CruelLEGACEY finishes up his Playtime Season 1 rebroadcast with audio commentary. Episode 4 is online now. (Louis Wu 15:15:38 UTC)

Gamescom opened in Cologne, Germany, today, and from it we get some new footage of Damnation and Beaver Creek, two of the Halo maps recreated for Reach in the Halo: Anniversary package. Zeouterlimits pointed out the IGN flythrough of Damnation (with voiceover by 343’s David Ellis) – and although it was supposed to be B-Roll footage, and NOT be released in its entirety to the general public, you can see some great views of Beaver Creek (thanks, Gabotron ES) and Damnation (thanks again, Zeouterlimits). For footage-starved fans, B-Roll is a tasty treat! Apparently, there’ll be a more polished run-through of Beaver Creek later this week. There’s a nice discussion thread running on our forum, if you want to comment on the action. Update: ElzarTheBam found another 3 vids of Beaver Creek gameplay – quality’s crap, and they all look about the same, but… new is new!(Louis Wu 14:28:44 UTC)

Wallpapers, Private Messages, and Xbox LIVE Friends Status.

HmVSTiffer built Hemorrhage (Blood Gulch) in Minecraft. Oh, the dedication…(Louis Wu 17:40:30 UTC)

ElzarTheBam put together a quick (two and a half minute) montage of clips submitted by the community – go take a peek! (Louis Wu 17:39:25 UTC)

Keep it secret. Keep it safe.

Kermit stopped in this morning to post No Regrets, a tale of loneliness… and teamwork. Really nicely done! If you would rather read it in a navigable format, check this page. (Be sure to go back and leave him some comments on the forum, though!)(Louis Wu 16:39:35 UTC)

xBLACK V3N0Mx let us know that he’s added new features to his Halo Reach Game Finder (we mentioned it yesterday), in response to feedback – you can now search for games older than a month (but don’t go crazy!), and you can search via a custom date range. Very nice! (Louis Wu 16:35:55 UTC)

Keep it secret. Keep it safe.

If your avatar isn’t decked out in Halo swag, Xbox Avatar Gear has you covered. The site is giving away four avatar props and an in-game Reach Recon DLC code to one lucky Halo fan. All you need to do is post your best in-game photo from any Halo game to the group’s Facebook page by Wednesday at 7:07 p.m. EST. Pictures will be judged on originality and creativity. Be sure to include your name and gamertag in your post for verification. Only two pictures per person, no Photoshopped or edited photos and entrants must be respectful. Sounds simple enough! (Hitmonchan 04:26:15 UTC)

On the latest “Major Nelson Radio,” Major Nelson sat down with Alison Stroll from 343 to talk about Halo Fest. If listening to cool people talk about cool things isn’t up your alley, Devin Olsen has the highlights from the show. As an added bonus, Major Nelson posted a picture of a Grunt plushie for you to drool over, which if you’re going to PAX Prime, only 5,000 of these adorable methane breathers are up for sale. Thanks to Domino Theory for the heads up! (Hitmonchan 04:11:55 UTC)

Stewie2552 put together a Halo Human Timeline – pretty nice! (Starts WAY earlier than I’d have expected, but he’s right.)(Louis Wu 21:38:42 UTC)

Looks like Kermit might be releasing No Regrets… soon. (Louis Wu 21:38:09 UTC)

kornman00 is making another attempt to sell his ODST outfit – it’s really high quality, and he tried once before, but he couldn’t get a reasonable price for it. Just think – if you buy this now, you could show up at PAX in it! (Louis Wu 16:54:47 UTC)

More amazing views from Hedgemony – he decided to take a closer look at the tops of the buildings in New Alexandria. These are NOT photoshopped at all; just panorama’d. Kudos to both Hedge, for the shots, and Bungie, for the architecture. (Louis Wu 16:52:31 UTC)

Fails of the Weak #47 marks the second week in a row of Joel behind the mic… and I must say, he really adds a nice touch. (Well, when he’s not insulting entire COUNTRIES.) Pretty funny fails, with great commentary. Go watch. Thanks, 7he grunt w/a plasma pistol. (Louis Wu 16:50:32 UTC)

Halo SPD: Flash looks to be starting up again tomorrow – and to whet your appetite, Hedgemony has posted a short prelude to Part Three. Check it out. (Part One is here, and Part Two is here – plus a bonus.) (Louis Wu 16:49:24 UTC)

Professor Aaron Clauset stopped back in last night to remind us about his scientific study of Halo: Reach players, and their team dynamics within the game. If you missed our last mention of this project, you should swing by and sign up – there’s a survey to take, and then he’ll show you where you fall in various game metrics versus other players – pretty nice info to have! And the time you put in will go towards making this study better – a win-win!(Louis Wu 16:45:07 UTC)

xBLACK V3N0Mx let us know that Reach4urPhone.com has been updated – there’s a new Halo Reach Game Finder that lets you search through your game history to find that one game you can’t remember, but know who you played against, or what map you were on, or whatever. Only goes back a month – but it’s pretty cool! (Louis Wu 16:44:05 UTC)