Tina Leyk dropped off a new picture this morning – a Forerunner structure. Not her normal choice of subjects – but it’s pretty slick! I’ve taken the opportunity to top off her Doodles page, as well, with a few new images she’s posted elsewhere around the net (these days, mostly on the Halo Babies forum – pretty fertile ground there for art lovers!). Use the ‘Added’ dates to figure out what’s new.

Captain Spark has posted another 66 new dialogue snippets on his website. These will be up for a week or so (and hopefully, soon, up here, as well). Go grab ’em!

TheTaintedOne posted a true widescreen (16:9) video (WMP9 format) captured of a game of FFA Melee Ball (the rules are explained in the forum post). He explained how he created the film in this thread on the HaloTV forum. Takes some higher-end video-editing software… but the results are quite nice!

New content added to Xbox.com since the last roundup we did:

• Strategy: The Perfect Clan – How to set up a clan
• Web Integration – Making the most of the Bungie.net resources
• Map Strategy: Tight Spots – Coverage of small maps
• Map Strategy: Zanzibar – Coverage of (duh) Zanzibar
• Strategy: Ghost Riding – Best tricks on a ghost
• Secrets of the Covenant – Story overview from the Covenant side
• Tips and Tricks – General strategies
• The Big One – Overview of a major portion of the Halo story arc
• Big One Tips – Followup on The Big One
• A Peek at Halo 2’s Story – Teasers, mostly
• First Level Walkthrough – Cairo Station
• Scott Land: Weapons of Choice – Weapons overview
• This week in Xbox – 3, 2, 1, Launch! – OXM overview of XBL Halo 2 gameplay
• The 7th Column – Overview of Bungie’s group site
• GamerSpeak: My Halo 2 Launch Party – One group’s experience getting started
• Welcome to Earth – Walkthrough of Outskirts and Metropolis

It should go without saying, many of these contain spoilers. Whew. THAT should keep you busy for a while!

MrJukes put up a note on our forum recently – he’s put together a series of videos showing some pretty cool jumping tricks in most Halo 2 multiplayer maps. (He updated the collection this evening, with three more videos.) Places you might not have realized you could get to – with or without grenades. He’s pretty sure the bandwidth will hold out, but if it doesn’t, we’ll step in. Nice work, all around!

SciFi.com has reviewed Halo 2 – A+, they loved it. Thanks again, John Rivas.

There’s a new sweatshirt over at the Bungie Store – black, with the MC on the back, a Halo 2 on the breast, full zip. Keep warm in style! Thanks, John Rivas.

Yesterday, we posted a link to an article about the Canadian contingent at Bungie. What we didn’t notice was the picture that linked to that article on the front page of the Globe and Mail. (If it’s gone, bentllama has saved a copy on his own blog.) This puppy seriously needs a caption… I’m thinking something like “Jeeves, is my Harley still behind the third garage, or have you sent it out to be cleaned?”

The Junkyard has released their own in-house review of Halo 2; it takes into account several other fan reviews, and looks more closely at some of the choices Bungie made. It’s aimed at folks who’ve already finished the game. Go take a look!

prometheus has updated his site devoted to Halo Environmental Art, The Halouvre, with new 1600×1200 (and smaller) HUDless Halo 2 screens… and a tutorial on how to make your own. (I gotta say… it looks HARD. Or at least time-consuming.) Check it out!

Ryan ‘Mhaddy’ Matthews writes to say that the latest Spotlight over at the Junkyard is on Ducain, the master behind HighImpactHalo.org. Go read it to see what drives this guy!

15 new stories and poems for you in today’s Fan Fiction update. Go see what you can find!

altodarknight, unhappy with the lack of an Aussie contingent in the recent restructuring of XBL’s Clan HBO, has put up a poll asking if you’d join an Aussie HBO clan if it existed. Stop by and cast your vote! (Clearly, this is only useful if you live in the region…)

GlobeandMail.com has put up another article about the Cananimators, the group of 6 Canadians on the Halo 2 development team, and how they fit into the overall picture of Canada’s contribution to video game development. Thanks, Zaknafein.

A week ago, we mentioned a contest cosponsored by Gearbox Software, EPG Servers, and Halo Maps; create a video promoting Halo CE, win cool stuff. The list of stuff just grew; Forerunners.org tossed in a couple of signed German copies of Halo PC. You can find the announcement of new prizes on the Gearbox forum, and the full contest rules (including prizes) on the Halo Maps website.

Gamespot’s got another article up about the great month Halo 2 and GTA: SA just finished; in fact, it was so great that total console software sales for the month were 11% above their November 2003 values – and without those two titles, the numbers would have been 21% BELOW last year’s values. Wonga.

Acronym puzzles have been a part of Bungie lore for years – going all the way back to the Marathon days. mnemesis got pretty interested in the Halo 2 acronyms a month ago – but he’s stepped it up a notch by bringing in the Strategy Guide, and Bungie.net wallpapers; the current puzzle is pretty spread out. Go read his forum post, and see what you can figure out!

Recently, G4TechTV aired an episode of Icons devoted to Bungie, and their rise through the years. It’s nicely put together, with interviews of various Bungie (and ex-Bungie) employees, coupled with footage from various sources. Dan Chosich did a fantastic job of capturing this; we can’t show it to you yet, because it’s still in rotation on G4TechTV, but once they stop airing it (last scheduled episode is December 19), we’ll post a copy for download. If you have access to the cable channel, watch it on your television. The full schedule is here. (Just search for ‘Bungie’.)

There’s a new Weekly What’s Update up over at Bungie.net right now – info about action against cheaters, info about the basics of Xbox Live gameplay, and a truly awful Mister Chief drawing. Go read!

KP has posted a note on our regular forum, explaining how we’re going to get around the 100 person limit on XBL clans – it points to a post on the Clan HBO forum wiht many more details. If you wanted to be a member of Clan HBO, and were frustrated by how quickly it filled up, go read this!