Rockslider set himself a new challenge: could he get through a Halo level without ever being hit? Not just undamaged… but unTOUCHED. He recently finished Assault on the Control Room on Legendary while satisfying this self-imposed rule… and wrote up his experience. Go check out his tips! (Louis Wu 11:22:00 UTC)

Anoj has released his newest Halo 4 Top 10 video – this one focuses on ‘Amazing Kills’, which mostly means impressive killstreaks (but not completely!). Go watch – fun stuff! Thanks, Jordan Bell. (Louis Wu 11:18:58 UTC)

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The Halo 4 panel at RTX last weekend did not disappoint fans as new content was announced including new maps, weapon/armor skins, armor mods, game modes and more. The Pit makes it’s return in Halo 4 as Pitfall joined by a new map Vertigo with an accompanying new gametype: Ricochet. The Bullseye Pack joins the Infinity Armor Pack and the Steel Skin Pack in the Championship bundle along with some bonus weapon skins and new stances. Everything is detailed in this week’s Halo Bulletin. Halo Waypoint also announced the third and final book in the Kilo Five trilogy by Karen Traviss: Mortal Dictata. In light of the recent Emmy nominations, the official Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn soundtrack is now available for digital download across major distributors. This week’s podcast art is done by one of our listeners, F1yingPinapp1e. Enjoy

Goosechecka dropped us a line about new content at GrifballHub – there are new screenshots for the month of June, put together by oObex (awesome shots – best 10 of more than 2000 screens), and the AGLA, GH’s new competitive league, has a highlight reel of some seriously awesome Grifball action. Go check ’em out! (Louis Wu 16:41:52 UTC)

MixMaker1 stopped in with word of another episode of HALOcapped – his team attempted to win a game of CTF on Skyline using nothing but Plasma Pistols and Autosentries. Their self-imposed rules said no melees – Mix was much better than his teammates at sticking to this. Even with a few beatdowns, though, their win with these rules is really impressive – and fun to watch! Check it out.(Louis Wu 16:03:43 UTC)

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Last weekend was the Rooster Teeth expo and Brent Gamer and Dust Storm were there to see what Austin had to offer. Halo Waypoint hosted their first qualifiers for the Halo 4 Global Championship. The top six players in the tournament out of over 650 participants won UNSC Vanguard Gaems cases along with an all expenses paid trip to the finals. There was also a big presence of Grifball as GrifballHub stood up a booth and put on several tournaments over the duration of the event all funded by Kickstarter. Dust Storm also had a panel on podcasting, which will be made available soon. Enjoy and Brent and Dust recall their experience at RTX.

We totally skipped over this week’s release of Red vs Blue Season 11 – but you shouldn’t. Episode 4 has a dejected Caboose, an out-of-shape Tucker, a pissed-off Simmons, an entitled Sarge, a bored Grif, and a frustrated Washington. What more could you want? (Louis Wu 19:04:32 UTC)

Certain Affinity posted some Pit/Pitfall comparison shots on their Facebook page. There’s also a few Pitfall and Vertigo concept art pieces to check out. Neat!(mastrbiggy 18:45:41 UTC)

jay mee noticed a pretty cool Master Chief bust for sale on Gumtree (a UK classified site). These were made by One2One Collectibles and released in 2009 – the run was 650 (not the 350 mentioned in the Gumtree posting, but that’s a minor detail, it’s still a tiny number), and the original price was $225. I haven’t seen many of these being sold on secondary markets – if you’ve been looking for one of these, this might be a good opportunity!(Louis Wu 18:37:50 UTC)

Joystiq pointed out that the phone version of Halo: Spartan Assault will launch first on Verizon. Not only do you have to have a Windows 8 device, but now you HAVE to be a Verizon customer to play this game :(. I have no idea what this means for Windows 8 tablets and PCs. We’ll keep you updated.(mastrbiggy 18:28:25 UTC)

The Halo Council filled a pretty unique niche when it started up last year – it was competitive gamers who were interested in a Halo that all Halo fans, competitive and casual alike, could enjoy. There are other sites that work that space now (most notably Beyond Entertainment, which was founded by some of the original Halo Council folks), but it’s still sad to see an important fansite like this close down. We’ll miss you guys! Thanks, pete_the_duck. (Louis Wu 18:25:01 UTC)

MatthewDratt stopped in yesterday to let us know that the Halo CE3 LiveStream Show is going to be happening tomorrow, at 4pm Eastern. (We mentioned it back in June, but hey, we know how easy it is to lose track.) Put some time aside! (Louis Wu 18:17:57 UTC)

Firestream let us know that Halosphere2 is celebrating its second birthday – and doing so with serious schwag. Swing by for your chance at Microsoft points – you don’t even need to be a hardcore player to win! The fun starts today, and runs through July 15 – so get playing. (Louis Wu 18:13:15 UTC)

We’ve mentioned the Silent Cartologist a couple of times recently – some super-cool Halo 1-based artwork has appeared, mysteriously, at this website, with very little explanation. Earlier this week, we got another piece – this time, it’s a Progressive Military Map of the Silent Cartographer island, and it’s full of exquisite detail. (The website now has a page with some questions and answers that actually generate more questions… but it’s a good kind of anticipation.) Looking forward to the next bit! (Louis Wu 18:11:01 UTC)

Eric Nylund, responsible for a whole bunch of fiction in the Halo universe (from the first Halo novel all the way through the awesome Halsey Diary included with some editions of Halo: Reach), is stepping down as MGS’ Narrative Design Director. We’re gonna miss you, Eric! Thanks, Laird.(Louis Wu 18:05:36 UTC)

ibkang1 asked Frank O’Connor about a new modded gametype released recently – it’s pretty good news for folks who like to play unusual gametypes in custom Halo 4 games. (Pay close attention to Frank; this is NOT an official 343 statement, you should NOT take what he says as permission to host/release modded content… he says they’re being reasonable, and looking at things on a case-by-case basis, and the Race gametype they just saw will not get you banned. The basic yardstick is, are you being reasonable, and not hurting anyone else? The answer to that question is, and always has been, up to 343.) Thanks, DEEP NNN.(Louis Wu 18:03:03 UTC)

Garret Hughes put together his first Halo 4 montage – there’s over 11 minutes of Spartan on Spartan mayhem. I find this montage oddly therapeutic (I’m not sure what that says about my personality.) Garret is looking for contructive criticism so go watch and leave feedback.(mastrbiggy 17:59:01 UTC)