Monochron wrote up a solo guide to playing Firefight on Crater – give it a try and see how far you get!(Louis Wu 20:05:01 UTC)

bryan4208 let us know about a trailer for a new machinima series called ‘Halo Reach’ – it’s to be the story of the planet’s final hours.(Louis Wu 19:24:41 UTC)

Geeks.com is offering a refurbished version of the Halo 3 Special Edition Xbox 360 for $170 (with free shipping) right now – not a bad deal! (Buying a refurbished 360 is always something to think twice about – but this is a nice model at a nice price.)(Louis Wu 19:10:54 UTC)

Gamasutra has an interesting article looking at what keeps people playing games. Of the nine titles in the study, Halo 3 was second in the percentage of players earning a campaign completion achievement (finishing the game), with a respectable 71% or so meeting that goal – but smack-dab in the middle of the pack (at just over 30%) when looking at total gamerscore completion. So… interesting, but not replayable? Or just too many difficult achievements? You make the call.(Louis Wu 18:40:39 UTC)

Bungie’s Comm Chatter has word of a minitage (well, it’s almost 4 minutes long, seems like it’s sort of a regular montage) – gameplay by Foley, editing by Phurion. Lots of sniping. Some of it is really nice sniping. Timing rocks.(Louis Wu 17:58:21 UTC)

Pacific Penguin and A Bad Vibe played through the Halo trilogy on Legendary difficulty, and put together a 17-minute, two-part montage of some of the highlights. Really cool in concept – implemented, a bit less so. (Editing is nearly nonexistent, clips have very, very little to do with one another, transitions are abrupt and jarring, quality is wildly variable.) Worth watching, I guess, to see where the bar is (so that when you make your own, you know what you have to beat). Thanks, urk.(Louis Wu 17:19:06 UTC)