The Red vs Blue website has a new PSA online – it’s currently up for sponsors, but it’ll be up for everyone in the near future. It’ll help you a lot in getting along with other internet users! Go watch.(Louis Wu 18:12:47 UTC)

You mght remember that last summer, Horus visited our forum with pictures of (and templates for) a Grunt Plushie. He’s back, this time wth an Engineer Plushie – and man, it’s cute. Check it out!(Louis Wu 14:32:39 UTC)

Sparkypinball stopped by with word of a film he helped make, interviewing porn stars about their gaming proclivities. A lot of them, apparently, play Halo. The video is safe for work.(Louis Wu 14:25:08 UTC)

iGuardian managed to get a teleporter outside Guardian, to a place surrounded with just green. Why does this matter to you? Well, if you’re a machinima creator, this gives you a green screen for use with your Halo characters. Funky! Downloadable map is here, movie showing the effect is here.(Louis Wu 14:21:26 UTC)

Everyone’s seen those ‘Get a free Xbox 360 with a free copy of Halo 3!’ ads popping up on websites – most of us realize that there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. That doesn’t stop people from trying, though – and I read a writeup this morning that should help you decide whether following those links are a good idea for you, or not. The nasty part of the whole process is you have to commit to spending cash long before you are made aware of the full cost of the endeavor. If you decide, partway through (as the writer’s husband did) that it’s getting too rich for your blood… you can fold, but not without losing SOMETHING. Worth reading.(Louis Wu 14:19:41 UTC)

TTL Demag0gue told us that it’s Reclaimer Monday – Episode 57 looks at how Viper plans to get control of their base back.(Louis Wu 14:18:05 UTC)

The Halo Wars Monthly Update was posted on Friday (thanks to Omega for pointing it out yesterday – I feel behind, now). There’s info about the upcoming E3 show (and what will be seen there), info on the Cyclops unit, some strategy advice, and word that the screenshots archive is going to be updated soon. (Don’t forget the large screenshot collection posted recently by GamePro.com – and I hate to say it, but I totally missed the preview of the game that went along with those screens – thanks to Planet Halo for noticing that.)(Louis Wu 14:14:59 UTC)

Wow – this link was passed along to me tonight, and it’s one of the funniest vids I’ve seen in a while. A chunk of Halo footage makes it relevant – but I’d be recommending it anyway, even without the Halo connection. (Well, maybe not here, on HBO’s front page – but I’d be working to get the word out in other ways.) Go watch ‘The Website is Down: Sales Guy vs Web Dude‘ and laugh. (Minor NSFW elements.)(Louis Wu 00:15:22 UTC)

Ouch. The New York Times has an article about Metal Gear Solid 4, and the hidden political and philosophical messages that it might or might not contain. (That’s not the ‘ouch’ part.) In discussing the importance of these elements, one of the people interviewed, Leigh Alexander (an associate editor at Kotaku), contended that it’s those story elements that are critical to the MGS experience – and used Halo as a counterexample. (That’s the ‘ouch’ part.)

Metal Gear Solid, Ms. Alexander said, “has the characters and the narrative, the symbolism and the metaphors, and all of the lore that ties it together,” whereas Halo is popular “not because of any of its peripheral elements or anything else about it, other that you shoot people.”

I guess Ms. Alexander hasn’t spent a lot of time around these parts… (Louis Wu 13:48:33 UTC)

Omega pointed out that as of right now (the critical point was passed sometime late yesterday or early today), the number of kills in Halo 3’s campaign exceeds the population on our planet, right now. That’s a lot of killing!(Louis Wu 13:48:14 UTC)