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October 2009

October 2009 Archived News

News October 31 2009

Guilt O' Lantern - Final Warning
Remember - you've got a bit less than 6 hours, as of the time of this writing, to get your pumpkin pics into our Guilt O' Lantern contest... carve like the wind! (Louis Wu 22:24:20 UTC) (permalink)

Siege of Madrigal - in Halo 3: ODST
After Marty publicly challenged the world to find the Siege of Madrigal, he posted an extended challenge in the Marty Army fanclub - first person to upload a movie showing the egg would win a signed copy of the Halo 3: ODST OST. PyroSporker16 and ZPO4O were the first to the finish line... and for those of you who don't want to sit through a 28 minute movie, we've put together a page showing the egg itself (on a couple of different difficulties). Congrats! (Louis Wu 13:42:50 UTC) (permalink)

News October 30 2009

Don't bother Shishka. He's busy doing voiceovers.
The Bungie Weekly Update went live a bit early this week - you can go read it on Bungie.net, or in our Weekly Update Archive. What's in it? Oh... good stuff. Discussion of the recent Reach playtest, lots and lots of in-game Halloween shots, lots and lots and LOTS of real-life Halloween shots. Good stuff. Go read. (Louis Wu 23:12:33 UTC) (permalink)

XBL Community Playdate: Hawty McBloggy
Hawty McBloggy and friends are participating in an Xbox LIVE Community Playdate at the end of November - you can find full details at Xbox.com. Swing by to see how you can play! Thanks to mendicantbias00 for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 20:03:12 UTC) (permalink)

Waypoint Tour at Kotaku
If you're not in on the Xbox LIVE Preview, you can swing by Kotaku and view a video of Waypoint, as viewed by Stephen Totilo. A view of some of the awards you can snag, and more. Thanks, dCon V. Update: there's a screenshot-based walkthrough from FyreWulff on our own forum! (Louis Wu 19:05:18 UTC) (permalink)

Homemade ODST Helmets
FrekldThunder has a pair of kids that wanted to be ODST characters for Halloween - check out how he did!

(His daughter's helmet started as a standard ODST helmet, but she convinced him she wanted Recon - he did a decent job just with detailing!) (Louis Wu 17:02:49 UTC) (permalink)

Waypoint beta live
If you're participating in the Xbox LIVE Preview that's currently going on, you now have access to the Halo Waypoint beta - it went live this morning around 2 am Pacific. (If you're not a part of the Preview, you'll be able to access Waypoint next Thursday, November 5.) darthbob stopped in with word of what unlocked for him - I'm sure there'll be more details as the day goes on. (Louis Wu 13:39:59 UTC) (permalink)

20 Questions: Mad Villager
Willy let us know that there's a new 20 Questions up on CE United - he's talked to Mad Villager, of Mad Villager Films. If you've never heard of them, this is your chance to learn more. If you have, this is your chance to get to know them better! (Louis Wu 13:39:11 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Love from a Surprising Quarter
gunluva was impressed by the drawing skills of his cable guy - he took a pic, and you can judge for yourself! (Louis Wu 13:38:23 UTC) (permalink)

Sadie's Story, in mp3 format
HaLo2FrEeEk has recorded all the Sadie's Story audio logs in mp3 format, and made them available for download from his website, Infectionist.com. (This is just audio - no video.) Swing by his forum post for details! (Louis Wu 13:37:16 UTC) (permalink)

TPP: How to Kill a Zombie/Human
Geekscape is back with a new Teabag Prevention article - this one teaches you how to Kill a Zombie/Human in the Living Dead playlist. Read it and stay alive! (Louis Wu 13:35:47 UTC) (permalink)

Friday Caption Fun, Round 68
It's Friday, and Hawty McBloggy is back with another episode of Friday Caption Fun! Episode 68 has some pretty funny captions for the last entry, along with a great screenshot we featured recently - here's your chance to caption it! (Louis Wu 13:35:03 UTC) (permalink)

Out Of Work Spartan Ep 2.5
Out of Work Spartan is back - episode 2.5 has our hero giving you tips about surviving Living Dead. Thanks, jake108. (Louis Wu 13:34:31 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3's Another Walk, Arranged
Rampancy.net member jacques B has arranged ODST's "Another Walk" in .MUS format - only vocals, percussion coming later. Check it out! (Louis Wu 13:34:00 UTC) (permalink)

Moar Mouthwash
Elnea's back with another episode of Halo Action Figure Theater - Episode 186 reunites Steve and Lois, and reminds us to always brush our teeth after a meal of delicious brains. (Louis Wu 13:33:23 UTC) (permalink)

Friday's Fan Fiction
Five new pieces are available for your viewing pleasure in the Fan Fiction section today - go read! (Louis Wu 13:32:15 UTC) (permalink)

Xbox University: Best Games to Play on Xbox Live
IGN has posted their 'Best Games to Play on Xbox Live' - and (not surprisingly) Halo 3: ODST is on the list. Thanks, Naveeda. (Louis Wu 13:29:59 UTC) (permalink)

Double EXP Weekend: Ranked Living Dead
Just in time for Halloween, Ranked Living Dead went live yesterday as the Double EXP Weekend Playlist on Xbox LIVE. Mmmmm... brains! (Louis Wu 13:29:22 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Image Gallery Posted at R.net
Rampancy.net has posted an image gallery to go along with their latest podcast (released a few days ago). Take a look! (Louis Wu 13:28:44 UTC) (permalink)

The Follower
InfiniteMomentStudio created a a Halo 3 horror short called 'The Follower' - be careful what you look for! Thanks, urk. (Louis Wu 13:28:18 UTC) (permalink)

News October 29 2009

I like the 'light yourself on fire' strat
Monochron wrote up a solo guide to playing Firefight on Crater - give it a try and see how far you get! (Louis Wu 20:05:01 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Reach: a machinima series (Trailer)
bryan4208 let us know about a trailer for a new machinima series called 'Halo Reach' - it's to be the story of the planet's final hours. (Louis Wu 19:24:41 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 360 for $170
Geeks.com is offering a refurbished version of the Halo 3 Special Edition Xbox 360 for $170 (with free shipping) right now - not a bad deal! (Buying a refurbished 360 is always something to think twice about - but this is a nice model at a nice price.) (Louis Wu 19:10:54 UTC) (permalink)

What keeps you playing?
Gamasutra has an interesting article looking at what keeps people playing games. Of the nine titles in the study, Halo 3 was second in the percentage of players earning a campaign completion achievement (finishing the game), with a respectable 71% or so meeting that goal - but smack-dab in the middle of the pack (at just over 30%) when looking at total gamerscore completion. So... interesting, but not replayable? Or just too many difficult achievements? You make the call. (Louis Wu 18:40:39 UTC) (permalink)

Foley's Minitage
Bungie's Comm Chatter has word of a minitage (well, it's almost 4 minutes long, seems like it's sort of a regular montage) - gameplay by Foley, editing by Phurion. Lots of sniping. Some of it is really nice sniping. Timing rocks. (Louis Wu 17:58:21 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Trilogy Legendary Run
Pacific Penguin and A Bad Vibe played through the Halo trilogy on Legendary difficulty, and put together a 17-minute, two-part montage of some of the highlights. Really cool in concept - implemented, a bit less so. (Editing is nearly nonexistent, clips have very, very little to do with one another, transitions are abrupt and jarring, quality is wildly variable.) Worth watching, I guess, to see where the bar is (so that when you make your own, you know what you have to beat). Thanks, urk. (Louis Wu 17:19:06 UTC) (permalink)

Do you want rare songs from Marty?
Not really Halo news - but of interest to many Halo fans: Marty O'Donnell tweeted last night that he's considering releasing some rare music tracks - from older video games. He wants to know if there's any interest. Hedgemony says (emphatically) "yes" - and he's echoed by other forumgoers. How do you feel? (Louis Wu 14:40:09 UTC) (permalink)

Sarkathlon 4 - with a heckuva prize
Mr Sark is back with another obstacle course - and since his old prize (Recon armor for the winner) is now relatively easy to grab by other means, he's upping the stakes - the winner of Sarkathlon 4 will get a copy of Bungie's Flaming Armor. Now THERE'S something rare! Go read the full details of the challenge over at G4TV's site... and get to practicing! You've got until November 8 to turn in your entry. (Louis Wu 14:28:21 UTC) (permalink)

Arbiter Tattoo
Kotaku found a pretty nice Arbiter tattoo at BodMod.org - and Merc let us know about it. Take a look! (Louis Wu 14:27:37 UTC) (permalink)

Evolutions Excerpt
CaptainTony noticed an excerpt from Halo: Evolutions at Amazon (the same excerpt is on Macmillan's website, as well) - the typos are likely due to bad OCR rather than horrible editing. Go give it a read! (Louis Wu 14:26:58 UTC) (permalink)

Charity Auctions provide lots of Halo Goodies
Laird has set up a series of auctions to raise money for Child's Play - tons of unique Halo schwag is on the block. Swing by and look at what he's offering! You've got about 6 days on most of these, so plan your bids appropriately! (Louis Wu 14:26:05 UTC) (permalink)

Day and Night - and an egg challenge
pete_the_duck decided to see what sort of changes there might be to parts of Kizingo Boulevard, depending on the time of day you were looking. His findings are interesting. (They also goaded Marty into admitting that 'Siege of Madrigal', the haunting piano piece from Myth that has been included in every previous Halo game as an easter egg, is present in ODST as well... can you find it?) (Louis Wu 14:20:28 UTC) (permalink)

The M12 LRV Warthog
Tommy92L whipped up an ad for the M12 LRV Warthog - go see if you want to buy. (Louis Wu 14:19:56 UTC) (permalink)

MLG Anaheim Info Begins
The next MLG Tournament is coming up in a week and a half - are you ready? Bungie.net has some basic info - get psyched for MLG Anaheim! (Louis Wu 14:18:01 UTC) (permalink)

Community Spotlight: ReconLIVE
A new batch of Bungie Favorites went live last night - this group was picked by ReconLIVE, a group started when the founders couldn't find an easy way to play tourneys over LIVE. Read a little about them on B.net, then check out their favorite files! (Louis Wu 14:17:31 UTC) (permalink)

News October 28 2009

Wednesday Video Funtime
New videos, showing up today on Bungie's Comm Chatter:

• Yoinhell created a puzzle map - there's a walkthrough on YouTube that might only make you realize this is WAY too tough for you... or not. Sort of crazy!
• bildebeast whipped up a 'funtage' - 3 minutes of betrayals, fun kills, and just plain stupid stuff. Great Owl City soundtrack.
• B MC Gann has a new Top 10 MLG Plays vid - pretty much a sniper montage, with a little bit of BR thrown in. (Well, I guess the number 2 clip has a couple of Mauler kills...)

Should keep you busy through lunch... (Louis Wu 17:22:27 UTC) (permalink)

Bad Cyborg: Flood Onslaught Challenge
Rockslider has got a new pair of movies for you - it's showing off some of the fighting available on Keyes in the original game. Go watch - and expand your battle repertoire! (Louis Wu 14:15:25 UTC) (permalink)

Touch the Sound
Domino Theory is back with another desire to give you stuff. This time, it's a Halo 3: ODST Official Soundtrack - just fill out his form, and you'll be entered to win a copy. How can you beat that? (Louis Wu 14:03:13 UTC) (permalink)

Pete Cooper discusses OC with CoQ
NeoGAF's Willeth had some time to sit down with Pete Cooper and discuss Operation Chastity; he's written it all up for his blog, Continue or Quit. It's a deep look at the movie, the motivations for making it, and the team that's been assembled - if you've been curious about the project, this article has the most information I've seen about it! (Louis Wu 13:55:40 UTC) (permalink)

Let's Get Cereal
John_117 let us know about a new collection of clips - nothing spectacular, and the quality's a little shaky... but overall, it makes you want to jump into Matchmaking. (Well, a lot of the clips were from customs, but you get the idea.) (Louis Wu 13:54:40 UTC) (permalink)

Is that Green Thumb...? No, wait...
Frankie stopped in to announce that he was affronted by the bad simulated Halo playing on an episode of Glee, a Fox drama. You can watch the clip yourself - it starts about 11:20 into the episode. Can you get vaporized in Halo 3? (Louis Wu 13:53:14 UTC) (permalink)

Finders Keepers
It's Wednesday, so there's a new Chronicles of ODS Steve at Hawty McBloggy's - Episode 46 discloses a... disturbing side of Steve. (Louis Wu 13:52:42 UTC) (permalink)

News October 27 2009

How many achievements have YOU unlocked?
G4TV talked to Jason Pace, of Halo Waypoint, and discovered that only a tiny percentage of Halo fans have unlocked every achievement across Halo 3, Halo Wars, and Halo 3: ODST - "significantly less than 1%". Are you one of the few? Check the G4 article for contact information - and let them know! (Louis Wu 19:52:13 UTC) (permalink)

Full Author List for Halo: Evolutions
We've known some of the bigger names in the Halo: Evolutions short story collection for a while now - but Kotaku has just posted the full list, and it's intriguing. Go check it out! Thanks, dCon V. (Louis Wu 18:06:17 UTC) (permalink)

Average Joe: Dropship dude
Today's Average Joe over at Bungie.net is Dropship dude, a guy who discovered Bungie when Halo: Combat Evolved was released, and has been a huge Halo fan ever since. Go learn more. (Louis Wu 18:06:00 UTC) (permalink)

Zoxin It Up! LIVE - Episode 6
Zoxin It Up! LIVE is hosting another (live) podcast this Thursday, October 29, at 9 pm EST - special guests are staff from HaloTech.org. Swing by and join 'em! Thanks, urk. (Louis Wu 16:47:02 UTC) (permalink)

Tuesday's Video Offerings
Videos available today, courtesy of Bungie's Comm Chatter:

• The Lighthouse is a machinima from Euphoria Films - a spooky story just in time for Halloween. (Nice Forging!)
• Laser-Tek 3000 is an ad for a big laser. Could use better voice-acting.
• ForgeHub has a new map - The Hollow - with a video showing it off. Go play Conquest!

