A reader over at HBO named gd found some funny and strange sound clips while playing Halo. Get all the info in the HBO forum.

Okay, okay... despite flat statements to the contrary from the developer (something along the lines of it is not Marathon 4 , if I recall) and the serious mismatches in timelines and terminology, Game Girl Advance has advanced the theory that Halo really is the sequel to Marathon Infinity, citing the use of the Marathon logo and the basic similarities between the two games. You be the judge.

Thanks to Louis Wu, who also differs with GGA on this point.

Candyman points out that Mordia and Skip Weasel dissect Microsoft's interior design taste in the latest Bungie comic.

Frogblast is meaner than a junkyard dog. We swear. I mean, look-- Matt said so!

Seriously, though, this story by Matt in the HBO forum is definitely worth the read, I almost died laughing.

Posted at Subnova by Psyrixx: Shallow Throat has posted another scoop on Halo 2's story over at the Psyjnir Complex. Check it out. Or not.

Tycho and Gabe were invited to the Xbox Live Boot Camp, and they've done a writeup of their impressions today, as well as a Halo-related comic. From the writeup:

As it turns out, Gabe and I had nothing to fear from Microsoft, or even from Bungie when we went through there (very quietly). It was just as my experience had been with Kelly Flock, when I talked to him. People who believe sincerely in what they are doing don't mind if you tease them, because they they had real reasons for making the decisions they did. They were nothing but polite, and very forthcoming with things to eat.

Kudos to Louis at HBO for the heads-up.

The latest Bungie Comic explores the relationship between Joe, Marty... and nothing.

Also noted by HBO's Louis Wu.

This is way, way off topic, but I found it utterly hilarious.

An article at Kuro5hin has put forth the argument that, along the same lines as financial reparations to African American citizens have been proposed as a backwash from slavery, women should receive reparations for their many years of oppression, as well. Or if not women... their descendants.

Article here. Hilarious - but even better, try reading the follow-up comments, wherein dozens upon dozens of readers react to the satire with responses that wax from passionate to violent.

Okay, back to Bungie.

There have been a few recent threads in the HBO forum about a remark that musicmeister Marty The Elder O'Donnell made at the E3 fanfest regarding Covenant Elite taunts . Basically, he said they were in the POA level but would be near impossible to find.

Surreptitious thinks he may have found them, and recorded a number of Elite vocalizations in the POA level.

Marty has since confirmed that Surreptitious did, indeed, find one of the taunts-- c'mon, tough guy but also said that there are others.

All I ever remember hearing (aside from the standard, backwards-Sarge dialog) was lousy piece of crap , which was the only thing I ever heard them say in English. And no, I don't have it recorded. But I know I heard it.

Louis Wu, of course, posted this at HBO.

HBO has pointed out the latest installment in the Psyjnir Complex's Shallow Throat series of tabloid prognostications on Halo 2.

Love 'em or hate 'em, they won't go away... not yet, anyway. There's another Bungie comic by David Candyman Candland up at Bungie.net. In any case, I'm sure the special place that Jaime Case Griesemer refers to must be Rampancy's new Halo 2 forum. Or, at least, in our dreams it is.

HBO pointed out a section on The Psyjnir Complex called Tabloids. There's an interesting series of items running there purporting to be insider reports from a Bungie informant called Shallow Throat. The crux of it seems to be the plans for a total of six.. no, make that seven... (or was it nine, originally?) Halo games. Check it out.

Randall Glass made a new version of his infamous Warthog Jump movie, called Warthog Jump Revisited. We're mirroring the large (240x320, 30fps, 17Mb) version right here at Rampancy.

Halo was so long-hyped, so widely acclaimed, and so eagerly anticipated that it was rare to see it, as well as its rectangular abode, the Xbox, as roundly made fun of as both were in the frames of Penny Arcade.

Their criticism of the Xbox has waned some in the intervening months, although their Awards cartoon still poked fun at Halo, featuring the Xbox's flagship title next to a picture of.. of... well, a toilet.

However, in today's news post, Tycho of Penny Arcade fame does give Halo some props for its control scheme:

I got a couple mails asking about Medal of Honor: Frontline, which is kind of a sore subject with me. Being on the PS2, the graphics might not be as good as the PC version, in raw terms, and controlling an FPS on a console has been difficult for me in any game but Halo.

A well deserved comment-- regardless of what I or anyone else said (or still says) about mouse and keyboard controls being superior, Halo's controls are easy to learn and are surprisingly comfortable.

Oh, and the comic is worth a look too, for the pictures of Gabe's secret in Filth Weekly...

Don't know if it's been mentioned anywhere yet, but the edition of Letters to the Webmaster at bungie.net is dated February 2002 and I know it was new to me.