Hmm… Play video games with band members (I have to say I’ve never heard of any of them), win prizes. Interesting concept. Details can be found on this page. Thanks to W1ldfire for the heads-up.

Bungie mentioned yesterday that the deadline for entries to the Mountain Dew Halo 2 contest has been extended until July 21. (This means that the photoshoot has been rescheduled, as well – to July 24.) Thanks, Mad Cow.

Halo Babies Episode 48 is out today – go check it out. Looks like MC’s been hanging out with Bungie employees…

Going Nowhere Fast winner Sean Oehrle’s run of Assault on the Control Room is now available for download via BitTorrent. It has been known for some time that by jumping off the first bridge, enemies for MOST of the level will not be spawned (because the trigger to spawn them has been bypassed) – Sean shows a pretty impressive descent and a quick way to the nearest vehicle. The download is 52.2 mb in QuickTime format.

Apologies for the delay – the third release of the Going Nowhere Fast winning runs, Truth and Reconciliation, is now available via direct download. 850 people have already grabbed the vid via BitTorrent (along with 2000 copies of the Pillar of Autumn run and 1000 copies of the Halo run) – but I know there are always those who would rather use their web browser, so for you folks, we have a number of high-capacity download links. You’ll find them on the GNF Status page.

I’m headed up to see Blackstar pretty soon, so before I go, let me toss out today’s Calvin and Halo, his comment on some potential pitfalls in upcoming level design.

1up.com has added a new Halo 2 preview today – it looks somewhat familiar, but I can’t find a record of posting it before, so I’m crossing my fingers. Dan Hsu, of EGM, clearly liked the game. Thanks, Anton. (It’s also interesting that Halo AND Halo 2 are on the 1up.com Buzzometer – in 6th and 1st place, respectively. Thanks, Toby.) Update: Free at Last thinks he read it, too – and points out this news post (whose link no longer works). It looks like 1up.com changed their layout completely, and some of the dates might have gotten toasted in the move.

The Xtournaments Crew points out that they’ve added a Sniper Derby to their State vs State Nationals event in September. Your team’s best sniper will have 1 minute to shoot as many other sniper-equipped players as possible. The event is on Boarding Action, CTF settings (so that the sniper is one color, all targets are another), and nobody but the sniper can shoot. (The targets are all other contestants, so you can be sure they’ll be doing their best not to die.) Sounds like fun! (There’s no additional cost to enter this derby, and the winner will take home some cash.) If you’re signed up for the tournament, you need to leave a post on their forum with the name of your team’s sniper.

Today’s Applegeeks comic is Halo-related; it’s the second half of a story they started a couple of days ago. Thanks to Inky and Black Six for pointing it out.

Bungie has posted an article detailing two new figures out from Joyride this month, a Cobalt MC (different from the current Battle-Damage MC at GameStop), available at EB and an Active Camo Elite at Hollywood Video. Looks like Coviehunter made a minor notice of the Elite on our forum today.

Thanks to the very large number of people who pointed out that Halo 2 will be on display, and playable, at this year’s Penny Arcade Expo in late August. I wonder how many people have just changed their end-of-summer plans…

Over the years, we’ve reported a lot of Halo news. There are, in fact, as of this post, exactly 10,000 news posts in the database. It’s therefore somewhat appropriate that this post is devoted to a pair of comics that have been a staple of the site for the last couple of years – Halo: Resolution and One One Se7en. (Some folks have complained that it seems like ALL we post is strips for these comics… but it just ain’t so.) Where Did That Radio Come From? and Sarge’s New Men are both great examples of why these strips have been around for so long… and I’d like to take this chance to thank all the readers who’ve made posting those 10,000 items (and a bunch of other stuff, besides) all worthwhile. 10,000 more? We’ll see. 🙂

Andrew points out that FTC 13 is now available for direct download for the masses, if BitTorrent hasn’t been doing it for you.

Dolbex points out an audio interview with Strangepurple, the number 1 ranked player in the MLG league. He’s not actually playing right now… interesting. Go listen to why not on the MLG website.

He’s done it again… Ducain posted a teaser pic on our forum last night, asking folks if they could tell what made it special. Juggertrout pointed it out for folks who missed it, and this morning, Ducain posted video of how it was done. And I must say, it’s pretty impressive. (I’m shooting for the Understatement of the Week award – you think I’ve got a shot?) I’m on the road, on a slow laptop, so viewing the WMP files was not an option… so I ripped a couple of QuickTime versions for folks in my boat.

Didn’t quite get to this in time to add HBO’s voice to the mix… but it looks like it doesn’t matter that much. Strato mentioned that yesterday, GameFAQs posted a poll: ‘Which upcoming big-name Xbox sequel/spinoff are you most looking forward to?’ It’s over now… but Halo 2 ran away with this one, garnering 22,050 of the 43,426 votes cast. Nearest competitor was Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, with 8000 votes. Yeah, I think folks want Halo 2…

Okay, last one of these for a while, unless some REALLY killer shots turn up. Falcon Zero posted another pair of shots, Konrad tried his hand on Infinity, and The Ghost reminisced about the way it USED to be. One of these days, we’ll have to set up a section for this kind of thing…

There’s a great interview with the people behind Major League Gaming over at Bungie.net – how they got started, where Halo fits in, where they’re going. If you’re at all interested in the competitive Halo scene, you should check this out. First heads-up goes to Kyrceck.

BOLL turned 22 today. How many people give YOU a present on THEIR birthday? BOLL gives you this cool wallpaper. Enjoy.

GNF Phase 4 The fourth winning run, goatrope’s amazing 4:18 dash through Silent Cartographer, is now available for download via BItTorrent. (Once again, for those without a BitTorrent client, they can be downloaded here.) The download is 33.6 mb – and the climb from the Silent Cartographer back up to the ‘Locked Door’ is one of my favorite runs in the contest. Check it out!