Go watch. (Louis Wu 16:42:04 UTC) (permalink)

Printable Warthog Poster
Boxer stopped in with a printable Warthog poster that he'd originally created for Pete Cooper's Operation Chastity unveiling at the MCM Expo - now you can have one for YOUR wall! (Louis Wu 14:15:18 UTC) (permalink)

Star Fell
FireDragon04 wrote to let us know about a machinima/CG hybrid project that's been in the works for quite a while - it won't be released until later this year, but a teaser poster went live today. Looks pretty nice! (Louis Wu 13:53:09 UTC) (permalink)

Helljumpers Pumpkin... and shoes.
Hawty McBloggy has a very cool ODST-themed pumpkin on her front page today - go check it out! (I haven't looked yet to see if it's been submitted to our Guilt O' Lantern contest... but it would be a real shame if it's not!) While you're over there, check out the pretty slick-looking Nike Dunk Highs that someone customized with a Master Chief... they're expensive, but man, they look good! (Louis Wu 13:43:19 UTC) (permalink)

Where would Halo be if...
The Toronto Globe and Mail have used Halo as a jumping-off spot for a discussion about gaming on the Mac, and where it might be going in the future. The article's title is 'What if Halo had launched on a Mac?' - but really, that's pretty much the extent of the Halo content of the article. (Well, except for the humorous "I'm a Mac" parody done in the Halo engine...) Still, it's an interesting read about the gaming landscape, and what drives companies to develop for specific markets. Thanks, Anton P. Nym. (Louis Wu 13:42:32 UTC) (permalink)

News October 26 2009

Think You Know Someone
The finale of this season of Red vs Blue: Recreation is now up for sponsors on the Rooster Teeth site - it'll be live for the public in just a couple of hours. Lots of violence... not that many answers! Looks like Recreation is not over yet! (While you're there, you might want to check out the news post that discusses the Recreation DVD, the Rooster Teeth Shorts DVD, and the newest album from Trocadero, 'Ghosts that Linger', featuring lots of RvB music (along with plenty of non-RvB stuff). Finish your Christmas shopping early!) (Louis Wu 23:42:52 UTC) (permalink)

Tag and Release: Rally (Night)
Today's Tag and Release offering at Bungie.net looks at shots taken on Rally (Night). Great shots! (Louis Wu 19:14:22 UTC) (permalink)

ODST
Tony 'ubald' Marcotte has created a new render - this one based on an ODST model created by Nate Rogers. Very nice work! Go see it in his gallery here. (Louis Wu 18:44:57 UTC) (permalink)

THI Montage Competition
The Halo Insider is running a montage competition - win and you get $300 in cash, plus a bunch of intangible goodies, too. Go read the full details at TheHaloInsider.com! Thanks, urk. (Louis Wu 17:53:43 UTC) (permalink)

Monday CC Video Offerings
New vids for you today, courtesy of Bungie's Comm Chatter: MLG Requiem v3 Teaser promotes a new map available at Forge Hub (map link is in the post, too), and The Chronicles of Lyle: Chapter 3 (Part One) is a new episode of the Lyle saga, in which Lyle loses some friends. Go watch! (Louis Wu 17:51:52 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Love in Music Awards
The Hollywood Music in Media Awards & Conference is happening next month - November 19th, in Hollywood, CA. Lots of Halo content in the Video Game categories: both Stephen Rippy (Halo Wars) and Martin O'Donnell (Halo 3: ODST) are up for 'Best Original Score', and Marty's also up for 'Outstanding Music Supervision'. (These final nominations are not yet available on the HMM Awards site - I found them at Music 4 Games.) Good luck to both composers! (Louis Wu 16:02:41 UTC) (permalink)

Monday Comic Roundup
Stuntmutt sent along one final strip, for posting yesterday - I managed to screw up and forget it. You can read it now on the One One Se7en page. There was also a new grin + bear it posted at Hawty McBloggy's yesterday - I think it was Punday! Go read 'em both. (Louis Wu 15:55:24 UTC) (permalink)

Does he have to pay for the damage?
Cracked.com has posted the '8 Manliest Images on the Internet' - and Bungie's head of Security Jerome Simpson appears in #4, with a Gravity Hammer. Nice! Thanks, elpolloguapo. (Louis Wu 14:37:51 UTC) (permalink)

Guilt O' Lantern: Prizes Announced
There are currently only eight entries in the Guilt O' Lantern contest - and we've finally gotten around to posting the prize list. You can win some pretty sweet schwag, just for creating a cool Halo-themed pumpkin - so what are you waiting for? Don't forget, we recently posted both Halo 3 Emblems and Halo 3 Medals in formats that make for great pumpkin stencils! You've got until Midnight (eastern) on Saturday - so get to carving! (Louis Wu 12:52:28 UTC) (permalink)

Do Zombies have Bone Marrow?
Nori 'kilaMOMjaro' Fox reminded us that the time is fast approaching for the 2nd Annual HALOween Zombies Charity Tournament - have you registered yet? There are plenty of goodies to win, and all proceeds go to Be the Match Foundation - play Halo, kill zombies, help people who need bone marrow! The first day of the tourney (Saturday, Halloween) has competition starting at 2pm Eastern - so you're finished LONG before you need to be dressed to go candy-hunting. The second day (November 1) also starts at 2pm. Go sign up! (Louis Wu 12:45:01 UTC) (permalink)

What are you doing when you're not decimating the Covenant?
bildinabubble created some artwork showing off some of the lesser-known aspects of the Master Chief's life - and Hawty McBloggy has collected them for your viewing pleasure. Who knew? (Louis Wu 12:39:09 UTC) (permalink)

News October 25 2009

Hard Justice S2: Ep 9
Looks like there's a new episode of Hard Justice online - Season 2 Episode 9 can be found on YouTube. Bernard and Eddie are being chased by some pretty bad dudes. Are they going to live through the night? And who's living in that cave? (Louis Wu 22:20:33 UTC) (permalink)

Operation Chastity Warthog at MCM
Nick Singer pointed out an article about the Operation Chastity Warthog, which made an appearance at the London Expo - pics and a short writeup are online. Looks amazing! (Louis Wu 14:40:22 UTC) (permalink)

ASE Ep 11: Halo
The final episode of Rampancy.net's Anger, Sadness, and Envy - Episode 11, Halo - is online. This podcast covers the final level of Halo 3, and has Narcogen, Blackstar, and Miguel 'Freewill' Chavez discussing the level, how it fits into the game, and how it compares to Halo 1. 90 minutes, 90 mb; go listen! (Louis Wu 14:37:49 UTC) (permalink)

The One
Tommy92L told us about 'The One' - a player who's more than a man, less than a god, and does things with toothpicks you don't want to know about. Here's hoping you never meet him... (Louis Wu 14:32:12 UTC) (permalink)

News October 24 2009

Firefight Friends
Hawty McBloggy has been building a Firefight Teammate Friends List - you can use it to help find people in your local time zone to play Firefight with. Finish the fight! (Louis Wu 21:27:47 UTC) (permalink)

Halo: Consoles Revolutionized.
Peter Molyneux listed what he considered to be the five most revolutionary games in the past 20 years - and Halo made the roundup. Not too shabby! Thanks, rolandk73. (Louis Wu 13:25:17 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Portal Timeline is Live
ElusiveEagle519 noticed that the interactive Halo timeline is now live at the official Halo Portal run by the Waypoint team - you can check out key events in the Halo universe, and get more information about them as you choose. Nice work! (Louis Wu 13:24:56 UTC) (permalink)

Top Ten Halo 3 Screenshots: Orange
I <3 Halo 3 Screenshots has their latest Top Ten Screens of the Week online - I'm seeing stuff in there that would be suitable for framing at HaloScreenshots.com. Gorgeous stuff - go look! (Louis Wu 13:24:34 UTC) (permalink)

IGN's Top 10 Halo 3 Kills (Oct. 11 - Oct. 20)
Yesterday was busy, so we missed this... but IGN has posted another 'Top 10 Halo 3 Kills' video, collected from user-submitted clips during the week of October 11. Nothing super-special, but they're entertaining clips, filmed nicely - definitely a good example of the fun to be had in Halo 3 matchmaking! Thanks, urk. (Louis Wu 13:24:15 UTC) (permalink)

Flying Securely
The Bungie Weekly Update is live - and it's full of nice tidbits. Reach progress info, a survey (you can get stuff if you play), lots of ODST killin', Bungie-downloadable Dramatis Personæ copies, FLAG details, November Playlist details, and more. Go read! (It is, of course, also available in our Weekly Update Archive.) (Louis Wu 01:56:18 UTC) (permalink)

News October 23 2009

High-res Halo 3 Medals
You've still got a week and a little bit to create a pumpkin-based masterpiece for our Guilt O' Lantern contest - and just for you, we've got a new resource to help you make pretty pictures. A nearly-complete collection of high-res vector renderings of the Halo 3 medals is now available for your downloading pleasure. Thanks to Tom 'WaywardSpleen' Pratchios for doing these (some time ago), to b0anerges for asking for them and suggesting that they'd make decent pumpkin templates, and you, for whatever you do with them! (Coupled with SK CRISIS' high-res Halo 3 emblems, you've got an amazing set of groundwork laid for you already.) (Louis Wu 19:36:48 UTC) (permalink)

Free Prophet of Regret from BGN
BusyGamerNews.com's Dave Kramer let us know that they're giving away a Holographic Prophet of Regret Limited Edition Action Figure - stop by and leave a comment to be entered int the drawing! (Deadline is next Thursday, and you have to live in the US to be eligible.) Read the page for full details - and get yourself entered to win a freebie! (Louis Wu 18:06:26 UTC) (permalink)

How to Suck Less at Firefight - Week 1: Crater
Geekscape's Teabag Prevention Team is starting a series of FIrefight tips, broken down by map. Week One focuses on Crater; swing by to see what they can help with! (Louis Wu 15:17:46 UTC) (permalink)

Friday Comic Roundup
Two new strips for you today - this week's ODS Steve came out a little late (it was released yesterday), and Stuntmutt's take on ODST's cooperative survival mode is live on the One One Se7en page. Go read! (Louis Wu 14:26:03 UTC) (permalink)

Str8 Rippin Live Chat with Dr Pepper
Swing by the Dr Pepper Facebook page on Thursday, October 29th at 6PM Eastern Time for a live chat with MLG Pros Str8 Rippin. Leave your toughest Halo and gaming questions for the team on the Discussion Board here - they'll select the ten best questions to kick off the chat on October 29. (Louis Wu 13:40:13 UTC) (permalink)

Run
Tommy92L is back with another vid - he's on a roll. This one is called 'Run', and it involves a deadly infection that spreads throughout the world. Happy Halloween! (Louis Wu 13:39:57 UTC) (permalink)

Game with Fame: Insane Clown Posse plays ODST
The next Halo-related Game with Fame that's scheduled comes up the day before Halloween - Insane Clown Posse is planning on playing Halo 3: ODST with Xbox LIVE Gold members from 4PM Eastern on October 30. Read the full release for instructions on how to get in on the action. (It's unclear whether they're talking about Firefight, or Halo 3 Multiplayer with the ODST-exclusive maps...) (Louis Wu 13:39:33 UTC) (permalink)

Rorschach Inkblot Test – Heretic
Hawty McBloggy is returning to her roots - this week's Friday special is another Rorschach Inkblot Test. The subject: Heretic's Heat Map. What do you see? (Before you decide, check out the results from the LAST Rorschach Test she held - Assembly's Heat Map, from back in March.) (Louis Wu 13:39:10 UTC) (permalink)

Comcast puts Halo OnDemand
ICDedPpl uses Comcast cable, and he recently noticed that the OnDemand menu has an entire Halo category, with clips of things like skull locations and other tidbits. If you have Comcast, check it out! (Louis Wu 13:38:44 UTC) (permalink)

Friday's Fan Fiction
A light Fan Fiction update this week - just three pieces. Go read! (Louis Wu 13:37:55 UTC) (permalink)

News October 22 2009

Flaggin' it
Double XP this week is Team Flag - and the list is live. Full details can be found on Bungie's Playlists page (or hey, Bungie.net's front page) - but hey, it's Flag. What more do you need to know? Go capture some. (Louis Wu 18:43:38 UTC) (permalink)

XForgery: Halloween Event
XForgery is hosting a contest that uses the Halloween Double-XP Playlist coming in a couple of weeks - be the user with the highest number of Living Dead experience points gained during the weekend, win a bunch of Microsoft points and some site-specific stuff. Thanks, urk. (Louis Wu 18:19:00 UTC) (permalink)

Bungie has your vids
Comm Chatter video roundup this afternoon:

• CustoM RecoN whipped up an MLG minitage.
• The guy who created 'Master Chief vs Mortal Combat' is back with 'Halo vs Super Mario Kart' - and we all learn something about the Princess.
• Ativan put 89 ODST screenshots together to make an ODST landscape montage.
• R for Rodzilla fired a Fuel Rod shot that... acted oddly. (Coolest video of the day.)

