Are you a Mac user and wish you could see your Xbox Live Friends list on your desktop like Windows people can with [url=http://brh.numbera.com/software/xblist/]XBList[/url].

[url=http://www.mindquirk.com/apps/xboxlivefriends/index.htm][b]Xbox Friends List[/b][/url] is an incredible little application for Mac OS X. Not only can you track your friends on your desktop, have the program automatically sign you in and see your friends emblems, but you can even use it to design your Halo-2 emblem with the Emblem Designer do-dad. No more editing your profile for hours with the controller in your hands. Just pick the options right within the program until your blue in the face. Even save the emblem as a JPG file for easy uploading to forums, attaching to your email signature, etc... Of course it doesn't actually change your game profile, that would be voo doo. Check out the [url=http://www.mindquirk.com/apps/xboxlivefriends/index.htm]website[/url] for more information. They claim to be working on a OS X Tiger version. Wouldn't it be nice to check your friends status via the Dashboard?

Still fighting your way through the Halo 2 Legendary Campaign? Whether it's the seemingly impossible 2nd Hangar Bay or taking on big Tartarus himself, Mike Miller has your back in his exhaustive guide available at [url=http://nikon.bungie.org/gameplay/halo2_leg_walk/]halo.bungie.org.[/url]

Nearly every hardcore fan complained that the Legendary mode in Halo 1 was just too easy. We listened. And in Halo 2, I think most everyone will agree that things are much much harder this time. To those who have overcome this herculean challenge, I salute you. To those still working on it, I recommend taking a peek at this incredibly useful [url=http://nikon.bungie.org/gameplay/halo2_leg_walk/]walkthrough.[/url] Mike Miller has painstakingly broken apart every detail of every level to help exponentially increase your odds of success. Overall tips, tactics and even videos will help lead you to victory. Thanks to Mike and HBO for looking out for us Legendary impaired players.

DalanGalma writes:

Use [url=http://brh.numbera.com/software/xblist/]XBList[/url] to check out your XBox Live Friends list on your desktop in buddy-list form, complete with your friends' Halo 2 Emblems and quick links to their Halo 2 stats.

Use [url=http://brh.numbera.com/software/xblist/]XBList[/url] to check out your XBox Live Friends list on your desktop in buddy-list form, complete with your friends' Halo 2 emblems and quick links to their Halo 2 stats. [url=http://brh.numbera.com/software/xblist/]XBList[/url] shows who's playing what, who's sent you a Friend Request or Party Invite, and shows your friends' Halo 2 emblems next to their name. It's a lightweight program that you can always have running in the corner of your desktop. Never miss your friends on Live again!

VII Toast writes:

If you have a odd fascination with Bungie, yet you have only played Halo or Halo 2, then why not try some of Bungie's previous games? [i]Previous games[/i], you say? [url]http://ventcore.the7thwar.com[/url]

If you want to take a shot at these Classic Bungie games, then head over to [url=http://ventcore.the7thwar.com]Ventcore[/url] for free downloads and tutorials. [url]http://ventcore.the7thwar.com[/url] (While your at it, why not read [url=http://www.the7thwar.com/marathonmovie]The Marathon Movie Script[/url]?)

Xtournaments writes:

Happy Birthday to LiL Poison. Who turns 7 years old today (May 6th) LiL Poison is one of the biggest fans from Halo and Bungie and has become the youngest professional gamer in the world. [url=http://www.lilpoison.com] www.lilpoison.com [/url]

Happy Birthday to LiL Poison. Who turns 7 years old today (May 6th) LiL Poison is one of the biggest fans from Halo and Bungie and has become the youngest professional gamer in the world. [url=http://www.lilpoison.com] www.lilpoison.com [/url]

The reset of the levels today may cause some confusion. It's possible that when you look at your Friends' levels in Halo 2, they'll appear higher or lower than they really are. This is because your Xbox stores information about Friends, including their recent levels. This oddity shouldn't last more than a couple of hours, so don't sweat it.

Things in general should start to even out and clarify by the weekend. When I expect to see you all in the new playlists for a solid owning.

HaloUnderground.org Sponsored 2 vs. 2 Slayer Tournament. This Tournament is for all players ages 14 and older. Go to HaloUnderground.org for registration by 5/13 @ 11:59pm. The tournament 1st place winners will receive a trophy for each player engraved with their team and gamertag name. Only 64 teams will be accepted on a first come first serve basis.

