The Miscellaneous Art queue, as well, is going to be cleared out, 10 pieces at a time. The first 10 (dating back to late June) are up now. Once again, apologies to all the artists whose work has been neglected.

A couple of months ago, I cleared out the Wallpaper and Misc Art queues, and vowed not to let them get so backed up. Then I went and made a silly promise to someone – that I’d finish the backlogged Movies database before I added any more new content to either of these sections. This, of course, guaranteed another backup. Today, I begin the cleanout. I’ll be adding 10 wallpapers a day to the Wallpaper section until we’re clear. The first batch is up now – follow that link.

Only 4 new stories in the Fan Fiction section today – I was just clearing it out because I’ll be away from the keyboard all day, and I’m doing my best to clear the inbox first. Enjoy.

The weekly update has been posted at Bungie’s own Bungie.net, and it’s a doozy. Not only is it much longer than updates tend to be, but it contains a great deal of specific information about parts of the game we’ve never heard about before, from evolving exploding buses to scary things that make you want to go wee. Some of the more interesting tidbits, to me, are the emphasis on asymmetrical maps (I’m looking forward to this, but I know there will be a huge amount of complaining by hardcore CTFers) and the revelation that Halo 2 will not have load points- new areas will be loaded “in the background” without interrupting play. Check it out! Update: Frankie wanted to clarify that there are load points – plenty of them, of varying length, between levels. They’ve just kept them minimal during levels. (update by lwu)

343GS.com has started Season 2 of its EchoFourNineteen comic series… this one is in Flash. Voice acting is funky… but animation is great. No comments about the plot. Check it out!

IGN recently put up a sizeable movie, labeled ‘Halo 2 Stuff’, on its Halo 2 media page. It’s available as a 320×240 WMP9 stream, for everyone, or a downloadable QuickTime (up to 315 mb in 640×480) for Insiders. What it IS is a (decent) shakeycam video of the Halo 2 presentation at the recent Leipzig Games Conference; Pete Parsons and Cam Payne played out the E3 2004 demo for the crowd. As far as footage goes, all of this is already on the web, in better quality… but the start of this video contains some pretty funny stuff. There are a couple of Nightmare-Armor-clad guys (that’s not the funny part)… and then the two show announcers try to get the crowd riled up for the demo, and finally (all in German, remember) start yelling ‘and here’s Pete Parsons!’, while pointing at Cam. (Pete wasn’t on stage yet.) Cam is quietly trying to let them know he’s not Pete – but they’re pretty much ignoring him. Eventually, they get the message, and there are a couple of minutes of fumbling while someone goes off and FINDS Pete. Dunno… I found the whole thing hilarious – and I don’t even speak German. (Pete, when he started the presentation, was cool as a cucumber.) Thanks to Art Vandelay for the heads-up.

Speaking of comics, today’s One One Se7en has been posted. It’ll make more sense if you drink some Antifreeze. (That’s not really fair – it IS understandable. It was just an easy cheap shot. And when it comes to One One Se7en, cheap shots are the norm.)

Elizar points out that the MC makes a cameo in today’s The Whiteboard, a paintball-focused webcomic. It’ll make a lot more sense if you read some backissues.

Finn, half of our stalwart Halo Story Page crew, writes to let us know that there are 3 super-cool Team 7hr33 sweatshirts left unclaimed by 7hr33 members… which means you can buy these puppies for yourself. I have one, and I gotta say… it’s slick. (Check out pics from last spring’s Knee for All lanfest to see me wearing it.)

Gamespy has put up part two of its Reader Feedback Followup article – I think the big news for some players is (finally) an official announcement from Frankie about the pistol:

[The Pistol] will be back. It has been changed to suit dual-wielding and no longer has a scope.

(It’s been mentioned, obliquely, a few times… but it’s nice to have a clear, unambiguous statement from a Bungie employee.) There’s also clear information about weapons quantities (with respect to dual wielding), melee attacks, and other stuff. Definitely worth a read. Thanks, LaMuerte.

Ross Mills points out that if you’re planning on going to the Gamestars Live event in London next week, and you’re booking your tickets by phone, you can get 2 for 1 tickets by quoting ‘It’s London’ to the booking agent. Weird, but a good deal.

Pico has put up a teaser for Lethal Rage 4, the next in his series of machinima battle vids. About 2 mb, in either WMP9 or QuickTime formats. (Mostly hype, but there’s enough rapid-action video to make you want this out…)

Halo Babies has put up a new strip today… poor Misterchief. Also, they’ve announced the winners of their Avatar contest – you can download the winning entries now.

Dang. When he comes out of hibernation, he comes OUT OF HIBERNATION. Finn has proffered up a massive Halo Story Page update… Rowley to Stallone to Moorcock (not quite the same lyrical quality as ‘Tinkers to Evers to Chance’, but then this double play is actually a 7-bagger). Go read.

OMG. The Webmaster’s back. With reader art. And photos. And drool. (Okay, maybe not drool.) Go read.

Very cool. GruntKilla pointed out the original artwork for the cover of Toyfare Magazine #86. A little investigation turned up the website of Greg Horn, the artist. (Click on the MC head in the ‘Other Projects This Month’ section at the top for his own copy of the art.) It’s the only Halo-related artwork I could find, but there’s some fun stuff if you poke around. Update: G-Nox found a second piece of Halo-related artwork on that site – nice work!

Remember back when Calvin was worried about what was under his bed? Today’s Calvin and Halo ramps up the fear factor.

Thirteen new pieces in the Fan Fiction section today – including a couple of poems and a pledge. See what you can find!

Radid Gnome interviewed a friend of his, an MLG staffer who played Halo 2 at the Downpour event, about the game. He’s posted the interview on his website. (The site is framed, so look for the ‘New Halo 2 Article’ in the news.)

Whoa. The band Regurgitator, out of Australia, is performing a 3-week ‘Band in a Bubble’ experiment, where they attempt to record an entire album in social isolation (though with millions watching). For entertainment? They’ll be playing Halo 2, apparently. Details can be found in this Xbox.com article. The whole shebang kicks off in 5 days. Thanks to gspawn for noticing.