Go watch. (Louis Wu 18:09:34 UTC) (permalink)

Unmasking the story of Halo 3: ODST
elzarthebam noticed a new ViDoc on Xbox LIVE Marketplace this morning - it's called 'Dramatis Personæ' (well, that's what Bungie calls it; Marketplace lists it as 'Unmasking the story of Halo 3: ODST'). It's just under 8 minutes long, and it's FULL of story spoilers - but if you've played the game, it's a great look at how the story of ODST evolved over the development period, and what Bungie wanted you to get out of it all. It's filmed in the same location as Terra Incognita was; it seems to be a followup to that film. At the moment, it's only available on XBLM - but I assume it'll be available for download from Bungie.net soon. (If not, we'll ask if we can provide download links.) Go watch it! Update: According to urk, this is only officially available through the ODST Intel (Extras) menu - it's a thank-you for the fans who bought the game. (Makes you wonder why there's a link for it on Xbox.com, then...) What this means for folks without LIVE is that it is not currently available on the web (and we can't change that for you). Sorry! Update 2: SketchFactor clarified what happened - and pointed out a YouTube version which might hold you over until high-quality downloads are available. Update 3: Bungie is working on getting high-quality downloadable versions available, but in the meantime, you can grab some from us (these were rendered from the Marketplace versions, and Marty will be disappointed by the fact that the audio channels have been merged, but they should tide you over):

Beating Endure and the 200Ks
Leveling Down (a blog from an older gamer) has a series of tips and strategies for getting many of the Firefight achievements - check it out! (Louis Wu 13:54:40 UTC) (permalink)

Photography in Halo
MasterChiefn has decided to take a more photographic approach to his pan-cam work in the Halo universe; you can find the beginnings of a collection that will eventually include at least one picture from every map on his DeviantART space. (Louis Wu 13:54:12 UTC) (permalink)

I Can Haz Help?
A10M1C sent word that Mindless Distortion Productions has just finished up 'I Can Haz Help?' - a Halo 3 machinima that follows the travels and travails of a Halo 3 player looking to add Recon to his armor portfolio. Check it out. (Louis Wu 13:53:33 UTC) (permalink)

Watch the claws
Missed this a couple of days ago, but better late than never... Hawty McBloggy pointed out a pic she found on Flickr, showing off a couple of killer costumes. SOMEBODY's got cool parents... (Louis Wu 13:52:55 UTC) (permalink)

Bungie Favorites: The Upper Echelon, Week 2
Yesterday was Wednesday - so the Bungie Favorites section on B.net was updated with a second batch of files from the Upper Echelon folks. Go look! (Louis Wu 13:49:57 UTC) (permalink)

Phenomenon
AssaultGodzilla is back with another Halo Music Video - this one is set to Thousand Foot Krutch's 'Phenomenon'. Timing is quite good. (Louis Wu 13:49:41 UTC) (permalink)

News October 21 2009

Forge Fun
Enjoyable things you can do with Forge today (thanks to urk for noticing): Forge Hub is offering a puzzle to challenge the soft squishy parts inside your skull, and Forge Cafe has got a Halloween Forge contest running (I have no clue what the prizes are, because you have to be a group member to see them). Go play! (There's also a File Share contest running over at Xbox360Forum.com - it's not exactly Forge-related, but it's close.) (Louis Wu 17:20:40 UTC) (permalink)

Wednesday Comic Roundup - Geriatric Edition
Old Friends Week continues in the Halo Comic world. Current staples Reclaimer and ODS Steve have the day off, while old-timers One One Se7en, Calvin and Halo, and Halo Action Figure Theater all have new strips for you. Stuntmutt adds game spoilers to the latest One One Se7en in an attempt to give you excuses not to read it. Blackstar muses on the ins - and outs - of certain game mechanics in today's Calvin and Halo. And Elnea shows you that you totally misunderstood last year's season finale in the latest Halo Action Figure Theater. (We're still missing a strip from Paul Maestri, but I'm hopeful.) (Louis Wu 14:33:25 UTC) (permalink)

I gotta try that running around thing...
Hawty McBloggy has posted an article entitled "Top Ten Signs You May Be a Camper" - don't feel bad if you are, it's a legitimate strategy. Whoops! (Louis Wu 14:33:01 UTC) (permalink)

Oh when the Chief... goes dancing in...
Remember that short video (covered with ads and text) of the Master Chief dancing at a Saints game, taken from a CBS broadcast? Someone recorded a minute's worth of the dance on their iPhone - much better look. Thanks, Dirtbag. (Louis Wu 14:32:15 UTC) (permalink)

Telecoastin'
Willy stopped in with word of 'Telecoasting' - the art of jumping between carefully-arranged teleporters on Forge maps. (This technique has shown up in some obstacle courses, but here it's just for fun.) Check the videos if you're confused. (We last reported on this when it was called 'Telerunning', back in 2007.) (Louis Wu 14:31:34 UTC) (permalink)

Big Art
FassinTaak sent us two pieces of art that you might be interested in - the first is a vector PDF (177k) of the 'Regret' poster he released a couple of days ago - this can be scaled to any size for printing. The second is a very large, high-quality JPEG (3508x4961, 7.3 mb) of the UNSC propaganda poster he released last month. Halo artwork suitable for your walls! (Louis Wu 14:30:54 UTC) (permalink)

'Young Frankenstein' is so appropriate...
chris101b inserted that dramatic picture of Dare he found yesterday into the video that seems to have inspired it in the first place. Metahumor! (Louis Wu 14:28:02 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 High Resolution Emblem Pack
SK CRISIS created high-resolution images and vectors of every emblem in the Halo 3 collection - you can recreate your character's emblem in high-res for whatever use you choose. The uncompressed folder of images has 344 items, and weighs in at 18 mb; the compressed .rar file is only 5.3 mb. SK CRISIS made this available at Mediafire - but we're giving you an easier-to-use option. Grab it - lots of good stuff in there! (Louis Wu 14:26:54 UTC) (permalink)

The Church of Church
Luke McKay doodled another scene from an RvB episode yesterday - this one comes from the most recent episode of Recreation, and we've added it to his gallery here. Learning you're a god can only end badly... (Louis Wu 14:25:52 UTC) (permalink)

News October 20 2009

See Waypoint Early
According to Major Nelson, the next Xbox LIVE Preview will have access to a preview of Halo Waypoint - so if you're interested in getting an early peek, swing by Xbox.com and sign up for the preview! (No guarantees; they're not taking EVERYONE.) Thanks, KP. (Louis Wu 20:58:20 UTC) (permalink)

Know Your Ninja: Sir Fragula
There's a new 'Know Your Ninja' up on Bungie.net - Sir Fragula holds forth on arms control, old age, and curry. There's at least one Halo reference in there. (Louis Wu 18:44:14 UTC) (permalink)

WCG USA Halo 3: ODST Locked and Loaded
World Cyber Games is hosting the ODST: Locked and Loaded Tournament this weekend (October 24 and 25) in New York City. 24 top teams will duke it out for $5k in prizes. You can find more details on this page at TeamXbox. (Louis Wu 17:02:52 UTC) (permalink)

ArmedDragon77 - Vehicular Montage 3
ArmedDragon77 has a lot of vehicle kills - and now he's got a new vehicular montage. 8 and a half minutes of boom, splat, boom. Go watch. (Louis Wu 16:58:25 UTC) (permalink)

Cheap Halo Schwag
dCon V pointed out a pretty decent deal on Halo-themed belt buckles and wallets at ThingFling; $9.99 (plus $6 s/h, though that doesn't go up if you buy more than one batch) gets you 10 assorted wallets and buckles. Pretty cheap, given what they USED to sell for! You've got about 14 hours from the time this is being posted... (Louis Wu 13:10:30 UTC) (permalink)

Dun dun dun....
chris101b ran across some bizarre behavior near the end of ODST's campaign - looks like Bungie's artists were having some internet meme fun during development. If you haven't finished the campaign, some of the wording in his post might be considered spoiler material - but the picture he presents is not. Funny stuff! (I wish there were a video...) (Louis Wu 12:20:55 UTC) (permalink)

Smiting is fun
Red vs Blue Recreation Chapter 18 ('Hang Time') went live last night - things are definitely getting messy. Do we know what's going on? No... not really. Church learns he's a god... but one with limited powers. Simmons learns he can't see invisible stuff. And the greatest car chase evar takes place on Sandtrap. Go watch! (Louis Wu 12:20:24 UTC) (permalink)

I am a Spartan
Tommy92l has released 'I am a Spartan' - sometimes, you just gotta fight. Even when your target isn't fighting back. (Louis Wu 12:20:03 UTC) (permalink)

News October 19 2009

Marvel's Blood Line #2 - opening info
CaptainTony noticed that there's artwork and a short summary of Marvel's Blood Line #2 over at Marvel.com - go look! (Louis Wu 22:49:46 UTC) (permalink)

Tag and Release: Alpha Site
There's a new Tag and Release article up on Bungie.net - 'Alpha Site' is the phrase of the week. Go see how they did! (Louis Wu 19:18:25 UTC) (permalink)

Hearting Marty
GrimBrother One noticed that Kotaku has a preview of the upcoming last.fm app on Xbox Live - looks like it's going to have a dedicated Marty O'Donnell channel! (Louis Wu 18:41:43 UTC) (permalink)

Love, Bungie
So, earlier today, I posted the standard Monday Comic Roundup - Halo-related comics that hit the web since Friday. We had a special treat for you - Stuntmutt dug himself out of his cave for a limited engagement, and kicked off a week-long series of strips. (There's even a bonus strip right now in our forum.) Soon after that newspost went live, I noticed that Halo Action Figure Theater ALSO had a new comic up - two of them, in fact. And I wondered about our other defunct (er, dormant) strips - I guess 'wondering' publicly can wake some people up! ZZoMBiE13 sent along Another Halo Comic Strip 116, in direct response to the challenge. It really IS a special Comic Monday! (Louis Wu 18:31:20 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Waypoint: Coming Soon
Halo Waypoint has sent out some press materials; we've posted the release, a whole passel of screenshots, and a 30 mb video preview of the service, which goes live on November 5. Swing by and see what you're in for! (Louis Wu 17:49:26 UTC) (permalink)

Band of Spartans, Episode 1
Futur Life stopped in to let us know about 'Band of Spartans, Episode 1', a French-made machinima weighing in at nearly 20 minutes. (Futur Life suggests that the emotions are understandable in all languages.) Take a look! (Louis Wu 17:46:46 UTC) (permalink)

Sorry, Charlie
Apparently, there are some waters off Longshore that allow floating... so what have Grifball fanatics done with this info? Why, created a Water Polo variant of their insanely popular game, of course. ell3ment and Gunnergrun have whipped up a map called "Ocean Arena", and a gametype known as "Grifball of the Sea" - you can download the map and gametypes at Forge Hub, and watch a movie on YouTube. Go swimming! Thanks, NOKYARD. (Louis Wu 16:59:19 UTC) (permalink)

