About a month ago, Dobermann posted a beta test of Halo Zero 2 (a followup to a sidescroller released a couple of years ago) – you can try out the weapons and AI for the newest iteration. Looking good! Thanks to cupalloymk.vii for the heads-up.(Louis Wu 17:34:43 UTC)

Dennis Powers let us know that Shipwrecked Episode 20 is up – Taylor and Johnston continue to explore.(Louis Wu 17:34:19 UTC)

A couple of days ago, we mentioned the US Army Halo 3 Championship, and the controversy that existed in the Pacific region. A spokesperson from Microsoft NZ has made a statement that it’s not just rank that matters – you had to properly register (by downloading the gamerpic within a small time window), and the announced winner was, indeed, the highest-ranked player who met the eligibility requirements.(Louis Wu 16:29:25 UTC)

ryu9921 let us know that there’ve been a couple new Larry the Marine strips posted since the last one we mentioned (How it all began Part 6 and Part 7) – glad SOMEONE’S keeping up! (Louis Wu 16:25:19 UTC)

Hawty McBloggy has posted Friday Caption Fun, Round 8 – this contains the cream of the crop from the nearly 200 captions posted LAST week, plus a new shot (again with the perspective tricks) for you to grace with your wit. (Louis Wu 16:21:26 UTC)

Backward Compatible has a Halo-themed comic up today.(mnemesis 16:05:53 UTC)

Daolpu, the artist we mentioned yesterday whose time-lapse drawing of Cortana was available on YouTube, has posted a much higher-res version on FileFront. Grab it if you want to see a creation come to life before your eyes!(Louis Wu 16:00:15 UTC)

GhaleonEB stopped by to point out a post by Shishka over at NeoGAF – it contains details about some new entries in the Ranked Big Team Battle playlist that should make BTB enthusiasts really, really happy. Go check it out!(Louis Wu 15:47:05 UTC)

Planet Halo noticed a blog post on a blog called ‘The Space Oddity’ which suggested that Gearbox is working on a new Halo game, a prequel to the existing Halo trilogy. This is strongly into ‘rumor’ territory, so take it with a grain or two of salt… but it’s something to keep an eye on.(Louis Wu 15:42:27 UTC)

Just a tiny Fan Fiction update this week – only three new pieces. Shouldn’t take you long at all to read ’em!(Louis Wu 15:34:35 UTC)

Music 4 Games sat down with Marty O’Donnell to find out what drives him, what inspires him, what got him started. Fun read! Go check it out. Thanks, Greg. (Louis Wu 19:41:49 UTC)

ZZoMBiE13 has posted Episode 100 of Another Halo Comic Strip – and announced a hiatus. (Not so much for the strip – he’s found someone to fill in for him… just for himself, to reenergize and become reinspired.) And I’d just like to say, on a personal note… those aren’t my eyes.(Louis Wu 19:04:17 UTC)

Adam Kovic let us know that Inside Halo 14 (well, now it’s Aureola Interior, since it’s been taken over by Pancho Villa’s great-grandson Pete) is now online at YouTube. As surreal as ever, except now with a taste of Mexico. Seven minutes long. (Coincidence? I think not!)(Louis Wu 18:50:52 UTC)

Last night, Team HBO lost their Quarterfinal Spring League Grifball playoff match, dashing their championship hopes… but today, Bungie kicked off the latest Double XP Weekend using the Spring League Grifball map. (This one is far more difficult to cheat in than the Winter League map was.) Go hammer someone in our memory! (Thanks to Avateur for the heads-up.)(Louis Wu 18:39:04 UTC)

Hawty McBloggy noticed a Cafe Press t-shirt devoted to the Spike Grenade (and the feeling it inspires in its victims). Go look!(Louis Wu 18:34:04 UTC)

Okay, Gryphonosiris wins the ‘Silliest Story of the Day’ award with his link to a Gamespot article about a bunch of 13-year-olds who hired prostitutes to play Halo with them on daddy’s stolen credit card. You have to read the whole story for the biggest WTF moments, though… I mean… oh, never mind. Just read it.(Louis Wu 17:33:01 UTC)

Very cool – JustyB noticed a time-lapse video of someone drawing Cortana, in Photoshop. It’s really interesting to watch. The artist stopped by the thread, and it’s possible we might be getting a higher-resolution version of the video soon…(Louis Wu 17:03:59 UTC)

Laird reminded us (by pointing to an article over at Hawty McBloggy’s) that CanWest08 is coming up in just over a week. It’s going to be a weekend of mayhem and mischief, with machinima galore, a couple of contests (with cool prizes), and lots of Halo community stars. (If I lived closer than 3000 miles and didn’t have about 3 weeks of stuff to do in the seven days, I’d be on a plane in a heartbeat.) If you’re anywhere near Vancouver, or even if you’re not… check this out.(Louis Wu 16:56:24 UTC)

Yesterday, we mentioned that Mcnealy was considering creating a Halo manga, and wanted you to weigh in with your interest. Apparently, interest was high; he’s going ahead with it. There’s an example of what he’s going to be working with up now. (Louis Wu 16:56:07 UTC)