Author: halo@bungie.org

In an effort to keep the really IMPORTANT news up-to-date while Wu is otherwise preoccupied, here is today’s One One Se7en Advent offering. May all your holidays be filled with cheap artwork and bad puns.(mnemesis 17:42:49 UTC)

Today’s the last day to participate in c0ld vengeance’s Puzzleball 03 contest, and maybe win yourself a copy of Crackdown for your troubles. Because I archived the August through November posts on our forum yesterday, his original forum post is no longer accessible for replies – so use this new one if you want to…

A little over a week ago, we posted over 50 new images in our Miscellaneous Art section – which cleared the queue through August 1. I promised then that I’d do my best to continue on through the backlog; 10 days is longer than I’d hoped, but the next batch is up. Swing by the…

Haloplayer announced that the first Halo 3 episode of Lost Cause is now up on the Injured Knee Productions website. Watch it before you read the thread; it’s… full of surprises. I’ll probably have to watch it again.(Louis Wu 05:38:40 UTC)

Jase pointed out that Red vs Blue’s Recovery One Part Four has appeared on Xbox Live Marketplace. If you’re a sponsor, it’s also available on RvB’s website. This wraps up the miniseries… and I must say, I didn’t see it coming. Great work!(Louis Wu 05:33:35 UTC)

Beorn has done a pretty spectacular job of vectorizing all of the UNSC Rank/Insignia artwork from Halo 3 – and you can grab the fruits of his labor in a variety of formats. Go see!(Louis Wu 05:23:56 UTC)

Wow, this is a cool trick. There’s a tutorial over at 360WTF that shows you how to remove explosions (and other particle effects) from a screenshot. I just tested it, and it works exactly as advertised. I know there’ve been times when I find a fantastic angle… but I can’t see what I want to…

If you’re a .NET programmer, you might be interested in helping out in a new open source Halo 3 statistics aggregation project being spearheaded by Rick Casey. Check out what he’s done so far at CodePlex – and if you’ve got the skills, add to his work, or use it on your own site!(Louis Wu…

swampiedonkey let us know that Halo 3 Artifice is now online – and it’s chock-full of strategies you can use to improve your Halo 3 skillz. Check it out!(Louis Wu 05:01:59 UTC)

Luke posted Bungie’s response to the drumming they took from PraetoriaGuard – one might think, upon reading it, that Bungie are pretty sore losers. We all know that can’t possibly be the case… so I’m guessing that Bungie’s servers were hacked by mean, nasty representatives of the PraetoriaGuard. Yeah, that’s it. (Louis Wu 04:59:58 UTC)

A bit earlier than usual… but all day Friday is going to be a crazy day, so it’s better to get this posted now. There are ten new pieces in the Fan Fiction section this week – go read!(Louis Wu 04:48:21 UTC)

Leviathan dropped in to remind us that he’s still working on Halo: Pixelated, a 2D shooter built in an RPG-making program. The artwork is really, really cool; check out his shots for confirmation. Can’t wait to see the final product!(Louis Wu 04:32:21 UTC)

I managed to forget a newspost to announce yesterday’s (Thursday’s) One One Se7en Advent offering – which is a shame, because it was actually pretty cute. Sorry, Stunt!(Louis Wu 04:18:40 UTC)

The Bungie Podcast makes its return today, with Frankie, Luke and Sketch talking to Chris Barrett how he got into his current gig… and what he’s seen along the way. (Lots of Halo 3 DLC goodness.) Interesting listen! Thanks to CougRon for the first heads-up.(Louis Wu 20:37:53 UTC)

It’ll be interesting to see what the Bungie.net writeup says about this week’s Halo Humpday Challenge… because only three games were played, and Bungie lost two of them. Will Luke be able to wring a ‘Win’ out of those stats? I’d say ‘no’… except I know Luke. We’ll wait and see. In the meantime, you…

We mentioned a couple of days ago that Tom Dickson planned to Blend Halo 3 in his Blendtec TotalBlender – it went live a little later than expected, but it’s up now. Looks like this was revenge (against his 4- and 5-year-old grandchildren) for losing at the game… ouch.(Louis Wu 17:17:03 UTC)

Complex Magazine posted an interview with Brian Michael Bendis, the writer behind Marvel’s Halo: Uprising comic series. Some fans have expressed disappointment in the series, stemming from delays in publication, but also, in some cases, in the direction the comic has taken; this interview might be a way to get a glimpse inside the mind…

Today’s episode of Another Halo Comic Strip is pretty awesome. The only thing that would have made it better would have been a few plasma grenades blowing MC to Kingdom Come. Because I’ve always wanted to do that to this particular version of MC. Always.(Louis Wu 14:45:40 UTC)

GPS unit manufacturer TomTom NV has teamed up with Microsoft to include Halo maps and textures in their TomTom navigation products. Or, at least… so says BBspot. How much fun would that be?(Louis Wu 14:10:00 UTC)

Deekor let us know that Vengeance Chapter 1 is now online. This Halo 3-based machinima project has a lot going for it; the cinematography’s interesting, the muted color scheme flavors the story perceptibly, the soundtrack is well-handled. However, the storyline is confusing at times (and hard to swallow at other times), and the voice-acting is…