The Seattle Times has posted an interesting summary of Halo 3: ODST, with some nice background info on Bungie themselves. If you’re interested in where they are, and where they’re going, this is worth a read.(Louis Wu 13:36:29 UTC)

j m sent us a link to a tribute video he made, paying homage to the love between Cortana and the Chief. Starts slow, but the overall feeling is quite good.(Louis Wu 13:35:29 UTC)

This post, on a japanese forum, found its way into my Google Alerts folder. I have to say, it’s one of the hardest-to-read posts I’ve seen in a while (from a color/background standpoint)… and it’s one of the most out-there theories I’ve ever seen (from a crazy fan standpoint). Sort of fun to see all of the ‘evidence’ in one place, though… (Louis Wu 13:34:47 UTC)

Alien Emperor sent us How B.U.N.G.L.E. Are You?, a Flash-based test to find out your suitability for Bungie’s B.U.N.G.L.E. – are you fit? Go see!(Louis Wu 17:06:43 UTC)

The latest Halo 3 Fails (Episode 22) is now life – the Throwing Fail on Blackout was pretty funny. (Lots of ’em are funny, actually – that one just made me laugh harder.) Thanks, Chris10023.(Louis Wu 15:24:48 UTC)

CaptainTony pointed out a bunch of new content he’s added to Halopedia, collected from an IGN Preview of the first issue of Halo: Helljumper, the next Halo comic coming from Marvel. Five pages (no dialogue) plus the cover – when coupled with Marvel’s own preview, that’s got to be a significant chunk of the issue!(Louis Wu 15:24:12 UTC)

ikillbambis let us know that he’s written a review of the Bungie Pro Render to Video service over at 360Junkies – if you’re not really sure how easy it is to use this service, give this a read.(Louis Wu 15:23:50 UTC)

Looks like it’s time for the next season of Grifball league play! Swing by grifball.com to sign up for the Summer League 09. Thanks, The Thurmanator.(Louis Wu 15:22:47 UTC)

There’s plenty of OTHER Halo content on Hawty’s blog in the last day or so, too – check out this really huggable stuffed Master Chief, and a short video showing one of those ‘hey, what just happened?’ moments we’ve all run across in Matchmaking. Typical – on a day she’s supposed to be getting presents from others, she continues to give. Thanks, angel!(Louis Wu 15:20:49 UTC)

Yesterday was Hawty McBloggy’s birthday – and a bunch of regulars on her blog put together a tribute song to celebrate. Boom-Dee-Ya-da gets another Halo rendition – but this time, the lyrics are all new. Happy birthday, angel! (Thanks to Captain Spark for pointing it out.)(Louis Wu 15:19:43 UTC)

Due to some unforeseen (and VERY unfair to Hawty) circumstances, the Fundfax Fairraiser (the fundraiser Hawty McBloggy set up for Marissa’s Bunny) is ending quite early – tonight, at midnight, in fact. You’ve got just under 9 hours to buy some virtual raffle tickets, and make a difference in a little girl’s life, and maybe win yourself some super-cool schwag. If you were planning on participating, but hadn’t gotten to it yet (it was, after all, supposed to run through July 7)… now’s the time. Sorry for the short notice!(Louis Wu 22:26:48 UTC)

Occasionally, we get flak in our forum from people who complain that many areas of our site are out of date. They’re right – many sections ARE out of date. This is because right now, we have a pretty limited staff (it’s mostly me, except in an emergency), and maintaining the front page is pretty much all we can manage on a day-to-day basis. When these complaints come up, I usually take the opportunity to solicit volunteers – anyone who feels like helping out, we’re happy to find work for you! We don’t often get any takers on this – and I understand completely; the work to be done is mountainous, and often tedious. Not long ago, though, ElusiveEagle519 stepped up to the plate, and said he’d be happy to do some organizing. Have at it, I told him… and promptly forgot about it. (He’d either give up, in which case I’d be better off not getting my hopes up… or he’d come through, which would make me really happy, but didn’t require further consideration until it happened.) He came through. He attacked our Music section, and not only brought a page that hadn’t been touched since 2000 up to date, he did it with s7yle. It’s a great summary of the history of Halo’s music, the magic behind the team that creates it, the contributions of fans to the corpus, plus a roundup of all the interviews that the Bungie audio team members have given in the last 10 years (that are still accessible). Whoa! Go read it – and revel in the warmth of true fan love. Thanks, Daniel!(Louis Wu 02:37:09 UTC)

jakebryant1330 has put together a video showing the start of Halo 3: ODST, using footage from Halo 2, Halo 3: ODST, and released trailers. Very nicely done! Check it out. 4 minutes long. Thanks, CaLL Me ZeNy. (Louis Wu 02:34:55 UTC)

The Bungie Weekly Update is live, seeing as it’s Friday night (well, Saturday morning in HBO-time, but Bungie’s 7 hours behind) – this one’s a fun read. Apparently, Nathan Fillion stopped by the studio – not to record dialogue, but to play some ODST and satisfy some fanboi fawning. (Nice pics) Also, details of upcoming changes next month to playlists, and the Render-to-Video service, and more! Go read. As always, we offer you the choice of doing so in our own Weekly Update Archive. (Louis Wu 02:19:56 UTC)

It’s been a while since we’ve heard from PraetoriaGuard… but they were a pretty loud community voice, back in the day. And at one point, they were building Trinity, a pretty ambitious machinima project. Well, Trinity never saw the light of day… but Eisen Feuer has released Trinity Requiem – a look back at what it was, and maybe what it could have been. 87 hours of footage will fly by in 6 minutes – don’t blink. This works surprisingly well, actually; as I watched, I found myself being washed with waves of nostalgia. Go grab a copy – it weighs in at 113 mb, and it’s being co-hosted by PG and us. (Links are on the PG page, but if it goes down for whatever reason, we’ll put up local links.)(Louis Wu 02:09:31 UTC)

jake108 sent word of the next episode of Teabag Prevention – this one should help you kill with a Wraith (or kill one, if you need to). Go read up on how to hone those lumbering skills!(Louis Wu 02:05:58 UTC)