Author: halo@bungie.org

Major Nelson’s latest podcast is up right now, currently only in .wma format, but eventually on iTunes; it’s a monster of a show (2 hours long), with an interview with Marty O’Donnell. I haven’t had time to listen to it yet (been a busy morning), but I’d guess it’s absolutely worth hearing. Go grab it.…

V10L3N7 JAY stopped by to point out Issue 5 of Section 3, his comic-from-screenshots story that’s been unfolding for the last week or so, is now available. Action galore!(Louis Wu 14:56:35 UTC)

And ANOTHER Bungie/MS interview – this time it’s Harold Ryan and Shane Kim, talking to 4players.de, a German site. The interview is in German, but longtime Bungie fan Harry Al-Shakarchi was there to provide us with a beautiful translation. (Louis Wu 21:46:52 UTC)

There’s another interview with SketchFactor over at 1Up about the split; pretty much the same info as you’ll find in the other Bungie interviews. Sketch DOES suggest that Halo 3 might be better because of Bungie’s disappointments with Halo 2 – something I’ve believed since I first saw the game. Thanks, Zeouterlimits.(Louis Wu 21:26:03 UTC)

The360Forum.com is hosting a Halo 3 Screenshot contest – there are 5 categories, with a $50 prize on the line for each one. Go read the rules! Thanks, Z.(Louis Wu 19:16:11 UTC)

The New York Times looked at the Microsoft/Bungie split; it doesn’t have a ton of new info over other articles about the subject, but is notable for being in the Times, I suppose. It’s also interesting because of the image at the top of the article; it shows Bungie environment artist Eric Elton working on…

PROPH37 sent us some interesting info about Australian racecar driver Rick Kelly, who will be wearing (or wore, I guess; the race happened this weekend) a Master Chief helmet in the Bathurst 1000, a V8 Supercar race. You can actually WIN this helmet, by answering some trivia questions (if you’re an Australian/NZ resident). Go check…

Blogcritics has posted a guide to Halo 3 multiplayer – see if you can figure out which category of player you fit into! I think I’m either the Team Player or the Noob. Or maybe the Noob Team Player.(Louis Wu 18:26:11 UTC)

Heh – this is fun. Xbox 360 Fanboy found a video of Sandtrap, modified for platforming, with sound effects from Super Mario Brothers. If you want to see a larger version of it, they grabbed it from GameVideos – and you can actually download the modified level from the FileShare of finjitzu, the guy who…

Back in July, we mentioned the first 3 for 3 sweepstakes on Xbox.com – and we noted that you could win a cool Ibanez guitar. Seems Ibanez is giving away 3 more, over the next three months – along with the game and a couple of shirts, each month. Go enter! Thanks, Electric Guitar Review.(Louis…

Weird. Some guy is trying to play Halo 3 for three days without sleep. He’s already a little over 2 days in – you can follow that link to see his progress. If he does it, he wins a 360 and a copy of Halo 3. Thanks, Mintz. (Louis Wu 15:13:47 UTC)

Jake Seaton’s Mission-A-Day, Episode 5, is now up – this is the last one until Monday. He gave this one a 4/5 – the action was too easy. (Louis Wu 15:09:57 UTC)

Just three reviews for you today:Bentley College’s The Vanguard gave Halo 3 8/10, and said that the multiplayer rocked, but that the Campaign didn’t have enough to keep people interested.The University of Hartford Informer says “don’t say, ‘it’s just a game’.”Inland Valley’s Daily Bulletin says it’s no religious epiphany, but it’s solid. Score is 1/2…

Shinesevens caught a glitch in Major Nelson’s RSS feed – it’s cleared up now, but from what he could see, Sunday’s podcast is going to be an interview with Marty O’Donnell. Look forward to it! (Louis Wu 15:07:07 UTC)

zugy pointed out a video at Tom’s Games that looks at the backlash against Halo 3 in the PC gamer community. Heh – I guess if you’re not IN that community, you might not even have KNOWN about the backlash.(Louis Wu 15:05:11 UTC)

thePheonix9 played with a bunch of sword shots in multiplayer, adding comic-like filters to them. The end result was pretty nice!(Louis Wu 15:03:08 UTC)

Great interview with SketchFactor, over at Kotaku – it clarifies a few things about the new Bungie/Microsoft relationship, talks about what might be coming, and confirms that the Halo DS stuff that resurfaced last week was, indeed, real; it was a proof-of-concept project that never got off the ground. (Lots of folks noticed that it…

ViralSyris noticed some new party cups in the Bungie Store – perfect for lanfests.(Louis Wu 14:50:08 UTC)

trigger119 pointed out a vid in the MLG Gameroom called ‘Halo PlasmaTrotters’, made by TTO AceHawk89 as an entry into MLG’s Halo 3 Film Festival, Most Creative category. I LOVE this kind of thing. Man… I could watch these all day.(Louis Wu 23:27:28 UTC)