1UP.com (the web presence of EGN, XBM, and CGW) has put up a preview based on THEIR visit to Bungie last month. Lots of tasty info, including snippets others missed. Check it out. Thanks, Druff.

GameDaily has posted their own impressions article based on the press visit last month. It’s a solid read, with focus on ranking and clan play. Check it out!

IGN has posted the second half of its Hands-on report; rather than give you a new URL, it just tacked on 4 more pages. A nice summary of all the maps, as well as gametype descriptions (and the obligatory whine about the lack of Single player info). Good read. Go do it. Thanks, GhaleonEB.

MacSoft has issued a new patch for Mac Halo – this one brings the Mac version back into parity with its PC counterpart. You can read the Press Release here; I can’t find the updater yet on either of the other two sites listed, so you might just want to grab it from one of our mirrors.

Gamespot has put up a Developer Interview – 4 and a half minutes of info from SketchFactor and Frankie discussing exactly what was available to the press who showed up to play some Halo 2 last month. There’s also info about the ranking system. It’s available for download for Gamespot Complete members, but mostly it’s these guys talking, overlaid on top of stock footage; you don’t lose much by checking out the free streaming version. Definitely worth a listen! (There’s even a bit on the Plantronics headset!) To find this interview, cehck out the GameSpace page for Halo 2 – down in the ‘Gamespot Exclusive Movies’, it’s the second one down.

Tom King, from Cerberus, the hosts for Nightmare Armor’s website, points out on our forum that the Nightmare Armor videos, which had gone offline for bandwidth reasons, are now all back up and downloadable. If you missed any of the cool footage, go check it out!

Yeah, yeah… in the midst of all this Halo 2 goodness, that Stuntmutt HAS to get his digs in. 6 in a row, even. It’s okay, though, he’s covering OTHER games in today’s One One Se7en.

Captain Spark has opened a Halo 2 dialogue center, in preparation for the huge flood of recording he’s planning to do in a few months. At the moment, it’s got a bunch of modified screenshots he’s put together… quite pretty. Check it out!

Narcogen has taken quite a bit of information from the new Hands-On articles, and already incorporated it into the Rampancy.net Halo 2 FAQ. Busy busy!

Oh m’gosh! Mister Chief has gone ribs. X-eyes are never good… Go read Halo Babies today.

And the writeups continue to pour in – Gamespot has put up a 7-page in-depth view, and Gamespy has posted 4 pages of Hands-On feedback. Here at HBO, our very own mnemesis whipped up his own impressions on our forum. They’re gonna be coming all day, folks, so take it slow. (Me, I’m off to get some sleep.)

And the media flood commences. IGN has posted the first half of its Beta Hands-On experience at Bungie Studios last month – three pages of goodness. Go read.

IGN Xbox has a 6-page article on what it’s like to cover Halo 2, the ‘most anticipated game of all time’. Interesting read. Look for far more content in the next couple of days; the media embargo that was set to be lifted on September 15 will now lift in 4 hours – at 12:01 am PST Friday. (We’ll have a couple of writeups of our own, I should think… though I’m not sure when they’ll get posted.) And those juicy hi-res screenshots that went up a bit early yesterday will be available again. Thanks, Oddworld.

Eep – I forgot yesterday’s Wallpaper update (coming soon, I hope), but at least I have today’s Miscellaneous Art update. 10 new pieces, including some cool renders and a larger version of some very cool art that showed up in the Letters to the Webmaster section of Bungie.net. Check ’em all out!

Xbox.com is offering a desktop Master Chief for users of Windows PCs – a 2 mb download that puts a semi-active MC on your desktop. He’s there to pass you new info about Halo 2, as it’s released… I guess he’s sort of cute. More info can be found on the Xbox.com page, or in Walshicus’ forum post about it. The Marketing juggernaut continues…

Just a word of advice for young kids out there: there’s nothing that sets off parental radar faster than the technique in today’s Calvin and Halo. NOTHING. (Now, if Calvin tried, instead, to sell his dad on the Co-op gameplay as a father-son bonding technique…)

5 new pieces for you in the Fan Fiction section today. (I’d expected more, given the outage this weekend… but I’m not complaining.) Mostly chapters, and one poem.

I hate these things… but I hate the flood of email worse. Go vote in the GameFAQs Character Battle today; the Master Chief is up against Frog, from Chrono Trigger, and he’s currently losing. If you go, though, maybe the flood of emails will stop. Thanks!

Another international sighting – the Master Chief appeared in a shop in Sweden today. (Is it just me, or does it look like an Elite is trying to fit into the MC’s armor?) Thanks, pmzukan.

DOH! We don’t even have a real One One Se7en strip for you today… but Stuntmutt couldn’t step away from the spotlight. Oh, no, not him…