Halopen Films has released ‘The Death of Fantasy’ – a very long (33 minutes) silent, black and white Halo 3 machinima, done in the style of early silent movies. Ambitious! You can find a full-length version on Vimeo, or a four-part version (1 | 2 | 3 | 4) on YouTube. There’s also audio commentary (and other options) in this thread at Halopen. Thanks, Firestorm12.(Louis Wu 14:54:54 UTC)

darthbob pointed out a new YouTube video, purporting to show off the Halo 3: ODST Achievements. If this were real, I’d hesitate to post it; Bungie has not released this information yet, and many Bungie fans don’t take kindly to being spoiled early. However, I’m pretty confident this is a fake – albeit a really nicely done fake. The inconsistencies in the text give it away – but I’ll say that the artwork is spectacular! I’d love higher-res versions of those Achievement icons – they’re fantastic! (Check the thread for lots of indications of why these aren’t real.)(Louis Wu 13:11:18 UTC)

Angryfacing let us know that he’s launched a Halo RPG game – you need to sign up on the forums to be allowed in.(Louis Wu 13:10:40 UTC)

Tommy92L put together ‘Tomorrow‘, a Halo CE machinima built to provide the feel of Halo 3: ODST. Very moody… feels great! Go watch, it’s only two minutes.(Louis Wu 12:46:18 UTC)

Let’s see what we’ve got today…

• Adam Susskind let us know about Chaos Theory Episode 24 (End of the War) – it’s the second-to-last episode!
• Bloogyo told us that he’s still got a few screenshots left – Rat’s Nest 19 3 is live.
• TTL Demag0gue announced the posting of Reclaimer 197 – Foreign Languages – and something might have gotten lost in the translation.
• Hawty McBloggy let us know that ODS Steve #30 (Let Loose the Dog of War) is up now… looks like Steve and his buddies are about to get some help.

That’s it for now!(Louis Wu 12:40:54 UTC)

Hawty McBloggy has put together a raffle in which you can win all sorts of really cool stuff… with the proceeds going to support Marissa, the little girl with infantile spasms whose bunny still travels the planet raising awareness. Every dollar you throw into the pot gets you a (virtual) raffle ticket – giving you the chance to win goodies from any of three amazing prize pools. Go read about it, check out the prizes, and then toss in some dollars! (It’s very possible that more prizes will come online over the course of the raffle, so check back regularly! We’ll be reminding you over the next couple of weeks.)(Louis Wu 20:59:01 UTC)

Looks like someone at DailyMotion did what they were asked not to do at E3, and browsed through some non-front-and-center menus. They’ve put up a clip of the Appearance menu, showing that you can choose to adorn your ODST with a helmet… or without one. Thanks to CaLL Me ZeNy for the heads-up.(Louis Wu 20:49:11 UTC)

Apparently, Gearbox’s Randy Pitchford is itching for non-Halo content from Bungie… so much so he’s asking for it publicly, according to Computer and Videogames. When Randy Pitchford calls you a one-trick pony…(Louis Wu 20:46:26 UTC)

Goodies to be found on the BungLog™ this afternoon:

• Silent Dragon 11 used sounds of battle recorded on Mythic maps to create ‘music’ (or at least percussion) of a sort. This has been done before, but I can’t find any links in a cursory search, so go watch this one!
• The HIH community put together a Halo 3 jumping video called ‘Rise Above It’. Lots of cool jumps!
• urk interviewed xianoa, another bungie.net Average Joe – go see what he has to say!

Good stuff…(Louis Wu 20:41:29 UTC)