Pfhorslayer writes on the Postpose Software website that the development of Aquaduct Two, the Macintosh-based Xbox tunneler, is proceeding nicely:

We missed this earlier, but it was posted to Bungie.net the same time as Frankie's Update, which is now added to our archive.

GameSpot is reporting that UbiSoft has verified a repeatable crash bug in Pandora Tomorrow, where connecting to Xbox Live and choosing OptiMatch will hang the Xbox indefinitely. UbiSoft says they are "looking into it".As for those who predicted that the ability to patch console games post-release via a broadband port would lead to buggier console releases... the future is now.

Round 2 of the Abandoned Base bracket has Halo up against the first true 3d shooter, Id Software's Quake. Can the Master Chief avenge the humiliating defeat handed to his favorite-yet-unnamed security guard by the famously-unnamed Doom Marine? Only time will tell. However, right now, with 6060 votes in, Halo leads Quake 3187 to 2873.

Brandon has posted at COERCE that the HBO-COERCE dedicated server for PC Halo is back up.

In addition, the RSS feed for news from COERCE now seems to be working, so we've added their feed to our newsfeed page.

Rapture over at COERCE is asking for input on what game types players would like to see on the HBO-COERCE Halo PC Dedicated server.

vshields ash pointed out in the HBO forum an article from SPOnG.com that says that Microsoft's XBL servers have begun querying consoles for information about their hard drives.

So far, the article says, no one with a modified hard drive has been denied access, but they speculate that this could be the start of searching hard drives for modified versions of system or game files, such as Halo's cached .map files.

HBO's Louis Wu pointed out a Halo multiplayer strategy guide by Kris Hull, who apparently knows a secret or two about Marathon, if the URL is to be believed. At the end of the guide is an interesting little glossary; I think Mulganistan borders Kazakhstan somewhere. They only play Counter Strike.

BGH pointed out an article at Halo Phenom documenting how, as has been done to countless PC-based shooters before it, modified maps, models and textures are being applied to PC Halo to give players what might euphemistically be called an unfair advantage. Cheating, that is.

The article contains URLs to some pictures that show such modified maps, models and textures.

Brandon "vector40" Oto has submitted the third in his series of articles on Banshee tactics, Banshee Handling III: Applying Reality. If you haven't already, make sure you read part one and part two first or it won't make much sense.

Following up on the chicks-playing-Halo theme that started with Nick's reference to a Gaming Nexus article about innovative uses of the 'S' controller, rapture has posted a link to a BBC story about female gamers over on the cooked gamers site.

TCLN-Zenn has written a piece on Team Killing in Halo at BGH; it seems to be one of their favorite topics of late. This one is after the new anti-TK features in the 1.03 release.

I think he's on-point on part, but off the mark elsewhere; a full response is in Problem Is Between Chair And Keyboard, the latest of Narc's Retorts.

PfhorSlayer let us know that work on version two of Aquaduct, the Mac OS X Xbox tunneller, is still ongoing:

Things are progressing very well, and we are gearing up for some internal testing and hopefully release in the not-too-far future.

Aquaduct can now tunnel games between Xbox users who have a Mac running Aquaduct and Windows users who have Xbox Connect; word is it will "probably" be out before Halo 2. Let's hope so.