dogsounds sends in a new Halo 2 weapon option. You’ll find it in our Miscellaneous Art section. Man… I need one of those.

Alex Sullivan wanted to let us know of his Halo 2 website. Looks like there’s more coming… (We’ve added a Halo 2 section to our Links page.)

GameReviewers.com have put up a Halo 2 Preview… and are hosting both main QuickTime versions of the trailer. (We’ve added the links to our Mirrors list.) Check it out!

Daniel submits a great sketch of the MC – you’ll find it in our Miscellaneous Art section.

SpikeDaDragon has created a new Halo Expression for AOL Instant Messenger. If you know what this is (or if you use AIM and would like to know what this is), visit Spike’s site and download the file. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a preview of it anywhere, so if you don’t have AIM (or aren’t willing to modify files without seeing the results first), you’re out of luck. Update: There’s a screenshot now, so you can see what you’re getting into.

DragonFire’s little brother whipped up a new desktop for you – you’ll find it in our Wallpaper section.

Dan Chosich has outdone himself again. He’s created a promo movie for the Halo50k competition to be held next February in Atlanta… and it’s pretty fantastic. There are 4 versions – Large and Small (well, Medium) versions of both QuickTime and Windows Media Player formats. You can find the existing links on the Halo50k mirrors page – and we’re gratefully accepting any mirror offers that come our way. Enjoy this one. Apologies to all who wrote recently – there’ll be a news update in the morning.

Spec Ops Elite sent word of his Halo site – he’d like you to check it out!

Our Screenshots database has been updated with the X02 screenshots released a couple of weeks ago, and some images released by gamesradar.com, the web arm of Edge Magazine’s parent company. (The X02 shots are high resolution… but the gamesradar shots are lower-res scans. If you can get hold of the magazine, you’re better off.)

Halo sighting on the front page of today’s San Francisco Chronicle – seems some players with the Oakland A’s like to burn off steam with Halo. Check Patroclus’ post for details. Update: Patroclus found an online version.

Friday Morning Fan Fiction:

• Wings of Death, part 8, by el_halo_diablo
• Shadows of Archon II, part 20, by Wado
• Revolution, part 12, by Gruntkiller
• THE QUEST FOR FREEDOM, Chapter 2, by ThASuPaMaN8

Go get ’em…

Three new desktop images for you in our Wallpaper section. I’d like to take this opportunity to clarify a couple of points about item submission – be it artwork, fan fiction, movies… First: if you use our ftp uploads space, please identify your work. Either upload a small text file saying who you are (and what you uploaded), or email us with this info. One of the Wallpapers in this upload is unidentified; it’s the last submission without attribution that we’ll post. (There’s an unattributed banner we can’t post in the uploads folder at the moment.) Second: I realize this is partly my fault, for posting things quickly most of the time, but please: if you submit something, and it doesn’t get posted in the next 6 hours, do not submit it again. If you’re unsure whether we received it, you can send us email. In the past few days, we’ve gotten 5 or 6 creations submitted more than once, because we didn’t post them the day they came in. As a common sense check, when life gets busy here and decreases the amount of time available for updating HBO, having to deal with multiple copies of the same files only makes things worse. (It doesn’t help that more than half of you choose to send in your wallpaper with a name like ‘Halo.jpg’ or ‘Wallpaper.bmp’ – when trying to make sure we’ve covered all the recent submissions, it’s hard to tell duplicates apart from similarly named items.) Just a few requests that will make our lives easier… which, in turn, means more Halo goodness for you.

Nick points out that the November issue of the Official Xbox Magazine contains the “Xbox: Year One” Awards. Halo took 6 of the 22 first-place awards; Best Action Game, Best Multiplayer Game, Best Game Story (shared with Silent Hill), Best Use of Hard Drive, Most Addictive Multiplayer, and Most Shocking Moment. Not too shabby!

Is the Xbox taking over your life? This article suggests that the quality of video games is pulling in more and more converts – and not all of them are male. Halo features prominently in the discussion of addiction. Thanks to Dave Candland for passing on the link.

Computer and Video Games has interviewed Jaime Griesemer, Halo 2 Lead Designer… and there’s some good info to be had.

CVG:Something that really impressed about Halo was the non-player AI, especially that of the marine allies. What sort of improvements are you making in this area for Halo 2?

Griesemer: In Halo the AI was only concerned with shooting and not being shot. In Halo 2 the AI will have a much greater awareness of their environment. They will be able to adapt to it, and more importantly, they will be able to actively manipulate the environment to serve their ends. They’ll knock over objects to create cover, they’ll climb walls and leap between floors to get into a better position, they’ll even destroy the cover the player is hiding behind to force him into the open.

Go read the rest (including another variation of the ‘bacon’ quote) at CVG! (Thanks to Harry Al-Shakarchi for the heads-up.)

Ack. Mhaddy wrote a couple of days ago to remind us that the Junkyard is holding (and has been holding) a contest called “Halo: Guess the Release Date” – there’ll be cool stuff for the person coming closest to the date that Halo goes gold for the Mac or PC. Check it out! (We mentioned this back in July… but it’s always good to refresh your memory for longer-term stuff.)

Griffon found this Winamp skin accidentally – he didn’t make it, but as he says, “it’s still halo!”

Frogblast finds the Holy Grail! Okay, maybe that’s already in a church in Seville, I don’t know… but he’s managed to get to the bottom of Halo (the level, not the game), a feat that has become the embodiment of the ultimate stunt. Read the details (there are a lot of them) or just watch the movies… and chime in on the forum thread.

Ever wonder what the MC on a unicycle would actually look like? Team Overkill suggests it might be something like this image from our Miscellaneous Art collection.

Another Halo banner from Michael Frank can be found in our Banners section.