BlueTeam1138 decided to see if Halo footage could be coupled with audio from the new Mass Effect 2 trailer – I’d have to say he was pretty successful! Check out the “Halo Effect 2 Launch Trailer“. (Louis Wu 15:10:02 UTC)

Remember that awesome Oonsk/Mister Chief pic Frankie whipped up a few days ago? Looks like it’s going to be auctioned off by IGN as part of their IGN for Haiti Charity Event. Tune in on January 27 for your chance to nab it! Thanks to NeoGAF’s Tashi0106 for the heads-up.

Congrats to RobboForever and NICKOFSTEEL, for being the first to identify and reproduce the latest Hide, Seek, Snap screens – two more Sgt. Johnson codes out the door! We’re going to take a little break posting screens – there’ll be another image soon!(Louis Wu 19:56:40 UTC)

Edge continues to post Reach content on their website – the latest article is called ‘Halo: Reach – Gutting the Engine‘, and once again Marcus Lehto, Joe Tung, and Brian Jarrard discuss the inner workings of the Reach development process. Good stuff!(Louis Wu 19:55:51 UTC)

Over at LoadingReadyRun, there are a few rejected ideas for stories on this week’s episode of the Escapist News Network – ‘Halotar’ is pretty funny. Thanks, Rosco-128.(Louis Wu 19:54:35 UTC)

Halochief89 has been working on his ‘Clairvoyance’ illustrated story over at DeviantART – we mentioned Chapter 1 a few days ago, but the artwork for it wasn’t up yet. (It is now.) He’s also finished Chapter 2 – and the Chapter 2 artwork (I like this one a lot). Check out his latest post for details on what’s coming next.(Louis Wu 19:53:59 UTC)

If you’re over at Halo Waypoint to check out Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian, Part 2 (don’t miss it), there’s a new feature, as well: Vintage Fisticuffs, a series of videos that will look back at some of the epic battles in Halo’s campaigns. First up: The Grand Canyon, the battle on Two Betrayals leading up to the destruction of the second pulse generator. What a great idea, Waypoint! It’s all nicely narrated (and played, one would assume) by fan-turned-Waypoint employee Vociferous. Check it out! Thanks, Morpheus.(Louis Wu 19:52:37 UTC)

Decadence Night has created his 200th panorama – given the nice round number, he decided to lean towards ‘ridonkulous epicosity’ in its creation. Check out ‘Timelapse: War Torn’ (be sure to click through for the full-size, 5215×2302 pixel monster). As Marty might say… “lots of people die.”(Louis Wu 19:51:47 UTC)

terminator182 is back with a new edition of his HBO News Widget – that little plugin that shows you HBO news stories from the OSX Dashboard. This one is Reach-themed, and much prettier than the old one. Take a look!(Louis Wu 19:50:02 UTC)

The Bungie Weekly Update went live about an hour ago – some tantalizing details about Reach’s development, a followup on the Help for Haiti campaign (nice job, community!), an announcement of a way for you to get your own artwork into Reach, some obviously pressured kind words for the older contingent of the development team, and a picture that would horrify me… if I could stop laughing long enough to be horrified. Check it out! (It’s in our Weekly Update Archive, as well, of course.)(Louis Wu 01:40:28 UTC)

A reminder: the second of the four parts of ‘Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian’, the Frank O’Connor-penned, ONE-animated tale of heroism and intrigue, will go live on Halo Waypoint tomorrow. Click the banner below for a sneak peek at a teaser shot.(Louis Wu 19:34:05 UTC)

Hankerin’ for some rocket-racin’? You’re in luck – this week’s Double XP Weekend playlist on XBox LIVE is Rocket Race. Full details are up at Bungie.net.(Louis Wu 19:13:11 UTC)

Swing by Bungie.net for a truly delicious-looking Master Chief cake – that’s a lotta squirts from the frosting bag!(Louis Wu 19:09:33 UTC)