In the spirit of silly things done by retail stores to get your business, Pat Hillman took a cameraphone snapshot of a box he saw in his local FYE. This, to me, seems to be going just a bit too far…

Gamertag Radio has put up their last audio for 2005 – their 33rd podcast contains an interview with Team3D. Go grab it!

MLG has put up a photo gallery for their Chicago blowout – nice stuff! There’s also a spotlight on Killer N, the Player of the Week this week. Thanks (and Christmas wishes back to) 3Suns.

Over at Halo Babies, there’s a truly bizarre illustrated version of ‘The Night Before Christmas’ – a lot of artists got in on the act. It’s not the story I remember… but it’s unique, that’s for sure! Thanks, mrsmiley.

The Squadron Ep 14 has been released – you can grab the WMP9 version (20 mb) on Broken Console’s site, or the QuickTime (22 mb) from us. I can’t tell you much about it – I’m on my way out the door – but based on past episodes, it’s likely worth the download!

You’d think on Christmas, Cortana would show a little more love for the common Spartan… poor One One Se7en.

We tried a week between Fan Fiction updates (by request of the FF community), and it doesn’t seem like such a bad idea; 16 new entries this week. If the numbers rise to something intolerable, we’ll consider ways to decrease it… but for now, this seems to be working! Go read.

Bah. Sometimes the big sites are just… clueless. Back in early November, we posted a note about a poster that a local FYE in Arlington, VA had put up, touting Halo 3 (which, you might remember, hasn’t been announced yet). The forum thread generated by that picture shows how the image is a poorly-done photoshop job, and NOT something a real Halo 3 campaign would use. Since then, we’ve had many reports on our forum of that sign showing up in other stores around the US. Well, today, it FINALLY got noticed by bigger sites (whee, only two months late!) – Spong suggests that the poster means that Halo 3 should be on sale soon (thanks, Marc Friedrichs), and ItPlays.net says the sign is proof that retailers are capitalizing on the almost-certain release of Halo 3 in 2006 (thanks, Mike Moore). Folks – while it’s definitely true that some retailers are trying to make an early buck on what is probably the most eagerly-awaited Xbox360 title out there… the fact that someone hacked together a sign so they could do this does NOT say anything at all about the game – when it’s coming, IF it’s coming… anything. (And the only reason this is news is because the big boys are willing to take stuff like this at face value.)

In its first day online, the HBO Halo Movie Cynics Database garnered 150 new entries (with 10 still in the queue to be processed) – and Cybrfrk has added filtering and searching to the interface, making it easier to pore through the results. If you dig carefully, you might even find entries by names you recognize… go browse, contribute, and HOPE that the folks doing the rewriting have enough sense to stay away from most of these ideas!

Gruntsbane has a Christmas strip for you up at Halo Babies – and it’s Episode 117! How fitting. Go read!

Podtacular has released its final episode for 2005 – you can grab Ep 41, Customs and Call-ins, from their site. Thanks, HaloPlanet.

DoT_Gunslinger points out that today’s User Friendly is Halo-related again… you gotta watch out when loved ones warn you like that.

Ever had someone whistle a snatch of the Gilligan’s Island theme, and then be stuck with it in your head for the rest of the day? (Oops… sorry.) Yesterday, R-T3 wondered if anyone knew the tune that was used in the background of the Halo Demo Promo, released in mid-2002… and Marty O’Donnell himself chimed in with the following challenge:

A reward from me for anyone who correctly identifies it.

There’ve been a lot of guesses since then – but none have been very close. Captain Spark released just the audio from the trailer (to save you the 5 mb download), as well as a version with the speaking scrubbed out – you can find both in this post. (I doubt this will cause him bandwidth problems, but we’ll mirror the files if he runs out of space.) Can you identify that tune?

F13ND sat down with Saiyan, of Team3D, to discuss the team’s performance at the MLG Chicago tournament recently. You can read the result on Team3D’s website.

In what has to be one of the more amazingly coincindental bits of timing this week, Chairleg Productions has released a new movie entitled ‘The Editing Process’ today – you can download WMP9, QT7, and PSP versions from their downloads page. This video focuses on the making of the Halo movie… and if it wasn’t for the fact that it actually takes TIME to make a movie like this, I’d swear they used our brand-new Halo Movie Cynics database for its content. It’s brilliant – and I don’t just say that because I’m in it (sort of). Go watch – and if bandwidth gets tight, we’re happy to put up mirrors… this is funny stuff! Update: Rob Armstrong from Chairleg said mirrors were fine – so here you go: WMP9 | QuickTime7 | PSP

GameTrailers has posted a segment of GTtv that focuses on a Far Cry: Instincts fan who’s recreated a number of Halo maps for Far Cry: Instincts – the video contains footage of both the Halo versions and their FC counterparts, along with running commentary from the fan. Fun stuff! Thanks, 3Suns. (To view it, you need to visit the Far Cry page at GameTrailers – it’s currently the second movie down (labeled ‘Halo Maps’).)

Heh. In Surfers Paradise, in southern Queensland (east coast of Australia), there’s an attraction called ‘Spacewalker‘ – their website, as noticed by lightinfantry, uses an image that is rather familiar to most of us here. (I’ve taken a screenshot, on the off chance that any legal interest generated by this news post actually makes them alter the site.) You gotta wonder… do people just think that something as big as Halo is simply public domain at this point?

Chris Anderson is putting together Chronicles of Pain, a Halo machinima due in February. The teaser for this film passed the MPRRS this morning, so we’re passing it on to you. It was originally submitted in QuickTime 7 format (H.264 encoding) – weighs in at 11.5 mb. For those who have trouble with that codec, we’re offering a QuickTime Sorenson 3 version (12.7 mb), and a WMP9 version (11.6 mb). Grab the one that works best for you!

Dear beloved HBO… the time has come to let the Halo fans vent their spleen! We all know there’s a Halo movie on the horizon… so what keeps you up at night that those unfamiliar with our beloved Halo might wreck? Cortana as the sassy sidekick? The insertion of a BFG in the MC’s arsenal? Leonardo DiCaprio as the Master Chief? Andy Serkis overdoing it as a Flood Infection Form? Well, now you have a place to submit your worries. If we feel it’s a valid (and competent) entry, it will be accepted and you can share your fears with the rest of Halo fandom. So head on over to The HBO Halo Movie Cynics Database and release the Ari Jacobs within you. And what’s up with that treasure chest? We ain’t saying!

Eep, almost forgot. It’s Wednesday, so it’s time for another One One Se7en. Stuntmutt looks at another legitimate strategy in today’s entry.