In The Spotlight

This most recent update to the Spotlight chapter deservers a little explanation. There have been several calls from members of the 7th Column to create consolidated chapters. (Actually, three areas come to mind--Canada, Australia, and the Southwest US. Am I missing any?) I think these broader groups are a great idea, and a necessary step for the 7th Column to grow. Keep in mind that you're allowed to join as many chapters as you like, so there's nothing stopping you from becoming a member of both a chapter specific to your dorm, neighborhood, city, whatever, as well as a member of a "SW US" chapter.

As Lord Albrecht, founder of Sardaukar Legion West states, a regional group is needed to coordinate any large scale events. While we (Bungie) enjoy hosting launch parties and the like, these events are few and far between. With some serious involvement and organization from members of the community we can take on more of a support fole for larger events, and in the process ensure these events happen more often and in locations closer to you.

Messages Working Again

The messaging feature was broken, but Tom managed to get it up and running again (that thing is a hack). All should be well.

More Concept Art

We've posted a second round of Halo concept art, this time featuring concepts for alien structures.

Multiplayer Guide: Vehicles

Part 3 of our Halo Multiplayer Guide is now online. This edition discusses vehicles and their uses and misuses.

News Submissions and You

Welcome back everyone! Congratulations to the chapters that held gatherings over Thanksgiving, hope all went well. This fan club project is still in its infancy, so be sure to let us know about your experiences, good and bad (we're always open to article submissions). Also, if you have news noteworthy to more than just the members of your chapter, feel free to submit it. The report news link isn't showing up on the main 7th Column page right now, so use the one on Bungie.net--it all goes into the belly of the same beast anyway.

Halo Reviews Out The Wazoo

Bungie.org has been tracking links to just about every known Halo review. If you're still on the fence about Halo or the Xbox it's a great, unbiased source of information. Check it out at:

http://halo.bungie.org/reviews.html

Thanksgiving Break

Just a quick note to tell everyone to have a safe and pleasant holiday. Mordia is now officially on vacation, so I'll be holding down the fort alone for the time being. (Yes, I'm on vacation too!)

I actually had a long article explaining our vision for this site and the Seventh Column planned, but I'll spare you, for now at least. It's something I've been chewing on for a bit, so I'm sure it'll resurface.

Oh yeah, here are a few statistics before I go. We now have 146 fan club chapters and close to 2000 registered accounts. 285 of these belong to a chapter. Not too bad for less than a week online.

Myth Site Suggestions

Lots of good ideas and requests have been thrown our way for this site. Many of them have to do with Myth and the previous Bungie.net site. While we won't be reincarnating the old site or channel system, it's refreshing to know there's still demand for some of its features. We've been considering how extensive to make a Myth community site (originally we weren't even planning one!), and we'll take all of your feedback into account when we take a shot at it. Keep the suggestions rolling in!

Spread Too Thin

We now have over 120 Seventh Column chapters, with an average of two members per club! I think I've said this before, but it needs to be repeated: If you're not serious about running a chapter and all of the work organizing LAN parties entails, please join someone else's! I don't know of a single Bungie game that's more fun with two players than with four, or eight, or more.

If you're new to this site please use the Find a Club link in the Seventh Column navigation bar to find a club near you to join. This doesn't have all the controls that it should in place, so be sure to try your state's name both as an abbreviation and spelled out. (When we get back to the office we'll fix this.)

Check Incoming Submissions

I've noticed that a good number of chapters have news and new member submissions that are waiting for approval. You'll see these submissions if you're the group owner or if you've been given the proper privileges. News submissions, event submissions, and new member requests will all show up in your navigation bar, like so:

> News (1 new)
> Event
> Databases
> Members (3 new)

When this happens the (1 new) portion will be a link to the submissions page. You can also check for and approve new members directly from the sidebar on the Members listing page.

Public Suggestions Database

I've created a Suggestions database so you can let us know what you think of the site and your ideas for improving it. I'll add a link on this page when I can, but for now just follow this url: **Link removed as this no longer exsists.

While The Dust Settles

What we said about this site evolving and regular improvements being made is true. However, this process isn't going to start up for a bit, as the entire Online team, who worked diligently first on Halo, and immediately afterwards on this site, have been given two weeks off. Some of us will still be keeping an eye on things, but we won't be able to start on any fixes or site improvements until we're back in the office.

The 50 Chapter Barrier

It's been barely over a day since launch and the Seventh Column has already broken the 50 fan club chapter barrier! Seems like quite an accomplishment for so short a time. However, only about half of the clubs have actually done anything on their sites.

