Bungie.net is now confirming the Game Informer story that GhaleonEB pointed out earlier in the HBO forum; that a character from the Halo universe will make an appearance in DOA4. Neither developer is stating which one, as of yet, although the Bungie.net story has an impressive display of Cortana's own unnatural formations, which is either a blatant hint or a huge red herring.

GameSpot is reporting that the same company that has made mobile versions of Microsoft games such as Midtown Madness 3, Zoo Tycoon 2, and Age of Empires 2, has acquired the rights to make mobile Halo properties and is working with Bungie to figure out what kind of applications to make:

At the CTIA IT Wireless and Entertainment 2005 trade show today, mobile game publisher In-Fusio announced that it had secured a three-year agreement with Microsoft for the mobile rights to the Halo universe. The company has also announced that the first Halo-inspired applications for phones are due later this year on North American carriers, with other regions to follow.

This will, of course, not be a version of Halo to be played on mobile phones, but most likely some other related applications.

HBO also noted a few interesting items we'd like to mention here:

• Mike Miller posted the Uprising chapter of his Legendary Halo 2 Walkthrough.
• Stage Select doesn't like Halo 2 much, it would seem, and likes the 1.1 update even less.
• Bitterbanana has released the spectator cam for Halo Custom Edition.

An Associated Press article at Yahoo News notes how U.S. Marines stationed in Iraq turn to videogames, including Halo and The Sims (there's a strange combination --Ed.) during lulls in fighting. Where's Halo 2? Quick, somebody make an emergency shipment of Halo 2 to Iraq!

...might still win Game of the Year from several places, but that didn't earn Halo 2 any kudos from Game Tunnel, a site purporting to offer the "independent underground" view of gaming with their top 10 Independent Game of the Year writeup. Here's how they introduce their list:

For those who believe that the best game this year was that badly named expansion pack that they have the nerve to call Halo 2, you are about to see a different piece of gaming than you are used to. 

Editor's Note: I find that especially odd, given my major complaint with Halo 2 is that it isn't really an expansion pack. What I wanted was the old game with new enemies, weapons, locations and situations; instead I got something so minutely tweaked in so many areas that it hardly feels the same anymore.

Comments on the article go here... Thanks Slashdot.

Things outside the Haloverse are going to be busy for a bit, so here's a news roundup to start things off:

• SketchFactor from Bungie has responded to the allegations of cheating. They are asking to post the names of alleged cheaters, but not the precise methods used.
• Cooked Gamers reports that CAL's Halo 2 gametypes are almost set.
• Some guys put Blood Gulch, Warthog included, into Half-Life 2, and a GTA site notes mods that put Halo items into Grand Theft Auto. (Thanks Wu at HBO.)
• Chibification fan art at Halo Babies.
• Major Nelson links to a Seattle newspaper story about Sam Radakovitz, the guy who wrote the Excel worksheet to archive Halo 2 stats; he's a Microsoft employee in the Excel group.
• Eric Trautmann points out an interview of him by Eric Nylund (author of The Fall of Reach and First Strike; there are also some online pages from The Art of Halo at Xbox.com.
• Achronos notes that on December 7, a day that will live in infamy, Bungie.net will be down for maintenance.

Finishing this news, sir...

The ingestion of large amounts of tryptophan seem to have taken their toll here at Rampancy, so we're going to be reduced to doing a news roundup again-- hopefully the last one between now and... well.. Christmas.

• Red vs Blue's latest PSA muses on the wonders of the Turducken. It's on their video page.
• Blackstar's latest Calvin and Halo posits an unusual way to make excuses for playing Halo 2 instead of going to school or work.
• 30 new pieces in HBO's Miscellaneous Art section.
• Chris Butcher explains how the XBL update for Halo 2 erased Bungie.net's records of who has good connections for hosting, causing temporary problems for those trying to host large matches, especially clan matches.
• Mac Hall pokes the band-aids of Halo 2 fans everywhere.

Shadow Panther has put an almost painful amount of detail concerning Halo 2's weapons into a series of tables that keep track of how many shots and how much time each individual weapon and dual wield combo takes to kill a fully shielded target, broken down into head and body shots. He's also done a page where he ranks each weapon according to effectiveness. Thanks Louis Wu at HBO.

So here we all are again. Thanks to HBO, Halo Planet, Bungie.net, Sector 7, and everybody else who is awake and posting news while we're sleeping, and sleeping while we're playing Halo 2 and not updating the website. Here we go:

• User Friendly wonders why we don't play other games on the Xbox. Editor's Note: I do, but what can I say, I'm strange.
• Bungie's newest in their Guide series covers Vehicles in Halo 2.
• The Halo 2 - Half-Life 2 poll is still open.
• Eric Trautmann signed a bunch of copies of The Art of Halo and got to watch fans play the game, too.
• Over at HaloMods, Kaptain Kommie and Grenadiac have released Sentinel, an advanced server browser for PC Halo and Halo Custom Edition.
• Louis Wu at HBO summarizes some of the best threads since the HBO forum reopened, as well as the usual roundup coverage of reviews and articles... and then another roundup.
• PC Halo gets a hotfix to version 1.06; there's a new dedicated server, too.

Editor's Note: Off to London for a few days; I should be back on Sunday, but I might have a chance to post an update before then.

Xbox in the repair shop? Can't wait for Halo 2? Upset that BOLL hasn't produced a new Flash game lately?

If you've got a fair bit of time to spend while you wait, check out the Grunt Zone Flash game by Coke.

On the heels of the announcement that Halo 2 has received a 9.7 from the Official Xbox Magazine, their highest ranking ever, comes word that PC Gamer has rated Half-Life 2 at 98%-- also that publication's respective highest ranking ever.

Of course, there's no real crossover here-- Halo 2 right now is only for the Xbox, and Half-Life 2 is only for the PC. But in the battle of blockbusters in digital entertainment this holiday season, these two giants are battling directly for attention, if not for customers.

Ross Mills and Louis Wu pointed out a new entry on Amazon.com's UK site; a book called The Halo 2 Battle Guide: Advanced Combat Techniques, supposedly written by a beta tester. Interesting. Don't NDAs prevent this sort of thing?

Major Nelson has posted up photos of the package the new Plantronics Halo 2 edition Game Com in-ear headset comes in. It looks cool. The package says it is "ear-gonomic." That makes my head hurt just reading it.