Tobias Buckell, hard at work on the next Halo novel, took time out to post a shot of himself at last weekend’s DragonCon, bracketed by the Master Chief and an ODST. Very cool! (That’s Blue Realm and Adam Grumbo, from the 405th forum, in the UNSC duds.) Thanks to TTL Demag0gue for the heads-up.(Louis Wu 12:59:29 UTC)

ManKitten posted a week of clues for his Treasure Hunt (1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7), and nobody solved it. So he’s posted a bonus round, to help you out. He’s going to cry if nobody gets this… and trust me, you don’t want to see him cry. (Louis Wu 12:58:03 UTC)

TTL Demag0gue posted the newest Reclaimer (85) last night just after midnight (eastern) – so you could get an early fix on the newest oddness. (He’s also put together a tutorial on how he makes the comic, for those who want to follow suit.)(Louis Wu 12:53:11 UTC)

dudes113 pointed out a list over at Maxim.com – They’re calling it ‘8 Fictional Doomsday Devices More Dangerous Than the Large Hadron Collider‘, and mixed in among the Death Star from Star Wars and the Continuum Transfunctioner from Dude, Where’s My Car? is Halo’s ring. Here’s hoping this isn’t the last thing you read today! (Louis Wu 12:43:56 UTC)

SnowJP 360 noticed a minifeature on CNN that looked at what life might be like in 2020… and the slide that discusses virtual gaming uses a Halo graphic for display purposes. Heh – CNN has a lot of faith in the Halo franchise! (Louis Wu 12:43:31 UTC)

Inside Halo is back – Episode 19 was posted a few days ago (thanks, zombyjr). The Dead Pixel covers PAX-related Halo news in the style of Zero Punctuation, and adds a Top 10 clips feature to round out the episode. (Louis Wu 12:42:09 UTC)

TruthPastor SBG let us know that the September Overlord Challenge, fought between the Good Gaming Network overlords and the SBG Clan, has been written up on their forum. (At least one stowaway made it on to the Overlords team.) It was a hard-fought night – but the Overlords pulled it out, 2 games to 1. Next up: Outcast Reborn. Can the Overlords maintain their perfect record? Tune in next month to see! (Louis Wu 12:40:52 UTC)

Whoa. Looks like Ensemble is closing its doors… Halo Wars will be finished (apparently), but everyone else working for the company has been laid off today. More details (sort of) at ShackNews.(Louis Wu 21:31:17 UTC)

It’s been a little while, but Captain Spark is back at it with dialogue recording; we’ve got 43 new clips available for you in the Halo 3 Dialogue Databank. Funny stuff in there!(Louis Wu 16:14:57 UTC)

It ain’t a Halo product until there are action figures! Apparently, according to this press release, McFarlane will be releasing small (2.5 inch) Halo Wars figures, in 3-packs, starting in the spring. They’ll retail for $10 per pack.(Louis Wu 14:00:09 UTC)

Hawty McBloggy put up a compilation of the Top 10 Weirdest Halo 3 Screenshots – some whacky stuff in there! (I love the first one.)(Louis Wu 13:41:39 UTC)

Avateur pointed out that sometime last night, the Halo community passed the 7,777,777,777 point in Campaign Kills. (We came very close to 7 billion by 7/7/08 – it took two more months to nail the next 10%.) Nice job!(Louis Wu 13:39:53 UTC)

When we mentioned the most recent Monthly Update from the Halo Wars team, we pointed out that the scrambled pics they included would probably clear up over time, as they did the last time this style was used. A few days ago, a thread opened on the Halo Wars forum to discuss the changes (which have indeed started). Yesterday, SteelersX07 brought the news to our forum. (Apparently, there’s an older thread on a Bungie.net group forum, but it’s closed to non-members.) So far, it looks like the beginnings of an air field…(Louis Wu 13:30:50 UTC)

BlueNinja stopped by yesterday with news of new panoramas – great shots from outside Floodgate!(Louis Wu 13:13:56 UTC)

Red vs Blue: Reconstruction Chapter 13 was posted late last night – the crew does their best (which, um, isn’t very good) to obtain a vehicle, or two, to use in a base assault. It goes about as well as can be expected. Production values are as high as ever (there’s one effect I’m still having difficulty figuring out how it works). Go watch!(Louis Wu 11:26:21 UTC)

Bryan Simon has been putting out original Halo songs (1|2) for the past couple of weeks – and now he’s got a new one. Lichtonatus says it’s “Made entirely of awesome” – and I’d have to agree. Go listen to ‘I Bought My 50’… and laugh. (Unless you did.) Funniest tidbit, for me… the top choice in the ‘Featured Videos’ listing provided by YouTube. Do they know something I don’t?(Louis Wu 18:06:29 UTC)