Farecast The Series Episode 5 has been uploaded – there’s a new guy on the base, and it’s a good thing, because everyone’s starting to go a little stir-crazy. Swing by and watch for more internet acronyms than you ever wanted in one place. No natty dreadlocks, though.(Louis Wu 13:18:48 UTC)

LANDO GRIFF1N sent us word of I N V I N C I B L E, a montage from Team Departing Sin. It’s very heavy on video effects – some are really nicely done, others just obscure the gameplay. Overall, an enjoyable watch. I’d recommend the Flash version – the iPod version seems to be missing an audio track. (Louis Wu 11:34:28 UTC)

Spartacus280 created a Bungie tribute vid – I kinda like the vision of Luke, patrolling the battlefields of Halo 3, wielding a literal banhammer. Takes a LOT of inspiration from DigitalPh33r’s work. Thanks, HeavenlyYeti.(Louis Wu 11:09:58 UTC)

newguy2445 let us know that there are three new HD screenshots for Halo Wars up on the official website. There’s also word on their front page that upcoming issues of OXM France and X-360 (a UK mag) will have Halo Wars coverage. It’s ramping up!(Louis Wu 11:01:09 UTC)

TTL Demag0gue let us know that Reclaimer 64 is now up – a missing monitor, and a mysterious data stream? What’s going on? (Bonus points for the use of the word ‘obtrustion’.) (Louis Wu 11:00:27 UTC)

Hawty McBloggy has revisited her Rorschach Inkblot Test series – this week, the heatmap in question belongs to Avalanche. What do YOU see? (Me, I found it interesting that the kill rate outside Red Base’s teleporter is MUCH higher than the kill rate outside Blue Base’s teleporter – I went back and looked, and that’s true for me, personally, as well! I wonder why?) Anyway, go look, and analyze your inner demons.(Louis Wu 10:59:43 UTC)

Tex dropped by with word of the Halo-related parts of the San Diego Comic Con programming schedule – looks like the session to visit is happening on Thursday afternoon! (Louis Wu 10:59:21 UTC)

Halo0001 X stopped by with word of a teaser for an upcoming machinima series. To be honest, I don’t get it – the first two-thirds of this teaser is an effects-heavy shot of a Spartan walking down a hallway with a flamethrower. The first episode should be out next week, though, so you won’t have long to wait if you want to give this another judging.(Louis Wu 10:58:58 UTC)

Nine new pieces posted in this week’s Fan Fiction update – go read!(Louis Wu 10:55:15 UTC)

c0ld vengeance posted a solution video to his Bungie Day Puzzleball challenge; if you’ve been having trouble figuring out what you were supposed to do, go watch him run through it!(Louis Wu 22:25:39 UTC)

1UP.com has a sizeable interview with Dave Pottinger, Ensemble lead designer on the Halo Wars team. It’s a pretty interesting read – you can get a decent sense for how the game is going to work from this one! Check it out. Thanks, LoneRanger 2.5.(Louis Wu 22:23:09 UTC)

Eep – looks like I forgot to post this – but before I got home this afternoon, Bungie posted news about hte latest Double XP weekend – started 4 hours ago. It’s Fiesta – 8 player Free-For-All, random weapons. Arriba! (You’ve got until 2 am PT, Monday morning, to play this.) (Louis Wu 21:50:29 UTC)

IGN has an impressions article on Cold Storage, including a couple of vids. Since the map is free, you could just download it for yourself and play with it… but this might be easier for folks away from their Xboxes. (For what it’s worth, it’s STILL not available for Silver Account holders. Phooey.)(Louis Wu 19:45:28 UTC)

If you’re not press, you’re not getting into this year’s E3 – and it sounds like there’ll be some interesting stuff there for Halo fans. Never fear, though – looks like G4TV is covering the show pretty comprehensively, according to this press release at TMRzoo.com (potentially NSFW ads). For example, Monday night at 7pm there’ll be a show that includes a hands-on demo of Halo Wars. And of course we all remember Bungie’s hint that SOMETHING is being announced on Monday, in the Bungie Day podcast…(Louis Wu 19:40:05 UTC)

Treeskunk Productions has released Outpost: Isil Episode 7 – in their standard 854 formats. Go figure out which one works best for you, and watch it! These guys are worse than the F-Troop soldiers, I swear. Thanks, Bzerker01.(Louis Wu 19:15:44 UTC)

Forge Hub is kicking off their ‘Best of Forge – Spring/Summer 2008‘ contest – they’re looking for nominations and votes from the community – full rules are available in the news post. Thanks, Bungie Blog. (Louis Wu 19:11:42 UTC)

Dragoncoals let us know that the second teaser for Unleashed has been released… nice angles, and a nice taste of action! Go watch.(Louis Wu 19:05:19 UTC)