The word from Microsoft on Halo 2 (Note: that said Microsoft, not Bungie) is that the game “is expected to arrive on store shelves for the 2003 holiday season,” according to this press release. PC Halo in the summer, Xbox Halo 2 in the winter… gonna be a good year next year!

You knew it was coming, right? Halo 2 has been announced. Swing by Bungie.net, and read all about it… new screens, new desktops… and a new movie, coming soon. This is gonna Rock Your World.

Back in February, Eric Giese and Russell Ziegler, of ZiDigi Online, put out Chaos on the Ring, a nicely-made vid showing some cool stunts. 6 months later, we’ve got Chaos on the Ring II – and it’s lots of fun. You gotta love the image of four Hogs, flying overhead like some sort of wingless Blue Angels… It’s available in 2 sizes, a 42 mb, 720×480 version and a 22 mb, 360×240 version, both QuickTime 5. They’re doing their best to keep all connections running through their Chaos II page, so as to keep an accurate count of downloads – so if you’d like to add this file to a mirror site, they’d like to list it. Details (and current download locations) can be found on the Chaos II page. (There are also copies of both sizes on the Psyjnir.com Hotline server… just go to Halo -> Movies.) Go get it!

Art on a shoestring:

• Germain Couët made a pretty necklace
• Inky wants to feed you

Visit the Miscellaneous Art section!

Eep – these came in a couple of days ago, but they were attached to a message about something else, and I missed them. StarWarsFanMan has sent in a pair of enhanced Halo logos – you’ll find ’em in our Logos section. (He also sent in a ‘clearer’ version of the Forerunner Concept sketch he submitted last week.)

A little while ago, we posted a small Halo game created by a fan – now we’ve got another one for you. This one was created by Drew and Taylor (Lion on our forums), and the object is to simply shoot (click on) the grunts and elites floating around the screen. Grunts are 2 points, Elites are 5. Hit a Master Chief, though, you lose 5. PC-only, and 733k zipped. Enjoy!

We received word that Clan Underworld Revolution has reviewed Halo. The review itself is ambiguous (there’s a lot wrong, in the reviewer’s eyes, it seems), but the summary suggests differently. (They gave it a 9.5/10, and called it ‘the best console game I have ever played’.) We’ve added it to our Reviews database.

Not clear when this was posted – it was after June 22, which is the date of the LAST xbox.com roundup we did, but it’s not listed in their news archives at all – but xbox.com has put up an article entitled ‘Halo: Reality Held in Suspense‘, discussing the way Halo draws you in. It does, you know.

Yesterday, we mentioned the Halo50K tournament… well, one of the barriers to entry has just been reduced for some lucky team. The website has news of a new contest – create a promotional vid for the competition, and win free plane tickets for your team. Thanks to dolbex for the heads-up! Major Correction: Seems I misunderstood – they weren’t talking about free airfare… they were talking about free ADMISSION TICKETS. That’s the $100pp charge to get in – so make a cool vid, save $400. My bad… but still a damn good deal!

Tuesday/Wednesday Fan Fiction:

• The Discovery, chapter 1, chapter 2, and chapter 3, by strategyfreak
• Perfect Opposition, part 1, by ~ski200~
• The adventures of Mate-rik, by Leadbutt

And now I really have to go to bed…

HNN Productions has put up their second film – this one’s called ‘Halo-Pay Back‘ and is a 5.1 mb, 3 minute long .wmv file. It’s a music vid – Halo campaign gameplay set to P.O.D.’s ‘Boom’… but the timing’s quite good. (Using Sarge as the lead vocal’s pretty nice, too.)

GamerWeb Xbox claims to have ‘inside information‘ that Halo 2 will be announced later this week, in New York. (Why New York? It’s not the home of Microsoft, or Bungie, or much of anything else related to Halo – well, okay, it’s the home of Freewill, Bungie’s number 1 fan – hmm…) Thanks to PCDestroyer for the heads-up – but please, take it with a grain of salt. It ain’t so till Bungie SAYS it’s so.