ODST BMW for Forza Pre-Orders
If you read the October 9th Bungie Weekly Update, you saw a pretty cool Halo 3: ODST-themed BMW. Now you have a chance to actually grab that car, from Turn 10 - they're giving away three customized cars to folks who have preordered, and that ODST Beemer is one of 'em. Read this page on their blog for full details. Hurry - you've only got until October 26th! Thanks again, urk. (Louis Wu 16:58:42 UTC) (permalink)

All up in my grille...
Wanna watch some splattering? Stewie2552's fifth montage to the activity is now live - thanks, urk. (Louis Wu 16:50:05 UTC) (permalink)

Monday Comic Roundup - with a Bonus!
Some fun stuff today in the comic roundup - we've got our standard Sunday Grin + Bear It (interesting uses for Engineers!), we've got a Halo mention in this morning's AppleGeeks Light (thanks to many, first was Jim 028) - this explains a LOT of things - and we've got a very special treat for you. Stuntmutt's back, just for the week, with some new ODST-themed One One Se7en strips! First up - Phony. Here's hoping you like bad puns and bad art - because he's here all week! Try the Kig-yar. Update: OMG, it's TWO strips back from the dead! Halo Action Figure Theater has not one, but TWO updates - there's a guest strip by OboeCrazy yesterday... and a brand-new regular-storyline strip from Elnea which recaps what happened the last time this strip was live (back in June) - and opens the door for a bigger story. Hmm... I wonder if we'll get new strips from ZZoMBiE13, Paul Maestri, or Blackstar this week? (Louis Wu 13:47:28 UTC) (permalink)

Regret
FassinTaak whipped up a Shepard Fairey-style poster of the Prophet of Regret - would make a nice wall hanging. Take a look! (Louis Wu 12:50:09 UTC) (permalink)

Animatronic Elite
Whoa - Brandon pointed out a pair of videos from Kre8-fx, showing off the start of an animatronic Elite costume being whipped up for Halloween - (the first shows off the servo controls for the jaws, while the second - much shorter - shows off the moving eyeballs, along with lots of other small but really cool tidbits). (Louis Wu 12:48:01 UTC) (permalink)

All the cool kids are wearing it
Last night's episode of The Simpsons - 'Treehouse of Horror XX' (available here on Hulu, sponsored by Halo 3: ODST) has a fun Halo reference - Jimbo is dressed as the Master Chief. Looks like bluerunner was first on our forum with the update! (Louis Wu 12:46:23 UTC) (permalink)

I GUESS that's a small part...
Hawty McBloggy found a pretty funny little clip - looks like grenades do more than explode! (Louis Wu 12:45:50 UTC) (permalink)

The Candy Coated Wonder Road - Friends
Darkspire Films is back - and the first of several new shows is "The Candy Coated Wonder Road". Can you picture a Halo-based children's show? You don't have to - they've built one. The first episode is "Friends", and the music is infectious. Well... healing, but... oh, never mind. Go watch. (Louis Wu 12:38:49 UTC) (permalink)

Behind HW Cutscenes
Chris101b ran across the personal website of Brandon Riza, an employee of Blur Studio. In his 3D effects portfolio, he includes some cool animations he's built for various projects - including the Halo Wars cutscenes. Very nice alternate angles! (Louis Wu 12:37:56 UTC) (permalink)

News October 18 2009

Getting Away with Murder
AssaultGodzilla is back with another Halo music video - this one sets various Halo-related footage to Papa Roach's "Getting Away with Murder" - nice timing! (Louis Wu 21:04:33 UTC) (permalink)

Dock
Tommy92L let us know about 'Dock', a hand-held look at a suspicious location... some things shouldn't be investigated. (Just in time for Halloween!) (Louis Wu 20:07:05 UTC) (permalink)

Reach concept art leak is a hoax
We got word from the Russian Halo Community that at least SOME of the concept art that appeared yesterday (purportedly for Reach) was actually done by Robert Brown, an artist in California, and was seen by a member of halouniverse.ru more than half a year ago. It's not Bungie-related, it's not even Halo-related - it's just concept art with a slapped-on logo. (Louis Wu 15:26:07 UTC) (permalink)

Get out of the car!
icefire decided to animate a scene from Family Guy... using Halo models. Animation was done in 3ds Max 7, rendered in Skyline, using a fan-made map for Halo CE. Short and sweet. (Louis Wu 15:25:00 UTC) (permalink)

Firefight Survival Guide
Jimmy Jangles put together what he calls "The Ultimate ODST Firefight Survival Guide" - it's a collection of tips that will keep you going in Firefight mode. Give it a read! (Louis Wu 15:24:24 UTC) (permalink)

News October 17 2009

Eurogamer deconstructs ODST
Eurogamer has released a tech analysis of Halo 3: ODST - and it's a really interesting read. If you're intrigued by how Bungie squeezed more performance out of the Halo 3 engine for this product, check it out! Thanks, William Albert Sullivan Angulo. (Louis Wu 11:51:29 UTC) (permalink)

Top 10 Skull Screenshots
bs angel is kicking off a new feature at ihearthalo3screenshots - themed top 10 collections, every Friday. This week, it's a Top 10 Skull Screens list. Some really amazing shots there! Check 'em out. (Louis Wu 11:51:04 UTC) (permalink)

Reach concept art... or a hoax?
Over at NeoGAF, Kibbles pointed out some images he found on Bungie.net (the original thread is still up) - they purport to be concept art from Reach. I rather doubt they're real (the logo placement/opacity are not really Bungie's style any more, many viewers have pointed out that they look a lot like ODST concept art), but they're out there; you're welcome to discuss them. If we hear anything we can report, we'll certainly let you know. (Louis Wu 11:50:43 UTC) (permalink)

Tank Armor, Updated
Jensen has updated his 'Elite Tank Armor' design - check out the new pics! (We first mentioned this model last month.) (Louis Wu 11:44:16 UTC) (permalink)

Outside the Drop Pod, Redux
XMixMasterX noticed a post at Bungie.net, by squidhands - someone has come up with a more consistent way of getting the game to start Firefight with no selected map (which gives you the chance to explore the opening Campaign cutscene and surrounding area). (We talked about this glitch a little while back - but there was no really reproducible technique for folks to try it themselves (and the original video didn't show NEARLY as much detail as this new one does). Take a look! (Louis Wu 11:43:17 UTC) (permalink)

News October 16 2009

The Recording Light is: ON
The Bungie Weekly Update is online - and it's a fascinating read. urk sat down with Marty O'Donnell and discussed the casting process for Reach voice actors. There is, of course, some other stuff, as well - iPhone wallpapers and traffic maps and Stosh-blaming photos and all SORTS of stuff. Go read it! If you'd like, it's in our Weekly Update Archive as well as on Bungie.net. (Louis Wu 23:49:17 UTC) (permalink)

Liam887's Halo Artwork and Models
I was processing our Halo Links queue, and saw this page - it's a collection of Halo artwork and models, created by Liam "Liam887" Keating. Some really cool stuff in here - look around! (Louis Wu 17:18:55 UTC) (permalink)

Friday Videomania
The movies are coming fast and furious, courtesy of Bungie.net's Comm Chatter:

• 2 Guys 1 Boat is not named for a really unpleasant dare - it's just two guys on a boat
• Halo 3: ODST Teabag Party has the ClipCritics playing some Halo 3... and being pretty rude about it
• Sweetest Things is a 1-minute long minitage - no time to get bored
• Why We Jump is a community jump vid - lots of fun leaps

Go watch! (Louis Wu 17:10:50 UTC) (permalink)

Breast Cancer Awareness Screenshot Contest
Black Water Ops has yet another screenshot contest running - this one is to bring awareness to breast cancer. Win, and you get some cool XBL prizes. Thanks again, urk. (Louis Wu 17:10:08 UTC) (permalink)

Be aware.
Xbox.com's Canadian arm has posted a bunch of Firefight survival tips - swing by and give 'em a read! Thanks, urk. (Louis Wu 17:05:58 UTC) (permalink)

More info on Halo Evolutions
xmoosev3 noticed that Halo Waypoint's Facebook page contains the cover and a description of the upcoming 'Halo Evolutions' book. (You cansee the cover via twitter, too.) The book will be out next month - release date is November 24. (Louis Wu 16:24:41 UTC) (permalink)

This Spartan Life - win a dream date with Amber!
Damian Lacedaemion is back with This Spartan Life - they're looking to raise some money by offering (virtual) dates with TSL cast members (Solid Gold Dancer Amber, Fyb3roptik and MC Aero are all on the menu) for those who enter a raffle. Swing by Kickstarter for a video that explains all the details - and help keep TSL online! (They're looking to raise $5,000 by November 15, so visit soon.) (Louis Wu 14:27:01 UTC) (permalink)

Do a barrel roll.
Brian Gilmore let us know that Geekscape's Teabag Prevention is back with their Road to Recon Armor Week 3 - this one covers Vidmaster Classic. If you haven't gotten this achievement yet - check the tips! (Louis Wu 14:03:59 UTC) (permalink)

Hawty McBloggy Updates
Swinging by HMB will give you access to both yesterday's Twitter T&A Thursday article (beware of odd clouds), and today's Friday Caption Fun, Round 67 article (I think that's Hawty in the kitchen, making me a sammich). Go read! (Louis Wu 14:00:54 UTC) (permalink)

Reclaimer Friday
It's been a while coming, but TTL Demag0gue let us know that Reclaimer 223 is out - and Bold discovers new info about Reclaimer. (Louis Wu 14:00:27 UTC) (permalink)

Halo: Reach Preview in December EGM
Looks like EGM, the magazine that stopped publishing in January of this year, is coming back - and the December issue has feature on Halo: Reach! Thanks, The BS Police. (Louis Wu 13:59:53 UTC) (permalink)

Top 10 Halo 3 ODST Firefight Kills
Anoj is back with a new Top 10 Halo 3 Series video - this one is Episode 44, Top 10 ODST Firefight Kills. I guess there are still just a limited number of clips to choose from... Thanks, Minime637. (Louis Wu 13:59:34 UTC) (permalink)

Friday's Fan Fiction
Just three new pieces this week in the Fan Fiction section - go read 'em! (Louis Wu 13:58:39 UTC) (permalink)

News October 15 2009

Par-tay!
Get your game on - this week's Double EXP Weekend Playlist is Fiesta. Random weapons, 8 players, FFA. Go play! (Louis Wu 20:42:41 UTC) (permalink)

Spartan vs Spartan
MsValentine went to a panel called 'Spartan vs Spartan' at EXP Con 2009 - it was Steve Downes (the voice of Master Chief) and T.C. Carson (the voice of Kratos in the God of War series) discussing their roles. She grabbed a bunch of photos, and some low-quality videos (the important part is the audio, and it's all audible) - go see what she learned! (It's a Red vs Blue journal, but it should be readable without an account there.) (Louis Wu 17:15:13 UTC) (permalink)

Go back to Sniper
Joey Victory is back with the third episode of "The World's Greatest Halo 3 Player... In His Mind" (Episode 1 was mentioned here, and episode 2 was here; if you missed 'em, go watch because they're great). This time, he's providing commentary on a game of MLG Team Slayer on Guardian - had me snickering. Go watch! (Thanks, urk.) (Louis Wu 16:56:38 UTC) (permalink)

ODS Steve smells like a monkey
Today's the one-year anniversary of ODS Steve - and there's a party going on over at Hawty McBloggy's. Stuntmutt, Grin + Bear It's Luke, Adam Susskind, and ZzomBiE13 all created birthday strips to celebrate Steve's first year. Go light a candle! To be honest, I heard about this at Bungie.net. (Thanks, angel. Thanks a lot.) (Louis Wu 16:19:01 UTC) (permalink)

An ODST drops into VGXPO
Sean Bradley was at VGXPO in Philly this weekend - and he was fully decked-out in his ODST outfit. He won two awards in their costume competition on Saturday; Most Complex Costume, and Best Costume. There's a post on the 405th with some pics and a link to some videos, and there are more pics in his Photobucket album. Superb! (Louis Wu 13:33:28 UTC) (permalink)

The Women of Halo
Another cosplay image from MsValentine, snapped at EXP Con (it goes with yesterday's image) - this one sees your two Cortanas and raises you a Miranda Keyes. To War! (Louis Wu 13:32:59 UTC) (permalink)

