A quick viewing of the Bungie-related clip from Inside the Xbox by Film Oasis, as shown on the Discovery Channel and now available for download, reveals a few points about Halo 2, the sequel:

• Everything in Halo 2 will be bump mapped, not just some things.
• Part of Halo 2 will take place during an attempt to repel Covenant invaders from a space station they are attempting to take over.
• Part of Halo 2 will take place in the "wreckage of the previous Halos". (Jaime "Case" Griesemer definitely says "Halos" in this case, intended or not.)
• Halo 2 will feature a space station that functions as a giant weapon, which can be controlled and fired by the player. (This one again comes from Lead Designer Griesemer, and there's nobody around to kick him under the table.)

The documentary has been out a while, so this information isn't new, but these are the solid bits about Halo 2 that occur in the film if you haven't seen it so far and can't manage the large download.

Dolbex from Been Mawed has put up a post that he's been able to make screenshots of Halo without the heads-up display, just like those that Bungie makes using the Xbox Devkit. A tutorial on how to do it may be forthcoming.

There is a site called GameDreamZ, which has been mentioned here and there recently, and apparently allows people to post things they think they know and have other people, who may or may not know anything but have a functional email address, vote on whether or not the poster knows anything, and if the post gets enough votes, it becomes news.

Someone calling themselves HELLSINMAKER has posted on this site that a full-scale media blitz for Halo 2 is due in January, as well as some other tidbits that may or may not be true:

• Halo 2 may feature a battle over a meteor or possibly a moon
• Halo 2 may have a battle that takes place at a city in the desert
• Halo 2 may have heretofore unmentioned features that are top secret
• There may be new Halo 2 movies and screenshots featuring single and multiplayer action in January

You heard it there first.

HBO has followed up on their September story about a video showing the Halo50K Tournament finals featuring TDT vs DM playing CTF on Battle Creek. (Who says the military has a monopoly on alphabet soup?) Video CD Productions had a streaming version back then, but now there are QuickTime and Windows Media versions, hosted at Mythica and files.bungie.org. Links are in the HBO news story. We're also mirroring the QuickTime version here at Rampancy, which is 33.5 Mb, 400 x 300 pixels; it's in our Halo Movies section and available for download from RHL. It includes player commentary.

SketchFactor sauntered into the HBO forum and laid down links to three high res screenshots suitable for wallpaper-making. Thanks Louis Wu at HBO.

We've put up a mirror of the lo-res QuickTime version of the Making Of Halo 2 video in our Halo 2 Movies page of our Movies section. It's also available from RHL.

Okay, this is official this time, not a few backroom stockboys itchin' to put the new stuff out front before they're supposed to-- Eric Nylund's new Halo novelization, Halo: First Strike, has been released. Lorraine "Mehve" McLees' cover art has been turned into wallpapers at Bungie.net to celebrate. Thanks SketchFactor.

Halo: First Strike picks up where the game Halo: Combat Evolved (and the novel Halo: The Flood) leave off. Nylund last wrote Halo: Fall of Reach, a prequel to the first Halo game.

An outfit called Film Oasis put together a documentary on the making of Halo 2; it was in the bonus DVD/controller package that went on sale last month, but now it's available online in two sizes. As usual HBO has a mirror page. Thanks again Louis Wu at HBO and SketchFactor at Bungie.net.

Andrew from Team XBO wrote to let us know that FTC9 is finally released and available for download for by members; all others get BitTorrent.

Blood Gulch Chronicles, the popular webseries by the group Red vs Blue, using the Halo engine running on the Xbox and set in the Blood Gulch multiplayer map, has taken three prizes at the Machinima Awards 2003: Best Independent Machinima Film, Best Writing, and Best Picture. Congratulations to the Red vs. Blue gang, and thanks to jayWHY and Louis Wu at HBO.