Author: halo@bungie.org

The Halo Wars website posted a new piece of concept art showing off the Covenant Honor Guard Wraith and the UNSC Flaming Warthog (scroll down to ‘Unit Concepts’ on the Concept Art page). Judgement reserved until we see these in action… thanks, Keiran Lovett.(Louis Wu 15:05:50 UTC)

It’s been a while since we’ve mentioned a Pro Tips with T-Squared on X-Play – but we’ll give you a recap from June through now. There were tips for Blackout in May – but he came back to the map on June 24, with four new jumps. On August 5th, he put together some nice…

GameDaily put up a list of their Top 25 Best ‘First Levels’ in Games… and the Pillar of Autumn made the list. Go read why! Thanks, darthbob.(Louis Wu 14:44:45 UTC)

My7hos has posted the last batch of items he’s got for donation to the Tied the Leader Foundation – several posters and special action figures are up for grabs! Go check ’em out, and remember – the money’s going to a good cause!(Louis Wu 14:40:40 UTC)

A Halo Fan…natic stopped in to point out that the winners in the HBOFF “You’re Doing It Write” challenge have been posted – these guys helped Phædrus donate $400 to charity! Awesome job, everyone!(Louis Wu 14:38:35 UTC)

The Bungie Weekly Update is live (after some oddness) – it’s not very meaty, but the view inside Bungie Studios at the end is nothing short of frightening. Go read! (If you have any sort of problem with Bungie.net, it’s always up in our Weekly Update Archive.)(Louis Wu 02:07:10 UTC)

Wow. A long time ago, Elnea wrote an instrumental piece – a sad song about a group of Elites preparing for a battle they know they’ll lose. It was recorded as a duet with piano (Elnea) and oboe (OboeCrazy), but never released. Later, she expanded the piece with lyrics – and a friend (Felicia Quinn)…

Dennis Powers let us know that the Halo CE Maps website has put together a Map Screenshot Archive – and they’re looking for help in fleshing it out! Swing by and see what you can do. (Upload page for Halo CE screenshots, along with rules, is here.)(Louis Wu 22:03:41 UTC)

ZZoMBiE13 created what might be his last RvB: Reconstruction fan art piece – take a look!(Louis Wu 21:06:54 UTC)

The most recent installment of Ascendant Justice’s ‘Hindsight’ series covers Cortana – and went live over a week ago. As is always the case with AJ writeups, this is chock-full of details and interesting tidbits you might have missed on your own run-through of the level. (There’s also some fascinating discussion about plot points that…

onebitrocket noticed that the Art of Halo 3 book, originally slated to be released this week, has been pushed back a few weeks – to November 25 in the US, and December 5 in the UK. (Extra links are in this post.)(Louis Wu 15:36:46 UTC)

Avateur found a pretty amazing looking Master Chief Helmet cake over at Team Teabag – go take a look! (If you live anywhere near Redmond, WA, you can even buy it.)(Louis Wu 15:01:28 UTC)

It’s time for another round of Friday Caption Fun over at Hawty McBloggy’s – there are some captions from last week’s entry, along with a pretty funny new pic to work with. While you’re there, be sure to wish her a happy anniversary!(Louis Wu 14:59:03 UTC)

Bungie has put up another ‘Breaking In’ interview – this one has Joe Spataro, whose job title is ‘Technical Designer in Animation’. Go read about how he got started, what his interview process was like, and what he thinks you should know if you want to work for Bungie! (Louis Wu 13:55:56 UTC)

We haven’t heard from Pyrosmile in a little bit – but they’ve been busy. We got three separate alerts yesterday: Master Chief Theater 3000: Episode 209 is now online, covering the Gravemind cutscene from Halo 2. They were interviewed recently by Machinima.com – you can get some information about the interview (and links) on Pyrosmile.org.…

Six new pieces await you this week in the Fan Fiction section – go read!(Louis Wu 13:54:03 UTC)

Z let us know that you can find a new trailer from Robosteeze and CitriC AcID over at Halo3Forum.com – it’s called ‘Psylence’, and the filmwork is quite nice! The full montage it advertises will be out sometime in 2009. Check it!(Louis Wu 13:51:35 UTC)

There’s been a LOT of confusion about Recon armor, and the Mythic Map Pack, and how it all works together, ever since it was made clear yesterday that you’d be able to earn Recon armor through Achievements once Halo 3: Recon is released. We went to SketchFactor for some answers – you should go read…

This week’s Double XP Weekend is Grifball – and it’s live. Get warmed up for the Winter League (starting in about a month)!(Louis Wu 19:30:16 UTC)

Unreality Magazine has put together a look at eight of the coolest uses of Halo’s Forge – check ’em out! Thanks, skellOBISSIS.(Louis Wu 18:42:38 UTC)