Geoff has been out so many weeks that I think at this point I’m actually legally responsible for his half of the room. Weird. Enjoy AHWU!

Hello! As you may have heard on the amazingly popular Drunk Tank podcast or from our convenient and well-written staff blog, Rooster Teeth kicks off its eighth anniversary celebration next week with the release of the Red vs Blue Season 9 trailer. This time around, we’re kicking it old school by going back to our traditional release method (and by using phrases like “old school”) — which means that Sponsors will be able to watch the trailer at Noon tomorrow and registered members of the site will get it on Sunday. Then, it goes out to the public on Monday and the entire world dies of an awesome overdose. We suggest that you start building up an awesome tolerance now by wearing tuxedos in public and saving orphans from burning buildings.

Also, this week we will be having a Halo:Reach playdate on Tuesday, so bust out your gamertags and join us for some matches of Grifball and CTF on Blood Gulch. On Friday, we will be selling tickets for our first official gathering — Rooster Texas (RTX). There’s been some questions about age limits and other logistics, we’ll have a post about that later. Due to venue restrictions, anyone under 18 must also be accompanied by an adult.

Or if Texas is too far away you can see Geoff and Griffon RIGHT NOW in Florida at MegaCon. They’re lonely and waiting for your call.

And if you want to help out the people of Japan, be sure to check out 343’s awesome Ultimate Halo Experience to benefit quake victims. It’s an incredible package for a great cause.

Our beloved Marty O’Donnell chatted with IndustryGamers.com about the new creative environment he, and the rest of Bungie, find themselves in. He has some interesting points about the change in focus for the studio, and how adjustments are made in relation to shifts within the industry. Always a good brain to pick. Go and see!(GrimBrother One 03:01:25 UTC)

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The community has spoken and we have decided to go back to a weekly podcast with longer shows. Our little experiment died fatally and now we’re back in full force where we belong: in your ears. Going off of recent news, we are talking about the Defiant Maps that were released and the Random Frags we didn’t get to read last time. No special guests this week and Brent is missing in action for this show. Enjoy

Didn’t see this earlier today, but Halo Waypoint has news of a giveaway from Mega Bloks – they’re giving away 10 huge prize packs over the next few weeks. Go read about it – and see what you can get in on!(Louis Wu 22:08:40 UTC)

Domino Theory has been giving away tons of stuff through our website for over two years now… and his latest is pretty cool. Register on his standard giveaway page, and you’ve got a few chances to win: if your entry gets into the system before Wednesday morning, you are in the running for one of two separate Defiant Map Pack Codes, to be picked on Wednesday. But ALL entries (early ones, and later ones added until Friday morning) are ALSO eligible for an enhanced ‘pick your favorite thing’ giveaway; Domino’s greatly expanded the list of goodies he’s willing to ship you, and you get to pick what you want to win. All the details are on his standard Grab Bag Giveaway page – go look!(Louis Wu 21:02:31 UTC)

nomis78 stopped in with a nice baker’s dozen panoramas… everything from the small to the super-large is covered here! I love the Highlands shot, and that final one. Update: Eddy 071 added two of his own.(Louis Wu 20:01:31 UTC)

So, if you want to earn a medal that’s nearly unearnable – the ‘Unfrigginbelievable’ medal in Campaign – RC Master wants to help. He’s put together a tutorial guide that can show you what you need to do to get to a place that ALLOWS that many kills in Campaign. (There are other locations – the start of LNoS, for example – where enemies are unlimited… but not many where ammo will hold out, and none that will bring that many kills to you in so little time.) Amazing!(Louis Wu 19:57:53 UTC)

If you have access to Facebook, the Halo: Faith team has put up a new piece of concept art, this one showing off a Scarab. Gorgeous! Thanks, Dart3rocks.(Louis Wu 18:55:17 UTC)

Rockslider, in his typically thorough way, has put together a Bridge Descent Guide for the AotCR first bridge; it incorporates a boatload of information he’s compiled over the past year or so, and shows off techniques of a variety of tricksters, going back as far as 9 years. Take a look – it’s an impressive piece of work!(Louis Wu 18:52:38 UTC)

Feeling sad because you still don’t have a star next to your name in Matchmaking? Don’t fret – you’ve got another shot; Week 12 of Bungie’s All-Stars contest went live this morning. Snap a wallpaper-worthy screenshot (touchups are legal, apparently), and you could win that fabled nameplate. Check the B.net post for all the details!(Louis Wu 17:53:46 UTC)

So we’re finally getting back into doing regular podcasts (hopefully) and our first order of business is getting your opinions of the Defiant Map pack that came out a couple of weeks ago.  All you need to do is write us in your thoughts on the layout of the maps, how gameplay works, anything you can think of related to the pack.  Hurry and get them in using the Big Green Button at the top.

Last night, Devin Olsen stumbled across a home video filmed by a friend of Jeff Steitzer in which he demonstrates some of his Voice of God multiplayer announcements for a house full of amused people. Great to put a face to such a powerful voice!(Louis Wu 13:31:38 UTC)

Over at NeoGAF, wwm0nkey brought attention to a video showing off a fight between Master Chief and Samus in the upcoming Card Sagas Wars (a fan-driven crossover fighter). Looks amazing!(Louis Wu 13:28:02 UTC)