Author: halo@bungie.org

Whoa. Oddworld noticed an announcement on Xbox.com for the Halo Wars Collector’s Edition, which is now available for preorder. Cool stuff in there – a graphic novel, a unique in-game vehicle, a patch, and some cards… but the REALLY big news is that the Halo 3 Mythic Map Pack (consisting of Assembly, Orbital, and Sandbox)…

PreGame Lobby Episode 8 is now online – 17 minutes long? Wow. Bunch of live-action stuff in this one. (I could have skipped most of the early stuff…) Thanks, Lord Osiris.(Louis Wu 17:49:11 UTC)

mirel noticed that last night’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien contained a bit of Halo footage – it was a short segment making fun of the whole ‘hologram’ thing news channels have been abusing recently. NBC.com has put the entire episode up – but the one-minute clip in question is not available separately, so we’ve…

Wow. Ducain sent word of a thread over at High Impact Halo, started by Lone Starr – it contains a bunch of clips of Halo 1 tricks that are really, really impressive. Stuff I’ve never seen before – and we’re now more than 7 years on! Go grab ’em and watch.(Louis Wu 17:32:17 UTC)

Over at Gameplayer.com.au is an interview with Brian Jarrard that originally appeared in Australian 360 magazine. Give it a read to see what Bungie thinks about Halo 3, one year after release!(Louis Wu 14:40:28 UTC)

We mentioned the Kotaku cosplay contest yesterday – Sean Bradley’s Arbiter didn’t get the love it deserved because the Halo community didn’t know about it in time. Never fear – he’s entered it in OTHER contests, and you’ve still got time to vote! Swing by CollegeHumor, and you’ll be faced with 2-at-a-time faceoffs; you might…

It’s been a couple of months since we mentioned the Halo creations built by the Spore community – but Hawty McBloggy revisited the field this morning, and I have to say, some of the characters she dug up are AMAZING. Check ’em out!(Louis Wu 14:16:09 UTC)

Pete the Duck is selling his Halo novels (and a bonus RvB DVD) on eBay, to earn a little money for his NEXT gaming adventure. His loss is your gain! Swing by and check it out. (Louis Wu 14:14:10 UTC)

Evil Otto (otherwise known as Bungie’s UI wizard, Dave Candland) stopped in yesterday to remind people that there’s absolutely nothing you can do to get Recon armor assigned to you – it’s not your decision. Beating obstacle courses, challenging Bungie employees 1v1, passing along screenshots or maps… you’re not going to get Recon this way.…

SonofMacPhisto started an interesting thread yesterday – he was talking about body language in Halo cinematics. Lots of little details you might not notice your first time (or three) through – but things that really add to the overall ambience, even without your direct awareness! Go see what others have noticed, too. (Louis Wu 14:09:57…

ZZoMBiE13 posted a pair of images inspired by the RvB: Reconstruction series – check out Church meets the Man Cannon, and Cram Tank. Whee! (Louis Wu 14:07:53 UTC)

Yesterday, we mentioned a video tutorial showing you how to build Halo armor – what we missed was a test film the Indy Mogul crew made using the end product. Funny stuff! Thanks to Jeaux Janovsky, of Channel Frederator, for the heads-up. (Louis Wu 21:40:56 UTC)

Bungie has posted details about the November Matchmaking update – swing by to see what’s in store this month!(Louis Wu 21:33:17 UTC)

The Community Spotlight series continues at Bungie.net – this time out, it’s a look at Halo3.Junk.ws, the comprehensive stats website. Go read how they got started… and check out what they offer if you don’t already use ’em!(Louis Wu 21:31:23 UTC)

Over at the Bungie blog, Urk dug up a funny video called ‘Real Teammates of Genius – Mr. Take Off By Yourself In the Warthog Guy’, and it pays tribute to that guy who puts the I in TEAM. (Louis Wu 21:30:38 UTC)

Dennis Powers let us know that Shipwrecked Episode 41 is now live – sometimes you gotta wonder.(Louis Wu 21:30:13 UTC)

Hawty McBloggy pointed out that Kotaku held a reader cosplay costume contest for Halloween… and posted their finalists for voting yesterday. Unfortunately, voting closed before we heard about it… but results should be up in the not-too-distant future. Two of the costumes were Halo-related – a Master Chief, and an Arbiter. Check ’em out!(Louis Wu…

Martin Handley has been pretty persistent in trying to get the word out about ShooterClips.com, a website that will record your Halo 3 video clips, for free. You can read some feedback in this thread on their website. Give ’em a try! (Louis Wu 17:52:05 UTC)

Over at Hawty McBloggy’s, there’s a guest article looking at the political correctness of simply not liking someone. Do you have people on your Friends list that aren’t really friends? Go read the article, and see what category they fall under! (Louis Wu 13:40:57 UTC)

TTL Demag0gue let us know that Reclaimer 108 is up – looks like hijacking a Hornet didn’t go very well. (Louis Wu 13:40:14 UTC)