Devin, Goatrope, jayWHY, and I have spent dozens of hours exploring the Halo 3 engine and map geometry. No doubt Bungie has hid plenty of easter eggs in this game and I’m sure there are plenty more to find. Jason Jones!

Bungie’s own madmax has put up a facebook gallery of photos from Bungie’s Halo 3 launch party. You can see Louis Wu doing shots, Bill Gates playing Halo 3, and, of course, the Master Chief hugging Cortana.

Man Demon says he’s found the first Halo 3 box acronym on his Limited Edition copy:

JLTLEBLC

Gentlemen, start your engines.

For those that have pre-ordered or intend to pick up their Limited Edition of Halo 3 today, a word of advice: open the case and inspect the game disc in the store before you leave. I had heard about problems with the Limited Edition having discs come loose during shipment and rolling around in the case, which can end up scratching the game disc pretty badly.

When I picked up my LE at a local GameStop, I opened mine right away and turned right around. I walked back to the counter, told them what I saw and they knew immediately what I was talking about, and apparently Microsoft knows about the problem. The clerk I dealt with just cut open a regular Halo 3 edition and swapped the game disc with me, so that’s probably your best option if you can swing it.

Again, be sure to check your game before you leave the store, because otherwise, if the game is unplayable, you’ll have to return to the store or possibly even have to send the game back to Microsoft, which might take days.

With Halo 3 unleashed across the East Coast about half an hour ago, the Internet is still teeming with Halo-related… stuff. Here are a few items:

News.com knows people who are waiting in Times Square right now.

XBL subscribers will be able to get some exclusive Halo 3 content starting on the 27th. Included are videos, gamerpics and themes.

BusinessWeek thinks Halo 3’s social interaction features may be the future of gaming.

Shacknews takes a nice look at Halo 3’s map editor, Forge.

The Seattle Post Intelligencer wonders if Halo 3 can ‘turn things around’ for Microsoft’s Xbox 360.

While I know from personal experience that copyeditors are sometimes pressed for time, I’m still at a loss to understand that headline.

 Click here for the complete text.

Weekly Porridge makes its triumphant return with the launch of Halo 3!

Just in case anyone hasn’t been paying attention, the wait is over and tonight you’ll be able to grab a copy of Halo 3 at midnight launch events across the globe. If you’re going to a midnight launch event, be sure to spread the word and represent Podtacular to as many of our fellow Halo fans as you can.

Foo Mo Jive and JVB will return soon with a new episode discussing their thoughts on Halo 3 and their experience so far, and we’ll be jumping back into our episode rotation, including episodes focused on strategies and tips for multiplayer, discussion of campaign tactics and encounters, and of course, custom games and saved films. Podtacular is coming back in a big way with Halo 3, so be sure to tune in for each episode to get the most out of the game.

Also, tomorrow you can expect to see a new face to Podtacular as well. Even though our discussion forums are currently in a lockdown (to prevent posting of spoilers), the site will have a few new features that we think you’ll like and get some use out of.

Otherwise, if you’re jumping in line tonight, have fun, stay safe and we’ll see you soon in a game of Halo 3!