Thanks to Griffon, who last month sent in scans from the July 2002 issue of the Official UK Xbox Magazine. There is a 10-page spread on Halo (lots of good info, and an interview with Jaime Griesemer, Halo 2’s Lead Designer), and a short teaser on Halo 2. Check ’em out in our Press Scans section!

What is easily the most ambitious fan-run Halo Tournament to date kicks off its registration today. Halo50K.com (so named because they’re shooting to award a top prize of $50,000 – yes, you read that right) is now live. Prizes will actually be based on the number of entering teams – but they’d really like to see 1000 people (250 teams of 4 people each) fighting for $50k and some cool schwag. This is NOT a scam – it’s being set up by some long-time Halo community members, who just want to get as many people as possible playing Halo for cash as they can. Admission isn’t cheap – it’s $100/person, or $400/team – but that’s where the cash to fund the prizes is coming from. If you and your team can make it to Atlanta, Georgia on November 9, then hurry over to Halo50K.com and join the fun!

Okay, we’ve had some mirror additions, and a new site coming online… That Weasel Television has added mirrors for the following movies:

• Medium size Matrix (Halo Remix)
• Halo-trigger happy
• Warthog tv ad 1
• Warthog tv ad 2
• Ralph and Sam

We’ve also added Dan Chosich’s Reminisance to the Mythica.org repository (which has served out over 250 GIGS of movies in the past 4 days…). Lastly, Shadow writes that he’s put up a movie mirror site: Halo: Gundam. He states that it’s a bare-bones listing (I might argue with that – it’s a pretty attractive design, even if it WAS designed for something else), and that it has some potential problems (it’s slow, it might get yanked)… but it’s a nice last resort, if nothing else is working for you. (We’re grateful for every byte!)

Monday evening Fan Fiction:

• The Lost Spartan, part 10, by Spartan415
• Taker of Life, Giver of Death, part 6, by Ian Barnes
• Warning: escaping convicts, part 7, by Cap’n Keyes

Read, my pretties…

Bungie.net is reporting that online preregistration for the Halo National Tournament ends tomorrow… you MIGHT still be able to register on the day of the event, but you certainly shouldn’t count on it.

If you ever find yourself Down Under, and you need something to do… look up Crocodile Bungie. They’re the Seventh Column Aussie contingent… and they’ve recently put together a pretty slick little video (2:29 long) showing what you’d be up against if you visited. There’s a high-quality version – 17.8 mb, 300×240, QT5, and a lower-quality version – 7.7 mb, 240×180. Looks like they don’t like campers, among other things!

Bungie’s Number One Fan Miguel ‘Freewill’ Chavez competed in the first round of the Halo National Tournament… and has written up his experiences, complete with pics. Check it out at Bungie Sightings! Correction: Miguel competed in a warm-up event, not the actual tournament. Silly me – the tournament doesn’t even start until next week!

Apologies for the lack up updates – I spent the day at a music festival with my family. Too much sun, too much driving, lots of great music… and what do I come back to? MORE great music! dogsounds (recently in the news for his cartooning skills) has dropped off our first Fan Music submission… and I’m pretty impressed! dogsounds says:

I had a few hours spare this weekend so I cobbled together some ‘fan music’ I guess you could call it, inspired by the SACRED GAME and Uncle Marty’s classic musical outpourings.

It was a bit rushed to be honest, so it’s not brilliant or anything, and I was having some troubles with my sampler (noting a swift twat about the front panel can’t fix, probably), but I hope everyone enjoys it. Maybe others will be inspired to write their own Halo fan music!

I based it on the scene in ‘The Fall Of Reach’ where Sam realizes that, because of damage to his armor, he can’t leave the doomed Covenant ship that is on a countdown to destruction, and so must stay behind and accept his fate.

It’s called ‘Costly Exfiltration (Sam Says Goodbye)’, but I’ve renamed the mp3 to be more internet friendly. Grab sam.says.goodbye.mp3 (3.5 mb) today, and be sure to post what you think!