TTL Demag0gue stopped in with word of Reclaimer 160 – it’s Part Nine (and hte last part) of Reclaimer: Mythic Edition, and it’s one last look at Viper’s no-so-happy origins.(Louis Wu 14:31:09 UTC)

Halo Babies has announced the winners of its Mythic Map Pack Code giveaway for Haikus – they got 1500 entries, and three of those won a code. You can see the winners, the runners-up, and even the top 36. There are also some of the WORST entries… some are hilarious.(Louis Wu 14:28:24 UTC)

Nathan Moeller let us know that Competitive Video Games is running a 4v4 Team Slayer tourney, on March 7th, 3pm CST. Swing by the site for more details.(Louis Wu 14:27:51 UTC)

FireDragon04 and some friends created a short video for a competition in the UK – it was a project to promote legal downloading, starring the Master Chief. Since the competition is over, he’s put the video up for public consumption. (He was behind the camera, not in the suit.) (Louis Wu 14:27:23 UTC)

Halo Action Figure Theater updated again this weekend – you ask me, things are getting tense.(Louis Wu 14:26:58 UTC)

Hawty McBloggy would love you to weigh in on a discussion about non-gaming spouses, and what’s reasonable in terms of getting them on board with your gaming obsession. This article is the first in a week-long series of pieces from the gameblogging community, and it involves the tale of a man who attempts to bribe his wife into playing Halo. Would this work for you (or your significant other)?(Louis Wu 14:26:24 UTC)

Jamie T did a fantastic job of incorporating the recent Christian Bale meltdown into an episode of Unlucky Elite – go watch Unlucky Elite 4 and smile. (Or cry for the poor Elite, I guess.) (Louis Wu 14:25:49 UTC)

Bunch of Halo Wars tidbits came through the wires today:

• Xbox.com is hosting a Play & Win Sweepstakes – register (by downloading a gamer picture off of Xbox LIVE), then play a multiplayer game online between March 6-8. 29 people will win, with prize packages ranging from 500 MS Points all the way up to a 52 inch LCD, plus home theater system.
• Grunts R Us has posted a Halo Wars Skull Guide. As always with this sort of things, you’re best served looking for them on your own… but I guess it’s here, if you need/want it.
• blackouTT let us know that TheDigitalSet.com has released their first podcast, and one of the topics in this week’s ‘cast is Halo Wars.
• The official Halo Wars website has a global stats page – and total gametime has already exceeded 4 years. Wow. Thanks, Spartan-056.
• WorthPlaying reviewed Halo Wars – they said it’s the “closest that an RTS console game has come to success in recent memory.” (They gave it a 7.7/10.)
• The St. Petersburg Times also reviewed Halo Wars – they called it “an RTS for the crowd that doesn’t like RTS games,” and were overall quite positive.
• NeoXDonut remixed released Halo Wars footage into his own trailer, in anticipation of release here in the US.

That’s it for this morning… (Louis Wu 14:24:17 UTC)

Tons of stuff fell through the cracks this weekend – let’s see if we can scrape some of it back up. chris10023 let us know about a couple of new ‘Halo 3 Fails’ videos – Top 10 of Season 1 went live on Friday, and Episode 11 (which I suppose is the start of season 2?) went live yesterday. (Louis Wu 14:23:47 UTC)

The Ask the Rookie Contest ended as planned last night at midnight EST – there were nearly 700 entries, so it’s going to take Domino and friends a little longer than expected to pick a winner. Please be patient! And that’s it for me this evening… no more energy. Back tomorrow!(Louis Wu 23:32:04 UTC)

A bunch of new Mythic Map previews:

• GamesRadar
• Console Monster
• MDK Blog

Apparently, Inside Xbox also did a preview – it features HP’s Facing Worlds map, so Devin Olsen put a copy on YouTube for those who can’t see it on Marketplace. (Louis Wu 23:31:05 UTC)

OcR GimpTactics jumps into the Tilt Photography game with some great Halo campaign shots. Check ’em out at OutCast Reborn. (Louis Wu 23:30:21 UTC)

A few people are making sad videos about Foundry – Matthew Rivera has one here, Sniper2477 has one here, and another here. I think people are overreacting…(Louis Wu 23:29:27 UTC)

Ross Mills ran across an artist at a Convention who does a lot of Halo work – check out his DeviantART site! (Halo stuff is here.) (Louis Wu 23:28:39 UTC)

Comics posted this weekend:

• 2501 – 21: The Brig (thanks, The Catfish)
• Reclaimer 158: Wasted Lands (presented on Saturday)
• Reclaimer 159: Storage (presented on Sunday)

New ones tomorrow!(Louis Wu 23:27:44 UTC)

The general Halo public met Bob, the Killball Dude, in Friday’s Weekly Update – but pete_the_duck (who came up with the concept in the first place) wanted it to be perfect. Some great shots in this post.(Louis Wu 23:26:48 UTC)

BlueNinja let us know about some Mythic map panoramas he posted on his Views from the Edge blog. (Louis Wu 23:26:07 UTC)

Still struggling to dig out of this nasty flu – temperature is down to 101 today (topped 104 yesterday), so let’s try and clear SOME of this news out of the queue. Apologies for any lack of detail… first up, FyreWulff told us about Opticast Episode 1 – contains an interview with Octodeath.(Louis Wu 23:25:21 UTC)