I’ll admit it, we’re between a rock and a hard place here.

The rock is the backlog of Anger, Sadness & Envy podcast episodes covering the latter half of The Ark, plus the last three levels of Halo 3: The Covenant, Cortana, and Halo.

The proverbial hard place is the quickly approaching release of Halo 3: ODST taking place now in less than three weeks, at which point it’s logical to assume that the community’s focus will understandably shift to the new game. Of course we’re also looking forward to the new game.

Which means that it’s now or never for those episodes. So we’re embarking on the ambitious project of releasing these last four episodes over the next three weeks.

The first come today, with the release of the enhanced podcast version of Part 2 of The Ark, as well as the much-delayed MP3 version of Part 1.

There’s also a gallery of images from The Ark, which include the chapter images used in the podcast, plus some extras, if you feel like browsing while you listen.

Post-production of the next episode, covering The Covenant, is currently about half done and should be ready for release in the first half of next week. Originally planned to be three episodes of manageable length, this will now hit all it once, clocking in at about two hours. I’d love to say there’d be fabulous prizes for proving to me you’ve listened to all that but I’m afraid all I have to offer is undying gratitude.

For the last two, fairly-often maligned levels (Cortana too hard, too squishy, Halo too easy, too cold) we have a special treat: a guest appearance by Bungie’s #1 fan! Stay tuned.

Blackstar of Blackstar Productions and Narcogen of Bungie fansite Rampancy.net run through the first part of the Halo 3 level “The Ark”, covering art, gameplay and story.

Show Highlights:

Halo Rail Shooter
Forerunner Portals By Aperture Science
In The Desert, You Can Remember Your Name
Covenant Carnivores
Up In The Sky, It’s A Bird, It’s A Banshee
Duplo AntiAircraft Guns
Why Tougher Hunters Are Less Scary
Don’t Touch That Terminal
Can You Have Too Much Detail?
Crashing Pelicans And Flipping Prowlers
Nonlinear Play (Sort Of)

This is the MP4 (AAC) version of the podcast. MP3 version will be posted later.

Blackstar of Blackstar Productions and Narcogen of Bungie fansite Rampancy.net cover the second half of “The Ark” level from Halo 3, discussing art, gameplay, story, and comparisons to Halo 1.

Show highlights:

Clearing the Landing Zone
Halo 3 Scorpions: More Power, Less Control?
Phantoms: More Fun Than Scarabs
Light Bridges: Less Filling, Tastes Great
Pants On Head Retarded
Guilty Spark’s New Offensive Bias
Priority Task My Foot

This is the enhanced AAC version of the podcast.