filled with nasty Covenant characters. In some cases, there are multiple techniques for a particular area – so you can pick the one that works best for your normal playstyle!(Louis Wu 16:11:28 UTC)

DukeLehto7 from the Waypoint forums noticed the blog of concept artist Kevin Prangley. Some nice work in there, some of which might look pretty familiar. Go and give it a look!(GrimBrother One 15:31:13 UTC)

MaxRealflugel tried to give away a Defiant Map Pack last week – but nobody wanted it. 🙁 So he’s adjusted the contest parameters; he’s looking for a cool screenshot from Halo: Reach. His favorite one will win the submitter a Defiant code, and have their work featured in Volume 2 of Halo: Revolutions. What do you have to lose? (Louis Wu 13:17:06 UTC)

There’s a new challenge up at Fire Team Zulu – Cornerstone runs you through Tip of the Spear on Normal… but without a HUD (or ammo, really). It’s part of Normalcy Week – a collection of challenges coming this week that are played on Normal difficulty… but are not quite normal. Go see!(Louis Wu 13:13:01 UTC)

SonGhoharotto has finished up his rewrite of the first Halo story, incorporating canon material from later works. The Maw went online last night, and has met with forum praise – go give it a read!(Louis Wu 13:09:24 UTC)

padraig08 stumbled across a pretty funny mashup that explains a few things…(Louis Wu 13:08:54 UTC)

If you need some help with the Weekly Challenge this week (Pillar of Autumn, Legendary, All Skulls On), you’ve got a couple of choices already. Tyrant’s Mythic Guide should always be a first stop – but if that doesn’t do it for you, swing by High Speed Halo, where RC Master’s sub-30-minute run is now on display. You might not be able to match his time – but you can certainly pick up a few pointers.(Louis Wu 19:05:47 UTC)

Gorgeous pano from BlueNinja. Nice way to spruce up a rainy Monday morning.(Louis Wu 15:52:54 UTC)

FyreWulff noticed a post on B.net from Achronos – looks like the Halo Stats API has been updated with some extra information about per-user cR and Challenge info. If you’re developing apps, check this out!(Louis Wu 15:52:21 UTC)

Lurono was one of the fewer than 500 people at the first offficial Rooster Teeth fan convention in Austin this weekend – swing by his post for a summary of what went down! (Louis Wu 15:51:36 UTC)

Rockslider stopped in yesterday to let our forum know that he’s posted a commentated run-through of Halo 3’s Floodgate – interesting read! (Louis Wu 15:51:02 UTC)

So the rumors about a HD remake of the first Halo are ramping up again – The BS Police found a mention that the latest issue of Xbox 360 World is hoping to see it at E3, and OXM UK is happy to join in the speculation, too (thanks, kornman00). We’ll need to wait and see – E3 is just over a week away. (Louis Wu 15:49:49 UTC)

Hedge put together a very nice pano on Tempest… and then had to go and make it dirty. Oh, Hedge. (The thread’s pretty funny, though.) (Louis Wu 15:48:59 UTC)

GreyThor posted a summary of his experience at the All’s Well LAN that happened last weekend – but the absolute best part of his writeup concerned the drive back, not the LAN itself. Go give it a read. I’m still smiling.(Louis Wu 15:48:26 UTC)

Saturday evening, SonGoharotto posted the latest chapter in his canon-friendly Halo rewrite – Keyes takes us through the recovery of the Captain’s neural implants. Great read!(Louis Wu 15:47:58 UTC)

If you get a chance, check out Waypoint today for a look back at the Halo Array, another story-based piece giving an overview of the deadly ringworlds built by the Forerunners. As always, it can be viewed from your console or WP7 phone as well. Check it out!(GrimBrother One 17:55:34 UTC)