cheapLEY brought the news to our forum that Joe Staten, the writer for much of the Halo games while with Bungie, has a new gig leading the writing for Microsoft’s upcoming new game, ‘ReCore’. (MacGyver10 23:15:51 UTC)

I had no idea what to expect at first, but after the first minute of Timgie’s ‘Rewind Paradise (A Halo 3 HMV)’ I was hooked! Timgie has done one of these for Reach before, so this is a kind of prequel/sequel he’s been working off and on for a couple years. Make sure you stop by our forum and let him know your thoughts on the video, and hopefully we’ll see more work from him before another two to four years!(MacGyver10 22:50:52 UTC)

While it’s the opening cinematic for Halo 5, you can get an idea for the new series, Halo: Believers, by checking out the voiceover they added to it. Hopefully we’ll see the meaty content of the series soon too!(via IESUProductions)(MacGyver10 22:42:42 UTC)

Polygon posted an opinion piece this week on why Halo 5 is the best multiplayer Halo game in years. You can give it a read on their site, but then be sure to check out cheapLEY’s post in our forum for some opinionated discussion. (MacGyver10 22:28:50 UTC)

If you looked through our news archive for Grumpy, you would see some pretty amazing tricks he’s accomplished in Halo 2 as a long time HIH member. Well this past week, he sent word of the results of some stormy weather that kept him inside for a couple days.

In his own words, ‘Finally, a bottom to top launch on Arbiter has been done. Using a Banshee Slam and a Phantom setup, from the bottom of the map a vast height thought impossible was achieved. Lol, anybody remember Halo 2 Arbiter?’

Check out this awesome Halo 2 trick from the self-proclaimed ‘old man’, as it’s a pretty cool one!(MacGyver10 21:03:20 UTC)

Ray sent us an email to a cool article over at Kotaku (wait, did I just actually say that?) with another great video from the people at Termacious Trickocity. Here’s the link to their YouTube video where you can see some old and new tricks from various Halo games like Reach and ODST!(MacGyver10 20:42:16 UTC)

Gamerguy2002 pointed out a neat video that discusses the practicality and current, real world applications for much of the science behind the Halo games. For instance, did you know we currently have the capability of shooting plasma? Go check it out on the DidYouKnowGaming YouTube channel!(MacGyver10 19:59:00 UTC)

General Vagueness let us know that the warthog-surfing craze is over, welcome to the Mantis-Banshee surfing days. Tuckerscreator even pointed out the instigators made a video of the feat themselves.(MacGyver10 16:35:00 UTC)

Sometimes, with the influx of brand new Christmas players in a video game, things like this can happen. I’m not sure which is crazier, the one-sided score or the fact someone is at a Spartan Rank in the 140’s! (Thanks Tuckerscreator!)(MacGyver10 16:31:00 UTC)

It might have taken me a second to figure out what it was, but ‘Dank_Cheney’ on Reddit received a pretty cool gift from his significant other out of an old copy of Halo: First Strike.(MacGyver10 16:28:02 UTC)

Sometimes you come across a Forge map so well done, you just have to share it on its own. Check out this ‘Chiron TL-34’ remake for Halo 5 by Devotii. You can follow him on Xbox One to gain access to his file share through the Halo 5 menus!(MacGyver10 16:08:45 UTC)

Joe Waters, a former developer for 343 Industries, passed away last week. He worked on Halo for quite a few years with both Bungie and 343 in the past decade, in addition to many other titles. Our own TDSpiral shared of his experience with the colorful man in a touching story in our forum. Rest in peace, Joe.

RIP Joe Waters pic.twitter.com/OSLUEpq3sQ

— Chandana Ekanayake (@Ekanaut) December 24, 2015

(MacGyver10 16:04:11 UTC)

Santa Claude’s most famous elf returned today with another edition of Canon Fodder before the holiday. Check it out for plenty of info on the new Sangheili ships we saw in the opening scenes of Halo 5: Guardians, including scale comparisons with some of the old vessels.(MacGyver10 23:03:47 UTC)

The Halo Twitter account posted some great Halo 5: Guardians Forge tutorials from FORGEHUB a little earlier. If you’re having trouble with scripting, some of the new effects in game (snow, rain, fire, etc) or a number of other great options, check out their playlist here at the link for a little help!(MacGyver10 15:41:10 UTC)

The guys at Forward Unto Dawn have got together for a new podcast taking a look back at this past year’s Halo fiction. Particularly, they go over Joe Staten’s ‘Shadow of Intent’ and Spartan Locke. Check it out on YouTube here!(MacGyver10 15:38:44 UTC)

At the end of the release week for Forge last Friday, 343 put out another Community Update recapping the release of ‘The Cartographer’s Gift’. They kind of reiterate some of the map talk we’ve heard, but do explain the machinima controls a bit better and lay out some great Forge tips from its creators. Go check it out on HaloWaypoint for that info and more (like the plays of the week)!(MacGyver10 16:02:02 UTC)