Sane Intolerant sends word of a new Halo Toy Box episode – Beta Withdrawal is what many of us are suffering this morning. Looks like this is the last ep for a while; SI’s off to do other stuff. (He says keep checking his DA page, though.)(Louis Wu 13:39:28 UTC)

360Zine has put up a new preview of the Halo 3 Beta; the latest issue, Issue 7, downloadable as an interactive PDF, contains lots of info, along with a contest to win a copy of Halo 3 Legendary Edition. Adobe Reader 8 on a PC will give you full access to all the features – Adobe Reader 8 on a Mac will give you access to most (not movies, apparently). OSX’s Preview does a pretty lousy job overall with this one. Go grab a copy (35 mb), and see what they’ve got for you!(Louis Wu 13:35:38 UTC)

And… it’s over. Last night, around midnight PDT, the Halo 3 Beta was turned off. If you were in the middle of a game, you were allowed to finish, and for a little while, custom games worked after Matchmaking was turned off – but eventually, EVERYONE was locked out; a very enjoyable 3 weeks has come to an end, and we’ll have to wait until September to get back into this. Halo 2 still waits – both on Xboxes and on Vista PCs – but you might find you have a little trouble adjusting to the changes. Oh, how I’ll miss my Spiker Grenades! Wayward Spleen™ put together a tiny Flash animation showing off high-res versions of all the ranks (minus the two highest, which he hasn’t finished yet) – ‘tiny’ means under 7k, a tribute to Flash’s vector format. And oh, while we’re mentioning high-res stuff, High Resolution Halo is working on Medals and Ranks, as well. I guess pretty pictures are gonna have to hold us for the next three months…(Louis Wu 13:03:30 UTC)

onij stopped by to point out that the Halo 3 Beta Tournament set up by Escape Station went off as planned, and was, in fact, a success. They’ve got a writeup available (viewable by all) and video highlights (you must be logged in to watch). Go take a look!(Louis Wu 12:57:03 UTC)

Well, the original plan involved embarrassing usage of baby pictures – but the Photoshop time simply ran out. I can still take this opportunity to wish CYBRFRK a happy 40th birthday! You’re officially a geezer, dude! (For what it’s worth, mnemesis had a birthday on Thursday. I’m not gonna even MENTION how old he is – cause he’s older than me. Suffice it to say, though, that a new walker from Acme Medical Supply is even now winging its way to his door.)(Louis Wu 22:11:10 UTC)

Sigafoos let us know that The Riot 51 is up – 21 minutes, 8.5 mb, full of stuff. And you’re not listening right now… why? (Louis Wu 22:06:11 UTC)

Twister33547 stopped by to point out a Halo 2 tourney in Lithonia, GA, on June 17th. Check his post for details.(Louis Wu 22:01:53 UTC)

MLG Meadowlands info – GotFrag has a summary, MLG has live (free) video coverage, and more news than you can read.(Louis Wu 21:54:31 UTC)

The submission period for the Halo Zune Giveaway ended last night (much to the chagrin of a number of forgetful people) – we’ve been forced to make some changes to the judging of the entries. Check this forum post for complete details.(Louis Wu 16:27:16 UTC)

Rooster Teeth has posted Red vs Blue Episode 99 for sponsors – and dang, they’re looking to go out with a bang. It’s pretty amazing, overall – if you’re a sponsor, go watch now. If you’re not, wait until Monday, and then watch. One more ep!(Louis Wu 12:11:49 UTC)

Elite TAR took the time to fully translate the recent GameKings video, with comments. If you don’t speak Dutch, this is your best way of finding out what the REST of that story is!(Louis Wu 12:05:31 UTC)

IGN has posted another Insider Head-to-Head feature – this one is is an overall comparison of Halo 2 Vista with Halo 2 Xbox (more extensive than their previous video head-to-head).(Louis Wu 12:02:48 UTC)

Tikirabbit has created a Halo-related entry for a contest at CGSphere.com. Nice work!(Louis Wu 11:59:44 UTC)

Veegie pointed out a model someone has created of the Master Chief – with no armor. Interesting!(Louis Wu 11:58:22 UTC)

Mister Froggy let us know that Halo, Articulated #46 is live; I think everyone who’s played the beta can sympathize with this one.(Louis Wu 11:56:45 UTC)

The Bungie Weekly Update is a marvel to behold; there’s a really nice breakdown of what you’ll find in each version of Halo 3 (subject to change, of course, but getting pretty darned close to final), you’ll find great info about the customization options you’ll face when you fire up Halo 3, and you’ll see some really nice pictures from Forza 2. (If you customize Forza 2 cars for fun, make sure you check the end of the update carefully; you could win a pretty cool car for your troubles.) There was a fight over firstiness on our forum – looks like Plasmoe beat Frankie. As always, if there’s any trouble with B.net for you (or you just want to do some searching), this update is available in our Weekly Update Archive.(Louis Wu 01:47:34 UTC)