news { misc }
| affiliates | artwork | clan | comic | fanart | forum | gruntsbane | interview | larrynews | larrythemarine | misc | mrsmiley | pyrosmile | site | vday |
Happy Halodays Round 4 Winner | mrsmiley { January 01, 2009 }
Happy 2009 everyone! Round 4 has finally come to an end, and only one entrant will be moving on to try to win the game of their choice. This was the closest competition yet, forcing us to do several recounts to make sure the winner was correct. The winner and runners up were separated by only one vote each! Read on for the winner + runners up, as well as a special announcement for those who didn't win!
Round 4: New Years
Winner: dikdu
[rate/comment/view]
"OHGOD WHAT IS HAPPENING"
- lord of the doubt
"Nicely spectacular and to the point."
- Polarbear
"I don't know how he did it, but this picture is just friggin cool."
- mrsmiley
1st Runner-up: halocris
[rate/comment/view]
"An very simple but original idea. Also, very interesting, visually."
- RayZR
"A lot of entries depicted fireworks but what can I say, I'm a sucker for anything that goes as far as to depict safe procedures. Theres one person who won't be in the burns ward tonight!"
- lord of the doubt
"A very original idea."
- Kap2310
2nd Runner-up: Slushy
[rate/comment/view]
"Nice clean peice that is complemented by it's simplicity."
- Shay-monyou
"Such a small gift, but it means just that little bit more under the fireworks."
- Nthrosptn
WILDCARD ROUND!!!
Since we've seen so many good entries over the past 4 rounds, I've decided to thrown in one final chance for one lucky winner to come away with 1600 MS points, and a chance to win the game of their choice as a grand prize!
Read the official WildCard Round thread for more info!
Happy Halodays Round 3 Winner | mrsmiley { December 24, 2008 }
Round 3 of the Happy Halodays screenshot contest has come to an end, and I must say that it was the most difficult contest I have ever had to judge. After Bungie posted our news on their front page, we got over four times as many entries as previous rounds. The huge majority of these screenshots were great! Unfortunately, there is only one winner per round. Read on for the winners, runners-up, and some great honorable mentions.
Round 3: Christmas
Winner: Mags89 SBG
(won by just 1 vote!)"Every aspect has been thought out to some degree, but what really stands out is the end products similarity in lighting etc to a real painted nativity scene. It also stands out from the crowd for originality, because despite being one of the latter entries, noone else had submitted anything along the same lines prior to it."
- lord of the doubt
"The meaning behind the holiday which I originally envisioned when mrsmiley ran the theme by me."
- NthroSptn
"The only entry of it's kind, and it shows the real meaning of Christmas. It's instantly recognizable as a nativity scene, which I wouldn't think was possible with Halo!"
- mrsmiley
1st Runner-up: Geeraff
"Excellent angle and concept, copied (by reason or accident I don't know) many times. I like the "leaving the hangar bay" look of it, as well."
- Polarbear
"There is something so subtle and breath-taking about this picture. It's so simple, but the angle and scenery really make this standout to me among the rest."
- mrsmiley
"It just so amazing to look at."
- Kap2310
2nd Runner-up: xkevlarpro
"After all his hard work and waiting, he made an original picture, and it turned out well!"
- NthroSptn
"A ton of work must have went into this wonderful picture of a holiday village; and check out Santa's sleigh! The most realistic depiction we received. Just a phenomenal attention to detail. Bravo!"
- mrsmiley
HONORABLE MENTIONS
There were SO many good entries this round that it would be a shame not to at least post a couple more for you to enjoy. I strongly recommend taking a look at the Round 3 Gallery to view and post your thoughts on all 50+ pics!
Round 4 is open now and the deadline for that will be this Sunday at midnight! There will also be a special announcement next week on a final way to win something. Stay tuned!
Happy Halodays Round 2 Winner | mrsmiley { December 17, 2008 }
Round 2 is over, and although we got about half as many entries as I would have liked, the ones we received were all awesome! Seriously. It was vary hard to pick the top 3. In fact, because it was so difficult, there was a tie for 2nd runner up! Of course, only 1st place wins the prize, but at least now there's an extra screenshot to check out in this post! At the end of the day, Arashi came through with a very LOL worthy entry, and wins 1600MS Points! Rounds 3 & 4 are open for entries. Get your pic submitted soon lest someone post an entry with your idea first!
