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Thanks to GameSpy for its interview with Gearbox Software's boss Randy Pitchford regarding Halo: Custom Edition, a "Gearbox-created add-on that includes a little of everything: editing tools, tutorials, technical updates, and more", and will be "free to Halo PC customers." Following previous controversy over alleged "Bungie/Microsoft testing and approval delays" of Halo PC patches, it seems Gearbox has arranged a direct route, and "will provide [technical] support", for the content, which includes "'Fast Shaders' (improves performance up to 60% on pixel shader hardware), improved network code (reduces the incidence of player 'warping')", as well as the Halo Editing Kit (HEK), a "package of tools, source material and tutorials that will allow modification makers to bring their own visions to life within the Halo engine", all due out "very, very soon."

Thanks to IGN PC for its news story discussing rumors that Halo PC and Half-Life add-on developer Gearbox Software is creating a World War II team-based shooter for publishers UbiSoft. The piece points to the WarStory.net webpage, which is trailing a Gearbox product with screenshots and quotes, and IGN PC claims that: "According to several sources in the know, it's temporarily called Baker's Dozen", although "the name isn't finalized just yet" - an official announcement is expected in the next few weeks.

Scorpion_1169 writes "According to Bungie.org, Microsoft/Gearbox's long-awaited version of Halo for the PC has gone gold, and is scheduled to hit store shelves on September 30th." There's also an interview with Bungie producer Michel Bastien over at Bungie.net, answering questions such as who might have leaked a Beta version of Halo online ("Nah, we don't know who it was. It really sucks because this build was not the most glorious build we've put together"), and the existence of easter eggs ("Like the Xbox game, you want to play through 'The Maw' on Legendary. We've got a couple of well-kept surprises, which, hopefully, we can roll out in the future...")

Thanks to Halo.Bungie.Org for info on a new Halo Xbox hacking movie revealing some spectacular new tricks, including the ability to use the previously unavailable flamethrower and gravity rifle weapons in-game, plus much more outlandish stunts. As the site says, "...even if you're not excited by the hacking scene, it's a hoot to see how much damage you can do when you're standing in a tower of 3 dozen Master Chiefs and your assault rifle fires frag grenades." These hacks were accomplished by hex-editing a cache file on a modified Xbox, and coincidentally, Gearbox Software have just posted the a new screenshot of the PC-exclusive flamethrower weapon, which probably works a sight better than the unfinished Xbox one.

Thanks to GameSpot for posting a new hands-on preview of Halo:Combat Evolved for the PC. This long-awaited title is making a "conservative" but professional transition from Xbox to Windows, courtesy Gearbox Software, and the enhancements are sparse but notable: "..the [in-game] resolution can be turned all the way up to 1600x1200, and the game's textures look much sharper and more defined than they ever did on the Xbox.. zooming in close to a grunt, we noted specular-mapping and bump-mapping effects on the grunt's gold-colored armor." Also discussed in more detail are the six brand-new PC multiplayer maps, plus mention of "..editing tools that will let creative players create new maps and significantly modify the game" - is there enough time for player-constructed maps to make it into Halo 2?

bmnc writes "After nearly a year in development by Gearbox Software, info for the PC version of Halo:Combat Evolved is finally available at Gamespy.com, in both single-player and multi-player flavors." This is absolutely a big deal, especially since Bungie have been intelligent enough to use Gearbox, FPS veterans who've been heavily involved with extending the Half-Life franchise in the past with Opposing Force and Blue Shift, to do a definitive PC version of Halo.

keefer writes "Since I know /. readers are generally fans of various ZD magazines anyway, I thought I'd pass this along that I saw from Blue's News. The gist is that programmer Randy Pitchford at Gearbox Software gave a .plan update talking about a piece Family PC(a ZD mag) did relating to some under-17-year-old supposedly being able to pick up Half-Life: Opposing Force, an M-rated game (17+), without incident at a CompUSA store. However, um, the game isn't even done yet, let alone gold or on the shelves."

I thought I'd post this in the YRO section for a couple of reasons. One is that it's starting to reverberate, and has generated at least one counter-editorial. But the second is a larger point. Half-Life and similar games are marketed to adults, not children; the 20-30 year old age group purchases almost all of these types of games. Yet attackers want to restrict the sales of these games to anyone on the basis that they're unsuitable for children. The fact that Family PC misjudged the game's release date when making up their article (remember, this had to be written months ago to make it to publication now, they probably forecast that the new game would be on sale by now) makes the attack more obvious, but these sorts of attacks happen all the time from the "save the children" crowd. (Family PC makes most of their income from advertising filtering software and similar snake-oil parental protective measures.) This is how you whip up the troops to go censor the internet or whatever other target you have in mind.