Remember a couple of days ago, when we mentioned a model of the nighttime map for Firefight that Bungie showed off at E3, done in Google’s SketchUp? Yeah, well, Juzzz, over at Bungie.net, wanted to get a bit more detailed. His version looks a LOT more like what I played at E3. Swing by for screenshots and a downloadable SketchUp file. (We’ve added links to local copies of all the screenshots, plus a copy of the SketchUp file (in case the MegaUpload option disappears), to CaLL Me ZeNy’s forum post – thanks for finding this, CMZ!)(Louis Wu 16:23:41 UTC)

The bonus of Sgt. Johnson for those who pre-order Halo 3: ODST got a serious hype boost this morning – pages went up both at Bungie.net (with great new screenshots of a never-before-seen Firefight map) and Xbox.com touting the offer. In the US, you can avail yourself of this deal by pre-ordering from Amazon, Best Buy, Gamestop, or Wal-Mart – the outside-the-US list hasn’t been fully compiled yet. C’mon… you KNOW you wanna play with a cee-gar in your mouth! (Louis Wu 16:22:46 UTC)

The Charisma+2 journalists at Kombo For Women talked to Corrinne Yu, the head of the Halo team at Microsoft. If you read carefully, there are some fun tidbits about upcoming Halo-related work in there! Overall, an interesting interview. Give it a read! Thanks, Jason Zook.(Louis Wu 23:30:48 UTC)

urk pointed out ‘Unidentified Failing Object‘, a ‘failtage’ showing off some pretty funny stuff. HD, 3 minutes, M.I.A. soundtrack. Go watch!(Louis Wu 23:29:30 UTC)

Eep – almost forgot! Bungie’s updated the Bungie Favorites files with the second batch of goodies from Real 7alk – go read about one of the maps on the Bungie Blog, then check out the rest!(Louis Wu 21:42:51 UTC)

Over at the Halo Maps forum, ChocolateNugget and Yodajammies are building Spartan Armor in a pretty unique way – they’re milling the pieces on a CNC table, using 3D models, then molding and casting in more traditional methods. You can see a bunch of pictures in the HM thread – check it out! Thanks to Dennis Powers for the heads-up.(Louis Wu 19:56:51 UTC)

There’s a new developer blog entry over at HaloWars.com – one of the animators discusses the animations he created for the Arbiter and some Spartans. THere are sketches and a couple of short videos illustrating his text. Check it out! Thanks, 2900d4u.(Louis Wu 19:43:46 UTC)

The Game Critics Awards Nominees for Best of E3 2009 have been announced – Halo 3: ODST pulled nominations for Best Action Game and Best Online Multiplayer Game. Winners will be announced on June 23 – stay tuned!(Louis Wu 17:08:05 UTC)

Wow, nice. Bry noticed that Argos (a UK game distributor) is selling Halo 3: ODST for £26.99 (about $44, US) – a heck of a deal! If you live on that side of the pond, you might want to check this out.(Louis Wu 17:03:26 UTC)

Rapper Asher Roth is the next celebrity to jump on Xbox LIVE to play Halo 3 with us little people – his Game with Fame session is Monday, June 24 at 4 pm ET. Read the Xbox.com page for full details!(Louis Wu 17:00:27 UTC)

Couple of entertaining clips for you today over at Bungie.net: ‘Halo 3 AA Gun Strikes Back‘ shows that even machines can get in on the action… and ‘Mini-Mythisode 1: Killing the Elephant Driver‘ looks at a strange glitch in the vulnerability of Elephant drivers, from the MythBusters crew. Go watch – they’re both short!(Louis Wu 16:58:27 UTC)