Round 2: Traffic Cone
Winner: Arashi
"This one took me a few seconds to get, but when I did, and had quite a hardy laugh! Very creative use of objects other than cones as well!"
- mrsmiley
"Even though I immediately picked up the scene this was based on, its appeal to me is still based around the absurdity of it."
- lord of the doubt
"A good spin on the Halo 2 E3 Trailer."
- kap2310
1st Runner Up: RGC Omak2008
"This has a nice Far Side thing going; I can easily see Larson doing a panel just like this one."
-Polarbear
"Instant LOL for me. Great placement trick to get the "momma" cone to look larger."
- mrsmiley
2nd Runner Up: Mags89 SBG
"A very good idea."
- kap2310
"LOL Starwars reference."
- some nerd
2nd Runner Up: ShmaeGirl
[rate/comment/view]
"This is original. On topic, and yet not just another Cone War."
- Polarbear
"Probably the most creative of the bunch. I can see this spawning a series of "find this object" screenshots!">
- mrsmiley
There are two rounds left! Read the rules and submit your entry here!
Halodays Contest IS Open to the Public! | mrsmiley { December 13, 2008 }
Luis Wu of HBO emailed me this morning to inform me that for some reason the rules page for the Happy Halodays contest was not viewable by non members. This was not intentional! While you have to register to submit a picture (for obvious security reasons), you can at least see the list of themes, and decide which round you want to submit a picture for (I recommend all of them).
Sorry for the permissions mix up, and a HUGE thanks to Wu for the heads up! If you continue to have issues viewing the contest post, please feel free to contact me.
Happy Halodays Round 1 Winner | mrsmiley { December 10, 2008 }
The votes have been counted, and out of only 12 entries, the winner of round 1 has been chosen! He will receive a code for 1600 MS Points! It's not too late for you to enter, as there are still 3 more rounds left. Read the official contest post for more info! Read on for the winning screen shot, as well as the two runners up.
It was a close race for 1st, but in the end, Bootsman came out on top with his epic screenshot. Congrats! You'll be receiving a PM on the forum with your MS point code soon, and will be automatically entered for the grand prize! Check out his and the two runners up, along with some comments from our judges below.
Round 1: Teamwork
Winner: Bootsman
[rate/comment/view]
"Epic as a leathal weapon sequel."
- Gruntsbane
"Words cannot explain the epicness of this picture. The colors, the shading...win!"
- Kap2310
"Catches the eye very well.. very simple and easy to decipher the subject of the screenie. good job!"
- Shay-monyou
1st Runner Up: Gilver
"Teamwork...it isn't just winning together."
[rate/comment/view]
"Because it is SO true.. and people often forget that fact."
- Shay-monyou
"Funny, and a creative spin on the theme... dying together!"
- mrsmiley
"Gilver truly managed to express not some glorified image of teamwork, but the reality."
- lord of the doubt"
2nd Runner up: ShmaeGirl
"Teamwork... guaranteeing you'll pwn."
[rate/comment/view]
"Overkill + standing on someones head = hilarity."
- Gruntsbane
"Quite simply, it made me laugh. :)"
- Shay-monyou
"I also got a good laugh from this one. I can imagine 3 dead bodies about 1 second later haha."
- mrsmiley
That wraps up round one! Stay tuned for Round 2 winners next week. Don't forget to get you entry in NOW. Deadline is every Sunday night!
Happy Halodays Contest! | mrsmiley { November 29, 2008 }
It's been a while since HBN has held a contest. Fortunately after the constant nagging of some of the staff, I finally got my butt in gear to bring in a generous one for the holidays. Happy Halodays is a themed Halo 3 screenshot contest for the entire month of December. There will be 4 winners of 1600 MS Points, and the final winner will walk away with the Xbox game of his/her choice!
What are you waiting for? Check out all the details in our forum!
Exclusive New Halo 3: Recon Footage!!! | mrsmiley { October 16, 2008 }
HBN has the first of many new Halo 3: Recon snippets of gameplay footage!
Check it out here!
