The latest Weekly Update is one of the longest and most detailed we've ever posted, so we posted it over at the equally detailed [url=http://carnage.bungie.org/haloforum/halo.forum.pl?read=449458]HBO Forums[/url] so quit reading this, and get over there and [url=http://carnage.bungie.org/haloforum/halo.forum.pl?read=449458]READ THE WEEKLY UPDATE![/url]

And just in case you've never seen the updates before, we keep a failry comprehensive [url=http://www.bungie.net/Games/Halo2/page.aspx?section=FAQInfo&subsection=WeeklyUpdate&page=15]Archive right here.[/url] So go get caught up.

Interested in a once in a lifetime chance to become immortalized in gaming history while also getting a little hands-on time with Halo 2? The folks at Mt. Dew and Xbox are looking for hardcore crazy excited Halo fans to participate in an upcoming advertisement. There's only a few days to enter so hurry up!

[color="red"][b]The Official Rules and Requirements can be found at the Mt. Dew website:[/b][/color] [url=http://mountaindew.com/Halo2Shoot/]www.mountaindew.com/Halo2Shoot/[/url] Here's the scoop, straight from the folks at Mt. Dew: [b]HALO 2 CASTING CALL[/b] Here’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Bungie community – a select team of Halo players may be chosen to visit us at the Xbox testing facility in Redmond, Washington and have a Halo 2 LAN party NEXT WEEK (on July 24). If you are chosen, you may be photographed for a print advertisement. Now take a deep breath. Here’s the way it works: Take a photograph of you and 3-5 friends that shows us how much you love playing Halo and drinking Mountain Dew (together). Don’t hold ANYTHING BACK – show us ENERGY and ENTHUSIASM – GO NUTS. You know what we’re talking about. Then send the photo to [email][email protected][/email], along with your contact information (names, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, the ages of all participants, and the reasons why you should be picked (in 25 words or less). If you’re selected, your team will be responsible for transporting yourselves to Xbox in Redmond on July 17 to play a little game we like to call HALO 2. [b]ALL ENTRIES MUST BE RECEIVED BY 11:59 PM (EST) on JULY 21, 2004[/b] You. Your crew. Halo 2. And Dew. At Xbox. Get moving. [i]Note: Bungie/Microsoft are not involved in this promotion - any questions, issues, etc.. should be directed to the contacts listed above. Thanks.[/i]

[i]Halo Doc[/i], the filmmaker behind the upcoming Halo 2 documentary and bonus DVD, needs your help! As part of his ongoing research into the depths of our fan community, [i]Halo Doc[/i] is on the hunt for any awesome Halo inspired fan creations he can find. If you've got something worth showing, read on.

Bungie’s filmmaker, HaloDoc, is researching the creative and wonderful world of the Halo community and he needs your help. Send him your creations at [email][email protected][/email] and show him how hardcore and artistic our fans are and what types of cool creations you've produced. He’s looking for high quality jpegs, QuickTime or AVI movie files (640 X 480 or better). Who knows, you may even end up having your work featured as part of the bonus DVD materials packaged with the limited collector’s edition of Halo 2. Your email should include the actual file and/or links to where it can be located. Please also include your real name, address and a phone number where you can be reached. If your creation is chosen to be included in the DVD, you will be contacted by Film Oasis and some legal mumbo jumbo will need to be signed. [b]DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS JULY 22, 2004[/b] [b]Please note: All submissions become the property of Bungie/Film Oasis and can not be returned. [/b]

MLG has teamed up with HaloTV to bring MLG Atlanta – 50k3 to the masses. So what is HaloTV? Well, HaloTV is a constant stream of videos, matches, red vs. blue episodes, and when they are feeling in particularly special, live broadcasts. Well, guess what. Now is one of those times.

We will be broadcasting at least one major stream that will focus on the main stages, roving “crowd cams”, and interviews with professionally signed MLG players. On top of it all we will be archiving quite a bit of this footage for release after the tournament is all over, so if you are in attendance, you won’t miss a beat. Head on over to [url=http://www.mlgpro.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=41&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0]MLGpro.com[/url] and get all the details on how to attend, if you arn't attending!

Clans and gamers in general need a place to talk and setup clan matches, so we launched [URL=http://icga.advancedproprietarysystems.com]ICGA[/URL], aka the inter-clan gaming association. We want to foster a large community for events and discussion of our favorite hobby -- games.

[URL=http://icga.advancedproprietarysystems.com]ICGA[/URL] is dedicated to all games, not just Halo, but Halo is a huge part of our site. We want to organize games and events, and be a central place for gamers. So stop by and check out what we have, we want to grow, so see whats [URL=http://icga.advancedproprietarysystems.com]here[/URL].

So just before we go to bed for the evening there's just one last thing, it is Bungie Day after all and we already gave you Seven new things to look at...

