A New Desktop

Craig Mullins, artist extraordinaire, provides the content for the latest Bungie wallpaper. If you haven't played Halo because you're waiting for the Mac/PC version to come out, be forewarned, this contains the granddaddy of all spoilers. If you want to throw caution to the wind, click here and scroll all the way to the bottom.

A Legendary Betrayal

Actaully, two of them. A walkthrough of Two Betrayals in our legendary walkthrough section has just been added. If you're new to Halo, trying the game on legendary or are going through for the 40th time and would like to look at some keen screenshots, it's worth a look.

Halo Team Tournament Poll

There's a new Bungie.net poll up asking how much you'd be willing to pay to compete in a national Halo team tournament. No, don't get all jumpy, we're not planning a team tournament. However, there are forces other than Bungie in the universe. (Don't worry, we'll take care of that when the time is right.)

Mjolnir Mark VI Suit?

Sometimes you stumble onto something so strange you just can't resist sharing it. Maybe this went around already and I missed it? Anyway, check out these guys, who are planning to build a real life, life-sized Mjolnir Mark VI suit. Wacky.

New Halo Map Poll

There's a new Bungie.net poll up asking about your favorite small to medium sized Slayer map. Go vote! Also feel free to discuss this in the Underground.

Halo Championship Televised

I just picked up a note at HBO mentioning that the Halo National Championship Finals will be broadcast on G4TV this Friday night at 11:00 pm eastern time (8 pm pacific). If you're a member of the Seventh Column it's your duty to organize a Halo LAN party to watch the event!

T&R Waxes Cooperative

Until now you had single player screenshots. You even were treated to a few Multiplayer shots. But there was one genre in the screenshot matrix that was left unfulfilled...until today. Take a look at Truth & Reconciliation's new screenshot page of cooperative goodness.

Halo 2 Trailer Release Imminent

The trailer you've been waiting for is scheduled to be released to the public today at 6:00 pm PST. We'll have more information about where it's available for download later this afternoon.

Halo National Winner Interviewed

XBOX365 has an interview up with Dustin Langton, aka -Hp-Darkman, winner of the Halo National Championship. It's an interesting read, plus gives you a chance to comment at the end. Be sure to check it out.

Televised Halo National Finals

We're still waiting for the official word on when the Finals will be broadcast on G4 TV. A quick look at the schedule for the show Arena lists a date in late September, so that's our best guess. This isn't yet confirmed, we'll let you know when it is. In the meantime figure out how to get the station, or find someone that has it and plan a LAN party at their house for that evening!

The Library on Legendary

Have we got something for you today: The Library on Legendary walkthrough. Now this ain't no run of the mill, shhhhh-be-quiet-I'm-searching-the-card-catalog-for-Hemmingway library. No, this is a watch-your-back-before-a-flood-of-carrier-forms-explode-setting-off-a-grenade-chain-reaction sort of library.
If you know what I mean.
Worth a look even if you've beat the game on Legendary.

First Regionals Report

Our very own 909* has written up the very first report on the Halo National Championship Regional Semifinals in the Underground forum. It sounds like he had a great time and even managed to secure second place overall. Read his post* for details and be sure to congratulate him! *Links removed as they no longer exsist.

HNC Regional Schedules

I called up all of the Halo National Championship regional centers to find out tomorrow's competition times. If you're interested in watching the event check this out.

Badlanz
1602 N. Cahuenga Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90028 USA
Phone: 323.464.5269
2:00 pm

Wired Gamez Entertainment Center
12125 Day St. Suite F306
Moreno Valley, CA 92557 USA
Phone: 909-222-0266
10:00 am

Cybermax Cafe
12078 Collegiate Way
Orlando, FL 32817 USA
Phone: 407-658-6608
10:00 am

NETLAN Arena
5775 Jimmy Cater Blvd., Ste 220
Norcross, GA 30071 USA
Phone: 770-874-1063
2:00 pm

SHOCKWAVE
No. 8 Central Square 3361 Fehling Rd.
Granite City, IL 62040 USA
Phone: (618) 451-9411
10:00 am

Cyber Arena
Gurnee Mill Mall #187
Gurnee, IL 60031 USA
Phone: (847) 855-5550
1:00 pm

Cyberwiz Cafe
1259 S. Main St.
Lombard, IL 60148 USA
Phone: (630) 886-5793
10:00 am (double check this)

GamersAlley
48-B Parker Street
Lawrence, MA 01843 USA
Phone: (978) 688-1779
12:00 pm

PC Palace
2529 University Ave. SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414 USA
Phone: (612) 378-3144
8:00 pm

Kings Games
1724 East 12th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11229 USA
Phone: (718) 336-1955
10:00 am

NeoQuest Games
531 South Broad Street
Lansdale, PA 19446 USA
Phone: (215) 855-7035
1:00 pm

Velocity Games
8492 Hwy. 6 North
Houston, TX 77095 USA
Phone: (281) 858-5683
3:00 pm

Studio Movie Grill
4721 Park Blvd
Plano, TX 75093 USA
Phone: (972) 964-3789
10:00 am

Netwerk Games
12644 164th Avenue SE
Renton, WA 98059 USA
Phone: (425) 235-6800
10:30 am

I couldn't get ahold of anyone at Next Game (JAPAN CENTER - 1501 Webster St., San Francisco, CA 94115, (415) 292-0698) or at Tazraz.com (10001 Grant Street, Unit 136, Thornton, CO 80229, (720) 929-9190), so if you're planning on going to watch at one of these centers then give them a call. If you know more specifics or if I've made any mistakes feel free to post about it to the Underground forum.

Another HNC Qualifier Experience

I just picked up a tip at HBO pointing to this excellent writeup from Jester about his Halo National Championship qualifying round experience.

Halo National Game Change

Sorry for the slow news, today was the annual Bungie company picnic and pentathlon. There's big news on the Halo National Championship, however, that can't wait. A serious issue has come up with one of the game settings, so serious it requires a settings change. The game on Rat Race for the Regionals will use the following settings:

Game 2 August 17th
Game Type: Race
Race Type: Any order (instead of rally)
Laps to win: 10 (instead of 25)
on Rat Race

If you'd like more clarification on this post something to the Underground forum. Sorry for the late notice--we would not have made this change unless it were absolutely necessary.