Over at Bungie.net there is a contest to contribute to the UI in Halo 2. Read all of the details here!

Nick has put up the six new Halo 2 screenshots up in the HBO forum, at full size and without watermarks. HBO's own tireless Louis Wu notes that Shacknews did the same yesterday.

Lorraine Mehve R. McLees posted in the HBO forum the other day, just to clarify a couple of comments people were making on the Official Xbox Magazine cover art. The work is, indeed, hers-- but she was so tired after finishing it that she forgot to sign it.

She pointedly decided NOT to clarify whether or not the figures standing next to the Master Chief on that cover are merely marines or other Spartans. However, anyone who's seen any of the recent trailer footage (who, us?) may note that the marines in it are wearing green armor not unlike the Chief's, which may go a long way towards explaining the Spartan-like appearance of the other figures on the cover.

Gaming Age's Marcus Lai has summed up his reaction to the Halo 2 demo shown by MS at E3 thusly: Halo 2 Rocks.

We've never known Marcus to be wrong before. But then again, we don't know Marcus. So don't take our word for it.

Mnemesis over at Bungie Sightings has posted his impressions from the Halo 2 demonstration at MS' E3 press conference. He seemed pretty impressed, especially with some of the new wrinkles the sequel is sporting:

Rounding a street corner, we get our first glimpse of the Brutes. They were pretty dark, but quite large and evidently strong. The MC got out of the Warthog to dispatch them, but a bunch of shots to the body didn't do anything, and a punch in the chest didn't either. Luckily, a well-placed grenade under a vehicle caused enough of an explosion to eliminate that particular threat, so the situation ended happily.

Then something miraculous happened. A couple of Ghosts were coming down the road towards us, and things looked pretty grim for the MC, when he jumped up onto the wing, and with one hand hanging on to the cowl, pushed the Covenant driver out and took his place! Man, that was incredible. I could watch that part over and over.

Be sure to check out his writeup.

Not to be outdone, IGN also has some new Halo 2 stuff up-- thanks to Louis Wu at HBO, where we noticed the news. Their full trailer footage, like GameSpot's, are for paying subscribers only, but they have some free teaser clips. They also have the same screenshots as GameSpot, but without watermarks. Then, of course, they have their own trailer impressions.

GamerFeed has their reaction to the press conference as well.

Also, it has become apparent that the trailers and teasers that both sites have for their members may or may not have been authorized by Bungie. FYI.

gamer90 over at Subnova pointed out some recent Halo 2 items at GameSpot, including two new trailers, six new screenshots, and a new preview article. Enjoy.

Raptorv22 wrote in to let us know that the first Halo 2 clan (at least that we knew of) has now opened its doors: the 67th Raptors. Go take a look.