A number of comics were announced on our forum in the past 12 hours or so:

• Juesoni told us about Reconnaissance Omega Special Chapter, now on its 9th page (out of 10)
• The Catfish announced that 2501 Episode 6 was out – with a cliffhanger
• Adam Susskind is back, with word of Chaos Theory Episode 8: Fear (Part 2), coming this Tuesday (we mentione Part 1 back on last Tuesday)
• anthraxgoon wanted folks to know that X36 Chapter One Episode 14 is now online – with new math, and new death

The number of strips continues to increase!(Louis Wu 17:31:03 UTC)

I’m not really sure what happened, but it looks like someone broke in and used urk’s computer to write up a fake Bungie Weekly Update. That’s the only explanation I can come up with for an update so chock-full of actual information, straight talk and undisguised answers. Highlights:

• A Mythic-specific playlist will go live the day of Halo Wars’ release
• Elites will NOT appear in Halo 3: ODST
• A chunk of the backstory has been posted to justify this decision
• fan artwork and fan whining are both spotlighted
• Luke’s drawing from last week is confirmed NOT to be Sandtrap
• Juicy details from the week’s progress on Halo 3: ODST are provided

Since whoever actually DID post this in urk’s name will likely soon be killed by Bungie ninjas, we’ve placed a copy in our Weekly Update Archive for safekeeping. Read it quickly, in case they get us, too!(Louis Wu 01:02:02 UTC)

subtheorist, from MLGPro.com, wrote to let us know about a giveaway for Halo Wars Beta codes – with one of these, you’ll be able to download the demo about a week before the general public. They’ve got 25 codes to give away, and all you need to do is post in a particular thread. Read their contest page for full details!(Louis Wu 21:36:09 UTC)

The Bungie Blog highlighted a montage dominated by MLG play – it’s in HD, but bring the dramamine, the camera cuts are really jumpy.(Louis Wu 20:31:36 UTC)

HDR has some new screens from Halo Wars, snapped from the demo, due out in less than two weeks.(Louis Wu 19:21:15 UTC)

According to VoodooExtreme, Halo Wars went gold today – and the studio doors will close soon. Swing by for the full MS press release.(Louis Wu 17:47:43 UTC)

urk got word that The Running Riot podcast is moving to a live recording format, with the next episode (14) being broadcast at 9:30 pm EST on January 27th. Predator5791 will be a guest. Check out their website for full details.(Louis Wu 17:31:56 UTC)

S1kkZ, over at NeoGAF, noticed a new Halo Wars vidoc on the Marketplace – it’s 204 mb, HD, four and a half minutes long, and loaded with new gameplay and cutscene footage. If it doesn’t find its way to the web in the near future, we’ll put up a copy of our own.(Louis Wu 14:38:26 UTC)

It’s Friday, so it’s time for another round of Caption Fun at Hawty McBloggy’s. Last week’s screenshot doesn’t disappoint for entertaining responses, and this week’s promises some politically-incorrect choices. Go play!(Louis Wu 14:17:35 UTC)

TTL Demag0gue told us that Reclaimer 140 is up – and it didn’t even work out the way HE planned. Sometimes comics write themselves. (Louis Wu 14:11:44 UTC)

radiant penguin stopped in with a new set of panoramas – these are all (well, most) from Sierra 117, and they’re gorgeous. Check ’em out.(Louis Wu 14:06:44 UTC)