HaLo2FrEeEk is offering a Halo HD recording service – swing by his forum post for details and a link if you’re interested in helping him test it.(Louis Wu 18:39:32 UTC)

Bunch of new comics since Wednesday (of course):

• Dennis Powers let us know that Shipwrecked Episode 70 (Reprisal) is live – things are getting dicey for our heroes.
• Reclaimer 192 – Will to Live – went up late Wednesday (thanks, TTL Demag0gue). Looks like the dude’s manning up.
• The Catfish told urk about three new episodes of 2501 – swing by for details and links.
• Bloogyo stopped in with word of Rat’s Nest Episode 17 2
• Elnea posted Halo Action Figure Theater 183 – ‘Amor Vincit Omnia’. I’m not sure how to interpret it.

Enjoy ’em! (Louis Wu 18:38:12 UTC)

Seven new (acceptable) submissions to the Fan Fiction section this week – go read ’em!(Louis Wu 18:37:19 UTC)

Wow… getting across the country after E3 took WAY longer than I’d expected. (I walked in the door about 15 minutes ago.) I’ll do my best to catch up on news this weekend, but I can certainly clear out the easy parts of the queue right now. Let’s start with a great story from Bungie.net – this was posted yesterday, but we’ve been offline since then. ‘Drop Into Firefight‘ is an in-depth look at the new co-op mode that Halo 3: ODST will offer you in September – I wish I’d read it before playing for a couple of hours last night! Read it, absorb it, bookmark it so you can find it again this fall.(Louis Wu 18:10:17 UTC)

RandomSauce has interviewed another machinima creator – the latest Director Dialogue subject is Sniper2477. Go check out how he got started, what he uses to create his magic, and where he’s going from here!(Louis Wu 19:37:35 UTC)

Bungie’s got a new top story up – It’s called ‘Feet First‘, and it contains quite a bit of info that should help you stay alive when you play Halo 3: ODST. Bookmark this one for September!(Louis Wu 18:23:12 UTC)

mendicantbias00 sent word of a cool Galactic Map put together by Halcyon – it gives a really nice overview of space, as defined by the Halo universe. Check it out and get situated!(Louis Wu 18:22:37 UTC)

urk posted a bunch of movies for your watching pleasure (if, you know, you’re not burned out on X hours of ODST footage):

• Watch for Falling Crates is a tiny gameplay clip showing off a funny Matchmaking moment
• TM22 created ‘Orima’, a Halo 3 Campaign montage – gorgeous
• Kampy built ‘Apex’, a 10 minute multiplayer montage – lots of multikills.
• BlackLightProductions released Phil – Day Nine: “Morals”. Some people take Matchmaking far, far too seriously. (Fun fourth-wall breaking, though.)

A fine way to spend a chunk of time…(Louis Wu 18:22:01 UTC)

pete_the_duck put together an overhead map of New Mombasa by combining pieces of ODST HUD – he’s speculating that this might not be the final map, due to the surprisingly symmetric nature of the composite, but hey, you never know! Interesting display of fan love in any case!(Louis Wu 18:21:12 UTC)