X3n0 put together a pretty cool cigar/trinket box – you can see pics in this forum post. Nice work!

Spartan Jag found yet another one of those M6D pistol replicas on eBay… the last two (this one and this one) have been paid for, but no feedback has been left as yet by the buyers. (The wording of the current listing would suggest that the guns aren’t finished yet.)

You might remember a week or so ago, we mentioned an upcoming machinima contest, sponsored by Xbox World 360 (a British gaming mag). They don’t have a website, per se… so we’re helping out a bit; you can read the contest details on this page. Movie makers… start your cameras!

Doug Millett pointed out a page at AOL Games/AIM that talks about games coming out soon – and Halo 3 is right at the top of the list. “Release Date: Sometime in 2006.” As though they know something the rest of us don’t… Bah. I hate sending them traffic with this link – but I also don’t wanna get 100 emails telling me about it.

Andrew, from Xbox Ottawa, writes to say that all the Fire Team Charlie episodes have been converted to portable formats for the PSP and video iPod – you can download them from their video page. Watch ’em on the road!

Bluestrike2 sends word that the MLG PwnCast has released The MLG PwnCast on Demand video trailer – requires QuickTime 7 or iTunes 6 (download links are in the news post), and it’s formatted for an iPod. Check it out!

Heh – remember a week or two ago, when we mentioned that the next Game With Fame event on Xbox Live would be with members of the band INXS? According to this article in the Vancouver Sun, more than 20,000 people have signed up in hopes of snagging one of the 100 slots available. Wow!

Another art update – this one from Dillo, who points out first Etoli’s DeviantART gallery (Etoli is a regular at the Halo Babies site), and then points out a number of her own new works. Nice stuff!

Pinkuh, as well, posted another piece of work (which we’ve added to her gallery) – this one is not g-rated. It’s a new species of the Covenant – one with a single purpose. Where does she come up with this stuff? (Pinkuh has a pretty major problem right now – her computer is dying. If she’s going to be able to continue to create artwork, she’s going to need to buy a new one – but she has no money. If you would like to help her, she’s got a PayPal link up in this forum post.)

RocketMoose found a bunch of fun Halo art over at LiveJournal – check out the links!

I ran across this Flash animation at Newgrounds when reading a RedvsBlue member’s journal. Earth is under attack by Covenant forces. And we don’t do so good.

Elnea sent along a new avatar for her gallery here – lordsmurph looks rather graceful with that flag!

Phil Shiel hunted down the website for Muckle Mannequins – the folks who make those resin sculptures that come up for sale on eBay every once in a while. It’s all framed – but if you start at the home page, and follow the ‘Quick Menu’ at the bottom right to ‘Halo 2’, you’ll get the chance to see a couple of nice pics (labeled ‘seite 1′ and seite 2’). Looks like the life-sized version is even cooler than the small one!

The latest Bungie Weekly Update was posted a couple of hours ago – they’re hiring, there’s some cool stuff about the audio team, and there’s new schwag coming out. And oh, yeah… a naked mister chief. Sort of. You can find this in our local BWU archive, as well. I haven’t been to the forum yet, but I’d bet Frankie was first with this. Update: It’s also available for your PSP, over at Halo: Portable… thanks, Mintz!

We’re proud to announce the first in a series of bungie.org/Bungie.net contests – Killer Grunts. (Bungie.net is involved only in the sense that they’re providing the goodies you can win – so don’t bug ’em if you’re unhappy with the situation. Blame us.) The contest is simple: put together some box art for a (fictional) Halo-related fighting game, submit it, and wait for the Halo community to tell you how much it rocks. More details, as though you’d actually need them, can be found on the official Killer Grunts Contest Page. We’re going to do our best to give you lots of chances to win cool stuff like this in the upcoming weeks and months – so stick around!

Today’s One One Se7en calls in a guest character for commentary on an issue that certainly riles up the fanbase…

Phil Shiel sent us a pic of the Master Chief Resin Statue (228K) he bought off eBay a few days ago – it’s the one we mentioned here. Looks awesome next to the high-end TV equipment he plays Halo 2 on! (I guess we’re doing some decent advertising for eBay sellers; the M6D replica we mentioned a few days ago was snatched up by one of our favorite artists, Elnea.

Jefu Kune points out that the Stubbs the Zombie demo (for Xbox) can be found on the current cover DVD for the Official Xbox Magazine. (We mentioned the Mac and PC demos a few days ago.) You can now try this Halo-engined game on whatever platform you prefer!