What do you mean there were only six new items today? What about this? The Seventh! Another 3D screenshot! This one requires Quicktime of course, but as before, you can "grab" the screen and rotate it to see the action. In this case, the action consists of a new game we invented on Zanzibar called "Hogball" where we stack explosive fusion cores and blow them up to launch the poor Hog through the windmill. It takes some setting up, but it's totally possible to do it in the current build of the game. [img]http://www.bungie.net/images/News/InlineImages/3D7thshot.jpg[/img] Download the files here: [url=http://download.microsoft.com/download/b/e/f/bef4cc00-a5e4-4909-acf4-6b38ee9bed4e/Hogball-small.mov]Small 3D Hogball screenshot - about 2 Megs[/url] [url=http://download.microsoft.com/download/3/0/9/309f398c-9159-4508-929a-bbd709c5c771/Hogball.mov]Large 3D Hogball Screenshot - about 8 Megs[/url] Rotate this one slowly – there's a lot to see! Happy Bungie Day!

That's right! To celebrate Bungie Day in high style, we're giving seven lucky winners a bundle of ancient, and sometimes classic Bungie stuff. To have a chance of winning, you should head over to our [url=http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=292415]WIN TONS OF BUNGIE STUFF CONTEST[/url] in the [url=http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=292415]Underground Forum[/url].

Well what are you waiting for? This contest will probably be over in one night, so [url=http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=292415]go see if you can win![/url]

More celebration of Bungie Day as we round up Seven Bungie Cars and let democracy decide which is the best, and therefore which is the worst, in our [url=http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=291976]Official Bungie Day Hooptie Poll.[/url]

Seriously, what are you waiting for? Go decide who wins and who drives home in shame at the [url=http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=291976]Official Bungie Day Hooptie Poll.[/url] Yet another in a long line of unrigged official polls. Let freedom to vote for the best hooptie ring!

goweb writes:

To celebrate Bungie Day, what better way than to launch a website? [b][url=http://www.tru7h.co.uk]tru7h[/url][/b] is the product of many hours' work. You can submit news, archive cool webcam images, and even submit movies for Marathon and Myth (Soon™). And trash talk in the forums.

To celebrate Bungie Day, what better way than to launch a website? [b][url=http://www.tru7h.co.uk]tru7h[/url][/b] is the product of many hours' work. You can submit news, archive cool webcam images, and even submit movies for Marathon and Myth (Soon™). And trash talk in the forums.

mrsmiley writes:

Today is Bungie Day! Why? It seems that those crazy folks have an affinity with the number seven. As weird as that may be, having a holiday on the seventh day of the seventh month makes perfect sense! In honor of this age old tradition, I have whipped up a little Bungie Day Flash Card!

Ok, actually it is just a crappy animation I spent all night working on, but I'm sure Sketch will agree in encompasses the true spirit of the holiday! Check it out! | [url=http://www.halobabies.net/hosted/msxl/flash/bungieday.swf] Bungie Day Card[/url] | Flash Required | 605K Filesize P.S. Since this is my first ever flash animation, there is no preloader. If they movie stops mid-way, wait for the browser to finish loading, and refresh! =)

stosh writes:

7/7 is Bungie Day you bunch of pansies! If you have friends I suggest you host a kick ass lan party. If you have no friends or if you are maybe sick, go rent a couple Kung Fu movies. Kung Fu movies are totally sweet! Most of the time.

Anyway, the point is that whatever you do, don't go to school or work on Bungie Day. Any fan that works or learns something on Bungie Day is a big loser. Rock on!

Xtournaments writes:

For the first time New York City will become the PC and Console Game Capital of the World (according to Xtournaments anyhoo) with the arrival of iGames Expo 2004 (www.igamesexpo.com), a 3-day games extravaganza which will take place September 10-12, 2004, at The Hammerstein Ballroom with a Halo Xbox Tournament in the middle of the show hosted by Xtournaments.

For the first time New York City will become the PC and console game capital of the world with the arrival of iGames Expo 2004 (www.igamesexpo.com), a 3-day games extravaganza which will take place September 10-12, 2004, at The Hammerstein Ballroom. Xtournaments is one of the highlighted events at the Expo where they will be hosting the biggest State vs State Halo 4 vs 4 Xbox Tournament ever. Over 24 States are involved. Top 4 teams that win at the August 14th Regionals will have a chance to play infront of close to or over 10,000 spectators at the iGames Expo. For more information you can visit [url=http://www.halotournaments.com/]www.halotournaments.com[/url] or [url=http://www.igamesexpo.com/]www.igamesexpo.com[/url]

The first ever Bungie.net avatar contest has come to an end. We received a ton of great entries and after an arduous voting process we've finally picked the winners. Check out the full results [url=/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=274190]HERE![/url]

A little over a month ago stosh came up with an idea to whip up an avatar contest to give our members a chance to show off their artistic skills, win some cool prizes and help us beef up our puny avatar collection on the site. Four weeks and 141 avatars later, we've finally tallied the votes and picked our winners. We had so many great entries that I decided to create an "honorable mention" category to reward those who didn't quite make the cut and still allow everyone on the site to use and enjoy their creations. Congratulations to all of our winners and a huge thanks to everyone who took the time to submit an avatar!

