Halo Babies is back with a new series – and there’s a new Cortana (just like in Halo 2). Check out the strip – and some Cortana concept sketches.

Yesterday, we mentioned an article that suggested that video games might help train people to be better soldiers. It inspired quite a bit of discussion on our forum. Today, MIT’s Technology Review has an article about what soldiers in Iraq do on their off-time… and it seems a lot of it is ‘play video games’. The end of the article, however, suggests that the soldiers themselves don’t think that the game-playing gets them any more prepared for real combat – another set of voices, weighing in.

We’re releasing two more cutscenes this evening over in the Cutscene Library: The Oracle and Edification bracket the Heretic Boss Battle. (I don’t THINK just those words are spoilers, in and of themselves… but if you consider them to be, please accept my apologies.) Enjoy!

Another Machinima series starting up – THEM vs US: A Zanzibar Story. Currently there’s just a teaser up on the page, but they promise more to come. Their hook – it’s all being done over XBL. The performers have never met in real life. Give it a look!

More video madness: over at That Weasel Television, the community has been uploading mountains of new video footage – much of it is trick material, but there are also a number of gameplay/music vids. If you’re jonesing for new video material (and I’m having a little trouble seeing how you could be, these days, but hey, it takes all kinds), swing on by the TWTv Halo Exclusives page and see what you can find!

Back in early November, MTV put up a special called ‘Making The Video Game: Halo 2’, which took a sort of documentary look at the making of the game. (It wasn’t very much like the DVD that comes with the Limited Edition… but it was interesting. Bungie.net mentioned it here – we put up some info here.) As far as I can tell, today was the last day of its rotation in the MTV on-air schedule… so we can put up a copy for download. Or… more accurately, we can publicize a download that’s been available for quite some time. Icetiger, over at HaloPlanet, recorded this and posted it at FilePlanet a couple of months ago – it’s 21 minutes long, WMP9 format, 77.5 mb (commercials yanked). For folks who don’t want the WMP9 version, I’ve created a QuickTime version – 77.8 mb. Grab the one that works best for you! Update: this movie, in both QuickTime AND WMP9 flavors, along with several other recent movies, are now available also at That Weasel Television – if you’d like the WMP9 version, but don’t like (or can’t use) FilePlanet, this is for you!

Dennis Powers points out that you’ve got a little more than one day to get your entry in to Halo Maps’ Halo CE Video Contest – there are 2 dozen entries already submitted (high and low res), check ’em out and create something better, but do it FAST!

Ross Mills found another couple of Master Chief statues on eBay – one is 3 feet tall, the other is 6 feet tall. They’ve both got a few days left on their auctions – if you want one of these puppies, go bid!

Oh, the lessons of the holidays… today’s Calvin and Halo hammers home that it’s better to give than to receive. (At least, if you’re gonna be receiving later on…)

Goose241 writes that he’s set up an online wiki to collect Multiplayer Strategies – this is a place you can contribute your own ideas to. (While we’re on the subject of wikis… Khas wrote a few days ago that he’d added an article to Wikipedia about MAC guns.)

We mentioned a Canadian tourney about a month ago, sponsored by the Maasai Clan – it looks like it’s been delayed until mid-March, in order to get the Canadian Gaming League involved. Thanks to Narcogen, at Rampancy.net, for the heads-up on the delay.

BBC Online has put up their own Editors’ Picks for best games of 2004 – Halo 2 was one of four games tapped. Thanks, MadscientistUK.

This is a new stance – according to James Pinkerton, of Newsday.com, Halo 2 (and games like it) serve a necessary purpose in our society – they ‘hone the killer instinct’, and ‘prep the next generation to do the hard work of freedom’. Whoa. There’s already a lively discussion on our forum – please try and keep this politics-free. (A lot of the criticism seems to be taking the argument that console controllers don’t translate to real-world skills – but I think Pinkerton’s point was that it’s the ATTITUDES that are being sharpened, not the actual mechanical skills.) Thanks, Raneb.

GameDaily wrote up a Halo 2/Half-Life 2 Face-Off, comparing the two games feature for feature. We won’t spoil the surprise – go read it. Thanks, TricKy.

A recent Silo Roberts comic looked at Christmas presents… and why some are not interchangeable. Thanks, Annie Muske-Dukes.

IGN has posted a Sniping Locations FAQ for Water Works. Just what it sounds like.

For anyone who wanted to grab the Spike TV Ultimate Gamer piece we released earlier today, but didn’t feel like dealing with QuickTime… you can nab it in WMP9 format (75 mb) off files2.bungie.org.

Because the next few cutscenes are so short, we’re releasing four at once – they all take place around the Gas Giant. Check out Juggernaut, Hey, Watch This!, Hot Pursuit, and Dead or Alive… Actually, Just Dead – all over at our Cutscene Library.

There’s a new Dialogue update from Captain Spark on his website – 62 new snippets, including an old favorite. Details in his forum post. (These will make it into our Dialogue Databank in the next couple of days.)

There’s a Mac Halo 1.5.1 patch out now from MacSoft. It fixes a few things in the recent 1.5 release – you don’t need to download this unless you’re having any of the problems listed below.

• Fixed a Software rasterizer model animation bug on ATI 8500/9000/9200 hardware.
• Fixed a Pixel Shaders bug where drop shadows were not being rendered for text output.
• Fixed a Vertex Shaders bug where decals would display with the wrong colors on ATI 8500/9000/9200 hardware.

You can grab a copy (3.5 mb) from files.bungie.org. Update: Apologies – the zip file here originally was corrupt. It’s been replaced by a non-corrupt .sitx file.