Robot Halo Chicken FTW | mrsmiley { September 24, 2008 }
It's been a long time since I was more thoroughly entertained by a Halo machinima series. It's also been a long time since someone has come out with a good, clean, machinima series that doesn't think they have to curse like a sailor to be all grown up and cool. (Well, aside from MCT3K, of course!) I know for some this may be old news, but I just found this series, and this is my site, so poo on you. :)
At least check out Episode 1 and Episode 2, but there are 4 in all. And yes, they are ALL hilarious. I can almost guarantee you'll be seeing this stuff on Machinima.com soon!
The "Halo Head" | mrsmiley { May 30, 2008 }
I normally don't plug YouTube vids that are emailed to me, but this one stood out due the nice production value. It's a clever infomercial about a growing issue in society, that is very appropriately deemed "Halo Head". Swing on over to YT and give it a look!
Halo 3 Legendary Unboxed... and more | mrsmiley { September 21, 2007 }
Check out Engadget's Unboxing of their Halo 3 reviewer pack. The spartan helmet, the game, controllers, the Halo 360... man, how do I get into the reviewing business?
Anyways, be excited.
Talk Like a Pirate Day! | mrsmiley { September 19, 2006 }
Just a friendly reminder to ye land lubbers that today be Talk Like a Pirate Day! Grab yer wenches and hoist the mainsails!!
Halogen C&C Cover Contest | mrsmiley { June 24, 2006 }
Nationwide writes:
Okay, I'm posting this here because there are alot of geat artists on this site who I thought mite be interested. As part of my daily internet related rounds, I check this site for any updates. The contest is, obviously enough, to create a cover for the Halogen C&C mod. I just wanted to let anyone who might be interested know, if they didn't already (I'm a little slow on the news intake). There are a few prizes and such and there are rules posted here. I've seen tons of nearly pro quality art work on this site, and I figured some people herwe would be interested in making something like this.
Thank you for your time.
The Nightmare Before Christmas | mrsmiley { December 24, 2005 }
Turialim, founder and artists behind the Comics of Randomness series on our forum, decided it would be fun to right a Christmas poem, and have a bunch of artists draw pictures for the different verses! I even decided to do one. If I only knew how wierd this Christmas story was, I may have declined... =P Read on for a fully illustrated, and fully demented Christmas story. Merry Christmas everyone!
Because some of the image files are bigger than others, I decided to post them up in order with links, rather than posting all the images in this post. That way it's dial up friendly, and you can also see who drew each section.
*WARNING: This could be offensive to some people. Contains violence/mild adult humor.
Be sure to view the story in order so you know what's going on!
Verse 1: Part 1 | Part 2 by Zyrra Da Phirra
Verse 2 by Inferiorsenseofhumor
Verse 3 Turialim
Verse 4: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 by Zyrra Da Phirra and Shay-monyou
Verse 5 by HaloGod
Verse 6 by Damatee
Verese 7 by Crazy Mofo
Verse 8 by Inferiorsenseofhumor
Verse 9 by The Comet
Verse 10 by 2Phast
Verse 11 by Trix
Verse 12 by WayneEnterprise
Verse 13 by mrsmiley
Verese 14 by Turialim
And there you have it. I hope you have all been thouroughly violated and confused through this bizarre storey during this fine holiday season!
Happy B-Day Rafael! | mrsmiley { November 05, 2005 }
A couple weeks ago, Bungie's #1 fan, Miguel, sent Gruntsbane and I an e-mail concerning his son's 10th birthday. Mig wanted to use Halo Babies as a theme for the cake/party, so of course we obliged! =)
The original idea was to use the design we gave Miguel as one of the those Baskin Robbins image cakes. Apparently the person who helped them at BR was less than able to do what they wanted. So... they ended up with this:
Hey, it still looks pretty cool! FYI: That image is a proto-type shirt design! ;) Here are some mor pics from the party!
Hmmm that gun looks familiar...
Happy Birthday Rafael! If anyone else wants to use that Baby Chief image for their own birthday needs, it can be downloaded here.
Gruntsbane's Guide to Making a Comic | mrsmiley { April 18, 2005 }
Almost since I opened this website about 2 years ago, Gruntsbane has always been asked the simple question, "How do you do it?" Every week he comes with a new comic that always displays incredible artistic talent. Well, all of Joel's secrets are now revealed!
In our spree of updates to our misc section we bring to you the first ever comic tutorial by Gruntsbane, the Halo Babies artist. This tutorial is not at all definitive, and we encourage you to come up with your own unique styles when drawing a comic. However, in it, Joel reveals several methods that he uses to put that "polished" feeling into his work. He even includes a couple .psd files for those of you with Photoshop to check out!
