Grenadiac has announced that the forums and files areas of HaloMods will close temporarily until the next auto-update of Halo 2, to try and help stop the spread of information about cheats in the game.

• Bungie's latest What's What Update is all about cheating and assuring players that the situation is going to improve; apparently another auto-update is on the way.
• Bungie is also looking to hire artists, animators, and programmers.
• GameSpy compiled a list of Xbox Live's top 25 games; Halo 2 was number one, and Halo 1 number six. (Who is number one? You are number six--Ed.)
• Matt Soell reminded HBO forumgoers not to forget Mike Salvatori when praising music in Bungie games like Halo and Halo 2. Salvatori is also working with Wideload Games on the soundtrack for Stubbs the Zombie.
• Every Friday, the Frag Dolls are going to take on Xbox Live subscribers, starting on July 15 with Halo 2.

A lot of goings-on in the Halo 2 Map world recently. Of course, the Killtacular Pack which was released as a split between two free maps and two premium maps is now available in its entirety for free from Xbox Live; Containment, Warlock, Turf and Sanctuary.

The next set of five maps is due out soon; Red vs Blue has video previews of Elongation and Backwash, and SketchFactor has returned from gallivanting long enough to put up Bungie's preview of Relic, following up on last week's preview of Terminal. And if you missed them earlier, before that Bungie.net previewed Backwash and Elongation themselves as well.

Relic is an island map set on Delta Halo, with its original design origins reaching back to Halo's ancient history as a PC/Macintosh game prior to Microsoft's buyout of Bungie Software.

Torlough of the Geezer Gamers has put up a story and a video on cheating in Containment; XBL players with modded Xboxes are apparently modifying the downloaded map files to produce various effects such as flying Warthogs and an incredibly fast Master Chief, and using them to cheat in matchmaking. Thanks HBO. (Here's hoping that Microsoft's boasts about being able to detect modified Xboxes on Xbox Live is true and that the players on the cheating team are banned--Ed.) Thanks HBO.

J. Paradise confesses that being a "girl gamer" means being harassed and insulted. But isn't that the treatment everybody is getting these days on Xbox Live? Should the experience of being a "girl gamer" be any different? Is it important or meaningful to know the gender of your opponents while playing-- or to make sure they know yours? The latest Narc's Retort responds to Paradise's column and asks, Is XBL A Breeding Ground For Sexism?

Ok, shoot us for not knowing this, but there are apparently two Angry Zen Masters-- Mat "MSN" Noguchi over at Bungie, and his brother Jamie "jamihn" Noguchi, who since late March of this year has been doing a webcomic called (appropriately enough) Angry Zen Master, which occasionally features both himself and his brother, Mat.

Louis Wu at HBO, alerted by mnemesis, pointed out that Halo 3 does get a mention in the latest comic... sort of. Athough AZM isn't a Halo or even a gaming comic per se, it is well worth a look.

Kotaku today asks if female gamers are going to generate the extra revenue needed for the industry to grow, based on a story at MarketWatch (free registration required).

At the same time, Daily Game is carrying part one of Confessions of a Girl Gamer, which amounts to, among other things, complaints from J. Paradise about being constantly asked if she is really a girl, followed by being called a "bitch", "slut", "whore" and being told to get back in the kitchen.

This article I think warrants a longer response, and I hope I'll have a chance to give it soon.

Mindquirk Software has released version 2.02 of Xbox Live Friends for Mac OS X. This version fixes a problem with auto sign-in that appeared as a result of changes at Xbox.com

mrsmiley over at Halo Babies notes that H2Press has released a Halo Toolbar for Internet Explorer that features Halo-related RSS feeds. A version for Firefox is forthcoming in August.

Mindquirk software has released a revamped version of its Xbox Live Friends application that includes a Dashboard widget, as well as a new application, Emblem Designer, for previewing Xbox Live emblems on your Mac. Emblem Designer, as well as Mindquirk's other Halo app, xstats, all part of Mindquirk's Live Suite, require OS X 10.4. Xbox Live Friends runs on 10.3 or above. (Note: If you try to run one of the apps with older versions of OS X, the app just quits silently--Ed.)

Verdafolio reports over at demented puppy dot com that the UK Halo map site, conveniently enough called Halomaps.co.uk, is reopening with a new site system and a new forum.

[image:9494 align=left hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0] Infernus has released the Macintosh version of his Halo 2 Experience Calculator application. It allows you to enter your Bungie.net level as well as the levels of players you win or lose to, and it will calculate the change in your experience points. You can download Mac Halo 2 Experience Calculator here.