There IS a BR in ODST!
ArteenEsben noticed a Battle Rifle in Halo 3: ODST - no, you can't play with it (it shows up only in a cutscene), but given the uproar from the fans when it was made clear that the BR wouldn't be present in ODST, I'm thinking this HAS to be an easter egg. You can see stills of it in this post, but you should watch the cutscene if you want to see it in motion. (Louis Wu 13:25:37 UTC) (permalink)

As a game, it's not half bad.
dogbomb pointed out an article at Destructoid.com - it's a look at Halo (the first one) from someone who never touched any of the Halo games before. Interesting viewpoint! (Louis Wu 13:24:44 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 Top 10: Killtacular
IGN is starting up a 'Top 10 Kills' video series - the first movie is online now, and you can submit to future ones (instructions are in the newspost). Top clip each week will win a $60 Gamestop gift card. (You have to be a US resident, and you have to render your video with Bungie Pro render points.) The first 10 are decent (but not great) - here's hoping that with fan submissions, the quality will go up! (Louis Wu 13:23:50 UTC) (permalink)

Interview with Phil Spencer at Joystiq
Joystiq published an interview with Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft Game Studios; he holds forth on many subjects, but Halo is a big one. (It doesn't get mentioned until about a third of the way into the article, so if you're not interested in Natal, be patient.) Thanks to Mike Smith for making me take a second look. (Louis Wu 13:23:11 UTC) (permalink)

News October 14 2009

ODST Cutscene Library: HD Release Complete
The last batch of ODST cutscenes are now online in HD format. The entire library is complete at this point. Enjoy! (Louis Wu 21:01:41 UTC) (permalink)

Twisted and Deranged
Pierre Tartaix let us know that TGO GMBH has released a new machinima - it's called Twisted & Deranged, and you can find it on their site, on YouTube, or on Vimeo. They're French - but the dialogue is in English. (Well, sort of. It's in comic balloons, so you could say it's silent with English subtitles.) Red and Blue team duke it out... but the battle doesn't end as you'd expect. (Louis Wu 20:20:25 UTC) (permalink)

The sacred temple of WHAT?
The only comic we've seen today is Chronicles of ODS Steve #44 - Disgruntled. A character is revealed... (TTL Demag0gue says there's an episode of Reclaimer coming today, but I'm not waiting any more.) (Louis Wu 20:08:22 UTC) (permalink)

Providing a home for gold bars
It's time for another Community Spotlight on Bungie.net - this week, it's The Upper Echelon - you can read an interview with MR DROZ, and check out some of their bestest files in Bungie Favorites. (Louis Wu 18:23:36 UTC) (permalink)

Keep your head down - there's three of us in here!
What's better than a real-life Cortana? Two of 'em. Thanks to MsValentine, for pointing out a shot she collected at EXP Con - that's her, and fellow cosplayer Rachel, creating the Cortana Double Take. (Louis Wu 17:26:52 UTC) (permalink)

Any article using 'Zombocalypse' can't be bad.
Very cool article about Infection maps (how to make 'em, why to make 'em, what not to put in 'em) over at Forge Hub - give it a read, and take your zombie-channeling to the next level. Thanks, urk. (Louis Wu 17:13:35 UTC) (permalink)

Giveaway Wednesday, Indeed
More contests today - these three are courtesy of Bungie.net:

• Project: HAYABUSA is giving away a copy of ODST (with Johnson), as well as MS points, to the winners in a new tournament they're hosting. Check the post for full details.
• HaloCrossing has a Mongoose Obstacle Course, and the top three finishers will win stuff. Check THAT post for full details, as well.
• Honor Guard has posted their fourth 'Halolympics' course - the post gives you info and a link to the movie, the movie gives you a download link to the map (and a walkthrough). No prizes, but hey, it's all about honor, right?

Good stuff. Go win something. (Louis Wu 17:09:34 UTC) (permalink)

FLAG - Play With Bungie
Hopefully, you've noticed (and checked out) the FLAG (Fight Like A Girl) icon over on the right side of the page - the tournament is coming up this weekend, and the cause is a great one. If you need MORE incentive, they've just opened up a 'Play With Bungie' option - for a $15 donation, you and a friend can play against a pair of Bungie employees in a Halo 3 custom game, or with them in a Firefight game. Playtime is limited to 20-30 minutes, so sign up NOW. Thanks, angel. (Louis Wu 12:55:53 UTC) (permalink)

Halo UI in Virgin Ad
c0ld vengeance noticed the original Halo HUD showing up in a new ad for Virgin Media, currently showing in movie theaters in the UK. Homage... or ripoff? Either way, it tickled me. (Louis Wu 12:51:38 UTC) (permalink)

Around Mid7night
Mid7night ran across a video someone made using his Halo ships ported into X-Plane - pretty cool stuff! (Seems like they might be useful to Machinima makers...) (Louis Wu 12:50:50 UTC) (permalink)

Free copy of ODST (w/Johnson) from Co-Optimus
Co-Optimus is giving away a copy of Halo 3: ODST with a Sgt. Johnson code - swing by the thread, tell them what your favorite Halo weapon is, and you're entered! Drawing is this Friday (October 16). (Louis Wu 12:49:32 UTC) (permalink)

Working Together
You'd never know it if you only listened to the rabid fanboys... but developers who work on different platforms CAN get along. The Naughty Dog crew hosted a live chat session with fans to answer questions about Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (a PS3 exclusive currently getting rave reviews), and one of the questions they received had to do with why Bungie was mentioned in Uncharted 2's credits. The response:

We try to be quite open with our technology and our process. We exchanged technology and ideas with other developers. We wanted to make sure we thanked everyone that helped us out in some way.

Always nice to see cooperation! Thanks to SF Console Game Examiner for noticing this. (Louis Wu 12:48:35 UTC) (permalink)

Know Your Ninja: Achilles
Yesterday, Bungie posted a new 'Know Your Ninja' - the target this time was Achilles. He plays Halo, he makes vids, he bans people. Go read about him! (Louis Wu 12:48:11 UTC) (permalink)

News October 13 2009

Dude is hanging on your... ear
Hawty McBloggy found ANOTHER pair of Master Chief cufflinks - it looks like they're using the Mega Bloks limited edition guys. Check 'em out! (Louis Wu 20:44:42 UTC) (permalink)

TRR Podcast - LIVE tonight
Thanks to urk for reminding us that The Running Riot Podcast is recording live tonight - the guest is c u l8er from HaloTracks, and the festivities kick off at 9:30 Eastern. (If you show up at 9, you've got a shot at winning a 'backstage' pass.) (Louis Wu 17:29:01 UTC) (permalink)

If it's Tuesday, it must be movies
Bunch of videos for you today, courtesy of Bungie's Comm Chatter:

• The Six Below Failtage purports to show off 'fail clips' - this means that he wasn't successful in earning an overkill medal for his four kills, or a Killtac medal for 5. It really doesn't mean 'fail'. (I'm pretty sure the creator knew that.)
• Facility B5D is picking up where Halo 3 Mythbusters left off - 'Halo Community Myths' looks at a few community myths (or just interesting questions) and investigating. Some are interesting, some are actually useful.
• The Lucky 20, Episode 5 is the final episode of this series - a collection of clips showing off some spectacularly lucky (and unlucky) moments in Halo 3 matchmaking. (The last clip is insane.)

Go watch! Update: Eep, one more. Halo MLG Top 10 Plays Episode 8 is also live - quality's pretty low, but gameplay's slick. (This has nothing to do with the normal MLG/ESPN Top 10.) (Louis Wu 17:26:58 UTC) (permalink)

Bad Cyborg: Bridge Onslaught Challenge
Rockslider's been having fun finding huge battles in ODST - he's written up a guide to playing with the Covenant forces you generally ignore at the start of ONI Alpha Site (you blow the bridge, and they're on the far side). Give it a read if you like masses of enemies all at once! (Louis Wu 16:27:22 UTC) (permalink)

ODST Cutscene Library - More HD Scenes Up
Servers are holding up well to demand for the ODST cutscenes (we've served almost a terabyte of 'em since Sunday afternoon), so we're turning on the next batch of HD versions in the Cutscene Library. NMPD HQ, Kikowani Station, and the start of the end of the game... go get 'em! (Some people are reporting playback issues on the HD versions - both WMP9 and QuickTime - and the common factor, so far, seems to be Vista. If you're seeing stuttering framerates on playback of the HD versions, and you're NOT using Vista, can you let us know? This assumes, of course, that you're trying this out on a machine that can generally handle HD video.) (Louis Wu 12:18:52 UTC) (permalink)

Halo Networking Guide Updated
One One Seven has updated his Halo Networking Guide on Bungie.net (significantly) - and we've mirrored the changes here in the local copy. This is absolutely worth a read, if you've ever cursed at Halo lag or wondered whether the other team just cheated against you. Now with more networkety goodness! (Louis Wu 12:11:36 UTC) (permalink)

Trust Issues
Red vs Blue Recreation Chapter 17 is now live - since when did mortal danger seem so funny? While Lopez, Simmons and Donut try to stay alive at Valhalla, the rest of the crew learns new things about Church (and tries to say alive) at Sandtrap. Watch it. It will make you laugh. (Louis Wu 12:10:04 UTC) (permalink)

Braiinnnnsss
io9 put together their list of the top 10 Greatest Space Zombies of all time - the scary part of the Halo universe made the list. Thanks, c0ld vengeance. (Louis Wu 12:05:16 UTC) (permalink)

More pics of SMG prop
Pete Cooper stopped by again last night, with MORE pictures of the new M7/caseless SMG prop for his Operation Chastity movie. That's one nice-looking gun! (Louis Wu 12:04:26 UTC) (permalink)

News October 12 2009

Tag and Release: Grifball
Did you enjoy playing Grifball this weekend, during its Double XP moment in the sun? Do you like looking at pictures from similar games? If so, jump over to Bungie.net - today's Tag and Release feature is all about Grifball. Bam! (Louis Wu 18:23:13 UTC) (permalink)

Dancing and bagging
A couple of movies for you, thanks to urk and Bungie's Comm Chatter: Master Chief was caught dancing on film at a Saints game, and Funny Halo 3 Production released their 7th collection of dumb stuff. Go watch! (Louis Wu 18:22:47 UTC) (permalink)

HALOween: Run for your Life
kilaMOMjaro sent word that it's time for the 2nd annual HALOween Zombies Charity Tournament (proceeds to benefit Be the Match Foundation, a registry for bone marrow donors with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) - swing by the PraetoriaGuard site for details. (If you're registered on their site, you can check out the tournament forum. The games played are Zombies and Halloween (aka Michael Myers). Prizes include signed ODST and REACH posters from Bungie and copies of Left4Dead2 from Valve... and candy. Lots of candy. What are you waiting for? (Louis Wu 17:23:47 UTC) (permalink)

If the barrier can be passed... they're out.
Hold X to Trick have gotten themselves out of Kikowani Station - all I can say is 'wow'. Check out the video. Thanks, Ducain. (Louis Wu 15:39:21 UTC) (permalink)

More HD for the Halo 3: ODST Cutscene Library
The Halo 3: ODST Cutscene Library has been updated with HD versions of all scenes from Uplift Reserve, Kizingo Boulevard, and Oni Alpha Site. Enjoy! (Louis Wu 14:16:10 UTC) (permalink)

Monday Comic Roundup
Slim pickin's on the comic front this morning - one more episode of the Least I Could Do ODST line (here's hoping Halo never goes there), and yesterday's Grin + Bear It, teaching you how to teabag. (Really?) There's always Wednesday! I'm missing Reclaimer... (Louis Wu 13:57:21 UTC) (permalink)

More about the man, less about the special effects
The Independent has an article describing the planning stages of the Halo 3: Believe ad campaign - the goals its creators set for themselves, the route they planned to take to success. For those of us outside the advertising world, it's an interesting look through the window. (Louis Wu 11:00:46 UTC) (permalink)

More Gaming Lessons - Raise your Game
Bluestrike2 pointed out three new articles at Gaming Lessons; one is readable by the general public ("Good Riddance, Guardian" contains thoughts on Guardian's removal from MLG play), and two require a Player's Club membership ($20/month). you can read the first couple of paragraphs of "Chronicles of a Coach" (a new series by the coach of Str8 Rippin) and "Sitting down with Lunchbox" (an interview with the Instinct pro) to see if it's worth the cash for you. (Louis Wu 10:52:07 UTC) (permalink)

Halo CE: Yoyorast Island v2 Released
TheGhost dropped us a line about Yoyorast Island V2 - a remake of a very popular Halo CE map. There's a release trailer for the map on YouTube, and download links and links to more info are available in the Modacity newspost. Check it out! (Louis Wu 10:46:30 UTC) (permalink)

