As usual there was more gaming news than we could keep up with over the weekend. Here's a rundown:

The new-look Halo 2 Cortana isn't that happy with her new role in the overall scheme of things in today's Halo Babies comic. There's also a new fan art update. Thanks mrsmiley.

Bungie does care about its fans: the proof is in the Flood pudding that is Sacred Icon, a level that is Halo 2's Library in all but name. Is it an improvement over the original? Find out in the latest installment of Rampancy's Halo 2 Impressions covering Sacred Icon.

(And before anyone else asks, yes, we know we've so far skipped The Arbiter and The Oracle in this series; those are coming --Ed.)

TeamXbox has an editorial up on how Bungie implemented stat-tracking, leaderboards, and RSS feeds for Halo 2, and why more gaming companies don't use XML.

HBO's Halo 2 Cutscene Library has reached the start of High Charity. (You know, that level where you say "oh no, I have to go BACK through that, but against Flood?" --Ed.)

The guys at TeamXbox have delivered Bungie their first major defeat from a wholly external group in a Humpday Challenge; read all about the suffering at Bungie.net.

Jillybean joins the Halo Story Page team; not surprising since the excellent writeup she posted on Halo 2's plot in the HBO forum.

Frankie has put up a new update on how Halo 2 has been doing on Xbox Live, numerically speaking, and it's impressive: Halo 2 is the #1 game by far on the service, dwarfing its nearest competitor by a factor of 10, according to Larry "Major Nelson" Hyrb, Xbox Live's Director of Programming.

There are also a few more sobering items, like the fact that Game Viewer data is being used to catch-- and ban-- cheaters.

Now that everyone is back from vacation, the gaming world is moving and shaking again. Here's a look around at items relating to Bungie, Halo, or the Xbox:

Quick bits of Haloverse news today:

...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. 

Sector7 is indicating that the Rumble Pit stats might have been reset. Interesting...

The Halo 2 Impressions section continues, today covering Regret, level that is surely the Planes, Trains and Automobiles of Halo 2. Dear Humanity, we regret forgetting to purchase an all-day ride pass...