1up and the 1up community have assembled a list of the 100 most essential games. Guess what came in at number seven? Yup, Halo CE. Along with taking number 7, 1up posted an article that takes a look at what made Halo CE so special. Halo CE was an important moment for many us, so it is nice to the game sit alongside other great classics. Well deserved! Thanks, WhoLikesChicken. (mastrbiggy 13:16:54 UTC)

INSANEdrive pointed out this really awesome video showing off Destiny concept art pictures (the leaks) in motion combined with some mysterious ambient music – mesmerizing. A lot of care and effort went into making this and it shows. Check it out! (mastrbiggy 13:15:16 UTC)

Jordan Bell gave us the heads up about this really cool McFarlane Knight action figure. Apparently the Knight figure is supposed to come out THIS month – so keep on eye on that page! Those T. rex arms always did creep me out.(mastrbiggy 13:14:28 UTC)

Anoj released episode 7 of his Top 10 series – this time things get really blue and sticky. Some of the clips include that unsavory grenade glitch (now patched), but they are still neat to watch! Thanks, Jordan Bell.(mastrbiggy 13:13:36 UTC)

Peace on Earth?

Goodwill towards mail…

Goodwill towards mail…

Remember that pretty cool ‘Extraction as a potential Invasion replacement’ video pete_the_duck posted last week? Well, Certain Affinity has posted a new Forge Tutorial showing you more details on exactly this concept. Nice! Thanks, TheOddOne.(Louis Wu 20:02:25 UTC)

Holy moley – it’s been so long since we had new content in our Fan Fiction section, I forgot to check it this morning! But you should go look; there are three new items online.(Louis Wu 19:15:38 UTC)

Heh – oops. Apple apparently let an app called ‘Halo 4’ (whose description sounds an awful lot like the Xbox 360 title) into the App Store recently. (It’s gone now.) It was $5, weighed in at a bit under 9 MB, and… well, let you play chess, I guess. Pretty funny! Thanks, squidhands.(Louis Wu 19:12:14 UTC)

Clever Musings has begun a recap of each Spartan Ops episode – the first installment is online now. Go give it a read! (Louis Wu 18:56:43 UTC)

CbWilliams is back with a new Halo Legends parody – this one focuses on Odd One Out. IT’s a Christmas special! I was amused.(Louis Wu 18:33:01 UTC)

DeviantARTist Tekka-Croe has taken a stab at redesigning the Halo 3 Elephant – his Command variant increases safety for both passengers and gunners. (It’s very, very different from Halo 4’s Mammoth – though it serves many of the same functions. Shows you how many directions you can go with this stuff!) Thanks, Ragashingo. (Louis Wu 17:43:16 UTC)

GunRunner48 sent word that the Section 3 crew has nailed down the last couple of codes from the Halo 4 ARG – you can use their fine work to get XP and cool offerings! The glyph codes are on the Completed Glyph Sequences page – as long as you’ve completed the required tasks (listed for each code), you can use these codes on the Classified page at Halo Waypoint (change that URL to reflect your language and country code, if you’re not in the US) to unlock armor and other goodies. (The final code unlocks only after you’ve completed 1000 War Games matches, so you might have to wait a bit for that one.) Fantastic work! Update: whoa, random code for an extra 20,000 XP. Happy Holidays! Thanks, Tawpgun.(Louis Wu 17:38:15 UTC)

RUL’s Greenskull is getting together with friends for a ‘Post-Apocalyptic Playdate’ – assuming we’re all still around tomorrow, they’ll be playing Halo 4 tomorrow from 12pm Pacific until they feel like stopping. If you want to join, watch the video to learn how!(Louis Wu 17:27:58 UTC)

DayandKnightly has kicked off a series of articles looking back at Halo multiplayer maps – their layouts, what they brought to the table gameplay-wise, how they fit into the Halo universe. First up: Sidewinder. Go read!(Louis Wu 16:22:58 UTC)

haloHISTORY100 has showed amazing creativity both in Halo 3 and Halo 4 – he’s back with a new Halo 4 video that drops my jaw. It’s got a bunch of grenade/box jumps – some are great for speedrunners, others get you to places you were never supposed to be. Fantastic! Thanks, Hypertrooper.(Louis Wu 15:22:26 UTC)

Back in October, we saw some still shots from what looked to be a new Halo fan film project – DevinSupertramp has now posted a Behind the Scenes peek at the filming. Looking forward to seeing the final product! Thanks, Tawpgun.(Louis Wu 15:06:32 UTC)

Gandemo plays Halo 4 better drunk than I play it sober. This makes me sad.(Louis Wu 14:59:27 UTC)