jericho and friends created Halo-Initiation Sequence, a live-action short with some hard-to-listen-to sound and fun effects. Interesting piece of work!(Louis Wu 12:16:15 UTC)

Zeouterlimits noticed a pretty comprehensive interview at 1UP.com – Luke and Brian cover a bunch of stuff that hasn’t been covered (or discussed explicitly) in other interviews, or in Bungie’s own Q&A. Some of the information was already out there (Luke Smith clarified that Christian Allen, who came to Bungie after being Creative Director on Ghost Recon, is not working on this project on the NeoGAF forum a couple of weeks ago, for example), but some is pretty new. Bungie is pretty clear that “features that couldn’t fit into the game” won’t be added to this expansion – which probably means you shouldn’t get your hopes up for stuff like sprinting, peeking, shooting lights – all features discussed (and scrapped) years ago. The Halo 1 pistol will NOT be making a return. This is NOT the beginning of a series of episodic releases (Brian termed it “an endcap to the Halo 3 experience”). The January 6, 2009 date that many have noticed in the KEEP IT CLEAN teaser is NOT an actual release date of anything – Bungie doesn’t KNOW (exactly) when the Mythic Map Pack will be released. There will probably not be any map releases between the Mythic Map Pack (total map count: unknown, but likely 3) and Halo 3: Recon. And more. Definitely worth a read for every hardcore fan out there – it’ll go a long way towards keeping expectations reasonable.(Louis Wu 12:09:02 UTC)

Luke Smith wrote the most recent Bungie Weekly Update while still in Tokyo – and it’s basically a Q&A session for Halo 3: Recon. If you’re unclear about some aspect of this upcoming project, check it out – you might find your answers inside. It is, as always, also available in our Weekly Update Archive.(Louis Wu 10:15:25 UTC)

Over at Ascendant Justice, there’s a new piece up, written by Cocopjojo – it’s called ‘The Golden Hour‘, and it’s an analysis of the Halo 3 Recon trailer. As is usual for AJ documents, it’s pretty thorough in its observations – give it a read, you might learn stuff you missed in your own watching! Thanks, Zeouterlimits.(Louis Wu 20:54:51 UTC)

Bah. I hate it when I write up newsposts, but manage to close windows before they’re actually POSTED. This morning, TTL Demag0gue posted Reclaimer 98, with lots and lots of new info – and the blog post includes the winner of his Reclaimer Comic Contest, as well. Swing by and catch up – and check out the winning comic! (Thanks to Demag0gue for noticing the newspost that never was.)(Louis Wu 20:45:43 UTC)

Gamasutra has an article comparing audio features of next-gen consoles – and Halo 3 is the test game for the 360. There’s a short interview with Marty O’Donnell that will make almost no sense to people who don’t use the software bundle ‘Waves’ – but will probably be wonderful for those who DO use it.(Louis Wu 18:48:33 UTC)

Bryan Simon seems to have an issue with snipers – go listen to his latest song (#9 out of 10), ‘Snipers are Wussies’, on YouTube, or grab the mp3 version (3.5 mb) from our files server. There’s a thread over on Bungie.net if you’d like to comment (or start one on our own forum!).(Louis Wu 18:00:14 UTC)

Gamasutra has interviewed Hardy LeBel, Multiplayer Lead Designer on the first Halo, about the history of Halo’s multiplayer code, and how it almost didn’t make it into the final build. He talks a lot about building gameplay that appeals to a broad spectrum of gamers – I think it’s safe to say, in hindsight, that he (and the small team he worked with) succeeded. Thanks to hnc for the heads-up.(Louis Wu 17:40:08 UTC)

Halo 3: Recon has brought another long-retired artist out of hiding – there’s a new One One Se7en today. I think Stuntmutt nailed it…(Louis Wu 17:21:31 UTC)

Over at Geekscape Games, the Teabag Prevention Team takes a look at the Recon trailer, and tries to figure out what it means for gamers – give it a read. Thanks, jake108.(Louis Wu 17:16:40 UTC)

Luke Neill pointed us to a blog post written by his wife Sarah – it’s entitled ‘Why Every Wife Should Buy Her Man an Xbox360’, and I think a lot of married gamers would be happy if their spouse saw things this way. It’s actually solid reasoning for ANY non-Halo-playing spouse – male or female.(Louis Wu 13:43:46 UTC)

Hawty McBloggy is back with another round of Friday Caption Fun – great submissios for last week’s pic, and yet more Spartan pr0n for this week’s pic. Go tell her what you think!(Louis Wu 13:41:53 UTC)

Only five pieces this week in the Fan Fiction section – and two of them are poems! Go read.(Louis Wu 13:37:54 UTC)