Woody Tondorf let us know about the HBOlab web series, ‘Hooking Up‘ – a “college comedy series about relationships and communication.” Episode 3 is now online… and Halo plays a hefty role. Go watch!(Louis Wu 17:49:21 UTC)

Hawty McBloggy points out a pretty nice Top Kills video – she’s really harsh about the audio, but it’s worth watching either way; the kills are great.(Louis Wu 16:59:48 UTC)

Bryan Simon continues his musical outpouring of love for Halo 3 – his newest piece is called ‘My New Home in Halo‘, and it looks at some of the multiplayer environments with a distinctly non-military eye. If you’d rather listen to the MP3, we have that, as well (2.9 mb).(Louis Wu 13:50:55 UTC)

TTL Demag0gue let us know that Reclaimer 97 is now online – looks like Ferial isn’t as on top of things as he thought!(Louis Wu 13:48:28 UTC)

Yesterday, TOR Books put out an official press release for The Cole Protocol, the new Halo novel due soon from Tobias Buckell, and S043 brought news of it to our forum. There was cover art in the release – but we’d mentioned the cover art back in July. There was a release date for the book – but we mentioned THAT back in June. I was going to pass on this press release altogether… but Metalingus627 pointed out that the cover art in the TOR press release (203k) was different from the version posted by Buckell back in July (37k). Mostly it’s the armor that the Spartan on the cover is wearing – but there are some minor differences in the background, as well. According to the press release, The Cole Protocol “reveals the location of the Spartan Gray Team and delves deeper into conflicts brought about by the Human-Covenant War.” These are Spartan-IIs, just like Master Chief. I thought this was interesting enough to highlight. Take a look!(Louis Wu 13:44:57 UTC)

Chris Bryan was most recently in our news with new content more than three years ago – but his Master Chief suit has inspired many to build their own, and now he’s back with shots of a pistol he created. Take a look – great work!(Louis Wu 13:28:18 UTC)

Ouch. Joystiq points out a smear ad being used in the political fight for Maricopa County (AZ) District 1 Supervisor… incumbent Fulton Brock points out that while he is credited with “bringing new, high-quality jobs to the East Valley”, his opponent is a “[s]killed player of popular video game Halo” and that Hermes was quoted in his college newspaper as saying “I am addicted to ‘Halo’ and play almost every night.” Like Joystiq, this sort of thing would push my vote towards the new guy, even if I wasn’t a Halo fan. Thanks, darthbob.(Louis Wu 21:46:52 UTC)

Norway’s S1l3nt V1p3r let us know that he’s been working on a wooden Battle Rifle – he posts his pictures over at the 405th forum. (That’s the whole thread – you can see a recent update here.) Looking pretty snazzy! Too bad his real name isn’t Roland…(Louis Wu 17:45:00 UTC)

The next installment of our Mythic Walkthrough – Crow’s Nest – is now online. Daniel ‘Tyrant’ Morris will provide tips and tricks to get you through what might just be the hardest level in the game (at least in this particular configuration). The video portion of this level is massive – all told, there are over 250 mb of clips illustrating the text. (Be gentle!) The full run is also available as a saved film, if you’d rather watch that way. (There’s even a second clip, showing an alternate technique for one of the hardest segments.) Go read, go watch, then try it yourself – if you can beat this level solo, on Legendary, with all skulls on… you’re part of a very, very elite cadre of Halo 3 players.(Louis Wu 14:11:43 UTC)

Clefton Twain posted a new Halo Funniez on our forum (cute, though I’ll tell any copycatters that that sort of joke only works once), and Raulboy continues his series, The White Space.(Louis Wu 13:45:39 UTC)

Yesterday was Monday, so the Rooster Teeth team posted a new Halo-based video. No, it wasn’t the next chapter of Reconstruction, allowing you out of the cliffhanging you’ve been doing since last week – it was a new PSA, this one aimed at explaining the current financial crisis America faces. These guys scare me – but they make me laugh while they do it. Looks like vlad3163 was first with the news.(Louis Wu 12:54:34 UTC)

Don’t forget that today is your first chance at the 7 on 7 Achievement – you simply need to enter a matchmaking playlist with 7 EXP in that list. (If you have a list with exactly 7 NOW, you’ll unlock the achievement as soon as you load the playlist.) Don’t leave it too long; apparently there are still some glitches with experience being awarded, and it might take you longer than you’d expected to build up 7 points. (Louis Wu 12:47:59 UTC)

The Five Long Years Part 2 trailer is now available for download (in several sizes, up to 720p HD) at the Halo Wars website. There’s also a description of the Arbiter we see in the vid:

The Arbiter. A rank every Elite soldier will take with honor, but knows the task at hand will be his last. This Arbiter was forged in darkness, an evil and angry soldier he was imprisoned for crimes against the Covenant. In reality, he was a very effective soldier, but far too violent, even for the Covenant. This Arbiter has but one task, the annihilation of humanity from the galaxy, a task he is close to completing.

Sounds like a slightly more morally ambiguous Arbiter than the one who follows… go grab a copy of the vid. Thanks to Planet Halo for the heads-up.(Louis Wu 12:38:04 UTC)

DigitalPh33r’s Hard Justice Episode 2 is now up – I think it can’t tell if it wants to be funny or serious. Thanks, AvatarAang.(Louis Wu 21:17:45 UTC)