H. Shield has submitted another entry for our Halo 2 Cover Art Contest. (The contest has been over for some time, but we still add new entries to the section when they come in, rather than mix them in with the Miscellaneous Art.)

A gigantic logo has been added to the Logos section.

Three new desktop images for you this morning… you’ll find ’em in our Wallpaper section.

Dinky writes to say that HaloJuggaloProductions has mirrored the Halo50K Framework movie (the large version). If you haven’t seen this, you should definitely download it. (We’ve added the link to our mirrors list.) He also wanted to point out that they’re getting a new camera – so upcoming movies from HJP should be of a higher caliber.

8 tidbits of random artwork, ranging from concept art for vehicles to personal hygiene items. Check ’em out in our Miscellaneous Art section. (Remember – if you upload files to our ftp or http directories, we can’t post them if you don’t identify them… there are some great pieces with no attributions there right now.)

Dang, this came in Sunday night, but I forgot to post it. Front Range Company 7 (a Seventh Column Chapter) and Colorado Fusion, based in (you guessed it) Colorado, would like to announce ‘Se7en’, a no-elimination, 4-man team Halo tournament. The competition will be near Denver, CO on May 17, 2003. Registration is $120/team, and top prize is $1000. Check out the details on the Se7en page!

Thanks to Pez, who pointed out an episode of TechTV’s Extended Play that focuses on first-person shooters. Halo, of course, is covered. The first airing was yesterday… but it’ll be showing today at 3:30 am (past) and 7:30 am, as well as Saturday and Sunday of this upcoming weekend. Check the page for details.

PMFLEX Productions has put together another hacking video. It’s nicely designed, but we’ve already said we don’t have the bandwidth for more videos showing what you can do with a modded Xbox. Luckily for PMFLEX, That Weasel Television has no such limitation. Hop on by their Halo mirror and grab a copy of Hackin Hog Heaven, in either WMP9 or DivX formats.

IGN Xbox has put up an Insiders-only article about what Halo 2 would look like if they were in charge. Well… if you read our forum, you’ve seen a few dozen Halo 2 wishlists such as they end up with, and if you read the Psyjnir Complex, you’ve seen scenarios as outlandish as IGN’s. If you don’t have Insider access… well, don’t buy it for this story alone. Thanks to Ross Chestnut for the heads-up.

NightHawk writes to say that he’s put up a website for his Dark Phoenixx Clan. Currently, the only game they play is Halo 2. (I guess that means they’re not very busy at the moment…)

Eleven Fan Fiction pieces for you today:

• Enigma: part 1, by Madcat_97
• The Defense of Earth 3: The 889th Tactical Fighter Wing, by Steele
• Law & Order (Part 3 of 3) Lesson Learned, by el_halo_diablo
• 1st Special Forces group, by grylsy
• Fallen Angel 11: Little relief, by Gruntkiller/Covert
• A Single Motion: part 4, by Arthur Wellesly
• Just Getting Started Chapter Seven, by James Kinsella
• End Game: Chapter Two, by Anthony Coronado
• Chapter 2: What we do to liars, by Kyle/Mutated Elite
• Super Covenant -part2- Cryto’s Sorrow, by Matt James
• Prologue: Battle of Croton, by Trevor White

Writers – please, use the Series listing if your story is part of a series. Thanks!

Forum regular Poocho wrote up a strategy guide for playing Capture the Flag, with specific scenarios for Blood Gulch and Sidewinder. You’ll find it in our Miscellaneous section.

Another Halo mention in an online comic – check out If Then Else. Thanks to Ross Mills for the heads-up.

Must be the day for movie stuff… we got a submission from poena.dare:

While scouring the net for Bungie trivia, I happened across a VERY rare find… the first-ever Halo movie. This thing is incredible and is truly an antique…. I’m talking dinosaur here. I think you will find it to be exceptionally interesting.

Take a look – it’s only 3.5 mb, and Mythica’s hosting it. (QuickTime format, converted from the original 8 mm.)

Ross Mills points out that if you register on the Red vs Blue forums, you get access to otherwise unreleased RvB movies. At the moment, that means a Public Service Announcement… but in the future, it’ll give you early access to unreleased episodes.

Back in July, we posted a video by Warbow, showing a jump across the broken bridge underground in AotCR, without explosives. He didn’t quite make it to the other side (well, he did, but not a place he could actually leave from). synide recently submitted a vid showing this jump… but making it all the way across. Yes, he used a plasma grenade, but he did it with s7yle, and for that, we give him props. One day, we’ll even add this to the Tricks section. (It’s true – one day we’ll reopen that section in all its glory. Hopefully, before Halo 2 is released.) Update: please – stop writing in that Warbow wasn’t ‘stuck’ on that pipe. I’m sorry now for my wording. Read this forum post for more details. Thanks.

Hehe – Dark Helmet found a real-life Warthog (made by Peugeot) on the Xbox.com forums. It’s pretty slick-looking! (Okay, it’ll probably cost too much to make Warthog Jousting feasible… but it’s still a nice dream.)

Props to Aginor, for finding a pretty interesting presentation by Adrian Perez, Gameplay and Graphics Programmer for Bungie, who talked for MSImpact, a Microsoft-sponsored student organization at CMU, about some of the deficiencies of Halo: CE, and what Bungie is doing to make Halo 2 better. It’s a fascinating read. Head over to Unlimited Lives to check it out!

poena.dare continues his staff-stalking ways and turns up some interesting information from Brannon Boren’s online journal about Brannon’s Halo-related activities recently. Check out Bungie Sightings for the details!

Another review of Halo: The Flood has surfaced, this time on Subnova.