Joyride Studios has posted scans from the latest issue of ToyFare magazine, a story focused on the Joyride Halo action figures. Thanks to Littlebigman for the heads-up.

I missed this when it was first posted, but found it after reading another forum post (thanks, Alex!) – Mike Miller sat down and wrote out a pretty sizeable review of gameplay in Halo 2 on Legendary. There’s some really, really interesting info in this post. Tips on weapons combos, honest talk about what works, and what doesn’t, gameplay-wise, discussion of improvements (and degradations) of various visuals – this one is well-thought-out, well-written, and comes from someone with impeccable credentials (if the name Mike Miller doesn’t mean anything to you, search our movie database – or maybe our news database is better, since his most recent movies aren’t yet catalogued). Check this one out! (Some spoilers for folks who haven’t finished the game yet.)

WaLKa posted a Halo tribute vid on our forum, showing off some great Halo gameplay. The video is WMP9 format, 8 mb. I’ve posted a QuickTime version, as well, for thot want one (8.3 mb). Nice playing, coupled with nice timing…

Hawaiian Pig has posted what he says is the last collection of RvB set pieces – posed hi-res screenshots to match scenes from RvB movies. There are four new shots in this collection – really nicely done. We’re gonna miss these! Check ’em out.

Frankie’s second Weekly What’s Update got posted tonight… except it’s not Frankie, it’s Chris Butcher and Max Hoberman answering questions. They talk a lot about the matchmaking system, so if you have questions, go read it – they might have answers for you!

bentllama has updated his weblog with a couple of common-sense items – if you’re sending someone a Friends request on XBL, you might consider actually TALKING to them and telling them who you are and why you want to be their friend… and if you’re without a headset mic, should you REALLY be playing in team games? (Well, that second one might be a little harsh… but they’re both things to think about.) Just your friendly neighborhood pancake-lover, trying to make your Live experience less stressful!

Whoa. Remember that Flash/Coldfusion contest we mentioned yesterday? The deadline had been today… but it’s now extended two weeks, to December 3. One person taking advantage of the extra time is another Macromedia employee (not eligible for any prizes, but dang, I’m looking forward to the final product anyway) – Kevin Hoyt released a screenshot and a featurelist for Halo Reader 1.0, which looks AWESOME. Check it out! (Thanks, Mike.)

Great new interview with Burnie, of the Red vs Blue team up at Bungie.net right now. There’s info about how far they’ve come, what’s planned in the future, and, of course, discussion of how much better than Gus Burnie really is. There’s also a brand-new movie (WMP format only, unfortunately). Go give it a read, and a viewing! Thanks to A of T for the first heads-up.

Several people have pointed out to me that the fact that you could shoot grenades out of the air was posted in a Bungie Weekly Update. I went to our database and did a few searches – I tried ‘grenade’, and ‘shoot’, and ‘plasma’, but I couldn’t find it. I realized that our database was a bit out of date (at least a month, in fact) – so I brought it up to the present. (I didn’t include last week’s Weekly What’s Update – because that’s a new feature, and will eventally have its own section – though I did search through it manually.) I must say – even with the updated version, I cannot find this reference folks speak of. If anyone has better information about where to find this quote, I’d be happy to credit them here. Thanks! Update: Thanks to Archaos46, who pinned down where this reference came from. It was the interview that Gamespy did with Tyson Green on November 1; page 2 contains this quote:

[…]it is now possible (albeit extremely difficult) to snipe and detonate them midair, but they are pretty true to the original aside from that.

Glad to get that out of the way!

Nate Robinson pointed out an editorial cartoon he created for his university newspaper (The University of Washington Daily); I’m wondering if that’s Sep7imus’ door there… (Nah. He doesn’t teach at UW.) Love the priorities!

Halo 2 has set another sales record – 104,000 units in its first week of sales in Australia (beating GTA: San Andreas, which sold about half that its first weekend). This article at Aussie Xbox (thanks, Gossip) said the previous 1-week record was 68,000 units (but doesn’t say what game). However you slice it, Microsoft is coming out on top with this one. In other news: This review at the Indiananapolis Star (4 stars, no idea what the scale is) deserves recognition for a nice turn of phrase; they’re discussing the controls of Halo 2, and how similar they are to those for Halo – but they say “newcomers shouldn’t fret because addiction will lead to a mastery of the controls.” Love it! And there’s a rather bizarre auction over at eBay right now; Halo 2 LE for $1000. The seller is not trying to fool you – he TELLS you you’re getting a $54.99 game: “Please be prudent in your search for Halo 2. They are available EVERYWHERE! But, if you want to throw away your money, please throw it at me.”

Part X, the final segment, of “As Real as a ‘Survivor’ Elimination“, the military analysis of Halo’s gameplay, has now been posted at the Junkyard. Sounds like they’re not completely done with the topic, though – there’s a ‘big announcement’ coming next week.

Stuntmutt has not one strip today, but TWO. There’s his regular One One Se7en, which continues the study of the Drone, but there’s also a Guest Halo Babies strip over at halobabies.net. Too many puns spoil the… something.

You can shoot grenades out of the air? As Neo would say… Whoa.

Quick netnews listing before I head out tonight…

Reviews

• The Adrenaline Vault (5/5 – thanks, Target4Hire)
• Stuff (New Zealand) – No score, but ‘best game on the Xbox’

Articles

• The Economist – The Halo Effect (looking closely at hype claims – thanks, D. Nadal)
• Kansas CIty Star – Halo 2: The Real Deal (Halo lives up to hype)
• Straight.com – info on how to enter a contest that pairs band The Music up with Xbox Canada – Halo and The Music schwag on the line (Actual contest site is here)
• The New Haven Register (my local paper) did an article… on me, I guess. (If the online access bugs you, a scan of the dead tree edition is here.)

I gotta say, I’m really loving bugmenot.com – I used to pass over subscription-only articles, but now I’m posting them. Visit if you need help getting in.

MereCatfish decided to write up his OWN Halo 2-buying experience. See how many times you ask the screen “what… are you an idiot?” (I think I got to 6.) (All in fun, Mere – but man, you DID do some silly things.)

Oddworld wrote an article on the amazing first-day success of Halo 2 for his school’s newspaper, the Carnegie-Mellon University Tartan (actually, for an included arts/style guide, Pillbox). We’ve put it online here so everyone can read it.

Last week, we pointed out a 12-page sampler of the Piggyback/Prima Strategy Guide (it’s the same book, on both sides of the Atlantic – the Piggyback team wrote this, Prima is marketing it in the US). Tonight, Frankie put up a note that includes direct download links for another few pages from Bungie, and a link to still MORE pages at Prima’s site. Go get ’em! (Nothing’s the same as actually HAVING the book… but it’s a great start; you can download 22 of the 226 pages right now!)

Cool new schwag at the Bungie Store – a signed, limited edition (500 total) mylar print of Lorraine McLees’ awesome Halo 2 MC; 8×10 for $25. Get yours today! (Thanks, Shishka.)

If you logged onto XBL today, and your clan status wasn’t anywhere to be seen, don’t panic. They’re working on it. No data is lost; you don’t need to rebuild your clan. Read Sketch’s note over on Bungie.net for more details.