Greetings from rainy Langley outside of London, where I'm in town for a few days doing something almost, but not entirely, unrelated to Halo 2; something I hope to rectify in approximately 12 hours or so. In the meantime, of course, I returned to notice that the server logs had filled up the server's disk space, effectively closing the site; hopefully that won't happen again for... oh... at least another 24 hours or so.

[image:8656 left hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0]Funkmastaeric writes in the HBO forum that if you currently don't have access to XBL, you can set your XBL icon at Bungie.net by manipulating the URL in a browser. Neat trick. For information on the selection of icons, see our Emblem Gallery.

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:

Shadow at Sector 7 relates how clams, cigarettes, sleep deprivation, aurora bourealis and nausea combine to make a memorable experience of buying Halo 2 from GameStop. Editor's Note: We made a short note of Shadow earlier; he got his hands on Halo 2 slightly earlier than most because he helping out the store by lending them his Xbox for display.

Well, it would have been much more appropriate to stop at the Bungie-like number of seven with the roundups, but today real life is intervening, so here is part eight:

• Halo Babies now has a Halo 2 clan online. If you want an invite, write to mrsmiley with your gamertag. Editor's Note: There is a Rampancy clan as well; but until my copy of Halo 2 arrives later this week, I can't issue invites; however, if you'd like an invitation sent me a private message through the site.

Someday we'll return to being able to post news items separately. But there are those who say that day will never come... in the meantime, the roundup, thanks to HBO, Halo Planet, Halo Babies, The ILB Wiki, and many others:

Gabe and Tycho seem to have the same opinion of Halo 2 as Halo 1: they love multiplayer and hate the campaign:

The Halo 2 juggernaut moves on into the first full weekend of XBL action. Here's the latest:

Cnet today has an article speculating on Microsoft's approach to trying to eliminate users of modified Xboxes from its Xbox Live gaming service, even going so far as to try and implicate Halo 2.

Enough todo. Let's have at it!