Hawty McBloggy has highlighted a pretty cool video showing off someone using the new soccer ball and Foundry to create a marble maze. When I was a kid, Creative Playthings sold wooden pieces for this, in a product known as Multiway Rollaway. I’ve seen hundreds of similar products through the years, but that one was always my favorite, and I spent dozens (hundreds?) of hours building palaces… and now I get to see it again, recreated in Halo 3. Thanks, HM! (And thanks, Mus65tang, for building it!)(Louis Wu 19:23:12 UTC)

newguy2445 has written up a FAQ for Halo Escape, the 2D Halo game he’s been working on (see this post for details). Give it a read!(Louis Wu 19:18:51 UTC)

G4TV has put up videos of gameplay on all three Heroic DLC maps, so you can see what you’re getting, if you haven’t bought them yet. (Also, these might help if you’re looking for weapons spawns or nice niches.) Check out Foundry, Rat’s Nest, and Standoff.(Louis Wu 19:17:15 UTC)

We’re still getting a bunch of requests to highlight Forge creations; as we mentioned a couple of days ago, Rampancy.net has created a great tool for keeping track of these. There are WAY more maps in our forums and our email boxes than in R.net’s database, so I can only assume that people missed the announcement. Therefore, we’ve repurposed our ‘In the Spotlight’ front-page block (usually reserved for HBO-specific resources) to highlight exactly that database; it’s a great solution, and you should use it.(Louis Wu 19:04:33 UTC)

Narcogen, over at Rampancy.net, took umbrage with a reporter who claimed that a “game should be a self-contained and comprehensible artistic work.” Go read what he has to say about that.(Louis Wu 18:54:16 UTC)

Yesterday’s One One Se7en Advent offering never got front-paged, because i was out of town, so you get both Fifteen and Sixteen today. (It’s a shame, because yesterday’s was actually pretty clever.) As this holiday season continues, there’ll be more days when I’m not near a computer for an update at noon, Eastern time, when these go live – but remember, you can always just visit the One One Se7en page to see the most recent one. They’re updated automatically at noon EST (5pm UTC) every day.(Louis Wu 17:27:50 UTC)

newguy2445 let us know that the Halo Wars Monthly Update is up over on the official forums. Status update, a reminder of an interview (we mentioned it last week), new concept art (very cool), and some Christmas wallpaper. Check it out! …and that’s it for the morning – I need to get to New Jersey. (Louis Wu 14:35:35 UTC)

MLG’s having a Forge the Foundry Contest – build a cool map, win schwag. Go read all the rules, and get to forging! Thanks, trigger119.(Louis Wu 14:31:59 UTC)

Today’s Another Halo Comic Strip gives you insight into into the needs and wants of everyone’s favorite Master Chief. I love ZZoMBiE13’s art. (Louis Wu 14:27:43 UTC)

Nevan noticed an interview with Brian Jarrard, over at Gamesradar; it’s part of a piece looking at whether developers listen to their fans. Brian says ‘yes’.(Louis Wu 14:20:06 UTC)

Last night’s Bungie Weekly Update was chock full of goodies – discussion of future DLC maps, foundry creations, grifball, forge tips, foundry tips, and a very violent Mister Chief. Read it at Bungie, or read it here, in our Weekly Update Archive.(Louis Wu 14:18:03 UTC)

Bungie’s posted blank versions of all three Heroic Maps (cleaned by a Bungie.net user) in the Bungie Favorites section of their website. (These have been created by others, but this is a nice central place to pick ’em up.) Useful if you’re trying to build your own gametypes!(Louis Wu 20:49:25 UTC)

Xbox 360 Fanboy is giving away a couple of codes for free downloads of the Heroic Map Pack; swing by and tell them how you’ll use it, they’ll grab two random entries in the comment thread, and send ’em codes. (If you don’t win, don’t worry – we’ll be offering some of these by Monday at the latest.) Thanks, Nevan.(Louis Wu 18:24:50 UTC)

Elnea posted Halo Action Figure Theater 101 over at Red vs Blue a couple of days ago, but has now made it available to folks without an RvB account – the story’s getting a little… dark, but never fear. It’ll all work out in the end. (Or it won’t. Nobody tells me anything.)(Louis Wu 18:19:54 UTC)

So I feel like a heel… kilaMOMjaro, of The Blue Skittle, contacted us last month about contributing to a cool community-based Advent calendar at The Blue Skittle. I sort of wimped out – but Stuntmutt didn’t. (He was featured on December 5. And TBC was even kind enough to link back to us at the same time. Oh, god, I’m such a heel…) Check it out, it’s chock-full of very cool contributions from all around the Xbox community, and more are added every day.(Louis Wu 18:11:51 UTC)

Today’s One One Se7en Advent offering is a Red vs Blue joke. An almost-funny Red vs Blue joke. Well… okay, maybe not.(Louis Wu 18:01:47 UTC)

Alex Songer pointed out that Bag Republic has a ton of Halo-branded leather goods from Enmon – messenger bags, wallets, belt buckles… go see what you can find!(Louis Wu 14:57:52 UTC)