It’ll be interesting to see what the Bungie.net writeup says about this week’s Halo Humpday Challenge… because only three games were played, and Bungie lost two of them. Will Luke be able to wring a ‘Win’ out of those stats? I’d say ‘no’… except I know Luke. We’ll wait and see. In the meantime, you can read the PraetoriaGuard writeup of the event, over at their website (they even changed their site theme to celebrate the victory). If you’re reading this after Thursday, December 6, you might want to read it on their forum; it’s unlikely the frontpage link will still work. For some really odd reason, they didn’t include links to the games themselves… so we’ll do that for you: Game One | Game Two | Game Three. (Frankie disappeared before Game Three, so LordGideon played on the Bungie side. Bungie won that one. Hmm…) Update: LG has added links to the carnage reports, as well as saved films.(Louis Wu 17:40:55 UTC)

We mentioned a couple of days ago that Tom Dickson planned to Blend Halo 3 in his Blendtec TotalBlender – it went live a little later than expected, but it’s up now. Looks like this was revenge (against his 4- and 5-year-old grandchildren) for losing at the game… ouch.(Louis Wu 17:17:03 UTC)

Complex Magazine posted an interview with Brian Michael Bendis, the writer behind Marvel’s Halo: Uprising comic series. Some fans have expressed disappointment in the series, stemming from delays in publication, but also, in some cases, in the direction the comic has taken; this interview might be a way to get a glimpse inside the mind of the creator. (This went live sometime last month, but we’re just stumbling across it now.) Give it a read! Thanks, Seth Kelly.(Louis Wu 16:13:08 UTC)

Today’s episode of Another Halo Comic Strip is pretty awesome. The only thing that would have made it better would have been a few plasma grenades blowing MC to Kingdom Come. Because I’ve always wanted to do that to this particular version of MC. Always.(Louis Wu 14:45:40 UTC)

GPS unit manufacturer TomTom NV has teamed up with Microsoft to include Halo maps and textures in their TomTom navigation products. Or, at least… so says BBspot. How much fun would that be?(Louis Wu 14:10:00 UTC)

Deekor let us know that Vengeance Chapter 1 is now online. This Halo 3-based machinima project has a lot going for it; the cinematography’s interesting, the muted color scheme flavors the story perceptibly, the soundtrack is well-handled. However, the storyline is confusing at times (and hard to swallow at other times), and the voice-acting is nearly impossible to understand. There’s a lot of potential here; here’s hoping some of the weaknesses improve in Chapter 2!(Louis Wu 14:06:26 UTC)

According to Dean Takahashi, G4’s X-Play has announced their ‘Best of 2007 Awards’ nominees – Halo 3’s up for a lot. The awards ceremony will air December 17 at 8 pm, and you’ll see Halo 3 vying for Game of the Year, Best Gameplay Innovation (for Forge/Replays/Screenshots), Best Multiplayer Game, Best Shooter, Best Original Soundtrack, and Best Sound Design. (Louis Wu 13:41:50 UTC)

Planet Halo’s “Do Something Amazing” contest has had its winners posted; swing by and see who won the goodies!(Louis Wu 13:34:06 UTC)

If the DLC flood wasn’t enough content for you today, Bungie has put up online versions of ‘Journey’s End’, the story ViDoc that was released on Xbox Live Marketplace last week. It’s available in 3 sizes for QuickTime and three for WMP9 – be aware that the large versions are really, really, REALLY large. (The 720p WMP9, for example, is 750 mb.) This ViDoc is a summary of the Halo story thus far, with a hint of what to expect in Halo 3; it’s aimed at folks who are new to the series, who maybe bought Halo 3 because of the hype but are lost in the campaign because they’ve never played the first two games, or read any of the peripheral content. When it was released last week (with almost no fanfare), it got slammed by some hardcore fans for being ‘useless’ – but that’s because it was created to provide information that they simply don’t need. if you have a family member or a friend who doesn’t play Halo, but who might be interested in the storyline… here’s a great place to start. Go grab a version!(Louis Wu 23:40:53 UTC)

…annnd, the knockout punch – content from other Heroic Map Pack Preview attendees.

• XerxdeeJ stopped by the forum to pimp Tied the Leader’s content blowout, which includes an awesome 17-minute podcast/interview with Bungie employees, but also has a full writeup of the maps.
• IGN posted a three-page hands-on of the maps.
• 1UP posted their impressions and recommendations.
• TeamXbox summarizes what they saw.

Go wallow in the DLC goodness!(Louis Wu 20:33:41 UTC)

Bungie’s put up a full suite of screenshots from the press packet that went to those who attended last week’s shindig; some of them are included in KP’s writeup, but many are not. (The ones we HAVE posted, though, are watermark-free.) Go look! Thanks to BlueNinja for noticing.(Louis Wu 20:23:34 UTC)

Last week, Bungie invited a group of ‘press’ – big gaming sites, some local (Seattle) media, and a couple of representatives from the fan community – to their headquarters in Kirkland to get an early peek at the downloadable content coming next week. HBO ace reporter KP (who has the unbeatable advantage of being local to the Seattle area, as far as HBO employees go) showed up and schooled the crowd, apparently. (He went home with some really cool schwag for his troubles – and no, I didn’t get a cut.) He wrote up his experience, and you can read his pearls of wisdom (washed of blood and rum) in our Miscellaneous section. Thanks, KP!(Louis Wu 20:13:41 UTC)

Jammerfer [MunKy] created an updated version of the Final Fantasy trailer using Halo 3 footage, following in the footsteps of Brian Josselyn (Halo) and ShadowX (Halo 2). I gotta say – he did a great job. Go watch.(Louis Wu 19:59:21 UTC)

The same issue of Edge that contained an interview with Marty O’Donnell also contained a fascinating article about multiplayer map design, in which Bungie’s Tyson Green and Chris Carney play significant roles. What makes a multiplayer map great? Read this article to find out. Thanks to broony, for noticing it weeks after it went live (but before anyone else let us know). (Louis Wu 19:07:00 UTC)

Ross Mills noticed a very, very cool Spartan snowman, over at Digg. Me? I just wish we had that much snow here. (Louis Wu 19:04:44 UTC)

H3Forge.com is hosting a new contest – come up with a cool idea that should have been in Forge, win an Xbox 360 Messenger Kit. Nice! You’ve got until December 10.(Louis Wu 19:01:45 UTC)

Today’s One One Se7en Advent offering is an old, old, OLD joke. But then… when has that ever stopped Stuntmutt?(Louis Wu 18:02:40 UTC)