Author: halo@bungie.org

Dry Ice noticed a new top story at Bungie.net – mostly just a summary of info presented in a bunch of different places. Read it if you’re having trouble getting the maps, or need help with which playlists require them, what to do if you’re in Europe, and more.(Louis Wu 18:20:49 UTC)

Cocopjojo found news about the upcoming Halo comic over at Marvel’s website; it shows up on the July Previews page, as well as its own page. Story picks up where Halo 2 left off. Want to know more? This puppy will be on store shelves on July 18.(Louis Wu 18:17:53 UTC)

James Falcon sent in a few pics of his (newly completed) MA5C Assault Rifle – take a look! (Shin guards are coming along, as well, pics should be up by the end of the month.)(Louis Wu 14:31:38 UTC)

DuBbLe pointed out an article at Gamespy (though he was actually linking to the Australian site) about the Top 25 Video Game Cinematic Moments. So far, only 21-25 are up – but Hlo Wars took 25, and the E3 2000 Halo trailer (pre-Xbox) took 22. I wonder if there’ll be more in the top 20?…

Spec_Ops_Assault noticed a couple of stories (at Advertising Age and MarketingVOX) about the upcoming Halo 3-branded Mountain Dew. Looks like it’ll be out in August (for a three-month run), and will contain more caffeine per ounce than regular Mountain Dew. (Regular MD has about 4.6 mg/ounce, or 92 mg per 20 oz bottle – a…

There was no Tied the Leader update last week, because the TTL crew was overloaded… which means there’s extra stuff now. In order: a 22 Questions interview with 8Bit Hero’s Kerri Sharp, a look at Halo as an overarching connector, a 22 Questions interview with blogger Colette Bennett, a tribute to Kurt Vonnegut (not Halo-related,…

EliteSniper177 created a bunch of stereograms from Halo images. Try ’em out!(Louis Wu 13:32:57 UTC)

Youngblood let us know that he’s updated his Ghosts of Onyx blog with a new chapter of his fan fiction, Black Operations: Special Delivery. Go read! (Louis Wu 13:30:43 UTC)

Gamasutra points out that although Halo 2 was not on the top 5 rented Xbox games last week, it’s back again this week, at number 2 – could it have anything to do with the two new maps released today? (As a side note, a number of people on Xbox 360s are having trouble downloading…

Mister Froggy pointed out Halo, Articulated #32 – I guess you always gotta watch your pets! (Louis Wu 13:19:35 UTC)

I KNEW it! I knew this thread would draw him out.(Louis Wu 20:34:21 UTC)

Dennis Powers points out that the last couple of weeks have been spectacular for Halo CE map submissions – lots of cool stuff, but two stand out; Train Station by !DC!Greyhnd and Crossfire by Dontu. In Dennis’ words, “both maps depict a more earthlike environment and are designed to efficiently utilize the limited space to…

Sigafoos sent word about The Riot 44 – a bit later than usual, but up now. 27 minutes, 11 mb full of community news, halo 3 beta discussion, and, um… other stuff. Go listen!(Louis Wu 15:48:29 UTC)

Stuntmutt reminds us in today’s One One Se7en that not all Halo 3 players will use the same button layouts…(Louis Wu 15:06:22 UTC)

Tyler Kirk let us know that Chapter 2 of THermopylae Now is now available – this is a Fan Fiction started last week. (Louis Wu 14:20:30 UTC)

MLG’s opening tournament was action-packed – you can read about the final match between Carbon and Final Boss here – the Halo 2 VoD stream is currently offline (Monday morning), but should be back at some point. There’s plenty more tourney coverage – check their main page. And thanks to Drazenx, who started a discussion…

Bizarre. Some folks from the Bungie.net forums have been digging around on the B.net servers, looking for images… and they found some unexpected ones. Read the details in elmicker’s b.net post. Thanks to EL for the heads-up on our own forum.(Louis Wu 12:41:25 UTC)

Sean Mortensen sent us a midi variation of the main Halo theme – it’s just over 3 minutes long, and weighs in at 51k. Give it a listen!(Louis Wu 15:49:49 UTC)

Eternal sent us a picture of a really cool sculpture he made (1024×1002, 204k, or a much larger version, 3200×3130, 1.1 mb) – he had this to say about it:This is an original sculpture that i created and then made a mold so that i can cast several of them. I call it The Fist…

imSuck has kicked off the HaloGrid.com Affinity map tricking race – find (and record) glitches in the new maps after they are released, post your results in their movie forum. No prizes beyond a spotlight on your work, if you’re first. Thanks to Black Aye for pointing it out.(Louis Wu 15:22:46 UTC)