Back in September, we mentioned an upcoming personal digital assistant, available at some point to owners of Windows phones, based on Halo’s Cortana – The Verge has more info about that project, which may actually be usable sometime this spring. Beorn (and others) are less than thrilled. How do you feel?(Louis Wu 20:50:01 UTC)

VideoGamer.com noticed a Halo Waypoint tweet posted earlier this week – a suggestion that the return of Master Chief might be coming sooner than we thought. Is this a coy denial of the rumor that Halo 5 (or whatever it’s called) has been pushed back to 2015? Or is it a hint that we might see a new title (maybe Halo 2 Anniversary) sooner than the 2014 holiday season? Or is it just a piece of fan art that someone at Waypoint liked enough to retweet? Only time will tell.(Louis Wu 20:32:30 UTC)

The Tyrant has released the penultimate episode of his Halo 4 WTF Moments videos – all that remains is the finale. This moment is frustrating – but not, unfortunately, uncommon. It comes with some commentary he originally meant to use in his LASO Challenge series (he went a different direction with that, ultimately) and ends with a fun montage of epic LASO bites. Go watch! (Louis Wu 20:30:27 UTC)

We neglected to remind you of this week’s Halo Bulletin – it’s full of info like news of a Community Playdate, the latest matchmaking update, a Spartan Assault update (Xbox One only), as well as the usual screenshot gallery and a pretty nifty montage. As always, it’s also available in our Halo Bulletin Archive. Go read!(Louis Wu 20:23:48 UTC)

Wanna shoot HBO regulars? Revenant’s got your back. Swing by his thread and sign up for the B.org 2014 March Madness tournament – and get ready to rumble!(Louis Wu 20:23:10 UTC)

Comic Book Resources has posted a quick summary of Halo: Escalation #6 (coming in May; do a local ‘Find’ on the page to get down to ‘Escalation’) – it ties up a couple of longstanding loose ends that canon fans might be pretty interested in. (The cover art, created by Sparth, is spectacular.) Thanks, Grizzlei.(Louis Wu 20:18:06 UTC)

The New York Toy Fair has wrapped up and we saw some really cool toys, figures and swag get shown off. To help cover some of the Mega Bloks detail, (which I’m personally interested in) we had HaloFanForLife drop by the show to go over some additional details on the sets. We also go over a few extra things from Crowded Coop that we didn’t cover on lasts show and how much your wallet will hurt after this year. In addition to the toy fair news, we have this week’s latest Halo Bulletin discussing the upcoming matchmaking playlist rotation for Medal Madness on March 3rd. An update to the Xbox One version of Spartan Assault is also coming to fix some stability issues.

In the event that you can’t wait until the 26th, Darkhorse comics posted a 6-page preview of Halo: Escalation #3 – neat! Thanks, Dogiojoe.(mastrbiggy 18:57:34 UTC)

Robowski sent word that PGCR episode 197 is live – the crew discusses the Halo baseball league, the Trihardathalon Tournament, and speculate about Halo 2 Anniversary rumors. Be sure to also check out the Trihardathalon stats page!(mastrbiggy 18:56:47 UTC)

CHa0s dropped by the forums to share his Halo 4 ‘Wingman‘ wallpaper – check it out! (mastrbiggy 18:56:08 UTC)

What is good in life?

The Halo Mole team released a first look for the ninth contestant, Deadpool MN. Go find out more about this eager yet skilled Halo player and place your bets!(mastrbiggy 22:30:26 UTC)

Waypoint posted a photo gallery of all the neat Halo stuff shown at the 2014 New York Toy Fair. Go check out what Mega Bloks, Bandai, and McFarlane had to show. There’s also a pretty awesome Cortana data chip that lights up – neat!(mastrbiggy 21:47:27 UTC)

It just so happens that the rumor mill never sleeps and is never without its crazy side. We mentioned on our last show how Steve Downes confirmed the existence of Halo 2 Anniversary, or so we thought. Since then, IGN has reached out and received some clarification that Downes was simply making a statement based on what people have rumored on the internet, but that’s not all there is to it. We made a post about IGN’s findings yesterday and encourage everyone to go out and develop your own opinion, but we voice ours during the show. In other news, the New York Toy Fair started this week and we have seen some pretty cool things that any Halo fan will want to get their hands on. We’ve just seen our first glances at McFarlane figures, Mega Bloks sets, and other swag goodness.

Stephen Loftus submitted another batch of high-resolution images for his Halo Signs collection – you’ll find the newest additions at the end of the Civilian section, the end of the Forerunner section, the end of the Miscellaneous section, and the end of the UNSC section. (Louis Wu 16:18:03 UTC)

t00lbox stopped in with a new tutorial; it shows how to get to a pretty off-the-grid player model (included in Reach by Bungie for loading purposes, never supposed to be seen by players). Go watch – pretty amazing!(Louis Wu 17:48:23 UTC)

This week, Achievement Hunter did a retrospective – Fails of the Weak covers death-inducing mistakes from Halo, Halo 2, Halo 3, Reach, and Halo 4. Nice! You can watch it on AH.com or YouTube.(Louis Wu 18:36:57 UTC)

If you haven’t been living under a rock for the last 24 hours, then you would have heard about the upcoming Steve Downes interview. If you have been living under a rock, why are you under that rock? Come out already, unless you’re snowed in, in which case, carry on. In an interview GameZone.com did with Steve Downes, they mention that our beloved Chief confirmed the release of Halo 2 Anniversary this year with Halo 5 being pushed back for the next (out now). There is still no official work from Microsoft or 343 Industries on the matter, however. Team heavies has been a lovely addition to the matchmaking experience for the last two weeks, but it’s time to say adieu and welcome Big Rumble detailed in this week’s Halo Bulletin.

Gundamguy got a new tablet, and released a speed art test… of a Halo 3 ODST Helljumper. Great work! (Louis Wu 23:59:59 UTC)