Author: halo@bungie.org

FyreWulff details the changes to the Matchmaking playlists – a sad day, indeed, Team Throwback is relegated to Double XP Weekends. (I suppose if nobody’s playing the regular list, this makes sense… but WHY WEREN’T YOU PLAYING? IT WAS A GREAT LIST!) Big shift for Social Skirmish, too. Also, you can check out his full…

A new Average Joe – er, Jane – is up at Bungie.net; LIBBYFACE, a mother of 5 and a Halo addict, talks to urk. Go see what makes her happy.(Louis Wu 21:49:53 UTC)

ElzarTheBam noticed that Halo 3 is due to be released on Xbox LIVE Marketplace’s Games On Demand service on April 20, according to Major Nelson. If you’ve got more hard drive space than shelf space, this might be a good option! No word on price yet.(Louis Wu 18:08:34 UTC)

Thomas Productions takes a cinematic look at Floodgate (the Halo 3 Campaign Level) – quite beautiful, even in its destruction! Thanks, urk.(Louis Wu 18:04:16 UTC)

EnsnaredCadaver becomes the latest Halo speedrunner to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records – according to NOKYARD yesterday (sorry, NOKYARD!), EnsnaredCadaver is included in the Guinness World Records 2010: Gamers Edition, Console FPS section, top of page 49:”4 MIN 15 SEC… the time it took Josh “EnsnaredCadaver” Hardy (USA), to complete Halo…

Bungie’s updated their Halo Reach Ordnance page with details about some of the stuff that we got pictures of yesterday. Did you know that the Gravity Hammer’s pulse is about 4.5 meters wide? (I dunno – sometimes playing Grifball, I think it’s about 4 times that…) (Louis Wu 18:02:47 UTC)

Geekscape’s Teabag Prevention Team has gone over the Reach information supplied in last week’s Bungie Update, and spelled out what it means for you, the player. Swing by and check out the analysis!(Louis Wu 14:04:21 UTC)

Over at Hawty McBloggy’s, you can see a working plasma pistol… built from Bionicles. (Well, ‘working’ means ‘fires little green balls’, not ‘will melt metal’.) Pretty cool!(Louis Wu 13:53:16 UTC)

TDSpiral took inspiration from The Cole Protocol for his interpretation of Ther ‘Vadam, an ancestor of Halo 2’s Arbiter – check out the artwork!(Louis Wu 13:49:21 UTC)

Immersion is the newest project from the Rooster Teeth crew – it isn’t Halo-related at all, and should therefore not be mentioned on this news page… except that the pilot is brilliant, and you should go watch it. Video Game Geeks meets MythBusters. Hawt!(Louis Wu 03:49:11 UTC)

kabu dropped by with word of the latest HBO Fan Fic Pick of the Week – again, it’s EXTREME. Read it.(Louis Wu 03:48:44 UTC)

BierWiser created a pretty cool version of Emile’s EVA helmet, nicely formatted for your desktop. Check it out! (Louis Wu 03:48:08 UTC)

The San Francisco Chronicle had some pics from folks attending Wondercon last weekend – one of those pics had a familiar weapon in the hands of a character who doesn’t usually wield it! Thanks, gryphonosiris.(Louis Wu 03:47:42 UTC)

Omegga stopped in with a link to Granadur – a server tool for Halo PC and Halo CE. Seems useful, if you’re running a server!(Louis Wu 03:46:44 UTC)

Bungie’s updated its Reach Project page with high-res renders… you should go see. Some folks find the new Banshee gorgeous… others find it fugly. Which camp are you in?(Louis Wu 03:45:55 UTC)

The Tag and Release term this week was ‘Grenade’ – and wow, there are some fun pics in there. Go look.(Louis Wu 03:45:22 UTC)

Ready Up Live is looking to play Halo 2 with you – swing by the B.net newspost for details. Unlike a similar gathering that’s currently coalescing in our own forum, RUL’s game night is April 10. (The HBO night is the night before Halo 2 vanishes – April 14.)(Louis Wu 03:44:41 UTC)

Yesterday we ran seriously behind, so we missed a bunch of new content on Bungie’s Comm Chatter – let’s get started with a cool presentation given at this years’ Game Developers Conference by Lead Engineer Brian Sharp – it’s an hour-long talk giving some solid tips on becoming a better leader. Worth watching!(Louis Wu 03:44:05…

Remember Mike Jensen’s Tank Elite? Tony ‘ubald’ Marcotte has done an amazing job of rendering it; check it out in his gallery here.(Louis Wu 16:11:37 UTC)

Marcus posted a small note on the Reach Developer Blog – he’s on vacation, but SOME lucky group of fans got to grill him with questions in the pool!(Louis Wu 16:00:38 UTC)