And… that’s it for me today. PAX starts in a few hours, and it’s time to get moving! Enjoy your Friday, there are still some HBO folks on duty if you have news, I think. (We’ll certainly have a wrap-up article or two, but I’m not bringing a laptop to the show.) If you’re IN Seattle, check out the schedule for the Bungie Booth. Tons of activities!(Louis Wu 17:17:09 UTC)

Tony ‘ubald’ Marcotte sent word of another new render he’s done – this one is a gorgeous shot of a ghost, riding off into a sunset. Go check it out in the gallery we’ve set up for him here!(Louis Wu 16:23:56 UTC)

Here’s one of the more unique uses of the Halo 3 lobby I’ve ever seen. TruthPastor SBG holds a pair of bible study classes on Monday nights, for his clan members (and anyone else interested) – obviously, only fifteen other people can participate in a single lobby at once, but in fact he’s run a pair of Xboxes, with a pair of mics, to bring together 31 people total (15 slots per box, plus his own presence). If you’re interested, they have a web page with information. Halo 3-enabled bible study… who’da thunk it?(Louis Wu 16:01:01 UTC)

Weta’s taking preorders on their Cortana Statue – $225 US, with the statue actually shipping 2nd quarter 2009. As an incentive for tying up your money for the next 6-9 months, they’re entering all preorders before September 30 into a drawing – win the drawing, and you might be flown down to Weta Studios and given a ride in the Warthog they built. (You can enter the sweepstakes WITHOUT preordering – full details are on the Sweepstakes page – but they’ll do it for you if you commit to buying something.)(Louis Wu 15:16:55 UTC)

Eight new pieces are up for your reading pleasure in the Fan Fiction section today – go get ’em!(Louis Wu 15:14:58 UTC)

mattroe told us about a Halo 3 reference on the Australian comedy program Rove. I KNEW there were extras Bungie didn’t tell us about!(Louis Wu 11:11:13 UTC)

Kido Badtower stopped by to announce his machinima series ‘Willingly Insane’ – he’s already created 9 episodes of Season 1, and 4 episodes of Season 2, but he’s remaking the Season 1 vids. All eps are hosted at YouTube. Go see what you think!(Louis Wu 11:08:52 UTC)

Okay, so back in February, we posted a news bit about one of our readers who speculated that an announcement by Gearbox’s Randy Pitchford was Halo-related; his original post is no longer available on his website, but Archive.org has a copy. This info was updated, sort of, in May – but nothing really materialized. Well, the latest Official Xbox Magazine has a rumor in it that ties Gearbox and Halo together again; Planet Halo was the first site I saw to notice this, but by last week, it had been picked up by almost every major gaming site. Today, Kotaku has published an internal Gearbox email in which Corrinne Yu, a programmer who’s worked for them for some time, announces that she’s taken the Lead Engine Architect job on the Halo team at Microsoft. (Thanks, Ross.) Now, this might actually be totally unrelated; it’s been clear for a while that Microsoft is building up their internal Halo team, and the fact that they recruited Yu from Gearbox might have nothing whatsoever to do with Gearbox – it might just be that she was the best prospect for the job. Lots of people are connecting the dots, though, so the rumor’s out there – and now we have a reason why. (Well, kind of. If you were planning on building the next Halo game, would you let one of your best programmers go to someone ELSE’S Halo team?) IS Gearbox working on a new version of Halo for the next-generation Xbox? That remains to be seen. One of their hottest programmers is leaving to run the Microsoft Halo team, though. That much, we know.(Louis Wu 10:52:51 UTC)

Topless Robot (relatively safe for work, despite the name) has put up a ‘Top 10 Sexiest Action Figures Ever Made‘ – and a certain naked-and-glowing female AI from the Halo series made it to #3 on the list. Thanks, xupaosso.(Louis Wu 17:06:36 UTC)

Bryan Simon wrote an ode to Bungie and Halo 3 – you can find it on YouTube. Fan love rocks! Go watch!(Louis Wu 16:58:45 UTC)

TTL Demag0gue has posted today’s episode of Reclaimer – Episode 81 shows Viper trying to shut down the virus in the slipspace array. Sometimes things don’t go as planned…(Louis Wu 11:26:02 UTC)

Hawty McBloggy has a followup to last week’s love triangle amongst Cortana, a Big Daddy, and a Hunter – as well as a new piece of Fan Art devoted to your favorite blue AI. Check it out!(Louis Wu 11:21:55 UTC)

The Treeskunk crew has put together Outpost: Isil Episode 9 – Full Frontal. You have to wonder how the two teams actually still have living members left 9 episodes in… lots of death and destruction here. You can download it in a lot of different formats, or watch it streaming (in a lot of different places) from the Treeskunk website.(Louis Wu 11:15:37 UTC)

Last night, Bungie released a brand-new podcast – it’s a monster 80-minute piece of work full of jokes, interviews, and bears. Paul Russell is the special guest, Shishka discusses the playlist changes coming up next month, and security expert Jerome Simpson comes by for a mini-interview. Shishka puts up with ribbing from Sketch and Luke, Paul talks about the evolution of Halo in the last ten years (guys – ask Rob McLees about the origin of ‘seven’ in Bungie games, and say thanks to Hamish Sinclair), and Jerome discusses protecting the Bungie offices from any and all comers. Great stuff! Avateur was the first to notice on our forum.(Louis Wu 10:16:03 UTC)