Author: HBO

On Wednesday, the Halopeño So Hot Editing Contest (announced in November, submission window closing in December) had its winners announced; Kanbo, who won second place, let us know a few days earlier, but the actual results page went up this week. Congrats to Jamie98s, Kanbo, and Devlin, for pulling in First, Second, and Third Place,…

Z wrote to point out the H3F ModTage – a video from Nastadon and Callous, showcasing a number of modded maps (and the weapons and vehicles that go with them). 154 mb, WMP9 format – swing by Halo3Forum.com to pick it up!(Louis Wu 12:51:23 UTC)

Ten new pieces for you today in the Fan Fiction section – go read!(Louis Wu 11:47:20 UTC)

There was a new Halo 3 Humpday this week, and it got posted last night. Once again, a coordinated team of Bungie employees went into Halo 3 matchmaking against 3 separate ragtag groups of whoever showed – and surprise, surprise, they won. (Good thing it’s still early in the Alpha cycle, and they can keep…

PositronTF noticed another marching band playing Halo while browsing YouTube – it’s unclear where this is (what high school, or even what state), but it’s fun. (Some of the baton twirlers seem to be holding energy swords.)(Louis Wu 11:31:45 UTC)

KP talked to the crew from Games in Action – what he does, how he got to where he is, why he loves his job. (And why he doesn’t.) Good read.(Louis Wu 13:44:03 UTC)

According to IGN, the chance to play the Halo 3 beta will be included with ALL copies of Crackdown, not just ‘specially marked boxes’ or preorders. There’s been no confirmation of this directly from Microsoft or Bungie – but it seems like a decent bet. (There’s still no word on how the beta will WORK,…

Over at Bungie.net, a new analysis article has been posted – this one takes a close look at the Spike Grenade. No pictures, but lots of detail on useful strategy. KP was first, but Melkor wasn’t far behind.(Louis Wu 13:30:54 UTC)

JeBr0nie noticed a writeup for a Halo 2 tournament in North Carolina, coming up on January 27 – top prize is $1,024. Check his forum post for links to more details!(Louis Wu 22:02:05 UTC)

Paul Maestri sent word that Halo Heads 42 is now live. The Kitty Assassin Team kicks off a continuing storyline!(Louis Wu 19:05:18 UTC)

In the last couple of weeks, the Hamilton Spectator story about the bear suit guy who made a Halo-like bullet-stopper has shown up on our forum a LOT of times – Stuntmutt gives you an idea how many in today’s One One Se7en.(Louis Wu 15:33:07 UTC)

GamesRadar has posted a list of the Top 10 fastest selling titles during their UK Launch Week – 9 of the 10 titles are PS2, the tenth (in 4th place overall) is Halo 2. (Louis Wu 15:29:37 UTC)

rapture noticed an article at Next Generation that states that not only will there be Achievements to earn in Halo 2 (a fact we already knew), but that those achievements would count towards your Xbox Live Gamerscore, the same as they would if earned from a 360 instead of from Vista. I suppose in retrospect,…

Over at the Advanced Media Network, there’s an article about the potential that Gears of War has as a competitive shooter – with some interesting comparisons between GoW and Halo 2. Thanks to 3Suns for pointing this out.(Louis Wu 15:00:24 UTC)

The current issue of the Escapist Magazine has an article on movies that have heavily influenced videogame development – Halo gets a number of mentions, with Aliens leading the pack of movies that, if removed from existence, might kill the game altogether. Thanks to Narcogen, who noticed this over at Rampancy.net.(Louis Wu 14:48:41 UTC)

GFC Danny has updated his Halo Miniatures website with a bunch of new info – if you’re interested in tabletop games, and like Halo (of course you like Halo – why else would you be reading this?), stop by and check it out!(Louis Wu 14:39:04 UTC)

Sane Intolerant pointed out (obliquely) a comic he’d made in answer to a recent Halo, Articulated comic. Pretty funny, actually. And self-fulfilling, even.(Louis Wu 14:37:22 UTC)

GH stopped by to let us know that he won the QsK Montage Contest we mentioned back in October – go visit and grab a copy (which weighs in at an appropriate 117 mb). Nice work, overall!(Louis Wu 14:33:54 UTC)

Lots and lots and lots of people are hearing from Microsoft about the Halo 3 beta – here’s one big thread on our forum about it. (We’ve also gotten lots of email from people who got in.) If you haven’t received anything – don’t fret yet, they’ve said word would be coming all this week.…

Over at Bungie.net, the new Top Story is a Fan Art update – and man, is there some amazing stuff in this one. Some of it has already been seen (here, in our own Miscellaneous Art collection), but much is new – and ALL of it is worth looking at. You can chime in to…