This week's What's Update by Frankie says that matchmaking playlists will get updated in "September-ish" to include all the new maps where appropriate (since at the end of this month, they'll all be free) as well as some interesting new variations, such as games with more than two teams and oddball games with more than one ball.

The newest Halo Babies cartoon focuses on an alternative use (or, more accurately, one might just say a use--Ed.) for Halo 2's shotgun. Thanks mrsmiley.

Microsoft wants to know if you've ever heard of a little game called "Halo 2". If you have, fill out their survey.

SketchFactor has posted at Bungie.net a writeup of Bungie's trip to the GPhoria videogame awards, which he attended with Marty O'Donnell, Jay Weinland, and Frankie. Frankie's written his own writeup on that page, titled "an Insider's Guide to Schmoozing with the Stars" and Sketch has also put up a photo gallery.

Eric Trautmann wanted to thank all the Halo fans who purchased The Art of Halo, which has sold quite well and earned him his first-ever (and apparently "big fat") royalty check.

Str8 Rippin ended the tournament domination of Team 3D on the pro Halo 2 circuit by taking the MLG event in Philadelphia. Louis Wu at HBO pointed out an interview with the winners by Dyslexia at MLG.

The official website for the Rockets On Prisoner 2005 video contest is up; awards for Halo and Halo 2 videos produced using the Xbox or PC versions of the game may now be nominated in one of nine categories.

Ross Mills pointed out the Antlion Deuce single-player mod for Half-Life 2, which features music from the Halo 2 soundtrack. Ross pointed it out in the HBO forum.

HBO has a couple of audio-related Halo updates today; Captain Spark has added to the Halo 2 Dialogue Databank. This newest collection is Sergeant Stacker comments collected while using the hard-to-get IWHBYD skull. They're available for download from Spark's newly redesigned website.

Overswarm's Not So Common Sense Guide hosted over at HBO has received a number of new updates; complete details are in the post by Louis Wu.