More Forza 3 ODST Goodness
M0dus posted a few shots of a really slick Forza 3 car with ODST markings - thanks to EazyB for copying them to the NeoGAF Halo thread, where I noticed them. (Louis Wu 10:38:22 UTC) (permalink)

New SMG for Operation Chastity
Pete Cooper stopped in with some pictures of a new prop built for his Operation Chastity project; this is an M7/caseless SMG. Fantastic work! (Louis Wu 10:26:17 UTC) (permalink)

Insider Moves - off the web
Yesterday, we mentioned a new 'Insider Moves' feature on Xbox LIVE Marketplace; the folks from OXM provided a few tips for completing the Déjà Vu and Classic Vidmaster Achievements. We held off on providing download links for this because we were conserving bandwidth for the ODST Cutscene Library - but it seems we can handle that reasonably well. Therefore, if you'd like to see this edition of Insider Moves, but don't have the time to log on to XBL, you can grab HD versions from us in either WMP9 or QuickTime formats (about 138 mb each). (Louis Wu 10:25:11 UTC) (permalink)

News October 11 2009

Halo 3: ODST Cutscene Library: Now Online
Seems like we're getting faster at this stuff... thanks to the help of Cody Miller, we have a full collection of Halo 3: ODST Cutscenes online for your viewing pleasure. At the moment, we're offering all cutscenes in SD format (640x360), both downloadable and streaming. (The streaming versions aren't quite as high-res as the downloads, and offer no control, but if you're just looking for a quick glance at a scene, they might be the way to go.) We're also offering HD versions of the Introduction, Prepare to Drop, and Tayari Plaza segments of the game. We'll add HD offerings for additional sections every day or two, depending on bandwidth usage. Enjoy! (Louis Wu 14:48:44 UTC) (permalink)

Insider Moves: Halo 3: ODST Vidmaster Achievements
Morpheus pointed out that Xbox LIVE Marketplace has a new Insider Moves feature online right now (in the "Spotlight" section) - it provides some tips that can help you get through the Déjà Vu and Classic Vidmaster Achievements. We'll offer links to downloadable versions at some point in the next few days... but right now, we need to conserve bandwidth. (Newspost coming soon...) (Louis Wu 14:46:10 UTC) (permalink)

An ODST Review, from an old friend
Ciarán Walsh has been a Halo fan for quite some time - and he's a pretty smart guy. (He did a bunch of work under the hood to make our forum more useful, for example, and he runs a Halo news aggregator site.) Recently, he finished up ODST, and wrote up his impressions - in addition to feelings about the gameplay, he's also got speculation about some of the mysteries left in the game. It's an interesting read - go swing by and check it out! (Louis Wu 14:45:03 UTC) (permalink)

Views from the Edge: Urban Catastrophe
BlueNinja spent some time with the architecture of New Mombasa, and the resulting panoramas are quite breathtaking. If you haven't played Uplift Reserve, there are spoilers here. (Louis Wu 14:43:58 UTC) (permalink)

News October 10 2009

Top FPS
Farhan pointed out Top FPS, a video from LagSpike. Eight challengers fight it out to be crowned 'Top FPS' - it's hilarious. And really, really well-done. Go watch! And see if you can guess who wins before it's announced! (Louis Wu 20:17:43 UTC) (permalink)

Arby 'n' the Chief: Endgame (Part Six)
Arby 'n' the Chief has (finally) ended - Endgame (Part Six) is now online. Arby gets Claire, Chief gets Recon, Bungie gets stoned. Everyone's happy - until Chief finds out that everyone has Recon. 11 minutes long, but the last 5 minutes are credits. Thanks to Dratt for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 20:12:01 UTC) (permalink)

Guilt O' Lantern 09 - It's On, Baby
It's October. Leaves are turning here in New England (well, there was a lot of wind last night, so they're falling, more than turning, but...). The air is crisp. It's that time of year when thoughts turn to bonfires, and candy, and... pumpkins. Yep, we're holding another pumpkin-carving contest. Prize details haven't been fully worked-out yet, but the deadline (Halloween) is fast approaching - we wanted to give you a few weeks to create your masterpiece. So we're announcing now. Don't worry - there'll be prizes. We'll tell you about them soon. (Louis Wu 13:51:04 UTC) (permalink)

The drums, the drums...
Grimm Fandango, over at NeoGAF, pointed out that someone went to the trouble of recording the drum track that plays during the fifth wave of a Firefight set - it's not available on the ODST soundtrack, and the poster did a great job of grabbing a pretty clean version. What a great piece of percussion! (Louis Wu 12:48:19 UTC) (permalink)

He was only there for sex appeal
Frankie stopped in last night to allay some fears about Microsoft's "6 year plan" for the Halo franchise; give his post a read to see what was (and wasn't) meant by this quote. (He also posted a link to a meme-rich gameplay vid he created this summer; you can chalk this one up to the medication he's on, I think. The franchise info is solid, in any case.) (Louis Wu 12:47:36 UTC) (permalink)

HaloContest Sept 09 Winners Announced
Morpheus announced that the winners of the September 2009 HaloContest are now posted - swing by HaloContest to view the screenshot, and the video clip! If you think you can do better, October's contest is open for entries. (Louis Wu 12:47:14 UTC) (permalink)

Under Fire
TDSpiral whipped up another piece of ODST art - I like it a lot! (Louis Wu 12:46:56 UTC) (permalink)

What do you get when you commit early?
CNET posted a piece describing the Top 5 Best (and Worst) Game Preorder Trends - Halo 3: ODST got props for discounts, but lost points for playable characters that can ONLY be collected during the preorder period. Whee! (Louis Wu 12:46:14 UTC) (permalink)

News October 9 2009

Watch the burritos!
The Bungie Weekly Update this time around is chock-full of info that might make your Firefight games less frustrating - but there's lots of other stuff too. An appeal for donations, some info about sports bigwigs getting special treatment, details about a group of former Bungie guys starting their own team, cool cars from Forza 3 (HBO readers will have already seen some of this)... and some other stuff. Definitely worth a read, either on Bungie.net or here, in our Weekly Update Archive. (Yes, ours validates.) (Louis Wu 23:18:46 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3 Montage: Vidmaster Endure
milesprower whipped up a five-minute montage showing off some of the highlights of their Vidmaster: Endure effort - check it out, and then go make your own memories! (Louis Wu 18:05:39 UTC) (permalink)

BWO Screenshot Contest Winners
Recently, we mentioned a screenshot contest from Black Water Ops - today, according to Bungie.net, they've announced the winners. Go see! (Louis Wu 17:49:32 UTC) (permalink)

Friday Afternoon at the Movies
Tons of movies for you today, courtesy of Bungie's Comm Chatter:

• Carratti's gameplay and Astiun Media's editing turned out 'Tellier', a Halo 3 montage
• There's a 'Halo 3 Community Snipetage' from Katana1310 (not sure what community, or specifically where the clips came from)
• Adamack's Halo 3 montage was edited by Insight Media
• |Rodzilla| got a sweet Banshee beatdown in this rendered clip
• Last week, we mentioned a guy who was customizing a PowerWheels ride for his kid - today, Bungie's got the video.

Shouldn't take you TOO long to watch all that... (Louis Wu 17:41:54 UTC) (permalink)

Friday Comic Roundup
Regular Halo comics seem to be on holiday right now, but there are a bunch of ODST mentions in non-Halo-specific strips:

• Rob Tracy pointed out that Least I Could Do kicked off a new ODST storyline on Wednesday - so Thursday and Friday's strips are also related.
• DiscipleN2k found a couple of mentions: The AppleGeeks Lite strip for today looks at the dangers of LANning ODST, and
• Stolen Pixels, over at The Escapist, takes a few shots at the Master Chief (while the blog writeup praises ODST's casting choices).

Go laugh! (Louis Wu 15:28:08 UTC) (permalink)

Dipping in to the Civilian Experience
VentureBeat has written up a history of Sadie's Story, the tale within a tale in Halo 3: ODST - great read! Lots of background on the company that built it, and how it fits into the overall game. Give it a read! (Louis Wu 15:07:08 UTC) (permalink)

Friday Caption Fun, Round 66
It's Friday - so it's time for another round of Friday Caption Fun, over at Hawty McBloggy's! Last week's captions take shots at Gamestop and Dare - and this week's image is sure to generate some Lonely Island quotes. Go play! (Louis Wu 14:34:59 UTC) (permalink)

Teabag Prevention: Road to Recon Armor Week 2
Geekscape's Teabag Prevention has posted their second entry in their Road to Recon Armor series - this week, they're giving you tips on how to complete the Vidmaster: Déjà Vu Achievement. Go give it a read - and then go earn yourself 25 more points! (Louis Wu 14:34:22 UTC) (permalink)

Riling up the Fans
The big news yesterday came from a USA Today article published on Tuesday. (LordGideon pointed it out then, I passed because it seemed like news we already knew - oops.) The focus has been on two tidbits: first, that Halo 3: ODST sold 2.5 million copies in its first two weeks (not too shabby), and second, that Frank O'Connor, of 343 Industries, is quoted as saying that Microsoft has a plan for the Halo franchise that "goes out at least six years". This last, rather than reassuring fans that 343 Industries is taking the long view, and is carefully crafting additions to the Halo universe, has in fact frightened our forum (and others) into thinking that they're simply killing the franchise through overuse. Time will tell, I suppose - but it's hard to believe, at this stage, that a group that is so intent on hiring thoughtful fans from the community to safeguard story features would be so careless over the long haul. The HBO advice: let 'em work. See where they're going before screaming that the cliff is too close. (Louis Wu 14:33:17 UTC) (permalink)

ODSTMobile
Tashi0106, over at NeoGAF, pointed out a Forza 3 car that's been gorgeously decked out with ODST bling. Check it! (Louis Wu 14:32:01 UTC) (permalink)

ODST'ing your iPhone
nomis78 was browsing Twitter, and ran across a tweet that showed off a pretty cool theme for your iPhone/iPod Touch. (Louis Wu 14:31:09 UTC) (permalink)

Breaking In: Dave Gasca
A new Breaking In article is live at Bungie.net; Test Lead Dave Gasca talks about how testing games might not be the cushy job you thought it was - but it can be a lot of fun. If you like being on fire. And don't smell like anchovies. Go see if you've got what it takes! (Louis Wu 14:19:24 UTC) (permalink)

Friday's Fan Fiction
Seven new pieces are available for your reading pleasure in the Fan Fiction section this week - go read. (Louis Wu 14:15:36 UTC) (permalink)

Killin' the Orange Guy
We neglected to point out that this week's Double EXP Weekend playlist went live yesterday - get your Grifball on. (Louis Wu 14:15:05 UTC) (permalink)

News October 8 2009

I bet they get chicks for free, too
urk noticed a new episode of College Humor's Bleep Bloop - they play some Firefight, but get bored awfully fast and go back to vanilla Halo 3. And do stupid stuff there. If you're REALLY bored, it might be worth the four minutes it takes to watch. (Louis Wu 19:20:08 UTC) (permalink)

Save Point Podcast ODST Special
SexyJosh stopped in to mention that his band's regular podcast devoted its last episode to Halo 3: ODST - go listen! (Louis Wu 16:50:55 UTC) (permalink)

My feet are sticking to the floor
Movies to watch via Bungie's Comm Chatter:

• Drag Racing includes a new gametype you can play with your friends. (It looks REALY hard - you KNOW you're gonna die, your job is to make sure your opponent does, too.)
• Sploosh shows why you should be careful when Ghost-jacking.
• Panic is a really short, really heavily-edited minitage. It didn't make me sick. and urk's a jerk.

