Dennis Powers sent us some statistics, and some intriguing creations, all seen at Halomaps.org recently. Since January 1 of this year, almost 300 new files have been added, and they’re averaging almost 300,000 downloads/month – not bad for a 7-year-old product! Stuff you might want to look at: Noobyourmom has created a single-player campaign with role-playing elements in it – Halo Covert Ops currently has six maps (one | two | three | four | five | six) where you play as an ODST and are given a mission where you can make choices that determine the game play and storyline. Very cool! In addition, he mentioned another few maps worth taking a look at (some we already highlighted last month – this is just the new stuff):

• Sandtrap Classic by Jesse
• CMT Cliff Run (beta) by CMT
• Tlmp Harbinger by Inferno and Snafubar
• Dtsp by DSalimander (custom single-player)
• Campagne2 by Ozhimer (custom single-player)

Go browse – tons of stuff! (Louis Wu 11:44:10 UTC)

dogchow33 pointed out that Newegg is offering the standard copy of Reach for $15 off today – the $44.99 with free shipping deal is good until 11:59pm PT today, according to their weekly email flyer. If you were looking to preorder to save a little money, here’s a chance! (Louis Wu 11:42:40 UTC)

ElzarTheBam pointed out another video showing off modded content from Halo Reach – Elite models colored to look like Power Rangers! The video’s ridiculously long for its content, but the creator really wanted to include the entire Power Rangers theme song.(Louis Wu 11:42:00 UTC)

Hedgemony continues to add new assets to his ‘shopped screenshot site – HedgemonyLovesHalo now contains over 300 images. He’s nowhere near done yet, apparently… go browse the archives for some really cool bits of Reach screenshot art! (Louis Wu 11:41:12 UTC)

CaptainTony put together an understated desktop image, involving Noble Team – go check it out!(Louis Wu 11:40:53 UTC)

Tobias Buckell and a number of other authors talked to io9 about why established authors take on franchise tie-in writing gigs. Buckell’s discussion focuses on The Cole Protocol and Halo, for the most part, but several of the authors involved have written Halo Universe stories. Nice read! Thanks, AngelicLionheart. (Louis Wu 11:39:44 UTC)

Newsarama talked to Brian Reed recently about his upcoming Halo comic series based on The Fall of Reach. It appears that the series coming out this fall is just the first in a SERIES of series. There are also other details which might give you a sense for what to expect this fall when the comics begin. Thanks, Hedge! (Louis Wu 11:38:58 UTC)