This Tournament is for all players ages 14 and older. Go to HaloUnderground.org for registration by 5/13 @ 11:59pm. The tournament 1st place winners will receive a trophy for each player engraved with their team and gamertag name. Only 64 teams will be accepted on a first come first serve basis. HaloUnderground.org - 2 vs. 2 Team Slayer Tournament I Rules 1. Sign up with your team name, gamer tags. Gamer tags or team information may not be changed after 5/20/05 11:59pm EST 2. At least one member of each team must register to HaloUnderground.org in order to participate. 3. The tournament starts on 5/23/05. 4. Players must use their registered gamer tag. 5. Players must conduct themselves in a reasonable manner. 6. Teams must play as blue vs. red, and only as a Spartan. 7. Parties must be closed during each game. No Spectators. 8. All players are required to have the Game types configured as stated here in the rules. 9. Matches may only be played over Xbox Live 10. All rounds must be played back to back. 11. No placing the bomb out of reach, no grenade jumping, no reload glitch, and no leaving the normal boundaries of a level at any time (i.e. getting on top of a map). 12. Quitting out of a game will result in a forfeit. 13. Any other sign of cheating determined by HaloUnderground.org Staff will result in forfeit of the game, and banishment from HaloUnderground.org. 14. SWORD USE IS PROHIBBITED FOR FFA and 2 VS. 2 GAMES. USING THE SWORD FOR A KILL IS AN AUTOMATIC FORFEIT. 15. If a team experiences lag, it must be called in the first two minutes of the match. Otherwise the game must be completed. 16. The Tournament is Double Elimination format. 17. The default match times are Mondays and Wednesdays at 9:00pm EST. Rounds 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 are on Mondays and Rounds 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 , 12 are on Wednesdays. If you can not make it, do not sign up. Emergency days will be Tuesday for Monday, and Thursday for Wednesday @ 9:00pm EST. In order to use an emergency day, you must post in the forums that you will need to use the emergency day 72 hours ahead of time! NO EXCEPTIONS! 18. When finished, report your match in the Match Reports thread within 24 hours of the completed match. 19. In the report, post your team name, opponents name, the map, the score for all rounds, and the Bungie game viewer link. 20. Each match will consist of 3 rounds using these maps IN THIS ORDER: Lockout, Midship, and Ivory Tower. 21. In case of a tie (1-1-1), the tie-breaker will be total number of kills for all rounds. If the match is still tied, the teams must play one more round on Colossus. If that does not resolve the tie, teams will play the maps in order again until one team wins. 22. Protests must be submitted within 24 hours of the match underneath the protest thread. Evidence is a plus when submitting a protest. Captured Video/Screenshots, Bungie.net Game Viewer, Chat logs / Email, etc. 23. Each member of the 1st place team will receive a trophy or plaque with their team name and gamer tag engraved. A shipping address will be required to receive the award. 24. All decisions by HaloUnderground.org Staff are final.

Recon Number 59 writes:

Ever wonder what some members do with their spare time and gray matter? Would you believe that some write poems? Regulars of the Zanzibar forum may be aware of a creative member in their midst. Atomic Weggie has been serenading the forum with his "Odes to...." for some time now. Well the news is that he's "gone World-Wide InterWeb" on us...

[url=http://www.halotournies.com/index.asp][u]Halo Tournies.Com [/u][/url] has considered the odes to be of enough interest (and humor) to give them a section. You can read the Odes in all of their glory [url=http://www.halotournies.com/odes.asp][u]here[/u][/url]. DLC, Weapon Whores, Standbyers, none are spared and all are done in remarkable rhyme. Well, they DO rhyme (generally). They're not bad really. Remind me a bit of the Bungie Webmaster when he gets into a singing mood (Kids, never, EVER take a drunk man in a gorilla suit to karaoke night! The suit should be enough warning that he has no shame, karaoke only proves the fact.) Whether you like "The Odes" or not, they are definitely better than anything any Vogon has ever written.

The weekly halo 2 tourney roundup can be found [url=http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=3203734]HERE[/url]. I'm a day late...Yea I'm a lazy -blam!-

From now on I want you guys to mail your entries for the weekly roundup to this email address: [email protected] Thanks! - stosh

BobBQ writes:

First it was AppleTalk, then it was TCP/IP... now AlephOne, that loveable little Marathon engine upgrade, is getting in-game chat and server browsing functions.

First it was AppleTalk, then it was TCP/IP... now AlephOne, that loveable little Marathon engine upgrade, is getting in-game chat and server browsing functions. In short, this means players will now be able to sound off without a microphone and browse a master list to see who's playing what and when. The end result is less time spent trying to find people in AIM chatrooms and more time spent watching their mangled corpses flying across [i]Thunderdome[/i]. The new features are still in testing, but if you're an intrepid Marathoner you can grab the latest build [url=http://marathon.sourceforge.net/nightly/]here[/url] and give it a spin. Now eat it, vid bois!

Tomorrow morning, the stats system will be taken down for approximately 2 hours for some database maintenance. After it begins, no Halo 2 stats related systems will be online until the work is complete. This includes your Halo 2 emblems. All games will be recorded during the downtime, you just won't be able to see them.

You guys give the stats database quite a workout, so please excuse the occassional need for the system to be shaken down. Please remember this will only affect your ability to see your game results, data collection will not be impacted. After the maintenance, the system will restart processing of your games and will take a little while to catch up to the present, but that won't last very long.

The Xbox Live Halo 2 Worldwide Championship has already started in many countries but now we finally have more details regarding the U.S. competition. Registration began yesterday and play is scheduled to kick off next week with the U.S. champion eventually facing the top players from 23 other regions for the world title and a bunch of cool prizes.

