Some of you may have noticed some problems on the forums lately. Well, we know about it, we have a good idea as to what is wrong, and when it will be fixed.

Apparently, the story starts with the Webmaster and some bees. I won't bore you with the details, but let's just say there is honey and tequila everywhere, and the database that houses the forums seems to have taken a beating. Corrupted caches, indexes, and something about a curse... according to the Webmaster, anyway. I wasn't really listening - he was rather drunk. At least we got a new letters page out of it. Or, well, we did after some well placed kicks... Anyway, the point of this is that we're working on the issues, and we have a fix currently being tested. Since the fix is so substantial, though, we're going to be testing it over the weekend. We'll get it posted to the live forums by Tuesday of next week. There will probably be a short downtime early Tuesday morning. Thank you for your patience. That is all.

About time too. He may not be as lazy as last year but [url=http://www.bungie.net/Inside/CustomPage.aspx?section=LettersToTheWebmaster&subsection=Main&page=15]The Webmaster[/url] is still pretty freaking lazy. Go read his [url=http://www.bungie.net/Inside/CustomPage.aspx?section=LettersToTheWebmaster&subsection=Main&page=15]letter responses[/url] now.

And this time, [url=http://www.bungie.net/Inside/CustomPage.aspx?section=LettersToTheWebmaster&subsection=Main&page=15]The Webmaster[/url] has actually included some reader art and scarification.

Back to normal after last week's very nice break from my dumb ass, but here it is, the new [url=http://carnage.bungie.org/haloforum/halo.forum.pl?read=468323]Bungie Weekly Update[/url], hosted by the good fellows at HBO, and also at [url=http://www.the7threvolution.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=194]The 7th Revolution Forums[/url] who're new to hosting the Update (but do require registration.

So what are you waiting for? Get your butt over to [url=http://carnage.bungie.org/haloforum/halo.forum.pl?read=468323]HBO Forums[/url] to see what happened this week at Bungie Towers.

It's a sad day in Bungie Land today as Zoe, our contract artist extraordinaire, is wrapping up her tour of duty with our Studio and moving on to new assignments. As a special farewell treat to our fans, Zoe is leaving behind what is (in my opinion) her most badass creation yet. Here's a quick explanation of how this project came to be... (prepare to start drooling)

Over the past 9 months Zoe has been in the trenches with us here at Bungie helping out with a number of cool projects. She created all of the visuals on this here website along with a whole slew of badass screenshots, comics, wallpapers and other things you won't even see for a few more months. Naturally we're sad to see her leave but lucky for us, she's left behind this awesome reminder. Here's a word from Zoe about what this wallpaper is and how it came to be: [i] A few weeks ago I put up a poll in my 7th column chapter “Zoetest” hinting at a project I was working on. The idea was to do a concept rendering of the Masterchief in an alternate paint scheme, something really –blam!-ing cool for all the fans who support Bungie. At first I was keeping it secret so as to not get things too riled up, but my 2nd hand man MakaVeli4LIfe1 decided that just wouldn’t do and got things going. Within a matter of hours Zoetest jumped from a few members to around 80. Well today is my last day with Bungie =( -sniff- and I’ve worked my ass off to complete my crowning artistic contribution to the Bungie fan community. The results of the poll had ranked “battle damage” and “desert camo” as the most desired alternate paint schemes for an art piece, so I decided it would be even better to combine the two together. Keep in mind of course that this is just a concept art piece, so don’t too hyped up expecting to see this version inside the game, but you’re more than welcome to keep it on your desktop as long as you like… I insist >^-^< Zoe, [former] Bungie web artist and Freaky cat girl gamer[/i] Please Note : In case you didn't read it above - this is a purely fictional creation, done for fun for our fans. This has NOTHING to do with Halo or Halo 2. This is not a picture from Halo the movie, it's not a screenshot from Halo 2, there is no desert camo in the game... this is purely a work of art inspired by Halo and the feedback of our fans. But you gotta admit.. this is totally badass! (it's in the Halo 2 wallpaper gallery because it does use the underlying 3d model of MC from Halo 2, that's all) Head over to the Halo 2 [url=/Games/Halo2/gallery.aspx?gallery=Wallpaper&page=1]wallpaper gallery[/url] and scroll down to the bottom and prepare to be blown away by [b]Desert Brigade[/b]. Thanks Zoe!!

