Several years ago, we heard on the Rampancy Hotline server that Halo was going to be "the most customizable Bungie game ever."

[image:3805,left] That was, of course, before Microsoft purchased Bungie and Halo was changed into an Xbox game. Now it looks as if that prediction is finally coming true.

Along with the news that Gearbox intends to make Halo's editing tools available for download on their site after the release of Halo for the PC, we also received some screenshots of those very same tools, including the Halo level editor, Sapien. However, we aren't allowed to release those screenshots until... sometime later.

What we can do, however, is to share with you some photos taken and provided graciously by Steve of Forerunners.org, who attended the event and brought a digital camera with him. We've put those in a special Gearbox Fanstock gallery created just for this event. When the screenshot embargo ends, that's where they'll be.

Steve of Forerunners.org has supplied some of the bits of information he's been able to glean while down at PC Halo Fanstock at Gearbox Software in Plano, TX.

• PC and Mac versions of Halo will not be released simultaneously. The Macintosh version is not yet as far along as the PC version. (Westlake Interactive still lists the Mac version as "pre-Alpha" as of this writing.)
• Level editors will not ship with the game, but be downloadable from Gearbox, along with (hopefully) some tutorials.
• It is unknown at this time whether there will be a Mac version of the editors.
• The Halo editor is comprised of three programs.
• The Halo level editor is called "Sapien".
• The shapes and physics editor is called "Guerilla".
• PC Halo has six new multiplayer maps. Many draw on the original game's solo maps for inspiration. They are:
  • Death Island
  • Timberland
  • Ice Fields
  • Danger Canyon
  • Gephyrophobia
  • Infinity
• PC Halo is one of the quickest loading PC games ever. It is reported to load in approximately three seconds.
• PC Halo has two weapons not in the original (unhacked) Xbox release: the flamethrower and the fuel rod gun.
• User-created netlevels will be about 18Mb in size.
• User-created solo levels can be up to about 100 Mb.
• System requirements under Windows will be around a 700 Mhz processor (assuming P3 or P4, not sure), a "good" video card, and 128Mb of free RAM.
• There is a new version of the Warthog with three cannons on top.
• After playing a bit of Halo on the PC, the guys got to watch the same realtime demo of Halo 2 given at E3, and got to play a little Halo 2 themselves on Xbox dev kits. Observers report that Halo 2 is graphically much improved over the original.
• PC Halo will ship on 1 CD, not on a DVD as the Xbox original did.

We will update this item throughout the day as more information becomes available.

Another short note at Forerunners.org promises that Cortana.org, which has been largely dormant for awhile, will update. At the moment there's naught but a logo there, but it does say "The Halo PC Map Database" which seems to imply what the site's eventual intent is. Not sure how long that logo has been there, so apologies if this is old news.

Steve's posted a short note from Gearbox today, where he is attending the PC Halo Fanstock event:

Met some really great people at Fanstock this weekend. I have the privilege of sitting in Gearbox right now. There seems to be an abundance of Half Life games everywhere. Halo PC is of course why we are all here.

F.org, as well as other sites attending the event, should have more updates throughout the coming hours and days.

Griffon made a note over at Halo Command Central (a part of Forerunners.org) that the site's gotten an updated look. Go check it out.

In addition to having arrived safe and sound in Dallas-- with time to spare to sample the local wine selection-- Louis Wu at HBO passed on word about five screenshots of Death Island over at Microsoft.com. We've put them in the PC Halo Gallery.