If you’re looking for a tough challenge, swing by HaloChallenges.com – they’ve just set up A Call to Arms, designed by the 40th Assault Battalion (a HaloCharts community group). The challenge involves Bomb and Flag games, and completion will be quite the feather in the collective hat of your Big Team group! Check out the Challenge Page for full details.(Louis Wu 18:33:40 UTC)

Nak3d Eli told us about some commentated gameplay using the Zero Bloom gametype – check it out if you want to see what you’d be getting into.(Louis Wu 17:24:48 UTC)

On the last day of Halo Fest, a rather large number of HBO denizens and friends got together for breakfast – a photo was taken, and now that photo is online. (Thanks, Mig!) See if you can recognize folks! (Louis Wu 17:22:24 UTC)

Robowski let us know that Post Game Carnage Report has released Episode 89 of their podcast – still loaded with Halo discussion, even in the face of the GoW3 release! Go listen. (Louis Wu 17:21:32 UTC)

Devin Olsen stopped by last night to point out the No Bloom gametype Halo Waypoint released – it requires the TU to function, and is currently only available in Custom games. Folks have already modified it to work with, for example, MLG settings (GAF’s eeblogue released two versions, described here), and with crazy kill-real-fast gametypes (FyreWulff put together Super Swat 64, described here). Some love these, some hate them. Try them for yourself! (Louis Wu 16:54:33 UTC)

This one slipped my mind when I first saw it, but fortunately, Beckx had my back and gave the reminder. Kotaku recently ran a small feature highlighting the new Halo Anniversary Minimates. These might just be too cute to pass up. Go and check it out!(GrimBrother One 15:26:30 UTC)

DPS Sundown wanted to let everyone know that the sign-ups for the new season of the International Grifball League are now open, and will remain so through October 1st. More details can be found at their site. If you are looking for an extra avenue to get your Grif on, go and give it a look!(GrimBrother One 15:08:53 UTC)

Just as a reminder, Podtacular will be recording their latest episode tonight (Thursday), and would like your thoughts on the Halo Story. Your own Grim will be guest-starring, discussing how the Halo story has woven back and forth through games, books, comics, and more, and we will be taking a look at how it might continue to take shape in the future. Come and join us for a fun evening of awesome Halo story discussion!(GrimBrother One 15:01:44 UTC)

In this week’s Halo Bulletin, 343 Industries Community Manager bs angel takes you on a magical through the woods, giving some very cool details on one of the new maps to come with Anniversary, Ridgeline (Timberland). Also included is some bonus info on a Halo panel presence at the New York City Comic Con, and a slimy story. Go and check it out! [Edit by the neglected lwu: Grim clearly doesn’t like our local copy… but maybe you do. ::sob::](GrimBrother One 14:53:38 UTC)

Rockslider has whipped up a tutorial vid showing you how to grab an extra 7 marines, giving you a squad of 13 soldiers for your Assault on the Control Room. (c wut I did thar?) Check out the movie for direct details!(Louis Wu 21:40:54 UTC)

Back before the Bungie Optimatch forum shut down, Jeremiah agreed to answer fan-submitted questions about Megalo, Bungie’s gametype-creation scripting language. The answer session didn’t come to pass, but Jon Cable just dropped into our forum with answers for FyreWulff’s ridiculously long list of questions he’d submitted to the page; his post is a fascinating read. If you’ve ever been interested in how certain things get handled in-game… you should check this out.(Louis Wu 20:40:10 UTC)

Kermit posted a recap of last week’s Co-op Night – great pics tell wonderful stories! Go read.(Louis Wu 14:56:27 UTC)

Goose Checka sent word that GrifballHub is now open for signups for their Fall League. You’ve got until September 28 to get your team’s name registered – gameplay begins October 3. Check out all the details! (Louis Wu 14:53:56 UTC)

Dennis Powers let us know that Fearless Chapter 3 is online – go see what the crew has found! (Louis Wu 14:52:55 UTC)

Ty Coker is back with another episode of SYNAW – reunions are touching, aren’t they? (Not always…)(Louis Wu 14:47:10 UTC)

Dart3rocks suggested we take a look at this pic at CGHUB. It’s not a NEW picture – in fact, you can find it in Bungie’s ODST Wallpaper collection – but we’ve only mentioned Jaime Jones a couple of times here, and his work is DEFINITELY worth exploring. (Check out his personal site for a ton of artwork – both ODST and Reach are represented, but the bulk of the work is not from the Halo universe at all.) (Louis Wu 14:39:43 UTC)

Wanna get ready for tricking in Halo Anniversary’s Headlong? DWT has released a video showing you how to launch the Bus on the Halo 2 version of the map. Fun!(Louis Wu 14:34:56 UTC)