Go watch! (Louis Wu 16:49:04 UTC) (permalink)

Hub of the Dead
According to Bungie.net, Forge Hub is hosting a mapmaking contest for Infection maps. Prizes are all Forge Hub epinion-related. Check it out! (Louis Wu 16:48:19 UTC) (permalink)

Only one Johnson joke - I'm impressed.
Hawty McBloggy thought she'd help you with your dating - she's whipped up the Top Ten Halo 3: ODST Pick-Up Lines for your romantic pleasure. (Some of these will get you seriously slapped unless your partner has a sense of humor.) If your boss likes to read over your shoulder, this might not be safe for work. (Louis Wu 12:04:06 UTC) (permalink)

Gettin' John Hancocks on John 117
Darkphibre brought a retail stand-up Master Chief to the midnight launch at the Redmond Town Hall Gamestop - and Bungie did some product signing. He got some great pics - go look! (Louis Wu 12:03:36 UTC) (permalink)

How You Remind Me
I should learn. Every once in a while, AssaultGodzilla drops by our forum and announces a music video, and I think, oh, man, not another one... but I watch it... and every time, I come away surprised - because AssaultGodzilla has a notable talent for creating well-synched, moving Halo vids. I don't like the song, and I feel that in general, music videos compiled from Halo cutscenes have been done so often that getting an audience excited is really difficult - but 'How You Remind Me' does a fantastic job of synching Halo 2 (and a little Halo 3) footage to music. Go look - it's worth it. (Louis Wu 12:03:08 UTC) (permalink)

HBOFFPotW-1002
kabu stopped in with word of a new HBO Fan Fic Pick of the Week, written by eb4642. Apparently, there were some decent submissions last week! (Louis Wu 12:02:37 UTC) (permalink)

News October 7 2009

Team BackFire, Week 2
It's Wednesday, so it's time to update Bungie Favorites - it's the second week's worth of content from Team BackFire. Go read about one of their maps... and then check out the rest! (Louis Wu 19:15:55 UTC) (permalink)

GZ interview with Marty O'Donnell
Marty O'Donnell talked to GameZone about music, Bungie, and Halo - and maybe a few other little things. Go read! (Louis Wu 19:13:11 UTC) (permalink)

7 on the 7th
In case you've forgotten - today is October 7, which means there's a new 7 on the 7th playlist active right now. If you don't have the 7 on the 7th Vidmaster Achievement... log on today! (As it was last month, the list is comprised of user-built maps, so there's much fun to be had.) Update: There's a breakdown of gametypes, adn maps available, on Bungie.net now. (Louis Wu 17:56:58 UTC) (permalink)

Wednesday Afternoon at the Movies
Some new movies for you, courtesy of Bungie's Comm Chatter:

• 3-D Halo is a stereoscopic Halo machinima - doesn't really seem to have a plot, except to show you cool angles of Halo stuff flying at you and such. (Needs either 3-D glasses or the ability to unfocus your eyes.)
• Knights of the Goose is a Halo 3 montage mostly covering vehicles.
• Chronicles of Lyle Extra shows off montages from both Lyle and Kyle

Not as strong as some movie collections, but hey, it's mid-week... folks are busy. (Louis Wu 17:54:15 UTC) (permalink)

Ad Lunam
GrimBrother One noticed an article at Kotaku about Moonshot Games, a development company formed by ex-Bungie employees who all have extensive experience on Halo games. Good luck - we'll be keeping an eye on the team, to see what comes out! (Louis Wu 17:41:46 UTC) (permalink)

Wednesday Comic Roundup
We've got a few comics for you today:

• gunluva noticed that this past Sunday's VG Cats had a Halo mention
• vlad3163 pointed out two strips from Digital Unrest - one the day before ODST dropped (snarky), one the following week (not snarky)
• Hawty McBloggy let us know about ODS Steve 43 (The Fallen Prophet) - some surprising things come to light.

That's it - go read! (Louis Wu 17:34:46 UTC) (permalink)

Outside, Looking In
A couple of days ago, we let you know about some pics that Jammerfer [MunKy] took from outside the starting drop pod... that he got to via Firefight. NeoGAF's CrazedArabMan repeated the feat - and though the film didn't show up in his Recent Games list, he was able to record it via capture card. Pretty interesting flythrough of the space Bungie built to start the game! (Louis Wu 12:53:01 UTC) (permalink)

The Fukerton talks to Joe Staten
Fukerton.com interviewed Joe Staten on ODST's release day - you can download the 11-minute discussion from their site. Thanks, hokeywebb22. (Louis Wu 12:49:55 UTC) (permalink)

F99 Wombat - for X-Plane
Mid7night has been working on his F-99 Wombat model for X-Plane - it's now textured, looking a lot more like the version in ODST! Check it out. (Louis Wu 12:48:58 UTC) (permalink)

News October 6 2009

Someone needs Spidey silk.
Fyrewulff and a buddy went climbing in New Mombasa - I'm not sure I'd be up for a 90 minute walk, but... (Louis Wu 19:18:16 UTC) (permalink)

Cool Artwork from McFarlane
Whoa, bummer. Todd McFarlane has posted an image on his Twitter feed - it's an image he created with Greg Capullo as a promotional giveaway for Halo 3. If you sent in Halo Points (which you could find on the back of McFarlane Halo figures), you could pick this up while supplies lasted. (I say 'bummer' because the caption of the twipic suggests that they're all gone.) The Halo Points program officially began in January, though this is the first time we're mentioning it here (since it went live) - there are other goodies available if you have points left. Thanks to MTV's Splash Page for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 17:55:30 UTC) (permalink)

Playing Games to Fight Cancer
Funny Halo 3 Productions is looking to play in a 24 hour gaming Marathon (playing Halo 3) to make money for Charity. You can support them and help fight cancer in kids - swing by Bungie.net for full details and a video PSA. (Louis Wu 17:55:01 UTC) (permalink)

ESPN/MLG Top Ten - September
MLG and ESPN have released their Top 10 for September - the plays are pretty amazing. Go watch - it's under 4 minutes of adrenaline. Thanks, urk. (Louis Wu 17:54:25 UTC) (permalink)

Retention Deficit
Red vs Blue Recreation Chapter 16 is online - and it looks like Church and Caboose are becoming closer. In more ways than you might think. Also, be careful about how you treat robots. Good stuff. Go watch! (Louis Wu 13:10:09 UTC) (permalink)

Wall Mania
How would it be going to sleep every night, dreaming of Master Chief? Hawty McBloggy found someone who probably knows - since the wall of the bedroom is covered with a Halo mural. Nice work! (Louis Wu 13:08:58 UTC) (permalink)

StickyDooms For Everyone!
HaloCharts wants to challenge you to the 1st Annual Sticktoberfest - get the most accumulated grenade sticks in ranked matchmaking during October, win a cool prize. (You actually have until October 24 to register.) Go read about it! (And thanks to bs angel, who mentioned this challenge over the weekend - I just never got to it yesterday.) (Louis Wu 13:08:15 UTC) (permalink)

News October 5 2009

It's a long way down...
Jammerfer [MunKy] accidentally got himself outside the drop pod you start in on ODST. Pics aren't perfect, because he wasn't on his own Xbox... but they're pretty intriguing! (Louis Wu 22:17:24 UTC) (permalink)

Awwww...
Hawty McBloggy found a truly adorable little grunt, made entirely of wool, and available for sale on Etsy.com - swing by if you'd like to see pictures and get a chance to buy it. (Louis Wu 18:13:50 UTC) (permalink)

Tag and Release: Firefight
Wanna see some really cool battle pics? Search Bungie.net's screenshot collection for 'Firefight'-tagged images. Or just check out the specimens urk found in his latest Tag and Release feature. Hunters look so sad when their armor gets cut off 'em... (Louis Wu 18:04:33 UTC) (permalink)

Monday Movies
A couple of new vids for you to watch, courtesy of urk and Bungie.net: Stewie2552 created 'Halo 3 Wars: Attack of the Cones' (the cones fight back), and Lost Media whipped up 'Ambush', a really nicely filmed short machinima - amazing camera control. Go watch! (Louis Wu 16:50:32 UTC) (permalink)

I think he made her a promise he could keep.
Torchwood Tex dropped a line to Bungie.net's Comm Chatter about her wedding - it was totally Halo-themed. Halo dress, Halo banners, Halo cake, even his-and-hers bridal cat helmets! (Halo music, too.) This is a serious pair of fans! (Louis Wu 16:44:13 UTC) (permalink)

Wanna know more about why you're lagging?
Bungie.net user One One Seven posted a pretty extensive Guide to Networking, Matchmaking, and Host in Halo this morning - it's actually version two of this guide for him. It's full of useful information, and because he gives permission for its hosting on other sites, I've taken the liberty of putting up a local copy, which allows me to make it a bit more navigable. (Bungie.net's forum has a few limitations, in terms of formatting.) Read it here, read it on Bungie.net - but read it. (Thanks to One One Seven for mentioning it (as Photolysis) at NeoGAF.) (Louis Wu 16:13:22 UTC) (permalink)

Does this say anything about the Jets?
Master Chief showed up at the Saints/Jets game this weekend - and you KNOW what people were making jokes about... thanks, GrimBrother One. (Louis Wu 13:48:33 UTC) (permalink)

Monday Comic Roundup
Just a couple of comics for you today - Hawty McBloggy has the latest episode of Grin + Bear It (I don't agree with the sentiment in this one), and TTL Demag0gue announced the existence of Reclaimer 222 (Weakness) - Bold might have a chink in his armor after all. Go read! (Louis Wu 13:44:58 UTC) (permalink)

Out of Mombasa Streets
Hold X to Trick got out of Mombasa Streets - very cool! (Suggestion: mute the audio.) Thanks, Ducain, for the heads-up! (Louis Wu 12:59:15 UTC) (permalink)

A Night with Bungie
aklay47 and friends were at the ODST Launch Event in Seattle last month - and whipped up a 6 minute video capturing the feel of the evening. Well-done piece! Go watch it. (Louis Wu 12:54:27 UTC) (permalink)

Dang - even the headgear matches.
Archilen pointed us to a clip from the movie Chicken Run (courtesy of a blog post by JonCJG a week or two ago) - fair warning, if you haven't played through the Halo 3: ODST Campaign yet, this contains story spoilers. If you have, though, it's hilarious. Now I have to play through again, looking for Wallace and Gromit references... (Louis Wu 12:45:51 UTC) (permalink)

Stamping License Plates
If you checked out the thread yesterday about the New Mombasa license plates, Omega and friends have honed the list and the interpretations... and check out this post from Hedgemony, and the followups from DrDoctor and Hedge again for some speculation that might or might not come true in a few weeks. (Louis Wu 12:44:02 UTC) (permalink)

Road2Recon Ep. 7: Deja Vu
PyroSmile Productions is back with Road2Recon, Part 7 - the Déjà Vu Achievement. Watch the video for hints on earning this last Vidmaster. It also shows how to unlock your Recon armor once you've completed all seven Vidmaster Achievements (this part should be pretty basic, but it seems to give some people trouble). (Louis Wu 12:38:57 UTC) (permalink)

News October 4 2009

Where You Belong
Taco Power created a montage using only clips rendered with Bungie Pro render points. Nice work! (Louis Wu 19:03:16 UTC) (permalink)

Grifball bomb up for charity auction
Grifballhub's DragonAngel let us know about an auction of a fan-made Grifball - with proceeds to benefit the Texas Children's Cancer Center at Texas Children's Hospital. Nice! Check it out. (Louis Wu 19:01:21 UTC) (permalink)

Down the Rabbit Hole
Omega posted a very interesting list last night - it contains all the license plate numbers he could find in Mombasa Streets (28 of them)... and what he thinks they might be referencing. If he's right, Bungie went pretty all-out on this easter egg. If he's wrong... he's discovered the biggest coincidence I've seen in a video game. Check it out! (Louis Wu 13:41:39 UTC) (permalink)

You MIGHT be a Fanboy...
IGN wants to know if you're an ODST Fanboy - they've used the live-action short as a test. Go watch. Thanks, xmoosev3. (Louis Wu 13:41:15 UTC) (permalink)

Arby 'n' the Chief: Endgame (Part Five)
Dratt pointed out that Arby 'n' the Chief, Endgame (Part Five) is now online (it's really Season 4, Episode 7) - lots of chocolate syrup. Out of hand? Yep. Dratt says there's only one more part after this. (Louis Wu 13:40:55 UTC) (permalink)

DMUKYA
ZayneH ran across an interesting page at Bungie.net; it shows off Bungie's Trademark list. Interestingly enough, The Superintendent belongs to Bungie... not Microsoft. Keep it Clean! (Louis Wu 13:40:19 UTC) (permalink)

News October 3 2009

Chupa Thingy... Realized
Think you have the coolest dad ever? You DON'T - unless he turned your PowerWheels into a Warthog. Rawkin'! Thanks, Burnie. (Louis Wu 16:16:51 UTC) (permalink)

Controller mockup actually looks cool
Ben Heck (we've mentioned the guy before) decided to make some custom Xbox 360 controllers for a new movie - and Destructoid has a clip of them in use playing Halo 3. They actually look quite nice! (Louis Wu 15:10:45 UTC) (permalink)

Playin' with strangers
We mentioned a tourney hosted by Blast a couple of days ago - it went down last night, and they've got a writeup online. (Louis Wu 15:09:36 UTC) (permalink)

Not clear-cut stories
Hedgemony was wondering about a snippet he found in the Australian OXM article about Halo 3: ODST:

If you stumble upon Engineers hanging out without Brute guards, turn on your vision mode to spot the mysterious glyphs they've graffiti-ed on the walls. Creative director Joe Staten tells us: "These tell stories, not very clear cut stories but they represent the shape of Forerunner ships, etc..."