Since Frankie is still out on an expedition in the Yucatan, we have a very special guest author this week... the [i]Bungie Princess![/i] Prepare yourselves for the most mind blowing, in-depth and fact-filled update yet from a totally fresh perspective (ok, maybe not). Our latest update can be found in the Bungie.net [url=/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=509037]Halo 2 forum[/url]. Enjoy!

Frankie might be gone, but that doesn't mean the Weekly Update won't go on... The Bungie Princess has stepped up and taken the reigns this week as she delivers her own unique insight into the world of Bungie and Halo 2 development (not to mention a few fashion emergencies). For the sake of ease and simplicity we're sticking to our own turf today... Though, I was considering introducing the Princess to the nice folks at the Penny Arcade forums. Maybe next time. Let's all pray that Frankie makes it back in one piece from his Yucatan adventure and we'll soon get back to the juicy game tidbits you've come to love. Until then, enjoy the Bungie Princess special edition update! [i]*Actual experience may vary.[/i]

The [url=http://store.bungie.com]Bungie Store[/url] is closing! Don't worry, we do have a new store in the works and we'll be launching it soon...but before we can do that, we need to clear out all our remaining inventory. Take advantage of special clearance prices and you can not only help us out, but you can own a piece of Bungie history as many of these products will never be produced again.

It's been a good run but the times are changing... The Bungie Store that you currently know will soon be no more. On August 31st, the Bungie Store will be closing it's doors. To help clear out what's left, prices are being slashed and we'd love it if you wanted to buy a few things to help our cause. Almost everything in the store will soon be a rare collector's item as none of this will be produced in our new store (we've got other, newer, cooler things in mind). Act fast, there's not much time left... And, thanks to you all for your continued support of our store the past few years. We'll have more to say about our NEW store very soon. Stay tuned.

We're kicking it over at [url=http://forums.videogames.co.nz/index.php?act=ST&f=9&t=5126]VideoGamesNZ[/url] today, which if you didn't already figure it out, is based in New Zealand. New Zealand is a land of Fjords, valleys, meadows, forests, beaches and of course, Mount Doom. [url=http://forums.videogames.co.nz/index.php?act=ST&f=9&t=5126]VideoGamesNZ right here![/url].

But [url=http://forums.videogames.co.nz/index.php?act=ST&f=9&t=5126]head over to he VideoGamesNZ forums right now[/url] to find out what we've been up to. Lots of news on animation, art, production and engineering and more, and all you have to do to read about it, is [url=http://forums.videogames.co.nz/index.php?act=ST&f=9&t=5126]Click this link[/url].

goweb writes:

If you live in the UK, then you'll be able to get your grubby mits on Halo 2 at this year's [b][url=http://www.gamestarslive.co.uk]Gamestars Live[/url][/b], running between 1st September and 5th September at London's ExCeL centre. Tickets cost £10 in advance or £12 on the door.

If you live in the UK, then you'll be able to get your grubby mits on Halo 2 at this year's [b][url=http://www.gamestarslive.co.uk]Gamestars Live[/url][/b], running between 1st September and 5th September at London's ExCeL centre. Tickets cost £10 in advance or £12 on the door.

Vasheeth writes:

Season Two of Red Vs. Blue ships out Aug 2! Pre-order it now to make sure you get one! It is now in the Red Vs. Blue online store.

Season Two of RVB ships out Aug 2! It is now available to pre-order in the [url=http://www.redvsblue.com/estore_dvds.shtml]Red Vs. Blue online store.[/url] Go over there and order yours now for some high quality, Halo-related, Machinima shenanigans!

So, it only took 1.5 hours, not two or five. But the forums and account creation should be working just fine now. The forums will take a little bit to reindex themselves, so you may see a bit of weirdness for the next 30 minutes, though.

Our emergency maintenance is complete. No further downtime is scheduled for this issue at this time. We'll be keeping a close eye on things, and you should let us know if you're still encountering problems.

You may have noticed the increased traffic to this site in the last few days. This is great, but has also given us a few forum headaches. To fix it, there is going to be some emergency maintenance going on today.