I say, you should give it a look!
Reely Cool Demo | mrsmiley { April 15, 2005 }
Today we are continuing to spread some much-needed love to our misc section. As an addition to his online resume, Gruntsbane has made a "demo reel." We have made it availabe to everyone in both Quicktime (thanks, HBO!) and Windows Media formats.
This short video contains plenty of great artwork from Joel, as well as the first brief peak at the CGI movie that Gruntsbane and several artists have been working on for a long time now. Expect to see that released right here sometime this summer! (It's not Halo related.) The video itself is under 11MB in both formats, so be sure to check it out!
Avattack | mrsmiley { April 13, 2005 }
Let's face it. Our misc needs some love. The first of a few updates to this section comes in the form of 3 new avatars...
Gruntsbane busts out with two cool "out of the box" avatars featuring Cortana and the Arbiter, as well as some all new art, that may or may not be featured in an upcoming comic strip. ;)
I also cleaned up some of the older unused AIM icons, as well as fixed a few links. It's never late for a little spring cleaning!
Halo Babies is Live! | mrsmiley { November 14, 2004 }
Just wanted to let everyone know that I just created the official Halo Babies Halo 2 clan online! If you would like to become a member, please e-mail me your forum user name and your gamertag, and I will send you an invite! More info to come as far as organized stuff goes. For now, I just wanna see who all is in! :)
HB Cameo in 'That Halo Parody 5' | mrsmiley { October 15, 2004 }
"TheComet" used one of our most popular avatars in his latest flash Halo parody. Check it out via Newgrounds.com!
Halo Gamers Against Piracy! | mrsmiley { October 15, 2004 }
Join us in striving for a "100% Pirate Free" fan community!
What is HGAP?
Halo Gamers Against Piracy is something that Ripper 714 of our forums came up with as a way to help spread awareness of the current Halo piracy issue. There is no organization, no motto, no link to some site to sign up. It is just a simple and fun way to show Bungie that we, as a website, are firmly commited to keeping pirated material off of our forums and our site!
What can I do?
If you know of any sites that are posting the bit torrent/download links for the game, or that are posting screens/movies from it, please e-mail them to or call 1-800-RULEGIT!
Support HGAP!
I will be displaying this banner on our main page until the day Halo 2 is released. If you want to join in, feel free! However, I ask that if you decide to put this banner on your site, that you maintain a "pirate free" environment! ;)
Banners
{ 350X90 }
{ 113x30 }
If you want, you can link the banners to this news post, so people who don't know what it means can find out! (This is NOT a cheap publicity ploy for us. If you prefer, make an article about it on your own site, and link it to that!)
Leaked Halo 2 Copy | mrsmiley { October 14, 2004 }
If you don't already know, there is a pirated version of Halo 2 (PAL French version) that has crept online in the last day or so. Aside from being illegal, this is an absolute slap in the face to Bungie, who has worked for 3 years to bring us this game! Please read on for our new forum policy about this subject, and what you can do to help!
lesson!
If anyone is caught posting ANY screenshots, movies, or download links from the leaked copy of Halo 2 that is currently online, they will be permantly banned from this forum; whether or not they have read this warning.
This is a SERIOUS issue. If you know of any sites that are posting the bit torrent/download links for the game, or that are posting screens/movies from it, please e-mail them to or calling 1-800-RULEGIT! Microsoft can fine up to $100,000 to people found guilty of possesing this game, so don't play around! We can all work together to teach those prate bastards a lesson!
'Road Babies' Sponsor Video Series! | mrsmiley { September 03, 2004 }
I am sure many of you have already seen the video of MLG that I posted a week ago, but I got quite a bit more footage than that! Because I don't want this to go to waste, I decided to produce a new series for sponsors of HaloBabies.net! This series of videos will highlight some of our adventures as we drive to, and hang out in, Seattle with Gruntsbane and his friends. The first episode of this "behind the scenes" series can be found in the Sponsor section of our forum!
Traveling Up to Downpour | mrsmiley { August 20, 2004 }
Tomorrow, a friend and I are packing it up and driving to Seattle, WA for MLGPro's Downpour gaming tournament!
