Wow – almost 2 weeks before release, and some stores already have their copies of Halo 2 (with strict orders not to sell them before November 9, of course). Pics in this Teamxbox forum thread, heads-up goes to Rampancy.net.

Marc, from Halo Universe, writes to say that they’ve got a preview of “Erstschlag” (First Strike in German) up on their site – you can read the first chapter. You can also win 3 copies of the novel and 2 Halo 2 Plantronics headsets. Helps if you read German.

IVIr I3ob wrote to say he and a frind had made a Halo 2 SMG out of Home Depot paint sticks. New one for me…

Mothergoat writes to say that his contest to find the Biggest Halo Fan Ever has ended – won by Conrad Tobias. Visit this forum thread for some pictures that might… well, scare you. (I’m hoping he set a lot of this stuff up just for the contest…)

Another Countdown to Halo 2 article at IGN – a look at whether you should start with Campaign or Multiplayer when you get the game. Rather than answer the question themselves, they went to IGN message board readers. Lots of different views.

Variation was able to send us a 60-second variant of the Halo 2 commercial now playing on US television (Hopefully, today, I’ll be able to find time to compile a list of all the different versions that have been put out there). It’s the same commercial – just fleshed out a bit. This version is 320×240, and available in both WMP9 format (2.3 mb) or QuickTime format (3.7 mb). More grist for the speculation mill… Update: Thanks to ajenteks, who pointed out that our links for the 60-second commercial are totally swamped. I’ve tossed new copies on mythica.org – both the WMP9 version and the QuickTime version are there. Grab whichever mirror is faster for you.

We mentioned this a couple of weeks ago, but the official press release came out yesterday, so here’s the word from the top about the upcoming MTV special:

New York, NY – October 27, 2004 – MTV: Music Television today announced that “Making the Video Game: Halo 2” will premiere on MTV on Friday, November 5th at 11:00pm ET/PT, and MTV2 on Saturday, November 6th at 9:00pm ET. The special will give viewers an unprecedented inside look at the most anticipated video game of 2004. “Making the Video Game: Halo 2” will go behind the scenes to discover the secrets, the storylines, and the graphics that will keep every last obsessive Halo fan glued to their TV. The special will also include interviews with the game developers, celebrity Halo fans, and the bands involved in the new soundtrack including Incubus and Hoobastank. Both the game and soundtrack hit stores on November 9th.

“The MTV audience is the gaming audience,” said John Shea, EVP, Sponsorship Development and Integrated Marketing, MTV, VH1, and CMT. “Halo 2 is destined to be one of the biggest video games of the season and we’re excited to give fans a behind the scenes look.”

The press release also contained the first official (as far as I know) notice that Halo sales have passed the 5 million mark. Nice!

Wondering who might be selling Halo 2 at midnight on November 9? Worried because there are no EB Games near you, and you’re afraid you might miss out on the early purchase? Never fear, Xbox.com has come to your rescue – if you live in the US. Visit the Midnight Madness Store Locator, put in your zip code and the maximum distance you’re willing to travel, and you get back a list of all stores participating in this event in your area. I discovered that even here, in the boonies, there are 4 stores within 10 miles that are participating… Thanks, Steve Cherrier.

If you’re an IGN Insider, there’s a new Halo 2 desktop available to you. If you’re not an Insider… sorry. Thanks to MarkHawk and creaper609 for letting us know.

I’m not even gonna try and count the number of people who wrote to us about the two new clips at nilerogers.com – there are dozens of them. KNIGHTOFDRAGONS was first, though. Launch the Listening Station if you’re on a fast connection, and give a listen to snippets from ‘Peril’ and ‘In Amber Clad’ – they’re both great. If you’re on a slow connection, you can grab the ‘Peril’ snippet (1:16, 1.1 mb) and the ‘In Amber Clad‘ snippet (1:13, 1.1 mb) separately.

A couple of weeks ago, we mentioned a contest in which 50 lucky winners would get to play Halo 2 on live TV in Times Square on November 4 – yesterday, we heard from Brian Graham that he received one of the invites, and last night, we discovered that our very own Miguel Chavez got another one! Looks like HBO will be nicely represented. Keep your eyes on ESPN’s Cold Pizza show on that Thursday morning, to see this goodness.

MiD33 points out that the first three episodes of his HALOlego comics (among other things) can be found at his new website, ForTru7h. Check ’em out!

Been out all day, the Halo mail is PILING up – I’ll get to it eventually, I hope. Wanted to post this now, though, because of the time factor. haloTV is broadcasting TWL’s 5v5 CTF Pro League championships, starting just 90 minutes from now (8:30 cst). The stream will be capped at 250 viewers, so get in soon!

MC discovers that even GS doesn’t want to hear it in today’s One One Se7en .

Ross Mills sent in scans of a Halo 2 leaflet he noticed in multiple stores (front and back) – they’re clearly direct from Microsoft, but it seems a tad late to me for folks to be BEGINNING to collect preorders… Nice pic on the front. Update: Sorry, I didn’t make it clear – this is from the UK – the November 11 release date is not a typo, that’s just what the Europeans have to live with.

Countdown to Halo, IGN style: today they’re looking at the SmartJoy FRAG device (mouse and keyboard for an Xbox), and wondering if it’ll kill Halo 2. Thanks, John Rivas.

Eep – the AussieXbox giveaway we mentioned yesterday was postponed – it will relaunch on November 9. Sorry, folks! (Thanks, Leighland Okey.)

Over at Howstuffworks, there’s an interview with Pete Parsons, in which Pete holds forth about how important a story is to a video game. It’s a great read, and should give you insight into what Bungie is trying to do with its universe. Frensa Geran was first with the heads-up.

Looks like the ILB game is coming to an end; followers have been instructed to meet in several large cities around the US for a ‘hands on training exercise’ on November 4th, if they are over 17. GhaleonEB, who sent this to us, believes this will probably be some hands-on Halo2 Mulltiplayer for participants of the ARG. Details are on this page at the ILB site, and he found it at the Netninja BeeWiki.

My generic webcomic has a Halo 2-related strip yesterday. This strip, in general, might be considered not safe for work. Thanks, Corgana.