In the last couple of days, we’ve gotten a number of emails pointing out Halo machinima projects – both new and updated. Here’s a roundup:

• ZoxinTV turned us on to Rookshot, a new Halo machinima series from Red Rook. There are two episodes live at this point (Ep 1 | Ep 2) – the second one even has a musical in it! Pretty entertaining.
• The Halo Mole team has released their eighth contestant introduction – this one looks at Master Sundown a strong (and sneaky) player. Go see what he brings to the table!
• Death McGunz sent word that Suicide Episode 9 is now live – Jerrod can’t seem to figure out his priorities.

Go watch!(Louis Wu 19:28:26 UTC)

Quirel did some digging through DeviantART, and came up with a bunch of Halo goodies. He’s organized them, and his first dump is focused on Spartans. We’ve seen some of these pics before… but as a whole, this is a great collection! Go explore.(Louis Wu 18:20:51 UTC)

Over the past weekend, a number of HBO regulars got together for the second annual HBO Mountain Bash, a ski-and-fun weekend organized by Schooly D in Heber, UT. Tex wrote up a pretty exhaustive recap of the event, chock-full of pics, and others in the thread added their own reminiscences. There’s nothing really like a real-world get-together of like-minded people… only a little Halo was played, but if it hadn’t been for Halo, these people wouldn’t even know each other. Go read!(Louis Wu 18:18:46 UTC)

The Tyrant has released a new Halo 4 WTF moment – he’s found some misbehaving Promethean Knights on Infinity. (I’m not sure what he’s complaining about – his film is what ALL of my runthroughs look like, on ALL difficulties.)(Louis Wu 21:43:09 UTC)

Halo Waypoint has published an interview with Karen Traviss, focusing on Mortal Dictata, the third book in Traviss’ Kilo-Five trilogy (out officially today). Interesting read! Thanks, Grizzlei.(Louis Wu 19:27:17 UTC)

Dust Storm sent word that the first Podtacular episode of 2014 is live – the crew covers that latest Halo news, including some Halo 5 speculation. They also discuss their goals for the new year – go listen!(mastrbiggy 23:20:29 UTC)

Look, up in the sky…

Levi visited the Facebook page of The Fallen, a fan-made live-action film project… and found a gorgeous model-in-progress of the Pillar of Autumn. Looking great!(Louis Wu 20:21:44 UTC)

It’s the dawn of a new year for Halo and the rumors have already started to hit the internet about the next title in the franchise and other productions around the Halo Universe. Among them, rumors of a potential Halo movie has been dissolved and a supposed leaked cut-scene has hit the web. Microsoft is working on a Siri competitor aptly named Cortana, which is pretty cool news for any Halo fan. GH057ayame has been hired by 343 as a tester for the next Halo title. As always, we give you the bullets from this week’s Halo Bulletin.

Jack and Geoff from Achievement Hunter released Fails of the Weak episode 174 – nothing too worthwhile here, but the team coordination fail on Haven is pure gold. You can watch it on AH or YouTube. Thanks, Nikko B201.(mastrbiggy 23:16:18 UTC)

Once more, with feeling!

Jason Evans has appeared in our news a bunch recently; he creates fantastic Master Chief sculpts. He stopped by today to show you the process. Fascinating! (Louis Wu 22:27:22 UTC)

crazedone1988 is back, with another really entertaining video combo. What do you get when you combine Halo: Reach with Starfox? You get win, that’s what. (Louis Wu 22:26:03 UTC)

DeviantARTist Siphen0 did a wonderful mashup recently – check out Chief of Thrones. Thanks to The Lionheart for pointing it out! (Louis Wu 22:24:41 UTC)

The How It Should Have Ended crew put together new scenes for the latest Hobbit movie (if you haven’t seen The Desolation of Smaug yet, some of these might not make any sense) – the final clip has a great nod to the Halo series. Thanks to both SEspider, on our forum, and Kimball Morejon, via email, for the heads-up.(Louis Wu 22:22:48 UTC)

Keeping the novel ideas rolling, Tor Books has put up Chapter 2 of Halo: Mortal Dictata for your visual perusal. Go and check it out! Thanks to Grizzlei for letting us know.(GrimBrother One 20:31:59 UTC)

Halo Waypoint put up an awesome preview of the upcoming novel Halo: Mortal Dictata, the third and final installment in Karen Traviss’ “Kilo-Five” series. The preview includes the prologue and first chapter, and aims straight for the heart, especially if you happen to be a parent *raises hand*. Absolutely worth the look, go and check it out!(GrimBrother One 04:33:17 UTC)

Loot and Honor. Fortune and Glory.