Xbox.com has a story up about the ten winners of copies of all three Halo novels, with Fall of Reach and First Strike signed by author Eric Nylund. Thanks for the heads-up to Littlebigman in #hbo.

Wolfy over at Sector 7 has posted up the winners of this year's Rockets on Prisoner video contest; top honors went to FTC #13 by XboxOttawa, which won for best movie and best screenplay. Mike Miller, Pico and Athol Productions also won awards.

The Bungie community reaction to the Halo 2 leak continues. Today there's an article at The Junkyard by Jake "Evergreen98" Billo titled Leaky Pipes.

Wired News has an article about the I Love Bees alternate reality game. Despite a few inaccuracies, such as calling the Beast the first ARG (it wasn't) and saying that all six main characters come from 2552 (they don't, that's when Halo takes place) it does a good job of summarizing what ILB is, why people find it interesting, and how it connects to Halo 2; the game is scheduled to end on November 9. Thanks Louis Wu.

Crack the code in today's Penny Arcade to find out what game they think is really good. Thanks Louis Wu and KP.

However, be sure to read the news post, too, because there's some more about Halo in there:

I will tell you what my favorite thing about Halo 2 Multiplayer is. There are things that anyone would like, as holding two needlers and unloading them is sort of its own reward. Of course, it's nice to have the same power to create your own gametypes that you've enjoyed at home taken online with bountiful new options. Customizing your character - Elite or Spartan, with insignias you create with an in-game tool - that's appreciated, certainly. Not my favorite thing.

It's not whiskers on kittens or brown paper packages tied up with string, either. Read the news post to find out what.

The viewers have voted, and Louis Wu at HBO has posted the verdict, that HBO's forums will remained closed until November 11, with 77.7% of voters supporting the closure. A moderated forum idea was discussed, but abandoned.

The response of the Bungie fan community, and indeed much of the online gaming community, has been one of sympathy and support for those at Bungie affected by the French-language copies of Halo 2 that are now circling the world ahead of their official release date, in defiance of international copyright laws, and allowing users to consume expensively-produced entertainment content without paying anything to get it.

However, some, of course, have expressed slightly different sentiments, which is desireable and understandable. Such an outpouring of support for Bungie would mean nothing were it not sincere and well-considered, something impossible to generate if the possibility of differing opinions did not exist.

Unfortunately, many of these expressions of doubt, anger, jubilation and skepticism-- as well as some of the expressions of support-- are not based on careful consideration, knowledge of the market or the law, or any basic insights into human behavior; and many are just appeals to humanity's baser instincts, or to rank paranoia.

So I thought I'd take a moment to address some of them in the latest Narc's Retort.

HomeFront, a Halo-themed mod for Battlefield Vietnam, has put up in The Junkyard's forum a large collection of images showing the interior of a Covenant Cruiser, including docked Seraphs and Phantoms. Their own site at Planet Battlefield appears to be down, at the moment, but should be back soon, and features movies and links to their IRC channel. Thanks Mhaddy.

Louis Wu has put up a poll at HBO, asking whether the forum should stay closed until November 9, to avoid risking exposing users to spoilers from the pirated copies of Halo 2. Right now, the poll is running at a bout a 3.6:1 ratio for closed:open, so if you want the HBO forum to stay open, go vote.

Brannen Boren (of Boren's Syndrome fame) updated his blog on Saturday and included a note about Halo 2:

Looking forward to the release of Halo 2. As the "Keeper of the Halo Story Bible," I reviewed the Halo 2 script for continuity and setting sensibility, and submitted a list of suggestions before I left Microsoft, but I didn't get to stick around long enough to see whether they acted on those suggestions. I played the multiplayer for Halo 2 some time ago, but I'm looking forward to seeing how the story for the campaign differs from the original script I read.

Original script? Wonder if that will ever be published...

I have to reiterate Louis Wu's statements at HBO, that episode one of The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter is probably the best bit of Halo machinima to come out since Red vs Blue. The movie's own site has already exceeded its bandwidth allocation, but Mythica is hosting a mirror of the first episode. It's nearly three minutes long, and is part one of six in a 30 minute movie. Check it out; with good voiceacting and high production values, this one is definitely worth downloading.

Congratulations to icecoldman23 who became Rampancy's 3000th registered user!

Today's new Halo Babies strip reminds us there are very few shopping days left before Halo 2 is released. mrsmiley also writes to let us know about their Halo Gamers Against Piracy campaign; read all about it and perhaps use their banner (as we have) to proclaim your site a supporter of Bungie against software piracy.

And as if that wasn't enough, they've got an interview with Junpei and Murph MacManus, makers of the MCandCortana comic.

Halo2.com relaunched recently, with a hidden message (one that helped decode a similar message on the newly-released desktop teaser) that's already been deciphered. In case you don't know the answer, we won't spoil it, as there's already been too many spoilers flying around since yesterday. However, you can see how it was solved in this thread on the Unfiction forums.