The Halo 2 Worldwide Tournament is a global event spanning all 24 regions where Xbox Live is offered. Each regional champion will clash in a worldwide showdown for the crown of World's Best Halo 2 Player as well as a bounty of cool prizes. The U.S. qualifier portion is set to begin next week. Player who are interested in competing should hustle and get registered ASAP. Anyone 18 and over can register by either visiting a Gamestop retail store or stopping by www.GameStopStores.com. Time is ticking so hurry up and get signed up if you want a shot at the title. What's at stake? Well, besides the biggest of all bragging rights (only ONE person can ever claim they are THE Halo 2 World Champion), there are plenty of prizes up for grabs. Regional winners will receive a limited edition half-size Master Chief statue, a personalized Xbox Live Halo 2 Championship sweatshirt, a plaque, a Samsung Camcorder AND $500 in cash. WOW. The overall global champion will also receive a 50' Samsung Flat Screen DLP HDTV, a Samsung DVD Player/Recorder, a personalized Xbox Live Halo 2 World Champion trophy featuring a 24k gold Halo 2 game disc AND $1,500 in cash. Damn, I wonder if Bungie employees are permitted to enter.... More information can be found at [url=http://www.xbox.com/en-US/news/2005/0427-halo2-tourney.htm]Xbox.com[/url]. Please note that we (Bungie Studios) have little to no involvement in the actual tournament so we are unable to provide support or answer tournament related questions. We'll do our best to keep you informed of late breaking events. For now, hurry up and get yourself registered or risk missing out on this epic event.

On Wednesday morning at about 10:30am PDT, bungie.net will be going offline for maintenance. The downtime will last approximately 30 minutes.

This maintenance is aimed at reducing and/or eliminating the random "Null Reference Exception" errors that have been ruining your experience lately when accessing stats or the RSS feeds. We're also adding a few incremental things that may help with the excessive blacklisting by the Disembodied Soul. We realize how irritating that is, but we don't have a permanent, concrete fix for it quite yet. Hopefully we'll be able to get rid of that issue permanently as well, and you'll be able to go back to enjoying bungie.net as usual.

Recently, a rumor started spreading, indicating that Bungie was going to reset or clear Xbox Live Friends Lists. This is categorically untrue. We are not touching them, and neither is Xbox Live. We don't know where the rumor started, but it's complete nonsense. So don't worry.

And quit sending each other messages about it. There will be no reset of the Friends List.

Reiginko writes:

The Marathon 10th Anniversary Contest has been over for months. Reiginko has been hoarding the results for almost as long, for his own selfish purposes. Finally, the tru7h is revealed in [url=http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=3150696&viewreplies=true]this[/url] forum post!

I'm really sorry for waiting so long before posting these. I assured Soon™ness, but it's more like Late™. So I really, really apologise to everyone who participated in the contest and helped me out with it. So read the [url=http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=3150696&viewreplies=true]results[/url], already, and be gobsmacked by the intelligence of your peers! - Reiginko

Do you have questions about downloading content on Xbox Live? Check out this helpful [url=http://forums.xbox.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=12410872]FAQ[/url] at Xbox.com where Major Nelson provides the 411 on the DLC.

Today is a big day for Live members as we all jump online to grab some new map lovin. If you have questions about downloads and purchases don't fret, Major Nelson has got you covered. Keep an eye on this [url=http://forums.xbox.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=12410872]FAQ[/url] over in the Xbox.com forums for the latest info. (You'll need to be signed in to Xbox.com in order to view the post)

Four brand spankin new multiplayer maps are now available for download on Xbox Live. Containment and Warlock are available for free while Turf and Sanctuary can be purchased together for $5.99. Check the [url=http://www.bungie.net/News/TopStory.aspx?story=maptacularmonday]weekly update[/url] for more info about these exciting new maps.

The wait for new Halo 2 content is over. As promised, the first four (of nine) maps are available for download today via Xbox Live. When you sign in, select "Content Download" from the Live menu and you'll see two download options. The "Bonus Map Pack" is free of charge and includes Containment and Warlock. The "Killtacular Pack" is a premium download that will cost $5.99 in exchange for Turf and Sanctuary. Both of these maps will be available as free downloads later this Summer - [b]June 28[/b] to be exact. Grab these maps and fire up some custom games with your friends and see first hand what we've been so excited about the past few months. Next week we will be updating our matchmaking playlists and incorporating all four new maps in the approrpriate playlists. And, for folks who don't have access to Live, you'll be able to get all nine multiplayer maps on June 28th when the Halo 2 Multiplayer Map pack is released in retail stores.

Good evening guys, gals, and hippo lovers! Sorry for the delay but you can finally find this weeks halo 2 tourney update [url=http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=3110487]HERE[/url].

I had to post the update in the forum this week because of the lame 3000 or so bungie.net news character limit. Maybe next week I'll post the update as a top news story or something. Anyway remember it's not just a game and if you lose...well you are a loser. Nobody likes losers. Also don't forget that you need to submit your tourney info [url=http://www.bungie.net/News/SubmitNews.aspx]HERE[/url] if you would like to see your tourney listed in the Halo 2 Tourney update next week!