WorthPlaying has put up a two part (one, two) preview of Halo 2. Thanks HaloPlanet.

The impromptu interview that SketchFactor and Frankie conducted with fans last weekend has been collected on a question & answer page that serves as last week's update.

This week's Bungie Update took a slightly different format: Frankie and SketchFactor offered a question and answer session (excepting those on the story or campaign mode). They asked for questions from fans (26 pages of them at last look), and then provided answers in the New Mombassa forum, starting around 2:00 PM PDT.

Xbox.com has posted a page it calls the Halo 2 Readiness Guide. Most of it, of course, is there to urge you to buy Halo 2, or, more specifically, to pre-order the special edition (as if anyone needed to be told).

However, it also has a more detailed list of things you'll want to go with that, such as a router to plug in your Xbox to your broadband Internet connection so you can use Xbox Live, an Xbox Live subscription, and a day off from work. It also reminds you link your gamertag to Xbox.com and Bungie.net, and to turn on "information sharing" under Billing in the dashboard for "Miscrosoft and partners". This is apparently to get in on tournaments and other events, including the XBL Backstage Pass contest. (Editor's Note: I'm guessing there's some advertising coming in your email from this, too, but you didn't hear it from me.)

The Xbox Live Backstage Pass contest as announced earlier was only valid in North America; of course, the contest itself is worldwide, but each country gets its own page:

• Austria
• Denmark
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Great Britain
• Switzerland

... with more likely to come. Thanks HBO and Gamesindustry.biz.

Three more Halo 2 previews popped up over the last few days: Computer and Video Games (part one, part two) and Game Daily (covering gameplay). Three more Halo 2 previews popped up over the last few days: Computer and Video Games (part one, part two) and Game Daily (covering gameplay). MLG also has a story summarizing the new information.

Bob Wiederhold, CEO of Silicon Valley startup Transitive Corporation, has stated in an interview with Wired that his company's QuickTransit approach to emulation will allow the Xbox 2 to run games that run on today's Xbox. However, despite this, the company refuses to name any of their six clients, all of which are described as "OEM PC manufacturers" which would not be Microsoft unless you called the Xbox a PC (which is a no-no).

Here's what the article claims Wiederhold said:

For example, Wiederhold said QuickTransit will allow the next-generation Xbox (which will have a Mac-like PowerPC chip) to run first-generation Xbox software (which was written for an Intel chip).

Now perhaps that will allow should have read could allow, but as it's written that sounds a lot to me like he's talking about something that's actually happening, and not just a theoretical possibility. But this is how CEOs, journalists, and PR flacks get in trouble, isn't it?

Thanks to SPOnG for the heads-up.

GameSpy has again taken reader questions and fed them back to Bungie to try and get more information. Here's a summary of what gets clarified this time around:

• The ATV (human ghost equivalent) is not in the game.
• Brutes do not carry flamethrowers.
• Halo 2 will not have bots.

We've used this to clarify a few pages on our Halo 2 FAQ, namely those on boarding and bots.

Geek toy site Engadget has put up a pair of photos that purport to be designs for the successor to Microsoft's Xbox gaming console. GameSpot is reporting that these are most likely fakes, but on the off chance one is a real design under consideration, you could go take a look.