Halo Babies has a new comic up – in which Baby MC is a little… lost. If you’re interested in meeting these guys, they’re gonna be at MLG’s Downpour event in Seattle this weekend, selling Halo Babies T-Shirts – details can be found in this news post.

Wow – a movie theater in Logan, Utah has set up a permanent weekly Halo tourney, making good use of their giant screens for some sweet gameplay. Not a bad way to bring in a little extra money! Thanks to Team Overkill (w00t! Halo 2 is coming, they’re visible again!) for the heads-up.

Yesterday, Art Vandelay pointed out some shakeycam photos taken at the X04 Canada event in Toronto, during Halo 2 multiplay. (There are 54 shots in all.) Apparently, they were originally taken by “Biff Sasquatch” of GameFAQs. Extra mirrors for some (or all) of the shots can be found in this TeamXbox thread. Before everyone gets all hot and bothered – most of these are really terrible; blurry, weird angles, whatever. And they’re all showing the same E3-based Zanzibar build you saw pics of several months ago. That said, gameplay is gameplay, and you get some new views here. Check ’em out!

It’s that Bungie-special Episode 77 over at Calvin and Halo – and Blackstar takes a shot at the… hmm. Someone.

The Fan Fiction section grows by another 13 pieces today, including a poem AND a song. Give it a look-see.

Wow. Nice Halo painting – 20×30 acrylic on canvas. Pointed out by its creator, Stinogatron. He mentions that there are a couple of other Halo pieces in his DeviantArt gallery. (One of them is already in our Wallpaper section…)

Hmm… Alex Cross got his hands on the long-awaited OXM Holiday Preview Guide… and he was disappointed. Yes, there’s a large spread on Halo 2 – but to him, it seemed like a rehash of existing info, and there weren’t any new screenshots. (The leaked shots currently making the rounds will likely show up in the October issue, due on newsstands on September 7.) It’s got plenty of information, and if you’re looking for a mag that compares the various games due out for Christmas, this would be a great buy (it is, after all the Holiday Preview Guide) – but if you’re specifically looking for Halo 2 info, it looks like you won’t find it here. Go read Alex’s post for more details.

As we mentioned yesterday, Microsoft was recently in Toronto for X04 Canada, a press-only event at which Halo 2 was present, and playable. Gamespot was there, and snuck in an interview with Peter Moore, Microsoft’s VP of marketing for Xbox International. Moore was enthusiastic across the board… but had some pretty amazing things to say about the Halo 2 release.

“…there is no doubt in my mind that the first 24 hours of Halo 2 will be bigger than the first 24 hours of any movie at box office or music CD. They will pale in comparison. Halo 2 will be the biggest 24 hours in entertainment retail history.”

Go read the rest of the interview – get pumped up.

Hawaiian Pig fixed a small typo in his recently-posted Red vs Blue Season 3 poster – and added two new styles, and a new set piece. Pictures, and explanations, can be found in this forum post.

Mintz08 decided to try the Megabattle technique (fixed camera, multiple composited shots) with Halo action figures, rather than ingame – interesting results. Plasmanator tossed in his own offering. A new creative option?

Bestmasterchief posted a link to a vid hosted by Halo Babies – bouncing warthogs off dropships. It’s 5 mb, WMP9 format. The last one’s nicely timed.

Dolbex has been playing with the Megabattle picture technique (search our news if this doesn’t mean anything to you), and has recreated a few key moments from MLG games. There are four static shots, and one panoramic. Pretty slick! (Registration – free – required to see the pics.)

So, in the novels, it’s made clear that Elites are MUCH taller than humans. How should this REALLY affect gameplay? One One Se7en takes a stab. Well, a shot. Sort of.

To the folks sending us links to the Halo 2 screenshots currently making their way around the net: these are leaked shots, not meant to be shown to the public yet. We understand that it’s really, really hard to put the genie back in the bottle… but (as has always been the case here) we’re going to respect the wishes of the property owners on this one; we will show no picture before its time. (Those of you who remember Orson Welles, raise your hands.) We will not be posting the pictures, or links to the pictures, until they’re SUPPOSED to be out, and we will be removing links we find in our forum. We’re not trying to make your life miserable, or kill your buzz – Bungie didn’t want these images out in the public yet, so we’re respecting that. If you really MUST see them, they’re out there – just don’t ask us where. Thanks!

Hehe – a late afternoon post by bentllama on his recently-unveiled blog points out a thread on the CGTalk forums in which a Toronto resident explained how to get into a press-only Halo 2 showing. (The event ended yesterday, so don’t bother going down now.) Goes to show… hang around in the right crowd, you might get wind of stuff that’s pretty interesting…

Mhaddy, of the Junkyard, points out the second installment of their realism-in-Halo interview with a US Marine pilot. In today’s article, the interview focuses on the level Halo, and what a current-day Marine would have done in some of the situations that arise in the game. An interesting read!

Pallor found a Halo reference in Jane, a magazine aimed at ‘the twenty-to-thirty-something female generation’. In the September issue, in the Play Tech section, is a small picture of Cortana and the MC, with the caption ‘Tough-chick Cortana is calling all the shots.’ Great to see a game like Halo 2 being marketed, sort of, at this totally new audience! More details can be found in Pallor’s Subnova news post.

Dan Chosich ripped another copy of the second Halo 2 ad to hit print mags; it’s not new, but it’s new at this quality. If you’re interested in digital versions of the Halo 2 print ads, grab this!