Mendicant Bias sent word of a page of game-related cupcakes – it says ‘random order’, but given the position of the one Bungie-related entry (#77), I’m skeptical. Mendi credits Snorkle256 from the HMB Forum for the heads-up.(Louis Wu 15:43:17 UTC)

Back in August, we mentioned that the Halo 3: Believe ad was up for the APG 2009 Creative Strategy Award; we never followed up. Those awards were distributed in October – and McCann Erickson went home with both the Gold and Grand Prix awards for that campaign. We’re late – but better than never!(Louis Wu 15:29:23 UTC)

Over at Koku Gamer, the latest episode of the Angry Joe Show asks “Was Halo 3: ODST a Disappointment?” Angry Joe is angry. (Mostly, he’s angry about the price.) Adam Grumbo from the 405th redeems this.(Louis Wu 15:26:54 UTC)

Hot Blooded Gaming thinks Halo 3 was the most overhyped game of the decade – agree? Disagree? Want more 7-11 cups before you decide? (For what it’s worth – Halo 3 was announced at E3 2006, not 2005.) (Louis Wu 15:25:36 UTC)

Hawty McBloggy has posted the nominees for ten separate categories of Halo goodness, just so that you can vote for the 2009 Best of Halo Awards. Swing by, read the details, and then get to picking your favorites! You’ve got a week.(Louis Wu 14:01:32 UTC)

Brandon noticed a new College Humor video (he found it at Geekologie) – funny for gamers in general, with direct Halo references. Definitely worth a watch!(Louis Wu 14:01:09 UTC)

If you’re going to be in San Francisco in mid-March, you might want to check out the Game Developers Conference – no fewer than six Bungie employees will be speaking.

• Jaime Griesemer, Gameplay Designer, has a talk called “Design in Detail: Changing the Time Between Shots for the Sniper Rifle from 0.5 to 0.7 Seconds for Halo 3” (did you even know?).
• Brian Jarrard, Community/PR Director, is participating in a session (along with a number of other developers from other companies) entitled “Community 2.0: Integrating Social Design into the Production Pipeline“. How important are you? Brian’s gonna let you know!
• Marty O’Donnell is on a panel called “The Musical Recipe of Emotion” – it’ll make you cry.
• Harold Ryan, Bungie’s President and Studio Manager, is part of a group offering a full-day tutorial entitled “The Best of Times The Worst of Times: Building an Independent Dev Studio in 2010“. (Heh.)
• Brian Sharp, Lead Engineer, will be speaking on “Concrete Practices to be a Better Leader” – he currently leads 3 teams that develop all of Bungie’s tools, so he probably knows what he’s talking about.
• Jay Weinland, Audio Lead, will be giving a short lecture entitled “Materials vs. Audio: Object Interaction Sound Design in Halo” – maybe he’ll bring pumpkins to smash!

If we learn of any other talks, we’ll point ’em out!(Louis Wu 13:59:17 UTC)

AssaultGodzilla is back with another Halo music video – once again, he manages to keep my attention with a cool video, even though the musical style is one I don’t listen to often! Go check out ‘Indestructible‘.(Louis Wu 13:58:57 UTC)

It’s time, once again, for the Bungie Pentathlon, that orgy of bacchanalia that happens every January – swing by Bungie.net for a description of the festivities, and some pictures that might scare or excite you, depending on your level of depravity.(Louis Wu 13:58:29 UTC)

There’s a new Community Spotlight up at Bungie.net – go read about a group that believes that ‘goose splatters are awesome. Go read about ’em!(Louis Wu 13:58:08 UTC)

Late yesterday, urk mentioned ‘The Forgotten Spartans, Part 8‘, a nearly 22 minute film from Darknal (Part 7 was 15 minutes long, and came out last April, and earlier episodes were mentioned a year ago). Lots of work here!(Louis Wu 13:57:20 UTC)

A couple of new videos from your friends at Halo3.org – erm, I mean Bungie.net.

• The first Halo 3 Mythbusters vid has been re-released in HD. Still great stuff!
• Halo 3 In The Workplace is back with another montage – fun kills.

Go watch!(Louis Wu 18:10:13 UTC)