We've posted this week's update at [url=http://www.forumplanet.com/haloplanet/topic.asp?fid=1729&tid=1409919]Halo Planet[/url] to celebrate the achievement of "Planet" status for our little game on their forums. There's a ton of [url=http://www.forumplanet.com/haloplanet/topic.asp?fid=1729&tid=1409919]cool stuff in this update[/url] so go suck it up!

The [url=http://www.forumplanet.com/haloplanet/topic.asp?fid=1729&tid=1409919]Update[/url] this week features some cool info onthe internal-only Halo 2 Beta, and just a little bit of gossipy drama! [url=http://www.forumplanet.com/haloplanet/topic.asp?fid=1729&tid=1409919]Get over there right now![/url]

The Rip Saw writes:

Free Bungie Game. Need I say more? How about LEGAL Free Bungie Game? That's better right? Fine, Ethical, legal, free Bungie game that Bungie wants you to download. Ah ha! That got your attention, didn't it? Of course, I'm talking about Marathon, and if you want to get in on the action, [url=http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=261195]read on to learn how to![/url]

Marathon has experienced a revival of popularity as hundreds of new people are downloading the game and playing it, silently cursing to themselves for not having discovered this before. What are you waiting for anyway, you think I'm going to sit here and talk all day? HUNDREDS of people are playing this game, and you aren't. Why are you still reading this? Go, [url=http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=261195]learn more![/url]

We've posted all of the assets featured in the June issue of OXM, renders, screens and more! Go check them out at our [url=http://www.bungie.net/Games/Halo2/]Halo 2 page[/url] and make sure you check out everything, since there's plenty of surprises in there.

As a matter of fact, careful searching will reveal one or two bits that OXM didn't actually run. And feel free to come up with crazy theories too. We love those.

If the "WortWortWortHog" wallpaper on your computer is starting to feel a little stale, you're in luck! Bungie.net artist Zoe is at it again, this time with a new [url=/Games/Halo2/gallery.aspx?gallery=Wallpaper&page=1]desktop[/url] based off the uber popular OXM cover created by Lorraine McLees last year. Check it out!

The Halo 2 desktop lovin' keeps on rollin here at Bungie.net. This latest [url=/Games/Halo2/gallery.aspx?gallery=Wallpaper&page=1]wallpaper[/url] is based off the now famous illustration of Master Chief crouched with two SMGs in hand. This painting, created by Lorraine "mehve" McLees for the cover of OXM magazine last year, has become one of the most widely used and recognizable images for Halo 2. The original cover art contributed to what would later become the biggest selling, most popular issue in the history of OXM. Zoe has taken the classic pose and added her own personal touches to create one very cool desktop. Enjoy!

Yet again. We return with a sneak peek inside Bungie Towers and see that the game is getting closer and closer to completion. Or, bits of it at least. This week, we're debuting at [url=http://www.mlgpro.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&p=1863#1863]MLGPro.com[/url] where you can read the update and find out more about hardcore professional gaming.

The [url=http://www.mlgpro.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&p=1863#1863]Update[/url] this week features some cool info on network code, marketing blarney and animation, to name just a few snippets. [url=http://www.mlgpro.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&p=1863#1863]Get over there right now![/url]

MLG has launched a new site at [url=http://www.mlgpro.com]www.mlgpro.com[/url] and have conglomerated four major websites into one. Halo50k3.com, chitownmayhem.com, halonationals.com, and the old mlgpro.com have imported all their previous users, and created what willl eventually be the ultimate source for competative Halo.

Along with the completion of MLG - Chicago, you can read full writeups of the event, discuss it in the forums, and sign up for our next event [url=http://www.mlgpro.com/atlanta]Halo50k3[/url]!

We posted the latest update at Limey site [url=http://www.raiseyourgame.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2538]343GS[/url] this week? Why? Because Britain is the home of the Curly Wurly, Lion Bar and Sporty Spice. All things you don't want stuck in your teeth. So go read about the new stuff at [url=http://www.raiseyourgame.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2538]343GS RIGHT NOW![/url]

So again, that's [url=http://www.raiseyourgame.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2538]343GS![/url] And if you haven't read the [url=http://www.bungie.net/Games/Halo2/page.aspx?section=FAQInfo&subsection=WeeklyUpdate&page=15]updates before[/url] go catch up in our [url=http://www.bungie.net/Games/Halo2/page.aspx?section=FAQInfo&subsection=WeeklyUpdate&page=15]archive![/url]

[b]by Cunbelin[/b]: After a week long chase involving tranquilizer guns and unspeakable acts in his local park, Cunbelin has been returned to his writing desk, where he was poked with sharp sticks until he once again wrote an update. See the insanity unfold in HaloCE/HEK Update Number 2!

