At Cooked Gamers, rapture notes that the CPL will be adding Halo 2 to their Summer event in Dallas next July.

Marshall "marshdabeachy" Beach won the contest that Mike Chambers ran for a Flash app that displays Halo 2 statistics based on Bungie.net's RSS feeds. Thanks rapture.

Chris Butcher talks about the difference between synchronous and asynchronous network schemes with regards to Marathon, Halo 1 and Halo 2 at How Stuff Works. Thanks HBO.

Although the top honor of Game of the Year went to GTA: San Andreas, Halo 2 and Bungie did pick up two wins at the Spike TV VGA ceremony. Halo 2 won Best First Person Action game and Jason Jones won Designer of the Year. Thanks EyesNoMore at EvilAvatar.

1UP has an interview with Tyson "Ferrex" Green about Halo 2, including his involvement in The Library level from the original game, and the tongue-in-cheek homage to it in Halo 2:

The Library was actually the first mission I was put on when I came here. But the thing that keeps me sane at night is that the library was mostly designed when I got here, so I don't blame myself for that.

Early in development I wanted to...I've got this cross to bear, a desire to say, hey, all you guys making fun of me, I'm gonna poke back. The idea is that we're sort of paying homage, and also being a little self-conscious. We recognize that [the Library] wasn't the best level ever, we're conscious of the mistake that we made. But [I wanted to address it] not just where I say that in an interview, but in a way that shows, hey, look, here's the ghost of our past, we're not going to hide, we're looking back, and it's not a grueling level like the Library was.

Thanks VoodooExtreme.

GameSpot has put up its list of nominees for the best and worst games of 2004, broken down into many categories.

Halo 2 has been nominated for Best Original Music, Best Sound Effects, Best Multiplayer Game, Best Original Game Mechanic, Best Shooter, Best Xbox Game, and Biggest Disappointment. (Notably missing are any nominations for graphics or story, not to mention that nominations for "original game mechanic" and "best shooter" would seem to be mutually exclusive --Ed.) Thanks KP.

Voodoo Extreme is running a Half-Life 2 vs Halo 2 poll, presumably as some kind of stress test. Right now HL2 is running away with it...