Author: halo@bungie.org

NPR did a segment today on the intersction of video games and story, focusing on Halo and story maven (and voice of Grunts everywhere) Joe Staten. You can read the blurb and check the audio here. I heard it myself in the car, but thanks to both prometheus (via email) and pillar of awesome (via…

Hawty McBloggy found a Master Chief Transformer on eBay – there aren’t any pictures of it in vehicle form, but it’s pretty awesome anyway. Go look.(Louis Wu 18:34:00 UTC)

Ross Mills let us know about “Arby ‘n’ the Chief”, a new video from DigitalPh33r and a sequel to the ‘Master Chief Sucks at Halo’ series. (Note to Ross: links r gud.) It’s pretty funny, even if a large chunk of it is just a discussion of the value of the Heroic Map Pack. (At…

Trigger119 sent word that GamingTV has opened a special forum, devoted to the Online Machinima Rating Association (OMRA). Hopefully, this will increase the usage of this tool, and provide users with a decent filter for released machinima!(Louis Wu 17:52:20 UTC)

Integrated Media Measurement Inc. has published a study which shows that Halo 3 has NOT eaten into television or movie viewing as was feared a couple of months ago. The number of hours of television watched by Halo 3 players did not change significantly when comparing patterns before and after Halo’s launch (though the fact…

Rockslider has written up a guide to serious hog destruction; there’s a spot on Tsavo Highway where if you’re patient you can have at least 64 Warthogs to play with at one time. Of course, you’re gonna have to kill a lot of marines… but you know what they say about eggs and omlettes.(Louis Wu…

ZZoMBiE13 shows you where humans might be behind the curve in the Halo universe in today’s installment of Another Halo Comic Strip.(Louis Wu 16:11:55 UTC)

Elnea stopped by to share Halo Action Figure Theater episodes 108 and 109. If you feel like you might have stumbled into a room with trace hallucinogens in the air after reading them… you’re not alone. Love the dinosaur, though.(Louis Wu 15:33:54 UTC)

Bungie.net has a news post about a token-based rewards system set up by Clantacular.com – play custom games, win tokens, use the tokens for stuff on the site. I don’t know WHAT stuff, really; there’s nothing ON the site except a member login. (There are no links to information, no link for a forum, nothing…

mrsmiley let us know that there’s a new strip of Larry the Marine posted; they’re shooting for Monday releases, but this one’s a bit late. I think I saw a recruit like Larry on the Showtime series ‘Weeds’…(Louis Wu 15:02:25 UTC)

Over the past few years, I’ve spoken to a number of reporters about the emergence of video games as a viable entertainment alternative for adults. Today, I read an interesting article at The Escapist which suggests that this is not the case for everyone. It deals with Halo only peripherally (it’s one of the games…

Heh – TruToast created an Ode to the Sword, and Terrab let the Bungie.net forums know about it. Cute. Thanks, InAmb3rClad.(Louis Wu 14:37:45 UTC)

Back on December 20, we mentioned the Xbox.com Community Choice Awards – Halo 3 was up for eight of them. Voting is complete (80,000 people took part), and Halo 3 went home with Best Co-op Game, Best Weapon, and Best Xbox LIVE Event. (Call of Duty 4 beat it in many of its other nominated…

TheShadyGnome let us know that Flem Productions has begun creating video versions of the Forging 101 Tutorials available at Forge Hub. Their first video, on Floating Objects, can be seen on YouTube.(Louis Wu 14:03:05 UTC)

Tied the Leader is holding a special contest in honor of 117 day (January 17th): guess how many unique users will be listed on Bungie.net’s homepage at exactly 1:17 PM Central Standard Time on the 17th, (without going over), and win one of 21 Halo 3 soundtracks (one of which is signed by Marty O’Donnell).…

Over at Xbox.com, there’s news of a new Play & Win contest sponsored by the US Army Sniper School – register before January 25th, and play an online multiplayer match between January 19 and 25th (exact timing is in the news post), and you’re entered to win artwork, or a bunch of MS Points. Go…

Last Friday’s Weekly Update had some comments about upcoming maps. Today’s One One Se7en has some comments about those comments. Call them map metacomments.(Louis Wu 22:01:32 UTC)

Luke Smith posted a note on the Bungie.net forums, soliciting questions to be answered in the next Weekly What’s Update – stop by the thread and add your own query if you’re burning to know something that hasn’t been addressed. Thanks, Decommissioner.(Louis Wu 20:54:13 UTC)

Podtacular 141 has been released – an hour long, 29 mb, focusing on the campaign level The Storm. Thanks, Samus 117.(Louis Wu 20:52:44 UTC)

Littlebigman noticed that the McFarlane Halo toy packaging is now viewable at Toy News International – I’m not sure how exciting this is to most people, but hey, you never know.(Louis Wu 20:45:59 UTC)