Hmm… bob1 points out a store on eBay where someone will make you custom Halo lego bits. That’s probably useful to someone…(Louis Wu 20:01:30 UTC)

Man, I HATE when I put stuff aside to post later and then forget. demus let us know last night that there was a story on digg.com about a costume contest in which the winner was a home-made Spartan. (Nice job, too!) $1000 for the win… not bad!(Louis Wu 19:16:52 UTC)

Rookie Rabbit Productions are back with Episode 3 of their Spartan Effect series; it passed the MPRRS with flying colors. There’s not a lot of action in this episode, but it pushes the plot forward, and it’s funny. Very well-filmed (great camera angles), and nice voice acting. Lots of goodies if you keep your eyes open. It’s big – 10 minutes long, about 80 mb, depending on version – but definitely worth watching. They’ve said they don’t need hosting – but they’ve said that before, and it hasn’t turned out so well, so we’re putting up mirrors anyway. The WMP9 we’re hosting (81.5 mb) is the same as you can download from FileFront, off their site – but the QuickTime version (78 mb) is re-encoded, and deinterlaced (the interlacing was getting distracting). Watch this one – and then keep your eyes open for Episode 4!(Louis Wu 15:15:55 UTC)

Thanks to simen, who found a video interview with Eric Nylund, focusing on the Ghosts of Onyx. No spoilers, and not a LOT of new info – but it’s always nice to put a face (and a voice) to someone you know a little bit about. This was done by a group called Expanded Books, and their website contains other video formats, if you’re unhappy with YouTube’s Flash presentation.(Louis Wu 14:39:40 UTC)

PEZ writes to say that halowiki.net is back up and running, and wanted to point out a summary page containing the information available in the LEVEL article released last week. No scans, no wholesale transcription – just a nice overview of the new info. Check it out!(Louis Wu 14:27:58 UTC)

Over at Bungie.net, there’s a new Developer’s Diary, this time written by Shogo Ishii of Hired Gun, detailing the current status of Halo 2 Vista. Give it a read – she’ll be here soon!(Louis Wu 01:05:31 UTC)

This has come up a few times in the forum – now it’s appearing in my mailbox, so it’s probably time to deal with it publicly. We have a spoiler system in place for Halo and Halo 2 information. This is ENTIRELY story-based; the spoilers we’re talking about have to do with Halo’s story; plot, universe, what have you. Folks have been asking whether it’s time to institute a Halo 3 spoiler setting – and the answer is ‘no’. The answer is no for a very simple reason – there IS no Halo 3 story information out yet that can be considered ‘spoiler’ material – and there almost certainly won’t be until Halo 3 is nearly ready for release.

If you feel that you want to play Halo 3 without knowing ANYTHING about what’s coming – new weapons, new maps, new vehicles, changes to armor, whatever – you have a single choice; stay off the internet. (Well, stay off Halo-related sites.) That information is not considered story spoiler material; we will not be blocking it with a spoiler cookie. Our belief is (and has always been) that knowledge of information that Bungie deems ‘releasable’ before the game is out will not in any way impact your enjoyment in playing the game. You are welcome to disagree with that belief – but you’re on your own avoiding it. We don’t have the time or energy to decide what consitutes a ‘spoiler’ in that sense to the millions of Halo fans out there. (I guarantee you, the range of what’s acceptable is nearly infinite – from ‘no info at all’ to ‘everything except the color of John’s underwear’.)

There WILL be a Halo 3 spoiler setting implemented – probably a month or two before Halo 3 is released (in order to catch any potential leaks in magazines) – but it will NOT cover information released by Bungie before that point, and it will not happen sooner than that.(Louis Wu 20:19:52 UTC)

BlueStrike2 sends word that Mute Radio Episode 5 is now available for download. 12.5 minutes, 12 mb – MLG NY, MLG on TV, MLG Las Vegas, and life in general… go listen!(Louis Wu 20:07:03 UTC)

Eep, forgot the update. The 2006 Guilt O’ Lantern contest closed for entries last night – things are sort of busy right now, but in the next few days, the entries will go up for public voting. Thanks to all who entered!(Louis Wu 19:56:42 UTC)

Over at 1Up.com, Luke Smith has written up a clarifying article; the scans floating around from Sweden’s LEVEL magazine, and more recently from FAMITSU magazine, generated a lot of speculation around the net. This article clears up the worst of the misunderstandings, and makes some cool things clearer. (For folks confused about the ‘Frostbite’ level referenced in the LEVEL scans – this article confirms that the three maps shown were Valhalla, Snowbound, and High Ground – Frostbite was obviously a bad translation.) Give it a read-through, for a great summary of what’s currently known! Thanks, Binford04.(Louis Wu 19:02:43 UTC)

One of the new tweaks that Halo 3 will sport, according to the magazine info floating around the net, is that your secondary weapon will be carried on your back, making it possible for other players to know what that weapon is. Most people have been pretty positive in their response to this feature – but Stuntmutt shows you a drawback in today’s One One Se7en.(Louis Wu 16:28:51 UTC)

Luke McKay created a fun Haloween-related doodle yesterday – we’ve added it to his Gallery here. Me, I’d take the trade.(Louis Wu 15:55:52 UTC)

Last week, we mentioned that Bungie.net was going to start highlighting community artwork. Last night, the first batch was posted – and I must say, there’s some killer stuff in there! Here’s hoping some of those people choose to submit their work to our Art sections, as well! Lots of folks noticed this – Sep7imus was first.(Louis Wu 15:19:08 UTC)