Account Creation, My Profile, My Settings, and the Forums will be offline for about two to five hours today. Unfortunately, I can't tell exactly when it will start, but we are looking at between 10am and 12pm Pacific time. We're going to be doing some maintenance on our database that should help limit the forum "Internal Server Error" bug from popping up until we can locate and fix the root cause of the problem.

MLG Atlanta - 50k3 is just beginning Day 2 of the event. Yesterday we streamed games to over a 300 users at a time and had room for plenty more. Just for an update, Strangepurple took the FFA round, Ogre1 and Ogre2 won the 2v2's, and we are just now moving into the championship round of the tournament.

If you want check out the event jump over to mlgpro.com and get into the action!

Short and tart this week, we're hosting the [url=http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=367511]Bungie Weekly Update[/url] on our own forums again, especially after the spanking we took last week. This week, we talk about skyboxes, water, icons and [url=http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=367511]lots more![/url]

So get over to the [url=http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=367511]Undergound Forum[/url] right now and get a teeny taste of what's been going on this week!

The small-yet-epic Halo 2 theatrical trailer is [url=http://entertainment.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=164795]now available to watch[/url] online, thanks to our good good friends at [url=http://entertainment.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=164795]MSN[/url]. So what are you waiting for? Go [url=http://entertainment.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=164795]check it out right now.[/url]

Remember to right click to "save target as" if you want to keeep [url=http://entertainment.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=164795]this trailer[/url] for posterity. And you probably will.

Today is the fifth anniversary of the [url=http://halo.bungie.org/oldnews.html?item=2]MacWorld Halo Trailer and announcement[/url] - the world's very first viewing of what would eventually end up being the biggest selling game on a console nobody had thought of yet.

Thanks to [url=http://halo.bungie.org/oldnews.html?item=2]Halo.Bungie.Org[/url] for reminding us, as well as having a very nice link to a pic of the trailer launch itself. As Bungie old-schoolers of course know, Halo was originally announced for the Mac and we delivered it right on time. Give or take several years.

I have found a video showing the world's largest sick day, November 9th, 2004.

I have found a video showing the world's largest sick day, November 9th, 2004. Scientists are never able to fully explain this sickness only know that many, many people contracted a disease, a sickness, called Halo 2 on November 9th, 2004. Watch the video [url=http://www.blackartstudios.com/haload2.html] here [/url]

For various sad, lame reasons, we moved the [url=http://halo.bungie.org/halo2updates/search.html?date=20040716]weekly update[/url] over to[url=http://halo.bungie.org/halo2updates/search.html?date=20040716]HBO's friendly, fluffy, kitten-safe Forums[/url] so get over there right now.

And this [url=http://halo.bungie.org/halo2updates/search.html?date=20040716]weekly update[/url] features all sorts of cool stuff, but a very poor drawing.

We just received word that the deadline for the Mt. Dew [url=/News/Story.aspx?link=8E57B7FA-EE8D-4E1A-A445-41CAFA58B404]casting call[/url] has been extended to [b]Wednesday, July 21[/b]. If you and your friends want to give it a shot, there's still time!

The recently announced [url=/News/Story.aspx?link=8E57B7FA-EE8D-4E1A-A445-41CAFA58B404]Mt.Dew photoshoot[/url] has been re-scheduled to Saturday, July 24th. Anyone interested in a chance to start in an ad (and more importantly, get hands-on time with Halo 2) should read the rules and send in their submission!

Two new Halo Action Figures are due out in July. An Active Camouflage Elite at Game Crazy and a Cobalt Master Chief for Electronics Boutique.

Two new action figures for the Halo series are coming to gaming stores near you this month. Due out the end of July are an Active Camouflage Elite at GameCrazy outlets and a Cobalt Master Chief at Electronics Boutique (yes this is different from the Battle Damaged Version currently at GameStop). It is a limited edition run that will not be repeated. Here's a glimpse of the Elite: [img]http://www.bungie.net/images/news/inlineimages/littlecamoelite.jpg[/img] And here's the new Cobalt Master Chief: [img]http://www.bungie.net/images/news/inlineimages/cobaltchief.jpg[/img]