Wishing you could go to E3 this year, but not eligible to get in? Major Nelson mentions an Xbox.com contest; they’re giving away two free trips as an ‘Apprentice’. You must be a US resident, and 21 or older. There are some other rules – so go check ’em out! Thanks, Cybrfrk.

Halo Babies has a new strip today – ‘Very Punny‘ makes a grab for some One One Se7en territory. They’ve also got a news post about Joel ‘Gruntsbane’ Casebeer’s resume going online – with some cool artwork. Check it out!

Clearing out the Wallpaper queue… 19 images built up over a few weeks. A bunch of images from Demonic Spartan (if you like his style, you’ll be in heaven), plus lots of others. This one might be my favorite…

HALOChat has seen a need – and filled it. There’s a new section of the HALOChat website that lists all upcoming tournaments – at the moment, it contains only entries we’ve mentioned in our news, but I’m guessing that as word spreads, it has the potential to become a clearinghouse for Tournament announcements. Give it a looksee – and if you know of a tourney that’s not on the list… let ’em know!

Bluestone repurposed his website as a Halo blog, and has posted images showing his latest work on the (astoundingly long-in-production) Halo Flash Game he started… oh, sometime in 2003. Let him know what you think in his forum thread.

rockslider continues his study of ways to fight lots and lots and lots of enemies in Halo (the original, not Halo 2) – his latest update looks at Assault on the Control Room, and a number of enjoyable scenarios you can set up. Check it out!

Boxer found a pair of Halo Kubricks on eBay – this one has a starting bid of $60, with four and a half days left on the auction (no bids yet), and this one has a current bid of $50, with almost 6 days left on the auction. Seems rather expensive for a small plastic toy the seller got for free – but hey, that’s capitalism, right?

Couple of tournaments we heard about recently – HaLyCoN mentioned GTA’s Finest, for clans in the Greater Toronto area this June – $1000 for first place, but no word on what it costs to get in…. and Ryan Burke writes to tell us about a tourney hosted by the Carlsbad Christian Assembly, in Carlsbad, CA – April 1, entrance is $2, prize for the grand champion, proceed to go to the Speed the Light foundation.

prometheus writes to point out that he’s posted an interview with Blackstar, a longtime community member and filmmaker, at his Tru7h and Rationalization blog. Go read!

Sparky points out that his Guide to Halo 2 Covenant Vehicles is now posted at TalkXbox.com. Go read!

The writeup isn’t up yet on Bungie.net – but it looks like Bungie took a BEATING in last night’s Halo Humpday Challenge. (There’s a little bit of trash talking amongst some of the players in that thread – but mostly it’s just bitterness, I think. I’d say I have to give Shishka the points for the cheapest shot.) We’ll let you know when Frankie’s post-mortem goes live – should be a fun read.(There’s also this thread – sounds like these guys were… um, pretty good.)

Thanks to a whole lot of people (the first that I saw was weasel032) who pointed us to this post on Bungie.net, where Frankie announces that the upcoming Halo 2 update will add a 2 vs. 2 playlist. Looks like specific info on the update is finally starting to appear!

RibsMaster dropped off another 20 dialogue snippets for our Dialogue Databank. That Johnson character… he can be rude.

Looks like Microsoft is moving the Bungie team from their digs in the Redmond Millenium campus into the Kirkland Hardware Store, in Kirkland, WA (a few miles away). Apparently, they’re growing out of their existing space, and this is a way to keep them together as a team. (Of course, it separates them from the REST of the MS-based game developers… but hey, nobody liked those guys anyway.) The move should take place later this year, once renovations on the Kirkland property are complete. Thanks, orion 12.

A couple of months ago, in response to some overenthusiastic ‘win at all costs’ techniques used to pull easter eggs out of Halo 2, Marty O’Donnell posted a note on our forum talking about the mystique behind eggs, and why you shouldn’t try to ‘brute-force’ them. To soften the reprimand, he tossed out a couple of teasers – hints to eggs that hadn’t been found. One of those teasers fell to egghunters just a couple of weeks later – but the other one stood until today. (Well… it’s possible that it’s STILL standing; Phatcorns post isn’t fully clear, and even his later explanation shows that the triggers for this bit aren’t known yet.) Regardless… it’s always cool when an easter egg comes to light. (This post isn’t being marked as ‘spoiler’ material, because in order to be spoiled, you have to actually follow those links. Use your willpower if you don’t want that.)

SonGoharotto posted a link to a page that contains some of his favorite custom gametypes – looks like some nice ones in there!

Stuntmutt takes a look at his clan’s online performance in today’s One One Se7en. Been there, felt that.

More blog action around the Haloverse:

• nof is unhappy with matchmaking. (He also had something to say recently about the state of Halo moviemaking.)
• Saint[lpn] rants about the DLC issue, and various forms of government, over at Sanction Three.
• Narcogen puts forward his own thoughts on Halo moviemaking (this one’s a monster read, and brings up a number of good points).

I’m loving the whole Halo blog idea; it gives people a chance to speculate on topics that might not be appropriate for forums, or might get lost too quickly in a more fluid environment. Go read – and think!

Looks like another Halo tourney in Wayne, NJ this weekend. 2v2, $25 to enter, they’re shooting for a $500 prize for first place. Details in this forum post, or at Cybrconxion.com.