Interesting. weephun noticed a bunch of new job listings on the Bungie Jobs page this morning… they’re all for PC programmers. Why would Bungie want to hire a bunch of PC programmers…? (weephun hazards a guess.)

Deimos noticed a couple of new items at the Bungie store (more recent than the stuff SketchFactor posted about last week). There’s a fleece beanie, and a pretty cool-looking Tuxedo shirt – go spend more money!

We got word of a couple of tournaments around the US coming up… there’s a Halo 1 tourney in Tuscaloosa, AL on March 25 (thanks, Mintz), and a 2v2 Halo 2 slayer tourney in the Philly area this Sunday (February 5), with more details available at the CyberZone Gaming website (thanks, JamesKrut). Get your game on!

Podtacular Episode 46 and Episode 47 have been posted – 46 has tips for Ivory Tower, and 47 is the final show with Spelcheck. Go listen! (Thanks, Henry Brown.)

Berzerker dude submitted a trailer for his upcoming Project 117 series to the MPRRS – it passed. They’re hosting the download themselves (their choice) – but because it passed the MPRRS, we’re offering a QuickTime version for those who have trouble with WMP9. Grab the WMP9 from them (9.7 mb) or the QuickTime from us (9.3 mb), and check out this trailer – pretty nice work!

Last week, c0ld vengeance got a great screenshot of a pretty cool Halo resident. This week, Stuntmutt desecrates the find as only he can, in today’s One One Se7en.

Captain Spark let us know that he’d collected another 9 dialogue snippets from Halo 2 – Johnson’s in fine form. You can grab them at his website (check out the hudless Halo 1 megabattle shots while you’re there), or browse them in our Dialogue Databank.

Over at Team[3D], you’ll find a pretty cool piece where F13ND and Hotshy explore the glitch known as Double Shot – do it right, you get a 6-bullet burst from your BR, instead of 3. There are upsides (obviously) and downsides to using this, and it’s non-trivial to time right, so go read all the details!

Se7en One continues with his 3D renditions of the Hall of Mural images – you can find Mural 3 movie links on the Hall of Murals page.

Jessica Thomas posted a note on our forum about an upcoming Tournament in Carlisle, PA – give it a read if you’re in the area on February 25!

More fun modded shots from Dojorkan – this time, it’s New Mombassa… at night. Slick!

Ducain dropped me an email last night about a new vid that showed up on High Impact Halo’s forum recently – and he was right, it was pretty amazing. This has got to be one of the highest grenade-assisted jumps… ever. (It’s so high that the jumper’s shield begins to recharge before he reaches the top… that’s absurd.) Go read Duke’s writeup, download the vid. (Video quality is not really high to begin with – but if you’re having trouble with the WMP9, I’ve put up a QuickTime (16.3 mb), just for fun.)

A new movie passed the MPRRS yesterday – and while it’s just a trailer to whet your appetite for the upcoming season… it looks great. (One of the reasons it looks great is that it SOUNDS great -the voice acting is top-notch. For all the machinima creators who say “well, ours is good enough” or “whatever”… you really need to understand that the difference between good machinima and great machinima is often the quality of the voice acting.) Grab a copy of the Heroes & Heretics trailer in WMP9 format (21.5 mb) or QuickTime format (21.6 mb) from our servers… and bug the creators (Slacker Entertainment) for more eps!

I’m posting this because I’m positive our mailbox will be flooded with references to it if I don’t… but the standard disclaimers apply. Joystiq has put up a note about some videos available on Microsoft’s online training site for retail employees, discussing the roadmap for promotion of the Xbox 360 over the next three years. One of the discussions between MS VP Bill Brownell and others involves “fending off Sony and “those other guys” with Halo 3 in year two” – so while Halo 3 has still not been announced by Bungie as being in development, MS brass are telling retailers that it will be out in ‘year two’ (which means anytime between November 2006 and November 2007). Our stance is the same as it’s always been – until BUNGIE says it’s coming, it’s a rumor. Period.

New montage up for your viewing pleasure at Halo2Forum.com – Captain67 and MikeMan have put together something with REALLY high image quality and some great gameplay. Swing by and grab a copy (WMP9 format, 89 mb). Because this film was submitted to, and passed, the MPRRS, we’re making a QuickTime version available for folks who can’t handle the WMP9 (66.4 mb). Good stuff!

I know I said I wouldn’t post more Halo stuff on eBay here for a while… but this is a deal you might not wanna pass up. There’s a Muckle statue currently going for $125, with only 5 hours left – that’s a significant chunk below what they’ve been selling for recently. If you’re looking for a good deal… check this out! (But do it fast!)

Ryan Broxterman found a cool Xbox 360 mod over on the Gamespot forums – nice pics!

Two new pics from Bryn Casey – New Elite (love the sign detail!) and 15 Minutes. Check ’em out!