Don't know how we missed this, but way back on February 6, longtime Bungie community members Clan Plaid opened their very own Halo server. It should be in the lists as #CP#_For_Fun_&_Honor!. Official "Halo Nights" are Mondays at 9 P.M. eastern time.
1Up Xbox is running a story that Microsoft has announced a new suite of development tools for Xbox Live; they're calling it Tsunami, and it will allow developers to create XBL clans, tournaments, user-created content, and integrate with MSN Messenger.
There's no specific information on when players will get to use these new features; we can only hope it is in time for Halo 2.
th3gh05t has posted at Halo-Source.com that Beta 4.0 of XBconnect is now available. XbConnect allows Xbox users to connect to each other over the Internet and play games that don't support Xbox Live.
Over in the HBO forum, RunningRiot voiced the common-enough question: why in-game and out-of-game pings to Halo servers often don't match up. Botman from Gearbox stopped in to provide the answer:
There's a thread in the HBO forum where mikeman445 pointed out a couple of tricks relating to weapon reloading in Halo; one that he was familiar with, the other he wasn't, but noticed in a tournament video featuring StK vs. TDT.
... so pay no attention to those bulletholes in your back. Too often, communication in online games is on that level, especially if you aren't able to use voice services. Halo.fropco.com has a new article up on teamwork in Halo called Sum Utilis Militis. Thanks John "Raider".
Steve at Forerunners.org pointed out a new offer from HomeLAN called HomeLAN Xtreme On Demand; the first 100 customers will get a special price of $99 per month. You have to register for an account with them to get the full pricing plan.
Part Four of the High Ping Bastard's Guide to Halo is up. This one is about the finer points of etiquette when playing on a slow connection-- when to apologize, when not to, when discretion is the better part of valor and when to get the heck out of Dodge... I mean, the server. Salad fork not required.
Connected Home is reporting that a new update to Xbox Live, version 3.0, is coming sometime this spring and will add new voice and chat capabilities, possibly even voicemail, as well as special features for clans. Thanks Xbox365.
Part Three of our High Ping Bastard's Guide to Halo is online now, focusing on the various different game types, which are more (or less) advantageous for those on slow connections, and the different roles that HPBs can play in those games effectively.
HBO has two new PC Halo servers running at HomeLAN: HBO East and HBO West. In fact, Rampancy is so far east that we actually get a better ping from HBO West.