Author: halo@bungie.org

swede33 pointed out a few extra places to try and score a Friends and Family Beta Invite – swing by his post for links!(Louis Wu 19:13:16 UTC)

Even with the flood of Reach Beta video footage around the web today, Bungie still has enough juice left over for their standard Monday ‘Tag and Release’ feature – today’s tag is ‘Wow’. And the pics urk has highlighted definitely deserve the tag!(Louis Wu 19:04:39 UTC)

Luke Smith provides running commentary on a game of Invasion Slayer – Luke Smith is a funny man. Go watch – it’s 13 minutes of hilarity. (Thanks to urk for the heads-up.) While you’re there, check out GamesRadar’s Behind The Scenes feature on Bungie’s lobby – cool pics!(Louis Wu 18:57:29 UTC)

Ars Technica is the first site offering 20 codes to get you in to the Friends and Family portion of the Reach Beta (it opens on April 29, rather than May 3) – swing by and send them an email to be entered. (They’ve got 5 more on TOP of that via Twitter, too.) Thanks,…

sqorck pointed out a bunch of new Reach footage at Joystiq, and 2900d4u pointed out a bunch of new movies at GameTrailers. I’d expect this to continue all day. (You might want to keep an eye on our forum, since I may or may not be able to stay on top of stuff all day…

GiantBomb has posted a bunch of footage (35 minutes!) they grabbed during the press event they attended last week – this is the first real (full-game-by-randoms) gameplay we’ve seen. They start off playing Network Defense, but move into other gametypes, and there’s commentary from a couple of attendees and some people asking him questions. This…

CVG has a short newsbit about the prices of Halo 3: ODST in the UK, and how game sellers are using the Reach Beta as a chance to sell a bunch of extra copies. Current prices range from £15-20 (US $23-$31). Do you have YOUR copy?(Louis Wu 13:59:54 UTC)

PopMatters has an article entitled ‘Team Economics in Halo 3: ODST’ – it’s an ode to coop play. (Louis Wu 13:59:25 UTC)

GrimBrother One noticed a new website, Welcome to Noble Team, with a teaser image that makes it clear that content will begin arriving on Wednesday – and onebitrocket found a note on Facebook describing an upcoming Spartan ad that launches tomorrow (on television – not on the web until Wednesday). Birth of a Spartan? Sounds…

Marcus posted a quick note up on the Reach Developer Log – looks like water algorithms still rely on older code, so building water elements requires knowledge that newer engineers might not have. Lucky Marcus!(Louis Wu 13:58:27 UTC)

Rampancy.net has rearranged the way it presents the various versions of its podcast – the mp3 is now available in streaming format (because more browsers can handle that), while the enhanced AAC can still be grabbed from iTunes. Go listen your way!(Louis Wu 13:57:56 UTC)

Wired (UK) published its Halo Reach Beta Hands-on writeup this morning – go see what they thought! (Louis Wu 13:57:26 UTC)

Rampancy.net continues their Anger, Sadness, and Envy Podcast with Episode 15 – Reach Beta Preview Part 1. 75 minutes of discussion among Narcogen, Blackstar, and Miguel Chavez about the upcoming beta (along with some final comments about ODST and Halo 2). Go listen!(Louis Wu 23:47:01 UTC)

Gamespy has Ten Things You’ll Love About the Halo: Reach Beta – they’ve taken a look at some of the coolest factoids about next week’s big drop.(Louis Wu 23:16:49 UTC)

Wanna see what one guy can do with the Halo Custom Edition engine? Check out 3 Years and 11 Maps, from Inferno – there’s a video which gives you a taste of the work done, but you should download ’em and play ’em to REALLY appreciate the work.(Louis Wu 23:10:17 UTC)

This week’s Top Ten Halo 3 Screenshots are ‘Reach’-themed – Interesting combination of shots! (Some are recreations of Reach scenes in Halo 3… while others focus more on the action itself.)(Louis Wu 23:07:05 UTC)

Hawty McBloggy found an ancient version of Mister Chief… in Alaska. Oddness! Not your style? Check out Grin + Bear It: Nag Nag Nag… There are definite uses for Bowser.(Louis Wu 23:04:05 UTC)

The Podtacular Episode with Burnie Burns went live a couple of days ago – interesting conversation! 86 mb, three and a half hours(!!). Go listen!(Louis Wu 23:03:38 UTC)

CrazedOne1988 whipped up the next chapter in his Halo Nintendo/Halo mashup videos (we mentioned the last batch here). Amazing work!(Louis Wu 23:02:53 UTC)

Xmoosev3 posted 17 minutes of Halo 2 action collected during his last night online… sounds like he had fun! (Louis Wu 23:02:36 UTC)