Gruntsbane and I will be hanging out and joining in on the festivities by giving away and selling our very first Halo Babies T-shirts! Due to the fact that they have the "Halobabies.Net" domain printed on them, these shirts will most likely not be able to be sold on this website (copyright crap), making them a rare find! If you are in the area, be sure to swing by and say hello! Expect a full write-up about the event when I return!
The shirts are not currently available for order online, but will be soon!
On a side note, I whipped up a lil comic strip at about 1am this morning to honor our event debute. (Drums, please!) For those that are interested, I have made a few more over at my 7th Column chapter, MSXL. They can be found here!
Spoiled Sponsor Winner! | mrsmiley { May 01, 2004 }
The Spoiled Sponsor contest has finally come to end. We had about 15 entries, which isn't too shabby! To make things completely fair, after writing the names on strips of paper, I went to my dad's house and had him pick a name. Since he hardly even knows what a website is, I figured it would be an unbiased drawing! ;)
Anyways, the winner has been drawn, and it is... KRACKA, our resident Halo hacker! I really am glad that KRACKA won this contest. Anyone who has checked out the Tips/Tricks/Secrets section of our forum knows that KRACKA spends a lot of time making awesome Halo vids for us to enjoy! He will be having himself drawn into one of our upcoming comics, and will be receiving a framed copy of his comic for his personal bragging rights! Thanks to everyone who donated, you are keeping this site alive! =)
Now back by popular demand... | mrsmiley { March 24, 2004 }
About a month ago, a chap from our forum by the name of AngryMouse14 submitted four totally kick-ass avatars to this site. Since then, I have seen them being used on tons of different forums - even in different languages! Upon my request, Mouse has agreed to continue making avatars for Halo Babies on an unofficial basis! As a result, we have 4 new avatars for you today! Thanks, Mouse!
Ms cmico, por favor! | mrsmiley { January 22, 2004 }
As with last time HBN went down, I feel a strange urge to compensate everyone by releasing a buttload of new stuff! We have got a new comic for you, as well as some awesome fan art courtesy of Platinum Chik Elite! I would like to give a special thanks to Louis Wu of Halo.Bungie.Org, who hosted comic #24 while this site was down. You rock! We will have another brand new comic this friday!
Avatars, Away! | mrsmiley { December 05, 2003 }
With the help of DT7, I finally have some Halo Babies avatars for all of your forum-dwelling needs! Stay tuned for more next week!
5 New Icons | mrsmiley { November 28, 2003 }
We've got 5 new AIM icons for you today. This includes: 2 Halo Babies Icons (Guess which one was drawn on post-it notes!), 2 chapter icons (Requested by members of MSXL!), and finally a cool 7th Column icon!
AIM Help | mrsmiley { November 22, 2003 }
Have you ever sat there staring at the AIM Icons page, marveling at all the pretty little moving gifs, without a freaking clue how to use them? Just for you, I have made a short, and hopefully comprehensive, tutorial that explains the process! Enjoy!
Speaking of 7... | mrsmiley { November 21, 2003 }
I have just added 7 new icons to the Cool Crap section! You're probably wondering how I came up with so many ideas! (Ok you're probably not, but work with me here!) The truth is, I didn't! All the new icons were requested by members of MSXL! Members send me icon ideas and also request icons to be made for their chapter via a special database creatively name "AIM Icon Requests." Every couple weeks I purge through the list and make the icons. I edited some of the chapter icons so that they can also be used by those not involved in the chapter! Enjoy!
Carrots and Mr. Potato Head | mrsmiley { November 10, 2003 }
Believe it or not, that is the subject of one our new AIM icons, located in the Miscellaneous section! 2 of the new icons are for MSXL. There is one for the Shadow Jackals, and the other one was actually a request from one of MSXL's members. Don't get it? Neither do I...
Ads and AIM | mrsmiley { November 07, 2003 }
I have just added a BRAND NEW SECTION to HBN! It is the Miscellaneous section that you see in the nav bar. For the debut of this section I have added 2 banners, as well as 2 buddy icons for your enjoyment! The best thing about this section, is it does not require a membership! I felt I had to share the love even to those who aren't members of HBN. I would appreciate feedback on the Halo Babies forum for this new section; let me know what you think!
Also, keep in mind that if you have any artwork, banners, buddy icons, or anything else that is Halo-related, ! It just might get put on this site for everyone else to enjoy! ;)