Several people have wondered whether those glyphs mean anything in-game... now we know they do. Is 'ship-shape' all there is... or can you figure out more? (Louis Wu 14:55:23 UTC) (permalink)

We're here all week - try the mead.
gunluva noticed someone playing the Halo theme in Lord of the Rings Online - amazing what you can do! (Louis Wu 14:54:52 UTC) (permalink)

Don't get to da choppa!
The Bungie Weekly Update is live - not a HUGE amount of new stuff, but some fun tidbits. 60,000 unlocked copies of Recon in Week 1... not bad! And high-quality Vergil chimes for anyone looking for a cool ringtone. Check the rest yourself! (If for any reason you have trouble with Bungie.net, you can always read it in our Weekly Update Archive.) (Louis Wu 01:26:35 UTC) (permalink)

News October 2 2009

IGN Strategize: Vidmaster Challenge in ODST
Morpheus noticed that there's a new 'Strategize' feature on Xbox LIVE Marketplace - it's an IGN feature that has suggestions for beating the Vidmaster: Endure achievement. (Morpheus doesn't think their strategy is a very good one - but you can watch it for yourself to decide.) If you don't have access to Xbox LIVE at the moment, we've put HD versions up online: the WMP9 version and the QuickTime version are each 121 mb. (Louis Wu 20:04:28 UTC) (permalink)

Curtis Creamer interview at EP
Jason, from the Electric Playrground, let us know that they've got a video interview with Curtis Creamer online - a nice summary of the game, and where it fits in the Halo universe. Looks like it might have been recorded at E3... which would make it a few months old at this point. (Louis Wu 19:19:30 UTC) (permalink)

Don't forget the pony.
IGN has a few requests of Bungie - stuff they'd like to see in Halo: Reach. Go see if you agree. (Louis Wu 17:54:05 UTC) (permalink)

Cool PAX Schwag Giveaway
A Match Made in Halo (the site started up to document a Halo wedding) collected a bunch of schwag at PAX this year - including a Master Chief dogtag and a bunch of Superintendent pins. You can enter to win the whole shebang by leaving a comment on the blog post. Nice! Thanks, urk. (Louis Wu 17:48:13 UTC) (permalink)

tl; dnl
Halo gets a tiny mention in this College Humor video - which is enough to get it on this page. Which is good, because it's quite funny. Thanks, xxjuicesxx (what the...) (Louis Wu 17:44:03 UTC) (permalink)

ODST Campaign Panos
Symbiotic Storm whipped up a few panoramas from ODST's campaign, and Bungie.net wants to tell you about 'em. (Louis Wu 16:45:41 UTC) (permalink)

Mythic Forging
Black Water Ops is just dying to give stuff away - a couple of days ago, they mentioned a Screenshot contest, and today they've got a Forge contest (thanks, urk). Create a cool map, using one of the latest three levels, win MS points or BWO site points. Full details at Bungie.net. (Louis Wu 16:45:23 UTC) (permalink)

Dedication
Lando Griff1n let us know that Hazmat V2 has released a new montage - it's called Dedication, features the gameplay of P A R A L Y S I S, and it can be seen at Halo3Montage.com. Heavy on the effects, five and a half minutes long, HD quality. Take a look! (Louis Wu 16:33:07 UTC) (permalink)

Spartan 1:2 Scale Bust from One2One
Matt MacNabb, from The Legion Fan Network, let us know about a new article on ToyLegion.com showing off the latest bust from One2One Collectibles - it looks to be the Spartan character from Halo Wars. (You can see the images on One2One's own site, if you'd rather have them without the Toy Legion watermark.) Like the last bust from One2One, this one will have a production run of 650 units, and a price of $225. (Louis Wu 16:05:52 UTC) (permalink)

A Discourse on Sexism and Tolerance
Lesbian Gamers are pretty unhappy with the character of Veronica Dare - and with Bungie's portrayal of women in the military. (Well... at least THIS woman.) To be fair, I haven't run across many people - gay or straight, male or female - who like Dare's character... so maybe LG is mad at the right thing for the wrong reasons. (And quite a number of their complaints would either continue to be true if Dare's character had been male, or simply ignore equal treatment of male characters in the game.) Thanks to Photolysis, at NeoGAF, for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 14:27:35 UTC) (permalink)

Operation Chastity Warthog - at the London MCM Expo
Pete Cooper stopped in to announce that the Operation Chastity Warthog would get its public unveiling at the London Games Festival on October 24 - nice! (Louis Wu 14:12:45 UTC) (permalink)

ODST Drop Pod Render
R3dnaxel4 stopped in with some preliminary renders of an ODST drop pod - it's untextured so far, but it's still pretty cool! Check it out. (Louis Wu 13:33:11 UTC) (permalink)

Bad World
BOLTAR94 stopped in with word of another no-dialogue French-made machinima - this one's called 'Bad World'. Lots of nice effects... though I'm not sure I understood what was going on. Certainly a nice watch, in any case! Much more info (along with multiple options for viewing) can be found in his post. (Louis Wu 13:32:40 UTC) (permalink)

Wednesday Comic Roundup
TTL Demag0gue stopped in with word of Reclaimer 221 (Encounter) - will Bold or the Reclaimer EVER get the upper hand over the other? And NeoGAF's Benjamin Birdie chimed in that today's episode of The Rack (Lateral Thinking) has an homage to Halo 3: ODST. (Louis Wu 13:31:19 UTC) (permalink)

Friday Caption Fun, Round 65
Is it Friday already? Guess that means it's time for another episode of Friday Caption Fun, over at HMB. Check out last week's pithy responses, and come up with your own for the equine entry this week! (Louis Wu 13:30:57 UTC) (permalink)

The Hero of Uplift
The Loot whipped up a tribute to Dutch, in the spirit of Firefly. (If you've never watched Firefly, you need to know it's a space western.) Fun! Update: I've uploaded a small clip from the original song this was based on; use it for the tune. (Louis Wu 13:30:31 UTC) (permalink)

Greg Bear pretty excited about his Halo books
CaptainTony ran across a bunch of cool stuff on Greg Bear's website - Greg had gone to the Halo 3: ODST Launch Party in Seattle, and came home with a pretty cool postcard... and some information about the trilogy of books he's going to be writing in the Halo universe next year. There's even some teaser info about future projects... give it a read! (Louis Wu 13:28:40 UTC) (permalink)

HBOFFPotW-0925
kabu informed us that the HBOFF Pick of the Week is live now at the Fan Fiction forum - kr-1426 wrote this one, and you can peruse it for the best of the seven stories released last week. (Louis Wu 13:28:05 UTC) (permalink)

Friday's Fan Fiction
Twelve new pieces for you this week in the Fan Fiction section - a goodly collection! Go read. (Louis Wu 13:26:41 UTC) (permalink)

Like Walshy, only way better
Hawty McBloggy highlighted a hilarious vid yesterday - it's called 'Inside the Mind of the Greatest Halo 3 Player', and it has a nearly-pro Halo 3 prodigy narrating a match he played on Narrows (MLG Team Slayer). We have ALL met this guy. (Louis Wu 13:14:26 UTC) (permalink)

Halo 3: ODST in 30 seconds
Sarcastic Gamer posted an episode of their [GAME] in 30 Seconds series focused on Halo 3: ODST - the actual ODST part is 45 seconds, but hey, who's counting? (I'm still waiting for the funny part.) (Louis Wu 13:12:35 UTC) (permalink)

Teabag Prevention: The Road to Recon Armor - Week 1
Geekscape's Teabag Prevention Team is taking on the Vidmaster Challenges, to help you earn that coveted Recon armor. Week 1's article - focusing on the Endure achievement - is live now. Thanks, Brian Gilmore. (Louis Wu 13:11:41 UTC) (permalink)

Ad campaigns that think too much of themselves
GamesRadar posted an article about pompous game ads - and Halo 3's Believe campaign made the list. Twice. And the ODST live-action ad is ALSO there. 3 of 10 - not bad! (Warning - some browsers don't show the entire article; not sure why.) Thanks, UNSC Trafalgar. (Louis Wu 13:10:24 UTC) (permalink)

Breaking In: Mike Hoffman
Yesterday's Breaking In article at Bungie.net had animator Mike Hoffman talking about what he's doing on the Halo: Reach team and how he got to Bungie in the first place. Want to follow him? Go read! (Louis Wu 13:09:45 UTC) (permalink)

News October 1 2009

Aw... he's kinda cute!
gunluva won one of the 'limited edition, exclusive UNSC Spartan' figures from Mega Blocks Halo Wars Authentic Collector's Series. Pictures of the packaging and the figure are available in his post. (Louis Wu 19:10:10 UTC) (permalink)

Still need 2 For 1...
If you've got a copy of Halo 3: ODST, you can participate in this week's Double EXP Weekend, Mythic Brawl. Go get those last few Halo 3 Achievements! (Or the first few, if ODST is your first excursion into Halo 3 multiplayer...) (Louis Wu 19:06:00 UTC) (permalink)

Firefight Panoramas
Decadence Night took a bunch of Firefight panoramas on Crater - some great action shots in there! (Louis Wu 18:45:25 UTC) (permalink)

Thursday Afternoon Crazy Stuff
Bunch of new vids, courtesy of Bungie's Comm Chatter:

• H3 Wheelmen's YouTube Pitstop is a new home for the videos of the H3WM - and they've whipped up a promo vid for it.
• Funny Halo 3 Productions created their fourth Splattertage - To Hoedown from Rodeo. Lots of people beat up by lots of stuff.
• There's a Community Killionaire Montage from DaDirtyGooser - lots of big medals.
• digihero recreated the song 'Unforgotten' in Mario Paint... a year and a half ago.
• Clantacular is making a comeback with a new season that they're kicking off with a Top 10 vid. (The post contains more info about the group.)

While you're over there, check out the news about Facility B5D's Firefight Fridays (get your fight on), and about Ready Up Live's ODST contest (tell a cool story, win a copy of the game and an exclusive t-shirt). Busy afternoon! (Louis Wu 17:26:17 UTC) (permalink)

Okay, third column, wait...
thebruce0 has summarized the new puzzle tidbits found on the ONI Alpha Site Memorial - if you're good with mysteries, swing by! (Louis Wu 14:35:05 UTC) (permalink)

Mombasa Streets, Unmarked
pete_the_duck spent some time getting a clean mosaic of Mombasa's Streets - if you're building something where you want to show people where something is, this is a great starting point. (There have been other maps posted online - but none of them are this clean - or unmarked.) I wrote this up for posting yesterday - but managed to forget. (Louis Wu 14:17:33 UTC) (permalink)

Mapping New Mombasa
Narcogen has started the process of mapping New Mombasa - using Google Earth. Check out his post on Rampancy.net for details! (Louis Wu 12:43:40 UTC) (permalink)

Insider Moves: Halo 3: ODST survival and combat tips
The latest ODST-related 'Insider Moves' feature on Xbox LIVE's 'Inside Xbox' is called 'Halo 3: ODST survival and combat tips'. It's pretty basic stuff, but if you're on the fence, it's worth watching. You can watch it for free on Xbox LIVE, of course, but for those without LIVE access, or who are far from their 360, we've put up HD versions to download - WMP9 is 136 mb, QuickTime is 101 mb. (Louis Wu 12:34:10 UTC) (permalink)

I liked the traffic jam one.
Hawty McBloggy has posted a new 'Twitter T&A Thursday' - she wanted folks to finish the sentence "You know you play too much ODST when..." Some of the answers she got were pretty funny. (Louis Wu 12:33:42 UTC) (permalink)

Oni Alpha Site Memorial Pics
doober187 took the time to snap hi-res pictures of the ONI Alpha Site Memorial plaques - all text is fully readable. I'm pretty sure there are eggs buried in there somewhere... (The puzzle crew has already latched on to anomalies in the images.) (Louis Wu 12:32:59 UTC) (permalink)

ODST Panos
Minime637 whipped up a few ODST panoramas - they contain story spoilers, so view at your own risk. (Louis Wu 12:32:41 UTC) (permalink)

October Playlist Info Up
Fyrewulff pointed out that the new playlist info for October is online at Bungie.net - all playlists, required maps, and the month's worth of Double EXP Weekends are online. (A sad fact: if you haven't dished out the cash for ODST, you can no longer play in Double XP playlists. Period.) (Louis Wu 12:32:14 UTC) (permalink)

20 hour Halo 3 LAN in MI
Missed this yesterday, but CyReN announced a 20 hour Halo 3 LAN at Unleashed Gaming on the weekend of October 10-11 - swing by his post for full details. (Louis Wu 12:31:50 UTC) (permalink)

October 2009

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