kornman00 stopped by yesterday to show off a video containing some fun mods for Halo 4. (You can’t use these unless you’re willing to mod your Xbox 360 – but you can certainly watch videos.) Those monstrous Spartans are awesome! Update: kornman says there was no modded box involved; he was able to tweak gametype parameters that the games UI normally hides. Noice!(Louis Wu 18:46:03 UTC)

Kotaku decided to take a shot at shooter montages – and Tashi’s Halo 4 inaugural montage is held up as a ‘sincere’ example. (In the context of this article, that might not be a good thing.) Agree or not, it’s a thought-provoking read. Thanks, Zeouterlimits.(Louis Wu 18:43:52 UTC)

The Forward Unto Dawn crew has released another podcast – it’s a discussion of the first five episodes of Spartan Ops, with special guest Kete from The Running Riot. Dani’s… salty. Thanks, Fuchsdh. (Louis Wu 18:41:10 UTC)

Goosechecka sent word of a new Top 5 list – this one was compiled by TacoPizzaHunter, and contains the best Grifball videos of 2012. Nice! (Louis Wu 18:39:01 UTC)

Tommy92l sent us a link to a video showing some trolling in Halo 4… and some reverse trolling. Always fun when you get surprised! (Louis Wu 18:36:54 UTC)

One new piece is up in the Fan Fiction section today – go read!(Louis Wu 18:33:40 UTC)

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Today we embark on our mini-series of podcasts. It would only be appropriate that we start with a campaign one. We will be releasing these segments as they are recorded and then release them as official episodes as they come together. For our first campaign show, we start on the first mission: Dawn. In this mission, you are woken up by Cortana only to learn you’re drifting around a Forerunner planet and that the Covenant are fighting you once again. Podtacular founder foomojive joins us for this mission. Enjoy

The Achievement Hunter guys are back with another episode of Halo HORSE (well, it’s still PIG, and will be until the Fileshare issue is resolved) – Jack and Geoff square off in a battle that’s reminiscent of the early days. Watch it on AH.com or on YouTube – your call. Thanks, Nikko B201.(Louis Wu 21:19:44 UTC)

Robowski sent word that the latest Post Game Carnage Report has an interview with MLG player Dewbron (with info about cheaters in the Infinity Challenge) – and discussion about an upcoming contest. Go listen!(Louis Wu 21:14:33 UTC)

Tyrant has released the seventh chapter of his Halo 4 Legendary Walkthrough – this one will help you get through Composer. It’s pretty straightforward gameplay all the way through… but but he found a pretty nice position to play out the Mantis fight from – minimal danger! Take a look.(Louis Wu 19:23:08 UTC)

Just noticed that pete_the_duck posted a new Forge Quacks last week – did you know that two one-way shields placed back-to-back can be passed through in either direction? Weird; I’d have guessed they’d turn into a wall! (Louis Wu 17:24:31 UTC)

MoltenSlowa and crew got together for another Ops-Cast – there’s no new Spartan Ops content yet, so they decided to discuss the first three terminals they found in Halo 4. Go listen! (Louis Wu 17:22:52 UTC)

Chappified stopped back in with some more messing around on Halo 2’s Outskirts – mostly using a spazzing Phantom to shoot him around the map, but there’s other stuff too. Take a look!(Louis Wu 17:21:34 UTC)

The Halo Council has posted the third episode of their second season of their Top 5 list (whew!) – commentary by u4iX. Thanks, VivaciousJazzy.(Louis Wu 20:04:17 UTC)

Angry Joe released his Top 10 Gaming Controversies of 2012… and Doritogate (and its commentary on gaming journalism in general) made #3. He’s angry… but it’s a cool list! Thanks, SonGoharotto.(Louis Wu 20:02:29 UTC)

Paula found a Didact sighting in El Yunque, Puerto Rico. Love the pic!(Louis Wu 19:59:34 UTC)

A couple of new fan-created pieces of art came to light on our forum – CrunchbiteNuva pointed out his ‘Hold the Line‘, a Mass Effect 3/Halo 4 mashup… while Scourge3 showed off his take on Halo 4’s opening, ‘Forward Unto Dawn‘. Awesome! (Louis Wu 19:58:16 UTC)

On this first day of 2013, we have tricks from a wide range of Halo titles, all coming from different tricksters! Amazing.

• Chappified showed off a new way to corner ride to the bottom of the huge first wall in Halo 2‘s Sacred Icon – an amazingly long drop.
• The SuperWaffle and Tenacious Tricking have revisited a two-year-old Halo 3 trick – and reduced the 2-hour timeframe to accomplish it to a mere 10 minutes. Go visit The Island in Sierra 117!
• MelkorTheGreat let us know about a new video from SomeFilthyCasuals that shows you how to fly a Pelican on the Halo 4 level Infinity… that’s THREE levels you can fly one in!
• t00lbox has released a new compilation video showing off a collection of Halo 4 glitches and tricks – fun stuff!

Too bad there’s no original Halo or Reach release today…(Louis Wu 19:35:11 UTC)