It seems someone called either frop or John "Raider" has put up a new Halo site, inexplicably called Halo.Fropco. Thanks for the heads-up to CobaltNova.

Peter Tamte of MacSoft agreed to be interviewed by Tuncer Deniz of Inside Mac Games to talk about the issues some users have been having with the 1.03 patch, many of which center on the anti-piracy features; namely, the requirement that the CD be inserted in the drive in order to play, as with the PC version. The earlier version of Halo for the Mac did not have this requirement.

Jarvis Badgley, via Louis Wu of HBO, noticed a good, if belated, review of Halo for the Macintosh over at MacOSXHints by robg.One thing I can say-- this review has to be the third or fourth time I've seen a Mac user write that the game actually performs better at higher resolutions than at 640x480, a behavior pretty much the opposite of what I've experienced with Halo on PCs.

Bungie has put up a series of pages about the dedicated Halo PC servers they run that are hosted by HomeLAN, the same outfit that hosts well-known webcomic Penny Arcade.

VersionTracker now lists an entry for PPFMaster 1.0, a Mac application created by Scotiasoft Systems for applying PlayStation Patch Files. From their site:

XboxOttawa sent word that episode ten of Fire Team Charlie, FTC10, has been released, and clocks in at more than 11 minutes and 56 Mb. Today you can snag the BitTorrent, or watch it full screen if you're a member; direct server downloads are coming tomorrow.

The Mac version of Halo has now reached 1.03, bringing it compatible with the large number of PC-based servers out there that have already been running 1.03 for some weeks now. HBO is running a list of mirrors for the patch. We've also put up our own mirror of the Mac Halo 1.03 Updater. This also means that the HBO-Subnova Halo PC server has also been upgraded to 1.03 once more, bringing back some of the stranger custom gametypes that were hosted on it earlier. Thanks to Frankie for the heads-up over on Bungie.net.

UPDATE: VersionTracker, a site that... well, tracks versions, if you're into that sort of thing, also has a page on the Halo 1.03 Update, and some users have put some quite negative comments on it about the update. This mainly has to do with requiring the CD in the drive to play the game, which is especially aggravating to laptop users (like myself) who don't like to carry a lot of CDs (or use up precious battery life) while on the move. Here's hoping that at least, once MacSoft is satisfied they've sold all the copies of Mac Halo that they're going to, they'll change their minds and remove this requirement in a later patch; currently the Read Me file states:

Previous versions of Halo did not require you to have a CD inserted to play the game. Unfortunately, due to heavy illegal online downloading of the software, this and all future versions of Halo will require a CD to play.

Sympathizing as I do with the all-too-logical desire to get paid for work you've done, I can understand how someone stealing your stuff can piss you off.

[image:6655 left hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0]The 'net has been all abuzz of late about the so-called "release" of Half-Life 2 in parts of the former Soviet Union; it has been spotted for sale in Ukraine and Siberia. Most of these reports have drawn attention because Half-Life 2 is hotly anticipated, and because this game is not yet near an official release, and the source of these copies for sale is a leaked beta.

However, the average gamer may or may not be aware that piracy of computer software, music and movies isn't limited to Internet-based peer-to-peer schemes and shady chat rooms in CIS countries; it's right out there on apparently legitimate store shelves for everyone to see.

Case in point: Halo for the PC. Shortly after the release of PC Halo in the US (and long before we got our copies here at Rampancy, which arrived in a package with Mac Halo and First Strike) there were CDs on store shelves in former Soviet countries that purported to be Halo for the PC-- version 1.5, no less. (Perhaps that's where the rumors came from.) This applies not just to games, but operating systems, application suites like Microsoft Office, even enterprise level software like Oracle 8i.

The jewel case art itself is an interesting study; while the cover art appears to be based on screenshots from the shipping game, the back of the box features screens as old as E3 2000 and older.

Of course, trends are in place to reverse this state of affairs. Microsoft has opened representative offices in some (not all) former Soviet countries, and has been lobbying their governments to enact (and enforce) protection for intellectual property rights, as well as urging local computer resellers to cease practices like selling cracked copies of Microsoft operating systems and applications with new computers, or selling OEM copies over the counter that are clearly marked "for sale only with a new PC".

However, the real "gotcha" for anyone who plonked down hard currency (or its nearest equivalent) for "Halo 1.5" in any of the CIS countries-- and the going price is about two U.S. dollars-- is the system requirements. The only words in English on the back of the CD case are for the system requirements, and they read:

Pentium-2 233 Mhz, 64 MB RAM, 4 MB 3D Card

If anyone actually tried to play Halo on that system, that's almost punishment enough for warezing the game... almost.

In summary, piracy is something that affects not only Half-Life 2, or even just Halo-- but just about every piece of software you can imagine. And before anybody asks, no, I am not going to tell you exactly where you can get this. Buy Halo.

The first thing that modern man achieved after customizable game engines, of course, was figuring out how to make playing one game look more like playing another game, an activity which is as inscrutable as its appeal is universal.

Nick posted that MonoxideC has made multiplayer action in The Library possible with a set of instructions and links to the level itself in an HBO forum post. Thanks to Louis Wu at HBO for the heads-up.

Louis Wu of HBO warns that because of the number of attending Halo luminaries, the next HBO Junkies lanfest, to be held on January 31, is going to have slightly more restricted attendance than previous ones. In any case, you need to sign up or you've no hope of attending.

CobaltNova has put up their third Public Service Announcement, this one on paranoia about cheating in PC Halo. Definitely worth a read.