Wow. Just… wow. vector40 (who was once a large contributor to our Fan Fiction section) stopped by last night to mention that the textbook being used in a course he’s taking on video game structure contains a Halo-based fan-written poem… taken from our Fan Fiction section. In fact, it was written by UNSC Trooper, who’s currently on our Story Page staff. Fan Fiction showing up in a textbook on game design… that blows my mind.(Louis Wu 12:16:30 UTC)

Went out to buy a new headset for my phone, came back to a batch of new posts on Bungie.net. Lessee here…

• There’s a writeup on My Halo Life, a series of montages being put together by a tight-knit community (though they’re happy to include your fun clips). Episode 1 is online now.
• There’s some news about a final live show coming from Bryan Simon – read it for details on when and where, and what.
• There’s a new Community Spotlight on the Halo 3 Wheelmen, including what sorts of fun they’re having, along with a new batch of files they like in the Bungie Favorites section. (There’s also a ‘hogtage’ from them.)

That urk… he’s a busy one.(Louis Wu 18:43:52 UTC)

Bungie.net moderator Achilles1108 put together a montage called ‘Pals’ – it’s what Halo’s all about. Lots of betrayals, lots of cool kills and clutch saves, lots of wtf moments to laugh about with your friends. (The Rat’s Nest hog-on-a-bridge clip was way cool.) Streaming and download links can be found in the Bungie Blog.(Louis Wu 16:28:02 UTC)

If all these guys joined the Peace Corps… Okay… this is just silly. Very cool… but silly. Update: this is the same kind of film – a long setup for a well-planned payoff. In this case, it’s a suicide instead of a hole in one… but the concept is the same.)(Louis Wu 16:22:33 UTC)

The PraetoriaGuard Frag a Friend series is resurrected; if you’re the leader of a fan community, you can use this event to meet leaders of other groups, and play some Halo 3 at the same time. Game night is Friday the 13th, 9 PM ET – read the forum post for details on how to get involved. Thanks, kilaMOMjaro.(Louis Wu 15:24:55 UTC)

Ascendant Justice took a look at the story of Halo Wars, in their usual extremely detailed style. It contains spoiler for the game; if you haven’t experienced it for yourself, you might want to hold off. Otherwise, though – it’s a six-page treatise on how well the Halo Wars story fits into the Halo timeline as we know it, and how good a job Ensemble did telling that story. Thanks to mendicantbias00 for the heads-up.(Louis Wu 15:19:12 UTC)

OXCGN took a close look at Halo Wars, and came up with some ideas that they think would have made multiplayer better.(Louis Wu 15:14:42 UTC)