[image:8779 left hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0] I've written up a short account with photos of my recent trip to London-- or, rather, the side trip to have a few beers with Stuntmutt, author/artist of the Halo comic One One Se7en.

UPDATE: Stuntmutt has put up his version over in his blog, and I'm pleased to see that several portions of the account actually match, which means that we'll have less trouble with the Senate inquiry panel later on; although I'm glad of the mention he made of Perfect Dark, which I had omitted (and have also never played). In addition, there is an actual link to the brand of Chinese beer we were drinking, which means I now have a name for my sworn enemy.

Oh, wait... that sounds like... nevermind; there's new stuff at Halo Babies. Sparkie has submitted a new fan comic as well as 4 more pieces of fan art to Halo Babies. There's also a new desktop by nrek and new forum avatars. And according to mrsmiley, more is on the way tomorrow.

Over at MBO, Baak is quoted as saying that Rocket Dorf Fest 5 has been released. This is a plugin for Myth 2 that includes many custom units.

Stuntmutt horns in on Halo Babies territory during Gruntsbane's absence. The result is inexplicable... I hope. Because if not, I expect I'll be hearing the explanation shortly. Luckily it will be cushioned by beer.

UPDATE: Okay, now I got the joke, and I wish I hadn't.

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. Rampancy is truly grateful for the upswing in interest since the release of Halo 2, and we are working diligently to make sure that the site can keep up with the increased traffic.

So, without much further ado about not much at all:

• Bungie has announced an XBL autoupdate for Halo 2 that will fix some HUD issues, some matchmaking delays, and unlock the Foundation multiplayer map for everybody. The update is only available through Live; if you don't have it, find a friend that does and take your Xbox to his or her house. If you don't have a friend who has Live... get one.
• Captain Luthan covers The Maw in the last part of the Junkyard's series on realism in Halo. Thanks Ryan "Mhaddy" Matthews.
• MLG readers have written in with what they love or hate (or, in some cases, love and hate) about Halo 2. Thanks dolbex.
• VerdaFolio has posted a spoiler-ridden list of hidden skulls in Halo 2. You've been warned...
• More updates from around the 'net collated at HBO by none other than Santa Cl... I mean, Louis Wu.
• Since I'm in the London area at the moment, it's only appropriate to mention that Stuntmutt, author of Halo comic One One Se7en, has put up a note about an inclusion of a version of the comic, drawn by BOLL, that appears on the Halo 2 Limited Edition DVD, with a link to instructions on how to find it. He's also done a writeup of his UK Halo 2 Launch day experience with c0ld vengeance.
• How Stuff Works has interviewed development lead Chris Butcher about Halo 2's AI; a very readable and worthwhile article without a lot of jargon.
• Penny Arcade turned six years old this week. Too bad they celebrated it with a comic about that other game.

I'm going to try and make it to the Apple Store opening in London tomorrow morning; if they have wireless access perhaps I'll be able to update from there.

UPDATE: A few more items before I go to breakfast:

• Sketch writes that your clan is not deleted. Whew!
• MereCatfish posts his UK Launch Day writeup.
• Forbes asks: GTA:SA or Halo 2?
• Halo 2 won the GameSpy Grudge against Half-Life 2.
• Bungie rolled over Clan HBO in the latest Humpday Challenge.

[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:

• 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.

Evil Avatar points out an alternative to class action lawsuits for getting satisfaction from Microsoft over out-of-warranty Xbox repairs.

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.