Jillybean, poked by our very own Stuntmutt, posted an update to the Halo Story page – she gave Stuntmutt his moment in the sun (yeah, he needs more of those), but also gathered up a few choice morsels from the banquet table that is the Halo Story mailbag (including, of course, a random shot at Cortana – what Jillybean update would be complete without a shot at Cortana?); go read. (Wow, that was all one sentence. Must be Sunday.)(Louis Wu 17:07:55 UTC)

Advanced Media Network has a recap of the Championship Gaming Invitational – pics, plus interviews with folks like PMS Clan’s Mary Jane. Check it out!(Louis Wu 14:40:11 UTC)

Ivan Jiron sent us word of the Halo 3 Data Archive, a Halo blog that normally looks at the Bungie Weekly Update, but this week chose to cover the Halo Graphic Novel instead (including speculation about tie-ins to Halo 3). Give it a read! (Again – this one contains HGN spoilers.)(Louis Wu 14:34:31 UTC)

If you’ve read the Halo Graphic Novel, there are a bunch of fun tidbits in this forum post, courtesy of Mr. Paul; he spent some time grilling Robt McLees. (If you haven’t read it yet… wait.)(Louis Wu 14:29:37 UTC)

QuickTactical wrote up a pretty comprehensive guide for using Windows Movie Maker – if you’re just getting started in Halo machinima, and you have a PC, you DEFINITELY should read this piece. He originally posted it on the HaloGrid forums – but gave us permission to host it here, as well. Awesome stuff – a top-notch resource!(Louis Wu 01:20:40 UTC)

Heh – Mintz found a Hooked on Polygon comic that takes sharp aim at the internet rumor mill, and specifically the ridiculousness that occurs when people are dying for Halo movie info. Spot on.(Louis Wu 01:08:13 UTC)

Whoa, funky. Apparently, a monthly Halo comic, a joint venture from Bungie and Marvel and debuting next summer, was announced during a panel about the Halo Graphic Novel given yesterday at Comic-Con. More info when we know it – but you can read a short article about it at IGN. Thanks, Starbuck.(Louis Wu 12:51:09 UTC)

Chairleg Productions released Episode 2 of their new series, MPs, this week. This one is shaping up to be amazing – really high production values, including fantastic audio, beautifully-integrated effects, and really smooth cinematography. Humor continues to be high, and character development is really strong. We’re helping out with a mirror of the WMP9 version (40.2 mb), and providing a QuickTime version as well (40.6 mb). Check it out!(Louis Wu 12:46:58 UTC)

Heh – the profiling continues over at MLGPro.com – a rivalry between eX and XiT Woundz, 5th and 4th seeds respectively, is outlined in this article. Thanks again, 3Suns.(Louis Wu 12:37:20 UTC)

As we mentioned a few hours ago, Rockslider uncovered a new speech by Sarge, normally not audible in-game because Johnson is (usually) encountered dead on a pelican… in that time, Captain Spark reproduced the situation and recorded the snippet. You can find it in our Dialogue Databank. (The discussion is still going on in Rockslider’s thread.)(Louis Wu 02:51:32 UTC)

There’s a nice little preview of the upcoming battles to be seen at MLG Chicago, over on MLGPro.com – thanks, 3Suns.(Louis Wu 02:42:57 UTC)

The current Bungie Weekly Update was penned by KP, nearly alone in the cavernous Bungie offices as the entire staff of 180 traveled down to San Diego to hang out with the RvB guys at Comic-Con. (Okay, there might have been a few exaggerations in that sentence.) He made the best of what he was left with, and even managed to slip a picture of his XBL avatar onto the front page… when the cat’s away, and all that. Go read. Then jump on #hbo on ibo.bungie.org and poke him with a stick. (Special bonus goodness – your eyes will not be assaulted by Mister Chief this week.) Read it at Bungie.net… or read it in our Weekly Update Archive.(Louis Wu 02:35:20 UTC)

Our most recent 7 on the 7th contest had the fewest number of valid entries to of any contest to date; I blame the short timeframe and the relatively unorthodox ruleset. That said, we got some great entries! The hands-down favorite of all the judges was Omega’s ‘Grunt Crossing’ – but this is a 7 on the 7th contest, so we don’t HAVE just one winner – we have 7. You can see them all from this hastily-put-up page (winners have stars). Congrats to RAWPOWER95 (One One Se7en, painted), Doctor Zoidberg (Mister Chief), ICDedPpl (Legendary Skull, painted), Simen (Marathon logo), ManKitten (One One Se7en – nice lawn!), and przybysz86 (rocket launcher) for making the cut – and thanks to EVERYONE who contributed images to this contest! Frankie and Sketch are down in San Diego for Comic-Con, so I can’t even tell you what the winners have won yet – yes, this is unusual. Sorry. Soon! In the meantime, check out the entries. Update: doh! I forgot to pull the .htaccess file – you couldn’t get in without a username/pass. Sorry! Fixed now.(Louis Wu 20:33:17 UTC)

WikiRiot Episode 8 has been posted – Challenges, Content, and Clan4Food. Check it!(Louis Wu 19:43:56 UTC)

If you’re in San Diego, the Comic-Con is the place to be – and SketchFactor has posted some Bungie/Halo-related info on Bungie.net. Go read!(Louis Wu 18:27:52 UTC)

Whoa, funky. Rockslider has written up yet another way to gather additional marines on AotCR, in the original Halo – and this way actually gets you a new 16-second speech from Sergeant Johnson. Read his post for more details(Louis Wu 15:53:21 UTC)

Halfofthetime submitted a music vid that sets Gnarls Barkley’s ‘Crazy’ to modded Halo action; nice work. The MPRRS gave it a green light – so grab your copy in WMP9 format (36.8 mb) or QuickTime format (39.2 mb). (Louis Wu 15:30:14 UTC)