Fans of Halo Machinima should definitely take notice at the newly opened NuclearTaco Productions, a machinima house with some very cool content. To help get you up to speed, check out their new intro video. For an example of their offerings, take a look at Taco’s Tips. There will be a lot more great stuff from these guys, so stay tuned!(GrimBrother One 18:08:12 UTC)

TTL Demag0gue let us know that the next Reclaimer is live – nice little salute to BttF!(Louis Wu 17:56:30 UTC)

newguy2445 let us know that he’s got a bunch of 3D renders over at DeviantART – check ’em out! (I particularly liked om nom nom nom…)(Louis Wu 14:19:28 UTC)

CruelLEGACEY sent word that he’ll be the guest on the next Running Riot podcast – coming up tonight, July 13 at 9:30pm EST. Check it out! (Louis Wu 14:19:03 UTC)

anoj released his latest Halo: Reach Top 10 – this one is called ‘Strange Moments‘, and is filled with… well, strange moments. Some really fun ones! Thanks, Alpha ELite.(Louis Wu 14:10:18 UTC)

JIMBOTHY stopped by yesterday to announce Halo Warfare 3 (a remake of the Modern Warfare 3 trailer in the Halo: Reach engine). Really well done! (They put together a comparison video, with the original and their remake showing side by side – this is amazing.) (Louis Wu 13:59:58 UTC)

Reach’s July Matchmaking Playlist changes went live yesterday (thanks, Tunavi) – and with them, Jeremiah retires as Playlist Manager. So long, Jeremiah – you will be missed! We’ll need to keep an eye on Halo Waypoint, to see who’s going to be replacing him…(Louis Wu 13:56:07 UTC)

According to the GrifballHub Twitter feed, there is a new Grifball Playlist live in Reach Matchmaking. Time to go get your flower on!(GrimBrother One 17:54:39 UTC)

According to Major Nelson, the Halo Collection on the Avatar Marketplace is slated to get a new addition(s) on July 21. No word yet on what they items may be specifically, but I’m sure we’ll find out soon. I’m hoping for the pilot helmet, personally.(GrimBrother One 17:40:24 UTC)

Computer and Video Games wonders whether Bungie can make the jump (back) to multiplatform development, and whether Halo will springboard them to success in a new universe, or hold them back? Tough questions to answer without more data… but don’t let that stop you from speculating!(Louis Wu 16:42:44 UTC)

Hitmonchan also pointed out SHC, a Halo 3/Reach montage containing footage from the SingleHaloClips community collected during the month of June. Some great plays, nice mix of games. Editing only rarely gets in the way of watching the plays. (Gotta love those spawns on Narrows!)(Louis Wu 16:38:45 UTC)

Heh – when you get teamed up with the God of War in Reach Matchmaking, you should expect some epic gameplay. Or maybe just insults. (Thanks, Hitmon. Good luck on that midterm!)(Louis Wu 16:33:21 UTC)

FyreWulff pointed out a thread on the Halo Waypoint forums where you can express your support for the Community Cartographers, a group of fans Bungie used to help filter out the best fan-made maps for use in Matchmaking. If you like the idea of fan-created maps finding their way into populated playlists, stop by and weigh in!(Louis Wu 15:38:03 UTC)

Postmortem is looking for fans interested in helping him create a very high-quality “Wildlife of Halo” field guide – if this sounds intriguing, you should read his post carefully, and see if you can contribute! This sounds like a fantastic project – here’s hoping it works out!(Louis Wu 15:33:23 UTC)

Rooster Teeth’s production schedule for Red vs Blue season 9 is an episode a week, for four weeks, then a PSA, lather, rinse, repeat. We watched Episode 4 last week – so this week, you get a PSA. It’s a very funny PSA, in which Caboose recounts his adventures with the nice men and women of Noble Team. Thanks, mattroe.(Louis Wu 15:24:03 UTC)

A month ago, Microsoft Game Studios VP Phil Spencer talked to OXM UK at E3. He was hyping Halo 4, and talking about how it will be a return to the story of the Master Chief. The terminology he used might be considered… unfortunate, based on the press this article began generating yesterday. (Not sure why nobody noticed before yesterday, but that’s a different question altogether.)

“We kind of lost our way a little bit, I’ll say. And that’s why I wanted to make sure that at the unveiling of Halo 4, you knew you were playing Master Chief, that John was back. Because Master Chief is the John Wayne character of that universe, and that’s who you want to play.”

The thread on our forum about this has people a little annoyed that Spencer basically seems to be saying “the direction Halo went in, with ODST and Reach, was not the direction it SHOULD have gone in.” Do you think he’s right? Do you think that’s even what he was really trying to say? Chime in!(Louis Wu 15:21:10 UTC)

Don’t forget to check out the 4th and final episode of CruelLEGACEY Production’s Playtime machinima series. Awesome stuff, go give it a look!(GrimBrother One 14:28:45 UTC)

Pete Cooper stopped in to give word that the Operation Chastity feature article in OXM UK has now gone live on the web. Big congrats to them for such a great article, go and check it out!(GrimBrother One 14:25:04 UTC)