CruelLEGACEY sent word that the third part of his Playtime Season 2 Development Blog is up. More than you ever wanted to know about the making of Playtime! (Louis Wu 15:39:40 UTC)

LazerBlader sent word that he’s part of a gaming club at the University of Minnesota campus called Teh Pwn Gaming, and they’re hosting an event called slumberLAN next week. It’s a large overnight LAN party with corporate sponsors (MLG, NOS, Microsoft) – with good stuff to win. (For example, each first place team member in the Halo: Reach tourney will go home with a Vibras 5.1 Surround Sound Xbox 360 Headset.) Registration happens on their website – if you’re nearby, you might want to stop by next week!(Louis Wu 15:35:55 UTC)

IGN has released an official trailer for Halo Fest (and their coverage of it), taking place next week at PAX. Watch it and get pumped up! Thanks, DEEP NNN. (Louis Wu 13:13:44 UTC)

NsU Soldier pointed out the newest Halo Teach, a series of videos where Master Chief, in a blazer and bow-tie, summarizes famous battles in history. This new episode describes The Great Emu War, an engagement fought by an Australian major against… a flock of birds. Fascinating stuff! (Louis Wu 13:12:42 UTC)

MSNBC’s In-Game has an interesting article from a British psychologist who explains why we have so much fun playing Halo games. (You probably know this already – but it’s a nice summary, and contains some great quotes.) Thanks, William Spurgeon.(Louis Wu 13:11:11 UTC)

Halo Waypoint has Episode 9 of the MLG Reach Top Ten series – and some of these plays are jaw-dropping. (The number 1 spot, for example, makes me wonder if I ever want to even ENTER the MLG playlist.) Go watch.(Louis Wu 17:01:13 UTC)

RedSpades sent word that Uni-BB.org will be hosting a Friday Night Custom Games LIVE (to be simultaneously broadcast on Twitch.tv) – you can read more about it on their site. They’ll be playing Reach this week. Swing by and join in! (Louis Wu 15:54:41 UTC)

ElzarTheBam found a monster (21 minute) Halo PC montage on YouTube, released today. I had so much fun with this game, back in the day… but watching this vid doesn’t make me want to step away from Reach. See if you disagree!(Louis Wu 15:54:17 UTC)

Are you going to PAX next week? At least 34 HBO denizens will be there, as well. Would you be interested in meeting up with some of them? I’ve been asked a few times to figure out a way to connect everyone – but life’s been insane. Avateur asked again last night – and I remembered the args.bungie.org forum, which might be exactly the right tool for helping people connect. So now there’s a quick-and-dirty forum devoted to PAX 2011 – and you can use it as you see fit, to connect with friends, find meet-up locations, discuss last-minute arrangements… whatever. Go wild! (Well, not WILD wild. No porn, please.)(Louis Wu 14:22:27 UTC)

Leviathan doesn’t think he’s going to be able to finish A Fistful of Arrows before he leaves for PAX next week – so he’s releasing four more pages today, to soften the blow of the cliffhanger he’s leaving us with. (Read his post for full details.) That Jun… he’s a pretty resourceful guy!(Louis Wu 14:07:36 UTC)

NeoGAF’s wwm0nkey found a ‘Director’s Cut‘ of the Halo 4 Announce trailer – it’s very similar to what was released, except for two things: the music, and the last couple of seconds. Interesting! (He’s also uploaded it to YouTube if you don’t want to watch the original QuickTime.) (Louis Wu 14:05:48 UTC)

IGN’s posted a full flythrough of Battle Canyon, the re-imagining of Battle Creek/Beaver Creek that’s included with Halo: Anniversary. 343’s David Ellis takes you through the map, showing off the new bits (and explaining what does, and doesn’t change). The map itself… is amazing. View it for yourself. Thanks, CyReN.(Louis Wu 14:03:53 UTC)

Leviathan found a couple of cool DeviantART bits you might want to check out – Soupy Assassin created a pretty interesting custom wallpaper, and RoxyRoo put up some concept art for Dawn Under Heaven, an upcoming live action fan film. Go see! (Louis Wu 14:03:16 UTC)

DWT Productions hit their 5 year anniversary a couple of days ago – and to celebrate, they’ve put together a new YouTube channel, released a full game run of Halo 2 SLASO (segmented) by Mr Monopoli, and compiled a 3 minute montage of some of their favorite stunts. And plenty more – check out Ankade’s post for full details. (Louis Wu 14:02:24 UTC)

Another new Halo: Reach multuplayer map was unvield this week at GamesCon and this one has been redone a few times. You might remember it as battle creek or one of the maps Podtacular played Bungie in long ago in that Humpday challenge when it was known as Beaver Creek, but in Reach the old time favorite will bear the name Battle Canyon (has a nice ring to it I think.) IGN has the scoop, again, giving us another exciting ‘flythrough‘ of the new map.

What suprises me is that there are actually a lot of things that changed in this remake. The team added a lift to the top of both bases and changed where the teleporters are placed. Thanks to forge those of you who frown upon these changes can put the map back to it’s original battle creek goodness, and the 343 guys will have an ‘anniversary’ edition of the map that we’ll see in match making that’s more like the one we know and love. Hopefully we’ll be getting more of these flythroughs at Halo Fest, and oh yeah Dusty will be there too.

Give us your thoughts in the comments.

Stewie2552 put together a comparison of the Warthog and a modern-day Humvee. Pretty cool work!(Louis Wu 19:04:55 UTC)

The latest Achievement HORSE is actually another PIG – and it has Rooster Teeth’s Michael playing against a Make-a-Wish visitor to the office. Great match! Thanks, mattroe. (Louis Wu 19:02:57 UTC)

TAK whipped up a music video set to Breaking Benjamin’s Lights Out – some pretty interesting clip choices!(Louis Wu 19:00:55 UTC)