Episode 20 of Miniature Halo has been released – and the story takes a twist. Linda – unmasked!

Another article posted during the E3 flood on Xbox.com was one called ‘Xbox Fansites: Keeping it Real‘. It takes an overview of the fan community, and what fansites bring to the table, in terms of energizing people about a game. Halo is used as an example. Thanks, mechroneal for the heads-up.

Gamespot has posted a Rumor Control article – and Rumor #4 is ‘Numerous staffers are planning to leave Bungie following the completion of Halo 2.’ After looking at the evidence, they proclaim it bogus. Given that the first I even HEARD of this rumor is this article, I wonder whether they’ve done something positive… or negative?

Akba has decided to post 50 Halo 2 wallpapers in the near future; they’ll be visible in this thread on our forum. The first one is listed in that post.

If you read the section of this week’s update that comes from Nathan ‘bentllama’ Walpole, you’ll find that he’s going to be bringing a number of new animators up to speed in the coming weeks. I guess he’s in education mode, because if you swing by CGNetworks, you’ll find a 3-page article reviewing MotionBuilder 5, a character animation application. There’s no Halo content in this review, but reading it might give you some insight into how the bent one thinks. (Hmm… on second thought, that might be a bad idea.) If you’re not into 3d modeling or animation, this article is probably not for you.

This week’s Bungie Weekly Update is over at Subnova; I’m gonna point to the new site, rather than the old, because the old is much less stable. (You still have to go there if you want to actually POST… but at least you can READ it on a faster machine.) It’s a pretty cool update, because it sounds like folks are actually getting closer to done. This is a good thing, given that the release date is just 5 months away. Go read it!

Red vs Blue episode 35 is now out for sponsors – swing on by the Season 2 sponsors forum. Caboose + Donut = twice teh stoopid! Looks like LiteRedDonut noticed first.

Couple of fantastic new desktops and a new strip round out the week’s additions to Halo Babies.

Too many bad jokes… can affect your gameplay. So says One One Se7en today.

Noob, from Halo: Resolution, shows he can’t read maps very well.

Ten pieces for you today in the Fan Fiction section – looks like I should be doing these every-other-day updates more often! Go read…

Dave Kosak has written a funny little piece over at Gamespy on how he plans to increase his enjoyment of online Halo playing. Since it only took him 4 minutes (by his count) to write it, it shouldn’t take you very long to read it. Thanks to Finchmeister, among others, for pointing it out.

another episode of ‘Frontline with Suzie‘ has been posted; Calibrate this! has Suzie talking to Cortana. Thanks, heavy shift.

Spideroptics might have said it best – “It’s Bungie vs. BOLL. Who will win? Stay tuned.” BOLL’s latest shot over the bow is a custom 3d screenshot… and all I can say is WOW. (Hit left or right arrow, and watch the large plasma bolt’s leading edge crackle.) Because BOLL’s ISP sharply throttles traffic outside Scandinavian countries, you might want to look at our local mirror of this file (6.1 mb, Flash format), rather than the links in BOLL’s forum post.

Bungie’s Letters to the Webmaster have been updated again… and it looks like someone spiked his Thunderbird with battery acid again. If you’ve written a letter to the Webmaster recently, and you have skin that’s thinner than, say, the Pillar of Autumn’s hull plating, DON’T GO READ THIS. You’ll cry. The rest of you – go read. It’s like a 16-car pileup on the interstate… ugly, but you can’t look away. You HAVE to know if that spot is oil… or blood.

The world missed an awesome picture posted earlier this week in Bungie’s Gallery Forum – Alta, the Bungie Princess, wearing the height of Spartan fashion, the pink MC helmet (the Nightmare Armor guys have been working overtime). Achronos wasn’t willing to let this go by – so read his post, stop by the thread and add a caption!

Longtime Bungie fan Cunbelin has written a massive summary of the state of Halo Custom Edition and the Halo Editing Kit (though it’s missing some of the coolest new creations – you’ll have to follow his resource links at the end to find them), and SketchFactor has posted it over at Bungie.net. If you’re wondering what’s available, this is a great place to start.

There’s a fantastic new contest over at Bungie.net, instigated by Stosh and fueled by Lorraine McLees and Eddie Smith. Create a killer avatar for the Bungie.net forums, win some super-cool original, signed, Bungie artwork. Read SketchFactor’s summary, or Stosh’s full rules and regulations, and get going on creating that perfect avatar!

Today’s Calvin and Halo shows why you shouldn’t mistreat your children.