CaptainTony posted a couple of new deviantART finds he came across – Spartans for a fan fiction, and a gorgeous render of the Yanme’e homeworld. Go see! (Louis Wu 10:29:39 UTC)

Daniel ‘Tyrant’ Morris has the next LASO Challenge guide up and active for you on his YouTube channel. Tip of the Spear is always a fun run – go check out the hints and tricks that will get you through with the least headache! (Louis Wu 21:11:37 UTC)

HC Redemption continues building challenges for the Halo community – his latest offering is Flawless Firefight. It’s 81 separate challenges, packaged together – can you play enough Score Attack to conquer this puppy? Go read about it and see what you’ve got! (Louis Wu 21:11:04 UTC)

I don’t know if you ever tried to get the IWHBYD skull in Halo 2, or if you remember how very, very difficult it was… but it was very, very difficult. Grumpy just sent a link to a video by BlinkIfYouCanHearMe in which the Blind Skull is picked up without triggering it (I don’t know how this works), and then is used to kill the 28 Ultra Elites that you need to finish off before you can collect the IWHBYD skull. It’s a pretty cool video to watch; I’m really not sure what I was seeing, but I was impressed nonetheless! There’s a thread with discussion over at jumprs.org if you want more info. (Louis Wu 21:08:02 UTC)

Have you played HaloSphere2 yet? If you haven’t, now might be a good time to try it; the dev team has just implemented a number of upgrades. You can read about the changes on the main page of the site and sign up if you don’t already have an account! (Louis Wu 21:05:41 UTC)

FoxmanFX noticed a new video from William Shatner, who released a ‘Spoken Word’ album of classic rock music. His treatment of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody has at least one, and maybe two Halo nods – the video starts with a piece that tips its hat to the Halo 3 Announce Trailer… and ends with one that could be considered an homage to the opening of Halo 3. Is Shatner a Halo 3 fan? It would appear so! (Side note: this is one of the oddest things I’ve seen this week.) Update: Got a photo taken at the G-Phoria Awards in 2005 that might suggest where that connection might have come from…(Louis Wu 21:03:17 UTC)

ibeechu dropped in to let us know that Episode 57 of Rooster Teeth’s Halo: Reach Fails of the Weak is now available! As always you can check it out both at the Achievement Hunter site or on YouTube. Go and watch!(GrimBrother One 18:49:23 UTC)

The Sixth Data Drop (and what might be the last, if the numbers on Halo Waypoint are accurate) is now live – go read some snippets of communication from members of the Pillar of Autumn crew! Thanks, CaptainTony.(Louis Wu 17:00:06 UTC)

Dan Ayoub and Frankie discuss how to recreate that first feeling you had with Halo, all those years ago, with Halo Anniversary. Swing by IGN to watch. Thanks, ChrisTheeCrappy.(Louis Wu 16:57:43 UTC)

Timgie’s back with another episode of Reach Customz – watch it to learn how to play Jump Rope. It’s an Infection gametype that’s similar to Writer’s Mind – Zombies are in vehicles, trying to splatter Humans, while Humans do their best to jump over vehicles as they come down the hill. Last Man Standing gets a jetpack. Looks like fun!(Louis Wu 13:55:12 UTC)

Cox sent word of a video from Lord Jefferson, a French Reach fan from the site Halo Creation, which documents a series of button glitches that can be performed when your Armor Ability is Sprint. Text is in French – but most actions are self-explanatory. Mostly… these speed up pairs of actions performed sequentially. Interesting!(Louis Wu 13:49:21 UTC)

Firestorm12 told us about War (or War) Issue #14 – went live yesterday, go see!(Louis Wu 12:17:32 UTC)

DaFrontlineTrooper has posted part 3 of his ‘How to make a Halo 3 Assault Rifle’ tutorial on YouTube – this one covers painting. Thanks, robofin117.(Louis Wu 12:15:33 UTC)

Not really Halo-related, but we don’t have an aerospace.bungie.org domain, so… Portfolio Manager Bernard Yee talked to Joystiq about where the name for Bungie Aerospace came from – the more you know… thanks, ncsuDuncan.(Louis Wu 12:15:01 UTC)

Kiki Wolfkill talked to GameInformer, and offered a tidbit about the Halo 4 engine – swing by The Examiner to read it! Thanks, Domino Theory.(Louis Wu 12:14:03 UTC)

Cardo 8 atl noticed a fan-recorded interview with Kevin Grace from NYCC 11 – it’s hefty (11 minutes), go see what he has to say! (Louis Wu 12:13:17 UTC)

I wasn’t around last week, so there was no Fan Fiction update – the two pieces live now were submitted almost 2 weeks ago. Apologies!(Louis Wu 12:12:53 UTC)

Lord Friendship created a pretty nice piece of work by setting Reach cutscene footage to The Avalanches’ Frontier Psychiatrist. Strangely enthralling! Go enjoy.(Louis Wu 17:12:18 UTC)

Revenant1988 pointed out a build thread on the 405th forums for some armor created by JUSTINIAN 117 – he’s done an amazing job of nailing the Mark V suit from Halo 1. (If you don’t have the time for the whole build thread, Revenant1988 included a number of final pics in his forum post, with permission.) Retro Power!(Louis Wu 17:02:36 UTC)