Major Nelson points out in his blog this Wired interview with J Allard.

The article clearly places Bungie's Halo and Halo 2 in the proper pivotal place in the Xbox's history:

Frankie's What's What Update for May 13, 2005 mentions that the next map release date is now July 5 instead of June 28.

Bungie's put up their side of their loss to the Xbox Live team in the Humpday Challenge; they allege that XBL used a ringer. And according to SketchFactor, Major Nelson Suxorz.

UPDATE: Major Nelson is denying the charge of ringer leveled by Bungie against one member of the XBL team that played in the Humpday.

Major Nelson has put up his summary of the latest Humpday Challenge that pitted Xbox Live against Bungie.

In an article at the Hollywood Reporter that focuses on Hitman, the best-selling Halo 2 soundtrack is used as a benchmark for the industry, selling 120,000 copies in its first volume, about 12 times the sales of the average game soundtrack. Louis Wu at HBO provided the heads-up.

Stosh wishes a happy 7th birthday to Lil Poison, the world's youngest professional gamer. For more information, visit LiL Poison's website.

Destineer has acquired the makers of Close Combat, a series of military games, according to GameSpot. Destineer was founded by ex-Apple and ex-Bungie employee Peter Tamte. Tamte also hints at "next-gen systems" plans for Destineer.

Prometheus posted a summary of the HBO Lekgolos Humpday Challenge against Bungie in the HBO forum. The clan took the first game impressively, winning 5-0 in "monosnipe" neutral flag on Coagulation. But Bungie regrouped to take the next two games and the victory. Thanks to Blackstar for the tip.

Bungie sound and music guru Marty The Elder posted today on the Marty Army site that soon we'll get more info on the second part of Halo 2's soundtrack:

I finished the Halo 2 Soundtrack Volume 2 today and listened to it (all 70 minutes worth) in one sitting. I liked it, and I hope you will too. I'll tell you more about it soon.

Can't wait.

Devin has produced transcripts of the A Walk in the Woods and Under Cover of Night tracks from Halo; each file archive includes a PDF, a MIDI file, a PrintMusic document and a read me. We've added them to our Halo Sheetmusic section.

Ross Mills asks Halo Bible author Eric Trautmann about storytelling in games on Eric's blog:

Q: RPG videogames are well known for their in-depth stories. Without major spoilers, what 5 action games would you describe as having the best, most well-thought out story apart from Halo? (which is cheating, since you did that one's story)

Brian "SketchFactor" Jarrard talked to 1UP.com about the changes in the 1.1 Halo 2 Update, touching on one particular weapon tweak (or rather the lack thereof) that was close to the hearts of the author: