Gamespot has kicked off its Best and Worst of 2004 – there’s a recap of the year (surprisingly, Halo 2’s $125 million first day didn’t make the list of notable events), and a bunch of Special Achievement awards. Halo 2 was up for Best Original Music, but lost; Best Sound Effects, but lost; Best Original Game Mechanic, but lost; they weren’t even in the running for Best Story, or Best Graphics. They DID take home Best Multiplayer Game, so that’s something. There’s still more to come on this one – but the intro isn’t very promising. Thanks, MiD33.

HaloImpulse is giving away a bunch of stuff (though they’re not saying what, at the moment); Contriute $5 to the site, you’re entered to win. Interesting… thanks, DJ.

Couple of new reviews for Halo 2. Bytesector liked it quite a lot, and gave it a 97% (thanks, Woongsin Lee). Over at the Science Fiction Museum, Exogenesis compared Halo 2 to Half-Life 2. It’s an interesting comparison, touching on a lot of things that have been glossed over by others; worth a read. (Halo 2 got a slightly higher final score, in the end.) Go read!

Zero Flaw has been working on O.N.I. Section Three for quite a long time – it’s starting to look fleshed out. Explore it for a look into (one fan’s view of) the Office of Naval Intelligence.

The Disembodied Brain reviewed Halo 2 – Halo 2 good, Halo 2 ending bad. (A bit more emphatic about that than many others.) Interesting comparison – Halo 2 is like Kill Bill, but before you find out that it’s only the first half of a movie Tarantino needed to split. Thanks, ICDedPpl.

Just a quick note – I understand that the Fan Fiction section is unreachable. I don’t really know why. (Deimos, who manages that particular server, is unreachable as well.) Hold tight, and it’ll be available again as soon as possible.

Amazing as it sounds, I’ve managed to clear out the Wallpaper queue (yeah, for a day or two, maybe). There are 11 new images up for your perusal in the Wallpaper section.

turel did some work with Warhammer40k figures, and came up with another couple of Halo figures. (Halo spoilers, for anyone keeping track.) If you like these, be sure to check out Frankie G.’s collection from a few months back.

Bungie’s Weekly What’s Update has been Updated. Good stuff – cheaters are being banned (and a forum has been set up to make reporting them easier), plus gamertag linking help, obnoxious teasing about downloadable maps, and information on how to submit future questions to What’s Updates. And oh, yeah… the Most Horrible Mister Chief Ever. Go tell Frankie that ‘FIRST’ posts are juvenile. (On second thought, don’t – you’ll only encourage him.)

I’m getting very, very close to clearing out the Miscellaneous Art queue. The current batch is 17 images – including some spectacular pieces. Some have been seen before – some are new. New stuff that blew me away – pieces by Michael Coffing, Delta Hills by Paul Davies, and Jason Borne’s Master Chief. (I’m not even BEGINNING to say that the other new stuff isn’t worth seeing – it’s a particularly powerful batch this time around.) Go take a look!

And… a UK tourney, too. Vagusnet.com is hosting an online Halo 2 tourney, starting in about a month, open to all residents of the UK. More details can be found on their web page. Thanks, GameSHOUT.

Dolbex writes to point out that MLG’s Kickoff Tournament in Washington, DC next month is fast approaching – if you’re planning on getting in on the $10,000 in guaranteed cash for Halo 2, you better get to signing up!

Net stories for Friday: INQ7.net (from the Philippines) says Halo 2 rocks, but still was a huge disappointment, and the Washington Post points out that soldiers in Iraq are still playing Halo 2 to relax. (Thanks, Dry Ice, for finding this first (on MSNBC), and thanks, Anton P. Nym, for grabbing the original.

We don’t allow political discussion on our forum, for a simple reason: we’re a gaming fansite. That said, one of the funniest Halo Launch Day pieces I’ve read to date was posted on a blog that will almost CERTAINLY rile up anyone missing a sense of humor. Please – if you go and read this, and want to discuss it on our forum, leave the politics behind. Thanks, Red Loser.

Today’s One One Se7en suggests that Stuntmutt may, or may not, have been run over once or twice during his Campaign play. Or maybe 3 times.

Bah. It’s been almost 2 weeks since I remembered to add new images to BOLL’s amazing HALOrama2 collection – so you can find 25 new panoramas at this link. SIngle player, multiplayer… tons of stuff. Go look!

Rare. Ben Nissim sent along a link for a rather odd eBay auction – Halo 2 cookies. Yep – $10 or so (plus $6 shipping) will buy you 6 cookies with a big ‘2’ on ’em. We’ve put up a local copy (all links removed), for when this auction ends, because I must say, this one’s new for me.

Dennis Powers reminds us that there are only a couple of weeks left to get your entry in for the Halo CE Movie Contest over at Halomaps. There are already 8 entries posted (1 is a demo, not qualified to win), so check out your competition (broadband or dialup). Warning – these are utterly Mac-unfriendly; I cannot find a browser they will play in. They work find in XP/IE, though.

Thanks to David Simon, who points out that SidneyAnglicans.net (a Christian website) has reviewed Halo 2. Interestingly, it’s not the ending, nor the graphical glitches, that got the nay vote here… it was the fear that painting religiously driven enemies might lead to an unhealthy view of religion. Well-written.

Tina Leyk gets a double spotlight today over at Halo Babies; she’s created a guest strip (“To see… or not to see…“), and she’s been interviewed by mrsmiley. Go read about what drives her!