Calvin Chaos noticed a new tab for the Halo 2 Theme over at Mxtabs.net – if you play, go grab this!

Hehe – oops… If you visit the GameInformer preview we mentioned earlier, and head to the Media page, you’ll find a 17.7 mb film labeled ‘Sanctuary #2’. Somebody’s gonna get yelled at – cause this ain’t Sanctuary at all… it’s Gemini, one of the five maps slated for release in late June. It’s a really dark video, and if you don’t grab it soon, it probably won’t be there (I’m guessing as soon as someone realizes the booboo, it’ll go bye-bye), but for the lucky few, this is a bonus attributable to human error. (Thanks to Apocalidiot and chaosknight514 for pointing this out – I wasn’t going to watch the GI films until tomorrow.)

Wow, very nice – there are 28 new map pics over at Gamespot showing off the new levels; many gameplay shots, but also several overhead shots showing the full level layouts. (Thanks, Red Leader.) There’s a written preview (with a movie – an interview with Brian Jarrard about the new material), as well. Not to be outdone, IGN has their own preview – some of the same screenshots (with the IGN watermark, of course, instead of the Gamespot one), plus 12 new vids (streaming for the masses, downloadable for IGN Insiders) showing off the first four maps. None of the new media is on Bungie.net yet (nor has anyone sent us copies behind the scenes) – but if we get our hands on un-watermarked copies, we’ll be sure to post ’em. Update: looks like the shots are up at TeamXbox, too (with a smaller watermark than GS or IGN) – thanks, chaos recon. Update 2: GameInformer has a preview/media, too. (I’m sad – we’re not on the right lists, I guess.) Thanks, Apocalidiot.

In a move calculated to keep their post on our front page for the maximum time possible, Bungie has just posted a new top story, pinning down the new maps download date. (It’s next Monday, April 25.) There are descriptions of the levels (if you missed them the first time around)… but the big news is clearly the date itself. (The maps passed certification today.) Today was Auto-Update day… next week is Map day! Get happy!

Gruntsbane has created a tutorial explaining how he makes the Halo Babies comic strips – it’s pretty cool stuff! (The HB news post, with user comments, is here.)

Hypnotoad, who created some melee damage charts a couple of months ago, has updated them to reflect the new realities of the Auto-Update. I’m sure those numbers could be made friendlier… but it’s a useful chart, nonetheless!

The next “Game With Fame” Challenge on Xbox Live is coming up on April 22 – this Friday. You’ll have the chance to play against Dan Cody, All-American defensive end from the University of Oklahoma. More details can be found in the official press release.

In honor of the Auto-Update that’s shown up today, Stuntmutt looks at some of the improvements to gameplay in today’s One One Se7en.

Whoa… be careful. Frankie writes,

If you have a hacked game save/profile, do NOT sign into Live with it after the update. You’ll be banned. Delete it, or don’t sign into Live.

You’ve been warned! (It’s unclear whether this means JUST the hacked saves that let you cheat, or ALL hacked saves – for now, you’re safer if you remove ALL of them – after backing them up, of course.)

Gotfrag, a site aimed at competitive gaming, has reopened its Halo 2 coverage with new staff and no fewer than 7 new articles. Swing by and read some! (Older Halo 2 material requires a Gotfrag Prime account, but these should be available to everyone.)

• Lil Poison: Superkid or Jedi Knight?
• Check Six: Dedicated to Dominance
• As the Lines Blur: Controller vs Keyboard/Mouse
• Pro Style Playlists in H2: a Possibility, or Wishful Thinking?
• Trick Jumping: An Underrated Edge
• MLG Online League Preview
• Is Professional Gaming Here to Stay?

The Lil Poison article is great! (They’re all well-written, actually, but I loved seeing the info on the 6-year-old wonder.) Thanks, James Schneider.

Yesterday afternoon, I saw a news post on the front page of High Impact Halo which pointed to this forum thread there. choroboy managed to bring a pair of Hunters into the Control Room on Great Journey – and it’s astounding how poorly they do against Tartarus’ hammer. I didn’t post these yesterday, because the movies were hosted on putfile and rapidshare, and i didn’t want to make people suffer unduly… but I’ve localized them, and Ducain was kind enough to add the local links to the thread, so go grab ’em! Getting the Hunters in is pretty darn cool in itself – but the outcome of the Hunter/Tartarus fight is amazing; I’m guessing there’s some special weakness there.

For all the people checking every 10 seconds or so to see if the Auto-Update has been released… word is that you won’t see it BEFORE about 9 am PST (4 pm GMT), and (if the WWU was accurate) maybe not right then, either (since they’re going to try and spread the bandwidth load over time). Patience…

Halogen, the C&C Generals Halo Total Conversion, has put up a trailer for the mod; it’s pretty high-quality. There’s only a little bit of actual game footage… but it’s pretty cool stuff! Comes in multiple flavors (and I sent along some mirror links, to help with the bandwidth) – go grab one and check it out!

Ross Mills pointed out a website called ‘Video Game Pianist‘ – it’s some really nice piano work focused on (wait for it) video game music. There’s a really nice version of the Halo 2 Theme (Mjolnir Mix) – but the only way to get it on the website is to download an entire CD’s worth of video game music (70 mb or so). This may appeal to many of you (almost certainly DOES appeal to many of you)… but it’s overkill for those who just want to hear the Halo piece. We’ve gotten permission from Martin Leung, the Video Game Pianist, to host the theme here; 2.7 mb, MP3 format. If you like what you hear, explore the site!

Wave of Lag pointed out a thread at the Gearbox forums devoted to a new HaloCE map called ‘H2-Prime’… looks pretty fun! Check out the pics (and there are some small vids farther along in the thread).

Art Vandelay recorded some of last week’s Halo Humpday Challenge between High Impact Halo and Bungie, on XBL; I thought the third game was pretty interesting to watch. Remember; you’re seeing this entirely from a single player’s viewpoint, with no editing; It’s not nearly as exciting as it would have been had multiple people recorded the game and then had the final product edited together… but it SHOULD give you a sense for how both teams played. (You’ll see that Sketch’s writeup is… um, less than accurate (It’s HIH that scores first), and there’s a hilarious sequence starting at around 4:20 or so – were I to give it a title, it would probably be ‘Duck Hunt’.) The game was Neutral Flag CTF on Colossus with Snipers, and the vid is 9:05 long, weighing in at 33.3 mb. You can grab it in WMP9 format (mythica.org | bungie.org) or QuickTime format (bungie.org | mythica.org) – nice stuff!

The DJ, of Halo Impulse, sent us more links for the Team GaG vid from yesterday – these have been rar-compressed, but otherwise are unchanged from the versions we posted. We’re lovin’ the community help!
WMP9 Hi-Res | WMP9 Lo-Res | QT Hi-Res | QT Lo-Res
Enjoy!

A small trick movie made its way through our Peer Review process – and passed; we’re gonna let it go this time, because it’s pretty small, and has a neat trick, but we need to remind both submitters and reviewers that this system is NOT for trick vids; there are better places for those. That said, check out Fushiko’s Bomb-sticking vid – WMP9 format, 3.3 mb.

Captain Spark posted another 62 dialogue snippets on his website; we’ve added them to the Dialogue Databank. There’s some good stuff in there – including a Marathon reference (well, a Carlito’s Way reference, I suppose, but it was a Marathon level title), and some pretty funny quotes.

Nirvana has posted a bunch of mirrored movies on his HaloVids site – check this forum post for the list!