[b]The Prodigal Updater Returns with Another Edition of HaloCE Madness[/b] Well nothing like starting out with dirty, dirty, LIES. Sketch and Frankie have shown me the error of my ways and now I must beg forgiveness or there will be more punishements, many many more. I apologize for my lie of weekly coverage, rather than give you stupid excuses let us just accept that for now there will be bi-weekly updates. Secondly I apologize that several of my links that worked when the post went up then in the course of time went down or moved. To make up, check out this snazzy updated resource link from the [url=http://gbxforums.gearboxsoftware.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=211853&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1#211853]gearbox forum.[/url] I hope that you will accept my apology that some of the sites became unavailable and I hope that you won't hold down-time against otherwise great sites. So lets get down to business - First up lets talk new maps, there has been an explosion of maps in recent weeks, and as much as I'd love to tell you about each and every one I'm going to have to limit it to three. [b]Frost[/b] Frost is a fairly large map, and it is one of the most polished maps I've seen. It uses existing textures and scenery to great effect and extends them well. One interesting feature is the inclusion of colored teleporters. My only real complaint is the use of the teleporter exit scenery item to designate a teleporter to the "garage". Another great map from Baka. You can grab it [url=http://haloworld.halocity.org/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownloaddetails&lid=34&ttitle=Frost]here.[/url] [b]Halcyon[/b] I'll get right to it, Halcyon isn't your standard Halo map, it has a feel more like a traditional FPS CTF map. It basically consists of a long hallway with some cover that connects the two bases, it also includes some side passages as well. The texturing is a little different than what you usually see but it works, and works very well in my opinion. It doesn't have quite the polish of some maps but it is just good old fun to play. If you are looking for a little change from the standard halo maps you should really give halcyon a try. You can grab it [url=http://haloworld.halocity.org/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownloaddetails&lid=93&ttitle=Halcyon]here[/url] [b]Fissure Fall[/b] Fissure fall is a solid map with lots of little nooks and crannies to explore, the only thing I can fault the map for are a few texture issues, though I expect most times you'll be too busy killing other players to notice them. The map itself is a little reeling when you first start exploring, but it's mostly symmetric design should allow you to fairly quickly understand the map. Fissure fall has some of the most impressive architecture I've seen in Halo, that includes single player. For some intense CTF action in some impressive architecture with some mind boggling Z axis elements, check out Fissure Fall. You can grab it [url=http://haloworld.halocity.org/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownloaddetails&lid=90&ttitle=Fissure_Fall]here[/url] These are just a small sampling to whet your appetite, to get more check out [url=http://haloworld.halocity.org/]Haloworld[/url] hosted by halocity.org.
Alright there's the released maps, lets check out a few maps in production now soon to be available for your enjoyment. [b]Camtrack Arena[/b] Camtrack is a beta map that seems to be perpetually in production, this has echoes of blood gulch, but has a feeling all it's own. You can grab the beta from [url=http://haloworld.halocity.org/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownloaddetails&lid=13&ttitle=Camtrack_Arena]here.[/url] You should know that this is indeed a beta, and it does have gameplay issues, but I thoroughly expect you will enjoy it even in it's incomplete form. [b]Zanzibar[/b] If it works, steal it, that's what I always say! Clearly taking my advice not one but two teams are in the process of bringing the E3 hit map Zanzibar to HaloCE. If you aren't familiar with Zanzibar I suggest checking out this great article on it [url=http://www.bungie.net/News/TopStory.aspx?story=secretzanzibar]here.[/url] From personal experience I can tell you that Zanzibar is one solid map. One of the teams has released an update. Check it out [url=http://gbxforums.gearboxsoftware.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=227898&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1]here[/url]. Once again I will have to apologize as I'm out of time, well not so much out of time as the blood level is too high in my caffeine system. I promise next update I will include two really cool tidbits on the HEK, but for now you will just have to settle for a couple new resource links. For extended documention on the HEK check out this [url=http://wiki.fpsgamers.se/index.php/Halo/HomePage]page.[/url] Hosted by [url=http://www.fpsgamers.se/]FPSGamers.se[/url] Another great map site, recently updated, and the host for all the feature maps today [url=http://haloworld.halocity.org/]Haloworld.[/url] --------------------------------------------- [i]If you missed Cunbelin's first update, you can check that out [url=http://www.bungie.net/News/TopStory.aspx?story=HEKupdate]here![/url][/i]