Though the rewards will be great, running a fan club isn't a walk in the park. If you've started a club out of sheer excitement or curiosity, but have no intention of actually running it, please go to the group settings page and disband it. Then join someone else's chapter, and we'll see if we can start to consolidate things a bit. Then, and only then, we'll get to the real carnage at hand.

Halo is GOOD

But you already knew that because you have your copy and your Xbox, and you're playing Halo instead of reading this page. Oh, wait....
If you weren't lucky enough to pick up a copy of Halo and an Xbox on day 1, we may be able to help. No, we're not giving away free ones (except to the two lucky winners at our launch party). We have, however, just launched the Seventh Column! Convenient, isn't it? It's almost like we planned it... oh, where was I? Ah yes--follow the Seventh Column link on the left to learn how to find Halo players near you who are willing to share in their good fortune.

Database Security

I've noticed that several chapters have contact info databases that are visible to the public. Just a word of warning and a reminder: You can set the view privileges for each database. Unless you have a good reason otherwise, make your contact info databases visible to members only. We're not responsible for protecting information you gather in these databases, so you need to be!

Fanclub Chapters Seeking Members

Reports just in from the following fanclub chapters seeking members:

• thoth reports that his Santa Barbara Column is seeking members.
• Nijhazer reports that Seventh Ragged Tigers in Auburn, Alabama is seeking members in the Auburn, Atlanta, Miami, and Charlotte areas.

7th Column Chapters Explained

We've had an incredible flood of new fan club chapters. So far 30 of them have been approved, a handful rejected. Since we didn't build a system to explain why we've rejected a chapter submission (doh!), I thought I'd explain right here.

Our original plans called for two levels or user-created groups. One was fan club chapters, which would focus on local LAN gatherings. The other was called "organizations," and was a way for users to essentially run their own web pages related to anything Bungie. Once we fleshed out our plans for the future direction of this site it became clear that we need to have all groups fall under sub-headings: either the Seventh Column or focusing on a specific game.

There's a lot more to it than that, but here's the point: At this time we're only accepting user-created groups that fall under the Seventh Column heading. That means groups with interest and intent to host local, Bungie-related gaming parties. In the future, if there's enough interest, we may launch groups for specific games, but not relevant to the Fan Club. Then, and only then, will we allow clubs like Gopher the Rabbit's Crappy Myth Page.

Reporting 7th Column News

A few of you have asked me about reporting 7th Column news for you. We used to have a link right on the page, but it got lost somewhere in the jumble. For now go ahead and use the link on the Bungie.net page, in the community news header (you have to be logged in to see it.) All news that isn't specific to your chapter gets posted to this top level group anyway, with news that's also related to the Seventh Column filtering down to the Seventh Column site. The icons to the left of the news stories tell you which site the news belongs to, and provide a quick way to jump to that site.

Halo: Truth and Reconcilation Up

The Halo T&R; site is now up and running with Halo goodness! Be sure to check out the multiplayer strategy guide, the new screenshots, concept art, and more. For now we're running the site static. Once our server has been put through its paces we'll switch the site over so it's dynamic. Enjoy!

New Chapter Frenzy

It has begun. I've just approved five new fan club chapters. I'm being a little lax with checking things over since we've just launched, so I imagine we'll have to sort things out in a day or two. For now, please only found a club if you're serious about running it. If you're not, join a club near you and check things out first. If this ends up being a bunch of next door neighbors all running their own chapters we'll have missed the whole point. That said, if you're serious about starting a chapter, go for it! You're going to be part of something extraordinary!

Xbox Launch Day!

The Xbox hit store shelves today, and to celebrate Microsoft plastered green signage all over Redmond. I even heard rumors that they put green water in all the fountains on campus, and had green plates in the cafeteria, as well as green champagne. I know what you're thinking. No, this isn't normal.
Anyway, back when I had a point I was going to say that the Xbox finally was released today! Now you have something to play Halo on. What are you doing reading this?

Welcome To The 7th Column!

Before the Seventh Column, there was Bungie. Bungie spoke of World Domination. Those who saw the wisdom of the Bungie Way agreed that Bungie World Domination was a good thing, and waited patiently. But Bungie's schedule is vague; world domination, and the consequent benefits for right-thinking people around the world, is only promised "Soon?." But for many of us, Soon? has not come soon enough. Thus the Seventh Column was born, to help Bungie pave the way. How will we do this? By networking the Bungie fan community, door to door, street to street, city to city and nation to nation. Bringing the community together in person and in spirit through gatherings and the internet, strengthening their resolve with exclusive Bungie swag, and providing new avenues for their intelligence, dedication and creativity.