Video Gamers League (VGL) has kicked off registration for a nationwide Halo 2 tournament. Qualifiers will be taking place in 28 metropolitan areas, and FFA tourneys will be free to enter. Top prize will be a 2005 Scion xB. Visit the VGL website for more details!

Over at HaloDev, you can read about Prometheus – a map editor designed to edit and create maps for Halo, Halo 2, and future games that use the Halo engine. It’s not available yet – but there’s a page full of info (and a list of Halo modding luminaries working on this that suggests it has a pretty good chance of succeeding). Go check it out – there are 10 screenshots to whet your appetite.

EB Games is now offering the Halo 2 Expansion Pack – $19.99, containing 9 new multiplayer maps, a new cinematic video (!!), and a new mini-documentary video from Bungie. Ship date is listed as May 24th. Did EB Games post this a little too early…? No word from Bungie yet about the availability of certain parts of this directly over Live – more when we know it. Update: Looks like there’s a pretty sizeable thread about this already on our forum – nova posted it last night. I haven’t read the whole thing yet – but lots of people are complaining that they have to pay for this. I cannot understand why nobody willing to wait for an official announcement from Bungie – we have no IDEA whether the material will be available via another route, and what (if anything) it will cost. Update: looks like the listing has been pulled from the EBGames website. No real surprise there…

Way to go! Marty and company took home Audio of the Year and Best Original Soundtrack Album at the 3rd Annual G.A.N.G. Awards a couple of weeks ago in San Francisco. (The sponsors, Game Audio Network Guild, posted the results today on their website.) Thanks to John Rivas, who got this from TeamXbox.

Thank goodness for that After War email – it reminded me I forgot to post today’s One One Se7en. Stuntmutt points out some inconsistencies in trash talk… not that I’d know what he was talking about, nope, not me…

Kevin Ryan writes to say that After War Episode 16 has been posted – cleaning up some loose ends. The storyline seems to be coming to a head!

Last week, MLGPro.com posted a news item about the opening of a pair of online leagues – pro and amateur. Looks like a nice way to participate, if you can’t make it to the big tourneys! Check out all the details. Thanks, FWR_Ghost.

Wow. Fire Team Charlie has posted Episode 18 for members – currently DivX-only (74.5 mb), but QuickTime coming soon. With all the machinima coming out these days, and no updates since mid-January, you might have forgotten about these guys… that would be a mistake. A great blend of Halo footage and humor, with just the right amount of mod effects. This one was all Benny – and it rocks. (Should be up for the masses by Wednesday.)

prometheus added a new article on Halo Machinima to his Halo-themed blog, Tru7h and Rationalization. Is the field growing too crowded? Sound off! (He’s also posted a link on our forum, so you can chime in there, as well.)

Yesterday’s release of Delta Squad Episode 2 managed to bring down the server for Chronic V1RU5 – they hope to be up and running later this week. In the meantime, there’s a mirror of the video at halomachinima.com, and we’ve put up our own mirrors – two for the original WMP9 (mythica.org | bungie.org) and two for a QuickTime version (bungie.org | mythica.org). It’s a fun film – we hate to see sites go under. Update: Apparently, the Chronic V1RU5 team jumped the gun with the halomachinima.com mirror; it’s up now, however. You need to right-click and Save As if you use this link.

24 new stories for you in the Fan Fiction section this morning – those writers were pretty busy over the weekend! Go read.

Blade writes that the online LAN party he hosted recently was a success – a writeup can be found here. (Keep an eye on the site, if you liked the writeup – that was part one.)

Chronic V1RU5 has released episode 2 of their Delta Squad series. 55 mb, WMP9 format. Infiltration of an enemy base (Headlong), followed by a huge battle. Once again, battle footage has some nice ‘shakeycam’ work… really feels like wartime journalism. It’s a little hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys – armor colors at a distance are pretty close (especially in low light). Voice work… needs work. Cinematography, however, is top-notch. This is another series worth keeping an eye on!

Eep – this came in almost 2 weeks ago – but I missed it. SUPERTOY was in San Francisco during the Walk of Game induction ceremony on March 8, and took a couple of pictures – one of the Halo display, and one of the Halo star on the walk itself. If you visit San Francisco, swing by the Metreon, and see these for yourself!

Phoenix_9286 pointed out that Page 8 of his Last Stand comic is up at DevianART. I gotta say… if the elites really WERE this incompetent, I’d be whipping through Legendary with ease.

Red vs Blue has posted Episode 52, ‘Have We Met?’ on their video page for sponsors. (Yes, of course, it’ll be up for everyone else in a couple of days.) Time travel can be rough. This one’s more than 10 minutes long – and pretty funny. Thanks to lots of folks for pointing this out – looks like StickyHelljumper was first.

Captain Spark pumped out ANOTHER collection of dialogue snippets – you can grab the whole pack on his website, or see them individually in our Dialogue Databank. Good stuff!

Andras Ostrom sent us a short little flick, based on Canyonero, the monster SUV from The Simpsons. If you want to see how great timing can make a difference between a ho-hum vid and a fun one, watch this. Great song, nice footage, wonderful camera angles – and perfect timing. QuickTime format, 7.8 mb.

Last week, we mentioned an online LAN party. It didn’t happen – but apparently, Blade’s trying again – today, at 5 pm eastern. See the previous post for details.

Ross Cidlowski points out that CBS has been using some Halo 2 tracks as background music for player highlights during the NCAA tournament. We saw this last year during football season, as well – just goes to show, Marty’s music fits well when trying to convey strength and power!