A press release on Gamesindustry.biz says that Battleground Zero has launched the National Halo 2 Tournament Contest – an XBL-based multi-game tourney. The Halo 2 rules page can be found on their site.

Halo Babies has posted a new comic (surprise, surprise, it’s Friday) – don’t you wish you had a button like that?

That Weasel writes to let us know that Grunts Are People Too!!! released episode 13.1, celebrating July 4 (a little late). Divx-only right now, but QuickTime and WMP9 should be coming soon. Update: GearboxGameZone has put up QuickTime and WMP9 versions of this film. Thanks, Dennis!

Wave of Lag pointed out a 12 mb movie over on the Gearbox forums, showing some of the sword stuff in the upcoming Zelda mod for HaloCE. Looks pretty nice! (WMP9 format.)

MLGPro.com has reviewed the Multiplayer Map Pack, from a Pro perspective – I found it fascinating that my two favorite maps in the new pack are the two least liked by pros (mostly because of the gametypes that they play, and the number of people they play with). Intersesting read, in any case. Thanks, 3Suns.

The Final Supremacy website has put up Episode 3 (Part 1) of their machinima series ‘Black and White’ – this one’s called ‘Long Day At Headlong, Part 1’. Available in both DivX and MPEG formats, 43-100 mb (depending on flavor). An awful lot of rebels bite it in this one!

One film that didn’t make it through the MPRRS recently was called ‘War of the Species’ – most reviewers liked it, but a couple gave it low-enough scores that it didn’t clear the passing hurdle. However, one of the reviewers liked it enough to offer hosting on his own – NINJ4, of the HBO Forerunners clan, has made it available on his site. 9.7 mb, WMP9 format. It uses Halo 2 cutscenes from the Cutscene Library combined with a soundtrack from the War of the Worlds trailer – it’s different than the one we mentioned here (which is unfortunately no longer available). Nice scene choices, in my opinion. Update: this has now been mirrored by trigger119 at Halomachinima.com. Thanks! Update 2: ShadowX pointed out that his video IS still available – you can find links to copies at GameTrailers in this forum post. Grab it, and compare the two!

PhantomTheoden and TheDaringDuke have followed up thier April release of ‘Banshee Riding‘ with Banshee Riding Part 2, a tutorial in Noob Boosting, Smacking, and other techniques for quickly moving a flag carrier from one side of the map to the other via a banshee. This passed the MPRRS a few days ago, but we’ve been slowly clearing out the queue. You can grab it in WMP9 format (20.8 mb) or QuickTime format (22.1 mb). Watch it and learn new tricks!

Stuffo has written up a ‘Pistol vs Battle Rifle’ article, trying to decide which is better. It’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s not in this article; much of it seems tongue-in-cheek, but the final transcript, somewhat mind-boggling in content if true, is presented as verbatim text from Jaime Griesemer, Lead Designer for Halo 2. I mean – you can’t attribute words to a real person without a disclaimer if you make them up, can you? Thanks to Norm Williams for the heads-up.

Thanks to both bluestrike2 and Typher – the Halo 2 Weapon Respawn resources here (both online and PDF) have been updated with better info. Grab new copies (or look again)!

Mintz points out that all of his Halo 2 for PSP conversions are now available in one place – and two new articles have been added (the Humpday Challenge from last week, and the XBL Playlists from Bungie.net). If you’ve got a PSP, and you love having Halo content to read while on the road – go download stuff!

Nirvana has put up a low-res version of Halo 2: Road to Glory, the fan-made documentary released last week. It’s 280 mb in WMP9 format (QuickTime coming tomorrow), and available for direct download. If 421 mb was too much for you – grab this one!

IGN has new Stubbs the Zombie videos for you to download. One of them was released last month (mentioned in our forum, but somehow missed on the front page) – the other is totally new. Man… that unholy flatulence looks to be a powerful weapon! Thanks, Ma1agate.

Hogmasta put together an effect for Windows Movie Maker 2 that crops out the HUD, for ease of machinima making – we’ve put up a local copy (3k). If you’re using WMM2 to create Halo movies – this can help!

Argent found a new Flash animation over at Newgrounds – it’s a Team Slayer match on Lockout, MLG-style. Hits all the big cliches.

trigger119 pointed out a new trailer hosted at the newly-redesigned Halomachinima.com – Halo: Fate’s Destiny takes place after the in-game story ends, and looks at the final 5 remaining Spartans. It’s filmed in the HaloCE engine, with additional CGI elements. The trailer’s quite short – but pretty! Update: there is now a QuickTime version up as well. Thanks!

Hawk7886 found a Rocket Warthog addition for GTA: San Andreas. Later posts in the thread have some screenshots.

Sep7imus points out a website showing you, in 12 easy steps, how to cheat in Halo 2 (and become a happier person).

We got a note from Victor – X-Tournaments is back after a long vacation, and is now acting a a hub for all Halo tournament activity across the US. More and more info will be coming online in the near future – if you want to know where the nearest tourney is going to be, stop by!

Continuing with the recent spate of MPRRS-passed vids: freejack905, of the Necrosis Clan, submitted ‘Mythbusterz – Episode 1’, a remake of an episode of the Discovery Channel show on driving while impaired. Nice linkup of existing audio to Halo footage! Grab it in WMP9 format (30 mb) or QuickTime format (31.4 mb).