Congrats to Str8 Rippin, who beat some impressive competition to take first place in the MLG Columbus event. Full results can be found on this page. The videos aren’t available on the VoD page yet – but they probably will be soon. (You can find some footage on the ESPN Saturday Night page.)(Louis Wu 14:55:45 UTC)

Some old-timers might remember Grunts are People Too!!, a machinima series from a few years back (2004-5). Its creator, Motherstooth, is back with a new blog – go see what he’s up to, Halo-wise!(Louis Wu 14:38:07 UTC)

Decadence Night has gathered up all of his Halo 3 panoramas, and posted them at DeviantART. Some you’ve seen before, some you haven’t – there are 96 in total. Go check ’em out!(Louis Wu 14:34:03 UTC)

DHalo noticed that some new Halo-related accessories will be available for your Xbox LIVE avatar – but they won’t be cheap. (The Warthog, for example, is 320 MS Points – $4 US.) Hmmm, indeed.(Louis Wu 14:32:10 UTC)

Just a few comics for you this morning:

• Bloogyo let us know about Rat’s Nest 17 5 (and reminded people to hit the ‘previous’ button a few times for missed eps).
• N. Rackley sent word that his webcomic, Lakewood, is Halo-related today in honor of the episode number (117). Heh.
• TTL Demag0gue stopped in with word of Reclaimer 193 (Recollection) – Ferial’s virus is not a pretty thing.

Coffee and comics… mmmm…(Louis Wu 14:21:18 UTC)

Awesome – Split-Screen noticed that a new trademark application has been filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office by Bungie, LLC – “We make games that we want to play“. Sounds about right! (Bungie has been saying that this is what they do for a dozen years – but this application was filed just 3 days ago. Guess they finally decided to make a decent woman out of the phrase!) (Louis Wu 20:56:54 UTC)

You might remember Marissa’s Bunny – Fairfax has been traveling around the US, raising awareness about Marissa’s illness, infantile spasms. We recently got word from Marissa’s dad that Marissa is back in the hospital – her spasms are out of control. He’s hoping that anyone who can send along kind wishes will do so – in his words, “Perhaps the combined goodwill of the internet at large can help, because nothing else seems to be.” Mike – we’re with ya! There are lots of ways to help – from donating money or buying a bunny to simply emailing Marissa with your happy thoughts. Swing by the Marissa’s Bunny website for lots of links.(Louis Wu 20:55:50 UTC)

Zeouterlimits pointed out that Jason Sussman (Bungie Finishing Artist) mentioned in his twitter feed that he’d recorded the Bungie public^* demo of ODST – it’s 20 minutes long, and is presented by Brian Jarrard and Curtis Creamer. If you’ve been watching every movie that comes out, you’ve seen most of this before – but it’s nice to see the entire demo, start to finish!
^* ‘public’ means ‘public to E3-goers’, as opposed to ‘behind closed doors’(Louis Wu 20:54:41 UTC)

A blog called ‘White Rabbit Trails’ has been creating Halo 3 wallpapers based on vectorized versions of the medals you can earn during multiplayer games. The backgrounds are nicely distressed – if you’re looking for simple but attractive Halo 3 images for your wallpaper, check these out. There are three wallpapers per set:
Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Set 6 | Set 7 | Set 8(Louis Wu 20:53:35 UTC)

Firestorm12 sent word that Halopen has released the Halopen Pencast 10, ostensibly recorded at E3, with lots of discussion of Bungie’s upcoming projects.(Louis Wu 20:52:56 UTC)

Pete Cooper found out that his Operation: Chastity project was included in an OXM UK article about ‘Gaming’s Most Extreme Fanclubs’ – nice going, Pete!(Louis Wu 15:02:33 UTC)

Over at the Hushed Casket, rapture takes a close look at the Halo 3: ODST pistol – and compares it to its predecessors. Go rap!(Louis Wu 14:58:31 UTC)

mrsmiley let us know that Pyrosmile’s Master Chief Theater 3000 Episode 305 (covering 343 Guilty Spark) is now live. That poor Jenkins…(Louis Wu 14:57:49 UTC)

Hawty McBloggy runs down the Series 6 action figures from McFarlane; go see what’s coming in October!(Louis Wu 14:57:13 UTC)

Joystiq wrote up a sighting of a Master-Chief-helmeted dude playing Rock Band – we saw him at several booths throughout the day on Wednesday. Thanks to Adam Kovic for the heads-up.(Louis Wu 14:55:32 UTC)