Heh – head on over to Penny Arcade – looks like Tycho is apologizing for all the nasty things he said about Halo. (Well, actually, just that he’s not willing to judge Halo 2 by those nasty things.) Funny strip. Thanks to Zypper for the heads-up.

Boatloads of new mirrors for the Halo 2 Trailer – lots in Europe, more Hotline servers, and even though the main site for customsex’s new mpeg2 version died (from overdemand), a kind hotline server picked up the slack (and we’re adding a second hotline server as I write this). More mirrors for that large, popular version would be eagerly accepted – just drop us a line. For everything else, visit the Halo 2 Mirror List, or the Mirror List Mirror! From now on, when new mirrors come in, we’ll simply add them to the mirror list, without using valuable front page space to announce them. If you need a copy of this trailer, in ANY format, visit the mirror list.

customsex has converted the WMP9 video to MPEG2 format… and it’s gorgeous under QT6. It’s huge, though… and he had a bit of trouble with the aspect ratio, so if you grab it, be sure to reset the width to 600 pixels (keeping the height at 360). You’ll find the link on our Mirrors page. This is considerably larger than the large QT version… but almost the same image quality. Be warned, though – if you don’t have an MPEG2 decoder on your computer, you won’t be able to watch it, so don’t bother downloading it. Update: the aspect problem has been fixed. This one seems to be popular, though – mirrors are badly needed!

Take a break from the trailer madness to read a little Fan Fiction:

• The New Reach Campaigns, part 4, by Gasmask
• HELLJUMPERS, parts 2 and 3, by Havok
• The Shadows, part 2, by Glenny
• Shadows of Archon II, part 9, by Wado

We should stop posting now, so the page doesn’t take too long to load…

Two new international mirrors – Juegos Alkon, an Argentinian games site with a very fast connection (mirroring the large QT version) and DeadSwitch, a fast UK connection (mirroring the WMP9 version). Go get ’em! (They’ve been added to the Mirrors page.)

Assassin, from Computer Games in Romania, has sent word that they’ve re-encoded the high-quality QT version as an MPEG. Screensize is the same, filesize is 25.5 mb… quality is quite good. If you’re having trouble with QuickTime, but can’t get WMP9 to run on your system, this might be the way to go! (Server speed was quite impressive for me, too.) Also, Fileplanet added the two QuickTime versions this morning. All of these links are listed on the Mirrors page.

Jeff Lofland has turned in another very nice desktop image – take a look in our Wallpaper section.

This is bizarre – Gamesurf.de, a German gaming site, has put up a note on their Halo trailer announcement page stating that someone from Microsoft phoned them and told them they couldn’t mirror the trailer, because the content is not for foreign markets. What’s up with that?

The fans do it again. We’ve added a full transcript of the trailer dialogue to our Miscellaneous section (well, it’s not actually listed there yet, but it will be soon), thanks to the contributors of this thread on our forum (and a tiny bit of tweaking from me). There are two alternatives I’ve seen – one can be found on the Battleground: Halo forums, done by Rixor, and the other (done by Narcogen and the Rampancy.net Hotline server crowd, with some help from ferrex, of Bungie) can be found on Rampancy.net. Enjoy.

Blackstar decided that 480×288 just wasn’t big enough… so he re-encoded to get to 600×340. We’ve added his 32.7 mb QuickTime version to the mirror list. (You’ll find it near the bottom, in the ‘unofficial sizes’ area.) Since the last update, there have also been two European mirrors added – one in France, one in Germany. Have I said thank you to all the mirror sites yet? You guys are great.

Halo 2 Trailer everywhere… but on G4 tonight, it was Randy Glass’ Warthog Jump and the E3 trailer! Thanks to Lorraine Reyes-McLees for the heads-up.

XboxManiak has recompressed the movie in WMP7 format, at 320×240 resolution – for those on a slower connection, it’s not bad. (If you can handle the larger/newer versions, definitely get them, it’s hard to express how impressive they are…) Also, several new mirrors have come online – if one doesn’t work for you (or works slowly), try another. Main mirror list is here – mirror list mirror is here.

ElectricSheep has tossed up a transcription of the trailer dialogue. If you’re having trouble picking it all up… read this post (and the resultant thread)!

Guh. HBO’s connections are pegged at 120 simultaneous ones – so we’ve added a mirror for our Halo 2 Trailer Mirror list. (I’m guessing that’s pretty much the only thing people want tonight…) You can find it here:

http://www.bungie.org/halo2trailermirrors/

These will be updated simultaneously, so if you can’t reach one, grab the other.

Mr. Zarquon and GamingHorizon have both added mirrors – .wmv and QT for the former, .wmv for the latter. (Gaming Horizon also has a news article about it.) Find the new links on our Mirrors page. (A french mirror is coming soon.)

Extremely cool writeup on the making of the trailer, at Bungie.net. Go read.

And the chase is on! The Halo 2 trailer has been released – you can find it at Xbox.com… and thanks to a kind soul, you can also get it in QT6 format from a variety of fan mirrors. All links (and any new ones we hear about) are listed on the Halo 2 Trailer Mirrors page. And anyone who WANTS to mirror… please, let us know. Go get it! It’ll blow you away.

A bit of Fan Fiction to hold you over until the trailer is released this evening:

• Taker of Life, Giver of Death, part 9, by Ian Barnes
• Helljumpers, part 1, by Havok
• Rise To Honor, part 24, by Shadow
• The Shadows, part 1, by Glenny

This marks the end of the Rise to Honor series. Shadow has asked for specific feedback on whether he should write another series – let him know what you think!

Whoa, very cool – Jester, over at psyjnir.com, contacted G4 Media, the folks who filmed the Halo National Championship finals… and G4 is intending to release a highlights film on the web, at some point. Nice!

penne dropped us a note about a new movie created by the German Halo clansite HaloPlayers. It’s just under 2 minutes long, in WMP format, 9.2 mb zipped. 2 player gameplay on Blood Gulch, with some video effects. You can find it at HaloPlayers’ website.